Weekly Blog

Tips, Tricks, Skills, Spirituality and Wisdom

Teresa McBean 12/17/17 Teresa McBean 12/17/17

Tell them, Isaiah

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Isaiah told his people what God said. Even as exile loomed God did not forget his promises to Abraham. Isaiah told them – God’s rescue is coming. And although God will take his sweet time in arriving, God is not to be denied.

And this is one man’s telling of that message: Behold the Lamb of God

Forgetful as we all are, God does not.

Behold.

The Lamb of God.

He comes….

Teresa McBean 12/16/17 Teresa McBean 12/16/17

Woe and Hope

People throughout time have encountered God. Abraham and Sarah had a nightly visitor who made them laugh in disbelief. Don’t forget the burning bush incident – that was weird. Jacob wrestled with God at night and ended up with both blessing and a chronic injury. Adam and Eve walked with him in the Garden and then were banished from the garden. Moses got handed a set of stone tablets but never saw the Promised Land. Elizabeth and Mary heard from the angels more than modern ultrasounds ever tell us and managed to each experience a miraculous birth. There were so many, many more times when God entered the lives of his people.

I hear the stories today too. A friend of mine was once diagnosed with cancer and a bunch of his friends prayed over him and his next visit the doctor couldn’t find the cancer - a modern day miracle. My own brother in 1986 heard the voice of God and he wasn’t even interested in God but that didn’t bother God. As my brother recounted later, “God said, ‘Gary, this is your chance. Your last chance. Call for help or tonight is your last.’ ” He called. A few days later he experienced a remarkable and miraculous healing and baptism. The thing that was also odd about this experience is prior to hearing God’s voice he had WANTED to die.

We love these stories, don’t we? It gives us hope that in our hour of need perhaps God will come for us and save us! But some of these God encounters are more disturbing than delightful.

Isaiah comes to my mind. Or Jeremiah. Both had “Woe is me!” moments in the midst of loving God and serving Him. I suspect many of us have had those moments too. Both men were sent by God to deliver truth, hard truth, to a people who had grown forgetful of God, his promises and his sovereignty.

What amazes me is how God continues to show up with the exact message folks need to hear. Some get healing; others rebuke; all his love. My prayer for us all is that we continue to listen, listen for the voice of God. Whether it shows up in the wind and rain or sunshine, may He continue to lead us, his beloved children. May we follow his lead today!

Teresa McBean 12/15/17 Teresa McBean 12/15/17

Ancient and Strong

Here you go, listen to this and we’ll chat tomorrow!

Here’s a song that Andrew Peterson sings that speaks to the time period mentioned in yesterday’s blog. Click here to listen to So Long, Moses.

Teresa McBean 12/14/17 Teresa McBean 12/14/17

Was There Ever a King Like This?

After the Israelites gained possession of their new homeland, they looked around and wanted what other tribes had – a king. They begged and complained and whined and eventually God gave them what they wanted. Again.

First Saul, who turned out to be a mess and then David, a king after God’s own heart but a complicated guy with his own issues. In the darkness that inevitably followed God’s people demanded and received what they wanted rather than trusting God with what they need. Eventually God came with a promise (and some needed consequences as well). Here’s the promise:

“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it germinate and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater so shall be every word that proceeds from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”. Isaiah 55:10-11

Eleven days from now we will celebrate the birth of Christ. The day will bring its own mix of sacred and profane, joy and heartache if previous holidays are predictive. But no matter what happens on December 25th, what we can know is this: the God of our understanding will accomplish that which he has purposed.

When we forget and begin to believe that our own beliefs, longings, wants and needs, demands, and plans are necessary for God to accomplish his own will – we have fallen into the same trap of self-deception that ensnared the Israelites. Those guys intended to love God and bless others, sometimes. But mostly they kept stumbling over themselves and their own ideas. Even David. Tomorrow we will remind ourselves of why earthly kings are not where we place our hope.

Teresa McBean 12/13/17 Teresa McBean 12/13/17

God Loves The Sorry People

If you watched the video about Curtis, I wonder if you came to the same conclusions I did:

1. Curtis is a bit indulged so thinking of himself as “less than” is shocking.

2. Is there a healthy middle ground between King and Sorry Person?

On a larger scale, what does this little clip have to do with us spiritually? I think quite a lot. When we move on in the scriptures to Joshua 24, we discover the Israelites on the verge of entering the Promised Land. Spies were sent to scope out the current inhabitants and make an invasion plan.

Two guys in the search party wanted to trust God and move forward; the rest were afraid and held back. God received this news as rebellion so God gave them exactly what they feared – no entrance into the land. Eventually the doubters died off and the remaining Israelites did indeed claim the land promised them so many years before.

As their new lead guy, Joshua reminded his rag tag band of Israelites of their past infidelity and asked a solid question: “Choose this day whom you will serve.” Josh. 24:15

As we draw near to our sacred Christmas holiday and the end of yet another year, maybe we would be well-served to notice if there is some area in our own lives where we are behaving more like King Curtis than a faithful servant of God.

In the case of the Israelites, they told Joshua that they would repent even as he reminded them that they weren’t capable of faithfulness. He reminded them that at this point their freedom and security depended on their ability to follow God and serve him only. Joshua had done what he could do, but he could not compel them to live as men and women who loved God. Joshua was proven right; the Israelites soon strayed.

Fortunately for us, God loves sorry people.