Reading in 1 Peter right now (and, on a side note, finished Ezekiel today. Woo-hoo!). These verses stood out to me in chapter one:
13Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
"Preparing my mind for action". . . Do I do that when I read the Bible? Not as much as I should. It's easy to just read, close the book, and move on into my day. I feel challenged to add to my prayers each day a request for the Lord to show me what action He wants me to take that day. What do I need to obey from the Scripture I just read (which can be tricky when reading in Ezekiel about the dimensions of the temple) OR how can I be ready to love and serve during the daily grind of work and life?
I want Christ's love and grace to be living and active in me, and my part of that is to have a mind prepared for action.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Even Ezekiel
I confess. Sometimes, in the prophetic books, the lineages, and the painstakingly detailed descriptions of the temple, I skim. It's true. Right now I'm reading in Ezekiel, and I have done my share of skimming, but then the Lord used chapter 14 to speak specifically to me:
4Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the LORD will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, 5 that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols.
Idolatry I am familiar with. Painfully familiar, because I have struggled quite a bit with it. But to read and comprehend the idea that I have taken idols into my heart was very sobering, especially when God had His finger on a specific idol. To take something into one's heart is a serious thing. My heart is supposed to be where Jesus dwells, not an idol. Israel got in enough trouble over high places that were nowhere near the temple; how much more serious is an idol in our hearts? But isn't that ultimately what makes an idol? Something that takes up more space in our hearts/minds/time than it should? Something inhabiting the inner workings of our hearts where only God should dwell?
More moving to me was when the Lord told Ezekiel that He wants to "lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel". He describes Israel as being "estranged" from the Lord. "Estranged" is also an emotional word, a family word. The Lord looks on the idols in our hearts and it grieves Him. He wants all of our heart, with no idols between Him and His children.
Most amazing about this Ezekiel passage is that the Lord knew exactly the day I would read it (along with everyone else following my particular "read the Bible in a year plan") and knew the particular circumstances that He was engineering to reveal the particular idol that He was targeting. . . thus showing me that He wants to lay hold not just of Israel's hearts, but of mine.
4Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the LORD will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, 5 that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols.
Idolatry I am familiar with. Painfully familiar, because I have struggled quite a bit with it. But to read and comprehend the idea that I have taken idols into my heart was very sobering, especially when God had His finger on a specific idol. To take something into one's heart is a serious thing. My heart is supposed to be where Jesus dwells, not an idol. Israel got in enough trouble over high places that were nowhere near the temple; how much more serious is an idol in our hearts? But isn't that ultimately what makes an idol? Something that takes up more space in our hearts/minds/time than it should? Something inhabiting the inner workings of our hearts where only God should dwell?
More moving to me was when the Lord told Ezekiel that He wants to "lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel". He describes Israel as being "estranged" from the Lord. "Estranged" is also an emotional word, a family word. The Lord looks on the idols in our hearts and it grieves Him. He wants all of our heart, with no idols between Him and His children.
Most amazing about this Ezekiel passage is that the Lord knew exactly the day I would read it (along with everyone else following my particular "read the Bible in a year plan") and knew the particular circumstances that He was engineering to reveal the particular idol that He was targeting. . . thus showing me that He wants to lay hold not just of Israel's hearts, but of mine.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Loincloth Lessons
Yes, I'm still here, still reading, still listening for the voice of God. I read something in Jeremiah a few weeks ago that I have had stuck in the back of my mind, and, driving home tonight praying and worshipping, I think I see what the Lord is wanting to show me.
The Lord often told His prophets to do some crazy things to be a picture or example to His watching people. In Jeremiah 13: 1-11, the Lord has specific instructions about a loincloth:
The idea that has been pursuing me for the past weeks is the image of the Lord wanting us to be as close to Him as an intimate undergarment. We all desire intimacy, yet we can't "cling" to other people or we will suffocate them. No one can successfully provide perfect, secure relationship at all times. Only the Lord can meet that need. What made verse eleven so important to me, the idea I've been trying to wrap my brain around for these weeks, is that the Lord WANTS us to cling to Him. He DESIRES us to be intimately close to Him, and is humble enough in His glory to use the image of the whole house of Israel (which here, I think, can be a metaphor for us, as well) clinging to Him like a loincloth.
Yet I still doubt His intent toward me, and during my drive I repented of that and prayed that He would help me cling to Him that closely. How amazing that, thousands of years later, the obedience of Jeremiah and the Word of the Lord is still used to touch my hard human heart.
The Lord often told His prophets to do some crazy things to be a picture or example to His watching people. In Jeremiah 13: 1-11, the Lord has specific instructions about a loincloth:
1Thus says the LORD to me, "Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it around your waist, and do not dip it in water." 2So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the LORD, and put it around my waist. 3And the word of the LORD came to me a second time, 4"Take the loincloth that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a cleft of the rock." 5So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me. 6And after many days the LORD said to me, "Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there." 7Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the loincloth was spoiled; it was good for nothing.
8Then the word of the LORD came to me: 9"Thus says the LORD: Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing. 11For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the LORD, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.
The idea that has been pursuing me for the past weeks is the image of the Lord wanting us to be as close to Him as an intimate undergarment. We all desire intimacy, yet we can't "cling" to other people or we will suffocate them. No one can successfully provide perfect, secure relationship at all times. Only the Lord can meet that need. What made verse eleven so important to me, the idea I've been trying to wrap my brain around for these weeks, is that the Lord WANTS us to cling to Him. He DESIRES us to be intimately close to Him, and is humble enough in His glory to use the image of the whole house of Israel (which here, I think, can be a metaphor for us, as well) clinging to Him like a loincloth.
Yet I still doubt His intent toward me, and during my drive I repented of that and prayed that He would help me cling to Him that closely. How amazing that, thousands of years later, the obedience of Jeremiah and the Word of the Lord is still used to touch my hard human heart.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Gifts from God
Today is my birthday, and I smiled after my quiet time this morning because the Lord knows me so well. First He gave me a happy present from Psalm 71, verse three (the first half):
Be to me a rock of refuge,
to which I may continually come. . .
The word that I liked and that made me smile was "continually". I sometimes feel that I am running back to the Lord with the same problems/feelings over and over and over. And I am. But that's okay, because now I have express permission to "continually" come.
Secondly, the Lord gave me a "whack" with Proverbs 29:11:
A fool gives full vent to [her] spirit,
but a wise [woman] quietly holds it back
Over the weekend I had some moments of giving full vent to my spirit which ended up in conflict and hurt and . . .yuck. God just gave me my next memory verse. Somehow correction straight from the Holy Spirit is the easiest to receive.
So, thank you to the Lord for BOTH of my birthday presents, both the happy and the hard.
Be to me a rock of refuge,
to which I may continually come. . .
The word that I liked and that made me smile was "continually". I sometimes feel that I am running back to the Lord with the same problems/feelings over and over and over. And I am. But that's okay, because now I have express permission to "continually" come.
Secondly, the Lord gave me a "whack" with Proverbs 29:11:
A fool gives full vent to [her] spirit,
but a wise [woman] quietly holds it back
Over the weekend I had some moments of giving full vent to my spirit which ended up in conflict and hurt and . . .yuck. God just gave me my next memory verse. Somehow correction straight from the Holy Spirit is the easiest to receive.
So, thank you to the Lord for BOTH of my birthday presents, both the happy and the hard.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
It Rests on God
Reading through Psalm 62 this morning, and I am grateful for a God Who knows exactly what I need to hear and when I need to hear it. Verses 5-7:
For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
It's so easy to put our hope in something or someone other than the Lord: Success, money, security, growth, friends, family, relationships. But my only true hope is in God. He is my security and my safe place.
I also find great comfort that my salvation and my glory rest on God, and not on me. Not on my faith or my works or my obedience, but on God. This morning is a time when I know without at doubt that my only glory comes from God and it not from me, and I am grateful that He is the one in charge. I don't have to be strong or know what I am doing--He has it covered!
For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
It's so easy to put our hope in something or someone other than the Lord: Success, money, security, growth, friends, family, relationships. But my only true hope is in God. He is my security and my safe place.
I also find great comfort that my salvation and my glory rest on God, and not on me. Not on my faith or my works or my obedience, but on God. This morning is a time when I know without at doubt that my only glory comes from God and it not from me, and I am grateful that He is the one in charge. I don't have to be strong or know what I am doing--He has it covered!
Monday, September 6, 2010
Waiting PATIENTLY
The title of this blog continues to haunt me. . . I am discovering these days that there is a difference between waiting and waiting patiently. Maybe at the beginning of the process, there is virtue simply in the waiting, but now, when I have been waiting for some things for a very long time, it seems that more is required. I'm reading a really good book right now by Priscilla Shirer, called "One in a Million", which is about the Israelites and their wilderness experience, and about how we should handle our own wilderness experience.
The Israelites have lots of trouble with complaining. So do I. From p. 115 in "One in a Million":
Me waiting on God and complaining the whole time about how hard it is and how I hate to wait is negating any value whatsoever in the actual waiting. As much as I hate to wait (and, yes, I really do), I hate more that I may be undoing any witness or any character growth that the Lord might hope to do through me or in me because I am choosing not to wait quietly or patiently. If I must wait, I at least would like it to be for a purpose and to God's glory.
I read in Psalm 50:14-15 today words which dovetail nicely with these thoughts:
"Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and perform your vows to the Most High,
and call upon me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."
When I am tempted to complain or whine, I need to offer thanksgiving instead--which is the sacrifice part. I don't FEEL like giving thanks, but that is when I need to choose to thank the Lord for His love and His presence in my life, and to call out to Him rather than to whine to everyone else.
And I think everyone else might be kind of happy about this plan as well!
The Israelites have lots of trouble with complaining. So do I. From p. 115 in "One in a Million":
The spirit of complaint is born out of an unwillingness to trust God with today. Like the Israelites, it means that you are spending your time looking back toward Egypt or wishing for the future, all the while missing what God is doing right now. . . It takes what God is doing in your life and smashes it into a thousand wasted pieces.
Me waiting on God and complaining the whole time about how hard it is and how I hate to wait is negating any value whatsoever in the actual waiting. As much as I hate to wait (and, yes, I really do), I hate more that I may be undoing any witness or any character growth that the Lord might hope to do through me or in me because I am choosing not to wait quietly or patiently. If I must wait, I at least would like it to be for a purpose and to God's glory.
I read in Psalm 50:14-15 today words which dovetail nicely with these thoughts:
"Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and perform your vows to the Most High,
and call upon me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."
When I am tempted to complain or whine, I need to offer thanksgiving instead--which is the sacrifice part. I don't FEEL like giving thanks, but that is when I need to choose to thank the Lord for His love and His presence in my life, and to call out to Him rather than to whine to everyone else.
And I think everyone else might be kind of happy about this plan as well!
Monday, August 16, 2010
Kind Consequences
I tend to be a rule-follower. I like to do things "right", especially when it comes to God. That motivation is not altogether wrong, but I am often trying to get it right so that I can make God love me more (I can't) or so I don't make Him angry with me.
Yesterday, through my sin, God showed me more of His character. I was wanting to do something (that was not in and of itself wrong or sin) and God very clearly told me to wait. I was good with this for the first day, the second day, and almost the third day, but then I decided that surely He didn't mean wait SO long (3 whole days!), so I would just help the matter out a little bit. Oops. This part of the story is when my human nature would write in about how horrible and awful things happened because I disobeyed what the Lord told me to do.
God wrote a different story. I got my way and did what I wanted and. . . the end result wasn't what I had hoped. Nothing bad happened, but I didn't get the good I was seeking. Then the Lord very gently pointed out to me that I did not meet the need that I had, and that I would be much happier and it would be so much better if I waited for Him to work instead of pushing ahead. There were no thunder claps or lightning strikes, just His gentle reminder that He wants what's best for me.
My heart was touched that the Lord knew just what would speak to me the most. I deserved Him to holler at me and be mad, because I ignored what He said to me. However, I felt like He knew my frame and my heart and knew that I needed to recognize that His correction is not always severe, but often (always?) laced in mercy.
Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? (Romans 2:4)
May I never presume upon God's kindness, but may I remain thankful to have experienced His kindness that leads to repentance. I'm back to waiting mode. . .
Yesterday, through my sin, God showed me more of His character. I was wanting to do something (that was not in and of itself wrong or sin) and God very clearly told me to wait. I was good with this for the first day, the second day, and almost the third day, but then I decided that surely He didn't mean wait SO long (3 whole days!), so I would just help the matter out a little bit. Oops. This part of the story is when my human nature would write in about how horrible and awful things happened because I disobeyed what the Lord told me to do.
God wrote a different story. I got my way and did what I wanted and. . . the end result wasn't what I had hoped. Nothing bad happened, but I didn't get the good I was seeking. Then the Lord very gently pointed out to me that I did not meet the need that I had, and that I would be much happier and it would be so much better if I waited for Him to work instead of pushing ahead. There were no thunder claps or lightning strikes, just His gentle reminder that He wants what's best for me.
My heart was touched that the Lord knew just what would speak to me the most. I deserved Him to holler at me and be mad, because I ignored what He said to me. However, I felt like He knew my frame and my heart and knew that I needed to recognize that His correction is not always severe, but often (always?) laced in mercy.
Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? (Romans 2:4)
May I never presume upon God's kindness, but may I remain thankful to have experienced His kindness that leads to repentance. I'm back to waiting mode. . .
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