The Storm You Can't See

 

Tuesday, May 4, 2021

Please listen, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph’s descendants like a flock.  O God, enthroned above the cherubim, display your radiant glory to Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh.  Show us your mighty power.  Come to rescue us!  Turn us again to yourself, O God.  Make your face shine down upon us.  Only then will we be saved.
 O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, how long will you be angry with our prayers? You have fed us with sorrow and made us drink tears by the bucketful.  You have made us the scorn of neighboring nations.  Our enemies treat us as a joke.  Turn us again to yourself, O God of Heaven’s Armies.  Make your face shine down upon us.  Only then will we be saved.
You brought us from Egypt like a grapevine; you drove away the pagan nations and transplanted us into your land.  You cleared the ground for us, and we took root and filled the land.  Our shade covered the mountains; our branches covered the mighty cedars.  We spread our branches west to the Mediterranean Sea; our shoots spread east to the Euphrates River.  But now, why have you broken down our walls so that all who pass by may steal our fruit?  The wild boar from the forest devours it, and the wild animals feed on it.  Come back, we beg you, O God of Heaven’s Armies.  Look down from heaven and see our plight.  Take care of this grapevine that you yourself have planted, this son you have raised for yourself.  For we are chopped up and burned by our enemies.  May they perish at the sight of your frown.  Strengthen the man you love, the son of your choice.  Then we will never abandon you again.  Revive us so we can call on your name once more.  Turn us again to yourself, O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies.  Make your face shine down upon us.  Only then will we be saved.  Psalm 80:1-19

Three times in these 19 verses the Psalmist appeals to the mercy of God with the truth statement that, only then will we be saved.  This is not just an appeal, it is a faith statement that is sorrowfully missing in our day.  While many in America fear what we can see, buildings collapsing from terrorists crashing planes into skyscrapers, national or personal bankruptcy, or death by COVID-19 plague, the more fearful reality for 21^st century (or any day) people is the unseen Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

The Psalmist nailed it over and over….ONLY then will we be saved.  He was talking about the kind of revival that does not include waving American flags and congratulating ourselves on being the biggest, best, baddest or whatever.  When it comes to our infrastructure, superstructure and just plain existence as a nation, we hang like a spider over an open flame (to quote Jonathan Edwards).  And it’s only by a single strand of faith that we stand, connected to God.  What we’ve consistently done in America is stretch that strand by overloading our pockets and ignoring the God Who gave us our freedom and blessing.

Ancient Israel and modern-day America have parallels that are too similar to ignore.  Ancient Israel’s Godly beginnings (or “religious” if you prefer socio-policitical correctness, more accurately, atheism) saw a ragtag movement of former slaves conquer the land of Palestine, filled with fierce rivals.  18^th Century colonies in the New World clobbered the British Empire and began a new experiment in liberty.  Both Israel and America grew prosperous and mighty.  Both (eventually) turned their collective backs on God.

And, now we’re up to date.  That is us.  We are a secular nation; God is being phased-out as surely as our dependence on vaccinations, political machinations, and economic manipulations have become the new drug of choice to assuage our sense of worry.

And, like ancient Israel, America is going to find out the reputation we celebrate as a decent, moral, peacemaking people won’t mean a thing when God shakes the rug out from underneath our surprised feet.

For You Today

YOU, singlehandedly, cannot turn America back to God, but you can be PART of what does accomplish that.  Start praying with the Psalmist:

Show us your mighty power.  Come to rescue us!  Turn us again to yourself, O God.  Make your face shine down upon us.  Only then will we be saved.

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

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

Something to Weep About

 

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

You may never have entertained this thought or been troubled about it…or, perhaps, you’re like me and have often wondered about Israel in God’s plans.  The 12 Tribes are, after all, God’s special and treasured possession.  They serve a central role in Sovereign Yahweh’s hands to bring His message of hope, and His message of judgment to the world.  However (and this is my troubling thought), as followers of Jesus Christ, embracing the cross, with an uncompromising belief that there is only one way to approach God[1], and that through placing your faith in Jesus, how does that square with God’s embracing Israel, which denies the deity of the Son?

Admittedly, when I wonder about this, I always feel a little like Peter after the resurrection when Jesus tells Peter about how the future will not be kind to him, and the impetuous disciple questions Jesus about John’s future.

Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?  As for you, follow me.” John 21:22

The rebuke…it’s none ‘o your business, son…is stark, and meant to be.  Peter’s question borders on challenging God’s plans, which is to challenge God’s sovereignty.  Peter was headstrong, which is the beginning of the downward spiral leading to separation between human and God.  Peter had to learn that responding with your emotions before putting your brain to work never really ends well.

The Apostle Paul’s brain always seemed to be on the job.  For me, Paul’s answer, concerning Israel’s place in prophecy and God’s eternal plans, are enough to put my questioning to rest. 

And concerning Israel, Isaiah the prophet cried out, “Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant will be saved.  For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth quickly and with finality.”  Romans 9:27-28

Revelation[2] pictures 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel as being redeemed in the end.  That 144,000 is less than 2% of the 8.3 million population of Israel today, and 1 out of 100 if you consider an estimated 14-15 million Jews globally.

For me, this fits together with the point held by many Bible scholars, that, at the end, these are those who once rejected Christ, but now accept Him as Lord, Messiah, the anointed One of the lineage of David.  In their hearts they crown him King of Kings.

For You Today

Jesus told Peter not to worry about what plans God has for other believers, it was Peter’s job to follow Jesus, not approve of Jesus’ leadership.  This is especially important for us with plagues, natural disasters (can we say earthquake, North Carolina?), or any of the wars, famine, and other pandemics.  These are but the beginning of Christ’s new day.  Hear it from Jesus’ own testimony:

So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near!”  Luke 21:28

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

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Title image Pixabay.com ∞  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For another post on this text see:  Burning the Bridge of Integrity 

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[1] Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.  John 14:6

[2] See Revelation 7:4 & 14:1-3

 

When the Foundation Crumbles

Wednesday, February 12, 2020

What are worthless and wicked people like?  They are constant liars, signaling their deceit with a wink of the eye, a nudge of the foot, or the wiggle of fingers. Their perverted hearts plot evil, and they constantly stir up trouble.  But they will be destroyed suddenly, broken in an instant beyond all hope of healing.  There are six things the Lord hates—no, seven things he detests: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family.  Proverbs 6:12-19[1]

A family, any kind of family, people gathered for any purpose of home, business, government, or some kind of endeavor have both the possibility of experiencing success or crumbling defeat.  It all depends on trust and truth.

Jesus made sure we understood how you cannot overestimate the value of truth.  He said it so plainly in teaching his disciples, identifying everything he did, said, and meant as steeped-in, and sourced-by truth.  He claimed to be the very embodiment of truth when he told his questioning disciple, Thomas:

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one can come to the Father except through me.  John 14:6

Truth is so intricately woven into the fabric of God’s creation that humans can never achieve God’s purposes for our lives if there is a crack in the truth foundation. 

And therein is the answer to why things fall apart.  God’s purposes are clear, right, and unfailing…and they are inexorably tied to truth. 

The example of Adam and Eve’s fall hinges on the truth.  In Eden we observe the chief enemy, Satan, tempting Eve, planting a seed of doubt over what God had commanded; 18 seed-words of doubt which began generations of misery: 

Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?  Genesis 3:1

It was a question, but not an innocent one; Satan was setting Eve up.  This was a plot, an evil ploy to get Eve to intentionally transgress against God’s instructions.  The enemy’s evil lying tongue deceived the innocent woman, sowing a seed of doubt against God’ sovereignty.  When Adam and Eve allowed that seed to take root, truth was violated, and the fruit was full-blown discord between God and all humanity. 

For You Today

No one can undo history.  We cannot go back and undo Adam and Eve’s fall.  Neither can we return to the scene of the crime of our own first sins.  What is done is forever done. 

But we can affect the present and future.  We can make a commitment to truth; we can affirm God’s sovereignty over us, trusting that Christ’s forgiveness extended from the cross is true.  The original foundation may have crumbled, but a new building is possible.  He said it was so!

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!  2 Corinthians 5:17

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

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Title Image:  Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation© 

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[1] For another post on Proverbs 6:12-19 see The Art of Division

When the Elephant is a Sanctuary

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Friday, January 24, 2020

The Lord is my light and my salvation—so why should I be afraid?  The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?  When evil people come to devour me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall.  Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid.  Even if I am attacked, I will remain confident.  The one thing I ask of the Lord—the thing I seek most—is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple.  For he will conceal me there when troubles come; he will hide me in his sanctuary.  He will place me out of reach on a high rock.  Then I will hold my head high above my enemies who surround me.  At his sanctuary I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy, singing and praising the Lord with music.  Psalm 27:1-6

Yesterday the elephant was the one that put the fear of God in our little mission group; today’s elephant is the sanctuary of a mother’s protection felt by her calf.  David’s heart reveal in this Psalm is how his focus is singularly on dwelling in the house of the Lord all the days of his life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple.  But this is not the temple made with rock and mortar.  David wasn’t looking for a hidey place to check out of reality and spend his days strumming a harp; instead he understood his greatest need was the temple of that relationship between God and human.  It is that holy place where the expectant heart surrenders to the sovereignty of God, and your life is ever directed by God’s Spirit.  It is the marriage of creator and creature restored to its’ intended unity and purpose.  It’s when the soul is placed on the altar, offered unconditionally to the unseen God.  It’s where we have given all of what we know of ourselves to all we suspect God might be.  Sanctuary comes with surrender!

Do you remember that question you asked over and again?  It’s that one about when God might show you His will for your life.  The question is asked in many ways, just give me a sign, God…Father, I don’t know what to do…hey, preacher, what does God really want me to do with my life?  The main problem with this question is that it is usually attached to a string.  We want God to fill-in all the blanks before we sign the contract.  But a life of faith just doesn’t work that way. 

To live in the sanctuary of God and know God’s protection, providence, and guidance, you must enter by faith, and proceed entirely on faith.  That is our example from every faithful saint throughout history.  Consider Abraham:

It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.  And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise.                                   Hebrews 11:8-9

For You Today

There’s no greater sanctuary than a heart filled with faith and occupied by the Spirit of the Holy One come down!  When it comes to knowing God, and enjoying life in His Kingdom, we start, proceed, and finish with faith. 

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

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

Why, Lord?

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As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.”  So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed).  But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water.  Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion.  The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”  When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence!  Be still!”  Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm.  Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid?  Do you still have no faith?”  Mark 4: 39

Quiet?  Be still?  The storm on the waters of that day may have listened to Jesus’ command.  For many of us our hearts have been anything but quiet and still since September 11^th eighteen years ago.  On that bright Tuesday morning in September enemies slipped aboard three planes gathering the storm clouds that would bring destruction to our shores. 

In 30 A.D. the Satanic storm that wanted to destroy Jesus and his disciples became a stretching of their faith, much like we all were tested with Satan’s fear-spreading on 9/11. 

Truth be known, I dread anniversaries like 9/11.  As the media barrages us with the impending memorials and commemorations I want to be quiet.  I feel the storm surge rise within me.  All the submerged feelings of grief, loss, and anger come to the surface:

   anger surfaces as I watch the television broadcasts

   the shadow of fear surfaces as I remember we live in a different, more dangerous world

   frustration wants to overwhelm me because of unanswered questions of why and when will this all be repaid and when will it ever stop. 

I ask in my inner need for justice, when will the hurt go away for Elizabeth’s cousin John who was working in the building down the street when the second plane zoomed overhead and plowed into the South Tower?

I want to know when will the nightmares cease for the children of diplomats my brother was teaching that day because they never got to say goodbye to their parents?

When will the grieving cease for the father and children who were only 2 and 1 years old, when their Flight Attendant mother, 38 year old Sandy Bradshaw, took part in the attempt to gain control from the terrorists on Flight 93 that day?

The questions renew every time there is a violent takeover, a mass-shooting, or new deployment.  Why, Lord?

There is a story in one of Elie Wiesel’s books of a man, a crazy little Jewish man.  He lived in Europe during the Second World War.  When the Nazis invaded he went into hiding in his little town.  When it was safe to come out he ran to the local synagogue, looked upward and shouted, You see, God, we are still here!  Throughout the occupation and holocaust sufferings this crazy little Jewish man is in hiding, emerging periodically to shout to God, You see, we are still here. 

Finally, the man finds himself alone, the last surviving Jew in his little village.  He enters the synagogue, looks up at the ceiling and whispers, You see, God, I’m still here.”  And then he adds, but, you, God, where are You?

Why, Lord usually turns into where ARE you, Lord?  The question we have is no different…Why, Lord…and Where Were You, Anyway?

The answer, our answer, is not the kind that takes the sting away from tragedy and loss.  Our answer is almost as perplexing as the evil deed.

Where was God on September 11, 2001?

God was in the same place He was when Job got clobbered.  Job would have made a wonderful capitalist American citizen.  He was God-fearing, rich, respected and well-loved in his community.  All the Methodist churches would have put Job on the Administrative Council and Trustee boards. 

He was also Satan’s target. 

And God, sitting on the sovereign throne of eternity, watched:

   as marauding Sabeans captured Job’s servants and possessions 

   as a lightning bolt took out his herds of sheep and shepherds

   as the Chaldeans killed his servants and stole his camels

   and as Job’s sons and daughters and their families were having a family meal together, and a twister demolished the house killing all of them.

God was in heaven, watching.

Where was God September 11, 2001?

God was in the same place watching His own son:

   when he hung on the cross,

   when he died,

   when he was taken down and buried in a borrowed grave.

God was in heaven, watching.

On September 11^th God was in heaven…watching.

Sooner or later tragedy brings us back to Ground Zero.  And God is watching. 

And we always ask, Why?  And the answer is always the same.

   God answered Job, He simply said, trust me.

   God answered Elijah, I have my remnant.

   God answered Paul, My grace is sufficient.

   And God answered Jesus on the cross when he uttered those awful words, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

God answered with sovereign silence.

None of us knows why God allows some things and prevents others.  We know He is God, and we trust Him because His ways and thoughts are higher.  Our trust is found in being His children.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.  Romans 8.28^(KJV)

Christine Wilson was painting the kitchen in her new home.  She was also upset.  She had accidentally stepped in the bucket of bright Country Orange paint.  She had no other shoes or socks, with her, so she had to go pick up her four children from the sitter in sloppy mode.  The children were napping, so the sitter suggested Christine do a little shopping and pick them up later.  Now, a mother of four young children will jump on an offer like that!  Christine made a beeline for the local housewares section of the department store.  There she found that all things do work together for good – she was able to perfectly match the new kitchen dish cloths and towels to her “Country Orange toe”.^[1]

September 11, 2001 was horribly worse than stepping in a bucket of orange paint.  And the cross outside of Jerusalem – a place called Golgotha was worse, infinitely worse than our loss 18 years ago. 

In the case of the cross, that orange toe proved to be our salvation, and God’s free offer of eternal life. 

Surely the God of the resurrection can use the bucket of Ground Zero to birth something of eternal value in our lives. 

May each of us open our hearts to let Him do so!

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…Amen!

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[1] Adapted, A Problem Becomes a Solution, Christine R. Wilson, Eureka, CA, Christian Reader, Lite Fare.

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[i] Title Images:  Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.    All Scripture quoted is from The New Living Translation (unless otherwise stated)