Promises & Purpose - Part 3

Yesterday’s poem, HEAVY NETS, spoke about the risk of hearing and responding to Christ’s call to radical discipleship.

Today’s poem is really another prayer that explores this same theme further. It’s by the well-known biblical scholar and author Walter Brueggemann.

A HARD, DEEP CALL TO OBEDIENCE

You are the God who makes extravagant promises.

We relish your promises
of fidelity
and presence
and solidarity,
and we exude in them.

Only to find out, always too late,
that your promise always comes
in the midst of a hard, deep call to obedience.

You are the God who calls people like us,
and the long list of mothers and fathers before us
who trusted the promise enough to keep the call.

So we give you thanks that you
are a calling God,
who calls always to dangerous new places.
We pray enough of your grace and mercy among us
that we may be among those
who believe your promises enough
to respond to your call.
As did Jesus,
who embodied your promise
and enacted your call. Amen

Promises & Purpose - Part 2

The prayer-poem for our reflection today is based upon the account of Jesus calling his first disciples to leave their fishing nets and follow him. The story is found in the gospels of Matthew, Mark & Luke.

Here’s the account in Mark 1:14-20:

“Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of people." At once they left their nets and followed him.

When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.”

HEAVY NETS by Roberta Porter

Lord,
those were heavy nets,
carefully mended, tended,
a means of sustenance in a difficult time.

What a risk to leave them;
a radical decision,
reckless by the world’s standards.

But, you ask us, too, to leave our nets
full of false securities
and worn-out idols;
our ever-present pride
and worry,
all those things that tangle and entrap us,
whatever their names.

You call us to trust,
to follow your radical
transforming path of love
and to find freedom.
Strengthen us, Jesus,
in the task and the journey.
Amen.

Promises & Purpose - Part 1

We’re practically half way through the year, if you’re anything like me, you may already be feeling the overwhelming need to ‘come up for air’ and catch your breath in the midst of the hectic pace of life right now. Hopefully, these devotions this week will provide a brief moment for you to do just that each day.

The format of the Barking Dog-Collar this week will be a little different from usual. Instead of a whole lot of words, theological commentary and faith-talk – valuable as all of that is – this week we will simply be allowing a few poems and prayers to speak to us and hopefully stir something within us.

They are all poems and prayers that explore, in one way or another, the themes of God’s promise and purpose for our lives, and our response to that. You are encouraged not to rush through them, but to slow down, breathe, read leisurely and simply enjoy!

NEW DAY by Donald Schmidt

O God,
you who promise to make all things new:
does that include me?
Will you make me new?

Cleanse me from top to toe,
renew my heart
revise my mind
revive my worth.

For I am poured out,
emptied,
ready to be filled:

but with what?

Fill me
with your gracious self,
O God.

Be you...in me.

GOD IN YOU by Meister Eckhart (14th century mystic)

A pear grows into a pear tree,
and a hazelnut grows into a hazelnut tree,
and a seed of God grows into God.
God does not ask anything else of you
but to let yourself go
and let God be God in you.

Receiving God's Wholeness - Part 5

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People commonly, but mistakenly, think that Christ’s work of salvation is something that happens just between him and them. They think that receiving God’s wholeness is a purely personal matter, and that the only relationship that needs to be transformed through the gospel is our vertical relationship with God.

Sadly, it’s a version of Christianity that many people settle for, but it bears little resemblance to the example of Jesus’ life, and offers little hope for the transformation of the world. It’s certainly a far more cozy and comfortable form of Christianity, but lacks the power and punch of the real thing - and of course the joy! The joy, the unbridled joy of a transformed life that is being made whole in every way, impacting every relationship, every experience, and every decision.

It was this kind of radical transformation that happened in Zacchaeus’ life the day he met Jesus in Jericho. In receiving Jesus into his home he probably didn’t realize the full implications of that act of hospitality. It was to change his life forever, but more than that, it was to change the lives of those around Zacchaeus forever too.

We don’t know what Jesus said to Zacchaeus as they sipped their cups of tea that day. Maybe it was nothing Jesus said, but the simple fact that he had sought out Zacchaeus and offered the gift of his presence, willing to risk himself in connecting with a notorious ‘sinner’ in spite of the clucking tongues outside. Whatever it was Zacchaeus suddenly “got it” - he got what Jesus was all about. He realized that his life was not simply his own. He realized that he shared a responsibility for those around him, particularly the poor. He realized that the things he was doing to damage the lives of others were damaging him also. He realized that there would be no peace, no freedom, no joy until he put right what he had done wrong, and started living in a whole new way.

Having encountered Jesus in this life-changing way Zacchaeus declares his commitment to rectifying the relationships all around him. And to this Jesus declares, “Today salvation has come to this house.”

The inescapable reality of the gospel is that when we get hold of it, or more accurately, when we allow it to get hold of us, everything in our lives comes under its searching scrutiny. Which sounds a little scary, but is in fact what makes it good news. The gift of God’s wholeness is precisely that - a gift of wholeness (not part-ness), that transforms the whole of us.

What joy, what freedom when this gift is received.

PRAY AS YOU GO:

Lord, there is part of me that just wants a cozy and comfortable kind of relationship with you that makes no other demands upon my life. But deep down I know that is not what you want for me. Thank you that you refuse to settle for a mediocre kind of faith. Thank you that you are passionately committed to my wholeness, in the fullest sense of that word. Open my eyes Lord to the lives and experience of people all around me, and show me what I can do to put my faith into action in all my relationships. And may the gift of your salvation, with all the joy and freedom it brings, be the gift that I receive from you each day. Amen.

FOCUS READING:

Luke 19:1-10 - NIV

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a 'sinner.' " But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

Receiving God's Wholeness - Part 4

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“What do you want me to do for you?’ This is the question that Jesus asked the blind man who sat by the roadside begging just outside of Jericho. Jesus’ question invites the beggar to consider what it is that he really wants. He responds by saying that he wants to see, which seems like the obvious answer for a blind man to give.

But his answer was far from obvious. Remember, as a beggar this man had been forced to make a habit of trying to get whatever he could out of the people who passed him by. He had no doubt learned not to expect too much, not to ask for too much - he was after all just a blind beggar, and as the saying goes ‘beggars can’t be choosers.’ His entire life depended on him being content with the scraps that were thrown his way.

So when Jesus asked, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ his reply is remarkably bold and astonishingly honest. He tells Jesus what he really wants. ‘Lord, I want to see.’ The next words he hears from Jesus are these, ‘Receive your sight, your faith has healed you’ and immediately his sight was restored.

This story has much to teach us as we reflect this week on what it means to receive God’s wholeness. For one thing it reveals the importance and the power of asking.

On another occasion Jesus said quite plainly, “Everyone who asks receives.” (Lk 11:10). We struggle to believe that these words are true, that the simple act of asking holds such power. How does this work? Dallas Willard writes:

“Asking is indeed the great law of the spiritual world through which things are accomplished in co-operation with God and yet in harmony with the freedom and worth of every individual.”

Let’s unpack this for a moment.

1. In order to ask for something we need to know what it is that we want.
2. There is something profoundly vulnerable about a direct request, because in the very act of asking someone for something we open ourselves to their response, which could be either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. A request operates in the realm of the freedom of the one being asked, and respects that freedom. Which is why it is totally different from manipulating people to get what you want, or demanding things from them?
3. Asking thrusts us into the realm of relationship and partnership. A request, by its very nature, unites. A demand, by contrast, separates. And in the context of relationship and partnership, all sorts of possibilities emerge that before would have seemed impossible.

All this has great relevance for our human relationships, but it has even greater relevance for our relationship with God - who invites us to approach him with boldness and ask for the things that we want.

PRAY AS YOU GO:

Lord, the truth is that I’m often unsure of what I really want, and when I am sure I’m often reluctant to ask. Maybe it’s because I’m afraid you’ll say ‘No’, or maybe it’s because I don’t really believe that it can be given. Forgive the poverty of my faith, and my hesitancy in sharing my deepest needs and desires with you. Remind me that you are a generous and merciful God, and that you want to be in a close and intimate relationship with me. Give me the courage and the boldness to ask you directly and honestly for the things that I need. Amen.

FOCUS READING:

Luke 18:35-43 - NIV

As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by." He called out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" "Lord, I want to see," he replied. Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has healed you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.

Receiving God's Wholeness - Part 3

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The focus of our reflections today will be on the part that we play in enabling others to receive the gift of God’s wholeness for their lives. A question for us to ponder is this:

Are we a help or a hindrance to those around us in their encounter of Jesus?

The story of the healing of the paralytic (Luke 5:17-26) can help us to reflect on this question. Consider some of the characters in the story:

1. There’s the paralytic man himself. Someone in desperate need of encountering Jesus but unable to do so on his own. As he lies there on his mat he is a powerful symbol of all those who are paralysed in some way, and whose paralysis prevents them from meeting Jesus:
   • Those paralysed by guilt and shame who stay away from church for fear of being judged and condemned.
   • Those paralysed by arrogance & pride who feel that faith is only for the weak.
   • Those paralysed by intellectual ideas that would deny the existence of God.
   • Those paralysed by grief or suffering that has caused them to believe that they have been abandoned by God.
    
2. There’s the crowd pressing in to hear Jesus. In their eagerness to see and hear Jesus, they do not realize that they are blocking the way for someone in great need. This crowd symbolises the church that has become so inward looking that it has forgotten its responsibility to open a way for those on the outside to come near. This happens whenever the traditions, practices and jargon of the church cater only for the initiated, and alienate those on the outside.
    
3. There are the Pharisees and teachers of the Law. They are suspicious of anything that does not conform to their interpretation of what is right and proper. They symbolise those who are so rigidly stuck in what is permissible, that they miss the occasion of the fresh wind of God’s Spirit blowing through our midst.
    
4. There are the friends of the paralytic man. They are simply focused on getting their friend to Jesus, and will do anything they can to achieve that, even if it means going through the roof. They are a wonderful example of those who recognise that the primary task of sharing the good news is being the kind of friends who simply enable others to encounter Jesus.  

PRAY AS YOU GO:

Lord, I’m not the only one in need of transformation and the gift of your wholeness. There are people all around me who are paralysed in many different ways, and are in desperate need of encountering Jesus. I consciously bring them before you now by name........ Help me to be a help, not a hindrance to them in finding you, and give me the courage, the determination and the grace to do everything that you ask of me in this regard. Remind me Lord that the work of healing and forgiveness and salvation is your responsibility, not mine. But keep me true to my own part I pray. Amen.

FOCUS READING:

Luke 5:17-26

One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven." The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, "Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, "Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." He said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, "We have seen remarkable things today."

Receiving God's Wholeness - Part 2

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The story of the healing of the man with leprosy is more than just a miraculous healing story. It opens for us a window onto God’s heart, and gives us a beautiful glimpse of God’s attitude towards us, as we struggle with the brokenness and alienation of our lives.

The reality is that we are all broken people. There are many ways in which our lives get messed up - through our own selfish & sinful choices; through the selfishness & sinfulness of others; through the fallen systems & structures of society in which we find ourselves; through the circumstances of life over which we have little control. Whatever the reasons, the way of transformation requires of us that we face our brokenness and acknowledge our desperate need of a Saviour. This is what we explored last week.

But in facing up to the reality of our broken, messed up lives, it is easy to be overcome with feelings of worthlessness, wretchedness and shame. It is easy to believe that God is angry with us, ashamed of us, and would rather have nothing to do with us.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The condition of leprosy in first century Palestine had two stark consequences. Firstly, it completely alienated the sufferer from all forms of human contact. Secondly, it alienated the sufferer from God, not just because lepers were barred from entering the Temple or the Synagogue, but because it was assumed that leprosy was God’s punishment and a sign of God’s displeasure for something the leper had done wrong.

But notice what happens in the story as this leprous man encounters Jesus:

• Jesus reached out and touched the man. The authority of his spoken word would have been enough to heal him, but Jesus chose to touch that which was considered untouchable, declaring that no-one is an untouchable to God.
• Jesus expressed his willingness to meet this man’s need. “I am willing” he said. “Be clean!” In doing so he declared that God does not look upon our brokenness with loathing and contempt, but with compassion and an eager willingness to make us whole.
• Jesus ordered the man to follow the ritual requirements laid down in the law, as a testimony to those in the religious establishment of what had happened, and as a declaration that God takes no delight in the alienation of people and plays no part in the punishment game.

PRAY AS YOU GO:

Today you are invited to pray your own brief prayer, but completing the sentence below:
“Lord, if you are willing, you can....”

FOCUS READING:

Luke 5:12-16 - NIV

While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" And immediately the leprosy left him. Then Jesus ordered him, "Don't tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them." Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Receiving God’s Wholeness - Part 1

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This coming week we will be considering a part of the way of transformation, called ‘Receiving God’s wholeness.’ This theme covers one of the cornerstone doctrines of Christianity, namely the doctrine of justification by faith. A famous verse from Ephesians 2:8 captures it well: “It is by grace that you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Or as Eugene Peterson translates it: “Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it.”

The wholeness we yearn for, the healing of our brokenness that we so desperately need, the forgiveness of our sins and the abundant life of freedom that we desire - all this is God’s sheer gift to us, given graciously and generously without any strings attached.

But a gift not only needs to be given, it also needs to be received. This is our task and responsibility - it is the fundamental requirement of our faith.

PRAY AS YOU GO:

Lord, sometimes it’s hard to get my mind around the idea that everything I most need has already been given to me by you. I acknowledge that I find it difficult simply to receive what you freely offer, for my ego keeps on telling me that there must be more for me to do. Please give me the faith and the humility simply to take hold of what you have given and so to receive the gift of your wholeness in me. Amen

FOCUS READING:

Ephesians 2:1-10 – The Message

“It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with pollute unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.

Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and the saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.”

The Provision of the Living Word

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We’ve been journeying this week through a story in 1 Kings – a story of fear and a story of provision. And at the close of this story, we reach Step 3 of learning to accept God’s power to provide.

After relinquishing our fear and giving of ourselves, we hear some key words from the woman in the story. She was first called a lacking widow and then, she became an overstuffed mistress of the house.

We now find that the writer of 1 Kings simply calls her - a woman. God has lifted her off the seesaw of lack and overabundance, and she is resting in the knowledge that she is simply human with both needs and gifts, and God is simply God – with everything.

We hear from this woman, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.” When we experience God’s provision in our lives, we experience the true power that God has throughout the whole world.

And we are reminded that this provision is available to us every day through the Word of the Lord.

In the scriptures we find food, sustenance, empowerment, courage, and hope. It is not reserved for the haves or the have nots – God’s words of life are for everyone.

God’s provision is for all to have, and it’s brought about in the world often through people like you and like me. Ordinary humans – women and men who “have” and “have not” all in one, but when we allow God’s word to guide us to share what we do have, we find that no one is without.

A meal is served at our church every Sunday evening. It is a meal that we most often describe as catering to the homeless. And at first glance when you go, it’s pretty easy for your eyes to label the “haves” and “have nots.”

Most often, people who “have” a lot of stuff serve the meal. Most often, people who lack most material possessions eat the meal.

But sometimes, it’s served by people who also lack material possessions, and sometimes it is eaten by people who are very wealthy.

But this is not the point of the meal. In the midst of providing and receiving, I think the hope of everyone participating there is that the lines we draw between haves and have nots will become blurry. That those who traditionally receive will also give, and those who often give, will receive. Both groups share in the reading of the Scriptures and the offering of prayer together.

And that through those experiences, the hope is that the labels we put on each other will be ripped off, and we will simply become human, relinquishing our fears of one another, learning to give of ourselves, and coming to see ourselves not as lacking or triumphing but as people who follow and are used by a God who provides.

We don’t always succeed – as individuals, as a church, or as a nation. Sometimes we act in power-hungry, fearful ways.

But we remember this week that God is neither fearful nor power-hungry. The God we worship is a God who has everything and chooses to provide for us in love. We journey every day with this God.

And so, get behind the wheel today not with timidity but with courage - and allow God to drive you forward.

FOCUS TEXT

1 Kings 21:24b (NRSV)

So the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”

PRAY AS YOU GO

Providing God, teach us to turn to the provision of Your Word. So many words are thrown at us every day that our minds and hearts become jumbled and directionless. We make decisions out of fear instead of acting out of your confidence. We forget that the story of Your relationship with Your people in the Scriptures gives rich life and hope to us today, thousands of years later. Open our eyes so that we may find ourselves in that story. Your story. Hope our hearts to share it with one another so that we all will receive Your provision. Amen.

An Unfair Request

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Yesterday, we discussed God’s desire to provide for us, and we discussed our human tendency to be afraid that God won’t ...

We heard the Bible’s message of God’s persistent provision for our lives that tries to calm those fears that we won’t have enough.

We heard yesterday that Step 1 of receiving God’s power to provide was relinquishing our fear. And now we reach Step 2, which is giving of ourselves.

It’s odd, really, that the widow in this week’s story from 1 Kings literally has nothing, and while she is drowning in this need, God sends someone not to hand her exactly what she needs, but he sends someone to ask her to give even more.

That seems terribly unfair.

He tells her not to be afraid but then makes a brash request when she’s clearly battling – he says, “go and do as you have said” - go make your deathbed meal - “but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son.”

Go take some of the miniscule bit that you have and provide for someone you’ve never met who’s shown up on your doorstep making all sorts of demands in the name of a God you don’t know either. Sure. No problem.

Think of the number of times a week you pass people on the street asking for food and tell them no, even if you have a full bag of groceries with you. I know I do this. Most people wouldn’t give so freely even on a good day, much less on the days when they feel like they’re going to die.

But nonetheless, the one who lacks is asked to give to help fill a need.

And when she takes that risk of giving, a miracle happens. Everyone has enough.

This is not to say that we are called to be unwise or thoughtless in our giving, but it asks us to be open to the command of God, not to be tight-fisted with our food, our talents, our money – anything that has the potential to bring life into the world.

This story says that when we listen to God’s command to let go and share with others who need, there is enough, and not just enough but plenty to satisfy people to the full for many, many days.

What are you holding onto tightly in your life? What might God be asking you to share?

FOCUS TEXT

1 Kings 17:10-11; 15-16 (NRSV)

So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.” 11As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” ... She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. 16The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Teaching God, open our fists, withdrawing them from battle and extending all that we hold out to you so that it may be shared and used in miraculous, life-giving ways. Amen.

Getting Off the Seesaw

DAILY BYTE

From the very beginning of the story for this week from 1 Kings, we hear the words, “Then the word of the Lord came.”

And from that word, everyone in this story is provided for. They may not get specifically what they want. The widow might well have preferred ice cream to oily bread… But everyone received what they needed.

The widow goes on a rollercoaster of emotions and circumstances, but throughout the first part of this story, we hear, “the word of the Lord came,” “Thus says the word of the Lord,” and “according to the Word of the Lord.”

Her circumstances are saturated in the overarching power and life-giving desires of the Word of God.

Is that not what we want – for our lives to be saturated in the life-giving provision of the Word of God? We don’t really want to be swinging on this pendulum of lack and overabundance, do we? We don’t really want to have insulated, selfish lives! Do we…?

Then how do we get off the seesaw? How do we become refocused not on our own human lack and human power to give and receive but on God’s power to provide?

This story leads us in three steps: Step 1 is to relinquish our fear. Step 2 is to give of ourselves, and Step 3 is to believe wholeheartedly in the Word of God.

So, we begin today with Step 1, which is to relinquish our fear. When we are lacking something, the deeper issue, really, is that we’re afraid of what will happen if we don’t get it, right?

If we need a blanket, the deeper concern is that we’re afraid we’ll be miserable, vulnerable, and susceptible to illness, if we’re cold. If we need courage, the deeper issue is that we are afraid we won’t be able to stand up for what we believe, and if we don’t, then evil might triumph over good.

In this story, the widow initially denies Elijah any of her food because she is afraid that if she gives him even a little morsel, there will not be enough to calm the grumbling in her stomach so that she and her son will at least be able to die in peace.

But Elijah is not put off at all by her resistance. He seems to know our tendency to fear. And in response, he speaks firmly to her, saying, “Do not be afraid.”

If we want to be fed and empowered by God’s provision in our lives, then we must resist the fear that God will not pull through.

Because when we are afraid, we become timid – we end up stopping the car in the middle of traffic, when God really is revving the engine to get us moving on the plans there are for us. We are cutting God off when we cower in fear and operate in a mode of scarcity that there will not be enough food, energy, time, money, you name it – to sustain us.

God doesn’t want to be cut off from us. God wants to provide for us.

And so no matter how hard it is, we must truly hear Elijah’s prophetic words - and not be afraid.

When the widow lets go of her fear and dares to share her last bits of sustenance with a brash stranger, God’s abundance overflows.

There was no need to be afraid that he would not provide.

What fears do you have? How might you allow God to calm your fears and receive provision?

FOCUS READING

1 Kings 17:10-13 (NRSV)

So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.” As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” 13Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son.”

The haves?

DAILY BYTE

Yesterday, we heard about a widow in the book of 1 Kings who was destitute – the epitome of the “have nots.” Well as the story continues today, we watch with joy, as the widow’s needs are filled! We see that the morsel of flour and bit of oil she had miraculously is multiplied, flowing and flowing to provide for everyone.

And we find in the next scene of the story that the widow is no longer called a widow. Having received this provision, the writer of 1 Kings calls her now the “mistress of the house!” The ruler of her domain. She is no longer lacking – husbandless, wandering needy in the streets. She becomes the epitome of the “haves!” And oh, don’t we love to define people that way - differentiating them from the “have nots?!”

Instead of calling people “homeless,” they are “homeowners,” the needy full of need contrast with the wealthy full of wealth. Widows contrast with couples. And again, our list of labels for identifying people by what they “have” goes on and on….

We’re usually striving to be in this “haves” category, and we’re very happy to show off our prosperity when we arrive there. Yesterday, we asked if we define ourselves by what we lack. Today, we ask if we define ourselves by what we have. Is that who we are? People who have more than the next guy? People who show off our wealth, taking pride in our good health, our real estate, our monetary prosperity, our thriving families, even?

Well in Ancient Israel, children were their parents’ greatest source of wealth. Family equalled prosperity. We hear in this story from 1 Kings several times about the widow’s son. And by no accident, I believe. A son was a means of security, a blessing promising the continuation of a family line. He is a symbol of provision and prosperity. When the widow is dying from lack of provision, so is her son, and when she is celebrating from abundance, her whole household thrives with her.

And when she goes a bit overboard on her power trip as mistress of the house, the story takes a decided twist. The son, the symbol of that prosperity and blessing, falls ill, and we go back to the beginning of the story’s cycle, once again finding people on their deathbeds.

This seesaw between bemoaning our fate and celebrating our triumph reminds me of how we act, as people, and as a world. I think most obviously about the current state of this nation. Just a few days or weeks ago, as a country and as individuals, we were decrying the sky-high crime rates, focused on the massive governmental corruption and our fear that this country is headed for a path of destruction like Zimbabwe. But no one can deny the sense of triumph that has permeated this country over the last few days. We are celebrating our victory at pulling off this massive feat of an international phenomenon! We are showing the world that people wearing bullet-proof travel gear will not meet death when they step off the plane here, but they will meet a prosperous, hospitable nation!

As a people, we have swung from one end of the spectrum to the other – from being completely down on ourselves to patting ourselves firmly on the back for a job well done. Now I definitely don’t want to dampen the joy and remarkable unity these games have brought to this nation and to the world. That is not my point. My point is that our focus as individuals, as a country, and even as a church seems always to be either on what we are lacking or on what we have. On our insufficiency as human beings or on our victory.

And this story seems to be saying: we are missing the point.

Our human life is not defined by our neediness or triumph – our human lives are defined by the constant provision of the word of God. God does not view us by what we “have” or “have not.”

God sees us as children made in his image, and God constantly desires to provide for all of us.

How does this make you feel? What end of the spectrum are you on in your life right now? Do you see yourself as a “have” or a “have not?” How do you think God sees you?

FOCUS READING

1 Kings 17:16 (NRSV)

The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.

The have nots?

DAILY BYTE

When I was in high school and learning to drive, after getting to know my style of driving, my instructor refused to call me by my real name… He gave me a new one: Timid. Some teenagers are rearing to be speed machines when they’re let loose behind the wheel, but no, not me. I lacked the need for speed – I lacked the boldness that you need to be a good first-time driver. One day, when overwhelmed in the middle of four-lane bumper-to-bumper traffic, I simply stopped the car and sat still, while my driving instructor yelled at me – You can’t do that! You’ll get us all killed! Take the power of the wheel and drive!! Driving instructors have emergency brakes, but apparently before instructing me, they failed to see the need for an emergency accelerator…

I have since significantly improved my driving skills. Warwick Triangle is an excellent training ground for boldness behind the wheel… But remembering that name, Timid, affects me.

It strikes me because it didn’t feel good – it wasn’t empowering to be defined by something that I lacked. I lacked boldness and courage in those moments, but that lack should not have defined the entirety of who I was as a person.

But we like to define people by what they lack. It makes us feel like we have more.

I’ve been realizing this week how often we really do label peoples’ identities by what they are without. We talk about the “home-less” – the people without homes. We talk about the “orphans” – the people without parents. The “needy” – people whose needs have not been filled. The list really goes on and on, and in the passage we find in 1 Kings this week, we hear about a “widow” – one without a husband. We see her at the beginning of this story being defined by what she lacks.

We’re told that the Word of the Lord commanded this widow to provide for the prophet Elijah, so you would think that she would be waiting with outstretched arms to welcome him into her home. But when Elijah arrives, we find her in a pathetic state. She is scraping together the last bits of what she has then to go lay down and die.

We find her to be the epitome of the “have nots.” She is not waiting with anticipation, empowered by the command that the Lord has given her. She seems to be completely burdened by her lack. As a widow, she would have been one of the most vulnerable and probably destitute members of that society. She was without even her most basic needs and practically crawling to her grave under the weight of that. Do we ever feel so burdened by our needs?

When asked to bring Elijah water, which she probably would have had access to, she acquiesces, but when Elijah boldly – brashly, really, asks that she also bring him some bread from her very own hand, she snaps.

She says, “I swear - I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” She says, look at me – I lack everything – I have nothing to give you. Don’t you see that this is who I am?

Is this who we are? People who lack enough food maybe, enough money, enough power, enough intelligence, enough talent? Is this who we define ourselves to be as individuals and as a church?

Stay tuned this week to explore more of how we see ourselves, how we label others, and how God sees us.

FOCUS READING

1 Kings 17:8-12 (NRSV)

Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.” As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”

Feel it! It is here!

DAILY BYTE

Many mornings I’m awoken by the sound of hadedas calling overhead. This morning it was different – not hadedas but VUVUZELAS! And strange as it may sound, I was glad. Because I knew immediately that the day that we’ve all been anticipating for so long has finally arrived. (As an aside, I heard a brilliant description of a hadeda the other day, as someone called it “a flying vuvuzela!.”)

As the slogan puts it: Feel it! (To which we might now add, ‘Hear it!) It is here!

Personally, I’m hugely excited about today and plan to enter into the spirit of this moment as fully as I can. And irrespective of what happens today – whether it rains, or Bafana Bafana win or lose – I’m confident that it’s going to be one of those days that will be emblazoned on our collective consciousness forever.

The question for me today is this, ‘How can I, as a follower of Jesus, enter into the spirit of this event in a way that will contribute positively to what God intends this Soccer World Cup to mean?’

There are three thoughts that come to mind for me in response to that question:

Firstly, I intend to be truly present to this moment, experiencing it as fully and passionately as I can, taking in the sights and sounds and emotions of it all, and allowing all of this to move me to a place of deep gratitude. I don’t want to be blasé about all of this. I want to have eyes wide open with wonder, and a heart beating with child-like excitement, open to being surprised and amazed. As St Augustine once said, ‘The glory of God is the human person fully alive.’ Being fully alive to this experience is one of the ways in which we can add ourselves, in a positive way, to what God will be doing through this event.

Secondly, I intend offering the gift of hospitality as generously as I can. By this I mean, primarily, the hospitality of spirit that is open to others and will allow a spaciousness within me to connect with others. I want to extend this, not just to any foreign tourists I happen to meet, but also to my fellow South Africans. I want people to experience through me the presence of Christ and the radical hospitality of his Spirit, whether they are consciously aware of it or not. This is a bold ambition which I believe God take delight in.

Incidentally, such hospitality of spirit will also mean a sensitivity to those for whom this World Cup is not a priority in their lives. I’ve just come from the hospital where a dear parishioner lies riddled with cancer. There are many living in abject poverty who have to fight for their daily survival. For these, and many others, the World Cup hype is far removed from the daily struggle that is theirs.

We’ve reflected this week on what it means to ‘make the circle bigger.’ Now really is the time for us to put that into practice through the hospitality that we show to others.

Thirdly, I intend to pray – to let my presence and participation in this grand event be a deeply prayerful one. To pray for peace and harmony and the smooth running of this event. To pray that those wanting to use this event to exploit and hurt others for their own financial gain would be thwarted in their selfish intentions. To pray that barriers that exist between people would be permanently broken down, and that authentic relationships across the dividing lines of nationality, race, language, culture and socio-economic position would be forged and deepened.

Am I being naïve in my intentions? I don’t think so. Today, of all days, reminds us that bold dreams and ambitions can become reality. So friends, let’s give ourselves, as the people of God, to this event with passion, exuberance and joy. And may it all be to the glory of God!

Feel it! It is here!

(Right now, I’m off to the Durban beachfront to the FIFA Fan Park. If anyone wants to hook up with me there, please do. I’ll be wearing a yellow shirt! :-) )

PRAY AS YOU GO

Thank you Lord God for this remarkable day and all that it means. We pray your blessing on this Soccer World Cup. Bless all those entrusted with the responsibilities of organizing and running this event. Strengthen them and empower them for this great task. And bless all of us who will be participating in our various ways. May we do so as your children of light, bearing faithful witness to the God that you are and the abundant life that you intend all people to enjoy. Amen.

Flags

DAILY BYTE

As my kids do the counting it’s “just one more sleep” before the kick-off of the largest sporting showpiece (or any showpiece for that matter) that this country has ever staged. A friend was in Sandton yesterday for the Bafana Bafana parade and described it as “high-voltage electricity being conducted through faces, smiles, yellow shirts and vuvuzelas.” Wherever you are in this country right now, the excitement is palpable. Certainly here in Durban, the summer humidity has been replaced with the thick air of expectation. What a moment for us to savour and enjoy!

One of the clear signs of this World Cup consciousness has been the proliferation of flags everywhere. Flying from car aerials, adorning car wing-mirrors, fluttering from people’s fences, covering shops and malls. They are everywhere. One guy on the news last night had his hair professionally dyed in the colours of the South African flag. Of course, it’s not just the South African flag that is in evidence, but many of the flags of the other nations competing in the World Cup as well.

To all of this I’d like to make two responses.

Firstly, on a positive note, all of this flag waving is certainly adding to the buzz and the anticipation of this massive event. Furthermore, the inclusion of flags from other participating nations is one expression of the welcome being extended to all those who are visiting our shores for this tournament. I celebrate every expression of welcome that we as South Africans can extend to our foreign guests, and pray that they would truly be overwhelmed by the warmth and exuberance of our African hospitality. This is certainly a moment for us to be bold in flinging wide our arms and demonstrating to the world our African understanding of ubuntu – which declares that it is only when we share and affirm our common humanity that we truly come alive as the people we’ve been created to be. If waving flags from different countries does that, then I’m all for it.

But there’s a second response to all this flag-waving that I’d like to share, not to be a killjoy, but to challenge us to think more deeply about these things. And that is to say that national flags, by definition, are symbols of exclusive nationalistic identity. National flags draw very sharp lines between those who identify with the flag and those who don’t. People often have an emotional attachment and a deep sense of loyalty to their flag, precisely because it’s theirs, because it symbolizes their country and their sense of belonging to it. Flags often stir in people a sense of national pride and patriotism, which clearly can be a positive thing.

The problem arises when this pride and patriotism creates an impassable divide between ourselves and others, causing us to see them more as ‘foreigners’ than ‘friends’. There’s little doubt that flags can do this. It’s no coincidence that whenever countries go to war, soldiers always march into battle under their flag. It commands their allegiance, their loyalty and often their very lives.

That’s why, when someone suggested that our church put up a whole lot of flags for this World Cup, I said ‘No.’ For one thing, it would require every single flag of every nation in the world to be included if there were to be any theological integrity to such a move. For another, it’s dangerous using inherently exclusive symbols to try to convey a sense of inclusivity, because the very symbol itself highlights our differences rather than our commonality. Finally, within a faith context especially, our highest allegiance is to God alone. This is why it is so problematic having national flags flying within church sanctuaries, as it confuses what should really be a clear position – that our loyalty, our allegiance, and our very lives belong to God alone, above that which even our country can command from us.

So what does all this say to our exuberant participation in the World Cup and the waving of flags in particular? Is it wrong to wave our flags? To this I would say, “No! Wave your countries’ flag if you want, and be sure to do so with passion and pride.” This is what I plan to do. But in doing so, let’s be sure to remember that our primary identity is not a nationalistic one as citizens of one or other particular country, but that our primary identity is that we are members of the human family, all of us children of God together. And if you’re into the flag-waving thing, be sure to find a few flags from other nations this World Cup and wave them for good measure.

Inclusivity in Action

DAILY BYTE

Yesterday we spoke about the events of Pentecost when the Spirit of God was poured out upon the believers, blowing open the doors of their community, anointing their lips so that they could speak in foreign languages so that people of other lands could hear the good news of God. It was a stunning example of the Spirit ‘making the circle bigger’.

But that wasn’t the end of the story. No, it was just the beginning. Because as the book of Acts unfolds we see this relentless hospitality of the Spirit seeking to draw into the community of faith those who otherwise would have been excluded.

Another stunning example of this can be found in Acts 10 & 11, where the church undergoes a major identity shift. Up until that time the believers were exclusively Jewish, and the Christian faith was really a sect within Judaism. But then in Acts 10 there are two visions that change this, which resulted in the church’s identity as an exclusively Jewish entity being changed forever.

The first vision is given to a Roman centurion by the name of Cornelius. He was a Gentile (i.e he was non-Jewish), but was told to send men to a town called Joppa to bring back a man called Simon Peter who was there. Cornelius immediately obeys.

The second vision is given to Simon Peter himself. In it he sees a sheet descending from heaven with all kinds of animals that were not kosher for a Jew to eat – but he is commanded to eat nonetheless. When Peter protests, the voice from heaven tells him, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

Immediately thereafter, Cornelius’ men arrive and the Spirit tells Peter to go with them. He’s being thrust into risky territory – entering a Gentile’s house. But as he does so Peter sees compelling evidence of their faith, and then the clincher – the outpouring of the Spirit upon them. And so he baptizes them, thereby incorporating these non-Jews into the church.

Word of this gets back to the believers in Jerusalem, and so Peter has to give an account of his actions. He explains all that happened, effectively saying, ‘This was all the Holy Spirit’s doing. Who am I to think that I could oppose God?’ (Acts 11:17). When the believers in Jerusalem heard this they praised God, for they recognized that their circle was being made bigger. And even though this represented a seismic shift in their identity as a community, which must have been a threatening change to some, they trusted that this was for the good of the church because it was under the direction of the hand of God.

What an incredible story that challenges our entrenched assumptions as to those whom we tend to regard as falling outside the embrace of the church. How might this story challenge you in your current attitude towards refugees, people of other races & languages, women, gay & lesbian people, people of other faiths or different theological convictions?

PRAY-AS-YOU-GO

Lord God, we acknowledge that inclusivity as an idea is something that we support, but when it comes to expressing it in practice and actively welcoming & celebrating in our midst those who are very different from us, we often find it hard to do. Our prejudices are rooted deep within us, often beyond our conscious awareness. Come Holy Spirit and help us. Move us to new places of openness, hospitality and radical embrace. Enable us to trust your stirring in our midst. Amen.

SCRIPTURE

Acts 10:44-48 (NIV)

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues[a] and praising God.

Then Peter said, "Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have." So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

Blowing open the doors

DAILY BYTE

One of the invitations that this Soccer World Cup extends to all South Africans is to ‘make the circle bigger’ as we offer our welcome and hospitality to the world. Yesterday I said that this is good theology, for that’s precisely what the love and grace of God are all about.

We see this happening in many different ways in the Bible. One of the most dramatic was in the events of Pentecost which marked the birth of the Church. It involved the outpouring of God’s Spirit which enabled the believers to go outside and boldly proclaim, in many different languages, the wonders of God. It was a remarkable example of the circle being made bigger.

Before the events of Pentecost, we read in Acts 1:15 that the group of believers numbered about 120 people. In all likelihood it would have been a homogenous group, all speaking the same language, sharing the same cultural identity and nationality. They would have eaten the same food and supported the same soccer team, if there were soccer teams to support in those days. But with the coming of the Spirit, all that changed dramatically, as that small group of believers exploded to include people from many different nations and speaking many different languages.

The circle of believers was being made bigger. It was not only uncomfortable but also downright dangerous, because no-one knew how wide that circle would ultimately extend. Indeed, one of the key themes in the book of Acts is the relentless hospitality of the Spirit who constantly seeks to widen the circle of the church, to include those whom the believers initially felt honour-bound by their faith to exclude.

What a challenge to us who so easily become entrenched in religious convictions that end up closing the door on others. Thankfully the Spirit of God comes even behind our closed doors to blast them open with the Good News that God’s love and acceptance are for all.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Spirit of God, thank you for blowing open the doors that we feel ‘honour-bound’ to close because of our misunderstanding of what holiness and righteousness really entail. Teach us the lessons of radical grace, that we might become more like Jesus. Amen

SCRIPTURE

Acts 2:1-13 (The Message)

When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force — no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them.
There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then, devout pilgrims from all over the world. When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were thunderstruck. They couldn't for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, "Aren't these all Galileans? How come we're hearing them talk in our various mother tongues?

Parthians, Medes, and Elamites;
Visitors from Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia,
Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene;
Immigrants from Rome, both Jews and proselytes;
Even Cretans and Arabs!
"They're speaking our languages, describing God's mighty works!"

Their heads were spinning; they couldn't make head or tail of any of it. They talked back and forth, confused: "What's going on here?"

Others joked, "They're drunk on cheap wine."

Make the Circle Bigger

DAILY BYTE

With the kick-off to the long-awaited 2010 FIFA World Cup being just a few days away, the sense of excitement and anticipation is now reaching fever pitch here in South Africa. The teams that are competing have all arrived in the country, and visiting fans are also starting to stream in. Flags and vuvuzelas are in profuse evidence pretty much everywhere. As the tag-line for the marketing campaign puts it, ‘Feel it! It is here!’ And indeed it is – a hugely exciting and significant moment in our nation’s history.

One of the songs that’s been used in the build-up to the Soccer World Cup calls on all of us to “make the circle bigger.” Now, whatever you may think about the music and the rhythm of the song, those simple lyrics are truly profound – and are very good theology. Because “making the circle bigger” is precisely what the love and grace of God are all about.

In this final week before the World Cup kicks off, we’ll reflect on this important idea from a theological perspective. Because this World Cup is not just a sporting event – it holds the potential to shape our minds and our hearts if we choose to embrace the life-giving invitations that it extends for us to celebrate the gift of our common humanity.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Gracious God, thank you for this amazing event that will be taking place within our country. We pray your blessing upon the Soccer World Cup, that it would indeed be an opportunity for us to ‘make the circle bigger’ in our attitudes and our actions, as we affirm that we are all part of one human family, sharing your image and likeness. Amen

SCRIPTURE READING

Acts 10:34-36 (The Message)

Peter fairly exploded with his good news: "It's God's own truth, nothing could be plainer: God plays no favorites! It makes no difference who you are or where you're from—if you want God and are ready to do as he says, the door is open. The Message he sent to the children of Israel—that through Jesus Christ everything is being put together again—well, he's doing it everywhere, among everyone.

David - Part 10

DAILY BYTE

Following his debacle with Bathsheba which ended up with a man’s blood on his hands, David came to learn a painful but necessary lesson – God has written cause and effect into the life of the universe. In other words, if we choose to live life according to our own agenda, if we choose to go our own way and break God’s laws, the effects ripple through our lives and the lives of others, causing all kinds of heartache and pain.

Like all of us, David wanted to avoid the consequences of his selfish choices. Fortunately for David, there was a courageous and wise prophet in the land by the name of Nathan. He knew that a straight-forward accusation would be met with big-time royal defensiveness. So he told a story about a rich man who abused his power and privilege at the expense of a poor man. David’s sense of moral outrage was aroused. And then came the telling blow as Nathan said to David, “You are the man!” (2 Sam 12).

It’s always easier to see sin and shortcomings in other people’s lives. It’s not so easy to see these things in our own. But painful though it may be, what a gift it is when we are helped to see the truth of our selfish choices and the consequences that they trigger in ours and others’ lives.

It’s a gift because while the consequences of our selfish choices cannot be avoided, by God’s grace they can be redeemed. What this means is that even the mess we make of our lives can somehow be used by God to bring about God’s purpose for us, even if it means that God’s purpose must be worked out in the dysfunctional network of bruised and broken lives that are the product of our arrogant attempts to live without God.

Jim Harnish writes, “Although we are bound together in a tangled web of human relationships, we are not prisoners of fate within that web. We are influenced by our past, but we are not bound by it. Although we stand before the justice of God being worked out in human history, we can also receive the gifts of God’s unexpected mercy…. For God’s grace is not bounded by the limitations of human cause and effect.”

In the end, David learned his lesson. It made him a humbler person, better able to recognize that his own sense of self-sufficiency was just an illusion, and that he was wholly dependent upon the mercy and grace of God. He continued to live with the toxic effects of his actions for years to come with all kinds of dysfunctional dynamics in his family. And yet, through it all God’s steadfast love was known and the house of David continued to be a part of God’s liberating activity for the whole world.

This is the hope and encouragement we can take from David’s story for our own lives. God is not finished with us. No matter what we have done, a new chapter of grace in our lives waits to be written.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love. According to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Create in me a pure heart O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Amen (Psalm 51:1-3,10)

FOCUS SCRIPTURE

Psalm 25:4-11, 15 (The Message)

A Psalm of David

Show me how you work, God;
School me in your ways.
Take me by the hand;
Lead me down the path of truth.

Forget that I sowed wild oats;
Mark me with your sign of love.
Plan only the best for me, God!
God is fair and just;
He corrects the misdirected,
Sends them in the right direction.
He gives the rejects his hand,
And leads them step-by-step.

From now on every road you travel
Will take you to God.
Follow the Covenant signs;
Read the charted directions.
Keep up your reputation, God;
Forgive my bad life;
It's been a very bad life.

But if I keep my eyes on God,
I won't trip over my own feet.

David - Part 9

DAILY BYTE

The story of David and Bathsheba is not just a story about sex! It’s also a story about the tragic consequences that arise when self-destructive desires are indulged, when power is abused, when people (and especially women) are objectified, and when wrongdoing is covered over. It’s a story that reveals how small steps down the path of selfish behaviour can quickly lead to major consequences that can scar our lives forever.

For David it all began one sleepless night when he happened to see a beautiful woman bathing, and a deep sexual desire was aroused within him. If it had ended there, the shattering and devastation of many lives would have been avoided. But sadly, David allowed his desire to foment within him, and before he knows it he’s heading straight down the slippery slope into the abyss of immorality.

There’s an old country proverb that says that it’s one thing for the birds of temptation to fly over your head, but it’s another thing to let them build a nest in your hair. When tempting thoughts are entertained in our minds and nurtured in our hearts, they can grow until suddenly they acquire a driving force and power of their own. This is what happened to David.

Having seen Bathsheba’s beauty and wanting to have her, David abuses his kingly power in the worst possible way by having Bathsheba brought to him, and he sleeps with her. The next thing David hears is that Bathsheba is pregnant. Suddenly, one night of selfish sexual passion has become very complicated. Threatened with the possibility of his predatory sexual behaviour being exposed, David makes plans to cover his tracks. He tries to get Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, to sleep with her so that his paternity would be concealed, but those plans backfire. Eventually, the easiest solution for the king is to arrange for Uriah to be killed in battle. As the story is recorded in the bible, David has moved from being an insomniac to a murderer, responsible for devastating the life of an entire family.

How exactly does this happen? Well, the interesting thing about this chapter in the Bible is that God is never mentioned at all. The only reference to God in the whole of 2 Samuel 11 is in the very last verse when we read that “the thing David had done displeased the LORD.”

Jim Harnish writes, “The story becomes our story when we realize that it is ultimately about the apparent absence of God as a living, active, controlling presence in human life. David’s actions uncover the depths to which we can fall when we become so confident in our own powers that we no longer live out of a soul-centering experience of the presence of the living God.”

We may not have kingly power like David to take whatever we want, but there is the capacity within all of us, like David, to be lured down devastating paths of chaos and mayhem by our base desires, if we are not consistently deferring to God as the organizing centre of our experience.

David’s story is a warning to us all of what we are capable of, and it’s an encouragement to us to persevere in the daily spiritual discipline of keeping God at the front and centre of our lives.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Gracious God, without you at the centre of my life I can so easily go astray, seduced by tempting sights and situations that seem so exciting but end up delivering heartache and disaster. Help me to keep trusting you and your ways as the organizing centre of my life. Amen.

FOCUS SCRIPTURE

2 Samuel 11:2-5

One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home. The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, "I am pregnant."

David - Part 8

DAILY BYTE

In 2 Samuel 7:1 we read that David was well-settled in his kingship, well-settled in his royal palace, and well-settled in the land. His former struggle for the throne with the house of Saul is over, his struggle in establishing Jerusalem as his capital is over, and his struggle with his enemies around him is, for the time being, over. We would say that David’s star had risen, he was flying high, he was at the top of his game.

And so his thoughts turn to the Ark of the LORD, and the concern that there was no formal structure to house it, just a tent. It seemed to David that in the midst of all the signs of his success, there should be something more substantial for God, something more dignified, more fitting, a proper temple that would match up to the standards David had set for his own royal palace.

On the face of it, it appears as if David’s plan came from a noble desire to honour God. But God’s response was quite clear – He didn’t want a temple. For two reasons. Firstly, it’s the height of human arrogance to think that any man-made structure could contain the infinite God.

Jim Harnish writes, “The Almighty God cannot be confined, pinned down, or boxed by human efforts. The God we meet in the Bible is constantly on the move. This is the God whose very nature is freedom and who is always doing some new thing. Years later, when God finally gave a building permit for a temple and the project first proposed by David was completed by his son, King Solomon was wise enough to pray, ‘The highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built!’ (1 Kings 8:27).”

Secondly, it is not external structures that indicate our religious devotion, but rather the inner disposition of our hearts. Authentic spirituality begins with the commitment to look at life from the inside out. This is what God is interested in – the space we create within us for the Spirit of God to be at work within the deep, inner core of our being to accomplish God’s purpose for our lives.

The word of re-assurance that came to David is a word that God speaks to us too: “I have been with you wherever you have gone…. And I will prepare a place for my people…so that they can have a home” (2 Sam 7:9-10).

PRAY AS YOU GO

O Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. Remind us of who you are. Remind us that our lives depend upon you and not the other way around. Help us to make more space for you in our lives, that you might come and take up residency within us, and move us into the wide-open expanse of your loving purposes for all the world. Amen

FOCUS SCRIPTURE

2 Samuel 7:1-2, 4-10

After the king was settled in his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, he said to Nathan the prophet, "Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent."

That night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying: "Go and tell my servant David, 'This is what the LORD says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?" '

"Now then, tell my servant David, 'This is what the LORD Almighty says: I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the great ones of the earth. And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed.”

David - Part 7

DAILY BYTE

Yesterday we looked at some of the history around David becoming king of the united kingdom of Israel and Judah, his establishment of Jerusalem as his new capital and his decision to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem to consolidate its place as the religious capital of the realm.

The event of bringing the Ark to Jerusalem was a spectacular affair. It was a grand procession involving 30 000 troops and a massive marching band. This promised to be a public relations coup that David’s “publicity agents” were hoping to get maximum mileage out of. But then, suddenly, things departed from the script as David’s carefully laid plans were disrupted by the unexpected, uncontrollable power of God.

We read that Uzzah, one of the men guiding the cart on which the Ark was being transported, reached out and touched the Ark when the oxen pulling the cart stumbled. And just like that, Zap, Uzzah fell down dead.

This is a tough episode for us to make sense of as it rails against our modern sensibilities of what is fair and just. But Uzzah’s shocking death is a vivid reminder to us of the power and holiness of God who was at work in David’s life but was way beyond David’s manipulation and control.

This is a reminder that we all need, as the increasing tendency today is for people to view God as some kind of cosmic Father Christmas whose primary purpose is to satisfy our desires, or a celestial cheerleader who exists to prop up our sense of self-worth and make us all happy.

Consider these two insightful quotes:
“Reverence and awe have often been replaced by a yawn of familiarity. The consuming fire has been domesticated into a candle flame, adding a bit of religious atmosphere, perhaps, but no heat, no blinding light, no power for purification.” (Donald McCullough)

“Most people see God as a benign deity who does little more than ‘bless’ people – a spiritual butler who waits to meet our needs. Most people want a deity who exists to serve our purposes rather than the one who calls us out of ourselves to serve a divine purpose in the world…. But the Almighty God is not primarily here to serve our needs, but to claim us as a part of the fulfillment of God’s redeeming purpose in human experience…. The God David met at the Ark is not safe, but the God whose holiness struck Uzzah to the ground is very good; good enough to give us just a touch of bone-shaking reverence for the power of God, breathless wonder at the mystery of God, and a soul-cleansing awareness of the holiness of God.” (Jim Harnish)

When last did you bow down in reverence before God and declare that God is holy?

PRAY-AS-YOU-GO

Most Holy God, your ways are beyond our ways. You move and act with complete freedom, unconstrained by the limitations we try to impose upon you. Remind us constantly of you who are, a God who cannot be manipulated or controlled. Surprise us with your majesty, dazzle us with your beauty, that we might kneel in humility and reverence before you and declare that you are Holy. Amen

FOCUS SCRIPTURE

2 Samuel 6:1-7

David again brought together out of Israel chosen men, thirty thousand in all. He and all his men set out from Baalah of Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim that are on the ark. They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it. David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals.

When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. The LORD's anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God.