Moving Through Suffering (Monday)—Hebrews 2:10-18

Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. (Hebrews 10:14-15)

When we look at humanity, we see so many radically different groups and we wonder if harmony will ever be possible on earth. We see the ancients and the moderns, the communists and the capitalists, the Hindus and the Muslims, the young and the old, the devout and the debauched, and a hundred other breakdowns. I wonder though, in light of verse 15, if there really aren’t just two categories of men: those who are free and those who are slaves. We know Jesus came to set captives free and we know Satan has come to prolong our slavery with the fear of death. Let’s explore just how he’s pulling this off.

Let’s review. We know the devil is the spiritual father of all lies. His lies are disseminated in the form of myths, errors, and distortions. His power rests in deception. His mission is to persuade men that God does not exist or to distort God’s actual nature.

What do you believe are Satan’s greatest lies? Those causing the most suffering to the most people over the longest period of time?  I believe a case can be made that the greatest lies are those keeping Christians enslaved—lies keeping the light of the world glowing at low wattage. Satan’s worst nightmare is that the children of God discover the fullness of life in Christ, who is in them. Liberated children of light, free from the fear of death, are big trouble for Satan. Fearless citizens of God’s kingdom will wreck the kingdom of darkness because truth sets captives free. What are the greatest lies told on earth? I believe some of them are the myths, errors, and distortions currently entertained by the Body of Christ.

That might be hard to swallow. Let me restate my point by asking another question: What is the greatest evil that could be perpetuated on a community infected with Ebola? Simple: it would be to withhold from it an available Ebola vaccine. Without the vaccine, the virus will systematically ravage and kill everyone. Similarly, our world is infected with a fatal spiritual virus which is destroying us. Jesus Christ is this earthly community’s only cure. The Body of Jesus Christ is this infected and dying world-community’s only hope. We are Christ’s Body and we possess the earth’s long awaited vaccine.

Yet, slavery within the Church is not a popular topic. How can a pastor speak to his congregation who is free in Christ (at least in Bible-theory) and insinuate that lies being entertained in their hearts are causing the most suffering to the most people over the longest period of time? If these lies exist as I have proposed, what would they look like? First of all, they would not be obvious to us because they would have become our normal. Promoting lies until they become norms is how the enemy enslaves men. Let’s look to Jesus for help.

Jesus was tempted just as we are. He understands the temptation to sell out to the devil better than we do. He was assaulted with lies in the wilderness. Recall, these temptations each began with, “If you are the Son of God, then you will…” There is a satanic bull’s-eye painted on our identities. How we see ourselves is one of Satan’s primary targets – where he doth seek to work us woe. We have not yet prevailed over our enemy as Jesus has. Over our lifetimes, myths, errors, and distortions about God and ourselves have taken precedence over God’s words. These thoughts are our enslaving norms.

            Slavethoughts can become so engrained in our identities questions about our legitimacy and God’s goodness can become normal. I have been shocked in my personal journey from  slavery into freedom, how frequently, even as a Christian, I have lived in agreement with the father of lies. This is why Psalm 139: 23-24 is such a pivotal prayer to me:

 Search me, O God, and know my heart; 

Try me and know my anxious thoughts; 

And see if there be any hurtful (enslaving) way in me, 

And lead me in the everlasting (liberated) way.

When we break into freedom, and we shall, because he is bringing many sons to glory, light will be released through the Church, not through better programs and sermons, but through the lives of those who are being transformed into the image of Jesus. God is seeing to it that His children spread out strategically into all the earth. Like a positive virus, the Church is being poised to infect the world with Jesus Christ. We have each been relationally positioned to infect others with the love of God—which is our ultimate cure.

Father, through your suffering, you have removed the basis of our fear of death. Let us give ourselves unreservedly to Your life. Go after the enslaving half-truths and blatant lies the enemy has sold us. Liberate us into the freedom of the sons of God, which all creation and we ourselves long to experience. Amen.

 

 

Moving Through Suffering (Sunday) – Psalm 42

Moving Through Suffering – Psalm 42 – The Miner’s Song

As the deer pants for the water brooks so my soul pants for Thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

There are diamonds in Psalm 42. Miners, like this psalmist are those who find them. Miners are questions askers. Because they learn to ask the right kinds of questions and preserver in their asking, they find the gems. Questions are native to thirsting and panting souls. Listen to this miner’s digging – When shall I come and appear before God? Why are you in despair, O my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Why hast Thou forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of my circumstances?

There are different types of questions. Some are mere camoflauge for bitterness and unbelief. Others are rhetorical tools used by the proud for posturing and positioning – an actual question would be redundant to them. They already know the answers. Some questions are asked to collect the data we need to support our existing hypotheses. None of these types of questions unearth true gems.

Then there are questions free of agendas and pre-formed notions. They come from child-like, searching hearts. They are often hard questions, shaped in the deeps of us. Hungry and thirsty souls have the courage to unearth them and bring them before their God. Digging in this vein equips the minor with the humility to encounter their God in new ways.

As miners, we are both driven and we are drawn. From behind, we are driven by pain and fears we dare not stop and face. We know that pausing to face off with these pursuers would be our undoing. We’ve looked over our shoulder before. We have seen those deep and unwelcome questions gaining on us. They were raised by experiences that once nearly destroyed us. We have vowed to outrun them because we are convinced they will kill us. This is not a problem though – we have worked this out. We have learned that we can turn up the volume and speed of life such that these questions are drowned out and left behind in the wake of our efforts to escape them. This is a tragic waste, because the pursued and the pursuer are exactly where the father of lies wants them.

The real Trilateral Commission – the world, the flesh and the devil, conspire to see that we remain driven. They will gladly provide us with diversions and excuses – anything it requires to keep us from excavating deep enough to uncover our long-buried issues and put them in their place as our servants rather than our masters. It is from these unexplored caverns that God calls to us. This is essential because he is endeavoring, with our cooperation, to overthrow every lie and half-truth we have buried by believing. These are the very things that drive us.

Then there are those, like our psalmist, who are drawn. They heard the call and they descended. They pressed on down through the valley of the shadow of death. With a familiar voice, albeit feint at times, calling them, they pressed through various strata of pain and found Jesus waiting for them. They discovered the diamond.

The writer of this psalm, is descending along a particular vein. They are being drawn. They have bumped into their painful questions and instead of returning to their own story, The Surface Driven Life :-), they have written the Miner’s Psalm. They gave voice to their questions. They paused to articulate them in words. Journaling is digging at its best.

The power of journalling rests in becoming psalmists in our own right – those learning to become transparent before God. We are very close to the gemstone here. This is where deep is responding to the drawing of deep. Here, in our depths, his Spirit touches ours; his light touches our darkness. If we will slow down and ask the right questions, we will discover that eternity can overtake time and that a banquets has been prepared, in our behalf,  in this most unlikely of places – in the presence of our enemies.

A precaution – When we start applying the breaks and turning down the volume, the painful questions of the past are going to pull up along side us and call us names, tell us lies and feed us their best temptations. They have enjoyed driving us – keeping us from the abundance of our rightful liberty. Our Psalm 42 minor gives us a tutorial in his craft. He slows down, listens to the call from his troubled mind and records his thoughts. He does the very thing we work overtime in avoiding. Please listen to this minor shovel …

My soul thirsts. I cry day and night. When will you bring relief God?

I REMEMBER – I HAVE PRAISED YOU BEFORE. I SHALL PRAISE YOU AGAIN!

Why are you in despair oh my soul?

I REMEMBER – I HAVE HAD EXPERIENCE WITH YOU. I SHALL HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH YOU AGAIN!

Thy breakers and Thy waves have rolled over me.

LORD, YOU WILL COMMAND YOUR LOVINGKINDNESS AND YOUR SONG WILL BE WITH ME IN THE NIGHT!

Why hast Thou forgotten me?

I WILL HOPE IN GOD. I SHALL YET PRAISE HIM. MY COUNTENANCE SHALL BE LIFTED!

This psalm leads to the mother-load. It demonstrates a man’s complete emotional honesty before God. It highlights the value of questions. It demonstrates that we do not require a intermediary between us and God. It demonstrates that a troubled heart can be a place of new beginnings. It demonstrates the power of recalling truths and declaring them to ourselves as answers to our own questions. It reveals that it is from our wounds, our failures and restlessness that God is calling us. Can you hear his voice?

Are you being driven or are you being drawn?

Father, we are children of light. Teach us to live in your light, especially when it gets
uncomfortable. Lead us into that place where we truly become free souls.  Help us to mine deep enough to that place where your sacrifice and suffering touches the depths of us. Help us to do our part in overthrowing the lies which have robbed the abundant life from us. Succeed in making us that city set upon a hill which radiates your light. When this world asks, “Just where is your God?”, they will receive their answer in the joy of our countenance, the vigor of our step, and the wisdom of our council. Amen.

A disclaimer – This post will be incomprehensible to natural songbirds, who are sitting on their appointed perches, singing beautifully, unhindered by all this introspection. By all means sing away. You were a born warbler. Suffering through anguished questions was not your lot. You and your precious song are gifts to us all. On the other hand, if your song is really more like a whistle in the dark, try slowing down and catching up with the Lord.

 

 

Moving Through Suffering (Saturday) – Isaiah 61:1-3

Moving Through Suffering – Isaiah 61:1-3

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. 

I am currently listening to Thirty Million Words (TMW) by Dana Suskind on Audiobook. She is the surgeon-turned-social scientist who wants to change the world, one child’s brain at a time. Her solid research has proven that between birth and 4 years old a child’s brain is a super computer under construction. The contractor? It’s the primary care givers of that child, who either connects the circuitry of that brain by way of a language-rich environment or, leaves the wiring only partially connected, through language deprivation.

I spend time with 4 year olds at a local public school. My heart aches, knowing this window of extraordinary opportunity is closing on these precious children. Sadly, I can see that it has, in fact, already closed for some. The TMW research shows that by 4 years old, if a child has not heard thirty million words, they will suffer an achievement gap which will follow them their entire lives. For want of words (and wiring), incalculable potential is squandered. This thought connects directly, but perhaps not obviously, to the American Dream which, to many, seems to be at great risk.

Research tells us that the American Dream has gone awry – the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer; the middle class is shrinking. And, to make matters worse, profit-driven media and power-driven politics have framed this problem for us as a policy issue. People, please … policy making is like spitting on a raging fire. New laws and policies are at best a futile form of damage control. Our nation could take a giant step forward in extinguishing our fires by owning one simple truth – our problems are way too big for government to solve. Only we the people, can resolve our problems. Only we the people can resuscitate our American Dreams.

May I share a piece of my American Dream with you.  Its really just a byproduct of my vision of God’s kingdom, which includes honoring the inalienable right of each human to reach their fullest potential, which happens to come from a higher source than the United States Constitution. Dignity comes to us by virtue of having been created in the image of God. The moment this notion is abandoned, every dream of freedom is at risk. My current American- flavored kingdom dream includes a statesmen (or stateswomen) who has chosen to rise above divisive, political claptrap, who, armed with poise and hope, will take the podium and say to us – the American citizenry  …

Dear American family, and I intentionally address you as “family” because that is precisely what we are. Within the bounds of these two oceans, we have a unique mission and common destiny. Perhaps you may recall; that for America to retain her beauty (which we each treasure), she must “confirm her soul with self control and her liberty with law.” I hope that sounds familiar. It is from the second verse of America The Beautiful. Remember her?  Sweet Land of Liberty – of Thee we once sang? Here is a portion of the third verse …

America! America!  – God shed His grace on thee  – Till selfish gain no longer stain  –  
The banner of the free!

Dear American brothers and sisters. Let me begin by asking you to help me rescue public discourse from hate mongers and sound bites. For their own selfish reasons, they pit us, one American against the other. Shame on them! They profit as they con us into blaming each other for withholding the American Dream from a shrinking middle class. With your help, I am going to do my level best, as a steward of truth, to rescue public discourse from its media captors. “We, meaning you and I, must spend our personal and national resources dealing with root issues.

Admittedly, for a time, it will be difficult for us to grasp, that at their core, our problems are not rooted in policy. They are rooted in people. So permit me to lead you back to the people-place where disparity actually begins. The roots of our American losses can be traced to the womb. From this place of safety, a child enters into this world with one of its organs not yet fully developed – its brain. What happens to that child’s brain after it leaves its mother’s womb is critical to America’s future. It is at risk because it is entering into an environment where …

whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.

We are currently exhausting, dividing and bankrupting ourselves wrangling over symptoms. If we must point the finger, let’s point it back toward root issues. Let me direct your attention to what may be the the root of all roots – early childhood development. Hang with me. I’m not just talking about educational policy reform – I’m talking about societal awakening.   

As Americans, we must become a racially, politically blind people where the collective good transcends selfish ambition. If we don’t overcome our selfishness, if we fail to exercise self restraint, we are going to fuel a cold war within our borders, that will weaken our nation at its core. Our enemies will laugh at us as we divide and bury ourselves with politically driven laws instead of giving ourselves to the proven roots of loud liberty. We, the American people, have opportunities before us. They are many, but certainly one of the greatest, is how we raise the next generation.

Let’s acknowledge together that our children are this nation’s future. Let’s repent of the evil we have foisted upon them with our national debt. Let’s do everything in our power to make this right for our children. And … while we are talking about our nation’s greatest resource, our children, let’s acknowledge the fertile window of brain development that is being squandered between birth and four year’s old. Let’s do everything in our power to equip these children to reach their fullest potential.

Opportunity, not tax coffers, is the true wealth of our nation. This is how we will redistribute the true wealth of our nation. This is a major way we will restore the middle class. This is how we will restore our American dreams. Please vote for hope when you go to the ballot in November. 

Well … I’m not running for office. I’m just a Christian, who happens to be a citizen, dreaming and praying that my voice will be mingled with other kindred spirits. Our dream is that America may succeed in her destiny as that nation tasked by God, to reconcile its soul with self control and her liberty with law.

This may not seem like a very spiritual topic since saving a soul from hell was not once mentioned. While I have not discounted that sweet-by-and-by, the Father’s business also involves redemption in the here-and-now. It may not be the whole tamale but helping humans reach their fullest potential sounds just like something Jesus would do. It fits with his kingdom mission to …

bind up the brokenhearted … to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners … to comfort all who mourn, to grant a garland instead of ashes … the oil of gladness instead of mourning … the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. 

Thy will be done on earth, even in America, as it is in heaven … and by all means, allow our children their daily bread of at least thirty million words. Amen.

 

 

 

Moving Through Suffering (Friday) – Hebrews 4:14-16

Moving Through Suffering – Hebrews 4:14-16

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 

In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I have conquered the world.  John 16:33

It is the “I have conquered the world” which allows “taking heart” and “continued difficulties“to coexist in the same verse. It is also the “I have conquered the world” which allows us to “take heart” in our “continued difficulties” making us into the overcomes we are destined to be. What does that mean though, that Jesus has conquered the world? How much relief am I to expect as a consequence of his victory?

Jesus is presented to us in our passage as the great high priest. Why does the author give him status as “great”? The traditional duty of a high priest was to oversee the sacrifices and to offer up the blood of beasts in behalf of Israel’s sins. This inspired author points to Jesus coming down from his high place in heaven and taking on human flesh so that he could experience our frailty and temptation. He was great because in doing this he never once sinned. He was also great because he didn’t just oversee the sacrifices. Jesus became the sacrifice, once for all.

His sinless life qualified him as a sacrifice which met God’s criteria. His blood as an unblemished substitute purified and secured victory for all who would believe in him. It was at the cross that he conquered the world. This is what made Jesus a great high priest.

Beyond the gratitude due him, what other application is there, now that we have a fresh reminder of God’s greatness? First: Hold fast to our confession. In Romans 10:9-10 Paul ties our profession to our salvation. I don’t believe he was speaking only of the initial profession of faith our traditions require at baptism or confirmation. I believe Paul was also speaking of a life style of profession where our union with Jesus is expressed throughout our lives in the midst of continued difficulties.

Second: Draw near to God with with confidence. The early part of Hebrews 4 discusses the essential nature of rest in a believer’s life. Resting from our works (that thing in us that says approval from God must be earned), is a primary piece of our weaponry. Resting in God’s work on the cross enables us to come boldly before his throne so that we may find grace in the continued difficulties life in a godless world guarantees. In our rest we are supremely dangerous!

We live within a cosmic war where humans are the eternal prize. Our hearts are beach heads into this godless domain where the battle is being waged. As in Normandy, the Lord of Hosts is invading a stronghold of enemy opposition. The ground we permit him to take in our own hearts becomes the substance of our stories. With these stories, we will mute Satan’s cosmic lies which often sound like this …

Just look around. You and I both know you are outgunned. We both know exactly who is in charge here. The reason this world appears as a godless place is because it is a godless place. Its mine! Hasn’t suffering confirmed to you yet that God is absent or indifferent? Don’t you think that If God was as good and all powerful, as he claimed, he would have relieved you of your continued difficulties by now?

While there is no doubt great spiritual battles are being waged in the heavens between intercessors and spiritual principalities, every believer’s heart is the beach head of this same battle. Our hearts are the landing craft of God’s invading force. That is why I remind myself frequently that we must …

Watch over our hearts diligently. Everything, including this battle starts there. (My paraphrase)

Our ongoing difficulties appear to us as blockades when they are actually footholds. When we take heart in this reality, we discover just how Jesus is conquering this world. He will take more ground in our hearts as we face off with the satanic lies rooted in our own belief systems. Watching over our own hearts will cause a shift in the tide of this battle. Here is the cosmic irony. The greatest warriors are those who have learned to rest.

In that final battle, I picture Satan’s last accusations – his final condemning and intimidating lies being drowned out by the stories of billions of God’s resting and rescued children. His foul ideas will be silenced by the roar of praise from the multitudes of captives Jesus has set free. The stories of how he sustained us through our continuing difficulties will abound. In us, God will have the final word!

Father, may our hearts adopt your perspective regarding these continued difficulties of ours. Help us to meet you in the midst of life, whatever shows up on the battle field. Show us where to resist enemy attacks. Show us how to advance in our rest. Amen.

 

Moving Through Suffering (Thursday) – Psalm 109: 21-26

Moving Through Suffering – Psalm 109: 21-26

For Thy name’s sake” is a key phrase in this passage.  David spends a good portion of his psalm petitioning God to absolutely pulverize those who have slandered him – for Thy name’s sake, of course. I imagine a scene where David – king of Israel, meets Jesus – king of the universe.  To the bowing Jewish king, Jesus says, “David, I know this will be different for you, but instead of me destroying these people, I would like you to just forgive them. I want you to love them, turn the other cheek and then ask how you might serve them. I want you to start praying for these people not against them. Oh yes …. just one more thing – I love your heart.”

With his God-approved heart, I believe David would eventually have moved beyond his desire for revenge and personal vindication. So, what was it about David’s heart God liked? For starters, I believe it was David’s habit of regularly presenting his heart to him. God applauded David because he lived presumptuously, like a child, regarding God’s favor. (See Acts 13:22)

Knowing that he was safe with God, David confessed to him that his own heart was wounded, that he was weak and shaken. He wanted relief from his suffering. He wanted God to improve his circumstances. I believe God also loved a certain motive of David’s. David wanted everyone to see an outcome in his life that reflected well on God. It seems David is not too different than you and I.

We don’t know what percentage of David’s heart was motivated exclusively by a concern for God’s glory, but we do know a portion of it burned with that ambition – “and let them know that this is Thy hand; Thou Lord hast done it”. Even though David’s motives were mixed, like ours, God endorsed David’s heart.

What percentage of our hearts are fueled by concern for God’s glory? Do we see our hearts well enough to even know how divided they are?  Are we conscious that we do many things for our name’s sake? Even if we could discern our vested self-interest in singing that “special” or preaching that sermon or appearing in this or that light, can we then just flip a switch and be exclusively all in for-Thy-namesake? If it were that easy, those of us on our way back to Paradise, would forfeit the opportunity to know him more intimately, which was the point of Eden.

In another psalm the writer places his petition before God, “Unite my heart to sing Thy praise“. It seems this writer understood his duplicitous motives. He was crying out for purification and refinement in the deepest part of himself. It is in this space where motivations reside – where deep is calling unto deep. It is in this place that Jesus either becomes Lord or just a consultant we bring in on an  as-needed basis. Since we will one day see him face to face, “Lord, unite my heart to sing Thy praise” is a very sane prayer for us to be praying.

Having one’s heart united is painful. Being disentangled from previous alliances is death to our old selves. The suffering involved in this dying process is one of the things God uses to refine our heart-motives. If we will process our sufferings in the Lord’s presence, as David did, we will come to know Him more intimately. When we stand before him, a greater portion of our hearts will have been united – desiring to have sees his name exalted above our own. Is Jesus our Savior and Lord or is he Savior and consultant ? 

Father, help us to cooperate as you unite our hearts. Retrieve them from all the things we have given them over to – our reputations, our success, our ambition, our need for approval, our own comfort and our own glory.  May we grow to live for “Thy” name’s sake. Unite our hearts to sing Your praise. Amen.

 

 

 

 

Moving Through Suffering (Wednesday) – Romans 8:18-38

Moving Through Suffering – Romans 8:18-38

I was in the middle of teaching when it dawned on me that those rows of people in front of me could have taken the same time I had with the scriptures and been much better off. The timing of this revelation was disastrous! While I was trying to deliver one coherent thought after another I was being invaded with one hostile thought after another: “They will never learn to fly or feed themselves if they are not shooed from the nest.” “Baby birds in this situation will perish and it will be Mama’s fault if she doesn’t do a little shoving.” It struck me that I was complicit in maintaining a spiritual welfare culture.

Today, my yardstick for measuring a pastor’s effectiveness would not be how many people attend or how much has been given. It would be how many Christians they have kicked out of the nest and taught to fly and feed themselves. The best preachers are not just conveyor’s of bible gems. They also ask penetrating heart-level questions which send believers off to their prayer closets and bibles to encounter God for themselves.

So, today I’ll take my own council and simply give you some questions relating to our passage. Over time, this practice of personally asking and seeking causes our wings to grow because we are being nourished in ways that passive listening (to even to the best sermons) cannot accomplish. This habit is key to enjoying a personal relationship with God. Here are a few things to chew on …

According to Paul, what are normal emotions for a follower of Christ?

If we have not prayed with accuracy or eloquence, why might this passage offer us hope? 

What can separating us from God’s love?

In what set of circumstances does Paul say we will overwhelmingly conquer?

What is Paul asking us to compare our “present” circumstances to?

What are we to anticipate between predestination and glorification?

What future event are believers and creation greatly anticipating?

On what basis might a follower of Christ take courage when the events of their life seem wasteful, unfair or painful?

What stands out in this passage as the thing God is trying to most impress upon you?

If you did take the time to search out the scripture’s responses to these questions, you should have tasted the meat. Believer’s who do this long enough are weaned from dependency upon pastor’s milk. Truth and revelation become our own. A pastor’s goal should be to wean each young Christian, bringing them to this level of independence and maturity.

Father, bring many sons into maturity for your name’s sake. Amen.