Abba's hug
*This came fro my other blog page, but I wanted to post it here as well. Barukh HaShem*
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes, with your right hand you save me. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever — do not abandon the works of your hands. ~ Psalm 138: 7-8
I was reading through Psalm 139 and thinking about the certainty that comes with knowing Abba.
David says, "You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me." When a baby is crying, when someone we love is scared or hurting, the first thing we usually do is put our arms around them and hold them close. We hem them in, behind and before. That simple act may not take away the fear or the pain, but it reminds us that there is comfort in the midst of trial and adversity.
Abba's hands are far bigger and more comforting than mine could ever be. And today he reminds us that He has hemmed us in.
David asks, "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?" There is no such place, which means that there is no situation you are facing, there is no point in your day, there is no corner of your heart in which Abba is not present and aware.
We know this does not mean that we see him, but when you can't see his face, trust his heart. You know Him. You've lived His track record. Don't be afraid to trust Him.
David says, "If I say, 'Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,' even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you." Abba has super-ultra-explosive night vision. Nothing can stand between his watchful gaze and your spirit. He's worse than a Daddy eagle whose children are learning to fly. He sees you.
If your heart is hurting with uncertainty, if you are hurting for others, if you are scared, know that you are not alone. Take comfort in the intimacy with which your Abba draws you close and hems you in... "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb."
Abba has surely blessed us, for He has found us worthy of walking through the refining fire for His sake.
Never Again
*
His face does not yet wear
the mask of pained, stony indifference.
The clink of guns on barbed wire,
the crude jokes of the Fuhrer's men
who take up post at the guard-tower
have not left upon his young brow
the deep furrows of a bitter heart.
As he peers out from the wall,
a lone tear rolls down his cheek
to the yellow, six-sided star
sewn onto his shirt by the cold hands
of Rachael weeping for her children.
His eyes, in a silent plea,
looks past the gray clouds,
searching the horizon
for a glimpse of sunrise.
"Lama sabachthani?"
~ Ada Ezeokoli, 2005
From the painting "Why?" by Joel Hohmann, March 2005
In Remembrance of the Holocaust
Let us not forget history's lessons,
lest we repeat its mistakes.
Shabbat: Rest for the weary...
Last Sunday I did something I have not done in a while.
Nothing.
And it was not the type of nothing in which you catch up with writing cards and letters, or work on your scrapbook project from last summer, or watch televison and talk on the phone. I slept in, woke up, ate, and dozed off again. I woke up, read, prayed, dozed, ate, read, dozed, and read some more. I had a cup of tea flavored with honey. I called no-one, and no-one called me. I didn't even step outside my apartment for the whole day. When I looked outside and realized it was once again night, I found some time to feel guilty. Then I slept.
This may be normal for some people, but it was not for me. My current work schedule not withstanding, you must understand that my whole college experience seemed to be marked by how little sleep I could get.
My college roommate and I had a "marvel"us relationship. I marveled at how much sleep she got, and in turn, she marvelled at how much I lost. When I got up at 6:30 a.m. to take a peek at my Bible, she was fast asleep. Most people were, I guess. But the odds were that I either had an 8 a.m. class, had to study last-minute for a test or quiz, or had to be in the gym for futbol weight training.
In-between morning and afternoon classes, I worked at the school post office. When I got to my room at 2:30 p.m. to grab my futbol gear, my dear roomie was sprawled out on her bed, dozing off. I only knew she had gotten up for the day because she was in the clothes she wore to class. I went to practice, grabbed dinner, cleaned up, then headed out for a myriad of activities, depending on the day. Mondays I was in FCA, Tuesdays it was gospel choir practice, Wednesdays it was bible study. I was a tutor, I worked at the school switchboard, I worked at the computer lab, which I closed at 2 a.m. three nights a week. Because of my major I wrote for the school newspaper and the school arts magazine. I was in the Lions' Club, so we cleaned the environment on weekends. I found time to practice interpretive dance with friends. On Sundays, I was up at 7:30 a.m., because I was an usher at the church I attended. I was, I did, I went.
Meanwhile, my roommate watched TV, talked on the phone, and then went to eat off campus. When I came in at night, she had usually fallen asleep watching a movie, which was still playing when I walked in.
In spite of how this sounds, it was not a drag for me. I loved being involved. I thoroughly enjoyed it, even the slightly dazed feeling of walking to class after being up all night writing a 20 page thesis paper. I love my roommate, because she gave a sense of balance to my somewhat chaotic running-around. I owe her big.
Since college, I've found that all the time I dreamt of having after I graduated has been as elusive as holding wisps of smoke in your hand. Granted, I have not chosen the most time-freeing career path, and having a schedule that requires me to work nights three or four times a week has helped in stripping that illusion.
But even though I am not nearly as involved as I was in college, I find myself sighing that there is not enough time in a day to do all that I think I ought to do. And on the weekend, the week does not actually end, it simply takes on a different face of labor. And, in the rare occassions that I do something like what happened last Sunday, guilt threatens to attack, and I get the distinct whispers that I have wasted a whole day.
I thought about all this last Sunday (hey, I had time). Right now I am reading through the Brock and Bodie Theone series. I just finished the first one, called The Zion Covenant. I remembered how the writer paints the picture of the distinct difference between the Jewish section of Warsaw, and the other parts. Speaking through one of the characters, a young girl, she calls those who are not Jews, "The Saturday People," because they work on that day with no regard for Shabbat.
For the Jews, saturday is Shabbat, the day of rest declared by G-d for his people in Exodus 20:8-10, where he says, "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you."
For many devout Jews, this is still a practiced standard. They do nothing on Shabbat. In fact, I have heard and read of examples where a family hires a Shabbes goy, who is a gentile that comes on the Sabbath to do things like turn lights off and on, build the fire, and a handful of other things that they feel they are not allowed to do.
I know our bodies need rest, but I've wondered why Abba had to make that a command for his people.
Immersed in a culture that is consumed with being on the move, with doing, with accomplishing, we are often rewarded for how much we get done and how skilled we are in our respective jobs. When was the last time someone rewarded you for taking time to rest?
In Matthew 12, Messiah is criticized for picking grain on the Sabbath, and he replies in Matthew 12:8, "For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." What does that mean? And does that nullify G-d's command to his people to rest?
Right before that, Messiah says in Matthew 11:28-29, "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."
He is echoing a promise that G-d gave the Israelites from the beginning, when he brought them out of Egypt. Deut. 12:10 says, "But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that you will live in safety."
But he is more than echoing. By using that particular phrase, he is proclaiming to the Jews that he is one and the same with the G-d who made them those promises at the beginning.
G-d comes to Jeremiah and through him tells his people, "This is what the LORD says:"The people who survive the sword will find favor in the desert; I will come to give rest to Israel."
And we know that in Genesis, after G-d created the world in six days, on the seventh day he rested.
So what does this mean for us? How does this help us as believers?
The Israelites spent much of their history under oppression. They were a people scorned by all the earth, because of whose they were. Yet, through all the death and destruction and inconsolable suffering that they went through, somehow, they survived with their faith in G-d.
It may be that they hung on tenaciously to the promises that Abba gave them when he said, "I will build you up again, O Virgin Israel. Again you will take up your tambourines and go out and dance with the joyful."
It may be that when Saturday came, and they halted from all their labor, toil, and sweat for the week, that they remembered again that promise, that they would one day find complete and everlasting rest in the land that Abba has promised to them.
And can you not see how in the midst of that pause, they were invigorated with the thought that even G-d rested! And in that weekly reminder, their chutzpah, their passionate faith, was renewed, because that promise was made real to them again by their practice of rest. And they could face the next six days of toil with resolve, knowing that at the end, there would once again, be rest.
To those who are weary of the battles that this life brings, to those who are heavy laden with the oppression that this world would lay on our shoulders, Messiah says, "Come to me, and you willl find rest for your souls."
We must remind ourselves of the promises we have in Messiah. We must hang on tenaciously to them, and remind each other that in Him there is a future rest for our labors. And we must live practicing his promises, walking in his commands, so that there is a distinct difference between our lives and the lives of those in the world. A difference that they can see.
I don't know what it means to you to be weary or heavy laden. But when you find yourself there, when the toil and labor of this earth has grated on your last nerves, put aside your busy schedule, your hectic social life, your demanding ministry, whatever... and practice Shabbat.
And while you are resting your body, come once again before the throne of the Lord of the Sabbath, and he will give you rest for your soul.
Remember His promise: "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."
Intimate conversations
Love languages. After I read about them and learnt what they were (yes, yes, at Focus), I immediately set out to be the curious (ok, nosey) cat and figure out which languages my roommates and friends spoke most fluently. More recently, just to see what kind of reaction I would get, while talking to someone I was just getting to know, I would randomly blurt out, "So, what's your love language?" I've gotten more than my fair share of raised eyebrows and blank or confused stares that way. Try it sometime.
All joking aside, it seems more people than not in the groups that I have been in seem to know what these are and can even quote you the five languages on the list.
The concept of love languages is based on the idea that there are certain means through which people most feel loved, and those means are different for everyone. There are generally thought to be five broad categories of love languages; Words of Affirmation, Physical Touch, Gifts, Acts of Service, and Quality Time. There may be others.
For most of the people I have talked to, after going through the list, they generally come up with two languages that they speak most fluently, as it were. And from getting to know and observing others, you can oftentimes pin down what languages they most relate to.
Is this a frivolous exercise? Does it sound too methodical? It may or may not be, but what I am after is the point behind the exercise.
Scripture tells us to encourage each other, "all the more as you see the day approaching." This blog community was started on the basis of encouragement and a desire to uplift each other in our journeys with Abba through the desert that is this earth.
But encouragement has a different face for each person. Where one person's spirit may be lifted through inspirational words, another person may be revived by a smile and a hug.
Think of someone you have come to know well, maybe your best friend. Think of the way they see the world. What makes them smile the type of smile that lets you know they are filled with joy? That they are ready to face whatever comes next with courage? For that is what encouragement does. It spurs us on to live the life that we know in our hearts Abba wants us to live.
One of the most amazing things I realized about Messiah was his ability to relate to people in a way that mattered to them. He touched people's hearts personally, because he seemed to know exactly what approach to take with each person.
As his talmidim, we should make every effort to learn how to touch the lives of others in a way that has meaning for them, not only for us. And that means learning their love language, and then practicing it, even if, especially if it is not our language. And that means effort. And that means time.
As I write this, faces pop into my head. People I think are awesome but I don't know well because I have not taken the time to delve beneath the surface. There are those I think I know well but I haven't taken the time to speak into their hearts in the language they most understand and appreciate.
Odds are you hang out in a group of sorts. Odds are out of that group there are one or two people you know really well and vice versa. Odds are there are one or two people in that group or in other groups that are not getting the encouragement they need from the body of believers. Find them. Learn their love language. Speak it to them.
Because, for all our words and platitudes, for all our visions, if, at the end of the day the body of believers is not lifted up, if, at the end of the day, we each return to our beds bereft of peace, and hanging on to the same hurts, bitterness, and despair we have been carrying for who knows how long, then how can we expect the excitement of revival to overflow from us to those places that are in our visions?
How can we offer the balm of Gilead to strangers when we have refused to offer it first to our friends?
We cannot be Messiah's face to a dying world unless we first choose to show his heart to those who are already in his body.
