Flavor of the Weak

Judges 6:11-13 - 11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty one of valor.” 13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

Gideon’s original claim to fame was that he was the weakest person from the weakest family from the weakest tribe. However, God saw him and said, “that he is the perfect person to put my plan into action.” This weakest of the weak would go on to liberate Israel from their oppressors the Midianites. And by recognizing Gideon’s weakness we can recognize God’s strength.

When we first meet Gideon he’s literally hiding in a hole. An angel of the Lord comes to him and says, “the Lord is with you.” Rather than being comforted or inspired Gideon replies, “Oh yeah then why’s all this bad stuff happening?”

How often is this our attitude? A few things start going wrong and our response is that God has clearly abandoned us. We can list hundreds of times that God has blessed us or come through for us in the past, but trouble comes and we suddenly feel the need to say, “yeah, well what have you done for me lately?”

It is times like this that we need to reprioritize what is most important to us. We need to remind ourselves that the love God has for us will never leave us or forsake us. The hard times will come, unfortunately, that’s almost guaranteed. And when they do, I hope that you can use them to lean into God. I had a professor who used to say, “the way God has provided for you in the past is a pattern and a promise of how he will provide for you in the future.” We just need the patience to see it fulfilled.

Welcome to Summer Vacation

About 3 weeks after I completed the fourth grade, I broke my ankle. I’ll spare you the gory details, suffice to say it my foot went a direction that the rest of my leg didn’t agree with. It hurt. A lot. I screamed. A lot. This was also probably the last time my mom ever carried me as she loaded me into the car to go to the hospital—thanks adrenaline. 

The hospital confirmed my brokenness and told me that I would need a cast that went up to my mid-thigh to ensure proper healing and immobilization. If you’ve ever had to wear a cast, then you know that it is the worst! Walking with crutches is awkward, bathing is difficult, and the itching is enough to drive someone crazy. Despite all the annoyances, I understood the purpose of my cast. My bones were broken and needed time to heal, and no matter how aggravated I was, the only answer was patience.

We don’t like patience. I didn’t want to wait for my bones to heal, I wanted to just start walking. In our current situation, we want things to be back to what we were used to before. Unfortunately, we still need to wait and trust in God’s timing. A hard truth I had to learn, as I contemplated smashing my cast to scratch my knee, and something many of us are facing now, just because you are sick of it, doesn’t mean that it’s over.

You had plans carefully crafted, regrettably Covid had another plan. Many of us are being stretched farther than we’ve ever been stretched before. We hate the world we are required to live in right now. That’s okay. It’s okay as long as you don’t let that annoyance turn into anger. As Christians we are called to be the people of hope. We have hope for sinners, hope for a lost and dying world, and hope in a better world that is to come.

Paul reminds us of this in 2 Corinthians 1, “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

My leg mostly healed but it wasn’t perfect. A better time is coming. It may be different from before or anything we could plan. We don’t know how long that time will take to get here. As the people of hope I pray that we are able to be a source of comfort in these uneasy times rather than people who pile on the impatience with others. Lean into the comfort of God even when plans don’t work out the way you would want them to.

Keep Going

Isaiah 40:30-31 -

30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young people stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.

It’s amazing how weary we can get even when we are not allowed to go most places or do anything. Doing your job, preventing your kids from destroying one another, or keeping your mind active is exhausting when all you want to do is lie in bed and eat snack foods. That’s how quarantine has felt. Everything feels just a little bit harder, a little bit off kilter and we long for things to feel normal. 

However, we all know of times before all this when we have felt like this also. Quarantine may be a new cause, but we have all felt the deep weariness of life before. It is in times that we feel this weariness, this exhaustion, this disillusionment with life that we need to take a step back and tuck in with the strength that comes from the Lord.

As Christians we are to be the people of hope. We are the people who see the problems of the world and, while we acknowledge them, we know of the One who is above them all – the God who will never leave us or forsake us. I pray that we can be the people who tap into that when we face the hard times in life and can point others to the hope that we have.

Quarantine is hard. Even as restrictions start to relax a little it can still make us long for the way things were. Sometimes the taste of water is worse than none at all. No matter what causes your distress, know that there is a God who loves you, a God who wants to renew your strength. Place your hope there and you will be able run and not grow weary.

Don’t give up your hope. 

Too Long

That is how long it feels we have been in this weird semi-agitated state. Yearning for grace and hoping for peace we watch the news, clinging to the good and doing our best to not be crushed by the bad. We live on a rollercoaster going in fits and starts. One moment we are rolling with the punches, the next we feel lost and grasping at anything that gives our life meaning. 

The world we live in has, for better or worse, laid bare some of the things we like to keep hidden. Things like where we find purpose. Many of us have had to completely overhaul how we work, if we are able to work at all. This is extra difficult because our jobs can be where we feel the safest and most in control. Going to work usually makes sense. This is the task, this is the time I have to complete it, and at the end of the day I can close the book on any work problems and pick them back up tomorrow. Admittedly this is an oversimplification of working, but for many this is where we feel the most secure. That all changes when we have to work at home.

In this time, we need to find our peace and security in higher and more important places. Psalm 119:114-117 says, 

114 You are my hiding place and my shield;
    I hope in your word.
115 Depart from me, you evildoers,
    that I may keep the commandments of my God.
116 Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live,
    and let me not be put to shame in my hope!
117 Hold me up, that I may be safe
    and have regard for your statutes continually!

God is our refuge in the times we feel the most lost or alone. Social distancing has given us the time to work on the relationships that are the most important. Make the time you spend with family quality time and do the same when you spend time with God. God wants to know all about you, and you’ve got some extra time right now so tell Him.

As we have this time, I first of all hope you find time to rest in the midst of the chaos. The world we live in now is not the way we want it to be, but the truth is that it never was. As we grow in our faith, I hope you are willing to do the hard work of trusting God to be there for you.

All That’s Left

Romans 12:2-5 - 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. 3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of themselves more highly than they ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Last week I made a compounding mistake. It started by going on Facebook, I usually try to avoid Facebook because I don’t scroll very far before I’m disappointed by a post from someone that I loved or respected. Facebook (at its worst) has been a garbage fire of competing echo chambers for years and my heart is better when I avoid it. To make that mistake worse I participated in a post a pastor friend of mine made.

I won’t discuss what he posted further than to say I agreed with him. I think I was in the majority, but it was close. And the majority of people who disagreed didn’t argue facts; my friend was mostly getting shouts saying, “don’t get political just stick to teaching the Bible.” We see statements like this a lot, many times aimed at athletes, and they always convey one thing: I don’t care about you as a person just the role you fill for me, and I want to ignore all that’s left.

It is extra disappointing to see it aimed at Christians from Christians. Millions of books have been written about Christian parenting, running a Christian business, how Christians should spend their money, and on what it looks like to live out the Christian worldview. To say politics is off limits ignores the whole-life surrender we are called to. If a Christian has a platform to denounce being misrepresented, then they should use it. Many times, Christian leaders must use their platform to say, "that person who is claiming to be with us or speak for us does not."

Whether it is false teachers or political leaders, condemning falsehood and sharing truth is our duty as believers. Saying, "don't get political" tells someone I don't want to see all of you because it makes me uncomfortable that we might not agree. We must use these as opportunities to learn and grow and appreciate the wonderful span of Biblical opinions that make up the body of Christ. 

Lord, we want to serve you in the love we show our neighbors. Teach us to embrace each person made in your image as if we were greeting you. Amen 

Image of the Invisible

Genesis 1:27-28a
So God created humankind in His own image,
    in the image of God He created them;
    male and female He created them.
And God blessed them.

To say there has been unrest this past week would be a vulgar understatement. People all over America and the world took to the streets to express the frustration of being unheard, disbelieved, and ignored. It is all too easy to ignore systemic problems when the system still works for you, and no one in your orbit is affected. As Christians it is our responsibility to encourage people, to lighten their load because we know, believe, and celebrate that every human is an image bearer of the God of the universe. 

Often, we are aware of oppression taking place, but we think, “If I keep my head down and my mouth shut, they won’t bother me, and if it doesn’t bother me then it probably doesn’t REALLY bother anyone.” This mindset enables oppression to go on unchecked.

When you follow Christ, you are a new creation; your sins are forgiven, and you recognize that everyone is an image-bearer. Ezekiel 36:26-27 says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”

Cruelty to anyone should break our hearts. How are you using your heart of flesh to be kinder and more compassionate to your fellow image-bearer? Do you callously watch the news and think that is terrible for those people, or are you filled with righteous anger that we are not living up to the potential the spirit inside us has given? 

It is easy to be compassionate when disasters happen in far off places. We can assuage our guilt or fear by throwing a few bucks at relief organizations or a GoFundMe. However, when it is happening to our neighbors the rubber meets the road and we need to act. Act as if this is happening to your brother, your father, your son, your sister, your mother, your daughter. God created humankind as image-bearers. See one another.

There are a lot of big questions being asked right now, and it is up to people (you and me) to push the world in the right direction. Faith in an elephant or donkey to solve the world’s problems will only leave us arguing about who caused the mess. As Christians we must be willing to do the hard work of building community from the ground up and expanding the people we allow in our orbit. 

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” – Desmond Tutu

Dig In

Psalm 143:9-10

9 Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord!
    I have fled to you for refuge.
10 Teach me to do your will,
    for you are my God!
Let your good Spirit lead me
    on level ground!

Who is the enemy that you need to be delivered from? For most of us right now we say our enemy is a tiny virus. We live with varying levels of concern because we never know where or when this microscopic enemy might attack. And because it’s so small we take precautions: wearing masks, washing hands, social distancing, and all the things that protect us from a physical assault. We know of the assorted ways to protect our bodies, but what are you doing to protect your mind?

Just like the virus is a physical enemy many of us are also dealing with mental enemies. Social distancing has got a lot of people feeling, among uncountable other emotions, isolated and alone. And to be clear feeling lonely has nothing to do with the number of people around you. Whether you are in a crowded stadium or hiding in a bunker there are times that we can feel alone. It is in these times that we must seek refuge; we must find a place that feels safe enough to deal with all that life is throwing at us.

God wants to be that place for you. In the confusion of life, God can be the one unchanging constant we have to rely on. As we spend time in the word, we learn to do God’s will and can be reminded of ways to find our way back from the mayhem to level ground. When we spend time reading the Bible, we see how living and active it is. There can be a passage that you’ve read or heard preached a thousand times, but that thousand and first time it speaks to you and your current circumstance in a new and exciting way.

Hiding some of the word in your heart also allows it to come out and remind you that you are loved no matter how lost you feel. God loves you and has given us the means to learn more and grow closer. Randomly cracking open your Bible may not instantly solve the problems you are facing, however, it will constantly remind you that you don’t need to face your problems alone. 

Frustration

Matthew 7:12 - So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Life in quarantine can fray the edges of our nerves. Stuff we would never notice before, we now notice. Stuff we’d notice as a little annoying, is very annoying. Stuff that was annoying before, can make us downright angry. This is a natural outcropping of the general level of stress and anxiety we are living under. Six months ago, we wouldn’t think twice about popping into a store or grabbing a bite to eat. Now we need to wear masks and gloves and plan our outings with greater precision. It is easy for this to feel like it’s all too much.

As our collective fuses get shortened, it becomes fundamentally important to recognize the stress we are facing and do our best to give an extra measure of grace to the people we are sequestered with or that we may come in contact. “That inconsiderate jerk is going the wrong way down the grocery store aisle, even when they are so clearly marked!” Maybe they are just frazzled and trying to get out of the store as quickly as possible. There’s an adage called Hanlon’s Razor that says, "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." Maybe they made a mistake and are not intentionally trying to ruin your day.

We like to put people into boxes; we get an impression and generalize from there. However, if we can move a person from “someone who is in my way” to “someone who is also going through a stressful time” we can be kinder and more compassionate. We all need a little more grace than usual these days. The smallest thing can send us down a path of anger and frustration. What if you took Matthew 7:12, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them,” to heart? 

We want people to be patient with us. We want to be given the benefit of the doubt that what we did was done as a minor slipup and not malice. People make mistakes; it can’t be avoided. Our patience will get tested, now more than ever, but if we devote ourselves to grace and peace, I hope we can be a little more patient and a little more kind. Maybe we can do someone the simple favor of just thinking they’re a little stupid? 

Rolling Stones

Sisyphus is a character from Greek mythology, whe is most famous for being punished by endlessly rolling a stone up a hill. Every time he neared the top the stone would slip and roll right back down to where he started. He would then have to walk back down and start again. The idea here is that there is no greater penalty for a person than to experience pointless repetitive tasks day after day. I think we can all identify with Sisyphus a little bit, maybe now more than ever.

In quarantine, everything can feel shifted and out of place. We can feel like Sisyphus, doomed to do the same thing day after day with no real sense of accomplishment. I have had times where I could not have told you what day it was without checking my phone because they all just seem to blur together. It is times like this that we must find joy in the little things and peace in those small moments. What those are will differ from person to person, and the hard work will be in naming them for yourself. It is all too easy to point out all the things going wrong; they feel big and obvious and in your face.

A philosopher writing about Sisyphus, said that though he was cursed to an endless task, he still had moments of freedom. As the stone rolled down the hill Sisyphus walked behind it, and it was during this walk that he was free. Free to let his mind wander. Free to laugh at the absurdity of his situation. Free to take a deep breath before starting once again.

We want the world to be back to what it was a year ago. We want to have normal days with work, and school, and soccer practice. Unfortunately, we don’t know when those days will come back. For now, we are all just pushing that stone up the hill knowing that at some point it’s going to roll back down, and we’ll need to start again.

When you feel the disappointment of seeing the stone roll downhill, again, I hope you’re able to take a breath, laugh at the absurdity of life, and remember this prayer of David.

Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
    He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
    He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
    for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
    I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
    your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

Feels Like Forever

Sunday is Mother’s Day. It marks another “get together holiday” we will need to spend apart because of quarantine. St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Earth Day, Cinco de Mayo, countless birthdays, and Mother’s Day plans have all been cancelled due to the fact that we need to keep each other safe. Where once you’d be planning brunch, now you’re planning a Zoom call. The crowds are easier, but the experience just doesn’t feel the same. 

As we navigate this new normal, it’s easy to get disheartened. We had plans, ideas, things to do, and people to see. Now, we have video meetings and kids that haven’t left your side in what feels like forever! We have all adapted to this weird new “normal” in different ways. Vigilance fatigue is setting in and we just want to act like nothing bad is happening in the world. 

During the writing of Psalm 3, David was going through some serious troubles. His son was trying to overthrow him and a large number of the people he considered friends were turning their backs on him. As he was running for his life, he needed to maintain a heightened sense of awareness about him because he never knew who might cause him trouble.

This is similar to our need to wear masks and gloves. “But they’re are stuffy, and uncomfortable, and they fog up my glasses, and I hate them.” The problem is, we don’t know where the trouble might come from. “Was that cough from the virus or just allergies?” “Could I be asymptomatic and sharing this garbage everywhere I go?” We don’t know, and because we don’t know we make the sacrifice to protect ourselves and each other. Even when it makes us feel weird. Even when it’s uncomfortable. Even when we can’t see how much we are making a difference.

Psalm 3:3-8 says,

3 But you, O Lord, are a shield about me,
    my glory, and the lifter of my head.
4 I cried aloud to the Lord,
    and he answered me from his holy hill. 

5 I lay down and slept;
    I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.
6 I will not be afraid of many thousands of people
    who have set themselves against me all around.

7 Arise, O Lord!
    Save me, O my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
    you break the teeth of the wicked.

8 Salvation belongs to the Lord;
    your blessing be on your people!

Though it is exhausting, we will stay vigilant and find our rest in God. Though we are afraid, we will stay faithful because we have received your blessings.

Days Like These

We are all trying to find different ways to survive our current situation: picking up new skills, nervous baking, or binge-watching Tiger king and another season of the office. I have a friend that would like to fall into option three however with a 16-month-old Tiger King might not be the most appropriate. Instead they landed on Sesame Street as a compromise with Mom since it is at least a little educational. He was watching it the other day when I gave him a call—I’ll give him the benefit of believing that his kid was in the room, but it was also around naptime so I can’t be sure. 

As he related the episode to me, something stuck with me. Abby Cadabby said, “we are probably feeling some big feelings right now. And that’s okay!” It’s not often that you’re floored by a 4-year-old, fairy in training, pink Muppet. As we close out the month of April in quarantine, we can all be feel some really big feelings that run the gamut of emotion: fear, anxiety, sadness, empathy, annoyance, compassion fatigue, and this list can go on and on. No matter where you fall, from the highest heights of joy to the dark depths of depression, whatever big feelings you have right now God wants you to share them.

Psalm 34:15-18 says,

15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
    and his ears toward their cry.
16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
    to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
    and delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
    and saves the crushed in spirit.

Tragedy reveals a lot about us and the people around us. The problem is that most tragedies are localized. When someone faces the death of a loved one, they can be lost in grief but it’s okay because the community can come around them and pick up the slack. The community can give them the love and support they need. This dynamic goes out the window when there is a global pandemic that literally affects everyone. 

This is why it so important to reach out to your community right now. Your good day might be happening at the same time as someone else’s bad one and hearing a little of your positivity might turn that around. If you’re feeling down reach out, there are people that would love nothing more than to lend a listening ear. 

I know someone who has wrestled with anxiety and depression most of their life, and they said the quarantine hasn’t hit them as hard as others because feeling lonely or isolated is just Tuesday. For others this might be the first time dealing with these emotions. You might be a feeling some big feelings right now and that’s okay! It’s okay because you are loved no matter what. God loves you more than anyone has ever been loved before.

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
    and delivers them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
    and saves the crushed in spirit.

Too Blessed to Be Stressed…

…is one of the dumbest phrases to come out of coffee mug Christianity. As if our faith, and the God of the universe, can be summed up in a little soundbite quip. To deny ever feeling stress is to deny your own humanity. God created us with a vast range of emotion, and each one exists for a purpose. The problems arise when we go too far down either end of the spectrum: we reject the feelings outright or we are consumed by those thoughts and feelings.

We see this right now in quarantine. On one side you have the people who think that since they feel fine then everything is fine. On the other side you have people who haven’t looked away from the news in two months and every sniffle or cough has them updating their will. I hope we’d all agree that both sides go too far. Our current experience aside, being human means that you are going to feel stress from time to time. 

Our goal is to avoid either extreme of our spectrum. A side where we deny ‘til we die or fixate so strongly on one thing that we miss out on the other parts of life. If you are aloof to life, there isn’t much help I can offer other than to say that you are loved and there are people that need you to care. However, if you are someone who gets consumed by stress, I want you to know that you are loved and there are people that need you to share your attention.

The writer of Psalm 118 recognizes that there are times when we will feel overwhelmed. In verses 5-9 they remind us what to do when we are faced with these feelings.

5 When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord;
    He brought me into a spacious place.
6 The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.
    What can mere mortals do to me?
7 The Lord is with me; He is my helper.
    I look in triumph on my enemies.

8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
    than to trust in humans.
9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
    than to trust in princes.

The Lord is with me, He is my helper. In times when we feel lost and overwhelmed, when the stress of life is crushing down, we have a savior that wants nothing more than to shower us with loving kindness. Share your cares and fears with the Lord because he wants to hear them. God wants to walk with you in the good times and the bad. We are never too stressed to be blessed.

Tick…Tock…Tick…Tock

Micah 7:7 - But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.

We have reached the middle of our fifth week of Quarantine 2020. Hopefully, we have all been doing our part to flatten the curve and are staying as socially distant as possible. Even though for most of us, social distancing is the worst. Oh, what we would give to go back to the way things were just a few months ago! Unfortunately, we can’t. For now, our only option is to wait, and nobody enjoys waiting.

How many times have we wished for life to slow down? And, now that it has, it is one of the most stressful times any of us can remember. Right now, you are not just working from home; you’re trying to get work done at home in the midst of a crisis. Right now, you are not homeschooling your kids; you’re trying to facilitate your kids’ education at home in the midst of a crisis. And the worst part about all of this is that we don’t know when it all will end, and we can start reaching for normalcy.

It’s okay for the waiting to get to you, to feel annoyed, to feel stressed out, to feel lonely, or to feel any way that the quarantine has you feeling. Though rare for someone out there, quarantine is just what they needed to reframe or refocus their life and we can be happy for them. For the rest of us however, this is a huge interruption. There are places we wanted to go and things we wanted to do. But for now, we must wait.

And though it may feel distant, our hope is right here with us. I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. This past Sunday, we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus. The event that all of Christianity hinges on, the event that was foretold hundreds of years before it happened. The people of the Old Testament were told that their hope and salvation was coming, but for now, they must wait.

We don’t know how or when this whole quarantine thing will wrap up. We have to wait. However, waiting doesn’t mean we are without hope. We can still look forward and trust that there is something better coming than our present circumstance. Use your time in quarantine well, even if that means resting. Time enjoyed is never wasted. We are the people of hope. Reach out, share that hope with others, and use it for yourself.

Exhausted

I once had a friend who could fall asleep anytime anywhere. Car ride more than fifteen minutes? Snoozing. Sit down to watch a movie? Out like a light. He had to make a concerted effort to get ready for bed because if he lay down, he was out for good. People would ask him how he could fall asleep so quickly, and his prepared answer was always, “clean conscience.” He was a very active guy, who had a physically demanding job, and trained four days a week. The truth was that he was just always tired.

I’m sure we’ve all had seasons in our lives where we experience true exhaustion. This isn’t the “I had a long day and need to kick up my feet” tired. This is the “deep in my bones” weariness where your only desire is to crawl into bed and be unconscious for as long as possible. Maybe you started a new job, maybe you added a kid to your family or maybe there’s a global pandemic happening. It’s okay to be tired. It’s okay because we have a God who you can trust to carry you through the hardest times.

Psalm 94:18-19 says, 
18 When I thought, ‘My foot slips,’
    your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up.
19 When the cares of my heart are many,
    your consolations cheer my soul.

It is easier than ever for our “feet” to slip these days. You watch the news or look at the numbers and the cares of our hearts become many, many, many! It is times like this when we need to center our focus on God’s steadfast love. We need to allow God’s consolations to cheer our souls. 

The times are scary, and it feels like the old normal is slipping further and further away. It is times like this that should cause us to lean in closer to our faith. God stays the same through the ages, God’s love never changes. There may be pain in the night, but joy comes in the morning. We just need to hold on to the hope we have, and we will make it to morning stronger and more faithful. 

Socially distant doesn’t mean relationally distant. Reach out to someone.
Now wash your hands and don’t touch your face.

Remain Calm

Psalm 139:23 - Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me and know my restless thoughts.

Having someone tell you to calm down usually has the opposite effect. It amps you up even more. How dare someone else dictate my mood or how I react. It’s like the warning we hear during quarantine: “don’t touch your face.” Every time I hear that my nose itches, and I have never wanted to touch my face more. Maybe I’m just a contrarian. 

No matter how you might react when told to calm down, calmness is something we all need to strive for during this unique time in the world. Psalm 139:23 says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me and know my restless thoughts.” Make a mental list of the things that caused your restless thoughts pre-quarantine. When you look at your list is there anything there that you would point to as the greatest problem that anyone on Earth has ever faced? Probably not. However, each of our lists will be filled with things that matter to us. The challenge is to not get so wrapped up in our own lists that we forget that everyone else has their own list just like it.

Similarly, we can make a list of things that matter to our hearts. Most of our lives are spent living in the tension between the desires of our hearts and the restlessness of our thoughts. God knows our hearts. God has put a call on our lives to make an impact on this world. Though we may not fix everything in the time we have whatever we do for someone vulnerable, overlooked, or ignored we do for the Lord.

Right now, we are being asked to stay home, and it’s hard. We are heading into week three of this with no real end in sight. The cabin fever is real. Though you love your family very much, they are also getting on your last nerve. The only excursions you have to look forward to are MAYBE a careful walk around the neighborhood. Add to that the normal stress of life and we can be filled to the brim with restless thoughts.

Today do what you can, fight and scrape, wheel and deal, to find 2 minutes for yourself and pray these two verses:
Psalm 139:23 – “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me and know my restless thoughts.” 
Psalm 46:10 – “Be still, and know that I am God. God is with you. We can remain calm even when we’re scared, or lonely, or frustrated, or restless. God loves you.”

Socially distant doesn’t mean relationally distant. Reach out to someone.
Now wash your hands and don’t touch your face.

The Restlessness of Uncertainty

Depending on when you start counting, we are approximately 10 days into quarantine. We are starting to figure out what our day to day might look like, but it will take a little while before any of this even starts to feel normal. That’s all many of us really want right now: something to feel normal. Unfortunately, normal could still be a bit further down the road.

While we sit in the restlessness of uncertainty, we are being asked to do the hardest thing of all: nothing. In our normal lives we all go through times of anxiety or personal angst and we find ways to work through it. We hit the gym, we buy something we don’t need, we focus on work, or maybe just have a good Sunday spent with the people of hope. However, we are living in a world where all those things are closed. We are being asked to find new ways to cope.

I hope you can use this time to pick up some positive habits. Pray, read your Bible, set some time aside during your day to devote to God. Luke 12:23-26 says, “For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?”

Right now, most of the world is shut down. In the future, many of us will reflect on this as a turning point for their lives. Some will turn for the better and some will turn for the worse. No matter where this strange time leads us, we must continually remind ourselves and the people around us that God cares for us deeply. Do what you can to remind each other of that whenever possible. Socially distant doesn’t mean relationally distant. Reach out to someone.

Now wash your hands and don’t touch your face.

So, You’ve Been Quarantined!

Alternate title: How we stand together, by staying apart. One of the best parts about Restore as a community of believers is that the place in which we meet has never been the focus of our coming together. In the last ten years we’ve never had a building that was 100% ours. We’ve borrowed, rented, and shared. Like a hermit crab who casts off their old shell whenever the need arises we move forward. And we can do it because we are dedicated to the cause of Christ and to one another.

We can do it because we are fully solidified in our hope for the future. Paul tells us in Romans 5:5, “…hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” We can look forward with the hope in our hearts to a time when things are better than they are now. Some won’t see it this side of glory but know in your heart that things will get better one way or the other.

For me this social distancing/quarantine/shutdown mostly means I don’t need to put on real pants unless I want to. I can do my job most days anywhere with my computer and an internet connection, and I have no cute, little disease vectors to homeschool and feed. Others of you, however, have much more complicated lives. You may have a job that doesn’t translate to working remotely, you have kids that are home all the time and they need educating, and feeding, and may not understand why you’re not allowed to go out and do anything fun.

Amid the fears of infection, we must all do our best to remember who we are and whose we are. We may not be able to come together on Sunday mornings the way we would prefer but know that we are all in this together no matter what. Socially distant doesn’t mean relationally distant. Reach out to someone, make a phone call, send a text, share the love that God has poured into your heart even when you’re fearful.

Now wash your hands and don’t touch your face. 

We Haven’t Failed Since Last Time

Romans 7:15-17 - 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

In this tongue twister of a passage, Paul is wrestling with a problem we’ve all been dealing with since we realized the difference between right and wrong. In a given situation we know the correct course of action, we know what the Holy, saved by grace child of God should choose, and we just reject it. Sometimes with deliberation and sometimes it’s our gut instinct. This is obviously what the Bible refers to as sin.

If you care to wander down the Romans road you will quickly come across Romans 3:23 which lets us know that, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Sin is a problem we all have, it’s a problem we all struggle with, and it’s a problem we won’t be able to solve this side of heaven.

One way of dealing with sin in our lives, looks like a farmer dealing with weeds in a field. The farmer must work every day to pull the weeds that might be encroaching. The field will never be perfect and pristine but as long as the farmer pulls those weeds as they come up the field will never be fully overtaken. 

It may feel like fighting the wind or trying to punch a wave, but our mission is to run boldly after God and to bring as many people as we can along with us. In fighting sin, we will face hard times and we will fail. We must remember that it’s not the long walk home that will change our hearts, but the welcome I receive with every start. Though we are drawn towards shadows, we need only turn around to see that the light is right behind us.

If you know what is right, choose that!

Time for Us

I had a friend who was almost moved to a class for special needs kids in Kindergarten because he couldn’t learn his colors. It should be so simple, right? Red is different from Blue. Yellow is not Purple. Egg shell could never be mistaken for Alabaster. The teachers weren’t sure what to do with him; he seemed to be guessing every time he was asked the question. Turns out he was just profoundly colorblind. To hear him describe it, he lives life in sepia tones. His issue had a very specific cause, but his teachers just assumed he was a “little too slow” and wouldn’t give the time to find the real issue (Small disclaimer: when this happened, the state he was in was 48th in the nation in education, so they weren’t exactly hiring the cream of the crop).

By the time he was in high school he was taking all the advanced classes possible and scored 50 points shy of perfect on his SATs. How different would his life have been if a lazy teacher had just pushed him off as one of the slow kids? Unfortunately, this is something we do all the time. Instead of looking to help someone with what might be a minor issue we push them off. The specter of busyness is always there to get us off the hook of seeing a “them” that might need an “us.”

1 Corinthians 10:23-24 says, “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.” And Paul continues in verse 31, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

You have stuff you need to do; we all do. However, if you claim the cross of Christ as the means to your salvation you have also been given the higher calling. A calling to be there for people who need you. It’s not always easy, it’s rarely convenient, but if you are a mature believer you know what the right thing to do is.

My friend could have easily been sent down a path where no one expected anything from him because he was pigeon-holed as one of the slow kids. How often have we ignored someone because we have already categorized them? This person looks weird, or talks to much, or not enough and I’m too busy to show them grace.

Reach for your higher calling, you’re never too busy to be kind.

Dirty Jobs

Nehemiah 3:14 - Malchijah the son of Rechab, ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem, repaired the Dung Gate. He rebuilt it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. (ESV)

When I started writing today, I began by thinking about the internal dialogue Malchijah must have had with himself when he received Nehemiah’s instructions.

Nehemiah had gone back to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls of the city that had been damaged by war and neglect. One of the ways he likely assigned workers to portions of the wall was simply to tell them that they would be responsible to fix the section closest to where they lived. I imagined Malchijah’s frustration that he was assigned the dung gate.

The dung gate was the garbage dump of the city. It was the place where all of the items that no one wanted were taken outside and piled up. The name implies more than just garbage; it was probably the place where all of the animal refuse was taken. It was dirty and gross, and even more so after the rubbish had been sitting around.

We don’t actually know what Malchijah thought about the task. Maybe he didn’t protest at all but saw the wisdom of Nehemiah’s strategy. Someone had to rebuild that portion of the wall, so why shouldn’t it be the person who lived closest? Disgusting as it may have been, it was an important point of entry and exit, and if it wasn’t secured, the entire wall would have been worthless. Maybe Malchijah even volunteered for the task. All we know is that Malchijah was already in a position of leadership in and around the city, overseeing one of the districts, and Nehemiah notes that he restored the integrity of the gate.

Nehemiah’s rationale was simple. If the people of Jerusalem wanted to know how they could help the city and participate in the rebuilding of the wall, they didn’t need to look any further than what was right in front of them. If everyone took responsibility for their section, the wall would be completed. This meant that some people would restore the places of honor, and other people would have to take on the less desirable tasks. Malchijah played his part.

The same principle applies in the kingdom of God. It doesn’t do much good for us to worry about what others are doing or whether or not our assignment is as prestigious as others. Our job is to look at what’s right in front of us and give it our best effort. We all have different measures of time, talent, and treasure. It is essential for us to give what we can if we desire to see the kingdom of God advance. Sometimes, that means taking on the jobs that feel sort of crappy.

It’s likely that this is why Malchijah was in a position of leadership in the first place. If we desire God to use us, it begins with being willing to do the things that are right in front of us. When we all have that sort of desire, it’s amazing the things that can be accomplished in a short amount of time. Nehemiah built a wall. 

What will you build?