The Exalted Word of God

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And use that promo code, T-O-D-A-Y. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill.

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Six stars. Today's verse of the day is coming to you from First Thessalonians, chapter five, verse nine. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen to that. I love me some salvation. One of the greatest things that I think, or really the greatest thing about Christianity is the cross.

Just the salvation that Jesus has brought us that comes from God. And I think about it all the time, this idea that people have that there's such a difference between the Old Testament God and the New Testament God, where in the Old Testament God, it's all wrath, and it's judgment, justice, and it's fire coming down from heaven to scourge the nonbelievers. And then you've got Jesus meek and mild, who loves us so much that he would die on the cross for us. But this beautiful dichotomy between justice and mercy that you see personified in Jesus, who never separated the two, but embodied them together, especially on the cross.

Man, I get excited when I talk about it, and there's so much to it. Yeah, and that's a beautiful point that both are true. The wrath of God and the mercy of God. You know, the same God that poured out judgment in the Old Testament is the same God who poured out his wrath as a result of the cross. And that's the wrath that was due to us were it not for Jesus. You know, sometimes I see glimpses of that Old Testament wrath in my two children.

Huh? But where God's- Are they going around smiting people? They're smiting, that's for sure. There's a lot of smiting happening in the Galantis house. Where God's destruction is holy and purifying, my kids' destruction is just chaos.

Just utter chaos. So if you've got boys, and you've got two boys, but your boys are kind of far apart. They are. So I don't know if you went through this, or if girls are even the same way, but my two boys just destroy everything on purpose. It's not even that they're messy and they're reckless. They'll get toys and be like, I'm gonna break it. And they'll just throw it on the ground.

One of them's three, so that's already like, you're too old for this kind of behavior. But he'll get stuff and he'll be like, oh my goodness, I love this. Throw it on the ground. And he's like, I don't know if he wants to take it apart to see how it works, or what it is, but he's just like, I want to smash it. And now the one year old, Holden, is walking, so now anything he can get his hands on, he's throwing. So if you give him a cup of milk, he'll drink some of the milk and then throw the cup.

And then he'll walk away. Yeah, but that happened with both of my boys. They didn't do it together because my boys are not as close as yours are.

I have two boys and three girls. The boys were that kind of destructive, like, I'm gonna throw this, I'm gonna break this, I'm gonna jump off the couch. The girls were destructive in a different way, and it was more creative. So they were like, I'm gonna get into this and pull everything out of the cabinet. Almost like a reorganizing type thing, but I'm gonna empty all the Tupperware onto the kitchen floor. I'm not gonna break it.

You can still use it. You just have to clean this. They color you a picture on the wall.

Their destructiveness was less aggressive, but sometimes more subtle and a little bit more catastrophic at times. Yeah, so Gavin has a drum set that we got him for Christmas, and Holden will take the sticks and just hit windows. He'll hit the TV. He'll hit his brother. See, Gavin's old enough to know, okay, I can't hit people, but he will break stuff. Dr. Shaw gave him a ship and a bottle, and the instant he did it, I was like, Dr. Shaw, that was very generous of you. I will confiscate that.

I will take that. This will be something that we look at. It's sitting on my desk at work right now until I feel like Gavin won't smash it, because he will. He'll be like, oh wow, I love it.

Crunch. And they'll be like, thank you, Dr. Shaw, and he'll genuinely mean it. I don't know what it is about destructive little boys, but man, I'm getting tired of it. Stuff is just getting broken. I think that's that testosterone in them. As their bodies grow, as they grow and begin to develop personality, that testosterone comes in, and they have those aggressions that they want to get out, and little boys, that often turns into throwing or hitting.

Yeah, tell me about it. How do you, dear listener, deal with your kids' aggression, especially little younger kids? Because I can tell you this, if I match it, I don't want to end up knocking a kid out, but I'm starting to lose patience over at my house. Things are just on the floor all the time in pieces.

I'm stepping on broken toys. It's not good. It's not good for my rage. It's not good for my rage. Write in and let us know if your boys have gone through a similar destructive phase, or your girls, if they've been the destructive ones.

I know the case was true for at least one of Dr. Shaw's, and it was a young lady. Oh yeah, a young lady destroying stuff. Do you remember that? Yeah. Write in and let us know, 252-582-5028, or you can visit us online at clearviewtodayshow.com. Stay tuned.

We'll be back after this. Elizabeth, my darling bride, what would you say is the most beneficial thing you could do for yourself in the morning? Probably drink an entire pot of coffee one sitting.

I'd say that's a close second. Now, the best thing you can do for yourself is to start every morning with a daily devotional. Only be one to talk about.

Well, as it turns out, we have two. Right now, you can unlock the power of daily inspiration, wisdom, and spiritual growth in our devotional series, 30 Days Through a Crisis and 30 Days to a New Beginning, written by our pastor, Dr. Abaddon Shaw, and his wife, Nicole. The 30 Days devotional series is designed to reveal new biblical truths every single day. That's right, and every day is a new revelation to guide you on your Christian journey toward a more meaningful and purposeful life. You can pick up your copy today from our website, that's clearviewbc.org, or you can grab both books on Amazon, Apple Books, and Audible.

That's 30 Days Through a Crisis and 30 Days to a New Beginning by Abaddon and Nicole Shaw. And don't forget, these are only the first two in an expanding devotional series, so keep your eyes peeled for future installments. Thanks for listening. Now let's get back to the show. Welcome back to Clear View Today with Dr. Abaddon Shaw, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at clearviewtodayshow.com, or if you have any questions for Dr. Shaw or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028.

That's right, and we are here in the Clear View Today studio live with Dr. Abaddon Shaw, who is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show, Dr. Shaw. I've got two destructive little boys. Just one of them's walking now. We were talking about this in the intro today. One of them's walking now and just destroying everything in sight. And I thought it was, well, I was talking to you and I was actually, my wife was talking to your wife this past Sunday and, you know, I was, we were kind of like that. I was like, were your boys destructive?

And maybe you can kind of weigh in on this. Nicole was like, actually one of our daughters when she was a baby was. She would look at us and still pull down my books. And then we would pop her hand and she would even do this number. I'm still going to reach for it. I know the poppies coming. She's like, I know it's coming, but I got it. Yeah, and she would do that all the time.

We're like, why? Stop. Oh, man. Then writing in my books. Oh yeah. I have some from Nicholas too.

Really? You kept the books? I kept the books. Nicholas did this just as a memory, I guess. Was it pencil where you could erase it? No, it was pen. Of course it always is.

It's kind of like if you have a toast with butter on it, it'll always land butter. Of course. If your kids mess something up, it's going to be. Did you have a problem with your destructive kids? Some of ours were more so than others. We had one of our daughters, oddly enough, that we, I'm not going to tell you which one, but we put the word hurricane in front of her name for the first several years of her life.

We're like, here comes hurricane. Sure enough, she would come into her room, and as she'd leave, she would just leave destruction in her wake. Still does sometimes. It's funny, now that I think about that.

She's a little older now, but that does still seem to happen sometimes. It's kind of funny, you talking about your daughter, Dr. Shop, because she knows, at the end of the day, I might get popped, but I'm not going to be cast out. I'm not going to be sold off into slavery with some Midianite traders or whatever. I know at the end of the day, things are going to be okay. I can get away with this. I can get away with this. I feel like that's kind of where mine are right now, where he's like, I might get the wooden spoon, but I've had the wooden spoon. I've weathered it. I've lived through it. So for me to throw this bottle right now, I feel like it might be worth the risk.

That's actually some formal logic. He's weighing the consequences. He's like, I know I'm going to get it popped. Is it worth it in this moment?

Yes, it is. I guess that's the thing for me. If Ryan and I were, he was like, hey, you can throw my cup, but I'm going to punch you really hard. It's like, I know that throwing the cup is not worth it. But to a toddler, they're like, I don't want to get the wooden spoon, but it will be so fun to throw this bottle.

I'm pretty sure it's worth it. I don't understand toddler logic. I don't get it. Well, that logic sometimes applies beyond just the toddler years, especially when we're talking spiritually speaking. In light of that, Dr. Saul, what is the daily encouragement you want to leave our listeners and our viewers with today? I would say definitely trust in God's nature.

Know that God is there, God is faithful, God is loving, God is merciful. But make sure you put the priority on God's instruction. Because God's instruction is God's truth. Sometimes the nature side of things may be misunderstood, but the truth side of things will never. Those are the facts.

And always lean on the side of the facts. I guess when we talk about earthly parents, your kids can trust your nature and still disobey your instructions. And yet with God, they're so inextricably linked together. They are so melded into one that His instructions come from His nature.

You can't separate them. They are one and the same. And the passage that really talks about this is actually Psalm 138. This is the psalm of David, and it says, I will praise you with my whole heart. Before the gods, I will sing praises to you.

I will worship towards your holy temple and praise your name for your loving kindness and your truth. For you have magnified your word above all your name. Wow. His word is above His name.

Yeah. So we need to ask that question. God's name is His nature.

It is who He is. God's word is what He expects us to do. Trust God's nature, but obey His word. Yeah, that's the question for us.

And I feel like a lot of people do that. They're like, I'm going to trust because God is love. God's holy. God is in control. He's powerful. But are you going to obey Him? Are you going to do what He says to do?

He's like, well, I'm going to do my best. Yeah, I'm going to give it a shot. I'll give it a shot. I'm going to roll the dice, and hopefully I'll be able to in that scenario, when we don't realize we're talking about things that are joined together. Right. Like the song, trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. Right. If I could change that, which I won't, it would be something like trust, but truly obey.

Yeah. Trust, but truly obey. It's kind of interesting because, you know, you are a New Testament scholar, which means that by nature, you are in the word of God a lot. Now, I've talked about this a lot on the show, but one of the things that I admire about you is that there is this genuine love for the word of God. In fact, this actually comes from a sermon that you preached years ago, I think back in 2018 when we first moved into our new building, and I remember specifically going through this. I think we spent a couple of weeks on this question. What should that first sermon in the new building be?

Yeah. And we kept coming back to it needs to be on the word of God because that's what our whole church is built on. It would have been very easy to focus on God's faithfulness, God's goodness, God's plan for us for the future, and all those things are wonderful, and we need those things. But we prayed and we sensed that God was telling us, stand on my word.

Right. Emphasize the truth of the word. Also emphasize the need to apply, to obey the word. Let that be the guide.

At the end of the day, all those other things about God and how He is and how He was and how He will be are wonderful. Stand on the word. That's right.

Obey God. What does it mean, Dr. Shah, when it says, because this is something when you read it, it didn't strike me wrong, but I'm not sure what it means when it says you've magnified your word above all your name. Typically we hear that there's nothing above His name.

Right, right. So we have to kind of back up and look at this psalm. It is a psalm of David composed by King David. Sometimes people look at those preambles and sort of dismiss them. They're not important or they came later.

I don't think so. I think these introductory notes on the psalms were actually very early. And more research has been done to show that they are early and they are very indicative of how this psalm was written. Without that knowledge, it is just a bunch of words. And yes, here and there you'll have a psalm that will refer to the Exodus or they'll refer to the creation, but most of the time they don't have much of a context.

So these preambles or these introductions are very important for us to put them in the right context. So this was written by David. Now who was David? David was a shepherd boy who killed Goliath the giant and he became the great king. He was also a great songwriter, Psalm 23, as many of you know. In fact, as many as 76 out of the 150 psalms in the book of Psalms were written by David. 76 out of 150. That's about half.

That's incredible. And then the last words of David are very, very important. This is 2 Samuel 23, verse 1. Now these are the last words of David. Thus says David, the son of Jesse. Thus says the man raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob and the sweet psalmist of Israel.

And what are his final words? Verse 2, the spirit of the Lord spoke by me and his word was on my tongue. So it's God's truth being spoken through this human instrument of David.

Yes. I wouldn't say it was spoken through him. Maybe it was spoken through him at that point, but I think it was spoken by him.

Got you, got you. There was a truth that he was repeating, reciting, remembering. Right. Not that he wasn't like a puppet or a vessel. He was understanding it and putting it in his psalms.

And I know puppet is a negative word where it's almost like you don't have a choice and you're just doing this. But if you look at what Peter says, holy men of God wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Right. I don't think in this situation he was necessarily an instrument of God's word coming into this world that later became what we know as the Bible. Right. I think in this situation he was simply either reciting the word of God, maybe Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Maybe he was reading, I don't know, about Job, the early books, this is 2 Samuel, so maybe he was reading 1 Samuel, I guess? Right.

We don't know. But he was simply reading the word of God, not necessarily the conduit through which the word of God at times came. Okay, so not about him pinning scripture, but about him espousing these biblical principles.

Or remembering them or affirming them. Okay. And then listen to 1 Samuel 13, verse 14, it says, he was a man after his own heart. In other words, his word should not be taken lightly. Right.

That's what I'm saying. Right, right. They're God's inspired, infallible, and inerrant word to us. And they were very important to David.

Right, right. When David does pin these Psalms, they're coming from a real place. And I think that kind of lends credence to what you're saying, too, because it comes out of places in his life.

Actual circumstances that he went through. Right. Not just a recitation of lofty ideas that were given to the people of Israel, but things that God actually had David go through so that those truths became more real to him, and I guess therefore to us.

Yeah. Yeah, the timelessness of how God's word applies, not just in David's life, but spoken through David to us. I mean, that's huge, how God helped him through difficulty and how God's word continues to help us through the difficulties we face today.

Yeah, that's right. Now, this Psalm doesn't have a preamble. This is a Psalm that David wrote when he was confronted by Nathan. This is a Psalm when he was in En Gedi. Or this is a Psalm when he was running from Saul. It doesn't say that, but there are some hints in the Psalm that tell us the context in which David wrote the Psalm. And one of them is right here, where David says, Before the gods I will sing praises to you. Now, David is not saying that there are other gods in this world.

Right. He is just boldly declaring before the watching world and the pagan nations that there is no other god before the living and true God of Israel. So true boldness is not telling God what to do, it's telling the world that you're not ashamed to declare the praises of God. Yeah, that's true.

That's what he's really doing. So many people talk about boldness when it comes to Christian life of like the speak things that aren't as if they were and to come to God, approach God with boldness. Or almost like coercing God and doing like, God, here I'm putting you on the spot in front of this entire coliseum full of people, I know you're going to heal this soul, I know you're going to move in a mighty way, and it's like, I mean, I get it, you're speaking boldly, but at the same time, you're not going to peer pressure God.

Peer pressure God and answer in your prayers. Right. Verse 2 says, I will worship towards your holy temple. Again, the temple has not been built yet at this point. David is still talking to Solomon, he's still commissioning him, still promising him all the treasures, he's giving him instructions and all that, but what David is seeing is hope in the future, this confidence that one day this temple will be built.

That's a good point. And he's going to worship towards the temple and praise your name for your loving kindness. And so the word loving kindness, kaset, means goodness and kindness and mercy and love and steadfast love, unfailing love, all of that. So David adds something more to God's loving kindness. He says, I will worship towards your holy temple and praise your name for your loving kindness and your truth. Both incredibly important.

Loving kindness and truth. On the surface when you read these Psalms, it seems like, oh, I know what they're saying. Oh, I guess he's trying to rhyme this. But on closer observation, what you see is that he's balancing God's nature with God's truth. That's right. They are connected, they are based on each other, but in a sense he is almost lifting up truth and instruction above nature. Yes, yes, which is really kind of the heart of what this episode was here at the beginning. And I think that really elevates it because he's not saying that the name of God is a title. It's saying that, like you said, it reflects his nature, who he is, his loving kindness.

Right, yeah. He wants us to see him as a truthful God more than just he's a loving God and compassionate God. Most of our prayers are like that. God, you're so gracious, you're so kind, you're so merciful.

You never fail us, you're always there for us. But how often do you have prayers that say, God, you are the God of truth. You're the God of facts. You're the God of principles that never fail. That's right. You're the God of doctrine.

Good point. You are the foundational truth of life. We'd rather have those other things that make us feel loved and accepted and worthy. Yeah, and I think you even see this in secular culture these days, especially here in America and in the West. It's like kindness is the ultimate virtue you can have, even over truth.

And I think we're starting to see that, or maybe we are in the midst of seeing that kind of tear our culture apart. Because you now have other virtues coming in, like truth, which are being sidelined. And so when kindness takes over, I love that David is bringing in not truth over kindness, but this perfect harmonious balance between them. Yeah, kindness matters, but God's truth is more important than his nature. It's being elevated over his nature. Yeah, and then it says, the passage that we are focusing on, for you have magnified your word above all your name. Your word, is that like Jesus, like the word of God? He's magnifying Christ? More God's commands than God's promises.

Got you, okay, okay. So God is also a truthful God. He will not sit back and love you and do the best he can to help you. He also wants to speak to you. He has something for you to do, something for you to obey, something for you to affirm.

See, all these other ideas about who God is, his nature is more about how I feel, how I sense, how I connect with him and how I have a relationship with him. Yes, and I emphasize relationship at Clearview. You need to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. True. Having said that, you also need to just stand firmly on the truth of Jesus Christ. Right. That's a good point. Good point. And I think it's also, it's kind of funny when you put it in terms like this, but I think this is what Christians tend to do, is they do focus so hard on the nature of who God is that there's no response to it. So it's like, okay, God is loving, God is kind, God is merciful, he's powerful.

Now, what should I do with that? Right. It's up to me to figure out how to live my life based on those truths, rather than let me see what God says that I should do so that I can do it.

Yeah. You had a question, David. I was wondering, you were talking about truth and the nature of God, and I didn't know if that played into or if that all could be linked to the truth and mercy being the way to gain favor with God and men.

That's a good point. Truth and mercy, yes. I think that passage doesn't say much about that, which one is superior. This passage does in Psalm 138. It does say you have exalted your word above your name. So it does it here.

But I don't think it does it there. But if I were to use Psalm 138 as my plumb line, as my foundation, then I will definitely go to those kind of passages, put mercy and truth around your neck, and thus find favor with God and people. Jesus Christ was full of mercy and full of truth.

That's right. I would definitely go being a faulty human being, lean on the side of truth and less on mercy. Not that you should lower mercy, but I would say definitely lean on the side of truth because truth will be truth.

Mercy, I can be misguided or I can misunderstand and try to show mercy in a situation where mercy is not needed. And also there's that passage in James 2.13. It says, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful, mercy triumphs over judgment. And that's a great point. We need to make sure that when you are judging somebody, in that instance, it's far better to show mercy than to call that person down.

Show mercy. So sometimes people have taken that to apply to truth. Sometime back, who was the guy who wrote that book? Generous Orthodoxy.

I'll tell you very quickly. Generous Orthodoxy. Brian McLaren, I think it is? Braum, Ches... No, hold on. Generous Orthodoxy. Yeah, it's about Chester somebody, but I can tell you who it's by.

Yeah, Brian McLaren. OK. So in this book, it's like Generous Orthodoxy. You can be Orthodox, but just be generous with other people.

And I have to say, no. In that situation, truth should prevail, not mercy. Just for listeners and kind of low-key for me, what does he mean by low-key? I think in his context, he's talking about conservative beliefs. Gotcha, OK. Or historical or historic confession or faith. So be generous about it when some people don't espouse exactly like you do. So you can broaden the umbrella. So he's saying this matters, but the more important thing is that you are merciful, is that you are kind.

So we connect and be loving and kind and hold hands together. Which I guess that's fine maybe 80% of the time, but what happens when those 20% were obedience to the Bible will contradict, not contradict, but will supersede that mercy. In this situation, James 2.13, it's more about judgment in the sense of somebody owes you something. In that situation, let your mercy triumph. Don't exact everything down to the penny and make that person suffer because they owe you that. Let mercy triumph over judgment. So you see how easy it is for us to misunderstand when we take passages out of context and say, you see this right here, have you considered this?

And it's like, yes, I have. God's truth should prevail over just those emotions or those attributes of love and kindness and mercy, stand firm on the truth in a context of judgment where you can exact your bill from that person, show mercy. Let compassion and kindness triumph over the exact amount of that bill or that transgression. Hey, they did this to me? Well, you're going to have to pay for that. I'm going to make sure you suffer just as much you made me suffer. Let mercy triumph over judgment.

Yeah. If you guys enjoyed today's episode or if you have questions or suggestions for new topics, write in and let us know, 252-582-5028, or you can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com. Don't forget, you can partner with us financially on that same website.

Scroll to the bottom, click that donate button, and join me from our Clear View Today Show family. Jon, what's coming up on tomorrow's episode? Talking about receiving Christ by faith. You know, you have to receive him by faith first, right? And so it's one of these things where it's like, we're living in a world of, I have to see it to believe it. I've got to have all the evidence and all the empirical data laid out right in front of me. Well, guess what, friends? You are listening to a biblical scholar who has empirical data and evidence for days and days and days.

But all of that, all of it, will mean nothing to you if you don't approach with a heart of faith. So we're gonna talk about that on tomorrow's episode. Love it, make sure you guys are here. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clear View Today.