Time, Time, Time, Time....

Parts of the United States will turn their clocks ahead this weekend as a means of enjoying longer sunlit days. It's a reminder that time--while it can be rearranged--cannot be gained or changed.

Time. Time slips through our fingers. Time is precious. And how easy it is for me to confuse the importance of time and the importance of people! I get in a hurry, grow impatient, push and shove my way through tasks forgetting that time is not precious for its own sake, but for people's sake. We don't outlast time. A person comes. Presents a need. There is a moment, a precious moment to choose authenticity, to be real, to reach out. Boom wallah. The person is gone, taking their need with them. The moment has passed. And I must remember that time is precious, not because it is limited, but because time with people, for people, is limited. Temporary. Fleeting.

You may remember the story of my friend who shared Christ with a child at Vacation Bible School. That child responded to God just days before his life ended. "There's not enough time," she'd said. And while God is the Keeper of time, the One who knows all; we make choices. We spend time. Waste time. Keep time. Use time. Watch time.

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Today I need the reminder that time is a tool to be used and managed and spent, not for its own sake, but for others--and, ultimately, for God Himself. It is a gift worthy of stewardship. I will be held accountable for my use of time: harnessing it for God's use and glory or hoarding it for my own.

Time. It's a gift.

He who watches the wind will not sow and he who looks at the clouds will not reap. Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things.

Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good....

Rejoice, young man, during your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant during the days of young manhood. And follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes. Yet know that God will bring you to judgment for all these things. So, remove grief and anger from your heart and put away pain from your body, because childhood and the prime of life are fleeting. 
Ecclesiastes 11:4-6, 9-10 NASB

Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were born
Or You gave birth to the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

You turn man back into dust
And say, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it passes by,
Or as a watch in the night.
You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep;
In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew.
In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew;
Toward evening it fades and withers away.

For we have been consumed by Your anger
And by Your wrath we have been dismayed.
You have placed our iniquities before You,
Our secret sins in the light of Your presence.
For all our days have declined in Your fury;
We have finished our years like a sigh.
As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, eighty years,
Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;
For soon it is gone and we fly away.
Who understands the power of Your anger
And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You?
So teach us to number our days,
That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.

Do return, O Lord; how long will it be?
And be sorry for Your servants.
O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness,
That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us,
And the years we have seen evil.
Let Your work appear to Your servants
And Your majesty to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us;
And confirm for us the work of our hands;
Yes, confirm the work of our hands. (Psalm 90)

When I Can't Be Trusted

"God, you can't trust me." I heard the words before I thought them.

In that morning's Bible reading, Jeremiah told Israel to serve and obey Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. The ruler of the known world. The man who ate children (almost). Really?

Jeremiah 27 gives the command six times. Then, in the next chapter God says, "I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they will serve him. And I have also given him the beasts of the field” (Jeremiah 28:14).

But Nebuchadnezzar was a bad guy. Bad. True. God told His people to obey Him. Serve Him. Actually settle in and make Babylon a better place. Read it for yourself if you don't believe me (Jeremiah 29:4-10).

And I guess that's the encouragement. God uses wicked, evil men. He will accomplish His purpose even in His anger (Jeremiah 23:20; 30:24).

You and I make choices and God uses them. Nebuchadnezzar conquered his known world, created a city of wonder and hanging gardens that continue to amaze the world. And God used Him. That guy.

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Is God sovereign? Does He have complete control? Yes. Is man free to choose and is he responsible for His choices? Yes. Both? How? I don't know. But Nebuchadnezzar is a great example.

So this is the take-away: If God used Nebuchadnezzar, He can use me. I can't trust my own heart (Jeremiah 17:9), but God is greater than my heart. And sometimes God will require me to obey the bad guy--not do bad things, but live in an uncomfortable situation I don't like in a place I don't want to be under the authority of someone who doesn't deserve it. That's okay. I'm not trusting that individual with my life, I'm trusting God. I'm not going to be there forever, just until God says, "Enough." My job is not to save the world, but to become more like Jesus in my own little orbit. And even that's too big for me (without His help).

So what are you doing? Keep doing it. How is God working? Keep your eyes open. He uses each of us with our unique personalities, gifts, influence, geographical placement--all of it--because He's really that big. And He has a plan. The choice is yours: His way or your way.

"Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk. And so I direct in all the churches. Was any man called when he was already circumcised? He is not to become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? He is not to be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God. Each man must remain in that condition in which he was called.


"Were you called while a slave? Do not worry about it; but if you are able also to become free, rather do that. For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord’s freedman; likewise he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. Brethren, each one is to remain with God in that condition in which he was called." 
1 Corinthians 7:17-24

"Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.  Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.

"This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us." 1 John 3:18-24

The Tomato Soup of Existence

I started fasting again. Not because of a certain event or time of year--but because of reading God's Word to Isaiah (see the bottom of this post). It's been a while, but it's oh-so-good for me when, by God's grace, I can set aside one day a week to refrain from eating. It's not a big deal. It's not impossible. It's just that I don't eat from after supper one night until supper time the following night.

I began by asking, "What do you want me to pray about, God?" Nothing. Nothing came to mind, so I asked myself, is it enough to simply obey? To seek God? To desire to please Him without sensing a specific need? Of course. So when the hunger pains reminded me of my desire for food, I was reminded of a greater desire and need for God Himself.

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Yesterday the discomfort was almost overwhelming in mid-afternoon. I heated up some soup. Drank some milk. And the thought came, "This will not satisfy me."I folded clothes, reminded of the people and blessings God has given: these will not satisfy me. I thought of the dreams I have, of desires for far-off things: these will not satisfy me. I remembered past dreams met: those did not satisfy me. And the beauty of yesterday's fast was that realization. The things we have now; that we see, feel, taste, touch, hear, want, long-for, seek after, will not satisfy. They are not enough; will never be enough. They're the tomato-soup of my earthly existence. They coat the ache. They ease the discomfort. But they don't do the job. The benefit is short-lived and minimal.

What I need is God Himself. What I need is life that fills my soul (eternral life now! not just in the hereafter). And that is only possible through Jesus. How beautiful that, through Jesus, I am brought near to God--me, the one who was far away, the one who had no hope (Ephesians 2:12-13; 1 Peter 3:18). Through Jesus, I can come boldly to God's throne in my time of need to find mercy and grace (Hebrews 4:16). Through Jesus, I can "continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name" (Hebrews 13:15).

Praise God that He is enough. That He is mine and I am His. He is the bread of life. The real stuff. He is what I need.

“Ho! Everyone who thirsts,
Come to the waters;
And you who have no money,
Come, buy and eat.
Yes, come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without price.
Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And let your soul delight itself in abundance.
Incline your ear, and come to Me.
Hear, and your soul shall live..." (Isaiah 55:1-3)

“Cry loudly, do not hold back;
Raise your voice like a trumpet,
And declare to My people their transgression
And to the house of Jacob their sins.

“Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways,
As a nation that has done righteousness
And has not forsaken the ordinance of their God.
They ask Me for just decisions,
They delight in the nearness of God.
‘Why have we fasted and You do not see?
Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’
Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire,
And drive hard all your workers.

“Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist.
You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high.

“Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed
And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed?
Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord?

"Is this not the fast which I choose,
To loosen the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the bands of the yoke,
And to let the oppressed go free
And break every yoke?

“Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry
And bring the homeless poor into the house;
When you see the naked, to cover him;
And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

“Then your light will break out like the dawn,
And your recovery will speedily spring forth;
And your righteousness will go before you;
The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

“Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you remove the yoke from your midst,
The pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,
And if you give yourself to the hungry
And satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
Then your light will rise in darkness
And your gloom will become like midday.

“And the Lord will continually guide you,
And satisfy your desire in scorched places,
And give strength to your bones;
And you will be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

“Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins;
You will raise up the age-old foundations;
And you will be called the repairer of the breach,
The restorer of the streets in which to dwell.

"If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot
From doing your own pleasure on My holy day,
And call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable,
And honor it, desisting from your own ways,
From seeking your own pleasure
And speaking your own word,
Then you will take delight in the Lord,
And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”  Isaiah 58