advent day 24 – waiting

Can you imagine it? Waiting for years—never leaving this place of worship. Always looking. Always waiting.

 

Would today be the day?

Would he come this afternoon?

How will I know when it is him?

Will he come?

Today?

 

 

Simeon and Anna—they show great faithfulness. They inspire us with patience that has no regard for impressions or reputation or conventional wisdom. They wait because they believe. They know that God will come—that he has promised to come. And they will not be found elsewhere. They will not miss him.

 

They seek him and set all else aside so they might find him.

 

As we come closer to the day of celebration; as we anticipate the birthday of our Savior we know that world picks up its pace. Lists of to-do’s are getting longer, schedules are getting fuller, demands are growing louder. Will we make room to wait? Will we be caught running and doing and fretting? Or will we be found waiting? Looking? Ready for the day of celebration.

 

This week we celebrate the coming of God With Us. Don’t miss it for all the busyness that offers to sweep you away. Be still and know that God is God—and that God is here.

  

Day Twenty-Four Reading: Luke 2:22-38

 

As you read about Simeon and Anna consider their examples. What kind of prominence do you give in your own life to opportunities to proclaim Christ?

 

What would it look like for you to “wait” for Christ to be revealed so that you may proclaim him?

 

Prayer—Father may we be attentive and watchful for you each day, that we might draw others attention to you.

 

advent day 9 – waiting and waiting

We wait just like God’s people before us. We wait, wanting and anticipating the day. We wait, looking and hoping and longing for his coming.

 

Sometimes God is silent. Times when we need to look back; need to remember the words already said. For whatever reason, in these times God gives no new words. So we need to remember the promises given, the hope guaranteed. Because sometimes God is silent, just as he was for hundreds of years after giving Malachi words.

 

Silent. The people left wondering and waiting.

 

And so we wait. Looking forward and wanting the day to be now. Wanting Jesus to be here. We wait to celebrate that he has come and in the meantime are reminded that again we wait for his coming; the final and restoring arrival. We celebrate and we wait still.

 

As we wait for to worship the gift of his coming so many years ago, may we have hearts stirred by those who waited in years of silence, wondering when the blessed Messiah would come. And may we learn from them, learn to wait well for his return even as we revel in his first arrival.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

 

Day Nine Reading: Malachi 4:1-6

 

These are the final words God speaks before 400 years of silence. When God speaks again he speaks of the birth of Jesus. He speaks of the Sun of Righteousness coming with healing in his wings. How have you experienced Jesus’ healing in your own life?

 

Consider the differences in your own life between when God is speaking and acting and when it feels that he is silent. Do you believe differently in these times?

 

Prayer—Father, you have shown yourself to be true, that when you say you are coming, you indeed are coming. Help us to remember that when it feels that you have fallen silent. Help us to believe and trust in you.

 

the roundabout way

 

Do you ever look back on the journey of your life, at the ways in which you got where you are today and just wonder: How did I get here from there? For most—if not all of us—our life hasn’t consisted in a straight line trajectory of point A to point B and then on to point C. Sometimes my adult life has felt more like I started at point Q and the proceeded to point F only to then move on to point W. And next? Probably point B. When I look at where I have been, where I am now, and where I could go, it certainly doesn’t seem that this journey has been decided by efficiency. At times it’s seemed like little more than going in circles.

 

This is just the way of God. He takes us, not by the fastest or shortest way, but instead he takes us the best way. Best meaning what meets our needs, what shapes us where we need shaping; the way that teaches us and pummels us when necessary. He takes us by the way of abundant living not easy living. 

 

God loves to take the roundabout way.

 

When Pharaoh finally let the people go, God did not lead them along the main road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest route to the Promised Land. God said, “If the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led them in a roundabout way through the wilderness toward the Red Sea. Thus the Israelites left Egypt like an army ready for battle.            Exodus 13:17-18

 

This roundabout way is scenic at first. It’s nice to feel like we aren’t racing to get there (wherever “there” is), but are just moving along, enjoying the journey. But our nature leans towards impatience and soon this becomes frustrating. We just want to be there already!

 

It’s easy to get angry and agitated with God. To wonder why everything we want—and especially the things we think he wants for us—take so long to get here. If this is what God wants for me then why doesn’t he just make it happen?!

 

Because God knows what we need.

 

Do you honestly think that God wanted to take the Israelites the long way around? These were not the best road trip companions! Do you really think God wanted them to go through all the waywardness and major mistakes they were about to experience in their long and seemingly unending journey through the desert? Of course not. But this is what they needed. They need it here at the outset, and they need the trip extended later when they get their first chance to enter the promised land.

 

God is not in the business of giving us what we will like. He gives us what we need. Because God loves us too much to give us only what makes the temporary fun. He is in the business of the eternal.

 

The eternal has time for us to take the roundabout way.

 

eternal

“What if they want to know who you are? What if they want to know who is sending me?”

 

These seem like good questions. Moses isn’t being unreasonable here (Exodus 3:13). He is just thinking ahead. What should he say if he goes to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt and is challenged about who this God is? And so he asks and God responds with that famous and somewhat enigmatic name: I Am. Or in some translations, “I Am who I Am.”

 

God is saying, among other things that he is God of the now. He isn’t bound by time. He isn’t the God who was. He is now, where we are, when we are. He is God of every day and every time. God of every moment.

This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations.       Exodus 3:15

 

God is eternal. I don’t think I fully appreciate what that means. I want to, but it’s so other than everything I am familiar with. There is no context in my life for something with no beginning; something that will have no end or completion point. Everything I know and relate to wasn’t at some point…and then it was. Everything I know of will eventually pass away and become a “was” and a memory.

 

Except God. He is. He always is. A thousand years ago God is. A million years from now God is. This makes my brain hurt. God is not simply bigger than this moment I am living in. He is bigger than all moments, bigger than time. He is, no matter when. He always is.

 

God is eternal and if ever there was a thing about God that made him bigger and beyond us it is this. We are so confined by time and place and the present. We are so temporary and so now. God transcends it all. And perhaps the most amazing thing of all is that one day, at some moment in time we will be yanked out of time as well. We will exist in the eternal where God is. A where that isn’t really anywhere, but is everywhere.

 

It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.            1 Corinthians 15:52-53

 

It seems odd to wait in time for a moment in that time where time will be stripped away. And yet I wait. Anxiously wondering when forever will finally arrive. Why is it so slow in coming? Why does the eternal take so long to start?

 

In the meantime I will wait and wonder at the eternal God who makes the way out of time possible. His name is eternal because he is eternal. He is the God of every moment and he is not swayed or changed by the passing of time. Trying to comprehend this makes my head and my heart soar.

 

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.    Hebrews 13:8

 

the wild boring desert

I was ready to move on, ready to go into chapter 3 of Exodus and the amazing interaction between God and Moses. I was looking ahead at the burning bush and all my questions surrounding it. I almost missed this at the end of chapter two. And I was tempted to just move on anyway. Like I said, I wanted to get to the burning bush. But what’s happening here seems so important on many of levels. We should stop and consider it.

 

Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become an alien in a foreign land.”  Exodus 2:21-22

 

Here we see Moses getting married to one of the sheep herder’s daughters whom he rescued upon arriving in Midian. He then has a son. So Moses is no longer running but now settling down in his exile. He is no longer fleeing but just living, albeit in a place not his own. And in naming his son he exposes the raw feelings that come with this fact. He names his son Gershom which sounds like or refers to his statement, “I have become an alien in a foreign land.”

 

Moses is out of place and he knows it. He feels it. The full weight, the full price of his secret actions and subsequent hiding of those actions is starting to be felt. He is away from home, away from his family, away from his culture, away from everything he knew. He is alone. Or so he thinks.

 

I’ve been there. More times than I wish were true. Feeling out of place. Looking around and just wondering, “How did I get here?!” Wishing I could go back in time and undo the decisions that got me where I am. Sometimes regret is the deepest sorrow.

 

Moses is about to spend forty years of his life in this alien state. Forty years lost in the desert. Sounds like a familiar theme for him doesn’t it? Forty years lost in the wilderness so that he can then lead the Israelites through their forty years in the wilderness. And that’s just it. Moses feels like an alien in a foreign land and in some sense he needs to feel that. That’s what those he’s coming to rescue are living in, that’s what they are feeling.

 

Sometimes I’ve wondered why the book of Exodus tells us nothing more of these forty years in the desert wilderness of Midian. It just breezes over it. We get this glimpse and then the next chapter is him being called out. Why don’t we get any other details?

 

Probably because there weren’t any. There is nothing to tell. It was forty years, sitting, waiting, living. Forty years in the wilderness feeling what those he would come to rescue were feeling, forty years that were the result of his decision to act in secret, hide his actions, and then run away. Forty years to regret his actions and repent and become. Forty years of shaping. It isn’t that nothing actually happened, but that nothing happened to tell us about. It was an internal journey for Moses. What’s important for us to see is who he was going in: the alien in a foreign land, and who is coming out: the reluctant rescuer.

 

Moses spends forty years waiting and preparing to do what God had called him to do from birth. Forty years after growing up into a man. For God the journey is far more valuable than the destination. Getting Moses ready is worth as much time as what he is being made ready for.

 

And this is what I’m struck with today. This is what I’m hesitant to receive. I don’t want this truth, but it wants me. God wants me to have it. I would rather let it fall, let it drop to the ground and go searching for something different. But this is to be mine today.

 

I tend to want to look to the next thing, to get ready, to move forward. I tend to focus on where God would be calling me and what he would be calling me to. Sometimes God has us in the wilderness and we assume that we can and maybe should pray ourselves out of it. But sometimes that’s right where God wants us.

 

There are times when God wants us in the wild and boring desert. And yes, he knows it’s taking a long time. But to him it’s worth it. To him it’s all part of the path he has us on.

 

hey jude – part 1

Jude is a tiny, obscure book towards the end of the New Testament (I think most people actually forget it’s there at all). The topics it speaks of only add to its oddity—at least for me. Jude speaks of Balaam’s error and Korah’s rebellion, both of which require some deep Old Testament comprehension to stay on track with. And there’s some enigmatic argument between Michael the archangel and the devil about the dead body of Moses…I don’t know.

 

But Jude is a book containing words from God, just like all books of the Bible, so it has truth and value for us as well. Interestingly, it also holds some things in common with the Beatles hit song after the same name…but more on that in tomorrow’s post. For today, hear these words found in the middle of all the odd references and strange statements. There are some deep and significant words here; words of guidance and encouragement for followers of Christ.

 

Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear–hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.             Jude 1:21-23

 

Keep yourselves in God’s love; that statement alone is probably enough to contemplate for today.

 

I don’t think I’ve ever—or at least not often—thought of it in this way. Keep yourselves in God’s love. At first read the statement almost seems like an unnecessary one. Why wouldn’t we keep ourselves in God’s love?! But the truth is we forget to stay there. We wander off to the listen to the world’s expectations. We drift over to the ways of earning approval and proving value. And we forget.

 

We forget there is a love that is reserved for us and requires nothing but a simple receiving of it. We forget that it’s a no-strings-attached, unconditional kind of love that will revolutionize our way of living and thinking and seeing the world. We are so prone to forget and to wander.

 

So the writer of Jude reminds us: Keep yourselves in God’s love. Don’t go through another day without thinking on the reality of a Creator who passionately loves you. Don’t stumble through another series of worries and frets over things you can’t control without falling on the one who will love you though it all. The one whose love makes all the worries seem small and inconsequential in comparison.

 

Could there be any reasonable reason why we would go through one single day without reveling in the truth we have come to know? The truth is that God loves us with a reckless, untamed love. How is it that we forget that?

 

Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

 

The writer finishes that sentence with a reminder of what we are waiting for; what we need the love for. We are waiting for eternal life. We are waiting for Jesus to bring it to fullness in us; to draw us into the never-ending full life. As we wait we’ve been given a glimpse of the eternal that awaits us. We’ve been brought into the love God. Why not stay there?

 

No one likes to wait. And some days, waiting for Jesus to come again seems intolerable. Why won’t he just come? Why won’t he restore it all and make everything right again? Why does he make us wait? But as we wait, we have the love. Let’s stay in it. Why make this waiting any harder than it is?

 

why do you stand here?

This past Thursday marked the day of the Ascension—the day our resurrected Jesus rose up before his disciples, into the air, and ascended to the Father. Some observe and celebrate the Ascension on Thursday, some on the following Sunday. On Thursday we considered the words of Jesus declaring that he was going to prepare a place for us. Today we see the recorded event of the Ascension.

So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”         Acts 1:6-11

It seems the disciples—even before Jesus left—were as anxious as we are for Jesus to return and restore all things. He hasn’t even left yet and they are already asking him if now if the time for him to restore the kingdom. Sometimes Jesus must look on us like little kids persistently asking, “Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”

 

I try to imagine what it would have been like to be there on that day. It must have been awesome to witness this, it must have been inspiring. It must also have been a little confusing. Here is Jesus declaring that significant things are about to happen. He is telling the disciples that they are going to play a critical role in sharing about him with others. And he’s talking about power—they will receive power. And then he is taken up. He starts to levitate, and then to rise, and rise and rise…and then he is gone, hidden behind the clouds. It’s hard to fathom the awe and terror they must have been feeling.

 

And then two angels appear and speak with them. Well I assume they were angels—it just says two men in white, but I feel pretty safe with that assumption! These angels appear and ask a question. A very important question.

 

Why are you standing here staring into the sky?

 

The implications are simple—and convicting. The disciples have seen great and amazing things in this resurrected Savior. Now he has given them great and awesome hope. A promise of power. And a directive to be witnesses.

 

And yet they stand…staring.

 

How often, I wonder, does the Spirit of God whisper to us, “Why are you standing there? Why are you just staring into your Bible instead of living it out? Why are you just watching those in need? Why do you just sit by while people struggle? Why do you just wait for Jesus to return and do nothing in the mean time?”

 

This interaction of the angels to the disciples is kind of a wake up call. A reminder. What are you looking at, you have work to do!

 

For the disciples the “work” was pretty simple. Go to Jerusalem and wait for the power; wait for the Spirit. But they were distracted by the what they had seen and they weren’t moving. I think sometimes our inaction is the same. True, at times we don’t act out of laziness or ignorance or a lack of compassion. But some times we are just distracted or overwhelmed. And we need these reminders.

 

The angels also add a reminder that this same Jesus who left will return, and in the same way he left. It’s kind of a reassurance. They won’t miss him if they stop looking and get to doing. They don’t need to try to cling to the last moment, they have new moments that wait. And they can’t bring him back sooner by just waiting.

 

May the remembrance of the Ascension remind us that yes, Jesus will return. But also that in the mean time we have things to do. We have been called to be his ambassadors, his hands and feet to the world. Let us not just stand here staring, whether we are staring into the sky, into the Word, or into the world. Let us be about witnessing, receiving power, and serving until he returns!

earth day

The earth is the Lord ’s, and everything in it…          Psalm 24:1

 

Today is Earth Day. A day when people encourage us to make the earth a bigger priority; to care for it better. Some Christians seem to have a hard time with this, or somehow feel torn. As if caring for the earth is betraying our call to be sharers of the Gospel.

Maybe it’s because so many seem to have gone overboard in prioritizing caring for the earth above caring for its citizens. Or maybe it’s because we’ve been taught to shun anything the world thinks is a good idea. In truth, we shouldn’t feel this tension. If anything, Earth Day is right in line with the Gospel of Jesus. It confirms our faith that this earth needs our help and care.

 

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.                    Genesis 2:15

 

Earth Day—it was God’s idea from the beginning. He expects us to care for it; wants us to help and watch over this creation. It was the original job, the first responsibility. Adam named the animals as he accepted, on all our behalf, this task of tending to the creation.

The very fact that the world is in trouble, that it is not working as it should is God’s truth, not the world’s. We try to explain it away with talk of global warming or littering, or too much energy consumption. The reality is much deeper and darker—even if those surface issues are true. The dark reality is that the world does struggle, and it is because of us. Because of our sin.

The creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.         Romans 8:19-22

So today, lets own up to our responsibility—given by God, not men. Let’s care for the Earth the way God designed when he and Adam first met. And let’s rejoice in the reality that the earth declares the glories of God. That while it struggles—while it waits for Jesus to set all things right—it still reveals him, still proclaims God.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.         Romans 1:20

 

Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.     Acts 14:17

 

 The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;
where morning dawns, where evening fades,
you call forth songs of joy.

You care for the land and water it;
you enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
to provide the people with grain,
for so you have ordained it.

You drench its furrows and level its ridges;
you soften it with showers and bless its crops.

You crown the year with your bounty,
and your carts overflow with abundance.

The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;
the hills are clothed with gladness.

The meadows are covered with flocks
and the valleys are mantled with grain;
they shout for joy and sing.

Psalm 65:8-13

little by little

Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.   Exodus 23:30

 

We are such an impatient society. We want everything now, or better yet, we want it yesterday! It’s one of the negative side effects of fast food restaurants, digital downloads, and credit. We have been led to believe that if something is worth having, it’s worth having fast. Nothing is worth waiting for these days.If we want it now we can have it now. Even if having it now costs more in the long run.

We don’t wait well. We don’t pause much. We don’t breath deep and enjoy the moment. We are always running after what’s next. We have all but forgotten how to live with a sense of present-ness. We no longer are all that interested in embracing the moment because we are busy planning and strategizing for tomorrow.

And I fear the impact on our souls has been far worse than we realize.

As I was reading through Exodus this morning, pondering all that God had to say to the Israelite people as he sets them up for a future with himself, I was struck by something God said. I don’t know if it was hard for the Israelites to take, the Bible doesn’t really say. But I think in our day and age it would have been met with some resistance.

In Exodus 23 God is telling the Israelites how he will send an angel with them to protect them and guide them as they make their way into the Promised Land. And God explains that he will drive out before them all their enemies and help them take the land that he had set aside for them. But then God makes a startling (at least to us) statement.

This victory, this “claiming what God has for them” will not be quick. It will not be instantaneous and it will not be easy. It will take years.

In fact, God uses the term “little by little” to describe the progress towards victory that they will experience.

Little by little! I thought God moved in miraculous ways?! I thought God displaying his power meant fast and furious activity, giant waves of destruction for the enemies and easy victories for those who are God’s people?

That’s the way it’s often presented by today’s church. God moves in waves of power. God makes things happen in an instance. The only miracles are quick and obvious miracles. We don’t hear much about the subtleties of God’s moving. We don’t get much on the “slow and steady wins the race” kind of God activity.

And so all too often we feel left in the lurch by God. We feel like God isn’t doing anything because he isn’t doing anything fast. We assume that if something is little by little then more prayer and more faith will speed up the process. Apparently, that’s not always the case.

And look at why God is planning to do things this way in the promised land with his promised people:

…I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you.  Exodus 23:29

 

God says he will do it little by little until they are large enough to handle the responsibilities that come with so much land; until they can handle taking care of it.

 

Sometimes getting an answer to pray in a fast and sweeping fashion would be a punishment more than a blessing. Ever have that “if only I knew then what I know now” feeling when looking at your past experiences? Ever wish you could have a “do over” because you know you are far more capable now than you were then and you know it could work out differently this time?

We would be well served, I think, to pray for more “little by little” gifts from God rather than the constant barrage of “now, now, now!” that often becomes our mantra.

It reminds me of a song we used to sing when I was a kid. It was a good old Music Machine song about a snail:

“Have patience, have patience, don’t be in such a hurry. When you get impatient, you only start to worry. Remember, remember that God is patient too…”

 

Sometimes the expression of God’s love and power is found in the slow answer to prayer; in the little by little rather than the much and the quickly.

so God, where are you?

For this is what the high and exalted One says—
he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
“I live in a high and holy place,
but also with those who are contrite and lowly in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly
and to revive the heart of the contrite.

 

 I will not accuse them forever,
nor will I always be angry,
for then they would faint away because of me—
the very people I have created.

 

 I was enraged by their sinful greed;
I punished them, and hid my face in anger,
yet they kept on in their willful ways.

 

 I have seen their ways, but I will heal them;
I will guide them and restore comfort to them,

 

 creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel.
Peace, peace, to those far and near,”
says the Lord. “And I will heal them.”

 

Isaiah 57:15-19

 

 

Some days I need to be revived. Some days I need to be comforted. Or to just feel like I am being guided by One who is greater than I; who knows more than I know.  But sometimes on those days it feels like God isn’t around, like he didn’t show up. And sometimes I feel more like he just isn’t interested enough to help.

The truth is that so often the lack of comfort and the sense of lost-ness that I feel isn’t his fault, it comes from me. My willful ways, my greedy heart, my stubborn selfishness. I like to pin it on my surroundings, cruel people, or even God. But in truth, it’s often just me.

I’m realizing though, that I tend to focus on the why of my circumstances more than I should (especially in those times when it truly isn’t my own fault). I want to know who to blame, who or what to identify as the reason for my difficulty. But maybe the real issue is that why isn’t always the point. At least not while I’m still in pain, still hurting, still lost. In those moments God’s message to me is, “I will heal you. I will guide you. I will comfort you.”

 

Can I embrace his comfort without an explanation?

 

 Will I follow where God leads without understanding why it must be “that way” and not “this way”?

 

 Can I accept the nearness of God now, even though he often feels far?

 

It comes back to that issue of God hiding himself. He states it here in Isaiah 57:17 that he hid himself from his people because of their sin. Not for good, not forever, but for a time.

Perhaps my times of lost-ness and discomfort are God’s attempts to get my attention by not being attentive himself. Perhaps the moments of needing comfort help to make his comfort more appreciated, more recognized, more hungered for.

How could I truly be grateful for his embrace if I never knew the loneliness of living without it?

If the Bible teaches us nothing else it should at least show us that God will stop at nothing to bring us to himself. Even if that means allowing us to hurt and wander alone at times.

But in the end we will hear these words: “Peace, peace, to those far and near,”
says the Lord. “And I will heal them.”