Holding on to Him...

Reading in the book of Deuteronomy the other day, I came to a part where, in just one sentence, Moses gave the people of Israel a wealth of instructions for being the people of God. In Deuteronomy 13 vs 4, he tells them to: 

• follow the Lord your God and Him alone
• revere (honour and respect) Him
• obey Him (and keep His commands)
• serve Him
• and hold fast to Him

I think it's that last factor on the list that really places us in the realm of relationship, rather than religion. Anyone can follow rules; we can obey and serve an employer that we have no friendship with; we can revere and admire a celebrity that we've never even met. But we can only "hold fast" to someone that we care about and whose friendship we don't want to let go of.

I remember, when I was leaving South Africa in 2007, that Song of Songs 3:4 was very meaningful to me. When the girl speaks of her Beloved, she calls him, "the one my heart loves" and when she searches for him and finds him, she says, "I held on to him and would not let him go." I was in a season of transition where I had lost many things, and was recognising that there were others I would need to let go of. But the one thing I could never lose, the one thing that would go with me wherever I went, and the one thing that I wanted to hold on to more than anything else in the world was my love relationship with Jesus.

Amidst good times and bad, how firmly are we holding on to Him? Is He more precious to us than work, than other people, than things… ? As true Christians, it's second best for us simply to obey His commands (even though Jesus did say, "If you love me, you will obey my teaching." John 14:23) As Moses told the  Israelites thousands of years ago, we also need to "hold on" to God. The Hebrew verb in Songs 3: 4 is áchaz - which translates the idea of clinging tightly to someone or something. In Deuteronomy 13:4, it's even more active: the verb dábaq is not only about holding on to what you already have, but also has the sense of "to pursue hard" and to grasp hold of even more. I want to pursue God in that sort of way, and hold on tightly to my relationship with Him.

In the previous post (see below) I was reflecting on the importance of holding on to joy. Surely the most important aspect of this is our holding on to God Himself, because the Bible tells us that there is fullness of joy in His presence and that His joy will be our strength.

Holding on to joy...

It was still dark when I woke up this morning - perhaps because I was eager to get to my early morning doctor's appointment and finally find out the reason for the terrible shoulder and upper arm pain that's been plaguing me for the past seven weeks. Or perhaps it was because my throbbing shoulder had already disturbed me several times in the night, and this was just another wake up call.

For some reason, this got me thinking about the importance of waking up to joy, and finding all the reasons for laughter in our day to day lives.  I think I've been conscious for some time now, probably for a number of years, that I wake up in the morning and often my first thought of the day is how much pain I'm in. It's been twelve years now since I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia, and I've got used to the fact that the pain and stiffness are usually at their worst in the morning. But whenever I catch myself waking up to pain, I can't help thinking what a contrast this is to my earlier years in Cape Town, when I was more conscious of waking up to joy. I'd wake up with a sense of anticipation for the day, of thankfulness for the beauty of our setting, or just a smile because one of the dogs had nudged me awake with her nose.  It's not that I'm not thankful for life in Spain, for the warm climate and the beauty of the setting…. I'm just aware of the danger that the physical pain could eclipse everything else and begin to steal my joy.

So that's what prompted my early morning Bible reading today in a variety of passages that speak about laughter and joy. Often what brings back our lost joy is the awareness that God has intervened and done something big for us. In Genesis 21:6, when her son was born, the elderly Sarah said, "God has brought me laughter and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me." In Psalm 126, the returning exiles say, "Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy."

Joy and laughter are often the product of a breakthrough or a turnaround, an awareness that God has done great things for us. Of course, who of us cannot say that the Lord has done great things for us? He loves us and showers us with blessings every day. But what happens when a breakthrough hasn't come and the longed for "great things" haven't happened yet? How do we hold on to joy and laughter, even in those sorts of circumstances? Psalm 126 also contains promises for the "waiting times." Verses five and six tell us that those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.

There are times in life, though, when our painful circumstance is one that might not change at all. What is our response when life seems full of "sowing in tears" and we don't particularly have a guarantee that a miracle or a breakthrough is around the corner? I think that what we are sowing is still important, and is a key to whether we maintain joy in our lives. Am I sowing thankfulness, for example, and expressing my thanks to God for his many blessings in my life? Am I sowing encouragement, and speaking uplifting things into the lives of others?

It's ironic that physical pain can be one of the things that steals our joy, because the Bible tells us that laughter and joy can have a positive effect on our physical wellbeing. See, for example, Proverbs 17:22, which tells us that a joyful heart works good healing like a medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones. So when pain threatens to break our spirit, we need to be vigilant and surround ourselves with things that bring joy and laughter. It might be family or friends; it might be a hobby or something else we enjoy doing.

Strange as it sounds, I've realised that pets are one of those things for me. Yes, it can be a hassle to have to find pet sitters when you travel for ministry or outreach, but my cats do bring joy and laughter into my life. That's why I joke with friends that one of my dreams is to have a dog again by my sixtieth birthday. Some respond by saying, "When you're sixty; how could you possibly wait that long?" while others say, "How could you possibly have a dog? It doesn't fit with your lifestyle or your travels." The occasional smart guy will joke, "I hear they train assistant dogs to help physically decrepit people!" But when I think about the joy factor involved, I realise that having a dog again one day might not be just an indulgence, but could very well turn out to be a weapon of spiritual warfare.

Friendships are another thing that brings joy into my life, as are nature, the beauty of creation and being in a climate with lots of warm, sunny days. Travel was always something I enjoyed too… although in recent years I've been aware that this has turned into something that also brings physical challenges with it.

So, on a day like today when, eager to find out what's wrong with my shoulder, I sat in the doctor's waiting area for more than half an hour before realising that I'd actually been too eager and my appointment is only for tomorrow…. I can either laugh at myself, or I can allow the throbbing pain to make me cry. I think I have a renewed understanding of why people say it's possible to choose joy… because joy isn't the same as happiness, isn't the same as an easy life, isn't the same as freedom from pain or difficulty. Joy is something deeper; it's a deep sense of security that comes from knowing that "God has done great things for us," from a heart attitude of thankfulness, from an ability to strengthen ourselves in the Lord, and from learning to surround ourselves with the people and things that brighten our day.

If it's true that the joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10) then the only way we can stay strong for the long haul is if we have learned to draw on God's help, especially in the challenging times of life, to choose joy and to major on the things that bring laughter, strength and positivity into our lives.

An encouraging experiment...

Our house was the setting for an interesting experiment last weekend. My Peruvian friend and former housemate asked me if I would be able to look after her two 3-month old puppies for four days while she made a short trip to Madrid. Of course, my house has been a dog-free zone since the kittens were born six years ago, and all three cats have been known to make a variety of strange sound effects whenever I bring a dog into the house, even if only briefly. Even though Ada and Gabriela's puppies were still smaller than the cats, I was interested to see what the reaction would be to having canines in the home around the clock. (cont'd below)

Well, the good news is that the experiment was quite successful. Yes, there was some hissing at the beginning; yes, the puppies took a couple of days to learn that you need to respect cats and watch from a distance, rather than jumping all over them….  But by the fourth day, a new tolerance had set in, and my canines and felines were co-existing in relative harmony. Glimmers of hope that one day, several years from now, my by then elderly cats might accept a new puppy as part of the family. Until then, they seem pretty happy that our home is a canine-free zone again.

Finishing well...

With twenty one years of LDC (leadership development courses) behind us, the term "finishing well" is a very familiar one to us, a phrase that we use regularly. One of the main goals of LDC is to help slightly older leaders to finish the race well, and not burn out on the way or fall into some of the pitfalls that can so easily trip up Christian leaders. It's amazing to think that, back when LDCs started, there was relatively little literature written about this topic. Many books had been written about getting started with God and growing as a disciple…. but few writers had tackled the topic of "growing old in God" and continuing to be fruitful to the end. 

That has changed in recent years. A spate of scandals in the 1990s - with TV evangelists embezzling finances or running off with their secretary - made the whole world aware that how you finish is even more important than how you were at the start, and who you are on the inside is even more important than how you or your ministry look on the outside. 

My attention was caught recently by the title of a book: “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction.” I haven’t read the book, so I can’t tell you what it’s about, but the title sums up for me much of what our journey with God is like: we keep doing the last thing that God said, irrespective of whether it is glamorous or exciting or full of variety. A lot of life is simply about being obedient, day after day; doing the same things, making the same right choices and continuing on the lifelong journey to finishing well.

My teenage journals contain insights from my early years of  Bible reading. Things like, “Delayed obedience is disobedience,” and “Partial obedience is disobedience.” Today I’m wondering about a new principle for that list: "Short obedience... interrupted obedience.... abandoned obedience is disobedience." Some people walk away from obedience because of temptation or because it’s proving to be too costly. Others don’t deliberately turn their backs on obedience, but simply drift slowly from it or stop somewhere along the wayside.

So it's not surprising that the Bible is full of principles for finishing well. The topic was always an important one in God's eyes, even before it caught the attention of modern authors. Yet a short study of well known Bible characters reveals the shocking statistic that fewer than a third of them actually finished well and served God faithfully to the very end.

I wonder if that statistic is higher or lower in the 21st Century. When you look at our modern world, you'll quickly see that the prevailing attitude is one of giving up when things get tough, and generally opting to choose the easiest and most comfortable path in life. Exercise requires discipline and so we allow ourselves to get unfit. Dieting is hard work and so we remain overweight. Working through conflicts is tiring and so we change church, opt for divorce or back off from a friendship. Learning a new skill (a language, a musical instrument, a craft....) calls for hours of practice and so we give up before we really become proficient. Following a dream or vision requires courage and perseverance, and so we prefer to remain on the safe ground of wishful thinking.

Giving up sewing or saxophone may not have a huge impact on our life in the long term (other than adding to a track record of not finishing well) but walking away from our marriage, becoming passive about our diet and exercise, or not being intentional enough in our “long obedience” to God can completely alter the course of our destiny.

The Bible writers never pretended that running the race of life would be easy. Instead they left us with encouragements like these ones:
Galatians 6: 9 Let us not lose heart and become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Hebrews 12: 1 - 3 Let's run the race with our eyes fixed on Jesus, so that we don't become weary and give up. 

At the end of his life, the apostle Paul was able to say, “I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.” 2 Tim 4:7  Finishing well doesn’t start when we’re old (although it’s never too late to begin.) More usually, it’s the result of a whole lifetime of obedience in the same direction.

Be excellent...

If you’re around my age, you may have gone through primary school at a time when teachers gave children coloured, silver or gold stars for good work. They would write little comments in your notebook, iike, “good” or “very good,” or even “excellent.”  Every child knew that there was a difference between good and excellent; everyone hoped that their work would be worthy of a gold star. Even a child, then, can understand what the Bible means when it tells us in Romans 16: 19 to, “Be excellent in what is good.”

Sometimes, when you’re speaking with non believers, or even when speaking with Christians, you’ll hear people say, “I live a good life” or, “I’m a good person.” That’s all very well, but what sometimes gets forgotten is that God never asked us simply to be good; He asks us to be outstanding, to be excellent.

Amidst the stories of many evil kings in the Old Testament, the first two verses of 2 Chronicles 25 tell us about a man called Amaziah who reigned in Jerusalem for 29 years and who did what was good. Yes, for nearly three decades, this king did what was right in God’s eyes... but verse 2 tells us honestly that he didn’t do it with his whole heart. Amaziah was good, but he wasn’t outstanding; he wasn’t excellent.

In contrast, we read in Numbers 14: 24 about a man who was outstanding. God Himself said that Caleb had a different spirit from those around him and was following the Lord wholeheartedly. That’s what he was known for. It’s mentioned again when Caleb, even as an old man of eighty five, was not willing to settle only for a good and comfortable life, but raised his sights higher and aimed for excellence. (Joshua 14: 10 - 14)

Excellence. Holiness. That’s what’s on God’s heart for us. When we read the New Testament with this understanding, we’ll notice that the Bible doesn’t simply ask us to be thankful; it asks us to be thankful in all circumstances. We’re not only exhorted to be joyful, but to be joyful always. We’re not instructed just to pray now and then, but to pray continually. In addition to holding on to what is good, we are to avoid every kind of evil. (1 Thess 5: 16 - 22)  It’s only when our lives are outstanding, that other people around us can truly see the difference that God makes. We can’t do it alone, but only by asking for the Holy Spirit’s power to work within us. It’s not enough, like Amaziah, to be a “good person.” By God’s grace, we can be people of excellence.

When things turn out different from expected...

This morning in my daily Bible reading, I was reflecting on two stories whose protagonists found themselves confronted by situations that simply weren't what they'd been expecting. It's interesting to observe the reactions of these different Bible characters, and to consider what my own reaction would be like in similar circumstances.

The first story was in the New Testament, in John chapter 11, and it begins with the news that Jesus' dear friend, Lazarus, is critically ill. When the Son of God and Creator of the Universe happens to be a close and personal friend of yours, I'm sure you expect that He will come immediately and perform a miraculous healing. But that's not what happened. Some verses later, we discover that Lazarus has died and his two sisters are left grappling with the question of why Jesus failed to show up.

Have you ever been in that situation? You've been praying for healing and it didn't happen; you were trusting for financial provision and it looks as if it's not going to come in time; your longed for pregnancy ended in miscarriage or your fairytale marriage ended in divorce; your talented teenager gets caught up with drugs, drops out of school or is diagnosed with leukaemia….  How do you respond when life deals you a blow that is totally not what you were expecting or hoping for?

The second story I read this morning was in the Old Testament and was the story of a remarkable teenage boy. Daniel's life turned out completely differently from what he expected. As an intelligent boy from a wealthy family, he had a bright future ahead of him…. but Daniel was stripped of absolutely everything - everything but his faith in God - when he and his people were carried off as slaves by Babylonian invaders. Instead of becoming bitter or sinking into a victim mentality, this godly teenage boy chose to hang on to his belief that God is ultimately in control and that He is not thwarted by the hard blows that life deals us. Daniel began to look for his new destiny - for God's purposes in his new situation. Later, as an old man (Daniel 7: 13 - 14), he had a vision of the throne room of God, a confirmation that God does have authority over all nations and all situations. 

(This is not the same as saying that everything that happens is God's will. We live in a fallen world and lots of things happen that God would not have planned or desired for us. But God is not thrown off balance by the unexpected; even when He has reasons for not intervening immediately, like Jesus in the Lazarus story, He is keeping a close eye on our situations and never at any time is He helpless or taken by surprise.)

So, what about you and me? What do we do when confronted with situations and circumstances that were not at all what we were expecting? The circumstances may be different: illness or accident, loss or bereavement, injustice or crisis… Have you ever experienced something like that? I can clearly remember two times in my life when things didn't turn out as I'd been expecting; didn't turn out as God seemed to be leading me.  People throughout the Bible (Joseph, Esther, Jeremiah…) and throughout history (a whole host of victims of war, disease and natural disasters….) have been in this position too.

Do we blame God, blame other people, or sink into self-pity? Do we struggle with questions of why God didn't intervene to heal or rescue or provide? Or do we, like Daniel, Joseph and Esther, push into God, seeking His redemption of the unexpected, His purposes in the new and unfamiliar, and His guidance for our own part in it. Daniel, Joseph and Esther are all teenagers when we first meet them in the pages of the Bible. Yet each one of them had sufficient faith in God to rise above life's blows and find out God's ways of giving them grace and victory. Mary and Martha still reached out to Jesus, despite their confusion and disappointment at the death of their brother… and they were witnesses to an amazing resurrection.

When we focus on Jesus and His power, instead of on our outward circumstances, we still may not have all the answers, but we will begin to see life from a throne room perspective. That's why the Bible says that God wants to "seat us with Him in the heavenlies" so that we can see things they way He does. (Ephesians 2:6)

When Joseph reached middle age, he was able to say, "People planned evil against me, but God turned it into good. (Genesis 50:20) When Daniel reached old age, he was able to proclaim, "All authority is given to the Son of Man, and nothing can destroy His kingdom's rule." (Daniel 7:14)

I want to look at my life's circumstances from that throne room perspective. Dealing with the unexpected will never be "easy"… but we can have have God's strength and grace to face any situation that life throws at us.

Summer service

Summer is a time when a big chunk of our church congregation (those who are year-round missionaries here in Spain) often head home to the US or the UK to visit their sending churches. Meanwhile a brand new group (those coming to Spain for summer outreach in our church's English Camp) arrives to swell the numbers  at our Sunday services again. This year we're hosting outreach teams from New York and Oregon, and we have forty local children and teenagers enrolled in our two weeks of English Camp.

Those of us who remain in Malaga for most of the summer usually end up recruited into service as plant-waterers and animal-carers for the families who have gone overseas. This month I'm checking up on my friends' cat, Luci, and yesterday I was also on "puppy duty" for my former housemates, who were going to the beach for Gabriela's birthday, and didn't want to leave their brand new tiny puppies alone in the house all day.