Of Promises and Panic

Friday, September 2, 2022

“If you listen to these regulations and faithfully obey them, the Lord your God will keep his covenant of unfailing love with you, as he promised with an oath to your ancestors.  He will love you and bless you, and he will give you many children.  He will give fertility to your land and your animals.  When you arrive in the land he swore to give your ancestors, you will have large harvests of grain, new wine, and olive oil, and great herds of cattle, sheep, and goats.  You will be blessed above all the nations of the earth.  None of your men or women will be childless, and all your livestock will bear young.  And the Lord will protect you from all sickness.  He will not let you suffer from the terrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all your enemies!  “You must destroy all the nations the Lord your God hands over to you.  Show them no mercy, and do not worship their gods, or they will trap you.  Perhaps you will think to yourselves, ‘How can we ever conquer these nations that are so much more powerful than we are?’  But don’t be afraid of them!  Just remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all the land of Egypt.  Remember the great terrors the Lord your God sent against them.  You saw it all with your own eyes!  And remember the miraculous signs and wonders, and the strong hand and powerful arm with which he brought you out of Egypt.  The Lord your God will use this same power against all the people you fear.  And then the Lord your God will send terror to drive out the few survivors still hiding from you!  “No, do not be afraid of those nations, for the Lord your God is among you, and he is a great and awesome God.  Deuteronomy 7:12-21

I’ve often thought of what it must have been like for God’s people, on the verge of entering the Promised Land, and hearing Moses rehearse the promises God had made to protect and prosper them.  And here they were, a nation of former slaves, wanderers in the wilderness, and they were to conquer this unknown territory.  I’m thinking it would be strange if they didn’t have a little panic fluttering around in their bellies, perhaps the understatement of the century!

Doing a quick look-back over the past forty-two years, when we sold the family house and loaded up our kids and a U-Haul to go half way across the country to seminary, I know there were times when I felt that flutter in my own belly.  Of course it was also an adventure, but the panic possibilities were a sobering force.  On this side of four decades later I can say, without hesitating, the panic worry was a matter of not trusting God’s promises, yet fully understanding that was dumb.  If God could sustain and feed a million Israelites in a wasteland, wandering for forty years, without their shoes and clothes wearing out, he could certainly take care of the Brownworth tribe.  Along the way there were some shortages of what we thought we needed…but never did we suffer the loss of what He promised…His presence.  We experienced unexpected provision when the pantry was empty, finances when the wolves howled, and more than a few healings of our physical and emotional need.  Our kids were loved by some pretty awesome church grandmas and grandpas, and somehow our old cars managed to keep rolling along.  We have been truly blessed, sometimes in spite of our tiny faith.

For You Today

It seems the difference between tiny faith and big faith is the willingness to let go; we need to be able to let go of what we think we need, or what we want because it’s better, and let God decide.  When you’ve done that, you’ve done your part of conquering the only territory for which you’re responsible, your own heart.

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

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There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

Big Faith and Jailbreak!

[1] Images:   Title Image today is a portrait in oils of our Wellie, by Jennifer Brownworth Klim                                                              Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

The Trouble with Theological Heels

 

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

Your royal laws cannot be changed.  Your reign, O Lord, is holy forever and ever.  Psalm 93:5

The story begins:  John Calvin and John Wesley walk into a tavern and discover Martin Luther sitting at the bar.  Anyone who’s been to Sunday School more than twice can take that scenario into an infinite number of directions, none of which would likely reach a conclusion.  (Unless, of course, it were pre-destined.)

All three of historical note, Luther, the priest who broke with the Roman Catholic Church, Calvin, whose history, current events, and eschatology are set in immovable type in Heaven’s print shop, and Wesley, somewhere in the vague middle, shuffling Scripture, experience, tradition, and reason, to hold together the wildfire of theological movement; these are a sort of earthly tiumverate of heels, firmly-dug in theological sand, a monument to stubbornness, passion, and total surrender to movements, still evoking deep thinking and shallow arguments. 

Not wishing to add to the arguments of which of these theological heavyweights was right, with apprehension I wish to submit that they were all wrong.  And, of course, I’m not referring to their institutes, general rules, or theses.  I am pointing at the manner in which these were held.  If historical portraits of the battles royale held by those who followed these pipers are correct to any degree, you can imagine the bloodshed over which group “won” anything worthy of laying at the feet of Jesus.  Therein lurks the devil of the details of theological heels dug in the sand…the sand gets torn-up, and the furrows continue, a plowed field of misery.

I recall one seminary class, taught by Dr. Jerry Breazeale, at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.  We were discussing the topic of predestination…that God has designed and is orchestrating all of history’s events.  You could easily sense the argumentative anxiety of students raised in this denomination or that.  It was nearly palpable…is it once-saved-always-so, or can you drop-off heaven’s roster in a single, sinful act?  Is there any wiggle-room…or does God have everything planned, down to who I’ll marry, and what I’ll have for breakfast?

To his unending credit, and with my undying thanks, Dr. Breazeale wouldn’t be drawn into the abyss of arguing either side.  Instead, he told one of his Louisiana Bayou Cajun Thibodeau jokes…exceedingly hilarious, and nowhere near the point of predestination or free will.  After the laughter died-down, one of the more surly students (whom I’m certain didn’t even get the joke) raised the question to press the professor into declaring which side he was on.  Dr. Breazeale, in his best bayou Thibodeau affect, drawled, well, y’see, I’m t’inkin ‘bout dis ting…I prozlabhy gots jus’ enuf Calvin in me t’ know deep down, dat dere ain’t nuttin God can’t do.  An’ He be havin some kinda plan…enough to keep dat ol’ debel down whar he belong.  An’ if God be wantin me to joins Him in dat fight…God will make me some room right next t’ His-side.  Dat’s whut I’m t’inkin.

Class dismissed!

For You Today

Predestination and Free Will aren’t supposed to hurt your head by getting it all down in forty pounds of textbooks.  These are gifts of God to bless your life, if you’ll understand that the love which gave it to you doesn’t need a theological defender…only an open heart of surrender.

If you haven’t got a Cajun friend to explain these things to you, I suggest you get one. 

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

[1] Images:  WikimediaCommons Calvin Wesley Luther Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

An Unusual Child

Title Image:  Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

Friday, February 21, 2020

It was by faith that Moses’ parents hid him for three months when he was born.  They saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king’s command.  It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.  He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin.  He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward.  It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger.  He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible.  It was by faith that Moses commanded the people of Israel to keep the Passover and to sprinkle blood on the doorposts so that the angel of death would not kill their firstborn sons.  Hebrews 11:23-28[1]

There was something about their child that was unusual, and it affected the way Moses’ parents acted.  Unusual is the last word we want to hear from the doctor that delivers our child, but Moses’ parents understood that meant a sense of the divine had entered their lives.  They were filled with faith to protect his young life even if the king ordered otherwise.  And that attitude turned into the atmosphere of Moses’ life, a life of service that defied the rule of earthly kings and pharaohs and followed the still, small voice from above.

Faith hardly makes for an easy life.  Following the unseen into the unknown means swimming upstream in even the everyday routine of life.  For most people that is a challenge.  It’s not easy by any stretch; I find it exhausting!

I hate the unknown.  I’m a person who loves to have things planned, laid-out in an orderly, sensible, scheduled track that’s simple to follow…just do the next thing.  But faith is different than my preferences.  My go-to example is Abraham.  God called him to begin the journey without so much as a call to Triple-A for a map, let alone a GPS on his phone.  It was C’mon, Abe…I’m gonna show you this place.  And Abraham did it!  He notified the wife and family and all the servants to gather up all the stuff of his household, saddle up and hit the road, without so much as a word about where the road would lead.

We had a similar experience in 1980; we didn’t have a burning bush experience or any camels, but we packed up two pre-teens and a toddler, two cars and a U-Haul with every bit of our worldly goods.  We moved nearly 600 miles to seminary.  I had quit my job, and we had no idea how we’d earn a living while going through school.  We didn’t know a single person in Louisiana, and we hadn’t ever been west of Florida or so far from family.  It was fearful, full of I-don’t-knows, lots of doubt, and the adventure of a lifetime!  There were a lot of tears, some because of homesickness and fear of what bill would go unpaid that month, and some because we saw so many ways God blessed our lives. 

Now, 40 years later, it is easier to see with the eyes of hindsight some of the things I’d probably do differently…but that’s not faith…that’s sight and human thinking.  The fact that we followed the unseen God into our unknown future…THAT was faith!  That was us being like Moses, unusual children of the Most High God.

For You Today

Has God ever said anything to you like, Hey…wanna see something?  Maybe it’s time to listen more and be busy less.

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

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[1] For another post on Hebrews 11:23-28 see God's Mountain; Moses' Faith 

Leaving & Arriving

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Thursday, January 2, 2020

The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.  I will make you into a great nation.  I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.  I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt.  All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”  So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him.  Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.  He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth—his livestock and all the people he had taken into his household at Haran—and headed for the land of Canaan.  When they arrived in Canaan, Abram traveled through the land as far as Shechem.  There he set up camp beside the oak of Moreh.  At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites.  Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.”  And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him.  Genesis 12:1-7

Abram got that word from God to pack it all up, leave his familiar surroundings, and his father’s family, and go…where?  Where was the arrival point?  Lord, you mean, just wander?  In 1980 we got the same kind of message in our household.  Well I was the one who got that message; Elizabeth got it secondhand from me.  To paraphrase my bride’s way of retelling the story:

There I was lying in bed with a four-day old baby, and he comes in and tells me he thinks we really ought to sell the house now and go to seminary.  What?  Where is that? …and he says, I don’t know; I could’ve hit him with a pot!

That seems to be the way it is with God, you get a prodding to leave, but arriving points are scarcely in the up-front part of the picture; you find out much later how the arriving makes sense. 

Another thing I’ve learned along the way is that you’re always leaving in one way or another; that’s the way it is with pilgrims.  Abram left and followed God.  He died in a foreign place, never possessing the land God promised to his descendants.  Moses left and never got to cross Jordan either.  John and Peter left their fishing boats to follow Jesus; one arrived at a life sentence of exile on Patmos to live out his days working in a coal mine, while the other arrived at a cross, upside-down.  Some arrivals aren’t as romantic or magical as we dreamed.

If you check out the Hall of Faith Fame in Hebrews 11 Abram is there, obeying, following, leaving, always a foreigner, moving towards home.

It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance.  He went without knowing where he was going.  And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents.  Hebrews 11:8-9

When we leave it’s always with a sense of arriving somewhere else…somewhere better, like a better-paying job…or a better community…or a warmer climate.  We are not only stepping-out, we are (hopefully) stepping-up!  And it’s that way with our life’s journey towards the ultimate arrival…the ultimate step-up to glory.

For You Today

When you’re bound for the Kingdom it’s always a good thing to keep Abram in mind.  Take some time today to remember the promise of your inheritance.    And, just like Abraham, build an altar of worship in your heart; just don’t forget to keep moving.  You’re not home yet!

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©

Signs, Wonders and Shadows

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Monday, December 12, 2016

The apostles were performing many miraculous signs and wonders among the people.  And all the believers were meeting regularly at the Temple in the area known as Solomon’s Colonnade.  But no one else dared to join them, even though all the people had high regard for them.  Yet more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord—crowds of both men and women.  As a result of the apostles’ work, sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats so that Peter’s shadow might fall across some of them as he went by.  Crowds came from the villages around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those possessed by evil spirits, and they were all healed.  Acts 5:12-16^(NLT)

I’ve seen some dramatic presentations of the wave of healings that followed the apostles in the early church.  All of them seem to crescendo – they flow from the less-dramatic to a final of bedlam of praise and worship when a little girl is raised from the dead.  I get goose-bumps over this, wanting to join-in with the crowd shouting hosanna! 

And then my hermeneutical training from seminary kicks-in and I remember that miracles aren’t the focus; the miracles are the sign-posts pointing to the focus.  The miracles, according to many learned ones down through the centuries are authentication signs which put an exclamation point on the claims that Jesus’ death and resurrection are the real deal from heaven; this was Messiah, and now the healing would be for our eternal soul and spirit, not just body.

I like that!  Of course when you’re an introvert like me, there is a certain “safeness” about distancing oneself from physical miracles that puts bodies back together.  After all, what are you going to do to top that at church next week? 

And all that jumping around, raising hands and shouting, well that’s just not my style.  For pity’s sake, I can’t even do the Fox Trot.  I would mess the whole thing up if a miracle happened anything bigger than the 3^rd grade Sunday School class’s missing chalk showing up at just the moment when all hope was gone. 

Safe miracles are OK; that stuff in Peter’s shadow…well, that’s another story.

But, as necessary as it is for me to know all the stuff I learned at seminary, there are some things no class in eschatology, pneumatology or Greek prepositions that can open a heart to what God is doing at 7:40 am today.  That is the experiential reality of where God’s desire and your open heart meet.

I first learned that …well, at seminary!  But it wasn’t in a class.  In fact things were going so badly I was ready to quit seminary and go back home.  Then a miracle happened (more than the Sunday School chalk variety), and faith was restored, and we pressed on conjugating Greek verbs.

All that to say this:  you can’t schedule a miracle.  Sometimes it will happen because a prayer was offered.  Sometimes it will occur because the need is so pressing it will kill faith, and God intervenes.  Sometimes it will happen because a child knows God better than you do.  And sometimes a miracle will spring forth in response to the shadow of Peter passing you in a hallway.

Miracles, signs, and wonders are passing events that affect our faith for eternity.  And while you cannot produce miracles simply because you’ve always wanted a new Cadillac SUV, you can respond to what God wants to do in your life.  You can let your heart be open to God’s desire.

For You Today

Here’s a question that deserves a good bit of thought and prayer before you leave the house today:  how will my heart and hands respond when God places a miracle before me?

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 Tangopaso (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Faith That Will Grow Anywhere

Monday, October 6, 2014

Then Jesus said to the disciples, Have faith in God.  
Mark 11:22 (NLT)

According to some folks I’ve talked to over the years, the last thing you should do if God calls you to preach is attend seminary.  When you have one of those discussions it will be all about how liberal thinking has turned many a young person’s faith sour.  There is the inevitable “joke” about how he went off to th’ cemetery an’ his faith got kilt dead.

Grammar aside (I’m not a speech Nazi), it just ain’t always so!  There are those whose faith actually grows during seminary years. 

I’m one of those!

Elizabeth and I survived seminary life from 1980-83 in New Orleans.  The saying is whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.  The saying got its roots in New Orleans! 

We were a family of five living in a two bedroom mobile home on campus.  Days began at 6am with getting the kids ready for school:  breakfast, backpacks, refereeing arguments, and getting me ready for school.  Classes were what you’d expect – except with prayer!  After the last class of the day I hurried to a full time job as a bank teller. 

Life was a blur.  There were lots of times (especially Mondays) when I wanted to quit – just pack it in and head home. 

About a year or so into this adventure we hit bottom.  The pantry was empty, and the checkbook emptier; we were tired, frustrated and still had a week to go before payday.

Then the dreaded words showed up on a Monday:  Registration!  Tuition is DUE!

It was that time again. 

Broke…drowning….nowhere to turn.  Faith tank was on empty!

There were no classes on Mondays, so that was my time off for the week.  And after the kids got off to school I sat down to read – or cry; I can’t remember which. 

Elizabeth said, Hey, get a move on; you’ve gotta go register for next term.

I replied, Why?  She said, You know why; get with it, Brownworth.

Me:  Registration means you have to pay…last time I checked they don’t take I.O.U.’s.

Her:  Get moving.

Me:  Yes Ma’am!  I’ll go, but I don’t know why we’re bothering.

We went through the registration carrying the baby, feeling like poachers; we couldn’t pay, but we were filling out class cards, book order forms and schedule requests. 

Why were we doing this?  We knew paying the bill was the last thing you did before you walked out the door.  When it came time for paying the bill I turned to walk out the side door before the reaper could ask for my blood.

Her:  Where you goin’?

Me:  Where do you think?  We did the line; it’s time to go home.

Her:  Get back in the line; you have to write a check.

Me:  I didn’t bring the checkbook.

Her:  Why not?

Me:  Are you kidding; if you open it only moths fly out.  There’s nothing, NADA…zilch!  When you’re a bank teller and you write a bad check they put you in Leavenworth!  I’m not doing it!

Her:  Go get it.  I’ll keep your place in line.

Me:  But….

Her:  NOW!

Me:  Ok, Ok….stop pushing.

When I got back to the trailer to get the checkbook I noticed the mail had come. 

Amongst the bills and flyers was one of those pastel green envelopes we’d often seen from The First Baptist Church of Crystal River, Florida. 

Home had spoken; our Sunday school class was God speaking up…again…at just the right time.  The check was about $6 bigger than the bill in my hand for registration, tuition, fees and books.

Her:  Did you bring it?

Me:  (through the tears)…Yeah…I got it alright!  (Maybe she thought “it” was the checkbook…but what I got was a faith woodshed experience!)

I regained my composure long enough to share with Elizabeth that the green envelope had arrived.  We shared a prayer of thanks to our faithful God and then I wrote the check.  At that time $6 bought a meal for a seminary student, spouse and toddler, so we went off to Burger King for a celebration.

Faith is never an easy way to walk with a God you can’t see, touch or really know what He’s up to; but it’s the way our God rolls.

Our faith can grow in the most unlikely spots, and when we least expect it, and in ways we can hardly imagine.

For You, Today…

Going through a rough patch?  Here’s a question to chew on: 

If your faith had never been stretched, would it ever have grown?