Mary's Prayer

May you remember this Christmas the Savior who came to bring you life!

Mary's Prayer

by Max Lucado

God. O infant-God. Heaven's fairest child. Conceived by the union of divine
grace with our disgrace. Sleep well.

Sleep well. Bask in the coolness of this night bright with diamonds. Sleep
well, for the heat of anger simmers nearby. Enjoy the silence of the crib,
for the noise of confusion rumbles in your future. Savor the sweet safety of
my arms, for a day is soon coming when I cannot protect you.

Rest well, tiny hands. For though you belong to a king, you will touch no
satin, own no gold. You will grasp no pen, guide no brush. No, your tiny
hands are reserved for works more precious: to touch a leper's open wound, to
wipe a widow's weary tear, to claw the ground of Gethsemane.

Your hands, so tiny, so tender, so white--clutched tonight in an infant's
fist. They aren't destined to hold a scepter nor wave from a palace balcony.
They are reserved instead for a Roman spike that will staple them to a Roman cross.

Sleep deeply, tiny eyes. Sleep while you can. For soon the blurriness will
clear and you will see the mess we have made of your world. You will see our
nakedness, for we cannot hide. You will see our selfishness, for we cannot
give. You will see our pain, for we cannot heal. O eyes that will see hell's
darkest pit and witness her ugly prince...sleep, please sleep; sleep while you can.

And tiny feet cupped in the palm of my hand, rest. For many difficult steps
lie ahead for you. Do you taste the dust of the trails you will travel? Do
you feel the cold sea water upon which you will walk? Do you wrench at the
invasion of the nail you will bear? Do you fear the steep descent down the
spiral staircase into Satan's domain? Rest, tiny feet. Rest today so that
tomorrow you might walk with power. Rest. For millions will follow in your steps.

And little heart...holy heart...pumping the blood of life through the
universe: How many times will we break you? You'll be torn by the thorns of
our accusations. You'll be ravaged by the cancer of our sin. You'll be
crushed under the weight of your own sorrow. And you'll be pierced by the
spear of our rejection.

Yet in that piercing, in that ultimate ripping of muscle and membrane, in that
final rush of blood and water, you will find rest. Your hands will be freed,
your eyes will see justice, your lips will smile, and your feet will carry you home.

And there you'll rest again--this time in the embrace of your Father.

Where Is My Heart?

For my personal daily Bible reading, I've been in Psalms lately.  Today I read Psalm 50 and certain parts of it struck me.  God is approaching Israel as judge in the psalm.  He starts out by addressing their sacrifices:

"Listen my people! I am speaking!
Listen Israel! I am accusing you!
I am God, your God!
I am not condemning you because of your sacrifices,
or because of your burnt sacrifices that you continually offer me.
I do not need to take a bull from your household
or goats from your sheepfolds,
For every wild animal in the forest belongs to me,
as well as the cattle that graze on a thousand hills.
I keep track of every bird in the hills,
and the insects of the field are mine.
Even if I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and all it contains belong to me.
Do I eat the flesh of bulls?
Do I drink the blood of goats?" (v.7-13)

It is interesting that God starts by saying he isn't taking them to task for their animal sacrifices.  The people were offering them "continually."  The irony is that God doesn't even need the sacrifices.  He already owns everything so they are just giving him back what he already possesses.  But didn't God command animal sacrifice?  Yes.  So what is the problem here?  We find out later in the psalm:

 "God says this to the evildoer: 
'How can you declare my commands,
and talk about my covenant?
For you hate instruction
and reject my words.
When you see a thief, you join him;
you associate with men who are unfaithful to their wives.
You do damage with words,
and use your tongue to deceive.
You plot against your brother;
you slander your own brother.'" (v.16-20)

The people may have been giving the animal sacrifices, but they did so superficially.  They were "getting in good" with God and then running off to sin.  They didn't sacrifice with contrite hearts with any intention of actually obeying God.  I have noted before that God cares about our hearts.  God says in Isaiah 29:13, "[T]his people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote..."  The people were giving the sacrifice by tradition, but their hearts were not near the Lord.  God makes it clear in the psalm what he wants of his people:

"Present to God a thank-offering!
Repay your vows to the sovereign One!
Pray to me when you are in trouble!
I will deliver you, and you will honor me!" (v.14-15)

"Whoever presents a thank-offering honors me.
To whoever obeys my commands, I will reveal my power to deliver." (v.23)

A thank offering was freely given, an optional sacrifice.  It consisted of not just an animal offering, but a meal, symbol of fellowship with God.  It was given to express gratitude to God for the blessings he had brought.  In effect, God is telling his people in this psalm to celebrate fellowship with him and thank him for his blessings and to truly do these things, one must have a heart turned to the Lord.  God asks not for the superficial motions of sacrifice, but a heart that thanks him, keeps its promises, prays to him and obeys him.

How can this apply in a modern context?  I think the parallels are easy to see.  Do we go through the motions of tradition, going to church, singing songs, listening to a sermon with a dead heart?  This is a psalm that calls us to examine our heart attitudes to determine if we are truly worshipping our God.  I do not see here that God is demanding perfection.  He is desiring a heart turned to him that recognizes his grace.  This kind of heart will fellowship with God, enjoying his presence.  A heart thus cultivated doesn't view worship of God as something to get out of the way so I can go sin.  I think the key in this psalm is to ask the question: What is the state of my own heart?

Thanksgiving Prayer

This comes from a Puritan evening prayer. I love its wording and its thoughtfulness and it is utterly appropriate for today.  It is the prayer of my own heart.

"I thank Thee for the temporal blessings of this world— 

the refreshing air, the light of the sun,

the food that renews strength, the raiment that clothes,

the dwelling that shelters, the sleep that gives rest,

the starry canopy of night, the summer breeze,

the flowers' sweetness, the music of flowing streams,

the happy endearments of family, kindred, friends.

Things animate, things inanimate, minister to my comfort.

My cup runs over.

Suffer me not to be insensible to these daily mercies.

Thy hand bestows blessings: Thy power averts evil. 

I bring my tribute of thanks for spiritual graces,

the full warmth of faith, the cheering presence of Thy Spirit,

the strength of Thy restraining will, Thy spiking of hell's artillery.

Blessed be my sovereign Lord!"

Happy Reformation Day!

Sola Scriptura

"But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, 

because you know those from whom you learned it 

 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures,

which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus."

2 Timothy 3:14-15

Sola Fide

"For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. 

Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too?

Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God,

who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith."

Romans 3:28-30

Sola Gratia

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—

and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 

not by works, so that no one can boast."

Ephesians 2:8-9

Solus Christus

"Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me."

John 14:6

Soli Deo Gloria

"If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God.

If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides,

so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.

To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen."

1 Peter 4:11 

Worthy Daughter

So I was listening to Alistair Begg today in the car (if you haven't ever heard him, his preaching is dynamic) and he was preaching on the well-known parable of The Lost, or Prodigal, Son.  Something he said plunged me into deep thought and towards a penetrating truth, revealing something I had never seen in the parable before.

Before I explain what he pointed out, I want to give a little background.  I have struggled with my self-worth over the years.  I think for a good portion of my early life I was depressed because I had trouble seeing myself as worth anything.  I became a Christian at a young age and I have loved God so much for a long time.  And even though my head knows that I am saved not by works, my heart has worried about works over the years, wondering if I have done enough to please God.  It's not salvation so much that I have worried about (though a few times it has been), it's more will God be pleased with me when I get to heaven?  A lot of that worry has been resolved knowing the truth about the judgment (see this post here for more details), but it still crops up now and then.

Back to the parable of The Lost Son.  Alistair pointed out that in the parable the son begins by saying, "Give me" and ends by saying, "Make me."  This is what sent me into great thoughtfulness.  The son at first wants the Father to give him his inheritance, give him his rightful share of the Father's stuff.  I'm sure we can't delve too deeply into what that stuff is because it might have very little meaning at all except to show the son's disregard for the Father.  But I wonder if we could take some liberty and say that we want God to give us all the stuff he owns: money, power, things for our own selfish use.  But when the son loses it all and comes to the end of himself, he sees the fleetingness of the stuff and then remembers his Father and how he treats even his hired workers so well.  He determines to go home and say to his Father in repentance, "Make me like one of your hired men."

So he goes home and the Father rushes to him and kisses him and the son says his spiel, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son."  And he can't even get to the "make me like a hired man" part because the Father goes ecstatic wanting to party over his son who has come home.  And that's when it hit me: the Father has no interest in getting another hired man.  The son had decided he was just going to beg the Father to make him a hired man and the Father doesn't want to do that.  He wants a son, not a hired man.

What made me think about this in relationship to worth was that the son looks at his dirty life feeding pigs and thinks that he has nothing to lose by going back to his father.  But he doesn't see himself worth anything more than being a hired man.  How many times have I thought that I'm not worth anything, that I'm a sinful human being who God must despise?  I approach God with this attitude, begging to somehow gain a little of his kindness, but how does he respond?  He doesn't want a hired woman.  He wants a daughter.  He throws off any idea that I'm not worth the party.  He doesn't even want me to beg him to accept me like a hired woman.  He accepts me fully as a daughter in his kingdom.

And what about after the son is in the home again?  The parable doesn't go on, but it would be incongruous for the Father to say, "Well, you really aren't being as good as I thought you would when you came home, so I'm kicking you out of this house."  The impression you get in the parable is the Father has accepted the son entirely, for eternity.  I think a lot of my life I've spent time worrying that God isn't going to be pleased and either kick me out of his house or give me what for for not being good enough, turn me into a hired woman.  But the Father accepted the son back just as he was--without money, dirty with pig slime, hungry and empty.  Just like the son, I don't have to be perfectly clean for God to love me.  He just wants me in his home no matter what.

*I was reminded of this short film while writing this.  I highly recommend watching it: The Gospel.

God's Promise to Give Us the Nations Might Not Mean What You Think It Does

Okay, so I had to do another verse out of context post, but this one will be much shorter.  It's also a lot funnier.  It's one that makes me laugh every time I hear it!

So I've heard more than one mission organization use this verse: "Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession" (Psalm 2:8, NKJV).  There's even a song that uses these words in it, "You Said," which says, "You said, 'Ask and I’ll give the nations to you.'  Oh, Lord, that’s the cry of my heart." (The song also says "Pray and I'll hear from heaven and I'll heal your land" which is a verse I dealt with in my last post).  This verse about God giving us the nations sounds cool and we like it.  Unfortunately, once again, it's not saying what a lot of Christians think it's saying.

The first part of Psalm 2 (NASB) is as follows:

"Why are the nations in an uproar
And the peoples devising a vain thing?
The kings of the earth take their stand
And the rulers take counsel together
Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
'Let us tear their fetters apart
And cast away their cords from us!'

He who sits in the heavens laughs,
The Lord scoffs at them.

Then He will speak to them in His anger
And terrify them in His fury, saying,

'But as for Me, I have installed My King
Upon Zion, My holy mountain.'"

So, the nations in the Psalm are in an uproar and they are taking their stand against the Lord and his anointed.  In the immediate context this is David, the anointed king, but it is also a prophecy of Jesus as Messiah, God's anointed Son (Acts 4:25-26).  The nations want to throw off the Anointed's rule.  God laughs at this because he has determined that his king will be installed in Jerusalem.

The Anointed continues the Psalm:

“I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord:
He said to Me, ‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You. 

‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance,
And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.'"

The Anointed says that God is his father and he is God's son; in other words, they have a relationship that involves an inheritance.  In this case, God says he will give the nations as the Anointed's inheritance.

So then, what will the Anointed do with those nations?

"You shall break them with a rod of iron,
You shall shatter them like earthenware."

Now you see why I laugh when I hear Psalm 2:8 used out of context.  It definitely isn't saying, "Ask of me and I will give you all these nations and they will be evangelized and saved."  It's God saying to the king, "I'm going to give you the nations rebelling against me and you and you are going to decimate them."  So I always think when I hear this in a song or from a mission organization, "So you want to go out and conquer the nations and chop them up into pieces.  Got it." :-D

The Psalm ends:

"Now therefore, O kings, show discernment;
Take warning, O judges of the earth.

Worship the Lord with reverence
And rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son,

that He not become angry, and you perish in the way,
For His wrath may soon be kindled.
How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!"

It's a warning to the leaders of the nations on earth to watch out, because if you go against God and his anointed and don't give him the honor he is due, you are going to perish when his wrath comes on you.  Rather, take refuge in him.  As a prophecy of Jesus, this applies to Jesus' second coming, so it does have an application to current nations, but if mission organizations are going to use it, they need to be emphasizing that rejecting Jesus is going to bring his wrath.

There you go.  Another verse out of context.  Maybe now you'll chuckle the next time you hear it used inappropriately, too!

God's Promise to Fix America?

In Christian circles these days, as conservatives lament the state of our country, it is common to hear a verse quoted to encourage us that our country can be fixed: "If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14).  The implication is that if Christians will humble themselves, pray, seek God and stop sinning, then God has promised to heal America.  The problem?  This couldn't be farther from the truth.

As often happens, well-meaning Christians have taken this verse out of context.  If you've read this blog for any time, you know that taking verses out of context bothers me like nothing else.  It bothers me because it turns the truth of God into a falsehood to support my point of view.  I don't think this is done maliciously.  I think most verses taken out of context begin with someone who goes searching for something to prove a point, then they use it, thinking it's scripture so it works, but they don't ask the question, "Does this verse really say what I am saying it says?"  Then the verse gets passed around and because it is a soundbite from the Bible, other Christians run with it without reading its context.  We need to be more like the Bereans, who heard what Paul was saying and then "examin[ed] the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so" (Acts 17:10).  (Just to note, people have caught me using verses out of context at times. It can be hard not to take offense at that, thinking we are right.  But we have to ask ourselves if what has been said to us is true, study the scriptures and change our views if needed.)

Back to 2 Chronicles 7:14.  What is the context of this verse?  This verse comes after Solomon has dedicated the temple.  He has prayed a dedication over it and Israel has had a celebratory feast.  Then 2 Chronicles says that "the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him..."  So God speaks to Solomon, an answer to Solomon's prayer of dedication where Solomon had asked God to forgive Israel when they strayed away then turned back to God praying in or towards the temple.  The verses that come before 7:14 say this:

"I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.  If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people..."

First off, what is "this place" that is a "house of sacrifice"?  It is the temple that has just been dedicated.  Second, God, in response to Solomon's prayer, notes the various ways Solomon has mentioned that God might punish Israel for sinning and thus breaking their covenant with them, a covenant began at the time of Moses and reaffirmed by them throughout their history.  God could cause a drought or send locusts to eat crops or send a disease that afflicts Israel.  Then comes 2 Chronicles 7:14: "and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

Who are "my people"?  Not America, but Israel.  God is saying that if Israel, whom he has a covenant with, will turn back to him in humility and stop sinning, then he will forgive them and heal their land.  Heal their land from what?  From his physical acts of punishment mentioned in the previous verse: from drought or ruined crops or disease.  The context does not allow for the interpretation that God is going to heal the moral problems of the nation.  The verse presupposes that the moral problems are already dealt with.  Israel would have already humbled themselves, thrown off their sin, sought God and prayed to Him.  Therefore, this verse is not addressing a moral or spiritual healing of a land.

The verses that follow 7:14 say this: "Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, even to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My ordinances, then I will establish your royal throne as I covenanted with your father David, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to be ruler in Israel.’"  God specifically says he will be attentive to prayer in "this place," the temple.  So when Israel is humbly praying to God for release from punishment, they are praying in the temple.  God then turns to Solomon personally and reminds him of his promise to David that if David and his sons kept his commands, then there would always be a ruler from David's line on the throne.

God's answer to Solomon goes on: "But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot you from My land which I have given you, and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. As for this house, which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ And they will say, ‘Because they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers who brought them from the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this adversity on them.'"  The "you" in this section is plural in Hebrew.  Thus, God is referring to the Israelites as a whole.  Here God says that he will punish Israel if they run after other gods.  He will remove them from their land and he will deny the temple, apparently destroying it since people passing by the temple will be astonished at it.  The destroyed temple will be a reminder that Israel had worshipped other gods and broken their covenant with Yahweh.  And this did happen.  The temple was destroyed when Babylon took over Judah and this was a direct punishment from God on Israel for following other gods.  What does this mean?  It means that 2 Chronicles 7:14 is not in effect anymore.  God did send drought and locusts and pestilence and Israel either turned back halfheartedly (and their land was healed for a time) or didn't turn back at all.  He sent prophets to warn them and they didn't listen.  And finally, the temple and the land was destroyed as God said it would be.  There was no more praying for healing of the land.  The land was utterly wasted.  (God did still love Israel and had made a promise to send a remnant back to the land and that he did).

2 Chronicles 7:14 has nothing to do with America.  It is not a promise that if Christians get humble, stop sinning and pray a bunch, God will heal our moral problems.  So many Christians read this verse out of context and look at it as God's promise to heal America's moral problems.  God has never promised to heal America's moral problems.  He's never even promised to heal America's economy or social issues or government.  He hasn't even promised to heal America of drought or locusts or disease.  This verse has nothing to do with America's healing.

I recently read a book called Smoke on the Mountain, by Joy Davidman (an American), wife of C. S. Lewis.  She said something in it that struck me: "What, then, must we pray for? Nothing that we have not been told over and over again; nothing but 'Thy will be done,' even if his will is that we lose all that the last two hundred years have given us."  God's will very may well be the losing of America.  It may be that we aren't supposed to have an amazing economy or social prowess or stellar government.  It might be in God's plan to break America.  Joy says next: "We must pray to face our fear honestly."  It's easier for Christians to think that by doing certain things God will be obligated to "heal our land."  What we really need to do is face our fear honestly.  We don't want to lose our country, either physically or morally.  We don't want to lose what it gives us.  I don't want to lose it either.  But if it is God's will that we do lose it, will I accept that?  Or will I cower in a corner in fear of God's plan?  If it is God's will that America falls, I am not pretending it will be easy.  And I am not saying that we shouldn't pray for our government.  Paul urges Timothy to pray for leaders in authority in 1 Timothy 2:1-2.  But Paul does not say that God has guaranteed that praying for them will make them be what we want.  He does, however, say that God wants all men to be saved (2:4) so we are right to pray for the salvation of our leaders.

What should we do then as American Christians?  What God has always asked of us--to tell all men the truth about Christ and how confession of sin and trusting Christ leads to true freedom.  We pray for the salvation of people, in our country and outside our country.  Nothing changes until hearts change.  Hearts don't change until people submit themselves to God.  It isn't about Christians humbling and not sinning and praying in a temple.  It's about Christians speaking the truth in love to their neighbors.  Should Christians be humble and free from sin?  Yes.  This kind of authentic witness will reach our neighbor.  But being humble and free from sin is no guarantee that our nation will be healed.  We can, however, guarantee that God wants all men to be saved and that he desires us to love our neighbor and tell him the good news of Christ.