9/16/20 The Rules In Football 1 Kings 8:58

The Rules In Football

1 Kings 8:58

“...that he may incline our hearts to him,”

To be inclined, is to lean toward.  What a pleasant thought, for my heart to lean in Your direction.  I want that, where ever there is opportunity to lean I want to lean in Your direction. 

The rest of the sentence says”... to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers.”

I am ashamed to admit that my first inclination is to buck up against the rules/commandments part of the sentence.  I guess I just want it to be about desire, choosing, having my say.  But the question is, what am I choosing, what is it I desire?  Isn’t this just the point, do I desire Your ways or something else, do I desire You for who You are? Is this not what the rules, commands, and statutes are offering?  One cannot desire You and reject Your ways.  Your ways are the very expression of who You are.

When I was a kid, I loved football, and in spite of my small size had dreams of playing college or even pro football.  We lived in Honduras so there was no live football to see, but every Sunday afternoon I could be found huddled by the short wave radio listening to the weekly broadcast of the game of the week on AFRTS, the Armed Forces Radio and Television network.  For what ever reason they seemed to favor the New York Giants and whoever they played that week so the Giants became my favorite team.  I was a Y. A. Tittle and Frank Gifford fan, but also knew the name and stats on every player on the team.  I read books and talked football with my Dad to learn all I could about football. This dream, desire, drove me to learning all the rules and more importantly to playing by the rules even on the sandlot with my friends.  I did not try to make the game into my version of the game or create my own rules.  I did not because I wanted to be a football player, not something else.  The rules of the game were not a burden imposed on the game.  The game of football, as it is played, are defined and summed up in the rules.  No rules, no game, just chaos.  I can no more play football using the rules of baseball than I can follow Jesus and be inclined to my own or someone else’s rules.

Genesis 1 tells us that God moved over the face of the chaos and imprinted on it order, rules.  The laws of nature and the definition of right relationships define creation as an expression of who You are.  The core of relationship is desire, but the object of our desire is defined and shaped by rules.  When I know the rules and they become embedded in me, when I don’t have to think about them anymore because they have become habit and instinct, it frees me up to play with abandon and even joy.  This is the sense I get when I read Psalm 119 where the Psalmist raptures about his love of the laws and precepts of the Lord.  This is the rest described in v. 56 of this passage , “ “Blessed be the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised.”

Morning prayers says it like this, “Incline our hearts to keep Your ways, grant that having cheerfully done Your will this day we may when night comes rejoice and give you thanks. 

LHM/CHM

8/5/20 - Psalm 36: The Depths of a Depraved Heart

 

Psalm 36:1-4

 

Transgression speaks to the wicked

deep in his heart;

there is no fear of God

before his eyes.

For he flatters himself in his own eyes

that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.

The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit;

he has ceased to act wisely and do good.

He plots trouble while on his bed;

he sets himself in a way that is not good;

he does not reject evil.

 

These verses shed light on how depraved the desires of the heart can become. Repeated rejection of God’s invitation, absolute determination to do my will and not God’s, to live for me and not for Him, distorts the heart (Desires) into something completely other than what was intended or created.  My assumption is that there comes a point of no return, where God agrees to finally give one what one desires, no presence. Because we are derived beings, our life comes from God, achieving that final desire results in death. Without an object an image ceases to exist...this is the end of hell, annihilation, ceasing to exist.  This too is God’s grace, there is a limit to the horror of marred image that God will allow one to endure.

 

To those who would say, but God is so judgmental. I would respond, absolutely!  He is unbending in His requirement for holiness to permit presence.  At the same time He consistently remains invitational, “whosever will may come.”  It is His judgement that provides the washing, the clean up in us of what is not holy, so we become holy and fit for presence.  His judgement is never intended for separation, it is always intended for reconciliation.  It results in separation only when we identify and desire most closely with what is not holy and are therefore consumed along with it.

 

There is great comfort and grace in the next verses of the Psalm.  Note the steadfast love, faithfulness, man and beast saved, refuge, abundance, the river of delights, the fountain of life, and the light, all offered to those who will come.  Invitation always abounds.  Grace is always given and life comes when we submit to the King.

 

Psalm 36:5-10

Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens,

your faithfulness to the clouds.

Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;

your judgments are like the great deep;

man and beast you save, O LORD.

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!

The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

They feast on the abundance of your house,

and you give them drink from the river of your delights.

For with you is the fountain of life;

in your light do we see light.

Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you,

and your righteousness to the upright of heart!

 

Invitation to presence and community abounds, but it is not forced on anyone.  My arrogance and self will can hold out, but it does have it’s consequences, death.

 

 

Psalm 36:11-12

Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me,

nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.

There the evildoers lie fallen;

they are thrust down, unable to rise.

 

Lord have mercy! Christ have mercy!

 

7-10-20 Sojourn? Psalm 15:1-2

Sojourn?

Psalm 15:1-2

O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent?

Who shall dwell on your holy hill?

He who walks blamelessly and does what is right

and speaks truth in his heart;

What does it mean to “sojourn” or to walk blamelessly?

1 John 1:7, “Walk in the light as You are in the light and we will have fellowship with one another.” (Zech. 8:16; Eph. 4:25; [John 1:47; Col. 3:9]

This verse for me has given perspective to what makes relationships, unity, healthy body life, something realized, not just aspired to or talked about.  It makes evident the glaring weakness in so many of my relationships...the unwillingness to speak the truth, or in many cases the poor communication skills relative to speaking the truth in love.

It becomes more clear every day that good relating takes time, examen, (What are my deepest desires, what am I after? Self knowledge.) structure that enables, as well communication skills both in listening well and expressing my own feelings, intentions, desires, etc.

If the order of the universe is relational, and I believe it is, it would seem that I would be very intentional about certain things in every corner of my circle of influence:
- Time, making space for these things.
- Examen, not navel gazing, but open honest presence with You and others so that I begin to see who I and they really are?
- Structure that enables and encourages  the deepening of relationships.
- Expectation, is this another word for hope? Not, "I hope, wish, this could happen," but hope as trust and expectation of fellowship if we are faithful?  Because it is the order of the universe and the order of the universe is grounded in the Trinity, The One.  Is this not what You mean when You say, "believe, follow?"

6/4/20 - A New Heart

Deuteronomy 29:4

But to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to understand 

or eyes to see or ears to hear.

NIV Jesus Bible (This is The full study note.)
The Need for a New Heart
Moses traced the Israelites’ inability to keep the terms of the covenant of God to a root problem. According to verse 4, the Lord had not given them the ability to understand, see and hear. Immediately following chapter 28, which contrasts the blessings for keeping God’s covenant commands with curses for not doing so, Moses connected their potential inability to uphold their end of the covenant requirements with the fact that they were unable to appreciate all the Lord had done for them. Elsewhere, it is clear that their inadequacies are connected to needing a new or changed heart (Dt 10:16; 30:6; Eze 36:26). Being an ethnic Israelite had limitations. Physical connection to a genealogical line did not equate to blessings from the Lord. Therefore, the Old Testament authors offered a consistent message: the people of God were unable to keep God’s law, thus they needed spiritual renewal. This message prefigured the new heart to come in Christ (Jer 31:31–34). Apart from renewal in Christ Jesus, no one can come to God by pleasing him and keeping all his commands (Ro 3:10–12,21–26).

My reflection is from here down.  Let me give a disclaimer to begin.  I do not pretend to understand or to be giving an answer to the questions about the meaning of God hardening hearts or giving or not giving hearts, it is a mystery way above my pay grade, but I do think it pleases Him when we wrestle  with the questions or with Him around the questions.  We cannot wrestle with out engaging and once we engage He gets His hands on us.  Once He gets His hands on us we are far more likely to be drawn to Him.  It may be kicking and screaming, but if we stay in the wrestling we may find that His grip is a gentle touch, not brute strength.  When we wrestle with open hearts and minds it becomes possible, maybe even likely, that our fears (Scared) turn to fear (Awe) and awe opens the door to worship and worship is what we are made for.

The “faith” progression (Living by faith, see Jn 14:21) seems to be: Desire -> Obedience ->Understanding.  This is not linear, by the way.  True understanding, seeing Him, as John says, increases my desire for Him, which makes me more willing to obey, etc.  My tendency is to want to understand before I am willing to obey.  This “logic” short circuits the very thing God wants most from us, our desire (Heart). If I choose and do what seems logical/sensible to me I may be able to live rightly, but without desire it undoes the order of the universe which is desire/relationship driven.  Obedience without desire is religion not relationship.  This was Jesus’ point to the Pharisees in John 5. “You look to the scriptures to find eternal life , but they are talking about me, and you do not want anything to do with me.” This is logic and law without desire.

If God gave us hearts that desired Him would it be true desire or just the “programing” we received?  It seems here He is saying I have given you the capacity and the space in which you can be drawn to me, He invites persistently, creatively, with steadfast love and faithfulness, but He does not program.

To ignore this invitation, to try to live contrary to  the order of the universe results in what is described here as hardening of the heart.  It is like running an engine without oil, it progressively hardens until it seizes up.  Dallas Willard says, “Sensuality (Self driven.) deadens.”  All addictions, spiritual and physical, deaden our senses.  That is why they are addictions, it is satisfaction of desire with something that is inadequate.  It is addictive because it’s use deadens the receptors that experience it and they require progressively larger doses in order to be “felt”.  Deadening is slow death, and be not deceived, it leads to the real thing, death.  Like a heart with coronary artery disease the slowly hardening arteries end in death.

When I give up and say I cannot do it without You, O Lord, my ways do not work, then He graciously and at great cost to Himself, gives me a new heart.  (See all the cross references above.) Mercy, grace, steadfast love and faithfulness in action.  How awesome is that?  LHM/CHM

5/20/20 In, Not Out of Romans 8:36-39

Romans 8:36-39

As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;

we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Psalm 44 reminds us that our persecution is not without precedent.  It has happened before and as before, You are not asleep nor will You be absent or without Your glory in the moment.

Paul connects our history with the present, he says "...in all these things we are more than conquerers."  Not out of these things.  Our conquering comes not by avoidance or removal, but by enduring them. You are faithful in our trials, not by keeping us from them.

A perspective check: For Your sake, we are killed all the day long.  It is not about me, it is all about You.  You were killed unjustly and we may be too if we are not separated from You.  Deliverance is not from, but in.

A number of months back was our second “founding fathers” for Cornerstone Dental, retreat. (Bill, Dan, Fred, Randy, and me.). Very sweet time remembering and telling old stories and catching up on what has happened in the intervening years.  Part of the reliving is a discovery of how those things have shaped us into who we are now.  How easy it is to forget Your faithfulness in the midst of those times, how easy it is to miss in the midst of things, Your presence, Your care, Your provision, and even Your comfort.  Remembering the steadfast love and faithfulness of the past strengthens our faith and trust, which gives us hope for the future, and inspires us to be present and loving in the present.  Seems like I remember someone saying once, “Now abide faith, hope, and love…”  Abide, what a wonderful combination of presence and endurance. 

It is good to see that You are indeed conforming us to the image of Your Son, maybe most especially in the suffering and sacrifice, and for that I am grateful.

LHM/CHM

5/20/20 - Awe and Wonder Give Context to Life.

Psalm 119:161, 169

“…my heart stands in awe of your words.”

Let my cry come before you, O LORD;

give me understanding according to your word!”

Proverbs 1:7

The fear (Awe) of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Awe and wonder give context to life.  When we disconnect awe and wonder what sounds like wisdom may well be foolishness.  (Job, Ecclesiastes)

Words are revelatory, I see You in Your word as You reveal Yourself to me.

When this Psalm speaks of Your word, your law, Your ways, Your statutes, etc. all of these reveal who You are and what You are like.

Do these create awe in me?  Does awe give me humility and open me to mystery?  Do I delight in what is revealed? Am I drawn to what I see?  Do I find hope, joy and shalom in Your word?

The ultimate question, am I drawn to You, is my desire for You, or am I drawn to something other?

Create in me a clean heart, O God...give me an undivided heart that desires and is satisfied with only You. LHM/CHM

5/16/20 - Am I Afraid of the Fire?

Deuteronomy 5:4-5, 27

The LORD spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, while I (Moses) stood between the LORD and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the LORD. For you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain. 

(You, Moses.) Go near and hear all that the LORD our God will say, and speak to us all that the LORD our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’

The people of Israel are afraid to go near and be with God, they wanted Moses to be between them and God. This is a pattern we see for "the people of God" through time.  Later Israel will demand a King to lead them rather than have God as their king so they can be like the other nations.  Now in the New Testament church have we created a clergy to come between us and God?  Have we forsaken the risk and adventure of the priesthood of all believers for the safety of a professional clergy?  What is the meaning of this as it relates to the Spirit of God living in us and our need to rely on Him?

It seems to me that in the New Testament we have taken gifts of the Spirit, preaching, teaching, shepherding, even apostleship, which are given to exercise for a task, and turned them into “offices.”  Office in the sense of position in an organizational structure.  This has almost inevitably become to be perceived as a hierarchy of sorts that results in the people of God defaulting to the clergy to hear from God.  As I read Acts, this was not how God’s Spirit seems to work.  He seems to be active in people’s lives regardless of training, position, or perceived personal authority.  When the Spirit speaks or leads, He chooses whom He wills and goes where He wills.  Yes there is the difficulty at times of knowing when it is the Spirit speaking or leading over our own desires and wants, but I wonder if we have come to rely on clergy over community to discern the Spirit’s leading?

4/6/20 - The Difficulties of Holiness

Numbers 33:52-53

“You shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places. And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it.”

This is what holiness looks like, the absolute removal of all that is not holy.  (See the video on holiness by the Bible Project) Israel is being asked to participate in the restoration of the land, the reintroduction of holiness and wholeness.  They are warned in Num 33:56 that partial holiness, just being better, is not enough. Holiness is an absolute state, it exists or it does not, I cannot aspire to be kind of holy.

I struggle with why You would command the people of Israel to enter the land and destroy everything, I among many, tend to see this some how as a flaw in Your character.  Yet I do not struggle with the idea of a final judgement, (Therefore, You are not a different God in the OT vs. NT.) a final setting of all things right, the prevailing of justice and the return of a new heaven and a new earth.  I not only don't struggle with it, I long for it, and the promise of it brings me hope. See Ps 92:6-8 journal entry.  Embedded in this hope is the desire and the implicit understanding that  the promise cannot come about unless You remove all that is not good, right, and holy.  By definition "heaven" is a place where those things do not exist.

How is it that I desire, even expect for You to make things right, remove what is not holy...all this something You did not create, we did...and then have the audacity to call it a flaw in Your character when You do?  Rom 3:5

I am repulsed by the idea of being asked to participate personally (Vicariously through Israel.) in the clean up because I find it repulsive, dirty, painful, difficult, and messy (physically and morally). Do I really think it is any less any of these things for You?  Do I even have any sort of emotional or spiritual attachment to any of those I expect You to destroy? Do  I understand the deep loss You feel personally, because You love them far more than I do?  I am like my grandchildren who gleefully make a mess and are then insulted when asked to help clean up...in their minds one of the functions of a grandparent is a built in clean up crew.  Relearning this for them is not a pleasurable experience.

You are asking us to participate in the "nasty,” holy, business of the restoration of holiness, one that You are left with all the time and will complete in Your time.

I get myself into trouble if I think I know or can decide who is worthy of judgement...only You can know or decide.  Israel's task was by direct command and the command was not given lightly or without compassion or grace (See Gen 15:16.).

We are invited now to participate (Ah, this is what it means to follow Jesus.) in the sacrificial aspect of restoration as we follow Christ as Your bride.  We too are not given the option of choosing what nor to whom we will sacrifice, we are merely called to “fill up the suffering of Christ” with our sacrifice. We are to give ourselves up, no longer the sword, (external force, outside in.) but ourselves, a sacrifice of our lives. (Inside out). This too is hard for us to understand as it was for Peter in the garden of Gethsemane.   Both aspects of restoration (Fire/sword and sacrifice.) are difficult, but it takes both for the restoration of holiness.

You our God of the OT, are no different in Your heart toward us or the cosmos, the end toward which the story is moving, or Your judgement vs. Your love, etc.  The methodology of the NT, at least in how it pertains to us, has changed.  We are no longer called to be the sword of the judgement, we are asked to sacrifice ourselves and absorb, if you will, the evil, to die to it and with it so that it is buried with us in death and then left behind in the resurrection. (What an interesting clean up plan.) Who could come up with such a wild and wonderful scheme to consume evil (unholiness).

So why is there a different methodology (For us, not You.) in the OT and NT?  That is way above my pay grade, as I might add is all my muddled processing above, but it seems to have something to do with Jesus, the center piece of the story.  His death and resurrection opens the way for our redemption and that of the cosmos and through time, You, our Father have seen fit to intimately and intentionally include us in the process.

Forgive me Father I pray, for my arrogance and my desire to participate in what is good without participating in the hardness of its coming.

LHM/CHM

Additional note:

If Your holiness is a consuming fire it is then impossible for You to approach us with out Your “wrath” (incompatibility with what is not holy) judging (Consuming) all that is not holy.  It is  Your love that moves You irresistibly toward us even as we move away, and it is Your grace that provides a way, a shield if you will, if we turn and stop running.  Because by nature You are a consuming fire, dealing with it is always a requirement.  My inability to comprehend how hot that holiness is, prevents me from seeing Your love and grace for what it is in practice, holiness with steadfast love and faithfulness.

4/30/20 – Delight or Death

 Psalm 112

1Praise the LORD!

Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,

who greatly delights in his commandments!

10 The wicked man sees it and is angry;

he gnashes his teeth and melts away;

the desire of the wicked will perish!

In what do I delight?

Do my delights lead to blessing or death?  See v. 1&10.

“Greatly delights,” is heightened desire.

All of us have desires.  Our desires lead us to life or death.

Life is the intensifying of enjoyment of all right desires, death is a constant diminishing of enjoyment of what we desire until we cease to feel it.

"Giving” ourselves to the desires for which we were created sharpens our sensibilities and heightens the enjoyment.

"Taking" pleasure in those desires contrary to that for which we are made deadens our sensibilities, creates callouses, and makes it harder for us to find joy in our desires. (Eph 4:17-24)

Each played out to its completion (Phil 1:6) leaves us alive or dead. (1 John 2:15-17)

Eph 4:17-24 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Phil 1:6 I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

1 John 2:15-17  Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

4/28/20 - Is Christ the Lord?

Psalm 110

The LORD (yhwh) says to my Lord (âḏôn);

“Sit at my right hand,

until I make your enemies your footstool.”

The LORD (yhwh)  sends forth from Zion

your mighty scepter.

Rule in the midst of your enemies!

Your people will offer themselves freely

on the day of your power,

in holy garments;

from the womb of the morning,

the dew of your youth will be yours.

The LORD (yhwh) has sworn

and will not change his mind,

“You are a priest forever

after the order of Melchizedek.”

The Lord (ăḏônây)  is at your right hand;

he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.

He will execute judgment among the nations,

filling them with corpses;

he will shatter chiefs

over the wide earth.

He will drink from the brook by the way;

therefore he will lift up his head.

Who is this Lord? Christ or David?

Jesus clearly says David is speaking of the Christ.  See cross references, Matt. 22:44; Mark 12:36; Luke 20:42, 43; Acts 2:34, 35

Note the 3 different Hebrew words for Lord used in this Psalm.

Yhwh - clearly a reference to God.

Adon - if you do the search is used for master, lord, etc. of humans or anyone who is head or ruler of something, house or nation.  This does not rule out it being a reference to The Christ. Jesus interprets it in this way.

Adonay - again a reference to God.  Interestingly it seems to take  "adon" the earthly master/king and combines it with "yhwh," The King/God. Thus pulling together the two "Lords" into One.

This is another wonderful picture of the unity, the Oneness of God.

4/20/20 - The Serpent

Numbers 21:8

And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

Gen. 3:15

I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring;

he shall bruise your head,

and you shall bruise his heel.”

The symbolism of the serpent.  The serpent was to bruise/bite the heal of the One, the Son of Man, through whom redemption would come.  Here the judgement is coming by serpents, bruising the offspring if the woman.

Redemption comes by looking at the serpent impaled on a cross.  It was, I think, Henry Scogul who called it,  “the death of death by the death on the cross.”  The head of evil bruised by the cross.

Jesus connected the dots as he would say later in John 3:14, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.  The offspring of the woman, The Son of Man, as he called himself, bruising the head of the serpent.

Thanks be to God!

4/18/20 - The First

Numbers 15:18-20

“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land to which I bring you and when you eat of the bread of the land, you shall present a contribution to the LORD. Of the first of your dough you shall present a loaf as a contribution;

When you enter the promised land...“The first.”  The first born son and animals, the first fruits, and even your first dough from the land. Everything a constant reminder that You are first in all things.  All the “firsts” in the law serve as a constant reminder of Your presence and preeminence in every aspect of life.  I do not move through my days with this constantly before me and as a result find myself putting me before You.  May I work toward an ever day walk that begins every new or next thing with a, “To the King” awareness and mindset.  You first in all things.

To the King!

LHM/CHM

4/11/20 - Judged/purified

Psalm 96:11-13

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;

let the sea roar, and all that fills it;

let the field exult, and everything in it!

Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy

before the LORD, for he comes,

for he comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness,

and the peoples in his faithfulness.

This is the promise of Your coming, O Lord, and the welcoming of it not just by your people but by the cosmos.  Judgement again is not evil or merely destructive and punitive, it is redemptive and restorative, the removal of all that is not holy and all that does not glorify You.  A judged/purified people and earth will increase Your glory and our glorifying.

May it be an anathema to me to mar Your glory, in my own desires and behavior and in my stewardship of your beautiful creation .  LHM/CHM,

Random Thoughts - 4/4/20

Psalm 90

Psalm 90:1-2 Lord, you have been our dwelling place

in all generations.

Before the mountains were brought forth,

or ever you had formed the earth and the world,

from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Eternal life is knowing You O Lord, being present to You and with You. Jn. 17.  You are my dwelling place.  Intimacy is the very core of everything. (Trinity)

To experience the reality of this and not the idea is what my heart craves. See vs. 12-14 So teach us to number our days

that we may get a heart of wisdom.

Return, O LORD! How long?

Have pity on your servants!

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,

that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Satisfy me this morning with your steadfast love.

This whole Psalm is about time and eternity and it's relationship to the condition of the heart, v. 12, “So teach us to number our days so that we may get a heart of wisdom.”  In v. 3 the return to dust is what happens when our time produces nothing in the eternal.  Time must connect to the eternal and it can only do this through a heart connected to Christ (Col 1,) "All things come together in Christ."  Endurance of anything in the temporal comes only if connected to eternity.

To pass through the vail from temporal to eternal all must pass through  "fire" of judgment which burns away what is not holy, only the holy remains in the eternal?

Looking Around or Looking Down - Psalm 14:1-2, Psalm 85:10-11

Psalm 14:1-2 

“The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds,

there is none who does good.

The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man,

to see if there are any who understand,

who seek after God.”

Psalm 85:10-11

 “Steadfast love and faithfulness meet;

righteousness and peace kiss each other.

Faithfulness springs up from the ground,

and righteousness looks down from the sky.”

These verses follow the pattern we often see in the Psalms,* God looks down on the earth (Big picture) and we look around. (Little picture.). When one can only see the little picture, limited by time, space, and lack of wisdom, one must live by faith.  Yes faith, but faith in what becomes the critical question.  

One can put their faith in themselves and hold tight to the small picture one can know.  We can find all kinds of things, people, gurus, philosophies on which we place our faith/trust, but in the end, all are just looking around just like us.  Or, we put our faith/ trust in the One who looks down on the earth.  The implication is that He is separate from yet interested in what goes on down here.  I love the picture here in this Psalm that attributes righteousness to this perspective.

Perspective matters. If we are flat-landers, only looking around because we are too ignorant, foolish or stubborn  to look up, the consequences are that we become evil rather than good.

God looks down. This vertical component is what gives perspective and weight to the looking around.  When we look up, as He looks down, when we engage, "knowledge" (Wisdom) is the result.  Knowledge is connection, relationship, engagement, and it gives perspective that can lead to good.

The One who looks down is good.  The Biblical Story is that the One who looks down, is good, is the author of all that is down here, and desires an intimate connection with down here.  The Story tells us that the One looking down has revealed Himself to us and will show us the way, the meaning and connectedness to time, space, and wisdom if we follow Him.  How connected, how good, we become is related to our faithfulness in following.

“Steadfast love and faithfulness meet;

righteousness and peace kiss each other.

Faithfulness springs up from the ground, 

and righteousness looks down from the sky.”

Am I drawn to these words as I read or do they push me away?  The answer to that question will tell me the condition of my heart.

LHM/CHM

*Ps. 14:1-2, 33:13-14, 53:1-2, 80:14, 113:4-7, 146:3-8.

**3/3/20 This is one of what I hope will be a regular entry in my blog.  This is a shift from what I have done in the past which has mostly been episodic accounts of things I experience in life.  I may continue to post more of the same from time to time, but the drift of the blog, at least for now, will be my observations, prayers, questions, and grappling with the Bible as I read through it over the next two years with some friends.  We are together following a 2 year reading schedule and meeting monthly to compare notes.  Your comments are welcome and if you are interested in what the reading schedule looks like reply in comments and I will be glad to send it to you.  

The Swallow’s Nest - Psalm 83:1-4

Psalm 83:1-4 

“ How lovely is your dwelling place,

O LORD of hosts!

My soul longs, yes, faints

for the courts of the LORD;

my heart and flesh sing for joy

to the living God.

Even the sparrow finds a home,

and the swallow a nest for herself,

where she may lay her young,

at your altars, O LORD of hosts,

my King and my God.

Blessed are those who dwell in your house,

ever singing your praise! Selah”

We are all looking for home, a place,  or maybe better said, a people to whom we belong. One of Mounce's  (Hebrew dictionary) synonyms for this Hebrew word is tribe or clan. We are made for community and we are not whole without it.

The picture that comes into my mind with this verse is the dove that sits now in the corner of the trailer shed with her brood.  From below all I can see is her head over the edge of the nest, but she is settled in, comfortable, at home with her brood.  A place to lay her young on God’s alter, the Psalm says.

A nest as an alter, what a cool picture.

In verses 5&6 later in the Psalm it says that  this "place" begins in the heart. "...in whose heart are the highways to Zion."

On the alter comes an invitation by the Trinity to a place at the table, an invitation to the dance...the place we all long for and were made for.

I am reminded of my friend Kathy’s comment at our gathering the other night, “I just want a place that is home.” The comment was made in the context of what she wants from church.  Verses 5&6 of the Psalm’s  reference to community begining in the heart, it is about what the heart desires and is willing to give.  We equate church with structure/organization, but it is more about the heart and relationship.  The place/function of structure is to creat space for heart/home to be nurtured and experienced.  Disillusionment with church comes from two directions, too high expectation for the organization from its people and too high expectations from the organization on the people.  From both directions there is a subtle expectation for the organization to provide what only the heart is capable of providing...response to God’s invitation to the dance and resting in it.

Our church has created a small town (Home) within the larger confines of Knoxville for Jan and me to live and raise a family and make friends (be community).  The nature of this small town has shaped how we think and go about many aspects of our life, but ultimately the life we enjoy, or not, has been up to us to create with what is given.  We can love the small town or not, we can agree with what and how it is run or not, we can like who runs the town or not, but the town does not determine the quality and depth of the relationships built.  The depth of these relationships is determined by how we love and are loved, by the intentionality and openness of our engagement, by the humility and honesty with which we engage and the faithfulness of our presence over the long haul.   It is these that make that town home or not and all of these begin in the heart.

**3/3/20 This is one of what I hope will be a regular entry in my blog.  This is a shift from what I have done in the past which has mostly been episodic accounts of things I experience in life.  I may continue to post more of the same from time to time, but the drift of the blog, at least for now, will be my observations, prayers, questions, and grappling with the Bible as I read through it over the next two years with some friends.  We are together following a 2 year reading schedule and meeting monthly to compare notes.  Your comments are welcome and if you are interested in what the reading schedule looks like reply in comments and I will be glad to send it to you.  

Rules To Live By - Leviticus 18:1

Leviticus 18:1-5

“And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the LORD your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.“

These verses give some insight on why God is giving Israel a new rule to live by. It is a rule that will teach them a new Story, worldview.  It is a story that speaks of unity, connectedness, presence, holiness, One God not many, etc.

I must remember that the people of Israel are coming out of 400 years of slavery.  At the beginning of the 400 years they were approximately 60 in number when they moved to Egypt.  From 60 in number to over a million with only some oral history of this God of Abraham to give them some sense of identity.  Now here in the desert God is giving them an identity as a nation, a people of the God who is present not far away like all the other nations around them.  He is giving them a way to live that is in stark contrast to all they have ever known.  They had no idea what holy looks like or that there is one God not many gods.  They must learn what life ordered by a holy God can look like.   They must experience a God who is for them and wants to be present to them.

They are not to be be like Egypt which they are leaving or like Canaan to which they are going.  It appears that many of the rules define them as opposed to either of the above.  All the prohibitions given imply that this is what characterized one or both of the them.  God’s desire for us is that we look like Him, image Him.  Psalm 115 tells us that we become like what we worship, or another way to say it is, what we gaze at or what we are drawn to.  This is why God is so adamant about us worshipping nothing other than Himself.  He is Life and anything else, becoming anything else, is death.  This is not a metaphor, it is reality.

It is interesting that even the land of Canaan is defiled by the actions of the people inhabiting it. (v. 25). God’s plan is for redemption, not just for His people, but for the cosmos. (John 3:16, Rm 8:20-22)

See the video from The Bible Project for Joshua for thoughts on the judgement rendered to the Canaanites, also Gen 15:16 for God’s patience before bring judgment.

One of the take aways from all of this for me is the realization again that I am a malleable being.  Everything I do in life shapes me and shapes my desires or affections, as Johnathan Edwards calls them.  The rule I live by matters, because the rhythms and choices I make shape me to be more like the One who breathed Life into me and wants to draw near or are shaping me into something whose ultimate end is death. 

**3/3/20 This is one of what I hope will be a regular entry in my blog.  This is a shift from what I have done in the past which has mostly been episodic accounts of things I experience in life.  I may continue to post more of the same from time to time, but the drift of the blog, at least for now, will be my observations, prayers, questions, and grappling with the Bible as I read through it over the next two years with some friends.  We are together following a 2 year reading schedule and meeting monthly to compare notes.  Your comments are welcome and if you are interested in what the reading schedule looks like reply in comments and I will be glad to send it to you.  

Resource/Need - Acts 10:45

Acts 10:45

And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles.

This is such a picture of the reciprocal nature of resource - need.  We/I see myself as as the resource and others as the need, a form of arrogance I would add. Yes, sometimes I see it as the other way around and am in a "take" mode, sucking the life from the resource.  The truth is that in a cosmos that derives its nature from the One who is a relationship, the order of the universe is relational, healthy interactions are always reciprocal and have the resource - need that flows both ways.  In an odd way their need is the very resource I need.

Cornelius was very aware of what He needed and God could have given him all he needed in the vision, but God knew that Peter and those with him needed to see the full measure of who the Gospel was intended for.  Peter's perception at the beginning is that he was in the "have" seat, but found in the process that He, like Cornelius needed something more.  Peter an his friends have their understanding of the bigness of God expanded by their participation  in God’s grace to Cornelius and company.  God uses each of their needs and then each of them as a resource for the others need to properly understand Him.  Such a picture of a trinitarian relationship, how cool is all that?

We, mankind differ from God in this respect.  He does not need us, He is complete in the Trinity, we are the result of His overflow and are dependent on it for our existence.  Our inherent deficiency is what is noted in Gen 2 when God notes that Adam is not complete, he has no one to overflow into as God fills him.  So God created Eve, someone with a need into whom Adam can truly be a resource while at the same time being a reciprocal need for her to overflow into.  Adam and Eve both are not their own resource, but receive all their resources from God, they are conduits for God in this relational exchange.

This dynamic helps us understand why we are not complete in ourselves, we must have one another to experience this give/take or we cannot be fully human, but we must have Life breathed into and through us to be truly alive.

**3/3/20 This is one of what I hope will be a regular entry in my blog.  This is a shift from what I have done in the past which has mostly been episodic accounts of things I experience in life.  I may continue to post more of the same from time to time, but the drift of the blog, at least for now, will be my observations, prayers, questions, and grappling with the Bible as I read through it over the next two years with some friends.  We are together following a 2 year reading schedule and meeting monthly to compare notes.  Your comments are welcome and if you are interested in what the reading schedule looks like reply in comments and I will be glad to send it to you.  

What Is For Dinner? - Acts 10:11-12

Acts 10:11-12

“(Peter) saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”

See also Lev. 11:1ff

This seems to indicate that the “eating” laws given to Israel (Lev. 11ff) had to do with bringing them into relationship with God, not health reasons etc. as some propose.  The laws were not moral, but relational, i.e. will you abstain because I ask you to.  Because the laws are not moral there is no problem when God changes the playing field and declares them now clean.  To eat will not and does not interfere with the relationship.

The take away here for me seems to be, that God initiates, He determines what opens the way for relationship, it begins with Him not us.  He sets the table and invites, we can respond by moving toward or away.  The particulars are not the point, submission/humility, the moving toward and opening oneself to those to whom God opens Himself is the point.

In the larger story of history we see God moving toward a human race that essentially wants nothing to do with Him.  He is willing to start small, one man, Abraham, through a long span of time ~ 1500 years, to shape and mold a people through whom He can bless all nations.  What is needed to shape and mold Israel into a model and a conduit for His redemptive process is not the same thing that is needed after the resurrection and the wider invitation to the whole world.  God is more interested in calling a people to Himself than in maintaining processes that have served their place in time, but are no longer helpful.

We can see the same idea currently in denominational, or church organizational structures for example, that become tied to traditions, policies, and practices, that hinder rather than helping our relationship with God and with the community of believers.  The how of things is usually of secondary importance to the why of things.  Hows matter, but are secondary to whys and the first why is usually, “Do you want me more that this?”

**3/3/20 This is one of what I hope will be a regular entry in my blog.  This is a shift from what I have done in the past which has mostly been episodic accounts of things I experience in life.  I may continue to post more of the same from time to time, but the drift of the blog, at least for now, will be my observations, prayers, questions, and grappling with the Bible as I read through it over the next two years with some friends.  We are together following a 2 year reading schedule and meeting monthly to compare notes.  Your comments are welcome and if you are interested in what the reading schedule looks like reply in comments and I will be glad to send it to you.

Random Thoughts - Acts 9

Acts 9

There are so many interesting things in the story of Saul’s conversion story.  I don’t have one theme to pull them all together so I will stick with random thoughts.

The Way:

The Way is a way of suffering.  In Luke 3:1 John the Baptist claims  that he comes preparing The Way (Same gk word as here in Acts.) as prophesied by the prophet Isaiah. Jesus never minced words as to the suffering He came to endure on our behalf.

The book of Acts is the beginning of the story of the people of The Way and this chapter tells us how one of the main characters, Saul, who was on his way (v. 3) was invited into the story.  It is a wild story about God bringing the two ways together in an amazing story of transformation.

 Very quickly we see the contrast between The Way and Saul’s way.  The Message translates  v. 16,  “And now I'm about to show him (Saul) what he's in for—the hard suffering that goes with this job.”

Paul,  confidant in his “rightness” is working from a position of power, so God completely humbles him, blind is powerless.  In his powerlessness he is filled with the HS and becomes the conduit for real power.  There is power in enduring suffering that exceeds the power of those who inflict suffering.

This reminds me of Jesus and Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter inflicting suffering (Cutting off ears with a sword.) and trying to use power to bring in the kingdom, but Jesus brings him up short with the words, it is not by power, but by suffering that the kingdom will come.  Following Me, the Way, is to participate in my suffering.  The Way means absorbing suffering, taking it upon us vs. inflicting suffering.  Am I willing to walk this way?

Bit parts in a big story:

I love this story of transformation and the participation of a disciple, Ananias, heard about only one time, who plays a part.  Then later Barnabas, who was willing to take a risk on a violent man and bring him into the fellowship of believers.  Acts is full of these kinds of references, faithful people who show up in the story once or twice and then we never hear about them again.  It was faithful people like these, who like extras in a  movie don’t show up in the credits, but changed the known world.

I love this quote from I know not where, “Maturity is to be at home with being ordinary.”  I have never wanted to be ordinary, but there are far, far, more  bit players like Ananias than there are stars like the apostle Paul, and God is slowly wrestling me to the ground on this one.  Maturity is still out there on the horizon for me, but I think I am least headed that way. (Pun intended.)

The timeline of transformation?

Jonah in the belly of a fish for three days.  Jesus in the grave for three days.  Saul blind for three days. Can you think of any others?