What God and Pastors Want

08.31.14

Ezekiel 12.3 3 As for you, son of man, prepare for yourself an exile's baggage, and go into exile by day in their sight. You shall go like an exile from your place to another place in their sight. Perhaps they will understand, though they are a rebellious house.  - God (ESV)

I sat and listened today as my pastor brought us a word from the Word. It seems he tries very hard to explain things to us thinking, perhaps they will understand. I think a lot of pastors try to get their people to understand. More so, I think God tries very hard to get us to understand, saying: perhaps this time they’ll get it. What is it that God and pastors want us to get?

Just this: everyone on this planet needs to hear the truth: God loves them and desires to be their friend forever. Call me naïve, call me simple; call me foolish and childish – the truth is simply this: God wants to be our Friend. It is also true that He wants to be our Father, but there comes a time in the life of the parent (divine or otherwise) when the relationship moves to a new stage of relationship called: friendship.

It is true that as we live God is our Father and will never stop being just that. But it is also true that that we are called to be His friends: No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. (John 15.15) Friendship on this level is something that most of us never get to – it’s a level of closeness and trust rarely experienced by humans; and it makes us uncomfortable. We want to love God but I think most of us are scared to death with what we think that might entail.

So God puts people, places and paths in front of us to get us to that place where perhaps we’ll get it; and embrace it, and live it, and most importantly, invite others to experience it with us. Perhaps they will understand, though they are a rebellious house. The people in Ezekiel’s day didn’t get it and we have a hard time with it as well.

Mostly, I think we think that the pastor gets it because it’s his job to get it; he gets paid to get it. Mostly, I think we’re afraid that God is going to take something from us we don’t want to give; or make us go somewhere, or do something, we don’t want to go or do. But God is relentless because He loves us. And His love is never stoppable.

And God puts continually people in front of us that cause us to think: Man! That person could use the love and presence of God in his/her life. What would happen in your town or mine if people on both sides of the equation would get it? I think life would get very interesting…

Father, thank You for You ceaseless love in calling me to friendship. Thank You for my pastor and his ceaseless reminding that we need You, and that You call us to friendship; and that You call us to ceaselessly tell others the same good news. Father help us – help me – not to resist… Perhaps we’ll understand – Amen.

Human Poop

08.29.14

Ezekiel 4.8 8 And behold, I will place cords upon you, so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, till you have completed the days of your siege. – God

I don’t know why God does the things He does – He’s yet to check in with me and ask my opinion. I know God was showing the exiles through Ezekiel’s antics, what He was doing to the people who were still in Judah and Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar’s seige. And, to make His point: Ezekiel, it appears, was paralyzed for at least 420 days – talk about a running Broadway Show!

Today, I thought about a friend of mine who is suffering from ALS. His wife often writes to us not-knowers and gives us insight on his condition, and what it’s like to be a caregiver to someone who suffers as he does. It isn’t pretty. Despite all the positive thoughts and thinking, and looking for the good in the worst, it isn’t pretty.

Being God’s servant isn’t pretty either. God commanded Isaiah to run around naked. (Isaiah 20) And God commanded Ezekiel to use human excrement as fuel for his fire (Ezekiel 4.12ff). Ezekiel humbly refused, so God, instead, allowed him to use cattle dung. (In Jerusalem, the cattle, by this time in the siege, were long gone – as were the dogs, cats, chicken, and rats – so there was nothing left for fuel except human poop, and it was running low as well…). Being God’s servant isn’t pretty and suffering God’s judgment isn’t pretty either – humans eating humans and all that.

But I think what really got me today was the paralyzation that Ezekiel experienced. For 420 days. It wasn’t like he clocked in in the morning, took a lunch break and clocked out at night and went home to the fam. So, how’d it go at work today honey? Oh, you know, the usual: l just laid around all day. Ezekiel couldn’t move for a year and fifty-five days except to roll over once. I get sore just thinking about it.

So guys, what do we do when God calls us to be un-pretty? What do we do when God demands human poop instead of anything else? Not sure I have an answer other than we’re to do all to the glory of God – 1 Corinthians 10.31. I’m not sure this is for the outer crowd. I’m not so sure this is for the inner-crowd. I think this is for the one who walks with God in deep humility and desperation crying, where You lead me, I’ll follow. Get ready to get dirty, stiff, and sore…

Father, where You lead me I will follow. The needs of these days are great and I’m not to choose the way of ease in these days of war. Help me to stand firm and to do all You say for Your kingdom and glory – human poop notwithstanding… Amen.

Christmas Day

08.27.14

Jeremiah 52. 31-34 31 And in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, graciously freed Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison. 32 And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 33 So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life he dined regularly at the king's table, 34 and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, according to his daily needs, until the day of his death, as long as he lived. (ESV)

A friend of mine loves this passage – he has written about it and I’m sure, because of his pastor-ly ways, he’s preached on it. Whodda thought that upon the fall of Jerusalem and the overthrow of the people of Judah that there’d be any good news. Y’know though, bad news don’t last forever.

One of the last “kings” of Judah was deported to Babylon and subsequently thrown into prison. Not real sure how long he languished there, but one day (I’m sure it was Christmas day the 25^th day of the 12^th month) he was graciously freed.

What could be more happy than being freed from prison? What could be more happy than to exchange grubby prison clothes for regal robes. Jehoiachin (jeh-hoy-a-keen), a conquered king, was released and treat kindly and mercifully, and allowed to eat at the king’s table the rest of his life, (and as the narrative reads) as long as he lived.

Friends if ever we needed to be treated graciously and kindly and allowed to eat at the King’s table, it’s today. Our world is in serious trouble and yet the King of Glory has graciously spoken to us and called us to dine with Him for the rest of our lives and beyond. Like even to eternity – however long that is…’sounds like a long, long time.

And how do we dine with such a King? We spend time in His presence and feast upon His word. We read stories like this and remember: if human kings can pull off this kind of freeing – then just imagine what God can do!

In Christ – regardless of how I look or feel – I am freed from the prison of this world with all its crap and invited graciously by the King of kings to spend time with Him and become His friend. My garments stained with sin (past, present, and future) are washed clean by His sacrifice and I am given the white robe of His righteousness to wear forever. And just like a happy ending on a Christmas Day, I have a hope and a future. And I get to dine with the King everyday forever.

Let’s not over-analyze a Bible story – but let’s remember the significance of it (for a pathetically overly-analytical soul like me) even the date it was done! I know it wasn’t Christmas Day but the story sure reads like it should’ve been…

Great and Merciful God, You are not constrained by anything except love and grace and mercy and kindness and providence and extravagance (and everything else good). Thank You for freeing this captive and countless others down through the ages and on into the future. Amen.

Stupid is as Stupid Does

08.26.14

Jeremiah 51.17 Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them. – God (ESV)

I went for a bike ride this morning and as it usually happens, my mind got about as much workout as the old bod did as I’m riding along. Forty-two degrees is much colder at eighteen miles per hour than when you’re just standing around. So, I road, I froze (for a few miles), and I thought.

At one point were some mental flashbacks of some really dumb things I’ve done. Not dumb as in silent, but dumb as in dense, obtuse; stupid. Sometimes, one thinks back on some of the more colossal stunts pulled and wonders: Oh man! How could I have been so stupid!? Of course then there are the more insidious stupidities of, “Did I really act that way in front of people expecting them to think differently or better of me?” About that point in my thought process (as I am wont to do in such moments) I let out a mournful, mental cry: O God, save me from these terrible memories of the past and let me live today better in You!

Stupid is as stupid does.

In chapter 51 of Jeremiah’s prophecy is a judgment against a then world-power: Babylon. It’s quite lengthy but I forced myself to read through it and I saw the verse above: Every man is stupid and without knowledge… I can attest to that as I realized how naked I felt as I rode along remembering my own mountainous pile of stupidity and foolishness. (BTW: this isn’t a poor-pitiful-me-post. Stupid happens to all of us in some measure – and, it’s a life-long affair.)

Babylon was powerful and proud. They were proud of their military might. They were proud of their conquests. It’s apparent in the text (read through Jeremiah) that they were proud that God  called them to overrun Judah – Hey! Don’t blame us man! Your God told us to do this! But, as the old saying goes: what goes up, must come down; and that is exactly what happened to Babylon the Great; they got caught up in the stupidity of thinking they were too big to fail. Enter the Medes.

Babylon was stupid. And so were the Medes and so were the Persians. And so is every other nation, tongue, and tribe on God’ green earth. It is the plight of mankind. Just look at the turmoil today as we humans clamor for what we think we can bring about to fix it all; when in reality, only God can stop our stupidity. We’ll enact laws that we have no intention of enforcing; we’ll spend trillions of dollars we don’t have in the process; and we’ll never remember that as creatures we can’t fix stupid. Only God can do that.

Fortunately, my bike ride ended but I remembered this verse and I’m praying for you and me and Isis and everyone else on this planet afflicted with: stupid is as stupid does…

Lord Jesus, in Your matchless majesty and infinite wisdom, help us to release our pride, our foolishness, and our incessant bent that we are so cool and everybody ought to know it. How we need You Lord! How we need You today! Maranatha! Come fix our stupid! Amen

Love Letter

08.25.14

2 John 5 And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. – The Apostle John (ESV)

John got it; he was there the night Jesus said: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13.34-35) He heard the Lord say those words. He heard Jesus say: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14.15) He heard Jesus say: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15.12) He heard Jesus say: “These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” (John 15.17) And John heard Jesus say: “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17.26) Yes, John got it.

And he wrote about it, and he wrote to others about it, and he lived it, and he practiced it, and he preached it. Over. And. Over. And. Over. It was his life to love.

Now, this letter to the elect lady was not a romantic thing as some have surmised – it was a result of what John possessed: the love of God within him. He was there when Jesus said the things He said, and those words became the fabric of his soul and the lifeblood in his veins. And he wrote to the churches (the elect ladies) and reminded them, and encouraged them, and urged them to live as he lived – in the love of God, loving others, especially in the church.

Now, John eventually died, but the words of the Lord continue to this day: “…that we love one another.” The lady and all her children eventually died, but the words of the Lord continue to this day. John got it – I think the lady got it, and I think some of her children got it. And we’re to get it.

I’ll switch from them to me – I must get it. It’s not an option for the child of God (yes, believe it or not, I, st. Paul, am a child of God.) God’s love is in me. God’s love is with me. My job is to let it out and slop it all over the people around me – in the church, in the home, and everywhere. I’m going to coffee this morning with a couple friends and it’s to slop over onto them and the employees of the coffee shop.

Not everyone is going to respond but here is one non-negotiable: if I call myself a child of God (because I do and I am) then there better be some proof to the pudding: my love for the people of the church (locally and everywhere) and, believe it or not, their’s for me. It’s what we’re commanded to do – always. Do we get it? Have we let it out? Are there restrictions and conditions? Is it only quid pro quo? The key to the mission of the church is this: By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jesus)

Lord, I’d ask for You to fill me with Your love but You’ve already done that. Rather, I simply ask for opportunities this day to let Your love in me out to slop it all over those around me – and especially those who call themselves, children of God. Then the world will know… amen.

Being by Association

08.24.14

1 John 5.4 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. – The Apostle John (ESV)

I got up about 5 a.m. today. I usually get up pretty early so this was not out of my norm. My routine includes letting the dog out, starting the coffee, and starting my computer. The dog comes back in and flops by the door with a kind of whatever dude ‘tude; and my day starts. I open my Bible and I read.

Usually, when I read, there is some kind of background thought going on in my mind. I think about places I’ve been, people I know, things that have happened. I was at Boy’s Club* the other day and thoughts of that experience drifted up into my mind. I thought about the fact that I have been reading and studying about the financial industry since the 7^th of July, and I am ready for that to be over with. I thought about the days ahead and how I am supposed to be. And when I read 1 John 5, I saw these words: For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And right after those words I saw these words: And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

What does it mean to overcome the world? It surely doesn’t mean one has to have beauty to overcome. I lose. Nor does it mean one has to possess vast intellectual resources to overcome the world. I really lose. Physical strength won’t do; neither will making friends and influencing people. Overcoming the world starts with understanding why the world needs to be overcome.

Jesus said these words in John 16: “I have said these things to you, that in [Me] you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (V. 33) So part of overcoming is finding a peace in a world desperately in need of peace. Peace is that great gift that tells the child of God: Keep your eyes on Me and fear won’t bother you.

Overcoming isn’t accomplished through politics, power, position, or performance; overcoming the world is only by faith – faith in God, and in Jesus Christ, His Son. Overcoming believes I am not of this world, but in search of a world to which God has called me in Christ: His world. Overcoming is associating with God by faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Faith is small to many. Faith is too small to many. The answer to life’s conundrums isn’t rocket-science or having all the answers; the answer to life is found in a trusting belief in the One who did for us what we could never do on our own: purchase our salvation. And John tells us simply that that is overcoming the world and that is victory. Victory isn’t winning in this case; it’s being by association through belief. The world isn’t any less than it is; it’s just more bearable by faith.

Father, may my faith grow. I have overcome the world only because of my faith in Jesus who said, “…take heart; I have overcome the world.” That’s enough for me and that is a victory worth having, and living for. Thank You for the gift of peace – amen.

If It’s Law You Want

08.23.14

1 John 4.20-21 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. – The Apostle John (ESV)

There are laws. There are the laws of man – his regulations, statutes, ordinances, and on and on. There are the laws of nature – gravity, energy, mass, density (I especially relate to density), physics, and on and on. There are the laws of God and a good place to start is with the first Ten. There is a reason laws exist. Some find those reasons beneficial and others don’t. One thing about laws: they are at least tangible in the sense that they’re written, and then written down for all to see – God, in this regard, is no different (e.g. Exodus 20).

One thing about laws is remembering, for whom the laws are. All laws do not apply to all men. Certain laws pertain: if you jump off a building whether here or there or anywhere on earth, you go down. One may use a device of some kind to minimize the fall (or jump), but the direction is always the same: down. (Wow! What a downer. I was always afraid as a kid that gravity would fail and I would float off the earth into space. It never happened.)

The Laws in the Bible are both social and spiritual. There is a legal aspect to them and a spiritual aspect: one tangible, the other not so. Many today want tangible because in their mind it gives them something to shoot for or something, by which, to measure success or failure. If I just don’t covet, then I’m okay. If I just don’t kill (murder), then I’m okay. With God. I think. If I just don’t drink, smoke, use bad language, or chew; or go with girls that do, then I’m okay with God, my church, and my men’s group… I reason.

The more I read the testimony of Scripture, the more I see the fallacy of such reasoning. It isn’t by law that I make points with God. (There are no points to be made.) God loves me regardless of who and how I am; He simply urges me to do the same with my fellow man. And here’s how to think about that: St. John said, “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (Brother, in this sense of the word, is two ways of thinking: proximity and relation.) Loving God is good but it is only real if one also loves his “brother” (proximity or relation).

So, the litmus test is this: if it’s law you want then love God and your fellow man. If you want to live by a “law”, then the one to live by is this: God I love You, and I love those among whom You’ve placed me (regardless of race, color, gender, creed, etc.) whether they love me back, or not. Regardless of whether they behead or not; or bow down to other gods or not. It isn’t about law but if I have to have one it’s this: “…And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” Brother is not defined…

Father God, the reality of my love for You is the reality of my love for others. You’ve commanded me in this way: Love Me, by loving the ones among whom I’ve placed you. If that’s all there is to law, then I’m in! May I do just that! Amen.

Life Together Forever

08.20.14

Jeremiah 48.7 Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days, declares the Lord.” Thus far is the judgment on Moab. –Jeremiah (for God) ESV

In Nehemiah 13 are these words: On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people. And in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, for they did not meet the people of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them—yet our God turned the curse into a blessing. (1,2) Tell me we don’t have trouble in the middle east where grudges have been nurtured and nursed for centuries…

I read through Jeremiah’s (God’s) judgments of Moab, Ammon; Edom; Damascus, Kedar and Hazor, and Elam this morning. They’re pretty ugly – the outcome of the judgments are ugly. When empires get restless, things get ugly. In Jeremiah’s day Babylon, under Nebuchadnezzar, was restless, and things got ugly. And small countries like Moab, Ammon, Edom, and the like, were overrun by this restless empire leaving horrible death and destruction in the wake.

Yet God (on more than one occasion in these judgments)said, “Yet, I will restore…”

God doesn’t seem to intervene much in the politics of this world. He seems to use the comings and goings of men in His plan, but He doesn’t seem to intervene. (God doesn’t crash parties all that often; He knows where He is not welcome.) But having said that, I’ll say this: God does intervene in the hearts of men who are being jostled about by the clashing of empires, and vast armies on the move. God never takes His eyes off the individual in the midst of all this chaos.

God, it appears, is more interested in friendship than He is with kingship. Oh yes, He is King and His Kingdom is forever and ever, amen; but His Kingship isn’t the issue: our friendship with Him is.

In Nehemiah 13 it is written that no Moabite was allowed into the assembly of the Jews because they didn’t offer help to Israel in her wanderings all those years ago. (Again, the grudges.) But God is more interested in friendship with men than He is with grudges. And God promises – in His word, spoken by His people – that He will restore the fortunes of those who bullied His people, Israel. God is interested in friendship, restoration, and forgiveness.

I ask myself: Paul, what are you more interested in today: friendship or the nursing of old hurts? I like friendship better, but believe me, I’ve maybe got a grudge or two; I’ve sung a somebody done somebody wrong song. God is more interested in the condition of my heart than He is the hurts I’ve endured. (And yes, the hurts have maybe been used by Him to me see how I’ve done somebody wrong; and how I need to change my perspective about friendship, forgiveness, and restoration.) God is all about restoration because He doesn't create junk…

Father, today I sit amazed at the magnitude and profoundness of Your love and Your heart toward all of us who deserve Your judgment and yet receive Your mercy. Thank You for the restoration of the nations; that Your perfect plan is never “B”; it’s always: Hey, you there! Come be My friend, and lets do life together forever… Amen.

With Ya Big B

08.19.14

Jeremiah 45.5 5 And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for behold, I am bringing disaster upon all flesh, declares the Lord. But I will give you your life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go.” – God (ESV)

God PM'd Baruch, the son of Neriah. Baruch was Jeremiah’s personal secretary, if you will – his scribe, his chronicler. When Jeremiah spoke, Baruch wrote. Call Baruch an old-fashioned recording device, perhaps. It wasn’t uncommon in those days.

It appears from this tiny narrative tucked away in the rest of Jeremiah’s prophecy that possibly Baruch got nervous from time to time and maybe thought about a career change, or even a different employer; after all, his boss got into hot water with the authorities on a fairly regular basis. Maybe Baruch thought what’s bad for the goose is bad for the gander. Can’t blame the guy when your boss has a knack for causing people to foam and groan just at the sight of him.

So maybe Baruch was a little nervous about things. And one day Jeremiah calls for him, and he shows up with pen, ink, and papyrus and predictably Jeremiah launches unpredictably…about …Baruch. To: Baruch From: God. With love.

God knows, God cares. Just when we think He isn’t aware, He lets us know He’s there.

About ten weeks ago (or so) I was in Church and a lady came up to me and prayed for me. She prayed that God would prepare me for what was coming next and that I’d find His blessing in it. It was a nice prayer and could’ve applied to just about anything – except – I was on my way the following Friday for a job interview and was consumed with thoughts about that. She didn’t know. How could she?

But God knew, and God let me know He knew. And whatever fears and anxieties I had seemed to melt away. God knows and God cares. He cares about what we’re doing and where we’re going. He cares about what we’re thinking and what we’re saying. And like old Baruch, He gently reminds us that He hasn’t forgotten us. That’s our God.

God told Baruch that despite the awesome difficulties he was going to go through the thing he prized most – his life – would be God’s gift to him in the midst of it. Baruch didn’t want to die some awesomely horrible death; and I don’t think he did. I think God gave him a long life of dodging bullets – isn’t that the prize of war – to have your life at the end of it?

Father, You know what I think and say, and where I’m going and what I’m doing; and I think You are pleased, and You are with me in all of it. Jeremiah didn’t call me and tell me to write down a prophecy but a lady in church who doesn’t know me all that well prayed and reassured me that You are aware of all that I’m up to and that is enough for me. Thank You! To me today the prize is not just my life, but Your presence in it – thank You! Amen.

Committed Obedience

08.18.14

Jeremiah 35.18 18 Then Jeremiah said to the family of the Rekabites, “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘You have obeyed the command of your forefather Jehonadab and have followed all his instructions and have done everything he ordered.’ (NIV)

In a song called, From a Distance part of the lyrics are:

God is watching us. God is watching us.

God is watching us from a distance.

I thought of that song today as I read Jeremiah’s words to the Rekabites; the sons of Jehonadab. It appears God was aware of the obedience of the Rekabites and he sent Jeremiah to use them as a living example of what committed obedience looked like. The sons of Rekab didn’t drink wine because their father told them not to. They honored their father’s word and stayed away from wine. And God saw and God knew.

Apparently, everyone else knew too; committed obedience is obvious to everyone. It may look religious, or it may not; one thing is for sure – if you try to get someone who is committed to obeying to do something they’re not supposed to do – they won’t. And if there’s a group of them, they seem even more steadfast than if they are on their own. There is something to be said for deep conviction. God sees and God knows.

When God looks into our lives, what does He see – after all, according to the song, God is watching us. I’m not sure I buy the whole from a distance part because that, to me, reveals a misunderstanding of what Jesus said about presence. But God is watching us. And furthermore God is acting within us to help us to see what is important in life: HIM. The test for the Rekabites was their abstinence – what is ours? Does it matter?

The Rekabites were God’s chosen examples to the people in those days of committed obedience – something they had a hard time with. Apparently not many wanted to do what God asked. And whenever and wherever the wine was flowing and there happened to be a Rekabite or two present, there was an obvious commitment on their part to not drink the wine. That was their deal. What is ours?

I suppose that is between us and God. As individuals, God is watching us too – and it ain’t from a distance – it’s up close and personal. God is watching us and God may use us as an example if He needs. Are you up to the challenge? Am I?

Lord, I don’t think the Rekabites were into fanfare about their personal commitment to obey the words of their father. You used them to make a point: IF THEY CAN DO IT FOR AN EARTHLY FATHER. WHY CAN’T YOU DO IT FOR YOUR HEAVENLY ONE!? This made me think about my life and my convictions and what I look like to people because of my association with You. Help me to live what I believe and help me to be an example when needed. Father may committed obedience be one of the family traits in me – Amen.

Plans

08.17.14

Jeremiah 25.8, 9, &11 8 Therefore the Lord Almighty says this… 9 “I will summon … my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” declares the Lord, “and I will bring [him] against this land and its inhabitants …11 This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and [you] will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” – Jeremiah (NIV)

I’m not sure how long our current trend will last. Sometimes it seems like it’s gonna go on forever; and sometimes it seems like it could all end tomorrow. Jeremiah the prophet was tasked with the task of giving the bad news to his nation. They didn’t believe him. And they hated him for it. He said the trend was going to come to a close; that it was going to end, and for seventy years there would be no Israel, no Judah, and no nation. They would all move to Babylon and serve a pagan king.

To the Jews, this was a complete pile of nonsense; they thought they were too big to fail – after all they had God on their side – see, His Name is painted on the side of their Temple. They thought the current trend was going to last forever.

Today, there is peace, but today there are plans. Today the sun came up in its normal way, and my lawn got watered, and I read my Bible, and tossed a coupla prayers heavenward; but there are plans for all of this to come to an end. Babylon had plans to ruin Judah’s party and Jeremiah preached it.

There is no such thing as too big to fail and God is on our side. We are not immune from failure and God is on no one’s side. Think about it – it’s true. Life on earth would be dramatically different if God chose sides; but He doesn’t. God says, you’re either with Me or against Me. If there are sides to be compared it’s God, and then everybody else.

Well, what about the Church? What about His promises? What about these plans afoot to undermine and destroy the US? Where is God in all of that!? God is right where He’s always been and where He’ll always be: on His throne ruling the nations bringing righteousness into the world and keeping whatever ‘plans’ there are, right on time with His plan.

Pretty quick in our reading Jeremiah quotes the following: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29.11-13) But first the exile, the captivity, and seventy years to think it over.

America is America – she is not Israel nor is the Church within her Israel. And there are plans being formulated against America to cause her to suffer. And amidst her suffering will suffer the Church (just bring to mind the Christians laying slaughtered on the hillsides in Iraq). But here is the clarion call to each of us: Be faithful, persevere, and trust in God just like our money says. I’m not sure how long our current trend will last. Sometimes it seems like it’s gonna go on forever; and sometimes it seems like it could all end tomorrow.

Lord, whether now or later, in the midst of the plans, find me faithful. Amen

The Answer to Handling Wealth

08.16.14

Psalm 112.1 Praise the Lord. Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands. - Anonymous (NIV)

To this dismay of the judgmental crowd, I believe God is a Giver of second chances and do-overs. God is a pass/pass Teacher. God’s ways are higher than our own, and God methods are often anything but intuitive. Our God is an awesome God.

Thursday, I drove home from Boise where I had taken and passed an exam for a new career with Thrivent Financial (more on that another time; look them up at: www.thrivent.com/aboutus/).  

As I drove home, I had a long talk with the Lord. I don’t mean we sat together in the car and talked; I mean I drove and poured out as much of my soul as I could find to Him as we went along. Tears may have been present. I advocate this practice – it seems to work for me to think though things, and be open enough to tell Father what is really on my heart. For a while I only complained and then I changed my tune and began to praise. Praising God doesn’t necessarily straighten things out, but sure does usher in an indescribable peace.

As I talked with the Lord, I shared with Him my lack of success with money – there always seems to be too much month left at the end of the paycheck. I’ve never been that good with money. So, today in Psalm 112 I think I found an answer: Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands. (Doing what He says.) This psalm goes on to say that such a man will have: honorable offspring, wealth and riches, light for life, compassion and generosity, confidence, peace, and no fear on bad times. (Psalm 112 is a male equivalent to Proverbs 31). The only man who will enjoy these things is the man who fears the Lord and finds great delight in doing what He says.

So, I read Psalm 112, and then I thought: no wonder it rarely works for me! I don’t fear God! And then I swallowed hard. It’s true. Oh, sure, I love God. I even like God. But mostly I do and have always done what I want or what I think.

Let’s talk about do-overs for a moment. God doesn’t hate me; never has, never will. I am assured of that. But God does expect me to live my life (in all my/its current wretchedness) alongside Him, fearing Him. (As we know, this kind of fear isn’t terror; it’s respect). God will help the fool and his money (which are soon parted) if the fool repents and begins to respect God for Who He is and what He is doing in the fool’s life. Call me, a repenting fool today. And that is why God is so good at do-overs: He wants us to see that with Him is the hope of living life rightly. When we get it, He gives it. That simple. The answer to handling wealth is fearing God!

And that’s why a new career. And that’s why a long talk with God, asking for answers. God is the Solution for every need of every person on the globe. All we need do is acknowledge that and respect Him for it.

Father, it seems again I hear You loud and clear.

May my respect for You grow as You have drawn near.

Thank You for helping a poor foolish fool;

Using his lousiness with money, as an effective teaching tool.

I pray, O God, that my respect for You only grow

And as I walk through this world may I help others to know,

That there is a reward for those who do

Put all of their hope and trust and fear, in You. Amen

PS: Money ain't the the answer: God is.

Jesus and Jeremiah

08.15.14

Jeremiah 20.7 You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me.

Just exactly what was Jeremiah saying? Some are wont to believe that serving God is a bum deal; Jeremiah is one in a long line of those who was obnoxiously persecuted for his association with God and was ultimately killed for it. Where do I sign up?

It seems that suffering is the preferred path by God for His people. It seems the situation in Iraq today against God’s people is only going to get worse before it gets better. St. Paul suffered and died. St. Peter got whacked. St. James, the younger was killed; there’s a pattern here. The pattern isn’t the point however; the point is Jesus, Son of God, suffered for His relationship to God as well. We might be tempted to say, what’s good for the goose is good for the … (well, you get the picture).

The difference between Jesus and Jeremiah isn’t that they suffered, it’s how they suffered and how they responded to suffering. When Jeremiah voiced his complaint to the Almighty, he was speaking to Jesus – the Almighty. And Jesus, just a few centuries later walked the very same path of ridicule, resistance, and rejection that bro Jeremiah did.

Jeremiah’s words in Jeremiah 20 sound like the words of someone who is very agitated. Jesus’ words in John 17 sound just the opposite. Jeremiah complained – and can we blame him? Jesus didn’t – and can we answer why? Jesus followed through and believe it or not Jeremiah did too.

It cost both of them, and innumerable saints down through the ages in the meantime, their lives. But life lost on earth is not life lost in Heaven. Pain and suffering for God is not overlooked in Heaven. And I think God likes it when we complain.

Yesterday, I drove to Boise to take an exam for my new job. I was really nervous despite my best efforts to remain calm, cool, and collected. I prayed out loud most of the way there (about two hours by car). I found myself asking God for success in passing the exam (which He graciously gave me) but I realized at one point I was really praying a shallow and selfish prayer. When I pray for God to give me what I want, that, is pretty shallow and selfish. It’s not about what I want – it’s about what He wants and He wants me.

God wants me to want what He wants. God wants me to quit my complaining and fearing and fretting, and believe He is who He says He is and that His mission on earth is to be the most important thing in my life. Regardless of the pain. Regardless of the obstacles.

Interestingly, Jeremiah in the midst of his complaining began to praise God. I think that was the key. If we want to get our minds off of the selfish and shallow the best way to do that is to praise God and remember all of His deeds and attributes. It worked for Jeremiah who continued to suffer for his faith and it worked for me in the midst of my day yesterday.

Lord, You are good all the time and all the time, You are good! In the midst of suffering You are good and may I and my brothers remember to praise You in the midst! Amen.

The Blending

08.10.14

John 12.50 50 I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.” – Jesus (NIV)

“Yesterday was my birthday; I hung on more year on the line…”* It was a quiet day, I worked for a friend of mine. My wife went to an all-weekend girl-fest. My son stayed the night at a friend’s house; so last night, it was just me, the dog, and the cat after that. In my quiet moments after dinner, I thought about life, the middle east, the culture around me. I thought about the church; I thought about ministry. And this morning, I read the above.

What kind of a life is it that is lived out only doing what God commands (by, and because of His divine, regal authority)? Jesus said here in the text, “So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.” That isn’t my reality. I don’t say what God commands me to say. (I mean not always, or maybe better, not very often.) Francis Chan is reported as having said of people, it isn’t that they don’t like Jesus, they just don’t want to be like Jesus. I think I got some of that in me.

I wonder what life would look like if I started off each day asking: Father, today may I say what You tell me to say, and do what You tell me to do. I think it’s worth attempting.

As I look at the Bible it appears there are only a select few folk throughout its narrative that took the time to get to know God on such a level as to: say what He said to say, and do what He said to do. Jesus did it flawlessly.

I don’t think I’m called to flawless perfection. I do think I’m called to put forth some effort. I do think I’m called to seek Him earnestly, listen carefully, and obey Him entirely. Where I run into trouble is in blending my agenda (the family, the church, the job, the bills, and the…) with His. I think my solution is to learn/accept that my agenda really is His agenda, and if I would but acknowledge Him in my agenda I might find meaning and purpose in everything else I do.

Today I feel a sense of maybe drawing closer to God and saying:

Father, whatever it is that You have for me to say and to do, may I be willing to do (as Jesus said: just) that. Find me willing to include You in all my doings and sayings and may I live my life out seeking You earnestly, listening carefully, and obeying You entirely. Help me God. Amen

Father and Friend

08/09/14

Jeremiah 3.4-5 Have you not just called to me: ‘My Father, my friend from my youth, 5 will you always be angry? Will your wrath continue forever?’  This is how you talk, but you do all the evil you can.” - God

How do you respond to this? Jeremiah's words were not the beginning of the end; they were the end. It was just a few short years until the invading horde of Babylon was going to swoop down upon Judah and carry her off to a place she didn't want to go. (Jesus once said to St. Peter: Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Peter hadn't a clue but when Jesus says you're going somewhere you don't want to go, then be sure, you'll not want to go...)

God's complaint was His people had the audacity to call Him Father and Friend but that was as far as it went - their hearts weren't in it. They wanted to live the way they wanted to live and have God place His approval on it as long as they called Him: Father and Friend. God said in essence, sorry guys, it don't work that way!

The relationship God had with His people then (and still has today) was one of covenant - i.e. contractual: If you do your part, I'll do mine. But because God's heart is so loving and compassionate, the contract has an emotional side to it that one wouldn't find, say at the bank with a car loan, or a mortgage, or some other kind of contract. (I think that is one of the hardest things in understanding God's interaction with the Jews - He loved them dearly but He stood by the covenant. It was more than a contract, but it was a contract nonetheless.

With the Church, there is no contract; just love. More actually, it's love, intention, and will. With Israel, God demanded obedience to the rules. With the Church God demands love. Well, how do you do that? Simply by lovingly, obediently, loving in return. Jesus said, If you love Me; you'll obey me. It isn't keeping laws, it's trusting His way is the best way; and it is a surrendering of my will to do exactly what He says to do. There is no covenant; there is no law - there is just a loving relationship expressed in my willing submission to His commands (not His commandments...)

But, this is the deal: can we call God, Father and Friend and then go live however the hell we like? We can, but there isn't much (if any) heart in it and that is where the truth of the reality of the relationship is: the heart, and its place in the relationship.

This verse smacked me around a bit today. It's not about behavior or performance - it's about heart. If the heart is right, the obedience and the behavior will follow. If not, there's some soul-searching needing to be done. God, where is my heart in all this? A careful read through Psalm 139 might be helpful, if we aren't sure where our heart is in all this.

Father and Friend, You do know me - You know all about me. There's nothing about me You don't know. That's good and bad...to me. But despite how I feel about what You know I pray You draw me close. I pray You help me to see Your heart. I pray that I somehow respond to Your love and reciprocate in my words, but more importantly with my heart, doing what You ask me to do... Through Him, Amen.

Days

08.07.14

Zephaniah 1.7 Be silent before the Sovereign Lord, for the day of the Lord is near. The Lord has prepared a sacrifice; he has consecrated those he has invited.  – Zephaniah the Prophet (NIV)

When I read through the Old Testament prophecies I run across the term often: The Day of the Lord. I used to think the Day of the Lord was singular and sometime time off in the distance; eventually arriving when things would then be different. Today, I realize there is more than one day of the Lord.

When Zephaniah (Zeff-on-ee-ah) taught, the end was right around the corner – we would say imminent, or present. Now, by the end, I don’t think it was the end of Israel (Judah). It was the end of the way things were; eventually the nation returned from exile in Babylon. (It seems to me that Babylon must mean: You want the world baby, you got it!) The Day of the Lord was soon going to be His presence through the invading armies of Nebuchadnezzar, the siege, the captivity, and the deportation. The Day to Zephaniah was right around the corner, and it happened.

There is reference in the Old Testament to another Day of the Lord. It wasn’t to come for another 700 years or so, but it came. That Day showed up with a Baby born in obscurity and poverty bringing light and wealth of God’s presence into the world, indicating that things again had changed, and the way we used to do things was gone forever.

In that day the Lord said: As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. (John 9.4) I’ve tried to work through that sentence and can’t; but I can say this: there is yet another Day of the Lord coming – a day when all things will change, forever.

Now, where ya goin’ with all this, Paulie? Only here: the Days of the Lord are the moments of His visitation and there have been plenty of them throughout History. (He never leaves – He is omnipresent – but on/in those days, His presence is more obvious than at others\ times.) And here’s the dealio: the Day of the Lord, for the one who believes, is every day. Now that isn’t to say that every day is Christmas, or every day is Children’s Day; but it is to say that God is more obvious at some times than at others; we’re rolling up on 9-11 and we might be mindful that that day could’ve been (and ultimately was) a day of the Lord for some. Our choice is how we choose to look at it.

Today, is a day of the Lord for me because I accept His presence in all I do and seek His presence in all I do. I think there’s a Day of the Lord coming for America that she isn’t going to relish. I think that day will be the loss of her power and relevance. But that is all the more reason to be ready for the Day of the Lord today. I think our readiness today and every day will be what gets us through the next Day of the Lord when it happens. And it’s coming.

Father, my thought today is this: as I live today, I live in the presence and power of the Kingdom. Today, is a day from You and I’m to rejoice and be happy in it – that is what I will do. Help me to see the days properly and to live each day appropriately: depending upon You obediently. Father, help me to see You this day in all I do – amen!

God Thoughts

08.06.14

John 8.56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” – Jesus

In the middle of a dark and brooding statement in Habbakuk 2 are these words: “— but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness” (Habbakuk 2.4-5). It may be tempting to read that statement incorrectly because at first glance it appears that the object of the statement is a person of evil and wickedness. But the phrase doesn’t match with anything else in the verse and because it is God speaking, how can God say that a wicked terrorist lives by faithfulness? Faithfulness to what?

The faithfulness of which Habbakuk speaks is the same kind of faithfulness that is attributed to Abraham, that father of the faithful. Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. The faithful who walk in faithfulness are not like the deluded who cling to a belief as a way of living; the faithful cling to God in the midst of a world full of terrorism. Abraham was faithful in his day.

Jesus made a statement about Abraham one day in the temple (see John 8.48 ff.). Jesus said the above. We get, by this statement, a little insight into Abraham’s worldview and his thoughts about God. Abraham, in a world full of terrorism, believed God, believed in God, and thought about God. Thoughts about God ought to be present in the lives of the faithful – they ought to think about Him, His ways, His words, and His salvation. (Salvation isn’t an invitation to be ‘churchy’; salvation is an invitation to know God, and become His friend.)

That’s what Abraham was all about; he wasn’t about living in the midst of terrorists; he was about being the friend of God. That’s why Jesus said, “…Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” Abraham thought about God. Abraham thought God thoughts. Abraham knew that salvation was more than just an invitation to be churchy. Abraham thought about the day of salvation and because he did, he saw it – he saw it by the eyes of faith.

What are our thoughts? What do we think about? Do we allow our thoughts to be about God or are they influenced by other things? The faithful live by their faithfulness, and their faithfulness includes thinking about God and His ways and salvation in the midst of a world full of terrorism.

Here’s a thought: tonight watch the news and pray through it as you watch. Look for God in the midst of terrorism, tragedy and unspeakable pain. Rejoice, in the midst of the reporting, in Jesus’ Day – the Day that God came to town and invited men, in person, to become His friends. I double-dog dare ya…

Father, the old hymn sings, “our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of days; pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise.” May I be granted God-thoughts today. In the middle of all I am up to, may my mind be filled with rejoicing that You are here, and You are near, and despite what the world comes up with, You have invited me to be Your friend – amen.

Lamenting

08.05.14

2 Chronicles 35.25 Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah, and to this day all the male and female singers commemorate Josiah in the laments. These became a tradition in Israel and are written in the Laments.

What happens when a people turns from God? Nobody laments, that’s what. (Yes, some lament, but mostly God is left aside as irrelevant, archaic, and myth.) When Josiah was king I think there was a brief flicker of hope but it was short-lived; the flicker flamed out; Josiah was killed and the nation slid off the table so to speak – the end had come.

I wonder about this great nation of ours and I wonder if there’ll ever be a return to God, and if there is, I wonder what will be the fruit of it. I don’t hold out a lot of hope. And I wonder who’ll write the laments. I wonder if it’ll even matter or if anyone will care.

Today, as a cease-fire starts in the conflict between Israel and her enemies I wonder if Israel remembers the Laments, and if anyone is bothering to cry them out to God. I wonder what would’ve happened had Josiah not gone out to confront Necho. I wonder…

It seems one laments when faced with, too little too late. I personally think this was the case with the reign and death of Josiah. Faithful and devout king he was, he couldn’t stem the tide in front of him – the aggression of Egypt or the aggression of Babylon. At least he died in battle defending his land and his God, and not in chains in cowardly defeat in some prison.

I lamented this morning (at about 3:00 am). I laid awake remembering much of the stupidity of my past and I lamented to God how sorry I was. I think He listened. I think He smiled. And I think He said something like: “Child, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride but I have it under control! Trust in Me! I’ll bring you through.” And so, a verse came into my mind: But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. (2 Corinthians 2.14) Lamenting or no; crying over spilled milk or no, God is God and He loves His kids – even the stupid ones.

The rest of the story in 2 Corinthians starts in verse 15: For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?  The reason for lamenting is to confess to God: I’ve missed it and I want to repent.

The consequences come but God is with us in the consequences and on the other side He is cheering us on; because we are to God the pleasing aroma of Jesus among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma that brings death – death to self, death to stupidity, death to turning from God; to the other we are an aroma that brings life – and hope and all the goodness of God that comes with it.

And so today I pray: Come Lord Jesus. Come and save me from stupid; and may my life be a ray of hope to someone who only sees darkness and death. Be merciful Lord. Be swift. Breathe life – I pray to You the Victor over death and dumb…amen.

This Pathetic Piece of Palestinian Trash?

!!Blog warning!! Long(er) length!!
08.02.14

John 4.17-18 17 “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” NIV

It is important to know that Jesus – the Author and Perfector of our faith – was just another Guy during His days on earth – with one marked and remarkable difference: His association with, and submission to the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit.

I know people can’t handle the God/man thing (I mean, really, who can?) but it is important for us to know that Jesus – fully God and fully man – had His God-ness held in escrow while He was walking along as you and I are. The difference, as I said, was His association with and submission to the Spirit (capital S).

When did Jesus ever quit being God? Never. When did Jesus put His God-ness in a trust account? During His 33 (or so) years upon Terra Firma, that’s when. He never ceased being God – you can’t unbecome who you are. He did set His divine power and glory aside for a while and let the Father, through His Spirit lead Him where He was supposed to go and talk to whom He was supposed to talk: like a woman in Samaria who’d had five husbands and the man she had presently (in the narrative) was not her husband.

So let’s ask some questions, shall we? Why does she have to be a woman of ill-repute? The story doesn’t say that but I’ve been taught (all my life) that’s what she was. Why? Because she had five husbands? Hmmm. I know people who’ve been married multiple times, and currently live with their ‘other’, and though I might question their morals, beliefs, and their motives, I wouldn’t necessarily call them folk of ill-repute. (I think we’ve been sold a bill-of-goods about the woman…)

Now, let’s factor in the fact that Jesus knew about her beyond what she thought He knew about her. (She was NOT a Jew.) She was a cursed half-breed and not held to the standards of the Jewish orthodoxy. They didn’t want nuthin’ to do with her. So why does this woman have to be held to standards that weren’t her own? Why do we do that to people: hold them to our standards that are not theirs?

Why did Jesus tell this woman (of all women) about Himself and about His role as Messiah? And why do we hang that sad stigma on her? I don’t think Jesus did, after all, she was the one He used to share the gospel with the other accursed half-breeds (north of the border, so to speak). And Jesus, true to His mission of listening to and obeying in complete submission what the Spirit instructed Him to do, spoke to her and shared with her – HER – the love of God and the truth about all things.

And then there’s us. We tell the story of ‘Jesus and this pathetic piece of Palestinian trash’, and we try to get others to believe what we’ve been told about her; we believe it and want them to, too! Why does she have to be Palestinian trash? Why can’t she be just like the rest of us: broken and fallen and in desperate need of salvation? Why does she have to be trash – does that make the story more believable? Oh, please! Lord, have mercy we are so gullible!

What is more important: that she was a piece of trash or that she is the one the Holy One said to go and talk to, so that she’ll go and talk to others? Makes me wonder. Makes me wonder about the people I size up to be less than my standards; and it makes me wonder about the cruelty of my insisting (verbally or otherwise) that they live up to how I see things. I think I’m the one who needs a Savior if I treat people like that!

I think we need to rethink about what we think about the Samaritan woman. I think we need to think about what it would look like if Jesus came into our lives today like He did to hers that day and He told us all about living water, and Who it is who offers it, and messed up spirituality, and, oh yes, our own personal little deeds of ill-repute that we don’t want anyone else to see.

Friends, join with me in asking questions about our faith – not that its real, but how we’ve allowed others to shade our thinking and miss the point of our encounters with Jesus (Who, by the way, took back all of His God-ness out of the trust fund with interest) and sits at the right hand of Him who is enthroned above all.

Father, I pray: open the eyes of our hearts Lord, we want to see You, hear You, and by all means, obey You, as we journey through Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even to our own little uttermost parts of the globe. In His name Who offers good water, amen!

These

08.01.14

Isaiah 66.2b “These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.” – God

I read this verse today and somehow it disturbed me. I dare not wear it as a Pharisee’s merit badge because those are not valued in Heaven, and they are a source of immense discomfort on earth. The hunger we have is revealed by what we eat.

I can’t think of the last time I trembled at God’s word. I value it. I love it. I learn from it. I quote it. I just can’t think of a time when I was in terror of it, trembling. I haven’t opened my Bible in a long time and just simply exclaimed: Awesome! I think I tend to think of His word as a couch in the other room – nothing too awesome about that.

I know I’ve been humbled and have been humble but it takes a different measure of humility to be in such humiliation as to tremble, shaking at God’s word. The writer of Hebrews says this: “The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear." (12.21) He was quoting Moses from Deuteronomy 9.19: “I feared the anger and wrath of the Lord, for he was angry enough with you to destroy you. But again the Lord listened to me.” That takes some kind of humility and contrition. Lots of it. I don’t have much. But I want some. There are those who have it. 

I sit humbled tonight at my lack of humility and my lack of contrition and terror of the word. (It has to be terror sometimes otherwise I won’t/don’t move.) And so, Isaiah’s words caught my eye and wrapped themselves around my heart.

I don’t want to put on a show. I don’t want to wear garments that don’t fit or look like they were made for someone else. I do want to fall on my face before Him who says: “These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.” I want to fall on my face pleading for mercy at my care-less-ness, cynicism, and apathy. My worship must include humility, contrition, and terror. At least in some measure.

I also remember this:

“One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard:

“Power belongs to you, God, and with You, Lord, is unfailing love”;

and, “You reward everyone according to what they have done.””

Psalm 62.11-12

Father today, numb, dumb, and resting on my thumb, I plead Your mercy. I pray for a fresh encounter with You and for Your word to stir up in me – terror. I know You don’t hate me because with You is unfailing love. I just want to learn to respond with some measure of humility and contrition and I pray not to lay awake at night wondering if I’ve somehow missed it. I ask for Your help as I do what I do and to find You rewarding me for what I’ve done. Thank You for Your goodness, kindness, but thank You for Your sternness as well. I want to be one of "these" Your son. Amen.