When the Road Gets Rocky

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Friday, January 10, 2020

Now there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias.  The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, “Ananias!”  “Yes, Lord!” he replied.  The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas.  When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul.  He is praying to me right now.  I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again.”  “But Lord,” exclaimed Ananias, “I’ve heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem!  And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name.”  But the Lord said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel.  And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.”  So Ananias went and found Saul.  He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight.  Then he got up and was baptized.  Afterward he ate some food and regained his strength.  Acts 9:10-19

Ananias was a believer, and God instructed him to go help Saul, the one who was seeking to destroy the church, putting believers in jail to rot; sometimes having them killed.  Saul had just become a believer, and Ananias’ mission was to go start the process of informing Saul just how much he was going to suffer as God’s servant.  Some days it just doesn’t seem worthwhile to get out of bed!

As a rule, you meet nice people at church; they are doing nice things and have a smile for you.  It’s not hard to understand why the thought develops that life as a Christian disciple is easy; why would all those people be smiling unless it was so?  The problem with this thinking is that life is not easy, no matter what your circumstances – wealthy, poor, healthy, sickly, tall, short, skinny, fat, wise, simple, race, gender, sexual orientation, location, opportunities, or any other twist or quirk of nature, the common thread of every life is that, sometimes, it is a really hard rocky road!  Just ask Ananias and Saul!

There are reasons we fall into the trap of developing a false view of life.  It’s usually expressed in the form of lament, such as:  oh, life for him/her is so easy; I wish I had their life; I deserve happiness.  Money, sex, freedom from responsibility, a better hairstyle and complexion (or whatever…just fill in the blank) …THAT would do it for me!

There are at least two reasons we all long for that to be true:

#1. Self-delusion

We want an easy life, and so we hunt for signs of where that might happen for us.  Now, it’s a natural tendency to want better than we have.  When it becomes an obsession, we are prone to accept the self-lie that we deserve whatever makes us happy.  Theologically that is the worst kind of lie, because it makes us in charge of our life, calling the shots, captain of our ship, master of our fate.  And that places us squarely in opposition to reality; it is God who is sovereign.  God is our Creator and, as such, we worship Him, not our plans and desires!

#2. Preachers.

There are many preachers whose message tends to support the self-happiness delusion over the rocky road reality.  A simple check of the most popular media megachurch moguls unveils the base of the message constantly – here’s how to manipulate the circumstances to get what you want from God.  It’s called many things, but the prosperity Gospel (an oxymoron if ever one existed, considering Jesus said blessed are the poor) is a life pathway to serve self, not follow Jesus.  Preachers that feed this poison to God’s people will suffer God’s judgment!

For You Today

Life’s pathway choices:  delusion or discipleship.  The road will be rocky either way, but I’d rather follow the One who laid out the road in the first place.

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

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[1] Title Image:  Rocky Road Devotion (permission)    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

World UPSIDE DOWN

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Wednesday, December 12, 2018

With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands, and encourage those who have weak knees.  Say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies.  He is coming to save you.”  And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind and unplug the ears of the deaf.  The lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will sing for joy!  Springs will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams will water the wasteland.  The parched ground will become a pool, and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land.  Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourish where desert jackals once lived.  Isaiah 35:3-7(NLT)

Life was upside-down!  Isaiah encouraged tired, weary ones who wanted to be faithful, but sometimes found it hard to hold-on, to believe in the God who said:  Hold on!

Today many people dismiss Christ based on unbelief – that certainly God (if he exists at all) must be more complicated than the manger story.  Certainly, a God who could create the universe that has the intricacies of DNA and quantum physics would not have given the most important announcement of mankind and angels to stupid shepherds.

But were they stupid?  The shepherds are the ones who believed God; they went immediately and without question to find the child.  When they arrived, they worshipped.  When they left, they rejoiced and told others.  It seems the shepherds were the wise and obedient ones.  They remembered their history of exile in Egypt long before, and how Yahweh was true to his promise, sent Moses, and redeemed them out of captivity:

When the Lord brought back his exiles to Jerusalem, it was like a dream!
 We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy.  And the other nations said,  “What amazing things the Lord has done for them.”  Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us!  What joy!  Psalm 126:1-3(NLT)

In defense of those who find it hard to possess joy in their doubt and prison cells, we can all be a little dumber than shepherds at times.  And sometimes it takes another prisoner to set the tone for us.

Father Alfred Delp[2] was a prisoner of the Nazis during World War II.  He was charged with treason for true Christian preaching.  From his jail cell he wrote about the meaning of Advent, the coming of Christ

"Advent is a time for rousing.  Human beings are shaken to the very depths, so that they may wake up to the truth of themselves.  The primary condition for a fruitful and rewarding Advent is renunciation, surrender ... a shattering awakening; that is the necessary preliminary.  Life begins only when the whole framework is shaken."^[3]  

For You Today

A few questions we should ask at Advent:

·      Have you ever had your framework shaken?  Have you walked in a dream, as if everything has been turned upside-down?  I wonder if, like the shepherds, God allows these events to move us to the next level? 

·      And what will you do at the next level?  Could it be that God wants us to leave the nightmares of doubt and fear, to walk out of the familiar and selfish?  Could it be that He wants to see us walking in dreams of worthy choices and loving attitudes? 

·      Could it be that this Advent the still small voice that says, “I want you to love me above everything” will shake your framework…because you recognize the voice?  And you know…it’s no dream; He’s your God!

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

[2] Image courtesy:  Graf Foto [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

[3] © 2009 COMMUNICATION RESOURCES, INC.