Sad days . . .

Yesterday was tough. It started well with communication from someone I’ve not talked with for many years. Then a family member called to say another is gravely ill. She had a rare medical ‘event’ that usually causes death. The caller asked for prayer. I’m praying but also waiting for that next call.

Besides that, a friend’s family is having severe problems. I prayed with her and am praying, but this is also a heaviness. Another issue is a problem with a person . . . except that this passage from Ephesians tells me the real source of the problem, and evil is not about people:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak. (Ephesians 6:10–20)

Spiritual warfare is not a popular sermon topic. It is not usually part of conversation in Bible studies and small fellowship groups. However, it has become very real in my life. The more I pray, the more the devil shows how much he does not want me to pray.

His schemes are many and often subtle. He distracts me with aches and pains, fatigue, busy-work, and emotional reactions to bad news, good news and all sorts of distresses. He might use other people too, but they are not the source. I’m not quick to pray when life gets heavy. I realize this is to be learned and makes me wonder if my faith has flaws. I’m not certain, yet it seems if I genuinely trust God then I would go to Him immediately when trouble comes. The same is true about instant praise when things are good.

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Jesus, I read these verses and found myself filled with joy because I believe them . . .

“Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:22–24)

 . . . and yet today I’m feeling tested on that belief. I need to put on my armor, take up those amazing weapons You gave me, and persevere in prayer even though I just want to go back to bed and pull the covers over my face.

Today’s thankful list . . .

No news is good news.

The sun is shining.

The peaches still taste wonderful.

I hooked up an Amazon Fire stick tonight and it works (to watch thequiltshow.com on my old TV)

My hubby is a great comforter.

You love me all the time.

Troubling times

Many people have told us that they no longer read a newspaper or watch the news on television. They are unaware of local and world events. While I use the news to pray, it overwhelms me at times as well. I’d like to hide in my own little world and merrily go about my life without the concerns of the headlines.

For instance, last night an email from a Christian in Kenya who feared he and others probably could be fleeing for their lives because of today’s elections. He wants to be wrong, but is preparing for the worst. Crime and senseless events happen closer to home. A woman kills her children because they were disobedient. Fires build and rage out of control just over the mountains to the west of us. Another stabbing occurs in our city. Even closer, a family member may have cancer and another is living in la-la land while her children are neglected. These bring pressing helplessness and my desire to hide becomes stronger.

If placed on the front page of any newspaper, many would consider today’s devotional verses as pie-in-the-sky. They are about the second-coming of Jesus Christ, certainly scoffed by those who do not believe in His first coming, but even many who profess to be Christians are skeptical. We have waited so long.

However, Jesus told His anxious disciples that He would return:

“In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:2–3)

After His resurrection, this promise was repeated, likely by two angels:

“And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’” (Acts 1:9–11)

Paul also wrote about it in even greater detail:

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18)

These verses stir and encourage me. Life was not peaceful in the first century for Christians. They were persecuted and mocked, chased from place to place, yet they pressed on to follow Him in great hope; He was coming back for them.

Peter told them to “remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.’” (2 Peter 3:2–4)

The scoffers are here, and they are wrong on both counts. All things are not as they were at the beginning of creation. Back then, the people had the promise of a coming Messiah who had not yet arrived. Now we look back at that arrival and those who rejoice in it now also have the promise of His second appearance. Should we be like those who denied the first and missed it to their peril? Or like those who believed and lived in great joy and hope?

The last book of the Bible has John writing to the seven churches that are in Asia. He says:

“Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” (Revelation 1:4–8)

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Jesus, today Your return is a sweeter expectation because I’m focused on the mess in this world. That should not be my primary motivation for being eager. Instead, it ought to be because I long to see Your face. . . and I do. Yet I am also weary of the evil, the injustice, the violence and long for the peace of eternity and the beauty of Your smile.

The real world

Ezekiel 1:1–3:15, Revelation 1:1–20, Job 32:1–10

The last two days brought emotional extremes. Tuesday I learned that my heart problem for the past several years has amazingly healed. My heart is functioning normally! With excitement we planned a celebration dinner and invited our son. A few hours before the dinner a neighbor came and told me that our next door neighbor had been hit by a car and was killed instantly. Tears flowed. Then we went to dinner. Our son told us of a tragic situation in the life of someone all of us care about. More tears flowed. Our meal was good, as was most of the conversation, yet all of this has narrowed my world.

Today’s Scripture readings are a timely look at visions from God to His prophets. They take my mind to what is actual and a much larger view than the images and memories of the past two days. The Old Testament vision was given to Ezekiel, also during tragic times:

“In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.” (Ezekiel 1:1) Since the Bible says no one can see God and live, these were visions like God, not actually God Himself. It was a view that put the prophet on his face: “Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking. And he said to me, ‘Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.’ And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.” (Ezekiel 1:28–2:2)

As I read, I could see parallels between what Ezekiel saw and the book of Revelation in the NT. Ezekiel fell on his face, as John the writer of Revelation also did. Ezekiel was given a scroll, as was John later in Revelation.

Both men were allowed to see what would happen in the future and their description of what they saw was mind-boggling and difficult to describe. Both of them used many metaphors in an attempt to write the vision, most of which was “lamentation and mourning and woe.”

John described his experience as a “revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place.” He said, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, ‘Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches . . . .” (Revelation 1:10–11)

Then he saw Jesus and said, “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last . . . .” (Revelation 1:17)

At this, my thoughts were lifted from my current emotional highs and lows to the throne of God. When Jesus comes, none of it will matter. He will wipe away all tears and make all things right.

In the meantime, I must deal with those highs and lows. As my son said, the joy of my medical news was offset by two tragedies, but “at least your heart can now handle it.” We smiled, but I think of another reality. In this life there are tough issues, but even in them, there is a sustaining sense of the joy that is to come. Those three things illustrate the amazing power of grace, as did the calm that remained even in those highs and lows.

And Job’s story fits in here too. He had heard the berating of his ‘friends’ and now a younger man stepped into it. Out of respect for the older men, he’d held his tongue, but he “burned with anger.” (Job 32:4–5) He said, “It is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand. It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right . . . Listen to me; let me also declare my opinion.” (Job 32:8–10)

Part of the tragedy of life is being mocked and misunderstood, of trusting God and being accused of wickedness, of being in pain and having that pain disregarded by ‘friends’ who are more concerned that your theology matched theirs. These are real pains also.

However, these prophets wrote truth about what others could not see. John and Ezekiel call me beyond the stuff of this life to something greater, something unknown yet I know it. They urge me to remember that time is running out. It will not be long until Jesus comes again.

God doesn’t want me to focus on my pain, or my joys, or even the rightness of my theology. He takes me beyond what other people think to His grand plan of redemption. I may not yet comprehend all of it, but I do know that God works all things together for my good that I might be transformed into the image of His Son. And one day, I will also see Jesus, not in a vision but in the fullness of His glory. That prospect levels the highs and lows into a stabilizing and yet exciting reality. No matter where my emotions are going, He is going to consummate His relationship with me in a glorious eternity.