TRY SINGING

Sing and make music from your heart to the LORD. Ephesians 5:19

 

Have you ever listened to what’s happening in your head the moment you awake? Quite likely, it’s a song. It seems that the heart is waiting for the body to wake up so it can begin singing. Just like the birds who, in anticipation of the day, pierce the darkness with their morning praises.

Before David became king, Saul’s paranoia had him relentlessly chasing David from one corner of the kingdom to the other. To escape, David and his men moved out of the country to the Philistine town of Ziklag. They even relocated their families. While David and his merry men were out raiding, the Amalekites swooped in, burned the town, and took their families.

The anger of David’s men was so great that they were ready to kill David. At this point, David had no place to go. Outcast at home, family lost to the Amalekites, and in peril from his own men, the Bible says, “ David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God” (I Sam. 30:6). With no one to turn to, David turned to God.

Did he sing one of his psalms? Perhaps this is when he composed Psalm 61:

Hear my cry, O God;
listen to my prayer.
From the ends of the earth I call to you,
I call as my heart grows faint;
lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
For you have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the foe.
I long to dwell in your tent forever
and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.
For you, God, have heard my vows;
you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.
Increase the days of the [my] life,
[my]years for many generations.
May [I] be enthroned in God’s presence forever;
appoint your love and faithfulness to protect [me].
Then I will ever sing in praise of your name
and fulfill my vows day after day.

With no visible source of help, David turned to the Lord just as we can in our time of need. Can’t get someone on the phone to listen? Go to God. Don’t know anyone who would understand? Go to God. Feel alone in your distress? Go to God.

Make music in your heart to God who always hears; who always understands; who is always there. Corrie ten Boom was once asked how she stayed encouraged. She responded that when two or three are gathered in Jesus’ name, he is there. “There’s God, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and me,” Corrie answered. For her, that was enough.

With Jesus, we have enough. When you need help, try singing.

God you are all we need. Always. Thank you. AMEN.

DON’T FALL BACK

There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.  Luke 21:25

 

 

Really, I’m not a sensationalist, but when one of our staff directors walked into my office to share Luke 21:25 with me, I was amazed.  Not only at what the verse said but at the numbers of the verses themselves.  August 21 was the total solar eclipse of the sun, and Hurricane Harvey made landfall between Port Aransas and Port O’Connor, Texas, on August 25.  Coincidence?  Thought provoking?  “…signs in the sun, moon and starts…anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.”

But what else have we seen?  We’ve watched as strangers launched their private boats, as neighbors went from door to door, as vehicles loaded with food and water and supplies all converged to touch those affected by Harvey.  Did you see the caravan of university eighteen-wheelers headed to the coast filled with goods for evacuees?  Did you see the line of buses that our schools sent to help relocate people?  Our churches sent numbers of supplies and volunteers to help.  In fact, there have been so many material donations that we’ve had to ask people to stop for the time being.  We’ve run out of room to store all the gifts that have sent.

Crisis can sometimes be a wonderful thing when it brings out the good in us.  And it should always bring out good in us if we’ve been practicing loving our neighbors long before the crisis occurred.  Now we have Irma battering Florida and possibly the east coast.  And there’s talk of Jose and others…  There will be many opportunities for all of us to reach out—to go and help, to write a check, to pray.  We’re hearing that it won’t be a sprint; we’re dealing with a marathon.

Will our citizens stick around for the long haul?  More importantly, will we as Christians be around to help our neighbors until the healing is done?  It’s easy to respond when the hype confronts us in every news broadcast and Tweet.  But the long run will distinguish us in our commitment to loving our neighbors as we love ourselves.

So far, we’ve all been proud of the way Texans have responded to the crisis on the coast.  How long will it last?  How long will we pray and give and volunteer?  We’ve started out well.  My mom had a hand-penned notice on her kitchen bulletin board that was a constant reminder from Watchman Nee, that wonderful Chinese saint, preacher, and Bible teacher:  “Don’t fall to a lower level.”  God has begun to stir our hearts to get out of ourselves.  Let’s not get tired but keep at it and not fall back.

 

 

Father, we pray for all those affected at home and abroad by natural disasters.  Help us  to use the resources you’ve given us to minister to the healing of those who have lost so much.  Thank you for this opportunity to bless the hurting.  In Jesus’ name.  AMEN.

ABOUT HELPING

Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.  Proverbs 11:25

 

 

The majority of my work is cross-cultural; I work with people whose lifestyles, behaviors, and world view is often different from mine.  I am a professional servant.  My job is to direct, teach, fund, recruit, orient, pray, and do numerous other ministries in preparing missioners for being the hands and feet of Christ in other countries.  And conversely, I work with indigenous folks who are our partners in mission.  There are other activities in which God has placed me:  mentoring, teaching, showing hospitality, encouraging, and living out the faith he’s placed in me.

I am still amazed after all these years to discover that the helping, the mentoring, the teaching, the orientation, and all the things I mentioned frequently seem more directed toward transforming me than flowing out of me.  Although I know God has various tasks for me, he often has to stop me short to see that the challenge I’ve accepted is more for my benefit and growth than it is for the person I think I am helping.

When John admitted that he must personally decrease so that Jesus could increase in him, he, more than likely, didn’t realize that he would be facing death for the cause of Christ.  And that’s what God calls us to more and more—death to ourselves, our desires, our indulgences, all the non-Christ-like-ness that remains in us.  While we may think ministry is all outflow, I’m thinking that God’s grace assures that the flow goes two ways—out and in.

It’s really humbling and wonderfully joyous to be caught up abruptly and made to recognize that something we take on in faith and perhaps a bit of apprehension is just another vehicle through which God will form us into his image while he’s pouring out his blessing for another.  Instead of complaining about that person who doesn’t understand, doesn’t cooperate, doesn’t do it right, is different, has different ideas, and so on, perhaps we might begin asking What do you want to teach me in this?  What spiritual fruit might be needed for this ministry?  How can I humble myself so that Christ’s love flows out for his purposes rather than my ideas of best practices?

Helping goes both ways.

 

Father, when we find ourselves in uncomfortable positions when we think we’re helping, cause us to realize that you are also working in us and not just through us.  In Jesus’ name.  AMEN.