Dave Burke

To a tenth century BC Israelite there were only two ways to live and these are clearly contrasted in the first Psalm:

Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

How does this look for the twenty-first Century Christian? The law of the Lord does not work in quite the same way for us as it did for David and his men, and centuries of self-righteous churchgoers looking down their noses at the ungodly have left people with the distinct feeling that Christianity stinks. This Psalm can leave a funky odour if we are not careful.

What is the law of the Lord that we delight in? Surely, it’s not law but grace dominates our vision? Check out that Psalm again:

But his delight is in the grace of the LORD,
and on his grace he meditates day and night.

Delight in the unearned and undeserved generosity of this gracious Lord towards the unlovable and the unforgivable, and then imitate this in your behaviour towards others: let God’s grace become a spring of graciousness towards those awkward characters we are called to love.

That is pretty much what today's 'righteous man' would look like.

In the spring of 1979 a letter dropped through my door. Its arrival interrupted some anxious prayers, I was at a crossroads in my life and didn't know what to do. For three years I had been working on the behaviour of some little critters that devour people's vegetable crops, and we were hoping to develop a new form of pest control for hard-pressed farmers. All the while another ambition had been forming in my heart - a sense that God was calling me to teach his word and reach out to those who were not (yet) followers of Jesus. Now, after going through the selection process for UCCF (a student ministry in the United Kingdom), I was waiting for a letter which would either invite me to join the team or tell me to get lost. 

The letter was from Oliver Barclay, the director of UCCF, my application had been 'successful' and they wanted me on board. 

It is nice to be wanted, but that morning I was not at all certain that I wanted to leave the safety of my long standing life plan. I read the letter and it made me feel afraid: If I left my research job to join UCCF there would be no going back, my long-held ambition to be a research scientist would be unfulfilled, I would be stepping out into the unknown. I began to feel that this was not a wise move: maybe I woul dwrite to Oliver and tell him that, on consideration, I ought not join the team. 

Back in my room I picked up my Bible and opened it to the next passage in the reading plan I was following - I have that book in front of me now, a dog-eared old RSV I bought in 1974. This was my reading for that morning: 

Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your fathers house to the land I will show you..."

Genesis 12:1 

It was a wonderful moment, and as the hairs stood up on the back of my head I knew God was telling me to do what Abram had once done and, as one of his spiritual descendants, take the blessing he was promised to as many as I could reach.

I said yes to Oliver! That was 30 years ago next month.