Psalm 27 ends with the admonition to “wait patiently for the Lord, be brave and courageous, yes, wait patiently on the Lord.”

What does that mean?

I normally don’t associate patience and waiting with much bravery.  How brave do you have to be to just sit there?  I suppose it depends on where you are sitting.

The Psalmist makes it clear that he is surrounded by trouble in the land of the living.  That there is no earth on place to remain safe except in God’s holy sanctuary.  So he sits and waits, with everything crashing in around him – with the enemies assailing the front door, he meditates.  “The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?  …Even when I am attacked, I will remain confident.”

What really caught me was what came next in the Psalm: “Hear me as I pray O Lord.  Be merciful and answer me!  My heart has heard you say, ‘Come and talk with me.’  And my heart responds, ‘Lord, I am coming.’” (v 7-8)

So much to consider and meditate on there.  The Psalmist is begging God to listen as he pleads for safety, and there is more than enough trouble to focus on.  But somehow he is able to quiet his mind, and heart in order to stopping running around protecting himself, and begin asking God to intervene.

In that space of stillness, with the enemy at the door of this space of peace, God is able to be heard: “Come and talk with me.”  An invitation.  A momentary returning to the garden where man and God may take a stroll together in the soft morning light.  Where all can be confessed, souls laid bare, tender words spoken, peace offered – between creation and Creator.  This is what the Psalmist desires “more than anything” (v 4) – “to delight in the Lord’s perfections and to meditate in his Temple.”

This Psalm is encouraging in that it gives hope to those of us being crushed on every side – with pressures from work, family, finances, and perhaps most of all – the very expectations we have of ourselves.  There are enemies at your gates.  They have surrounded the city and are attacking the sanctuary of your heart.  Is it possible that you have even joined their ranks?  That you have so many stresses and ticking time bombs in your world that it is simply easier or more fashionable in this world to join the cause of your own destruction that to fight back for your sanity and for the divine relationship you share with God?

Your life is in danger, yet you have a choice: run around gathering swords and weapons to fight back in your own exhausted strength, or quiet yourself, and call out to the Lord.  Hear him inviting you to “come and talk,” remembering that just as important as God’s invitation is your response.  Will you be able to courageously wait?

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*Want to learn more about a powerful practice in hearing God’s voice?  Click here.

Hey guys – I don’t normally promote books or DVDs on here, but this one was a lot of fun, and very intriguing. Its called the Privileged Planet, a documentary on the origins of the cosmos and on the peculiar and relative uniqueness of the planet Earth. The authors of the book with the same name suggest that the Earth, which was given an incredible amount of variables and was able to develop complex carbon life, is rare if not unique in the universe – even when compared to the hundreds of billions of galaxies that make it up. Much more – the very same elements that allow for life to exist on our planet are actually what allow us the chance to discover the rest of our universe with relative ease.

Take our sister planet Venus for example – not only is its atmosphere so clouded with poisonous gas that life is unsustainable, but it also does not allow for a clear night’s sky in which to ponder the stars and galaxies beyond. Or take our position in the Milky Way – our solar system is located right in between two arms of the spiraling Milky Way Galaxy, allowing us not only the relative safety from galactic dust (harmful asteroids, etc) but it gives us a picture perfect setting for looking out of our own galaxy and over at distant galaxies (like Andromeda, etc).

Is there a potential correlation between our fragile survival situation in the universe, and our ability to learn and discover our surroundings? Is it merely coincidence? I don’t think so -

A Divine Creator – a thoughtful God – created a safe place for us not only to live and survive, but also to enjoy and discover. Earth is far more than a the product of time, chance and circumstance. The dynamic relationship between survival and our capacity to observe in wonder points to a God who wants to share in his created beauty. Not only does such a finely-tuned planet point to a Designer, but the opportunity to revel in a beautiful creation points to a God that desires relationship; in wonder, worship, love.

If physics, metaphysics, faith, space, and nerdery are your cup of tea – check out this sweet documentary. You won’t be disappointed.

We’re beginning to sink into our new surroundings here in West Town.  After two weeks of out of sync craziness (one week of nesting, one week of guests and an amazing retreat that we’ll have to unpack at a later date) I am seeking intentionality in patterns that lead to life.

There is lots to pay attention to right now: email is backed up, projects are stacked high, new neighbors to get to know, deadlines for events are on the horizon…but the most important thing to focus on is sometimes the thing that does NOT cry for our immediate attention.  Sometimes the choice to seek sanity leads me to questions like, “How did I get to where I am now?  Who told me that these things I am so hurried with are the essential works to focus on today?  Is God at the origin of these tasks that surround me?”

This past weekend was one to remind me what a relentless taskmaster I am of myself.  No one holds higher expectations of my work than I do.  As I re-enter the “sandbox” of the city, I re-approach it with the desire for “relentless attention to hearts…God’s, my own, and others.”

The heart is the ultimate motivating factor.  Our minds may recognize the need to stop a harmful habit (smoking, over eating, workaholism, etc) but the heart is the wanter and chooser that drives us.  More often than not, “The mind justifies what the heart has chosen,” (Author Unknown). No amount of self-will can reason a person out of something the heart desires.

Listening relentlessly to God’s heart offers me freedom from my own destructive vices.  For me, its helping me pare down the projects to only what he’s calling me to, and reminding me that the only measure that matters is God’s measure.  My measure is skewed – I’ve been lied to too much.  I must learn to rely on God’s measure of me, and work alongside him in the greatest project in history – living in heaven, right here on earth.

God’s heart, my heart, the heart of my wife and others in my spiritual community quickly become muffled in the midst of my skewed pursuit of self-affirmation.  My deepest desire is to pursue a loving relationship with God who already affirms me as his beloved Son.  Suddenly, in the midst of the craziness, hearts are the center of my attention.

May there be a relentless attention in your day to what matters – what truly matters.