Old Testament
“So I forced myself…”
April 25, 2013 | 
Author “So I forced myself…” [25APR2013]
Reading: 1 Samuel 13:1—15:35
Reading today about Saul…
As I read about the actions and heart of Saul, I find similarities between his life and my own that I wish I did not. I’m willing to go out on a limb and say I’m probably not the only one, but I won’t project my thoughts on anyone else… at least not today, not in this post.
Reading in chapter thirteen, Saul had been given specific instructions by Samuel. The details of the instructions aren’t critically important, but Saul’s situation was deteriorating as was his patience. Saul felt as if he had to “do something,” so he did. Against Samuel’s instructions.
I think the interesting points I noted as I read this account was the wrestling it seems that Saul went through. It might not be obvious in the written account, but it certainly seems implied. It is evident that Saul knew his instructions because he waited as he had been told. Also, when he was confronted by Samuel, he began to explain himself and offer up an excuse…even to the point of projecting part of the blame on Samuel.
“When I saw that the people were slipping away, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines were mustering…” -1 Samuel 13:11 NRSV
Saul goes on to fully explain himself and then caps his excuse with the words that really caught my attention; “so I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering” (1 Samuel 13:12).
“I forced myself;” says Saul. Some versions read, “I felt compelled…” In either event, what comes across to me is there was a deliberate weighing of a decision to choose against what he knew to do. “I forced myself.” Indeed. As I reflect on the choices of my life, if I am transparent, I have done exactly as Saul did in this account. There have been more than a few occasions when I have known the right thing to do and I deliberately chose a different path. Some of these decisions were not so obviously blatant rebellion against something I was instructed to do, but I think there have been times when I had a strong sense of what God wanted from me… I sensed the Holy Spirit guiding me and I felt “compelled to go a different direction.” Like Saul.
This attitude in itself is bad enough, but when confronted and rebuked by Samuel for his actions of insolence and disobedience, Saul appears to simply shrug off the rebuke and go his way.
“Samuel said to Saul, ‘You have done foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which he commanded you…’ And Samuel left and went on his way…” (1 Samuel 13:13-15)
There are a number of lessons here for consideration, not the least of which is Saul’s continuing downward spiral toward complete self-absorption. Saul continued to “force himself” to make the decisions he wanted to make and then justify his disobedience in words that were couched in religious pontifications. He always did what he did for the glory of God… so he said. Interestingly, every choice he made “for God” was against the instructions and commandments of God.
I think the primary lesson I’m taking from this reading today was how easy it was for Saul to first turn his back to God. I wonder if he had been repentant when first confronted by Samuel if there would have been a different outcome. I also think while this might have been an obvious transgression, there are probably less obvious acts each of us might wrestle with, “feeling compelled” to do what we want to do that ultimately take us in a direction other than where God wished to take us. Perhaps when I “force myself” to do things my way, I don’t turn 180 degrees from God… I just turn 45 degrees away from him. And the slide begins.
I don’t want this to be me, not even a little bit. I’m in a season of seeking God’s direction for a new chapter of life for me and my wife. I don’t want to be second-guessing God and justifying guesses with religious reasoning. I don’t want to pontificate as Saul did that by doing what he did he could glorify God all the more. Samuel responded to Saul’s dogmatic excuses with these words:
“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obedience to the voice of the Lord? Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is no less a sin than divination, and stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.” (1 Samuel 15:22-23)
I do not want to take for granted hearing the Word of the Lord to me. When I ask God’s direction, I want to hear Him speak. I want to act in obedience to all He speaks to me. I do not want to reject His Word. I think paying attention to the little decisions and acting with integrity with those choices might be preparations for the bigger decisions. Getting the little decisions right and obedient might be what helps deter me from “forcing myself” to do what I think best instead of choosing to wait and obey God.
Posted in A Deeper Walk, Bible Journey-Reading, Old Testament, Shaping Me, Spirituality, The Christian Walk | 
Tags: Bible Speak, Discipleship, Obedience, Old Testament, Samuel, Saul | 
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Lent 2013: Abandoning the LORD — idol and idle worship
Lent 2013
Abandoning the LORD and idol or idle worship
Readings: Psalm 9, 139 ◊ Judges 1—21 ◊ Jer. 13:1—17:10 ◊ Matt. 21:43 ◊
…The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and worshiped the Baals; and they abandoned the LORD (Judges 2:11). …The Israelites did what was
evil in the sight of the LORD, forgetting the LORD their God, and worshiping the Baals and Asherahs (Judges 3:7). …As soon as Gideon died, the Israelites relapsed and prostituted themselves with the Baals… The Israelites did not remember the LORD their God, who had rescued them from the hand of all their enemies on every side (Judges 8:33-34).
…The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, worshiping the Baals and Astartes, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. Thus they abandoned the LORD, and did not worship him (Judges 10: 6).
…In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes (Judges 21:25).
I think it is easy for us to hold this narrative at arms distance. We might be quick to say; “I don’t worship idols,” or “I do not forget or abandon the LORD.” I’m not entirely sure those arguments would be true for all of us.
Idol Worship
It is rather easy to make the ancient Israelites the bad guys of this story, but is not the story ours too? We distance ourselves from the offenses of the Israelites making distinctions between their ancient idols and our contemporary lifestyles. We might not see ourselves worshiping the god Baal, but during the time of the Judges, Baal was known as the god of nature. More particularly, Baal was the rain god, and subsequently the god of fertility since water was the source of life not only for humanity, but crops and livestock as well.
Asherah aka Astartes, was considered the mate of Baal and the highest-ranking female god. Known as the moon-goddess, she was also considered the god of love and war. The practice of Asherah worship was very sensual in nature and often consisted of ritual prostitution.
Personally, I don’t think it is too far of a reach to connect the idolatry of these ancient peoples to twenty-first century citizens. Nature worship, the War Machines and military complex, Sex Industry, Fertility gods (Wall Street, Financial Investment vehicles, Lottery, Gambling, and other get-rich opportunities), and a host of lesser gods (Entertainment industry, sports industry, and other personal hobbies) exist all around us. I think the reality of our situation is that we have not named these other gods of ours and personalized them.
We will push back against this indictment of idolatry saying, “But we have not abandoned the LORD!” Generally speaking, the ancient Israelites did not abandon the LORD either. In every instance that God turned them over to the care of their idols, when the Israelites were distressed enough, they would cry out for relief to the LORD, so they did remember Him. I think; once again, we are not different from those primitive worshipers who knew the LORD Almighty as their God, but chose to add a host of lesser gods to their collection.
Idle Worship
What does it look like to us that we would abandon the LORD for other gods? What is the context of this in our contemporary lives? How often are we guilty of not remembering the LORD our God? I think that for many of us, at least those of us who profess Christianity as our faith, the moment we walk out of our local church we forget the LORD. Others of us might keep God in the forefront of our minds even in the context of our home life, but the moment we walk out of the bubble of our homes each day we “forget” Him. Our attentions become directed elsewhere and our focus is realigned on the business of the day…often on the gods of happiness and personal survival who are often disguised versions of those ancient Baals and Asherahs.
The primary covenant command of our God was that we are to love him with all of our heart, all of our soul, and all of our strength. There was to be “no other god” but the LORD Almighty who is One God. Our attention and efforts are to always be “set aside” or sanctified holy unto the LORD our God. While many of us will agree to these covenant stipulations (Israel did too) and believe we are currently living in agreement with them, we will make the distinction that we live in a world that is both secular and sacred. How can this be? We will profess that we embody the Living Spirit of God—the Spirit of God indwells the heart/life of the disciple-believer of Christ. We profess that where God is, that is sacred or holy ground. If then, we embody the Spirit of God, wherever we go and whatever we do as Spirit-filled people, the place we are and the “thing we do” is sacred… or it should be… if we are living as God intended.
Have we become idle worshipers? Is our faith so passive and fragile that we succumb to the lesser gods that society surrounds us with? I think a sad truth is that we have bought into the self-deception that many of these lesser gods are not so bad. As long as we talk with more passion about the LORD that will mean we keep these lesser gods in check. Unfortunately, as is the case with radiation, small doses are just as lethal as the massive doses… one just takes longer to kill than the other.
Another story included in the Book of Judges is the life of a man named Samson (Judges 13:1—16:31). Samson, like us, became an idle worshiper and took his position and his relationship with God for granted. He assumed all was well because he “knew” the LORD. He gambled his very life on this relationship, but he did very little to maintain the health of it. Near the end of Samson’s life a tragic thing happened; he presumed one too many times that God would be with him in spite of his passive relationship (idle worship) with God. What happened follows:
When he [Samson] awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him (Judges 16:20).
What a tragic statement; “He did not know that the LORD had left him.” Do we deceive ourselves as Samson did? Do we make assumptions about our relationship with God thinking it is healthy when we surround ourselves with lesser gods…even if telling ourselves we do not? How high is the LORD in my priority list of life? Do I truly love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength or do I excuse myself by proclaiming “I’m trying to get there…”? The choices I make each day express my trust and my understanding of God. My faith and what I base my faith in, is made manifest by how I live out my days.
I, Yahweh, search the heart, test the motives, to give each person what his conduct and his actions deserve. (Jer. 17:10)
“I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.” (Matt. 21:43)
The Lenten season is a time to take real inventory of my life and relationship with God. It is a time to turn fully in the direction that takes me toward Him alone. Now is not the time to be an idol worshiper or an idle worshiper. He calls. We answer. What will our answer be?
Our Prayer
Yahweh, you examine me and know me, you know when I sit, when I rise, you understand my thoughts from afar. You watch when I walk or lie down, you know every detail of my conduct. God, examine me and know my heart, test me and know my concerns. Make sure that I am not on my way to ruin, and guide me on the road of eternity. (Psalm 139:1-3, 23-24)
Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come unto you.
An Epiphany in Exodus
An Epiphany in Exodus
Readings: Exodus 7:14—12:30
“…and we will not know what to use to worship the LORD until we arrive there.” (Ex. 10:26)
These words “jumped” out to me this morning during our morning reading. As I was considering them and asking the Lord why they caught my attention, I started to think there are times I get into routines (I like routine) and I believe that I know how God wants me to worship Him. Like, I’m positive that I know what will please Him each and every time, so I only “bring with me” what I know He wants.
O, presumptuous me.
I think, what I take away from these words today, is that I should bring all of me each time I come to worship the LORD. If God determines it is praise He desires from me, I will have it. If He desires my tears or my laughs, I will have them too. If He wants my adoration or my silence, those I will have brought as well. I bring everything when I bring all of me…all that I have and all that I am.
I’m sensing the point of this Word to me is this: I am all too often caught up in myself, my agendas, and my routines, such that I presume to know all that is in my heart and exactly how God wants me to worship Him with it. I hear God speaking to my spirit today that there are areas of my heart that need uncovered still. He wants those things uncovered and brought into the light as my acceptable worship. I can only presume to know what these things are and how God intends to have me use them as sacrifice and worship before Him. I will; however, know for sure when I “arrive there” with all of me in tow.
“If you want to live a devout life, you are not only required to stop sinning but also to lose your appetite for it.” -Francis de Sales
Personal Update:
I am still working on finalizing my personal rule of life for 2013. I don’t know how long it will take me, but I do not feel the need to rush it. I will do my best to remain faithful in the areas I sense the Spirit leading me in now. At the moment, I have shifted my focus and devoting more attention on developing healthy habits—a new diet, exercise, and attention to a few other mind and body details. As a result of this new focus and initiatives, my blogging, reading, and writing habits have been lacking in regularity. I believe this is okay for now, especially while I form new habits and make adjustments to my lifestyle that will reap healthy benefits in my future, God willing and helping me.
A Prayer:
Jesus Christ is the light of the world. A light no darkness can extinguish. In You, O LORD, I take refuge. Let me never be put to shame. In Your justice, set me free, hear me and speedily rescue me. Be a rock and a refuge for me, a mighty stronghold to save me, for You are my rock, my stronghold. For Your name’s sake, lead me and guide me that my actions might bring glory and honor to You, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit who reign eternally together. Amen.
Reading Scripture: Jeff’s Journal 13Nov2012
Reading Scripture: Jeff’s Journal 13Nov2012
Sharing a couple pages from my journal after reading the selections from the Daily Office Year Two (Book of Common Prayer). I started the book of the Prophet Joel and continue reading from the Gospel of Luke. My reflections follow:
“Cleansing the Temple”
A terrible thing has happened… the people of God have failed to live in right relationship with him. We know this because Joel calls the people to repentance; “Turn back to God…” (see Joel 2:12-14). What I read that is most tragic to me is the curse and devastation is so massive and far-reaching that it completely prevents the people from worshiping God in the way they have previously known and the way worship has been prescribed for centuries. There was a certain protocol for worship; there were certain sacrificial offerings for the remittance of sin requiring grain, oil, wine, and specific animals. Because of the devastation that had befallen the people, this form of worship and sin offering was not an option.
8 Weep like a bride dressed in black, mourning the death of her husband. 9 For there is no grain or wine to offer at the Temple of the LORD… 10 The fields are ruined, the land is stripped bare. The grain is destroyed, the grapes have shriveled, and the olive oil is gone. 13 …For there is no grain or wine to offer at the Temple of your God. (Joel 1:8-10, 13)
I am familiar with the Book of Joel, so I know the people are called to repent and turn back to God…and the LORD makes provision to do this despite the people’s inability to follow Temple protocol. The heart-breaking observation here is the realization of how disorienting and disheartening this loss of identity…this stripping away of self must be to the Hebrew people. Not only are their lives disrupted to the point of famine and ruin, but the thing they “know” to do (go to the Temple and offer sacrifices in a show of repentance), they cannot do.
I wonder if this is an example of and call to “die to self?” Is this God helping his people to strip away and remove a false identity? I think it is possible.
The people of God had relied upon their Temple worship as a means of supporting their relationship with God for generations. It seems the relationship that came with sharing the Dwelling Place of God had been taken for granted and was being used as a means to an end. When the people were backed into a corner or they felt “God was angry,” the thing to do was find a priest, offer sacrifices, appease the “angry god,” and move on. It is true that God had been the originator of the rules for Temple worship, but it was the people who had subverted what God had intended for good. In the process of subversion, the people had lost the thing that set them apart from the surrounding nations; they had lost their relationship with God.
I wonder if this might be a foreshadowing of Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple.
…For there is no grain or wine to offer at the Temple of your God.
“Give us this day our daily bread.”
“Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” Exclaims a man who is listening to the teaching of Jesus (Luke 14:15).
Jesus taught his disciples to pray; “Lord give us this day our daily bread…” It seems to me, that one of God’s greatest delights is the communion of fellowship. The unity and fellowship of the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is (I think) the greatest example of this perfect unity and communion, but God also reveals His passion for relationship and desire for communion with humanity in number of ways. The Bible teaches us about the joy God derives from walking with man as His friend (think Enoch, Abraham, and Moses as a few examples). We are taught about God “dwelling” in the tents of men (Moses and the Tabernacle in the wilderness). God enjoying sharing meals (with Abraham, providing manna for the Israelites for 40 years, Jesus’ delight in sharing food and wine…). Clearly, ours is a God of relationship, One who enjoys creating memories, traditions, a living history and shared heritage—feasts, festivals, dancing and singing with His cherished Creation. There really seems nothing that gives God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit greater joy than to “hang out” with His children… and it seems He also likes to provide “fresh bread” for the most of these gatherings.
“Give us this day our daily bread, we pray”
In the reading of Luke 14:15-24, I see a tragic parallel to our contemporary world. I hear a man exclaim how great it is to “eat and fellowship with God.” This doesn’t seem too far removed from conversations and the words of Christians in our world today. We might find ourselves in a Christian gathering or a church potluck and proclaim how wonderful it is to be in the presence of God, eating and sharing our blessings together, but Jesus offers a raw look into what is all-too-often our real world.
Jesus tells the people at his table about a man (God) who has prepared an elaborate banquet—a great feast—for which he has sent out many invitations. When the time draws near for the date of the banquet, many RSVPs are returned with excuses and reasons for people unable to attend; “They all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’” (Luke 14:18-20).
This parable is some two-thousand years old, but it seems that not much has changed. When I have the opportunity to spend devoted time with God, how often have sent him my RSVP with words like, “I’d love to go to church or read my Bible, but I have to work; I have chores at home; it’s my only day off; I have family obligations…”?
“Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”
God has provided us with a banquet of fellowship fit for a king and unrivaled by anything imagined in the history of humankind. We have unparalleled access to God through the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit and His written Word to us. How can we justify not taking the time or making the time to fellowship with the Creator of All Things?
I think an even greater tragedy is how easy it becomes for us to take for granted this access to God and the “daily bread” He has prepared for us. As the people in the time of Joel took for granted their access to, and relationship with, God, He took that access away from them.
“…For there is no grain or wine to worship in the Temple of God.” Joel 1:13
In Jesus’ parable, so it happens also. If we fail to enter his fellowship… our fellowship, our access to the banquet and Bread of God may result with us being denied entry.
“For none of these I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.” Luke 14:24
May we never take for granted the gift of daily bread from our Heavenly Father. Blessed are those who eat bread in the Kingdom of God. Amen.
Missing the Mark
Missing the Mark: “I don’t look like Jesus…”
I’ve been sitting on this post for awhile now. I wasn’t sure how to articulate my thoughts; honestly, I’m still not sure I know how. I’ve been thinking a lot lately…about a bunch of things, but especially about sin—the nature, the inner and outer manifestations, the collateral effects—and ultimately, the bottom line of it all
I think that when we talk about sin, we talk about it too broadly and too generically. When we do attempt to focus in on sin, we will often isolate subjective manifestations of sin like vices, behaviors, social maladies, and the like. There are isolated and rare occasions when the topic of “original sin” is discussed where Adam’s disobedience and the subsequent fall of man is cast as the source of humanity’s sin. It is my opinion while there is some validity in all these points, we are still missing the mark…and this, I think, is the real or root problem. We miss the mark.
Sin?
It is helpful for us to have a working definition of the word “sin” before we proceed. In the Old Testament there are several words that we translate to the English word “sin.” My studies revealed one of the more prominent words, and many derivatives of it, used to describe sin is the Hebrew word “chata,” which means to sin, miss, miss the way, go wrong, incur guilt, forfeit, purify from uncleanness; to miss oneself, lose oneself, wander from the way. I think several of these possible meanings really strike a chord in me; particularly “lose oneself” and “wander from the way.” A second word from the Old Testament and the Hebrew is “râ‛âh.” This word is used more than 600 times and is most often translated as “evil” or “bad” ([Strong's #7451]). While the word “sin” is rarely, if ever, translated from it, it still carries the implication of something that is contrary to God’s nature and I think this is the important piece. Our actions that are translated as “evil” and “bad” are contrary to God’s nature. Finally, there is the New Testament use of the word “sin” translated from the Greek word “hamartia,” which means literally, “to miss the mark.”
What I gleaned from these word studies is that our approach toward understanding sin and our subsequent way of dealing with it might be askew. As I mentioned earlier, generally speaking, we talk about sin in a broadly generic manner. We label sin as things we do, attitudes of the mind and heart, and conditions of life that are other than what we expect in our “best case” ideals. All of these are subjectively interpreted and potential outward manifestations of sin… not sin themselves. I know that statement will get some resistance, but hear me out.
The actual definitions from the primary words for sin in the Hebrew and Greek texts are “missing the way” or “missing the mark.” We might do well to consider what the “way” or the “mark” is that we have missed.
The Bible teaches us from the very beginning that we are created in the Imago Dei or image of God. We are supposed to be reflections of our Creator in all our ways. This was and is the intent of our God, that we would be His image bearer, and anything less than an accurate reflection of Him… His Image, is sin. When we fail to “look like God,” we sin. We miss the mark. I realize that my statements disturb the thinking of people, but this is what the Bible teaches from beginning to end. In the earliest chapters of Genesis, we read that we are imago dei, and then through disbelief and disobedience, Adam (the first man) becomes a broken image of God (missing the mark). Adam and wife, Eve, are expelled from the presence of God to pass on their brokenness to all future generations. The covenant promise of God though, is that God will present humankind with a means of restoring the imago dei through the redemptive work of Messiah Jesus. Ultimately, the promise, for those who will receive it, is complete recovery of the God Image… “we’ll be like he is” (1 John 3:2-3).
I think one of the greatest mistakes we have made in our Christian discipleship efforts is to inaccurately define and describe sin as actions, attitudes, things we do and things we feel. Describing and defining sin as wrong behavior, evil, socially unacceptable acts, vices, alternative lifestyles, etc. are all subjective and judgmental perspectives and lead to performance expectations and measurements. Our incorrect definition creates an incorrect diagnosis of the problem, and with errant diagnosis comes wrong treatment… Our efforts tend to lean toward correcting and managing behavior over recovering the imago dei and becoming Christ-like. Ultimately, wrong treatment begets no change at best and digression at worst.
A Belief Problem
I think many people push back against recovering God’s image as their own, because it seems preposterous to them to believe it is possible or attainable. It seems much more plausible to embark on a self-help or self-healing program to make a better “me” than to become like Jesus…like God, but Scripture is very clear that “becoming like Christ” and recovering our reflection of Him is the goal. The following are just a smattering of Scripture verses pointing to the claim of recovering the imago dei.
- Created in God’s image; Imago Dei (Genesis 1:27-28, 5:1-3)
- Deuteronomy 30:11-14 – This command is not too hard for you to reach
- Ezekiel 36:26 – I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.
- Jeremiah 31:33 – write my commandments on your heart
- Colossians 1:15-16 - the Son is the image of the invisible God…
- 1 John 2:3-6 – we must walk as Jesus walked…
- 1 John 3:2-3 – We’ll be like he is
- 1 John 5:3 – His commands are not burdensome…
I’m still thinking about what all this means to me. I do know this for myself… to think of sin in the terms of what I do (actions and attitude) propels me in a wrong direction where I continue to miss the mark. First, I cannot cure myself. Second, I don’t know what to cure since my diagnosis is based upon my own interpretation of the problem…which is misguided in the first place. If my “mark” is not God, then my mark will be my own ideal or another human, who is likely to be misguided and missing the mark too. Only Christ is my standard. Only Christ can help me to reach that standard.
Will I ever reach the mark? Will I ever not sin? I think in terms of what I strive for, I reach the mark when I start living to attain it. As I follow Jesus, I am reaching for the prize that is the mark of Christ. I stop sinning as I reach for and follow after Christ because I am recovering the imago dei. As I surrender to the Spirit of God who dwells within me, I am living under the Image of the God who Created me and this might even be closer to recovering the imago dei than even I am fully capable of realizing on this side of eternity.
I’m still thinking on this and I’m sure I’ll revisit the post a time or two or three or…
Posted in A Deeper Walk, Becoming the Word, Bible Speak, Disciple, Incarnational, Meditations, Old Testament, Shaping Me, Spiritual Formation | Tags: Bible Speak, Image of God, imago dei, Jesus, Sin | 1 Comment »
A Meditation on Psalm 78
A Meditation on Psalm 78
Earlier this week Laurie and I were reading Scripture together and one of our readings came from Psalm 78:1-39. There were several verses that kick-started some thoughts that follow.
“Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the word of my mouth.” (Psalm 78:1)
“Set your hope on God; do not forget his mighty works.” (Psalm 78:7)
As followers of Christ, we cannot afford to have “spirits that are not faithful to God” or “hearts that are not steadfast.” The psalmist writes about the spiritual attitudes of the Hebrew people…it seems we may not have learned or changed much during the past few thousand years.
“They sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert. They tested God in their heart by demanding the food that they craved…” (Psalm 78:17-18)
“…They had no faith in God, and did not trust his saving power.” (Psalm 78:22)
“He gave them what they craved… While the food was still in their mouths, he killed the strongest of them.” (Psalm 78:29-31)
In the Bible, the desert often serves as the place of testing and trial. The account mentioned in the Psalms is both literal and metaphorical in its application; it is literal with the historical account of the Hebrew people and it is metaphorical in how it applies to us. It seems this chronicle could have been written about almost any generation of people, ours included. The saying goes; “The more things change, the more things stay the same.” I don’t think my experience is unique; the human nature has an unrelenting tendency to want what it wants and damned be anything that gets in the way of that…
and that includes God much of the time.
Arthur Boers writes the following:
“When we put our own particular priorities at the center of everything, it becomes harder and harder to acknowledge God or any factor that might be beyond our control and prediction… We think of idolatry as bizarre practices involving fire and sacrifices, gaudy statues, and frenzied dancing, but the concept is still relevant because it involves, among other things, attributing too much importance to the wrong priorities. Idolatry can mean thinking something is more valuable or powerful or fearful than it truly is.” -Arthur Boers, Living Into Focus; pp.88-89
“Their heart was not steadfast toward him… their spirit was not faithful to God.” (Psalm 78:8)
How can our hearts be steadfast for God when they are more steadfast for us and our personal interests? I get this; it was my problem for much of the first four decades of my life. I wanted to have the blessing and promises of God in and upon my life, but I wanted them according to my terms and my timing. All this, of course, dictated by a heart that was steadfast for itself. Yeah. How about that?
I don’t think I stand alone and I don’t think I stand in small company either. I have found that almost anyone can be steadfast in their love and obedience to God in a season of good and plenty, but bring on a season of “desert wilderness” and watch the lips and feet start to drag. It seems the wilderness seasons of our lives are our proving grounds…not to God, but to ourselves. The desert proves our weakness, by either breaking us from what we are or by building us to what we are supposed to become. In either event, we will hold on to our own hearts or we will learn to release our hearts entirely to God.
The wilderness reveals our idolatry and the things we truly value…and in whom we place our trust. Do we trust God or will we reveal that it is ourselves whom we really trust after all? This is what the desert wilderness proves. Can we wait until God brings water from a stone or will we dig our own well? Will we be content to eat the food of angels or will we demand the things that we crave? The lives we presently live are not much different from the examples shared with us from Scripture; there are precious few people who have learned to truly wait upon the Lord and place all their trust in Him. So many times, I have heard people expressing their frustrations and anger at God because “things didn’t turn out like they expected.” I wonder where these thoughts come from. I cannot speak to the thoughts or heart of others, but when I used to feel this way, it was because of my own self-idolatry. Then I learned about the path of Jesus, who said; “Whoever does not deny himself, carry the cross, and follow me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:25-27). And, “Very truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me” (John 12:24-25).
These are hard words. These are desert wilderness words that will prove how steadfast our hearts are for Jesus. Our reality boils down to this; how much do we embrace the single greatest command of God given to us? When asked, Jesus said the most important thing for any human being was to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:28-30). We give the most minimal of lip service to this most important command, dancing around it most of the time, hoping that it isn’t something we really have to talk about. Many people whom I’ve spoken with about this commandment seem to think it is impossible to love God to the degree in which he commands us. I find this interesting, because failure to believe the veracity of this commandment of God is failure to believe and trust the God who issues the command. What does that tell us about our faith? I think what it says is this; “The command to love God with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind, and all my strength is impossible as long as I love me with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind, and all my strength.” This is our struggle. It is the original struggle from as early as the Genesis account of Adam and Eve. They doubted God’s goodness. They trusted their own devices and thinking over the instructions of God. They cut the trail we have continued to follow… as the psalmist writes; “They sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert. They tested God in their heart by demanding the food that they craved…” (Psalm 78:17-18) “…They had no faith in God, and did not trust his saving power.” (Psalm 78:22) “He gave them what they craved… (Psalm 78:29). “Their heart was not steadfast toward him… their spirit was not faithful to God.” (Psalm 78:8).
Isn’t it time we broke the cycle? I want my heart to be ever steadfast for my God, a faithful and obedient lover of Jesus.
[26APRIL2012] Eastertide Devotional Series
[26APRIL2012] Eastertide Devotional Series
I will be posting this devotional series as part of my Eastertide reflections for the next three weeks (see this link for other installments in the series). Each week of this devotional series focuses on a specific theme (week one: brokenness, week two: repentance, and week three: renewal). I hope you’ll enjoy the series and I invite you to comment here on the blog or email me direct; I would love to hear your thoughts.
Renewal: Week 3 | Day 5
Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 29:10-14; Luke 8:9-18
“If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity…”
I’ve known about Jesus all my life, at least for as long as I can remember. My religious life and my ability to “walk with Jesus” for much of the first thirty-seven years of that time (I am now forty-eight) was start and stop, filled with highs and lows, and more often than not—filled with deception, incongruity, and frustration. And then, all that changed; instead of knowing about Jesus, I actually got to know him.
There is something about the dynamic with which God desires his people to relate with him. Early in the unfolding revelation of the God and man relationship, one of the most important instructions is received with the following words; “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deut. 6:5). Our falling short of this mandate has proved to be the weak link in our ability to walk in fullness of experiencing and reflecting God’s kingdom on earth. I know it was the reason for my thirty-seven years of weak representation of Christian living. What changed for me was the sum of what many of these collective devotional writings of the past couple weeks represent—total devotion and desire to seek God wholeheartedly with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. I don’t profess to have the Christian walk mastered, not by a long shot, but mastering the Christian walk is not the command…seeking God and loving God wholeheartedly, whole-mindedly, whole-strengthedly, and whole-souled is. True spiritual renewal requires wholehearted participation, surrender and obedience.
Jesus speaks some very challenging and difficult words to his disciples when they ask him about why he speaks in parables. In Luke’s Gospel account, Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower. After sharing the Parable, Jesus tells them the following:
His disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’” (Luke 8:9-10 – compare Matthew 13:13-15)
Jesus actually says he uses parables so that those who aren’t really searching won’t find him. He makes it more clear following his explanation of the parable when he very specifically warns his disciples; “So pay attention to how you hear. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what they think they understand will be taken away from them” (Luke 8:18). Making our search for God and relationship with God a part-time affair or compartmentalized hobby is simply unacceptable to God. He tells us his very Name is Jealous (Exodus 34:14). Halfhearted searching for God usually results in a god of our own making; however, seeking wholeheartedly will be met with fulfillment of God’s promise to find him and finding the one True God makes all the difference in the world in the life of a Christian…I know it has for me.
Our Prayer: O Gracious and Mighty God, help us to desire you more than anything else. We are so easily distracted, but you call us to seek you and love you wholeheartedly. You tell us this is the only acceptable way to find you and love you. Our spirit wants you, but our flesh is often weak, so we pray for strength to follow our spirit as we strive to crucify our flesh daily in our effort to seek and follow you.
Posted in A Deeper Walk, Bible Speak, Eastertide, Gospel of Luke, Liturgical Year, Meditations, Old Testament, Shaping Me, Spiritual Formation, The Liturgical Year | Tags: Devotions, Discipleship, Eastertide, Gospel of Luke, Jeremiah, Old Testament, Spiritual Formation, The Liturgical Year | No Comments »
[25APRIL2012] Eastertide Devotional Series
[25APRIL2012] Eastertide Devotional Series
I will be posting this devotional series as part of my Eastertide reflections for the next three weeks (see this link for other installments in the series). Each week of this devotional series focuses on a specific theme (week one: brokenness, week two: repentance, and week three: renewal). I hope you’ll enjoy the series and I invite you to comment here on the blog or email me direct; I would love to hear your thoughts.
Renewal: Week 3 | Day 4
Scripture Reading: Nehemiah 2:11-18 (see also—Neh. 3-6)
The Book of Nehemiah is a great representation of spiritual renewal. The people of God, the nation of Judah, lay in ruins. This once great nation had lost its identity and was full of shame, embarrassment, guilt, and was without hope. They had realized the repercussions of their sin through the words of the prophets, the sacking of their land, and the exile of their people, but Nehemiah had hope. Nehemiah prayed. Nehemiah examined the situation. Nehemiah made a plan. Nehemiah put his plan into action. Nehemiah did not allow challenges to thwart his plan. Nehemiah, with the aid of God Almighty, saw his plan to completion.
A few of the most important things for us to recognize from these past few days of reading and prayer is that spiritual renewal does not happen in a void or on its own. True spiritual renewal begins with obedient surrender to God the Holy Spirit and depends on His guidance. Spiritual renewal also requires active participation with you taking responsibility for your spiritual growth and well-being; it is intentional, and it is contingent on deliberate planning. Spiritual renewal is also best done in community.
Nehemiah can be a great inspiration and model for our own spiritual renewal. As we read and learned in yesterday’s devotional reading, God has given us everything we need to live a godly life. There is also the expectation that we share in the partnership and responsibility to keep the divine nature inside us burning brightly—fanning our own flames. As we bear these thoughts in mind, we take a prayerful and honest examination of our hearts, attitudes, and habits listening closely to the Spirit of God who provides us with direction for our next steps… our plan. If this is something you are uncomfortable doing on your own, perhaps contacting a trusted Christian friend and asking help might be the “first” next step for you. The most important part of your “next step” is taking one.
Nehemiah rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem in 52-days by hearing from God, assessing the needs, implementing a plan, and enlisting the support of his community. What might you be able to do in the same time using the same model?
Examine your spiritual life and disciplines that support it. Are you operating a plan for your spiritual development at this moment? Are you satisfied with where you are in your current relationship with Jesus? Do you sense there are changes that need implemented in your current plan? Is there margin in your life to add structure and spiritual discipline to it? Will you need to stop or remove certain hobbies or activities in order to begin new ones that might be necessary for spiritual renewal?
Our Prayer: O Gracious Lord, thank you for your gift of guidance. Thank you for providing me with a plan to set me on the path of spiritual renewal. I confess that I need more of you in my life. I desire to grow fully mature and lacking nothing that you desire for me. I pray, O Lord, that you would help me to hear your voice and surrender myself in complete obedience to your direction. I ask also that you would put the right people in my path who might inspire and help me as I put my plan for renewal in action. Amen.
[19APRIL2012] Eastertide Devotional Series
[19APRIL2012] Eastertide Devotional Series
I will be posting this devotional series as part of my Eastertide reflections for the next three weeks (see this link for other installments in the series). Each week of this devotional series focuses on a specific theme (week one: brokenness, week two: repentance, and week three: renewal). I hope you’ll enjoy the series and I invite you to comment here on the blog or email me direct; I would love to hear your thoughts.
Repentance: Week 2 | Day 5
Scripture Reading: Genesis 32:22-32, 47:27-31; Exodus 13:17-22
“Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God…”
Something that has occurred to me as I’ve studied and meditated on the idea of repentance is that it isn’t just a “change” or “turn.” Repentance is also “on the move.” If all we do is turn and stay where we are, we’ll end up with our “bones scattered over the desert” and never arrive at the destination of our journey (see again from Wk. 1-Day 2. Hebrews 3:1-19). In fact, if we’re not moving, we’ll never have journeyed at all.
While I might be stretching the metaphor a teeny bit, I think we can see this moving repentance in the lives of some of the patriarchs of our faith. Abraham was one of the first fathers of our faith we encounter and see moved by their repentance; Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph all followed their fathers and grandfathers in this moving experience. With each of these examples, we see men who are moved… their minds are changed and their directions reoriented so they are always on the move. Abraham had been given a promise—a destination which he never fully realized, but he trusted God and he allowed God to continue moving him…literally, living as a nomad in a land that was not fully his own, but also moving closer to the presence and image of God as he matured spiritually. Isaac, son of Abraham, appears to have followed the lifestyle of his father as he and his family also moved under the influence and guiding hand of God. The life of Jacob provides us with a clearer picture of what personal repentance looks like and the ultimate effect it has on a person who remains submitted and surrendered to God. Jacob, born with the name “deceiver” comes face-to-face with God. During the course of this epic wrestling match, Jacob is changed and given a new name, Israel (means God fights). The rest of Jacob’s life is spent in surrender to the will and way of God…with the visible evidence of this surrender seen in a limp he obtained from a busted hip when he wrestled with God. Other evidence of Jacob’s surrender is seen through his humility and obedience to God. When Jacob “turned” he “changed” and was “on the move” for the remainder of his life…on the move from place to place physically and also spiritually as God revealed more of Himself to Israel.
Repentance isn’t static and it doesn’t come with tent stakes. With a change of heart, mind, and direction comes new destination coordinates. While the destination may seem the ultimate goal, it is the journey of transformation that fuels us onward and upward; thus, it too becomes part of and just as important as the ultimate goal. The journey is often as important as the destination. Jacob and Joseph knew this and it is the reason they made their sons promise not to leave their bones in Egypt. Four hundred and seventy years later, their bones were delivered into the Promised Land. Repentance: it changes us, turns us and reorients our direction, and ultimately moves us into God’s promises. Are you moving closer to God? Is your repentance more static or more moving? How would you describe your journey of change?
Our Prayer Lord, I admit that sometimes when we have “wrestled” and I have surrendered to You, I’ve felt that is the extent of my responsibility. I haven’t realized I needed to move, and part of my submission and repentance included moving or ongoing transformation. I prefer the relaxed feeling that comes with “arriving.” I know now that I need to keep moving…with You and closer to You until you bring me to the place You want me to be. Amen.
[18APRIL2012] Eastertide Devotional Series
[18APRIL2012] Eastertide Devotional Series
I will be posting this devotional series as part of my Eastertide reflections for the next three weeks (see this link for other installments in the series). Each week of this devotional series focuses on a specific theme (week one: brokenness, week two: repentance, and week three: renewal). I hope you’ll enjoy the series and I invite you to comment here on the blog or email me direct; I would love to hear your thoughts.
Repentance: Week 2 | Day 4
Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 33:1-20 (for comparison—also 2 Kings 21:1-18)
“But while in deep distress, Manasseh sought the LORD his God and sincerely humbled himself before the God of his ancestors. And when he prayed, the LORD listened to him…”
Manasseh was a very bad man. Really bad…unadulterated evil kind of bad. Part of the narrative of Manasseh’s life reads as follows: “But Manasseh led the people of Judah and Jerusalem to do even more evil than the pagan nations that the LORD had destroyed when the people of Israel entered the land.” (2 Chronicles 33:9)
Based on the list of things Manasseh did, I’m not sure there is a greater degree of evil a person can attain; he pretty much covered every detestable act a person could conceive. Yes, Manasseh was a very wicked man and I emphasize this for a reason. Personally, I haven’t committed the atrocities of Manasseh, but there are numerous choices I have made and things I have done which I regret. Some of these things, I wondered at the time if God would forgive me of them…or if He would forgive me, how long it might be before I received complete absolution or what I might have to do to get my sins absolved. It is for this reason that stories like Manasseh’s bring me great hope.
The story reveals the great wickedness of Manasseh and goes on to tell us “the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people but they ignored all his warnings” (2 Chr 33:10). At this point, God was fed up with Manasseh’s evil ways and sent the Assyrian armies in to take him captive. That is what happened and Manasseh ended up in a Babylonian prison. It was here that Manasseh became despondent, “deeply distressed” the Bible says, and he “sought the LORD” and “humbled himself greatly before Him” (2 Chr 33:12). Here we are witness to the humility that comes with repentance, but Manasseh’s “change of heart” didn’t begin and end with this act of humility and contrition. The story continues with “the LORD listening to Manasseh and becoming moved by his request.” Manasseh was returned to Jerusalem where he initiated changes to clean house and restore the kingdom as a people under the LORD alone.
There were still repercussions for the wickedness of Manasseh’s actions prior to his repentance just as there are repercussions for the choices we make outside of God’s designs. If I am completely transparent, there are still elements of my past that bring me regret, but my regret is overshadowed by the joy I have received since offering my heart to God through my own repentance. And, I suppose, this is the most important aspect of this story to me. Not only has it given me hope, but whether great or small, I have experienced the same forgiveness and heart-cleansing for my sins as Manasseh did for his.
Have you ever thought there are things in your life that God could not or would not forgive? Have you ever hesitated asking God’s forgiveness because of your doubt? Do you ever feel like it’s futile to “change your mind and turn back to God” because of the things you have done?
Our Prayer: Father God, thank you for the great forgiveness you extend to those with repentant hearts. Sometimes I have thought my sins too big, my wickedness too great, and distance between us too far for me to turn back. I see now this is not true. I see that you are sensitive to the humble heart. I offer my heart and the sins I have held back from you today and ask you to cleanse me and help me to make the changes in my life that need to be made as I turn back to you.
