Jeremiah 31:7-14: Protected From Our Bad Decisions

This is what the Lord says: “Sing with joy for Jacob; shout for the foremost of the nations. Make your praises heard, and say, ‘Lord, save your people, the remnant of Israel.’ See, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them will be the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor; a great throng will return. They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back. I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble, because I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son.

“Hear the word of the Lord, you nations; proclaim it in distant coastlands: ‘He who scattered Israel will gather them and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.’ For the Lord will deliver Jacob and redeem them from the hand of those stronger than they. They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will rejoice in the bounty of the Lord—the grain, the new wine and the olive oil, the young of the flocks and herds. They will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more. Then young women will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow. I will satisfy the priests with abundance, and my people will be filled with my bounty,” declares the Lord. - Jeremiah 31:7-14

"Among them will be the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor; a great throng will return. They will come with weeping..." Rough situation, full of the broken and vulnerable. The people ask God, "save your people!" God responds that he will save them. It is notable that in his response that the groups he highlights as returning are the "blind", the "lame", the "expectant mothers" and "women in labor". None of these seems like ready contributors to the restored Israel.

But Isaiah makes a point that the vulnerable and impaired are part of the 'flock' that God is redeeming. God isn't redeeming the strong. He is redeeming those whom he has chastised. It says that it was God "who scattered Israel" and it was God who redeemed them from the hand of those "stronger than they." 

That is: they were all among the vulnerable and impaired. They were all part of the "weak" and they are now all part of the "redeemed" and all part of the "blessed". 

There are many Christians who forget that they were also part of the weak, impaired and vulnerable and didn't make the transition to redeemed without God's help. There is a sort of spiritual amnesia that makes believers forget so completely what they experienced that they won't let others commit the same mistakes that they themselves made and, in many cases, still continue to make. The cross is the great place of level ground: we can none of us claim to be any higher that any other and therefore should not put on airs of pride. It just looks foolish. 

 

Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-20: Living Life With Eyes Open

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, - Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-20

 "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened..." There is so much in this world that cannot actually be seen. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control to name just a few. They are real and we feel their effects every day. The problem with these is that we can be conditioned so that we do not recognize them and we are tempted to write them off as mere fantasies.

In these verses, Paul prays that the "eyes of our heart may be enlightened" to see three key intangibles--real but likely to be overlooked because of the default manner of our thinking. He wants that we should see "the hope to which he has called us" and the "riches of his glorious inheritance" and "his incomparably great power". We can't touch, taste, smell, hear or feel these but, for the believer, these suffuse reality. So we need a new sense--a new awareness--to what God is doing with his people.

Without it, we might be left with the depressing, limited reality of the senses we were born with. With  it, we find we are surrounded with the amazing, infinite, plentiful reality of the kingdom of God we were born again into. So I pray I can live life with eyes open, not shut.

Matthew 2:13-23: Sometimes We Can't Let It Go And Can't Get Closer To God

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”

After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene. - Matthew 2:13-23

Maintaining your position is exhausting. Like Herod, you must always be on the lookout for competitors-peoples who might take away the position that you have fought so hard to obtain--and ruthlessly suppress them. When the magi showed up, saying they had a supernatural sign pointing them to the one who was destined for the very title that you yourself claimed, you use them to find out the truth in the matter and when they don't report back, you kill every possible future rival to your throne that they might have encountered.

Maybe we don't murder our rivals, but we can feel resentful when someone else starts getting the credit. When Guinness Book of World Records listed the kid with the highest IQ in the world, I remember feeling annoyed at that kid even though I never new him. Maybe he or she is socially awkward or had super geniuses for parents or the IQ tests were inherently biased towards people of a certain socioeconomic level. Some way to explain why they weren't listing my name.

When someone else has what we feel we deserve, we find some reason why they didn't deserve it, some way that they cheated, some way that they were unfairly advantaged or someway to remove them from being seen as a competitor. Or we feel they were right to win and the anger turns inward in remorse.

Saying that you don't deserve something and someone else does in front of a crowd is a tough path to humility--and we will often do almost anything rather than go down that path. Herod didn't. Joseph, bringing back Mary and Jesus from Egypt didn't want to settle where Archilaeus, Herod's son, was, because he would have not liked his father being shown up by a refugee, so they went to Nazareth.

One thing we can learn: even in the unfair jealousy of others, God still has a hand, since he used that very anger to get Jesus to exactly where he was supposed to be, per the prophecy.

Another think we can learn: we can't get closer to God if we don't see Him as more important than everything in our current situation. Herod was so tied to being "king" that he got literally and metaphorically farther from Jesus. He couldn't let it go. Sometimes, we can't let it go. Then we can't get closer to Jesus. Learning how to live without attachment to anything but God is the art.

Luke 3:1-6: The Path Clear, All the Way to Jesus

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene—during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all people will see God’s salvation.’” - Luke 3:1-6

In many ways, we are called to do the same as John: do our best to make the path straight. John called the people to recognize their place before God and recognize their need to be ready to change. That way, when the Messiah actually shows up, they are already in the prime position to respond to his message. We are not the message. We are the hospitable house, the helping hand, the wise word, the guest at the meal--all of which makes the path straight. Really we are enlisting in the task God has already begun.

When we say "makes the path straight" what we're really saying is removing unnecessary obstacles--unnecessary difficulties--to Jesus' good news. Sometimes it is clarifying, sure. But sometimes it is just getting out of the way and making sure that the important topic remains the important topic (and a rabbit trail doesn't become the big topic).  It is easy to get sidetracked onto trivial topics--one for which we have a particular fondness perhaps, but one which is not the important one. When that happens, our topic becomes the idol--truth that nonetheless takes the place of the gospel.

I need to pray to get out of the way and make the path clear all the way to Jesus.

Haiku: November 11 - December 23

 Wind pushes the leaves

Framed by my kitchen window

Gray sky forecasts rain

Mind unsettled

But the new day has begun

Must get on with it

The early birds trill

Otherwise the world is still

Wait! A mouse scampers!

Biting morning chill

When I stick my head outside

Return to the warmth

One leaf to my head

One flower - cups of delight

What will she see next?

Night gathers troubles

A deep breath before the start

Tackled one by one

If they don't see it

They walk past the road blindly

Did they really look?

Excited dancing

They want to leave right away

"Where are we going?"

Wake at the same time

The hills outlined with a glow

Mornings are dark now.

Winter's breath is cold

Bites my nose outside the door

So go back inside!

Make morning coffee.

Half table spoon vanilla

Then milk to the rim

Going the right way

Or just going on orders?

Could be spirals?

Red leaves on the ground

Yellow leaves wind blown in tress

Grey clouds loop above

Yellow orange red

Leaves on trees splayed like hands

Welcoming the chill.

Parking lot entrance

A wave. Sign asking for help.

What is my real thought? 

Geese fly overhead.

Unenviable commute

To the north office.

Birds chatter outside

First sun after the rain stopped.

Catching up with friends.

Christmas tree sculptures.

Illuminate our selfies.

Then the light turned off.

In the fain leaves fell

Littering the whole yard.

With red and gold stars.

Rain puddles out front.

No dry path that I can walk.

The wind kept awake.

Want to walk today

The rain biting my face.

Going back inside.

Rain-caught while walking.

Hiding under the fir tree.

Sun-caught drys me out

Smell of bread rises

Greets me coming down the stairs.

Invites me to dine. 

Bright car head lights shine

Damp streets from yesterday's rain.

Leaves stain the pavement.

Slow but steady rain.

From here to city and back.

Now, outside is dark.

Yellow bandana

Yellow squares in a  basket.

Cornucopia. 

Long rides through the air.

Sleeping through clouds and the sky

Arriving at night.

Crows circle my head.

Looking for a place to land.

In my crumpled hair.

Wintered plants line paths.

Streams dotted with dawdling ducks

White egret soars by

Did you sense I'm gone?

Half-awake in the morning.

Rolling to the warmth.

Too cold for a walk. 

Hands and ears and lungs burning.

House door inviting.

Shuffling, awake

Fuzzy early morning thoughts. 

Stumble out of bed.

Leaves of the bouquet.

Littler the kitchen table.

Need some renewal.

Sunrise to sunset.

Shadows inch close to be free.

Hide, lengthen, then fade.

Song of rain patter.

Makes we want to keep sleeping. 

But shoes left outside.

Finch perched on a branch.

Waiting for the rain to pause.

Or food to appear. 

Red in my windows.

Sunshine catches morning clouds.

Don't open the door!

Bird silhouette strolls

Across my morning walk's path

Walking unaware.

Hummingbird again.

Tries to sip winter flowers.

Leaves to try elsewhere.

Little Christmas tree.

Looks through the window and dreams

Longing for forest

Philippians 1:3-11: He Does Not Stop And He Does Not Lose

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.  - Philippians 1:3-11

 "...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." One of the great confidences in life is that God does not stop and God does not lose. Sometimes we are greatly disappointed in ourselves, finding that we do what we ought not even when we should know better. Sometimes God is greatly disappointed in us, finding that we do what we ought not even when we know better. But he does not stop and he does not lose.

I'm not sure how this works out.  I remember the stories in the Old Testament where God tells Moses to stand aside after the whole country disappointed Him and he was thinking of restarting the whole saving-the-world-through-Israel idea over with just Moses. God told Moses: "How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them? I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.”  (Num. 14:11b) But Moses didn't think that was a good idea. So God didn't stop and didn't lose, because Jesus came and Jesus won, even over our collusion with disobedience. 

God can make it work with me. Which is pretty incredible. But it makes sense, because who am I that I could get in the way of God Almighty? And God has plans for me, which is also pretty incredible. He has places he wants me to go and things he wants to see and my small-time, stupid stubbornness is not sufficient to thwart him. Anyone tells me differently is a liar and that is good news. I don't always known how that can be true, but I'm glad it is.    

Malachi 3:1-4: A Chance to Choose God

 “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years. - Malachi 3:1-4

We sing about "create in me a clean heart" and "refiner's fire" in worship songs as if it is such a warm, fuzzy and desirable thing. Desirable unless you are the thing being burnt or scrubbed. "But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears?" 

God wants pure people, people whose loyalty is undivided. I think he teaches us who we really are--whether we are his people--by offering us choices time and time again and letting us see what we do with that choice. God is not surprised by the choices, nor is he necessarily surprised by our answers but I think that sometimes we are surprised that we are or are not the type of people that we thought we were. 

Those choices that he offers can be hard choices between what we really really want and God. God asks which is important and I think that we are sometimes shamed into admitting that the other thing that I am choosing is actually more important than God. That is very humbling to admit, but I think that it is the foundation for the people who want to live lives acceptable to God--lives that are significant. 

So the fire is painful not just because it hurts. And not because the other thing was even bad. But because we choose something that is not God. We are faced with what is really important and the choice signals for us a chance to choose God.