Gone for Good!

I watched as a woman emptied her vehicle of several black garbage bags. She was loading them into one of those big metal boxes for clothing donations, the ones that usually sit at the end of a shopping center parking lot. I've often wondered who has the unsavory task of emptying those bins. I mean, there's got to be all sorts of really disgusting things in there. I'm sure people drop trash in there, maybe some filthy old shoes, cigarette butts --maybe even clothes used in the commission of a crime! Too much? Okay. But what about roaches? There have to be roaches! And I just can't! Those critters can survive just about anything! And just because you got rid of them doesn't mean they stay gone. 

Maybe this, too, is a little much, but our sin is like an infestation of roaches. We stop one bad habit by merely exchanging it for another. We realize we are being plagued by wrongful anger, so we pray and fast and do studies on anger and how to live a life worthy of the calling; we lean into the Lord that we might be free. And we are! But two years later, out comes a sarcastic remark. Where did that come from? Unrighteous anger is threatening our character once again. We have forgotten we don't need to be that way; we have forgotten that we now walk in freedom. It's a reinfestation. But how?

In Exodus 12:12 God explains the final step He is going to take to compel Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of Egypt. He tells Moses and Aaron, I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.

Did you catch that? God is dealing with the gods of Egypt. God's actions weren't simply for Israel's benefit and Pharaoh's detriment; they were designed to deal with the false deities of Egypt. Some of the animals in Egypt were regarded as incarnations of gods; their death would have been incomprehensible. Other animals simply represented objects of worship, as they were symbols of certain gods or were "owned" by gods. Recall the images of gods like Horus with a falcon head, Pasht's catlike head, or Anubis with a jackal's head. A sudden extermination of "sacred" firstborn animals would have been regarded as a strike against those deities. Some sources point out that each of the plagues prior to the Angel of Death crushed the power and authority of some of Egypt's gods over the land. Hapi, god of the Nile was thrown down by the turning of the river's waters to blood. Geb, god of the earth was supplanted when the dust became gnats at God's command. Ra, the sun god was defeated when God darkened all of Egypt, literally overshadowing Ra's sovereignty.  

Then there was Pharaoh himself, a "divinely" installed and sanctioned ruler, a mediator between gods and men who, upon his death, would himself become divine. His son would inherit the throne. According to Egyptian lore, Osiris and Isis were gods that protected the Pharaoh and his wife; Horus was the god that ensured the rightful heir, son of the Pharaoh, would take the throne. The death of the heir would have thwarted the intended, legitimate transition of power and affected the perpetuation of the royal lineage. This blow would have usurped the powers of all the gods "protecting" the royal family. Osiris, who had additional authority over life, death, and resurrection would have been proved to be particularly impotent. God, over the course of ten plagues (depending on how you count them) executed judgment not only on Pharaoh, but on the very deities the people of Egypt worshiped and depended upon to care for them.

So back to the sin (and the roaches). The power of Jesus' blood shed on the cross puts an end to bondage and demonstrates the impotency of the gods on which we rely. When we run to alcohol in hopes of emboldening us, or food to pacify us, or gossip to make us feel better about ourselves, or angry outbursts to make us more comfortable --when we run to these things, they don't help! They never did! They are impotent, defeated. That was proven at the cross! Their power lasts only as long as the dopamine rush and solves nothing. By chasing after those behaviors, we are clutching at false gods offered by the ruler of this world. The gods worshipped by Egypt were powerless; they never had provided for or protected the Egyptians. God proved that via plagues. But it was the belief of the people that gave false gods their power. Just like those sins we allow to revisit and reinfest. If we are not vigilant, we once again, as we did before we became free in Christ, give them power. 

I need some liquid courage. 

I'm eating my feelings.

But that's not the truth. Jesus is our confidence, our peace, our identity, our rest. And all of those false deities are nothing but insidiously disgusting roaches that Christ has made gone --for good. He has been proving it since the beginning of time, disarming and disabling the things that challenge His place in the lives of His people. Let us remain close to Him, worshipping only the One True God, and prevent a reinfestation.

Midweek: Lessons Learned in Adoption #4

In this midweek series, I have been sharing some of the lessons I've learned through the process of adoption --my own into the family of God, and the adoption of a son into our earthly home. So far, I've shared the importance of prayer in all things, the level of sacrifice and totality of commitment exemplified by Jesus Christ, grace, the invitation for all who desire to be made part of His family, faith, and trust. Today I'd like to talk about the mercy and methodology of God, and our response to it.

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Are you married? Have you ever had a roommate? You don't know what you don't know, as they say. Not until you are in the very eye of life with another human being do you begin to realize that, in the flesh, we are all incompatible. Our egos cry out to be seen, the id demands to be satisfied. We want what we want regardless of others. In the case of our adoptive family, the things we wanted were happiness, peace, ease, safety. Good things, right? As we tried to marry two worlds into one, we discovered what we saw as the path to those things was not agreed upon by others. Everyone wanted happiness, but not in the same way. Everyone wanted things to go easily but had different ideas about how to accomplish that. There were angry outbursts from all parties. There was disobedience and disrespect by all members. Not every effort worked or was appreciated. Growing together can be difficult. Plans are sometimes incompatible even though we all may desire the same things.

We had to learn new ways of parenting and relating. Our older children were born to us, they were ours from the start. The relationship was parent-child. (period) But relationship is much more than a title. If we teach our children who Jesus is, but don't model for them --by our own relationships --what a relationship with Him looks like, they will be filled with facts to which they have difficulty forming a response and implementing. Realizing relationship was a much better goal than parenting, was a game-changer. Now, I'm not talking about being your child's bestie or giving them absolute autonomy; but relationship shows mercy and grace, relationship seeks to provide and make available while setting boundaries and directing our children toward the better thing. We began to say things like, "Okay, you can have this for now, but when the timer goes off, I'm going to ask you to give it up. And I know you want to do what's right." We asked questions like, "Do you want to study your Spelling at the park and clean your room when we return? or do you want to clean your room, have a snack, and then work on Spelling?" The Do!It!Now! method of parenting we'd previously employed didn't work (we quickly discovered) and no longer seemed very Christlike to me. God speaks sternly, authoritatively, sometimes urgently to His children, but not in frustration or out of fatigue. He allow His commands or His correction to escalate into argument. he is God and He remains God, even when we disobey.

The Lesson: Don't hesitate to re-evaluate your goals and the method used to obtain them in light of Scripture. 1 Timothy 6:6-8 says that godliness with contentment is great gain; we take nothing with us when we leave this world, so we are free to be content with what we've been given --no matter how different it appears from what we imagined. Were our goals godly? I believe so. But should peace and safety be our endgame? And how are we working to achieve them? Matthew 6:33 says to seek first the kingdom of God. Dallas Willard defines the kingdom of God as "God’s effective will. It is where what He wants done is done." (I would encourage you to check out his series on The Divine Conspiracy on YouTube) What did God appoint us to do through this event (adoption)? Are we doing His will in the manner in which Jesus would do it? Were Jesus' goals happiness, peace, ease, and safety? Perhaps for others, but I think they were secondary to His goal of obedience to the Father. 

God has shown me such mercy, taking me around the block again and again to remove and refine habits and characteristics in me. Philippians 1:6 assures us God does not give up on perfecting His children. As he lavishes us with His love and, at the same time, allows us to experience consequences, He whets our appetite for the things He wants; our desire to conform to His ways is cultivated as we experience His character. This is how I want our son --all of our children --to experience relationship with us, certainly, but relationship with our Heavenly Father above all others. 

A Gracious Gift!

I was exhausted. I fell into bed. And, suddenly, POP! 

POP? What was that? 

I felt it just below my ear, in the back of my throat --the right side of my throat, to be exact. Over ten years ago, I was diagnosed with Grave's Disease. The recommendation was a full thyroidectomy which, precise cause undetermined, left my vocal cords paralyzed on the right side, meaning now there was a gravelly quality to my speaking voice and an almost Peter Brady "Time to Change" condition when singing. Fast forward to just a couple of nights ago, to the POP!, and my voice is almost fully restored! Praise God! But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.

When the surgery rendered me speechless --and it literally did, for several weeks --I was fine with that. I was simply happy to be alive and grateful the symptoms of Grave's were gone. As my voice slowly moved toward the crackly, frail-sounding voice to which I've become accustomed, I even agreed to sing on a few occasions. One of them being a couple weeks ago when our worship leader was very ill. Could you just lead the church in a few worship songs? our pastor asked. Why not? I'm not performing. It's not about me. I'm leading others to worship our Redeemer, I thought. For the next couple of weeks, even when the real worship leader returned, I sang with her. I even offered a testimony: 

When my voice was "perfect," I suffered from terrible stage fright. I loved to sing, I loved to worship, but I hated doing it in front of others. Today, my voice is broken and shaky, not at all what I would label "audience-worthy," but I'm not here to entertain. I'm here to worship and lead others in worship. It's about our King, and I am excited to do it. No stage fright!

Weeks later, the POP! I knew I was bushed, but I hadn't fallen asleep. Or had I? Was it a dream? For the first time in ten years, I felt back pressure when I inhaled (After surgery, inhaling always felt as though I was breathing through a straw with a pinhole in it). I rushed downstairs to quietly test it out. I spoke softly into the silence; I hummed a little; I even tried singing just a bit. My voice was back! But why? I mean, praise God, but why?! 

Just a few weeks before, I'd come across the audio of a preacher, Duane Miller, who seemed to have a similar condition to mine. Right there, in the middle of a teaching on Psalm 103, his voice began to change. It was strong and smooth. The breathiness, the gravel was gone. He was healed as he spoke a message about God's ability to heal! Instead of pain, everyone present could hear the gratitude and wonder in his voice; they all bore witness to God's abundant grace. And as I --post-POP! --listened to that audio again, I knew I had experienced the same. Tears. Lots and lots of happy tears. Tears that just seem to flow unchecked when you realize how undeserving you are and how good God is. 

I don't know why He has healed me. I thought things were moving along rather nicely. I was content. But He has a purpose, and I'm along for the ride --starting with giving Him all the glory and sharing with anyone who will listen, the gift of His grace!