Day 36: God is with You

In Isaiah 6:1, Isaiah says, “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.” The train of a robe communicates honor. God’s train filled the temple! Can you imagine that? God is so big, just the hem of his robe fills the temple!

That same mystery is found in Isaiah’s encounter with God. Clearly, it leaves him completely undone. He’s with us when we desire His presence; He’s with us when we’d prefer for Him not to know what we’re up to; He’s with us when we feel that we are completely alone; He’s with us when we’re rejecting His overtures; and He’s with us when we face evil and hardship and suffering and even a new virus that has everyone stumped as to treatment, much less a cure. Holy, sovereign, great, God—is with you.

God has power to help and to overthrow.

2 Chronicles 25:8 NIV

And so, it makes me think that perhaps it is not asking too much to expect us to wait and to prepare for the coming of the Lord. That we dig deep and consider our ways; clean up our side of the street. Reconsider our choices. This is the purpose of Advent and it feels like an act of worship to do these things in light of God’s lovingkindness.

Day 37: Remembering God's Promises

What if a frantic and desperate David, running for his life, panted out these words as prayer?

The Lord is my shepherd (God has always been there for me; He still is.)

I shall not be in want. (He provided when I was taking care of the sheep; He provided when I went up against Goliath. He provided for me the last time Saul freaked out. He’ll provide now.)

He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. (I’ve been in bad fixes before, and God has always provided. I must trust in Him.)

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, (which I am definitely doing right this minute),

I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (Remembering these truths, David’s heart rate begins to settle to a nice, manageable thump. His ability to think clearly returns. He must keep running, because evil is in pursuit, but he is no longer overcome. The epic adventure has begun.)

I confess. I don’t know at what point in David’s life he wrote this psalm. But what I do know, and what you know, is where we are in our own lives. I hope you’re in a happy space. But if you’re not, then what about this idea? What if, in preparation for Advent, like the men and women of the old days, we take time to use this Psalm to find our own reality? What if you found your own truthful and personal way to do as David might have done? Using this Psalm, remember. Remember who God is, what he has promised. Remember that we are clay. Speak the truths of these words to God and see how the Good Shepherd leads you! Because, my friend, you’ve got places to go, people to meet, and words of hope and encouragement to share - all appropriately socially distanced of course!

Day 38: Psalm 23 Through the Lens of Suffering

During Advent in the year 2020, I wonder if Psalm 23 might have more to offer us if we read it through the lens of suffering. I have sometimes assumed that David penned this poem while lounging around green meadows, beside quiet waters. Now I am not so sure. I wonder if David could have written this in the heat of passionate pursuit. David had a pretty interesting life—rich with danger and full of opportunities for fear. On several occasions David, a humble shepherd boy, rescued his sheep from lions. In his job as shepherd, he killed the enemy with the instruments of every shepherd: his hands, a rod and staff, and a slingshot. Once David killed a giant by the name of Goliath who had taunted grown men and caused them to run in fear. David became a friend of King Saul, only to have Saul lose all his marbles and become jealous and paranoid of David. Numerous times in the course of David’s life, his enemies chased him hither and yon relentlessly. Later in life, his own son turned against him.

What if David wrote this psalm passionately? What if he yelled it out in an act of blind obedience while he was in the midst of a hot pursuit—chased by evil? What if he was desperately recalling truth in the midst of the adrenalin rush of fear that inevitably arises when one is under attack?

Read this:

“Saul sent men to David’s house to watch it and to kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, warned him, ‘If you don’t run for your life tonight, tomorrow you’ll be killed.’ So Michal let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped.”

1 Samuel 19:11-12 NIV

Picture this: David shimmies down the side of his house, drops to the ground, and runs for his life. He’s being chased by the order of the king! His chance of escape is slim. David realizes this as he runs through fields; he recalls that he left all his weapons tossed carelessly beside the front door of his house. He wishes he had eaten a more hearty evening meal, because he doesn’t know where his next nourishment will come from. The more he runs, the more he thinks. The more he thinks, the more he fears. Suppose he decides that his fear is getting to be too big to deal with, and he begins to reel his racing thoughts back a bit. Suppose he says to himself, “Whoa, Dave. You’re forgetting some really important truths here. Think man, think. You know better than this.”

And thus he begins… Tomorrow, we will consider where this kind of thinking under great duress might have led David and could guide us as we wind down one wild and weird year of madness and mayhem.

Day 39: A Time For Soul Restoration

We have begun the 40 day countdown, waiting to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Why bother? Is this actually what most of us wait for these days? As people of faith, or faith curious, maybe it helps to be reminded of the God of our understanding as a way to help us grapple with why we are willing to wait year after year, for the baby Jesus to come and save us.

David, an old testament character is famously remembered as the guy with a heart that longed for God. And other stuff too. He felled a Giant. He became a King. He got in big trouble one summer when he stayed home and had an affair rather than going to war as kings traditionally do. He committed murder to hide his crime in the way politicians handle such things. His kids were a mess. And yet, his heart longed for God.

David expresses his commitment to faith over fear when he cries, “I will fear no evil, for you are with me…” in Psalm 23. I wonder if this was a cry of calm assurance. Is this a poetic utterance penned while David lounged one day in a green pasture beside still water? Filled to the brim with a restored soul, did David wax eloquently about his confidence in the presence of God and boldly claim His power over evil as a servant of the King of Kings?

Often when I sneak away for an extended break at the beach or in the mountains, my spirit soars as I spend quality time with God, eat good food, sleep whenever I’m in the mood, and play hard. It’s easy to be a spiritual giant in the seclusion of a good vacation with no responsibilities looming on the horizon. It’s my prayer that each of us regularly sets aside time for green pastures, quiet waters, and soul restoration. I trust these times will give us courage, vision, and a renewed strength to be exactly who God sees when He dreams about us.

I suspect that on days like this, all of us cry out, “I’m with you, God! I am not afraid! I can do anything you set before me! I can and will do your good, pleasing, and perfect will.” Perhaps this is exactly how David felt when he wrote this psalm, but perhaps not.

What if the context of this story is far different and more consistent with the year 2020 than an extended vacation at a fancy resort? Stay tuned.

Day 40 and Counting...

Following the calendar of the Celtic Advent, today marks the first of 40 days of preparation for the birth of Christ. The traditional way of celebrating included using a seven-stemmed candle holder, known as a menorah. One candle was lit on the first evening (December 17), two on the second, and so on until December 23rd. In the more modern Christian era, churches have had 5 candles (often four embedded in a circular wreath with the taller, central white candle in the center). One is lit the 4th Sunday before Christmas, two on the 3rd, three on the 2nd and finally, the center candle is lit to symbolize the birth of Christ. In our old church we had three purples, one pink, and the Christ candle. Each of the four candles represent hope, peace, love and joy. Why the pink? Because it stands for the anticipation of what is to come - joy.

Since change has been a thing throughout the centuries and 2020 has been a real cluster cuss, I’d like to suggest we just go hog wild and do a 40 day throwback candle lighting extravaganza. Starting today, why don’t we light one candle per night until we hit the week of Christmas? In the final week, why don’t we count down and candle up? 1 on day 7, 2 on day 6, until we have 7 beautiful candles lit for our Christmas Day celebration?

A suggested prayer for your lighting tradition:

God of the watching ones, give us Your benediction.

God of the waiting ones, give us Your good word for our souls.

God of the watching ones, the waiting ones, the slow and suffering ones, give us Your benediction, Your good word for our souls, that we might rest.

God of the watching ones, the waiting ones, the slow and suffering ones, and the angels in heaven, and the child in the womb, give us Your benediction, Your good word for our souls, that we might rest and rise in the kindness of your Company.

Amen