In Emptiness and Silence

We arrived home last night from 12-days of travel, speaking, and celebrating the wonder of Easter. 

Truly, the Lord gifted us with a glorious combination of serving, sharing, connecting with old friends, making new ones, and filling our hearts with the beauty of south Texas. 

Yes, there's a "but" coming...

BUT - even after a decent night's sleep, I feel tired. 

Well, perhaps "tired" isn't the right word ('cause I have energy enough to spare).

After reconsideration, I believe "empty" is the right word.

So, when I woke to write a new blog for this week...NOTHING!

Absolutely zippo.

I've had times like these.

You may have them, as well.

Frustrating, right? 

I'm sure you can relate to those moments, when, well, God seems absolutely absent. 

I pick up my Bible to study where I've left off, longing to hear His voice, and nothing seems to settle in my soul. 

Yet, we know that the Word of God is powerful and it's ACTIVE (it's job is to work for us, on our behalf).

 

We know it NEVER comes back void...there's always something God has to say to us.

We know that ALL SCRIPTURE is God-breathed and USEFUL (whether to teach, to rebuke, to course-correct, or to train in righteous living).

I am, also, very aware that the Lord wants to "satisfy me in the morning with His unfailing love (Psalm 90:14)," meaning He wants to take me from empty to overflowing, simply because of His HESED (that Hebrew word I just can't seem to get away from). 

Obviously, the Lord, eventually, gave me something, cause here I am, writing.

Gotta tell you, though, I thought for a couple hours that this may be the beginning sign for stopping. I wondered if I had exhausted the life of these random thoughts; and, it crossed my mind that I'd hit the end of my leash. 

Nevertheless...God. 

Yep, He is a God of "nevertheless;" and, it dawned on me, why not use this morning of feeling empty, disjointed, and, frankly, "stumped," to share a little reality.

There are times when our Lord seems significantly silent. 

Yet, even in the silence, I'm vividly aware that He is often behind the scenes working, and will not leave us stranded (I learned that lesson years ago from the beauty of a story about Queen Esther). 

He will fulfill His promises; and, this one in the middle of the book of Micah (7:18) where the Lord assures us He delights in DOING (acting on, living out) steadfast love is one I clung to this morning.

So, between the silence, the emptiness and, finally, the Lord showing up to satisfy and fill - - - - what? 

There's a little four-letter-word that no one likes to hear, especially me.

I'm a do-er, a fix-er, and a box-ticker (I fervently love checking off the boxes on my to-do-list).

Regardless, there are times, we simply have to WAIT. 

Waiting is never inactive,

I've found I look a little harder, listen a little more carefully, pay attention a bit more closely...

That's what I just did this morning; and, sometimes in the oddest of places, simplest of moments, and in the middle of the craziest of conversations, He will do HESED and He will fill up the "empty." 

This morning, after taking a bit of a break and doing a little organizing of my desk, I clearly heard God's voice through the words written on a small little sticker handed to me one day after lunch last week.

It is a reminder, a challenge, and an encouragement; but, it is more...

This morning it became "RHEMA (light-and-life-giving)" to my heart.

FOR when GOD speaks my soul is truly satisfied.

My lesson from this morning: 

When God seems silent, don't give up; show up a little more intentionally, and He will satisfy you with His unfailing love. 

Love Them to Death

 

As I post this particular blog, it is that day during Passion Week theologians call "Maundy Thursday."

Commandment (that's what 'maundy' means) Thursday.

Jesus spent His last week on earth teaching His disciples the lessons that really matter. 

These final instructions schooled them for the ministry they'd inherit after Jesus' ascension. 

So far, Jesus (remember: God is Love) opened their eyes to the following crucial appeals - - -

Palm Sunday: "Look at Your King! He's coming on a donkey!" Lesson #1: LOVE always lead with humility. 

Monday: Jesus cleansed the temple. Lesson #2: For those who follow Jesus, our hearts are His temple. Examine it often, keep it cleansed through repentance. 

Tuesday (the Olivet Discourse): "Woe to you, Blind guides..." Seven times Jesus uses the word "woe." It's not a word of judgement, but a word of lament. Jesus wept over the religious leaders who were empty and lost. Lesson #3: Love always laments/grieves for the lost around them.

Wednesday (a day of rest): In the midst of ministry/serving the Lord, we need to stop from time to time and simply rest (body, soul and mind). Lesson #4: Love lives a life in balance.

We've made it to Thursday - the day of New Commandments.

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, that you love one another as I have loved you (John 13:34-35)."

This Jesus said, just after He picks up a towel, wraps it around his waist, grabs a basin of water, and kneels at the feet of His followers and washes their stinky, mud-crusted, calloused feet. 

He shows them what HESED looks like.

Lesson #5: Love serves. 

This passage in John 13, where Jesus washes His disciples feet, begins like this (vs 1): 

Jesus, having loved His own that were in the world, loved them unto death. 

Did they deserve any of it? 

Of course not!

Jesus even says to them as He bathes their feet, cradling them against His chest: 

One of you will betray me; one of you will deny me (three times!); and, ALL OF YOU will run away and have nothing to do with me. 

Yet, Jesus lives the definition we began with for HESED:

HESED: When I deserve nothing from God's hand, but He blesses me anyway...simply because of WHO HE IS.

GOD IS LOVE (1 John 4:8).

I AM...HESED (The Lord to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 3:12).

And, Jesus says to us all, "Go and be LOVE just as I've showed you." (the lesson of John 13)

"Stoop low, grab a towel, wash the filthy feet of the unlovable, the untouchable, the unthinkably awful people and serve them. Love them to death. "

Love them to death.

Continue to HESED (on and on - with no stopping), until they are ready to stoop low, die to self, and bow the knee to HESED (Jesus); then love them some more...to death.

HESED one-another for Heaven's sake!

 

Then...they will know that we are Jesus' followers.

(For out of true HESED comes our ability to HESED in return.)

Cure for Dis-satisfaction

What brings you satisfaction?  When do you feel the most content? 

Is it when your dreams, wants, pleasures, and expectations are fulfilled exactly the way you hope?

Is it when life flows along like a peaceful river and you're totally relaxed?

Maybe, it's when politicians, finally(!), get it right, according to your convictions? 

Perhaps, it's a perfect day blended with just enough good conversation, great food, rest, activity, and friends: not too much, just enough?

I've asked myself that question, and discovered that what I think will be satisfying for me are the following: enough usefulness to feel valued; enough alone-time to refresh my soul; and, a good book in one hand, a frosted diet-lemonade from Chick-Fil-A in the other, and a lounge chair overlooking the ocean. 

It seems like this would be practically perfect in every way.

But, the truth is that these things are only temporary. 

Once they are removed from the picture of our lives, the satisfaction goes away...

So, can we ever find fulness of contentment? 

What got me to ponder this question is a passage I stumbled over (on God's HESED, of course) in the Psalms (#90).

Moses wrote Psalm 90.

He's old when he wrote it (almost around 115-ish); and, he has just lost his sister, Miriam, and his brother, Aaron. 

So, it's not surprising that most of the psalm is Moses reminiscing on the brevity of life and what matters most. 

Smack dab in the midst of the psalm, he writes these words in a prayer to the Lord (vs 14):

Satisfy us in the morning with Your steadfast love, O Lord, that we may be glad and rejoice...

Moses has many a reason to be discontent and unhappy.

Yet, amidst his loss, grief, and the troubles of wilderness wandering, he reaches out for renewed satisfaction.

Satisfaction, it appears is a gift from the Lord, obtainable on a daily basis in spite of what is happening in our lives.

According to the Apostle Paul, it's a learned attitude. 

I have learned in whatever situation I am in to be content. Philippians 4:11b

And, Moses assures us that we'll discover this very important frame of mind when we look for it in God's steadfast love (HESED).

He suggests the following: 

Taking time to create margin in our mornings to reflect on how greatly God cares for us with His everlasting, inexpressible, incomparable, awe-striking, loyal love changes how we approach each day, all day (with gladness and rejoicing!).

In fact, Moses seems to remind us that it's hard to be dissatisfied, grumbly, and whiny once we've reflected on this HESED.

He should know.

He's led dissatisfied, grumbly and whiny people for nearly 40 years in the worst of conditions.

By now, he's figured out a thing or two as to what helps this poor attitude.

I love how Eugene Peterson assures us (Ps 90:14 in The Message) that when we behold God's HESED, we will be "singing and dancing all day long!" 

Think about it. 

We could experience satisfaction EVERY! SINGLE! DAY!

Not only that, but, I imagine folks would look with astonishment, wondering why our lives looked so different from the rest of the average people with which they are in contact.

The GOOD NEWS is that because God's HESED is never-ending and everlasting, we have never-ending and everlasting satisfaction. 

Full contentment for all-time. 

It's possible to be completely content on a permanent basis!

There's no better time to ponder God's heart of HESED than during this Lenten season.

His love for us can't be any more obvious than during these days as we journey toward the cross and the resurrection.

Are you practicing your singing and dancing?  Easter's around the corner - what a great time to spare no effort!

Start the celebration...and, keep it going as you let the Lord "satisfy you each morning with His steadfast love."

"Son, Crack the Whip!" (Surprisingly, God's HESED)

Review: I'm currently in a study of the "inexpressible love of God."

A love that is beyond words.

The Hebrew language gives it one word: HESED

No other language can do that! So, for the rest of us, we have to attach other words to the word "love" in order to define it.

Words like mercy, kindness, steadfastness, faithfulness, strength, goodness, grace (the list goes on and on).

The last couple of weeks, we added a grouping of three words: slow-to-anger.

The first week I found it easy and, actually, fun to write about the "slow-to-anger-ness" of God.

The second week, not so much.

For while, it is true our God is, indeed (!!!!!), slow-to-anger (over and over and over again)...He will not turn a blind eye. 

After hundreds of years of seeing His people break His priority commandment...

...the Lord responded in the Old Testament, and, to be honest, it wasn't pretty.

My God still loves deeply and unconditionally, but in His righteous jealousy, He attempted to get the attention of His kids.

Idolatry disgusts Him...because idolatry does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for us....EVER!

In fact, the idols we craft for ourselves will simply steal from us - our joy, our hope, our peace...

Idolatry will take you further than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.

That's the nature of idols.

...and, because the Lord loves us (HESED), He will do ANYTHING that might remind us how incredible it is to walk this life's journey with Him by our side. 

His HEART of HESED desires ABUNDANT LIFE for each of us!  

This I know: HESED LOVE ALWAYS GIVES! AlWAYS FILLS US TO THE FULL - completely satisfied. 

But, last week was Old Testament.

What about in the New? 

Surely, Jesus, our loving Savior, would not act in anger, right?

Well, wrong.

There came a moment during Jesus' final week, right before the crucifixion, where He picked up some cords and used them as a whip in the temple to drive out the money changers. 

His righteous anger in that minute matched the Father's righteous jealousy.

Did you catch that? He picked up cords and used them as a whip! 

I fervently believe God the Father nodded His approval.

In fact, I'm not sure, that when Jesus entered the temple courts, His Father didn't whisper in Jesus' ear: 

"Son, go ahead, make a whip!"

I can hear the question... 

How is this HESED?

Because God wants so! much!  more! for us, His followers. 

His LOVE longs to drive out the stuff that steals, kills, and destroys us.

Such as?

Would you stop for a minute and read John 2:14-16 (linked for you - this scene is also found in Matthew 21:12-13, Mark 11:27-33, Luke 19:45-46).

In this moment, what brought the "slow-to-anger-ness" of the Lord to halt?

It's right there in the passage:

• God's temple was being turned into a theater of "show," and worship was anything but...
• His home was being turned into a home for idols (the god of mammon).
• His place of prayer was a market-place.
• His sanctuary set apart for sin-sacrifice had become a den for robbers and self-serving-religion.

This past Monday, as Bay and I drove home from a speaking engagement in Northern Arizona, I tuned into a YouTube channel that hosts old, 1980's Christian music (some of which I cut my teeth on as a new-er believer). 

I began listening to Michael Card's album, Scandalon, and stopped at a little song titled, The Lamb is a Lion (linked).

Take a listen; here are the words:

Weak from the journey / The long traveling days / Hungry to worship / to join in the praise... Shock met with anger / that burned on His face / as He entered the wasteland of that barren place

And the Lamb is a Lion who's roaring with rage / At the empty religion that's filling their days / They'll flee from the harm of the Carpenter's strong arm / And come to know the scourging anger of the Lord!

The priests and the merchants demanded some proof / but their hearts were hardened, and blind to the Truth / Satan's own law is to sell and to buy / But God's only way is to give and to die...

And the Lamb is a Lion who's roaring with rage / At the empty religion that's filling their days / They'll flee from the harm of the Carpenter's strong arm / And come to know the scourging anger of the Lord!

The noise and confusion gave way to His word / At last sacred silence, so God could be heard...

And the Lamb is a Lion who's roaring with rage...

XXXXXXX

There it is...two things that we can say for certain cease the slowness of God's anger:

1) Idolatry

2) Empty Religion

That sets me up for even more heart reflection as I continue to journey toward the cross this Lent.

Perhaps, you, as well?

XXXXXXX

But, PS....

There is one thing for sure that maintains God's patience:  He desires that all should come to repentance and turn to Him...

#thepurposeofthecross