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 30, 2010 Keeping Nothing Back

Alas, this morning, I was busy beating myself up slightly for writing so much in a blog that was "supposed" to be brief devotional.  I've got books in me that keep trying to get out.  This is personal, yes, but I was greatly comforted (or in Luke's words, "not a little comforted") to read today about Paul, how he talked until daybreak, even putting a young man to sleep (and raising him from the dead when he fell out the window!).  It was what he said about his reasons for saying so much:  "how I kept back nothing that was helpful" Acts 20:20, and that he had "not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God." vs 27.  In no way am I comparing myself to Paul, or saying that I have the whole counsel of God, but only expressing that I share God's heart for His people, which is why I end up writing so much.  I only have my part, but I am compelled to share my part.

We make our plans, but it's God who guides our steps.  (Proverbs 16:9) Yesterday, the Holy Spirit told me not to apologize for doing what He led me to do.  It reminded me of Julia Childs saying "Never apologize".  I will apologize if I do something wrong, actually wrong.  I feel like apologizing when I don't meet up to people's expectations, or my own.  But I am learning to resist that.  It's only God's expectations that we have to live up to (or should).  He is faithful to let us know He is pleased with us, and that's all that matters in the long run.

FYI: I have started a Twitter account-- can you believe it?-- and I will post a very short thought on the OYB reading for the day (among other things), for those who want to get a quick insight, and it will have a link to this blog.

June 24, 2010 Facing Up

Do you ever wonder why the Scriptures are so full of supernatural happenings, and yet our lives (most of them anyway) are so NOT?  I do!  Maybe having an ordinary life is all you want, so I guess if that's what you have, you should keep up doing what you're doing to have it that way.  But me, I'm not satisfied with ordinary.  I don't see anywhere in Scripture, either in the Old or New Testaments, where life with God is ordinary.  It seems that anywhere He is, there is something going on that is out-of-this-world!

When I read accounts of people in the Bible having supernatural interactions with God (and doesn't that seem to be a regular thing in our readings?) a growing hunger arises in my spirit for the things of heaven, and I wonder why my life seems so earthbound.  While I've been "on vacation," the Lord's been speaking to me about why I'm not experiencing as much of Him as I'd like, or even as much as I used to.  I have been getting too much earthly input, and not enough heavenly!  Realizing this, I decided to watch some videos from ministries I trust.  All the messages I heard seemed to say the same thing (and one of them even quoted today's passage from Kings!): we should be having greater revelation and prophetic experiences than ever, and we are going to need them; and that if we want to see heaven, then heaven is what we should put before our eyes.  I'm being reminded of what I knew before: whatever we focus on is what we eventually experience.

I had an inkling that Proverbs 17:24* was related to this, and when I ventured to look it up in the Hebrew, I was amazed at how much is missing in translation!  I'm not going to go into a long explanation, so you'll just have to look it up for yourself.  But this is the message that jumped out at me: If you face heaven, then you'll see heaven and you'll gain wisdom and understanding; but if you face earth, then all you'll see is earthly things, and you'll end up a fool. 

That seems pretty simple and straightforward, doesn't it?  Basically, we choose our experience of life by where we place our focus.  Admittedly, it's easy to get our focus off onto meaningless and temporary things, or even "earth-shattering" events.  But if we want to live the life Christ intended for us, we need to get our focus on Him and on His Kingdom.  I am making the needed adjustments.  You?



*"Wisdom is in the sight of him who has understanding, But the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth." Proverbs 17: 24-25 NKJV

May 29, 2010 The Method of Merciful Exposure

Reading the Bible, especially the Old Testament, can sometimes feel like wending our way through the darkest recesses of the human psyche, groping for answers.  While in the obscurity of waywardness and hidden motives, I am glad to be reminded that, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Psalm 119: 105.  This is all here for my instruction: teach me, Holy Spirit!

The human tendency is to gloat over other people's wrongdoings, which must explain the preponderance of evil in human storytelling: well, at least I'm not as bad as all that, we think--  and are therefore justified in our own minds.  Holy Spirit's reasons for taking us through the darkness of history includes freeing us from our own darkness.  We must admit it when He shows it to us.  Yes, it's there, and I am not free from it yet.  It's so hard for us to admit that the same depravity that caused Absalom to do the things he did, that caused Judas to betray Jesus, and Peter to deny Him, still lives in our own heart to some degree.  Until we are completely changed into the likeness of Christ, we still have darkness within. 

One of the hardest things for me to understand has been how the Lord seems to allow sin to run its full course.  We ache for others when they are on a path of darkness, yearning to "fix" it and get them on the right track before it's too late.  Often, we can only pray.  In my own personal experience, I know the Lord begins to whisper to each one of us of our heart condition before it has ever caused us to stray.  Holy Spirit desires to enlighten our darkness with His holy light and to lead us onto the right path. 

I find this is one of the most important functions of Scripture-- to give us wisdom without us having to go through our own experience of failure.  He will point to someone else's mess and say, look, there's the seed of that in your own heart.  If we are humble and willing to agree with Him, He grants us repentance and cleansing.  He shows us the Light we need in order to overcome that darkness and avoid the twisted path of wickedness.  But if we are proud and stubborn, this hidden depravity of soul will reveal itself through more and more obvious behavior, until everyone around us knows about it, often leaving us blind to it ourself.  How many of us have to totally "hit bottom" before we will turn our sin over to God?  It is God's patient mercy that allows our sin to run full course.

Eventually, I got tired of rejecting Holy Spirit's private whispering that would preserve me from public humiliation.  I listen to Him now.  I learned the hard way, though, I have to admit.  I am so grateful for His love that covers a multitude of sins.  Sins I never have to commit! 

May 20, 2010 Death Is Defeated

When I don't post in the middle of the week, it's usually because I got in too deep.  Yesterday, the 20th, after about three hours of writing, I still hadn't brought it to a satisfactory conclusion.  So I guess this topic will have to be a book.  I'll let you know when it's done.

I'm going to give you a clue in this day's OYB reading, so that you can go back and see what the Lord says to you about the battle between life and death.  There is just too much foundation to be laid for me to go into it here.

Start with Jesus' statement:  “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11: 25-26

This is the key to a new mindset about life and death.  The Old Testament passages and the rest of the verses in John all have revelation in them about this topic.  I would love to hear what the Lord shows you about it.  In the mean time, I'll be jotting down what I get, and in the Lord's timing, I'll put it out there for you.  Shalom!

February 7, 2010

Jesus gave us perspectives on the Kingdom of God in ways we could all understand. For women's ways of thinking, there's the story of 10 virgins. For the male mind is the parable of the talents. Of course, we can all get something out of both of these points of view, but I think it is important for men and women to share with each other what these teachings particularly mean to them, so that we can understand more from each other's perspectives. This is another way that the Church can help to edify itself in love.