A Healthy Fear

A Healthy Fear

Abel’s flocks spread across the fields

Grew fat without effort

Cain toiled as his father warned

Dependent on sun and rain.

God was pleased with the fat

But not the grain

God smiled on Abel

But not on brother Cain.

Without fear of any kind

Cain killed Abel

Because God’s smile was turned

Toward his brother.

God sent him to wander

The earth abroad

No fields, no grain,

Nothing he knew how to do.

From Cain his sons learned

Wandering and emptiness

Hatred and how to kill

Yet still God protected them.

Cities instead of fields

Tools of copper and bronze

Music to cover the pain

Of the mark of Cain.

God gave Adam another son

Seth carried on with Abel’s herds and flocks

Seth carried on with Cain’s fields and grain

Son after son followed Adam’s sin

God touched the heart of each child

Giving to each another chance

To redeem his people

Or at least himself.

Finally after Methuselah who would be

The longest lived of all Adam’s kin

Who taught Abraham about

The God of his father Enoch.

Enoch walked in habitual fellowship

With God against whom Adam, Cain,

And those who followed sinned.

Enoch lived in reverent fear and obedience.

Not afraid or terrified, not quaking

Sure he would follow the sins of his fathers

But in awe and respect, obedient and

Seeking to please, walked in fellowship.

Enoch was not barred from Eden,

Enoch was not sent to wander the earth,

Enoch taught his son to love and fear

Not in dread but in assurance of redemption.

Enoch walked with God

Enoch was not found among men

Because God took him away

To be home with him.

Where do you think

Noah learned what he needed to know

To please God despite the depravity

And wickedness.

To walk in the quiet of the garden

Naked and unhidden

Not perfect, but knowing

How to live in fear without being afraid. 

Do not be afraid - God hears your pain

I went to the post office to get a money order to mail, along with a letter to Zach, barely making it through the door before it shut at 2:00, I was the last person in the long line. I couldn't help but notice that the post-people on duty were both likely immigrants -- an Asian woman and a dark-skinned man who could have been Muslim or Indian. I wondered how they felt today, with the uproar about immigrants.

From my Facebook Friend, Fellow Early Childhood Specialist, and Writer:

I just shared this on my private page for those who "love troubled souls." But I wanted to share it here as well because it is too good not to share with everyone.

Do I ever have a story for you!

Yesterday was one of the hardest. I began to identify with Mary who suffered along with Jesus at the cross. Though Zach is a far cry from Jesus, it does seem to be mothers who must be strongest and refuse to turn away from their child's agony. Heartbreaking.

When I stepped up to the counter, the dark-skinned man spoke with an accent that was obviously from India. He asked how I was, twice, and I gave a polite reply and asked how he was doing. He grinned from ear to ear, pointed to the ceiling and said, "As long as I have such a blessed relationship to Him, nothing else matters. I am happy!" I got a tear in my eye and told him that this was a blessing to hear, that I was getting a money order to send to my son who was incarcerated just two weeks ago.

And that is when business stopped, and we had church.

The man turned over my receipt and wrote, "Be still and know that I am God."* And then, he wrote "Psalm 41" -- and said I must read this. Then he said, "Wait, no. Did you go to school in this country?" And I said yes. And he said, "Then you can probably read the whole psalm quickly right now." He pulled it up on his iPhone. (Keep in mind he is a postman behind the counter after an incredibly busy day, and I am just a customer.) And so I did, and I got teary-eyed and thanked him. He assured me all would be well.

We finished up, and I went to the lobby to fill out the rest of the address, wiping at tears. And then I heard a disembodied voice coming out of the ceiling or air vent or somewhere say, "Please do not cry, Lady. Everything will be okay."

I looked up and joked, "God, is that you?" Then the Post Office Prophet stepped out from behind a door and said, "I also want to tell you to read Psalm 121. No wait, I will recite it for you." And so with hands outstretched palms up toward the ceiling he began,

" I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth...."

Then he lifted up his hand for a high five and left me with the words, "You must tell you son to just get in the boat and let God guide him the right direction. And everything will be okay."

I'm a puddle of tears by this point, but manage to say, "My son was a commercial fisherman. The boat picture will resonate with him."

I don't know about you, but my experience at the post office (ours is crazy busy and always long lines) doesn't generally come with a psalm, a sermon, and a blessing. I knew that I knew that I knew that I knew..... God was using his megaphone through this happy, willing vessel -- to speak personal encouragement to my heart.

*"Be still, and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10

To my friend:

God is our refuge and strength,
    an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear Psalm 46:1-2

Jesus Draw Me

 

KeithandKristyn Getty

  

Living Relationally

Fri Jan 4

Psalms am: 85, 87 pm: 89:1-29

Exod 3:1-12

Heb 11:23-31

John 14:6-14

From the beginning, God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are relational. God’s requirement for reinstatement of His favor is recognition of His life-giving, harmonious relationship. He shows us the meaning of relationship through His attributes: steadfast love, faithfulness, righteousness and peace.

God speaks peace and salvation. The result is justification through Christ and sanctification through the Holy Spirit. Christ redeems from the ultimate outcome of sin. Through the Holy Spirit, God renews the image of Himself in those whom He created.

God calls the faithful to turn aside, take off their sandals, to stand on holy ground. God is profoundly relational and desires a dynamic relationship with each of us. God interacts not to intimidate, but to prepare.

Faith requires action on our part. Believing is necessary, but from faith must come action. Even Jesus’s words and works were ultimately the Father’s, and after Jesus’s departure, He continues to do His work through His disciples when we call on Him to do so..

I am standing in line for my miracle. I watch for burning bushes. I keep my sandals loosely fastened. I walk slowly, too slowly most days. For me, it must be enough.

I am as I am. God’s requirement for restoration has nothing to do with my body or even with my pain. It has to do with my desire to learn and believe. It has to do with my willingness to accept and trust in HIS steadfast love, faithfulness, righteousness, and peace.

God is profoundly relational. He deserves vital relationships with His people. A dynamic relationship does not require running or jumping or leaping. Yesterday it had to do with making the most-purple one-piece pajamas I have ever made. Not because of the hospital socks on the bottom of the footies. Not because of the 14” white zipper hidden inside a placket so we could use what we had.

No, it was an intensely relational time. A day spent with Meredith helping me pin the seams when she was not playing with the cat, or helping Papa make pie crusts, or all the other things that can distract a six-year-old.

A day spent with a daughter who worries if my feet have been down too long. Who does not look at the pattern instructions, not because she could not understand them, but because she knows I will not follow them and she does not like there to be any tension between us.

A day with a husband who feels free to learn to do all the things I used to do. Who is willing to figure out how to make a pie crust. Who sends a six-year-old agent to keep us posted, so we would know the pie was created, cooked, cooled and ready to slice.

A day spent with the people in whom I see true love, faithfulness, righteousness and peace. Something tells me I just may have felt God’s favor.

I heard Him speak a miracle through the hugs and kisses of a little purple clad  body. I saw Him speak a miracle through the extra hands and feet of a daughter. An engineer who chose not to be distracted by reading the directions I was not following. A daughter who made sure she equipped me to finish purple pajamas to be worn to bed last night. I tasted Him speak a miracle in a warm piece of home-made cherry pie.

I think that is the truest miracle. If there were no pain, if I could go in circles around everyone in the house as I used to, I would not be able to understand the importance of my relationship to the God who equips me to live relationally.