Moving Mountains

I stand with my arms hanging at my side

I gaze upward at the massive, hulking mountain

It is obdurate, silent

Its arrogant defiance perversely majestic

Tier after tier

Of jagged rocks and craggy ledges

Accumulated over time

A collection of sorrows

Arranged in an anthem of ignorance

Each jagged rock and craggy ledge carefully

And strategically placed by the enemy

A stronghold of woes

A fortress of vanity

I stand with my arms hanging at my side

I gaze beyond the mocking, haughty summit

I am immovable, steadfast

My relentless hope furiously ablaze

Foothold after foothold

Among the jagged rocks and craggy ledges

Exposed and laid bare

A disassembling of strategy

Unarranged by a chorus of truth

Each jagged rock and craggy ledge graciously

And persistently overcome by faith

A stronghold of woes

Laid waste by a fortress of victory

"Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, you who devastate the whole earth," declares the Lord.  "I will stretch out My hand against you; I will roll you over the cliffs, and turn you into a charred mountain. They will not take from you even a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations, but you will be desolate forever," declares the Lord. (Jer 51:25,26)

Afterward the disciples came to Jesus privately and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?" He replied, "Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." (Matt 17:19,20)

"Have faith in God," Jesus answered. "Truly I tell you that if anyone says to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and has no doubt in his heart but believes that it will happen, it will be done for him.  Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand to pray, if you hold anything against another, forgive it, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your trespasses as well." (Mark 11:22-25)

The Measure Of His Presence

I've been trained by the church to think that "measurable response" means "right."  That how many people show up, or how many people positively respond, directly relates to where God is working and is present.  Our concept of how to "do" church is very much anchored in our results-driven culture.  We want measurable results and we covet encouraging responses.  But when we look at the example of Christ, we see something quite different.  We see God quietly and consistently working behind the scenes, for the most part, imperceptible to the masses. 

He announced His birth to a small group of lowly shepherds-- a group of simple, working men who were so insignificant, that Scripture doesn't even bother to give us their names.  Then, He spent the next 30 years on earth......doing what?  Well, the Bible really doesn't say.  The only thing we know about those 30 years is that Jesus schooled some priests in the temple when He was twelve and that He "continued to grow," and became strong in spirit and increased in wisdom, and the grace and favor of God was upon Him (Luke 2:40).  God Himself walked around on earth for 30 years, and most people were none the wiser.  I find myself wondering how many people stood right next to God during His time here on earth and didn't even know it?  If you had asked any religious leader during the time of Christ where God was, they would have said He was with them in the temple.  But the truth was, God was out among His people.  He was doing all the things that the religious leaders weren't willing to do, because it brought them no recognition.

When Jesus finally began His public ministry, we see Him consistently doing things and working in ways that have very little "measurable results."  We see candid conversations, we see secluded teaching areas, we see menial and obscure.  We see a man who only wanted to be where God was, Who only wanted to go where God said go and interact with who God said to interact with, and for the most part, God led Him to situations and people that would be lost to history if they had not been recorded in the Gospels.

Jesus said, "The Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner" (John 5:19).  Jesus compared the work and presence of God to leaven that remains hidden in the flour as it works imperceptibly (Matt 13:33).  Jesus often received little, if any, encouraging response.  He said what the Father told Him to say, and then quite often He simply moved on.  Like a sower casting seeds of truth that would sit and incubate in the soil until it was time for growth.  I often think, if Jesus and the prophets had based their obedience on people's reception and their encouraging response, they would have quit before they even began.

We have to be willing to do God's work, God's way.  Which means we have to be willing to wash feet in obscurity, doing what the world deems as menial tasks.  That is how God determines the purity of a person's heart and motives.  That is one of the things Jesus meant when He said the greatest among you shall be your servant.  Because the person who perseveres in dutiful obedience to God even when nobody is looking and nobody is encouraging them, evidences the purest motives and purest heart (Matt 6:1-6, 16-18).  Those who are willing to do whatever God asks them to do, regardless of the seeming impact or productivity level....or encouraging response.  We cannot draw our encouragement from people's response.  That is the way of the world.  First and foremost your relationship is with God and His response is the only one we should seek.  We must draw our encouragement from whether we are being obedient to God or not.  The greatest work of God is through incremental impact and He accomplishes that type of impact when we are obedient to the simple, seemingly insignificant things He asks us to do (Matt 25:35-38).  That is what true ministry looks like.

When we look at Jesus' first coming, we see that only a scant fraction of His time was spent teaching in the synagogue.  Jesus didn't hang out with the religious leaders.  Jesus ministered to the people who were looking for something they weren't getting from the religious leaders.  Jesus sought out the wandering sheep who weren't "worthy" of interest by the religious leaders.  We must direct our prayers in such a way so that we ask God to put us wherever He is truly working....and we must be truly willing to go there. We must pray for God to put us in whatever secret place He is building a relationship with someone.  Whatever wandering, hungry sheep that can be scavenged from the ruins of the religious landscape.  We must pray like this because we should resolve in our heart that we don't want to be involved in anything God's not in.  We should come to God and say, "I don't want to be a part of any 'measurable response' that is void of any measure of Your presence."

"When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, 'Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.' And he hurried and came down and received Him gladly. When they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, 'He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.' Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, 'Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.' And Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost.'" (Luke 19:5-10)

"And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, 'When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment. But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.'" (Luke 14:12-14)

"My flock wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill; My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth and there was no one to search or seek for them." Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:  "As I live," declares the Lord God, "surely because My flock has become a prey, My flock has even become food for all the beasts of the field for lack of a shepherd, and My shepherds did not search for My flock, but rather the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed my flock...I am against the shepherds, and I will demand My sheep from them and make them cease from feeding sheep. So the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore but I will deliver My flock from their mouth, so that they will not be food for them....I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest," declares the Lord God. "I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken and strengthen the sick." (Ezek 34:6-16).

Beholding The Furnace

I said, "I want to see You Lord.  Reveal Yourself to me as You truly are"

So He took my hand and began to lead

As He walked along, I followed

We walked many paths

Winding in one direction

And then another

All the while, hope filled my heart

In anticipation of the wonder

That I would surely soon experience

Surely soon, I would behold His glory

Surely soon, delight would fill me

As I gazed upon His true form

As we neared the end of the path

I knew, just ahead, all I had anticipated

Was just within reach

But to my dismay and horror

At the end of the path

Lay a rejected, rough-hewn cross

I cried out, "My Lord, this is not what I was expecting!"

He said, "My daughter, to know Me is to suffer"

I pleaded, "Is there any other way?"

He answered, "No. You must die"

I must die

I must be broken of my own understanding of myself

I must pass through the furnace

Because that is the only way

To see Him as He truly is on the other side

And behold Him in all His wonder

"The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord is the tester of hearts." (Prov 17:3)

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  Anyone who loves their life will lose it, and anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it to life eternal.  Whoever serves Me, must follow Me, and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor them." (John 12:24-26)

"You fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies." (1 Cor 15:37)

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me." (Gal 2:20)

"In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples." (Luke 14:33)

The Path Less Taken

Throughout a person's lifetime they may find themselves at a fork in the road.  Although both paths will lead into an unknown future, one path will generally seem more safe than the other.  The safe path is paved with the bricks of "status quo," that do not travel to destinations of "great change."  This path is generally easier on the heart and kinder to the nerves.  On this path, one can amble along in a leisurely way with God, making small-talk along the way. You can know God on this path, but only to such a degree that small-talk makes possible.  Only to such a degree that Wilbur Rees describes as, "not to explode your soul or disturb your sleep, but just enough to equal a warm cup of milk or a snooze in the sunshine."  Not so much as to transform, because transformation is a destination of "great change" and the safe path does not travel there because that is where the other path leads.

The other path will seem not-so-safe.  As you stand at the fork and gaze down the pavement of the other path, you may catch a glimpse of the bricks of ridicule, rejection, grief, loss, doubt, discouragement-- a veritable mosaic of potential sorrow or failure, but it is the only path that leads to the destination of "great change."  This path is neither easy on the heart, nor kind to the nerves.  On this path, one never ambles because each step must be calculated and chosen, thought through and considered, clinging to God for guidance and help.  There is no small-talk on this path, there are only deep conversations with God that lead to discovery or long silences of understanding.  You will know God on this path in a way that will shatter your soul and break you completely, bringing you to a complete end of yourself so that you can be transformed.  The path of "great change" leads to transformation, and transformation is costly.  The price of transformation is the death of self and the willingness to walk along the bricks of sorrow and hardship that lead along a very narrow path less taken.

As I stand at this fork and glance back-and-forth along each potential path:  the safe path-- lined with the bricks of status quo; or the path of great change-- paved with an intricate mosaic of hardship and hope, I think of my Lord.  I think of Him standing at the same fork.  I think of Him looking at what the world had become in its ignorance and sin, while holding in His heart the knowledge of what it was meant to be.  I think of Him standing at the foot of the mountain of change that needed to take place to begin moving His creation along the path of restoration, seemingly dwarfed by the Herculean challenges that lay ahead.  I think of Him standing there in His full humanity, experiencing the trepidation of the unknown.  I think of Him standing there, taking a deep breath into lungs He created Himself and stepping out with feet of His own design, onto the path of great change, walking along the bricks of ridicule, rejection, grief, loss, doubt, and discouragement.  I think of His promise to me that I am being transformed into His image, therefore I believe in faith that if He can walk this path, so can I.

"Enter through the narrow gate.  For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Matt 7:13,14)

"And there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel it, only those who walk in that Way-- and fools will not stray onto it." (Is 35:8)

"The Lord will give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, but your Teacher will no longer hide Himself-- with your own eyes you will see Him. And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: 'This is the way. Walk in it.'" (Is 30:20,21)

"I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them." (Is 42:16)

"This is what the Lord says-- your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: 'I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you what is best for you, Who directs you in the way you should go.'" (Is 48:17)

Holding Onto The End

Sometimes the only thing you will have to hold onto is the ending.  Sometimes things will happen in your life that cause you to question everything, to such a degree that everything you thought you knew has slipped through your fingers and when you look down at your hands the only thing left in them is the ending.  Socrates famously said, "The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."  And when you come to that realization, you will look around in horror at how many continue along in blissful ignorance, convinced that their own knowledge will carry them through to the end.  Comforted by their own hubris and seated on a throne of their own understanding.  

The writer of Proverbs says that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God.  To sit before Him in awe and reverence, is to sit before Him in rapt silence.  To cease striving and sit before the Creator with full knowledge that you know absolutely nothing, other than knowing you are a creature.  You are a creation that has been made and shaped by something so far greater than anything you could ever possibly fathom. What we know of God is only that which He has chosen to reveal to us about Himself.  We know only what we are capable of knowing within the confines of creation itself, since God exists outside of creation.  We can only comprehend God with the resources we've been given within creation.  In one way, this causes me lament because that means there are things about God that I will never know, since I am limited by my ontology as a created being.  In another way, this fuels my awe of Him because there are things about Him that are truly and literally unknowable and such awesome mystery makes me worship Him all the more.   

Revelation gives us the ending to our story, "No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His servants will serve Him. They will see His face, and His Name will be on their foreheads.  There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign forever and ever" (Rev 2:3-5).  The ending is knowledge of God, to know Him even as we are fully known, to see Him face to face (1 Cor 13:12).  To see His face is to have full recognition of Who He is.  God's name also embodies and communicates Who He is and having it written on our forehead implies that we will have knowledge of Him that unites us with Him and becomes a part of who we are.

Reconciliation with God through faith in Christ is just one part of the Gospel.  The other part is understanding that we have been reconciled for the purpose of knowing God.  God wants us to know Him and He made that possible through Jesus Christ.  That is the good news.  We are saved to know God. 

Sixteen years ago, the first time I ever bought a Bible for myself, I wrote on the inside cover:

"I would rather know God

And nothing else,

Than know everything

There was to know

In this world,

And not know God."

The wisest man who ever lived was Solomon, and after a lifetime of accumulated knowledge he reached a dark place in his life where he realized that all the knowledge in the world was meaningless, if it wasn't knowledge of God.  As you read through Ecclesiastes, you see Solomon working out his frustration with his own existence and sense his deep frustration with the seeming pointlessness about creation itself.  He sees the futility of our striving, of spending our lives accumulating and consuming and filling our time with activities and tasks that, in the end, just prove to be a chasing after the wind.  He recounts his observations about our existence throughout the course of his life and reaches the conclusion:  "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter:  Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil" (Eccl 12:13,14).  At the end of his life, Solomon finally realizes that true wisdom is coming to the realization that we know nothing, and the only thing worth knowing is God.

The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God.  The ending is knowledge of Him.  If all you have to hang onto is the ending, then you have come to the place where you realize that it's all you ever needed in the first place.

"And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person's envy of another.  This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind." (Eccl 4:4)

"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ." (Phil 3:8)

"Now this is eternal life:  that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom You have sent." (John 17:3)

"And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him Who is true; and we are in Him Who is true-- in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life." (1 John 5:20)

"His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him Who called us by His own glory and excellence." (2 Peter 1:3)

"But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen." (2 Pet 3:18)

Cease Striving

I sit in silence at Your feet

Everything I am belongs to You

Make me something beautiful

Cut away all my ugliness

Shape me with Your presence

Divide me from error

With the sword of Your word

Place me in Your palm

And hold me close to Your heart

So close, I can hear it beating

And my steps fall in line

With its rhythm

Let me walk Your heartbeat, my Lord

Let my steps walk in time to Your desires

Make me one with You

And save me from myself

~ 

Cease striving

And know that I am God

Let all the earth

Sit before Me in silence

Let all mankind

Contemplate their Creator

What may be spoken

That I have not given?

What thoughts may be had

That I do not already know?

What can man do

That I cannot undo?

What is man

That I should fret at the work of his hands?

Foolish children

Sit in the dust

And lament your own ignorance

Oh church, lament your futile service

To a God that you do not truly know

Oh nations, lament your futile rebellion

Against an all-consuming fire

In the end

Only true knowledge of Me will save you

In the end

You will either shout for joy

Or whimper in terror

When I come from My holy dwelling

All the earth will

Cease striving

And know that I am God

"Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against His Anointed one, saying,

'Let us break their chains and cast away their cords.'

The One enthroned in the heavens laughs; the Lord taunts them.

Then He rebukes them in His anger, and terrifies them in His fury, saying

'I have installed my King on Zion, upon my holy hill.'" (Ps 2:1-6)

"And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and waves. People fainting from fear, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." (Luke 21:25-28)

"Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!'" (Matt 7:22,23)

"God is our refuge and strength

A very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change

And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;

Though its waters roar and foam,

Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

The holy dwelling places of the Most High.

God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved;

God will help her when morning dawns.

The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;

He raises His voice, the earth melts.

The Lord of hosts is with us;

The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah.

Come and see what the Lord has done,

The desolations He has brought on the earth.

He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth;

He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;

He burns the chariots with fire.

He says 'Cease striving and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth.'

The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah." (Ps 46)

Wisdom From A Donkey

Our donkey escaped from our pasture last night.  When my husband got home from work, he got his mud boots on and went out towards the pasture to lure the donkey to the gate with a bucket of food.  I looked out the window and I saw him trying to get the donkey through the gate while all the horses began to try to get to the food bucket in his hand.  I saw my husband outside and he was alone and he was struggling.  I knew that he would never get that donkey through the gate by himself, and as soon as I saw him struggling, my natural reaction was to run to his aid and be a source of strength for him.  I grabbed a bag of peppermints (because donkeys love peppermints), and rushed downstairs to get my mud boots on and ran out to the pasture to help him.  With a food bucket in his hand and peppermints in mine, we worked together to lure the donkey into one of our side pastures.  He opened and shut gates and I stayed with the donkey, keeping his attention.  Either one of us could have held the food bucket, either one of us could have held the peppermints, either one of us could have opened and shut the gates and either one of us could have held the donkey's attention.  But our minds weren't focused on who had to hold the bucket or the peppermints or the gates or the donkey.  Our minds were focused on working together, getting the donkey where he needed to be and that's why we succeeded.

I didn't expect my husband to lead out, bearing a greater responsibility to get the donkey back into the pasture.  My husband didn't expect me to stand there and wait for him to give me orders to submit to.  My husband didn't tell me I wasn't allowed to open the gate or hold the food bucket, and I didn't tell him that I was the only one who could hold the donkey's attention and give it peppermints.  We didn't do that because, number one, that would have been ridiculous; and number two, our concern was focused on the goal that needed to be accomplished, not each other's role in how we accomplished it.  And the donkey didn't follow us because he preferred to be led by me as a woman, or by my husband as a man.  The donkey followed us because it wanted what we had in our hands.  The donkey went where it was supposed to go because of what we gave him, not because of who we were. 

When Jesus wanted to communicate complex spiritual principles, He never gave a theological treatise, He always used simple life-examples.  He spoke in parables and used easily relatable subjects to express profound spiritual truths.  The church would do well to learn something from our donkey about how "church" should be done and how men and women were created to work together in fluid, eternal unity, rather than divided by invariant, cultural role. 

Jesus said the goal is to "Go out into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation" (Mark 16:15) and to "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you" (Matt 28:19,20).  Jesus made no distinction of dividing this task among people based on their gender.  Scripture states that it is the Spirit Who enables each one of us to carry out these tasks, and not one of those lists of spiritual gifts is divided among genders (Eph 4:11,12; Rom 12:6-8; 1 Cor 12:28).  For too long the church has bickered among itself on issues that bear no fruit for Christ, and even more so, neuter the churches efficacy and witness.

Where does the authority of God's word reside and from whence comes its power?  In the person speaking it, or in the word itself?  If you say "in the person speaking it," then you are a blasphemer, attributing to man what only belongs to God.  If you say "in the word itself," then you concede that the person speaking it is of no regard, which makes their gender irrelevant.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

"And it was He Who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for works of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, as we mature to the full measure of the stature of Christ." (Eph 4:11-13)

"We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If one's gift is prophecy, let them use it in proportion to their faith; if it is serving, let them serve; if it is teaching, let them teach; if it is encouraging, let them encourage; if it is giving, let them give generously; if it is leading, let them lead with diligence; if it is showing mercy, let them do it cheerfully." (Rom 12:6-8)

"Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, and those with gifts of healing, helping, administration, and various tongues." (1 Cor 12:27,28)

"As good stewards of the manifold grace of God, each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve one another." (1 Pet 4:10)