August 2009

Scripture

¹⁴ She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. ¹⁵ “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”

She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”

¹⁶ “Mary!” Jesus said.

She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”). (John 20:14-16)

Observation

Imagine this scene: Mary is upset because she just watched a very good friend, the man who saved her from a life of prostitution, suffer brutality and die a painful death.  She went to put spices on his body, and probably to talk to him in private as we sometimes do at peoples’ headstones.  He wasn’t there.  Now she’s doubly upset.  She’s probably looking at the ground trying to hide her swollen eyes.  As she turns to leave the tomb, her shoulder bumps someone.  She probably doesn’t even look up, or if she does, she sees the man through a haze of tears, wet hair, and internal anguish.  She doesn’t expect it to be Jesus.   She pleads with the man to tell her where he has taken the body.  It isn’t until he says her name and speaks to her that she recognizes who it really is and turns to him with joy.

Application

I love this little scene.  It is a scene that I believe is played out many times in all of our lives.  Some circumstance in our lives gets us down.  We are in dispair.  We look, but do not see, our surroundings.  We live inside our self pity and see everything through darkly painted glasses.  When we do look, we expect to see more suffering, more pain.  We are not looking for goodness and so we do not see it.  Then a common person bumps shoulders with our daily existance.  Someone we are not expecting to see.  Maybe an acquaintance we barely know, or the lady behind the counter at the grocery store, or a man in recovery at church, or a bum on the bus.  They are commonplace in our lives; people we pay little attention to.  They are “just the gardener.”  We may project our anger on that person.  We think this person must in some way have contributed to our suffering.  What we do not realize is this person was sent by God to be an encouragement, to be a light in the darkness, to be His representative in our dark lives.

When Jesus speaks to us through His sent one, we can choose to turn and embrace Him with joy like Mary did or we can continue to brush past Him with head down lost in our own world of despair.

Prayer

Lord, often times I pray that I will be an encouragement to those who need a touch from You.  Many, many more times I have been encouraged and blessed by the most unlikly sources.  Thank-you for sending me your angels.  Help me to always see You when You call my name.  Forgive me the times when I have been so absorbed in my own pain that I fail to look up and see You calling out to me.

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I am going to try to write a post from my Blackberry. Hope it looks okay.

Scripture: They think the Lord will do nothing to them, either good or bad.So their property will be plundered, their homes will be ransacked. They will build new homes but never live in them. (Zephaniah 1:12)

Observation: Here is another example of people who do not believe they need God. How many times have we heard people speak flippantly about God; as if they know about Him but don’t believe He is relavant in their lives.

Application: The Israelites were founded BY God. THey were His own special people, yet when they did not have hardships because God blessed them, they were quick to push Him aside until He was inconsequential in their lives. What we have done is no different. We live in the most blessed nation in the world. As generations come and go, we have moved from total dependance on God to flippancy about His very existance. Most of us will say we believe in a higher power, but cannot say that it has any real effect on how we live our lives. What does it take to turn a nation back to God? For Israel, it took disaster, calamity, sorrow and profound loss. Then they would turn to God and ask for His help. I hope it doesn’t take that to get us to turn away from our own provision to God.

Prayer: Lord God, I can see the Israelites sin so plainly because it happened do long ago. Please help me to see my own sin and be able to turn to You. Help us as a nation to find you again. I prauy that there does not have to be a great calamity before thid happens. I love you, Lord, and I know that whatever happens, You are sovereign and Your ways are just.

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Scripture

³ They say to the people, ‘Is it not a good time to build houses? This city is like an iron pot. We are safe inside it like meat in a pot.’(Ezekiel 11:3)

Observation

The Israelites would put meat in an iron pot to keep animals from eating it and to slow the decay.  Ezekiel was sent by God to tell his own people that destruction was coming because of their sin.  At that time, there was no indication of the suffering to come.  The people were told by their leaders that they were safe.  The economy was great!  “Go ahead and build your houses, plan for a long future here; nothing can harm us.”  The atmosphere felt safe.  Why would they need to repent and change?  Things were fine the way they were.  Ezekiel was a crazy old kill-joy.

What did God say to this?

¹¹ No, this city will not be an iron pot for you, and you will not be like meat safe inside it. I will judge you even to the borders of Israel, ¹² and you will know that I am the Lord. For you have refused to obey my decrees and regulations; instead, you have copied the standards of the nations around you.” (Ezekiel 11:11)

Application

Does this sound familiar?  Why were these people so hard to reach?  Because they did not need anything.  Their life was moving along just fine, thank-you, why should they listen to a crazy old man tell them bad things were going to happen?  Why should our friends and family listen to us when we tell them they need Jesus in their lives?  We have everything we need here in our blessed America!  Life is good.  Sure, there are small signs that things are falling apart, but it doesn’t affect our lives directly, so shut-up and leave us alone.

I am glad I am not called to be Ezekiel to America!  So, what can I do?  What am I called to do?  What will bring my friends to their knees in worship to God before it is too late?  I know this will sound mundane but here it goes:  Kindness.   There is a wonderful song that says, “It’s your kindness, Lord, that leads us to repentance.”  How true this is.  If I treat everyone in my life as I would treat Jesus, I am HIS representative here to a people dying in their abundance.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank-you for allowing me to live in a land of plenty.  Thank-you that we do not feel hunger or thirst or extreme heat or cold.  There are so many places in this world I could have been born.  Help me to always remember how much I need You.  Help me to present You to people that need you in a way that is kind.  Help me to be Your representative.

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