life is not for the faint of heart: the need for courage

The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?

When evildoers assail me
to devour my flesh—
my adversaries and foes—
they shall stumble and fall.

Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war rise up against me,
yet I will be confident.

One thing I asked of the LORD;
this I seek:
to live in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the LORD,
and to inquire in his temple.

For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will set me high on a rock.

Now my head is lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the LORD.

Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud;
be gracious to me and answer me!
“Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!”
Your face, LORD, do I seek.
Do not hide your face from me.

Do not turn your servant away in anger,
you who have been my help.
Do not cast me off; do not forsake me,
O God of my salvation!
If my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will take me up.

Teach me your way, O LORD,
and lead me on a level path
because of my enemies.
Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries,
for false witnesses have risen against me,
and they are breathing out violence.

I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the LORD!

Psalm 27; NRSVue

Pressed all over the pages of Scripture, and evident in life is the basic need for courage. Life is not for the faint hearted.

The psalmist takes courage in God in the midst of dangers along with the difficulties, disappointments, and even disasters that life can bring. This is all good news. We can and must take courage in God in spite of things, not because of them. Our confidence should not be and ultimately is not in our circumstances. There’s not a one of us who likes difficulties. None of us sign up for that. On the other hand, simply to live as a human on this planet, in civilization as it is, in many places is to face severe challenge. Though people can live privileged lives beyond the imagination of most of us, so that they may be shielded from much of this, even they cannot escape death, nor unexpected trouble.

We have to move on, no matter what, look squarely on what is in our face, and in the midst of all of that, find our help in God. We do so as we can see from Psalm 27, as those entirely devoted to God, seeking God’s face. We do it in service of something much bigger than ourselves.

Therefore we’re to wait for God, be strong and take courage, “be stouthearted,” a nice rendering in the NABRE. Believing that we will indeed see God’s goodness in the land of the living, for the good of all.

God is with us *in the midst of trouble*

 

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult. Selah

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.
The nations are in an uproar; the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice; the earth melts.
The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

Come, behold the works of the LORD;
see what desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
“Be still, and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations;
I am exalted in the earth.”
The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

Psalm 46; NRSVue

Looking at “trouble” in the psalms from the NRSVue translation helps us see that it is mirrored there in all the complexity of life. Sometimes, maybe even oftentimes in our experience, God seems absent in the midst of trouble (Psalm 10:1). The psalms are faith filled in the real world, running through the gamut of human experience.

Jesus tells us that in this world we will have trouble, but that he has overcome and is victorious over the world (John 16:33). That is only in Jesus’s victory, not in the victory of Christendom or Christianity as we too often see it today, or any day. Once again, we turn to the pages of Scripture to find out what Christian is supposed to mean, beginning with the four gospel accounts. The trouble Jesus speaks of is actually more in line with persecution, or as the NET puts it, “trouble and suffering.” To really follow Jesus will never be to fall in line with empire or the dictates of the state, though we comply insofar as that does not violate our allegiance to Christ.

In trouble we often are in lament and lament is a most neglected yet powerful place and even source of faith for the faithful. There’s really no end to the help we can get from Scripture, but we have to be in it, together in community as well as in our individual daily lives. Psalm 46 pointing to God’s saving help in the midst of trouble.

 

ending the year on a personal note: accepting and embracing weakness

It is necessary to boast; nothing is to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows. And I know that such a person—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows— was caught up into paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat. On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. But if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I will be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think better of me than what is seen in me or heard from me, even considering the exceptional character of the revelations. Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ, for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:1-10; NRSVue

Have you ever been in a situation in which you prayed even if in stress and weakness but did what you could to be prepared for whatever, but it seems like when you get there, you’re all alone and certain weaknesses come through. I’m not talking about blatant wrongdoing or excusing sin. We would compare ourselves to those times when God’s grace and presence seems so evident, and we’re lifted up to live well beyond what we could, left alone. Compare that to the times when we’re bumbling along, all but lost, not sure what to say, maybe saying something we wished we hadn’t said out of anxiety, whatever might be the case.

I think we need to learn to accept and embrace that latter experience, as well. When it’s all said and done, when we look back, since we are committed to Christ we’ll sense or see that God was in it. And what if people see us as always on top of things, never struggling? What if after being with us they’re impressed with us? Is that helpful? They should come to be instructed and encouraged by the example of our faith. But we need to learn to live that faith in weakness, in the midst of our weaknesses. With the promise that Christ’s power will dwell in us.

creation calls

The heavens are telling the glory of God,
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night declares knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard;
yet their voice goes out through all the earth
and their words to the end of the world.

In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun,
which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy,
and like a strong man runs its course with joy.
Its rising is from the end of the heavens
and its circuit to the end of them,
and nothing is hid from its heat.

Psalm 19:1-6; NRSVue

I love the four season, though the older I get the shorter I would like winter to be. How about a long spring, a long fall/autumn, a semi-long summer and a short winter? I’d take that, though if winter didn’t exist at all, I would actually miss it. Something wonderful about the snow and the ice on the trees.

But wherever you go, in spite of what humanity has done in prioritizing the bottom line above all else, you’ll find life breaking through. I live in an urban, suburban setting. And there’s no end to having to keeping the green life in check even in our small lot. Volunteer trees in the wrong places, and trimming trees present, my main issues. But the wonder of life, of nature, yes of creation.

There is something about it which is soothing. In just another of the human catastrophes in Chernobyl, while it is no longer hospitable to humans, plant and animal life has happily taken over and seems to be thriving. If only we humans would actually steward the earth instead of trying to grasp its resources for our own supposed benefit. We’re called to take care of it, yes manage it in such a way that its life is free, which in reality is a beneficial not only to it, but also to us.

Somehow cultivating an appreciation for and practicing a nearness to nature, to creation, can help us cultivate an appreciation for and practice a nearness to God. As we learn to get lost in the wonder of creation, that can help us to begin to get lost in the wonder of God.

quiet, the “sheer silence”

Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He answered, “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts, for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.”

He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind, and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake, and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire, and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

1 Kings 19:9b-13a; NRSVue

If anyone knows me, they’ll soon come to know my love for classical music. Which means of course that I am listening to it at least much of the day when I’m able. And I’ve noticed in the prophets that harp and perhaps other music with that can help a prophet prophesy. So it’s not like God can’t be in music in some way or another.

It is interesting that in this narrative in which Elijah was fleeing from Jezebel after the great confrontation and victory over the Baal prophets and Elijah’s complaint that God tells him that God will appear on the mountain before God. So Elijah does so, and a fierce wind, tottering earthquake and fire appear, but God is in none of that. Then a sheer silence. Somehow then Elijah knows that God is present.

I remember one powerful time when we spent a good part of a day in a Dominican center and on the ground with others in complete silence. We even ate a meal together, but no one spoke. And afterward, we shared about that experience. For me, even though that’s been a good number of years ago, that remains something of a powerful experience in which God seemed to be unusually present. I don’t think I’ve engaged in such an exercise since, but surely it would be good.

Noise is hard to escape. Even though I have no music on now (unusual for me), I hear the morning humming sound of the suburbs. But it’s still relatively quiet. And we enjoy a place called Camp Friedenswald, the German name meaning “the peaceful woods.” The silence is noteworthy there, sometimes interrupted with the sounds of nature. But peaceful for sure.

I will soon turn on some music and am not used to silence. But I’m beginning to sense the need for more of that. Just the other day I turned off my music, albeit for a short while. I think I’ll be practicing that more. Not that God isn’t in the noise of children, the laughter of friends, the conversations between family, not at all. God can be very much present in all of that. But yes, in the sheer silence, maybe that’s the place where we find something of God we won’t find anywhere else.

in the midst of the mayhem

God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved

Psalm 46:5a; NRSVue

This is a bit of a headscratcher for me. If God is in the midst of God’s people, then why all the problems on earth. It seems like this is talking about averting violence and chaos and its aftereffects. But sadly, we see all too much evidence to the contrary on earth. Starving children and bullets and bombs anywhere, just for the beginning of it. There’s plenty of mayhem and chaos.

Psalm 46 is not referring to a peaceful earth, but quite the opposite. And that should encourage us in the present time who see places not used to such seemingly more and more on the edge, with flares of violence now, too many. But what about those places already engulfed in this world of hurt?

We can only hope in the God who is love, who created all things, and promises to be present in the midst of the trouble. Yes, the psalm is a promise to God’s people, but by extension I think it ultimately applies to all people in the promise of God to make all things right and whole and good through Jesus Christ. And where God’s people are who live in faith, this should become more fully experienced. But only as we together hold on to God’s promise in faith.

God will see to it; a better Day is coming. But we want to see more of that in the present too. Part of God’s promise to be experienced even now. As we wait for the good judgment and salvation to come.

when you feel forsaken by God

From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Matthew 27:45-46; NRSVue

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
and by night but find no rest.

Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
In you our ancestors trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
To you they cried and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

But I am a worm and not human,
scorned by others and despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
they sneer at me; they shake their heads;
“Commit your cause to the LORD; let him deliver—
let him rescue the one in whom he delights!”

Yet it was you who took me from the womb;
you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.
On you I was cast from my birth,
and since my mother bore me you have been my God.
Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near,
and there is no one to help.

Many bulls encircle me;
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.

I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
my mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.

For dogs are all around me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they bound my hands and feet.
I can count all my bones.
They stare and gloat over me;
they divide my clothes among themselves,
and for my clothing they cast lots.

But you, O LORD, do not be far away!
O my help, come quickly to my aid!
Deliver my soul from the sword,
my life from the power of the dog!
Save me from the mouth of the lion!

From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me.
I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him;
stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
For he did not despise or abhor
the affliction of the afflicted;
he did not hide his face from me
but heard when I cried to him.

From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will pay before those who fear him.
The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the LORD.
May your hearts live forever!

All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before him.
For dominion belongs to the LORD,
and he rules over the nations.

To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
and I shall live for him.
Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord
and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn,
saying that he has done it.

Psalm 22; NRSVue

Psalm 22 is considered a messianic psalm, and rightfully so, as we see in the gospel account of Mark, and Matthew quoted above, the very same words echoed by Jesus on the cross. Just a cursory reading of Psalm 22 seem to point to Christ’s sufferings in a more graphic way than read in the gospel accounts in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (see also Psalm 69; Psalm 34:20).

The words are written not only with reference to Christ, but for us as well. Yes, for us in understanding better the sufferings of Christ, but also to help us in our own suffering. And just as God never forsook Christ on the cross, so God never forsakes us, even when we feel like God is absent or not helping.

For he did not despise or abhor
the affliction of the afflicted;
he did not hide his face from me
but heard when I cried to him.

Psalm 22:24; NRSVue

But that doesn’t minimize the pain and even trauma of our experience when we do feel forsaken by God and sometimes even by others, feeling all alone. And yet God is very present in spite of our anguish and doubts. Of course we are encouraged here to pray, to cry out to God.

Reading all of Psalm 22 helps us see it all in context. We need to view our trials and difficulties with perspective. The picture is far far bigger than our little corner of the world. And the most important thing to say and remember in all of this is that God is truly and completely with us. And all will by and by be well.

will God be with us?

“Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,
which means ‘God is with us.’”

Matthew 1:23; NRSVue

Taken from Isaiah 7:14, this is a fixture of sorts in churches at Christmas. And the difference made spoken of here is obvious. It’s not having the right doctrine or interpretation of Scripture. It’s not about being right at all in any way, shape or form. After all, what are we precisely right on? But the difference comes in God being with us. In the incarnation becoming one of us as a full human. And now present with us by the Spirit in Christ’s body, the church.

That is the real hope for the world, something of the heart of the good news of God in Jesus. That God will be with us. Rooted in the Christian Old Testament, the Hebrew scriptures. Just as Moses exclaimed, if God wasn’t going to be with him and Israel, nothing else would matter (Exodus 33:15-16). Whatever we face in this world, whatever is pressing in on us, not only the realization but the reality of God being with us is all we need to face it well and walk through it in love, grace and truth. God will help us, after all God is with us. In and through Christ.

what can I do?

Now the angel of the LORD came and sat under the oak at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, you mighty warrior.” Gideon answered him, “But sir, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has cast us off and given us into the hand of Midian.” Then the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; I hereby commission you.” He responded, “But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” The LORD said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike down the Midianites, every one of them.”

Judges 6:11-16; NRSVue

The longer I’m on my faith journey, the less I like to focus on individuals and individual faith. But it’s a part of life, an important part of it actually, and while the church in Christ is preeminent for our spiritual journey at this time, it’s not like each one of us is not on a spiritual journey, because we most certainly are.

Just like every story in Scripture, there’s something we can gain, or at least we should make the effort to do so. And it’s not hard to see a few things in the Gideon story. One of the questions I ask myself from time to time is just what I can do. I can see enough from the whole of Scripture and from life that there is indeed plenty I can do. Just learning to pray and continuing in prayer, to grow in that is by itself exponential in importance. Good works will come with real prayer; God will make sure of that.

In the passage above, Gideon is humble, understands his limitations, probably doesn’t appreciate well enough the gift that he has so that God’s call makes little or no sense to him at all. And as we see from the rest of the narrative, he struggles somewhat in his faith, or at least I would consider that to be the case given his seeming propensity to demand signs or proof that it is really God who is speaking to him. I can imagine that had I been living in that time, and it were me, I would have been the same way.

God commissions Gideon, but the key seems to me to be the point God makes that God will be with Gideon. This is something for each of us to take home. We are the called in Christ, yes together primarily, but also out from that into our individual lives, to do the good works God has for us, and to see God’s loving rule in Christ present in all of that.

It’s good to read Judges 6-9, the entire Gideon story, and consider. It may have had a good beginning, but not such a good ending. Nor was it necessarily all good throughout. That is a heads up for us. It’s important that we remain steady, which means continued growth in Christ, and for us, in Christ’s body.

Hopefully good things to remember as we consider yet another fascinating story in Scripture.

Jesus an activist who taught and practiced soul-care

In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.

Mark 1:35

The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves.

Mark 6:30-32

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
my whole life long.

Psalm 23

Jesus was an activist in kingdom of God work. Of course it was work which involved everything: inside out, but in a deft way, certainly not at all in the way and ways of the world. However we parse that, there’s something else absolutely necessary for us to keep in mind. Jesus did not run on empty, but kept himself full in the presence and fellowship of God. And he taught his disciples to do the same. Of course any good apprentice or follower of a rabbi as in those days, will want to do what the rabbi tells them to do, and will want to imitate their life.

What about us today? Some of us are activists in one way or another for God’s kingdom in Christ, for the good news of that kingdom in him and what that might mean today. And all of that’s a tall order. It isn’t easy, particularly when there’s so much resistance, often entrenched, unyielding, and even from religious folks just like in Jesus’s time.

We must take care. “Self-care” or maybe a better way of putting it so that we avoid some of the baggage of that term, “soul-care” hopefully having less if any baggage. Just to rest, yes physically, but for us in Jesus much more. To rest in God’s presence, to just be still and come to know in that way, yes, that God is God, that certainly neither we nor anyone else is, that while what we do is important, we are not left on our own, that God wants to help us. And most important for us as followers of Christ, we want to be caught up into God’s kingdom work no less. But that can wait for now. We need times, intervals of just sheer rest in God.