"All" means ALL!

"The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth."

(Psalm 145:18)

Everyone knows the frustration of trying to get in touch with someone and hitting dead-ends, instead.  "Nobody sees the Wizard!  Not no one.  Not no how!" Or what about those annoying automated phone services - no matter what button you press, you still can't seem to get a real live person on the line!  Or how about trying to schedule an appointment with someone of importance ("I'm sorry, her schedule is all booked up right now.  Maybe later.")?

As I was reading Psalm 145 today, I was reminded that's NOT how God works.  Here is the Creator of the Universe... the Lord God Almighty... the Savior of the World... and Psalm 145 tells us that He's "near to all who call on him."  Not "all believers" or "all who haven't sinned" or "all whose heart is right."  No.  ALL.  Period.

What a gift that is... to know God always has time for us.  He's ready to be involved in our lives.  If only we'll CALL ON HIM.  Why wouldn't we?!?

Proper Perspective

[From 11/15/10]

"Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, 'You must not do that!  I am a fellow servant with you and your comrades who hold the testimony of Jesus.  Worship God!'"

(Revelation 19:10)

Athletes.
Musicians.
Movie Stars.
Television Celebrities.
Those are the big 4 professions that seem to bring the most adulation & adoration by others.  All over the world, these groups of people are worshipped.  Literally.  (We seem to love our entertainment, don't we?)  There are other professions we 'greatly admire' and bestow honor upon... but they usually don't bring the same adoration.

Far from being a rant on those 4 groups of people, I'm writing this morning about something a little closer to home - my own profession (ministers!).  There are a few religious leaders who seem to have garnered "rock star status."  From within the church, some have grown to superstar fame.  I still remember a few years back hearing Pastor Francis Chan admit, "If Jesus had a church (in the same town I have a church), more people would probably come to my church.  AND THAT'S NOT A GOOD THING!"  Francis recently left his church as the senior pastor.  There was no sex scandal.  No financial impropriety.  No misuse of power.  He just felt it was time to step down as senior pastor... not knowing exactly where God was leading him in the future.

We pastors are in an interesting situation.  We get to know people - often quite deeply.  We intercede and stand before God for a community.  We're up front each week during worship.  There's a human tendency to both be exulted and crave that adulation.  But today's passage from Revelation 19 is clear.  Only God should be "worshipped."  Period.  No matter how flattering it is for us, as pastors we must always be redirecting people to God.  That's the proper perspective.

Crucial intel ignored

[From 11/9/10]

"Now Johanan, son of Kareh, and all the leaders of the forces in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah and said to him, 'Are you at all aware that Baalis king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, to take your life?' But Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, would not believe them."

(Jeremiah 40:13-14)

If the Exodus out of Egypt is the most significant event in the Hebrews' lives during the Old Testament period, then the 2nd most significant event would have to be the Babylonian Exile.  Jerusalem was captured and most of the inhabitants were carried away to live in captivity in Babylon.  A small remnant of poor were left in the city.  The king of Babylon set Gedaliah up as the governor of the area.  Gedaliah was a Hebrew.  That should have ensured peace & security... but it didn't last.

There were some key people who fled or managed to escape the wrath of the Babylonian army.  One such leader, Johanan, gathered intel that an assassination plot was underweigh against Gedaliah.  But when he presented that insight to the acting governor, it was ignored (actually scoffed at... see v.16!).  That proved to be a fateful decision, as Ishmael indeed led a successful assassination plot (41:2)... and carried out more murder & terror in the aftermath (41:4-10).

All this could have been avoided, had Gedaliah heeded the intel from Johanan (note: Johanan actually wanted permission to strike down Ishmael before he had the chance to kill the governor - but was prevented).  Which got me thinking... why didn't Gedaliah trust Johanan's word?  Granted, he wasn't "officially" on the gov's staff... but he was a recognized leader of the people.  Did Gedaliah simply want to believe the best about people ("Ishmael would never do such a thing!")?  Did he trust his own security personnel more than the perceived threat?  Or was he just foolish?  I don't know the answer to that... but it has caused me to think about the insight & wisdom given to me by others.  How will I respond to that info?  (Hopefully better than Gedaliah did!)

Sick hearts

[From Wednesday, 11/3/10]

"How sick is your heart, says the LORD God, that you did all these things..."

(Ezekiel 16:30)

Ezekiel 16 is a very interesting allegory. God is comparing the people of Israel to a young woman.  He chronicles her development from birth (thrown into the fields without pity or compassion, v.5)... to puberty (womanhood, v.7)... to "the age of love" (v.8).  That's when God came, wooed her, cleaned her up and made covenant with her (v.8-14).  Her beauty & fame spread!


"But you trusted in your beauty," says God (v.15) and it all went downhill from there.  Using the metaphor of adultery, God outlines how His people "lusted after" others and gave themselves away to those who were not God, forgetting all that the LORD had done for them.  Eventually God exclaims, "How sick is your heart that you did all these things..."

For some reason, this morning I was struck by that phrase: "How sick is your heart."  When I read it, I didn't hear condemnation, reproach or shame.  Instead, I hear sorrow.  Deep, deep sorrow.  God is lamenting over the sickness that has engulfed his beloved "bride."  It's just not rational for Israel to have behaved that way - knowing all she had going for her because of God's amazing love.  But oftentimes sin is not rational.

So you know where I'm going with this, right?  We're also God's "bride" - God's beloved ones.  We're the people God has sought out, wooed, cleaned up, made a commitment to, adorned with honor, and surrounded with love.  It's an amazing gift to be in a relationship with the Almighty!  But we screw it up (no pun intended) when we put other things, people, & pleasures before God.  We lose our focus.  Our hearts get sick.

Why?  Why do we, as human beings do this over and over and over?  Don't we realize what we have in God's love?  Why aren't we content with God's provisions in our life?

In the end, God's love & grace remains steadfast.  We may have to face the repercussions of our sinful behavior.  But God will not abandon us completely: 

"Yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth... I will (re)establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the LORD... when I forgive you for all that you've done." (v.60, 62-63)

 Amen to that!

The B-52's!

"If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  

(1 John 1:9)

It's a fairly common occurrence in Hawaii.  Walk into a garage late one night, turn on the lights, and see a couple of B-52 Cockroaches scurry away (Yes, we have more than our share of cockroaches in the islands - BIG ONES, too!).  And though we run into them from time to time in the daylight hours, they're especially prevalent at night!  Turn on a light suddenly, and you're bound to see some!

In 1 John, chapter one, the author reminds us that God is Light.  And God's LIGHT shines in the darkness.  It also reveals our sin.  Everyone sins - it's just our human nature.  But we don't have to remain int hat sin.  If we confess our sins to God, He is faithful and just and will forgive and cleanse us.  That's a promise.  There is no sin so great that it cannot be forgiven.

Nobody's perfect, that's for sure.  We all have some cockroaches in our garage.  If we're honest enough to admit it, God is faithful enough to forgive.  That's grace.  That's love.  That's LIFE!  Amen.

Imagine!

"Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander."

(1 Peter 2:1)

Starbucks recently started selling john Lennon's new album.  Well, it's more like a "best of," since Mr. Lennon hasn't been with us for a while now.  Anyway, I was looking through the song list today and saw the track IMAGINE.  It's a song, of course, about people living in peace & harmony together.  "You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.  I hope someday you will join me, and the world will live as one."

That easily could be the soundtrack for what I was reading today from 1 Peter 2:1.  This single verse, if lived out, would go a LONG way towards this world "living as one."  Listen to these simple (yet evidently surprisingly difficult to actually live out) words: "Rid yourselves of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander."  Wouldn't it be refreshing if we ALL lived this way?  Especially now that we're in a political campaign season, we could use a lot less malice, guile, insincerity, envy, and slander!!!

But the true power of Scripture is not the passages I find for others to hear... it's the passages I find for me!  So how do I need to rid myself of these things?  May I endeavor today to be kind, gracious, sincere, content, and honest.  (Maybe even beyond today, too!)  Imagine!

(cue Bridal March music!)

"For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your builder marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall God rejoice over you." 

(Isaiah 62:5)

Tomorrow, friends of ours are getting married.  Nancy was part of the youth group at my very first church, some 15+ years ago.  She and Kyle have been together for quite a while now, so it's a joy to be able to celebrate with them on this deeper commitment to their relationship.  I know that Nancy's excited, simply based on her Facebook posts this week!  I can also remember back over 20 years ago when I was a groom-to-be, and the excitement I had.  What a feeling!

The prophet Isaiah uses wedding imagery to talk about our relationship wtih God.  But he puts an interesting twist on it.  Instead of simply saying we are bound together with God, like a marriage covenant... Isaiah speaks about God REJOICING over us, like a bridegroom over his bride.  How cool is it to know that GOD GETS EXCITED & FILED WITH JOY when He thinks of us!?!? We tend to picture God as distant, waiting only for us to come to Him... but not according to Isaiah 62:5!

How might it change may day to day to know that God is REJOICING over my relationship with Him?  (It's actually kind of exciting, isn't it?)