Things don’t happen by chance

The Birth of Jesus Matthew 1:18–25

Calling to God Psalm 4, 5, 22

Proverbs 2

The readings today remind me of the intentionality that is God. Things don’t happen by chance with Him…

In Proverbs 2: 1-5 are all about if you do “x” (ask for discernment, cry for understanding, seek wisdom, etc) then you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God. If you choose to go after God, seek His ways, pursue Him, then He will meet you. It doesn’t happen by chance. The Psalms for today prove exactly that: the psalmist continually pursues God.

Today’s reading also covers Jesus’ birth—this one so did not happen by chance!! Joseph and Mary did not name Jesus, God did… hehe God named Himself: Saviour, God with us. God was in Jesus; Jesus was God. Poor Mary and Joseph had no idea what they were getting into. They simply believed and followed. It wasn’t easy: Mary was most likely judged and Joseph had to take an angel’s word on his future wife’s virginity. They both allowed God to shape them and guide them as they became an integral part to one of the biggest, if not the biggest, schemes in human history. Again, they had no idea what they were getting into.

Today I was asked if I could explain why I was a Christian without including my background as part of the answer (in other words without saying that I’m a Christian simply because I was born into a Christian family and that was the thing to do). I am a Christian because I want to be shaped by the God who came to earth and said that the greatest commandments are to love the Lord entirely and to love your neighbor as yourself. That is His heart. I know that all theology doesn’t always point that way and that God doesn’t provide the answers all the time. The harsh reality is that God doesn’t owe us any answers.

Pastor Judah once said something that stuck with me: God does not give us all the answers, but He gives us all of Himself... is that not enough?

I want this to be enough so that I can move and use my life for something bigger than me. I want to be intentional about this decision. I want my faith to be so simple that if God told me something as crazy as “You are to be pregnant as a virgin,” I would simply believe and follow through.

God's Blessing

Reading for today:

Jesus Foretold; Isaiah 53

Psalms of Blessing: 67,72, 84, 128

Proverbs 1

God, I pray that I may hear what you have to say and increase in learning. Make me a person of understanding so that I may acquire wise council. Give me a healthy fear of you so that I may gain your knowledge. Amen. (Proverbs 1)

Psalms 84 has always been one of my favorites. I am currently sitting on the porch of my new home and the rain is falling all around me… it’s beautiful. Psalms 84 feels very appropriate as the author says, “How lovely are your dwelling places, o Lord of hosts! My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God…” I love how simple beauty makes me feel closer to God. The Psalm continues to say, “O Lord of hosts, how blessed those who trusts in you!” (v 12)… I pray that I can learn to simply trust.

Sometimes I worry that God might give up on me… I make the same mistake too many times and face the same sins so often that I wonder if I really mean it when I ask Him for forgiveness. When I finally do face His presence again though, I realize that I haven’t given up on myself yet and this makes me hope that since He is way more patient and knowing than I am, He must not give up either—Does that make any sense?

I worry, then I read versus like Isaiah 53:6; “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” Jesus took on all our sins. It’s a simply Sunday School lesson, but the full realization of what this means continues to impact me. He took on every single sin: the stupid sins, the ignorant sins, the stubborn sins. Isaiah 53 reminds us Jesus grew like a tender shoot, like a root out of parched ground… he didn’t look anything special and he was well acquainted with sorrows and grief. But God was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand…. The realization of how much Jesus did and who he is and was is not something we will ever fully understand here on earth, but I love how it is revealed more and differently to me every year: Jesus’ love.

I get so caught up on my problems and worries and sins… I pray that the closer I get to God, the more He will be able to bless me, and through me, bless others. I pray that I will learn to be more selfless and less afraid. I am so thankful that I am not in this alone.

Short Intermission

Since I actually do not have internet access at my house and will not have it until school starts, I will wait to update this blog on a daily basis when I start the 1st 30 day journey on September 27th, 2010.

I attached a couple pictures of Seattle just to show how beautiful it is (not very summery, but beautiful non-the-less :).

Day#3: Betting everything on the hope of eternity

I had the craziest dream last night. One of those dreams that when you wake up you just need to go back to sleep to finish it! It was action and adventure and love and sacrifice, every component a good story must have. When I woke up to the real world, I felt cheated. All my loved ones where in my dream, all in one physical place at the same time, pursuing the same adventure. We were all together.

To help me deal with heartache and separation (past and future), God has made heaven more and more tangible to me as years go by. He has made me realize that someday I will be together with everyone I love and that when that happens it will be for eternity. A quote that always reminds me of this is one used by the Pastor of City Church: “True faith means holding nothing back; it bets everything on the hope of eternity.”

I am betting my life and my heart on the hope of eternity. God knows this and He respects it by helping me stay in perspective. He reminds me that:

"Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely." (The Message translation of I Corinthians 13:12)

Shema Yisrael Adonai eloheinu Adonai ehad

Shema “hear” in Hebrew

Deut 6:4-9

“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead, and you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

My roommate and I have recently decided to make a Mezuzah and place it on the doorpost of our room to serve us as a constant reminder of God’s place in our lives. It’s amazing to me how quickly I can forget about being intentional and place Him first.

Over the summer, God’s law has been brought to my attention over and over. I have been reminded of its power and importance. I have always embraced and understood GRACE, but LAW has taken back seat importance. I mean I do my “best” to keep the commandments and to treat all with love and respect, but I never fully grasped the beauty of the Law. (note: when I say the Law, I mean it in it’s most basic form: the 10 Commandments and the Shema, I’m not scholarly enough to mean anything else J).

Reading through Nehemiah and the account of when the book of the Law is found by Ezra (chapters 8-9) has impacted me. They found the book and it changed their lives. they read and fell to their knees in worship and confession of sins. C.S. Lewis explains more about their reaction: “Their delight in the law is a delight in having touched firmness; like the pedestrian’s delight in feeling the hard road beneath his feet after a false shortcut has long entangled him in muddy fields… the Law is undefiled… the Law gives light, it is clean and everlasting, it is sweet. no one can improve on this.” The Law=luminous, severe, disinfectant… the Law’s beauty, sweetness, or preciousness arose in contrast of surrounding Paganisms.”

I forget that though GRACE is the beautiful concept I will primarily live my life by, the Law helps me make sure I keep a straight walk in the things that I don’t understand or don’t automatically do. It helps me better understand the ultimate commandments: “You will love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind… and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Matt. 22:37-40)

Oh, and starting September 27^th, my first day back at school, I will begin a 30-day devotional journey, following a reading plan that focuses on the life of Jesus as well as going through the Psalms and Proverbs. I am planning to update it each morning by putting up what is the daily reading and one or two things that stood out in it to me. Join me.

Until then I’m going to simply focus on getting ready for school to start and finish some of the devotional paths I’ve taken over the summer. Till that Monday there will be no concise plan to follow in this blog so if you’re waiting for structure I’d recommend to wait until two Mondays from now. J

Day #1: Enoch Walked with God

If my gravestone legacy could be as simple as Enoch’s I would die knowing I accomplished everything in life. Enoch teaches us an important lesson: Life is walking with God, and nothing else.

I still haven’t decided what exactly I’m going to do with this blog, but I’m starting it anyways—please bear with me as I play it out.

Walking—it is a choice. It is a simple action. But sometimes it takes all our effort and faith to continue doing so. God gave me a vision once of what my life looked like. It was the picture of me walking, but surrounded by fog. As he revealed more of the vision, I realized that I was actually walking on water, not on solid ground. Not only could I not see where I was going, but I was also moving forward on very precarious territory. It took most of my faith to stand on such a surface, much less to move forward into the unknown fog. It seems I’ve never really known what I have signed up for with God, I just take faith steps hoping He stays in control.

So much of life is like this. We use so much of our energy simply to stand, that we can’t even imagine moving forward. Moving forward is scary (or exciting, depending on our perspective of the moment) and it’s hard because we don’t always know what we’re moving into. We have to trust that God actually does have a plan for our life and that by dedicating ourselves to Him we are actually depending on someone with a greater purpose who knows better than we do what in the world is going on here on earth.

Psalms 131 talks about how I should not “involve myself in things too difficult for me.” I am to “compose and quite my soul: like a weaned child rests against his mother, my soul is like a weaned child within me.” I am to “hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever.” As I walk on I need to realize that staying above water is actually impossible for me to do without God. The more I try to preoccupy myself with things that are not God, the trickier it gets to stay afloat. All I can do is focus on simply remaining close to God, and then walk. He knows where I’m going even if I do not.

I loose my focus; I get worried—about my future, about my career, about my heart, about understanding God’s heart, about those I love. I forget about “the simplicity and purity of devotion” that is in Christ (2 Cor. 11:3).

There will be things that will catch my breath unexpectedly in life. There will be curveballs and bends in the road. All I can do is stay afloat and walk.

Walking = to move in God = to know God = to be near enough to Him that I can take the next step knowing I am covered in His blessing.

The World is a Beautiful Place: Staring Italy

Pisa and Florence

The World is a Beautiful Place: Staring the UK

Scotland: Edinburgh

Ireland: Dingle and Dublin

England: Lake District, Oxford, Cambridge, Stratford, London