Boston Marathon Tragedy: Life Is Different There

Psalm 56

Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me;

all day long an attacker oppresses me;

my enemies trample on me all day long,

for many attack me proudly.

When I am afraid,

I put my trust in you.

In God, whose word I praise,

in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.

What can flesh do to me?

All day long they injure my cause;

all their thoughts are against me for evil.

They stir up strife, they lurk;

they watch my steps,

as they have waited for my life.

For their crime will they escape?

In wrath cast down the peoples, O God!

You have kept count of my tossings;

put my tears in your bottle.

Are they not in your book?

Then my enemies will turn back

in the day when I call.

This I know, that God is for me.

In God, whose word I praise,

in the Lord, whose word I praise,

in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.

What can man do to me?

I must perform my vows to you, O God;

I will render thank offerings to you.

For you have delivered my soul from death,

yes, my feet from falling,

that I may walk before God

in the light of life. 

Up From the Grave He Arose!

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

Matthew 28:1-10 ESV

Good Friday

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:4-5)

Surely He has Borne Our Griefs and Carried Our Sorrows

Isaiah 53

Who has believed what he has heard from us?

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

For he grew up before him like a young plant,

and like a root out of dry ground;

he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,

and no beauty that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men;

a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he opened not his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away;

and as for his generation, who considered

that he was cut off out of the land of the living,

stricken for the transgression of my people?

And they made his grave with the wicked

and with a rich man in his death,

although he had done no violence,

and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;

he has put him to grief;

when his soul makes an offering for guilt,

he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;

by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,

make many to be accounted righteous,

and he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,

and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,

because he poured out his soul to death

and was numbered with the transgressors;

yet he bore the sin of many,

and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Thanksgiving

Psalm 111


Praise the LORD! I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart,

in the company of the upright, in the congregation.

Great are the works of the LORD,

studied by all who delight in them.

 Full of splendor and majesty is his work,

and his righteousness endures forever.

He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered;

the LORD is gracious and merciful.

He provides food for those who fear him;

he remembers his covenant forever.

He has shown his people the power of his works,

in giving them the inheritance of the nations.

The works of his hands are faithful and just;

all his precepts are trustworthy;

they are established forever and ever,

to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.

He sent redemption to his people

he has commanded his covenant forever.

Holy and awesome is his name!

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;

all those who practice it have a good understanding.

His praise endures forever!

The Comfort of Sovereignty

You may have noticed a theme in my last few posts: the sovereignty of God.  It is such a comfort to me to know that God is in control of every. single. thing.  There is much to be said about the subject, but for now I just want to share a link to a quote that sums it up so well.  Today's post at Girl Talk is short, but well worth reading!

Good Friday

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:4-5)

Setting aside trivial things...

Sweet the moments, rich in blessing — Cross of Jesus

(Original Trinity Hymnal, #189)


Sweet the moments, rich in blessing,
Which before the cross I spend,
Life, and health, and peace possessing
From the sinner's dying friend.

Here I rest, in wonder viewing
All my sins on Jesus laid,
Here I see redemption flowing
From the sacrifice he made.

Here I find the dawn of heaven,
While upon the cross I gaze
See my trespasses forgiven,
And my songs of triumph raise.

O that, near the cross abiding,
I may to the Saviour cleave,
Nought with him my heart dividing,
All for him content to leave.

Goodnight Moon

The church nursery has a loudspeaker. Loudspeaker sounds archaic, but that is the word that most-aptly describes this speaker, as it is both archaic and very loud. During Sunday evening worship, by God’s providence, I was in the nursery with two precious covenant children, and the loudspeaker was doing its thing, very loudly. It was a sweet time for me, as I am fresh out of babies and toddlers at my house. We sat on the floor, the two of them in my lap, and read book after book. Over the loudspeaker I heard bits and pieces of the sermon while reading aloud, something about food laws from Deuteronomy (I’ll have to catch up on that later; I wonder, do we record the evening sermons too?). But what struck me was what I heard at the end of the service – beautiful singing in four parts. I do not know if they were singing a cappella or if the piano was not being picked up by the microphone, but it sounded great. The juxtaposition of what I was hearing and what I was reading was remarkable. Here is how I heard it:

Love Makes All the Difference

There have been more than a few angry “disputes and contests” in our home lately. That led Edwin into studying how we can teach the children how to be more loving to one another (Surely we adults will benefit from that as well!). The first place to look is the Bible, of course, and if you want to think about love you turn to I Corinthians 13. It is a straight-forward passage; though we did learn something (that perhaps should have been obvious) from consulting Calvin’s Commentary.

From John Calvin’s Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians (dealing with I Corinthians 13):
“…love is also a bridle to repress quarrels, and this follows from the first two statements. For where there is gentleness and forbearance, persons in that case do not, on a sudden, become angry, and are not easily stirred up to disputes and contests.”

Basically, if we are behaving in love, that is being patient, kind, etc., we will by default not be easily angered. If we are easily angered and stirred up to quarrels, then we could not possibly be showing love to one another. Ouch! We’ve got some work to do!


I Corinthians 13:4-8,13
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. …
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.