Daily Lesson for February 20, 2014

Today's Daily Lesson is from Psalm 105:

"7 He is the Lord our God;

his judgments are in all the earth.

8 He remembers his covenant forever,

the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations."

Last week I helped a family to bury their father and grandfather who died after having suffered with dementia for most of the last ten years. Before his illness he had been an attorney and JAG officer in the military. Everyone said he was a brilliant mind. 

It was painful to walk into the family's home and see all the man's books, knowing that all the man had read and learned over all those years had been forgotten. And that was of course just the surface. Depths of knowledge, and names, and memories, and accomplishments, and friendships, and family had also been forgotten. By the end, all was forgotten - the past, the present, and the future.

But God remembers. 

That is what I tried to tell the family at the memorial service - that God is the great rememberer. God remembered Noah and and the animals in the Ark. God remembered Abraham in his journey, God remembered Rachel in her barrenness. When we forget, I said, God remembers.

Psalm 105 is about God's remembrance. It tells the whole story of the Hebrew people and how time and time again when all seems lost God remembers His covenant - His promises to His people - and in the mystery of His own timing He acts to rescue them. 

In times of death the word we have for God's rescue is Resurrection. And we wait for it. We wait for God to remember and come and rescue us from the forgotten oblivion of death.

As the family recessed from the memorial service Great Is Thy Faithfulness was played. We were waiting. We were waiting in sure and certain hope that though we might forget all, God will be faithful to remember.

And He will be.

Daily Lesson for February 19, 2014

Today's Daily Lesson is from 1 John 2:

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Not long ago I was sitting in a men's group as we were studying this passage together. Our leader asked each of us to share from the perspective of our careers what things demonstrate our success.  It was amazing how many of us in that group are evaluated, not so much on the quality of our work, but rather on the quantity of the things we sell, the people we manage, and the money we bring in.  I shared with the group that in my business we call it the Three B's - buildings, budgets, and baptisms.  After we had all shared, our leader said, "These things - the things we just talked about - are the things of this world.  They want to be loved."

Today's Scripture talks about not loving the things of this world. I doubt any of us in the group would outright say we "love" the Three B's or their equivalents.  But when I pause to think of my own life, I see how attached I am to finding myself - my worth as a person -  in these things.  That attachment does become a kind of love - demanding my fidelity and constant attention.  Finally it becomes a god which claims my very soul. 

The Scripture says, "If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."  What is meant here, is that in our ever-constant pursuit of the things which make for success in this world, we end up drowning out the things which make for eternal life in God.

I will resolve to put first things first today.  For as Jesus said elsewhere, "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his soul?"  Or, as a contemporary interpretation might have it, what good is it to win the rat race and become a rat?

Daily Lesson for February 18, 2014

Today's Daily Lesson is from 1 John 2:

"10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him2 there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes."

There are people who go through life stumbling from church to church, job to job, clique to clique, always breaking with the past in acrimony and derision and with the very telling language of "those people".  What they don't understand is that the problem isn't in "those people"; the problem is really in them.  By calling everyone else blind, they make it plain that they themselves can't see the reality of their own lives.  Though they think they have all the answers, they are in fact the ones who are in the dark.

Socrates sat upon the hill in Athens when a traveler came by.  "Excuse me, sir," the man said, "but I have just left Sparta and am looking for a new city to call home.  Can you tell me what the Athenians are like?"  "Yes," Socrates said, "but first tell me how you found the people of Sparta to be."  "Oh, vile and uncouth," the man said.  "Sparta is full of the most malicious, mean-spirited, and uncivilized people in one could know."  "Keep walking," Socrates said, "you will find he people of Athens to be the exact same as you found the people in Sparta."

Not too long after that another traveler came upon Socrates on the hill.  "Excuse me, sir," the man said, "but I have just left Sparta and am looking for a new city to call home.  Can you tell me what the Athenians are like?"  "Yes," Socrates said, "but first tell me how you found the people of Sparta to be."  "Oh kind and gracious," the man said.  "I hated to leave.  Sparta is full of some of the finest people in the world."  With that Socrates put his arm around the man's neck.  "Come with me," he said.  "You will find he people of Athens to be the exact same as you found the people of Sparta."

That's a true story. 

Daily Lesson for February 17, 2014

Today's Lesson is from John 9:

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him."

Yesterday I spent time with a Sunday School class talking about suffering and pain and why these things exist. There was a young woman in the class whose son has significantly debilitating health problems. She teared up as she shared her journey with her son and the frustration of having no answers for how to treat him. Her tears took the philosophical problem of suffering and put a face on it - the face of her little boy. This was a constant reminder to me of how feeble words can be when it comes to asking the deepest and most personal questions. They were a reminder that there are no easy answers.

When asked why a man suffered from birth, Jesus didn't give an easy answer. Most people assumed either the man or his parents did something to deserve his being born blind. This was the standard theology of the day. But Jesus refused that theology. Jesus also refused all the other easy, glib answers about why God might have made the man blind. Neither here, nor anywhere else, did Jesus ever say, "God never gives us more than we can handle." In fact, Jesus outright rejected the idea that God is the one who causes suffering and pain. 

In this chaotic world, it is often easier to think that God causes suffering than it is to think that there is some other unknown and uncontrollable reason or unreason. But Jesus tells us not to be troubled by allowing the unknown remain unknown. What he did know was this - that in the midst of the difficult lives of those who suffer God is at work. He reframed the whole conversation - refocusing it from one about the origin of suffering to one about God's presence in and through suffering. Jesus was saying, if you want to see the work of God, don't look at suffering itself, look instead at the remarkable lives that are lived in spite of suffering.

As we shared in the classroom yesterday, this mother began to speak of the character of her son which has come out - his kindness and compassion. "He doesn't complain," she said. "And he thinks so much of others. He still prays for the victims of the Boston marathon bombings and for the family who lost their house in a fire last year. He is so Godly."

Philosophies, and theologies, and glib answers all fail. Why this boy suffers remains unknown; but the works of God in and through his life are clearly seen.

Daily Lesson for February 14, 2014

Today's Lesson is from Genesis 28, the story of Jacob's ladder:

16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 

Jacob is on the run. His brother Esau is looking for an opportunity to kill him because Jacob has stolen Esau's blessing. So the boys' mother comes up with a plan to send Jacob off - purportedly to find a wife, but really to save his hide.

For all Jacob knows, this is the end. In his mind he will never be able to return home. He is afraid of his brother and ashamed of himself. His father he cannot bear to look at again. It is hard to say which is a worse burden to carry - the sting of his father's rejection or the guilt of what he did in response to that rejection. Jacob's only ally is his mother, who is cunning and manipulative in a Victoria from Revenge kind of way. 

This is the end; Jacob has left home and will never be able to go back. And just to underscore the point the scripture says, the sun went down. Yesterday was no more and tomorrow was totally dark.

And that's where it happened. As Jacob slept, with his head upon a rock, he dreamed of a ladder stretching up into heaven with angels ascending and descending. And then the voice of the LORD, "Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go."

Jacob awoke from the dream and made an altar, saying "Surely the LORD is in this place and I did not know it."

There are people reading this who are on the run. Your yesterday, with its deception and lies and terrible relational consequences, has run out and tomorrow is unknown and uncertain. This Lesson comes to you today to say, "Build an altar." 

Right where you are, stop and pray on this revelation: if God can be in a place without our knowing, then God can be any place without our realizing it. God can be in this place. Not only can God be in this place, God is in this place. The Psalms say there is no place we can run to where God is not. God is with us on the journey today, and God stays with us into whatever places we might go tomorrow. 

Surely, God is in this place right here today. And surely He is sending His angels descending the ladder from heaven to go with us and watch over and protect us in our tomorrow. Surely these things are true, because this is the story not only of Jacob's ladder, but also of ours.

So let us build the altar.

Daily Lesson for Feb 13, 2014

Today's Daily Lesson from Romans 12:

19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 

Here is something we all have to come to terms with if we are going to grow up: in this world we're going to be wronged - a lot.

I used to think if I could just be nice and friendly enough and explain things well enough then I could inoculate myself against enmity from other people. But over the years I have been surprised again and again how mean-spirited and vindictive people can sometimes be. I was especially surprised when the mean-spiritedness came from church people - people who are supposed to be models of brotherly love.

Well, the church is supposed to be a model of brotherly love; but brotherly love does not mean love without conflict and strife. I mean, have you ever been around brothers? We will be hurt and wronged in the church, just as we will in any family, or community, or institution. The question is, when we are hurt or wronged how are we going to respond?

The lesson today reminds us never to act with spite or vengeance in our hearts. While I have to confess there is something pleasurable in acting spitefully, ultimately that pleasure is fleeting and unbecoming. We wouldn't want our grandmothers to see us acting that way - nor would we want God.

The Apostle Paul says never to return wrongdoing with wrongdoing. Vengeance belongs in the hands of God. God will take care of who is to get what's coming. God knows a lot better how to handle that sort of thing with appropriate measure. 

For our part, instead of vengeance Paul reminds us of the Proverb which tells us to feed our enemy if he is hungry and to give him water if he is thirsty. "By this," the Proverb says, "[we] heap burning coals on his head." In other words, we kill him with kindness. Or better, we burn off what needs to be burned off so that what is pure might come out.

Don't set yourself up for disappointment because of false expectations.. In this world we will have troubles and be wronged - even in church. So be ready. Decide now never to return wrong with wrong. What good is there in allowing ourselves to be pulled into the mud? That's no way to live for us, and offers no redemption for those who are stuck there themselves.

There is a better way. And Paul nails it. "Do not be overcome with evil, he says, "but overcome evil with good." 

Now let's remind each other of that this week when . . .

Daily Lesson for February 12, 2014

Today's Lesson from Genesis 27:

22 So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23 And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him. 24 He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am."

The use of performance enhancing drugs has been the major headline in professional sports over the last decade. Some of the world's greatest and most celebrated athletes have fallen from the pedestals we put them on when it came out that they cheated their way to the top.

As sad as it is to think about these athletes' fall from the pedestal, it's even more sad to think about what it must have been like for them to stand on it in the first place. It must be the loneliest feeling in the world to stand up there knowing you don't really belong. You have to have a sick and very empty feeling way down in the pit of your gut when you know all the accomplishments the crowd lauds you for really aren't yours at all. How do you live with yourself? It must be terrifying to think your secret might be found out. It might be even more terrifying to think you will take your secret will go with you into the grave.

Jacob knew that terror. He too cheated to win. He stood before his blind father Isaac wearing his brother Esau's clothes and lied right through his teeth to get his blessing. Like the athlete who wants the approval of he crowd so much she will cheat for it, Jacob wanted his father's blessing so much he was willing to be someone he wasn't to get it. "Are you Esau?" his father asked. "I am," he said. And so he was given the blessing, but the blessing wasn't his to receive. The next decade of his life was spent running from the consequences of his deception. He ran until finally it caught up with him.

Here is the truth. All our cheating will one day be revealed. Our lies and our manipulation will be exposed. 

And here is the Gospel. When we fall from the pedestal, we will be caught by a gracious God whose love, unlike the love of the crowd, is absolutely unconditional - win, lose, draw, or cheat - and unlike Isaac's blessing is for all the children.