In the Shadow of God's Wings

 

Psalm 91:4 He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.

Bulwark is not a word we commonly use but it means, "a solid defensive wall used for protection.  It commonly refers to a person or thing that acts as a strong and protective shield against danger or threats."  God's faithfulness is that wall and a protection against the danger we may experience.  The lies Satan wants us to believe about who God is can fall flat and hold no power when we believe the faithfulness of God.  God's faithfulness can shield us from the fiery darts of Satan as we seek refuge under the wings of God.

Wings of any fowl are used to fly and to protect their young.  Wings signify protection and security, not only for the bird itself, but also for their young.  As a mother hen spreads open her wings for the chicks to come under and find protection from the heat and storm, so God invites us to find refuge under His wings.  Even in the shadow of God's wings we can find protection and refuge.  Psalm 17:8 says, "Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me in the shadow of  Your wings."

In Numbers 15:38, God told the men of Israel, through Moses, to make tassels and wear them on the corners of their garments.

In Malachi 4:2, we have a promise about Jesus that tells us, "But for you who fear My name the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings,".

That phrase for many years did not have much impact to its significance until I learned that the word for corners and wings is the same word in Hebrew.  As the men of Israel were to put the tassels on the corners of their garment to remind them of the commandments of the Lord, so the Son of Man would have healing in the wings of His garments as we see how the woman who bled for twelve years experienced.  As she reached out and very likely touched one of the tassels on Jesus' garments, she received physical healing.

She came near to Jesus.

This thrills me and excites me with a truth that is so inviting and powerful.  To find shelter under the wings of Jesus is to be near Him.  It is to sit at His feet.  To be in the shadow of someone or something you must be near. To be in the shelter of God's wings we need to be close.  We need to be near Him.

In the shadow of God's wings we can find refuge, strength, protection, and shelter from the storms of life.  This does not mean we won't experience any pain, but it does mean we have God's strength, shelter, protection, and nearness while the storm rages and beats.

Stay. Sit.

Staying with Jesus is to sit with Him and to find His presence of strength giving power in our weaknesses.  We can experience Isaiah 40:31, to rise on eagle's wings.

Sit in the shadow of Jesus' wings.  Rest close to Him, learning more of who He is in each moment.  Our moments of joy and sorrow have something to tell us about God.  Our tears and laughter bring Him delight as we draw near.  He cares about each, our both/and that we hold within our hearts.

Today, there is healing in His wings as we find refuge, staying and sitting with Him.

The Rule That Is Not Governed By Condition

The golden rule has long been used as we teach young children how to treat each other.  The golden rule in my mind for long into my adulthood, held the nuance that the other person sbould treat me as they would like to be treated.  If we all treated each other that way, then, wouldn't the world be a nicer place to live in?

Far into my adulthood, I realized that that wasn't the nuance at all to this command of Jesus.  He wasn't saying it for the other person and the way I was treated.  No, He was saying it as part of His kingdom way to love each other when it's the hardest to do so. 

It is a command for each of us personally on how we treat others.  Simply that.   There are no hinges, no nuances, no conditions - simply that I am to treat others, to love as a value as I would want to be treated, loved, and valued.

God's unconditional love has no conditions and is given because He is love.  He embodies love.

So.  What happens when we are ill treated?  What about that slander that was said? How do I want to be treated when I mess up and make a mistake?

Luke 6:27-38 gives a lot of input to that. (Take a moment and read those verses.)

I don't believe Jesus is telling us to overlook abuse of any kind. But if we start with prayer I believe it will change our hearts and add in compassion. 

Also, looking at the life of Jesus and what He modeled for us in the way of relating to those who hurt and slandered Him, gives us a framework in relating with each other.  He loves without conditions. Yes, there are consequences but love, treating someone with value, is still present. 

That I believe we are to embody - unconditional love.  It is part of God's continuing saving grace and healing touch on our lives. 

Living the kingdom ways can only be done as Jesus fills our own hearts, rooting and grounding us with His love and as we allow God's grace to impact us. We will give what we have and are filled with. 

This does not hold a 1-2-3 way of doing and relating, but more of a heart posture. As we pray and stay with Jesus, He will guide us and give wisdom as we need it as we interactwith each other in this world of people broken by sin. 

Lean in to Jesus. Stay under His wings and know that His everlasting arms are underneath you. 

Morning's Glory and Hope

Morning.

Another day.  A clean slate.  Another chance.  A fresh start.

His mercies are new every morning.  Lamentations 3:23

Verses 21-25 of Lamentations are some of my favourites, for the promise and the hope and life of the words spoken breathe courage into my soul to step into a new day.  It makes another beginning in life doable.

The saying that says, "Take life one day at at time, one step at a time"; fits right into this promise of God's mercies being new every morning. That's all we have is today and all we need to do is prioritize the moments that clamor for our attention to sort out what is important to do now.  It's amazing how many urgent things can wait for another day and it all works out.

Yesterday's choices and decisions don't have to continue today.

This day.  This morning we can make this moment count and each step of a right choice leads to more steps of right choices.

I love the hope and grace of morning.  It's a moment that reminds me that I'm not locked into the defining moments that were and happened yesterday.  

Sunset. Sunrise.

Sometimes all you need to do is go to bed and sleep and wake up to the morning with refreshed energy and perspective to step into the next steps of the day.  Sometimes the rest of sleep brings the perspective we need that comes with the morning.

The two verses, 19-20, that precede the hope and promise of verses 21-23 bring a perspective that we all can connect with, affliction, wanderings, bitterness.  

Mistakes, hard things that blindside us or are on-going and we need to find a way through to live in joy.  Rejections and misunderstandings, illnesses and death creep in and redefine the shape of our lives that challenge us in ways we didn't ask for.

Morning.

The glory of the morning hour.

The glory of the morning hour is the hushed and stirring moments before the buzz of all the activity as the day begins.

I'm not a jump-out-of-bed morning person but I do love the moments when I do get up to witness the glory of the morning as the darkness recedes in the presence of light.  The sun's rays stream through the trees as I look toward the east where the sun is rising and bringing with it - light. 

It's the moments of hush and still that stills our hearts to hear the whisper of God and His new morning mercies.  It's the glory of this morning that can still the wild beating of our hearts that may hold fear of the unknown, of the task before us, of the treatment from another human being.  We still our hearts as we reach for the truth of Jesus and repeat His words over and over.  The rhythm of God's truth beats a steadying beat that we can anchor whatever we hold within and what may be staring us in the face today.

Sunset. Sunrise.  

Sunset. Sunrise. The hope of the morning's glory.

Still Giving Life

 

This week holds many thoughts as I reflect, contemplate, and dwell on the actions of this week of Jesus' life.  

After three years of interacting with people, of telling them the ways of His kingdom and who He is and where He comes from; He experiences - the hosannas and waving of palm branches, still missing the purpose of His coming and kingdom.  He hears the words spoken, "I never knew the Man."  He wrestles in the garden with the weight of His purpose.  He was greeted with a kiss from a friend that was betraying loyalty.  He felt the whip of the lashes coming down upon His back.  He heard the mocking cries of His Kingship, of who He is.  The crown of thorns pierces His head, thorns that were part of the curse of our sin, He now wears and is pierced with on the tender place of His head.

Jesus, the One who is the Way to Life.  Jesus, the One who is Truth and told us the truths of His way, is now being ridiculed, whipped, and pierced.

Rejection.

Rejection pierces deep.  Jesus, the Man on the middle cross, hangs there bearing the weight of being mocked and rejected for showing the Way back to Himself.  He dies, being the Way for us.

What is gripping my heart is in the midst of all this, He speaks life and heals for the very ones rejecting Him.  When Peter cut the high priest's servant's ear, Jesus rebuked Peter and reached out and touched the spot where the ear was no longer there and healed it.  Jesus, as the High Priest, touched and healed the one who was a servant to the high priest and coming to arrest Him.  

Healing to the one who came to hurt Him.

Jesus, with pain and compassion, greeted Judas, the one who betrayed Him with an endearment - a kiss to the soldiers coming for Him.

No retaliation - still offering life.

Jesus, on the cross, spoke of forgiveness.  "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do".  Jesus gave His life all the while continuing to give life to those around Him.

As I let this settle into my heart, I am left with the stark reality of my own responses when I am hurt, rejected when I offer myself, and when I experience heartaches.  I am too much like Peter - defending, whirling my defense mechanism.  I sense the tenderness of Jesus saying, "No, stay with Me.  I love you.  I offer life and healing."

I bow my head, confessing, and cry out to Jesus, "Help me.  It's only through You and because of You that I can live out the ways You taught us."  I pause and realize, that if Jesus who is the Way to truth and life does not defend or demand allegiance and to be understood, why should I, a human, demand that I be understood?

When we stay with the Way, we find our way.  We find our way to truth and life.  God's word is truth and is a sword.  We take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God and 'fight'.  Ephesians 6:17

As I write, today is Good Friday, the day Jesus stretched out His arms, open and wide and gave His life so you and I can have life eternal.  Inviting, open.  

The two men who also hung with Jesus offered ridicule, but one repents, choosing Jesus and receives life eternal.

The invitation is still being offered - the invitation to receive the gift of life that Jesus offered and continues to offer.  But we must want it.  We must accept the invitation.  We must let go and see God in the midst of our broken stories.

That life is not only for us personally but as Jesus lived it, He modeled for us the way.  And yes, giving life, even in the midst of pain, betrayal, and mockery.  

Our pain does not need to end with itself.  With Jesus, there is hope and life.

Jesus accepted the weight of His cup as He surrendered to His Father.  As we surrender to Jesus and know of His love, we too, can find the strength to walk the path before us.  We can, because Jesus promises us that He not only gives us life but He is with us in this life.

The weight of the cup and the path Jesus walked became the way to the resurrection and life over death.  The weight of pain and death we experience can also become the way to life and resurrection when we choose Jesus and stay with Him.

Becoming - A Path, A Journey, Not a Destination

 

I like destinations.  I like to hear the words "you arrived."  I reached the goal.  I succeeded and got there safely. Check the box.

I find that it is the way I have tried to live my life.  

I want to correct this bad habit, successfully.  Check.

I follow this commandment of God and the way He calls us to live.  Check.

I return good for the pain I felt.  Check.

I pray.  Check.

I arrived.  I succeeded.  With all that being said and while the many more goals we have are good goals and not wrong; when they become the end, we miss what living for Jesus and doing life His way, is all about.  When the goal becomes the end, we will likely miss who Jesus is for us along the way.

Because what happens when I miss the mark?  What do I do when I don't follow a command the way I should?  Is that a failure?

If I live with this framework then what I do or don't do is the gauge.  It becomes the framework that dictates my success or failure at living the way of Jesus.

This creates a problem because then my salvation and even the continuing to follow Jesus becomes about me and my good works or not.   The focus is on what I do and not what Jesus has done and the gift He offers you and I.  This is not the saving grace of Jesus.  This is not true sanctification.

The word 'become'  means to change, grow to be.  To become indicates an ongoing process.

The familiar quote of 'Life is a journey and not a destination'; connected with me in a defining way one day.  Life is learning and growing and not so much reaching a destination here on earth.  We are striving for our final destination - heaven.  But until we reach that point, life is a journey.  Each day is an opportunity to learn and grow in the knowledge and ways of Jesus.

When I miss the mark and mess up, it is an opportunity to confess and learn from that experience.  It's not a moment that defines me or marks me in ways that cannot be redeemed. Each day starts with - a morning - and with each new morning we have God's grace, His new morning mercies that include power, truth, and strength for the day and wisdom and forgiveness for the mistakes of yesterday.

Sanctification, becoming, learning, changing and being aware of the parts of ourselves that need adjustment, that need the saving grace and healing touch of Jesus is not a once and done deal.  2 Corinthians 3:18 tells us, "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

"Are being" catches my attention.  The verb tense is an ongoing process, a continuing of something.  

 

I want to arrive.  I want to learn the lesson once and for all times.  In some ways this is an admirable goal.  But in many ways, it's binding.  

For many years I struggled with feeling like a failure because it was like 3 steps forward and then back two and shame and defeat hounded my heels and chirped its rhythm of negativity.

In the middle of all that, I am learning the truth that sanctifying me, the saving of my soul by Jesus is not a destination but a journey.  It's not something that is successfully learned - as in accomplished and an end in itself.  Nor is it learned and applied for all times in ways that we never miss the mark and always get it right.  

It is learning and continuing to learn and grow.  It is as the threads of a screw that go around; continuing and layered in learning how to apply the words of Jesus in my everyday living.  The wounds I have experienced and the ways that has impacted me, has levels of understanding them and healing their impact, in and on my heart and mind.

Becoming is a journey that is so freeing because I don't need to learn it once and for all times which means when the pain in my heart is touched and I react and have a trauma response, I can listen to what it is saying to me.  I can let it lead me to Jesus for more understanding and let Him touch me with His healing touch.  There is always room and space for more learning, understanding, and healing; which equals, growth.

Becoming doesn't indicate shame, but growth.

Becoming allows space for more healing instead of staying stuck in what happened.

Becoming is the wings of freedom and the wind that pushes us closer to Jesus.

Becoming is a journey and one that won't end until I take my last breath and am forever in the presence of the One who saves me today, again.

Learning From the Rabbi, Our Master

 

Following Jesus was never about perfection. It wasn't getting it right that made someone a follower.  It was wanting to learn.

A rabbi's follower was someone who stayed with the person showing up day after day to learn from him. 

The twelve disciples weren't chosen for their perfection, they were simply chosen and given the choice to follow Jesus. 

The invitation given was to follow Him.  The days that followed was the learning to know who Jesus is.

"Did you not know I must be in my Father's house?", were the words Jesus said to His searching parents.

To the disciples  - "Do you know who I am?"

To Mary, when she told Jesus if you had been here my brother would not have died, Jesus said, "I am the Resurrection". 

Jesus again and again, over and over was telling and showing people who He was. He even got frustrated at times with the seemingly just-not-getting it from those who followed Him.  Mark 9:19 tells us Jesus response to the disciples when they could not cast out a demon in a child.  He said, "How long shall I put up with you?"  If it was about getting it right and perfection as a bar that is set, then the disciples missed the mark.

He showed who He was in the multiplying of the loaves and fishes.  He revealed who He was to the disciples in the fourth watch of the night as they battled and struggled in the fierce storm.  When Peter walked on the water, as the many people were healed, Jesus was revealing more of who He was.  As He spoke to the multitudes on the hillsides or to the disciples as they walked, He was telling them ways so opposite to what they understood but they were the ways of who He is.

The Pharisees are the ones who were about perfection, crossing t's and dotting their i's.  In striving to get it right, they missed seeing who Jesus is.

The same is for us today. Jesus wants us to know Him, to learn from Him and of Him. He wants to show us who He is - through His names, His actions, and most of all through our faith.  

In our night watches of wrestling, fears, and tears falling, who is Jesus?  When we get a diagnosis or the pain just doesn't go away, what does Jesus want us to know about Him?  Maybe you were missed by the people who love you, rejection showed up at your door, or words spoken want to define you - what does Jesus say and what truth does He want you and I to know?

Our faith is a believing in Him.  It's staying with Him, showing up again and again especially when He doesn't make sense to our human minds.  Faith is the reaching for Jesus to learn more, to ask the question, "Lord, help me understand and help me to see You when I have fears and questions and when life doesn't make sense."

The challenge for me is to learn to live with an openness.  Open to what could be and to the possibilities that lie within the very thing we would rather not be in. With Jesus nothing is wasted.  With Jesus we find our hearts and minds being realigned, which hurts sometimes.  For in my humanity and human thought-processes, I think this is good or important and valuable.  He in His infinite wisdom and all-knowingness says, "No, this is what is truly good."

Jesus invites us in Matthew 11:28-29 to learn of Him.  He is the Rabbi, the Teacher.  Do you want to be His student, His follower?  If you answer yes, stay with Him, sit in His presence and offer your questions, fears, and aches.

He wants to tell you more about who He is.

Showing up again, today, is the space we wait and we find Jesus. 

The prayer of Psalm 25:4-5 -

Make me know Thy ways, O Lord; teach me Thy paths.  

Lead me in Thy truth and teach me, for Thou art the God of my salvation; for Thee I wait all the day.

The Sun, The Seed, and Winter

 

As the seed lays within the earth, beneath the surface of the ground, it lays within the darkness.  The sun that shines is blocked from the vision of the seed.  There lay the perennials in the cold and dark earth, life seems to be nowhere.  Cold.  Alone.  

But life is happening as the seed and the perennial flowers lay beneath the surface.  Life is not visible, but is happening within the seed and root systems.

Winter can seem to go on forever.

Winter can seem to be endless.

Pain can be a loud voice.

Love is vulnerable and opens us to pain, but it also opens us to life.

Memories of happenings past can keep us tethered, hindering us from living fully.  Death drowns out the life we once knew, silence and emptiness can now overwhelm us and it seems like there is no where to go.  Rejection keeps us from offering.

As I listened to the age-old song, titled The Rose, I was reminded that in living there is a dying.  That in the dying it gives way to living and the one who is not afraid to take a chance will learn to dance.  

Winter and death eventually and always gives way to spring and new visible life.  Death gives way to the hope and possibilities of the resurrection.  Fear keeps us in the ground of pain and keeps us from life and living.

So today, if you find yourself feeling like you're buried beneath the dark soil of pain, hardship, and trials; remember Jesus.  Reach for Him as He is wanting to birth life within you.  He only works all things together for good and for life.  In the darkness it is so easy to miss or turn away from the love of Jesus, God's Son.  He can seem so hidden, so distant in those moments.

As the seed gives way and surrenders, life bursts forth.  As you and I surrender to Jesus and because of His love, we find life.

So don't turn away from the Giver of Life and stay buried.  Choose to stay with Him and you will find your way to life. 

Faith is the seed we plant in the darkness and it's what pushes us to reach towards the surface, reaching for Jesus. 

Many times when Jesus healed someone and they also believed Him, He would say, "Your faith has made you whole."

Healing is not only physical.  The truest healing happens deep within our hearts, when in the darkness we reach for the truths that Jesus has given us.  When we find Jesus to be with us, His love, truth, and grace makes us whole.

As the seed becomes the life that is visible, that little shoot of green above the earth's surface, it grows and becomes a bud.  That bud then opens into a flower, the rose, a fragrant blossom.

So too, you and I, as we give way to Jesus our Father, His love warms the ground of our hearts and our faith becomes a bud that opens into a fragrant flower.  The Son's love grows us in good and wholesome ways as we choose Him in each and every situation we find ourselves in.

Winter is not forever.  Spring comes with the warmth of the sun.