Hello Father, goodbye fear

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, 

but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, 

"Abba, Father."
~ Rom 8:14-15

These verses have been mulling around in my brain for weeks.  What does God tell us we did NOT receive?  What DID we receive?  I think it is amazingly kind that God does not contrast fear, or "the spirit of bondage again to fear" with something like peace or courage.  As nice as those attributes are, He gives us something far better. He tells us we have received sonship!  He's adopted us...we get HIM.  Goodbye Fear, I am in my Father's arms.

All of creation is His handiwork. I love this quote by Abraham Kuyper: "There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'" Yep, every square inch belongs to Him.  No matter where we go in earth, sky or sea...we are in His backyard.  Why fear?...He always has His Fatherly eye on us.  Nothing is able to separate us from His love (Rom. 8:37-39). Not even the really hard stuff we sometimes face.

While sitting in my chair one morning, sipping tea and enjoying the quiet before the kiddos awoke, I began watching the shadows dance on the floor as the sunlight made its way through the window.  God was giving me the gift of a few minutes to rest and reflect on His Word.  Oh how I need those quiet minutes with my Father!  I was chewing on those verses out of Romans 8 when I noticed the shadows.  Have you ever seen a shadow without light? It dawned on me that I haven't. Psalm 23 came to mind.  The first half of verse 4 says: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil..."  More shadows for me to ponder...this time the shadow of death.  That is not a very friendly sounding shadow.  How can someone walking through the valley of the shadow of death NOT fear?

The verse goes on: "For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me."  It is that same idea...goodbye fear, I have my Father.  He's my good shepherd and He will take care of me.  The shadows on my floor are not scary at all, but being a rather symbolic person, I couldn't help but think of shadows figuratively.  The shadows we live in can be dark and frightening and full of unknowns.  Do they make us fearful? And do we find ourselves clinging to strange things like the picture above portrays so well because of fear? Or do we remember that shadows are a proof of the Light...do we remember that our Father is with us and is taking care of us, lovingly leading us even when we need to go through a valley of shadows, even the valley of the shadow of death?  

"...I have set before you life and death, 

blessing and cursing; 

therefore choose life, 

that both you and your descendants may live; 

that you may love the Lord your God,

 that you may obey His voice, 

and that you may cling to Him, 

for He is your life..." 

~ Deut 30:19-20

You are not alone in the dark

And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. 

He will be with you, 

He will not leave you nor forsake you; 

do not fear nor be dismayed.

 ~ Deut 31:8

Three posts back I wrote about learning to walk...Chloe, my sweet toddling inspiration was at my house yesterday.  Last week she was barely making a few steps, and now she is puttering around fairly well.  I was hoping to encourage you (and me) to keep that imagery in mind when considering God's people learning to walk in His ways. It does us good to cheer each other on, and to be there to help each other back up when we go down.  Sounds good, right?  Then I wrote about forgiveness...it doesn't come easy (like anger, bitterness and revenge), but Jesus gives us what we need (an ocean of mercy purchased with His blood) in order to forgive those who sin against us.

But what if we want to help someone up, and being filled with gratitude for the ocean of mercy we've received from God we stand ready to forgive every offense, even the incredibly painful ones, but the offender refuses the help?  What if they have fallen down and they don't want to get up? What if they argue that they haven't fallen at all and they are walkin' just fine, thank you very much? What if they are choosing an idol over God and nothing you do or say seems to register?  What if it is your spouse, or your child, or a parent, or a close friend?  People experience raw pain in this life...these sorts of scenarios play out in our lives and in the lives of those we love.  I know (in part).  Excruciating does not come close to describing it. I bet every one who reads this knows what I am talking about.  Maybe your spouse is threatening divorce.  Or maybe there is ongoing unresolved conflict that has created a very odd living arrangement for the rest of you in the house.  Or maybe you have a child who thinks you're old fashioned and that God is perfectly fine with them shacking up with someone.  The list of possibilities is very long.  You'd be the rare exception if at some point in your life, either you or someone close to you has not had your heart ripped open and trampled on in this ongoing, no easy fix sort of way. 

My son asked me to read from 1 Samuel 8 this morning.  The kids and I sat around the kitchen table doing just that.  It told us about how Samuel's sons did not walk in his ways.  The elders came to Samuel and said they wanted him to appoint a king for them like the nations round about them.  This was nothing short of a rejection of God as their king.  Samuel knew this and he was not happy about it.  God confirmed it in verse 7: "And the Lord said to Samuel, 'Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.'"  Of course the people didn't see it that way.  God told Samuel to warn them, but also to heed their voice, which is what Samuel did.  He had to entrust them all to God as he watched them all fall down, refusing to get up.

People fall down, and it is good for us to reach out to them with grace-filled hands.  Forgiveness does not come easy, but God gives us all we need.  But if someone rejects our help and refuses to repent, reaching out and forgiving doesn't bring the peace we long for.  Like Samuel, we can pray and entrust them to God.  We can pursue peace, but we have limits (Romans 12:18 tells us "as much as depends on you, live peaceably")...other people make choices.   Psalm 120 expresses the anguish of one whose peace pursuing life is not reciprocated: "In my distress I cried to the Lord, and He heard me. Deliver my soul, O Lord...Woe is me...My soul has dwelt too long with one who hates peace. I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war."

When we don't know how to take the next breath, God hears our cries.  As far as it depends on us, let us pursue peace.  Let us reach out with grace-filled hands.  Let us forgive as Christ forgave us. And let us entrust those we love to the only One who can change hearts.  We may not know the next step to take, but we have the promise of God that He will never forsake us.  He will lead us, one step at a time.  He is the Light in the darkness.  Let us follow Him, even when it hurts, even when our life feels overwhelmingly disoriented and we fear the sun will never shine again.  Take the next breath He gives...He is holding your hand and will not let you go in the dark.

If you know someone is going through a hard time like this, walk with them.  Be present.  Listen with a gentle and merciful spirit when they are speaking out of raw pain.  Tell them you love them and mean it. Hope for them when they are feeling hopeless.

The foundation of our Savior in marriage

"All the self help methodologies in the world cannot help you, unless you repent.  It is like thinking that the solution to a house full of garbage is to go in and polish the silver…that is not the solution and it will not work. Nothing but repentance and forgiveness solves the problem, and when you do that you have a place where you can begin to rebuild on the right foundation, the foundation of our Savior and have the life you stopped thinking is possible." ~ Steve Wilkins

My husband and I are in our 20th year of marriage.  Besides Jesus, he is my best friend and my favorite co-conspirator in life's grand adventure.  Loving God and loving people together is our family mission motto. But we mess up in a myriad of ways ~ when love gets twisted, pain, frustration, distrust and anger quickly enter as unwanted guests, often bringing other undesirables with them.  Steve Wilkins is right...self-help methodologies are not the answer.  Yet how often do we turn to them?  How often do we make one small compromise after another in our marriages, learning to stuff the pain and begin a life of coexistence, a businesslike relationship at best, letting the friendship and joyful love God intends for us slip away?

When there is trouble in marriages, the tendency seems to be to stop listening to each other.  We tend to nurse our own hurts. The story we tell ourselves about the other can get quickly skewed as we dig through our filing cabinets of past sins (forgiven though they supposedly were) and build our cases.  So God in His kindness often sends friends our way.  There is a reason Psalm 141:5 is in the Bible:  "Let the righteous strike me; It shall be a kindness. And let him rebuke me; It shall be as excellent oil; Let my head not refuse it."  I memorized that verse early on in our marriage because it never quite "feels" like a kindness to be stricken...in order to count it a kindness, I have to trust God (in contrast to my own reasoning, self-justifications, and feelings).  I have to be willing to hear those who love me as His messengers when they challenge something I am doing or saying.  My experience is that they have usually been right, and I have needed to repent.  God has shown us great mercy throughout our marriage, moving us to repentance quickly.  We have friends who have spoken the truth in love to us, and we have grown in thankfulness for their kind strikes over the years. 

Maybe there are areas where you could use some encouragement. There are a gazillion resources available, and I have read many of them.  Some are much more helpful than others.  There are 3 (a book, a sermon, and a sermon series) that I highly recommend.  Sometimes books and sermons can be like friends, kindly striking us.

The book ~ What did you Expect?, by Paul David Tripp.

The sermon ~ Forgiveness in our Marriages, by Steve Wilkins (This is a segment from a series he gave on marriage at a church camp this last year in California...by all means, feel encouraged to listen to the whole series, but this one in particular I found to be incredibly good stuff, and applications can easily be made to relationships in general too).

The sermon series ~ an eleven part series titled "Real Marriage," by Mark Driscoll, available free for download here. Father, give us ears to hear! I intend to listen through these again. Excellent!

We want the next 20 years to be even better...more grace-filled, more fruitful, more joyous as we serve our Father together.  A number of friends have recommended Timothy Keller's book The Meaning of Marriage.  A fresh copy just made its way to my "soon to read" pile...I'll keep you posted.  Of course, the best resource of all is God's Word which is the basis of the instruction the above mentioned teachers offer.  May God give everyone who is married the desire to honor Him in their marriages, and may we avail ourselves to the helpful teaching He's graciously made available to us.

Forgiveness doesn't come easy, but He gives us what we need...

In Matthew 18:21, Peter asked Jesus how often he should forgive a brother who has sinned against him.  "Up to seven times?", he asks.  And Jesus answered him: "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven."

That sounds like a lot of forgiving. Do you have a hard time with that?  It hurts to be sinned against.  Sometimes the way we're sinned against seems to drain our very life out of us.  Though I have a tremendous amount of friendly and loving experiences in my life to be thankful for, I am not a stranger to being sinned against. I have crumpled to the floor under the weight of very harsh words. I have lived with the shame of feeling like damaged goods because of abuse experienced as a child.  I have been bold faced lied to, cheated and betrayed. We live among brokenness and sin...criticism and bitterness and anger and the desire for revenge is what comes easy.  Not forgiveness.  Is Jesus telling Peter (and us) to do the impossible? 

What does He know that we tend to forget?  Why is it so hard?  Read the rest of Jesus' answer to Peter in Matthew 18:23-35.   "Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.  And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.  But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made.  The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, 'Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.'  Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.
 
"But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me what you owe!'  So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.'  And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.  So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done.  Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.  Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?'  And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.
 
"So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses."

As much as we've been sinned against, that isn't the whole story is it?  We ourselves have sinned against God, indebting ourselves to him way beyond our ability to repay, requiring an ocean of mercy.  We don't like to remember that part of the story when we are busy wallowing in our self-justified pain.   The paraphrased version of Jesus' story is this: the first fella was given an ocean of mercy...the second fella needed a teaspoon's worth which the first fella withheld.  Not good.  The lesson: don't follow the example of the first fella.  Instead, remember that YOU and ME owed God so much that Jesus had to bear the full measure of God's wrath in our place in order to forgive us.  Praise His name for doing so!   When Jesus tells us to forgive, He's not asking us to do anything He hasn't already done.  And He much more so.  Let us not confuse our place...it wasn't a teaspoon of mercy you and I needed. 

Sometimes the pain we suffer is so intense we can barely breathe.  But He gives us the next breath, and the next as He reminds us that what He suffered for us cost Him His life. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, our Redeemer. When the pain is real, let us ask God to help us be like Jesus who prayed "Father forgive them..." while He hung on the cross.  Having been forgiven much, let us forgive others freely as vessels of His amazing grace.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound!

I love this picture available at John the Baptist Artworks.  

It is titled "Equal at the Foot of the Cross, Equally in Need of Mercy."

Learning to walk

I love watching little ones learn how to walk.  Those first wobbly steps are amazing!  Think of all the coordination, muscle toning, balance and whatnot having to come together to take even a single step.  Everyone present immediately turns their attention upon the little one in the room, cheering him on.  It's so exciting! "Come to Papa...walk, walk...that's the way...yeah, you did it!  Let's do it again :-)."

Everyone knows much practice is needed.  And everyone knows the little one will fall, but they encourage him nonetheless.  People help him up, cheer him on, and over time the falls become less frequent.  Soon enough there is a smooth and steady walker to chase around.  I have yet to witness anyone yelling at a little one taking her first steps, or labeling her a failure as she tries.  Nobody seems to get upset at her for falling down.  Maybe that is because we expect falling down is part of the process of learning how to walk.

Jesus chose me before the foundation of the world to belong to Him, and I woke up to that fact when I was fifteen.  Thirty two years later, I am still learning how to walk as a new creation in Christ.  It is a different walk altogether.  Chris Wilson, one of my pastors and long time friend, talked about how the old man doesn't go down easily in his sermon this past Sunday (you can listen to it here).  My personal experience affirms his point.  I still fall.  That's why verses like Romans 8:1 that tell me there is now no condemnation for those in Christ are precious to me.  They are the words of my Father helping me up, cheering me on, encouraging me to walk again.

Prov 24:16 says; "For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again."  Christians fall down.  And sometimes the harder we try, the greater the fall.  It is incredibly good news that God adopted us based on the sacrifice and righteousness of Christ in our place.  He is our Father.  And He is the very BEST FATHER EVER.  He keeps holding out His grace-filled hands, calling us to "come to Father," and helping us back up when we fall so we can learn to walk. 

Indicatives, Imperatives, Astronomy and God

"The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands."

~ Psalm 19:1

We began an Astronomy unit study in our co-op recently, and I began the first lesson by introducing the concepts of indicatives and imperatives.  My students scratched their heads.  I probably would have also, if I were them, but I knew where I was taking the lesson so I encouraged them to hang with me.  What are indicatives and imperatives?  And what do they have to do with Astronomy? 

Indicatives demonstrate or exhibit or describe.  They indicate something. Make something or someone known.

Imperatives assert or command.  They relate to authority and rule.

I talked with my curious students about the book of Ephesians (they were still wondering what this had to do with Astronomy...are you too?).  Ephesians has 6 chapters, and the first 3 have no commands that I've ever noticed.  If you know of one, let me know.  God tells us He has blessed us in Christ, chosen us before the foundation of the world, adopted us to be His kids, forgiven us, and all kinds of other wonder-filled things relating to the power of God and Christ's blood covering us and His love and grace abounding toward us according to His wisdom and rich mercy.  Indicatives.  Describing, making known who He is and what He has done.

Chapter 4 begins with Paul saying  "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called....".  Here come the DO's.  Because of who God is and what He has done, love one another. Because He has mercifully called you and me to Himself, walk as children of light. Because He pursued us in love while we were yet dead in our sins, THEREFORE walk now in a worthy manner.  Husbands, love your wives.  Wives, be subject to your husbands.  Children, obey your folks.  And for 3 chapters Paul gives us a bunch of "do this, don't do that" sort instruction.  Some imperatives.

Do you slow down when reading God's indicatives?  I used to skim over them, to my peril.  True story. I think I have experienced every horrible consequence of skipping straight to the do's and don'ts...things like pride with its various falls, fear, and the nastiness of being critical of others as I thought too highly of myself.  Now I pause and ponder.  I want to know Him: His character and wisdom and love and power and goodness and sovereignty and justice...everything about Him.  I want to soak up His mercy so that when He tells me I ought to be putting off and putting on, I want to.  The "therefore" is there for a reason.  All those indicatives are there to help us know Him and trust Him.  And they help us to know that the imperatives are not a list of rules from an angry guy in the sky that is waiting to zap us the moment we mess up.  They are instructions from our Father on how to live like He does. When we fall, He is there to help us up and to cheer us on.  The indicatives make it clear: We have THE BEST FATHER ever.   And we get to be His kids. What kid on the planet who knows His dad rocks doesn't want to be like him? 

This has everything to do with Astronomy because our Father is the One who spoke this amazing universe into existence.  It declares His glory and proclaims His handiwork...it is a giant indicative!  I told the kids that for the next 8 weeks we were going to get to dive into the WOW factor of God.  Eight weeks of exploring our Father's glory and handiwork is in store and I wanted us to get excited about it.  This isn't just learning the names of planets and facts about how far away the sun is.  Oh no...it is SO MUCH MORE.  Oh that our peeks into His heavens might make us hunger to know our Father better.

Father, thank You for your mercy...thank You for declaring Yourself to us, and making Yourself known in Your word, and in Your creation...thank You for rescuing us and making us Your sons and daughter's by adopion.  Use these weeks of study to cause us to desire all the more to therefore walk in Your ways. 

How far is the east from the west?

Our pastor preached an Epiphany sermon last week which he titled "Arise, Shine, your  Light has come."  The main take away for me initially was the encouragement to live intentionally to make the light of Christ known.  Throughout the day, I was filled with wonder and gratitude as I thought more about the details of the sermon, how they relate to life, and a song by Casting Crowns that "happened" to play on the car radio.

We sang the song "We three Kings"in the service ~ you know, "westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to Thy perfect light." In the context of the message, he talked about various texts that inform us about moving to the east or west.  You can listen by clicking the link above for the specifics, but in short form, if you go east, you move away from the presence of God.  West indicates a return.  So "westward leading" isn't just telling us a direction for direction's sake...it is loaded with the biblical imagery of being brought back from exile; of being guided back into the presence of God.  Such hope is uncontainable!  Such joy has to be sung about! 

He also talked about the two places in scripture where gold, frankincense and myrrh are found together: the temple and in Solomon's wedding cart.  They're found in the place of worship (God's presence), and in the vehicle used by Solomon to bring his bride up from the wilderness.  Think about it.  No wonder these are the gifts that were laid before the Christ child.  He is the Greater Solomon who came to bring His bride up from the wilderness.  He is Emmanuel, God with us.  Westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to Thy perfect light indeed.  From the east, from exile...westward leading back into God's presence, His mercy, His light, His love.

Now carry that imagery into daily living.  Like Jonah, we all to often flee to the east.  We need His deliverance.  There wasn't a lick Jonah could do to rescue himself.  And when we find ourselves drowning and crying out, we are as hopeless in ourselves as he was though the billowing waves we face may be more figurative than literal.  But we are not hopeless in Christ.  Will we humble ourselves at the foot of His cross?  Will we see our own daily need for His abounding mercy?  And will we not then extend that mercy to other sinners who, just like us, need His deliverance?  Sometimes we forget our own need for mercy and we become proud, self-righteous, stubborn fools.  Luke 18:9-14 speaks pointedly to this:

Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men — extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.'  And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!'  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

This is the message God has mercifully been teaching me the past few months.  He has taught me this before, but I needed it again because I had moved eastward, becoming puffed up in knowledge like a good Pharisee and sure of my own goodness.  Ha!  He has been showing me the planks in my eyes and stripping me of my damnable self-righteousness and pride.  He has been showing me how keenly aware I had become of the shortcomings of others.  And though it is true others fall short (we are all sinners), it isn't my place to exalt myself over anyone else...my place is to bend my knee in worship and thanksgiving to the One who is rich in mercy.  From that place I can encourage others to worship  Him too, living lives of joyful obedience and thanksgiving.  Well I moved east from that place and He sent me into the exile of what I'll call a personal black hole in October and November.  Throughout advent, He has been guiding me westward and now there is no place I would rather be than at the foot of His cross, beating my breast and saying "God, be merciful to me a sinner!"

I know this post is getting long, but I have to tell you about the Casting Crown song.  I had heard this song before, but this time it struck me more profoundly because of the sermon I had heard earlier in the day.  The whole song seemed more powerful, but this line in particular moved me to tears: "You know just how far the east is from the west, from one scarred hand to another."  It is based on the passage from Psalm 103:

11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,

So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;

12 As far as the east is from the west,

So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

13 As a father pities his children,

So the Lord pities those who fear Him.

14 For He knows our frame;

He remembers that we are dust. 

People, no matter how far east, no matter how far away from the presence of God we've tried to go, those nail scarred hands deliver all who put their faith in Him and He mercifully carries us west into His presence.  He is the Greater Solomon who has placed us in His wedding cart and is bringing us back from the wilderness.  He is Emmanuel (God with us), and He has reconciled us to Himself.  And every day, we can again rejoice that He has shown us just how far the east is from the west.