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God is the dew that nourishes

February 28, 2011

God told the Jewish people through Hosea that they were like the morning dew that evaporates in the midday sun. But later He said he would be like the dew and in the next phrase talks about growing beautiful lilies.

I’ve been teaching in Hosea. Prophets are tough to teach because 90 percent of their topic is “doom and gloom.” Well, it’s really more of an “if you keep doing this, then that bad thing will happen.” Then the prophet proceeds to document the wrong doing.

But if you read the poetry, it’s beautiful. God uses so many great metaphors–even Hosea’s life was a metaphor.

When God is indicting the nations, He uses terms to show how they are not steadfast in relationship with Him. But in the final chapter of Hosea, it’s sort of like a Baptist “altar call” inviting the people into relation. And if they would return to their relationship, He would nourish them like the heavy dew nourishes the flowers.

We know the end of the first part of the message. The people did not listen. Israel was conquered by the Assyrians, Judah later by the Babylonians. And the Jewish people did not have a state again until 1947. But somehow, I don’t think it’s the same. I don’t hear them talking about being God’s light to the world–something that was written about the beginnings of the nation.

Instead we know the end of the second part of the story. Israel did not become God’s light to the world and establishing a right relationship with God through laws didn’t work. So then came Jesus to bring a second covenant. Open explicitly to the entire world. Salvation through grace, not laws.

To live in grace means to be constantly nourished by God. Like the morning dew, I like to begin my mornings getting some nourishment from God. Maybe by reading and contemplating the Bible. Maybe by reading the works of great spiritual writers. Sometimes just meditating in peace with God.

Do you get your morning nourishment? It sets the tone for the day.

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Fear of God

February 25, 2011

Ever notice how words change meaning? Sometimes over centuries. Sometimes over decades. When I was a kid and read the word “gay,” for example, it was in the context of a verb describing the feeling of joy. Today, it’s a noun describing the sexual orientation of a person.

Take the word “fear.” When I was a kid, and probably even to this day, the word describes a feeling that something bad may happen because of someone or some event. But in the Bible, they use that word often in the context of God.

And generations of preachers have latched on to that word to “scare the hell out of you.” Right? Remember, sermons typically are not intellectual arguments or teaching (although some speakers are teachers), but often they are speeches designed to trigger an emotional response in the listeners. So manipulating the word fear can be a good speaker’s gimmick.

I’m finishing my reading of Julian’s Reflections. Toward the end, she identifies four kinds of fear.

  • Fear of attack — “which comes to a man suddenly because of his own weakness”
  • Fear of pain — “by which a man is stirred and awakened from the sleep of sin”
  • Doubtful fear — which draws you to despair, or the “bitterness of doubt”
  • Reverent fear — “this is the most gentle, because the more of it one has, the less it is felt because of the sweetness of love”

I think that modern English of the last 100 years or so has lost the power of that last sense of the word. We use it more in the sense of being afraid, which is a state of being anxious. Whereas God, who also wants us to be “intimate” with Him, also wants us to acknowledge that He is the supreme creator of the universe and everything in it. In that case, we should be intimate without familiarity. A little like “I love Dad, but I still respect him” sort of feeling.

You are going to be hard pressed to find God trying to “scare the hell out of you” in the Bible. But you will see where He wants you to come to Him, but still hold Him in awe simultaneously.

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Prophets not fortune tellers

February 16, 2011

Those who have sat through any class I have taught know one of my pet peeves about our understanding of prophets and prophecy. That is the understanding (or misunderstanding) that prophecy = fortune telling. If you read carefully, you’ll see that God never lays out the details of the future. In fact, many times there are warning about fortune tellers.

On the other hand, God is really good at noticing when His people have strayed from the path of living with Him and pointing out the consequences. The formula is “if you continue doing this, then that will happen to you.” And “that” is always bad. It was the job of the prophet to carry this message to the people.

And prophets were almost always kind of weird people. Take Hosea, whom I just discussed yesterday. God was unhappy that Israel (the people in that country) had take up with prostitutes (other gods). So he had Hosea marry a prostitute to show people the misery that comes with that situation.

Then at the end of the story of Hosea, God pleads with the Israelites to give up bad things and accept that which is good; give up the idea that salvation comes from Assyria and turn to Yahweh, their God. And He says that if they do, they will “flourish as a garden.” He says that their fruitfulness comes from Him. “Those who are wise understand these things.”

So yesterday I asked what prostitutes you have invited into your life (consciously or not). Today I invite you to step back and look at the direction your life is taking. If you continue doing what you’re doing, where will it lead? God says it’s never too late to turn to Him and discover the fruits of living a life with Him.

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Stay Pure Guard Against Infiltrators

February 15, 2011

Do you ever watch what things and emotions and thoughts insinuate themselves into your life? Sometimes much time has passed before you realize that some thought or obsession has taken control over you. God called this activity prostitution in the Old Testament. He was always complaining that the Hebrews were prostituting themselves.

When they entered into the “Promised Land,” God told them to wipe it clean of other people. He knew the weakness of a man for a woman. And He knew that women are typically the bearers and pro-creators of culture. Therefore, He knew that if the Hebrew men had access to the women of other tribes, they would begin to marry them. The women in turn would bring their gods and culture into the house.

And, sure enough, it happened. Time after time. The men never learned (OK, I can hear all the women reading this…). So God even sent “crazy” guys, like Hosea who married a prostitute then tried to make her an honest woman symbolizing God’s “marrying” the Hebrews in their prostitution and trying to make them pure God-followers.

It didn’t work. The people didn’t listen to Hosea at the time and followed their prostitution into destruction. First the end of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, then the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Pffft. Gone.

So, what “foreign gods” have you prostituted yourself with? Pride? Envy? Obsession with sex, alcohol, drugs, TV? What diverts your attention away from God? Recognize it and prune it. Seek help from a friend or counselor if need be.

If you love someone, you pay attention to them–that is, you give them your attention. To live with-God, pay attention to Him. Don’t let the outsiders in.

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Seeking God Willingly

February 4, 2011

People over the years have developed some strange (at least to us) practices. In 14th Century England (the time of Chaucer for you literary buffs), sometimes a woman of some means would both become widowed and have a religious experience. They would lock themselves in a room, never to exit alive.

Julian of Norwich was such a woman. Her room was built on the outside of the wall of the local church. She had a small window that looked in toward the alter, a locked door and a window open to the alley so that she could talk with people (and I presume obtain food).

Before this happened, she was thought to be on her death bed. The priest was called. He brought the crucifix up to her lips during the last rites. At that moment she had an overwhelming experience of God. It was revealed in many “showings.” She lived many years afterwards and wrote her “Reflections” which detailed the visions and her explanations.

Early in the manuscript, she says there are “three objects of our seeking.” That is, there are three things that a seeker of God must do to find Him. These are seek, await and trust.

She says that we must seek willingly and diligently without laziness and gladly and merrily without unreasonable sadness and useless sorrow. This is overwhelming to ponder.

I went to a geek conference once. When you’re dealing with electronics, sometimes you can’t see what you’re looking for unless you believe there’s something there. The T-shirt they gave us that year had the phrase “Some things can’t be seen unless you believe that they exist.” That’s like God.

You believe He exists. You seek Him. But, you have to do it willingly (not by accident, but by persistent searching). You must be diligent without laziness (every day, not just on a whim, and don’t get lazy and think you’ll do it tomorrow). And with joy (remember Jesus talking about people going around looking serious and pious trying to draw attention to how religious they were, and how he disdained that).

I think that if she had not written anything else, this one instruction would serve us well.

Next week, I’m off to another conference for manufacturing geeks. This is where I get to practice that diligence. Starting Sunday, I’ll have dinners that last until 10 or so followed by breakfasts the next morning at 7. Fitting in time for physical exercise; study, meditation and writing; and answering about 150 emails will be a challenge. I’ll try not to let these meditations dry up. You can hold me accountable and ping me with your proddings.

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Don’t Cheapen Your Faith in God

January 24, 2011

The bottle looks almost like that of the more popular dishwashing detergent. The price was great–much less than the competition. Must be a good buy, right? But then you notice that the dishes come out of the dishwasher with a grungy film.

Cheap doesn’t always win. Value is the ratio of the price to the quality.

I thought about this in relation to the faith that many people seem to exhibit. So, I was wondering–is your faith cheap? Or a value?

Sometimes I wonder if people get their faith from a cereal box. Or a bumper sticker slogan. Donald Miller in his book “Searching for God Knows What” talks about “propositional” Christianity. That is where someone’s faith consists of repeating short propositions that may or may not be actually based on the Bible.

Then again, sometimes I think that people think way too much about their faith. I was checking out a church’s Website to learn something about them. There was a very long page of “what we believe.” It’s well thought out, I guess, and quite comprehensive.

On the other hand, I’d be warmer toward that church if they had just said, “We’re a community of followers of Jesus trying to help each other live a life with-God.”

It’s easy, but cheap, to just memorize propositions. Not to mention that knowing more propositions than others can be a source of pride. It’s much harder and requires extra expenditure of effort and focus with a dash of humbleness to strive to live each moment with God. Man, sometimes I wish it were easy.

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