Never Far

“The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Psalm 34:18

A portion of the chorus from Carole King’s song So Far Away had been bouncing around in my head “But you’re so far away. Doesn’t anybody stay in one place anymore? It would be so nice to see your face at my door…” Two friends dealing with major health issues and a death in the family had me feeling too far away. So I’d been praying and listening when I got a gentle reminder from the Lord that He is never far away. 

I sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have church with King David, because his songs of praise are so honest. This week’s passage is from one such Psalm. David’s life was anything but easy and something tells me he often felt far away from the people he loved, from the simpler, if not easier times as a shepherd. But he was always confident that his God was there, never far away from him. That’s the great reminder from this week’s passage “The Lord is close to the broken hearted… and the sick, and the fearful, and the discouraged and the – you fill in the blank with what might be making you feel far away.   

As Joshua prepared to lead the people into the promise land in obedience to what his God had commanded him to do, God reminded him in no uncertain terms that He would never leave him or forsake him (Joshua 1:5). It’s hard to think that Jesus ever felt far away, but I think there may have been times when He did. Perhaps he felt far away when he learned of John’s death. Maybe He felt far away as he prayed in the garden pleading for the cup to be taken away, while yielding His will to the Father’s. Very possibly as He cried “My God, my God why have you forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46)” as he hung on the cross. After the resurrection Matthew shares a commissioning different and at the same time similar to the one God had given Joshua and He ends with a similar promise that “surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b).  

You see, whether thousands of miles separate you from the people you love, or the storms of life have you feeling distant from the God who loves you best – He is never far from where you are and His love can bridge the gap and allow our hearts to touch no matter where we are.

A Prayer
Father – thank you so much for the gentle reminders of your nearness to us. No matter what we face or how far we are from the people who mean the most to us, we can trust fully that You are near. We can trust that You see us, hear us, understand our pain and love us. Be with us in a fresh way, hold us tight when we are in the midst of a storm. Stoke the fire of Your Spirit in us so that we can shine your light to the world around us. In the name of Jesus, who never far – Amen.

What Did Your Father Tell You?

“The wise in heart are called discerning, and pleasant words promote instruction. Understanding is a fountain of life to those who have it, but folly bring punishment to fools. A wise man’s heart guides his mouth, and his lips promote instruction. Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”
Proverbs 16:21-24

I have to admit I’ve been struggling a bit with what I see going on in the world and on social media at the moment. If I let my humanness take over this would be a rant and anything but encouraging, so I’ve decided to heed the words of a wise bunny named Thumper who listened well to his father’s words and said, “If you can’t say somethin’ nice, don’t say nothin’ at all”. So I’m gonna honor my Father and do my best to say something nice and hopefully encourage you to say something nice as well. 

This week’s passage from the book of Proverbs, written primarily by King Solomon, is really about the power of words when combined with wisdom. Meaning there is a right way and a wrong way express ourselves. It seems to me that more now than ever social media is being used to spread falsehoods and create division. We all have a right to speak our minds but how about we engage our brains and use some wisdom when we speak. On social media instead of just liking and sharing or re-tweeting something just because it may somehow prove we’re right, why don’t we fact check and speak our own minds with well thought out words? Finding the truth these days can be hard, but not impossible so take the time to seek truth. Our corrupted human nature believes we should be right at all costs even if the means tearing others down to make ourselves look better. But, as followers of Christ, that’s not how we are supposed to act or speak. Speaking real truth with wise words helps bring understanding – as Solomon says it promotes instruction and brings healing.  

In Matthew 12 Jesus uses much stronger language than Solomon about what comes out of our mouths. Read it for yourselves – verses 23-37. He starts out by saying that nations and households that are divided cannot stand and then goes on to say that what comes out of our mouths reveals who we are at our cores – either good or evil and that someday we will be held accountable for the words we have spoken.  

I rant a lot in my head and as I do I usually determine that if I actually said those words out loud that they would not be helpful, they would not build someone up and they would not work to bring unity to whatever the situation is. I want to encourage you to seek wisdom and speak words of unity and healing.

Be like Thumper – listen well to the Father and if you can’t or don’t want to say something nice, then don’t say anything.

A Prayer
Father – I love how you can use an old Disney movie to teach important lessons. Lord fill our personal lives with Your wisdom and bring some into the life of our communities and nations. Help us to seek wisdom and to speak words that build others up and bring us into unity even when we don’t agree. May we be mindful of what Your Son says about what our words reveal about our hearts. In the name of Jesus, who wants us to remember what the Father said – Amen.

New Year Perspective

“… yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.”
Habakkuk 3:18-19

2017 started with my work computer deciding it had had enough and quit. As I sat at my desk grumbling about not being able to get the computer I wanted, not being able to plug in my second monitor and what a pain it is to set up a new computer, the Holy Spirit nudged my heart and changed my thoughts. My mind settled on some dear friends who had begun the new year with devastating health news and how in the midst of the terrible storm they were facing, they were still finding things to rejoice in and to praise the Lord for. 

For this week’s passage I return to one of my favorite Old Testament books and one of my favorite passages. In the verses leading up to this week’s passage the prophet Habakkuk rattles off a list of less than pleasant things – crop failures and the loss of livestock, we would recognize this as drought and famine. Even with a terrible life storm heading his way he too rejoices in the Lord and finds joy in the fact the God is God, and HE is enough.

I really have no way of knowing what the year holds for myself or any of you who may be reading this. I can say – there will be good stuff and probably not so good stuff in store for all of us. We can take comfort, like Habakkuk did in the fact that God is God, He is in control - when we feel like everything is out of control. We can rest assured that we are not alone, He is with us and He will bring people into our live to journey with us to the mountain tops and into the deepest, darkest valleys. 

Sometimes all that it takes is a fresh perspective to help us keep the small things small and to realize that in God’s hands even the really big and difficult stuff can be small too. So let’s rejoice and be joy filled, worshipping God because He is God and he can give us a New Year of new perspectives.

A Prayer
Father – as we gaze into this new year and wonder what it holds for us, give us fresh perspective. Remind us often of your presence with us in all the storms and celebrations of this life. Help us to see that in your hands everything we face is small, but Your love for us is huge. As we allow Your perspective to fill us with joy and Your light – help us to allow that to overflow into the lives of those around us who need to know you and the power of your love. In the name of Jesus, who gives us fresh perspective – Amen.