be still my soul, be still

Be still my soul, be still. Wait patiently upon the Lord. Be still my soul, be still.

While driving home earlier this evening, I caught a glimpse of the sunset over McCullom Lake and pulled into the park to take a better look. I found a nice bench looking out at the vast beauty before me. I soon decided upon, and upgraded to, a better seat in the tree above the bench. As I was hanging in the tree, talking with God and pondering life; geese started to fly in. Hundreds, even thousands of them joined the group in the middle of the lake. Their honking and squawking drown out all the other noises around. It was simply incredible. Matthew 6 was brought to mind; "Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" (Matt 6:26 ESV)

This teaching comes from Jesus during the sermon on the mount. In chapter 6, verses 25-34 He addresses anxiousness. 

In 27, He questions the worth of peoples' worrying; "And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?"

He refers to grass and lilies in a field which God clothes and the birds of the air which God feeds; and He compares their worth to ours. How much more concerned is God with our well-being than that of the geese or the grass?

In verse 32 we get these words of assurance "your heavenly Father knows that you need them all." Wow.

Then, in 33, Jesus give this challenge; "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

In Luke (10:38-42) Jesus is with Mary and Martha. It says that Martha was distracted in all her preparations while Mary was sitting at Jesus' feet listening to Him. Martha was upset that her sister was not helping her and Jesus tells her "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her."

Folks, what are we so anxious about? What worries are weighing on our mind?

Know that the almighty God, creator of heaven and earth, knows what you need! Not only that, but He takes care of the things that are of far less value to Him than you are. Rather than worrying and being distracted, lets focus on the one thing that is necessary-seek God and his kingdom.

"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Matthew 6:34

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV). Crossway Bibles 2001.

Allegory Time!

So I was doing some homework and I got the opportunity to have a lil' fun. I was supposed to take 1 Kings 17:1-6, ignore all context, and make the most "superspiritual," allegorical interpretation I could for this piece of scripture.

(If you're not 100% sure what an allegory is I will save you and google the bandwidth; "1. a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or material forms; figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another. 2. a symbolical narrative"[dictionary.com])

Here is the passage;
"Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” ² The word of the LORD came to him, saying, ³ “Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. ⁴ It shall be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.” ⁵ So he went and did according to the word of the LORD, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. ⁶ The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook" (NASB)

Far-fetched allegorical interpretation of 1 Kings 17:1-6; In this passage Elijah is, allegorically speaking, the church. The church is “hiding” because it is not supposed to be like the world. (Romans 12:2) Jesus is the brook, because He brings living water. (John 4:10) The Ravens are the Holy Spirit, because He helps us to understand the spiritual food of scripture. (John 16:13; 1 Peter 2:2) This passage was simply a fore-telling of the arrangement of the church, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit’s roles to come. We can trust that as we preach things people don’t like to hear and hide ourselves from worldly lusts that God will feed us and sustain us. Allegory. Understood. Done. Right?

Can you hear that being preached as a sermon? I can. Is this passage about the church? No. Is this passage about Jesus? No. Is this passage about the Holy Spirit? No. Does it have value and worth? Heck yea! Did I completely avoid it by looking past the context and trying to develop an allegorical meaning? Yup.

I posted this as a reminder; we need to take the Word at 'face value.' When we add meaning, or try to interpret what it "means to us", we take away from the original, correct, intended, God-breathed meaning. Don't let yourself get in the way of what the Word has to say. (Hey, that rhymes!)

Allegory. dictionary.com. June 25, 2011. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/allegory

New American Standard Bible. (NASB) 1960, The Lockman Foundation. biblegateway.com. June 25, 2011. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Kings%2017:1-6&version=NASB

The LORD is My Shepherd I Shall Not Want

This is a journal that I had to write for a class. It was my response to chapter 14 from the book Renovation of the Heart In Daily Practice by Dallas Willard and Jan Johnson. (Which I would highly recommend anyone to work through-fyi) I apologize if it gets a little confusing having not read the chapter from the book. The chapter was about self denial and the 'experiment' at the end of the chapter called me to read through Psalm 23 and to "Picture this sheep who is surrounded by green pastures yet isn't on his feet munching away. This sheep is so full and satisfied that he contentedly lies down without needing even a bite. Move through the verse.. fill in the blanks with your life."

This chapter could not have come at a more opportune time. God had already been teaching me a lesson in self denial.

This morning I was sitting at the lake/pond/puddle and pondering God’s will for my life because ‘life had so greatly let me down.’ My heart was broken after things had not worked out. I spent time in prayer asking questions; then I read some scripture before taking my walk. I read Psalm 147, which praises God for how awesome He is and how great His love and power are. I read the words saying; “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He counts the numbers of the stars; He gives names to all of them.” (Ps 147:3-4 NASB) I couldn’t understand those words. I felt like the circumstances He had given me had broken my heart; certainly He isn’t healing it. I felt like He had just forgotten completely about me; yet He knows the stars?

I went out on a walk and determined to be silent and let God answer me (after all He had a lot to answer for, right?) Over the next 45 minutes of a steady, cool wind, watching geese, and staring at the rippling water, while waiting for God’s answer, He brought me to the realization that He is God, and I am not. I was broken because my plans did not work; not because He has forgotten about me. The world has not come to an end and the sky has not fallen; only my plans have. I have to put aside myself, my plans, and seek His plans.

The chapter continued to build on what God had already been doing this morning. When I read Psalm 23, tears ran down my cheeks as I imagined God as my shepherd, making me lie down in green pastures and leading me by still waters. He had restored my soul. He was guiding me in the paths of righteousness for His names sake. I know that even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death (which, now, sounds a tad bit worse than my current circumstances) I will fear no evil, because He is with me! His rod and His staff; they comfort me. He has prepared a table for me in these hard times, anointed my head with oil, and He is overflowing my cup. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!

I then re-read Psalm 147 knowing that it was not God that had broken my heart, but that I had. Having experienced firsthand how He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. I was left in awe of His power and his mercy. I just had to step down from sitting in God’s throne in my life to understand it. God has restored my broken soul this morning.

I am posting this hoping that you might put God back on His throne if you're sitting in it, and that He would restore your soul as well.

Willard, Dallas. Johnson, Jan. Renovation of the Heart in Daily Practice. Colorado Springs, CO: NAVPRESS, 2006.