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We are here today, standing on a rolling ball, trying to maintain our balance yet balanced by an unseen hand.
We are suspended between the ground beneath and the sky above and somehow unimpressed.
We are ever bumping into one another and looking the other way with muttered apologies for living.
We see through and around and over and under with the illusion of our own invisibility.
We are witnesses to what we are and what we know and who we know and choose to live in anonymity.
And we live on, day after day, moment after moment in the drudgery of routine and the ritual of sameness moving steadily toward some undefined goal we call "retirement."
Retirement from what?
Indeed we are tired, but not from engagement, not from work. Work never wearied a soul engaged in purposeful pursuit. Work invigorates, regenerates, and illuminates our lives for what they are and are to be ....
We ...
We are called, chosen, and unfrozen to be instruments of peace, God's peace, to sow seeds of love, kindness, joy, and healing.
And if we ever get caught up with that, we can talk about retirement.
So get up, get connected, feed your face, wash your teeth, and move out.
That being said, here are some random observations from an imperfect interpreter of scripture and life:
My take-away lesson from Jeremiah is that some suffering is necessary. Jesus taught this too and embodied it and, when encouraged to avoid the suffering, He put the "plan" ahead of His own interests and well-being.
But ... nevertheless ... and more of the most .... the words"rise again" were there all along.
"And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”"
(Mark 8:31-33 ESV)
And then, there is this:
" For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings."
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified."
(1 Corinthians 9:19-27 ESV)
Strategic living and speaking.
This is the take-away I get from this epistle lesson today - that we are to consider the consequences of our words and deeds in terms of their impact on others.
There is not law that says we cannot be relatable and truthful at the same time. We can be authentic and not be intentionally offensive. If truth offends, that is one thing; if I offend, that is a matter of false pride and a deficit of love.
How I live and what I speak are strategic opportunities for doing good and advancing God's kingdom of love and grace.
It takes discipline and sometimes I do not do all that well at it.
But , beyond the easy stuff, here are the really hard words on thinking we have all the answers for every situation:
" Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD. They say continually to those who despise the word of the LORD, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”"
"For who among them has stood in the council of the LORD to see and to hear his word, or who has paid attention to his word and listened? Behold, the storm of the LORD! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it clearly."
"“I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds."
"“Am I a God at hand, declares the LORD, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD. I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal? Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? declares the LORD. Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the LORD, who steal my words from one another. Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the LORD, who use their tongues and declare, ‘declares the LORD.’ Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the LORD, and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the LORD."
(Jeremiah 23:16-32 ESV)
There is a stinging indictment here that I, and thousands of preachers can do well to heed today. Jeremiah conveys a sobering issue. Prophets who declare their own dreams and interpretations infallible and speak words of false assurance that do no profit the people. Those who speak to us and say that suffering is bad on the surface and that we can be completely rid of it if we speak the right words or have the right faith, may be short-circuiting the faith process in someone's life.
Those who tell us that no matter what we think, do, or speak, everything will be OK, and are not talking about ultimate, but temporal outcomes, are setting people up for disaster.
Those who assure us that our choices do not matter because there are no consequences, are not being loving in their declarations.
What we do matters. The choices we make take us down paths that lead somewhere. Grace enters in. Mercy is ever-present, but laws of sowing and reaping are built into the very fabric of the universe to teach us how to live.
Syllogisms such as, "if A=B and B=C, then A=C" are divine principles that can only be defied by divine intervention and such intervention is most generally, not in our long-term best interest.
Anyone can make up anything. It can be made up in our subconscious and believed in our consciousness. Then, when communicated with "authority," it is believed by others.
The prophetic role is a dangerous role, not just for the prophet, but for the listener.
Vain hopes are harmful and unnecessary in the light of the solid hope we already have. We might have tough times ahead, but we will ultimately make it. Just don't despise the hard times or dismiss them as non-existent. They are also our teachers.
I write, therefore I think. I think, therefore I write. I get it out, look at it, and evaluate if it rings true. I stink, therefore, I am. If it smells like me, it might be me, Be patient.
"It is in dying that we are born to eternal life." - Prayer of St. Francis
So, let me die today and die daily. There is nothing in my instincts to pray such a prayer. But then, there is nothing in my instinctual drive to cling ... ... to extinct-ual or ... extinguishable "living" that lives beyond the moment. I pray to resist that drive, that urge, that urgency to survive that extinguishes life. Some day, that will mean laying down my body, but, today it means ... laying down this body of sin, of self, of sensual necessity that says, "I am thee," but is not me. Nor is it Thee in me, Oh God who knows and gives and lives in and through all who die this way. I prayed, "Kill me," and Thou didst not... and would not. You said, "Just die and live," and I tried it and I did and there You were! You handed me a cross and said, "Go carry it." And I asked, "What is it?" And You said, "It is the pain and suffering and pain and disgust, and ugliness, and bad choices, and bitter gall, and nasty words, thoughts, and accusations, and hateful hurts of those You will meet today." And I said, "Why should I?" And You said, "Because I did and do and you said that You wanted to follow me and this is what we carry." And I said, "The burden is too heavy." And You said, "I know." And I asked, "So?" And You said, "Go ... I am with you." And so ... I did ... at least that day and then I asked, "What do I do with them?" And You said, "Bring them to me," and I replied, "But You already have all of these," and You said, "Mind Your own business, I've got it handled." I said. "OK, You are the Master," and You smiled and said, "I know." Master, this really feels and lot like living and You said, "I know. I told you so. What you though was living, was not. It distorts your view because the lens is sprinkled with mirrors always pointing back at you and seeing life and events and people from ego and self-interest and it is not in your self-interest to be that interested in yourself. Deadsville! Die to Deadsville and live!" In so many words :) And so, Lord, I die today, I nail Deadsville and my citizenship there with all my credentials and investments to Your cross. Thanks for my cross. It fits me. I sort of like it. I know I love this new life You have given me and I really love these people You keep bringing into my life. Help me to bear their burdens until I can get them to You and Thank You for bearing them and mine. I am starting to get it ... It is in dying that we are born To eternal life. I look forward to seeing You face to face some day, When I have laid down this body of flesh and this cross. Thanks for the invitation and for paying the admission price. Thank You, my Jesus, My Lord, my Savior, my Friend, and My Brother, Amen.
I was reading several scriptures a while back that may not have been designed to harmonize, but they did.
That is the way things work sometimes with the reading programs to which I subscribe.
On that day, I read Psalms 70,71, and 74, Genesis 42:29-38, 1 Corinthians 6:12-30, and Mark 4:21-34. I did not try to synthesize everything, but I had some thoughts.
I was impressed that the Psalmist asks God to be in a hurry. "Make haste!"
Have I often prayed, "Hurry up, God?"
How do I hurry a God who is in no hurry, who has time absolutely under control?
"I am poor and needy," I join him in saying, and it is true. He knows that.
"In you, I take refuge." That's really all the refuge I ultimately need. This is not to discount the need of community, but if all else fails, He will not.
Then, the story of Joseph kicked in and the brothers are Joseph are having their own "come to Jesus" meeting.
Paul reminds us that "hot stuff" that we think we are, we've been bought with a price.
So, how could we think that God would forsake us? He would not even discard the treacherous brothers of Joseph. It took over a generation for them to find the opportunity to repent.
Jesus speaks up to teach us that everything big was once small, The Kingdom of God, at its essence, within us and within the world, can be as tiny as a mustard seed. That which begins small, has great potential.
God's in no hurry, but He will make haste to deliver us ... only to teach us to trustfully wait for the accomplishment of His purposes.
I guess if it works for soy sauce, it should work for us.
I set urgent goals, make urgent plans, play urgent roles, Pray urgent prayers, seek urgent interventions for my urgent cares. God quietly, silently, patiently hears my cries, my fears, my sobbing tears. God speaks and cage-rattles as silently and patiently to my rage- battles. And urgency gives way to intentionality .... And rush to order ... And I step into a different time-line where all that was slow Is fast And all that was fast Is slow And everything Is right on time.
"Hear my prayer, O LORD; give ear to my pleas for mercy! In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!"
Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name.
Amen.
Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life.
Mutual communication with God is going on far beneath the surface of our lives.
Not only do we often not know what to pray, we often know not what we are praying.
This is not said that we might disengage our minds, but that, with engagement, we might also release our spirits to commune with the Holy Spirit who knows, overcomes, and even uses our weaknesses in prayer even as He does in our outward lives.
“And the woman left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, ’Come, see a man, who told me all the things that I ever did. Is this not the Christ?’” – John 4:28-29
Are we too attached to our water pots to carry the call of Jesus to our cities? Are we so fixated on our trivial tasks that we cannot leave them to bear witness to His power, grace, and truth?
Here was a woman with the worst reputation in the village and she went to the very people with whom she had made her reputation. To the men of the city, with whom she had no credibility at all, she declared the credibility of Jesus.
At least they would talk to her. And she did it without the slightest hint of intimidation and completely undistracted by the unfinished mission that had taken her to the well in the first place.
Who cares about two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen when you can have living water?
Washing clothes can wait.
Cooking can be done later.
Even drinking water can be postponed.
It’s not everyday that you have a chance to meet a man who can tell you everything you have ever done – and in such a way that you feel love, forgiveness, and acceptance rather that shame, guilt, and fear.
This woman had been summoned to a new mission, a higher calling. She received the call and bore the call with passionate conviction and urgency. The call is upon us and on our lips, but if it is to be heard by the people of the cities, we must leave our water pots and deliver it in person
Romans 1:21 - "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened."
This indictment is about what we do with what we know. It is an offense to reason not to be thankful to God and glorify Him as God. Thanksgiving is a national holiday because even non-believers have enough understanding to know that they did not create all the blessings of this world.
There will always be more left unknown than grasped with our mortal minds. We do not know all there is to know about God. We don't know a fraction. What we do know is enough to call us to worship.
People have known God through the centuries. They have known enough to treat Him like God. How is that? Worship-fully, doing what we call "glorifying."
To glorify is to recognize the extreme weightiness of a matter. In this case, it is to take God so seriously that we stand in awe, are struck down by the sheer magnitude of His power and are overwhelmed with the right kind of fear as we behold Him.
The right kind of reverence is the stuff that makes our jaws drop, that leaves us speechless, that causes us to tremble, that turns on the lights and lets us know that if we get this part right, we don't really have to worry about anything else.
Paul says folks who knew God failed to be
What does God want?
He wants us to take Him seriously. He wants us to glorify Him and be thankful to Him.
Only when we take God seriously, can we take ourselves seriously - or anything else for that matter. Paul says that without the cornerstone of acknowledgement of God as God, man became and we become futile thinkers and vain engineers of imagination. Any moment of thanksgiving is a good time to renew this important missing element of worship in our lives.
God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.
I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— Romans 1:9-11
I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while. Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord’s people there. For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem. - Romans 15:24-26
To what extent would Paul travel to impart a spiritual gift and receive a material gift for others?
The answer is that he would make great sacrifices and suffer untold hardships to be a vessel of giving. To impart a spiritual gift enriched the lives of those receiving the gift. But it also enriched the life of the church.
Receiving a monetary gift would enrich the church. But it would also bless the giver and the recipient of the gift. Paul himself would be encouraged by the opportunity to participate in this process. When true Spirit-filled, God-directed giving takes place, no one loses and everyone gains. In the tangible expressions of our submission to God there is no subtraction, only multiplication.
To view life this way requires that we step out of ourselves and understand our significance as part of something larger than our own interests. We must deny ourselves to the extent that our hopes, dreams, and preferences are of lesser importance than the Kingdom of God.
From whence comes such a radical attitude? It comes from the place of prayer where we learn to say, “the will of God” with deep reverence and joyous anticipation. It comes from the exercise of His presence in devotion and contemplation of His Word. It comes from earnest seeking in the closet of solitude where He changes our heartbeat to pulsate with His own rhythm. In short, the attitude that embraces the twin Christian graces of giving and receiving comes from God Himself.
One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple. – Psalm 27:4
The Greeks had a curious concept of beauty. It had to do with the relationship between the common word for beauty and the word for hour. Something truly beautiful had come to its hour much as the fruit is most fragrant and delectable at the hour of its ripeness.
David understood that the beauty of God was eternal. It transcended time and space. If he could linger in the presence of God all the days of his life, none of God’s beauty would diminish. There would be no decay.
God is consistently beautiful and is the very logos behind all beauty. All that we consider lovely in the arts and in nature finds its perfect form in Him.
For that reason every work of art or music that is offered to God is to be a reflection of His loveliness. Every edifice of architecture, every sonnet, every work of literature, every dramatic presentation or dance, all of these and more are to be the best we can give that He may be honored and His beauty, through us made manifest.
We are to give God our best and trust Him to supply the rest.
For David, beholding the beauty of God was a step toward inquiring of Him. He knew that he could gaze upon God in whatever way He disclosed Himself as a means of meditating upon His truth.
History, whether Heilsgeschichte (Salvation history), political history, social, or any other sort of history, is the story of learning, remembering, forgetting, cycling over and over, making some progress, taking some steps back, but always leaving markers along the trail of human experience.
The meaning emerges from the reflective insights that bubble forth in scriptural interpretation and contemplative prayer focused upon the key questions we ask and are asked by God and our fellow travelers.
Joseph died. His brothers died. His whole generation died.
At some point, all that will be left us us on earth will be the elements of our legacies.
What comes next is that which sets the stage for our decisions to reverence God and act with justice toward others or to bow to the waves of power and intimidation.
Deliverance would come decisively to the oppressed, but this passage only pulls back the curtain to reveal many coming years of darkness and oppression during which faithfulness itself would have to serve as its only reward.
It is a piece of the history.
Exodus 1:6-22: Then Joseph died, and all his brothers, and that whole generation.
But the Israelites were fruitful and prolific; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.
Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
He said to his people, "Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land."
Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.
The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites, and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.
The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, "When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live."
But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, "Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?"
The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them."
So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong.
And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, "Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live."
We can help to shape the world through our influence.
We can change the course of history.
But we cannot freeze it. Time, altered by any influence, does not stagnate. We shall leave a legacy and others shall build upon it. We are responsible for the present while we live inasmuch as it is within the scope of our influence and actions.
After that, something of us remains, is remembered, is forgotten, continues to impact the world, but never dominates history again.
We shall die. All shall die. But as long as we live and beyond our lives, our living matters.
My tribe has a checkered history with forced conversions, violent power-grabbing, and militaristic exercise of religious dominance.
To deny that is to deny history.
To not care is to ignore scripture.
We are flawed in our common humanity and sin with a lust for power that we are willing to exercise with violence and coercion.
Our religions, no matter how legitimate or illegitimate can be illegitimately co-opted as an excuse for that power-lust and every evil methodology we can muster to acquire what we want and think we deserve.
At the moment, the world is experiencing an extreme and frightening expression and demonstration of this. It is not the first in history and probably will not be the last. Everyone has a different name for it and the names are debated, but it is all one thing throughout history.
There are political and military battles that shall be waged, but the most important battle is unseen; it is timeless; it is the most real. It is waged in the secret place of prayer, the public place of speaking truth in love, and the relational place of living the life of faith to which we have been called - to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.
A sure way to invoke the wrath of those who are for war is to be for peace.
It will take all of your prayer and strength not to break with your resolve, not to lash out, and not to wish ill upon your tormentors for their anger can be strong and their condemnation can be chilling.
But you have your marching orders from a higher commander and you are declared to be blessed by the Prince of Peace.
" Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar! Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war!"
We are compulsive arrangers ... at least those of us who labor under the dysfunctions of our own control issues. We want to organize, fix, and manipulate things so that they will work the way we want them and never challenge our comforts, preferences, or aversion to chaos.
What follows from Paul is not a call to chaos or a condemnation of organization. Rather it is a reminder that the great arranger is not some composite of us. Whatever we can do is not greater than what God is doing.
Behind the scenes, beneath the surface, and above our heads, something is going on beyond our control pointing to a better arrangement of things in the kingdom that we could arrange ourselves.
And it takes all the players.
1 Corinthians 12:12-26: For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-- and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body.
And if the ear would say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."
On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another.
If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.
Don't report the final score before the whistle blows and don't assume that set backs predict loss.
Furthermore, don't pursue that which is easy, popular, or compatible with the dominant narrative of any generation at the cost of the soul-searching, soul-wrenching, upside-down message of sacrifice, service, and radical discipleship.
The depth, reality, and long-term character of the call is seldom what would seem most expeditious in a meeting of our own minds for the purpose of securing short-term gains.
Mark 8:27-9:1: Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" And they answered him, "John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets."
He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Messiah."
And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly.
And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
And he said to them, "Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power."
"He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings." - Psalm 40:2
I tread cautiously on the subject of safety. I have to deal with it daily. As an employer, a pastor, and a program leader, I am responsible for the safety of people under my care and I take it seriously. I also value the lives of people who are murdered and victimized by evil forces in the world.
Yet, for myself and others who follow Jesus, safety is not an ultimate value, not a temporal one.
It is often misunderstood as the absence of danger or trouble or even risk.
That is not the characteristic of the Christian life. Rather, Christianity promises ultimate safety and the safety of ultimate things. He has brought us, by His grace, through dangers, toils, and snares. These we have experienced fully and yet, safely, unscathed spiritually by external circumstances and with the confidence that His grace will lead us home to eternal safety.
(Ezekiel 34:27) And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them.
There is a time and a place for emphasizing safety first without ‘playing it safe” throughout life.
It is grace, God’s grace that brings us to the safe place for He Himself is the rock of safety for our lives.
The struggles are present to teach us the source of our strength. The hardships train us to know that He is the LORD. We have come this far to realize that we must trust Him for our deliverance.
(Psalm 4:8) I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety. (Proverbs 21:31) The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD.
While we look for false and temporal assurances, we miss the full impact of what peace, sleep, and safety in Him really are. When we trust in what we can control, we falter.
The reality is that we are never safe from the threats of physical and emotional harm in this world, but we can be eternally and ultimately safe.
Grace has brought us safe thus far. Nothing else could. We neither earned it nor deserved it. It was simply grace, unmerited favor toward unworthy human beings whom He happens to love passionately and unconditionally.
What a blessing to be counted among them.
We may be in temporal danger, but we are set free from the fear of it.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever beleiveth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” – John 3:16
It is the first verse we learned as children and the one that remains dearest to our hearts. It is the gospel in a verse. It is so familiar that it is tempting to treat it as trite.
It is a glimpse into the very heart of God and it deeply informs our understanding of His purposes and ways.
God paints a world of people in brilliant colors. He then, stands back and gazes upon it with admiration and love.
We were taught to insert our names in place of “the world.” This morning, I would encourage you to insert your neighbors’ names.
Any Christian world view must acknowledge how God sees hurting humanity. They are the objects of His relentless and unfailing love.
The extent to which He will go to redeem is shown in the life and death of Jesus.
If you and I have been invited to join Him in His work and vision, it must include such love of the the people He loves.
We cannot pass it off as theoretical or poetic.
God’s love is gutsy, giving, and gregarious. His call is to share His love with the open invitation to all to receive and believe.
Visualize an individual, family, or neighborhood where lost people live. See the faces and view them through the eyes of Jesus. Imagine their lives changed by His liberating love and grace. Ask God what part you and your church play in actively and sacrificially loving them.
If we say that we desire the very heart of God to beat within us, we must love the lost. If we would be holy and consecrated people, we must filter our judgments and choices through that love. If we have any hope of becoming Christ-like, it will be as this love flows through us.
I considered posting 1oo,000 digits of Pi which, until recently, was as far as anyone has ever really wanted to publish on a popular web site, but it was 116 pages long. So, you can just look it up here. The old record for calculations was 22 trillion. Emma Haruka Iwao just knocked that out of the sky with 32 trillion. Everyone needs a hobby for their free time.
I know I am impressed.
I have always been impressed with π . It is a lot like asking me about my grand kids. You never hear the end of it.
God is in the numbers in this case. He is infinite and, for all we can tell, so is Pi.
Pi is also a lot like life and like pie.
You can only eat it one slice at a time.
It is circular in some ways.
It is linear in others.
It expands with every step.
It also seems to be cyclical.
It has certain parameters, but it expands to make room for new possibilities.
It can be sweet, but bitter like rhubarb if you forget the sugar.
It can be fruity, nutty, or rich.
It can be very satisfying or leave you wanting more.
Pi and Pie are coincidentally connected, but then, so are all of us.
When people tell me that they have an issue with God, sometimes a complaint, sometimes real anger, I often ask, "Have you discussed it with God? Have you told God how you feel?"
"I could not do that," they might respond.
"Why not?" I ask.
"I am afraid to do that. God might get angry back at me."
Not so, not for that. God's anger is what we experience when we resist the fierceness of unrelenting love. We are in a storm and we can ride the storm or wage war against the storm, but we cannot ignore the storm.
Jeremiah, like the psalmist, invites us into the arena of honest prayer where we wrestle with ourselves and speak honestly with God. He prays throughout the book his scribe recorded. It is not always pretty, but often comes to this:
" I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps. Correct me, O LORD, but in justice; not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing."
(Jeremiah 10:23-24 ESV)
He puts it out there and is willing to be corrected. He trusts God that God can correct Him in justice and not in anger.
I want to be corrected. Don't you? Why would I ever want to continue in a course of unproductive, destructive thinking or behavior? I want to be set upon the right track. My days, like yours, are numbered and I want them to count.
Looking back a few verses, he prays the prayer of as disillusioned man:
" Woe is me because of my hurt! My wound is grievous. But I said, “Truly this is an affliction, and I must bear it.” My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken; my children have gone from me, and they are not; there is no one to spread my tent again and to set up my curtains. For the shepherds are stupid and do not inquire of the LORD; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered."
(Jeremiah 10:19-21 ESV)
Prayer is a process. Indeed we pray with the news around us in one hand and the Bible in the other and we are shaped by our dialogue with One who hears and cares.
Whatever you feel, pray.
Our deepest desires lead us and draw us into His presence to discover that His presence has already surrounded us.
It becomes unclear sometimes in the cycle of the central verse who is speaking because the WORD is embedded in each word and even the longing complaint of the heart is met with the reassuring comfort of the Presence.
It is especially evident when we pray, "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God."
This is our song when we are preparing our hearts to come before God and discover that God is already with us.
Our panting turmoil does not go unheard. Hear and pray with the Sons of Korah:
"Why Are You Cast Down, O My Soul?"
"To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah."
"As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival."
"Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God."
"My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar."
We are students of our own bodies within our own bodies.
There is much we can learn philosophically, theologically, ecologically,and poetically.
Our eyes are fixed on the MRI of our souls filtered through the lens of protoplasmic materialized principles that govern life, mechanics, and the universe.
The body is made up of multiple systems, but no system can be compartmentalized in complete isolation.
Physically, we are a system of systems.
Then, there is the integration of the physical and the emotional which is less tangible, but observable.
Moving outward while moving inward, the spiritual dimension is least measurable or controllable, but no less real.
From there, we move into our immediate environment and beyond the immediate where everything is connected by implication and integration.
Nothing operates in a vacuum and nothing and no one is an island.
It is great territory for meditation and a vast battleground for mediation.
The biblical writers chose their metaphors carefully to leave us plenty of room for exploration.
Here is a startling and provocative statement coming straight from Jesus:
"Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple….So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions." - Luke 14:26, 33
Was it designed to shock?
Did it work?
Did it get your attention?
Is it hyperbole? Doesn't it contradict almost everything else Jesus said?
Many "yes" answers emerge, but there is also a "yes" to the unasked question.
What is the unasked question?
It is this:
It is a drastic and dramatic thing to turn one's back on everything to focus on one thing. What kind of hate is this that is absolutely compatible with unconditional love?
What kind of dying is this that culminates in eternal living and what kind of emptying is it that fills us?
Everything is redefined in Jesus.
Every value is reordered.
Every love is reoriented.
What looked like love is revealed as dysfunctional, self-serving, enabling mush-mush when compared to the true love that transforms us and causes us to live out the Great Commandment -- not only better, but from a new perspective.
There will be people who say you hate them because you no longer let them control you or prevent you from following your calling.
Those who stand in your way from following Jesus will take it as personal rejection and hate.
People will say, "How do you say you are following love when you do not let me manipulate you the way I want to?"
And then, we stop to consider our possession before following. We assess cost in terms of dollars and cents. Can I afford it? Jesus says you cannot - not if you insist on holding on to anything.
And then, the ambivalence kicks in.
How do we let go without being drama kings and queens, throwing everything down, turning our backs, shaking the dust off our feet, and moving on in the path where Jesus walks ahead of us?
This sort of hate and abandonment is the gateway to true love and fulfillment.
How can it be?
I'll answer it the way Jesus sometimes did:
Go figure.
When we are done figuring, our own ambivalence will have faded into a decision
“In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.” - Titus 2:7-8
We have a pattern problem.We have developed behaviors that we practice consistently, habitually, and without much thought.
We start practicing these behaviors before we crawl out of bed in the morning and condition ourselves to practice them before we lay our heads on our pillows at night. When we realize that some of these behaviors are negative or destructive, we have a battle on our hands removing them.
When we determine to introduce positive practices to the mix, we find that there is no room for the old is crowding out the new.
The basic and primary change is in our attitudes. Then we can address behaviors. We need new patterns. We need to replace old, worn-out, useless and even harmful behaviors with newer, more nurturing and positive actions. What are the steps?
First, we must make the determination that we are going to introduce change into our lives. This comes out of careful evaluation and resolve.
We must pray for guidance and strength. Our creative God will work with our creative minds to create a new scenario and unveil options we have never considered.
Then, we must do the hard work of being intentional and aware. We must accept that change is awkward and new behaviors may be “forced,” contrived, manipulative, or uncomfortable. We must practice them anyway.
We must repeat the new behavior (which includes avoidance of the old) day after day, keeping some sort of record of our progress.
We must allow grace for the failures and celebrate the victories and patterns begin to change in our lives.
When the colluded powers sent their collaborating messengers to warn Jesus he was in trouble and that he was likely to be killed, his response was four-fold:
I am doing works of mercy and deliverance.
I will continue to do them until I am done. I will not be stopped. I will not be intimidated.
I won't die here, but I will keep moving toward the place of my death.
But there is a third day coming and no matter what anyone does or thinks they can do to me, I will move past it toward that day ... and then, and only then, my work will be complete.
Luke 13:32 : “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.’”
Fifty years ago, a group of people aligned themselves with a righteous cause and went to war with no weapons.
They just walked and stood against evil perpetrated by people who told themselves they were righteous.
The evil of that moment was dis-empowered as all evil shall be ultimately dis-empowered.
The weapons wounded, but did not destroy the righteous.
Selma still speaks.
" Declare this in the house of Jacob; proclaim it in Judah: “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but see not, who have ears, but hear not. Do you not fear me? declares the LORD. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it. But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away. They do not say in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.’ Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have kept good from you. For wicked men are found among my people; they lurk like fowlers lying in wait. They set a trap; they catch men. Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; therefore they have become great and rich; they have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of evil; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy. Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?” An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?"
(Jeremiah 5:20-31 ESV)
"We just kept walking with dignity and pride. "- Congressman John Lewis
“… Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” – John 1:29
It is not enough to have a theoretical understanding of God’s redemption through Jesus and how He came to fulfill the Old Testament system of sacrifices as the Paschal Lamb – as important as that information may be.
No, it is of greatest importance that we behold Him.
Some translate the word, “Look,” but the meaning is the same. We must linger over the vision of Jesus and stare into His eyes. We must be captivated by His presence so that to even blink we would disrupt the flow of His radiance into our souls.
We must drink deeply of His beauty that transcends human comeliness. We must experience Him in all His glory and behold Him.
In Jesus Christ, the Living Word, we have beheld the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
God has allowed us to glimpse Himself and touch His own incarnate flesh. Why wouldn’t we stop everything else we might be doing and bathe in the wonder of a moment of Lamb of God?
Oh Lamb of God
Upon whose sinless shoulders
All sin has pressed down its awful weight,
We pause amidst the frivolous trivialities of our lives
To behold You
In a manger, on the cross, ascending to Your throne
Asked to summarize a life, I hesitated, Overwhelmed by complexity, Ambiguity, Perpetuity, Jaded acuity. Then proceeding, Declared Beloved, Significant, Unique, Necessary for me To be me and You to be you and Us to be we and we to be Us. Respect. Honor, Loss. Gratitude. Life-gift.
Ten years ago, February 24, at the age of 91, Oden E. Lockhart died.
At the time of his death, he was still conducting his radio ministry on multiple stations in the Appalachian region of this country.
He had been an encourager to me for 35 years since I was in college back in the early 70s.
I knew him as "The Old Time Preacher Man," but I simply called him, "Preacher."
He first introduced himself to me in 1974 as "The Old Time Preacher Man from Way Back."
When he was 90, his church in Bluefield, West Virginia, celebrated 60 years of his voice in radio broadcasting.
The more important of the two questions posed in the title is, "Who is Oden E. Lockart?"
Oden was the reluctant, but faithful pastor of East End Baptist church in Bluefield when he took me under his wing as Associate Pastor and Youth Director.
He gave me the opportunity to conduct my first Lord's Supper and my first baptism. He taught me more about visiting, evangelizing, and loving people than any one pastor before or after.
He even let me preach on his radio broadcast.
I say he was a reluctant pastor only because his heart was in evangelism and his radio ministry. He was unique in that second ministry in that he actually pastored the people who were his regular listeners.
Since the broadcasts were on regional stations in a number of Appalachian states, he could visit their churches and homes. He took the prayer requests he received very seriously, and often followed up with calls and visits.
When was the last time your favorite radio or TV evangelist personally contacted you?
The Preacher was in his late 50s when I met him and he was married to "Mama." I must have known her name at some time, but I never really learned it.
Preacher and Mama lived in a "holler" in Abbs Valley, Virginia where the Preacher had worked in the coal minds for over 30 years and contracted Black Lung. He wasn't supposed to live much past his early 60s. That is something for a 90 year old man to chuckle about, especially when he was still preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I have been known to "fret," but I never saw Oden E. Lockhart fret.
He was an Independent Baptist, Fundamentalist, King James-Only preacher. I m none of those things and yet, I learned more progressive ideas and deeper compassion from him that from 10 other more "enlightened" preachers.
He embodied the heart of Christ.
Some of his more memorable quotes and terminologies were:
"I don't need a doctor to work on my Bible. It never was sick."
"I don't need a Living Bible. Mine never was dead."
Hollywood was "Hellywood" and television was "Hellivision."
In early marriage, my wife and I had the opportunity to stay in the Lockhart home together and I took delight in pointing out to her the side by side, his and her bathrooms to the left when you went in the main entrance, the studio where so many broadcasts originated, and the unique way that the folks stored all their dishes in the dishwasher because it saved several steps and you might as well wash them all at the same time.
Mama Lockhart passed away many years before the Preacher did.
One day, years before Oden died, I received a call from a lady named Betty Quick. I quickly remembered her as the clerk of East End Baptist Church. I always liked Betty but I remembered that she and the Preacher had always had a running battle. She was always on his case about something and he sought to remain as sane as possible while getting a little gleam and twinkle in his eye when ever he had the chance to antagonize her a bit.
After renewing my memory for a moment, she said, "I have someone here who would like to talk to you."
"Tommy, this is Oden E. Lockhart. How are you? Betty and I got married."
Nothing shocks me any more - almost nothing - but this did.
She returned to the phone after a while and wanted to make one thing perfectly clear. He had contacted her after her husband died to provide pastoral support, comfort, and prayers.
"We didn't marry for convenience (she might have said, "companionship)," she declared, "I fell in love with that old man."
So there.
Every Christmas he sent me a thick envelope with a nice card and a whole pile of evangelistic tracts to give away.
She continued that tradition as long as she could. Her last card simply said, "I'm lonely."
I fell in love with that old man too - many years ago. He was a mentor, friend, father figure, and discipler in my life.
Sometimes I stop and ask myself if I am being faithful to the investment that he and other elder pastors and teachers have placed in my life.
Until he contacted me after decades, I wondered where the preacher was. I sometimes wonder where I am.
Where is Tom? I'll tell you this, I would not be anywhere near where I am without folks like the Preacher. I honor him and think of him fondly, thanking God for his influence on me.
We are shaped by many people who breath into our lives and allow us to stand on their shoulders. We seldom turn out as carbon copies of them, but we owe them much of who and what we become.
I learned from this man to love the people and give them a simple gospel.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” John 1:1-3
God spoke. He has always spoken. There was never a time when God was not speaking. His very nature is revealed in His Word and His Word is inseparable from Who He Is.
God Is. God speaks.
These are two basic corollaries of any Christian theology.
When God speaks things come into existence. All that is was once spoken by God. Nothing has been made apart from His Word. His Word is living. His Word is a person. His Word is as real as He is.
As we enter into the season of preparation for celebrating the birth of Jesus, we must know that He is first of all, the Word of God, co-equal and absolutely reliable. He is the heartbeat of God’s will, the expression of God’s love, and the demonstration of God’s purity and holiness.
I originally scribbled these thoughts during and for the Christmas season.
Christmas is an ongoing experience for God’s incarnational people. It is about celebrating the Word of God in Jesus Christ and is most appropriately celebrated with an open Bible and an open heart.
Our take-home is the know this God who has come to live and walk among us and to enter into the experience of God in Christ. When this happens, we can slowly and gingerly learn to see and to know through the mind and eyes of Christ. This will transform our knowing and thinking.
This truth drives us back to the scriptures to seek understanding of the ways of God. It prompts us to yearn for deeper understanding in the pages of the Bible that we might ascertain God’s eternal purposes and His plan for the people of His world.
We become like the Magi, seeking the wisdom of the ages.
We will end the season of Epiphany soon and enter the season of Lent.
I desire to make a new start, yet again, by beginning with the eternal preexistent Word and orienting my understanding around Him.
God has spoken. Let us listen.
“In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” John 1:4-5
To the extent we see and know anything through our visual senses, we must depend upon light.
When Christmas is over, I miss two things most: the music and the lights.
It takes me months to get over Christmas. I extend it through Epiphany and it spills over into Lent.
The colors shining in the December night can be seen from afar and even from space. They are at the same time happy and holy, gaudy and dignified. They serve as reminders of joy and correctives to the harsh edges that so often dominate the landscape of our cities and our lives.
It is clearly, visibly, and festively Christmas year round in some of our more flamboyant cities and the light is shining in the darkness.
In fact, it is in the darkness of night that we most often venture forth from our homes to view these lights and celebrate the profound contrasts that they afford.
From simple candle lights in the windows of homes to magnificent displays in the public squares, we behold temporal illustrations of eternal reality: The evergreen trees which live long through Winter when planted in the soil of the earth are types of the tree of life which is planted in the fertile soil of God’s truth. In and from that life, which is Christ, flows the life and light of men.
If we aspire to seeing and knowing through incarnational eyes, we must be prepared for the startling flash of brilliant light.
That light shines in the darkness beckoning men and women who live in darkness to come.
To those outside on the cold dark streets of our cities, shivering from the frosty darkness that envelopes them, the flickering lights from a Christmas tree in the window of a warm home serve as an invitation to come to something better. They softly hum the call of God to enter into His brightness and the warmth of His presence. They sway to the melody of each sweet carol, “O come, let us adore Him.”
The light is shining, and it is, indeed, the light of men.
“That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: “ - John 1:9-12
The lights on the trees are synthetic. Though lovely in their appearance, they are temporal and will fade away, burn out, or be immediately extinguished as they or their power source is broken. They are not true lights.
They do not shine universally, but only within the close proximity of those who light them. There are dark places where their ambiance is not known. There are pockets of despair in the world where the lights of Christmas have never been lit.
But the true light shines on every man while in pervasive blindness, there are many who do not and will not see. Hardness of heart and bitterness of spirit obscure the view of those for whom the light is intended.
We live in a land of shadows and distortions where every ray of light is filtered through our prejudicial thinking and blind ambition. We stumble in our assumptions and trip over our own dark thoughts oblivious to the Light that has come into the world and is already shining on us.
Our knowing is impaired. We have blinded our hearts with cataracts of prejudicial thinking. We need the eyes of the Incarnated God.
Many there are who do not recognize him when confronted by Him, who sing the songs of Christmas, hang the decorations on their trees, gasp at the beauty of the colors of the season, and greet one another with manufactured cheer. Yet they do not see him to whom all the signs and symbols point.
Those who do become the children of God, and playfully unwrap their spiritual gifts around the tree of life.
With all of this, the central message of each of these seasons, Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Eastertide, and Pentecost, is incarnation.
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” - John 1:14
SEEING THE WHOLE WORLD THROUGH THE INCARNATION
This is a vision without which, we are blind and lifeless.
It is the vision of one who sees us as we are and envisions our world from the inside out and the outside in.
The Incarnate Lord made His dwelling among us. Literally, He pitched His tent here.
I had read about California all my life, seen it on TV and in the movies, but I only truly experienced it when I moved here many years ago.
But the vision message of this verse is not that God learned to experience our life by becoming flesh, but that He made it possible for us to experience Him and to behold His glory.
We have a new vision of God because of Jesus and can now view the world through His eyes because He dwelt among us as one of us.
So, must we dwell among the people, indwelt by Christ that they may behold His glory as we see then through His eyes.
“And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates..”
– Deuteronomy 6:9
Come to the church by the wildwood Oh, come to the church in the vale No spot is so dear to my childhood As the little brown church in the vale”
– Dr. William S. Pitts (1857)
There is something in our past to which we ought to return. It is not for the sake of empty nostalgia or sentimental musing, but for realignment that we need to come to such a place.
Some years ago, I reopened the doors of an abandoned church. On the walls and doorposts were reminders of days gone by when, in that place, the Word of God was proclaimed. Children had been taught to memorize scripture there.
The love of God had been impressed upon their hearts. Men and women had met Christ and had their lives changed in that very place.
It is in homes and home churches that such altars once stood and, at every turn, the Word was reinforced and reaffirmed.
We must return from time to time to that place in the geography of the land or that of our hearts where we revisit the ancient stones and remember what we ought to have never forgotten.
Twice, when tempted, Jesus quoted from this very chapter to stand against the wiles of the devil. His earthly parents had written the law upon the posts and the gates of their home and He had learned His Father’s Word well.
May we do the same for our children and may we return to do the same for the child within us.
Keep things moving out, but replace them regularly.
Plan to die with some things undone for others to take up and do.
Never stop looking forward.
Eventually, your gaze will be firmly fixed on the heavenly prize, but the path to Heaven passes through these green pastures, still waters, shadows of death, feasts of plenty here.
Goodness and mercy are following you all the days of your life and you shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever .
You may be moving into some new, unknown, precarious, and frightening territory in your life. You are proceeding with caution and trepidation. It is a place where you must go, but you do not know the terrain or the hidden agendas of these new days ... All you know is Who is with you and leading you ...
... and that is enough.
" And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, 'Jacob, Jacob.' And he said,'Here I am.' Then he said, 'I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph's hand shall close your eyes.'"
"Then Jacob set out from Beersheba. The sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him."
Genesis 46:2-5 (ESV)
It was all the assurance that Jacob needed to set out and follow.
It is all we need.
God bless you in your NEW journey ... for each day is a NEW JOURNEY!
In times of decline, we seek the Divine Incline. Perceived or received, something declines for us, And lofty edifices of our pride sink low.
Yet we ... The "we" that is truly "us ..." Shall not decline His inclination toward restoration.
Poor and needy When greedy fires are consuming the underbrush of our lives, From hesitation to preservation, His salvation Rescues our souls.
From sadness to gladness we are lifted, By grace, gifted ...
For God is good! In this we have stood! God is forgiving! Thus, our living! God is abounding in covenant love!
Chesed!
סֶד,
Give ear, Oh Lord. Give Your full attention and intervention To our plea for grace! "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound!"
It is the day of trouble ... For me ... For many ...
We stand upon the precipice. We cry for mercy. Oh LORD, answer, please.
"Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my life, for I am godly; save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God. Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all the day. Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer; listen to my plea for grace. In the day of my trouble I call upon you, for you answer me."
We have rights and prerogatives that we do not exercise.
We are free to exercise them, but we are also free to let them go because our loyalty, our values, our marching orders, indeed, our very purpose for existence is focused on something higher and better than our comforts.
We set aside our preferences for the good of others because that good is in the heart of the One to whom we have pledged our total loyalty --- to love whom He loves and to care about the desires of His heart until they become the desires of our hearts as well.
" If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more? "Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ."- 1 Corinthians 9:12 (ESV)
I wish for you all a day filled with extraordinary, audacious, and joyful success.
May it be extraordinary because we were never called to be merely ordinary. We were called, fashioned, and equipped to do the one job no one else in the world can do: be ourselves under God in a world that needs the uniqueness we have to offer.
May it be audacious because audacity is that which is invulnerable to fear or intimidation. May nothing intimidate you on your path to greatness today. Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. May your critics on the highway to mediocrity simply confirm in your heart that you are going the opposite and right way.
May it be joyful because joy is the culmination of a life of grace, gratitude, and generosity. If you can discover the secret of abiding an d overflowing joy in the midst of all circumstances, you will be a success indeed.
“And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:” – Matthew 6:27
Flowers, especially wild flowers, teach us of the fragility of life, but even more so, of its constancy and rhythm.
The lilies of the fields of Jesus time and place were volunteers. Without human cultivation or intervention, they bloomed freely and beautifully along the hillsides of ancient Israel.
They flourished for a season and retreated into the cycle of life and death only to reemerge in a subsequent season. God cared for them. He caused them to grow. He made them blossom and emit fragrance as they exhibited the beauty of His creativity.
All of this happened as counterpart to what might be described as cold functionality of the plant kingdom. But we know that it is more.
He lets all of this happen throughout the earth wherever His natural processes are manifest. He enters into each process to demonstrate His love and care for people. He does so to remind us that we are more important to Him that lilies and sparrows, that he knows what we need, and that He always provides.
God does all things well and within the framework of His own timing. He does all with flair and an eye for loveliness. He fashions nature as a work of art and He sees us with no less appreciation for His own creativity.
We are God’s masterpieces – not that we ought to become arrogant or inflated with self-importance. However, in God’s eyes, nothing is more precious that a man or woman in whom He sees His own image.
Do not waste a moment of springtime in unawareness of these truths. Celebrate springtime. Celebrate humanity. Celebrate God!
II Corinthians 4:16a - For which cause we faint not …
Broken hearts can be mended. In fact, they can be made stronger in the broken places. Broken-heartedness is seen, at times, in a positive light in the scriptures.
Psalm 51:7 says that the sacrifices of God are a broken heart along with a broken and contrite spirit.
There are many good reasons for having a broken heart. Show me your broken heart and I can tell what drives you and ignites passion in you. It is only normal to have a broken heart for injustice in the world, for poverty of soul and life, and for suffering that we can prevent or alleviate. That kind of brokenness energizes us.
It is also normal to be broken within over the pain that we cause others and God through our own negative choices. That sort of brokenness leads to and predicts the possibility for change in our lives. Without it, we lost some of our own humanity and pliability.
What we cannot afford is loss of heart. II Corinthians 4:1 says that we faint not. In other words, do not lose heart even when our outer man is perishing.
Hebrews 12:3 reminds us not to lose heart when we face opposition and Hebrews 12:5 makes the same demand on us when we face correction by God.
So, the things that most commonly cause us discouragement are first, our own human frailty and limitations as expressed especially in aging and weakness. Second, they arose from opposition from people, and third, from God’s correction in our lives.
Back in II Corinthians 4:1, Paul gives us one rationale for maintaining heart. It is our ministry. Because we have purpose and calling in our lives, we keep on keeping on. The broken heart of calling becomes the heart that beats on when we might too easily become disheartened.
Furthermore, Hebrews 12 expands on that rationale with two admonitions: that we remember the example of Jesus and that we remember the love of God.
Losing heart is simply not an option - even when we know that the heart that can be warmed by a loving embrace can be broken by pain. No walls are allowed here. All protective devices are disabled. We must be vulnerable and valiant and that is the path of joyful calling.
Keep on keeping on!
5 words from II Cor 4:16: "... we do not lose heart ..." Never lose heart.
To lose heart is to lose center & create vacuum which shall suck up something to fill itself. We may not want that calling the shots.
Losing heart is no option. Losing heart is placing our choices in the hands of chance. Heart is what controls us - center -core - choice.
Losing heart is not an emotional "emptying;" but a void of choice, determination, & commitment. Commitment drives when all else come loose.
Our choice is to not lose heart, to maintain commitment to center, commitment to God, commitment to mission.
Sometimes you just have to travel light and walk on tiptoe ...
... like a cat ...
... or a lamb ...
"Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road." - Luke 10:3-4
“For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills ... “ - Deuteronomy 8:7
Wherever God plants you is a good land. It may not be the place you would have chosen, but it is good. It is very good. You are there and He is leading you deeper into that land of fulfillment and promise.
It is a good land.
It is good because God designed it and made it. He has supplied it with all that is needed for your well-being and for your enjoyment.
It is good because God designed it for you and you for it. Place and placement have purpose.
It is good because it has a unique beauty unlike any other place.
It is good because God is present there.
It is good because it is a place of refreshment.
Does it not seem so good to you sometimes? Are you often parched, thirsty, and weary? Does the heat of the sun beat down upon you and sap your strength. Are your eyes blinded to the beauty because of the magnitude of your cares?
Perhaps you have one foot in a desert. Perhaps you are yet to awaken to the place where God has been and is bringing you.
There is refreshment for your soul.
There is beauty for your eyes.
There is rest for your body.
There is hope for your spirit.
There is life for your bones.
There is purpose for your days.
May God awaken you to this good land and enliven you to all of its possibilities this day.
In the meantime, you will walk by faith, knowing that He will do so for you and so much more in His time.
If rejoicing is off my agenda, I must open my heart. If lamenting has no place, I must open my eyes. If questions are disallowed, I must open my mind. If loving is far removed I must open my my soul. If giving is not included, I must open my purse. When living, I must live fully.
“And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them …” - Matthew 5:1-2:
The sermon on the Mount is the greatest description of kingdom living ever spoken. Its ideals are high and unattainable in the flesh. It lifts values and principles which go for the heart of God’s desire for the behavior of kingdom people.
To examine ourselves in their light is an arduous task. It would be discouraging and debilitating apart from grace. However, it can serve as a benchmark for progress is our spiritual growth. It can also remind us that no matter how far we have come, God can take us farther.
I am philosophically, and paradoxically amused by the concept of striving to enter rest and still, I get it.
I get it on the day before every day off or vacation.
I get it every day when I try to get my ducks in a row so that I can go home and not think about work (which does not always "work.").
I get it, we concentrate, focus, and strive for rest because rest is not defined by the absence of activity as much as the enjoyment of fulfillment when everything for which we have be striving comes together.
"Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account."
Spiritual Disciplines for Highly Distracted Souls - That is my next book ... well, one of the next ones --- if I can concentrate enough to finish it .
Seriously now, some of you know exactly what I mean.
And you are the folks who are my kin in this particular skin.
We struggle to focus, but we must focus to struggle.
We know the deep value of grace in our lives be because we guzzle it like cool water on a scorching day in the sun. It is cooling balm to our blistered flesh. It is food for our souls when we are starving.
God, if my concentration is what is required to seek and find you, I am in trouble. Actually, I am in trouble ... have been ... will be, but I am not hopeless.
My concentration comes through distraction, through poly-focus, and through serendipitous discovery.
I see you in the commonalities of multiplicities.
I hear your voice arising from the cacophony of sounds in a dissonant chorus of groaning cries.
I see your face in the contorted faces of broken people.
I grasp your Word in the recurring themes of unlikely sources that echo your truth and highlight the verses that I read just yesterday or this morning as I struggled to keep my mind from wandering.
I sit as long as I can and listen. I walk as far as I can without veering off the path. I keep coming back to you and you are always there.
It is neither my mood nor my mind that guide me, Oh Lord of clarity, but your ever present hand and upon you, I lean.
I will follow you today. I commit my day to you.
I am easily distracted and often torn. I am likely to bounce from thought to thought and project to project, but I know that you are present in the midst to order my days and my moments ....
And in the precious, fleeting stillness of this moment, I commit all my moments and days ... and this day, in particular, to You.
"Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted." - Isaiah 40:30 (ESV)
“How did it get so late so soon? It's night before it's afternoon. December is here before it's June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?” - Dr. Suess
I never expected to get this old this soon.
Not that I am old, but there are limitations and failures that I thought I would not experience for decades to come.
They are not insurmountable, but I can see how people with less of a sense of unseen Center and the guiding hand of divine Purpose might get discouraged, and feel forsaken or spent.
That is only part of my journey.
He who renews our youth like the eagle causes us to run and not be weary to walk and not faint .
I never fully appreciated that phrase until I went through a time of actually losing consciousness or balance.
"Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent."
-Psalm 71:9 (ESV)
I wonder if I could apply the prayer that follows to ask God to rescue me from myself - my own worst enemy.
I can be unjust and cruel with myself.
My capacity for wickedness rivals the Charlie Mansons of the world. But I have hope, trust, and leaning -- and while leaning on the Everlasting Arms, I am restrained and retrained.
" Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man. For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of you." - Psalm 71:4-6
There is a purpose statement buried in these words - a purpose for our final third or fourth of life:
"... until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come..." - Psalm 71:18
We may have entered the time when we are not primarily building our own ministries and legacies, but those of the next generations. In many ways, that is always the case at every stage of life ... but it becomes more of a priority as we age.
We say, "but I am not done building our own," and God says, "It never was your own in the first place."
That becomes clearer with the years.
It never was mine to build for myself.
And then, there comes great joy in proclaiming to another generation.
That is where I want to invest the next phase of my existence on this planet.
" O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you? You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. You will increase my greatness and comfort me again."
Prayer and reflection take us down paths of our own humanity and vulnerability to places where we meet God.
We are not perfected to pray; we are being shaped toward a limping perfection through prayer where God invites and we come.
We are not good at it. The men and women of the bible were not great at it, but they were honest and that honesty developed through and into faith, and that faith pleased God.
Lament. That is sometimes the dark starting place.
Lamenting over the magnitude of injustice, oppression, and wickedness was leading the troubadour to despair. He recounts the agonizing moments that were not left to dangle in meaningless resignation and then, he declares,
" ...But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end."
(Psalm 73:15-17 ESV)
" When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you."
"Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
(Psalm 73:21-26 ESV)
We live from our guts.
Gut wrenching emotions, laid bare before God, are prayer.
Ancient peoples believed that the gut was the seat of emotion so that to love from the heart indicated intention but "bowels of mercy" spoke of warmth and compassion - emotional responses to humanity. We make lots of choices from the gut and we believe our "gut feelings."
The psalmist prayed from the gut - tough, agonizing prayer - engaged and real:
"Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God."
(Psalm 69:1-3 ESV)
Yet, God has spoken and lifted high a standard for us. It is not as if all is open-ended and centered around our preferences, pains, and proclivities.
We have Torah, the reed, the measuring stick of life, a law against which we can measure our own lives.
We have taken the law, written once on stone, and broken it.
There was much we could not understand and, in our weakness, much we felt, we could not do. Nor could we seem to restrain ourselves at the place of prohibitions.
The law on stones is broken, but God invites us again to provide the stones.
"At that time the LORD said to me, ‘Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me on the mountain and make an ark of wood. And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets that you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.’ So I made an ark of acacia wood, and cut two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. And he wrote on the tablets, in the same writing as before, the Ten Commandments that the LORD had spoken to you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. And the LORD gave them to me. Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark that I had made. And there they are, as the LORD commanded me.”"
(Deuteronomy 10:1-5 ESV)
This same God will rewrite that law so that we will understand.
We look and find no suitable stones as Moses did.
However, if we will bring our stony hearts to the mountain. He will write His covenant and law there and our hearts will become softened and enlightened and we shall be transformed through truer, deeper knowledge and understanding of His ways.
This is a gracious and, sometimes, a painful process as we are etched and re-etched.
It is how we learn, grow, and are transformed from what we were to what we are becoming. Hard times bring us to our senses and awaken our dissatisfaction. We see an invitation to come to God for help.
We come and are delivered --- again and again.
" You have made your people see hard things; you have given us wine to drink that made us stagger."
"You have set up a banner for those who fear you, that they may flee to it from the bow. Selah That your beloved ones may be delivered, give salvation by your right hand and answer us!"
(Psalm 60:3-5 ESV)
What are these times about? Are these utterly unique days or are we repeating an historic pattern of unrestraint?
If it feels good, we do it.
If it seems true, to us, we say it.
Such is the unrestrained life.
Such is not the disciple life.
It walks over people and offends God.
If that does not bother you; go ahead and live that way. There will be consequences, but that is your choice.
It is just good to be reminded that we are making that choice lest we feel righteous in our slander and consider it something other than sin. I like to know I am sinning before sinning. It makes the choice clearer.
Sometimes I kid myself.
“You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother's son. These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you."
(Psalm 50:19-21 ESV)
Oh God, who sees me, knows me, and loves me while seeing through my pretensions,
There is nothing I can tell you about myself that you do not already know.
I am laid bare by your penetrating gaze and your Word divides by thoughts and attitudes, sorting them out in ways I cannot even comprehend.
You know all about me and still I have the urge to hide and cover myself with the leaves of shame.
Crack my facade, dissolve the masks I wear.
Give me the grace to be real today, real and vulnerable, and open and compassionate with myself and others.
Your love validates my existence and your mercy gives me courage to embrace the ugliness I see in myself, the impurity of my motives, the haughtiness of my words, the impulsiveness of my poor choices.
They are a part of all I have been and am becoming and I am not stuck in them, nor do they define me.
You define me and in freeing me to be me and become more, Your message from Jesus to me and through me that there is a possibility of joyous repentance and kingdom purpose ring true.
You know me and yet you choose me, in love, to be one of yours! I cannot wrap my mind around the grace of it, but I receive it that I may give it.
Make me, like Francis, an instrument of your peace today.
I am not worthy, but I am available.
Because I follow Jesus, I ask this in His Name.
Amen.
Pray where you are, who you are to the One who IS.
I get impatient with myself, with individuals, with slow service, with shoddy service, with life, and sometimes, with God.
I get impatient when people's attitudes don't turn on a dime, when people don't see the world the way I see it (and think that God does), when people are impatient with me, and with about anything else I have the capacity to be impatient with ...
Lack of funds ... Criticism .... My own critical spirit ... Long lines ... People just being human and flawed ... My own flaws .... With technology ... With lack of technology ... When technology out-guesses me ... When technology does not know what I am thinking ... Injustice ... Justice without mercy ...
It is a lose/lose situation and, when I am most impatient, it looks like I have lots of enemies stacked up against me.
I can name many ... and most are headquartered in my head. My club dues are paid .
The dues are priced very high.
I can pray/sing with the psalmist the same prayer/song he prayed/sang. It is sometimes a hurried prayer for God to hurry. I just pray that I come to the same point of resolution. Amen.
"Make haste, O God, to deliver me! O LORD, make haste to help me! Let them be put to shame and confusion who seek my life! Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt! Let them turn back because of their shame who say, “Aha, Aha!”"
"May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you! May those who love your salvation say evermore, “God is great!” But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay!"
- Psalm 70, ESV
O Lord, Make Haste to Hear My Cry (Cannons)
Text from: The Psalter 1912 Tune: Cannons by: Greorg Friedrich Handel 1685-1759
O Lord, make haste to hear my cry, To Thee I call, on Thee rely. Incline to me a gracious ear, And, when I call, in mercy hear.
When in the morning unto Thee I lift my voice and bring my plea, Then let my prayer as incense rise To God enthroned above the skies.
When unto Thee I look and pray With lifted hands at close of day, Then as the evening sacrifice Let my request accepted rise.
Guard Thou my thoughts, I Thee implore, And of my lips keep Thou the door; Nor leave my sinful heart to stray Where evil footsteps lead the way.
O righteous God, Thy chastisement, Though sent through foes, in love is sent; Though grievous, it will profit me, A healing ointment it shall be.
While wickedness my foes devise, To Thee my constant prayer shall rise, When their injustice is o’erthrown, My gentleness shall still be shown.
Brought nigh to death and sore distressed, O Lord, my God, in Thee I rest; Forsake me not, I look to Thee, Let me Thy great salvation see.
Themselves entangled in their snare, Their own defeat my foes prepare, O keep me, Lord, nor let me fall, Protect and lead me safe through all.
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