Walled In

09.10.11

Lamentations 3.7-9 7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains. 8 Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. 9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked. NIV

If you know me or know the people who know me, you’d know that walled in is the way I have felt about living in Baker City, Oregon. Baker is not a bad place as places go – I actually like it here. But it seems Baker City (or Baker as we call it) is where I am to be, period. As a family we have lived in many different places and have always felt a certain freedom to live where we pleased (within certain limitations: employment, etc.) But we have lived here in Baker 5 years and 11 months; that’s the longest amount of time we’ve lived anywhere – (btw: 4 months was the shortest…Roseburg – that’s another story).

I think about Jeremiah’s words and feel a certain kindred-ness with them. I’m sure Jeremiah would’ve rather been someplace else than witnessing the overthrow of his country and the deaths of thousands upon thousands of his fellow countrymen. I’m sure Jeremiah would’ve rather not gone through what he went through. And when he wrote what he wrote, “He has walled me in so I cannot escape…” I’m sure he meant what he wrote – there was no place else for him to go under God’s mighty hand.

I look at my circumstances and what has taken place in my life over the last 5 years and 11 months. I’d rather, many times, been someplace else – but there was never any place to go; no open doors of opportunity. I have felt walled in – trapped. I’ve not seen the overthrow of my nation by an invading army yet, nor have I witnessed thousands of my countrymen slaughtered; but I am witnessing the collapse of my culture. And I am seeing countless lives rendered useless by the inane pursuits we as a nation have embraced. The divorce rate hasn’t slowed; abortions are as numerous as ever; and now human-trafficking has emerged in the most non-suspicious areas of our nation. Emotions are running high and people are scared. I don’t know what to expect, except…I sense I get to witness it all from behind the walls of my existence here in Baker City.

When God walls us in, He always does so for a reason, and surely for a season. This is the season to trust Him and remain faithful despite the walls I feel are surrounding me. I’m not seeing any bright spots to flee to even if I had the opportunity too. I am trusting Him, and hunkering down right here until He gives the order to go somewhere else. And I am to represent Him faithfully until He does… the walls are there for a reason – amen?

Father, despite what I feel, I realize that Your presence is the safest place to be. Help me as I trust You here in Baker City and look for Your hand upon all I do here. You always do what you do for my best and for Your pleasure – may I remember that. And may I recognize that though the walls look like walls, may I see them as the outline of Your mighty hand safely keeping me and guiding me to do as You direct. Amen.

Treasures to Trash

09.09.11

Lamentations 1.11 All her people groan as they search for bread; they barter their treasures for food to keep themselves alive. “Look, LORD, and consider, for I am despised.” NIV

Treasures become trash when they pass from want to need, and when need turns to desperation. Many are the college students who need money and pawn precious things for a few bucks and somehow the money to buy it back never comes. Treasures are collected when times are good or when someone passes or because of some windfall. Treasures may be precious because of who owned them before or how much was paid in cash or effort to get them. But oh, what chattel they turn into when times get desperate.

The other side of the coin is what baggage they turn into in times of crisis or seasons of growth and maturity. Paul the apostle said, “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.” (Philippians 3.7-9 NIV) In these times bartering away turns into running away from anchors that drag on the soul or chains that bind on the mind. Paul said, “What good are these things I once thought were so good that only got in the way of my coming to know Christ!?”

In Lamentations, they bartered away their treasures desperately hoping that someone else in the same mess as they would be able to give them the food they needed to survive; you can’t eat treasures. Treasures are somewhat fleeting and their value is often fickle when the pain gets to be too much. If things are bad enough treasures indeed become trash; their sentimentality becomes weak, and they end up being used for some other ignoble purpose.

I tend to go here lately: treasures become trash in order for trash to become treasures. Paul, huh? What I mean is the truest treasure is that which is trash to the world – things like faith, honor, valor, fidelity; and just for good measure, I’m gonna through in virginity. (What is precious to God is usually worthless to most and for the last forty years or more virginity has been taking a cultural beating.) The true assessment of treasure is what it's worth in heaven.

Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matt. 6.19-21 NIV)

Bartered treasure only means something if it’s worth something. One man’s treasure is another man’s trash when the going gets tough enough. But what may be trash to men is treasure to God when our hearts are in the right place: on Him and not the trinkets of this world.

Both Friend and Polemic

09.07.11

Revelation 12.7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. NIV

Not even heaven is immune from disruption. For war to break out in the midst of God’s presence is mind-boggling to me. Heaven is supposed to be a place of eternal serenity and harmony but even there things went south – at least for a time.

Such is the condition of the heart – things may fare well for a while, but this of heaven there is always the reality of confusion and disappointment. Why did Satan fall? Why does anybody for that matter? The fall of Satan was directly resulting from the condition of his heart which at one point was deeply and irrevocably poisoned with pride, jealously, and unspeakable pettiness.

I contend that God has ordained His own law to which He Himself is subject. Now don’t drive the bus off the cliff. God appears to operate within a legal system of some sort which He honors because He made it, and He doesn’t change the rules. If God changes the rules at His whim then we’re all in trouble because we won’t know what to expect from Someone who says, I am God. The question for me is why; why would God have rules, boundaries, limits?

If God operates under the rule of Law then it goes that we, His creatures, too must operate under the same rule. What’s good for the Creator is good for the created. I suspect that there are those who look at God operating under His own rules and suspicion that there is something hinky and who mistrust that what God says is what He really does.

The bad part of law especially the supposed awkwardness of God submitting Himself to His own law, is that if He does it, then we ought to as well. That just seems like a lot to ask for some folk. It is better in the eyes of some if God simply does whatever He wants to do because then we creaturely ones may follow suit. But God is far too smart for that and far too honorable. God cannot be tempted; His creatures can, but He Himself cannot. For God to be tempted is for God to turn upon Himself – another thing that God cannot do…

What really is war in heaven anyway? I mean, what could it possibly be? To be sure, I just don’t know, but I do know that the Author of the Bible chooses His words carefully and there is no misstatement in the word war. Whatever heaven’s war was it was a lost cause for those who sought to overthrow the King. Maybe war in heaven was a war of words over God’s choice of law and however He purposed to administrate it. Bottom line: Satan lost. My advice is: never sit down with God to play chess – you’ll lose.

And never set out to declare war on Heaven – you’ll lose there as well. The good news is, one day in the truly sweet by and by we will know our God better and see more clearly His purposes for us who at this moment remain a little lower than the angels. Who knows other than God why God does what He does? Again the good news: He does whatever He does in love and that ought to be enough for anyone – both friend and polemic.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

09.05.11

Ezekiel 28.17 Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings. NIV

It is a dangerous step to take one’s eyes off of the glory of the Lord; the consequences can be dire. Mirror, mirror on the wall, aren’t I the fairest of them all? Gleaming glory of the Lord, revealed to us through Your written word!

One of the hardest things to overcome in life for many is the seeming unfairness of how giftedness or talent is dispersed. Most don’t understand the dispensing of gifts but they do understand that so and so has that, and I don’t. Or worse, I have this and so and so doesn’t. The fairest assessment of who we are is not what we have, but who we are with what we have. The cruelest cut often is comparing oneself with what one does or doesn’t have to someone else’s have or have not. But there again, it’s the comparison thing – or the possession thing; that’s what trips us up.

Self-worship insidious and subtle. It creeps in upon a person and, without the mighty power of the Holy Spirit, it is unstoppable. It feigns humility and false modesty. And it always keeps one eye in the mirror as it watches itself gavotte…  Look at the way we dress up and preen as we prepare to go out in public. And our society fuels the flames of self-worship incessantly; sadly though it’s only according to its rules: if you only look like this, dress like this, or use products like this.

The apostle Paul told the Galatians, “Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.” (Galatians 5.26 NIV). He went on to say, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, for each one should carry their own load.” (Galatians 6.2-5 NIV) It is only before God we stand or fall.

Part of having a gift in the first place is being able to properly use that gift and not lord it over others who don’t have the same or similar gift; using that gift solely for the glory of God, not rubbing it in the face of those who don’t have it. Conceit is so dreadfully sneaky! I would rather have no gifts and a solid walk with the Lord, than have ten thousand gifts and all the accompanying attention and accolades of men, but no affirmation from God. The journey of the follower of Christ is all about character, not giftedness.

Wisdom trumps giftedness. Character supersedes content. We all must be wise to seek Him first – His Kingdom and glory – and then humbly use whatever we have from Him only and ever for the benefit of others. Pride came into the picture because of self-worship and that in turn corrupted wisdom. May I be wise with whatever I have; and content with whatever I don’t have from the Lord.

Obligated

09.04.11

Ezekiel 22.30,31 “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one. 31 So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD.” NIV

Our lives are to be an offering to the Lord; to that we are called. And the offering is not a one-time deal; it’s a daily offering of me to Him so that He, through me, can accomplish what He desires in my life and the lives of those around me.

Like most folks, I fill my days with my work and then fill my days off with me, doing stuff around the house, visiting with friends, going to church, and attending to the things I like to do. The grievance of the Lord throughout the prophetic writings is that His people had forsaken the Sabbaths; they filled all their days with their vocation and their days off with themselves. As long as their days off had a somewhat religious appearance to them I think they felt okay about it. But I think they fell short in giving God their time and attention. The obligation to do so became too much. And maybe that’s why their hearts wandered – they just felt obligated.

The problem is when we feel obligated then our relationships are not celebrated. Come visit me once and we’ll roll out the red-carpet (at least as far as that means to us…); but come and visit often and soon the carpet will be left rolled up, the dishes in the sink will be left piled up, and the dust will cover up the nooks and crannies of our home. Not that we don’t like you – it’s just that we don’t put on our Sunday-best all the time, and in time, you’ll see that our Sunday-best is reserved for special occasions.

The Sabbaths were to be a time of attending to God and sharing life with Him. God completely understands our work and our need to “make a living”; He’s completely fine with that. But it seems He wants us to be more than machinery parked in the garage. God is a real Person who has chosen to have real relationship with real people – people like you and me. All He’s asking for is our time and a place in our hearts. But the answer to that is: me giving Him that time and place just like I would for a friend – not out of obligation but celebration. It seems God’s invitation is simply: come celebrate your life with Me at some scheduled point in your busy schedule each week – you’ll be miraculously transformed when you do!

God told Ezekiel: “So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD.” Looking at the reasons as to why this happened, I can only conclude that they filled their lives with too much of themselves, and left too little for God. So, when the consequences of that came to a head, the result was there was no one left to stand up and fight against what they were facing. Society and culture had eaten them alive and they didn’t even know it…

What would happen if we chose to make time for God and quit using our free-time as just me-time? I know I must repent and regularly, faithfully open up my life for the Almighty. I must schedule it, stand in the gap, and celebrate it because at the end of the day, and at the end of my life, He’s all I’ve got.

Stand Up to Lay Down

09.03.11

Psalm 111.1 Praise the LORD. I will extol the LORD with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly. NIV

So says the psalmist. If you’ll pardon me for being a little George Costanza-esque this morning, I’ll ask, what is upright and who are the upright? And why, upright? And if there are upright, then are there bent-overs or lay-downs? Sorry guys, that’s just how my pea-brain works.

The upright are the righteous; they’re the ones who find favor with God because they believe Him, believe in Him, and do what He says. The Biblical antonym of upright is wicked (or evil). The upright are also those who find favor – or at least begrudging respect – from men. But uprightness isn’t just a show, it’s a condition of the heart – it’s a posture of life. It’s the evidence of moral character, a moral compass, and the presence of tangible goodness (not just goody-two-shoes).

In the council of the upright are wisdom, depth, and spiritual substance. The upright take not just a stand but the right stand. The upright won’t lay down their principles and stand firm for the Kingdom to which they belong and for the ultimate Good of mankind which is the King Himself. The upright collectively and individually give God all the credit, knowing they neither deserve it nor have earned it.

From a human perspective – even Pablo’s perspective – the best place to be is in the place of acceptance among those who focus solely and wholly upon the Lord. It is only in that place, the council of the upright and in the assembly (of the upright), that God is God to the good and the good are accepted and counseled by Him.

That’s why choose our friends carefully. We love unconditionally but we fellowship carefully. It’s not exclusivity, for anyone can gain access to the council of the upright – that is a matter of one’s choosing. But for the one whose life is not upright, the council of the upright can be very intimidating and discomforting.

The upright stand up only to lay their lives down before the Lord and upon His altar as living sacrifices giving God full permission to do as He wills with their very lives. There again is the only safe place to be in this forbidding world: laid out before the Lord offering myself for His use.

So, if I have any one goal in my life it’s this: I will extol the LORD with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly. I have little use for the company of the sarcastic and arrogant. I have no use for the one who claims to be wise and yet unzips and exposes his foolishness by forsaking God and the council of the Lord’s humble and lowly upright.

Not trying to be narrow, but realizing that my pool of resources is shrinking as I grow older and I need to make the most of my relationships as I use those resources in representing the Lord of lords and the King of kings. The council of the upright know that the Only Answer to this world’s issues is only found in the presence of the One who will bring all of this current chaos into glorious redemption on the Day of Christ. I want to invest what's left of my life in that!

What Everyone Quotes

09.01.11

Ezekiel 16.44.45 44 “‘Everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you: “Like mother, like daughter.” 45 You are a true daughter of your mother, who despised her husband and her children; and you are a true sister of your sisters, who despised their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. NIV

The nut doesn’t fall far from the tree; a chip off the old block. So go the sayings of folk about folks who act and speak as their parents before them. He sure takes on the shine of his old man…

Ezekiel 16 is an important piece of the narrative about the ancient days of Israel. In it we get a glimpse of where these people came from, and who and how they were. The most important part of the narrative is the compassionate and deep love that God had for them from the very beginning and the compassion that He always had/has for them. If we cannot see the Bible as, at least, a love story in part, then we’re missing the most important part of the Bible. God has always loved His people – Jew and Gentile.

Unfortunately though, and because of the fall and the rebellion of man, few people have ever really loved God in return. The ultimate insult: spurn the one who loves you. So the proverb had its birth – like mother, like daughter (like father, like son); only a very, very few in the history of the world, have ever really loved God. Most are like mother, like daughter. Who knew such words of antiquity would have such an eerily modern tenor?

Think about the day you were born again (if you are in fact born again). Think about what happened to you and what changed in your life. And then think about the influences that arose within you and how you were raised. Think about your worldview and how you perceived things. When I was born again I harbored a latent fear that God was somehow mad at me and going to surely someday punish me. I thought that way because through my family’s culture, that’s just the way we thought. Nobody ever sat me down and had a conversation with me about God’s character, we just assumed that God was somehow mad at everyone – that is, except the ones who did good. So we did good according to our standard, but God was never much in the picture…except as stern, judgmental, and crabby.

What never occurred to us as a family was: like Father like children. I think that omission persists to this day. But it’s so true – like Father, like children – we’re sons and daughters of the living God! What do you suppose caused the Israelites to forsake God’s love? What was it that caused them to see Him as a Meanie spoiling all their fun? I dunno. I write it off to the fallen and fractured human heart, but I think it boils down to mistrust. Maybe they thought like we do today: that if we sign on with God, then He’s gonna send us off to the Congo or worse, make us teach Sunday School to a bunch of bratty 4^th, 5^th , and 6^th graders.

On Facebook the other night a guy posted a comment on my friend Jim’s status: People tend to reserve the right to commit before getting the details -- control. "Lord show me what you want then I'll decide if I want." Most of our life experience is that God wants control. He shares His plans on a need to know basis -- when we need to know He shows us. It seems that following Jesus requires trust and obedience (note that "die" is in the middle) -- that He is a good God and has good plans as we give control (Lordship I think!) to Him. (Thank you Dan Harding, whoever and wherever you are... this was really good!)

So, like Father, like son. And God trusted in His Son; and His Son trusted in Him. The question is am I willing to trust God that His plans for me, no matter how they feel or how I feel about them, are completely and eternally reliable, and are divinely designed to cause me to trust Him and love Him more? If I do I’m golden. If I don’t, I’m just the weak-willed son of a Hittite mother, and an Amorite father… parenting means a lot…