Law

So I have always been mystified by King David who said, "I love you commandments, Oh Lord."

Because every time I look at those things I feel oppressed...and depressed

Because look at some of these babies:

Don't lie (guilty)

Don't want things that other people have and you don't (coveting) Damn those Jonses.

Don't murder (okay, the only one I haven't done)EXCEPT for that Jesus said if you hate anyone you have more or less killed them...okay, so I'm GUILTY again.

Honor your parents (I blew that one out of the water when I was in High School)

Love God more than anyone else (okay, if it weren't for loving myself so much, I might have this one pegged)

No idols (I guess I'll have to get rid of my shrine to Justin Bieber now)

Rest once a week (REST????  I have four kids, I can't rest)

Don't steal (I "borrowed" money from Oz the other day without asking...hmmmmmm.)

Don't swear by using God's name (sigh)

Don't commit adultery (sleep with someone who is not Oz)

So on this test I've got a 10 out or 10!!!!! (p.s. I've been faithful to my Oz...so let's not talk about this embarrassing subject any more).

Except this is the kind of test that's like golf, the lower your score the better!

So here is my score......FAIL.

So why would that crazy King David love God's law so much.  I think it's kind of a bummer.

Then I remember something in Romans 6

Here goes:  

²⁰ The law was brought in so that the trespass(bad stuff) might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, ²¹ so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So that's good?  God wants us to sin???

What the heck?

Well, we know God doesn't want us to sin, he wants us to know we can't help but sin.  Because if we know that, maybe we will look for another way to be good...we will fall at his feet and cry for mercy.

And He promises to give it to us...so I REALLY REALLY like this God guy.

Back to King David...I read something the other day that made me realize how David could love the law.

"Sin is not hurtful because it is forbidden, it is forbidden because it it hurtful"

A guy named Benjamin Franklin said that.

God does not want us to hurt.

And sin, though it is alluring and pleasurable for a little while, has the end result of biting one back doulbe for any pleasure it gave out.

Ow.

I don't want to hurt, so I think I do love the law.

But I love the grace of God even more, because I have broken the law so many times and will continue to do so until the day I die.

Go grace go!!!!

And thanks Jesus.

God, Can I have a Waffle?

Sometimes praying is like talking to someone on a cell phone when they are in a basement, or a building made of cinder block or in a dreaded dead zone.

You know, you talk and you can't hear the person on the other end.

So you don't know if they can hear you.

I had a conversation with Oz like that tonight.

I was at the local grocery store and he called me.  I could hear him loud and clear.

But the giant grocery store bunker type walls wouldn't let my voice out.

So I heard this:

"Will you get me some waffles?  Can you hear me?

Will you get me some waffles?

I can't hear you, so if you can hear me will you get me some waffles?

Okay, I hope you can hear me."

Of course I was on the other end of the phone hearing everything just fine.

Laughing and thinking, "I'll get your waffles." 

But this is how I feel sometimes when I pray.

Can you hear me God?  If you can hear me can you help me with______?

Okay, I know you can help me with _________, I'll talk with you later.

Okay, Amen.

But when I stop to think about it, I wonder if God heard my request.  'Cause there could be dead zones or God might be in a cinder block heavenly building or something.

And sometimes I wonder if He can hear me.

All the while God is probably laughing thinking; I can hear you just fine.

I hear your request and it's as easy for me to get it to you as it is for you to get waffles for Oz.

And that's true.

idols

Once upon a time I thought of an idol as being a carved primitive looking human like statue made of wood with raffia hair that strange people sat in a semi-prominent area of their home.  There were candles around it and maybe some flowers and pictures of stuff they needed or wanted.

No more.

Idols have become something far more real.

Far more scary.

Oz came home tonight and announced, "I have an idol."

What? I expected him to pull out a strange wood carving from behind his back, but instead he said, "My idol is my life...I like being alive too much."

Well I like being alive too.

My idol isn't life itself...my idols go like this:

Me, what I want to do, my kids and what I want for them, Oz and his life....and then....

Well, let's just say there are a lot of them.

But then I remember that and idol is something that takes the place of the real God.

The real God.

It's a fake, a forgery, a deception.

So to undermine the idols, we have to know the real thing.

Because who would want a fake when you could know the real thing?

Not me.

God is like TOM-TOM

Hello,

My computer cord was bent all to pieces.

Last week it decided it had had enough.

So I ordered a new cord.  

It took a while to get to my house.

But now I have it, and I can write again.

God is like TOM-TOM.

Do you have a GPS for your car?  I do not, and I do not want one, but I am sure at some point that I will have no choice.  

Oz has one.

I'm more the map type.  I regularly carry a map of the cities that surround me AND a map of the state I live in.  

I have also been known to carry around a map of the United States.

Because you never know when you might need that thing.

It is good to be able to have a big picture of where you are going, what obstacles may be in your way (ie, small towns with excessively slow speed limits) what cross roads are near where you are turning and what major intersection will mark the "I've gone too far and need to turn around" point.

Maps are great.  One can really get a full picture of where one has been and where one is going.

God is like that sometimes.

He's especially like that when it comes to the important things.

But lately God has been a TOM-TOM.

You probably know how the TOM-TOM is.  TOM-TOM has ALL the information in his little box like body.  TOM-TOM knows exactly where to turn, TOM-TOM gives directions as you need them, TOM-TOM can even tell you how fast you are going in the small towns with excessively slow speed limits.

BUT TOM-TOM NEVER GIVES YOU THE WHOLE PICTURE!!!!!

The TOM-TOM infuriates me sometimes, but I have learned that the TOM-TOM is rarely incorrect.

I have leaned that I can trust the TOM-TOM to give me highly accurate directions that get me where I need to go. 

God has been like TOM-TOM lately.

For the life of me, I cannot get the big picture of what he is trying to do in my life.

I only know that I can't seem to get any long range views of anything.

God has allowed me to see only one turn ahead (if that).

 He has never given me inaccurate directions or accidentally steered me over a cliff.

I am learning to trust Him even when the way seems uncertain to me.

God has all the information, the whole map inside his brainy mind.

It infuriates me that sometimes he won't just unfold the whole map for me to look at, but I know he is not going to guide me off course.

Crashing

Little break from Hebrews.

Sometimes life seems to come crashing in.  Mine seems to be not so much crashing as sliding.  But it's still not very fun.

I keep thinking of my dad and what he used to say when I was facing difficult situations.  He would have a smile that was suppressing a laugh and he'd say, "Nobody said it was going to be easy."  Then he'd put his arm around my shoulder and give me a squeeze.

It always made me feel better.

Jesus said the same thing...almost.  But I always imagine him looking at me with piercing eyes when he says it.

Here's his saying, "In this world you will have many troubles, but take heart, for I have overcome the world."

I want to overcome the world right now, but I think it's going to be a slow road.

But I read a story this morning...an e-mail really from a man who goes to our fellowship.   Recently he and his wife adopted a little girl from Haiti (who is something special).  Through the process he and his wife got to know people who work in Haiti.

One man (who was a friend of one of there friends) was recently shot after getting money from an ATM.  He was in Haiti helping to build houses.

A few days later he passed away.

His wife wrote this:

Feb 2, 2012 2:47 PM 
  
Just a few brief moments ago the love of my life went to be with someone who loves him more than me.  Today is the day I never hoped would come and these are the words I never hoped to type.   


I don't understand as I know you will not as well. Why?  With all of our prayers and praises God still chose to take David home.   What I do know is David will be our fourth biggest cheerleader  (after the Father, His Son, and the Holy Spirit).  Do not loose heart.  Prayer still changes things. 


I, Mack, Daniella and my family will need your strength in the days ahead.  We will need to hear your stories, see your pictures and we will need you to walk with us through to healing.   


The road is going to be very hard!  I can't even imagine how painful it will be.  But we are not alone!  We are NEVER alone.  Jesus promises to be with us always and is close to the broken hearted.  I know because I have already walked the widows road once before.  God healed me and brought me David.  A man after God's own heart. 


Please do not loose heart and take your pain to God.  He knows our pain better than anyone.  He knows our heartbreak better than anyone.  He knows our anger and our outrage and He can handle it.  Cry out to Him and please with all of your heart if you do not know Jesus.  If you have never made a decision to follow Him, consider it today.   


David "Big Dave" has loved each one of you.  Know that he has prayer for you.  Each smile and each hug he was giving in the name of Jesus. He wants us to know how much he loves us and how much God loves us.   


Never Ever stop praying.  Prayer changes things! 


With a grateful Heart, 

I am amazed at this woman's faith as she looks squarely into reality.  A reality that will be very difficult.

What strikes me most is her admonishion to never ever stop praying.

She is right...prayer changes things. 

Hebrew 3

I copied and pasted the chapter below in case you want to read it.

Lots of talk of not turning away from God.  Talk of those in the wilderness not getting to go into the promised land.  Jesus greater than Moses...it's big stuff that I think makes most people think: If I'm not good God doesn't want me around.

What does God want then?  The people spoken about in this chapter are the Hebrews that were led miraculously out of Egypt.  They had been slaves there for over 400 years.  God had a place to take them, he just asked that they trust him and he would get them where they needed to go.

Easy enough right?

He asks us not to harden our hearts too.  He says he wants us to trust him to get us where he wants us to be.

If you have read this blog before you know that God asks us to trust him to save us.  Easy enough.

But I was thinking that God wants us to trust him for more than a ticket to heaven.

'Cause this world is hard to navigate.  Very hard...and I've come to believe that if we don't get some good advice from God we are very likely to shipwreck everything.  

Let's face it, we don't have much of an option with death when it is all said and done.  If we don't trust God with that one we'd be pretty stupid.   

But this life... there is an illusion that we can control things.  That we can do things are way.  But the truth is that while we may be able to accomplish some things, we really have very little control over our circumstances.  We can't make people love us, we can't keep sickness at bay, we can't control the decisions our children make.  

Shoot, I can barely control my own emotions or thought life.

We have to entrust ourselves to the one who is trustworthy.  Who gave up his own child so that we could have a relationship with him.  Someone who would do that is worth trusting.

Hebrews 3

Jesus Greater Than Moses

 ¹ Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. ² He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. ³ Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. ⁴ For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. ⁵ “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,”^[a] bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. ⁶ But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.

Warning Against Unbelief

 ⁷ So, as the Holy Spirit says:

   “Today, if you hear his voice,
 ⁸ do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
   during the time of testing in the wilderness,
⁹ where your ancestors tested and tried me,
   though for forty years they saw what I did.
¹⁰ That is why I was angry with that generation;
   I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray,
   and they have not known my ways.’
¹¹ So I declared on oath in my anger,
   ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”^[b]

 ¹² See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. ¹³ But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. ¹⁴We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. ¹⁵ As has just been said:

   “Today, if you hear his voice,
   do not harden your hearts
   as you did in the rebellion.”^[c]

 ¹⁶ Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? ¹⁷ And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? ¹⁸ And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? ¹⁹ So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.

Hebrews 2:14-18

Hebrews has depth.  It lends itself to so many stories.

In Hebrews 2:17 the writer speaks about Jesus or God becoming just like us.

There is  a song I like very much.

It's about a man who didn't love God.

(Funny right?)

But his wife and children went to learn about God weekly.

Every Christmas the family pleaded with him to go to church with them.

"It's Christmas!" they would implore, "You have to come with us tonight."

But Dad preferred the solitude by the fire while his family was gone.  He chuckled about the virgin birth, God coming to earth.  What nonsense.....how could anybody believe that story.

So year after year the family went to Church without Dad.

Waaaaaaa!

Dad sits by the fireside and watches as a snowstorm rolls in.

He notices that there are two sparrows flying about aimlessly seeking cover from the storm.

They will die if they do not make it to shelter.

The Dad, moved with compassion puts on his coat and boots and walks outside in an attempt to help the two birds find shelter.

But he is too big, to frightening. The birds flutter here and there avoiding his guidance.

"If I could only fly a moment," he thinks "I know I could make them understand, just for a moment fly beside them, I know it would all be clear then."

He is suddenly hit with the reality of God coming to earth.

How else would a loving and compassionate God show himself without terrifying us.

He would send Jesus, a man, just like us.  He would experience life with it's great joys and deep sorrows.
He would know what it was like to be tempted to do wrong, to face injustice, to be used, to be betrayed, to give himself up as a ransom payment for all of us.

That's what Hebrews is explaining in verse 17 and 18.

God come to earth to show us the way home.

I'm so glad he did.