Made to Lie Down

Psalm 23 is one of those more familiar passages of Scripture. If you've ever been to a Catholic or Protestant funeral, you've probably heard it. Maybe you memorized it in Sunday school when you were a child. It brings comfort...until it doesn't. When my mother was living with us, someone brought to my attention the practice of reading, reciting, meditating on and regularly studying Psalm 23 as part of personal worship. I began digging into it once a week in my quiet time and reciting it every night as I tucked Mom into bed. I say it nightly with our youngest even now. But as I read it this morning, one of the more comforting images in the passage caused me to sort of recoil. The second verse in The Complete Jewish Bible says, He has me lie down in grassy pastures, he leads me by quiet water. Beautiful, serene, right? Not for me; at least, not today. 

What came to mind as I read was Luci, our really high-energy four-legged family member. Our yard is protected by a solid wooden fence. Two doors down lives a German Shepherd whose nose knows when Luci comes outside. It almost seems as though he lies in wait and, when Luci settles in sniffing contentedly or gnawing on a toy, he lets out these terrible bellicose barks. Because Lu is unable to see him and is reactive to other dogs, she responds by jumping on the fence, tearing her claws into the paint and gouging the wood. In short, she loses her mind. To prevent all of this chaos, I command her to lie down at my feet. If she begins to stir, I gently remind her: this is her place, and it's for her own good (and my sanity). When the Shepherd barks, Luci whines and fidgets; she anxiously glances from me to the fence and back again, but so long as she is lying right by my feet, she (usually) remains. She doesn't like it; she wants desperately to react; but having her lie down is necessary to avoid a whole lot of drama and prevent her from responding to things she will never control.

The season I am in right now is difficult. I have all of the typical obligations: wife, mother, dog owner, citizen, etc. And I have been trying to maintain activities I love to do -- teaching, writing, things that confirm my existence is not solely in relation to other people, that I am God's daughter, and I have a personal relationship with Him. However, in this season, one of the hats I wear is particularly taxing; it is chaotic and emotionally draining. And, in some ways, I feel that job has put me on the bench with regard to the others --especially those things I enjoy. I have been made to lie down in grassy pastures or more like put out to pasture, as they say. At least, that's how it feels to me. More than once, I have tried to "figure out" what God is doing or --even more often --tried to dig my way out. Maybe if I.... How about changing the way I...? All along, however, God has been assuring me that if He has placed me somewhere, it is according to His plan; and if I obey, He will get glory and I will know good. But that's not always easy to remember. Like Luci, I hear the turmoil, I sense the threat; there are things I can do! Put me in, Coach! 

As I lie in this grassy meadow, feeling out of touch from some of the ways I used to serve Him or some of the ways in which I was able to spend more time serving, I can meditate on Scripture. The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in His love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17) Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. (Isaiah 40:10) My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19) I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6) Our God is a promise keeper, and He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or imagine. And sometimes He keeps us on the bench --or in the grassy pastures --not because we need to rest, but because we need to not respond to things we will never control. Sometimes we have to be protected from ourselves. Sometimes we need seasons in which we come to know just how desperately we need to keep our eyes on our Shepherd and not attempt to work in our own strength.  

Wherever you are today --in the pasture or in the fray --know that if God has placed you there, He, Good Shepherd that He is, is right there with you and leading the way.

Midweek: Overcoming Fear

Fear is a poem written by Eva Pickova, a young Czechoslovakian girl. In 1942, she was taken to Terezin, a Nazi concentration camp. She died a little more than a year later in the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp. Her poem was discovered in Terezín after the camp was liberated. 

Fear

Today the ghetto knows a different fear,

Close in it grip, death wields an icy scythe.

An evil sickness spreads a terror in its wake,

The victims of its shadow weep and writhe.

Today fathers heartbeat tell his fright.

And Mother's bend their heads into their hands,

Now children choke and die with typhus here,

A bitter tax is taken from their hands.

My heart still beats inside my breast

While friends depart for other worlds.

Perhaps its better-who can say?

Than watching this, to die today?

No, No, my God we want to live.

Not watch our numbers melt away.

We want to have a better world,

We want to work-we must not die!

Eva Pickova 

Life on Memorial Day

In our little corner of the Keystone State, Memorial Day is celebrated with a parade and a community picnic. Scheduled between these two events is a somber, respectful service complete with bag pipes and invocations. Neighbors and public officials come together to memorialize those who gave their lives as they served in our nation's military. It is a day of community and fun, but not without a moment in which we remember the purpose for which this day was first consecrated. 

Death and dying is, of course, a grievous thing to consider --even on a long sunny weekend. Far more grievous than that, however, is the condemnation due each one not in Christ. I don't think we talk about that nearly enough. When we die, we all receive something. That something is based on the criteria we chose while alive. Jesus makes it very clear, the only criterion for gaining eternal life is living for Him (John 14:6). Anything else we choose --living for ourselves, living to please others, living to earn money, living to get whatever we can get from some benevolent source in the sky, the gods we serve and worship as we live our life on earth --these are what will present (or what will be presented before us) to gain entrance to heaven. And they are going to be found seriously lacking. Anything, anyone other than Jesus will not make us right with God and save us from hell. Like it or no, accept it or no, that's just the truth revealed to us by the righteous and holy God of which moral law is a reflection. Finding ourselves enemies of God is cause for eternal condemnation.

I've often had difficulty contemplating God's justice, particularly when it comes to condemning folks to hell. I mean, read these verses promising what will befall the enemies of God and His people:

...from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 25:29-30)

But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)

As much as folks might get under my skin, as much hurt as I have suffered at the hands of others, do I really want this for them? And my loved ones who have rejected God, can I love the God that will send them to hell? Can I accept that part of this God --the just part --that results in so much pain? Scripture tells us that, as believers, we not only must, but we will:

The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance; He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. (Psalm 58:10)

Proverbs 11:10 says there is jubilation when the wicked perish! Psalm 98:4-9 paints a picture of the celebration that will occur when the Lord judges the wicked, condemning them to eternal death. And Psalm 137:8-9 says happy is the one who dashes against a rock the children of those who have mocked God and persecuted His people. This hardly seems like the same God that tells us to love our enemies.

The truth is, as hard as this is to accept, to define God as anything other than just is to define another god, the god of our liking. The Scriptures say He is just, and vengeance belongs to Him. Everyone gets what they are due: those in Christ receive eternal reward; those who have rejected Christ receive eternal damnation. Jesus is the ONLY Way. And rather than asking what sort of God would condemn my daughter or my best friend or my imam to hell (the answer, by the way, is a just, holy, righteous, and preeminent God), we should be asking, what kind of God would He be if He was not just? What kind of God would He be if He let some folks slide despite their refusal to follow Jesus? Look at some of the leaders who have authority in our banks, our organizations, our country. They show favoritism and vote themselves raises while others suffer; they are unjust. Is that a God we can respect? 

And who would serve a God who does not punish the wicked? Don't many of us complain about our justice system in this country? How could they let a person with that many DUIs behind the wheel of a car again? How could the woman who murdered my sister receive such a light sentence? We want the wicked punished. We need the wicked punished. 

How can anyone serve a God who does not have a strict policy for admission to relationship with Him? What if the goalposts were always moving? What if He never revealed what He requires through His Word? God's judgment is completely fair. All we must do is read it and believe it. It's there in black and white.

And what if He had never sent His Son to die? We would all end up getting exactly what we deserve without a Redeemer, without a Way made for us to be reconciled with God! We would all be judged based on our own insufficient efforts. The real question here probably should be, why would God make a Way? 

Believers must celebrate God's justice. To refuse that part of His character is to refuse the God who is defined in His own words. And as difficult as that may be, given the consequences of His judgment for many, it is justice nonetheless --the justice of a God who has provided an opportunity for everyone to be found on the right side of His judgment and receive eternal life.