Archive for God’s Ways
Into His Eyes
Posted by: | CommentsLast Sunday my church took communion. One of our elders, Rick Bringhurst, challenged us beforehand to examine our hearts in this way: what if Jesus were sitting across the table from you? I had to smile. It was this very concept that had started my journey toward a deeper spiritual life over twenty years ago.
I’d been at a retreat, and the leader had suggested we close our eyes and imagine a peaceful scene – so far so good – and then Jesus coming and sitting with us in that scene. My reaction was sheer panic. Although I’d been a Christian for some ten years, the thought of Jesus actually being there, sitting right next to me, looking into my eyes, made me want to run. Of course I knew He knows all about each of us, “and even the very hairs of your head are numbered” (Matthew 10:30). But to confront Him face to face? I knew this was totally the wrong reaction. My day-to-day life with God needed some major work.
Into His Eyes
Have you ever heard the word intimacy described as “into me see”? I was really not open to that. My innermost thoughts were strictly my own. That’s how I dealt with people, and that’s how I wanted it with God. But God is not satisfied with that answer. He wants to dwell in our hearts, including the parts we don’t show. And more than that, there were some feelings I had locked away. I was trying to forget, and in trying, was not being honest with myself. God wouldn’t have that dishonesty, either.
Over a period of time, I returned to this idyllic imagery gone wrong. I had to be able to let my Savior see my eyes, and thus, my soul. Those eyes penetrate so deeply! At first I thought he was looking for all my sin, and hence the terror. Eventually I realized that He was looking deep into the good in me. Yes, God deals with our sin, but there was a deeper purpose for the deep intimacy that was not for accusing me. I did not realize in my heart that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
You may want to know why this path thinking was not based more in Scripture, or in searching the Scripture. I knew many passages already that said God loved me, that He was good, that God would never leave us or leave us comfortless. But they hadn’t come off the page for me and into my real life. I knew many of the passages telling of God’s intimate knowledge of us. But would I let Him see into me to that depth? Could I let Him “search me and know me” (see Psalm 139:1)? I certainly haven’t arrived. Even if someone spent hours and hours in deep meditation, with the vastness of the love of God one never could come to full understanding. But it is much better than the young woman who wanted to run away all those years ago.
I am so glad that I was challenged to go deeper with God, to look “full in His wonderful face” as the song says. If this story challenged you or left you startled at the thought of facing Jesus, I encourage you to take the journey, too. Start having the thought of “going to the Lord in prayer” becoming a time to actually sit and be with Him so He can show you who He is – and who you are, too.
Mystery Revealed
Posted by: | CommentsThe Unknown about the Lord and Being Known Ourselves
Last time I blogged I looked at some things which we just don’t understand about God’s ways, and the reasons that things happen in our lives that He doesn’t reveal. Although some things remain a mystery, on the other hand we are completely, utterly known to God.
Is that always comfortable, that God knows absolutely everything about me while I cannot begin to fathom Him? In Psalm 139 King David is completely comfortable with this and finds it beautiful and wondrous.
“O Lord, You have searched me and you know me…You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue You know it completely, O Lord.”(Psalm 139:1,3b, 4) David contrasts his thoughts about how well God knows him with verses about how the full knowledge of God is beyond him. And more than that, he rejoices in it. “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.”(vs.6)
David says that wherever he goes, God will be there, and moreover, He will be there for David. “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? . . . If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast.” (vs.7,9&10)
If I settle on the far side of the sea
After David explains how completely the Lord knows his soul, he tells of God’s perfect knowledge of his physical being: “For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb . . . Your eyes saw my unformed body.” (Vs.13&15c)
But within these thoughts he again turns to how miraculous and unfathomable God’s works are. “I will praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”(vs.14)
As this section of the psalm ends, David’s praise for God’s immensity and for His closeness to David combine: “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with You.” (vs.17&18)
What a promise that is – He is still with us.
The Secret of Living with the Mysteries
What made David so comfortable? He never directly, but I think between these lines is a deep trust of His Lord. Although God reaches beyond that which David could know about or comprehend, David is sure that He can trust His loving Father with all the intimate details of his life. Does trust like that come easily? Not to me. It grows with time, with experiencing God’s love and provision, with reading passages like this that show me David’s utter trust of God. For me, the more I know of God’s care for me, the easier I can live with my unsolved mysteries.
A Prayer of Trust
Finally, there is the well known ending prayer of Psalm 139 verses 23 and 24. It is a prayer of such trust and such an open heart to the God of the universe.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Mystery Unsolved
Posted by: | CommentsIs your curiosity piqued by a real life mystery? Some mysteries that have puzzled people the world over have been solved, or are nearing a solution, recently. There’s been no end lately to speculation about the Titanic sinking as we’ve passed the 100th anniversary of the tragedy. One of the newer and most intriguing to me was the theory that weather conditions created a kind of mirage on the horizon that both prevented the crow’s nest from seeing the iceberg sooner and prevented the closest ship, the California, from understanding Titanic’s signals for help.
Other mysteries have been solved definitively. For years all we knew was that author Antoine de St.-Exupery had flown out on a mission in World War II, and his plane was never seen again. Now the wreck has been found. A few years ago the hidden and shameful burial of the Russian royal family was found, ending any possibility that the “Princess Anastasias” who surfaced later were true escapees of the massacre.
I find these unhappy endings especially sad because it stops all the “what ifs” and the hopes for a better, if improbable, conclusion. There was always some comfort for me, however imaginary, that St.-Exupery had once again found that landscape from the end of his book The Little Prince where the little prince had appeared to him, and that his diminutive friend had come back for him, taking away the inevitable fate of an unfound desert crash. And it was wonderful to hope that somehow Anastasia had escaped her family’s fate at the hands of the firing squad.
The Little Prince Landscape
For other people who are perhaps more level headed than I, a mystery is a nagging question that must, at all costs, be solved. It is too insufficient and galling for circumstances to just trail off into the mist. All endings must be completed, and all doubts and incorrect theories put to bed. The true answers settle history for all time, even when the loved ones and people most concerned with those answers are long gone and the conclusions only satisfy the curiosity of onlookers several generations removed.
The Mysteries God Doesn’t Solve
This need to solve all things can spill into Christianity. How much time has been spent making philosophical “proofs” of the existence of God? Or trying to define the Trinity? Or resolving how Jesus could be truly man and truly God? If we’ve come to “know the Lord” we can sometimes feel that we should know everything about Him and be able to explain everything with a concise theological answer. It can be embarrassing if someone asks us a question about God that requires faith because it cannot be explained in a way that fits into our minds.
If a tragedy or difficulties befall us, I think we all wish we knew why. Sometimes the answers unfold for us later on. Sometimes we carry the question with us on through the years. “If you could ask God one thing…” many of us would want the answer to why something unfolded in our lives the way it did.
Remaining Unsolved
Whether our mysteries are theological or personal, we end up confronting the fact that some things God has shared with us about Himself and some things – not. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” – Isaiah 55:8 & 9
He is our Father and loves us so greatly, yet He does not tell us everything. His character He reveals to us, His creation, what He has done for us in sending Jesus to die for our sins, but He is not sharing all that He is thinking or doing. The apostle Paul told the Athenians, “Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.” (Acts 17:23c) The Athenians then learned of God as Creator and Savior that day – but they did not learn all the thoughts of God.
Can We Live with the Mystery?
Perhaps some of you are saying, we have to live with the mystery. There is no choice. At some time or another, we’ve all been advised to spiritually drop our mystery into the Lord’s hands. But accepting this advice is not always easy. If we have theological questions, can we really let it rest that somehow the Trinity is three, and is one? Or that God is Sovereign, and man has free will? Can we let it go that we’ll never know God’s purpose in the car accident that changed our lives forever? By itself, just saying “It’s God’s will” in no way makes it easy to let go.
We live with some of our nagging mysteries better than others. In the course of looking at the vastness about God that we don’t know, I think I’ve found something that made these things easier for King David. Mystery revealed – on Thursday.
God’s Voice of Truth
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s All the Same
Life isn’t any different. Some problems get solved, some are works in progress. The mornings are beautiful; housekeeping is not beautiful, as they always have been. Music still lifts my soul and paying bills does not. Nothing new there. And yet . . . .
Lately depression has been holding me in its sharp little claws like a scared kitten. “ The same, the same,” it whispers. “What you do and who you are or make yourself out to be will not matter. It is all the same, the same . . . .” And who can you be with when you’re such unscintillating company? “Ssseee, they are all busy with their happy lives,” the whisper hisses. “But for you, it is all the sssame . . . .”
The Starry Host
I was leaving a Bible study the other night and looked up to the night sky. As the church is located in a rural area, it’s especially nice to view the clearer, darker sky that I cannot see at home. It reminded me of a well-worn passage of my Bible:
“to whom will you compare Me?
Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one,
and calls them each by name.
Because of His great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.
Isaiah 40:25 & 26
Something utterly, dependably the same, as long as I’ve been looking up, and much, much longer: God overwhelmingly and indisputably controlling the universe. Always and ever the same, always and ever glorious, always and ever in love, always and ever in peace.
Not Only the Big Picture
And I am not careening randomly through this universe. The next verses seem to say, “You see how the universe is firmly taken care of. So, what do you think? Is God not able to reach down from the big picture into your life?”
Why do you say, O Jacob,
and complain, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and His understanding no one can fathom.
Isaiah 40:27 & 28
When I can’t fathom what seems to be a bottomless pit with no life in it for me, God is saying, “No, look the other way. Look up! No one can fathom the starry host that he can see, and no one can fathom My understanding of events that he cannot see. Look for my power and strength and understanding that you cannot see yet.”
Then God shows His willingness to lift us up and keep us moving from where we are:
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Isaiah 40:29 & 30
My struggle to look up and trust in God’s strength reminded me of Voice of Truth, a modern song that talks about those voices in our minds that pull at us. The depression is “reminding me of all the times I tried before and failed.” But, thank God, “the voice of truth tells me a different story.” Please enjoy that song which I’ve included today, which I especially like because this version has many pictures of the heavens that God has created and cared for.
What is Truth?
Posted by: | CommentsGood Friday Prayer Request
My sister and I have long had a tradition of each choosing a special person to pray for on Good Friday. There is no question who my person is this year, and the need is so urgent I want to invite everyone to join me. Janice Wray, a beautiful 20 year old Christian woman, was in a terrible car accident on Palm Sunday. She has broken her neck and twisted her spinal cord. She cannot feel her hands or her legs, and doctors do not expect her to walk again. Please pray for her and her family – healing, strength, comfort, however you are led. There is no limit to how our God can work in this situation.
The Gnawing Question
The narrative of the Passion always draws me in, no matter how many times I’ve heard it. So many parts of it go right to the heart of the matter: who is Jesus, and why did He come to us? This exchange from John 18: 37 and 38 is one that hits me hardest.
Jesus answered, “…for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
“What is truth?” Pilate asked.
Pilate had a lot of “truth” to balance that day. He had to keep the Roman agenda in mind, but the Jewish leaders had their own idea of truth, and they wanted to entangle him in their plots. Then there is the extraordinary man before him, who began telling Pilate that He was the truth.
Pilate did not see that Jesus was the truth above all the others. With some misgivings he continued trying to balance the false with the true until it led to Jesus’ death sentence. But the disciples, or at least Philip, didn’t comprehend it fully, either. Jesus had just hours before told his disciples, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” (John 14:6) He is telling them that He Himself is everything they need – an astounding thought. But Philip answers, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” He doesn’t see that the Father is in Jesus and Jesus is in the Father. Jesus explains to him, “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9b)
Even today I don’t think we always have such an easy time knowing what is truth when we go to live it out. Yes, Jesus is the truth. He tells us the truth of our spiritual condition. He gives us His blood, that becomes our salvation. What about truth in our day to day situations?
Two 21st Century Questions
Last summer someone urged me to walk away from my mortgage. Instead I chose not to believe her claims that the house was worthless and I would never be able to afford it. I fought to keep my house. Was that my stubborn pride, or was I fighting for what I believed God wanted me to have? What is truth?
When my son was on drugs several persons urged me to toss him out of the house. They were sure this would straighten him out and help me regain a peaceful home. I never could do it. Had I done it, he would never have gotten my help to keep him alive when he overdosed. When he came back from rehab, some still felt he should not live with me. My son and I have fought and negotiated and learned from each other over these months. We are closer than we ever would have been because I did not kick him out. What is truth? Was my method just the truth of a sentimental mother or was it a reflection of God’s truth for our situation? It is easy to say now that it seems to have worked out well. I took a lot of opposition for the decisions I made and the stands I took. And remember, those with contrary advice felt they were reflecting godly wisdom, too.
You know many examples from your own life. Things come up, and then what is truth? And is my truth a reflection of His truth?
Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life
This has made me think about the hymn, “Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life,” written by George Herbert, who lived from 1593 to 1633. The music, while sounding characteristic of Herbert’s era, was actually the work of 20th century composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Jesus’ declaration, “I am the way and the truth and the life” ceased being only doctrine to Herbert and became his own truth. He embraced Jesus, calling Him “my way, my truth, my life”. But there’s more. Herbert shows in his verse that he expects the way, the truth, and the life to speak into his life, teaching him and changing how he lives it.
Come, my way, my truth, my life:
Such a way as gives us breath;
Such a truth as ends all strife;
Such a life as conquers death.
Just think: a way that is so easy and light that we breathe peacefully in it; a truth that comes in and settles conflict without and our hearts within; a life that we live knowing “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37)
I hope in your Easter you find Jesus to be your way, your truth and your life as never before.
Kindness Instead of Quarrels
Posted by: | CommentsA couple of weeks ago, Michelle was asking me when I’d weigh in about the pastor who wanted to burn Qurans. Although we’re not talking about the pastor in particular anymore, I’ve found a place where I think the Bible weighs in on the controversy – and as always, right down to our hearts, too.
I am reading my way through 2 Timothy, a book I’d have to say I don’t know too much about other than the “famous” verses that pop out. It surprised me to find some thoughts about kindness and gentleness that sound all too a propos for these days.
I have a fondness for those fruits of the Spirit that seem to get lumped together and not discussed – goodness, kindness, gentleness. This started years ago when I was asked to speak on all three for 10 minutes in a presentation on the fruits. Someone put them all together, thinking they were basically the same thing. They are not! I tried to show that in my allotted ten minutes. Then it started me on the lookout to find these qualities in the Bible for the last 25 years.
These are instructions for anyone who wants to be “the Lord’s servant.”
And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. – 2 Timothy 2:23-26
There are two ways to get into a quarrel: you are drawn into one when another person becomes combative, or you pick a quarrel, saying inflammatory things that you know will lead to quarreling. If we’re told to be careful not to get pulled in to a quarrel, we certainly shouldn’t be starting one.
Now, putting “Quran Burning” in huge letters outside a church is an extreme example. (An aside: many bemoaned the attention the media gave the story. I don’t know exactly how they found the pastor, but think about it: he wanted to be found. He was picking this quarrel and hoping to amplify it.) But at home, on the smaller scale, how many times have you heard someone say the “clever” snide remark that is going to humiliate and raise ire? The one that comes to my mind is the “joke” about Adam and Steve, by which some people feel they’ve handily put down their opposition. But then there are the people who say, “Those people who believe in eternal security, they….” or, “those people who speak in tongues, they….” I’ve worshiped with both of “them” over the years. It’s a disgrace to talk about other believers like that. Because
Instead, {the Lord’s servant} must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. – 2 Timothy 2:24b
To be kind to another, we have to be respectful of him as a human being, even if we cannot respect his viewpoint. To be able to teach, we have to know Scripture, not hearsay or smart remarks. To not resent the other person’s religion and what hurtful things that religion may have done, we have to put away our pride. We are not better than the other person or his ideas. We have found Someone better than both of us. Someone who ended quarrels. Someone who was not only kind, but even gentle and humble of heart (Matthew 11:29). Someone whose very name is above any other name – most certainly our names (Philippians 2:9). The very thought of my name compared to His makes me wither. We are supposed to introduce others to that Someone – Jesus – holy and true, not someone combative and prejudiced.
Those who oppose him he must gently instruct – 2 Timothy 2:25a
If you confront a person on any subject, you need to know what your objective is. Are you bringing up your points to bring harmony, or a greater understanding? If your objective is to show the other person “what’s what”, or to make sure they know you are right and they are wrong, then pride is leading the way, not reconciliation.
Here, the gentle instruction is going to lead to evangelism, the opportunity to share who Jesus really is with the person. Posturing and put downs are never going to do it. I doubt that anyone has ever said, “Now that you’ve shredded all my beliefs and made me look like a fool, I want to accept your Jesus.” You realize that’s ridiculous once I’ve said it; do we always realize it when we’re talking to someone?
That they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. – 2 Timothy 2:26
Paul says the unbeliever is trapped. They have been taken captive, and often have been taught to take more people captive into the same false religion or cult. There’s been an outcry about human trafficking in part because we can see, and hopefully stop, the horrible kidnappers and abusers. Even when people are being belligerent about an ungodly viewpoint, Paul is saying that beneath it all, they are trapped by the real enemy that we do not see. If we could see their captivity, would we argue with them? Wouldn’t we rather work with them gently and try to get them out of there?
Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. – Philippians 4:5
Lord, it’s a human failing to want to fight and put down others. Please help us all to be kinder and gentler the next time there is a conflict of opinion and remember it’s an opportunity to show Jesus’ kindness, gentleness and love. Amen.
Looking for the Open Window
Posted by: | CommentsRecently a greeting card had me laughing in the middle of Wal-Mart. A man and his wife were in bed for the night when a bald old man with a long white beard and moustache came up to their bedroom window, smiling. The woman was shrieking in horror at the sight of the stalker? intruder? murderer?
The inside of the card declared, “When God closes a door, sometimes He opens a window.”
It's often said that when God closes a door, He opens a window.
For quite some time I’ve needed employment that would bring in the kind of income that would pay for my home and household expenses. I have a degree in music performance that was not going to help me now. In the business world of the 21st century, my skills as an office worker in the 1980’s were laughable. The jobs on line were all looking for my resume. What resume was that? I didn’t really have one. And I loathed and dreaded the prospect of returning to school. One run through the gauntlet of academia was enough, and then some, as far as I was concerned. So when I prayed, “Lord, you know I need a job,” it was not the same as when I was in my early twenties and needed work. I was praying for some specific conditions that would meet the needs and abilities I had now, which were very different.
This year I became distracted from my financial needs. My son has had a very difficult year so far and that took up my energy. When there was flooding in the spring, I was one of those with a lake in my basement, and many hours were devoted to repair before we could return home, and more repair afterwards. When there was finally a break in the action, I looked at my finances and realized the situation had become dire while my attention had been diverted. Now the prayers became really urgent and heartfelt. Something had to open up – now.
I want to tell you what happened before and after that prayer. God prepared me for that moment of prayer, and as I said above, it looks like the window is opening for me at last.
BEFORE:
Just a couple of weeks before the financial crisis, God brought me to a place where I could heal from the guilt of my divorce. I’ve written some things before about this wonderful moment when I finally realized that God was not punishing me. It came to a head because guilt was stopping me from believing God could have an answer for me, or blessings for me. Guilt gnawed at me when I knew that all I could do was go forward from here. Guilt even gnawed at me although I knew in Christ I was forgiven. Counselors would write evaluations of my son and mention that his troubles began when our marriage became difficult, and my heart would sink. Some circumstance would go wrong and I would think, maybe my plans fall through because of the divorce. The idea of a curse became a superstition with me.
God sent me back to the Bible to see that there was no verse that said for some sins God punishes continually even if I repent. Then I found a humorous coupon that author Steve Brown has on his website: A certificate entitling the bearer to three free sins. Laughing, I immediately knew what I wanted my first free sin to be. Then I began to see his point: because of the blood of Jesus, I don’t need a coupon to be free from the consequences of three sins. I have been freed from the consequences of all the sins I have been mourning.
“Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’ – and You forgave the guilt of my sin.” – Psalm 32:5
Moreover, I am not cursed, but blessed:
“Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.” – Psalm 32: 1 & 2
PRAYER:
When I prayed for the financial help I desperately needed, I called on God in the brokenness of my situation, not awash with the guilt of my past. I could not fix it. Only He could.
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” – Psalm 51:17
This was a huge difference in my attitude in prayer. Because of what had been lifted from me in “BEFORE”, now I believed God had forgiven me and He would be willing to bless me again. Sometimes I got anxious, sometimes I cried, but I kept turning to the hope that God would bring the answer.
“My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him.” – Psalm 62:5, KJV
AFTER:
My great friend Michelle called me seven days later. She had heard from an old friend she hadn’t seen in years. The woman wanted to know if she knew people who needed a job, who were worried that they would lose their home. She wanted to hire some people and give them professional training in her trade.
This certainly seemed to fit a lot of my prayer requests. I was someone who needed a job and whose house was on the line. The offer came through a friend rather than the route of a want ad or resume, where I couldn’t compete. The education was going to be one on one, where skills can be “caught” rather than taught. This was the way I learned music and is my favorite method of learning. I could work hours that accommodated my daughter’s transportation needs for school. As I became skilled, I could earn a substantial portion of my budget this way.
You might be expecting me to say that I then wrestled to determine the Lord’s will. And you might be surprised to learn that I can’t say I did. I have done that in years past. Instead, this is the attitude I took: I prayed, something that held answers to my particular requests appeared, I will thank God for it, and I am going through the open door to see what God does here.
Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” – Isaiah 30:21
Either 1) This is the way God has for me to ease the financial burden; or 2) I will see God teaching me something here, but in time leading me to something else.
Am I cut out for this new endeavor? We will have to wait and see!
When He is Doing Something New
Posted by: | CommentsK-LOVE, the Christian rock radio station, sends me a Bible verse of the day. Last week many were about God doing new things. A couple of examples:
Tuesday was
“For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?” – Isaiah 43:19
And Thursday brought
“For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it.” – Habakkuk 1:5
I thought this was pretty interesting, because in my week every day brought new things. Really new.
"We pray, and we wait, for God to move. Then God acts all at once. The landscape, and the very earth beneath us, changes."
We pray, and we wait, for God to move. Then God acts all at once. The landscape, and the very earth beneath us, changes. Monday was one of the most difficult days I’ve had in a long time. God really did do something new at my house on Tuesday; before the sun was up, the feline population here had increased from two to eight. Everyone’s life changed dramatically, and not pleasantly, on Thursday. My head was much clearer Friday, but my clarity of thought gave me some jarring insights. One day was despair and the next brought relief. It was exhausting.
I tend to think that new is good. I suspect that’s a cultural attitude we hear all the time in advertising. You know, “new and improved.” Every day held something drastically new, but some of the “new” was bittersweet. Some of the “new” changed the whole playing field. I felt like one of the bad guys in Popeye, being swung over Popeye’s head and slamming onto the floor on either side. Was it good? Was it bad? It sure was happening fast. God was moving, and my kids and I (and a lot of cats) were along for the ride. And the ride’s not over yet.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him…. Romans 8:28a
But sometimes as “the good” is being worked out, it doesn’t seem like it’s good.
When I looked at the passage above from Isaiah, God was promising obviously good things to Israel: water is coming to the desert and wasteland, times of refreshing. Conversely, the prophet Habakkuk is asking God for justice against wrongdoers, and the new thing God promises him is undoubtedly working for the good, but it’s terrifying: The Babylonians are coming to conquer as a judgment. “They fly like a vulture swooping to devour; they all come bent on violence,” God tells him in Habakkuk 1:9a.
All I knew was to hold on tight to God, to trust that He had everything well in hand and He would see us through. Things might not work out as I would like them to be, but God has a plan, and He would direct.
While I feel the discomfort of all the change, what stays steady is our God. Change startles and confuses us, but the Lord is not surprised. We often say, “He’s always there.” When you yourself are in the storm you can feel like asking where “there” is. David says,
If I go up to the heavens, You are there;
If I make my bed in the depths, You are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
If I settle on the far side of the sea,
Even there your hand will guide me,
Your right hand will hold me fast. – Psalm 139:8 – 10
“There” is right where you stand now.
“There” is above you and all about you, protecting you in the storm.
“There” is beside you, waiting for you to turn to Him and let Him take care of the changes that are so frightening.
We get surprised or ambushed. We tremble or weep at the things drastically changing around us. But Hebrews says
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. – Hebrews 13:8
Just as we need Him every day, He is present every day, the Rock that hides us in the storm, the Rock on which we stand when change comes.
Self Abandoned to God
Posted by: | CommentsI was looking at an Oswald Chambers lecture recently entitled, Arriving at Myself. You may know Chambers from his enduring work, “My Utmost for His Highest”, a daily devotional book. Chambers’ wife wrote down many of his sermons and classroom lectures to seminary students, leaving us a rich trove of his knowledge and wisdom. This lecture hit me because, like so much of his writings, it seemed so relevant; it was delivered in 1915 , but it could have been written yesterday.
Oswald Chambers
Chambers is one of my favorite writers because his every thought brings you back to Christ. He pinpoints even subtle attitudes of secular thinking, and confronts them with truth. There you are, confronted with the words of Christ, the Godly perspective, the attitude that the Christian should have. In one hundred years the spiritual battleground has not changed so much as we think. It is just uncanny how these ideas are still around, pervading and warping our thinking.
Arriving at Myself is divided into six segments, but two of them especially made me stop and think. The first is entitled, “My Right to My Individual Self.” He explains individuality as the “husk of personality” that protects our personal life.
“But if individuality does not become transfigured by the grace of God, it becomes objectionable, egotistical and conceited, interested only in its own independence.”
We want our own ideas and our own ways from before our Christian experience to stay just where they are – but Jesus is telling us:
“If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” – Matthew 16:24
Chambers wastes no words in showing up our excuses:
“We cling to our individuality like a drowning man to a straw – ‘Of course God will recognize my individual peculiarisms and prejudices.’ “
Then Chambers compares it to God’s call:
“If we are to be disciples of Jesus Christ, our independent right to our individual self must go, and go altogether.”
It must go, and go altogether. For an example, look at some of the things in Ephesians 5 we are told to change that many of us don’t change because “we just are that way”:
But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person – such a man is an idolater – has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. – Ephesians 5:3 – 5 (Italics mine)
Ouch. Ouch. I fail at both getting all these things out of my life and at replacing them with thanksgiving. I don’t make enough effort to always reflect that I belong to Him.
In college, I roomed at one time with a girl who had advertised for a Christian roommate. I came in one evening to find she was sitting at the kitchen table with a friend, both telling the filthiest sex jokes they could come up with. I took her aside in the hallway and called her on it, but she told me, “I’m a Scorpio, I can’t help it.” (Scorpio is the astrological sign associated with sexuality.) In other words, she was saying, “I want God, but He can’t have my fun, and I don’t care if you’re offended by it, either. I’ve found my excuse, and I’m keeping my individual independence.”
The next section cuts to the deepest point: “The Recognition of My Personal Self.” Its theme is Matthew 10:39 –
He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it.
Chambers’ first sentence clearly shows what he wants us to recognize about the personal self:
We have to recognize that our personal life is meant for Jesus Christ.
But will we give it to Jesus or keep holding on to and examining the experiences, thoughts and emotions that He already knows?
It amazed me that Chambers mentions how this is the opposite of the “modern jargon” of self realization. Evidently people have been trying to look within and draw their feelings out to find the “answers” well before Transcendental Meditation and the various New Age regimens. By giving your personal self to Christ, the Holy Spirit will help you remember what you need to know and better yet, lead you toward Jesus, His love, His cleansing and real answers.
Some methods pull up too many emotions or traumas for a person to handle at one time. It can be frightening and injurious. The Holy Spirit shows you only what you can handle of the things that have been buried deep inside, in the order that you can handle it. Having experienced God’s loving, gentle healing I would never want another method. In the past I have seen a therapist – they can be immensely helpful – but I prayed that God would guide those sessions so they would not become overwhelming.
Chambers warns against using Christian service as a cover. Jesus is not just looking for our giving in service, but in giving our very selves. Chambers writes,
“The great dominating recognition is that my personal self belongs to Jesus….The point is, will I surrender my individual life entirely to Him?”
Chambers goes on to explain that this is laying at His feet not just our sins, but good things. Are our hopes and dreams subject to Him or do we keep them as our own? Are our loved ones in His hands or do we clutch them in ours? Several people in my life have died at an early age, and I have had to learn in my sorrow that they were not mine to keep.
I hope the last paragraph grips you as it did me as Chambers ends by gathering up all our difficulties in life and says that at their root, they are one and the same:
“Jesus Christ asks us to give up the best we have got to Him, our right to ourselves. There is only this one crisis, and in the majority of lives it has never been reached, we are brought up to it again and again, and every time we go back. Self-realisation must be renounced in order that Jesus Christ may realize Himself in us.”
God’s Economy
Posted by: | CommentsFirst, I’m sorry blogs were so sparse last week. My computer crashed and I was without it for a whole week. My trusty computer fixer, Ben Burnett, told me there was so much that had wormed its way into our files that it took every trick in the book to restore it. Due to his work, we are back to normal (thank you, Ben), and I am picking up where I left off.
I had looked at the account of the rich young ruler in Matthew 19 to see what God is looking for in our hearts when we think about possessions. Jesus also assures his disciples that those who have left behind possessions or loved ones for His sake
“will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.” – Matthew 19:29b
But He also cryptically tells them,
But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first. – Matthew 19:30
Then I noticed that Jesus continued on, saying,
For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. – Matthew 20:1
So begins the parable of the workers. The incident, and the teaching, evidently sparked the parable to shed light on what had just happened. The young ruler couldn’t bring himself to let go of his wealth and possessions to give to the less fortunate, and he leaves. Jesus explains how greatly those who give up earthly things will have them restored. Now Jesus is giving those who remain a lesson in how God runs His economy.
The master of the story is in fact a rich man, a vineyard owner. He goes into town at dawn, and in a manner that is still in use today, he gathers up unemployed men to work for the day for a coin, a denarius. Today a denarius is worth about $20 in the USA, and it was commonly the day’s wages for unskilled labor. At about nine in the morning, what the people in Jesus’ time called the “third hour,” the landowner returns to town and finds more men to work for him. He promises to pay them “whatever is right.” Again at noon, at three, and even at “the eleventh hour,” or about an hour before sunset, he brings more idle men to work his vineyard.
At sunset, the work day ends. The men who came last and only worked one hour are given a denarius. The men who have been harvesting all day take this as a sign that they will receive more, but they are paid only the promised denarius. They complain that they did the brunt of the work, but the master says to one man,
“Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous? Matthew 20:13b – 15
This isn’t a satisfying answer in our way of looking at things. Shouldn’t it be “a day’s work for a day’s pay?” If it looks lopsided to us, don’t we deserve to know why? Well – no. Notice that many grumbled, but the explanation was only given to one man. Beyond knowing that the master chose to be generous, we don’t know why things worked out the way they did.
How different from the health/wealth doctrine that says if we have enough faith, we can definitely have certain rewards here on earth. God is not bound by what we expect to be rewarded with.
But sometimes we feel that God “owes” us something. Our faithfulness, we think, should have guaranteed protection against the hard times we face. We think, won’t you take a barter, God, for the healing of a loved one? We invent terms we hope we can get God to accept, thinking that we can fulfill them. These are not God’s terms. He doesn’t have to accept them. We were not saved by anything we have done, and we cannot trade our works for an arrangement with Him.
We do know, however, that He watches over and takes care of those who love and follow Him. Psalm 34:19 says:
A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all…
It’s the righteous person, cleansed with Jesus’ blood, that God promises to deliver, not the one who has made a deal with God promising to do this or that.
Another example of God’s division of wealth comes from the Old Testament: 1Samuel 30. David is not yet king, but he does have a camp of men who support him and follow him. The Amalekites raid their camp when the men are not there and kidnap their wives and children. David and the men “wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep” 1 Samuel 30:4 They are outraged and pursue the Amalekites. Between their grief and their strenuous pursuit, 200 of the 600 men are completely exhausted and cannot go on. They stay with the camp supplies at the Besor Ravine as those who can keep going catch up to the raiders, kill most of them, regain their families and take plunder.
When they return to camp, some of the 400 men expect to keep the plunder for themselves. But David tells them:
“No, my brothers, you must not do that with what the Lord has given us. He has protected us and handed over to us the forces that came against us. Who will listen to what you say? The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike.” – 1Samuel 30:24
I believe David is saying that all these men were following David for the same purpose, and God had blessed them all through the victory, so the blessing of the plunder belonged to all of them. I’ve wondered, too, if this was because the men who stayed behind had done all they could do, and they were not going to be penalized for that. It’s another moment when God’s economy is not our economy.
The tax collector Zacchaeus, who climbed a tree in Luke 19:1-10 to get a glimpse of Jesus over the heads of the crowd that followed Him, offered half of his possessions to the poor and to repay those he had cheated four times the amount involved. Nothing was said about that portion being unacceptable. On the contrary, Jesus says,
“Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.” – Luke 19:9
Why was the rich young ruler told that for his heart to be right before God, he had to give it all? Zacchaeus’ heart attitude was evidently in a very different place, and Jesus treats him accordingly.
This is the reason, I believe, why the parable of the workers is tied to the conversation with the young ruler. Jesus is showing us that
“My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Neither are your ways, My ways,” declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8 & 9
We can look for and expect His blessings, but we cannot define them or control them. What we do know is that the Lord is generous, and when we see God’s generosity blessing us or someone we love, we can rejoice in it.
