Repeat

 

Thursday, July 9, 2020

Psalm 119:105-112

Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.  I’ve promised it once, and I’ll promise it again:  I will obey your righteous regulations.  I have suffered much, O Lord; restore my life again as you promised.  Lord, accept my offering of praise, and teach me your regulations.  My life constantly hangs in the balance, but I will not stop obeying your instructions.  The wicked have set their traps for me, but I will not turn from your commandments.  Your laws are my treasure; they are my heart’s delight.  I am determined to keep your decrees to the very end.

There is an expression most of us have used when we recognize a truth we have learned and relearned, and want to share:  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again!  The Psalmist’s companion to that is I’ve promised it once, and I’ll promise it again….

One of the chief slams against “church” is the repetitive nature of worship.  Songs, prayers, and all sorts of rituals are repeated.  Even sermons (oh my!) are repeated.  But, as always, when you examine the reason behind the practice, you once again must conclude differently than first glance…the repetition works!  Consider the athelete who gets up early every morning to hit the track, the gym, the road, the punching bag, the batting cage, the tee box.  In every sport, business, human habit, or relationship, what we have done before helps memory help us do it again…and better (hopefully).

Now, I’ve said this before, so I have the memory bytes to say it again, what is true in the physical realm, is often reality in the spiritual realm.  That is certainly not a stretch when comparing creating the memory of a good golf swing, so you can repeat it the next time.  The goal in golf is to have the same swing, so you achieve a dependable, desired result.  The boxer slamming his fists into the workout dummy is teaching his body how to use maximum force to damage his opponent.  If it’s true that practice makes perfect, we understand the reason why school is important, and many hours in a flight simulator is important, and why the discipline of a strong devotional life is important…even listening to sermons.

Check that out in the Psalmist’s life:

          ·       He Promised:  I will obey your righteous regulations.  

          ·       He Prayed:  I have suffered much, O Lord; restore my life again as you promised.  

          ·       He Praised:  Lord, accept my offering of praise,

          ·       He Prepared:  teach me your regulations.  

          ·       He Prospered:  Your laws are my treasure; they are my heart’s delight.  

And here’s the bottom line – in all the repetition of the Scriptures, even in the monotony of the begets, where you learn the unpronouncable names of obscure, ancient families, there is deep wisdom to be had.  But, as James says, if you just glance at it, and never do the reps of committing it to memory, as well as putting it in practice in your life by obeying the Word, it will pass through your mind, and slip away like a fading mist.

But don’t just listen to God’s word.  You must do what it says.  Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.  For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror.  You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.  James 1:22-24

God’s Word is like shampoo in that sense; if you want it to do any good at all you’ve got to grab the bottle, pour it out, lather it in good, rinse off anything leftover, and, (do I need to say it?)…repeat!

Let’s Pray Together:

Father, when we get a little too bored with worship, help us to remember this image that our worship, study, and obedience, even in the small things, are like shampooing regularly; it may be tedious, but our lives will shine.

For You Today

I’m still in love with what I heard the African American preacher tell us preachers at a conference about how he goes about helping the repeat/learning skills of his congregation:

When I preach a sermon, I preach it three times:

·       I tell ‘em what I’m gonna tell ‘em…then…

·       I tell ‘em…then…

·       I tell ‘em what I tol’ ‘em!

Got it? …. or should I repeat?

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 other posts on Psalm 119 see God's Word; Light for My Path - Lamp for My Feet and                              The Light On My Path

Remembering

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.  You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world.  He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.  All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature.  By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.  But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead.  (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)  For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.  So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.  God saved you by his grace when you believed.  And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.  For we are God’s masterpiece.  He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.  Ephesians 2:1-10

Particularly among Evangelicals, the last few verses of this text get the press.  Grace alone was the main thrust of Martin Luther’s reformation.  And, while there is no argument on my part that God’s grace deserves first seat in Christian doctrine and practice, I have a high place in my heart and mind for resurrection; both from the grave, and from the death of what used to be.

The gist of that to which I’m pointing is similar to the history my bride and I share.  We’ve been married a long time.  Occasionally we will just sit together with almost no conversation.  Inevitably, one of us will begin to marvel aloud at the history we have together, and how God has led us through so much.  The marvelous part of it is how we both understand we’d never be on this end of our journey, still together, and still wanting to be together, had it not been for the grace of God providing some pretty awesome strength for that journey; especially during the lean and difficult years.  Life can (and does) test any marriage up to, and beyond, the breaking point!

Grace enters this conversation Elizabeth and I have about our history because we both understand the power that has seen us through many dangers, toils, and snares, is the undeserved, but unreserved kindness and mercy of God in Christ Jesus.  It is that power which holds all things together; from the molecules he first created eons ago, and then re-formed from chaos into the wondrous order of all we see in the earth and universe, all the way to the forces, events, and even thoughts in our minds…it is prevenient, provident, and beneficent grace that God bestows upon us.  Our lives, even the next breath you take, are an impossibility, except for the hand of Jesus Christ.  I see that in the same way the apostle Paul wrote about it:

Everything was created through him and for him.  He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.          Colossians 1:16b-17

For You Today

Take it from a genetic introvert; while you’re stuck at home it’s a blessing you’ll not regret to look back and see how God has held you together through life.  Take a little time today to thank Him for where He’s got you right now!

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©

For other posts on Ephesians 2:  see Turn Back...and Live   and  Grace Alone – Part 1 and    Grace Alone – Part 2 and   James the Just – Part 6 The Upward Spiral of Metamorphosis  

When HOPE Becomes a Distant Memory

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Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Then Job spoke again:  “If my misery could be weighed and my troubles be put on the scales, they would outweigh all the sands of the sea.  That is why I spoke impulsively.  For the Almighty has struck me down with his arrows.  Their poison infects my spirit.  God’s terrors are lined up against me.  Don’t I have a right to complain?  Don’t wild donkeys bray when they find no grass, and oxen bellow when they have no food?  Don’t people complain about unsalted food?  Does anyone want the tasteless white of an egg?  My appetite disappears when I look at it; I gag at the thought of eating it!  “Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant my desire.  I wish he would crush me.  I wish he would reach out his hand and kill me.  At least I can take comfort in this:  Despite the pain, I have not denied the words of the Holy One.  But I don’t have the strength to endure.  I have nothing to live for.  Do I have the strength of a stone?  Is my body made of bronze?  No, I am utterly helpless, without any chance of success.  Job 6:1-13 ^(NLT)

Not many people want the experience, let alone the responsibility of looking into the face of the kind of suffering which robs people of all hope.  As a pastor I have visited people in that condition.  You would think that is reserved for nursing homes or prison cells, or hospice houses only.  But you find the absence of hope in places you’d think it should flourish:  board rooms, school rooms, saloons, and sanctuaries; in these places and more there are people like Job, sitting in the pain of their boils and memories.

What do you do when faith in the future hits rock bottom?  The simple answer you hear all the time in church is:  Turn to God; He won’t let you down.  But what if you’ve already turned to God and you’re still suffering physically, emotionally, intellectually, and in every other imaginable way?  This was Job’s condition.  He’d never denied God, yet there were those boils covering his body, oozing the life from him, painful on his bed no matter which way he turned.  There was his wife, whispering the euthanasia option to end his pain.  There were his friends trying to sweat a confession out of Job, wearing him down with argument and rationale as to how he must have sinned to get God this mad at him; all this company, but no comfort.  And there particularly was the indelible memory of his houseful of children, all killed in the collapse of a building. 

The one thing Job would have given every final ounce of mortal strength in his body to hear was totally absent.  The poor, suffering shell of a man wanted only a simple reassurance from heaven that his life was not in vain; he wanted God.  Job wanted God to speak into his life a word of assurance.  He wanted to know there was hope for him.

The Good News is that did happen…and more!  The end of the story is that Job was comforted by God for all the stuff life did to him.  In fact, on balance, the end of his life was better than all previous years by quite a margin.

So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning.  Job 42:12^(NLT)

But the best part of that Good news is Job got the one thing he couldn’t hope without; Job got the hand of God to massage his spiritual heart back to hope.  Like the lady says in the back surgery commercial:  Job could live again!

For You Today

Is your “hope tank” running kind of low? 

Job thought his was empty…but he turned to the only real hope that exists, the Lord God, who also said:  I will never leave or forsake you.^{(Hebrews 13:5)}

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

Watch Devotion:  VIDEO

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[1] Title Image Courtesy of Pixabay.com

Forgetting to Remember - Part 2

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Friday, January 12, 2018

Then the Lord raised up judges to rescue the Israelites from their attackers.  Yet Israel did not listen to the judges but prostituted themselves by worshiping other gods.  How quickly they turned away from the path of their ancestors, who had walked in obedience to the Lord’s commands.  Whenever the Lord raised up a judge over Israel, he was with that judge and rescued the people from their enemies throughout the judge’s lifetime.  For the Lord took pity on his people, who were burdened by oppression and suffering.  But when the judge died, the people returned to their corrupt ways, behaving worse than those who had lived before them.  They went after other gods, serving and worshiping them.  And they refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.  So the Lord burned with anger against Israel.  He said, “Because these people have violated my covenant, which I made with their ancestors, and have ignored my commands, I will no longer drive out the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died.  I did this to test Israel—to see whether or not they would follow the ways of the Lord as their ancestors did.”  That is why the Lord left those nations in place.  He did not quickly drive them out or allow Joshua to conquer them all.  

Judges 2:16-23^(NLT)

A ten year old boy checked out the Baptist churches and was really impressed when he saw, for the first time, a baptism by immersion.  He was greatly interested in it, and the next morning proceeded to baptize the family’s three cats in the bathtub.   The kitten bore it very well, and so did the young cat, but the old family cat was a rebel; it struggled with the boy, clawed and scratched at him, and finally got away.  With considerable effort he caught it again and proceeded with the ceremony. 

But she acted worse than ever, tore at him, spit, and scratched his hands and face.  This was not going as well as the worship service down at the Baptist Church.  Finally, after barely getting her fur splattered with water, the budding evangelist let go of the ornery old cat.  As she ran away he hollered in disgust:  "Fine…BE a Methodist." 

Every time I read God’s account of the human family (us) in Scripture (and it is US even though we try to distance ourselves and say it was THEM)…I have that baptizing a cat image…stubborn, stubborn, and stubborn! 

But the verse that really grabs me in this particular passage is:

But when the judge died, the people returned to their corrupt ways, behaving worse than those who had lived before them.  They went after other gods, serving and worshiping them.  And they refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.  Judges 2:19^(NLT)

Every time God put a leader in front of the people, a leader that had the sense to point God’s people to the one true God, they followed.  But when that leader passed off the scene they went back to being stubborn and evil. 

The writer of Proverbs had a commentary on this kind of behavior:

As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness.  Proverbs 26:11^(NLT)

It’s hard to miss the message in this; when we refuse to let go of our stubborn ways, we refuse to actually BE God’s children, no matter how much we may SAY we belong to Him.

For You Today

It would be a good practice to look back regularly…like every day…over all the ways God has rescued and blessed you.  And then go live like a blessed child of God.

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

Go to VIDEO

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[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com

Forgetting to Remember

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Thursday, January 11, 2018

After Joshua sent the people away, each of the tribes left to take possession of the land allotted to them.  And the Israelites served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the leaders who outlived him—those who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.  Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110.  They buried him in the land he had been allocated, at Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.  After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel.  The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight and served the images of Baal.  They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt.  They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them.  And they angered the Lord.  They abandoned the Lord to serve Baal and the images of Ashtoreth.  This made the Lord burn with anger against Israel, so he handed them over to raiders who stole their possessions.  He turned them over to their enemies all around, and they were no longer able to resist them.  Every time Israel went out to battle, the Lord fought against them, causing them to be defeated, just as he had warned.  And the people were in great distress.  Judges 2:6-15^(NLT)

Joshua was picked by God to be the successor to Moses.  In many ways Joshua’s faith shined much brighter, more definite than his mentor.  After a long campaign to win the Promised Land Joshua died.  The leadership of judges followed in the life of Israel, but the next generation lost sight of all they’d learned about the importance of serving God.

If you’re into reading biographies of great leaders you always notice that even the greatest leaders only have a transitory effect; the next generation will make its mistakes because they forget to remember the mistakes of the previous generation.  And forgetting to remember was costly in the life of the young nation in the Promised Land.  It is so with every culture.

In the current day world of political reality-TV drama, every day brings a new revelation of accusation, expose’, and embarrassment; in the next news cycle heads begin to roll.  A campaign manager, advisor, special assistant, or acquaintance is fired, trashed or otherwise humiliated.  Careers end and jail sentences begin for the losers.  Top dogs fight hard to stay on top.

Perhaps it is the mellowing time brings, or just the yellowing of history’s pages against the harsh images of a very different-paced world, but current day politics seems to have suffered the loss of the Joshua effect.  Today’s leaders are not like those of another era. 

For instance I read (and re-read) Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals last year.  It’s the account of Abraham Lincoln’s rise to the presidency.  What created the title was the overwhelming genius of Lincoln choosing his main political rivals to be his cabinet.  This was a leader who knew it was senseless to waste the great gifts that were possessed by leaders just for the sake of his ego; he put aside the me and elevated the we.

The current generation could take a lesson from that.

For You Today

It’s a good decision to recognize that other people aren’t our enemies; we do a pretty good job of being our own worst enemy when we fear others rather than follow God.  Today resolve to be a Joshua!

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

Go to VIDEO

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[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com

Remembering

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Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Dedicate to me every firstborn among the Israelites. The first offspring to be born, of both humans and animals, belongs to me.”  So Moses said to the people, “This is a day to remember forever—the day you left Egypt, the place of your slavery.  Today the Lord has brought you out by the power of his mighty hand….“On the seventh day you must explain to your children, ‘I am celebrating what the Lord did for me when I left Egypt.’  This annual festival will be a visible sign to you, like a mark branded on your hand or your forehead. Let it remind you always to recite this teaching of the Lord:  ‘With a strong hand, the Lord rescued you from Egypt.’  So observe the decree of this festival at the appointed time each year.  Exodus 13:1-3, 8-10^(NLT)

With each passing year it becomes more difficult to keep the past alive.  Memory is a fading thing.  This is why we RE-member; we put back together that which has been DIS-membered from us (no matter how imperceptibly or how dramatically).  We regather our sense of that moment in time when things changed. 

Some things need to be kept alive.  For a nation at war, there needs to be a recalling of why we do what we do – why we continue to send our sons and daughters into harm’s way.  Because once purpose fails in our memory, once reasoning is put aside in favor of action, that which remains becomes grotesquely horrid, a caricature of what was once a noble quest, and now a thing filled only with the carnage of blood and future victims of PTSD.  War becomes our reason for war.

Like Israel, we are to remember the place of our slavery.  When we remember why we embarked upon a bloody course of fighting, we can re-focus on where the goal is, and when enough will be enough.  We remember to keep our direction sure and our course to our objective of peace straight.

This is what a memorial is supposed to teach, how things went wrong, and how it was put right.  In so doing we teach our young ones who were born into the chaos we now experience – those who have no memory of why the chaos began – that chaos is not our target; our target is an end to chaos.

Another memorial was created to teach how things went wrong.  We call it by many names:  the Supper, Communion, Ordinance, Sacrament, Eucharist and more.  There are not many moving parts…a bit of bread, a sip of wine.  But as the simplicity of the 9/11 memorial begs a storehouse of nightmarish memories 16 years ago, the Lord’s Table envisions the war of the ages begun in Eden.  It is the covering of blood over the sin of our species.  It is the event of the cross where we RE-member; it is where the broken members of our spiritual being are knit back together, so we are once more whole and fitted parts of our Creator’s body.

This then is the target we revere and to which honor affixes expending the price – peace in a world gone mad with the lust of anger, lust and killing.

Truly, let us remember our loss, and justly, let us push for the restoration of what is holy and right.

For You Today

It is well-said that freedom isn’t free; neither is the cost of remembering. 

And the highest cost is certainly that of forgetting!

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

Elderly People

 

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

I will be your God throughout your lifetime—until your hair is white with age.
I made you, and I will care for you.  I will carry you along and save you.       Isaiah 46:4^(NLT)

Certainly God knew Isaiah would need to be “carried along” when his hair was white with age.  Even a prophet’s mind can wander when you have many decades of memories swirling around in your noggin.

I met both of the young ladies in the picture in school.  Most of you know the one on the right; we met in high school and married 50 years ago; more from her in a minute.

I also met the lady on the left in school…it was in kindergarten!  Patty O’Connor Thomas and her husband Mike grew up in the same neighborhood where I lived, so we went to school in the same classrooms, played in the same places, and walked to the same platform at graduation.  Pat and Mike are also United Methodists and spend a good bit of time each year on mission trips.  We grew up together, but they live in upstate New York and we only keep in touch by Facebook.  Mike can’t resist taking a picture, and Pat thought the sign in Derry, North Ireland was hilarious.  Hmm; it probably would’ve been hilarious before my hair turned like Isaiah’s!

Back to the other young lady; Elizabeth (also a friend of mine on Facebook…and a pretty good cook and soulmate) shared our date experience from last week (yes, when you’re of a certain age and can identify with Pat’s sign, anytime you leave the house together it’s officially a date, even if you’re going to the store to pick up milk and toilet paper!).  Well, here’s how our date went; I’ll let Elizabeth tell it from her Facebook page:

Never a dull moment!  I had a hair appointment today with my hairdresser John ­ a GREAT stylist by the way.  When John took the cape off from around my neck he said, “hum, Cato puts their labels on the outside”, then a moment went by and he said, “huh you seams are on the outside too”, then after another moment he said, “hey your blouse is on backwards”.  We both started to laugh so loud I’m sure the rest of the salon heard us.  I told Rus who was waiting for me outside and he had a good laugh.  After leaving the salon we went to the mall and I was in the restroom having a conversation with someone who was from Queens, NY.  When I said bye and was leaving she grabbed my arm and leaned over and whispered in my ear, “your blouse is on backwards”.  When I told Rus he said he was in the men’s department at Dillards and a man in a turban called him over and pulled something off the back of his shirt and showed it to him.  It was a new shirt and the tag was still hanging on it.  We’ll be 70 this year and so far I think 70 years old is a dangerous age!!!

It’s common to ask those who have lived a long time how they got there.  Some could make the case for Pat and Mike or Elizabeth and Russell that we all drank the same water.  After all, the Native American name of the little village we come from is Hauppauge, and it means “sweet water”. 

But whatever region of the world, or whatever water you’re drinking, there is one formula for a long marriage and, among the ingredients for a successful marriage are:  sharing joyful time together, learning to forgive, paying attention, laughing, and learning to love by staying close to the Father.  And, when you reach a certain age, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to check each other’s clothing for tags and seams when you go out together! J

For You Today

Isaiah had the roughest days of his life ahead of him when the Lord spoke words of assurance that God would be with him and carry him along even when he was old and weak.  Whether you’ve got someone to check your seams and tags and laugh with you, or not…He is always figuring out ways to have your back.

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

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