Month: August 2011

The Greek language gives us a clue.  Our English word for problem is formed from two Greek words.  Pro means “forward”.  Balein means “to throw”.  Problems are those things that “throw us forward”, force us to learn, require us to change.   Daniel 3 is the perfect illustration.  In one sense, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were victims of tragedy.  (Taken captive in their teenage years, nation defeated, temple destroyed)  In another sense they were “more than conquerors” because they did not dissolve into self pity and unbelief.  In the midst of tragedy, they found the Lord and became “vessels for honor” (2 Timothy 2:21) in bold and unbending witness to Nebuchanezzar.  What an inspiring truth!  My problems are not excuses.  They are, in fact, useful to the Lord in causing my growth and leading others to faith.  “The flame shall not hurt thee, I only design thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.”  May the Lord make us like these young men.

“We are NOT going to serve you gods or worship the golden image you have set up.”  (Daniel 3:18)  I will seem intolerant to some.  It will actually be the road home.  Truly repentant people have a spiritual stubborness that they have learned from God.  Those who have been through AA (successfully) are no longer tolerant toward alcohol.  They allow no margins.  They are intolerant and unbending so far as their own involvement is concerned.  Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego are no longer tolerant toward sin.  “Make NO provision for the flesh” (Romans 13:14)  NONE!  They have SEEN the results of disobedience–the destruction of Jerusalem.   They have become spiritually stubborn–at least about the things that are clearly taught by God’s word.  Will this appear intolerant to some?  Yes.  Is it a sign of true spiritual life?  Yes.  Dear God, make us as unreasonable as your Son.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

You will probably think about this if you ever have cancer.  I know I did.  God is “able to save”.  (Daniel 3: 17)  I knew that one word from God would send cancer rushing miraculously away.  He is able!  Is He willing?  A very different question.  Shadrach, Meshach and Adednego seem confident of the first and unconvinced about the second.  Not unbelieving, just uncertain.  “Even if He doesn’t (save us)”, they tell the King, “we will not worship the golden image”. (Daniel 3: 18) A miracle is not always God’s answer.  “Some were tortured, stoned and put to death” says the writer of Hebrews of some very faithful people. (Hebrews 11:35-37) To presume that God always wills to intervene in the natural course of disease or difficulty is to end up disappointed and confused.  God may or may not save us from death(physical).   Whether He does or not has nothing to do with HIS ability, OUR faith, or HIS faithfulness.  We trust Him!

“Be not conformed to this world”  (Romans 12:2)  It is a pressure we all feel–the pressure to conform.  Even though God creates diversity (and seems to love it!),  the world fears it and exerts pressure (read crowd control) for people to ” get in step”.  Daniel 3 is a familiar story.  While it does not argue against submission to appropriate authority ( that would be anarchy), it does teach respectful but stubborn noncomformity to any king, parent, government, council, or pastor who requires us to act against the clear dictates of scripture and conscience.  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were “stepping to the beat of a different drummer”  long before Thoreau was even born!  How free are you from the expectations of those around you where worship is concerned?  How true are you being to your own conscience and the teaching of God’s word?  Do you sometime “go along” so as to not to rock the boat?  More as the week progresses.  I am grateful to be your Pastor.  Don

“All my friends are waiting for me to slip. . .But the Lord is with me like a mighty warrior.”  (Jeremiah 20: 11)  Sounds like Jeremiah needed some new friends.  So many disappointments.  His story is helpful to those of us who have unanswered questions.  If God is involved in our world, why not MORE involved?  Why does He allow bad things to happen, bad people to prosper?  Like Jeremiah, we never get a full answer.  What we get, instead, is the assurance that God will be with us.  (cf Jeremiah 1:8)  People will abandon but He won’t.  He will strengthen us in suffering but not exempt us from it.  Is this enough?  Ultimately, yes.  There is no other path.   I am looking forward to seeing you in a few hours.  When we gather for worship, we remind the world of a the savior who was willing to die and left a cross that we must also carry.  He promises to be “with us” as we do.  I love you.  Don

“Give praise to the Lord”  (Jeremiah 20:13)  “Cursed be the day I was born”  (Jeremiah 20:14)  I don’t know whether you have highs and lows in your spiritual experience.  Jeremiah did.  I know a pastor who also does.  From one day to the next, the contrast can be rather dramatic.  The key is to process both in honest prayer.  How thankful we should be that God is neither offended by our anger nor embarrased by our praise.  He, “requires truth in the inward parts”  (Psalm 51)  All sides of our emotional lives are welcome before this eternally wise and calm God.  Today, as you pray, will you ask yourself, “am I being totally honest with God?”   “Are the things I am saying  what I really feel/want/believe, or what I hope to feel/want/believe?”  Tomorrow when we gather for worship, may emotions of every kind be lifted up to Him.  Praise.  Protest.  It just has to be honest.

“When I am right give me courage.  When I am wrong give me humility.”  It can be the most discouraging discovery of all.  Opposition often comes from people in the church.  Jeremiah’s critics were not “non-believers” (not in their minds at least).  They were priests and prophets and people of his city who were deeply concerned about Jerusalem.  (Jeremiah 26:8)  They were also WRONG about what needed to be said and done.  Jesus experienced the same.  The majority is not always right.  Conflict is not always wrong.  Loving God more sometimes means loving people less, and bearing the burden of criticism and anger that inevitably comes.   Perhaps this is why God teaches us to pray when we are alone with Him.  He is preparing us for the times when we, like Jeremiah, will have to stand with Him as our only source of strength.  God help us.  It seems to be part of the path.

“Perhaps they will listen and everyone will turn from his evil way, that I may repent of the calamity which I am planning to do to them”  (Jeremiah 26:3)  This is the great power of the human race, the great hope for every nation, church and family.  If we turn, God will also.  Perhaps you have been concerned with a sense of the gathering storm of God’s disapproval and discipline on our nation.  Perhaps you know that things are not right in your family or heart.  Change!  Turn!  Amend your ways!  (Jeremiah 26: 13)  Rely on God!  Move from self-sufficiency to dependence and trust!  Count on His forgiveness!  Most people never discover the liberating power of this truth.  “If any may be in Christ, he is (will be) a new creation.”   Say to yourself this morning, “I am NOT STUCK.  I can change.  God will help me”  When we change, God, in his relationship toward us, changes too!

“For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength so that we despaired even of life.”  (2 Cor. 1:8)  It is a necessary reminder for us who are followers of Christ.  Even faithful people have very low moments.  Our text this week (Jeremiah 20) is painful to read.  Jeremiah is a believer so disappointed and lonely that he is accusing God of tricking him into ministry without disclosing how painful it would be.  ( These are true feelings, not true facts if you read Chapter 1)  Anyway,  Hebrews 5:8 says “he learned obedience through the things he suffered.”  For many of us this is the moment of failure.  We stop following when it becomes painful.  We never “get through” our low times, our dark nights.  More on this tomorrow.  I am praying for you and with you.  Don

“Those who sow in tears will reap with joyful shouting”  (Psalm 126:3)  We are reading Jeremiah this week.  He is known as the weeping prophet.  Without any argument, he had a hard life.  It is strange to consider, then, that one of the verses we know best from this man is an expression of unbounded hope.  “I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare, not calamity; to give you a future and a hope”  (Jeremiah 29:11)    What a positive vision!  Perhaps Jeremiah knew what we sometimes forget.  Before joy can come tears have to be shed.  Before the harvest, hard work.  Before victory, sacrifice.  As we pray together, today, will you be sensitive to the points of the Lord’s prayer that are most difficult for you to sincerely say?  Difficulty is often the door toward God.  Avoiding hard things usually means that we never get past them.  I am praying with you this morning!  Don