AN IRONIC RELATIONSHIP

“’Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.’”
Jeremiah 1:5

Irony is defined as the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of a literal meaning. The essential feature of irony has to do with the indirect presentation of a contradiction between an action of expression and the context in which it occurs. (Just then I sounded smart). Irony, however, is also able to take on a variety of types, ranging from comic irony, to Socratic irony, to dramatic irony, all based simply on the conversation and the way in which it is delivered. An example of irony that may be easy to identify was spoken years ago by William Zinsser who said, “It is a fitting irony that under Richard Nixon, launder became a dirty word.” While I chuckle at that comment, there is another ironic statement I read recently that did not make me laugh.
I have begun to realize that God is all about relationships. In a way, I knew this, but something about it is becoming clearer still. The Bible is a non-fiction story about a God who wants relationship. He first had that with Adam and Eve, then later with Abraham, then Moses, then the many believers in Him that followed. And now, you and I get to make that same choice of whether we will follow after God and have relationship with Him, or deny Him. For our eternal sake, I do pray we make the choice to follow after Him.
But in reading this verse in Jeremiah 1:5, I cannot help but ask myself a few questions. To set the stage, God has just called Jeremiah to be a prophet. Now although Jeremiah was just catching wind of this, God had already made this choice and given this blessing to him years before. Before people began doing ultrasounds and photos of the baby inside the womb, God was already taking snapshots of the baby, and calling forth His mission for that child’s life. So here, when the time was right, God spoke forth to Jeremiah exactly who he was called to be. In fact, even when Jeremiah questioned the calling in relation to his age, God said, “Do not be afraid, for I am with you” (Jer 1:9).
I read this portion and I do not see God as forcing Jeremiah to do this task because I know that God allows us all to practice freewill. But on the flipside, I also believe that God has a destiny for each one of us. Whether we chose to walk in it or not, well that is the freewill I was talking about. In this case, Jeremiah embraced the destiny God had for him. To Jeremiah it was clear; God spoke audibly and said he would be a prophet. Yet when God talks to you, is it as clear? Some may answer yes and know exactly what they are called to, and others may say no and still be searching. Despite which one you are, there is one commonality between Jeremiah, you, and me. We all need to stay in relationship with Him.
We are helpless without God, and He knows it. That is why He made a way to retrieve the relationship with us that at one time had been cut off by sin. But read these words penned by Francis Chan, and tell me they do not describe us. “The irony is that while God doesn’t need us but still wants us, we desperately need God but don’t really want Him most of the time.” First, is this not an illustration of irony? Yet more important, is this not true of us? How can we have a relationship with God, something desperately needed, if our actions say to God we could care less? God doesn’t need us but He wants us. We need God, but we hardly even step out toward Him. This is an ironic relationship, one I see in my own life at times. God has called me to a relationship with Him, and called me out with a mission, yet I still struggle in meeting up with Him, blaming it on a busy schedule knowing full well I’ll spend many hours doing something that is not eternal. I’m not trying to get you down, but trying to get you to think. As much as we need God, are we seeking Him?

GROWN UP CONTEMPLATION

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Romans 12:2

As I was driving into work a few days back I saw a bumper sticker that read, “Are you what you wanted to be when you grew up?” Seeing this caused me to think a minute and I was able to answer both yes and no. I do feel that as God had placed ministry in my heart at a young age, He has moved me into a fraction of what He has called me to. Therefore I can say, “Yes, I am what I wanted to be.” But then in another way, I know God has not fully released me yet into full time ministry, so to that I answer, “No, I am not what I wanted to be.” But as I continued my drive into work I was reminded of a song by Switchfoot, titled, “This is Your Life”. The song challenges one to contemplate life, asking if you are who you want to be. What you have before you is based on a series of events that have happened either by choice or force, but how you have handled those choices determines where you are now. So then, even in light of those choices, are you what you wanted to be when you grew up?
I spend quite a deal of time reading and listening to audio books, always giving myself the chance to be taught and stimulated in my thinking. I remember reading a book of John Bevere’s where he writes, “What we do not confront will not change.” In thinking on this bumper sticker and this quote together, I cannot help but wonder if there is a connection. How many times do we fail to become all that God has called us to be simply because we do not confront things that need to be changed? How often is our true calling held from us simply because we are purposefully making wrong decisions? I have no room to speak, because to some extent I feel my lack of being in full time ministry is based on God’s timing, but also based on decisions I made in being addicted to something that prevented me from being exactly where God wanted me. My inability to confront sin earlier prevented me from a change earlier. Now while God still can redeem the time, and is, I must do my part in constantly confronting sin and temptation, and all attacks of the enemy, with the Word of God.
This thought, then, brings me to Romans 12:2. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” It is in this verse that Paul warns us to stop conforming to the pattern of sin that this world offers, and urges us to stand up and confront it, just as John Bevere wrote of. We cannot be transformed into the full design that God has for us until we stop allowing ourselves to be conformed into an image that does not fully reflect God. So then, we cannot be what we wanted to be when we grew up if in the process we do not confront what needs to be changed.
For me, my confrontation moment came when I stood up against my addiction. It wasn’t until that moment that the line was drawn in the sand and I refused to cross over or let my addiction cross over it. I came to a point personally where I had had enough. I was tired of being knocked down, tired of seeing my God given dreams be fulfilled by someone else, and tired of giving any more space to the enemy. Not until that point of ceasing the conformation of evil and confronting what needed to be changed was I able to find a new life. As I continue to make my stand, God continues to transform me once again into the man He has called me to, and continues to put me where He wants me to be. Am I who I wanted to be when I grew up? By making this stance I move closer to that person, just as you too are able to move closer. Let us confront what needs to be changed.

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

“So [Elijah] did what the LORD had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there.”
I Kings 17:5

Have you ever found yourself in the right place and at the right time? Maybe you were standing in line one day and became the lucky one hundredth customer, therefore receiving the prize of a year’s supply of free product. Perhaps you were fortunate enough to be the lucky recipient of a parking spot near the front on a day when the parking lot was overly full and you were sure you would have to walk from the back. Or maybe you just so happened to be walking and found a $10 bill on the floor. Whatever it was, and wherever you were, at that exact moment you just so happened to be in the right place at the right time. For many who experience this, it could just be luck. Yet for others it may come as a result of listening to God’s voice and being obedient, no matter how crazy it may sound.
When the army of Israel marched on Jericho under Joshua’s command, the order to march once for six days, quietly, may have seemed a little bazaar. Yet they just so happened to be in the right place at the right time on day seven, following God’s orders, when they received the victory over the city. And the same is true of Gideon. Taking an army of only three hundred, and being told to stand still, they obeyed God and also received His blessing for being in the right place at the right time. In both these instances, and so many more found in the Bible, obedience to God paid off. This should serve as a reminder to us to obey God.
Even though I understand the concept of obeying God and the pay off for doing so, I was once again enlightened recently as my daughter and I read our morning devotional. We read the account of Elijah as he was fed by the ravens in I Kings 17:1-9. The account starts out with Elijah going before King Ahab and declaring that God was going to shut off the skies, allowing no rain or dew to be found for the next few years. From here, God told Elijah to go to the Kerith Ravine. In obedience, Elijah went. The ravine served to quench Elijah’s thirst, but what about his hunger? God had this taken care of also as He provided ravens to come twice daily with bread and meat for the prophet. When the ravine dried up due to the lack of rain as prophesied, God spoke to Elijah again and commanded him to go to Zarephath.
In reading this account, the obvious details are remembered as I think back to the display of this story on the flannel board in Sunday School. But God showed me something deeper last night. How many times do we move out and expect God to bless our move as opposed to waiting on Him to tell us where to move? We read in I Kings 17:5 that Elijah did what the LORD had told him. Elijah went to the Kerith Ravine. He didn’t go to another city and expect God to still take care of him but rather went to the exact place God told him to go. This begs the question of whether or not God would have still taken care of him had he gone to another ravine, another city, or another hiding place apart from God’s direction. The blessing of food and water that God told Elijah about was waiting for him at this exact spot. It wasn’t at another place.
So bluntly, let me ask you. Are you where God has told you to be? Are you at His commanded Kerith Ravine, or are you at another ravine still waiting for this promise to come to pass? The blessing comes when we are in the right place at the right time. So are you? And deeper still, are you obeying His voice regardless of how crazy His request may sound? I am asking myself these same questions more and more recently, and maybe for good reason. I too have heard God’s voice in the past and refused to obey, yet sit around wondering why I am not seeing His hand of blessing. Is it really any wonder why, now? Deuteronomy 11:26-28 tells us that God places before us the decision of life and death. Life comes in obedience to His ways while death comes as a result of our disobedience. Which one we choose is in our hands. Which then will we choose?

JUST SHEPHERDS

“Pharaoh said to his brothers, ‘What is your occupation?’ They answered Pharaoh, ‘Your servants are shepherds, both we and our ancestors.’”
Genesis 47:3

Jacob, his sons, and their families, had made it to Egypt. From Joseph’s instruction, they were to make their way to the land of Goshen. It was here in Goshen that Joseph insisted that they live, for the land produced the best fields and crops for their animals, but also because being a shepherd was an occupation frowned upon by the Egyptians. But even this idea took planning. Knowing how Pharaoh would react, as well as other Egyptians, Joseph spoke with his brothers ahead of time. It was in this time of chat that Joseph had advised his brothers to admit to their occupation of shepherding. And it was because of these skills that Pharaoh also asked the men to care for his animals as well. While the brothers were honest in sharing that they were ‘just shepherds’, God was working behind the scenes to both protect and work with His people.
Sometimes I find it hard to admit. When I was single the questions would arise as to if I am divorced, who has custody of the kids, how much do I pay in support, who filed against who and why, and do I ever plan to get married again. While I had answers to all these questions, I always found myself leaving the conversation with the idea of ‘failure’ in mind. It was as if I was standing before Pharaoh and being asked, “What is your marital status?” With timidity I found myself responding, “I am divorced.” How great of an answer is that? If I was embarrassed to share it at times, how could any good come from it? It was in those moments I had to open my eyes and see my Goshen.
Goshen wasn’t the land that God had promised, but it was the land in which God preserved His people. And although it would be four hundred years before they returned to their homeland, it was four hundred years of His people thriving off the best that Egypt had to offer. I have learned to see it the same way. Divorce was never the route I expected, but it was the route that brought me the closest to God. And although I had to wait five years before the right woman came around, I knew that God was preserving me and allowing me to thrive in His blessings as a single man until He saw fit to change it. They may have been ‘just shepherds’, and I may have been ‘divorced’, but God had everything in His hands and was working it all out for His glory.
So how about you? When you stand before Pharaoh and he asks your occupation, or status, or any question about you, do you too find yourself timid to answer? Do you find yourself wanting to tell a lie for fear of the embarrassment of the truth? Perhaps what I learned, and in ways am still learning is the same lesson you find yourself learning. Although we may not be in the place we were once promised, we are in the place where God is preserving us and calling us closer to Him. Let us then not live in the mindset of ‘just shepherds’, but instead embrace what we can learn and grow from while in Goshen.

BLOCKED BLESSINGS

“After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before.”
Job 42:10

I personally am not one to play video games often. Yes, I have a version of air hockey and Cut the Rope on my phone, but they are there mostly to entertain me when I am waiting in line at school on days when I pick up the kids. At home, however, it is a rare thing to find me playing videos games and working to save the world. For my children it is a different story. It seems as though they are so set on saving the world via the game system that to deny them is a sin in their eyes. That said, there have been many times when I have had to put my foot down and not let them play. In my eyes it is not that I am trying to be mean, but rather am pointing them into other behaviors that are not so addictive. Sometimes in my stance, however, I my denial of playing the games leads to an attitude issue and ultimately a taking away of the system altogether for some time.
I share all this not to inflict you with my methods, but to ask a question. As I have seen in my kids, so I wonder. How is it that my children think having a tantrum with me over a video game system is going to make me change my mind and give it back? How is the child being mean in action to me going to make me think, “Oh no, I should give it back so this will stop?” If anything, it only goes to prove my point that they are consumed and need a break. Yet, while I am not addicted myself to the game system, I still find myself grumbling, complaining, and throwing a fit at times when God asks me to cease something. Do I think that my fit will make Him change His mind and grant me what will spoil me?
This question became more real to me as I was reading through the book of Job early this week. When the devil came before God in Job 1, God gave permission for the enemy to test Job’s faith in hurting his family and possessions. Disaster happened and Job took it in stride, not once cursing God. Frustrated perhaps, the devil came a second time before God and was given permission to inflict Job as long as his life was spared. This time Job suffered pain, depression, and a host of instances. In all this, Job did not curse God. He cursed the day of His birth (Job 3:3), but never God. His wife even encouraged him to let go of his faith and curse God in Job 2:9, yet he did not. With so many reasons to throw a tantrum to try to get his way, Job did not. Truth is, Job took it in stride.
I once heard it preached that our complaining only stops the blessing that is coming to us. Let us think about this in the angle of what I experienced just yesterday. Having taken the system away over the weekend based on attitudes and such, I was prepared to return the game system to the children, with an understanding of what games I was going to allow to be played. When the attitudes began to fly again about why I would not allow violent games to be played in the home anymore, and tantrums began to be had again with negative words being spoken and over-dramatic crying fits being played out, I simply disconnected the game system again and returned it to my hiding place. I was all ready to bless the children, but their complaining once again blocked the blessing. This example once again speaks of me. Job, in his phase of testing, did not throw a fit. I, when I cannot have my selfish way, act like a child and kick and scream and in so doing, block the blessing that is coming.
In the end of Job we read that Job’s attitude brought forth a double blessing on him. Is it safe to say that our attitudes too could produce a blessing on us? If we can understand as parents that we are not going to ‘reward’ our kids for their negative actions and tantrums, then we should be able to understand that we too are not going to receive the blessing God wants to bestow on us when we act childish to His rules, ways, and disciplines. What does grumbling and complaining get us? Nothing. It honestly gets us cut off from the blessing that God wants to give us. So then I wonder, how many blessing have I been denied based on my attitude? How many blessings have I ceased simply because I threw a tantrum? I am embarrassed to know the answer to this, but encouraged now to change my attitude so that I do not prevent any more blessings to come.

DEVOTION AND LIGHTS

DEVOTION AND LIGHTS
“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”
John 8:12

This year something odd will take place. Chanukah and Thanksgiving will be celebrated at the same time. While Thanksgiving won’t come until tomorrow, Chanukah begins tonight. For the Christian it has true importance, as this is the season of miracles. Expectations grow high, and my expectation is that you will see a miracle in your own life. But let us first take a moment to break down any misunderstandings about Chanukah. Chanukah is not the Jewish version of Christmas. While at Christmas we celebrate the birth of Christ, it is a Chanukah we celebrate the miracle of a people and nation saved. Chanukah has other spellings, but it also has other names. Some call this holiday Hanukkah, some the Festival of Lights, and others the Feast of Dedication. However, the custom of decorating our homes with Christmas lights is derived from Chanukah, as again, it is known by some as the Festival of Lights.
To the surprise of many, Chanukah is named in the Bible and was celebrated by Jesus, Himself. John 10:22-23 reads, “Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon’s Colonnade.” Let us focus for a moment, though, on the word ‘Dedication. In simply looking into the life of Enoch, we see how his name is translated in the Hebrew as CHANOWK, which means dedicated. Chanukah is derived from this same root word, meaning dedication. It was during this Feast that the Jews recalled the victory of the Maccabees over their enemy, and the provision of God to allow the menorah to burn for eight days when there was only enough oil to burn for one night. This was the provision of God, and a celebration of His miracle working power.
But why do we find Jesus walking in Solomons’ Colonnade during the Feast of Dedication? For that answer, let us look at the verses that follow. The Jews gathered around Jesus to ask for a blunt response - are you the Christ or not? Jesus responded simply, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me.” The relationship between the miracle that God did for the Maccabees, cross-referenced with the miracles Christ was doing currently, should have been enough for the people to link a connection. The season and the hand of the One doing the miracles was staring them in the face.
The burning candles on the menorah are a reminder to us all, not just the Jews, of God’s provision and the victory won by the Maccabees. But as we are talking about dedication, I want to bring our attention to a passage we probably are not familiar with. It is in 1 Maccabees 2:19-22 that we read, “Mattathias answered in a loud voice, ‘I don't care if every Gentile in this empire has obeyed the king and yielded to the command to abandon the religion of his ancestors. My children, my relatives, and I will continue to keep the covenant that God made with our ancestors. With God's help we will never abandon his Law or disobey his commands. We will not obey the king's decree, and we will not change our way of worship in the least.’"
Mattathias, a priest in the Jewish village of Modein around the year 165BCE, along with his sons, saw the evil Syrian King’s officers coming their way and working to enforce pagan rules on God’s people. Faced with the option to forsake God and embrace the Greek ways of life, or die, Mattathias chose to take a stand for the one true God. His dedication was undeniable; his mind made up. Even with death starring him in the face, he would not forsake or denounce his God.
Countless times throughout the Bible we read of men and women who faced disaster and hardship. Yet as we also see, those who stood up for God’s truth and justice were those who received God’s miracles. As we launch into this season, I want to encourage you to stand up for God’s truth and justice. The enemy will find ways to try to knock you down and take you out. He will work to snuff your flame and deplete you of the oil needed to burn for God. But do not lose heart. Do not stray from the ways of God. Your miracle is coming, and the Light of the world will overcome the darkness at hand. Take your stand, my friend.
Happy Chanukah to all.

VENOM

“Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears, that will not heed the tune of the charmer, however skillful the enchanter may be.”
Psalm 58:4-5

Not too long ago, as we were flipping through the channels, my son landed on the Discovery Channel. In some ways I think he takes after me in that he also loves to learn new things. It was while we watched an episode where researchers went out in search of the creature with the greatest amount of venom in its bite, that we both learned a little more about venom. Surly on the list were different types of snakes, spiders, and scorpions. But I was surprised to learn about other creatures such as the blue ringed octopus and cone snail. When all the tests were completed and the rankings shown based on location, interaction with people, aggressiveness, and toxicity, the title of the most venomous creature went to the box jellyfish.
Now while I plan to stay away from this jellyfish, and any other creature that has venom in it, I find that there is one creature not on the list, but just as venomous. That creature is the unjust judge. Psalm 58 starts off questioning, “Do you rulers indeed speak justly? Do you judge uprightly among men? No, in your heart you devise injustice, and your hands mete out violence on the earth. Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward and speak lies.” These lies and judgments are the exact same venoms that come around and bite, injure, and kill the innocent. And as is written, we teach our children at a young age to judge others and go astray as well. Rather than showing them how to use their poison, we should point out to them, and be reminded ourselves, of Matthew 7:1-2. “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
In considering further this passage of Psalm 58:4 where we read of the venom of the one who judges, let us take a look also at the thoughts of Matthew Henry. “Though the poison be within, much of it may be kept from breaking forth to injure others. When the Savior's words are duly regarded, the serpent becomes harmless.” So then, how do we become harmless? How do we move from the point of injecting venom to the point of bringing healing? Is not the anti-venom made from the creature’s venom? If the poison kills, then can we use the same method as scientists and use our venom for good instead? Yes, we can.
When I think about this, I think of the cliché, hate the sin and not the sinner. If we are judging a person we are judging the whole of the person, therefore making ourselves the measuring stick. But we cannot hold the position of God. We are told in Galatians 6: 1 that when we see our brother in sin, we are to help him out, not sit there and judge him. Then, with this truth, let us judge the sin of a person against God’s measuring stick, not the person as a whole. For we all, at one time or another, have fallen or will fall into sin. In those moments we do not want to hear how terrible we are. Instead, we must point out the sin and how wrong the sin is. Let us use the venom in us in a good way, as the anti-venom that brings a healing verses judgment.