Prayers with "Feet"

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Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Devotion VIDEO here

No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.  Micah 6:8^(NLT)

Among the prayers listed for today’s reflection I found this one for our country:

Almighty God, who has given us this good land for our heritage: We humbly beseech you that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of your favor and glad to do your will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion us into one united people. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in your Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to your law, we may show forth your praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in you to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.[2]

There is a long list of requests in that paragraph! 

       ·       Strength/will to do God’s will

       ·       Prosperity, wisdom, manners (manners? In 21^st century USA?  Really?)

       ·       Protection from violence, discord, confusion, pride and arrogance (guess we’ll have to 

             forego the 2016 election)

       ·       Justice and peace…thankfulness and vindication of our way of life

It’s not only a mouthful to speak; it’s quite a pocketful of miracles in a nutshell.

Years ago a lady in our church was called upon to pray for the missionaries during our midweek Bible Study and prayer time.  She took about a week to walk up to the microphone, heaved a great and very dramatic sigh, then prayed….O, Lord, please bless all the dear missionaries everywhere.  Amen!

Well, Russell, what’s your beef?  She did it; she prayed for those missionaries.  Do you think a longer prayer is somehow more holy?  If she added words would there be more blessings from above?

No…not really; it’s just that we seem to take the easy way out of most stuff, prayer included.  After the mass-shooting in San Bernardino last week, the criticisms flying around on social media for people who had posted prayers for the victims raised the issue for me about how much “feet” we actually add to our prayers.  Are those critics correct in saying our prayers don’t matter a whole lot if we’re not willing to do something to cooperate with what God might do?

Micah’s three-fold sermon on what God requires is about two-thirds internal commitment (loving mercy and walking humbly with God), but that other part is hard:  doing what is right!  When there is scarcity of doing, we always fail the loving and walking.  And frankly, if one support of a three-legged stool is broken, there will not be a safe place to sit!

Our prayers are important; if they were not, Paul would never have reminded us to pray without ceasing. 

But prayer – even unceasing prayer – when there is a lack of action, is much less than our best effort to serve God with excellence.  That kind of prayer probably does no more than bounce off the ceiling and echo around the room until it fades away without so much as a whimper of a half-blessing for all those missionaries…or shooting victims.

For You Today

Do you have an opinion, an urging from God’s Spirit to do right?

What difference will you make today?

Chew on that out on the Rocky Road today…and have a great day!

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[1] Title image:  By Xeroshoes (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

[2] The Daily Office from Mission St Clare Morning Prayer 12-9-15

Blessed Syria?

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Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Devotion VIDEO here

In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth.  For the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will say, “Blessed be Egypt, my people.  Blessed be Assyria, the land I have made.  Blessed be Israel, my special possession!”   Isaiah 19:24-25^(NLT)

With all the heated debate going on in America concerning Syrian refugees, ISIS, and the rampage of mass shootings, I think it may be next to impossible to entertain what Isaiah suggests – that Assyria, (blessed Assyria according to Isaiah), along with Egypt and Israel are three parts of a blessing for the whole planet.  But I’m also wondering how many of us are thinking straight these days; you know – thinking with the mind of Christ[2]

Isaiah is obviously remembering, looking back to a time when there was more harmony between Israel, Egypt and Syria (in his day that was largely due to the influence of an expanded Assyrian empire during the 9^th – 7^th centuries B.C.).  But Isaiah also points to the future; after all his predictions of judgment, there is always a window left open towards restoration and reconciliation.

Look at the map showing where Syria and Egypt are located; notice particularly that Israel stands right between the two – the position of the intercessor!  If ever there was an image of the ministry of Christ, it is this.  Egypt had held Israel in bondage before there was an “official” Israel.  Later Syria held Israel AND Egypt under its empirical thumb.  In Isaiah’s future the pathway to Syria and Egypt flow through Jerusalem!

And, who knows, perhaps ours is a time that is ripe for change.  The question haunts me; is America and the west positioned and ready for just such a time as this?

Whatever God’s plan is at this time for the middle-east (and the rest of the universe), it is certain for all times that we must be about the business of the Kingdom of God; we must be much more about open minds and hearts than borders and weapons.  Gun control issues aside – let the talking heads have ears – killing is birthed in the heart.

Christian people must remember that Christ gave up all of His rights to accomplish His ministry.  And that ministry has precious little to do with the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  (Before the vitriolic cards and letters begin, please note:  I do own a handgun to protect our home, and I served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam).  I am not against the rights we enjoy, including the right to bear arms.  What I AM saying is, for Christians we make too much of those rights, and too little of the ministry of the Prince of Peace.  His coming divided households; his resurrection was to draw all people together. 

Having served in the military, and in the Lord’s army, I think I’ve earned an opinion on this issue.  I understand that peace-loving and peace-keeping can be almost antithetical concepts at times:  the former requiring conditions of settled souls enjoying calm freedom; the latter demanding raised weapons.  But I have more of a cautionary response toward my friends who want to raise the weapons first, foremost, and ever.  Gandhi wasn’t even a Christian and he understood that with war you create more war, which means death and devastation.  It is only with peace-making in our hearts, and on our minds that we may appropriately take up war with sadness and resolve.  Anger to retaliate never passes the bar of righteous anger, no matter whose flag you wave.

For You Today

Jesus’ friend, Peter has the right words for Christians worried about Syria (or anything):

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.  We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.  And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises.  These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.  In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises.  Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.  The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.   2 Peter 1:3-9^(NLT)

Think about that out on the Rocky Road today…and have a great day!

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[1] Title image:  By Empire_neo_assyrien.svg: *Middle_East_topographic, via Wikimedia Commons

[2] 1 Corinthians 2:16

Inheritance of a Lamb's Ear

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Devotion VIDEO here

This is what the Lord says:  “A shepherd who tries to rescue a sheep from a lion’s mouth will recover only two legs or a piece of an ear.  So it will be for the Israelites in Samaria lying on luxurious beds, and for the people of Damascus reclining on couches.   Amos 3:12^(NLT)

In yesterday’s devotion we noted that Amos had the unenviable task of strolling into Jerusalem with bad news; Jerusalem had sinned by forgetting the God they had been called to serve.  In just a few verses Amos arrives at the conclusion of Israel’s fate – a few legs and a piece of ear is all you find left of God’s chosen.  That’s not much for a shepherd to bring home.  And frankly nobody wants to hear such news.

It’s easy to find fault with the shepherd at this point; why did he let this happen to the sheep?  Why didn’t he do something?

I have been asked this question many times over the years.  No, we’re not talking about wooly, four-legged sheep and a middle-eastern shepherd boy; we’ve entered the metaphor which stands for the Great Shepherd and His wandering flock of unruly believers. 

The question “why” is the beginning of the blame game:  Why does God let bad stuff happen to us?

It’s an easy answer to point to Adam’s original sin, because that’s ultimately the seed of rebellion which is the foundation for the harvest of all heartache.  And for some bad stuff that happens, we, like Adam, like Eve, like wooly sheep wandering away from the shepherd, get ourselves in deep trouble.

But this question has never been about the easy answer.  Not all our troubles are a result of our individual sins directly; but we do live in a “cause and effect” universe.

We all bear the brunt of the effect of things that “other people” cause; to wit:  Adam and Eve got evicted from their first residence because of their sin, and, if you compare our digs to Eden, we have lived in sub-standard housing ever since.  We pay for their sin.

But that still doesn’t let us off the hook as a society; we’ve been modifying, increasing, and perfecting their sin as well; we just do it in more up to date ways than fig leaf stuff.

Mass shootings in the U.S. tolled 447 deaths with an additional 1292 wounded just this year.[2]  Automatic weapons, bomb vests, smart bombs from drones, or drug of choice, we have been perfecting Adam’s sin for many generations.

All of this is symptomatic of the great cosmic struggle that has plagued humanity since creation…evil and good are at war…and, while we are complicit in our own sins individually, as a species we all suffer from each other’s sins.

Reading the history of legs and lamb’s ears as the result of our sins can be quite depressing, unless you’re willing to take God at His word about the outcome of His salvation, namely that He will bring this chapter of sin and wrong to a conclusion when the time is right.

Some people simply cannot trust God.

H.G. Wells was a brilliant author, but he let the “dark side” change him.  In 1937 he wrote of his unfailing optimism for mankind and how we were eliminating evil, hatred and war from the earth (which sounds amazingly like a 2015 campaign speech).  By 1946, following the horror of World War II, Wells wrote that mankind had run his course and we were done. 

So, the “why” question has an answer – but like Israel of old, and we of the modern era, nobody really wants to accept it…but, you know that won’t stop me from saying it…

God may allow stuff to happen, but largely we do it to ourselves.

And the corollary:

Nobody is an innocent bystander.  Sin is first-degree, and we all participate.

For You Today

Here’s a great prayer from David, right from the center of your Bible:

I have tried hard to find you—don’t let me wander from your commands.  Psalm 119:10^(NLT)

David wanted to be obedient to God; that has a cause and effect too!

Think about that out on the Rocky Road today…and have a great day!

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[1] Title image:  By Keven Law from Los Angeles, USA, via Wikimedia Commons

[2] Mass Shooting Tracker as of November 27^th