Believing Is Seeing

(I just thought I'd share this with you today. This devotional is found in Streams in the Desert, an anthological devotional by L.B. Cowman. I believe it was written by James H. McConkey, and is well-worth the reprint!)

 "Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?" ~ John 11:40.

"Mary and Martha could not understand what their Lord was doing. Both of them said to Him, 'Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.' Back of it all, we seem to read their thought: 'Lord, we do not understand why you have stayed away so long. We do not understand how you could let death come to the man whom you loved. We do not understand how you could let sorrow and suffering ravage our lives when your presence might have stayed it all. Why did you not come? It is too late now, for already he has been dead four days!' And to it all Jesus had but one great truth: 'You may not understand; but I tell you if you believe, you will see.'

"Abraham could not understand why God should ask the sacrifice of the boy; but he trusted. And he saw the glory of God in his restoration to his love. Moses could not understand why God should keep him forty years in the wilderness, but he trusted; and he saw when God called him to lead forth Israel from bondage.

"Joseph could not understand the cruelty of his brethren, the false witness of a perfidious woman, and the long years of an unjust imprisonment; but he trusted, and he saw at last the glory of God in it all. Jacob could not understand the strange providence which permitted the same Joseph to be torn from his father's love, but he saw the glory of God when he looked into the face of that same Joseph as the viceroy of a great king, and the preserver of his own life and the lives of a great nation.

"And so, perhaps in your life. You say, 'I do not understand why God let my dear one be taken. I do not understand why affliction has been permitted to smite me. I do not understand the devious paths by which the Lord is leading me. I do not understand why plans and purposes that seemed good to my eyes should be baffled. I do not understand why blessings I so much need are so long delayed.'

"Friend, you do not have to understand all God's ways with you. God does not expect you to understand them. You do not expect your child to understand, only believe. Some day you will see the glory of God in the things which you do not understand."

--J. H. McC

Don't Mess This Up!

Our church has a free breakfast every Sunday morning. Not just for those who attend service, not just coffeecake and doughnuts; I'm talking pancakes, sausage, bacon, cereal, and coffee. Breakfast. I usually don't go. In fact, I haven't been to Sunday morning breakfast for over three years. So, when I signed up to cook, I told myself I'd go the week before I was scheduled just to get the lay of the land and, maybe, to have one of the "regulars" walk me through the process. The problem is, I forgot. I never put it on my calendar. I'd made cooking a priority --that was there in the little grey box, but I'd never prioritized the training I thought I needed. That's a whole 'nother blog article in itself! So, a few days before I was supposed to cook, I asked the pastor's wife to run me through the basics. It's simple, and I'm not completely clueless in the kitchen, but I think I sort of winced when she quipped, You can't mess this up. Never underestimate the human capacity for making the simple complicated.

That's what we tend to do with our spiritual lives sometimes. I mean, we have an entire Book full of historical accounts: how God forgave His people, led His people, made a way for His people, disciplined His people, blessed His people. And we have the New Testament filled with the letters of common men who were on fire(!) for the gospel, who were willing to go wherever they were told to go and endure whatever they had to endure, who saw crowds of people turn their lives over to Jesus, who saw the lame walk and the blind see --who were the vessels of those healings, and who themselves wanted nothing more than to walk in the footsteps of Jesus here on earth. And even though we have all of this at our fingertips, we look for more. We want to wonder if God loves us. We want to feel as though we're not good enough. We want to load ourselves up with expectations and others up with burdens so that we --and they --look like real Christians. We want to twist and suggest and imply until the truth of God's Word looks more like our lives rather than persist until our lives look more like the truth of God's Word. 

Our ladies' Bible study recently spent a couple of weeks talking about the Mosaic Covenant and where it does or doesn't fit into the life of a Jesus follower. Without belaboring my point, Jesus was born into the tribe of Judah, into a Jewish family, under the Mosaic Covenant. He observed Torah. He loved God's Law. He was the Fulfillment of God's Law. In other words, He didn't abolish the Mosaic Covenant, He blew the doors off of it. He opened up the covenant to a more rigorous but less specific way of loving the Lord our God and loving others. Murder was no longer extinguishing the breath of a living being but was having hateful thoughts toward someone; and adultery was not exclusive to sexual contact with someone outside of marriage, but it was lustful thoughts (Mt. 5:21-28). More rigorous for sure! But it was also less specific in the sense that following ten commandments or six hundred thirteen laws was not the endgame; loving the Lord God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving our neighbor is our truest pursuit. Obedience? Yes, we can't love God and disobey Him constantly, but following instructions, moral methodology, behavior modification --these are not the purpose of our relationship with Jesus. Would we choose children who obey us over children who love us? or do we want children who love us, want to obey us, but mess up sometimes?

What makes us think we are any better at relationships than God is? Why do we love our families with abandon and grace, but second guess what God says about His mercy for His people? Why do we make living the Christian life so complicated? Why do we deny the grace of God in the plan of God? We have an instruction manual, the Word of God. All we have to do is obey. It's just that simple. I mean, really, you can't mess this up!

Review: Rooted: The NIV Bible for Men

Bible Gateway has given me the opportunity to review Zondervan Bibles' Rooted: NIV Bible for Men. I have to tell you that I received a copy for free as a member of Bible Gateway Blogger Grid, and I have to tell you this can be purchased through FaithGateway where the hardcover edition I received is currently on sale for $34.99, or on Amazon. All of the legalities out of the way, let's get started.

As I said, I reviewed a hardcover edition, not exactly a personal fave. I do have a hardcover I keep in my office, strictly for study and reference (the NKJV Evangelical Study Bible), but for trucking back and forth to worship or Bible studies, a softcover is my personal preference. This is the New International Version, also not my preference, but I won't belabor that point. 

Personally, I think this is targeted toward younger men or men relatively new in the faith. The language is sort of Hey Dude! and the additional articles don't seem to provide much depth when it comes to character studies ("Get to Know" the men of the Bible) or "Knowing God," a series of blurbs meant to draw men toward knowing better the God they worship and serve. I think reverence is primary when it comes to knowing our Father, and I just didn't get that from these articles. If I was going to encourage anyone to know who God is, it would not be through a lens of "what that means to me as recipient," but in terms of God as He is to be worshipped and feared. That being said, the Myth/ Truth articles are interesting. Based on one hundred men and their experiences, these comparisons address issues like Parenting, Sexual temptation, Money, Friends --what culture says (Myth) versus what Scripture says (Truth). However, with regard to the indexing of these commentaries, the "How to Use" at the front of the Bible lists only twenty-five of the articles and page numbers (though there are one hundred scattered throughout the text) and there seems to be little rhyme or reason to their order. The Scriptures linked to these articles are also a bit unusual to the topic. For instance, the Myth/ Truth of Money is addressed in Deuteronomy 11, a passage about loving and obeying the Lord, and again in Luke 2, when twelve-year-old Jesus is found in the temple. Additionally, those pieces are listed in the index in reverse order, the Luke article first, and the Deuteronomy article second. Maybe I'm missing something.

Other add-ons include "Think About" prompts and "Rooted: Questions for Growth." Now these I can almost get my teeth into --a little more meat on the bone in these helps. There are Think Abouts on all sorts of topics: Abandonment, Caring for Others, Community, Gambling, Grief, Leadership, and like the Rooted questions, they correspond to the Scriptures with which they are linked. Sadly, once again, there is a humanistic bent to some of the questions. For instance, two of the Rooted Questions accompanying Psalm 139:7-12, ask:

What might cause you to change your environment (work, home, city, etc.)?

Why is it important to know that wherever you go, God is there?

If this is targeted toward making strong, leading men of God, shouldn't questions be framed around God calling men to move in unusual or uncomfortable directions, not men choosing or "being forced by circumstances" to change their environment? I read into this, If your boss wants to demote you, God will rubber stamp your resignation. Whatever you choose God's on board. Maybe it's just me.

There are no words in red or maps in the back if you're into all of that. There are short intros to each Book of the Bible; there's a presentation page, a dust cover on the hardcover edition, and a satin bookmark. The pages are thin, so be mindful when writing, highlighting, or turning with those fat fingers. There's a Table of Weights and Measures, a Subject Index which directs the reader to all those additional commentaries and articles; there are four different reading plans and three helpful articles on spiritual discipline at the very back: Being a Mentor/ Finding a Mentor, Seek 'N Hide, an article about the importance of Bible memorization, and Lasting Change: How to Experience Growth in the Spiritual Life.

Lastly, and maybe most importantly, a man's point of view. I think you can tell by now, I am not particularly a fan, but I wanted a man to check this out and give me his opinion. My husband, who pulls no punches when asked his thoughts, gave me his first impressions: it reminded him of a low-cost, mass-produced high school textbook. And, without any prompting from me whatsoever, he focused on the Rooted questions and suggested they might be useful. So that's that. I hope this helps, and don't forget to use BibleGateway for all your study needs.                      

Update Your Perspective

I am in the process of building a new BrokenToBreathless. I'm planning the launch in October. Having said that, the first week of this project did not go well. I had used the same format years ago, but things have changed since then --including me. I seem to have developed an impatient, sort of get-to-the-point approach to doing things. Maybe it's because I've been blogging for so long, I'd rather not deal with the hiccoughs that come with new technology or learning new technology; I'd rather update things without having to update my perspective. Somehow, I don't think that's going to work.

Life is all about updates, isn't it? We learn to walk, we go to school, we graduate. With every milestone we move closer to the person we were meant to be. Or at least, that's how it's supposed to work. Sometimes the updates we experience are not the upgrades we prefer. A new medication to add to our seemingly never-ending list of expenses; the death of a parent that leaves us not only grieving but mired in difficult family debates; a job transfer only months before our planned retirement date. Easy to adjust our perspective when things are heading in the direction we approve, but to be told, You just need to accept it, or You're going to have to rework your plan... those are not the things we want to hear, especially if you're one of those strong-willed people like me.

But God! When we trust God with the events, circumstances, and "updates" of life, it really doesn't matter the specifics, what those things look like, or when they occur, we are not in them alone, nor are they the tragic end to our story. Scripture assures us "all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." (Rom. 8:28) In other words, as we experience those changes, we can actually rejoice that God is doing something. Whatever the situation, if we trust God's plan for us, we have to trust the circumstances associated with that plan, we have to trust the "updates" He allows. Difficulty, failures, pain, loss --certainly not upgrades as far as we're concerned, but hear what Jesus says in Luke 6:20-23:

Blessed are you poor,
For yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now,
For you shall be filled.
Blessed are you who weep now,
For you shall laugh.
Blessed are you when men hate you,
And when they exclude you,
And revile you, and cast out your name as evil,
For the Son of Man’s sake.
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy!
For indeed your reward is great in heaven,
For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.

He has just rolled out all these things no one wants to be: poor, hungry, sorrowful, hated, excluded, slandered. And then He says Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! People have been hostile toward one another since Adam (If you don't believe me, read how he threw his wife and her Creator under the bus in Genesis 3:12), and the world is under a curse. Children of God or not, we are going to face some of the same things those who reject Him face; the sun rises on the evil and the good, and the rain falls on the just and the unjust. But it's our perspective, our relationship to the God of all creation that will make the difference, that will enable us to rejoice or will cause us to give up. If we see ourselves as alone, victimized, persecuted, without hope or purpose, unforgiven (or unforgiveable), overwhelmed, trapped, or without hope, if we see the things that take place around us as bearing some sort of inescapable leverage over who we are or were meant to be, we will abandon the project; we will give up. But if we keep our eyes on the One who loves us and is working all things together for our benefit, our perspective with regard to life's "updates" will take on an accuracy we never dreamed possible. We will see things as Truth Himself sees them; we will interact with others as Love Himself interacts with others; we will experience life as Peace Himself experiences life! 

That's more than an update, that's a definite upgrade!