God Waiting

 August 31, 2022

Evangelists love the story of the shepherd who seeks out the one lost sheep, risking the rest of the flock to bring home the wanderer. They love the image of a God who loves us so much he goes to any length to seek us out and bring us home. 

They also love the story of the Prodigal Son who wasted his inheritance on wild living in a foreign country, ending up feeding pigs and so hungry he wished he could sample the slop he was pouring into the trough. He finally came to his senses and went home, where he found his father waiting for him at the front gate, ready to throw a big celebration party for his son who “was lost and now is found.”

Both stories reveal something about the God we Christians worship. The lesson of the lost sheep, that God loves us enough to seek us out is something we’ve been taught to understand almost from the beginning. The lesson of the Prodigal Son however, is easy to miss or misread.

We often find ourselves in messy and painful situations, sometimes self-inflicted, sometimes not. Either way, at such times, we often wonder why God doesn’t seem to be paying any attention to our prayers. We are desperate, confused, and afraid; if God doesn’t answer, we’re not going to make it. And silence is the only answer we get. “Wait! I thought God loved me! I thought he wanted to bless me!” Silence. “Where is the Good Shepherd who roams the countryside looking for that one lost sheep?” Silence.

At such times, we are living the story of the Lost Son, not the Lost Sheep. He was in such a life-threatening place that this Jewish boy was feeding pigs and wishing for just a taste of slop. Yet no one came looking for him. Why?

The key to this story is found in what Jesus said about him in his desperation: “When he came to himself…” Modern translations miss the point when they have Jesus saying “he came to his senses.” The old versions had it right, and Jesus was paying this boy a compliment. He wasn’t his true self when he was partying, squandering all that he had been given. And he wasn’t his true self when he was feeding the pigs. He was his true self when he realized he had a home and a father. Jesus wants us to know who we really are, but here’s the kicker: had the father come looking for his son, the boy would never have had the opportunity to come to himself. The father waited, and in so doing, gave his son a gift he could not have given any other way: the gift of him realizing who he really was…a beloved son.

Sometimes we have to go through the mess to learn who we really are. Only when we are tested do we discover our strength, and only when God waits patiently are we given the time we need to learn who we really are. God’s rushing to our rescue would short-circuit the process, and he loves us too much to let that happen. Knowing who I really am…a son loved by my Heavenly Father, isn’t something God can just lay on me. It is learned only in the far country—those times when I’m in a mess bad enough for me to remember home.

Starting Over

 August 30, 2022

A sign in front of a local church that closed last year reads, “Behold, I make all things new!” It’s a quote from Revelation 21:5 where the risen Jesus reveals the new heaven and earth. It seems an odd statement to put on the sign of a closed church, but perhaps there is a plan unknown to those of us who drive by on a daily basis.

I got to thinking about that quote. We can read things so often that the language loses much of its meaning. We see the words but miss the point. So I decided that it could use a bit of updating to a more modern translation, but since I’m not a linguist, I’ll offer my paraphrase instead: “Look! I’m starting over!”

I like saying it like this because it means the same thing, but grabs my attention in a new way. No matter where we’ve been or what we’ve done or left undone, the promise of Jesus is a new start. From right where we are now, in the middle of the mess we created, Jesus says, “I’m starting over. I’m erasing the slate (Colossians2:14) because sometimes there’s no way of fixing the problem.” Things got so convoluted and twisted that the only remedy is to start over. Throw away all the past attempts and start fresh. 

Sometimes Jesus doesn’t try to make something good out of it all; like God did with Noah’s flood, he started fresh. The old self and my old situation is simply wiped clean—erased; Jesus says, “Now let’s start over at the beginning.” It means abandoning all my efforts to fix what I broke, going back to the start and beginning again, leaving the old baggage behind resigning the old habits and reactions to wherever the unclaimed baggage goes. Sometimes it’s best to not try to rescue it. Instead of trying harder, we begin anew. 

“I’m starting over” means leaving guilt behind (it never accomplishes anything good), abandoning my excuses for not changing, repenting (changing how I think). It means to stop judging others and giving Jesus the chance to rearrange and redo those parts of me that have gotten out of joint. It may mean to exercise more, eat better, get my rest, lay down the phone, live in praise and gratitude, and to trust him when all around seems dark and foreboding. Jesus didn’t say “I WILL make all things new;” he said “I MAKE (or am making) all things new.” Today is the day, now is the time…to start over.

Disarming Satan

 August 28, 2022

Guilt. It plagues many, drives much of both the good and the evil in this world. It can be justified, or it may be self-induced and unnecessary. Even those who have been Christ-followers for years can be plagued with the guilt of past sins and present omissions. “I should be doing more,” is not an uncommon refrain playing through our minds.

No one knew this better than St. Paul, who was guilty of persecuting the early Christians, sending them to prison and death. Memories like that seldom disappear; every so often, what we have done rises from the ashes of a “used-to-be” life to bite like a serpent, injecting the venom of guilt into our veins. Perhaps he was speaking as much to himself as to the Colossian Christians when he wrote:

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” —Colossians 2:13-15 

Notice the order of things. It was when we were yet dead in our sins that we were forgiven. The forgiveness doesn’t depend on our repentance. Dead people can’t repent. The forgiveness came first; it is forgiveness that breathes life into us, enabling us to repent. God doesn’t mete out forgiveness in proportion to our ability to repent. It is as complete right now as it will ever be.

We are not only forgiven; God has cancelled the charges against us. Today we call it a pardon. The record is erased, condemnation is gone. This is important. Too many live under this cloud of condemnation which never bears the fingerprints of God. Jesus was very clear about this: “God didn’t send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:17). “There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). God convicts, never condemns. The difference is stark: Condemnation is a dead end in which there is no hope and from which one cannot escape. Conviction always has as its goal the redemption of the sinner. There is always hope with conviction. Condemnation needs to be rejected, conviction received.

It’s the condemnation that imprisons us in despair. The forgiveness we receive in Christ is what disarms the principalities and powers that hold us in their grip. The Enemy of our souls has no weapon effective against forgiveness. He is disarmed and powerless against those who know they are forgiven. Suddenly, the attacker is empty-handed. His power to hurt has been removed. So whenever I feel the weight of guilt, I know I’m under demonic attack, and I stand in the power of the Holy Spirit against it. If however, I’m feeling conviction, I surrender to the Holy Spirit and receive the benefit of the forgiveness offered way back when Jesus died on the cross in my place.

Small-Town America

 August 21, 2002

Today was filled with highlights. Worship in the park with Bemus Point Methodists joining us, chicken BBQ following, baptisms at our creek, a quiet afternoon reading, the delivery of a quarter cow from pastor Joe, giving some of it to our kids, and Linda joining Amanda Myles up on a lift where Amanda is finishing her family’s tribute to the 911 victims on one of her father’s silos. Except for a few rides in an airplane, It’s the only time in her life that Linda has been “high.”

A friend at worship said it well: “This is the best of small-town America.” I have to agree, and am grateful tonight to be a part of it. There is a lot of terrible things happening in our country right now, but this isn’t one of them.

Leaders Go First

 August 27, 2022

I have a hard time bringing myself to throw out an old, worn-out Bible. Working in my garage/shop this evening, I came across a couple Bibles I used for a few years before they started falling apart. (I guess that’s a good thing; it brings to mind the old saying, “A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.”) One of them was given to me by my son and daughter in law on Christmas, 1997. Thumbing through it, I came across a note to something I actually read in this morning’s reading, but missed because the translation I am using rendered the verse a bit differently.

In Exodus 17:5 God is speaking to Moses: “Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand before you.” Here is a basic principle of leadership that often gets forgotten. John Maxwell said it succinctly years ago: “Leaders go first.”

We often forget that Moses and the children of Israel are now in the land of Midian, having been delivered through the Red Sea. They weren’t wandering aimlessly; Midian is where Moses landed forty years before when he fled from Egypt as a wanted man. He was familiar with these mountains, with the desert and its paths. He had been here before. Leaders need to have been where they want others to go. They need to know the ins and outs, the pitfalls and the hidden trails through the wilderness.

Too often, leaders try to take people where they themselves have never been. This is particularly true in the church. The reality is, the congregation will seldom, if ever, grow beyond its pastor. A pastor cannot lead his people in holiness if he is not himself holy. He can’t lead in prayer if he is not a praying pastor.

But no leader can be expert in everything, which is why God told Moses to take the elders along with him. He needed the wisdom and experience of others who had expertise in areas he did not. A leader who has to have his fingers in every pie is self-limiting. Paul taught this same lesson to Timothy: “The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” —2 Timothy 2:2 

Besides the elders, Moses was instructed to carry his staff with him. Back when God met Moses in the burning bush, God had taken the ordinary tools of the shepherd’s trade and consecrated them for greater service. God still takes the ordinary things of our lives and uses them for a greater good. You’ve been through a nasty divorce? God doesn’t want that experience to go to waste. There is someone needing someone who’s been down that road and now has some tools and experience. You’ve failed in business? Someone struggling to hold theirs together needs your wisdom. You lost a child to drugs? Another parent somewhere is quietly sobbing, sure that no one understands and God has forgotten.

Whatever wilderness you’ve been through, someone else is following behind. Don’t try to lead where you haven’t been, but don’t fail to light the path for someone walking in your footsteps. Leaders go first, so listen to God’s command and promise to Moses: “Go! I will stand before you.”

Foundations for Grace

August 26, 2022

It amazes me how I can repeatedly read a Bible passage over many years and still miss a significant portion of what is being said. This morning I was reading 2 Peter 1, where Peter tells us that God has provided everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Here it is in his own words:

“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue…

That much I have known for years. God has already given us all we need to live a godly life. He does this through the agency of knowing his Son, Jesus Christ. The more I get to know Jesus, the more power I have to live the life I want to live. He goes a step further however, when he says God has made certain promises to us that enable us to avoid the corruption we see in the world all around us”

“…by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” —II Peter 1:2-4 

Living free of corruption isn’t merely a vain wish, which if what we see in the world were all we had to go by, would seem to be the case. God has promised us that no matter how weak or vulnerable we may feel, his power is enough to hold us steady. What follows is the part that for years didn’t register with me. God has provided, but we must make use of his provision. Holiness isn’t something he just drops in our lap. 

If I want a healthy body, I must eat right, exercise, and avoid habits that are physically destructive. Junk food, tobacco, alcohol, drugs are off limits, while exercise, no matter how distasteful it may seem, is a necessity. In the same way, spiritual health requires certain things of us: 

“But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.”  (1:5-7)

If I neglect these spiritual disciplines, I cannot expect those “exceeding great and precious promises” to manifest in my life. The “diligence” Peter mentions in v. 5 is what enables us to receive the promises. It’s an educational principle: I cannot expect to do algebra if I haven’t first learned to add, subtract, multiply, and divide. Some things are foundational for greater gifts.

Here’s what I hadn’t before noticed: “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble.” (V.10) He doesn’t say, “You’ll only stumble occasionally.” He says, “You will NEVER stumble.” That’s an enormous claim! “NEVER stumble.” I’ve fallen flat on my face many times, but the good news is, I never have to. When I’ve stumbled, it’s because I haven’t engaged the spiritual disciplines that enable God’s promises to take root in me. So the only question is, “Will I do what is required to allow God to pour his holiness into me?” If I am full of myself, of my wishes, my plans, there will be no room for God’s.

Making room for God’s plans takes us back to what Peter said at the outset. It happens when we make it a priority to know Jesus. I’m working on that, and hope you are, too. 

In the Grip of Grace

August 25, 2022

“Remember.” In Exodus 12, God delivered the Israelites from bondage in Egypt, parting the Red Sea so they could walk on dry ground before causing the waters to collapse upon Pharaoh’s army, drowning his horses and chariots with their soldiers. In chapter 13, they are commanded to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread to remind them of where they had been and what God had done for them.

“And Moses said to the people: “Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out of this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten.” (13:3)

As I’ve been pondering God’s question to Adam (“Where are you?”), it occurs to me that where I am at any given moment is meaningful only in relation to where I’ve been and where I’m going. For me to know where I’ve been, I need to remember, which is exactly what God commanded his people to do. It’s a pretty common command in the Bible, occurring some 144 times. 

This much I know: There was a time when I didn’t know Jesus, and didn’t want to know him. I was happy going my own way. Some people tell how their lives were a mess till Jesus came and cleaned it all up. My testimony is just the reverse: My life was just fine till Jesus invaded it and messed it all up. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. A messy life with Jesus is better than an orderly life without him. 

I remember the night I first believed; I remember the day I said “yes” to his call to a life of Christian service; I remember my failures and Jesus’ faithfulness and forgiveness. I remember grace upon grace which has brought me from where I was to where I am. I’m not finished; God isn’t done with me yet. When that day finally comes, I believe I’ll be closer to Christ and more yielded to him, more bold in my witness, more gracious and generous in my relationships than i am today. I am not where I was, and not yet where I will be, but through it all I know where I am: I am in Jesus Christ, who holds me in the grip of his grace. Hallelujah!

Bees

 August 24, 2022

Honeybees never cease to amaze me.  A call came in late this afternoon about a swarm in a tree behind the house across from pastor Joe’s home. I loaded up the truck with equipment—step ladder, a 10’ pole, 5 gallon bucket, duct tape, a huge tablecloth, an empty hive and a few bee tools. The swarm was about 15’ overhead. Fortunately, I was able to back the truck right under it, set up the step ladder, duct tape the bucket to the pole, set the empty hive on the tablecloth spread out on the ground.

Climbing the ladder pole in hand, I positioned the bucket under the swarm and gave it a hard thrust against the limb. It always intrigues me when shaking a swarm that most of them drop in a clump into whatever container is available. These fell into the bucket which I lowered before climbing down the ladder and shaking the cluster of bees into the hive body on the ground. Another three trips up and down the ladder, and most of them were in the hive. There remained a grapefruit-sized cluster on the limb, but I could see bees on the tablecloth marching into the hive, indicating the queen was in residence.

I left for a couple hours, and just now got home from my after-dark visit. The cluster in the tree was gone, and the hive was literally buzzing in contentment. They are in my side yard now, closed up for a couple days so they can orient themselves to their new location.

Experts say that there is no such thing as a single honeybee. The colony is the organism. A single bee by itself will die like a solitary cell in our bodies. The queen is the heart and soul of the colony; if she is present and healthy, the colony is happy. Remove her, and you can hear the buzzing of the hive take on a frantic and desperate sound.

From their ability to navigate miles from the hive and communicate to the colony where the nectar is to be found, to building the most space efficient cells to raise brood and store honey and pollen, to me they are among God’s most fascinating creatures. Best of all, they produce what has been called “the nectar of the gods”—honey. If God put such thought into creating a honeybee, how much more intricate and significant his care for us! 

Checking the Map

 August 23, 2022

God’s question to Adam has been on my mind today. “Where are you?” isn’t as easy to answer as you might think. Where am I in my walk with God? Yesterday I mentioned that if we don’t know where we are, we won’t know how to get where we’re going. 

I pulled out of the driveway of Linda’s parents’ house about seven in the evening, bound for Chicago and seminary. Behind the U-Haul was our ‘66 Falcon. It was the Jimmy Carter years, when OPEC put the squeeze on us. There were lines at the gas stations, and even the interstates had a 55 mph speed limit. It probably wouldn’t have made any difference if it had been 75 mph; those U-Haul vans had governors on the carburetors, and 55 was all I was going to do unless I were coasting down a hill. Interstate 90 through Ohio and Indiana doesn’t have many hills. There always seems to be major highway construction around Cleveland. Even today, they are always working on the bypasses or some other project, but in 1975, Cleveland owned the highway from hell. But I made it through.

I was about two hours beyond Cleveland when I saw it. The sign joylessly proclaimed, “Welcome to Pennsylvania!” When you don’t know where you are, it’s hard to get where you’re going!

I know I am secure in Christ. St. Paul reminds me of this every time I read his letter to the Ephesians. I know I am towards the end of my earthly sojourn; the finish line gets closer every day; If my life were a 440, I’m somewhere beyond 300. I’m more settled than I used to be; I’ve learned to let go of things I cannot control, and to rest in the grace of my Heavenly Father, to believe in his forgiveness and trust in his goodness. I have little to lose, and nothing to prove. I’m making progress, but still get frustrated at my dullness in prayer and hesitation in my witness. If not throwing wrenches across the garage anymore is any indication, I think I’m more patient than I used to be. 

Better than excessive self-examination, if I really want to know where I am, I can ask Linda or my kids. And a couple friends. But like my long-ago fiasco at the Pennsylvania border, one of the best ways of discovering where we are is also the hardest. It is jarring to be stopped in our tracks by a big sign that says, “You’re going the wrong way,” but it often takes a catastrophe or a wake up call to get our attention. And once in awhile, we see those signs that tell us we’re on the right road. They are spiritual pats on the back, the affirmations of the Holy Spirit that reassure us and remind us that we are loved in spite of the wrong turns we’ve made along the way.

Where Are You?

 August 22, 2022

We often question God’s plans when things aren’t going as we had hoped. We question his wisdom, and often are quick to offer our suggestions as to how he might better run our portion of the universe. “I have a lot of questions to ask God when I get to heaven,” is a refrain I’ve heard dozens of times from people going through deep waters. It’s understandable, but we rarely consider that God has a few questions of his own.

Two Sundays ago, pastor Joe highlighted one of those questions as presented in the book of Isaiah, where God compares Israel to a vineyard he has planted. “He dug it up and cleared out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, and also made a winepress in it; so he expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes.” (Isaiah 5:2) He continues, “What more could have been done to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes?” (5:4). 

God’s question deserves an answer. What more could he have done than he has already done for us? And, why after all he has done for us, do we continue to disappoint him? I don’t know the answer to that question, but someday we will stand before him, and when we do, it would behoove us to have an answer beforehand.

I’ve occasionally pondered this topic of “Questions God asks,” and decided to do something about it, so tonight, we begin a new series in our Monday Men’s Bible Study group. The core Scripture for this series is Job 38:3—“Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.” It’s time that we “man up” and face head-on God’s tribunal. We men have for too long danced around the difficult questions of life, preferring to settle into a dismal, safe routine of watered-down Christianity that offers buckets of comfort, but droplets of challenge.

The very first question God ever asked, he asked of Adam. “Where are you?” he demanded in Genesis 3:9. Perhaps one of the hardest questions he could posit, God isn’t asking because he has lost track of us. Rather, we have lost our way. We don’t know where we are. Where am I in my walk with God? Am I where I should be? How do I measure spiritual progress? Have I drifted from his pathway, and if so, how do I get back?

What about my relationships? Where am I with my wife, my children, my friends, my acquaintances? Where am I when it comes to handling my time or my money? If I don’t know where I am, it will be impossible for me to find my destination. My present location is key to my destination. God is questioning me, not because he doesn’t know, but because too often, I don’t know. Our capacity for self-deception is astounding, which is why we need Gospel truth as a North Star for our lives. Jesus is that star who enlightens my path, showing me both where I am, and where I need to go.

Past Promises Fulfilled

August 21, 2022

One of the hardest of life’s tasks comes when we know we’ve heard from God, did what he told us to do, and despite our best intentions and efforts, it all blows up in our faces. Disillusionment easily slips into despair as the tempter whispers in our ear just as he did with Eve, “Did God really say…?” Pastors quit ministry, husbands leave wives, young adults get stuck in a morass of doubt and confusion.

In Exodus 5, Moses faithfully obeyed God’s command only to have Pharaoh laugh in his face and throw him out of the palace. Even those beneficiaries of Moses’ efforts, the leaders of the Hebrews, turned against him. He strode in with confidence, and slunk out in defeat. It was a good time to tell God, “Thanks, but no thanks.”

God knew how Moses was feeling, and spoke again to him, reminding Moses of his ancestral history, how God had made promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; promises that had been unfulfilled for 400 years, but which were about to become reality in and through Moses’ leadership. It was as if he was saying, “Be patient, Moses! It’s taken 400 years to get to this point; a few more days isn’t going to hurt.”

In vv. 3-5, God reminds Moses of four facts: He appeared to the patriarchs, he established a covenant with them, and now he has heard the groaning of his people, and  has remembered that covenant. It may have seemed that God didn’t know or care, but he was keenly aware and ready to move.

In vv. 6-8, the fulfillment of God’s covenant promises is laid out. He will bring his people out of slavery, will rescue them from harm, will redeem them (i.e. pay the price for them), will be their God, bring them into the land, and actually give the land to them. 

When failure casts its dark shadow across our path, we need to be reminded of God’s promises in the past,  that he is still in the search and rescue business, and that he has a goal for us far beyond our slave-mentality imagination. We dream of a softer bed and an easier life, but God has even more—a new and better land. It may not be easier, but it is always better. 

What is Real

 August 20, 2022

Linda LOVES all things Christmas, so I took a bit of a detour on our way home Thursday from visiting our long-time friends Howie and Sue so we could stop at the Evolve Christmas Store in Lyons, NY. Right in the center of a quaint village, the store sports about 10,000 square feet of rather unique Christmas decor. It’s not the usual ornaments and lights, and Linda was delighted. It was an enjoyable detour, but at one point as I slowly strolled through the displays, I was overcome with an incredible sadness.

Everything there was beautiful, much of it nostalgic, but as I walked, the emptiness of it all descended upon me. Christmas is often touted as the “happiest time of the year,” when we dream of peace on earth, goodwill to men, but if it goes no deeper than Santas and snowmen, there is no hope for mankind. None of the nice things we looked at has the ability to nourish the empty soul; none of it can produce the peace and joy for which we long. It’s all just so much stuff. 

We bought a few items, mostly gifts for others, then continued on our way, stopping once again in Churchville to visit my brother and sister in law, and granddaughters Alex and Abi. My brother had written me last week to let me know they are praying for Nate and us, and to make sure I knew he is available if I ever need to talk. My brother is a man of few words, so his letter, and the time we spent together was life to me. 

When Abi’s husband Jake got home from work, we headed out to a restaurant for dinner where we sat for two hours, talking, eating, and laughing together. That emptiness inside I had felt earlier began to give way to the deep satisfaction of the love we shared around the table. The things of this world cannot fill the soul’s need for deep communion with another person. What filled me up wasn’t just our conversation, but our connection in Jesus Christ. Every person I’ve mentioned loves and follows Jesus. His Spirit in them connects with his Spirit in us, making our  bonds even stronger and deeper. I am grateful tonight for the contrast we experienced that placed in stark contrast the emptiness of this world and the love we have found in Christ.

 August 19, 2022

Almost from the very beginning of our son’s battle against cancer he has stated his conviction that God is going to heal him. “But,” he adds, “I have to go through the process to get there.” In other words, it’s not going to be an instantaneous healing.

“Going through the process;” that’s the part we don’t like to hear. We want God to step in with a celestial magic wand that makes everything better…right now! It doesn’t often work that way. In Exodus 5, Moses stands before Pharaoh with the message God had given him: “Let my people go!” If Moses thought deliverance would be a cakewalk, he got a rude awakening when Pharaoh decreed that from now on when his Hebrew slaves were making bricks, they would have to find their own straw for binding. Oh—and they were to maintain the same quota of bricks. God had told Moses Pharaoh would be stubborn, but the Hebrew leaders were taken aback by this news. This was an unexpected setback.

Here’s truth: things often get worse before they get better. Our present circumstances and setbacks don’t necessarily reflect the ultimate outcome. In the Biblical Exodus story, the Hebrew overseers complained to Moses about their worsening situation because they hadn’t themselves heard from God. Their knowledge of God was second hand, and second hand knowledge is never adequate for first hand problems. Remember that: Second hand knowledge is never adequate for first hand problems.

We can only go through the process  when we believe more in the ultimate destination than in our present distress. That only happens when our relationship with Christ is more real to us than our crisis. The reason we so often fail at the process is because we don’t have a living relationship with the One who is taking us through it.

“Tired”

 August 16, 2022

I’ve been out of internet connectivity for the past few days, so here is a bit of catch up:

Summer, 1973. I had just dropped off Mrs. Radcliffe at her house at the top of Alma Hill. Looking out the rearview mirror, I could see her standing by the side of the road, eyes wide as saucers, hands to her mouth which was open in either fright or amazement, I couldn’t tell which. I would know soon enough.

I was taking her to a doctor’s appointment in town, but an odd rumbling sound coming from somewhere in the car made me stop, get out, and check it all over. I couldn’t find anything wrong, so I got back in and continued on my way. Half a mile later, the rumbling had gotten so bad I decided to turn around.  I saw her in the rearview just before dropping out of sight on Alma Hill Road. 

It was steep and winding, and the rumbling was getting worse when suddenly there was a loud bang and the car lurched. I watched in utter disbelief as my left rear wheel went bounding down the road ahead of me, disappearing into the woods. I looked, but never did find that wheel. Fortunately, back then cars came with full size spare wheels. I stopped, jacked up the 64 Falcon, took a lug nut from each of the other three tires, mounted the spare, and drove home.

I thought of that incident this afternoon. I don’t think I’ve had a flat tire since that long-ago morning…till today. On our way to visit friends east of Syracuse, we were tooling down the Thruway, full speed ahead when I heard a sound like a gunshot. The car immediately felt different, and I pulled to the side of the road, got out, and saw a large H-shaped hole in the sidewall of the same left rear tire as I had lost years ago. Our Prius didn’t come with a spare, so AAA became the modern counterpart to my creativity of years ago. Two hours and a few hundred dollars later, we were back on the road.

Before arriving at our destination, we drove through intermittent cloudbursts so severe that in one of them, a semi right in front of us disappeared in the mist. Then came the hail, almost hitting a bald eagle so intent on his prey in the middle of the road that I had to swerve to avoid hitting him, and almost getting sideswiped by a semi. It was the most extraordinary day trip I’ve ever taken.

When we pray for God’s blessing and protection on the highway, it isn’t merely a quaint ritual. Most of the time we never actually have the curtain pulled back so we can see what those prayers prevented. Today, Linda and I saw, and are thankful.

What’s in Your Hand

 August 15, 2022

“And Yahweh said to him, “What is this in your hand?” And he said, “A staff.” …You must take this staff in your hand, with which you will do the signs.” …And Moses took the staff of God in his hand.” —Exodus 4:2, 17, 20 

Too often we shortchange ourselves. The old hymn says, “Nothing in my hand I bring; simply to thy cross I cling.” While it is true that there is nothing we can bring to God to purchase our salvation, it isn’t true that we come completely empty-handed. Before we even thought of God and Jesus and salvation, God was at work, shaping and training us for the plans he has for us.

When God called Moses, he asked a straightforward question: “What is in your hand?” He took the common tool of the shepherd and before he was done, that shepherd’s staff became “the staff of God” in his hand. I may not have much, but when I heed the call of God, whatever I have becomes a “staff of God” in my hand, an instrument of wonders and even miracles. Whatever talent you have, give it to God. You’ll be amazed at the big and eternal things he can accomplish through the ordinary stuff we hold in our hands.

Grace for Despair

 August 14, 2022

Amidst more contemporary Christian songs this morning was this old standby dating from 1910. One day before I came to faith in Christ, I picked up a copy of LIFE magazine (a large general interest tabloid magazine that went out of business in the 70’s). Flames were emblazoned across the cover, along with the headline, “How to Stay out of Hell,” something that would never appear on a mainline magazine today. I thought to myself, “That’s easy; do more good than bad.” I wasn’t familiar with the Gospel then, and knew nothing of the grace, the undeserved favor of God which is the theme of this morning’s song. 

Sad to say, even Christians miss the liberating power of God’s grace, living instead under a cloud of guilt that has them on a treadmill of works, desperately hoping somehow to earn God’s love. For them, their sin is greater than God’s grace, rather than the other way around.

Over the years, I’ve sung this old hymn, enjoying both the lyrics and the melody, but this morning, I was struck by one of the phrases in the second verse. Here is the song in its entirety:

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,

Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!

Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,

There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.

 

Refrain:

 

Grace, grace, God’s grace,

Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;

Grace, grace, God’s grace,

Grace that is greater than all our sin!

 

Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold,

Threaten the soul with infinite loss;

Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold,

Points to the refuge, the mighty cross.

 

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide;

What can avail to wash it away?

Look! There is flowing a crimson tide,

Brighter than snow you may be today.

 

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,

Freely bestowed on all who believe!

You that are longing to see His face,

Will you this moment His grace receive?

Look at that second verse. “Sin and despair like the sea waves cold, threaten the soul with infinite loss.” As a Christian, I resonate with how sin threatens the soul, but I had never considered how despair does so. And yet, it does. We live in desperate times. People are afraid; the problems of modern life seem unsolvable.  Loudly proclaiming the evils of their opponents, politicians  confidently assure us that their solutions will bring a new dawn of justice and prosperity. When their programs fail, they double down, all of which requires more money, of course. As Reagan once said, “There is nothing on earth so close to eternal life as a government program.” 

Swept along in this cycle of empty promises, ordinary people are driven to despair. Nothing changes unless it is for the worse. Like sin, this despair threatens our souls. If we lose hope, the possibility of change, of improvement, of a life worth living, evaporates. This song holds forth the only real hope for mankind: the undeserved and unearned grace of our loving God who sent his Son to the cross so our sins could be forgiven and our despair turned to joy and thanksgiving. 

Spend not another hour in despair and hopelessness! The last verse of the song is the solution to our predicament: 

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,

Freely bestowed on all who believe!

You that are longing to see His face,

Will you this moment His grace receive?

Unanticipated Blessings

 August 13, 2022

It can be hard when we’re in the middle of a crisis to see God’s hand in it. When you’re drowning is not the best time to have someone describing the beauty of a sunset on the water. In Exodus 1, Pharaoh had ordered all the baby Hebrew boys to be drowned. It was one of the earliest recorded instances of deliberate genocide.

In the middle of this situation, one desperate young woman gave birth to a healthy boy described as “beautiful.” Unwilling to hand him over to the authorities, she instead fashioned a basket out of reeds, daubed it with tar, put her baby in it, and placed it in the reeds by the river. It perhaps wasn’t the best of plans, but it was all she could manage under the circumstances. She chose a place near where Pharaoh’s daughter came to bathe, and had her young daughter stationed nearby as a lookout.

As hoped, Pharaoh’s daughter heard the baby crying and sent one of her attendants to see what was going on, whereupon the baby’s sister came out of hiding, offering to find a wet nurse for him. Pharaoh’s daughter agreed, and the sister ran home with the news. Having risked all to save him, Moses’ mother was now being paid to care for her own son by the daughter of the man who had ordered his death. You couldn’t make up a story with more irony than this!

I would bet when she first heard about Pharaoh’s decree, Moses’ mother was immediately thrown into a panic, perhaps even crying out, “Why, God? Where are you when we need you?” And all the while, God was quietly working, suggesting a pan in her mind, nudging her to act swiftly. All along, he had planned something better than she could have imagined. And he continues to do so today. The crisis is not the measure of God’s love and wisdom; it is only the means by which that love and wisdom are in time, revealed, if we are patient and faithful enough to refuse to let the crisis define us. 

Toxic Masculinity

 August 2, 2022

The boys were a threat. Pharaoh was worried that they would grow up into toxic masculinity, so his solution to the problem was to have them killed at the outset. Unlike many medical providers today, the Hebrew midwives refused to go along with his solution. They were history’s first recorded pro-lifers. In a strange ironic twist, 1400 years later when Herod wanted to kill Jesus because he would grow up to be a man toxic to Herod’s murderous ways, it was to Pharaoh’s old stomping grounds Joseph took the boy and his mother. I think God was poking the devil in the eye.

Today we live in a similar culture of death. Killing babies is considered health care. We haven’t yet tried to force it upon people, but signs are pointing in that direction. For those baby boys that survive the womb, death comes in a thousand cuts. Generally speaking, boys are more kinetic learners, but we demand they sit for hours at a time in school, and medicate them if they do not. Our culture tells them their natural aggression is bad, and is working 24/7 to emasculate them. Strong males are seen as dangerous, to be feared and caged unless he is tender and nurturing. The fact is, strong young men are dangerous, but they are also capable of a greatness that the Destroyer would cut off at the knees. 

Our society is filled with would-be Pharaohs and Herods who rightly fear the power of a godly man. Sadly, too many of our churches cater only to women; a man of the world takes one step inside and knows this place is not designed for him. My prayer tonight is for the Church to wake up and challenge young men to boldly risk all in a venture so audacious and even dangerous that it requires the very best they can give, to lay alongside its nurturing and comforting message a clarion call to rugged discipleship, to leave that garden where “he walks with me and talks with me,” and shoulder a cross, following Christ to a lonely hill where life is willingly laid down for the sake of a generation yet to come. Such men are indeed toxic—to those who seek only their own advancement. To the rest of us, they are a ray of hope in a sin-darkened world.

Rest and Restlessness

 August 11, 2022

I’ve always thought Psalm 95 a bit odd. It begins in wonderful praise and worship:

“Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! 

Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. 

Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; 

Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. 

For the Lord is the great God, 

And the great King above all gods…

Oh come, let us worship and bow down; 

Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. 

For He is our God, 

And we are the people of His pasture, 

And the sheep of His hand…”

—Psalm 95:1-3, 6-7 

Beautiful, uplifting words, suddenly cut short with,

Today, if you will hear His voice: 

“Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, 

As in the day of trial in the wilderness, 

When your fathers tested Me; 

They tried Me, though they saw My work. 

For forty years I was grieved with that generation, 

And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, 

And they do not know My ways.’ 

So I swore in My wrath, 

‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ””

—Psalm 95:7-11 

It almost gives you literary whiplash to hear this warning so close on the heels of such lofty praise. For years, I couldn’t understand this startling transition…until this morning. The warning, “Don’t harden your heart,” is for me. How do I harden my heart? When I fail to worship and bow down. Praise and worship keep my heart pliable. 

Too often, like the Isrealites, I follow after my own thoughts. When I fail to praise, I am keeping God at arm’s length, testing him to see if he will chase after me as I go astray in my heart. Only praise teaches me God’s ways. Choosing to meditate on my own thoughts is tantamount to rebellion, and keeps me from entering God’s rest. This is not mere armchair theoretical stuff; my wandering thoughts never bring rest to my soul.

“Today, if you will hear his voice” (V.7). Worship and praise is where we hear God’s voice.  Scripture is where God’s voice comes; worship is how I hear it. Worship requires turning from my ways and thoughts and focusing on God’s ways and works.

It isn’t fashionable these days to speak of God’s wrath, but this Psalm isn’t quite so discreet. Testing God by attending to my thoughts rather than his incurs his wrath, manifested in restlessness. The endless chasing after the next high, the next job, the next man or woman, the next million is sad testimony to the wrath of God who said, “There is no rest for the wicked” (Isaiah 57:20).

If I am restless, anxious and fretting about tomorrow, it is an indication of sin and rebellion—the refusal to enter into the rest that comes with meditating upon God’s Word. “Rest in the Lord” is not a suggestion; it’s a command, and refusal to do the work of getting there is a sin. Restlessness is both a condition and a warning. Repentance is the way back into God’s rest.

Remember

 August 10, 2022

As the sky slowly darkens, the deck lights are on, the air is still,  the birds are singing their lullabies in the trees, and a couple mosquito coils are smoldering beside me as I sit. This morning my son posted a video devotional in which he was looking through a pile of letters he had received from those who had accompanied him on what up until Covid hit, had been an annual mission trip to New York City. 

He was remembering, and urging us to do the same; to remember the faithfulness of God in good times and bad. So that’s what I’m doing as I sit here tonight.

The friends we visited in Virginia a few weeks ago had on their front porch an electronic mosquito killer. It had a cartridge of some sort that when it was turned on emitted some sort of vapor guaranteed to keep mosquitos at about a fifteen foot radius. It seemed to work, as we sat on the porch in the evenings unbothered by the pesky little critters. So before we came home, I bought one for our outdoor evenings.

Tonight, it sits on the counter in the kitchen while the old-fashioned coils put forth their faint, smudgy wisps of smoke. I’m remembering. The first time I bought those coils was on one of our family vacations in Canada. THEY have mosquitos, and in the evenings, one of those coils was constantly burning in an ashtray in the cabin, giving off their distinctive aroma that fills my nostrils tonight, causing me to remember, and give thanks for such times of relaxation and soul-filling moments with the kids and grandkids.

They say that the sense of smell can resurrect memories better than anything else, and I believe it. Last week, the village laid down some fresh oil and stone on the road going up the hill by our house. I walked down the road, and seeing the fresh oil and tar in bubbles on the surface of the road took me back more than sixty years to hot summer days and the smell of new asphalt with bubbles we deliberately popped as we walked the streets. And on occasional spring mornings, the aromas in the air instantly transport me back sixty years to the sidewalk leading to the front steps of Westside Baptist Church as I made my way towards the front steps, Bible in hand.

I suspect one of the reasons God directed his priests to make a special incense for temple worship, the formula of which was not to be used for any other purpose, is its ability to instantly take us to a different time and place. With all the good Protestantism brought the world with its emphasis on the preaching of God’s Word, one of the casualties of it was the abandoning of the use of incense in worship. 

“Bless the Lord, O my soul; 

And all that is within me, bless His holy name! 

Bless the Lord, O my soul, 

And forget not all His benefits: 

—Psalm 103:1 & 2

The writer goes on to list those benefits: forgiveness, healing, redemption, lovingkindness and tender mercies… So tonight, those mosquito coils bring back memories, satisfying the soul as I sit in backyard wonder and worship.

Friend Judas

 August 9, 2022

In his book, “Naked and Not Ashamed,” TD Jakes makes an arresting statement: “We must widen our definition of friendship to include the betrayer if his betrayal ushered us into the next step of God’s plan for our lives. He quotes from Matthew’s gospel:

“Now His betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the One; seize Him.” Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed Him. But Jesus said to him, “Friend, why have you come?” Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took Him. And suddenly, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. But Jesus said to him, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?”” —Matthew 26:48-54 

Jakes notes that “Every child of God not only has, but also desperately needs, a “Judas” to carry out certain aspects of divine providence in his life? In the passage quoted above, Judas was more of a friend than Peter! Although Peter was certainly more amiable and admirable, Judas was the one God selected to usher in the next step of the process. Peter’s love was almost a deterrent to the purpose of God.”

He continues: “Judas was no mistake. He was handpicked and selected. His role was crucial to the death and resurrection of Christ. No one helped Christ reach His goal like Judas…We all want to be surrounded by a friend like John, whose loving head lay firmly on Jesus’ breast. We may long for the protective instincts of a friend like Peter, who stood ready to attack every negative force that would come against Jesus. In his misdirected love, Peter even withstood Jesus to His face over His determination to die for mankind. But the truth of the matter is, Jesus could have accomplished His goal without Peter, James, or John; but without Judas He would never have reached the hope of his calling.”

We’ve all had a Judas in our lives, betraying us with a kiss, wounding us to the very core of our being. Most of us shrink from such people, or else we strike back. In the pain of the moment, it’s hard to see God’s hand using betrayal to open the door to our life’s purpose, but it’s there. 

Jakes says it much better than I: “The bleeding trail of broken hearts and wounded relationships ultimately leads us to the richness of God’s purpose in us…The sweet kiss of betrayal can never abort the precious promises of God in our life! The challenge is to sit at the table with Judas on one side, and John on the other, and to treat one no differently from the other, even though we are distinctly aware of each one’s identity and agenda. If you have been betrayed or wounded by someone you brought too close, please forgive them. They really were a blessing.”

One can only see this if we believe in the sovereignty of God, that he works “all things for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). The biggest betrayal in my life still makes me wince when I think of it, but looking back, I know God used that experience to shape me in ways I had long resisted. It wasn’t easy, but it was, and remains good, in fact, one of the better experiences in my life—what Ann Voskamp calls a “hard eucharisto,” a hard blessing that drove me to my knees before a loving Heavenly Father. 

Joseph’s Joy

 August 8, 2022

I’ve been reading the Joseph story in Genesis 39-50. It’s the longest narrative of a single person in Genesis, which is quite remarkable in that the previous 37 chapters take us from Creation at the beginning of time through Noah and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

No specific sin or shortcoming is ever attributed to Joseph, which some have taken as a foreshadowing of Christ, rejected by his own and redeeming his people. The parallels fall short however, and even if specific sins are not mentioned, Joseph at the beginning is clearly a spoiled brat with little common sense. His is however, the classic story of someone repeatedly ill-treated who overcomes all odds to become deliverer for his family.

The point of the story is found at the very end, where he declares that what his brothers meant evil against him God meant for good (50:20). This is a lesson each of us has to learn for ourselves. There is no shortage of evil in the world, and some of it may be directed directly and specifically towards us, but as Isaiah declares some 1500 years later, “no weapon formed against you can stand” (Isaiah 54:17). 

We tend to ask, “Why me?” when bad things happen to us, but less frequently do we ask that same question when we are besieged with blessings. My inability to discern God’s plan and purposes do not mean he has none. I’ve seen people crumble beneath the smallest of burdens, but I’ve also witnessed those whose troubles piled up like mountains before them without destroying their faith and joy. 

Notice my choice of words: “joy.” Joy is different from happiness. The word happy is related to “happen,” or “happenstance,” external events that come along seemingly without meaning or purpose. The person who wants to be happy is surrendering his sense of well-being to others, or to events he cannot control. Living for happiness sets us on a roller coaster ride of ups and downs that control our inner peace. Joy is found only in that which is eternal, even God himself. “In your presence is fullness of joy “(Psalm 1 6:11). The troubles of this life don’t determine our character; they only reveal it. 

I’m sure Joseph wasn’t particularly happy in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, but his life wasn’t grounded in what happened to him, but in God within him. This is what makes the difference!

Singing the Devil’s Song

 August 7, 2022

Awhile ago, I passed along a photo of some of the stars and galaxies as seen by the James Webb telescope. Along with the photo was an audio track of sounds of the stars captured by their instruments. My comment for the post was a reference to Job 38:7, where God is challenging Job in response to the latter’s questioning of the former. “Where were you when the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”

The telescope purports to capture images that are billions of light years away, which means they are images of things that happened at the dawn of Creation—with the light, there is also sound. The Bible calls Jesus “the Bright and Morning Star (Revelation 22:6). So who or what was the other star that sang with the Son of God at creation?

In a round-about way, we are given a clue by Isaiah:

““How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.” —Isaiah 14:12-15 

Lucifer! A different translation of this text reads, “How you are fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn. You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations…” (NIV). Lucifer was the other morning star, lesser than the Son of God, perhaps singing the harmonies when the thought began to rise within him that he wanted to sing the melody, or even more, to be the one for whom the song was sung.

Pride welled up within him, and seeking to be worshipped instead of to worship, what was once melodious starry praise in tune with Jesus Christ descended into inharmonious discord.

Here’s the Good News: We get to usurp him when we sing praises to the Lord. His seat in the choir is empty and waiting for the children of God to take their place singing the songs of salvation. Satan trembles with rage before the praises of God’s people as he paces in jealous fury, knowing that his pride has brought him lower than we who have no  claim to praise other than the blood of Jesus Christ. His pride is wounded, which means he will go to almost any extreme to keep God’s people from worship. We live in a culture with so many distractions, where worship is not seen for what it really is—an assault upon the very gates of hell. Worship is a most potent form of spiritual warfare.

So let us humbly sing the praises of Him who has invited us to stand beside him in joyous salvation songs, displacing the Enemy of our souls and worshipfully sticking our fingers in his eye.