Tag Archives: Grace

Gathering up Tears

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Today, as I was reading Psalm 56, verse 8 drew my attention:

8 You have noted my lamentation; put my tears into your bottle; * are they not recorded in your book?

A friend of mine gave me a pottery jar one day. It’s replica of a piece that women used in ancient times, and what they would do is this. As the men would go out fighting wars, when the women would cry over their men being gone, they would cry into the pot. And then, when the men came back, supposedly they could show their tears to their beloved as a sign of much they missed then and how loved they were.

I think that’s a great story about love and longing and that is what I think of when I read that passage today.

We have a God that loves us enough that no only does He notice our tears, but He gathers them up in His bottle. We have a God that loves us enough that our tears matter to Him.

Sometimes we can let our feelings fool us into thinking that God is only there during the good times.

That only when things are going great that His presence is with us.

That only the laughter is blessed.

That only happiness counts.

Today, we see that God gathers our tears. God knows our pain. God cares for our hurts.  God knows our longings. God mends our hearts.

God is not just god of the good and the easy. God is not just god of the carefree and the happy.  God is not just god of the easy valley and smooth road.

He is God, even when we walk through the shadow of death. He is the God when the tornado comes and the oil slick is headed our way.

He is God, even in the tears.

Today, He will gather up our tears. Because they are precious to Him. Because we are precious to Him.

Rest

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As I was reading the Old Testament lesson this morning, one verse just jumped out to me, from Exodus 33:

14 He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Just a short verse, but it says a lot to me. One of my favorite quotes is by St. Augustine, where he says, talking about our relationship with God,

“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.”

As the father of two small children, I can assure you rest is a pretty awesome thing.  I do think, though, that many of us are restless.

We are restless with work.  With family.  With leisure.  We are anxious. We are stressed. We are worried.  We are afraid and frightened. We are angry. We are whatever. . . . .

We are not rested.  We are not resting.

Why?  Because we are seeking our rest, our comfort, our peace in places other than God. At least I tend to.  We tend to place so much worth on these other things.  Our status, our position, our reputation, our worth.

Your greatest worth comes from none of that.  You are not your job.  You are not your bank account.  You are not your position.

Today, you are a child of  God.  You are His.

Rest in that knowledge.  Rest in that truth.  Everything else, it will leave you restless. Everything else will leave you empty.

Only in God, do we find the rest than we really need.  And then, when we are well rested, we find that the rest of life is even better.

When we find our identity in God, we know our identity in everything else.  And, when we know we are His, all other things fall into place.

And even if they don’t, it’s ok. Because we are His.

Today, find your rest, no where else but in God.  Our hearts are restless until we find that rest in God.

Not Me!

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As I was reading through the scriptures for today, something from Exodus 32 really stood out to me.  It was the conversation Moses had with Arron after the golden calf.   They were talking, and this is that conversation:

21Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?” 22And Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn hot; you know the people, that they are bent on evil. 23They said to me, ‘Make us gods, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off’; so they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” 25When Moses saw that the people were running wild (for Aaron had let them run wild, to the derision of their enemies),26then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him.

One of the things we see a lot in the Old Testament stories is this notion of – not me!  I didn’t do it.

Adam – did you eat the fruit?   Nope, the woman you gave me gave it to me.

Eve – did you eat the fruit?  Nope, it was the snake that made it happen.

Arron – did you let the people lose their minds?  Nope, they came to me and made me do it.

It’s a refrain I hear a lot from my two kids.  No me!  I didn’t do it!  Not me!  Not my fault!

It’s always someone else’s fault.  We see that in the Bible. We see it in our kids.  We see it in ourselves.

I know me, it’s easier for me blame others than to look within.  I don’t want to look within.  I’d rather blame you than work on me.  It’s less painful for me to lay my problems and my mistakes upon someone else than for me to look within myself and see what I need to fix.

Or rather, allow God to fix in me.

Sure, none of us are perfect. All of us fall. All of us make mistakes. That’s ok.  Instead of pretending like we are perfect, it’s better to admit our mistakes, take responsibility and work on what we can fix.

And know that even in our mistakes and failures, God’s love never, ever ends.

He doesn’t love us because of what we’ve done (or not done).  He loves us because it’s who He is.

He is love.

In spite of our mistakes.  He loves us.

Not our fault? I don’t know about that.

Being loved by God?  I do know about that. We are. Today, and each day.

Humility and Leadership

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It seems like the readings each day from 1 Peter are really speaking to me. Today, as a I was reading, 1 Peter 5 spoke to me:

1 Now as an elder myself and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory to be revealed, I exhort the elders among you 2 to tend the flock of God that is in your charge, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion but willingly, as God would have you do it -not for sordid gain but eagerly. 3 Do not lord it over those in your charge, but be examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief shepherd appears, you will win the crown of glory that never fades away. 5 In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you must clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for
“God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.”
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time.

As I was reading through this, what spoke to me was this notion of humility. That is a virtue that our culture doesn’t really care for. And, honestly, its a culture that we as Christians don’t always care for.

And I’ll be even more honest its a virtue that is easy to forget.  I do a lot of reading in Church Leadership. I’ve been through a lot of teaching in Church Leadership. And I’ve very thankful for it, because I think it’s made me a better leader.

And the think that being a leader (either in church, in work, in your family, in the school, wherever) can whisper to you is this – “It’s all up to you!”

We can buy into the myth of our own self importance.  We forget to humble ourselves.

With all that I’d been taught, I’d forgotten that.  I’m not really all that important.  I’m really not.  The fate of the free world is not upon my shoulders. The future of the church is not dependent upon me. Sometimes, I forget.  I forget those things.  I think it all depends upon me.

We need to remember who we are.  We are not as strong or as important as we think we are.  We are not.  None of us.

Now, that sounds depressing, doesn’t it?  That sounds like we are not much.  Quite the contrarey. Since we aren’t much, there’s a freedom there that comes from just depending and trusting in God.  A freedom that says, I’m not much God, but I’m yours.  I’m not much, God, but I am who you want me to be.  I’m not much, but I’m your child.

And, if we are child of the King, what more could we want to be?

It isn’t until we submit the King, though, that we remember that we are His.

Today, remember, God is bigger that you. And it’s not all up to you.  Humble yourself. Trust.  Depend.  Listen.  Pray.

God is bigger.  May we humble ourselves before Him.

Why am I so Stupid?

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Today I was praying and thinking about the inability to stop doing stupid things.  You know how it is, you know what I mean. We, as humans, don’t learn our lessons well sometimes. We keep making the same mistakes over and over and over again. We keep falling in the same holes, we keep getting tripped up by the same things.

As I asked God this morning when I was praying, “God why am I so stupid?”  That’s how I feel sometimes.  I think we each feel that way sometimes too.

Then, I was reading the assigned Psalm for today’s morning office, Psalm 103.  Here’s the part that most spoke to me:

1 Bless the LORD, O my soul, *
and all that is within me, bless his holy Name.
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, *
and forget not all his benefits.
3 He forgives all your sins *
and heals all your infirmities;
4 He redeems your life from the grave *
and crowns you with mercy and loving-kindness;
5 He satisfies you with good things, *
and your youth is renewed like an eagle’s.
6 The LORD executes righteousness *
and judgment for all who are oppressed.
7 He made his ways known to Moses *
and his works to the children of Israel.
8 The LORD is full of compassion and mercy, *
slow to anger and of great kindness.
9 He will not always accuse us, *
nor will he keep his anger for ever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, *
nor rewarded us according to our wickedness.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, *
so is his mercy great upon those who fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west, *
so far has he removed our sins from us.
13 As a father cares for his children, *
so does the LORD care for those who fear him.
14 For he himself knows whereof we are made; *
he remembers that we are but dust.
15 Our days are like the grass; *
we flourish like a flower of the field;
16 When the wind goes over it, it is gone, *
and its place shall know it no more.
17 But the merciful goodness of the LORD endures for ever on those who fear him, *and his righteousness on children’s children;

There seems to be two refrains. We are weak and frail.  Our lives are but a whisper. We are the grass of the field. We are temporary. We will not be here for long. We are weak.  We are clumsy.  We fall down.

God is eternal.  God is love. God longs to show mercy to His children.  Why we are here for just a moment, God was here before we got here and will be here after we leave.  He is before and after us.  He is God.

And, He knows we are frail and weak.  He knows we are clumsy.  He knows we fall.  He knows we get tripped up.  He knows we are from the dust.

And He loves us anyway.  He loves us in spite of our weakness.  He loves us.

His love is greater than our mistakes. His strength is stronger than our weakness.  His mercy is deeper than our sins.  No matter what we’ve done.  He loves us.  He loves you today, no matter if you’ve done the same dumb thing yesterday that you’ve done for years.

He might not like what you’ve done.  He might not delight in your sin.

But He loves you.  He delights in you.  You are loved, no matter what.

I don’t know about you, but I needed to hear this Psalm today. It’s a good thing to know that I’m loved, no matter what.  So are you today.  You are love, in spite of it all.

Live in that knowledge.

Remember Your Chains

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Today, a few words from 1 Corinthians 15 that stood out to me:

9 For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them-though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

Paul today says that he understands because of some of the stuff he did before his conversion (persecution of the church, the stoning of Stephen) that he has worked harder than the rest.  He knows that because of all that he has done, he has a debt, something that he feels like he needs to make clean for his own good.

Paul remembers where he has come from.  I think that’s a good thing.  One of my favorite songs by Steven Curtis Chapman is entitled “Remember your Chains” and this song shares with Paul this notion that we should remember where we come from.  We should remember that we were not always who we are now.  We should remember that it was God’s grace that saved us.

We need to remember that we are not perfect and have never been perfect. God has brought us a long way.

And, we need to remember to be merciful and grace that have not yet excepted the grace of God. For we were once there ourselves.  We are no better than them, or anyone.  It’s all about God’s grace.

God has shown us mercy.  We need to remember what God has done for us.  I know for me, that helps me to show mercy and grace to others. God has forgive me SO much.  How can I not show mercy and grace?

Even when I don’t want to. Even when they don’t deserve it.  Because I didn’t deserve God’s forgiveness of me. And He gave it anyway.

Remember where you have been.  Remember where God has brought you. Remember to forgive each other. As God has forgiven you.

The God of Repentance

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Today as I was praying through today’s Morning Office, one of the prayers really hit a cord with me.  It’s a passage from the Apocryphal Book the Prayer of Manasseh.  It says this:

And now, O Lord, I bend the knee of my heart, *
and make my appeal, sure of your gracious goodness.

I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, *
and I know my wickedness only too well.

Therefore I make this prayer to you: *
Forgive me, Lord, forgive me.

Do not let me perish in my sin, *
nor condemn me to the depths of the earth.

For you, O Lord, are the God of those who repent, *
and in me you will show forth your goodness.

This is Holy Week, the week we focus on the passion of our Lord as He was in Jerusalem, the week when we hone in on the cross and the price that the Lord paid for our freedom and forgiveness.

This can produce two emotions within us. First, a sense of great guilt and conviction.  Iunderstand this feeling. It was for me that Jesus came. It was for my sins He was given.  I was because of what I’ve done that He gave His life.  That is true for each of us.  He gave Himself for each of us.

That’s one reason, in my opinion, as Christians we must be forgiving, Jesus died for the sins of the world. But, also for my sins.  I don’t need to worry about what you are doing.  I need to worry about what I am doing. How am I living?  How am I being faithful.  How am I being who God has called me to be?  If we each live with that sense of awareness of our own sin, I imagine we’ll be more forgiving of each other’s sin.

The other emotion it produces is thankfulness. For, God is a God of repentance.  He is a God of those that turn to Him, that ask forgiveness.  That ask for new life. That turn away from the old.  That understand what they have done.

Today, God is a God that longs to forgive you. And me. He is a God that longs to offer each of us a fresh start. Today.  He longs to forgive us.

Repentance is a gift.  It allows us to make a new, fresh, and clean start.  Today.

And, repentance is not just for those that are not Christian.  It’s for each of us. For we all have sin and we all need to repent and turn away from it.  We all need to turn from our sin and turn to God.

Today, will you repent?  Will you turn away from your sin and turn to God?  Will you make a fresh start?  Will you have a new day?  God is the God of Repentance.  May we find His grace for that, even today.