In the middle of the story...

Recently my attention has been drawn to moments in the bible and moments in my life that are in the middle of the story.  Sometimes the middle is exciting, sometimes it's discouraging, but most of the time--it's just confusing.

Meditating on the Christmas story, I try to think what Mary and Joseph might have felt. Giving birth to the God child certainly wasn't in their long-range plan. I wonder if they ever thought they just dreamed the whole thing. Did Mary wake up horrified, then relieved thinking it was a dream, only to see her baby bump--and realize again that she was indeed carrying the Christ. (Yeah, I said baby bump.)

Did Joseph have similar thoughts? Did he hit his knees every day with questions? "How exactly is this going to happen again? What do we do once He's born? How do we begin to raise...God?"

I've also been reading about Jesus' last days before the crucifixion.  How did the disciples feel right after the crowd had seized Jesus to put him to death? These men, who were his loyal band, had fled. As time moved forward, Jesus was put to death. Jesus, the One that had given them hope...who had given sight to the blind and brought the dead back to life...was dead. Was their grief saturated with confusion? Was their hope gone? 

They were in the middle of the story.

From the middle, it is hard to see how good can come out of hard times.

From the middle, it is easy to get discouraged.

What do you do in the middle?

After Mary had asked her question about this uparalleled virgin birth, she began to soak in the enormity of the situation. Then she responded in a statement I will never get over. 

"Behold, I am the servant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word."  Luke 1:38  

Obedience. When presented with an incomprehensible task, Mary founded her response in Who God is and her role as His servant. With all that we don't know about what is coming next in the story, we can focus on Who God is.

He is faithful. He is creator. He is sustainer. He is sovereign. He "Is."

So...we are to be obedient in what God has called us to do. We are to trust Him for the details He hasn't revealed to us.

The Christ child was born, and He did grow up, and God managed to help Mary and Joseph figure out what to do each step of the way.

Jesus did die, but in His death and resurrection, the most beautiful exchange took place so that people who could never earn life, would be given eternal life in Christ. 

The disciples didn't have to understand it all and the plan wasn't contingent upon their ability to be faithful to the Lord.

We don't have to understand it all and God certainly doesn't need us either. But as His servants, our goal should be to be faithful to Him. Our only proper response is obedience.

That is not to say that obedience is easy. Or even that we will always know what we should do. Like so many before us, we must seek Him for guidance. We can trust Him to guide us.

Often, obedience is incredibly difficult.

Obedience can be difficult even if we know Romans 8:28: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose."

I'm not sure if this statement was original to Martha Morrison, but I think she was the one who said, "Sometimes when people "Romans 8:28" us, it makes us want to "Colt 45" them." So I guess "Romans 8:28" can be used as a verb. That sounds like a Jon Acuff post: www.jonacuff.com/stuffchristianslike. 

In fact, it probably is, because there is a common tension there. Many Christians have a head knowledge that this scripture is true and can bring hope, but then we should all know that there are times when people grieving don't need to be assaulted with it.  "I'm sorry your dad died, well- Romans 8:28..."

I'll leave it to the Holy Spirit to guide you when to share that scripture and when to listen to someone, sit with them, and pray for them.

Back to the middle of the story...yep, you're still there.  We're all still there.

I must admit that one of the reasons I love movies is that I can pretty much predict that in 2 hours all the struggles are going to be resolved.  Those are the kind of movies I like, I'll admit. 

Not one of us knows when our lives or this world will be wrapped up, but we need to be aware and prepared for Christ's return or our last breath.  If you are not, deal with that asap. Seek God, His word and talk to a bible-saturated Christian about how to follow Him. There is no hope for salvation apart from Jesus, and destruction is certain without Him.

Okay, so I just jumped to the end. Just in reference though, there is only one author of time. We can only make sure we are ready for the end. There are no fast-forward buttons.

I'm pretty sure God intended it that way. The middle of the story needs to be there. We need to be here.

Whatever story you find yourself in the middle of, seek the author and perfector of our faith.

Wherever you are in the story, you don't have to be alone.

He.is.there. He.is.here.
God with us.



 

Have you been accidentally ignoring this command too?

   "I think we all sin by needlessly disobeying the apostolic injunction to "rejoice" as much as by anything else" - C.S. Lewis

A few weeks ago I had one of those days where the same scripture pops up a couple of times in a row. In my personal reading one morning I had read, 

“Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, Rejoice!”  Philippians 4:4

...and then later that day at a prayer meeting (not led by me) that scripture surfaced again. 

I get it. I need to rejoice. Then a week or so later I stumbled across the above CS Lewis quote. Yep, ouch. Do we really think about the command to rejoice as a COMMAND? 

I don’t. Not most of the time.  

“Rejoice” is one of those flowerful words that has worked its way into my hearing, but doesn’t happen regularly in my week.  I guess I thought of it more as a suggestion, something we should do – you know, perhaps like flossing.  (All you daily flossers, quit judging me. My dental hygienist said I did a good job flossing btw…fooled her. Perhaps that is what I really think about rejoicing. I should do it – and I do it some, so yeah – that’s enough. – i.know-.longest.parenthetical.note.ever.)

Who can "rejoice always" anyway? I don’t know about you, but I encounter people regularly who have dealt with real pain, and rejoicing in some of their circumstances seems, well – impossible.*

This falls into that group of pesky scriptures that seem to go a little too far…like forgiving as Christ forgave you, loving your enemies, praying continually, etc. Shouldn’t God have made sure we could fulfill all He commands us to do? That would definitely up our stats. It’s funny how the things He asks us to do are beyond our ability. But that’s just the thing-- they are beyond OUR abilities. We absolutely have to depend on His grace, His power, His Spirit’s leading to fulfill the expectations of scripture.  Remember how we were desperately in need of God’s grace to be made right with Him? We are still desperately in need of God’s grace to live rightly in Him.

And-so…God, I’m going to need your help with this. I know that I have a lot to rejoice about. Help me to see things from your perspective. Help me to see things as they really are. Help me not to set my eyes on insignificant things, but to open my eyes to ALL that is in You. I confess my failure to rejoice.

Rejoice in the Lord, always, again I say, Rejoice!

Before going live with this I decided to do a little research and make sure I really was getting this right.  (Thanks to Dr. Shaddix who cautioned us to make sure we weren’t saying, “Thus saith the Lord” unless we were sure the Lord said so!!) I take that responsibility very seriously. 

So the consensus is that the command to rejoice really is a command. As in, we don’t get to decide that it is one we are "for" or "against," the type we will obey or attempt to casually ignore.  Also, to my friends like me whose minds go to the exceptions to the rule…yes, scripture says to mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice.  Yes, there are times to mourn! I think the question we really need to ask though is, when we aren’t legitimately mourning, are we rejoicing? How much do we truly rejoice in our lives? Those of us "in Christ" have been brought from death to life, we’ve been given freedom instead of chains, the insurmountable debt against us has been paid, and the One we turned against has forgiven us AND invited us into an intimate relationship with Him. Oh let us rejoice! There are so many reasons to rejoice!

**In my research I came across another great note, especially in light of my comment regarding how hard it is to rejoice in some situations (I think I said *impossible).  Kevin Pierpont noted that God didn’t inspire these words about rejoicing to come through someone who wasn’t familiar with hardship. God chose Paul to proclaim this tough message.

Paul is a great one to call others to rejoice and to emphasize the importance of rejoicing in the Lord. He was one who practiced what he preached. He was in prison when he wrote, “rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice.” He suffered through beatings and shipwrecks and all kinds of hardship yet remained joyful. He’s not one we can say, “well that’s easy for you to say, you don’t know how hard my life is.” Paul knew plenty of difficulty and yet his strength was in the joy of the Lord.

                                                                                  kevinpierpont.com

“This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  Psalm 118:24

“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!”  Philippians 4:4

Wanting the “Want To"

            Confession: I can be a pretty good minister sometimes because I’m a terrible Christian. 

What I mean by that is, I know how to walk alongside people struggling, because I’ve struggled. I get what it feels like to fail God, because well, if failing were an Olympic sport . . . 

I’m not proud of this. And it is no encouragement to “sin it up” so you can be relevant. (See Romans 6:15) 

What I’m getting at-- is that I’m not loving God like I want to. In fact, I’m not loving God as much as I have at some points before. I am loving God more than I loved Him yesterday, but that’s not enough. 

He hasn’t gotten any less worthy of love and so I know the problem is with me.  And you. If you’ve walked with God for any length of time you’ve probably been here.

Psalm 63 gives me a lot of encouragement. 

As the words of this psalm poured out, David was in the wilderness, literally; and his soul wasn’t exactly feeling over-nourished either. There’s a good chance that this was the time his son Absalom was trying to overthrow his throne and he had to flee to the desert. (2 Samuel 15) Not your best day. 

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;

    my soul thirsts for you;

my flesh faints for you,

   as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,

   beholding your power and glory.

Because your steadfast love is better than life,

   my lips will praise you.

So I will bless you as long as I live;

   in your name I will lift up my hands.

My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.     

                                                                   Psalm 63:1-8

I wouldn’t say I’m going through a tough time, or in a wilderness by any means.  But I am discontent in the way I am walking with God. This Psalm encourages me in the way to cry out to God. I am so thankful that pretty early in my walk with Christ, I heard a worship leader say something to the effect, “If the words of these songs aren’t true in your life, pray that they will be.” That was fuel to my worship because I knew I couldn’t always honestly sing some of those lyrics. But it has given me a goal ever since then, to pray that I would mean the words of the song and to pray that I would live the words of the song. I can’t always sing,  “Earnestly I seek you,” but God, my prayer is that I would earnestly seek you. I can honestly pray that. I can sing if that’s what my heart means. 

--Are you there? Are you in a place where you know you need to love God more? Are you “wanting” to “want to?”

Love is a mysterious thing. I recognize I can’t make myself or others love God more, but what I can do is try to position myself where I can “behold His power and glory.” Whenever, I realize worship is not my natural response, I know that my attention has been diverted from the greatness of God. However much I have religious activities in my life, I must not be beholding the glory of God--because if a Christian truly gazes at the beauty of the Lord, worship erupts.

I also know people can find themselves not even “wanting” to “want to” –if this is you, beg God to show Himself to you and captivate your heart. If you don’t have the words to say, pray that Psalm 63 would be true for you.

His “steadfast love is better than life” and it’s the only hope for true joy. False loves will disappoint. But His love . . . His love is better than life. 

God, may we earnestly seek you. May we cry out—may our souls thirst for You. May we look upon You in the sanctuary, beholding Your power and glory. 

Remember the times you've focused on His glory before.

If you are in a place of desolation, a time when you don’t even seem to have the energy to cry out, fall down at the feet of God. Surrender, give up, collapse into His grace. God is the one who brings death to life and beauty from ashes.

And -- God is completely adequate to work with terrible Christians. 

So Abram Went

Recently I've realized that I am sitting here, in part, because of Abraham's obedience.  

Genesis 12 records God giving Abram instructions that literally changed the world. "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Genesis 12:1-3, ESV)

I'm pretty certain this wasn't in Abram's plan, but it was God's plan  - so he picked up his life and his family and he went. I'm sitting here thinking about all the questions Sarai, his wife, must have had. As a leader I know that every trip comes with at least dozens of questions, and I'm wondering how Abram fielded those with the few logistics he knew. None of that really matters though, he knew that the God of the universe had called him to take an action - and that was what he was to do.  God said go, and so he went.

We complain and falter when God calls us to step out in faith and we don't know all the details.  Abram wasn't told any of the details, and yet God's command to him was easily one of the most history-altering events of all time. Perhaps we can learn a little something about what is a "necessity" in following Christ.  Clearly we don't need to have all the information we think need.  

God said go, and so he went.  

If you haven't tried to set up a blog before, you may not know that almost every semi-short address is already taken...and several of the long ones.  I finally settled on the concept I now have; I went back and forth as to whether or not to go with the masculine language recognizing Abraham for the address - andthenHEwent.blogspot.com.  I chose the feminine form not in some sort of women's lib move, (liberation through Jesus is all I want to proclaim btw), but because I have to take personal responsibility to live the word before I ask anyone else to do the same.  "andthenshewent" is a personal encouragement and reminder towards my obedience, not a declaration of something I've mastered.  I picked it because of my weakness, not my strength.  

Speaking of weaknesses, I know Abraham wasn't flawless - literally, I see him sinning in the next paragraph in my bible. But with all he did wrong, he did some things right. And when I step back and think about the formation of Israel, the giving of the law, the generations of people that had their roles in preparing the way, and then finally the coming of the Messiah...I'm in awe of God's divine plan.  Jesus came, and please don't mistake what I'm saying - He's the star of this story.  He conquered sin and death and brought freedom! 

Talk about long-range planning, God knew about everything before there was time. Abraham's part is not actually even that close to the beginning, but it was important. As I sit in front of my computer and as I challenge my friends to proclaim Christ among the nations, I can't help but realize that I am sitting here, in part, because of Abraham's obedience.  Sure, God could have done it without him.  But looking at what happens when someone follows Christ, sure encourages me to go when He says go.  With every call of God, every command of scripture, there is a necessary response.  The details may look different, but the essence is obedience.  Every time I encounter scripture, there should be an "and-so" that follows.  Whether it is a praise to God for how He is revealed in the word, or an action carried out because God said so - a response is needed.  Lord, may my life be full of right responses to your glory.      

Whose life will be different because of my obedience? Whose life will be different because of your obedience?