Come With Me on a Spiritual Journey

There is a chill in the air and dusk seems to be coming a little earlier every day. Autumn is a transitional season that links summer to winter. For me it’s a season of reflection. In my journey through the Bible September takes me through Job, Ecclesiastes and then into the Song of Songs. These are not books that are easy to understand. As I have read through them I’ve been thinking about how they reflect my own spiritual journey.

As a young child I would enter into the reverential silence of the sanctuary. There was the lingering fragrance of frankincense and myrrh, the flickering of the candles, and the chanting in Latin from the balcony behind me. My eyes would seek out the candle that I had been told was a symbol of God’s presence. I  genuflected and took my seat. As a little girl I was introduced to the holiness of God.

My Grandmother lived close by, and often I would spend the night with her. At bedtime she would invite me to snuggle close beside her. I listened as she read aloud long portions from the book of Isaiah. I could feel a stirring in my soul even though I had no understanding of the poetry of the words. I would stand at the doorway in the morning waiting as she knelt by her bed, her long grey braid falling between her shoulders. I would listen as she blanketed those she loved in prayer. I traveled in prayer with her as she prayed for my aunt who lived as a missionary on the Amazon River. I learned that though God was holy I could learn to hear His voice, and that He was listening for my voice as well.

As a child I was taught that Jesus loved me. This was symbolized for me by a picture of Jesus sitting on the grass surrounded by children. In the picture there was a little girl with her head on Jesus’s lap. I believed that that little girl was me. Every night I would pretend that my pillow was His lap. In childlike trust I would rest my head there. As the night shadows gathered I would rest in His tender love and care.

This was how my journey began, with simple childlike faith. But it is a journey, and that is what I see represented in the books of Job, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs. There has been light, and there has been darkness; there have been times when I have felt a deep intimacy with God, and there have been times that I wondered if He existed at all; there have been times when I have wept with the knowledge of His kindness, and there have been times when I wondered if He was cruel. I would like to invite you to join me as I reflect on my spiritual journey.

Confronting the Challenges We Face

The value of filling your mind with the grandeur of God is that everything else finds its proper place. I was thinking about this when I read the story of King Asa in 2 Chronicles 14-16. Asa found himself in a battle where he was completely outnumbered. If he had only responded to the threatening situation based on what he could see, he would have been defeated even before he went to battle. Instead, Asa reacted by crying out to the Lord: “Lord, there is no one besides You to help the mighty and those without strength. Help us, Lord our God, for we depend on You, and in Your name we have come against this multitude. Lord, You are our God. Do not let a mere mortal hinder You” (2 Chronicles 14:11).

Asa didn’t focus on the strength of his enemies, he focused on the strength of his God. God showed up and fought the battle and gave Asa a mighty victory. The Spirit of God spoke through a prophet to Asa and told him: “The Lord is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you abandoned Him, He will abandon you” (2 Chronicles 15:2). These words encouraged Asa and he began to remove all the idols from the land and to separate himself from influences that would separate him from God.

Asa enjoyed the blessing of peace that came when he trusted God. However, when Israel’s King Baasha went to war against him, he went into the Lord’s temple for something other than prayer. This time he went into the temple and brought out the silver and gold from the treasuries of the Lord to make a treaty with Aram’s King Ben-hadad. He was no longer seeking help from God; instead, his focus was on human help.

God again spoke to Asa through a prophet. This time He rebuked Asa for depending on a human king and not on the Lord his God. He reminded him of his past victory and how, when he had depended on the Lord, the Lord had given him victory. Then the prophet said, “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to show Himself strong for those whose hearts are completely His” (2 Chronicles 16:9). However, Asa’s mind was no longer filled with the grandeur of God and everything had lost its proper place.

The story of King Asa is not just a history lesson. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). We are living in a time of great difficulty. We are being confronted with the challenges that are very much like the challenges of King Asa. I believe that how we respond will be determined by how we see our God.

The Source of True Strength

I was visiting with my daughter Abigail who is expecting twins. She has already been “blessed” with two special needs little boys. Life can be hard; life can be difficult; and sometimes the unknown is terrifying. As we visited, I shared with Abigail what I have found to be the source of strength in difficult times.

I have discovered this reservoir again and again, not when life was going as I thought it should, but when I was confronted with challenges that felt insurmountable. That was when I discovered the truth of the hymn by Annie J. Flint that says: He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater, He sendeth more strength when the labors increase; to added affliction He added His mercy, to multiplied trials His multiplied peace.

The name of this hymn is “He Giveth More Grace.” I shared with Abigail the different chapters in my life where I experienced the sweet place of surrender. “When we have exhausted our store of endurance, when our strength has failed ere the day is half done, when we reach the end of our hoarded resources, our Father’s full giving is only begun.”

The book of James tells us to, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” What is joy? Joy is produced when you become aware that even the greatest trial cannot exceed the provisions or the resources God has for us. The more we experience His limitless love the more steadfast we become in our faith.

What is the source of true strength? I believe that true strength comes when the hardships of this life cause us to become sure of what we hope for, because we have encountered the limitless provisions of a loving God. When we lean hard on the everlasting arms we find that His power has no boundaries. The byproduct of this kind of strength is both joy and peace.

A Sacred Mystery

Every year I step into a sacred mystery that began in the courts of heaven when Satan asked God’s permission to test Job. I see the loss and grief that God allowed Job to suffer, and then I listen as Job’s friends attempt to defend God by heaping guilt on Job. I read aloud each argument as these men try to explain God. I begin again to see the holiness of God. 

Isaiah opens our ears to the voice of God, and we can hear Him explaining His holiness this way, “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways.’ This is the Lord’s declaration. ‘For as heaven is higher than earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8). Part of this sacred mystery is not only the holiness of God, but the invitation to know Him.

When I was a child I felt like I knew and understood God. He was my friend. When I was a teenager I went through a very difficult time that shook my world. I could not fathom why He would allow me to go through such a confusing time. It was the first time that I began to recognize the holiness of God. It was a humbling experience. I was confronted with the choice of walking away or pursuing a sacred mystery.

With a trembling heart I chose to accept the invitation to, “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near” (Isaiah 55:6). It was during this time in my life that I began to understand what it meant to fear the Lord. In the Scriptures whenever the temporal is intersected by the eternal it brings with it a sense of awe. To come into the presence of a Holy God with a heart of awe and wonder is to begin to find wisdom.

I have found that the longer I live the more aware I am of the sacred mystery of God. Through the pages of Scripture I am invited with the angels to see God seated on His throne and to listen to what they never stop saying day and night: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the Almighty, who was, who is, and who is coming” (Revelation 4:8). Like Job, I will never truly be able to understand or explain a holy God, but like Job I can declare, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth” (Job 19:25). Until that day, I am content to, by faith, live my life in sacred mystery.

He is Risen, So What? (Mark 16:8)

The day dawned, the morning star rose, the demons fled, the angels shouted for joy, but men continued to slumber blanketed by sorrow and disbelief. The eyes of flesh were blind to the spiritual victory that had taken place. The ears of men had failed to hear the spiritual truth spoken by the Messiah--that the curse of death would be broken--and so they slept; weighed down, paralyzed by grief.

The women were drawn to the tomb not by faith but by love, desiring to do one last act of kindness for their Lord’s dead body. They had witnessed Jesus’s humiliation, they had seen His mutilated, dead body hanging on the cross. They thought that they had watched hope perish. They saw where His lifeless body was buried. Darkness came, and all light seemed to be extinguished.

Spiritually blinded eyes could not see that the sun of righteous had risen, that death’s sting had been removed, and that the grave had lost its victory. The sun of righteousness, however, did arise that morning with healing in His wings. The women exchanged their grief for bewilderment. Their sorrow was replaced by astonishment when they encountered not a corpse to anoint with spices but an angel with the message of resurrection. They were given a new task, not to minister to a dead body, but to be the first to proclaim the resurrection.

The good news about Jesus the Messiah didn’t end when He died on the cross, but with the message that He conquered death. The good news is that the sun of righteousness has arisen with healing in His wings. He touches spiritually blinded eyes and gives sight. Jesus opens ears that are spiritually deaf so that we can hear eternal truths. He touches those who are spiritually paralyzed and gives their life new purpose. The good news is that the curse spoken at the beginning of time has been broken, fellowship with God has been restored, death has been conquered. 

How did the encounter with the angel impact the women at the tomb? They were terrified, astonished and afraid. The women were overwhelmed and started running from the tomb. The gospel ends with the strange statement that they said nothing to anyone, since they were afraid. When they did at last tell the disciples they weren’t believed, because the disciples were mourning and grieving. And now the question is, what will we do with the good news?

“And Peter” (Mark16:6-7)

“Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental condition that’s triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event.”* I have no doubts that Peter suffered from PTSD because of his guilt as he replayed the disturbing vivid memory of the look in Jesus’s eyes just moments after he had denied with oaths that he did know Him.

I wonder if Peter found comfort in the words of David as he relived his failure: “Have  mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night. Against you, and you only have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:1-4).

Jesus had told Peter that before the rooster would crow twice Peter would deny Him three times. Peter, however, rejected what Jesus said. He believed that his devotion to Jesus was strong enough for any test. The Sabbath between the crucifixion and the resurrection held no rest for Peter as he relived again and again what he thought was unimaginable. “Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me” (Psalm 51:9-11).

After the crucifixion Peter was haunted by the memory of his failure. His mind was bound up in shackles as he relived his denial again and again. However, if Peter had only known his own righteousness, how could he have ever fully known what it means to be redeemed? The voice of shame and regret was silenced when Peter heard the message that the angel had given the women: “But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see Him there just as He told you’” (Mark 16:7).

Again Peter could now say with David, “Oh, what a joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are left in complete honesty” (Psalm 51:1,2)! The beauty of redemption could only be fully realized after Peter saw his desperate need for a redeemer.

*Mayo Clinic 

“Just as He Told You” (Mark 16:6)

The disciples had been full of anticipation as they made their way the Jerusalem for the Passover. They had no more doubts that Jesus was the Messiah. They had heard His teaching on the kingdom of God. They heard His message from the beginning that the time was fulfill and the kingdom of God was at hand! They had even argued about who would get to sit on His left and right after He set up His kingdom. They had fed on every word that came from His mouth. Or had they? 

From the time Peter had put into words what they all believed, that Jesus was the Messiah, Jesus had spoken plainly about what to expect. He had told them that He would suffer many things and be rejected by the chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and rise after three days. He had repeated this to Peter, James and John as they descended from the Mountain of Transfiguration. A third time in the gospel, Jesus taught His disciples that He would be betrayed and killed, and again He told them that He would be resurrected. On the third day after His crucifixion was anyone expecting His resurrection?

After they ate the Last Supper together they went out to the Mount of Olives. It was there that Jesus told them, “All of you will run away, because it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. But after I have resurrected, I will go ahead of you to Galilee” (Mark 14:27,28). Did they hear what He said about the resurrection? I don’t think so, because what follows is Peter arguing with Jesus that he would never deny Him! All the disciples felt the same way. However, everything happened just as Jesus said it would. Peter denied Him, and the disciples scattered. Could they see past their failure to Jesus’s faithfulness? After the crucifixion where they anticipating seeing Him in Galilee like He had told them? 

They didn’t understand. Why? For years the Jewish people had waited for the Messiah to come. They had waited for Him to come and establish the kingdom, a kingdom like they had experienced under King David. They longed for the yoke of oppression to be broken. Then Jesus came. He healed the sick, opened blind eyes and deaf ears, He raised the dead. He taught with authority and told them that the Kingdom of God was at hand. He also taught His disciples that He would be rejected, betrayed, and killed, but He always added that He would rise after three days.

Three days after the crucifixion where were the disciples? They were hiding in fear. The angel told the women who had come to anoint Jesus’s dead body that He had risen from the dead. He went on to tell them to go tell Jesus’s disciples and Peter that He was going ahead of them to Galilee, just as He had told them. Isaiah had prophesied that Galilee of the Gentiles would be filled with glory. He had gone on to say, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness” (Isaiah 9:2). What had prevented them from hearing what Jesus said? I think perhaps it because it was so different from their preconceived ideas. This leaves me with a question. What keeps us from truly hearing what Jesus says?