Selah

Today I was thinking of Psalm 23 and how it is written in present tense. That implies that the writer was having the experience he was describing as he was writing it.

"The Lord IS my shepherd..."

I played with that idea for a while, realizing that David is speaking about his life, not some theory about what God might be like. He is describing an ongoing experience, a perpetual relationship in his life, that God IS his shepherd with all that implies.

Then, just for fun, I switched the tense to past perfect tense and thought through the Psalm again. I went through the words, reading them as if they were my own account of walking with God.

"The Lord has been my shepherd, I have not wanted. He has made me lie down in green pastures, He has led me beside still waters..."

Then I asked myself, has this been true for me?

When I read through my old journals I see that there were a lot of times when I was worried and stressed. Lots of times I didn't know how things were going to turn out. I had a brother who was sick for a long time and died way too young even though we prayed for his healing. That was hard to take. There were many times when I wondered if God understood how bad things looked from down here. I actually have been scared that the worst was going to happen more than once.

Yet, as I read about those experiences in my journals, I can cite the times that I needed green pastures and still waters and God led me to them. I can see how He did all of the things described in that Psalm. I have had a home in the wilderness whenever I needed it. I can say now that...

"Surely goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life."

The thing to remember is that the Bible was written by people who were having real experiences with God. It is not just literature. It is the history of people like David who lived very interesting, turbulent lives. David was not composing poetry for poetry's sake, he wrote Psalm 23 the same way that I write in my journals. Read the Bible for what it is, true stories told by eye-witnesses, and it will come alive for you.

Back Again

I lost my way around this blog posting stuff for a few days, but I am back now!

My husband and I had an amazing weekend, sharing the stage at church with our pastor and a dear friend, talking about how to deal with Anger. You may be able to catch the video at www.cpcdanville.org, (click on the "sermons" tab and look at the January 14 sermon). We haven't looked at it yet ourselves...

Anger is a universal experience. It is not entirely wrong in itself. Getting angry is like developing a fever. It tells you something is wrong and you need to find out what it is. My husband quoted John Stott on the subject. He suggests that when anger wells up, we stop and ask, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. What is this anger?" In other words, "Why am I angry?"

A fever is a useful experience if we trace it down to the cause and deal with it. Now if you are spiking this "anger fever" a LOT, like every day, maybe the cause is not entirely outside yourself. Maybe its time for a little soul-work. Time to pray and search your own heart.

A diagnostic question would be: Does my anger consistently separate me from other people ? Are my reasons for being angry more important to me than the people who are on the other side of it? If that is true, your anger may have progressed from a "fever" to a full-blown illness of the heart. It may be in danger of becoming contagious, hurting other people and killing relationships.

It is very difficult to conquer anger on our own. The best we can do on our own is mask it, try to contain it or pretend it doesn't exist. We can attend "anger management" classes and learn how to breathe, take a time out, walk away, etc., but do those solutions really root out anger? Like all people I have had to face the consequences of anger in my own life. Because I am a believer in Jesus and the Bible, I have found help there.

Before you dismiss this "pie in the sky" approach, let me say that I have had 48 years as a believer to test the solutions my faith offers. I have learned the power of surrender to the God who is greater than myself, confessing my own helplessness and asking to be changed. THAT has made all the difference in my life. I have been able to get rid of anger in the most aggravating circumstances and I have been able to avoid anger over little things....not because of who I am, but because of who my God is. I still get angry sometimes, but I know there is a way to deal with the "fever" before it becomes a full-blown disease of the heart.

Psalm 4:4, 5 & 8 says: "In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent. Offer right sacrifices and trust in the Lord...I will lie down and sleep in peace for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety."

There are many names for anger: vengence, fury, road rage...what do you call yours? May we all take anger seriously and get to the source of it in our lives. Stop the "fever" before it becomes destructive.

He kept walking

I have been thinking a lot about Isaiah 52:13 through 53:12 the past week. It is a graphic prophecy about what the Messiah would go through at his death. It says he would be beaten and abused to the point of not appearing to be human anymore. It talks about how abandoned he would be as he died. It is an appalling story, but a story with a purpose because in the same chapters we read why the Messiah would die. We are the beneficiaries of his punishment.

The punishment that brought us peace was upon him." Isaiah 53:4

Now think about this: Isaiah is part of the Bible Jesus read and memorized and meditated upon as a boy and young man growing up in Galilee. He didn't have all of the books of the New Testament that we have. He had the Old Testament. He read the prophecies and, as his life continued, he knew that they applied to him.

As he walked toward Jerusalem that last few days of his life, do you think the prophecies of this passsage in Isaiah were filling his mind? He kept on walking, telling his friends what to expect when they arrived in the city. Some of them stopped walking with him because of the dire predictions about what was going to happen there, but Jesus kept walking.

If you could know exactly how you were going to die on a given day, would you change course to avoid it? Even if I knew it would be a quick, painless death, everything in me would try to avoid it. But Jesus walked straight into the place and time in which he was quite certain he would die an agonizing death---knowing what it would be like.

It amazes me to know this.

He must have been incredibly motivated by the thought of his own death. He believed it had a purpose or he could not have gone through with it. For what purpose would any of us willingly walk to the place where we would die? Jesus did it for love --because he was certain that we could never have eternal life without his death.

I offer you Isaiah 52:13-53:12 to read for yourself. Remember that Isaiah was one of Jesus' favorite books. I suggest that you talk with him about it as you read, since he is never too busy to spend that kind of time with you.

Was Tozer right?

A.W.Tozer said "What comes to mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us....We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God." (From The Knowledge of the Holy).

This morning I am thinking that

beyond what I think of God

maybe what is really important

is what HE is thinking

of me and of the people I just prayed for.

Maybe it doesn't matter what I think, or they think, if that thinking about God is uninformed, rebellious or willfully defiant of Him.

What if we don't care at all about what He thinks? Does that change how God thinks about us? Or does He remain completely holy, completely against sinful behavior and completely concerned about whether we will reconcile with Him today or not?

Today a number of people will find out what God has been thinking about them because they will pass from this earth into eternity and they will face Him. Most of the people I know and love will get through this day without that happening, but I am wondering how I should really be praying for them.

I want them to care about this issue of what God thinks about them.

I want to pray about the things God is actually concerned about for them.

If their mental image of God is that He is removed and unconcerned, or unable to deal with the issues of their lives, they are moving toward a bleak and unhappy spiritual life. I want them to move toward Him and discover His power and love and deep, deep concern for them. That is what I will pray for.

I know that God never stops thinking about us--all of us. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. It is more important to know what He thinks that what we think.