With whom do you share those times when God stepped into your life? When nothing else can explain how the finances appeared, the accident was averted, or you just had an amazing sense of peace in the midst of life's storms. Do you tell your children, nieces and nephews, grandchildren? Do your brothers and sisters know the stories of your walk with God? Are there personal stories of God's intervention in your life that are well known to those you hope to influence for Him?
The people of David's time were very familiar with the sagas of God's walk with them. And these stories served not only as bedtime entertainment, but were the stuff of strength and reassurance to the Jews. These stories and experiences gave them identity in a world so eager to destroy them and steal their confidence.
Is that threat much different in our time? It seems that we are constantly given messages of entitlement or helplessness. We must either be the consumer or be consumed. Is there really a God who offers other options for dealing with life?
When we keep secret the stories of how God has stepped into our lives , we rob those we care for of knowing an active, powerful, involved God....a God whose power is available for their lives, just as he is for ours. We can't afford to horde the treasure of His activity, but we can actively share it with all those whose lives He wants to transform.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Mourning into Praise: Psalm 42
September 11, 2001, genecide in the Middle East, slavery in Sudan-----and the world looks at us and cries, as did David's enemies, "Where is your God?"
Beneath the challenge of these words we need to hear the fear and insecurity. We must be sensitive to the sad emptiness that is so prevalent in our world----a world that sees nothing but the present darkness----that has not our hope of glory in eternity.
In this Psalm, David is downcast as he remembers a happier time; a time when he was honored and joyful, a "top of the world" experience. He has gone from elation to a time when he has fed on his own tears. How poignant a picture that is of us in our misery as we go back, over and over, to feast on our own sorrows and dissappointments. We can so easily become gluttons of pain and resentment, allowing them to consume every chance of a taste of joy.
Yet, in the midst of his sorrow, David's memories of God's faithfulness sweep over him like waves and breakers of the sea. He recalls those "stones of remembrance" that mark God's watchcare over his life and says, "Why so downcast, O my soul?"
He knows how God has always been present in his life and has not, nor will He ever, forsake David.
It is so good to know that we, like David, can put our hope in God. He is constant and His love can break through our sorrow and discouragement as we recall His past faithfulness and turn our mourning into praise. As we take charge of our thoughts and submit them to God's transforming love, we experience a renewal of our minds that is beyond our human capability----a new attitude, a new focus, a new hope can come as we turn mourning into praise.
Beneath the challenge of these words we need to hear the fear and insecurity. We must be sensitive to the sad emptiness that is so prevalent in our world----a world that sees nothing but the present darkness----that has not our hope of glory in eternity.
In this Psalm, David is downcast as he remembers a happier time; a time when he was honored and joyful, a "top of the world" experience. He has gone from elation to a time when he has fed on his own tears. How poignant a picture that is of us in our misery as we go back, over and over, to feast on our own sorrows and dissappointments. We can so easily become gluttons of pain and resentment, allowing them to consume every chance of a taste of joy.
Yet, in the midst of his sorrow, David's memories of God's faithfulness sweep over him like waves and breakers of the sea. He recalls those "stones of remembrance" that mark God's watchcare over his life and says, "Why so downcast, O my soul?"
He knows how God has always been present in his life and has not, nor will He ever, forsake David.
It is so good to know that we, like David, can put our hope in God. He is constant and His love can break through our sorrow and discouragement as we recall His past faithfulness and turn our mourning into praise. As we take charge of our thoughts and submit them to God's transforming love, we experience a renewal of our minds that is beyond our human capability----a new attitude, a new focus, a new hope can come as we turn mourning into praise.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
To Lift a Burden: Psalm 41:1-3
In the first four verses of this beautiful Psalm, David appears to be talking both about himself and about someone who may be sympathetic to David in his time of weakness. Either way, it is a strong statement of how God sustains those who care for the weak and needy.
How easy it is for me to become a tiny, miserable package, all wrapped up in my own problems and blind to the needs of others. Yet, when I reach beyond my need into the life of a fellow sufferer, my suffering becomes less noticable. When I move alongside someone and seek to help bear her burden, for some reason my burden's weight is lessened. How is that possible?
Perhaps it has to do with how God intervenes on my behalf as I intervene on the behalf of another. As I move in to lift the weight of a friend's burden, God reaches out to carry mine. He uplifts me with his strong right hand ( Psalm 37:24) and gives me strength beond my understanding as I am obedient to His command to "bear one another's burdens" (Galatians 6:2).
And what is "the rest of the story"? David uses lovely verbs to tell what he has experienced as he has walked with God in obedience. David says that God delivers, protects and preserves, blesses, will not surrender him, sustains, and restores him. It is difficult to think of a need in my life that cannot be met by one of these actions on God's part.
The lesson for me is that, when I am most burdened, I must move away from my self-centered concern and reach toward the concerns of another---touch and relieve the weight of their burden---and experience the undegirding of a great God.
How easy it is for me to become a tiny, miserable package, all wrapped up in my own problems and blind to the needs of others. Yet, when I reach beyond my need into the life of a fellow sufferer, my suffering becomes less noticable. When I move alongside someone and seek to help bear her burden, for some reason my burden's weight is lessened. How is that possible?
Perhaps it has to do with how God intervenes on my behalf as I intervene on the behalf of another. As I move in to lift the weight of a friend's burden, God reaches out to carry mine. He uplifts me with his strong right hand ( Psalm 37:24) and gives me strength beond my understanding as I am obedient to His command to "bear one another's burdens" (Galatians 6:2).
And what is "the rest of the story"? David uses lovely verbs to tell what he has experienced as he has walked with God in obedience. David says that God delivers, protects and preserves, blesses, will not surrender him, sustains, and restores him. It is difficult to think of a need in my life that cannot be met by one of these actions on God's part.
The lesson for me is that, when I am most burdened, I must move away from my self-centered concern and reach toward the concerns of another---touch and relieve the weight of their burden---and experience the undegirding of a great God.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Soul Thirst
We are thirsty creatures. We are born seeking mother's milk and demanding her attention. We thirst for new toys to keep us entertained. We thirst for perfect bodies and flawless skin---for relationships to make us whole.
What we can't find in ourselves, our thirst drives us to seek in others. When they prove unable to consistently quench our deep longings, we leave them behind in search of that perfect vessel which holds the nectar that will finally overcome our great thirst.
As we age, we sometimes try to live in the past, believing that, by looking back, we might find the brimming glass that was missing in our quick passage through the years. If we could rekindle loves, remake choices, avoid those mistakes, the thirst would finally be satisfied.
The truth, of course, is that our thirst was put within us to cause us to long for "living water"---and only Christ can offer it to us. Only His love and direction can quench the choking thirst of a desperate and lonely soul. As he gave to the outcast woman at the well, so His offer still stands. He will always stand ready as the glass overflowing with water that is the real answer to our thirst: "A spring of water welling up to eternal life" John4:13
"As the deer pants for streams of water,
So my soul pants for you, O God." Psalm 42:1
What we can't find in ourselves, our thirst drives us to seek in others. When they prove unable to consistently quench our deep longings, we leave them behind in search of that perfect vessel which holds the nectar that will finally overcome our great thirst.
As we age, we sometimes try to live in the past, believing that, by looking back, we might find the brimming glass that was missing in our quick passage through the years. If we could rekindle loves, remake choices, avoid those mistakes, the thirst would finally be satisfied.
The truth, of course, is that our thirst was put within us to cause us to long for "living water"---and only Christ can offer it to us. Only His love and direction can quench the choking thirst of a desperate and lonely soul. As he gave to the outcast woman at the well, so His offer still stands. He will always stand ready as the glass overflowing with water that is the real answer to our thirst: "A spring of water welling up to eternal life" John4:13
"As the deer pants for streams of water,
So my soul pants for you, O God." Psalm 42:1
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