Godgrown

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  Mark 3:06 pm on January 12, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  As Easy as the Arrow’s Job in Archery 

  In the work that really matters, in the work of restoring people to wholeness, in developing communities of reconciliation, in pointing people back to their Creator, the work can get pretty dismal.  It can seem as if your life is useless – that nothing meaningful is happening.  I can resonate with such a life – somewhere deep down you know that all this running about is worth something, but you have no idea how much of it is worth a pile of hay, and how much of it is gold.

  This doubt is common to the workers of God in the world.  There is a deep resonance that something you’re doing matters, but in the moment as a servant of God, you can feel pretty useless.

  Isaiah is again writing under the pseudonym of the nation of Israel.  While Isaiah hopes we will see into the heart of a listless, disillusioned nation in exile; take a moment and consider Isaiah’s lot in life – as a forgotten, dismissed prophet of the LORD…and then consider you own life as a worker in God’s mission:

  1 Listen to me, all you in distant lands!

  Pay attention, you who are far away!

  The Lord called me before my birth;

  from within the womb he called me by name.

  The speaker (the Servant of God) knows that he has been called.  He’s not on this mission alone, he has been sent – and he wants the world to know about it.  When he is at his lowest moment, when his heart has been captured by the Enemy and taken off into exile, he is still confident that he has been called to be a servant of God, and a light to all nations.  This is a call that happened even before his birth – so this is not a call he himself has earned with good behavior, and its something that can never be taken away from him because of external circumstances.  The LORD himself has pre-ordained the servant’s mission – and it will be carried out!

  2 He made my words of judgment as sharp as a sword.

  He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand.

  I am like a sharp arrow in his quiver.

  3 He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel,

  and you will bring me glory.”

  These images are so powerful and convicting to me! My words often feel so blunt and fall on deaf ears; and I can only imagine Isaiah’s prophetic muteness must have driven him to despair.  But Isaiah, speaking through his character, “the servant,” reassures himself, and the rest of us, that our words are sharp – because God is the one who made them that way.  We are hidden in the hollow of God’s hand.  Where could we be more safe that in the very palm of God?

  And while we are safe in his hand, we are also nearby when God needs to put us to use – we are like an arrow waiting patiently in the hands of God.  Ahh, to be an arrow – to know exactly what you are for, and to simply wait for the appropriate time, and then – “fffflot!” – you are sprung to life, in a flash of light, your archer pulls you out of his quiver and delicately places you in his bow – and fires you off on a mission.  You simply let yourself be used by God – and he does the rest.

  We will bring him glory.  Amazing.

  And yet, it often doesn’t feel like we’re flying through the air – on a mission with God.  It feels as if we’ve somehow fallen out of the quiver and we’re just laying limp on the ground:

  4 I replied, “But my work seems so useless!

  I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose.

  Yet I leave it all in the Lord’s hand;

  I will trust God for my reward.”

  Yet, if this is God’s war – if he is waging it against the forces of Evil and darkness, then maybe he knows what he’s doing.  Maybe there will be a time when I can look back and see the purpose behind my work.  If I can leave it all in God’s hand, and trust God for my reward/satisfaction… then maybe I won’t go running around quite as much looking for approval for others, or significant mission on my own.  I’ll be content to be the arrow of God – sent soaring through the air, chasing after my cause- my reason for living.

  God had given a purpose to Isaiah, just as he gave one to me, and to you.  Isaiah got to see a part of why God made him the way he did, but we today, 2700 years later, can see Isaiah from another perspective – and wow, how God used that man!  If only you could see why God made you the way he did.  You would find trusting him for your rewards in life to be as easy and effortless as an arrow flying through the air.

  
   

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  Mark 2:26 pm on January 7, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Interested 

  The lie is God has no interest in my life.  Its hard to view it any other way.  Sure – he’s watching to make sure I say my prayers and that I put money in the collection plate as its passed around on Sunday…but does he bother himself with the rest of my life?

  Its easier to keep thing compartmentalized, to keep the categories of my life nice and tidy.  My boss doesn’t care what I do when I’m off the clock.  My drinking buddies don’t ask how my marriage is doing.  And God doesn’t care what I do Monday-Saturday.

  But learning to hear the voice of God starts in the everyday of life – to live in expectancy of his ever-present love and sovereignty.

  The second lie is that life is easier when lived in isolation from God.  That I don’t WANT God’s interest in my life.  Independence was the temptation in the Garden, and ever since, we’ve been like a clay pot arguing with its potter:

  6 so all the world from east to west

  will know there is no other God.

  I am the Lord, and there is no other.

  7 I create the light and make the darkness.

  I send good times and bad times.

  I, the Lord, am the one who does these things.

  8 “Open up, O heavens,

  and pour out your righteousness.

  Let the earth open wide

  so salvation and righteousness can sprout up together.

  I, the Lord, created them.

  9 “What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator.

  Does a clay pot argue with its maker?

  Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying,

  ‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’

  Does the pot exclaim,

  ‘How clumsy can you be?

  Letting God into every issue of my life gives me great anxiety and simultaneously great peace.  What is he saying to me when I log onto Facebook?  When I prepare my taxes?  When I ride the bus?  When I lie awake at night…

  Learning to be “God-grown” is at its core, a matter of paying attention and expecting God’s presence in every situation.  This presence is infinitely better than an absence – that God as my potter knows what he’s doing, and arguing or fighting for independence won’t bring the life and health I’m looking for.

  Take a fresh approach to your day – what “room” in your life have you left locked, keeping God out?  I guarantee you – his presence is infinitely better than his absence.

  
   
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  Mark 8:41 am on December 24, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  While the Gods Stare on Blankly 

  Welcome to the Exciting Climax of Isaiah!

  When we left Hezekiah yesterday, he was looking down the barrel of Assyrian’s gun.  As the powerful Assyrian Empire rolled across the landscape, they had finally come to the doorstep of Jerusalem, and according to a recent archaeological find, the king of Assyria, Sennacherib boasted, “I had [Hezekiah] a prisoner in Jerusalem, his royal residence, like a bird in a cage.”

  But Hezekiah keeps his cool – he has such maturity in God that for him, this is not about the survival of his kingdom, but of what his kingdom stands for: the character of God. He says nothing to his messengers, or his kingly council – he moves straight past them and toward the Temple of God and begins in prayer.

  Hezekiah’s prayer is among the most passionate and moving prayers in all of Scripture. Similar to Jesus’ prayer just before his arrest, we get the chance to see the true character of a leader under pressure of immanent death.  Before the Ark of the Covenant, Hezekiah spreads out a letter he has received from Sennacherib, and makes his case, not on his own righteousness – but on the character of God.  In fact, he is not even concerned for his safety – only priests were allowed to enter this sacred space; but he is confident that God will hear his prayer.

  He acknowledges that Yahweh is seated between cherubim in the mysterious cosmos of heaven, and yet he has laid on this letter before the earthly throne of the Ark.  King Hezekiah directs his thoughts to his King who is above all creation and yet is decisively present in everything here below.

  The main message throughout the book of Isaiah is that God alone saves.  Now Hezekiah gives voice as to who and why this salvation comes.  In a sense, v20 is the focal point of the entire book of Isaiah.  ”That all the kingdoms of the earth may know…that you alone are God.” Hezekiah does not see Yahweh’s exclusivity as some embarrassing problem but a message that will liberate the world from human and spiritual oppression. God responds in the affirmative – he will save Jerusalem in order to display his glory for all the nations affected by the bully Assyria to witness, and hopefully – to join!

  God keeps his promise, affirming Hezekiah’s faith and prayers with an incredible demonstration of God’s saving power.  Right as the Assyrian army are at the door step of Jerusalem, as the “bird was locked in his cage,” – God sends an angel to wipe out 185,000 soldiers in one night (some think it was a disease).  Sennacherib and the Assyrians high-tail it back to Nineveh in defeat!

  A short follow-up story – an “epilogue” if you will – a much older King Sennacherib (now, 20 years later) finds himself in his god’s temple - Nisroch.  He is worshiping and praying, perhaps wondering what had happened to his massive army and impressive empire, which was beginning to crumble.  A broken man, he weeps and prays before a statue of stone and rock. He does not hear his two sons enter the temple.  They assassinate  him there, while his god Nisroch stared on blankly.

  

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