To trust in, wait for, look for, or desire something or someone; or to expect something beneficial in the future  

-Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology

 

“but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.                                                                    Isaiah 40:31 

There are multiple ways to look at the concept of hope. The definition above conveys several of those aspects of hope. It is one thing to “wait for” an event with anticipation. It is quite another to trust in that event happening. Then there is the concept of expecting something beneficial, as opposed to wishing that something bad does NOT happen.

All these concepts seem to be embodied in the word “hope”. All of them are true depending on how we use the word.

I like to think that hope is more about a mindset than just a fleeting thought of the moment.

A mindset of hope is based upon our belief in God’s provision and love for us. In that sense, hope is more like the “trust in” part of the definition above.

Isaiah wrote that those “who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint”

So, we see that hope is not just a desire, but it is our source of energy, no matter the circumstances we face.

In the next couple of days, I want to expand on the idea of “hope”.

Hope you stick with me! (OK, bad pun, I will try to do better!)

 

Prayer: Father, you have given us hope, no matter the circumstances. Thank you for this lifeline of how to look at the world, Amen.

“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’  But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.  And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.  All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one                                 Matthew 5:33-37

 

As I was reading this passage this morning, I was struck by the dramatic emphasis Jesus used as he delivered the “Sermon on the Mount”.  This teaching, captured in several chapters of Matthew  is a high point of Jesus explaining the law, and how it was meant to be carried out- the Spirit of it.

We routinely ask people to swear an oath, such as in court, to ensure that they are going to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help me God”. People would at times ask others to “swear on your mother’s grave” or “swear on your children” to somehow extract the real truth that otherwise might be covered up if not accompanied by the oath -that is, that if it were not the truth, terrible things would befall the liar and those he swore upon.

Jesus said, “All you need is a simple “Yes” or “No”. “He went on to say that anything beyond that is from the evil one. Jesus knew that if one needed to attach some kind of oath to their statement, that would not change the underlying motives or attitude if that person were inclined to be lying. It would simply make the lie look different, be more subtle and deceptive- the stuff of Satan.

Jesus is always seeking after a person’s heart, which is not always played out in how we behave. That is the essence of the stark contrast he made between how people tried to convolute the law to fit their own desires, or to judge another person.

In convoluting the law, people had found ways of doing something worse than lying to others- they lied to themselves and convinced themselves of their “goodness” by adhering to the law.

Prayer: Father, thank you for your truth, and help us to seek it simply and humbly, Amen.

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

Exodus 3:11

 

In this passage we see the reaction of Moses, a gifted man of God who did not really see his gifts. Why not? Why didn’t Moses see his obvious gifts and talents which could be used for God? Well, many of us fail to see in ourselves the gifts with which God has endowed us. We tend to be oblivious to such gifts, sort of saying, “this (our talent) comes so easily to me, it can’t be that big a deal- anybody could do this”.

This is compounded when we carry around guilt over some past behaviors. Guilt can render us ineffective. Moses had killed an Egyptian in a fit of righteous anger, and he had been caught in the act. I think that this lingered in his mind, making him feel that, having done such an awful thing, God could no longer use him. He seemed to judge himself as unworthy, and told himself that even the God of creation could not forgive such an act. Certainly, he felt that he could not be a powerful instrument of God.

Remember Paul? He talked about his “thorn in the flesh”, which, to my way of thinking, was the memory of his past of having killed Christians.  Paul was painfully aware of this past for the rest of his life, and he continued to call himself “the least of the brethren”, even as he led the church in so many ways later in life.

I think that we often “disqualify” ourselves from God’s service by our own standards- not using God’s standards of forgiveness and restoration. Remember, whatever sins we have committed, God has allowed grace to “much more abound”. We are more than qualified for service, we are commanded to serve with whatever God has given us to bring forth.

 

Prayer: Father, thank you for the calling you give to each of us. Remind us that we are not the judges of our worth, but you, the merciful One, are. Amen 

 

Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine within your house, your children like olive plants
around your table. Behold, for thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.                                 Psalm 128:3-4

 

The family is all together this week on vacation. We do this once a year, and this week is something we all long for and look forward to. How blessed we are to have an intact family, and one that really wants to be together!

All the grandchildren are here and there is interaction among the cousins with the older ones helping out with the younger ones. One of my grandsons is especially interested in all things electronic, and he helped his Poppa figure out one of the normal “Poppa mistakes” when using the internet. We play cards and board games, and we laugh. A lot.

Sitting around the table at dinner, celebrating my son-in-law’s birthday, there was joy and laughter and good conversation. I could experience how the verse from Psalms about celebrating family was compared in terms reflecting the richest blessings of the land.

I am blessed with an amazing loving wife, and two great children. They have married loving and strong, and talented spouses, and have produced six children of their own – my grandkids. The grandkids, of course, are the dearest prizes- but I don’t need to explain that to the grandparents reading this today!

Not all families are this fortunate. Many people have had losses, or possibly estrangement. I see this daily in clients who grieve losses of family. I grieve with them, and I encourage reconciliation where possible, acceptance when it is not.

So, a simple message today of cherishing family -gratitude for their presence, blessings for their future, and continued family gatherings for their coming generations!

Prayer: Thank you Father for the plan of family, and the joy of their presence, Amen.

Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it                                  Hebrews 13:1-2

 

While traveling this week, we encountered car trouble on the interstate in North Carolina. The car lost power and I limped it to the first exit which, fortunately, was close. There is actually a thing called “limp mode” in Hondas- who knew? We found a little tire store/repair shop right off the ramp and took it in there at about 4:55PM. The shop was to close at 5:00PM, but I talked with a guy in the lot and explained our problem. He told me to “go inside and check with Randy”. Randy called over to Steve who put the computer scanner on the car, then drove it around the block just to check on the performance. By this time, the check engine light had gone off, and the car seemed to be running a little rough, but sufficient to move us down the road to our hotel. Steve said that he thought we could get down the road, spend the night, and get to a Honda dealer in the morning.

Once again, fortunately, there was a Honda dealer that got us in first thing that next morning. They hooked the car up, checked it out, and said that it was probably a glitch in the system that detected a minor problem, and it had corrected itself. They had the car for an hour, did all the testing, and, finding no problem, said that he wouldn’t charge us because they had found nothing wrong. He gave me a bill for $0, and also gave me the code for a free car wash.

By the way, the guy at the little shop from the night before refused to take money for their time, even after working past their closing time.

These people were strangers- rather, I was a stranger to them. They treated me with compassion, kindness and understanding, and also great generosity. I got to thinking about the instruction we have about treating strangers with kindness. Really, we count on this every day. People we do not know do things for us, and we for them, without actually knowing them.

It was a good reminder to me. I was treated with great kindness when in a vulnerable situation. How often do we get to “entertain angels?” Maybe every day.

 

Prayer: Father, thank you for the angels you sent to me and my wife this week. Protect all us travelers as we go about our life every day, Amen.

 

I hope today’s reflection, a bit different than usual, doe not offend the reader with its casual tone toward God. I think prayer is just a conversation with God, and that he relishes it when we talk with him. Agreeing with God, ultimately, is the way we have peace and how we prosper.

So, I had this imaginary conversation with God, and it went something like this…

Me: God, you know I have asked you a bunch of times to curse this Coronavirus to hell, and it still has not happened. This is getting really annoying for folks, and I know that you know it.

God: It doesn’t work that way.

Me: David used to put a curse on his enemies all the time and you seemed to be OK with that. How come you let the Coronavirus hang around. It is killing people, and freaking everybody else out!

God: Well, it’s not that simple. For example, if I gave you the power to curse stuff to hell, there would be no end to it. You’d find something else that you were mad at and try to curse it to hell too. And you know David. He was a bit of a hothead, but I always called him my friend. In the end he had great trust in me, and great dependence. I liked that.

Me: So, we don’t get to curse the virus?

God: No, you will have to use it as a learning experience. I have formed the human race to be able to solve problems, and to grow from disasters. You know the rules. Trust me, even when you don’t see the outcome, and I will do the things you cannot possibly do.

Me: Yes, I know, but that is so hard. People are hurting. And we are really pretty mad too.

God: Yes, I know. And you also know that I love you all. Don’t you think your pain doesn’t hurt me? It was not my intent that humankind decided to stray away from the original plans. But I gave you all free will to make your own decisions. I had to pay a high price, the suffering of my son, to save you all from your bad decisions, your sins.

Me: Yes, I know, and we deeply appreciate Jesus! It’s just that Coronavirus has made life so… abnormal!

God: Yes, but you will be OK. I have given you all not only free will, but an amazing capacity to solve problems and to be resilient in the face of terrible danger. When you all work together to solve problems, to help each other, sacrificing for one another, it is just so gratifying to me as your heavenly father. You’re a father, you know what I mean.

Me: Yes, true, you are right, as always. Thanks for listening.

God: Believe me, it is my pleasure. I love it when you talk with me.

Me: Good talk dad.

God: Just keep it up!

“Make Level Paths for your Feet”

Hebrews 12:12-13 

In reading today’s passage, the part that seemed to just jump out at me was the last two verses-“Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. Make level paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed”.

I was struck by these final sentences because it seems so practical. The author had been making the point about being disciplined in order to run a good race. We are indeed in a race, each of us given our lane to run in. My belief is that if we spend a lot of time looking into the other lanes to see how others are running, it will hinder our own race. We tend to run in the direction that we face with our eyes. If we spend too much time worrying about how someone in the other lane is doing, we are not going to run our best race.

At the same time, we are called upon to pay attention to those who are running behind us. Consider a relay race. We each run a leg of the race, then we hand the baton to a teammate who is running up behind us. Our job is to run a good race, at a good pace, so that those who follow us have a better chance of winning. We have to “strengthen ourselves” to give those who follow us an edge. We need to make a “level path” (i.e. have no obstacles in the way) so that those who follow may not be hindered or hurt, but rather healed by following a good strong example.

We first need to strengthen ourselves, by disciplined training, to be in the best shape for our journey. We then need to care for those whom we are discipling, so that their race may be the best for them as well. Repeat this time after time and you have the formula for a successful Kingdom!

Prayer: Father, thank you for the ability to run the race! You have given us the gift of life and the gift of loving others. We trust your provision for us, Amen.”

A fool utters all his mind, but a wise man keeps it in until afterwards.                                                     Proverbs 29:11

To answer before listening— that is folly and shame                                                                                 Proverbs 18:13

 

In these days of political and social controversies, it is tempting for all of us to simply unload our opinions, and try to convince one another of the truth of our position. Strongly held beliefs will do that to us, and there is, of course, nothing wrong with strongly held beliefs. There is also nothing wrong with expressing those beliefs. The problem comes in when our emotions get hooked, and we begin to let those emotions overcome our cognitive functions.

Our need to convince others is strong. It gets in the way of hearing the ideas of others. We are so focused on getting our point across that we fail to listen well. Our attention is consumed with formulating our next point, our refutation, so that we do not fully hear another point of view.

Once, when I needed to terminate the services of someone I supervised, I agonized over using just the right words to let this person know that they were being terminated. At that moment, I think I heard the voice of God in my head say, “Don’t try to use the perfect words. Nothing you say will convince this person that being fired is a good thing. Just speak your truth in love and let me do the rest.”

That was truth. I simply needed to speak the truth in love, and let God do the convincing in his time. It worked out well- but not immediately. It took time, but just some months later, that person told me that the firing was a relief, and there was a better plan for her life.

The point here is that my best efforts will not likely convince someone else of my truth. Speaking what I believe is a good thing. Trying to force that belief on someone else just does not seem to work well most of the time.

So, we speak our truth, we let go, listen well, and let peace reign.

Prayer: Father, give us the discipline to listen well, speak our truth in love, and let go of the outcome, Amen.

 

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness                                                                                                                                                                    I John 1:9

“We have met the enemy, and he is us”                                                                                                                   Pogo (Comic Strip Character)

A good mental health principle is that of self-awareness. Recognizing thinking errors, and owning them, is the start of peace and recovery. The first step of the 12 Steps is one of humility- e.g. “I have a problem, and it is bigger than me”

America has a problem with racism, and it is not the province of one sector of society, it is an unfortunate outgrowth of sin and errors of our thinking, individually and collectively.

I also recognize that as a white male, I have a particular viewpoint that is not, cannot be, the full view of the problem of racism. I have not lived as an African-American, and I literally cannot imagine what that experience is like. So, I do not want to minimize the pain and rage that must be felt in these very troubling times. We are digging at scars that have been in America for centuries, and to predict or assume what the African-American experience is like would be hubris at its worst.

In the pain and rage of seeing years of injustice and racism, we sometimes react in ways that are not thoughtful. I understand that. We are human. We have seen a great deal of anger and rhetoric all over the media, and it is important that we have real, honest discussions about racism in America.

Racism has been woven into the fabric of American society since its inception. Racism is a sin that has plagued mankind kind since the dawn of time. The recent discussions, outrage and demonstrations are hopefully an awakening that has been brewing for decades. But that discussion must be engaged in with care, understanding and openness.

Police departments have been singled out for racist reactions. Indeed, there have been police officers who have failed in their duty, made mistakes, and some were even malevolent. These are, unfortunately, true statements. But we cannot believe that the racism problem largely lies with law enforcement. That would minimize the problem of racism. That would be a disservice to police officers everywhere who serve their community with honor, and protect that community, sometimes with the loss of their own lives.

I cannot fully appreciate what it is like for African-American parents who fear for their children on the streets of America every night. It would be cruel and foolish for me to say that I know what the experience of parenting must be like for African-Americans. There has been too much history of young African-American males being abused and even killed because of failures of law enforcement officers. I have just an inkling though of what it must be like for African-American parents who fear for their child, just because they are out on the streets.

I have a son who is a police officer.

We paint with too broad a brush in our reaction and rage. Police officers are people with families who worry about them every night too. Those families send them out with similar worries of their loved ones not returning home because of the actions of someone else- someone who may judge them without thinking.  We wouldn’t need police if we were a society without sin. But we are not.

So, the answer to start healing from the sin of racism is to confess it. Then we are in the beginning of healing and forgiveness.

Prayer: Father, forgive us for our sins, of racist thinking and actions. Give us your clarity as we seek your justice and healing, Amen.

The tendency of a system, especially the physiological system of higher animals, to maintain internal stability, owing to the coordinated response of its parts to any situation or stimulus that would tend to disturb its normal condition or function.

In entomology- the ability of members of a colony of social insects to behave cooperatively to produce a desired result, as when bees coordinate the fanning of their wings to cool the hive. 

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid.                                                                                                                      John 14:27

As I was thinking about today’s reflection, I had decided to write about homeostasis. That, in my own simple definition, is a way to return to some balance to feel secure once again after disruptive life events. Nature tends to do that- find a way to restore a balance of some type, some type of predictability so that we do not live in fear and uncertainty.

Then as I went to dictionary.com to look up the official definition of homeostasis, I saw that there were definitions for several systems. I saw the one for entomology, and it struck me that insects will instinctively, at least social insects, go to extraordinary lengths to restore the colony, or the hive, to restore health or to repel invaders. I described one of those activities above.

I marvel at creation even at the lowest levels. Somehow, they have been wired to act cooperatively for the good of the entire social order.

Our bodies find ways to compensate for functions that have been lost, such as in certain brain injuries where other parts of the brain take over, after time, some functions that have been lost by injury or disease.

We are now trying, as all the pundits are saying, to “find a new normal.”

We have great need for homeostasis right now. We need a sense of internal stability to feel safe and secure.

Before Jesus went to the cross, he said to his disciples, Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid.

We need to take heart from the great teachers of the world- Jesus, who came to redeem a broken world, and the lowest of creatures such as bees, who work together for the common good of their environment.

Prayer: Thank you Father for the examples all around us of restoration. Thank you for your son, who restores our soul, Amen.