Godgrown

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  Mark 8:59 am on January 15, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  The Choices that Keep You 

  Choices matter.  Every addiction begins with the choice to give it a try.  The alcoholic’s first beer, the heroine addict’s first fix.  For me, its starting 24 Season 4…DON’T MAKE ME DO IT!!!

  Even more astounding are those choices that not only affect your life, but enslave your children, grandchildren and beyond to that choice as well.  Think about a father who beats his kids, who grow up to beat their kids…

  …will the cycle be unbroken?

  The Israelites began their stay in Egypt as heroes.  Golden son Joseph from Israel had excelled in the Egyptian hierarchy from ex-con to 2nd in command under Pharaoh himself.  He brought all his family down, from Canaan in the midst of a terrifying famine, because through God’s providence, God warned Joseph of the famine years earlier and Egypt had prepared.

  At the start of things, Egypt was endentured to Israel. Maybe there was a need to be needed.  Maybe Israel convinced itself that THIS was how they were to fulfill their destiny to be a “blessing to all nations.”  Who knows…

  But the high wore off, a hero’s welcome became an “immigration issue” which eventually became a “workforce solution.”  There were pyramids to build after all.

  The choice to move to Egypt was, at first, a necessary one.  But somewhere along the way there was a crest in that decision that no one ever took seriously – at some point the good in staying in Egypt no longer outweighed the bad…and at the opening of the book of Exodus, Israel is enslaved to its decision.

  52:4 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “Long ago my people chose to live in Egypt. Now they are oppressed by Assyria. 5 What is this?” asks the Lord. “Why are my people enslaved again? Those who rule them shout in exultation. My name is blasphemed all day long. 6 But I will reveal my name to my people, and they will come to know its power. Then at last they will recognize that I am the one who speaks to them.”

  What decisions will you make today that will affect your grandchildren?  What decisions have you made years ago that you still live out of, even though the benefits of that decision have worn off – and you are trapped, enslaved to your past choice?  Will those around you, or even those that come after you be enslaved to a decision you made long ago?

  Think hard on that one.  It could change your life…

  
   

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  Mark 9:10 am on December 28, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  The Brink of Death 

  What is it like to get the news that you are about to die?  Imagine for a moment, an illness, ravaging you from the inside, with nothing you can do to stop it.  You are given days if not hours to live.  Suddenly your priority list shifts – you are doing things you didn’t have planned on your schedule that morning.  And you pray.

  Why does the threat of death bring us so closely to conversation with God – like nothing else?

  Isaiah 38 invites us again into the intimate prayer-life of the King of Judah during a decisive period in Judeo-Christian history.  My previous post reflected on the “exciting climax” and the prayer that impacted the destiny of a nation.  Today’s chapter displays yet another prayer from King Hezekiah, but this prayer comes before the national crisis of chapter 37, and this prayer personally reflects the King’s pleas to save him from a deathly illness in the prime of his life.

  He is still a young man when he is hit with the news that death is upon him.  He immediately finds himself before God, begging him for a chance to live.  He wants to commune with God, and commune with others for more years to come.  He repents of his selfishness and pride.  He sets his affairs in order.  He quickly focuses on his most important parts of his life.

  And Isaiah gets wind of Yahweh’s change of heart – even before he leaves King Hezekiah’s courtyard!  (2 Kgs 20:4)  Yahweh gives him a sign that he has chosen to save him from this death, and lengthen his life.  His father before him had refused a sign from God (Isaiah 7) for favor of doing things his own way, but in Hezekiah’s case, he gladly accepted the news that 15 years would be added to his life as king, and that Jerusalem would not be destroyed by Assyria.

  Praying on your death bed is a type of prayer rarely discussed as a form of Christian spiritual formation.  However, it has brought many people to the LORD and has a powerful way of focusing one’s mind and heart on what truly matters.  In fact, it is in the good times that you prepare yourself for when disaster hits.

  So whether you find yourself at the prime of life, or the brink of death – pray.

  
   
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  Mark 8:29 am on December 2, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  This Will Hurt Me More Than It Hurts You! 

  One of the big questions folks have about Yahweh God and the Old Testament is his seeming insistence in killing and torturing the people he created.  The words of the Old Testament, if taken to be the literal spoken words of God, make him out to be a pretty violent, blood-thirsty deity.

  1. Some say that God is immature and erratic, kicking over anthills, etc.
  2. Others say this violence we read about comes from his sense of ultimate justice - that he could not be a just God if justice for the oppressed was not a central part of who God is.
  3. Still others say that just because it is in the Bible doesn’t mean that God had anything to do with it.

  This is seen again in Isaiah 15, where he describes the fall of Moab, a sort of “evil-twin nation” to Israel.  (If you know the story of  the two rival brothers, Jacob and Esau, Jacob is renamed Israel, and Esau becomes Moab).

  The Moabites were infamous for their lascivious and also murderous lifestyles.  They terrorized the Israelites and other nearby nations, picking off the edges of town, pillaging and kidnapping.  They had their own version of what some interpret today as “Jihad” - their word was Harem, meaning “Holy War.”  This included wiping out EVERYTHING – people, animals, even vegetation. It was all to be burned.

  Only people in cultures of wealth and privilege like ours could say that God is immature or evil for wanting to enact punishment on a country that has terrorized and punished so many for so long.

  Think about it from the perspective of the oppressed. God’s ultimate sense of justice calls him to stop oppression sooner or later – and whether he directly caused the fall of Moab, or they brought it on themselves through continual wickedness, the point is that God and his justice was the ultimate victor – that he delivers the oppressed out of the hand of the oppressor.

  And what’s more: God sheds tears for Moab as he punishes them – Saying, in effect: “This hurts me like it hurts you!”

  5 My heart weeps for Moab.
  Its people flee to Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah.
  Weeping, they climb the road to Luhith.
  Their cries of distress can be heard all along the road to Horonaim.

  What kind of God has that kind of heart?  A heart to fight for the oppressed, and yet weep for the oppressor?  A God I’d like to get to know…

  

  Mark, and sean are discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    sean 2:13 pm on December 2, 2010 Permalink

    Good point brother. As I say Amen to this, this came to mind concerning God’s faithfulness to Justice, and at the same time His Mercy upon concerning the fulfillment of final things and concerning his judgement upon the world now even, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness but is longsuffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” 2 Peter 3:9 I’d like to get to know that God more as well…But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

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    Mark 4:09 pm on December 2, 2010 Permalink

    Very encouraging Sean! We typically judge God based on our perspective, which usually makes us confused and cynical about why he does this, or doesn’t do that. But through grace, God judges us from HIS perspective – through Jesus Christ!