Hebrews 10:36
“For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.”
I started jogging when we lived in Chatsworth,CA., about 1975. The girls were small and we had just moved to the Los Angeles area from Dallas. I learned to love to run in the late afternoon after a full day in the office.
I normally got to the ministry office about 7 a.m. and tried to get home around 4 or 4:30. Whether I was at home or on the road, jogging was something that I could do if I was in the city or in a foreign country. After a busy day I looked forward to getting outside and running for 30 or 40 minutes. Jogging helped me relax and clear my head from a day full of meetings or just old-fashioned busyness!
Jogging doesn’t require a lot of equipment. A good pair of jogging shoes, a pair of socks, a pair of shorts and a tee shirt and I was ready. Oh, yes, there was one other piece of equipment: my trusty $15 Timex sports watch…I loved that little watch, and still have it, because they had named it Ironman and when I put that watch on, that was me!
At home, I liked to run a predetermined route and I always had several paths of different lengths that I could follow, depending upon how I felt. I would warm up and start jogging, and then make my decision as to which route I would take…the two-mile route, the three-mile, etc.
As I was finishing my run, a strange discussion would take place in my head. Up ahead I would see the invisible finish line that meant I had completely run my path. My mind would start cajoling me with little statements like, “There’s the finish line; you can stop running now and walk the rest of the way.” Or, “You’re getting too old for this; your heart is pounding, you are sweating, your legs are tired. You can quit now; you don’t have to run the last 200 or 300 yards!” Or, “There’s nobody around. Who will know if you quit now? What difference does it make?” Almost every day during the last few minutes, the last half mile was always the hardest to do. I ran consistently for nearly 23 years and true to form, my mind never gave up trying to convince me to quit early, to slow down just before I got to the finish line.
When Paul was writing to Timothy, his son in the Gospel, in 2 Timothy 4:7, Paul says:
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
Paul knew that his life was nearly complete as he penned these words to this young man he loved so much. I think one of the things very much on his mind was the satisfaction that he did not quit short of the goal. He didn’t stop running the race a half mile early just because there was no one to witness him going across the finish line. However, Paul knew that wasn’t true: At least two would know…he would know and God would know the commitment he had made to finish and to finish well.
I am indebted to our long-time friend, David Wilkerson, for a very brief chapter that he wrote nearly 40 years ago in a little devotional-style book entitled I’M NOT MAD AT GOD. In a chapter entitled “The Faith of Giants,” David writes, “Can a man still speak the language of faith when all his leadings ‘blow up’ in his face? The giants of faith did! Men of faith faced the most fiery trials. God has peculiar ways of developing faith, and the deeper in God you go, the more peculiar will be your testing. Do not think that afflictions are necessarily proof that you are displeasing Him! Miracles are produced only amidst impossibilities. The most critical part of faith is ‘the last half hour.’”
God wants us to finish the race well. No one said it is going to get any easier. With the Apostle, I want to be able to say, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
The hardest part of faith is the last half mile but we do not run alone!
(Originally published March 2006)
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
A STARTLING DISCOVERY
(Disclaimer: Those of you who didn’t like the book The Shack probably won’t like this article either. I’m okay with that! As a friend, I will defend to the death your right to be wrong.)
The following begins with a story. I have purposely left out names to protect the guilty!
Going into a church the other day, I accidentally discovered a group of very small people. I’m not sure if they were pygmies or midgets, but there seemed to be quite a few of them.
Here’s what happened! I wasn’t trying to be clumsy but sometimes I just am, and I tripped over something I didn’t see. When I looked down to see what got in my way, well, I can’t tell you how surprised and embarrassed I was when I realized that I had tripped over a person, a little person. I mumbled my apology and moved on and took my seat. Looking around, I realized that there were little people scattered throughout the church crowd. It was a veritable invasion—where in the world could all these little folks have come from?
Believe it or not, Moses faced the same situation when he led the Jews through the wilderness. What should have been a couple months’ journey ended up taking 40 years (talk about a slow train—this one was a beaut for being slow). Moses took the nation to the edge of the Jordan but before they crossed over, the patriarch followed God’s instructions to send a group of twelve spies across the Jordan and into the Promised Land.
Off went Joshua, Caleb and ten others (fortunately we don’t know much about the rest because they went in as men and came out as midgets). I can hear derision rising among some of my family and friends now as they begin to think, “David is finally displaying the onset of the crippling disease known as Charismatic Space Loopiness.” Well, hang on before you pronounce me incurable.
When the twelve spies came back, only Joshua and Caleb were pumped up and ready to go. These two recognized the challenges that the nation faced and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able…” (Numbers 13:30 NKJV).
The other ten declared that the Jews could not secure the country and defeat the enemy. They declared that they would be lunch for the hostile forces arrayed against them. Further, they declared that all the enemy soldiers were giants and they themselves were little people in the face of the enemy. “We were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight” (Numbers 13:33 NKJV). The unbelief of the ten hindered the progress of Israel and lifted God’s blessing for them to enter the Promised Land at this time. It would be years before God would allow them to cross over into the fullness of what God had prepared for them.
What are grasshoppers but bugs that are of little or no significance? Is that how we are supposed to think of ourselves, as bugs or midgets? I don’t think so!
When we perceive ourselves as being of little or no significance in God’s great plan, we demean God and His plan, we demean ourselves, and we end up being of little or no use to Him. We actually assign ourselves to the ranks of the “little people.
So, then, how are we to think of ourselves? Are we to be puffed up and act like an arrogant televangelist clone? I don’t think so. So I ask again, how should we see ourselves? Paul answers that question in Romans 12:3: “Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.”
Fortunately, this condition of smallness is treatable. In your heart you know what the prescription is; it’s not complicated but it does take the regular application of the basics. The biggest struggle is not with the prescription but it’s with us, the church of today, not willing to admit we are actually a church of “little people.” Every church should have a good number of “newborn” babes in Christ and that is not what we are talking about. It’s healthy for a church to have lots of “newborns.” But when there is an abundance of little people, adults who have never grown up, we have a problem. And that will be a troubled church.
We need to refocus our own understanding of who we are in Christ. We are to see ourselves as God sees us and as His word declares.
How does God see us?
• He sees me as His child and a joint heir with Jesus! (Romans 8:17).
• God says that His children are “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37). What does that mean to you?
• God sees me as an “overcomer” (1 John 5:4 and 1 John 4:4).
I have accepted Jesus as my personal savior and the Holy Spirit indwells me.
I have God’s Word to guide me.
I have an ongoing conversation with God through prayer.
I have the support of friends who love God just as I do.
Therefore I am not a grasshopper, I am a man of God!
The following begins with a story. I have purposely left out names to protect the guilty!
Going into a church the other day, I accidentally discovered a group of very small people. I’m not sure if they were pygmies or midgets, but there seemed to be quite a few of them.
Here’s what happened! I wasn’t trying to be clumsy but sometimes I just am, and I tripped over something I didn’t see. When I looked down to see what got in my way, well, I can’t tell you how surprised and embarrassed I was when I realized that I had tripped over a person, a little person. I mumbled my apology and moved on and took my seat. Looking around, I realized that there were little people scattered throughout the church crowd. It was a veritable invasion—where in the world could all these little folks have come from?
Believe it or not, Moses faced the same situation when he led the Jews through the wilderness. What should have been a couple months’ journey ended up taking 40 years (talk about a slow train—this one was a beaut for being slow). Moses took the nation to the edge of the Jordan but before they crossed over, the patriarch followed God’s instructions to send a group of twelve spies across the Jordan and into the Promised Land.
Off went Joshua, Caleb and ten others (fortunately we don’t know much about the rest because they went in as men and came out as midgets). I can hear derision rising among some of my family and friends now as they begin to think, “David is finally displaying the onset of the crippling disease known as Charismatic Space Loopiness.” Well, hang on before you pronounce me incurable.
When the twelve spies came back, only Joshua and Caleb were pumped up and ready to go. These two recognized the challenges that the nation faced and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able…” (Numbers 13:30 NKJV).
The other ten declared that the Jews could not secure the country and defeat the enemy. They declared that they would be lunch for the hostile forces arrayed against them. Further, they declared that all the enemy soldiers were giants and they themselves were little people in the face of the enemy. “We were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight” (Numbers 13:33 NKJV). The unbelief of the ten hindered the progress of Israel and lifted God’s blessing for them to enter the Promised Land at this time. It would be years before God would allow them to cross over into the fullness of what God had prepared for them.
What are grasshoppers but bugs that are of little or no significance? Is that how we are supposed to think of ourselves, as bugs or midgets? I don’t think so!
When we perceive ourselves as being of little or no significance in God’s great plan, we demean God and His plan, we demean ourselves, and we end up being of little or no use to Him. We actually assign ourselves to the ranks of the “little people.
So, then, how are we to think of ourselves? Are we to be puffed up and act like an arrogant televangelist clone? I don’t think so. So I ask again, how should we see ourselves? Paul answers that question in Romans 12:3: “Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.”
Fortunately, this condition of smallness is treatable. In your heart you know what the prescription is; it’s not complicated but it does take the regular application of the basics. The biggest struggle is not with the prescription but it’s with us, the church of today, not willing to admit we are actually a church of “little people.” Every church should have a good number of “newborn” babes in Christ and that is not what we are talking about. It’s healthy for a church to have lots of “newborns.” But when there is an abundance of little people, adults who have never grown up, we have a problem. And that will be a troubled church.
We need to refocus our own understanding of who we are in Christ. We are to see ourselves as God sees us and as His word declares.
How does God see us?
• He sees me as His child and a joint heir with Jesus! (Romans 8:17).
• God says that His children are “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37). What does that mean to you?
• God sees me as an “overcomer” (1 John 5:4 and 1 John 4:4).
I have accepted Jesus as my personal savior and the Holy Spirit indwells me.
I have God’s Word to guide me.
I have an ongoing conversation with God through prayer.
I have the support of friends who love God just as I do.
Therefore I am not a grasshopper, I am a man of God!
Saturday, May 16, 2009
FOOT WASHING?
As members of the elder body of our church, Carol and I were asked to come to the church for a special meeting. Upon learning that we were to have our feet washed by senior staff members, I was filled with a slight sense of apprehension. A foot washing!
Because we are normal, in order to prepare for the experience we carefully made sure our toenails were properly trimmed and painted (Carol, not me…give me a break!), we carefully bathed our feet before going, and I put on a clean pair of socks. You can’t go to a foot washing service with dirty, smelly feet—that would not be cool!
It was a wonderfully joyous time with the staff of this busy and famous megachurch. When we arrived we went to one of the rooms off to the side of the sanctuary. As soon as we were seated, one of the senior pastoral staff came with a basin of water and towels and knelt on the floor in front of us. Very quickly he removed our shoes and socks and then very gently washed and dried our feet. Others around the room were performing the same humble act.
It was significant to see these very talented and busy pastors expressing their love and concern by this gracious act of servanthood. What a beautiful and humbling experience, a powerful lesson in true biblical leadership.
In Bible days it was customary for a guest’s feet to be washed as he entered the home he was visiting. Basins of water were set near the door and often a servant would be there to actually wash the feet of the visitor, the most menial task of the household.
Travelling was never easy in ancient times. Most people walked everywhere although some, more fortunate, would ride a donkey or a horse. The unpaved roads were dusty and littered with manure and if it rained, the whole surface of the road became a mud patch of filth and dirt. Foot washing was both a custom and a necessity to keep the filth of the streets out of homes and places of business.
In John 13 we are given an intimate look at Jesus in the days just before His crucifixion. At a private dinner with His disciples, Jesus suddenly stood and disrobed. He took off his outer garments, took a basin of water, and then gently and patiently washed and dried the feet of each of His disciples. Peter, reacting like many of us would, looked at Jesus and said, “This is not cool. You are the Son of God and it’s humiliating to have you doing something like this. You are not going to wash my feet.”
Jesus looked at Peter and said, “I know you don’t understand this now, but you will. If I don’t wash you then you have no part with me.” Peter’s emotional pendulum then swung completely in the opposite direction and he said, “Don’t wash just my feet but my hands and my head, as well.”
Jesus was not instituting a new church ordinance (water baptism or communion), he was demonstrating that while He was God’s Son, He was also a humble servant. He was demonstrating the heart of leadership in the Kingdom of God. What happened here was a clash between the arrogance of the world’s system of leadership and the humility of the Kingdom of God’s leadership style. The world’s system, which is based on arrogance and personal ambition, will always react in anger to the humility of biblical leadership. Peter and the others had not yet come to fully understand the Kingdom that Jesus was revealing; they kept waiting for Him to rise up in rebellion against the Romans and establish a worldly kingdom. Peter’s reaction was an indicator of his lack of spiritual perception at this point.
I don’t know that the world ever needs to have another foot washing service but I do know that the church, and specifically leadership, needs to reexamine the scriptural qualities of leadership. Among the most important qualities of leadership is servanthood. No one can truly be a leader in the Kingdom of God without being a servant at heart. The arrogance of the world system does not find a home in God’s Kingdom; arrogance and biblical leadership cannot peacefully co-exist in the Kingdom of God.
All of us who have embraced Jesus Christ as savior are sons and daughters of the King, but all of us also are to follow His example and be servants. True biblical leadership is characterized with the heart of servanthood. That is why Paul, quite possibly the greatest leader of the New Testament church, began several of his letters with the statement, “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:1 and Philippians 1:1). Peter got the message! He begins 2 Peter, “Simon Peter, a servant and apostle” (v. 1).
Because we are normal, in order to prepare for the experience we carefully made sure our toenails were properly trimmed and painted (Carol, not me…give me a break!), we carefully bathed our feet before going, and I put on a clean pair of socks. You can’t go to a foot washing service with dirty, smelly feet—that would not be cool!
It was a wonderfully joyous time with the staff of this busy and famous megachurch. When we arrived we went to one of the rooms off to the side of the sanctuary. As soon as we were seated, one of the senior pastoral staff came with a basin of water and towels and knelt on the floor in front of us. Very quickly he removed our shoes and socks and then very gently washed and dried our feet. Others around the room were performing the same humble act.
It was significant to see these very talented and busy pastors expressing their love and concern by this gracious act of servanthood. What a beautiful and humbling experience, a powerful lesson in true biblical leadership.
In Bible days it was customary for a guest’s feet to be washed as he entered the home he was visiting. Basins of water were set near the door and often a servant would be there to actually wash the feet of the visitor, the most menial task of the household.
Travelling was never easy in ancient times. Most people walked everywhere although some, more fortunate, would ride a donkey or a horse. The unpaved roads were dusty and littered with manure and if it rained, the whole surface of the road became a mud patch of filth and dirt. Foot washing was both a custom and a necessity to keep the filth of the streets out of homes and places of business.
In John 13 we are given an intimate look at Jesus in the days just before His crucifixion. At a private dinner with His disciples, Jesus suddenly stood and disrobed. He took off his outer garments, took a basin of water, and then gently and patiently washed and dried the feet of each of His disciples. Peter, reacting like many of us would, looked at Jesus and said, “This is not cool. You are the Son of God and it’s humiliating to have you doing something like this. You are not going to wash my feet.”
Jesus looked at Peter and said, “I know you don’t understand this now, but you will. If I don’t wash you then you have no part with me.” Peter’s emotional pendulum then swung completely in the opposite direction and he said, “Don’t wash just my feet but my hands and my head, as well.”
Jesus was not instituting a new church ordinance (water baptism or communion), he was demonstrating that while He was God’s Son, He was also a humble servant. He was demonstrating the heart of leadership in the Kingdom of God. What happened here was a clash between the arrogance of the world’s system of leadership and the humility of the Kingdom of God’s leadership style. The world’s system, which is based on arrogance and personal ambition, will always react in anger to the humility of biblical leadership. Peter and the others had not yet come to fully understand the Kingdom that Jesus was revealing; they kept waiting for Him to rise up in rebellion against the Romans and establish a worldly kingdom. Peter’s reaction was an indicator of his lack of spiritual perception at this point.
I don’t know that the world ever needs to have another foot washing service but I do know that the church, and specifically leadership, needs to reexamine the scriptural qualities of leadership. Among the most important qualities of leadership is servanthood. No one can truly be a leader in the Kingdom of God without being a servant at heart. The arrogance of the world system does not find a home in God’s Kingdom; arrogance and biblical leadership cannot peacefully co-exist in the Kingdom of God.
All of us who have embraced Jesus Christ as savior are sons and daughters of the King, but all of us also are to follow His example and be servants. True biblical leadership is characterized with the heart of servanthood. That is why Paul, quite possibly the greatest leader of the New Testament church, began several of his letters with the statement, “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:1 and Philippians 1:1). Peter got the message! He begins 2 Peter, “Simon Peter, a servant and apostle” (v. 1).
Saturday, May 9, 2009
THE LONG GOODBYE
Deuteronomy 33 is one of several chapters in which Moses says goodbye to Israel and attempts to prepare them to launch out into their future. And like many goodbyes, the patriarch saved some very rich material for this rather long benediction. The chapter is a series of statements that Moses made about each of the twelve tribes of Israel and how God would bless and use them.
I can’t imagine the joy and excitement that flowed through the people as the great patriarch slowly addressed each tribe by name and then spoke out their blessing, often including statements of how God would use them in the future. Not only was each tribe blessed and encouraged but they also got to hear what all the other tribes were receiving. Wow, this was better than Christmas, which hadn’t been invented yet!
In our contemporary world, chapters such as this are gently dismissed by much of the church. Too many hard-to-pronounce names and, besides, we live in the New Testament age; therefore, these Old Testament promises and instructions are not applicable to us, we think. And when we think like that, we are wrong!
The fact is that when we look to see how God was going to bless and use Zebulun, Gad, Judah , Reuben and all the others, it’s easy to say, “Well, that’s not about me, so let me move on.” When we do that we miss out on one of the key points of this powerful chapter.
The twelve tribes of Israel are a picture of the church of today. We don’t have to look and see where we fit into the tribal structure of ancient Israel. We don’t have to ask, “Am I of the tribe of Joseph or Benjamin and, if so, what is my blessing, what are my promises?” We ask, “How do we know which promises to claim if we don’t understand our tribal lineage?”
The church of the New Testament, our church, is a composite; we are all the tribes! That means all the promises are ours…all of them!
Moses said to Benjamin:
• “The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him” (33:12). Yes, that was a direct statement of God’s protection to Benjamin and fully to us, as well.
To Naphtali Moses said:
• “O Naphtali, satisfied with favor (meaning God is pleased), and full of the blessing of the Lord…” (33:23). That’s our promise of favor and the constant or continual blessing of the Lord.
To Asher (did you know that Asher was one of Joseph’s brothers and therefore one of the tribes?):
• “The eternal God is your refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy before you. And will say “Destroy’” (v. 28). “Then Israel shall dwell in safety…” (v. 27).
Don’t make the mistake of seeing these only as promises to the tribes in the farewell address of Moses. These are our promises, too. We need to understand them, draw on them and live in the fullness of each promise.
I have personally been encouraged and strengthened by verse 25 as Moses continued addressing Asher:
“The bolts of your gates will be iron and bronze, and your strength will equal your days.”In ancient days, the gates were the entry point to the city. If the gates were not strongly made and securely fastened, then the city was vulnerable. The promise of God to us is that the gates to our life will be constructed of the best and strongest of materials. This is speaking of our security in Him. We can rest in His vigilant care and know that we are safe.
“Your strength” is not referring to physical endurance but to the qualities and strength of spirit/faith with which God endues us. God made you with everything you need to not just survive these tumultuous days, but to thrive, to be victorious, to be an overcomer! The manifestation of the power of His spirit and His grace in you will be more than equal to the “days” we live in. That’s His promise!
I can’t imagine the joy and excitement that flowed through the people as the great patriarch slowly addressed each tribe by name and then spoke out their blessing, often including statements of how God would use them in the future. Not only was each tribe blessed and encouraged but they also got to hear what all the other tribes were receiving. Wow, this was better than Christmas, which hadn’t been invented yet!
In our contemporary world, chapters such as this are gently dismissed by much of the church. Too many hard-to-pronounce names and, besides, we live in the New Testament age; therefore, these Old Testament promises and instructions are not applicable to us, we think. And when we think like that, we are wrong!
The fact is that when we look to see how God was going to bless and use Zebulun, Gad, Judah , Reuben and all the others, it’s easy to say, “Well, that’s not about me, so let me move on.” When we do that we miss out on one of the key points of this powerful chapter.
The twelve tribes of Israel are a picture of the church of today. We don’t have to look and see where we fit into the tribal structure of ancient Israel. We don’t have to ask, “Am I of the tribe of Joseph or Benjamin and, if so, what is my blessing, what are my promises?” We ask, “How do we know which promises to claim if we don’t understand our tribal lineage?”
The church of the New Testament, our church, is a composite; we are all the tribes! That means all the promises are ours…all of them!
Moses said to Benjamin:
• “The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him” (33:12). Yes, that was a direct statement of God’s protection to Benjamin and fully to us, as well.
To Naphtali Moses said:
• “O Naphtali, satisfied with favor (meaning God is pleased), and full of the blessing of the Lord…” (33:23). That’s our promise of favor and the constant or continual blessing of the Lord.
To Asher (did you know that Asher was one of Joseph’s brothers and therefore one of the tribes?):
• “The eternal God is your refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy before you. And will say “Destroy’” (v. 28). “Then Israel shall dwell in safety…” (v. 27).
Don’t make the mistake of seeing these only as promises to the tribes in the farewell address of Moses. These are our promises, too. We need to understand them, draw on them and live in the fullness of each promise.
I have personally been encouraged and strengthened by verse 25 as Moses continued addressing Asher:
“The bolts of your gates will be iron and bronze, and your strength will equal your days.”In ancient days, the gates were the entry point to the city. If the gates were not strongly made and securely fastened, then the city was vulnerable. The promise of God to us is that the gates to our life will be constructed of the best and strongest of materials. This is speaking of our security in Him. We can rest in His vigilant care and know that we are safe.
“Your strength” is not referring to physical endurance but to the qualities and strength of spirit/faith with which God endues us. God made you with everything you need to not just survive these tumultuous days, but to thrive, to be victorious, to be an overcomer! The manifestation of the power of His spirit and His grace in you will be more than equal to the “days” we live in. That’s His promise!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
CAN THESE BONES LIVE?
Ezekiel 37:3
God’s Spirit took the prophet Ezekiel into a valley that was littered with bones. Death had passed here earlier and the bones were not fresh; in fact, they were dry and bleached by time and the sun.
The historical interpretation of this passage is that it refers to the return of the Jewish exiles and the rebuilding of the Jewish nation. Ezekiel was living in exile somewhere close to Babylon in what would be modern day Iraq, approximately 575 years before Christ.
The Spirit asked Ezekiel a very tough question in the midst of what was a very difficult situation. The question was, “Can these bones live?”
The doubting, secularized mind would say, “This is an impossible situation. There is no life here—there is no way these bones can come to life!”
Those who are of the “extreme faith” camp would say, “Of course they can live! God has no alternative but to act if we release our faith and remind Him of His promises.” As if the Creator of the universe suffers from memory loss.
I find Ezekiel’s response to be curiously satisfying: “He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” (NIV)
Ezekiel is acknowledging his humanity and dependency upon the Lord. I believe he is affirming that God’s plans and purposes are often beyond our ability to comprehend. He is also submitting himself to God’s plan.
We serve a sovereign God—“Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all” (1 Chronicles 29:11, NIV).
One very simple definition of sovereign is, “God can do what He wants, when He wants, wherever He wants, to whomever He wants.”
So what does this scripture mean to us? A valley of dry bones and a tough question!
I believe this story is teaching us how to respond to what appears, to our eyes, to be an impossible situation.
1. We acknowledge the Lord as sovereign. His plans and purposes are way beyond our complete comprehension. There are many things about God’s plan for my life that I just do not understand. I know God is at work on my behalf and I am comfortable with that but I just do not, always, see the big picture. I am not God and I am not sovereign, so my view will always be limited.
2. By our acknowledging the Lord, we are inviting and releasing His active participation in the situation. I believe one of the highest levels of prayer that we can reach is when we can pray like Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane when he prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Until we get to that point of understanding and embrace it, often times all we are doing is trying to manipulate the Lord through our prayers.
3. By our acknowledgement of the Lord and his sovereignty, we are bringing into focus our limited abilities and recognizing His unlimited creative and restorative power. God gives grace to the humble and resists (takes a posture of resistance) against the proud. “…For God sets Himself against the proud (the insolent, the overbearing, the disdainful, the presumptuous, the boastful—[and He opposes, frustrates, and defeats them], but gives grace (favor, blessing) to the humble” (1Peter 5:5b, Amplified Bible).
Can these bones live? Will this impossible situation be solved to my satisfaction? I don’t know but I submit to God’s overarching sovereignty and to His power and ability to do the miraculous in the midst of the impossible. I welcome God to do it, in His time and in His way.
I love you, I am proud of you!
Dad
God’s Spirit took the prophet Ezekiel into a valley that was littered with bones. Death had passed here earlier and the bones were not fresh; in fact, they were dry and bleached by time and the sun.
The historical interpretation of this passage is that it refers to the return of the Jewish exiles and the rebuilding of the Jewish nation. Ezekiel was living in exile somewhere close to Babylon in what would be modern day Iraq, approximately 575 years before Christ.
The Spirit asked Ezekiel a very tough question in the midst of what was a very difficult situation. The question was, “Can these bones live?”
The doubting, secularized mind would say, “This is an impossible situation. There is no life here—there is no way these bones can come to life!”
Those who are of the “extreme faith” camp would say, “Of course they can live! God has no alternative but to act if we release our faith and remind Him of His promises.” As if the Creator of the universe suffers from memory loss.
I find Ezekiel’s response to be curiously satisfying: “He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” (NIV)
Ezekiel is acknowledging his humanity and dependency upon the Lord. I believe he is affirming that God’s plans and purposes are often beyond our ability to comprehend. He is also submitting himself to God’s plan.
We serve a sovereign God—“Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all” (1 Chronicles 29:11, NIV).
One very simple definition of sovereign is, “God can do what He wants, when He wants, wherever He wants, to whomever He wants.”
So what does this scripture mean to us? A valley of dry bones and a tough question!
I believe this story is teaching us how to respond to what appears, to our eyes, to be an impossible situation.
1. We acknowledge the Lord as sovereign. His plans and purposes are way beyond our complete comprehension. There are many things about God’s plan for my life that I just do not understand. I know God is at work on my behalf and I am comfortable with that but I just do not, always, see the big picture. I am not God and I am not sovereign, so my view will always be limited.
2. By our acknowledging the Lord, we are inviting and releasing His active participation in the situation. I believe one of the highest levels of prayer that we can reach is when we can pray like Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane when he prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Until we get to that point of understanding and embrace it, often times all we are doing is trying to manipulate the Lord through our prayers.
3. By our acknowledgement of the Lord and his sovereignty, we are bringing into focus our limited abilities and recognizing His unlimited creative and restorative power. God gives grace to the humble and resists (takes a posture of resistance) against the proud. “…For God sets Himself against the proud (the insolent, the overbearing, the disdainful, the presumptuous, the boastful—[and He opposes, frustrates, and defeats them], but gives grace (favor, blessing) to the humble” (1Peter 5:5b, Amplified Bible).
Can these bones live? Will this impossible situation be solved to my satisfaction? I don’t know but I submit to God’s overarching sovereignty and to His power and ability to do the miraculous in the midst of the impossible. I welcome God to do it, in His time and in His way.
I love you, I am proud of you!
Dad
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