The Awful Grace of God

 

Friday, January 15, 2021

You saw me before I was born.  Every day of my life was recorded in your book.  Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.  Psalm 139:16

Aeschylus, an ancient Greek playwright wrote:  “The memory of pain falls drop by drop upon our heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.”[1]

As a young person, if there was one place I never expected to look for wisdom, it was in the face of pain.  But Aeschylus had it right – unbidden, pain comes to us anyway, and it is our most dramatic and (sadly) our most profound teacher. 

One important gleaning from pain-induced wisdom, however, is the fact that you will not hear wisdom, or sense it is even in the room when a person is in the middle of pain.  Anguished cries and incoherent, incomprehensible utterances of those who are overwhelmed by loss do not display wisdom – they display human agony.  Wisdom comes later, upon reflection. 

As with Aeschylus, it is the memory of our pain, long-since subsided, that sparks the light of God’s grace on our souls.  I would add that it is the well, and honestly-considered memory that allows the dawning of wisdom. 

When pain is compartmentalized, stuffed-away in a dark corner of our being, unfaced, and unprocessed, for fear of hurting deeper than our supposed coping resources, it invites the fragmenting of our soul and spirit.  We can become spiritual zombies, only a façade of the aliveness of resurrection people.

The result of unprocessed or ignored pain is a large map of destinations.  Among the most fearsome is the sociopath, that monster which feels nothing for others, or even himself.  The grace of God is the antidote for this road trip.  In an awe-filled way, the grace of God invites us to face our pain and overcome the monster waiting to be born in us.

Our country is at that type of crossroads today.  In our pain of lost elections, riots, COVID-19 deaths, and the angst of an uncertain future, we would, frankly, rather go on vacation, and not deal with the mess.  It’s tempting to apply temporary solutions to such pain.  I am a subscriber to the old standby that there are few problems that will not be better when you take a break.  Things always seem less problematic after a good nap.

But this is not one of those times. 

We are in the midst of national crisis of mega proportion.  Many have adopted the simplistic notion that, if this leader or that one is in charge, our problems will go away.  The lines in the sand between parties of different methodology and ideology have been drawn deeply and (at times) violently.  I think it would be accurate to compare this time in our country’s history, fresh from last week’s insurrectionist attack on the Capitol building and Congress by domestic terrorists, to that of the mid-19^th century, the prologue to Civil War. 

This is a time to face our problems, and the pain we all would rather avoid.

Facing those problems is not for the debaters who have all the answers and want to push their agenda.  It is not for the faint of heart who will just do a lot of hand-wringing and vent their disdain for what ails us.  Facing the problems is a matter for what history teaches us in the likes of men such as King David, who, when confronted with his own shortfall of character, confessed, and was restored.[2]  Or men like Nehemiah, who put his life on the line and offered to go help rebuild Jerusalem.[3]  Or women like Esther whose people were on the verge of annihilation and she accepted the fact that she was born for such a time.[4] 

The Scriptures are filled with those who stood firm in the flames of opposition and threat.  For us it can be no different.  If God’s people will not pray and be ready for serving as balm for the wounds of mankind’s madness, this country, or the human species doesn’t stand a chance.

For You Today

Standing firm does not mean turning on anyone.  Wisdom borne of pain has taught us by the awful grace of God just the opposite.  It means standing true to what Christ has taught us about pain; we bear our brother’s burdens like ours was borne at Calvary.

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^©

Calvin and Hobbes (cartoon) by Bill Watterson

For other posts on this topic see Death With Dignity? and Prayers in a Dark Place      

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[1] Excerpt, Washington Post Article (Two Sides of Joe Biden) citing Robert F. Kennedy upon the death of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

[2] Read Psalm 51

[3] Read Nehemiah 1-2

[4] Read Esther chapters 3-4

 

When the House Turns Upside Down

[i][ii]

Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Then King Xerxes said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, “I have given Esther the property of Haman, and he has been impaled on a pole because he tried to destroy the Jews.  Now go ahead and send a message to the Jews in the king’s name, telling them whatever you want, and seal it with the king’s signet ring.  But remember that whatever has already been written in the king’s name and sealed with his signet ring can never be revoked.”  So on June 25 the king’s secretaries were summoned, and a decree was written exactly as Mordecai dictated.  It was sent to the Jews and to the highest officers, the governors, and the nobles of all the 127 provinces stretching from India to Ethiopia.  The decree was written in the scripts and languages of all the peoples of the empire, including that of the Jews.  The decree was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the king’s signet ring.  Mordecai sent the dispatches by swift messengers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king’s service.  The king’s decree gave the Jews in every city authority to unite to defend their lives.  They were allowed to kill, slaughter, and annihilate anyone of any nationality or province who might attack them or their children and wives, and to take the property of their enemies.  The day chosen for this event throughout all the provinces of King Xerxes was March 7 of the next year.  A copy of this decree was to be issued as law in every province and proclaimed to all peoples, so that the Jews would be ready to take revenge on their enemies on the appointed day.  So urged on by the king’s command, the messengers rode out swiftly on fast horses bred for the king’s service.  The same decree was also proclaimed in the fortress of Susa.  Then Mordecai left the king’s presence, wearing the royal robe of blue and white, the great crown of gold, and an outer cloak of fine linen and purple. And the people of Susa celebrated the new decree.  The Jews were filled with joy and gladness and were honored everywhere.  In every province and city, wherever the king’s decree arrived, the Jews rejoiced and had a great celebration and declared a public festival and holiday.  And many of the people of the land became Jews themselves, for they feared what the Jews might do to them.  Esther 8:7-17

The story of Esther turns one of our naïve house theories upside-down, that of an instant-ready Heaven, where there is nothing more to be accomplished; the principle of the Laws of the Medes and Persians doesn’t work that way. 

Haman, the evil-plotting, would-be throne-stealer, has duped the king, a basically good guy, into issuing a holocaust order against the Jews that on a coming day they would all be killed.  Mordecai, Esther’s uncle convinces Queen Esther to plead with the king for the lives of their people.  The evil protagonist, Haman gets wind of Esther and her uncle’s activity and has a large wooden pole prepared to impale Mordecai.  As Haman’s evil is exposed, the king, who dearly loves Esther, is so furious he has Haman impaled on the very pole meant for Mordecai. 

This is a plot that has thickened most Hollywood dramas.  But there is more.  According to the Law of the Medes and Persians, a decree issued by the king cannot be reversed.  According to the previous decree the Jews must die.  So, the king gives Esther the right to issue a further decree in His name.  She grants the legality of Jews to defend themselves without being held accountable.  The day is saved, and Mordecai is elevated to being King Xerxes’ right-hand man.

For You Today

Sometimes our view of Heaven is of a blurry-tunnel where we emerge ethereally peaceful on the other shore, with every complication figured-out.  God’s book, including Esther (which, paradoxically, never mentions the name of God), tells us otherwise.  As in Esther, evil is thwarted, and righteous justice prevails, so will Heaven set at right that which has been wrong.  But it won’t be entirely without our involvement.  As Esther and Mordecai had to scramble to come up with a solution to a messed-up situation – a holocaust set in motion by a misguided human choice – so believers will be charged with ruling in Christ’s kingdom.

I believe this is one of the chief reasons for our threescore-and-ten existence here on planet earth.  There is an apprenticeship necessary to become the kind of people God will use in ruling His beloved creation.  If that were not so, there could be no meaning to the pain we experience in this life.  God could take us directly to Heaven if He desired, but He doesn’t, so there is meaning in what we do and experience in this life.  Like the laws of the Medes and Persians, we cannot change the decrees of the past…but we can cooperate with God by opening our hearts to learn His ways, do His will in His Kingdom, and, like Mordecai, one day fully live-into that role of communing face-to-face with our Creator.

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

Go to VIDEO

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[i] Title Image:   Pixabay.com

[ii] Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©

For Such a Time As This - Part 3

[i]

Thursday, October 28, 2016

If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?  Esther 4:14^(NLT)

Christianity's Answer in Such a Time as This

Morally and spiritually America is in trouble.  We parallel the great civilizations of history in a frightening way.  But I do not believe we are through; in fact, I believe we still have the finest potential of any nation on earth.  I believe that, with strong Christian undergirding, the return of America to be one nation, under God can stem the tide of humanism and cannibalistic materialism that is eating our country alive financially, morally, emotionally, and spiritually.  I believe the flood of murder of the unborn, and violence towards our children can be turned.  I believe with everything that is in me that the church is the place to start:

If my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves, and  pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and         forgive their sin, and heal their land.   2 Chronicles 7:14^(KJV)

And HOW shall we DO that?  What shall we do in such a time as this?

ANSWER:  LIVE THE FAITH IN SUCH A TIME AS THIS

1.     Believe in God  If ever there was a time for faith we are living it as we breathe in and out!   Mordecai believed God would deliver.  So did Esther. 

Note her answer to Mordecai:

Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai:  Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me.  Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day... Esther 4:15-16a^(KJV)

If God will ever act in accord with our prayers to save America, it will not be with cheap faith.  And if we believe, we will also

2.      Behave as we believe 

Note the rest of Esther's answer:

...I and my maids will fast as you do.  When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law.  And if I perish, I perish."  Esther 4:16b^(KJV)

Faith was the answer for the Persian Jews, and it is still the answer for Christian believers of the 21st century.  Esther believed in God from her heart, and then put everything she was, had, and hoped-for into that faith.  She fasted (said no to self); she faithfully involved her support group (both the Jews, and her maids in the palace); and she made plans to plead her case before the king himself. 

And her plan was the BURN THE BRIDGE BEHIND kind!

It is said that when Alexander the Great landed on the shores of Persia to engage the enemy his forces were greatly outnumbered.  His officers pleaded with their commander to retreat and come back with a bigger army.  Alexander’s response was to burn the ships that brought them.  As they watched their escape plan sink into the horizon he told his generals:  We go home in Persian ships or we die here.

For You Today

You may rightfully say:  I'm not the wife of this nation’s leader.  That is true (and you may be grateful for that!)  But that was the opportunity presented to Esther.  God will present you with YOUR opportunity to believe and behave as if He is the answer to our problems. 

Can you fast and pray?  Can you involve (and yourself be involved) with prayer that will move the hand of God?  Will you make burn the bridge behind plans to speak for God no matter what it costs?  Can you give up selfish thinking, pride, and suspicion?  Can you work and pray with your fellow believers? 

If you can, you are ready for such a time as this.

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

Go to VIDEO

NOTES

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[i] Title Images: Edwin Long [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

For Such a Time As This - Part 2

[i]

Thursday, October 27, 2016

If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?  Esther 4:14^(NLT)

America's Parallel with Israel; Moral and Spiritual Decline

America’s political existence, power and prestige among the nations of the earth are a by-product of spiritual strength consistent with the founding of the land of the free and home of the brave.  The French poet Alexis de Tocqueville came to America in the early 19^th century to find the key to the new nation’s greatness; he wrote: 

Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power.  America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great!"

HAS AMERICA CEASED TO BE GOOD?        

In Edward Gibbon's The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire he lists five paths that so-called indestructible society followed which, unquestionably, led to its' crumbling:

1. The undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home.

In days gone by, the children of America could typically expect a Mother and Father to be married, be faithful, and be there.  The crisis of the home and family in America is enough to make one agree with Thomas Jefferson who said:  Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.       

2. Increasing taxes and spending of public money for bread and circuses

America is now less characterized by the "working-man ethic” than the caricature of the human orchard pig.  Farmers turn their pigs loose in peach orchards to eat the windfalls.  All day long the pigs sit in the shade with one ear to the ground, waiting for a peach to fall off the tree.  When it does, they waddle over, eat it, and plop down in that very spot until the wind knocks another one out of the tree. 

3. The mad craze for pleasure, with sports becoming more exciting and more brutal.

If this is not a sports-crazed society we will never see one.  Violent movies, violence oriented child pornography, computer war games...America?  Rome?

4. The building of gigantic armaments, when the real enemy is the decadence of the people.

The downsizing of our military is a misnomer when you ask the question:  How many fingers does it take to push a nuclear-missile launch button?

5. The decay of religion, with faith fading into mere form.

Many of our candidates have a November spirituality that reveals a January carnality.  Newsweek magazine reported in 1989 on a sting operation to uncover graft in New York.  Rudy Giulliani, then New York's U.S. Attorney made the following report: 

On 106 occasions, bribes were offered or discussed.  On 105 of those occasions, the public official involved accepted the bribe.  And on the other occasion, he turned it down because he didn't think the amount was large enough.

Many of our contemporary church members have joined themselves to the culture rather than the Christ.  The carnality of church members in America has weakened the influence of the body of Christ in society.  Consistently the courts are making anti-Christian rulings. 

The culture in America thumbs its collective noses at the bride of Christ.  Like Haman they construct their gallows for the few who have the character of Mordecai to stand against ungodliness in our generation. 

For You Today

Tomorrow we will look at the Christian response to a crumbling culture.  Perhaps it is God’s plan that the church was made for such a time as this.

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

Go to VIDEO

NOTES

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[i] Title Images: Edwin Long [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

For Such a Time As This - Part 1

[i]

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

The Story; Esther's People

God's people have always been hero or zero.  Never has there been a time when they were mundane or uninvolved in world affairs.

Abraham, father of God's chosen, rode the hero trail.  He was rich, influential and venerated among Egypt's rulers.  Subsequently the pendulum swung against the children of Israel, and 400 years of "zero" were endured as the Egyptian bondage. 

Then came hero Moses and the people of God triumphantly picked over the greatest of spoils in Egypt, and left for the Promised Land.  But there was a 40 year zero in the wilderness because of disobedience, followed by a hero's conquest of Canaan.  

Hero to zero and back, like a yo-yo roller-coaster ride. 

Riding the crest of unparalleled success under the judges and kings David and Solomon, the prophets warned that heroes can become zeros if they don't keep at what God called them to do.  They ignored, and Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian hordes carried all the best thinkers and workers into a zero captivity. 

But then the temple was rebuilt, and the land was beginning to be restored.  Babylon's control was replaced with Persian rule.  Persia was notably less cruel and exacting as was the Babylonian (Iraq) iron fisted king.  With some limited freedom and the ability to control their own financial resources, the people of God rose within the confines of a friendly captivity to have influence and affluence.  Where once a proud Jewish nation, the chosen of God stood, now sat masses of materialistically-sated fat-cats.  

Enter Esther!  King Xerxes was looking for a queen because he'd just divorced and banished his last mate.  Esther was the Jewish Cinderella of her day.  She was beautiful and smart, and the king married her, not knowing she was a Jew.  Her uncle, Mordecai, had seen to it that she didn't reveal her heritage.  King Xerxes’ second in command, Haman, hated the Jews; Mordecai in particular.  Haman wanted everybody in the kingdom to bow and pay him honor.  Mordecai knew he should only worship God, and wouldn't bow. 

Although the name of God isn't mentioned in the entire book of Esther, this is a Jewish story, and God can be sensed in the background all the way through.  Haman got the king to issue an order that every Jew was to be slaughtered; the whole race!  Mordecai got word to Queen Esther, who immediately sent an answer back to him that she was risking death if she went to speak to the king without an invitation.  Things looked bleak and impossible. 

This is a story modern Jews tell even today about how powerless people can have hope, and celebrate even in the midst of their darkest hour.  Mordecai's quick response to Esther's excuse is our text:

If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?”  Esther 4:14^(NLT)

Well, Esther DID speak-up, and Haman's plan WAS thwarted, and God's people WERE saved, and today the feast of Purim celebrates God's deliverance against the darkest backdrop of evil.

For You Today

We will take a look at some more of how this story turned out next time, but, for now, have you got anything going on that’s bleak or troublesome?  Esther considered, prayed, took a deep breath and then took a bold step.

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

Go to VIDEO

NOTES

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[i] Title Images: Edwin Long [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons