Christmas Gifts

In keeping with the holiday season, I have designed my post with some seasonal imagery.  Imagine 5 gifts from Jesus our Lord, with our personal name written on the tag of each one.  Let us unwrap each one and receive the blessing with joy! 

These gifts are based on the reading from Dec. 10-16…

1-       The Gift of the Holy Spirit:

II Tim 1:6-7  “I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. ⁷ For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”

God gave us this gift- but he gives us part of the responsibility.  We have to fan it into flame.  We know the spirit is moving us when we operate out of power, love and self-discipline.  I can act on my own accord using one of these attributes, but only the Holy Spirit can give me strength for all three together.  When I feel weak in one area, I know to what to ask for. 

2-      The Gift of the Holy Scriptures:

II Tim 3:15  “from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”
According to my study bible Jewish boys began their formal training in scripture at age 5, but Timothy had a mother and grandmother who started at infancy- so we can never begin to early!!!   

James 1:19-21  “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, ²⁰ because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. ²¹ Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.”

As a parent I am inspired that God has given me such a powerful tool to speak with my children.  (Some say speak “over”- I say don’t stop there!  Speak with and to and through and over…)
I also love being a part of Good News Club because of the way they honor God’s word and make every effort to implant the scripture within young minds.    
James 1:27  “… keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
I think planting scripture inside of us is one of the best ways to protect ourselves from being corrupted by our culture.  So my next goal is to memorize scripture- something I have never been seriously intentional about thus far.      

3-      Gift of Prayer

Philippians 4:6-7  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Isn’t it amazing that we can talk to Him anytime, anyplace!  I definitely depend on prayer to provide me the peace I need to survive.  Usually I quote this verse until I feel calm.  The end of the verse is so astounding to me- to know that peace will protect my heart and my mind.  Not only will God’s peace heal me when I have been upset, but if I come to him first, His peace will protect both my emotions and my mind from attack.  Why do I wait until I am upset to seek God’s peace? 

4-      Gift of Adoption

Philippians 2:14-16  Do everything without grumbling or arguing, ¹⁵ so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky ¹⁶ as you hold firmly to the word of life.

Who am I that I should be called a child of God? 

Here I imagine opening up a family photo book titled, “God’s Children”.  Pages filled with faces would greet me.  I believe that according to John 1:12, anyone who truly believes and accepts Jesus has been given the right to become a child of God.  However, it seems that if we do EVERYTHING without grumbling or arguing, we can be children of God who really shine- set apart from our generation.  We would be children who do a better job of bringing glory to our Father.  But, how do I do EVERYTHING without grumbling or arguing?  I have a talent for both.  My children obviously inherited my “gift”.  And yet, I have to give up my right to argue and grumble- and this is only possible- AS I hold firmly to the word of life.  So we are right back up to the other gifts.

These are gifts every believer knows, but let us make sure we treasure them, not as china shut up in a cabinet, but as unbreakable items- of unspeakable beauty and immeasurable value that we have the privilege to access every day. 

Giving Thanks

Speeding through the life of Jesus and the birth of the early church has really been refreshing.  There are so many great scriptures, I have actually have had a hard time narrowing down what and how to say it.  After two other drafts that I scratched, I decided to write a Thanksgiving themed post.  This is my Top 7 Thank You List.  Why 7?  Because it’s a holy number!!!  Hee hee

Disclaimer: This has been ordered by those scriptures that spoke most powerfully to me last week.  In no way is this meant to imply a value judgment of one scripture over another. 

7.    Thank you, God that you give practical, simple advice.  Sometimes I focus on passages that are not clear to me and get so consumed with them.  My pastor and other pastors have asked their congregations, “How are you doing with the passages you do understand?”    Here is one I find simple and straight forward.  I Thess. 4:11 “We urge you, brothers and sisters… to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.”   

6.  Thank you that our gospel is not just words, but power, the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. I Thess. 1:5 (my paraphrase)

5.  Thank you that you give us armor of protection for both our mind and our hearts, “putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet”.  I Thess. 5:8  Discussion point:  “How does God’s faith and love protect our heart?  How does the hope of salvation protect our mind?

4.  Thank you for 1.  making the world, 2.  giving all men life, 3.  making every nation and 4.  determining the times and exact places that they should live so that we would seek you and find you, even though you are not far from us.  Acts 17:24-27 (paraphrase mine)

3.  Thank you for giving us explicit scriptures to tell us what your will is for us.  According to I Thess. 5:16-18 Your will is that we would be joyful always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances.  Giving thanks helps me to remain joyful, and I cannot remain joyful without praying continually.  Please accomplish this is me.    

2.  Thank you for those in my life who have shared not only the gospel but their lives, as mentioned in I Thess. 2:8 Help me do the same when you lead. 

1.  Thank you for your grace.  Help me never to “set aside the grace of God” Gal. 2:21.  I have been picturing myself holding a priceless power.  I have been asking God when I set this power down and pick up something else.  Or perhaps I just set this God given gift down to admire my treasure, instead of using the powerful gift of grace for the purposes God has planned.  
  
This is my top 7 scripture thank you list. 
Happy Thanksgiving!!

Assessing the Power of the Holy Spirit

I know this post is late, but it seems we're all having trouble getting out the posts on time. This time of the year can get really crazy if we aren't careful. I have been blessed by Amy's posts (as

always), but I miss hearing from the rest of you as well.

Do you ever have those times with God when He is working and speaking and revealing

marvelous truths to your spirit, yet, He seems to ever-so-slowly, step-by-step, reveal only

glimpses at a time? That is exactly how God has been working with me these past weeks

concerning the great power of His Holy Spirit for His people.

It all began as I looked more closely at Ephesians chapter 1 as Paul prays for the believers in

Ephesus. He asks that the eyes of their hearts would be enlightened in order that they might

know 3 important truths, one being, the incomparably great power for us who believe. He goes

on to say that this power is like the working of God's mighty strength, which He exerted in

Christ when He raised Him from the dead. WOW! The same strength God used to raise Jesus

from the dead is FOR me? I had to know more, so I looked up power and it means to be able,

ability, achieving power. In this passage of Ephesians it means the great power of God, the

Messiah, His almighty energy. And the preposition "for" here is defined as meant to be

received by or belong to a specified person or thing, or to be used in a specified way.

Now let's put that all together. God desires for the eyes of our hearts to be enlightened so that

we can know the incomparably great ability of God, the Messiah, His almighty energy that is

meant to be received by His people, belong to us, and be used by us in a specific way. There

are some specific steps to take in order to appropriate this power, but we will look at those as

we close. God wanted me to understand that even though this power is for me, it is not my

power - it is His power in me. I pray for Him to fill me and use me and work powerfully through

me, but He is trying to teach me how to REALLY assess His Holy Spirit's power so He can use

me powerfully for His glory.

All of this revelation began coming together as we read about Jesus' resurrection in the gospels.

Matthew says in 28:6, "He isn't here! He is risen from the dead, just as He said would happen."

Mark 16:6 and Luke 24:6 read the same, "He isn't here! He is risen from the dead!" Mary

declares in John 20:18, "I have seen the Lord!" I believe Acts 2:24 expresses it more power-

fully, "But God raised Him from the dead freeing Him from the agony of death because it was

impossible for death to keep its hold on Him." Those days of our reading were a powerful

reminder that God's great ability to raise Jesus from the dead is meant to belong to me to be

used in God's specific ways.

God brought this journey to a humbling climax during our last Sunday School lesson on

Kingdom Authority by Adrian Rogers. The last session was on accessing the power of the Holy

Spirit. We studied Acts 2:1-4 where the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus' followers with tremen-

dous power. Verse 8 tells us that the purpose of supplying such power is so all believers would

be transformed to be witnesses of the living Lord. Salvation is the "greater works" Jesus told

His disciples they would do after He was gone. (John 14:12)

We know from Acts 2:41 that about 3000 people were saved on that powerful day. Adrian

Rogers explains it this way: "Indeed, the disciples did greater works than Jesus. So can we.

Consider their formula for success: They prayed for ten days, preached for ten minutes, and

3000 souls were saved. I'm afraid that for a typical worship service we pray ten minutes,

preach ten hours, and hope that somebody is saved." He suggests that if we desire the power

of the Holy Spirit to be evident in our lives we must let Him consume our sin, illumine our souls,

transform our lives, and make Himself attractive to others through us. We must ask ourselves

some very hard questions before this is possible:

1) How often do I submit myself to the consuming fire of the Holy Spirit by confessing my

very specific sins?

2) How often do I read and study the Word of God and ask for the fire that will illuminate

His message?

3) Do I seek to be Christlike and ask for the transforming power of the Holy Spirit to perform

that work in me?

4) Do I live in such a way that the fire and the power of the Holy Spirit are evident in my life

so others are drawn to Christ?

Like all of life, this is a process and my prayer for myself, each of you, and for all of God's

people is that we would take these questions to the Lord daily and honestly ask Him to

empower our lives. My desire is to live in the fullness and the victory of the Holy Spirit.

I'm choosing to pray more, speak less, and watch the Spirit of God change lives!

Bartimaeus

1.  Persistence 

I have to admire Bartimaeus's spunk.  He shouts to Jesus, and then when others tell him to be quiet, he "shouts all the more" Mark 10:48.  I heard a sermon recently that criticized the pat statement, "... if it be God's will."  He said, Jesus asked us to pray that God's will be done on earth, as it is in heaven, implying that because we live in a sinful world- his will is not always done on earth.  Why else would he have us pray this?  Since we know that sickness, death, and eternal separation are not his will (Matt. 18:14) but entered because of the fall of man (or perhaps because of Lucifer’s sin), we can pray consistently against these evils.  God will not tire of us.  Even Jesus, the pastor noted, repeatedly asked for the cup to be taken away from him- a message that shouts- "I do not passively accept or condone this sinful problem or the consequences, and yet, out of love, I choose to pay this price."   In Luke 18 we read about the persistent widow Jesus used to show us "how we should always pray and never give up". 

After speaking about healing, and discussing examples where healing was provided, and not provided, our church opened up a time where people could come up and ask others to pray for healing.  I watched, amazed at the response.  I couldn't help crying for the little boy whose arms and legs were bandaged because of his crippling skin disease.  I wanted to see him healed so badly.  I know God can heal.  And yet I know sometimes he doesn't.  I don't know why.  And yet, he asks us to come to him and not give up.  I almost didn't want to face the disappointment for that boy if he wasn't healed.  I slipped into the attitude of: "Don't ask God, because then you can't be disappointed if he says no- or worse, if he seems to say nothing at all."  I believe that attitude is wrong.  Coming to him is a kind of healing in itself.  He alone can heal our life- disappointments and all.  Sometimes he even heals our bodies in this life.  We need to continue to ask- and if others quiet us- SHOUT all the louder like Bartimaeus. 

2.  Humility
And what was he shouting?  "Jesus, have mercy on me!" 

I find what he was shouting extremely interesting.  I would have shouted, “Jesus- I want to see!  Heal me!”  Instead, his humble plea shows he understands that he is not worthy- he understands he requests an intervention from a holy God.  He requests something he does not deserve.  I learn from this because I think, “That child deserves to be healed.  No one deserves to suffer.” Wrong.  It is God’s great desire that none should perish.  If he could, Jesus would gather us in his arms like a mother hen, but not because of our worthiness, but because of his holy compassion.  Bartimaeus was bold- not stopped by fears of humiliation, not stopped by the disgust of man, but he humbly cried out to the Holy One of Israel. 

3.      Obedience

Then when called upon by Jesus, he immediately threw his cloak aside, "jumped to his feet and came to Jesus".  How many times have I instructed my children, “Obey right away.”  I might send them to their room, and they begin at a pace that will ensure Jesus returns before they make it!  As their punishment increases, they gasp in shock but I say, “It isn’t obedience unless you obey right away.”  How hard it is to put into practice.

My fear is that I would be crying out to God with my whole heart, and then he would call, and I would delay.  How many people had some reason not to follow Jesus.  But he said, we are not fit if we put our hand to the plow and look back.  Do I really expect a response when I pray?  Bartimaeus did- as evidence by his immediate response.  I pray God would give me the strength to throw my cloak aside- forsaking all else- and jump up and meet with Jesus.  And I can- through prayer.  I can meet him every day!         

4.  Thankfulness

After his healing, Bartimaeus followed Jesus.

If we have accepted the spiritual healing that Jesus has given to those who have called on him, we show our thankfulness by following him.  A daily walk. 

Micah 6:8 “He has show you, oh __(your name)__ what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Bartimaeus called out for mercy.  He acted justly by jumping up to meet with Jesus, and he showed his thankfulness by humbly walking with Jesus.   

Now it is our turn.

Walls

Enemies break down our walls.

Idolatry leads us to build no walls.

Ignorance leads us to leave an open gate.

Fear leads us to wall in the gates.

Sin leads us to ignore the walls

               crumbling around us.

Hypocrisy leads us to paint a smile over

                       the wreckage.

But God

     builds upon His salvation

     and adorns our walls with jewels.

I have been thinking about walls during the past few months.  I think back to the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve experienced sin- the result of boundary issues- and they were escorted out of the garden. 

Fast forward to the exodus:    

Exodus 14:22
And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

These walls were protection allowing an impossible escape from the enemy while holding back the natural elements.

As Israel settled in the Promised Land, they began building walls.  These walls of protection for the city had towers for the ability to see an approaching enemy.  They had gates to let people in and out for commerce and travel.

As I meditated about these purposes, I thought about boundary problems.  Some people have no walls or gates.  They have not developed the ability to discern what to let in their lives and what to keep out.  They let everything in.  There is no protection. 

Others go to the other extreme and have a great wall- with no gates.  Fear has led them to isolation and a smothering of those who live inside the wall with them.  They let no one in, and they fear too much to let their loved ones travel freely. 

2 Chronicles 14:7
And he said to Judah, "Let us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the LORD our God. We have sought him, and he has given us peace on every side." So they built and prospered.

Soon after the walls were established, they fell into disrepair.  Most often a righteous king ushered an era of throwing out the garbage (idolatry) and repairing the walls of protection.

2 Chronicles 32:5
He set to work resolutely and built up all the wall that was broken down and raised towers upon it, and outside it he built another wall, and he strengthened the Millo in the city of David. He also made weapons and shields in abundance.

Because of Israel’s repeated disobedience and idol worship, they were eventually conquered and taken to different lands.  When a remnant did return under the leadership of Nehemiah, they set up the task of rebuilding the wall.  The remnant was ridiculed by their enemies for this undertaking.  When taunts didn’t deter the few, the enemies spoke lies then planned attacks.

Ezra 4:13
Now be it known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and the walls finished, they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and the royal revenue will be impaired

It made me think, that if we take on the task of repairing our walls, we must be ready to face the opposition. 

 I found the process Nehemiah went through to be powerful and applicable. 

.

First, The walls were inspected- assessed.

Nehemiah 2:15
Then I went up in the night by the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned.

We need to look at our boundaries and assess them.  Are we saying “yes” too often without asking God?  Are we saying “no” in order to shut out or shut in our loved ones?  Are our priorities backed up by the amount of time and money we spend?  Are we protecting our marriages, families, friends, churches with appropriate boundaries?  Are we helping our children to set boundaries? 

Nehemiah did not rebuild the wall by himself.  Second, He enlisted help by rallying others.  God wants us to not just protect our own interests, but create a movement of boundary setting.  How can this be done? 

Finally, the walls were consecrated by the priests and then people were put in charge as “gatekeepers” and singers, among other jobs.  I thought these jobs were particularly interesting, because they sounded unusual.   I have skipped over them too easily. 

A friend of mine calls parents “gatekeepers” because she feels it is their job to help protect their children’s sexual purity.  She feels the responsibility for all God’s children- to protect them by careful observation for any that would attack those boundaries through abuse.  She feels she neglected this role with her own children out of ignorance, but now she understands this important role, and she takes it seriously. 

Gatekeepers.  I help my children set up boundaries while they are under my influence.    

Nehemiah 7:1
Now when the wall had been built and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites had been appointed…

God criticized the Levites for neglecting their responsibilities in maintaining the walls.

Ezekiel 13:5 ⁵ You have not gone up to the breaches in the wall to repair it for the people of Israel so that it will stand firm in the battle on the day of the LORD.

Ezekiel 22:30
And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.

Again, in the NIV:

³⁰ “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.

Some say this verse is speaking to the future Messiah who would stand in the gap and pay for our sins.  As “gatekeepers” for ourselves and for our families, I think we are called to examine our walls consistently. 

Sin distracts to keep us from inspecting the walls.  Sometimes it is just the sin of busyness that keeps us from reflecting.  Sometimes it is just the desire to “check out” by “checking in” to television and movies.  Whatever keeps us from God keeps us blind to our condition.   

Even in the prophetic scriptures, we find references to walls.

Isaiah 26:1
In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: "We have a strong city; he sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks.

Isaiah 60:18
Violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders; you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.

Ultimately, our walls should be the story of our salvation, and our gates should be doors of praise. 

It is Christ’s work and free gift that is my protection.  That salvation is the lens that should help me choose every yes and every no.  Every attack should be filtered through his salvation.  I am still figuring out what exactly this means on a practical day to day level.

And my gates are praise.  I pray that every time I walk out my door, I will remember to praise my God.  I pray that every person I let come in, will hear me praising God.  And if they refuse to praise Him, they may just be asked to wait on the other side of my walls of salvation!  When I neglect to praise him and only complain, complain, complain, I may need a time out for meditation on the walls of salvation. 

Even Hezekiah, in his time of anguish “turned his face to the wall and prayed” 2 Kings 20:2.

If our walls have been built by anything but the salvation of our God, we are in trouble.

Ezekiel 13:14
And I will break down the wall that you have smeared with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be laid bare.

But God, when we go to him, is our builder.

Amos 7:7
This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.

Zechariah 2:5
And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory in her midst.'"

As a conclusion to this post, and a conclusion to the Old Testament, let us read about our future with God:

Rev. 21

¹⁸The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, clear as glass. ¹⁹ The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, ²⁰the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. ²¹And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.

 ²²And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. ²³And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. ²⁴By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, ²⁵and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night...

There will be no temple, but there will still be walls.  The gates will be open all day, every day- every true believer safe within God’s beautiful salvation.  His gates forever open for those who praise him eternally.   

So let us live in his walls of protection today.

Let us enter his gates with thanksgiving and praise. 

Remember Who You Are

What a privilege for me to be able to choose to do my post on portions of Scripture from Esther. Esther has always been one of my favorite books. It thrills me to be able to share some valuable truths I learned last Spring from the study of Esther by Beth Moore.


We know that Esther and her cousin Mordecai (who had adopted Esther) were Jews living in Susa of Persia as a result of the original exile of God's people to Babylon. We have also learned from our Bible reading that a group of God's people already returned to Jerusalem before the account of Esther. Many Jewish families, including Esther's, chose to stay behind. Although the book of Esther never mentions God, it's central theme demonstrates God's mighty hand providentially taking care of His people.


Xerxes, the King of Persia, is portrayed as someone very irresponsible and easily manipulated. Queen Vashti refuses his request to appear at his feast, so in anger he takes the advice of his manipulative adviser for her to be banished from his presence forever and to choose another queen. All young virgins of the empire are gathered into a harem for year long beauty treatments. Esther was taken into the harem and eventually to the King's bed. He was so delighted with her that he made her queen and celebrates with a great banquet. Soon afterwards her cousin/father, Mordecai, became a palace official at the king's gate.


Xerxes appoints an official named Haman as the most powerful official in the empire. Now Haman was an Amalekite and, as we've learned in our reading, the Amalekites were a ruthless people who had attacked the defenseless Israelites on several occasions through the history of their settlement in the land of Canaan. God made his people a promise to "erase the memory of Amalek from under heaven." according to Ex. 17:14. After giving His people rest from their enemies in the promised land, God commanded the Israelites to destroy the Amalekites. (Deut. 25:19). So, Saul, Israel's first king, was instructed by God through Samuel the prophet to completely destroy the entire Amalekite nation. (1 Sam. 15:3). If Saul had obeyed and destroyed every man, woman, and child of the Amalekites, Haman would never have been born. However, Saul disobeyed God and Haman became a descendant of King Agag. Mordecai, on the other hand, was a descendant of Kish (Saul's father). Many scholars conclude that there was a persisting generational rivalry between the Jews and Amalekites.


At this point in Esther, we can possibly understand why Mordecai would not bow down to Haman even though Xerxes had not only promoted him, he commanded that all his officials would bow down whenever Haman passed by. Surely Mordecai's office at the city gate had given him opportunity to learn of Haman's heritage. And so we read in Esther 3:5-6, "When Haman saw that Mordecai would not bow down or show him respect, he was filled with rage. He had learned of Mordecai's nationality, so he decided it was not enough to lay hands on Mordecai alone. Instead, he looked for a way to destroy all the Jews throughout the entire empire of Xerxes." This is "persisting generational rivalry" way out of control!


Timing now becomes very significant. We read in verse 7 that Haman cast lots in the month of Nisan (April) to determine when to destroy the Jews and in verse 12 that the decree was written on the 13th day of Nisan. Most likely it was then dispatched to all the provinces of the empire on the next day, the 14th. Lev. 23:4-5 reveals a connection between that day. It tells us that the Lord's Passover began on the 14th day of Nisan. Beth Moore enlightens us, "From a divine perspective, the chronology was the furthest thing from coincidence. We have no idea how many of the seven annual feasts of Judaism were observed among the exiles of Persia. Of this we can be confident, however: If they celebrated only one, it was undoubtedly Passover. Even today very few people who count themselves Jewish are oblivious to the holiday or its significance, whether or not they commenmorate it."


So the edict hits the provinces that day God's people are preparing their tables for Passover. That evening at dusk, in accordance with God's command, fathers would recount to their wives and children the story of Israel's deliverance from Egypt by God's mighty hand. As they choked backed tears, they rehearsed every detail of the miraculous redemption. Celebration turned to shock and horror. They must have wondered - why must we receive this terrifying news on this - our Passover? To God, the timing was perfect - perhaps His way of giving His people hope. Jews were reminded who they were and what God had done for them. Beth shares, "Decades earlier the Persian Jews had chosen not to take advantage of their deliverance under the decree of Cyrus and their permission to return to Jerusalem. They decided they liked Persian life and stayed put. Then came Haman. Maybe that's one reason God allows "Hamans" to come along in life - so we'll quit being so at home here."


I hope like me you will read over these next declarations several times until they sink in. "Sometimes God uses the winds of a new threat to blow the dust off a past miracle that has moved from our active file into the archives. Remember what God has done for you! Remember who you are!"


You have been raised up and seated with Christ in heaven. Eph. 2:6


You are a citizen of heaven. Phil. 3:20


You are an alien and stranger to this world in which you temporarily live. 1 Pet.2:11


You have the mind of Christ. 1 Cor 2:16


SO you should set your mind on the things of heaven, not the things of earth. Col 3:1-2


Some say that there are those who are so heavenly minded they are of no earthly good.


I say lets become so heavenly minded that it releases us to be our most excellent earthly best!


Press on sisters - I love you!

Verse Discussion #2

I found these two passages quite significant,


Ezekiel 34:2-4  "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves!... You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured.  You have not brought back the strays of searched for the lost."

Erin, your blog, undivided heart seems to hinge upon this idea:

Ezekiel 36: 25-27  I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.  I will give you a new heart and you a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my degrees and be careful to keep my laws."

I look forward to hearing your comments.

Whoops!

I fell off the wagon, and I am sorry.  I failed to make contact with our faithful post people, and so they got an extra vacation!  Literally, Misty was in China!

Erin started seminary.

We are all busy.  So please pray for the 4 of us, that we can make it through to the end.  We have 3 month and 2 weeks remaining.  I know for myself, I never would have read the bible this quickly if not for the accountability this blog provides.  God has shown me much about himself. 

To fill in the 2 week hiatus, I thought I would post 2 separate verses and just ask you to post comments.  Then I think we can muster the energy to complete this crazy ride through God's holy word. 

Ezekiel 33: 31 With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain.  Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice.

Could Jesus have had this in mind when he said, If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

The language haunts me, and echoes the reflection that Sandra encouraged in her post.

The Idolatry of Perfection and God's Antedote of Justice and Grace

That's a funny title isn't it!

First of all, I want to invite everyone to listen online to one of my new favorite groups.  Click on the song Jer. 33:3.
http://www.seedsfamilyworship.net/listen-online/

Now, down to business...

Several topics surfaced from my reading, but I only had time and space to discuss the first!  I found it interesting that God has proclaimed the warning of disaster, as well as his promise of restoration- all before the climactic consequence- the fall and destruction of Jerusalem.  As a parent and teacher, I now try to follow this same pattern. 
1.  Warning
2.  Promise of Restoration
3.  Consequence

I used to buy into the “my class doesn’t act like that.”  “our family doesn’t do that” attitude.  I remember being so angry at a student in my drama class for cheating.  She couldn’t understand why I was so upset.  I just couldn’t believe she would do that to me!  I realize now, some of these attitudes came from pride.  I didn’t want to look badly.  I couldn’t handle other people’s imperfections if they reflected on me.  I was buying into the illusion of perfection.  If my class, my kid, my whatever… looks perfect, then I am a success.  Wow is that exhausting. 

After reading Love and Logic and listening to Chip Ingram, I began to realize that my reactions were selfish.  I wasn’t disciplining for their good- it was for mine.  Maybe it didn’t change a lot outward, but I began making small changes that reflected my inner acceptance- that I was an imperfect mother/ teacher of imperfect students and children.  Now God could really use me, once I started to get over me.    
Of course God REALLY brought the lesson home in time for my third child.  His opinions are just louder and longer than my other two.  I am so thankful that I am not as enslaved to other people’s perceptions of me, or he would be a severe emotional challenge for me, and we would have some unhealthy battles instead of the battles God wants me to fight.    

Ethan had a kindergarten teacher who said she would make sure and give him a behavior mark by the end of the year so he could practice handling the fact that he wasn’t perfect.  She said she had seen how devastated some kids are the first time they got into trouble as an older student.  I have seen children and parents fall apart because of an 89.  I experienced the pain of not getting an “A” on a paper in 6^th grade.  After that first shock, I was a little better adjusted. 

I wouldn’t have thought about the need for my children to realize that he/she is not perfect, and that I don’t even expect them to be.  So when Kiera went to kindergarten this year, I told her- I want you to do your best.  She drew that her kindergarten goal is to “stay on target”, which means she wants to maintain perfect behavior.  I am glad that I have two older children who want to follow the rules.  But I told Kiera, remember, you are not perfect.  If you make a mistake, we will forgive you.  We can pray for God to help you make better choices.  Even if you never have to pull a color, remember, you sin, and your Mom and Dad still love you and God can forgive you.  I don’t want other people’s evaluations of her conduct to rule her life.  Only God’s opinion ultimately matters.    

My mom told me about how as a child she thought her parents were perfect, and so it was hard to tell them about problems.  Mom, you did a good job not trying to cover up areas you thought needed improvement.  I never felt pressure to live up to your expectations.  I was free to make a lot of my own mistakes, but later to discover without hindrance what God would have me be and do.   I want to give that to my children by following God’s example. 

Now, I explain to my class:  “These are the rules of my class.  When you break them- because you will make mistakes, these are the consequences.  Everyone breaks the rules.  I try, but I cannot keep them perfectly.  When you break one, I am not going to be angry with you forever, so don’t ‘freak out’”.  Then I have them practice my restoration policy.  When a student breaks a rule, they get a warning, then they have to explain the rule and apologize in a written note.  I am giving them an opportunity to rehearse that step toward restoration.  They choose the rule they are most likely to break and then pretend they are writing the letter of reconciliation.    

Now, you are probably wondering what this all has to do with the verse.  I find it amazing that God tells his people:  You are not obeying me.  You are going to be punished.  I will heal and restore you. 

God has been showing me this lesson over the years, but I didn’t know that it came first from his word.  God is a grace-based parent who knows we will fail.  He promises that we will experience consequences of our actions, but he also promises us grace.    Hallelujah.

Jeremiah 32:37-41

“I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. ³⁸ They will be my people, and I will be their God. ³⁹ I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them. ⁴⁰ I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. ⁴¹ I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.”

Know the LORD

Before I begin my post, I must say how disappointed I am in myself for not finding the time to comment on each post I've read. I have wandered through a wide range of emotions in the readings this year and have been profoundly touched, blessed and taught. Just because I have not found time to comment does not mean I have not heard what you said. It is highly unlikely that I will ever forget this blogging experience.

"You will know that I am the LORD."

I counted seventeen such statements by the Lord in reading Ezekiel this week, and seventeen times I sensed in my spirit that God was trying to tell me something. As I pondered the phrase, "I am the LORD", I was reminded of the Bible study I went through last summer, KNOWING GOD BY NAME, about 35 of the names of God. The study had such a profound impact on my life, that I continued each month since to review the Scriptures introduced as well as the highlights of the study. The first week of study reveals truths concerning God's deity and the first day of the study is of Yahweh - LORD (always in all-caps). Mary Kassian opens the study with the fact that in ancient times, a person's name depicted something important about their identity, character, or life. She says, "It is not surprising, therefore, that when God spoke from the burning bush, Moses asked Him to reveal His name. Exodus 3:14 records God's name as "I AM" while Isaiah 42:8 identifies Him as "the LORD." But in the original language, the two phrases are exactly the same." She goes on to explain that these names are translated from the personal name of God, Yahweh, in the original Hebrew Scriptures. This is God's name that sets Him completely apart. Scripture confirms that Yahweh is a divine being who is self-existent (John 5:26), self-sufficient (Acts 17:25), self-directed (Job 36:22-23), eternal (Rev. 4:8), consistent (Ps. 102:26-27) and so much more. Yahweh is God's incredibly unique name, regarded by Jews to be so holy that they refrained from spelling it or speaking it outloud. They referred to Yahweh as "the Name" (HasShem), "the Extra-ordinary Name." "Yah" is the abbreviated form used in "Praise Yah" (Hallelu-jah) found in many of the Psalms.

So - what does it mean to know this extra-ordinary Yahweh, I AM, LORD? Can we "know" God by "knowing" all about Him? The definition of "to know" is to perceive, to understand, to discern, to be familiar with, to be aware of. So God was telling His people in Ezekiel (as well as His people today) that His greatest desire is for us to perceive, to understand, to discern, to be familiar with, to be aware of Him as our Yahweh, I AM, LORD. The study asks the question, "How does the fact that the LORD is "I AM" impact you?"

I came to the realization that in reading Ezekiel and being saddened by how desperately wicked God saw His people, that He was actually calling me to be different - to draw near to Him and let Him teach me about His ways and His character. I was reminded of something Anne Graham Lotz says in her book on Revelation. In speaking to the church of Ephesus (2:1-7), Jesus seemed to be talking to me. I quote from her book: "Jesus says, 'I've noticed, I KNOW. Thank you for all you are seeking to do in My Name'." In Jesus' tender and humble way He was encouraging me. As I read on, however, I felt His conviction. "He said, 'Yet I hold this against you, you have forsaken your first love'." Somewhere along the way, without my conscious awareness, my work for Jesus has overtaken my worship of Jesus. I've become so busy I no longer have time for extended prayer and Bible reading. When I do pray, I'm primarily focused on requests, not on Jesus and my relationship with Him. When I do read the Bible it's not just to listen to His voice speaking to me personally.

Tenderly, yet firmly, Jesus pointed out the fact that over this summer I have fallen away from a love relationship with Him. Brokenheartedly, I repented and I am letting Jesus lead me back to Him as my first love. My journey is different from Anne's and yours will be different as well. I think the questions we ask are the same. Jesus tells us in Rev. 2:5 to, "Turn back to me and do the works you did at first." What works? Works I did when I was first born again? Works I did when I first began to serve You? We ask our questions then we wait and listen.

Jesus is leading me into the most deep and profoundly intimate prayer time I have ever had with Him. He is calling me to, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you: Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light." (Matt. 11:28-30). So, each morning (when I am able), I yoke myself with Jesus and let Him lead me in His Word and wait and listen. It takes discipline and focus, but I am learning to let Him teach me. Regrettably, this is not the first time God has had to get my attention back to my first love, but I pray it is the last. My prayer for us as we continue through Ezekiel is that when we again read, "You will know that I am the LORD" our hearts will be drawn to Jesus who is our great I AM and surrender our hearts afresh to His marvelous love and work in us rather than being saddened by the sorry plight of God's straying people.

This is the principle that Anne Lotz shares in her book that I pray I never forget: "Our love for Christ is more important to Him than all of our service to Him. Strict obedience and service alone are not enough. Love for Jesus must come first. Jesus said the first and greatest commandment is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." Our worship of Christ must always come before our work for Christ."

Almighty LORD, Yahweh, please give your people a strong desire to love You with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength!

Ministry of Failure

Many of us have felt failure in our ministry from time to time...but are we in a ministry of failure?  We see no signs of success.  Our message is not received.  Those we minister to never change.  There is no measure of impact during our lifetime. 
If this is the case, and we are not merely experiencing occassional failures but we are in a failing ministry, what do we do about it?

Do we bail? Do we alter our direction? Do we tweak our message?

Or could it be that we are simply called to a ministry of failure like Jeremiah and there is nothing we can or should change about it?

Jeremiah lived in the last days of a decaying nation.  The people failed to take God seriously which is what started their downward spiral. They did not pay much attention to what he had told them The people did what was right in their own eyes rather than carefully examining their behavior in the light of God's revelation and word.  Sound familiar?

Jeremiah's ministry covered about forty years, and during all this time the prophet saw absolutely no signs success in his ministry.  Rather he was bombarded with discouragement and plagued with depression. His message was one of denunciation and reform, and the people never obeyed him. Most other prophets saw some fruit of their labor -- but not Jeremiah. He was called to a ministry of failure, and yet he was enabled to keep going for many long years and to be faithful to God and to accomplish God's purpose: to witness to a nation that had decayed.  Jeremiah endured this kind of persecution in his life without quitting...but he did weep.

He didn't have sorrow just for the nation though.  He cried to God about his own discouragement, dissappointment, depression, persecution, resentment, and bitterness.  At one point, he even accuses God of being a liar and undependable. Strong words? Undoubtedly. Honest words? Absolutely. He is pouring out exactly how he feels. He feels so forsaken that he has begun to wonder if the trouble might after all be with God that he cannot be depended upon.

How often have we felt that we have tried to do the right thing but everybody either just disregards it or comes back to make trouble for us or they mock and deride us?  Think back to the last time you have been weighed down by loneliness and depression of spirit.  We can all understand why Jeremiah constantly fights a battle with discouragement.  Who wouldn't with a ministry like his?  Jeremiah not only spoke a prophecy of ruin -- of desolation and destruction and judgment -- but beyond that he lived it and died it as a prisoner in Egypt.

Why did he suffer so much?  Surely, he wasn't doing something right.  What was his problem?  If Jeremiah was a good friend of ours (but no, he was not a bullfrog =), we might say that the trouble with him is that he has allowed himself to backslide.  Disobedience is the reason he is suffering like that.  It's the cause of his failure and the source of his complaining.  Isn't that sometimes the quick and easy answer we flippantly hand someone who is struggling in their life and wrestling with God? 

But that isn't the case with Jeremiah. He is a praying man. He reads his Bible, feeds on the word, and witnesses.  He is not a backsliding man.  These are actually the very things you need to do if you get depressed and discouraged. You need to pray, read your Bible, witness to others, and keep away from evil. But here is a man who is doing all these things and he is still defeated, still disheartened. Well, then my question is still left unanswered.  What is his problem?

The problem is that he has forgotten his calling. He has forgotten what God has promised to be to and for him. So God reminds him of it.  In Scripture, God always gives this answer to a heart that has grown discouraged: "Come back," God says. "Return. Go back to the beginnings, to the original things."  This is what he told Jeremiah in chapter 15 verse 19b.  But what exactly is he supposed to return to?  Well, what did God say him from the very start?  Notice this man's call back in the first chapter:

Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you: I appointed you a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah 1:4-5

As one commentator describes it: "And when from a mire of depression and discouragement, the prophet is called back to the promise of God; when he is reminded that God is greater than circumstances and that no matter how depressing they may be, or how negative, the God who calls him is the God who is able to sustain him in the midst of it; when he gets his eyes off himself and back on to God (like Peter walking on the water), he begins to walk again.

And in the strength he receives through this lesson he continues with his ministry, through all the discouraging circumstances. Jeremiah was faithful to the end as he learned to walk in the strength of the Lord his God. And he gives us this wonderful prophecy of the grace of God in restoring lives and taking broken, battered, wounded, defeated spirits and making them over again into vessels pleasing to him.

As Jeremiah watched the potter at work, he saw him making a vessel on his wheel, and as the wheel turned the potter shaped the vessel. And as Jeremiah watched, the vessel in the potter's hand was marred and broken. Then the potter took the vessel and once more pushed it all down into a lump of clay, and shaping it the second time, made it into a vessel after the potter's heart.  This is God's great object lesson of what he does with a broken life. He takes it and makes it over again -- not according to the failures and foolish dreams of an individual, but after the potter's heart, for the potter has power over the clay to shape it as he wishes. 

In the end, there is one thing we learn from Jeremiah's experience with God: notwithstanding the fact that divine call may bring rejection and loneliness, the call must creat a stubborn refusal to abandon God, even when this refusal to give up on God may be the source of our complaint."

According to God's measures of success, Jeremiah's ministry was not one of failure although that's what it seemed.  Jeremiah was called to a ministry of failure but still succeeded because he refused to abandon God even when all hope seemed lost.  In God's eyes, he had a ministry of courage and perseverance!

Are you succeeding in your ministry of failure?  Are you turning them into ministries of faith and submission?  Because that's all God really calls us to do - trust and obey.

Mona Rae Woodworth

“I'm not afraid of death.  I'm afraid of dying”

- Mortimer from Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke

I kept searching for what to write.  I loved the passages in the reading for last week, but I just didn’t know how to expound.  I wanted my current experiences to connect with what I was reading.  Everything seemed to speak to me- even my secular reading, but what was the theme?  What did it all mean, and what did it have to do with what I was experiencing that week?

I think the theme this week is simply my grandmother. 

My grandmother is dying.  I mean that in the same sense as I am dying.  We are both marching toward our inevitable end.  Seeing grandmother slowly deteriorate has been hard at times.  Hard, because, I want to hold on to the memories I love.  For my sake, I don’t want her to change.  For her sake, I don’t want to see her so dependent on others for complete care.  And yet, I think I am better having witnessing these things.  Our time on earth is measured, but I trust in the one who holds the ruler.

Isaiah 40:6,8  “All men are like grass and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.  The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”

Some may think it is pessimistic, but I think it is healthy to ponder death a bit more than I do.  I have 3 birth stories I love to tell.  They are full of pain and joy and socially acceptable.  What about a death story?  I know Jesus asks us to be born again in a spiritual sense.  He also asks us to die to ourselves.  Baptism itself is a picture of being buried with Christ and raised to a new life in him.  He asks us to celebrate his death every communion.  Jesus sounds a little morbid.  Now, I call him realistic.  Joyfully, victoriously, realistic.           

This week I was looking at these verses with our human life cycle in mind:

Isaiah 44:22 “Return to me for I have redeemed you.”

Isaiah 46:10 I make known the end from the beginning.”

Isaiah 48: 12 “I am the first and I am the last.”

My grandmother is mostly bed ridden.  Parkinson’s disease has made her face expressionless.  Her hands are often clenched and she cannot easily control them.  She must be fed, changed and cleaned.  How thankful I am for the people that are willing to perform a difficult, and at times unpleasant, task in love.  I recall Jesus was prophesied to suffer long ago.  Age seems to be a way most of us will share in his suffering.  My grandmother is probably not comfortable as some of her dignity is stripped away.  Because she has placed her trust in Christ, however, I have to believe that she is humbled, but not humiliated.          

 

Isaiah 50:6-7  “I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.  Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced,”

Isaiah 52: 34 “…there were many who were appalled at him- his appearance was so disfigured…”

Isaiah 53:3-5 “a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering… surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows… but he was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, the punishment  that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

My grandmother is rarely verbally understood.  She tries to talk, but it often comes out jumbled and incomprehensible.  She seems to get frustrated and close her eyes.  It can be painful- hoping for a clear word.  Waiting- in eager expectation- only to be disappointed, and too feel the weight of her disappointment as her tongue and mind cannot always obey her desires.  It reminds me of Jesus:

 

Isaiah 53:7 “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter…”

Jesus did not open his mouth because there was nothing left to say.  He had spoken every word- and every word we needed was recorded.  His actions did the rest.  My grandmother has lived much the same way.  We do not have to wonder if she loves us.  She shows us in action and spoke it in word.  She has not left anything unsaid.  She said it all.  Her words and actions speak of a life full of Jesus.  And those words will not return empty.

Isaiah 59:21 “…my words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth or from the mouth of your children…”

Grandma participated with us in life.  Card games, presents, laughter, cooking, gentle correction, a listening ear, quiet strength, sincere and passionate prayer, shopping, haircuts, grace, bible reading, praise singing, hymn playing.  She is more than the sum of these parts.  I only know part of the equation because she has touched and continues to touch many lives.  She showed me rocking my baby was more important than dusting.  She is one of the wisest people I know. 

Over the last few years, thanks to my mother who brings us to Washington every year, I have been participating in her death.  I have wiped her mouth, fed her, changed her soiled diapers and given her a bed bath.  My daughter has participated.  We talk about the future- she may have to care for me one day.  She sees this as the normal process of life.  I realize it is one thing to philosophically acknowledge it, and quite another to live through it, or loose someone too early to death.  I don’t have answers, but I do have Isaiah.      

     

Isaiah 57:1-2 “The righteous perish and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil.  Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.”

I imagine my grandmother- when she transitions from this life to be united with her God, I imagine her sitting up from her hospital bed and unzipping her body of death- leaving it in a crumpled pile.  I imagine her gracefully standing with a “crown of beauty …and a garment of praise” (Isaiah 61:3).  I see her soaring on wings like eagles (Isaiah 40:31).  I see her radiating the truth of God’s love, with a smile, forever.    

Testing Our Hearts

In our reading last week, the Lord kept taking me back to 2 Chron. 32:31, "However, when ambassadors arrived from Babylon to ask about the remarkable events that had taken place in the land, God withdrew from Hezekiah in order to test him and to see what was really in his heart." The word "withdrew" in the NLT is translated "left" in the NIV and means the same thing as forsake or forsook. The Hebrew word for left or forsake is Azab which means to forsake, abandon, leave behind, desert. Since God tells us in Heb. 13:5 that He will never leave us or forsake us (which is a quote from Deut. 31:6), I wanted to know what "leaving" Hezekiah meant.

On the cross, when Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46), he was quoting Ps. 22:1. God was not putting an end to their relationship; He was leaving Jesus to suffer alone - something the Son of God had never experienced. Matthew Henry's Commentary says this, "God hid his face from him, and for awhile withdrew his rod and staff in the darksome valley. God forsook him, not as he forsook Saul, leaving him to an endless despair, but as sometimes he forsook David, leaving him to a present despondency. He let out upon his soul an afflicting sense of his wrath against man for sin. Christ was made Sin for us, a Curse for us; and therefore, though God loved him as a Son, he frowned upon him as a Surety (One who made himself responsible for our sin debts).

Just this week we read in Isa. 53:10, "But it was the Lord's good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord's good plan will prosper in his hands." So I wondered if I could assume that since it was the Lord's good plan to forsake his Son, it was also his good plan to withdraw from Hezekiah? I believe this is a great example of the Scripture in Romans 8 that says that God works ALL things together for good. It was God's good plan to test Hezekiah in order for him to see what was in his own heart - not for God to see (he already knew). God left him to himself to show that Hezekiah was proud of himself and his wealth, for when Isaiah asked him what had happened, Hezekiah replied, "I showed them everything I owned - all MY royal treasuries."
2 Kings 20:15 (my caps). Hezekiah knew that God was the one who had blessed him and certainly God deserved the praise and glory for all he owned. I really like Hezekiah, so it is
disappointing when he did not repent after Isaiah confronted him. "For the king was thinking, 'At least there will be peace and security during my lifetime.'" (2 Kings 20:19). How utterly selfish and prideful - proof of what really was in his heart.

When God promises us in Heb. 13:5 that he will never leave us or forsake us, He must be declaring that he will never completely abandon us or put us totally out of his presence. At times, like Hezekiah, he does leave us for a time to test us so we can see what is in our hearts. I wonder if it's somewhat like a parent who has to put a child in time-out for awhile in order for the child to think about his transgression and be willing to repent. It is good for us to know ourselves and our weaknesses and sinfulness. It keeps us from conceit and self-confidence. It should help us to depend upon God's divine grace.

My Bible commentary likened that testing of Hezekiah to the same testing of God's people in Deut. 8. God tells his people in verse 2 "REMEMBER how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands." (my caps). Verse 5 continues, "Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good."

I liken my life as a student who is constantly being trained, taught and tested in this world so I will be a better servant of God each day in this life and be better prepared to serve my Lord and King in heaven someday. Sadly, I continually have to learn the hard way that it is not about ME;
it is about GOD! Back to Jesus on the cross. Matthew Henry's Commentary showed me something I have never considered, "That our Lord Jesus, even when he was thus forsaken of his Father, kept hold of him as his God, notwithstanding; My God, my God; though forsaking me, yet mine...even in the depth of his sufferings God was his God, and this he resolves to keep fast hold of." I pray that from this day forward when God tests me that my heart will cry out "My God, my God" and refrain from pridefully taking the credit for the good in my life or complaining when I have to endure suffering. So now I'm comforted to know that God sometimes leaves me to myself, because I know he will return so I can repent and let him take me in his loving arms to feel his pleasure once again.

Idolatry

Psalm 115

 ¹ Not to us, O LORD, not to us
   but to your name be the glory,
   because of your love and faithfulness.

 ² Why do the nations say,
   “Where is their God?”
³ Our God is in heaven;
   he does whatever pleases him.
⁴ But their idols are silver and gold,
   made by the hands of men.
⁵ They have mouths, but cannot speak,
   eyes, but they cannot see;
⁶ they have ears, but cannot hear,
   noses, but they cannot smell;
⁷ they have hands, but cannot feel,
   feet, but they cannot walk;
   nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
⁸ Those who make them will be like them,
   and so will all who trust in them.

Since we live in a nation that idolizes “silver and gold”, I thought I would meditate on this passage.

First I just mentally listed all the items “made by the hands of men” that can capture our fancy:  money, houses, cars, art, motorcycles, cell phones, computers, clothes, comfortable beds, chairs, air conditioners, movies, c.d.’s, r.v.’s, books, retirement portfolios, hair products… of course the list could go on and on. 

Of course none of the objects are evil in nature, but when we focus more on these items than God, we are told in verse 8 we will become like them.  So then I began to think about what that looks like.  I broke down each portion of the verse and explored what behaviors a person might exhibit if they are worshipping a man-made object. 

1.   ⁵ They have mouths, but cannot speak,

The longer I worship something other than God, the less courage I have to speak out against evil.  I also do not have wisdom or truth to share.  I cannot speak words of peace or joy.

2.  eyes, but they cannot see;

When I am not worshiping God with all my heart, mind and soul, first I do not want to help others.  If I were to continue down the path, eventually I would not see opportunities to help others.  In addition, if I neglect God worship, I do not see relationships as a blessing from God.  I focus only on the burdensome aspects of relationships.  I cannot enjoy the simple joys of children, nature and animals- all of whom God (not man) has created.  The focus is all on man-made objects.  I cannot see solutions and victory and healing by the power of God- I only see pain and problems.

3.  ⁶ they have ears, but cannot hear,

If I slip into idolatry I cannot hear the pain of those around me- the disguised cries for a friend and savior.  I cannot bear to hear correction.  I cannot hear truth and beauty or words or words of peace.

4.   noses, but they cannot smell;

Our sense of smell alerts us to danger- burning smells, gas smells, etc.  An idolater lacks the ability to recognize dangerous paths- and the dangerous thinking and decisions that lead down the path to self reliance or dependence on the wrong people. 

Again, I believe that enjoying God’s creation is an important part of our spiritual health, and nature is full of pleasing aromas.  I am sometimes consumed by problems when I am surrounded by my man-made objects inside my man-made house.  I feel a freedom and release when I step outside, away from highways, and take a walk.  When I gaze upon the universe, my problems are put into perspective.  When I am walking through the woods- my needs seems so few.  I enjoy blessings in the form of magnificent trees, delicate flowers and expansive skies.  For those who have ears, eyes and even noses to see, hear and smell- the creation testifies and praises the God who created the universe.     

5.  ⁷ they have hands, but cannot feel,

Our sense of touch allows us to feel pain so that we may avoid further damage.  If we cannot feel, we may leave ourselves in a situation where we are being hurt- and we cannot even feel the damage.

Also, we loose the wisdom that comes from our sense of touch which instructs us how tightly or loosely to hold an object.  I think an idolater looses perspective on how tight and loose to hold the children and other relationships in their lives.

God designed us to feel love and comfort from the appropriate touch within proper relationships.  An idolater does not feel love and comfort- instead he or she may seek a substitute pleasure outside of the God given relationships.  Or the person may starve and withdraw for lack of love.      

6.     feet, but they cannot walk;   

We feel stuck in the same repeating situation.  We cannot follow where Jesus is asking us to go.

I want to be alive in Jesus- He has come that I may experience life- and more abundantly!  Idolatry makes me numb- like the walking dead.  But the good news is that when we feel this way, we can take a closer look to see if worship of a God replacement has been creeping into our life.  Jesus came to heal the blind, lame, deaf and mute.  He can restore us if we seek him.  Glory be to God- because of his love and faithfulness.