Tag: sorrow

‘Tis the Season For Praise (Psalm 148)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
By Stushie Art

Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
    praise him in the heights!
Praise him, all his angels;
    praise him, all his host!

Praise him, sun and moon;
    praise him, all you shining stars!
Praise him, you highest heavens
    and you waters above the heavens!

Let them praise the name of the Lord,
    for he commanded and they were created.
He established them forever and ever;
    he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.

Praise the Lord from the earth,
    you sea monsters and all deeps,
fire and hail, snow and frost,
    stormy wind fulfilling his command!

Mountains and all hills,
    fruit trees and all cedars!
Wild animals and all cattle,
    creeping things and flying birds!

Kings of the earth and all peoples,
    princes and all rulers of the earth!
Young men and women alike,
    old and young together!

Let them praise the name of the Lord,
    for his name alone is exalted;
    his glory is above earth and heaven.
He has raised up a horn for his people,
    praise for all his faithful,
    for the people of Israel who are close to him.
Praise the Lord! (New Revised Standard Version)

By Bible Art

God is sovereign – which means that the Lord has complete power, dominion, and authority over everything that exists. God has supremacy because the Lord is the Creator God, the One who brought all things into existence.

Ideally, God and all creation exist harmoniously together. People coexist with God and recognize the Lord’s sovereignty through offering praise, adoration, and thanksgiving to the Lord.

That is what today’s psalm calls us to do, especially in this season of Christmastide. Christians are to offer their praise to God, despite whatever circumstances may be happening in their lives, and around them.

The psalmist was not telling people to simply forget their sorrows. He was exhorting everyone, including all creation, to praise the Lord in the middle of their distress.

When Christ was born, circumstances were not good for the Jews in Judea. Roman occupation had a firm authoritative hold upon them. Throughout their history, Jews have been often marginalized and oppressed. They know what suffering is.

Even though Christianity is a sizable world religion, Christians in many parts of the world today experience ostracization and discrimination. Christians everywhere are not immune to world events with situations like dictators, disasters, and diseases.

Yet, there is always an opportunity for praise to God. And the psalmist summons the faithful to do so. Praise and adoration of God shape us and form us spiritually, so that, even if we do not feel like doing it, the very act of offering the praise trains our spirits to bend in a good direction.

We could simply give-in to the status quo of things through constant complaining; or keep offering our woes. But that doesn’t negate the importance of praise.

Today we have the opportunity (and responsibility) to praise God for the incarnation of Christ. To remember that God loved us enough to become one of us. To adore the Christ child, and choose to give thanks, even though there might be oppression all around us.

We can celebrate, along with all creation, the nature of God and the Lord’s good purposes for humanity and all the earth. Adverse situations may stop us from many things we want to do, yet no circumstance can ever prevent us from praising God for divine attributes and divine sovereignty.

All of creation praises God by being exactly what God created it to be. A tree doesn’t try and be a star in the sky. It simply takes root and grows, branching out and becoming a haven for many creatures. Squirrels do what squirrels do, just like flowers, rocks, wind and weather do what they do.

It’s us people who tend to go rogue and try to be something or someone we’re not.

We can best praise God by living as God created us to live. We were designed to live in a divine/human cooperation of caring for all creation. We best exist alongside God by being good stewards of all that God has given to us – including the earth, our families and neighborhoods, and especially ourselves.

Praise is the job description of everything which exists. We will do that well as we honor our mandate to care, and not to harm; to serve others, and not be self-serving.

All things are connected on this planet. The ecosystems of the earth, and the economies of people, are all meant to live in harmony with each other, so that all of creation is blessed.

You and I have a sacred trust of relating well with each other, and everything around us.

The human condition is one of ongoing ups and downs. We experience a full range of tragedy, division, and hardship; along with joy, wonder, and happiness. In all things, no matter what, we are called to praise the Lord.

Each of us needs to find that place and that way of orienting and reorienting ourselves to what is important and why we are here.

For me, that happens whenever I hug my dear wife. Sometimes, I even go out in my backyard and hug my oak tree. The very act of hugging helps ground me to what is here and real, what is important and necessary.

If we can but touch one another, not just literally, but with well-placed words and helpful actions, then we can recall why harmony with all things is so important.

I’m in no way saying this is easy. It isn’t. There are many days when either the world seems as if it is a big collective ball of grumpy; or you yourself can hardly do the barest of responsibilities.

Yet, we can still find a way to praise, to be grateful, to offer what little care there may be to give.

Because it’s not so much about the amount of what we do, but rather how we are able to do it. A smidge of something done with love is infinitely better than lots of accomplishment without any care behind it.

The holidays are some of the hardest days for some folks. Christmas and the New Year are associated with grief for various reasons. It can bring isolation, not connection. The last thing such a person may want to do is praise the Lord, especially with a community of folks. And yet, that may just be the best activity.

There is no one-dimensional way of praising God; our offerings to the Lord can be multi-faceted. It can be achieved according to what we have to offer, and why we are offering it. It will not look the same for everyone.

Whatever you really need to do for an offering of praise this year, then do it. It’s okay if it’s a bit avant-garde, or off the beaten path. You are, after all, talking to a guy who hugs trees, for God’s sake.

Maybe this is the time to re-establish an old tradition that has fallen by the wayside. It could be the right opportunity to pick up that old musical instrument or to stretch your voice in singing again.

The exhortation we have from the psalmist is to praise. How you go about it, is up to you, my friend.

May almighty God, who sent his Son to take our nature upon him, encourage you in this holy season, scatter the darkness of sin, and brighten your heart with the light of his holiness. And may the blessing of God – Father, Son, and Spirit – be upon you and remain with you forever. Amen.

Holding Both Victory and Defeat (2 Samuel 19:1-18)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
David mourns the death of Absalom, by Gustave Doré (1832-1883)

Joab was told, “The king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.” And for the whole army the victory that day was turned into mourning, because on that day the troops heard it said, “The king is grieving for his son.” The men stole into the city that day as men steal in who are ashamed when they flee from battle. The king covered his face and cried aloud, “O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!”

Then Joab went into the house to the king and said, “Today you have humiliated all your men, who have just saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters and the lives of your wives and concubines. You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have made it clear today that the commanders and their men mean nothing to you. I see that you would be pleased if Absalom were alive today and all of us were dead. Now go out and encourage your men. I swear by the Lord that if you don’t go out, not a man will be left with you by nightfall. This will be worse for you than all the calamities that have come on you from your youth till now.”

So the king got up and took his seat in the gateway. When the men were told, “The king is sitting in the gateway,” they all came before him.

Meanwhile, the Israelites had fled to their homes.

Throughout the tribes of Israel, all the people were arguing among themselves, saying, “The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies; he is the one who rescued us from the hand of the Philistines. But now he has fled the country to escape from Absalom; and Absalom, whom we anointed to rule over us, has died in battle. So why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?”

King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests: “Ask the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his palace, since what is being said throughout Israel has reached the king at his quarters? You are my relatives, my own flesh and blood. So why should you be the last to bring back the king?’ And say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my own flesh and blood? May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if you are not the commander of my army for life in place of Joab.’”

He won over the hearts of the men of Judah so that they were all of one mind. They sent word to the king, “Return, you and all your men.” Then the king returned and went as far as the Jordan.

Now the men of Judah had come to Gilgal to go out and meet the king and bring him across the Jordan. Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David. With him were a thousand Benjamites, along with Ziba, the steward of Saul’s household, and his fifteen sons and twenty servants. They rushed to the Jordan, where the king was. They crossed at the ford to take the king’s household over and to do whatever he wished. (New International Version)

King David learns of Absalom’s death, by Unknown artist, c.1590

King David’s son, Absalom had become a bitter and angry man, especially toward his father. He took his time to build a conspiracy against David, in order to replace him as king. Absalom succeeded in taking Jerusalem.

However, King David escaped with those loyal to him. Although Absalom had the upper hand and could have followed through with overtaking David, a monkey wrench in counsel led to David gaining a fighting chance. It all eventually led to the death of Absalom in battle.

And this is where King David showed yet again the sort of incongruence that, it seems, only a parent can do. His loyal men won the battle, yet Absalom was slain because of Joab, the commander. David’s grief over his son’s loss was palpable; he wept and lamented, despite the great victory that had been achieved against the odds.

Indeed, David experienced the dilemma of being both a father and a king – and it ripped his heart.

Throughout the narratives of David, Joab is presented as a no-nonsense business-like guy. He didn’t have much tolerance for the touchy-feely stuff, and let the king know it. Joab often had a right assessment of things, but conversely, he often spoke and acted in a wrong manner.

Joab essentially picked up a strange parental role of scolding David into facing his present circumstance. The troops needed assurance; and it could only come from the king, whom they were fighting for in the first place.

So, David acquiesced to Joab, and took his public seat, receiving the army as victors. Yet, King David had enough of Joab’s unfeeling shenanigans, and summarily replaced him as commander of the military.

With Absalom dead, and David acting more like a king again, it isn’t long before Israel and Judah receive him back as their king, and take him to Jerusalem to once again rule over the land. David had to discover, yet again, in a new situation what it means to hold both victory and defeat, joy and sorrow, together.

It’s typical for us as biblical readers to ask, “What’s the point of the story?” We tend to like our bottom lines and neat summaries of things. After all, we’re busy people with things to do and people to see. Just give it to me straight, and I’ll go on my merry way.

But Scripture reading doesn’t work like that. It’s not fast food. Scriptural narratives require us to slowly chew on them, to sit with them for a while, and to take the time for reflection, prayer, and listening.

In doing this, we will likely discover that we could read the same story at different times and at various seasons of our lives, and come away with a different “bottom line” in each fresh reading of the text.

This is why I am a committed Bible reader (and thinker!). In some cases, I’ve read the same story hundreds of times. Nearly always, I walk away from the encounter seeing something new or discovering an insight of the text (or myself!) that I had never seen before.

So, these daily Bible reflections are my thoughts of Scripture that I had at a particular time and place. Having said that, I wonder what stirs within you as you read and encounter the story of King David after the death of his son Absalom…

Feel free to share your thoughts.

O Lord, we call upon You in times of both sorrow and joy. Give us the strength and the will to bear our heavy burdens, as well as to wisely carry our manageable ones. In all things, help us feel the warmth and love of Your divine compassion. Amen.

Celebration and Lament (Matthew 2:13-18)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Coptic Church depiction of the holy family in Egypt

Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”

When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the magi.Then what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

“A voice was heard in Ramah,
    wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
    she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.” (New Revised Standard Version)

Smack in the middle of the great celebration of Christ’s birth is a great lament. That’s because not everyone views the birth of Jesus with joy; there are others who see it as a threat and want to stamp it out.

We are humans, with two ears, two eyes, two hands, two feet, two lungs, and two kidneys. Our paired organs exist because we need the two of them in order to function properly. Joy and sadness, celebration and lament, are emotionally paired so that our soul may serve us as it is intended to. We hold them both together – at the same time, all the time – in order to have a well-rounded and healthy way of life.

In this time of year, it can be easy to gravitate towards either one or the other. We might become engrossed in all the shiny things of the season; or we may get lost by all the sorrows which the season stirs up for us.

I invite you to approach the mundane and simple manger. Although it might seem dull and unattractive – the last place you may find wholeness and peace – it is truly the place where we find God. It is here that both our joys and our sorrows meet, because among the stinky animals and the lower class life we shall actually discover the real longing of our hearts.

The gracious and almighty God preserved and protected the child Jesus. Christ’s early life retraced the life of ancient Israel. Like the Jewish patriarchs, Jesus went down to Egypt (and would eventually go down and face hell for us in his crucifixion); and, like the ancient Israelites, Jesus was brought up out of Egypt (and would rise from the dead bringing freedom from sin and death once for all) in a New Exodus.

It is as if the disciple Matthew means to connect the two Testaments as a unified whole by saying, “Look, here is the Messiah, the coming King, the promised One of Israel and of all the nations. Jesus is our salvation, the fulfillment of all that we have hoped for.”

Jesus is the New Exodus

In the second of three dreams, Joseph is told to take Jesus to Egypt. Joseph obeyed the Lord and took responsibility for the role of protecting Jesus, as contrasted with Herod’s role in attempting to murder Jesus.

Yet, there is more to this story than Christ’s protection; this is the fulfillment of a biblical pattern, an identification of Jesus with the people of God. Matthew pulled forward the prophet Hosea to say that just as God brought the Israelites out of Egypt through a great deliverance, God brought up Jesus, the Great Deliverer, out of Egypt as the unique Son of God.

Ethiopian Orthodox icon of the holy family fleeing to Egypt

When we hold the pair of Testaments together in both hands, we feel the weight of Jesus as God’s divine Son; so therefore, Christ is the rightful Ruler in God’s kingdom.

Just as God preserved Israel from Pharaoh’s wrath, the Lord protected Jesus from Herod’s wrath. God’s kindness and loyalty extends to us as covenant people and preserves us from the wrath of the devil who seeks to keep as many people as possible in the realm of darkness.

Our hope is in the Lord Jesus, who conquered the devil by establishing a beachhead on this earth through an incarnation as the Son of God.

Jesus Brought Us Out of Exile

The scoundrel King Herod massacred innocent toddlers to ensure the destruction of Jesus. Behind his atrocity was the devil himself, who knew Jesus was the coming king who would one day bring salvation. Reflecting on a vision of Christ’s birth, the Apostle John identified the sinister plan and the divine deliverance:

The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that when she gave birth, he might devour her child. She gave birth to a son, a male child who is to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was snatched up to God and his throne. (Revelation 12:4-5, CEB)

Satan wars against God’s Son and God’s people, whose roots go all the way back to the first prophecy of Christ after the Fall of humanity. God declared to Satan:

“And I will cause hostility between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike your head,
    and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:15, NLT)

There has been continual enmity ever since, between the serpent and the seed of the woman. It manifests itself with the Israelites constantly being threatened with extermination and tempted to conform to pagan ways.

King Herod was just another in a long line of demonically animated persons trying to perpetuate the kingdom of darkness. We must take this threat seriously because the devil knows that his time is short. A second Advent is coming which will be the final judgment.

Satan’s most powerful weapon, death, has lost its sting because of Jesus. Christmas is a hard time of year for many people, filled with depression instead of joy, grieving over lost loved ones for whom we will not spend another Christmas with.

Yet there is a reunion coming, the hope of a bodily resurrection in which we will be with Jesus and God’s people forever. Be encouraged to understand that there is no time in heaven; it will be only a moment and the people who have gone before us will turn around and see us; we will one day join them.

Matthew also used the prophet Jeremiah to communicate hope. Jeremiah’s prophecy dealt with children who were lost in war to the invading Babylonians. The prophecy is a lament with the hope that captivity will not be forever.

The disciple Matthew wanted us to see that the exile is over for us; Jesus has arrived, and the tears which were shed will shortly dry up. There may be a time of suffering we must endure, but there will be glory. Jesus is the Great Deliverer who brings us out of sin’s captivity and into the promises of God. He is our hope.

Jesus is the promised One who will deliver us from the tyranny of the devil. Christ is the hope of the nations, the Savior of the world. So, let us come back to the first Christmas which was the beginning of the end for evil on the earth.

Believers in Jesus are part of God’s victory, and they overcome the evil one by the blood of the lamb, acknowledging that Christ’s incarnation was essential for us. 

Just as Jesus made a radical break with his former life in heaven through the incarnation, we, too, must break with our old way of life.

God will save the people through this child Jesus. The greatest gift we can give in this season and throughout the coming year is the gift of grace, the presentation of the Christ child.

Loving God, help us remember the birth of Jesus so that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and the wisdom of the wise men.

Close the door of hate and open the door of love across the world.

Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting.

Deliver us from evil through the blessing of the Christ child.

Teach us to be happy with pure hearts.

Grant us grateful thoughts, devoted hearts, and gracious hands, through Jesus our Savior in the might of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

A Great Restoration (Psalm 126)

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

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
    we were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter
    and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations,
    “The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord has done great things for us,
    and we rejoiced.

Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
    like the watercourses in the Negeb.
May those who sow in tears
    reap with shouts of joy.
Those who go out weeping,
    bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
    carrying their sheaves. (New Revised Standard Version)

I personally think that God is amazing. The Lord not only brings restoration and wholeness to people; God also reverses people’s fortunes so that what was lost is found again. Indeed, reversal has a prominent place in today’s psalm, inviting us to recognize that God does more than compensate persons in a loss, but also brings about a complete reversal of reality.

God is the expert at restoring people’s fortunes. For a nation who was overrun by the Babylonians, sent into exile, and then had the ability to return from that exile back to Jerusalem, it very much indeed, felt like a grand restoration. The effect it had on the people was profound. The psalmist describes it like this:

It’s like waking from a dream and realizing that it’s reality.

It’s like the best party – full of celebration, singing, and laughter – that anyone has ever experienced.

It’s like being a real live miracle.

Being invaded, attacked, violated, taken away from your home and traumatized – and then living in oppression and having forced suppression in living your life the way you believe you ought to, is an awfully sad and discouraging way to exist.

But then, fortunes are restored. The grieving and lamenting give way to laughter and joy. That feeling of a 500 pound weight on your shoulders is lifted; you now feel light as a feather. And it isn’t only a personal reversal of tangible resources; it’s also a psychological turn around.

The nations frequently mock and ridicule God’s people. They look at the suffering, as if God has abandoned them – or wonder even if there is a God, at all. The thinking of other nations, is that Israel’s God is nothing but a local god who is impotent outside of Judah. Besides, he probably doesn’t care about a bunch of losers anyway, they reason.

Don’t give the other nations a reason to say,
    “Where is their God? Can’t he help them?”
Let us see you punish those people.
    Punish them for killing your servants. (Psalm 79:10, ERV)

But the God of the Bible is no limited territorial being; the Lord is sovereign over all the earth. And this God is able to effect a radical reversal of body, mind, and spirit – even to those other nations. The disrespectful mouths that once mocked are reversed to giving praise to Israel’s God and acknowledging that the Lord has done great things for the people.

This God has both the will and the ability to intervene and effect real change that completely reverses a person’s and even a nation’s life. Once someone has experienced what God can do, they forever know that God can do it again.

One of the things which personally motivates me is that the Lord has changed my life and my fortunes on many occasions – and even used me to help effect a reversal in other people’s lives, as well. So, no matter how bad things get (and sometimes they get awfully darned bad!) I have confidence and trust that a good, merciful, and loving God sees it all, knows it all, and has the power to do something about it. I may have to wait for a while – maybe even an agonizingly long time – yet I am convinced that the same God who restored the fortunes of Israel can reverse my situation, too.

And the change is so wonderfully dramatic, that it’s like a wadi in the desert, a life-giving river that emerges in the bone dry desert, bringing new growth and sustaining animal life, after the rains finally come and reverse the landscape and the environment completely.

We are, however, reminded that a great reversal and a complete restoration does not happen immediately. When the farmer plants in the Spring, it will be months before there is a harvest of crops. It takes time for the seed to germinate, break the soil, and grow into a mature plant, ready for the harvester.

Get-rich schemes rarely work in life, and never really happen in the spiritual life. Renewal, restoration, and a reversal of fortunes is not an instantaneous event, but rather a process that develops and eventually happens. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears go into any meaningful and sustainable process of change. Yet, where there is weeping, the end will be shouts of celebration and joy.

Believers can live expectantly, and fully convinced, that their suffering will eventually give way to glory. Grief and tears will not have the last word; God’s restorative and reversing grace will.

Many of you long for restoration – either for yourselves or for others you love and care about – because you recognize there needs to be a great reversal of fortunes. Advent is the season for waiting, the time for anticipation, knowing that deliverance will come in the form of a baby. And our waiting shall not be in vain.

O Lord our God, accept the fervent prayers of your people; in the multitude of your mercies look with compassion upon us and all who turn to you for help; for you are gracious, O lover of souls, and to you we give glory, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.