Limping in Triumph

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. – Romans 8:26-27

Prayer is not magic.  God is not jinn.  There is a long tradition in storytelling of the unintended consequences of wishes granted and magical fulfillments going all wrong.  We never have to worry about that when we pray.  The One who searches the heart is the Spirit of God Himself.  He knows our deepest needs, our desires, and what is best for us.

Until I am certain that God is Good, and that, as Jesus told the rich young ruler, there is none good but God, prayer will always be a struggle for me.  Prayer warfare could be described as a battle to surrender -- not to be defeated, but to know to whom we are surrendering.  The most concrete illustration of this in the Bible may be Jacob’s wrestling match at Penuel (Genesis 32:24-31):

He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”  And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”  Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him.  So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

Like Jacob, we wrestle in prayer, not to defeat God or bend Him to our will, but to know His will for us – to find our place in Him, to be fully convinced of His love for us.  In prayer, we find that we are not all-knowing, all-powerful, or unbreakable.  Prayer exposes our weaknesses and vulnerabilities.  God can disable us with a mere touch.  Sometimes He does this simply because we will not surrender otherwise. 

What this story tells me is that I cannot give up until God breaks me.  My job is to hang on doggedly until He says my limit has been reached.  Even when it seems the light is about to break on my darkness, I cannot let go of Him.  The blessing is in the breaking. 

It is in the realization of our brokenness that we come to understand the perfection of His will.  If we surrender, in the sense of giving up, before that point, we will never know the fullness of His beauty and truth.  It is only in being defeated by God that we know victory.

Preventing Soul Erosion

Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body. -- Proverbs 16:24

I am short on time today – although, I suppose, this day has twenty-four hours, too. 

I note that, if the proverb is true, it might follow that ungracious words could make us sick in soul and body.  One could conclude that a lack of courtesy, politeness, etiquette, and decent manners have contributed greatly to the current diseased state of our social structure and culture.  Vulgarity, rudeness, scorn, mockery, and snark pass for humor.  Snide, semi-clever put-downs are considered intelligent discourse. 

Robert Heinlein said that an armed society is a polite society.  Even in my youth, it was still the custom that a rude or offensive remark could be answered with a fist.  These days the vulgar are protected from retribution and are free to say anything to anyone anywhere.

I have no particular objection to certain strains of rough or picturesque language, but there ought to be a reason for it, and the speaker should consider his audience.  The words spoken to a contentious or sullen bovine in the barnyard are not appropriate in the company of Christians at the meetinghouse. 

I am reminded of something the Staple Singers said back in 1971:

Oh, you cuss around womenfolk, and you don’t even know their names,

Then you’re dumb enough to think that’ll make you a big ol’ man.

Maybe it is time for us to grow up.

No Friend of the Devil

And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.  Little children, keep yourselves from idols. – 1 John 5:20-21

John’s letter comes to this point after telling us that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one (v.19).  I want to be modern in some respects.  I don’t like believing in evil spirits.  Spiritual evil sounds less oogy-boogy.  Sometimes, though, evil seems too coordinated to be an “influence”.  It looks more like a conscious, plotting being is behind it all.  I don’t know exactly what the devil is.  I do know he is a reality.

I don’t fear the devil, but I do fear that I might be deceived by him.  That brings us to the point that Lewis made decades ago in the foreword to Screwtape.  We can make two mistakes with regard to the demonic.  We can get too obsessed by it, or we can decide it doesn’t exist at all.  The latter has been adopted by the average person in today’s society.  They do not at all believe in a devil.  Evil is a result of early childhood trauma, lack of education, poverty, maybe religious beliefs, and, certainly, easy access to firearms. 

(As an aside, I used to go to church with a couple who got into a fight one evening.  The husband called the pastor – still a good friend of mine – who arrived at the house and found the trouble was a "demonic-looking" replica wooden African mask they had hanging on the wall for a decoration.  Pastor told me later he couldn’t get the mask to burn even after pouring gasoline on it.  He should have tried diesel and some kindling.  Guns are the voodoo masks of the left in this country.) 

The devil deceives through religion, through philosophies, through pride, lust, greed, envy, jealousy, gluttony, sloth, and wrath.  He deceives through utopian schemes like socialism and communism.  He deceives us by encouraging us to place our trust in ourselves, experts, teachers, mentors, leaders, programs, governments, candidates, parties, Science!, money, possessions, etc. – anyone and anything  -- except the one Person who deserves and merits our trust. 

To keep ourselves from idols, as John admonishes, means to refuse to believe that our salvation, joy, and peace lie in any object, system, or person other than our Lord Jesus.  We have a real enemy who is actively and consciously working to deceive us.   But we also have a Savior, a Fortress, and a Deliverer in whom we may place our full faith and trust. 

The world doesn’t know why it exists.  We know the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Distinction

Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.  -- Malachi 3:18

During the Incarnation, Jesus talked of how things would be for people at the end of His earthly ministry.  He compared it to the days of Noah.  No one expected the flood, even though Noah told them judgment was coming.  They continued to live as though nothing ever changed.  In the time of Jesus, people heard Him speak and tell of terrible times to come – e.g., Matthew 24, yet they continued to live as though Jerusalem would never face tribulation. 

I don’t know if things will become difficult, if judgment of some kind will fall upon the earth.  I don’t know if San Francisco will face another great earthquake, if the Yellowstone caldera will erupt, or if a sweet meteor of death will strike Washington, D.C. or Brussels or Mecca. 

I do know that I will die someday, and I’m not the only one to which this end will come.  When that happens, I believe I will be required to give an account of how I have lived since I entered this world.  Some of that account is going to be pretty embarrassing, if not downright shameful.  Still, I believe in the mercy, grace, and forgiveness of God.  As Jeremiah said in Lamentations, the mercies of God are new every morning.  I will not exhaust His clemency or His compassion. 

I am not anyone else’s judge.  As many failures as I have had, as many times as I have willfully and intentionally done the wrong thing, I can in no way be acceptable to God on my own.  But I am not on my own, for … [I]n Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them … (2 Corinthians 5:19).   Christ stands between the righteous and the wicked as Aaron the priest stood between the living and the dead (Numbers 16:48).

But for Christ, I could in no way be counted among the righteous had not the Father [f]or our sake  … made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).  Christ is our distinction.

Harmony

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be conceited. -- Romans 12:16

I know nothing about music.  I never understood harmony or melody or any of that stuff.  My immediate family was not musical at all.  None of us sang or thought we could sing or played any musical instrument.  I am told that harmony sounds pleasant because it involves balance.  Something creates tension, and something releases tension. 

To live in harmony, then, doesn’t mean uniformity.  Even I know enough to realize there is no music in a single tone.  That is not the symphony the Lord has written.  There is tension and conflict and resolution; there is tragedy countered by triumph.  Most of us doubt life is worthwhile apart from this masterwork.  We could wonder if life is even possible without it.   

We need to harmonize with those around us.  To do that, we need harmony in our hearts, to resolve the tension in our own souls.  There are aspects of my nature that trouble me, that create discord and dissonance. 

The events and my reaction are notes in the melody, occurring in time, horizontally.  I need the vertical element of divine harmony to intersect, like the upright of the Cross, to bring resolution and joy.