IS "CAN'T GET NO SATISFACTION" YOUR THEME SONG?

I’ve never been a big fan of the Rolling Stones, although they were certainly a band of renown in my generation, and they still are well known.  I hadn’t thought about them in years, but our pastor mentioned them in yesterday’s sermon.  Maybe you remember their song, “Can’t Get No Satisfaction”. 

I wonder, could that be YOUR theme song? 

Maybe you find yourself getting up early and going to bed late so you can provide for your family and keep up with all the things that family’s need done – like cooking, cleaning, helping with homework, taking time for husband or wife, dishes, laundry, car service for busy kids. . . . . and on and on.  You go to sleep exhausted and get up the same way.  And you do this 50 weeks a year, if you’re lucky enough to get a vacation.  Yet, despite all the activity and stress, you find you still have more month at the end of your money, as well as a deep sense of “Is this all there is?”. 

Or maybe you are one of the few who have been blessed with abundance.  You work too, but you have plenty of money left at the end of your month for things like fancy vacations, private schooling for your kids, a cleaning service for your house, and a host of other perks – and yet you still find yourself singing along with Mick Jagger, “Can’t Get No Satisfaction”. 

When we sense a lack of satisfaction in life as it is, we begin looking around for it.  We think, “Maybe a new job (a new marriage, a new house) will help.”  So we change jobs, divorce our spouse, move to another city – and find satisfaction hasn’t followed us there.

So we go back to school for another degree, have a baby, change hair color, buy a new wardrobe, smoke pot.  But still it remains, the emptiness inside that signals a lack of satisfaction deep within the soul.  “Can’t Get No Satisfaction” – no where, no how.

Sound familiar? 

If that’s you, you are not alone, and your problem isn’t new either. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah, who lived hundreds of years before Christ, was talking to those in his day who also found themselves singing Mick Jagger’s tune.

In chapter 55 of Isaiah’s book he says: 

Why spend money on what is not bread and your labor on what does not satisfy? 

Good question. 

I’ve heard the following quote attributed to a variety of different people, including Voltaire.  Seems appropriate here:

The definition of insanity:  doing the same thing in the same way and expecting different results.

Why do we spend our money, and labor, day after day, year after year, on things that do not satisfy?  It’s insanity.

What if someone told you that deep satisfaction, the kind that fills your soul and makes it FAT, just might not be all that elusive?  Would you want to hear more?  Isaiah has it!  He says:

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!  Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.  Listen, listen to me and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.  Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.”

Could it be that your unquenchable thirst for “something” more, for the satisfaction that eludes you, is a thirst only God can quench?

I believe it was St. Augustine who said:

“In the heart of every man (and woman), there is a God shaped vacuum

only He can fill.”

Did you know that God made you for relationship with Himself?  Could it be that He is the missing link to your satisfaction?  St. Augustine thought so. 

This relationship with the One who made you, the One who CAN satisfy, costs you NOTHING.  It is, as Isaiah says, “without cost”.  You can’t earn it, you don’t deserve it, but God offers it anyway – a FREE gift of His grace.  Who doesn’t want a FREE gift?

The gift that comes to YOU for free cost to God His very best – the cost was the life of His Son Jesus. 

Could it be that THIS is the source of satisfaction that has eluded you all your life?  Could it be that a relationship with Jesus is the one place you have not looked for satisfaction?  If so, then you don’t know what you’re missing!

Isaiah says: listen to me – take this message to heart.

Eat what is good – take this truth into yourself as you would with the richest of food – and your soul will delight.

Give ear, and COME to Jesus.  It is in hearing Him and believing in Him that your soul will live and find it’s truest satisfaction.  Nothing else – no degree, no relationship, no bank account, no material blessing, no position, no power – nothing else will satisfy your soul the way Jesus will.

Are you listening?  Will you come? 

You know, it’s the only way to get that Mick Jagger tune out of your head!

Yes, there IS satisfaction, deep in the soul satisfaction, and it lies in Jesus alone.

MY CHANGING VIEW OF CHRISTMAS

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday.  Since I didn’t grow up in a Christian home, when I was a young child, Christmas for me was all about Santa.  The anticipation of Christmas centered around when Santa would come, and what he would bring me, and not much else.

As I got older, Christmas meant different things, like the anticipation of company for dinner, and the foods we would eat that we only ate at Christmastime.  It included the excitement of going into New York City with my brother and my dad on Christmas Eve.  Mom had to work, so early in the morning the three of us would board a bus and head for the city. Before we did anything else, we’d stop at the Horn and Hardart cafeteria on 42^nd street and have breakfast.  That was always a fun experience all by itself.

My dad always received his Christmas bonus the day before Christmas Eve, so in addition to simply going into the city, we always had the anticipation of some special treat Dad would buy us with his bonus.  One year we went to Radio City, another year we went on a shopping spree at Macy’s where I picked out a camel coat with a fake fur collar. 

When Jim and I were first married, Christmas became about buying presents for each other, and others in the family.  However, not long before our first daughter Amy arrived, we became believers in Jesus, and Christmas took on a whole new meaning.

Now Christmas was about Jesus, the gift God gave US.  Of course Jim and I still gave each other gifts, and we also had gifts for our girls, but we also tried to center the celebration around the coming of Jesus.  On Christmas Eve we read the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke and we each took a part – dressing in costumes and all, and acted it out as we read it.  Jim, the only man among us, was usually Joseph.  But I have photos from various years when the girls and I played angels or Mary.  We always had a cake with candles so that we could sing Jesus the Happy Birthday song to celebrate the evening of His birth.  Church was also  an important part of our Christmas celebration. 

With no small children at home now, and only grown children to shop for, Christmas is still about Jesus, even though there is no family Christmas drama to be enacted from the Gospel of Luke, and no birthday cake for Jesus.  We still go to Christmas Eve services and we go again on Christmas day, if it falls on a Sunday.

But we have scaled down our shopping.  At least part of the reason for this is that having working in several retail stores over the years, I’ve become jaded about the whole retail thing. The store owners really don’t care about making our Christmas one our loved ones will never forget, they’re really just about selling “stuff”.

I’m mentally overloaded by a bombardment of November and December commercials that play on my supposed need to buy this or that thing, some “must have” for which my family members will love me.  Before it even begins, I’m tired of the frenzied rushing most people engage in in this season of “shop till you drop”.   Isn’t this supposed to be the season of “Peace on Earth”?  But most of all I’m sad about the absence of the sacred in a holiday season the existence of which centers around the sacred - the birth of Jesus.

Like a tornado that sucks everything into its path, the craziness of the season can whip me into a frenzy too, making it so hard to focus on Jesus and the blessedness of His coming.  That is the TRUE meaning of Christmas after all.

So every year I try to stave off the craziness by doing the very same thing.  I get out my copy of a book called, “O Come All Ye Faithful,” and read it devotionally.  From the day after Thanksgiving until Christmas arrives, I can be found in some quiet room in our house, spending a portion of every day, reading the book and worshipping Jesus. 

The title gives a hint that the focus of “O Come All Ye Faithful” centers around the sacred music of the season.  For each carol there is a page that includes the words of all the verses.  Then there is a devotional for each, as well as some background on the author of the music and the words, written by Joni Eareckson Tada, John MacArthur, and Robert or Bobbie Wolgemuth.  I never tire of reading this lovely book because it immerses me in the true meaning of the Christmas season. 

One of my favorite carols is not the most familiar by any stretch, probably because of its somber tone, but its words bring me right into the presence of the Lord.

It’s called, “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence”.   Joni Eareckson Tada, in writing her comments for this carol, speaks of the importance of silence in which to contemplate the Christmas season.  For the month of December, she tries to keep her calendar clear of busyness, and gives this advice to those who also feel the tug of busyness:

“Stop, look, listen, and be still before the Lord.  When you discover yourself becoming dulled to the joys of this season, stop.  Slow down the pace.  Make moments when you just look and listen. . . . Stop the chatter and clatter.  Jesus has entered history.”

That’s exactly what I do when I read through the words of this, my favorite carol. I slow down, listen and be still before the Lord.  There is too much of the sacred in the season to let busyness and noise crowd out the news:  Jesus has entered history.  Let all mortal flesh keep silence.

 

“Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and trembling stand;

Ponder nothing earthly minded, but with blessing in His hand,

Christ our God to earth descendeth, our full homage to demand.”

It is in silence, not in busyness, not in the frenzy of shopping, that I want to spend the season leading up to Christmas.  It is in silence that I want to contemplate the awesomeness of Christ’s coming. I want to set aside the things of earth that normally occupy my mind, and lose myself in worship.

 

“King of kings, yet born of Mary, as of old on earth He stood,

Lord of lords, in human vesture, in the body and the blood,

He will give to all the faithful his own self for heavenly food.”

It is in silence that I want to contemplate the journey of Jesus from the cradle to the cross.  It is in silence I want to remember and worship the mighty King of kings and Lord of lords – the One who came in bodily form, as a humble baby in a manger – in order to die on a cross for me. 

 

“Rank on rank the host of heaven spreads its vanguard on the way,

As the Light of light descendeth from the realms of endless day,

That the pow’rs of hell may vanish as the darkness clears away.”

It is in silence that I want to contemplate the coming of Jesus, with an angelic army as His escort, to bring Him, the very Light of light, into a world darkened by sin.

 

“At his feet the six-winged seraph; cherubim, with sleepless eye,

Veil their faces to the presence, as with ceaseless voice they cry,

‘Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, Lord Most High!”

It is in silence that I want to contemplate the glory of Jesus – in worship, along with all the heavenly host who proclaim, “Alleluia, Lord Most High!”

 

Don’t let the Christmas season pass you by in a blur of busyness, hustle bustle, and noise.  When December arrives, guard your calendar and plan time to be quiet, to think, and to contemplate this awesome truth: 

“For God so loved the world that HE GAVE His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   John 3:16

THE JOURNEY THAT BEGINS WITH A SINGLE - SOLO - STEP

 

My husband Jim and I each grew up in church going families of two different Christian traditions.  While we lived at home with our parents we regularly attended church as a family.  But after we were married and could decide for ourselves what we would do with our lives, we stopped attending church.  God wasn’t on our radar. 

Sunday became a day on which we slept late, went out to breakfast, read the paper, and generally lazed around.  In the summer, maybe we’d drive to a park or to the beach and spend the day there.  Not only didn’t we attend church, but for more than 7 years, we never even sensed a need for God.  And then something changed.

I had begun working as a special education teacher right out of college.  I loved my teaching job and I loved the kids I taught, but over time I began to notice a restlessness.  I wasn’t as content as I had been, with my job, or my life. I don’t remember exactly how it happened, but at some point, instead of listening to music on the radio while I was driving to work, I began to listen to a Christian radio station.  I may not know how I began listening, but I know now that God was at work, wooing my heart!  

It’s so long ago now, that I have forgotten most of the details, but what I do remember is that over time the words of that radio preacher began to make sense.  The Gospel, which I had heard often growing up, gripped me as it never had before, and I eventually went from being indifferent about Jesus – to having a soul stirring longing to KNOW Him.  I recognize now that behind my discontent with life as it was, and a new longing for Jesus, was the Holy Spirit.  Finally, at the end of 1975, I could do nothing else but surrender my heart to Jesus. 

A couple of things changed immediately.  The first was that I was incredibly in love with, and excited to know Jesus, and the second was that I couldn’t get enough of reading the Bible.  Many times over the years growing up I had tried to read the Bible, beginning with Genesis, but I soon gave up, usually when I came to those genealogy lists!

Now though, it seemed as if I had never read it before.  Things began to jump out at me and make SENSE in a way they never had before. For the very first time I recognized that what I was reading was TRUTH!  I was flying high with the excitement every new believer experiences.

While I was on this new adventure of faith, poor Jim was scratching his head and wondering what had happened to his wife.  I began to talk to him about what I was learning – and believe me I talked about it A LOT!  He was gracious and kind but not especially interested himself. 

Since faith and church will always go together in my mind, as soon as I had embarked on this new relationship with Jesus, I began to think about returning to church.  I really wanted us to go together as a couple, but Jim was not ready.  I didn’t know what to do, so I made an appointment to talk to a pastor. 

The first thing he suggested was that I begin praying for Jim to come to Jesus too.  And then he encouraged me to plan to attend church, and then extend an invitation to Jim to come along – not with pressure tactics - but with a simple invitation, and to come whether or not Jim did.  He said maybe eventually Jim would also come.  So I did as he suggested.

Some months later, in mid-winter, Jim was working an audit in South Jersey when a snow storm hit.  He was on his way home when his car slid and hit a telephone pole.  The car was demolished, but Jim was unhurt.  Instead of coming home, he stayed the night in a hotel – and thought about what would have happened to him if he had died.  Dying apart from Jesus was not something he wanted to contemplate, and so there in his hotel room, he surrendered his life to Jesus as well.  And for the last 38 years Jim and I have walked with Jesus – together.

It occurred to me as I thought about Jim’s faith story and mine that what we Christians always want is for all of the people we care about: our spouses, children, grandchildren, neighbors, loved ones – all of them,  to have a relationship with Jesus.  But coming to faith in Jesus isn’t really a group activity.  It’s THE journey that begins with a single – but SOLO – step.

I was listening to a CD today of a sermon by Dr. David Jeremiah in which he said this:

God doesn’t have grandchildren. Just because you grew up in a Christian home with Christian parents doesn’t automatically make YOU a Christian.

My parents took me to church.  I went to Sunday school and youth group.  I heard the gospel of Jesus many times.  But when it came to knowing Jesus and walking with Him myself, I couldn’t rely on THEIR faith to save me from MY sin.  I had to come to the place ON MY OWN where I realized MY need for Jesus. 

Jim and I took our girls to church, we read the Bible with them, we prayed with them, we tried to be good Christian parents – but when it comes to Jesus – OUR faith cannot transfer to them automatically.  They have to come to faith in Jesus on THEIR own, each of them, individually.  Our granddaughter will have to come to it on HER own.  

Faith is a life-long journey of walking with Jesus, and it’s a journey we walk WITH Him and other believers – but that journey BEGINS with a single – but SOLO – step – the step of acknowledging that Jesus die for MY sins.  No one can take that step for me.  It’s a SOLO step.

I confess, when the Lord was working on my heart all those years ago, I wasn’t thinking about Jim.  I wasn’t thinking about what might happen if Jim didn’t also put his faith in Jesus.  All I knew was that Jesus was calling ME and I couldn’t say NO.  I wanted the forgiveness and the relationship He was offering.  Once I knew Jesus, I wanted Jim to know Him too, and so I talked with Jim about Him – but whether or not Jim believed in Jesus – I could not say no to His invitation to believe in Him.  Eventually, the Lord graciously drew Jim as well.

I can tell you honestly that I have never regretted for a single moment surrendering my life to Jesus.  He has been the joy of my life.  He has comforted me through trials (and there have been many), He has invited me on some pretty amazing faith adventures, and one day I’ll SEE Him and be WITH Him forever.  That will be bliss!

If your heart is warmed as you think about Jesus, then that is the Holy Spirit,  speaking to YOU.  Don’t hesitate to take the step of faith in Jesus that will set you on a journey you will never regret.  Don’t worry about whether your loved ones will journey with you.  Jesus has them well in hand and that first step is theirs to take.

THE AROMA OF CHRIST

As I’ve written before, I finished training this past spring to be a hospice volunteer.  Unexpectedly, the Lord laid this on my heart at church when I saw the flyer announcing the training sessions.  Having had two positive experiences of my own of caring for people at the end of their lives, I thought this was a perfect opportunity to bring the light of Jesus into the lives of people so close to the end of theirs.

This week I was given an assignment to visit a gentlemen living in a nearby nursing home.  I didn’t know what to expect.  When I arrived, I met a quiet, unassuming man, and my heart went out to him.  Physically, apart from being thin, he simply looked like an aging man, but an attempt at conversation made his mental confusion obvious.  So we simply walked together through the halls.  I asked questions.  Sometimes he gave answers. 

I sat with him for lunch in a room filled with other men and women in various stages of dementia.  It was not quiet.  Music was playing in the background, but above the quiet melodies, agitated voices reigned, as residents loudly expressed their need to just be somewhere else.  My new friend seemed oblivious. 

As I looked around that room I wondered what, if anything, was being accomplished in my “work” as a hospice volunteer, if I couldn’t verbally communicate the comfort of Jesus to those with whom I visited.  I’m not sure if I can completely answer that yet, but I am thinking, and talking with the Lord about it.  As I thought, this came to me:

I have always loved the word picture the Bible uses in describing believers in Jesus as “the aroma of Christ”. 

“For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.”

2 Corinthians 2:13

One of the things I noticed yesterday was that nursing homes have an aroma – and it’s not necessarily pleasant.  But the aroma of Jesus IS.  His aroma identifies us to the Father as one of His own.  His aroma speaks of His love, patience, kindness, and compassion – expressions of a heart that sees the effects of sin and impending death on the bodies of these elderly folks, and weeps.  It was never meant to be this way. 

I might speak about this Jesus whom I love and who loves them – but what if they cannot grasp the message?  Well, then I can still be the sweet “smell” of Jesus to them, and to the staff, and to the other patients, and maybe even family members, while I’m there.  I can be kind, and pleasant, and loving, just as Jesus would.  I can speak words of encouragement to those who care for these patients every day.

In contrast to that visit, yesterday I entertained three young Japanese women for breakfast at my home.  I’m teaching them English.  Preparing for their arrival, my home was filled with the aromas of food in the oven and scented candles. We had SUCH a great time visiting and talking and laughing about all sorts of things.

I hope one day to talk to them about Jesus too, but right now I’m discovering that I need to be content to simply be “the aroma of Christ” to them as well, until the time comes when my words can be understood. 

When I’m in the presence of others – those who know Jesus and those who don’t – I don’t want them to remember the scent of my perfume, or the aromas of food cooking or scented candles – I want the aroma of Jesus to be what lingers in their hearts.

The holiday season is coming and all around us live those who don’t know our Jesus.  How can we be “the aroma of Christ” to them this season – even if we can’t YET speak to them about Him?

HOPE FOR THE UNLOVED

 

This week in the women’s Bible study I’ve been teaching we will be studying the lives of Leah and Rachel, sister wives of the patriarch Jacob, from the account in Genesis 29 and 30.

The patriarch is working for his uncle Laban and while he works he has time to get to know the two sisters.  Rachel, the youngest, is by far the lovelier of the two daughters, and the one who has captured the attention and love of Jacob.  When Laban offers him whatever wages he chooses in return for working for him, Jacob offers to work 7 years for the privilege of marrying Rachel.

The years fly by and it is finally time for the marriage ceremony.  When evening comes, a feast is prepared and the bride is heavily veiled. When the ceremony ends, she enters the marriage tent.  When the light of day dawns, Jacob is shocked to discover that he has been deceived.  It is Leah, not Rachel, in his marriage bed.

When a furious Jacob confronts Laban, he discovers that it is not the custom of the day for the youngest girl to be married before the eldest.  But all is not lost.  If Jacob will agree to finish out Leah's bridal week, he can have Rachel as well, if he will give Laban another 7 years of labor. And Jacob agrees.

The years following are fraught with conflict, jealousy and competition between these two sisters, over the love of Jacob and the ability to produce children, no doubt making Jacob’s life extremely miserable! 

When I read the passage again this week, my heart went out to Leah.  Although she longed for it, the love of her husband Jacob would always belong to Rachel.  And it would never be any different for all the long years these two sisters would inhabit the same household.

This morning in my quiet time I read Psalm 55.  When I read some of David’s words, I couldn’t help but think of Leah.

“My thoughts trouble me, I am distraught.

My heart is in anguish within me.

Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!  I would fly away. . . .to a place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm.

If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it, but it is YOU. . . .my companion, my close friend. . .

What must it have been like for her to be married to a man who didn’t love her, to live with a sister who was always trying to get the upper hand – when she already had the love of Leah’s husband?

Maybe YOU know what that’s like.  Maybe you have known the anguish of betrayal from a husband or close friend.  Maybe you long to fly away to some desert island where you can get away from it all – but you, like Leah – are stuck where you are.

In thinking about the lesson I will teach this week, I thought of the wonderful assurance we who know Jesus have when we face situations like this.

There will never, EVER, be a time when Jesus will do this.  He will NEVER look at us one day and say, “You’re not living up to my expectations.  I don’t love you anymore.” 

On the contrary, everything Jesus ever did was to communicate to us just how much He loves us.  There is no greater love than this, Jesus says in John’s gospel, chapter 15, verse 13, then that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Jesus didn’t demonstrate His love for us simply by being kind, or speaking loving words, although He did both. Jesus demonstrated His love by giving His life – enduring scorn, humiliation, pain and suffering, insults, hatred - and then, at the end of the worst day possible, He endured separation from His Father as He bore our sin – willingly, for YOU and for ME - so we would NEVER have to be separated from Him.  So that we would ALWAYS know just how much He loves us.

The Apostle Paul, at the end of the chapter 8 in the book of Romans, said this: 

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, not anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!

Do you HEAR that? 

Close friends may turn on us, husbands or wives might tell us they no longer love us, circumstances might make us want to run away, those closest to us may insult us – BUT JESUS WILL NEVER STOP LOVING US!  NEVER!  EVER!  NOTHING will EVER be able to separate us from His love!

And that is a promise upon which you can stand forever!  Take heart child of God, Jesus loves you.

 

MY SHEPHERD'S VOICE

This past weekend I went on a women’s retreat.  It was held in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, a place with many happy memories for me from vacations with my husband and children.  For two days I enjoyed good food, a wonderful speaker, sweet fellowship with my sisters in Christ, seeing the ocean from my hotel room, and all of the special delights of a beach town.

On Saturday afternoon during our free time my friend and I went back to our hotel room and spent some time talking.  I was talking about my recent experience donating a kidney to my friend from church and how I knew that it was the Lord leading me to take the first step of being tested.  My friend asked, “But how did you KNOW it was GOD telling you to do it?”  The question took me aback a bit because I had never given it any thought.  And then I said, “I knew it was God because I recognized the sound of His “voice”. 

Now if you are not a believer in Jesus, or you have not known Him by faith for very long, this might sound weird, so let me clear something up right at the outset.  I did NOT hear an audible voice.  There were times in the Bible when God spoke and His voice may have been audible, like when He called out to the boy Samuel in I Samuel, chapter 3, or when He met Moses at the burning bush.

But now that we have the written word of God in the Bible, God doesn’t need to speak in an audible voice.  He speaks through His Word, through the prompting of His Holy Spirit who indwells believers in Jesus, and sometimes He speaks through circumstances and the godly counsel of other believers.  So, I didn’t hear an audible voice, but nevertheless, I knew that it was the Lord who laid it on my heart that I should pursue the testing to see if I was a match for my friend.

After that conversation, I began to think about how I came to know my Lord’s voice, and I realized that like all relationships, the better you get to know someone, the more easily you recognize his voice. 

When I was first married I was living and working in New Jersey while my husband was serving in the Army in Viet Nam.  Mostly we corresponded by letter but every now and then I would be awakened during the night with a phone call.  The call was picked up and forwarded to me by a MARS ham radio operator.  Though my husband and I had been separated by time and miles, and there was always another operator on the line reminding each of us to say, “over” when we had finished speaking, I still immediately knew HIS voice. 

The Lord has been speaking to me through His Word since the Holy Spirit took up residence in my heart and life the moment I first believed in Jesus.  Each time I responded with obedience, I grew to know Him better, to recognize His voice.  God’s Word has been so central to me in my walk with the Lord.

Over the nearly 35 years that I've walked with the Lord I 've read the Bible on my own, studied with devotionals, attended Sunday school classes where the Bible was taught, taught the Bible to other women and children, and studied God’s Word in depth for 18 years through the ministry of Bible Study Fellowship International – all the while getting to know the Lord and the sound of His voice. 

In addition, the Lord invited me to join Him in some faith adventures that had a huge impact on my faith in His faithfulness, so that His voice became more and more familiar to me – especially through the difficult journeys of faith.  Someone has said that God whispers to us through the quiet times in our lives, but shouts to us in our pain.  I found that was true.

The first time was in 1982.  I was a young mom with two daughters, just 2 and 4 years old, when a lump was discovered in my neck.  After some testing it was diagnosed as a tumor on my thyroid and the doctor recommended I have it out.  I had never had surgery before, so I was scared to DEATH.  In that day, they didn’t do biopsies before the surgery, they did them while you were still on the operating table.  That way, if the tumor was cancerous, they could go ahead and do more drastic surgery while you were still under anesthesia. 

So I went into the hospital not knowing what the outcome of the surgery would be – and without the internet to check for myself – I had no idea of the possibilities either, which was a good thing! 

Looking ahead to the surgery I was not only thinking about myself, I was thinking about my husband and my little girls, wondering what would happen to us all if it turned out to be a cancerous tumor.  FEAR was my default, but by God’s grace, I didn’t STAY afraid.  Instead my hospital room felt like a sanctuary.  I read my Bible and prayed and I knew the Lord was right there with me. I was “hearing” the sound of His voice bringing to me His comfort and peace.

When it was time to go to the OR, I was wheeled there by a man I had never seen before.  On the elevator he chatted with someone while I hummed a hymn, but when he left me in the hallway outside the OR, he leaned over and said in my ear, “You are in good hands with the Lord”.  Wow!  That was exactly the assurance I needed!  I never saw that man again.  His was a human voice I “heard” speaking to me, but I knew it was the Lord who inspired the words. 

Many other faith adventures followed:  more surgeries, one cancer diagnosis, difficulty raising a child, ministry opportunities that took me WAY outside my comfort zone, moving to a new place at the same time all my close relatives moved far away – all of these things grew my faith and made me more attuned to my Lord’s “voice”. 

I remember saying after that first surgery when my girls were so young – I’d gladly go through another experience like this anytime if it causes me to experience the reality of the Lord the way this did.  And the Lord has taken me at my word!

In chapter 10 of the Gospel of John, when Jesus spoke of Himself as the Good Shepherd, He said this:

“The sheep listen to (the Shepherd’s) voice.  He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out, He goes on ahead of them, and His sheep follow Him because they know his voice.  I am the Good Shepherd.  The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep”

 If you want to hear the Shepherd’s voice you really have to get to know the Shepherd.

A BIRD'S EYE VIEW

Many years ago now a movie was released entitled, “March of the Penguins”.  It was a beautifully done documentary on the breeding habits of the Emperor Penguin.  I remember being completely amazed at the details of the incredible hardships these beautiful birds faced in order to bring their little ones into being and then protect them while they grew.

Contrary to the habits of many other animals who breed and raise their young in the spring, the Emperor Penguins migrate to the same place every year, to bring forth their young in the winter, in the vast emptiness of Antarctica.  After the females lay their eggs they depart, traveling an incredible distance to find food, while the males protect the eggs, and later the chicks, in a special pouch under their wings. 

When the winter winds blow and the temperatures fall, the males form a huge huddle and then rotate their positions so that everyone has a turn in the center and at the outer rim, where they are more exposed to the elements.

Finally the females, in a long single line, “somehow” find their way back just in time to feed their now hungry chicks.

At the time that this movie was released I happened to be teaching women about the creation story from the early chapters of the book of Genesis in the Bible and the story of the Emperor Penguins became the perfect illustration of the majesty of God in creation.

Currently, my husband and I are watching a series on public television entitled: “Earthflight”, which chronicles the migratory behavior of birds from every continent around the world.  And once again I am in awe. 

It would seem that the videographers mounted a small camera on one member of each species of bird, because the filming is literally a “bird’s eye view” of their respective journeys. 

We SEE the terrain viewed by the birds as they travel over fields, and seas, and mountains.  We SEE the weather patterns of fog, and rain, and snow through which they travel to reach their destinations.  We SEE the predators from which they flee to avoid becoming “lunch”.  We SEE them building nests and tending to their young.  It’s amazing.

When I SEE all of this myself – what I SEE is the awesomeness of the God who created them all and programmed them to know exactly when the time for mating is near, and Who directs them where to go when the time is right.  By the inner prompting with which He equipped them, they leave where they are and travel sometimes thousands of miles, facing numerous obstacles, to reach a very specific destination where they breed and raise their chicks. 

I don’t for a single moment believe this kind of behavior is evolutionary, or that it happened by chance.  Seriously, what are the chances???

No, I believe these magnificent birds and the behavior they exhibit reveals the power and creative genius of the One who made all things and then pronounced them, good.

I agree with the Apostle Paul when he says in Romans 1:20:

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

So what do YOU SEE when you view the intricacies and beauty of the world around you?  A world brought into being by random chance, or a world created by THE Supreme Being, who’s creation reflects His glory?

SUFFERING: A BATTLE SCAR OF LOYALTY?

Have you ever felt as if God had abandoned you?  Maybe you feel that way now.  You’ve walked with Him and served Him with all of your heart, yet things are going on in your life that you can’t fathom and you find yourself asking: “What is going on Lord?  Where are you?”  It feels a lot like punishment, but is it?

That’s exactly the spot in which the nation of Israel found itself when the sons of Korah penned Psalm 44. 

The psalmist begins by speaking of the ways in which the Lord had blessed Israel in days past.

“We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what you did in their days long ago.  With your hand you drove out the nations and planted our fathers (in the promised land); you crushed the peoples and made our fathers flourish.  It was not by their sword that they won the land. . . it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face for you loved them. . . . . in God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name forever.”

The Lord had done amazing things to enable Israel to settle in the land of promise - delivering them from Egypt, bringing them to the brink of the land and defeating their enemies so that they could occupy it.  It was His battle, not theirs, and for that they boasted, not in their own strength or military genius, but in His faithfulness and strength on their behalf.

Maybe you have been looking back on your own life, recounting all the ways in which the Lord has blessed you in your past.  If you haven't, make a list of all His past blessings right now.  Thank and praise Him for them, as the writer of psalm 44 did.

Like the psalmist, all of these blessings might just cause you to wonder even more about the suffering you're encountering in the present.

In Israel's present the psalmist saw no evidence of His  continued favor either.  In verses 9-16 he laments:

But now you have rejected and humbled us; you no longer go out with our enemies

You made us retreat; our adversaries plundered us

You gave us up to be devoured like sheep and scattered us among the nations

You have made us a reproach to our neighbors

My face is covered with shame at the taunts of the enemy, bent on revenge

Why did all of this happen?  There were plenty of times in Israel’s history when the Lord did discipline them as a father the son he loves, because of sin and idolatry, but such was not the case this time.  The psalmist says:

All this happened to us:

·         Though we had not forgotten you

·         or practiced idolatry

·         our hearts had not turned back and our feet not strayed from your path

If we had forgotten the name of our God, or worshiped a foreign god, God who knows the secrets of the heart, would surely have discovered it.

Maybe this is exactly what YOU have been saying as you’ve examined your heart in the light of what seems like God’s abandonment. 

Perhaps your argument sounds like theirs:

Lord, where are you?  Have you rejected me?  I feel alone before enemies who seemed determined to destroy me.  I feel as if you've abandoned me here while other people reproach and taunt me.

Lord, I love you!  I’ve been as faithful to you as I know how.  I don’t understand what’s going on.  If I had lived my life as if you didn’t exist, or if I had given up worship of you in favor of some other “god” of my own making, if my feet had been wandering down a path that takes me far from you – maybe then I could understand.  But I have done none of those things.  I have been faithful to you.  So why is this happening?

Verse 22 of Psalm 44 is perhaps the key to answering the questions of your heart.  It reads:

“Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

My NIV Life Application Bible says this in the footnote for these verses:

“Although (the psalmist) felt his suffering was undeserved, he revealed the real reason for it; he suffered because he was committed to the Lord. (The Apostle) Paul quoted the psalmist’s complaint to show that we must always be ready to face death for the cause of Christ.  Thus, our suffering may not be a punishment, but a battle scar that demonstrates our loyalty.”

What a comfort, what an honor, to be counted worthy to suffer because of our identification with Christ. 

If you are suffering in a way that seems unjust, though you have been as faithful to the Lord as you know how, consider that your suffering is not a punishment, but a battle scar that comes AS A RESULT OF your commitment to the Lord, a battle scar that demonstrates your loyalty to Jesus – and rejoice that you have been counted worthy to suffer for His Name.

TWO MINUTES OF FAME AND 50 YEARS OF SEPARATION

Three weeks ago yesterday I donated a kidney to my dear church friend Jennifer.  We are both a bit impatient with what seems to us the slowness of our recovery, but we’re getting there. 

The day before the transplant on August 14, Jennifer was contacted by the public relations person at the hospital to ask if she had permission to contact the media with our story.  Jennifer and I talked about it.  More than anything we wanted God to be glorified in all that had and would happen through our experience, so we agreed to allow her to do that.  Interestingly enough, none of her efforts went anywhere.  We had some initial contacts, but other things got in the way and none of the media contacted us again. We didn't know why that happened, but were okay with it since the Lord  had already shown us He was in control of all things, including this.  But that wasn’t the end of it.

As it happens, another church friend, Chris, works in the media and so she “pitched” our story for us and in the end we were contacted by a cable TV station here in New Jersey and by one of the major news stations, CBS news, channel 2, out of New York City.  Jennifer and I were only just home from the hospital when they each arranged interview time at Jennifer’s apartment. 

We were so delighted to be able to tell our story and to talk freely about how the Lord had led us, encouraged and answered our prayers, and enabled us to face serious surgery with peace and excitement instead of fear and anxiety.  Since our connection was related to our membership in the same church, each of the news stations showed a clip of our church and mentioned its name.  Our pastor was even interviewed!

Jennifer and I took the next step of posting the news media links on Facebook so that friends and family living across the country could view the videos as well.  The interviews, which took an hour to do, and 2 minutes to air, were shown repeatedly during the daily news broadcasts over the next day or so.  We received all kinds of comments about our “2 minutes of fame”, and it was fun, and we hoped, God glorifying.

Within a week I had a call from our church secretary.  A woman I’d gone to high school with 48 years ago, saw one of the interviews on TV and wanted to get in touch.  I called her, and that call led to a wonderful reunion yesterday at a local restaurant, and what a reunion it was!

My greatest delight was that this friend was very anxious to hear about my walk of faith.  She didn’t remember me as a particularly religious person back in high school and wanted to know how I got to be the person of faith I am now.

This is the kind of conversation, initiated by someone else, that we Christians long to have with others, but they are so rare.  I can remember having only one other. Many years ago now, I was working closely with a young man and during that time was having a serious and very scary family issue and he knew it.  He often asked me about it and I could tell he was concerned. 

We talked a bit about God in relation to all of that, but it was when I was preparing to leave the job and he had invited me to dinner that the conversation became more focused.  At some point during dinner he turned to me and said, “I have only met 3 people in my life who were passionate about God and you are one of them.  I want to know why.”  I was blown away by this wonderful opportunity to talk freely about Jesus, and I did.  Just a year or so later, both this young man and his soon to be wife became believers in Jesus themselves through the discipling ministry of our pastor.

So yesterday, when my friend asked about my faith, I was able to tell her that I actually WAS religious back in high school in that my family attended church and took our involvement seriously, but  it was only after I came to know Jesus that I began the journey of faith I have now.

Being religious is different from being a person of faith in Jesus.  Being religious usually involves doing religious things, like going to church and participating in our church's sacraments, but it's possible to do all of that, and miss knowing Jesus Himself.

Being part of a church, attending church, taking part in communion, serving others is all important – but of FIRST importance is a relationship with Jesus.  So I was “religious” in those days, but I did not know Jesus. My friend asked how I came to this faith and I explained that it is the work of God.  He does the drawing, He creates the longing for Himself in the heart.  I believe He is at work doing exactly that in the heart of my friend, creating a longing that will only be fulfilled when Jesus occupies His place in her heart.

I’m still recovering from surgery so I haven’t gone a day without an afternoon nap, but yesterday, sleep was impossible.  I was too busy rejoicing over the awesomeness of God to use a 2 minute interview to renew a friendship that allowed me to talk about Jesus, and for what He is up to in the life of my friend. 

I’m so grateful for my God, who is sovereign over TV interviews and 50 year separations. 

Who but YOU, Lord??