Reaching for the Invisible God

Psalm 13

 

 

For over 30 years I loved watching Robin Williams. I loved him in “Mork and Mindy”, “Good Morning Viet Nam”, “Mrs. Doubtfire”, “Good Will Hunting”, “Awakening”… I could go on.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okkhgZim5Ig

When news of his death was announced, tears came to my eyes. He was a year younger than me. He had it all - success, fame, fortune - everything that the world has to offer. But it wasn’t enough, so he committed suicide.

 

How much longer will you forget me, Lord? Forever?
    How much longer will you hide yourself from me?
How long must I endure trouble?
    How long will sorrow fill my heart day and night?
    How long will my enemies triumph over me?           Psalm 13:1-2 GNT

 

Robin no doubt felt much like David did. You may have felt this way yourself. Was it because of a broken relationship? A lost job? The unexpected death of a loved one? Health problems? Depression? Struggling with an addiction? Sometimes, even when everything is going right, God just feels far away. Where is he?

 

Phillip Yancey wrote in Reaching for the Invisible God, “Doubt always coexists with faith, for in the presence of certainty who would need faith at all”. Who indeed? In one way or another, we are all reaching for the invisible God. Robin Williams was. David did. You and I are. But will we find Him?

 

Life happens, and when it does we need to keep moving forward towards God even when we feel like He is not there; even when we feel completely alone. And if we do, then we can pray like David did:

 

I rely on your constant love;
    I will be glad, because you will rescue me.
I will sing to you, O Lord,
    because you have been good to me.     Psalm 13:5-6 GNT

 

Amen.

 

Eeyore or Tigger?

Numbers 14:1-9

Who’s your favorite: Eeyore or Tigger?

 

Have you ever noticed that there are two kinds of people in the world? One sees everything as half empty and the other as half full. In Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore is a half empty kind of guy: “It’s not much of a tail but I’m sort of attached to it”. While Tigger is always bouncing around: “Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo! I almost bounced clear outta the book!”

 

In today’s passage the Israelites are half empty as they respond in despair to the report concerning the Promised Land: “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword?” Sort of sounds like Eeyore doesn’t it?

 

While Joshua and Caleb are half full kind of guys: “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, He will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.”  Do you feel like bouncing with Tigger?

 

How did the other ten spies explore the same land as Joshua and Caleb but came to the totally opposite conclusion? The answer is in the last statement in today’s passage. “The Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them”.

 

There are many examples in the Bible of people who believed and trusted that God would be with them in difficult, if not impossible situations. Moses ran away from Egypt and Gideon was hiding in a winepress when God promised each of them, “I will be with you”. The same promise is true for you and me.

 

Eeyore and Tigger are make believe characters from a fictional children’s book, but they have human traits. Traits that can be seen in people throughout the Bible. Traits that we can see in ourselves.

 

Are you more like Eeyore or Tigger? Or a better question to ask is this; do you see God at work in your life or do you only see the obstacles? Like the Israelites, do you ask God why, or like Joshua and Caleb do you ask God why not?

 

Git-R-Done

Nehemiah 13:23-31

 

 

Daniel Lawrence Whitney, aka “Larry the Cable Guy”, has made a career out of his character with his signature saying of “Git-R-Done”. Larry the Cable Guy is a stage character with blue color routes and a strong southern drawl. He is the kind of guy that, well… gets her done.

 

Nehemiah was that kind of guy too. We have read throughout chapter 13 about many decisions that he made that no doubt made him an unpopular guy, but he accomplished God’s vision. In today’s passage he confronts the issue of parents allowing their sons and daughters to marry outside of the faith. And he does so in a violent manner by cursing them, beating on them and pulling their hair out.

 

Why did he do these things? Why was he so passionate about these laws? We get some insight into this question in the final sentence of the book when he says, “Remember me with favor, my God”. This is a phrase that he repeated three times in chapter 13.

 

Nehemiah is passionate about the Lord and His Word; He is passionate about being faithful to the Living God; He is passionate about the sovereign God of Israel; because he wants God’s favor.

 

Jesus spoke of this also when he told the parable of the bags of gold. The master gave one servant five bags, another two and another one. The two servants who invested their gold received praise and affirmation from the master as he said to them, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

 

Jesus himself received his Father’s affirmation following his baptism when God said, “You are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased”. Personalize this by putting your own name at the beginning of the statement: Joe, you are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.

 

Don’t we all desire that same affirmation from our Heavenly Father? Unconditional love that affirms how much we mean to Him; how much He desires us to be with Him; how much He wants us to be faithful to Him.

 

Therefore, let’s keep our ears and eyes open for opportunities to be faithful to Our Lord. And when they present themselves maybe, just maybe, we’ll hear God say to us, “Git-R-Done”.

 

If you're not Moving Forward, You're going Backwards

Nehemiah 9:32-38

 

Football coaches say stuff like this all the time. This mantra seems to be ingrained into them as they push their players to become better by continually improving. Urban Meyer was recently quoted as saying, “That’s my job – to push”.

 

Leading up to today’s passage, the Levites recounted how God had been faithful to the Hebrews over the centuries. He was always with them and never let them down. However, with all that the Living God did for them, the Israelites were constantly rebelling. They were as consistently inconsistent as God was consistently faithful.

 

Verse 33 says, “In all that has happened to us, you have remained righteous; you have acted faithfully, while we acted wickedly”. Recognizing this, they made yet another promise to God to be faithful to Him.

 

Does that sound familiar to you? It does to me. There have been so many times in my life when I told God, “I’m never going to do that again”, only to turn around and do it again – not just once but over and over. What is it about human nature that does that? More importantly, what can we do to counteract it?

 

In Celebrate Recovery (a Christian twelve-step program at UALC), everyone is encouraged to have a sponsor and/or an accountability partner. That person is there to help push you to improve. But pride keeps us isolated and thinking, “I can do this. I don’t need anyone else”. But we do need others because we can’t change on our own.

 

“Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed”.            James 5:16

 

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”  Galatians 6:2

 

“See to it brothers and sisters that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the Living God, but encourage one another daily so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”             Hebrews 3:12-13

 

God is faithful. He is always with us. But we need someone to push us; to hold us accountable. A coach who will push us to be the best that we can be; to grow in our faith; to move us forward towards, and not go backwards from, our Lord Jesus.

 

Beauty is Only Skin Deep

Ezra 8:1-8

 

 

 

The Temptations released a song by this title in 1966. It’s about a guy who discovers that what is important in a girlfriend is not what she looks like on the outside as much as who she is on the inside.

 

This song presented the same message that Ezra did as he read the Law. He was there to point out to the Israelites that what is on the inside is more important than what is on the outside.

 

On the outside, the Israelites had rebuilt the Temple and the wall around Jerusalem. They had even sacrificed to the Lord when they rebuilt the Temple. On the outside, they looked good, but what about the inside?

 

Luke 7 tells the story of Jesus having lunch with some Pharisees when a prostitute anoints his feet with her tears. Simon, a Pharisee, questions why Jesus would allow someone like this to touch him. The Pharisees were notorious for trying to look good on the outside but ignoring the inside. But here was this woman who was repentant for her sins and as a result, Jesus forgave her and chastised Simon and the others.

 

The saying goes that “Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes all the way to the bone”. We live in a culture that focuses on the outside so much that the inside can easily be ignored. That doesn’t sound all that different from Ezra’s culture or Jesus’ culture.

 

In our world questions are asked like; is our hair right; are we overweight; do we wear the right cloths; do we live in the right suburb? Even good things can become window dressing in an effort to make ourselves look good. Do we have a quiet time; do we go to church every Sunday; do we cuss? There are many misdirected pressures on us that focus on the outside.

 

So we need to ask ourselves the question: Do we look good on the outside, but are ugly to the bone? Or has Jesus changed our heart to focus on who we are on the inside and from there, serve Him by reaching out to others with the Good News?