No Middle Ground

Deuteronomy 27:12 When you have crossed the Jordan,
these tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: ...
13 And these tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce curses: ...

     Sometimes there is no middle ground. But we like compromise, give and take, a little for me and a little for you. But to be honest we really like OUR way. We love to be on the receiving end of giving and we want a lot, not a little. We want it for ourselves! So when there is no middle ground we get uncomfortable. We squirm, wiggle and look for the exit doors.
     One of the final instructions that Moses gave to the people of Israel before they entered the Promised Land was how to visually demonstrate the choice they had before them. Half the tribes were to stand on one mountain and half were to stand on the other mountain. One half pronounced curses on those who would disobey and the other have pronounced blessings on those who would obey. He spends two full chapters outlining these blessings and curses.
     There was a clear choice. No one was in the valley between the two mountains. The lesson was clear. There were only two camps: Obedience leading to blessing or disobedience leading to the withdrawal of the LORD's presence and the resulting curse that would result. Those were their choices.
     Believe it or not, we still have those same choices today. We can line our lives up with the LORD's will and have the opportunity to experience blessing. Or we can disregard the clear instruction from Scripture and choose to live by our own set of rules and seperate ourselves from the life the LORD has designed us to live. We can choose our own fruit like in the Garden of Eden.
     We make the choice. There is no middle ground, no half way, no compromise.
     There is no guarantee that blessing will come in the way and at the time we want. But blessing will come. And just as surely curse will come to those who disobey at a time of the LORD's choosing.
     So what is your choice today? What kind of future do you want?

In Proportion

Deuteronomy 16:17 Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to
the way the LORD your God has blessed you. 

     Proportionality in giving. "To whom much is given, much is required." To put this simply, if we have a lot, we should be able to give a lot. This is one of the principles about giving in the Scriptures.
     It can be easy to look at the ultra-wealthy and say to them, "Give more." And they should voluntarily give more. But that shifts the responsibility away from us onto them. But we are all called to give in proportion to the blessing we have received.
     I read in the news that a certain candidate's proposals will cost about 98 trillion dollars. But the reality is that the total wealth of every member of the United States is about 98 trillion dollars. In order to fund the candidate's proposal, all the wealth of the total population would have to be confiscated. Every penny of asset seized and sold. Every retirement saving transferred to the government. No private home ownership. It all gets taken by the government.
     Notice I didn't say voluntarily given.
     In our life of generosity our giving needs to increase as our blessing increases. In our devotion to the LORD, our gifts need to increase as the blessing increases.
     This is not a plea for support. It is an invitation to join me in my struggle to give more proportionally. The blessing of obedience is still available. The blessing isn't about more finances, more stuff. It is about living the kind of life we were designed to live.

Singular

Deuteronomy 13:1 If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.

     There are so many things that are of value in our world, things worth living for and things worth dying for. With the role of advertising psychology ever increasingly being used in our world to tap into the motivation of consumers, we need to be able to sort through the messages and make good decisions.
     The key is to look beyond the moment, both to the past and to the future, and evaluate the offer based on history and destiny.
    We can read about this kind of "looking beyond the moment" experience in the Scriptures. In Deuteronomy 13 there is a warning about following after foreign gods as the people are preparing to enter the Promised Land.
     The first part of the warning has to deal with the present moment, a false prophet who is able to bring the razzle dazzle of foretelling the future as a way to get the people of God to be distracted. The distract of the present moment pulls us away from the lessons of the past and separates us from the promises of the future.
     There was a calling away from remembering the history the LORD had with His people. "Ignore the miracles associated with the Exodus. Here is a miracle right here. Run after it."
     And there is a glossing over the promises of the future of blessing for the immediate return of the present.
     It can be hard to balance the history of our past and the blessings of the promised future. We can get so wrapped up in the razzle dazzle of the moment that we loose our minds and hearts. So as we walk through this Lenton season, let's keep our eyes focused on the history of faithfulness demonstrated by the LORD and the promise of our future completed redemption. Notice the present, but don't get deceived by it.
    

There To Be Found

Deuteronomy 4:29 But if from there you seek the LORD your God,
you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.

     I have ADHD! I forget things all the time. I am working on a project, realize I need something to complete the project, go to get that something and before I can retrieve it I have forgotten what I was going to retrieve. Or along the way I get distracted and forget about the project altogether! This drives me nuts! It also drives my wife of almost 40 years nuts as well.
     I have come to realize that I really don't forget those things. They just drop to the bottom of the thought queue. They will pop up and briefly pass through my mind days or weeks later. But before I can write them down, they are gone again, only to resurface and drop off at another random time.
     I am glad the LORD is not ADHD! He is always ready for us to return. He has open arms for us. Even when we have purposely walked away, He is there waiting for our return.
    This was really good news for the Israelites. It was news they would hear now, but not put into action for years to come. But the seed was planted. When they had wandered away and suffered the consequences of their separation from the LORD's blessing, they could know that they could return and be accepted.
     The one condition that continues, before the walk away and after the return, is that we come with all that we are. The LORD wants us to completely yield to Him. He doesn't want part of us. He knows that yielding 100% is what is best for us. It is the way we were designed to exist.
     And yet we often think we can give part of ourselves to something/someone other than the LORD. We cordon off parts of our lives in hopes that they won't affect our relationships with others. He have places that we don't yield to His intervention.
    When we do that we limit His ability to transform us and redeem us. Do we really want to limit our Creator from forming and making us into the best version of ourselves?

Resolutions

Psalm 1:1-6

      I’ve made up my mind. I am not going to make any New Year’s resolutions this year. Oops, I just blew it, didn’t I! It can be a hard thing to resist using this change of the calendar as an opportunity to make a change, start something new, drop an unwanted habit. But good intentions are not enough. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions, as the old saying goes. So how do we make changes in our lives?

      This Psalm, a song used in worship down through the ages, gives us some hints into some things we can do to make permanent kinds of changes in our lives. This is not so much a ‘to do’ manual, but a glimpse into what a surrendered heart looks like, when that heart is surrendered to the LORD.

      In some corners of the Church today people respond to the question, “How are you doing?” with the words, “I’m blessed.” There may be some extra words or phrases added on to this, but having the ‘blessing’ is important. Being blessed by the LORD is a central outcome of a proper relationship with Him. If we are rightly related, no sin unconfessed, no part of us unyeilded, then we are under God’s blessing.

      When the children of Israel were exiting Egypt from 400 years of slavery, Moses was obedient in conveying the message of blessing and cursing, blessing on obedience, and cursing on disobedience. I’m not talking about swear words hear, but a posture of being and living in tune with the will of God for our lives. When we line up with what the LORD is doing in the world, we will be moving in conjunction with His movements. We won’t be swimming against His stream. We will join energies with His and be swept along on His strength. Much better than constantly pushing against His power.

      When we are under the blessing, the LORD is watching over us. He keeps His protective eye on our path, ensuring the outcome is best for us. This doesn’t mean there won’t be some bumps in the road, some obstacles to be overcome, but that in the end, He will receive glory for what has happened and we will understand how even the ‘bad’ things worked for our good. This can be hard to see when we are in the middle of the weeds. But when we are able to see the circumstances from His perspective, we will be able to see the blessing.

      So in order to be in that blessed place we are called to change where we walk, stand and sit. I’m not talking about calling UHaul and arranging for your next move. I am talking about choosing the company that we keep, the sources of advice and news about the world, and the way we conduct business. There should be difference in the way we live our lives because we are lining up with the holy character of the LORD. Let me give you one example as a way to illustrate this.

      Honesty in business and our personal lives can bring great blessing. If we are always looking for a way to cut corners, just getting by, taking what is ours, bleeding the customer, supplier and employee for every last dime, we will be in a lonely place. We may make some extra cash along the way, but no one will be at our side on the journey except thieving, manipulating people just like us. So when the temporary good times end, and the natural curse on evil behavior comes, there will be no one to act charitably toward you.

      We need to watch where and with whom we walk the roads of life. Our companions along the journey will influence us, and us them. If we choose selfish people with whom to share our journey, we will have to become more selfish in order to survive in that relationship. If we choose the ‘get rich quick’ people, we will always be checking to see if our wallet is intact. But if we choose generous people, we will have the freedom to be generous as well. It is easy to slide down hill into bankrupt choices when the crowd we walk with is making those same choices. But if we hang around with those who are choosing to walk in step with the LORD, our steps become more easily in tune with His.

      When we must pause and seek advice, from whom do we seek it? Are they in tune with the eternal design of God? Are they blessed? If not, then we can’t possibly expect their advice to bring the blessing of God. At most they will provide advice that will keep us locked into the same steps that brought us to this point. We need godly counsel, not the same old words that failed to bring the blessing.

      The source of blessing comes in understanding and properly relating to the God who revealed Himself in the Scriptures. So when we read, understand, and meditate on His Word, we are tuning in to His frequency, yielding to His will. We need to discover what He wants to say to us by allowing His Spirit to take His Word and apply it to our hearts and lives. When that happens, we become blessed.

      So resolve to be in His word to a greater degree this year, allowing Him to speak, and then submitting yourself to His plan. Swim the direction He is moving. Line up with His character. Become blessed.

Bottom of the Pile

Proverbs 3:31-35

Have you ever felt on the bottom of the pile? I know I have! Growing up I was always the skinniest kid around, at least that is the way I felt. Maybe my three older brothers were stealing all my food! But I felt like I was the weakest, most uncoordinated kid in my class. This was confirmed in my mind when I would consistently be picked last for those team games in PE class. I would be standing there by myself in the pool of prospective team members, everyone else having been picked already. Reluctantly, the last name called would be me.

We as human beings want to be connected, part of something bigger. And that quest to be connected, accepted sometimes leads us to make bad choices in friends. Sometimes we want what someone else has even when they used evil means to obtain it. We need to not envy those gains (v31). Violent people often use their power to get what they want.

Notice the contrasts in verses 32-35. It shows the actions of the LORD toward the wicked and the righteous. Confidence, blessing, favor and honor will come to those who are upright, righteous, humble and wise. By contrast the LORD detests, curses, mocks and gives shame to those who are perverse, wicked, proud and foolish.

We get to choose which group we want to be in. We get to choose our team. I wish I had been able to do that in elementary school. Looking back, it was probably my inability to stay focused on any task that prevented me from being any good at sports. And my classmates probably didn’t want a distracted player. They wanted to win! I just wanted to have fun and fun often included rapid shifts in focus away from the group activity.

I don’t engage in team activities to this day. I am still not coordinated in sports, having given up on them for other pursuits where I had a chance to excel. I choose to pay attention to those things that the LORD pays attention to. I have noticed some of these rewards in my life. I do have more confidence, blessing, favor and honor. I think I will continue to choose His ways.

The Twenty-Plus-Three’s

Psalm 23, 53, 83, 113, 143

Psalm 23 is perhaps the most familiar psalm in all the psalms. What powerful and comforting words! Because the LORD is in charge of my life, I have no need that He doesn’t satisfy. Provision for body and soul. Guidance. Protection. Empowerment for the task at hand. Blessing. His presence. No wonder this psalm means so much to so many.

There is only one hope, and it doesn’t lie with the atheists (Ps 53:1). The sad thing is that there are so few people who really serve the LORD. Many have the appearance of a spiritual life, but spiritual is not good enough. I love verse four. “Do all these evildoers know nothing?” It is as if the psalmist is saying, “You have got to be kidding! You are going to continue to try and deny God’s existence and His authority over your life? How stupid is that!” Evil people don’t really know the stakes at hand. They think that if they ignore God they won’t have to pay the consequences for their wicked ways. The psalmist hopes that the LORD will restore His people and bring victory.

Psalm 83 is a prayer of petition. The writer wants the LORD to act, to get involved on his behalf. He wants the LORD to get involved as He has so many other times in Israel’s history. The word pictures of God’s judgment that are painted capture the vivid imagination and depth of emotional involvement of the writer. And all this to the end that the LORD’s fame would be universally understood, that they would know that He alone is God.

The universality of the message of the Scripture is capture in Psalm 113. The whole earth is His domain (v3). All nations, even the heavens themselves are nothing compared to the LORD. He is exalted above them all (vv4-6). No one is too lowly or insignificant to garner the LORD’s attention. Notice verse nine. Even the childless woman, someone at the bottom of the social ladder of her day, gets the privilege of raising children. No one gets overlooked.

The Psalmist in Psalm 143 has a picture of God, an accurate one I might add, that when the LORD turns His back on people, life is as good as over (v7). They desperately want the LORD’s answer (v8). When was the last time you desperately wanted or felt you needed the LORD’s answer? That sense of desperation can be crippling if we try to deal with it absent from God’s presence. The secret that the Psalmist discovered was to take the struggle directly into God’s presence. There he could find an answer that could satisfy.

The Twenty-Plus-One’s

Psalm 21, 51, 81, 111, 141

It is a blessed time when the leader of a nation acknowledges the supreme place of the LORD in his life and in the life of the nation (Ps 21). Look at all the blessings that the king has received and for which he gives thanks. Are you willing to exalt in the LORD’s strength? Or do you feel like you need some of the glory? Can you take a back seat and let Him be up front in everything?

Repentance has a certain look. Psalm 51 is that look. Repentance wants cleansing (v2). It knows who has been offended (v4) and his sinfulness (v5). The process of cleansing following repentance includes the heart and spirit (v10). Being in God’s presence is a reward of restoration (v11). Guilt gets dealt with (v14), we offer our broken spirit (v17), and then the LORD delights in what we have to offer (v19). Repentance has gotten a bad rap. Maybe it is time to give it a try. Use this psalm as a guide.

The LORD wants us to hear what He has to say (Ps 81:8). Where Israel went off course on numerous occasions was their tendency to worship other gods (v9). We can act all smug and say that we aren’t guilty of this, but in reality we are. Think of worship in a broader context than simply about whom we sing songs on Sunday. Worship is about the object of our trust. Who do you trust when things get tough? Do you first look to your credit card? Is prayer the “last resort” or the first? Who or what occupies the lion’s share of our time and energy? Does Facebook or World of Warcraft get more time than the Word? The LORD wants us to know that if we would listen, He would answer (v14). Listen, not just when the storms of life come, but when there is sunshine and a gentle breeze. Listen!

The LORD wants all of us, not just part (Ps 111:1). To put this in Army terms, he wants us on Active Duty, not in the Reserves. And how can we do this? We can think about what the LORD has done (vv2-9). This is an active, involved process. It means we keep Him as the focus of our lives. We look for and seek out opportunities to acknowledge Him and His works. We see Him working in the big and small things of life. When His hand is present, we take notice and offer thanks. And this is a process. It takes time and energy to shift our focus, but it is what the LORD wants us to do.

I know my tendency is to “let it rip” at inappropriate moments. I speak when I should be silent. The psalmist (Ps 141:3-4) recognizes this tendency in himself and asks the LORD to help him bring this element of his life into alignment with His character. He wants some other people to help him as well, and he will welcome their interventions (v5). Are you willing to allow other people to speak truth into your life? Rebuke? Correction? So often we are resistant to the LORD’s voice of correction and rebuke when it passes through another human being’s mouth. It takes humility and a right-sized picture of our own importance to receive correction from another person.