His ways, my ways

"He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel". Ps 103:7 
Moses walked with God in a level of intimacy that the Israelites didn't know. They were witnesses to His work and His miracles in their lives, but Moses had the privilege to know not just His work, but His character in a way that they were not privy to.

The interesting thing is that this commentary comes from David. He drew the distinction between knowing God by His acts, versus by His character. Elsewhere in Psalm 25, we find him praying that he too would have the privilege of knowing God in the way that Moses did:

"Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths" (vs 4).

 He gives us the qualifications for daring to think that we might have the opportunity to know His ways: 

"Good and upright is the Lord, therefore He instructs sinners in His ways. He guides the humble in what is right, and teaches them His way." (vs 8-9)

It wasn't therefore because there was anything special or unique about Moses that God gave him the right to know Him intimately and personally:

"The Lord confides in those who fear Him" (vs 14)

Lastly, Job 23:10 gives us the strong assurance that not only are we invited to know His ways, but that He knows ours:

"I know the way that you take, and when I have tried you, you shall come forth as pure gold".

It is comfort indeed to know that we are invited, as humble sinners, to ask God to show us His ways, and know Him, while resting in the knowledge that He knows us, and all that we face. He is "intimately acquainted with all our ways" Psalm 139:3

Increasing and abounding in love

"May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you" 

I Thess 3:12

There's a 'recovering Pharisee' spirit in all of us that wants to read this verse as another item on the 'to-do' list of a Christian life that depends on me proving my love for God by doing what good Christians do. Come on Helen, pick it up - stop being so selfish and start being more loving. My reading of this verse would begin at "increase and abound in love for one another" etc. I was sure to fail... how much increase is enough? How much love is abounding?

The Gospel lens, which I have to intentionally put on, instead unleashes joy and relief at the thought that the Lord Himself is the source of our love for one another, and for all. He knows we don't love selflessly enough, or wisely enough, or dependably enough, and doesn't reproach us any more for our failure. He looks on us with only kindness and acceptance, because Jesus has loved perfectly selflessly, wisely and dependably, and attributes that record to us.

So from a position of acceptance, we are free to love, but not to win or keep God's approval. We love, because of, and with the love with which He first loved us.

God is Love, and Exodus 34:6 is the revelation to Moses of His character and nature:

"The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands..". 

He abounds in love, and has given us His own nature, producing this love in us in 'increasing abundance'.

The widow in Elijah's day who willingly poured the last of her oil, is a great picture of all that God asks of us. Trust His character, be willing to give the little that we have in love, and He will overflow through us in an unending supply. 

When experience doesn't match expectations

When Experience doesn't match Expectations....
                                 ....or "Adventures in Anniversary Hiking".

Steve Saint, the son of the intrepid Nate Saint, who along with Jim Elliott was martyred for the sake of the gospel being spread to the Waodani tribe of Ecuador, once memorably stated this:

The definition of suffering is when our experience doesn't match our expectations. Interestingly, this is also the definition of blessing.

I have always found this to be a helpful thought to bring perspective to the ups and downs of life. This story is offered as an allegory of this, with tongue firmly in cheek.

Last weekend Jack and I went to beautiful Asheville, NC to celebrate our 31st anniversary. We love to hike, and I had been training avidly , by walking at least 3 miles every other day the week prior, to make sure I was in top shape.

The day we arrived, we decided to fit in a quick warm-up hike, and after some discussion with the help desk at the hotel, settled on a "2.8 mile easy" hike off the Blue Ridge Parkway. We spotted the 355 mile marker on the side of the road, parked the car and set off scrambling along a narrow path down the mountain. About 45 minutes, 2.5 miles in, it occurred to us that we had probably been going for a good while, and further, what goes down, must inevitably come up. Puzzled, yet undaunted, we forged on, believing in the integrity of our directions. Surely there must be something we hadn't thought of, and soon it would all become clear. Plus, neither of us particular relished the thought of scrambling back up said 2.8 mile trail, not to mention that daylight hours were waning, and who wanted to get stuck on a mountain in the dark. This hike was definitely not meeting our expectations.

As we approached the hour mark, we landed at the bottom of the mountain, cheerful spirits mostly intact, and even managed the requisite pictures on the stone bridge by the babbling brook. Our smiles actually masked the sense of rising panic, as we reviewed our options, none of which at that point were particularly optimistic. There was an unmade gravel road that was generally heading in an upward direction, and seemed more palatable than booking it back up the mountain path, so we set off, despite the fact that there were no further yellow markings on the trees, like those that had marked our way for the previous hour.

After a few minutes, I asked the Lord if He would be so kind as to send us someone who could confirm that we were on the right track, and not in fact getting ourselves deeper in. To be honest, with every step, I was convinced we were doing just that, and that we would have to retrace all of them, and then career frantically up the mountainous trail in the remaining daylight. At that very moment, a car approached and we were able to confirm that this road did lead back to the Parkway. Spirits buoyed, we switchbacked up a couple more times and sure enough, gained the road, now about two hours into our easy hike. We had kept our sense of humor and laughed most of the way at our grand adventure. Turning right, we headed back to the car.

Within a minute or two, we were heartened to spot a mile marker, which would tell us just how far we had to go to get back to the car. "How far could it be?" we thought, optimistically, "We're on foot, we couldn't have gone that far." MM352. "SAY WHAT?!" We were 3 miles from our car. Bursting out laughing, because it beat the alternative, we assured each other gamely,  "hey, that's once around the lake from our house - we do that every day." The rest of the way back to the car was uphill, increasing steadily in grade as we went.  We were now fighting a losing battle with the impending darkness, and so we struck a frantic pace. "At least it's not raining," I noted, ever the optimist. At that literal moment the heavens opened and it began pouring. Five minutes later, having walked along in soggy silence, I managed: "Sorry about the rain", knowing full well that it was completely my fault, and why hadn't I just kept my mouth shut.

After 2 miles, I was done, and I stopped at MM 354 while my gallant husband went to retrieve the car and come back to rescue me. I made the most of my 15 minute wait picking an assortment of colorful wildflowers beside the road, and we brought them back to the hotel as a grateful memento of our adventure. After hot baths and a delightful evening at a downtown outdoor restaurant, we toasted to each other, and to the cheering realization that, after 31 years, we were not too old to have adventures.

This hike did not match any of our expectations, and as we look back on our 31-year adventure, there isn't much about our life that has. Thank God. He has been steadfastly with us through all the easy downs, the strenous ups, the switchbacks and the slow and steady; rain and shine, sunshine or dark, He has been our light and our guide. We are immensely blessed.

God with us

Today is December 1st, and now that Tigger has finished celebrating Thanksgiving, our thoughts turn to Christmas. My note of Thanksgiving this year round the table provided the perfect segue for those not too particular about keeping our observances separate. I am so grateful for the many Scriptures that remind us of the fact that, no matter what we face, God is with us. And that’s not just words. When He tells us “I AM with you”, it comes with all the weight of the burning bush encounter. I AM with you, in My all-sufficiency, waiting to be called on and tapped into for whatever you need.

II Tim 4:17 “But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it.” The Lord stands by and WITH US, strengthening us in all circumstances, so that the message of the Gospel can be fully displayed to an unaware and sometimes an unbelieving world. Our lives are, for many, the only book they will ever read with the gospel story on view. This brings such purpose to the ups and downs of life. But don’t worry, this doesn’t put pressure on us to perform, because in the most gloriously ungrammatical way, I AM is with us, stands by us and strengthens us.

Emmanuel, God with us.

The 5 P's of Discipline and Suffering

Reaching for words to comfort our girls facing really tough times far far away, Jack and I came up with the 5 P’s of suffering. The Scriptures speak for themselves:

• Suffering is not Permanent: trials come and go, even though when we are in the middle of them, it feels like they mostly just come. “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, …. Later on, however…” Heb 12:11 promises there will be a later on..when these tough times are behind us. “Blessed is the one you discipline, LORD, .. you grant them relief from days of trouble.” Psalm 94:12
• Suffering is Painful: “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful”. Heb 12:11 ”Unless the LORD had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death”. Psalm 94:17
• Suffering is Purposeful: “but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness”. Heb 12:10 and “when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold”. Job 23:10
• Suffering Produces fruit: “every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, so that it will be even more fruitful”. John 15:2, and ”discipline produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it”.
• Suffering brings Jesus Praise: “These trials have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed”. I Peter 1:7

Horses, roses, and tomato plants

Discipline has always carried the connotation for me of corrective action; an unpleasant consequence of bad behavior. For this reason, I don’t feel that I have been able to embrace much of the Scripture that speaks of this issue, without cringing.

I have recently, however, come to understand the purpose and reason for discipline in the context of training horses to the bridle and bit. Though they fight it, and resist the loss of their independence, the reality is that they reach their greatest purpose in life when yoked to the will of their rider. In the same way, my beautiful roses will bloom best when I am vigilant about pruning and training them. I don’t cut them back because I am upset with them. No, I love them: their explosion of color and form, and I know that pruning will only cause them to bloom brighter and fuller in the way that they were created to.

I have a long-running mutual disrespect for my tomato plants however. After years of being spindly, unyielding, ungrateful, wimpy-looking things, this year, they finally grew to enormous heights, with promise of a bountiful harvest. Of course I couldn’t bring myself to cut back the healthy-looking shoots – I had waited years for this kind of success. Just as the first tomatoes were ready to ripen, a strong wind blew the whole thing down, hiding the ripening fruit where the sun could no longer reach it, and limiting the amount of nutrition the plant was able to obtain….something to do with photosynthesis, I think.

So all of this helped me finally to a new understanding of the importance of pruning. John 15:2 says, “Every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit”. This is a good thing, a compliment even, despite the fact that branches don’t necessarily relish the pruning process. Deuteronomy 8 adds this perspective: “Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD”. Somehow it helps so much just to know that pruning and discpline is for a purpose – for greater fruit, and ultimately, to enrich our delight in Jesus, and our joy in Him as the One who alone can satisfy our deepest needs and longings.

So now, instead of shunning them, I cherish the comfort of these verses in Hebrews 12, ”For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

How do we know when God is pruning and disciplining us? My answer to this is that pain, and the sense of being squeezed is usually a good indication. What is the “one thing” that if you could remove from your life, would make you so much happier? Chances are good that that very thing is God’s means of discipline and pruning in your life.

So, 2 things – first, don’t miss the point by underestimating what your circumstances mean: “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,”, and second, don’t be discouraged,“nor be weary when reproved by him”. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

Be glad that God views you as fruit-bearing, and loves you enough to use your present circumstances to create in you the potential for greater productivity. At the same time, He loves you enough to squeeze your heart until all the things that masquerade as soul-pleasers are exposed, and we come to know Jesus in greater ways as our only source of satisfaction and delight.

Needy much?

30 years of marriage, 28 years of raising 7 kids, 10 years’ work experience – I’m starting to get this down……not so much. I have honestly never felt more insufficient or inadequate for the task at hand.. and that’s not my British self-deprecation speaking. Whether it’s dong my job with integrity and grace as unto the Lord, providing counsel and balance to my grown girls (most of the time they aren’t looking for it, probably), or being a good wife and friend, by which I mean simply being intentional and unselfish – I’m just not feeling up to it. Looking back, I see that God has been bringing me gently and painfully to this realization. It isn’t an admission of failure as much as it is a statement of fact. I really am not up to the task, it’s not just a feeling.

I was stunned this morning by these verses in Proverbs 9 (it’s the 9th of June).

“Let all who are simple come to my house!”
To those who have no sense she says, “Come, eat my food
and drink the wine I have mixed.
Leave your simple ways and you will live;
walk in the way of insight.”

An unqualified invitation – the only requirement is that you realize your ‘simpleness’, your inadequacy. If we come with full hands, we have nothing with which to take the food and wine that has been prepared for us. Empty-handed, we can avail ourselves of it all.

Remind you of this?

“Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost. “ Isaiah 55:1

Or this?

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” James 1:5

We live as though we were orphans (thanks, Jack Miller), when in fact, we have been adopted by the Source of every living thing, and He has made all of it available to us for the asking. Come, thirsty ones, ask, buy, eat, drink!