Can You Hear Me Now?

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Monday, January 29, 2018

O Lord, oppose those who oppose me.  Fight those who fight against me.  Put on your armor, and take up your shield.  Prepare for battle, and come to my aid.  Lift up your spear and javelin against those who pursue me.  Let me hear you say, “I will give you victory!”  Bring shame and disgrace on those trying to kill me; turn them back and humiliate those who want to harm me.  Blow them away like chaff in the wind—a wind sent by the angel of the Lord.  Make their path dark and slippery, with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.  I did them no wrong, but they laid a trap for me.  I did them no wrong, but they dug a pit to catch me.  So let sudden ruin come upon them!  Let them be caught in the trap they set for me!  Let them be destroyed in the pit they dug for me.  Then I will rejoice in the Lord.  I will be glad because he rescues me.  With every bone in my body I will praise him:  “Lord, who can compare with you?  Who else rescues the helpless from the strong?  Who else protects the helpless and poor from those who rob them?” Psalm 35:1-10^(NLT)

Have you ever shifted between two extremes, one being:  you are totally alone and different than everyone else on the planet…and the second:  you’re in the same boat as every other member of the human family…struggling with no help at all? 

Either of these extremes can identify with David.  The shepherd boy would become king looked at his life and screamed:  It’s not fair!  Now, before you write him off as a whiney, complaining brat, remember that God called David a man after his own heart[2].  David was praying with hard fought integrity. 

Many of the Psalms written by David are heart-searching prayers as he lays his life open, crying-out to God.  And in not just a few of those prayers David asks the LORD to conquer or obliterate his enemy.  If you check out Psalm 109 you find 31 verses of David complaining to the Lord that people want his children to be fatherless and suffer; as David prays he turns all the evil plots of his enemies right back on their heads, asking God to take-them-out with as much vengeance as possible.  Like this Psalm David seems fond of asking God to let his enemies fall in the pit they dug for him; it’s a kind of Golden Rule in reverse!  This is not your Grandma’s now I lay me down to sleep kind of prayer!

But it occurs to me that God would probably rather have me grapple with the hard stuff of life, rather than rattle off a memorized, safe little prayer ditty.  The hard stuff comes out when you pray for success on your job when you’ve been lazy and not giving your boss a full day’s work.  You pray to pass a test in school, but you partied into the night instead of studying.  The hard stuff comes out when you pray for protection and you’ve ignored the weak and powerless you could have easily helped.  That hard stuff makes you swallow hard when you want to be healed, but you won’t even try to give up that habit.

Prayer is exactly what you see in David’s repertoire, laying out before God who you are and what you think you’ve been, and what you think God can do to set the whole situation right; then you cease talking and start listening, waiting, and watching for what God will do.  The answers aren’t always pretty, but they’re always on-time and worthwhile when it comes to making a person after God’s own heart out of you. 

For You Today

If you want Heaven to remain silent, just go on using someone else’s prayer ditty; prayer that won’t grow and strengthen you is safe and won’t change a thing.

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

[2] Acts 13:22

When God Laughs

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Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act.  Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.  Stop being angry!  Turn from your rage!  Do not lose your temper—it only leads to harm.  For the wicked will be destroyed, but those who trust in the Lord will possess the land.  Soon the wicked will disappear.  Though you look for them, they will be gone.  The lowly will possess the land and will live in peace and prosperity.  The wicked plot against the godly; they snarl at them in defiance.  But the Lord just laughs, for he sees their day of judgment coming.  Psalm 37:7-13^(NLT)

I know you’ve thought this:  How in the world can he get away with that?   We want to know:  How can God NOT clobber someone with a sharp tongue like hers?  It just seems so unfair and weird that somebody who continually does bad stuff never seems to get what he’s got coming.  And to boot, she seems to be succeeding far above what good people have in their lives; I just don’t get it!

Whenever I find myslef indulging in that kind of thinking I ask myself a more important question:  How come God doesn’t light up my kindling with all the wrong stuff I’ve done?

Well, we could stand here and have a deeply theological debate about alll that for, well, perhaps a millennium or two, and never come up with an answer that will satisfy more than a few people – those who are more likely to agree with us anyway. 

But the simplest answers I’ve ever been able to sleep with are:

#1.  God is patient

The Psalmist said God just laughs at the wicked and all their plots, because He sees their end and there will not be anything that slips past the judgment bar.  If God can relax in the face of evildoers, well…I should also.

#2.  I’m not (and never will be) in charge…God is!

The Psalmist also wrote that our job is as we have in verse 7: 

Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act.  Psalm 37:7^(NLT)

God has always reserved for Himself the right to vengeance or mercy; frankly, it’s none of our business.  Do you recall how after the resurrection, when Jesus was talking to the disciples on the seashore at the men’s breakfast, the Lord told Peter about some hard things the big fisherman would have to endure.  Peter looked over his shoulder at John and then asked Jesus:  What about him? 

Jesus replied:  Keep your eye on the ball, Peter; John is my business, not yours!

Frankly…I don’t need more instruction than that.  If I’ve got more questions, I think they can wait til Heaven.

For You Today

A good practice is to keep our eyes on what we are doing, and leave supervising evildoers to God.  He’s well-equipped to handle it; we’re not!

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 Southbanksteve from London, UK, via Wikimedia Commons

No Place Before God - Part 3

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Thursday, February 25, 2016

VIDEO

Isaac said to Esau, “I have made Jacob your master and have declared that all his brothers will be his servants.  I have guaranteed him an abundance of grain and wine—what is left for me to give you, my son?”  Esau pleaded, “But do you have only one blessing?  Oh my father, bless me, too!”  Then Esau broke down and wept.  Finally, his father, Isaac, said to him, “You will live away from the richness of the earth, and away from the dew of the heaven above.  You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother.  But when you decide to break free, you will shake his yoke from your neck.”  From that time on, Esau hated Jacob because their father had given Jacob the blessing.  And Esau began to scheme: “I will soon be mourning my father’s death. Then I will kill my brother, Jacob.” Genesis 27:37-41^(NLT)

We’ve been looking at the damage that can come from a lack of care for the spiritual side of life.  Esau was more interested in serving his appetites than his God, and wound-up selling his firstborn-right to be the spiritual leader of God’s people.  Later, when their father Isaac was near dying, the younger brother, Jacob, sealed the deal by not only having the birthright, he tricked his father into giving him the firstborn’s blessing.

Jacob’s deceiving ways, and Esau’s reactionary anger blossomed into a fractured family.

Hatred has killed more relationships.  We know from the story that Esau later mellowed.  But even today the inhabitants of Edom (modern Jordan) still fight the Esau and Jacob battle.  When you do a good job of breaking a family apart, it may take generations and many miracles to put it back together. 

When we act selfishly, doing our own thing, the consequences reach beyond our own circles of friends and daily experience.  We create ripples in our society and universe.  Esau's cavalier attitude towards his spiritual heritage, and his needed leadership in the kingdom brought shame on him, but it brought grief also on his parents, and the ripples of hatred still boil in that region today!

It is that way in churches, families and culture in general.  In the human family of 2016 we exist in a fractured collage of humanity caused by careless words spoken in anger, judging spirits and prideful, reactionary attitudes. 

In the 60's, Paul Simon wrote, I am a rock, I am an island, and a rock feels no pain, and an island never cries; famous lyrics, but flawed thinking!  Try as you might to insulate yourself against pain and heartache, this universe was created to respond to love and hate.  Esau responded to the losses he experienced by trashing the lives of those around him.  Esau and Jacob both chose the selfish path, and the whole family was broken on his island of rocks.

And the pain lasted for more than twenty years!

Jesus was despised by the generation he came to embrace.  He came to His own, and was hung, spread-eagle, on cross-beams.  But Jesus didn’t curse or revile those who crucified him; he didn't break up the family, break his loved-one's hearts. 

Instead, he forgave them. 

Jesus chose to love when he was wronged.  He was a descendant of Jacob’s, but he chose to break the cycle of hatred and honor the place before God.

For You Today

Honoring the God who sent His only son, the Prince of Peace, in a world gone mad with the violence of Al Qaeda, ISIS and every other angry, vengeance-driven neurosis, will never occur with more violence, hatred and vengeance. 

It will take humility and faith.

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

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[1] Title Image:  By Bertram of Minden, via Wikimedia Commons