"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord" - Psalm 37:23
Christian Evangelist and Educator George Mueller noted in the margins of his bible, "And the stops also." ht @crosswalk_com
How true. How true.
-Still Processing
Friday, August 16, 2013
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
DOORS
"Where to?" we so frequently ask, all the while, tiptoeing on that rough water.
David cared for them with
pure motives; he led them with skill. Ps
78:72
When you are doubtful as to
your course, submit your judgment absolutely to the Spirit of God, and ask Him
to shut against you every door but the right one…Meanwhile keep on as you are,
and consider the absence of indication to be the indication of God’s will that
you are on His track…As you go down the long corridor, you will find that He
has preceded you, and locked many doors which you would fain have entered; but
be sure that beyond these there is one which He has left unlocked. Open it and
enter, and you will find yourself face to face with a bend of the river of
opportunity, broader and deeper than anything you had dared to imagine in your
sunniest dreams. Launch forth upon it; it conducts to the open sea.
God guides us, often by
circumstances. At one moment the way may seem utterly blocked; and then shortly
afterward some trivial incident occurs, which might not seem much to others,
but which to the keen eye of faith
speaks volumes. Sometimes these things are repeated in various ways, in answer
to prayer. They are not
haphazard results of chance, but the opening up of circumstances in the
direction in which we would walk. And they begin to multiply as we advance toward
our goal, just as the lights do as we near a populous town, when darting
through the land by night express.
—F. B. Meyer
If you go to Him to be
guided, He will guide you; but He will not comfort your distrust or half-trust
of Him by showing you the chart of all His purposes concerning you. He will
show you only into a way where, if you go cheerfully and trustfully forward, He
will show you on still farthcr.
—Horace Bushnell
Friday, July 12, 2013
AMEN
So Be It
"For
all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God
by us." 2 Corinthians 1:20 (KJV)
That verse is probably the
most puzzling Scripture you’ve ever committed to memory. Why? Because when you’re
left standing on those unfulfilled promises, you start to pepper yourself with questions
shaded by confusion like, "Did God just slip in a 'No,' somewhere before
that ‘yea and amen’ part? Am I standing in the wrong place? Does that Scripture
even apply to me or is it only for all those ‘Super Christians’ out there
who’ve got this walk sorted out?”
Take a closer look at the
Scripture.
"In Jesus we hear a
resounding 'yes' to all of God’s many promises. This is the reason we say 'Amen' to and through Jesus when giving glory to God."
2 Corinthians 1:20 (The Voice)
Does that mean you will
get everything you ask for as long as you believe so? Perhaps you’ve come
to believe the verse means if you declare your desired answer over and over God
will just capitulate to the answer you’ve been rehearsing. Maybe you’ve begun
to believe that everything you pray for will be greeted by that ever elusive
“yea and amen” if you supplement your prayers with a lengthy fast - water
only - or praise and worship so robust your vocal chords emerge raw or so much
reading of a Bible Commentary, you could paraphrase Marten Luther's Ninety-Five Theses.
That kind of understanding of “yea and amen” only leads to the disillusionment you’re
now experiencing. As cute as the
concept is, God will never be that “genie in a bottle” who wafts up when you
summon Him. No.
"For as many as [are]
promises of God, in him [are] the Yes, and in him the Amen, for glory to God
through us;" 2 Corinthians 1:20 (Young's Literal
Translation)
Read
that literal translation, again. He never promised you that “YES” is His response to everything you
request, everything you want, everything you pray for. That’s the rub.
Start
with what He has promised as written in the Bible. Then, you won’t pray
in error. In other words, know what to pray for. Your heart’s desires are a good
pace to start. Not your vanities, not your fantasies. Rewind
your prayer tape to give an honest listen to those heavily detailed requests you send up.
"Are you now going to accuse me of being flip with
my promises because it didn’t work out? Do you think I talk out of both sides
of my mouth - a glib yes one moment, a glib no the next? Well, you’re wrong. I
try to be as true to my word as God is to his. Our word to you wasn’t a
careless yes canceled by an indifferent no. How could it be? When Silas and
Timothy and I proclaimed the Son of God among you, did you pick up on any
yes-and-no, on-again, off-again waffling?Wasn’t it a clean, strong Yes?
Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus."
2
Corinthians 1:17-22 (The Message)
God
promises to keep HIS word to meet
your needs and many of your wants - in order to complete the good work He began in you
until Jesus returns.
"And
my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ
Jesus." Philippians 4:19 (NIV)
So,
you want to get married? Pray for
a mate. That’s cool. It’s not good for man to be alone. That’s in the Bible. A
marriage partnership is a good thing but your whacky specifics can lead you to that narrow place of disappointment.
Specifics
aren’t bad when they make sense and aren’t fantasies. A mate who looks like Clooney with the height of Denzel? A
mate built like Kate Upton with the complexion of Halle Berry? The stock options of Warren
Buffett, credentials of Sheryl Sandberg and skill set of Dr. Ben Carson? Sometimes, we frame our prayers with
those kinds of dubious details.
Do
you have any of the same to match that mate you want in your life? That’s a
good way to judge if your prayers are just vanity or are somewhat realistic.
Ok, so you want a nice home. That's cool. What
about that house you’ve walked around seven times? Can you even afford a 5%
down payment on the $2.2m McMansion you've pinned to your PInterest board? How about that 3 bedroom, $850K condo? Let it go. Go pray across town and
start circling that semi-detached you can afford.
Unless you’re Mark Batterson trying
to open a coffee house to the glory of God, you most likely will not get an
anonymous $3m to purchase a home!
As
Pastor Michael Giroux of The City Church DC says, “Plan for the practical and
pray for the miracle.”
Ok, so you want a nice car to get around. Nothing wrong with that. Just stop asking God for a Rolls or that other hand-made, crazy expensive vehicle. Just go buy it. Clearly, you
can afford such a beauty; its upkeep; its gas and the insurance on it. Oh, you
can’t? LET IT GO. Get a Toyota.
God
promised the following with His "yea and amen" to back it up:
He
would heal you; give you peace; be the banner over you. He promised He would never
leave you; that you have the victory over your enemy and you won’t have to beg
for food.
He promised
He would settle the barren woman in her home as the happy mother of children;
that He would be Baal Perazim – God of the breakthrough – and be your Shepherd.
He promised yea and amen to the new mercies you would see every morning and
that the cattle on a thousand hills belong to Him.
He
said, “Yea and Amen” to your righteousness shining forth as the noon day sun; that He will give you a crown of beauty for your ashes and that the valley you are walking through is but a shadow. He promised to
prepare a table before you in the presence of your enemies and He said, “Yes
and So Be it” to that tremendous plan, hope and future He has written out for you
next to your name in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
He
promised “Yea” with an affirmation to renew your strength; that living waters flow for
you and that you are the lender not the borrower; that you are the head and
not the tail and that if you obey Him, you will be blessed coming in and going
out.
Stand
on those promises He made - in writing. That is where you get His “yea and amen.”
Corrie
Ten Boom said, “Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when
God pries your fingers open.”
Follow her advice if you want to lay hold of what He means when He says, "For all the promises of God in him are yea,
and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us." AMEN and SO BE IT!
-Still Processing
Monday, July 1, 2013
EXEUNT (HAGAR IV)
The following is a piece I did NOT author. It is the final section to the HAGAR series I posted all of June and today. It is so good, I am still processing it. The good news in this sometimes sad tale is that God is rooting for each player in the drama. There is no Protagonist, no Antagonist, only a good God directing everyone to their best life.
The Forecast Concerning Ishmael
In
the strength of the revelation of God received in the desert, Hagar returned to
her mistress and bore Abraham his child. Abraham was 86 years of age (Genesis 16:16) and then, when he
reached his 100th year (Genesis 21:5), Sarah bore him Isaac.
This means that for over 14 years Hagar and her son lived in the patriarch’s
home with all the tension and feeling there must have been as Sarah daily
looked upon the son of her husband by another woman. After Isaac was born Hagar
and Ishmael began to manifest their jealousy, and when Ishmael began to
maltreat Isaac, Sarah could stand it no longer, and compelled Abraham to cast
out the bondwoman and her child. As Bible names often set forth some feature of
the character or history of those who bore them, so Ishmael meaning “God shall
hear,” was fully understood by Hagar when in the wilderness (Genesis 21:9-21) God heard the moaning of
her broken heart.
How
painters and poets have seized upon this pathetic incident of the poor woman
and her boy in the wilderness, thirst-ridden and ready to die! One of the
finest masterpieces adorning the Dresden Gallery is the painting called Hagar
in the Wilderness—and cold is the heart that can gaze upon it without deep
emotion. The boy is pictured on his back, dying with thirst, while his poor but
beautiful mother in an agonizing prayer, “lifted up her voice and wept,”
saying, “Let me not see the death of the child.” Could anything be more
poignant? True, Hagar had “despised Sarah” and “mocked Isaac,” but surely she
had not deserved such cruel treatment as this—death from hunger and thirst in a
barren land!
But
how Hagar’s extremity became God’s opportunity. When the last drop of water had
gone, and Hagar tenderly places her almost dead boy under the shrubs, God heard
the dying cry of the lad, and also the wail of Hagar’s broken heart, for out of
heaven came His voice, “What aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not.” Then God opened her
eyes and she saw a well of water, and both she and her boy were saved from
death. Abraham had given Hagar a bottle, but it was soon empty. God gave her a
well, and the lad drank and God was with him, and he grew and became an archer
in the wilderness. The last glimpse we have of Hagar is of her securing a wife
for her son, out of the land of Egypt, her own land (Genesis 21:21)—the land of idols and
worldliness. Untaught by the piety and instruction of Abraham, and by God’s
mercy to herself, Hagar failed Him in the choice of such a wife for the boy
whom He had blessed.
The
practical lessons to be learned from the history of Hagar have been fittingly
summarized by Dr. James Crichton in his article on Hagar in The
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia—
The
life and experience of Hagar teach, among other truths, the temptations
incident to a new position; the foolishness of hasty action in times of trial
and difficulty; the care exercised over the lonely by the all-seeing God; the
Divine purpose in the life of everyone, however obscure and friendless; how God
works out His gracious purposes by seemingly harsh methods; and the strength,
comfort and encouragement that ever accompany the hardest experiences of His
children.
It
only remains to be said that Paul uses the story of Hagar as an allegory to
distinguish law from grace (Galatians 4:21-31). Hagar the bondwoman is
contrasted with Sarah the freewoman, and Ishmael “born after the flesh” with
Isaac “born through promise”; thence freedom and grace appear as the
characteristic qualities of Christianity. Hagar represents the Old Covenant and
Sarah the New Covenant which is superior to the Old with its ordinances. Under
grace all within the household of faith live by faith, and Sarah represents
“the Jerusalem that is above”—“our mother” (rv), which is the free spiritual
city to which all children of the promise even now belong (Philippians 3:21).
Friday, June 21, 2013
UNTENABLE (HAGAR III)
N.B. All JUNE
posts are excerpts from All the Women of the Bible
I did NOT author this post.
I am STILL PROCESSING it because the piece is so good! Each time I
read about Hagar, I get angry with Abraham! His choice caused trouble still reverberating generations later. Hagar was the victim of Abraham’s ill-advised
action. She was a mere slave in his household. In other words, she was not an “at-will”
employee who could rebuff Abraham's sexual advances. Hagar was a slave subject to the commands and whims of her owners.
I can imagine when her
boss, Sarah, told Hagar to have sex with Abraham, Hagar felt bone crushing pain
- inside. First, because she was being forced to procreate; that with her
boss’s husband and with an old man – Abraham was 76 years old when Ishmael was born!
Then, Hagar had to allow this man, of a strangely different culture than her own
Egyptian one, to father this child she knew could never be her own. She would be
forced to hand the heir over to her frustrated, mean, childless boss,
Sarah. Awful dynamics. They get weirder.
I am willing to believe
Hagar held out hope that bearing such indignities, child included, could be assuaged by having a son which, in turn, would give her status within the household and
increased value in the eyes of her owners. Didn’t happen.
Abraham should have told
Sarah an unequivocal, “No! No, I am not having sex with that woman. God made a
promise to me and I believe Him.”
With unwavering
conviction, he should have told his aching wife, Sarah,“I am having that baby with you,
Honey. Hang in there. This thing will happen. And besides that, I don’t want
Hagar involved in our promise, ok?”
But he didn’t refuse
Sarah's anxiety ridden request. He didn’t calm her with words of faith. He did
the dirty with the slave maid and there came Ishmael.
Admittedly, I am foisting
my 21st century, Western sensibilities onto the ancient circumstance. I am blissfully choosing to ignore my familiarity with that practice of old. Still, I
posit that had Abraham “manned up,” held his “manhood” in check, exercised his
godly authority as head of the household refusing his wife’s distraught
request, the painful results we see today would have been
avoided.
Hagar, I am sorry you were
forced to play understudy in Abraham and Sarah’s dream. The promise was never
made to you; no role drawn up for you. You had to improvise. I thank God He
delivered you from their nightmare. Read on…
The Flight of Hagar
Strife quickly followed
the human arrangement that Sarah had made. Having conceived by Abraham, Hagar
chides the childless Sarah, and the jealousy begotten between these two women
was transplanted to their maternal hearts and penetrated even their children.
Ishmael came to tease and vex Isaac, and discord arose between Abraham and
Sarah. The ill treatment accorded to Hagar by Sarah was not only cruel, but
also irrational. Had Sarah not instigated the wrongdoing that was the cause of
her jealousy? Therefore it was unreasonable for her to lay the blame upon
another. As things were, mistress and maid could scarcely dwell together, so
Hagar fled. Better a flight than a fight! Being compelled to flee was a thing
forbidden to a bondwoman.
Far from home in “the way
to Shur,” the appearance of a calm and gracious angelic messenger from God must
have been a relief to the poor, pregnant fugitive. As Hagar traveled further
from her jealous mistress the Lord was at her heels, and said to her in her
distress, “Return to thy mistress.” Hagar had left her position as handmaid
without notice and without permission, so she must return. Sarah had wronged
her, but she was not permitted to retaliate by doing wrong herself. Two wrongs
do not make a right. It was no easy matter for Hagar to return and submit
herself to Sarah, but it was the only right course, and a divine revelation
helped her to pursue it.
At that renowned well
Hagar met God, and in awe cried, “Thou God seest me.” He had given her counsel,
and although not pleasing to flesh and blood, Hagar took it and went back to
Sarah. Had she persisted in remaining in the desert she might have died in it.
God gave her a promise that although the wrongdoing of her master and mistress
had led her into a false position, yet His favor would rest upon her and she
would have a son who would be the progenitor of a great multitude. The soothing
promise of God was a balm for the wounded spirit of the poor and lowly
handmaid. Though Ishmael, the name God gave Hagar for her coming son, might not
be the Child of Promise as Isaac would be, yet he would be the child of a
promise made to her.
Is it to be wondered at
that she called the well where God spoke to her and revealed the future of her
son “Beth-lahairoi,” meaning, “The well of Him that liveth and seeth me”? It
was there that the veil fell from Hagar’s eyes, and she received the assurance
that she was the object of God’s special care. Dr. Alexander Whyte extols Hagar
for her submission to God in this glowing fashion—
Hagar, by reason of the
extremity of her sorrow; by reason of the utter desolateness and brokenness of
her heart; and by reason of the sovereign grace and abounding mercy of
God—Hagar, I say, stands out before us in the very foremost rank of faith, and
trust, and experience, and assurance. Hagar, to me, stands out among God’s very
electest saints. Hagar has only one or two who can stand beside her in her
discovery of God, in her nearness to God, in her face-to-face fellowship with
God, in the instructiveness, in the comfort, and in the hopefulness of her so
close communion with God.... The best and the most blessed of them all was not
more or better blessed than was Hagar the polluted outcast on her weeping way
to Shur. The pure in heart shall see God.
Monday, June 10, 2013
BADBOSS (HAGAR II)
N.B. All JUNE
posts are excerpts from All the Women of the Bible
I did NOT author this
post. Because the piece is so good, I am STILL PROCESSING it myself. One of the
lessons illustrated here is that even the strongest Believers falter - in their
faith, in their decision-making. Sarah was a godly woman who had seen Yahweh
miraculously perform multiple times in her life. Yet, she stumbled at the
promise she wanted to see fulfilled more than anything else she had ever hoped
for in her life - having a baby with her husband, Abraham. Perhaps growing
tired of the 25 year wait after receiving God's word about having that son or
perhaps trying to comprehend how she could now conceive since she was already
ninety years old, Sarah's despondency catapulted her to the actions you
must read below:
The Folly of Sarah
We have already seen that
Sarah’s folly had its root in unbelief. She was impatient, and wanted the
promised child without delay. Her unbelief became contagious for “Abraham
hearkened unto her voice.” The pious phrases she uttered were worthless. “The
Lord judge” (16:5). She should have appealed for judgment to the Lord before
she took the wrong step. She was a godly woman (Hebrews 11:11), but fell into
the meshes of unbelief. With distrust there came dishonor. She confessed “my wrong,”
but Hagar was the real sufferer, and Sarah’s sin bore bitter fruit, for when
she gave Hagar to Abraham, she originated a rivalry which has run in the
keenest animosity through the ages, and which oceans of blood have not
quenched.
- Still Processing
(see HAGAR III for more about the fallout Sarah's act of desperation continues to have on her descendants)
HAGAR I
N.B. The posts for all of JUNE are excerpts from All the Women of the Bible
I did NOT author this post. Because the piece is so good, I am STILL PROCESSING it myself. I want to share with you how El Shaddai cleaned up the mess HAGAR and others made of her life. His redemption intersected at a miracle of mercy and fulfilled promises for Hagar, Sarah and Abraham, in spite of their recklessness. The take-away is Yahweh is good in spite of our folly that can and should be an offense to Him. That point is so poignantly and generously made in Psalm 103 (The Voice)
"8 The Eternal is compassionate and merciful. When we cross all the lines, He is patient with us. When we struggle against Him, He lovingly stays with us—changing, convicting, prodding. 9 He will not constantly criticize, nor will He hold a grudge forever. 10 Thankfully, God does not punish us for our sins and depravity as we deserve. In His mercy, He tempers justice with peace. 11 Measure how high heaven is above the earth; God’s wide, loving, kind heart is greater for those who revere Him. 12 You see, God takes all our crimes—our seemingly inexhaustible sins—and removes them. As far as east is from the west, He removes them from us."
The Woman Who Lost a Bottle But Found a
Well
Scripture References—Genesis 16; 21:9-17; 25:12; Galatians 4:24, 25
Scripture References—Genesis 16; 21:9-17; 25:12; Galatians 4:24, 25
Name Meaning—Hagar, an Egyptian name,
closely resembles the root of the Arabic, flight, familiar to us as the
history of Mohammed, descendant of Hagar. It may be taken as an adaptation of
her original name to the principal circumstances of her life, and understood to
mean, fugitive or immigrant, which Hagar became.
Family Connections—While the Bible gives us
no record of Hagar’s genealogy, legend has supplied her pedigree, as being the
daughter of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, the same who coveted the possession of
Sarah in vain. This legendary source affirms that the Egyptian princess became
so attached to Sarah that she told her royal father that she would accompany
her when she returned to Abraham.
“What!” cried the king,
“thou wilt be no more than a handmaid to her!”
“Better to be a handmaid
in the tents of Abraham than a princess in this palace,” the daughter replied.
Hagar would not stay
behind and join again in the idolatrous rites of her home, so when Abraham and
Sarah moved on, she went with them. Sarah was an active missionary of the faith
of Jehovah among women, as Abraham was among men, and so Hagar became a convert
to the worship of the true God. While this is a pleasing tradition, the
likelihood is that Hagar was an Egyptian girl-slave whom Sarah secured for her
household while she and Abraham were in Egypt. Hagar bore Abraham his first
son, Ishmael, and thus became the foundress of the Ishmaelites and Arab peoples
from whom came Mohammed, the founder of Islam.
If Hagar was a slave girl
then her mistress was legally entitled to do as she pleased with her. Knowing
that it was humanly impossible for her to have children by Abraham, she gave
her handmaid to him, that she might have children by her—a custom consistent
with moral standards prevailing at that time. Abraham reminded Sarah that her
word was law to her own slave and that he had no choice in the matter. Under
Sumero-Babylonian law there is this clause in Hammurabi’s Code—
If she has given a maid to
her husband and she has borne children and afterwards that maid has made
herself equal with her mistress, because she has borne children her mistress
shall not sell her for money, she shall reduce her to bondage and count her
among the female slaves.
But Sarah ran ahead of God
in giving a Gentile idolater from a pagan country to Abraham to bear the
promised seed. Poor Hagar—she became the helpless victim of Sarah’s scheming!
The whole affair was a sin before God—a sin all three were guilty of. Sarah
distrusted God when she resorted to such a wicked expedient. As a child of
faith, did she not know that God was able to raise up children out of stones
unto Abraham? As for this “friend of God,” in spite of current custom, he
should have stoutly refused Sarah’s scheme and obeyed the law of God, and
believed the divine promise made to him. The attempt to secure the Child of
Promise by Hagar was the result of a lack of faith in God’s omnipotence. Then,
Hagar, although the least free and the least responsible, should not have
yielded to such an unholy alliance merely to gratify any ambition she may have
had. What sorrow, anguish and loneliness Hagar reaped for her compliance in
such a plan to forestall God’s promise of an heir for Abraham (Genesis 15:4, 5).
Although the chapter
recording the unworthy method of trying to fulfill a divine purpose is only a
short one, yet like the shortest verse in the Bible, it is saturated with
tears. Genesis 16
is made up of only sixteen verses and with such we have these three features— (see HAGAR II)
-Still Processing
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