Month: November 2014

Waiting for Rain

James 5:7 “Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.”
Coming back to an environment with seasons has been refreshing in many ways. I confess that most of the time I am chilled to the bone now, but even living in layers of clothing has a certain comfort. There is a sense of expectation that comes with watching the trees turn colors and the seasonal decorations anticipating the coming holidays.
However, this verse from James touched me profoundly this week for another reason. You see, I know so many friends right now who desperately need the sustaining patience only God can provide to get them through their season that is in between the rains. The spring rains come; the farmer plants, but sometimes the wait until the latter rains can seem interminable.
That project that is halfway through and seems hopelessly stalled…
That child who has turned away from the family or God, and all you can do is beg the Father for mercy…That relationship that has been neglected for so long that it seems easier to walk away from, than to do the monumental task to rebuild…That final semester of all the classes when it seems you have been in school forever…My precious friends around the world who are fighting for their lives against the horror that is cancer, chemo, radiation, and fear-filled words like malignancy…

To all of us who do not feel we are currently living under the “showers of blessing”, this verse reminded me that the rains will come. As the writer of Hebrews says, “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.” Heb. 10:36
How can you endure when the suffering seems too long? This is not a post advocating singing in prison, rejoicing in trials, etc. Yes, those verses are in scripture and are truth and will help you to be an overcomer. If you have the strength- by all means sing!
This post is an acknowledgement that there are times when our strength and hope are gone, and the best that we can do is endure. The same Paul who “brought the house down” singing in the jail with Silas, also wrote 2 Corinthians 1:8-9. “For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death.”
There is also scriptural support for the following methods of coping:
Honestly tell God specifically what you need at this moment!
In the model prayer (Lord’s Prayer) Jesus said we could pray for enough bread to get through today. He also said worrying about what is ahead only leads to anxiety. (Matthew 6:34)

Dallas Willard explains it as follows:
“(Give us today our daily bread) this request embodies that confidence in our Father that relieves us from all anxiety. The emphasis is on provision today of what we need for today. His reign is the Eternal Now. So we do not ask him to provide today what we will need for tomorrow. To have it in hand today does not guarantee that we will have it tomorrow when we need it. Today I have God, and he has the provisions. Tomorrow it will be the same. So I simply ask today for what I need for today or ask now for what I need now.”(1)
James refers us to Job as the ultimate example of perseverance. James 5:11 “Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.” What is most remarkable about Job is how blatantly honest he was with God. He did get what he ask for, which was a chance to present his case directly to God. Granted he found the experience a bit overwhelming, but God did not condemn Job for his questions and even commended him. Job 42:7 and 8. Present your case before God.
Ask for help from others!
It is so much easier to complain to others about how hard it is, than to ask them specifically for help. It is interesting that following the verse about patiently enduring the time between the rains, James says not to grumble against one another. When no one seems to be aware that we are hurting, it is easy to become bitter and resentful. James solution is to verbalize: pray, sing, call, confess, and again to pray. James 5:13-16
In the Corinthians scripture where Paul said they had despaired even of life, he gives the lesson he learned through that experience. “But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 11 You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.”
There are times we cannot rely on ourselves. We simply have to hold on to the God of resurrection and lean on the prayers of others! My friends, please be honest with your needs, and don’t apologize for asking. Let us help one another to hope as we listen for the rain.

(1) Willard, D. (1998). The Divine Conspiracy. New York: HarperCollins

Mud Men

It is no secret to those who know him that my husband has always had a fascination and love for Asia. Inferences to the “other woman” in my life come to mind. Years ago we started collecting “mud men” figures from wherever we could find them. Mud men are small clay figures that were originally used to decorate bonsai or miniature landscapes. The practice was known as Pen’Jing.

“To capture the realism of a favorite countryside or mountain scenic view, the artists added rocks and planted small trees in a large ceramic tray to simulate the panorama on a smaller scale. These were intended to invoke a harmonious feeling to the viewers.

In an effort to capture the illusion, the Chinese artisans used figurines of people, animals, huts, and temples, which gave an appearance of great age and size to the miniature forests. Figurines have had a place in bonsai as a visual contribution. Pen’Jing, nearly a lost art form, is experiencing a revival in modern-day China and is once again popular with Chinese bonsai enthusiasts.”[i]

As these things happen in my life when God wants to get a point across, my daughter Brenna and I have just returned from visiting the River arts district in Asheville North Carolina. This area is well-known for producing some of the finest artistic pottery and sculpture in the US. My daughter is also an accomplished pottery sculptor herself.

In church, for the past several weeks, the messages have referenced the scripture in 2 Timothy 2:20. “Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.”

Then just in case I still wasn’t getting the message loud and clear, the speaker yesterday morning told the story of God’s command to Jeremiah to go and observe the potters at work. (Jeremiah 18) It was almost a deja vu experience since we had just returned from watching so many potters at work. How incredible that the process of pot-making has changed so little since the time of Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 18:3, “So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.”

The first thing you notice is how messy it is. Mud, buckets, utensils everywhere. Potters may be neat and fastidious, but their medium is not. Next they knead, roll, mash, the clay until it is soft and pliable. Even when it is on the wheel, as Jeremiah’s story states, the sensitive hands of the potter may still find a hard lump, an imperfection that creates a flaw and means the project will have to be started all over again. My daughter tells me that sometimes the clay just will not cooperate. Even finished pots that get broken can be ground back down to make “grog”. Grog can be worked into new posts to make them strong and flexible.

In the very beginning, God, the master potter made a little mud man named Adam.

Genesis 2:7 “then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”

Even now, as Solomon said, that is really all we still are. Ecclesiastes 3:20, “All are from the dust, and to dust all return.”

I think God has been trying to tell me that is all that I am, a lump of clay in the hands of the potter. The process of formation is sometimes painful, but the imperfections must be removed. Otherwise, as Jeremiah says, I will end up marred. It is frustrating that God seems to have to remake me over and over, “as it seems good to the potter to do”. That’s the thing that it is hard to remember. God is doing a good thing. Yet how often I become difficult, as Isaiah describes.

Isaiah 45:9 “Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, (NIV says, ‘those who quarrel with their Maker’), a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’”

What is God doing? He is making that “vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.”

2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

That’s the key; I need to remember that at best I am a little mud woman with a treasure inside. The power to be useful, honorable, and above all holy; certainly must come from God.

When I was reading about the Chinese mud men, I found this statement.

“For smaller ones, the artist just picked a small piece of mud and in no time made a figurine out of it by using their two fingers…Then the entire collection was fired in a kiln to cure the clay. Fingerprints can often still be seen, immortalized in the fired clay.”

When I come out of the fire Lord, let the world see Your fingerprints all over me!

[i] “Mystery of the Shekwan Ceramic Mud Woman & Mud Man.” n.d. EdenSong community. 10 November 2015. <http://www.edensong.com/mud_men_figures.htm>.

Repent!

Since returning to the U.S., I have been saddened by the constant stream of media fear and alarm that only ever seems to escalate with no real solutions offered. It seems that it is time to bring out the placards “Repent the end is near!”
I do not doubt that the trouble in the world is escalating, but I do object linking the concept of repentance to the idea of final judgment. One of the most liberating steps in spiritual understanding comes when you realize that repentance is not a punishment! It is the gift of God that restores relationship.
To repent is to turn. You have been going in the wrong direction! When you repent, you adjust your course to go the right way. In fact, the word translated “repent” is often translated “turn” as in Matthew 18:3-4, in the ESV when Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you unless you turn and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
When Christ who is the “way” arrived, He announced repeatedly, as in Matthew 4:17 “From that time on Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The point is that HE was at hand, right there beside them offering relationship with himself if they would only “turn” to Him.
That was then, and yes, it is different now. We cannot see a physical person that we can follow physically down through the streets and businesses of our city. It is difficult to grasp that His physical presence could have been a hindrance for them. With the limitations He placed upon Himself when He accepted a physical body, Jesus could only be in one location at a time; although He did, through the Spirit, heal people who were not in his exact location at times.
Paul explains it as follows: Acts 17:24 “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for “In him we live and move and have our being.”
Paul, who spoke after the death and resurrection of Jesus, says that if we want to turn to God, He is not actually far from any of us! If we are living, moving, and are self-aware we are doing it ‘in Him’. Should He suddenly decide to remove Himself completely from us, we would cease to exist. He veils Himself from us simply in order to give us the opportunity to make choices of our own free will. But the fact remains He is there. All we have to do is turn toward Him, and we will find Him. The God who sustains our very existence has promised, Deuteronomy 4:29 (ESV)
29 you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him,
Instead of “Repent! The end is near!”, Let’s adopt the better approach and “Repent! For HE is near!”