How long O Lord?

The question “How long?” is repeated over and over throughout Scripture. We ask similar questions, we want to know His plan and we want to see His plan come to pass. We grow impatient… quickly! “How much longer?” “Are we there yet?” “When?” “Why isn’t it happening yet?” Waiting has become more and more agonizing as our world makes everything instant. (Cooking, cleaning, news & info, communication…) Waiting seems to communicate a different message because of this. For example in text messages, if we don’t get an immediate response, we assume the other doesn’t care as much as we do. Offenses and hurts arise for no sensible reason.

These questions reaching for some kind of timeline, asking God “how long?” are not questions of impatience but rather an expression of an ache in the heart. Throughout Scripture the prophets ask in response to what God is doing or what they see in opposition to God and His kingdom. They know who He is and know His promises but they see events in opposition to what they know. The obvious question is to ask just how long God will allow these things to happen before change comes.

Habakkuk asks, “O LORD, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear?” (Hab. 1:2)
David asks, “How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever?” (Ps. 13:1)
Isaiah asks how long he’s to preach to the Israelites who will not hear. (Is 6:11)
Jeremiah asks how long he has to watch destruction come upon his people. (Jer 4:21)
Daniel and an angel ask how long persecution and destruction will last. (Dan. 12:6,8)
Over and over these questions are asked because we see things that don’t seem to be according to God’s kingdom. How long will You let things go this way?

But every time He shows that He has even greater plans by using the enemy to judge His people, by allowing suffering to make us stronger, by being silent for a time so we hear Him more clearly. He even answers as we ask by giving timelines or ‘landmarks’ showing that things will be that way until something big happens. Are we content with the answers He gives? Are we satisfied knowing that He has everything under control? We should be – nothing can stand against Him.

We are not the only ones who ask “how long?” As I mentioned with Daniel an angel joined in to ask as well as with John in Revelation. But God to asks this question of us. He asks Pharaoh in Exodus 10:3 “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? And in the gospels Jesus asks, “How long shall I be with you & bear with you?”

The question seems more of a prayer and expression of the heart.
Bring forth Your promises, O God, I don’t want to see evil abound, people ignoring Your ways, destruction for Your people… Come quickly Lord Jesus.

Death

I'm surrounded by the dead and dying.

I see those who have strayed from the way, doing their own thing. Swimming in sin and rebellion trying to drown out the wounds of their hearts. I see many who blame the parents of the rebellious saying, "If only..." I see the 'good people' in the world looking down on them with saddened faces but not doing a thing about their hearts or situations.


I see the grip of death coming over the rebellious ones.
I see captivity.
I see them drowning.
I see the snare that will not let them go.





My heart breaks for them. I weep for them.


I see those comfortable in their claimed seats on Sunday. I see those whose hearts are hardened against others who keep 'breaking the law.' I see that they pride themselves in their outward beauty but on the inside are secretly rotting and decaying. I see that they honestly have no desire for you & they don't feel much shame..."..its just a season.." they say. That may be true... but it looks like death. And I see that the parents and those around them don't see a problem. At least they're not getting into trouble. "Obviously I did a great job raising them."

My heart breaks for them. I weep for them.


So I see our Church as a fire that's dead, the flame is gone the ashes are cold and the smoke only rises to signify there was once life.
And yet I'm compelled to sing, "Oh Death, where is your sting!"



There is yet hope, He has risen.




"I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. [There is a remnant!!] He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."


It's kinda a big deal.

Glorious Servant

I was listening to the Prayer Room this morning and they were singing:
"If this is where You go, if You go so low; then I'm gonna meet you in the place of serving."

(Praise the Lord for the PR Webstream!!! It's live and I can always go back and listen again)

This brought me again to John 15 which I've been meditating on recently. I love flow charts...it must be the scientific mind... but they're glorious! There's definitely a flow chart in the midst of John 15 and here it is:

Abide in Me -> Keep My commands -> Love one another -> Lay down your life -> Abide
(all that your joy may be full)

Christ commands and exhorts us to abide in Him, to remain in Him or to cling desperately to Him. He repeats this six times in just a few verses and relates it to branches of a vine. Branches die if they are ever separated from the vine, therefore, for the sake of life we must remain attached and abide in Him.

He then clearly lays out what it takes for us to abide. In order for us to abide we must obey His commands. Okay... that seems easy enough. Just following the 10 right?... I guess there are some others though. vs. 12 "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."
He's given us a summary of all the commandments: Love God and love others

Well, what does that look like to love others? What does it look like to show love? vs. 13 "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends."

Lay down your life!

If we want to abide in Christ, if we want to know Him, know His heart, meet with Him face to face, if we want to dwell with Him.... we need to lay down our lives. He is found serving His brother, if we want to meet with Him, we'll find Him in the place of serving. We will find Him as we lay down our lives for others. As we give up and sacrifice our own desires to tend to and meet the needs of others we will find Him. We will share His heart as He cares about the concerns of others. If we allow our selfish hearts to die and serve other people we will abide in Him and our joy will be full and made complete. The whole reason that He lays out this very simple flow chart is that we would live full and joyful lives. His heart is so for us! But if we miss the simple point that we will not of joy unless we die and serve we will go on longing, go on searching for something more, go on looking for something to bring joy and satisfaction.

It's right here. It's in the friend who needs help, who needs help with homework, who needs a place to stay, who needs a meal, who needs some love.

Don't miss it.

In Your Presence oh God there is fullness of joy!

Dream: Jan 18, 2011

I had a dream last night or really what I would call a vision.

I saw this baby - a toddler really, about 2-3 years old who was very dark and appeared to be from India or Nepal. I wish I could find a picture to represent this child I saw but really it wouldn't be fair to any of the children I found on Google photos. I may just have to paint it sometime. But imagine a small boy just old enough to lose some of that baby fat (almost too skinny), walking on his own, even able to dress himself. He had short black hair and looking into his face you could see determination.

This baby boy so desired to be a girl. It didn't make sense to me why, but he would do everything he could to make himself look like a girl. His parents wouldn't let his hair grow long and would only dress him as a boy but this urge in his heart drove him to fix his short hair as feminine as possible and somehow he would find dresses to change into.
He's 2-3 years old, how does he even have this thought!?

Even worse...or even further, he longed to be a prostitute. What!? I don't know if he had sisters or had seen prostitutes before, but deep in his heart he had this dark desire. His heart carried this perverted and warped longing to be sought out, pursued, and grabbed up by men whose own hearts were sick. It's not that he saw that it would be a great way to make money or that it was a choice he had to make. But everything in him drove him to leave his house and seek out any man who would desire him. He's 2-3 years old!!!! And he's driven to leave his loving family to be hurt, taken advantage of and bound in darkness because his desires are warped.

Oh, it makes my heart hurt. It brings me to tears. I've never seen anything like this.

But in one sense I have seen this before. Almost everyday.
As I spoke to God about this dream/vision I was reminded that this goes on in our hearts and this is how we can often look to Him. We know its not normal or healthy for this baby to have these warped desires - to want to be a girl rather than a boy or especially to want to be a prostitute. Each of us were created with holy desires to be loved, pursued, sought out and wanted. We were created with these so that God would satisfy those desires. However, the enemy comes in and speaks lies to us that we have to go out and satisfy these desires ourselves. He warps our thinking, takes hold of our desires and draws us to places or things that destroy our bodies, minds and souls. This is sin. This is entanglement and bondage. This is us being taken captive by the enemy. Part of us hates the action but another part of us longs for something and we become confused by our perverted longings.

Let us take these warped and perverted desires to Jesus that He might make them holy and satisfy them Himself.
LORD have Mercy!!

The Heavenly Man (1Cor. 15:49)

I don’t think about heaven enough.

Heaven is my home, my hope, my joy and yet my thoughts are filled with much less important things.

I don’t think enough about how things are supposed to be, what they were created to be or what they will look like in perfection throughout eternity. Instead I think about how things are now.



I felt led, around the end of May, to read through 1 Corinthians for my quiet times. I haven’t read through or felt called to study much of the New Testament for a while now. Books like Isaiah, Ezekiel and Daniel have been on my heart. Of course the NT is in my reading and studying throughout the year, but not books God has specifically impressed upon my heart. So 1 Corinthians was a fun change.

Also I kind of secretly rebel against what is mainstream; a few of which include;

boy bands,

flared jeans,
book series,

and well I hate to say it but, Paul’s letters sometimes seem to creep into my mainstream category from time to time. Thank goodness they’re from God or else I’d continue to rebel.

So anyway… mainstream Christianity is right: Paul is awesome. Not nearly as awesome as Jesus, but he’s a great guy. What amazed me in reading through 1 Corinthians is how fixed his eyes are on Jesus, heaven, and eternity.



From chapter 1 “eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,” to chapter 15 where Paul cries out Maranatha! (O Lord, come!) You see his heart for his Savior to return, his eyes fixed on Him, and his hope anchored securely in heaven. I don’t really hear this talked about much. All I hear is how wicked the Corinthians are and how Paul corrects them. What I noticed was with every correction there was a theme.


This theme included a rebuke and correction that slapped them right in the face… way too obvious for them to dismiss, ignore, or misunderstand. He spoke to them in plain and simple words (1 Cor. 1:17). But with every rebuke and correction he graciously explained why things were the way they were, and then seemed to ramble on about eternity. Well he wasn’t rambling.



You know those friends you have who seem to be able to talk about anything….forever? They talk and talk and talk, but you enjoy it. They may repeat the same few phrases but every time they speak on that topic it’s new and fresh and you love listening, you get a glimpse of their heart. You feel like you could never talk about that thing like they do and you can’t until you share that same passion and zeal. That’s what I see in Paul throughout this book.
He speaks on going to law before the unrighteous and mentions that we will judge angels in heaven, he speaks on the Lord’s Supper or Communion and mentions that we proclaim His death till He returns, and he speaks on the false assumption that there is no resurrection and begins to talk about our new bodies bearing the image of the heavenly Man.



He answers each question…sometimes we need to hear the clear, superficial answer but he also speaks of eternity and what really matters.



Oh!! I want my heart and mind FIXED on Jesus, FIXED on heaven, and FIXED on eternity. I want every thought to be on things above and I want such zeal and passion that I can’t help but “ramble” on about what really matters.

lord -> LORD

During my time with God the other morning I decided to spend some time through Gideon's life (Judges 6). I had been encouraged thinking of his story in view of fundraising and ministry and wanted to spend more time in it. The general story is amazing: he ends up going to war against his enemies beginning with his 30,000 against their 120,000. The difference in number is somewhat discouraging but you can psych yourself out and believe you can do it!

I don't know if you know this about God, but He's awesome and WILL NOT share His glory with anyone. So to make sure Israel wouldn't be able to boast in their great army of 30,000 He decided their numbers needed to dwindle. He sent 20,000 of them home. Dang! Okay maybe they can still win. So He dwindles them again, this time they have only 300 men... going against 120,000. Impossible!!! If they were to win, it would have to be a miracle from God!!
Exactly.
So they win and He gets all the glory.

Such an awesome story, so encouraging.... oh how big is our God!!! This isn't the part I wanted to talk about. Do you know how the story starts out?

Korryn's paraphrase: (NKJV)

The Midianites (lame, evil people) come against the Israelites taking all their stuff. Because of that Gideon goes out to thresh wheat before the Midianites can get to it. The Angel of the LORD went and sat down under a tree near him and calls out: "The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor!" Gideon's like, "Uhh... if He was with us I wouldn't have to be doing all this work to keep my stuff safe, where are all His miracles He works if He supposedly delivered us from Egypt?" The Angel of the LORD replies back, "You'll save Israel with that might of yours. Have I not sent you?" Gideon's like, "Oh. Dang. But I'm weak and small." So He says, "Don't worry I'll be with you."

-- there's more to the story but this is the part I want to talk about.

First of all, what would you do if some random guy came up to you while you were working and called you a mighty man or woman of valor? If it were the exact wording I'd probably look up at them with a raised eyebrow, a confused grin and wonder why they said that.
This whole conversation is just amazing. God is speaking to him, makes His presence known by saying the Lord is with him, then speaks into action who Gideon is (a mighty man of valor). Just as a response to that comment, Gideon thinks it’s this random guy speaking to him. He even complains, mocks God and shows extreme doubt.

Here's the cool part:

"Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”

Again He declares who Gideon is – mighty.
But He also presents His authority. I….am sending you.
At this point Gideon realizes who he’s been talking with. This is not some random guy; this is the Angel of the LORD!!!
I can’t imagine the gut check of realizing you’ve been talking with God (who has all power and authority) and have been complaining and doubting Him to His face.

I just love how God reveals Himself to Gideon – His authority in sending Him and speaking over Him who he’s created to be. I love His gentleness and loving patience in not severely rebuking him for doubting and complaining. And also His encouragement for Gideon, letting him know he’s not alone and that he will be used to defeat Israel’s enemies.
But I also love Gideon’s response: lord -> LORD
God’s authority blows him away!

Then you will know that I am the LORD...

Soo.... Let's say you are living in a beautiful land freely given to you and flowing with milk and honey. Then you hear news of a huge kingdom rising up to take you away into captivity. You'd be moved to a different place, with different people, a different culture and different language. You wouldn't have belongings, probably separated from your family and more than likely made into a slave. If you had the choice of staying where you were and resisting being taken into captivity or freely going along with them, which would you choose?

I think most people would choose to not go.

But what if some crazy, not-so-famous people told you this would happen and that anyone who stayed would die and anyone who went would live? What if they said they were from God?

That changes everything. But takes so much faith... believing that going into captivity is your best option? Craziness!

But it makes sense as God lays out his plan. Here's His logic:
You are evil and acting wickedly, I gave this land to you as a blessing and you've made it a curse; so I'll move the righteous ones away, wipe out the land and bring them back to start over.

Pretty nice. It's like picking something up to dust underneath... just to make sure you get everything!!

This plan is laid out in Ezekiel.... basically every chapter. It's repeated over and over again like He's giving them a chance to finally get it and go along into captivity. A chance to actually listen to Him and follow His word. So many just don't get it.

Why would He do such a thing anyway?
"...then you will know that I am the LORD..."

So that He's made known; His authority, power, word, righteousness, justice...

At least 6 times within two chapters of Ezekiel He says this phrase.
He brings signs, brings destruction, inflicts punishment, and takes vengeance so that He's known. His way goes... not anyone else's.

It would be very easy to initially correlate bad things and His wrath with Him making Himself known. But really it's out of love, out of a desire for us to truly know His heart and reasoning behind all of these actions. He explains things then acts so that we would have confirmation and trust in Him but also fear Him.

Yes LORD, I want to know You!