In Search of a Rainbow

 

Thursday, March 11, 2021

Then God told Noah and his sons, “I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants, and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth.  Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you.  Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth.”  Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come.  I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth.  When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures.  Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life.  When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.”  Then God said to Noah, “Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth.”  Genesis 9:8-17

These promises of God’s to Noah and his descendants are always a welcome read after the horrors of the previous chapter’s judgment.  The whole earth is engulfed in a tsunami of God’s wrath, and every living creature (except those on the ark) is destroyed.  A rainbow of hope is more than a pleasant sight, it’s restoration of life and a reason to go on. 

Noah and family spent a year in a floating wildlife park, waiting for the waters to dry up.  We’ve been waiting that long in Coronavirus-watch-mode, and, frankly, it’s been just as dark, smelly, and frightening.   

During this time we have all been waiting for the rainbow to appear.  It dawned on me that I’m beginning to identify with old Noah as he sent out birds from the ark, looking for land.  I watch the news each day eagerly anticipating news of a breakthrough, a super-vaccine, or some immunity uncovered in a gene.  And each day is a little more disappointment heaped on the pile of floodwaters of (my grandsons would call them “Rona-waters”).  No land in sight; skies still gloomy.

Enter the God who precipitated the flood, and now delivers the dry land with a promise that the worst is over.  The sight is awesome, rainbows of promise bursting through the sky like a new day’s glory, and there is, once-again, hope.  This is a rainbow of which Dorothy, the tin man, scarecrow, and cowardly lion could never imagine.  For Noah and his tribe of 7, this wasn’t Oz, it was Eden returned!

Is this not the ending for which we all long, to have a new beginning, and a new outlook?  It’s three-parts joy and one-part nervous anticipation of a new day’s challenges.  What will after-the-storm bring to this world?  Will we begin to live-into the covenant as was offered to Noah?  Will we be different than the generation Noah left behind at the dock?  They were a sorrowful stench in the nostrils of Heaven.  They found no faith, even with righteous Noah preaching the message of coming judgment – for 100 years. 

Our world has had a greater witness than Noah’s.  We’ve had the prophets of old, Micah, Jonah, Isaiah, and many more.  We’ve had the forerunner, John the Baptist, telling us to prepare.  We had the loving ministry and word of The Incarnate Word of God, witness of the cross, and two-thousand years of the church’s testimony. 

And our world hears little of it.  Sometimes the church barely acknowledges it.

And yet, it’s all part of God’s holy plan, all evidence of the coming fulfillment of prophecy, and the sovereignty of Heaven’s will.  There is coming a time (and could it be soon?), when all nature will testify to the glory of God, His plan to wipe away every tear, put death to death, and retire the idea of time.  And His judgment, separating the sheep from the goats, darkness of night’s ignorance from the light of His glory, and establishing the eternal Kingdom of holiness and joy will be complete…the final splash of color in a rainbow of promise.

For You Today

Being on the right-side of history is an easy call to see.  It is Christ, the hope of glory, who calls you into this search for a rainbow of hope…and it is Christ who extends his loving hand for you to step up into the ark of His covenant.  It’s more than just shelter in the storm, it’s eternity in His presence!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

Trials Stink!

 

Wednesday, January 27, 2021

“For I am persuaded that neither life nor death, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” Romans 8:38-39

Note:  our guest columnist today is our beautiful daughter, Jennifer.  She and husband Ken have three children, two grandchildren, and a lock on my heart.  As a vibrant Christian with more than a little experience facing life’s difficult side, she writes from walking with God during the trials that inhabit the Rocky Road.

Trials stink. 

It is so hard to change mindset when being hurt, or struggling financially or emotionally or relationally. 

But, trials can be a purifying fire and a cleansing water.  Although we don’t want to get burned or drown, we do want to be refined and renewed through the Lord.  God uses trials for His purpose. 

If you are struggling through all the turmoil in our country right now and the depressing nature of social media and mainstream media, be encouraged - God is with you through all these things!  He is always there in our midst, working through things. Carry it in prayer, but do not carry the burden!  Stay out of God’s way and let Him do the heavy work.  If you feel crushed, fearful, strain in your relationships, or been through any kind of personal disaster, invite the Holy Spirit into these circumstances because only God can transform them!  Our suffering will seem like nothing compared to the glory of God worked in us.  And know that nothing can separate you from the ENDURING LOVE of God![1]

For You Today

Thank you, Jen, for a great reminder that we are not designed to do it all.  God’s way is for us to join Him in the next great adventure; our job is to listen, be ready, and always give thanks. 

Even though trials do stink, some suffering in this life, even great suffering, is for a short time compared to an eternity with our Lord and His family. 

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

For other posts on Romans 8:38-39 see Afraid to Die? and The Confident Hope of All Saints      

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[1] Jennifer Brownworth Klim, Facebook.com post, January 15, 2021

 

Promise of the Rainbow

 

Monday, May 18, 2020

Genesis 9:8-17

Then God told Noah and his sons, “I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants, and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth.  Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you.  Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth.”  Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come.  I have placed my rainbow in the clouds.  It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth.  When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures.  Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life.  When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.”  Then God said to Noah, “Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth.”

The picture today is one my daughter took at the beach in Jacksonville, Florida this past Mother’s Day.  I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a rainbow from a perspective where you’re able to see the whole bow, ground-to-sky-to-ground, the full rainbow.  Mostly I see parts of rainbows, sometimes just a hint, and sometimes a half. 

This is so like the promises and miracles of God.  There are times you see just a hint that God crossed your path and left a blessing.  At other times you’re blown-away by the sheer magnitude of the gift and the power that is behind all of what He does in your life, because you get the full picture, and it leaves no doubt as to just how awesome and gracious is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob…and little me.

I’m a lot older than I used to be, and at this stage of life you look back…a lot!  The gift of a family that still loves me, challenged by distance – not just the social distancing of late, but hundreds of miles and several states – well, it’s just a miracle gift and blessing, of which I can’t claim any credit.  I look at my bride and there’s a rainbow that stretches to this day from that first glance in a high school corridor back in 1964.  And in that glance there was a rainbow of promise; I couldn’t recognize it then, but I can see God’s hand though the years. 

We married a year and a half after graduating high school; I was just a week away from leaving for serving in Vietnam.  We would spend the next year only “seeing” each other in letters.  Three children, nine grands, and several great-grandchildren later, Elizabeth is still my closest, longest, and most needed relationship on this planet.  The best of all is she is aware, and approves the fact that she is still #2 in my life and allegiance, second only to Jesus. 

We live with problems, challenges of difficult circumstances, and bodies that don’t hold together nearly as good as they used to, nor as well as our minds (stuck at age 25 thinking) demand.  But that is not proof of the absence of God’s love or care; to be certain, it is just the opposite.  Our challenges in the autumn of life are like God’s rainbows, colorful, and covering the sky from time to time.  But they are not as painful as I once imagined they would be at this age.  They are more like rainbow reminders of the strength of God’s good promises, both here, on this planet, with mercies and strength as our day demands, and a foreshadow of splendor for the day after my last today…the eternity of joy with all the family I’ve had here on earth, and wonderful surprises, gifts, and eternal joy in my new home in glory, close to the One whose love I have only just begun to appreciate!

For You Today

I have a new passage of Scripture that I depend upon to center my heart and life as each morning dawns…it comes from (of all places), the Lamentations of Jeremiah:

The faithful love of the Lord never ends!  His mercies never cease.  Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.  I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!”  Lamentations 3:22-24

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

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Title Image:  Carrie Brownworth Wynne (with permission)

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on Genesis 9 see Promise Over the Power and  Lenten Walk - Part 16 and  Covenant Sign

Living Godly In a Godless World

The Apostle James is the younger (half) brother of Jesus Christ.  Six months before the cross and resurrection, he wasn’t even a believer.  Yet he became a leader in the early church and he called himself a servant of God and the Master, Jesus.  The word is doulos (doulos) or bond slave.  It is the word you would use to describe someone who voluntarily chooses to enslave himself to another. 

It is important to see this call to commitment in James.  He gives us 60 imperative commands in only 108 verses.  James urges us to make this same commitment of unquestioned obedience to God.  There are some pretty life-altering decisions to make if you take him seriously. 

At the outset of this study, in the spirit of full disclosure, we should begin with the understanding that investigating James (with the intention of obeying God with whatever we find out) can be extremely hazardous to the health of playing at discipleship.  Any believer who has taken the time to know God and God’s Book also knows He demands loyalty from those who are named “Christian”.

Have you ever watched the CBS program “Survivor”?  If not, the “plot” is to isolate 16 people in some desolate spot and present them with increasingly difficult decisions.  In the early broadcasts one of the 16 castaways attempting to be the lone survivor who would walk away with a million dollars was a 24-year-old pre-seminary student from Seattle Pacific University named Dirk Been.  He said being forced to eat beetle larvae was not the most difficult ordeal he had to face on the island.  The hardest aspect of being marooned on a remote island was not having anyone around who shared his beliefs.  He said:  The spiritual isolation was tortuous.  The other tribe members couldn't understand where I was coming from; I didn't have someone I could really open up to and pray with.

Fortunately for Dirk, he felt the support of family and friends at home praying for him each day. The day before he left for Malaysia, about 70 members of his church gathered around him to pray for his health and safety.  "It was awesome!" Dirk recalls.  "And it didn't end there.  Even though I was alone and lonely as the sole Christian, I felt the presence of the Lord in incredible ways."[1]  

There is another ongoing survivor event, the survivorship of genuine Christian living in an increasingly postmodern, and even hostile, anti-Christian world.  People with commitment to follow Jesus Christ unreservedly are something of an endangered species.  Committed disciples of Jesus sense that the world views us as dinosaurs, outdated and disconnected Neanderthal thinkers in a space-age, Internet era. 

Do you feel that way about you living in this world?  While we don’t care to dwell in the negative, the reality is glaring: 

We really don’t live in a Christian world or even a Christian county!

And so, the proposition before the house this morning:

Christian survivor Reality check:

being a committed follower of jesus means you will find some tough roads ahead; you will be in the minority, and the world won’t care that you don’t like it!

If trying to live Godly in a Godless world describes you, there is some really good news; it’s found in the little Epistle of James.  This is the Christian Survival Manual.  If you would be an overcomer, a survivor in this postmodern world, James has the kind of practical advice you need.

James tells us important things a Christian worldview needs; he tells us about attitudes and convictions a Christian must possess – actions we must take – if we are to be survivors in a world that is spiritually stone cold dead!

Here’s some of the wonderful advice the Apostle James shares, which we will study in the next several weeks.  This is going to be a look at Christian Survival:

·     How to have joy in the midst of your trials

·     How to grow strong in your faith.

·     How to hang in there, when your “hanger” is broken.

·     How to love others, and not lose it

·     How to control your tongue so you can act wisely.

·     How to make morally wise decisions.

·     How to be unselfish, and still contented.

·     How to be patient!

·     How to pray and see real answers.

If those sound like some helpful topics for Christian living, well – you’re on the right track.  Join with me and be a survivor – a Christian disciple!

knowing the Owner of the island.

¹James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:  Greetings.       James 1:1 (NRSV)

James was doubtless one of the 500 who saw the resurrected Jesus, and became a believer.  He later became pastor at Jerusalem, and presided over the Jerusalem council mentioned in Acts.  His life was profoundly changed from one who thought his brother was crazy, to one who was martyred for his brother.  James was a Christian survivor – he knew the Owner of the Island!  He was Jesus’ earthly brother in the flesh, but became a doulos, servant to the Master.

So, if this morning you cannot say for certain that you have nailed down your relationship to the Owner, a saving relationship in Christ, based on His sacrifice on the cross for you, then the first step is still before you in becoming a Christian survivor – you need to be saved.  Tell Him you repent of sin, you want to be His child. 

Then, publicly take your stand with Him at the close of this service.  There will be an invitation time, and you will be invited to come to Christ, accept His name.  You can identify with Him in public Christian baptism.  That’s how you get to be friends with the Owner of the island.

knowing the value of difficult times.

²My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, ³because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance;   James 1:2-3 (NRSV)

There is a difference between tempting and testing.  The “trials” of our text refers to a test.  (The word is dokimion, a proving, as in a test drive.  God never tempts – see James 1.13).  Years ago my seminary professor, Dr. Graham, put the difference to his class, and it stuck with me (one of the few things I actually retained).  He said that an easy way to remember the difference between a tempting and a testing is:

a temptation is from Satan, and it is designed to make you fall;

a test is from God, and is designed to make you stand tall!

So, when you have a difficult time before you, pay close attention which direction you’re being driven.  If away from God and His kingdom, then it is designed to make you fall – a temptation! 

If the difficult time creates a desire to find God’s will and way – to compel you to prayer to seek God’s face, and fellowship with believers for comfort and Godly counsel, and Bible study for God’s answers – well, that’s a test.  God is doing something! THAT’S why you can count it all joy!

Have any of you ever thrown a count-it-all-joy party?  I haven't either!  To tell you the truth, it's tough to consider it pure joy, because trials hurt.  Yet it's important to realize that unless we go through some tests, we will never know what our faith is made of.

It is hard to accept the difficult times, but becoming mature in the faith demands those times.  The Message New Testament translates verse 4 this way:

⁴and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.   James 1:4 (NRSV)

We may kick and groan about difficulties in our lives, but often that is when God is using in His perfect way to change us into His useable servant. 

A ship was wrecked, and the only survivor washed up on a small uninhabited island.  He was exhausted.  He cried out to God to save him.  Every day he scanned the horizon, searching for help. Finally, he managed to build a rough hut and put his few articles in that hut.

One day, coming home from hunting for food, he was stung with grief to see his little hut in flames and a cloud of smoke.  The worst had happened.  But early the next day, a ship drew in and rescued him.

He asked the crew, "How did you know I was here?"  They replied, "We saw your smoke signal."  Maybe the difficulty you have now is a smoke signal that will lead to great blessing.[2]

Christian survivors know the Island’s Owner, and the value of difficult times, and they…

trust God.

⁵If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you.  ⁶But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; ^{7, 8}for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.  for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.  James 1:5-8 (NRSV)

There is a certain abandoning of ourselves – a putting-aside of our options when it comes to really trusting God. You may have had the experience of purchasing a gift for your child’s birthday; you spent all you could afford (and then some).  It’s the best gift ever.  Prior to the birthday you are in a store with your young child and he asks for a different toy – much less in cost than you just spent.  You’ve broken the budget on his birthday, so you have to say “no” to the lesser toy.  Your child is somewhere from disappointed to furious!  He doesn’t understand that your “no” today is only because you have a great big”YES” just ahead.  That’s childish behavior – but that’s what we do when we don’t trust God.[3] 

⁵Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  ⁶In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.  Proverbs 3:5-6 (KJV)

When you trust Him, it means you take your stand with Him – publicly, privately, and any other way He demands.  And so, it’s decision-time, and we need to ask the question:

Do you want to be a survivor?

If so, you have to ask the Owner – it’s His island!

If so, you will learn the value of difficult times – it’s His wisdom!

If so, you will have to learn to let go and trust – it’s His way!

Be a survivor!

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[1] Greg Asimakoupoulos, Naperville, Illinois; © 2000 PreachingToday.com / Christianity Today, Inc.

[2] John Yates, An Attitude of Gratitude, Preaching Today, Tape No. 110.

[3] Adapted from Deborah Rau, Sunday Digest, Today’s Christian Woman, “Heart To Heart”