Trust ... and enjoy security ...

This Saturday we will consider a passage of scripture, as is our usual habit. In the context of this week's devotionals, meditate on this portion of Psalm 37:

Trust in the Lord, and do good;
so you will live in the land, and enjoy security.
Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will make your vindication shine like the light,
and the justice of your cause like the noonday.

Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him;
do not fret over those who prosper in their way,
over those who carry out evil devices.

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath.
Do not fret — it leads only to evil.
For the wicked shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.

Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more;
though you look diligently for their place, they will not be there.
But the meek shall inherit the land,
and delight themselves in abundant prosperity.

Psalm 37:3-11 - NRSV

So what is the source of our security?
Trusting in the Lord.

Blessings,

Ron

Enthroned on the praises of Israel ...

Any day is a good day to praise God;
Any place is a good place to glorify him.
And yet we neither praise God in every place
Nor glorify him every day. Why is that?

Perhaps there are days when we just don’t feel like it.
Maybe there are places in our lives where we feel
Too sad or too burdened to lift our voices to God.
But should we let those days or places exist?

Consider the example of Jesus.
Think about the worst time in his life;
Consider the worst place he ever was.
It’s not too hard to locate that, is it?
The day of his death, pinned to the cross …
Yet what does Jesus do on that day,
From that place? He quotes a psalm.
Not just any psalm. Psalm 22.
Remember the words from its first verse?

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

This appears to be, at first, Jesus asking a “why” question.
And we know that asking God a “why” question
Is asking God the wrong question, don’t we?
The Jewish people who heard Jesus would have known;
They would have understood that he was quoting the psalm,
And they would have understood that by quoting
Its first line, he was, in effect, quoting the entire psalm.
Even when he did not have the breath to speak it all.
This was a device used frequently in the synagogue,
And it still happens in our pulpits today.
A part stands for the whole. A synecdoche.
So Jesus does not merely ask why; in effect
He delivers his entire lament to his Father:

Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
and by night, but find no rest.
Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.

Where is God? Enthroned upon our praises!
Why do we praise this God?

In you our ancestors trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
To you they cried, and were saved;
in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.

Yet both the psalmist and Jesus
might understandably struggle
With trusting at this trying moment;
Neither might feel so close to salvation
While in the hands of their enemies …

But I am a worm, and not human;
scorned by others, and despised by the people.
All who see me mock at me;
they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;
"Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver —
let him rescue the one in whom he delights!"
Yet it was you who took me from the womb;
you kept me safe on my mother's breast.
On you I was cast from my birth,
and since my mother bore me you have been my God.
Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.

And so the psalmist describes the feelings of his heart
In a way that eerily foretells the events of the cross,
So well that they easily become the words of Jesus:

Many bulls encircle me,
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.
I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
my mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.
For dogs are all around me;
a company of evildoers encircles me.
My hands and feet have shriveled;
I can count all my bones.
They stare and gloat over me;
they divide my clothes among themselves,
and for my clothing they cast lots.
But you, O Lord, do not be far away!
O my help, come quickly to my aid!
Deliver my soul from the sword,
my life from the power of the dog!
Save me from the mouth of the lion!

Despite these heart-breaking events,
Both the psalmist and Jesus anticipate the shift,
The turning from the disaster, and
The returning from the grave.
And in that turning which only God can empower
Is found the ultimate reason for praising God.

From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me.
I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him;
stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
For he did not despise or abhor
the affliction of the afflicted;
he did not hide his face from me,
but heard when I cried to him.
From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will pay before those who fear him.
The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the Lord.
May your hearts live forever!
All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before him.
For dominion belongs to the Lord,
and he rules over the nations.
To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
and I shall live for him.
Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord,
and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn,
saying that he has done it.

May we have the courage and faith to trust God today,
enough trust to be able say “He has done it”
even before he finishes doing it.

May we give God the glory today.

Blessings,

Ron

Quotations are from the NRSV.

Who holds the hammer?

Meditate on the words to this thought-provoking song:

The Hammer Holds
Bebo Norman

A shapeless piece of steel:
That’s all I claim to be.
This hammer pounds to give me form,
This flame, it melts my dreams.
I glow with fire and fury
As I’m twisted like a vine
My final shape, my final form, I’m sure,
I’m bound to find

So dream a little, dream for me,
In hopes that I’ll remain.
And cry a little, cry for me
So I can bear the flames.
And hurt a little, hurt for me,
My future is untold.
My dreams are not the issue here,
For Thee, the hammer holds.

The water cools me gray,
And the hurt’s subdued somehow.
I have my shape, this sharpened point,
What is my purpose now?
The question, it still remains,
“What am I to be?”
Perhaps some perfect piece of art
Displayed for all to see.

So dream a little, dream for me,
In hopes that I’ll remain.
And cry a little, cry for me
So I can bear the flames.
And hurt a little, hurt for me,
My future is untold.
My dreams are not the issue here,
For Thee, the hammer holds.

The hammer pounds again,
The flames I do not feel.
This force that drives me helplessly
Through the flesh and wood revealed.
A burn that burns much deeper,
It’s more than I can stand,
The reason for my life was
To take the life of a guiltless man.

So dream a little, dream for me,
In hopes that I’ll remain.
And cry a little, cry for me
So I can bear the pain.
And hurt a little, hurt for me,
My future is so bold.
My dreams are not the issue here,
For Thee, the hammer holds.

This task before me may seem unclear,
But it, my Maker holds.

Do you hear the story here?
The narrative begins with the pain and stress
Of being shaped into the person that we are intended to be.
The story continues with idealism and hope;
There are dreams of greatness and glory –
Surely God will do great things with my life.
Then there is confusion over identity and purpose:
Who am I and what am I to do?
Finally there is disappointment –
Is this really what God intended for me?
Is this role that seems worse than ignoble to me
Really the purpose of my life?

Ultimately this song has us ask the questions
That we all have to ask ourselves eventually:
Do we trust God and his purposes?
Will we yield even when we don’t understand?
Will we go where he sends us?
Will we stay where he puts us?
Will we serve in the role that he gives us?
Will we seek God’s dream for our life?

May God give us the courage to trust him.

Blessings,

Ron

What God is doing today ...

Today a psalm for our devotion.
Read the psalm slowly, no more than one section at a time.
Meditate on each part.
Does this psalm tell a story?
What are the words that stand out to you?
How are those words significant to you today?
How do these inspired words shape you as a child of God?

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and do not forget all his benefits —
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the Pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good as long as you live
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

The Lord works vindication
and justice for all who are oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the people of Israel.
The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always accuse,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far he removes our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion for his children,
so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.
For he knows how we were made;
he remembers that we are dust.

As for mortals, their days are like grass;
they flourish like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
But the steadfast love of the Lord
is from everlasting to everlasting
on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children's children,
to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.

The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all.
Bless the Lord, O you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
obedient to his spoken word.
Bless the Lord, all his hosts,
his ministers that do his will.
Bless the Lord, all his works,
in all places of his dominion.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.

Ps 103 – NRSV

May his word richly bless you,

Ron

Frustrated purposes ...

Today, a prayer and four proverbs for our devotional. Because we minister in a world that is so very different than our ideal, we are particularly inclined to feel upset at the discord of living in two worlds. This can be both stress and anger producing, to say the least. Today’s prayer is offered for those who might struggle with anger, whether righteous or otherwise. One warning: don’t be too quick to deny that you struggle with anger; such denial can be dangerous.

O Lord, today we seek your help,
Your wisdom, your direction.
Your Spirit tells you of our moanings,
Of the mutterings of our troubled hearts;
And of the snarlings of our often angry,
Too-often angry spirits.

You know, All-knowing One, every place that
This world, as we have shaped it, falls short
Of our well-intended designs and expectations.
You know, Great Heart, every hurt,
Every bruise, and disappointment
Inflicted by a world too pointed, too hard,
Too random, too resistant, or too rowdy
For our simple, though well-intended, schemes,
Our hard-headed thinking,
And inadequate assumptions.

O how, Great Creator, how do you cope
With a world that has become
So very unlike the world you shaped,
The world that you envisioned?
How, Holy God, do you hold back
When the reality we create with our action
Is so out of time with your creation,
Is so out of tune with your holy word?
How, Righteous God, do you hold back
Your righteous wrath, when human unrighteousness
Invokes it by injustice, intolerance, and even inhumanity?

We do not hold back, you well know,
When we are crossed, our purposes frustrated.
Heaven help the spouse who has another point of view;
God protect the friend who has a second opinion;
Spirit save and soothe the child who exercises
Freedom of choice against our adamant will;
For we show no mercy, know no grace.
We presume to know your righteous wrath,
And we are swift to improve upon the speed of it.
We are quick to wield your terrible, swift sword;
We cry, “Peace, peace!” while we still swing it.
We cry, “Peace, peace!” yet we refuse to swallow peace:
A drink too bitter for those drunk on the sweet wine of revenge,
High on the potent amphetamines of anger.
No wonder we are not ourselves.

How great must your love be to see
The person that we might be,
The human that you intended for us to be
And still receive the person that we
Have limited ourselves to be.

Heal our emotions, O God;
Help them to be to us that
Which you intended for them to be.
May we neither deny anger’s power,
Nor yield control to that power.
So cultivate in us the virtues of love,
Peacefulness, patience, and understanding
That our anger shadows yours:
Slow to appear, quick to yield to love.

Shape our love to be like your love,
Empower our patience to mirror yours,
And teach us, Father, to be quick and sure
To set aside our wrath in preference for
Your forgiveness, your mercy, and your grace,
In hopes that we might receive from you
Those very great and saving gifts.

May we be more like Jesus,
As we pray in his name.
Amen.

Think on these proverbs through the course of your day:

Proverbs 14:29 - Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding,
but one who has a hasty temper exalts folly.

Proverbs 15:18 - Those who are hot-tempered stir up strife,
but those who are slow to anger calm contention.

Proverbs 16:32 - One who is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
and one whose temper is controlled than one who captures a city.

Proverbs 19:11 - Those with good sense are slow to anger,
and it is their glory to overlook an offense.
NRSV

Grace, and peace,

Ron

Stopping in the gap ...

“Angry words! O let them never,
From the tongue unbridled slip …”

Oh, right. Like that’s the choice that we make. We know better. We’ve noted, over the last several days, that anger is an emotion that we experience when our expectations are not met. Sometimes those expectations are realistic, sometimes not. Sometimes those expectations are godly, sometimes not so much. Yet when we don’t get what we expect, we become angry. And we speak angry words.

The problem is not so much the feeling though, as what we do with it. “Be angry, but do not sin …” (Eph 4:26). Isn’t that precisely our dilemma, though? Isn’t the tricky part feeling the anger, even if it is righteous, yet not sinning with it? Don’t we altogether too frequently fail to let the best impulses of our heart check our words before they soil our lips and mar our friendships?

Unfortunately, “angry words are lightly spoken,” because we are too willing to rashly stir bitter thoughts. Why is that? I think that it is, once again, because of unrealistic expectations. Somehow we think that doing or saying this angry thing is going to produce the result we want. But do we really believe that if we speak angry words delivering nearly unfiltered thoughts that any good thing is going to happen? Do we believe that our anger is going to cause the offending person to say, “Oh, my! I see that I have offended you. Let me please give you what you expected right away so that we can make this right …” So how’s that working for us?

People don’t react like that, do they? Because when we use angry words or actions, we upset their expectations. What are those expectations? Expectations for peace, for harmonious relationships, for respectful renegotiations of responsibilities, for emotionally safe solutions to problems. So when these expectations are not met, what happens to the other person? They feel angry. And so the vicious anger cycle wraps up with even more energy.

It isn’t important to identify who started the vicious anger cycle, but rather to find the person who will stop it. By that I don’t mean who will finish it by getting in the last word. The question is rather, who will be the peacemaker, who will be the child of God who feels the anger, yet is willing to step in with a word of peace and create the opportunity to negotiate met expectations for all parties? That is the person we need to be. That is the action that we need to take.

Stop.
Seize the moment between the stimulus and the response.
Acknowledge how we feel.
Determine what made us feel that way, especially if it seems too big or too bizarre for the circumstances.
Find our unmet need.
Think about the other persons feelings.
Creatively imagine what led them to those feelings.
Consider what unmet needs might have led them to this place.
Talk with that other person about how to mutually negotiate peace, a stronger relationship, and a possible fulfillment of our expectations.
Peace first. Stronger relationship second. Fulfilled needs last.

Remember:

“Love one another thus saith the Savior,
Children obey the Father’s blest command,
Love each other, love each other,
’Tis the Father’s blest command.”

That love is not to be in our words only, but in every action.

Grace and peace,

Ron

*Quotations are from “Angry Words,” by Horatio R. Palmer