Restore Us, O God

Monday 4/23/2012 4:36 AM

Psalm 80 is my psalm for the week in my devotional material.  It depicts the people of God as a flock of sheep and as a grapevine in a vineyard.  It depicts God as the shepherd of the sheep and as the vinedresser.  The people of God are drinking tears, they are the objects of derision and mocking, they are broken down, ravaged, cut down and perishing.  The psalmist pleads, “Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.” on three separate occasions in the psalm.

I thought about the church today in our country.  While we are not physically persecuted like the church in other parts of the world, we are objects of derision and mocking and it is portrayed as broken down, passé, irrelevant and ineffective.  Unfortunately, in my opinion, many accusations leveled against the church are deserved because of the actions, or perhaps the lack of action of its members.  Like the psalmist, I believe that the church needs to be restored and the only way it will happen is if God himself intervenes and changes our hearts.

I read a prayer today from the book A Diary of Private Prayer, written by John Baillie.  He writes.

Let me stand today –

for whatever is pure and true and just and good:

for the advancement of science and education and true learning:

for the redemption of daily business from the blight of self-seeking:

for the rights of the weak and the oppressed:

for industrial cooperation and mutual help:

for the conservation of the rich traditions of the past:

for the recognition of new workings of thy Spirit in the minds of the people of my own time:

for the hope of yet more glorious days to come.

Today, O Lord –

let me put right before interest:

let me put others before self:

let me put the things of the spirit before the things of the body:

let me put the attainment of noble ends above the enjoyment of present pleasures:

let me put principle above reputation:

let me put thee before all else.

If I lived in this manner, accompanied by the rest of the people of God, the church would no longer be broken down, passé, irrelevant and ineffective.  It would be a thriving, living organism, shaping the world around it into the kingdom of God.  Restore us, O God; make your face on us, that we may be saved.

Ring Wraith

Sunday 4/22/2012 6:15 AM

I saw a neighborhood regular shortly after I left my house as I ran this morning.  She was shuffling along on the opposite side of the street dressed in a black hoodie, pulled low around her face, and black bell bottom sweats that are torn and shredded, exposing her unwashed, blackened, bare feet.  Her appearance resembles that of a ring wraith in The Lord of the Rings and, as I passed, I heard her talking to herself.  She appears to be someone who is addicted to drugs or alcohol, or else someone who suffers from some sort of mental illness.  I got nervous when I ran past her, wondering if she would jump at me with a knife or a used hypodermic needle, perceiving me to be a threat.  When I returned from my run I saw her again, gesturing wildly in the air, as if she were arguing with an unseen opponent. 

I prayed for her both times I saw her but, while my heart went out to her, I wondered what I could do to help her to be released from her bondage.  I thought about her childhood and I wondered what circumstances led her to this point.  I believe she needs to be in some sort of drug or alcohol rehabilitation program or else she needs to take some sort of medication to deal with her mental illness and I wondered about her willingness to participate in such programs.  As usual, my heart tells me she needs help but I am at a loss as to the specifics of how to act.  I realize that ultimately it is only the power of God that can release her from her bondage but I also know that God works through his people to affect his will.

She, of course, is not alone in her problems.  Thousands of the homeless suffer from similar difficulties.  There are others who function in society but are slaves to alcohol or recreational drugs.  Some are slaves to their anger, preventing them from establishing meaningful relationships with others.  Once again, I feel overwhelmed by the immensity of the problem.  Prayer is the only thing I can think to do but it seems hollow without being accompanied by some sort of action.  But, lacking ideas for action, I will simply pray.  Lord, release us from the bondage that prevents us from living lives as you meant them to be lived.

More or Enough

Friday 4/20/2012 5:55 AM

Yesterday I received an award at school for being one of the outstanding faculty members for the year.  There were about a dozen recipients and each of us were called to the stage where we given and plaque and a medallion while the Faculty Senate president read descriptive words of our work at the school.  It was a nice ceremony that I shared with my immediate family and with my brother, who happened to be in town.

There is something inside of me that craves recognition and validation.  My mother says that, even as a small child, I needed constant reassurance and encouragement.  Ironically, receiving praise and recognition makes me uncomfortable.  Perhaps I am afraid of becoming arrogant and proud, afraid that I will think myself better than others.  The Bible is replete with warnings about pride and I certainly do not want to be opposed by God, as James 4:6 states.

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of this whole process for me is the emptiness I experience in the aftermath.  The anticipation of the event and the experience itself are filled with emotion but somehow the feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment deflates quickly afterwards, like a balloon that slips from your fingers while you are blowing it up.  Jesus desires that his disciples will experience life to the full.  The things of this life to which most people aspire, wealth, notoriety, and power, when attained, leave a feeling of emptiness and a longing for more.  Blaise Pascal called it the God-shaped vacuum, the space that can only be satisfied with a relationship with God.  When I experience intimacy with God there will no longer be a need for wealth, notoriety and power.  God will be enough.

Waxing and Waning

Saturday 4/14/2012 6:14 AM

As I ran this morning the waning moon dominated the lightening sky.  It is in its final quarter and will be waxing again a week or so from now.  I thought about the phases of the moon as I ran and realized that from the point of view of the sun, the moon is always full, its shadowed side is visible only to the earth.

We often talk about he dark side of the moon, but that side is not always dark.  Because the moon is in synchronous rotation around the earth the same side of the moon always faces the earth.  However, what we call the dark side of the moon is fully illuminated during a new moon.  From the earth’s perspective the moon waxes and wanes, oscillating between full and new moon phases.  From the sun’s perspective the moon is always full, its shadowed side always the side facing away from the sun.

I thought about how the circumstances of my life and my spiritual life wax and wane.  At times my circumstances are sunny and bright and at other times everything seems dark and encased in shadow.  My spiritual life is the same; at times I reflect the glory of God for others to see while other times I eclipse the glory of God.

God’s desire is that I am in synchronous rotation with his Spirit.  When that happens I am always reflecting God’s love for others to see.  I spend most of my life in synchronous rotation around the things of this world, obsessed with fame or possessions or power and the like.  When my focus is on those things then the reflection of the glory of God in my life waxes and wanes like the moon.

Jesus needs to reign in my life if I am to constantly reflect the glory of God.  The hymn writer, Isaac Watts, says it well.  “Jesus shall reign where e’er the sun does his successive journeys run; his kingdom stretch from shore to shore, till moons shall wax and wane no more.”  I pray that I will be in synchronous rotation with the Spirit so I will wax and wane no more.