smerickson.com the personal website of steven m. erickson

LINK: Jonathan Edwards @ Yale.edu

This semester I have been taking a gym class in order to fulfill the PE requirement for graduation. This morning I offered the devotional before our workout. I thought I’d post it here.

“As a door turns on its hinges, so does a sluggard on his bed.” ~ Proverbs 26:14

This morning I would like to do a bit of a history lesson. I want to reflect on this verse through the life of Jonathan Edwards. Edwards was a Puritan pastor in North Hampton, Mass during the 18th Century. He is probably most known for his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” This is somewhat unfortunate, because although Edwards was very concerned about sin and firmly believed in a literal hell, a good portion of his writing was devoted to the study of the affections and happiness. He has been called by some, “the greatest mind that America has ever produced.” The reason why I bring up Edwards today is to reflect for a moment on his daily schedule.

In accordance with the verse for today, Edwards rose every morning around 4am; this is partly because he would spend close to 13 hours each day in study. Although Edwards was 6”1’, he was not of great strength and he was often plagued by sickness. Yet these did not hinder his daily activities. He maintained the rigor of his study schedule only with strict attention to diet and exercise. Everything was calculated to optimize his efficiency and power to study. One of his biographers writes that he “carefully observed the effects of the different sorts of food, and selected those which best suited his constitution, and rendered him most fit for mental labor.” He therefore abstained from eating those foods which made him sick or sleepy. This was in accord with his Resolutions, which he wrote at the age of 21. They are a collection of statements by which he lived his life. Two that are most pertinent to us are numbers 20 and 40. They read:

20. Resolved, to maintain the strictest temperance in eating and drinking.

40. Resolved, to inquire every night, before I go to bed, whether I have acted in the best way I possibly could, with respect to eating and drinking. Jan. 7, 1723.

An entry from his diary reads:

“By a sparingness in diet, and eating as much as may be what is light and easy of digestion, I shall doubtless be able to think more clearly, and shall gain time: 1. By lengthening out my life; 2. Shall need less time for digestion, after meals; 3. Shall be able to study more closely, without injury to my health; 4. Shall need less time for sleep; 5. Shall more seldom be troubled with the head-ache.”

Not only was Edwards attentive to his diet, but he also was intentional about exercise. During the summer, he was fond of going horseback riding for hours at a time and of walking through the forest. In the winter, he would spend time chopping wood for half and hour a day in order to stay in good health. There is much that we can learn from Edward’s writing, and I recommend them to you, but we can also learn something from his lifestyle which facilitated such excellent writing. Today, consider your own health and its profitableness for your studies.

God's Passion for His Glory
A small survey of the reasons behind God's working in redemptive history

1. Why did God create?
"Bring my sons and daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory" - Isaiah 43.6-7

2. Why did He elect Israel among all the nations of the world?
"I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the LORD, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory." - Jeremiah 13.11

3. Why did He save them from Egypt?
"Our fathers, when they were in Egypt did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the Sea, at the Red sea. Yet he saved them for his name"s sake, that he might make known his mighty power." - Psalm 106.7-8

4. Why did He spare them in the wilderness when they complained against Him?
"But I withheld my hand and acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out." - Ezekiel 20.22

5. Why did He not punish the people in the time after they asked for a king?
"Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. For the LORD will not forsake his people, for his great name"s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you a people for himself." " 1 Samuel 12.20-22

6. Why did He restrain His anger during the Babylonian Captivity?
"For my name"s sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you. . . . For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another." - Isaiah 48.9, 11

"Thus says the LORD God: it is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes." " Ezekiel 36.22-23

8. Why did Christ come?
"Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you." " John 17.1

"Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God"s truthfulness, in order to confirm, the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy." - Romans 15.7

9. Why does He forgive our sin?
"For your name"s sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great." - Psalm 25.11

10. Why does He work to will and to do His good pleasure in sanctification?
"Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified." - Isaiah 60.21

"He restores my soul, He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name"s sake." - Psalm 23.3

11. Why is He coming again?
"When he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all those who have believed." - 2 Thessalonians 1.9

(This small list was compiled with the help of a couple of theological giants, John Piper and Jonathan Edwards. Men who are described as having a God entranced vision of all things.)

Over the course of this year, I have had conversations with some friends concerning God’s sovereignty and evil. Each time, I am reminded of the amazing words of Jonathan Edwards on this subject. Edwards was a brilliant man; his knowledge of the Scriptures and his ability to preach and expound them are simply amazing. I commend this reading to all those who wish to have a better understanding concerning God’s sovereign control over all things, including evil.

Is God less glorious because he ordained that evil be John Piper and Jonathan Edwards

Also, for those who would like a deeper reading from Edwards on issues related to this, I recommend The End for Which God Created the World: Jonathan Edwards