storiesofvalue

A Step of Faith

Several years ago, our family loaded up our little car and crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains on a wet and foggy Christmas afternoon.  We had traveled the same patch of road before, but never in inclement weather and as we climbed the mountain the fog thickened.  I hung on tight to the steering wheel and slowed to a crawl.  Did you know there are some amazing embedded runway lights on Afton Mountain, Virginia?  I didn’t, but I was sure glad to see them that foggy Christmas afternoon.

In Psalm 43, the writer speaks of a “holy mountain” where God’s dwells, and the “light and truth” of God that leads us there.  The psalmist must have been thinking of the Old Testament tabernacle where God’s presence was evident, and the people of God came to worship and seek spiritual direction for their lives.  We still race to this same mountain, symbolically, to find strength and guidance in the midst of a chaotic world.  And as we go, God helps us navigate safe passage.

In life, we take steps of faith, and when we do, it is wise to come to the mountain of God.  To be honest, most of my mountaintop prayers, even the ones that relate to my ministry calling, focus on me, not the light God wants to show me.  Don’t get me wrong.  I pray for God’s guidance.  Remember, I am just being honest here.  Yet, I must acknowledge there is a prayer for guidance that asks God to help me down the path I see, and then there is the one that seeks His vision.

The latter doesn’t suggest a lack of personal confidence or a failure to think strategically.  Certainly, we can’t expect God to do all of our thinking for us.  We are His eyes and ears in the harvest field, evaluating the challenges placed before us and adapting to our changing environment.

Though Jesus prayed often for His Father’s help, He never wavered from His mission and He didn’t ask, “What was that you needed me to do again?”  Jesus had a plan! Yet, no matter how well-devised His plan, He embraced the momentary opportunities His Father put before Him and resisted the relentless opposition Satan threw His way.

We do our best to discern God’s purpose and use every resource at hand to fulfill it.  His light is not an obscure mystery, but an ever-present reality.  Even when oppression comes and we are overcome with grief, with the psalmist we cry, “Send forth your light and your truth.”

It is easy to feel rejected by God during the hard times, or to wonder if we are headed in the right direction when obstacles block our path.  How can we see the light when our way is dark or the truth when our minds are clouded?  And so we say, “God, light up the mountain!  Lead us to your altar of grace here we can praise you and find joy in your presence.”

God doesn’t intend to do all of the driving.  He has given us principles in His Word as parameters and His Holy Spirit as an on-board guide.  Then, He has promised to empower us for ministry and work providentially in our circumstances for our welfare and His glory.

We pray when we take our first step with God, and we pray unceasingly as His will is revealed.  It can be difficult to interpret His light and truth, but if we pursue it, God will bring us to the very place He needs us to be.

The Holy Distance

How close is God?  In his famous sermon on Mars Hill the Apostle Paul reflected on the proliferation of idols in the city of Athens.  Pagan temples dotted the landscape, and just in case a god had been overlooked, a monument had been erected to the “Unknown god.”  The people of Athens were terribly misguided in their worship, but their behavior indicated a strong yearning for the supernatural.

Paul fed this hunger with a description of the Living God followed by this stunning statement: “he is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:27).  Incredible!  Could the God who created the universe really be close to the citizens of a city fixated on stone images?

Indeed, God is always near.  He was near the Athenians and He is near to us.  But He rarely interacts with us unless we welcome Him.  I say “rarely” with some reservation.  Certainly, the very air we breathe is a touch of God’s presence in our lives, and His providential hand is working all around us, regardless of whether or not we seek Him.  The Bible also gives us examples of people who purposely tried to hide from God, but were pursued by Him just the same: people like Adam, Eve, Jonah, and Zacchaeus.

Yet, the presence of God has little impact on our lives if we refuse to acknowledge our need for His active participation.  Perhaps this is why Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  He wanted us to know His Father’s plan was unfolding all around us, but our place in that plan was contingent on our willingness to embrace His will in humble obedience.

Perhaps you already know all of this.  However, something has obscured God’s presence and right now He seems distant.  You cry out to him like the psalmist, “O Lord, you have seen this, be not silent.  Do not be far from me, O Lord” (Psalm 35:22), but no answer comes.  In your better moments, you know your circumstances are altering your reality.  A relationship has ended.  Your health has broken.  Financial strain has brought you to the point of bankruptcy.  Your sin has hurt those close to you.

Sometimes our perception of distance is impacted by the intensity of our need.  For example, if we live three blocks from a fire and rescue station, we might complain when sirens wake us or disturb our family gatherings.  But in an emergency, three blocks isn’t close enough.  Five minutes isn’t soon enough.

This might explain why friends and family members are often unaware they haven’t given us the attention we needed in a time of distress.  It isn’t that they didn’t care, but rather that our need was pressing in on us in indescribable ways.  We were calling out with the psalmist, “Rescue my life from their ravages, my precious life from these lions” (Psalm 35:17), but no help came; or so it seemed.

And so we look to God with great expectation, remembering He not only cares for us but has immeasurable power.  He can’t say, “I’m only human” or “I would have been there, but I was away on a business trip.”  We reach our limits and lament, “We have done everything possible,” but God specializes in the impossible.  He is not limited by time and space, and there is never a reason why He can’t be near.

Even if God had limitations, which He does not, He could overcome them with His creative genius.  He comforted His own son with angels (Matthew 4:11).  His Son sent His disciples out two-by-two to heal the sick and proclaim the kingdom (Luke 10:9).  And throughout the biblical account we find God working behind the scenes through humble servants who were willing to be His earthly angels to those in need (Acts 9:36).

How then, can we ever say God is distant?  I think the answer lies, not in God, but in our weak human condition.  Please don’t misunderstand.  I do not intend to heap additional guilt on our hearts that are already burdened.  It would be cruel to say to the struggler, “Not only have you distanced yourself from God, but as a result He wants nothing to do with you.”  In my experience, it is natural to assume this anyway.  We speculate God might be distant because He is angry with us or has written us off.  Certainly, this is not the case, but our feelings can deceive us.

Our sense of distance with God is further complicated because it is a “holy distance.”  We come to Him because we are incapable of healing ourselves, and we know if He cannot help us we are doomed.  God is often our last hope before we cross over into unbelief or lose ourselves.

Thus, when help doesn’t come at once, or the people around us fail to collaborate with our spiritual appeal in some way, the ominous gap between ourselves and the holy grows bigger.  God has not left us, and we have not necessarily left God.  But there is an elephant in the room.  If He is there with us, why are we still so cast down, and why is there no forward movement in our lives?

The good news is, not only is the holiness of God ever-present, but He understands our frustration with answers that don’t come quickly.  If we could remove the veil that separates our earthly reality from the spiritual realm, I feel certain we would see a flurry of activity.  God, together with the Son and the Spirit would be discussing our every need.  They would have a clear strategy, considering the tapestry of past, present and future events, and monitoring the people we interact with on a daily basis.  There would be an overriding passion to draw us into the holy; to call us from the mundane and the desperate into eternal light.

When you go through difficult seasons in your life, your senses can be dulled.  But, rest assured.  You are as close to our holy God as ever and He is close to you.  The weight you are carrying may make it hard for you to feel His presence, and the urgency of the moment could be what leaves you aching for more.  But His glory surrounds you, and He is already working.  The psalmist complained, “O Lord, how long will you look on?” (Psalm 35:17)  Indeed God is doing more than looking.  He can never be compared to the priest and the Levite who looked at the dying man on the road and walked by.  He is the heart of the Good Samaritan, and is in fact the Shepherd of our souls.  He never leaves us, but is an ever-present help in time of need.

Call to the holy God and forget any notion of a holy distance.  The One who is holy is present, and draws us to His side.

The Inescapable Shadow

Shepherds love their sheep, and with good cause.  They are an important source of revenue, and require constant monitoring to insure they aren’t lost, wounded or attacked by predators.  The job would be a bit easier if sheep were highly intelligent, but in God’s wisdom He gave them a simple aptitude.  This both frustrates the shepherd and nurtures his heart of compassion, as he invests in his flock.

Some have speculated that David wrote the 23^rd Psalm as he guarded sheep on a hillside near Bethlehem.  At the very least we can presume this was his inspiration for this popular passage of scripture.

The psalm’s first portion transports us to a fertile green pasture and a calm watering hole where sheep can drink unmolested.  Once full and refreshed, the shepherd leads them down a peaceful path to their next destination.  As we read David’s description we can almost hear the birds singing overhead and feel the cool, gentle breeze on our face.  Perhaps you have seen this scene depicted on a church bulletin where Jesus is leading a flock of happy sheep down a winding path along a lush countryside.

David’s word picture leads us into the presence of God, for He is our true Shepherd, guiding us in righteousness and forming us into shepherds in our own fields of service.  The very thought of this journey and the joy we share with our Creator makes us smile.

Unfortunately, the tone of David’s psalm changes abruptly.  The pasture becomes a jagged maze of fallen rocks and the calm waters a torrent carving its way deep into a canyon floor.  A shadow drifts into the valley, making the rocky path more ominous, and the bird’s songs are displaced by an eerie whistle whipping past the canyon walls.  We find ourselves in the “shadow of the valley of death.”

I spent several summers on the farm as a young boy and we had names for places we frequented, or chose not to frequent.  There was “Scoops place” where we bought our cold cokes and “Mary’s store” owned by a distant cousin who sold us balsa wood airplanes.  Then there was “old Mrs. Murphy’s”, a farm-house that looked a little haunted in the dark.  We stayed clear of Mrs. Murphy’s.

So when I read about David’s “shadow of the valley of death” my gut tells me there was such a place near the hillside where he watched over his sheep.  This might not have been the official name, but David and his friends all knew the valley.  They avoided it like the plague, but on occasion, when the grass was spent in their pasture, they had to pass through it.

My guess is you have a similar valley.  All humans have that place where their hearts sink in despair and the way looks uncertain.  Sometimes we enter the valley by choice and often we fall in, or are driven in, and once there are prone to panic.  No one in their right mind would enter such a place if they had a choice.  Bandits lurk there, hiding behind craggy rocks to surprise innocent travelers.  Animals scavenge the valley floor in search of an easy kill.  The way is deep and uninhabited, and those who go there often pass alone.

At this point I must tell you a piece of information that might trouble you.  If you want to disregard it, or refuse to believe me, I will understand.  I am convinced God sometimes purposely allows us to enter the “shadow of the valley of death”, either for our own good, or because He has chosen not to intervene in certain events in our lives.  God didn’t create the valley, but He might use it for our own welfare, and He certainly will never leave us there unattended.

If you have attended a Christian funeral, you have probably heard Psalm 23 used to comfort those who are grieving.  Every part of the psalm applies to loss, but this phrase about the “shadow of the valley of death” connects on a different level.  While David may not have been thinking specifically of death when he wrote these words, they certainly depict our experience as those left behind.  Grief feels like a deep valley and the shadow that envelops us clouds our vision of hope.  Hope remains, and the comfort of God is never far from us, but our feelings tell us otherwise.

Unless we precede all of our loved ones, or Jesus comes back, we will fall under the shadow of grief.  For those who live without hope in Jesus, the weight is almost unbearable, but even for those who know the Savior, there is pain.  Pain is a result of separation, and our unquenchable desire for life to go on as it has forever.  We are also confused by the veil that separates this reality from the other, and while we trust God’s Word is true, it is hard to find comfort in something we cannot see.

However, the Shepherd has not left us, and His presence sustains us.  His rod and staff comfort us.  In defiance, He places a feast before everything and everyone who might defeat us, including the great enemy death.  All the while, He anoints our heads with oil and fills our hearts to overflowing with His love and grace.  Is the valley deep?  Yes.  Is it dangerous?  Absolutely!  But there is nothing under the shadow that cannot be conquered by a good God.  “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:37-39)

We will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.  In fact, if we are in Christ, we have already taken up residence.  And as long as we live in His presence there isn’t a valley in this world we can’t make it through.

When You Are at a Crossroads

GPS devices have made vacation travel less dramatic.  Years ago my dad used something called a TripTik to navigate our nation’s highways, many of which were still under construction at the time.  What was a TripTik? Picture a map cut into pieces, bound by a plastic spine at the top, with lots of special fold-out sections to help you through cities and detours.  The TripTik didn’t talk to us, but on occasion my dad talked to the TripTik.

Now I travel with the help of my hand-held navigator, and an electronic voice tells me where to go.  I am guessing you do the same.  But GPS devices aren’t perfect.  Not long ago my wife and I approached a crossroads on a strange highway and our navigator had a melt-down.  There is no sense hiding the truth: our GPS got lost!  Bring back the TripTik!

A crossroad presents many challenges.  In fairness to my navigator, it went haywire while we were approaching a multi-level interchange where roads fanned out in every direction.  This is the problem with crossroads.  Sometimes they present too many choices, and it isn’t always clear where the roads lead.

My first exposure to the concept of a crossroad as a symbol of life’s bigger journey was in elementary school.  Our teacher challenged us to memorize Robert Frost’s classic poem “The Road Not Taken.”  Perhaps you have heard the closing lines of the poem: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

Crossroads are as unique as the individuals who face them, but there are a few important junctures in life we all experience.  These include our choice of career, our decision to marry and, if so, whom, and whether or not we are going to put God at the center of our lives.  We don’t always recognize the exact moments these things are settled in our minds, but later we can look back and, like Robert Frost, see “the difference.”

Jesus once talked about two roads, including one less traveled.  He said, “Enter through the narrow gate. ” (7:13-14).  This is the one taken by those who choose to put the kingdom of God first.

I know our culture resists the notion that it is possible to make a wrong turn toward eternity, but deep down we know it is unreasonable to think otherwise.  Many roads never meet, and while we can usually turn around, we cannot expect to take a path to one destination and end up at another.  To be clear, we can’t choose to ignore the kingdom of God in our lives and expect to inherit it in the end.

The good news is, normally we have an opportunity to think and meditate on life’s crossroads.  This doesn’t mean we won’t encounter important decisions that have to be made quickly, as moral choices are presented to us on a daily basis.  However, even these decisions are predicated on the bigger choices we have made during earlier times of reflection.

In Psalm 5 David describes the kind of life that contemplates the big things in order to gain mastery over everything, big and small.  Of course David was a living example of what happens when one grows complacent, and there is little doubt his writings were as much a reminder to himself as a directive to others.

The most important place to begin preparing for life’s crossroads is, as you might expect, in the beginning: the beginning of each day that is.  David writes, “In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice” (5:3).  Not everyone is a morning person, but if we are alive and breathing, at some point we need to shake our slumber and make up our minds how we are going to use each day God has given us.  If we don’t, by the time we are fully awake, Satan will already have set our course, or neutralized any impact we might have had for God that day.  Therefore, whenever our “morning” arrives, even if we are a late riser, a third-shift employee, or an international traveler, it is good to make sure our first conversation is with God.

But there is also a big context that sets the stage for the choices we make in life.  David writes, “You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell” (vs. 4).  This truth is more than a fact about God’s nature.  It defines our present reality and reveals why crossroads occur in the first place.  We are creatures of free will, and as long as wicked people determine to do evil things, there will be two clearly defined paths in the world.  They are the paths Jesus described perfectly as those leading to either destruction or life.

If we are engaged in a battle between good and evil, and if we are going to be faced with decisions that could impact our lives moving forward, we need to begin each day with God in our hearts and minds, and “wait in expectation” (vs. 3) as He guides.  The big decisions usually don’t have to be made at once.  We have time to think, pray and counsel.  Most of all, we have time to wait while God impressed His will on our hearts.

If you are pressed at a crossroads in your life and absolutely can’t wait, draw on everything you know about God’s desire for you and seek His kingdom above all.  If you can wait, take all the time you need for clarity.  Have you already taken a wrong turn?  It’s ok.  God can reroute you and help you make up for lost time.  But whatever you do, don’t ever take a crossroad lightly.  Every road leads somewhere, and the best place to determine where you will end up is when you take your first step.  It may be the most important step you ever take.

How do we define “rock-bottom?”  Department stores advertise rock-bottom prices.  We can hit a literal rock-bottom digging a hole in our yard.  But there is another kind of rock-bottom that involves a very personal and painful journey.

King David describes this experience in a penitent Psalm.  He hit rock-bottom after an illicit sexual affair with a married woman and the murder of her husband.  At first, David covered up his sin, but his actions haunted him.  “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.  For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer” (Psalm 32:3-4).

As David suffered in this cauldron of his own making, God sent the prophet Nathan to deliver a means of restoration.  But the road back would demand deep repentance.  Nathan shared a parable with David about a rich man who seized a poor man’s only ewe lamb to feed some house guests (2 Samuel 12).  The parable infuriated David!  How could a rich man use his power and position to treat others unjustly?

Then David heard the words from the prophet Nathan that would certainly be etched in his memory: “you are the man!”  David later wrote, ‘Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.  I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”’ (Psalm 32:6).  Rock-bottom is a frightening place to be, but it is the best place for God to transform our hearts.

Sin is not the only culprit that drives us low.  If rock-bottom were a convention center, its guests would include those with broken relationships, financial disasters, incurable diseases and emotional breakdowns.  Maybe you have been there.  Maybe you thought you were there until things got worse and you realized the bottom was deeper than you imagined.  Yet, whether we are responsible for a crisis in our lives, or are the innocent victims of circumstances beyond our control, full disclosure and confession is always a good place to start with God.

Rock-bottom is where we hand the reigns of our souls over to God and give Him permission to change us.  In His wisdom our Creator refuses to impose His will on us unless we are willing.  But He wants to be our “hiding place” (Psalm 32:7); our protector and deliverer.  He says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.  Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you” (Psalm 32:8-9).

The difficult climb out of any pit always begins with trust in God.  “Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him” (Psalm 32:10).  Our trust in God doesn’t mean we won’t have trouble in our lives, but it does promise progress.  In fact, when we yield to God’s will and surrender our trials into His hands we have already made progress, even if we are just beginning our long and arduous ascent from rock-bottom.

I don’t mean to suggest our lives have to fall apart before we let God lead.  Surely, He prefers we trust Him in all circumstances, and would love to help us avoid some of life’s darkest hours through a life of obedience.  But if you ever find yourself at the very bottom wondering if there is any point in pressing on, please know you may actually be on the threshold of unimaginable joy.  Trust the Lord.  He knows all about rock-bottom.  I am inclined to think He spends a considerable amount of time there, binding up wounds and preparing broken people to walk in the shadow of His amazing grace.

Friends,

This Friday, around 9:00am, you should receive your first weekly post of “stories of value.”  I hope you find the new format helpful.  While I won’t post as often, I will have time to give you complete devotional thoughts with a little more creativity.

Thank you for traveling with me on this journey.  Be sure to invite your friends to join us!  Blessings,

Larry Jones

Dear Morning Devotion Friends – This is the last devotional segment you will receive before my new format and schedule begins.  My weekly posts will occur on Fridays.  I encourage you to continue your daily time with the Lord and His Word.  Blessings – Larry

The importance of our prayers for “clarity” cannot be overstated.  God has equipped us with the ability to work through devastating events in our lives.  He has given us the capacity to reason, discern and act.  But unless we begin with the right fundamental truths, our perspectives can become distorted.  Satan can work all kinds of mischief into the details of our crisis.

Praying for clarity is like planning a trip.   When we face a crisis, we must invite God into our journey and ask Him to help us set our course.  While it is true He is always present, there is a big difference between knowing He is there and allowing Him to work in us and through us.  At the beginning of any path God affirms certain truths in our minds, and reminds us we are covered with His Son’s grace.  He reveals principles of crisis management through His biblical record, and gives us positive and negative examples of ways in which His servants have faced difficult trials.

Certainly, we continue to pray throughout any crisis, just as we make prayer a priority in every season of our lives.  But it is best if we concentrate our efforts on getting things straight from the beginning.  If we can first figure out where we need to end up, and how God wants us to get there, many of the details in-between will be easier to determine.  Perhaps this is why Jesus began His ministry by committing His future to His Father in baptism and entering the desert for a forty-day fast.  Everything that was to come would rise or fall on Jesus’ resolve to fulfill His mission.  His words to Satan sum up the heart of a faithful servant, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only” (Matthew 4:10).  This is where every successful journey starts.

Dear Morning Devotion Friends.  My blog  will be transitioning to a weekly post.  This will allow me to prepare complete devotional thoughts instead of daily segments and will give me more time for other writing  responsibilities. This change should make my blog more beneficial and allow for wider distribution.  I look forward to continuing this journey with you.  May God continue to bless you as you grow in Him.  Blessings,  Larry Jones.

I should add, however, that clarity should not be expected to emerge at once.  We will likely never have a perfect understanding of our circumstances.  Yet, I have personally experienced God’s nudge in the right direction when I was paralyzed by my circumstances or so burdened I was not willing to move on my own.

At the risk of speaking out of my field of expertise, I believe the system of emergency triage is a great metaphor for the process of seeking God’s clarity in a crisis.  Triage is the method of quickly categorizing the condition of the injured in an event involving many people, in an effort to save as many as possible.

When we go through any crisis we must decide what needs to be done first.  We must also resist the urge to try to fix things that cannot be fixed or address needs that can wait.  Every situation is unique, but I have discovered some of the most immediate needs in a crisis usually involve medical or legal decisions and intense emotions that must be managed for the sake of sound judgment.  Within these emotions are feelings of abandonment, guilt, anger and fear.  This means a good place to start in our prayer efforts is to ask God to give us a sense of His presence and settle our hearts so we can think rationally.

Dynamics in relationships are almost always a part of a crisis, but they are the last thing we want to address in the moment.  The only exception to this might be the acknowledgment that personal issues must be set aside between family members so everyone can focus on what is important.  A good prayer along these lines might be, “God bring us together and make us one so we can seek your will in this time of trouble.”

The sudden loss of a loved one presents an immediate need to pray for God’s comfort and assurance.  I have stood by the hospital bed of many family members after a tragic accident resulting in death, and we have prayed prayers of hope in the midst of our pain.  These kinds of experiences are agonizing for me, but I am thankful for God’s promises and the faith that sustains us when there is nowhere else to turn.  David writes, “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.  For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.” (Psalm 27:4-5)

Praying for Clarity

Since a crisis in our families is so multi-faceted, it is probably best to first ask God to help us sort out the chaos.  This doesn’t mean we have to be overly academic and deny our need to cry out with raw emotion.  However, prayer also involves a meditative practice of reasoning and contemplation.  In other words, we don’t have to be praying “to” God to be thinking things through “with” God.

Have you ever watched a child doing homework with a parent nearby?  He might talk to himself as he thinks, but when he gets stuck he asks his parent for guidance.  Prayers for clarity are much like this.  We think and pray, pray and think.  Our prayer might be, “God, I am so confused I can’t think straight.  Help me clear the fog and set a course.”

In his letter to the Ephesians the Apostle Paul prayed that the eyes of his reader’s hearts might “be enlightened” (Ephesians 1:18).  Another way of expressing this truth is that they would be able to sort out their thoughts and feelings with God’s help.  In the same way, we should pray for clarity since the Lord knows what we need before we ask, and His Holy Spirit is already interceding for us. (Matthew 6:31-33, Romans 8:26-27)  God already has things organized.  He is merely giving us time to collect ourselves so He can start to direct our steps and lead us through our valley.

I should add, however, that clarity should not be expected to emerge at once.  In fact, we will likely never have a perfect understanding of our circumstances.  Yet, I have personally experienced God’s nudge in the right direction when I was paralyzed by my circumstances or so burdened I was not willing to move on my own.