FMF: Deserve

“All my grandfather’s descendants deserved nothing but death from my lord the king, but you gave your servant a place among those who eat at your table. So what right do I have to make any more appeals to the king?”
(2 Samuel 19:28, NIV)

Years after David had taken begun his rule over God's people, he thought back to his friend, Jonathan, whose father, Saul, was the king.   Jonathan and Saul had both died in battle, and it appeared that their entire lineage was now dead too.

One day David found himself thinking of his old friend, and he asked his servant if anyone was still alive in their family so that he could should them God's kindness (2 Samuel 9:3).

This, in and of itself, is convicting to me.  Too often, I limit my willingness to love people to when it is convenient for me.  David, however, went searching for someone to love in the same way God had loved him.  Eventually he found Mephibosheth.

Mephibosheth had lost his ability to walk when a caretaker dropped him in the same siege that had killed Jonathan and Saul. When Mephibosheth was brought before David, he did not condemn him, but rather restore him.  He gave him land, status, and most importantly, acceptance.  We read that Mephibosheth ate at David's table forever.

God wants to restore us as well.  Like Mephibosheth, life has left us broken, but God wants to be kind to us. Allow yourself to be carried to God's table today.

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This post is a prompt from Five Minute Friday

and was written in approximately five minutes.

For more information, visit fiveminutefriday.com.

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Wacky Wednesday

It all began

with that shoe on the wall.

A shoe on the wall...?

Shouldn't be there at all!

(Wacky Wednesday, Dr. Seuss)

If you've read any of the other posts I've made here, you'll know that I don't often begin with a quote from something other than Scripture.  Again and again throughout my life, I've felt the Holy Spirit prompt me to commit myself to God.  In writing, that means my words are most always focused on His.

But we're coming off a wacky year, and I'm in a wacky mood.  And it just felt like a Wacky Wednesday kind of day.

Wacky because I've started a new part time job, in addition to my existing part time job, working as a tutor. Yesterday was my first shift.  I sat in my virtual classroom for two hours... all... by... myself.  Though I knew that was a very likely possibility, it was not the vision I had created in my head.

Wacky because I spent most of today attending to details for this weekend, our church's first service inside our sanctuary in almost a year.  Forty nine Sundays held outside or at home.

Wacky because I almost forgot it's Ash Wednesday. And even though my church does not traditionally celebrate Lent, we do usually have a special time together on Ash Wednesday. You can read my previous reflections on Ash Wednesday here: Rough Cloth and Ashes or Rainbow Offerings.

You might say that my lenten experience is begining with a shoe on the wall.

To Sacrifice or Not To Sacrifice?

Lent is always a little wacky for me.  Our denominational tradition does not encourage the lenten focus, but I know a growing number of believers who find the experience beneficial to their faith.  But when your church body doesn't practice the act collectively it becomes a bit of a spiritual landmine.  Mention your fast to the wrong person and you'll get a lecture about how we are not Catholic and God does does not demand a sacrifice from us.

I always want to remind them that God never really wanted sacrifice; He wanted obedience. Even in the era when animals were regularly being offered to God, it wasn't God's primary desire.  I want to open my Bible to 1 Samuel 15:22 and help them recall that the prophet said "to obey is better than to sacrifice." Saul, the King, would be dethroned for making sacrifices to God that He did not ask for.  

Oh, but there are sacrifices that God desires:

For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;
You do not take pleasure in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, God, You will not despise.
(Psalm 51:16-17, NASB)

God does not want a burnt offering.  He wants our hearts.  If a lenten sacrifice bring us back to Him, we should do it.

The Pattern of Fast and Feast

We love to celebrate the Christian feasts, Christmas and Easter.  We love the excitement and the tradition.  The joy.  But I'm not sure these days mean as much without also engaging in the fasts. The dark days.  The reflection and preparation.  The sorrow.

Many years ago, my husband and I went camping with a friend. We decided to explore some of the caves where we were staying. As excited as I was, I was also nervous about getting lost in our adventure. The farther we went into the cave, the smaller the light got until eventually it was the smallest it could be without disappearing. Our friend encouraged us to go farther, into total darkness. We compromised by making one single turn, stepping out of the light by only a few steps. That may have been one of the scariest moments of my life. We stood there a few moments until we were ready to leave, and I will never forget the joyous moment when I could see the light once again. For me, Lent is very much like that experience. It is a time remembering the darkness so that I can better celebrate the light.

Lent 2021

So here I am, still feeling wacky, but now a little retrospective too, wondering what Jesus would tell me if he were sitting at the desk across from mine.

I don't know. I really don't. But I can spend the next 40-ish days trying to figure it out.

Hey, God.

It's me.

How's it going?

Anything I need to pay attention to?

I'll be right here if You want to let me know...

Psalm 7

Tag.  It's one of the most popular games of childhood.  It can be traced back at least 150 years, but it's origins may go much farther back.  It's popularity persists because of it's simplicity: no equipment is needed, and there are hundreds of variations to suit players' preferences.  One basic variation is to create a place that is “safe.” For those of us who tire easily, this place of rest is a must for any game.

If only life were as simple as a game of Tag.  We know it's not, but when I read Psalm 7 I couldn't help but think of life as a game of Tag.  David wrote:

Lord my God, I go to you for safety.

Help me. Save me from all those who are chasing me.
(Psalm 7:1, NIRV) 

David had a lot of enemies.  Remember when David encountered Saul in the cave?  If you don't, you can read it here: 1 Samuel 24.  I see David holding up that piece of Saul's robe as if to say, "I could have tagged you, but I chose not to." David wasn't always this victorious.  He had his share hard times, but David knew that only God could keep him safe. Just like when we play Tag, sometimes life has us running around a lot. It’s hard, and it makes us tired.  We want a safe place to rest. God was that safe place for David. David didn't take advantage of God's protection of him.  Even though God helped David, he still tried to do what God wanted him to do. In fact, in verse 5 David said that if he had done anything bad to his friends it would be ok for his enemies to chase and catch him.

David did not like when people did bad things. For all of David's flaws (and there were plenty), David was called "a man after God's own heart" (1 Samuel 13:14).  David desired for all people to do what was right in God's eyes, and he thought that people who tried to do wrong to others would be caught in their own tricks. I love this imagery of a person digging a hole and then falling into it: 

Whoever is full of evil

plans trouble and ends up telling lies. 

Whoever digs a hole and shovels it out

falls into the pit they have made.
The trouble they cause comes back on them.

The terrible things they do will happen to them.
(Psalm 7:14-16, NIRV).

Instead of making trouble, David wanted to be like God. The Bible tells us a lot of things about God: God is love, God is kind, and God is fair. We should also try to have these qualities as a way of showing our love to God. David finishes this psalm like this: 

I will give thanks to the Lord because he does what is right.

I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High. 

(Psalm 7:17, NIRV)

God always does what is right. Like David, we can put our hope in God and rest when we are near Him even if we are flawed.  Through Christ, we can be forgiven of our wrong doings and enter God's rest.

For more thoughts on hope, I encourage you to read this recent post: Psalm 5.

FMF: Endure

But now your kingdom will not endure;
the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart
and appointed him ruler of his people,
because you have not kept the Lord’s command.
1 Samuel 13:14, NIV

My best friend calls me an anti-bandwagoner.  Basically, if something is really popular, I won't be interested in it, at least not until the hype has passed.  I fully admit I have a different way of looking at things. Just last week I asked a friend why she was doing something a certain way.  Wouldn't another way be easier?  I wasn't trying to tell her she was wrong; I just saw the situation differently than she did.

When I saw the prompt for today's Five Minute Friday session, I knew that many people would write about how "His love endures forever."  The phrase appears more than 40 times in the NIV translation of scripture.  Those who read the NKJV translation would be writing that "His mercy endures forever."  This is a good word, but being the anti-bandwagoner that I am, I will not.

Instead, I am writing about NOT enduring.  In 1 Samuel, we read God list one specific attribute in Saul that made him unfit to be king: Saul had not kept God's commands.  God says nothing about his vision setting goals or the economy of the nation.  His kingdom did not endure because of his relationship with God.  In that same verse, there is one attribute about David that made him worthy of the being king: David was a man after God's heart.  There is, perhaps, no other quality in a person, that God desires, except that we love him. Our ability to endure hangs on this.

This post is a prompt from Five Minute Friday and was written in approximately five minutes. For more information, visit fiveminutefriday.com.

My 100

The number 100 appears frequently in the Bible. Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born to him (Genesis 21). The courtyard of the temple was 100 cubits on the north/south side (Exodus 17). The Israelite army would be able to fight 100 men with only five if obedient to God (Leviticus 26). The penalty for slandering a woman after marrying her was 100 shekels and the inability to divorce her... #awkward (Deuteronomy 22). Jacob bought a burial property for 100 shekels, and Joseph was eventually buried there (Joshua 24). Saul requested a dowry of 100 foreskins from David, and was paid two hundred... #superawkward (1 Samuel). Obadiah hid 100 of God's prophets in caves to protect them (1 Kings 18). The unnamed man's offering feeds 100 people (2 Kings 4). There were 100 gold sprinkling bowls in the temple (2 Chronicles 4).

Jesus also used the number in His parables. Jesus says the Word is a like a seed that will produce a crop 100, sixty, or thirty fold (Mark 4). Jesus says that He, like a man who owns 100 sheep, would leave ninety-nine to fine one that is lost (Luke 15). Jesus compares human forgiveness to a servant whose master forgave his debt of ten thousand bags of gold but would not forgive his co-worker who owed him 100 silver coins (Matthew 18).

There's another 100 that doesn't get the same glory some of these other verses get. It's easy for me to read about Abraham receiving his blessing at 100 or even laugh about David's dowry payment, and I love to read Jesus' parables as both spiritual wisdom and well crafted literature. However, I don't often turn to Revelation when I open the Bible.

I took a New Testament class my second semester in college. As we approached Revelation, Professor Bob Smith told us that we would be reading the book in its entirety during class.  Instead of sitting at the desks of our basement level class, we would be lounging in the cafeteria to read it one sitting.  The other lectures all blur together; that one stands out.

In chapter sixteen, the seven bowls of God's wrath are poured out on earth. Terrible things happen, but the people refuse to repent and glorify God. It reminds me of the Egyptian plagues on steroids. If I'm being honest, I really struggle with this passage. I'm pretty stubborn, and I'm not sure that festering sores would make me worship God. I guess that's the problem: I don't allow difficulties to draw me to God the way they should.

The seven bowls are poured out, the kings meet together at Armageddon (after the sixth bowl, to be accurate), and a voice comes from the temple saying "It is done!" Don't get this confused with Christ's proclamation on the cross "It is finished!" This voice in Revelation is more like how we might say "well, that happened." Then come the lightning, thunder, an earthquake, and (are you ready for it?) 100 pound hailstones. Not a 100 pound hailstone - hailstones, plural. Not only did the people refuse to bless God because of these hailstones, they actually caused the people to curse Him.

I don't know if any of the difficult things going on in our lives are mini-bowls of wrath (shot glasses of wrath?). I don't know why things happen or why God operates the way He does. However, I know that every day is an opportunity to repent, to glorify God, and to seek His will in my life.

So on this, my 100th blog post, let me say: Don't wait for 100 pound hailstones.

Hugs

Back when my kids were smaller, they loved to sleep in bed with me. My husband has often worked night shifts, so our king sized bed was especially inviting to their small bodies. One evening when my boys were probably about nine and five, they wanted to have a "sleepover" in my bed. When I told them no, my older son tried to "buy" the sleepover by paying me with hugs. Three hugs, in fact.

There were some problems with this.

First, it was he, not I, that decided three hugs was sufficient payment. What if I wanted five hugs?  Or what if a hug was not what I wanted at all?

Secondly, he wasn't a great hugger. Seeing those words in writing, makes me feel like a really bad mother, but the fact is he was awkward. My older son would lean in and kind of pat my back, whereas my younger son would throw his entire body weight on me. (I would like to set the record straight that both my sons are great huggers now, and even if he was still a terrible hugger I would love to get any kind of hug from either of my sons.)

Those two issues mostly sum up the problem with us trying to make offerings to God. At this time of year, many believers give up something to try to please God. God already loves us. He doesn't want us to try to please Him; He wants us to obey Him because we love Him. There is no spiritual-hug that we can offer God that will buy us a sleepover if that is not what is best for us. I should stop. This analogy is getting weird.

1 Samuel 15:22 says, “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams" (NIV).

Stated plainly, our offerings to God are not as good as obedience. No sacrifice we make will atone for our disobedience. As we move daily closer to Easter, I pray that I can remember Jesus Christ made the only perfect sacrifice, and my faith in Him allows that sacrifice to cover me.

Avalanche of Sin

I was reading about David and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11) last night. It really is quite a fascinating story, and an excellent case study on sin. I don't think I'd be exaggerating to say that EVERYONE knows that what David did was wrong - even David himself knew it (see 2 Samuel 12). Yet, we read of David doing what so many of us seem to do - planting one sin and harvesting a crop of evil. To try to cover up his sin David lied, murdered, and hurt many people. To think all of this could have been avoided if David had only done what he was supposed to do - work. His job as king was to lead his people to war in the spring, as was customary for them. But for whatever reason, David did not fulfill his obligation. And in his boredom, he went to the roof top... and so it began.

I was just reading up (thank you Wikipedia) on avalanches. It seems as though it takes a very particular situation for an avalanche to occur and then "when an avalanche occurs, as the snow slides down the slope any slab present begins to fragment into increasingly smaller tumbling fragments. If the fragments become small enough the avalanche takes on the characteristics of a fluid." This explains why people get buried under avalanches and not run over. As the avalanche gains momentum, it has more power to do harm.

If David had made one different decision - and keep in mind it wasn't an especially spiritual decision, but only to do his job - he would have avoided the whole situation. It helps me realize why we're told in Colossians 3:23 to do our work as if we were working for God.

Like a Sock

Do you ever feel discouraged when you look at the people around you - the people you see at the grocery store, or a restaurant, or who pass you on the freeway? Sometimes I do, and I know logically that there is no reason for it. I know I am loved by God, my family, my friends... but sometimes that voice of doubt sneaks in and whispers, "Why do you feel so special? You're just like everyone else." It's silly, I know.

The other day I was folding laundry and as anyone who has ever done laundry will tell you, I have a slightly OCD way. I had just about finished folding everything, and had gotten to a big pile of socks. Kids socks. Work socks. Dress socks. Bed socks. There were a lot of socks. At one point, I couldn't tell the difference between a few very similar looking grey socks, until I finally realized that if I looked inside I would see the stitches were different, and then of course I'd be able to pair them quite easily.

It was right then and there that I heard God tell me I'm like a sock. Profound, I know. =) The point, however, is that it doesn't matter what people seem like, it matters who they are. And, God knows who we are even when it seems no one else does.

One day he said, "Samuel, I've rejected Saul, and I refuse to let him be king any longer. Stop feeling sad about him. Put some olive oil in a small container and go visit a man named Jesse, who lives in Bethlehem. I've chosen one of his sons to be my king." Samuel answered, "If I do that, Saul will find out and have me killed." 

"Take a calf with you," the LORD replied. "Tell everyone that you've come to offer it as a sacrifice to me, then invite Jesse to the sacrifice. When I show you which one of his sons I have chosen, pour the olive oil on his head." Samuel did what the LORD told him and went to Bethlehem. The town leaders went to meet him, but they were terribly afraid and asked, "Is this a friendly visit?"

"Yes, it is!" Samuel answered. "I've come to offer a sacrifice to the LORD. Get yourselves ready to take part in the sacrifice and come with me." Samuel also invited Jesse and his sons to come to the sacrifice, and he got them ready to take part. When Jesse and his sons arrived, Samuel noticed Jesse's oldest son, Eliab. "He has to be the one the LORD has chosen," Samuel said to himself.

But the LORD told him, "Samuel, don't think Eliab is the one just because he's tall and handsome. He isn't the one I've chosen. People judge others by what they look like, but I judge people by what is in their hearts." (1 Samuel 16:1-7, CEV)

If you continue reading, you'll learn that David was the last choice. Not out of two or three, but of seven brothers, David was the last one to be considered. It's very encouraging to know that even David, one of the great kings of our Christian history was the underdog too.