August 4, 2010 As Long As She Lay Desolate

Sometimes I forget to do the most obvious thing: look into the Word and see what God is revealing about Himself.  Isn't that what it's all about?  There are a few things I noticed about Him in the Chronicles passage today.  1) He's compassionate, 2) He keeps His Word, and 3) He's in control.  I don't really need to go into all that, as these things are shown clearly in what we read.  We know these are supposed to be traits of God, but do we recognize them for what they are when He's revealing Himself to us in our daily life?

Usually, it's in hind sight that I can recognize that God's hand was clearly visible in all that was going on in my life.  Whenever I've been in a tough place that seems dark and threatening, it's not always been obvious that God was with me.  But He always has been.  It's good to remember hard times in which have we gained understanding about His ways, and how He used all things for our good.  If we can't remember anything helpful in our own life, it's wise to talk to someone who can, and who can help us see.  Reading the Word can also illuminate what the Lord is doing with us in the midst of darkness and distress.

One verse stood out to me and ministered to me strongly about my own life: "As long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years."  I know this is speaking of the land of Israel, but I take it to heart, as my body and my life are my own land.  It reminded me of what the Lord had said to me a little while ago, that I was in a "fallow year" (this had to do with writing music in particular).  If you'll remember, the tilled land was to lay unused for a season every seventh year, to give it and the laborers a rest.  (Exodus 23: 10-12).  The people were also to keep the Sabbath day of rest every week.  These are principles that go beyond Old Testament law.  If we don't rest and keep our focus on the Lord, bad things happen.  On the other hand, there are many other Scriptures that exhort us to stop vacationing and "break up your fallow ground." 

The Lord knows us and what we need, and if we follow the leading of the Spirit, we'll stay in step with Him and keep the Sabbaths we might need to take (some might think of them as fasts). If we don't, it seems that God has a way of intervening and making sure that we get the needed rest.  Sometimes it's our bodies that intervene, by simply breaking down because of the stress we've put them under.  I suppose when this happens it's because we weren't listening.  In the down times, we can feel that everything that meant something to us is stripped away.  While we are desolate though, we often seek the Lord as we should have been seeking Him all along-- with more depth and passion.

I'm always inspired by the Psalms, especially David's, as his response to difficulty was always to seek the Lord.  His greatest desire was always to be close to the Lord, but I think it was in the times of dire distress that his focus was clarified:
     
"One thing I have desired of the LORD,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD,
And to inquire in His temple.
For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock."
Psalm 27:4-5 NKJV
 
Maybe our weekly Sabbath rest, our break from our workaday life when we put our focus on the Lord, is our practice run.  It's when we have to face a layoff, an illness, a death in the family or other major loss, or a period of fierce opposition that we really put into practice what we have learned: that God is our refuge-- that He's compassionate, that He always keeps His word, and that although He did not cause our catastrophe, He's still and will always be, in control.
 
To study on your own:
What other traits of God did you see in the OT passages? 
What did Corinthians reading reveal to you about God? 
Can you think of examples of how He's revealed these characteristics to you in your own life? 
What is He doing with you right now?

June 10, 2010 Why Does Beauty Exist?

Stephen's mention of Solomon's temple in his sermon (we're still in that!), and his quote from Isaiah, are nicely juxtaposed in our One Year Bible reading today.  "But Solomon built Him a house. However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says: ‘ Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the LORD, Or what is the place of My rest? Has My hand not made all these things?' " Acts 7:47-50 NKJV (Isaiah 66:1,2).  

As I contemplate the beauty of the temple and furnishings that Solomon designed, I am quite certain that he created them as an act of worship.  I remembered that Solomon himself mentioned that God doesn't live in a physical building, so I decided to look it up (we're coming up to it in just a few days):  "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!" I Kings 8:27  There is so much more to be said about the dwelling-place of God, and I'm sure that topic will unfold as we continue reading throughout the year.

We read in previous chapters that Solomon was quite a naturalist (botanist/biologist).  He appreciated how God expressed Himself through the intricacies of nature, and responded to that by echoing the beauty and excellence in his own creations.  He wanted the temple surroundings to remind people that God was the creator of the world, and that He should be called upon and worshipped.  Solomon knew the language of beauty.

 As Stephen also pointed out, the creation itself is not to be worshipped--  when the people made idols and worshipped them, the end result was captivity.  There is an obvious difference in decorating things beautifully with images from nature and making a golden calf and worshipping it.  It's what's behind the image-making-- the purpose and spirit of it-- that makes artistic expression what it is.  I may be stepping into a spiritual hornet's nest here, but the Muslim aesthetic is all about trying to avoid such idolatry (geometric adornment only; hide women's faces and bodies), but it does nothing to change the idolatrous heart of humankind.  On the opposite end of the spectrum is the Western culture of idolizing beauty in general, and beautiful people particularly.  This is where all of our hearts go when we are not letting the Spirit of Truth give our sinful hearts an overhaul.

God is beautiful, but beauty is not god!  Beauty is an intrinsic quality of God-- you can't have God without getting extravagant beauty in the bargain!  It springs forth from Him.  Just look around!  And God created human beings with an appreciation of, and an ability to create, astounding beauty.  I am very thankful for that!  I am a great fan of God's beauty, His artistic ability, and His awe-inspiring creations.

I believe that beauty on this earth exists to testify of God's Beauty, of Him.  Getting religious about our attitudes about beauty just doesn't help anything-- it only spoils what God has given.  But if we can see beauty as a interface of communion-- back and forth, giving and receiving-- we will enter into a greater realm of Heavenly worship and glory than we have ever been in before.   

May 26, 2010 The Prayer Jesus Vouches For

We've talked a little bit about getting our prayers answered, and today there's more.  I think that this might be something important to Jesus--  that we pray and receive a "yes" to our prayer!  I've come to realize, though, that every prayer is not answered.  And that's because every prayer doesn't fit His criteria.

Since I'm not doing a comprehensive study here, we'll just have to go with what we've got so far.  On the 24th, we saw that one of the requirements for answered prayer is that it is "in My name." That's a big topic in itself.  Let's just say, would Jesus sign on this one?   Since prayer is asking God to do something beyond what we can do, wouldn't it be reasonable to ask Him to do something He would actually do?  That takes knowing Him and what He has done: does this request fit His character?  does it fit Who He is actually is?  The only way to know this is to know Him. 

I'm grateful that He knows us completely, and takes into consideration our small viewpoint!  The Holy Spirit is here to guide us into all truth, so if we need a little guidance in our prayer, He's there to help.  He hears us at all levels of our maturity and understanding.  But the more mature we are, and the more of the knowledge of God we have, the more effective our prayers are going to be.  And the older ones should be teaching the younger ones to pray.

Yesterday, Jesus was saying He wants to dwell in us.  Now He's saying He wants us to dwell in Him.  When you actually live with people, you really get to know them!  We find out who snores and who doesn't close up the cracker box right.  We find out who actually walks in love.  If you've ever had people in your house for an extended stay, you know you know them better than you did before.  And they know you. Jesus is all about knowing each other.

So, if you got up in the morning, got some orange juice and toast, and sat down at the table with Jesus (and of course, the Holy Spirit and the Father are there, too), and you got into this great conversation about something in the Word, I guess you'd have a little better knowledge of Him.  That Word would start to really be real.  It would start to live in your heart.  You would feel pretty confident about asking Him to do that thing He just pointed out in the passage you read together.  Plus, you got to see how He acted when little dipsy-doodle two-year-old pee'd on the floor right next to His sandals! 

I think we'd get to know Jesus a little more if we realized He's there all the time with us.  Holy Spirit is giving us this insider-knowledge of just how Jesus is acting all the time.  The ultimate Twitter!

When we really know Him, we ask things we know He'll vouch for.  That's when we get our prayers answered with a big, resounding "yes!"  And that, my friends, is God's will.  It makes us really fruitful.  It glorifies Him and pleases Him at least as much as it blesses us.

April 20, 2010

How great is the faithfulness of our God!  When I read this verse, "Not a word failed of any good thing which the LORD had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass." Joshua 21:45, my spirit sighs a sigh of contentment.  I am proud to have a God like that.  He promises wonderful things to His children, and He keeps His promises without fail.  I want to be like that.

Our God is also faithful to stand up for us and defend us when He has authorized us to do something.  No matter what anyone says, if you're obeying the Word of the Lord, stand your ground.  Jesus always had the ultimate answer for any of His detractors, the statement that made His enemies close their mouths.  I want to be like that.

Ethan the Ezrahite, the writer of Psalm 89, extolled the Lord and His faithfulness in this beautiful song.  I want to be like that too.

God is faithful!  As I meditate on His intrinsic faithfulness, thanking and worshipping Him, His nature and His character will be imparted to me.  As I practice walking in godly faithfulness (something I have far to go on), He will strengthen and uphold me.

As we grow in faithful obedience to God's Word, we grow in authority. As we demonstrate His characteristic faithfulness, people will be drawn to the Lord, because it is a very winsome quality  indeed! 

April 17, 2010

I want to challenge you to grapple with those Scriptures that you tend to "gloss over," especially the things that Jesus said in the Gospels.  The Lord delights in explaining Himself to us, all we have to do is ask and listen.  It's right to ask the Lord, "What is it that hinders me from following you?"  He will always answer you, but you have to be willing to receive the answer and let Him help you with it.

Jesus is always going to put His finger on the core issue of our heart.  When He said, "How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God," He wasn't just talking about money.  Money is a big issue, but there are many other things that can have a hold on us.  Whatever we value the most is the thing that can keep us from entering in.  Although it's quite impossible for us to let go of our idols by our own willpower, the Lord made it clear that He would help us.  All we have to do is cry out to Him the way the blind beggar did. 

Why is it so hard for us to let go?  Jesus promised to give us "very much more in this age, and in the age to come eternal life."  I can testify that no matter how many times I've laid the things down that my heart clung to, the Lord has more than made up for it.  Our only issue is not seeing Him for who He really is, and not understanding His heart towards us. 

If you really want to follow Jesus into the Kingdom, then go out on a limb and ask Him to help you.  He most certainly will.

April 10, 2010

The Bible says that the Lord knew Moses face to face!  Deut. 34:10.  I always thought of it the other way around (i.e., Moses knew God face to face), but I even checked out Exodus 33:11: So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.

It seems that Jesus expects this kind of open-faced knowing from us as well. What do you think? I saw it here in this Scripture:
Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’  then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’  But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’   Luke 13:23-27

What does it take for the Lord to know us?  He certainly put an emphasis on that here.  And it wasn't just about being in the same vicinity and having the same nationality.  Obviously, the Lord knows everything, and He of course know us inside and out, as He made us and is omniscient and omnipresent.  So what does it take for the Lord to know us?  I want to know!  I want to make it through that narrow gate!

I try to stick with the Scripture reading of the day (there's so much in them!), but when I picked up my tea to go warm it up again, the Lord reminded me of these verses:  "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction." Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." Proverbs 9:10

We might start out so afraid of God, like Moses (Exodus 3:6), that we won't even show our face.  We're not going to get to know God like that!  But the Lord's saying, "Where are you?  Open up!  Why are you hiding?"  Like He did with Adam and Eve.  If we allow fear, shame and the need to belong (thank you, Eldon, for that great teaching!) to keep us from showing our face to God, we'll remain foolish, because how will we overcome those issues if we will not receive instruction?  If the Lord's saying "I do not know you," it's because we're too proud to let Him in.  If we're going to go through His gate, He's going to first have to come in through ours.

Jesus said to those of His nation who would not believe in Him:  "See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’” Luke 13: 35 

I'll never forget the day I realized, with a huge shock, that God saw everything about me! I had spent my life deperately trying to hide from Him, in spite of the fact I'd called myself a Christian for most of it.  I was in the middle of a rather wretched fight with my husband, and it was going nowhere.  I felt so hopeless.  Suddenly, the Lord revealed where I was at.  I remember falling onto the floor and weeping uncontrollably when I realized that God saw through my defenses.  I decided then that I had to stop hiding from the Lord behind the masks and walls I had built around myself to protect me from hurt, real or imagined.

Even though I had gotten revelation, it took years before I was willing to totally lay down the things that I used to shield myself from others and from God.  I was so expert at creating defenses that most of them were hidden even from myself.  I'm still not sure they're all gone, but at least now I am willing to be shown, either by the Lord or a person that He might speak through.  The more I reveal myself to Him, the more He reveals Himself to me. 

Have you ever seen a child, who, by covering her eyes, thinks she is hiding from her parent?  I have!  A child quickly figures it out, but it is funny when they first do it.  We are like that with the Lord, and yet how slowly we come to the reality that we must not try to hide from Him.  He can see us anyway.  And the great truth is, that He loves us, so much more, than we love our own little children.

It is wisdom to uncover the face of our heart when we go to the written Word, for in it we will find Christ, if we will only open our eyes and let Him see us.

April 6, 2010

What a great God we have!  His desire is for relationship with us, and He has gone to such great lengths to have it!  The children of Israel had a God who would protect them and provide for them if they would be faithful to Him and not serve other Gods.  We have the same God, and an even better agreement.  We have a risen Savior who has made us right with God!  And we can have the Holy Spirit living in us to help us truly walk with the Lord. 

Yes, we should have the holy fear of the Lord.  But we are constantly assured in the Scriptures that God loves us, and that we can love Him!  He speaks to us every day, if we will only listen, teaching us and training us to love Him with our whole heart.  How can we not be loyal to a God like that?

He had commanded the clouds above,
And opened the doors of heaven,
Had rained down manna on them to eat,
And given them of the bread of heaven.
Psalm 78: 23-24

January 9, 2010

What I'm getting is "obedience". And the key to that seems to be truly knowing the Lord. "those who know your name put their trust in you" Psalm 9:10. Abraham knew that God would provide, he really knew God, so he obeyed. Matthew 7: 21 only the one who does the will of the Father will enter the kingdom. Because Abraham obeyed, all the nations of the earth are blessed. Because Jesus obeyed, I am saved. What will come of my obedience? What would be lost if I do not obey?