Psalm 54

SCRIPTURE:

"Save me, O God, by your name; vindicate me by your might. Hear my prayer, O God; listen to the words of my mouth.  Arrogant foes are attacking me; ruthless people are trying to kill me--people without regard for God. Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me. Let evil recoil on those who slander me; in your faithfulness destroy them. I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you; I will praise your name, Lord, for it is good. You have delivered me from all my troubles, and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes."  

Psalm 54 

THOUGHTS: 

I struggle with passages like this because they speak curses over people and in our crazy world we justify them as righteous. Yet, they stand in stark contridiction to Jesus' "love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you." It wasn't until I began to admit that David (the author of this Psalm) was human just like me that I realized that David was simply writing from his heart, his experience, his story...from his brokenness, his imperfections. 

How many times have I cried out to God to save me? How many times have a questioned if He really hears my prayers? How many times have I felt as if the entire world is against me? How many times have I been slandered? How many times have I thrown people under the bus before God? They are so vast. I cannot count them.

David's words are human. They are sadly normal to the human condition.  They are the words that each and every one of us mumble when we are in pain or when being attacked. We all utter curses when we are uncomfortable, when we are being maligned, or when things aren't going our way.  I can identify with that and I can intellectually admit that David was lamenting and even word-vomiting to God, an ancient form of journaling to express his inward emotions - a coping mechanism for the drama of his life.  

What is true is that God does rescue from trouble. God is our help, but His help almost never comes in the way we expect or anticipate. He is faithful; even in our unfaithfulness. Jesus calls us to love our enemies. It's a high calling, but our enemies are also made in the very image of God. As we lament our enemies, it's completely possible that they lament their enemies (us) to the very same God and Creator. He is faithful to those who call upon His name.

ACTION:

Perhaps we should love and pray for our enemies, not to change, but to draw close to their Creator? Perhaps we should speak blessings and not curses? Perhaps becoming more like Jesus means we make space for our enemies at His table?  I fail at this often. I must try better. 

Faith in what?

SCRIPTURE:

"Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?" He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."  

~ Matthew 17:18-20

THOUGHTS:

I used to wear a glass pendant around my neck that contained a mustard seed, as a reminder to myself to keep that tiny measure of faith.  In the darkest of hours, it is often hard to do.

A few years back I was teaching at a local rescue mission on this passage.  The women listening were women who knew G-d or at least had an idea of who G-d was. Their understanding of G-d was skewed and marred by their often times horrible experiences with well-meaning Christians. Most had never read the Bible, although it had been used as a weapon against them.  Many had never heard this passage and all of them had never seen a mustard seed. They had imagined in their hearts and minds that this seed that Jesus spoke of must have been huge. It must have been some magical, unobtainable seed that only the most religious, the most righteous, or the least broken could achieve.  And broken they were, so the ability to overcome seemed so out of touch, completely out of the question to their reality.  

The next day, I took a jar of mustard seeds from my pantry and decided I would show them.  A moment that highlighted my privilege - I have a pantry. I have seen a mustard seed. These women never had that chance, until this day.  So I took the jar and I gave each woman this tiny seed without telling them what they were. I just placed one in each of their hands and asked them to hold it, to be careful to not drop it or lose it.  When everyone had theirs in their hand, I said, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move.'"

There were not many words that day, mostly tears and silence as these women for the first time realized that Jesus didn't require all that they had thought or all that they had been told.  This idea of faith became in that moment simple to them. It became obtainable to them.  There was nothing magical or out of reach anymore, but instead if they could just muster up a sliver of hope for their future, they could say to the mountains of their lives, 'Move.'

Over and over when Jesus tells us to have faith, I often times wonder who He's asking us to have faith in?  You see, these ladies had no faith in themselves.  Sure, it was easy to know that there is a G-d and we've all heard stories of Jesus. And deep down we all want to believe in a Savior, to believe in something bigger and better than ourselves.  They had no problem believing in G-d. Their problem was believing that there is a G-d who believed in them. Their problem was believing in themselves.

The disciples believed in Jesus. I mean, come on, they gave up everything to follow Him.   They left their families, their jobs, their homes and they followed this rebel Rabbi.  They had faith.  I do not believe for a second that Jesus was accusing them of not believing in Him.  But instead, Jesus was asking them to believe in themselves, to see what He saw in them, to believe that they were worthy and that they could move mountains. 

Can we believe in ourselves? Can we have a sliver of hope, a mustard seed of faith that we can change the world? Or even just that we can change our own destiny? Can we have a mustard seed of faith that allows us to move the mountains of addiction, the mountains of abuse, the mountains of shame and guilt? Can we have a mustard seed of faith to believe that healing and restoration within ourselves and our communities is possible?

That day at the rescue mission these women not only held a mustard seed in their hand, but they opened a piece of their hearts, if only the size of a mustard seed, to believe that they could move mountains. 

ACTION:

  If we can just believe in ourselves enough to realize that we are worthy of love, that we are worthy of restoration, that we are worthy of the fullness of G-d, we can change the world.  May I find the mustard seed within myself and allow it bloom into compassion, mercy and love for our world. 

Doubt in my Soul

It has been a while since I have pulled out "The Inspired Box." So here's one for you.  

SCRIPTURE:

"Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen." 

~ Hebrews 11:1 

THOUGHTS:

We do not have faith in things that are knowable. Faith cannot be simply in things that we know to be true. In fact, the very essence of faith is believing in things you cannot see.  Faith is irrational.  It's not believing in what you know to be true, but instead choosing to believe in what could be absolutely wrong.  Faith cannot exist without some measure of doubt.  If there is no doubt about the thing, then there is no reason to hope for it to be real, because we know that it is.  That is not faith.  That is knowledge of reality.

I have faith in Jesus, not because of facts that add up to faith, but instead because of doubts that over and over lead to hope in things not seen.  My faith is not consumed by knowing things to be true, but instead it is guided by my willingness to embrace what is unknown.  My faith knows doubt and knows it well.

Beyond the vast amounts of doubt in my soul, which I believe are absolutely okay and that Jesus himself doubted "my G-d, my G-d, why have you forsaken me?" ---  I choose to believe that G-d is for me and not against me. I choose to have faith in something I cannot see and ultimately I cannot always explain or even feel.  But I embrace my irrational friend called faith and I let her guide me to hope, to imagination, to creating a better world.  

ACTION:

Faith is not something I can force on someone else. But perhaps in letting people have space to doubt they will find a faith of their own in things that they cannot see.  I want to be creating space where doubt is welcome and faith is fostered.

In all the works of your hand

SCRIPTURE READING:

"For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete."

Deuteronomy 16:15 (NIV)

THOUGHTS:

In this season of my life, this promise is one I cling to.  I guess I've clung to it for years.  The work that I do,  I do for the Lord. I do this work from a place of loving God with all that I am and loving others as Christ has loved me.  I'm not perfect at, but I work towards it as a goal. And many days are filled with doubt and discouragement, and I remind myself to turn my eyes towards Him.

When I serve as if I am serving Christ himself, I position myself to take even heartache as joy.  My joy rests in Him, not in others. 

ACTION:

I want to see God in the harvest because it is His, not mine. I want to see God in the works of my hands because it is for Him, not me.  I want any joy that I find to be found in Him, the Giver of any real joy. 

You shall find rest for your soul

#1 draw from The Inspired Box 

SCRIPTURE READING: 

This is what the Lord says:

“Stand at the crossroads and look;
    ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
    and you will find rest for your souls.
    But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.'

Jeremiah 6:16

THOUGHTS: 

So often in Scripture the path we should take is laid out so simply.  In Micah 6, the Lord cannot get any more blunt, when Micah ask "what is it that the Lord requires of us?" The Lord responds "This is what the Lord requires, to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God." Simple.  Blunt.  To the point.  And yet we miss it.  

This Jeremiah text is another promise that we have that too often set aside.  "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is and walk in it." 

Stand at the crossroads - every day we have opportunity to stand in a place of decision, a place where we can choose to seek God's ways or we can go on in our own. 

Open our eyes - be open to see what the Lord sees or to see things in a different way than we normally do.  

Ask for the ancient paths - we aren't the first to stand in the place (no matter what it is) Since days of ancient old, people have stood where we stand and many have followed God's ancient ways to healing, to wholeness.  

Ask where the good way is - because there is a bad way, a way that leads to more grief, a way that is longer than it needs to be, a way that might seem ok but is not necessarily the good way. So God what is the way, we should go in this crossroads? 

Walk in it -  make a choice to choose his way, not your own.  

And you will find rest for your soul...

There's the promise.  When we walk in the ways of the Lord, we will find rest for our souls. That does not mean it will be easy, or that it won't hurt. It does not mean there will not be pain or that the ground beneath our feet will not shake.  

The rest for our soul comes in his embrace, comes in the space where you know that you know that you are not alone.  

ACTION: 

What do we do with this? The last section of this verse has the Lord saying "but you won't do it. You will not walk in it." Oh, that I would prove Him wrong.  Oh, that I would be a person who obeys and seek His ways.  Oh, that I would be a person who finds rest for my soul. 

The Inspired Box

My mother-in-law gave me a small wooden box the other day.  It's maybe 3×5 inches and the lid is inscribed  "The Inspired Box," although you can barely read its gold lettering.

She suspected that I would appreciate the contents of the box since I am a pastor. As I opened the box, I was a little intrigued about what I might find. It was obvious that the box was older than me and maybe even twice as old as me.

Inside I found tiny scrolls,  each containing a scripture verse (KJV version). It was designed for the recipient to draw a scroll from the box and to be inspired and blessed by the promise the Word provides.  You can place the scrolls back in and reuse the box over and over. 

I wonder how many people in its lifetime have pulled out these tiny scrolls and heard the Word of the Lord? I wonder if this tiny box sat in room unused?  Did it fulfill its purpose? Or has it yet to be explored?

I don't know the answers to those questions. However, I am going to bring these scrolls to you as I pull them from their box.  And perhaps together we can be inspired!