The Table of Thine Heart
GCD Newsletter - Monday, April 24th, 2023
“My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.
Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.”KJV, Proverbs 7:1–3
Whenever I hear these words from Proverbs 7, a familiar verse from Shakespeare comes to mind, “Mine eye hath play'd the painter and hath stell'd1, Thy beauty's form in table of my heart.” Sonnet 242 was one of my favourite poems growing up, but now looking back, I can see the parallel I’d missed as a young man. As Christians we are to delight in the word of God, even when the world would instead take the place of the creator, writing whatever lesser beauty they like in its place, whether that be a lover, a false teaching, or the latest trends and talking points.
As a young man I was all too happy to make someone else, something else, my everything, even though I longed to follow Christ. Our hearts are fickle, and it is for this very reason that we need reminding, need to be taught, to receive encouragement, exhortation, and correction. There are, in essence, only two options, we follow the path of Christ to the Father, laying up treasures in heaven, or follow Shakespeare’s sonnet, and collect for ourselves perishable beauty which will one day turn to dust.
This week’s articles remind us to look back to Jesus’ teaching and forgive those who have sinned against us; look forward to Jesus’ second coming, and what that will mean for us as Christians; and finally to look to the teaching we receive each Sunday, to think seriously about our hearts towards our Pastor and his words, and how we might support him in that endeavour.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” we read in Revelation 1:8, these truths shouldn’t leave us the same, they should affect our lives. This God calls us sons and daughters, and his words are worth binding around our fingers and writing on our hearts.
Nothing else will ever come close.
Grace and Peace,
Adsum Try Ravenhill is married to Anna and together they are passionate about seeing young men and women discipled within the context of the local church. You can find Adsum through his writing at The Raven’s Writing Desk and you can also find Adsum’s articles for GCD here.
Articles of the Week at GCDiscipleship.com
What’s a Sermon? A Perspective for People in the Pews (Part I Of III)?
Adsum Try Ravenhill
Your pastor has in mind the decades old addict who turns up each week who he’s sure is about to receive faith for the very first time, the struggling saint who feels incapable of giving up their nightly gossip, and the bleary-eyed suffering servant who has gone through great pain to be here.
Preaching is for the one closest to God, furthest from him, and for the preacher himself. Preaching is for the congregation, for a sinful choir who needs to be led to worship God once more.
Recurring Memories, Repeated Forgiveness
Diane Jones
Jesus calls us to forgive for our peace of mind—and for our soul’s sake. The consequences of replaying past hurts and wrongs can be anger, bitterness, and depression. We can be so focused and caught up in ourselves, that we find it impossible to think of others, and especially to love and serve them.
Jesus Is Coming with a Gracious Disposition Toward His People
John Piper
The eternal purpose of God’s predestining his people for adoption was that we would praise the glory of his grace. That was God’s plan for the ages before the ages began: the praise of the glory of God’s grace.
Stell’d likely means “Steeled” i.e. to write, or possible “Stelled” which might mean to put into place.
Mine eye hath play'd the painter and hath stell'd
Thy beauty's form in table of my heart;
My body is the frame wherein 'tis held,
And perspective it is the painter's art.
For through the painter must you see his skill,
To find where your true image pictured lies;
Which in my bosom's shop is hanging still,
That hath his windows glazed with thine eyes.
Now see what good turns eyes for eyes have done:
Mine eyes have drawn thy shape, and thine for me
Are windows to my breast, where-through the sun
Delights to peep, to gaze therein on thee;
Yet eyes this cunning want to grace their art;
They draw but what they see, know not the heart.