Oh Lord, remembering you makes such a difference.
It hurt when my friend mocked my secret weakness.
Did he know, how dare he?
When I remembered to give you this care,
You took it, and soothed the pain,
Now I can offer peace to others,
Not demand that I be soothed.
A good poem
Tim is a colleague that I've friended on Facebook, but may never have actually met. He wrote a poem which struck me this morning:
Read Tim's whole poem.
The second line grabs me. How I long for attention and distraction. Surely the love of God should fill up my need to be noticed. But it doesn't. I want attention now.
And when God loves me so, why am I so eager for distraction, to escape and kill time?. Why do I not appreciate the gift of this life God has given me?
Lord, open my eyes again to see the length and height and breadth of your love for me.
Be still, my soul.
Let my self with its need for attention, distraction and connectedness
Melt into the background
Like hard wax becoming molten in the presence of your flame.
Be still, my soul,
Relax the hand that grasps
Into an open hand
From which my empty trinkets can be taken
And into which blessings dropped easily.
Read Tim's whole poem.
The second line grabs me. How I long for attention and distraction. Surely the love of God should fill up my need to be noticed. But it doesn't. I want attention now.
And when God loves me so, why am I so eager for distraction, to escape and kill time?. Why do I not appreciate the gift of this life God has given me?
Lord, open my eyes again to see the length and height and breadth of your love for me.
Job's faith
I've marveled at Job's faith in Chapter 19, when in the midst of his pain he suddenly confesses hope: "I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God." (Job 19:25-26)
I've just noticed he had a similar moment of hope in chapter 16:
"Even now my witness is in heaven;
my advocate is on high.
My intercessor is my friend
as my eyes pour out tears to God;
on behalf of a man he pleads with God
as one pleads for a friend." Job 16:19-21.
Job sees even in his suffering that God is more than the righteous judge, but also the one who takes our side, who seeks to be merciful. We can have faith in life's perplexing moments that God, our advocate and intercessor pleads for us.
I've just noticed he had a similar moment of hope in chapter 16:
"Even now my witness is in heaven;
my advocate is on high.
My intercessor is my friend
as my eyes pour out tears to God;
on behalf of a man he pleads with God
as one pleads for a friend." Job 16:19-21.
Job sees even in his suffering that God is more than the righteous judge, but also the one who takes our side, who seeks to be merciful. We can have faith in life's perplexing moments that God, our advocate and intercessor pleads for us.
Emmanuel road
The heart of God's promises: He is with us.
His promises are as real as our circumstances.
It should not be scandalous or awkward to admit we aren't who we should be. He has qualified the unqualified before. It's actually one of his specialties.
So let us walk the road of trusting his promises more than we trust our own capabilities.
Is not this the lesson that our Father Abraham would teach us? He was called to leave the place he knew to travel to a place God would show him. God promised to bless him, and to bless all nations through him. Do we remember Abraham today because of what he did, or because of God's promise?
God is with us, let us be with Him.
A song for the Emmanuel road: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RmZFaruXhs
"As surely as the sun will rise, you'll come to us, certain as the dawn appears."
His promises are as real as our circumstances.
It should not be scandalous or awkward to admit we aren't who we should be. He has qualified the unqualified before. It's actually one of his specialties.
So let us walk the road of trusting his promises more than we trust our own capabilities.
Is not this the lesson that our Father Abraham would teach us? He was called to leave the place he knew to travel to a place God would show him. God promised to bless him, and to bless all nations through him. Do we remember Abraham today because of what he did, or because of God's promise?
God is with us, let us be with Him.
A song for the Emmanuel road: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RmZFaruXhs
"As surely as the sun will rise, you'll come to us, certain as the dawn appears."
Esther, a tragedy?
I'm reading through Esther these days, and I'm reminded of what I'd thought a few years back, that there is quite likely sadness inside her story, or rather the rest of her story. We romanticize the story, the beauty pageant winner who comes away with the grand prize of queenship. And then the drama of Haman's plot and her counterplot to save the Jews from death.
But what was the rest of her life like? How satisfying was her marriage? The social system enabled her husband to indulge any whim he ever had for all the other attractive women surrounding him. Any time she failed to fascinate, he could restage another pageant and enthrone a new charming faced winner. What kind of marriage was it really when she still faced death any time she wanted to come to him and he didn't want to talk? Twenty, thirty years later, did she view her marriage as a Cinderella romance, or as being trapped in a gilded cage?
Did she have children? None are recorded. If she had, the system surely forbade her to have much of a role raising them. They certainly weren't given a Jewish upbringing. A daughter, raised to be another harem beauty? A son, raised to enjoy harem beauties?
What was her life like when she was sixty? Queen Mother, ritually honored but effectively ignored? Could she still manage to believe she was born for such a time as that? By God's grace she could have, she could well have been sustained by the astonishing goodness of peace and joy despite circumstances. But it would not have been easy.
But perhaps in outward loneliness, she learned and experienced the great truth that God is with us, and comforts us in any affliction. Maybe in heaven she was rewarded for more than saving the people from Haman.
But what was the rest of her life like? How satisfying was her marriage? The social system enabled her husband to indulge any whim he ever had for all the other attractive women surrounding him. Any time she failed to fascinate, he could restage another pageant and enthrone a new charming faced winner. What kind of marriage was it really when she still faced death any time she wanted to come to him and he didn't want to talk? Twenty, thirty years later, did she view her marriage as a Cinderella romance, or as being trapped in a gilded cage?
Did she have children? None are recorded. If she had, the system surely forbade her to have much of a role raising them. They certainly weren't given a Jewish upbringing. A daughter, raised to be another harem beauty? A son, raised to enjoy harem beauties?
What was her life like when she was sixty? Queen Mother, ritually honored but effectively ignored? Could she still manage to believe she was born for such a time as that? By God's grace she could have, she could well have been sustained by the astonishing goodness of peace and joy despite circumstances. But it would not have been easy.
But perhaps in outward loneliness, she learned and experienced the great truth that God is with us, and comforts us in any affliction. Maybe in heaven she was rewarded for more than saving the people from Haman.
Gospel core values
What is the core of the Gospel? That God shows mercy on unworthy people, forgives them, adopts them as his own and makes them his people.
So what should I believe about this personally?
So what should I believe about this personally?
- I can believe that by God's grace I have been chosen, imperfect as I am, to a significant role in God's Kingdom. He has chosen me, knowing my imperfections and takes upon himself the task of qualifying me for this. I will pursue this calling in relationship to God, opening my heart and laying bare my soul with its imperfections to him, because he knows about them already, and has chosen me anyway. I have seen that his grace in my life is bigger than my shortcomings. I can lay my longings and frustrations, both good or evil, before him, and experience his peace, even when in my life the good longings are not yet met and the evil longings have not yet gone away. I will continue in this faith I have learned, to walk in emotional honesty with God and trust his peace in my difficulties. The peace of pleasant circumstances is good when it happens but cannot be relied upon.
- This same grace and calling I rejoice in is also given to my brothers and sisters. So I will not disbelieve in their calling when I perceive them as imperfect, but seek to understand their hearts, consider that I as well as they might be imperfect in the issue at hand, and pray for them that God helps them in their weaknesses.
The law of sequels: two exceptions
Everyone says that sequels are never as good as the original. I agree that the generalization holds up pretty well. Two exceptions do come to mind.
1) The Lord of the Rings books. These were written as a sequel to the Hobbit. And they are better. The Hobbit is good, but the LOTR books are better.
2) The New Testament. Perhaps strictly speaking we shouldn't call it a sequel, since both the Old and New Testaments are actually anthologies of various books. But there is a sequel-like effect in the books that describe Jesus Christ and the New Covenant, a retelling and recasting of the story of God and his chosen people, Abraham and his descendants.
As a sequel, it attains something quite remarkable. In one sense it is a better story, but it also renews my curiosity to go back and read the original story as well.
1) The Lord of the Rings books. These were written as a sequel to the Hobbit. And they are better. The Hobbit is good, but the LOTR books are better.
2) The New Testament. Perhaps strictly speaking we shouldn't call it a sequel, since both the Old and New Testaments are actually anthologies of various books. But there is a sequel-like effect in the books that describe Jesus Christ and the New Covenant, a retelling and recasting of the story of God and his chosen people, Abraham and his descendants.
As a sequel, it attains something quite remarkable. In one sense it is a better story, but it also renews my curiosity to go back and read the original story as well.
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