What kind of a God is in Torah?

Without the establishment of a particular divine-human relationship in the Torah—one based on loyalty to a suzerain rather than codependence—the natural reaction to the moral instruction of the New Testament is to psychologize the Great Symbiosis. This means we would imagine that God requires specific actions on our part to meet his emotional and psychological needs—that we are expected to make God happy by satisfying his craving for worship and moral punctiliousness—and that failure to do so will bring horrendous consequences. Indeed, a great many Christians today, having neglected the Torah or failed to understand it, believe exactly this, usually justified by a misinterpretation of Hosea 6:6. At the same time, however, the value of the Torah is not primarily to convey the theological fact that the God of Israel has no needs. Many worldviews already believe that God or the gods have no needs, but the Torah has value for them as well. The primary value for the Torah outside of the original context of covenant Israel is the role it plays in helping us make sense of the New Testament.—Walton and Walton, The Lost World of the Torah, 216

Sun of My Soul, Thou Savior Dear

502 Sun of My Soul, Thou Savior Dear

1 Sun of my soul, Thou Savior dear,
   it is not night if Thou be near;
   O may no earthborn cloud arise,
   to hide Thee from Thy servant's eyes.

2 When the soft dews of kindly sleep
   my weary eyelids gently steep,
   be my last thought how sweet to rest
   forever on my Savior's breast.

3 Abide with me from morn till eve,
   for without Thee I cannot live;
   abide with me when night is nigh,
   for without Thee I dare not die.

4 If some poor wand'ring child of Thine
   has spurned today the voice divine,
   now, Lord, the gracious work begin;
   let him no more lie down in sin.

5 Watch by the sick; enrich the poor
   with blessings from Thy boundless store;
   be every mourner's sleep tonight
   like infant's slumbers, pure and light.

6 Come near and bless us when we wake,
   ere through the world our way we take,
   till in the ocean of Thy love
   we lose ourselves in heav'n above.
                         John Keble
                         The Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

<idle musing>
I don't recall ever singing this hymn, but it occurs in almost 1500 hymnals. It does seem to fit my mood today, though…
</idle musing>

What kind of God?

We believe that the Torah also provides revelation for Christians today. As we have noted, however, since the Torah is situated in the ancient world, in the covenant with Israel, and in the context of sacred space, the revelation that we receive (we could call it the canonical revelation) takes on a different focus. The purpose of the Torah was to give Israel—and through them, the nations—an understanding of their God. If we want to understand the value of the Torah today, we might ask what our understanding of God would be if we did not have it. Imagine what Moses might have thought if confronted by Jesus and the New Testament writers in the second millennium BC. Without any further resources, he would have assumed that the God Jesus was claiming to be was more or less the same as the gods he knew from his culture—self-interested and exploitative, expecting Israel to provide for his needs but willing to offer benefits in exchange.—Walton and Walton, The Lost World of the Torah, 215

At Thy Feet, Our God and Father

498 At Thy Feet, Our God and Father

1 At Thy feet, our God and Father,
   Who hast blessed us all our days,
   We with grateful hearts would gather
   To begin this hour with praise:
   Praise for light so brightly shining
   On our steps from heaven above;
   Praise for mercies daily twining
   Round us golden cords of love.

2 Jesus, for Thy love most tender
   On the cross for sinners shown,
   We would praise Thee and surrender
   All our hearts to be Thine own.
   With so blest a Friend provided,
   We upon our way would go,
   Sure of being safely guided,
   Guarded well from every foe.

3 Every day will be the brighter
   When Thy gracious face we see;
   Every burden will be lighter
   When we know it comes from Thee.
   Spread Thy love’s broad banner o’er us;
   Give us strength to serve and wait,
   Till Thy glory breaks before us
   Thro' the city’s open gate.
                         James D. Burns
                         The Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

Now the Day Is Over (hymn)

495 Now the Day Is Over

1 Now the day is over,
   Night is drawing nigh;
   Shadows of the evening
   Steal across the sky.

2 Jesus, give the weary
   Calm and sweet repose;
   With Thy tenderest blessing
   May our eye lids close.

3 Grant to little children
   Visions bright of Thee;
   Guard the sailors tossing
   On the deep, blue sea.

4 Comfort every sufferer
   Watching late in pain;
   Those who plan some evil,
   From their sins restrain.

5 Through the long night-watches
   May Thine angels spread
   Their white wings above me,
   Watching round my bed.

6 When the morning wakens,
   Then may I arise
   Pure and fresh and sinless
   In Thy holy eyes.
                         Sabine Baring-Gould
                         The Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

<idle musing>
This seems a good hymn for a new year!

The author of this hymn is the same person who wrote Onward, Christian Soldiers, which I posted on about a year ago. That hymn occurs in more than 1600 hymnals, but this one occurs in "only" about 950. He also wrote other hymns, but none were nearly as popular as these two.
</idle musing>