Walking through the Mount of Olives, you realize how very old the trees are. Gnarled, twisted, stunted and dead-looking–that’s what my wife and I saw while walking slowly through the Garden of Gethsemene at the foot of the Mount of Olives. Looking up at a very close distance is the city of Jerusalem, less than a mile away at most. Can you imagine–basically, the same vista Jesus and His disciples had those many years ago now. On that Mount of Olives, standing and gazing up at the olive trees, you wonder: ‘are they alive’? They don’t appear to be. But upon a closer look you can see, from the sides, from under the soil, from somewhere you wouldn’t necessarily expect, there’s new shoots, new growth, new life coming. As from Job chapter 14 where poor-old Job is describing an old, cut-down tree(maybe like himself?) that seems hopeless and yet, and yet, ‘new shoots will not fail’. And then, ‘its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.” I love that phrase Job uses–‘yet at the scent of water…’ Just the hint of water, a mist of moisture and new life and growth will begin again. Just a slight increase in humidity and miracles happen. Made me think of the little bit I have to offer God in His hands can still do so much. As a little boy I loved the vinyl record I had with this song on it–“This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.” I would play it over and over again and sing along with it if no one was around to hear me. Only had a little light, only a small amount of water and yet…in Jesus’ hands could light up a whole room! We’ll talk more about this and an encounter with a woman who needed water…and got a lot more, from Jesus! You just have a ‘little light’? Don’t feel you can do much for God? So insignificant a person? Passed your prime? Think again…”Yet at the scent of water…” In Jesus’ hands…well, the skies the limit!
PALM SUNDAY FOUNDATIONS Read Matthew 21:1-17
If you’ve read Matthew 21 with me today, you know what happened on the 1st Palm Sunday. Jesus enters Jerusalem from the nearby town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives riding a donkey with lots of enthusiastic and hopeful people casting palm branches and clothing down on the dusty street to make His way clear—‘here comes our Messiah, who will save us’! They shout that Hebrew word ‘Hosanna’, which means ‘save us’. He’s the Savior we’ve been waiting for…He’s the promised Messiah, promised by God Himself. Yes,’ Hosanna! Hosanna to the Son of David!’ But, I have a question for you–how did they know that Jesus was their Messiah? Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of David? You know how…just as we do. We know Him through His Word, the Bible. The foundations for Palm Sunday are found in the Old Testament. They are found in the Bible. The entry of Jesus into Jerusalem is built solidly on God’s Spoken and Written Word. In those 17 verses from Matthew 21 there are quotes from all over the Old Testament…from Zechariah, from the Psalms, from Isaiah, from Jeremiah and then again from the collection of Psalms. All that happened the Sunday that we call Palm Sunday, all the events, were recognized as an echo from the Old Testament that they knew so well. Like when you feel that you’ve been somewhere before, a familiarity that begs for recognition…such was that Sunday. I wonder if life is so confusing for us, even as believers, because we have so little of the Bible in us. The tools are there for the taking, but the using of them is so rare. Palm Sunday only made sense because God said in many places through many prophets, through many books and letters and true encounters that He was sending His Savior into a needy world, into our desperate lives. ‘Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.’ Upon Jesus…upon His Word…your Bible! The foundation for all our life but now and forever!
BACK TO JOB 11
I remember as a young teenager a very popular song by a group called the Monotones entitled ‘Who Wrote the Book of Love?” Catchy song you can still see them perform from way back when on YouTube, if you like. Reading in Acts chapter 3 and verse 15 the Apostle Peter calls Jesus ‘the author of life’. Even before writing the book about love, Jesus authored the first chapter on life itself. He wrote the book of life in all its wonder and beauty and majesty and wildness and awesomeness. He didn’t just read the book, He wrote it. He didn’t just do the research, He created it all. Since He wrote the book of life, our lives should center in Him, in what interests Him, in what gives joy to Him. After all, He wrote the book of life. Now, what about Job you ask…well, read chapter 11: 13-19 and hear the advice of one of Job’s dear(!) friends. Job who is faced with life falling apart…Job who wishes his life had never happened…Job,whose fabled patience has frazzled and shred…Job who is seeking answers only to find more questions…Job’s friend named Zophar tells him 18 times that ‘you’ and ‘your’ need to shape up. Shape up…or your life will ship out, Job. When life goes south on you, when troubles are your next door neighbor, it is so easy to look to and at ourselves, either in blame or in shame for all the messes we’re in. ‘You…you…you’. Shouldn’t it rather be to the author of like we turn? Shouldn’t it be Hosanna, save us, to the One Savior of All? Should our gaze be in the mirror of life, reflecting ourselves to ourselves? Not much help there. Look to the author Himself, Jesus, God’s Only Son? He wrote the book of…LIFE!
HOPE IS ON THE HORIZON! Read Job 11
Hope is on the horizon…Easter is coming! Christ has risen! He has risen indeed! How we need to look higher than the depths our society has fallen into. The muck and mire of decaying culture all around us. Money…money…money and power hungry people chasing after more of the same. Really, how boring. And hopeless. And empty. So, let me encourage you (as I say to myself)to lift up your eyes to the Lord, to read His Word the Bible, to spend time in prayer, to fellowship with His people, to listen and sing His music, to support those in need of physical and spiritual help–as the Apostle Peter said on the day of Pentecost: “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation” (Acts 2:40). Now, Peter is clearly not saying that you can save yourself. In verse 38, he urges his listeners to repent–to turn around–and be baptized–to confess faith in Jesus to others– for from Jesus alone comes forgiveness and God’s Holy Spirit to believers. He says in verse 41–“Those who accepted his message…”–those who believed, those who received, those who accepted the gift of God’s love, those who welcomed Jesus into their hearts and lives; they have escaped this corrupt generation. Peter’s showing them the way out. Hope is on the horizon. Not just hope in hope itself or hope for hope’s sake. But hope in Jesus Christ. He’s risen! He’s alive! He’s coming again! And He’ll usher in the New Heavens and New Earth that only can come through Him. As we approach Easter, first we must go through Good Friday with His death on the cross, His time in that dark and dank tomb of death. Dark and dank, muck and mire…only to be transformed into light and freshness, newness and clean three days later. Won’t heaven be wonderful! Keep looking up…above the horizon to Jesus, The Living Son Of God, our Savior and Lord of All Who Believe! Amen? Next time, we’ll get into Job 11! Ok?
IN THE CLOUD! Read Acts Chapter 1
Doing this blog almost daily reminds me how much my wife Sue knows about the internet. Her…not me! Remember, I was the one who said any more problems with our laptop and into the creek it goes! It heard me and is behaving for the moment! Boggles my imagination, such as it is, how this machine works. I just don’t get it. And don’t you wonder what’s next? The next new and improved whatever? Obviously, change never stops, nor does it give me time to catch up to last decades’ newest technology. Just when I learn this, it will be totally obsolete. Do I hear an ‘amen’ out there?! Are you with me? Well now ,all the tech talk today is about ‘the cloud’. That sounds about right to me–I’m certainly in a cloud about whatever that’s all about. The cloud…I think where information is stored. Where? How? What? When? Oy vay, already! Sure seems cloudy to me. Let’s get to the Bible. OK? I was reading Acts chapter 1 noting that after Jesus’ resurrection and following all those convincing appearances to His followers that it says in verse 9 that ‘…He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight.’ A cloud. Here Jesus has been with them in person, face-to-face, but now He’s in a new realm which in this life we are not able to see through. There are clouds separating us from Him. Thick clouds like the ones God used in the desert to shade His people from that blazing sun in the desert. A gift from God to us. For with clouds separating us we can now exercise faith, we can immerse ourselves in His Word the Bible, we can trust Him, we can allow the Holy Spirit to encourage us and even to discipline us to make us more like His Son Jesus Christ. So, don’t bemoan the clouds, followers of Jesus. Yes, He’s no longer here on earth, but what He’s given us to expand our faith, and see through that ‘dark glass’ of life, is more than sufficient to manage the cloudy days until we too will be in the brightness of heaven with Him and all who believers who are waiting for us. And there we won’t even need the sun. Cloudy days? Trust Him…read His Word…think what His Word says…believe Jesus…do you see the Son peeking through?
EVIDENCE OF GOD’S GRACE Read Matthew 20:20-28
This is a great story…of a pushy Mother and her willing sons who want the best seats in the house, who want recognition beyond their merits, who want to beat out their disciple competition! The Sons of Zebedee and their nameless Mother. James and John, also called the Sons of Thunder, who want to sit next to Jesus, one on the right and the other on the left, in His coming Kingdom. Well, who wouldn’t? And their mother kneels and fauns before Jesus asking a favor of Him. She probably knows that Jesus cares about mothers, for His was probably a widow at this time and always had His eye on her needs. So, the mother of James and John comes to Jesus asking for special consideration, special favors for her sons. Pressuring Jesus, hoping he will grant her wishes. But He utters a bit of tough love and tough luck saying that that business of who sits where and next to whom is not His to grant. And anyway, you pushy people, it’s not about being great or first in line or having your name up in lights or your name mentioned with that generous gift you just gave with strings all over it. No, Jesus says it’s about serving, giving without strings, no recognition, giving your life for others…that’s what His Kingdom will look like. Get it? Do I get it? Well, sometimes on a good day. Did they get it? James and John certainly did…they served their Lord faithfully and humbly with or without a pat on the back. But what about their mother? Did she get it? What Jesus meant. Yes, I think she did. Very little is written about her in the Bible but later in Matthew she appears again. Turn to Matthew 27:55 and 56–yes, the male disciples had all fled but there were many women who stayed by Jesus while He suffered and died on the Cross. They were there with Him, watching from a distance. Just being there with Him…these women who cared for His needs. And some are evev identified: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and wait–who? Am I reading correctly?? Yes, the mother of Zebedee’s sons. At this most unpopular time, when danger was very high, there she was. She’s not asking for favors for herself or her sons or anyone else.Her names is not even given. But she’s there at the Cross…for Him…caring for His needs…standing with others…alongside the other women…one of many serving Jesus. She got it! Caring about God’s needs…do you get it? Think about Him and His needs… Get it?
HERE’S REAL ENCOURAGEMENT FOR YOUR DAY TODAY Read Deuteronomy 2:7
Only one verse today? Well…read more if you like, but I just love this one verse from the second chapter of Moses’ book of Deuteronomy. This is in the midst of Moses’ first sermon in this wonderful book, the section dealing with all that God has done for His people Israel. To find out about the struggles and journey of Israel out of Egypt, you need to go back and read at least the book of Exodus. Now I’ve given you more of an assignment! And you know how angry and upset and difficult God’s people were when they needed to trust Him and believe that He would be there for them and provide for their needs when it seemed all so impossible and futile. And poor Pastor Moses heard all about it and even lost it himself. They were a tough bunch. Always harking back to ‘the good old days’ not of their memory but of their imagination! They remembered all that food they enjoyed ‘for free’ . Free? They were slaves needing to be fed so they could work and work and work with no freedom at all. None whatsoever. In the desert they griped, they complained, they even plotted to murder Moses and his brother Aaron. Then when given promises by the Lord of their own land, they sent in spies only to believe the majority report that they’re giants and we’re not! Just forget it…maybe we can head back to Egypt. At least we knew what we had there. Didn’t need faith. We had Pharaoh and those gods of everywhere and every thing. So, God says that it’s time to cool their heels in the desert of Israel. Forty long years. Lots of time to mull things over…and over.
Good thing that’s a history of ancient peoples. Right? Or is it? Sounds like me at times in my life. Sounds familiar, sad-to-say. Any body else out there? Or am I the only one! Fear more than faith. Silent when should have spoken up and out. On and on…I’ve been in my own desert where the Lord has given me ‘time out’ to think things over. To let Him work in my life in a new way. Felt like punishment but was more of His mercy and grace and discipline. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you know how much He loves you. He loves us just as we are but loves us so much not to leave us that way. That’s where the desert comes in. And that’s where this verse, Deuteronomy 2:7 comes in. I love it. Hear the Word of God–‘The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through the vast desert. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.’ They should have had nothing but punishment if I were the Lord. Let them have it. They deserve nothing from me. Thank God I’m not God! He stayed with His rebellious people the whole time. Giving them clouds by day to shade them from the desert heat, and fire by night to give them light, protection and some warmth. Their sandals never wore out (mine just did after 3 months wear!), there was food everyday and twice as much for Sabbath use. Just as He said– they ‘have not lacked anything’. During the next 24 hours (and beyond?) thank God for ALL He has done for you; even and especially during those tough times in life. After all, when you’re in Jesus, you’re in. And in to stay. Not lacking anything! Amen to that. Right?
A BIT MORE ON PRAYER
I want to talk just a bit more about prayer. Needless-to-say, prayer will always be a strong topic in our Christian life and certainly with our blog. How could it not be? I don’t know who said it, that he did not believe in the power of prayer, but rather in the One who has the power to answer our prayers. Can’t remember who said it, but it’s so true. Prayer’s power is in our powerful God and in Him alone. A lot of us use prayer like some magic incantation,a magic wand of words. Using certain words to get things from God, said in just the right way or just the right words or just the right number of times. That’s not prayer in my mind…more like magic or superstition. But I catch myself falling into patterns of prayer once in a while. Or thinking that if I had just prayed enough, or with more fervency, then God would have answered my prayer. Years ago I remember seeing a book entitled ‘Prayer: How to Get Things from God’. Terrible book insinuating that God was more like a big, old cosmic meany that you had to trick to get Him to hand over the goodies to you. ‘ Say the magic word and…’ Prayer as a means to an end. That’s barely prayer at all, as I see it. Prayer is spending time with the God who loves us and cheers for us and is for us and who loves to bless us when everything seems to be the contrary. There’s a great verse in the Old Testament book of Daniel that you should read now…’As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given…'(Daniel 9:23). Now read those verses just before this one and you’ll discover that Daniel was praying for his own sins and that of the people of Israel. So, God sends the angel Gabriel to encourage Daniel that God answers the prayers of His people ‘as soon as you began to pray’. Could it be any clearer? As quickly as we pray, God is at work for us. Think about that today. As soon as we pray an answer was given. As soon as…keep on praying. Keep on trusting in the Lord who is acting on your behalf, on my behalf, right this very moment. Doesn’t that sound good? More than just sounding good, it is the truth we can believe in and hold onto. Pray…and then keep praying, believing in the One who has all the power, the power to answer our prayers…
A GREAT VERSE FROM DEUTERONOMY Read Deuteronomy chapter 4
I love the Old Testament. I love reading it, studying it and when I was preaching, speaking from it. And here’s a book that you may want to read in its entirety for the next month or so…the fifth book of the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy. It was, of course, written by Moses, and contains three of his sermons. The first part is a reminder of all that God has done for His people. The second part of Deuteronomy reminds us of principles for Godly living, with the conclusion a call to commitment to the One, true God, the God of Israel. In recent blogs we were talking about prayer. Talking honestly with the Lord who so loves to hear from us. He loves you and me as His own dear children. And He loves it when we take time with Him…in prayer.It’s so special when Sue and I talk with our kids and grandkids. Just to hear their voices and find out what’s going on in their lives. You know what I mean. But here we’re praying, talking with God. Prayer. All kinds of prayer at all times of the day and night for all kinds of needs with thanksgiving woven throughout the fabric of our lives. Don’t worry about the specific words you use. Just be yourself. What could be better than just you and Him being together, sharing the good and difficult times with our Lord. Knowing He cares for us, like when Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd who gives His life for the sheep. He could give nothing more than all He had just for you and me who come to His feet in humble faith and trust and hope. Now read Deuteronomy 4: 7 and get ready for some earth-shattering truth from God’s Word: “What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to Him?” Read that again…now, slowly. Isn’t that just amazing…we have a God like none other as there is no other, and He draws near to us ‘whenever we pray to Him.’ Whenever…that’s right now, that’s always and 24/7, 365 (even in leap year!)…whenever–open to us, wanting to hear us, wanting to answer our prayers even before we think to ask. Isn’t that amazing? Any reason not to pray about what’s on your heart right now? Let’s talk more about prayer next time!
MORE ON PRAYER ON NIGHT Read Philippians 4: 4-7
A Christian counselor told me years ago that counselors would be out of business if all of us human-types would just take this section of Philippians to heart and put it into practice. He’d have to put up a ‘going out of business’ sign! Nothing wrong with seeing a counselor–I have at times of challenge and crisis in my life and it was most helpful, especially a skilled and gifted Christian counselor. My master’s from Princeton was in the area of counseling, so I have a feel for this important part of life and ministry. But my counselor friend was so right…read these verses again and again, and start to let them sink way down deep into your spiritual psyche until you feel lifted by the Lord. Rejoice…gentleness…less anxiety and worry…more prayers of all types, at all times of the day and night. I mentioned about the fears that flood me at night when I wake up and can’t go back to sleep. Am I alone in this? Probably not. Unfortunately so! Have known many other believers with the ‘night terrors’. How these come to each so plagued would be different. For me, it began when I was 2 years old and contracted polio before moving to a new home many miles away. Was then put into the Sister Kenny Polio Rehab Center at the Margaret Hague Hospital in Jersey City for a period of time…seeing no one from my family, no familiar face, no hugs and kisses from my parents for maybe weeks or months. Like they were gone. Or dead? What would a 2 year old conclude from such an experience of utter loss. But I can remember the dark of night, the shades being pulled down, the metal cribs we were in and clanked shut when we were to go to sleep, being dropped into a whirlpool (and people wonder why I’m still afraid of water)of very hot water, exercising and exercising my bad legs. Well, I do thank the Lord that I am just fine today…but the night, the dark of night. Waking, not knowing where I am and starting to panic. That was 64 years ago now. No, it was just last night. Time flies, but this is not fun.What to do? Something that works effectively for me is to be honest with what I’m going through and to share it all with the Lord. All of it…not blaming others like God or wallowing in self-pity but talking with Him. Simply sharing with the One who loves me so very much. Like Paul said, ‘…but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God…’ (Phil. 4:6). I imagine when Paul says ‘everything’, he means EVERYTHING! Anything you need to openly talk with the Lord about? Like He doesn’t know about it? Good medicine from the Good Physician Jesus. Prayers of all kinds. More next time!
Reflections out of time 