Among the Nations

 July 6, 2021

“Oh, sing to the Lord a new song! Sing to the Lord, all the earth. 

Sing to the Lord, bless His name; 

Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. 

Declare His glory among the nations, 

His wonders among all peoples. 

Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns; 

The world also is firmly established, It shall not be moved; 

He shall judge the peoples righteously.””

—Psalm 96:1-3, 10

“When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, 

We were like those who dream. 

Then our mouth was filled with laughter, 

And our tongue with singing. 

Then they said among the nations, 

“The Lord has done great things for them.””

—Psalm 126:1-2

Three times in these two psalms a phrase with a double edge is repeated: “among the nations.” These words, found in very few places in the Scriptures, appear in two different, but related contexts. The first is that of Psalm 96; a call to speak aloud God’s praises in the public marketplace of business, politics, education, as well as in religious circumstances. “Among the nations” is a command to make God’s name known in the public arena—shouted, in fact, without apology, hesitation, or timidity. This is our calling and our privilege. 

The other side to this calling is the consequences for ignoring it. Repeatedly, God warned his people that if they abandoned his claim upon their lives, he would scatter them “among the nations.” A failure to proclaim God’s goodness, faithfulness, and mercy in the public arena will result in a scattering of his people among those very nations among whom they were charged with bearing God’s Good News. The strength of our proclamation is contrasted with the weakness of the scattering.

It will be one or the other. If we as God’s people don’t shout his praises, his character, his purposes among the nations, we can expect to be scattered—weak and powerless—among those same nations. The nations are no more eager to hear God’s praise today than they were in the days of ancient Israel. Israel failed their calling and were scattered. The same is happening to us today. The modern American church is scattered; divided and powerless because we have refused to proclaim the holiness and heart of Christ to the world around us. Only when we take seriously God’s command will we cease to be scattered and oppressed. May God grant us the courage and faith to do so.

Puzzles

 July 5, 2021

The Lord has lately been working on me regarding my relationship with him. It is so very easy to almost imperceptibly slide from grace to works in our thinking. We gauge our relationship with God by what we are or are not doing instead of by our Father’s unending and undeserved love and grace. I’m finding that just being with God is hard. My natural inclination is, “What do I need to be doing today?” Not doing seems a waste of precious time.

I know enough about preaching to know that often, the goal I had in a sermon was not always what hit home in the congregation. Sometimes, the Lord takes a single word or phrase casually said and drives it home; that’s what he did for me yesterday. Brandon was preaching on spiritual gifts, but in doing so, mentioned a single word that grabbed me: “puzzle.” I don’t know how that word got into his sermon, but I know it was for me.

Life often seems puzzling as we try to figure out our purpose and God’s will. It’s summer now, so we don’t work on puzzles much these days. Of course, there are different kinds—word puzzles like crosswords, riddles, and word searches. There are number puzzles like Sudoku, and there are visual puzzles like jigsaws (my favorite). All puzzles have a few things in common that have life application.

1. All puzzles have patterns. They may not be discernible at first, but the pieces or components are always linked together in discoverable ways. If we cannot discern the pattern, we’ll not solve the puzzle.

2. All puzzles have place. Each piece of the puzzle has a specific place. In a jigsaw, some pieces may seem interchangeable, but there is only one way they fit together. Sudokus and crosswords work the same way.

3. All puzzles require patience. Often puzzles go unsolved because we run out of patience. A lot of trial and error goes into solving puzzles. We find a lot of stuff that doesn’t work before we discover what does.

4. All puzzles have particularity. I don’t like the number puzzles my wife adores; I can barely add and subtract, but she doesn’t like the jigsaws that I enjoy because she can’t see the visual patterns of shape, line, and color that are so important to solving them.

In life, until we patiently work to discern the patterns, we will never find our place in God’s plans. If we fail to look for the bigger picture, we will never see the patterns. Most puzzles have clues—the picture on the box of a jigsaw, the supplied numbers of a sudoku, the “across” and “down” columns of a crossword. God has given us his pattern in Jesus Christ; it is up to us to find our place in it, to patiently keep at it. The particulars of my puzzle are different from anyone else’s, but the Pattern is the same—Jesus Christ, and the clues are found in the Bible. It’s not always easy. Scripture tells us that there are secret things that belong to God, and to those to whom he chooses to reveal them (Deuteronomy 29:29 and Matthew 11:27). We are commanded to seek diligently, to apply ourselves to the puzzle. So I just keep looking at the picture on the box and fitting in the pieces until one day the puzzle will be done to God’s satisfaction. Hopefully, there will be no missing pieces, and the picture on the box will be replicated in my heart and life. 

Grandpa Bohrer

 July 4, 2021

On this Fourth of July, it is a good thing to step back from the cookouts and celebrations to reflect on the freedoms we as Americans enjoy—freedoms and rights most people in history could not even have imagined. They are a gift to us from our founding fathers; their wisdom, bravery, and legacy. It’s fashionable these days to criticize and judge our forebearers for whatever flaws and shortcomings they had, and even to rewrite history to a narrative that fits a political agenda, so I would like to give a little perspective here.

The photo above is of my great-great grandfather, (my paternal grandmother’s grandfather). His name was Conrad Bohrer, born in 1821 in St John, in what was the Rhineland area of present-day Germany. He immigrated to the United States sometime thereafter, and when the American Civil War broke out, he served in the 54th regiment of the New York State infantry for the usual 100 day enlistment, from August through November of that year, as attested in his discharge papers, also pictured.

Although we have no record of any engagements he may have been in, his musket hangs over our fireplace. What is most interesting is the other set of his papers I have—his naturalization papers making him a citizen of the U.S. This didn’t happen until July of 1866, a year and a half after his enlistment as a soldier fighting to preserve the Union and end slavery!

When I hear all today’s talk about white privilege, reparations, and institutional racism, I remember grandpa Bohrer, who came to this country, and although not even a citizen, believed in it enough to do what he could to prevent its dismemberment. He had no sense of entitlement and no real obligation to do what he did. But he did it, and I am grateful to have descended from such stock. May God continue to bless America with people like my great-great grandfather!

Rest

 July 3, 2021

““But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, and saying: ‘We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; We mourned to you, And you did not lament.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.”” —Matthew 11:16-19 

John the Baptist was imprisoned by Herod, the ruthless and volatile ruler of Judea. It was Herod’s vendetta against John for daring to tell him the truth. Rotting away in a Roman jail was not John’s idea of how things would turn out, so he began to question whether or not Jesus was who he thought he was. He sent friends to Jesus with that very question, and got what most of us would consider a less than satisfactory answer. But after sending the messengers back to John, Jesus praised him before the crowds gathered around, and pronounced a curse upon the area cities and towns that in spite of miracles and solid preaching, refused to believe and repent. 

Jesus was essentially saying that the crowds are never satisfied, and if we expect the world to listen with rapturous attention to our message, we will be sorely disappointed, even as was John. It’s in the face of this seeming futility that Jesus calls us to himself:

“At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” —Matthew 11:25-30 

When all the doing is done and the world is still unchanged and unrepentant, the only thing left for us is to rest in Jesus. If we expect our accomplishments to satisfy our souls, they shall remain parched and dry. If we expect our efforts to have transformed the world, we will look back in disappointment. Only in Jesus can we find rest for our souls. Only he knows the Father and is able to reveal him to us. Accomplishments will fade away like the crowds that followed John until Herod threw him in prison. Not in my achievements, not in my successes, not in anything I’ve done will I discover meaning, contentment, and peace. Only by coming to Jesus will we find lasting rest for our restless souls.

Interruptions

 July 2, 2021

All three Synoptic Gospels record the incident (Matthew 9:18-26, Mark 5:25-43, and Luke 8:41-56), each with details unique to themselves. Matthew’s account contains the fewest details, Luke’s the most, perhaps because he was a medical man himself. 

Jesus was asked to heal the daughter of the synagogue ruler, and was on his way when he was interrupted by a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. She had heard of this man and told herself that if she could even only touch the hem of his robe, she could be healed. She did so, and the bleeding stopped. Matthew doesn’t record the details, but Mark and Luke notice. Dr. Luke is the most meticulous in his account, telling us how often she had consulted physicians to no avail. Mark and Luke both note that at the woman’s touch, Jesus could feel the power leaving him—an interesting phrase in itself.

The woman was afraid. It was against Jewish custom for a woman to touch a man, and a violation of religious law to do so when “unclean.” To so touch a rabbi was even a worse breach of social etiquette. When Jesus turned and asked who touched him, she quite possibly expected to be chastised, and perhaps ostracized once more. She was exposed as having done the unthinkable, and feared the consequences.

What caught my attention this morning was not her desperation and bravery, nor the fact that she was healed or that this healing drained something out of Jesus, but that this entire incident was an interruption that becomes the centerpiece of the narrative. An unclean woman committing an unthinkable offense and receiving healing and acceptance instead of reproach; the fact that the little girl lay dying and in fact did die is swept aside in Jesus’ attention to the moment. The interruption becomes the main story. I wonder how often I miss the main story because I’m so focused on my planned destination. I wonder where the main narrative was headed the night I interrupted Jesus. When I reached out to touch him, he stopped and paid attention to me. In this story, Whatever else he was doing could wait, and even become a greater demonstration of his power as instead of merely healing a little girl, he raised her from death.

Perhaps if I paid more attention to the interruptions, the outcome of my plans would be even greater than if I charged ahead. Lord, slow me down to pay attention to the interruptions!

Honey

 July 1, 2021

“How sweet are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth!”

—Psalm 119:103 

Today I processed some honeycomb from the colony I cut out from an attic a few weeks ago. I drained and strained the honey two weeks ago, but the cappings and old comb just sat in the garage till I had time to deal with them. On the way home from the credit union this morning, I took Ron a cup of coffee. We had chatted awhile when I spotted an old aluminum pot that he sold me for a couple dollars—just the right size for the bag of cappings. I poured in some water, dumped in the cappings, and set them on the hot plate. Half an hour later, it was all melted, but mixed with dead bees and larvae, a sticky mess that needed to be strained through a cheesecloth which I didn’t have. I did have a cloth sleeve I bought some ten years ago to wrap around some drainage tile I laid in our backyard in Cassadaga. It worked perfectly, if somewhat messily.

Rendering beeswax can be somewhat tedious and is always messy. The same is true for the honey itself. The hive needs to be opened, much to the bees’ dismay. They don’t like me breaking into their home, robbing and rearranging things any more than we would if someone did it to us. They can become a bit agitated. Even with protective gear, getting stung is often part of the process. 

Once the hive is opened, the comb must be removed and the honey either spun out in what looks like a big centrifuge, or the entire comb is cut out and crushed. Any way you look at it, it’s a bit of work—all just to be able to enjoy the delicate sweetness of the honey.

So often when we read the Bible, we expect great truths to jump out at us, gracing us with insight, wisdom, and spiritual power as we glance through its pages hurriedly. Most of us seldom sit long enough to puzzle and ponder over the text, asking questions of it and allowing it to do the same to us. But just as honey doesn’t just effortlessly drip onto our toast, but requires labor and messiness for us to enjoy it, so the sweetest Scriptural blessings come only to those willing to accept its stings, willing to labor tirelessly till we hold it unadulterated, clear, and sweet to the taste. It’s never easy, but like the honey I’ll enjoy in the morning, it’s Oh so worth it!

Restlessness

 June 30, 2021

“There was silence, and i heard a still voice.” —Job 4:16

A.B. Simpson, founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance wrote about hearing from God. Given that distractions are far more prevalent in today’s world than in his, his words bear repeating in their entirety.

“A score of years ago, a friend placed in my hand a book called True Peace. It was an old mediaeval message, and it had but one thought—that God was waiting in the depths of my being to talk to me if I would only get still enough to hear his voice.

“I thought this would be a very easy matter, and so began to get still. But I had no sooner commenced than a perfect pandemonium of voices reached my ears, a thousand clamoring notes from without and within, until I could hear nothing but their noise and din.

“Some were my own voices, my own questions,some my very prayers. Others were suggestions of the tempter and the voices from the world’s turmoil.

“In every direction I was pulled and pushed and greeted with noisy acclamations and unspeakable unrest. I t seemed necessary fo r me to listen to some of them and to answer some of them; but God said, “Be still and know that I am God.” Then came the conflict of thoughts for tomorrow, and it’s duties and cares; but God said, “Be still.”

“And as I listened, and slowly learned to obey, and shut my ears to every sound, I found after a while that when the other voices ceased, or I ceased to hear them, there was a still small voice in the depths of my being that began to speak with an inexpressible tenderness, power and comfort.

“As I listened, it became to me the voice of prayer, the voice of wisdom, the voice of duty, and I did not need to think so hard, or pray so hard, or trust so hard; but that “still small voice” of the Holy Spirit in my heart was God’s prayer in my secret soul, was God’s answer to all my questions, was God’s life and strength for soul and body, and became the substance of all knowledge, and all prayer, and all blessing: for it was the living GOD Himself as my life, my all.

“It is thus that our spirit drinks in the life of our risen Lord, and we go forth to life’s conflicts and duties like a flower that has drunk in, through the shades of night, the cool and crystal drops of dew. But as dew never falls on a stormy night, so the dews of His grace never come to the restless soul.”