Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
Romans 2:4
I was raised in a religious culture that saw God primarily as a force to wrathfully punish wrong doing if we were not Christians or having no concern at all about our wrong doing if we had accepted Jesus. It was kind of a crazy dichotomy that led me to reject the image of God that I was taught.
I often heard prayers prayed from the pulpit for God's wrath to be poured out on non-believers who were doing things that were wrong. At the same time I heard sermons of dismissal of offences for those who believed but were doing the exact same things. Even as a non-believer I wondered how people could actually get their thinking around the obvious double standard.
When Jesus revealed himself to me I was totally stunned. Phillip Yancey wrote a book titled, "The Jesus I never knew." The book's title resonates for me a truth that continually helps me to remember what it is like for someone who is outside looking in. I did not know the Jesus I met on a street in Dallas Texas some forty one years ago. The thing that was so very strange to me about him was that he was kind.
I had battled the god of oppression whose sole purpose in my existence was to demonstrate that I was not even worthy of existence. I was quite willing to go to the hell I was always told I would go to rather than serve the god of hate I had heard about since my youth.
When I rarely went to church, it was with my grandparents because I loved them and wanted to respect their desires for me. I could not miss that on the front row, saying their, “amens” to the preacher's fiery sermons, was most of the first squad of the football team at my local high school. The same group got drunk on Saturday nights and came looking for the only hippie in the district to prove their manhood by beating the snot out of him for being different than they were. I was that hippie. Difference was the reason that justified their being instruments of a wrathful god on me. They, no doubt, would have burned crosses on a black man's yard if they had lived a little earlier in time and a few hundred miles southeast.
The greatest irony to me was that they could not see that their hearts were as black as mine. If God hated what I was doing (and He did), He hated what they were doing just as much. But when I came to know Jesus I could easily forgave them for the same reason. I saw that He was kind to all. Even to those who beat me and thought they were doing Him a favor.
Interestingly, I had the privilege of being an influence for Jesus in a few of those football players lives, but not until I had kindness in my heart towards them. And not until I learned that it is God's kindness, not his wrath, which opens the door for transformation in our lives.
It is a pretty radical thing to consider that God uses kindness to bring about repentance. My culture thought kindness was weakness. They certainly were not the first to do so. From the dawn of history some people have understood God as being perhaps the most unkind being in the universe.
The horror of knowing that there are people right now who believe that they are called to give up their own lives in a suicidal purpose to destroy others and believe that their god is pleased with such acts is extremely troubling. Not since Hitler has there been such an interpretation of atrocious acts of evil as being good. It is because they do not believe that God is kind to all.
Luke 6:35 "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.
When we have lost touch with basic human kindness as being based in the image of God who so loved the world that He gave his only Son, we are capable of almost any horror - even if we say we believe in Him. But that is not the heart of our Saviour.
Above all else he is kind.
It is his kindness that has led me all these years to repentance. Not just turning from the wrong doing of fleshly indulgences which we almost exclusively centre on as God's greatest concerns, though they are not. For me the greatest call to repentance has been to lead me away from the pride of my heart that would treat others unkindly and use Him as a justification for it. When I see the kindness he feels towards the ones I envision as my adversaries I find myself being drawn to believe that perhaps my kindness might touch their hearts with His kindness and they too might be able to step into His love. Even if they are profoundly unkind as I myself have been.
Proverbs 19:22 What is desirable in a man is his kindness,
Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?
2 Corinthians 6:4 but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, 5 in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, 6 in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love,
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Ephesians 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
Titus 3:3 For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. 4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
1 Peter 2:2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, 3 if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.
2 Peter 1:5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
The Law of Kindness
Proverbs 31:26 She opens her mouth with wisdom, And on her tongue is the law of kindness.
In the course of my work as a pastor I have had the opportunity to counsel many married couples and even more people who came to seek God's help alone without their spouse. It is my observation but one which I believe is supported by most researchers in the field of human relationships that the one factor I found in every one of these troubled marriages was they had stopped being kind.
We often talk about love as the foundational ingredient of marriage but I have a lot of problems with the word love. In English it covers what in Greek takes five words in just the basic concept and even more when we start to move it out of the realm of human relationships to things like..... I love chocolate chip cookies..... I love your new hairdo...... I just love this country......
Love in human relationships has so many shades of meaning that it can sometime cease to contain any practical, moral concept. We use love primarily to describe a feeling rather than actions.
I have found though that even if only one love is present a marriage can eventually grow to health. That one love is Agape. I have often shared with couples that if they simply treated each other the way that God wants them to treat absolute strangers they could find a much better relationship with each other. More than a few have heeded that advice and it started them on a road to recovery.
The aspect of Agape that I ask them to focus on most is kindness. If I tell them "love" they often don't even know what I am saying. I have found most people understand what kindness is. They never mistake it for romantic feelings. When I have shared this with those who said they "loved" but felt mistreated by their spouse they would often admit that they knew they did not act with kindness toward their spouse.
I have seen that simple kindness can heal not only broken marriages but almost any relationship if it is applied in the Biblical admonition to not expect anything in return.
Luke 6:35 "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.
Now I know all about abusive relationships. I know there will be some who tell me that I am teaching people to become doormats or enablers. But hear me out first.
I know some people will use every means they can to control others. They use people in their lives in ways that destroy themselves first. They seek to find in others what only God can give them. This is not kindness it is just another attempt to gain a sense of value from anyone or thing except God.
We must first of all have our self-esteem needs met by God before we can ever be truly kind to others.
When we have released others from the stranglehold of expectations to meet our needs by finding God as the only life giver we can then be simply kind to others without either falling into servitude or manipulation. We can just be a kind person like Jesus was. No strings attached.
I was trying to help one who is in my sphere of influence understand the correctness of speaking respectfully to someone who has hurt them deeply. They said that they did not need to do so because they did not feel the person deserved their respect. I said that it was not a matter of the person being worthy of respect. It is really about our own self respect. We need not let others reduce us to their disrespectful ways.
The same is true with kindness. Kindness does not mean we approve of other's lives or agree with the wrongs they do. A police officer can be kind to a murderer without diminishing his or her determination to protect society from the murderer's wrong actions or even using deadly force if need be. It only means that they do not have to be rude, hateful and disrespectful to effectively deal with and stop the wrongs they have done.
I have found that what the scripture calls the "Law of Kindness" being on my lips is an invaluable tool in my communication. It is very easy for me to tell when I do not feel kindly towards another person. I have found placing a limit on my communication with others until I have prayed through to have a heart of kindness results in a much stronger ability for me to communicate God's truth to them.
Ephesians 4:29 (Amplified Bible)
Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk [ever] come out of your mouth, but only such [speech] as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God's favor) to those who hear it.
I find that when I communicate out of a heart of kindness it always imparts a blessing. It may not be apparent right away but because of the law of sowing and reaping it will eventually bring an abundant harvest, even if it is only in changing our own souls into a more Christ like image.
In the course of my work as a pastor I have had the opportunity to counsel many married couples and even more people who came to seek God's help alone without their spouse. It is my observation but one which I believe is supported by most researchers in the field of human relationships that the one factor I found in every one of these troubled marriages was they had stopped being kind.
We often talk about love as the foundational ingredient of marriage but I have a lot of problems with the word love. In English it covers what in Greek takes five words in just the basic concept and even more when we start to move it out of the realm of human relationships to things like..... I love chocolate chip cookies..... I love your new hairdo...... I just love this country......
Love in human relationships has so many shades of meaning that it can sometime cease to contain any practical, moral concept. We use love primarily to describe a feeling rather than actions.
I have found though that even if only one love is present a marriage can eventually grow to health. That one love is Agape. I have often shared with couples that if they simply treated each other the way that God wants them to treat absolute strangers they could find a much better relationship with each other. More than a few have heeded that advice and it started them on a road to recovery.
The aspect of Agape that I ask them to focus on most is kindness. If I tell them "love" they often don't even know what I am saying. I have found most people understand what kindness is. They never mistake it for romantic feelings. When I have shared this with those who said they "loved" but felt mistreated by their spouse they would often admit that they knew they did not act with kindness toward their spouse.
I have seen that simple kindness can heal not only broken marriages but almost any relationship if it is applied in the Biblical admonition to not expect anything in return.
Luke 6:35 "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.
Now I know all about abusive relationships. I know there will be some who tell me that I am teaching people to become doormats or enablers. But hear me out first.
I know some people will use every means they can to control others. They use people in their lives in ways that destroy themselves first. They seek to find in others what only God can give them. This is not kindness it is just another attempt to gain a sense of value from anyone or thing except God.
We must first of all have our self-esteem needs met by God before we can ever be truly kind to others.
When we have released others from the stranglehold of expectations to meet our needs by finding God as the only life giver we can then be simply kind to others without either falling into servitude or manipulation. We can just be a kind person like Jesus was. No strings attached.
I was trying to help one who is in my sphere of influence understand the correctness of speaking respectfully to someone who has hurt them deeply. They said that they did not need to do so because they did not feel the person deserved their respect. I said that it was not a matter of the person being worthy of respect. It is really about our own self respect. We need not let others reduce us to their disrespectful ways.
The same is true with kindness. Kindness does not mean we approve of other's lives or agree with the wrongs they do. A police officer can be kind to a murderer without diminishing his or her determination to protect society from the murderer's wrong actions or even using deadly force if need be. It only means that they do not have to be rude, hateful and disrespectful to effectively deal with and stop the wrongs they have done.
I have found that what the scripture calls the "Law of Kindness" being on my lips is an invaluable tool in my communication. It is very easy for me to tell when I do not feel kindly towards another person. I have found placing a limit on my communication with others until I have prayed through to have a heart of kindness results in a much stronger ability for me to communicate God's truth to them.
Ephesians 4:29 (Amplified Bible)
Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk [ever] come out of your mouth, but only such [speech] as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God's favor) to those who hear it.
I find that when I communicate out of a heart of kindness it always imparts a blessing. It may not be apparent right away but because of the law of sowing and reaping it will eventually bring an abundant harvest, even if it is only in changing our own souls into a more Christ like image.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Faith
Numbers 26:64 But among these there was not a man of those who were numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest, who numbered the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. 65 For the LORD had said of them, "They shall surely die in the wilderness " And not a man was left of them, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.
A census was taken and the number of fighting men determined. The last words of the census are what we just read. They tell a story of missed opportunity for some and incredible blessing for others. And all that made the difference was faith.
We are in the middle of Olympic glory and the theme word for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games is Believe. I have two lunchroom helpers in my class who love the CTV theme song sang by Nikki Yanofsky called I Believe. They play it on my Smartboard five or six times every lunch period. The point of the song is faith. Not Faith in God, though at points I think the writers inadvertently either deified the world or slipped in references to Him. It is faith in ourselves and faith in the goodness of the "world brought together as one."
The song is lovely and Nikki's singing is beyond amazing. But the faith focus is the problem. You see the men who died in the wilderness had faith just like Joshua and Caleb. But the former's faith was, like Nikki's song says, "I believe in the power of you and I." They saw their capabilities and knew that they were not up to the contest. Joshua and Caleb realistically saw their abilities and concluded the same thing but that is not where their faith lay. They trusted in God, not themselves.
Numbers 13:25 When they returned from spying out the land . . . they brought back word to them . . . "We went in to the land where you sent us; and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 "Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 "Amalek is living in the land of the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan. 30
Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, "We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it."
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us." 14:6 Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, . . . spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, "The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. 8 "If the LORD is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us--a land which flows with milk and honey. 9 "Only do not rebel against the LORD; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them." 10 But all the congregation said to stone them with stones. . . .
We see clearly that everyone in the story had faith but only two had their faith focused in the right place - on God's ability. The faith of Joshua and Caleb was rewarded with a chance to do exploits for God. He appointed Joshua to be the leader of the people after Moses. He gave Caleb the strength and courage of a young man even though he was very old. Both walked on the Promised Land and obtained an inheritance in it. Why? Because they believed.
Just so you don't think I limit faith to a spiritual realm please understand that I know very well that every Olympic athlete must have faith to do what they do. Even though it may sound like it, I don't denounce their faith or equate it to the first generation Israelite's faith. In fact I deeply admire their faith. The faith of those who, in some cases, risk their lives to push themselves to the limit of their skill may in fact lead them to a place of reverence for God because it is more like true faith than most believer's faith.
Olympic faith is one that in the very least believes for a positive outcome for which they are very willing to suffer hardship and self discipline to achieve. They are not using their faith to say they can't win so why try. They believe to win. That is a very different sort of faith. It is much more like Joshua and Caleb's.
Of course I am not saying that placing our trust in anything less than God will bring us to safe harbor. I am saying that many of us who profess faith more often use it as a reason why we can't possibly achieve great things for God than why we can.
An active, risk taking faith is one which says, "All things are possible so I am ready to try the impossible for and with God."
It is easy to stay safe in a place of "leaving it all up to God" which so often means not risking anything. People like Joshua and Caleb have the kind of faith that continually looks for ways to do impossible things for God's glory. They look at mountains as just waiting to be moved. They look at desperate situations as golden opportunities to make a reputation for God. They are not ever saying, "God do I have to do this?" They are always begging, "God please let me do this for your glory."
William Carey was a Joshua and Caleb kind of guy. In 1815, when he saw that the Moravians (who were not Baptists like he was) were winning thousands of people to Jesus he went to his local gathering of ministers and shared with them he believed that God desired them to, "spread the gospel throughout the world." He told all about what the Moravians were doing even though they were "infant baptizers." One of his more experienced fellow ministers rebuked him saying, ""Young man, sit down; when God pleases to convert the heathen, he will do it without your aid and mine."
Here you see the two kinds of faith I am talking about. Both men believed in God. One's faith was active and seeking to do exploits for God. The other used faith to avoid moving outside the status quo. That is why I say that the faith of the Olympic athletes has more in common with an active, God centered, risk taking faith than the faith of those who use God as an excuse for lethargy.
William Carey led more people to Christ and had a greater impact for God in India and the world than almost any man living at the time. His work went far beyond personal evangelism. He created the first Baptist mission society - anyone who knows Baptists today know that they believe in leading people to Jesus and it is because of William Carey that it is so - He founded universities and used the printing press not only to tell people about Jesus on the field but also to stir hearts of those in the homelands to the need of world missions. He founded mercy ministries and was greatly involved in education. He is often called the founder of the modern missions movement. His most often quoted saying epitomizes what I believe is positive faith.
Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.
I am in tears as I write these words because I want to be a man like Joshua, Caleb and William Carey. I do not want to use my faith to stay safe and unchallenged. I want to see the world with God's eyes and the heart of faith that is looking for ways to see the impossible done. For me that is what real faith is.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Starting to see God's Heart Concerning Women
Numbers 27:1 Then the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph, came near; and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah and Hoglah and Milcah and Tirzah. 2 They stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest and before the leaders and all the congregation, at the doorway of the tent of meeting, saying, 3 "Our father died in the wilderness, yet he was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against the LORD in the company of Korah; but he died in his own sin, and he had no sons. 4 "Why should the name of our father be withdrawn from among his family because he had no son? Give us a possession among our father's brothers." 5 So Moses brought their case before the LORD. 6 ¶ Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 7 "The daughters of Zelophehad are right in {their} statements. You shall surely give them a hereditary possession among their father's brothers, and you shall transfer the inheritance of their father to them. 8 "Further, you shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'If a man dies and has no son, then you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter.
Those who want to judge ancient values with today’s standards will completely miss or even denigrate what happened with the daughters of Zelophehad. Those who understand the culture out of which these writings came will see a giant leap in understanding women as co-equals with men.
Up to this moment, in the Semitic culture from which the Israelites came, a woman could not own property. In fact she was considered as property - either her father's or her husband's. These few verses tell of a revelation by God that began a centuries long process to raise the status of women to what they enjoy today.
The feminist movement has, in its extreme manifestations, gone beyond a biblical balance but we need not react to their claims that Judaism and Christianity have been oppressive forces in women’s lives.
To be sure both faiths have had radical male centered alignments which have not helped women. But these are renounced in scripture both by teaching and example. The teachings of scripture lay behind a continuous elevation of women to a place a dignity and value. We, above all people, need to continually affirm the wonderful heritage we have in our faith tradition of seeking human dignity for all.
Notice that the concept of a woman owning property was new to Moses. He had to ask God to confirm if what these young women were saying was true. God wholeheartedly agreed with them. To me this says that even the closest man to God at the time did not really know His heart about the humans that were created in His image and placed in a female body. I can't help but wonder if he had taken the moment to ask God if there were any other ways he misunderstood that heart if Moses might have found out much more.
Until this point if a man died a woman was left to the mercy of her husband’s or her own family’s care. If she returned to her own family she took nothing. If she stayed with her husband’s family she was cared for in whatever way they desired.
Allowing the daughter’s of Zelophehad the possibility to own property as an ancestral possession was something completely and radically new. And through the centuries that “new thing” that God has done for women has always been cutting edge.
Much had to be done and it would be wrong to say that people of faith all moved faithfully from a male dominated, male centred culture to one which saw women as co-equals. At the time of Jesus a morning prayer for some Jewish men was to thank God that they had not been born a Gentile, a slave, or a woman. In that context we can better understand why Paul said, “Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” What a radical statement this was. It amounts to a complete break from the popular culture of his day.
Some accuse Paul of being one of the most anti-female authors of the Bible. Again if we judge him by our present standards some of his statements might seem chauvinistic. However it is clear from history that, following Jesus' lead, Paul was one of the greatest proponents of giving dignity to women that the world knew up to that time.
Just as it has been the driving force against racism, the recognition of women’s honor, dignity and value in scripture is what has made the present emphasis on human rights for women possible. We must not be deceived to think it otherwise. A clear look at history will not allow it.
Those who want to judge ancient values with today’s standards will completely miss or even denigrate what happened with the daughters of Zelophehad. Those who understand the culture out of which these writings came will see a giant leap in understanding women as co-equals with men.
Up to this moment, in the Semitic culture from which the Israelites came, a woman could not own property. In fact she was considered as property - either her father's or her husband's. These few verses tell of a revelation by God that began a centuries long process to raise the status of women to what they enjoy today.
The feminist movement has, in its extreme manifestations, gone beyond a biblical balance but we need not react to their claims that Judaism and Christianity have been oppressive forces in women’s lives.
To be sure both faiths have had radical male centered alignments which have not helped women. But these are renounced in scripture both by teaching and example. The teachings of scripture lay behind a continuous elevation of women to a place a dignity and value. We, above all people, need to continually affirm the wonderful heritage we have in our faith tradition of seeking human dignity for all.
Notice that the concept of a woman owning property was new to Moses. He had to ask God to confirm if what these young women were saying was true. God wholeheartedly agreed with them. To me this says that even the closest man to God at the time did not really know His heart about the humans that were created in His image and placed in a female body. I can't help but wonder if he had taken the moment to ask God if there were any other ways he misunderstood that heart if Moses might have found out much more.
Until this point if a man died a woman was left to the mercy of her husband’s or her own family’s care. If she returned to her own family she took nothing. If she stayed with her husband’s family she was cared for in whatever way they desired.
Allowing the daughter’s of Zelophehad the possibility to own property as an ancestral possession was something completely and radically new. And through the centuries that “new thing” that God has done for women has always been cutting edge.
Much had to be done and it would be wrong to say that people of faith all moved faithfully from a male dominated, male centred culture to one which saw women as co-equals. At the time of Jesus a morning prayer for some Jewish men was to thank God that they had not been born a Gentile, a slave, or a woman. In that context we can better understand why Paul said, “Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” What a radical statement this was. It amounts to a complete break from the popular culture of his day.
Some accuse Paul of being one of the most anti-female authors of the Bible. Again if we judge him by our present standards some of his statements might seem chauvinistic. However it is clear from history that, following Jesus' lead, Paul was one of the greatest proponents of giving dignity to women that the world knew up to that time.
Just as it has been the driving force against racism, the recognition of women’s honor, dignity and value in scripture is what has made the present emphasis on human rights for women possible. We must not be deceived to think it otherwise. A clear look at history will not allow it.
Friday, February 19, 2010
He Sings Over Us
Numbers21:16
From there they continued to Beer, that is the well where the LORD said to Moses, "Assemble the people, that I may give them water." 17 Then Israel sang this song:
"Spring up, O well! Sing to it!
"The well, which the leaders sank,
Which the nobles of the people dug,
With the scepter and with their staffs."
This is such a wonderful reminder of God's intention in our created abilities. Of all of creation only humans, birds and some believe whales sing. We alone make music on instruments. The many purposes of God in this oft taken for granted ability are so diverse. The ones we most often focus on in the fellowship of faith are worship, encouragement and teaching. But there are many more.
Singing can express the deepest longings of the human heart. God hears those longings. He was the one who created song to express them.
Today's scripture points out two that I have seen have so much power - to sing over our need and our labor.
We have a rich tradition in the songs of the slaves in America of both. They sang songs of longing for their freedom and they sang songs to endure in the weary days of ceaseless labor. Much of what we call gospel and country music had its roots in this tradition. Undoubtedly soul, blues and some strains of jazz music was a direct development of it.
While the slaves passed to us an incredible art form it did not begin with them. We see here another band of those who had been slaves as well. They are once again desperate for water but something wonderful is happening in their hearts. Their parents should have understood this but did not. They had chosen to give in to their despair and chanted the unsung chorus of, "Why have you brought us out to die in this wilderness." This generation, many who had not seen the mighty acts of of God in Egypt did not despair. With great faith they began to sing over their need and their labor.
God did not have Moses smite or speak to a rock. He did not cast a tree into an oasis. God said He would give them water but this time the had to dig for it. A perhaps unnoticed miracle of transformed hearts was that it was not the common laborers that dug the well - it was the princes and nobles. And as they dug they sang.
I have always believed that singing is closely related to the prophetic. Here is a perfect melding of the two. They sang prophetically to the well to spring up. It had to have a huge flow of water to quench the thirst of over a million people in the desert.
Don't forget that the labor was hard and they were already thirsty. But they sang through the suffering with an expected result of life and not death.
Yesterday I was holding my little grandchild who was having some trouble in calming himself. As I held him a song came into my heart to sing over him. It was a song of declaration of who I believe God wants him to be. How perfect that I would read today of how Israel sang over their need and the expectation of their labor. At this point of my life almost all my labor is meant to meet the needs of others like my little grandson.
As I sang over him I reminded myself of the covenant between him, God and me. And I remembered God's covenant with me. Mothers and fathers have been singing over their little ones probably since Cain and Abel were born. And they sang with purpose. But even before Eve sang God sang. If it were not so how could we?
Zephaniah 3:17
The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing."
How wonderful to think that our God sings over us. Like the Israelites sang blessing over the works of their hands God sings blessing over the work of His hands - You and me. And what God blesses is blessed.
As I held my little one in my arms and sang over him I sang what I heard God singing over him. God was singing through me like He has sung through moms, dads and other loved ones throughout the ages. And even when no one else was there to sing He did with the myriad of heaven.
I have the wonderful opportunity to work with young children. When I first began this particular part of my professional life I was praying how I could point the ones I teach to their destiny. I began to hear the Father's heart for them. I put what I heard into a song....
I am a Star
I am shining bright
I can shine
In the darkest night
lighting my world
I will share my light
I am a star
I was made to shine.
You are a Star
You are shining bright
You can shine
In the darkest night
Lighting your world
You will share your light
You are a star
You were made to shine
We are stars
We are shining bright
We can shine
In the darkest night
Lighting our world
We will share our light
We are stars
We were made to shine.
It is a simple song but as I sing it to, and eventually with, my students I am singing over them what I believe God's destiny is for them..... and for everyone He has created. I have seen my singing over them this simple song of destiny, like Israel singing over a well to spring up with abundance of water, helps them begin to understand who they and others really are.
From there they continued to Beer, that is the well where the LORD said to Moses, "Assemble the people, that I may give them water." 17 Then Israel sang this song:
"Spring up, O well! Sing to it!
"The well, which the leaders sank,
Which the nobles of the people dug,
With the scepter and with their staffs."
This is such a wonderful reminder of God's intention in our created abilities. Of all of creation only humans, birds and some believe whales sing. We alone make music on instruments. The many purposes of God in this oft taken for granted ability are so diverse. The ones we most often focus on in the fellowship of faith are worship, encouragement and teaching. But there are many more.
Singing can express the deepest longings of the human heart. God hears those longings. He was the one who created song to express them.
Today's scripture points out two that I have seen have so much power - to sing over our need and our labor.
We have a rich tradition in the songs of the slaves in America of both. They sang songs of longing for their freedom and they sang songs to endure in the weary days of ceaseless labor. Much of what we call gospel and country music had its roots in this tradition. Undoubtedly soul, blues and some strains of jazz music was a direct development of it.
While the slaves passed to us an incredible art form it did not begin with them. We see here another band of those who had been slaves as well. They are once again desperate for water but something wonderful is happening in their hearts. Their parents should have understood this but did not. They had chosen to give in to their despair and chanted the unsung chorus of, "Why have you brought us out to die in this wilderness." This generation, many who had not seen the mighty acts of of God in Egypt did not despair. With great faith they began to sing over their need and their labor.
God did not have Moses smite or speak to a rock. He did not cast a tree into an oasis. God said He would give them water but this time the had to dig for it. A perhaps unnoticed miracle of transformed hearts was that it was not the common laborers that dug the well - it was the princes and nobles. And as they dug they sang.
I have always believed that singing is closely related to the prophetic. Here is a perfect melding of the two. They sang prophetically to the well to spring up. It had to have a huge flow of water to quench the thirst of over a million people in the desert.
Don't forget that the labor was hard and they were already thirsty. But they sang through the suffering with an expected result of life and not death.
Yesterday I was holding my little grandchild who was having some trouble in calming himself. As I held him a song came into my heart to sing over him. It was a song of declaration of who I believe God wants him to be. How perfect that I would read today of how Israel sang over their need and the expectation of their labor. At this point of my life almost all my labor is meant to meet the needs of others like my little grandson.
As I sang over him I reminded myself of the covenant between him, God and me. And I remembered God's covenant with me. Mothers and fathers have been singing over their little ones probably since Cain and Abel were born. And they sang with purpose. But even before Eve sang God sang. If it were not so how could we?
Zephaniah 3:17
The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing."
How wonderful to think that our God sings over us. Like the Israelites sang blessing over the works of their hands God sings blessing over the work of His hands - You and me. And what God blesses is blessed.
As I held my little one in my arms and sang over him I sang what I heard God singing over him. God was singing through me like He has sung through moms, dads and other loved ones throughout the ages. And even when no one else was there to sing He did with the myriad of heaven.
I have the wonderful opportunity to work with young children. When I first began this particular part of my professional life I was praying how I could point the ones I teach to their destiny. I began to hear the Father's heart for them. I put what I heard into a song....
I am a Star
I am shining bright
I can shine
In the darkest night
lighting my world
I will share my light
I am a star
I was made to shine.
You are a Star
You are shining bright
You can shine
In the darkest night
Lighting your world
You will share your light
You are a star
You were made to shine
We are stars
We are shining bright
We can shine
In the darkest night
Lighting our world
We will share our light
We are stars
We were made to shine.
It is a simple song but as I sing it to, and eventually with, my students I am singing over them what I believe God's destiny is for them..... and for everyone He has created. I have seen my singing over them this simple song of destiny, like Israel singing over a well to spring up with abundance of water, helps them begin to understand who they and others really are.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Guilt - Conviction without Hope
Matthew 27:3 Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." But they said, "What is that to us? See to that yourself!" 5 And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself.
This morning as I was considering a comment someone had made about guilt a number of scriptures came into my heart and the end result was the words Guilt is Conviction without hope - Condemnation is Truth without Grace.
What pain must have been in the heart of Judas when he finally saw who he really was. And what pain was in the Father's heart as he knew that Judas did not understand that at this very moment when all hell screamed for his soul that he need only turn to the God of Grace to find that he was already forgiven by the very one he betrayed.
And how many have not understood.... A world of tragic consequences has come because no matter how much God has demonstrated His unfailing love we don't believe it. His unfailing love covers every act of hate and evil in our lives if we will take the moment that we finally see the truth of our hearts to trust that He can create something new out of the revelation of all we are without Him.
Psalm 85:10 Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
And they met in Jesus.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. . . . 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
The provision of mercy and grace was as available to Judas as much as to any other human being on earth. He came to the revelation of truth of who he really was but instead of believing what he had seen every minute he was with Jesus he chose to believe in a world without grace.
Truth without Grace became unbearable condemnation. But it was not in the heart of God.
1 John 2:2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
Judas' sin was not beyond the Grace of God. Neither is ours. But we must believe that Truth and Mercy have met in Jesus.
Most of our lives we spend believing we are not as bad as God says we are. But when we finally come face to face with the reality that he was right we can easily believe that we are outside of grace.
The best moment of Judas' life was also the worst. He could never have come to the grace he needed until he understood the darkness of his heart. Those hours after they took Jesus away brought him there. Until that time he had not seen his need for God's mercy. Once he saw it the doors of heaven were open and pleading for his soul to admit his need and come home.... He had seen the love of God in the flesh. He had known the touch of kindness to the worst on the planet. He had seen a legion of demons cast out of a demoniac - totally restored to life. He had seen the transformation of a prostitute saved from stoning by the amazing love and wisdom of the one he called master. He had seen the dead come from a funeral bier and a tomb. He had seen several thousand fed from a few loaves and fish simply to say to them that Jesus loved them more than spiritually. He had looked into Jesus' eyes knowing that he knew him to the depth and yet he did not reject him. But in his final choice he chose hopelessness. Believing that he was outside of grace he took his own life. But it was not what was in God's heart for him or for us.
I have let God show me the truth of my heart. It has at times been such a terrible revelation that I too felt as if I should have never been born. But I have also let Him love me. I could never merit a shred of mercy or grace. Yet there it is..... he loved me so much he gave his life to create the new thing inside of me that would last forever - to make me into what was lost in the beginning - His own image. It takes Truth and Mercy meeting together. And they did in Jesus.
This morning as I was considering a comment someone had made about guilt a number of scriptures came into my heart and the end result was the words Guilt is Conviction without hope - Condemnation is Truth without Grace.
What pain must have been in the heart of Judas when he finally saw who he really was. And what pain was in the Father's heart as he knew that Judas did not understand that at this very moment when all hell screamed for his soul that he need only turn to the God of Grace to find that he was already forgiven by the very one he betrayed.
And how many have not understood.... A world of tragic consequences has come because no matter how much God has demonstrated His unfailing love we don't believe it. His unfailing love covers every act of hate and evil in our lives if we will take the moment that we finally see the truth of our hearts to trust that He can create something new out of the revelation of all we are without Him.
Psalm 85:10 Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
And they met in Jesus.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. . . . 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
The provision of mercy and grace was as available to Judas as much as to any other human being on earth. He came to the revelation of truth of who he really was but instead of believing what he had seen every minute he was with Jesus he chose to believe in a world without grace.
Truth without Grace became unbearable condemnation. But it was not in the heart of God.
1 John 2:2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
Judas' sin was not beyond the Grace of God. Neither is ours. But we must believe that Truth and Mercy have met in Jesus.
Most of our lives we spend believing we are not as bad as God says we are. But when we finally come face to face with the reality that he was right we can easily believe that we are outside of grace.
The best moment of Judas' life was also the worst. He could never have come to the grace he needed until he understood the darkness of his heart. Those hours after they took Jesus away brought him there. Until that time he had not seen his need for God's mercy. Once he saw it the doors of heaven were open and pleading for his soul to admit his need and come home.... He had seen the love of God in the flesh. He had known the touch of kindness to the worst on the planet. He had seen a legion of demons cast out of a demoniac - totally restored to life. He had seen the transformation of a prostitute saved from stoning by the amazing love and wisdom of the one he called master. He had seen the dead come from a funeral bier and a tomb. He had seen several thousand fed from a few loaves and fish simply to say to them that Jesus loved them more than spiritually. He had looked into Jesus' eyes knowing that he knew him to the depth and yet he did not reject him. But in his final choice he chose hopelessness. Believing that he was outside of grace he took his own life. But it was not what was in God's heart for him or for us.
I have let God show me the truth of my heart. It has at times been such a terrible revelation that I too felt as if I should have never been born. But I have also let Him love me. I could never merit a shred of mercy or grace. Yet there it is..... he loved me so much he gave his life to create the new thing inside of me that would last forever - to make me into what was lost in the beginning - His own image. It takes Truth and Mercy meeting together. And they did in Jesus.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
The Bronze Serpent
Numbers 21:4 Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient because of the journey. 5The people spoke against God and Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food." 6 The LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 So the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us." And Moses interceded for the people. 8 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live." 9 And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.
Within this passage is one of the clearest revelations of the Life and Ministry of Jesus in the whole of the Old Testament.
As I have said in my other posts here Israel has once more arrived at the intersection of the Cross and their lives. In spite of seeing the life giving miracles at every point that the Cross came into view.... Instead of understanding that this place of death was there for them to trust in the author of Life to walk them through the valley of the shadow of death to defeat its power and influence.... Instead of embracing the moment as a moment of potential triumph they once again chose to panic. The faithless refrain was the same every time they came to this point of desperate need, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?" So God once more allowed the consequences of their unbelief to be felt. They asked for death and they found it in the form of fiery serpents. The bite of these messengers of truth was death. Many died from their poison.
True to form they once again realized that the God they had accused of desiring them to die in the wilderness was the only one they could turn to when they received the death they asked for. How like us. When we are miserable we accuse God of desiring evil for us..... but when we are beyond miserable to a place of actual desperation we turn (repent) and call out to Him to save us.
In His unfailing love the God of Grace always responds even when we would not. He could have said, "You got yourselves into this mess, you blamed me of seeking your death when I was trying to give you life. To bad. I've had enough of you! Figure it out yourselves." But He didn't. Instead He took an event that would happen thousands of years later and brought it back in time. He told Moses to fashion a bronze serpent and attach it to a piece of wood. In spite of their actual guilt..... in spite of their faithlessness..... in spite of the reality of the plague of death through the serpents, all a person had to do when they were bitten was to look at the serpent on the pole and there would be a life giving flow into their lives to heal the consequences of their wrongs.
Looking ahead to that day he would fulfill the prophetic symbol given by Moses Jesus said.
"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. 16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him." John 3:14-17
What a wonderful God we serve. Even after years of hearing the cries of a nation that continually rejected His love and His life, He showed the full extent of His love in symbol to them and in a prophetic picture through them to us. His own son would become sin for us who knew no sin that the serpent's ancient power of death would be overcome. A serpent on a pole.... His son on a cross. Thousands of years from the time Moses lifted up the Serpent to bring life to those who were bitten by the snake and were dying until Jesus was lifted up on the Tree of Life to bring life to a world dying from the serpent’s beguiling bite of sin. What a wonderful gift! All we have to do is look in faith!
Within this passage is one of the clearest revelations of the Life and Ministry of Jesus in the whole of the Old Testament.
As I have said in my other posts here Israel has once more arrived at the intersection of the Cross and their lives. In spite of seeing the life giving miracles at every point that the Cross came into view.... Instead of understanding that this place of death was there for them to trust in the author of Life to walk them through the valley of the shadow of death to defeat its power and influence.... Instead of embracing the moment as a moment of potential triumph they once again chose to panic. The faithless refrain was the same every time they came to this point of desperate need, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?" So God once more allowed the consequences of their unbelief to be felt. They asked for death and they found it in the form of fiery serpents. The bite of these messengers of truth was death. Many died from their poison.
True to form they once again realized that the God they had accused of desiring them to die in the wilderness was the only one they could turn to when they received the death they asked for. How like us. When we are miserable we accuse God of desiring evil for us..... but when we are beyond miserable to a place of actual desperation we turn (repent) and call out to Him to save us.
In His unfailing love the God of Grace always responds even when we would not. He could have said, "You got yourselves into this mess, you blamed me of seeking your death when I was trying to give you life. To bad. I've had enough of you! Figure it out yourselves." But He didn't. Instead He took an event that would happen thousands of years later and brought it back in time. He told Moses to fashion a bronze serpent and attach it to a piece of wood. In spite of their actual guilt..... in spite of their faithlessness..... in spite of the reality of the plague of death through the serpents, all a person had to do when they were bitten was to look at the serpent on the pole and there would be a life giving flow into their lives to heal the consequences of their wrongs.
Looking ahead to that day he would fulfill the prophetic symbol given by Moses Jesus said.
"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. 16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him." John 3:14-17
What a wonderful God we serve. Even after years of hearing the cries of a nation that continually rejected His love and His life, He showed the full extent of His love in symbol to them and in a prophetic picture through them to us. His own son would become sin for us who knew no sin that the serpent's ancient power of death would be overcome. A serpent on a pole.... His son on a cross. Thousands of years from the time Moses lifted up the Serpent to bring life to those who were bitten by the snake and were dying until Jesus was lifted up on the Tree of Life to bring life to a world dying from the serpent’s beguiling bite of sin. What a wonderful gift! All we have to do is look in faith!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
UNFAILING LOVE
Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and disregards the offenses of others]. I Peter 4:8(Amplified Bible)
In the wee hours of this morning I was meditating on the unfailing love of God. I have never liked the phrase unconditional love. It presents a kind of mind set which I think is rampant in our society and has taken hold of the church as well. The concept is that our actions have no real consequences. To say that God loves us unconditionally, to me, gives the idea that if God loves us it does not matter what we do. His love has no conditions to place on us. Now before you start to think that I am saying that God does not really love us stop! Consider this, what father, if he loves his son does not want his son to grow up to be a man of honor? What mother wants her daughter to grow up to a life of abuse and brokeness due to her own choices? The point is that true love is never unconditional because the one who loves wants the best for the one they love. It would not be enough to have loved our children immensely and never guide them to make right choices.
The reality that I believe people are seeking to say when they use the word unconditional love is really best expressed in the Biblical term "unfailing love." Saying we place expectations on all those we truly love does not mean that we don't love them even when they fail those expectations. The father whose son chooses to go his own way and ends up in disgrace, if they truly love them, will love them even in their disgrace. The mother who truly loves her daughter will continue loving her even if she ends up in the worst places her nightmares ever took her. Loving our children cannot fully undo the consequences that come as a result of their wrong actions.
Unfailing love means that love never ends. It never gives up on us no matter how far we have strayed from its desire for us. This is the love that God felt when He sent Jesus to the world. this is the love that Jesus felt for the Father and for His lost creation as he gave his life up to redeem it. This is the love that we are to allow to flow through us from Him to the world He loves.
As I meditated on these thoughts I suddenly remembered a friendship that had gone wrong many years ago. He fancied himself to be a prophet. I saw his prophecies were not only flawed by their lack of fulfillment but also in their intention to manipulate others.
I would still say that my discernment on this level was true. A doctor cannot help his or her patient unless they make an accurate assessment of their illness. To say that we are judging when we see the reality of a person's need of transformation is incorrect. But I must also say that I did not stop at discernment. I often tell my prophetic friends, "do not presume to correct someone until you have wept for them." I mean by this that we must rid ourselves of animosity and self righteousness to the point where it deeply breaks our heart to see another overtaken in a fault. Scripture tells us this in saying,
"Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted." Galatians 6:1
The truth is that I did not have this kind of heart in those days. I was just a Christian, over forty years ago, and was pretty much full of myself. I had started our friendship with a real love for him but one day in a moment of anger he told me he was a man of God and I was not and that he wanted nothing to do with me again. I did leave him alone but not in my heart. I placed him firmly in my prison of unforgiveness.
It was amazing how easy it was for me to see his faults and warn others of the disaster they would face if they associated with him. I never thought for a moment that what I was doing displeased God. Eventually he ended up in a psychiatric hospital. Part of what he felt was his road to healing was to ask my forgiveness and to admit that I had been right in my seeking to correct him. He did so and I gallantly forgave him. Still I had no understanding that I had failed him or God in any way. I did not resume a relationship with him and he struggled but finally came to a place of healing and is in very effective full time ministry today.
It was years later that I came to understand that I could have helped him much more than I did. I see today that what was lacking in my heart was not truth - I was correct in my thoughts about what he was doing and I was even correct in seeking to lead him away from his fault. The word that I gave him from the Word was faithful to help him even when I was not. What was missing was unfailing love. When he rejected me I quietly responded in kind. Today I grieved once more that I did not overlook his rejection and stayed firm in my resolve to help him. I did not need to be quiet. I needed to keep loving him when he reacted to the discipline of God. Sadly I have seen this characteristic in my life expressed more than once.
Perhaps the most tragic part of the whole thing is that I know I could have helped so many much more than I have if I had settled in my heart that if I did not feel kindness - God's unfailing love - towards others that I would pray until I had it deeply rooted for them.
Again I see this principle of truth meeting mercy. How vital that we understand it. How vital that we live it. I would be a coward to let my friend go off the cliff and say nothing to him because I did not want to "offend" him. I am worse than a coward if when he tells me to keep my mouth shut that I give up on him. I don't need to fight or flee. I need to stand. That means I speak the truth in love. Truth and mercy must kiss. And when they do unfailing love is the result.
Jesus never gave up on me, nor will he ever do so. He has disciplined me almost to the point of death to keep my soul from perishing eternally and I love him for it. But when I rejected him in the midst of this vital discipline he did not reject me. His unfailing love never ends.
In the wee hours of this morning I was meditating on the unfailing love of God. I have never liked the phrase unconditional love. It presents a kind of mind set which I think is rampant in our society and has taken hold of the church as well. The concept is that our actions have no real consequences. To say that God loves us unconditionally, to me, gives the idea that if God loves us it does not matter what we do. His love has no conditions to place on us. Now before you start to think that I am saying that God does not really love us stop! Consider this, what father, if he loves his son does not want his son to grow up to be a man of honor? What mother wants her daughter to grow up to a life of abuse and brokeness due to her own choices? The point is that true love is never unconditional because the one who loves wants the best for the one they love. It would not be enough to have loved our children immensely and never guide them to make right choices.
The reality that I believe people are seeking to say when they use the word unconditional love is really best expressed in the Biblical term "unfailing love." Saying we place expectations on all those we truly love does not mean that we don't love them even when they fail those expectations. The father whose son chooses to go his own way and ends up in disgrace, if they truly love them, will love them even in their disgrace. The mother who truly loves her daughter will continue loving her even if she ends up in the worst places her nightmares ever took her. Loving our children cannot fully undo the consequences that come as a result of their wrong actions.
Unfailing love means that love never ends. It never gives up on us no matter how far we have strayed from its desire for us. This is the love that God felt when He sent Jesus to the world. this is the love that Jesus felt for the Father and for His lost creation as he gave his life up to redeem it. This is the love that we are to allow to flow through us from Him to the world He loves.
As I meditated on these thoughts I suddenly remembered a friendship that had gone wrong many years ago. He fancied himself to be a prophet. I saw his prophecies were not only flawed by their lack of fulfillment but also in their intention to manipulate others.
I would still say that my discernment on this level was true. A doctor cannot help his or her patient unless they make an accurate assessment of their illness. To say that we are judging when we see the reality of a person's need of transformation is incorrect. But I must also say that I did not stop at discernment. I often tell my prophetic friends, "do not presume to correct someone until you have wept for them." I mean by this that we must rid ourselves of animosity and self righteousness to the point where it deeply breaks our heart to see another overtaken in a fault. Scripture tells us this in saying,
"Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted." Galatians 6:1
The truth is that I did not have this kind of heart in those days. I was just a Christian, over forty years ago, and was pretty much full of myself. I had started our friendship with a real love for him but one day in a moment of anger he told me he was a man of God and I was not and that he wanted nothing to do with me again. I did leave him alone but not in my heart. I placed him firmly in my prison of unforgiveness.
It was amazing how easy it was for me to see his faults and warn others of the disaster they would face if they associated with him. I never thought for a moment that what I was doing displeased God. Eventually he ended up in a psychiatric hospital. Part of what he felt was his road to healing was to ask my forgiveness and to admit that I had been right in my seeking to correct him. He did so and I gallantly forgave him. Still I had no understanding that I had failed him or God in any way. I did not resume a relationship with him and he struggled but finally came to a place of healing and is in very effective full time ministry today.
It was years later that I came to understand that I could have helped him much more than I did. I see today that what was lacking in my heart was not truth - I was correct in my thoughts about what he was doing and I was even correct in seeking to lead him away from his fault. The word that I gave him from the Word was faithful to help him even when I was not. What was missing was unfailing love. When he rejected me I quietly responded in kind. Today I grieved once more that I did not overlook his rejection and stayed firm in my resolve to help him. I did not need to be quiet. I needed to keep loving him when he reacted to the discipline of God. Sadly I have seen this characteristic in my life expressed more than once.
Perhaps the most tragic part of the whole thing is that I know I could have helped so many much more than I have if I had settled in my heart that if I did not feel kindness - God's unfailing love - towards others that I would pray until I had it deeply rooted for them.
Again I see this principle of truth meeting mercy. How vital that we understand it. How vital that we live it. I would be a coward to let my friend go off the cliff and say nothing to him because I did not want to "offend" him. I am worse than a coward if when he tells me to keep my mouth shut that I give up on him. I don't need to fight or flee. I need to stand. That means I speak the truth in love. Truth and mercy must kiss. And when they do unfailing love is the result.
Jesus never gave up on me, nor will he ever do so. He has disciplined me almost to the point of death to keep my soul from perishing eternally and I love him for it. But when I rejected him in the midst of this vital discipline he did not reject me. His unfailing love never ends.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
A Grief Observed
Numbers 20
23 Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying, 24 Aaron will be gathered to his people; for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the sons of Israel, because you rebelled against My command at the waters of Meribah. 25 Take Aaron and his son Eleazar and bring them up to Mount Hor; 26 and strip Aaron of his garments and put them on his son Eleazar. So Aaron will be gathered to his people, and will die there." 27 So Moses did just as the LORD had commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. 28 After Moses had stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on his son Eleazar, Aaron died there on the mountain top. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. 29 When all the congregation saw that Aaron had died, all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.
These passages tell of events that happen every day for people everywhere. Death is an inevitable reality that will touch all our lives. The loss of those we love leaves us with grief that at times can be inconsolable. Yet in the West we don't do very well in dealing with grief. I have also found in my years of pastoral ministry that often Christians are the worst in dealing with grief. We meet the profoundly destructive event of death with almost a "put on a happy face" mentality. Certainly Paul exhorts us not to grieve as those who have no hope but I have actually experienced in my only life that the love that God places in our hearts for others leaves us deeply grieving on their loss even though we do have a hope of being reunited. Today's passage tells us that the Israelites grieved for Aaron for thirty days. It was not just a sad time while they went about their work. Semitic peoples understand the importance of the grief process. They understand the need for tears to be shed. They understand the importance of valuing the life of their loved ones by conversing about the good, hard and hurtful experiences that attends a death. In our seeking to anesthetize ourselves from the pain of life we have only sublimated it only to have it surface with long term consequences in the future. The Israelites did not do this. They took the time they needed to fully embrace the loss and work through all it meant.
I learned this principle in a profound way in regard to my own loss of my father. If I had lost him in death it perhaps would have been an easier loss. I lost him through a bitter marriage that ended when I was still a child. After he left our home I only saw him a few hours for the rest of his life. His loss was devastating in many ways. Being a very long time ago we lived in a world that knew nothing of single moms and prodigal fathers. Most of the things a boy did had to have his father associated with it. I could not belong to the Boy Scouts because I did not have a dad to be with me. I loved electronics as a child and saw an advertisement for a special event at our local fair grounds where you got a crystal radio you put together to take home. I walked the several miles to get there only to be told at the door that my dad had to bring me.
As many experiences like this began to add up I began to close my heart in an attempt to stop hurting. Outwardly it seemed it did quit. I am sure that inwardly I did everything to escape the vulnerability I felt. But as I put the walls up to not be hurt anymore something else happened. I found that I could no longer feel tender things either. Years later after I had been a Christian for a long time I was meditating on the Cross and How Jesus faced it. Perhaps it was revelation by the Spirit of God or perhaps the Word finally got past the lies the had buried my grief. I realized that Jesus did not seek to rid himself of the pain he felt. He did not try to save himself from the pain of the cross but fully embraced all it meant. He let his emotions be fully experienced. He gave full expression of his sense of rejection even to the point that he cried out asking why God had forsaken him. In seeing how Jesus approached his pain, I felt like God spoke to me almost audibly that they only way I could effectively deal with my pain was to just let it hurt.
God gave us tears to express our grief. Suddenly the ancient grief of my father's loss came deeply into my heart. I wept uncontrollably for about five hours. for another five I wept in quietness. Over the next few weeks I often would have memories that had been totally buried of good times with my father before he left us and again I would weep until the pain was gone.
I have seen so many people end up on alcohol or drugs, involved in extramarital affairs, burying themselves in their work or become so depressed they can no longer function because of unresolved grief. I have seen people become angry, bitter people who never allow anyone to touch them again because of a traumatic relationship experience. I have even seen people kill others or themselves due to the loss of one they loved. All of them had one thing in common. They sought to rid themselves of their pain by means other than the one God gave us - grieving.
On the day that the buried pain that I had held for years welled up in my heart I finally just let it hurt. I thought I might never quit weeping but I did. There are still days that I feel the pain and I have learned to not do anything but let it hurt as fully as it does.
I also learned one other thing. I learned to give my pain to God. Sometimes I have heard people say this but what they meant was to bury it through denial and use God as the burial ground. In fact if you had asked me the day before I learned how to grieve I would have said that I had totally given it to God. But that day I understood giving it to God to mean something different than I ever had before. I found out in such a deep way that God would let me grieve and by opening my heart in that grief to Him, He would comfort me. This is the very foundation of our ministry to others. As we are comforted by God in our times of distress we then can comfort others.
2 Corinthians
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. 6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; 7 and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
The Tree of Life
Numbers 17
1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 "Speak to the sons of Israel, and get from them a rod for each father's household: twelve rods, from all their leaders according to their fathers' households. You shall write each name on his rod,
3and write Aaron's name on the rod of Levi; for there is one rod for the head of each of their fathers' households. 4 "You shall then deposit them in the tent of meeting in front of the testimony, where I meet with you. 5 "It will come about that the rod of the man whom I choose will sprout. Thus I will lessen from upon Myself the grumblings of the sons of Israel, who are grumbling against you."
6 Moses therefore spoke to the sons of Israel, and all their leaders gave him a rod apiece, for each leader according to their fathers' households, twelve rods, with the rod of Aaron among their rods. 7 So Moses deposited the rods before the LORD in the tent of the testimony. 8 Now on the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony; and behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds. 9 Moses then brought out all the rods from the presence of the LORD to all the sons of Israel; and they looked, and each man took his rod. 10 But the LORD said to Moses, "Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony to be kept as a sign against the rebels, that you may put an end to their grumblings against Me, so that they will not die." 11 Thus Moses did; just as the LORD had commanded him, so he did.
As I read these verses over and over and was thinking about the understanding that the Cloud leads us to the place of death to give us life I thought about the Tree of Life.
Moses was having a rough time with the others in leadership. First it was Miriam, then the Levitical leaders and finally most of the camp. Aaron was the centre of the controversy as the spiritual leader of the whole nation. Moses was asking God to confirm to the people that Arron was indeed the choice he had made to be the high priest. God did a miracle that involved the branch of a tree that had been his walking stick. When it was put before the Lord with all the others his rod came alive, grew leaves blossoms and almonds. No small task for a dead piece of wood. But that is exactly what happened at the cross.
This theme seems to be everywhere I look. As I have pondered the meaning of this for us today it was as if God Himself said again, "The world, the flesh and the devil promise you life but end up killing you, the Cross promises death but ends up giving you life."
Aaron's rod represented Aaron's life. When he placed it before the Lord in surrender God's power brought what was dead to life. The surrender is the Cross. The life is the Resurrection. And there it is to for all to see - a dead piece of tree that brought forth living fruit. This surely was the sign of the Cross to that generation.
I find it so extraordinarily interesting that the life giving fruit of the Garden of Eden which if eaten gave eternal life was found on a tree.
Genesis 3:22 Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"--
It was on a Cross, a piece of wood from a tree, that the life of the Son of God was poured out to give life to the world he loved. I do not believe this is a coincidence.
It was on the Cross death was met and conquered forever. In order to find that life we too must walk the way of the Cross. The Cross is the Tree of Life. The world the flesh and the devil constantly tells us that their way will save us. But ultimately they eternally kill us. The Cross tells us we will be slain but ultimately releases the power of life in us that can never be killed.
Mark 8:31
And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. 33 But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's." 34 And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 35 "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. 36 "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? 37 "For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
As Jesus was hung on the Tree of Life he died. That's what the world sees. A tragic figure who trusted in God but God failed him.
Matthew 27:39 And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads
40and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross." 41 In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying, 42 "He saved others; He cannot save Himself He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. 43 "HE TRUSTS IN GOD; LET GOD RESCUE Him now, IF HE DELIGHTS IN HIM; for He said, 'I am the Son of God.'"
They saw the reality of death like we do. But Jesus knew that the death he would die on the Tree of Life would undo death forever. He knew that Aaron's rod placed in surrender before the presence of the Almighty would burst forth with abundant life. He knew that those who would embrace their cross would find the same..... in the place they thought death was life would come.
Today that means for me that far from seeing the Cross as the my place of death, my cross is the door to life. Embracing it will kill something but not me. It will kill the lies, it will kill the evil in my soul, but it will not kill me. It will be the very thing that brings the me that God had in his mind when he called my name before the world began to full life. Out of this dead earth hung and killed on the Tree of Life comes a glorious creature formed in His image and created to do His will.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Four Visions on my other Blog
I posted Four Visions that have changed my life on my other Blog site:
Word-of-Grace.blogspot.com
The First Vision -- The Price:
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5828370888324308389#editor/target=post;postID=4808832145941617034;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=22;src=postname
The Second Vision -- The Purpose:
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5828370888324308389#editor/target=post;postID=3935825670076512120;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=23;src=postname
The Third Vision -- The Proof:
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5828370888324308389#editor/target=post;postID=6597049292074147321;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=24;src=postname
The Fourth Vision - The Power:
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5828370888324308389#editor/target=post;postID=2161818271705641996;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=25;src=postname
Blessings,
Leonard
Word-of-Grace.blogspot.com
The First Vision -- The Price:
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5828370888324308389#editor/target=post;postID=4808832145941617034;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=22;src=postname
The Second Vision -- The Purpose:
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5828370888324308389#editor/target=post;postID=3935825670076512120;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=23;src=postname
The Third Vision -- The Proof:
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5828370888324308389#editor/target=post;postID=6597049292074147321;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=24;src=postname
The Fourth Vision - The Power:
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5828370888324308389#editor/target=post;postID=2161818271705641996;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=25;src=postname
Blessings,
Leonard
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The Cloud and the Cross
Numbers 14:1 Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night.
2All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!
3"Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?"
4 So they said to one another, "Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt."
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in the presence of all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel.
6Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes;
7and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, "The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land.
8 "If the LORD is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us-- a land which flows with milk and honey.
9"Only do not rebel against the LORD; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them."
10 But all the congregation said to stone them with stones Then the glory of the LORD appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel.
11 The LORD said to Moses, "How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst?
They had finally arrived. It was theirs for the taking. God's promises were all before them. Yet at the most important moment that God had been leading them to all except two turn against His plan. In the same moment two men choose to believe what they had seen all along..... that God's plan was for their welfare and not for evil. Why?
I believe it was in this moment of decision everyone saw the shadow of the cross. It spoke in a prophetic way of a day when a man would make the same kind of choice that Caleb and Joshua did. Jesus chose to believe that God's plan, even though it meant his death, was the right plan...... "nevertheless, not my will be done but thy will be done", he said. This is the essence of faith.
Joshua and Caleb had seen the pattern. The Cloud always led to a place of death if God did not intervene. It led the to the Reed sea where Egypt had them cornered. It led them to the Waters of Meribah where the water was undrinkable and they were dying of thirst. It led them to the Wilderness where there was no food. It led them to the edge of the promised land where the men that would oppose their entrance were giants and lived in strongly fortified cities that had walls up to heaven. Each place the Cloud led them was a place of death unless God kept His promise. We often think of the word Moses and later Jesus spoke that in the wilderness, "He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. (Deuteronomy 8:3)" as being an admonition to study the Bible. It is that for sure but it is even more an invitation to believe what we read with such a conviction that we know even when food cannot keep us alive God's promises can.
They saw the mighty miracles day after day. Every day they went out to see God had once again provided their nutrition for that day. But still their hearts were hardened. "Why has God led us out here into this wilderness? Because there were not enough graves in Egypt." No he leads us out to save us from the grave. The only salvation from the grave was the cross. Where ever the Cloud went they saw the cross. All the world could do to convince us to turn from God was placed before them with the promise that they would be able to walk through it with God.
This is faith. It is not a formula for avoiding death. It is the way we walk through death. The cloud led them to the place of death only to show them death had no power over them. Listen to Joshua and Caleb:
Numbers 14:6Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; 7and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, "The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. 8 "If the LORD is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us-- a land which flows with milk and honey. 9"Only do not rebel against the LORD; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them."
They had seen the pattern. The Cloud led them to the place of death and they would overcome it by God's promise and power. They knew that God would keep his word no matter what circumstances they faced. They believed in God. They say the cross and the death it meant on a human level. Yet they saw beyond the cross to the resurrection. And they believed. They alone of all the people who came out of Egypt that were twenty years and older went into the land of promise. They alone of a whole generation saw the truth that the Cloud would never lead them to the place of death without the purpose of demonstrating to them and the nations that the worst that life could do was not enough to overcome God's care.
Today the message is the same. Do not look at the threat the world sets before us. Look at our God who has given us His promises. The Cloud still leads us to the place of death, not to kill us but to teach us that He will never leave us, nor forsake us. Jesus faced death in the most horrible way possible. The torment that he faced after death was worse. Yet God walked with him every step of the way. "Not my will but thine be done" led to the cross. "Into thy hands I commit my spirit" was the faith that let him die victoriously and God did the rest.
Will the Cloud lead us to the Cross? Most assuredly. In fact it will always lead us there. But those who believe will not find darkness like the Egyptians did but light. They will not find death but new life. That is what the cross has done. That is what the cross will always do.
2All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!
3"Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?"
4 So they said to one another, "Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt."
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in the presence of all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel.
6Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes;
7and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, "The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land.
8 "If the LORD is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us-- a land which flows with milk and honey.
9"Only do not rebel against the LORD; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them."
10 But all the congregation said to stone them with stones Then the glory of the LORD appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel.
11 The LORD said to Moses, "How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst?
They had finally arrived. It was theirs for the taking. God's promises were all before them. Yet at the most important moment that God had been leading them to all except two turn against His plan. In the same moment two men choose to believe what they had seen all along..... that God's plan was for their welfare and not for evil. Why?
I believe it was in this moment of decision everyone saw the shadow of the cross. It spoke in a prophetic way of a day when a man would make the same kind of choice that Caleb and Joshua did. Jesus chose to believe that God's plan, even though it meant his death, was the right plan...... "nevertheless, not my will be done but thy will be done", he said. This is the essence of faith.
Joshua and Caleb had seen the pattern. The Cloud always led to a place of death if God did not intervene. It led the to the Reed sea where Egypt had them cornered. It led them to the Waters of Meribah where the water was undrinkable and they were dying of thirst. It led them to the Wilderness where there was no food. It led them to the edge of the promised land where the men that would oppose their entrance were giants and lived in strongly fortified cities that had walls up to heaven. Each place the Cloud led them was a place of death unless God kept His promise. We often think of the word Moses and later Jesus spoke that in the wilderness, "He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. (Deuteronomy 8:3)" as being an admonition to study the Bible. It is that for sure but it is even more an invitation to believe what we read with such a conviction that we know even when food cannot keep us alive God's promises can.
They saw the mighty miracles day after day. Every day they went out to see God had once again provided their nutrition for that day. But still their hearts were hardened. "Why has God led us out here into this wilderness? Because there were not enough graves in Egypt." No he leads us out to save us from the grave. The only salvation from the grave was the cross. Where ever the Cloud went they saw the cross. All the world could do to convince us to turn from God was placed before them with the promise that they would be able to walk through it with God.
This is faith. It is not a formula for avoiding death. It is the way we walk through death. The cloud led them to the place of death only to show them death had no power over them. Listen to Joshua and Caleb:
Numbers 14:6Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; 7and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, "The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. 8 "If the LORD is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us-- a land which flows with milk and honey. 9"Only do not rebel against the LORD; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them."
They had seen the pattern. The Cloud led them to the place of death and they would overcome it by God's promise and power. They knew that God would keep his word no matter what circumstances they faced. They believed in God. They say the cross and the death it meant on a human level. Yet they saw beyond the cross to the resurrection. And they believed. They alone of all the people who came out of Egypt that were twenty years and older went into the land of promise. They alone of a whole generation saw the truth that the Cloud would never lead them to the place of death without the purpose of demonstrating to them and the nations that the worst that life could do was not enough to overcome God's care.
Today the message is the same. Do not look at the threat the world sets before us. Look at our God who has given us His promises. The Cloud still leads us to the place of death, not to kill us but to teach us that He will never leave us, nor forsake us. Jesus faced death in the most horrible way possible. The torment that he faced after death was worse. Yet God walked with him every step of the way. "Not my will but thine be done" led to the cross. "Into thy hands I commit my spirit" was the faith that let him die victoriously and God did the rest.
Will the Cloud lead us to the Cross? Most assuredly. In fact it will always lead us there. But those who believe will not find darkness like the Egyptians did but light. They will not find death but new life. That is what the cross has done. That is what the cross will always do.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
The Cloud and The Nations
Numbers 14:13 But Moses said to the LORD, "Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought up this people from their midst, 14 and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, O LORD, are in the midst of this people, for You, O LORD, are seen eye to eye, while Your cloud stands over them; and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.
We often think of God's guidance in a rather self centered way. We tend to think that it is primarily for us that He leads us. This portion of my reading today tells us that those who watch our lives have an opportunity to see God's reality being worked out in our lives. This is vital to our understanding of our witness. God is manifesting His plan through us not just to help us but to reveal Himself and to bring honor to Him.
The nations who spied on the Israelites saw a sight that must have made them wonder. In the middle of their camp was this strange pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. It was clear that something unusual was happening. The Egyptians had seen the powerful protection that cloud brought to Israel. They also knew it was God. They communicated this to all the nations. They saw the cloud and knew that the same God that had done so many mighty acts in Egypt was still with them.
For us today this surely means that the mighty acts that God does in our lives are not just to bless us. I believe this is why so many do not understand why some have miraculous demonstrations of God's power in their lives and others do not. It is because God is seeking to do something far beyond us. It is not just a personal issue. It is for every other person that will be connected to our lives.
I also believe that when we begin to see our lives as God's showcase we will be better prepared to face adversity. Like Israel, some will have miraculous interventions that show His power. Others will have His presence to take them through trouble. The Cloud for us is not only the miraculous provision but the sustaining power to walk us through the darkest times. When the Egyptians caught up with Israel at the Sea of Reeds the Cloud provided light for Israel to cross but all the Egyptians saw was darkness.
Exodus 14:19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
When those who do not yet trust our God watch us go through deep valleys with the grace of God on our lives it points them to God's reality. All the people who watch see is the darkness. We see His light. His reality in our lives then becomes an invitation for others to find their way to Him and out of their darkness.
So the thought that grips my heart today is that the Cloud of our God's presence as it rests on our lives as it did over the camp of Israel will not only be there for us but for everyone who shares this life with us.
We often think of God's guidance in a rather self centered way. We tend to think that it is primarily for us that He leads us. This portion of my reading today tells us that those who watch our lives have an opportunity to see God's reality being worked out in our lives. This is vital to our understanding of our witness. God is manifesting His plan through us not just to help us but to reveal Himself and to bring honor to Him.
The nations who spied on the Israelites saw a sight that must have made them wonder. In the middle of their camp was this strange pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. It was clear that something unusual was happening. The Egyptians had seen the powerful protection that cloud brought to Israel. They also knew it was God. They communicated this to all the nations. They saw the cloud and knew that the same God that had done so many mighty acts in Egypt was still with them.
For us today this surely means that the mighty acts that God does in our lives are not just to bless us. I believe this is why so many do not understand why some have miraculous demonstrations of God's power in their lives and others do not. It is because God is seeking to do something far beyond us. It is not just a personal issue. It is for every other person that will be connected to our lives.
I also believe that when we begin to see our lives as God's showcase we will be better prepared to face adversity. Like Israel, some will have miraculous interventions that show His power. Others will have His presence to take them through trouble. The Cloud for us is not only the miraculous provision but the sustaining power to walk us through the darkest times. When the Egyptians caught up with Israel at the Sea of Reeds the Cloud provided light for Israel to cross but all the Egyptians saw was darkness.
Exodus 14:19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
When those who do not yet trust our God watch us go through deep valleys with the grace of God on our lives it points them to God's reality. All the people who watch see is the darkness. We see His light. His reality in our lives then becomes an invitation for others to find their way to Him and out of their darkness.
So the thought that grips my heart today is that the Cloud of our God's presence as it rests on our lives as it did over the camp of Israel will not only be there for us but for everyone who shares this life with us.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Follow the Cloud
15Now on the day that the tabernacle was erected the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony, and in the evening it was like the appearance of fire over the tabernacle, until morning.
The second thing it surely means is that we should seek to know what God's plans are for us on a moment by moment basis. I see that we seek God deeply for a time when our lives seem to need direction because we are starting a new chapter in our lives or some event has altered the path we were going down. These are certainly times where we need to seek Him to find the path He desires us to be on. But to follow the cloud Israel had to be looking for the moment it would lift and show a new direction. We know that the cloud sometimes stayed for a long time and sometimes for a short time. We also know that God did not give another way to be led. They could not know if they were going or staying except it be by the cloud. It would have been less anxiety provoking if He had said, "You are going to be here 256 days so enjoy your stay." The very temporariness of their camping situation made them all the more prepared for the next move. They never settled into a thinking that removed new possibilities from them. Each day was a possible new adventure. And even if it wasn't moving day they still had to see it as a big possibility.
This mindset has been a great help to me throughout my life. I have never found myself locked into a thinking that left me believing that what I was experiencing of God today was all that I was going to or could experience. It has helped me to remain flexible in following His plan. It has kept me from settling into a life without expectation of new horizons. It has kept a large element of excitement for the next thing God will lead me to in my life. It has kept me from selling out for less than he has planned. And perhaps most of all it has kept me from being led by circumstances alone. Until He has said to move I have been able to resist the voices of expediency or the lure of "success." Determining to be led by God alone does not leave you driven by the winds of changing situations or human demands. Placing a firm commitment to find His will and do it no matter what the evidence to do something else keeps us on a course of dependency and puts us in the position to see miracles continuously. It opens the door for our faith to be exercised. It build in us a capacity to see the work of God done in impossible situations because we know he has led us and will provide all that we need as we have followed him.
Just a small glance at where the cloud did lead Israel will demonstrate this truth. Think about it..... to a sea that was impossible to cross on foot and no boats. The mightiest military unit in the then known world was hot in pursuit. The result? The most unusual battle that was ever fought. Not one Israelite killed an Egyptian yet not one of them was harmed. That is what we can expect when we follow the cloud. Tested by impossible circumstances and met with an all powerful God's care.
Of course you will say, "But no one today has a cloud that leads them like Israel did." You are right in one way. But the cloud was the manifestation of God for them in that moment. Today our cloud is found primarily in a book - the Bible. As we daily seek His voice in its pages we will find His guidance. That guidance today includes where we are to direct our footsteps but far more what the motivation for those footsteps are to be. God is interested in where we are but having us, just like Israel, in the place we are supposed to be is not important if our hearts are not what He wants them to be. Israel was led in such a sure way that they would have had to have made a choice not to follow to miss it. But right after the cloud led them through a sea with 30 foot walls on either side, after their enemies drown when those walls caved in, after one of the greatest demonstrations of God's love for a nation was shown them they started to grumble and complain.
I learned that following the Cloud primarily means letting God make me into who he wants me to be. Yes it does involve going places but as I have studied these passages and the rest of the biblical passages on guidance I have come to understand it is who we are and not just where we are that matters.
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD,
And He delights in his way.
Psalm 37:23
There is a lot more here to consider but for today this is my meditation.
16So it was continuously; the cloud would cover it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.
17 Whenever the cloud was lifted from over the tent, afterward the sons of Israel would then set out; and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the sons of Israel would camp.
18At the command of the LORD the sons of Israel would set out, and at the command of the LORD they would camp; as long as the cloud settled over the tabernacle, they remained camped.
19Even when the cloud lingered over the tabernacle for many days, the sons of Israel would keep the LORD'S charge and not set out.
20If sometimes the cloud remained a few days over the tabernacle, according to the command of the LORD they remained camped. Then according to the command of the LORD they set out.
21If sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning, when the cloud was lifted in the morning, they would move out; or if it remained in the daytime and at night, whenever the cloud was lifted, they would set out.
22Whether it was two days or a month or a year that the cloud lingered over the tabernacle, staying above it, the sons of Israel remained camped and did not set out; but when it was lifted, they did set out.
Numbers 9:15-22
When we come to believe that God is real one of the first things we realize is there is a larger perspective in which to put our lives. When everything was simply chaos we had no inkling of a grand design into which our lives fit. But upon the invasion of our randomness with the eternal we face a new possibility - a purposeful, planned reason for our existence.
This was one of the very first questions I asked as a Christian. What do you desire for me to do with my life?
There are many ways of looking at the issue of guidance. Mainstream orthodoxy has had two perspectives that are in some ways mutually exclusive.
One sees all of life as being pre-planned. The word predestination is heard a lot in these circles. There are a host of presuppositions that go with this view that, in the most strict understanding, leave no room for human volition.
The other, as well in the extreme, sees nothing pre-planned but God responding to each human choice somewhat like a chess player.
I found early in my believing life that these positions did not satisfy the reality of life nor the actual teachings of scripture. I came to see that both, in the extreme, missed God's ways. I also saw that a middle point between the two did not meet these either.
As I sought God and studied the Bible to find an answer to what I felt was one of the most important questions of my life I began to see that there is a wonderful interaction between God and humans that is both biblical and realistic. I found myself often seeing in the bible, in creation and in history that we have our part and God has His part. When we do what God asks of us He does what He promises us. If we do not then He cannot.
In that light we see in my devotional text for today a simple way that Israel was able to know that they were following God. From the time they left Goshen until they arrived in Israel they were attended by a visible sign of God's presence. It looked like a vertical cloud in the daytime and a pillar of fire at night. Perhaps I will share more about the importance of this for the Israelites in future posts but for now I want to understand its role in leading them and how it may relate to us in the now.
It was a very simple process. The cloud came down and stayed in one place, Israel camped and stayed in one place. The cloud elevated and began to move, Israel followed it. Simple.
This pattern went on for the whole time Israel was in the desert.
What could this mean to us today? I believe it at least means that God desires to guide us very specifically. There was no doubt that everywhere Israel went they could know for sure that God desired them to be there.
21 The LORD was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.
22 He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.
Exodus 13:21-22
I believe that we are to have that same assurance. I believe God is as interested in leading us as He was leading Israel.The second thing it surely means is that we should seek to know what God's plans are for us on a moment by moment basis. I see that we seek God deeply for a time when our lives seem to need direction because we are starting a new chapter in our lives or some event has altered the path we were going down. These are certainly times where we need to seek Him to find the path He desires us to be on. But to follow the cloud Israel had to be looking for the moment it would lift and show a new direction. We know that the cloud sometimes stayed for a long time and sometimes for a short time. We also know that God did not give another way to be led. They could not know if they were going or staying except it be by the cloud. It would have been less anxiety provoking if He had said, "You are going to be here 256 days so enjoy your stay." The very temporariness of their camping situation made them all the more prepared for the next move. They never settled into a thinking that removed new possibilities from them. Each day was a possible new adventure. And even if it wasn't moving day they still had to see it as a big possibility.
This mindset has been a great help to me throughout my life. I have never found myself locked into a thinking that left me believing that what I was experiencing of God today was all that I was going to or could experience. It has helped me to remain flexible in following His plan. It has kept me from settling into a life without expectation of new horizons. It has kept a large element of excitement for the next thing God will lead me to in my life. It has kept me from selling out for less than he has planned. And perhaps most of all it has kept me from being led by circumstances alone. Until He has said to move I have been able to resist the voices of expediency or the lure of "success." Determining to be led by God alone does not leave you driven by the winds of changing situations or human demands. Placing a firm commitment to find His will and do it no matter what the evidence to do something else keeps us on a course of dependency and puts us in the position to see miracles continuously. It opens the door for our faith to be exercised. It build in us a capacity to see the work of God done in impossible situations because we know he has led us and will provide all that we need as we have followed him.
Just a small glance at where the cloud did lead Israel will demonstrate this truth. Think about it..... to a sea that was impossible to cross on foot and no boats. The mightiest military unit in the then known world was hot in pursuit. The result? The most unusual battle that was ever fought. Not one Israelite killed an Egyptian yet not one of them was harmed. That is what we can expect when we follow the cloud. Tested by impossible circumstances and met with an all powerful God's care.
Of course you will say, "But no one today has a cloud that leads them like Israel did." You are right in one way. But the cloud was the manifestation of God for them in that moment. Today our cloud is found primarily in a book - the Bible. As we daily seek His voice in its pages we will find His guidance. That guidance today includes where we are to direct our footsteps but far more what the motivation for those footsteps are to be. God is interested in where we are but having us, just like Israel, in the place we are supposed to be is not important if our hearts are not what He wants them to be. Israel was led in such a sure way that they would have had to have made a choice not to follow to miss it. But right after the cloud led them through a sea with 30 foot walls on either side, after their enemies drown when those walls caved in, after one of the greatest demonstrations of God's love for a nation was shown them they started to grumble and complain.
I learned that following the Cloud primarily means letting God make me into who he wants me to be. Yes it does involve going places but as I have studied these passages and the rest of the biblical passages on guidance I have come to understand it is who we are and not just where we are that matters.
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD,
And He delights in his way.
Psalm 37:23
There is a lot more here to consider but for today this is my meditation.
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