Security Blankets and Graduation Ceremonies

05.31.15

Psalm 119.136 My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law.

Today, is the last day of May and I am glad. Not that May is over, but that June starts very soon. I’ve had to rethink some things and tomorrow is the day for a shift in procedure, protocol, and preference. Which brings me to security blankets.

I think I had a security blanket when I was a toddler. I know my siblings had them because I saw them and how they acted with them. I never saw myself though my siblings may testify that in-fact, yours truly had his blankey. My children had their versions of blankeys, favorite stuffed animals or, with one in particular, binkie’s. It’s all a part of growing up. My grandson has Silky, a little blanket that someone gave him, and he has Bear-Bear, his take a nap and go to bed toy.

There is a time and a place for these things in our lives and in the lives of our littles. There is also a time to put them away. (Although – really – what a world this would be if we all grabbed our blankies for a nap every day.) So, today I am putting away a security blanket: my daily reading of the Psalms and Proverbs.  For the last five months reading Psalms and Proverbs exclusively is the only way I’ve been able to make my way through each day. They don’t call them Wisdom Literature for nothing. Which brings me to graduation ceremonies.

I attended a high-school graduation ceremony for five young men who’ve been home-schooled all of their lives. Yes there were lots of tears. Yes there were lots of hugs. And yes, there were lots of, I Love You’s, and, I’m Proud of You’s. There was thanksgiving for mom, dad and siblings. And yes, there were diplomas. But there was one common and major focus throughout the 2-hour event: that of the presence and power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Home-schooling is a different creature and those who do it have a different bent than those who don’t. Not every family who home-schools believes in Jesus; but they all believe in teaching their kids at home and seeking above all to see to it that their children get a high-quality and robust education. The goal isn’t a paycheck – it’s a legacy.

So, the ceremony for all of its lack of pomp and circumstance, was full of family, fun, faith, and future. And five young men were launched from childhood to manhood. I was impressed, blessed, and proud to see the way these families have operated in the lives of these young men for the last 18 years.

One of the fathers closed the ceremony with a reading of chosen passages of Scripture for his son. I found myself with my eyes closed and my hand raised in honor of the language of the Kingdom and of the saved. And I realized in those moments of hearing a proud poppa read God’s word to his son, that I needed to put away my security blanket of only one portion of the Bible, and return to my yearly trek through the entirety of God’s word in hope that I, a sixty year-old, can continue to make a contribution in this world by allowing all of the word – the good, the bad, and the ugly – to lead me, guide me, teach me, and rebuke me as I live the rest of my days for the honor and glory of the One who has called me into fellowship with Himself. Yes, I look forward to tomorrow.

Thinking Rightly about God

05.30.15

Proverbs 30.5-6 5 Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. 6 Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar. – Agur, son of Jakeh

I think about my thoughts of God. Do I represent Him well? Do I think correctly about Him? Are my thoughts about God right? Do they have to be?

If I take the above at face-value, then it is important to think rightly and appropriately about God. It is important to think honestly and courageously about God because to do so, reveals what I really think about Him. It is important to think appropriately about God because to do otherwise is a recipe for disappointment. Agur said, Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you and you be found a liar. We’ll not only lie to ourselves, but we’ll lie to others.

Adding to God’s words can be as simple as trying to live life by formulas. Formulaic thinking may fit well in human logic but it fails miserably in God’s. Trying to predict the unpredictable is frustrating and futile. It’ll lead to disappointment. Who wants to be disappointed with God? And further, my formulaic thinking may lead others to be disappointed with me. Disappointment erodes trust.

It is true: every word of God proves true. He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him (in his words). But trusting in Him requires some heavy listening, some vulnerably courageous obedience, and a steadfast refusal to take God out of context. God is predictably unpredictable but He is immovably faithful, untiringly grace-ful, and steadfastly loving. My circumstances only ought to lead me to praise Him for what He is accomplishing in and through my life.

Where I get into trouble is when I begin to believe that if I only do this, God will do that. It isn’t that simple and when I go down that road, I wind up disappointed or humiliated, or worse, untrustworthy in my representation of the Almighty. My agenda means nothing – all that matters is taking refuge in what God has said.

My biggest challenge is fighting the temptation to put God in a box. To make Him predictable. My greatest reward is when I simply allow God to be God (to let go and let God) and trust that all is under His control and I am to trust Him with the results. The effort of trusting Him brings the results He deems, not just the fulfillment of my dreams.

Father, every word You speak proves true and You are a shield to me when I take refuge in You. Help me to be honest before You and to trust that You are trustworthy no matter what I am going through. (I think of Pastor Saeed as I pray that.) My life isn’t measured by getting my way, but by trusting completely in everything You do and say. Your word, Your presence is my refuge. Amen.

Success

05.28.15

Psalm 118.25

Save us, we pray, O Lord!

    O Lord, we pray, give us success!

I think it’s okay to ask God for the obvious – I think it’s okay to ask Him for what we think we need: food, clothing, shelter; blessing. God knows we need these things and I believe He rejoices to give them to us. A little kid who wants pancakes isn’t concerned with what he thinks his parents think about him: he wants pancakes. Poppa, bless me with some pancakes.

I think when we pray (courageously and honestly) a prayer like the above, what we are really asking is: Lord, keep me from all that is wrong, destructive, and beneath Your good will; and make my life count for something. I think success is measured in worthiness. I think worthiness coupled with righteousness is success. But I also think success in life is something we all want.

We want success in our relationships. We want success in our occupation. We want success in our livelihood. We want success in our spiritual walk. And I think we want success in our efforts. That doesn’t mean magical success, but I think even that is sometimes what we think we want: if only…

I ask God for success all the time. I think it’s incumbent upon me to do so. After all, He is my God, my Father, and my Provider. He’s also my Teacher, my Guide, my Master, and my Lord. Often in our culture, success is measured in dollars and cents. Sometimes, it is measured in pain and loss. God is in charge of my success and He is looking out for my spiritual well-being above and beyond what’s in the bank; or in the grave.

God is looking for success. God intends to rule a faithful people and have them reign upon the earth. God is looking for believers – people who will give Him the respect and honor He deserves. He doesn’t need our honor and respect because He doesn’t need anything; but He looks for those who willingly buy into His ways and strive to fit in. Fitting in in Heaven is going to be successful beyond belief; failure to fit in is going to be (successfully) tragic (Cf. Matthew 22.12).

Today, I am going to trust God for the success I crave and for the success He gives. He knows my heart and I think it would be nice to have some success at some things. But I simply have to ask for them (James 4.2) and trust that in His way, in His time, He will appoint.

Father, thank You for the attention You pay to the lives of the people You love. You want us to succeed as well – it’s in Your nature to do so. I ask for success today. I couple that with my efforts and my abilities (the things You’ve given) and leave the results up to You – amen.

Back to Class

05.25.15

Psalm 25.4 Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. – David

Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10.10) Notice: the thief is one who is described as the one who comes; Jesus states. “I came”. Jesus is a done deal in the sense that all we ever need from Him in this life, we have, all because He came. Jesus is the beachhead for the recapture and restoration of His Kingdom here on earth where man and the thief in evil cooperation, traded it all away.

Where many falter in the deeds that have been done, and the way things are and have been since any of us can remember, is that we have this mindset that because Jesus did what He did things ought to be better than they are. War and strife should be done. Hatred and animosity should be finished. Death, destruction, disease should cease. But that is not what He said.

Call this life a proving ground. Call this life an existence where we were allowed to be created and live as a means in which we reconnect with the Living God according to His terms. As marvelous as the Garden was; it is no comparison to what Jesus Christ did, is doing, and will do. Many recognize their shortcomings and weakness not ever realizing that the Solution to all of this perceived scarcity is found in the One who said: I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Abundant life is found in Jesus Christ, and is as available to us as the air we breathe because He said, “I came…”. It’s a done deal.

Now, where I am convicted these days is how many times I ask God for what He’s already given. Jesus said I’ve come, I came, I’m here to give you life abundant. I’m here! Quit looking for Me somewhere else, and quit looking for Me to give you what I’ve already given you! Paul, it’s already taken care of…

So then, today, like King David of old, I ask, Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. When I think about life abundant I think, yeah; that’s what I want! But then a Monday shows up; or the car won’t start, or I get crossways with someone – life doesn’t seem so abundant then. Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lord, help me in the middle of x,y, or z to remember that I must remember that I must be taught to remember Your ways – I must be taught Your paths… Or I'll just keep following the same old ones that tempt me to believe either: You really don’t exist, or You really don’t care.

Life, this life, is the proving ground of whether or not I believe that I have life abundant. Lord, make me know Your ways and how they work and how I’m to overcome by knowing and using them; and Jesus, teach me Your paths: the paths of submission, humility, patience, perseverance, and peace. Lord, take me back to class today – Amen.

Better Than Worry

5/17/2015 

Psalm 77.12 12 “I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.” – Asaph 

I appreciate the psalms of Asaph. I like how he thought, and I like the way he expressed himself and what he viewed as his relationship with God. Asaph seems to me to have been a man who thought often and long about God: I will consider all Your works and meditate on all Your mighty deeds.  

When is the last time we took the time to consider all of God’s works and meditated on all His mighty deeds.  Just a quick look at the marvel of the human body ought to raise some interest: the marvel of its engineering, structure and usefulness. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. That means to be absent from the Lord is to be present in the body – that thing that God designed for us to live in until we are clothed with immortality. God gave us a body as our earthly dwelling. 

God also gave us Earth as our present habitation. I was driving home last night from the area around a lake near where I live and I marveled at the beauty of the surroundings. So, of course, I took pictures. I never tire of sunsets, sunrises, the mountains, the way the sunlight plays upon the glories of our surroundings. These are all things that God has graciously given us to enjoy – they are evidences of His works and His deeds; and His great love. We had no say in our existence, and no say in our environment; and God has given us all to enjoy and appreciate – if we will. 

I don’t think Asaph was a tree-hugger but here in the above, we see he apparently allowed his thoughts to attain to a higher level and I think he took the time to appreciate what was given to him by God. God definitely expresses Himself in the creation around us. Ain’t nothin’ like wonder and gratefulness. 

With all which bombards my mind these days, it is amazing what a few minutes of considering God’s works and His mighty deeds can do for the soul. If nothing else, spending time thinking about that frees me from worrying about all the other stuff I have no control over (but inwardly insist I should). God, and my life, deserve better than worry. And my faith needs the nourishment of consideration and meditation about all that God has done: in my life and around it. 

Father, forgive me for the foolishness of worry. Help me with the helpfulness of thinking about You and what You’ve done, and are doing. You never stop; and I can never stop thinking about it: at least I shouldn’t.  Father, I offer my mind this day for the exercise of consideration and meditation of Your wonders and Your deeds. Amen.

Dependence

5/10/2015

2 Corinthians 1.8-9 8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. -Paul, the Apostle

Who says life in general is a party? Life is full of difficulty, disappointment, and despair punctuated by momentary bouts of happiness, relief, and hope.

Yesterday, I had big intentions of getting some stuff done. I needed to build a wooden frame and miter the corners of the frame. Couldn’t find my saw. When I did find my saw, I realized, after several cuts, why I am not a finish-carpenter. I needed to get some laundry done and at multiple points in that process wanted to throw our high-efficiency, smart-washer into the street. I decided to clean the dryer vents out while I was at it and couldn’t find the attachments for the vacuum. My son took the car to go to the movies with his main-squeeze and so I decided to get on my bike to go to the store. I overinflated the front tire and it popped. (No replacement tube). Difficulty, disappointment, despair.

Life is what life is and I was getting dangerously close to losing it. (At least I didn’t burn the dinner like I did last weekend…) But today I read that even the great apostle, Paul had his moments as well. There are no guarantees in this life, and there are no happily-ever-afters. God designed this life as preparation for eternity and He designed us to depend on Him. Dependence on God must be a big, big deal with the amount of effort we humans expend resisting it.

Dependence on God doesn’t mean we don’t do anything; it means we expend all our energy and effort learning how to depend on Him. Without Him we are left to ourselves, and there you go, we’re right back to where we started from…have you seen my saw?

I’m not trying to be cute (despite my afternoon, yesterday) but I am trying to make a point: life is full of disappointment, difficulty, and despair. Yesterday, a little child went to heaven. She suffered in her brief life and now her journey on earth has ended. Today, I’m sure her folks are very, very, very bittersweet. (I know, we were once there as well.) Life is what life is…

But life is made to cause me to depend on God. Today, I have more appreciation for that than I did yesterday; and tomorrow, I hope (in the hopefulness of hope, not the wish-fulness of thinking) that I will be even more dependent upon God, and less so on myself.

Father, thank You that You patiently, lovingly, and eternally work in our lives to wean us away from self-reliance – that part of us that insists we don’t need You. May I continue to learn to cooperate and walk humbly in step with You – amen.