Difficult Gifts

 July 31, 2022

Tomorrow we begin the second half of 2022. I don’t know why I said that; I don’t have any pearls of wisdom to glean from that observation…except perhaps this one: My Gratitude prompt for today is “Three difficult gifts.” Right now, that’s a hard one. I can only think of two difficult gifts: ‘04 when the church imploded, and now Nate’s cancer. To be sure, not everything else in my life has been easy; I’ve had my share of sorrow and challenges, but nothing that isn’t pretty much everyone’s lot in life.

Linda and I watched a movie about Virginia Hall, a British spy who worked in Vichy France during WWII, considered the most dangerous of spies by the Nazis. When I think of the courage of so many of these people who faced torture and death, or of Christians today in places like Afghanistan or Nigeria, or when I see people who have battled life-long disability, how can I say any of my life experiences have been difficult? Two in over 70 years of living is hardly worth mentioning. Maybe a third difficult gift will come someday, but it hasn’t yet been given.

And make no mistake; these difficult circumstances are gifts. They sound bad, but every challenge in life is a gift that offers the opportunity to grow deeper in faith and to lean harder upon God. The difficult gifts are no fun, but they are actually the best gifts we can receive, for they reveal to us our inner life—strengths and weaknesses we didn’t know we had. And if we are ready to receive it, they reveal to us the love of God in ways we cannot otherwise know. 

Difficult gifts—tonight I reflect on two of them in my experience, grateful for how they continue to shape me more in the image of Christ, the giver and object of the gift.

Digging Wells

 July 30, 2022

In Genesis 26, Abraham’s son Isaac finally takes center stage as he travels through the Promised Land, looking for a place to settle down. When he found a suitable place, he dug a well to supply his herds and flocks. The problem was, whenever he dug a well, there were people who didn’t take kindly to him and contested ownership of the well. So he kept moving and digging wells till he found a spot where there was no opposition.

A well was a sign of ownership, laying claim to its surrounding land. There is a lesson here. Whenever we claim territory for Jesus, the enemy will oppose us.. We keep moving and digging till we find the place God has for us. The text tells us that the Philistines had stopped up the wells Abraham had dug years earlier. Territory claimed can be lost, and when it is, it must be reclaimed. 

It’s hard work. Claiming God’s promises is easy, but realizing them requires more than just words. It does no good to claim something in Jesus’ name if we are unwilling to dig the well that takes us to the Living Water. And every generation must dig its own wells. Isaac opened up wells his father had dug, but which had been neglected. It’s easier digging wells that were originally dug years ago than starting from scratch, but it’s still work that must be done.  Children of godly parents often find it easier to come to Christ than those who have had no exposure to faith, but even they must dig if they are to receive the blessings of the inheritance they were given. So the question remains: How am I digging today?

A Mother’s Prayer

 July 29, 2022

“And how’s Linda doing?” It was a simple question that revealed a mother’s heart. I had finished my Spanish lesson with my good friend Clark; he, his wife Marilyn and I were standing by the back door of the library talking. They had asked about our son Nate, and I had been telling them about how he is handling things. They assured me of their daily prayers for him when Marilyn asked about Linda. 

Sometimes when people tell you they are praying, you just know it’s little more than kind conversation, but there are those whose sincerity and promises are something you can really lean into. Clark and Marilyn are in the latter camp. 

This evening, Nate came over to borrow our lawn tractor while his is getting a tune-up. When he brought it back, we talked. He is surprised at how people are so impressed with his handling of the cancer. His response is perfectly normal and understandable to him, while a reaction of fear and panic is to him unfathomable. What many don’t know is that he has been training for this moment for years. His spiritual disciplines of prayer, Bible study, and worship has sent his roots deep into Christ. Deep roots are what enables us to weather storms.

The first psalm explains this.

“Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, 

Nor stands in the path of sinners,

Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, 

And in His law he meditates day and night. 

He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, 

That brings forth its fruit in its season, 

Whose leaf also shall not wither; 

And whatever he does shall prosper.” —Psalm 1:1-3 

Storms come our way. Sooner or later, the wind picks up, the rain starts, the floodwaters rise. Without deep roots, a life gets washed away. Deeply rooted, it’s possible to withstand the fiercest weather. I am grateful tonight for his faith, it’s inspiration to others, and for the prayers of my friends, not only for him, but for his mother from a mother.

Flood

 July 28, 2022

Our son Nathan was born fifty years ago in the middle of a flood. Hurricane Agnes had ravaged the east coast, and on June 5, we evacuated our home in Alma, NY. It was a circuitous route to the hospital, as roads were closing all around us. The last few miles, Linda rode in an Army Duck, while I looked for a place to park our borrowed car before catching a ride in a Jeep across the flooded road.

People who have never been through a flood cannot imagine the power of the water. A neighbor’s house was washed completely off its foundation; the maternity wing of the Wellsville hospital collapsed into the Genesee River. After the waters subsided, dead cows and even cars were found caught in treetops. Raging water is fearsome and deadly.

Years ago, Nate set to music the words of Psalm 93: 

“The floods have lifted up, O LORD,

The floods have lifted up their voice;

The floods lift up their waves.

The LORD on high is mightier 

Than the noise of many waters,

Than the mighty waves of the sea.”

There are times in life when it feels like the floodwaters are going to drown us in their fury. They rise, sweeping away all we thought was secure and stable. When the waters finally subside, the landscape often looks nothing like what we knew before. It is then we need to hear the words of this psalm: “The LORD on high is mightier that the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea.” The storm rages, but we have an anchor for the soul in Jesus Christ, and that anchor holds.

Isaiah 59:19 reminds us that “When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him.” Our Nathan is again in a flood; this time fighting the cancer that has lifted up its voice. In response, we lift our voices to the One who is mightier than many waters, who speaks peace to the wind and waves, and the violent seas obey his voice. It can be hard to hear the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit amidst the raging of the storm, but we listen hard, and speak healing peace to the flood. We know the future will look different once the flood has receded, but it will be a future redeemed by the God who is mightier than the waves.

Blessing

 July 27, 2022

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is 

For brethren to dwell together in unity! 

It is like the precious oil upon the head, 

Running down on the beard, 

The beard of Aaron, 

Running down on the edge of his garments. 

It is like the dew of Hermon, 

Descending upon the mountains of Zion; 

For there the Lord commanded the blessing— Life forevermore.”

—Psalm 133:1-3 

Linda loves baking in the sun. She’s not one to sit around much, but if we’re at a beach, she wants to be down on the sand, soaking up the rays. Me? I’ll take shade any day. She has an interesting habit, though. Before she goes outside, she lathers up with sunscreen, and at the end of the day after she gets her shower, she loads up on some sort of body oil. “My skin is so dry,” she says, occasionally urging me to put the stuff on, too. 

I always decline. I don’t like the greasy feeling it gives me. Not one bit. Linda therefore appreciates this psalm much more than I. In the hot, dry climate of the Middle East, olive oil has been used for centuries to soften and moisturize the skin. When one has been exposed to the harsh desert winds and sun, oil is a sweet relief. 

This morning when I woke up, my soul felt as hot and dry as a desert. I couldn’t discern any reason; I just woke up that way. But it’s Wednesday, when I meet with my friends Jeff and Rich for breakfast and prayer. Jeff is on vacation, so it was just Rich this morning. After breakfast, we retreated to the back room to pray. Beginning as usual with a psalm, we then moved to prayer, and something strange and wonderful happened. It was like a God-shower to this parched soul-soil, and I drank it in. Even more, it was the oil of the Holy Spirit, anointing my head and running down till this dry, crusty soul began to soften. 

Rich and I were unified in the Holy Spirit. It was good and pleasant. By myself, I believe my soul would have remained hard and dry, but just being together changed all that. God commanded…commanded a blessing, and it had no power to resist. The blessing came, and we were refreshed.

A Blessed Day

 July 26, 2022

Both my daughters-in-law are camera queens; me, not so much. It’s about an hour after the event takes place that I think to myself, “I should have gotten pictures of that!” Today was no different. The day was for the most part ordinary and uneventful, unless you remember that every person you meet is someone made in the image of God. THAT changes everything!

The morning began as it will end, with my wife beside me, sleeping quietly. In between, I had breakfast with my good friend Ken, met the new waitress at Lisciandro’s, before joining about ten other pastors for prayer. A short stop for a few necessary items at Walmart, a quick hello to our friend Sam at Panera as I bought coffee for my friend Rick, homebound by a stroke ten years ago. Rick can’t speak, so I filled him in on the latest news, prayed together, and left for home. 

I needed to pull honey, and now have about 80 pounds of it to process, but that will wait till tomorrow. I pulled the clutch off our son’s wood splitter and discovered a sheared key that had wedged itself against the housing. That was good news; it means I don’t have to buy a new engine! Our friend Johnny came to dinner, and now it’s just Linda, me, and the dogs sitting on the patio. As I said, I don’t have many pictures; just some of the honey, the sheared key, and Linda, but I don’t need photos to know I am blessed. I am by nature somewhat of a recluse, but when a day is filled with people you know and love, it can’t be a bad day.

Shame

 

July 25, 2022

“And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”

“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.” —Genesis 2:25, 3:6-7

“To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in You; Let me not be ashamed; Let not my enemies triumph over me.” —Psalm 25:1-2 

I don’t have to think very hard to recall times I was ashamed. I had chosen what I knew was wrong and sinful, tried and failed to hide it, and filled with shame, had to finally admit what I had done. I wish I could say this happened only once. I wouldn’t say shame is a gift from God; it is a natural consequence of our sin which God uses to restore us, if we are willing. The archetypal story of Adam and Eve lays out the pattern, and we follow it to the letter. Before sin, there is no shame; nothing to be ashamed of. Shame follows disobedience. We hide, cover up, blame others, obfuscate. 

It is a sad commentary on our society when we have so little shame. Things that used to make my grandparents blush are now so common we barely even notice. Sins that took place with furtive glances are now openly flaunted. To be shameless is to be unrepentant, and therefore, irredeemable. It is a dangerous place to be.

Psalm 25 begins with a request: “Let me not be ashamed.” This is followed by a prayer of confession and a plea for mercy. the writer recognizes that his sins are shameful, and that his only hope is God’s lovingkindness. There is no self-justification, no excuses, no minimizing his guilt; only the humble hope for forgiveness and the determination to place his trust in God.

Then he waits (v.21). Sometimes the shame takes awhile to dissipate, like the morning mist before the rising sun. The mist is sure to disappear; it cannot resist the power of the sun. Likewise, shame may linger, but it cannot ultimately resist the power of the Son.

Naps

 July 24, 2022

This afternoon, I tried reading my Bible and praying. It IS Sunday, after all. I read, but nothing really registered. My prayer time consisted mostly of dozing off—hardly battling the darkness. I know I’m not the only one who struggles with this, but that doesn’t mean I like it. Not one bit!

Instead of castigating myself for being so unspiritual, maybe I need to look at it from another angle. In 1 Kings 19, Elijah had just won a great spiritual and political victory over the priests of Baal, and now Jezebel is out to get him. He runs. Long and hard, to get as far away from her as he can.

Out in the desert (which is where I often find myself spiritually speaking), God doesn’t berate him for running away. He doesn’t tell Elijah how he could have done better. Instead, Elijah takes a nap. When he wakes up, God has dinner prepared for him. Elijah eats, then lays down again. When he wakes, another meal is ready, and he then goes for forty days into the wilderness where he will meet God.

Sometimes, the most spiritual thing you can do is to rest. Take a nap. Continuing to push when strength is gone is an exercise in futility. If the well is dry, you can pump as hard and long as you will, but you won’t get any water. 

So this afternoon, I napped. I can’t say that I feel more spiritual because of it, but I also don’t feel guilty, and tonight I am rested. Tomorrow is another day, and sooner or later, I’ll meet God.

Hot Bees

 July 23, 2022

How do you stay cool when the temperature is hovering around 90 degrees with 73 % humidity? Some of us stay indoors with the air conditioning; some take to the beach hoping there will be a breeze coming off the water. We don’t have air conditioning in our house, so we depend on our furnace’s fan pumping cooler air from the basement through the house. Combined with the cooling effect of the huge fir trees out front, our home is usually pretty comfortable even in the warmest weather.

Imagine living in a high rise with very little ventilation and no artificial cooling. It wouldn’t take long before you’d be heading outdoors to get away from the stifling heat. That’s exactly what I witnessed today, only it wasn’t people in a high rise; it was my bees. It is imperative that they keep the brood inside the hive between 94-96 degrees to protect the brood. If the temperature rises above this tiny window, the colony dies. 

Any living creature generates heat from its metabolism, and bees are no exception. Crowd tens of thousands of them together without adequate ventilation, and they die. That happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I bought a nuc—five frames of bees and brood in a box—to install in a new hive, but left it too long. The last nuc I bought I left overnight to settle down. They were fine. This one overheated, and by the time I got to it in the evening, they had plugged up the screened exit trying to get out. The entire colony died; $175 down the drain.

My bees today were too hot inside the hive, so they “bearded,” ie, they hung outside the entry cooling off and cooling the hive inside by reducing the number of little bodies giving off heat. By morning, they should be back inside; hopefully the local skunks won’t discover them overnight. Bees are a favorite treat, and right now the smorgasbord is out. 

I am always amazed at these tiny creatures. The variety of life testifies to me of a God of infinite imagination; everything from sea slugs and anemones to bees and birds and buffalo, they bear witness to an amazing God who provides each kind with an innate knowledge of how to survive in this incredible world he created. 

Taking things a step further, I am humbled by how God has provided for my eternal life by the gift of his Son who died on a cross in my place, for my sins. The God who put inside the bee the instinct to beard on a hot day did even more for us. Our instinct has been corrupted by sin, so he contradicted my instinct to provide what I could never do on my own—deliverance from the corruption and guilt of the sin towards which I innately gravitate; all through faith in his Son Jesus Christ.

Vultures

 July 22, 2022

“So [God] said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.” —Genesis 15:9-11 NKJV

“When the vultures came down…Abram drove them away.” 

God was initiating his covenant with Abram, his promise to bless him and make him fruitful. This was more than a promise; it was a promise based upon the character of God himself. Abram’s part of the covenant was to bring an offering, a sacrifice signifying his commitment to the covenant God was making with him. He laid out the pieces of the sacrifice, and not surprisingly, vultures came to snatch away what they could. Abram drove them off. If you’ve ever seen crows picking at roadkill, you know that when your car approaches, they scatter, but as soon as you pass the carcass, they are right back at it again. Such was the case with Abram. He was kept busy for some time.

When we come to Christ, we are coming into a covenant with God based upon the sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ. God’s covenant with Abram was pretty one-sided; Abram’s part was relatively small. In God’s covenant with us, it’s even more one-sided. God himself provided the sacrifice. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have a part to play. Like Abram, our part of the covenant involves driving off the vultures.

Whenever in faith we respond to God’s call, we enter into covenant with him. He promised to save us, and we promise to love and obey him. But then the vultures come. I decide to read my Bible and pray every day; the vultures of distraction, sleepiness, inattention, busyness swoop down to snatch away the sacrifice. If I don’t drive them away, the power of the covenant is weakened. I decide to live a holy life. The vultures of lust, greed, anger, judgmentalism, selfishness glide on feathered wings to grab that sacrifice. 

I read this text early in the morning today. Throughout the day, I tried to meditate upon it, but as soon as I got busy with other things, the vultures came. I’d have to backtrack to remember what the Scripture was that I had promised myself to remember. All day long, I’ve been waving my spiritual arms, shouting in the Spirit to drive the vultures away. They left, but every time my mind relaxes, back they come. It’s a battle that never ends, but as long as I stay alert, they cannot rob me of my sacrifice, and God is faithful; the blessing follows.

Out Loud

July 21, 2022

“It is good to give thanks to the Lord, 

And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; 

To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, 

And Your faithfulness every night…

Those who are planted in the house of the Lord 

Shall flourish in the courts of our God. 

They shall still bear fruit in old age; 

They shall be fresh and flourishing, 

To declare that the Lord is upright; 

He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”

—Psalm 92:1-2, 13-15 

It has always seemed odd to me that someone who made his living with words would most of the time be silent. Linda hates to travel, I think in part because when I’m driving I don’t talk. She could ride with any of the grandkids for days at a time without any problem because they would be chattering back and forth the entire trip. Me? I rarely even turn on the radio. I like the quiet.

And yet…

My silence has its own set of problems. When I was a new Christian, someone said to me that I should pray my prayers silently because the devil can’t read our minds, and speaking out loud let him know exactly what I am up to. It was some well-meaning, but very bad advice that I took to heart. To this day, I have to force myself to pray aloud when I’m alone. But when I pray silently, my mind wanders all over the place. Vocalizing the thoughts in my head and heart gives them a substance they otherwise do not have. Praying aloud in the morning, reminding ourselves of God’s lovingkindness, and then reflecting at night on his faithfulness through the day is a life-affirming practice.

This psalm addresses this matter quite clearly. It is bookended with the word “to declare,” ie. to say it aloud. It’s good to say, even to shout aloud the lovingkindness of God at both the start and end of the day. Doing so helps plant us in the house of the Lord, enabling us to be fruitful even in old age…declaring that the Lord is upright, our rock, in whom is no unrighteousness.

This morning, our men gathered in prayer, declaring aloud God’s lovingkindness and singing his praises. And now tonight, I lift my voice in praise and prayer, declaring his faithfulness. 

 

Strange Victory

July 20, 2022

A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” That’s how Isaiah described Jesus; quite differently than we usually hear in evangelical circles these days. We North Americans have an archetypal hero—the Lone Ranger, the James Bond, the Rambo, the Superman who takes on the bad guys with brains, courage, and muscle. He may come stealthily like Rambo, or in a show of power like Superman, but singlehandedly he clears out the bad guys, rights the wrongs, vanquishing all evil before slipping offstage. 

Jesus does none of that. One of his signature statements is, “In this world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” But instead of cleaning house with a show of power, he hangs bleeding, a king on a cross. What kind of victory is this? How can he claim victory when we still bury babies, and see our dreams crumble before the onslaught of every kind of evil?

I am watching and praying for my son as he battles cancer in weariness yet shining forth in his faith, delighted just to be in God’s presence. If our Lord were not a Man of Sorrows, my son could take little comfort in him. In this life, victory is not so much to be free of trouble; after all, Jesus promised we would face all kinds of it, but to be free from its oppression. When our troubles fail to destroy our faith, our troubles are defeated. Faith has overcome. “This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.” (1 John 5:4).

The Sins of the Amorites

 July 19, 2022

My son spoke this morning of praying out of desperation or out of discipline, focusing on the discipline part; the hard work of reading Scripture, fasting, worshipping, and prayer. It’s not always fun and games, or walking peacefully with God through verdant pastures with cool breezes blowing. 

As often as not, my prayers are like Peter’s when he was sinking after trying to walk on water: “Lord, save me!” Unlike Peter’s experience where Jesus immediately reached out his hand, my cry for help seems to be met with silence. Why is that? If God loves us, why does he not answer our prayers of desperation?

Abram had one of those not-so-pleasant encounters with God. It wasn’t a peaceful walk, but more of a nightmare.

“Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”” —Genesis 15:12-13, 16 

Abram lived around 2,000 B.C. The children of Israel were rescued from Egypt between 1400 and 1200 B.C., depending on the chronology you follow. So at least 600 years came and went before this prophecy was fulfilled, four hundred of which they were slaves. They prayed often for deliverance; we know this because when God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, he told him he had heard the cry of the people. And yet, for four hundred years, those cries were met with silence. Why would God wait while his people were suffering so?

The explanation is found in the text I read this morning. It’s somewhat cryptic, and doesn’t seem to make sense, but it’s the only explanation given: “the sin of the Amorites is not yet complete.” God essentially told Abram, “These people are bad, but they aren’t bad enough yet. Things have to degenerate to a certain point before I will act.” Pharaoh’s oppression doesn’t have any connection to the depravity of this particular group of people inhabiting the Promised Land, but in God’s scheme of things, there is a connection we cannot see. Israel’s deliverance is tied to the sin of these Amorites.

It is the Old Testament version of Peter’s words that “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Perhaps God was waiting till the Amorite’s sins had weakened them to the point that they wouldn’t be able to mount a serious threat to the conquest of the land. Maybe God was giving them time to repent. But from the perspective of those groaning under the lash of the taskmaster, it didn’t make sense that God would turn a deaf ear to them.

The fact is, he didn’t. He heard their cries, but God is a master of timing, and to come to the rescue too soon would spoil it all. St. Paul said, “At just the right time, God sent his Son into the world” (Romans 5:6). Eat an apple or peach before its time, and you’ll get a bellyache. Rushing deliverance rarely works. “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.” The Byrds sang those words back in the ‘60’s, but they didn’t write them. They come from Ecclesiastes 3, written more than 2,000 years ago. We are still waiting, and praying that the time will come soon. It may be hard to believe, but spiritually speaking, the sins of the Amorites are not yet complete.

Abe & Me

 July 18, 2022

Quite often when I sit down to read my Bible, it seems as if my brain has left my body. I read the words, but it seems as if God has ceased speaking to me. My best guess is that the problem is on my end, but I don’t like it one bit. 

I’ve been reading in Genesis, where our Story begins. It’s amazing how the book starts out, “In the beginning, God…” and ends with “in a coffin in Egypt.” The first 11 chapters cover thousands of years, if not more. They set the stage for the man called “the Father of Monotheism,” namely Abraham. Somehow, he recognized God speaking to him, and acted upon what he heard, pulling up stakes in Mesopotamia and traveling along the Fertile Crescent to Palestine and Egypt. 

I read today about how he foisted his wife off on Pharaoh, saying she was his sister, out of fear that Pharaoh would kill him and take her for himself if he knew she was Abram’s wife. Not a very auspicious start for one of whom it would be said that he “believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.” I read the story again, but today, it was just words. I won’t give up; tomorrow my heart may be more receptive, and I know the Scriptures continue to shape me whether they move me or not. I am a child of that story, and if in all Abraham’s imperfection, God still chose him, there is hope for me.

Famine

 July 17, 2022

“The days are coming,” says the Lord God, “That I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.” —Amos 8:11

Today was Beach Birthday for the Bailey clan. There are so many of us that we don’t celebrate individual birthdays; every weekend would be a party! Instead, we lump all the birthdays of a given month together; in July, it’s myself, my daughter-in-law Debbra, and son Matthew. We drive to the Dunkirk beach, set up tables and grills, and…well…we eat. We had a wonderful time together this afternoon, talking and eating. When everyone brings something to the table, there is more food than we can collectively eat. That fact however, doesn’t keep us from trying. It takes real discipline to stop when the stomach is full but the mouth says, “More!”

Today’s meal has been over for about six hours, and right now, I can’t even bear the thought of putting something in my mouth. I think tomorrow needs to be a day of fasting. I’m not hungry now, but I’ve been there; nevertheless, I’ve never experienced a famine, where I am so famished I would crave even a morsel of stale bread. I’ve seen photos of starving children, and they haunt me.

In today’s Scripture lesson, these words from Amos were read, and they set me to thinking. What would a famine of the Word of God look like? Linda and I recently returned from visiting friends in Virginia and North Carolina. I’ve seen it before, but the number of churches down South continues to amaze me. Whether in the city or out in the country in the middle of nowhere, there seems to be a church everywhere you turn. We have plenty of churches here in Western New York, too, but not like there. Add to these churches the sermons and services available online, and we can hear God’s Word anytime we want. We are hardly in a famine of the Word of God.

Or perhaps we are. Most Americans still have some religious history, and most of that is Christian. But most of those who consider themselves Christian aren’t actively pursuing a relationship with Christ. When I drive to church on Sunday mornings, I drive by many more houses where people do not attend anywhere than houses of people who do. 

And we are seeing the results of our drift from faith in increasing crime, increasing confusion in our young adults regarding their sexuality and identity, increasing despair and hopelessness reflected in our drug and suicide epidemics. People are hungry for God’s Word, but don’t know it. They are gorging themselves on this world’s junk food and wondering why they aren’t satisfied. There is a growing famine of the Word of God, and sadly, those of us who have that Word are gorging ourselves on it instead of sharing it with those who are hungry.

We ate well today. Our souls were fed in worship, our bodies were nourished at our gathering. It’s time now to hear the cries of the hungry, and welcome to the Lord’s table all who will come. 

Slow Obedience

July 16, 2022

“Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed…so Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him….Abram was 75 years old.” —Genesis 12:1-4

Grammar is important. The text says, “The Lord HAD SPOKEN to Abram.” I wonder how long ago this had happened. The grammatical form is past perfect, and refers to something completed in the past before something else began. God hadn’t recently spoken to Abram; it had occurred some time before. The sense of the word implies that the command had been given some time ago, and Abram was only now getting around to obeying. God is patient, and I am thankful. There are things God spoke to me about years ago that literally took me years to yield to his will. I wonder how different things would be today had I listened when God first spoke.

Fortunately, God didn’t give up on Abram because he was slow to obey. He kept his promise to make of him a great nation that would bless the world. Quick obedience is best, but slow obedience is better than no obedience.

Abram was 75 before he got around to actually listening to the God who had spoken to him years before. This gives me hope. Last week I turned 73, and I find it tempting to dismiss certain activities because after all, I am old. But am I? Or are my excuses for sitting on the sidelines merely a cover for laziness? At 96, my mother said to me, “I wonder when I stopped getting old and became old?” If my actuarial tables have any legitimacy, I have ahead of me another 20+ years of getting old.

Ten years ago, I was beginning to think about retirement. That year when I was in Cuba, I was preaching at one of the churches when I heard a CRASH on the tin roof. A boy jumped up and ran outside. In a minute he was back with a huge mango in his hand which he gave to pastor Yami. She turned and gave it to me with these words: “Whenever a mango hits our roof, whoever is given it is charged with planting a new church congregation in the coming year. I’m giving this to you. You are like Caleb; when he was 85, he told Moses, “Give me a mountain to conquer.” God isn’t finished with you; you have mountains yet to conquer.”

I guess I’m like Abram; a little slow on the uptake. But he eventually got with the program, and so will I. 

Slavery

 July 15, 2022

My muscles are a bit sore tonight. My son’s wood splitter decided to give up the ghost in the middle of today’s splitting operation. I don’t know what happened other than after shutting it down to fill the tank, when I tried to start it, it was completely locked up. I’d like to think it’s fixable, but from the sound of it, odds are not in my favor. Except for one particularly knotty piece, I split quite a stack by hand; my body will tell me tomorrow what it thinks of my efforts.

Our culture these days is obsessed with racism. If in a conversation one deviates from the “woke” narrative, no matter how cogent and logical the reasons, there is the very real danger of being called a racist. This, combined with my wood splitting adventure today, has me thinking.

Slavery is an evil nearly as old as mankind. It is ubiquitous in history and in the world today. It is a pernicious and persistent blight that leaves a moral and spiritual trail as disgusting as the slime tracks of a slug. We rightly condemn it in all its forms. But I wonder sometimes if we aren’t a bit too smug and self-righteous in our condemnations. Would we be as staunch an enemy of slavery if we didn’t have modern machinery to perform our menial and physically difficult tasks today? What if every urban resident had to cut, chop, and stack their own wood in order to be warm in winter? What if instead of our automobiles we had to keep horses, feeding them, mucking out the barns, and growing our own hay, oats, and corn?

So much of modern life depends on mechanical slavery, for which I am very grateful. We rightly condemn slavery and its long trail of consequences, but I do have to wonder if our condemnation would be quite as adamant if we were bereft of all the mechanical slaves we take for granted every day. How deep lie our convictions?

Images

 July 14, 2022

“In the image of God he made man.” —Genesis 9:6. F

There is no shortage of speculation as to the nature of being made in the image of God; much of it is quite profitable. Our ability to reason, which seems to be on the wane in our society as we embrace increasingly bizarre pseudo-science in an attempt to give credence to what are essentially political and social agendas. 

Being made in God’s image is what gives us value, and the more our society rejects Biblical standards, the less we value human life. But that’s for another time.

Tonight, I’m thinking of images as images. Images are made to be seen. A blind man has no use for images, cannot be enticed by them or put off by them. They have no meaning for him. Images are made to be looked at. In Psalm 115:8 we are told that we become like the images we make. What we look at determines much of what we become in life.

What am I looking at? Where do my eyes (and therefore my thoughts) lead me? If I look at the news, I’ll become just like them; negative, critical, haughty, angry, and depressed. It’s amazing how bad news sells. We actually pay to have people worry us to death. Years ago, there was a weekly newspaper called the “Grit.” Maybe it’s still in print, but I’m guessing its circulation is somewhat constrained, since their mission was to print only articles that were positive and uplifting. If we ever need demonstration of Original Sin, our propensity to be fascinated by   the bizarre, the negative, and the evil, should be proof enough.

We remonstrate that we are only being realistic, dealing with life as it actually is, and there is a certain amount of truth in it, but when we only have eyes for what is dark and destructive, it becomes more and more difficult to see what is good. Like someone coming out of a dark room into bright sunlight, our eyes cannot stand the glare, and we blink and squint, or go back into the dark.

Paul said when we behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, we are transformed into the same image, from glory to glory…by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:19). So what will I look at today…and tomorrow? “God has shone in our hearts to give the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6). But I won’t see it if I’m not looking for it in the places where it is to be found.

Memorizing to Meditation

 July 13, 2022

My prayer partners and I start our times together by reading a psalm. Last week we began Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible; it goes on for 176 verses. It’s an acrostic psalm; each section begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet as a memnonic. Being such a long psalm, we are taking one letter each week. We’ll be here for awhile.

The psalm is a paean of praise for God’s Word, extolling its virtues and values for life. Today’s section was “Beth,” verses 9-16. 

Verse 10 is a plea: “With my whole heart I have sought You; O let me not wander from your commandments!” I wish I could say I have sought God with my whole heart. I’ve done so at times, but there have also been those times of wandering or even deliberately ignoring God’s Word. The results of that have never been good. This section is an interesting interplay of God’s promises and our responsibilities. In verse 11, we are promised the ability to reject sin and live a holy life, but only if we hide God’s Word in our hearts.

I am so grateful for the Sunday School and Vacation Bible School teachers, for Christian Service Brigade, and Youth for Christ in this regard. We were drilled in Bible memorization. I’ve never been very good at it, but it’s the passages I learned as a teenager that have carried me through the years. The older I get, the harder it is to memorize, but this I know: if I don’t have it in my head, I can’t hide it in my heart. So I continue to work on it. It can be slow going, but I need the discipline, and I surely need the Scripture.

This section concludes, 

“I will meditate on your precepts, 

And contemplate your ways.

I will delight myself in your statutes; 

I will not forget your Word.”

I can’t meditate on what I don’t remember, so even if it’s just a single sentence, I’ll say it over and over. I don’t want to take the chance of forgetting God’s Word, for in it is salvation as it invariably directs me to the Savior who himself quoted Scripture in his battle with the devil himself. That’s how Jesus did it, so I don’t think I can go too far wrong doing it his way.

Grace

 July 12, 2022

“Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.”

—Genesis 6:8-9 

Which came first; the chicken or the egg? Did Noah find grace in the eyes of the LORD because he was a just man, perfect in his generations, walking with God, or was he a just man, perfect in his generations, walking with God because he found grace? If grace was the source of Noah’s righteousness, why Noah and not the others? 

As a Christian, I am convinced of what Wesley called “prevening grace,” God’s favor that enabled me to come to repentance and faith. Had God not been gracious before I did anything that could be considered deserving, I wouldn’t have even taken the first step. So why do some come to faith while others miss the boat?

Part of the answer may be in that single word, “found.” Grace is available to all, but is found by only those who look for it. Maybe the others didn’t find grace because they didn’t look for it, which makes me wonder how much grace I miss because I don’t look for it. It’s easier to pick up the baubles of this world that are lying on the surface, than to dig for the riches buried in God’s Word. Jesus told a pair of stories about this very matter—a treasure hidden in a field and found by a tenant farmer, and a merchant who searched for a singular pearl of great price. 

The farmer wasn’t looking for a treasure, but he was hard at work; the merchant knew what he wanted and searched for it. Each recognized value and sold everything to get what they wanted. Too many of us cannot even be bothered to open our Bibles except on the occasional Sunday when we show up at church. Even when I am diligent in Bible study and prayer, I find myself easily distracted by this world’s baubles. Searching is hard work, and we give up too soon, too often.

I need grace. Without it, I am confirmed in my sin and unable to walk with God. The old hymn says it well: “I need Thee every hour.”

Walking with God

 July 11, 2022

“Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.”

—Genesis 5:24 NKJV

Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.”

—Genesis 6:9 NKJV

The statement that “Enoch walked with God, and was not, for God took him” has long intrigued me. The genealogies at this point are simply names without any indication of the moral character of the personalities. Except for Enoch, mention of character doesn’t come till the next chapter where it says, “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” —Genesis 6:5 NKJV

What was so different about Enoch that he is said to have walked with God? What was his inner life like? How did he relate to others? What did his walking with God consist of? How did God take him? We are given no information other than he “walked with God” and somehow simply disappeared.

Reading this again today, I noticed something I hadn’t seen before: Noah also walked with God…but God didn’t take him. Instead, God instructed him to build a huge boat. Walking with God may take many forms. My walk with God will be different than yours, and the results may vary widely, but we both can be walking with God. 

There are boundaries that define the parameters of walking with God. These two men were within those boundaries; as for the others, their wickedness was so great, God decided to destroy them. Today, there are those who are clearly outside the boundaries; but for those who walk with God, some speak in tongues, dancing and shouting in praise, while others bow silently or chant hymns before altars shrouded in incense. God takes some seemingly before their time, while others are given lifelong difficult assignments. 

In these texts, life isn’t a race; we aren’t in competition; we are walking in companionship, listening and conversing, enjoying each other’s company, walking with God. It’s a fine day for a stroll; why not walk with me? We can walk together…with God.

Home

July 10, 2022

This morning, Linda and I got to worship with our congregation at Park church after being down south for a week visiting friends. While visiting, last Sunday we worshipped at a large church in Norfolk, VA. It had everything going for it—great worship team, engaging preaching, wonderful facilities, friendly and welcoming greeters. It was a great experience!

But I found myself feeling strangely lacking in something; I couldn’t put my finger on it till this morning as we began worship reciting together, 

“I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.

And in his only Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, 

Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, 

Born of the Virgin Mary,

Suffered under Pontius Pilate,

Was crucified, dead, and buried…”

Later, we celebrated the Lord’s Supper together as we do every Sunday, praying the Lord’s Prayer, and singing the Doxology.

I remember when we first began observing the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. Some objected, saying that it would lose its meaning if we did it so often, to which I replied, “If that’s so, we ought to quit coming to church on Sunday, lest worship lose its meaning.” 

I’ve found over the years that these acts of worship have become essential to me. No matter how my week has gone, whether it’s been a raging success or an utter failure, the Creed brings me back to the center, grounding me in something far greater and deeper than the latest worship song can do. The Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, Communion, all remind me of who I am and who God is. They give my life a solidity it would otherwise lack. Not only do they tell me who I am; more importantly, they tell me who my God is, and what he is like. 

As our worship service opened, I closed my eyes and recited the words of the Creed. We sang, pastor Joe preached, and we bowed before the mystery of the Lord’s Table, praying the Lord’s Prayer, and concluding with the Doxology. I was home. 

Filthy Rags

 July 9, 2022

Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel. Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him He said, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.”” —Zechariah 3:1-4

As Joshua was standing before the Lord in filthy clothes, Satan himself stood up opposing him. Twice God rebuked Satan, then clothed him properly. The Bible says all our righteousness is as filthy rags. When we try to stand before God on our own merits, Satan justly accuses us. But God in his mercy rebukes him and clothes us in the righteousness of Christ. 

It’s always tempting to try to stand before God on our own merits. If we haven’t done anything particularly stupid or sinful for awhile, we begin to imagine we deserve his favor. If things go wrong, we wonder what we did to deserve the problems we face. “Didn’t I do enough?” We usually don’t dare to say it aloud, but we think God owes us. But filthy rags are filthy rags, even if they appear to us to be fancy dress clothes. 

When I’m bad, my only hope is the righteousness of Christ. When I’m good, my only hope is the righteousness of Christ. His righteousness is the only adequate answer to the accusations of Satan. His righteousness is God’s rebuke to him, and God’s salvation to me.

Symbolic Reality

 July 8, 2022

In yesterday’s musings, I made the comment that the Genesis story is a mixture of symbolism and straightforward narrative, and that it can be hard at times to discern which is being presented (I should point out that symbolism is no less true than realism; they are two ways of seeing life). I was asked a simple, but important question: “What part of Genesis is symbolism?” There are many examples, but I will give one of the clearest that is found in the very narrative on which I had been commenting.

In chapter three, verses 14-16, we read:

“So the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.””

The curse begins with something straightforward, something easily observable; snakes crawl on their bellies. The serpent speaks no more, but slithers across the ground. Then come these words describing the disgust with which snakes are almost universally regarded—“enmity between you and the woman.” God isn’t finished; he continues, “between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” With these words, we have slipped from mere description of how snakes are regarded into the realm of symbolism and typology. The bruising of the head and heel describe not only the serpent’s strike and the human response, but point to Jesus’ death on the cross. 

Upon the cross, Jesus was bruised in the heel. The devil thought he had struck a fatal blow, but Jesus was only wounded; three days later, he arose from the grave, and in doing so, struck Satan a mortal blow. The Tempter’s head was bruised, and he will ultimately succumb to that bruising.

We are awaiting the day. He writhes in raging agony, knowing his days are numbered. The blow to his head is fatal, but he is determined to destroy as many as he can before he finally succumbs. In the meantime, we wait, and wonder why it is taking so long. God tells us in 2 Peter: 

“But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” —II Peter 3:8-9

That day is coming when that to which the symbol points becomes a discernible reality. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”

Trees

 July 7, 2022

In Genesis 2:15, something unusual happens. In the middle of a rather straightforward narrative about Creation, we find a Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, and in 3:1 a talking snake. Why in such a narrative would there be talk of a tree that had the power to give us such knowledge, and of a speaking snake? It’s almost as if in the middle of a historical narrative a fairy tale is inserted. I don’t understand the mindset that puts these together in this way. 

At the very end of the Bible, another rather fanciful tree is found—the Tree of Life, with leaves that heal nations (Rev. 22:2). In Revelation, we know we are dealing with symbolism, a fact not as easily discerned in Genesis. In between these two trees is another very literal one described in Galatians 3:13 and 1 Peter 2:24—

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.””

““He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.””

Between the tree that brought death and destruction upon mankind and the tree of life and healing for the nations is the tree on which our sins were nailed in the person of Jesus Christ. It is that tree which bridges the gulf between what our sins destroyed and what God will one day restore, for apart from the tree upon which Jesus died, no healing is possible and we would remain driven from the Garden and the tree of Life.

I still don’t understand the juxtaposition of ordinary and extraordinary in Genesis 2 and 3, but I do know how the supernatural invaded the natural 2000 years ago, and in my own heart some sixty years ago. I don’t understand it, but I am sure grateful for it!