Who are you listening to in this New Year?

A simple question to ask yourself for the New Year: what voices are you listening to on a consistent basis? 

In our Bible study, we've been examining the book of Joshua (which I highly recommend!), and last week we saw the Israelites being deceived by the Gibeonites. I won't go into the details here (it's in Joshua ch.9), but suffice it to say, I was challenged by the way the Israelites listened to the Gibeonites tall tale, asked them questions, listened to their answers, and even examined some of the physical evidence the Gibeonites produced to bolster their fib. 

But here's what the Israelites categorically failed to do--they never took it to their Heavenly Father in prayer. Joshua 9:14 starkly declares, they "did not ask counsel of the Lord." Hmm. Think about it. The Israelites entered into conversation with the Gibeonites, asking questions and listening to explanations. Yet they never paused to go to the ONLY One who knew everything, who fully understood the truth, who already had a track record of giving His people perfect plans for conquering the first two cities in the promised land, who loved them and who always provided for them. They listened to all those Gibeonite voices but never sought to listen to the voice of God, the voice of truth. Houston, we have a problem. 

But what does God’s Word say?  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Prov.3:5-6  When we need His wisdom—which, of course, each of us does every day of our lives!—He promises to give it to us.  For instance, we’re promised in James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”  Or as Mt.7:7 puts it: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.” When we’re burdened and discouraged, He tells us to “COME TO ME, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Mt.11:28-29  

When the way ahead seems incredibly dark and confusing, Jesus promises us that “I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. Anyone who follows Me will never walk in the darkness but will have the Light of Life.” (John8:12)  When we feel weak and unable, the psalmist tells us to “Cast your burden on the LORD, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.” (Ps.55:22) When we’re overcome with fear and anxiety, He assures us in His Word, “Fear not, for I AM with you; be not dismayed, for I AM your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” (Isa.41:10). We all suffer from spiritual amnesia, so we need to go to His Word to listen to HIS voice and be reminded once again of who He is and all He can do.

Sadly, that’s not what the Israelites did. They evaluated the Gibeonites’ claims based not upon the perfect all-seeing wisdom of God but based upon the very limited amount their eyes could see and their common sense could supply. That’s called walking by sight.  When we start walking by sight rather than by faith, we will inevitably stumble and fall.

So what's the antidote for deception and listening to the wrong voices?  Well, duh--listen to THE voice: the voice of truth!  Listen to God's voice. And how do we do that? By abiding in His Word. That means we read it, study it, ponder it, maybe pause for little moments during our day to read a verse or two from it. 

Let me ask you: how often do you check your phone during the day?  hmm. When you’re waiting in line at the grocery store, for instance, do you tend to pull out your phone and start perusing instagram or Facebook or whatever social media's latest fad might be?  You do know, right, that the geniuses in Silicon Valley spend gobs of money and effort to make sure their stuff is addictive in order to keep us on it as much as possible. Don’t let all their voices drown out the voice of truth!  

Here’s an idea: let’s replace some of that scrolling with scripture!  Get a Scripture app on your phone and the next time you’re standing in line, read some Scripture instead! 

Be deliberate and discerning about what voices you allow into your ears and heart on a daily basis. As we’ve seen, the Israelites listened to the voices of the Gibeonites but failed to listen to the voice of God. Make sure, no matter what, that God’s voice in God’s Word is the voice you listen to every day. Even if it’s only a couple of minutes—God’s Word is supernatural, and He can do amazing things even with a few moments. 

Ask yourself if there are some voices you’ve been listening to that are not reflective of beauty, goodness, and truth?  For example, are you listening to certain podcasts or watching certain programs that you know are untruthful, unwise, God-rejecting or that are somehow discouraging you? We need to be discerning about what voices we allow to fill our ears and minds on a regular basis. 

And I've shared this before, but that’s because I believe it can be so life-changing! So here it is again!: Try to make God’s voice the first thing you listen to in the morning. Don’t open your phone or computer or pick up anything else to read until after you’ve spent time a few minutes reading and listening to God’s voice in His Word. 

So a simple but profoundly important encouragement for this New Year--be discerning regarding the voices you are listening to on a consistent basis and be deliberate in daily listening to and heeding the life-giving, truth-telling, destiny-altering, hope-restoring, peace-instilling voice of Almighty God. 

Thank You, Father, for choosing to reveal Yourself to us in Your written Word. Thank You for the power of Your Word to change hearts and lives. And thank You for the gift of all gifts: Jesus, the Living Word How thankful we are for Your written and Your Living Word!

To God be the glory.

Beauty from brokenness

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." James 1:2-4

It's been a minute, hasn't it?  Here I am, several months since my last blog, and the reason is simple: I just didn't feel like writing. Hmm. If I only did things I feel like, I would've eaten Hayes Barton Cafe peanut butter pie (or any form of Hayes Barton Cafe cake, for that matter) for breakfast...and lunch...and, of course, dinner, because, well, duh, it's Hayes Barton cake!  But since I need to choose to do what I know to be right (and beneficial), I'll save the cake for dessert after dinner, and instead get busy doing what God's called me to do right now. Faith over feelings. 

It''s been a challenging few months. Normally, fall is my favorite time of the year, but this year has had more than its share of losses and sorrows. Dear friends losing a beloved child. Others losing a precious parent. Painful losses in our family that have cut deep and hard. Constant reminders these past months that we live on a broken planet, and we will all suffer from that brokenness, loneliness, sadness. 

But God. 

"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” Gen.50:20. "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my potion forever." Ps.73:26 "But God raised him from the dead..." Acts 13:30 "...but God shows his love for us in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us." Rom 5:8 "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved” Eph.2:4-5

But God takes our brokenness and turns it into beauty. As I read recently in a blog, "In His timing, He will take all our grief, failures, and fears and paint them into something wildly beautiful. He's in the business of it. Beauty alone is worthy to behold, but beauty from brokenness is far more compelling." Oh my, isn't that the truth?  It's suffering that ultimately produces the beauty of depth of character, strength, sweet empathy, kind compassion, deep gratitude. 

None of us would ever choose to suffer, would we? But oh my, how God uses it in our lives. I'm already seeing some of that beautiful fruit of brokenness. It's hard-won growth to be sure, but I trust and know that  our Heavenly Father loves us beyond all imagining, and all His ways and plans are for our ultimate good and His glory. So we can trust and rest in Him. 

In fact, fall, itself, depicts this truth. Look around at the astounding colors of the leaves--startling crimson, brilliant orange, sunny yellow. Seriously. Pause and notice the trees for they won't be with us much longer. Soon those branches will be bare and brown. But for now, wow, stunning!  And don't forget to take a moment and give God thanks for creating such beauty. 

But those lovely colors come from the death of the leaves. As those leaves prepare to die and fall to the ground, they allow the beautiful colors to shine through. 

From brokenness comes beauty. 

From sorrow comes steadfastness.

From a cross comes a crown. 

That's what God does and who He is. He makes all things, all things new. And He is even now, making all things beautiful in His time...even that hardest, most perplexing, most challenging difficulty in your life. Trust Him with your brokenness and know that His finished masterpiece will be beautiful beyond all imagining. 

Thank You, Father. To You be all the glory.

"Rejoice, though you have considered all the facts"

"Rejoice, though you have considered all the facts" (from a poem by Wendell Barry)

Did you know that the root of the word "joy" actually means "rejoice."  And rejoice is a verb. Thus our joy derives not so much from a certain emotion or feeling but from an action. From our settled attitude and commitment to rejoice--to look for reasons for gratitude, thankfulness and rejoicing. And then to do it--that is, to not only open our eyes and hearts to see and notice the reasons for joy in our lives but then to express it in some way...write it, sing it, dance it, share it, pray it.   

Moreover--and I love this!--Barry's phrase indicates that our rejoicing does not exclude or ignore the facts, even the hardest, darkest facts in our lives. No, to the contrary, our rejoicing sees and acknowledges life's sorrows and challenges...yet even in the face of that reality, we choose to rejoice. 

For believers, no matter what we might be enduring or facing, there are always, always, always infinite grounds for rejoicing. Why? Because our God is with us. Our God is for us. Our God loves us so much that He came to earth to live the life we could never live, to die the death that we deserved, and to rise again to new resurrection life so that we might live forever with Him in glory. And we can, and must rejoice, because our God is awesome, holy, beautiful, compassionate, loving, forgiving, powerful, joyful, just, merciful and on and on....beyond all imagining. 

That is our God and there is none other. How on earth can we not rejoice?

The psalmist puts it this way in Psalms 42 and 43: "Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him, my Savior and my God." (Ps.42:5,11 and Ps.43:5) 

Today, every day, we have the choice whether we will live in dejection, turmoil and despair or whether we will live in hope and rejoicing in our Savior and our God. As my daughter often reminds (and scolds me whenever I'm living in discouragement and defeat in a fruitless effort to prepare for some mythic worst possible outcome!) "Mom, choose to walk in hope!" 

Yes, let's join the psalmist and counsel our hearts. It's time to do some preaching to ourselves rather than listening to our selves. Heart, why are you so dejected? Look up!  Look at who your God is and all He has done. Put your hope in Him. He will never leave you, never forsake you, never fail you. So hope in God and rejoice in your Savior...starting today, right now!  

To God be the glory. 

A few of God's gifts today...

    Well, it's been quite a while since I've written--in fact, over four months--so clearly not exactly killing it on the consistency quotient. But I'm going with the wisdom of the great Ralph Waldo Emerson who once wrote that "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds..." 

    In all seriousness, this has been a clear example of how challenging it can be to start back doing something you should and want to be doing...but inertia takes over. And before you know it, that important priority gets buried by countless seemingly urgent priorities. But important things are rarely deemed urgent while urgent things are typically not important, at least in the long run. So here's the bottom line: since I can't come up with even one decent excuse for my laziness and inconsistency, how about we thank the Lord that His mercies are new every morning...afternoon..evening...week...month...year. And let's begin again.

    Thank you Lord for Your grace. 

    And for fresh starts. 

    And for being our good, good Father.  

    And for Jesus. Paul put it perfectly in 2 Cor.9:15, "Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" What a treasure we have in our Savior and Redeemer!  

    And on this day, Father, thank You for Your innumerable gifts in our lives. Thank You especially for the life of JoAnna McMillan who went home to be with You on this day several years ago. I think of her and miss her every single day. But what a treasure and gift she was and is to all of us. The very best of mothers, daughters, wives, sisters, friends. Her infectious joy, her indomitable love, her hilarious sense of humor, her abounding concern and compassion for others. her never-failing wisdom and common sense, her living-life-to-the-full attitude...I could go on and on. But the point is--in JoAnna, God gave us an enormous gift. And boy, did He do a good job in making her!  I'm so thankful she was and is my friend and that I will one day get to see her again. 

    Thank You Lord for friends and family on earth and in heaven above. They are truly some of Your choicest gifts to us. 

    Today, a couple more simple things to thank God for--a hot shower after a chilly, windy, soaking wet day of watching our son and his team play golf. Hot water: have you thought about it recently?  You can turn on a faucet and steaming hot water comes pouring out. How many places in our world lack water, this most basic and important of needs. Yet we have an abundance of it. And we even have hot water. What an extravagant gift that we can enjoy on a daily basis. Let's don't let the seeming ordinariness of the gift blind us to how truly extraordinary it is.  

    Thank You also, Father, for the fellow believers You put on our paths to encourage us along the way. We are not alone. We are not running this race of faith alone. God has His people everywhere!  Don't forget that. When was the last time you thanked God for the gift of running into a brother or sister in Christ when you were feeling down or worried? I think those kinds of encounters almost fall into the category of "angels unawares." Oh my, how thankful I am for such friends and for all the ways and times God brings us together. Thank You, Father for the gift of Your people wherever they may be. Might we, too, be Your agents of encouragement to those You put in our paths today. 

    Just a few of the gifts I'm specifically thanking the Lord for today. How about you? Might we open our eyes to His unending goodness and grace in our lives and take the time to thank Him and give Him glory.

    To God be the glory.  

A bit of goodness, beauty, and truth

 A friend sent me a hilarious text yesterday with the meme "I'd like to cancel my subscription to 2021. I've experienced the free 7-day trial and I'm not interested."  Yep, that about says it all, doesn't it?! Surely none of us assumed 2020 would pass and the dawn of a new year would bring all happiness and light, but good night, the start to this new year has been (to put it charitably) a doozie. And. yes, a do--over would be nice. 

But since that isn't happening, can I just add a bit of goodness, beauty, and truth to the conversation? Yes, I know there's more than plenty to bemoan, to worry about, and to lament. And we all do. But can I remind us all that there's also so much for which to be thankful.  So much to savor and enjoy. So much to simply appreciate with wonder and joy. 

Can I share a few things that have not changed one iota with all the craziness swirling around us?  The sun rose yet again for the dawn of another brand new day this morning. Thank You Lord for a new dawn that a promises us that no matter how tough yesterday was, no matter how badly we botched it, we get to begin again. You have given us a fresh new start.  

And with those first rays of God's glorious sun breaking through the darkness, we're reminded of the Truth: "But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, therefore I will hope in Him.'" (Lam.3:21-24). 

Those words, by the way, were not penned in the midst of a happy, prosperous time in Israel's history. No, just the opposite. They were written by the prophet Jeremiah after his nation had been decimated by her enemies. Their beloved capital of Jerusalem had fallen and been completely destroyed by the Babylonians, and the vanquished Israelites thrown into exile.  In the midst of such bleakness, Jeremiah calls to mind, he remembers, who his God is and what He has done. He recalls the good and beautiful Truth that God's love, faithfulness and mercy will never ever cease. Despite how their circumstances looked or felt, Almighty God had not abandoned His people.  He was still on His throne.  He would still somehow someway use even this all for ultimate good and His glory...and so Jeremiah--and we--choose to hope in Him.  

How about some more examples of goodness, beauty and truth?  The flash of brilliant red of the cardinal at our bird feeder. The hawk soaring overhead and shrilly crying out praises to its Maker.  The sound of our children's voices on the phone. FaceTime with our granddaughter (joy!). Laughter with friends...and the priceless gift of friends. My brothers and sisters--undeserved gifts in my life. Fat snowflakes floating down to the earth (but not sticking--thank goodness!) Hot tea. Chocolate (duh).

A few more: Reading God's Word in the predawn darkness and knowing that the Lord of the universe is right there with me, speaking, listening, loving, equipping, forgiving. Books--veritable treasure troves of goodness, beauty, and truth. Reading about and being inspired by the faithful life of Elisabeth Elliot...reminding us that God will enable us to be faithful all the way to the finish line. The dear women in our Bible study and the joy of getting to study God's Word together in community. Dinner with friends or family. Trees sparkling with lights even in the "bleak mid-winter." Music and singing. Grace. Truly amazing grace.

Yes, 2021, you might not yet be all you were cracked up to be, but you're still stuffed and overflowing with God's goodness, beauty, and truth! Because His steadfast love never ceases, His mercies never come to an end and are new every single morning, and great--infinitely and eternally great--is His faithfulness. 

So how about we place our hope in the One who will never fail us or forsake us?  Yeah sure, that absolutely does not mean we won't be trudging through plenty more hard, sorrowful, perplexing stuff. But it does mean the Lord God Almighty is with us and for us all the way. In our trudging and in our dancing. In our crying and in our laughing. And He will get us through to the other side. Not somehow but triumphantly. Because I've read the end of the story...and it's good, indescribably good, beautiful, and true. 

To God be the glory. 

For the New Year

  Woohoo--welcome 2021!  Happy New Year to everyone!  Just a couple of thoughts to begin this new year that the Lord has given us: 

First, a verse for the year just past--"Thus far the Lord has helped us." (I Sam.7:12). 

Yes, 2020 was quite a year full of challenges and hardships...but thus far has our infinitely good God carried us, strengthened us, loved us. If you're reading this, then you made it through all the muck and mess, all the sorrows and separation, all the difficulties and division of this past year. Whether you feel like you sailed through or just barely staggered through, God has chosen to allow you still to be here on planet earth.  He is still with you and for you.  He still wants to use you in this brand new year to encourage others, to share His love with a hurting world, to experience and enjoy His presence, to worship Him with all your heart, to bring Him glory with your actions and attitudes every single day. 

There are no throw-away moments in God's economy for He infuses each one of them with Himself. This day, this moment matters...so don't fritter it away in fretting and distraction. Instead, by faith and by His grace, live each of these irreplaceable moments to His glory. 

And all God's promises are just as real, true, and certain as the very first moment He spoke them into being in His Word. So let's stop worrying, dreading, doubting and instead start worshipping, depending, and acting on His promises. That begins by daily reading His Word and hearing His voice speaking directly to you. "So faith comes through hearing and hearing through the word of Christ."  Rom.10:17. How about hearing a little (or a lot) less twitter, instagram, cable news, and netflicks and a lot more of the supernatural, mind and life transforming Word of God?

Secondly, a verse for the new year of 2021: "Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil.3:13-14)

Maybe you really blew it in 2020. Maybe on this second day of 2021 you've already fallen short on your highfalutin' goals for the new year. Can I tell you something? We all, all, all have sinned and fallen far short of the glory of God. (Rom.3:23) Welcome to the club of procrastinators, perfectionists, failures, and sinners. Just in case you never heard, the definition of a saint is someone who has "fallen down and gotten up...fallen down and gotten up...fallen down and gotten up...all the way to heaven." 

We've all messed up...and for this we have Jesus. His grace is ever and always sufficient. Hand Him your sins, your inadequacies, your bad habits, your weaknesses, your addictions. Instead of dwelling on all that's behind us--that we absolutely cannot change--let's take Paul's advice and "press on toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." 

Yes, let's be quick to confess and repent--which means stopping, turning around, and going in the other direction.  Our Abba Father is waiting to embrace us in His forgiving love and restore us by His grace. But then, it's time to stop dwelling on the past and ask our Heavenly Daddy to fill us again. To renew and revive us again so that we can get busy doing whatever He's called us to do on this day. Today--the only today that we will ever have. Our Lord will enable us to press on...but we've got to choose to forget what is behind and by His grace and for His glory, start straining forward to whatever He has for us ahead. 

We may not know the future (boy, has 2020 shown us that), but here's what we do know: God Almighty wins. He reigns. And He's promised that we are seated with Him in the heavenly places and will reign with Him in glory forever. So I'd say, ultimately, no matter what surprises this new year holds, He's got it; He's got us, and we will be more than okay. 

Thank You, Lord, for Your amazing faithfulness to us and bringing us through all the challenges of this past year. Thank You for Your ever-sustaining grace. Thank You for Jesus, our Savior, whose death on the cross saved us from our sin and whose resurrection assures us of abundant, eternal life. And now, please help us--for every day that You give us breath--to press on and to live by Your grace and for Your glory. And to You be all the glory forever and ever. 

Advent: Covid & Jesus' coming

 Happy, happy, happy Advent!  

Oh my, if I've ever been excited about entering into the wondrous season of Advent, it is this year. Today. Right now. On this first Sunday in Advent. Bring. It. On. Thank You Lord for coming and thank You for Advent!

Advent gives us the gift of considering and contemplating the coming of Jesus. We have a whole, wonderful season of about four weeks leading up to Christmas Day to think about, to ponder, to thank, and to worship God for the coming of Jesus to our beautiful but broken planet. And not only do we remember Jesus' first coming, but we anticipate with joyful hope His second coming. Advent allows us daily to pause and to quiet our weary hearts and simply gaze at the Savior in wonder and adoration for coming to Bethlehem in great humility--all in order to save us--and for the certain promise of coming again one day in unimaginable glory. What can we say, but praise You, Jesus, for coming! And come Lord Jesus, come!

Today, we light the candle of Hope on the Advent wreath.  How our world needs hope right now...and we have it in infinite, astounding abundance in Jesus. He brings hope. He fills us with hope. And He is Hope incarnate. "May the God of hope fill you will all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope." (Rom.15:13). Thank You, Jesus, that You are our Hope. 

But here's one simple thought today for what Jesus' coming means to us in 2020. Here we are stuck in the midst of a terrible global pandemic. Covid has sickened countless people across the world, has killed multiple thousands, has spread fear and terror, has shut down nations, kept families separated, and destroyed economies. What havoc this incredibly contagious virus has wreaked on our world. 

What if, however, you lived on some distant pristine, perfect, sinless, disease-less planet. But you learned that your child had been chosen to leave your ideal and glorious planet to parachute down into the midst of the heaviest concentration of Covid disease and contagion on planet earth. Your child had been chosen to make the sacrifice of his or her life in order to bring the life-saving cure to Covid--and to all this broken world's ills. You would lose your child; your child would relinquish all the happiness and perfection and joy of your perfect planet; and your child would give his or her life for people on a distant planet, even though those people could not begin to understand or appreciate the staggering sacrifice being made on their behalf.  

Which of us as parents would agree to that?  I'll admit it: I certainly wouldn't. I'm betting neither would you.

But that's not what God did. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) And the Son willingly, joyfully came. He relinquished all the power and glory due Him, all the endless joy and wonder of heaven in order to come down to our sin-sick planet. All to sacrifice His life for you, for me. All to die for our sins and, in exchange, give us His righteousness.  He died to give us the cure for sin. He died that we might be made well spiritually and eternally.

We cannot ever begin to imagine the depths to which Christ descended from heaven to earth in order to save us...but what we can do is worship and thank Him for coming. For making the ultimate sacrifice--His death on a cross--to provide the ultimate cure--forgiveness and salvation for all who believe--to defeat the ultimate enemy of mankind--sin and death--to bestow the ultimate gift--eternal life and His glorious presence with us forever. 

So today, on this first Sunday in Advent, will you simply pause to worship the King who came? Praise the One who left infinite glory, perfection, and wonder to put on flesh and move into our Covid, sin-ravaged neighborhood. He came...He cured...He conquered...and He's coming again. All out of HIs infinite love. Thank You, Jesus.

To You be all the glory forever and ever.