A pest in the garden

"Rise up my love, my fair one
and come away"
by James Shaw Crompton

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Song of Solomon 5-8; Psalm 12


TO CHEW ON: "I had put off my garment;
how could I put it on?
I had bathed my feet;
how could I soil them." Song of Solomon 5:3

Even this idyllic garden of love has a pest or two. In today's reading we see glimmers of selfishness when Beloved comes to the door, but Bride doesn't feel like getting dressed or soiling her clean feet. So she delays. When she does eventually open the door no one is there.  Beloved has gone. She has delayed too long.

We may recognize Bride's selfishness in reactions that well up within us. We don't like to be interrupted, pulled away from activities that we have planned, or have our sleep broken by the telephone.

After ignoring the summons to respond we may be filled with regret just like Bride was. But when we try to back-track, we often find, just like she did that once an opportunity to show love has been squandered, it is lost forever.

PRAYER: Dear God, I recognize Bride's selfishness in me. Help me to respond to opportunities to show love and think more of others than myself. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 12

MORE: The sober truth

John Piper explores selfishness in a February 2011 sermon entitled "I Act the Miracle":

"Selfishness is virtually the same as pride and is the deep, broad corruption that is at the bottom of it all. I would give it six traits.
    •    My selfishness is a reflex to expect to be served.
    •    My selfishness is a reflex to feel that I am owed.
    •    My selfishness is a reflex to want praise.
    •    My selfishness is a reflex to expect that things will go my way.
    •    My selfishness is a reflex to feel that I have the right to react negatively to being crossed.
And the reason I use the word “reflex” to describe the traits of selfishness is that there is zero premeditation. When these responses happen, they are coming from nature, not reflection. They are the marks of original sin.
Now what happens when this selfishness is crossed?" 

By John Piper. ©2012 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org

Read all of I Act the Miracle and discover ANTHEM (an acronym for victory over selfishness and its nasty symptoms).


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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The pouting prophet

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Jonah 1-4; Psalm 129

TO CHEW ON: "But it (God's relenting from the disaster He said He would bring on Nineveh - Jonah 3:11) displeased Jonah exceedingly and he became angry." Jonah 4:1

At a church conference I attended some years ago, I heard Rich Wilkerson sum up each of the church offices in a catchy way.

Apostles: Entrepreneurs who start new things for God.
Evangelists: Salesmen—"You need Jesus."
Pastors: Encouragers—"Everything is going to be okay."
Teachers: Always looking for the teachable moment.
Prophets: Concerned with keeping things in the right category—"That's just not right!"

Isn't that last so Jonah! After preaching, he camped outside the city—his front-row seat for the fireworks—but they never came. And so he said to God (my paraphrase): I told you so! I knew Your merciful nature. That's exactly why I ran away to Tarshish—because I knew in the end You'd change Your mind.

Then God gave this pouting prophet an object lesson from his own reaction to circumstances. When a fast-growing vine sprung up providing shelter from the sun, he was happy. But when a worm nibbled at it till it died he had pity on the plant, simply because it affected his own comfort. In this way God showed him his shallowness and how very different Jonah was from God, whose compassion went way beyond a plant to embrace all people (as well as animals - Jonah 4:11).

How readily we too get hung up on our own ideas of how God should work and like Jonah get swept into self-righteous anger when things don't happen according to our little prophetic 'that's not right' categories. A sidebar article in my Bible leaves us with some advice on how to neutralize such an attitude:

"Do not allow anger or pride to remain in your heart. They led to Jonah's disobedience. Turn away from these attitudes, and seek to have God's character of mercy, grace, patience, forgiveness and lovingkindness" - Leslyn Musch, "Truth-In-Action Through Jonah," New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1199.

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to have Your heart of compassion and pity on the people around me in the spirit of being a fellow traveler. Help me to be a conduit of your mercy, grace, patience, forgiveness, and love to everyone around me. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 129

The Bible Project VIDEO: Jonah (Read Scripture Series)









MORE: God's patience with His Jonahs

"...God not only treats Nineveh with pity and mercy, but also treats his stiff-necked prophet that way too. He is slow to anger and ready to relent in his wrath toward Nineveh, and toward Jonah" - By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org. (Read all of "Should I not Pity That Great City Minneapolis.")

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Destructive cycles

Image: Pixabay

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Judges 9-12; Psalm 73

TO CHEW ON: “Then the children of Israel again did evil in th sight of the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths…

So the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines …

And the children of Israel cried out to the LORD…

And the children of Israel said to the LORD, ‘We have sinned…’

So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD. And His soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel.” Judges 10:6,7,10,15,16).

In the depressing chapters of our reading today we see firsthand the living out of the summary of this book from Judges 2:

1] The people leave God to worship idols - Judges 2:11-13. 

2] God gives them over to plundering neighbours and nomads who wreck their land and livelihood - Judges 2:14-16. 

3] In desperation the Israelites pray to God for help - Judges 2:15,18. 

4] God sends a leader—a judge—to deliver them - Judges 2:16. 

5] They have peace during the judge’s lifetime but on his death revert back to idol-worshiping ways - Judges 2:19. 

6] The cycle begins again - Judges 2:20-23.

As we read today’s stories of Israel descending with every generation and judge into greater anarchy, chaos, and depravity, it’s easy for us to feel critical. How could they not recognize the self-sabotage in their cycles?

Yet I would submit that their actions are only an outworking of the condition of the human heart that by default rebels against God and looks for other deities.  And I’m not so sure we’re immune from these same kinds of cyclical reactions that keep us from freedom and forward motion.

Do we find ourselves in the same spot of joblessness or debt or hoarding or obesity or addiction or relationship problems that we’ve broken free from in the past? 

Could the answer to complete and final breakthrough be that we need victory over spiritual rebellion in some chamber of our own hearts? Are we returning to our own idols of self, indulgence, fear of not enough, lust, etc. 

Let’s pray for God to give us insight into our own destructive cycles.

PRAYER: The destructive cycles of Israel are not unfamiliar to me. Please help me to see and recognize the rebellions and idols of my own heart that have me going in circles. Please show me the path to breakthrough. Amen.
 
PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 73

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Thanks for reading! This year we are using The Bible Project "Timeless Reading Plan" to read through the Bible in 2018. If you'd like to read along in your own Bible, you can download a pdf of the reading plan HERE.

Treating the Martha Syndrome

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Luke 10:38-42

TO CHEW ON: "But Martha was distracted with much serving and she approached Him and said, 'Lord do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.'" Luke 10:40

I have on my bookshelf a thoughtful book that makes me want to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen. Embracing Your Second Calling by Dale Hanson Bourke helps women, specifically women in the second half of life, find direction and purpose for the rest of the journey. She makes a statement in a chapter on idols that I think is relevant to this little Mary-Martha vignette:

"I have come to believe that leaving false idols is at the heart of our ability to hear and obey our second callings" (p. 85).

Luke describes Martha as "distracted with much serving." But that is merely the outer symptom of obedience to a dictator in her heart which, I think, we could call an idol. Because there is nothing wrong with serving. But Martha's petulance at being left to do it alone shows that something besides serving is at stake here. There's an agenda (idol) that she's finding hard to satisfy.

Perhaps the motive for her dedicated service is to maintain her reputation as a good hostess and cook. On this of all days, she can't risk a shoddy or late meal. Or maybe she's fussing because this just isn't how you entertain guests—sit around listening to them while neglecting to do the usual. Tradition isn't being served. Or perhaps this is the Mary she's lived with all her life—the one who always slipped away from chores to do the interesting stuff. Today she's had enough. She is simply wanting Jesus, who would know what's fair if anyone would, to recognize and uphold her right to have help.

I've been all three of these Marthas. My sympathy is with her all the way. Mostly, I'd like to help her / myself get to the bottom of this and any dis-ease in my spirit that shows me some little demigod isn't happy. Sniffing out those idols is, I think, the key.

PRAYER: Dear God, You can have the full run of my heart today. Please help me identify and root out idols that keep me from hearing and following You. Amen.

MORE: Other thoughts on this passage

Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World is a twelve week devotional by Joanna Weaver that delves into this little story in depth. Here is a reader's guide to the book (which gives a taste of what it's about).

Weaver has since come out with another book exploring the topic in even more depth. Janet Sketchley reviews Having a Mary Spirit (2006) on her blog here.

I've written about this Martha/Mary story previously before in a poem, which begins:

The Martha In Me

Too often Martha takes charge–
I schedule service with conditions,
workboots clomp on everything
threatening my control –
I curse the one who’s late,
ignore the longing in my daughter’s eyes to chat,
dismiss women with Watchtower at my door –
not aware I’ve stamped out
embers of His presence.

Read entire