September 2013

Taste and See

Hugh Shira was a big man with an even deeper voice. His was such a deep bass, you would swear he was speaking from the basement. His was a voice for radio and Hugh was an avid ham radio operator. More importantly, Hugh Shira was a great Christian preacher and one of my beloved teachers.

There is a rich heritage of Christian devotional writings. Many Christians use these daily devotionals as a way to stir up their souls as they begin each new day along with Bible reading, prayer and meditation. I have found these books to be an inspiring and enriching part of my spiritual growth. This past week I was pleased to learn that one of my classmates and good friends, David Ryal, has updated and reprinted Hugh Shira’s little devotional book, My Master’s Moments. Hugh was a charter member of the faculty at the Southern California School of Evangelism in 1969 and served as the director of the school for many years.

This week I’ve chosen to reprint the first of the 60 daily devotionals Hugh and David included in this wonderful little booklet. You’ll want to read the entire set.

Taste and See

“O, taste and see that the Lord is good,” Psalm 34:8.

That God is good should be too obvious to deny, yet we are so little affected by His goodness. And that is why David wrote what he did.

What is the best way to learn if God is indeed good? David did not say, hear and know; or believe and know, but taste and know.

Whether a food is good to your taste or not is determined, not by testimony of others, but by your tasting it. Likewise, do not rely on the experience of others or the authority of others concerning God. Learn of Him for yourself.

Experience is knowledge derived from experiment. Someone can talk to you about the peace of God, the joy of service or the consolation of the Holy Spirit. You may even be moved by their passion and your confidence in the speaker. However, until you experience the goodness of God for yourself, you can not be convinced to the fullest.

To taste and to see that God is good, experience the faith and obedience of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Place your soul in the hands of God and see the truth of the gospel. “Blessed is the man who trusts in Him,” as David wrote.

If you would like a copy of the whole series of devotionals, please contact:

David Ryal
P.O. Box 210
Morro Bay, CA 93443

Snakes!

This past week Jane got a frantic phone call from Lydia. She was trapped in the teacher supply room by a baby rattlesnake curled up by the door! Jim and I rushed over and there it was: a small rattler who had slithered into the supply room by crawling under the door. They say baby rattlers are the worst because they haven’t learned to control how much venom they inject. They just give you the whole dose and that makes them even more dangerous than an adult.

I got a shovel and scooped it into a bucket and hauled it off into the canyon where I released it. With all the rodents, we really need the snakes to control the vermin. No one was hurt and we all laughed and returned to work.

The next day Jim and his little dog Emmy searched the classrooms and the supply room for snakes and came up empty. Just before going home, I had a feeling I better check one more time. I opened the supply room door and there he was again! It was definitely the same snake, but this time he was mad at the world. When I tried to scoop him up with the shovel again, he struck it twice. I thought I had flipped him in the bucket just as before, but when I picked the bucket up, there he was grinning from ear to ear (if snakes had ears.) “Ha! You missed me,” he hissed and charged. It was at that point I realized I was wearing flip-flops and no socks. Not exactly the best choice in footwear for rounding up rattlers! The little guy was fast chasing me as I high stepped down the sidewalk. I really hated to do it, but we couldn’t risk him coming back when the children were there, so I pinned him to the sidewalk with my shovel. Even then he refused to die and now I had a really mad rattlesnake snapping and twisting under the blade of my shovel. I couldn’t lift it up to strike him again so there we were stuck together shouting for help. Jim raced to the rescue, grabbed another shovel and dispatched him much to my relief.

Standing there looking at the carnage (and trying to get my heart to slow down), it occurred to me some people are like that angry little snake. God graciously gives us a second chance. He scoops us up and gives us a second chance, but some people are so stubborn or so angry they immediately return to their old life. They reject God’s grace, shake their stubborn tails and venomously strike back.

“Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you” (Matthew 7:6).

It’s Greek to Me!

Recently I was with a group of preachers and one of them said, “I’ll tell you why there is so much division in the church today. It’s because there are so many versions of the Bible out there. I think we need to go back to one version of the Bible” and he implied it should be the King James Version. “After all it’s the ‘Authorized Version’” referring to the words on the title page of the KJV. Of course all that means is the king of England authorized it for use in the Church of England of which he was the head in 1611.

I still use the KJV in my own study and preparation, along with a dozen other translations, but the fact is they are translations and no translation can ever convey the complete meaning of the original text. There are shades of nuance and often there are alternative definitions that just can’t be expressed in a single translation. Since our English Bible is a translation of Hebrew (Old Testament) and Greek (New Testament) originals, I think it is essential for serious Bible students to compare versions or learn some of the original language.

Of course that reminds me of my college days. Dr. Furman Kearley took me aside one day and told me, “Now John you need to remember that you don’t need to know Greek to get to heaven.” Chastised, I humbly nodded my head in agreement. Then, with a twinkle in his eye Dr. Kearley continued, “You don’t need to know Greek to get to heaven but you sure are going to be bored when you can’t talk to anybody!”

“So if I don’t know the original languages, which translation should I use?”

I don’t recommend any one particular translation for everyone to use. In the auditorium at Canyon View we typically use the New International Version because it is conservative yet easy to understand for most readers. However it is becoming a bit dated and often reflects the “male bias” common to the English language. (English speakers typically say “men” or “brothers” when we are referring to a group of people – men and women – or to Christians in general.) Some of the newer translations like the English Standard Version are more aware of that and might say “Brothers and sisters” which is actually closer to the original.

For serious Bible study, I recommend comparing several translations. I typically use the King James Version, New American Standard Bible, New Revised Standard Version, New International Version and the English Standard Version along with my Greek Bible. The new electronic Bibles for your computer, smart phones, and other devices make it very easy to compare translations and even discover the dictionary meanings of the original Greek and Hebrew words. What a great age we live in!

And, yes I know a little Greek. He owns a restaurant down on the corner…