Moving Shadows

 

Monday, March 21, 2022

I said to myself, “I will watch what I do and not sin in what I say.  I will hold my tongue when the ungodly are around me.”  But as I stood there in silence—not even speaking of good things—the turmoil within me grew worse.  The more I thought about it, the hotter I got, igniting a fire of words:  “Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be.  Remind me that my days are numbered—how fleeting my life is.  You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand.  My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath.” Interlude

We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing.  We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it.  And so, Lord, where do I put my hope?  My only hope is in you.  Rescue me from my rebellion.  Do not let fools mock me.  I am silent before you; I won’t say a word, for my punishment is from you.  But please stop striking me!  I am exhausted by the blows from your hand.  When you discipline us for our sins, you consume like a moth what is precious to us.  Each of us is but a breath. Interlude

Hear my prayer, O Lord!  Listen to my cries for help!  Don’t ignore my tears.  For I am your guest—a traveler passing through, as my ancestors were before me.  Leave me alone so I can smile again before I am gone and exist no more.  Psalm 39:1-13

A shadow has little substance.  Now that is  more than an obvious truth; it opens a host of cans of worms for us humans.  Our shadow is a subtle reminder of where we go, and what we do.  And when the track of the shadow moves away from God, or without connected relevance to God, it is rebellion unmasked; our deeds give us away.  When we prefer the shadows we give traction to what Apostle John wrote about the incarnation of Godly substance:

And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.  John 3:19

The Psalmist admitted this well before John wrote about it:

 Darkness is my closest friend.  Psalm 88:18b

Both the Old Testament Psalmist, and New Testament Apostle give rise to the shadow David wrote about in the beloved 23^rd Psalm, a valley of shadows, announcing death like a foreboding spectre.

The point of bringing the shadows into the light for our examination is not a morose elevation of gloom, but rather the warning intended by Scripture’s overwhelming juxtaposition of light and darkness.  God’s Word shows us the difference between rebellion’s darkness, and the purpose of God’s light of truth.  God’s desire is to bring us out of the darkness, into His marvellous light.

But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people.  You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession.  As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.  1 Peter 2:9

For You Today

We understand darkness because we are fallen creatures, living in a fallen, twisted, rebellious-towards-God-world.  But we cannot come up with one sound reason as to why we are fascinated-by, and pulled towards the darkness.

But we also understand the call of God (as C.S. Lewis put it) to leave the Shadowlands of darkness behind.  We are called to walk in His light; there is no blind stumbling there.

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^©    

When You Talk to Yourself

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Friday, April 13, 2018

Answer me when I call to you, O God who declares me innocent.  Free me from my troubles.  Have mercy on me and hear my prayer.  How long will you people ruin my reputation?  How long will you make groundless accusations?  How long will you continue your lies?  -- Interlude

You can be sure of this:  The Lord set apart the godly for himself.  The Lord will answer when I call to him.  Don’t sin by letting anger control you.  Think about it overnight and remain silent.     -- Interlude

Offer sacrifices in the right spirit, and trust the Lord.  Many people say, “Who will show us better times?”  Let your face smile on us, Lord.  You have given me greater joy than those who have abundant harvests of grain and new wine.  In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.  Psalm 4:1-8^(NLT)

David, the shepherd boy who became king of Israel, did what we all do when troubled over an agonizing situation – he sat down to have a little talk with himself.  More accurately, David talked with God, but you can count on it that this son of Jesse placed himself vulnerably close to God’s throne for scrutiny; he wanted answers as to why he had to live with false accusations hovering over him from people who just wanted to drag his reputation through the mud.

In the middle part of this Psalm David is confessing his anger to God, but he’s also talking out loud to himself:  careful, now; letting the anger you have over this situation control you will destroy you as certainly as the worst sin.  Be still and pray all night if you must, but let silence before God and man work out what you’ll mess up if you run your mouth like a raging fire! 

You can just feel the temperature let up in the final sentences of David’s prayer.  In the opening of this Psalm David was asking God:  free me from my troubles.  Literally he was asking for relief, space from the pressure of a bad situation.  By the end of the prayer he has it.  Certainly the trouble hasn’t left; it is David’s spirit and mind that have changed.  His prayer has freed him by clearing his mind and allowing him to stand unconvicted before his Maker.

In Shadowlands, based on the life of C.S. Lewis, author, theologian, professor and defender of the faith, Lewis’ wife is dying of cancer.  It is a grueling, overwhelming, and life-changing experience.  In one scene he shares with the chancellor at Oxford (who is also his pastor) that his wife’s illness caused him to pray all the time.  As he walks away he remarks:  I don’t pray because prayer changes the facts; I pray because prayer changes me.

It is this fact that shows us the end of David’s prayer as he declares he will be able to lie down in peaceful sleep.  This can be seen two ways:

1.     David can actually get a peaceful night’s sleep, because being right with God frees your soul and clears your conscience.  And…

2.     David can die the death of the righteous, cleared of wrongdoing in Heaven’s eyes.

Either interpretation is possible – and both are true.

For You Today

Do you lie awake fuming over something you cannot control?  Is your reputation ruined because you earned it, or someone else is maliciously dragging you through the mud?  Has the pressure meter on your life reached the red zone?

Have a David kind of talk with God; it changes you.

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

Lapsed Atheists

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.  Proverbs 22:6 (KJV)

C.S. Lewis and Joy Gresham were the original “odd couple”.  The movie “Shadowlands” tells the true story of how Lewis, a never-married, post-middle-aged scholar/teacher, living a protected, safe existence at English Oxford’s college, meets and falls in love with Mrs. Gresham, a Jewish-born/now Christian, and very outspoken American, soon-to-be-divorced poet. 

It was Mr. Conventional meeting Mrs. Every Day is a New Adventure.

In the discovery process of these two lives joining, their common ground is that they were once both “confirmed unbelievers” who turned to Christianity.  Joy’s line is classic:  So, you mean we are both lapsed atheists?

Enter the witness of Solomon. 

The wise king wrote much about family life and parenting.  Training a child in the way (s)he learns best is an imprint on a soul; eventually all parental training becomes something unforgettable in the grown person.

In the lives of C.S. Lewis and Joy Gresham the seeds of Christian faith were planted early, and only came to fruit in their later years.  They both chose their faith intellectually before it blossomed within.

And, (give or take a few years) isn’t that the way it always happens? 

We may be brought into the church when just a few weeks old, baptized and placed on the cradle roll; or some time later in life, a crisis awakens us to our need for faith.  Or we may have been raised without ever darkening a church doorstep. 

Either way, because of the faith of our parents, influence of a guardian, or witness of a friend, (whether in early life or later days) the seedling of faith will have its prevenient planting in our souls, and will bear its fruit; God says His Word will never return void ^{(Isaiah 55:11)}.

In such a fashion we are all destined to become lapsed atheists; faith is inevitable in the sense that we are created to believe.  And, because of free will, some choose the faith of the cross; others reject Christ, choosing to become God rather than worship Him. 

Not all choose Jesus, but we all choose to place someone or something on the throne of our heart.

The seeds of faith in Christ were planted early, clearly and firmly by my parents, the believers in the church we attended and the lives of countless friends and acquaintances. 

For a while I chose to walk away from that faith; but my atheism lapsed! 

And I am forever thankful!

For You, Today…

Like the man on TV who asks, What’s in your wallet?, I would pose the same inquiry:

Who’s on your heart’s throne?