Teach me to dwell ...

Today, a prayer from Amy Carmichael (1867-1951):

Before the winds that blow do cease,
Teach me to dwell within thy calm;
Before the pain has passed in peace,
Give me, my God, to sing a psalm.
Let me not lose the chance to prove
The fullness of enabling love.
O love of God, do this for me:
Maintain a constant victory.
Before I leave the desert land
For meadows of immortal flowers,
Lead me where streams at thy command
Flow by the borders of the hours,
That when the thirsty come, I may
Show them the fountains in the way.
O love of God do this for me:
Maintain a constant victory.

Grace and peace,

Ron

Standing right in front of them ...

It is sometimes difficult to really hear the words of a song that we know well. Even though you may have heard many times the lyrics that we consider today, slow down to read and meditate on the words as if you were encountering them for the first time. There are many good songs from Acappella, but one stands out because of its words:

The Way, the Truth, the Life, the Victory

As the King of Kings was questioned by Pilate long ago,
He declared His kingdom different, not of this world;
A kingdom for the side of truth, like none has ever been -
Pilate asked, “What is truth?”
He was standing right in front of him.

Truth was standing right in front of him,
As plain as anything could ever be.
Truth was standing right in front of him,
He was standing there for all the world to see:
The Way, The Truth, the Life, the Victory.

Stephen, first beloved martyr, gave up his life for Him,
Being stoned by angry people filled with revenge.
Where was God when all this happened?
Stephen looked into the sky, he was never alone,
God was standing right in front of him.

Truth was standing right in front of him,
As plain as anything could ever be.
Truth was standing right in front of him,
Revealed to him for comfort and to see;
He was standing there for his delivery.

Now the quest for truth continues until this very day,
But the source that we should seek is not of this world:
A truth that is revealed by God, the Spirit's made it clear.
If you ask, “What is truth?” He is standing right in front of you.

Truth is standing right in front of you,
As plain as anything could ever be.
Truth is standing right in front of you,
Standing there for all eternity:
The Way, the Truth, the Life, the Victory!

He is standing right in front of you,
Showing love for open eyes to see.
Jesus is standing right in front of you,
Standing there for He will always be:
The Son of Man, the Son of God,
The King of Kings, the Lord of Lords,
The Way, the Truth, the Life, the Victory!

We might pray with the words of Clara Scott’s song:
“Open my eyes, that I may see,
Glimpses of truth thou hast for me …”

We might ask, “How are our boys to see this truth?”
I think the answer is,
“We have to live this truth right in front of them.”
We are not Truth as Jesus is Truth.
Yet if we are to be his people, we must reflect his image.
We must do this as accurately, as truthfully as possible.
We must enact his kingdom in our little spheres of influence
so that our boys get a glimpse of that kingdom and the God
who calls us to it.
We must do this standing right in front of them.

Holy God, use us to bring your kingdom, to enact your will.

Blessings,

Ron

Forced to fight

As Paul talks about the life of faith, it is a thing far removed from a prosperity gospel. Many prosperity preachers quote from our reading for today, but they tend to leave out or gloss over certain parts of it.

The reality of being a child of God is that we live in the same world as those who reject being children of God. At first we might think that this is unfortunate, but in reality, for those of us who once rejected the idea of being a child of God, this is very much a God thing (fortune has nothing to do with it). Only being in a world with the children of God provoked me to reconsider my stance toward God’s kingdom. Consequently, I believe that the children of God are not supposed to use the planet Earth as some sort of escape pod into eternity, but to continue to enact kingdom thinking and kingdom action in a world that desperately needs it. The job of the children of God is to restore this world, not just spiritually, but in every other possible way.

This means that preachers need to find a way to speak the transforming word from a first century context into the context of their own century. It means that a farmer ought to leave the land in better shape the day that he is planted than on the day he first planted seed. It means that the medical professional and researcher should strive for progress by finding ways to ameliorate or cure disease. And the ecologist ought to steadily restore the health of this planet.

What about people that work with children? We deal with transformation and nurture and healing and restoration, too. But we also deal with secrets that resist truth and transformation, deprivation, sickness and toxicity. Constantly exposed to pain, we have to find a way to deal with pain. Which takes us back to our reading for today.

What if we saw the world, not as a place where we could completely avoid hurt, pain, persecution, violence, disease, disaster, or death. Not only is it a place where we witness these things; it is a place where we experience these things. If we, or those we love did not experience them, what calling, what drive would compel us to combat them?

It is not that we ought to expect to avoid these things but rather that we resist where we can, suffer where we have to, and yield only when yielding is inevitable. We will do none of these things as a victim, but rather a victor: a victor in Jesus Christ. Is this not what Paul calls us to do?

What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written,

"For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered."

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:31-39 - NRSV

Grace, peace, and victory -

Ron

Complaining of adversity

“Thus they set out from the mount of the LORD three days’ journey, with the ark of the covenant of the LORD journeying in front of them for the three days’ journey, to seek out a resting place for them. And the cloud of the LORD was over them by day, when they set out from the camp. Then it came about when the ark set out that Moses said,

‘Rise up, O LORD!
And let Thine enemies be scattered,
And let those who hate Thee flee before Thee.’
And when it came to rest, he said,
‘Return Thou, O LORD,
To the myriad thousands of Israel.’
Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the LORD….”
-Num. 10:33-11:1a (NAS) (italics mine)

Well, I’m not trying to depress you or make you feel bad. But this Scripture struck me once very deeply. How many times have I been surrounded by the LORD’s presence and blessings and have proceeded to complain, complain, complain!? I don’t want to become like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the LORD. How can I avoid this? I believe the passage gives me two clues. First, I should acknowledge that the LORD will rise up and scatter His enemies—He will be victorious. And (even more comforting, I think) I am one of His people! This may be simple, but sometimes the simple truths are the easiest to grab onto when things don’t go as I would like—which is quite often.

So…thank You, LORD, for bringing Josh and I to Westview, where we are a part of a wonderful team of people working for You. Thank You for being our Rescuer and thank You for letting us be Your people through Your Son Jesus the Christ!

Blessings,

Julia

The Longest Day (original version)

Yesterday, we looked at the battle of the five kings from the perspective of Adoni-Zedek. But how did the Israelites see it?

Even though God had granted them success in peeling off one layer after another of the Canaanite onion, the five kings constituted a formidable foe. After the Lord encouraged Joshua ("Do not fear . . ."), the Israelites engaged them in one of the most dramatic battles ever recorded:

An all-night march
A surprise attack
A road pursuit
A barrage of hailstones
A poetic prayer
A sun frozen in time and space
A cave full of conquered kings
Victory.

It was the kind of victory that you remember your entire life. It was the kind of victory which is remembered across many lifetimes. Longer than the Battle of the Bulge, longer than the Battle of San Juan, longer than even Agincourt. And, as is the case with warriors, it was told by triumphant fathers to awed children. Good days or bad, it became part of the celebration of being an Israelite. Years later, a psalmist still celebrates the day:

"The Lord gives the command;
The women who proclaim the good tidings are a great host:
'Kings of armies flee, they flee,
And she who remains at home will divide the spoil!'
When you lie down among the sheepfolds,
You are like the wings of a dove covered with silver,
And its pinions with glistening gold.
When the Almighty scattered the kings there,
It was snowing in Zalmon." Ps 68.11-14 (NAS)

So, in the face of God's power, the power of earthly kings is as ephemeral as snow in desert mountains. God will bring victory to his people. And his people remember. Again and again, they relive the victory. The victors are the ones who are, after all, around to remember and relive. Those who fight God vanish from life and from memory.

Later, when the Israelites had to deal with oppression at the hands of the five kings of Philistia (Judges through 1 Sam 7), you have to believe that they were remembering the victory over five other kings, and wondering when God would act. God did. God sent a man after his own heart, and the five kings of Philistia disappear like snow on a May mountain.

But things aren't always that simple. In previous devotionals, we've talked about the reality that God doesn't always deliver victories in the way that we would want. But what is interesting is that, for his people, not only are we allowed to remember the victories which God has handed us, but we can remember the losses which he has allowed us to suffer. Losses which both test and build our faith.

But still, as faithful Israelites, we remember and hope.

Grace and peace,

Ron