Yearly Archives: 2013

A Good Place to be after all…

All Sorts

What mother of us has not felt as Moses surely felt standing before the burning bush…here I am barefoot, standing before you Lord.  You are saying you have a job for me to do?  I am chosen particularly for it…and yet, this job?  Who is sufficient for these things?  I am unqualified, overwhelmed, undone at the thought of it.  Yet, called, chosen, and out of options.  You are God.  I am your clay pot formed for your purposes…

You’d think that now, nearing the end of this phase of my career, I would see things differently…but I am also a homeschooling mother, and the finishing of highschool has never been easy.  There is no formula. Each child is different.  How is one ever ‘finished’ and ‘ready’ to be released into life on their own—in the big wide world where there is no mother at hand to come to the rescue…How does one really prepare a child for that?  And if it’s done poorly, whose fault is it? And who will suffer?

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Never were these words so poignant as they are this week sounding in my ears: “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.” Ps.127:1  Unless the Lord is involved in the construction, it’s wood, hay and stubble that will burn, not a lasting product.  (I Cor.3:13,14) It’s a waste of time and energy, in other words.  What matters is what the Lord empowers, what He does in and through us, what He builds in us.

David knew this when he commissioned his son, Solomon, to build the temple he himself had not had the privilege of building. The task was not to be David’s but that didn’t stop him from gathering materials and doing all he could to encourage his son for the daunting task: “Now, my son, the LORD be with you that you may be successful, and build the house of the LORD your God just as He has spoken concerning you. Only, may the LORD give you discretion and understanding…that you may keep [His] law. Then you will prosper…Be strong and courageous.  Fear not; do not be dismayed.” I Chr.22:12,13

Maybe that’s the main thing any of us do as parents—we gather the stuff for the building of the next generation.  We point them to the Chief Architect and urge them to love the Lord their God with all their hearts and always to consult Him in everything.  Maybe that’s all this crisis is about for me—a reminder that the Lord is the One with the blueprint and only He can complete this work He’s laid out for me to participate it. 

Crisis is often invitation to run to the One who is what I’m not, the great “I AM” who mentored Moses.  The great I AM  who led him through the wilderness with a stiff-necked people in tow that tried even the patience of God with their grumbling obstinence!   This One Moses was continuously crying out to: “What shall I do to this people?”! Ex.17:4

Who would Moses have been without this assignment that left him so constantly in need of wisdom and desperate for intervention?  Would he have resorted to the Tent of Meeting so often—meeting with God as with a best Confidant so that his face shown in the afterglow?  Would he have been so intent on knowing God and having Him near, always?  And would he have experienced the glory of God—his mercy and grace, His slowness to anger, His steadfast love and faithfulness… (Ex.33:18ff) had he not been given this assignment to shepherd God’s children?

My own heart is calmed and softened as I ponder these things.  I am turned back to gratitude for this trust I have been given of shepherding some of God’s own children.  For I too am thereby made dependent on God’s mercies and compelled to know Him more and so reflect His glory. I too am dependent on the One who is all that I am not, and though I stand here nonplussed and barefoot, it is, after all,  a very good place to be.

–LS 

“Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people. And He said, ‘My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.’” Ex.33:13,14

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. II Cor.12:9

Then David said to his son Solomon, “Be strong and courageous, and act; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you until all the work for the service of the house of the LORD is finished.” I Chr.28:20

Chewing on Chesterton

BOOKS

I dived into G.K. Chesterton earlier this week, never mind that there are dozens of books on my priority shelf waiting, barely waded in to…No, instead I tried something new, an online audio book.  And while I listened I looked at an online print version, and cutandpasted thought-provoking morsels to chew on later.  Chesterton churns out a lot of these. He was a man characterized by indomitable joy from what I’ve read, along with a brilliant mind and a charming wit.

So I decided to try The Man Who Was Thursday: a Nightmare.* Peculiar title, I know, but fitting; the chief characters each had code names after the days of the week.  The genre of ‘metaphysical thriller’ did little to pique my interest.  What does ‘metaphysical’ mean anyway?  (I now have turned to Wikipedia and sort of get it)  And I’m really not into thrillers, but I do admire Chesterton’s genius and optimistic outlook, and the book was recommended by a friend, so… I tried it.

I think I might not have persevered without the excellent rendering, complete with wonderful accents, at LibriVox. [Don’t miss this terrific free resource if you enjoy an audio book!] It was definitely not a story to fall asleep to, or even doodle idly to.  Once I’d realized this and took it seriously enough to start at the beginning a second time, (with notebook at hand) the chapters started flying—suspenseful and strange, surreal and outrageous, full of intriguing symbolism.

On the surface were issues of anarchy vs. law and order–a plotline based on a police detective infiltrating a top-secret Anarchist society. But this is an allegorical and impossibly bizarre tale of a world that is not what it seems. (And do we not live in just such a world?) The detective’s profound and unexpected discoveries culminate in a profoundly soul-satisfying finish, revealing…

Well, I don’t want to give the whole story away.  Suffice it to say the story, in retrospect, is all wound around with God superintending the affairs of man, God who appoints all things (and people) to accomplish His purposes, and ultimately wishes to be known.  And scattered all along the way to keep me from getting too serious in sleuthing out the story’s hidden meaning were gems of dry wit that tickled my elusive funny bone!

Even if an allegorical ‘thriller’ is not your idea of a good read, this one is worth the effort just for its triumphant, faith-affirming, every-thing-is-gonna-be-alright conclusion. Only after you’ve been along for the harrowing journey of Thursday can you appreciate these closing lines:

“He felt he was in possession of some impossible good  news, which made every other thing a triviality, but an adorable triviality.”

Are we too not in possession of such Good News? Pessimism be vanquished! God is in control.  His redemptive purposes will be accomplished in and through and despite the evil and heartache which surrounds us.  Though we be called to suffer, though we may long to understand what’s going on when things just don’t  make sense…God knows and ordains all things for our good, for He is not only supremely powerful, He is supremely good, no matter what the enemy of our souls may say! 

And that has been the storyline undergirding my thoughts this week—as I wrestle for answers to perplexing problems, as I live day to day on the manna He does supply, and as I revel with thankful heart in His plentiful blessings… In all these things God is superintending and sufficient.  In all these things, whether obvious or hidden, God is good.

Two passages come to mind that affirm Chesterton’s storyline and with these I’ll stop, not having intended a book review today but glad for the chance to re-affirm God’s steady goodness towards the likes of us.

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.  II Cor.4:17,18

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Rom.8:18

Oh and never mind stopping there, may as well keep going and read the whole of Romans 8, very good news indeed!

Need that to music?  Consider these perspective restoring lyrics: “…purpose in all our suffering and Joy that will never die.”

[from Risen, by Sovereign Grace Music]

You are Our Hope

[Doesn’t work in your browser?  Click here to go directly to YouTube]

Thanks for stopping by today to consider my ponderings ( :

–LS

May I leave you with a little taste of Chesteron thought, excerpted from The Man Who Was Thursday:

“Through all this ordeal his root horror had been isolation, and there are no words to express the abyss between isolation and having one ally. It may be conceded to the mathematicians that four is twice two. But two is not twice one; two is two thousand times one. That is why, in spite of a hundred disadvantages, the world will always return to monogamy.”

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*Full audio version of The Man Who Was Thursday available here.

 

Online print version, available here.

Indomitable Joy

All Sorts

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My thoughts run hither and yon tonight, scrambling to summarize my week’s ponderings.  I think they’ve run in a big circle actually, starting with an excellent message  built on this thesis:
What the world needs most to see in the church is ‘our indomitable joy in suffering and in sorrows’*. (John Piper) 
They already know how to be happy when everything’s going well!  What makes us salt and light to the world is our joy in Jesus that is not dependent on our circumstances…

I went on to other message excerpts by Piper and soon was at one titled: When God Ruins Us.**  gulp.  In a related vein Piper continued with great winsomeness to paint a picture of a deep abiding confidence that finds in Christ the source of its contentment so that  when all the ‘props’ that might have contributed to its sense of well-being are knocked out, still there is joy.  He suggested that God knows when our hearts need help not to trust in things other than Him (whether health, job, pleasure, or chocolate!) for our contentment.  Listening to John Piper preach is as restorative to the soul as eating a roast beef dinner is to the body!  But I got to thinking…

And that sometimes leads me into troubled zones… particularly when faith is left  suspended on the sidelines while I entertain fear.  Let me explain: I know I live in great comfort.  I have food, good food, and and more where it came from of whatever sort I would most relish.  I have a roof over my head and great warmth within its walls, not only of the physical cozy wood-stove kind, but of love and laughter and commitment, of a solid marriage, of children who enjoy coming home…I have SO much—security of life and limb, not to mention health and freedom from pain, freedom to be a home-body blithely at work and play in my ‘pumpkin’.  Many are the mercies that come fresh to my ‘doorstep’ every morning.  All this, and heaven too…

I have peace and contentment too, almost…only this nagging thought:  Is the source of my contentment Jesus, or is it all these good things He’s ravished me with?  And how would I do with all the props knocked out?

“When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay” the old hymn goes.  Do people still sing such things?  Will I in the event of such loss?  I don’t consider myself a gross narcissist but I do enjoy my pain-free comfortable life…and I do enjoy chocolate….and I do fear pain and loss.

Is my contentment truly based in knowing Christ? Or is it in good things I possess and pleasant circumstances?  How can I know? 

What am I leaning on anyway?  Do I really lean on God for everything?  Am I leaning so hard that if He were to fail me, I would topple over helpless?  Or am I counting on my own understanding, my own resources, my own ability to back me up? 

These thoughts with variations have tumbled about in my head this week with the dull rumble of sneakers thrown in the dryer. I justified the thudding sounds at first as the symptoms of proper spiritual self-examination.  But as I am prone to ‘think too hard’ about such introspective sorts of things…it now seems more likely that there is more fear than faith in them. Hallmarks of the Spirit’s wooing are life and peace, not unrest, fear and doubt! (Rom.8:6)

But I will leave with you some of the gems along my path back to God-confidence, some of them paraphrased…

“But as for me, I will look to the Lord.  I will wait for the God of my salvation, my God will hear me.” MIcah 7:7

“Do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.  Be not wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and turn away from evil…” Prov.3:5-8

Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for God is at work in you to make you both willing and able to carry out His good pleasure.  So carry on with no grumbling or questioning.  This is what will set you apart as unblemished, children of God in a crooked and twisted generation as you hold tight to the Word of life! (Phil.2:12-16)

Watch out for dogs, evildoers, mutilators of the flesh—those who from impure motive will encourage you to do more, try harder, and put stock in your good efforts at rule-keeping.   It’s not about all that. The real product is Spirit-led worship with your whole life and awe in Christ Jesus with not a stitch of confidence put in how you’re doing on your own steam….What matters is the righteousness of Christ put to your account by God solely on the basis of your faith! (Phil.3:1-9)

And one more thing:
Don’t be anxious about anything—whether you’ll have what it takes to weather trials, whether you’re doing enough, being enough, denying self enough, leaning on Jesus enough, living by faith enough…don’t be anxious.  Let your Father know what you need (and what troubles you) then His peace, which exceeds all your best understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. (Phil.4:6,7)

 

I still don’t have all the answers to all the questions my ponderings have generated.  But somehow, it matters most that they have been raised and turned to the One who does know. 

I may not know how I will fare in trauma but I can choose by faith to trust and give thanks in everything, starting now, in plenty. Paul said “In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.”  Phil.4:12 The same Christ Jesus who gave him that kind of strength is my helper.  I don’t need to develop a self-defense plan but to rejoice in the Plan that is already in place! 

Paul puts it so succinctly: “Rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.” Phil.3:1

So somehow I’ve come full circle.  There it is, learning to rejoice in the Lord, for this is what the world needs most to see in the Church—real joy! May it be so.

–LS

“For we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.” Phil.3:3

This one came singing as I woke up the morning after writing this blog…—LS

[If this video won’t play in your browser, try Internet Explorer, or go directly to YOU TUBE and look for “Sing for Joy” by Robert Pierre. Sorry for the inconvenience.]

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*Sorrowful Yet Always Rejoicing by John Piper is a 45 min. message available in audio form here.

**”When God Ruins Us”, also by John Piper, is a short audio clip available here.

God’s Extraordinary Favor

All Sorts

“If you cannot train your children to do as they ought it is far better to lower your standards and enjoy them as they are than to allow your looks of displeasure to become the norm. A kid may grow up to be undisciplined and self-willed, but there is no reason to add to it a feeling of being unloved and unable to please.”

These words arrested my attention earlier this week as I grazed through an article entitled: “Six Ways Parents Destroy Their Children Without Trying.” * They fell under point #3: Expressing displeasure regularly. Ah yes, familiar theme. I stand guilty as charged.  This has been a hard lesson for me to learn. My children bear its marks.

Loving our kids, we naturally want them to be good. When they are not, we frown. They try harder, we expect great things. They prove to be human, flawed, and they fall short. If we are still frowning and goading them on mercilessly, relationship suffers and eventually the ones not cut out to be goody-goodies give up trying, feeling like failures themselves and steeling themselves to further condemnation as best they can. Loving fellowship of parent and child is lost. What has gone wrong?

The paragraph goes on to remind that: “…child training is causing the child to want to please you and be like you. They will want to please you only when they find pleasure in your presence.” This rings true to me, and I commend to you the rest of the article  if you are yet rearing young under your roof, but I’m considering another angle, namely how our parenting flaws reflect our own misunderstandings of God’s favor toward us.

How do we see God as parenting us? If we perceive Him as having a frowning countenance toward us, his children, exasperated at our constant need to be reminded of house rules, disappointed by our ineptness, tired of waiting for us to act more mature….then what? How fast will we be to run to Him when we need Him most, to treasure time alone with Him, to be eager to do whatever He says? Do we view God as regularly displeased or never quite satisfied with our conduct, whether it be things we do or things we have failed to do? Are we forever ‘falling short’ in our own estimations and concluding this is how God sees us too? Or do we see Him as a Father who loves us so extravagantly that there’s nothing we can do (or not do) to alter His favor toward us and His enjoyment of us as His dearly loved children!

Is favor with God something we must earn/covet/work up a great desperation for? Is He really holding us at arms’ length until we ‘get it right’, become better witnesses, do more, love better, live more consistently victorious lives, or just plain get desperate enough? And what does God really want from us?

If these are not myths you’ve labored under or questions you’ve had, be thankful! You need read no further. But if like me you struggle to believe that all the favor you could ever have is already yours in Christ, then read on and with me be glad it’s never too late to be transformed by the extraordinary reality of God’s favor.

As I read Scripture I see that while we were yet His enemies God extended a peace offering (Rom.5:10), not contingent on our doing anything but saying ‘Yes’ to Him. “Yes”, I need You. I need mercy. I need grace. I need the sacrifice of Your Son who took my guilt and died to pay for it, so that the righteous requirements of the Law could at last be fully met in me!” (Rom.8:4) On the basis of His Son I am henceforth (and yes, I love those old words!) looked on with favor, exceedingly great favor, the favor with which God looks at Jesus! It is incredible, imaginable only in fairy tales perhaps, but nonetheless true. We have found favor with God; no striving needed. No kicking ourselves into greater service, greater devotion, greater passion. He cannot love us more. We can not earn, finagle, or wrest greater favor from Him than we already have in Christ.

Really, think about it, if there was nothing we could do to bring ourselves into relationship with God in the first place except to respond to His overtures, then why do we think that somehow now we must become high-achievers if we are to keep that favor? It’s not based on our efforts; it never was. How could there be any greater favor to work for than that which we have because of Jesus?

And yet, I like the idea of ‘being good’, of meriting favor and I look for examples…How about Mary? The angel came to her and said ‘you have found favor with God’ (Lk.1:30) What had she done? We have no record. What did she have to do next? Nothing; just believe and wait for the Spirit to impregnate her to carry out her Father’s bidding… Favor is God’s prerogative, not ours.

And I think of Noah, a righteous man in his generation. He found favor in the eyes of the Lord. How’s that? Well, the text says He walked with God. (Gen. 6:8) What does that mean? It brings to mind the verse: “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” Amos 3:3 Or as Jim is known to say: “Friends agree”. And I think this is the answer to that other question, What then does God want of us? He wants us to agree with Him, about everything. This is faith. This is the root of repentance. This is what He wants of us, to walk with Him, enjoying His favor, hanging on His wisdom and saying, ‘Yes, you’re right.’ He just wants relationship with us. He’s done all the footwork. He’s pleased.

For this reason there was that grand announcement 2000+ years ago:

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased” or alternately, “peace to men on whom his favor rests.” (NIV) Luke 2:14 Well the News was for the joy of ‘all the people’ because at last the promised Savior had been born to them. But God’s favor rests secure only for those who welcome this News. It is secured by faith.

Which brings me back to that thought on child training: “…child training is causing the child to want to please you and be like you. They will want to please you only when they find pleasure in your presence.”

Am I finding pleasure in God’s presence day-by-day– living, breathing, meditating on His Word? Is walking with Him in obedience duty or delight? Am I eager to see His face? The answer to these questions has everything to do with my perception of His extraordinary favor. And the proof of comprehension will be in the reflection of His smiling face in my own!

–LS

 

“You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” Ps.16:11

“He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8

“For what the law could not do, in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did, sending His own son in the likeness of sinful man, and so He condemned sin in sinful man, that the righteous requirements of the Law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.” Rom.8:3,4

“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Eph.5:1,2

“…the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you” Numbers 6:25

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*Michael Pearl, No Greater Joy, Jan-Feb.2013, p.23. (Though I don’t agree with every opinion in this article, there are many pearls of wisdom! –LS)

On Purpose

All Sorts

“Your life’s purpose may remain a mystery to you, as may the events of your world, but that’s okay. God is in control. We are relieved of the responsibility of understanding everything and the need to change it.”*

I ‘happened upon’ these words earlier this week. It was no mistake. Had I not just been journaling my own questions about my purpose in life…dragging a bit with disappointment at my ‘performance’, dismayed at feeling so ‘stuck’ artistically—an otherwise ‘happy homemaker’ content in her pumpkin, yet with her neighbors heading obliviously to Hell! Ouch.

I was doing a sort of New Year’s assessment I guess, wondering all the while whether my guilt, disappointment and dismay were legitimate or just my ‘wrong-headed’ way of motivating myself to ‘DO SOMETHING!” Wondering, in fact, whether I was even asking the right questions: “How am I doing?” and “Am I pleasing?”

As per my last blog, that old hymn came to mind, a prayer:

Open my eyes, that I may see
Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me;
Place in my hands the wonderful key
That shall unclasp and set me free.

Silent, I waited. Well, to be honest, I suppose I just went off into the daily details. That was Saturday.

Then came the sermon on Sunday from Acts 3 and 4. Peter and John are at the Beautiful Gate giving what they have to the lame man begging for alms. No, not money. But Jesus. They lifted the lame man to his feet and for the first time in his life he walked, no he danced! into the temple praising God. Peter and John had been at the right place at the right time—after 40 years of waiting, this was the day chosen by God to heal this man. Of course that episode was just the beginning; the ‘greater work’ was the telling of the Gospel to the crowd gathered in wonder and amazement. The calling to repentance. The winsome invitation to find forgiveness and ‘times of refreshment’ from the Lord. Yes, Peter and John had quite the mission that day. Exciting. Mind you it landed them abruptly in prison when the religious leaders caught wind of the goings on. Did Peter and John even realize how many people had come to faith that day?

Then there it was again: “What is your calling?” Pastor said. And I thought of Peter’s words: “Look at us” (not much to look at?) “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you.” (Acts 3:4-6) What I do have, this I can offer… hmmm . The message went on to other illustrations of seeing people as Jesus sees. There were pointed challenges to follow Jesus out of comfortable places into the world, to make the work of God’s redemption known to those around us… but most of all the message confirmed my desire to answer the question: “Am I doing what God has designed and ‘prepared before the foundation of the world’ for me to do?”

Fast forward to the wonderful devotional clip on life’s purpose, pasted on my mom’s Facebook page– the story of a man who spent his life longing to reach the Koreans with the Gospel back in the day when Korea was closed to outsiders. After years his chance came– a trading ship going there to see if maybe… but NO! They were not welcomed. The ship was caught on a sandbar and burned. The stragglers ashore were brutally murdered on the spot. Was this the missionary’s reward after a lifetime of praying and waiting? But he held copies of Chinese Bibles that day. These were seen as valuable for their fine paper. Some illiterate man tore out pages to paper the exterior walls of his house. And one day these pages drew the attention of a scholar who could read. And the Gospel he read there won his heart…And would you know, it was his nephew a generation later who would assist another little known missionary to translate the Bible into the Korean language. ** God had a plan…

The devotional ended with these reassuring words: “The meaning of life does not consist in what we make of it, but in what God makes of it. Success is not about achievement or what we make of ourselves. It’s about placement, or what God makes of us. We take the lesson from the persecuted church that it is okay to die quite unaware of our life’s meaning. We can rest in trust that God, in His mercy, has used us to help build His eternal kingdom.” [Ronald Boyd-MacMillan, Faith That Endures (Grand Rapids: Fleming Revell, 2006), p. 314].

God is building an eternal Kingdom. We who have committed our lives to Him are stuck in the perspective of time, seeing days, weeks, years, maybe a generation but God sees all of Eternity and weaves all for the best display of His glory. We see life from our own perspectives, feel our disappointments, our pains, our comforts. He sees the big picture. There have been other nudges, other confirmations, other answers to my questions. God is not silent when we sit in muddled wonder at what He could possibly be up to. He may not unveil His whole plan but He knows just what we most need for this moment. And there are glimpses, mostly in retrospect, of how He has led us along so far. That’s a story for another day. For today He’s not asking me for dramatic deeds but that I listen for His promptings, pursue the passions that He’s planted in me, and trust Him with what I cannot accomplish.

Peter, in his address to the crowd gathered around the once-lame, now dancing man, called Jesus ‘the Author of Life’ (Acts 4:15). I love that! He is the One who writes my story. Through faith in His Name I am made strong—given confidence to walk, yes even to dance!—in praise for His work in my life. He calls me to repent of dead works and present my members, these hands, these eyes, this voice, this mind…as instruments for righteousness, and to follow Him in adoration all the days of this life!

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely,
and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame,
and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Heb.12:1-2

–LS

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* Ronald Boyd-MacMillan, Faith That Endures (Grand Rapids: Fleming Revell, 2006), p. 315.

** Story drawn from Paul Estabrooks devotional in “Standing Strong Through The Storm” (SSTS), Open Doors Int’l, 2011