Terror or Awe?

When the trees around my home are bent by the wind, thunder shakes the house, and heavy dark clouds throw themselves over me like a blanket, I feel awe! When our children were little, we would go outside during thunderstorms and stand under the overhang at the front our home to ‘enjoy’ the storm. Yes, it was awesome, in the truest sense of the word. What makes you stand still, be silent, and even feel a little afraid?

Isaiah called the people of God to reverence. He reminds them (and us) that God is awesome, worthy of respect. Taught to love God, some of us forget His awesome power, His perfect holiness. The people of ancient Judah were living in fear of their enemies, awed by the might of armies at their doorstep. Isaiah reminds that God, not the empires threatening them, was the One they should fear. And, with the proper awe, they would find God a ‘sanctuary!’

“Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread, and he will be a sanctuary; but for both houses of Israel he will be a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare.

Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and captured.” Bind up the testimony and seal up the law among my disciples. I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob. I will put my trust in him." (Isaiah 8:12-17, NIV)

If you think awe is an idea only for the Old Testament, then read what Jesus says. He, too, tells us that awe is the foundation of secure peace. “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell. What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows." (Matthew 10:28-31, NLT)

So what is awe? 
It is an “overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear, etc., produced by that which is grand, sublime, or extremely powerful.” My love of the power of a storm is, in part, born of my conviction that it is the Lord who holds those storms in His hand. The wild winds and flashes of lightning remind me how puny I am and how powerful He is. And, then I think, He is my Abba (Father). 

How big is your God? 
Perhaps the better question is, have you invited the Spirit of the Lord to cause you to feel awe? We get ‘too big for our britches’ sometimes, don’t we? We live with the comforting illusion that we are masters of our fate, controlling the universe. Then, some situation arises that reminds us that in spite of our intelligence, plans, or money – we are mere mortals. In that moment, is there only terror, a feeling of helplessness? Or, do we match our smallness to His greatness, and with proper awe, find sanctuary in Him?

Here’s a word from the Word. Meditate on this truth and find the security that is found in the fear of the Lord.
"Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD." (Psalm 34:9-11, NIV) 
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." (Proverbs 1:7, NIV)
___________________

I Stand In Awe

You are beautiful beyond description;
Too marvelous for words;
Too wonderful for comprehension,
Like nothing ever seen or heard.
Who can grasp Your infinite wisdom,
Who can fathom the depth of Your love?
You are beautiful beyond description,
Majesty enthroned above!

And I stand, I stand in awe of You!
I stand, I stand in awe of You!
Holy God to whom all praise is due,
I stand in awe of You!

You are beautiful beyond description,
Yet God crushed You for my sin.
In agony and deep affliction
Cut off that I might enter in.
Who can grasp such tender compassion,
Who can fathom this mercy so free?
You are beautiful beyond description,
Lamb of God, who died for me.

Mark Altrogge
© 1987 Sovereign Grace Praise (Admin. by Sovereign Grace Ministries)
CCLI License # 810055

It’s a pain in the neck

 

For a month I have had various physical symptoms including some major pain in my neck. I took pain-killers and ignored it. “It will go away tomorrow,” I reasoned. Yesterday, I finally saw a physician who looked over my symptoms and concluded that I have Lyme Disease.  It comes from a tiny tick bite that introduces a bacteria into the body that multiplies. A course of antibiotics will likely cure the problem and relieve my pain.

Do you know that pain is a gift?  It signals that something is wrong and that corrective action is necessary.  Touch a hot surface and instantly your brain sends a messages to pull your hand away to minimize damage.  Without the pain, your hand would be severely burned.  The ache of the soul is a signal, too.  What does it mean? It might be God calling us to return to Him. It might be indicate sin is present. It might be letting us know that we are not living for the right things, wasting precious days.

Are you treating the pain symptom instead of its cause? For the last four weeks I have used Advil, Tylenol, and Aleve.  They could mask the pain in my body, but did nothing to curb the disease. My physician advised me to continue to use those things over the next few days along with the medication that will make me better.  When our hearts ache, our consciences sting, or our soul is heavy – there are things in this world that we can use to ease the pain – temporarily.  Work and accomplishment will do it, for a while.  Diversions and vacations can make us forget for a week or two.  Then, too, there are always things like alcohol and pornography, that ease then deepen the pain of the soul.

Jesus gives this prescription for our heart pain. "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matthew 11:28-29, NLT)  It may sound too simple to accept.  But, that is where we start on the road to wholeness. Come to Jesus!  Sin-sick?  He forgives.  Enslaved to bad habits? His power brings freedom!  Emptiness and meaningless stalking you?  He invites you to work with Him in ways that matter.  Lonely?  Learning to engage in true worship with God's people as well as quiet times of personal prayer and meditation is amazingly healing. 

Almost all healing is a process. My Lymes will be cured, but only over several weeks. The ache of our soul is not relieved in an instant, either. God heals us from the inside out as we learn to live in ways that are spiritually healthy. Here's a word from the Word.  Read it thoughtfully, prayerfully today.  There's a lot of soul food in it!

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Be self-controlled and alert.
Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.  

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while,
will himself RESTORE you and make you STRONG, FIRM, and STEADFAST."  -1 Peter 5:6-10, NIV

Now, what are you going to do with those symptoms? Ignore them? Cover them up? Or, go to the Great Physician for healing?
____

What a Friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry,
Everything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear.
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful,
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
 
What A Friend We Have In Jesus
 
Scriven, Joseph M. / Converse, Charles C.
© Public Domain 

A Slave to Traditions?

  All of us live with habits, things we do without much thought, mostly because we have always done it that way.  I’m a creature of habit- getting up, enjoying a cup of coffee, reading the Word, going to the office to work, etc - in a predictable pattern.  

If we had to take the time to plan out each and every choice for every day we would be overwhelmed. Our habits serve us with order and let us get on with life until ... 
we become slaves to them!  When major changes come our way, and they will, we have to be prepared to re-examine our habits and adapt.  One of the worst reasons to do anything is ‘because we have always done it that way.’

Is your Christian experience primarily a habit, defined by tradition, absent the newness of life promised to those who walk ‘in the Spirit?’ 
Or, are you discovering what God has for you, at this time, in this season of your life?

One day Jesus was invited to dinner by a Pharisee.  Pharisees were respectable people, intent on keeping God’s Law. They were tragically enslaved by their traditions. As Jesus came to this man’s table do you know what the religious man noticed?  It was not Jesus’ amazing love, insight, or wisdom.  He was obsessed with the fact that Jesus failed to observe the traditional ritual of washing his hands before the meal!  "When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. But the Pharisee, noticing that Jesus did not first wash before the meal, was surprised. Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But give what is inside the dish to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.”

When the man pointed out Jesus’ supposed failure, Jesus told him that his preoccupation with external cleanliness was hiding a much more serious corruption - a filthy heart!  As the conversation continued, it became even more troubling for the Pharisee and his traditions. “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone. “Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. “Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without knowing it.”

Before we throw away all the guidelines for expressing our worship and devotion to God, let’s be careful to understand what Jesus said. He did not condemn tithing or hand-washing! His point is that  true holiness is connected to ALL of the choices we make in life. It is not just a state of mind!  What did Jesus ask of them and us? That we remember to keep our hearts engaged with God, not just our hands.  These men, in all their religious traditions, were the walking dead!  They kept up the traditions of religion without being alive to God. 

"One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.” Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them. “Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your forefathers who killed them. So you testify that you approve of what your forefathers did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs... “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.” (Luke 11:37-52, NIV)

The Pharisees, in spite of their constant study of the Scripture and minute attention to the traditions of the Law, had lost sight of the ‘why’ behind the ‘what.’  The very Law that was to make them aware of the holiness of God and turn their hearts to seek Him, the Scripture they ‘studied’ that told of the coming of the Messiah, had no real meaning because they were locked into their preoccupation with tradition. They could not turn the key to open the door for themselves. Even more tragically, they were blocking the way of many others who were spiritually hungering.

What a word for us today!  
Do we go to worship services just because it’s Sunday morning and fail to engage our heart with the Spirit? 

Do we read the Bible because we were taught it was the right thing to do, but fail to respond to the revelation of God that would transform us?

Do we build church buildings and sustain an array of religious programs without inviting the Lord of Glory to be the One at the center of these things?

Or, are we sustained by the traditions even as we are refreshed by His Presence, “His mercies new every morning?”

Here is the word from the Word.  May the Spirit make us alive in Him as we enter into His Presence.

"Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts; the incense of your offerings disgusts me! As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath and your special days for fasting- they are all sinful and false. I want no more of your pious meetings. I hate your new moon celebrations and your annual festivals. They are a burden to me. I cannot stand them!" (Isaiah 1:13-14, NLT)

“Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool. If you will only obey me, you will have plenty to eat." (Isaiah 1:18-19, NLT)

______________ 

Fully Alive

Fully alive in Your Spirit,

Lord, make me fully alive.

Fully aware of Your presence, Lord,

Totally, fully alive.

Don't let me miss all the glory around me,

Waiting for heav'n someday to come.

Open my eyes to miraculous Mondays,

And make my feet march to eternity's drum.

Gloria Gaither | William J. Gaither

© 1983 William J. Gaither, Inc. (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing)

CCLI License # 810055

Let’s Make A Deal

Students getting ready for the big test do it. People who get a diagnosis of disease do it.  Men who have slipped and fallen into some sinful situation do it. Addicts do it. Kids who broke the cookie jar do it. What am I talking about?  Praying something like this:  "God if You will get me out of this mess, I promise I'll give You ..."   

When life backs us into a corner, our reaction is predictable.  No matter who we are, where we are from, how educated we are – and yes, no matter how deep and  intimate our walk with God – we will work through stages:  denial, anger, bargaining, depression-  on our way to acceptance.   Bargaining is right there in the middle.  

 As natural as it is to try to make a deal, such an approach to God reveals our humanity and has nothing to do with the reality of Who HE is!   The Lord never desires that we bribe Him.  He is our Father who invites us to ask for what we need. What makes us think we can make a debtor of God anyway? Paul asks, "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?" (Romans 11:35, NIV)

In the book of Judges, a book of history from the time of the birth of ancient Israel, comes this tragic story. It should be a lesson to each one of us about attempting to make a deal with God.  "At that time the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he went throughout the land of Gilead and Manasseh, including Mizpah in Gilead, and from there he led an army against the Ammonites. And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord. He said, "If you give me victory over the Ammonites, I will give to the Lord whatever comes out of my house to meet me when I return in triumph. I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering."

So Jephthah led his army against the Ammonites, and the Lord gave him victory. ... (so far, so good, right?  He prayed and promised God a sacrifice in exchange for victory.)   Should he have done this? Read on.

When Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, his daughter came out to meet him, playing on a tambourine and dancing for joy. She was his one and only child; he had no other sons or daughters. When he saw her, he tore his clothes in anguish.

"Oh, my daughter!" he cried out. "You have completely destroyed me! You’ve brought disaster on me! For I have made a vow to the Lord, and I cannot take it back."
And she said, "Father, if you have made a vow to the Lord, you must do to me what you have vowed, for the Lord has given you a great victory over your enemies, the Ammonites. But first let me do this one thing: Let me go up and roam in the hills and weep with my friends for two months, because I will die a virgin." ... She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never have children. When she returned home, her father kept the vow he had made, and she died a virgin." (Judges 11:26-40, NLT)

Since human sacrifice was forbidden, it is likely that Jephthah did not actually kill his daughter, but rather put her in seclusion for the remainder of her life!  In that time, a woman who did not marry and bear children had no significance, no purpose in life.  So, even if she did not die at Jephthah’s hand, and I do not believe she did,  his ‘deal’ with God still produced a terrible fate for a beautiful young woman.

Are you in a tough spot this Monday morning? 
Is life looking desperate right now?  Don’t be like Jephthath! 

The disciples, in the school of prayer, were taught this:  "Our Father, ... give us today our daily bread.... forgive us... lead us."   Jesus wanted them, and us, to know that like a wonderful Father – the Lord always has what we need, though not all we want. He explains that human fathers, though marred by sin and selfishness, desire to provide for their children.  He says, “Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This is not a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in. If your little boy asks for a serving of fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her with a spider? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing—you’re at least decent to your own children. And don’t you think the Father who conceived you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask him?”

 The Message  Luke  11:10-13

Remember, He acts in accordance with His will and purposes.  Moving to ‘acceptance,’ living through tough times, desperate situations, or terrible pain requires great faith, which – by the way – He will give if we ask for it!  God sometimes says "No," to our request, not because we have not earned a "Yes," but because His plans are different from ours.
So, are you tempted to play “Let’s Make A Deal” with God?

Stop!  Don't insult His grace! Vows made in desperation may have terrible consequences. Promises made to anyone, including God, are to be kept. Better not to make hasty vows than to live with regret. Religion leads us to try to bargain with God. Understanding His grace leads us to love Him and to receive full provision, for every need, from His hand.

Here's a better way to understand your relationship with Him. Read this word from the Word.
" So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe.
This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most." (Hebrews 4:14-16, NLT)

"And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.
By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.
And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him." (Hebrews 10:19-22, NLT)

He desires to provide for you because He loves you. His grace will give you what you could NEVER purchase from Him at any price. So, come with confidence and ask with the heart of a beloved child. Then, trust Him.

___________

Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)

You call me out upon the waters,

The great unknown where feet may fail.

And there I find You in the mystery,

In oceans deep my faith will stand.

And I will call upon Your name!

And keep my eyes above the waves,

When oceans rise,

My soul will rest in Your embrace,

For I am Yours and You are mine!

Your grace abounds in deepest waters,

Your sov'reign hand will be my guide.

Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me,

You've never failed and You won't start now!

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders,

Let me walk upon the waters,

Wherever You would call me.

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander,

And my faith will be made stronger,

In the presence of my Saviour.

I will call upon Your name,

Keep my eyes above the waves.

My soul will rest in Your embrace,

I am Yours and You are mine!

Joel Houston | Matt Crocker | Salomon Ligthelm

© 2012 Hillsong Music Publishing (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing)

CCLI License # 810055