Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Wait for It

"If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay." (Habakkuk 2:3) I have seen God's promises having read God's word. I have arranged my prayers accordingly and now I wait, but waiting is hard. I pray concerning things that are beyond my control. I pray concerning things that hurt my heart.

As I wait I ask the God of hope to fill me with all joy and peace in believing. I am bound by time. I see what is presented to me and sometimes what I see steals my joy and robs me of peace. I need something beyond myself so I cry out and ask that the power of the Holy Spirit would fill me so that I may abound in hope. Then I wait with a sense of expectation.

I think sometimes it would be easier to wait if I understood what was going on. I look at the requests I bring to God for myself and those I love. They seem like good requests and, to be honest, I don't understand the delay. I see in the book of Habakkuk not only the admonition to wait but also that, "the righteous shall live by his faith." By faith I sink my anchor deep into the person and promises of God. I focus the eyes of my spirit on the faithfulness of God and I wait.

There is something about waiting that humbles me. Maybe it's because waiting reminds me that I am not in control. Waiting causes me to shift my attention from myself to the one on whom I wait. I come to recognize my pride and my great desire to be in control! I want to protect the ones I love. I want to do good things, is that wrong? But, I am not in control. This fact could cause me to despair, yet when I turn to God in prayer I hear His reassuring voice whisper to my spirit, "Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD." (Psalm 27:14)

Lord, by your grace you change my places of weeping to places of rejoicing. When I come to you and give you my weakness, you give me your strength. When I wait for you I discover for myself what Habakkuk discovered so long ago. "Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places." (Habakkuk 3:17-19) Lord, I come to you and wait with expectation.

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Seeing Beyond the Veil

In order to know that God is your strength you cannot have myopic vision. When your vision is myopic you cannot see beyond your struggles, your disappointments or your failures. When your vision is myopic the solution to your problems is limited by finite resources. It takes two eyes in order to see width and height and depth, one eye open to the world around you but the other open to the spiritual world as well.

There was a golden alter that stood before the veil. Though the veil hid from sight the Holy of Holies, still twice daily a priest would carry the live coals from the sacrificial alter and carefully place them on the Alter of Incense. The people of the covenant believed that as the incense ascended an angel would carry their prayers before the throne of God. They could not see this with the eyes of flesh but only with the eyes of faith.

To be selected to burn the incense on the golden alter was a once-in-a-lifetime event for a priest. Zechariah had been chosen by lot. A whole multitude of people were praying outside at the hour of incense watching for the holy smoke that would signify that their prayers had been carried to God in His heavenly sanctuary. The petitions that they were bringing on this day reflected the very real needs that they had, burdens that broke them, grief that caused them to cry in the night. Through their prayers, they chose to look beyond their own weakness and call on the strength of their God.

To believe that an angel will carry your prayers before the throne of God is one thing, to see an angel standing in front of you is another thing entirely! Zechariah did see an angel and he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. Zechariah's name means "YHVH Has Remembered". The angel's message was that God had heard his prayers and that his wife Elizabeth would bear a son, who he was to call John. He was promised joy and gladness and was told that many would rejoice at his son's birth. But Zechariah had become accustomed to disappointment, what he had experienced in life had crushed him. His vision had been too often blurred by tears for him to see clearly. But the angel who stood before him was Gabriel. The Gabriel who stands in the presence of God had been sent to Zechariah to bring him good news.

When faith became sight and when he heard the cry of his long awaited son, Zechariah's tongue that had been muted was set free. Now he could see clearly the width and height and depth of the love of God. Filled with the Holy Spirit he spoke of, "the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and guide our feet into the way of peace."

Monday, December 8, 2014

The Weary Soul Finds Rest

When did weariness enter the human experience? When did life begin with labor, relationships involve struggle, work accomplished by the sweat of the brow, and when did the thorns come to choke vegetation? When did weariness become a foreshadow of death? It happened when man decided to be his own god. In the cool of the evening when God came to the garden with the offer of fellowship, man was hiding.

But God who is rich in mercy continued to offer rest. Rest from labor, rest from worry, rest for the soul. But the rest that God offered came with it an invitation to enter into his provision by trusting him. Every seventh year was to be a year of rest. A year to humbly cease from labor and believe that God would provide what was needed. An invitation for a weary soul to find refuge in the cool of the evening fellowshipping with God. This invitation to rest that God offered was rejected.

There was an even deeper rest that God invited man to enjoy. It was called the year of his favor. Every fifty years the land was to rest, slaves were to be set free, debts were to be forgiven. A time of release, a time of healing, a time to enjoy deep peace and restoration, this year was a gift offered by the heart of a loving God to a weary people. But it was a gift that could only be accepted by a humble heart that would trust God. This invitation to enter into the year of God's favor was also rejected.

Finally, God himself became a man. The angels announced his coming with these words, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men upon whom his favor rests!" When Jesus began his ministry he came to his hometown of Nazareth and was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled it and found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."(Luke 4:18,19) When he finished reading he told them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." And how did the people respond to this good news, this invitation to liberty, vision and freedom from oppression? "They rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could through him down the cliff."(Luke 4:29,30)

Lord Jesus, echoing in my soul and spirit are your words, "Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matthew11:28) At your invitation Lord I come. I come to you leaving behind me deep weariness and finding in you peace and rest for my soul.

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

With Eyes Wide Open

The day was nearly over except for the last flurry of activity. I walked outside and lifted my eyes. The billowing gray clouds were tinged with silver and it looked at if they were being gently blown across the sky by the breath of God. As the sun slipped behind the mountain it gilded the sky with a warm and beautiful glow. I paused and received the gift.

As I stood there gazing into the heavens I was reminded again of the extravagant love that God lavishes on us day after day. How often are the skies painted with love and yet we don't take the time to receive the gift? Day after day utters speech and night after night knowledge, yet we miss it if we are not listening or looking. I think that must have been the way it was on that first Christmas night so long ago.

How silently the extravagant love of God was lavished on His creation. In the small and seemingly insignificant town of Bethlehem, the quiet of the night was broken by the cry of a newborn babe. There had been no room in the inn as the town finished its last flurry of activity for the day. No one had time to pay attention to the young woman in labor. She and Joseph were alone in the stable when the child was born.

It was because of the tender mercy of our God that we were visited by the sunrise from on high.  The angels who had attended their Lord from eternity past came to break the solemn stillness with their praise. And to whom did they come? To shepherds who were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flocks. "Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors!" (Luke 2:13,14)

Lord Jesus, let me keep watch in the night because I know that there still remains a promise of your return. The angels sang of peace on earth. I wait for when the new heaven and earth shall claim you as The Prince of Peace their King. For today, Lord, let my heart be open to receive your lavish gift of love.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

More than a Stump

All that was left was a stump, but wait a minute. That's not completely accurate. There was also a promise, a prophecy that, "There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, a branch from his roots shall bear fruit." (Isaiah 11:1) The stump represented what was left of the glorious kingdom God had built through David, Jesse's son. That kingdom had been devastated as a result of sin. But the sin of man cannot negate the promise of God because His love is eternal. "Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever." (2 Samuel 7:16)  And so it was that a tender shoot was seen sprouting from the stump of Jessie.

I wonder if the exiles thought perhaps Zerubbabel was the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy as they were returning to Jerusalem after seventy years in Babylon. After all, he was a descendant of King David. However, they lost heart when they got to Jerusalem and saw the rubble and devastation. What they saw discouraged them. Their enemies mocked their dreams and crippled their resolve. Their lofty dreams were crushed and all that they could see was a stump, just a stump - the thing left over when dreams are crushed. But man's discouragement cannot negate the promise of God because his love is eternal.

God sent His prophets Haggai and Zechariah to pull back the curtains of eternity and show his people a glimpse of his eternal love.  He gave the promise to Zerubbabel that he was chosen and that God's plan was to make him, "like a signet ring."(Haggai 2:23) Ancient kings used signet rings to designate authority, honor, or ownership. With eyes of flesh, Zerubbabel could only see the remnants of broken dreams but by faith he received the grace to believe that the stump would send forth a shoot. What is seen with eyes of flesh cannot negate what God has promised because His love is eternal.

The New Testament begins with the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Tucked into the ancestry of Jesus is a name that is often skimmed over as the reader hastens to get to the meat of the story. Notice that Jesus Christ is a descendant of Zerubbabel. It was by faith in the promises and prophecies of God that Zerubbabel received the grace to fulfill the good works that God had prepared beforehand for him to do. It is only by grace through faith that God opens our spiritual eyes so that we can receive his promises and recognize that his love is eternal.

Lord Jesus, you are the rod of Jessie, you are the branch that was promised to bear fruit, yet still we wait. We wait for the whole prophecy to be fulfilled. We wait now for your second coming when, "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea."(Isaiah 11:9) But as I wait, help me remember what you taught Zerubbabel. Nothing can negate the promises you have made because your love is eternal.