Anchored even in the ups and downs…

This day scrambled my thoughts. Family members arrive back from a holiday not knowing if recent storms and flash floods damaged their home. Last month fires threatened many areas. This time it is floods. Where I live, the weather changes so much that making outdoor plans is tentative at best.

As I read about the areas that were hit with extreme weather, another family member called to let us know her sister’s hubby had another stroke. Life changes in a moment.

In the larger world, a big nation attacks a small country again, this time the most severe effort in this ongoing battle. To the south, leadership decisions flip and flop and who knows what will happen next. 

But then there is God who managed to make my ‘verse for the day” be truly a verse for today:
“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed."  (Malachi 3:6)

Life is up/down, black/white, sane/crazy, normal/abnormal, but God remains the same. I did a word search in the NT for “same” and found these comforts…

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. . . . But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. (1 Corinthians 12:4-7; 24–25)

This God who is the same can take diversity in His people and composes everyone into a body that has the same goals and works in the same power. His Holy Spirit is our sameness, even as we are gifted differently and are not the same in other ways. Only God. 

His goal is that we become like Him, transformed into the same image as we gaze upon His glory:

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

Spending time with others who love Jesus, He encourages us when we share the same ideas and same goals. These are also from the One who never changes…

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. (Philippians 2:1–2)

Not only does our God remain the same, He encourages His people to be like Him in the way we related to one another. These truths are like an anchor, a shelter, a fortress even, in a world where change happens so rapidly that it makes me dizzy.

And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.” (Hebrews 1:10–12)

PRAY: In a day when I feel more scattered than usual, You give me a stable word for how I can think and act based on You, the One who is never scattered or fragmented by what You see in this messy place. You tell me: “Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked” (1 John 2:6) and for that, I am settled and calmed. Take my hand and keep me moving forward in knowing You are not like the world and You are definitely not the author of confusion but of peace  (1 Corinthians 14:33). Thank You for being my stability and peace.

Inner peace needed to produce outer peace . . .

England’s Field Marshall Lord Montgomery once said that he would read his own book, The History of Warfare, and try to discern how he could stop people from fighting. In all of history, peace is extremely rare.

However, the Bible speaks of peace in two ways. One is a lack of conflict between people, the lack of conflict that this Field Marshall spoke about. The other is peace with God, which results in a deep sense of inner peace. The first seldom happens because many people do not have the second one even though God makes it available. Lord Montgomery could not do it, but the Lord Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace. Everyone who believes in Him experiences God’s gift of inner peace.

Further, Jesus calls His people to pass it on, to introduce others so that peace happens in their hearts as well. He says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9) The NT echoes with “a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” (James 3:18)

MacArthur illustrates God’s inner peace with “the cushion of the sea” in which the ocean surface may be in great turmoil but the deeper you descend, the calmer the water. Ocean bottoms are virtually still and undisturbed. Christians testify to this cushion of peace in their souls regardless of their troubled surroundings. We belong to God who indwells us by the Holy Spirit. Trusting Christ in any situation brings peace when we are filled with His Spirit:  

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22–23)

Law or rule keeping cannot produce this peace. It is a wonderful God-thing, often experienced in tough times and for that reason I can rejoice even in sorrow:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4–7)

 God is the source of perfect peace and its purest example. “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” (1 Corinthians 14:33) One of His titles is Jehovah-shalom meaning ‘the Lord is peace’ from Judges 6:24. There is perfect harmony between Father, Son and Holy Spirit for God cannot be at odds with Himself. Not only that, He wants all people to know that kind of peace. He sent Jesus for that reason. When He was born, the angels proclaimed, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:14)

Yet those without Jesus do not know that cushion. This is why Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers” — He was not talking about treaties and peace accords but about those who bring to others the good news — God has made available great peace for those who put their trust in Christ Jesus, His death and resurrection and invite Him to reign in their hearts.

Jesus, this is one more amazing truth about You. You give that inner peace that is often beyond my comprehension. I know that obedience and peace go hand in hand for when I stray into sin, that peace steps aside and becomes a signal for me to examine my heart and confess and repent. I know that I need to experience peace with You and within my heart so I can share it with others. I also see a great need for this to happen. Sin robs the soul of this blessed cushion of peace, the calmness that sets Your people apart as sons and daughters of God. May I be a peacemaker, today and all my days. Keep me in the center of Your calm so I am able to do it.

INSIGHT: Read Isaiah 57:15–21 and note how God encourages and warns me in relation to peace.

 

 

Is God messy?

 

 

READ Numbers 1–4

We drank tea and had a brief discussion on messy house-keeping. I remarked that the more God worked in my life, I seemed more motivated to be organized and to deal with clutter. Part of that is making daily lists of what needs to be done based on the tasks God puts in front of me or on my heart. I feel as if the state of my home and my activity is a reflection of my spiritual life. When my house is messy, it is because my mind is messy. She hesitated, then told me her spouse keeps everything.

To clarify, I told her I was not certain that was a universal phenomena and didn’t want to imply that hoarding was evidence of a cluttered mind or some other problem. However, this morning’s readings showed me something about the will of God for His people.

Numbers is one of those OT books that most people don’t want to read. It is filled with much census-taking and lists of genealogies. Boring? A bit, but this time I noticed the orderliness of God. He may have had many reasons for what He asked His people to do, but all of it seemed to illustrate the truth of 1 Corinthians 14:33, “God is not a God of confusion but of peace . . . .”

God is not haphazard about anything nor could He be called messy. Numbers begins with a census that listed all “the people of Israel, by their fathers’ houses, from twenty years old and upward, every man able to go to war” (Numbers 1:45–46) without saying why. However, the Levites were not listed along with them. They were not to be involved in battle but were appointed “over the tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its furnishings, and over all that belongs to it. They are to carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall take care of it and shall camp around the tabernacle.” (Numbers 1:47–50) In other words, the people were divided into two groups according to their duties.

They were also divided into where they were encamped with three tribes on each side of the central place of worship. These directions were also specific and orderly. “The people of Israel shall camp each by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers’ houses. They shall camp facing the tent of meeting on every side.” (Numbers 2:1–2)

The priests and Levites also has specific instructions with various tribes within those larger groups given specific job descriptions to care for and guard the temple. This was important to the point that “if any outsider comes near, he shall be put to death.” (Numbers 3:5–10; 38)

There were rules regarding the redemption of the firstborn and money collected and given to Aaron and his sons. When the camp moved, each clan had specific duties with specific instructions even down to the colors of the cloths used to cover the items from the tabernacle that were being moved. The entire description shows how God is never haphazard and wants all things done “decently and in order” — which says much to me about how I’m to conduct my life. Yes, His instructions may often seem like surprises or interruptions, but only to my scattered mind. In His mind, all is orderly and with purpose.

The last few verses in this reading sums up: “All those who were listed of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the chiefs of Israel listed, by their clans and their fathers’ houses, from thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who could come to do the service of ministry and the service of bearing burdens in the tent of meeting, those listed were 8,580. According to the commandment of the Lord through Moses they were listed, each one with his task of serving or carrying. Thus they were listed by him, as the Lord commanded Moses.” (Numbers 4:46–49)

God is orderly. He calls me to be transformed into His image . . . and that must include being orderly, not messy and not having a house filled with stuff that I don’t need or use. Everything has a reason for being where it is and why I have it. That said, I am reasonable organized and tidy, but after reading this and doing a brief study on the problem of hoarders, some spaces in my home (and likely in my life) still need a good decluttering! While ‘cleanliness is next to godliness’ is not in the Bible, the idea of God being orderly rather than messy makes sense. The challenge is to get at it and keep at it!