Ninety-Five Theses
Martin Luther
Stand & Wait
Must life be considered a failure
to someone compelled to stand still,
forced into inaction and required to watch
the great roaring tides of life from shore? 
No – victory is then to be won by standing still and quietly waiting.
Yet this is a thousand times harder to do than in the past, when you rushed headlong into the busyness of life. It requires much more courage to stand and wait and still not lose heart or lose hope,
to submit to the will of God, to give opportunities for work and leave honors to others, and to be quiet, confident, and rejoicing while the busy multitude goes happily along their way. The greatest life is, “after you have done everything, to stand.”
J.R.Miller (1840-1912)
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Deeper Rationality
…the intelligible and delicately balanced structure of the world
does raise questions that transcend the purely scientific, and ,
to this extent, the laws of contemporary physcis can, in their modest 
way, prove ” mediators of divinity.” They provoke an intellectual restlessness that will only find its quiet in a deeper rationality than that provided by natural science.
The search for understanding is the search for the Logos.
John C. Polkinghorne
CONFUSION (a brief abrupt momentary interjection of the times)
What misery is mine!
I am like one who gathers summer
fruit
at the gleaning of the vineyard;
there is no cluster of grapes to eat,
none of the early figs I crave.
The godly have been swept from the
land;
not one upright man remains.
All men lie in wait to shed blood;
each hunts his brother with a net.
Both hands are skilled in doing evil;
the ruler demands gifts,
the judge accepts bribes,
the powerful dictate what they
desire –
they all conspire together.
The best of them is like a brier,
the most upright worse than a thorn
hedge.
The day of your watchman has come,
the day God visits you.
Now is the time of their confusion.
Micah 7: 1-4
Believe
The manner in which the Holy Scriptures
open is worthy of their Divine Author.
“In the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth,” and that is all that is here
recorded concerning the original creation.
Nothing is said which enables us to fix the
date of their creation; nothing is revealed
concerning their appearance or inhabitants;
nothing is told us about the modus operandi
of their Divine Architect….
The bare fact is stated: “In the beginning God created,”
and nothing is added to gratify
the curious. The opening sentence of Holy Writ
is not to be philosophized about, but is presented
as a statement of truth to be received with
unquestioning faith.
“In the beginning God created.”
No argument is entered into to prove the existence
of God: instead, His existence is affirmed as
a fact to be believed.
Arthur W. Pink (1886-1952)
Holy Separation
“This one thing”- saith the man
of God -“I do.”
He separates himself from all outward
hindrances, vain company,
trifling amusements or studies, needless
engagements, that he may seek and intermeddle
with all wisdom. Without it – Christian –
thy soul can never prosper.
How canst thou intermeddle with the great
wisdom of knowing thyself, if thy whole mind
be full of this world’s chaff and vanity?
There must be a withdrawal to “commune with
thine own heart” and to ask questions –
“Where art thou? What doest thou here?”
Much is there to be inquired into and pondered.
Everything here calls for our deepest, closest
thoughts. We must walk with God in secret, or
the enemy will walk with us, and our souls will die.
“Arise go forth into the plain, and I will walk
with thee.” Like thy Divine Master, thou wilt never
be less alone than when alone.
Charles Bridges (1794-1869)
Man’s Great End
Lord of All Being,
There is one thing that deserves my greatest care,
that calls forth my ardent desires,
That is, that I may answer the great end for which
I am made –
to glorify thee who hast given me being,
and to do all the good I can for my fellow men;
Verily, life is not worth having
if it be not improved for this noble purpose.
Yet, Lord, how little is this the thought of mankind!
Most men seem to live for themselves,
without much or any regard for thy glory,
or for the good of others;
They earnestly desire and eagerly pursue
the riches, honours, pleasures of this life,
as if they supposed that wealth, greatness,
merriment,
could make their immortal souls happy;
But, alas, what false delusive dreams are these!
And how miserable ere long will those be that
sleep in them,
for all our happiness consists in loving thee,
and being holy as thou art holy.
O may I never fall into the tempers and vanities,
the sensuality and folly of the present world!
It is a place of inexpressible sorrow, a vast empty
nothingness;
Time is a moment, a vapour,
and all its enjoyments are empty bubbles,
fleeting blasts of wind,
from which nothing satisfactory can be derived;
Give me grace always to keep in covenant with thee,
and to reject as delusion a great name here
or hereafter,
together with all sinful pleasures or profits.
Help me to know continually
that there can be no true happiness,
no fulfilling of thy purpose for me,
apart from a life lived in and for
the Son of thy love.
Excerpt from The Valley of Vision
The Best Frame
In times of great difficulty and great expectation,
it is our wisdom to keep our spirits calm, quiet,
and sedate; for then we are in the best frame both
to do our own work and to consider the work of God.
Matthew Henry (1662-1714)
…Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the
deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The
Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.
Exodus 14:13a,14
