God's Sovereignty and Our Gratitude

In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 

Be honest, have you ever, in your mind, under your breath, added a "BUT" after that? At some point, we probably all have. Let me draw your attention to Psalm 30:1-3. Robert Alter, in his translation, renders these verses this way:

I shall exalt You, LORD, for You drew me up,
and You gave no joy to my enemies.
LORD, my God,
I cried to You and You healed me.
LORD, You brought me up from Sheol,
gave me life from those gone down to the pit.

In his commentary, Alter says a) drew me up is as water from the dark depths of a well, and b) gave me life from those gone down to the pit suggests that of all who go down to death, he alone was raised to life. What a picture of grace! Of God's sovereign work in calling us, but in drawing us as well! I often joke that our dog is an obedience school dropout. Truthfully, I am the dropout. The behaviors I never enforced or continued to practice diligently with her have, to her, become optional. Come! is one of those commands. However, if I were to begin reinforcing this, going back to the basics and making it worth her while to come (IOW: luring her with treats), Luci would readily obey. It's not enough to call her, until she is reminded of what benefits lie in being with me, I must draw her.

God's calling us is an act of mercy; putting our names on His roll call from before we were even conceived. But His act of drawing us takes things to a whole other level! With Luci, the command to Come! could save her from danger. The command to Come! could be very beneficial to her when followed by treats or scratches or a ride in the car. Her name is on my roll, she is mine; but in calling her, drawing her to me, even luring her --making acquiescence worth her while, I am blessing her and saving her from danger. Does she have the option to refuse? Certainly. But as her guardian and friend, I am going to do everything in my power to make coming to me irresistible! This is God's sovereign grace for His chosen! Out of His great mercy, He has called us to be His; by His grace, He draws us that we might know His infinite goodness and be saved from eternal death.

I cried to You and You healed me. I'm not sure we have the capacity in our language, or perhaps in general, to express what I think is going on here. We --especially in Western culture --have this underlying attitude of autonomy; we imagine we are sovereign. We cry out, and God reacts. But we are not sovereign, and God does not react. To react means that someone or something has provoked a response; control lies with the initial actor. If that is the case, what about the concepts of calling and drawing that surround this verse? How can God draw us from Hell, but when it comes to healing the common cold, we launch Him into action with our petitions?

I had cancer. I don't ever recall praying for God to heal me in that time, yet He did. Now, I'm gonna be honest, I know He healed me. Do I feel it was God and God alone? Do I feel this great act of mercy imparted to me? No, I don't. I believe, that by not praying for healing, I missed the boat. My brain knows it was God, but what the hardness of my heart says is, it was a very treatable form of cancer and caught very early in the game. It is God who is sovereign --not doctors or cancer, but my heart was not conditioned through prayer to receive that. Have you prayed for every hangnail or backache you've ever had? Probably not, yet you've been healed. We all mentally chalk these things up to the way our bodies work. Hangnails aren't forever. Backaches, hopefully, only last a day or so. No big deal, right? But prayer, crying out to God positions us in a place of surrender and nearness to Him as we endure the pain and inconvenience of those "ordinary" ailments. I cried out to You because You allowed this illness, and it was a glorious opportunity to be nearer to You than I would have been without it; and You healed me. Prayer also prepares our hearts and minds to give God the glory when we are healed. Because I cried out to You, I know You alone healed me. This is so much more than a response! This is a sovereign God using everything in His power to draw us because He has called us! In everything give thanks! 

If we belong to the Sovereign God who put us here, there is no reason to place a "BUT" after the imperative of giving thanks. He has called us; He uses whatever means necessary to draw us. He doesn't respond to our requests as though we are switching on a light; we respond to Him because He has touched our hearts. In His presence, we can know the joy and safety of being near Him, and we can give Him thanks exhaustively! 

Midweek: Never Forget

Never forget. That used to be the mantra for this day, but it seems we have. I'm not entirely sure it was a good slogan either. I mean, Remember the Maine at least told you what to remember. A date which will live in infamy was a catchphrase that alluded to something sinister which had occurred. But Never forget? Never forget what? The images of selfless heroes rushing toward chaos and death everyone else ran from? The tales of mothers and fathers who simply went to work on an ordinary day expecting ordinary water cooler exchanges and ordinary deadlines and ordinary hugs from their children when they came home, but their day was cut savagely short? The images of burning, collapsing icons to capitalism and western engineering? The hate that caused Middle Eastern Americans to live in fear for years afterward? The flags waving, the rousing speeches, the national pride, the care of neighbor for neighbor that swept our country? Or the prayers, the moments of silence, the churches brimming with people turning to God for answers? 

Song of Solomon 2:4 says, He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.

SIDEBAR: Song of Solomon (or Song of Songs, as it is sometimes known) is one of those books of the Bible we rarely dig into. The language is sensual, and we may wonder what place that has in the Bible. I think our society has so perverted sex and sexuality, many of us don't know what God's intentions are and, amidst the busyness and pressure of our public lives, we neglect to settle down, savor, and explore all God has given us in our private lives. Shame over our ignorance prevents us from discussing it, and the lack of discussion increases shame. I would highly recommend you spend some time in the Song of Songs. Simon Amadeus Pillario's Song of Songs:Word for Word Bible Comic is a wonderful resource. You can see my review here. In the meantime, know that in side-stepping this beautiful book, much is lost.

So, back to the point. The Song of Solomon is a poetic book. Some scholars adhere to the idea it was included in Scripture because it is God's love letter to us, the Church, and our heart's deepest desire for a love only He can give; others believe its greatest value lies in the relationship between its human author and his Shulamite love --a "lyrical rhapsody to marital love and lovemaking," according to The Complete Jewish Study Bible. Regardless, this verse in chapter two has the young woman recalling the benevolent hospitality of her kingly lover. She, a servant and tender of (smelly) sheep, has been taken into the king's palace, and a banquet has been thrown to honor her. She has been introduced to all present as his queen. His grace toward her overwhelms, and she remembers his lavish esteem for her.   

In his commentary on this verse, Matthew Henty observes "Eaten bread must not be forgotten, but remembered with thankfulness to the God who fed us." Wow! That bread had its origins in the labor of the farmer and the earth and the baker and the customer and the server. People worked hard that others might eat. And God is the ultimate Provider of rain and health and the blessedness of yeast that rises to perfection (if you've ever made bread, you know that's not always the case).  How easy it is to forget that which we have experienced when the experience is a part of our yesterday. How easy it is to forget the taste of our last meal when we feel hunger again. How easy it is to forget that God has been so good, so generous, so kind, so faithful when our eyes are on devilish circumstances. The salvation purchased for us at Calvary is enough for us to praise His name for all eternity. If He had redeemed us from our obligation to the eternal consequence of our sin (death), it would have been enough. We deserved not one drop of His blood. BUT He did so much more! We were redeemed for something, redeemed to something --a new life in Christ! A life in which we are given the privilege of bringing others to the foot of the cross to be reconciled with God through Jesus. A life in which we can overcome the circumstances of our cursed world with peace that is better than understanding and joy that no word can describe. A life in which we are servants --gladly --to this most benevolent and in-love-with-us King. A life in which we can cast off the physical --comfort, money, relationships, addictions, freedoms, dreams, popularity, even our very lives --if need be, for the sake of eternal glory. Mercy upon mercy! Grace upon grace! Indeed, let us never forget.

Lord, give us this day our daily bread, and may we fix our minds on the One who labored at the cross that we might join Him at His table.

Not Just for Kicks

If you are of a certain age, chances are, at one time or another, you had a child in karate. Karate, as it was pitched to me, was great for teaching your child self-discipline and character; it was a good way to get into shape (which is the way Sensei tried to lure me into a membership). Karate didn't require lots of costly equipment; there were no "Away" games or travel teams, fundraisers or sign-up sheets to work the snack bar. For the most part, Mom could sit in the car with a good book or chit-chat in the vestibule while the kiddies did their thing. I signed on the dotted line for both of my children. What I witnessed was week after week of Horseback Stance and Straight Punch. The only way this can be misconstrued as self-defense is if an attacker is unconscious, I thought. What I learned, however, is the value of muscle memory. The basis of martial arts is that there are a few key moves to be learned --ad nauseum --and everything else is built on that. Practice and redundancy are not just for kicks. See what I did there?

The disciplines we practice in our Christian journey can offer the same benefits. In Scripture, we read of God's faithfulness and the success of those who trusted in Him that we might awaken our brain to a desire to obey. We read of God's presence in our lives to the point it becomes an irrefutable truth, so that when trouble assails us, we know for certain we are not alone. We listen to the stories of victory from others in our fellowship groups so that we have a cache of responses and a "contact list" to which we can turn should we experience a similar situation. We pray often, keeping the lines of communication open, keeping obstructions (sin) to a minimum, and learning more and more about the ways in which we dialogue with our Savior. We memorize God's Word so that the promises of God and the affirmation of His character are as familiar to us as our address. We attend regular fellowship so that our faith is tested --What?! Yes, it is in fellowship with others our faith is put to the fire. I'm a wonderful Christian sitting in my office with the Scriptures open before me, the praise music playing softly in the background and the smell of my favorite candle burning. But put me in the fray with those same people each week, their same stories each week, their same idiosyncrasies (of which I have none, I'm certain 😉) each week, and my spiritual muscles get stre-e-e-etched. Today's repetition becomes tomorrow's response; and the stretching that comes, will be tomorrow's baseline. We keep at it so our spiritual muscles remain limber enough for the challenges looming on the horizon. That's muscle memory; doing the same things regularly, repeatedly SO THAT when trouble comes, you don't have to "muster up" faith or have a crisis of faith.

In Romans 12:1, 2, God, through The Apostle Paul urges, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. In other words, submit to God and His will --it's the minimum requirement --and allow Him to change the way you think and remember, SO THAT when trouble or trials appear, you will know and perform according to the will of God. Preparation now --even when we weary of it --will lead to strength and victory later. Hi-Yah!