Godgrown

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  Mark 8:30 am on November 29, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  In that Day, You Will Say… 

  One of the best ways to practice the presence of God is to remember “5 bar moments” times in which you and God has crystal-clear reception (think, cell phones).  And to remember exactly how you felt in that intimate moment, then see if those feelings still feel true in the present, almost without fail, you can again sense God’s closeness!  This is a very helpful tool for me as I begin a time of worship; give it a try!

  But Isaiah introduces us to a new way of preparing our hearts – looking not into the past for intimate moments with the Divine, but looking into the future and expecting a day when God will be clearly present with you once again.

  1 “In that day you will say: ‘I will praise you, O LORD…’”

  This is a confident hope that things will get better, even as they get worse around you every day.  If today’s fears are too much for you to bear – and you are unable to truly center on God – put your mind on a future time when you will be able to sense his presence again.  Even in the midst of struggle, you can put your mind in a state of peace; knowing that even if God does not feel close now, his desire is to be close to you at all times.

  6 “Shout aloud and sign for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.” (emphasis mine)

  There are times when all you can do in worship is look forward to the day when you’ll have the strength to praise God again.  When times are as tough as they were in the Sixth Century BCE, all Isaiah could say to his Israelite brothers and sisters was that they were in bad days, and worse days still lay ahead of them.  But beyond all the misery, Isaiah kept his hope alive.

  
   

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  Mark 9:20 am on November 26, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  Place all Your Bets on the Baby 

  There are many things to put your trust into these days.  Many hope it will be their product, or their news show, or their candidate or… the list goes on and on.  People know that what people trust will determine where they put their investment of hope, money, and more.  What you trust is what you ultimately place your entire life.

  In times like ours where we get hundreds of product advertisements each day, where politicians are spending more on the last election cycle than ever before, where pharmaceutical companies are spending hundreds of millions hoping you’ll trust their slightly-tested products…its hard to know who to truly trust — where to place your bets.

  Isaiah was living in what seemed like the last days of his life.  Horror and destruction was essentially waiting on all sides of Jerusalem.  He saw his nation’s massacre as a foregone conclusion.  And yet he was not consumed with conspiracy and fear.  His hope was not in an army’s strength or in another promising candidate.

  He places all his bets on a baby.

  His hope is farther down the road than the headlines of his day would like him to focus.

  This baby is given four nicknames – “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace.” This son will be heir to Yahweh’s estate, (Ps 2:8) the earth and its nations, and Yahweh gives his son the power to govern the earth with peace and justice.

  6 For a child is born to us,

  a son is given to us.

  The government will rest on his shoulders…

  7 His government and its peace

  will never end.

  He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David

  for all eternity.

  The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies

  will make this happen!

  What I would give to have each Christian living in America see that they are a part of HIS Government – one that overflows with eternal peace; here in America, we are “resident aliens.”  There is no hope for even the best governments of men.

  But living in despair and fear of some coming societal collapse only puts your trust in your own fear, not in the hope of God’s Son – who holds your very life in the palm of his hand.

  Let that sink in – are you a citizen of a nation, or a citizen of the Kingdom of Peace?  Where do you place your trust?  In Social Security?  In health care?  In your bank account?   Think carefully about where your hard-earned investments typically flow to – your time, your TV shows, your money and where you spend or save it…that’s a clue of what you truly believe in.

  May it be in the baby of God – the counter-intuitive King of Peace, establishing his kingdom in the middle of our wars.

  
   
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  Mark 7:39 am on November 21, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  Yesterday’s Pillar of Fire is Today’s Pile of Ash 

  Isaiah 4

  Picture a world after the calamity has passed, after the fears and pain have dissolved away.  This is how Isaiah begins in ch 4.  He picture that those that survive the coming destruction (the “remnant”) will find new closeness with their Creator.  ”The Branch of the LORD” is the Messiah – one of the first prophecies of Isaiah on this important person; one that Isaiah will speak of more than virtually any other Old Testament writer.

  This “Branch” will stretch over the land and will bring strength and sustenance to the remnant, those left in Zion.  After God has completed a sort of purification over Jerusalem, he will start again with those who love him.  Isaiah brings back the “glory days” when God was so close and engaged with his people in such a daily way that a cloud was there to guide them by day, and fire by night.  He is referring back to the days in-between Egypt and Canaan – where the LORD walked his people through the dangerous wilderness – and as long as they kept close to the pillar of fire, they would be in the presence of their strong, good God. Now Isaiah puts the image of that pillar of fire above Mount Zion – and over all who assemble at its foothills.  Once again, Isaiah proclaims – God will deal directly with his people.

  It is tempting to want to return to the ways in which you felt close to God in the past. I hear Isaiah pulling out a familiar image for his audience.  I can see why he’d do it – there were now so many layers between the typical Israelite and their God – priests, laws, sins, and more – that the idea of being intimately linked in a theophonic, eccstatic worship experience like their ancestors experienced in the wilderness would seem like a true sign that things were going to be alright.

  But I like the second image even better – Isaiah says that “over all the glory will be a canopy.”  This is the image of a wedding (Joel 2:16).

  God will marry his remnant people to himself.

  What a beautiful picture of intimacy; what a fresh and truly beautiful picture of God’s desire for his people.  While I see the need in remembering what God has done – and enjoying those “five bar moments” where you felt God close in the past – I am interested in what the LORD is doing today! It is easier to remember what he’s done (but hey, please, don’t forget!) then to ask him what he’s doing now!