Laws of Justice and Mercy

Monday 12/22/2014 6:55 AM

My assigned scripture today included the laws of justice and mercy found in Exodus 23:1-9. As I read them I thought about how appropriate they are for our modern world and, unfortunately, how often they are missing. “Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness. Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, and do not show favoritism to a poor person in a lawsuit. … Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent. Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.”

As I read through the list I immediately thought of current events that illustrate each of the issues. False reports and misinformation are constantly leaked and propagated in our political processes by both Democrats and Republicans. Political spin-doctors take the news and mold it to fit their party’s point of view, truth be damned. Rabble-rousers hijack peaceful protests; turning crowds into frenzied, destructive, looting fanatics. “Illegal aliens” are blamed for many of the ills of our society but they are taken advantage of by those who do not pay a fair wage for work done. We are complicit in the injustice when we fail to stand up for them, choosing instead to benefit from cheaper prices for goods and services.

I found it interesting that one verse warns against showing favoritism to the poor in a lawsuit and the next verse warns against denying justice to the poor in their lawsuits. There are times in our judicial system when the poor cannot afford the high priced attorneys that are retained by large corporations or wealthy individuals, and suffer injustice as a result. There are other times when people feel sorry for the down and outers in our society and hold them to a different standard because of their standing. It seems like both scenarios are wrong.

The saddest part of this to me is that the Christian community should be at the vanguard of seeking after truth, justice and mercy for all people but too often we are the ones spreading misinformation, perverting justice and oppressing the foreigners. May God have mercy on us and help us to see the error of our ways.

Downward Mobility

Monday 12/15/2014 4:34 AM

Today I read the song Mary sang after she encountered Elizabeth, whose baby leapt in her womb upon meeting Mary. After praising God for the great things he had done for her, she sings, “His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.” Rueben P. Job, one of the authors of my devotional book comments on these verses. He writes, “God’s promise seems no less preposterous today. Turn the values of this world upside down? Rich become weak; poor become strong? Each of us chosen to be God’s special witness to God’s promise of love and justice? It does seem like a preposterous promise, until we listen carefully to the Advent story, observe the life of Jesus, and listen to the Spirit’s voice today. But then we see that the promise is for us. The responsibility to tell the story is ours. And yes, the blessing and honor come to all whose lives point to Jesus Christ and God’s revolutionary purpose in the world.”

There are not many today in the church in North America who preach this kind of revolutionary message. We mouth the words about caring for the poor and seeking justice for the oppressed but when it comes to living it out, we fail miserably. We see the blessing of God as living in a free society where we can worship comfortably without fear of reprisal and being able to pursue our dreams of living a comfortable life with adequate finances for retirement. As a church we do little to promote love and justice for those who are oppressed in our society. We lobby for secure borders to our country to keep out the alien rather than seeking justice for those who have been allowed to live within our borders because their cheap labor allows us to maintain our lifestyle. We strive for upward mobility, a prized ideal in our culture. God’s people are to strive for downward mobility, standing with those who are oppressed by our governmental systems, which marginalize the weak and protect the interests of the powerful.

The question for me today is, how best is that to be done? Do I become an activist, joining protests and marches in the streets that demand rights for the oppressed? Do I lobby my representative in Congress to enact laws to address the issues of justice for the weak? Do I work within the church, striving for a change in the attitudes and the actions of God’s people? Perhaps it’s a little bit of all of that. It all seems too overwhelming and the immensity of the task tends to paralyze me. I need to have the courage to take a step.

Potluck

Friday 12/12/2014 4:14 AM

Yesterday we had our annual division holiday party. We have a potluck in one of the labs and enjoy each other’s food and company. Some of the retired employees return and friendships are renewed and strengthened. We traditionally give gifts to the office staff, sign cards to thank them for their work for us throughout the year and to wish them happy holidays.

As I was signing the cards of the staff yesterday one of my colleagues was telling me that one of the staff members was an atheist and another had a religion that does not allow her to celebrate anything so I should be careful of what I write in the cards. Unfortunately, I wasn’t careful, choosing instead to wish them a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I’m pretty sure I could be labeled intolerant in broader society, forcing my views onto others.

I’ve thought about this quite a bit over the course of the last day. If someone wishes me a Happy Hanukkah or Happy Kwanzaa I am not offended, I politely say thank you and feel honored that they took the time to share the joy of their celebration with me. I know I am in the cultural majority, so that may taint my perception, but I struggle to see why I should be careful in sharing the joy of this season of the year. It seems to me that if we live in a culturally diverse community we should take the best of each culture and make it a part of the combined culture. As it is, it seems that we tiptoe around constantly worrying about whom we may offend and lose out on a lot of joy. We do not live in a vacuum of self-centered isolation; we live in a vibrant, people-filled world. It’s like a potluck; we have a lot to appreciate and to share with each other.

Hope and Change

Friday 12/5/2014 4:01 AM

Today I read Lamentations 3. Many of the verses remind me of the last year, a time where God has seemed to be silent in my life. “(The Lord) has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead. … Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. …I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. So I say, ‘My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.’ I remember my affliction and my wandering, … I remember them well and my soul is downcast within me.”

After Jeremiah lamented his condition of being afflicted and abandoned by God he breaks out with a triumphant statement of hope for which Lamentations 3 is most well known, “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” My response to that great hope should be the same as that of Jeremiah, “‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’ The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. …Let him sit alone in silence, for the Lord has laid it on him.”

This week has been filled with social unrest. Last week a grand jury failed to indict a police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black man in Ferguson, Missouri. Earlier this week a grand jury failed to indict a New York police officer who choked an unarmed black man, despite the fact that the man repeatedly told the arresting officers that he could not breathe and a witness filmed the incident. There have been demonstrations and riots across the country calling for judicial reform, for a change in a system that upholds the status quo and fails to provide justice equally to all people.

In the middle of Lamentations 3, after this passage that describes the faithful love and compassion of God for people, come the words of verses 34–36, “To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land, to deny people their rights before the Most High, to deprive them of justice – would not the Lord see such things?” The thing that I find so troubling is that the Christian community should see the world in the same way that God sees the world. If segments of our society are being crushed, denied their rights, and deprived of justice, Christians should be leading the charge for reform and change. They should be in the vanguard of those seeking justice for the oppressed. Unfortunately it seems that many Christians are the ones fighting hard to maintain the unjust, unequal, and biased systems that prey upon the weak and disenfranchised.

My response needs to be the same as that for which Jeremiah is calling in verses 40–42. “Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: ‘We have sinned and rebelled…’ Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed. My eyes will flow unceasingly, without relief, until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees. What I see brings grief to my soul because of all the women of my city.”

I believe that our society needs to change. We need to live up to the Pledge of Allegiance, which describes our nation as being under God, with liberty and justice for all. I’m not sure how I can personally affect the change that is required but I’m quite certain that if I examine my ways, seek after God, repent of the part I have played in the perpetuation of injustice, and align myself with those who are oppressed, the Spirit of God will direct my path.

Vulnerable, Yet Secure

Sunday 11/30/2014 5:14 AM

I am six feet eight inches in height. Being tall can have its advantages. Jaci likes it because I come in handy when she needs items that are stored on the top shelf in the cupboard and I am also easy to spot in a crowd of people or in a store. My head sticks up above everyone else’s head and above the aisles so she simply looks up and tries to find my balding pate.

What is an advantage for her can be a disadvantage for me. When I am in a crowd of people I can see a long distance over the top of the heads of others but I can also be easily disoriented when the crowd is moving, as happens when entering or exiting a sporting event where thousands of people are in attendance. It can give me the feeling that I am afloat in a sea of people as I watch their heads bobbing around me and I can become dizzy to the point that I almost fall over.

My psalm for the week is Psalm 27. Verses 5 and 6 read, “For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock. Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the Lord.” I like the image of hiding in the shelter of the sacred tent, safe from all the enemies that may surround me. It’s nice to be lost in the crowd with no responsibility to lead. I simply follow the person ahead of me and; much like a bird in a swarming flock or a fish in a swirling school, I am also less likely to be attacked by a predator. On the other hand, being set high upon a rock gives me mixed feelings. It is a nice to have an overarching view of things from that perspective but it can also be a very vulnerable position. One is easy to spot if one’s head is above all the surrounding territory and things that stick up are easy targets for those who would want to do harm.

God wants me to have the security of hiding in the shelter of his wings but he also wants to set me high on a rock. He doesn’t want me to blindly follow everyone else around, trying my best to blend in without drawing attention to myself. He wants me to be set apart for all to see, to sacrifice, with shouts of joy, in the midst of a crowd of people that horde more and more for themselves. He wants me to sing and make joyful music when those around are singing dirges. He wants me to see the big picture, to have perspective, in a myopic world.

The danger of living in such a manner is that of becoming a target for others around. The nail that sticks up is usually hammered down. If I attempt to live differently from the crowd, those around will closely examine my life, looking to charge me with hypocrisy or of having ulterior motives. I become more vulnerable in a world that can be extremely hostile.

Do I trust God enough to lead me against the flow of the crowd, to a life of sacrifice and love? Do I have the desire to see the world for what it is and to be a beacon of hope and joy for others to see? Do I have the courage to live my life vulnerably, to have God set me high upon a rock, or do I crave the security of the crowd too much to take a risk? I pray that I will be vulnerable enough to follow the Spirit, trusting God for my security.

Joy and Peace

Saturday 11/29/2014 8:07 AM

Psalm 90:14 caught my attention as I read my assigned reading for today. “Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.” Over the course of the last twenty years it has been my habit to go for an early morning run and then sit for a while and have a time of Bible reading, meditation and prayer. More often than not I receive direction or encouragement during that time of quiet reflection, which gives me the strength, courage and confidence to live my life with abandon. Thinking about the great love of God for me and for the world allows me to live with joy and peace even when the things around me seem to be deteriorating. It brings hope in the midst of hopelessness.

John 17 records Jesus’ prayer the night before he was crucified. He prayed, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” I believe that my time of quiet reflection each morning allows me to know God better, which brings with it the joy, peace and hope for which so many long.

The following prayer from the book, Prayer, by O. Hallesby, is my prayer today.

Though I’m but dust, I pray,

Before God standing,

Not asking pleasure’s way,

Nor gold demanding;

But greater things I ask,

From God requesting

No less than that he give

To me that I may live

Life everlasting.

My heart now overflows

With prayers and praises.

My Heavenly Father knows

Each sign that raises

My heart ever nearer to his heart so tender;

For there’s my joy and peace;

In thee I’ve found release,

My soul’s Defender.

In the Breach

Thursday 11/27/2014 4:57 AM

Today is my fifty-ninth birthday and it is also Thanksgiving Day. Psalm 90, my psalm for the week delivers a good reminder that human life lasts about seventy or eighty years, that it goes by quickly. I need to remember that if I want to gain a heart of wisdom.

My birthday and Thanksgiving Day have been overshadowed by events in Ferguson, MO, where a grand jury failed to indict a white police officer in the shooting death of a black teenager, Michael Brown. There have been protests and riots throughout the country as citizens rise up against the systemic injustice of our judicial system toward minorities and especially toward African-Americans. Today my reading includes a meditation written by Jesuit Father Luis Espinal shortly before his assassination by paramilitary forces on March 22, 1980, in La Paz, Bolivia. Nearly thirty-five years have passed since then and thousands of miles separate the events but his writing is a good reminder for me.

There are Christians who have hysterical reactions,

as if the world would have slipped out of God’s hands.

They act violently as if they were risking everything.

But we believe in history;

the world is not a roll of the dice going toward chaos.

A new world has begun to happen since Christ has risen…

Jesus Christ, we rejoice in your definitive triumph…

with our bodies still in the breach

and our souls in tension,

we cry out our first “Hurrah!”

till eternity unfolds itself.

Your sorrow has now passed.

Your enemies have failed.

You are a definitive smile for humankind.

What matter the wait now for us?

We accept the struggle and the death;

because you, our love, will not die!

We march behind you,

on the road to the future.

You are with us

and you are our immortality!

Take away the sadness from our faces.

We are not in a game of chance…

You have the last word!

Beyond the crushing of our bones,

now has begun the eternal “alleluia!”

From the thousand openings of our wounded bodies

and souls there arises now a triumphal song!

So, teach us to give voice to your new life throughout all the world.

Because you dry the tears from the eyes of the oppressed forever…

and death will disappear…

As I age it is easy to become cynical about the wrongs that are in the world ever changing for the better. It seems that the purveyors of evil and injustice are prevailing over those of righteousness and justice, and no amount of protesting or fighting against it will change it for the better.

I like the imagery used by Father Espinal, where he describes our bodies as being in the breach. The image that I get is being a bullet in the breach of God’s gun that is aimed at righting the wrongs in the world. God uses his people to effect change; but he doesn’t use the same weapons as the world. He calls me to love, and to exhibit righteousness and justice in my interactions with others. I need to remember that I am part of a great battle but I must not despair, thinking the outcome of the battle is up for grabs. God has the last word and he has already spoken. I pray that I will be an outspoken voice promoting hope and new life in Christ and that I will have a part in drying the tears of the oppressed rather than being the cause of their tears.

Also Ran

Tuesday 11/25/2014 4:42 AM

In horse racing, the first three finishers are awarded the positions of Win, Place, and Show. Those who wager on the race receive a payout for those positions. The other horses running the race, that do not finish in the top three, are given the moniker, Also Ran.

Today my assigned reading included the last verses of Hebrews 11 and the opening verses of chapter 12. Chapter 11 ends with a description of some of the heroes of faith who performed mighty deeds and others who were jeered at, sawn in two, beaten, tortured, flogged, imprisoned, etc. Chapter 12 begins by referencing those witnesses and then gives this encouragement, “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. … Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Emphasis added)

In this life it seems that everyone has a different road to travel. Some seem to lead a life of faith where everything goes their way. They accomplish great things for God and they see the results of their efforts. Others seem to be confronted by evil at every turn. Their efforts seem to be ineffective and their lives are characterized by persecution and trouble. God commends both types of people.

I have a tendency to want to have the first type of life, one characterized by a vibrant faith proving its validity with great signs, notoriety, and fanfare. I want to win, place, or show. So when I go through a dry spell in which I do not hear clear direction from God and when there are no great leaps of faith required, I tend to think I’m on the wrong path. Today the word of Hebrews 12 remind me to run the race that has been set out for me with perseverance.

I want to run the races of others, to hear the accolades that come with breaking the tape at the finish line, of being the best, or nearly so. I need to follow the example of Christ, who ran the race set before him, which included the shame of the cross, and to not lose heart. I place great value on those who win, place, or show. God’s power is made perfect in weakness. He can make great use of an also ran.

When the Light Goes Out

Monday 11/24/2014 4:32 AM

In his book Creation in Christ, George MacDonald writes about the necessity of dying to self in order to fully experience the life of God. He then states, “Friends, those of you who know, or suspect, that these things are true, let us arise and live­ – arise even in the darkest moments of spiritual stupidity, when hope itself sees nothing to hope for. Let us not trouble ourselves about the cause of our earthliness, except we know it to be some unrighteousness in us, but go at once to the Life. Let us comfort ourselves in the thought of the Father and the Son. So long as there dwells harmony, so long as the Son loves the Father with all the love the Father can welcome, all is well with the little ones. God is all right – why should we mind standing in the dark for a minute outside his window? Of course we miss the inness, but there is a bliss of its own in waiting.”

Over the course of the past three days I have heard the same message on different occasions: Wait. I am longing for the feeling of inness that MacDonald describes, of knowing what God wants from me or what he wants me to do specifically. That kind of direct communication has been lacking in my life over the past year or so. Evidently God wants me to stand in the dark for a while. I need to stop and enjoy the solitude, trusting that God continues to work both in me and through me in spite of the silence.

Barren Desert

Tuesday 11/18/2014 4:23 AM

Psalm 19 begins with these words, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” This past weekend I went on a motorcycle ride with three of my friends. We took a short three-day trip that lead us through Death Valley, through the Owen’s Valley, over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, through gold rush country and into the San Joaquin Valley before returning home. We saw a wide variety of scenery from the dry desert to snow-capped mountains, from the lowest point in North America to a nine thousand foot pass and from barren land to land filled with crops and livestock. David was right; they had no speech, they used no words, no sound was heard from them yet their voice spoke to anyone who took the time to listen.

I have complained over the past year that God seems silent; his voice seems still when I tune my ear to listen. But I heard more from God in the past few days riding my motorcycle through the beautiful California landscape than I have over the past two years reading my Bible. Seeing plants clinging to life in the bone-dry desert gives me hope that some semblance of life with God may lie beneath the barren landscape of my soul.

One of my concerns about my current lack of connection with God is a fear that I have lost my voice in proclaiming the glory of God to the world around me. How can I encourage others to have intimacy with God when I am not experiencing it myself? How can the love of God ooze from my pores for others to see and to experience when the love of God seems absent from me? I wonder if, like the heavens, my voice will go out to the ends of the world even when there are no words, no speech, and no sound echoing within my soul. I pray that the glory of God can be evident to others in my barren life in the same way the plant clinging to life in Death Valley revealed the glory of God to me.

Quicksand

Sunday 11/9/2014 6:04 AM

Lately I have spent much time reflecting on my relationship with God and I’ve found it lacking fervor. I’ve been reading the book Crazy Love, by Francis Chan, and I realize that I am not completely sold out to God. I’ve tried to muster up enthusiasm and excitement in my spiritual life but all the efforts I have put forth are without effect. It seems as if I’m stuck in spiritual quicksand that is slowly, but inexorably, sucking me downward.

I want to hear God’s voice. I want to experience his leading. I want to feel his loving embrace. I want … fill in the blank, but all I get is silence. It makes me question my faith and my commitment to God, or the lack thereof. This excerpt from The Spiritual Life, by Evelyn Underhill, is a good reminder for me today. “Our spiritual life is his affair; because, whatever we may think to the contrary, it is really produced by his steady attraction, and our humble and self-forgetful response to it. It consists in being drawn, at his pace and in his way, to the place where he wants us to be; not the place we fancied for ourselves.” Evidently he wants me to spend some time in a quagmire.

Doorkeeper

Monday 10/27/2014 4:25 AM

My devotional theme for the week is “A Friend of Souls.” Part of my reading included a poem entitled I Stand by the Door, by Samuel Moor Shoemaker. The poem is a description of what he desires to do in life, stand by the door to God and show people the way in. In the poem, God is portrayed as a vast, roomy house with a single door for entry. He sees his job as simply pointing out the door to passersby, those seeking after God. He will occasionally look into the house to hear the voice of God and to hear from others who live within how wonderful the house is but he quickly returns to his post by the door, lest anyone should miss finding it.

He says there are those who live within the house and plumb its depths, which is an encouragement to others, but he prefers to stand by the door. I feel called to be someone who explores the depths of God’s love and mercy. There needs to be someone who can tell others of the beauty that lies within, one who invites those who enter to do some exploring rather than to go back outside the door. Shoemaker agrees, but warns that those who live within should never forget the millions who are still outside, seeking to find a way in.

Finding a balance between losing myself in the love of God and interacting with those who live apart from God, to point them toward God, has always been a difficult thing for me to do. I don’t want to be so heavenly minded that I am of no earthly good. Lord, help me to explore the height and depths of your love without losing touch with those with whom I rub shoulders daily.

Drought

Sunday 10/19/2014 6:17 AM

California is in the middle of a drought. I have not watered my lawn at all this past summer and the grass is pretty much dead. There are mandatory water restrictions and farmers have also been restricted to the amount of water they can use. There has been unusually low rainfall and snowpack for the past few years and reservoirs all across the state are nearly empty.

My assigned scripture today included Joel 2:23ff, “Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the autumn rains because he is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil. … Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there is no other…” I also read Psalm 107:33ff, “He turned rivers into a desert, flowing springs into thirsty ground, and fruitful land into a salt waste, because of the wickedness of those who lived there. He turned the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into flowing springs; there he brought the hungry to live, and they founded a city where they could settle. They sowed fields and planted vineyards that yielded a fruitful harvest; he blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased.” Both of these passages talk about rain being sent to thirsty ground by a loving God. Our modern society denies the work of God in the cycles of drought and flooding. They attribute it to chance at best and, lately, they have attributed it to the work of man in the world, who has deposited too much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels.

At first I thought perhaps God was letting me know that the drought in California would subside this year, that there would be plenty of rain. But then I thought about my personal life and my relationship with God over the past year or so and how I have been in a drought in that aspect of my life. Over the course of the past few days I have had meaningful devotional times. Maybe God is telling me that the drought I am experiencing in that regard is ending. A prayer by Peter Marshall is mine today, “Father, I am beginning to know how much I miss when I fail to talk to thee in prayer, and through prayer to receive into my life the strength and the guidance which only you can give. Forgive me for the pride and the presumption that make me continue to struggle to manage my own affairs to the exhaustion of my body, the weariness of my mind, the trial of my faith.”

Perspective

Friday 10/17/2014 7:35 AM

Yesterday I attended a meeting that became somewhat contentious. People had differing ideas on how best to proceed and eventually people started to nitpick, citing violations of Robert’s Rules of Order when we have never previously used them. Then we began discussing a document and the word Nazis came to life, parsing sentences, arguing about the tenses of verbs or the most appropriate adjective, etc., bickering about the jots and tittles. It seemed obvious to me what everyone’s intent was but progress was being hindered by divisiveness. I became really upset and nearly walked out of the meeting because of my frustration but I didn’t want to disrespect the others so I decided to look out the window instead. There were beautiful clouds layering the sky, a welcome relief after the past few weeks of record-breaking heat. The jacaranda trees were sporting clusters of their characteristic purple flowers, unusual for this time of year. A young couple was sitting on the grass, obviously in love and enjoying each other’s company. I immediately felt the stress start to dissipate.

Today I read an excerpt from Prayer, a book by Simon Tugwell in which he notes the contrast between the grumbling preacher of Ecclesiastes saying, “there is nothing new under the sun” with the writer of Revelation proclaiming, “Look! I am making all things new.” He writes, “We may all of us sometime get Ecclesiastes moods, and if we do, it is comforting to know that they are not utterly debarred from God’s domain; but we should not devote our minds and imaginations to prolonging and justifying them. We should aim rather to have minds and imaginations able to respond joyfully to the truth that in Christ everything is given back its youth and at least something of the freshness of the very first days of creation.”

Over the past year or so I have been experiencing more of the darker side of life, frustrated with the lack of movement in my relationship with God and an inability to discern God’s will. I’ve felt like walking out on God, giving up, taking my ball and going home. Perhaps I need to glance out the windows of my life and see the world from God’s point of view, seeing the clouds as the means to bring relief from drought rather than as agents who are out to block the sun. It’s time to look for the unexpected beauty of blooming jacarandas and the joy of young lovers in my present circumstances instead of longing for my rose-colored past. Behold! God is doing a new thing.

Spiritual Ennui

Thursday 10/16/2014 5:00 AM

I have been battling spiritual ennui for almost a year and I feel as if I am finally succumbing to it. For many months I had my regular time of reading the Bible and meditating on it but seldom had any insights that I would consider to be earth shattering. Over the past couple of months it seems like I have completely given up on hearing God speak. My devotional time has been haphazard, cursory, or nonexistent, and the voice of God has been completely muted to my ears.

Jaci and I agreed to be co-leaders of a small group Bible study at our church in which we are studying God’s great love for us. When discussing what an appropriate response to that kind of love should be, I feel like a big hypocrite. There was a time when I felt close to God, when I regularly heard his voice and was comforted by his presence, but now it all seems like a distant memory. I have always believed that to be used effectively by God in the building of his kingdom one must maintain a vital connection with him. If that connection and relationship is severed, at best, I have nothing to offer and, at worst, I am a hindrance.

Psalm 86 is my psalm for the week. It begins with these words, “Hear me, Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Guard my life, for I am faithful to you; save your servant who trusts in you. You are my God; have mercy on me, Lord, for I call to you all day long. Bring joy to your servant, Lord, for I put my trust in you.” I can relate to the poor and needy part and the plea for joy part, but the faithful part, the calling all day long part, and the trusting part do not strike a chord with me at all. If God’s protection, God’s mercy, and the joy he gives are dependent upon my faithfulness, my pleading and my trust, I am SOL.

The writing of Simon Tugwell, in his book Prayer, brings a little hope this morning. “Blessed are the poor! How easily we take that always to mean somebody else. Yet if we want to be with God, we must learn to hear it as ‘blessed are we who are poor’, we who have not got anything very impressive to give to anybody, whose giving my very well be rather a nuisance, but who still have not given up giving. … God invites us into this conspiracy of the poor, making himself its head, giving himself in poverty and weakness, knowing that if we will only receive that humble gift of his, it will transform everything. If we are prepared to be poor enough to learn and to appreciate the manner of God’s giving we shall find in that poverty the seed of all perfection.” Lord, please use me in my poverty.

Overcoming Evil

Monday 9/29/2014 4:49 AM

Over the weekend a disgruntled worker who had just been fired from his job returned to his place of employment and attacked two women, stabbing them both and beheading one of them. It is difficult for me to understand how one can reach that point of rage where one resorts to that level of violence but it seems to be happening with increasing frequency of late.

My devotional theme for the week is “Beyond Forgiveness.” If I were the husband, father or son of the beheaded woman it would take something way beyond forgiveness to deal with the anger I would have toward the perpetrator. My psalm for the week is Psalm 141 and verse 4 seems fitting, “Do not let my heart be drawn to what is evil so that I take part in wicked deeds along with those who are evildoers; do not let me eat of their delicacies.” It is one thing to pray this prayer but it is another thing to live it out. Faced with the horror of this situation it would be natural to retaliate, to seek vengeance for the woman who was murdered. But vengeance is a delicacy that never satisfies. It always wants more. Verse 8 records David’s prayer to help him deal with his desire for vengeance. “But my eyes are fixed on you, Sovereign Lord; in you I take refuge – do not give me over to death.” Rather than focusing on the injustices he encounters he focuses on God, trusting God to curb his appetite for vengeance.

In his book The Manhood of the Master, Harry Emerson Fosdick writes, “Only by a stronger passion can evil passions be expelled, and … a soul unoccupied by a positive devotion is sure to be occupied by spiritual demons.” Like David, if I want to be delivered from the evil that so easily entices I need to increase my passion for God and fix my eyes upon him and upon his word.

Lately I have spent less and less time reflecting on God’s love, his word and his will for my life. The result of spending less time with God and his word are feelings of indifference toward God, disenchantment with the world and apathy toward others, all things that are contrary to God’s will for me and for the Christian community at large. Lord, help me to keep my eyes fixed on you so I do not succumb to the indifference and disenchantment that is contrary to your will.

Forgiveness and Peace

Tuesday 9/23/2014 4:38 AM

Yesterday I read Peter’s words in the sermon he preached in Caesarea, after following God’s call to go to the house of Cornelius. “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.” We need the good news of peace in our world today. The past few weeks have been filled with news of the Islamic State cutting wide swaths of land in northern Iraq and in Syria, brutally killing any who do not convert to their interpretation of Islam, which they believe to be the only true Islam. Men are slaughtered; women and children are raped and sold as sex slaves, there are beheadings and other means of torture are applied to anyone who disagrees or attempts to stand in their way.

My devotional theme this week is forgiveness, a concept that seems to be completely foreign to the brand of Islam portrayed by ISIS and something that would be nearly impossible to do if one’s family had been savagely brutalized and murdered at their hands. Later in his sermon Peter describes Jesus as one who “went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.” As followers of Christ, Christians are called to do the same. This morning I spent time praying that the Christians who have been brutalized by ISIS would have the grace to forgive and that the Spirit of God would convict the perpetrators of this violence and bring them to faith in Christ. That is the only hope for peace.