The Imaginary Line

When we were kids, my parents every February would take us down to visit my grandmother in Miramar, Florida. We always drove down from New Jersey usually over a three day period in our station wagon (those were big back then). My dad would drive and my brother would be up front with him (as the navigator), my mom in the middle seat and my sister and I in the back where we would be lying down for the entire trip. This was long before the era of safety belts being a requirement and 15 air bags. 

I would run my imaginary line down the center of the back area. If my sister dared to pass over that imaginary line, hell would be paid. Usually kid hell was in the form of kicking her or yelling at her for crossing the line into my space. I had created an artificial barrier to separate my space from hers. Fast forward to adulthood where I have put forth the imaginary line in my bed.  My wife better dare not cross my line. We are not cuddly sleepers. We both want our space for sleeping. 

The imaginary line is what distances us from God. I have heard people say many times that they feel God is distant. But God is not distant - he is right there across that imaginary line that we have concocted. We make God remote because God does not exist in space.  God is spirit and and spirit does not dwell in space. Space has to do with physicality and God does not have physicality.  Physical distance is not the issue but likeness. As A.W. Tozer writes, "it is dissimilarity that creates a sense of remoteness between man and God". And that is so true - I feel distant because I have alienated God. Tozer goes on to say that two creatures can be close physically that they touch, yet because of dissimilarity of nature be millions of miles apart. An angel and an ape could conceivably be in the same room, but the radical difference between their natures would make communion possible. 

So then how does man bridge that chasm of dissimilarity? He cannot on his own but Christ did. He broke down the barrier of the dividing wall. At the time of His death, the curtain separating the high priest from the Holy of Holies was rent in two. The dividing line (this was no imaginary line, this was a hard, real one) was split.  But we still have this thing called sin that can make us feel like that barrier still exists. So for me to get back across my imaginary line, I must extend myself in faith across the line. I also must put aside those things that literally pull me from going across the line; those evil things that pervade my consciousness casting the imaginary line. Is there evidence in my inner life of wrong attitudes or evil thoughts? I need to confess them and cast them aside.

This morning upon waking up, I reached out my hand across the imaginary line to find that person who is always there and I held her hand. Oh how God wishes we would do that with Him.

Watching Prayer's Results

In the morning, O Lord, Thou wilt hear my voice

In the morning, I will order my prayer to Thee and eagerly watch.

Psalm 5:3 

I really struggle with prayer. I have been pondering Psalm 5. First off, David is in a struggle. He cries for help. And then I look up at the Psalm superscript and it is a to the choir director to flute accompaniment. Isn't a flute kind of a happy instrument? When I am in a struggle, I want to be by myself and give myself a real pity party.

The turning point is verse 3. It is a new morning, a resurrection morning. God does not expect nothing from me. When I pray, it is a hodgepodge of mess. My mind wanders and events weigh heavy on me. But even in my weakness, God takes my prayers, messy as they are and makes them right. Romans 8:26 - the Spirit helps our weaknesses; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  God take my messy prayers and even makes them right on the way up. Even in my prayer, it is all dependent on God and nothing on me. Yet not my will but yours God is one of the hardest prayers we can make and one our Lord Jesus struggled with.

Why even pray then? Because we are not idle participants. We are active participants. I can't rationalize that. God is perfectly in control, yet He wants us to pray. Further, Psalm 5:3 says we should wait in eager anticipation for what He is going to do. I am a planner and want God to tell me what He is going to do in my life next week, next month, and next year. But He wants me to see what He is going to do DAILY and to do so expectantly. 

Finally, we must be in perfect trust that God knows what is best for us. I have a friend who wants to grow closer to God, but he is deeply afraid that God will harm him. As he says, he has a good life now and does not want to screw it up. Come on, what father would screw up his kids lives to draw attention to himself? God knows perfectly what is best for us. There are many times I have found myself playing on the freeway of life. It felt good at the time however. The traffic was fast and there was exhilaration.  But the car was going too fast and was bound to go out of control. God put a flat and car trouble in my life. The car was idled for my own good. But I want that car back sometimes. As a result, the things that matter are deepened, which almost always is relationships. 

Pondering the Brevity of Life

Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes the familiar refrain "meaningless, meaningless, all is meaningless". In our vernacular, it all sucks. We struggle each day to get through the day, then each week, then each month. Then another year and here we are at 2014. I am 54, but it seems like just yesterday, I was 20. My father-in-law just passed away - doesn't seem possible to lose a parent.

I was reading this week Psalm 39 and it was comforting that David struggled with these same thoughts. This psalm is brutal in its honesty. Yet it was not written to be individually contemplative because it was written to a musician (Jeduthun), the choir director, no doubt to lead in public worship. God wants us to contemplate the brevity of life. In fact, it is essential to the Christian walk. The devil wants us to not consider this at all. In fact, Warren Wiersbe writes the devil wants us to be amused or entertained. Amusement is a word of two main parts.  The heart of the word is the word "muse" which means to ponder or meditate.  The prefix is the negative "a" which negates it.  So the word literally means "not thinking" or "not pondering". The devil wants us to go through life into eternity in hell without thinking.

The heart of Psalm 39 is verse 5 which says:

Behold, you have made my days as handbreaths,

And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight;

Surely every man at his best is a mere breath.

The word breath is the same word Solomon uses as meaningless which he uses 31 times in Ecclesiastes. So this passage is literally saying that man is at his best meaningless. Hardly the kind of words to say win friends or influence people. Yet David wants us to not only meditate on this truth, but to even embrace it. A handbreath was about four fingers wide, the smallest popular measuring unit of ancient times.  After verse 5, David introduces the word "Selah" which is a pause which causes us to pause and reflect. He introduces it again after verse 11 where he says again that "man is but a mere breath".

Why? Pondering the brevity of life is not fun. Rather be out biking or playing baseball or watching sports. Wait, scratch that last one - I am a Cleveland sports fan. Because God wants us to appreciate life, to appreciate it to the fullest.  Secondly, because He wants us to understand it in relation to eternity. Life is short - we are all to live in eternity whether in God's presence or outside of God's presence. Finally, God wants us to understand that the things we do here have eternal consequences. Can we live our lives in light of eternity?

It has been a major step for me to accept each day at a time. I have been motivated by Psalm 5:3 which says "I will order my prayer to you and eagerly watch". I am anxious to see what God does each day and most times it is not what I expect. I have a hard time exacting day-to-day trust of God. Doggone it, why doesn't he just tell me what the deal is. Why am I forced to live out this mystery daily. Because God wants me to live each day in trusting relationship to Him. 

The end of the story in Psalm 39 is not pleasant. David says:

Turn your gaze away from me, that I may smile again

Before I depart and am no more.

David is in agony. The days are bitter. Some say that Psalm 39 is a followup to Psalm 38 which shows David in deep distress potentially at death's door because of his sin.  Isn't that what causes us to contemplate the brevity of life - when things are going wrong? Psalm 40 brings us back out of the depths. 

He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.

Joy cannot be experienced fully without seeming despair. They are ying and yang. Resolved conflict only leads to renewed resolve. 

Designated Survivors

This week was the State of the Union address. There was one member of the Cabinet mysteriously missing, but not unplanned.  This member served as the "Designated Survivor". This is an individual that is separated from the others in a secure, distant, unknown location. His job is to take over the government in the event of a catastrophic event that wipes out all existing government and the line of succession with it. This designation started with the Cold War when the possibility of a nuclear attack and the potential destruction of human government was very real. It became even more surreal in its possibilities after 911. The Designated Survivor is provided full security protection throughout the State of the Union event. He is accompanied by a military aid equipped with a briefcase containing the full nuclear plan.

There's no clear pattern in the picks from the last three decades. But all cabinet members who served share similar stature in the administration: They tend to be lower-ranking in the established line of succession. Secretaries of state, treasury, and defense – the top three cabinet posts, respectively -- have never been tapped as designated survivors. This year, the Designated Survivor was Ernest Moniz, Energy Secretary pictured here. I can only imagine seeing that on someone's resume.

So in a macabre sense, the Designated Survivor is one who stands alone prepared to lead a country forward under what would be incredibly difficult circumstances. He is protected, equipped, ready, and willing. As a follower of Jesus, I have been called as a Designated Survivor. I am protected - there is nothing in this world that can damage my standing before God. I am equipped - the Holy Spirit has indwelt me and enabled me to have spiritual understanding. The last two however are dependent on me. Just like the Designated Survivor must be willing, I must be ready and willing to be useful. We can only imagine the circumstances by which the Designated Survivor is called into duty. A world that is desolate, crippled, dead. Does that remind you of our current world, at least spiritually?

In the scenario of the Designated Survivor, there is much that he has to do to start over. There are no other Designated Survivors (at least that I know of). But God has not designated just one of us. There are others of us out there that name the name of Christ. I think of Tom Randall who as I write is still in a detention cell in the Philippines. He is not alone - he is surrounded by many who pray for him, love him, support him. I think of Elijah thinking he is standing alone when there are many who have not "bowed their knees to Baal" (1 Kings 19:18). I think of Paul who is encouraged in Corinth because there are "many in this city" (Acts 18:10). So we are part of a broader band of designated survivors - equipped, enabled, and protected for God's will and glory.