Since the resurgence of my quest to find peace amidst the unceasing turmoil created by the evil of ISIS and other radical groups, I have had some astoundingly comforting and sweet time with The Lord. Daily, He has pointed me to promises made in scripture through His written Word. Today was no different.
The study I've been following for the last week or so had me resting in Psalm 34 this afternoon and it could not be more perfect for the current happenings around our globe. This is what I love about the Bible. There is no other book that can say the exact same thing through hundreds of years but speak so intimately and specifically to every person in every phase and season of life. The Bible is never irrelevant, regardless of societal beliefs.
In my particular Bible, each chapter/section of each book is titled. Psalm 34 is titled, "The Lord Delivers the Righteous." In the study notes, I learned that Psalm 34 is given this title because of its relation to David's deliverance from King Achish of Gath. Achish was a Philistine and knew that David had killed many Philistines in his time. David became paranoid that Achish would be after him soon and because David was already fleeing the grips of Saul, it seemed certain that death was gaining ground.
Isn't that true for us today? Doesn't it seem certain that death is gaining ground? That evil is conquering good? Couldn't we use some delivering today?
Friend, God has promised time and again that He delivers those who trust in him. Verse 7 of Psalm 34 says is beautifully, "The Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues them." Yahweh fights for His people (2 Kings 19:35). We need not be afraid, we have the Creator of the world on our side. We have the Giver of hope, the King of kings, and Lord of lords in our circle.
But here is one thing we must remember, deliverance doesn't always come this side of heaven. Suffering happens. Disasters occur. People groups get wiped out. Generations lost. But "the Lord redeems the life of His servants, and all who take refuge in Him will not be punished" (v. 22).
Our hope is not in this world. It is not in this life. We were made for something greater, somewhere greater. This place is not our home. We cannot expect safety on this earth. Our citizenship is in heaven, at the right hand of God. Even when disaster strikes, God is still on His throne. He is unchanged. He is unthwarted. When we truly believe that, we can say faithfully, "I will praise the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips" (v.1).
11.16.2015
Love Thy Neighbor. Even the One Who Wants You Dead.
Paris has been attacked. ISIS is steadily gaining ground. Muslim extremists of other groups are continuing to destroy the Middle East and Africa. Drones of seemingly normal Americans are risking their lives to join ISIS. Floods of men, women, and children are begging their bordering neighbors and the United States to take them in as refugees, to protect them from their murderers who wish them extinct.
The happenings of our world have weighed heavily for years but, until now, I have had times of respite. The bloodbath in Paris has prompted my mind, once again, to grapple with grief, fear, and the search to find peace that my King is still in control.
Saturday night I made a huge mistake. One that I work hard to avoid daily. I was baited and clicked a link to one of those ultra-bias, put the fear of God in readers, BS websites and watched a stupid anti-refugee propaganda video. I still can't believe I let that happen. C'mon, Wiggins! You're better than that. From there I found myself digging deeper into the rabbit hole of the interwebs. Never a good plan, but especially not after 9 pm.
With a heavy heart, I cried myself to sleep at 11:30, dreading the 7 am (or likely earlier) wake up call ahead.
The next morning I awoke with, still, a heavy heart. After processing with my husband, I needed more encouragement so I decided to text some of my more thought out, mature friends. Unsurprisingly, they pointed me to the cross, as my husband had, through scripture and Godly wisdom. I am eternally grateful for the holy people God has placed in my life. They are truly amazing and I would unhesitatingly lay down my life for each of them.
Last week, our pastor began a new study titled "More than a tourist." In this series, we have discussed the extremes we tend to lean towards as Christians: a tourist, who works to blend in with the culture or a terrorist who works to destroy a culture. While we tend to identify with the extremes, Jesus's example was to be an ambassador, to represent our homeland (Heaven) and our ruler (God). I'm convinced that we have some serious prophetic thing happening in our church right now. The last two weeks have been perfectly on point with the current events (i.e. last week's Starbucks debacle, of which I am convinced was a joke and this week with the Paris attacks).
I knew worship would likely be an emotional time for me, considering the lump that had claimed residence in my throat the night before. However, no one could have fully prepared me for the intensity of the waterworks awaiting me in the sanctuary. One line into the second song and I was sobbing my face off. With red streaks down my face, where hot tears slid, along with that weird throaty sound your voice makes when you cry, I was a hot mess. I continued to sob throughout worship and the Lord continued to comfort my heart and speak truth to my soul.
The sermon this week, "Ambassadors of Hope", set up in 1 Peter 3:8-15.
Verse 9 says, "Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing" (emphasis mine). We could have read verse 9, packed up, and gone to lunch. I cannot tell you exactly how many times I've heard or read that specific passage, but it's somewhere along 109,872 times. Approximately.
Through my American lens, I've always read "evil" as "rude" but never as actually evil. The kind of evil that wants dead all those who oppose their views. The kind of evil that will rape young girls and behead men or burn them alive. Evil with a complete disregard for human life. This evil, this gut-wrenching, disgusting evil is what we are to repay with blessing -- did you read that? Blessing.
My humanness wants to shut the borders to all for good. Lock the doors. Draw the shades. Hide under the covers. Screw the rest of you, you should've been born in America. Wow. Thank you Jesus for not reacting to my sin this way. Thank you for inviting me into your grace when I was but a sinner. Thank you for replacing my callous heart with Your heart of grace and mercy.
Could an extremist weasel his way into our country somehow? Sure, one did in Paris. But as 2 Timothy 1:7 says "God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." He is in control and he is calling us to find peace in him, even when it terrifies us, even when it means we may die, even when it means our children may die. He is calling us to find power and love in Him, through Him. He is calling us to take a chance for the least, the lost, and the lonely at the {potential} risk of danger. He is calling us to "love our neighbor as ourselves" (Mark 12:31).
Trust me, I am scared, literally, for my life and yours. We have no way of knowing what will happen when we open our doors to strangers. That's life. We take chances every single moment of our lives. We have to trust God to mean it when he says that "His eyes are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil" (1 Peter 3:12). We have to trust that He defeated death when he rose from the grave (John 20, 1 Corinthians 15:55-57). We have to trust that His ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). We have to believe Him or we will surely fail.
The happenings of our world have weighed heavily for years but, until now, I have had times of respite. The bloodbath in Paris has prompted my mind, once again, to grapple with grief, fear, and the search to find peace that my King is still in control.
Saturday night I made a huge mistake. One that I work hard to avoid daily. I was baited and clicked a link to one of those ultra-bias, put the fear of God in readers, BS websites and watched a stupid anti-refugee propaganda video. I still can't believe I let that happen. C'mon, Wiggins! You're better than that. From there I found myself digging deeper into the rabbit hole of the interwebs. Never a good plan, but especially not after 9 pm.
With a heavy heart, I cried myself to sleep at 11:30, dreading the 7 am (or likely earlier) wake up call ahead.
The next morning I awoke with, still, a heavy heart. After processing with my husband, I needed more encouragement so I decided to text some of my more thought out, mature friends. Unsurprisingly, they pointed me to the cross, as my husband had, through scripture and Godly wisdom. I am eternally grateful for the holy people God has placed in my life. They are truly amazing and I would unhesitatingly lay down my life for each of them.
Last week, our pastor began a new study titled "More than a tourist." In this series, we have discussed the extremes we tend to lean towards as Christians: a tourist, who works to blend in with the culture or a terrorist who works to destroy a culture. While we tend to identify with the extremes, Jesus's example was to be an ambassador, to represent our homeland (Heaven) and our ruler (God). I'm convinced that we have some serious prophetic thing happening in our church right now. The last two weeks have been perfectly on point with the current events (i.e. last week's Starbucks debacle, of which I am convinced was a joke and this week with the Paris attacks).
I knew worship would likely be an emotional time for me, considering the lump that had claimed residence in my throat the night before. However, no one could have fully prepared me for the intensity of the waterworks awaiting me in the sanctuary. One line into the second song and I was sobbing my face off. With red streaks down my face, where hot tears slid, along with that weird throaty sound your voice makes when you cry, I was a hot mess. I continued to sob throughout worship and the Lord continued to comfort my heart and speak truth to my soul.
The sermon this week, "Ambassadors of Hope", set up in 1 Peter 3:8-15.
Verse 9 says, "Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing" (emphasis mine). We could have read verse 9, packed up, and gone to lunch. I cannot tell you exactly how many times I've heard or read that specific passage, but it's somewhere along 109,872 times. Approximately.
Through my American lens, I've always read "evil" as "rude" but never as actually evil. The kind of evil that wants dead all those who oppose their views. The kind of evil that will rape young girls and behead men or burn them alive. Evil with a complete disregard for human life. This evil, this gut-wrenching, disgusting evil is what we are to repay with blessing -- did you read that? Blessing.
My humanness wants to shut the borders to all for good. Lock the doors. Draw the shades. Hide under the covers. Screw the rest of you, you should've been born in America. Wow. Thank you Jesus for not reacting to my sin this way. Thank you for inviting me into your grace when I was but a sinner. Thank you for replacing my callous heart with Your heart of grace and mercy.
Could an extremist weasel his way into our country somehow? Sure, one did in Paris. But as 2 Timothy 1:7 says "God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." He is in control and he is calling us to find peace in him, even when it terrifies us, even when it means we may die, even when it means our children may die. He is calling us to find power and love in Him, through Him. He is calling us to take a chance for the least, the lost, and the lonely at the {potential} risk of danger. He is calling us to "love our neighbor as ourselves" (Mark 12:31).
Trust me, I am scared, literally, for my life and yours. We have no way of knowing what will happen when we open our doors to strangers. That's life. We take chances every single moment of our lives. We have to trust God to mean it when he says that "His eyes are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil" (1 Peter 3:12). We have to trust that He defeated death when he rose from the grave (John 20, 1 Corinthians 15:55-57). We have to trust that His ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). We have to believe Him or we will surely fail.
"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’" Matthew 25:35-40
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