02.23.09
“BEING OVER APPEARING”
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From Wisdom from the Psalms, February 21
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BEING OVER APPEARING
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Psalm 19:14
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.
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Paula put up a good front. Though she couldn’t stand Beth, she never said anything bad to her. She kept quiet until she was alone with her other friends. At odd times, she would think of Beth, and resentment and contempt would rise up within her heart. Still, Paula was quite pleased with herself that she never let Beth know how she truly felt.
It is not enough that we try to put on a good front when we are around people we don’t like. We need to search our hearts for reconciliation and forgiveness. We need to tap Christ, which heals all hurts and is the source of all patience and tolerance. God is interested in both the words of our mouths and the deepest ponderings of our hearts. To appear Christlike on the surface is never enough. To be Christlike at the core of our being, that is the key.
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Prayer:
Creator, God, I want to be a Christian to the very depths of my being. Search my heart, and transform it. Let love reign. Amen.
12.15.08
“SOLIDIFYING LOVE”
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Lamentations 3:19-27 NIV
19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.
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Psalm 73:21-26 NIV
21 When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,
22 I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.
23 Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
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The experience of suffering has a strange way of confirming the reality of love. Stripped of superficial confidence, those who have endured agony find themselves authentically pondering two questions: 2. does God really love me? 2. can I love and trust Him?
When we look to the Scriptures, and to history; the thoroughgoing answer to these two questions is YES! For both the weeping prophet (Jeremiah) and the Psalmist above, the candid response to the suffering they’ve endured is one of unbridled lament; bitterness and despair. Reeling from the severity of God’s punishment, or temporary injustice seemingly unchecked in the world, they come perilously close to denying their faith and hope.
But faith and hope turn out to be more resilient than bitterness and despair. A sudden recognition overtakes this suffering pair; God’s love really is faithful! Jeremiah professes, “we are not consumed, for His mercies are new every morning.” The Psalmist in the temple suddenly understands, God is faithful, and the wicked will be judged. The ensuring response is a greater depth of love and faith than was ever known. Their choice is now solidified, for they declare that God is their portion; and there is nothing more that they desire outside of Him and His salvation.
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REFLECTION /RESPONSE
- This morning, will you take time to reflect on the loving faithfulness of God? As evidenced in the Scriptures, in history, and in your life?
- Will you declare that no matter where you’ve been, and or what you will encounter today; God has fresh grace, new mercy for you this morning? Will you invite him to presence Himself right next to you; to hold you by your right hand, and to whisper counsel in your ear all the day through.
- Will you tell him you love Him; that the earth has nothing that you desire more than Him? Will you declare that He is your portion, for this day and forever?
12.08.08
“THE PURSUIT OF LOVE”
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Gen 3:1-9 NIV
3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”
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True love pursues, even when spurned. God whose love is the truest, has pursued us from the beginning.
Here in the story of Adam and Eve, the original family succumb to the diabolical doubts planted in their hearts by the serpent. In grasping for the forbidden fruit, they spit on God and His rule. As advertised, their eyes are opened. But to their surprise; instead of divine clarity, now they are blinded by the vision of their previously unknown brokenness and shame. Sin has swiftly claimed their eyes and hearts.
God who knows and sees all is not unaware. Though able to rain down righteous, retributive wrath on the spot, instead He chooses to make a personal visit. He comes to the garden during the cool of the day, and calls out, “Where are you?” Despite the immediate response of His beloved to hide, He continues to call and press in. Wading through their lame excuses and blaming, His redemptive quest results in the vicarious death of an animal to clothe their shameful nakedness.
God’s pursuit of Adam and Eve is paradigmatic of His pursuit of our hearts. Relentless and unabashed, God sacrifices his Son on a cross of shame; to win us back to Himself, and to clothe us with His robes of righteousness.
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REFLECTION/RESPONSE
- This morning will you once again register God’s heart of love for you and for us? God whose love is the truest, has pursued us from the beginning. He is not tired, or weary in His passionate pursuit of your heart. Will you see your day, your week, your life as an echo…a pursuit of the one who has pursued you from the beginning?
- Would you imagine yourself in the garden. You hear God coming in the cool of the day, calling out your name. What is your immediate response ? Is it to hide, or run to Him? Will you remember that God’s desire is to commune with you.
- Is there anything in your life which causes you to repel from His pursuit of your heart? Are there any “fig-leaves” you are using to construct clothing to hide your own shame? Will you let Him clothe you this morning, with the righteousness of His own son; through confession and faith?
