Grounded

 

Monday, January 11, 2021

Save me, O God, for the floodwaters are up to my neck.  Deeper and deeper I sink into the mire; I can’t find a foothold.  I am in deep water, and the floods overwhelm me.  I am exhausted from crying for help; my throat is parched.  My eyes are swollen with weeping, waiting for my God to help me….  O God, you know how foolish I am; my sins cannot be hidden from you.  Psalm 69:1-5

The pathos of a king, despised by the masses, headed for ruin, and drained of all emotional and spiritual strength, pleading to the silent heavens for relief, is heart-shredding.  This was David, the king of Israel, loved by God, lauded by the people, and ultimately fallen from the heights of splendor. 

When a ruler falls it is more than just a brief news cycle; when a king falls, historians realize their job security has risen.  In David’s case the fall was a personal misstep, a poor choice which allowed his humanity to replace God’s will as his governor.  David’s prayer (O God, you know how foolish I am…) claims his personal responsibility for the depths to which his relationship with God has fallen.  To his credit David does not blame God or anyone else; he accepts the full weight of his sin.

King David described his situation as being up to his neck in floodwaters, sinking deeper and deeper in the muck of his choosing.  As I was reading this Psalm, I could not keep from seeing Donald Trump’s image on David’s throne.  Edgy does not describe the angst of this situation.  Mr. Trump’s precarious hold on the presidency these past months has been a collective holding of breath for the nation.  I’m a certified news-junkie, but of late it is hard to turn on the news channels. 

I’ve not been a fan of the way President Trump has governed, but I am even less a fan of the turmoil which has been the result.  Misguided loyalists of an unwell ruler storming the halls of Congress is a terrible way to hold a eulogy for an administration.  Yet, perhaps, it is fitting; the people spoke four years prior, and now the people must dine on those words.

Yet, there is something of a glimmer to which we can turn our attention.  It is the hope of course-correction over total disintegration.  President Thomas Jefferson was in favor of revolution as a perpetual cleansing agent for our experiment in self-governance.  To be certain, Jefferson did not advocate bloody revolution, rather he favored a revolution of ideas over legislative paper piles.  Rather than build storehouses of legal ropes with which we bind ourselves to King David’s malaise of unanswered prayers, an entanglement of rules that overburden a society, our third president favored letting freedom ring, starting over with nothing but fresh-faced commitment to liberty.

It is difficult to keep a noble dream alive, let alone a dishonorable desire.  It is not for me to theorize on whatever drove Mr. Trump’s imagination and energy towards the presidency and induced such fanatic allegiance by his “base” of political support.  I’m not qualified to explore that rabbit hole.  But, of the resultant unravelling of the 45^th president’s leadership, I surmise much will be written and debated in the coming years.  Of this I’m certain, it will not be pretty or flattering!

But I do offer one hopeful perspective; this quadrennial experience of the brass-ring to be grasped, a door opened to the Oval Office, and, unquestionably the most powerful seat on earth, is neither for the faint of heart, nor for those with a short supply of character.  Neither is it a place for personal aggrandizement.  It is a place for those who would remember King David’s confession, O God, you know how foolish I am….  It is playing out in a very public, and excruciatingly painful manner, that the American public will not abide those who can’t – or won’t – pray that way.

One last thought; I take no pleasure in having written these words.  Only God and time will reveal whether they are true or not.  If my assessment here is true, it is a sad truth of the grounding of reality.  If untrue, time will blow away these words like an errant king’s dalliance. 

For You Today

Pray for the new president to be inaugurated; #46 has a tough act to follow.

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   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

For other posts on this text see When Your Choice is the Lesser of Evils and Whom Do You Trust?      

 

View From the Fence

 

Monday, December 14, 2020

Later on, in the third year of the drought, the Lord said to Elijah, “Go and present yourself to King Ahab.  Tell him that I will soon send rain!”  So Elijah went to appear before Ahab.  Meanwhile, the famine had become very severe in Samaria.  So Ahab summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of the palace. (Obadiah was a devoted follower of the Lord.  Once when Jezebel had tried to kill all the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah had hidden 100 of them in two caves.  He put fifty prophets in each cave and supplied them with food and water.)  Ahab said to Obadiah, “We must check every spring and valley in the land to see if we can find enough grass to save at least some of my horses and mules.”  So they divided the land between them.  Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.  As Obadiah was walking along, he suddenly saw Elijah coming toward him.  Obadiah recognized him at once and bowed low to the ground before him.  “Is it really you, my lord Elijah?” he asked.  “Yes, it is,” Elijah replied.  “Now go and tell your master, ‘Elijah is here.’”  “Oh, sir,” Obadiah protested, “what harm have I done to you that you are sending me to my death at the hands of Ahab?  For I swear by the Lord your God that the king has searched every nation and kingdom on earth from end to end to find you.  And each time he was told, ‘Elijah isn’t here,’ King Ahab forced the king of that nation to swear to the truth of his claim.  And now you say, ‘Go and tell your master, “Elijah is here.”’  But as soon as I leave you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you away to who knows where.  When Ahab comes and cannot find you, he will kill me.  Yet I have been a true servant of the Lord all my life.  Has no one told you, my lord, about the time when Jezebel was trying to kill the Lord’s prophets?  I hid 100 of them in two caves and supplied them with food and water.  And now you say, ‘Go and tell your master, “Elijah is here.”’  Sir, if I do that, Ahab will certainly kill me.”  But Elijah said, “I swear by the Lord Almighty, in whose presence I stand, that I will present myself to Ahab this very day.”  So Obadiah went to tell Ahab that Elijah had come, and Ahab went out to meet Elijah.  1 Kings 18:1-16

As we reflect on this passage, we should keep in mind one of the apostle Peter’s cautions:

Fear God, and respect the king.  1 Peter 2:17^b

Obadiah was a person who got half of that right.  He feared (or reverenced) God, but in the face of a challenge to do God’s bidding by going to Ahab as Elijah requested, Obadiah let his fear of an unrighteous king block his unquestioning service; Obadiah feared Ahab’s fury!

To his credit, the man who respected the king, and all he stood for in Israel, and was even a government employee, eventually did what Elijah requested.  But the prophet had to swear on his life and fidelity to the Lord to get him to do it.  Sitting on the fence between faith in God and faith in a worldly ruler is hardly the way to get nominated for faith’s man-of-the-year!

We live in a day when people are drawing the lines rather deeply.  The recent presidential election – still going on a month after the balloting – serves as a prime example of how deeply the lines are dug.  The current tally of over 81 million votes for one candidate, and 74 million for the other, show just how divided the American voting public stands, and how much it means to both sides to have their candidate on the throne.  All the while church pews remain largely forgotten. 

Makes one wonder just how much “fearing God” is going on? 

For You Today

If you’re passionate about elections, that isn’t necessarily wrong; everyone needs to be involved in the political process.  Politics is simply a word that describes how citizens decide about how we will act as a society.  Sitting on the fence is not deciding anything, but whether we’ll have splinters behind us when we’re forced to jump down like Obadiah.

To respect the king (president, ruler, or all government officials) is good; to fear God is to keep the king human.

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

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

For another post on this passage see:  When Kings Must Bow

 

How Long?

[1]

Friday, October 26, 2018

I will praise the Lord at all times.  I will constantly speak his praises.  I will boast only in the Lord; let all who are helpless take heart.  Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness; let us exalt his name together.  Psalm 34:1-3(NLT)

In Luke 13 we find the story of a woman who must have suffered from a curved spinal column.  That was the physical reality; the spiritual reality was that Satan had “bound” her.  She was bent and bound!  There was a lady like that in a church I served years ago.  Ms. Peggy had crippling arthritis; her hands were gnarled and twisted, and she walked stooped-over as the woman in Scripture.  And just like the crippled woman, Miss Peggy was a fixture at the church.  But she also didn’t let her physical condition get in the way of her spiritual nourishment.

The ruler or leader of the synagogue was quite a different matter.  The woman was powerless and faithful; the rulers of the synagogue were powerful and faithless.  The rulers had responsibility for the widows, the powerless.  Yet the chief ruler could only bring criticism for Jesus healing her.  They kept their bylaws but ignored the greatest commandment to love God and neighbor.

When Jesus saw the pitiful condition of this woman he had compassion on her; something had to be done!  He initiated the healing.  The woman didn’t even ask; Jesus reached out and touched her. 

Consider the Contrast of Reactions to the Woman’s Healing

The woman had been crippled for 18 years.  When Jesus healed her there was no doubt that it was the woman they’d seen each week at synagogue.  When this woman stood up straight for the first time in 18 years it must have been quite a sight!  Luke says that she glorified God.  Can’t you see it?  Like days gone by when you might see someone running down a church aisle because they’d been tapped on the shoulder by the Holy Spirit, this woman lifted un-crippled hands and straight arms without pain for the first time in two decades!  She didn’t care who was looking!  She sang hallelujah, off-key or on…it made no difference!

The people rejoiced.  I can imagine if Ms. Peggy had suddenly gotten healed it would’ve caused a revival at that church!

The rulers got ticked!  What a contrast!  It just proves that control is power-vested.  These rulers, in charge of everything, with the legal right to discipline and punish wrong-doers, were so threatened by the popularity of Jesus. All they could think of was the fact that he was breaking the rules.  They brought no worship, offered up no praise to God for His healing this poor sister of theirs.  They could only think of how Jesus’ popularity was growing, and theirs was shrinking!  Matthew’s gospel (chap. 12) tells us that it was after this that they started to plot how to kill Jesus.

If you follow the timeline of Jesus’ movements, this was the very last time Jesus entered a synagogue before going to the cross.  It kind of makes the point about crossing the line once too often with God.  There is a time when He finally says:  OK, your will be done. And God finally washes His hands of trying to save you.

For You Today

So, this woman was healed on the Sabbath … some big crime, eh? 

There are abused and powerless people all around us in our communities.  Our job is to look for them, find them, and heal them with the touch of Jesus.  They are crying out in their hearts a phrase that is often repeated in the Scripture; it is the phrase/question which is frequently on the lips of a sufferer:  How long, O Lord?

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

Temporary Legacy

[i]

Thursday, January 12, 2017

This is what the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, said to me:  “Confront Shebna, the palace administrator, and give him this message:

“Who do you think you are, and what are you doing here, building a beautiful tomb for yourself—a monument high up in the rock?  For the Lord is about to hurl you away, mighty man.  He is going to grab you, crumple you into a ball, and toss you away into a distant, barren land.  There you will die, and your glorious chariots will be broken and useless.  You are a disgrace to your master!  “Yes, I will drive you out of office,” says the Lord.  “I will pull you down from your high position.  And then I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah to replace you.  I will dress him in your royal robes and will give him your title and your authority.  And he will be a father to the people of Jerusalem and Judah.  I will give him the key to the house of David—the highest position in the royal court.  When he opens doors, no one will be able to close them; when he closes doors, no one will be able to open them.  He will bring honor to his family name, for I will drive him firmly in place like a nail in the wall.  They will give him great responsibility, and he will bring honor to even the lowliest members of his family.”  But the Lord of Heaven’s Armies also says:  “The time will come when I will pull out the nail that seemed so firm.  It will come out and fall to the ground.  Everything it supports will fall with it.  I, the Lord, have spoken!”  

Isaiah 22:15-25^(NLT)

Over the last number of months we’ve heard much about the outgoing U.S. President’s desire to protect his legacy.  By that we understand he wants to make certain his programs, legislations and rulings are not undone by the following administration.

Well…legacy is something you leave behind, and when you’re gone the legacy you were shooting-for is largely going to be either accepted or changed or trashed by what people perceive you did while you were trying to create a monument to yourself.

All that can be said about that process is:  Good luck with that! 

Just ask Shebna or Eliakim!

Shebna was probably the prefect in Jerusalem, second in power only to the king, something like Secretary of State.  History calls him an unprincipled ruler.[ii] 

Isaiah was pushed by God to deliver a message to this powerful official who was digging his own grave by using his office to create a monument to his pride.  That message was his legacy would consist of being disgraced and replaced.  God would pull him out of his power and put Eliakim in his stead, nailed down like a board with a 9” spike.  But…God knew Eliakim’s faithfulness would waver, and God would eventually remove Shebna’s replacement too.  Being the person in charge is about as secure as Jell-o nailed to a wall!

This time in which we find ourselves, inbetween President Obama’s last address to the nation as our highest official, and the inauguration of President-elect Trump to that chair…well, it’s either the calm before the storm, or the storm before the calm.  In short, it’s just plain unsettling.  The outgoing leader is nailing down planks on his legacy to preserve what’s named after him.  The incoming leader is threatening to undo most all of it and create something “great” again that can put his own name on more buildings. 

A word of caution to both, as well as a word of comfort to those biting their nails:

Whatever has been nailed-down can be pulled-up!  Just ask Shebna or Eliakim!

For You Today

Whichever side you brought to the table in our political fracas of the past year, this would be a good time to take a deep breath and remember Who is really in charge.

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

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NOTES

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[i] Title image: By W.J.Pilsak at the German language Wikipedia, via Wikimedia Commons

[ii] Barnes’ Notes on the Old Testament, Electronic Edition STEP Files Copyright © 1999, Parsons Technology, Inc

What's in YOUR Kingdom?

[1]

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

VIDEO

Previously on the Judah melodrama:  Jeremiah the prophet has been in prison for displeasing the king by speaking the truth about the Kingdom of Judah’s bleak future, if they don’t repent.  Their arch-enemy, Babylon, is gathering war troops like a storm on the horizon.  And the king, petulant as ever, hears a new message from Jeremiah, delivered by overnight Baruch scroll express; the king cuts it up, throwing each piece into the fire.

The drama continues:

After the king had burned the scroll on which Baruch had written Jeremiah’s words, the Lord gave Jeremiah another message.  He said, “Get another scroll, and write everything again just as you did on the scroll King Jehoiakim burned.  Then say to the king, ‘This is what the Lord says:  You burned the scroll because it said the king of Babylon would destroy this land and empty it of people and animals.  Now this is what the Lord says about King Jehoiakim of Judah:  He will have no heirs to sit on the throne of David.  His dead body will be thrown out to lie unburied—exposed to the heat of the day and the frost of the night.  I will punish him and his family and his attendants for their sins.  I will pour out on them and on all the people of Jerusalem and Judah all the disasters I promised, for they would not listen to my warnings.’”  So Jeremiah took another scroll and dictated again to his secretary, Baruch.  He wrote everything that had been on the scroll King Jehoiakim had burned in the fire.  Only this time he added much more!  Jeremiah 36:27-32^(NLT)

The old saying about power being a corrupting influence on a person, and absolute power corrupting absolutely is an old saying for a very good reason; it’s true!  And truth has a habit of staying around long after the echo of lies has abated.

For our visual evidence this morning, look the picture entitled “Ruins” by the photographer; it is the ruins of a castle in lower Austria.  While the scene is quite impressive against the backdrop of a city in the valley below, if we wish to maintain appropriate perspective, remember that what remains on that mountaintop speaks of a momentary flash of grandeur by the former owner.  Those people are long dead; their “kingdom” is but a footnote against the backdrop of humanity, which, itself is only a small blip in eternity’s lifeline.

Jehoiakim was a king, but he didn’t understand this.  And any ruler who doesn’t get it will fare no better than the bleached bones exposed to the elements that marked the king of Judah’s final epitaph.

By comparison, when confronted with the Word of God, another earlier king named David, who had sinned just as badly as Jehoiakim, didn’t cut up the scroll and burn it; rather he let the Word of God burn out of his life all that separated him from God.

And that’s a good lesson for a ruler…or a citizen. 

Yesterday we looked at the lack of humility in the candidates running in our current election cycle.  Today, let’s reflect on what kind of people elect such arrogant, God-despising leaders.

What kind of scroll would Baruch overnight to us?

And, when confronted with our own sins, will we remember Jehoiakim and not burn the message (or the messenger)?  Could it be that it’s time to repent and let the fire-power of God’s cleansing Word transform our allegiance to a lasting kingdom?

For You Today

What’s in YOUR kingdom?  And is it an eternal one, or is it bound for ruins?

You chew on that out on that Rocky Road today…and have a joy-filled and blessed day!

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[1] Title image:  By Uoaei1 (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons