O Sacred Head, Now Wounded

Posted on April 13, 2017 by David

Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. Matthew 27:27-31

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. If, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Romans 5:6, 8, 10

“O Sacred Head”, this ancient hymn captures the emotion, the humility, the penitence, of the heart of the believer when confronted with the sacrifice of Christ. “Mine, mine was the transgression, But Thine the deadly pain; Lo, here I fall, my Savior!” “What language shall I borrow To thank Thee, dearest Friend.” “O make me Thine forever; And, should I fainting be, Lord, let me never, never, outlive my love to Thee.”

In his singing of this hymn, Fernando Ortega captures the emotion, the heart, the humility, the penitence, the faith of this great hymn. As you listen I pray the Spirit will humble your heart and lift you up. “Lord, let me never, never, outlive my love to Thee.”

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Man of Sorrows

Posted on April 12, 2017 by David

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. He poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Isaiah 53:3, 5, 12

“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” 1 Peter 2:22-25

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

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The Savior Wrestles Lone with Fears

Posted on April 11, 2017 by David

Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him….He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. Luke 22:39-45

The old hymn depicts Jesus in Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives. I listen to and I read the lyrics. What I hear and read is a description of what so many believers experience in the times of struggle in their lives. “The star is dimmed that lately shone.” Life for Jesus had darkened. Especially standing out to me is his loneliness. “The suff’ring Savior prays alone.” “The Savior wrestles lone with fears.” He was alone in his anguish. The depths of which so vividly painted. “The Man of Sorrows weeps in blood.” Yet his disciples slept in their own self-centeredness.

I read the story in the gospels. It is vividly told in the old hymn. So many thoughts come to my heart. One comes in focus today. Jesus, alone in the depths of his anguish, was not alone. “Yet He that hath in anguish knelt Is not forsaken by His God.” His Father was with him as the angel appeared and soothed the Savior’s woe. So through the old hymn, when alone in our sorrow, we are strengthened. For we realize the Savior knows. He has been where we are. Jesus in the garden assures us of his and the Father’s presence. The Spirit is with us to give strength in the midst of our anguish and sorrow. We are not alone.

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It Causes Me to Tremble

Posted on April 10, 2017 by David

They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. (Matthew 27:33-36)

When Scripture brings me to the cross, when my heart is cut by the reality of what happened there, yes, it causes me to tremble. In the reality of my sinfulness and the costly love of God so freely given I tremble.

 

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BROKEN PRAISE (Job)

Posted on April 3, 2017 by David

Powerfully the following song and music video portrays the struggle of Job to hold on to his faith in God in the midst of horrific loss and suffering. It speaks to me. In the story of Job, in his story as expressed in these lyrics and in the video, I see my own faith struggle with God when my infant grandson, Sully, suffered with leukemia, when I watched his little casket be carried to his grave, fifteen months old! These lyrics and video, the voice of Job, speaks to the struggle that unexpectedly still arises in my heart. I cry out with Job, “If this is where my story ends, just give me one more breath to say Hallelujah!”

“As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. And at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed. Yet from my flesh I shall see God.” Job 19:25-26 (NASB)

If one more person takes my hand
                                                                                                And tries to say they understand
                                                                                                 Tells me there’s a bigger plan
That I’m not meant to see

If one more person dares suggest
That I held something unconfessed
Tries to make the dots connect
From righteousness to easy street

Well I, I won’t deny
That I’ve relied on some assumptions
A man’s honest life entitles him to something.

But who am I
To make demands
Of the God of Abraham?
And who are You that You would choose
To answer me with mercy new

How many more will wander past
To find me here among the ashes
Will You hold me? Will You stay?
So I can raise this broken praise to You?

Who else will see my suffering
As one more opportunity
To educate; to help me see
All my flawed theology

If one more well intentioned friend
Tries to tie up my loose ends
Hoping to, with rug and broom
Sweep awkward moments from the room

But I, I can’t forget
I have begged just like a madman
For my chance to die and never have to face the morning

But who am I
To make demands
Of the God of Abraham?
And who are You that You would choose
To answer me with mercy new

How many more will wander past
To find me sitting in this ash
Will You hold me? Will You stay?
So I can raise this broken praise to You?

But You were the One who filled my cup
And You were the One who let it spill
So blessed be Your Holy name if You never fill it up again
If this is where my story ends, just give me one more breath to say

Hallelujah

(from the CD “Music Inspired by The Story”, lyrics written by Nichole Nordeman; music composed by Bernie Herms)

Music video of this song, sung by Todd Smith from the group Selah:

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“You give and take away.”

Posted on January 8, 2017 by David

We were worshiping God. Christians were singing. Some were clapping hands with the rhythm. I do not remember being struck by the words before, yet this morning the words of the song struck my heart. “You give and take away. You give and take away. But my heart will choose to say, Blessed be Your name.” I wondered.

As I later searched YouTube I found various versions of this Matt Redman song, “Blessed Be Your Name.” In some there was clapping. Sung with pep. Maybe it is my age, the generational thing. (I am not a clapper.) I wondered. Do we understand what we are singing? Do we know the original context of “You give and take away”?

Job received word that all had been destroyed—his servants, all his livestock, and worst of all, all his children. In grief he tore his robe and shaved his head. In the midst of his grief he fell to the ground and worshiped God. “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised” (Job 1:21).

“In the land that is plentiful, where Your streams of abundance flow.” When “every blessing You pour out.” “When the sun’s shining down on me, when the world’s ‘all as it should be’.” “You give.” “Blessed be Your name.” “I’ll turn back to praise.” “Blessed by Your glorious name.”

I wonder. Are these the only words most people hear? Do we also hear the praise coming out of the depths of grief, rising from a broken heart? “Though there’s pain in the offering, Blessed be Your name.”

“When I’m found in the desert place. Though I walk through the wilderness.” “When the darkness closes in.” “On the road marked with suffering.” “You give and take away.” You take away! “But my heart will choose to say, Blessed be Your name…Your glorious name.”

Singing this song this morning I did not want to clap or be excited. In my heart the words struck me in their expression of the struggle of faith in the midst of suffering, loss, and pain. When the world is NOT all as it should be. In this faith struggle will my heart choose to praise God, to pray, to sing, “Blessed be the name of the Lord”?

“The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away.” Job considered all of his blessings to be from the Lord. “You give.” When his children were killed in a storm, when all of his possessions were destroyed, when he was brought to the depths of suffering, to the pain of grief, he considered it all to be God’s doing. “You take away.” Yet his heart chose to praise the Lord. “Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

As we sang these words praising God, I wonder? In the song we were praying to the Lord. Did we know we were telling the Lord, even when the darkness closes in and suffering overwhelms our lives, our hearts will still choose to say, “Blessed be Your name”? Did we know Lord? We were saying to You, “When there is pain, a heart broken with grief, Lord we will still offer up praise, ‘Blessed be Your name.’”

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A CHRISTMAS PRAYER–Lessons from Sully

Posted on December 24, 2016 by David

6-24img_2572A baby in the manger. The Son of God come in the flesh. We ponder the wonder. We seek to understand his impact on our lives.

A baby born with leukemia. My grandson Sully. We ponder the wonder of his short life. We seek to understand his impact on our lives.

A couple years ago I was sitting at lunch with a group of St. Jude Children’s Hospital nurses. One of them had known Sully. She reflected on Sully’s life of fifteen months. “Sully always smiled. All the chemo and heavy duty meds, the suffering which he endured, yet he always smiled.”

As I remember Sully on this Christmas, I share with you the lessons with which Sully blessed this grandfather’s heart and life.

No matter how painful life may be, smile.

Do not grumble and complain. Cry, scream in pain, but then remember the Lord, remember the blessings of people–family and friends, and smile.

Do not waste life wallowing in the difficulties, smile and live with hope.

Remember what is important: a good attitude, a smile, a ‘thank you,’ a ‘let me help you,’ people, and God.

Live with faith. No matter what, trust God.

So here is my Christmas prayer for us all. “Lord, help us to have a like sweet spirit as Sully’s spirit–a spirit of love that enjoys people. Give us a like toughness of spirit to persevere, to smile, and to wait on the Lord.”

May your Christmas and New Year be clothed in the grace and blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ.

God’s blessings,
Sully’s Paw, forever

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The Struggle for Joy in Our Hearts

Posted on December 23, 2016 by David

christmas-treeChristmas is one of the most joyous times of the year. Yet Christmas brings a mixture of emotions. For Christmas evokes memories. Memories are a mixed bag of joy and sorrow. The joy can be tempered, if not overwhelmed, by the continuing pangs of grief, of family conflict, of illness, or some other struggle and tragedy of life. For many, Christmas is a time when they can relate to the words of the prophet Jeremiah in the Old Testament book of Lamentations. “I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me” (3:19-20).

With life falling apart around him, the prophet lamented. the weight of his emotional load did not lighten. Conditions for him did not improve. Yet he remembered something which gave him hope. Remembering he found strength with which to carry the weight of his suffering. “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning: great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).

The familiar words of the apostle Paul encourage. “Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). God’s love is always with us. God’s presence is with us. The conditions of life may cause us to question. Our awareness of God’s presence may falter. Yet, through the apostle, God promises his love is always with us.

“Let every heart prepare him room,” the old song implores. We clean out our hearts. Room is made for Christ as King of our hearts and lives. “Joy to the world,” we sing. The joy of Christ lightens our hearts. Then the heart begins again to become cluttered with anxieties, fears, grief, temptations, and the list goes on. Christ is crowded out or shoved into a corner. Joy is hard to find.

Then we remember. We remember the birth of Jesus, God’s love come in the flesh. He came, we remember, to offer himself as the sacrifice for our sins. Yet Christ conquered the grave. He conquered the darkness. He lives. He reigns. Through him God gives us life, light, and hope. Remembering we again begin to clean the clutter out of our hearts. We struggle to empty our hearts of all that hinders our faith. The struggle is real. Remembering we sweep aside all that seeks to squeeze out Christ. We once again make room for Christ, for our King, and for the hope he gives us. His joy fills our hearts once again. We remember God’s love never fails. His compassion, mercy, and love are continually new and fresh, always present.

We struggle with the weakness of our humanness. The weight of disappointments and losses often seems too heavy to bear. Yet we remember. So we keep trusting God. We keep hoping in Christ. Even in the midst of sorrow we are able to sing, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.”

(Picture source: ibtimes.com.au, December 25 2015)

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On Giving Thanks

Posted on November 24, 2016 by David

“Know that the LORD is God… Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.”  Psalm 100:3, 4

img_5072“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Giving thanks to God is confessing that that for which thanks is given is a gift, a blessing not earned or necessarily deserved.

Giving thanks to God is confessing the need for his grace.

Giving thanks to God is confessing trust in God and dependence upon him.

Giving thanks is recognizing God as Creator and oneself as creature.

Giving thanks is confessing God as Redeemer and oneself as redeemed.

Giving thanks is confessing God as Savior and oneself as the saved.

The saved, I was lost and needed God to find me. I was floundering in the mire of sin needing to be rescued. In the person of his Son, Jesus Christ, in the flesh and on the cross, God came searching for me. He cried out with the message of Christ. I answered. He found me. God reached out his hand and strongly took hold of my hand as I weakly reached  up. God pulled me out of the mire.

Giving thanks is humbly and obediently living life to the praise of His name.

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:17

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Giving Thanks FOR God!

Posted on November 22, 2016 by David

So then,just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Colossians 2:6-7.

video-undefined-19d87e8d00000578-437_636x358When thanks giving goes beyond the blessings, especially the material, to the Giver Himself. When thanks giving goes beyond what self receives to the Giver Himself. Above any benefit, any gift, to be thankful for the Giver, to be thankful for God himself, is when the heart overflows with thankfulness.

In Surprised by Joy, C. S. Lewis wrote, “We are taught…to ‘give thanks to God for His great glory,’ as if we owed Him more thanks for being what He necessarily is than for any particular benefit He confers upon us; and so indeed we do and to know God is to know this.”

Moses told the Israelites to love Yahweh with all of their heart and being because of who God is. Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:4-5.

In his vision of the throne of God the apostle John saw four living creatures, covered in eyes, like a lion, an ox, a man, and a flying eagle. Day and night they gave God glory, honor, and thanks, for who God is. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” Revelation 4:8.

When we know God and know his Christ, we understand the song of John’s vision in Revelations 5:13. Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the Lamb who was slain yet is alive. He is the Lion of Judah, the King of kings. God is seen for who he is in Jesus Christ. In Christ is seen God’s holiness, righteousness, abundant grace, and love.

In Christ we see what God has done. He “brought us forth from bondage into freedom, from sorrow into joy, from mourning into festivity, from darkness into great light, and from servitude into redemption. There fore let us say before him, Hallelujah!”

We owe God more thanks for who he necessarily is, especially as we see him in Christ, than for any benefit or gift received from him. We are “bound to give thanks, to praise, to glorify, to honour, to exalt, to extol, and to bless him” for who he is (Gordon D. Fee).

How is it possible to give thanks to God in every circumstance? How are we able to live a life of thankfulness? What is the source of a heart filled with peace, confident of God’s power and glory, confident of his faithfulness and grace, confident of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ? Be grateful for God himself. Give thanks to God for God. Give thanks to God for Christ himself. Give thanks to God for his Spirit. Give thanks to God for God without thought of ourselves. Give thanks to God for who he is.

I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. My mouth will speak in praise of the LORD. Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever. Psalm 145:1, 2, 21.

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