Thus Says the Lord

"Thus says the Lord" We sometimes take for granted the wonder that the transcendent Creator God of the universe speaks to us--is an immanent God who longs for a personal relationship with men. He walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the Garden. He spoke to a shepherd boy on a hillside to remind him--and us--that He is the God who daily cares for the needs of His people. He spoke--a whisper--to the old prophet hiding in the cave, depressed and discouraged, to remind him that he still had work to do--that he was needed to pass on the ministry to those coming behind. He has been, through the Spirit, communicating to man for thousands of years. He is not silent.
Sometimes we complain that He is. But I have found the problem is that my Bible sits closed on my desk, my prayer life is muffled by busyness, and my heart refuses to echo the songs He has given me. He is not silent. I am not listening. I have not been responding to His voice. Conversation is a "two-way street."
And sadly--it's incredulous to me--there are those today who think He needs help in saying what He means. They read the verses, "Thus meant the Lord." And what they say He meant to say is what they want Him to say. As if the God who is The Word both living and written, the God who created language and spoke the entire universe into existence isn't capable of saying exactly what He means. They elevate their intellect and verbosity over the clarity and simplicity and truth that the Spirit speaks. (Usually because they are afraid to be called fools for the sake of Christ by the world around them.) God says what He means. We just need to believe it whether it fits our "theology" or not.
What a God we serve who speaks to us through His Word, through prayer, through song, through the inner promptings of the Spirit, who--consistent with the written Word--guides us into all truth and then empowers us to turn that truth into an active faith that pleases Him because it believes that His words and His promises are infallible and true. That "thus says the Lord" requires our attention and belief.
Sovereign and transcendent--immanent and personal. He alone is God. He alone is our caring Father, Savior, and Friend who speaks to His people on a daily basis.

"Open my ears, that I may hear, voices of truth Thou sendest clear; and while the wave-notes fall on my ear everything false will disappear. Silently now, I wait for Thee, ready my God Thy will to see; open my ears, illumine me, Spirit Divine!"

Meditate

Read some interesting verses today:

Isaiah 44:24-26
Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb, "I am the Lord, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself, who frustrates the signs of liars and makes fools of diviners, who turns wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish, who confirms the word of His servant and fulfills the counsel of His messenger . . ."

Isaiah 46:8-10
Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other, I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things not yet done, saying, "My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose . . ."

You could probably teach an entire Bible class on those two passages. I must spend some time meditating on those passages!!!! Join me.

Thus SAYS

THE Lord

LORD

YOUR Redeemer

REDEEMER

who FORMED you

who formed YOU

FROM the womb

from THE WOMB

I AM

Just to get you started on a few of the truths found here--in the first 15 words!

Homes

I have lived in many, many, many places in my seven plus decades on planet earth. A few of them I hold more dearly in my thoughts than others. My home growing up in Wellston is, of course, a favorite. Grandma lived behind us, Ziff cousins just up the street, lots of friends, church just up the street, a neighborhood in every sense of the word. It was there I became attached to iris, cats, sycamore trees, bleeding hearts--all of which I still love today. Our neighbors--the Safleys?--had even more iris than we did. They had a huge yard filled with them. I've often imagined sneaking back into the neighborhood to see if fifty years later some of those iris are still blooming in that empty lot--which is all it was last time I was there. Insanity, eh?
I also loved the garage turned home where we lived in Bainbridge, Georgia. Pond out back for catching supper--deep fried brim, fries, hush puppies. Brad was born when we lived there. Gene and Barbara were good to us. I would love to transport that place up here to The Acres and substitute it for the cave. I'd have to throw tons of things away--which would be marvelous!!! Brad has a picture of Mom and Dad and baby Brad standing outside that home.
Our home in Traveler's Rest, South Carolina, was a marvelous home as well. I wonder if I could rename Cardington Traveler's Rest? It was right after Susan left us, and the boys and I made it a home. Yard and woods to play and get lost in. Brad and Ben surviving Dad's cooking. Wabasaki. Random "I wonder where that road goes" excursions. Putt-Putt. Gran and Pop stopping by. Chinese ninja movies and wrestling on TV. (True confession) Cats. Fish tanks. Aunt Chloe and Uncle Larry helping out. The house--home--was in essence a gift from my sister Janice and her husband Dewey. They let us live there for practically nothing. A gift for a lifetime. Traveler's Rest will always have a special place in my heart. The road the house was on was kind of isolated as well--imagine me liking such a place.
And, of course, now, The Acres. Lord willing, my last home before I go Home. Lord willing. So much beauty in this gift the Lord has given me in my old age. Time spent with Mom here enjoying the beauty with me. The beauty of quiet. The beauty of solitude. The perfect property to grow flowers and trees of every imaginable kind--sycamores, iris, and bleeding hearts included, of course. The beauty of my daily walks alone but in conversation with Him. Hymns echoing though my brain all the way down to my heart. Gardening Angels. 
Work. Struggles with the curse--beautiful too in their way. The Boss. My soul is at peace here at The Acres.
The "travels" of life. The gift of memories--marvelous times and broken-hearted times. Different gifts of beauty in different places. Movable homes. His presence always there--palpable. He has gone before to prepare the way. Walked with me every day. Shown such grace and mercy in all things. Met every need--and many wants. And the final Home will be just as immersed in His riches--even more so. Day by day we journey Home. Closer Home each day! Father has built a room on His house just for me. And no doubt, the new earth will have sycamores, iris, bleeding hearts, and maybe even cats. =) And prayerfully all the people I have loved.

Things Too Wonderful

God's Majesty through the eyes of His servant, Job:

As the Sovereign God of the Universe--full of mercy, grace, love and wisdom--He gives and He takes away as He deems best--knows best. And our heart's response should be, "Blessed be the Name of the Lord." He always knows best--and gives so much more than He ever takes away.
He knows where He is "taking" us spiritually. And His purpose in doing so is to refine us into His gold--His treasure--ready to be spent for the furtherance of the kingdom and to bring glory to His Name. When He disciplines us because of our sin or disciplines us to "simply" transform us into a greater reflector of His character, the trial is a vote of His confidence in us that we will respond in all humility and repentance to His working in our lives--that we will bow in reverence and submission and repentance to His hand at work in us--and for us.
He is the Living Redeemer. One day in my flesh He promises that I will see Him face-to face--as my Redeemer.
He is the Omnipotent, Omniscient Creator and Sustainer of His Creation. Again my understanding--no matter how small--of such wisdom and power should bring me to my knees in worship and submission to His will for my life--whatever it may be. Can the God of all the earth do wrong? The answer to that rhetorical question is always a resounding, "No!"
When His child is going through great difficulties, it is highly more likely--very highly more likely--that the suffering is not because he or she has sinned greatly, but because he or she is living by the Spirit's power a righteous and upright life that pleases Him--and infuriates the enemy.
He has commissioned me, given me the assignment, to humbly intercede in prayer for those who have hurt and defamed me--even if it was done in a sincere but misguided attempt to give me spiritual advice based on a false understanding of who God is. I am to plead with God to lavish them with His forgiving mercy and grace.

God's testimony: "My servant Job has spoken what is right."

May we like Job bow in repentance and submission before Him that we might "see" who He is more deeply than we have ever seen Him before. May we plead with Him to instruct us in "things too wonderful" to even fully understand.

"How majestic is His Name in all the earth!"

This Day

I suppose there is some truth to that saying that "today is the first day of the rest of your life," but the focus of the Christian is narrower than that--and must be in order to be an eternal focus. Our Lord emphasizes over and over in His Word that we should view each day as the ONLY day of the rest of our lives. No one is promised a tomorrow regardless of their age or apparent health. No one. That does not mean that today will be an easy day without its deep challenges. We focus on today because it has all that we can handle--"each day has enough trouble of its own." But He promises that He will provide the strength that we need for this day and its troubles--and that our faith in Him can overcome the world's evil. Paul tells us that even when we feel as if we are flat on our faces in defeat that "we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us." It is only when we "take no thought for tomorrow" that we can "seek first the kingdom of God" today "and His righteousness" today.
So see today as He tells you to see it. It's the only one you've been promised. Yes, It will be difficult--"in the world you will have tribulation"--all you can handle. You may feel as if you have failed today. But you must not ever have a day when your number one priority is not to "seek first His kingdom and His righteousness." If you feel overwhelmed today, He says, "you are an overwhelming conqueror because of MY love for you--which makes all things work for good. And He has promised you the strength you need for this day--and it is a strength with which you can do all things that He calls you to do--this day. When we see this day as He sees it, when we live each day resting on His promises--relying on His strength, when the focus on this one day that He has given to us is to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and when we remember that at our worst moments this day He calls us "more than conquerors through His eternal love"--then, we can embrace this day for, as He tells us, "This is THE day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it."

"The joy of the Lord is your strength."

The Pilot

A friend from my past--I have a lot of past--had a father who was a bush pilot in the Northwest. He told a story about an experience he had with his father that went something like this: On this one occasion his father decided to take his young son with him on one of his trips. As he went to his seat next to his father, he noticed that the plane was really loaded down with "stuff." Really loaded down. As they began to move down the runway, he became acutely aware that th...ey were getting closer and closer to the end of the pavement--and the plane was not taking off. Did Dad know what he was doing? Were they too heavily loaded? But just before they reached the very end of the runway, the plane lifted and all was well--until he looked up and saw the huge bank of electric wires rising in front of the plane. "Maybe we should turn around, Dad," passed through his young mind. But Dad totally unconcerned took the plane over the wires and on to their destination. Later, when he asked his father if he hadn't been worried, the response was simple but revealing: "I had complete control of the plane, son. The situation was under my control the entire time."
I have never experienced such a moment physically--but I think I can identify with such a spiritual journey (or two or three or . . .) that I've been on. I have been down some long "runways" in my life, burdened down with lots of stuff. Doubts and fears and questions about my Father's wisdom have bounced around my mind--and heart. Does the Pilot really know what He's doing? And where is He taking me? At the oldyoung age of 73, I can testify that He has always lifted this old man and his burdens safely off the runway and even over new obstacles that have suddenly risen up before me. Always. So now as I rumble down the newest runway, loaded down with new burdens, I confidently remind myself that the Pilot--my Father--has things completely under His control. Completely. He would not have taken me on this journey--a son that He loves--if He was not confident that we would safely reach the destination He needs to take me to. Yes, we. Headed down the runway? Burdened down? Sudden obstacles rising before you? Trust the Pilot. He's always in complete control. He's not worried one bit. After all, He is your loving Father. And He's an expert at soaring.

Stooping Down

The faithful Christian exudes gentleness. Gentleness flows from a heart of love for others which flows from a heart filled with love for God. The person who lacks a gentle spirit is self-absorbed, in love with himself. His wants are more important to him than other's needs. And though gentleness is to be shown to all men, it begins--as Jesus clearly states in John 17--with the Christian's love for other Christians. How we respond to other Christians is the evidence that Jesus is who He claimed to be.
Gentleness is simply the humble call to bend down to lovingly lift up other believers in times of difficulty--to lend your strength to the strengthless. It is the spontaneous, Spirit-empowered response to the hurting and to the fallen all around us. And it comes, not from a heart of pity, but a heart of empathy. We all know what it is like to fail, to have fallen down, to be hurting. We have all needed the gentle to lift us up. The Christian community is to be committed to bearing one another's burdens. We are all in this together, as one body that is broken-hearted for the fallen--for each other in the bonds of Christ. Helping the fallen is essential to the unity of the body, to its effective witness as the example of Christ's love. The Christian who looks down on the fallen without bending down to help up, with an attitude of contempt or indifference, with a "well, that's their problem not mine" heart is arrogant, self-righteous, useless to the cause of Christ. In fact, they are exclaiming to the world that Jesus life and sacrifice on the cross and His love for mankind is fraudulent. May we, in all humility, recognizing how many times we ourselves have needed the helping, uplifting hands of our fellow Christians after we have fallen, be living demonstrations of a gentle spirit, eager to stoop down and lovingly help another bear his burden.

"Brethren, even if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a man in a spirit of gentleness, each one looking to yourself, less you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone things that he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself."

Leaven

One of the most dangerous leavens in the church today is the idea--not stated, but lived--that God's Word is just His opinion--and if I don't agree with it, that's just the way it is. He's entitled to His opinions, and I'm entitled to mine. God doesn't have opinions. He speaks what is true, and if I don't agree with Him, He can't walk with me, fill me with a sense of His presence. What He says about morality, the sanctity of life created in His image, His creation of the ...world, a government and its leaders responsibilites are not debatable. Oh, I may sit around and debate them all I like, but His answers never change. Are some of His declarations hard? Yes. But all of them come from the heart of the God who is love--and holy and just and immutable. What breaks this old man's heart is that it's not the world that's attacking His truth and trying to undermine it--"soften" it--but His people. Saltless salt is the most worthless thing in the world. Hidden light is the darkest thing in the world. I pray that God will keep me from deifying myself and trying to, knowingly or unknowingly, usurp His throne--to warp His grace into a license to sin--or an approval of it--and to twist His truth into my opinion. That will be the death of love and truth in my life. And I will become incapable of being like Him--full of grace and truth; visible grace and truth--in the lives He has sent me to in order to lavish them with His love. "A little leaven, leavens the whole loaf."

"A Want of Manliness"

James Fenimore Cooper (yep, that Cooper) once stated that one of the great dangers of a democracy is that it would produce leaders who had no character--men and women who were more interested in getting re-elected than in doing what is right. A "want of national manliness" he called it. Power would be more important to them than morality. Wendell Berry claims that our leaders today are just salesmen promising us a future they can't deliver. Their "solution" to any "problem" begins with the question "will it work"--never with the question "is it morally responsible and right"?
When you pray for our leaders--and God commands that you do so--pray that God will humble them, give them a backbone, (those two things are compatible) and that if it's not morally right, it won't work.

The Inseparable

The Christian life is lived within the boundaries of two of God's greatest blessings to His children--grief and joy. Unless our sin causes us to grieve over the pain we have caused His heart, we will never repent--and thus never know the deep joy of the renewal of the sense of His presence. And Joel tells us that the depth of our grief for the sin that separates us from Him and results in His discipline in our lives should be as deep as a bride would feel if on her wedding ...day, her husband-to-be died. Grief is a love word. He disciplines us because He loves us too deeply to let us walk further and further away from His side--our Eternal Bridegroom. Similarly, our love for Him is measured by the depth of our grief over our sin. The loss of the joy that comes from the loss of a sense of His loving presence should devastate us.
Grief over the loss of those we love is the bedrock of our joyous hope--the only sure hope--that we will be reunited with them in glory--in His presence forevermore. Such grieving is not a sin or a lack of faith, but instead a reminder of His promise of eternal life. We do not grieve as those who have no hope. We grieve as those who are comforted by His sure return, by the promised sound of the trumpet, by the regathering in the air with all those who love His appearing. And what a day of rejoicing that will be! "So shall we ever be with the Lord."
And grief causes us to present to Him the one sacrifice that He will not despise--a broken and contrite spirit. Such a heart is the drink offering of praise that we as His children present to HIm--the God of Forgiveness--the God who uses the broken-hearted to do His will--to display to those around them the joy with which He fills their heart each day. It is the joy in our heart that marvels at His lovingkindness--His faithful love even for the unfaithful. Our grief becomes the catalyst, not just for a deepening joy in our lives, but as a catalyst for us to touch other lives with His contagious joy--cross-conquering joy. We would not embrace the joy that is our strength if we did not grieve over our weaknesses. Our acknowlegement of those weakneses make us totally dependent on His forgiveness, His promises, His fatherly discipline, His inescapable, victory-giving love for us.
Grief and joy. Only the loving God of the impossible can use them together--will use them together--to make us vessels fit for His service.

"Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting."

Reflections for February 2019

Freedom has nothing to do with rights, and everything to do with responsibilities.
___________

Before God judges a nation, He always judges and purifies His people.  Always.
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"Jesus never fails, Jesus never fails.  Heaven and earth may pass away, but Jesus never fails."
___________

May our heart be filled with a reverential awe--reverential fear of God. May we come into His presence trembling with the fear, the reverence, that cries out, "Lord, help me to never do anything that would grieve and break Your heart of love for me as your child."
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The relationship God wants with us is a husband-wife relationship, not a Master-slave relationship.  He calls us to intimate love with Him--to enthrone Him in our hearts as the Love of Our Life.
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The world has their eyes fixed on how God's children treat each other. Treating one another with love may be the church's most powerful witness. Jesus Himself told us that our love for each other is the witness to the world that He is the Savior of Love He claims to be. "Little children, let us love one another for love is of God."