Something About The Joy

It’s strange how one little phrase of a song, touched with God’s grace, can open up a new understanding, almost on a subliminal level. I had an experience like that in church this morning. “How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift was given.” As I sang those words, I had a vision. I was up in the sky above Bethlehem, looking down at a small stable, surrounded by the darkness of a quiet night. Then, suddenly, a feeble cry wafted up through the dark quietness. It came from an animal feeding trough. Was it a feeble cry? Quite possibly. It makes sense, from God’s perspective. The perspective that is opposite of ours. God became feeble, helpless, vulnerable. He became a small thing , for us.

In the Daily Light devotional reading for this morning: "Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid'." Matthew 14:26 A comforting reassurance is at the beginning and the end of that simple statement, because in the middle is Jesus. Any difficulty that comes to us is Jesus coming, in whatever form it takes. We can rest in whatever storms are confronting us today, because Jesus is in our midst. "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today." Exodus 14:13

Janet, in her God With Us: Finding Joy post yesterday, reminded us that we need to listen to God. Charles Stanley says we need to come to God with expectancy--assuming that He will speak to us when we listen. This morning I come expectantly to listen, asking Him what He wants to say to me. He says the same He always says: "I love you." "Anything else?" I ask. "No. That's all." When God says "I love you," (and He's always saying it, constantly, over and over again), that's all He says. He never says, "I love you, but. . ."

On Sunday our pastor taught us about Pharoah, his hardhearted refusal to bow to the will of the Creator. And about the Israelites, their hardheated refusal to trust that God would care for them, and lead them into the wealthy land He had promised to give them. And then he reminded us of the warning to all of us, in Hebrews, that we need to keep our hearts soft toward God. Hard-heartedness can take different forms. We usually think of hardheartedness as being rebellion against God, a stubborn obstinacy, a refusal to submit. But for most of us Christians, hard-heartedness is simply an unwillingness--a seeming inability--to fully trust in God and abandon ourselves to Him. All of Hebrews is a defense of the trust-truth, the fact that we can do nothing to save ourselves, and simply need to trust in all that Jesus did. The Jewish people prided themselves in the law and their love for doing the right things. They were hard-hearted in their righteousness, and they believed they we

Just a quick post to pass on someone else's post. If we followed Michael Hyatt's advice in "The Four Disciplines of the Heart," our lives would be truly successful by all important measures. His ideas aren't original ones. Many popular writers today would agree with his general premise, including people like Eckhart Tolle. But what makes Hyatt's message worthwhile is the specific Judeo-Christian slant. The grounding of his suggestions in the truths of the Bible gives them power that Eckhart Tolle's words will never have. It's the Truth behind, and around, Hyatt's instructions for life that make them doable and rewarding. The same instructions without the biblical basis would be empty and useless. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For through wisdom your days will be many, and years will be added to your life. Proverbs 9:10.

There are four things about God I wish I’d learned a lot earlier in life. Life became so much more fun when I finally discovered these truths. Maybe it took so long because I had to grow in my willingness to be totally sold out to Him. These four truths are only useful to us if we’ve come to that place of total surrender and trust. I think I’ve gotten there, now, after all these years. At least I’ve gotten far enough down this road to discover how delightful it is to walk with God the way He always meant for me to. Those four things are: 1.) God is prepared to take total responsibility for the life that is totally yielded to him . If we choose to indenture ourselves to Him, we can relax about our ministry and let Him lead us here and there, moment by moment, year by year. Jesus lived that way. He just walked, step by step with God, and trusted His Father to put Him where He was supposed to be. At times He obviously had specific guidance—a “Word from the Lord,” you m

Power comes from just receiving God's love. What an amazing statement. Can it be true? I've been pondering this for a while, and something about it really resonates with me at a deep level. It makes sense. Because He is an out-pouring God. Everything comes from Him. We can't give Him anything that hasn't come from Him. Everything comes out of His love. Wayne Jacobsen says, in the wonderful book, He Loves Me , that "[God] is not interested in your service or sacrifice. He only wants you to know how much you are loved." That doesn't mean we don't give service to Him, or ever sacrifice anything. Service and sacrifice come out of us as a natural response to knowing--really knowing, deep down--that we are loved, deeply and unconditionally, by Him. I have decided that my relationship with God is not the most important thing in my life. It's the ONLY important thing. Everything else that matters flows naturally out of my walk with the Lord

After this morning's post, I continued doing the final proofread of my book manuscript, and I came across this scene. It seemed to fit with what I'd posted about, so I'll do another posting. Two in one day! Hmm. Maybe it will help with the not-posting-guilt thing. Anyway, here's a conversation from my novel, Zinovy's Journey , between the main character and his spiritual counselor, on the topic of redemption. ________________________________________ “Zinovy, forgive my intrusion. I know your desire for privacy. If you tell me to leave, I will go. But I want, first, to let you know there is an escape from the darkness that enshrouds you.” Elan waited. Zinovy felt his patient presence, soft as a quiet spring, gently expectant, like a dew-drenched meadow anticipating the coming of the morning sun. Gradually, only slightly against his will, Zinovy relaxed. He knew Elan would take his silence as consent, but somehow he couldn’t bring himself to close this doo

Hey there! All who are thirsty, come to the water! Are you penniless? Come anyway—buy and eat! Come, buy your drinks, buy wine and milk. Buy without money—everything’s free! Isaiah 55:1 from The Message . I’ve recently discovered a surprising truth. The truth is, God wants us to take His love for granted. “Ah,” you say, “we can’t do that. Taking His love for granted is a sin. It’s ingratitude. We need to be thankful for His love.” Well, you’re right. We should be thankful for His love. But the truth (again) is that He loves us regardless of whether or not we are thankful, and He always will, completely, joyfully, with no restrictions. He gives His love, and the blessings that come with it, extravagantly, without expecting anything in return, even our gratitude. We cannot “pay” for our blessings with thanksgiving. Gratitude is not a penance. Everything good we receive from God’s hand—and it’s all good—is given freely, without a thought on God’s part of charging a tha

I can’t sit down for a moment without my little granddaughter coming to me with a picture book in her hand. It never occurs to her that I might have better things to do, or that I might be tired, or thinking about something important. She just assumes I’m there to read to her, and that I’m as interested as she is in the dog who is bigger than a house, or the cat that wears boots and a plumed hat, or the elephant who learns he can fly. I am sitting there purely for her pleasure, and she takes my availability as her right, every time. I love that. And of course I read to her. I don’t care about the content of the book. I just love the feel of her little body nestled in beside me, the smell of her hair after a day’s play in the sun, the feel of her breath on my cheek, the look of concentration in her eye as she digests the fact that the elephant’s mother has to stay in the prison car because she tried to protect her baby. The look of the dimples on her fingers as she finally t

Sometimes one simple word will capture my heart and lead it along a quiet, contemplative path for days. The other morning I read Revelation 22:17. This verse comes at the very end of the Bible, where God sums up the message of his written revelation to the people he has created and dearly loves. To us. The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let those who hear say, “Come!” Let those who are thirsty come; and let all who wish take the free gift of the water of life. The word “come” is used three times in this verse. Twice it is followed by an exclamation point—a rare occurrence in the Bible. And each time it comes from a slightly different direction. The first “come” is an excited plea/command spoken by God’s Spirit and the Bride of Jesus—those who have accepted his offer of redemption and restoration into the family of God. They’re asking Jesus to return to earth a second time. They want him to fulfill the promise of the angels at his first coming—the promise that hi

A sad thing happened after all my blog-talk about listening for God’s voice. Things went well for a while. God and I were chatting every day. Then I got busy and forgot to listen. Maybe that’s why I haven’t had much to write about lately. A few days ago I began to notice something was wrong, and I got lonesome. I decided to ask Him to speak to me, and made a decision, again, to listen for his response. I don’t think He’s quit speaking. All the little serendipitous blessings—the coincidences of thought and circumstance that just “happen”—the inspiration and gentle nudges to do this or that activity—all these things point to His continued intimate involvement in my life. But it’s all happened so quietly I’ve failed to notice the source of the little miracles. I’ve continued to walk the path of life, choosing directions at crossroads, negotiating the curves, and enjoying the beauty, as if I were alone. I’ve missed the joy of companionship. I’ve missed out on the best pa

This past week The Rapture made headlines. All of North America was talking about it. And laughing about it. Christians joked about the idea that someone could actually predict when the Rapture would happen, or thought they could. People who don’t know Jesus scoffed at the idea that it would happen at all. Many Christians were perturbed and embarrassed. Understandably so. They worried about the bad press the Rapture was getting, for Jesus’ sake. But I don’t think Jesus was perturbed. God is never perturbed or embarrassed. He has no reason to be, even when we do silly things, or evil things, that reflect on Him. He’s used to getting bad press because of us, and He’s really good at taking our negative words and actions and turning them into something that brings good to us, and glory to Himself, where it belongs. He did it when people scoffed at the prophets He sent in the Old Testament. He did it when people stood at the foot of the cross and mocked Him. He does it still

This morning I’m pondering the great mystery of how God’s sovereignty works in and around our personal choices to fulfil His gracious plan in our lives and in the world. This thought comes to me as I open my Bible and flip past the page that lists all the books that tell of Israel’s history. Joshua, Judges, Ruth. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. Stories rich with evidence of God’s compassionate determination to work salvation for us “in and around” our circumstances, our mistakes, our evil inclinations. My heart swells with praise. It occurs to me, as I prepare to write today, that more of those kinds of stories need to be told, so that others can come to know this wonderful Creator. I turn to the Psalms, with a sense that God will lead me to a passage that relates to the thoughts I suspect He has just placed in my mind. My eyes fall on Psalm 77. It begins with lament. “I cried out to God for help, I cried out to God to hear me.” The Psalmist then asks himself some reall

This morning's reading in the Daily Light begins with Lamentations 3:40: Let us examine and probe our ways, and let us return to the Lord. I've been going through difficulties this past week that have forced me to probe my ways, and I’ve been feeling a heavy weight of guilt for what I'm discovering. I can't find any sins that are terribly uncivilized, but I am finding spiritual sins--the sins of pride--the worst kind. Pride is the great sin of the Devil. The sin that says, "I am God." The world doesn’t find pride sinful. This past week, in a mythology class, I had to teach high school students that the story of Adam and Eve is a story of the coming of age of human beings. God created them, then put a serpent in the garden to “tempt” them to grow up, to become adults, to leave the nest. Then God was angry, like a bad parent, when they chose to go their own way—to become their own persons. This interpretation is a doctrine of the ancient religio

My New Year’s resolution for my walk (ride?) with the Lord in 2011 is to charge boldly into the new year, embracing the Gulp and Whee mentality I first discovered in the last part of 2010. (For a more detailed definition of "Gulp and Whee," see the post by that title in my writing blog.) The G and W mentality is perfectly exemplified in this anonymously written poem that inspires me again every time I read it. I hope it challenges and encourages you in your own spiritual journey. The Road of Life At first I saw God as my observer, my judge, Keeping track of the things I did wrong, So as to know whether I merited heaven or hell when I die. He was out there sort of like a president. I recognised His picture when I saw it, but I really didn’t know Him. But later on when I met Christ, It seemed as though life were rather like a bike ride, But it was a tandem bike, and I noticed that Christ was in the back, Helping me pedal. I don’t know when it was that He sugg