dwell, gaze, seek

“One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4)

I don’t know about you, but I don’t typically ask to dwell, gaze, and seek.  I’m far too busy asking for my circumstances to change.  But circumstances are fleeting; they are only the tip of the iceberg.  A lot more substantial things lie underneath the surface.  Maybe it’s those things I need to address.  Maybe those are the “things” I need to “ask” for.  Maybe I need to ask God to do a work in me that’s far bigger than my ever-changing circumstances.  Wouldn’t that be a much better thing to ask for?   

We all long for spiritual intimacy with God but are often resistant to doing the very things that can bring it about.  We want the result, but don’t want to have to invest in the process.  Thus, the problem spiritual practice is that it only works if we do it.  The spiritual practices work on us, not on God.  They make time and space for spiritual intimacy to be more of a possibility.

If we set aside time and make space to dwell in his presence, to gaze upon his beauty, and to seek him in his temple, our level of spiritual intimacy is bound to increase.  For it is in the dwelling that deep knowing takes place, it is in the gazing that our hearts are captured by his beauty and his love, and in the seeking that we find him—and are found by him—in new and deeper ways.

I suppose that’s why it’s the “one thing” King David “asked of the Lord.”  And we might want to do the same. 

O Lord, we just ask for one thing: help us to learn how to dwell in you, give us eyes to gaze upon your beauty, and give us a heart that is continually seeking after you.  If you give us that, we will know you deeper and better than our hearts ever imagined.

all things new

“He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making all things new’” (Revelation 21:5) The new that God will bring about, both within us and among us, cannot be commandeered, manipulated, or controlled.  It can’t be contrived or forced.  It can only be received.  It is a gift, coming down out of heaven.  Thus, our only job is to watch and wait and keep our hands empty and open, which is much harder than it sounds.

But in order to be truly received, the new must be fully taken hold of once it arrives.  It can’t just be seen and acknowledged; it must be lived.  Which means that our old ways of being and seeing must be surrendered and abandoned in order to give this new life room to grow and take shape and take root within us.  

the valley of the shadow

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4)

People who have journeyed “through the valley of the shadow of death” come out differently.  They are more grateful, more humble, more gentle, more compassionate, and more Christlike.  Every day is a gift, and they treat it as such.  Every breath they take is an act of divine mercy. 

They are no longer consumed with what they have lost but captured and compelled by what they have gained.  There is no more entitlement or demandingness, but only peace and grace and gratitude.  Love has become primary, and self has become peripheral.  They are no longer motivated by need but are free to love.

yoke

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30, NIV)

If I am tired and weary, could it be because I am not listening to the voice of the One who says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”?  Could it be because I am not wearing His yoke, which is easy, and carrying His burden, which is light?  And if I’m not wearing the yoke of Jesus, and carrying his burden, then whose yoke am I wearing and what burdens am I carrying?  Could it be that I and weary and burdened because I am wearing the yoke and carrying the burdens of someone other than Him?

“Are you tired?  Worn out?  Burned out on religion?  Come to me.  Get away with me and you’ll recover your life.  I’ll show you how to take a real rest.  Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it.  Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.  I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.  Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Matthew 11:28-30, MSG)

christmas blessings

“How great is his mercy, how divine his goodness, for he has torn everything from us in order that we may be more completely his.  So the sufferers are the happy ones through the goodness of God.  In suffering I give thanks.  May these days of Christmas festival bring you, in your suffering, I do not say consolation, but the blessings God intends for you.” ―Meditations of a Hermit by Charles de Foucauld

why do i pray 

for consolation

when it is suffering

that holds the 

greater blessing

good

if God is good

he’s good all the time

as long as everything

goes according to plan

we have no problem

trusting and thanking him

but the minute things go awry

trust disappears and faith fails

our belief in his goodness

turns into anger, frustration

and demandingness

if God is good

he’s good all the time

not just when things go our way

his goodness and his love are

big enough and durable enough

to sustain us whatever the circumstance

the thorn

if not for the struggle

i would never know the joy

if not for the weakness

i would never know your strength

if not for the stretching

i would never know the growth

if not for the groaning

i would never know the hope

if not for my insufficiency

i would never know your sufficiency

if not for the thorn

i would never know your grace

thank you for the thorn

 

sprout

“In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line.” (Jeremiah 33:15)

Sometimes how you show up can be nearly as important as if you show up.  That’s definitely the case with the Nativity.  The fact that God chose to come into the world he created is mind-blowing enough, but when you couple that with how he chose to come into that world, it’s even more amazing.  For he came into his world as a sprout.

It was not a big, splashy, showy entrance, but one that was meek and humble and subtle and hidden.  A sprout is kind of that way.  It is small and intimate and hardly noticeable.  You probably would not even see it if you weren’t looking carefully for it, particularly at the beginning.  A sprout is also weak and vulnerable and dependent.  It is connected to and rooted in something deep and life-sustaining.  A sprout is not something that happens fast, but something that takes time and space to grow into all it is to become.  Thus, sprouting into a Branch is a long, slow process. 

That is how the Almighty God chose to enter his creation: through the womb of a poor teenage girl, in an out-of-the-way stable, in the tiny town of Bethlehem, with the only onlookers being a few shepherds and some weary travelers.  On top of that, he spent the next thirty years in virtual anonymity before he ever stepped into the limelight.  He took time to deeply know the place and the people he was coming to.  Knowing and being known must have been very important to him.  Therefore, it should be important to us as well.

If that’s how God chose to come into our world, maybe we should do the same.  Maybe we should be more like him.  Maybe we too should show up in humility and meekness and hiddenness.  Maybe we too should show up in weakness and dependence and vulnerability.  Maybe we should plant our feet in a place and walk around for a while.  Maybe we should get to know people deeply and well.  Maybe we should walk and work side-by-side with them and get our hands dirty.  Maybe we should be so intimately connected with our God that we would begin to care about the things he cares about and love the things he loves.  Maybe we should be just a sprout, like him.

Lord Jesus, help me to be a sprout, just like you.  Help me to come like you came, to live like you lived, and to love like you loved.

prepare the way

“Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.” (Mt. 3:3) 

That’s what this season is all about.  Thus, each of us must do some soul-searching, some praying, and some seeking if we ever want to figure out what this needs to look like in our lives.

The truth that both Isaiah and John the Baptist proclaimed was that “the Messiah is coming, so you’d better get ready.”  Therefore, each one of us must invest some time and space figuring out just how to make the paths straight for his entrance, both within us and among us.  Otherwise, when he comes there will be no room for him in our souls, the same way there was no room for him in the inn. 

Prepare the way, O Lord, both within us and among us, for your entry into our hearts and our world.

too much

too many words

too much talking

too much doing

too much toil

too much worry

too little silence

too little listening

too little being

too little resting

too little peace

too little enjoying you

too little enjoying

you enjoying me

from nazareth to bethlehem

“So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.  He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and expecting a child.  While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.” (Luke 2:4-7)

There’s nothing easy about the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, especially if you are nine months pregnant at the time.  It is a dangerous and grueling four-day (minimum) journey, and that’s if you choose to take the most direct route through Samaria, which a good Jew never would.  Avoiding Samaria altogether turns it into a weeklong journey instead.  So, either way it is going to involve seventy to ninety miles, thirty-five hours of walking or riding spread out over four to seven days.

That’s the journey before each of us as the season of Advent begins.  That is the process we must go through in order for the “new thing” to be born in each of us.  There’s no way around it.  New birth always comes about as the result of a great journey.  A journey that will not be easy.  In fact, it might be more challenging and demanding than you ever imagined.  So, climb aboard your donkey and let’s get started.  Watch and wait and struggle and pray and imagine and hope.  The new thing that is to be born in you will make it all worth it.  It is a birth that is more beautiful and more glorious and more amazing than you could ever imagine, but it won’t be easy to get there.  It will be long and hard but will end in a glorious result—new life!

I am expecting my first granddaughter in June and couldn’t be more excited!  I spend a lot of time praying and imagining and celebrating, but really won’t know the full depths of her beauty and her life and her presence until the day she comes forth and is born into this world.  I cannot wait until that day!  I cannot wait to get my hands on this little miracle and pour out my love on her, the way I have with my two amazing grandsons before her.  That’s what the season of Advent is all about, it’s about that joyful, expectant, hopeful, excited waiting.  Thus, we can endure the hard and the painful and the uncomfortable and the exhausting, because God is doing a new thing, and we can’t wait to see it and hold it and know it and love it.  Thanks be to Him!

O Lord, give me the courage and the strength and the grace to embark on this journey of new life and new birth you are inviting me to.  Don’t let the hard keep me from pressing on to the good and beautiful.

and it begins

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.  In those days and at the right time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land.  In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety.  This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.” (Jeremiah 33:17)

The days are coming.  Indeed, they are coming, just as they did for the ones who first received these words of Jeremiah’s prophecy.  Just as they did for those who were waiting and watching for the Holy One, The Lord Our Righteousness, to come to earth.

Once again, that season of hope and expectation is upon us.  The season when we receive the gracious promise once again and look forward to how it will be fulfilled in the days and weeks ahead.  The season when we look forward to God’s arrival, both among us and within us, and make time and space for that arrival to happen.

What is your deepest hope for the season ahead?  How are you longing for the Righteous Branch to sprout in your life and in our world?  How are you longing for the day of hope and life and love and peace and rest to come?

Come, Lord Jesus!