Tag: restoration

Don’t Get Too Comfortable (Amos 9:7-15)

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

“Are not you Israelites
    the same to me as the Cushites?”
declares the Lord.
“Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt,
    the Philistines from Caphtor
    and the Arameans from Kir?

“Surely the eyes of the Sovereign Lord
    are on the sinful kingdom.
I will destroy it
    from the face of the earth.
Yet I will not totally destroy
    the descendants of Jacob,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will give the command,
    and I will shake the people of Israel
    among all the nations
as grain is shaken in a sieve,
    and not a pebble will reach the ground.
All the sinners among my people
    will die by the sword,
all those who say,
    ‘Disaster will not overtake or meet us.’

“In that day

“I will restore David’s fallen shelter—
    I will repair its broken walls
    and restore its ruins—
    and will rebuild it as it used to be,
so that they may possess the remnant of Edom
    and all the nations that bear my name,”
declares the Lord, who will do these things.

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord,

“when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman
    and the planter by the one treading grapes.
New wine will drip from the mountains
    and flow from all the hills,
    and I will bring my people Israel back from exile.

“They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.
    They will plant vineyards and drink their wine;
    they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
I will plant Israel in their own land,
    never again to be uprooted
    from the land I have given them,”

says the Lord your God. (New International Version)

No one is immune from judgment, nor from the watchful eye of the God who knows both the actions of humanity and what is truly within their hearts.

Every one of us has the capacity and the potential for evil – even, and perhaps especially, those who claim to believe and follow God. To be arrogant and cocky is to set up oneself for a fall. To think that you could never fall or do evil is to operate in the realm of pride and hubris – which are the very traits of the Evil One.

Don’t get too comfortable with your life. Don’t simply believe you’re okay and anyone who disagrees with you is not okay.

Evil is not always (and usually isn’t) an in-your-face sort of thing. The sinister and unjust amongst us is much more like someone putting the text of the United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Pledge of Allegiance inside of a Bible, making it a convenient collection for those who are tired of having to separate their church from their state.

The Lord, however, will do some separating – the wheat from the chaff, and the sheep from the goats. (Matthew 3:12; 25:31-33)

God does not punish simply for the sake of punishment; rather, judgment is a means to restore and renew. Curses will give way to blessings. What has been lost shall be found.

“They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them...”

Doom and hope, judgment and grace, suffering and glory. These are the movements and rhythms of the Old Testament prophets. The great sin of Israel which warranted divine wrath was not only that they trampled on the poor and needy. On top of it all, they saw nothing wrong with their way of life. 

This profound lack of awareness, rooted in the spiritual blindness of greed, is what led to judgment. It would take the form of having the Assyrian Empire come, seize the land, and take the people away to a place where they would have no chance to oppress others. Sadly, death would come to many.

The sin of oppressing others and believing there’s nothing wrong with it comes with severe consequences. The people relied too much on their ethnicity and spiritual pedigree. The ancient Israelites wrongly assumed that because they were the people of the covenant, this somehow inoculated them from disaster. Their belief in Jewish exceptionalism was their downfall.

Yet, all would not be endless gloom. The Lord will not destroy completely. God’s anger lasts for a moment. However, God’s grace lasts forever. Restoration, renewal, and fruitful times will come because of God’s mercy. 

Yes, God pronounces judgment when it is warranted. But God also makes and keeps promises to people. In our lesson for today, the Lord promises to restore the fortunes of the people through rebuilding ruined cities and letting them inhabit them once again.

God steps in and graciously acts on behalf of all people because that is what God does. We might get the notion in our heads that God executes judgment to teach people a lesson or to make a point. In my line of work, it is common to hear people express the idea they are under divine punishment because of personal illness or hard circumstances. 

God, however, acts independently out of a vast storehouse of righteousness and mercy. The Lord maintains holy decrees while showing grace to the undeserving. The nation of Israel, in the days of the prophet Amos, deserved only judgment, not grace. 

It seems to me God would have been completely justified to never restore or renew a recalcitrant people. Yet, God’s grace overwhelms and swallows human sin. Try as you might to understand grace, you will end up befuddled. That’s because grace is wildly illogical, nonsensical, and unconditionally free. Grace shows radical acceptance where there ought to be only the punishing fire of hell.

The height of grace and the pinnacle of restoring the fortunes of Israel (from a Christian perspective) came through a baby and a humble birth in the small village of Bethlehem. Jesus came to save the people from their sins. God acted by entering humanity with divine love so that there could be new life and fresh hope. 

So, let grace wash you clean. Allow mercy to renew your life. Receive the gift of gracious forgiveness, merciful love, and divine peace. Look ahead and see there is hope on the horizon.

For the afflicted, there is comfort. But for the comfortable, affliction is coming.

Merciful God, although you are careful to uphold your great holiness, your mercy extends from everlasting to everlasting. May the gospel of grace form all my words and actions so that true righteousness reigns in my life through Jesus, my Lord, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Restoration (Jeremiah 30:1-11a)

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

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you. The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity and restore them to the land I gave their ancestors to possess,’ says the Lord.”

These are the words the Lord spoke concerning Israel and Judah: 

“This is what the Lord says:

“‘Cries of fear are heard—
    terror, not peace.
Ask and see:
    Can a man bear children?
Then why do I see every strong man
    with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor,
    every face turned deathly pale?
How awful that day will be!
    No other will be like it.
It will be a time of trouble for Jacob,
    but he will be saved out of it.

“‘In that day,’ declares the Lord Almighty,
    ‘I will break the yoke off their necks
and will tear off their bonds;
    no longer will foreigners enslave them.
Instead, they will serve the Lord their God
    and David their king,
    whom I will raise up for them.

“‘So do not be afraid, Jacob my servant;
    do not be dismayed, Israel,’
declares the Lord.
‘I will surely save you out of a distant place,
    your descendants from the land of their exile.
Jacob will again have peace and security,
    and no one will make him afraid.
I am with you and will save you,’
    declares the Lord.” (New International Version)

The cry of Jeremiah the prophet, by Slovakian artist, 1937

To be restored is a beautiful thing, namely because it presupposes that someone or a group of people were dilapidated and in need of healing. Restoration implies that something was lost, but now is found.

If you have lost things like finances, a home, a car, precious memorial items, a job; or relationships such as a marriage, a friendship, estrangement from family members; or your health to disease or disaster; or even lost your mind or your soul – you can completely understand the longing for restoration and wholeness.

The Jews lost their homeland, their property, their temple, and their dignity to the invading Babylonians. Babylon took everything from Judea. The people became exiled in a strange land. Only some poor folk were left behind in a land that was ravaged.

This was the place that was once referred to as a land of milk and honey, a good home of abundance and blessing. But in the prophet Jeremiah’s day, it was becoming a thing of the past. Would the people ever recover what they had lost? Is restoration even a possibility? Could they learn to hope again?

Into a time of distress and despair, God spoke, and said that yes, it is possible; yes, restoration can and will happen. The people will not be in captivity forever.

Things can get so bad that you become physically sick, emotionally spent, mentally fearful, and spiritually disheartened – as if your life has been ripped from you without mercy and with malice. Yet, what is true of us today is not necessarily going to be true of us tomorrow.

Oppression is a terrible thing. To be constantly harassed by others or by chronic pain or by adverse situations is draining; it sucks the life out of us. Into these sorts of circumstances, God says to us, “I am with you, and I will save you.”

Perhaps tomorrow comes and nothing changes. The pain is still there. The mean-spirited people haven’t gone anywhere. The lost things are not found. And yet, there is something primal and universal which has always been here and shall never go away, no matter the circumstances: God is with us, and God loves us.

If we have the spiritual eyes to see, we will notice that God is alongside us, weeping with us. God knows a thing or two about the sort of suffering and pain that is unimaginable.

“Why does not God do something sooner, if God is so loving and powerful?” you may ask. If you are a parent, you have likely had a child ask you why you are doing something to them that feels awful. You know that emotion of feeling hurt alongside them. You also know that there is sometimes no way you can adequately explain to them what’s going on.

You commit yourself to being there, being present, and assuring the child that you aren’t going anywhere. So, when it comes to us, why is it so hard to understand that God is not a divine Santa or a cosmic Genie granting our every wish? If we want kids to understand, then perhaps we ought to first understand our own relationship as God’s children.

There will be times of trial and tribulation, even divine judgment. Yet there shall also be deliverance from evil, and salvation from sin, death, and hell. The yoke of oppression won’t last because there is the promise of restoration.

No matter how nasty, misguided, or sinful the political leadership and governmental system, none of those rulers or politicians have the last word – God does, not them. Grace has the final say, utilizing a restorative mercy which cannot be undone.

The days are coming when there will be a new future, based in the resolve of God to accomplish it. Fortunes shall be restored. Rehabilitation and renewal are ahead for the faithful. Healing will happen, whether it be in this life, or the next.

Things may seem impossibly hopeless now, but God can and will overrule the present evil machinations of oppressive rulers. Terror may be on every side, yet the Lord will break the bonds of oppression; God will burst the unjust practices. Indeed, God will save.

Therefore, we need not fear, for God is with us; and divine intervention is nearly here.

O God of heavenly powers, by your holy might, be present to us in your goodness and grace; banish all injustice and unrighteousness and restore your people in the strength of faith. Amen.

Rebuilding (Ezra 6:1-16)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Rebuilding of the Temple, by Gustave Doré, 1866

Then King Darius made a decree, and they searched the archives where the documents were stored in Babylon. But a scroll was found in Ecbatana, the capital of the province of Media, on which was written the following:

A memorandum— In the first year of his rule, King Cyrus made a decree: Concerning God’s house in Jerusalem: Let the house at the place where they offered sacrifices be rebuilt and let its foundations be retained. Its height will be ninety feet and its width ninety feet, with three layers of dressed stones and one layer of timber. The cost will be paid from the royal treasury. In addition, the gold and silver equipment from God’s house, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, is to be restored, that is, brought back to Jerusalem and put in their proper place in God’s house.

Now you, Tattenai, governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and you, their colleagues, the officials in the province Beyond the River, keep away! Leave the work on this house of God alone. Let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its original site.

I also issue a decree about what you should do to help these elders of the Jews as they rebuild this house of God: The total cost is to be paid to these people, and without delay, from the royal revenue that is made up of the tribute of the province Beyond the River. And whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, or sheep for entirely burned offerings to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, or oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem—let that be given to them day by day without fail so that they may offer pleasing sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the lives of the king and his sons.

I also decree that if anyone disobeys this edict, a beam is to be pulled out of the house of the guilty party, and the guilty party will then be impaled upon it. The house will be turned into a trash heap.

May the God who has established his name there overthrow any king or people who try to change this order or to destroy God’s house in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have decreed it; let it be done with all diligence.

Then Tattenai, the governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their colleagues carried out the order of King Darius with all diligence. So the elders of the Jews built and prospered because of the prophesying of the prophet Haggai and Zechariah, Iddo’s son. They finished building by the command of Israel’s God and of Cyrus, Darius, and King Artaxerxes of Persia. This house was completed on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the rule of King Darius.

Then the Israelites, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles joyfully celebrated the dedication of this house of God. (Common English Bible)

Throughout the time period of the Babylonian exile, the Jews waited impatiently for the day that Babylonian or Persian kings would allow them to return to their land and rebuild the Temple. When Cyrus was appointed king, their efforts were finally rewarded. Cyrus ordered that they be allowed to return to Israel and rebuild the Temple. He even promised to provide supplies for the project.

Under Persian rule, each subject people was allowed to live by its ancestral laws, which were enforced by the imperial government. Violations of the laws of the group to which one belonged constituted an offense against the state precisely because they led to instability. The maintenance of order in Judea, for example, would ensure the security of traveling to and from Egypt, and therefore the king required, in his own interest, that Jewish law be observed.

But down the road, when rebuilding efforts were questioned by the Persian governor of Judea, Tattenai, he and his associates wrote to King Darius about the legitimacy of the work. A search of the Persian records verified the Jewish claim and authority to rebuild the Temple.

What’s more, King Darius strongly affirmed support of restoration, including the use of tax revenues to help with funding the work. It was important enough for Darius to communicate that severe punishment would happen if anyone hindered rebuilding of the Temple.

The Temple was thus completed (in 516 B.C.E.) and it happened over a long period of time, under consistently adverse circumstances. The success of such a huge endeavor came through a combination of two different Persian kings who authorized the work and supported it fully; the prophets Haggai and Zechariah who encouraged it and provided spiritual support; and the Jewish leaders and workers who did the actual reconstruction and supported the effort with their blood, sweat, and tears.

In other words, a lot of stars in the universe needed to align for the Temple to actually be rebuilt. And it happened. Celebration of God’s sovereignty and divine help was then in order.

Awe and wonder are the basis of any good spirituality. Experiences that defy our imagination stick with us and bolster our faith for future mysteries and conundrums. I’m sure the Jews involved in rebuilding the Temple seriously wondered if it ever would materialize. Yet, it did.

While moments of awe come upon us, and cannot really be planned, there are yet some ways in which we can attune ourselves to experience awe in the everyday, such as:

  • Reading Holy Scripture, or inspiring biographies and novels
  • Attending church worship services and special events
  • Walking out in creation and spending time outside
  • Listening to music and going to live music performances
  • Visiting museums and community events
  • Engaging in spiritual disciplines and practicing them with others

We all go through times of rebuilding and needing to restore something which has been damaged or devastated. In your efforts, may you see the wonder of God’s movements in your life today, as you work and labor for a better tomorrow. Amen.

Accept the Situation (Jeremiah 30:12-22)

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

“This is what the Lord says:

“‘Your wound is incurable,
    your injury beyond healing.
There is no one to plead your cause,
    no remedy for your sore,
    no healing for you.
All your allies have forgotten you;
    they care nothing for you.
I have struck you as an enemy would
    and punished you as would the cruel,
because your guilt is so great
    and your sins so many.
Why do you cry out over your wound,
    your pain that has no cure?
Because of your great guilt and many sins
    I have done these things to you.

“‘But all who devour you will be devoured;
    all your enemies will go into exile.
Those who plunder you will be plundered;
    all who make spoil of you I will despoil.
But I will restore you to health
    and heal your wounds,’
declares the Lord,
‘because you are called an outcast,
    Zion for whom no one cares.’

“This is what the Lord says:

“‘I will restore the fortunes of Jacob’s tents
    and have compassion on his dwellings;
the city will be rebuilt on her ruins,
    and the palace will stand in its proper place.
From them will come songs of thanksgiving
    and the sound of rejoicing.
I will add to their numbers,
    and they will not be decreased;
I will bring them honor,
    and they will not be disdained.
Their children will be as in days of old,
    and their community will be established before me;
    I will punish all who oppress them.
Their leader will be one of their own;
    their ruler will arise from among them.
I will bring him near and he will come close to me—
    for who is he who will devote himself
    to be close to me?’
declares the Lord.
“‘So you will be my people,
    and I will be your God.’” (New International Version)

Jeremiah, by Marc Chagall, 1956

Once in a while, I get a response from a patient in the hospital who was given a poor diagnosis, or a very challenging prognosis, that goes something like this: “These doctors are always focusing on the negative. I’m only going to listen to the positive. I don’t need all that negative talk and energy.”

I believe in things like hope, optimism, and confidence. Yet, those qualities can only be acquired through the purgative force of hard circumstances and suffering. That means, in order to truly embrace the positive and encouraging, we need to first sit with the negative and discouraging realities in front of us.

Bottom line: It hurts to heal. Cuts need peroxide. Serious wounds need to be vacuumed. Severe internal issues require a surgery – being opened up – with a surgical knife, in order to get the body in a position to heal itself.

I find it curious that so many folks who believe in the Bible have never read the Old Testament prophets.

And very few preachers have never even given a sermon from the prophets. “It’s too gloom and doom, too negative. I focus on the positive and build up the church with New Testament truth!”

So, how’s that working for you? If there is a spiritual cancer that needs removal, it’s going to take some pain and hard treatment. And that is a lot of “negative” stuff.

There wouldn’t be a New Testament without an Old. I am suggesting that perhaps one reason why there is so much spiritual immaturity amongst many churches and Christians is that there is a lot of biblical illiteracy, due to the neglect of the prophets.

Without the prophets, we do not get a true feel for the pathos of God; that is, the Lord’s spiritual and emotional energy against injustice and oppression. And, practically speaking, it leaves us with neither resources nor skills to cope with adversity and trouble when it comes.

What do you do when you – or someone you love – hears that they have an incurable disease or condition?

Those without a solid grounding in the biblical prophets will likely want to rush to the places in Scripture that talk of answers to prayer and miracles and resurrections. But little do they realize that one cannot experience life apart from death, that there is no resurrection without a crucifixion, no positive glory without negative suffering.

No healing can take place if there is no pain of a cross.

Conversely, those who have become familiar with the message of the prophets are sure to respond to the incurable situation with expressions of personal grief and public lament, with humility and submission to the will of God.

Prayers will arise from deep within them that are grounded in the justice of God, and rely upon the promises of God. They will look to their inner spirit, without outwardly blaming God and medical staff for being uncaring and negative.

And, most of all, the spiritually and prophetically aware person will lean into their prodigious support system of a loving and gracious God, as well as the many persons who want to help.

The mature believer engages in a combination of submission and subversion – submitting completely to the will and ways of God, while simultaneously praying against the unfairness of disease, disaster, and death.

Healing and restoration will happen. The kicker is that we just don’t know the timing of any of it. We may not realize healing until the next life. Then again, we might experience a dramatic restoration of health and happiness, far beyond what we could ever ask or imagine.

The wise person learns to be patient, and wait for the proper time. They are comfortable with whatever timetable the Lord has for them. For what is most important to them is that they are close to the God who is near to the brokenhearted.

If we are guilty, we admit it, and seek to repair whatever damage may have been done. And if we are innocent, well then, we admit that we are not our own, but belong, both body and soul, to our faithful Creator.

Even in pain, we rest; even though suffering, we are at peace.

Accept the situation as it is, and not as you want it to be.

O God of love, you are the true sun of the world, evermore risen and never going down: We pray you to shine in our hearts and drive away the darkness of sin and the mist of error. We pray that we may, this day and all our lives long, walk without stumbling in the way you have prepared for us, which is Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God in glory everlasting. Amen. – A prayer of Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536)