Come Out - Loose Him and Live

 

Life.  Sometimes I wonder if we really understand what living and life really is.

Let me take a moment and let's travel dusty roads to look back over the paths Jesus walked and the life giving He demonstrated and lived.

As He broke bread and told us to remember this - He gave thanks; all while knowing what He was about to walk through.

He gave thanks before breaking the bread and then it was passed to over 5,000 hungry people.

The kernel of wheat must die before giving birth to more kernels.

Jesus died, giving His life so that we may have life.  These are just a few...

Really.  Paradoxical to my way of thinking.  This is not the way I picture life coming and being given.  But it is the way of Jesus; upside down to we humans who strive after perfect as we were created to be in the beginning.  We plant, not even thinking of the seed that needs to die to produce the flowers and veggies we look forward to enjoying.

Lazarus laid in the grave for four days.  He was stinking by now and bound.  His sisters, Marry and Martha were grieving, after all they sent a message to Jesus to come and the road was empty of the visible presence of Jesus as Lazarus took his last breath.

As Martha met Jesus when He came, her words held the question, the wondering, the disappointment.  The words that followed also held her hope and belief in who Jesus is.

Jesus spoke to her that He is the Resurrection and the Life and she responded with, "Yes, Lord, I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world." John 11:27 (italics added)

Jesus paused at the tomb of Lazarus after he laid there for four days and lifted His eyes toward His Father, and gave thanks.  He gave thanks that He hears.  But first the instructions Jesus gave were to remove the stone and Martha who had just declared to believe Jesus; struggled to understand, declaring that by now there will be a stench!

Jesus reminds her, "Did I not say - to you - if you believe you will see the glory of God?"  As Jesus paused, He looked up and gave thanks.  He gives thanks knowing that His Father hears.  He gave thanks because of what God would do for the benefit of the people.  He wanted them to really know who He is and we learn that through the experience. 

God hears our cries - right at the entrance of our graves.

Broken pieces.  Brokenness given to Jesus gives way to the birthing of life; deep within our souls and that's what matters the most.  It's the fullest healing and sometimes it simply doesn't look like we thought it would.

And that remains a mystery, but one I'm learning to lean into when the next hard comes.  I may be like Martha and still say something practical like 'there will be a stench'; but I'm learning to trust the Giver of Life and the One who gave His life with thanks so that I may have eternal life; the fullness of life.

And so, I stop, look up and give thanks.  Thanks giving is thanks living.

Maybe for you, this season of thanksgiving is brutal.  Maybe life simply doesn't make sense and the road to your house remains 'empty' of the presence of Jesus.  Let's just sit 'together' for a moment and let's remember - He is here.  Jesus knew about Mary and Martha and Lazarus' last breath.  He hasn't forgotten you and like Jesus said, " Let us go..." He will come and He does come.  In your pain He just may not be visible.  That is okay - but I breathe a prayer that you may rise with faith like Martha did; choosing to still believe and some day, give thanks for who He is.

In The Darkness, Light Pierces

 

Dark. Night. 

Not many of us are comfortable in the dark. In fact, from little up we fight the dark, being scared, having night lights, etc.  

Children are naturally scared of the dark. That seems to be a phase all children go through or at least mine did.

I remember one of my sons 'seeing' the shadows as terrifying animals out to get him, that he wouldn't even get up at night to go the bathroom, in the safety of his home. Night after night. 

Most adults aren't comfortable with dark. I am more than I used to be, but I still have times when I wonder what's lurking in the shadows waiting to take me down. Waiting to pounce on me as I walk past. Images appear and in the dark they become distorted. We're not in control because we can't see very far into the distance. 

In the same way, in our minds, the darkness of pain, loneliness, fears can overtake us. We walk through our days wondering when they'll pounce on us, and even feeling like they've overtaken us. We can't 'see' far into the future, not even around the next bend.  Images appear, those thoughts taking shape in our minds. 

Darkness.

The night Jesus came, 400 years of silence preceded. Silence. 

Ongoing quiet. No word from God through prophets to the people. 

Quiet. Silence. Hard Roman rule. 

Longings. Wanting someone bigger to overtake the Roman rule. Deliverance. 

The night Jesus was born, light pierced the physical darkness. 

Shepherds were tending their flocks on a hillside at night, when an angel appeared, piercing the dark night with the glory of the Lord, and the shepherds were afraid. 

The angel told them to not fear because I have good news, a Saviour is born!

The angel gave them more details on where to find this Saviour and then suddenly! There was a multitude of angels, praising God with these words, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, God will toward men."

Peace. Goodwill. Light. Really?? After the years of silence and crushing Roman rule??

The shepherds looked at one another and said, "Let us go... and see...."

They went with haste. 

Light always brings hope. Light brings anticipation. Light reveals. Light reveals what is really true. 

But Light doesn't always look like we think it should. 

In a stable.

To shepherds on a hillside in the dark of night. 

After 400 years of silence. 

The promise of a Saviour. 

Miracles.

Where were you,  Jesus?

Healings.

But Jesus ...

Death on a cross, seeming death to all they thought would happen and what saving them looked like in their minds. 

The living and walking out of that hope and promise was often disappointing and led to disillusionment. 

Many turned away, walked away. And in the end, not even His disciples stayed with Him.

Why? I think if we look deep into our hearts, we can answer that. 

How many times has there been silence in our stories? The darkness overwhelmed us and we felt all alone on our hillside, waiting another night for Light to penetrate. 

And we turn away.

Darkness leaves us vulnerable. We can't see far ahead. We panic because we can't control very much around us. Darkness asks us to trust, to take steps in faith. 

It's easier to walk away, to turn our backs on Jesus, and turn to what we can see or our own methods of what we think is best. 

I am so glad we have the stories after the resurrection. The disciples and many didn't stay away from God. Jesus appeared to all of the disciples as they huddled in a room.

Sometimes we're huddling, trying to grasp or understand what is or has happened, and waiting for Jesus to appear and speak to us. It's the staying, the waiting, that is brutal at times. It's the believing and hanging on to faith when darkness screams many false beliefs and our mind wrestles to believe the words of Jesus when all is quiet, that is crushing at times. But it's in the room of waiting and staying, on the hillside, that light comes. The angel of the Lord, announcing good news to us, Jesus has come. He is here!

Yes, He is here. 

Darkness is when light is most visible. Jesus pierced the darkness 2000+ years and that is still His mission, to pierce the dark parts of our stories. He wants to set us free from what imprisons us, our fears, our pain, the rejections, etc. 

He wants us to turn to His light of truth and trust Him in the darkness. 

Trust. Faith. 

Without faith it's impossible to please God and I begin to see why. There is so many times that God's ways make so little sense to my human mind frame, that to stay with Him requires me to believe in spite of what I see.  To believe Him in spite of what my heart and feelings scream to be true. 

To believe Him as my Way, the Truth, and Life to me. And to TRUST.

Let's run with haste to see Him. 

The Ache of our Souls and a Place to Go

Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and YOU WILL FIND REST for your souls.  Matthew 11:28-29

This is one of my favourite verses and yet if you look closely there's a piece that I want to skip... "take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me..."

Why do I want to skip that part??  

I am asked to let go.  To embrace a path I may not want.

But the exchange is, rest. 

Rest from striving. Rest from orchestrating life's activities.  Rest from the control that I so easily settle into.

A heart at rest, a settledness, right in the middle of walking, right in the middle of the storm sometimes.

Jesus.
Says come.
To Me.

To Him.
For REST.

A yoke is a joining together of two.
Two oxen.
Two people.

Jesus is inviting us to join Him and learn from Him.

Jesus does not promise life to be easy. 
The fact is life is not easy whether you follow God or not.  Whether you believe in Him or you don't.  Life became broken in the garden and life remains broken and disjointed.

But in that moment, God came and voiced a promise to Adam and Eve.  A promise of redemption.  A promise of a Saviour.

So, why follow God? Why believe His promises??

Because He promises to join us as we navigate life.  He wants to yoke with us and help to bear our burden.  Life is harder without Him.

Come.

Jesus came.  He is God incarnate.  Holy and Perfect made human.

Human so he showed us He identifies with us.

He came to partner with us in every way.  And now He says, "Come."

Bring every ache, every tear, every lonely moment, every hard, every angry moment, everything and learn of Him.  Learn more of His tenderness for those tears.  Learn more of His love even when it doesn't feel like it's there.  

Let go of walking alone and yoke with Him.

Trusting His steering, His guiding on the journey.

Seeds of Miracles and Belief

Seeds are miracles waiting to happen... is a saying I found awhile ago. And it immediately spoke to me, breathing hope. Hope.  And with hope comes anticipation.  Life buried in the dirt.

I cut it out and put it on my refrigerator and it's a ready reminder; reminding me of just that - Hope. Anticipation.  Life that is sometimes buried in the middle of hard things.

The job we were excited to get and didn't.
The endless years of being in a place when you'd rather not be in it.
The misunderstandings... rejections... in relationships.
The child who requires much of your energies.
And the list is endless.  The hard things.  The disappointment that life isn't looking like I thought it would.

And with it, buried in the middle of hard things, we sometimes lose our way.  Our footing becomes unclear.  The waters become murky.

And I don't always get it or sometimes in the hard moments, in the moments when I feel so weak and broken; I confess it's even hard to believe.  To believe Truth.

But maybe... and what if, like Lysa TerKeurst says, what if the very hard thing we'd rather not have is the very thing that leads us to life and God, Himself?? (I'll put this little plug in for her book... "It's Not Supposed to be This Way" is an excellent read if you find yourself in the middle of murky life.)

Jesus hates unbelief.  It keeps us from believing His Truth.  He is Truth and so it keeps us from Him.
There are many times Jesus either said a person was healed because of their faith or belief or He said because of their unbelief they did not receive the healing or like the Israelites, they could not enter the Promised Land.
And so it makes sense when He tells us that without faith it is impossible to please Him.

In John 1:12, John says " But as many as received Him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on His name.
Romans 10:9 says, "believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead and thou shalt be saved."

Believe.
Webster's definition is: to take as true, real.  to have confidence in a statement or promise of another person.

Jesus is a person that we can have confidence in.  He is one who never changes and really has our good in mind.

It's just we don't always see it that way.
And sometimes.... what if that believing is so weak?

What does that mean when you're in the middle of pain and the hard happenings of life?  How do we live that out when the path is murky and even feels like quicksand?

One evening the disciples were on the waters of the Sea of Galilee and a storm popped up.  It was hard to row the boat.  To keep it afloat.
Then suddenly they saw a figure walking on the waters and were terrified, thinking it was a ghost!  They cried out in fear but immediately Jesus spoke to them, "Take heart, it is I.  Do not be afraid."

And one daring soul cried out, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water."  Jesus says, "Come."

Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water, and came to Jesus.

But then something happened.
He took his eyes off of Jesus and saw the wind and began to sink.

When you and I take our eyes off of Jesus, we sink.
When we see the storm instead of seeing Jesus, we fear.

But look next to what Peter did.
He cried out, "Lord, save me."
(Matthew 14:22-33)

Those words Jesus told the disciples, "Take heart, it is I.  Do not be afraid." are for you and I as well.  Peter was not walking on calm waters.  They were still raging.  It wasn't until Jesus stepped into the boat that the wind ceased.

There was a father who had a son who had a dumb spirit and it would cause him to foam and gnash his teeth, etc. When this father met Jesus, he asked Him to heal his son.  And Jesus replied, "If you can, all things are possible to him who believes."
The father's reply was, "I do believe, help my unbelief!"
(Mark 9:17-27)

In those moments when we falter we can cry out, "Lord, save me!" or "I do believe, help my unbelief."
And on a personal note... sometimes it goes so far as "Lord, help me to believe and help my unbelief."

And Jesus shows up.  He reaches out.
It's not always on my timetable, but He comes.  And when it's not right away, I choose to believe and to wait on Him, believing He will make good out of all things.

So, it boils down to how we view God and what we believe about His heart.

To have confidence in God while life throws those hard curves our way means I must keep my focus on Him as Peter did when he stepped out onto the raging waters.

But sometimes my eyes shift away and I go down...
I then, can cry out, "Lord, save me!"

We really have two choices of belief... what makes sense and what we can see and taking our own control or choosing to trust the heart of God and to believe it is good, even when the path right now makes no sense and we're not sure how to take the next step.

The past year and half has been a murky path for me.  A path in which I've lost my way and been wandering around in circles, even taking a plop on the side, wanting to give up.

Jesus says in Matthew 13:31 that the kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed.  And in Luke 13:19 the grain of mustard seed grew and birds found refuge in its branches.

Psalm 31:24  Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!
39:7 "And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?  My hope is in You."

As the new year of 2019 has begun, those seeds are there....
And so, I choose to believe and to wait.  Wait on the Lord, for He is Life.  He is Truth.  And He is the Way.

He is our Hope.
He is my Hope.

Right now.  Right in the middle of hard stuff.
Right now.  Right now, even in the middle of joys and mountaintop moments.

Walking through these moments requires me to keep my focus on Him.

God. Immanuel.
He is with us.