"To Him be glory forever": July 2017

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Life is short. God is good.

We are on vacation, arriving last night in Rochester, MN, where we used to live. We have family here and many friends, and two of those friends from our former church very generously invited us to stay in their home and use it as our base for our visit.

When we arrived last night we were saddened to learn that their neighbor, whom we also know from our former church, was found dead in his home last week. Paul was in his late 50's, roughly our age, and without significant known health issues, and his death was completely unexpected by all who knew him.

For Robin and I this news came on top of the sudden death last week of a leader in our denomination, a man who was a good friend of our congregation and had visited us three times in the past 16 months, most recently in January. Tony was in his early 60's a two-time member of the US Olympic team, and looking as healthy as ever when I saw him last month. Like our friend Paul, Tony had no known major health issues.

For reasons I don’t have answers for, the news of these two deaths brought to mind the passing of our granddaughter, Raelyn, in 2015. Just past her second birthday, Rae died following an accident at home.

The thought that brings these three particular deaths together for me is a phrase that is so very familiar: Life is short. Be its span two years or 62 years, human life is short. Rare is the person who does not desire their life to extend a bit longer. Even among people dealing with painful and/or prolonged illness, the desire for healing and a even just a bit more life is often present.

"Life is short" rarely stands alone. Just saying it is a springboard to something else. Life is short, therefore… If you 'google' "Life is short" you'll will see an amazing number and variety of things that people are encouraged to consider once they come to the conclusion that life is indeed short. These range everywhere from the well-meaning to the inane.

I'm going to suggest a different thought to follow "Life is short," which is that "God is good."

The truth is that whatever happens in this life, including its unexpected and seemingly premature end, God is good.

As Christians, we grieve, but we do not grieve without having hope that is grounded in the promises of God to always hold His children. Of the many places in the Bible that speaks to our eternal hope in God, the closing words of Romans 8 are among my favorite;

"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Nothing, not even death, separates God from the children He loves.

Rae, Paul and Tony may have desired a life that was a little bit longer. Their families certainly grieve their passing and they may have a place in their hearts that will always hold sorrow for what never came to be.

But I believe that Rae, Paul and Tony are in the presence of Jesus, who gave His life for theirs. Right now they delight in the visible glory of their Savior and Lord.

Human life, even to 100 years, is short when compared to eternity. And by faith in Jesus, a Christian lives in the goodness of God today, and it is a goodness that has no end.

Thursday, July 13, 2017

Can You Hear Me Now?

"Can you hear me now?" That was the catch-phrase for a cell phone company a number of years ago. A man was walking around and speaking into his phone, asking if his listener was getting the sound of the message. In the language of the Jicarilla Apache there is a phrase that means someone has ears but they aren’t listening to what's being said to them. In each case sounds are being sent but we might wonder if the person to whom they are going to is receiving and understanding them. So also is it as we hear from God.

Article Two of the Belgic Confession introduces our understanding of how it is that God speaks in this way:

"We know God by two means:

First, by the creation, preservation, and government of the universe,
since that universe is before our eyes like a beautiful book in which all creatures,
great and small, are as letters to make us ponder
the invisible things of God:

God’s eternal power and divinity, as the apostle Paul says in Romans 1:20.

All these things are enough to convict humans and to leave them without excuse.

Second, God makes himself known to us more clearly by his holy and divine Word, as much as we need in this life, for God’s glory and for our salvation."

God speaks, in a general sense, through what we can see in creation. He speaks in a more particular sense through what we read in His word. Whenever we open our Bibles and read the words on the page, it is as if God Himself was speaking directly to us.

What are we to make of such speech? We hear so many words, so many voices, through the course of the day that it becomes very easy to treat God's voice as just one among many. We hear the words, perhaps briefly consider them, and then move on to the next voice clamoring for our attention.

This week I read a sermon by Alexander Maclaren, where he said:

"When God speaks, it is neither reverent or safe to refuse to listen."

When I read those words I took them as a reminder, and a gentle rebuke, to consider the way I approach the Bible. Reading it is not something to do because I know that I should, or because I believe it is good for me, although both those reasons are true.

Sure, it is a book, but it is a book unlike any other book. It is the book that, alone, is filled with the words of God from beginning to end.

The question as we read it not "Can you hear?" but "What do you hear, and what are you going to do about it?"

Sunday, July 9, 2017

Hands

A pair of human hands has to be one of the most useful and versatile things around. Think of everything that you can do with your hands, or perhaps said differently, think of everything that you need your hands to do. All of the practical, everyday things, such as getting dressed, eating, doing the tasks of whatever vocation a person has. In my former profession I often had to help people find new ways to get things done with hands that would never function in the same way again. And that's not all, as hands perform other tasks of great meaning, such as gesturing to add emphasis to speech, or embracing someone to comfort them in sorrow.

The many uses of the human hand came to mind as I was reading Psalm 144, which begins,

"Blessed be the Lord, my rock,

who trains my hands for war,

and my fingers for battle."

As a veteran of the US Navy I guess I could say that my hands were at one time trained for war, although pretty much all I ever used them for then in my work was to maintain the electrical systems of my ship. But as I read the psalm I thought of a different kind of war, one in which my hands were preparing to fight at that very moment.

My fingers had opened my Bible to the psalm, and my hands were holding the Bible as I read the psalm and then set the Bible back on my desk, to fold my hands and begin to pray.

When the psalmist first wrote his words I have no doubts that physical combat was what was on his mind. But the warfare that goes on every time a Christian folds their hands together in prayer can be just as intense.

Of all the many things that I can do with my hands, some of which are for better and some of which, quite frankly, are not good at all, perhaps the very best is to fold them together as I seek God in prayer.

And for those times when prayer involves spiritual battle and warfare, the Christian need never doubt that the Lord he seeks in prayer has never lost, and never will.

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

A Better Country

Yesterday was the Fourth of July, a holiday marking the colonies that became the United States of America declaring their independence from England. The declaration happened in 1776, and so yesterday was the 241st celebration of that event.

On the reservation that day of celebration closed in the same manner as happened in many communities across America, with fireworks. It was our pleasure to gather with some friends at a house close to the fireworks show, where we could watch a first-rate display light up the night sky.

America is a great country. We might all agree that it isn't a perfect country, and we would have many different opinions as to what is wrong with it and how those particular problems could be addressed, but I think that there would be broad agreement that there is no other country in which we would rather live. For all of its flaws, the strengths of this country make it one in which far more people would like to move to, rather than move from. And yet, there is a better country.

In Hebrews 11 the unknown author tells briefly of a number of people who lived lives trusting in God's promises. These people kept their eyes towards the future, knowing that even in times of God's blessing that there was something better, something truly lasting, to come.

Hebrews 11:13-16 says,

"These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city."

Last night, about a half-hour before going to our friends to watch the fireworks, Kat and I were outside. She looked to the west and saw the setting sun shining through the clouds and said, "Look Dad. God is showing his glory."

The fireworks were a reminder of what America has been through in the past 241 years, and perhaps also hope for the future, but the sun through the clouds points us to something that is so much better. As good as this country is, let us remember that God has prepared a better country, a heavenly one, for all those who live by faith in him.