The Bible: A Living Word for All Time

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The Bible is a living document, which is one of the beauties of it.  I may read a passage one day and receive no inspiration from it and a year down the road in different circumstances that very same passage may be exactly what I need to hear.  That is one of the reasons it is so important to make a discipline and habit out of being in the scriptures daily.  You never know when what you are reading is exactly what you need to hear.  Some days it may seem like just an exercise or routine and the very next day it is what breathes life into the depths of your dying and thirsty soul. 

            I am reminded of this very thing this morning as I read Psalm 14 and Proverbs 14.  I’ve read them twice now and nothing jumps out at me to share with you today.  The very words of those chapters may be exactly what someone else needs to hear today. 

            The one thing that resonates throughout the psalms is God’s care for the oppressed.  Psalm 14 is no different.  The psalmist talks about people who devour other people.  It is assumed that the psalmist is talking about the poor.  “Highlighting the plight of the poor and alleviating their suffering were primary aspects of (John) Wesley’s understanding of Christian mission.”[1] The psalmist points out that regardless of what the evildoers and unbelievers do in regards to the poor that God will always be a refuge to the oppressed.  How are we as a church modeling God’s love to the oppressed?  How are we providing refuge to those who are exploited?  Pray today that God may open our eyes and hearts to know what next steps we can take to be a refuge and strength to the oppressed in our community. 

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[1] Green, Joel, ed, The Wesley Study Bible, Common English Bible (Nashville, Abingdon Press, 2012), pg. 693

Spare the Rod Spoil the Child....A Different Perspective

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Over the 21 years that I worked in child welfare I cannot tell you the number of times Proverbs 12:24 was quoted to me as a defense for injuries being left on a child as the result of a spanking.  You know the one:  “Spare the Rod, spoil the child.”  Many people believe this verse condones and even instructs corporal punishment.  I will not use this space as a discourse on whether or not one should use corporal punishment.  What I will do is offer a different understanding of this often quoted proverb. 

            To understand this proverb you must understand a bit about a shepherds practice in herding sheep.  The shepherd’s tool for his trade is the rod and staff.  We recall the Psalmist of Psalm 23 writing “thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”  I don’t know about you but I would never describe the experience of being spanked one of comfort.  The shepherd’s rod and staff are comforting though.  You see, the shepherd used that rod and staff, not to beat or whip the sheep into obedience, but to guide and direct the sheep.  As sheep were being led down a path, the rod was used to guide them along the path and to keep them from straying off the path.  If a lamb were getting off the path the shepherd would hold out the rod to the lamb’s side to guide him back onto the path.  The hook of the staff was used it pull a lamb who was falling over a cliff or embankment back up onto the path and rescue it from certain doom. 

            What if we viewed parenting as a shepherding process.  The shepherd never needed to beat the sheep.  The sheep trusted the shepherd and knew the shepherds voice.  The shepherd fed the sheep, watered the sheep, made sure the sheep got rest, and protected the sheep from the wolves lurking and preying upon them.  The shepherd used the rod and the staff to guide and protect the sheep. In what ways can we guide and protect our children and keep them on the path that leads to life and not danger or doom?  The word discipline means to disciple.  How do we disciple our children? 

            Next time you see a child that is unruly and you’re tempted to quote spare the rod, spoil the child, I hope you will remember this alternative understanding of what that means.  I hope you will take the opportunity to model relationship building to that parent.  I hope you will pray for that parent and that child.  

Psalm 12-God of the Oppressed

                A question was posed to a discussion group I am a part of this week.  What group is the most oppressed group?  As I pondered that I thought about Native Americans, African Americans, immigrants, the poor of this country, and the poor of other countries.  I couldn’t come up with who I thought was the most oppressed.  I thought of the experiences of some of my friends who have traveled to third world countries.  These were certainly places of extreme poverty and oppression yet the people there were filled with a joy and a love for God like none I have ever seen.  As I pondered this a quote that I heard years ago kept coming back to me.  “It doesn’t matter the size of the pile of poo you step in, it is still poo.”

            As I read the responses that flowed in I was made aware of even more groups.  African girls who are forced to undergo genital mutilation became the top of my list in the area of cruel oppression. Korean comfort women are right there with them.  Last night I read an article about white privilege that was written by a white person who grew up in extreme poverty.  The person was once offended by any suggestion that she experienced white privilege until she read an article that listed some of the privileges all white people are afforded and realized that the poorest of white persons still experience white privilege. 

            It’s easy to close our eyes and shut out the oppression that still exists in this world.  As Christians we must realize, as the psalmist of Psalm 12 realized, that God is the God of the oppressed.  God promises to “provide the help they are gasping for.”  As followers of Jesus Christ we must be the hands and feet of God in providing this help.  Who are the oppressed around you, in your community?  That is a great place to start.  What can you do to combat oppression in your community?  Pray the prayer of the psalmist and seek God’s guidance in helping the oppressed around you.  

Seeking the Good-Proverbs 11

Many years ago as I worked in child welfare I went through two week training in family preservation that changed the way I look at people and work with people.  This mode of training followed a strength based model.  One of the illustrations that always stuck with me was the image of Tom Hanks in Apollo 13.  There is a scene in the movie where Apollo is about to go down.  Hanks is talking to the command center and was given the direction to tell the command post what is working.  He was not asked what was not working.  He was asked what is working.  They then took what was working and used it to solve the problem.  The point is that everyone has strengths.  Everyone has stuff that is working.  It is much more productive to spend our time looking for those strengths then it is to focus on the weaknesses and the negative aspects.

Proverbs11 contains much wisdom about honesty and integrity.  It also contains wisdom about dealing with people and life.  Verse 27 says “Those who look for good find favor, but those who seek evil-it will come to them.” Sometimes it is very tempting to focus on all the negative in our lives.  Doing that doesn’t feel good.  It weighs us down.  It sends us into depression.  It gives us a sense of hopelessness.  I believe this proverb is saying you will find what you’re looking for.  If you are focusing on the negatives and the evils of your life and this world, you will find it.  At the same time if you look for the good you will find that too.  Finding the good brings joy, it brings favor.  Spend time today looking for the good in yourself, in those you come in contact with, in your community, and in the world.  Find what’s working and build on it. 

Psalm 10-Where is God? God is in community

            This weekend the news was flooded with bad news.  A young 18 year old traveling basketball player was killed in a single car accident in Asheville, leaving her family and team mates wondering why?  A 23 y/o young man was murdered in a shooting outside of an Asheville restaurant.  I read of a wealthy millionaire father who had sexually abused his step-daughter repeatedly getting off with a very light sentence because his wealth contributed to society.  ISIS continues to pervade our world with violence.  Syria and Pakistan continue to fight each other.  Much like the Psalmist of Psalm10 we ask “Why do you stand so far away, Lord, hiding yourself in troubling times?”  It seems in this world where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer that God is far off at times.  There is much injustice in the world today, just like the injustices the psalmist names here.  Like the psalmist we must take our questions, our fears and our heartache to God and work through them.  When we do so we, like the psalmist will come to this conclusion: 

“Lord, you listen to the desires of those who suffer, You steady their hearts:  you listen closely to them, to establish justice for the orphan and the oppressed, so that people of the land will never again be terrified.” 

            God is present. God, in the form of the Holy Spirit, surrounds us every day.  We must call on the name of the Lord for eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to listen and recognize. One way to do this is to make ourselves a part of a community of faith.  Reuben Job has this to say about living in community: 

Jesus makes a dramatic and revolutionary promise when he says, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them” (Matt. 18:20) this is a welcome promise to those who may wonder if God is present in their lives or their affairs.  This is a hopeful promise for those who sometimes feel alone and forsaken.  This is an enormous assurance for those who face the unknown and need companionship and community.[1]

Don’t try to do this life on your own or in the bubble of your immediate family.  Find or rejoin a faith community that you can do this life with.  It’s the way Jesus prescribed life to be. 

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[1] Job, Reuben  “God Lives in Community” in Shawchuck, Norman and Job, Reuben,  A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God (Nashville, Upper Room Books, 2006) 328

Psalm 9-God of the Oppressed-God of safety and rest

The Psalmist of Psalm 9 gives thanks to God.  I try to start every morning off giving thanks to God.  I thank God for the creation that surrounds me.  I thank God for my family.  I thank God for the ways that God showed up in my day to day activities the previous day.  I thank God for answered prayers.  Sometimes it's easy to forget the prayers you prayed when the answers come.  I found myself in that situation this week.  I had noticed some pretty major changes in the way someone was acting.  Positive changes.  I started wondering what was going on, what was happening.  Then in my prayers one morning I remembered my prayers for this friend.  It's so easy to go to God when trouble is in front of us and then to completely forget God when those prayers and yearnings of the heart are answered.  It's also easy to attribute things to God that aren't God's at all.  I am ashamed to admit that there was a time when illness struck a person I saw as my enemy and I commented that it must have been divine intervention.  I was joking at the time but the people who heard me make this statement did not think it funny at all.  I recieved a phone call from a friend that night, someone who I had been sharing with about the love of God.  She told me real quickly her distaste for what I had said and that if that was the kind of God I served and that was the way that God's followers thought, she didn't want to be any part of it.  I hung my head and cried.  The psalmist here, again, wants God to be one that crushes enemies.  The Psalmist wants to attribute the destruction of nations to God.  But, he comes to the same conclusion as in a previous psalm.  The enemy destroys itself.  Evil leads to destruction.  There are destructive consequences to destructive behavior.  The good news of the Psalm is this:  "But the Lord rules forever!  He assumes the throne for the sake of justice.  He will establish justice in the world rightly; he will judge all people fairly.  The Lord is a safe place for the oppressed-a safe place in difficult times.  Those who know your name trust you because you have not abandoned any who seek you, Lord."  (9:7-10)  When the enemy seems to be closing in on you.  Go to the Lord.  There you will find rest!

How Majestic is Your Name!

Last week was my transition week.  I took a break from the busyness that had commanded my attention for the past three years and I rested and reset my heart and mind for what is next.  There is no better place for me to do this than from the balcony of my cousin's condo at Clearwater beach, Florida.  I am surrounded there by reminders of God's presence and majesty.  God's the greatest artist in all the world! Growing up I used to love to sit outside on the front porch and just take in the sounds of creation.  I could hear the creek running in the back, here the birds sing and look at the Mountains that enclosed me and protected me.  I love driving the parkway to soak in even more of God's creation.  It's hard for me to imagine anyone taking in these views and not understanding there is a God, a majestic God!

The Psalmist in Psalm 8 recognized this as well.  I can imagine the Psalmist sitting on the balcony of my cousin's condo, soaking in this view and writing this Psalm.  Today, as you pray thank God for all of creation.  Thank God for God's control over creation.  

Psalm 7

How many times do we wish ill on those who hurt us, those who betray us, those who seek to destroy us?  It is not an uncommon feeling to desire that God's justice be that of destruction of our enemies.  In fact the Psalmist desires just that in Psalm 7   He says in verses 11-13  "God is a righteous judge, a God who is angry at evil every single day.  If someone doesn't change their ways, God will sharen his sword, will bend his bow, will string an arrow.  God has deadly weapons in store for those who won't change he gets his flaming arrows ready!"  What an image.  I can see it in my minds eye now.  The Big man in the sky, loading up his bow with flaming arrows ready to shoot at those who do wrong.  It's an image that we may all be familiar with.   It's not the image of God I now hold.  I now understand that God battles violence and hatred with love.  He battled evil through becoming human and walking among us.  He battled evil through sacrificing his very own life.  He battled evil through the conquering of death in the resurrection.  He battled evil in the sending of the Holy Spirit.  He continues to battle evil today through the power of the Holy Spirit, through the power of love.  The psalmist comes to recognize that it is not God who destroys his enemies.  No, eventually those who do evil destroy themselves.  Verses 15 and 16 say "They make a pit, dig it all out; and then fall right into the hole that they've made! The trouble they cause will come back on their own heads; the violence they commit will come down on their own skulls."  The Psalmist recognizes that God doesn't have to punish us when we stray away.  We handle that all on our own.  The Psalmist concludes that for him he will "thank the Lord for his righteousness; sing praises to the name of the Lord Most High."   May we all come to that conclusion today.  Let's cry out for justice.  Let's live a life of Love and lets give thanks to the Lord.

Psalm 6-A prayer from one who has suffered long.

Psalm 6 is a prayer of one who is suffering illness.  Notice that the Psalmist does not try to paint a pretty picture with his prayer.  He is honest in his cries out to God.  He feels that God is punishing him.  He cries out "How long will this last?"  He is "worn out from groaning."  How comforting it is to know through the examples of the Psalms that we can cry out to God in very real ways. 

The Wesley Study Bible has this to say about comfort in illness. 

Illness may seem like a betrayal, serious illness can seem like abandonment.  Being diagnosed with a serious illness is frightening and disorienting.  The future becomes uncertain; and your hopes and dreams are dashed while tears and grief aboutnd.  At the heart of seeking comfort in the midst of illness is the practice of prayer.  In prayer, we are able to share with God our laments and pains, our feelings of betrayal and abandonment.  In faith, we know that God has heard those prayers and we know that God is working for our healing and for comfort. (The Wesley Study Bible, pg. 687)

How great it is to know that those who have gone before us have given us such an example of prayer.  In these examples we know that we do not have to have fancy or right words.  God only desires that we approach with our true hearts, nothing hidden!  Thanks be to God!