Running Free

There is something elusive about freedom. No matter what state we are in, it seems that freedom is to be found elsewhere in a place or experience that we do not have. The child can't wait to become a teenager. The teenager can't wait to get a driver's license. When we're in high school, we can't wait to get to college. We can't wait to be free of our parents' rules and to try everything that they warned us against. We are free to choose our career paths, but then we hate our jobs and dream instead of other potential opportunities. We are free to pursue our own success, pleasure, and ambition without regard to the well-being of those around us. We are now free to live any life we choose. Yet the things we choose in our freedom soon hold us as their prisoners.

An overwhelming number of us feel trapped in the very lives that we have created. The irony is that we are the cruel tyrants who hold ourselves captive, and the tragedy of our imprisonment reaches into the deepest caverns of our souls. Our passion to be free both ignites us and betrays us, and, more often than not, leads us to be consumed by an unforgiving fire. The very fire that burns within us can destroy us.

Not all free acts lead to freedom. The choices we freely make often cost us lives of genuine freedom. This is why the Bible talks about the human experience in terms of being slaves to sin. Sin creates the illusion of freedom; it fools us into seeking freedom from God rather than finding freedom in God. Whatever else Jesus came to do, one thing is clear -- He came to set us free. God is not a warden; He is a deliverer. And so earnest is He about our freedom that He was willing to be taken captive and crucified on our behalf just so we can run free.

Freedom is the gift of serving others out of love. This is the freedom that only God can give, where once again we become like Him. It is here and only here that freedom exists without boundaries. We are free to love without limit, to forgive, to be merciful, to be generous, to be compassionate, to risk, to sacrifice, to enjoy, and to live ... And when we are free, we know it.

When we make God our primary passion, He transforms all the other passions of our hearts. The result of this transformation is that it will be God's pleasure to fulfill those passions. As Erwin McManus is so fond of saying, "When God is our desire, we can trust the passions of our hearts." In this state we can most fully live uniquely passionate lives. It is not incidental that the death of Jesus is called THE PASSION.

Moving On

Today I am concluding my August series of blogs which have primarily focused on 1 Samuel 14. This passage closes with v. 23 that states: "So the Lord rescued Israel that day, and the battle moved on beyond Beth Aven," which is a good reminder to all of us that no matter how profound or dramatic a divine moment might be, no matter its significance or its breadth of impact, even if at the end of the day we are able to look back and reflect on what an amazing experience we have just encountered, we must never forget that the battle moves on. At the end of each day, there is a promise of another day's coming. And with that new day comes new battles, new opportunities, new challenges, and new adventures. Even while we celebrate yesterday's victory, we begin today's new journey. And we must engage it with fresh energy and eager anticipation.

We know where to begin: take initiative. We know who God is, so embrace life's uncertainty. Remember that the people we are becoming in Jesus Christ are our greatest gifts to others, so we must use our influence. Every great adventure is filled with peril and danger, but the risk is worth it. We have already been authorized to move forward, so advance. Impact the world by fighting battles that are on God's heart. Move with an urgency that creates a movement. Engage in an adventure so compelling that it causes the dead in spirit to awake. In this moment, each of us will have to choose. Will we seize the power of every moment or let them slip away?

A man stood blind before Jesus and his disciples. Yet, all they could think to do was have a meaningless conversation about whose fault is was that he was blind. The man was blind, but he wasn't deaf. He could hear the callousness of their conversation. They were oblivious to the fact that they were the ones most blind -- blind to his pain, to his disappointment, to his need. Jesus rebuked their insensitivity and lack of compassion. They were friends of God and still could not see the extraordinary opportunity awaiting them. Somehow alleviating human suffering just didn't seem that urgent when there were philosophical arguments to engage God in.

This moment, however, was far too important to Jesus. It was not to be missed. He used this moment to open their eyes to what is clearly an unseen reality. God is at work. Even if we don't care about humanity, He does! Every human being matters to Him. Even this man's blindness could not stop God from doing something extraordinary in and through his life. It was at that very moment, that God desired His purpose and glory be displayed through this man's life. And then He challenged them, "As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I'm in the world, I am the light of the world." In other words, stop wasting time and start chasing daylight. Remember, it just takes a moment to change everything.

When Prayer Becomes an Obstacle

Prayer can be a religious form of rebellion. While feigning a need to get clarity from God, we can actually avoid doing what God has made clear. We may not like what the Scriptures say. What Jesus is calling us to do may be different from what we want to do. How God desires for us to respond may conflict with how we want to respond. Even though the instructions are clear, even though the will of God is written without ambiguity, we feign obedience by claiming a need to seek God in prayer. There are some things we just don't need to pray about. While many things in life remain a mystery, there are some things that God has spoken clearly. Here what we need to do is not pray, but obey. And to be honest, sometimes obeying is a lot harder than praying.

When we pray about things that have already been decided, we are wasting our time and possibly missing divine moments. At the same time, we are not positioned to seize divine moments when we neglect to pray. Prayer keeps us in step with God's Spirit and in tune to His voice. If we are living prayerless lives, then we should heed the call of the apostle Paul to pray without ceasing. Our lives are to be a continuous conversation with God. This kind of prayer life is one where we are sensitive to every prompting and whisper of God. We are not informing God, but God is informing us. He becomes an active and intimate participant in our daily choices.

Prayer is an obstacle when we keep praying about things about which God has already spoken. If He has commanded us in His Word, there is nothing to pray about really -- we just need to obey. Prayer can be an obstacle when we hide behind prayer while the moment requires action. There are moments when it is too late for prayer. It is when God has already spoken and we are late to the appointment. When that's the case, we need to run. We don't need to pray about loving. We are already commanded to love. We don't need to pray about forgiving. We are already commanded to forgive. We don't need to pray about being in community or confessing our faith. Neither do we need to pray about whether we should be arrogant or humble, takers or givers, indulgers or servers. God has already spoken on all these issues and more. When we do pray on these matters, God confirms what He has said with a little "what are you waiting for?" thrown in.

In 1 Samuel 14, Saul was praying when he should have been obeying. It is quite possible that we commit the same sin on a regular basis. Do we use prayer as a way of resisting God's will rather than as a way of accessing His will. Jesus did not value prayer for prayer's sake. He valued it for the intimate communion it created between Him and His Father. The purpose of prayer is to know God and, in knowing Him, to hear His voice and to understand that God has heard our voices. The end result of these kinds of prayers are hearts pliable enough to move wherever God is calling.

The purpose of prayer is to keep us connected, and when we're connected to God, we are moving with Him. Prayer that connects us to God positions us to seize divine moments. This kind of prayer gives us the courage to live the lives of adventurers. Prayer should move us, not paralyze us. And when we pray with an intent to obey, we become magnets that draw others into God's presence. We can choose to establish a monument for prayer or to pray to unleash a movement. One is religious, the other revolutionary.

In 1 Kings 18 we step into one of history's most unique prayer meetings: Elijah v. the prophets of Ba'al. If we examine the passage carefully, we find that the prophets of Ba'al far exceeded Elijah in both time and effort in prayer. Two altars were established. The prophets and Elijah were to pray to their deities and invoke them to send fire from heaven, and whichever deity answered, all those who were in attendance would then conclude that He was the one, true God. The prophets of Ba'al prayed from morning until noon: "'O Ba'al, answer us!' they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made" [1 Kings 18:26]. About noon Elijah began to taunt them: "Shout louder!" he said. "Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened." So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention. [1 Kings 27-29]

They had prayed long and hard. There was, however, one small problem. The god they were praying to was no god at all. It is a terrible thing when we waste our lives of prayer on the wrong god!

Elijah, on the other hand, prayed a very brief prayer: "O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again" [1 Kings 18:36-37]. End of prayer.

The Scriptures then described what happened at that very instant: "Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, 'The Lord -- He is God! The Lord -- He is God!" [vv. 38-39].

The truth of the matter is this: Around the world people pray, and there are endless numbers of religions where people pray both earnestly and incessantly. Some pray five times a day facing east; others have escaped the noisiness of the real world and have locked themselves away in caves or castles that they may only pray. I do not believe that God calls any one of us to a life of prayer that forever isolates us from the world around us. The same God who calls us to meet Him in the solitude of a lonely place also commissions us to return to the crowded streets where people desperately need a touch from the living God. Elijah, himself, gave us tremendous insight into the very purpose of prayer: "Answer me, Lord, so that everyone can know that You are God and that I am your servant simply doing what you have commanded me."

Small prayers can have enormous impacts when they come from people who are living lives of obedience to God. Elijah wasn't praying then obeying. He was obeying then praying. When we pray before we obey, we imply that we are the initiators in our relationships with God. When we obey and then pray, we acknowledge that God has initiated the relationships with us. God has spoken. He sent the first word. Our first response is to hear His voice and move in alignment to His commands. Out of that obedience our intimacy with Him grows, and then when we speak to Him, He answers us and makes Himself known.

In all of his errors, there was one thing that Saul got right. When the battle around him became too loud for Saul to pray, he recognized that there was no time for praying. It was time to to obey [past time really]. God was already clearly at work. He needed to mobilize the people of God and get in on what God was doing. I am reminded of Samuel's question to Saul at a later time: "Why did you not obey the Lord?" And Samuel's reminder to him: "Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams" [1 Samuel 15:19, 22].

There are moments when our obedience is to stop and pray, and in those moments comes the word that we must go and obey. And it is in this obedience that the voice of God becomes intimately clear.

Willing to Stand Alone

We read in 2 Chronicles 16:9: "For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him." That's exactly who Jonathan was [see my August 15th entry]: a heart that was wholly God's, standing in the place where God would have him. And in that moment, the eyes of the Lord saw him, and God's strong support quickly followed. Samuel wrote, "Then panic struck the whole army -- those in the camp and field, and those in the outposts and raiding parties -- and the ground shook. It was a panic sent by God" [14:15].

Jonathan moved with God, and God moved with Jonathan. It may sound strange, but God joined Jonathan's effort. It wasn't that Jonathan changed God's mind but rather Jonathan expressed God's heart. He did what was on God's mind, and his action created an opportunity for God to act on his behalf. The tables quickly turned from Jonathan and his armor-bearer against the armies of the Philistines to Jonathan, his apprentice, and the living God against the enemies of God's purpose.

Samuel described a total confusion among the Philistines as they were striking each other with their own swords. Because Jonathan became a warrior for God, God became a warrior for Jonathan. Samuel wanted to make sure there was no ambiguity about who sent the earthquake. It was not an incidental, natural disaster that came at a timely moment. The earth shook, and it was a panic sent by God. Jonathan was willing to live on the edge, and God thus made him the epicenter of His interaction with humanity. Jonathan's life marked where God was moving. And God wanted to make sure that everyone understood that this man's life reflected what God was doing in history.

The technical definition of impact is "a forcible contact between two or more things." This is an accurate description of how men and women are used by God to shape the course of human history. Whenever God is doing a new thing, He does it through people. And those He chooses to lead the way are often considered fortunate only in retrospect The reality of the moment is usually quite different. It is a privilege to be called to go first even when it means we are the first to suffer and the only ones at risk. It means we must bear the weight of responsibility and accept the consequences that will come with the privilege.

Whenever God moves forward, it is in conflict with many other forces. The kingdom of God can expand only out of conflict with the kingdom of darkness. Hate does not surrender easily to love, nor does evil submit quietly to good. When we seize divine moments, there is a spiritual collision, and a part of seizing those moments to the fullest is a willingness to bear the initial impact alone.

Anyone who has ever served as a leader understands the loneliness of the role. My pastor, Erik Braun, alluded to this in his sermon last Sunday on Psalm 13 when he remarked that "there is a unique and solitary burden that I bear as the senior pastor and preacher here at Four Oaks. Even as I share my burdens, even as other leaders serve and bear up under them, it doesn't necessarily remove the unique, and often lonely, feeling that besieges my soul in those burdens." A part of calling is to bear the initial impact on the behalf of others. This is true in every meaningful endeavor and has never been more beautifully modeled than by our Lord Jesus Christ. The cross was His place alone. No one else could bear it for us. From Gethsemane to Calvary, Jesus chose the lonely place. Even His cry to His Father, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" reminds us that God allows us to go to places where the weight of desperation presses hard against our souls. Those men and women whom God uses to write the pages of history understand the depth of this principle, that God paves the way primarily by the willing sacrifice of His people individually. Through these individual souls, God makes known to all who will listen what is on His heart.

When We Can Trust Our Passions

When someone near us seizes a divine moment, it stirs something within us! A lifetime of passivity only makes dormant our longing for adventure. A life where endless moments are left buried in the cemetery of unfulfilled opportunities may grow cold, but not dead. Until our bodies return to dust, there will always be a voice crying out within us to move from merely existing to truly living. The possibilities that await us in each moment are fueled by the potential that God has placed within each of us. Seizing divine moments is not simply about opportunity; rather at its core it is about essence. It's about the kinds of lives we live as a result of the people we are becoming. The challenges that we are willing to face will rise in proportion to the character that we are willing to develop. With a depth of godly character comes an intensity of godly passion. It is in this process of transformation that we find the fuel to engage with confidence the opportunities placed before us.

Strangely, many sincere followers of Christ have come to believe that their passions are always in conflict with God's purposes. Yet the psalmist said, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" [Ps. 37:4]. When we draw near to God, God infuses passion. God has a long history of working through human desires.

In Buddhism, the goal of the spiritual journey is the elimination of desire. In Christianity, the goal of the spiritual journey is the transformation of our desires. God's intention in transforming our hearts is not the elimination of desire, but something very different. To have no desires is to be without passion. A person who lives without passion is someone who literally apathetic. When we delight in God, we become anything but apathetic. To the contrary, we become intensely passionate. These desires of our hearts are born out of the heart of God. The more you love God, the more deeply you care about people and making a difference in their lives.

There is a direct relationship between passion and initiative. The more passionate we are, the more proactive we will tend to be [even if we boldly do the wrong thing]. And here's where the dilemma lies and this can actually be paralyzing for a sincere follower of Jesus Christ: We don't want to passionately do the wrong thing. We desperately want to do what is in God's heart, not just in our hearts. But here's the liberating reality: "When we are passionate about God, we can trust our passions" [Erwin McManus]. God uses our passions as a compass to guide us. Basically, we when are madly in love with God, we can do whatever we want. This is probably the best contemporary translation of Psalm 37:4.

There are few things more inspiring than a life lived with passionate clarity. Yet those men and women whose lives we admire, who somehow seem to live their lives to the fullest, would probably be the first to tell us that they are no different from you and me. It's not about talent or giftedness or intelligence; its about moving out of passivity into activity. It is about a refusal to live a life in neutral and to value the irreplaceable nature of every moment. For these individuals, time is a priceless commodity. It is about treating each day as a gift from God and recognizing that every moment lost can never be regained. We must become people of initiative born out of a sense of urgency.

Just Do Something

One of my favorite stories in the book of Acts describes Paul floundering around "trying to find the will of God for his life" ... sounds like us post-moderns, doesn't it? You would think if anyone could know the will of God for his life, it would be the apostle Paul! After all, he was God's instrument for writing the majority of the New Testament. Paul's unique place in the Christian faith makes him the equivalent of a spiritual superhero. Yet what we find is that Paul was as uncertain about which way to go as most of us are in our life journeys.

In Acts 16:6-10, Luke described his travels with Paul. He told us how under Paul's leadership it was necessary for the Holy Spirit to keep them from preaching the Word in the province of Asia and then how the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to go into Bithynia, though they gave it their best effort. It was only while Paul was sleeping that he received a vision that he was supposed to go into Macedonia. In many ways Luke's travel journal reads like a divine comedy. It tells us that Paul basically had no idea where he was supposed to be going. At first he was sure that Asia was the right direction, only to later be redirected to Bithynia. And only when he was unconscious did he finally realize the destination was Macedonia! It took the entire Trinity to keep Paul from ending up in the wrong place. And the most amazing part is that when the apostle Paul was conscious he just didn't seem to get it. This is Paul I'm talking about people!!! He's arguably the most Godly man to have ever trod the planet.

There is, of course, much irony that Paul had to be unconscious for God to speak to him. But the point is this: Paul didn't know where he was going, but he did know why! His compass was the heart of God. He was fueled and driven by the passion and urgency that God had placed in his heart -- to take the life and freedom that comes from Jesus Christ to every person on the face of the earth. What God makes clear is that when we're committed to seizing His divine moments, He'll make sure He gets us to the right place at the right time. What God can do through a person who's willing to act is limitless.

One of the most asked questions among sincere followers of Jesus Christ is, "What is God's will for my life?" We want a detailed road map or travel plan. We want God to spell it out so that we can simply follow the instructions. Too often we want it clear and uncomplicated, but God seldom works like that. For most of us the most spiritual thing we can do is to do something. We must move beyond simply choosing between right and wrong. We must resolve to not only leave the path of doing evil, but also to passionately pursue a life of doing good. The danger is getting stuck in between the two, living our lives in the neutral zone. We must move beyond just having nothing to be ashamed of to being ashamed if we do nothing. It is rarely counted as evil when we live in neutral. At worst a passive life is only pitied, but God counts it as a tragedy when we choose to simply watch as our lives go by, rather than to live them to the fullest. It was no less than Jesus who described as wicked the person who left his talent unused. When we fail to choose, we choose to fail. We cannot put our lives on hold ... they move forward with or without our consent. Choosing not to choose does not, in fact, put off the problem; it only exacerbates it.

God designed us to move through time with intentionality [as He does]. Even waiting on God is a proactive activity [as Erik Braun so forcefully told us this past Sunday]. Whether it's reflection or revolution, each moment deserves our creative engagement. The apostle Paul, himself, told us that insomuch as it is in our power to do good, we should do it. This may be the underlying texture of initiative. Some call it productivity. The Gallup organization describes it as the "drive to execute." In the end it doesn't really matter so much what we call it; it only matters if we do it. "Do what?" Something!

True Influence Goes Deep

Influence can do what command can never do; it can win the hearts of people. You can pay people to do a job, but you can't pay them to change their minds and especially not their hearts. External power has the limitation of bringing external change. Influence is the material of internal power. Again, influence is not about position or delegated authority or any of many forms of power. Influence is born out of a person, who that person is, and translates to how it affects the heart of another person. True influence goes deep. It changes how a person feels about something. It has direct impact not only on how a person acts, but also on what he believes and what he is committed to.

We understand the difference between authority and influence as we watch our children grow up. What our children may act like when they're under out authority is very different from who they become as the result of our influence. Many parents become brokenhearted when they realize that their influence on their children is at best minimal, at worst inconsequential, as compared to the influence of their friends. Yet I am convinced that great parenting is all about influence. It is more about shaping values than it is about setting boundaries.

Jonathan's armor-bearer [again refer to my August 15th entry] expressed a level of loyalty that is rarely found in our time. He said, "I am with you heart and soul." It was not about obligation. He was not acting out of mere compliance. It wasn't even that he understood everything Jonathan was going to do or that he even agreed with Jonathan's approach or strategy. It wasn't Jonathan's idea he was agreeing with. He believed in Jonathan! He trusted who Jonathan was. And thus he said, "Do all that you have in mind," and then he declared his allegiance to him as recorded above.

As a parent, I have discovered that the love and respect that my children have for me runs far deeper than any fear of punishment they may have. I have also found that there is no more rewarding experience than when my kids are motivated by their own value systems to do what is right. It is without question that these value systems are transferred from person to person through a connection of the heart. Even though my kids have grown up in the church, their love for truth is not the result of some exhaustive empirical research project. Their desire to do good is not the result of a sterile, isolated, logical deduction. Their values have been passed on through genuine friendship and trust from Janna and me [along with many Godly mentors from our families, their Christian school, our church and even on their secular university campuses]. And one thing I am eternally grateful for is that we pass on not just who we are, but even more, who we desire to become. Our children see our flaws, our faults, and even our sins. The compensating grace is that they are also able, when we in humility repent and confess our shortcomings, to see what we aspire to be. Our influence is not limited to our present condition. It is expanded by our intended destination when we are committed to the journey. Influence is rooted in character--who we are and who are becoming. Influence transfers best and moves most quickly whenever respect and trust are present. When the environment is right, influence goes deep. It goes to the very core of who we are. And the old adage certainly rings true in my mind, "You can know a person by the friendships he keeps."

Between Once Upon a Time and Happily Ever After

Unfortunately, divine moments typically live in between the sweet beginning and the happy ending. They exist between innocence and invincibility. In the midst of divine moments, we are simultaneously both our most powerful and most vulnerable selves. This messy in-between is the context our our lives. We do ourselves a disservice when every story has a happy ending in this life. It is far more important that there be a meaningful middle. Too often we are paralyzed in our fear of doing the wrong thing; and I cannot overstate the importance of moving forward with all the wisdom possible.

Yet, even Paul described his life as one where he saw through a looking glass dimly. He confessed that in this life he knew only in part. Too often we speak of God's will in shrouded terms. Our language betrays us. It is as if we long to know God's will, but God refuses to reveal it. He shrouds His will for our lives in mystery and then holds us accountable to discover it nonetheless. The kind of confidence that Jonathan [see my August 15th entry] displayed is built on the certainty that God moves through motivation far more than information. The information given to us in Scripture is there primarily for the purpose of spiritual formation. God never intended to give us a Book with every detail needed to live our lives. He gave us a Book with everything necessary to shape our lives. He was not trying to download Heaven's database, but to make us User-compatible. When God has our hearts, we move naturally in His will. The fuel for a life of faith is more inspiration than information. It is not zeal without knowledge, but it is certainly not knowledge without zeal.

Risk that God respects is fueled by a passion for His purpose and a willingness to subjugate our lives to His mission. Our prayers move from "God, what is Your will for my life?" to "God, what is Your will, and how can I give my life to fulfill it?" In the midst of this process, there is a great deal of imperfection. It may be difficult to understand, but we can do the wrong thing for the right reasons. And we can do the right thing for the right reasons and it come out the wrong way [at least from our vantage point]. All this is simply to say that Jonathan took a real risk that could have cost him his life, and in the same way our lives, when fully given to God, face similar possibilities.

It would be nice if all our stories had Cinderella endings where a handsome prince shows up and makes all our dreams come true. But in between "once upon a time" and "happily ever after" is called now. And in the now there are all kinds of failures we have to live with. Failure can change us, shape us, teach us and motivate us. Failure can be our friend. Failure is closely related to risk, which is closely related to success.

Uncertainty -- The Door God May Open

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were contemporaries of Daniel. They, too, were selected to serve as advisors to King Nebuchadnezzar. Though they served him well, they infuriated the king when they refused to bow down to the god he had crafted. The king gave them the choice to either bow before his idol or be thrown into a blazing furnace. All three of them chose the fire. Daniel brought us to the climax of the conflict and recorded his friends' extraordinary response, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up" [Dan. 3:16-18].

Like Jonathan, the three men knew who God was, and they were confident of what God could do. They also knew that they didn't know if He would save them. They understood the uncertainty, but their course of action would be the same in either case. We are told that the furnace was then heated seven times hotter than normal. Nebuchadnezzar's strongest soldiers tied the three and then prepared to throw them into the furnace. The fire was so hot it consumed the king's soldiers. Finally, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego fell through the door into the fire.

I am sure that was one door they wish that God had closed rather than left open:) I cannot imagine that they did not wish for God to take them a different way. What must have seemed to them as their last moment would become their greatest moment. The fire did not consume them. A fourth man met them in the midst of the fire. God met them there. They went to a place they could never go alone and live. God took them on an adventure where not even a king dared journey. When the king invited them to return, they stepped out of the fire. Though they were now out of danger, they were more dangerous than ever! The door we fear going through the most may be the very one where we will meet God most profoundly.

It is ironic that we run to God to keep us safe when He calls us to a dangerous faith. He will shake loose everything in which we place our trust outside of Him and teach us how to thrive in a future unknown. There is only One who is certain; everything else exists in the realm of uncertainty. To place our trust in anything other than God is nothing less than superstition.

Uncertainty -- Momentary Suffering

O Lord, you deceived me, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the Lord has brought me insult and reproach all day long. [Jer. 20:7-8]

You have to be at the end of yourself to believe in God and yet talk to Him this way. Can you even imagine raising your fist to God and saying, "You have deceived me"??? Jeremiah had done everything that God had asked of him ... he had been true to the journey to which he had been called. Yet what was his reward? A life of misery and anguish, pain and disappointment. He should not have been so surprised because from the day God called him, he had been warned that the nation would turn against him. His reward for faithfulness to God was ridicule, mockery, insults and reproach "all day long." Jeremiah was mad at God because he did not think God had come through for him.

For Jeremiah, following God was proving more of a curse than a blessing. Nothing seemed to go his way. Wouldn't it be fascinating to have all our contemporary teachers/preachers on the prosperity gospel interact with Jeremiah today? Would Jeremiah even believe they were talking about the same God??? Would he have a crisis of faith and wonder if somehow he had missed his calling? Would he have become so embittered toward the God of Israel that he would have recanted his faith and become a follower of the God of America? We use the name of the same God, but boy does He look very different. Jeremiah was following the real God, and what he was experiencing was real life in God. Still ahead of him were attempts on his life, imprisonment, and the indignation of being thrown into a cistern, just to name a few of the experiences to come. He would by then be well prepared to write the poetic literature known as Lamentations.

Jeremiah's life reminds us that even when the beginning point and the final conclusion are certain, the middle can be full of turbulence and instability. Jeremiah's journey began with God's description of His intimate involvement in his life. Before he was formed in the womb, he was known by God. Before he was born, he was set apart, chosen by God for unique and divine purposes. Without even knowing the details, Jeremiah was overwhelmed by God's invitation. His response was one of confessing his own inadequacy and acknowledging his fear. Yet God was unmoved and instructed Jeremiah, "You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you" [Jer. 1:7-8]. Not only was his beginning shaped by the finger of God, but he had the promise that in the end he would prevail. He later reinforced that as he unfolded the difficulty of the journey ahead of him. God promised Jeremiah, "They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you" [Jer. 1:19].

It would be easy to misunderstand these words from God to mean that in every conflict and in every difficulty God would provide an instantaneous victory and cause for celebration. It is not too difficult to see why Jeremiah felt as if God had deceived him. Jeremiah seized his divine moment, but had not fully understood the implications of such a decision. To move with God is not to find the way of escape from the hardships of life. Divine moments are not portals into a world untouched by hardship.

The certainty that God has called us and the confidence that He will work His victory in our lives are not guarantees of a safe and secure journey. We can draw inspiration from Jeremiah in that he refused to relinquish the gift that God had given him. Even in his moment of weakness, Jeremiah emerged as a man who must do what is right regardless of personal consequence. Not all of us are called to Jeremiah's experience, but we are all called to his level of commitment.

We need to explore this experience if we are going to seriously consider embarking on a divine journey. If we misunderstand the essence of divine moments, we might find ourselves too fainthearted to fully achieve God's ultimate goals for our lives. If all we are looking for is a quick fix for either boredom or hardship, then this is surely not the way. To seize divine moments, we must greatly treasure our invitation to join God. These moments can be fully grasped only when one moment with God is worth more to us than an eternity without Him.

When Jesus told Peter that in his old age, he would be tied and bound and taken to where he did not want to go, he responded to this prophesy of his death with the timeless question, "What about John?" I love Peter more than any of the other disciples primarily because he seems the most real to me. Or at least the most like me. What he was really thinking was ... I don't mind suffering on Your behalf, Lord, as long as everyone else has to suffer as well. But if we were the only ones called to suffer, would we still follow Him??? That is the question each of our souls must process and ultimately answer.

Uncertainty -- Increasing Expectations

As we have discovered all week, this relationship between faith and uncertainty is inescapable. What required faith for us yesterday may become commonplace for us tomorrow. Although they may still be expressions of our faith, they are no longer the challenges that launch us to a new-faith experience. While at first simply trusting God to take us outside our experience is a huge leap of faith, eventually God will expect more of us. Remember, faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Once something is a certainty, it no longer requires faith. Do not be surprised that what God asked of us yesterday is insufficient for our journey of faith today.

Moses had just led Israel out of captivity in Egypt after ten plagues had finally convinced Pharaoh to let God's people go. But now Moses stood facing the massive Red Sea in front of him with Pharaoh's army in hot pursuit closing in behind him. As Moses waited at the banks of the waters, God instructed him to "raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through on dry ground" [Ex. 14:16]. In this instance, God allowed Moses to stand on the shore and create the path of deliverance for His people. Yet his apprentice, Joshua, was not afforded that luxury. Moses was now dead and gone, and Joshua, who had stood at Moses' side, was now the leader of Israel. He stood on the banks of the Jordan River between God's people and the promised land. While Moses was allowed to stand on the shore and watch the waters open, Joshua was given a different set of instructions. This time God commanded him, "Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord -- the Lord of all the earth -- set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap" [Josh. 3:12-13].

With Moses God parted the waters, and then the people crossed over. With Joshua, the leaders were required to begin crossing first, and then the waters parted. As we live our faith journeys, we will find time and time again that God changes the parameters of our faith. He progressively increases His expectations of us. What it means to live on the edge as our faith first begins to develop is not the same measure of faith required when we walk in spiritual maturity. We should expect and desire that God will move from parting the waters before us while we stand on the shore to calling us to step into the waters and experience the miracle happening around us. In the first, we watch the miracle. But in the second, we become a part of it. Both experiences are expressions of a journey of faith. Both have amazing similarities, but what God required in the second exceeded what He required in the first. My experience is that as we walk with God, He expands our faith capacity. Is it possible that we can walk with God in such a way that all of life is a second-dimension faith experience? Who knows for sure? But I know that I would like to find out.

Erwin McManus describes the imagery that God uses to incite our hunger to live life in a different dimension. There is something profound about the relationship between the waters dividing only when the soles of their feet touch the surface. We see the same relationship in Romans 16:20 where Paul tells us that "the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet." We likely have no problem believing that God will crush Satan. What is mind-blowing is that He chooses to crush Satan under our feet and not under His. Remember that heaven is God's throne and the earth is His footstool. So yes, His are very big feet. Yet He says it will be our feet that crushes the enemy. So, if the soles of our feet have this kind of cosmic power, what untapped potential has God placed in the rest of us?

A power that comes from God is known only when we walk. Jesus began His public ministry by inviting us to follow Him. There is great comfort in such an intimate invitation, yet we must not forget that God is on a journey that none of us can take without Him. King David expressed it like this: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me" [Ps. 23:4]. The God of light insists on traveling into dark places; the God of peace continuously involves Himself in the wars of men; the God who is good engages the depths of human evil. The only God, who can deliver and save at the cost of His own life, journeys into the dungeon of human lostness to set free those who would relinquish their chains for life in Him! To follow Jesus is to enter the unknown, to relinquish security, and to exchange certainty for confidence in Him.

...To be continued...

Uncertainty -- A New Dimension of Living

As we consider a life of faith and living in the realm of uncertainty we can apply the distinctions between what Erwin McManus considers first-dimension faith and second-dimension faith, where the fun really starts. If first-dimension faith takes us outside our experience then second-dimension faith takes us outside the explainable. While first-dimension faith sees realities in the realm of possibilities, second-dimension faith sees realities in the realm of impossibilities. In first-dimension faith, the context for miracles is internal. God is working in us and through us. In second-dimension faith, the context is often external. God's hand is clearly all around us.

The victory that Jonathan experienced on that day began with God working through Jonathan and his sword. It is no small thing that one man with a sword can slay dozens of equally armed men. Then God sent an earthquake, and things got really interesting. I am convinced that God longs to put His fingerprint on our lives, to act on our behalf and to surprise us with His glory and magnificence. I am also equally convinced that most of the time we do not give God a context in which to do this. The realm of the mundane is not really the best context for a miracle. When we play it safe, we tend to squeeze God out of the formula. If we go only where we know and do only what we're certain will succeed, then we eliminate our need for God [don't we all prefer to "walk by sight?"]. Yet whenever we respond to God's invitation, our need for God becomes heightened. Whenever we take on a God-sized challenge, self-sufficiency is no longer an option.

While Scripture is full of first-dimension faith, it's the second dimension faith that stands out and becomes the "Bible stories" that we all remember. Daniel lived in the days when Babylon ruled over Israel. Darius was king, and with his rule he brought his gods. Daniel was one of the young Hebrew advisors selected to serve in the king's court. Daniel had achieved a place of great influence and respect until Darius was convinced by one of Daniel's rivals to make it a crime to pray to the God of Israel. Commanded to pray only to Darius, the king, Daniel refused to comply. Instead he continued to pray to the living God three times per day just as he had always done. Daniel's first-dimension faith was that he continued to pray [quasi-openly ... by his open window] as he had always done, though it was now against the law. He did what was right, regardless of the personal consequence. His second-dimension faith became operative when the king threw him into the hungry lion's den and God intervened to allow him to survive the night. There would have been no opportunity for second-dimension faith in Daniel's life if he had not been faithful in the first dimension.

Many times first-dimension faith creates the context for the second dimension. We must remember that if we're thrown into the lion's den and we get eaten, God is still faithful. This [uncertainty] is what makes second-dimension faith so exciting. You know that God will be honored because you have done what is right. We find a long list of such men and women in Hebrews 11, beginning in verse 35. After describing many whose faith journeys had brought victory in this life, the writer moves on to describe others whose very lives were the victory. Among those living by faith were those who "were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawn in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated -- the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground." The author of Hebrews concluded, "These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised" [vv. 35-39].

If you're thrown to the lions, of course, you hope that you'll be there in the morning to celebrate. But if not, you will be in the presence of God, and you will have provided a small kindness to a few hungry lions. Just remember that the first dimension is, again, the hard task of faithfulness. The second dimension seems to be where all the action is. It shouldn't surprise us, then, that while we too often search for ways to access the second dimension of faith without having to embrace the first dimension, we sadly discover that they are almost always inseparable.

... To be continued ...

Uncertainty -- Beginning The Journey of Faith

The book of Hebrews tells us that faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see, and this is what the ancients were commended for. This doesn't mean they were presumptuous about God; it does mean they believed God for everything He promised. So it's important to note what God does and does not promise. He promises we can be certain about who He is and we can be certain about our relationship with Him, but beyond that, just how the journey plays out is full of uncertainties. The end of the story, however, is not uncertain. The last chapter of human history has already been written and Jesus wins! And all who follow Him find that all along they have been more than conquerors in Christ Jesus, their Lord. He defeats death, evil, suffering, sorrow, loneliness, despair and above all that, the price of darkness and all his demonic minions.

Erwin McManus divides faith itself into two dimensions. The first-dimension gets involved whenever we step out into any new area of trust in God outside our own experience, but the challenge facing us is clearly in the realm of possibilities. God is asking us to do something that He has done in the lives of others; we just have yet to experience it in our own lives. This typically involves a response in us of "We've never done it this way before." Most of life's challenges are tests of first-dimension faith -- trusting God with our relationships, our finances, our careers, and making decisions based on His character in these areas of our lives. The texture of this dimension of faith has everything to do with trusting in God's character and God's testing of ours. That is why we really cannot speak of faith without speaking of obedience.

Many times faith gets confused with emotion or desire. Faith is then measured by how strongly we feel or believe something will happen. The assumption here being that if our faith is great enough, then we'll get whatever we ask for. In fact, we're often told that if our prayers don't result in an affirmative response then it is because we didn't have enough faith. Yet the more consistent characteristic of those who follow God is that their faith is an expression of trust in God. The need is not to work up our faith in God, but rather to deepen our confidence in Him. The promise of Jesus that if we ask anything in His name, He will do it, is fueled not by how strongly we believe in something, but by how well we represent God's purpose and intention. If a prayer's ultimate intent is to fulfill God's will, then we can move with confidence, even if God doesn't answer a specific prayer in the way we would expect. The more closely we reflect God's heart in our prayers, the more often our requests will match His response.

Jesus said, "If you have the faith of a mustard seed, you can move mountains." He was not saying that we need to cultivate more and more faith, but rather that it takes very little faith to accomplish great things. In most cases, first-dimension faith is about obeying what God has already spoken. It is about building our lives and moving forward with confidence fueled by commitment to God's truth. At the same time the focus of our prayers should shift away from trying to get God to do what we ask or even asking God to show us what He wants us to do. But instead, we should be like the early disciples in Acts, and ask God to give us the courage to do what we already know.

In Hebrews 11, a chapter full of men and women described as people who lived by faith, we find the common characteristic shared by all is that God spoke to them, called them on a journey, told them what they must do, and then they did it. Abraham has been our greatest example for millennia. "By faith Abraham, when called by God to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going" [v. 8]. Notice that the dynamic here is exactly the same as it was with Jonathan. There were both certainty and uncertainty. What Abraham knew was that God called him to go to a place, and so he obeyed and went. Jonathan was called to be a warrior of God against Philistine oppression. The nuances of how it would work out remained undisclosed. It seems a bit ridiculous to our modern sophistication to begin a journey when we don't even know the destination ... you would think we could at least expect God to reveal that much. But for Abraham, He chose not to. He called him to a journey that took him into the realm of uncertainty. Similarly, He called Israel to a battle they didn't know how they could win. And this has been the pattern of God's interaction with His people throughout recorded history. He calls us out of comfort into uncertainty. Faith is all about character, trusting in the character of God, being certain in who God is and then following Him into the unknown.

This relationship between clarity and uncertainty is further demonstrated in the life of Gideon. God called the "lowliest clan in Manasseh and the least in that clan" to deliver Israel from the hands of the Midianites [see Judges 6-7]. Yet God chose to greet him with an angel who said to him, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior." He then called him to go in his own strength and save Israel out of Midian's hands with only the promise that God would be with him. As you might remember, Gideon didn't much consider himself to be a "mighty warrior" and he remained unconvinced. Twice Gideon placed his infamous fleece before the Lord, asking God for a sign that He would be with him. And each time God graciously responded. Then at last, when Gideon was finally committed to go, he gathered an army of 32,000 men to go with him to war. God, of course, intervened telling Gideon the victory would be far too easy for him with those numbers ... remember that God's ultimate purpose in our lives is to demonstrate His glory [and not ours] ... and that the army must be dramatically reduced in size. Two winnowing processes occurred and afterwards a more sporting army of 300 remained. In the heavenly economy, this was more the uncertainty that God had in mind.

As Gideon and his rag-tag band of 300 men prepared to face the Midianite army of 135,000 men, Gideon must have had the look of a desperate man sentenced to death when he calculated the odds arrayed against him. Nevertheless, in this case, God guaranteed victory. He even invited Gideon to eavesdrop on the Midianite camp if he was too afraid to proceed. And he did just that. Once again, God confirmed to Gideon the direction He wanted him to move in. Finally, Gideon was at last convinced that he was the warrior of God called to deliver his people. And then God was silent. He didn't tell Gideon what to do next or even, more specifically, how to do it. With 300 men v. an army of 135,000 you would think God would give a detailed battle plan for victory, but He didn't. What we find is that Gideon, certain of what God wanted done, moved forward in the strength that he had, just as he was commanded. So Gideon took his 300 warriors and turned them into musicians. They surrounded the Midianites and held torches in their left hands and blew trumpets held in their right hands. And for special effects, they smashed jars at the same time. The Midianites were terrified and turned against each other, which allowed Gideon to seize an easy victory. One of the wonders of uncertainty revealed in this story is that it provided an environment in which God invited creativity. The journey which can be described as one from comfort to uncertainty, is also intended to be an adventure from calling to creativity.

Remember that Jesus has commissioned each of us to go and make disciples of all nations. He came to seek and save that which was lost. And all of us have a calling to give our lives away for His sake. We can all at least move forward with this mandate on our lives. We see in John 13, that after Jesus told His disciples that all power had been placed under His authority, He tied a towel around His waist and washed His disciples' feet. He then instructed us to do the same. God Himself had come to serve us. We are now to go and serve the world. If everything else beyond this remains uncertain, be clear on this point: there is a calling on our lives. Serving others functions like a compass in the midst of a dense fog. The unique ways that God has designed us -- the talents, intelligence, gifts, personality, and passions that He has given us -- informs us as to how that service will be expressed. Don't look for Him to fill in all the blanks. Don't wait for Him to remove all the uncertainty. Realize that He just may actually INCREASE the uncertainty and leverage all the odds against us [as He did Gideon], just so that we will realize in the end, that it wasn't our gifts but His power through our gifts that fulfilled His purposes in our lives.

First-dimension faith is not only about trusting the character of God, but also about transforming our character. Most of this involves doing the right thing regardless of the circumstance or consequence. It is about having the faith that God will be with us when we do the right things. All too often we compromise our character to avoid unwanted consequences. We all must start here. And truthfully, much of seizing divine moments happens right here in this realm. Secondly, if we want to seize divine moments, we must realize that we are all on divine missions. Remember the words of Paul as he reminded Timothy of the invitation that Christ has given to us all, "Join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life -- not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace" [2 Tim. 1:8-9]. He also told us in Eph. 2:10 that all of us are "God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." And lastly, James cuts right to the point when he writes, "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins" [4:17]. So clearly, if we're going to embark on journeys with God, we must choose to live lives of godliness. Don't forget that living a righteous life got the Son of God killed. Living a godly life can be a very dangerous undertaking. Yes, there is a mystery to a life of faith, but there is also a certain practicality. When we sacrifice our character, when we choose a path that lacks integrity, we are trying to take life into our own hands. It is a declaration that we do not trust the way of God. We are trying to control what we were never meant to control, and at the same time, we are relinquishing control over that for which we are responsible.

The adventure of faith begins with faithfulness. Being faithful is taking responsibility for the good we know to do. It's about treating even the small tasks before us as important and worthy of our best efforts. Faithfulness is God's kingdom pathway to greater opportunity, responsibility, and adventure. Jesus reminds us that whoever is faithful in the small things will be entrusted with more, which leads us to a significant truth -- faithfulness is a response to calling. And all of us have been called by God to be faithful. We are created to reflect His image and to fulfill His purpose. We are the living products of divine intentionality. Are we willing to live lives that honor God and reflect His character and then leave the outcomes to Him? Are we willing to live by faith and trust Him to be faithful? There will be days on this journey of faith when the outcome will be clear, and we will not like the implications! On those days, we must, like Jesus, declare, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done" [Luke 22:42].

... To be continued ...

Uncertainty -- Know That You Don't Know

As I’ve watched my daughter, Alli, this month first prepare to and then depart for a two year mission to Caracas, Venezuela I recall some lessons the Lord has shown me over the past ten years from two overseas medical mission trips that have I served on, from helping to establish a missions board at our church, from learning of eight medical missionaries and two of their translators being martyred last week by the Taliban in Afghanistan, and from watching God call one of my most beloved to serve Him on a foreign field, especially one where the country’s leader absolutely despises America. This all came to a head today when I received an e-mail from my father [Alli’s grandfather] which stated, “I'm frankly worried about Alli being in Venezuela. While I'm very proud of her answering this very noble calling, I do know they don't much like Americans in that country. Just what protection do they provide for those Americans who teach there?” I’ll share with you a portion of what I shared with my daughter Alli and our family on the night before her departure.

Those of us who have had the privilege of living as a citizen in this country have, in many ways, lived in a unreal world. Our ordinary experience would appropriately be described as surreal by most of the 7 billion people who live on our planet. Though most of us have lived out “the American Dream” it has also been accompanied by a bit of delusion. Most of us have begun to feel that life comes with certain guarantees. We have even created a false theology that validates our false sense of security. Peace and prosperity have become expectations … and many have been dumbstruck over the last two years in America to see that this isn’t always the case. Concepts such as sacrifice and suffering were left to describe only those who were living outside the blessings of God.

We live in an era of peace and stability though even the edges of that have become progressively more frayed … recalling the two wars in which we are now engaged and the brutal attacks of 9/11 that precipitated them. But even still, we hire others to fight for us so that we can largely be left unaffected. I think this has led us to come to wrong conclusions regarding what the human spirit needs. You would think that what we need is certainty, the promise that everything is going to be all right, the guarantee that we’ll be safe. While I, like everyone else, would love to know that this is the life that God would choose to give my family and me, the security that we often seek is not necessary to living life to the fullest. And sometimes it can actually be the great deterrent to seizing divine moments.

In I Samuel 14 we read about Jonathan moving with God in a situation where his father, King Saul and his army was paralyzed by fear in a standoff with the Philistine army. Jonathan was certain about some things, and at the same time he was able to operate in the realm of uncertainty. He called out to his armor-bearer and said, “Come, let’s go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows. Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf.” You’ve gotta love that. In today’s vernacular he basically said, “Let’s go pick a fight. Maybe God will help.” Jonathan understood that not everything was guaranteed, that you don’t wait till all the money is in the bank. There are some things that you can know and some things that you will not know. He went on to say, “Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.”

He had such a clear perspective on reality. What he knew for certain was that God was powerful enough to get the job done, that it didn’t matter if was two of them against a thousand Philistines. His father’s apprehension to go to war with six hundred soldiers but only two weapons—that’s right, two swords—was reasonable, but not enough to excuse neglecting the purpose of God. And so if it was only Jonathan and his armor-bearer and only Jonathan with a sword, he would still move in line with God’s mission for them.

Some time before, God had spoken through Samuel his prophet to the whole house of Israel, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve Him only, and He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines” [1 Sam. 7:3].

God had promised Israel deliverance from the oppressive hand of the Philistines, and the way He would do it was by raising up an army of men who would trust in God and go to war against them. Jonathan was clear about one thing: he knew for certain that nothing could stop the Lord from saving, and God could use a lot of people or only a few people. The odds are irrelevant to God.

Jonathan had an unwavering confidence in God’s capacity. He had absolute trust in God’s character. He seemed resolute about whether God could be trusted. That was all settled for him. His focus was not, What is God’s will for my life? but How can I give my life to fulfill God’s will? He had no certainty concerning his personal well-being. That he was moving in line with God’s purpose was the only certainty that he needed. He understood that to move with God is to accept a life full of uncertainties. What Erwin McManus calls “The Jonathan Factor” is expressed when we have absolute confidence in God in the midst of uncertainty and are willing to move with God even without a guarantee of personal success.

Imagine that you are Jonathan’s armor-bearer. He wakes you up from a deep sleep, and he tells you to follow him through a series of cliffs for the purpose of engaging the Philistines in battle. And in his invitation he explains that his best hope is that God might help us out. If I were the armor-bearer, I’d be inclined to say, “Wake me up when you know for sure.” Isn’t that what most of us would have done? Then we’d go back to sleep in the shade of the pomegranate tree, willing to set out once everything was certain.

Our wealth and abundance of human resources have positioned us to accept a paradigm that provision precedes vision. This has been the foundation of our building a no-risk faith. This is a tragedy because part of the adventure is the discovery that vision always precedes provision. It may seem like a stretch to many, but it is always right to do what’s right, even if it turns out wrong. Jesus did the right thing when He left Gethsemane where He struggled to embrace the Father’s will and began a journey that would lead Him to the Cross. The consequence to Him was severe. Our response to His coming was to crucify Him. We should not be surprised, then, that a lifelong journey with God might bring us suffering and hardship. If the Cross teaches us anything, it teaches us that sometimes God comes through after we’ve been killed!

If we are going to seize divine moments, we must accept the reality that we have no control over many things. We have no control over when we die or even how we die. We must instead take responsibility for what we do have control over – how we choose to live.

Jonathan wasn’t choosing to die, but he was choosing how he would live. He left the consequence of his actions in the hands of God. He chose to do something that he knew was right. Again, God was doing something in history, and Jonathan gave his life to it. This realm of uncertainty is also the place of miracles. Sometimes the miracle is wrapped around the person we become, the courage and nobility expressed through a life well-lived.

When you move with God, He always shows up. It’s just difficult to predict what He will do or how He will do it. If you wait for guarantees, the only thing that will be guaranteed is that you will miss endless divine opportunities – that you can know for certain.

Lastly, I want to tell you the last thing I told Alli …the difference between Jonathan and us is though Jonathan had no idea whether or not God would act on his behalf, in that particular engagement, he knew who God was. He knew if he would seek God, he would live, even though he died in the trying. It is ironic then, that we run to God to keep us safe when He calls us to a dangerous faith. He will shake loose everything in which we place our trust outside of Him and teach us how to thrive in a future that is unknown. There is only One who is certain; everything else exists in the realm of uncertainty. To place our trust in anything other than God is nothing less than superstition.

…. To be continued ….

The Rest of God

As Christians, we understand there is no rest for the soul apart from Christ. Perhaps no one ever said this so eloquently as St. Augustine in the fourth century when he wrote " ... for Thou has formed us for Thyself and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee." Blaise Pascal added to this when he wrote, "What is it, then, that this desire and this inability proclaim to us, but that there was once in man a true happiness of which there now remain to him only the mark and empty trace, which he in vain tries to fill from all his surroundings ... But these are all inadequate, because the infinite abyss can only be filled by an infinite and immutable object, that is to say, only by God Himself." How our souls affirm the words of Augustine and Pascal! There is no rest for the heart apart from Christ.

However, if we are honest, we must admit that the initial rest we first experienced when we came to Christ has not always been our lot, because there is a difference between the primary experience of rest and living a life of rest on life's uneven seas. And it is this experience of so many believers over the centuries that the writer of Hebrews addresses in Hebrews 4:1-11. This theme has always been contemporary and will find a responsive chord in every believer's heart -- especially those who are sailing into the contrary winds of the world.

Chapter 4 opens with a warning based on Israel's tragic failure in the wilderness: "Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith [vv. 1, 2]. Israel had heard "the gospel preached" [i.e. the good news brought to them by Caleb and Joshua that the land was theirs for the taking, the giants notwithstanding]. So confident were Caleb and Joshua in heralding the good news that they said, "We will swallow them up" [Numbers 14:9]. But Israel's response to this news was tragically deficient: "the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard it did not combine it with faith." Literally, "they did not mix it with faith." This is amazing because they had had constant witness of God's character and provision. They had just been witness to the terrible plaques on their captors in Egypt and had experienced the parting of the Red Sea. And then there were also the constant pillars of fire and cloud as well as the daily provisions of manna. But now, faced with a new challenge, they simply did not trust God and so failed to enter their rest. Many, perhaps thousands, were believers, but only two really trusted God and found rest.

We must keep this subtle distinction between belief and trust clear if we are to understand what kind of faith is necessary to have rest in this life. Faith as described here in Hebrews 4:2 is an "attitude of trusting God wholeheartedly" [Leon Morris]. So we must understand that v. 3 which says, "Now we who have believed enter that rest," specifically means, "we who have wholeheartedly trusted enter that rest." Thus, it is spelled out in no uncertain terms that the faith that pleases God is belief plus trust. Belief, the mental acceptance of a fact as true, will simply not bring rest to any soul. Acknowledging that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Savior of the world will not give us rest. Trust in him is what gives rest to our souls. Just as a child sleeps so well in the arms of his parents, so we rest in God. The more trust, the more rest. And it is our belief or our unbelief that makes all the difference.

We should also note that the writer twice quotes Psalm 95:11 -- "They shall never enter my rest." His purpose here is not to imply that we will not enter this rest, but rather to show us that God calls the rest being offered "my rest" because it is the very same rest He, Himself, enjoys. This is in itself a stupendous revelation. It means that when we are given rest by Him, it is not simply a relaxation of tensions, but a rest that is qualitatively the same rest that God enjoys. Can you imagine that?!? It is mind-boggling really. The only thing I can relate it to is the comparison of the kinds of vacations I take to those taken by royalty ... or this week by Michelle Obama and "forty of her closest girlfriends" to the Mediterranean Sea in the South of Spain. There really is no comparison.

And even more amazing, this rest is available right now! The verb "enter" is in the present tense, which means that as believers we are in the process of entering. Yet, there is both a now and then to our rest. Now in Christ, we have entered and are entering our rest. Our experience of rest is proportionate to our trusting in Him. But there is also a future rest in Heaven -- the repose of the soul in God's rest, which is forever joyous, satisfied and working [just as our present rest is].

Twice in Chapter 3 [vv. 7, 15] the writer has quoted Psalm 95:7, 8 to draw attention to the promise of rest, and then again here in Chapter 4 verse 7 he does it again; "Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.'" Today meant "now" in their time, as it does in ours. The only way this rest will be missed is through a hardened heart, a disbelieving heart that shows contempt for God in disobedience. The tone here is one of urgency. Now is the day of salvation!

Lastly, there is the subtle comparison of the two great Joshuas in history ... Yeshua in Hebrew. The Old Testament Jesus [Greek for Joshua] led his followers to the land of Canaan. But that was not a real rest but only a type. This Jesus, the son of Nun, ultimately failed to lead his people to a true rest. But now there is another Jesus, the Son of God, who can. He is the pioneer and captain of our salvation -- the ultimate Joshua [Hebrews 2:10].

When God finished the cosmos, He rested in the Sabbath-rest [but He never stopped working as Jesus alluded to in John 5:17 "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working"]. God's repose is full of active toil. When Christ cried, "It is finished," He forever rested from His atoning work. But the resting Christ works, even as the working God rests. Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath! When we believed, we gave up on building a righteousness based on works and entered God's rest. Yet still we long to serve Christ.

This will all eventuate in the eternal Sabbath-rest and the beatitude of the Holy Spirit. "'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.' 'Yes,' says the Spirit, 'they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them'" [Revelation 14:3]. If we can learn anything from this passage of Scripture, we must understand that there is a rest for us if we want it. "There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God" [v. 9]. It us up to us to seize it, and it all comes down to trust.