On a Donkey?!?

"Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey."

Zechariah 9:9 NIV

I've been told that a king riding on a donkey was symbolic of times of peace.  Contrast it to a king riding on a horse, that meant the king was leading troops into battle.  I've heard this before, but it never really clicked.  I've always thought Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to fulfilled prophecy.  I also find this parallel interesting:  Mary rode into Bethlehem on a donkey and Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.  Today I was struck by the symbolic meaning of peace.  Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey!  People were expecting Him to lead a political revolution, liberating Israel from Roman rule.  Instead Jesus spoke about a heavenly or spiritual kingdom, but the crowd just don't get it.  Jesus used not only His words to convey this message, but also cultural traditions of the day.  He came in peace, on a donkey, not on a war horse.

This is my 43rd Palm Sunday, although I don't know if you want to count the first 10 or so.  I know this story.  I've heard it many times.  I am so grateful that the Holy Spirit quickened my mind to a new aspect of Mark 11 today. My Rabi still has things to teach me. 

What part of Palm Sunday did you see in a new light today?

Hide and Seek

Do you know why I like physical science?  Honestly, there is more than one reason.  Physical science has a lot of math in it.  Those type of calculations have one answer.  Either you get it wrong or you get it right.  There's not a lot of grey area.  It's important to learn to correctly apply the process to get the right answers.  Eventually, you might get so good at the process that they let you use it to research questions that we don't know the answers to, yet.  Then you might discover something new to share with everyone else.  So cool!  

There's a question in Christianity that already has a lot of great answers.  This is not a physical science type of question, because I believe it has more than one correct solution.  

If God wants us to seek Him and find Him, then why is He hiding?

Some say that God isn't immediately obvious because we would not have a chance at faith.  If everyone could see Him, then we wouldn't need to believe.  Some say that we can't see God because of us.  God is obviously there, but the moral condition of the human heart does not allow us to see Him.  Some say our limited human minds and souls wouldn't be able to take His unveiled manifest presence.  We would short circuit.  Maybe we shouldn't use the word 'see' because some would tell you that God is spirit and not physical.  Maybe we should say 'perceive' Him.

May I suggest one more answer?  

As humans, we like a little mystery.  What kid doesn't love to play hide and seek?  I'll hide, and you find me.  Teens love the thrill of the chase, pursuing your crush to catch his/her eye.  Who loves a good mystery novel?  Or a crime show for that matter?  We like to hear the story and figuring out the clues.  It's intriguing.  I wonder if one of the reasons God doesn't make Himself immediately obvious is because He made us and He knows this about our nature.  What if God is playing hide and seek with us just like parents play with their children?  He might leave us a clue, peek out from behind a cabinet door or leave His foot sticking out.  That just whets our appetite to seek Him more.  Then we might discover something new about God, something that we can share with others.  Just like when we use the scientific method to learn something new about the world.  Each of us has a unique perspective.  Each of us can perceive Him a little differently from everyone else.  He's just too big and awesome for any one person to fully perceive.  And then there is this thought that is almost too good to bear, what if the Creator of the Universe really enjoys interacting with us?  Enjoys us just like parents enjoy playing hide and seek with their children.  

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.  Jeremiah 29:13 NIV

Get with the Program!

I try to blog once a month around the middle of the month.  Here it is the last day of January and I'm just now getting around to it.  Why is that?  I'm having a difficult time getting with the program, getting into the swing of things.  This month has been full of transitions.  School went from full remote to hybrid.  A few of the kids' after school activities starting meeting again in some form or fashion after the holiday/covid break.  Toby is transitioning from working full time and going to school to working part time and going to school.  I'm still trying to figure out how all this fits together.  

I've enjoyed a regular quiet time with God for years now, decades.  My parents encouraged it by buying me devotionals and I probably started regularly practicing time alone with God when I was in middle school.  My usual habit is to do it at night.  When the kids were little and napping, I'd do it during their naps.  A few years ago I tried doing it first thing in the morning.  I've heard a lot about starting your day with God helps to frame your entire day.  I gave this a try but it just didn't work for me.  I have trouble sleeping.  I find that my soul can rest best if I've just had my quiet time.  Then I can lie down and sleep peacefully knowing my Shepherd is near.  Also, I just don't want to get up any earlier to have my quiet time before I leave for school.  

I still want the benefit of framing my day in prayer.  So, at breakfast, I use 30 Days of Praying the Names and Attributes of God calendar put out by the Navigators.  It gives a different name or characteristic of God for each day of the month.  When I'm still waking up, I can praise God for that attribute and ask Him to help me portray it to those I come in contact with during my day.  Sometimes, when I'm awake enough, I also used this time to review my day and invite God into it.  Over the last few months, I've felt the Shepherd's gentle nudge.  Am I asking God to bless my plans, or am I seeking Him out to find out His plans for my day?  It's a good question, because my days the past few months have had many, many, changes in schedule.  Changes cause me to view life from a new perspective.  I have to find my focus, to fix my eyes on Jesus, from this new vantage point.  It's a good thing.  I'm learning to see Him more completely from every angle, but it takes time to adjust.  It was very confirming to hear Scott Porter talk about this in his sermon at GPC on 1/17/2021.  He titled it It is Hard to Repent When You are Already a Good Person.  He talked about his nephew taking time to ask God what He wanted him to pursue for a career.  I feel like I've settled that.  I felt God calling me into teaching when I was a teen.  But as Jarod Daniel pointed out in today's sermon, commitment in your relationship with Christ is like commitment in your marriage.  That commitment isn't a one time thing.  I'm committed to my relationship with Toby every day.  The same thing is true in my commitment to following Christ's leading in my everyday life.  He's my Lord in the daily decisions as well as in the big ones.  

Do Not Give Up

About a week ago I read about King Asa in 2 Chronicles 14-16.  His Great-Grandfather was Wise Solomon, who along with King David, governed over Israel during its Golden Age.  Between Solomon and Asa, the nation had split.  When Asa came to power, the gold had been stripped from Israel by the hands of neighboring kings.  Asa enjoyed a long season of peace early in his reign and used the time well.  He repaired the fortress cities built by Rehoboam and called his people to return to their God.  He called upon the Lord when Judah is threatened by Cushite invaders and God comes to their aid.  You should read all about it for yourself, don't take my word for it.  

In 1 Chronicles 15 a man named Azariah came to speak with King Asa.  I've been meditating on his message for about a week and it feels so timely.  You can read it in 1 Chronicles 15:1-7.  Arariah's message has 3 points that I think are very applicable for today.  

1) God wants us to seek Him and promises to reveal Himself to us when we do.  "The Lord is with you when you are with him.  If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you."

2) God uses troubling times to try to draw us back to Himself when we do forsake Him.  In times of unrest, He wants us to seek Him for solutions, resolution, and peace.  His goal isn't to crush us or punish us, His goal is repentance and reconciliation (See verses 3-6).

3) "But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded." (verse 7).  This was spoken to King Asa in response to his spiritual reform both personally and nationally, but it seems so timely to all of us.  Don't give up.  I know it's difficult to balance your own work responsibilities while supporting your child while they do school at home.  (See that pile of backpacks in my living room!  This isn't how life normally is.)  I know it's tough to practice Covid precautions when you have to give up some freedoms.  I know it's difficult to miss your loved ones at a holiday because you are taking quarantine precautions.  I know it's hard to be unable to work due to the slow economy and illness.  But . . 

Do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.

My Shepherd is Johovah-Shalom, the God of Peace

I use 30 Days of Praying the Names and Attributes of God from the Navigators to frame my morning prayers.  Do you know what yesterday's name of God was?  Jehovah-shalom, the God of Peace!  How perfect is that?  We are in the wake of election results exposing a divided nation.  The Covid-19 wave two is cresting.  My school started a new schedule today.  Now that's a lot to worry about!  I love meditating on my shepard being Jehovah-shalom, the God of Peace. 

Know that the Lord is God.  It is he who made us, we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.  Psalm 100:3

Know that God is still on the throne in the midst of these troubled times.  We are His; we belong to Him.  He is our gentle shepherd.  We are His sheep.  It is not a promise to be free of trial and trouble.  The wolf and lion still crave mutton, but the Shepherd's rod and staff protect us.  The fly still bites, but He applies healing oil to our heads.  Remember who your Shepherd is!

Appreciating Winter

Winter is not my favorite season.  I love it through Christmas and the New Year, but then winter becomes tedious.  It's cold and bleak.  I don't want to go outside.  The blue sunny skies often turn grey.  The grass turns a dirty tan.  The grey sky and tan grass blend into a dreary landscape.  Genesis 8:22 tells me that "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease."  1 Thessalonians 5:18 says "give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."  So I tend to think that I need to find a way to be thankful for winter.  

I also believe that people go through spiritual seasons, seasons of the soul.  They don't necessarily line up with the timing of the physical seasons outside, but similarities exist between what happens to the natural word and what happens in the world inside our hearts.  You might have an internal spring while the world is in winter.  Spring bubbles with joyful new life.  Summer is full of hard work while your character grows but you know in the end it will produce a harvest.  Fall is where all your effort to grow plays off and you see the fruit of your labors.  Then winter hits.  What is good about the winter of the soul?

The dreary skies can really dampen my soul.  Sometimes it's hard to remember that the sun will shine again.  But it does.  It always returns to cause the plants to spring to life.  No matter how long winter may seem, it doesn't last forever.  The cloudy skies may hid the sun for a while, but eventually its light and warmth fall on the grown again.  I experience this spiritually too.  Sometimes God's love and favor seems far from me, like they are hiding behind a cloud.  Sometimes I've caused this by walking away from Him, but not always.  It's good for me to remember that His love and favor are still shining even though a cloud might be blocking my view of it.  So winter causes my faith to grow - and that's a good thing. Hebrews 11:1 tells us "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."  God's love and favor is there for me, even if He feels a million miles away and I can't see it right now.  

Winter is a time when the plants rest.  Growth slows or even stops.  Rest is a good thing.  When things slow down, I have time to reflect.  Winter's reduction in growth and activity allows me to ponder all the new things I tried in those seasons of growth and life.  Which new things help me to become more Christ-like?  Which new things need to become a habit?  Which habits need to become a thing of the past? Psalm 139:23-24 remind me that reflection is a good spiritual habit.  Soul winter gives me a chance to allow the Holy Spirit to make me aware of what needs to change.

Finally, some seeds require a cold snap to stimulate them to germinate.  This happens in my spiritual life too.  Sometimes I read my Bible but I don't really get anything out of it at the time.  Sometimes I pray, but my prayers are not answered.  I follow God's leading, but nothing changes.  I'm sowing spiritual seed, but I'm not seeing any fruit from my labors.  The seed's need for cold to begin to grow reminds me that sometimes I need to patiently persevere in doing good.  Galatians 6:9 reads "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."  Winter reminds me to preserver.  

There you have it: three good things about winter to encourage your soul.  Faith grows when I have to live on God's promises instead of what I see and experience.  Rest gives me the time to reflect on the direction I'm going.  Perseverance keeps me going until I see the fruit of spiritual labors.

How Embarrassing!

We visited the church I grew up in at the end of June.  Pastor Scott began his sermon by talking about sometimes we need to be reminded that we are sinners.  That struck a chord with me.  If you have been walking with God for a while and allowing His word to transform your life, you might start to forget who you used to be.  We would not want to forget how much we have been forgiven, because those who have been forgiven much love much, right?  Every once and a while an old memory pops into my head of foolish things I've done in the past.  Yikes!  How could I be so foolish!  Now, if God is bringing those things to my mind, He's probably doing it to heal me of some hurt or remind me of something I need reconcile with Him and/or others.  Sometimes I know that all business has been taken care of with a memory, but it still pops up.  Then I feel embarrassed and self-conscious.  I might not feel as free to take a risk or a leap of faith.  And if that happens, it's probably not from God, it's probably from the enemy, the accuser of the brethren.  So, what should I do when those memories spring into my conscious?  Well, as Kevin on our worship team reminded us at church on Sunday, we want to give glory to God; to use all things in our lives to magnify Him.  2 Corinthians 10:5 tells us to 'take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ.'  When those embarrassing memories come to mind, I've been taking them captive to Christ by silently thanking Him for saving me, forgiving me, throwing my sins into the sea of forgetfulness, loving me while I was still His enemy.  And it's helped me to move on instead of feeling self-conscious.  What do you do when those silly old memories enter your head?