You, God, Lifted Me Out of the Depths – Psalm 30

I recall not wanting to wake up, just wanting to sleep. Every time I woke up the pain started again. This heart-wrenching pain was so raw and so acute it shot pangs of anxiety through me within the mix of chronic sleep deprivation and grief-induced depression.

Heaven help the person who grovels at the depths, for hell is no place for the human spirit. Once experienced it possibly leaves the possessor with a forever-changed perspective regarding one’s purpose in life and their ‘take’ on suffering. But, in the midst of the pain and torment we shriek the prayer, ‘God, lift me out of these depths!’

Psalm 30 concludes a string of psalms which speak of lament or plea for deliverance.[1] It’s a psalm or song for the sick and anguished. It speaks of the suffering psalmist as having once experienced, at separate times, both favour and derision from God. Only one thing matters; being freed from the torture that life has become.

He cries aloud to the Lord his God; will the dust praise him or proclaim his faithfulness? (Verse 9b) As if God would be swayed by these sentiments like we can twist his arm. Yet we express them in any event such is our one-track focus.

Yet, God does eventually relent. After our heart-rending trial God’s anger is revealed to have only lasted a moment; his favour, a lifetime (verse 5a).

I recall many a night weeping uncontrollably for an extended time, in my aloneness, crying myself to sleep. And I always found God’s sweet therapy in my contrite tears. By morning all would be good again--I woke able to function yet one more day. My hope was but an oily rag but it was sufficient. This is solid testimony for the truth in verse 5b, “weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” (TNIV)

This psalm is sung in the past tense for the greater part. It’s a song of God’s faithfulness at the dedication of the temple. It speaks after the rabid distress, not so much in the middle of it.

As for me, life moved on rapidly. In my depths, as I look back now, was found to be a time when I truly got to know and accept myself. It was a time when I truly got to know and seek God. I was desperate for him and lost without him. And that’s the way it’s actually meant to be for us, all of us.

And this is the focus of this psalm--a plea to make all things right once again. At our depths, for the psalmist, and I, this could only be achieved through God. And nothing changes.

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[1] Gerald H. Wilson, Psalms Volume 1 – The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002), p. 514.

The Ten Commandments In Proverbs 1:8-33

Some time ago I noticed something that seemed almost all-encompassing in Proverbs 1 and later I determined it was a loose linkage with the Old Covenant, recalling the giving of the Law in Exodus 20. Here’s how I think it fits in the context of the introduction to Proverbs:

ONE: Do not have other gods besides God himself... Verses 1:20-23 warns us to heed Wisdom’s lone call and rebuke. Her thoughts and teachings will then be made known. Otherwise we’ll flounder without a sole focus on her i.e. personified Wisdom which is from God.

TWO: the longest commandment--and with it, consequences; and connected with the previous--Do not make idols or worship other things besides God. The created thing is pathetic in competitive context with the Creator. In verse 1:13 the plunder of others is placed as paramount. God doesn’t get a look in.

THREE: Do not misuse the name of God... when we call on God (vs. 1:28, 30), at times too late, we can expect to be ignored for a time. We’ve sown our own consequences. We’ve misused God and disrespected his name when we expect to snap our fingers and have our desperate pleas answered when in reality we’ve not walked at all with him.

FOUR: Keep the Sabbath day holy... in one word, rest. Verses 1:16-19 imply a hastening for ill-gotten gain--at the expense of peace. This evil bent in the intent of some “takes away the life of those who get it,” i.e. it takes away their peace.

FIVE: Honour mother and father... Proverbs is full of this theme, and fittingly it proposes this right up front in this section (i.e. v. 1:8) after the Purpose and Theme of Proverbs in verses 1:1-7.

Our fathers’ instruction and mothers’ teaching are to be honoured above all else when in alignment with God, but at times this will be quite apart from his will. There enters a challenge. God is to be the final arbiter of our actions. His will be done we pray!

SIX: Do not murder... in verses 1:11-12, 16 we see the murderous intent of those seeking to ambush some poor soul with feet swift to shed blood. Proverbs, of course, provides the stark imagery to edify us on what not to do.

SEVEN: Do not commit adultery... with irony, because this theme is both dotted and detailed throughout Proverbs 1–9, it’s difficult to link this, the only single commandment not obviously positioned in Proverbs 1. The harlot uses the same cunning rhetoric, however, as the Invitation of Sinful Men in the chapter in question.

EIGHT: Do not steal... The promise of the thief who pulls us in tow toward material gain in verse 1:13 (TNIV) viz, “... we will get all sorts of valuable things and fill our houses with plunder.” We’d steal what is materially important to others and God--a grievous sin.

NINE: Do not lie... in verse 1:10f (and throughout this section) we get a glimpse of an important truth. If we keep the company of liars we’ll tend to be ensnared in the very same behaviour.

TEN: Do not covet... in verses 1:13-14 the intention is to focus upon and crave the things of others. Therein lies another warning of the thing not to do.

Proverbs, especially in this section, so effectively warns us through imagery we can identify with. If we only heed the teaching of mother and father, investing with Wisdom, heeding her rebukes, we’ll “live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm” (v. 33 TNIV).

Less is More with the Lord

Whenever I’m despondent about not getting the recognition I feel I deserve in life I like to be reminded that less is actually more with God. Think about it. Most of our lives we’re thinking of success in the wrong terms i.e. popularity in numbers, for instance.

It’s like the pastor who occasionally gets down about the never-increasing size of his or her congregation--they are perhaps inclined to forget (like we all are) that they’ve been placed there deliberately for this flock of church attenders, to actively assist in the growth of their lives, very personally at times--what an utter privilege!

We must somehow forget the Mega-church model of success. It isn’t real, or if it is it’s only real for very few people. Are the Rob Bell’s’ of this world really any more special or blessed than the pastor of a 50-attender church, or do they simply just have a different call?

Or what about the manager who works hard to become the general manager. Odds are they’ll be disappointed, simply because they have so much competition for a job like that and there are so few of those positions in any event. Surely only those truly destined for that sort of position will get it.

With God less is more. The less we’re recognised the more glory to him. The more we’re found blissfully unaware of the worldly measures of success, the more glory goes to the Lord, and the more peace we experience.

This is a step change in our default thinking. None of us naturally equates success with ‘less.’ Our fleshy desires turn everything good, tainting it to conform to our ‘abundant’ desires.

But, kingdom values turn the tables on the world’s perception of success, and in so many different ways we’re to think oppositely. We’re to transform our thinking, renewing our minds (Romans 12:2) such that our thinking reflects God’s thinking... less, not more.

Are you ready to achieve more for God by getting less recognition? Are we all collectively ready to soar to a level of life well beyond the world?

Faith’s a Winner! (Even Within ‘Inaction’)

The life of faith is a much more interesting proposition than living life constantly fearful or in a faithless way, swept up as a victim in situations of quandary. And by faith (for the uninitiated) I mean an approach to meeting life difficulties and triumphs that simply doesn’t respond much differently (than we normally would). It’s the same response no matter the stimuli.

When we receive that bad news phone call, for instance, our first reaction--our gut instinct--is to shout and scream, or at least protest and complain and seek a better outcome. With faith we reserve judgment, and we wait on God to help us…

I was reminded of this when recently sitting in McDonald’s sharing a meal and a drink with my daughter as we waited before her time came to do her driving exam. I got a call from a ‘private number’ and decided to answer (I don’t always answer these). It was the licensing centre saying they had to re-schedule due to the unavailability of the examiner.

(NB: It had been quite a re-shuffle in my schedule that allowed me to take the time to support my daughter in her test--on this occasion to no avail, seemingly. As I took the call I was thinking, ‘how am I going to re-jig my schedule?’)

My first (mental and emotional) response was to complain and negotiate a better outcome, but instead--and I love it when this happens--God’s Spirit got in on the act and helped me; I just listened and cooperated with the customer service officer on the end of the line. She had a job to do. My job was not to make her day more difficult.

Trusting in that moment, and choosing to smile through it, kept me upbeat for my daughter (who was feeling sickly nervous due to lack of sleep anyway) and Sandi on the other end of the line probably had ten of these calls to make.

We re-scheduled without any fuss and that was that.

What I recall most was my change of heart over the ensuing 30 minutes or so. It took some time before I could actually see the wisdom and benefit in the re-schedule, and there surely was--as there is to all dire circumstances; that silver lining to every hanging dark cloud.

Having the faith to just listen and not interject I feel is very important in life. It’s equally important to have this sort of faith as it is to express courage in acting in faith. Inaction can prove itself very wise; sometimes we just have to ‘get out of the way,’ with pride, ignorance, selfishness and lack of knowledge being only a few nemeses that can make us stumble and fall.

Faith is the only true and real way to really live. We see right here why it is impossible to truly please God without even the faintest vestibules of faith; mustard seed faith. It’s because our faith and God’s inevitable plan work in unison to achieve good in this life.

Faith is hence a necessary pre-requisite to true success in life. It works for us and those around us, not against.

When It’s Simply Me and You

Our youth pastor at our local church has named his youth group, “The Audience of One,” and a name like that, for a Christian group couldn’t be more apt. As I reflected on this name and a newly formed Facebook group and youth services planned I was caused to remember Os Guinness’s, The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life.

The very thought of sacrificing and surrendering all hope of fame, ambition, achievement, and recognition is abhorrent for the human nature within us. We all seem to do things for the approval of someone.

Guinness observes a ‘vital feature’ of Christian calling:

“A life lived listening to the decisive call of God is a life lived before one audience that trumps all others--the Audience of One.”[1]

When it’s simply me and you, Lord, it means I have only you to impress, you to focus on... to sacrifice to, to worship, to work for, and to find and rediscover anew every day.
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It’s tantamount to personal relationship; the Spirit of God within us (Luke 17:21). When we finally discover the radical truth that we’ve already achieved everything once we receive his call, we realise the freedom that 99 percent of the world’s population may never ever know, and more is the pity.

Suddenly our eyes are opened and, like Saul who became Paul, the scales fall from our eyes, and we determine to live a radically different life--the Spirit of God pulsing from within us. People can’t possibly understand. It has to be experienced, personally. We’re thrilled to sing:

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” –Revelation 5:12 (NIV).

Life is like this when all’s boiled down. When the fancy frills of life, the transitory things, are all stripped away, it’s just me and him. That’s the way of eternity, now and to come!

If you’re like Bono singing I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, then I can say with complete assurance this thing of faith is for you. We find him and we find everything.

[1] Os Guinness, The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life (Nashville, Tennessee: W Publishing Group, 1998, 2003), p. 70.

Psalm 114 – Testimony of Presence & Deliverance

Right in the mix of the Hallel psalms (Psalms 113-118), preceding the Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120-134) and separated only by the ‘theological monster’ (Psalm 119), comes this one which reaches right back to the holy nation’s Exodus from Egypt and the journey to the Promised Land.

Universally a hymn,[1] this psalm is quite unlike the vast majority of psalms which speak about personal or communal lament, grief, joy, thanksgiving and praise. But it is incredibly fluent and graphically resplendent in situating for today’s reader the glorious works of the LORD God in history.

The final six of the eight verses read almost straight out of something like the latter part of Job where Elihu has his point of view, followed by God’s direct charge to Job. These verses speak so much about the visible earth-shaking miracles that must’ve simply awed the people of God, at least at that time, into an unshakable knowledge of the Most High.

The event that is the Exodus cannot ever be underestimated in its power and significance for the Jewish people. It’s every bit as significant as the forging of the New Covenant in Jesus Christ for the Christian. It speaks deliverance, and of God’s enduring loving faithfulness.

The Christian is doubly blessed to have linked into the Jewish tradition via the Exodus--the prelude to the Old Covenant and New, both of which are equally relevant to us, and likewise so, the story of the entry into the Promised Land.

Getting back to Psalm 114, it speaks of God’s inimitable Presence. As the mountains leapt and the sea fled at the pure touch of God’s hand, his breath breathing over the earth, the people must’ve been totally and irrevocably aghast.

As they saw and later recalled Moses commanding water from the rock with two strikes of his staff via verse 8 (and Numbers 20:1-11), again they saw and remember God, not Moses’ ‘magic.’[2] It’s God’s Presence manifest in deliverance for the people, today as yesterday.

Psalm 114, sung or chanted in the Hallel sequence, is fundamentally about “connecting place and people with meaning and hope.”[3] The connection of history, deliverance, and the Presence of God is fused in this seldomly acclaimed (at least in our culture) psalm.

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ENDNOTES:
[1] Philip S. Johnston & David G. Firth (eds), Interpreting the Psalms: Issues and Approaches (Leicester, England: Apollos/IVP, 2005), p. 299.
[2] But, God’s Presence is not simply about the awesome wonders; we see in the remainder of Numbers 20 how the people (Moses and Aaron included) would be frustrated in their insolence. Meribah, the waters of quarrelling, was where God said, ‘Enough is enough,’ regarding the whining of the Israelites.
[3] James L. Mays, Psalms – Interpretation Commentary (Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1994), p. 365.

Joy with a Seriously Reflective Twist! – Psalm 95

There are two sides to everything when we think about it. Rarely is anything always as it seems, always (or should I say all ways). Psalm 95 is wedged in amongst a special group of psalms which laud the LORD God for his great works and nature. It starts out joyously, celebrating God for just some of these great attributes; but in its ending there’s a sharp and sombre reminder.

Praise and thanksgiving, two great responses of the people in the context of the psalms, are both displayed in the initial seven verses. These commemorate the fact that the LORD is above all gods (v. 3), and not only did he create all things, but he indeed holds the depths of the earth in his hands (v. 4). He is in sovereign control--the King of kings, Lord of lords. He is the great God.

Though this psalm is vividly anthropomorphic it doesn’t stop there. In a matter of two snappy verses the psalmist sets up for another mood, as he completes a picture of the objective of worship in verse 6-7, extolling the fact that God is the great Pastor (Shepherd) over us, his sheep; he cares for all our needs.

However, the only One worthy of our worship requires something of us...

By far the most important part of the song of this psalm is the sharp reminder of the mentality of the gospel--for us to remain open-minded and open-hearted--as we enter the tests and trials that inevitably come in this life.

We’re reminded of the rebellion of Moses’ day where Yahweh was furious with the cowardice of his holy nation to enter the land he’d prepared for them. Numbers tells us he left the Israelites to ‘turn circles’ for forty years, one year for every day they explored this land, for their stubborn disobedience (Numbers 14:34).

It’s here that we see a lack of unification in God and a weakening of resolve of faithfulness to him who can achieve for us so much more abundantly than we can achieve of ourselves.

When we harden our hearts in life, we alone stand to be condemned in the action. We indeed condemn ourselves, for we know that a proud and stubborn heart is unworkable in the sight of God as he’ll always ask of us things that test our desires such that they’d be given over for his will to be done (and how often do those results transform us incredibly?!).

As our hearts go astray, seemingly following the gist of the warnings of Hebrews and Jude to name just two, we enter a place that somewhat resembles hell--a place devoid of God’s Spirit. When we reach this place in our hearts we quickly realise we’ve sacrificed the long-earned rest for something quite unsatisfying.

We are thankful, however, that since the New Covenant in Jesus Christ, we’re but a moment away from re-entering God’s rest as we submit, finally, our hearts and minds to his authority and direction. We find here, finally, a place of real expansive empowerment and we realise, at last, the world of God is a huge place with copious freedoms.

How to Successfully Sear the Conscience of Your Child

The title of this article is actually quite a facetious dig. It’s aimed at each of us parents who inadvertently sets our children up to fail in life (i.e. fall short) by not allowing them to suffer the indignity of the natural consequences of their actions.

We’ve all done this. Gone to rescue one of our children, returning them from the breech, so as they didn’t have to endure the pain we had to. And all they learned from our attempt at securing for them their emotional safety was how to be unable to exercise, and cope with, the conscience--that powerful tool of the mind and heart which helps us navigate moral right from moral wrong.
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We know that the conscience warns us and then if we don’t heed the warning it begins to accuse us. We face self-condemnation, and the moral mind does this for our own protection, so we don’t venture into vice and beyond.

When a parent interrupts this natural process, which God designed, they cause a disconnect to occur in the heart of the child--the child becomes disconnected from relationships affected and inevitably the world.

When we are ‘anesthetised’ from the natural effects of the conscience we set up a quite dangerous set of circumstances. The conscience hence becomes less acutely piqued, and all of a sudden we’ve started to disable such a great life response mechanism; the cauterisation of our moral capacity begins to occur--the very lifeblood of life in relationship itself.

As a steak is seared on both sides on a barbeque to keep the juices in, so the conscience can also be seared so as to not recognise or allow stimulus from the world that would engender growth toward mental, emotional and spiritual maturity. A seared conscience denies the truth--the truth that is designed to set us free!

If we continue numbing our kids from the pains of life, we’ll sear their consciences alright, and, unfortunately, whilst we’ll actually be the ones who should be blamed, they’ll end up being the fools. They won’t even know what they’re doing wrong because they won’t know any differently.
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Proverbs is always a safe place to turn to in the parenting task. The sages say:

“Discipline your children while there is hope. Otherwise you will ruin their lives”... [and] “To discipline a child produces wisdom, but a mother is disgraced by an undisciplined child” –Proverbs 19:18 & 29:15 (NLT).

If we accept that it is God’s way to discipline us in the normal flow of life, we will also understand that it is God’s way for us to discipline our children.

So, in all of this we’re to ensure that our kids face the desserts of their desires and the ignominy of their actions. Like us, they should suffer the natural consequences of their mistakes and errors, lapses and violations--regardless of intentionality. To alleviate the sentence is to invoke the same mistake again, and to a point where the lesson may very well become lost on them. We are doing them (and ourselves and the world) no favours in this.

Four Approaches to Conflict, Only One to Forgiveness

How many ways are there to forgive and forget or hold an elephant-sized grudge? Everyone has their own way of dealing with conflict in life and there are endless philosophies on how and when to forgive. It seems at times that the world just lives to be in conflict or get over conflict, and a range of circumstances between.

At a chemical spill workshop recently a fire services scientist gave those attending a golden lesson on how some chemicals react in sea water. It was interesting contrasting caustic soda with sulphuric acid, for instance. But it was his description of what happens to a spill on and in water that perked up most notice in me.

As a consequence of a chemical spill, the substance sinks to the bottom, floats on the surface, evaporates into the air or dilutes in the water. For example, caustic soda dilutes very effectively in sea water, whilst sulphuric acid sinks (and creates all sorts of problems at the bottom, including the leaching of heavy metals into the marine ecosystem!).

So, what’s this got to do with forgiveness? Here’s what:

Like the sulphuric acid, sinkers let their conflicts sink deep within them and bury their issues where they can only fester into irreconcilable resentments. Spiritually they go from bad to worse and these people become damaged goods.

Floaters allow people to have the benefit of them. They’re quite submissive and the label ‘door mat’ fits quite nicely. But, with a floating conflict the damage lingers and the issue doesn’t go away--it just floats on the surface for ages, and can even become the ‘elephant in the room.’ This is veiled forgiveness. The person says they’ve forgiven, but they haven’t truly dealt with the issue.

Similarly, yet not the same, evaporators simply let the conflict waft away and never do anything with it. It’s as if it never happened, but the conflict is not fixed--it’s not processed. ‘In one ear and out the other,’ my mother used to say, and this is how it is for evaporators; they don’t let much meaningful sink in--perhaps it’s in some cases a self-protection mechanism?

Diluters absorb the conflict and have a way of assimilating it in a meaningful way. They dilute the corrosiveness of the conflict and use whatever good can be achieved from it and ditch the rest. The negative power of the conflict is hence diffused.

Diluters have found ways of coping with the initial emotive power of the conflict; they have the self-esteem to ‘hold the tension’ of the conflict without the emotion overpowering them. They also have the courage to assertively and respectfully confront the issue with those involved in seeking a way through for all.

By far and away, the diluting approach, which heals us through a process of forgiveness, is the best way in dealing with reconciliation and the restoration of relationships.

Family Doesn’t Stand A Chance... Or Does It?

There are so many things that can and do come against the modern family. Modern life has a way of competing for the interest of husband, wife, sibling and child. Temptation meets the carnal nature of each one of us in some way or other at any given moment, and all we can do is “contend for the faith” (and our families) if we’re cognisant of it.

The book of Jude targets this issue of contending for the faith in insightful and challenging ways. It mounts an argument in truth that there’s a common source behind everything that comes against us, not the false teacher, but the power behind them--Satan.

Satan’s not interested in us worshipping him; his sole interest is us not worshipping God. That is his sole intention, his very purpose of existence--to fool us into thinking there is no God. And look at how many times he succeeds, and with not only atheists, but with those who sit the theological fence to those who worship many gods (including Christians).

Satan is especially delighted in materialist, comfy, pharisaic Christians, for at one extreme the Christian’s faith is impotent. It does nothing for the kingdom. At the other end the Christian is so fervent in their knowledge they put every would-be convert on notice not to believe. People of good sense smell the rot of legalism from miles off.

Today’s nuclear family is blissfully unaware of Satan’s wiles and more is the pity. Dad’s more interested in how his footy tips are going than growing spiritually, and often times he’s even roped Mum and the kids into ‘the tipping comp,’ so football is the prevailing focus of a week leading up to the weekend--and the weekend of course. Dad’s also either got much too much or much too little on his mind.

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For Mum, she’s often working hard during the week so she doesn’t have a lot left over at the weekend. Perhaps she enjoys a drink? In fact, both Mum and Dad are likely to be affluent enough that that’s what carries them to the weekend--a few ‘cleansing ales’ or a ‘smooth red’ or five.

The kids aren’t left out. What with Wii, DSi, MySpace, Facebook (and many, many more) there’s not much of a risk they’ll venture outside to either exercise or invigorate their imaginations. So much ‘easy’ entertainment can’t be good.

We’re all victims... or are we? Like the cute family dog, we roll over and play dead it seems.
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There’s got to be a better way.

Jude urges the faithful to stand against the people and things that are devoid of the Spirit, the things causing division in households (v. 19). He urges an awareness to well up within us as to what’s actually happening, before it’s too late.

Satan is into propagating the generational curses that are in your family, and mine. His tricks are very, very subtle. There are none wiser than Satan, bar God himself.

But Jude says, “build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on some who are wavering; save others by snatching them out of the fire; and have mercy on still others with fear, hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies” –Jude 20-23 (NRSV).

This passage says a lot. It exhorts us to contend for our faith (v. 3) and hold on and not backslide (which is literally the same message of Hebrews). We must look forward for that day of literal redemption, though many of us haven’t given it serious thought in years. And we live eternally now, looking ever forward, Spiritually.

Even more importantly, this section guides us in how we’re to contend for others’ faith. We are to have mercy on the strugglers and stragglers, and to take the courage to do what the Spirit whispers for us to do. Finally, we’re to assuage guilt that the enemy loves to inflict. We do not subscribe to guilt. We are not to be bound by our previous, condemning beliefs.
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The best thing for the modern family is a united mother and father; united in faith; united in Christ. For when these circumstances combine they conspire for us and against the enemy and his pathetic strength is shown for what it is--transitory and mute, in comparison with God’s.

The Stuff of Dreams – Psalm 126

Imagine our greatest adversaries saying of us, “The LORD has done great things for them.” In the acknowledgement that indeed they’d been proved right in their faith, the Israelites rejoiced that their dreams had finally been realised--they returned from captivity.

And so it is for us when we’ve broken from the captivity of the binding of this world, when we finally commence the life we’d always wanted to lead. This can be release from a habit, a job, a harrowing situation, even from grief.

For an entire nation, the Remnant that was carried off to exile, to have lived in an initially strange land for some seventy years, it must have been a difficult choice to leave all behind to ‘go home,’ and be part of rebuilding the Temple and the holy city of Jerusalem, Zion.

Those who sowed in tears eventually reaped with shouts of joy (v. 5) as they realised materially what had been sacrificed in advance spiritually. These people risked security for purpose because they knew they were nothing without their God.

They left something good to pursue something better. They knew that there’s no safer place to be than smack bang in the centre of God’s will. They knew that to stay would be to stray from his will--the worst possible thought.

And we too have our dreams, but the irony is the life we enjoy today often cushions and stifles the real dreams God has for us. We almost have to go beyond the obvious, easy thing to embrace the better thing.

To be in the will of God is not easier by any stretch, and tears there are in abundance along that pilgrimage, but it is better by far to go and not come back.

We leave the captive Babylon (the comfy Western creature comforts) to seek the Zion of our heart’s desire, in God. He takes us there, delivers us for free, and sets our feet on the rock of the mightiest future any human being could either conceive or undertake.

Our dreams are manifest in reality and our hearts are filled with giggly laughter. Without God, however, the picture of life becomes undeniably opaque.

To go and not come back is to live a free life where the currency is love and wisdom, truth and grace. This place is the territory of the heart, the landscape of the Creator. This place is heaven, Zion.

Acknowledgement to the Sons of Korah who inspired this piece: http://www.sonsofkorah.com/.

Who is like you, O LORD? (Psalm 35:10a)

There are plenty of so-so verses in the Bible, for instance the vast amount that set context, but some are simply rivetingly powerful, and verse 10a of Psalm 35 says an incredible amount about the God who defends us and brings us to glory.

Psalm 35 is pungently imprecatory. In other words, the psalmist does a peculiar thing in Christian tradition and speaks in vengeance regarding his foes. We Christianise this by allowing the psalmist the latitude of seeking appropriate vengeance through petition to God.

But, we underplay the pure power of this verse by limiting its scope within the field of imprecation--the cursing of the enemy--for this is a declaration of faith in God to deliver.

Historically, it seems that the king (David) was hemmed-in through the war of attrition, even possible legal ramifications of dispute over a treaty. His foes were using advantage and doing so deceptively, baffling his grip on stately power.

Faith such as this, deep in distress, with an entire kingdom at stake is bold at the very least, especially considering the evil that is returned for the good offered.

For David, with friends like this who needs enemies?

The undying faith of a David, whose commitment to God was unbending, was based in the very fact of total courageous obedience (in this circumstance), and it’s a great example for us, of course.

In the midst of distress he has the composure, and earnest faith, to reverence God as more awesome than anyone or anything; the most unique deity, and the only one worthy of his entire devotion. He fixes his eyes on God (Hebrews 12:2).

With such a view he could remain steadfast of heart toward leaning (Proverbs 3:5-6) with full confidence in God’s deliverance. His allegiance was not for sale and he asks unswervingly and is completely stable of mind (James 1:6).

And this is his confidence...

Who is like God? The creator of the heavens and the earth, the spiritual and the material, and of all life, is sovereign over all things. He is creator in past, present and future tenses. If we could not place our full confidence in him, what or who could we place our confidence in?

It bears strong consideration. “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens... [And] The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” –Psalms 8:1 & 19:1 (NIV).

A Rare Blessing: from a Surprising Source (the turning of the worm)

It is rare indeed that I’m moved viscerally by the words of a critic. Ordinarily it’s God I listen to because my faith in humankind is, quite frankly, minimal to say the least. A few valued mentors I listen to, but many I don’t take with more than a pinch of salt. There are many blind guides out there.

If I’m rarely moved by a critic, I’m generally even less moved by the swinging, swaying ways of this world which a great many love to enter into and specifically write about. A little while back, however, I inadvertently entered into a debate about a certain critic and this critic hence “raptured” himself into bloggivion.

I was humbled in the event of this person’s ‘falling on their sword’ that they sought me out to offer encouragement to continue following God’s call for my life. (As if I have a choice, praise God.)

I valued this person for their perception of things and their incontrovertible (my opinion) intelligence regarding spiritual and life matters. He and I think more similarly than others would like. He is a follower of truth. So much so (and I won’t get into methods--as I’m not aware of things done) he got a few bloggers noses out of joint and had me challenged more than once.

I was left reflecting upon the last of this person’s comments on my blog. They showed genuine humility, courage and selflessness in commenting in such a way that I felt immediately motivated to prostrate myself headlong before God in repentance (and for that I was thankful).

There are common blessings in life like waking up alive and breathing of a morning. There are also rare blessings; things that don’t happen every day--these might only ever occur once! This person, and I’m not sure if they knew it or not, had provided me with the sort of feedback I’d yearned for, for every writer must ask, ‘Do they like the stuff I write?’ and ‘Is it relevant to people’s lives?’ etc.

For me, personally, that was a paramount moment and I will thank God eternally for this gift of his grace through an undoubted servant--someone who chose to encourage when the worldly way would’ve been to roundly condemn.

As an aside, I’ve prayed for this person every time I’ve entered my workplace passwords during the past month. I’ve prayed that they’d simply be blessed. God bless you, whoever you are!

Safety - Who Wants It?

I have noticed that those who’re most interested in their physical safety are also those most likely to take an interest in their spiritual safety. I wonder, truly, whether there is a correlation.

My job involves a lot of safety promotion. During the recent deployment of a program of “safety impact” sessions, via a lunch ‘n’ learn format, I observed that the people who accepted my invitation to these events were the people (from my own perception of things) most open to the spiritual things and the ‘meaning of life,’ and their part in that context, in general.

This view aligns with my perception of myself. Intrinsically bonded am I to both safety and spirituality. Of course, the observation is a generalisation. Some people cannot make the planned sessions due to prior commitments.

It bears thinking about though, doesn’t it? Where our values lie, these determine our priorities. We have the choice to do what we please for the most part.

Unfortunately, the same people who think that the fatal accident isn’t going to happen to them (or their loved ones) are probably also blissfully unaware of the spiritual urgency manifest in this humdrum sort of life.

We’re queer in that way. It always happens to someone else... the accidental death or maiming... heaven and hell are no consideration because they don’t exist, right?

I don’t know about you, but it’s a hell of a risk to take if you’ll pardon the pun. Throwing caution to the wind regarding either our physical safety or our spiritual safety is folly at best and tragedy at worst (as it plays out in real life and life beyond).

What we must do is ‘give a heck.’ It matters. It matters in all sorts of ways!

“In the End” It Doesn’t Even Matter (Inspired by Linkin Park)

There’s a great deal of folly in saving now in order to live later, certainly as far as the out-of-balance approach some people take in living their lives. The generations old approach of working hard right up until retirement age to enjoy the (short) spoils of retirement, has not only made a return it’s morphed into ‘work your guts out to retire even earlier,’ and greed drives it.

Mortgages and material possessions are acquired at break-neck speed for these people--and then there’s the midlife heart attack or stroke (or some other health condition) to look forward to. It may seem an exaggeration but how many spend most of their lives away from their families to earn their squillions?

Linkin Park have nailed this prospect in the chorus of their haunting song In the End. This is how it goes:

I tried so hard

And got so far

But in the end

It doesn’t even matter

I had to fall

To lose it all

But in the end

It doesn’t even matter

For mine, people will continue their own sweet, unbalanced way of greed and acquisition-at-any-cost until they “fall, to lose it all.” And this is after possibly decades of getting it wrong--how demoralising.

Jesus talks about remaining alert and ready in Matthew 24; none of us knows when the Lord will come, only the Father (v. 36). He will come in the night like a thief (v. 43). The event and circumstances of our deaths will always be a mystery.

Indeed, the Parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:13-21) propounds this most powerful truth. The rich farmer produced an amazing crop and was troubled for a place to put his ‘abundance.’ In tearing down his small barns to build bigger ones his plans bargained on living perpetually--and certainly not dying.

He didn’t account for the ever-present possibility of his death. “God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’” –Luke 12:20 (NRSV). His greed simply stored up wealth for someone else. That’s the potential lot for those not rich toward God.

There’s a series of proverbs alluding to these very issues. “The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it an unscalable wall” –Proverbs 18:11 (NIV). How easily we can be fooled into choosing money over God (as it’s either one or the other, not both) thinking that we buy some kind of protection. In the end it crumbles like stacked cards. It doesn’t even matter. Money, in this way, is the falsest pretence.

If we combine two more we get a fascinating picture: “Good people leave an inheritance for their children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous... Whoever increases wealth by taking interest or profit from the poor amasses it for another, who will be kind to the poor” –Proverbs 13:22 & 28:8 (TNIV). Greed, here, is the confounding glue of folly. All that hard work to build a dominion--and for what? At least the booty will go somewhere it’s actually needed!

So, what’s the wise thing to do in life around acquisitions?

Clearly it’s wise to buy a home and provide for our families, planning for a future that ensures we can enjoy as comfortable a life as God allows. But there has to be a balance in the swinging pendulum. We have to live today, for others, and for ourselves--but ultimately for God. This is investing in a relationship dependent on God--which is no easy matter. This requires much commitment and trial and error in itself. People shun dependency in our prevalent culture.

The cliché “life’s a journey” is so worn through, but it remains true. Nothing worthwhile ever comes easy. But, the real fruit belongs to, and with, and in, God.

Money or God? Live now or later? Both of these are easy choices. But it’s got to be a daily, moment by moment choice; choices congruent with our personal values.

None of us I’m sure truly wants to end life whistling the chorus of the Linkin Park song as a life epitaph.