When. Not If.

Yesterday our Life Group continued our journey through the Gospel of Matthew.  We were in chapter 6, specifically in the first part of that chapter, and our focus was on prayer as we studied that portion of Scripture we refer to as the Lord's Prayer.

As we were studying together, a word jumped off the page at me.  It's a word that has been there all along.  A word that I have called attention to often when I have taught this passage.  A word that Max mentioned yesterday as he was leading our discussion.

Four little letters.

When......

The first part of Matthew 6 mentions more than prayer.  It talks about fasting.  And about giving.  And in each case, there's that word.  When. 

Every translation of the Bible that I have checked this morning uses that word.

When.

Not a single translation that I could find uses the word if.

When makes an assumption.  It assumes that you will fast.  That you will give.  That you will pray.

When you pray assumes you will pray.

When you pray....

What if we rearranged that sentence a little bit?  (And I mean no disrespect to the Scriptures when I do this; I only wish to make a point.)

What if we thought of it this way:  you pray when.....

When you are hurting.

When you are sorrowful.

When you are happy.

When you are thankful.

When you are facing a difficult health situation.

When you are anxious.

When you are concerned about your children or your grandchildren or your spouse.

When you are grieving.

When you have been misunderstood.

When someone twists your words to mean something you didn't say or intend.

When you are in pain.

When you are stressed financially.

When......

You can finish the sentence with whatever situations you are facing today.

When......

It's an important word to remember.  Because Jesus intended our praying to be not if, but when.

The hymn writer Joseph Scriven said it well when he wrote these words: 

Oh, what peace we often forfeit,

Oh, what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer.

 

 

"Pray without ceasing."  (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

 

"Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you."  (1 Peter 5:7 ESV)

Where's Hezekiah?

You may be wondering who Hezekiah is.  We'll get to that in a minute.

But before we talk about Hezekiah, let's have a little chat about our country and about the presidential election to be held later this year.  We have been inundated for several months now with political ads.  There have been debates.  There has been almost incessant chatter across all social media concerning the elections and particular candidates.  You may already have grown weary of it all.

Even so, this is an important election, as all elections are.  This is a pivotal time in our country's history.  Will we continue our downward spiral, or is there any hope?

Many will say that if we only had a different President, everything would be OK.  Others will say that the solution to the challenges facing our country is not to be found in the White House.  On some level, there is probably truth in both those statements.

I'm not here to argue that point.  Nor am I here to convince you of the merits of any particular candidate, or to ask if you are Republican or Democrat or Libertarian or Independent.

I'm not even here to ask if you have decided which of the many candidates you support.  If you have already made that decision, I would ask you what is the basis of that decision and why you have chosen that particular candidate.

My primary purpose today is to ask you to pray.  And that's where Hezekiah comes into the conversation.

If you are not familiar with King Hezekiah, get your Bible and turn to the Old Testament book of 2 Kings.  You'll find Hezekiah in chapters 18 and 19.

Before we get to Hezekiah specifically, let's do a quick review of history.  The first three kings of Israel were Saul, David, and Solomon, in that order.  Following the death of King Solomon, the kingdom was divided into two kingdoms, each with its own king.  All the kings in the Northern Kingdom (Israel) were bad kings.  In the Southern Kingdom (Judah), there was a mix of good kings and bad kings.  You can read all about that in the Bible.

Prior to Hezekiah, Ahaz was the ruler of Judah.  The Bible has this to say about Ahaz: "He reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of God." (2 Kings 16:2 NASB)

Following the death of Ahaz, Hezekiah became king.  The Bible has this to say about Hezekiah:  "He did right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father David had done.  He trusted in the LORD......he clung to the LORD; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments."  (2 Kings 18:3,5a,6 NASB)

When Hezekiah's nation was in trouble, he turned to the Lord.  You can read his prayer in 2 Kings 19:14-19.  "O LORD, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth........O LORD our God, I pray, deliver us."  (2 Kings 19:15, 19a NASB)

No matter your political persuasion, can we agree that our country is in serious trouble on many levels?  We may not agree on a particular solution, but I think we can agree that we have some real problems to deal with.

It is my opinion that the root cause of much of our trouble lies in the fact that we have turned away from God.  And that brings me to the purpose of this post and why I have written today about Hezekiah.

I'm asking you to join me in prayer. Prayer that God will heal our land.  Prayer for the coming presidential election.  Prayer that God will raise up a Hezekiah among us. 

Will you join me?


"If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek M face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land."  (2 Chronicles 7:14 NASB)

Memories. And Perspective.

It's another cold morning here in Spartanburg.  As I looked at my Facebook memories for this date, I was greeted by this photo:

 



That photo reminded me just how cold winters in the mountains could be.  It put this morning's 30 degrees into perspective. Yes, 30 degrees is cold for South Carolinians.  But it could be a lot colder.  A lot!

Al usually takes Molly for her first morning walk.  I appreciate that he does that, since I'm really not much of a morning person.  It takes a while to get my brain and my bones moving every day.  But since Al had to be out of town this morning, it was my duty joy to walk her.  Thankfully, she slept a little later than she sometimes does.  Even so, being out with her so early gave me a chance to see this:

 



That's the kind of view I usually miss.  It's the kind of view that makes it worth getting up and out a little earlier!

For the last two weeks, my pastor has been leading a group through the Holy Land.  We made our last visit to Israel two years ago, and I long to go again.  Today is the group's last day in Jerusalem before they fly back home.  As I have been thinking about them this morning, I'm remembering previous trips.  I'm particularly remembering previous "last days" in Jerusalem.  The last day of our trip typically begins with prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.  We walk through the Kidron Valley and go to the House of Caiphas.  We walk the Via Dolorosa and we end the day at the Garden Tomb.

Those are precious memories indeed!  I came across this photo this morning.  Al snapped it near the Garden Tomb on our last trip.

I remember that day well.  I was tired.  My feet hurt.  It was the first day of what would end up as a very serious cold/sinus infection/ear infection.  At the time, I was feeling pretty miserable.  Even so, I would do it all again!  There is something so special and so precious about being there.  About walking where Jesus walked.  About celebrating the Lord's Supper there in the Garden near the empty tomb.

Those are wonderful memories.  I know that my friends who are there in Israel today have made wonderful, lasting memories.  I'm so glad they have had this opportunity.  But I confess that I'm just a wee bit envious!

Memories are wonderful things.  I'm so thankful that God has given us the gift of remembering. And for photographs that capture the memories!

On this "Throwback Thursday", here are a few of my favorites:

 

 

Back to Normal

The holidays are over.  School is back in session.  And this week things get back to normal.

Whatever that means.

Normal may mean different things to different people.  What is normal for me in this season of life certainly isn't normal for young mothers of preschoolers.

But for those of us who belong to Jesus, there are certain things that should be normal, no matter what our season of life.

Things like love.  And joy.  And peace.  (See Galatians 5:22 for the rest of that list.)

Have you spent any time in the Old Testament book of Ezra lately?  Ezra has something to teach us about normal. 

"For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel."  (Ezra 7:10 ESV)

I read that verse this morning, over and over.  I thought about that verse.  I pondered that verse.  I prayed over that verse. 

And it occurs to me that what Ezra had set his heart to do is what should be normal for each of us who belong to Jesus.

To study. To make a diligent effort to know the Word of God, what it says and what it means.

To do.  To obey God's law.  To do what God expects of us.

To teach.  To be talking about the things of God, sharing them with others, leading others to join us in being obedient to God.

If that isn't our normal, perhaps we need to ask ourselves why it isn't.


"I will meditate on Your precepts and regard Your ways.  I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget your word."  (Psalm 119:15-16 NASB)

Waiting for Morning. A Book Review.

Have you ever read a book you wanted to like but just couldn't?  That was my experience with Waiting for Morning by Karen Kingsbury.

This book was originally published in 1999, but has apparently been rereleased.  Since I hadn't read anything by Karen Kingsbury lately, and since I had previously enjoyed works by Karen Kingsbury, I decided to give it a try.  I was prepared to enjoy it, as I had previous Kingsbury books.  But I didn't.

The problem may have been the subject.  This is the story of a drunk driver and a deadly traffic accident.  Drunk driving and its consequences are hard to read about.

But I think the problem for me was more that I just didn't like the main character.  Hannah Ryan is a hard person to like. When I'm reading fiction, I enjoy a character I can relate to.  And if I can't relate to the character, I want to admire them, or at the very least, to like them.  Hannah Ryan is not one of those characters.  Following the tragic accident that opens the story, an accident that claimed the life of her husband and daughter, she is consumed with bitterness and a desire for revenge that takes over her life to the exclusion of all else, including her surviving daughter.

Waiting for Morning was a hard read for me.  In typical Kingsbury fashion, the story is well written and the characters well developed.  Even so, I struggled to finish it.  Long-time fans of Karen Kingsbury will likely enjoy this book, but in my opinion, it is not one of her best.

I received a free copy of Waiting for Morning from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.

Saturated

I'm happy to see the sun shining this morning.  We haven't seen very much sunshine around here lately.  In fact, we have had a lot of rain here in South Carolina in recent weeks. Quite a lot. And last week we had even more.

During last week's rain, the ditches on either side of the main road outside our neighborhood were full of water.  That water was funneled into the creek behind our house. The field behind us was filled with water, and that water found its way into our creek, creating a new gulley on the creek bank in the process.

For the past several months, South Carolina has seen more than its share of rain. As a result, the ground is saturated with water. 

In our life group we are studying the Gospel of Matthew.  We ended the year 2015 by studying the passage in chapter 4 which gives us the account of Jesus in the wilderness, being tempted by the devil.  How did Jesus deal with those temptations?  He answered each of them by quoting directly from the Scripture.

What does that have to do with being saturated?  Just as the ground around here is saturated with water, so do we need to be saturated, not with rain water but with the Word of God. 

Jesus faced temptation in the wilderness and answered each temptation with the Word.  We, too, face temptations, and we need to answer them just as Jesus did.  With the Word.  And the only way we can do that is if we know the Word.  If we have saturated ourselves with the Word of God.

Being saturated takes time.  The ground did not become saturated with water by a five minute sprinkle of rain.  It became saturated by a downpour over time.

How much time are you willing to commit to the Word of God this year?

Here at the beginning of a new year, why not make a decision, a fresh commitment, to being saturated in the Word of God?

"The law of the LORD is perfect,

reviving the soul;

the testimony of the LORD is sure,

making wise the simple;

the precepts of the LORD are right,

rejoicing the heart;

the commandment of the LORD is pure,

enlightening the eyes;

the fear of the LORD is clean,

enduring forever;

the rules of the LORD are true,

and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold,

even much fine gold;

sweeter also than honey

and drippings of the honeycomb.

Moreover, by them is your servant warned;

in keeping them there is great reward."

(Psalm 19:7-11 ESV)

 

 

"Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness."  (1 Timothy 4:7b NASB)

Happy New Year!

As one year ends and another begins, I want to thank you for stopping by.  And I want to offer my very best wishes for a Happy New Year, a year of joy and peace and our Father's bountiful blessings! 

As we begin this new year, this is my prayer for each of us:



Another year is dawning! Dear Father, let it be,

In working or in waiting, Another year with Thee;

Another year of leaning Upon Thy loving breast;
Another year of trusting, Of quiet, happy rest.

Another year of mercies,Of faithfulness and grace;

Another year of gladness In the shining of Thy face;
Another year of progress, Another year of praise;

Another year of proving Thy presence all the days.

Another year of service, Of witness for Thy love;

Another year of training For holier work above.

Another year is dawning! Dear Father, let it be

On earth, or else in heaven, Another year for Thee.

 -Frances R. Havergal