daily spiritual reflection - apr. 5

BIBLE READING FOR THE DAY: 

⁵ Why, my soul, are you downcast?
   Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
   for I will yet praise him,
   my Savior and my God. (Psalm 43:5)

THOUGHT:  Man, I love the Psalms.  They have such honesty in them.  Also, they let us into a world where we can learn more about who we are.  So, we've got a soul?  The psalmist thinks so, and it seems the soul is a place where our emotions dwell and maybe even where our thoughts rest.  Like the psalmist, our souls can feel down and disturbed.  For me, this changes things.  My feelings are housed somewhere and are not as transient as I might imagine.  I don't just have to muster up positive thoughts to replace negative thoughts or rush into activities that might make me feel better.  Instead, I can sit in my sadness and distress.  I don't have to run from it.  Rather, I can speak to my soul even in its confusion and say, "Praise God" or say "I receive hope from my God."  Then, God is the one who has to act and we are to wait in hope, not in frustration or sadness.  This hope is a practice one can build over time through waiting expectantly for God to move.

CHALLENGE:  First, listen to this:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHWsKTSdS74 .  Did you resonate with the lines "Awake My Soul"?  If the seat of our emotions and feelings is the soul, then how is your soul doing?  Take some time to journal about that.  Then, speak to your soul knowing that God is speaking with you.  An example is speaking rest or peace to an uneasy soul.  Repeat until you feel God is with you in the prayer, perhaps, even leading you throughout it.  Lastly, acknowledge to God that you are waiting for God's actions and ask him to give you hope as you wait.

 

Peace,

Josh

daily spiritual reflection - apr. 4

BIBLE READING FOR THE DAY: 

But with you there is forgiveness,

so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,

and in his word I put my hope...

   Israel, put your hope in the Lord,

for with the Lord is unfailing love

and with him is full redemption.

He himself with redeem Israel 

from all their sins.

- Psalm 130:4-5, 7-8

THOUGHT: Have you ever been in a situation without forgiveness? The anger, and shame, and self-justification, and revenge that never seems to end? Or maybe you've been part of a fight full of mutual hurt, where it seems impossible heal the rift?

Those situations are so hard to deal with. And forgiving can sometimes be such a hard thing to choose to do when we have so many stories and people around us in our daily lives that encourage us to merely justify our bitterness with more anger. It is so difficult to be the sole person trying to forgive in so many relationships and interactions every day-- it can make us feel weak and alone and wearied by it, if we're just trying to figure out how to on our own.

But the cool thing is, we don't have to be on our own-- we don't have to come up with the source of energy for our own actions of love and forgiveness. In this passage, David shows that the God he is describing actually models these relational actions for us. My dad used to joke with me "Do as I say and not as I do...", but this Father actually doesn't fail to live out the very things he calls us to. He forgives, he offers unfailing love. And our experiences relating to a God that forgives and loves allow us to do the same things ourselves with more ease. God starts the process of redeeming (restoring to full value and full connection, with love) our relationships, by showing us how FIRST.

CHALLENGE:  Do you have any relationships that need redeeming? [Think of redemption as making something good out of something bad, or exchanging something for its full worth, or restoring something completely. One image of redemption is the idea of flowers growing out of a grave-- beauty and life that can transform something terrible and bring goodness out of it.] Maybe it's your relationship with one of your parents, or your friend, a classmate, or maybe God himself. Take that relationship to God this week (journal or walk and pray), and ask him to remind you how often your life with him has been one of forgiveness. As you begin to experience those memories of love and forgiveness and meditate on how much grace God and others have offered you in your life, then ask God what sort of forgiveness He'd like you to pursue in this other relationship in return-- maybe the next step is something in your heart. Maybe it's a conversation with a person. Maybe it's prayer. Then pursue that.

And as you go about your life this week, keep your eyes out for the ways people and God smile and love you through your mistakes and through your hurts. You may be surprised at how much grace and forgiveness we depend on to make this world go 'round. May it remind you to insist on hope-- that it is possible to redeem anything and bring good out of it.

daily spiritual reflection - apr. 2

BIBLE READING FOR THE DAY: 

Listen to my words, Lord,

consider my lament.

Hear my cry for help,

my king and my God,

for to you I pray.

In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;

in the morning I lay my requests before you

and wait expectantly.

- Psalm 5:1-3

THOUGHT: This passage, an excerpt from a psalm of King David (one of the great ancient kings of Israel), tells us a little bit about prayer. A few things that caught my eye: 

- "my king and my God": David was a king himself, yet he recognized that even he needed to follow someone that could show him how to lead. so he intentionally reminds himself of the different roles that God was playing in his life-- holy creator worthy of reverence, actual ruler that was guiding him. Consider what other roles God might play that you would pray to him for. Also, note the "my"-- David recognized a sense of belonging between him and God. God was his king, and he was God's subject and child.

- "In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice": The first thing David did when he woke up was talk to God, and David writes that God hears him. Have you ever felt like you're just praying to the ceiling and the walls? This Psalm tells us that God hears our prayers, even when we can't tell.

- "I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly" - When you ask God for help or talk to him about some issue in your life, what is the expectation? Is prayer more of a good luck trinket that you carry around, or a 'cross your fingers and let's hope'? or when you pray do you look for the answer? do you expect something to change?

I love the word expectantly. I feel like it captures a sense of patience-- that most great change requires a process-- but also a sense of faith, that things will change and we will see it done. It is not boring or anti-climactic (not a to-do list or a wedding registry, for example) or even predictable. It's even a bit beyond comprehension... we expect something, but we aren't yet sure what. We often hear the words "expectant mother"... consider the joy of a mother who spends months preparing for the miraculous change that is going to enter her life, the way she looks for her child's coming and makes space for her child and is happy to talk about it with others.

CHALLENGE:  This week, try waking up 5 minutes earlier than you usually do (it won't kill your sleep cycle, I promise), and before you do anything else, ask God for help. Be specific in the things about your day, life, family, world, that you would like to see him work in. If your mind has a tendency to wander, write these things down.

Then, practice waiting expectantly for God. Try trusting that this God has heard your prayers, and rejoice in that. Make space for him to come. Share what you've been praying for with others. Look for the change that he will bring.

Whether you love praying or don't even know if there's a God who listens, just try 'expecting' and see what happens (it can't hurt.)

daily spiritual reflection - apr. 1

BIBLE READING FOR THE DAY: 

"Has a nation ever changed its gods?

(Yet they are not gods at all.)

But my people have exchanged their glorious God

for worthless idols.

Be appalled at this, you heavens,

and shudder with great horror,"

declares the Lord.

"My people have committed two sins:

They have forsaken me,

the spring of living water,

and have dug their own cisterns,

broken cisterns that cannot hold water."

-Jeremiah: 2:11b-13

THOUGHT: In this passage, God is sad. You can hear it in the words he passes on to Jeremiah. He misses his people-- his people have turned from him. They don't respect him as God any more, but even more than that, they are not in relationship with him. And most of all, he is concerned for them: he has the water they need, but they are trying to make it on their own and he can tell it's not working. Their cisterns are broken and cannot hold water.

I think of interacting with God sometimes like having a GPS system in a car. We're driving along, and we think we can do it ourselves. We have faith in the meaning of elite education, or we trust in money as our security, or we idolize marriage as the cure to loneliness, or we see travel as the escape to real living and adventure. We can even see 'being a good person' or 'helping people' as the way to a sense of meaning. There are a million different things we can put our faith in. So even though we each have a built-in-GPS, we think we already know the way... so we mute it and try to make it without the GPS. We insist that we know the right way and turn left when the muted GPS is signaling to go straight. 

And then once in a while we'll look up, and we'll feel lost, and we'll feel unsure where we're going.

But the GPS has never lost us. It's part of us. It's built in, and it has an uninterrupted connection with the satellites above that can always tell us exactly where we are. And even as we make wrong turns and don't listen to its directions, it doesn't give up on is. Graciously, you can hear it say, "re-calculating..." at every turn always telling us where route home is that we can listen to and follow.

CHALLENGE:  The problem with most of the things we find ourselves putting our faith in are that those things aren't living ("they are not Gods at all" from the passage above). They don't care about us, they don't interact with us, they aren't concerned for our well-being with the unconditional love of a parent and creator who knows us perfectly. List out the different things you put your faith in, that you try to create life out of (your "broken cisterns"). Then actually try to imagine each of them-- their inanimate, conceptual state-- taking care of you. What do they have to offer you? How will they treat you? Do they encourage you to fear, or to feel anxious, to worry?

Then, whether or not you feel like you've experienced directions from God before, try to imagine him in your life, as a constant and eternal guide, a concerned parent who loves you deeply and helps you along the road of life. How would putting faith in him instead change your relationship with these other things? Do you find yourself more empowered? Less fearful? How do those things that were previously 'little gods' or "broken cisterns", dictating your life, become tools you can use as you live more freely, in relationship with someone trustworthy, who loves and cares about you? What makes this relationship structure different? Why is it so necessary that our a God be living?

If you feel like engaging more with this God, try praying through these things with him. Consider posting a part of this passage somewhere in your room to remind yourself not to dig your own cisterns, but instead to listen with your heart for the still, small voice graciously saying, "recalculating..., recalculating..."

daily spiritual reflection - mar. 31

BIBLE READING FOR THE DAY: 

  ¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains— 
   where does my help come from? ² My help comes from the LORD,
   the Maker of heaven and earth.
 ³ He will not let your foot slip—
   he who watches over you will not slumber; ⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
   will neither slumber nor sleep.
 ⁵ The LORD watches over you—
   the LORD is your shade at your right hand; ⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
   nor the moon by night.
 ⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm—
   he will watch over your life; ⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going
   both now and forevermore. (Psalm 121)

THOUGHT:  Do we need to relate to God for him to protect us?  Honestly, I don't know and I'd be a fool to have a rigid answer.  All I know is that the knowledge that God wants to protect us is a comfort to me.  In this Psalm, it does seem that David's relationship with God is strengthened when David answers his own question:  Where does my help come from?  It comes from the Lord.  Maybe, this is a secret to the spiritual life.  Even though God is always watching over us, maybe something clicks when we invite God in to help us in specific ways.  This means we'll have to look towards God for the solution.  In my mind, a few rounds of this will encourage us to have a riskier life as we switch from praying for our TAs to give us extensions and instead for God to give us words for a depressed friend.  We'll start to trust him more and more to be our help - in all ways.

CHALLENGE: The challenge here is simple.  Find a problem.  Ask where your help will come from.  Answer yourself:  God will help me with this problem.  Then, wait and expect God to move.  He'll use you, your community, his own activity, and "coincidences."  It usually ends with a story.  Some people call it a testimony.  This is a story of God's goodness that becomes personal, and it becomes a record of God's good work for his creation.  Share it often.

 

Peace,

Josh

daily spiritual reflection - mar. 30

daily spiritual reflection
[missed a reflection? find them all at http://yalerockslent.blogspot.com ]

BIBLE READING FOR THE DAY:

6 My soul is downcast within me;
   therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
   the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep
   in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
   have swept over me.

8 By day the LORD directs his love,
   at night his song is with me—
   a prayer to the God of my life.

 9 I say to God my Rock,
   “Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
   oppressed by the enemy?”
10 My bones suffer mortal agony
   as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
   “Where is your God?”

 11 Why are you downcast, O my soul?
   Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
   for I will yet praise him,
   my Savior and my God.
(Psalm 42: 6-11)

THOUGHT:  Have you ever felt weighed down, even if you can't think of a good reason why? Or have you ever gone from class to class feeling oppressed, even though you don't know what instigated it? It can be confusing. We can try to sit down and count our blessings, list out the things we have that others don't have access to: a fancy education, positions of leadership in clubs & organizations, gifts & talents that have been growing along with us since we were small, so many yummy international restaurants within walking distance. But still, some days, it doesn't count for much, and the good things are still outweighed by a heavy sadness that leaves us feeling mocked by a nameless enemy and forgotten by a distant God. Days like these, I don't need an abstract God I can define theologically. I want a God that's close, one that stays constant when my emotions fluctuate and holds me steady when I can't uplift myself with just willpower. It seems like the psalmist is on to something here--even though he's feeling pretty depressed, he remains confident in the nearness of God. Even when he's spelling out to God exactly how he feels (forgotten, mourning, oppressed, disturbed), he's also addressing God as his Rock, like God is immobile and not going anywhere.  Even in sadness, God's song is with him. 

CHALLENGE:  In verse 6, the psalmist's response to his sadness is to 'remember' God, to bring him to mind. He then references the land, situating himself among mountains and describing his relationship with God as a waterfall, an ocean and as a rock. If God is as Creator, then his fingerprints are in nature, and we can find him there.

Take some time today to be outside. Find somewhere green. Stay there for a while, and take in your surroundings. Look at the details of the leaves on the trees, watch the squirrels run around, examine the details of tree trunks and branches. Picture of the things you see as God's song that is with you always, and ask him to help you notice his love directed toward you. Tell God about whatever sadness and heaviness you feel, and decide to respond with praise and thankfulness as you remember God's nearness. 

daily spiritual reflection - mar. 29

BIBLE READING FOR THE DAY: 

 ¹⁶ He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” ¹⁷ “I have no husband,” she replied.  Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸ The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” ¹⁹ “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” ²¹ “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” ²⁵ The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”  ²⁶ Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” (John 4:16-29)

THOUGHT:  Sometimes, Jesus stings us with his truth.  Maybe you've felt that already this Lent.  It's not harsh or condemning, but it's just well, true.  That's what happened to this Samaritan woman when Jesus dared to cross racial and gender boundaries to share life with someone very different from him.  Even in pointing out the truth of this woman's unfaithfulness in marriage, Jesus remains in relationship with the woman to the point of asking her plucky theological question.  Maybe, that's why Jesus can be honest with us.  He doesn't leave us once he's shared his truth.  Instead of abandoning this woman, Jesus responds with something profound:  It's not about where you worship; instead, it's about how you worship - with spirit and truth.  What does living in Spirit and Truth look like?  I think the Samaritan woman gives us a model.  Be yourself and pursue God with all your questions, all your earnest faith, all your gifts while never stopping to silence or at least ignore the cynciscm, disillusionment, and even confusion that can come from the pursuit of the spiritual life.  Imagine yourself going to a mountain or a city to worship and warring over that fact with another people group.  It'd be easy to get pretty cynical about what religion or God meant if that was the case.  Yet, many of us find a modern day metaphor in most religions, demoninations, and even religious cliques that develop.  This woman fights through that religious baggage and even her own behavior to pursue the one she eventually confesses is the Messiah, her help:  Jesus.  Somehow, his person could do what religion failed to do for this woman,  Instead of shame, he offered life.  If you reathe whole story, you'll find he called this "living water."  How many of us need that living water to keep us from the religious dryness that can come through a wrong headed pursuit of rules-based religion or avoiding God altogether?  

CHALLENGE:  Identify what cultural or personal issue you're fighting when you think about your pursuit of the spiritual life.  Is there a memory, an event, or a troubling pattern that is keeping you from pursuing more of God?  Find a way to keep your personal wrestling and your questions as you pursue God in prayer, scripture, and relationship with others about the topic that comes up.  Lastly, reflect on how Jesus, himself, is a Messiah - a Savior - to the struggling that you have discovered.  Do not be afraid to imagine Jesus as if he was walking today when thinking about how Jesus would help you.  Bring this internal conversation to a friend in order to bring to life more of Jesus' ways of dealing with personal and religious issues that are often used to divide and dismiss rather than unify and acknowledge.

 

Peace,

Josh