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Stillness at the Windowpane

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Human solitude and quietness are popular concepts in today’s world, right? Wrong. Our culture is fast-paced, high-tech, and pseudo-connected. To speak of the grandeur of moments of human solitude and quietness is similar to speaking an alien language.

Our culture’s general averseness to quiescence should be no surprise to the child of God who is well aware of the enemy’s schemes. In this cosmic battle for the heart of man, Satan knows the power of preoccupation, restlessness, busyness, and noise. If we can be kept from outright meditation on the Lord and from serious introspection, the enemy will have his way in our lives.

“Be still and know that I am God.” These beautiful words of Psalm 46:10 (NIV) invite us to perceive, to understand, and to learn that God is God! How? We gain this knowledge sometimes through being still. The Hebrew root for stillness tells us to cease from our own attempts and acknowledge the bigness and holiness of God.

Recently I stood nearly motionless at the window of my home office as a gentle, steady snow began. The huge evergreens lining the back of our property provided a wonderful, contrasting background for the gigantic “snow globe” type of snowflakes descending from the sky.

I had been praying, and I felt the Lord prompt me to stay standing, arm leaning on the top of the lower windowpane. I know He wanted me to remain quiet and still, observing His creation and allowing Him to speak to me and calm my spirit. (So often we want to tell God things, but He also wants us to listen.)

I remained there purposefully for some time, watching glistening snowflakes. Actually, I tried following with my eyes a few individual flakes in their descent to the ground below. Against the dark green trees, the seemingly innumerable snowflakes amazed me. There was such an abundance of particles, but each one was traveling a unique path to join the others as they formed a white blanket on the grass.

I found myself in the middle of Job 37:14-16 (NIV), “Stop and consider God’s wonders. Do you know how God controls the clouds and makes his lightning flash? Do you know how the clouds hang poised, those wonders of him who is perfect in knowledge?”

Standing in the quiet of my home, leaning on the windowpane, watching snow fall, and obeying God’s command to be still and consider Him; I was truly changed. I had been praying for days about many circumstances – some acutely troubling. As I stood at the window quietly knowing my Lord, He answered me without giving me exact answers. He filled my heart with courage. He renewed my strength and outlook as I allowed the noise of life to vanish in the stillness of moments given over to the Lord.

Amazingly, specific answers began to come in the days following. God directly reacted to my simple obedience with a cascade of answers, revelations, and peace.

My flesh wants to work so hard for answers. Sometimes we want to drown out the hurt with a myriad of activities. We may even try to evade conviction of God’s Holy Spirit with noise and preoccupation.

Please do not give in to these tactics of the enemy. Treat with precious respect the godly concepts of quietness and human solitude. God works in these . . . as He promised.

Dendrites and Deuteronomy: The Alignment of Brain Research with the Timeless Word of God

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Current brain research is invigorating, as it inspires us to acknowledge the amazing circuitry of our minds. The neuronal pathways spanning the various parts of the brain are employed tirelessly by the God that made them. It is estimated that the human brain contains as many as one hundred billion neurons, each neuron sprouting delicate dendrites, and transmitting impulses through appendages called axons. Jesus is Lord over all this gray and white matter. As Christ holds together all created things (Colossians 1:17), so He allows and ensures each synaptic connection.

Incredibly, God had full understanding of brain function in mind when He instructed His people in the Old Testament. The people to whom He spoke were most likely not pondering at the time the inner functions of the brain, but their Creator spoke to them with dignity – holding reality in the palm of His hand. The Bible is not archaic; it is accurate. Its words were spoken and recorded in the context of the existing culture. Looking back, we can see that the ultimate Author of the Bible is truly the Maker of the brain. Thankfully, the Hebrews took God at His Word, no matter what they did or did not understand of the mind’s inner workings. We should also immediately trust God’s Word, knowing science will always “catch up” with the timeless truth of the Bible.

Let us explore the fascinating intricacies of Deuteronomy 6:5-9 in light of current brain analysis. First, we recall the passage: “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” (NIV)

God first proclaims that He intends we love Him “with everything we’ve got”! I call to your attention particularly the phrase, “with all your strength.” The Hebrew root implies that we ought to love our Lord to the highest degree, with force, with abundance, and exceedingly so. Following on the heels of this great commandment is its corollary: all the precepts God gives to us are to be upon our hearts. In other words, our love for Him will come to fruition as we actually treasure God’s Word at our core. The Hebrew term to designate our heart in this instance is a concept implying that God’s commandments are to reside in our inner being, our mind, or our soul. The nuance tells us that the Word of God should be part of our thinking and our memory; it becomes fluid in our conscience and is present at the seat of our emotions. When His Word inculcates our minds at this level, it becomes natural, for example, to speak of Isaiah 40:26 when looking into the night sky. Instead of simply seeing stars, we are now pondering the mighty God who sustains each one with precision and intention.

In fact, the flow of God’s Word in my conscience prompted a wonderful conversation about Isaiah 40:26 with my eleven-year-old nephew as we sat casually under a starry sky in the summertime. Verses that had become a fluid part of my mind through memorization, study, rehearsal, and application, suddenly cascaded into the moment at hand. This is as it should be, for God is the Lord of everything. The natural points to the supernatural (Romans 1:20), and proper training of the mind is obedience, and can lead to yet more obedience. In this case, the human interaction and discussion of God’s power and care for the stars led to an opportunity to express the even more unbelievable care of God for people made in His very own image. My nephew loved looking at stars, and this was a perfect opportunity for God’s Spirit to work through what had become a part of my mind’s wiring.

As the Lord continues His directives, we realize that we are to impress His Word on our children and talk about His commandments continually – while rising, walking, sitting at home, and lying down. Could God have made His intention of repetition and discussion of His Word any more clear? In effect, He declares, “Keep doing this. Talk about Me always, in many contexts and in many ways. Over and over and over again I want you to rehearse and discuss My Word – especially with the younger ones.”

Guess what brain research has revealed? Brain growth continues past birth! When we actively rehearse and learn in different ways – stimulating various regions of the brain – we can expand and strengthen neuronal pathways. We can make it easier to recall information readily. As Willis (2006) noted, “The brain pathways and connections that are used regularly are maintained and ‘hard-wired,’ while others are eliminated, or pruned.”

It seems God would desire His law be the hard-wiring of our brains. For my actions and reactions to be healthy, the very Word of God needs to be part of the structure of my mind. Willis (2006) informs, “New connecting cells, called dendrites, can be formed throughout life . . . after repeated practice, working memories are set down as permanent neuronal circuits of axons and dendrites ready to be activated when the information is needed.”

God rightly requires us to “impress [the commandments] on [our] children.” The word “impress” here means to sharpen or whet, as a knife. One nuance implies a wounding or piercing through. Our children and all young ones under our influence ought to feel the emotional, deep piercing of God’s Word. This is not simply an intellectual experience. His Word – when practiced – pricks our soul in ways unimaginable.

I will never forget the penetration of my heart while watching my grandmother die. The summary of those final days in her bed could be, “She drew unbelievably close to Jesus as her outer shell fell away.” I observed a woman of God as all her belief and obedience culminated in glorious moments.

I was pierced through in a simpler moment when the practice of genuine forgiveness led to a feeling of victory and love. The bottom line is that reinforcement of God’s Word as gained in the practice of the principles that have been purposefully hard-wired in our minds leads to deeper understanding and easier retrieval. Current research refers to this as episodic memory and experiential learning. Willis (2006) asserts, “With strategies that engage the senses, students ‘become’ the knowledge by interacting with it. As a result, a new memory that might otherwise be forgotten is linked to a sensation, a movement, or an emotion, and therefore it travels into the memory storage in more than one pathway. This redundancy of pathways means greater memory retention and recall.”

It is no wonder that the Lord demands we ponder His Word in the daily experiences of life. When my mind is fresh in the morning and the world is new, when the quietness of the evening settles in, when walking through the events and relationships of the day, and all times; my musing on His commandments must mix with the occurrences of my life. I need to observe His Word as it relates to all the circumstances I encounter. Behind the scenes, my Creator-God is firing neurons in all the lobes of my brain, hard-wiring me for increased focus on Him.

God adds that His people ought to “write [the commandments] on the doorframes of [their] houses and on [their] gates.” I will here focus on the fact that the people ought to manually write God’s Word. In our brains, the occipital lobe is involved with reading and visual perception; the parietal lobe relates to tactile perception and academic skills; and the frontal lobe is involved with consciousness and attention. Since the Hebrews had a largely oral culture of communication (directly involving the temporal lobe), it is of note that God directed His people to engage all four lobes of the brain in regard to His Word. He obviously desires that all our mind engages.

Interestingly, when referring to students’ study of electrons orbiting a nucleus, Willis (2006) recommends, “If they then draw a sketch of their visualizations and verbally communicate them to partners, or write about them in their own words, multiple brain pathways will be stimulated to enter long-term memory.”

Whether taken literally or symbolically, God clearly advises the Hebrews to “tie [the commandments] as symbols on [their] hands and bind them on [their] foreheads.” The root for the term “forehead” is “frontal.” The frontal lobe of our brains is the epicenter of attention, motivation, guidance of social behavior, judgment, and decision-making. The Lord means for His Word to be right there at the headquarters of our motivation. Let everything be driven by Him.

As we begin to contemplate current brain research, we notice that God is never “behind the times.” He stands omniscient and outside of time and space. Though God inspired the writing of Deuteronomy approximately 3,500 years ago, its words are accurate and align with the latest brain discoveries. At the risk of sounding simplistic, I must say that the Creator best knows the creation. Imagine, when God first created man, He did so giving us the most intricate and organized of bodies and organs. God knew all about branching dendrites and invaluable synapses, for He brought them into existence. We must always trust His Word, because our timeless God has given it to us freely from His unfathomable wisdom.

As we function, using the minds God has given us, may we always cling to John 14:26, for the Creator transcends the creation. Although the design and workings of the human brain point to the One who made them, the Lord is infinitely greater than us. His work cannot be fully captured in the study of created things. In John 14:26, Jesus says, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (NIV)

The Creator of our mind is infinitely greater than our mind. God sent His Holy Spirit to be our Teacher. God’s Spirit superintends the workings of my brain. The genuinely Christian perspective is one that makes a personal God central. God made me more than the sum of the neurons and cells of my body. God Himself is working in my heart and mind as I yield myself to Him. His Holy Spirit works through and above the astounding, intricate brains God has given to us. God chooses to work in us profoundly when we obey His Word, which naturally both aligns with and transcends the created world.

Thank you, Jesus, for giving Your life that the Holy Spirit might live in me so that I can obey God’s Word, using the brain He has given me!

Reference: Judy Willis, M.D. (2006) Research-based strategies to ignite student learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Cure for the Common Christmas Verse

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Oh, the careless treatment we often give the common “Christmas verse,” Matthew 1:21. Regularly presented to us in the month of December, the powerful words are frequently taken for granted, “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Since these are the words of the angel of the Lord to Joseph concerning the Son of God and His amazing placement by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, we rightly consider these words momentous. Here stands the announcement that our infinite God has chosen to put on human flesh! And why? The angel proclaims plainly the motivation right at the inauguration of this unbelievable, sacrificial season of God’s plan. The reason is so that we can be saved from our sins.

Notice God did not say, “He will save His people from their low self-esteem” or “from their lack of purpose” or “from their depressive hopelessness” or “from their illness” or “from their loneliness” or “from their economic hardship.” No, God sounds forth the real answer for the human dilemma – salvation from sin.

All other difficulties are secondary to the root cause, which is sinfulness. Please cease looking primarily for Jesus to build your self-esteem or give you purpose or make you hopeful or heal your body or grant relationships or make you wealthy.

Please, please, please . . . run to Jesus for the very reason He entered the bloody womb of a woman and grew to shed His own blood and sacrifice His life – to deliver you from sin.

At its putrid core, sin is selfishness. When I trust Jesus to deliver me from my self-centered plans and desires, I realize I now want what He wants. All other circumstances aside, I can now truly live, because my sin had been killing me.

Here is the clincher. He did not come to save us despite our sins, but from our sins. The Greek root is clear; Jesus came to separate us from our sin nature. He destroys that wicked union. The moment I run to Him, He obliterates the damning attachment of sin to my soul. His ultimate aim in the new world He prepares is to place an infinite distance of space and time between us and all sin’s destructive and debilitating effects.

Are we currently living to be free from sin? Are we as hard-nosed about the mission as Jesus is? I think we suffer so much discontent not because of dismal situations, but because separation from sin – the goal of God – is not our goal.

The most humane thing in the entire world is for a person created by God to have his or her union with sinfulness obliterated. Fear not other maladies, save this: a clinging to sin.

Live for that for which our Savior lives: detachment from sin and attachment to God. All other solutions naturally follow – whether today, tomorrow, or in the place Jesus is preparing.

What determination Jesus had to exit glory and enter this broken world to save us from our sins!

What determination will we have to refuse to gossip, to sacrifice that hour of time, to give that hard-earned money, to smile at that one who hurt us, to choose not to retaliate, to enter a sweet hour of prayer, to turn off the iPod and open up the Bible, to purposefully make Jesus the topic of dinner conversation, to put ourselves on the backburner tomorrow afternoon, to confess wrongdoing and ask forgiveness of a friend, or to distance ourselves from sin in any number of ways?

“Jesus came to save us from our sins,” said the angel of the Lord.

Fear of God Is Freeing

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Fear of God is not a negative; it is the most positive thing in the cosmos. As a culture, we have largely lost the fitting view of the transcendent God. We have become all too familiar with Him, treating Him as if He existed for our pleasure. To the dismay of many, the facts stand quite the opposite. We exist for His pleasure. The reason I breathe is to bring glory to Him. This is in no way a restrictive concept, but one that catapults me into the mystery of unbounded hope.

When a person does not view God as the grandest and deserving of all dedication, that person will be in turmoil. Nothing aligns properly under the dominion of self. Why? Self is a false sovereignty, and operation on a false premise leads to a false conclusion. God is the only self-existent one. He made all things and all people. He has right of ownership, and the owned ones find their peace in His purpose. The designer knows how the design must operate in order to be what it was meant to be.

Proverbs 15:16 (NASB) makes clear, “Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and turmoil with it.” Shattering the misconceptions of the self-absorbed, we come to terms with the fact that very little material gain in this world is far superior to much treasure accompanied by the unrest of minds that refuse to accept the sovereignty of God.

God must be revered for peace to flood into the human heart. God made me. I will answer to Him for the following: the life He gave me, the body He gave me, the moments He gave me, the heart He gave me, the mind He gave me, the influence He gave me, and every single breath He brings. He is to be feared because He demands an answer for my life. He demands payment for my sin. He superintends my destiny and prescribes my eternity. I ought to be in awe of Him. He alone is holy.

When my heart properly fears this sovereign God, tumult flees my soul. For, He is in His proper place – at the helm. My reverence for Him drives me to His saving grace, where Jesus stands as my righteousness. My awe of Him hastens me to love Him more and seek to understand whatever mysteries of Him He graces me to know. My respect for who He actually is compels me to yield my life to His cause.

Yes, I can live vibrantly with very little because fear of God is in my heart. The accumulation of earthly goods and distractions do not deliver what the human soul desperately needs. We do not need more; we need to rightly direct all we do have. We need to direct the entire realm of our lives to the One to Whom we owe everything. Whether I have little or much is no matter; the state of my heart in relation to God determines my level of peace.

Put off no longer the pursuit of God because He demands to be feared. Reverence for the sovereign God is the only way to live without distress. The reality is that He made you, and you will answer to Him. This should place you in a state of awe – not awe that leads to nervousness, but awe that leads to deliverance. We are free when we worship the One we ought to rightly revere. We were made for it.

Twice the Courage

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“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33 (NIV)

We ought to thank Jesus continually for His honesty. The Biblical Christian worldview is the accurate view, because it accounts for all aspects of life – including the trouble. As our Lord was getting ready to go the cross and preparing His disciples for the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus reminded His followers that life would be rough. He said, “In this world you will have trouble.” How true! When we repeat this statement of Jesus, we may do so with a tone of affirmation, or meekly through a veil of tears. Why? Because one thing we know is that trouble is part of our lives.

The Greek word for trouble here is one that means “a pressing” or “pressure.” The difficulties and heartbreaks of life press in on us, and Satan’s hope is that we would cave in under the strain. After all, his goal is to destroy us (John 10:10). When the crushing force of tribulation comes, do not give in through thoughts of hopelessness! Refuse to allow your vision to be limited to what is temporal! Trust in the God is who is bigger than the burden!

The answer Jesus gave to the tribulation of His people is not that the trials would disappear. No, Jesus loves us enough to tell us the truth. Things will get wild, my friends. You will suffer and be persecuted. You will face hardships sometimes unimaginable, sometimes just enough to deter your focus.

Here is the answer Jesus gives, “Take heart! I have overcome the world.” The original language behind “take heart” is “be of good courage.” In fact, Jesus uses the verb two times in a row here. He actually says, “Be of good courage; be of good courage.” Okay. I need the second reminder. Jesus drives the point home. He does not simply give mediocre courage; my courage in Him is doubly sure!

Our Savior also says, “In me you may have peace.” The Greek gets to the heart of the requirement, as it informs us that we are to “have, possess, or lay hold of” the peace. The unredeemed person may believe that peace is some wishy-washy concept, or that peace is impersonal and just floats down upon people who desire it. Quite to the contrary, peace is strong and personal. Peace can only be found in the Savior, and it is something of which we must really lay hold. We must walk with Jesus and determine to be blessed by His strength in the midst of difficulty.

The kind of peace Jesus offers is real. It is not the blind faith of those who do not know Him and are just “hoping for the best.” Jesus boldly proclaims in this verse, “I have overcome the world.” Indeed, He has! The world can certainly “bring it on” as far as crushing heartache and troubling circumstances, but Jesus has overcome the world. He stands transcendent over everything that happens. He is weaving together the circumstances of the entire universe to fulfill His plan. The word for “world” here is the same word from which we get “cosmos.” God is telling us that He has overcome the aggregate of all things earthly; all the world affairs – personally and nationally – are under His sovereignty. There is no doubt that I will witness His grand deliverance and resolution with my own eyes. This reminds me of the words of the great man, Job, who declared, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God” (Job 19:25-26).

As the pressure comes, trust in the Overcomer of the Cosmos. The courage He gives is doubly strong.

A Stirring Compliment

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Recently I received a compliment that moved me deeply. I had the honor of speaking to Christian school teachers and administrators at a convention in Washington, D.C., given by the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI). I presented a seminar about a Biblical approach to classroom management. The seminar was presented over a period of two days, during four sessions, spanning a total of five and one-half hours; and my accompanying PowerPoint presentation contained ninety-two slides.

The fact that a seminar on classroom management can be so filled with moments of inspiration by God’s Holy Spirit is a topic for another day. Let me just say that the attendees’ hearts were ready to receive God’s Word; and any topic of discussion can and should be driven toward its Creator. Classroom management becomes a lively subject when viewed through the lens of God’s Word. Jesus is the Master Teacher and the Maker of all students. Learning is His wonderful idea in the first place, and He has something to say about it being done effectively and joyfully!

Now we go back to the pivotal input I was blessed to receive. The last half-hour of the final session was going very well, when I realized I had twenty-five minutes to finish presenting the material so that we could all culminate our study with prayer. Part of the last session involved me darting to various parts of the ballroom in which I was presenting as I demonstrated the importance of spending time in each quadrant of a classroom and the vital nature of a “change in scenery” for students in order to keep everyone just a little off balance for an active learning environment. This final stretch of the seminar was definitely as active as the first few moments had been the day before. My energy level was high, and the audience was engaged.

Things were going so well that we hardly noticed that a few other seminars had already ended – ended early I might mention. The last session was to finish at 3:00 pm. However, some attendees of other seminars began heading to the lobby of the hotel as early as 2:40 pm. As a presenter, my intent was to provide instruction until the very end. The delegates had paid money to attend the convention, and many were receiving continuing education credit for the instructional hours of my seminar.

Finally, I began the closing prayer, which – apparently – was put forth with much passion. For, no sooner had I said, “Amen,” than the regional associate director for ACSI approached me right before he quickly began to disassemble the equipment as he prepared for his own departure. As someone who has known and worked with me for quite a few years, his words went something like this: “Well, Shelli, I would have expected no less from you! You kept teaching right up to the end . . . and with such vigor. Even the closing prayer was so ‘right on.’ Thank you for being faithful.”

No one could have wiped the smile from my face in that moment. Even as people in the hallways scurried off, some of my students lingered to talk and ponder God’s work together. And I had received an invaluable commendation; I had been faithful, reflecting the heart of God.

Paul tells us in Hebrews 10:23 (NASB), “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” Yes, we can depend upon our God; He is faithful!

Moreover, the reason we humans can hold onto the Christian faith without wavering is precisely because the One who makes His promise to us is faithful. It is not because of me that I can persevere; it is because of the One who promised His goodness to me. When the apostle admonishes us to keep going in our faith – to endure – to persist – he is sure to tell us why we can do so: He who promised is faithful.

God finishes what He starts. God always keeps His Word. God does not grow weary and desert the cause. God does not wear down when things get difficult. God does not lose interest. God is faithful to the end.

Hebrews 12:2 tells us that He is both the Author and the Finisher of our faith. Philippians 1:6 says that He who began a good work in us will complete it. With our Lord, we “get our money’s worth”! He does not stick with us only half-heartedly; He stays with us completely and vigorously.

When I think about the analogy to my classroom management seminar, I think of it this way. The last ten minutes of my last session were as strong as the first ten minutes of my first session. The content and passion remained unchanged. And so it is with life. During the last few moments of our earthly life, God will be as true to us as He was when He formed us in the womb. Amazingly, though, His faithfulness extends to the next world. Forever and ever He will remain our strength – even in the glory of Heaven. Though my seminar had an ending point, the goodness of God has no limit; it continues into the next life without end. Remember Psalm 36:5? “Your lovingkindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.”

Thank you, Dr. Hegedus, for a compliment that stirs my heart. When we are faithful to the end, we reflect the heart of our Savior.

I pray today that you and I will be faithful to the end in every endeavor – big or small – and even as we cross that chasm between this life and the next. We can if we remember that “He who promised is faithful.”

Waiting to Catch Up

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(A letter to the Apostle Paul, reflecting on Romans 8:22-25)

Thank you, Paul, for acknowledging that the best of us groan.

Ours is not a shallow whining or complaining; but a deep, aching sorrow for the brokenness we face.

You have gently reminded us that the entire earth cries out for redemption – to
be bought back – to be restored – to be held in the hands of Jesus once and for all.

I remember, Paul, when you said we are pressed but not crushed.

In this jar of clay I call my body lives God Almighty.

When that pressing of life seems to be too strong for the walls I have sought to build around me, may I remember that the burden will not break me; for who can crush the infinite?

It is impossible that the pressure be too great for Jesus.

You said, Paul, we would be perplexed but never in despair.

I am perplexed. I am confused by many things.

By unanswered prayers – the ones that seem so right.

By the aching hearts of children in their innocence neglected.

By the aching heart of adults in their willfulness alienated.

By injustice – seeing some have and some have not.

By loneliness never wished for, never intended.

By broken bodies.

Bay daily battles with disease.

By the last and greatest enemy of the living – death.

By all these things, my dear friend, Paul, I am perplexed.

But I am not in despair.

There is one thing of which I am sure . . . God makes sense of confusion.

Confusion is . . . seeing the Son of God lie in the feeding trough of animals.

Confusion is . . . seeing the Light of the universe being rejected by the darkness of men.

Confusion is . . . seeing the Lord of all creation crushed on a cross.

Confusion is . . . seeing a rock roll over the tomb of the Author of life.

Does God make sense of confusion?

Did the Son of God, Light of the universe, Lord of all, and Author of life stay in the trough, in the darkness, on the cross, or in the tomb?

No! God took the confusion, balled it up in His hands, breathed mercy upon it, and threw it back to us as droplets of hope.

And wherever the droplets of hope find a home, God comes to live.

Does God make sense of confusion?

Will unanswered prayers be left misunderstood?

Will aching hearts always writhe in pain?

Will lonely people never share laughter?

Will broken bodies never be fixed?

Will death always be the final pain we face?

No. No. No. A thousand times over . . . no.

Paul, you said we groan. You said we cry inside waiting for redemption.

As sure as the sun rises, that day will come.

As your friend, Peter, said, this is our “living hope.”

Dipped inside my spirit is a droplet of hope from God’s own hand.

This hope tells me it will all make sense someday.

This hope tells me we will be reunited in the end.

This hope tells me that as Jesus really came out of the tomb, we really will, too.

This old, broken body so ready to sin will one day fly heavenward.

I groan now. That is the reality of a broken person and a broken world.

But I will not groan forever.

God has redeemed my spirit, Paul. My emotions and my body are just waiting to catch up.

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” – Romans 8:22-25 (NIV)

The Mercy Seat of An Infinite God

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A Commentary on Isaiah 66:1

“Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool.” – Isaiah 66:1a (NKJV)

Listen to what God says, for what man says is of no consequence unless it aligns with the Almighty’s revelation. Quite vital to remember is that God has spoken, and His Word is distinct and above all else (Psalm 138:2). Set God’s Word at the forefront, or we risk succumbing to the relentless temptation to believe the prevalent, mundane thought that God is small and weak and not altogether different from us. “Thus says the LORD” is a phrase meant to shake our paradigm, as we are so apt to focus on anything or anyone other than the Creator from whom all things derive.

God cannot be contained, nor can He be measured; incalculable is His nature (I Kings 8:27). Yet in daily thoughts and actions, we reason that we understand how God has worked, or is working, or will work in various situations of life. With Heaven as His throne and Earth as His footstool, God’s infinite nature staggers the imagination. The visible heavens, the innumerable parts of the universe we are still completely unable to access, and the very abode of God Almighty exist as His throne. God is infinitely greater than all the heavens, able to encapsulate and harness each part for His purposes. Our Creator is the one who “works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11b). His unfathomable power unceasingly pulls all aspects of life – physical, emotional, and spiritual – toward His ultimate will. The Maker of all that exists will irrefutably have the final word over all that exists!

Stunning is the truth that earth is God’s footstool. We humans have not yet explored all the depths of any particular ocean, we have barely begun the first leg of the journey into any miniscule portion of the vastness of space, and we have not yet plunged into all the depths of the mystery of the molecular; still God refers to the earth as His footstool. He means for us to know that His magnificence cannot be calculated. Metaphorically, that upon which He rests His feet is immensely more than that with which we can even commence to grapple. Therefore, it would be ridiculous for us to grow hopeless concerning circumstances of the earth, for God says of this place, “That is simply my footstool.”

How would it be to know that the God who created everything from nothing and rightfully boasts Heaven as His throne is willing to be with us? To talk with us? To hear our heart and stay with us? To carry our burdens? To share His presence in real relationship? We can know this joy because the specific footstool of God in the Old Testament is the Ark of the Covenant (I Chronicles 28:2) Our Creator desires to rest with us – to “put His feet up” if you will – that we may have a genuine relationship with Him.

This relationship seems impossible, though, given the eternal nature of God, His unfathomable power, and His holiness. This seeming impossibility steps back and disappears into the shadow of the Ark of the Covenant and its treasured mercy seat. The mercy seat marked the separation between the Law and God’s manifest presence. In the ark, below the mercy seat – or atonement cover – rested the tablets of the Law. Above the mercy seat – between the gold cherubim – God’s glorious presence came. Although every person ever born on earth ultimately longs to be in God’s presence where all is right and joyous, most try to imagine the longings and emptiness of life could be satisfied in some other manner. Hence, Isaiah 53:6 proclaims, “Each of us has turned to his own way.” Still, the only way to right and hope and peace and ultimate, coveted fulfillment is to be in God’s presence – to rest with Him.

We ask, “How will I get to God, for I am constantly dragged down by this law below?” Each time we attempt to rise up and rest with our Creator between those cherubim, the tablets full of commandments we cannot keep pull us back down beneath the atonement cover. We feel as Paul did in Romans 7 asking how he could possibly be delivered from his failure to do what he knows to be right. Do we also feel the victory Paul knew as communicated in Romans 8:3, “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.” God forbid we ever forget the mercy seat lies between the law and God’s presence as a clear delineation of our hope. For, on that mercy seat, was the blood of the sacrifice applied. Symbolically – via the animal sacrifice – the blood of Jesus was sprinkled on that cover to settle the matter and forever absorb our inability to fulfill God’s law. Through the blood of Jesus, we can rise above hopelessness and enter God’s safety despite our own sinfulness. Quite literally, we rise from being pitiful creatures condemned by the law to being God’s own children, with access to His blessed presence. How does this happen? The blood of Jesus on the mercy seat opens up the way and we rise to God through the blood of His own Son.

The thought of Jesus’ blood opening up the way for sinful man to gain relationship with a holy God breeds yet another thought: there is nothing stronger than the blood of Jesus. No sin, no failure, no amount of inadequacy can stop Jesus from giving to us access to God. That mercy seat of the Old Testament was made of pure gold. Metaphorically speaking, our spirits rise from the lower compartment of the condemnation of the law to the upper space of freedom and joy, ever watched by the cherubim that long to know this miracle of salvation. How do we rise since the atonement cover of pure gold lies between the law and God’s presence? We can rise because the apostle tells us in I Peter 1:18-19 that we are “not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold …but with the precious blood of Christ…” Gold, though highly treasured and often tried by fire, is yet corruptible – a substance that ultimately succumbs to disintegration. Not so the blood of Jesus! Precious, incorruptible, just like our heavenly inheritance. That timeless, infinitely powerful blood blasts through any obstacle that hinders us from reaching God!

God, who is infinite and has spoken all things into existence with just His breath, can accurately say that this realm – this terrain – on which we live out our limited days, is so small and powerless compared to Him that He boasts it as the place to rest His feet. This same God is sure to remind us that of all the locations on this planet on which He focused for His resting place it is the Ark of the Covenant. Why? Because the personal rest and relationship all humanity needs with the God who created us can only be found completely where the blood is applied and opens up the way for sinful people to commune with holy God. The funnel representing God’s rest and communion with us narrows down to one point – the place where the blood is applied.

Bad Trees and End Results

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No matter what we say in the name of Jesus or do in the name of Jesus, God discerns the truth of the matter. It is quite possible for someone to prophesy in God’s name and perform miracles without truly being a man or woman of God. Satan has the power to do counterfeit signs and wonders (II Thessalonians 2:9), and that will be one hallmark of the antichrist in the end times.

Jesus made clear to his disciples that they should examine fruit. In other words, we are to observe the end results of the life and work of a person. If my life does not please God, then neither does my purported work for Him. Though it is popular today to have a ministry for the Lord, this means nothing if we do not have a day-to-day way of living that pleases the Lord.

Jesus appeals to basic logic when He reminds us that it is simply impossible for a diseased tree to bring forth healthy fruit. If we are still diseased by sin at our core, our work for God will not heal the disease. The ultimate results of our life will still wreak havoc.

I may appear to do great things for God, but if people walk away from interaction with me disturbed by my spitefulness and rattled by my lack of self-control, then I am not bearing the fruit of the Spirit of God. If the end results of my relationships are destruction and unrest, if I never follow-through in faithfulness, if selfish impatience is my prominent trait, if sadness and gloom surround me always, or if imperviousness marks my every path; I am bearing fruit that is diseased. (See Galatians 5:22-23) The core of me needs fixed. For, “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit” (Matthew 7:18).

To be sure we understand the seriousness of bad fruit, Jesus said, “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:22-23). You see, in Heaven it will not be necessary for people to cast out demons, prophesy, or perform miracles. What will be essential is the love between brethren and all the kindness, gentleness, and self-control that comes with real love.

A grave issue stands at hand. Let us grapple with it. Diseased trees bear diseased fruit. Alleged work for the Lord notwithstanding, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 7:19). It is the truth of our lives that matters, not what we appear to be because of all kinds of ministry efforts. This is a matter of integrity; what are we at the root? Because what we are will come out in the everyday effects of our living.

Why would Jesus throw a diseased tree into the fire? Good fruit will never come from it. The eternity the people of God want to enter is a forever of good things. The eternity fitting of our holy God is a forever of righteousness. What is – at its core – not good, must go.

Before the time of Jesus’ teaching what we have briefly discussed, He preached clearly, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). If your soul is diseased and you recognize it, there is hope for you. Jesus proclaims, “Repent.” Turn around. Change your mind completely. Realize the core needs healed. Realize more work will not change you. Decide that you need Jesus to clean your heart. He will. He promises that the kingdom of heaven – of goodness – is right around the corner.

Hope Found in Four Little Words

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Half-hearted dedication stinks. We crave whole-heartedness – true devotion! Something in the soul of human beings longs for passion. Mediocrity is not attractive to us in any arena of life; and the reason is a simple one. The God who made us designed us for fervent worship. Mediocrity does not bring good results in sports, careers, relationships, studies, or any other area. It is repulsive in much the same way a mediocre relationship with God is abhorrent to Him. Our lives are designed to be all-consumed. We feel right when we are completely used up for God’s sake. I am content when my efforts have been spent, my words have been spent, my emotions have been spent, my body has been spent, and my intellect has been spent for the purpose of Someone greater than me. That Someone is the transcendent, personal God of the universe. I want to live a life of zeal for my God.

Perhaps this is why the words of Revelation 3:15-16 can sting so badly. Let us consider our lives – not in the broad sense – but in the everyday moments of living. Let’s think about our deeds: the way we arise in the morning, the look on our face when we meet someone before our first drink of coffee, the conversation we have over lunch, the way we approach housework, the way we approach our career, the goal we have in human encounters, the way we entertain ourselves, and a myriad of other actions. Are these things done rightly from a heart of passion that puts God’s glory at the forefront? Or are our deeds sadly reflecting a heart that has lost its fervor for God’s purposes in all things?

Picture a thermometer. The top line represents a red-hot relationship with Jesus Christ, the kind of relationship where His glory is your goal no matter the cost; you are consumed by an incomparable love for the Lord. The bottom line represents a quite dead, cold relationship with Jesus Christ. In fact, an affiliation this icy could hardly be considered a relationship. Now, on that thermometer, where would you place your relationship with God? At the very top line? At the very bottom? If you are like most people, you probably will not put it in either of those places, but somewhere in between. Perhaps you may even choose a level close to the top, but most likely – if we are honest – not at either extreme.

Given that assessment, let’s now hear the words of Jesus in Revelation 3:15-16 (NIV), “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” Yikes! This does not sound good for people who are “in the middle somewhere.” Jesus sees exactly where we are, and He is disgusted at a lukewarm heart. The Lord is so disgusted; He informs us that He would vomit us out of His mouth. Though I would not want to be a part of any regurgitation process, I most certainly would not want the Lord of my life to be repulsed by my heart’s status. Sadly, I know there have been times in my life when I was on the receiving end of this horrifying rebuke.

My hope is found in four little words of verse sixteen, “I am about to.” The New International Version seems to render the Greek word most accurately. The original word means “to be on the point of doing something; to intend; to have in mind.” In other words, Jesus – because of our repugnant lukewarm status – is ready to vomit us out of His mouth, but He has not yet done so. This is tremendous! I deserve to be spit out, but Jesus is giving one window of opportunity with those four all-important words, “I am about to.” Let the words roll through your mind. Say them aloud, “He is about to.” He has not yet, but He certainly will unless we turn around. Thank God, we can!

Verse twenty of the same chapter informs us that Jesus is standing at the door of the lukewarm heart and knocking. He is taking the initiative; He believes we may just let Him in. If a man or woman opens the door, He will come in to have genuine, passionate relationship with that person. O blessed day, when Jesus comes in to make one who should be spit out into one who dines with the God of the universe!

Four life-changing words spoken by Jesus – “I am about to.” I love those words. A window of hope.

The Day the Earth Runs

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When a person is most sure of his conclusion, we may hear him say, “I’m as sure as the ground I’m standin’ on.” To which I might reply, “Really? Because the ground we are all standing on is not as secure as you might think!”

Despite its relative smallness when compared to the vastness of the known universe, earth is a pretty big deal to us. It is our planet. The terrain feels solid beneath our feet. The power of its natural laws keeps our activity within God-ordained boundaries. We have a well-deserved respect for earth, such a mysterious place. And though this orb may seem tiny compared to billions of galaxies, it is quite overwhelming to the countless humans residing here.

However, the earth will one day have to flee. Revelation 20:11 makes clear, “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.” Amazingly, this earth and the heavens surrounding are incredibly unstable when compared to their Maker. When God steps to the throne as Judge, not even this miraculous sphere will survive His magnificence. Earth and sky are suffering the same conundrum that sinners are; they are on the path of ruination because of sin. They must flee until the time of their remaking. All things must be perfected for the people God has saved.

To be sure, the Great Architect – God Almighty – will perfect the earth and heavens in keeping with His promise of a home of righteousness for His people (II Peter 3:12-13). The new Earth and New Heavens will function properly: no disasters, no obstacles to harvest or discoveries, no killer species, no deadly or damaging virus, and no decay.

The remaking will happen after the earth infused with sin has flown appropriately from its Holy Judge. God will deal with the old earth in His time. Therefore, I put no stock in this firm ground beneath my feet. As the old hymn rings out, “On Christ the Solid Rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand.” Or, shall we say, “Fleeing turf”?

Do not trust in anything but the Holy Judge who will ultimately destroy what is wrong and rebuild to make right. Earth seems dependable, but it will answer to God in the end. Put not your trust in what you see, but in the God who is unseen and infinitely greater than what He has made.

The question remains, how will I stand on that day when even the earth has to run? I will stand because – unlike earth and sky – I have already been remade! II Corinthians 5:17 boldly declares, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” The old earth flees, but I am already new in my heart!

Take heart. The Bible says, “If anyone is in Christ. . .” Choose to be found in Christ today. Then – and only then – will your footing be sure.

Self-Deception vs. Doing Right

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How easy it is to convince ourselves we are right. How often we try to persuade our hearts that we are the people we ought to be. If each human being were the one responsible for determining right and wrong for himself or herself, we would be in a mess most miserable.

I think of times when I have worked hard to tell myself that I was doing the right thing. What I really longed for was an excuse – a way to get out of doing the difficult work of righteousness and justice. And every single time I refuse to do right – whether justified in my own mind or not – someone somewhere gets hurt. The ripple effect of unrighteousness is occasionally obvious and at times hidden. It may be ten or twenty or one hundred people down the line from my injustice that finally feel the pain of that selfishness. One thing is for sure, when we do not live justly, pain will ensue. How do I know? I see it experientially in everyday living, and God has made it clear in His Word that His way of righteousness is how things were meant to be. Rebellion against the Creator’s way always brings heartbreak, for He is the Designer of how things ought to be.

Proverbs 21:2 makes clear that though we may convince ourselves we are right, God Almighty weighs our hearts. There is a transcendent God who sees us for who we really are. He is not swayed by our persuasive rhetoric and excessive pride. He knows what we are really about. His assessment comes from the outside – from the unbiased perspective of perfection – and He will assess rightly.

This transcendent God has said in Proverbs 21:3 that “to do righteousness and justice is desired by the Lord more than sacrifice.” Wow. The offering of sacrifice in the Old Testament was the heart of the “church” in that day. Is God implying that the action of doing right is more important than pretentious church activity? Remember the context is the deception of one’s own heart for selfish reasons. Yes, it is more important to actually do right as God has commanded than to try to feel right by performing outward “religious” actions that we think will compensate for our disobedience.

My friends, nothing will compensate for a heart that is bent to be unjust through its own self-deception except for one thing: the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The problem is that we have to actually quit trying to convince ourselves we are right long enough to admit we are a mess at the core, so that we can accept Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf.

Those who know the Lord Jesus Christ will do well to actually go about doing the hard stuff of righteousness and justice. We must quit playing the religious angle to excuse our refusal to hunker down and do right.

It can be difficult to live with integrity. We must tell the truth, not allow the innocent to suffer if we can help, intervene when it is within our sphere of influence to correct injustice, protect others though it cost us our strength, work with those who have been pummeled by life though we do not see reward just yet, expose wicked plans that they may be thwarted, stand up for the ones who have not a voice to be heard, and love even when it hurts.

We must do more than think about our own hearts. We must yield them to our transcendent God for His inspection. We should allow His Holy Spirit to “weigh our hearts” to prevent self-deception and its consequent unrighteousness.

For, to actually do the formidable work of righteousness and justice is desired by the Lord more than sacrifice.

“Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the hearts. To do righteousness and justice is desired by the LORD more than sacrifice.” – Proverbs 21:2-3