Exceedingly Abundantly Broken

I listened to her quiet crying over the phone. My soul ached to make it better but, as usual, there was nothing I could do right now except listen.

I prayed as she talked, God what can I do? And the thing He showed me is this: I can’t make a happy ending for her. Shoot, she can’t make the happy ending.  This is not consoling. I am frustrated and tired of sadness and hopelessness. As I sat there holding the phone I thought: What is happening here? What are you saying, Lord? Where is the hope?

I saw my tattered-$6-basic-been-around-the-world Bible. I reached for that Light. 

God brought me to Nehemiah. An ancient Old Testament guy, who saw some miracles in his lifetime.

Listen, God said, I am speaking through this old old story:

Nehemiah loved God with all his heart. But he was far from home, his place of worship and his support group of friends who believed like him. He had only his faith in the LORD to keep him going. As a matter of fact, his homeland was destroyed and his temple was in ruins. When he discovered this news, he wept at the enormity of the devastation to his people, his beliefs. So he prayed and fasted to ease his grieving mind. I can just imagine that he pleaded with God to send warriors and skilled craftsmen to rebuild his city and temple. He could just see gifted architects and strong young men rebuilding the fortifying walls around his home again. After all Nehemiah wasn’t a laborer, he was a servant in the royal courts.

His job: cup bearer to the King.

Cup...Bearer?

Cup bearer: serves the King drinks. Sometimes must take the first swallow in order to prove it isn’t poisoned. Knows royal protocol and is basically a royal servant on the order of a butler… 

Not a builder. 

Not an architect. 

And certainly not a young buck who can haul stones for a wall.

But God had other plans. He wanted His city fortified. His people called to repentance and taught His Word once again. He wanted to restore them and show His glory to them and through them once again. He chose to make this happen using the most unlikely man in the most unlikely way.

And guess what happened? Nehemiah risked his life in asking the King for some time off to go rebuild this wall…

                             and he got it along with the King’s blessing.

He faced a lot of opposition while he was in Jerusalem, but that wall got built in an astonishing 52 days. (When was the last time you saw a construction project that got done ahead of time?)

Every time I read Nehemiah I hear God say:

Not everything in life turns out the way you expect it to. I am most glorified when the broken, ill equipped, and flawed people are put in situations where they cannot possibly make anything happen on their own. Be open to my way of working in your life. Trust me.

You and I would have never chosen Nehemiah to get this job done. But God did and He is still glorified for it today.

I don’t think you and I would have chosen a prostitute to protect the next leader of the Israelites either.

Or a runty little shepherd boy to be King of Israel.

Or a Beauty queen to save all the Jews from execution.

Or fishermen to be evangelists.

Or a Pharisee to teach about grace.

Or the son of a teenage mother to save the world.

So when life is looking impossibly hopeless and all the plans you have tried to fulfill to make things happen are shattered and destroyed, be encouraged. God is finally able to get to work in your life to make miracles happen. If you will only let Him.

He who created life out of dirt can make hope and happiness come out of the most broken, ill equipped, flawed, and faithful people on earth.

Ephesians 3:20-21

New King James Version (NKJV)

²⁰ Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, ²¹ to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

credits: 

The Wall that Nehemiah Built http://members.bib-arch.org/publication.asp?PubID=BSBA&Volume=35&Issue=2&ArticleID=7

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+3%3A20-21&version=NKJV

What's It Like Outside?

I hate snow
Spring is too cold...rainy...short
I like summer but this heat is killing me
We are all sick because the weather cant make up its mind if it will be hot or cold…

Well…
People have copious opinions about the weather. It amuses me to hear people make it a topic in everything from polite conversation to vehement verdicts. I mean it is just the weather.
As God said, “Did you make it?”

“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow…
Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
when the waters become hard as stone,
when the surface of the deep is frozen? Job 38: 22, 29-30

I am a bit perplexed when people hate something like this so emphatically. The way I look at it is like this: God made this world and everything in it. And it is good. So I look for the good in each day He gives me.

May I challenge you to do the same?

Look for the Creative Creator in a sparkling never repeated magical fall of snowflakes.
Soak in His luxurious love as you feel the tangible heat of a humid blaze of sun.
Lift your face to the breath of His Spirit as a spectrum of leaves dance around you.
Remember His eternal promises as beauty is born anew through a spring rain.
Experience His power as you fear coming storms.
Know His touch as grey catfooted fog slips in at the end of the day.

He who created us to learn in so many ways just wants to teach us through the novelty of each new day. Don’t take for granted the hand of the Creator. He has fashioned this day just for you.

The Web

I walked through autumn

the colors enchanted me

shining through a weakening sun

I was swept into the wood

Wandering through a rain of leaves

as I walked I spoke with my lord

exchanging pleasantries about the day

but soon a silken web wound about me

entangling delicately a sparkling silver  restraint

unable to go on I paused to be free

apprehended  as I was

I knew in my soul it was His desire to stop me so

apprehended by my lord

in gentle silken bands

of yearning and  mercy

caught in the tender trap of his love and call

apprehend me my lord

catch me away from myself and my intentions

capture me and hold me until the stillness is within my soul

and I am sure of the way to continue

hold me until I am subdued

at peace

Desire

The beauty of a winter afternoon

 is only found by a seeking mind

the soft sun backlights

the bones of the trees

like  moonlight

outlining her body

diaphanous and thin

revealed

cold wind

soaked in dampness

lifts your face yet

tries to close your eyes

it is too rare to put up for public display

the nakedness of this earth

the lovliness of grey

breaks my heart

until I cry

tear shaped ice glitters

in the gentle winter afternoon light

only a seeking mind

will find this beauty

beauty that is enough

Enough

Slender

Bright

Pretty

Charming

Outside everything was easy to identify

Pleasant words

Easily traced the outline

everyone could see

One dimension

flat and shiny

She thought it once mattered

But it was worthless at the end of the day

Digging through the flesh

Cutting open the superficial

There was bedrock of

Justice

Above everything

Black and white

Justice

But she didn’t know if it had any value after all

She wasn’t made of pretty

She wasn’t only smiles and perfection

She wanted to find mercy and grace

But like the curves of a medieval angel

There were none inside her thin heart

She thought fairness was enough

Wasn’t justice His heart?

Her soul had never been parted from His

She ached to be apart from Him

But the shiny package was empty inside

All she had to give was

A whip that drove her

To uphold fairness at all costs.

Distracting Noises

This morning I happened upon a verse I had not read before: Isaiah 30:33

"Topheth has long been prepared;  it has been made ready for the king. 

Its fire pit has been made deep and wide, with an abundance of fire and wood; 

the breath of the LORD, like a stream of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze."

Pretty strong language.

 I was curious. What is Topheth? 

What in the world happened there? Why does God’s Holy anger burn against it so? 

I did a little research. And I found out basically, it all goes back to sin.

Doesn't everything?

First, there was a god called Molech. Its origins are in all ways evil. It was a god who produced sun, or warmth - in theory of course. In practice Molech was only appeased by death. Primarily the death of children. First born, new born, babies. Or perhaps, if the need was there, some children up to age six or so.

Really? The death, by sacrifice, of babies?

Think about it.
Don’t let your brain go all Hollywood and visualize drums beating and crazy people carrying babies to a big fire then…
Cut! Crying mother and its over.
This was real. You can go to archaeological digs in the Middle East right now and see thousands of dead baby bones. Thousands of dead babies. One account says at one point the nobles- the upper class, affluent people- thought the god was angry with them because instead of giving their own babies they were buying babies from poor people and giving them as a substitute sacrifice. So their response was to repent and offer up 200 of their children all at once. But in their zeal more than 300 children were actually slaughtered.

The god was represented by a large hollow metal statue. Being the god of the sun’s warmth a fire was lit inside of the statue. Some accounts have the tiny babies being dumped inside the hollow burning part all at once. Some say the statue had outstretched hands ready to receive the little ones. Perhaps it was spring loaded and then fed the children into its own fiery belly. One account says that was probably too mechanically complex. The babies were just placed in the statues’ hands and left to slowly burn to death over several hours as the fires grew hotter and the heat transferred throughout the statues’ metal body.

Do you think that precious innocent one was screaming in terror and pain?
Crying out in the confusion of being abandoned and tortured?
If they were old enough, calling out, “mama, mama”...

Without a doubt they were crying.

So how do you keep a parent from being moved by this? 

Play the drums louder. 

Add some horns and flutes. Chant.
How do you keep anyone from being moved by this?

Mask over their cries with distracting noise.

The practice of Molech’s sacrifices has gone on for a very long time. Leviticus shows us God’s admonition to the Israelites way back in chapter 18 verse 21 
 "Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD." 
 Even though this edict is very plain, some leaders and people of Israel actually practiced this ritual. Where?

Topheth.

It was a place right outside of Jerusalem where the sacrifices were performed. The word means “altar” but it was not a place of beauty it soon just became a garbage dump. It was a place where death and discard reigned. There was a continual fire burning, probably to mask the smell. It was also called the Valley of Hennon. This place was so vile it eventually gave birth to the Greek word Gehenna which we know today as Hell.

The Scripture from Leviticus is pretty plain and straightforward, “Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD."  

Why shouldn’t you sacrifice your children?
Not because it is hurtful to the parents or will seriously deplete your population growth? 

No, because it profanes God’s name. It hurts the very core of who He is.  

We are all defined by our name. God chose to reveal Himself to us by His many descriptive names. He is our Redeemer, Provider, Healer, Shepherd and on and on. It is of great interest that God forbids sacrificing children because it compromises who He is. It profanes or negates His Holiness and goodness. What a connection. God must truly see these innocent ones as a reflection of His purity and power. He must value them as a piece of Himself; a precious reflection of the Creator of the Universe in a sweet small human form.  Don’t misunderstand, there were sacrifices of adults as well. But just as God has clearly explained to us what is right and wrong, so also the demons know evil and good. The worshipers of Molech were fully aware of the abomination, the blatant evil, involved in this practice and did it anyway because they knew, as well, the wondrous power of the holiness of God. If they were to effectively try to bring down the LORD they must fight fire with fire. Pure innocence compromised allows evil to reign.

Totally irrelevant to us today?

God’s Word is never irrelevant. It speaks to us throughout time.

I can hear the cries of the innocent babies echo from sacrificial fires burning strong and bright, right now, today. The children of the world are being sacrificed as easily as they were thousands of years ago. Every time I choose to indulge in a North American luxury and turn my face away from images of malnourished toddlers the drums beat louder. Every time I think the numbers are too great and I cannot possibly make a difference another worshiper pushes past me and tosses an innocent one into the flames.  Every time I ignore the cries of the children next door being beaten and silenced I pour fuel on the fires of evil triumphant. Each time I give in and say "some" abortions are needed...

Do not tell me that children are of value to you unless you can take a stand; do something besides cry and turn away. Do not raise your hands in praise beside me and offer worship to God as His name is profaned by your indifference and ignorance to the cries of the little ones.

I pray that one day we may truly see the Holiness of God and comprehend our unworthiness of His love. Then perhaps we can value what He holds most precious and guard it with our lives. Then perhaps we can understand how beautiful to Him our prayers for the protection of His children truly are. How valued are our few dollars when used to buy rice for hungry tummies. How life changing and life saving is our compassionate response to their needs. How tenderly loved by God we are when we simply hand a needy mother a blanket to hold her baby in instead of having it ripped from her to be tossed into the fire.

The weapons with which we fight this evil are simple: faith, hope and love. 

The greatest of these is Love.

References:

Bob Westbrook 9/11/99  http://www.trumpetsounds.com/topheth.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gehenna

http://www.preceptaustin.org/god's_name_-_a_strong_tower.htm

http://www.audioenglish.net/dictionary/profane.htm

The Bible and the End of the World: Should We Be Afraid? By Margaret Nutting Ralph

http://www.biblestudytools.com/leviticus/18-21-compare.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moloch

The Dalai Lama and The Christian

A man who has been assigned the title Dalai Lama will be in Williamsburg this week. I recently found out that some people, who are affiliated with a Christian Church, are going to hear him speak. They have paid for tickets and are eager to attend.

Hmmmmm…

This gave me pause. I know that this Dalai Lama is a part of the Buddhist belief and is a proponent of peace. But I didn’t know much more about him. I am simply not the person to make assumptions and jump on the next train to Judgementville, so I have been reading and studying. Thankfully I have spent the past 30 years studying the Word of God and His son Jesus so I don’t have to find out what I, as a Christian, believe. I can now see the contrast and I know pretty easily where I stand on this issue.

If you are still with me I would love to share some of my thoughts about this man and His ideology.

 First of all he makes it quite easy to see what he believes and how important they are to him. On his website he states his three main commitments. They are:

the promotion of human values,

the promotion of religious harmony,

and what he sees as his responsibility to act as the free spokesperson of the Tibetans in their struggle for justice.

Sounds good.

Except for a Christian.

The promotion of human values is loosely defined as all the good things that people are capable of… Sure we can all understand that being kind and forgiving is something we should all do, but why? The Buddhist teaching wraps this around a word called Karma.

In this world nothing happens to a person that he does not for some reason or other deserve. Usually, men of ordinary intellect cannot comprehend the actual reason or reasons. The definite invisible cause or causes of the visible effect is not necessarily confined to the present life, they may be traced to a proximate or remote past birth.

According to Buddhism, this inequality is due not only to heredity, environment, "nature and nurture", but also to Karma. In other words, it is the result of our own past actions and our own present doings. We ourselves are responsible for our own happiness and misery. We create our own Heaven. We create our own Hell. We are the architects of our own fate. http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/karma.htm

They got the misery part right. According to Scripture we are all born with a sin nature that creates misery wherever we go (Romans 5:12). But this sin isn’t an accumulation of sin from our past lives. Each person is a unique and precious creation of God (Psalm 139:13-14), therefore they cannot be held responsible for the sins of another person who has died.

For the Buddhist there is only ethical living and meditative appeals to exalted beings for the hope of perhaps achieving enlightenment and ultimate Nirvana. More than likely, one will have to go through a number of reincarnations to pay off his or her vast accumulation of karmic debt. http://www.gotquestions.org/buddhism.html

The simple truth is we can not achieve a sinless state without Redemption from a Holy God. The Lord explains simply in the Bible that we all are far from holiness (Romans 3:23) but we can be forgiven and restored to His plan for our lives if there is a Sacrifice. And Jesus did it all for us when He died, an innocent holy offering for our sin (John 3:16). 

As far as living in this enlightened state, that is what Christians do through the work of the Holy Spirit as we “grow in Christ” It isn’t difficult or unattainable to be a better person. But the key difference is that we are not doomed to pay for our sin through many sad hopeless lives. The kind things we do like feeding the hungry caring for orphans, treating the sick, we do out of love for Jesus not out of a need to break free of the sins of 20 reincarnations.

How about Number 2?

The promotion of religious harmony… Please understand that means making your religion (your personal belief) secondary to all other beliefs and not promoting your religion to anyone…ever…for any reason.

As Christians we believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to eternal life. If anyone rejects Jesus he is cut off from God and eternally damned. John 14:6

This is pretty important stuff.

A person accepting Jesus’ atoning sacrifice is life or death in the largest understanding of those words to a Christian. So, if I truly believe this then sharing my faith with others is like choosing to pull a person from a burning building or from the path of a bullet.

If I truly believe my Christian faith, I must make it preeminent and not be willing to compromise my faith for another.

When asked, the Dalai Lama himself said this:

I believe it is possible to progress along a spiritual path and reconcile Christianity with Buddhism. But once a certain degree of realization has been reached, a choice between the two paths will become necessary. 

http://hhdl.dharmakara.net/hhdlquotes2.html

Hmmm… Make a choice is basically what he said.

His last point is about the freedom of Tibet. I am not too well versed in any of the conflict with China or the oppression of the Tibetan people, but I’m sure it is there. I applaud anyone who stands for the oppressed and tries to make life better for them. But I have a tiny inkling that this man is using his beliefs and the obvious appeal of peace for all to draw attention to a small poor country that needs help. So, as a Christian I do agree that the Tibetan people should be aided. They do not need to be converted to my faith for me to offer them help. That is not what my Jesus taught. But I certainly hope that the Dalai Lama would not place restrictions on uncompromising Christians who wanted to help his people if he had the chance to do so. As of right now it is a country closed to Christian missions.

My conclusion is this: the Dalai Lama is a simple religious leader who believes he is a reincarnated holy man. He may have a worldly peace but he does not know and trust Jesus as his personal savior. He is doing good to stand for the people of Tibet, but I cannot ascribe to his teaching about man’s karma or the need for homogeneous religions.

And finally, if you are a Christian and you are following this man as a teacher you are 100% on the wrong track. His teachings directly conflict with the basic tenants of our Christian faith and I strongly urge you to spend time with a Godly mentor and deep study of the Bible to decide which faith you truly do believe.

Some links I recommend for more information:

http://www.gotquestions.org/buddhism.html

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/june11/18.70.html?start=1

http://utmost.org/the-nature-of-degeneration/

http://www.omf.org/omf/uk/asia/china/about_china/people_groups_of_china/tibetans

http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aiia/letter-buddhisminterview.html

http://www.gotquestions.org/buddhism.html

http://www.dalailama.com/biography/three-main-committmentsnm