“I have told you these things,
so that in me you may have peace.
In this world you will have trouble.
But take heart!
I have overcome the world.”
-Jesus
(John 16:33)
Take Heart
Tag: change
There Will Come a Day
“It is not for us to predict the day – but the day will come – when people will once more be called to speak the word of God in such a way that the world is changed and renewed. It will be a new language, perhaps quite non-religious language, but liberating and redeeming—like Jesus’ language; so that people will be alarmed and yet overcome by its power – the language of a new righteousness and truth, a language proclaiming that God makes peace with humankind and that God’s kingdom is drawing near. Till then the Christian cause will be a silent and hidden affair, but there will be those who pray and do right and wait for God’s own time.”
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Thoughts on the Day of Baptism, Letters and papers from prison.
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Transcendent
Well here it is past midnight, again.
It’s time to let go of this day, but I don’t want to let go. I want to squeeze more out of it.
Hey, God! I still have questions! I don’t understand what your plans are in regards to this flood thing. My kid’s house has a big old “UNINHABITABLE” sign slapped on it now after 8 feet of sewage-contaminated river water swamped everything they worked so hard for and has left nothing but a mess and a huge mortgage. What now? This waiting, waiting, waiting is getting a little hard on the nerves, not just for them (and us) but for everyone in their town. I know you promised to never leave your children destitute or begging for bread, but I’m watching my grandkids having to let go of their beds, their bikes, their books, their clothes -everything that is familiar. I’m watching my son and daughter-in-law who are the hardest-working, most giving people I know, just standing by, unable to do any more work, feeling exhausted and discouraged with nothing left to give and no home to go home to.
This is hard Lord. I would appreciate some answers about now.
And as I try to figure out how to help them -and can’t do it- I am reminded that God promises to give peace that passes understanding. God is not logical. Neither is he illogical. He is supra-logical, transcendent. He cares about our minds enough to protect them with his peace, but his peace requires a bit of letting go of our own right to understand.
Don’t worry over anything whatever; tell God every detail of your needs in earnest and thankful prayer, and the peace of God which transcends human understanding, will keep constant guard over your hearts and minds as they rest in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6,7)
Elisabeth Elliot wrote, “Waiting on God requires the willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting the heart to God about it whenever it intrudes upon one’s thoughts.”
To tell you the truth, I would be rather disappointed in a God who is no smarter than I am. The most intellectually wealthy folks on earth (and I’ve known a few) have trouble squeezing their brains through the eye of the needle as much as any rich man’s stuff-laden camel. Brains are not enough. In fact our heads tend to get stuck in narrow places or throw our balance off when they become too big. Unless we are willing to jettison not only some of our stuff but our need to comprehend the eternal repercussions of any event right now, or at least submit that need to the One who can see the whole big, B-I-G picture, there is no peace.
The peace that passes understanding leaves our understanding in the dust.
You have brought me through so many tough, tight places, Lord. I will remember and honour you by trusting you and going to bed now -in peace.
P.S. It will be interesting to see how you get us out of this one.
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Always Something
There
Is
Always
Something
There is always something to be thankful for.
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.
Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.
Then you will experience God’s peace,
which exceeds anything we can understand.
His peace will guard your hearts and minds
as you live in Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 4:6,7)
There is always something to be thankful for.
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Steeples
This mountain range is called The Steeples. I love the name. Steeples point to the transcendent and remind us to raise our eyes above the dailiness of life to something greater.
At least that’s what I understand the architectural metaphor to mean.
Alas, I must admit that like a lot of other people who have been given the opportunity to forgive some of the institutions operating under many of those towers, at times disappointment causes me to lower my head in embarrassment. In fact, I avoided them for a quite a while. Buildings may express aspirations, but it is Christ himself living in the heart of his followers that enlivens those expressions. Without love they are simply stones, wood, nails, and glass. Without love there is more joy found in a field of wild grass than in a group of other members of the body of Christ.
Without love the steeples silently point to thin air.
Lovers point to Love.
“So I [Jesus] give you a new command: Love each other deeply and fully. Remember the ways that I have loved you, and demonstrate your love for others in those same ways. Everyone will know you as My followers if you demonstrate your love to others.” (John 13:34,35)
Without love, it’s all a gong show.
What if I speak in the most elegant languages of people or in the exotic languages of the heavenly messengers, but I live without love? Well then, anything I say is like the clanging of brass or a crashing cymbal. What if I have the gift of prophecy, am blessed with knowledge and insight to all the mysteries, or what if my faith is strong enough to scoop a mountain from its bedrock, yet I live without love? If so, I am nothing. I could give all that I have to feed the poor, I could surrender my body to be burned as a martyr, but if I do not live in love, I gain nothing by my selfless acts. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3 The Voice)
But, bless God, I have seen love starting to awaken in the big C Church (the one all believers are a part of and not just the folks who go to the building on the corner.) I have seen those who are willing to lay down their lives for others. I have seen less-than-perfect people get over themselves and rise to care for each other, to pray, to watch and wait, to give, to serve, to raise others up. I have seen, with my own eyes, folks who haven’t spoken to each other in years forgive and reconcile their differences. I have seen families torn apart by separation change and sacrifice for each other, encourage each other and see each other the way God sees them.
Only God could do this. This kind of love points to Him more than any building -or any mountain- ever could.
God is good.
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Desert
“If you don’t die of thirst, there are blessings in the desert. You can be pulled into limitlessness, which we all yearn for, or you can do the beauty of minutiae, the scrimshaw of tiny and precise. The sky is your ocean, and the crystal silence will uplift you like great gospel music, or Neil Young.”
-Anne Lamott
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Multiplication
When my anxious thoughts multiply within me,
Your consolations delight my soul.
(Psalm 94: 19)
In school we learned that in the physical realm for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
I wonder if, in the spiritual realm, for every anxiety there is an equal and opposite consolation available.
I wonder if there is, hidden in every adversity, an opportunity for greater blessing.
I wonder if, in His grace, God allows some losses in our lives knowing that His justice requires the one who comes to steal, kill, and destroy to pay back many times over what he took.
Now that’s multiplication.
Be still in the presence of the Lord,
and wait patiently for him to act…
The wicked plot against the godly;
they snarl at them in defiance.
But the Lord just laughs,
for he sees their day of judgment coming.
(Psalm 37:7, 12,13)
Seek the Lord.
Seek the Lord.
Seek the Lord.
And wait.
This is going to be good!
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She Will Sing to Me
‘Anah Adonai
There I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor [troubling]
to be for her a door of hope and expectation.
And she shall sing there and respond as in the days of her youth
and as at the time when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
(Hosea 2: 15 Amplified)
When God speaks about the metaphorical woman in the book of Hosea, the one who has been running to everyone but the one who can save her from a self-destructive lifestyle, he says there will come a time when she will sing to him as in the days of her youth.
The word translated “sing” in the New American Standard Bible is written as “respond” in others. The Amplified uses both terms. It is the Hebrew word ‘anah.
This same word is used 38 times in the Psalms alone, usually as a cry to God to save us from some sort of trouble –or even ourselves. ‘Anah Adonai! Hoshi a na! Hear and answer, Lord! Save us!
Sometimes, when it is translated answer, it describes God’s response:
I cried. He answered.
I called. He answered
I sought. He answered
I prayed. He answered
I pleaded. He answered.
Near the end of the book of Psalms (147: 7) one phrase directs the answering/responding/singing to God. Sing [‘anah] to the Lord with thanksgiving. (NASB)
I’ve been thinking about singing as our response to God –and about him singing to us. He also cries, calls, seeks, and pleads to us to answer him, not to rescue, but to recognize who he is, that he might be able to lavish his love on us. Is it possible that God’s call is like a prayer to those with ears to hear?
I have learned, the hard way, that sometimes the Lord didn’t answer my prayers and left me in a very uncomfortable place (called the Valley of Achor or Valley of Trouble in Hosea), not because he didn’t want to give me good things, but because he wanted me to be desperate enough to pursue him and find out who he really was. I needed to let go of the image I had of him and move toward deeper relationship. My image of him was made up of a compilation of authority figures I had known -and he was none of these.
He’s not a father who created us and then moved out, or a cruel task master, or even Santa Claus. God is not a lot of things we project onto him. God is holy, which means completely set apart, totally unique and different from anyone or anything we have ever known -but definitely worth getting to know.
I’m still learning as each new lesson and accompanying practical exam reveals more of his character.
A relationship with God can start with a cry for help, but it can move on to something much more mature.
After years of “saying my prayers” and giving him my daily laundry list of requests, I am learning prayer is more about finding out what he wants than telling him what I want.
When we pray and agree with his plans we see answers, but first we have to find out who is really is and what is on his heart. Prayer is about spending time with him, listening, studying His plans, examining them, being inspired by them and receiving a vision for the future that includes our participation.
What he desires to do is greater and so much better than anything we have ever imagined -but we need to respond to him and move toward him to be part of it. When we ask according to what is on his heart we see answers, but first we have to find out what is on his heart.
And that requires turning around from our own self-designed blue prints and responding to him. He delights in his beloved bride and responds to the things on her heart as well.
There is something about Armenian/Canadian soprano, Isabel Bayrakdarian’s voice in this video, recognizing who God is that carries my own heart’s song. Holy, holy, holy are you, Lord!
Father Holy
Son Holy
Spirit Holy
I bless you now and forever.
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Lead me to the Rock
Hear my cry, O God;
Give heed to my prayer.
From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint;
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
For You have been a refuge for me,
A tower of strength against the enemy.
Let me dwell in Your tent forever;
Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings.
(Psalm 61:1-4)
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Pull on the Strings of My Heart
Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.
(James 4:8)
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace,
that we may receive mercy
and find grace to help in time of need.
(Hebrews 4:15-16)
Charis: Subject to Change 