Eclipse

 April 7, 2024

Tomorrow is Eclipse Day, and we are right in the middle of its path. Our county government has expended much time and energy (and probably money) promoting this as a tourist bonanza for the area. We are just hoping our normal overcast skies don’t foil the entire enterprise. However it plays out, it’s been interesting to me to read the prognostications and pronouncements of certain Christians regarding the eclipse as a sign from God of apocalyptic proportions.

While Jesus did tell us that in the last days there would be signs in the skies (“the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” —Matthew 24:29 ), he also told us not to consult them as if they had power to shape our lives. Some of the commentary I’ve read from Christian sources comes awfully close to an occultic interpretation of the heavens. God alone knows our future, and has not relinquished it to any of his Creation.

So enjoy the hoopla, get out your special glasses and revel in the wonder of one of the more unusual works of God. And don’t forget to give him thanks and praise for it all. Myself, I’ll be witnessing it in the company of one of my college roommates whose 75th birthday is tomorrow. He’s sporting a sweatshirt declaring the eclipse as his birthday present from the universe. Lucky guy! Happy birthday, Don!

Commit

 April 6, 2024

Psalm 37:3-5

“Trust in the Lord, and do good; 

Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. 

Delight yourself also in the Lord, 

And He shall give you the desires of your heart. 

Commit your way to the Lord, 

Trust also in Him, 

And He shall bring it to pass.”

“Trust, Dwell, Feed, Delight.” Four commands in two verses. They build on one another, each command taking us deeper into our relationship with God. Now we come to the climax of it all: “Commit.” Sooner or later in our journey with God, we end up here. It’s show time, and we must decide whether or not we’re going to commit. Trusting God, living in the land of his promises, feeding on his blessings—we love it so far, but when it comes to commitment, we balk. 

But commitment is the heart of it all. It’s what God is after; not fans, not admirers, not even believers. He is looking for people willing to commit everything into his hands, no matter what. Our taking that final step is how God brings to pass all the good he has planned for us. So…commit. Your way. To him.

Desire

April 5, 2024

To me, the heart of this psalm is verse (4) It’s also one of my favorite Bible verses because of its promise:

“Delight yourself also in the Lord, 

And He shall give you the desires of your heart.“

The desires of your heart! Who wouldn’t want that? Think of the things your heart desires—love, success, health, or perhaps wealth, a big home, fancy cars, a killer computer. There is a catch to it all, though. The condition is that you have to delight in the Lord. We know in our heads what that means, but often don’t know how to get there. What does it mean to delight in God? How do I do it?

When I was young, more than almost anything else, I wanted a Harley Davidson! I bought a 1953 Panhead basket case, dreamed about it, read about it, worked on putting it together. I sold it to go to seminary, then bought another basket case. I had it for years, finally trading it for the ‘42 WLA military surplus we finally got running last summer. A funny thing happened along the way—I got to the point where it didn’t matter to me any more. I had been delighting in something that didn’t really fill my heart. 

If we pursue knowing Christ like I pursued that Harley, thinking about him, studying him, desiring him, it never gets to the point where he doesn’t matter anymore. In fact, we get what our hearts have really longed for, because our desires are for him, and God loves nothing more than to give us more of himself. Trust me; it really works this way. The more we delight in Christ, the more our truest desires are met.

 

Settling down

 April 4, 2024

“Trust in the Lord, and do good; 

Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. 

Delight yourself also in the Lord, 

And He shall give you the desires of your heart. 

Commit your way to the Lord, 

Trust also in Him, 

And He shall bring it to pass.”

—Psalm 37:3-5 

“Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.” At first glance, this sentence doesn’t make much sense. What does it mean for us to “dwell in the land?” Well, think back to the time when the people of Israel had escaped from Egypt. They got to the border of the Promised Land and balked. They were afraid to go in and whined that it would be better if they could go back to Egypt and slavery. 

Sometimes when we look at a situation we are facing, we are tempted to want to go back to the way it was before, but if were to do that, we would be rejecting God’s plan for us and missing out on the good he has in store. We are told here to dwell, to live in the land; to move forward and claim what God has planned for us. The only time God wants us to go backward is when we need to repent of sin. We have to go back to where we got off track if we’re going to get back on the track God intends us to be on. Otherwise, God is always moving forward, so much so that when Paul speaks of the Christian’s armor in Ephesians 6, there is nothing provided to protect our backs. 

To move continually forward , we need to feed on his faithfulness instead of our own abilities. Let God’s faithfulness feed you, strengthen you, equip you to move forward with confidence, instead of backward in fear.

Doing Good

April 3, 2024

Yesterday we began looking at Psalm 37:3 and the command to trust in the Lord. Today we take the second half of the first phrase of that verse—“and do good.” It’s a whole lot easier to say, “I trust in the Lord,” than to simply do good. But it’s the doing good that gives credence to our trusting in God. If I’m not doing good, my words mean nothing, as James says, “Faith without works is dead” (2:20).

Some people mistakenly think that the more good they do, the more God will love them, or even that their good works will get them into heaven. It doesn’t work that way. I do good things for my wife not to earn her love, but because I already have it, and want to bless her as she has already blessed me. It’s the same with God. When we trust in him, we want to do good as a way of saying ‘Thank you for all you’ve done for me.’

Why not go out of your way to do something good today, just as your way of saying thank you to God for all he’s done for you?

 

Trusting God

 April 2, 2024

“Trust in the Lord, and do good; 

Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. 

Delight yourself also in the Lord, 

And He shall give you the desires of your heart. 

Commit your way to the Lord, 

Trust also in Him, 

And He shall bring it to pass.”

—Psalm 37:3-5 

Verse 4 is one of my all–time favorite Bible verses: “Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart,” but as I read it recently, I noticed something I hadn’t seen before: that little word “also.” It’s not found in every translation, so I don’t want to make too much of it, but it implies that there is something preceding that is important. That takes us to verse three, where four commands are given: ”Trust, Do good, Dwell, and Feed.” I’ll take just that first command tonight.

“Trust in the Lord.” This command implies that God is trustworthy. Perhaps you’ve put your trust in someone, only to find out they weren’t trustworthy. They betrayed your trust, didn’t follow through on their promises, turned against you. When that happens, it can become hard to trust someone else down the road. Sometimes we have a hard time trusting God, especially when he doesn’t answer our prayers as we think he should. A faulty understanding of God and how he works has caused many to lose faith, to conclude that God can’t be trusted. If I am going to trust him, it’s imperative I get to know him as he really is, and not as I want him to be.

Trust also implies risk. If I am certain of the outcome, I don’t need to trust. Trust is only possible in a context of uncertainty, when we take another step in the dark, not knowing if it will land on solid ground or plunge us into oblivion.

So what does it mean for you to trust God today? Where are you feeling uncertain, nervous, maybe a bit scared? Learning to trust God, to say to him, “OK, your will, not mine, be done,” is the first step towards the end result you want in life.

Fools

 April 1, 2024

Years ago, I read about a man who walked the streets of his city wearing a blank billboard that had a roll-up blind at the top. He was dressed a bit shabbily, but was always polite and respectful of others. He would walk up to the window of a diner, or stand in the subway station, tip his hat with a smile, and pull on the window shade string. It would unroll, revealing in large letters this simple message:

“I am a fool for Jesus…

Who are you a fool for?”

Some would laugh, some mock; others either ignored him or read thoughtfully. I don’t know if anyone was converted by his witness, but his message is worth considering. People make fools of themselves for all sorts of things—money, sex, approval, power over others. They’ll destroy all that is truly valuable in their lives in a frenzied quest for an ever-elusive satisfaction, all the while ridiculing those who have chosen to be fools for Jesus.

Bob Dylan had an encounter with Jesus that changed his whole outlook on life. He was still Bob Dylan, wordsmith and songwriter, but when he wrote and performed “You Gotta Serve Somebody,” he was vilified by those who had before almost worshipped him. He understood that we are all fools for something, and he chose to be a fool for Jesus. How about you? What are you a fool for?