#AhmaudArbery

Readings for today: 2 Samuel 10, 1 Chronicles 19, Psalms 20, 53, 60, 75

“May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you! May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion! May he remember all your offerings and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans! May we shout for joy over your salvation, and in the name of our God set up our banners! May the Lord fulfill all your petitions! Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright. O Lord, save the king! May he answer us when we call.” (Psalm‬ ‭20:1-9‬)

These words have deeper meaning for me today. Especially as the news breaks about the young African-American man who was lynched in broad daylight in Georgia. Ahmaud Arbery was out running in a neighborhood when two armed white men in a pickup truck pursued him and shot him in cold blood. Assuming he had been part of a robbery that had taken place earlier, they believed it was their right to chase him down and execute him. Tragically, this is just the latest example of how we continue to be haunted by our racist past here in America. And it comes in the midst of a pandemic that is killing African-Americans at much higher rates. The US Census Bureau reports that African-Americans represent 13.4% of the general population but counties with higher concentrations of blacks account for more than half of all COVID cases and almost 60% of deaths. Furthermore, we’ve known for a long time that African-Americans are disproportionately targeted by our justice system. 37% of the general prison population is African-American men. 22% African-American women. Clearly, we still have a race problem in our country.

One of the things I love most about reading the Bible in a year chronologically is how it reminds us to combine our prayers with action. In our readings for today, David sends emissaries to the Ammonites to offer condolences for the death of their king. His desire is to build a friendship with the heir to the throne. His plan is thwarted, however, by the princes of the Ammonites who would rather sow suspicion and create a pretext for war with Israel. Tribal conflict, you see, is nothing new in human history. So they publicly shame David’s messengers, gather an army, and set out to destroy Israel. At first, it appears their efforts will be successful. They actually are able to surround the army of Israel. But Joab and his mighty men fight free and end up routing the enemy. In the wake of this great victory, David pens the words to Psalm 20.

I think it’s critical to note that David cried out to God. He cried out to God in the midst of his trouble. He cried out to God in the midst of his fear. He cried out to God for salvation. David knew the battle belonged to the Lord. David knew the fight would be fierce but with God he would prevail. David acknowledges his own strength is not enough. He is humble. He is heartfelt. He is sincere. At the same time, David prepares his army for battle. He arrays his forces as best he can. He devises strategies and implements his plan. The result is a great victory for God’s people.

Now apply those same principles to our situation today. Yes, our thoughts and prayers are with the Arbery family. Yes, our thoughts and prayers are with the African-American community as they continue to suffer from the scourge of white supremacy. Yes, we join our voices together to call on the Lord to answer them in these days of trouble. Protect them from evil. Send them help from His sanctuary. Fulfill their desire for salvation. Yes, we humbly acknowledge that only Christ can purge the evil of white supremacy from our midst. Only Christ can deliver us from the sin of racism. Only Christ can transform hatred into love.Yes, we cannot place our trust in “chariots and horses” or in “legislative powers” or “social reforms.” But that doesn’t mean we ignore them completely. They are simply tools in God’s hand to accomplish His will on earth. Just as David deployed chariots and horses to defeat the Ammonites so we must deploy laws and reforms to defeat white supremacy. We must tear down systems and structures that continue to create uneven playing fields and deny access to people of color. We must hold our political leaders accountable for how they use racism as a tool to retain power and influence and wealth and privilege. We must hold ourselves accountable for the things we say and the ways we think and the ways we act that unwittingly foster hostile attitudes towards those of a different color. We must be proactive in building friendships across racial lines. Actively listening to one another’s experiences and suffering with those who have suffered rather than pre-judging them. We must work towards a more just, more gracious society where no one has to be afraid to go on a jog through a neighborhood.

So I am praying Psalm 20 differently today. Not for myself. Not for my tribe. Not for my community. I am praying for God to fulfill the desire of my heart and deliver us from the sin of racism. I am praying for the day when we can celebrate and rejoice in the diversity God has created rather than perceive one another as a threat. I am praying for the day when God will deliver us from the worst of our fears and prejudices and lust for power. And I am working towards those ends as well. Listening. Serving. Voting. Advocating. Trusting the Lord to use my meager efforts for His just purposes in this world.

Readings for tomorrow: Psalms 65-67, 69-70

The Kindness of God

Readings for today: 2 Samuel 8-9, 1 Chronicles 18

“And King David said, "Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God to him?" (2 Samuel‬ ‭9:3) It’s hard for us to imagine how radical this action would have been. David lived in a brutal world. A world full of violence and suffering and pain. A world where one’s family. One’s tribe. One’s nation was everything. It was a world where honor was paramount. Shame to be avoided at all costs. There were strict cultural expectations regarding how one acted when one was treated dishonorably.

Saul shamed David before Israel. He unjustly accused him. He sought to kill him. He pursued him in the wilderness. He tried to discredit him. He did all he could to destroy him and his family. Now the tables are turned. And the expectations are clear. Everyone in ancient Israel knew what was coming. David would destroy Saul’s family to the last person. He would eradicate Saul’s name from the earth. He would leave no stone unturned. No one behind lest that person become a seed of discontent and rebellion in the future.

But once again, David defies his culture’s expectations. Instead of seeking to destroy the house of Saul, he seeks to forgive. To bless. To honor. So he asks his servants if there is anyone left of Saul’s family. There is. A grandson. A crippled man named Mephibosheth. Even better, he is a son of David’s beloved friend, Jonathan. David has him brought in. Honors him by restoring all Saul’s lands and property to him. Gives him a place at the king’s own table. It’s a stunning act of kindness, mercy, and generosity. And it communicates to the entire nation that David is no ordinary, ancient near east king.

What motivated David? The kindness of God. David was humble at this point in his life. He knew his life was a testimony to grace. David was a shepherd. He fully expected to live his life as a shepherd. But God - through His great mercy - had raised him up to be king. And having been on the receiving end of God’s kindness, David now extends it out even to his enemies.

What about us? The greatest poverty in our world today is the poverty of grace. The poverty of kindness. The poverty of mercy. We are so quick to judge. So quick to become enraged. So quick to attack others. In my experience, very few people engage in any sort of honest self-reflection. Very few people actually acknowledge their biases and privilege and short-comings much less confess their sin. Very few people make themselves vulnerable to the point of revealing their own weaknesses. Sure, people talk about how they’ve been hurt. Wounded. Abused. Those terms - sadly - have almost become cliche. But they almost never talk about how their choices contributed to their own pain. And because they perceive themselves to be the victim, they do not forgive very easily.

But what if we saw ourselves as God sees us? What if we honestly acknowledged the fact that we are as sinful as anyone else. Just as capable of hurting others as we are of being hurt. Just as capable of wounding others as we are of being wounded. Just as capable of inflicting pain as we are of experiencing it. What if we looked in the mirror and saw both perpetrator and victim? And what if - in that moment - we turned to God rather than self-condemnation? What if we experienced the grace and mercy and kindness of God even for sinners such as ourselves? Perhaps then we would be able to extend that same grace and mercy and kindness out to others. Even those who have hurt us. Even to our enemies.

Sadly, I find such faith in short supply these days. And I believe it exposes a fundamental flaw in our relationship with God. We cannot give to others what we have not received ourselves. And too many of us believe the lie that God will bless us because we are “good.” Too many of us believe the lie that God affirms us without reservation. Too many of us believe the lie that we deserve God’s love. In short, we do not believe in grace. We do not believe we’ve done anything to merit God’s mercy. We believe God has to be kind to us or else. And so we live largely graceless, merciless, intolerant lives especially towards those who are not like us. Those who have hurt us. Those we consider to be our enemies. Sure, we are gracious and merciful and kind to those we love and like but woe to them if they should ever betray our trust or speak ill of us or refuse to affirm us. Jesus says, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the sinners do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the unbelievers do the same?” (Matthew‬ ‭5:44, 46-47‬) Grace. Mercy. Kindness. These are not intellectual ideas but eternal realities. They flow from a deep, intimate relationship with Jesus. They are only made possible through the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. May you seek these things from God today.

Readings for tomorrow: 2 Samuel 10, 1 Chronicles 19, Psalms 20, 53, 60, 75

Let the Lord Build Your House

Readings for today: 2 Samuel 7, 1 Chronicles 17, Psalms 1-2, 33, 127, 132

“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” (Psalms‬ ‭127:1‬)

One of the things I struggle with the most is my desire to be successful. To make my life count. To do something significant. To strive to be the best. These are values ingrained in me from an early age. They are not necessarily bad in and of themselves. The problem is I too often let these good things become ultimate things in my life. I start to pursue success at the expense of my relationship with God or those I love. I focus on the future rather than finding contentment in the present. I covet what I don’t have rather than be thankful for what I do have. I know I’m not alone. I see these values reflected across all sectors of society.

A few years ago now, the Lord spoke to me during a time of prayer. It wasn’t an audible voice or a lightning bolt from heaven or anything like that. It was simply an impression in my heart. A feeling in my gut. A few random thoughts in my head that suddenly coalesced into a message I needed to hear. It was a short message. Three simple words. Obscurity. Anonymity. Insignificance. I was journaling and these three words started ringing over and over again in my head. Obscurity. Anonymity. Insignificance. Over the years I’ve learned to pay attention to these kinds of things in my prayer time so I sat back from my keyboard and asked the Lord to give me further insight into what He was saying. God said, “I want you to labor in obscurity. Embrace anonymity. Pursue insignificance.” To be honest, my first thought was, “Wait a minute! That doesn’t sound right! Frankly, it sounds unAmerican!” God’s answer? “Exactly.” :-)  

“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” King David has a desire to build God a house. It’s a godly desire. A good desire. One that is affirmed by Nathan the prophet. But it is not the Lord’s will. “But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, "Go and tell my servant David, 'Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in?...'Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house.When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” (2 Samuel‬ ‭7:4-5, 8-13‬) I love how God flips the tables on David here. It is not David who will build God a house but God who will build David a house! It is not David who will make His own name great but God who will make David’s name great! 

Unless God builds the house. Unless God builds David’s house. Unless God builds our house. We all labor in vain. This was the message God was sending me during my devotional time. I was spending so much energy working so hard to be successful. To stand out among my peers. To be faithful to God. And yet all the while God was calling me to rest. To trust. To stand back and let Him do the “building” of my life. Let Him guide and direct my path. Let Him have the glory for the success I was seeking to achieve. 

Recently, I’ve been learning more about the meaning of those three, God-given words in my life…  

• Obscurity - Over the years, I’ve been asked to consider many different ministry positions. Some at much larger churches. Some involve greater denominational influence. But I love where I am. I love the people I serve. I love the team I get to serve alongside. We are not the largest or fastest growing or most “successful” church but we are a family. We serve God faithfully. We are producing gospel-fruit on a regular basis. Lives are being changed. People are being transformed. And God has confirmed my current call over and over again.

• Anonymity - One of the best things about serving at PEPC is I get to simply be “one of the pastors.” We have a great team, each with different gifts. This releases me from the pressure to perform. To succceed. To self-promote. No one needs to know my name. This work isn’t about me. I love the fact that I don’t always have to be up front. Don’t always have to preach. Don’t always have to be in charge. And I can’t wait to finish my career as part of the volunteer cleaning crew!

• Insignificance - My work around the globe is humbling. It makes me deeply aware of how truly insignificant my contributions to the Kingdom of God are in the grand scheme of things. The reality is I will be completely forgotten within a generation or so of my death. My own family won’t remember who I was or what I did. All my accomplishments and achievements will quickly turn to dust. And that’s okay. Because my significance is not found in what I do but in who God is and I am content simply to serve Him in whatever way He sees fit.  

Friends, unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord builds your house and my house, our labors are in vain. Unless the Lord builds our nation’s house, our collective labor will be in vain. As we continue to struggle through this season of social distancing and stay at home orders, the pressure builds inside all of us to get to work “building our own house.” Protecting our own future. Securing our own lives. Don’t fall prey to that temptation! Take a step back and let God do the work. Engage in some self-examination to find those areas of your life where you need to hand over the tools, stop working so hard, and let God take over. Make sure you are working from His blueprint in your life rather than your own.

Readings for tomorrow: 2 Samuel 8-9, 1 Chronicles 18

The Worship God Demands

Readings for today: Psalms 89, 96, 100, 101, 107

Human beings are naturally selfish creatures. We are self-centered. Self-promoting. Self-protective. Self-indulgent. If you have any doubts, take a scroll through Instagram or Facebook sometime. Selfies. Humble brags. Carefully curated authenticity. Scripted messiness. Real life edited down into a series of highlight reels. Flip open Twitter and what do you see but a platform for “call-out” and/or “cancel” culture. People throwing out their often ill-informed opinions on just about every subject. Perfecting the blame game. Throwing around self-righteous accusations. Setting themselves up as a modern day Pharisees as they seek to “police” other people’s content. Of course, our media is no different. Driven by particular agendas, they report only those facts which support their pre-determined narratives. They spin inconvenient truths out with the hope that their audience won’t notice the verbal misdirection. This game is played by politicians, media moguls, titans of industry, social influencers, you name it. Why? Because we’re all human. And - back to my original premise - to be human is to be self-centered. Self-promoting. Self-protective. Self-indulgent. We just have this innate tendency to make life all about us.

The same is true in the church. We might even be the worst offenders. Why would I ever say such a thing? Well, it’s one thing to have a political hot take. It’s another to take a stand on social issue. If we’re honest, all our selfies and humble brags are pretty superficial and trivial in the grand scheme of things. But to twist the worship of the Living God and make it about us is serious business. To dare to impose our own preferences or judge based upon whether we “got something out of it” is arrogant in the extreme. To assume we know what’s best or to make the mistake of thinking worship is about us getting our needs met, our wants fulfilled, our desires granted is foolishness. Worship is not about how we feel…though we should experience a range of feelings during the experience. Worship is not about what we think…though our thinking should be challenged on any number of levels as we sit under the authority of the Word of God. Worship is not about what we get…though if we are humble we’ll receive any number of blessings for having been in God’s presence. Worship is not about us. It is about God.

One of the most challenging Biblical truths for Christians to grasp is that God’s highest priority is Himself. God’s greatest passion is for His own glory. God’s deepest love is for Himself. And if you find yourself thinking that makes God sound like a narcissist, let me humbly suggest you take a step back and think it through. In the beginning. Before time and space. Before the universe came into being. There was God. He existed eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in perfect communion. There is no lack in God. No deficiency in God. No void God needed to fill. God could have gone on existing in perfect communion with Himself for all eternity and not missed a thing. God doesn’t need us. God isn’t incomplete without us. God is all-sufficient in Himself. But God did choose to create. God created a universe and filled it with all kinds of beauty and artistry and splendor. He created the dualities that mark our existence like light and dark. Sun and moon. Earth and sky. Male and female. Finally, God made a special creature in His own image. It was an act of pure grace. He gave us agency and creativity and responsibility that mirrored His own. His plan was to live in unbroken fellowship with us forever. Inviting us to share in the perfect love He has in Himself. But we rejected His plan, of course. We went our own way. We wanted to be like God. Self-sufficient. Self-governing. Self-propagating. We wanted to be in charge of our own lives. We wanted to be the captains of our own destiny. The masters of our own fate. The rulers of our own souls. So, in a supreme act of love, God let us go. God let us go our own way, knowing it would end in self-harm and self-destruction. God let us go our own way, knowing we would turn His beautiful creation into a means to feed our own selfish desires. God let us go our own way, knowing we would reject Him at every turn as we tried our hand at self-rule. And all God knew and feared would happen took place. It broke His heart.

But God wouldn’t let go. To do so would be to act against His own divine character. So God rends the heavens and comes to earth. God - in some sense - rends the Trinity to come to earth. Sending His beloved Son to become one of us. Sending His beloved Son to suffer and die for us. Sending His beloved Son to deliver us out of the mirrored prisons in which we live - where all we can see is Self - and set us free to love and serve Him again as He planned from the beginning. And yes, God did this for us but more importantly, He did it for Himself. He did it to remain true to who He is. To do anything else would be to deny His very nature and character. Even in our salvation, God’s highest commitment remains Himself. God’s highest priority remains His own glory. And this is why we worship. We worship God not for how He makes us feel. Not for what He’s done for us. Not for the eschatological “goodies” that await us in the life to come. We worship God simply because He is God. He alone is worthy. He alone is deserving. This is what we were created for in the first place.

So listen again to the words of Psalm 96. Lift your voice again in praise. God is God! Let’s give Him the worship He deserves and the worship He demands! “Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength! Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts! Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth! Say among the nations, "The Lord reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity." Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness.” (Psalm‬ ‭96:1-13‬)

The Lord is my Shepherd

Readings for today: Psalms 15, 23-25, 47

I am a “one” on the Enneagram. For those of you not familiar with the tool, the Enneagram helps a person grow in self-understanding. It helps you identify your basic fears, drives, and desires. It gives you a pathway to health, virtue, and holiness. It also reveals your susceptibility to particular temptations, vices, and stress. So, again, I am a “one” on the Enneagram. A perfectionist whose primal fears are corruption, deceit, imbalance, and immorality. These fears lead to stress which creates anxiety. When I am anxious, I tend to be resentful, even angry. My buttons get pushed and I literally can feel my blood begin to boil inside. In the face of these feelings, my temptation is to deny them. Play the hypocrite. Not acknowledge my anger because it is not morally good and therefore must be rejected. This results in continual self-condemnation. The critical voices in my head rise to a cacophony of shame as I fail to live up to my own high ideals. It’s frankly exhausting. 

“O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart...” (Psalms‬ ‭15:1-2‬)  

“Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.” (Psalms‬ ‭24:3-4‬)

 “Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me! Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.” (Psalms‬ ‭25:20-21‬)

This stuff is music to a “one’s” ears. It speaks my love language. Goodness. Righteousness. Moral uprightness. Holy perfection. All good things. All important things. And yet, none of these things actually lead me to health. They do not assuage my anxiety. They only serve to feed my fears. They throw me back on my own strength. My own effort. Which I already know is never enough. So what’s a “one” to do? Continue playing the hypocrite? Continuing pretending he or she has it all together? Continue presenting an image to the world that is good and upright and moral? 

By no means! The “one” must instead cling to message of Psalm 23. One of my favorites, by the way.  “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.” (Psalms‬ ‭23:1-3‬) Peace comes as I trust in the Lord. Serenity comes as my soul rests in Him. All my stress. All my anxieties. All my fears fade away when I let the Lord be my shepherd. He takes care of all my wants. He makes me lie down and rest in green pastures, beside still waters. These words are balm to my soul. 

Every morning when I wake, I find my heart ”reset” to its default position. As soon as I open my eyes, the voices in my head start clamoring for attention. “Get up! You have so much to do! So much to accomplish! You’re already behind! You’re already letting people down! You’re already failing!” As I said above, my temptation is to argue. To fight. To try to silence those voices through my own Herculean efforts. But God charts a different path for me. The path of grace. And His Words became my words as I pray, “To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me...He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies...The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant...Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me! Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.” (Psalms‬ ‭25:1-2, 9-10, 14, 20‬) As God’s voice fills my head and heart, I find the other voices retreating into the background. Yes, they are still there but it’s more of a murmur than a roar and I can now go about my day filled with God’s peace. 

We are living through a very stressful time. A time of great fear and anxiety. And the temptation will be to let this season drive you to the darker corners of your heart. Longing to numb the pain or regain control, you may find yourself acting out in ways that are self-destructive or painful for those around you. You may find your relationships starting to strain. The key is NOT to work harder or longer or more efficiently. The key is to rest in the arms of the Good Shepherd. Let go of control. Let go of the need to succeed. Let go of the need to have it altogether. Ask for help if needed. Reach out to those who can come alongside. Make a call to a mental health professional or your pastor and ask for an appointment. Trust God has provided these means for the well-being of the sheep of His pasture.

Readings for tomorrow: Psalms 89, 96, 100, 101, 107

True Worship

Readings for today: 2 Samuel 5:11-6:23, 1 Chronicles 13-16

What is true worship? Is it a feeling? A style? An experience? How do we know if we’ve engaged in true worship? Is it because we leave feeling inspired? The preacher’s message warmed our hearts? We’ve eaten the bread and drunk of the cup? The music for the morning matched our musical tastes? What are the hallmarks of true worship? Authenticity? Sincerity? Sentimentality? Getting something out of it?

Worship in 21st century North America has turned largely inward. It is focused, evaluated, planned, produced for the human experience. It caters to the preferences and tastes of the worshipper. It is designed primarily to make the human being feel inspired, motivated, and connected. This “inward turn” is as true for the small church as it is for the mega-church and every church in between. And it’s why we see so many Christians bounce from church to church to church over the course of their lives. Long gone are the days when one would INVEST their entire lives into one community come what may. Long gone are the days when Christians would heed the BIBLICAL command to actually practice forgiveness and reconciliation when relationships get hard. Long gone are the days when Christians would DIE TO SELF, laying aside the consumer tendencies of taste. Preference. Personal favorites. As a result, long gone are the days when the church produced robust, courageous, bold, self-sacrificing disciples of Jesus who would give their lives for the sake of the gospel and the Kingdom of God in this world. Not that it never happens, it is simply more an exception rather than the rule. 

So what is true worship? It is the worship God both deserves and demands. Believe it or not, God cares deeply how He is worshipped. In 1 Chronicles 13, we see what happens when God’s people - with sincere and authentic devotion in their hearts - fail to worship God in the way He commands. The people have gathered. They’re excited to bring the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. They call the priests. They call the Levites. They plan a huge celebration.  The whole nation is present to witness this incredible moment. They build a new cart to carry the ark in the procession. David and all of Israel are celebrating, singing, dancing before the Lord with all their might. But then an ox stumbles. Uzzah, seeking to protect the ark, puts out his hand to keep it steady. The Lord strikes him down. One can imagine the shock of the crowd. In an instant, all the music and dancing and celebration stops. Silence. Long, prolonged, awkward silence as the people come to grips with what’s just happened. David is angry. He pouts for three months, refusing to come to grips with the fact that he himself is somewhat responsible for what happened. His decision to do what was convenient (build a cart to carry the ark) rather than what God demanded (Levites carry the ark on their own shoulders) is ultimately what cost Uzzah his life. Fast forward to 1 Chronicles 15. A different picture emerges. David is ready. He is humble. He submits to God’s will. He decrees that “no one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, for the Lord had chosen them to carry the ark of the Lord and to minister to him forever.” (1 Chron. ‭15:2‬) Once again, the celebration commences. Singing. Dancing. Music. Right sacrifices. God is pleased. God accepts the worship David offers because it is singularly focused on honoring God. 

What does true worship look like in our context today? Obviously, none of us know where the Ark of the Covenant resides. (Except Indiana Jones, of course!) The ceremonial laws that governed Old Testament worship have been fulfilled in Christ. Does this set us free then to worship as we choose? To do what feels good? To set the needs of the worshipper above the clear, biblical command to worship God and Him alone? And why does it matter? What difference does it make?

Worship exerts a powerful, shaping influence on our lives. It changes us. Refines us. Transforms us. As such, who we worship matters. What we worship matters. How we worship matters. In these days of strict quarantines when the corporate worship of the people of God has been suspended, we have been given a gift. An opportunity to think about what true worship is, what it looks like, and what is essential and non-essential. I think most of us are finding that as nice as it is to worship God from the comfort of our homes and living rooms, it’s just not the same watching a screen. True worship is embodied. It is incarnational. It requires the presence of others worshippers. Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them.” We’re all feeling that loss right now. We have a longing in our souls to hear the saints sing. To extend the peace of Christ. To celebrate baptism. To share in the Lord’s Supper. All of these are embodied actions that require the physical presence of other people. Friends, God loves it when His family gathers together around His throne. This is the worship He deserves and the worship He demands and one of my prayers is that we will emerge from this season with a greater hunger to gather in His presence. Place a greater priority on coming before Him as a community of faith. Find our hearts filled with a greater desire to worship God in spirit and in truth.

Readings for tomorrow: Psalms 15, 23-25, 47

The Power of Unity

Readings for today: 2 Samuel 5:1-10, 1 Chronicles 11-12, Psalms 133

Today we read one of my favorite Psalms. “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.” (Psalm‬ ‭133) It contains an amazing promise. God commanding His blessing of everlasting life on those who seek to come together in Him. I’ve seen the fulfillment of this promise. Especially in my work over in Africa where Christians come together from different tribes and denominations. Speaking different languages and growing up in different socio-economic classes. They come together to grow the Kingdom of God. It’s powerful. And God blesses the work of their hands. Thousands of churches planted. Tens of thousands of new believers. Millions hearing the gospel for the first time.

I’ve also seen it in the prison I worked in during seminary. Men coming together from all walks of life. Men who committed all kinds of crimes. Men doing all kinds of time. Their common bond in Christ united them across denominational lines. Across racial lines. Across class lines. They came together to worship Christ and to serve Him in the most difficult of circumstances. And God blessed the work of their hands. Hundreds of men heard the gospel for the first time. Many came to faith. Violence in the prison went down. Even the prison guards and administration saw the impact of the spiritual unity of these brothers in Christ.

Sadly, I’ve also seen the devastation disunity creates. Think about what’s happening in our nation today. The fight against the coronavirus should bring us together. We should be united in our fight against a common enemy. However, too many of our political leaders simply cannot help themselves. They stir division. They fan the flames of partisanship. They use this crisis to fan their base into a frenzy. And the result is more sickness. More death. More pain. More suffering. And the American church is often no different. For all the great work so many churches are doing across the country in all kinds of communities, a small minority continue to make headlines with their arrogance. They create a false dichotomy. They peddle a false narrative. They claim they are being persecuted or singled out or attacked by the government. Nothing could be farther from the truth but it serves their purposes to sow division. And far too many in their own congregations suffer the consequences.

The key to unity is humility. Humbling ourselves before the Lord first and foremost. Remembering the grace He first gave to us as sinners. Acknowledging how lost we truly would be without His saving death. Having received His grace, we then extend it out to others. Those we love. Those we live among. Those we struggle alongside. We offer it indiscriminately. Unconditionally. Even - and perhaps most especially - to our enemies. Only God’s grace is sufficient to supply our needs. Only God’s grace is powerful enough to tear down every dividing wall of hostility that keeps us apart. Only God’s grace can transcend race or class or language or tribe. Only God’s grace can bring about the unity our hearts so desire.

Friends, more than anything else, we need unity in our community. In our state. In our nation. In our world today. I hope you will join me in praying daily for God’s grace to be poured out on His people all across the earth. May we who are called by God’s name humble ourselves before Him and pray fervently for repentance. Forgiveness. And the healing of the divisions that keep us from experiencing the abundant life God promises!

Readings for tomorrow: 2 Samuel 5:11-6:23, 1 Chronicles 13-16

Biblical Feminism

Readings for today: 1 Chronicles 7-9

Today’s reading brings us to the end of the genealogies of Israel. Whew! These are some of the harder sections of Scripture to get through simply because they feel so remote. After all, we don’t feel a connection to these people or these particular tribes or these particular families. Sure, we acknowledge they are our spiritual mothers and fathers but there’s very little information about most of these names so it’s hard to feel any kind of tie. However, a careful reading reminds us that behind every name is a story. And behind every story is a powerful testimony of God’s faithfulness.

For example, consider the case of Zelophehad’s daughters. “The sons of Manasseh: Asriel, whom his Aramean concubine bore; she bore Machir the father of Gilead. And Machir took a wife for Huppim and for Shuppim. The name of his sister was Maacah. And the name of the second was Zelophehad, and Zelophehad had daughters.” (1 Chronicles‬ ‭7:14-15‬) Their story is told in Numbers 27 right in the middle of another genealogical section of the Bible when Moses was dividing up the inheritance of the land. It’s a remarkable testimony and worth recapping again.

Five women appear before the gathered leadership of Israel at the Tabernacle to present one of the earliest recorded lawsuits in history. Their claim? Their father died without a male heir which means his inheritance is now in jeopardy. He was not part of the rebellion of Korah so they have legitimate standing to bring his case before the Lord. And they ask Moses to grant them their father’s property rights so they can preserve the family line. 

I cannot imagine the courage this course of action must have taken. Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah (Zelophehad’s daughters) knew very well that women did not have any rights in the ancient near east. Not in Israel and certainly not in the nations that surrounded them. Women were considered property in that time. Not even counted as human beings. At the death of their father or brothers or husbands, they were not entitled to any inheritance and were often left destitute. Fast forward a few centuries and we see this scene play itself out in the book of Ruth where Naomi loses not only her husband but also her two sons, leaving her to fend for herself.

So imagine you are one of these five women. Raised to believe you have no rights. Your primary value is to bear sons to your future husband so his family line can be preserved. Now imagine making the decision to approach Moses and the gathered leadership of Israel in front of the Tabernacle itself to present your case. You know what you are about to do has never been done. You know what you are about to ask for has never happened before. You know there’s a good chance your petition will fail but you courageously step forward anyway. You argue persuasively for the preservation of your father’s inheritance and you make the audacious claim to be counted among your father’s brothers. 

I would have loved to see the look on Moses’ face. Was it shock? Confusion? Did he smile at the women’s boldness? There is no indication in the text one way or another. What we do know is Moses recuses himself and takes their petition to the Lord. This, in itself, is a strong affirmation of the women. And then there is the response from God. I have to believe their courage brought a smile to His face and He issues a new law for Israel. From this point forward, “If a man dies and has no son, then you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter.” (Numbers‬ ‭27:8‬) A statute still used today as legal precedent by the American Bar Association. 

The Bible is a history of God’s interactions with many different human cultures. Human culture, by definition, is always corrupt and unjust. Thankfully, God is at work constantly bending the arc of human history towards justice. Towards righteousness. Here is a clear case where God honors the rights of women, granting them a unique status when compared to other ancient near east societies. There is a direct line between the daughters of Zelophehad and Deborah who served as judge and spiritual leader for all of Israel. A direct line between the daughters of Zelophehad and the female disciples who gathered round Jesus and remained faithful to Him even to the end when all the other male disciples had long since fled. A direct line between the daughters of Zelophehad and the women Paul affirms like Priscilla, Phoebe, and Junia who was “excellent among the apostles.” God is still doing this work today as women continue to be affirmed as strong and gifted leaders across all sectors of human society. 

Readings for tomorrow: 2 Samuel 5:1-10, 1 Chronicles 11-12, Psalms 133

Spiritual Crisis

Readings for today: Psalms 81, 88, 92, 93

Today I read something profound a friend posted on Facebook. “We are all in the same storm but we are not all in the same boat.” Those words resonated with me as I think about the number of friends I have facing starvation around the world. The friends I have living in difficult home situations which the quarantine has exacerbated. The friends I have who’ve lost jobs and livelihoods or loved ones during this challenging season. I think about the political leaders I’ve had the chance to interact with and the burdens they carry. The faith leaders I’ve talked to who feel paralyzed and overwhelmed by all the demands. There seems to be no bottom to this pit we find ourselves in. And this has led some of those I love into a deep crisis of faith.

Spiritual crisis is real, friends. It is deep. It is existential. It takes us to the end of ourselves and beyond. It is also quite normal. It is to be expected. It is something many followers of Christ have experienced. The consistent witness of God’s people throughout history testifies to the fact that there will be seasons when God seems so distant. When our lives seem so dark. When the light of Christ is hard to find. When the comfort of Christ seems long in coming. During such seasons, we feel overwhelmed by fear. Doubt. The cares and worries of this world press in on us. We feel trapped. Alone. Unable to be consoled. 

St. John of the Cross, a 16th century Spanish Christian, famously coined the term, “The Dark Night of the Soul.” It refers to particular seasons in the Christian life where we feel stripped of God’s presence. It’s not true, of course. God is still very much present in our lives but we do not feel Him. We do not experience Him. We do not sense His tender mercies and affections. During such seasons, we feel a void. An absence. And it causes us to wrestle on a deep, foundational level with our faith. 

I experienced such a season for 19 months while living in Sun Prairie, WI. The ministry I had been called to was failing. My relationship with those I was accountable to was a disaster. I was struggling daily with fear and doubt and depression. So consumed was I by my own needs, I neglected my wife and children. Things got so bad that my wife gave me an ultimatum. It was either her or the ministry. I was at the end of my rope. I resigned. No idea what was next. No idea how I would feed my family. No idea how I would care for those I loved most in this world. I felt so alone. So afraid. For months I cried out to God. I would pace our living room most of the night praying. Begging. Frustrated. Angry. Where was God when I needed Him most? Where was God when things were at their worst? I was in spiritual crisis and it felt like God was not there.  

These experiences are not unusual. St. John of the Cross. St. Paul of the Cross. Mother Theresa. All testify to similar experiences, though their “dark nights” lasted decades. The author of Psalm 88 was clearly familiar with his own “dark night.” “O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you...For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol...You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep...Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon? Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?...O Lord, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me?...You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.” ‭(Psalms‬ ‭88:1, 3, 6, 11-12, 14, 18‬) It’s a depressing Psalm. One of the few with no resolution. No final ascription of praise. The psalmist seemingly feels God’s absence on a visceral level and is left all alone in darkness. 

So why does God allow the dark night of the soul? Why does God not rescue us from the depths of our spiritual crises? What are such experiences seemingly so common and even necessary for the Christian? I believe it is how we learn the meaning of true faith. True faith must move from the head to the heart to the gut. To the depths of our being. It must become the fundamental reality of our existence. It must transcend what we think. It must transcend what we feel. It has to come from a place so deep within that it can never be overcome. 

Mother Theresa endured her “dark night” from 1948 until her death in 1997. She once wrote, “Where is my faith? Even deep down ... there is nothing but emptiness and darkness ... If there be God—please forgive me. When I try to raise my thoughts to Heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul.” Some have suggested she lost her faith. Not true! In fact, her suffering was very much like that of Jesus on the cross who cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” In the end, Mother Theresa hoped her personal letters would be destroyed lest “people think more of me and less of Jesus.” 

I wouldn’t trade those 19 months of spiritual darkness in Wisconsin for anything. God had removed any sense of His affections. God had removed any sense of His abiding presence. Doubts and fears assailed my soul as I was stripped to the bone. In the depths of my despair, I was haunted by this one question...do I really believe? Do I believe in God when nothing makes sense? Do I believe in God when I cannot feel His presence? Do I believe in God when all is darkness all around me? Is God more real to me than my thoughts? My feelings? My fears? My doubts? 

Maybe some of you are facing those same feelings today. Maybe you are asking similar questions. Do I believe in God when my loved ones get sick? Do I believe in God when I’ve lost my job? Do I believe in God when there seems to be no end in sight? Do I believe in God when the news just gets worse every single day? Do I believe in God when facing an uncertain future filled with potential new outbreaks?

There’s no way to know the answer to such deep questions unless one is willing to walk through the valley of the shadow of death to the other side. Thankfully, at the end of my own dark road, I found God waiting for me there. I found my faith renewed and strengthened in a way I could never have imagined. And I do not harbor any illusions that somehow my journey is at its end or that I won’t have to walk yet another dark road in the course of my life. What I do know is that God has driven my faith deep into my gut. Deep into the bedrock of my being. And though it can be shaken, it can never be destroyed because God is more real than my circumstances. God is more real than my feelings. God is more real than my thoughts. God is more real than my doubts. God is more real than my fears. God is the fundamental reality of my life and I am thankful. 

Readings for tomorrow: 1 Chronicles 7-9

Resting in God’s Promise

Readings for today: 1 Chronicles 6, Psalms 36, 39, 77, 78

Some days I don’t feel like I have much to offer. My brain feels fried. My thoughts scattered and unfocused. I don’t feel spiritual at all. The words just won’t come. I am tired and weary. The strain of the season is getting to me. I’m mentally and emotionally drained. Anyone else relate? Sure you can. Life is like that sometimes. It’s not a condition to avoid. It doesn’t mean I’ve failed. It simply means I’m human and need time to rest. Restore. Renew. Just like everyone else. None of us is a machine. None of us are made to run 24/7. Part of what I’m learning in this season is to embrace the slower pace. The inactivity. The lack of production. But that’s hard for me. It cuts against my grain. It pushes back against my naturally activist nature. What I’m learning is how to rest. Rest physically. Rest mentally. Rest emotionally. Rest spiritually. As I lay down my own burdens, I am also learning to pick up the burdens of others. Those less fortunate than me. Those less privileged than me. Because of my relative wealth and position, I have the luxury of rest. Many of my friends around the world do not. So I find myself praying more regularly and fervently. Reaching out to my friends to find out how they are doing. Sacrificially sharing my own resources to help alleviate suffering where I am able. Ultimately, this time is teaching me yet another lesson that life is not about me. It’s not about my needs and my wants and my comfort and my safety. It’s about finding my rest in the Lord and helping others do the same.

“Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O Lord. How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light. Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright of heart! Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away. There the evildoers lie fallen; they are thrust down, unable to rise.” ‭‭(Psalm‬ ‭36:5-12‬)

The Poverty of Prosperity Preaching

Readings for today: 1 Chronicles 3-5

Several years ago, a Christian leader ran across this prayer from Jabez in 1 Chronicles 4. “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!" And God granted what he asked.” (1 Chronicles‬ ‭4:10‬) He wrote a book about it. Claimed that if Christians would pray this prayer for thirty days, they would see significant changes in their lives. It became a bestseller. The forces of Christian capitalism took advantage. The book spawned journals and devotionals and Bible studies and music and sermon series. Preachers encouraged their congregations to pray for an “expansion of their territory.” Pray for “God’s hand” to bless everything they set their mind and heart to. Pray for God to “protect them and deliver them from all pain.” Sadly, these things didn’t happen like the preachers promised. People still suffered pain. People still suffered loss. People saw their “territories” decrease through global recessions. And the prayer fad quickly faded from the scene.

Prosperity preaching is heretical. The idea that God promises His people only the good things in this life goes against everything we read in Scripture and everything we experience in real life. Prosperity preachers love to lift up certain sections of Scripture, rip them out of context, and use them almost like magic incantations to force God to do their bidding. They believe their obedience binds God to act in certain ways. They believe their faith requires God to bless them with earthly treasures. It’s all a big scam. It’s bogus theology. Spiritually abusive. Shamelessly self-promoting and self-enriching. (All one has to do is look at the lifestyles of these so-called “preachers” to see the rotten fruit of their manipulative, sinful, and evil tactics.)

So why does Jabez pray this prayer? We have no idea. We do not know much about him. We do not know anything about his life circumstances. We do not know the occasion that spawned this prayer. To build an entire theology of prayer off the back of this one verse is incredibly dangerous. I remember when the book first came out. I was at Princeton at the time. Serving as an intern in a local church where one of the pastors encouraged our congregation to pray the prayer. I had concerns almost immediately. When members of our church asked me what I thought about the prayer of Jabez, I told them I preferred the prayer of Jesus. Praying the Lord’s Prayer for thirty days would bear far more fruit in one’s spiritual life than praying the prayer of Jabez.

Ultimately, the problem with the prayer of Jabez is it makes everything about us. Bless me. Expand my territory. Be with me. Keep me from harm. Protect me from all pain. And yet, as I read Scripture I see how God often uses pain and hardship and suffering to shape and form us into the image of Christ. In fact, the Book of Hebrews says that Christ Himself was made “perfect through suffering.” (Hebrews 2:10) The prayer Jesus taught us to pray makes everything about God. Hallowed be Your name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done. Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Our very real needs grounded by our surrender to God’s ultimate will for our lives.

Friends, you and I are living through challenging times. Many of us are experiencing pain. Many of us are experiencing hardship. Many of us are experiencing loss. Our health is threatened. Our wealth is being stripped away. Our territory has shrunk to the homes we are lucky enough to live in. Does this mean God has failed? Does this mean God’s people have lost faith? Is God finally fed up with the world? No. It simply another stark reminder that this world is not our home. This world is broken and ruined and dangerous and hostile. It is cursed by the weight of sin. It suffers and struggles and groans along with us as it waits for the coming Kingdom of God. In such a world, the prayer of Jabez cannot help us. Only the prayer of Jesus can bring us the comfort and the hope we need!

Readings for tomorrow: 1 Chronicles 6, Psalms 36, 39, 77, 78

No-Win Scenario

Readings for today: Psalms 49, 84, 85, 87

I am a bit of a Star Trek fan. Especially the new movies. One of the scenes that intrigues me the most is the “Kobayashi Maru.” A training exercise developed for cadets which places them in a no-win scenario. The simulation was developed by Spock - at least according to the new movies - and the only cadet to ever beat the test was Jim Kirk though he had to cheat to do it. The point of the exercise is to help a potential captain understand their own limitations, test their character, and teach them how to manage an unmanageable situation in a non-anxious way.

I think about where we find ourselves today. Our political leaders are facing a true “no-win” scenario. On the one hand, they must employ lockdowns and “stay at home” orders in order to prevent the spread of a dangerous and novel viral strain. These extreme measures, along with social distancing, have flattened the curve and helped prevent deaths. However, the economy has now crashed, putting millions out of work not just here in America but around the world. This has created a potential famine that will impact up to 250 million people according to the BBC. People are beginning to realize that the ability to remain home and safely shelter in place is a privilege only the globally wealthy enjoy. The extreme poor simply do not have this choice. If they remain home, they will starve to death. To add yet another layer to this already challenging scenario is the growing mental health crisis. Crisis lines are burning up with people struggling from social isolation, depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. Truly, we are facing a crisis of biblical proportions!

Sadly, so many of our leaders are failing the test. They are failing to manage their own fear and anxiety and often end up lashing out in divisive ways. They attempt to score political points on their opponents. They accuse each other of having the blood of innocents on their hands. They don’t want to “waste this crisis” and have started promoted economic and social revolution. They proudly and arrogantly proclaim they have the solution to make sure something like this never happens again as if keeping such a promise were even possible. They tell us that even “one death” is unacceptable but that’s simply not facing reality. People are going to die in this crisis. Either from the disease or from the “cure.” Again, it’s a no-win situation. There are no easy answers. No clear path back to normalcy.

So how does a Christian respond when faced with a “Kobayashi Maru?” We lament. We fall on our faces before the Lord. We humble ourselves before God. We acknowledge our own limitations. We refuse to trust in our own resources. Our own talent. Our own wisdom. Our own strength. We recognize such ways only lead to more death. “Man in his pomp will not remain; he is like the beasts that perish. This is the path of those who have foolish confidence; yet after them people approve of their boasts. Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol; death shall be their shepherd, and the upright shall rule over them in the morning. Their form shall be consumed in Sheol, with no place to dwell.” (Psalm‬ (‭49:12-14) You and I are dust. We were made from dust and to dust we shall return. We are weak and frail. We are vulnerable and fragile. We are foolish and myopic. We are such self-centered creatures.

Why do we feel like the crisis we find ourselves in is a “no-win” scenario? Because we are limiting ourselves to the horizons of this world. We are confining ourselves to life on this earth. We have lost sight of the eternity God offers us in Jesus Christ. I love how the Psalmist proclaims the good news of the gospel. Pointing us in faith to the hope we have in God. “God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me.“ (Psalm‬ ‭49:15‬) Death has no hold over the true believer. The true Christian faces death not as an adversary but as a vanquished foe. Death has no hold on us. No power over us. No authority to condemn us. For on the Cross at Calvary, Jesus Christ met death in all his macabre glory and put him to shame. He disarmed death, making a mockery of him. Friends, there is no such thing as a “no-win” scenario to God! He has “cheated” death by raising His Son from the grave. He has “robbed” death of her greatest prize! He has defeated death once and for all! And all those who place their trust in Him can know the same victory in their own lives as well.

Readings for tomorrow: 1 Chronicles 3-5

Family Tree

Readings for today: 1 Chronicles 1-2, Psalms 43-44

There is a massive amount of interest in family history these days. With the advent of the internet, one can research from the comfort of one’s own home. You can trace your family’s origins back centuries. You can see their names. Sometimes get pictures. Find out different tidbits of information about them. What businesses did they run? Who did they marry? What town did they grow up in? You can even send your DNA off and find out who you are related to around the world. My mom and dad did this recently and discovered they had both Neanderthal and Mongolian blood!  It was nuts! (Then again, looking back maybe it makes sense...ha!) 

Genealogies are important because they root us in a specific history. A specific family. A specific story. Three generations ago, most Americans could tell you a lot about their family history. Mostly they lived in the same small town. Farmed the same land. Got buried in the same cemetery. There was a sense of rootedness to their lives. As the 20th century marched on, people became far more mobile and those connections to their history began to diminish. Sure, they might go back for a visit. Might see mom or dad and show their own kids the house where they grew up. Might be able to tell some of the family story but as time passed even those memories began to fade. Sociologists tell us that current generations are marked by a sense of existential loneliness. They don’t know who they are or where they are from. They don’t have a sense of “home” or being rooted in a history. They feel aimless and wandering.  

The genealogies we read about in Scripture are vitally important. If you’ve been following along with the reading, you know a lot of these names. You know a lot of their stories. You remember who they are and what they’ve done. Taken together, they tell the story of God’s people and it is important to the Chronicler to situate David within this specific history. Within this specific story. Within this specific family. Not only to demonstrate the fulfillment of prophecy - i.e. the scepter shall not depart from Judah - but also to remind the people of God’s great faithfulness. David was no accident. David didn’t just stumble into the kingship. David didn’t rise up on and seize the kingship on his own. This was the outworking of God’s salvation plan from the very beginning. Going all the way back to Adam in the Garden of Eden and tracing its way down through Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc. God has been at work. God has brought about His Will for His people. God has been faithful. 

Think about your own life. Think about the legacy you’ve inherited from your family. Good or bad. Think about where you’re from and the stories you tell your children about what it was like growing up. Do you feel connected to something larger than yourself? Do you feel like you are part of a specific history? A specific story? A specific family? And what role has God played or does He play in the unfolding narrative that is your life? 

Readings for tomorrow: Psalms 49, 84, 85, 87

Reaping the Whirlwind

Readings for today: Psalms 6, 9, 10, 14, 16, 21

I found this morning’s reading from the Psalms particularly relevant for our current cultural moment. It begins with personal lament. “Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. My soul also is greatly troubled. But you, O Lord —how long? Turn, O Lord, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love. For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise? I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping.” (Psalm‬ ‭6:2-6‬) I know so many praying this prayer or something like it. Perhaps they are sick from the virus. Perhaps they have other health issues that place their life in danger. Perhaps they know someone who’s struggling or suffering or even dying and they cannot be with them because of the quarantine. Perhaps they’ve lost their job. Closed their business. Maybe they didn’t make rent this month or they’ve stood in long lines at the food bank. Perhaps they feel overwhelmed. Anxious and afraid. Maybe they’ve even attempted to take their own lives. Yes, our souls are greatly troubled. We are weary with moaning. We’ve wept a flood of tears.

So where do we turn for help? We turn to the Lord. The maker of heaven and earth. The one who reigns and rules from His throne in heaven. And here is what He says, “The Lord sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness. The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. Sing praises to the Lord, who sits enthroned in Zion! Tell among the peoples his deeds! For he who avenges blood is mindful of them; he does not forget the cry of the afflicted. Be gracious to me, O Lord! See my affliction from those who hate me, O you who lift me up from the gates of death, that I may recount all your praises, that in the gates of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in your salvation. The nations have sunk in the pit that they made; in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught. The Lord has made himself known; he has executed judgment; the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. The wicked shall return to Sheol, all the nations that forget God. For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever. Arise, O Lord! Let not man prevail; let the nations be judged before you! Put them in fear, O Lord! Let the nations know that they are but men!” (Psalm‬ ‭9:7-20‬) We acknowledge God’s greatness. God’s glory. God’s honor. He is indeed worthy of all our praise! And we know our God is faithful. He is a stronghold for the oppressed. He rescues those who are enslaved. He comforts us in our fear. But He is also judge. He will administer justice with righteousness. He gives the nations over to their sin. They sink into the pit they themselves have made. They catch their own foot in the trap they laid. All the nations that forgot God are now put on notice. Where is their strength? Where is their peace? Where is their hope? All their wealth and power cannot stop this plague. All their training and expertise and advanced technology have been brought low by the smallest of organisms. The world economy shut down. International travel suspended. Even wars have ceased as the plague rages.

In the midst of it all, it is easy to lose sight of God. To lose heart. To begin to lose all hope. “Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor; let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised. For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord. In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, "There is no God." (Psalm 10:1-4) During times of great crisis, we often ask, “Where is God?” What is He doing? Why has He allowed these things to take place? How can He look on the suffering of His people and not step in? Some take it a step further. They see in these times of crisis clear evidence that God doesn’t exist. How can a good God allow such pain? How can a good God be the author of such evil? Truly if God were good and all-powerful, He would never allow such things to happen! But then the Psalmist reminds us that God is God and we are not. His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords and He shall reign forever and ever. “The Lord is king forever and ever; the nations perish from his land. O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.” ‭‭(Psalm‬ ‭10:16-18‬)

This brings us face to face with the fundamental reality of our own sinful existence. All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All of us are guilty of selfishness and greed and lust. All of us have turned aside. Each to our own way. Each one of us does what is right in our own eyes. “The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.” (Psalm‬ ‭14:2-3‬) Do we not all deserve judgment? Are we not all guilty? Have we not all rightfully earned death and an eternity separated from God? At the end of the day we do have to come to grips with the fact that either we will say to God - Thy will be done - or He will say to us - thy will be done. Either way, we will face the consequences of our decision.

So the encouragement from the Psalms today is to turn to God. To set your mind and heart on Him. To trust Him. Believe Him. Hope in Him. “I say to the Lord, "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you…The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” ‭‭(Psalm‬ ‭16:2, 5-11‬) Friends, this time of crisis has shaken our lives to their foundations. It has brought down the societies we’ve built like houses of cards. It has exposed the utter foolishness of our thinking and the spiritual poverty with which we so often live. It has thrown down the idols to whom we had declared our allegiance. As we sit amidst the ruins of what once was, I pray we humble ourselves before the Lord. I pray we turn from our wicked ways and begin to seek Him anew and afresh. I pray we cling to Him above all else and seek Him with all our hearts. As we do, God promises to meet us. Renew us. Restore us. Revive us. Come, Lord Jesus, do your work in me!

Readings for tomorrow: 1 Chronicles 1-2, Psalms 43-44

Godly Leadership

Readings for today: 2 Samuel 1-4

What our nation needs now more than ever is godly leadership. Men and women who put country before self. The collective good before personal gain. Men and women who are willing to work together to get things done. Cross the aisle for the sake of the future. Put aside petty political differences and grudges and differences in order to bring us together.

Times of crisis reveal the heart of a leader. David lived on the run for years. He was unjustly accused. Unfairly attacked. His life threatened on any number of occasions. He was exiled. Forced to struggle to survive. He fought a running battle with King Saul and yet refused to lift his hand against the Lord’s anointed. David took the high road again and again. Calling out to Saul. Seeking reconciliation with Saul. All to no avail. One would think David would become bitter and angry. One would think David would have every right to fight back and seek vengeance. One would think that upon hearing of Saul’s death, David would celebrate. Instead, David wept.

David grieved not just for himself but for all of Israel. David was heartbroken for his nation. For his people. He understood he was part of something bigger than himself. There were more important things at stake than his own political gain. David refused to take advantage of the moment to score political points. Instead, he continued to serve the Lord and his people with humility and respect and honor. This is ultimately what wins him his throne. Over time, David’s godly leadership becomes more and more evident. His influence grows. His power increases. Eventually, he wins even the enemy commander over to his side.

I search in vain for a “David” among our national political leaders these days. Instead of humility, our leaders continue to display their arrogance. Instead of respect, they continue to hold grudges and attack one another. Instead of putting the country first, they continue to try to leverage this crisis for their own personal gain. And the media is no different. They are just as partisan as the rest. Peddling lies and fake news from across the spectrum. They don’t even try to report the news with any kind of objectivity. Everything is subjected to their political and social agenda. This is true for both the Left and Right. And their monumental failures only serve to increase our national suffering and pain.

Today’s reading brings me to my knees in prayer. The leadership vacuum in our country means more people dying. More people suffering. More businesses closing. The lack of unity in our nation means more people getting sick. A growing mental health crisis that will soon rival if not surpass COVID-19. And more people thrust into unnecessary poverty. Is the way forward self-evident? No, it is not. Will the days ahead be easy? Not at all. Will more suffering and sacrifice be required? I think so. What would make it more bearable is if we had leaders like David who could remind us we are all part of the solution. Leaders who remain calm in crisis and who could assure us there are better days ahead. Leaders who appeal to our better angels by modeling what it looks like to work together for the common good. Leaders who seek to unify rather than divide. I am praying for God to raise up such leaders to replace the ones we have or by bringing those in power to repentance. I truly believe our future as a nation depends on it.

Readings for tomorrow: Psalms 6, 9, 10, 14, 16, 21

Psalms of Ascent

Readings for today: Psalms 121, 123-125, 128-130

Psalms of Ascent. Psalms 120-134. Many believe these were the songs Israel sang as they ascended to Jerusalem to keep the three annual festivals detailed in Deuteronomy 16. They are songs of worship. Songs of praise. Songs of thanksgiving. They express the deep gratitude the people feel towards God for all He has done for them. They sing them together. They sing them as they gather. They sing them in good times. They sing them in bad times. One can almost imagine thousands coming to Jerusalem all singing these songs with one voice. It must have been a powerful, moving scene. In addition, many scholars believe these were the songs Israel sang at different high points in their history like the dedication of Solomon’s Temple or the rebuilding of the walls during Nehemiah’s time. Over and over again, Israel returned to these psalms to express their faith and trust in God. 

Christians have built on this tradition. Many churches throughout the world sing these psalms in worship. The Eastern Orthodox Church sings these psalms every Friday during Vespers. The Roman Catholic Church schedules these psalms to be sung during daily prayer. The goal is to remind Christians we are on our own pilgrimage to a Heavenly Jerusalem and these psalms build the spiritual intensity of the worship service as we prepare for the reading of the gospel. It’s a powerful thing to experience. 

These psalms are favorites among believers. Especially in times of trouble. In times of plague and pandemic. In times of national or personal crisis. In such times, we cling to the language of God protecting us. God guiding us. God providing for us. God helping us. “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” (Psalms‬ ‭121:1-2‬) “To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he has mercy upon us.” (Psalms‬ ‭123:1-2‬) “Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, from this time forth and forevermore.” (Psalms‬ ‭125:1-2‬) There is something special that happens when we gather to sing these praises. Something deeply transformative. Something life-changing. We are encouraged. We are strengthened. We are blessed by the experience of being in God’s presence together and given the strength to endure.

This COVID season is challenging Christians all over the world to think about the priority of corporate worship. What once may have seemed optional or discretionary or perhaps even disposable has taken on a new importance. You never know what you’ve lost until it’s gone, right? Now that we are all living under “shelter in place” orders and are not allowed to gather, it creates a longing in our hearts. A longing for connection. A longing for physical touch. A longing for the presence of other people. Friends, God put these longings in our hearts. God hardwired these longings deep within our souls. It is never good for human beings to be alone and we are all suffering the effects of this lonely, difficult season.

Thankfully, we can still gather. Though not the same - and certainly not an adequate replacement - we can gather virtually online to worship God together. We can gather to sing the songs of ascent. Gather to sing the praises of God. Gather to confess our sins. We can gather under the authority of God’s Word and let His Spirit challenge us, convict us, and encourage us. This is what Christians have done for thousands of years. Yes, even in the midst of pandemics like the Spanish flu or the Bubonic plague or when other diseases have ravaged the earth. I know many of us worship Jesus daily on our own. I know many of us experience Jesus profoundly as we hike or hunt or spend time in nature. But neglecting the worship of God with the people of God places us at risk. Especially in a time like this. Furthermore, it places us out of step with thousands of years of Christian history. It places us out of step with the will of God as revealed in Scripture. It’s frankly arrogant and prideful and foolish to claim we don’t need the church. God loves His bride. God loves His children. God loves having His family together. God loves hearing His people sing. God loves meeting His people in the sacraments. God loves teaching His people through His Word. Jesus said,  “For where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I among them." (Matthew‬ ‭18:20‬) 

Friends, I know this is a challenging time. I know this is a difficult season. I know many of us are re-thinking our priorities and wondering what life will be like when we get back to normal. Or even what “normal” will be like once we are able to gather again! My encouragement to you is to use this time to make corporate worship a priority. Plant your flag in the ground. Take a stand for your faith. Make sure God gets the time He deserves and the worship He demands. Don’t fall back into the trap of giving up your Sunday morning gatherings with God’s people! Don’t let anything come between you and your first love! As Christ sustains you during this season, make sure to thank Him by committing yourself more fully to Him in the days and weeks ahead.

Epitaph

Readings for today: 1 Samuel 28-31, 1 Chronicles 10

My dad’s family comes from a small town in western Nebraska. If you go to the cemetery there, you will find all my relatives going back several generations. Grossbachs. Reslers. Arenz’s. They’re all there. You’ll see a headstone for my son Caleb and the plots where Kristi and I will be buried as well. It’s a beautiful, peaceful place. Every time we go back to Wauneta, we make sure we go out to visit. We walk among our ancestors. We read their names. Birthdates. Deathdates. And ponder the messages they’ve left for us. 

In the final analysis, what message will your life send? What will be written about you after you die? What memories will your children and grandchildren hold onto? How will they speak of you? King Saul ruled Israel for a number of years. He started off well but quickly went off track. His life is one of half-measures. A part of him tries so hard to be faithful to God but a greater part keeps taking matters into his own hands. His fear gets the best of him on so many occasions. And now we read about his death. A horrible one. You can almost see him on top of Mt. Gilboa. Wounded. Pierced through by many arrows. The bodies of his sons lying on the ground around him. He’s in pain. Agony. Grief-stricken. Israel has fallen before the Philistines. The glory of the Lord has departed. He’s watching it all come crashing down around him and in his despair, he asks his armor-bearer to finish him off before his enemies come and torture him. His armor-bearer refuses so Saul falls on his own sword. 

What verdict does the Bible render about this man’s life? “So Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the Lord in that he did not keep the command of the Lord, and also consulted a medium, seeking guidance. He did not seek guidance from the Lord. Therefore the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.” (1 Chronicles‬ ‭10:13-14‬) Saul’s death did not come at the hands of the Philistines. Not ultimately. His fate was sealed when he broke faith with God. When he did not wait all those years ago for Samuel to come and make the right sacrifices. From that point forward, Saul was doomed to perish and every action he took to stave off his fate only served to seal it further. Seeking out the witch of En-dor was simply the final straw that broke the camel’s back. Saul no longer sought God. No longer pursued God. No longer loved God. And so God put him to death and gave the kingdom to David. 

So back to us? What will future generations say about you when you’re gone? The writers of the Chronicles were looking back at their history. They looked back at their leaders and they judged them primarily based on their fidelity to the Lord. How did they respond in good times? How did they respond in hard times? How did they act in times of plenty? How did they cope in times of want? I think about our cultural moment. The pandemic has exposed the cracks in our society. It has shined a bright spot light on the underlying issues that threaten to tear our nation apart. But I also know the same thing is happening deep inside each of us. What do our fears tell us? What do our anxieties reveal? How are we coping and where are we looking for help in this time of trouble? Is it to the Lord? Or something else? And after this season passes into the pages of history, what will people remember about how we handled things? Saul will forever be remembered by his epitaph in 1 Chronicles 10:13-14. David will forever be remembered as the “man after God’s own heart.” Who are you?

Readings for tomorrow: Psalms 121, 123-125, 128-130

Redemptive Suffering

Readings for today: Psalms 35, 54, 63, 18

So I’ve been thinking a lot about Job this week. If you remember Job’s story from the Bible, it begins with this incredible strange scene in the heavenly throne room where Satan comes to challenge God. For those who don’t know, the Hebrew word “satan” means accuser and that’s exactly what takes place. Satan accuses humanity before God. The Bible gives the sense that Satan has come from “walking to and fro on the earth” and hasn’t found anyone on it who is seeking God. In response, God offers up his servant Job. Satan immediately challenges God. “Does Job fear God for no reason?” After all, has not God blessed Job with tremendous wealth and success and a large family and health and a long life? Satan goes on to suggest that if God were take those things away, Job’s faith would fail. So God allows Satan to put Job to the test. Job loses his wealth. His children are tragically killed. All his property is taken away. His health fails. Everything he has is stripped away, leaving him a broken man sitting in dust and ashes. Despite all this, Job remains faithful. He never loses hope. Yes, he gets angry. Yes, he gets bitter. Yes, he struggles to understand why it is all happening. But at the end of the book, when God finally shows up on the scene, Job humbles himself. He falls on his face before God. He surrenders to His perfect will.

I think about everything we are going through right now. A pandemic sweeping the earth, stealing our health. Economies crashing, stealing our wealth. Jobs lost, stealing our livelihoods. Quarantines in place, robbing us of community. Fear and anxiety rising to overwhelming levels all over the globe as people struggle to cope with it all. Satan, the accuser of the human race, is clearly on the move. God has allowed him to roam free for a season, wreaking havoc where he may. And I wonder how we will respond? Will we respond like Job’s friends? Demanding answers that simply are not there. Shaming the victims of this crisis rather than seeking to help. Casting blame on others for a situation beyond our control. Will we allow outrage and bitterness and frustration to get the best of us? Will we allow the pain and anxiety and fear we are feeling drive how we respond in the days and weeks and months ahead? Will we let hopelessness and helplessness sink in, leading to despair and a loss of faith? Or will we follow Job’s example? Humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand. Trust in God’s sovereign purposes even for our pain. Hold fast to the truth that God uses all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose? When we get to the end of ourselves and the end of our resources and the end of our hopes and the end of our addictions and idolatry and sinful dependence on everything except God…will we find faith?

This is where the reading from the Psalms comes in. As we read these words, we find our voice in the midst of all we are going through. When we don’t know how to pray in the midst of this pandemic or what to pray for, the Psalms provide direction. The Spirit praying with us and for us. Listen again to what the Psalmist declares…

“My soul will rejoice in the Lord, exulting in his salvation. All my bones shall say, "O Lord, who is like you, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him, the poor and needy from him who robs him?" (Psalm 35:9-10)

“But I, when they were sick— I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest. I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother; as one who laments his mother, I bowed down in mourning. But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered; they gathered together against me; wretches whom I did not know tore at me without ceasing; like profane mockers at a feast, they gnash at me with their teeth. How long, O Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from their destruction, my precious life from the lions! I will thank you in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise you.” ‭‭(Psalm‬ ‭35:13-18‬)

“Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life. He will return the evil to my enemies; in your faithfulness put an end to them. With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you; I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good. For he has delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.” ‭‭(Psalm‬ ‭54:4-7‬)

“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.” ‭‭(Psalm‬ ‭63:1-7‬)

God’s promise throughout the Bible is simply this…He will redeem our suffering. He will set all things right. He will make all things new. He will never abandon His people. Does that mean every desire of ours will be fulfilled? Of course not. We have to grapple with the fact that our lifestyles are not guaranteed by God. We have to acknowledge the American Dream is not something God ever promised. We have to humble ourselves and confess the lives we were pursuing pre-COVID were actually sinful on some level as we put other loves before God. Does God promise we will never experience pain? Not at all. God tells us straight up that in this world we will suffer. In this world we will face trials. In this world we will go through tribulation. Anyone who tells you different is clearly not speaking for God. Pain is real because sin is real. Our world is broken at a fundamental level which is why natural evils like viruses exist in the first place. Is following Jesus always positive and encouraging? Sadly, no. Jesus clearly calls us to pick up our cross. To take up a life of redemptive suffering for the sake of others. To sacrifice for the sake of the world around us. To deny ourselves daily so that others around us may flourish. Just as He did.

Friends, I am certainly praying for an end to this plague. I am certainly praying for an end to the suffering and pain we are all experiencing on various levels. I am certainly praying for the least-resourced and those communities most impacted. I am certainly praying for our political and business and medical leaders. But more than anything else, I am praying for the Holy Spirit to drive us to our knees before the Father in repentance and humility. I am praying we fall on our faces before Him in acknowledgement of our personal, corporate, and systemic sin. I am praying for revival to come as the human race all over the globe comes to grip with the fact that we are small and weak and the systems/societies we’ve built and placed our trust in are, at best, castles made of sand. I am praying the challenges of this cultural moment bring us to the end of ourselves so we can come face to face with God and find the grace we all so desperately need. Maranatha!

Readings for tomorrow: 1 Samuel 28-31, 1 Chronicles 10

Loving our Enemies in the midst of a Pandemic

Readings for today: 1 Samuel 25-27, Psalms 17, 73

The Sermon on the Mount is the litmus test for authentic Christian faith. Filled with challenging words that confront us on issues like anger, anxiety, lust, and greed; Jesus forces us to come to grips with the depths of our sin. Perhaps his most challenging words come from Luke 6:27-28 where He says, “Love your enemies!” Jesus says. “Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who persecute you.” Frankly, that sounds crazy. Mixed up. Naive. Until I read about David. And I watch him spare Saul’s life over and over again. I watch him refuse to lift his hand against the Lord’s anointed. I watch him restrain his anger. His desire for revenge. David had every right to strike Saul down when he caught him in the cave. Had every right to pin Saul to the ground with his own spear when he infiltrated the camp. But over and over again, David refrained. Why? 

I believe David understood on some level what Jesus would later teach. God’s great desire is for everyone to be saved and come to a knowledge of His truth. (1 Tim. 2:4) This includes a man like Saul. Evil. Paranoid. Drunk with power. This includes a man like Nabal. Proud. Arrogant. Hard-hearted. This includes a man like David who will succumb to the temptations to use his power for his own purposes. It includes a man like Doug Resler who wrestles everyday with pride and ego and selfishness. The reality that David saw. The reality that Jesus taught is that we are all enemies and yet God in His infinite mercy loved us. God in His infinite grace embraced us while we were yet sinners. While we were yet broken. While we were yet weak and wounded and dead in our sin. God came to us. God loved us. God did good to us. God blessed us. God prayed for us. So we should do for others including those who seek our harm.  

Some have asked if we run the risk of further traumatizing victims of abuse. Empowering perpetrators. Turning a blind eye to would-be tyrants. These are very important questions. My response is that God’s love is not passive. It doesn’t make one a doormat. I do not believe Jesus is teaching women to stay with the men who beat them. I do not believe Jesus is teaching us to seek out situations where we would suffer. I do not believe Jesus is teaching us to simply bow our heads before injustice. I do not believe is teaching us to passively bow before tyranny. David didn’t stay in Saul’s palace! David left. He escaped. He found his way to safety. And then he resisted. Fiercely. Faithfully. With the hope that his persecutor. His abuser. His enemy would eventually see the light. I love what Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.” King pursued a path of non-violent resistance always with the hope that white racists would become his brothers. This was his dream. And I believe deep down it was David’s dream for Saul as well. 

Times of crisis seem to exacerbate division. The current pandemic is exposing cracks across the foundations of our society. As much as my heart has been warmed by the support our healthcare workers have received, I’ve been so disappointed in the way our political leaders have attempted to turn this season to their own advantage. As much as I’ve admired the way health experts like Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx have led us through this crisis, I’ve been frustrated by the ways different media outlets spin information to feed their own false narratives. As much as I’ve been inspired by the response of ordinary people to serve those in need, I cannot believe the selfish greed of those who would hoard needed supplies or price gouge. And I find myself getting more and more angry at those who make a living off of winding up the “outrage machine” that passes for discourse on cable news or Twitter these days. In short, God is teaching me to love my enemies. Those with whom I disagree. Those whose character and integrity I cannot respect. Those who seem hell-bent to assume the worst. The only way I can ever learn to love my enemies is to fix my eyes on Christ. Remember that while I was still His enemy, He died for me. The only chance I have at following the Sermon on the Mount is to make Christ the filter for my life. To see the world as He sees it. To see others as He sees them. And to love them as He loves them.

Readings for tomorrow: Psalms 35, 54, 63, 18

Resiliency

Readings for today: Psalms 56, 120, 140, 141, 142

One of the real issues the COVID-19 virus is exposing is our lack of resiliency on a number of levels. There is the lack of physical resiliency. Because this a “novel” virus, we lack any kind of natural immunity to it which makes it far more contagious and deadlier than other viruses that have been in circulation for a while. There is a lack of mental resiliency. The number of calls to mental health hotlines has increased exponentially as people struggle with the isolating effects of the quarantine. There is a lack of emotional resiliency. People are far more reactive than proactive and this crisis has only exacerbated the problem. There is a lack of spiritual resiliency. Even among Christians. The superficial, self-help, moral therapeutic deism the American church has been peddling for too long simply doesn’t offer enough hope to endure suffering and death on this level. Add to this the lack of resiliency in our communities as social connections have frayed due to the extreme busyness of our former, pre-COVID lives and one can easily see why we find ourselves in such a panic.

Now read the Psalms. Keep in mind the conditions David was dealing with. On the run from his king. Unjustly accused. Persecuted without reason. Captured by the Philistines. Having to pretend he’s gone mad in order to escape. Living in caves in the desolate wilderness. Surviving off what he can scavenge. Fighting running battles off and on for seven long years. It’s a terrifying, stressful, and often brutal existence. Listen to how he describes it as he prays…

“Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me; all day long an attacker oppresses me; my enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly.” ‭‭(Psalm‬ ‭56:1-2‬)

“Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar! Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace.” ‭‭(Psalm‬ ‭120:5-6‬)

“Guard me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from violent men, who have planned to trip up my feet. The arrogant have hidden a trap for me, and with cords they have spread a net; beside the way they have set snares for me.” ‭‭(Psalm‬ ‭140:4-5‬)

“Attend to my cry, for I am brought very low! Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me! Bring me out of prison, that I may give thanks to your name! The righteous will surround me, for you will deal bountifully with me.” ‭‭(Psalm‬ ‭142:6-7‬)

Medical experts tell us resiliency is built up over time. It is built up as we intentionally expose ourselves to discomfort and pain and suffering. One day a vaccine will be created for COVID-19. Many of us will be inoculated with a weakened form of the virus in order to boost our immune systems. By exposing our physical bodies to the disease, we will build up our strength to fight it off in the future. The same is true for us mentally, emotionally, spiritually, even communally. For far too long, we have believed the lie that we can live our lives without pain. We’ve bought into the false notion that suffering is to be avoided at all costs. We refuse to endure discomfort. Refuse to accept anything less than complete and unconditional affirmation for everything we say and do. We reject any critique or judgment of our lifestyle. We’ve tried to socially engineer failure out of existence by making sure everyone gets a trophy. To what end? We live in the wealthiest, most technologically advanced nation on earth and our biggest fear seems to be boredom. Adjusting to working from home. Teaching our children. Time spent in solitude and silence. Don’t we realize what we seemingly fear the most is simply real, everyday life in most of the rest of the world? So many of my friends who live in deep poverty around the globe are very confused by what they are seeing and hearing from the West these days. They ask me all kinds of questions like “why is teaching your child considered a burden?” “Why is working from home so challenging when you have a job that makes you more money in a year than my people might see in a lifetime?” “Why is life so exhausting when you sit in a chair all day, staring at a computer screen?” I am humbled by their honest, heartfelt questions. They are not seeking to condemn, just understand. What they do not grasp is that the difficulty of their daily lives has built in them a strength and resiliency we simply lack. Our relative wealth and leisure has weakened us to the point where we are far more susceptible to fear and anxiety. Far more sensitive to pain and suffering. Far more vulnerable to panic and alarm.

Please hear my heart. I don’t say these things out of judgment. I am not trying to shame anyone or add to the already heavy burdens we are carrying. I don’t want to minimize the very real trauma that is happening. People are losing jobs. People are getting sick. People are dying. Loved ones are suffering. All of these things are very real. As a pastor, I am deeply engaged in this fight. But I do think our lack of resiliency is worth pondering and praying over. I do think we’re called to reflect deeply on the words of the Psalmist and let his faith inform our faith during this season of crisis. As we endure. As we persevere. As we seek to serve Christ and our communities. I trust the Spirit will build in us a deep resiliency that will serve us well far into the future.

Readings for tomorrow: 1 Samuel 25-27, Psalms 17, 73