Category: Peace in the Path

Ready or Not….

Weather isn’t the problem; our preparedness for it is. That’s never been more obvious than yesterday with the crippling snow in the south. The folks in Michigan accuse us of being weak-kneed, but all things are relative. Folks in Atlanta are simply not prepared for the kind of storm they experienced yesterday. The ice storms of 2011 caused them to panic briefly, but the powers that be promised it would never happen again.

We all make promises in the heat or cold of the moment, but they are forgotten as soon as things cool down or warm up. After all, it’s never going to happen again.  While we cannot prepare for or even imagine every disaster, we can be prudent. The storm was coming, and we all knew it. It is better to err on the side of reason and let go of our plans for a day than face the mess those poor folks in Atlanta faced yesterday. I remember a year when I had to wait for all the children to get home before leaving school. I was scared I wouldn’t get home myself, but there was comfort in being with others. I never had to spend the night with my students during a storm, and I’ve never found myself stranded in a storm on the side of the road. I thank God for both and pray I’ll be a little more prudent myself when it comes to future preparations.

I know I should have water, food, blankets, and flashlights in my car, but I don’t. I know I should keep my gas tank full during winter months, but I don’t. I don’t always do what I know I should do. God would interject an amen here if He weren’t such a patient, loving Father. The lesson this week has been, ready or not, the storms are coming. Preparing for the personal storms in life are not as simple as putting emergency kits together or stocking the pantry. They require emptying, opening, and trusting completely.

Stacking supplies leaves me feeling smug and self-sufficient. I’m a survivor, so bring on your worst. I’m ready and looking forward to the opportunity to say, “I told you so!!” Emptying out leaves me feeling vulnerable and dependent. I accept the reality that I cannot make it on my own. I’m ready to say, “I need You so!” There is a world of difference in the way I prepare my home and my car and the way I prepare my heart and my mind.

Ready or not, disasters will continue to come as long as we are in this world. Thankfully, they are few and far between. Ready or not, Christ is coming! Preparing for His return is never a disaster drill, even though it is often portrayed as such. Preparing for His return simply involves letting go, surrendering to His love, and letting Him lead the way home. The beautiful news is that He is always nearby and ready to help with the clearing and cleaning necessary to experience His kingdom now. Lessons in preparedness are most effectively taught in my unpreparedness. That way, I won’t forget them. God mostly wants me to be prepared to accept and share His love. Sounds easy enough, but I often get stranded when it comes to my heart! The path sometimes seems unnavigable, but then I remember I’m not alone. Christ’s promise in Matthew 28:20 is one I can count on, and that changes everything 🙂

 “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” NASB

The Road Less Traveled

Release & Restore

I didn’t realize when I started a new exercise class on Wednesday morning that God would use it to teach a very important lesson. The class, called Release and Restore, is designed to find and release stress in the lymphatic system. It involves using various balls, one with sharp spikes, to work out the tension in muscles and release built up toxins that cause soreness.

The exercises look innocent enough, and the music is meditative; but the pain that comes when the balls meet the stress is excruciating. I had the urge to scream, but my instructor bid me to relax, breathe, and push into the painful area. It’s a lot like the truth when it hits a spot in my heart. I want to cry, scream, and avoid the pain; but I know I can’t.

My muscles will never be sore if I don’t exercise, and my heart will never hurt if I don’t love. Both will atrophy and eventually feel nothing at all. My instructor is a beautiful young woman filled with lots of compassion. She looked at me with sympathy and said, “You didn’t realize you had so much tension, did you?” She was right; I didn’t, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know at that point.

The exercise class worked the tension out of my muscles and left me sweating and sore. God’s lesson worked the tension out of my heart and left me crying and tender, but both workouts left me breathing easier and understanding my need to heed the hurt in all my muscles. Since the heart is the strongest and most important muscle in my body, I have to pay very close attention to its sore spots. My exercise instructor is giving me the tools and techniques to help me work out the toxins and relieve stress in my body, and God is giving me the same for my heart.

The Holy Spirit is an amazing Instructor, and Christ’s precious love works God’s Word into my heart in a way that allows His grace and love to bring peace that’s even sweeter than the release I felt in my shoulders, hips, back, legs, and neck on Wednesday. God knows I am a visual learner who needs an object lesson, and He had a powerful one this week. I hope I remember to let Him release my pain and restore my heart every single day. If I should forget, I’ll get a powerful reminder every Wednesday morning from my new little blue friend 🙂

Spiky Ball

Joyful Unison

Isaiah 52:7-10 is a song of joy that is appropriate for Christmas Eve. Isaiah looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. We shout in joyful unison as we look forward to His coming again.

How beautiful on the mountains
    are the feet of the messenger bringing good news,
Breaking the news that all’s well,
    proclaiming good times, announcing salvation,
    telling Zion, “Your God reigns!”
Voices! Listen! Your scouts are shouting, thunderclap shouts,
    shouting in joyful unison.
They see with their own eyes
    God coming back to Zion.
Break into song! Boom it out, ruins of Jerusalem:
    “God has comforted his people!
    He’s redeemed Jerusalem!”
God has rolled up his sleeves.
    All the nations can see his holy, muscled arm.
Everyone, from one end of the earth to the other,
    sees him at work, doing his salvation work. (The Message)

Joyful unison comes when we proclaim the good news of Christmas. Christ is at work in our hearts, and He’s coming back. That makes me sing and shout joyfully with those in my path and helps me give and find sweet comfort in times of need.

Joy isn’t happiness, and that is a problem this time of year. Lust is powerful; we grab, get, and go at a rate that leaves us spent, disappointed, and tired after lust settles. Like dust on the floor after a big party, lust leaves a mess that is swept away or under something. It causes a downward spiral. Joy follows loving obedience and fills me with peace. Joy is free, and I don’t have to stand in line or go in debt to get it. It lifts my heart and brings me nearer to God and others. Greed surrounds this beautiful season designed to offer something better than what I want or expect.

Joy, love, hope, and peace are what Advent is all about. As I look forward to Christ’s return, I am able to wait patiently because I understand that love is all that matters. The opposite of love isn’t hate; it’s lust. Wanting what I want may get me a little temporary happiness, but it keeps me from finding true joy and peace and leaves me wanting more. Trusting that God’s love is more than enough and obeying His call leads to love which leads to joy, peace, and hope. The world may not understand the difference between joy and happiness, but Christmas celebrates the birth of someone Who lived out the difference beautifully.

God’s gift of Immanuel brought, brings, and will always bring love, joy, peace, and hope to the world. It’s what creates the joyful unison Isaiah foretold. May it be fulfilled in our hearts this year.

Love Joy Peace Hope

Fading Fear and Scurrying Sorrow

Isaiah 35:1-10 paints a beautiful image of deserts blooming, fear fading, and sorrow scurrying into the night. Isaiah has a way with words, and I find hope each time a read his words of prophecy. God energizes “limp hands” and “strengthens the rubbery knees” when I find myself lost. The fact that even fools will not find themselves lost on the Holy Road encourages me to stop worrying about being perfect. Fear freezes and sorrow stops me too much of the time, so I love the reassurance I find in these scriptures of hope in Isaiah.

 Wilderness and desert will sing joyously,
    the badlands will celebrate and flower—
Like the crocus in spring, bursting into blossom,
    a symphony of song and color.
Mountain glories of Lebanon—a gift.
    Awesome Carmel, stunning Sharon—gifts.
God’s resplendent glory, fully on display.
    God awesome, God majestic.

Energize the limp hands,
    strengthen the rubbery knees.
Tell fearful souls,
    “Courage! Take heart!
God is here, right here,
    on his way to put things right
And redress all wrongs.
    He’s on his way! He’ll save you!”

Blind eyes will be opened,
    deaf ears unstopped,
Lame men and women will leap like deer,
    the voiceless break into song.
Springs of water will burst out in the wilderness,
    streams flow in the desert.
Hot sands will become a cool oasis,
    thirsty ground a splashing fountain.
Even lowly jackals will have water to drink,
    and barren grasslands flourish richly.

There will be a highway
    called the Holy Road.
No one rude or rebellious
    is permitted on this road.
It’s for God’s people exclusively—
    impossible to get lost on this road.
    Not even fools can get lost on it.
No lions on this road,
    no dangerous wild animals—
Nothing and no one dangerous or threatening.
    Only the redeemed will walk on it.
The people God has ransomed
    will come back on this road.
They’ll sing as they make their way home to Zion,
    unfading halos of joy encircling their heads,
Welcomed home with gifts of joy and gladness
    as all sorrows and sighs scurry into the night. (The Message)

The journey home should be a joyous one filled with singing because God is waiting to welcome me home with gifts of joy and gladness. Fears, sorrows, and sighs will scurry into the night, and I will be filled completely with a love unlike any I have ever known. I’m so thankful for the glimpses God gives as I make my way home because they give me hope and help me get back on the right path when I allow fear or sorrow to get me off the path.

One Part Harmony

Romans 15:4-13 creates the beautiful image of many voices coming together in one part harmony. I know there is no such thing as one part harmony in music, but it describes what I hear when I read these scriptures.

That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!

So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it! Jesus, staying true to God’s purposes, reached out in a special way to the Jewish insiders so that the old ancestral promises would come true for them. As a result, the non-Jewish outsiders have been able to experience mercy and to show appreciation to God. Just think of all the Scriptures that will come true in what we do! For instance:

Then I’ll join outsiders in a hymn-sing;
I’ll sing to your name!

And this one:

Outsiders and insiders, rejoice together!

And again:

People of all nations, celebrate God!
All colors and races, give hearty praise!

And Isaiah’s word:

There’s the root of our ancestor Jesse,
    breaking through the earth and growing tree tall,
Tall enough for everyone everywhere to see and take hope!

Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope! ( The Message, Eugene Peterson)

According to its definition, “Harmony is often said to refer to the ‘vertical’ aspect of music.” When I saw that definition, I thought of the “vertical” aspect of the singing in Romans 15. Can you imagine the harmony of all our voices lifted in hearty praise to God? It would be amazing.

When we forget ourselves for a moment and raise our voices in unison, “the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit will brim over with hope,” and the world will hear a harmony that is unlike anything they have ever heard before. That one part harmony would reach out in welcome to the world and raise up to heaven as a very sweet sound in God’s ears. I imagine it would be very like the harmony in heaven. There would be no individual voices vying for attention, but rather one voice lifted together to one God.

In a week filled with difficult lessons that cut deeply, “the God of green” has filled my heart with green shoots of joy, peace, energy, and hope. As always, God amazes me with His ways. I’m sure I’ill never understand His ways until I am in His presence. Until then, I plan to sing in one part harmony with those who share my love for God and invite others to join in and sing together in unending praise to God’s glorious name!

The Heart of a True King

Psalm 72 exposes the heart of a true king, very like the one described in Isaiah 11:1-5. In verses 1-7, we hear the fervent plea for wisdom, justice, honor, compassion, longevity, and righteousness from a king crying out to God for help.

“Give the gift of wise rule to the king, O God,
    the gift of just rule to the crown prince.
May he judge your people rightly,
    be honorable to your meek and lowly.
Let the mountains give exuberant witness;
    shape the hills with the contours of right living.
Please stand up for the poor,
    help the children of the needy,
    come down hard on the cruel tyrants.
Outlast the sun, outlive the moon—
    age after age after age.
Be rainfall on cut grass,
    earth-refreshing rain showers.
Let righteousness burst into blossom 

and peace abound until the moon fades to nothing.
Rule from sea to sea,
    from the River to the Rim.” 

Verses 18-20 put his position into perspective and show the importance of humility in a truly wise and just king.

“Blessed God, Israel’s God,
the one and only wonder-working God!
Blessed always his blazing glory!
All earth brims with his glory.
Yes and Yes and Yes.”  (The Message, Eugene Peterson)

When I read Psalm 72, I see Christ. Some scholars argue that it isn’t a Messianic Psalm and worry about why it is where it is. I’m not a scholar by any stretch of the imagination, but I do know a description of Christ when I see one. Christ was the perfect king, and Psalm 72 is a description of such a king. My favorite line is “Be rainfall on cut grass.” Christ is just that, and I’ve experienced the renewal of His refreshing love on more than one occasion.

Solomon knew the Messiah was coming, and I hear him asking God to help him be the type of king he knew His Son would one day be. I often wonder what it would have been like to live in Old Testament times without having Christ’s precious love available to me. Solomon has a vision of the coming king Who would rule as no other. I look forward to His Second Coming with the same kind of heart I hear in Psalm 72, seeing the earth brimming with His glory and His peace abounding forever.

Solomon was famous for his wisdom, and I hear evidence of that wisdom in Psalm 72. I also hear humility which accompanies all wisdom. Christ was a humble king who knew His Father was the “one and only wonder-working God!” He was, and still is, a king unlike any other the world has ever known. Thanks be to God!

Justice of the Peace

As I read Isaiah 11:1-10, I get a beautiful sense of peace and hope. The poem promises justice and peace to a world filled with injustice and discord. I love the way Eugene Peterson translates the verses in The Message.

“A green Shoot will sprout from Jesse’s stump,
    from his roots a budding Branch.
The life-giving Spirit of God will hover over him,
    the Spirit that brings wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit that gives direction and builds strength,
    the Spirit that instills knowledge and Fear-of-God.
Fear-of-God
    will be all his joy and delight.
He won’t judge by appearances,
    won’t decide on the basis of hearsay.
He’ll judge the needy by what is right,
    render decisions on earth’s poor with justice.
His words will bring everyone to awed attention.
    A mere breath from his lips will topple the wicked.
Each morning he’ll pull on sturdy work clothes and boots,
    and build righteousness and faithfulness in the land.

The wolf will romp with the lamb,
    the leopard sleep with the kid.
Calf and lion will eat from the same trough,
    and a little child will tend them.
Cow and bear will graze the same pasture,
    their calves and cubs grow up together,
    and the lion eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child will crawl over rattlesnake dens,
    the toddler stick his hand down the hole of a serpent.
Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill
    on my holy mountain.
The whole earth will be brimming with knowing God-Alive,
    a living knowledge of God ocean-deep, ocean-wide.

 On that day, Jesse’s Root will be raised high, posted as a rallying banner for the peoples. The nations will all come to him. His headquarters will be glorious.”

I hear a beautiful correlation between justice and peace. When true justice reigns, there is peace such as the image of animals living in harmony and children not knowing fear. It is a reminder of what life was like in the garden before sin entered the scene and brought a terrible discord to God’s world.

Christ’s righteousness and faithfulness changes everything. He is the green Shoot that promises a new world as His justice becomes the instrument through which peace returns. I never thought about Jesus being the Justice of the Peace before reading Isaiah this morning, but it is a fitting title for a king Who is unlike any this world has every known.

Advent is a time of hope that brings with it a promise of peace. When Christ returns, He will bring justice that reveals the living knowledge of God that is deeper and wider than all I can imagine. Until then, I pray we will seek justice for the poor and the needy and love others in a way that brings all of us a little closer to one another and His Son’s precious love.

isaiah_11_6_9

Vision of Peace

Ready to Go

Let me see Your vision

So I can live in peace.

Show me Your ways

So I can be who You made me to be.

Wake me up

So I can see what You are doing.

Hear my cries

So I can bear my heart to You.

Help me see the best

So I can forget the worst.

Let me dwell on the beautiful

So I can let go of the ugly.

Give me the Bread of Life

So I may never know hunger again.

Let me drink of Your Living Water

So I will forget my thirst.

I will sing myself into Your presence.

I will be vigilant as I await Your return. 

I will be who you made me to be.

I will live out Your vision of peace.

Sunset

(Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:36-44; Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Psalm 100; Philippians 4:4-9; John 6:25-38)

These scriptures truly did work together for my good this week as I let God fill me with His vision of peace.

Something to Think About

Photo credit All Good Thinking
Photo credit All Good Thinking

Philippians 4:7-8 are perfect verses for Advent because they set my mind and heart in the right direction and promise peace when I dwell where God wants me to dwell. My mind wanders toward worry far too much of the time, but these verses center my heart and mind and fill me with peace.

“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” NASB

Here are the words from verse eight found in various translations. I find that when I dwell on things which are

True

Honorable

Right

Pure

Excellent

Praiseworthy

Lovely

Fine

Good

Reputable

Authentic

Compelling

Gracious

Best

Beautiful

Admirable

Just 

I find myself filled with the peace promised in verse seven.

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7 NASB

Photo credit About Midnight
Photo credit
About Midnight

Advent is a beautiful season meant to focus my heart and mind upon Christ’s return. I can think of no better way to prepare for that wonderful day than keeping my heart and mind fixed upon those things in verse eight so I can dwell in the peace promised in verse seven.

Peace is My Best

Psalm 122 is a psalm of pilgrimage and ascent that promotes worship, getting along, and living in peace with one another. Pilgrims would sing this song as they made their way to Jerusalem. I get a sense of returning home when I read it, so it’s perfect as we come together and give thanks this week. God’s vision is of His children living and loving one another in peace. It is the vision we all have for our families. Hear David’s Psalm.

I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
Our feet are standing
Within your gates, O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, that is built
As a city that is compact together;
To which the tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord—
An ordinance for Israel—
To give thanks to the name of the Lord.

For there thrones were set for judgment,
The thrones of the house of David.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you.

 “May peace be within your walls,
And prosperity within your palaces.”
For the sake of my brothers and my friends,
I will now say, “May peace be within you.”
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek your good.

I can imagine pilgrims singing this song together in anticipation of worshiping together. The journey is about traveling together and seeking to give God our best just as He gives His best.  Psalm 122 directs my focus upon God’s vision of peace. Living and loving together in peace may seem like pie in the sky with all the craziness surrounding the holidays. Christmas is a celebration of the birth of the Prince of Peace, and Advent is a time when we anticipate His return. It is about traveling together and singing songs of peace as we get a little closer to heaven.

Our earthly homes are a mess, but our heavenly home is coming. The journey is sometimes filled with fighting and fussing, but it is also a time of singing and praising God who seeks our good and desires His peace for all of us. For God’s sake, let’s look to the wisdom of this simple song of ascents and travel together with love in our hearts remembering that peace is our destination. The journey to Jerusalem was about finding the peace and wholeness. Peace, love, and wholeness is where the journey will lead me if I keep my focus upon God’s vision and give my best back to Him. Christ is the Prince of Peace and sets the course for our journeys. His life made peace possible in a troubled and lost world. David’s psalm is a beautiful reminder that we are pilgrims heading in the same direction. Singing together is a great way to keep our focus upon where we’re heading and makes the journey a joy instead of a job.

The Prince of Peace and the Lamb of God
The Prince of Peace and the Lamb of God

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