Gadfly's Muse

Chastened By Grace

[Hanging Orchids, Longwood Gardens, Pa.

2009 JAVanDevender]

 Deuteronomy 8:2-6   2 "And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.  3 "So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.  4 "Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.  5 "You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the LORD your God chastens you.  6 "Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.

The LORD you God allowed you to hunger, and (then) fed you with manna which you did not know....  What an incredible shift in perspective this must have required of those who went through the desert with Moses.  The Lord who loves us, who brought us out of Egypt, who delivered us from all manner of threats, who showed Himself to us at Sinai, who led us by day with a pillar of smoke, and comforted us with His presence at night by a pillar of fire...  This God ALLOWED us to hunger... so that... so that ... He could feed us in a way we have never imagined or known...  Truly this God’s ways are higher than ours, far above our thinking and imagining...  Truly we need to KNOW in our HEART that as a man chastens his son, whom he loves, so the LORD our God chastens us.

Can anything truly be added to that?  Certainly not by me.  The instruction is so clear, the application so immediate, the principle so well established... that all any of us can do is bear witness to its truth.

God’s love for us is so great that He will “allow” us to hunger just so that He can then turn around and nourish us with a new demonstration of His provision, a new perspective on His glory, a new insight into His wisdom, a new sunrise in our darkness.    Truly this is chastening by grace.  Yet when we are the ones who are hungry.... oh boy does that make it different in our minds.  Immediately we begin casting around for someone, something, to blame.  Why are YOU doing this to ME? is the question that immediately springs up in our minds even if we are ashamed to voice it with our lips.  All our vaunted wisdom and spiritual maturity crumbles around us when WE are the ones being chastened.  We don’t see it as grace... to us it is anger, spitefulness, injustice.   But then, when the manna falls and we again begin to see God’s providence at work, then and perhaps only then, do we begin to change.  Maybe only a little, maybe a whole bunch... but ... it happens. 

And we learn: our lives are not tied up in “bread alone.”  We don’t exist as objects of pampering.  Providing for every comfort in our lives would leave us stale, stagnant, decrepit and lame.  But God’s ways... now there is wisdom... are the ways of life and growth and wonder.  What a mighty God we serve.  In the words of that South which no longer exists... “who’d ‘ve ever thunk it?” 

Have you thanked God today for the chastening of His grace?   Maybe we ought to do it now.

The Problem of Right & Wrong

Psalm 49:16-20  16 Do not be afraid when one becomes rich, When the glory of his house is increased;  17 For when he dies he shall carry nothing away; His glory shall not descend after him.  18 Though while he lives he blesses himself (For men will praise you when you do well for yourself),  19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers; They shall never see light.  20 A man who is in honor, yet does not understand, Is like the beasts that perish.

A man, though he be held in great honor among his peers, his contemporaries... though he be lauded in the press and awarded prizes for his “contributions”... though all manner of earthly significance is accorded him... if he does not understand... is no different than a beast!

I’ve been thinking quite a bit recently on this whole business of “doing rightly.”  The Scriptures seem to think it’s pretty important (Rev. 22:14 comes to mind).  In fact, apart from “doing rightly” there doesn’t seem to be much hope that we can even trust that we have faith (James 1:22-27, especially v. 26).  But, as this Psalm tells us, woe be to the man who “does rightly”, even to the point of gaining glory from men for his great deeds, but “does not understand.”  That man (this is scary thought) is no different than an ox or a dog or ... hang on... even a cat.  So, “doing right things” apart from “understanding rightly” is ultimately an exercise in futility.

So.... how might it fit together and “who cares?”  I care and all the rest of us do also at some point although we might go for days, weeks, months or years without thinking about it.  The Bible is not a rule book when you get right down to it.  God knows .. boy does He ever... that if He gives us a bunch of hard and fast, specific, black and white, rules and tells us “Do this and you will live” that two things will happen: First we will completely lose sight of God in doing them ( we won’t UNDERSTAND) and secondly - we won’t do them and therefore will fall into despair because we have blown it... again.... and again.

So God gives us commandments and statutes and instructions and advice and an overwhelming amount of teaching to go along with them.  He sends prophets and teachers and His Son to explain things.  He reaches out to us over time and space and calls us to Himself in the midst of our lives - and in all of that He says over and over again... Do good... but the only good you can do is that which flows from understanding.  Sometimes - show mercy.  Other times... demand justice.  There is a time to kill... there is a time to heal.  Understanding!... that’s the “problem” of right and wrong.  It’s seeing Christ in every question and responding to Christ in every instance and evoking Christ in every conversation and dying to Christ in every moment.  Only then does the whole “problem” even begin to make sense.  We want “black and white”... God gives us a Person.  It’s a puzzlement but it is “a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.” (John 4:14)

We Have Seen That The Lord Is With You!

[photo, DJohanson, 2009]
Genesis 26:28-29   28 But they said, "We have certainly seen that the LORD is with you. So we said, 'Let there now be an oath between us, between you and us; and let us make a covenant with you,  29 'that you will do us no harm, since we have not touched you, and since we have done nothing to you but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the LORD.' "

Abimilech is an interesting character.  A minor Palestinian potentate of no great world significance, he ruled where he could, bowed and scraped where he must and generally dealt with life as it came.  Pragmatic to the core he was not one of those reflective types who spent a great deal of time thinking and pondering the abstract questions of life, at least in my estimation.  As with Isaac’s father Abraham before him, Abimilech was interested in protecting his own rear end and furthering his own interests.  Abraham and now Isaac were powerful clan chieftains and they could muster quite an effective little army if they needed.  Certainly Chedolaomer, King of Elam, had discovered that earlier (Gen. 14) and Abimilech was not one to let such a lesson in history pass unnoticed.

So I don’t think there was a great deal of mystical, theological and spiritual insight that prompted this particular confession by Abimilech to Isaac.  The evidence that the “LORD is with you” and the Isaac was “blessed of the LORD” did not arise from an in depth course in discipleship.  It came about because Abimilech could not deny what was plain to his eyes and which his inherent prudence demanded he understand.  This man Isaac, like his father Abraham before him, has something going for him and it was in his best interest that he not be provoked to action or alliance against him.

Never the less, there is an abstract propositional truth that lies behind the confession.  God’s people should and ought to, be the sphere in which the power of God as well as the Word of God is evident to the eyes of even the unbelieving world.  In weakness they should show forth strength that speaks to a Supernatural source.  In persecution they should show forth and unexpected courage and resolve, like Stephen, that bears witness and wins converts and transforms the world, bearing witness that they are the “blessed of the LORD.”  In prosperity they should be always pointing beyond themselves to the source of their provision and then using the fruits of prosperity in a manner which again, testifies to the goodness of their God.

These things and others like them, should set Christians apart.  They are, by that Divine connection, a thorn in the side of those outside the Kingdom.  There will be those who seek to abuse them and those like Abimilech who seek to use them, but they will not go unnoticed.  The power of God will not remain unknown even if it remains invisible. 

The question is, are we opening our lives to the LORD as did Abraham and Isaac.  Are we walking in a strange world, among the people who live there, and bearing witness that our God is sustaining us, upholding us, and strengthening us until the day that ALL that we see will be OURS?  Are we depending on God so that the eyes of the world will discover that God is faithful to those who depend on Him? 

Such was Abraham and Isaac’s calling and Abimilech was not unaffected by the way they fulfilled it.  Perhaps, all that is wanting in this land of ours, is that the people of God should start living as if their very lives depended on the God they served.  Who knows who might be watching?

The Path Less Traveled....

[photo - DJohanson, 2008]

This extraordinary photograph so captures the eye that that mind is immediately drawn into it.  The pathway is not smooth, it is narrow and apparently treacherous, but the promise of the horizon in the distance is that treasures await at the end.  It is as if there is a gentle voice that calls one onward.  "Keep coming, keep going, one step in front of the other.  Enjoy the beauty that is all around you but nothing compares to the beauty that lies ahead."

Jesus, of course, used this idea of a "narrow path" in his illustration of the two "ways" of this dispensation.  There is that path, often and numerously trod, that is wide and easy to walk.  It's delights are entirely ephemeral and deceitful.  The prospects of its horizon are murky at best because the promises of that road cannot ever be fulfilled.  Fleshly pleasures pass, all too quickly, and, in the dark moments in between, the nagging suspicion of their emptiness causes many a worried eye to scan the horizon ahead for assurance.  But none are forthcoming.

The other "way" of this eon, is the strenuous uphill path with many stones to turn your ankle and the solemn reality of a steep crossing incline that threatens both above and below.  Here, the way is not crowded for few there are that walk it, but in the words of the old song, they never "walk alone."  The comforts along this path are real but not to be mistaken with those fleshly ones of the other path.  There is an austere beauty, a sharp severity to life on this walk.  The cool air is bracing but induces the shivers.  The awesome vistas constantly inspire the mind but they also constantly remind us of our relative puniness.  

But always, there is the promise of the horizon.  The sharp line of the summit where the road turns downward and easy to walk.  Where the view is complete and we know even as we are fully known and the mountain of delight communicates its truth, gorgeous and eternal, to our every sense.

Such are the thoughts that come to mind as I ponder this image and I do not think the meditation is too far removed from Jesus' intent in forming His metaphor which seems so self-evident.

Keep walking... it is and always will be, worth it.

Listen To the Mockingbird....

[Mockingbird&StreetLamp, 2008, JAVanDevender]

This little guy greets me just about every morning.  Sometimes he's perched on the gable above the Church porch, sometimes sitting just at the edge of the high roof, peering over the ledge, sometimes he flutters in the trees.  His cheeriness is a decided contrast to my usual mood but then, that's my problem not his, isn't it?

I have threatened to snap his picture many times, but usually he doesn't perch still long enough for it.  Today he was content to pose for a while.

I am not sure that there is much more to this experience than the simple "life-ness" of it, but one, probably far-fetched, notion did cross my mind.  Perhaps this little guy kind of embodies something significant about the Christian life.  He is dwarfed by the immense light on which he stands and yet, from that foundation he fills the morning with his song.  We Christians are dwarfed by the Light on which we stand also.  Our Lord's light fills the world, not just a parking lot.  He is the Light of the world, no man comes to the Father except through Him, and yet, it is our privilege to stand on Him and sing.  We have the privilege of filling this world with our song, living out our moments by drawing attention to the One from whence the light comes.

Maybe, sometimes, we take our lives too seriously.  We seem to think that the world, the Kingdom, the country, our church, our families, depend entirely on us.  We load ourselves down with an over-burden of "oughtness" that translates into "do-this" or "do-that" objective type accomplishments.  We carry the weight of "success" on our shoulders.  True, we must be clear-headed and mission oriented.  We must not diminish the importance of accomplished tasks.  But, maybe, just maybe, the primary reason we are in this world is to simply sing.  The mockingbird has to eat, build a nest, hatch the eggs, and fight off intruders (a task for which he shows remarkable enthusiasm).  But, that for which he is known and loved, is his song.  You know... that might be something to ponder and embrace for our lives also.

Maybe, this morning, there was a reason why the little guy sat still.  He was just waiting for me to appreciate how he serves the Lord God also.

A Ride Fit For A King, Or At Least A Sub-Regent....

[Corsair Roadster, 2008, JAVanDevender, CLICK FOR LARGER VIEW]

Genesis 1:28  Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12   that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you,  that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.

You know, some mechanical things are truly works of art.  When I look at some of the stuff that passes off as art these days (the hideous statue "male-female" in downtown Baltimore, for example - you can see it HERE) such things as steam engines, bridges and classic motorcars easily rise to that status.   This particular beauty was the hit of the antique car exhibit at the National Apple Harvest festival this past Saturday and I spent a bit of time just sitting on the ground and pondering it.  It occurs to me that God may be just as pleased when men build things like this as we are.

God created man to be useful but not slavish.  As opposed to the old Sumerian creation / flood accounts, where man was just a tool, created to furnish the Sumerian Pantheon with the sacrifices they craved as they pursued their vocation of divine indolence, the true God is a God of "doing", of "ordering" as well as "order", of craftsmanship who delights in the work of His own hands and calling it good.  It is inherent in the Divine image which man bears, to follow this pattern: to be busy in exercising dominion under our King, subject to Him in humility, but rejoicing in the work that is to be done.

It is not to be despised that man makes useful things.  Not all "good works" are relational, furnishing the poor, healing the sick, lifting the down-trodden.  Paul tells the Thessalonians that they are to work with their own hands so that they lack nothing.  Certainly the intent was to furnish their own needs and to proved an abundance to share with others.  Certainly the command to love one's neighbor as ones self is not absent from a Christian's activity in building things, doing things, accomplishing physical tasks.  But neither are those things simply to be relegated to the status of inconsequential, or an over subordination akin to despising.  God is delighted I think when man transcends mere workman like quality and rises to craftsmanship.  I believe it honors Him to make things not just useful, but beautiful.  The quiet satisfaction that comes from listening to an engine purr, or pondering the mechanisms of a clock ticking away, or thrilling to the thunder of a passing freight train, does not have to be prideful.  If it leads man to worship, to giving thanks to the God who provides man with the wisdom of talented hands, then God, I think, shares in our delight.

This was one nice car.  I thank God for the artist who designed and built it.  Man can do good stuff when he sets his mind to it.  All his efforts do not have to be confined to greed and selfishness.

Changed... from this poor creature that I am....

(BlackSwallowtailCaterpillar, 2008, JAVanDevender)

2 Corinthians 5:16-17   16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.  17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

There is an old Southern Gospel song - "There Will Be Peace In The Valley" - sung by multitudes of professionals and amateurs alike - most notably by Elvis.  Like most Southern Gospel music, theology is not its long suit, but the hope expressed in one of its verses - "I will be changed... changed ... from this creature that I am!" lies at the very heart of the Good News.

Jesus didn't come into this fallen world to save us "as we are" - He came to save us into something better.  He came to take hold of our cold stony hearts and transform them into something warm and living and truly human.  He came to take our sin-befuddled brains and enable them to turn from the shadows with which they had been fixed and preoccupied, to the clear light of truth - the truth of God, of His Son, and the Holy Spirit.  He came to shift our emotions from an essential narcissism to an embracing love for others.  Those things in and of themselves are astonishing.  They constitute the birth of a new humanity, a new creation, an emerging community entirely free and able to move.  Like the difference between a leaf bound caterpillar, crawling slowly and narrowly over the closed stalks of existence, concerned almost entirely with where comes its next meal - and the fluttering freedom of the butterfly into which it is transformed - gaining freedom to soar on the breeze - so is the work of the Holy Spirit in His people.  Truly He is invisible, like the wind in the trees, but even more truly His work is identifiable - clearly distinguished by the shackles left behind by those who have been set free.

But it  doesn't end there - there is more to come!  There is the glorious freedom of the Sons of God which is yet to be provided... the glistening robes of glorification which provide true holiness and true wisdom and even greater joy.  The final transformation will enable us to know even as we are known, to be empowered and authorized to stand at the very throne of glory and toss our crowns at our Savior's feet.  The last enemy, death, will be destroyed and the perfection of all things will include our own final completion. 

What a fellowship... what a joy divine... leaning on the everlasting arms!  The old song is right... it centers our hope and expectation of blessing in the day when there truly will be Peace in the Valley... for me... and for all who know Christ.

Hallelujah.

Slide Show Meditation on Eccl. 3:1-8, 11

Click HERE for a slide show put on by the Canadian Bible Society.  It is worth watching.  Pachelbel's Canon plus good pic's.

(DewyDiamondNecklace, 2008, JAVanDevender, Click for larger image)

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11  To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:  2 A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted;  3 A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up;  4 A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance;  5 A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;  6 A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away;  7 A time to tear, And a time to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak;  8 A time to love, And a time to hate; A time of war, And a time of peace.  9 What profit has the worker from that in which he labors?  10 I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied.  11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

Every thing God does is beautiful in its time.  Even the tears of mourning can be an exquisitely beautiful thing - it means someone was loved.  Similarly, with only a little play on words, the morning dews and damps provide their own beauty, perhaps one that is unique to the early hours.  Glistening arrays line the leaves and petals, clinging to their host before the rising sun's warmth or the yet to be born wind, hasten them to their own destiny.

I suppose we are something like that.  Our lives adorn the passage of history and God makes them good in their time.  We become glistening diamonds, fragile and temporary in history, reflecting the light of the Son and showing it forth in our walk before Him.  Sinners that we are, fallen that we remain, stumbling in and out of trouble, showing that we are creatures of grace so that none can boast, yet, when all is said and done - through His hands, we are beautiful... in our time.

Blessed be the name of our incomparable God and Lord, Jesus Christ and our astonishing Father, the God of all Creation.

A Golden Rod Morning

(GoldenRodMorning, 2008, JAVanDevender, CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE)

Psalm 65:8  You make the outgoings of the morning and evening rejoice.

From everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God.  From the lips of the Psalmist to the sleep be-grogged  eyes of a motorist, the rising sun frames the world in beauty and immediately draws the soul beyond the immediate to the astonishing doxology of Creation.  Even the pesky Golden Rod becomes delightful.  The atheist on seeing, feels his spirit move but knows not where.  The Christian knows where and gives praise.  The evenings and the mornings rejoice in splendor, bathing the sky in radiant hues and caressing the earth with the softest touch of light.  The human mind knows it is good to be alive at such times.  The cares and worries seem to drift a bit into the background as the moment lingers and we are refreshed.

Teach us to number our days, O Lord.... that with the morning we may rejoice also.

Sanity Check

[BstBfly, 2008, JAVanDevender, click for larger image]
In the midst of a presidential campaign, hurricanes left and right, people dying by the trainloads in the streets of our city, and the usual stupidity, sometimes we just need a sanity check.

Butterflies are still beautiful...  there's hope.

(From Joel 2) 21 Fear not, O land; Be glad and rejoice, For the LORD has done marvelous things!  22 Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field; For the open pastures are springing up, And the tree bears its fruit; The fig tree and the vine yield their strength.  23 Be glad then, you children of Zion, And rejoice in the LORD your God; For He has given you the former rain faithfully, And He will cause the rain to come down for you -- The former rain, And the latter rain in the first month. ....   27 Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: I am the LORD your God And there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame.