When God is Silent

One of the problems with the whole human race is that when things are going well, we tend to think we are doing something right and good and we don’t need God in our lives. We don’t talk to Him so much then. But when things are going poorly, we cry out to God to fix them so we can feel comfortable and successful again. I recently heard a young man say, “I don’t believe so much in a God who interacts with me or cares about me on a daily basis, but when I am in crisis, I do still pray!” Many people see prayer to God as a last resort, when nothing else could fix the problem and they don’t know what else to do. Something inside us cries out to God when we fear for our lives or the lives of loved ones.

Hezekiah was a great king in Judah. He is known for his faith in God when the Assyrian army came against Jerusalem. They had just successfully taken over many territories and informed Hezekiah and his people that their God was no different than the many gods they had overcome already. The complete story is in II Kings 18-20 and II Chronicles 29-32. King Hezekiah worked hard to fortify the city and reroute the water so it would not be available to Sennacherib’s army. Then he laid out the written threats and blasphemous words of Sennacherib before the Lord and prayed. And Isaiah prophesied and an angel of the Lord went out that night and killed 185,000 enemy soldiers. And Sennacherib went home in disgrace.

After that great “victory”, surrounding people groups feared King Hezekiah and paid tribute to him and he became very wealthy and respected. And then he had a life-threatening illness, and after praying, God healed him and gave him more years. This is the most dangerous time for leaders as they begin to think they are invincible, they become proud, arrogant, and entitled in their thinking. Hezekiah was no exception. But he is an exception in that when he was confronted by it, he humbled himself and repented.

Ambassadors from Babylon came to see if what they heard about King Hezekiah and Judah was true and II Chronicles 32:31 tells us that “God withdrew from Hezekiah in order to test him and to see what was really in his heart.” Hezekiah failed the test! Without God keeping him in check, Hezekiah’s pride took over again. He saw an opportunity to brag about all his accomplishments and all that he gained in his lifetime instead of an opportunity to give God the credit due Him. And the spies saw exactly what they needed to do to conquer this land.

I wonder what I do when God is silent. Do I still believe that He is the eternal God, the One who helped me get where I am today, the One who is always present with me, the One who will be there loving me no matter what my circumstances are? Or do I see Him as a distant memory? Do I seek His wisdom in all decisions, or do I think, “I got this!” Is my confidence in my own ability or in the ability God has given me and is willing to direct in me? Do I only call out to God when I am in distress? Or do I seek Him in all things? Do I trust and honor God, or believe I can and have to do everything on my own?

Hezekiah was a great king. But in the end, he lost it all for the future generations because of pride and failure to trust only in his God and give Him the glory for all that He did.

Oh God, help me to be faithful in trusting you whether I am successful or in need. Help me to never let pride cloud my vision and keep me from seeing you at work. And when you are silent, help me to trust you even more! Amen.

The Unusual Pairing of Ecclesiastes and Christmas!

What do Ecclesiastes and Christmas have to do with each other? I recently read a statistic that over 70% of all people approach the Christmas holidays saying they are depressed – some from grief of losing loved ones, some because they are more keenly aware of all they are lacking, and some for reasons only they know.

Ecclesiastes seems to be a dark book. Meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless… But Solomon is onto something. He has explored all of life, the pleasures of this world, the wealth of this world, hard work and foolishness. He is one of the few people in the world that could say that he had it all! Yet, he realized that we all die – whether we are rich, have done it all, and own property and have power over other human beings, or whether we are poor and have nothing. We die and we can’t take anything we have possessed here on earth with us. In fact, we have to leave it here for others who didn’t earn it. This leads him to wonder, why are we here? What is the meaning in this life?

I think his question goes all the way back to Genesis – the beginning of time and the first humans in the Garden of Eden. Satan convinced Eve to take the forbidden fruit because he told her that her eyes would be opened. But the deceiver was lying. Her eyes were clouded and now though she could see more clearly the things of this world, she lost the ability to dwell in God’s presence and see the things of the spirit.

Solomon is actually getting a glimpse of what he is missing because of our human focus now on pleasure through things rather than pleasure through relationship with our Maker, the Maker of the universe! Without that eternal focus, our life here is meaningless. Jesus came to restore our ability to see and hear – to see God at work and to hear His voice instructing us which way to go, our purpose and destiny in this world. Without God, there is no meaning – only the seeking of comfort and pleasure.

This Christmas, as we celebrate with lights and gifts, let’s take time to adore and worship the King who came as a baby to open our eyes and give us true pleasure and meaning in life. It doesn’t matter if we are rich or poor, if we work with our hands or work with our minds, if we are grieving or feel on top of the world. He came to give us back our true sight – knowing and walking with our Savior, our God and Maker of the universe and all that is in it! Let’s focus and worship Him!

 

Where is My Hope?

Jesus said a house divided against itself cannot stand (Matthew 12;25). He also prayed intensely for Himself, for believers He had taught, and for believers to come in the future that they would be unified (John 17).

The weakest point in the history of the United States of America was during the years leading up to and including the Civil War – when people were divided strongly on the line of whether the government should be able to tell states what to do or not. The focus was slavery, but the issue was and always will be where the power and control lie. And it came out in an ugly war that pitted even family against family.

During the years of rebuilding, families came back together, grieved together, and found new strength. The problems were far from resolved, but people for the most part learned to live amicably with each other knowing that they did not want to go to war again. However, since the attack on the twin towers in 2001, a change has occurred. There was damage like the damage caused by a huge earthquake. And the aftershocks keep coming. People no longer trust in the goodness of each other. We suspect those who disagree with us of malintent.

Along with the political turmoil, communication between people has changed drastically. Where once families sat and talked with each other at the dinner table and discussed ideas, politics, religion, and family relationships, they now text each other with few words and little expression of ideas. Few people seem to know how to express their ideas and listen to the ideas of others. Judgment and misunderstanding is at an all time high and we hurt each other and hurt people hurt people and the pain grows.

And then the pandemic hit adding a high level of fear to the mix. Power and control among political leaders and lack of communication among the people made our society ripe for even greater mistrust and division. People were isolated in an attempt to control the spread of the virus. And the places where people went for emotional healing – family and church – also became divided along the lines of how serious the threat was and how to mitigate it. We divided among isolation vs. gathering, masks vs. no masks, vaccines vs. human immune system, and many other subtle and not so subtle divisions.

And still, lack of communication wreaks havoc among the people. Few people are interested in listening to the opposing view on anything. Misinformation spreads like wildfire across the Internet and social media. And sources of information that can be trusted are buried in it and difficult to find. So much information is driven by money and politics. People who were once friends yell at each other and call each other names.

And in this whole big mess, we begin to see the gods we worship, the places and things in which we put our hope for the future. And a still, small voice calls out, “I am still here. You can come to Me and lay your burdens down and I will give you rest. Spend some time in My green pastures beside the quiet streams. I have all that you need and give it generously and freely to you. Come! Taste and see that I Am good! My love for you is infinite and intimacy with Me satisfies like nothing else. I Am the Good Shepherd and I will guide you. Leave the chaos behind and follow Me.” (Matthew 11:28, Psalm 23, Matthew 7:10-12, Psalm 34:8, Psalm 103:17, Psalm 145:16, John 10:11-18)

There are those who listen to that voice. They choose another way. A way of peace and love. A willingness to lay down their points of view and listen to the fears and anxieties of others. No, they don’t make the problems go away, but they focus on the Problem Solver and trust in His goodness and ability to overcome. They seek to understand rather than to be understood. They show generosity toward others, especially those most hurt by the current conditions. They worship their God because He is worthy of their praise and because He brings victory after victory in their life and the lives of others. They live in a place of quiet trust, even when things around them look bleak. They trust that their Creator is working all things out. They trust His love for them. They trust that He can take what the enemy means for evil and use it for good.

They know who the enemy is and it isn’t their neighbor, their friend, their family or their political opponent. It is Satan. He has come to steal, to kill and to destroy. He is a liar and a thief. He deceives people and pits them against each other because he knows if they work together, he will lose. Jesus prayed for unity in all believers because He knew that would be our strongest defense against the enemy. That unity is not centered around sharing common political views or values. It is centered around seeking and obeying our Good Shepherd and learning and following the things He taught us through His life here on earth. When our focus is there, the things that divide us become much smaller and less toxic. Our fears dissipate because perfect love casts out all fear (I John 4:18).

There is hope, but it is not in charismatic leaders or government regulations or pharmaceutical companies or in any of the other things we think will save us.

"My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.

"When darkness veils his lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale my anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.

"His oath, his covenant, his blood supports me in the 'whelming flood. When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.

"When He shall come with trumpet sound, oh may I then in Him be found. Dressed in his righteousness alone Faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand."

Lyrics: Edward Mote (1797-1874)

 

When the Lion Roars

 Rejection. We’ve all experienced it somewhere along the line. For some it is severe rejection. We feel it when we are the last chosen for a pick-up field game with friends or classmates. We feel it as teenagers when we can’t seem to connect with others as we want to. We feel it when we don’t get that job we applied for. Some feel it as they go through divorce, abuse in the home, or abuse in the neighborhood or even church. The hardest kind of rejection is when we have poured ourselves into another, loved them deeply and invested much time and even money into them only to have them walk away or worse yet, demean us and then walk away.

Hosea was talking to the Israelites. God invested in Abraham, his son Isaac, and then Jacob who He renamed Israel. Then God invested much time and resources into Jacob’s descendants as He freed them from the slavery in Egypt and led them to the Promised Land. After years of living in prosperity in the land, they wanted to be like other nations and have a king. So God gave them a king. They continued to want to be like other nations until there was no difference between them and the nations around them!

God continually sent prophets to warn them and help them turn their faces back to God, but the people rejected the prophets and their message. Finally, when God saw that they could not be turned back, He sent Hosea and in Hosea 11, we see God’s heart crying out from the pain of rejection. He has raised Israel up, taught her to walk, loved her, given her everything she could want. Yet Israel has chosen to reject Him. And He says, “But since my people refuse to return to me, they will return to Egypt (slavery) and will be forced to serve Assyria (a foreign political agenda). Hosea 11:5 “For my people are determined to desert me. They call me the Most High, but they don’t truly honor me.” Hosea 11:7 The God of compassion is hurting from the rejection much as a parent carries the pain of a wayward child. There is nothing a parent can do but pray and wait and hope. Anything they say or do pushes the child further away and makes the rejection deeper. All they want is for the child to return with a soft heart, able to love them again like they did as a child.

God says, “My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows. No, I will not unleash my fierce anger. I will not completely destroy Israel, for I am God and not mere mortal. I am the Holy One living among you, and I will not come to destroy. For someday the people will follow me. I, the Lord, will roar like a lion. And when I roar, my people will return trembling from the west. Like a flock of bids, they will come from Egypt (slavery). Trembling like doves, they will return from Assyria (foreign political agenda). And I will bring them home again,” says the Lord. Hosea 11:8b-11

Hosea still speaks to us today. Those who reject the ways of the Lord end up in all kinds of slavery. Addictions to wealth, status, power, food, drugs and alcohol to name a few. And they end up serving political agendas that are not of God’s design and become more and more restricting until the people are made into zombies not able to think for themselves or make choices. It is a little like a frog in water that is being heated. It doesn’t jump out because it doesn’t realize the danger until it is too late.

When a lion roars, we listen and we respond. When the lion roars, we will return from all that we have allowed to distract us and lead us away from Him and we will pay attention. He will then bring us back home to the completeness that He has designed us to be – to walk in His image. Oh that we would come willingly before He roars and experience His kingdom here and now! It is a kingdom filled with joy, peace, and love. The God who created us desires relationship with us and has gone to great lengths to keep the communications channel open and invite us home. How will we respond to Him?

Humble Hearts that Lead the Way

When the children of Israel were about to enter the Promised Land, the tribes of Reuben and Gad and some of the tribes of Manasseh wanted to stay on the land east of the Jordan. Moses initially thought they were being stubborn again about going into the land. However, the leaders of the tribes assured Moses that they would not only go with their brothers to conquer the land across the Jordan, but they would lead their brothers in battle. And they would not return until the Lord had conquered the land.

In their conversation with Moses, several times they said they would fight and the Lord would win the battle over their enemies and conquer the land. I have been pondering the power of prayer the past few days and as I read this scripture this morning, it occurred to me that this is the attitude of prayer. We fight the battle on our knees and God brings the victory and conquers territory for His kingdom. It is a heart of humble worship that gives God the glory for the win.

I wonder if that is the point where we so often fail. We pray for something or someone where we believe God is at work, and then are proud of ourselves when things begin to change. We take the credit and at best say that God gave us the ability to make it happen. But we fail to thank Him and give Him the glory for what He did! We receive so much by His hand that we think we did. It is like a two-year-old who tries to lift something heavy. The dad helps him lift it without the child realizing the dad is helping and he feels so proud of himself for being able to lift the heavy object!

Pride builds in us sometimes without us even being aware. When we lose sight of who God is and what He is doing and begin to think we are the ones making it all happen, we are in great danger of losing it all. We lose our desire and ability to pray and we take things into our own hands thinking we are the ones who can make it happen. This usually ends in disaster and some if not many people being hurt. When great leaders in the church fall, we can see this pattern emerge time after time. Pray bold prayers, see answers, believe we did great things and deserve great rewards, set ourselves up as “kings with kingdoms,” and then overstep and get caught and crash. The fall begins when we forget whose power we are operating in and fail to give Him the glory. It may come quickly or it may take a few years, but the fall comes. God sees the motives of our hearts. Do we?

Lord, help me to see you at work as the children of Israel saw you. I will fight on my knees and give you all the honor and glory for conquering the territory. I can lead my brothers and sisters into the fight, but only you win the victory. Help me to listen to your voice and be faithful to obey and always grateful for what you do in and through me. And may I always give you all the glory for only you are worthy of my praise. You are faithful and I trust you completely with all outcomes. Amen.

Hungry for Power

God’s wisdom never ceases to amaze me! As I read through His Word, I see Him tackle all the difficulties we need to overcome in this life. Hunger for power is one of them. Wars are caused by struggles for power – who gets to tell others what they can and cannot do. Divorce comes from struggles with power to control each other. Fights among neighbors and in communities come from struggles to control each other. Rebellion comes from a desire to have power over those who have power over us. When Jesus was tempted, the second temptation was to have authority or power over all the kingdoms of the world by worshiping Satan. 

Satan offers a counterfeit kind of power. It is an addiction – a deadly addiction. The more you have the more you want. You can never have enough until you have power over all the kingdoms of this world! Many people die in the struggle for power or end up in prison powerless behind bars.

There is a different kind of power – a true power. It comes from the source of power – God. When Elijah operated in God’s power, he called for the cessation of rain and it quit raining for 3 years. When he called on God to burn the sacrifice, God answered with fire that burned not only the sacrifice but all the water that had been poured over it and the altar itself. God answered powerfully. But Elijah made sure they knew it was God who had the power, not himself, and that he was operating in obedience to God who had called him to confront the evil around him.

When we operate in God’s power by being obedient to Him, the power does not consume us. We understand that the source of power is God and power belongs to God. It is very freeing to be able to live without struggling for power. God has made His power available to us to be used for the advancement of His kingdom. To access that power, we need to be in relationship with God and obedient to Him.

Nothing seems to anger God more than people abusing power and thereby hurting other people – especially in religious settings. He is quick to defend those without power (the orphan, the poor, the widow) and confront those who use their power to take advantage of the helpless. He calls us to join Him in taking care of the powerless.

Oh, that we as His Church would see that call and take the mission seriously to care for those who are vulnerable. He has placed us in this time and in this place to be His hands and feet taking His love and compassion to the world around us, to operate with humbleness in His power to extend His kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven! May we go in His power!

Following Crowds or Following Jesus

I wonder, why is it so easy for people who call themselves Christians to follow crowds, movements, etc. and so hard to follow Jesus? We have Scripture that was written down by His followers that tells us many things that Jesus said and taught while He walked on this earth. Jesus tells His disciples in this passage that He speaks in parables so only those who truly are following Him (not the crowd) will understand what He is teaching. “When they see what I do, they will learn nothing. When they hear what I say, they will not understand. Otherwise, they will turn to me and be forgiven.” Mark 4:12

Today, we may follow the crowds to church because that is where the good people hang out. We may go because that is a habit, and we somehow believe that going to church on Sunday morning will qualify us for heaven. We may go because we have friends there that we like to see on Sunday morning. We may go because we want others to think we are good people. We may go because our children need Sunday School. We may go because there is a dynamic or charismatic speaker there each week that is fun or easy to listen to.

Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit to explain things to us as we hear and read His words. But if our hearts are closed, we will not understand. When we read or hear the Scripture about the seed falling on various types of soil, we believe ourselves to be the fertile soil and everyone outside the church to be the less productive soils. That is a mindset of self-righteous people. And self-righteousness actually creates a hard, untilled soil in our heart. It is a belief that I know all about it and I don’t have anything new to learn or need to change in any way. We sit in judgment on others and see how they don’t measure up and how the Scripture being taught is for them.

The next type of soil Jesus talks about is shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprout but they cannot take root. So the plants quickly whither and die. In the church, this may look like those of us who get excited about what is preached or the worship music on Sunday morning. We may even shout, “Amen!” But by the time we get to the door of the church, we forget what we heard or experienced. It makes absolutely no difference in our lives throughout the next hours let alone the next week! By Sunday dinner, we cannot even tell anyone what the sermon was about.

Seeds can also begin to grow but be choked out by weeds. To the church-attender, this is likely the most common soil. We have lives so scheduled with other activities (sports, meetings, projects, vacations, work schedules, etc.) that we don’t feel like we have time to spend specifically with God (reading His Word, praying, worshiping Him). We defend ourselves, make excuses and talk about all the good things we are doing. Meanwhile, our Father is waiting with amazing things He wants to tell us, but we don’t have time for even a short visit with Him. How can what He teaches us take root if we don’t nurture our relationship with Him?

So what does the fertile, tilled soil look like in the church? Those who are truly fertile soil are the ones who are filled with joy, are quick to love and show mercy to others, are quick to acknowledge that they need Jesus. They are humble, gentle, kind, and full of compassion. They have empathy for those who are struggling and are quick to pray for others with faith that God sees, He hears, He cares about what is happening to them. They spend time reading and studying Scripture, inviting His Holy Spirit to teach and instruct them so they can live out what they are learning. They pray deeply for themselves and for others. They listen for God’s voice to speak to them and obey when they hear Him speak.

My heart breaks for the number of people who sit on Sunday mornings and hear His words preached, but it falls on the hard, untilled soil, the rocky soil, or the weed-filled soil. Oh that it would fall on the fertile, tilled soil ready to receive the seed and allow it to grow and produce fruit! May we become a church filled with mercy and grace where people come to be healed and to grow in faith because we are tilling our soil, removing rocks and supplementing it with the compost of spending time with God and building strong relationship with Him. Amen.

All the Cattle on A Thousand Hills

I have worked for non-profits most of my life and been a member of several different churches as we moved where God sent us. Whenever a non-profit is in dire need of finances, I hear Psalm 50:10b “I own the cattle on a thousand hills.” And it is used to assure ourselves by saying that God will provide. I’ve been in a different frame of mind on my reading through the Bible this year. And it struck me that this verse has been abused and taken out of context quite a bit through the years. Indeed, God will provide and indeed He owns more than the cattle on a thousand hills! But maybe that is not what He had in mind in Psalm 50!

Here is the context of this Scripture.

“The Lord, the Mighty One, is God, and He has spoken; He has summoned all humanity from where the sun rises to where it sets… Our God approaches, and He is not silent… He calls on the heavens above and the earth below to witness the judgment of His people… O my people, listen as I speak. Here are my charges against you, O Israel: I am God, your God! I have no complaint about your sacrifices or the burnt offerings you constantly offer. But I do not need the bulls from your barns or the goats from your pens. For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird on the mountains, and all the animals of the field are mine… Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God and keep the vows you made to the Most High. Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.” From Psalm 50:1-15 NLT

It is really the same message that is in Isaiah 58. God wants our faces turned toward Him and our hearts fully engaged with Him. He doesn’t need anything from us! He already owns everything. He desires relationship with us. The sacrifices in the Old Testament and the final sacrifice of Jesus himself are all about reconciliation between a holy God and a sinful people. He constantly pursues us because He loves us and wants what is best for us.

The next time I hear that phrase about God owning the cattle on a thousand hills, I am going to choose to remember what He did for me, be thankful, and share the good news!