2 Chronicles 19-23
What is your first response to troubles or challenges? Is it some alternate plan that had been thought through long before, a contingency for just such an occasion? Is it a retreat to a safe place or a hiding place? Or does it become a personal challenge, a chance to prove your problem solving ability, to support a savior complex?
Or how about the most common reaction... PANIC!
Or maybe it starts with a simple statement of surprise, "Jumpin' Jehoshaphat!"
Now I don't know exactly where that phrase came from, and even in some quick research I discovered that no one else really does either. It's probably from 19th Century America who used it as a non-cursing reaction. It may also be a euphemism for Jehovah or Jesus almost as a cry for help, kind of like some people say today, "O, sweet Jesus!"
But I like the idea that it may have been used originally because of the reaction of Jehoshaphat when trouble came his way. The Moabites, Ammonites and the Meunites had united and began a march against the nation of Judah. When King Jehoshaphat heard about it he did what should be our first response...
"Shaken, Jehoshaphat prayed. He went to God for help and ordered a nationwide fast. The country of Judah united in seeking God's help - they came from all the cities in Judah to pray to God." (2 Chronicles 20:4-5, Msg)
Too often we meet for meetings, we sit around the table, we plan stuff as a church or as groups, ministries, families and we discuss how, make strategies, set visions, and create hopes, but how often do we simply stop and pray. I'm not talking about the opening prayer that's nearly as impotent as many prayers before meals. I'm talking about real prayer that shakes the foundations of heaven.
It's what God is waiting for from us. Sure, we have to respond with action too, but action before real prayer for direction will result in the wrong action or the wrong direction.
Our right response, our first reaction is simple and the most powerful.
Pray!
Jumpin' Jehoshaphat. That's what he did. So can we!
Peace ><>
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Seek and Find
I like it that God doesn't play hide and seek. That game was always so frustrating to me. Maybe it's because I have this great desire to win, every time in every game. I'm a competitive type, I know it and have to be careful that way. It isn't pretty either!
Rather, God plays seek and find. God, instead of being hidden, stands in plain sight just waiting for us to begin the process of seeking. Amazingly (or actually not so amazing really) when we seek God, we find Him! He's sometimes like the elephant in the middle of the room that no one wants to talk about. We're afraid of what God might say about our lives, our behaviors, our past, our direction for the future. We're afraid what God might require of us, ask us to do, how to live. So often we don't seek. And when we don't seek, we rarely find.
"Listen carefully...God will stick with you as long as you stick with him. If you look for him he will let himself be found; but if you leave him he'll leave you. For a long time Israel didn't have the real God, nor did htey have the help of priest or teacher or book. But when they were in trouble and got serious, and decided to seek God, the God of Israel, God let himself be found." (2 Chronicles 15:2-4, Msg)
God is found when we seek.
God sticks close to us as we stay close to Him.
But if we abandon God...look out!
I'd rather keep seeking and discovering the blessings God brings than "reap the whirlwind" that this world brings to destroy us.
Keep seeking!
Peace ><>
pc
Rather, God plays seek and find. God, instead of being hidden, stands in plain sight just waiting for us to begin the process of seeking. Amazingly (or actually not so amazing really) when we seek God, we find Him! He's sometimes like the elephant in the middle of the room that no one wants to talk about. We're afraid of what God might say about our lives, our behaviors, our past, our direction for the future. We're afraid what God might require of us, ask us to do, how to live. So often we don't seek. And when we don't seek, we rarely find.
"Listen carefully...God will stick with you as long as you stick with him. If you look for him he will let himself be found; but if you leave him he'll leave you. For a long time Israel didn't have the real God, nor did htey have the help of priest or teacher or book. But when they were in trouble and got serious, and decided to seek God, the God of Israel, God let himself be found." (2 Chronicles 15:2-4, Msg)
God is found when we seek.
God sticks close to us as we stay close to Him.
But if we abandon God...look out!
I'd rather keep seeking and discovering the blessings God brings than "reap the whirlwind" that this world brings to destroy us.
Keep seeking!
Peace ><>
pc
Monday, March 05, 2007
Living Large
2 Chronicles 6-9 (10-12)
That's the way of life in America. It's the goal of poor, middle class and the rich. It seems to be the one thing most of us can agree upon, we want to live in the most comfortable way possible, in the biggest way possible.
It's what the commercials and ads are trying to sell us, the lifestyle as much as the product.
It's how we have interepreted our rights in the declaration of independence, the pursuit of happiness.
It's what drives lottery sales, gambling boat income and trips to Vegas and Atlantic City (or now to central Indiana to the horse tracks, southern Indiana to the casinos). It's what drives some to deal drugs, skim from the company, steal from a neighbor. The lure of living large is a constant challenge that can lead to compromise in one's own morals and ethical behaviors. It's walking on the edge of breaking one of the ten commandments (and no, it's not the one about coveting although that one is in danger as well).
Solomon had it all, the favor of God, a powerful father who handed him the greatest kingdom the world had ever seen, riches beyond measure, a people who nearly worshiped him before he even became king, and a special gift of God, wisdom that impressed all the world!
But there is one thing that Solomon had that was his (and his kingdom's) undoing...his desire to live large! While the chronicle of his life in these chapters doesn't specifically show his disobedience, it does show through his son Rehoboam whose decisions early in his reign splits the country in two. He learned some bad practices from his father.
Living large can do that. Now there is nothing wrong with living extravagantly. God gave all of this to Solomon. But he wasn't a good steward of what he had been given. His freedom led to multiple wives, various altars to other gods (to please the wives), children beyond counting from his many wives (and other women in his household), which led to a very dyfunctional family and some poor parenting (from their father).
You see, living large is a danger because it clouds our vision. It helps us forget why we have what we have or from whom it came. Living large is the beginning of breaking the first commandment, "Have no other gods before Me."
I enjoy my life and the many comforts that God has allowed me. But I recognize that sometimes I let these comforts direct my mood, my decision making, my life direction instead of God. On my recent journey to the Holy Land this was illustrated to me very clearly. In Bethlehem, a part of the West Bank (Palestinian controlled) I was able to witness the poverty and joblessness of these dear people. Almost 70% unemployment has led many to desperate measures to feed their family and eek out a living. One of them tried to sell me something on the street, which I didn't want, but when I didn't buy, he said to me, "you don't understand how hard life is here." And he was right.
While I didn't need what he was selling, I was basing my purchases on what I wanted more than what someone else needed. I was focused on me. That's the sin of living large.
So I bought from him, not because I wanted his product or because I could have gotten it somewhere else probably cheaper, but because he needed the income. We tried to give to some of these vendors instead of buying, but they wouldn't hear of it. They were too proud to receive hand-outs. They'd rather earn their way, a very honorable way to live.
Yes, living large isn't a sin, but living for the self is.
Peace ><>
pc
That's the way of life in America. It's the goal of poor, middle class and the rich. It seems to be the one thing most of us can agree upon, we want to live in the most comfortable way possible, in the biggest way possible.
It's what the commercials and ads are trying to sell us, the lifestyle as much as the product.
It's how we have interepreted our rights in the declaration of independence, the pursuit of happiness.
It's what drives lottery sales, gambling boat income and trips to Vegas and Atlantic City (or now to central Indiana to the horse tracks, southern Indiana to the casinos). It's what drives some to deal drugs, skim from the company, steal from a neighbor. The lure of living large is a constant challenge that can lead to compromise in one's own morals and ethical behaviors. It's walking on the edge of breaking one of the ten commandments (and no, it's not the one about coveting although that one is in danger as well).
Solomon had it all, the favor of God, a powerful father who handed him the greatest kingdom the world had ever seen, riches beyond measure, a people who nearly worshiped him before he even became king, and a special gift of God, wisdom that impressed all the world!
But there is one thing that Solomon had that was his (and his kingdom's) undoing...his desire to live large! While the chronicle of his life in these chapters doesn't specifically show his disobedience, it does show through his son Rehoboam whose decisions early in his reign splits the country in two. He learned some bad practices from his father.
Living large can do that. Now there is nothing wrong with living extravagantly. God gave all of this to Solomon. But he wasn't a good steward of what he had been given. His freedom led to multiple wives, various altars to other gods (to please the wives), children beyond counting from his many wives (and other women in his household), which led to a very dyfunctional family and some poor parenting (from their father).
You see, living large is a danger because it clouds our vision. It helps us forget why we have what we have or from whom it came. Living large is the beginning of breaking the first commandment, "Have no other gods before Me."
I enjoy my life and the many comforts that God has allowed me. But I recognize that sometimes I let these comforts direct my mood, my decision making, my life direction instead of God. On my recent journey to the Holy Land this was illustrated to me very clearly. In Bethlehem, a part of the West Bank (Palestinian controlled) I was able to witness the poverty and joblessness of these dear people. Almost 70% unemployment has led many to desperate measures to feed their family and eek out a living. One of them tried to sell me something on the street, which I didn't want, but when I didn't buy, he said to me, "you don't understand how hard life is here." And he was right.
While I didn't need what he was selling, I was basing my purchases on what I wanted more than what someone else needed. I was focused on me. That's the sin of living large.
So I bought from him, not because I wanted his product or because I could have gotten it somewhere else probably cheaper, but because he needed the income. We tried to give to some of these vendors instead of buying, but they wouldn't hear of it. They were too proud to receive hand-outs. They'd rather earn their way, a very honorable way to live.
Yes, living large isn't a sin, but living for the self is.
Peace ><>
pc
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