Category: Recovered Blogs

Need a Guide?

Best ever guide in Mongolia

Anyone who has ever gone on a tour to a place of historical or cultural significance will be familiar with following a guide. We have had numerous encounters both good and bad throughout the years we have traveled.  The best are passionate about their history and/or religious perspective. The worst drone on through hours in the hot sun just doing their job.

The point is, that without the guide -my chances of getting lost, committing some horrible social faux pas, wandering into restricted areas and getting shot or jailed, increase dramatically. Without a guide, there is also simply the failure to be able to communicate with the locals and the inability to understand and appreciate their culture.

God knows that we need guidance!

We need guidance to meet our basic physical needs. (Like the wonderful driver in Northern India who could always seem to find me a bathroom in remote locations. Bless him!)

That’s the driver- on the left

Psalm 23:1 “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

Isaiah 58:11 “And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.”

We need guidance to keep us out of trouble. (Like the helpful guides who tell you ahead of time what NOT to take pictures of before the authorities confiscate your camera.)

Psalm 121:7-8 “The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

We need guidance to know truth from lies. (I always appreciated the guides who told me when vendors were scamming me.)

John 16:13 “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”

However most important, we need guidance simply because we do not know the way.

Isaiah 42:16 “And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.”

Luke 1:79 “to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Some people find discerning God’s guidance complicated. Here are some helpful principles from Dallas Willard quoting F.B. Meyer.

“Look for three lights: circumstances, impressions of the Spirit, and passages from the Bible. Rick Warren adds ‘the godly wisdom of Christian counsel.’

‘God’s impressions within and his word without are always corroborated by His providence around, and we should quietly wait until these three focus into one point…If you do not know what you ought to do, stand still until you do. And when the time comes for action, circumstances like glowworms, will sparkle along your path. You will be so sure that you are right, when God’s three witnesses concur, that you could not be surer though an angel beckoned you on. ’F.B. Meyer”

I have always imagined it was easier when the Angel of the Lord did show up for the Abraham, Israelites, Joshua, Gideon, Zechariah, Peter, Philip. In a surprising number of these cases, the humans involved continued to question, negotiate, and argue.

So much so, that by the time Gabriel gets to Zechariah, one gets the impression he has had enough of obstinate, unbelieving humans.

Luke 1:19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”

We also sometimes are asking God for directions because we don’t like the ones he has already given us.

“Does it make sense to pray for guidance about the future if we are not obeying in the thing that lies before us today? How many momentous events in Scripture depended on one person’s seemingly small act of obedience! Rest assured: Do what God tells you to do now, and, depend upon it, you will be shown what to do next.” Elisabeth Elliot

Whatever you do, don’t lose sight of your guide! (My husband teases me that when we are traveling in remote locations, I often abandon him and stick with the guide. Hey! He knows the way out!)

The great part about following our Guide is that even if we get it wrong, He can make it right.

“Guidance, like all God’s acts of blessing under the covenant of grace, is a sovereign act. Not merely does God will to guide us in the sense of showing us his way, that we may tread it; he wills also to guide us in the more fundamental sense of ensuring that, whatever happens, whatever mistakes we may make, we shall come safely home. Slippings and strayings there will be, no doubt, but the everlasting arms are beneath us; we shall be caught, rescued, restored. This is God’s promise; this is how good he is.” J.I. Packer

Love this old hymn,

Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,
pilgrim through this barren land.
I am weak, but thou art mighty;
hold me with thy powerful hand.
Bread of heaven, bread of heaven,
feed me till I want no more;
feed me till I want no more.

2. Open now the crystal fountain,
whence the healing stream doth flow;
let the fire and cloudy pillar
lead me all my journey through.
Strong deliverer, strong deliverer,
be thou still my strength and shield;
be thou still my strength and shield.

3. When I tread the verge of Jordan,
bid my anxious fears subside;
death of death and hell’s destruction,
land me safe on Canaan’s side.
Songs of praises, songs of praises,
I will ever give to thee;
I will ever give to thee.  
Text: William Williams, 1717-1791

The Ever Presence

Omnipresence is such a big word to grasp. This morning I read a definition by Priscilla Shirer that struck me in a new way.

“He’s everywhere at the same time, no less in one location than in another. All of God is where you are, every moment of every day.”

It was that idea that “ALL” of God is where I am. Somehow in my feeble brain, I guess I probably assumed that God was spread pretty thin all over the universe. Maybe more of Him was present in the important places. That He is ALL here right now, well, it is not that I don’t believe it; it’s just hard to absorb.

Throughout humanity’s encounters with God, there is this concept of entering or fleeing, from the “presence of the Lord”. What’s the point if all of God is everywhere?

Actually, David says there really isn’t a point. Psalm 139 declares that God knows us inside and out, and no matter where we go we cannot get away from Him! Not only that but He has been intricately involved in our being from the first moment of our existence onward until our final breath.

“16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.”

The word used to indicate seeking or fleeing the “presence of the Lord” has more to do with desiring or leaving an official audience with a king. In other words, when I seek the Lord, I am asking for an encounter, a conversation, a deliberate interaction with the King of the Universe. I am centering my ever-so-easily distracted focus on being present with Him.

On the other hand, fleeing His presence is to reject Him as my focus. It is essentially an attempt to ignore God. Jonah and others throughout history would attest that this is not a good life choice. Francis Thompson captured the futility of trying to flee God in the poem Hound of Heaven.

“I fled Him, down the nights and down the days; I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways of my own mind; and in the mist of tears, I hid from Him.”

In spite of all that the writer indicates that he did to escape God, the ever-present Voice still reminds him in the end, “‘Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest, I am He Whom thou seekest!”

That is the point! What we desperately need, is the very presence we so often try to escape.

Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Exodus 33:14, And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Acts 2:28, You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

If we really want to LIVE, we need to stay present with the Presence!

Thoughts for Lent from a Country Parson

George Herbert’s writing may not be considered all that relevant to our times. However, a closer look at his historical setting can change that perspective.

“George Herbert (1593-1633) lived in England during the tempestuous reign of James I and Charles I that saw the nation racked by conflict among Catholics, High Churchmen, and Puritans. A member of a politically active family, Herbert rejected a promising career as a member of Parliament for the simple life of a country parson.”[i]

During a time of political upheaval and religious conflicts, Herbert walks away from it all to serve and meet the needs of a small congregation of country folks, all the while, writing about the truths God reveals to Him. I can relate to that. He sounds like my kind of guy!

During this season of Lent, I was drawn to his poem “The Sacrifice”. What he presents in it are some of the most profound paradoxes of the gospel message. Let me share some with you.

Our eyes and minds are open to the world, yet blind to Him. He took eyes in order to find us.

Those who condemned Christ did so with the very breath that He daily gave them. (Acts 17:25)

They were judging Him who is the judge of all. (Acts 10:42)

They chose a murderer over the Prince of Peace.

They spit on Him who used His own spit to heal the eyes of the blind man.

He let the soldiers deride and abuse Him while he held back heavenly legions waiting for His command. (Matthew 26:53)

He wore a crown of thorns though He was the vine planted for us.

He bore Adam’s curse so as to remove it all.

When they shouted “Crucify Him!” God held his peace and man cried out.

In Eden, man stole the fruit, now Christ must climb the tree.

As if a thief, He hung between two robbers, but all He stole from us was death. (1 Corinthians 15:55)

When He was thirsty, they gave Him vinegar and gall. When they were thirsty, He had given them water from a rock, manna, fish and loaves of bread.

Each stanza of the poem ends with “Was ever grief like mine?” While the physical suffering should never be downplayed or trivialized, neither should the psychological and emotional suffering. What I was struck by while reading this poem was the betrayal, the terrible effrontery of mankind. The horror of cruel injustice that Christ took on while having to restrain himself. He held His murderer’s breath in His hands, yet He did not take it! God held His peace and let mankind condemn Him!

1 Peter 2:21 Christ also suffered for you… 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

He died as sin that we might die to sin and live to righteousness! The greatest paradox of all.



[i] Herbert, George. The Country Parson, The Temple. Ed. John N. Wall, Jr. Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1981.

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Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal

On a recent trip to a Christian concert, we heard a song by the band Crowder with this line in the refrain. Then, as so often happens in my life when God wants to make a point with me, I encountered the same line two more times in the last couple of weeks. I am not certain if the message is for me or someone else. 

The line was originally from a poem written by Thomas Moore and later revised by Thomas Hastings to read as follows:

Come, ye disconsolate, where’er ye languish;

Come to the mercy-seat, fervently kneel;

Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish,

Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.

Joy of the comfortless, light of the straying,

Hope of the penitent, fadeless and pure;

Here speaks the Comforter, tenderly saying—

Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot cure.

Here see the Bread of Life; see waters flowing

Forth from the throne of God, pure from above;

Come to the feast of love; come, ever knowing

Earth has no sorrow, but heaven can remove.

Then again, when I was reading a book of old sermons by Samuel Logan Brengle an early commissioner in the Salvation Army, (yes I am the sort of person who does that), I found another rendition with the same line.

Here dwells the Father; love’s waves are streaming

Forth from the throne of God, plenteous and pure;

Come to His temple for mercy redeeming;

Earth has no sorrow that He cannot cure

Here waits the Savior, gentle and loving,

Ready to meet you, His grace to reveal;

On Him your burden cast, trustfully coming;

Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal

Here speaks the Comforter, Light of the straying,

Hope of the penitent, Advocate sure;

Joy of the desolate! Tenderly saying,

Earth has no sorrow, My grace cannot cure.

You can clearly hear the Salvation Army’s redemptive message from those lines! What does all this mean except that I spend too much time with my nose in dusty old books? It’s that line, “Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal”!

This world, this life, is filled with sorrow. A pastor we are associated with who was serving one of the most vibrant intercultural churches in the world died suddenly of a heart attack. Another, closer to home, lost a long battle with cancer recently.

Sorrow is part of life on this planet. But this is not the final destination! 1 Thessalonians 4:13” Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.”

Brengle said, “That is the message of Easter. The grave has no victory; it does not hold our treasures. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, and death is but the narrow gateway into that life without tears or pain or fear of parting, to them that love the Lord…The grave has no terrors for him, for he knows he will never lie down in it- it only receives his cast-off body.”

Yet, so much pain and brokenness remain in the living all around us.  Within the small church family that we currently belong to there are four families who are raising children who are not their own. That is around fifteen children in a congregation of fewer than 100 people who are not living with their biological parents. Every Sunday I am surrounded by children who have suffered loss in a way I certainly never have.

Again the dusty hymn sings out, “Come to the mercy-seat, fervently kneel;

Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish,

Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.”

How do we cope when they lash out in angry rebellion? Can God give us the grace to realize that anger is also a stage of grief they must go through to process the losses they have experienced? That hurting people want to hurt people. Since they do not yet know the way to the mercy seat, will we bring these wounded hearts to the Father? We know that only the overwhelming love of the Heavenly Father can heal the wounded hearts of children carrying the loss of their earthly fathers. Will we surround these often overwhelmed families with prayer and practical support? As the Brengle version says,

“Here waits the Savior, gentle and loving, ready to meet you, His grace to reveal;

On Him your burden cast, trustfully coming; Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal.”

We can be the burden bearers for these families, asking God to reveal His grace in their lives.  Who lives around you? Who might God be calling you to bring hope to today? Do you know someone who is a foster parent, single mother, or a grandparent raising grandchildren? Pray for them, intercede for those children and above all believe that “Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal”! (Also, take them cookies, it always helps…)

Steppin’ Out

Anyone else feel like the year 2016 has come in like a flood? That is why I am only now that it is almost February posting my first blog of the year. This week I am finally catching my breath. Within the last month family members have gone to college, moved out of the continental US, had major surgery, throw in a week of babysitting my little princesses in California and you have my month. Looking back at January, I would say that this month has been a trial of faith.  Believing that God would be faithful and come through for nearly every member of my immediate and extended family through some serious trials has been a challenge.  I am here to report- God is faithful!

Several times since the beginning of the year I have been reminded that faith often requires action on our part to reveal our belief.

Noah had to build an ark when he had never seen a flood.

Moses had to make proclamations before the Pharaoh about all the mighty works God was going to do- BEFORE God had done any.

He also had to stretch out his hand to part the sea, strike rocks for water and do a lot of other strange things simply believing God was going to do what He said He would do.

The one that keeps running through my head is Joshua and the people at the Jordan River.  God told Joshua the following:

Joshua 3:13 And when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.” 14 So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, 15 and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest), 16 the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho. 17 Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.

I just keep thinking about those priests carrying the ark. God had not told them personally to stand in the river that was overflowing its banks. They were getting these instructions second-hand through Joshua, who frankly did not have the track record of the previous leader, Moses. Most of the actions of Moses had been taken at his own expense. He heard God; he did it, and he faced the consequences if it was not done properly. Now here is the new guy asking you to step in the flood waters carrying a heavy wooden box that if not handled properly would mean sudden divine destruction.  Holding the ark above water was going to require some fancy synchronized swimming if Joshua didn’t have the details right! I think I might prefer to carry the back of the box, not be the guy in front, just for today…

From this point on the actions of God through His people were going to require THEIR involvement. They were going to have to take the land. Their obedience was going to lead to defeat or victory. It was not going to be dependent on whether or not Moses held his hands up while they fought, but rather on whether Achan was stealing and lying within the camp. Joshua wasn’t going to walk up to the walls of Jericho and hit them with his stick to break rocks; the people were going to have to march around the city. No doubt they were getting stuff dumped on their heads; I doubt it was slushies.

The message I have been getting is to stop waiting for some spiritual leader to believe God for great things. It’s time to believe God for ourselves. 2016 is the year to pick up the poles of the ark and step out into the flood waters! Accept the risk of believing God to act as a result of our obedience. Know that the new territory God wants us to take this year may require overcoming opposition. However, remember Ephesians 2:10. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

God has it all ready! Let’s show up and step out into the flood of 2016.

Christmas in the Dark

Two suicides in the past week. I don’t move in large circles or have contact with hundreds of people a week. My Facebook friend list is not extensive, and I don’t have a huge Twitter following. Still in one week two people that I have a connection with have found life too unbearable to continue.  In studying psychology and counseling, we were often warned that the holidays could be some of the most difficult for those with depression.  The losses seem more poignant, loneliness is more extreme and hope harder to come by at this time of year.  Why is this? I don’t have an academic answer to offer but as someone who has clung to the edge of the black hole, let me offer some observations based on my own experience. This year I have been reminded that when the Christ child came it was very dark.

Unrealistic expectations are a huge one for me. I want the perfect family Christmas! I want all my family to be together and to be in harmony with one another.  Gifts have come to mean less and less to me over the years, but I would like to be able to give them each something meaningful. All of these expectations have about as much chance of happening as a blizzard in Georgia.  Yesterday in the sermon, the speaker was mentioning how the religious intellectuals lived so close to Bethlehem, even knew that it was the prophesied place of his birth, yet missed it. They had expectations about how their Messiah should come. It was not supposed to be in this dark, messy, downright unsanitary fashion.  I guess I need to let this Christmas come however God intends that it should.

This year especially, it seems that the world and the US, in particular, are such a mess. Terrorists, chaos, refugees, government decisions, violence, anger and fear seem rampant.  Listening to the rhetoric from so-called Christians who would rather shoot their enemies then follow Christ’s command to love them makes me heart-sick. Something as simple as finding a college for my senior for next year became this week a cause for alarm and concern. Why must we always be choosing between the lesser of two evils?  Maybe this is how Joseph felt when the oppressive occupying Roman government decreed a tax that not only made it difficult financially but required travel with his full term pregnant wife. Should he choose to defy the authorities, or travel when it might harm his wife and her child, should he choose a shed or try to make her keep going? Should he believe the strange visions he had, maybe he was delusional, over his wife’s obvious infidelity.   Then there was one that made them refugees fleeing into Egypt. It must have seemed to Joseph that there were no good choices, only hard ones.  BUT GOD, was still accomplishing His purpose to bring salvation to the world! God is still in this current world mess accomplishing that same purpose! I must believe that, or I will sink into despair.

We can become so overwhelmed this time of year with doing good things that we do not see people. If we do not take the time to stay in tune to the Spirit, we will not realize when someone is at their breaking point. We will just be, like the innkeeper, too busy.  Not an evil, vile, cruel person just preoccupied with taking care of our own business.  Anna, on the other hand, was so tuned in to the voice of God that when the poor shabby couple who looked like they had been living in a barn brought the offering of the poorest to circumcise their insignificant eight-day-old child; she knew! She was able to offer them the voice of hope to believe the unbelievable words they had been given.  It is what so many people need to hear! There is a future that God has for you, and a place that you need to fill in His plan.  You are necessary, and needed even if what you have to offer seems pitiful by all the world’s standards.

It was a dark night, in a land with an oppressive, God-less government. A baby would have to be born in a barn.  The senseless killing of innocent babies would result from the unbelief of pagan rulers.  Joseph would have to choose to make his families refugees.  God knew Christmas would come in the dark.

So He ripped open heaven and poured out the announcement with gleaming multitude of glorious beings! To Mary and Joseph’s loneliness and fear came the shepherds which at the least indicated that God still knew where they were. He affirmed the message of His purpose through Anna and Simeon when they brought Jesus to the temple in spite of their paltry gift.  He sent the shining gifts from strangers to pay the way for them to escape to Egypt. He was there breaking through into the darkness again and again.

Now we are the bearers of the light of God. Help us, Father, to let go of all our expectations, to see hurting people even while we are taking care of our business, to believe that You are still accomplishing Your salvation even in this dark world. Help us to trust You will guide us even when all our options seem hard.  Help us to keep bringing our babies to the temple even when our offering is pathetic in our eyes. Make us purveyors of hope who will grab the hands of those on the brink of despair and tell them we still need them.  God has a place for them.

This seems the carol for this year:   

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head:
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men.”

Till, ringing singing, on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), 1867)

Till We Have Faces

I have just finished reading C.S. Lewis’s book, Till We Have Faces[i]. A troubling story, to say the least, where Lewis remakes the classical myth of Cupid and Psyche.

One of many aspects it portrays through the two sisters is the search for love. Orual representing the earthly grasping, at best jealous, selfish love of humanity apart from God, and Psyche the search for Divine love, which requires the giving over of one’s self in utter abandonment. The title is reported to have been taken from the scripture in 1 Corinthian 13:12, “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

The difficulty is in seeing yourself clearly and in exposing that self as ugly as “Ungit” in the story. Orual attempted to write her story giving her complaint, even accusation, toward the gods. Similarly, I have often “written” myself out on the page as much to see my thoughts and motives in black and white, as to share any newly acquired insight.

“When the time comes to you at which you will be forced at last to utter the speech which has lain at the center of your soul for years, which you have, all that time, idiot like, been saying over and over, you’ll not talk about joy of words. I saw well why the gods do not speak to us openly, nor let us answer. Till that word be dug out of us why should they hear the babble that we think we mean? How can they meet us face to face until we have faces?”

I felt arrested by this statement. I know the complaint that I have so often rehearsed; my very own personal Job’s accusation that God had somehow been unfair! The reality hit me that it was not until I had written it into a story literally, uttered the speech which had lain at the center of my soul for years, which I had, all that time, idiot like, been saying over and over” that I saw the truth of it for the first time. It was “dug out” of me! Orual says it well,

“The change which the writing wrought in me (and of which I did not write) was only a beginning; only to prepare me for the gods’ surgery. They used my own pen to probe my wound. ”

It is hard to accept that the love that you think you have- may be jealous, manipulative, even at times, cruel. The hardest reality is that it may also become a barrier to someone else’s pursuit of God. As Lewis says,

“For mortals, as you said, will become more and more jealous. And mother, and wife, and child and friend will all be in league to keep a soul from being united with the Divine Nature.”

Seeing oneself as truly exposed before God, does away instantly with any thought of demanding from God justice for the supposed wrongs or slights we would accuse Him of allowing. Orual ask the question,

“Are the gods not just?” Her teacher the Fox replies, “Oh no, child. What would become of us if they were?”

It is no slight coincidence to me that I have been meditating on where James says, “mercy triumphs over judgment”.

Again Micah 7:18 takes it even a step further, “You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.” Mercy triumphs over judgment is not a bad refrain to get stuck in your head.

Orual ended her first book of accusation with the words, “no answer”. She ended her second book after her encounter with the Divine Nature as follows,

“I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away.”

[i] Lewis, C. S. Till We Have Faces. Orlando: Harcourt, 1956, 1984.

Are there any wise among you?

Are there any wise among you?

Is anyone else already fed up with the US political candidates? Please join me in a groan of despair. Some of the candidates seem to be intelligent within their particular areas of expertise, but overall are still lacking in wisdom. Perhaps their knowledge would be better used in some other field than as the leader of the nation.

C.S. Lewis states the following, “Holy wisdom is not clear and thin like water, but thick and dark like blood.”
So what is this holy wisdom? The book of James says that we can ask for it.

James 1: 5, If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

Later James gives a description of what this sort of wisdom does, and does not, look like.

James 3:13, “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

So no matter how smart you may think you are, if you are full of bitter jealousy, selfish ambition, boastful and are “false to the truth”; you are not wise. These negative characteristics are practically the calling card for some of the current political candidates…

Holy Wisdom has pure motives                

Is peaceable                     

Gentle

Reasonable

Full of mercy and good fruits

Impartial

Sincere

Results in a harvest of righteousness

So, to the current field of candidates, “Are there any wise among you?”

Perhaps we shouldn’t expect “holy” wisdom from them.  I could agree with that statement, if so many of them were not claiming to be Bible believing Christians! That means that even if wisdom doesn’t come naturally to them, they should at least know that they can ASK God for it, RIGHT?

I know, it is not my job to cast condemnation on anyone, so now that I am at risk of being judged by the same measure that I have used, let me take a step back.

I know that personally I need to be asking God for wisdom every day that I live. So when I pray and ask God for wisdom how does He go about giving it liberally and without scolding (reproach)?

What I find fascinating in scripture is the personification even anthropomorphic (often feminine) way that wisdom is represented. Such as, the father speaking to his son in Proverbs 4:7-9.

“The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,
and whatever you get, get insight.
Prize her highly, and she will exalt you;
she will honor you if you embrace her.
She will place on your head a graceful garland;
she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”

But I find Proverbs 8:27-31, the most fascinating of all. Wisdom is speaking,

When he established the heavens, I was there;
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
then I was beside him, like a master workman,
and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.

In all my very limited understanding, the only being involved in creation was God. The Triune fellowship that is God seems to have had wisdom as the master workman. We know that Christ is represented as responsible for creation.  Colossians 1:16, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”

Whether the “Wisdom” represented in Proverbs 8 is Christ or merely a personification of a facet of His nature, I think it is safe to assume they are closely related.

1 Corinthians 1:30-31 says, “… you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

The only way for any of us to become wise is through a deeper and more profound connection to Jesus Christ who came to represent to us the wisdom of God. The result of that will be, not boasting in ourselves but boasting in the Lord.

The Way I Cannot See

When I was younger, I assumed that most people would pretty much have it all together by the time they reached my current stage in life.  Their career or ministry would be settled, and their habits and life would be proceeding in a somewhat normal, everyday fashion.  I am not sure why that never seems to be the case with us.  Perhaps God has to keep some of us off kilter throughout our lives so we will perpetually be seeking Him for direction. I am somewhat suspicious that He calls into ministry those strong-willed children that He knows He will need to keep on a tight leash. Just look at the trouble Saul/Paul was causing. Acts 8:3 “But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.” God had to call him into ministry so He could keep him from disturbing the spread of the gospel!

I guess it should be encouraging to me that Paul also sometimes struggled to discern the way God wanted him to go.

Acts 16:6, “Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.”

The problem was not that God was having trouble making up His mind where Paul needed to be. Rather God had to reign in Paul’s enthusiasm for where he wanted to take the gospel and get him to where God wanted him to be.

God knows the way we should go:

Job 23:10 But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold

Psalm 1:6 for the LORD knows the way of the righteous

Psalm 142:3 When my spirit faints within me, you know my way!

Psalm 25:9 He leads the humble in what is right,
and teaches the humble his way.
10 All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,
for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

I have had a song stuck in my head for days. It is The Long Defeat by Sara Groves.  The chorus, in particular, speaks to me.

We walk a while we sit and rest,
We lay it on the altar
I won’t pretend to know what’s next
But what I have I’ve offered

And I pray for a vision
And a way I cannot see
It’s too heavy to carry
And impossible to leave

And I pray for inspiration
And a way I cannot see
It’s too heavy to carry
And impossible to leave
It’s too heavy to carry
And I will never leave

Ministry/any call of God is not something we can ever leave. I know there has to be a way that I cannot see.

Like Father, Like Son

In most adult lives past 40 years of age, there comes a moment when we look in the mirror and think, “I look just like my mother/father!” Even earlier you can hear their voice coming out of your mouth with one of those comments that you were determined you would never say. There is some small consolation in realizing we will also do this to our children. How desperately different each generation wants to be, yet sooner or later we all look or sound just like our parents.

Jesus said the same thing in John 14,

7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.

Also Colossians 1:15, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”

In other words, if you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus! He looks like Him, talks like Him, represents Him truthfully, fully, because He is one with Him.

Often young people stumble over the Old Testament picture of who God is. I believe God was working within the historical, cultural settings of that time to represent Himself to those generations in ways that would communicate with them. However now, God is communicating who He is through Christ.

Hebrews 1:1 “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.”

“In these last days” what God wants to say to us about Himself- He is saying through the words and works of Christ.

Christ…

Who seemed much more concerned about what went on in a person’s heart than in their religious or outward observance ( Matthew 5:20, 23:13-29)

Seemed much less interested in condemning than He was in forgiving (John 3:17 John 8:11)

Who got angry with religious people and practices that focused on self-righteousness, not God (Mark 11:17, pretty much all of Matthew chapter 23)

Had very little interest in politics or personal rights apart from paying your taxes (Matthew 5:38-48, 22:20-21,

Who loved, wept with, healed, prayed for, and died for us. (John 13:1, John 11:34-35, healings at least 31 recorded, Prayed for us-John 17, John 3:16

Do you want to know what God is like? Jesus says He looks just like His Father!