In the Middle of the Mess

In these days of super-cleanliness, disinfecting, and hand sanitizer, we are trying to eliminate all the messes in our lives. After all, the good book says, cleanliness is next to godliness, right? Not! The Good Book, the Bible, says that the One who loves us without limit or condition cares for us in the middle of our messes. Psalm 23 says He prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies, in the middle of our mess.

 

Imagine the battlefield scene in a war movie where the smell and smoke and gunpowder hangs in the air. Soldiers in camo with dark-smudged faces are crawling in a muddy field. In the middle of the dirt and the noise is a table; a table with a white cloth, fine china, cloth napkins, and food prepared by God Himself! Not the perfect setting but the perfect table, and the perfect dinner partner. He invites you to sit, to rest, to talk, and to be refreshed. In Song of Psalm 18:19 David says of the Lord, "He led me to a place of safety, he rescued me because he delights in me." (NLT)

 

I don't know what your mess is. A relationship? A job, or jobless, situation? A child? Grief? A habit? A fear? Whatever it is, Jesus is inviting you to focus on Him, not the dirt, the pain, or the turmoil. As women, we tend to see dirt, clutter, and the mess! If the room is 90 percent clean we will see the 10 percent that is not. Jesus tells us to keep our eyes on Him, His is the source and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Take your eyes off the distractions around you for a minute and look across the table at the Lord who is sitting across from you. Your Host calls you to enjoy personal time with Him. In the middle of the mess, in the darkest hour, He is there at the table saying, "Look at me, let's talk and eat." Just like Jesus called Peter to focus on Him when he walked on the water, and when he looked away he sank, Jesus is calling us to keep our eyes on Him.

 

So what is this Good Shepherd offering us? "He is all that I need...He lets me rest...He leads me...He strengthens me... He guides me...He is close by me...He protects and comforts me" (Psalm 23). Wow! I DO have ALL I need! Before He asks anything of us, He gives to us; and then HE extends the invitation. "Come! Come sit, I have prepared this meal for you. Before the mess is clean, before the pain is gone, before everything is fixed, my feast is ready for you."

 

The choice is clear, focus on the mess or eat with the Master? Easy choice if you keep reading and see the aftermath of enjoying the meal with Him. "My cup overflows with blessings... goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life..." Cleanliness may not be next to godliness but godliness IS keeping our eyes on Jesus in the middle of our mess.

                                                              

Staycation, learn from the sea

Summer is here and escaping to an island may not be possible, but escaping from the routine pressures of your job, the traffic, and the everyday ordinary is an option. You can spend a few days on the beach relaxing in the sand with the clear water lapping at your feet and the gentle breeze stirring the palm branches overhead. Ahh!

The scene I just painted in your head sounds like freedom, freedom from the restrictive routines that regulate our everyday lives. Sometimes a change can give us that very needed rest. Take a closer look at that picture, and notice that beach scene is filled with routine, rules, and restrictions. Jeremiah 5:20-25 tells us many things we can learn from the sea. Take a moment and read it with me and see if you don’t hear the same things I did, and maybe more.

Jeremiah 5:20-25 (in Martha’s words). Tell my people to listen to the wisdom of the sea. Learn from her. You see the waves washing on the shore but do not understand. You hear the rolling breakers but don’t listen to what they say. This is what they show you. This is what they say. “Fear the Lord! Do not go beyond the limits of His Word. Live in respect and response to His ways and directions and the seasons will come as expected. The sea understands that and respects the one who put the beach at the water’s edge then drew a line in the sand and said, “don’t cross this line.” The waves try, they wash over the line only to recede again and come back to rest on the seaside of the line. “The sea knows, understands, and fears (respects, reveres, responds to) Me!” But my people do not. They don’t understand, don’t comprehend that fearing Me is for their own good. They resist the boundaries I have laid down for them. They have made their own tsunami by departing from the Lord and not fearing Him.

Fearing God, we may not often think about it and we may not understand it, but it is a good thing. In fact, “the LORD delights in those who fear him,” He takes pleasure in those who understand and respond appropriately to how awesome and powerful and mighty and loving He is (Ps 147:11).

Job gets it. After talking and listening to his friends talk on and on about his sorrows and pain, he hears the voice he has been waiting for. In Job 38 the Lord speaks, and Job knows that God is in charge and he is not. God is just and he is not. The Lord asks Job, in a telling sort of way, “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Who told the sea, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’? Have you ever given orders to the morning? Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do you give the horse its strength?” Ok, ok, ok, Job gets it, he knows that fearing God is wise and right and good. Perhaps taking some staycation time to ponder that would set our minds right again, see the wisdom of the boundaries that the waves do not cross, hear the wind come from nowhere and whip up some whitecaps. Now, tell me again, whose in charge?

A Fresh Word for Today

“Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.”   Psalm 143:8

My husband could not stand the taste of coffee for the first 18 years of our marriage, while I would go the proverbial extra mile to get the perfect cup of coffee, the thought of heating up yesterday's left over coffee in the microwave nearly made me gag. Some of that has changed as Paul now drinks coffee every morning. We are spoiled with a fresh ground cup of brewed coffee every morning and we think it is the perfect way to start the day, sipping in the mellow mood of mornings, kick-starting the thoughts that will take us through the day. I’ll ask any non-coffee drinkers to use their imagination.

The other day I was having my perfect cup when a still small voice reminded me, that as much as I like my coffee fresh, am I content with yesterday's Word? I would never be content with yesterday's coffee, yet I can let my feet hit the floor and point myself into the day with yesterday's Word of God vaguely resting on my memory. Why is that habit of starting fresh with Him every morning so easy to let slide? I never forget to have my coffee. Let's sit at His feet together and listen to His fresh spoken Words for today.

Psalm 143:8 is rich with guidance for your day. “Let the morning bring me word…” Let, bring, these are accepting words, a receiving attitude, like accepting something handed to us. My favorite cups of coffee are handed to me by my husband. Our Loving Heavenly Father has prepared this day and He will prepare us for whatever this day brings. What is He bringing you this morning? Words of His unfailing love. This is not love like we may have known it. His Word and His love is true and faithful, unconditional and trustworthy. Perhaps your earthly experience with love and relationships doesn’t look like that. This morning He asks you to put aside those thoughts of disappointment and broken trust, and let Him bring you His love. Our experiences are not perfect and often not beautiful, but just like the sunrise is perfect every morning so God’s love remains perfect and beautiful every day. If we let each morning bring us His Word instead of our disappointed words we may find our perspective on the day is changed.

What kind of perspective is He offering us? A perspective of trust based on who He is, unfailing and loving, no worry, no doubt. Like Peter, when He got out of the boat to walk to Jesus on the water, we can keep our eyes on Jesus and not on the disturbing waves around us. That focus will change how we walk through the day, in trust and faith. “Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.” The walk of trust has more confidence than questions, promise than doubts. Perhaps you think this sounds too much like motivational talk without real substance. If you think your situation is more challenging that the writer of this verse take a look at the rest of the Psalm, the verses before verse 8. “Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry…come to my relief…The enemy pursues me…my spirit grows faint…my heart within me is dismayed…Answer me quickly, Lord; my spirit fails.” (Read the whole chapter here. Psalm 143 NIV.) Verse 8 comes on the heals of discouraging thoughts. Then the Psalmist turns his focus to the One who gives him hope. 

“Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.”  

Resurrection Morning! That was ten days ago. We all celebrated that monumental, history changing moment last week. He is risen! He is risen indeed! We relive that morning in our minds and online (because Covid-19 has closed the building), hoping to recreate the joy and hope in our hearts that Mary Magdalene had after she Jesus alive! Here we are just over week later, is life different because Jesus is alive? We have all felt the incredible ache of separation when we loose someone we love. “If only we could speak one more time, I wish I could say.... if I could ask one more question.... I would express my love more....” When Jesus died those who loved him grieved; but then He rose from the dead and they talked with Him, they hung on every word He said and they loved Him.

In this week since we celebrated His resurrection we have had ten mornings to get up early to talk with him one more time. Ten evenings to walk and talk with Him. To hang on every word. To love Him with all our heart and mind and every fiber of our being? We might think we have all the time in the world to do that and the urgency of the phone notifications is constant. Don't mistake the urgent for important. Keep the most important thing (or person) the most important thing. 

It may be helpful to see things from His perspective. In Exodus 32:1-8 the Israelites were waiting at the bottom of Mt. Sinai for Moses to come back from his face to face meeting with Almighty God. In verse one the people complain because Moses has been gone 's-o  l-o-n-g'. Moses is talking with God on a glory covered mountain and they think he has been gone too long so they build a golden calf to worship and call it their god. Eight verses later God’s description of the exact same time period is 'how quick’ they are to turn away. How long would we want to stay in the tangible presence of God? Obviously God has a whole different perspective on time. 

We just celebrated Jesus' resurrection. What about that earthshaking, veil ripping, grave opening, soldier slinging, eternity changing moment has changed your week? Ten days, would you describe your time with Him as, 'so long' or 'how quick'? 

In this convenient life we live in, we are easily inconvenienced. Anything from traffic, slow electronics, or spilled coffee is inconvenient. This morning as I was reading about Passover; a day when God saved His chosen people because they obeyed His strange directive, and painted the frames of their doors with lamb’s blood. Then they stayed inside until morning. In this narrative of the disciples' preparation for Passover there are two verses set off all by themselves (Mark 14:10-11). As I read them I stopped short, and reread them again. These are not verses you would memorize or cross-stitch or place as your screensaver. 

“Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. So he sought how he might conveniently betray Him (Mark 14:10-11 NKJV). Judas looked for a way to conveniently betray his friend and master. There is nothing convenient about betrayal. What did he tell himself? “OK I’m going to betray my friend today but I don’t want to let it get in the way of my day, or make me look bad, and I definitely don’t want to be inconvenienced."

I am so glad that the inconvenience of the cross didn't make Jesus pause. No, when it was inconvenient He turned His face toward Jerusalem, knowing what was waiting for Him there. Then when He knew they disciples would all desert Him, and one would betray Him, He inconveniently planned a meal, He sat down with them and ate a tender meal with them. He didn't let what He knew about their imminent betrayal detract him from serving them. It's reminds me of the good Shepherd, "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies..." I know you are my friends at this table but in a few hours you will join my enemies. Why? Because following Jesus is hard, it's inconvenient, it's an honor -  it's worthy everything.   

Evil did NOT win!

Tomorrow marks two years since the evil stormed through our community and a church building became a memorial for the 26 lives that were taken. Shortly after the shock numbed and the mayhem left town, First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs embraced a slogan that would give them strength and focus through the dreaded months to come; "EVIL DID NOT WIN". 

The words were posted high above the church on the sign by the road, it was the title of many newspaper articles, and the slogan on their t shirts last week at the Sutherland Springs Old Town Days. In the aftermath of the facts; all the loss, all the pain, all the challenges, all the family members who don't show up for church each Sunday, how is it that evil did not win? News reports are filled with the graphic evil that occurred on Nov 5th, 2017. Some Facebook posts are transparently raw about the pain of loss after that day, others are sadly silent in their grief and anger about things that can never be undone. How did evil not win?

There is a phrase in The Lord's Prayer that millions have prayed for thousands of years, "deliver us from evil," or, "deliver us from the evil one," either one is true. Deliver us, rescue us; this is not a suggestion or a request, it is an imperative command. "HELP!" No please or thank you, just the plea, deliver us! "Deliver" assumes that the danger, the evil, the need is already present. There is no need to deliver from a hypothetical or future situation. Deliver us from evil, a very real evil, and the evil one.

That dread-filled day has passed, and the evident danger is also in the past, but what of the evil, has it gone? Or is it continually knocking at the door of the survivors, the responders, the community, the world that reads and reels from the perpetual bad news? The apparent evil has passed but the temptation to let it remain is still here, still daily apparent. 

Looking back at Jesus' prayer the phrase that precedes "deliver us from evil," is, "lead us not into temptation." Lead us not! Don't let us go there! The evil that is in front of us every day is the one from which we need deliverance. Evil may have burst through the church door and delivered destruction but that evil is gone. The evil that remains is the temptation, by the evil one, to destroy everyday with evil. The temptation to let our peace be destroyed by anxiety, the temptation to let our love disappear into fear, to let doubt eat away at our faith. "Lord, lead us away from temptation." 

When the news tried to distort the grief of the remaining church members, they said "NO," evil did not win. When the conspiracy theorists stood at the edge of the church property taunting the pastor to engage, he said "NO," evil did not win, when depression threatened to drown survivors, they said "NO," and they supported each other, got counseling, and prayed for each other. "Lord, keep us from that temptation, and deliver us from that evil." That is why EVIL DID NOT WIN!

• the evil of hate did not win.
• the evil of unforgiveness did not win.
• the evil of self-pity did not win.
• the evil of hopelessness did not win.
• the evil of fear did not win.
• the evil of defeat did not win.
• the evil of offense did not win. 

Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever. 
"Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory; 
because of your love and faithfulness." (Psalms 115:1, NIV) 

For God's sake, forgive!

Fall, I love fall for so many reasons. It's beautiful, it's cooler, it's sweater weather, and of course there's some pumkin stuff. Really fall is about letting go. Letting go of the old leaves to make room for the new growth. Forgiveness is like that. 

Forgiveness frees us from so much when we let go. I'm talking about those wrongs, injustices, cruelties, that were done to us and we hang onto them thinking that justice will come and we will feel better. Not! As long as we don't forgive we are tied to that memory, that pain, that time in the past. 

By forgiving we release all that stuff and making room for new growth. There is freedom in that.  Forgiving may not even affect the other person but it changes me, it frees me. Listen to what God says, "He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins." Isaiah 43:25 NKJV

Did you get that? FOR MY OWN SAKE. God forgives us for His sake. He doesn't hold onto our sins but removes them as far as the East is from the West. For God's sake, forgive! For your own sake, forgive. Stop holding onto the cancer of unforgivness that polutes our everyday.  If you need words to help letting go try this. 

"Jesus forgive me for holding on to the past, it's sin. Teach me forget the things that are behind and reach for what is ahead. Because you have forgiven me, I chose to forgive____. I release them from my judgement and the emotional dept I feel they own me. I forgive them and release them. And God, I ask you to bless them. Yes, bless them. Please remove the pain and the past from my life and bring new life where the old has left. All because of Jesus. Amen."

Now enjoy the fall for new life is on the way.