PSALM 147 - Playing By The Rules

He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know His rules. Praise the Lord!   (Verses 19-20)

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.  1 Peter 2  italics, mine

The nation is the kingdom of God. Pilate called Jesus into his quarters in the early morning hours before His death. Irritated by the Jewish leaders who had thrust the case upon his shoulders, Pilate moved close up to Jesus, peered into His eyes, and asked, "Are You the King of the Jews?" An ironic question since Jesus is bound, having been arrested by Caiaphas, the governor of the Jewish state that existed within the Roman Empire.

"Who told you this about me? Did you hear this from others?" Jesus asked.

"I'm not a Jew. I don't know what you've done. Your own nation handed you over to me, so what did you do?" The sweat was beading on Pilate's face. He was becoming more annoyed every minute by the late night interruption of his sleep.

"My kingdom isn't here...on Earth. If it were, my followers would be fighting for me right now. My kingdom isn't of this world." The sincerity of Jesus catches Pilate off guard.

"So...you are a king?" Pilate takes a deep breath...exasperated.

"You say I'm a king. I was born for this purpose, to show the world what truth looks like. Everyone who understands truth will listen to me."

"What is truth?" Whatever. The man is a harmless, homeless man. Pilate stomped back outside to the Jewish council. "I don't find this man guilty of anything. Why don't I release him, the King of the Jews. Or I could release Barabbas..." Barabbas was a thief. Surely they won't release that scoundrel.

Of course, they released the criminal and killed Jesus, but not before Pilate, whose wife had been warned in a dream not to hurt Jesus, had the soldiers place a sign on the cross: THE KING OF THE JEWS.

It was only a short time later that we discovered it wasn't only to the Jews Jesus came to bring deliverance, but to all who believe in Him. The Godhead is King of all the Earth. Purveyor of all that is. Jesus couldn't confine Himself to only the Jews, or only to people, because He is King over all He created. Is He a king? The answer was way too far reaching for Jesus to put into words for Pilate. Jesus is more than an earthly sovereign. He is all Truth.

I am one of His. Part of a royal priesthood, needing no other mediator between the God of creation and me. I carry the blood of Jesus into the Holiest Place where I am welcomed because of the mark of the once-for-all Passover Lamb. I am part of a holy nation, an eternal kingdom that never ends. Spiritually, His blood runs in my veins. God is my Father. Because of this, I know His rules. I know what pleases the King and what grieves Him. These rules don't work for the rest of the world who haven't chosen to be His children. It isn't the rules that make me His. God doesn't love me and accept me into His family because I got all good and righteous then knocked on the door. Jesus went out looking for me, found me in a hot unholy mess, took me in His arms and kissed my dirty face. I have a country where you will be loved. Will you come with Me? Yes! I did...I went.

Yes, there are rules in the kingdom of heaven. But they are not about my salvation. They are about my obedience to the guidelines that make the kingdom work. I voluntarily expatriated from the kingdom of darkness and ran full speed into the kingdom of light. The rules are different here. I'm not supposed to try and impose my country's standards on those who don't want to change citizenship. Those rules aren't any good to those who live in another realm. What I am called to do, though, is draw closer and closer to the One Who is Light and Truth. To shine like He does. To look more and more like Jesus not because I am a good rule keeper, but because I love my King. I was saved out of darkness precisely so I wouldn't be encumbered by the merciless fetters--the overwhelming burden--of a life dictated by the whimsy of this world. I used to wander aimlessly, trusting in my own instincts or my own mores, to make me a good person. Some are better at this than I. But my King isn't looking for "good people." He is All Good, so being perfect enough isn't possible. My King wants our hearts. As His throne. Indwelling our lives as a hint...a precious scent...of the larger kingdom to come.  The Holy Spirit sitting center in a life as the down payment of greater joy and peace to come--the kingdom of heaven.

I charge you in the presence of God, Who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, Who in His testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will display at the proper time--He Who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, Who alone has immortality, Who dwells in unapproachable light, Whom no one has ever seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.  1 Timothy 6

PSALM 147 - It's a Family Thing

Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion! For He strengthens the bars of your gates; He blesses your children within you. He makes peace in your borders; He fills you with the finest of wheat. He sends out His command to the earth; His word runs swiftly. He gives snow like wool; He scatters hoarfrost like ashes. He hurls down His crystals of ice like crumbs; Who can stand before His cold? He sends out His word and melts them. He makes His wind blow and waters flow.   (Verses 12-18)

"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?...Therefore do not be anxious saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'...Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all." Matthew 6

If God isn't your Father, all this doesn't apply. It's a family thing. That's reasonable. Bill and I didn't buy cars for the neighbor kids. We didn't straighten their teeth or feed and clothe them. Our rules didn't apply to the boy next door; the benefits of being a Farish exclusively belonged to our three children. Some might think it unfair that other kids didn't get to do the things our children did. Some kids probably breathed a sigh of relief that they didn't live under our roof. The point is, of course, that certain blessings come with being a member of a particular family.

I belong to God. He is my heavenly Father. I came into the family by Way of Jesus Who bought me as an adopted child by the sacrifice He made on the cross. I am a paid-in-full joint heir with Christ. A royal princess in the family of the King of Kings. The door, by the way is open to everyone, so come on in! Because I belong to God, my Father, I have special privileges. He protects me, feeds me (my daily bread), provides for me, watches over me and blesses me. The One Who controls all of nature has been concerned about me since I was in my mother's womb--a person, created with purpose and potential (Psalm 139). He controls the weather patterns on my behalf; brings the snow then melts it for life-giving water flow. God isn't interested in doing all this to show off. He has no one to impress. God Almighty is just that--sovereignly in charge of everything. And He's my Abba (Galatians 4:6).

Some people think that God is too busy making the snow fall and the earth quake to care about the little things that bother me. I only bother God with the big things. That's what I've heard. The thing is, if you are His kid, you don't bother Him at all. I'm constantly talking with and to my Father. It's a running conversation about practically anything I can think of. He's not a big Santa in the sky or a Supreme Court Judge. It's not God's desire to spoil us if we've been good and beat us if we've been bad. His desire is for relationship with Him. One in which we depend upon Him for our daily bread. Trust Him for provision because we understand the degree to which we are precious to Him.

As a mother, the most rewarding experiences I've had with my children are when they acknowledge the love I have for them. When they respond to a request that might be unpleasant at the time with a willing obedience because they know I would never ask them to do anything that wasn't best for them. As infants and toddlers, they looked to Bill and me for everything. They didn't question where it came from. And they were happy in the safety of the provisions they experienced. Fortunately, they never had to ask where the next meal came from or if I was going to have enough diapers to make it through the day. It is that kind of trust my Father wants from me. That I understand He already knows what I need and that He cares enough about me to feed and clothe me. I think it makes God's brow furrow a bit when I wake up worrying about life here on Earth. I inherited immense blessing when I met Christ, Who said: "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble (Matthew 6)." My Abba loves me. My task today is before me. Look at Him. He's looking at me.

PSALM 147 - God and Fleas

His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor His pleasure in the legs of man, but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His steadfast love. (Verses 10-11)

Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever draws near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.  Hebrews 11

The first hurdle is to believe that God exists. It seems I've been bombarded lately with the question, "How can we know God exists when we can't see Him or touch Him?" That is a good question, of course. And I lay awake a couple of nights ago talking with my God, Whom I know lives because He has shown Himself to me in more tangible ways than most people I can see, about this perceived enigma some I know struggle with. This may sound very pedestrian, but I almost immediately saw a picture in my mind. A tiny flea was crawling up the leg of a very large dog. I then became the size of the flea and wandered with it through the prickly spiked hairs that jutted out of the dog's skin as if I were wandering through a forest. All I could see was what was before me, so tiny was I that I could only perceive my immediate landscape. The flea proceeded to feed off its host, filling its body with the warm blood of the very large dog. Were I to ask the flea what the dog was like, Do you know how big it is? Do you know where it came from? Do you know what breed?, the flea would be ignorant of all but that it found food in a forest of hairs. That is all a flea knows, for it can't see the bigger picture. Does a dog exist? Yes. The flea can perceive so much about it, too, by wandering its body. Will the flea ever see the whole dog? Nope. It's far too small and its ability to understand the fuller picture is too limited. Is there evidence for the fact that the dog does exist, though? Of course. The flea would have no life without it.

A second hurdle: Does God hear us? In the movie Her, a lonely man named Theodore falls in love with an Operating System named Samantha. She is Suri gone rogue. He develops a deep relationship with her, confiding in her daily concerning everything in his life. Theodore feels loved and special...until he discovers Samantha can speak with over 8000 people at the same time, so that while she is speaking with Theodore about his life, she is also speaking with at least 7999 others about theirs. This is, of course, possible via the internet. If we can believe that a manmade operating system can communicate with thousands of people at one time, which it can, then why is it so hard to believe the Spirit of God can know us and hear our prayers individually as well as corporately? Samanthas don't exist, but God does. His mind is far superior to any computer we will ever create. The One Who designed DNA, encrypting each cell with the information that makes us who we are, is intimately acquainted with the systems He put into motion in less than a second after the big bang.

A third hurdle: What's the benefit of belief? What difference does it make, anyway? If we believe that drawing near to God takes a certain level of belief that He exists, then knowing Him must be of some value. I think the question must come from those who haven't yet drawn close, because once we do, that is its own benefit. To be closer to understanding the whole picture, the knowledge that God is Spirit and omnipresent; that He is brilliant and omniscient; that He is strong and omnipotent. How could He be eternally greater than everything and confine Himself to flesh and blood that we could touch? BUT...He did that. For a season. In Jesus Christ.

On the night of His arrest, Jesus was sitting with the disciples observing the Passover meal with them. Jesus has just finished washing the feet of His friends and was making them aware of what was about to happen that evening. "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known my Father, also. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him."

Phillip said what I've been hearing lately, "Teacher, show us the Father and it will be enough for us."

"Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father?'"

God come to Earth to let us touch His skin and look into His eyes. God come to this tiny speck in the universe, become small like us to give us His perspective, allow us to see the whole thing for what it is. The flea on the back of the dog so we are aware of something so much greater that it boggles our finite minds and goads them to see the infinite. Died and rose again back into the eternal, leaving us with the understanding that God is tenderhearted, forgiving, steadfast in His love for His creation to the point of experiencing our death to give us His life. Life abundantly (John 10:10). Apart from the host, we shrivel and die. That is our great benefit. That we don't only live a mundane existence traveling through the woods, but that we know the One Who loves us, know Him to our core, in a way that we can never truly experience humanity. Because we are spirit as well as body.

If we can't get to it any other way, this understanding that God exists and loves us, I say take a walk. Look around. Look up. Breathe. Marvel, as I do, that water sticks to the globe that is our earth. That it doesn't fly off the spinning ball we walk all over. That we don't go whooshing out into space to be lost in the billions of galaxies out there. Marvel at the stars, at the moon, at the fact that the tides are set so that if Earth were just the tiniest bit off its axis, all would be out of control. Wonder at the camera lens that is your eye, taking pictures of everything around it and sending them to the brain. Better than the I-phone 6. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. Evidence of a mind greater than we can box up and give as a Christmas gift. So big we will never, this side of eternity, grasp the grandeur of it.

God knows we exist. He made us. Each one. The hubris we display by trusting in our own wisdom, our own ideas, our own power is as ridiculous as the flea saying, "There is no dog."





 

PSALM 147 - God's Job Review

Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; play the lyre to our God, Who covers the sky with clouds, prepares rain for the earth, and causes grass to grow on the hills. He provides the animals with their food and to the little birds that call.  (Verses 7-9)

"Either God has responsibility or he does not," said former Seventh Day Adventist pastor Ryan Bell. "If he does, it seems like he is doing a pretty bad job. If he does not, if he just wound the thing up and walked away, I don't see any point in worshiping a God like that."

I read an article this morning in the L.A. Times about how Bell walked away from his faith last year. Decided to give a full year to living without God. He's been to conventions of atheists and skeptics. Watched them as they sing songs mocking every kind of faith, but especially those who hate the very idea of worshiping the Judeo-Christian God of the Bible. Raised in a strict Adventist home, Bell became a pastor out of his zeal for religion. He followed the rules. Structured his life around Adventism. But his life became increasingly tough to square with the God Who answers our prayers based upon our good behavior and our trust in His goodness. What happened? Seems as though Bell's doubts grew first out of God's lack of intervention in the things the former pastor prayed for. Unanswered requests that lay there as if God didn't care. The social injustices of big city Hollywood, where his church was, seemed insurmountable: poverty, crime, predatory bankers. World suffering tipped the scales. The drowning of the students on the ferry in Seoul begged the question, "Where was God?" He could have/should have saved them. How can this be the same God Who knows the numbers of hairs on our heads and clothes the lilies in such splendor?

I don't pretend to be able to answer the questions that sent Ryan Bell into such a tailspin that now He can't reconcile the God he knew with the God he sees. That his quest to live without acknowledgement of God for a year is, I'm sure, an honest effort to find truth, I won't argue, either. God is the rewarder of those who truly seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). Bell's argument with God is that He isn't good. If He exists, His watch care over us is arbitrary, at best. Lazy, at worst. God sits above it all and every once in a while glances down to see what's going on. Sticks His finger into this or that mess to fix it up, then retreats to His evening martini without a second thought. I agree with Bell, that god is not worth worshiping.

Here is my response. I cannot live a second without the God I know. My God indwells me with His Holy Spirit without Whom I can't even breathe. My heart beats for Christ because He has captivated it with His love--little calling bird that I am whose mouth is open for His provision and whose life depends upon His watching over me. Do bad things happen? Yes! They will happen to Ryan Bell and to all of us whether we believe in the goodness of God or not. If we were to assume that God is good but hate Him that He is the creator of automotons who have no ability to choose, we would still have a god not worth worshiping because we would be powerless to do anything but give Him homage. To judge the character of God is ridiculous. It sets us up to be smarter than He, more loving than He, more prescient than He, more just than He. Gods ourselves. And what would that look like? Me being the god of everything? How just would I be? How loving? The world's a mess. Could I hope to fix it? Without the ability to fix the heart of man? Can Ryan Bell, in his heartfelt rebellion against the God he now judges, do better? He must think so. He has the hubris to say that God is doing a bad job with it all.

I can't even picture myself standing before the throne of God telling Him how much He's messed things up. How dare you not answer my prayers and give me everything I want! And, You have a horrible heart for letting the violence that fills the earth continue! Are you asleep? I'm not saying that I don't ever question what God is doing...or not doing. I ask my God why on a regular basis. Sometimes I see the answer; sometimes I don't. But I'd rather trust He's doing the right thing than to take matters in my own hands and trust that I will do it right.

And then there is Jesus. Historically, even in extra-biblical accounts, come to Earth where He worked miracles and rose from the dead. Why? Because God wanted once and for all to fix the very sin problem Bell so poignantly sees. But not by making us mind Him. By experiencing life with us in order to bring us into a kingdom where this stuff doesn't happen any more. If, as Christians, we believe this world isn't our home, that where Christ is is where we belong, then it makes sense this isn't going to be any paradise. People choose to do evil. People, like the captain of the ferry that killed the teenagers, choose to be irresponsible and take risks with the lives of others. We live in an imperfect world, and we, imperfect as we are, don't have the wisdom or the power to change the hearts of evil men. God cares enough, is involved enough, with His entire creation that He stepped into it and died for its redemption. He had a personal vendetta with evil. A squaring off with sin. And the root of it all is pride. Whether religious (I am so good God must love me and answer my every whim) or intellectual (I'm too smart for this religion stuff), pride that we know more about things than the God Who created everything will trip us up. Pride makes us stomp our feet and shake our fist in the face of the God Who gave His very life to save us from the real issue: ourselves.

Little birds who call and the animals on the hillside are just as evanescent as we are. We deal with death and disease here on Earth. If God only sees this...or wound it up and walked away, I agree with Bell, that would be a sham of a god. But the record shows He doesn't feel that way. The record shows God cares about the same injustices that rile us--make our anger roil. What a small and petty God Who would dismiss our heinous misdeeds with the wave of His hand. The thing is, God couldn't. He won't fix our actions and make up puppets. That is a lesser god, too. But He did offer a way to fix our hearts. Walked with us to heal our bodies in order to show us He has power to overcome our most evil and our most covert of sins. Died--bled out--to show how important mankind is to Him. What more could He do? God isn't Santa, sitting in the skies checking out who is naughty and nice, and giving the best gifts to the nicest kids. God is a Father Who birthed His children to lead them home to Him forever. He is the Sovereign over all His creation, dwelling in incomprehensible light in a realm vastly superior to Earth, with a knowledge of all things greatly surpassing anything we think we know, with power to create and power to crush. God would not be God if He thought as small as we do. I don't know why bad things happen. I get why that crushes the heart of Mr. Bell. But I do know the heart of my Father--knowing it better every day--is that all things work together for the good of those who love Him, those called to His purposes (Romans 8).

God is big enough to take our most profound questions. He isn't intimidated by our shaking fists or silent to our wearied hearts. He could be a God Who doesn't care. That wouldn't make Him any less God, though. Were He to choose to spin the Earth and walk away. Our anger wouldn't be any more or less justified, since it would be what God chose. But we know, from history even, that God isn't like that. That God hates religious posturing and adherence to manmade rules. The life and death of Jesus proves that God doesn't look away, but is so intricately aware of our needs that He came to save the little birds who call.

PSALM 147 - What To Do With a Broken Heart

The Lord builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars; He gives to all of them their names. Great is our God and abundant in power; His understanding is beyond measure. The Lord lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked to the ground.   (Verses 2-6)

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion--to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.  Isaiah 61

Broken hearted? Ever? Jesus came to wrap wounded hearts in healing, binding the wounds for protection against infection. Broken in Hebrew is shavar. It literally means to burst, to break into pieces, wreck, crush, smash, to rend or tear into pieces. That's quite the train wreck!

Jesus went to Nazareth, where He grew up in the household of Mary and Joseph, played with his half-brothers, James and Jude. He strode one Sabbath into the synagogue where He'd gone each Sabbath all of his young life. Because by that time Jesus had done miracles the hometown crowd heard of, particularly in Capernaum, there was a larger than usual crowd that day when Jesus took a seat. When He stood up to read from Scripture, the elders handed Jesus the book of Isaiah. Jesus rolled the scroll down to Isaiah 61 and read, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me..." Then He rolled the scroll up again, handed it to the synagogue attendant and sat down. No further comments. Everyone stared at Jesus. No one spoke. Breathless with anticipation that Jesus would do some miracle, the congregation waited for Him to perform as He'd done elsewhere.

"Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." And they waited again. Waited for Him to go on.

Though the people marveled at the gracious words he spoke, they didn't understand that He was saying, "I am Messiah Who will heal and deliver you; turn your ashes to joy and bind your broken heart." This is Joseph's boy..."Do some miracles here, like you did in Capernaum!" Perform!

Jesus didn't do anything in Nazareth that day. His mission was to come to those who know they are broken. Shattered to pieces, wrecked, crushed, smashed by life and in need of God's love. It's not God's plan to come into the world to perform magic acts to make us wonder. Jesus was serious about taking our carnage and saving us from the addictions that imprison us. He was, and is, intentional about our hearts. We are to be more in wonder of the fact that He can take our brokenness and bandage it with the salve of His love than that the blind can see. Because, really, those of us who know what it means to be undone by the rending in two of our hearts, know that healing is as real as the lame walking and the deaf hearing. The impossibility of the pain we experience when life breaks us in two is at the root of all addictions--the captor that takes us bound into despair. Our broken hearts are the necessary place to start if we will ever know true freedom--physical or spiritual. Jesus didn't do any miracles in Nazareth because they didn't get it, and He wouldn't waste it.

When you think about it, the One Who knows the names of all the stars and the numbers of hairs on our heads, came to Mary the way all of us come into the world. Jesus knew us by name, created Mary to be His mother, chose Joseph to be his stepfather. Knew everyone in Nazareth before they were born yet, looked them in the eyes that morning in the synagogue and chose them as the people to whom He'd proclaim His mission, knowing they would only be able to see Him as Joseph's boy. Jesus knows us that way, too. Proclaims to us salvation by His blood and our release from the bondage of sin by His resurrection. Then He sits down again at the right hand of the throne of the Father (Hebrews 12:2) and looks into our eyes, waiting to see what we will do with Him.

Jesus specializes in brokenness. What breaks our hearts breaks His. It's why He chose to come to the manger. To get up close and personal with the things that make our lives quake with fear and our hearts lose all hope. To touch our leprosy because in our healing we see His love. To turn to the ones who just need to touch His garment and pronounce to them that their faith has made them well. To call a criminal down from a tree and eat at his house that day because Jesus knew the little man was a crook whose heart ached for more. To reach out from His own execution to a thief beside Him and declare the man saved forever because, in his wretched state, the criminal knew Who Jesus was. Our Savior doesn't pretend. Though by His Word the light show that twinkles every night in the heavens came into being, Jesus didn't come to Earth to entertain us with His tricks. No! He came because we are often torn in two, sitting amidst the ashes of our mourning, hopeless and helpless to get up and live. Expect the miraculous from the One Whom the Spirit of the Lord is upon when you cry out to Him for the dressing of your wounds. Though God won't hear the proud, He can't resist the cries of those who need Him. For those who know the train wreck their lives have become and know they need a Savior, God's understands it all. Knows how to fix it. And has omnipotent power to intervene in any way He choses to restore and protect those humble enough to ask.
 

PSALM 146 - Who Will Save Us?

Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish. (Verses 3-4)

Will Obama save the United States from ruin? Will the GOP? Is government our ultimate redemption? Probably not. Very marginalized people run our countries, states and cities, because, let's face it, we are all pretty imperfect. Putting our lives in the hands of politicians or princes is necessary for our earthly day to day, but to expect them to change our hearts is another thing altogether. They can't make us loves each other; in fact, the opposite is generally true. Government smacks of partisanship and cronyism. If our world ever is going to change, it will be because each individual in it has changed. Great leaders die. Napoleon, Hitler, Churchill, JFK...They are vulnerable to the same things the rest of us are. A man on his way to the gallows can't save me in my cell.

And we need to be saved from more than the Taliban or ISIL. We need to be saved from ourselves. That salvation isn't political. It governs our own microcosm--the interior and exterior world that is our particular sphere. Me. If I can't intentional control my actions and reactions, no one else can. What God knows is that we need a salvation that doesn't die with the One Who brings it. So, He chose a baby boy. The Son of Man and Son of God. Impregnated by the Holy Spirit a teenage girl named Mary. Took her and the man to whom she was betrothed to Bethlehem on a cold winter night so that He could be born the Lamb of God in a manger. God can do that. Step into the world He created. It shouldn't shock us or make us think it mere myth. Kings and princes hadn't dealt with the real issues men and women have: their dark hearts. God knew we needed to be saved from ourselves.

The Jewish people thought from their interpretation of the Old Testament that the Messiah would be a king. An earthly ruler who would deliver them from the government that so enslaved them. That the Chosen One would shepherd them with a scepter and robe. So Who was this homeless prophet wandering the streets of Jerusalem and preaching by the Sea of Galilee? Who was He to forgive sin, to heal the blind and raise the dead? Why was this One touching the unclean and whipping the crooks for overcharging congregants for their sacrifices on the temple steps? They hated him for telling them their hearts were unclean though they looked all white-washed and perfect on the outside. But the people wouldn't give up the idea He was an earthly prince. They met Him at the beginning of Passover with a wreath of crowns and a donkey, praising Him. Hosanna! Hosanna! By the end of the week, they'd cry: "Crucify Him. Crucify Him!" He isn't what we thought.

Of course they didn't know. Know that Messiah was a Lamb, the sacrifice for His own Passover. Too close to the picture to stand back and see the lambs through the ages all pointed to this perfect One. Too short-sighted to remember the King was born in a manger in order to save them from the tyranny of their own sinfulness. This sovereign, though He came by womb to Earth, did not see His plans die with Him. His death was part of the plan. Jesus got up. Up out of the tomb, alive! The only prince to ever plant His seed in the ground and have it reap salvation. This King breathed His last earthly breath only to return and breathe new life into us. There is a kingdom Jesus rules today. It is here and it is there. We who are its citizens have the King's seal on our hearts, the Kings blood in our veins. We are not called to change the politics of this world. We are called to be princes and princesses here, ambassadors of the eternal realm where our Salvation rules and reigns. Our trust not in an earthly prince but in an eternal King.

 

PSALM 146 - Awakened by a Very Loud Song!

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.  (Verses 1-2)

Yet You are holy, enthroned upon the praises (worship) of Your people.  Psalm 22:3

I was awake in the night on Saturday as it turned into Sunday morning. It wasn't that things were weighing on my heart, it was that this song kept playing over and over in my spirit until it awakened me. My soul singing, I think. Your love never fails, it never gives up, it never runs out on me...Over and over again. Louder and louder until I heard it and woke up. I lay there in surround sound soaking in the truth that I am loved...SO loved...by the God Who is my Father. I wished to look at Him...If I could only see Your face. It prompted this conversation with God about why He made it so that we must worship Him here, on Earth, while we have our being, in a very non-human, a-physical way. It's all interior--a matter of the spirit and soul. I don't discount that, though, because my interior, the soul and spirit that drive my actions and thoughts, is just as real as my body.

The woman by the well at Sychar was a Samaritan. A sinner to such a degree that the righteous women living in her town made her draw her water from the local well at noon so that they could avoid her unclean lifestyle. Married five times before, now simply living with a guy she hadn't bothered to marry, the woman was a pariah in the community. To this woman Jesus said: "I am He, your Messiah." The first pronouncement of His deity. There was an argument about religion between them. She thinking she'd defray her sinfulness with theology. But Jesus knew her. All about her. "Those who truly worship God, worship Him in Spirit and in Truth." We don't change from the outside in. It's not the plan. Jesus wanted a conversation with the Samaritan woman's heart, with the inner woman who so needed a different god--one not attached to some man--to live within her. Our needs are rarely all about the physical things we find ourselves doing. Knowing God is knowing Him because He invades our spirit with His. It's the way we come to know Him, and it's there God dwells. We are a living tabernacle in which the God of All sits enthroned.

After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with One seated on the throne. And He Who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald...From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire (Revelation 4). Before this glory are living beings praising God constantly: "Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they existed and were created (vs. 11)." A bit of what is going on in heaven resides in me. Far-off homage coming near. Stirring me up to worship with those in heaven who see Him now. I couldn't adequately worship God with my physical body, although my devotion to Him should make my life an act of worship. Obedience out of reciprocated love. There is something within those of us who know Him that yearns to be engulfed in emerald splendor amidst the flashes of lightning and the claps of thunder. Worship brings me there and my God here.

It's no wonder God comes near to those who join with heavenly beings in acts of worship. He doesn't show up because it feeds His ego to hear us praise His name. God comes near because our spirit is joined together with His in eternal unity. He hears, from His throne, the familiar strains of worship borne of love--spirit to Spirit. When I awoke on Saturday with my heart singing so loudly, I thought of Zephaniah 3:17: The Lord your God is in your midst, a Mighty One Who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet You with His love; He will exult over you with loud singing. Your love never fails, it never gives up, it never runs out on me!
 

PSALM 145 - God is Watching You

The Lord preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy. My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless His holy name forever and forever.
(Verses 20-21)

"Behold! I am the Lord, the God of all flesh! Is there anything too hard for me?"
Jeremiah 32:27

 It is really an impossible thought that the God Who hovered over the atmosphere even before there was primordial slime or even the slightest glimmer of a star would deign to step onto a tiny planet that exists in obscurity among the billions and billions of galaxies that He imagined before He placed a tiny dot into nothingness and it blew up into the observable and unobservable universe. God is so big that He stands apart from time and space and looks down onto the massive creation that spans millions of light years. And God is watching. What is He looking for? Those who will love Him.
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil (1 Peter 3:12). God is watching us. But not to do us harm. He is the Father of all who have given their hearts to Jesus. That's the only thing that makes us righteous. The omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God of All is making sure I'm okay today. Nothing in my life is too hard for Him to straighten out; nothing going on that my Father can't see. And my God promises to preserve me.

My mom used to make preserves. Strawberry was my favorite. She'd wash the fruit then slice each strawberry into several pieces. Into boiling water they'd go where they simmered for several minutes, filling the house with their scent. Then she added lemon juice and sugar and make the pot boil until the strawberry mixture was thick and bubbly. After the jam cooled, Mother scraped off the film that formed on the top and poured the syrupy red goo into mason jars and sealed their lids tightly. And that is what made them preserves. They were set aside and kept for later.

Because I love my God, He is keeping me, preserving my current life and saving me for later. I can't get the picture out of my mind that my Father has put His hand on my head and guided me to a position behind His back, like an earthly father would when he is protecting a child from a dangerous dog or approaching traffic. It's a protective stance. Let Daddy deal with this. Only this Abba is in control of everything, everywhere and has the power to do extraordinarily more than I can ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). Because God is goodness, is holiness, is justice, the wicked need to watch out! Those who continually set their faces against Him will know God's wrath. That's fair. For those who rail against God for being mean, I have a question: Would you prefer justice or mercy? We are all pretty self-centered and prideful. We all screw up. Fall down. Make messes. Do we want God to give us what we deserve for the things we do wrong, or would we rather have Him give us the grace to get up and try again? If we reject Jesus, the miraculous provision for our entry into God's family, we don't have anything left. God gave us the ultimate, out-of-the-box, nothing-is-too-hard-for-Me answer to our deepest need. Born to a virgin in a stable in Bethlehem. Come from eternity into time and space to wear flesh and bare it to His executioners. Preserved in the grave, the Spirit Who was the force behind creation called Jesus up from death to return to eternal life. If the story sounds far fetched, it is. But so is the big bang. The very stars we gaze upon every night blasted out into what was nothing, the spontaneous combustion of a dot smaller than a period. That God can do whatever. Whenever. Forever. Parting the Red Sea. Raining manna from heaven. Healing a man born blind. Raising a dead child from his funeral bier. Telling the lame to get up and walk. Purchasing my forgiveness with His own death. God thinks out of the box! If you doubt the truth of the story the Bible tells, your thoughts are way too small.

One day the Lord will destroy wickedness forever. For now we live with it, but don't have to succumb to its perversions. All flesh, everything with a beating heart, is precious to God. It is precious to me that my Father is looking for those who will to love Him. Why would anyone say no? Choose even the mundane, forget the wicked, over a relationship with the most powerful and loving force anywhere? For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward Him (2 Chronicles 16:9). I want my Father's eyes to rest on me today. He's looking for us so that He can be our strength. I will bless His name forever and forever. I love you, Abba.






 

PSALM 145 - Is Anyone Always Right, All The Time?

The Lord is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His works. The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all Who call on Him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear Him; He also hears their cry and saves them.   (Verses 17-19)

God is always right. That goes against our fallen nature. We butt up against His being right about everything all the time with a mutinous desire to "do it our way." It's like deciding to build a Mercedes Benz without the plans for where every bolt and screw goes. Because, Hey, we know what one looks like! Or believing, without blueprints, we could erect a safe, sturdy and beautiful home. We know what we want, so we go to Home Depot and buy the stuff we need. It couldn't be that hard. If we aren't already designers and architects, we aren't going to create squat. Same with our lives.

Why does it disturb us so that God is always right? He doesn't flaunt it. It is simply a fact of Who He is. And why wouldn't God always know the right and good way to...to...anything? As the mastermind of all that is, He best knows how it works and what our place is in this particular time and place. God has compared it to a lump of clay talking back to the potter. We can wriggle off the potter's wheel, but we will wind up a wet blob of mud on the floor somewhere. Yep. We got our own way. Good for us. If God is always right, it somehow makes us feel less. Like we don't actually control our own lives anymore. We want to make our own decisions, forge our own paths, make our own mistakes and say we did it ourselves. Smacks a bit of pride to me. It's what made Adam and Eve succumb to the same devil we listen to today. "You will be like gods." (Genesis 3) And that is what we really want deep down. Control. The ridiculous thing about our deciding to rule ourselves is that we don't do it very well. I know this. I have taken over the reins and landed in a ditch so deep our Father had to slide down a very steep bank to retrieve me. Because in His rightness, He is also kind. Most of us would leave a willful soul to pay the consequences of her own rebelliousness. I told you so! Not my Father. He is kind in all His works. Even in the toil of restoring us to Him.

I do have control. It's my choice what I do with it. I choose now, every day, to give it over to Him. I don't want it anymore. Why would I go it alone when the God of All is ready to fulfill the desires He puts within me, to hear me when I need Him, to save me when I am in trouble? The road of life is rocky enough without my having to navigate blindly every turn, every mountain, every valley. I can hold the hand of the One Who knows the way...IS the way. I'm very happy about my choice to cede control to my Father. It's not that I don't sometimes hop back into the driver's seat and get all excited about an excursion into stupidity. But at this stage in my walk with Him, I get tired of driving pretty quickly. I'd rather ride shotgun...or blow bubbles in the back seat.

The idea of being right all the time makes us mean. Take the Pharisees, for example. Jesus said of them, "You are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness (Matthew 27)." Very religious. Doing all the right things, many of which they'd made up to make the task of being right as hard as possible so that their rightness was a thing achieved by hard work. The more right they were, the more they looked down their noses at those who just didn't cut it. Hitler was right in his own mind. Stalin and Lenin, too. Worlds are toppled by causes that appear to be right. But...aren't. I know parents who put their hands over their ears, unable to hear their children because they are always right and their kids, even as adults, are wrong. That is control. And it is mean. It tells others they are not as smart as we are...as good, or well meaning, or kind.

God's rightness is predicated on the fact that He is kind. Those of us who know Him as our Father know this about Him. Love this about Him. The fact that He is right all the time, even when everything looks all wrong, is not a thing about which we want to fight our Father, but is actually a thing that gives us comfort. I can relax a bit in circumstances that I don't understand. He "works all things together for good for those who are the called according to His purposes (Romans 8)." Though God, because He is also all-just, punishes the wicked and corrects His children when they are wrong, He isn't sitting up on a throne in heaven with a whip in His malicious hands just waiting for the world to screw up. He wouldn't have to wait long...God is patient with us because, in His kindness, He wants the world to be saved. God's kindness is meant to lead us to repentance (Romans 2:4). In my natural state, I'm not even kind to myself. So how can I be expected to do what is right for me or others if I haven't allowed the One Who knows everything to inform my life? I need rescue and wisdom. I need a guide and a Helper. I could go it alone. He gave me that choice. I control the option. But my self-made Mercedes has ended up in too many ditches and my house was about to fall apart despite my best efforts. I choose to let go of the idea that I'm always right and listen to One Who is never wrong.

PSALM 145 - Trying to Keep It Together...

The Lord is faithful in all His words and kind in all His works. The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to You and You give them their food in due season. You open Your hand; You satisfy the desire of every living thing.
(Verses 14-16)

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; He Who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He Who keeps Israel will not slumber nor sleep.  Psalm 121

Our God is faithful in all He says and all He does.

I'm growing accustomed to having my time with the Lord in the middle of the night. There are days when I whisper a quick prayer to Him before I get out of bed, but don't spend the time I need to in His presence. My heart gets lonely. Needs refreshing. And so it wakes me up to pray. This happened last night. I realized in that time with Abba that I have many things on my mind that I often push down into my subconscious and don't deal with. It was a battle last night to grasp God's love. Satan rushed onto the scene throwing fear at me...the kind that knots my stomach. I know the enemy's ploys by now, though, and there was a palpable calm after I demanded he leave me alone in the name of Jesus. Some might think this weird, but I felt the enemy leave. In the calm that resulted, I realized I needed to intentionally trust for things beyond my control. Again.

Vanessa had a friend in high school who was very troubled. I loved her, as Vanessa did, but Heidi (not her real name) was just bad news. The high school years are not the best for many kids, and our daughter was no exception. Heidi's gothic clothing and strange habits were a real draw to Vanessa. Adopting a new persona would be an escape, I thought, from the fact that Vanessa wasn't too happy with being Vanessa. "You can't spend time with Heidi except here at our house." That was my rule. The lure of drugs and Heidi's rejection of Jesus made her relationship with Vanessa a powder keg waiting to blow. We argued about this. But, for the most part, she kept the deal. Since I taught at the same high school to which my daughters went, I knew the kids they knew. As an adult, I could see the road Heidi was going down. I had perspective Vanessa wasn't old enough or experienced enough to have cultivated. I was, in this instance, way ahead of her. My rule was for her safety. My rule was set in place because I love her. It looked mean to her. Like I was judging her friend. Against all she felt, Vanessa obeyed the rule. Heidi's life ended sadly with suicide several years later despite several attempts to draw her to Jesus.

Will was in a hard core Christian band, which means he was the drummer for a band that made very loud noise with a lead singer who screamed (literally) instead of singing. They were beating the drums, banging the guitars and screaming for Jesus. And I could often feel the Spirit of God at their concerts. But also at the shows were kids with foot long mohawks, whose bodies were covered in tattoos and piercings. So when our son, who is six feet, four inches tall, wanted his first piercing, we said no. "First of all, you would look ridiculous with an earring, Will," I reasoned. "You are a really big guy." And more importantly, "It would look, at least to your mother, like you are giving in to the world you hope to bring to Jesus." I know this is simply my opinion, so don't judge me. Will has tattoos on his back and arms. His choice. They are all about Jesus. But the earring thing was a gut feeling that a line would be crossed. Will obeyed. He didn't have to. He could have rebelled. Would the earring have plunged our son into a life of debauchery? Probably not. The point is, he was willing to listen to me and do what I asked though everyone else in the band had piercings (which they now regret because the spacers ruined their earlobes for life.)

In the years since these rules of mine, both of these children have said, "We obeyed because we loved and respected you." That's really all I had. The gift of their respect. It's what drove them to do what I asked. To trust the decisions were for their good. Because they knew I loved them and because I always try to keep my word to them. I wasn't about to let them satisfy their every whim if it meant there was a danger to them involved. I would be a horrible mother if I just let my kids do whatever.

When I read this morning, "You satisfy the desire of every living creature" I waited there for a few minutes. The verse doesn't say God gives us all our desires. It says He is our satisfaction. It is He Who satisfies our deepest longings. In Him we find our peace, not always in the decisions God makes for us. I don't always...or ever, for that matter...know what my God is doing. Why things are working out the way they are. But He does. So if my satisfaction is in Him, and I'm preaching to myself right now, then whatever He chooses, wherever He leads, I know that God is kind and His word is trustworthy. God doesn't promise that we will never falter or fail. He does promise to uphold us when we do, though. To take us through the storm, if it's not His will to take us around it. God, our Source for life...all of it, even our daily bread...is always aware of our struggles, our needs, our victories and our failures. He's also aware of where we are going, the direction we've set our faces toward, and God will be as kind as He can in taking us down the path that is best for us. We may not see it now, the confusing maze of His will, but if we trust enough to put our hand in His, take a deep breath, and go where our Father leads, there's a good chance that further down the road we will see the wisdom of His decisions for our lives. Remember, God isn't sleeping and our prayers awaken Him. He was in my room last night...at one in the morning...and He is here with me now. Filling up the largest space in our planet ruled by time and able to narrow Himself down into the tiniest crevice of my heart. Just as "Christ is before all things, and in Him all things hold together," so He keeps me in one piece for His glory and my good.

PSALM 145 - I Wish The Dog Could Talk!

All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord, and all Your saints shall bless You! They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom and tell of Your power, to make known to the children of man Your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of Your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations.
(Verses 10-13)

My eight-year-old grandson, Alexander, wanted a puppy. Heather has been dog walking and marketing her homemade dog treats for about a year now, and Alexander has dog fever. I have to admit, Heather walks some pretty cute pets. One even has her own bedroom, complete with an adult-sized single bed and a television that plays all day long to keep the doggie happy. What Heather knows that her son didn't until last week is that dogs are a whole lotta trouble. Their family volunteered to take care of a three-month-old Yorkie mix puppy for several days. Though it slept in a crate in their basement, during the day the dog, which wasn't potty trained, roamed the house looking for a place to pee...or worse. Often it fell to Alexander to wipe up the mess. But more importantly, my grandson felt it was his responsibility to entertain the dog. Up early every morning of the puppy's stay, Alexander headed to the basement to set it free. Played with it before school. Exhausting himself in an effort to make the dog happy. Helping to feed it. Pushing it around all over the place in his toy truck. Wanting more than anything to make the darn dog happy.

By the end of the dog's stay with their family, Alexander was ready to send their visitor back home. "It's exhausting!" he declared. "And the worst part of it is, the dog can't talk!"

Heather was bemused. "What does that have to do with anything. Of course, dogs can't talk."

Alexander explained his frustration further. "I know they can't talk, but I wish they could! I didn't know if that puppy was enjoying anything I did for him. If he could talk, he would tell me whether he liked riding around in the truck or going outside. I don't know if I wasted my time or not."

I'm thinking we might make our God feel that way sometimes. We are supposed to be operating out of a thankful heart all the time. Our God is so involved with arranging our lives and positioning us for blessing, but I wonder how often we go about like a puppy who can't relate. Like we deserve to be pushed around the house in a toy truck! No thought to thank God for all He's doing not just to entertain us, but to bless and guide us! Alexander wanted kudos for his efforts. He wanted the puppy to say, "Great job, man! I loved that ride we took!" Without the positive feedback, Alexander was over it. It was simply work with no reward.

So I want to take a minute to properly thank God, Who stepped through time and space and entered the world He'd made in order to save me. More than a lotta work, it is the ultimate sacrifice. Miraculous and compassionate. Thank you, Jesus. See my face this morning, Abba, lifted up to You? I am in awe of Your power, Your generosity of heart, Your prescience and Your plans. I don't forget, though sometimes I seem to go merrily on my way without looking back...or up...when You've blessed me so. Thank you that fear and worry don't have to ever define me again. In the palm of Your hand is my safety and joy. You have made me Your child, not Your slave. Though I'd count it a privilege to be a slave in Your home just to be near to You. I thank You that, like Alexander and the puppy, sometimes You do things for me that are just for my pure happiness. No purpose other than to go on an outing with Your daughter. That You laugh with me when I laugh and cry with me in my distress. That as Zephaniah 3:17 says, you sing over me with joy. That as Psalm 131 so aptly describes, I can simply be with You as a weaned child with her mother, safe and confident because You are near. I thank You that the events of the world, though they trouble me, are in Your hands. You have a plan outlined in my Bible for the nations as well as for us, individually. God, You are so big. Spirit, Whose reach is vast, beyond all we know or could even conceive, You know about even the tiniest of Your creation. Your breath gives me life. Father, I don't want You to ever feel about me like Alexander feels about the puppy visitor. I don't want You to wonder if I appreciate Your efforts on my behalf. My heart is thankful beyond measure. May I never, ever ignore Your love and grace poured out without measure on this child of Yours.
 

PSALM 145 - L'chaim!!

The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and His mercy is over all that He has made.  (Verses 8-9)

The Lord passed before Moses and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin..."   Exodus 34

Given the intricacies of His creation, the exquisite attention to detail, God must have a keen interest in all that He has made. Knows how it works and keeps it going. When God passed by Moses, it was in response to the prophet's request to know God and His ways. Now! In the moment I need to see You, understand You. So God hid Moses in the cleft of a rock, a hollow space just big enough for him to stand, and let His glory pass before His servant. The next thing God did was pronounce Who He is. The summation of the entire Bible's illustration of our God. Merciful, loving, gracious, slow to anger, forgiving and just. On every page, from cover to cover, it is the same God revealing His character and propelling His-story. Our God is good. And He pronounced all He made to be good.

I know there are those who don't believe in a personal God. For some it is because if God is personally involved in our lives, they couldn't possibly see Him as good. Too much trouble in their stories. Too much heartache. And I understand that if we loiter on the outside of relationship with God, we can't actually experience Him. Those who read the Old Testament and rail at an angry, malevolent God don't know Him. But, as with Moses, those of us who cry out, "I want to know You!" will get an answer. Maybe not in a passing by with wind and fire, but He promises to reveal Himself to anyone who truly seeks Him. "Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me and I will hear you. You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29) God isn't hiding. Nor is He standing above it all tapping His feet waiting for us to straighten up. He is waiting to hear from us. We will not see God's goodness by standing outside the window and looking in. We must open the door and go inside where His family is, where He lives to take care of us, His kids. Otherwise, we are just judging the neighbor's dad with no real knowledge of what it's like to be His child.

Some reject a personal God because He'll make them change--give up stuff they have or things they are doing. It's silly to me to think that God would demand we change before we have the power to even do so. How can we clean up in order to go to God? How do we even know what He might ask us to relinquish? We come to Jesus just like we are. He changes us from the inside out. Makes us new. Sets within us the same Spirit that powerfully raised Him from the dead. Gives us dunamis. The dynamite power that blasts out the old crud and fills us with new life. Only He can do that. You come as you are. Trust me, you won't stay that way. Not if you really want to know this God Who is good to all He has created. Not if you understand the height and depth of His unfathomable love. It transforms us because it's so unbelievably powerful--the knowledge we are accepted in Christ by the God of All.

I would pray that all those who have preconceived ideas about God being personally interested with them, give asking Him to reveal Himself in their lives a try. What if all this time you've been going it alone, thinking that if you trust God, He'll disappoint? What if He doesn't? What if all the attributes by which He defines Himself could be poured out on you? Seems to me like it's worth a shot.

On the eve of this Thanksgiving I am once again blown away as I think of how loved I am. First by God, without Whose compassion I am incapable of squeezing out even an ounce of charity. If I was able to in the past, it was self-centered and pious. I'm thankful for the freedom in Christ to truly be who I am--the person I was created to be. Thankful that my God doesn't kick me to the curb at every blunder. He's patient with me, knowing I'm dust, but God's not about to leave me the way He found me. He wants to grow me up, as any good father would. His mercy hangs over everything. His grace hovers over our lives. Thank you, Father, for Your great goodness. To life!!!

 

PSALM 145 - The Feats of the Father

One generation shall commend Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works will I meditate.  They shall speak of the might of Your awesome deeds, and I will declare Your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of Your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
(Verses 4-7)

What has God done for me lately? Let's see. I am healthy today, with a beautiful roof over my head. I live near enough to the Pacific Ocean I can walk there in five minutes. My husband and children are healthy and know Jesus. They are well taken care of, as are my grandchildren. We have enough...and enough to share. We have cars to drive, food to eat and meaningful work to do. In the worldly realm, we are blessed beyond what I can even articulate.

The thing God did yesterday, though, was give us an opportunity to remember all He has done for the many years we have been married in terms of taking care of us. Bill's long-term contracting job that has been our mainstay for the past three years was terminated suddenly at the close of day yesterday. The rug magically pulled out from under our feet. It took me back many years to a day when Heather was a baby and I was pregnant with Vanessa. I heard the garage door go up too early in the afternoon, so Heather and I went to the back door to see why Daddy was home so early. "I've been let go," he said as he opened the back door of our orange VW and began unpacking the carload of work stuff that filled our Bug to the gills.

"What?" was my incredulous response. "Don was going to make you a partner! Why did he fire you instead?"

A million things ran through my mind, but primarily I couldn't see how we were going to be able to afford to have a new baby...or eat, for that matter. I was a stay-at-home mom, so I wasn't going to be helping any time soon.

"I think he changed his mind about that and thought I wouldn't work as hard for him if he broke his promise." Bill looked weary for a thirty-one-year-old man. Like he'd been kicked in the stomach. When he came inside, we did what had become a habit for us by then. We held hands and thanked God in this situation...not for it, so much, but acknowledging to God that He knew what happened.

Within two weeks, Bill had another engineering job. However, he was let go of that one before we had Vanessa because he didn't feel he was qualified to do a job they asked him to. Again, what would we do about the baby? I had to have C-sections. At that time, four to five days in the hospital. A second time, no insurance. Within two weeks, Bill had another job. He'd also just finished his master's degree in civil engineering. They loved him so much at UT Arlington that they gave him a night teaching job that paid him almost exactly what we needed to pay the medical bills for Vanessa's birth. Our faithful Father had prepared the way for us long before we needed it.

I don't want my children to remember me for the woman who was always stressed out and wondering how in the world God was going to work some circumstance or issue out. I've spent some time stressing, and I'm ashamed they've seen me that way. Today I am remembering all of the times, like the one above, that my Father has made a way when there was no way. Has worked things out in the nick of time...the very last minute. The wisdom we can hand down over the generations is what we've gleaned from years and years of seeing our God do mighty feats. Yes, sometimes it feels like a shoot-out in a soccer game, down to the wire and we wonder if He'll pull through. The answer to that is a resounding YES!

In this time when I could be convinced by the enemy to cry and moan and wonder if it's all going to work out, I choose to meditate upon all the times the Lord has taken care of us. How wonderful He is to interpose Himself in our lives, knowing all we cannot possibly know, in order to guide us into our destinies and provide for our needs. I know He will continue to love and care for us. I thank Him in this circumstance and look forward to watching my God make all things work together for His glory and our good.

PSALM 145 - Just Scratching the Surface

I will extol You, my God and King, and bless Your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless You and praise Your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable.  (Verses 1-3)
 
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable.
Isaiah 40

Search all you want, but you'll never come to the end of knowing God's greatness or His understanding. That's why I think the atheist's claim that there is no God is such foolishness. Go ahead and say you don't know whether there is a god or not, but don't claim that you know everything there is to know about everything, because inherent in the assertion that there is no God is the assertion that one grasps and understands everything.

God's greatness. We can only scratch the surface of what that means. He is the hub of everything that is anywhere. The power that propels the planets from the tiny particle of matter that existed before the big bang blew it apart and created the universe. The universe began with a particle the size of a period. (.) That big. And it blew up into all the stars and galaxies and everything that exists...all matter was inside of that tiny particle. Who can even conceive such a thing? God set the moon in just the right place and ringed his finger around Earth to give us gravity. This isn't just fantasy. Scientists who'd rather not give a god credit for the order of the universe, are still stuck on trying to give some reasonable explanation for DNA, the code encrypted very specifically into almost all the cells of our body. Each strand of DNA is a mini-computer replicating itself every time a new cell is created. From the time of conception, it is the code my body used to build me into who I am. It dictates not only what we look like, but it tells every cell what its purpose is. For instance, it tells a liver cell how to do its job. My DNA is one of the things that makes me special. Not like someone else. A snowflake in the human population, set apart as me. Each of us has DNA that designs our bodies. From conception. The blueprint for the human that is growing in the womb is the same as when the human is born. I was set to be me the moment I was conceived. This coding is so very specific and obviously well thought out that it smacks of design...a Designer. Saying it just happened that way is like saying computers build themselves. The tides of the oceans are set to balance nature, too. Like they are on a clock. If they were to falter even the tiniest bit, the world would be under water. Our God is able to design and create all of this. In fact, it's much easier to believe in His greatness than to believe with many scientists that such appallingly intricate design is possible without a mind behind it. God created us in His image, too. To love beauty...to even know there is such a thing as beauty or truth--to write poems about love or paint landscapes or sing songs with lyrics to express our hearts. What science is discovering isn't how smart the scientists are, but how unfathomable the Creator is. There is always a new frontier to explore. A new galaxy to wonder at. Those who believe in science as the last word look only at the smallest piece of evidence, forgetting the obvious greater scope. There is too much to know. They will never understand more than the smallest part of our universe--the unsearchable depth and width of all there is to know about everything. Our God actually does understand His creation. Even the tiniest atom. Because He dreamed it all up and holds it all together.

God's understanding. Here is what God knows. Everything. The pre-existent, all powerful God of All sees time stretched out before Him as a whole. God isn't wondering what will happen next. He is working a plan that He's hinted at in the Bible, but the scope of which we will never comprehend. We all fit into it in a specific place and time, and God is intricately involved in each one of us as He is also guiding the events of history and time. He knows what He is doing. "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," declares the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55)." Instead of being frustrating to us, the fact that God knows everything about everything should be a comfort. We don't have to "lean on our own understanding (Proverb 3:5-6)". The One Who conceived the plan loves His children and knows our way. Our place in the trajectory of history. And is committed to guiding us in this life and into the next. Through Jesus, God also understands our predicaments and has solved them. Sent the Word Who spoke it all into being to us to change the course of history forever. Jesus bought our hearts for Himself in excruciating compliance with the plan that was from the beginning--the seed of the woman would crush the head of our enemy. Jesus wasn't surprised one day when God said it is time. There was a work to finish and the Godhead understood it. In His great wisdom and prescience, God knew how to make salvation accessible to everyone. Since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe...for the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men (I Corinthians 1). The wise of this world are confounded by the gospel because God knows it's not through our brilliance we know Him, but with our hearts. There is an unfathomable depth to understanding Him, knowing Him. We will never, ever plumb the depths of knowledge about our God. But He has given us an amazingly sharp image of Who He is. For what can be known about God has been made plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse (Romans 1). Just as we don't go to the Louvre and think, "Wow, isn't it great that this Picasso just evolved the way it did?" So we shouldn't be able to look at the sunset, the mountains, the stars and the variety of animal life and say, "Hmm. Don't think I want to believe in a God, so I'm just gonna say those things appeared over millions of years out of nothing." It is a foolish conclusion in the face of wondrous design.

There is a God Who is involved in His world and with all of His creation. God wants us to participate with Him in all He made with us in mind. To trust Him and to marvel at His greatness--a greatness that He uses on our behalf every day now, and forever.

PSALM 144 - Take Joy

May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown, our daughters like corner pillars cut for the structure of a palace. May our granaries be full, providing all kinds of produce. May our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields. May our cattle be heavy with young, suffering no mishap or failure in bearing. May there be no cry of distress in our streets! Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall! Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord!  (Verses 13-15)

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; He makes my feet like the deer's; He makes me tread on high places. Habakkuk 3

Naghmeh Abedini spoke up recently about life without her husband, Saeed, who is languishing in an Iranian prison because he is a Christian. It's been two years now that she and her children have been without their husband and father. Every day she wakes up without him, a single mom who knows her husband is suffering. But the astounding thing is that she has found a fearless faith in this situation. When Saeed was sent to the exile prison, Naghmeh cried out to God, "Why, Lord? Why is he in this place where he is tortured with murderers and other hard core criminals?" Then she heard of the reports of prisoners coming to Christ. "It was worth it, then," she said. "Even if one person came to Christ through Saeed's suffering, it's worth the price we pay."

When Naghmeh came to Christ, she said if this is true, the life changing power of Jesus, then she was willing to give her life for it. Though she isn't in prison with her husband, she is paying the price with him in her loneliness and grief. What she said she has learned from suffering, though, is that when things are not going as we hope, when the fields look dried up and prosperity seems to vanish, it is then we discover how much we need to be attached to Jesus. Freed from fear, Naghmeh said she found herself attached to the Vine, the Source of life, and she knows now how to connect to that source of strength. If she feels down, she doesn't stay there. She knows how to run to Jesus for life support. "We thrive in the storms. We must dig deeper in the suffering and when we do we find Him there." In the eye of the storm. Her husband is missing birthdays and Christmases, but our lives are short, and if our lives are spent in glorifying God, then it's worth it to both of them.

It should be easier to rejoice in God and not be afraid when our cupboards are full, our car is in the garage, our clothes are up to date and our children are thriving. We all want our sons to be wise and strong, men of courage and integrity even when they are young. Our daughters should grow up with dignity and grace, lovely enough to be pillars in a cathedral. But the reality for many of us is a different story. And when all is good and life rocks along in our prosperity, it is often then we actually forget our need for God. Our singular destiny to proclaim the wonder of His grace and power in our lives. For the Abedini family, life is pared down to trust. The choice is to despair and fall apart or to nourish their hearts and lives with the absolutely necessary sap from the Vine. Food that sinks our roots deeper and deeper into solid ground, like trees planted by a river. We become oaks of righteousness because we need living water.

We are blessed both ways. When God chooses to fatten our flocks and bless our family. When God chooses to pour us out in offering. When things hold together or when things fall apart. It's easy to think that life is all about our own personal happiness so that we doubt God when things go wrong. But it is in Jesus we rejoice because He is our eternal portion, now and later, in every season. It is our privilege to, with fervent intent, take joy from its Source and trust in the One Who is our ultimate salvation.

 Indeed we felt we had received a death sentence. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.   2 Corinthians 1

PSALM 144 - Number One Hit Song

I will sing a new song to You, O God; upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to You, Who gives victory to kings, Who rescues David, His servant, from the cruel sword. Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners whose mouths speak lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.  (Verses 9-11)

I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.   Psalm 40 1-3  Italics, mine

What was the old song? The one that played over and over in your head? What does pit dweller music sound like? A mournful dirge. How dry I am, how dry I am. It's plain to see just why I am. At the bottom, our songs dry up. Stuck and alone with the tape recorder in our heads. We all have one. And most of us could recite verbatim the mantra looping our condition: You'll never get out of this mess because you deserve what's happening to you. Or...God doesn't care or you wouldn't be here in the first place. Or...I might as well stay here, because God will never have me now. Or...fill in the blank. You aren't good enough, no one really gives a flip about you, things never work out for you, or you can never give up whatever it is that keeps you in the pit. Sing, sing, sing.

Some of us are trapped in a dungeon built of the circumstances of our lives. The right hand of the enemy of our souls beating our lives down with illnesses, financial difficulties or relationship woes. We didn't cause any of the problems, but we are still in the pit created by them. Like someone drowning in waves too strong for us, we sing a rescue song when we can take a clear breath. Without a lifeguard, we drown.

It's hard to patiently wait for rescue. The refrain of many of our songs is more a cry for help. I have been in a pit so deep that I could barely whisper, "God help me. Jesus save me." All songs quieted in the struggle. Dungeon walls echoing only my breathing. Barely able to hope for His hand reaching into my space. My feet set in the quick sand of the miry bog, trapped in a noiseless vacuum. It'd been a long time since I'd heard the music of my God. And because my song had been about another love, an idol, for a time, I couldn't remember exactly how to sing love songs to my God. But there came a day when Jesus knew it was enough. And, wonder of wonders, a tiny ray of light peeked through the crevices and spread enough light on me that I hoped. Its rays showed me the pit for what it was. My slavery exposed so that I knew my predicament. Understood the lies. "Jesus." It was all I could say. But it was music to His ears. His right hand reached down into the pitiful, filthy place where I sat mired by the muddy grime of my circumstances and pulled me up out of the joyless prison.

At first the light hurt my eyes. And the shame of my clay-soaked clothes made me hide my face from His. I spent many days prostrate. Still no songs. Just weeping out my repentance. Hating that He had to come and get me there, this child of His Who believed the lies and was trapped by them. Jesus let me...cry, that is. Let me feel the heartache of the breach. Not for my punishment, but so that I'd never, ever, ever want to be away again. So that the next time the enemy spews his lies, tries to trick me into going into a foreign land not ruled by my King, I know not to go, because I can't sing the Lord's song in a foreign land (Psalm 137:4).

There came a day, though, when I awoke with the strains of a new song whirring in the recesses of my heart. It is the song of one who is finally free! Thank You, Thank You, Thank You! I sang as I danced around the room. Water washing off the debris, running through me like a pristine river, taking with it my shame. Cleansed, restored--it made my feet stomp and my heart beat, the rhythm of this love song. Jesus gave me the words for it, showed me how to play the melody that transcends the lies of my enemy. "Sing it loud!" my Savior cried. And He danced with me far away from the edge of the pit.

PSALM 144 - "Only God" Prayers

Bow Your heavens, O Lord, and come down! Touch the mountains so that they smoke! Flash forth the lightning and scatter them; send out Your arrows and rout them! Stretch out Your hand from on high; rescue me and deliver me from the many waters, from the hand of foreigners, whose mouths speak lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
(Verses 5-8)

When You did awesome things that we did not look for, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence! From long ago no one has ever heard of a God like You. No one has ever seen a God like You Who helps those who wait for Him.   Isaiah 64: 3-4

Three months after the Jewish nation left their captivity in Egypt and arrived at the base of Mount Sinai in the desert, God gave Moses three days to prepare the people to be in His presence. They had to be clean, physically and spiritually. And there were parameters set around the mountain so that no one could come near it or touch it. God's holy presence made the mountain itself holy. "On that day I, the Lord, will come down on Mount Sinai and all the people will see Me," God told Moses.

On the morning of the third day, there was thunder and lightning on the mountain and it was covered with a thick smoke. Suddenly a trumpet sounded, loud and long, and the noise of it came from within the mountain. Trembling with awe and fear, the people followed Moses to the base of the mountain where they all stood waiting for God. An earth-splitting shaking made Mount Sinai swoon and groan as God came in fire and power to settle on its peak while smoke rose ever thicker from the mountain as if it were coming from a furnace. The sound of the trumpet was deafening, unearthly and unsettling. God called Moses up into His presence and there spoke with him. With His finger, God inscribed the Law onto tablets of stone, prefacing the giving of the commandments with these words: "I am the Lord, your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt where you were slaves." The Law was the "therefore" immediately following the declaration of His power. I have bought you out was His point. Now you belong to me.

It is this God to Whom David prays. The Mighty One Who plants His foot on the orb He flung in order to bring us out of bondage. David needs a miracle. Something he can't define. A way out that the king can't conceive. Only God can do what needs to be done. And it is the all-powerful God Who needs to show up in thunder and lightning and prescience and the smoke of His glory. David needed his God to reach down from beyond the universe where He lives in vibrating power and brilliant light and do a thing the king can't even describe or imagine. An only God thing. The miraculous. Like the parting of the Red Sea, manna from heaven, gushing water, enough for thousands, from a rock. A rescue that is out of paradigm.

I have some only God things to pray about today. I can't even imagine how to work out the predicaments I pray over. Mary found herself at a wedding in Cana with Jesus one evening. Before any but she knew He was the spawn of her flesh and the seed of God planted on Earth. The miracle of miracles grew up in her home and was standing beside her when the wedding wine ran out (John 2). She turned to her Son. "There isn't any more wine." Stating only the need. Not the solution. She didn't say, "Maybe you and the boys should go to 7-Eleven and get some." She didn't stress and worry that the wedding was now a complete mess and everyone would gossip about what a bust it was. No. All she did was tell God, the Son, what it was she needed. And there it was. The reluctant beginning of the ministry of God come to Earth in an obscure Bethlehem manger instead of in earth-shaking smoke and fire. Jesus did NOT go to the local grocery. Mary told the servants: "Do whatever He tells you to." Still she didn't know. She trusted that her boy, God's boy, would do it in an unexpected way she couldn't imagine. "Fill up the ceremonial washing jars with water." Each of those jars held over twenty gallons. The servants obeyed the directive, and filled the jars to the very top. "Now take some out and give it to the master of this feast," said Jesus. "This wine is the best! Top of the line!" said the host to the bridegroom. "Most people serve wine this good first, but you saved the best for last!" Gallons and gallons of it. Who would have thought?

It won't be what you think when you get your miracle. Only God answers to prayer defy our imagination. Make for stories no one's ever heard before. If we are stuck praying within our human parameters, we might not even get an answer or we'll be disappointed when the answer comes...because God didn't do it our way. The way we told Him to. We would live with a lot more joy if we followed Mary's example and just gave the problem to Jesus. He already has the answer.

But as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him"--these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit.  I Corinthians 2

PSALM 144 - Whatcha Thinking About?

Oh, Lord, what is man that You regard him, or the son of man that You think of him? Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.   (Verses 3-4)

As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God.  Psalm 40:17

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you," says the Lord. "Thoughts of peace, not of evil, to give you an expected end."  Jeremiah 29:11

I didn't wake up today thinking that God is thinking of me. My heart begins praying pretty much every morning as soon as my eyes pry open and I take in the fact that there is a new day ahead for me. I know I'm thinking of Him. It melts me to know He's considering me--meets me in this new day like I met my children when they were young and first awakened in the morning. Sleepy-eyed, hair tousled pit-patting into my arms. I was not only glad to see them, but anxious for them to wake up so I could hold a warm little body close to my heart. Is my Father waiting for my eyes to open in just the same way? He's thinking thoughts about my life, its direction and purpose. Psalm 139 says His eyes saw our unformed substance. Pre-womb. A thought become Kay. And you. My Father thought me into being, so of course He's interested enough in me to consider me now.

I have had a struggle recently about a heart-felt project removed from my hands and given to another. It was changed without my input into a form that only vaguely resembles what I had intended. In my desire to reconcile what happened with the will of God, I have spent many hours in prayer, talking with my Father on long beach walks. Wanting clarity. I put the project out of my thoughts for the most part nowadays. Think of it only when it's brought up. I'm working on something new and that takes my time and imagination. But the other day, my God gave me a wink. There is a thing that most people say about what I've written. It's universally the same phrase. And I heard it regarding the work I set aside. Exactly as has been said before about other works. And I knew then that though it didn't turn out the way I imagined, God was telling me it would get the same results. He was thinking about my heart. Spoke to me in a code only He and I understood.

My good friend's husband was having health problems. When he went to the doctor to be checked out, he was told he almost certainly had cancer. A biopsy followed then days of waiting. The couple has had such a struggle recently with jobs and heartache. Friends prayed. We all trusted God for a different outcome, though the doctor's words seemed certain. What my friend desperately needed to know is that her God loved her and thought about her circumstances. Hope has been thin in recent months. When the tests came back, there was no cancer anywhere. The surge of faith and hope that visited my friend after that announcement was as much about God loving and hearing her--His thinking about her and her husband--as it was about the actual healing. It's a powerful thing to know, for certain, that God is looking our way and planning our rescue.

A young couple we've known for several years has been struggling with things within their marriage and with their finances. Lost jobs, lost trust, a rocky, rocky road. At the end of their wits, with no money for rent, they prayed. And intentionally trusted. Not the kind that glibly says, "Oh, God will take care of us." No. This was a faith that comes from deciding that God would provide though there was no possible way for that to happen in the natural. Right before the rent was due, a Christian man offered the husband an hourly day job...and offered to pay their rent in advance of his work. The joy of having the rent paid was not as deep as the knowledge that the Father was thinking of them and planning their rescue. To know they are loved by Him despite their issues and needs--or maybe precisely because of them. The young woman's eyes sparkled as she told me about how Jesus met this need. "He loves me." That's what she got from the experience.

So what are we that God should regard us? His dear children. Before the foundations of the world, before stars were flung and moons were hung in space, we were on His mind. "Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Look! I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.
Isaiah 49:15-16

 

PSALM 144 - Hooah and Thank You!

Blessed be the Lord, my Rock, Who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle; He is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and He in Whom I take refuge, Who subdues peoples under me.  (Verses 1-2)

Sergeant Alvin York served in the United States Army in World War 1. A conscientious objector when he was drafted into the military, York was opposed to killing anyone. He'd become a Christian in his mid-twenties and believed God didn't want him to shoot the enemy. York's commander gave the young soldier leave to go home to the hills of Tennessee to think and pray. There, Alvin spent several days praying and fasting about his decision to go to war. Because he'd grown up poor, foraging and hunting for food, Alvin honed his skills as a marksman. His aim was exceptional, even among his peers. He knew how to crouch and wait, how to run after the fox or deer. He'd been trained for war and didn't know it. On the last day of his fast, a brief gust of wind blew his Bible open to
Mark 12:17: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's." Alvin York took this as a direct word from God that it was right for him to fight for America. Though he didn't know what that would entail, York's decision, he said, was to trust God to show him the rest.

York's unit is shipped to Europe to fight in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. On October 8, 1918, the troops are ordered to run toward a nest of machine gun fire that felled most of the soldiers. When York's sergeant is ordered to take a group of men and try to attack the nest of German gunners from behind, they receive such a hit that York discovers he's the only unwounded non-com left. In a miraculous run on the machine gun nest, York winds his way through carnage and gunfire to reach the entrenched gunners, and with the accuracy he learned in the hills of Tennessee, kills them all. Behind the nest is a regiment of German soldiers standing in the trenches with their backs to him, shooting at Americans. Because they are unaware of York, he begins shooting them one at a time, like picking off a line of ducks in the air, rear to front, so that they don't notice the man behind has been shot until it's too late. Within a few minutes, the entire German regiment throws down their guns and lifts their arms in surrender. York had taken 32 machine guns, killed 28 Germans and ultimately captured 132 German soldiers. One man pulled the whole thing down.

When asked later if York did this because he so hated the Germans, his answer was surprising to his commanders. "No. I did it to protect the men who were being slaughtered. I couldn't let that happen to my comrades." Of this battle, York, who became a Medal of Honor winner and garnered over fifty military decorations for his valor, said, "A higher power than man guided and watched over me and told me what to do."

I know many men who were Christians died that day. There is no guarantee that because we are know Jesus we won't be killed in physical battle. But God's particular choice to use Alvin York to save the lives of others who might have died is significant. Trained up in the woods of Tennessee to do just what he did in battle, Alvin's encounter with Christ and subsequent love of God and the Bible trained him also for the broader war. A destiny unimagined while the boy was hunting for food in the hills of home. And the reason the one who didn't want to kill anyone was able to was because he knew he was saving the lives of others in doing so.

God is also training us for war--the broader one. And part of that warfare is accomplished on a battle field close to home--on our knees. Today there are Americans still fighting for our safety and our freedom. Giving their lives so we might keep ours. May we fight with them as we cry out to the One Who trains our hands for war and calls us to our knees: "If My people, who are called by My name, humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." May we pray for peace. May we humbly ask forgiveness. May we trust the same God Sergeant Alvin York did to show us what our place is in the process of freedom and then do it.