Resting in the Shade of a Thornbush

 

Tuesday, April 5, 2022

When Jotham heard about this, he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted, “Listen to me, citizens of Shechem!  Listen to me if you want God to listen to you!  Once upon a time the trees decided to choose a king.  First they said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king!’  But the olive tree refused, saying, ‘Should I quit producing the olive oil that blesses both God and people, just to wave back and forth over the trees?’  “Then they said to the fig tree, ‘You be our king!’  But the fig tree also refused, saying, ‘Should I quit producing my sweet fruit just to wave back and forth over the trees?’  “Then they said to the grapevine, ‘You be our king!’  But the grapevine also refused, saying, ‘Should I quit producing the wine that cheers both God and people, just to wave back and forth over the trees?’  “Then all the trees finally turned to the thornbush and said, ‘Come, you be our king!’  And the thornbush replied to the trees, ‘If you truly want to make me your king, come and take shelter in my shade.  If not, let fire come out from me and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’”  Judges 9:7-15

Lent is nearly passed; in 5 day’s time it will be Palm Sunday, and the Passion of our Lord will have begun.  The waving palms of adulation by Jerusalem crowds will give way to the crown of thorns from the thornbush.  And blood will flow!

The symbolism we find in Scripture is not always comfortable, but brings much comfort when understood.  And so many of the symbols are of the land, and simple things; simple things are hard to misunderstand if you’re awake at all.

In the time of the Judges southern Judah had a king.  The northern tribes were still depending on those charismatic unofficial leaders who would arise to meet threats by gathering the people to act as one.  Their king was the God of no name or face. 

Jotham, a descendant of Gideon, was such a spur-of-the-moment leader.  A crisis had arisen in Israel.  Abimelech had manipulated his relatives to have him proclaimed king.  They gave the power-grabber some money, and he used it to hire thugs to kill most of Jotham’s family.  But Jotham escaped and stood in the public place to tell the parable of the trees.  The olive tree, fig tree, and grapevine all refused the pomp and circumsance of being the king of the trees, so it fell to the only tree that would never produce the ease of shade, the thornbush.

Pretty easy to get the meaning:  Be careful of pressing-after that for which you’re not qualified. 

There is truly only one King; it was He who wore the crown fashioned from the thornbush.  That was certainly no comfort for the humanity of Jesus.  The spikes from that crown were meant to discourage any human flesh from getting too near it.  But Christ wore the crown of thorns, that we might be set free. 

For You Today

Jotham asked a key question to those who sang the praises of Abimelech:  Have you done right by the sons of Gideon?  And Jotham’s question stirs the question for us today:  Have we done right by the Son of God? 

For those who claim the title “Christian” discipleship is not a title, it is an active, lifelong process of asking, seeking, and knocking that aligns with Heaven’s demand to worship the only true King. 

The outcome is an up or down vote…rest in the shade of whatever comfort you prefer, or rest in the shadow of the thornbush.  It’s a solemn choice that will be heard around the world in Holy Week.

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^©   

Sorrow Leaves When Joy is Born

 

Wednesday, May 19, 2021

“In a little while you won’t see me anymore.  But a little while after that, you will see me again.”  Some of the disciples asked each other, “What does he mean when he says, ‘In a little while you won’t see me, but then you will see me,’ and ‘I am going to the Father’?  And what does he mean by ‘a little while’?  We don’t understand.”  Jesus realized they wanted to ask him about it, so he said, “Are you asking yourselves what I meant?  I said in a little while you won’t see me, but a little while after that you will see me again.  I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice.  You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy.  It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor.  When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world.  So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.  John 16: 16-22

I have never given birth to a child (not exactly a newsflash there), but I’ve been there when it happened.  We’ve shared previously on Rocky Road[1] how I missed the birth of our first two children, because Dads weren’t allowed in the delivery room back then.  But I was there for the third, and pain giving way to overwhelming joy is unmistakable!

Jesus’ described the pain as “anguish”, and he called new life “joy”.  And it’s because of the nurturing gene surging through every part of the mother’s body.  Call it hormones and chemistry if you will, but the desire to procreate and preserve is hard-wired into the process by the Master Creator. 

I watched a video on Youtube recently of The Cat Who Adopts Baby Ducklings.  It was bizarre to see a feline accepting orphaned baby ducks as part of her new litter.  Cats normally don’t become caretakers for birds, they eat birds!  But this Momma cat had just given birth, and couldn’t help herself.  Even months later the bond between mother feline and grown ducks displayed what God built-in to His creation – we are born to hold life up…even when it goes against our nature to self-preserve and promote.  There is too much joy beyond the anguish to resist!

Now apply that to Jesus’ disciples in the upper room when he told them the passion was about to begin, and the pain would be unbearable for them.  But, like the passing of labor that gives way to the newborn baby, pain would transform into great joy!

Jesus had told Nicodemus if he ever wanted to see the Kingdom of God he would have to be born again[2].  That reference has lasted two millennia because of the joy untold millions have experienced in the passing of sorrow’s pain, when a sinner’s confession transports him into the joyful presence of love unbounded.  Words are totally inadequate at this point.  Simply look at the faces of a newborn child with the one who gave him free room and board for nine months.  Sorrow leaves when joy is born!

For You Today

Jesus said that no one would be able to rob his disciples of the joy he had planned for them.  He meant it – and it happened – and he meant it for us too!

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^©

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[1] See:  Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

[2] See John 3

 

The VOW of LOVE

 

[1]

Monday, February 3, 2020

In the days when the judges ruled in Israel, a severe famine came upon the land.  So a man from Bethlehem in Judah left his home and went to live in the country of Moab, taking his wife and two sons with him.  The man’s name was Elimelech, and his wife was Naomi.  Their two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in the land of Judah.  And when they reached Moab, they settled there.  Then Elimelech died, and Naomi was left with her two sons.  The two sons married Moabite women.  One married a woman named Orpah, and the other a woman named Ruth.  But about ten years later, both Mahlon and Kilion died.  This left Naomi alone, without her two sons or her husband.  Then Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had blessed his people in Judah by giving them good crops again.  So Naomi and her daughters-in-law got ready to leave Moab to return to her homeland.  With her two daughters-in-law she set out from the place where she had been living, and they took the road that would lead them back to Judah.  But on the way, Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back to your mothers’ homes.  And may the Lord reward you for your kindness to your husbands and to me.  May the Lord bless you with the security of another marriage.”  Then she kissed them good-bye, and they all broke down and wept.  “No,” they said.  “We want to go with you to your people.”  But Naomi replied, “Why should you go on with me? Can I still give birth to other sons who could grow up to be your husbands?  No, my daughters, return to your parents’ homes, for I am too old to marry again. And even if it were possible, and I were to get married tonight and bear sons, then what?  Would you wait for them to grow up and refuse to marry someone else?  No, of course not, my daughters!  Things are far more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord himself has raised his fist against me.”  And again they wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye.  But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi.  “Look,” Naomi said to her, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods.  You should do the same.”  But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back.  Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live.  Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.  Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried.  May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!”  When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.  Ruth 1:1-18

At many of the weddings I’ve been privileged to officiate, the wedding candle has been used to help represent the official moment of establishing of a home.  Along with the bride’s and groom’s candles flanking the center unity candle, and rings, and vows, these are symbols of two lives bringing their commitment to form a new union in holy matrimony.

Along with the visual drama as the bride and groom bring their candle’s flames to light the center candle, they also recite the familiar words of kindness spoken to Naomi by Ruth…words filled with the commitments of life one person, unselfishly loving, can offer to another:

I will go with you, stay with you, worship with you, and even die with you.

These are words spoken by a descendant of Ruth’s some generations later, the words of Jesus of Nazareth to his friends in an upper room on the night he would be arrested, tried, and killed for their (and our) sins.

There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  John 15:13

For You Today

Isn’t it amazing how the tragedy of one woman losing her husband, her sons, and being forced into homeless migration just to survive, can foreshadow the blessing of God on the whole of humanity just a few years down the road?

Ruth and Naomi did not live on this earth long enough to see the fulfillment of what their lives enacted on that day.  However, by faith, their trust in God was sealed in heaven. 

So is yours!

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

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

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Dying in Winter...Rising in Faith

[1]

Thursday, All Hallows Eve, October 31, 2019

(the beginning of All Hallows Tide)

Then this message came to Jeremiah from the Lord:  “This is what the Lord says:  If you can break my covenant with the day and the night so that one does not follow the other, only then will my covenant with my servant David be broken.  

The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah.  He said, “Have you noticed what people are saying?—‘The Lord chose Judah and Israel and then abandoned them!’  They are sneering and saying that Israel is not worthy to be counted as a nation.  But this is what the Lord says:  I would no more reject my people than I would change my laws that govern night and day, earth and sky.   Jeremiah 33 (selected passages)

Predatory behavior which takes advantage of public opinion and fears is what bullies do.  From the dawn of humankind’s existence there have been those who act this way, seizing on opportunities to put God in the background, and put themselves in charge.  It’s a form of Trick-or-Treat; the trick is the naysayers get to be in God’s place, while the treat is those tricked get to breathe a sigh of relief…false as the promises might be.

Masking and costumes are a way of attempting to diffuse the terror relationship we humans have with our mortality.  Among some of the ancient Celtic traditions is the practice of impersonating terrifying mythical creatures as a means of dissipating fear of the unknown.  Many pagan celebrations at this time of year are meant to stave-off the harsh impact of winter.  By imitating death with masks, it was thought to hold back the coming cold bleakness.  But, as with whistling in the dark, making light of reality changes nothing.  Ghost and goblin masks on children don’t have a chance against death.

For the church, today is the evening vigil before All Saints Day (All Hallows Eve or Hallowe’en), and begins three day’s observance of departed believers, ending on All Souls Day (the entire celebration is called All Hallows Tide[2]).  The central focus is on the faith which is common to both the church here on earth, and the church triumphant, those already in the presence of our Lord.

I would get disagreement on both sides of this argument (probably from both believers and pagans), but neither Halloween, nor horror movies scare me.  Nor does the practice of Trick-or-Treat bother me.  In my parents’ generation (Great Depression era), and in their part of the world, the cultural norm for the practice was not on October 31^st, but closer to Thanksgiving, when the children would go door to door.  Their phrase, with outstretched little palms, was Pennies for Thanksgiving.  (Well…it was a long time ago; today it would be 10-Bucks for Turkey Day)

Whether one is bothered by the holiday frenzy with Trick-or-Treating, or simply glad the children get to dress-up and have a ball, there is one matter that concerns (at least) me; I fear we have dropped the ball in the cycle of the Christian Year.  Our disconnect from a sacred observance of triumph over death (ironically celebrated in the culture by holding up death as the ultimate celebrity) further serves to isolate our culture’s children from the genuine cure for our morbid fears…Christ’s victory over death. 

It’s been fifteen years since Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of Christ hit the big screens.  I recall watching that movie for the first time shortly after it was available on DVD; I couldn’t sleep for a week.  The depictions of the violence done to Jesus in the scourging and crucifixion gave the film an R rating.  It should have been “HS” for heart and soul-squeezing.  The sinister nature of Satan’s attempts to insert himself into Christ’s mind made any Steven King movie seem like a Sesame Street production.  In short…I bought the DVD and watch it every so often.  With our culture’s fascination with masks and unreality (Walking Dead, etc.), I want a constant reminder of reality; the Lord Jesus who never abandons me and takes all the fear out of death’s sting.

For You Today

If you’re into Trick-or-Treating you’ll get little criticism from me.  But while you’re taking your kids from door to door, don’t forget to teach them the real reason for this season!

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

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

[2] Read more about this here:  Wikipedia.com

Holding Tightly This Promise

[i][ii]

Monday, April 8, 2019

And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.  By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.  And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him.  For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.  Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.  Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.  And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.  Hebrews 10:19-25

As we move towards what I consider the most blessed time of the year, Holy Week, the passion of Christ, His triumphal entry, Good Friday, and culminating in Easter’s resurrection glory, we focus during this season of Lenten preparation on the blood of Christ, his sacrificial offering for the cleansing of our sins.

In Exodus 40 we read the elaborate instructions God gave to Moses for setting-up the tabernacle in the wilderness.  This detailed process was not to be varied, because each movement, and each article placed in the tent of meeting spoke a piece of God’s forgiveness, and His relationship with His special people.  In the ancient “temple mode” a consecrated priest would enter the most holy place and offer the sacrifice for sin once a year…every year!

In writing this letter to the Hebrews the author picks up this imagery and reminds us of the hope to which all disciples of Jesus Christ hold.  Once Jesus finished his work on the cross, it was he, the Lamb sacrificed from the beginning of the world, who would bring the sacrifice into the perfect Holy place, Heaven’s throne.  There, the forgiveness for sin was made complete forever.

The writer, having outlined God’s marvelous plan of redemption, the purging of sin and cleansing of our souls, then proceeds to tell us what to do with it, namely we are to embrace it…tightly!

Corrie ten Boom’s tragic life is chronicled in The Hiding Place.  Her family heroically protected Jewish people during WWII’s Hitler regime, only to wind up in concentration camps themselves.  This family held to their Christian faith seriously, laying everything on the line for the cause of protecting innocent lives.  In an interview I watched in the 1970’s Corrie talked about material things, as opposed to God’s spiritual promises.  I will never forget what she said:

I learned to hold material things loosely in my hands; if you hold them too tightly it hurts when God pries them out of your fingers.

These words are a wonderful reminder that the blood of Christ was not shed so we could possess money, power, or prestige.  Those are but passing wildflowers, bloom today – faded memories tomorrow.  That is also the case with sorrows, poverty, and shame – the world’s cruelty passes as quickly as its pleasures.

Holding tightly to something is reserved for that which is precious, vital for eternity.  There are many things in life to hold loosely, but there are also a few things to which we should refuse to let go, even with our life hanging in the balance…truth and fidelity are among these, and the chief reason is the promise of God, His love and care, displayed in sacrifice and resurrection.  The writer of Hebrews told us to keep meeting together in worship, focusing on this gift of Christ, encouraging one another with its’ meaning, provoking one another to good works in Christ’s name. 

For You Today

To what (or Whom) have you been holding tightly?

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

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[i] Title Image:   Pixabay.com

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

God's Ultimate "YES"!

[i]

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

As surely as God is faithful, our word to you does not waver between “Yes” and “No.”  For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does not waver between “Yes” and “No.”  He is the one whom Silas, Timothy, and I preached to you, and as God’s ultimate “Yes,” he always does what he says.  For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!”  And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.  2 Corinthians 1:18-20(NLT)

The passion grows near.  Each time in the annual cycle, as we approach the Passion of Christ, his triumphal entry, with palm branches, Last Supper, arrest, beatings, condemnation, carrying the cross, the nails, suffering, rejection, death, burial, and the miracle of an empty tomb, I have this anticipation happening within; it is an eagerness to see the story in its’ best light.  I do not want to see the pain of Jesus glossed-over, nor the meaning of the resurrection, a very dead man who is alive again!  This is our exquisite reminder of God’s best “YES” – the ultimate gift of life.

In writing to his fellow believers at Corinth Paul makes clear a point in which I’ve failed to connect the dots for a long time: 

All of God’s best “YES” is mine also.

Now, let me quickly point out that nothing about God’s “yes” originated with or in me; it’s all His, from before the creation.[ii]  But the cross was God’s invitation to everyone who has ever drawn breath to join Him in the fellowship of His ultimate “YES”. 

We are invited to live in truth, the truth that God loves us, and on that point He never wavers.  To punctuate that invitation is an empty tomb that is His ultimate evidence of that love.  When we accept His invitation, His “Yes” becomes ours.

Now, to be sure, receiving unwavering truth, wrapped in the gift of God’s love does not (for me) unwrap immediately, nor does its full weight and meaning take hold all at once.  That would be like understanding the length, depth, history, and purpose of the universe all at one time.  But accepting Christ’s offer of grace to be forgiven of our sins is the beginning, a primer lesson of what is to come.

In the months and years that follow the conversion from being lost, one who is alienated from God, to saved, a friend of God, the truth of God, His love, his unwavering “YES” is unveiled to our souls gradually as we become closer.  As with any friendship, the deepening of the ties comes with time and experience. 

For several years (from mid-teens to mid-twenties) I was alienated from God, growing more cynical and frustrated each step of the way.  But when I returned like a Prodigal, I was received like a Prodigal…open arms of the Father[iii].  That was more than 45 years ago.  Like the Apostle Paul, I cannot say that I have arrived…nobody does that short of arriving in Heaven…but I can see the growth of truth, the “YES” of God in my life. 

How does that show up?  It’s in a string of answered prayers, realized blessings, and a heart that wants nothing more than God’s sweet will.  It’s a growing agreement with God’s ways being the best ways.  It’s in having much more joy seeing the success of my fellow believers than accumulating any earth-bound achievement for my own conceit.  It is looking back and realizing that what I’ve been “working-at” is what God has been “working-in” me; it’s Russell agreeing to discard the Russell list of wants and will, and seeing God fill up the emptied Russell with Christ.  The Apostle Paul put it this way:

For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him.  Philippians 3:8-9(NLT)

For You Today

If you’re afraid God will say “NO” start agreeing with His “YES”.

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

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[i] Title Image:  via Pixabay.com

[ii] See Revelation 13:8 – Jesus’ sacrifice for us was planned by God before the world was created.

[iii] Read Luke 15:11-32

Jesse's Stump

[1]

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot—yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.  And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.  Isaiah 11:1-2(NLT)

I’ve got this elm tree that won’t quit.  It was a young tree, maybe about 15 years old when I first decided it was too close to my fence and needed to come down.  I’ve cut it down five or six times in the dozen years since the first razing; it keeps coming back.

You don’t expect a stump to produce a new limb; what’s dead is dead.  Yet, that’s exactly what the prophet Isaiah said about Jesse’s family.  Jesse was a descendant of King David.  Ever the poet, Isaiah strung together the beautiful imagery of resurrection; Jesse’s family, part of that old dead stump, Israel, would have a new driving, a shoot that would grow, thrive and produce fruit again.

Another prophet, Micah, said it more plainly:

As for you, Jerusalem, the citadel of God’s people, your royal might and power will come back to you again.  The kingship will be restored to my precious Jerusalem.  Micah 4:8(NLT)

Less poetic than Isaiah, Micah still presents what can be missed by the dull ear – the monumental difference between an earthly kingdom and a spiritual one.  Hollywood does that all the time.  Last night my bride and I watched a TV movie, Killing Jesus.  In some ways it depicted the life and ministry of Jesus in refreshing ways, showing his lighthearted joyful nature, as well as the suffering.  At other points, and (in my opinion vital points) there were omissions, or outright distortions.

For instance, in Jesus’ early years, prior to being baptized by John, he is portrayed as not understanding that he is Messiah; he tells the Baptist:  I never thought of myself as anything more than a simple carpenter from Nazareth. 

There is no Biblical evidence of that; rather just the opposite.  One such instance[2] was when Jesus was 12.  He stayed behind in Jerusalem when his parents left town.  When they went back, they found him teaching the teachers at the temple.  He knew he was doing his father’s business – his Heavenly Father.  That was awareness of his mission.

In the movie’s scene where Pilate agrees to have Jesus crucified Barabbas is nowhere in sight.  How vital is this point – Jesus, the best of the best, voluntarily taking the penalty of Barabbas, the worst of the worst.  The illuminating sacrifice of Christ needs the darkness of sin to get our attention.

And then, they bailed on the resurrection – the women and a few officials entered Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb, only to find an empty shroud.  There is no appearance of Jesus…only a smile on Mary’s face, as if she’s the only one who gets it, that He’s alive.

And the sea shore fish fry where Jesus came to the disciples – it gets spiritualized.  There’s no Jesus walking around in a resurrected body – only Peter now replicating Jesus’ miracle of catching a boatload of fish after praying on a slow-catching afternoon.  He smiles and hollers to the other disciples – He’s come back!

They saved the worst part for the end.  After a tepid, feeble hint of a resurrection, the images fade as the voiceover declares that “…according to many scholars and those who believe, Jesus was resurrected, and Peter went on to establish one of the world’s most significant religions.”  Religion? 

Frankly, despite the attempts at presenting a “happy” Jesus, while failing at so many significant theological points, in hindsight the only positive thing I can say is that I’m glad I only wasted 3 hours in front of my TV; at least I didn’t blow $20 going to a theater to see a thinly-veiled liberal misrepresentation of the Gospel.

Well, if the dead stump of Jesse’s tree produced new fruit in Israel, maybe the dead stump of Gospel faith in America will have a new chance…but we will have to get rid of Hollywood first!

For You Today

Go ahead and watch those Christmas movies, just make sure you have your Bible handy; not everything that comes from the movie industry is fact-checked!

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

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[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com

[2] Luke 2:49