Because He Loves Me

5/16/2016

Psalm 91.14-16 14 “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. 15 He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. 16 With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.

When I first became a Pentecostal, I learned a chorus at this holy-rolling little church I was going to; and the words to the chorus were the opening lines of Psalm 91. Psalm 91 is one of my favorite psalms. “…And I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my fortress; my God in whom will I trust…” I can still hear the music and see the pastor belting it out.

When we sing the psalms, do we just sing the words, or do we grasp the meaning? When they say: Because he loves Me, says the Lord, I will rescue him and protect him for he acknowledges My Name? do we think these are just general words, or do they fit specific circumstances? Our posture and attitude in trouble will say a lot about what we think of these words.

Psalm 91 is not credited with any author’s name. It doesn’t sound like a Davidic psalm; it sounds more Asaphic, or like the sons of Korah. But whoever wrote it was one who was acquainted with the difficulties of life. And whoever it was, understood that the Lord takes care of His own: Because he loves Me…

Trouble in life, while not always welcome, is very important. Trouble in life helps us intelligent creatures to see life differently, and make changes to our living. Trouble gets our attention. The promise here is those who love and dwell with God will see not only trouble but also deliverance from it. The lover of God, will see God’s power and presence in the midst of his trouble. We are not kept from trouble as God’s children; we are delivered through it.

Many confuse their relationship with God as some form of Kryptonite that will shield them from all the difficulties and troubles of life. Not so. Which is better: to have never experienced trouble, or having experienced it, and found God’s presence in the midst of it? God seems to view trouble differently than we do… God says: I will be with him in trouble.

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High; shall abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High; shall abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
And I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge, and my fortress; my God in whom will I trust.
And I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge, and my fortress; my God in whom will I trust. Cha cha cha!

Thank You Father, that nothing catches You by surprise. You are looking for those who love and pay attention to You and will trust You in the midst of trouble. Your promise is the ones who do will marvel at how You turn things around in their favor. Thank You. You have said: “Because he loves me, I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. - Amen

More and More

5/15/2016

1 Thessalonians 4.1 As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. St. Paul

The goal of the Christian life is to excel – we’re to excel at things like faithfulness, love, kindness, goodness and other virtues. Without the Holy Spirit, we are incapable of any of this; but with Him, we excel more and more.

Life on earth is not perfect, nor is it without its difficulties and setbacks; but we serve a God who knows our weakness, and has given us His Spirit to be our guide and motivation. And, not only that, but God has given us His Spirit to be our Friend. I believe in the Friendship of God. I also believe that God hasn’t left us without capacity for that friendship; and that is why we can excel more and more.

Humans know and understand limits. Earth for us is mostly limited. Seasons begin and end. Each day starts and ends. And the total days of our physical lives are limited. But the Gift of God is Himself and His limitlessness. We may not comprehend that fully, but it’s our gift nonetheless. And the more we walk with God the more we experience (even in the limits of earth) His limitlessness toward eternity: the limitlessness of no time, and all space.

To even urge someone to love more and more means for them to experience God more and more. It takes a God-sized love to love other humans. We are fallen and we seem to inherently know that. And just when we feel we’ve met the best of them, we’ll find the worst in them. That calls for love. That calls for acceptance, and that is supplied infinitely by the Lord Himself who has given us of His Spirit endlessly; the capacity to love more and more – to excel more and more.

If eternity is limitlessness, they we better get used to that as we make our way home. If the capacity for more and more has been given to us – then may we be people of more and more of God, His Kingdom, and His love: for Him and for all who call upon His Name.

Father, thank You for taking the limits off in Jesus Christ by His Spirit. It is no big thing for me to love each other more and more when I quit limiting myself by the bounds of the understanding of earth and accept the limitlessness that is mine from Heaven in Christ. I want more and more – Amen.

Night and Day

5/14/2016

1 Thessalonians 3.10 Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith. – St Paul

Say what you want – St. Paul was a pray-er. He prayed (or he lied about praying…). But seriously, I think he was a pray-er and he talked with God about his life, his ministry, his worries (he had them) and his difficulties (he had them as well). And so, when he said he prayed, it was true.

I think St. Paul shared about his praying, and his prayers because he was trying to infect others with the passion to talk to God about whatever; to stay in continual communion with Him. A friend of mine remarked the other day, that when someone prays to God for what he already has – that is a beginning place for religion.

Jesus Himself, said: “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6.5-8) Praying is not quantity; it’s content.

Paul prayed often because he apparently liked talking with God. I think he thought everybody ought to do the same. God seems to think that…hmmm. We might ask: Really, St.Paul, night and day!? But he might say back: Well, yes, what else would you expect?

I drove down south (in Oregon) the other day and spent a good part of the driving time praying (yes, with my eyes open!). I’m not going to tell you that I pray night and day, but I will say that I’m praying more than ever because I seem to be seeing people’s needs more and more. Everyone has issues, and everyone needs God’s help. But more than His help: we all need Him – plain and simple.

Why pray if God already knows my needs? Well, perhaps God wants to know if I know what I need. Ever consider that? You see, my experience with pray (and by listening to those praying around me) is that I/we often assault God with a want-list. I/we have wants, but God sees my/our needs. And God isn’t in the business of filling want-lists, but He is in the business of meeting needs. (Maybe, if we’d learn to see the difference between wants and needs, we’d begin to see our prayer in a whole new light.)

Yes, I think when Paul said he prayed day and night; I think he was telling the truth, without a preacher’s ‘holy’ embellishment. I think I could/can learn a thing or two from trying to emulate the Saint’s prayer-life.

Father, may I learn to pray about needs and less about wants. May I learn and believe that You love the sound of my voice and that You really do know what I need before I even think of it. May I learn to thank you more for the things You do for me – even the things that I may not see as necessarily beneficial. And Lord, when I tell people I’ll pray for them, may it just be true. Thank You for the gift of prayer – may I attempt to wear it out! Amen.

The Way We Were

5/13/2016

1 Thessalonians 2.7-8a Instead, we were like young children[a] among you. Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, 8 so we cared for you. – St. Paul

Try not to think of Barbra Streisand as you read the title to my missive today. Okay, now you’ve thought of Barbra, so try not to think of the song she sang about the way we were. Alright, now, try not to hum that melody to yourself all morning. Sorry, it’s just the way we are…

Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians is probably one of my favorite epistles because of his language toward them. He’s not stern; he doesn’t teach that much; he reminisces with them. There is some great theology in his letters to them, but mostly it seems he is encouraging them: it’s just you and me, guys.

Chapter 2 is about the way Paul and his companions behaved when they were with the Church in Thessalonica. Paul uses a lot of language like:

·         but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel

·         You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed

·         we were like young children

·         we cared for you

·         we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.

·         we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you

·         we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God

Paul reminded them of how things were and how they were among the young church there.

I think it’s important to reminisce about our relationships with one another, especially as we think about our times together of joy and encouragement as we walk together in the Lord in our pilgrimage toward Heaven and that Day when we all meet the Lord together.

In a transient society such as ours, it’s hard to do, but it’s still necessary to remember the good times and why they were so good.

And I think it’s good to remember why we are together as children of the Lord and what we’re on earth for: the sharing of the Gospel and living lives worthy of God. Paul cared for the people he ministered to and today, we saints, are to do likewise.

Lord, may we care for one another as You have cared for us. May we see in each other the goodness and greatness You see in us. May we learn to encourage, comfort, and urge one another to live lives worthy of the God we claim and serve. And Lord may it all be for Your glory in a world of trouble that You don’t deliver us from, but see us though. May we look back on our lives and our efforts and with glad voices praise You for the way we were; Barbra Streisand notwithstanding... – Amen.

The Whole Way

5/12/2016

2 Samuel 21.10 Rizpah daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest till the rain poured down from the heavens on the bodies, she did not let the birds touch them by day or the wild animals by night.

King David was not an earlier model of Jesus. David wasn’t a prototype, and Jesus the production piece. David had his issues and David did some pretty wild stuff (and I don’t mean wild in the sense of last Friday night’s party). David did what he thought it took to please God. And some of it borders on gruesome.

In 2 Samuel 21, is an account of an unavenged crime against a people who weren’t even the people of God; but a king of God breached a promise to them, and King David was called in to do the cleanup. King Saul (the Radioactive) had tried to wipe out the Gibeonites, even though Joshua had promised not to  by making a covenant of peace with them (Joshua 9). There is a saying: one shouldn’t take down fences before he finds out why they were put up… God held Israel responsible for Saul’s atrocities. And David, with God’s directive, avenged the Gibeonites: a tooth for a tooth.

Personally, I am glad things have changed; I’m glad we do things somewhat differently these days. But I do believe wrongs ought to be righted. And we ought to go out of our way to do it the whole way.

What caught my eye today, was the actions of Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, who stood watch for several months over the bodies of those who’d been killed, avenging Saul’s wickedness . She stood in the gap when no one else would or did. Rizpah did her best to honor the lives of the deceased who died because of another’s choices. Rizpah’s actions moved King David to honor the dead and give them a proper burial; and when he did so, the famine ceased, and the Lord’s blessing returned.

How they did things in the Old Testament was their way in their day. It doesn’t mean they were savages as we might conclude; it means they seemed to take life more seriously than we do today. Is there a Rizpah who will sit at the tomb of some slain until the rest of us notice that there might be two sides to the story? Are there any Rizpah’s today?

My rant against David is not that he didn’t do the right thing before God, but that he only went half way: he should have buried the dead. And Rizpah is testimony to that. Nowadays we seem to let the guilty go free and kill those who have nothing to do with the crime. And nobody sits by the grave to honor the stricken.

Lord, Rizpah shows me that if I’m to do something for You, I’m to do it right way, and the whole way. I don’t understand the ways of the Old Testament, but I do understand honor and doing the right thing for the right reason, the right way. Help me to do that. To the faithful You show Yourself faithful. To the pure You show Yourself pure. And You always do the honorable thing. May I learn from You – Amen

Where to Go

5/11/2016

Psalm 55.22 Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken. – of David

A recurring theme in the Scripture is God’s care for His own. Another recurring theme in the Old Testament (for sure) is the difficulties between parents, and their children. The enjoinder of the Bible is this: cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you… St. Peter said, “Cast all your anxiety (your cares, woes, concerns) upon the Lord, for He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5.7)

In 2 Samuel 19 & 20, David had just come through one of the most harrowing seasons of his life: the treachery of son, Absalom. He nearly lost the kingdom because of his own foolishness and his inability to rein in his children. And, David had become so busy being the king that he lost sight of his role as a dad and husband. King David was a godly man but he wasn’t flawlessly perfect – he, like all of us, made some huge mistakes. But in spite of all he struggled with, David knew where to go when the going got rough: he fled to the presence of God.

If you’re like Cathy and me, the kid years are wonderful, and daunting. Adult children make mistakes and often those mistakes have repercussions on the children they are raising. And as parents of those adult children, often, we older parents, have little, or no, control over the situations – so we learn to pray. We learn to cast our cares upon God and hope for the best.

The thing that all of us – parents, children, grandchildren – must learn is, if God is God, then He is infinitely involved in every aspect of all of our lives; no stone is left unturned with the Lord. His desire is that we trust Him with our cares and trust Him with the outcome of those cares.

Trust is more important to God than we think. The truest test of who we really are is where we go (mentally, spiritually, and emotionally) when the seasons of our lives take a turn for the worse (and children, and their bungles and missteps are a big source of that) when it hits the fan. David said: cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you. Peter said, cast all of your anxiety of Him for He cares for you.

Today, I need the refreshment of these words. Today, I needed to be reminded of where to Go when it all seems to be coming apart (and I have no control of any of it). Today, Jesus reminds me of where the real transactions in life happen: bringing my burdens and cares into His presence, and leaving them there. Somebody said recently: I wasn’t made to carry them anyway. Today, I’m casting them all on Him. I may have to again tomorrow; but at least today, I have a place to go and the knowledge of Someone who cares about it all.

Father God, thank You that I have a place to lay my burdens down and an assurance that You, alone, are in control of all of this. I give you my burdens and I trust You to do something with them. I don’t know what, but I do know I don’t have to deal with them. I trust You and I will learn to come more quickly knowing that You are in control and I can trust Your dealings with all of it. Amen

Sight to the Blind

5/3/2016

Matthew 20.32-34 32 Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. 33 “Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight.” 34 Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.

Two blind men were sitting along the road outside of Jericho and heard that Jesus was coming by – they yelled out to him, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” The crowed shushed them, but they yelled even louder. So Jesus had them brought to Him and the above transpired: What do you want Me to do for you? They wanted their sight.

Don’t we all? Isn’t sight, seeing, but isn’t it also understanding? The apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13: For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (V. 12) To see with the eye is often taken for granted until the eye becomes faulty. To smell with the nose is taken for granted until the nose can no longer smell. The two blind guys wanted to see, but I think they also wanted to understand.

Humankind wants to know, and certainly wants to know what’s next. We all have a hunger and thirst for the whole story and for what part we play in the story. But our sight, that is our understanding, is limited, and in our present condition, doesn’t allow for us to know all, much less comprehend. We can’t, we’re fallen. We have no capacity for the whole truth. It is only because of God’s power and presence that we can even see what we currently see.

Life on earth, even with Christ, is not a quest for superhuman status.  We need to carefully examine what someone is saying if that is what they’re implying. (Even Televangelists wear glasses…) Life on earth is the quest to walk in harmony with God to see what we can see (with Him) and trust Him in what we can’t.  

The two blind men followed Jesus, but the Scripture says that at Jesus’ crucifixion, everyone fled. No one stood with Him – not even the blind men. Because sight, as precious as it is, is flesh; and flesh and blood cannot (will not) inherit the Kingdom of God. Only those who walk by faith, and not by the flesh, will see God.

I’m glad Jesus healed the blind men and restored their sight. Maybe they became part of the early church. But even so, in this life, they didn’t get the whole picture: we simply cannot handle the truth it all its glory. We haven’t the capacity. Even with God we are limited.

But what we do get is ever increasing light and sight in this world as we walk in faith with God. It isn’t a free ride, but it is an encouragement that even in the worst that earth can offer, it can’t overcome the best Heaven has in store. Like the blind men, we are to accept the sight we have and look to God who will give us more – faith to faith, and grace to grace. The whole picture is reserved for eternity in His presence.

Father, it seems a mystery that even with You, we are held back by who we are. But that doesn’t mean that we are rejected or punished; we are merely in preparation for that day when we will see You face to face and will know as we are known. Until then, lead on O King eternal. Amen.