My Daddy did not have Alzheimer's, but he did end his life with dementia. What he did and did not remember was mystifying. One day he asked about Silas, a great-grandchild he never saw past the age of 2, and the next he would ask me to take him to visit his mother, who died when Silas's uncle was not quite a year old and his daddy not even born. One day he showed me all his important papers so I would know where to find them when he passed, and the next he did not know how to write a check. Seeing this intelligent man reach the point that he did not even know how to use a toothbrush was devastating.
But he never forgot the Lord. With his severe heart disease, some days he could not get out of his chair. Some days he was exhausted from just putting on a pair of socks. My mother had to make hard decisions about what he could and could not do, where he could and could not go due to his health. But any time he felt reasonably able and she told him it was Sunday, he would ask, "Can we go assemble with the saints today?"
Yes, that is exactly how he said it: "Can we go assemble with the saints?" He was so steeped in the Word of God that he talked like the Word of God. And he never forgot how to do that.
I hear a lot of people fussing about the older hymns, especially the somewhat stilted wording. They make fun of the "King James lingo." Do you know why those hymns are worded that way? Because the poets who wrote them were steeped in the Word, and all they had was the King James Version in the 18th and 19th century. Just like my Daddy, they knew their way inside out and upside down through that Bible. They could quote more scriptures than most of us read in a whole day. They made allusions to verses that go completely over our heads because we are so ignorant of the Word we claim to love. "Ebenezer?!" I heard someone say with a snort one time. "Who in the world even knows what that means? Why do we have to sing such archaic songs?" I would be ashamed for anyone to hear me say such a thing.
This is not a diatribe against the newer songs. I like some of them, but not all of them, just as I don't like all of the old ones. It's about content. Seems that today when someone lauds a song as one that comes straight from the Bible, most of the time it does—one verse, or even one phrase, repeated a dozen times. Well, I think, at least it does come from the Bible, and there is a lot to be said for that, even if it can't compare with the quotes and allusions in the older hymns (like "Ebenezer").
No, what I am saying this morning is that I need to be so steeped in the Word of God that I talk like it. I should be able to make allusions to verses or even quote them as a normal part of my speech. I should be able to use "the lingo," just like my Daddy did, without a second thought. It just came out of him and it should just come that way for me, and you, as well. Do you really love the Word of God? Then talk like it. You might use a newer version, but you can still sound a whole lot different than all the unbelievers out there. In fact, that's what the Lord expects of you.
if any man speaketh, let him speak as the oracles of God… (1Pet 4:11).
Dene Ward
But he never forgot the Lord. With his severe heart disease, some days he could not get out of his chair. Some days he was exhausted from just putting on a pair of socks. My mother had to make hard decisions about what he could and could not do, where he could and could not go due to his health. But any time he felt reasonably able and she told him it was Sunday, he would ask, "Can we go assemble with the saints today?"
Yes, that is exactly how he said it: "Can we go assemble with the saints?" He was so steeped in the Word of God that he talked like the Word of God. And he never forgot how to do that.
I hear a lot of people fussing about the older hymns, especially the somewhat stilted wording. They make fun of the "King James lingo." Do you know why those hymns are worded that way? Because the poets who wrote them were steeped in the Word, and all they had was the King James Version in the 18th and 19th century. Just like my Daddy, they knew their way inside out and upside down through that Bible. They could quote more scriptures than most of us read in a whole day. They made allusions to verses that go completely over our heads because we are so ignorant of the Word we claim to love. "Ebenezer?!" I heard someone say with a snort one time. "Who in the world even knows what that means? Why do we have to sing such archaic songs?" I would be ashamed for anyone to hear me say such a thing.
This is not a diatribe against the newer songs. I like some of them, but not all of them, just as I don't like all of the old ones. It's about content. Seems that today when someone lauds a song as one that comes straight from the Bible, most of the time it does—one verse, or even one phrase, repeated a dozen times. Well, I think, at least it does come from the Bible, and there is a lot to be said for that, even if it can't compare with the quotes and allusions in the older hymns (like "Ebenezer").
No, what I am saying this morning is that I need to be so steeped in the Word of God that I talk like it. I should be able to make allusions to verses or even quote them as a normal part of my speech. I should be able to use "the lingo," just like my Daddy did, without a second thought. It just came out of him and it should just come that way for me, and you, as well. Do you really love the Word of God? Then talk like it. You might use a newer version, but you can still sound a whole lot different than all the unbelievers out there. In fact, that's what the Lord expects of you.
if any man speaketh, let him speak as the oracles of God… (1Pet 4:11).
Dene Ward
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