What Matters Is…

09.10.13

Lamentations 3.21 21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope... (ESV)

I know, how could I not comment on this verse? Well, not this verse but the next two: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentation 3.22, 23) I guess what got me was the part about calling it to mind.

This morning a friend and I had breakfast at our local haunt and he said one of the things that helped him through the more troubled times of his life was using the Christian’s Soap: 1 John 1.9: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He said in his life he has used this verse over and over and over again. I think it kept him sane through his days of immaturity, willfulness, and yes, sin.

Jeremiah was absolutely broken over the devastation of his nation. At one point in his grief he said things had gotten (? grammar?) so bad, he forgot what happiness was (Lam. 3.17). That’s some sad. And he said his sadness would’ve overwhelmed him had he not “[called] this to mind…” And therefore he had (or found) hope.

Israel and Judah got what they deserved despite many, many years of the Lord’s warning them to repent and come back. They ignored Him and eventually got run over (a kind of overrun but with extra hot salsa). It is not wise to turn one’s back on the Lord when He’s calling one to come back.

Despite what Israel got for their rebellion, Jeremiah knew it was for their good and God was willing to accept them back any time. And in that Jeremiah had hope. Enter: 1 John 1.9.

I, His kid, must remember I am never alone, nor am I ever outside of His watchful gaze. 1 John 1.9. It doesn’t matter how many times I fail: 1 John 1.9. It doesn’t matter if my doing is my own or the fault of someone else: 1 John 1.9. What matters is: this I call to mind. What matters is: it doesn’t matter which verse (or verses) of His word brings me back to the reality of His love and presence, so long as I continue to call one or more of them to mind and remember how much He loves me and cares about me. That’s what matters. 1 John 1.9.

Today, I know there will be hardship and confusion – it is what it is this side of Heaven. But despite this, I know, and I have hope. Yes, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases – that’s why sometimes the weirdest things happen in my life. His mercies never come to an end – He endlessly loves you and me. They are new every morning – each day the old is gone and the new reality has come. Great is His faithfulness  - to see me through and to see me home.

Father, How could I not say something about this? How can I not go through my days and force myself to call to mind how good You are and how steadfast is Your love, and that Your mercies never come to an end? How can I not remember what is new to me each day and that Your faithfulness is great? Even in the tough times find me willing to confess my sin and eager to accept Your cleansing. Help me this day because You are You! Amen.

Saying How

09.09.13

Lamentations 1.1 1 How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave. (ESV)

In my Bible, the study notes say this: “In the Hebrew Bible, Lamentations is called Ekah (“How”), after the first word in the book.” Ekah could this happen?

Many people on a routine basis suffer pain. They suffer in relationships; they suffer on the job; they suffer financially; they suffer physically. And much of the time, their suffering catches them asking: how could this happen!? How could you do that!? How come this is happening to me!? The word in Lamentations is not a question; it’s a statement: How lonely sits the city that was full of people… that’s how.

I don’t think most of life is all that unpredictable; I think there are plenty of signs along the way. To be sure there are things that pop up all of a sudden – the car wreck, the found coin, etc.  But for the most part what’s coming at us is evident if we choose to pay attention to what’s going on around us.

What we do about the signs is a different matter; for the most part however, I think they are fairly visible. And to make a statement about Jerusalem and prefix it with the word, how simply meant their fall was predictable, and what happened as a result was because they ignored the signs – the warnings along the way.

“How” in this instance was a sorrowful bemoaning – a wretched weeping over the consequences for the choices they made. “How” summed up just how bad things were.

I daily hear comments from people about our own nation and the spot in which we find ourselves to the tune of: “How screwed up we are these days!” It’s been fairly predictable: we, as the free-est and blest-est people in the world forgot how we got to where we are, and like ancient Israel lament: How now!

God has never promised to keep us from trouble; He has always promised to keep us through trouble. For the unbelieving: they’re on their own. For the believing, God has promised: I will never leave you nor forsake you. So, for us who believe the question isn’t, “how?”; the statement is, how! Forsaking God and personal responsibility before Him has brutal consequences. Just ask Jeremiah who wrote: How lonely sits the city that was full of people!

Father, help me to be vigilant in my pursuit of You and in my daily walk in holiness. May I never ask, “How?”, as if I am so surprised by what’s going on; but may I say, “How!” in response to Your presence, Your promises, and Your providence in all I face – through Jesus, Amen.

The Stamp of Approval

09.08.13

Jeremiah 42.9-10 9 and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea for mercy before him: 10 If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I relent of the disaster that I did to you. (ESV)

Sometimes the Prophet says what we don’t want to hear: Don’t go to Egypt; stay put! That was what Jeremiah had been preaching for years: submit to the king of Babylon and all will be well with you. But they didn’t listen then, and they weren’t listening now: we’re gonna do what we want to do and we want God to stamp His approval on it.

How many times I have done that: come up with some cockamamie scheme; or even a good sounding scheme for that matter, and wanted God to stamp His blessings on my plan: Approved! It doesn’t work that way for the disciple of Jesus Christ. But oh how I’ve tried. The truth is, I’m trying right now…

It’s a sad moment – a sad day – when we embrace our plans to the point we desire, and then expect (or demand) God to kowtow to them. What fools we are. What foolishness we embrace. And we all do it – we all come up with something and look for God’s approval. It is worth repeating: sometimes God will say to us: if you insist!

Our plans must be God’s plans if we’re to succeed. That calls for great humility. We must learn contentment right now where we are if we’re going to have contentment in the future. Plans do not come first, contentment does. That’s not to say we can’t think about a preferred future, but it does mean we approach that preferred future with fear and trembling. If God offered these people a life of peace and meaning when they’d just been overrun by Babylon, what was so wrong with that!? Their pride and sin kept them from embracing it.

One thing I am so slow to accept is God’s control over my life and circumstances. I keep yearning to go back to the way it used to be; and the way it used to be was: less God and more me. Funny, I’m not good at the math when I think of how it used to be: more me = less God and more misery. Have I not learned a thing?

More God and less me = more contentment, more peace, and more trust in the One who controls it all anyway. I have embraced a way of life where I feel I am free to call the shots and I cannot do that anymore – I am answerable to God and I don’t like it when He says, “If you insist.”

God, grant me contentment in the things I cannot control, grant me courage to accept Your control; and wisdom to know I will only be content when I do what You say. I repent again of calling the shots and ask for wisdom to live a life of humility as I follow You wherever You lead. Amen.

No Turf to Defend

09.07.13

Revelation 12.11 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. (ESV)

I’ve read this verse so many times. I’ve always focused on the part abou the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. These are very important things because without them, well, there isn’t much else; except maybe this last part: they loved not their lives even unto death.

I think a paraphrase of this verse might be: And they lived conquering over their enemy by the reality of the blood that was shed for them, and the validity of their words about Him; because they lived steadfastly as if they had no turf to defend; and nothing to lose because of it.

Much of who we are as humans is defend turf. The conflict in Syria (and many other places in the world) is all about defending turf. We in America love a game called Football and when you boil it down it’s all about defending turf. We have become a society which defends conflicting ideas, conflicting conversations and conflicting beliefs; solely because it is our preciously held turf.

Remarkably, the only turf Jesus ever defended wasn’t ever His own: He defended God’s turf: a thing called truth. When the Roman governor Pilate interrogated Jesus, the Lord told him that those who believed in Him were those who followed and accepted the truth, Pilate replied: what is truth? (The implication: there is no such thing as truth). Pilate’s denial of truth was his only defense in the face of it.

But the calling of God’s people is not to defend their own truth – or perception thereof. Their purpose is to defend God’s truth even to the death because they have no turf to defend and losing one’s life for God is full proof of that.

I have too long lived believing I need to defend what I believe. I am not called to that. Ever. Nowhere in the Bible am I commanded to defend my truth. My calling is to proclaim God’s truth. Period. So, proclaiming it means knowing it so that when I am tempted to get defensive, I can simply proclaim it. That’s what Jesus did, and He didn’t love His life so much as to badger people who didn’t agree with Him.

That didn’t mean the Lord’s proclamations weren’t without point or discomfort; but He didn’t get into pushing and shoving contests with others over what truth was, and why one (whoever you is) needed to accept it. He proclaimed it and left it up to the Holy Spirit to move people’s hearts. And if He lost His life in the process of that: so be it.

I have no turf worth defending. I have opinions and theories, and preferences and all that, but they are what they are mine. Conversely, when I lay these things down and only proclaim God’s truth for what it is, then I wait upon the Holy Spirit to do what He does with it – it’s His turf, not mine.

Lord, may I learn to do as You did: simply proclaim God’s truth, allowing Your Spirit to help people see it, and receive it… Amen.

Giving Glory

09.06.13

Revelation 11:13 13 And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. (ESV)

It’s one thing to glorify God; it’s another to give Him glory. Glorifying God is even a stretch because God is glorious with or without us. God doesn’t need us to bring Him glory because He is completely glorious whether we’re in the picture or not. Not arrogance or unconcern on His part; He simply is who He is with or without us.

So, in Revelation 11, these two witnesses show up and have unbelievable power to control nature and their enemy’s response to them. It’s a pretty safe bet that they’re a thorn in most everyone’s side. And so, it’s not surprise that they have to be taken out by a satanic power in order to stop their thorniness toward mankind. Everybody hates a party-pooper; that’s why we invited you!

Whew! The heat’s off and these two colossal troublemakers die at the hands (or commands) of Satan himself. And the party begins. (When the Church loses her effectiveness, the party always begins.) But then something amazing happens: the two messengers are resurrected! Now what!? And they are summoned to Heaven and a great earthquake takes place. Seven thousand people die in the earthquake and John’s narrative says: And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. The implication is this was an act of God.

Remarkably, in our present secular age where the belief is there is no God (except for the one of one’s own making), that we still use the phrase: Act of God. And by doing so, we give God glory. Giving God glory doesn’t mean salvation. It doesn’t even mean belief; it means giving credit where credit is due. The people in Revelation 11 give God credit for the earthquake and maybe even the two witnesses, but they don’t give God their hearts. They give God credit, or glory, for something they can’t otherwise explain.

I laid awake in bed for a while this morning (around 3:30 am) dreading the impending implementation of the government’s latest attempt at controlling heath-care. The bottom line is, I can’t afford it. So, in my uncomfortable-ness with government healthcare, I'm attempting to trust God to provide a solution. Financially or otherwise.

And here is what I thought: either He’ll provide for me and I’ll learn something and be blessed, or He won’t provide anything but grace and I’ll learn something and be blessed. Trusting God for healthcare is just as easy (or hard) as to trust Him for anything else. That both gives God glory, and glorifies His holy Name. As His child, I am to do both: given Him glory because He is God and I am not; and to glorify His Name by praising Him for His goodness to me and believing in His promise to me: [Paul] I will neither leave you nor forsake you. So [I] can confidently say, “ The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13...)

Lord, in all things too big for me (which covers just about everything) I give You glory that You are glorious, and I glorify Your Name that You are my God and my Helper in time of need (which is pretty much all the time). May I rest in Your promise and trust You to provide – Amen.

His Tent in Me

09.04.13

Ezekiel 23.4 4 Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem. (ESV)

Oholah means: her tent. Oholibah means: my tent in her. That helped me to put things into perspective just a bit (after all, this is: Pablo’s Perspectives…just sayin’).

Oholah was the nickname for Samaria, the capital city of Israel, or the ten northern tribes who broke away after King Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, lost them in a revolt. The two remaining tribes were Judah and Benjamin and they we known as Judah and their capital city was Jerusalem, the city of David.

“Her tent” made me think of how Israel, under their original king, Jeroboam, rebelled from the Judean royalty and did their own thing: they pitched their own tent, so to speak. Judah on the other hand was where the Temple of God was and where the Tabernacle had dwelt for many years: My Tent (God’s Tent) in her. The sin of Samaria was simply this: they divorced God and proclaimed that the worship of God could be accomplished in an alternative place: their own tent; i.e. Samaria; not in God’s Tent in Jerusalem.

In whose tent do we dwell? I think that is the question for me most of the time. Do I dwell in God’s tent and pay attention to Him or do I dwell in my own tent, doing my own thing? The sin of Israel, divorcing God and doing their own thing, led to more and more of their doing their own thing and drifting further and further away. They drifted so far that they completely forgot about God.

Judah on the other hand, lived in God’s Tent, but decided politics and political wrangling was the way to go. Their religion became their power. They lived in God’s Tent and quit listening to God; or decided they needed to help Him in the execution of His sovereignty. They wanted to be the Inside-the-Beltway crowd; smarter than the stupid Samarians, and smarter than God.

According to the Bible, God has pitched His Tent in me (Cf. John 14); He sent his Spirit to dwell with me and in me. That’s important. I am Oholibah: His Tent in me. And as a result that ought to do something to me, and for me. And I need to remember Oholibah every day. God is not in some far off place commanding angels and rerouting worlds; He is with me and He had placed His tent in me; I am His Territory; His dwelling place.

Lord, in courage and respect, in happiness and somberness, may I live Oholibah today. May I frequent the tent this day and remember where You say You are: with me and in me. Rule from the Throne You have placed in my heart… Amen.

In Heaven and On Earth

09.01.13

Revelation 6.11 11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. (ESV)

In Revelation 6, the verse preceding this one says: They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (V. 10) That helps put things in perspective for us. The divine response to their cry is simply: rest and wait.

When I was a wee lad of forty-seven I began to take an interest in road-bike riding. I didn’t get my first road bike then; but I got a bike and began to ride in earnest taking pleasure in going for long rides on the highways and by-ways of central Oregon. I became friends with others who liked to ride and learned all the ways of group riding etiquette and so on. I also began to attend bike races and became familiar with the phrases: “You can rest when you die!” and, “No one has ever drowned in their own sweat!”  I think about those phrases when I read Revelation 6: rest a little longer, until the number of [your] fellow servants and [your] brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as [you have] been. We can rest in Heaven.

How we are born and how we die is not the issue: how we live between these two dates is what is important. You can rest when you die ought to be among the mottoes of our lives because life on earth in not about rest, but action. And really, no one has ever drowned in their own sweat.

Some are destined to be born into privilege; and some are not going to have that privilege. Some are destined to live long and prosper; some are destined to die for their toil on earth at the hands of men who kill them because they so toiled. Their toil is to proclaim Him who hands out white robes in Heaven. How we live and for Whom is the issue.

God decides our lives and what they’re supposed to be about. How we live with His decision is mostly about how we interact with the world. Some interact with it and fit right in; others reach a place where their dissatisfaction with earth’s ways causes them to seek another Way – God’s way. And when presented with God’s option, they accept and begin, much to earth’s great disapproval, to toil for Him.

How we live between these two dates is what is important. How I toil is important. The focus of my life is not what I’m going to do in retirement, but how I live up to that point: I can retire when I die. In the meantime, I to toil and strive in a resistance movement that shines a bright but true light on the regime of earth which purports: “It doesn’t get any better than this!” or “Eat, drink, and be merry – for tomorrow we die!” It’ll be all over then… (except the part about accounting for our toil…)

Father, I don’t pray for more of You (a stupid prayer if I’ve ever heard one); I pray for You to have more of me. I pray for the breaking of the hold on me that my culture says is all about how I should live: for the moment, full of years, and full of fun. I can rest in Heaven, and won’t have to worry about drowning in my own sweat toiling for You! Find me soaked… Amen!