Tag: god’s protection

How To Live When Things Are Bad (Isaiah 33:10-16)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Mural depicting the wars of Israel and Judah with the surrounding nations, Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Los Angles

But the Lord says: “Now I will stand up.
    Now I will show my power and might.
You Assyrians produce nothing but dry grass and stubble.
    Your own breath will turn to fire and consume you.
Your people will be burned up completely,
    like thornbushes cut down and tossed in a fire.
Listen to what I have done, you nations far away!
    And you that are near, acknowledge my might!”

The sinners in Jerusalem shake with fear.
    Terror seizes the godless.
“Who can live with this devouring fire?” they cry.
    “Who can survive this all-consuming fire?”
Those who are honest and fair,
    who refuse to profit by fraud,
    who stay far away from bribes,
who refuse to listen to those who plot murder,
    who shut their eyes to all enticement to do wrong—
these are the ones who will dwell on high.
    The rocks of the mountains will be their fortress.
Food will be supplied to them,
    and they will have water in abundance. (New Living Translation)

The Assyrians were a nasty bunch. So were the people of Jerusalem, at the time of Isaiah’s prophecy. Maybe the folks in Judah played the comparison game and thought they were better than their foe. After all, the Assyrians were experts in war and torture.

Jerusalem was understandably terrified of the Assyrian army. And they trusted God, that is, to a degree. There’s a difference between looking to the Lord because you’re between a rock and a hard place, and placing faith in God because that is the default response of your life.

Easy for me to say. I’ve never stood on a city wall watching a powerful army surrounding me like a bunch of bullies on the playground.

Jerusalem was intimidated to the point of letting the Assyrian ruffians take their gold and silver. Well, actually, it wasn’t their gold; it was God’s. And when the army left, the city was still intact. But for how long?

It was humiliating. Being the victim of a bully always is. And because they’re bullies, it’s never enough. Like feeding the neighbor’s cat, the Assyrians end up going nowhere. They want more. In fact, they never really intended on leaving anyway. It was all a double-cross.

Judah, out of their fear and anxiety, made a bargain with the devil. A bully is a bully because they can be. Give in to them, and it only enables them to keep bullying. The Assyrians were ready for battle. It’s what they always did: fight and conquer.

It was at this point that Jerusalem finally got the clue that they’d been living with God in the background, not the foreground. They did their own thing, much like the hated and dreaded Assyrians.

So, the only recourse the people of Judah had was the mercy of their God. Yet, even though they ought to have petitioned the Lord from the get-go, at least they noticed the Lord is still there.

Assyrian king, British Museum

Unfortunately, most of our repentant overtures are way overdue. And yet, because of divine grace, the crazy mess we make of our lives is the very same place where a merciful God meets us.

Any sort of help is surely undeserved. It always is. The Lord, however, avoids making us grovel in our own vomit. God accepts us where we are, and not where we ought to be.

In truth, we all need to make a change, and not just the bullies. The sheer reality of God demands that we pay attention to what is right, just, and good. And the prophet Isaiah informed the people exactly how we must live in a world full of bullies and busted dreams.

We are to have an awareness of ethics and morality, a concern for humanity, and an orientation to help everyone thrive and flourish in this life.

The answer to life’s question of how to exist in this world and do more than just survive comes down to human morality:

  • Live right
  • Speak the truth
  • Despise exploitation
  • Refuse bribes
  • Reject violence
  • Avoid evil pleasures

The safe and stable way to live is to participate in the rhythms of mercy and justice that are woven into the fabric of the universe. The path to a contented and satisfying life is through goodness, not hatred.

Security and satisfaction don’t come through control of all circumstances; it comes by discerning that God has ultimate control, and that this God is good, not evil; just, not unjust; and righteous, not capricious.

According to the prophet, God will determine when the suitable time for assistance will come for us. And the Lord will deal with the ungodly according to the divine timetable, and not when we believe judgments should be rendered.

None of this is in our purview. Sometimes, talking about this sort of theology is a way of taking the focus off of our own need for an ethical and moral life. Sometimes, it is a helpful way of coming to grips with what is happening. Discernment is needed with oneself in these matters.

Trusting God means to exercise patience and perseverance, to focus on faith, to discipline ourselves in prayer, and to express confidence in hope.

We are not necessarily ruined whenever our circumstances are dire. The worse things become, the greater the display of divine power that can come.

By orienting ourselves around God and God’s strength and will, we grow in courage and develop in faith. We learn to trust in the worst of situations. We discover that the Lord knows the score of things, that God understands what’s going on.

And God laughs at the ungodly who believe they can bully the godly around. The most brilliant of military commanders is like a little toddler before the sovereign Lord of the universe. The fiery words they blow will blow back on them and consume their arrogance.

So, let us not harden our own hearts, but exercise a change of heart to let God be God, and to want for nothing but the courts of the Lord.

Let us not be like the bullies of Assyria who lived without a thought to the divine reality in front of them. Let us not become tormented, as if a fire were devouring us with inward anguish of soul, but instead:

  • Walk in right relations with others and with the Lord
  • Maintain truth and integrity in everything
  • Be free from corruption and offending others and God
  • Act with love toward your neighbor and your God
  • Refuse to accept a bribe
  • Restrain evil impulses
  • Open wide the spigot of goodness and justice

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Safety and abundance of good things is provided by the Lord. God protects. And God supplies. Rely upon God’s promises, and not the empty bellowing of others.

Be safe. Be strong. Be spiritual. We are all in this life together.

O God, my refuge and strength: In this place of unrelenting light and noise, enfold me in your holy darkness and silence, so that I may rest secure under the shadow of your wings. Amen.

Be Merciful to Me (Psalm 57)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
“For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.” (Psalm 57:10, KJV) by Bible Art

Be merciful to me, O God; be merciful to me,
    for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
    until the destroying storms pass by.
I cry to God Most High,
    to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
He will send from heaven and save me;
    he will put to shame those who trample on me.
God will send forth his steadfast love and his faithfulness.

I lie down among lions
    that greedily devour human prey;
their teeth are spears and arrows,
    their tongues sharp swords.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens.
    Let your glory be over all the earth.

They set a net for my steps;
    my soul was bowed down.
They dug a pit in my path,
    but they have fallen into it themselves.
My heart is steadfast, O God;
    my heart is steadfast.
I will sing and make melody.
    Awake, my soul!
Awake, O harp and lyre!
    I will awake the dawn.
I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;
    I will sing praises to you among the nations.
For your steadfast love is as high as the heavens;
    your faithfulness extends to the clouds.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens.
    Let your glory be over all the earth. (New Revised Standard Version)

The Human Condition

Maybe it’s just me, yet it seems, over the past several years, that our world has become increasingly depressed, jaded, and unkind. Things like appreciation and encouragement of others are found less and less as time goes on. It’s as if we are all in some sort of collective funk, in which everyone has an underlying sullenness and frustration about them.

Humanity has suffered a great deal of change and loss, without a healthy means of grieving and lamenting for what has happened to them. In other words, we simply don’t know what to do with our hurt, so we end up projecting our hurt onto others. *Sigh*

There is something that we all share together about the human experience: Sooner or later, someone or a group of people will let us down. They will hurt us in some way. And that hurt will change us – either for good or for ill.

What’s worse, many have experienced, or will experience, some sort of abuse and victimization from another person or group – leaving them scarred by trauma. And, what’s more, there are those who have had their very lives at risk, because someone intentionally sought to kill them. 

King David’s Condition

That is the company David found himself in when King Saul, and the later when his son Absalom, sought to do away with his life.

To David’s credit, he never retaliated and did not try and turn the tables by putting a hit out on either Saul or Absalom. Instead, David cried out to God. And we get to listen in on the prayer. Today’s psalm is David’s prayerful reliance upon the God in whom he put all his trust and praise. 

The entire basis of prayer is to let God be God. So, how do we exactly do that?

Our Condition

Whenever the storms of life assail us, calloused persons trample on us with impunity, devious individuals set traps for us, and greedy organizations prey upon us, we must refuse to respond in kind.

Instead, let us deliberately praise the Lord, rely on divine protection, and pray to God, so that we might steadfastly hold on to our confidence. Because if God is for us, nothing nor no one, can be against us.

That advice may seem like a sort of pie-in-the-sky rot of ginning up positive thoughts when there is nothing positive to be seen in the experience. Yet, please keep in mind that we must never, and I repeat, never invalidate another’s experience, nor our own, when those experiences are hellish.

There is always hope. There are two unshakable truths which are constant, and are never diminished by any adverse circumstance:

  1. God is present with us
  2. God loves us

If we know nothing else, and everything seems to be descending into the abyss of tragedy, the twin towers of divine presence and divine mercy stand guard as the strongest sentinels over our dilapidated situation, and struggling faith.

Letting God be God means not to try and control things we have no control over. Rather, it means to affirm that the Lord is willing and capable of handling our worst stuff.

It could be that we are stuck in the belly of a whale because, without our knowing it, there are sharks surrounding us, who cannot get to us because of divine attention and protection.

Our perspective of life-circumstances is, at best, severely limited. It is much better to place faith in the God who sees it all, with an expansive eye which misses nothing.

One of the best things, to me, about the psalms is that they are a wonderful collection of prayers we can adopt for our own. Not only can we use them for ourselves, but we are also obliged to do so. 

If anyone has been in an adverse situation, so deep that it feels like having ambled into a pride of lions, it’s quite likely that the experience leaves one with no adequate words to say. There we are – paralyzed with fear, and unable to move. 

So, let the psalm say for you what you cannot even begin to utter yourself. The Word of God is not meant to sit on a coffee table,  or to rest on a shelf; it is meant to be opened and used for prayer. Allow it to do its intended purpose.

Who knows? Perhaps your faith in the mercy of God, and your praises lifted to God, will give rise to a newfound confidence and peace, so that you can rest secure, even when all around you is going to hell.

Be merciful to me, O God, for in you my soul takes refuge. Even though I feel the slash of people with tongues as swords, my heart is steadfast, and I will exalt your name above the heavens. Let your glory be over all the earth! Amen.

For the Life of the World (John 6:1-21)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes, by James Tissot, 1886

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. 

Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. 

Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” 

Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place, so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. 

When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”

When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going. (New Revised Standard Version)

Christ Walking on the Waters, by Julius Sergius Von Klever, c.1880

The Deliverers Moses and Jesus

The Apostle John intended us to see the link between Moses and Jesus. God used Moses to bring deliverance of the people from slavery through a miracle at the Red Sea. The Lord also used him for a divine provision of manna in the wilderness.

And the Lord Jesus brought about a deliverance of the disciples from anxiety through a miracle on the Sea of Galilee. Christ also brought a divine provision of food in the middle of nowhere for thousands of people.

The miraculous displays by Jesus happened at the time of Passover, the very time that Jews celebrate the deliverance from Egypt. Just as divine power was exerted at the time of Moses in the original Passover, so also divine power likewise showed itself with Jesus in the supply of food and control of the sea.

What’s more, today Christians everywhere around the world remember God’s saving events with the elements of bread and cup, recalling divine deliverance and provision, and finding relief from their fears and anxieties.

A Miraculous Provision and Distribution of Food

It’s no coincidence that Jesus is pictured as sitting on a mountain – reminiscent of Moses on a mountain receiving the divine law and wisdom. The gathering of people around Christ was so great (thousands of them) and the need for food equally as great, that Jesus questioned his disciples concerning resources for such a large crowd.

Christ, of course, could have circumvented his disciples and simply provided the needed foodstuffs without them. Yet, he didn’t, on purpose. Always the rabbi and teacher, Jesus intended to give the disciples a lesson they wouldn’t forget.

After ascertaining that the only food available was a boy’s five barley loaves and two dried fish, Jesus knew that this was plenty, in order to feed up to 5,000 people. It was enough, because Jesus is enough. Only a small amount is needed to fill the bellies of thousands.

Sacramental Living, by Charissa Jaeger-Sanders

And, what is more, for those with the faith to see it, a little communion wafer and a small swallow from a cup is more than enough to satisfy and satiate the hungriest of faithful and penitent people.

Not only did the people eat as much as they needed and wanted, but there was also so much remaining food that the twelve disciples collected twelve baskets of bread. They could keep on ministering, providing, and distributing for people because little is much when God is in it. Long after Christ’s death and resurrection, his followers continued to give with the divine largess from Jesus.

Walking on Water

It had been a full day of teaching and miraculous ministry, in the full light for all to see. Christ’s power, however, is also operative at night. The darkness is not able to subdue continued miracles from Jesus.

For the Apostle John’s writings, darkness is almost always a theological statement, denoting that there are dark forces operative on this earth. And those powers definitely did not like Christ’s effective day of ministry.

The actual physical storm symbolized the chaotic and angry response of the sinister elements in the world. But despite the terrible conditions, Jesus calmly walked on the sea as the new Moses who takes charge of the water.

The disciples abject fear turned on a dime into exuberant joy, as they realized it was indeed Jesus who entered the boat. In addition, they experienced an immediate place of safe harbor.

Christ was standing in the divine tradition of bringing people from stormy circumstances and evil situations to the safe haven of God’s presence.

Jesus saves people from their fears and anxieties, their travails and ills, and their guilt and shame. Christ also provides everything we need, both material and immaterial. And he does it for the life of the world, for everyone who comes by faith.

Gracious Lord, you are the Sustainer of the hungry. Like a mother, you long to feed your children until each is satisfied. Turn our eyes to you alone, so that, aware of our own deepest longings, we will reach out with Christ to feed others with the miracle of your love. Amen.

Some Perspective: Pray Like You Mean It (Psalm 61)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

Hear my cry, O God;
    listen to my prayer.
From the end of the earth I call to you,
    when my heart is faint.

Lead me to the rock
    that is higher than I,
for you are my refuge,
    a strong tower against the enemy.

Let me abide in your tent forever,
    find refuge under the shelter of your wings.
For you, O God, have heard my vows;
    you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.

Prolong the life of the king;
    may his years endure to all generations!
May he be enthroned forever before God;
    appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him!

So I will always sing praises to your name,
    as I pay my vows day after day. (New Revised Standard Version)

Some Historical Perspective

Historically, the book of Psalms has been the Church’s prayer book. Yet, over the centuries, the biblical psalms have tended to lose this understanding of being a written expression of one’s inner response to God.

Protestant Evangelicalism, in particular, has tended to disdain anything written, rote, and repetitive. Instead, the Evangelical understanding of true spirituality tends toward a strong bent of extemporaneous prayers.

Some Personal Perspective

I still remember years ago, when I was a young Pastor, a parishioner happened to see that I had a written prayer in my notes for the worship service. This person ended up “reporting” me to the church elders, questioning my relationship to God – simply because I read a prayer, instead of improvising it for the congregation.

The church elders had a discussion with me and “dressed me down” for the practice of using written prayers. What’s more, they didn’t like the content of the prayer – charging that I must be emotionally and spiritually unstable for having crafted such a prayer (assuming that I wrote the prayer myself).

After they were all done (and having not asked me why I “read” my prayer) I responded to them calmly, stating, “Yes, I read a prayer on Sunday. And the prayer I read was Psalm 61. By the way, that’s in the Bible. And I apologize that I didn’t have it memorized.”

Some Logical Perspective

Aside from my sarcastic and passive-aggressive statements at the end, it is a sad affair whenever we are unable to take advantage of Holy Scripture for it’s intended use in the life of the believer.

To be sure, the condemnation of written prayers originally came about because of clergy and lay persons alike reading prayers without any sincerity or heart behind it – sometimes not even understanding what they were reading.

Yet, it’s illogical and unreasonable to simply throw out the baby with the bath water. The problem was never with the prayers themselves, or the act of reading them; the issue always has been with the person praying.

Some Existential Perspective

All of this is to say that I am inviting you to read today’s psalm, out loud and several times; and to adopt it as your own and express it as your own offering to God in prayer.

Because it is truly possible (and I would argue necessary and important) to read biblical prayers with personal flavor, resonating with their content and intent.

Furthermore, I also invite you to restate the psalm in your own words, to write out your understanding of the text (with actual pen and paper) so that the concepts and ideas of the psalm are expressed from the heart. This is just one way of embracing both the written and personal aspects of praying to God.

Some Biblical Perspective

Psalm 61 is a personal lament of King David, concerned with having the reassurance of God’s protective presence. David found security in the Lord as his refuge and strength. Whatever particular circumstances prompted the prayer, it seems David was facing an adversity out and away from the worship center of Jerusalem.

David longed to be in that center, to be in the place where God dwells. He pictured himself under the shelter of angelic wings, as if he were there inside the Ark of God itself, as close to the Lord as he could possibly get.

Because it is in the presence of God that there is perfect steadfast love and faithfulness. There’s no better place in all the world than to be in that spot, enjoying the peace and protection of the sovereign almighty God of the universe.

Ultimately, deliverance from threatening situations, fearful circumstances, and dire straits, comes from the Deliverer, the Savior, the God who sees all, knows all, and has the power to do something about it!

Some Prayerful Perspective

So, having said all that, here is my own expression/translation/transliteration of Psalm 61 – and may the Lord’s blessing and peace rest upon you this day, and every day, as you pray for yourself and for those who are good and godly leaders:

God, listen to my loud echoing shout,
    and bend your ear to respond to my heartfelt prayer.
When I am experiencing a disappointed heart and at my last breath,
    from a place that seems the very end of the earth,
I cry out and call to You from the highest lonely mountain,
    so that You may hear me above all else that’s going on in the world.

You’ve always given me plenty of space and grace to be myself,
    and provided for me a place to get away from it all on this messed-up planet,
You have always taken me seriously, God,
    welcoming me under the shadow of your wings, letting me reside permanently in Your tent.

I know that You will let the days of the benevolent ruler add up,
    and that there will be years and years of good and just leadership.
Make this good leader’s chair last forever, in the full light of God.
    Post the sentries of Steadfast Love and Faithful Truth as ever-watching lookouts.
Then, it will be me who makes a grand musical fuss to You forever and ever,
    and I shall make good on that promise every single day.

Amen.