12.31.08
“SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP”
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Psalms 20
20:1 For the director of music. A psalm of David.
May the LORD answer you when you are in distress;
may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
2 May he send you help from the sanctuary
and grant you support from Zion.
3 May he remember all your sacrifices
and accept your burnt offerings.
Selah
4 May he give you the desire of your heart
and make all your plans succeed.
5 We will shout for joy when you are victorious
and will lift up our banners in the name of our God.
May the LORD grant all your requests.
6 Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed;
he answers him from his holy heaven
with the saving power of his right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
8 They are brought to their knees and fall,
but we rise up and stand firm.
9 O LORD, save the king!
Answer us when we call!
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Deut 17:16-17
16 The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the LORD has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” 17 He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.
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As recent events replay, strife in the promised land is par for the course. In biblical times, the lands which the nation of Israel were strategically positioned along the ancient highways by which the superpowers of the days traversed to wage war with each other. Constantly in the shadow of Philistine, Midian, Egypt, Damascus, Assyria and Babylon, Israel’s kings would have been hard pressed to ensure their people’s security.
But early on, God outlined a different strategy for His people and their leaders. Rather than amass military might, or political connections; they were to put their trust in the character and promise of Yahweh. Psalm 20 is a psalm of blessing, prayed by the people for their king.
The king is reminded here that the key to victory did not lie in the number or horses or chariots he had at his disposal. Rather, it was in his integrity before God; and the faithfulness of God to answer prayers. In fact, Israel’s kings were warded off from hoarding horses, wives, or funds [Dt.17:16-17]. They weren’t barred from martial training & planning. But these prohibitions were put in place so that the heart of the king would not stray from the true source of life and victory. This is so important to God that Gideon is told to even whittle down his outnumbered troops [Judg.7:7]; while King David is judged for forcing through a military census [2.Sam.24:2ff].
In the eyes of some, leadership that trusts in God’s name over “chariots” is naive, even irresponsible. But to God, leadership that is not fundamentally spiritual is deadly. Trusting profoundly in personal charisma, political savvy, technological advantage, or even superior force of arms or funds figures to be a recipe for victory. But it can also all too quickly result in blitzkrieg and Auschwitz; Enron’s & Madoff’s. Leadership that is not fundamentally spiritual can devastate nations, companies, families, and souls. But leadership that trusts in the name of the LORD, in integrity and prayer can change the eternal destinies of the same. Oh how we need this kind of leadership for the crisis that lay before us in 2009.
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REFLECTION /RESPONSE
- This morning, will you reflect on the spiritual leadership of Christ; who when faced with the crisis of the cross, refrained from calling down legions of angels so that he could trust in the name of Lord. This is our King, this is our God.
- Imagine being tasked with the defense of a nation surrounded by dangerous enemies abroad; or with the reigns of a corporate entity in a changing marketplace. When push comes to shove, what role would integrity and prayer take in your administration? What role does it play now in your leadership?
- Are there choices before you where you have leaned on horses and chariots, over calling on the name of the Lord? Would you take time to ask God to anoint you with a greater measure of spiritual leadership? Will you intercede for your leaders, from the top down; asking God to grip & guide them.
12.30.08
“WATERS OF TESTING”
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Exodus 17:3-7 NIV
3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”
4 Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
5 The LORD answered Moses, “Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”
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Isa 43:16-21 NIV
18 “Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.
20 The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the desert
and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21 the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise.
22 “Yet you have not called upon me, O Jacob,
you have not wearied yourselves for me, O Israel.
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Potable water is and has always been a precious commodity. But in the desert, it is the difference between life and death. The people of God who were delivered from Egypt during the first Exodus were accustomed to a plentiful and steady supply of water via the river Nile. But facing the arid desert without visible sources of water threw them into fits. In a tantrum of disbelief and doubt, they are ready to hurl stones at Moses; the only tangible sign of God’s leadership.
Rather than respond to their railing and rage with judgment, God grants a merciful miracle. From the very rock stricken, flowed water to satisfy the thirst of the whole community. In full view of those who would stone God if they could, God brings forth life giving water from a rock.
The place was called Massah and Meribah, which are loosely translated “testing” and “rebellion” respectively. It was a place of testing; legitimate and illicit. The waters represented God’s rightful test of His people’s hearts; and simultaneously reflected their rebellious testing of God.
This very brood, which witnessed with their own eyes the turning of the Nile into blood and the splitting of the Red Sea somehow could not bring themselves to trust God for water to drink. They somehow could not discern that God was making a way in the desert, and manufacturing miraculous streams in the wasteland.
Are we in any place to judge them?
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REFLECTION /RESPONSE
- This morning, will you join in with the jackals and the owls, in proclaiming the praise of the Sustainer of life? Will you stand as one beloved and chosen; who call upon the Lord of desert streams?
- Will you put yourself in the shoes of the Israelites? Prolonged thirst has driven you and your family to near panic. Where is there going to be enough water for the multitudes traveling through the desert? What could enable you to lift your hands in prayer, rather than in rage?
- Where are you experiencing God allowed thirst? Where are the waters of testing that God is engineering in your life? Will you call upon God in faith; that already streams in the desert are springing forth? Will you pray that the water tapped from the rock in your midst would satisfy the thirst of even those around you?
12.29.08
“DOUBLE REBUKE”
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Matt 8:23-27
23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
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Psalm 107:27-32
27 They reeled and staggered like drunken men;
they were at their wits’ end.
28 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
and he brought them out of their distress.
29 He stilled the storm to a whisper;
the waves of the sea were hushed.
30 They were glad when it grew calm,
and he guided them to their desired haven.
31 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men.
32 Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people
and praise him in the council of the elders.
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Experience counts for a lot. It helps us to form assumptive categories by which we then engage the world. Infants don’t realize that gravity always pulls objects with a downward force. It’s repeated experience which enables them to assume that what goes up must come down. But sometimes new experiences force us to reshape our assumptive categories, and see our world more authentically.
In the Matthew passage above, the disciples undergo this very phenomenon. Though some of the disciples were seasoned mariners, the sudden fury of the squall which overcame them stripped them of any calm resolve. This was not a storm they could manage their way through. In an act of sheer desperation, they turned to the one in their midst who had demonstrated the touch of deliverance, though heretofore only on land.
The sea was a different monster; long symbolized as primordial chaos. A vast and whimsical force which was believed to obey only one person’s voice, that of God Himself. For it was the breath of God who subjugated and split the waters in creation, and the Red Sea in redemption. It was to Him that sailors cried out to for salvation when they found themselves hopeless on the waves.
We can speculate what response they might have expected from Jesus, but it wasn’t what they got. They encountered a double rebuke: one aimed at the meagerness of their faith, and the other at the raging waves. In response to the second rebuke, the violence of the storm was immediately pacified. So suddenly was the effect of Jesus’ rebuke that the disciples could not but turn to each other and utter in amazement, “what kind of man is this?” For no mere man has ever wielded this kind of authority. No rabbi or prophet ever claimed this kind of fame. This was territory exclusive to Creator Redeemer God.
For the disciples, the result of Jesus’ rebuke was the simultaneous calming of their fear of the sea; and a explosion of their faith, and their fear of the LORD. Their very categories of who Jesus was, and what He could do were rebuked. Their utterance of “what kind of man is this?” would eventually turn to, “My Lord and my God.”
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REFLECTION /RESPONSE
- This morning, will you worship and adore Jesus; as Rebuker of the Waves, and Stiller of the Storm? Will you delight in incontrovertible truth that nothing can separate you from the love of Christ? Nothing created, no power or principality, nothing in the past, present or future.
- Try to imagine yourself on that boat with the disciples. The storm is so severe, that even lifelong fishermen are despairing of any hope. Picture the indignation and fear that prompt the disciples to wake and cry out to Jesus. Now try to visualize the response they would have had to Jesus’ stilling of the storm. Will you step into their amazement, and newfound reverence?
- What storms in your life prompt you to call out to Jesus this morning? The Risen and Ascended Christ neither slumber or sleep, and is positioned at the right hand of the Father to intercede for you. Will you petition him to calm your fears, and expand your faith?
12.26.08
“EPIPHANY”
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Matt 2:1-12 NIV
2:1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
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Immediately following Christmas Day, most of us begin to pack away all our Christmas paraphernalia; closing out the season until the next year. But for centuries, the church has acknowledged that the post-Advent wake lasts for more than just a few hours after opening up Christmas presents.
The twelve days of Christmas aren’t just the lyrics to a song, but a mini-season boundaried by Christmas Day (Dec. 25), and Epiphany (Jan.6th). As the season of anticipation & strategic waiting (i.e. Advent) lasts across four Sundays, the season of celebration is also elongated; echoing beyond just a day.
Epiphany is the day certain Christian traditions remember the Magi’s pilgrimage to the newborn King. Among the many themes that this story evokes, it is the story of those who were once far who drew near to offer homage and loyalty to the coming King. It was the very pilgrimage that emboldened their faith, and changed them forever. Led by the very heavens, they were brought to the doorstep of their longing and desire. Having offered gifts of worship to a foreign King, these three kings return home to find that they are now foreigners in a once familiar land.
Their journey, and their pilgrimage have and must echo ours. For in as much as we have offered gifts of worship to the Great King, we have become citizens of a new land; seeking the consummation of a greater Kingdom to come.
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REFLECTION/RESPONSE
- This morning, will you linger at the scene in Bethlehem; imagining three wise kings prostrate before a child; offering precious gifts, heavy laden with divine symbolism. Will you follow in suit?
- Please read the following poem, Journey of the Magi by T.S. Eliot; and reflect on the transformation, and the epiphany that the magi (and even Eliot) have undergone.
Journey of the Magi
‘A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.’
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.
Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation,
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness.
And three trees on the low sky.
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.
All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.
T.S. Eliot, 1927
12.25.08
“JOY TO THE WORLD”
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Luke 2:8-15
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
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On this Christmas morning, I will depart from my normal format, and leave you with a song to sing:
JOY TO THE WORLD
Verse 1
Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.
Verse 2
Joy to the world! the Saviour reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.
Verse 3
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.
Verse 4
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.
BLESSED CHRISTMAS!!!!
12.24.08
“REJECTION & REDEMPTION”
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Luke 2:1-7 NIV
2:1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
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In a culture which prizes hospitality as an exalted virtue, it is hard to imagine that the very pregnant couple are relegated to stay the night in a stable. Regardless of the lack of vacancy in the inn, it was the town’s duty to take in and take care of any traveling guests; much less those sharing ancestral ties. The lack of hospitality was a sign of great shame, and fall from righteousness. The fact that any newborn baby had to use a manger (a filthy feeding trough for animals) for a cradle is near criminal; much less the Son of the Most High?
But these were no ordinary times. The people of God were in bondage to a foreign power. The Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus was flexing his sovereignty, ordering a census for military service and taxation purposes. A wicked, illegitimate king sat on the throne in Judah; one who did not flinch when it came to murdering a whole generation of young boys, much less his own heirs. Demonic possession and infiltration was rampant throughout; all the way to the highest levels of religious authority.
This was the setting into which the God inserts His Messiah, the Savior of the World.
Into this world: filled with violence and villains, crisis and crosses; God inserts a newborn boy. One who will be rejected by His own people; His own ancestral line; His own hometown; His own trusted disciple. But who will win every people, tribe, tongue, and nation to Himself.
For some, there was no room for God’s Messiah; whether it was in their home or in their hearts. But for all those who opened their doors, the doors of eternal life were in turn opened for them.
This Christmas Eve, we celebrate a mystery. How was it that God subjected His unique Son to the inhospitality of those who were His own; and responded to the hunger of world with invitations to adoption into His home forever?
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REFLECTION /RESPONSE
- This morning, will you delight in the God of reversing mercy? For the one who returns beauty for ashes; faces down violence with vulnerability; offers eternal hospitality for all those dispossessed? Extol His praises, and soak in His Presence.
- Will you imagine the Mary & Joseph, in the throes of labor; pleading for a safe place to bring their first child into the world. Will you imagine the multiple faces of rejection they encountered. What reasons might they have entertained to justify such a response?
- With all the craziness and crisis of this season, and of this day; will you ask yourself…is there room in my heart and home for the Christ child come to town? Will you actively invite Him to not only stay for the night, but to fulfill His desire to stay with you forever?
12.23.08
“DUAL NATURE”
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Col 2:8-9 NIV
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. 9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form
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1 John 4:1-3 NIV
1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
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For some, the strategy of reduction is the preferred option when it comes to the prospect of engaging mystery. If you can’t understand something, dumb it down to a level where you and others can grasp it. The Scriptures repeatedly warn against this strategy when coming to our approach to God. The second commandment condemns against making any “graven images”; i.e. reduced representations of God which are false and do his full nature and character harm.
For those living in New Testament times, the temptation to reduce Jesus to a spiritual figure who did not have any physical form was remarkable. Many believed that the physical body was a prison; a husk which was to be finally shed in salvation. The idea that the Messiah would come in physical form was inimical to their base beliefs. And so reducing Jesus to a phantom figure who didn’t suffer on the cross was the comfortable route. This also conveniently relieved them from shouldering the mystery of Christ’s dual nature; as both completely divine, and completely human.
But the NT writers, and the Council of Chalcedon chose to take Jesus as He represented Himself; the pre-incarnate Son of God born as a babe…the second person of the Trinity come in the flesh. Anything less qualifies as hollow and deceptive; echoing worldly traditions which are ultimately sourced in the demonic; propaganda spewed forth by spirit of the antichrist.
And so the mystery remains, unreduced: Jesus is both human and divine. And on His coattails, we find that our nature is rightfully elevated, not sinfully reduced. We can revel in our humanity, as we simultaneously anticipate bodily resurrection.
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REFLECTION /RESPONSE
- This morning, will you reflect on the miraculous, mystery of Christ’s dual nature? That Jesus experienced, and suffered the same bodily privations and privileges as you; affirming your worth and destiny? Will you thank Him for miracle that the Divine King would come down and die as a slave to make you a Child of God?
- Will you imagine watching Jesus grow up: suckling at his mother’s breast; stumbling as he learns to walk; scribbling letters as he learned to write. Fast forward to sleepless nights in prayer; sweating drops like blood at Gethsemane; culminating in a shout of “it is finished!” as He surrendered to death on the cross. Will you thank Him for the life He lived in the body; for the death He died on the cross; and for the resurrected life He opened for you?
- Will you take time to reflect on your body? The world teaches us only to loathe or lust after the body; it cannot teach us to truly love and live in it. Will you offer your body as a living sacrifice this morning to the God-man Christ, and ask Him to teach you how to embrace and not deny your humanity.
12.22.08
“TABERNACLING MYSTERY”
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Ex 33:12-23 NIV
12 Moses said to the LORD, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”
14 The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
17 And the LORD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”
18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
19 And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
21 Then the LORD said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”
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John 1:14, 18 NIV
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth….18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.
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There are some mysteries in regards to the relationship God has with His people. For example, how is possible that a holy God can abide with a sinful people? For God’s utter holiness eradicates sin soaked souls in His presence. The story goes that during the Day of Atonement, when the high priest was to enter into the Most Holy Place to sprinkle the atoning blood on the ark of the covenant; bells were attached to the hem of the priest’s robe, along with a rope tied to his feet. These were attached so that if the high priest were to somehow be immediately judged for an irreverent heart, that they could hear the absence of movement and drag him out.
And so following the episode of mass rebellion where Aaron shaped an idol in the form of a bull, and declared that this was Yahweh who brought them out of Egypt, Moses approaches the Lord with desperate appeals. Despite hearing God’s warnings of extreme judgment if His Presence travels with them in their sinful state, Moses will not stop interceding for God to go with them. For he knows that God’s Presence is both the distinguishing mark of the people of God, and their very reason for existence.
God in His mercy hears Moses’ plea, and exercises the desire of His heart to be with His people. He finds a way to both keep them from His wrath, and at the same time reveal His glory. For Moses, he positions him in the cleft of a rock and covers him with His hand. As His Presence passes by, God allows Moses to see his “back,” the footprints of where He’s tread, i.e. His glory.
Following this, God reveals plans to Moses on the mountain; for a large tent exacting specifications to be constructed. This was to be the tabernacle, a moving temple where God’s Holy Presence would reside, with walls to shield the people from God’s holy wrath.
All of this is backdrop for John’s declaration in John 1:14 where the Word is said to have become flesh and “made his dwelling among us”. For the literal translation of God making His dwelling in our midst is the very word, tabernacle. Jesus coming to us, in the flesh was for us a revelation of God’s love, truth, and glory. He came not to burn us up, rather cover us from the fire of judgment. He came to reveal God’s glory, not by seeing merely God’s backside. Instead, we are enabled to see God’s very face through the face of Jesus. When Jesus is finished, hanging dead on a cross; the curtains of the temple keeping us from the Holy Presence of God is ripped asunder. And now His Presence roams freely in our midst.
Like the bush Moses encountered in the desert, there is still a mystery; how is it that we burn, and yet are not consumed? It is the mystery of God’s amazing grace, who even became flesh to tabernacle with us.
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REFLECTION /RESPONSE
- This morning, will you engage the mystery of God’s holy love? Will you worship before Him in abject reverence, and bow before Him in thanksgiving & loyal love?
- Imagine yourself as putting on the robes of the high priest, as to enter the Most Holy Place. But rather than encountering an inanimate box, you find yourself face to face with Jesus. Instead of having to symbolize the atonement with the blood of a lamb; the blood of the Lamb of God, even the Great High Priest has been shed. As Jesus bids you to come to the throne of mercy, what do you have on your heart to ask Him?
- Today, will you ask to that God’s glory be revealed in you, and your life? That you would both absorb and reflect the rays of His glory. Would you pray that God’s name would be hallowed, and that others would encounter the glory of the Holy, Loving, Living God, loose in the world?
12.19.08
“THROUGH FLOOD & FLAME”
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Isa 43:1-2
But now, this is what the LORD says–
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
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John 16:33 NIV
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
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Dan 3:24-27 NIV
24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?”
They replied, “Certainly, O king.” 25 He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” 26 Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!” So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, 27 and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.
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Sometimes, things get worse before they get better. This is especially true when dramatic changes are already in the works; where moving toward a grand future precipitates extensive restructuring.
In the Isaianic passage above, God is readying to bring His people out of exile. Personal and political restructuring is in view, where they were to be prisoners to idolatry and foreign powers no more.
In seeking to prophetically comfort God’s people, he starts with avowals of God’s personal love and commitment to Israel. He declares that the one who created, called, and redeemed Israel is so far on their side, that fear is to be denied.
But rather than following up with promises of future ease , Isaiah guarantees that flood and fire yet lie before them. Given the preposition “when” (and not if), they are repeatedly assured of coming tribulation. Jesus pulls this same “trick”: addressing his shuddering disciples with intentions of transferring peace, followed up with promises of upcoming trouble. If this was all we have, we might be forced to conclude this as a cruel joke; something along the lines of….I love you so much, so I promise you that you are going to suffer.
Yet if we would but wait for the punchline, we would we hear that the one who is greater than death knows how to deliver through. The weight of the promises lie in the active presence of the overcoming God that will not let us drown in the current, or burn in the blaze. Like Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego, Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace lies before us. But the Son of God will miraculously appear at our side. And when we come out, only our bondages will be burned away.
God’s love and advocacy did not promise a deliverance from trial and threat; rather through to dramatic resurrection.
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REFLECTION /RESPONSE
- This morning, will you present yourself before the Victorious Overcomer, who has overcome suffering and death…through cross, grave, to resurrection. Will you bow before, and adore the Son of God who has already overcome the world!
- Will you imagine yourself as one of Daniel’s close friends, bound and facing the consuming furnace. You have a choice, renounce your God for safety, or face the flames. What do you have to combat the shuddering fear? Now fast forward: having come out, take inventory of your hair…smell your clothes. Look where the cords of death had formerly wrapped your arms. Whom do you have to thank?
- Now will you face the flood and fire of circumstances in your life today? Will you actively call upon the Spirit of God’s Son to expunge fear with peace? Will you surrender yourself to the God who promises walk with you through to the other side? Will you pray for others who also need to hear the punchline?
12.18.08
“SOWING IN SORROW”
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Ps 126:4-6 NIV
4 Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like streams in the Negev.
5 Those who sow in tears
will reap with songs of joy.
6 He who goes out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with him.
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Ps 30:4-5, 11-12 NIV
4 Sing to the LORD, you saints of his;
praise his holy name.
5 For his anger lasts only a moment,
but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may remain for a night,
but rejoicing comes in the morning…
11 You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
12 that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.
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Sorrow can be debilitating. The anguish of sin, loss, or betrayal can render any productive person a spiritual quadriplegic. Sorrow strikes both “sinner” and “saint” alike. But the difference is that the saint chooses to sing, and sow in the hour of weeping.
In the Psalm passages above, a massive reversal is depicted: tears giving way to songs of joy, wailing turned into dancing. We are not told exactly how, or even exactly how long it takes. But we are encouraged that the season of sorrow is short, even shortened by faithful God. They are limited to that of a season; but a dark night.
He who restores fortunes, and bestows lifetime favor does not delight in our agony and death. Rather he prompts His own to act our their faith strategically; to plant seeds of righteousness, and write songs of hope. This very practice of rigorous spiritual exercise can be likened to the kind that one physically paralyzed undergoes in learning to walk, run, and dance again.
In this ominous, debilitating season could it be that God is calling us to active hope and strategic faith?
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REFLECTION /RESPONSE
- This morning, will you come face to face with the God who restores fortunes; who bestows favor which doesn’t ebb and flow, but extends through this life and beyond? Will you choose to praise Him for His presence and promise?
- Will you imagine a person in a wheelchair whose body has been shattered in a horrible accident. Now imagine a passionate and skillful trainer/therapist coming alongside, reprogramming the heart and limbs to stand, walk, and eventually run. It might take weeks, months of rigor, but the miracle is revealed one step, one day at a time. If you can identify with the person in the wheelchair, or know someone could; would you pray for greater faith to see them engage this miraculous process?
- In the midst of your sorrow, what “seeds of righteousness” might God be calling you to sow? What “songs of hope” are latent in your heart that need to be unlocked and put on paper? Are there others in your circle of influence whom you might be able to sow in, and sing to? Will you make yourself available to the divine creativity of the sowing and singing Spirit?
