Praying for Revival

Readings for today: 2 Chronicles 4-7, Psalms 134, 136

“If my people, my God-defined people, respond by humbling themselves, praying, seeking my presence, and turning their backs on their wicked lives, I’ll be there ready for you: I’ll listen from heaven, forgive their sins, and restore their land to health.” (2 Chronicles‬ ‭7‬:‭14 ‭MSG‬‬)

What will it take to win our nation to Christ? I’ve spent countless hours praying over and pondering this question. I’ve traveled the world and asked this same question of believers in different countries, some far more hostile to the gospel than my own. I’ve watched different Christians in different places use different methods as they sought to win their nation for Jesus. Some use politics. Some use social protest. Some seek to leverage wealth and power. Some seek to build a platform and become an influencer.

The most effective method by far happens to be the most ancient. The most biblical. Plant churches. Evangelize the lost. Serve the world with humility, sacrificial love, and an abundance of grace. The time I spent in Ethiopia recently only reinforced this truth for me. As we meet with indigenous denominational leader after indigenous denominational leader, we hear the same thing. They each love their nation. They have a passion to see their people come to Christ. They are united in their efforts to reach the lost. So what are they doing? They are praying fervently. They are sending church planters to some of the hardest to reach areas of their country. Regions where warfare has recently raged. Regions where there is famine and potential starvation. Regions where there is tribal unrest. No hardship is too great. No suffering too much to endure. They ”count everything as loss when compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ” and they are winning a nation to Him as a result.

Imagine what could happen if the US church would rediscover a similar passion? Imagine what could happen if believers in the US developed a passion for evangelism? Committed their time and resources and energies to planting churches in neighborhoods where there is no gospel presence? Imagine if we could put aside our denominational and secondary theological differences? Humbly repent of our sin? Imagine if instead of seeking to dominate, we instead sought to serve? After all, it is God’s steadfast love - “hesed” in the original Hebrew - that leads to repentance and revival.

Do you pray for revival? Revival in God’s Church? Revival in our nation? Revival in your own heart? For years now, this verse from 2 Chronicles has been lifted up as the model prayer for revival. So how do we put it into practice? We humble ourselves. Before the Lord. Before each other. Before the world. We are broken people. We are sinful people. We have no right to claim any moral high ground. We ask God to continue His sanctifying work in us. We beg the Holy Spirit to give us eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to understand the mind of Christ. We seek God’s face. We stop believing the world revolves around us. We stop treating God like some on-call, cosmic concierge whose only purpose for existence is to meet our emotional needs. We stop treating worship like a consumer product and instead give God the worship He deserves in the way He demands. And finally, we turn from our wicked ways. We come clean. We confess. We repent. We make ourselves vulnerable and transparent before God, before each other, and before the world. Most importantly, we do these things authentically with no other agenda than to come clean before our Heavenly Father.  

Readings for tomorrow: Psalms 146-150

Relationship

Readings for today: 1 Kings 7-8, Psalm 11

What does it mean to be in relationship with God? I’ve been helping some people in my life wrestle with this idea lately. We’ve been having lots of conversations about God and what and why to believe. Over and over again, they keep coming back to religion. They talk about God as an abstract, philosophical idea. They talk about codes of ethics. They talk about laws and rules and expectations. And they struggle because they cannot imagine aligning their life along these lines. It feels arbitrary. Coercive. One of them was at least honest with me and said, “You know I’m pretty much anti-authority, right?” ;-)

My response in these conversations is to try to reframe their thinking around relationship. If our connection to God is mediated through religion then I can understand their objections. Why would anyone want to submit their life to a set of rules that necessarily limited their freedoms? That doesn’t have much appeal to me either. But what if our connection to God was mediated through a relationship? What if God was good and loving and could be trusted to know what’s best for us? Wouldn’t that change things?

This is the heart behind Solomon’s great prayer of dedication. Yes, there were a lot of rules and rituals associated with Temple worship but at it’s foundation is a covenantal relationship with the Living God. You see this mapped out in the different examples Solomon cites from everyday life when he prays…

“When someone hurts a neighbor and promises to make things right, and then comes and repeats the promise before your Altar in this Temple, listen from heaven and act accordingly: Judge your servants, making the offender pay for his offense and setting the offended free of any charges.” (1 Kings‬ ‭8‬:‭31-32‬ ‭MSG)

“When your people Israel are beaten by an enemy because they’ve sinned against you, but then turn to you and acknowledge your rule in prayers desperate and devout in this Temple, Listen from your home in heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, return them to the land you gave their ancestors.” (1 Kings‬ ‭8‬:‭33‬-‭34‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

“When the skies shrivel up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, but then they pray at this place, acknowledging your rule and quitting their sins because you have scourged them, Listen from your home in heaven, forgive the sins of your servants, your people Israel. Then start over with them: Train them to live right and well; send rain on the land you gave your people as an inheritance.” (1 Kings‬ ‭8‬:‭35‬-‭36‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

“When disasters strike, famine or catastrophe, crop failure or disease, locust or beetle, or when an enemy attacks their defenses—calamity of any sort—any prayer that’s prayed from anyone at all among your people Israel, hearts penetrated by the disaster, hands and arms thrown out to this Temple for help, Listen from your home in heaven. Forgive and go to work on us. Give what each deserves, for you know each life from the inside (you’re the only one with such “inside knowledge”!) so that they’ll live before you in lifelong reverent and believing obedience on this land you gave our ancestors.” (1 Kings‬ ‭8‬:‭37‬-‭40‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

Clearly, Solomon has more in view than just religion here. He believes with His whole heart that God Himself has come to dwell with His people. Come to meet with His people face to face. Come to show His great love to His people in person. It’s a powerful prayer and an even more powerful way to think about faith in God. Faith in God is not a commitment to certain ethical code. It is not a belief in an abstract set of theological principles. It is the most intimate relationship we can have in this life because we are relating to the same God who shaped and formed us in our mother’s wombs. The same God who loved us and called us by name from eternity. The same God who bled and died for us on the cross. The same God who rose again to open the way to heaven. The same God who’s coming again to claim His own, set all things right, and make all things new. This is the God we worship and adore and He invites us into His presence so we can know Him and love Him and worship Him.

Readings for tomorrow: 2 Chronicles 4-7, Psalms 134, 136

God’s Temple

Readings for today: 1 Kings 5-6, 2 Chronicles 2-3

Today’s reading ties together several threads in Old Testament history. Here are a couple of the key texts…

“So Solomon broke ground, launched construction of the house of God in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, the place where God had appeared to his father David. The precise site, the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, had been designated by David.”(2 Chronicles‬ ‭3‬:‭1‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

“Four hundred and eighty years after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s rule over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, Solomon started building The Temple of God.”(1 Kings‬ ‭6‬:‭1‬‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

“The word of God came to Solomon saying, “About this Temple you are building—what’s important is that you live the way I’ve set out for you and do what I tell you, following my instructions carefully and obediently. Then I’ll complete in you the promise I made to David your father. I’ll personally take up my residence among the Israelites—I won’t desert my people Israel.” (1 Kings‬ ‭6‬:‭11‬-‭13‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

Mount Moriah is the modern-day Temple Mount. It’s the place where Solomon built his Temple. It’s also the place where the 2nd Temple was built by Zerubbabel which is the same Temple King Herod expanded and remodeled during his reign. But that’s not the only place Mt. Moriah is mentioned in Scripture. Moriah is also the region where Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac and it was on one of the mountains in that region that Abraham built his altar. Those of you who remember the story from Genesis 22, probably recall it was the angel of the Lord who appeared to stay Abraham’s hand. Mt. Moriah is also the place where King David saw the angel of the Lord relent from his destruction of Jerusalem at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 1 Chron. 21:16 tells us, “David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven...” This is really what temples were all about in the ancient world. They were the places where heaven and earth came together. A “thin space” if you will where the veil of this world peels back as God intervenes to meet us in a powerful way.

The timing of the Temple is important as well. 480 years have passed since Israel first set out on their Exodus journey. Whether the number is literal or symbolic, there was theological significance attached to it because the Temple represented in a very real way the fulfillment of all God’s promises. He had delivered His people from slavery. He had given them the Promised Land. He had conquered their enemies and now they were at peace with their neighbors. Everything God said He would do, He did and the building of the Temple served as a monument to God’s great faithfulness.

Finally, the Temple represented the fulfillment of the covenant of God. It was the completion of the promise God made to David, Solomon’s father, and it represented the eternal nature of the relationship God desired to have with His people. If Solomon - and by extension Solomon’s people - will walk in faithful obedience before the Lord, God would be with them. He would live with them and dwell with them. He would bless them and protect them. He would guide them and give them a hope and a future.

So what’s our takeaway? How is a passage like this relevant for our daily lives? Well, first and foremost, I think it’s important for us to recognize sacred space. Particular places or particular times and seasons where God showed up in a powerful way. Bending the heavens to come to earth to perform a miracle or do a mighty work on our behalf. Such spaces will hold a special place in our hearts as well they should. Second, we need to recognize the importance of God’s timing. He may not work as quickly as we would like or on the timeline we’d prefer but He is always faithful to His promises. Our job is walk in faith. Walk in obedience. Surrender our lives into His hands. Finally, and most importantly, we need to remember that we are now temples of the Living God. We are walking, talking “Mt. Moriah’s” due to the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. God has touched down in our lives. He has done something in our hearts. And we need to praise Him continually for the miracle of spiritual rebirth.  

Readings for tomorrow: 1 Kings 7-8, Psalm 11

Good Leadership

Readings for today: Proverbs 21-24

What makes for good leadership? What’s the most important characteristic a good leader can cultivate? How should those of us who live under the authority of leaders, whether it be in the political or economic or educational or religious spheres, pray for them? How should we be interceding on their behalf before the Lord?

The most important quality of a good leader is humility. They are simply an instrument in God’s hands. They are a tool in God’s toolbox. As Proverbs 21:1 puts it in our reading today, “Good leadership is a channel of water controlled by God.” Just as a stream doesn’t chart it’s own course but follows the contours of the land, so we are not the captains of our own destinies nor are we the masters of our own fates. There is so much beyond our control. So much going on in the world that we have little influence over. So much going on beneath the surface of even our own bodies that remains a mystery.

How many leaders get drunk on power? How many leaders abuse their position and authority? How many leaders exploit their resources? Sure, there are the easily identified examples. People who break the law or do horrible things. Their names are legion. Madoff. Epstein. Weinstein. Zacharias. Driscoll. The religious leaders who sexually abuse women and children. But what about the examples that are far more subtle? The ones that fly under the radar? What about someone like me? I am a leader in my home. How do my wife and children experience my leadership? I am a leader in my church. How those I work with, and among, experience my leadership? I am a leader in my denomination. How do my colleagues experience my leadership? Would any of them say Doug’s leadership is a “channel of water controlled by God?” Would any of them characterize me as a humble leader? I hope so.

Humility is not thinking more highly of oneself than one ought, nor thinking less of oneself than one ought. It’s simply thinking of oneself less. This is what it means to submit in humility to God. To let Him control the “channels” of your life. To let Him guide and direct your steps. It means never promoting oneself. Never protecting oneself. Never serving oneself. It means being content to labor in obscurity. Embrace anonymity. And pursue insignificance. It means taking the lowest place at the Master’s table, letting Him raise you up in His time and according to His will. It means letting God “direct your life to whatever ends He chooses.”

Readings for tomorrow: 1 Kings 5-6, 2 Chronicles 2-3

Fact Check

Readings for today: Proverbs 17-20

The truth is almost impossible to discern these days. Every news story has an angle. Every commentator has an agenda. Every social media post has a slant. All of them designed for a particular audience. Just about every day, I scan the headlines of the BBC, CNN, and FoxNews. Sometimes I add in MSNBC as well. I read the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. I scroll through Twitter where I intentionally follow a diverse group of people from across the social, political, and religious spectrum. And while my sample size isn’t all that big, it’s also not small and the thing I’ve learned over the years is never take anything at face value. Make sure you try to listen and understand all the perspectives in play on a particular issue before you draw any conclusions. Where did I learn this from? King Solomon. Listen to how he puts it,

“The first speech in a court case is always convincing— until the cross-examination starts!” (Proverbs‬ ‭18‬:‭17‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

We have a tendency to believe the first thing we hear especially if it comes from a member of our tribe. We have a tendency to rush to judgment especially if it involves the member of a different tribe. Democrats accuse Republicans and Republicans accuse Democrats. Conservatives accuse Progressives and Progressives accuse Conservatives. Evangelicals accuse Exvangelicals and Exvangelicals accuse Evangelicals. Blacks accuse Whites and Whites accuse Blacks. Gays accuse Straights and Straights accuse Gays. The list is almost endless. Each side assuming the worst of the other. Each side only considering the evidence that fits their particular narrative. Each side accusing the other of operating in bad faith. It’s a brutal, vicious cycle that can only end one way. The complete and total destruction of the “other.” It’s why we see violence and hatred and outrage ratcheting up to dangerous levels. Because there can be no compromise with the enemy. The only righteous and just thing to do is destroy them.

The one who first states their case always seems so right until we get to hear the other side. As Christians, we are called to discern the truth. We must reject falsehoods or half-truths of any kind. We are not given the option to embrace that which supports our own personal tribal narrative. And we never operate in an underhanded, manipulative, deceitful way. We walk in the light as children of the light. We walk with complete honesty and transparency before the Lord and before the world. We listen before we speak. We make a complete investigation before we draw any conclusions. We never assume. And we always try to engage in good faith and with the best intentions. As of the writing of this blog, some 63% of Americans identity as Christians. That’s approximately 210 million people. Imagine the impact we could make if we would simply commit to follow Solomon’s advice from the Proverbs? Imagine how the spheres of politics, media, and mass culture would change if we would commit ourselves to seek the truth and speak the truth all in love?

Readings for tomorrow: None

Plans

Readings for today: Proverbs 13-16

“Humans are satisfied with whatever looks good; God probes for what is good.”

“Put God in charge of your work, then what you’ve planned will take place.”

“We plan the way we want to live, but only God makes us able to live it.” (Proverbs‬ ‭16:2-3, 9‬ MSG)‬‬‬

A dear mentor of mine once gave me the best advice. “Doug”, he said, “I want you to remember something as you go to Wisconsin. You are not going to plant a church. You are going to get involved in what God is doing. Whatever church comes out of it will simply be a byproduct of you joining the Lord in His work in your city. Don’t ever forget this!” Unfortunately, that’s exactly what I did. My mentor was trying to keep me from making a massive mistake. He was trying to keep me from putting the cart before the horse. From putting my plans in front of God’s plan for my life. But in my arrogance and pride, I thought I had it figured out. My way was pure in my eyes. How could it get any more pure than planting a church for Jesus? My heart had already put together a plan but I failed to grasp that it would be the Lord who would establish my steps.

It is so easy for us to fall into this trap. To assume that because we are doing God’s work or engaged in ministry or taking care of our families or having success or because everything we touch is turning to gold on some level that God must be pleased. So we make more plans. We dream more dreams. We keep doing our thing and pretty soon, we forget all about God. We rarely consult Him. We rarely ask Him what He thinks. We rarely bring our plans before the Lord in prayer. And then disaster strikes. The market goes south. We run into roadblocks. We experience failure. And we cry out to God…what happened? Why me? What went wrong?

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who labor, labor in vain. Unless the Lord establishes our steps, we will stumble and fall. Unless the Lord has commissioned our work, it will fall apart. Unless the Lord is with us, our ways can never be pure. So how do we surrender our will to God? How can we live in such a way that allows God to direct our steps? When I was in Wisconsin, I picked back up a practice I had not done in years. It’s called the daily examen. It’s the simple practice of bringing the details of our day before the Lord each morning and night. Every morning when we wake up, we take our schedule of activities to God in prayer. We pay close attention to our hearts as we do. What makes us anxious today? What brings us peace? What are we excited about? Who are we energized to see? Who drains us just thinking about them? Why? What is the source of our fear? As we bring those things to God, we ask Him to make us aware of His abiding presence. We ask Him for wisdom to guide our conversations. Insight so we might know the next step to take. We ask Him to show us those things that lead to consolation and peace while also revealing to us those things that lead to desolation and pain. And then at the end of each day, we repeat the exercise as we look back. What went well? What was hard? Where did God make Himself known? What did God say along the way? Where did we sense God’s abiding presence? Where did He feel absent? Why? What did we learn? It doesn’t take that long and yet it can make a huge difference in helping us understand the difference between asking God for His plan or asking God to bless our plan for our lives.

Readings for tomorrow: Proverbs 17-20

Integrity of the Godly Life

Readings for today: Proverbs 9-12

“Worry weighs us down; a cheerful word picks us up.” (Prov. ‭12:25‬ MSG)‬‬‬

I know so many who struggle with crippling anxiety. They are young. They are old. They are men. They are women. They come from all different backgrounds. No one is immune. Many studies have been done attempting to pinpoint the source but the reality is there are a multiplicity of factors involved. Isolation. Despite tools like social media, people feel more disconnected than ever. Fewer and fewer report having a good friend. Someone they can call at 2AM if they have a need. This feeling of isolation leads to busyness as people fill up their schedules with all kinds of activities, longing to connect. But the opposite happens. The busier we become, the harder it is for us to connect and the more isolated we feel. Add to this all the stress we carry from our jobs, families, health, finances, etc. It’s actually not hard to see why we are so anxious.

Anxiety in a person’s heart does indeed weight them down. Saps them of their strength. Wears them out. Impacts their physical health. Their mental acuity. Their emotional stability. It hits every system in the body until we are debilitated. Unable to function on some level. So what’s the answer? Walking in integrity. “Honesty lives confident and carefree, but Shifty is sure to be exposed.” (Prov. ‭10:9‬ MSG) Now, at first blush, that may seem strange. Doesn’t integrity have to do with honesty? Are you suggesting if we just tell the truth, we’ll all be okay? Certainly that’s part of it. But integrity has a deeper meaning as well. Just as buildings have a “structural integrity” so do human beings. Strong lives are built on strong foundations. They are built on strong, godly habits that keep us secure. When we walk in integrity with the Lord, He becomes our stronghold. Our refuge. Our fortress. And we are able to put aside all anxious thoughts. When we make Christ the foundation of our life. When we build our daily lives around godly rhythms. Christ promises we will experience a peace that passes all understanding. ‬‬‬

So what are those godly rhythms? What does it mean to live with integrity before the Lord? It starts with humility. Humble submission to Christ. Surrendering to His Lordship over our lives. On this foundation, we layer daily prayer and reflection in the Scriptures. We layer in weekly worship with our church family. We layer in regular intentional time with a few Christian friends. It could be a mentor. A Bible study. A small group. And finally, we look for a place to serve our Lord. To give ourselves away for the sake of His Kingdom. These four spiritual practices become the four walls of a spiritual house that is strong and firm and secure because it is built in the Lord.

Readings for tomorrow: Proverbs 13-16

Made for Work

Readings for today: Proverbs 5-8

Human beings are made in God’s image and, as such, are made to work. When God created the heavens and the earth, He worked for six days and rested on the seventh, enshrining a sacred rhythm to life that we ignore to our own peril. When God created Adam and Eve, He placed them in a garden to work and to keep it. When God gave human beings their first command, it was to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and exercise dominion over all He has made.

After the Fall, our relationship with work became corrupt. First of all, work became incredibly difficult. The ground began to fight us. Creation went to war with us and resisted our efforts to tame her. This makes sense, of course, because our concept of “dominion” now became exploitative and tyrannical rather than symbiotic and harmonious. Second, work became an idol. So did rest. So some in our world never seem to stop working and others in our world never want to work at all. Some in our world love their work too much and others in our world see it as a necessary evil. Some in our world would choose to work while others would choose to never lift a hand.

This is why I love what Solomon has to say about work in today’s reading. “You lazy fool, look at an ant. Watch it closely; let it teach you a thing or two. Nobody has to tell it what to do. All summer it stores up food; at harvest it stockpiles provisions. So how long are you going to laze around doing nothing? How long before you get out of bed? A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there, sit back, take it easy—do you know what comes next? Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life, poverty your permanent houseguest!” (Proverbs‬ ‭6‬:‭6‬-‭11‬ ‭MSG‬‬) The ant doesn’t need direction. It doesn’t need anyone to tell it what to do. It is discerning enough to gather food in the right season and store it for the days when food will be scarce. It knows when to rise and when to sleep. It knows when to work and to rest. It doesn’t grow slothful or lazy. It recognizes that the welfare of the entire community is dependent to some extent on its work.

Over the years, I have counseled men and women on both sides of the equation when it came to work. For some, I have counseled them to slow down. To take a Sabbath. To make sure they have one day out of every seven to rest and worship and spend time with those they love doing the things they love. For others, I have counseled them to ramp up. To work harder. To stop trying to get by on the least amount of work possible but instead dedicate themselves to the work God has put in front of them so they can not only live a rich and full life themselves but they can bless others.

Culturally, we have a problem with work. Either we work too much or we work too little. Either we never turn it off or we are doing our best to get as many days off as possible. Either we never stop working or we try to retire as quickly as possible. Both of these betray God’s original design and lead only to heartbreak and pain. God’s command is clear. Six days shall you work and the seventh day you shall rest. Work as though you are working for the Lord rather than for yourself. Labor while you have strength in the right season and store up resources for yourself and those you love for when the seasons change and your strength fades. Commit yourself to God’s original mandate to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and be a good steward over all He has entrusted into your hands.

Readings for tomorrow: Proverbs 9-12

In Case of Emergency

Readings for today: Proverbs 1-4

So many people treat God like the fire hose in the wall at the office. “Just break glass in case of emergency.” We’re not really interested in a relationship with God. We’re not really interested in walking with God. We’re not really interested in having God as a part of our lives. But when things go wrong or significant mistakes are made or terribly tragic things happen, we not only expect Him to show up, we demand it. The problem is God doesn’t work that way. You can’t keep Him under glass. You can’t ignore Him until you need Him. You can’t even find Him if you’ve never truly sought Him. And none of this is God’s fault. It’s our senses that have dulled. It’s our sense of direction that is skewed. It’s our lack of intentionality in nurturing a relationship with God that comes back to bite us.

This is the message from Solomon today as he opens up the Book of Proverbs. “Because you hated Knowledge and had nothing to do with the Fear-of-God, Because you wouldn’t take my advice and brushed aside all my offers to train you, Well, you’ve made your bed—now lie in it; you wanted your own way—now, how do you like it? Don’t you see what happens, you simpletons, you idiots? Carelessness kills; complacency is murder. First pay attention to me, and then relax. Now you can take it easy—you’re in good hands.” (Proverbs‬ ‭1‬:‭29‬-‭33‬ ‭MSG‬‬) We talk a lot in my family with our kids about logical consequences. How the decisions we make or don’t make often come back to haunt us. I think of my daughter who decided to work only 20 hours a week one summer while in college. She had just enough to pay the bills but then an emergency came along and she was behind the eight ball. We had a hard conversation about why she rejected my advice to work forty hours so she could build a cushion. I think of my son who decided to ignore the oil light in his car. Instead of taking it in to get checked out, he kept driving it. Of course the engine seized up on him and left him stranded. Not only that but he still had payments to make on his loan. He was shocked when he found out those payments were still due! We’ve all experienced these things in our lives and the same is true when it comes to our relationship with God. If we listen to Him and learn from Him, we can relax. We can rest. We can have confidence we’re in good hands. If we choose to ignore Him or dismiss Him or reject Him, we will find ourselves feeling all alone when trouble comes.

This is why Solomon encourages us to cling to wisdom. He encourages us to make knowledge of God our close companion. He knows what it’s like to walk with God and sadly, he will find out what it’s like to not walk with God. Here are his words again from Proverbs 2:9-13, “So now you can pick out what’s true and fair, find all the good trails! Lady Wisdom will be your close friend, and Brother Knowledge your pleasant companion. Good Sense will scout ahead for danger, Insight will keep an eye out for you. They’ll keep you from making wrong turns, or following the bad directions.” Today, make it your aim to walk with God. Today, make it your goal to cultivate a greater awareness of His presence. Today, when given the choice, follow His ways and watch what happens in your life.

Readings for tomorrow: Proverbs 5-8

Union with Christ

Readings for today: Song of Songs 5:2-8:14, Psalm 45

“I am my lover’s and my lover is mine.” It’s perhaps the most beautiful expression of the oneness Christ desires for us in all the Scriptures. It speaks to the depth of the intimate relationship God desires to have with us. It speaks the union God wants with His people. Nothing held back. Nothing coming between them. All barriers coming down. All walls torn down.

Union with Christ is the “central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation” according to John Murray. You see it reflected in the number of times the Apostle Paul uses the phrase “in Christ” in his letters. 216 occurrences in the Pauline Epistles and 26 times in the Johannine literature. It conveys a wide range of meaning from the righteousness of Christ imputed to believers to the spiritual nourishment we receive from Christ day by day to the life of Christ that manifests itself in our lives as we grow in faith over the years. John Calvin taught that union with Christ was the basis for our justification and sanctification as nothing can happen apart from our relationship with Him.

The Song of Songs speaks to the experience of our union with Christ not just the theological principle. It speaks to the heart rather than the head. It communicates emotion and desire and seeks to awaken in us a deep longing for Christ, the lover of our souls. It’s one of the reasons the Song of Songs was read historically by the church as they prepared to come to the Lord’s Table. Similarly, it is considered one of the festal scrolls by the Jews for Passover. While it may have meaning for the relationship between a man and a woman, the deeper allegorical meaning relates to Christ’s relationship to His people.

God wants us to both know Him and experience Him. He wants to dwell in both our heads and our hearts. He longs for us to walk with Him in the cool of the day as He once did with Adam and Eve. He longs to reveal Himself to us in the day to day. As we reflect and pray over the words from the Song today, ask the Holy Spirit to give you a greater awareness of God’s abiding presence in your life. Ask the Spirit to give you a greater experience of the deep, deep love of the Father and the sacrificial love of the Son. Ask the Spirit to give you the eyes to see and the heart to understand the beauty and wonder and awe of the Triune God.

Readings for tomorrow: Proverbs 1-4

Intimacy with God

Readings for today: Song of Solomon 1:1-5:1

The Song of Solomon is one of the most difficult and least understood books in all of Scripture. It’s one we tend to avoid in our sex-saturated culture. The language is far too intimate. The imagery too graphic. We won’t allow ourselves to even picture it much less reflect on how the Spirit might speak to us through it. We flip through the pages as fast as we can to get to the end so we can avoid any embarrassment. We’re not alone, of course. Our Orthodox Jewish friends have a tradition that men should not read this book until they are at least 30 years old. The early church fathers advised a similar practice. Both traditions speak to a healthy respect for the power of sexual desire and want to make sure it is not stirred up before the appropriate time.

So what is this book all about? The love for a man and a woman? The love of God for His church? Perhaps both? Are we comfortable thinking about our relationship with God in sexually intimate terms? Is that a bridge too far? For my part, I believe this book invites us to approach God in the most intimate of ways. The language of the Song is designed to arouse. It’s meant to touch the deepest places of our hearts. It’s breathed out by God in order to draw us into His intimate embrace.

Our inability to embrace this book reveals how corrupt our understanding of human sexuality has become. Generally speaking, we see sex as dirty yet pleasurable. Something to be enjoyed and yet something to be feared. Our culture boasts of sexual freedom and yet is shocked when such freedom leads to abuse and violence. If there’s anything the #MeToo movement taught us is that our sexual appetites are almost impossible to satisfy. Sexuality without restraint is incredibly destructive and traumatic to all parties involved. There simply is no way to reduce it to a biological act or a simple exchange of fluids. Sex just doesn’t work that way.

Sex is God’s creation. Sexual desire is something He instilled within each of us. Now I am fully aware there are those who do not experience sexual desire just as I am aware there are those who experience an addiction to sexual desire. Both of these conditions - along with many others - are products of the Fall when the sexual desires of human beings became disordered and God’s original design for sex became corrupt. Originally, God designed sex to be the ultimate experience of “knowing.” A way for us to express our deepest affections. Our deepest emotions. Our deepest vulnerabilities. When the Bible talks about “knowing” another person, it often uses the most sexually intimate of terms. The same is true for “knowing” God. And such knowledge is designed to be experienced within the safety of a covenant relationship. A covenant relationship with Jesus or a covenant relationship of marriage between a man and a woman.  

Viewed from this angle, is it possible to read this song as a prayer? A way to express the deepest desires of our hearts to God? A way for us to ask for deeper intimacy with Him? Or, does the brokenness of the human experience of sexuality warp our thinking? Does it corrupt how we understand this most powerful and primal of drives? Does it poison this well and thus prevent us from fully grasping the depth of relationship God desires to have with us? There’s a reason Christ calls the church His “bride.” There’s a reason God so often refers to Himself in the Old Testament as a “husband” and Israel as his “wife.” Marriage is the place where a man and a woman become “one flesh” before the Lord and it is designed to point beyond itself to something even greater...the “oneness” God desires to have with His people for all eternity.  

Readings for tomorrow: None

Wisdom vs. Foolishness

Readings for today: Psalm 119:89-176

A few years ago I read a book that helped me parse the difference between wisdom and foolishness. Wisdom, according to the author, is when we see the truth and adjust our lives accordingly. Foolishness, on the other hand, is when we demand the truth adjust to our reality. To put it another way, wise people will meet the demands of life while foolish people will demand that life meet their demands. Wise people receive feedback when given, own their own performance, mistakes, and issues and take responsibility without externalizing blame or giving excuses. Foolish people become defensive very quickly when confronted, refuse to own their own shortcomings, and often externalize by blaming those around them. Wise people listen. Fools dismiss or ignore. 

Are you a wise or a foolish person? How would you know? Well, how do you feel as you read the words from Psalm 119? What happens internally when you consider the demands of God’s Law? Are you the kind of person who embraces God’s commandments, however imperfectly? Are they your delight? Do you find yourself seeking to bend your life in submission to what God has revealed in His Word? Or are you the kind of person who resists God’s laws? Dismisses them? Ignores them? Rationalizes away your sin? Are you a wise person or a fool? 

The Psalmist is clearly wise...

“I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life...”

“Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day...”

“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”

“Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.”

”Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

“Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.”

“The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.”

‭‭(Psalms‬ ‭119:93, 97, 103-105, 111, 160‬)

The Psalmist loves God with all His heart which, by extension, means he loves God’s Law. Loves God’s commands. He seeks to do all he can to adjust his life to God’s will. His greatest desire is to live his life under God’s sovereign rule and authority. He makes no excuses for his sin. He doesn’t hide his shortcomings. He faces his failures honestly and transparently.

Sadly, so many in our culture today are fools. Rather than submit their lives to reality, they seek to bend reality to fit their lives. Sadly, this seems just as true for Christians as it is for those who do not yet know Christ. As the Apostle Paul says in Romans 10:2, they have a “zeal for God but not according to knowledge.” They say they love God but not in the way He deserves or demands. Instead, they “do what is right in their own eyes.” They bend God’s truth to their reality. They seek to make God’s Word null and void either through outright rejection, rationalization, or simple ignorance. They refuse to submit certain areas of their lives to His will and as a result, they live lives of quiet desperation. They are not evil people. They do not have bad intentions. They simply are misguided. As Paul says in Romans 1, “Although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools...” (Romans‬ ‭1:21-22‬)

Let me be the first to say that this, at times, describes me. I am not immune. On some level and in certain seasons and in particular sets of circumstances throughout the course of my life, I have tried to bend God’s will to my own. I have tried to rationalize away my sin. I have tried to twist and turn God’s Law to make it fit my life. All to no avail. I have thrown myself against the will of God so many times and every time I broke. I surrendered. And with each surrender came greater wisdom. Not perfection. Wisdom. Self-knowledge. Self-understanding. Seeing myself for who I truly am, warts and all, and learning to trust God’s ways above my ways. God’s thoughts are more than my thoughts. God’s will is more than my feelings. This is what it means to be wise, friends. The fear of the Lord truly is the beginning of wisdom!

Readings for tomorrow: Song of Solomon 1:1-5:1

A God-Listening Heart

Readings for today: 1 Kings 3-4, 2 Chronicles 1, Psalm 72

Wisdom is a gift according to the Bible. It’s not something we can manufacture. It’s not something we can earn. It’s not something we can buy. It comes from one source. It is drawn from one well. The ancients put it like this - “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” I really like how Eugene Peterson describes it in the Message version as he translates this conversation between God and Solomon. “Here’s what I want: Give me a God-listening heart so I can lead your people well, discerning the difference between good and evil. For who on their own is capable of leading your glorious people?” (1 Kings‬ ‭3‬:‭9‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

A God-listening heart is the essence of wisdom. Seeking God. Hearing from God. Listening to God. Ultimately obeying God. This is what it means not only to learn wisdom but to walk in wisdom as well. After all, God’s ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts. He promises to do for us more than we can ever ask or imagine. His plans for us are more glorious than we could ever come up with on our own. So it makes perfect sense if we want to live with wisdom, we need to seek it from God. This is what makes Solomon’s request so amazing and worthy of emulation. Of all the things he could have asked for as he got started - military might, untold riches, etc. - Solomon was humble enough to recognize his weakness and his deep need for God’s guidance. He also understood the responsibility of his new role. He was being called to a life of service. Being king was not about him. It was about the people he served and his desire was to do that well. Of all the sons of David, this character trait seems unique to Solomon and it’s what makes him such a great king.

Again, I love how Peterson describes it, “God gave Solomon wisdom—the deepest of understanding and the largest of hearts. There was nothing beyond him, nothing he couldn’t handle. Solomon’s wisdom outclassed the vaunted wisdom of wise men of the East, outshone the famous wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than anyone—wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, wiser than Heman, wiser than Calcol and Darda the sons of Mahol. He became famous among all the surrounding nations. He created 3,000 proverbs; his songs added up to 1,005. He knew all about plants, from the huge cedar that grows in Lebanon to the tiny hyssop that grows in the cracks of a wall. He understood everything about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. Sent by kings from all over the earth who had heard of his reputation, people came from far and near to listen to the wisdom of Solomon.” (1 Kings‬ ‭4‬:‭29‬-‭34‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

Do you have a “God-listening heart?” If God were to come to you and present the same offer He gave Solomon, how would you answer? Would you ask for wisdom or something else? The Book of James says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him/her ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given.” (James‬ ‭1‬:‭5‬ ‭ESV‬‬) How does one pray for wisdom? Let me encourage you to use the words of the Psalmist. Make them your own. For if we ask for wisdom and then act in wisdom, those we love and live among will truly be blessed. “Give the gift of wise rule to the king, O God, the gift of just rule to the crown prince. May he judge your people rightly, be honorable to your meek and lowly. Let the mountains give exuberant witness; shape the hills with the contours of right living. Please stand up for the poor, help the children of the needy, come down hard on the cruel tyrants. Outlast the sun, outlive the moon— age after age after age. Be rainfall on cut grass, earth-refreshing rain showers. Let righteousness burst into blossom and peace abound until the moon fades to nothing. Rule from sea to sea, from the River to the Rim.” (Psalms‬ ‭72‬:‭1‬-‭8‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

Readings for tomorrow: Psalm 119:89-176

Doing vs. Being

Readings for today: Psalm 119:1-88

I remember the first time I read Psalm 119. I had just become a Christian and I was making the attempt to read through the Bible in a year. My first impressions of this Psalm were not positive. It was long. It felt repetitive. The challenge it presented was overwhelming. The way of life it described seemed very foreign to me at the time and definitely unattainable. Not that I didn’t try. I did! With all my might! I worked as hard as I could to live up to the standard this Psalm sets. I turned the different verses into prescriptions for living.

For example, being in college and struggling with pornography, I memorized verse nine - “How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your word.” I not only memorized that text, I meditated on it day and night as I fought against sexual sin in my life. I exhausted myself trying to stay pure. I worked so hard and all too often failed. I thought purity was the goal. I was wrong. Here’s a second example. I grew up in an alcoholic home and learned to cope with the shame of my father’s addiction through high achievement. I projected a great deal of self-confidence and pride but it was all a cover for my deep insecurities and pain. So I memorized verse twenty-nine - “Keep me from lying to myself; give me the privilege of knowing your instructions.” I not only memorized that text, I meditated on it day and night as I wrestled with my self-esteem. I worked so hard to prove to myself that I was accepted and okay and loved. That I had nothing to be ashamed over. I thought self-confidence was the goal. I was wrong.

As the years passed and I continued to come across this Psalm in my annual Bible reading, something shifted in my heart. I can’t pinpoint a day or a time. I don’t remember when it happened. All I know is that there came a moment when I realized this Psalm is not a PRESCRIPTION for what to do but a DESCRIPTION of who to be. The beauty and brilliance of this Psalm is that it points beyond itself to the love of God from which our love of His commands flows. One cannot love God’s law without first knowing they are loved by God, the great Law-Giver. One cannot embrace God’s commands unless they first believe they are embraced by God Himself. One cannot walk in God’s ways unless one trusts God knows the way to the most joy-filled, peace-filled life. As soon as this realization hit me, I ceased my striving. I stopped trying to white-knuckle my purity. I stopped trying so hard to prove myself to myself and to God. Instead, I simply began resting in His Presence. I began trusting His Spirit to do His sanctifying work in my heart. I read not to “get something out of it” or “to learn how to be a better Christian” but read just to get to know God, the great lover of my soul, more deeply.

This is the heart of Psalm 119. It describes the life of a believer who is fully confident in the unconditional love of God. A believer who’s heart and mind and life has been utterly changed by the grace of God. For such a believer, God’s commands become a delight and a joy for it flows from a heart fully devoted to God. How does this happen? It happens as we open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit’s work. It happens as we continue to spend time with Him day after day. It happens as we read His Word and let it shape who we are and how we live. Simply present yourself to God, friends. Let Him do for you what He has promised - more than you can ever ask or imagine!

Readings for tomorrow: 1 Kings 3-4, 2 Chronicles 1, Psalm 72

Resisting Evil

Readings for today: 1 Kings 1-2, Psalms 37, 71, 94

It is easy to “fret yourself because of evildoers.” It’s easy to watch the news or scroll through social media and focus on all that is negative. All that is wrong with the world. It is easy to focus on the unrighteous and their manipulation, oppression, and greed. It is easy to give in to anger and hate. To lash out at those who perpetrate abuse and violence. There’s something deep inside all of us that longs for revenge. Longs to see those who do evil get what’s coming to them. We get frustrated when they seem to prosper. We lose heart when they get ahead. We question the justice of God when the wicked seemingly get away with all their plots and schemes.

Once again, the Psalmist gives voice to how we feel. He speaks directly to our hearts and points us to God. He helps us reframe our understanding and teaches us God’s eternal perspective. Do not be envious of those who do wrong. They will fade like the grass. Do not fret over the one who carries out evil. They will be cut off. In the grand scheme of things, the evil only prosper for a moment but it is the righteous and the meek and the godly who will inherit the earth. Our job is not to seek revenge but to trust in the Lord and do good. Delight ourselves in God and commit ourselves to walk in His ways. If we will remain faithful, God promises to make our light shine. He promises us an eternal inheritance and the blessing of peace. He promises to uphold the righteous and never let us be put to shame. He promises to establish our steps and provide for our needs and give us a future.

This isn’t easy. Our world is growing more chaotic by the day. Evil is rising up all around us. Evil people are taking advantage of the instability to hoard power and wealth and influence. They plot against the righteous. They draw the sword. They bend the bow. Their goal is the destruction of the godly. The oppression of the poor and needy. They are a curse. They sow fear. They spread anxiety. They will stop at nothing until they achieve their sinful, selfish, unrighteous ends. But God sees them and laughs. He knows their day is coming. He will execute judgment on them and cut them off forever. So place your trust in the Lord. Make Him your stronghold in times of trouble. Seek His help. Deliverance and salvation come from His hand. Take refuge in Him.

Readings for tomorrow: Psalm 119:1-88

Personal God

Readings for today: Psalms 111-118

Christians believe in a personal God. Not a private god. Not a cosmic butler. Not a divine ATM machine. But a God who is personal, present, and who fulfills His promises. Today’s reading is a good one. In so many of the Psalms, God reveals His heart to us. He is a God who is with us. He is a God who is for us. He is a God who is at work in us. He will never leave our side. He will never let us go. He will never give up on us. 

“This God of Grace, this God of Love. He gave food to those who fear him, He remembered to keep his ancient promise…He paid the ransom for his people, He ordered his Covenant kept forever. He’s so personal and holy, worthy of our respect.” (Psalms‬ ‭111‬:‭4-5, 9‬ ‭MSG‬‬) God’s covenant with us in no way depends on us! What a glorious truth! It is completely and utterly dependent on the steadfast, faithful, fiercely loyal love of God!

“God is higher than anything and anyone, outshining everything you can see in the skies. Who can compare with God, our God, so majestically enthroned, Surveying his magnificent heavens and earth? He picks up the poor from out of the dirt, rescues the forgotten who’ve been thrown out with the trash, Seats them among the honored guests, a place of honor among the brightest and best. He gives childless couples a family, gives them joy as the parents of children. Hallelujah!” (Psalms‬ ‭113‬:‭4‬-‭9‬ ‭MSG‬‬) The Lord is especially tender towards those in great need. The poor. The needy. The barren. The hurting. The struggling. The depressed. The anxious. The lonely. God sees you! God looks down on your broken condition and He is at work to raise you up! There is nothing hidden from God. No secret pain or heartache. No injustice. No unrighteousness. The Lord sees it all and He will set all things right!

“I love God because he listened to me, listened as I begged for mercy. He listened so intently as I laid out my case before him.” (Psalms‬ ‭116‬:‭1‬-‭2 MSG‬‬) God hears every cry. God sees every tear. God knows every anxious thought. God feels all our pain. And He inclines His ear towards us. He doesn’t force us to come to His level. Doesn’t require us to ascend the heavens to gain an audience with Him. He inclines. He descends. He listens closely. Intently. He gathers His beloved into His arms and leans in to make sure He hears every word. Every thought. Every prayer. 

By the time you get to Psalm 118, it’s like the Psalmist can’t help himself. The words tumble over each other. Promise after promise. Declaration after declaration. So much to praise God for! So much to thank God for! One of the best ways to read the Psalms is back to back to back and let the words wash over you. Let them fill you. Let them give you confidence today. Let them give you strength. 

The Lord is on my side. 

The Lord is my helper.  

The Lord is my strength.

The Lord is my song. 

The Lord is my salvation.

Claim these promises as your own today. Let them guide you through each and every challenge. Each and every crisis. Each and every circumstance of your life.  

Readings for tomorrow: 1 Kings 1-2, Psalms 37, 71, 94

Sacrificial Leadership

Readings for today: 1 Chronicles 27-29, Psalm 68

I firmly believe true, godly leadership involves great sacrifice. When a person accepts the call to lead God’s people, they are accepting a call to give themselves up for the sake of others. Lay down their lives for the sake of God’s family. They are called to model their leadership after that of Jesus who “did not come to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.”

David models sacrificial leadership in the reading for today. He has already declared he “will not give to the Lord that which costs him nothing.” (1 Chronicles 21:24) And here at the end of his life, he makes good on that promise. He gives all his personal wealth to help in the construction of the Temple. He spends his final years mobilizing God’s people and stockpiling materials to set his son Solomon up well. He donates “3,000 talents (about 113 tons) of gold—all from Ophir, the best—and 7,000 talents (214 tons) of silver for covering the walls of the buildings, and for the gold and silver work by craftsmen and artisans.” (1 Chronicles 29:4-5a MSG) He holds nothing back. Keeps nothing for himself. And then he challenges God’s people to follow his example. “Now then, who will follow my example and give offerings to the Lord today?” (1 Chronicles 29:5b NLT)

As the pastor of a local church, I try to follow David’s example as he seeks to follow Christ. I do my best to make the first sacrifice. When I first came to the church I serve, they were going through financial hardship. Before I got any kind of raise or negotiated a fair, market-rate salary for my position, I made sure the church took care of the other members of our staff. When COVID hit and so many in our community faced job insecurity, I refused to take any kind of raise while we navigated that season. When I started taking my trips to Africa, I made sure I paid for them so the burden wouldn’t fall on the church. (Full disclosure: we’ve since added a second trip that the church does pay for since the Petros Network is a mission partner.) The point here is not to promote myself but to give examples of sacrifices I believe leaders have to make if they are to set the example for God’s people. The same was true when we launched our building campaign a few years back to retire debt and develop our counseling center. My wife and I were among the very first to pledge above and beyond what we already gave to the church. Every year, we push ourselves to grow in generosity as we seek to follow Christ faithfully in all we have. What is true in our finances is also true when it comes to our time and unique talents. We have gladly and joyfully given our lives to our church family because we believe sacrifice is essential to godly leadership.

What about you? What does such sacrifice look like in your life? Where are you laying down your life for your spouse or children? For your family and friends? For those you work with or for or among? For your brothers and sisters in Christ?

‭‭1 Chronicles‬ ‭29‬:‭1‬-‭5‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Readings for tomorrow: None

Legacy

Readings for today: 1 Chronicles 23-26

“When David got to be an old man, he made his son Solomon king over Israel.” (1 Chronicles‬ ‭23‬:‭1‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

Legacy. It’s something all of us will leave to our children, our grandchildren, those we work with, and, for pastors especially, those we serve. Over the past several years, I’ve been part of a couple of teams in my denomination both regionally and nationally that oversee the work of pastors and churches. As such, it has been my privilege to walk alongside several pastors as they made the transition into retirement. It wasn’t always easy. Some of those transitions were smooth. Some were rocky. Some were planned. Some were unplanned. Some felt affirmed on their way out. Others felt pushed out by the people they loved. My biggest takeaway? We either plan for the day when we will no longer be around or someone else will plan it for us.  

David made plans. He understood from wisdom and experience that he could set his successor, Solomon, up for success. So he organizes the Levites. Helps them transition from service to the Tabernacle to service in the Temple. Gives them new roles and responsibilities that fit the new situation they will find themselves in. He organizes the priests. Casts lots so they can be established in their terms of service. He sets up the musicians in their service. And then the gatekeepers, treasurers, and other officials. It is a massive undertaking. A complete reorganization from top to bottom of the entire leadership structure of a nation. Imagine what might have happened had David left this to Solomon to figure out? Imagine the infighting. The jockeying for position. The currying for favor. Imagine the chaos that might have resulted as the sons of Eleazar fought with the sons of Ithamar for the power of the priesthood. Imagine the sons of Levi, set free from their obligations to carry and care for the Tabernacle, refusing to care for the sacred elements of the Lord. Imagine the gatekeepers and musicians each deciding to do their own thing. Solomon would have had a mess on his hands for sure! 

But David was faithful. He knew a significant part of his role was to finish well. To pass on a strong legacy to his son. Not just for Solomon’s sake but for the sake of Israel as a nation. Because of my experience walking alongside so many pastors, my wife and I talk a lot about our legacy. I just hit 50 this year and it feels like the years are passing by so fast. How am I preparing to pass on what has been entrusted to me? Should the Lord tarry and give me a rich and full life on this earth, I might have twenty good years of pastoring left. What will those years look like? How will I spend them? When will I know it is time to raise up my successor? How can I set them up for success? My youngest children are preparing to leave home and head off to what’s next. What kind of spiritual legacy have I given them? How have I prepared them to take on the roles and responsibilities of an adult? My parents are getting older and have begun to face the challenges that come along with aging. Am I prepared to care for them? Assist them? Make sure they continue to live a rich and full and vital life alongside their grandkids? These are important questions to ask and ponder and pray over no matter what season of life you find yourself in.  

Readings for tomorrow: Psalms 131, 138-139, 143-145

Honest Prayers

Readings for today: Psalms 108-109

Psalm 109 is nothing if not honest. David is expressing his anger and frustration towards his enemies. He is being attacked. His reputation is under assault. His character is being assassinated. He tries to repay evil with good. Tries to respond to the hate with love. He prays for them but nothing seems to change. If anything, their hatred for him burns even hotter. So David lets loose. He unleashes all his outrage to God. He calls for their destruction. He curses them every which way but sideways. He basically asks God to consign them to hell. It’s a brutally honest prayer and one I will admit I have prayed myself at certain times over the years.

Many years ago, I somehow got crossways with a person who served on a board overseeing my work. To this day, I do not know what I did to them. Despite the fact that I went to them over and over again to ask for forgiveness and make things right, they never did tell me what happened or why they hated me so much. They made their singular aim to destroy my career. They talked behind my back at board meetings. They sabotaged the work I was doing in the church. They contacted people in our small group to impugn my character. It was brutal. It was costly. I lost relationships as a result. And I almost left the ministry. After resigning my position, I spent months in prayer as I looked for work. It was one of the scariest seasons of my life. I didn’t know how I was going to feed my kids. Provide for my family. I had never been in this position before. Like David, I felt like I was “at the end of my rope, my life in ruins. I was fading away to nothing, passing away, my youth gone, old before my time. I was weak from hunger and could hardly stand up, my body a rack of skin and bones. I was a joke in poor taste to those who saw me; they took one look and shook their heads.” (Psalms‬ ‭109‬:‭23‬-‭25‬ ‭MSG‬‬) In the midst of my despair and anguish, I asked God to curse the person who attacked me. I asked God bring judgment down on them. I asked God to return to them what they had done to me. I was angry. I was bitter. I was beyond frustrated at the injustice of it all.

Here’s what I learned from that season. God’s a big boy. He can handle our most honest, gut-wrenching prayers. In fact, He invites us to share our deepest fears and anxieties with Him. He encourages us to hold nothing back. He wants us to feel safe and free to express all our emotions. Turn everything over to Him. And here’s what happens when we do…as we empty ourselves before Him. Expressing all our anger, bitterness, frustration, and pain; God begins to fill us with His grace. He turns our sorrows to joy. He turns our fears to faith. He turns our bitterness sweet. He heals our pain. He wipes away our tears. He holds us close. And even our deepest frustrations turn to praise. Listen to David as he ends Psalm 109, “My mouth’s full of great praise for God, I’m singing his hallelujahs surrounded by crowds, For he’s always at hand to take the side of the needy, to rescue a life from the unjust judge.” (Psalms‬ ‭109‬:‭30‬-‭31‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

Here’s the thing I discovered in the depths of my own despair…God is faithful. God can be trusted. God is at work. God never leaves us or forsakes us. God holds us in the palm of His hand. God draws near the broken-hearted and crushed in spirit. God is safe. We can literally share anything and everything with Him and trust Him for the result.

Readings for tomorrow: 1 Chronicles 23-26

The Problem with Popularity

Readings for today: 2 Samuel 24, 1 Chronicles 21-22, Psalm 30

More and more studies are being conducted measuring the impact of social media on our mental health. The results are scary. It is becoming clear that prolonged social media use presents like addiction with similar accompanying symptoms. (Neglect of personal life, mental preoccupation, escapism, etc.) When people attempt to stop using social media, they go through something akin to withdrawal. The more we use social media, the less happy we seem to be and the more socially isolated we become. The comparisons social media invites between our lives and those we are connected to is not good for our well-being. Furthermore, social media is specifically designed to trigger dopamine “highs” in the brain. Dopamine release is triggered by unpredictability, small bits of information that can be digested quickly, and most importantly, reward cues. (i.e. number of “likes” on FB, number of “followers” on Instagram, number of “retweets” on Twitter, etc.)  

I think about the number of people I know who draw at least part of their self-worth off of the number of friends they have on Facebook. The number of times people hit the “heart” button on an Instagram pic. The number of retweets and “likes” a pithy phrase draws on Twitter or the number of “views” on a YouTube video. Young people seem especially susceptible. But it’s not just social media. I think of the number of church leaders I know who draw their self-worth off the number of people who show up on a weekend for worship. I think of the drive there is in most churches for numerical growth. I know some pastors who seem to live or die based on whether they make OutReach Magazine’s Top 100 list every year. I think of the uncritical assumptions too many Christians make that larger churches must be doing something “right” and smaller churches must be doing something “wrong.” Or they flip the script. I think of the number of folks I know who criticize large churches simply because they’re large. I can’t tell you the number of conversations I’ve been in over the years where such criticisms were leveled largely out of jealousy, envy, or spite.

Why are we so obsessed with numbers? Full transparency, it does seem to be a particularly American phenomenon. I travel the world fairly regularly. I’ve been to China, South Korea, Mexico, Ethiopia, Uganda, etc. I’ve interacted with pastors from all over in lots of different settings. In my experience, they just don’t seem as hung up as we are on numbers. That isn’t to say they ignore them. They pay attention. They evaluate. They are wise and discerning. But there isn’t the emotional attachment American Christians, and especially American pastors, seem to have with attendance, buildings, and budgets. It’s like we get a dopamine “high” every time the sanctuary’s full.  

Perhaps this is why I find the story from 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21 so convicting. David wants to number his people. He wants to know the size of his army. He wants to measure his power. His influence. He wants to feel secure, safe, and in control. The images I have in my head are of third-world despots throwing military parades to show off their strength. David is clearly feeling insecure and in that moment, Satan strikes. He comes along and tempts David according to 1 Chronicles 21 and God allows it to happen according to 2 Samuel 24. The results are tragic. “Gad delivered the message to David: “Do you want three years of famine, three months of running from your enemies while they chase you down, or three days of the sword of God—an epidemic unleashed on the country by an angel of God? Think it over and make up your mind. What shall I tell the One who sent me?” (1 Chronicles‬ ‭21‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭MSG‬)‬ God is going to teach David a lesson in humility.

70,000 die from the plague. This is horrific and impossible to understand. How could God do such a thing? At the same time, we have to remember that such events take place at the mysterious intersection of God’s will and human freedom. David’s decision has consequences and because David is king, the consequences impact his people. The same is true for us today. The decisions our politicians make impact real people in real life and can cause real pain and suffering. David decides to number his fighting men and around the same time, a plague begins. It is brutal. Virulent. And it kills. Somewhere in David’s mind, in the prophet Gad’s mind, probably in Joab’s mind and the minds of so many others, these events are related. The plague is perceived as God’s punishment on Israel for David’s sinful choices. And perhaps it is. We cannot dismiss the possibility out of hand for God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. He has clearly told His people over and over again that there are consequences...real, life-threatening consequences...for sin. God’s justice and righteousness will not be mocked. 

So how do we respond to such a text? First and foremost, it should lead us to humble confession. Repentance. It should call to mind all the times we too have placed our faith in numbers or our mental health and well-being in the number of likes we get from social media. We are not immune. So we confess our sin before the Lord. Second, it should lead us to the cross. To the place where the penalty for our sin was paid. To the place where God’s judgment was fully and completely and utterly satisfied by the death of our Lord. We are not condemned. We need not feel shame. God has done for us what we could not. Third and finally, it should inspire us to live for Him. To live from that place of grace knowing God has torn down the dividing wall of hostility that exists between us and made peace with us by the blood of His cross. We are forgiven so we can forgive others. Grace was extended to us so we can extend it to others. Love was shown to us so we can show love to others. We are secure in God’s hands.  

Readings for tomorrow: Psalm 108-109