Month: February 2018

This post is a hard one.

As I write this, my sister is undergoing surgery to restore circulation to her foot through an arterial bypass in her leg. The surgery is serious and dangerous, given that she has other health problems, including heart failure. What is especially concerning at this moment is that the first attempt at the bypass seemed to go well, then quickly failed and needs to be redone. So . . . right now she is in the followup surgery.

We are praying for her to come through the surgery, and for the bypass to work well; she already lost her other leg a couple years ago due to similar circulation problems, and having to lose this one would be devastating.

We are praying for successful surgery and healing for two reasons: first, because she needs the healing, and second, because we believe God can and many times does heal, often in answer to prayer. So the prayers are going out to our church’s prayer chain, and to family members and friends.

But what if she doesn’t heal? We were thanking God when she came out of her first surgery, when everything seemed to go smoothly and the bypass was working. But why then the complication? Does it mean that God doesn’t love her? Does it mean she didn’t deserve the surgery to go well, either due to some flaw or sin or lack of good works on her part? Does it mean she didn’t have enough faith? Does it mean that we are not praying hard enough in the right way? No, none of these reasons is valid.

So why then, does my sister have these critical health problems? The answer is: we don’t know. Sure, there are medical reasons that we can point to, but they just push the same question back further: why did she have those medical issues in the first place? Why does one person get cancer and others do not? Why does someone get diabetes and other do not? Why ALS, why Altzheimer’s, why leukemia, etc.? Why do high school kids get shot during classes in one town, or on the streets of another town? We don’t know why any particular person gets sick or hurt or killed, other than to point to the fact that ALL of us are mortal and have bodies that one day will give out, no matter how healthy we may be right now.

Another question we could – and should – ask is, why does God heal anyone? Why does God protect us from harm and preserve our life as much as he does? And why does God promise us eternal life in resurrected bodies that will never again become ill or be injured or die (Revelation 21:4 and 1 Corinthians 15:42-57)? God didn’t have to create us in the first place (Genesis 1:26-27), nor sustain our lives each moment we live (Colossians 1:15-17), nor make a way for us to have eternal life (John 3:16). But he did! And why did he do that? For that question, we have an answer: God created, sustains, and will raise us imperishable because he loves us.

So how do we respond to the possibility that God doesn’t answer our prayers for healing or protection? Do we get angry at God and turn away from him? Do we doubt his love or his power? As God asked Moses when that leader doubted God’s ability to provide for all the Israelites, “Is the LORD’s arm too short?” What do we do?

God’s Word provides us a lesson for such times, which I presented in the book I am writing about miracles. Let me share with you the following excerpt from the chapter titled, “But If Not.”

Three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, stood before the mighty king of Babylon, knowing that their lives could well depend on their next words. Although they held favored positions in the kingdom, that would not save them from King Nebuchadnezzar’s wrath, for they had flouted his authority by refusing to obey his command. And kings do not like to be flouted.

To most people in the Kingdom of Babylon, the king’s edict was harmless enough: whenever anyone heard musical instruments being played, he or she was to fall down and worship a huge golden statue that the king had set up. But to faithful Jews such as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, worshiping a graven image was forbidden by God, and therefore they had not obeyed. Now hauled before the king and given the choice between bowing down and being thrown into a fiery furnace, the three men gave their answer: “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (Daniel 3:16-18, emphasis mine).

But if not. Note carefully what they said: they knew that God was fully able to save them from the furnace, but even if he did not, they would still hold true to their faith and obey God. Their faith and trust in God was not dependent on his miraculous intervention to rescue them; they trusted in him no matter what would happen to them.

I want to emphasize one point to you in the strongest terms. I praise God in gratitude for his amazing blessings. I honor him as he deserves and I am extremely thankful for every special thing he has done, but  . . . my faith in God and in his Christ does not depend on the personal helps he has given me.

My faith in God and in his Christ does not depend on the personal helps he has given me.

I believe in God and in his Son, Jesus Christ, because I trust what the Bible says. If God helps me with a problem, protects me from danger, heals me or someone I love from illness or injury, or provides my material needs, then well and good, and I am thankful; but if not, I will still believe and trust in him. Should everything suddenly go badly in my life, I will not stop believing in my Savior.

Likewise, although God has given me signs of his presence and power at many critical points in my life, I do not depend on those signs to trust God or to discern God’s will for my life. God did not need to give me any signs to validate what he promised in Scripture, even though he sometimes did so to help me when my faith was weak, or in response to my prayers. But whether he gave them or not was his decision.

God is God. I will praise him and pray to him, whatever comes for my sister – or for me or for anyone else. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

May the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Daniel 3

(Update: the second surgery seems not to be working either; she is now in the ICU post-op waiting to see what develops. Please pray for her.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today, I thought I would share several short musings which have lately been bouncing around in my head. (Which should be a concern, that there’s so much room in there for several things to be bouncing around!) So, in order to clear out the debris and create enough space to let new things bounce around, here are some of what I have been thinking about, in no particular order:

First, there was the super-blood-blue-moon that appeared on the night of January 31st. Even though the eclipse didn’t begin until almost 4 am and continued until almost 5:30, Karen and I watched a good portion of the event (throwing off our sleep schedule for a couple days!). It really was cool; the moon was large, sort of an orange color, and we watched the earth’s shadow creep over the moon’s surface until it was completely covered. And the great thing was, unlike with the solar eclipse, we didn’t have to drive up to Oregon to see it! But besides the visual phenomenon of the event, what impressed me was that astronomers were able to predict that the event was going to occur, when it would occur – the specific day and hours, and what it would look like. How did they know? For the same reason that star- and sky-watchers all through the ages have been able to predict eclipses, seasonal equinoxes and solstices, and planetary alignments: the regularity of the natural world and its cycles. There is order to the universe, created by God who as the Bible tells us, is not a god of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33). Genesis 1:14 says that when God created the heavenly bodies, he commanded, “And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years . . .” They could hardly mark times and seasons if their movements were random and chaotic. God is a God of order. We can count on a succession of day and night, as well as so many other physical and natural properties, to sustain life and provide our material needs.

The Bible teaches us that God created order out of chaos in the physical realm (Genesis 1:2 “The earth was without form and void. . .”), and he does so also in the spiritual realm. Though our sinful rebellion has tainted an otherwise perfect creation, and has led to our spiritual chaos and death, God has restored spiritual order by sending his Son into the world to reconcile us and the world to the God of order. Paul can write about how all creation has longed for the day when we are restored as the children of God and creation itself will be free from all the effects of our sin (Romans 8:18-25). When Christ returns, the old things will be made new – and the perfect order of spirit, matter, and energy will become as God desired it to be when he first created us. When that happens, any “blood moons” will only serve to remind us of the shed blood of Christ which made the restoration of perfect order possible.

Second, there was the niche. Earlier this week I accompanied a church member to a local cemetery to say a few words of committal for her husband’s ashes as she placed them in their niche. I spoke the time-honored words, “In the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to come, we commit our brother’s body to its resting place – earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” and she carefully set the box into the niche. We watched  the cemetery worker close the niche and then sat and talked while looking at the niche with its temporary label.

The niche was part of a small columbarium, a short wall filled with similar niches for urns containing what are called “cremains.” (The term columbarium comes from the Latin word “columba” and originally referred to compartmentalized housing for doves and pigeons.) As my eyes scanned the wall, I saw that about half of the compartments were already filled; this particular columbarium had full-color pictures of the deceased on each niche, along with each person’s name and life-dates. What struck me as I scanned the face-plates and names was the “inclusive” nature of those who had died and been placed there: men and women, young and old, black and white, Asian, and Hispanic. The names reflected a wide range of ethnicities, and some of the information was written in Chinese and other Asian characters.

To me this inclusivity was not politically or socially significant; its significance was spiritual. What it spoke to me was the inclusivity of death. No matter our background, race, age, gender (real or perceived), social or income status, strength or weakness, popularity or lack thereof, every one of us will die (or more nicely put, “pass away”). Scripture says, “it is appointed for man to die once” (Hebrews 9:27), because “sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). And yes, the term “man” here is inclusive. Unless we are alive when Christ returns (1 Corinthians 15:51-52 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17), we will all face death.

But of course, that’s not the end of the story; although the wages of sin is death, the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). Because God loves us and does not desire that anyone should perish (2 Peter 3:9) he has provided his Son, Jesus Christ, as the path to resurrection and eternal life. For God so loved the world . . . that is everyone . . . he sent his Son. After his own resurrection, Jesus gave an inclusive command to his disciples, that they were to take the Gospel to the world and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). The result will be the greatest gathering ever of all the nations of the world, when heaven will be filled with “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9).

That’s an inclusivity that will put the columbarium I saw to shame.

Third, there was the immigration checkpoint. Karen and I just recently vacationed in Arizona. After seeing the big Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, we drove down to the frontier town/tourist trap known as Tombstone, “The Town Too Tough to Die.” While preparing for the trip, we noted a couple things. First, that new, more secure, ID cards will soon be required for all flights in the US; and  second, that the map showed a US Immigration checkpoint on the highway just north of Tombstone – not at the Mexican border, but 50 miles inland from it.

Putting these things together, we decided we wanted to be sure to have definitive identification papers with us, so we took along our US passports – the plastic card versions. In my mind, I imagined us being stopped at the checkpoint and asked to show proof of citizenship; I would smile and whip out my passport, humbling the officer who would apologize and wave us on through. Of course, he would have to check Karen’s, too . . .

We passed the checkpoint on the way south into Tombstone, and saw that they were checking north-bound cars only. At the time we passed, there were several cars stopped in line being checked. We continued on into town, smiling knowingly that we would be ready for our turn the next day. Since we arrived early in the day, we went and did our touristy things, had dinner, and retired to the motel for the night.

Then it was morning – the big day of our Immigration Validation! We packed up and carefully put our passport cards where they could be easily produced, and headed north out of town. There it was! Just ahead! The US Customs and Border checkpoint. And there were no other cars ahead or behind us; they would have an uninterrupted chance to inspect us, our ID’s, and the car. What would they find? What would they say? The tension mounted as we approached. We slowed down as the speed limit decreased, until we came to the designated stopping point. Out from the booth stepped an agent: here it was – the moment we had prepared for – and the agent took one look at us, smiled, waved us on though, and said, “Have a nice day!”

That’s it?! All that preparation, and all he did was wave us through!? Did he profile us? Did we look that harmless? Were we so obviously gringos that he didn’t need to see our IDs? Couldn’t he have stopped us and at least made a show of inspecting the car? He could have found a banana from the motel in the suitcase – would that qualify as contraband? I was so disappointed that we didn’t have to show our cards – but I was polite, so I just shouted “!Gracias!” as we drove on through . . .*

Of course, the experience did raise one question I’d like to ask you: if heaven had an immigration checkpoint to get in (manned by St. Peter, of course), how would you prove your citizenship to be allowed in? Scripture says our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20), but on what basis?

That’s it for this time. Until later,

May the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Psalm 8, Romans 8

 

*Actually, Karen talked me out of it . . .

Happy Candlemas Day, or as it is known in some circles, Happy Groundhog Day!

I know what you’re thinking: “Okay, Pastor, what do you mean, ‘Candlemas Day’? Did you mean to say ‘Christmas’ and the spell-checker changed it to ‘Candlemas,’ instead?” Not likely, since my spell-checker has flagged “Candlemas” as a misspelling. Apparently, whoever programmed the spell-checker was as unfamiliar with the celebration of Candlemas, as most Americans are, and as I was (until just today!).

So, what is Candlemas? It is an ancient Christian holiday, still celebrated by many churches in various parts of the world, which commemorates the presentation of Jesus in the Temple, 40 days after he “opened the womb” (Luke 2:23) – that is, the 40th day after Christmas, or February 2nd. It was traditionally on that day that Mary and Joseph followed the Jewish law and presented the baby Jesus to God in the Temple, redeeming him with the offering of two turtledoves or pigeons (Luke 2:22-38). During that visit, an aged prophetess named Anna, and an elderly man named Simeon, came to them and recognized that Jesus was the Messiah they had been waiting to see. Simeon took Jesus into his arms and prophesied that Jesus was his salvation, and that Jesus would be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel” (Luke 2:32). Because of the reference here, and elsewhere, to Jesus being “the light,” Christians often light candles on Candlemas or take them to church to be blessed that day in celebration of Jesus as the true Light that came into the world (John 1:9). (See also John 8:12, “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”)

Interestingly, and appropriately, I was already pondering the matter of light and darkness today before I came across information about Candlemas. What got me thinking about it was the more well-known (at least in America) celebration known as Groundhog Day. Yes, I confess I was more knowledgeable about a goofy secular tradition than about an ancient Christian holiday! But what had struck me this year about Groundhog Day, from a spiritual point of view, was how Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and was therefore frightened back into his hole for six more weeks of winter, or so the superstition goes.

Now, I don’t take that prediction seriously. Sure, it is an economic boon to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where people flock to watch the annual groundhog celebration, but there is no correlation, let alone causation, between the groundhog casting a shadow and the weather patterns that follow. So that is not what interested me.

What interested me was this question: assuming a groundhog comes out on a bright day, a day when the sunlight casts its shadow, and it is frightened enough to run back underground, what is it really being afraid of? (Besides the crowds of spectators?!) You could read it either of two ways, either of which could have spiritual symbolism.

1. First, there is the possibility that the groundhog sees its shadow (as the tradition says) and is frightened by the darkness and runs away. I see a connection between the shadow and all the evil things in the world which might frighten us: disease, crime, war, an asteroid hitting earth, a super-blood-blue-moon, temptations, or the devil and his demons. We rightly avoid or even run away from certain evils when we can, not putting ourselves in situations or relationships which might endanger us physically or spiritually. In fact, Scripture tells us to have nothing to do with the deeds of darkness (a list of such deeds is found in Galatians 5:19-21) and even to flee from them (1Corinthians 6:18). Paul admonishes us in Romans 13:12, to “cast off the deeds of darkness, and put on the armor of light.”

At the same time, though we avoid such works of darkness, we need not fear them, for Scripture promises us that we are “more than conquerors,” and that nothing, not even death, can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:37-39). He is in us, and is more powerful than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). Therefore, we don’t need to live in constant fear of our shadow, worrying about what is going to happen to us. Nothing can take the Lord by surprise; God’s “got our back,” and the rest of us, too.

Sometimes it is right to stand up, speak out against, or take action against the forces of evil in the world. There is a time and place for our rulers to “bear the sword” (Romans 13) to restrain evil, and for you and me to speak out and rebuke wrongdoing. But ultimately, the remedy against darkness is light, specifically the Light which is Jesus Christ. As the Gospel spreads and people are converted from the kingdoms of this world to the kingdom of heaven, darkness is pushed back and the light advances. Every person redeemed from evil and brought to Christ is a defeat for the devil and a victory for God. While governments bear the sword, the Church (which is all Christians) bears the Gospel. And as the Gospel advances and pushes back evil, we see the continuing fulfillment of the prophecy, “The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light,” – the Light of life who is Jesus Christ (Matthew 4:46).

2. Of course, there’s a second possibility with good old Phil the groundhog: maybe he’s not really afraid of his shadow; maybe he’s afraid of the bright sun. Likewise, those who do evil, or like to dwell in sinful deeds, shun the light. We know from experience that many sins and crimes take place in the dark, away from people’s eyes that would see the acts of wrongdoing. There are hours of the night when it’s just not safe to be out walking – or even driving. Sometimes evil deeds take place in hidden places, but often at night, when the darkness of the night matches the darkness of the person’s heart and hides them from sight.

Scripture teaches this also, saying that people rejected the Light of the world because they loved the deeds of darkness: “The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil” (John 3:19). They didn’t want the light to shine and reveal their evil thoughts and works, so like cockroaches that scurry for shelter when you turn on the kitchen light, they too try to cover up their misdeeds.

The only problem is that God sees all; the darkness is as night to him (Psalm 139:12), and he will hold everyone accountable for the hidden deeds they do in the dark. God is not mocked, he cannot be fooled or avoided or rationalized against. What is done in darkness will be revealed – and that is why many people hate to hear the Word of God, because it convicts them of the wrong they are doing. It sheds light on their deeds of darkness, and they try to jump back in their holes to avoid the painful light of God’s righteous truth.

As Christians, we should never have to fear someone finding out what we were doing. We should never be scandalized by a microphone that is left on, by a phone call or text made to the wrong person, or by something we did when “no one was watching.” We should welcome the light of truth being shone on us, because our actions are showing what it means to live in the light of Christ. Transparency in government is nothing compared to transparency in the life of a Christian.

So there you have it. As your life reflects the light of the true Light who came into the world, I hope you had a great Groundhog Day, I mean, Candlemas Day. Oh, and be sure to dress warmly for the next six weeks – just in case Phil was right!

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Psalm 139, John 1:1-18, Galatians 6:1-10