Wait

“I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,

and in His word I put my hope.

I wait for the Lord

more than the watchmen wait for the morning,

more than the watchmen wait for the morning.” (Psalm 130:5)

After I had promised not to tell anyone, I told one of my sisters that our nephew’s wife was expecting her first baby. I drew the wrath of some of the rest of the family, and lost my credibility as a trustworthy sister and aunt. I couldn’t wait. When I read the words of the psalmist I knew that I had a long way to go before I could say with him, “I wait for the Lord more than the watchmen wait for the morning.” Psalm 130 continues with amazing assertions about God: If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.”

Though these words were written long before the resurrection of Jesus, they express an absolute assurance of forgiveness in our God, as if the psalmist might have been one of the disciples who witnessed the risen Christ himself, for it is through Him that we receive the priceless gift of forgiveness: “Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love, and with Him is full redemption. He Himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.”( Psalm 130:7&8)

The words of this psalm warmed my heart, and I felt as if I knew that all would be well. Of course the resolution was quite predictable, when my nephew’s wife delivered a lovely, healthy baby girl, my sin was wiped from everyone’s memory. This week the new family sent us a video of themselves with the newborn, and the joy was palpable.

The anticipation, the tension, the apprehension, before she came into the world, disappeared when she arrived. The many feedings, the loss of sleep, the diaper changing, all looked like pure joy and pleasure for this young couple. It was certainly a joy for me to watch.

With Christ there is indeed “full redemption.” It can’t be fully comprehended, but it can be believed, for the Old and New Testaments both extol this undeserved gift to all of us.

My slate ws wiped clean when the baby was born. When we wait on the Lord, we say with the psalmist, “With you, Lord, there is forgiveness.”

Love in Him,

Prue

In the year 1611, in London, England, a contingent of book publishers protested to King James I that if he allowed a new English version of the whole Bible to be made available to the public at large, they, the publishers, would be driven out of business; for who would buy any other book if he could own the Words of God?

Their protest was futile, as King James was delighted with his new English Bible and eager to have it distributed to “every shepherd’s cottage” in the land. He believed that a common Bible would increase unity among diverse Christian denominations in his realm, and improve the peace. For centuries the King James Bible was the standard for English speaking Christians. It became the publishers’ “best seller”.

“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish. . . so is my word that goes out from my mouth”; it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:9-11)

It’s sometimes hard to believe that a supernatural God has given humanity a book full of natural and supernatural characters, as a way of revealing Himself to us. Each character testifies to that very reality. God speaks in the Bible over and over the words His people need to hear, and in the New Testament Jesus tells believers about the nature of their God and the share we may have in His nature: “Fear not, little flock, for it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”(Luke 12:32) Without even understanding the full implications of these words, we are encouraged by their benevolent, kindly message; and, “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to Her.” (Luke 1:45) There are “no strings attached” to these affirmations, just the tender reassurances of a parent to a much loved child. They are only a few of the ways the Bible draws us to Christ and to God. They are gentle, but persistent ways that God embraces and engages His people.

Written by many authors, the Bible testifies to a single God, whose character, manifested through many persons over many years, opens the way for us to engage in the dialogue with the One beyond the words. We may indeed read other books, and still own the words of God.

Love in Him,

Prue

“The Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you.” (1 Chronicles 9:10)

These are the words spoken by King David to his son Solomon, just before turning over the throne of Israel to his son. David had spent the last few years of his reign collecting materials and workmen to build the temple in Jerusalem. In the quote above, David located for Solomon his source of success in the very large and unfamiliar task ahead. He assured Solomon that, though he, David, would not be present, David’s Source of strength and understanding would be with Solomon without fail. Solomon would never be alone in this project.

It is stirring to read about the building of Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem, and to perceive the realization of God’s promise to David, but it is even more stirring to observe the growth of God’s relationship with His people in the history of Salvation.

Many years after these events the prophet Hosea wrote, “When I (God) found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your ancestors it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree.” (Hosea 9:10) God had said to Abraham, “Don’t be afraid, Abram, I am your shield, your very great reward,.” (Genesis 15:1) Even at that very early time God made it clear to that very early ancestor of the Hebrews, that Abraham would never be alone. Abraham was like “grapes in the desert” to God.

When I read that, I understood that, not only will God be found by us if we search for Him, but in fact He searches for us. It seemed like a revelation to me to find in the Old Testament, a glimpse of the God of Jesus, who gave us the story of the lost sheep: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine . . . and go after it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.” (Luke 15:4)

God doesn’t let one sheep go off alone. Not only will we find Him if we search for Him, but in both the Old and the New Testaments, it is clear that God has no intention either to be alone Himself, or to leave His people alone. We, like Abraham, or like the lost sheep, are “grapes in the desert” to God. We are irresistible to Him, as He desires to be irresistible to us. We are never alone.

Love in Him,

Prue

Before the Biblical Abraham could receive a promise, before he could form a household and envision a future, he had to “Go from your country, your people, and your father’s household to the land that I (God) will show you.” (Genesis 12:1) Abraham had to detach himself from all the people, places, and things which were familiar to him, and receive an entirely new direction in life that left many unknowns. Abraham is unique in his capacity to exchange the very framework of his life, his home, his relatives, his land , for a voice and a reality that was not shared by anyone around him.

As Abraham responded to God’s voice, and apparently without previous experience or evidence, accepted His God’s promise, Abraham found himself in a relationship; one that grew and gave shape to his life. He wasn’t on earth to see the total fulfillment of the promise: “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing . . . and all people on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:2&3)

Nevertheless, the impossible birth of his son Isaac in his old age and the old age of his wife Sarah, fulfilled for Abraham, God’s most unlikely promise . The final fulfillment came hundreds of years later. The total fulfillment is realized in the person of Jesus, who said to Abraham’s descendants, “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” (John 8:56)

My grandmother told me emphatically that our “home town” is always the place where we were born. I never lived in the city where my mother gave birth to me, so I remained puzzled. When I read of Abraham’s journey, I knew that “home” is not a geographic place, but in truth “home” is a Person, a Person worth leaving everything in order to follow Him.

The leaving is the first step in finding “home.” It demands an unshakable faith that the One who accompanies us is real and worth the journey. “Home” is the One who inspired the hundred and fifty exquisite Psalms in the Bible. “Home” is the One whose Son agreed to shoulder the sins of the world in order to bring all of us “Home”. Home is a Person who loves and inspires us, and out of love , keeps us home for eternity.

Love in Him,

Prue

“Did you see the way his mouth was open when you brought Scuffy (our cat) into the clinic? I was sure he wouldn’t live through the night,” said Stan, our veterinarian, the next day. “He had every symptom of the last stage of kidney disease, but this morning he’s standing, and hungry; his fur is glossy and his eyes bright. He’s probably the healthiest animal we have here right now!”

“You must have done a good job with him, Stan,” I said.

“I didn’t do a thing!” he answered. “Someone Else worked on that cat.”

“When I found him lying in the driveway in the rain, we all started praying a lot.” I said. “Well, your prayers are answered,” Stan replied. “You can take Scuffy home.”

This incident made a deep impression on our daughter as well as on Jack and me. When I told it to others, though, the reaction was mixed. One woman laughed to think that a cat would be miraculously healed, or even that we would pray for an animal.

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very airs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” ( Matthew 10:29)

Jesus talked to his people about sparrows to reveal to them the tenderness of God toward his people and toward toward all of creation, including sparrows and cats.

It seems to me that God’s mercy toward us is higher, wider and deeper than we’re able to imagine, and so we try to telescope it into our own ways of imagining God and Jesus, while He is constantly asking us to drop the telescope and find him in our real world, and in our own souls. “Don’t be afraid” is an invitation to open more doors in our characters to receive the Life that is lived by God Himself.

Last week we discovered a nest of cardinals in our back yard. One of the new hatch-lings had fallen to the ground and we returned it to the nest that contained four other hatch-lings with tiny wide open beaks. I found myself praying for them, as their very survival seemed fragile at best. The nest was in a small youpon tree and very accessible.

I was reminded that despite their brilliant, eye-catching color, the cardinals have survived and thrived for many millennia in a changing world. The God of the sparrows was their God as well as mine, and I and all my species are worth many cardinals in “our Father’s care.”

Love in Him,

Prue

“On the last day of the festival Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’” (John7:37)

When Jesus spoke these words, he had already told a Samaritan woman, “Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”(John 4:13)

Both then and now many of those who read or hear these words are puzzled by the meaning. The woman asked for the water from him, thinking he meant literal H2O, and today we wonder, what does he really mean? Is there really a stream of water that leads to eternal life? Jesus seems to be saying that there is.

In the Old Testament there are several references to such a stream: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go to meet with God?” (Psalm 42:1), and Isaiah wrote, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat.” (Isaiah 55:1)

Jesus’ words at the festival would have resonated with the crowd, but have we lost touch with their meaning? The water is clearly an invitation. Did the first century people understand the invitation better than we can? I believe that it wasn’t until the cross itself that Jesus opened wide the knowledge of the living water and it’s true meaning when he said, just before he died, “I thirst.” His thirst was the thirst of the psalmist and of the invitation from Isaiah, and his own invitation to come to him and drink. He lived his own invitation as he thirsted for the Father he knew could alone relieve his thirst.

Jesus preached about the Father’s Holy Spirit, welling up unto eternal life, and then displayed for us that very Holy Spirit on the cross for all to see and remember his words to us and to all generations. In everything he preached, Jesus displayed the way to eternal life. The water welling up to eternal life, the water that quenches our deepest thirst, the water that flows from within those who follow him, are all powerful symbols of God’s Holy Spirit at work in the world. Even the rain reminds us of God’s life—giving favor on our gardens and yards, rivers and lakes. When we look for living water, God is delighted to show Himself to us.

Love in Him,

Prue

There is a narrow point, extending into Possum Kingdom Lake, from an uninhabited peninsula. The point of land grows as a drought causes the lake to recede. Standing on our deck one day, as I looked toward the point, I saw a cow standing near the water, and another cow further back near the line of vegetation. I was surprised because I had never seen an animal anywhere near the point. There was, I had noticed, a small herd of cattle far back on a grassy stretch of land on the peninsula, high above the lake. The exposed point has existed only since the drought: a few months. The cows appeared to have wandered from the herd and arrived at the water’s edge at the point. It wasn’t too long before another and another cow descended from the grass above to the point at the lake’s edge. Eventually seven cows made the trip before two of them turned back and disappeared into the vegetation.

Most of the cows had taken a drink from the lake and then seemed bewildered at finding themselves at lakeside; but finally, with some loud bellowing, they all returned to the higher ground and even to the pasture above. Among the group were too quite small calves. I was filled with a sense of privilege for having seen this, and a great sense of the vulnerability of the cows. What could I possibly do if a mishap occurred in their trip down the cliff to the water and back? As far as I could tell there were no other witnesses to this early morning event.

“I know that you have but little strength, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.” (Revelation 3:8)

“Every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine.” (Psalm 50:10)

The cattle on the field across from where I stood seemed small from the distance, and the scripture reminded me that someone other than myself knew them and claimed them. It was an incident that seemed to make the distance between earth and heaven shorter; I knew that I wouldn’t have to care for or worry about the fate of the cows, but that I could simply rejoice in seeing even more of God’s creation in seeing them. To be reminded of the “littleness” of my strength, and the largeness of God’s strength and understanding, brought perspective and even relief. To inhabit a world with God in Christ is to find your best self.

Love in Him,

Prue

Among the many Greek myths surrounding Poseidon, the god of the sea, and the brother of Zeus, is the story that Poseidon was the creator of the giraffe, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, the donkey, and several other animals that he rejected, in his effort to create his masterpiece, the horse.

The wonderful, useful qualities of the horse so far outshone the characteristics of almost all other animals, that the Greeks dismissed the others as nothing more than rejects of their god. Surely the goal of creation must be mankind’s pleasure and convenience.

“Behold, your king comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation, lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. “(Zechariah 9:9)

The contrast between a god who rejects all manner of animals because they do not suit his purposes, and a God who elevates one of the humblest animals in order to carry His son, is striking. The humble donkey plays a pivotal role in both the Old and the New Testaments. When Balaam heads out to meet King Balak in response to Balak’s plea for for him to curse Israel, it is Balaam’s donkey that sees the angel of God and saves Balaam’s life by preventing him from going rashly at the will of Balak. Balaam had been given permission to go, but his spirit was not entirely right with God when he left. (Numbers 22:21) He needed the stern reminder that he was to do God’s work, a work that was facilitated by his donkey when the animal spoke.

King David and his sons all rode mules. The sign to the people of Israel that Solomon was chosen by David, and thus by God , was that Solomon rode David’s mule to his own anointing.

Finally, Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem fulfilled prophesy, and was a sign to believers, of his real identity. To see the earth’s creatures, to disregard them and imagine them disregarded by God, is to lose sight of both ourselves, as His creation, and of our Creator. Sometimes we need to remember the donkey.

Love in Him,

Prue

Down the street from the courthouse in Goldthwaite, Texas, there is a small museum containing a good variety of things, mostly related to either the adjacent jail or the courthouse. Both buildings are worth visiting for the history they contain, and for the artifacts.

The most curious artifact I found, and the one to which I returned repeatedly , was a long rope, made of the torn material of men’s shirts braided together. It was found in the attic of the jail building when renovations were being done. Try as I might, I couldn’t imagine a scenario that would explain its existence in that room. The material was clearly from shirts , and it was found lying on the floor near the single window. I asked if there had ever been a jail break from there, and was told, “No!” No one had any idea how the rope had arrived in that place, who made it, or why. Nevertheless, it was a poignant object that suggested lost hopes and ambitions: “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (Romans 6:16)

Whatever a “slave of righteousness” may be, it is surely better than being a “slave of sin.” Paul, who wrote these words, certainly knew the difference; this obedience to our righteous God was the hallmark of his converted life. As he knew, being a “slave of righteousness,” strenuous as it was for him, led to a joyful eternal life.

When Paul stood in chains before King Agrippa, he, Agrippa, said, “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be Christian?” Paul replied,”Short time or long—I pray to God that not only you, but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.” (Acts 26:28-29)

The simple handmade rope found on the floor under the attic window of the jail in Goldthwaite spoke volumes to me of the choices we make almost unconsciously that bring us to confront our own “slavery” to righteousness or to evil. Paul’s life as known in the Bible, gives us a window into the victory associated with “righteousness”, with unblinking acknowledgment of the hardships it can mean. The victory and the freedom were worth infinitely more than the hardships to Paul.

“You have been set free from sin and have become slaves of righteousness.” (Romans 6:18) This is God’s eternal joy, unfettered by chains or ropes.

Love in Him,

Prue

“I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the course and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of the grace of God.” (acts 20:24)

The writer of these words was Paul, some times called “the great Apostle” of Jesus. Few people on earth have grasped the gospel of the grace that Paul did, and displayed the truth of such a statement in their lifestyles.

“I have worked much harder (than other apostles), been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea. . . I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.” (2 Corinthians 11:22-27)

The man who wrote these words, who willingly experienced these hardships, also wrote, “Love is patient and kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others; it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (1Corinthians 13:4-7)

It seems to me that these words must come from a different source from the ones above, for these express a spirit of sweetness, as if the beatings and the exposure to death had left no trace of anger or resentment toward man or God. When I read 1 Corinthians 13, I always marvel, and wonder where Paul could have learned the meaning of love, or the essential nature of its workings in human souls. The only answer that occurs to me is that the Spirit of Love Himself must be speaking through Paul, and that Paul’s abandoning all earthly attachments has left room for the Holy Spirit of God to fill Paul’s vacancy with an intimate understanding of God’s loving character. The contrast between the words of 1 Corinthians 13, and the man who went about persecuting Christians, and then suffered such extremes for his faith, can hardly be reconciled without admitting the presence of Another Voice in Paul. That voice is full of kindness and devoid of anger. Not only does Paul describe love, but he even recognizes its preeminence, both in the present and in eternity: “And now abide faith, hope, and Love, but the greatest of these is love.”(1 Corinthians 13:13). How does he know this? He knows it from Christ Himself.

Love in Him,

Prue