Friday, October 10, 2014

When evil seems to triumph

Anyone taking an honest glance at the state of the church today will have cause to lose hope at some point. 

Whether in frustration with authoritarian institutions where child abuse is overlooked and victims are expected to just forgive those who both hurt them and failed them, or in discouragement at the prevailing lack of personal or corporate faithfulness to Christ regardless of cost, there is much to disillusion Christians.

Yet the truth that institutions and those ensnared in them forget is that God sees all this. 

Despite the practical atheism of so many in the Church today, our God reigns. He will not be mocked, and He does care about survivors of abuse as well as all the oppressed. He always leaves a remnant, however small, of faithful people. He will build His church regardless of our paltry hopes or plans, and in Him alone is all true hope secure. He is not controlled by us nor thwarted by our nonsense.  He does not need our ministries nor our help to perform justice, although He will call us all to account for how we live and what we allow in our lives and among His people. 

In short, God is God. He has not changed in His character. He is love. 

And that gives me hope. 

Monday, September 15, 2014

Notes on a grief experience


Job 26- God does not condemn us for honest grief when others judge our opinions, decisions, or experiences without reference to His love, compassion, and character. The love of God moves me from reward and punishment formulas to reality where life may make no logical sense, yet God is with me. (Psalm 73)

Friday, September 12, 2014

This gives me hope.




“To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.” 
~ Karl Barth

Our God will not be mocked by evil people. He sees everything. He alone knows our hearts. He wins. 

Sunday, September 7, 2014

When God seems silent.

It's enough to drive a man crazy, it'll break a man's faith
It's enough to make him wonder, if he's ever been sane
When he's bleating for comfort from Thy staff and Thy rod
And the Heaven's only answer is the silence of God

It'll shake a man's timbers when he loses his heart
When he has to remember what broke him apart
This yoke may be easy but this burden is not
When the crying fields are frozen by the silence of God

And if a man has got to listen to the voices of the mob
Who are reeling in the throes of all the happiness they've got
When they tell you all their troubles
Have been nailed up to that cross
Then what about the times when even followers get lost?
'Cause we all get lost sometimes

There's a statue of Jesus on a monastery knoll
In the hills of Kentucky, all quiet and cold
And He's kneeling in the garden, as silent as a Stone
All His friends are sleeping and He's weeping all alone

And the man of all sorrows, he never forgot
What sorrow is carried by the hearts that he bought
So when the questions dissolve into the silence of God
The aching may remain but the breaking does not
The aching may remain but the breaking does not
In the holy, lonesome echo of the silence of God

Writer(s): Andrew Peterson

Lyrics source: http://www.songlyrics.com/andrew-peterson/the-silence-of-god-lyrics/#ICKPGypAUKFqc4JU.99


Listen:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bv-V38SyOzc

Friday, August 29, 2014

I still belong to You.


Psalm 73 New Living Translation (NLT)

Book three (Psalms 73–89)

Psalm 73

A psalm of Asaph.

Truly God is good to Israel,
    to those whose hearts are pure.
But as for me, I almost lost my footing.
    My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone.
For I envied the proud
    when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.
They seem to live such painless lives;
    their bodies are so healthy and strong.
They don’t have troubles like other people;
    they’re not plagued with problems like everyone else.
They wear pride like a jeweled necklace
    and clothe themselves with cruelty.
These fat cats have everything
    their hearts could ever wish for!
They scoff and speak only evil;
    in their pride they seek to crush others.
They boast against the very heavens,
    and their words strut throughout the earth.
10 And so the people are dismayed and confused,
    drinking in all their words.
11 “What does God know?” they ask.
    “Does the Most High even know what’s happening?”
12 Look at these wicked people—
    enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply.

13 Did I keep my heart pure for nothing?
    Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?
14 I get nothing but trouble all day long;
    every morning brings me pain.

15 If I had really spoken this way to others,
    I would have been a traitor to your people.
16 So I tried to understand why the wicked prosper.
    But what a difficult task it is!
17 Then I went into your sanctuary, O God,
    and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked.
18 Truly, you put them on a slippery path
    and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction.
19 In an instant they are destroyed,
    completely swept away by terrors.
20 When you arise, O Lord,
    you will laugh at their silly ideas
    as a person laughs at dreams in the morning.

21 Then I realized that my heart was bitter,
    and I was all torn up inside.
22 I was so foolish and ignorant—
    I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.
23 Yet I still belong to you;
    you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
    leading me to a glorious destiny.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
    I desire you more than anything on earth.
26 My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak,
    but God remains the strength of my heart;
    he is mine forever.

27 Those who desert him will perish,
    for you destroy those who abandon you.
28 But as for me, how good it is to be near God!
    I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter,
    and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.
 
 

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.  (www.biblegateway.com)

 



 

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

New blog

As I said in my "on religion" blog, I hope to begin processing some thoughts that encourage here. Watch this space for future posts!


From Lamentations 3 (NLT)

21 Yet I still dare to hope
    when I remember this:

22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
    His mercies never cease.
23 Great is his faithfulness;
    his mercies begin afresh each morning.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
    therefore, I will hope in him!”