Tag: spiritual growth

Impatient (Genesis 16:1-6)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Sarai and Hagar, by Cody F. Miller

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”

Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.

When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”

“Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her. (New International Version)

In a convoluted series of decisions, mostly outside of her control, Hagar became pregnant with Abraham’s son. Although it may seem strange to us today, the practice of building a family line through a surrogate – in this case the slave of the household’s mistress Sarai – was not an unusual way of handling infertility in the ancient world.

Yet, things went awry with that approach. God had promised that a son of Abram’s own flesh and blood would inherit the divine covenant. But it wasn’t happening quickly enough for his wife Sarai. And this impatience led to the worldly approach of trying to gain an heir.

Impatience

Throughout Holy Scripture, patience is a virtue, as well as a spiritual practice to be cultivated. Impatience is the ants-in-your-pants response of wanting something now, without all the fuss and effort of planting and cultivating. The inability to wait is the desire for an instant harvest of righteousness.

The spiritual life of patience, however, like every other virtue, requires progressive growth over a long period of time. That is the only way of attaining any sort of spiritual maturity in this life. To go with shortcuts, or ingenious plans for quickness and efficiency, will not end well.

And it only short circuits the spiritual growth and formation of the believer. Like a farm-factory-raised animal who has been given growth hormones to speed things along, the fallout is the mistreatment of creatures – both animal and human – in shortened lifespans and poor quality of life.

Perhaps the original ancestor of Sarai, Eve, also had a bit of impatience in wanting to gain wisdom, now, from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And maybe the original ancestor of Abram, Adam, was okay with letting Eve follow through with an impatient plan.

It could be that both Adam and Abram just wanted to keep their spouses happy; and so, they let them do whatever the heck they wanted in order to keep the peace. It certainly wouldn’t be the only time this ever happened in history.

A commitment to submitting to the process of developing patience is a must – otherwise, the believer will give up and retreat into half-baked ideas for getting what they want, without all the hard work. We also need to realize that patience itself is a great reward, and worth all the energy it takes to possess it.

Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.

James 5:7-8, NIV

What’s more, the effects of impatience are murmuring and complaining to God and others, leading to depression and anxiety. That’s what happened to the ancient Israelites in the desert when it was taking too long to get to the Promised Land:

They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” (Numbers 21:4-5, NIV)

Worldliness

If we give the attainment of patience it’s due attention, then a lot of ungodly worldliness can be avoided. In Holy Scripture, “the world” is many times used not as a reference to the people of the earth, but as an inordinate interest in, concern with, or devotion to the systems, organizations, and institutions of this world that operate by unjust means.

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. (1 John 2:15-17, NIV)

Worldliness, then, is an obstacle to that which is good, right, and just; it is in opposition to and independence from God. In short, worldliness isn’t some sort of sophisticated intelligence, but is a way to get what we want apart from virtue and godliness. But God’s grace can be our teacher to a better way of life:

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Titus 2:11-13, NIV

Conclusion

Patience is one of the hardest lessons in life to learn. Yet, a devotion to becoming skilled in the art of patience, and of forsaking the practice of impatience, can reap both existential and eternal rewards. And it will keep us from going down the path of worldly temptation; and delivered from the machinations of the evil one.

Perhaps with patience, Sarai could have avoided mistreating her servant; and maybe Abram could have stood up and held her accountable. Together, they would eventually embrace faith in it’s fullness and enjoy the blessing of a son from Sarai’s own womb. Yet, today’s Old Testament lesson would always serve as part of their history to learn from. And, thankfully, we can learn from it, as well.

Almighty God, support your people and grant us patience in all our circumstances and miseries.
Lord, when in the midst of trials and temptations, suffering and injustice, give us patience.
When wracked with pain, illness, and lack of sleep, give us patience.
When burdened with afflictions, wonderings, and loneliness, give us patience.
When overcome by fear, and all our spiritual energy is dried up, give us patience.
When distractions grab our attention, bring us back, and grant us patience, O Lord. Amen.

Have Some Spiritual Discernment (Deuteronomy 13:1-5)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Prophet, by Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, 1902

Prophets or interpreters of dreams may promise a miracle or a wonder, in order to lead you to worship and serve gods that you have not worshiped before. Even if what they promise comes true, do not pay any attention to them. The Lord your God is using them to test you, to see if you love the Lord with all your heart. Follow the Lord and honor him; obey him and keep his commands; worship him and be faithful to him. 

But put to death any interpreters of dreams or prophets that tell you to rebel against the Lord, who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves. Such people are evil and are trying to lead you away from the life that the Lord has commanded you to live. They must be put to death, in order to rid yourselves of this evil. (Good News Translation)

It’s a foolish notion that a servant of God can have a moonlighting gig with another god. A shortsighted philosophy believes that worshiping God on the Sabbath allows one to then do whatever they want on the other six days. And a downright deadly act is to become enamored with a miracle and then follow the miracle worker who did it, even though they want nothing to do with devotion to the Lord.

It only takes one bad apple to spoil the whole bushel basket of them. Just one rotten egg in a six egg omelet will ruin the entire thing. And one bad prophet amongst the people will end up destroying the congregation. Evil isn’t something to dabble with; instead, wickedness is something to rid yourself of altogether.

“If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” Jesus (Matthew 5:29-30, NIV)

Jesus declared that believers must take decisive, drastic, and radical action against idolatry. Serving other gods, along with the one true God, requires an amputation. The biblical text of both Testaments leaves us no room to believe that it’s okay to dabble in things that the Lord condemns. And if we think we are not hurting anybody to hold onto such a thought, we very much need to think again.

True prophets and preachers don’t lead people into idolatry, no matter how spectacular their omens, wonders, or miraculous signs. False prophets and preachers exist only to test the sincerity of a believer’s love for the Lord. Israel was to take decisive and radical measures to rid themselves of false gods. Failing to do so would certainly lead to idolatry.

These are the regulations and the case laws that you must carefully keep in the fertile land the Lord, your ancestors’ God, has given to you to possess for as long as you live on that land:

You must completely destroy every place where the nations that you are displacing worshipped their gods—whether on high mountains or hills or under leafy green trees. Rip down their altars and shatter their sacred stones. Burn their sacred poles with fire. Hack their gods’ idols into pieces. Wipe out their names from that place.

Don’t act like they did toward the Lord your God! (Deuteronomy 12:1-4, CEB)

Believers of every era need to learn that the occurrence of supernatural manifestations, and/or wild success in ministry, does not automatically authenticate the prophet or preacher.

Theology always takes precedence over miraculous signs and wonders. A growing church doesn’t necessarily mean that God’s favor rests upon it, anymore than a declining church signals God’s displeasure. This is why we are to never add to or take away from God’s Word to people. (Deuteronomy 12:32)

“It is the nature of false prophets to create a conscience where there is none, and to cause conscience to disappear where it does exist.”

Martin Luther

If Christians are ever invited to disobey and rebel against the words and ways of Jesus, they are to refuse the offer. This, of course, requires actually knowing God’s Word and handling the worship of God and the interpretation of God’s Word with great care, humility, and wisdom.

There are many times that false preachers are quite sincere, believing that they are proclaimers of truth, when they are really leading others astray. We are always to be students of Holy Scripture, consistently discerning the difference between truth and error, right and wrong. Let us be careful to avoid the situation of the believers in the New Testament book of Hebrews:

In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:12-14, NIV)

Let’s be people who take the time and effort to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus; and be patient and humble enough to learn over time what truly pleases the Lord.

Blessed God, give your servant a discerning heart to govern, lead, and teach your people, so that we may all be able to distinguish between right and wrong, doing your divine will and obeying your divine commands, to the glory of Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Follow Me” (John 1:43-51)

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

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Come, follow me.” Philip was from Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter’s hometown.

Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”

“Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

“Come and see for yourself,” Philip replied.

As they approached, Jesus said, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.”

“How do you know about me?” Nathanael asked.

Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.”

Then Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!”

Jesus asked him, “Do you believe this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” Then he said, “I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.” (New Living Translation)

I describe myself as a follower of Jesus. I have been for decades. I found, and continue to find, in Jesus Christ a compelling person full of grace, truth, and love.

But my early life was not characterized with knowing Christ. I certainly learned about Jesus, that this ancient guy lived an altruistic life, got tortured and killed on a cross, and that Christians believe in his resurrection from death. However, back then it was more like some strange history lesson. The information made no difference to me.

That is, until I heard a voice – not an audible one that others could hear. Yet, it was just a real as any daily conversation with another person. I heard the call of Jesus. The Ancient of Days showed up.

I know with every epistemic fiber in my being that it wasn’t an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. I am sure beyond certainty that there was more of an empty grave than gravy about my experience of the risen Christ.

I experienced the call of Jesus to “follow me.” And that is really, at its simplest, the call which continually goes out to all humanity. It is a gracious and merciful call. It isn’t a summons to experience a cataclysmic event of total belief in one fell swoop. Rather, it’s a call to believe that is much more an unfolding awareness of the deep spirituality and connection with the divine within.

Important to that faith process is another call to “come and see.” Whereas there are some Christian traditions which focus solely on a singular one-time experience of saving faith in Christ, the Gospel of John displays a drama of faith with multiple layers which people move through.

There is no egalitarian zap in which God grants total and immediate understanding. Instead, faith is an ever-increasing process. It is appropriate and biblical to say that our salvation has happened, is happening, and will happen. We follow, we come and see, and we keep following, keep coming, keep seeing more and more.

Like a muscle, our faith grows, develops, stretches, and strengthens over time. To use another metaphor, we ascend a stairway to heaven, one step at a time, day after day, following Jesus and ascending to spiritual maturity.

Orthodox icon of Christ calling Philip and Nathanael

Methinks this is likely part of what Jesus was getting at with Nathaniel in today’s Gospel lesson. Nathaniel would have quickly picked up on the reference Jesus was making, way back to the first book of Genesis. The Jewish patriarch, Jacob, had an experience of seeing the angels of God on some celestial stairway, ascending and descending. It was an encounter of God’s presence with Jacob, assuring him of divine intervention into the muck of humanity. (Genesis 28:10-17)

Jesus connected that ancient portrait to himself so that Nathaniel would understand, would believe, that God has again broken into this world with a special divine presence. To look at Jesus and follow him, is to see and follow God.

Christ Jesus is the ultimate example and embodiment of God with us. Throughout John’s Gospel, Jesus presents himself as:

  • Living water – connecting to Jacob’s well (John 4:5-14)
  • The Temple of God – the place where the Lord dwells in all divine fullness (John 2:18-22)
  • Bread from heaven – linking the giving of manna to the Israelites in the desert (Exodus 16:4-7; John 6:1-59)
  • The good shepherd – fulfilling divine Old Testament imperatives of caring for people (Ezekiel 34:11-16; John 10:1-30)

In all these ways, and more, Jesus intentionally connects himself as fulfilling God’s ancient promises to people.

In whichever way we need to hear the call to follow, Jesus accommodates to us. For some, Christ comes knocking on the front door. For others, he enters the side door, or slips into the backdoor of our lives.

And, if we will come and see, Jesus will also accommodate us by being the authority over us, the teacher to us, or the friend beside us. The Lord Jesus shall shepherd us and woo us to the flock for guidance and protection.

However it may be that Jesus comes to you, it most likely will be in ways you aren’t expecting. Surely, nothing good can come from Nazareth! Yet, it did. Can anything good come from Calcutta, India, or Juarez, Mexico, or Hoboken, New Jersey, or Milwaukee, Wisconsin, or even from a small rural area that doesn’t show up on a map? Yes, it can. Because with Jesus, God has entered this world, and, as it turns out, the Lord’s presence is everywhere.

Follow me. Come and see. Two of the simplest exhortations ever uttered. Yet, two of the most gracious phrases ever said, with profound implications for us beyond what we can fathom or imagine.

Guide us waking O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ and asleep we may rest in peace. May the shape of each day be formed by the pedantic following of my Lord; and may I come and see the wonders you have done, are doing, and will do. Almighty and merciful God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – bless us and keep us. 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.