Making the Day Count

01.30.15

Psalm 90 11-12 11 Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you?

12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. – Moses (ESV)

God’s wrath is mysterious to me. It is not a bursting forth in anger, nor is it reactionary. God never reacts to anything. But what God seems to do in His wrath and anger is to remove His hand. That’s frightening. Imagine a world today in which God removes His hand of order, protection, or wisdom. Imagine a world where parents simply let their children run wild with no exercise of discipline or restraint – that’s a picture of wrath. Imagine a world in which God turns His back and says, “Have at it…” That’s not a pretty thought.

Moses understood this. Moses understood how important it was to have God ever-present in all we do because God’s absence is terrifying. And so, Moses prayed. Moses asked God to teach us (them) to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Moses asked God: Lord, rather than suffer the consequences of Your wrath, would You just help us to make every day count!?

God desires that we make our days count. God desires that we live orderly and productive lives in the light and presence of His leadership and counsel. God desires that we give every dollar a name and give every minute a purpose. (I stole that from Zig Ziglar who probably stole it from somebody else…) Moses prayed, Lord, help us to number our days to make our days count.

Are our days worth something? What is the real worth of a day? How can you and I live so that we contribute to orderliness and productivity? Is it always about the bottom line, or is there something else to making our days count? What then will we tell God about our days when we stand before Him to give an account? Moses asked for help – we ought to do the same.

Personally, I think every person ought to own a business of some kind. I think every person ought to engage in some endeavor in which to make a living and make their days count. I do think life is more than consumerism and ascending the peak of leisure. I do think life is about hard work (not hard labor) and producing something. But, I think we think about life differently when we take on something that all of a sudden makes life bigger than us. What is the worth of a day? What is the worth of a life?

Today, I want to make my life count. I want to make it count peacefully, productively, and purposefully. Today I want to worship God by making the day count and to perhaps number it in the pile of days on the plus side. I can only accomplish that by living in the light of God’s peace, presence, and purpose. And no, even in this, it’s not about the bottom line…

Father, You have blessed me with this day – may I make it count for You. May I make it count in this world and in the lives of others. May I live this day working to respect Your wrath but also to remember Your love and Your pity on creatures such as me – broken and fallen. Father, make my life count and make my days a contribution to all that is right and good and fair. Amen.

The Gain of Pain

01.21.15

Exodus 2.13-14 13 So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves 14 and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves. (ESV)

Talk about winning friends and influencing people. I thought about this as I read today and mused: why did they treat them so badly – didn’t the Egyptians know that the worse they treated those Hebrews the more they’d want to escape?

When we consider God, Whom many consider a meanie, why is there is so much conversation about His love? I mean, God is love; but why do so many consider Him to be mean and spiteful and harsh? Why do so many think He’s going to take from them something they don’t want to give or to make them do something they don’t want to do? People are afraid of God’s love – they consider it to be some kind of bait and switch.

The plight of the Hebrews in Exodus is multi-faceted, and part of the reason for the rough treatment they endured might just be that God never intended for them to become blended into Egyptian society and culture. God desired something better for them – something they would never attain as pseudo-Egyptians. God desired them for Himself.

Ruthless treatment never seems to work – that is, unless God is trying to get someone to turn to Him rather than to what is abusing them so badly. One of the attributes of pain is it causes someone to change their mind and will. Pain is a change-agent. Pain makes us think differently. Pain makes us pay attention to more important things – like the relief of pain and/or what might be causing it. Pain gets our attention.

In pain we cry out to God; works every time. In good times we forget God; in good times we tend to think we’re in charge and we’ve got it all under control. Pain helps us remember our humiliation and brings about contrition and a change of heart. In such change God smiles at our decision-making to see things differently. Our plight and need comes to our rescue: not to rescue us from pain, but from a life which loves Him little.

Today, my pain drives me to God for answers, solutions, courage, and the decision: to do something.

Lord, as I think about the Egyptians and how they treated my ancient brothers and sisters, I think they were wrong in their approach; beating up on the ones we need is just wrong. Help me today to act – to allow the pain to be my gain and to act wisely – starting with trusting in You. Thank You for the day and for the things in this day. Help me to walk humbly and learn and to take the action that I need to take because You desire that I do. I trust You Father, amen.

With My Sword and My Bow

01.19.15

Genesis 48.21-22 21 Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your fathers. 22 Moreover, I have given to you rather than to your brothers one mountain slope that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow.” St. Israel to his son Joseph (ESV)

I think we need to give careful thought to the people in the Bible and to the times in which they lived. The patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel) lived tribally: they had to. They understood they needed to provide for themselves but also they understood they needed to defend themselves.

Typically, we understand Jacob (Israel) to be a herdsman, but when necessary, the herdsman was also a warrior. Abraham, likewise had 318 trained men in his company, and when Lot was abducted by a foreign army, Abraham and his men went and rescued Lot and all his possessions (See Genesis 14). These guys knew how to herd sheep and camels and cattle and they also knew how to defend themselves.

St. Paul made the statement: For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. (2 Corinthians 10.3-4) We are God’s children, but we are also warriors. If we think for a minute that we aren’t under attack in some spiritual assault of some kind, then we better think again. Life, amid all of its learning, pleasures, and experiences, is a place of intense battle and with our sword and our bow we must defend it.

Today, I consider where I am, and what I need to do. It is not a time for sitting back and relaxing – it’s an intense time for war. I must defend myself against the thoughts in my own head and the pull of society and culture that tend to distract me from what is truly important: the Kingdom of God and my place in it. The weapons of my warfare are not carnal but mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds – sometimes the strongholds within my own thoughts.

Father in Heaven, the warrior is a child – a dependent child who often cannot see the difference between his right hand and his left. Ah, but You have called Your child to war against the things that dishonor You and distract him from his true calling in You. Strengthen Your child today to stand dependent and humble but to grasp the weapons of my warfare that I may take, and keep from the enemy, the things he would attempt to steal, kill, or destroy. Thank You God! Amen.

To Choose

01.03.2015

Genesis 6.9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. - St. Moses (ESV)

It doesn’t take long in the Biblical narrative to see that things have gone wrong. In Genesis 3 man falls. In Genesis 4, the first recorded murder and the generations of Cain. In Genesis 5 there seems to be the reality of birth, but also death. In Genesis 6 God speaks and says that He is disappointed with the choices of man and therefore man is only going to live so long, and last so long. Except.

Except: “These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.” (Genesis 6.9) What’s up with Noah? I think when you consider Noah’s lineage, it appears he was of the line and lineage of choice: I choose to follow God. (I suppose the other lineage was, I choose to follow me.) Noah’s life and worldview was, I cannot make it on my own – I need to follow God as my ancestors did.

As God looks down upon the race of men, how does He view this current generation so far removed from Noah and his generation? Are we people of choice in a world full of those who choose to go it on their own, or are we sometimes choosing God when the chips are down and forgetting about Him when times are “good”? Noah was called righteous and blameless and one who walked with God. Who are we?

The difficulty of thinking these kinds of thoughts is that it may lead us to believe we are in a tenuous place in our relationship with God; that our stance only ever unstable ground. It might be, were it not for the presence of the Holy Spirit and the promise of Jesus that He will be with us and in us. But what about the choices we make? What about the influence of our culture (both present and global) upon us? Where do we draw the line and say, “Father God, like Noah, I choose to be blameless, righteous, and to walk with You in all I do!”? I think what set Noah apart was his choice to serve God.

Now, we must remember that all of Noah’s life was pre-Law; there was no Torah or Pentateuch in Noah’s day – he chose to follow the culture of his ancestors. (Who seemed in varying degrees to choose to live the way they thought God wanted them to.) They chose God over the rest of the crowd.

Even in our day when it seems there is no direct call to build literal Arks, there is a call to follow God and do as He desires. That calls for choice and that calls for the strength and presence of the Holy Spirit. Thank God for that.

These present moments are the so-called moments of resolution; a time of our year to resolve to do things differently, hopefully better, and with meaning and purpose. We seem to think we can only do this one time of year and hope not to run out of steam at some future point down the road. I think it may well be the time to rethink that a little, and say like one wise person once said, “A year from now, you will wish you had started today.”

O Lord, may it be so in my life – starting today! Amen.

That Little Word

01.01.15

Luke 1.38 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. St. Mary (ESV)

I know she’s called the Mother of God; I know she’s revered at a level that no other human (save Jesus) was/is, but I think Mary, Jesus’ mom is sometimes given too much credit in the wrong direction: the clue? That little word servant. Mary was, above all else: humble.

When you read Luke 1 and examine the dialog of the various people mentioned, what sticks out (to me) is how they viewed themselves. Zechariah basically said the angel Gabriel when given the word about his wife’s impending pregnancy, prove it! It’s not that God pulled the plug and changed His mind about the doubting priest, but He did give Zeke nine months or so to think about his incredulity. His wife, Elizabeth, on the other hand was humble: “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.” (V. 25) She didn’t bother to question God – she just humbly accepted her fate, her gift.

I wouldn’t call it a new year, but I would call it a new era – an era of a few of God’s people simply accepting the will, the goodness and the mission of God.

It really doesn’t take many people to be involved in the mission of God; God is fully capable of turning the world on its ear (or upside down) with just a few humble people who see themselves as servants of God. Mary seemed to set the pace.

For this New Year, Paul Turk needs to remember that little word. I know Jesus said: No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends; but the right attitude means a lot in one’s walk with God. The little word shows how one sees himself in this world representing his Father, the King Almighty. Mary knew it; Elizabeth knew it; and Zechariah after thinking it over, knew it too.

Lord, as this New Year proceeds, I pray that You grant Your servant the right perspective in all I do. Help me to honor You with the time You’ve given me, the abilities You’ve given me; and the treasures that You allow me to have. I know Father, that I am here as Your child, but I live in this life to serve You, and Your people. That little word says a lot about how I see myself before You. Amen.