Friday, March 30, 2012

Psalm 34 - Somebody Sees You

The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are attentive to their cries.

The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them and delivers them from all their troubles. 

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.  A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.  (vs. 15-19)

What an amazing thought that we can be in a relationship with the Most High God, Creator of everything, Sustainer of life, Judge of all, King of kings, and the Alpha and Omega!   Abba.  Father.  Adopted into the royal household by the sacrifice of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the Lamb.  Ripped in two is the veil that separated us at the time when David wrote this song to his God.  The Day of Atonement now every day as once for all the sacrifice for our sins has been paid and we are declared right with God.  Righteous.

When I cry out from any circumstance, I am heard.  My Father watches over me - He's looking out for me and looking at me.  If I am in a mess, even if I made it myself, He is there to straighten things out.  No wonder David goes there in this psalm, given that he pretended to be a madman before the king of Gath.  Might have been a bit hard to get his self-worth back in order after that.  Alone in a cave, drying the drool from his beard, he thanks God that in spite of it all, God got him out of Gath.  God was listening to him in his need.  Imagine!  God's ears open to us 24-7. 

When my children were infants I heard them crying in the middle of the night even though they were a room away.  It is an uncanny "mother thing" to sense the needs of her baby.  And, when they were in the nursery, I could discern my child's cry over the rest of the squalling babies in their cribs.  So my God hears my cry.  Looks to me out of all those around me and picks me up to comfort and deliver me.  In His time. 

What breaks my heart, breaks His heart.  The word for brokenhearted is crushed.  Been crushed lately?  By life?  Contrite?  Pliable?  With a hug,  God says He will help.  I love Micah 7:8-9 for its promises about what He does when we are crushed, especially by our own mistakes.

Do not gloat over me, my enemy.  I have fallen, but I will get up again.  Though I sit in the shadow of darkness now, the Lord will be a light for me.  I have sinned against the Lord so He is angry with me, but He will plead my case in court.  He will bring me out into the light and I will see Him set things right.

I am still His kid.  Mistakes and all.  When I cry out, desperate for my Father's help, He is there.  He isn't winking His eye over what I might have done.  I will bear the brunt of my disobedience, but He will still deliver me and make me right again.  Only He can do that.  Because One stands in the courtroom judged in my place.  Taking the fair punishment for my sin, declaring my debt paid in full.  This is my reason NOT to sin.  To stay close to my Abba. 

Being righteous is a choice.  Not to be a perfect person, but to acknowledge One.  If I had turned my back on my child so that you could be His sister, I would expect the one died for to have a grateful heart.  To understand what had happened and bow to it.  How much more God, come down as flesh to die as the sacrificial Lamb, expects recognition and obedience.  If not, these promises do not apply.  God turns His face away from those who blatantly reject Him.  They are left to fend for themselves. 

The Lord redeems his servants.   No one who takes refuge in Him will be condemned! Vs.22

There is, therefore, now, NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1

If you know Him, you don't have to live under condemnation any more.....and shouldn't put others under there either.  We are redeemed...bought back to take refuge in Him.  No bad seed kids.  Nothing that can separate us from His love....not even US!!!  Why would we choose another way?  Take refuge in a life that condemns us to failure? 

O, magnify the Lord with me!  I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Psalm 34 - It Only Takes a Taste

Taste and see that the Lord is good.  How happy is the man who takes refuge in Him!  You who are His holy ones, fear Yahweh, for those who fear Him lack nothing.  Young lions lack food and go hungry, but those who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing.

Come, children, and listen to me.  I will teach you the fear of the Lord.  Who is the man who delights in life, loving a long life to enjoy what is good?  Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech.  Turn away from evil and do what is good.  Seek peace and pursue it.
(vs 8-14)

I am wondering what taste I have left in the mouths of people with whom I have come in contact.  I know of some times when, if others were looking to me for what my God is like, they would now be eternally disenchanted with Him.  Meeting up with me has left a bad taste in their mouths.  I am hoping, though, that on the whole, I am "fearing" Him - revering His name - enough that those who meet me want a bit more of Him.

If you have "tasted" the world's fare, you know what its appetites are:  pleasure and power.  How counterintuitive are we to choose the world's way, though.  When seeking the pleasures of the world, it always becomes apparent they are fleeting and ultimately not very fulfilling because the need for more creates a bottomless pit.  Like a barrel with a hole in the bottom, we fill up only to need refilling.  Never satiated, we are then addicted. 

Having been left with an empty soul, the pleasures dried up and the power to choose ultimately purloined from us by our very desire for it, what then can the world offer up?  Hungry and wizened, we taste a different life.  First only a whiff of something better.  A fragrance on which wafts the scent of hope.  A promise of living water and bread that fills completely our deepest hunger.  A nail-scarred hand offers up the bread and wine.  Taste it.  See?  It is good.

God's holy ones are not holy because we live a life of perfection.  That is not possible, and our God knows that.  We are holy because He made us that way by coming in our place to taste the bitterness of our punishment.  Because we revere that sacrifice and  understand it to be our redemption.  That is the reason we are His holy ones.  That is not an invitation to be a "goody-goody," but to know Him intimately. 

Knowing Him, how should I then act?  Because every good thing in my life comes from Him.  I have the joy of His provision and protection!  Manna.  Daily.  Lacking nothing because of the miracle of His mercy. My response to such compassion surrounding my life should be a no-brainer.  But just in case we might not "get" it, David directs our actions.  Watch what I say.  Watch what I do.  Stay aware from evil and decide to do good.  Seek peace.  Pursue peace.  This is the way to enjoy what is good.  The way to keep from walking in condemnation.  Sounds easier than it is, some days.  Thank God for His Holy Spirit Who makes living the Christian life possible. 

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, O Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer.  Psalm 19:14


Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Psalm 34 - Shine On

Those who look to him are radiant and their faces shall never be ashamed.  This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him from his troubles.  The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them.  (vs. 5-7)

I taught high school in a small suburban school when I was twenty-one and just out of college.  Many of  my students were only a couple of years younger than I, and they would spend time with me when I worked in the library.  It is to be around me for long without my talking about the Lord as a matter of course.  So it happened that one of the senior boys asked me where I got such shiny eyes.  He wanted some.  I explained that when a person becomes a Christian, Christ lives in her.  If he saw anything radiant in me, it was Christ. 

Remember when Moses came down from the mountain with the tablets?  The people could not look directly at him because he had been in the presence of God and was far too bright to look at straight on. 

When Moses came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.  The people were afraid to come near him...and when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. 

Whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out.  And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded, the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face was shining.  Exodus 34

Being in the presence of the Lord should change us.  We should be marked by it.  Not that we will necessarily know it any more than Moses did when he came down from the mountain ,unaware of the brilliance engulfing him.  Moses received the law from God and the glory of God was evident in the radiance of his face.  And the law brought condemnation for sin.  Moses wore the veil to conceal the fact that the glory was fading away, according to Paul, in 2 Corinthians 3. 

Since we have such hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end....Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts.  But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.  Now, the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to the next.  For this comes from the Lord Who is Spirit.

Christ in us.  Shining through us.  Making our faces glow with His radiance.  More and more we should be looking like our Father.  His essence on our lives like perfume that clings to the body and leaves its aroma on those we touch.  The little tabernacles we have become as Christ dwells among us through the Spirit should be making more and more room for His Presence daily.  A cleaner, brighter sanctuary where the glory of our God radiates, creating an ever more compassionate heart, greater spiritual wisdom, higher thoughts, and undaunted faith. 

Never doubt that you have the full army of God on your side because you are His.  Christ is in you.  The One Who could have called tens of thousands of angels to save Himself from the cross.  The One Who showed Himself powerful back in the days of Abraham.  The One Who declared, "Before Abraham was, I AM."  He commands not only the storms to cease and the waters to part, but created them by the Word of His mouth.  Because you are His, you are protected by His angels.  They war for you today.  Even if it takes them a while to circumvent the enemy as they had to with Daniel, the Lord's army fights for you and me today.  Call them forth on your behalf today by the Spirit of the Living God who makes His home in you.  In the name of Christ, Who commands their every move, they will deliver you into His plans for your life, out of the hands of the enemy.

The Spirit of God awaits us.  Yearns for us to come into His Presence where there is light and life.  He is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.  The closer we come to Him the more radiant our lives will be.  Lit from within, we should light up the world.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Psalm 34 - A Drooling Maniac

I will bless the Lord at all times.  His praise shall continually be in my mouth.  My soul shall make its boast in the Lord.  The humble shall hear it and be glad.  O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears. (vs. 1-4)

Know the story behind this psalm of David's.  It is a crazy one!  Literally.

David is being pursued by Saul, who wants to kill him because Saul is jealous of David and does not want him to become king in his place.  So David runs to Ahimelech, the priest, where David is given holy bread to eat and the sword of Goliath to fight with.  Doeg, the Edomite, Saul's head shepherd, gets wind of David's whereabouts, forcing David to flee the country.

David went to Gath.  The servants of the king there, Achish, recognized him and went to their king.  "Isn't that David, the king of the land?  Isn't he the one everyone sings about having killed tens of thousands while Saul killed his thousands?"

Petrified, scared silly, David decided to act like a madman.  Would that be your first disguise?  To look like you had lost your mind?  Oh, it was convincing.  David stooped to dribbling saliva into his beard, pretended not to know what he was saying, scribbled nonsense on the doors of the king's gate - completely humiliated himself in the king's presence.

Achish was impressed, but not in a good way.  "Why did you bring this crazy man to me?  Aren't there enough madmen that you have to bring this one into my home?"  With the wave of the king's hand, David escaped his enemy and hurried away to hide in a cave in Adullam.

Funny, though.  When everyone heard that he was back, they all came to David's cave.  Not only his family, but many who were malcontents, in debt or in distress.  In all, about four hundred men, who understood how desperate one would have to be to slobber like a madman and speak in jumbled jargon in order to escape all that bound them.  They became known as David and his mighty men. 

So, David sits down to write a song to His God for salvation from Achish and Saul.  No wonder he begins with:  "I will bless the Lord at all times.  His praise shall continually be in my mouth."  No more speaking like a crazy man.  Words of  praise and rejoicing.  David had been saved from a petrifying situation.  One king after him and another before him - neither of them with kindly intentions toward this would-be king, David.  And, of course, when those who had also been oppressed - the humble - heard of his escape, however ignominious it was, they were so excited that they did come to him.  Misfit to misfit.  A mighty group of outcasts who bonded together over their common fears and misery.

Did God tell David to salivate and rage like a madman?  The Bible doesn't say.  David was on the run without a plan and the only protection he had was Goliath's sword, which wasn't gonna do much good in his situation in Gath.  Here is what I think.  David thought up the plan on the spur of the moment. Act crazy.  See if they buy it.  Humiliating, yes, but it just might work.  Why did it work?  Because God, horrified as He might have been at the drooling David, king of Israel, blessed the insane idea.  Used it to free his child from danger.  Further used this silly plan to gain David an army of people that no one else wanted.  Brave men with nothing else to lose.  Brilliant.

I have done things in my own flesh that have been crazy, too.  I might as well have dribbled spit and spoken gibberish.  But God, only because of His great love and desire to rescue me, took my ignorance and actually made a plan out of it.  Worked around my humanity to inspire it with His glory.  Took a mess and mopped it up, leaving beauty instead.  No wonder David sings, "O magnify the Lord with me!  He delivered me from all my fears!" 

Friday, March 23, 2012

Psalm 33 - A Closet Full of Love

We rejoice in Him because we trust His holy name.  Lord, show Your love to us as we put our hope in you.  (vs 21-22)

"For I am the Lord, their God, and I will answer them...and their hearts will be glad as if from wine.  Indeed, their children will see it and be glad.  Their heart will rejoice in the Lord." Zechariah 10

"The Lord your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior.  He will exult over you with joy.  He will be quiet in His love.  He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy."  Zephaniah 3

I said on Facebook a couple days ago that I wish I were perfect.  Not to misunderstand.  I know I never will be, for I am a branch that needs much pruning.  However, the reason for this desire is pretty simple.  The Father's face. 

It is all about reciprocal love.  To love my Father, the Mighty Warrior, with the same fervor with which He loves me.  To do for Him without having to be asked.  To heed the turn of His head or the cut of His eye because I know His character and His ways so well that speech isn't necessary.  So that every day when the lights go out, my Father has a smile on His face because He knows He is loved and honored in my life. 

I remember a time when I was a young mother left behind to care for our babies while Bill went to Atlanta to prepare us a new home there.  His job took him to Georgia, and I needed to sell our house.  Three months went by.  Nothing.  In the particular week of my near breakdown, the air conditioning broke, leaving us sweaty and miserable in the middle of summer.  My kidneys decided to become infected and I was propositioned at the local Dairy Queen while drowning my sorrows in french fries and a DQ Dude sandwich. (It is a chicken-fried steak hamburger...Oh, my gosh!)  I came home on that night, put the girls to bed, and went into the stifling closet to pray.

"My Father, what are You doing?  What do you want from me?"  Tears flowing down my face. 

After a few minutes, I knew my real desire was:  "Just let me know that You love me."  Needed to be reassured and touched, really.

What happened then still is mesmerizing to me.  I have experienced it since, but not in the same intensity as that night in the closet.  Quiet before my God, He came into the closet and wrapped me up in Himself.  In waves of knowing.  No words.  From me or Him.  Simply being held close by His quiet love.  My Father exulting over me, perhaps singing a lullaby to quiet the storm of my troubled day.  My circumstances were surrounded by His love and purpose.  That was what I needed to know.

The next day Bill called from Atlanta.  "I know what God is doing now, Kay."

Not surprised.  Are you?

"The whole company is moving to California.  If we had moved we would have bought a house in the wrong state!  God has been protecting us all along!"  Bill ecstatic....exultant...rejoicing "as if from wine."

The house sold shortly thereafter.  We moved to Atlanta for six weeks, keeping our belongings in storage until the move to California.  We rented next door to a woman who needed Jesus.  I loved her and we became friends immediately.  Within two weeks, she had given her life to the Lord.  We baptised her in the swimming pool.  Then we were gone.  God's plan involved so much more than our not buying a house there.  He wanted us in the right place for the salvation of one of His dear children.  The day she came to Him, I know He shouted joyfully! 

Though it often seems like we are part of a heavenly chess game where the pieces are manipulated for the win, I know we are part of God's eternal plan of salvation.  His win is our dwelling with Him forever.  Our knowing Him now in joyful union so that when we are there we are exultant in His presence.  And when we recognize that His plan has been in place all along, and it is for our good and His glory, what can we do but shout, "Hallelujah!"

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Psalm 33 - Heart to Heart

The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations.  He frustrates the plans of the people.  The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation.

He Who fashions the hearts of them all understands all their works.

The king is not saved by a mighty army.  A warrior is not delivered by great strength.  A horse is false hope for victory, nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength.

Our soul waits for the Lord.  He is our help and our shield.  For our heart rejoices in Him.

I think we forget that our God feels things.  That He is guided by His heart for His children. 

On August 3, 1974, I looked for the first time on a child of mine.  She weighed eight pounds and seven ounces and had perfectly shaped little red lips.  A few minutes later a nurse put her into my arms and I was smitten forever by my baby.  I would have killed to protect her.  Knitted into my heart was a compassion for her unfamiliar to me until that moment.  I felt protective, awed, nurturing and responsible.  My husband and I thanked God for the gift in our arms and vowed to care for her as the precious loan from Him that she still is. 

How then, do you think our Father feels toward His children?  Ours is at best only an adequate response to parenting.  His, the perfect one.  His heart fashioned each of us before the person formed by egg and sperm began the cell multiplication process.  To Him we were a heart first.  He knew the inner woman before He wrapped it in flesh. 

When  Heather was about three years old, she pulled at my dress tail, wanting to tell me something important.  I stooped to look into her face.  "Mommy, I really miss Jesus.  It's been about 4 years since I've seen Him."  Hmmm.  I do not discount the fact that she truly could have had a yearning for a previous union with Christ that her physical body had cut in on.  A spiritual memory of a time when His heart made hers and they fellowshipped together. 

I believe that heaven is a place where thoughts and emotions are transferred by the heart.  Words are  unnecessary...too inadequate.  We are flesh-covered spirit.  Freed from that one day we will communicate heart to heart.

God, then, Who fashioned us and knows our heart, wants us to know His.  His heart for generations of people has been the catalyst for His plans for them.  He held us in His hands and thought about what His intentions for us, and the generations previous and to follow, would be.  He did not simply create us.  He created our way.....in love.  He holds us in His arms as we walk it.  Horses don't save us.  Armies don't fight for us.  Nations don't make plans without His intervention.  Kings do not rise and fall arbitrarily. All revolve around the plans God's heart has made.  For those of us who live in reverence of our Lord, we can put our trust in His great love to deliver and save us.  It is He we wait for.  Against all odds sometimes, we trust that the love our God has for us will pull us out of every difficulty or see us through it to the end.  That is why my heart rejoices in Him.  Because He is my Father and I love Him.  I was created to love Him.  I was formed so He could love me.

"If you come back to Me and trust Me,  you will be saved.  If you will be calm and trust Me, you will be strong."

But you don't want to do that.  You say, "No, we need horses to run away on."  So, you will run away on horses.  You say, "We will ride on fast horses."  So those who chase you will be fast.

You will be left alone like a flagpole on a hilltop - like a banner on a hill.

The Lord wants to show mercy to you.  He wants to rise and comfort you. The Lord is a fair God, and everyone who waits for His help will be happy.  Isaiah 30



Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Psalm 33 - It Isn't Santa Who's Watching What You Do

The Lord looks down from heaven. He sees all the children of men. From where He sits enthroned He looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth - He Who fashions the hearts of them all - and observes their deeds. (vs 13-15) Behold the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him and those who hope in His steadfast love, that He may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. (vs 18-19) Yesterday I was not proud of myself. In my prayer time that morning the Lord gently reminded me that before I started our conversation, I had an issue I needed to repent of. The sorry thing is, I didn't realize I had done anything wrong until He called my attention to it. If I told you what I had done you might actually laugh that I took it to heart. A common fib, really, that helped a client get the service on a property that needed to be done right away. I was even rewarded with comments about how smart I was to do it that way. So, add pride to lying and I was quite the sinner on Monday! Shame at first. Lying is for first graders who don't know better. So, I sat on the back porch in the sunshine wishing for a perfection I don't possess and crying tears of remorse....mostly over the fact that I did not even recognize it as sin until my Father called me on it! Put His finger on my pulse to check my heart toward Him. God is busy, you say, and unconcerned about Kay's little white lies. But apparently, you would be wrong. He is very concerned about how my heart affects my deeds! My heart is His throne and He should be comfortable sitting upon it as He observes my action. He forgave me yesterday! I know this. I love Him and He loves me, but I am forgiven because of His never-wavering immutability. I confess that it was hard to shake off the guilt and go on with my prayers, but that would have been counter-productive because the sin that separated us until I confessed was gone and other things were pressing on my Father and me. His eyes are looking at me. At my face. At my heart. At my motives. It delights Him to observe my heart when I revere His holiness. It brings joy to Him that I understand He loves me so much as a bloodwashed child of His who trusts in His great, unfathomable benevolence and mercy! He is happy that I "get" what He has provided for me. So, yes, He was looking at me when I blew it the other day. I don't want Him to let me get away with things that dishonor Him. I need a reprimand sometimes and wouldn't get one if He didn't care about my heart toward Him. I want to be more intentional about my behavior in light of what is registering on my Father's face when He watches me. He Who made my heart is interested in what I am doing with it.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Psalm 33 - Stand to Your Feet and Cheer

The heavens were made by the word of the Lord and all the stars by the breath of His mouth.  He gathers the waters of the sea into a heap.  He puts the depths into storehouses.

Let the whole earth tremble before the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.  For He spoke and it came into being.  He commanded and it all came into existence. (vs 6-9)

Ever think about what the world stands up and claps for?  Even shouts for?  Football.  Basketball.  Soccer.  Movies.  Plays.  Symphonies.  Races.  Celebrities.  Dog shows.  Award ceremonies.  You get my drift.  People kill each other over sports events gone wrong.  They spend the night on the sidewalk in order to see their favorite star at the Academy Awards.  I think it shows that our hearts are made for adoration.  We seem to need the outpouring of our praise.  The primal urge to cheer loudly for our side. 

What ifGod Himself came to stand in the arena?  The One Whose very words commanded creation to exist and breathed the stars out of His mouth like so many bubbles from a bubble soap wans.  Whose arms are strong enough to gather up the world's water and put it into a storehouse for later use.  The God Whose electric power thunders throughout heaven, generating lightning, emerald rainbows and eternal worship.  He Who rules politics and decides eternal and earthly justice.  What if the invisible God took a step down to us to show His might?  What would we do?

Of course, He did.  And we killed Him.  He knew we would. 

But that did not change Who He is.  Clothed in love, its very definition, He died so we could live to praise Him yet.  Once more His foot will step onto this earth and this time it will be a very different scenario.

Then I saw heaven opened and there was a white horse.  Its rider is called Faithful and True, and He judges and makes war in righteousness.  His eyes were like a fiery flame, and many crowns were on His head.  He had a name written that no one knows except Himself.  He wore a robe stained with blood, and His name is The Word of God.  The armies that were in heaven followed Him on white horses, wearing pure white linen.  A sharp sword came from His mouth, so that He might strike the nations with it.  ...and He has a name written on His robe and on His thigh:
                                       KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.  Revelation 19

Would you camp out all night to see that?  How terrifying to see the heavens open up today and God Himself charging out of heaven on a white horse with the armies of the Almighty streaming en masse behind Him ready for battle!  No wondering then Who He is.  Written on His thigh...and His robe...just in case you missed it...is His Name.  No Queen Elizabeth or George Clooney.  Not a U.S. President or a foreign dignitary.  Not either of the Manning brothers or Lady Gaga.  But the invisible Creator become visible coming to us ready to judge what He has made.  Might you tremble just a little?  Could you even stand in awe?  Thinking I might hit the dirt with the first angel's shout.  When my God shows up in person.

Looking around this morning, there are so many marks of His previous footfall upon this earth.  Design and order speak of His workmanship.  This God whose love and kindness is unfailing.  The absolute miracle of the Holy Spirit within me awes my heart into submission to His voice.  This omnipotent Yahweh Who allows the earth to spin another day out of His pure desire to see it tremble at His voice and stand in awe of His creative genius, lets us try again today to honor His sovereignty.  To bow our knees and confess His Lordship before He comes again to make that mandatory.  To love Him because we know Him, not submit to Him because He will one day make all mankind subservient and judge their works based on their relationship to Him. 

Rise to your feet in awe with me today of the God Who holds this tiny spinning sphere in His magnificent hands.  Tremble at the great power He has to crush the tiny ball, disrupting our often petty lives with real concerns.  Pray lest He tilt the earth just the tiniest bit and the mountains are covered with waters and the waters reveal their depths.  Bow your knee to the Wonderful Counselor, the Prince of Peace, the Mighty God and the Everlasting Father while you can do so with a willing heart, for He is awesome in power and never failing in love.  And one day, all the inhabitants of the world will stand in awe of Him, acknowledging even from hell, that He is, indeed, God.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Psalm 33 - Wear What Becomes You

Sing for joy in the Lord, O you righteous ones!  Praise is becoming to the upright.  Give thanks to the Lord with the Lyre.  Sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings.  Sing to Him a new song.  Play skillfully with a shout of joy.  (vs. 1-3)

I looked at a friend the other night and thought how gorgeous she looked in the purple shirt she was wearing.  It became her.  It made the most of her skin, hair, and eye color.  It made me want to look at her, drawing me to the beauty it enhanced.  She should always wear that color, I told her.  Perfect.  It made the perfect use of her God-given attributes.

Praise becomes the Christian just like that.  It looks good on us.  It makes the most of our experience with our Father and His Son, our Savior.  The world cannot do this.  They do not know how.  Those without Christ can only don the decorations of the society in which they exist.  That sparkle in the eyes and peace at the center is rare among those without Christ, and sadly, among those of us who do as well. 

"Put on the mantle of praise for the spirit of heaviness.."  Our directive.  Wear it even when you are unsure...when you hurt.  Because as Christians, at our core, we know that everything works for our good if we belong to Him.  No promise exists like that for the world.  Random pain.  Random joy.  That is what they know.  But we....we have the assurance that we will sing a new song when the troubles have passed.

I remember several times in our marriage that Bill and I made a conscious effort to praise the Lord in our pain or trouble.  It changed the face we were wearing.  No more grimace.  No more "oh, pity me."  We put on praise like a garment and wore it knowing our God will prevail.

I also remember times when I did not do this.  I have pictures to prove how it looked on me.  Devastated and doubting.  Too thin.  Bags under my eyes.  Carrying not only my pain but also my subsequent sin.  It did NOT become me.  Especially as a child of God who is supposed to know Him, trust Him, love Him.  Children of royalty should not go about in rags of rage and disappointment.

So, sing with me if you know Him!  Sing songs of praise so loudly that your neighbors will think you have lost your mind!  I saw a lady in the car behind me singing at the top of her voice today, and it became her.  Something in her heart was lit and she bellowed it, melodically or not, to the air inside her car.  How can we do less when we are redeemed, restored, forgiven, loved and adopted!  Sing for the pure joy of being a child of the Most High God.  It looks really good on you!

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Psalm 32 - Sorrow is Sometimes a Choice

Many are the sorrows of the wicked.  But he who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness shall surround him. 
Be glad and rejoice in the Lord, you righteous ones, and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart!  (vs. 10-11)

The wicked in this psalm are those who do the opposite of those who are upright.  The upright are those who live by God's standard - play by His rules.  I know this is offensive to some who read the Bible.  But really, what are the standards by which we should live our lives?  And, why would God ask us to obey His law?

Thou shalt not kill.  Thou shalt not covet.  Thou shalt not commit adultery.  Thou shalt not have any gods before Me.  Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all your heart.....the "thou shalt not's" are pretty standard rules for moral living.  Most "good" people who don't believe in God would agree to these rules.  Even the ones about not having other gods - alcoholism, drug addiction, etc.  God's standards are good for us! 

The question then becomes why would we not obey Him?   Well, because He is Him....Someone telling us what to do.  Wanting glory for Himself.   Making us bow to His every whim.  Having our freedom to choose taken away from us because of His arbitrary whims.  Because, as I have heard atheists opine, He is an angry, malevolent, vengeful, hateful God.  If He is done away with in terms of how we live our lives, we can choose our own paths.  Disregard His hand in the purposes of our lives. That is why.

It is personal with the wicked.  They decide to go the other way.  To live by a different standard.  It is not that they don't understand what God wants.  It is that they don't wanna do it!  Who is He to tell them how to live, this elusive God whose face we cannot see and whose hand they do not recognize?  But even the compassion of the psalmist toward the wicked is a glimpse at the heart of God.  Many are the sorrows of the wicked.  And where is their comfort?  To whom do they turn for help?  A life without God will ultimately become empty, and the mistakes those who reject him make will trail after them, leaving a path strewn randomly with grand efforts or misguided gestures.  And in the last moment, when the joy of those who trust in God is climactic for the joy of seeing His face, the one who has turned His back on God will have sorrow on sorrow.

Compare that to what the righteous are offered, in this life and the next.  We who trust in Christ, who know our God and desire to live up to His standards, are wrapped in love and kindness.  Surrounded in our every endeavor - even sleeping - with the great agape of  our Father.  It is not that we have become perfect!  Far from it!  But God, our Father, gave us a Gift.  Reached down from heaven and handed us a "get out of jail free" pass.  Redeemed us by offering Himself in our place, to take our punishment for the fact that we will never be good enough for Him.  Never able on our own to accomplish righteousness.  So, He became our righteousness.  I would be a fool not to take this precious gift from His outstretched palm! 

The joy of redemption.....knowing I deserve hell and have been granted heaven...should make me sing!  And shout!  This angry God of the Bible consistently cries out to His people to repent and come back because He loves them and will forgive them!  Never does He want the wicked to perish....never does He even want the wicked to exist!  He wants everyone to know Him.  From the least to the greatest.  He is love.  And lest you think the God of the Old Testament was sitting in wrathful judgment, just waiting to annihilate mankind, listen to what He says He will do on the Day of Atonement once a year when the priest offers the sacrifice for the people:

It is on this day that the priests will make you clean so that you will belong to the Lord again.  All your sins will be removed. (Leviticus 16:30) 

ALL.....every heinous thing.  Not one left out.  The God of the Old Testament, willing to forgive anything when you come before Him repentant and humble.  Covered in sacrificial blood that had been sprinkled on the priest's garments and on the altar where God Himself came near.  So that we belong to Him again.  So that He can dwell in and among us, which is the very purpose of our existence.  What sorrow to not know this God.  To refuse His love.  To carry the weight of our own wrong actions.  To die without understanding that we could have lived with greater purpose.  To await an uncertain eternity where He is not present.  That while we dance and shout the great praises of our mighty God and Father, wailing and sorrow await those who just could not believe in Him. 

I praise you, Lord!  You were angry with me, but you are not angry with me now!  You have comforted me.  God is the one who saves me; I will trust Him and not be afraid.  The Lord, the Lord gives me strength and makes me sing!  He has saved me!

You will receive your salvation with joy as you would draw water from a well!
Isaiah 12

Amen!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Psalm 32 - Rather Not Have My Hand Spanked Again

For this reason, all who know You should pray to You while they still can.  When troubles rise like a flood, they shall not reach them.  You are my hiding place.  You protect me from my troubles and fill me with songs of salvation.  (vs. 6-7)

We who have been steeped in Christianity for many years understand the difficulty of being real with ourselves about our sins.  That is because "others" commit adultery, drink too much, abuse their kids, gossip, cheat, steal, watch porn, or lie.  We?  We know better.  So, when we catch ourselves involved in sin, we usually hide it because we think we are the only Christians in our church who are struggling.  Churchgoers are not supposed to have the same besetting problems as the world does.  It is often a nearly impossible environment in which to be transparent.  The reality is, though, that we are human beings who understand their need for God and allow Him to transform us into His image.  But, we still have a need to be transformed!  Better to confess our frailty than to ignore it.  We aren't fooling the world.  They see our hypocrisy.  So, while you still can, before you lose everything dear to you because you have kept your sin a secret, confess it to someone safe.

Hilarious, really, that we think God won't see.  The longer we involve ourselves in a sin, the easier it is to justify it.  There is no light on it so we go on and on.  But the soul dries up.  We cannot look God in the face....or if we think we still can, we don't understand our relationship with Him.  We cannot trust that He will hear us because we have traveled so far afield. We have lost confidence that He will come through for us.  Don't get me wrong!  I don't think for a minute that He no longer loves us when we sin.  But we have broken the integrity of the relationship we have with Him.  Eventually, just like infidelity in a marriage or the all-consuming ramifications of drug/alcohol addiction, we switch loyalties.  That breaks the heart of God just as it breaks the heart of a husband.

"Even the prophets and priests all tell lies.  They tried to heal my people's serious injuries as if they were small wounds.  They said, 'It's all right.  It's all right.'  But, really, it's not all right.  They should be ashamed of the terrible way they act, but they are not ashamed at all.  They don't even know how to blush about their sins......Stand where the roads cross and look!  Ask where the old way is - where the good way is, and walk on it!  If  you do, you will find rest for yourselves." God, Jeremiah 6

"But suppose the wicked stop doing all the sins they have done and obey all my rules and do what is fair and right.  Then they will surely live.  They shall not die.  Their sins will be forgotten!  ...I do not really want the wicked to die," says the Lord.  "I want them to stop their bad ways and live!"....

"Change your hearts and stop all your sinning so sin will not bring your ruin.  Get rid of the sins you have done and get for yourselves a new heart and a new way of thinking."  God.  Ezekiel 18

Ever carried guilt around?  Boy, I sure have.  And you think the one you have sinned against, especially God, will never see you the same way after you let her know you are deeply flawed.  And, frankly, sometimes she doesn't.  Some people cannot take the fact that we are human.  I hate it, too.  But I am.  I truly believe that, given the right (wrong) circumstances, we are all capable of any heinous thing.  And, unless we know that, we are doomed to covering our transgressions in self-righteousness.....And God hates that more than anything! 

Heather, our oldest child, was in her two's when she came into the living room where the little ruler we called a "rod" hung from the side of the fireplace on a nail.  We never beat her with it, but she had had her hand slapped a few times for getting too close to the fire or for other harmful infractions.  I was in the kitchen making bread when Heather came and pulled my shirt and took me over to the rod.  I took it down so she could look at it.  That is not what she wanted.  Punishment was her desire.  She had done something she knew was wrong and just wanted to be done with the guilt of it.  I took her in my arms, and held her and kissed her.  I had no idea what she'd done and wasn't about to spank her for anything. 

"I sorry, Mommy,"  she said.

It did not matter what she was repenting from.  She just wanted to have a free heart to run and play without thinking about the matter any more.

Saved herself a heap of trouble, probably.  I still don't know what she did.  Forgot all about it.  Because her heart was tender toward obedience and sensitive to her sin.  That is all our Father wants.  A quick, "I'm sorry."  Then we can live in the freedom of our relationship with Him and in the assurance that when the floods rise, He will take us up.  Delivered from guilt!  Sins vanquished!  We can sing, "I know my Redeemer lives!"  We can point to the rod before He has to be free to run and play.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Psalm 32 - Dragged By A Hook In His Nose

When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long.  For day and night Your hand was heavy on me.  My strength was drained as in the summer's heat.  Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not conceal my iniquity.  I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord," and You took away the guilt of my sin.  (vs. 3-5)

I once heard a minister tell his congregation:  "Confess your secret sins before the Lord has to expose them to everyone."  Hmm.  Things done in private that need light shed on them.  Talked a couple of weeks ago to a young woman whose husband confessed he had been watching porn since their marriage less than a year ago.  Of course, she felt betrayed and cheated on, but I was impressed with the integrity of her groom.  Not, of course, that he had been watching porn while she was at work, but that he had been honest enough and courageous enough to admit a secret sin.  Secret sins can go on forever sometimes.  But if you are a child of God, He will not allow it forever.  He cannot abide our covert unholiness for very long, and He will be as gentle with us as we will allow Him.  But there always comes a time when He has had enough. 

Manasseh became king of Judah when he was twelve years old and for fifty-five years he reigned.  But he was an evil king.  In the temple of the Lord, he built altars to worship the stars, practiced witchcraft, sacrificed his children on a fiery altar in Ben Hinnom, and became a fortuneteller who got advice from other mediums.  There was even a shrine to Asherah, implying that God had a concubine in the heavenly realm.  In other words, Manasseh made the Lord really mad!  Finally, Manesseh carved an idol and put it in the Lord's Temple designed and built by Solomon in Jerusalem.  The Temple was a picture of God's covenant with His people, and Manasseh did the last "in Your face" thing to His God that the Lord could stand. 

Where did Manasseh end up?  A captive of the Assyrian army, Manasseh wound up with rings in his nose and chains on his arms and legs as he was dragged in shame through the streets of Babylon.  Like a beast of burden, Manasseh felt the shame of His God.  Jeering masses laughed at him as the sweat poured down his face and the coarse sand chafed his naked body.  Humiliated and dethroned, Manasseh finally did something right.  He begged the Lord, his God, for help and humbled himself before the Lord of his ancestors.

Probably, if I were God for a day, I would say, "Manasseh, you idiot!  You have shamed me before all of Judah, loved other gods, sexually violated women, incinerated your own children, and set up false altars in my holy place.  Eat dirt!"   But our God?  He heard him and had pity on him.  Let him return to Jerusalem and to his kingdom.  Then...Manesseh knew that He was the true God....

You know what Manasseh did after that?  He loved His God.

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, so Jesus went into the Pharisee's house and sat at the table.  A sinful woman in the town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house.  So she brought an alabaster jar of perfume and stood behind Jesus at His feet, crying.  She began to wash His feet with her tears, and she dried them with her hair, kissing them many times and rubbing them with perfume.  When the Pharisee who asked Jesus to come to his house saw this, he thought, "If Jesus were a prophet, he would know that the woman touching Him is a sinner.".....

"You are right,"  Jesus said to Simon, the Pharisee.  Then Jesus turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Simon, do you see this woman?  When I came into your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.  You gave me no kiss of greeting, but she has been kissing my feet since I came in.   You did not put oil on my head, but she poured perfume on my feet.  I tell you that her many sins are forgiven, so she showed great love.   But the person who is forgiven only a little will love only a little."

Then Jesus said to her:  "Your sins are forgiven."

Oh, don't hide from the Lord any longer what He already sees.  It is a heavy burden to sin secretly and carries a heavier and heavier price the longer you keep it in the dark.  One day enough light will be shed on it that like a roach in the glare of a flashlight, your sin will be revealed for all to see.  Better to acknowledge it now before the God of mercy when it is just between you and Him.  Otherwise, there will be a hook in your nose and you will be led down the streets of town for all to see.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Psalm 32 - Don't Be A Donkey

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.  I will counsel you with My eye upon you.  Be not like a horse or mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.  (vs. 8-9)

This morning was distressing for someone I love so much.  Too many leaves on the path in front of her to see the sidewalk.  Too many voices in her head screaming her inadequacies.  Hope hanging by a thread because her vision was trying either to focus too far down the path or see clearly the foggy moment.  She needed counsel.  How she should go.  What her way is.  Her Father has His eye on her.  He thinks about her way.  He knows it intimately from start to finish.  Her job.  Listen with understanding (which also comes from Him....doesn't everything good?)

The alternative is to be like a mule, stubbornly resisting coming to her master because she doesn't know why He is asking her to in the first place.  Would rather chew on the grass (or smoke it) in the corner of the corral which has become comfortable to her.  If the master comes near, she might kick, bray or balk.  He wants to lead the stupid mule to better pasture, but she won't let him near her.  So, because the master cares about this mule he bought, he bridles her and reins her in and makes her obey for her good and his purposes.

I love that there are so many wonderful passages about animals in the Bible.  Here are a few:

You are like a she-camel in mating season that runs from place to place.  You are like a wild donkey that lives in the desert and sniffs the wind at mating time.  At that time, who can hold her back?  (Jeremiah 2)

Israel has become like a pigeon - easy to fool and stupid. ... Israel is like a wild donkey all by itself.  (Hosea 7 and 8)

The people of Israel are stubborn like a stubborn young cow. (Hosea 4)

A beautiful woman without good sense is like a gold ring in a pig's snout. (Proverbs 11)

Each person goes his own way, like a horse charging in battle.  Even the birds in the sky know the right times to do things.  The storks, doves, swifts, and thrushes know when it is time to migrate.  My people don't know what the Lord wants them to do.  (Jeremiah 8)

"Do not be afraid, even though you are as weak as a worm.  I, Myself, will help you," says the Lord.  (Isaiah 41)

A fool who repeats his foolishness is like a dog that goes back to what it has thrown up. (Proverbs 26)

"So, I tell you, don't worry about the food or drink you need to live, or about the clothes you need for your body.  Look at the birds of the air.  They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them.  And you know you are worth more than birds.  You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it."  Jesus  (Matthew 6)

"O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!  How often would I have gathered your children as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!"  Jesus (Luke 13)

God will save you from hidden traps and from deadly diseases.  He will cover you with His feathers, and under his wings you can hide. (Psalm 91)

But why are people important to You?  Why do You care for human beings?  You made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.  You put them in charge of everything You made.  You put all things under their control: all the sheep, the cattle, and the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that lives under the water." (Psalm 8)

Our God reserves the dignity of humanity for His creation.  His greatest desire is that we come willfully and obediently to Him, be covered with His wings, nestled under His feathers, safe and at peace because the Lord God, our Father, knows our way.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Psalm 32 - Left In A Field To Die

How joyful is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!  How joyful is the man the Lord does not charge with sin and in whose spirit is no deceit.  (vs 1-2)

I want to tell the story of our transgression and forgiveness with scripture.  To see from the Old Testament that the heart of our God is the same as the heart of our Christ, His exact representation.  It is the story of an aborted baby, left to die.  It is our story.

"On the day you were born, your cord was not cut.  You were not washed with water to clean you.  You were not rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths.  No one felt sorry enough for you to do any of these things for you.  No!  You were thrown out into the open field, because you were hated on the day you were born. 

When I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, I said to you, 'Live!'  I made you grow like a plant in the field.  You grew up and became tall like a beautiful jewel.  Your breasts formed and your hair grew, but you were naked without clothes. 

Later when I passed by and looked at you,  I saw that you were old enough for love.  So I spread my robe over you and covered your nakedness.  I also made a promise to you and entered into an agreement with you so that you became mine.

Then I bathed you with water, washed all the blood of you, and put oil on you.  I put beautiful clothes made with needlework on you, and put sandals of fine leather on your feet.  I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you in silk.  I put jewelry on you: bracelets on you arms, a necklace around your neck, a ring in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head...you were very beautiful and became a queen.

But you trusted in your beauty.  You became a prostitute because you were so famous.  You had sexual relations with everyone who passed by.   You took some of your clothes and made your places of worship colorful.  There you carried out your prostitution.  These things should never happen!  They should never occur!"  (The Lord God in Ezekiel 16)

"Come back, unfaithful people of Israel," says the Lord God.  "I will stop being angry with you because I am full of mercy!  All you have to do is admit your sin - that you turned against the Lord your God and worshiped gods under every green tree and didn't obey Me!"

"I, the Lord said, 'How happy I would be to treat you as My own children and give you a pleasant land'.....I thought you would call me, 'My Father' and not turn away from Me.' "

"Come back to me, you unfaithful children, and I will forgive you for being unfaithful to Me," says the Lord.    ( The Lord God in Jeremiah 3)

"So when you pray, pray like this:  'Our Father in heaven...'

"The Father Himself loves you."  (Jesus in John 17)

God showed his great love for us in this way:  Christ died for us when we were still sinning. (Romans 5:8)

Happy is the person whose sins are forgiven, whose wrongs are pardoned. Happy is the person whom the Lord does not consider guilty and in whom there is nothing false.

My version:  Hallelujah!  My sins are covered by the blood of Jesus.  I am no longer condemned by my own actions because I have repented of them, and my Father has forgiven me!  Hallelujah!  The Judge of all has lifted my death sentence then taken me into His family as an adopted kid!  I no longer want to hide my sins from Him because I want nothing to come between Him and me.  Thank God He found me, washed me, clothed me and loves me enough to put a crown on my head, jewelry on my arms and neck, and make me His bride.  Happy,  happy am I!!!!!

Friday, March 9, 2012

Psalm 31- What Time Is It?

But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord.  I say, "You are my God."
My times are in Your hand.  Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me. 
Make Your face to shine upon your servant.  Save me in Your lovingkindness.  (vs. 15-16)

There is an appointed time for everything.  And there is a time for every event under heaven - a time to give birth and a time to die.....a time to tear down and a time to build up...a time to weep and a time to laugh....a time to mourn and a time to dance... a time to embrace and a time to shun embracing...a time to love and a time to hate... Ecclesiastes 3

I was asking Bill, my husband, yesterday if he missed the years when our kids were growing up and we went to soccer games, dance lessons and baseball practice.  When we had dinner together every night and then pulled out the flannel board for the nighttime Bible stories.  Saturdays at the park and Sunday night dinners when we ate homemade pizza (couldn't afford to order out) and watched Wonderful World of Disney with the kids.  It occurs to me often that I will never do those things again.  Occasionally, when we are with our grandchildren, we enjoy kid things again for a moment, but they live far away and are not a part of our daily lives.  There is great joy in seeing our daughter parent, though.  Bill's answer: "Not really." He was enjoying happy hour and a quiet house.   A new time for us.

We are drift diving, so to speak, in this life.  The scuba language refers to the current pushing us along in the water.  Life does that.  Sometimes pushing us forward so quickly that our heads swim (pun intended).  But in looking back at the wake we have made, I understand how my "times" have always been in His hands.  In all lives, the circumstances present themselves in different seasons.  As Solomon put it, there is a "time" for everything under the sun.  If we think them arbitrary, there is no wisdom to be gained in our having endured or enjoyed them. 

Here is what I know.  He goes before me, arranging my time here on earth so that I fulfill everything He dreamed for me.  I was fashioned for something.  He thought of me first - thought me up, really.  Knew whose womb I fit into.  Who my mom and dad would be and how they would affect my life.  Gave me a heart to yearn for Him.  Gave me gifts to use.  In my mother's womb predestined my own womb to carry three children.  My times.  His hands don't leave me.  Even when the hands of my enemies grab for my throat, pull my hair, steal my goods, or break my heart.  My God holds up His hand and cries: "Enough!"

I have been in turbulent times, peaceful times and every kind of time in between.  I have forgotten that He has me clasped in a nail-scarred palm.  But He has not.  What time is it for you?  Don't worry.  It, too, is in His hand.  Look up from there to see His face, shining with pleasure on the child of His heart.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Psalm 31 - Nobody Knows The Troubles I've Seen

I will rejoice and be glad in Your love because You saw my suffering.  You knew my troubles.  You have not handed me over to my enemies but have set me in a safe place. (vs. 7-8)

I was in trouble, so I called to the Lord.  The Lord answered me and set me free. Psalm 118

We have troubles all around us, be we are not defeated.  We do not know what to do, but we do not give up hope of living.  We are persecuted, but God does not leave us.  We hurt sometimes, but we are not destroyed.  11 Corinthians 4

Trouble.  Metsar.  Anguish.  An ever-tighter space.  No room to breathe.  Fewer and fewer options.  The four walls around you pressing in, leaving you cramped and unable to move freely.  And you cannot imagine the way out.  Perplexed by the situation, you are tempted to give up.  I have said, in times when I did not understand (which is more often than I want to admit), "What are You doing, Lord?"  The circumstances seemed counterintuitive to what I would have expected.  My head swimming. My life a mess.  I don't get it.

Talked recently with a friend who is right there, right now.  Has had difficulty getting out of bed in the morning and moving forward into the minutes and hours of the day.  So many situations around her over which she has no control, yet wanting to be provide the answer - to fix it all.  That ever-tighter space left her in her bedroom under the covers, ready to give up.  But she can't.  Know why?  Because she knows her God loves her.  Purpose and just enough hope puts her feet on the floor in the morning, shuffles her to the coffee maker, and out the door. 

We are pressed in on all sides, but we do not give up the hope of living.  Like the man digging his way out of prison who stops just short of the last few shovels full because it just wasn't worth trying any more, those whose hope is only in themselves and in this life, will fall short.  But this is what we who know Him understand:  In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself...In Him we have redemption through His blood and forgiveness of our sins according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us. Ephesians 1. 

We are His kids!  Troubles come.  Everyone at one time or another feels pressed in and perplexed by them. But the promise of Father to children is this - you will not be destroyed!  Though the thief comes to rob, kill and destroy, Jesus came to give us life, more abundantly!  We have a captain of our boat Who guides through the storm.  A storm we can be assured has purpose.  Picture yourself being swirled around in the furious cloud of a tornado and His hand plucking you out and putting you in a large, safe place.  Worst case scenario:  that actually happens.  Still we are redeemed.  As Paul goes on to say in 11Corinthians 4:  God raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, and we know that God will raise us up, also....and we will stand before Him.

Your worst case scenario will be the best thing that has ever happened to you!  Call out to your Father in your ever-tightening space because He hears you.  He will make a way for you because of His great love.  You are never defeated, hopeless or abandoned.  Isn't that good news?  The Lord is always doing something in our lives.  And never just one thing. 

So, we do not give up.  Our physical body is becoming older (argh!) and weaker, but our spirit inside us is made new every day.  We have small troubles for a while now, but they are helping us gain an eternal weight of glory that is much greater than our troubles.  We set our eyes not on what we can see, but on what we cannot see.  What we see will last only a short time, but what we cannot see will last forever.  II Corinthians 4

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Psalm 31 - I'm A Green Stamp Book

Thou hast ransomed me, O Lord, God of truth. (vs.5)

"I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud and your sins like a heavy mist.  Return to me, for I have redeemed you!"  Yahweh in Isaiah 44

We used to save Green Stamps at my house when I was little.  Our job as daughters was to lick the things so they could be placed in an orderly fashion in the Green Stamp book.  Usually there were the odd ones that had to be stuck onto the places on each page where there were a few holes left by uneven pages of stamps.
With these filled books, we purchased all sorts of things for the house.  There was even a Green Stamp Redemption Store where we could go to shop.  The stamps were redeemed for goods. Green stamps helped me to understand the concept of redemption.  Paying a price to exchange one thing for another.  I was a green stamp booklet exchanged for the glory of God.

Ransomed.  Who held me captive?  The world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the foolish pride of life.  The prince of the power of the air.  The old devil himself - Beelzebub.  Lucifer.  And my own soulish selfish self.  Caught hopelessly in the trap of medicating and posturing and shooting in the dark.  Something in God's heart loved me.  He paid for me...bought me out of slavery...in order to love me as His child.  Adopted me from another father who scorned and beat me into submission in order to grow me up into the fulfillment of His dreams for me....and you.

Redeemed.  Exchanged like a stamp booklet for something better.  Useless pages of spit-dampened squares.  Why would He want it?  Precious to Him on some level that surprises me still.  He thought His blood worth the exchange.  His death worth my life.  Jesus had the little booklet in His hand when they nailed Him to the cross.  Remembered it.  Looked at it.  Saw it when He cried out in His heartbreak to a Father who could not look on the sin of it.  Jesus never dropped the booklet that was me.  He held on because I belong to Him.  He holds it still until I come to Him and He shows the Father its redemption value.

For you have been bought with a price.  Therefore, glorify God in your body.  I Corinthians 6

" The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many."  Jesus

I am such a grateful little green stamp book.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Psalm 31 - Who's Holding You

In You, O Lord, I have taken refuge.  Let me never be put to shame.  Deliver me in Your righteousness.  Turn Your ear to me.  Come quickly to my rescue.  Be my Rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me.  Since you are my Rock and my Fortress, for the sake of Your name, lead me and guide me.  Free me from the trap that is set before me, O Lord, the God of truth.  Into Your hands I commit my spirit.  (vs. 1-5)

David was in a predicament that brought shame to him.  The psalm reveals later in its verses that David was confronted by a conspiracy so obvious and cunning that those who followed him abandoned his leadership.  The king's experience with his God was that His God delivered.  Rescued.  Vanquished the enemy.  So with the aching depression of abandonment and the circling in of the tentacles of the mutineers, David pleads with God to save him once again.  "Lead me!  Guide me!  I don't know what to do on my own!"

Ever been there?  Better question:  Ever NOT been there?  I seem to cry out to the Lord on a daily basis to lead and guide me because this world we must navigate is filled with thorns, thistles and downright bear traps that catch us offguard and tear at our spirits, waylaying our progress or even completely stopping us in our tracks.  I need a spiritual GPS.  And I have one.  The Spirit of God.  My very own navigation system.  Jesus told His disciples in John 16 that He personally will tell the Holy Spirit what to tell us.  We should be having conversation with and taking instruction from the Lord Jesus Himself on a daily basis - hourly basis - minute-by-minute - because He is telling the Holy Spirit what to say to us.  His sheep hear His voice.  Are we listening? 

It is not always easy to hear.  Much louder are the voices of the world - doubt, fear, offense, hatred, vengeance, greed, want, need.  Maybe that is why the Lord Himself got away from the crowds to spend time with the Father even when it cost Him a meal or two or even His sleep.  Get a firmer grasp on the Father's hand.  Have a deeper understanding of the Father's mind.  Make a stronger heart connection with the Father's heart.  Putting our spirit into His hands. 

It is interesting that Jesus quoted this psalm from the cross.  He shouted it with a loud voice!  "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit!"  This, as the earth is quaking, the sun has vanished in the middle of the day, and God Himself has ripped the temple curtain from top to bottom.  The sphere He holds in His hand gone crazy.  Jesus abandoned on the cross, dying because of a vast conspiracy that judged Him to be at the very least a criminal, at the worst a charlatan or crazy.  Alone.  Spit at.  Beaten.  Mocked.  Stripped.  Naked on a cross for all to scorn as the blood poured into the very dust He created.  Never more destitute.  Never more anguished.  Yet, in this moment, Jesus puts it all in God's hands. 

My spirit in the palms that have my name written there.  My spirit entwined in the fingers that touched the earth, designing animals, mountains, oceans, rivers, waterfalls, meadows and caverns.  My spirit safely in the hands that created me in the first place.  For it is with my spirit I really live - not with my body.  It is a tent covering who Kay is.  It will be about doing what my spirit is directing.  My spirit led by His Spirit should be navigated ever more toward the fulfilling of the dream my Father had for me from before the before.  May it be so today.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Psalm 30 - Leaving Loss Behind

You changed my sorrow into dancing.  You took away my clothes of sadness and clothed me in happiness.  I will sing to You and not be silent.  Lord, my God, I will praise You forever! (vs11-12)

Mourning.  Sorrow.  Gut-wrenching sobs searching for relief from the grief wracking our bodies and breaking our hearts.  Loss.  A death of someone or a death to something we had our hope in.  This is a place we've all been in.  But, oh, the pure, unadulterated joy that makes one want to burst when things turn around.   Or when we are far enough past the grief,and our precious God, in His healing timetable, shows us all the things to have hope in again.

A very dear friend of mine said once,  "I am sad for those who do not believe in God.  Who do they thank when things go right?"  (Thanks, Deb.)   Exactly!!  Who do we high-five?  To Whom can we say:  "I knew You would answer my prayer!!"

If we know our Father drives the rhythm of our lives, then we are assured He will work all things for our good because He loves us.  Weeping lasts a night, joy comes in the morning.  The promise of joy again.  That there is a flip side to the weeping......it is dancing feet and different apparel.  It is what Jesus came to do.

The Lord God has put His Spirit in Me because the Lord has appointed me to tell the good news to the poor.  He has sent Me to comfort the broken hearted and to tell the captives they are free and to tell the prisoners they are released......He has sent me to comfort all those who are sad....I will give them a crown to replace their ashes, and the oil of gladness to replace their sorrow and clothes of praise to replace their spirit of sadness.  Isaiah 61

I love this picture.  Imagine a hostage being let go alive by the captor!  Imagine a prisoner released from jail, pronounced innocent!  Imagine a homeless, jobless woman given a lottery ticket and a new house!  Imagine a heart broken mother who has lost her child finding that, against all odds, she is once again pregnant!  Jesus came to redeem us in very practical ways.  To set our mourning feet a-dancing with the knowledge that He has healed our woundedness and answered our neediness in a way that only God can do.  Joy unspeakable!  Because what we know when we have these answered prayers is that He acknowledges us....sees us.   Like the Father saw His Son on the cross.  Shook the earth as He held it in His hands, knowing He would not destroy it, but wanting to all the same.  Turned the world black for a while, as His Son made payment for our sins.  Mourning.  Wailing.  Earthquakes.  Betrayal.  All followed as our Jesus felt the loss of His friends and ultimately His Father:  "Father!  Father!  Why have You (even You) forsaken Me?" 

God did not leave His own Son in the grave, wrapped in anointed burial clothes.  NO!  Mourning was turned to dancing again for our Jesus lives!  What is He wearing now? 

I turned to see Who was talking to me.  When I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands and someone among the lampstands who was like a Son of Man.  He was dressed in a long robe and had a gold band around his chest.  His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like flames of fire.  His feet were like bronze that glows hot in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of flooding waters.  He held seven stars in His right hand and a sharp double-edged sword came out of His mouth.  He looked like the sun shining at its brightest time.

"Do not be afraid,"  He said.  "I am the First and the Last.  I am the One Who lives!  I was dead, but look, I am alive forever."   Revelation 1

Even death and the mourning it brings is changed to dancing in an instant.  It is the last enemy, and even it is overcome.  We will rise and say with Him one day, "See, I was dead, but look, I live!"  Because redemption and restoration is God's whole aim.  He will not leave us in loss.  We will never be abandoned.  Though rich or poor, good or bad, the same things befall us all.  Our confidence, however, as children of our Father is that He will turn our sorrow into dancing!  We will rise from it and rejoice!  There is a time to weep....and a time to DANCE!!!   Hope today you're dancing.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Psalm 30 - Giving God the Finger

When I felt safe, I said, "I will never fear."  Lord, in Your kindness you made my mountain safe.  

But when You turned away, I was frightened.  I called to You, Lord, and asked You to have mercy on me.  I said, "What good will it do if I die or if I go down to the grave?  Dust cannot praise You.  It cannot speak Your truth.  Lord, hear me and have mercy on me.  Lord help me!" (vs 6-10)

Just reading about about the sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu.  God had chosen Aaron and his sons to be the priestly line - the ones who ministered at the altar of incense close to the veil.  Nearest to God's Presence in the Holy of Holies behind that veil.  Consecrated them for this special purpose.  Esteemed them above the other Levites to serve Him intimately.  The only fire that was to be put into the holy golden altar of incense was from the fiery coals taken with a little sacred shovel from the altar of sacrifice, morning and evening.  No other fire was permitted.  It meant a walk out to the courtyard.  Really.  That is all.  A short walk of obedience.

It seems, however, on one particular day the two boys just didn't wanna walk that far.  "Let's just strike a match and set this incense on fire in our holy pans."  They surely said to each other.  "Who will know?"

"Yeah, it's raining outside."  Or some such reason.

Got a little familiar with God.  Complacent with His call on their lives.  Not only that.  It was to God like giving Him the finger.  Didn't matter that He wanted holy coals with the residue of the dripping blood of the sacrifice to coax the incense into its aromatic wafting throughout the tabernacle.  "Any old fire will do." 
That's what God heard.  These boys felt safe in their tented, privileged lives.  Didn't fear the Lord.  That was a fatal mistake.

Maybe it was because they could not see on down the road a couple thousand years.  That they did not know He was going to one day come down and pour His blood on an altar of sacrifice so that the incense of our prayers to God were covered in the residue of holy blood.  They just didn't get the plan and the blueprint for it that was the sacrificial system.  But what if they had?  Would their hearts still have been so lazy on that day they didn't figure it was worth it to walk all the way to the sacrificial altar to get the right coals?  Don't know.  The point, of course, is that they became complacent.  Felt safe.  Threw caution to the wind.  And they died.

When I felt safe, I said:  "I'm not afraid of anything.  Nothing can hurt me."  Our sovereign God will not let us get away with thinking we are a god to ourselves.  Not if we have had the privilege of drawing close to Him in His holiest place.  That would be inadequate fatherhood.   Like letting your child run free on the freeway because she wants to, never mind she does not understand that traffic will kill her.  No, our Father might let us get a taste of the horror of 80-mile-an-hour freeway traffic, but He is right there to remind us with His outstretched arm of rescue, that we are pretty stupid to do our own thing.

"Lord, have mercy on me!  Lord, help me!"  as traffic whishes by and we are nearly hit.  "Don't let me die!  I can't witness to others about Christ if I am dead!"

Paradigm shift.  God reminding us that we need Him.  That we are wayward saints who got comfortable enough in His presence that we took Him for granted.  Nothing wrong with feeling safe as long we know our safety is in Him.   He is our strong tower.   He, the One Who covers us with His wings.  He, Who knows our way.  He, our sovereign King, Who makes the rules.  He, Who is the Holy God we are unfathomably allowed to call Abba, Daddy. 

If you think for a moment that what He has called you to do is just too much trouble, think again.  Living in nearness to His heart beyond this thin veil that is, in a breath, pulled aside to see His face on the other side is worth a walk to the sacrificial altar.