Restored Masterpieces

"He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." (Ps. 23:3)

Paintings, like Da Vinci's "The Last Supper," have been restored. Original colors show up in original, brilliant hues, not the muted tones the public had gotten used to for so long. God's restoration of the soul, too, can revive to some extent, "original" life (full restoration comes at Glory, methinks), not the "muted tones" of Christianity much of the church has grown accustomed to calling the Christian Life. In the end though, people praise the painter, not the painting. May God get all the praise for the revived colors in our lives! Not "what a masterpiece"; but "what a Master"!

Pondering from Psalm 23

"He leadeth me beside still waters"
David, from his shepherding experiences, knew he might want to take his flock to good, safe grazing pastures and cool streams...but there were ALWAYS mischievous lambs in the flock who would scamper away. "NO one's telling ME what to do!" Bound, bound, bound...right in the direction of the cliff David had led the sheep AWAY from, where there was only sparsely-dotted-by grass for food, threatening ravines with harmful bramble. People are just like that: God may want to lead us to the best place, to "still waters", but some of us say "I'M A FREE BEING and don't want to listen to ANYBODY!" And we go diametrically opposed to the direction He desires, unaware that our very claim to liberty is just guarantee of harm and detrimental experiences!

"surely goodness and mercy shall follow me"
If it were a violent, angry villain chasing me, I would have cause to be afraid! But when I look back, I see that what's following me is very different! If, for sake of hypothesis, I saw a long-lost best friend and somebody I'd wanted to see for YEARS...but my mother called me from the opposite direction, I'd have to move AWAY from that friend...but if I looked back and saw that friend was FOLLOWING ME, I would never have to worry that I'd forfeited the chance to have a reunion. I ALWAYS could, because that friend was FOLLOWING me! God's blessings don't come to me only when I am heading toward them and reaching out for them; even when I don't feel like it, even when my heart "is being tugged in the opposite direction", God's lovingkindness FOLLOWS me!

"I shall dwell in the House of the Lord forever"
Too many Christians think the blessing of being with the Lord is only something to look forward to, something to anticipate in Heaven. God wants us to start enjoying fellowship with Him NOW! We may not have sinless wills, the ability to completely absorb His Glory--the Bible says we'd die if we saw it--but we can still begin to enjoy all He would show us now, and Heaven would only be CONTINUATION of what He starts in our earthly lives! A shepherd wants his sheep to be glad they're with the shepherd, not just when they get back to the rock-fenced home but all the way there, grazing on the filling grass, glad to trust Him through the valleys, delighting to drink deep at the rivers, even sometimes being rescued out of the ravines and having the bones of a leg broken to keep from scampering off again.... He wants us to love Him and benefit from His Love--now!

Handle

I've heard it said before that God never gives us more than we can handle.
I'm thinking that needs to be stated differently.
God OFTEN gives us more than we can handle,
so we'll give it to Him;
God never gives us more than HE can handle!

Dodgeball Defense vs. Offense

Yesterday, when talking with my child, I came on a--did God give it to me, or did I concoct the concept on my own? -- thinking about the comparison of dodgeball with the spiritual life. "Which do you prefer playing?" I asked. On the inside, you've got to always be thinking of running away from the ball, not being hit, sometimes catching what is thrown at you. On the outside, you don't have to think of protecting yourself at all, just throwing the ball & HITTING those on the inside.

The Christian life, if lived in a negative posture of NOT DOING THE WRONG THINGS,of NOT MAKING MISTAKES, of NOT causing offense, etc..., can be pretty suffocating. If it "takes a positive, offensive posture," however, it can be thrilling. God, fill my heart with joy! Answer this-or-that prayer! How can I make so-and-so happy? How can things in my life--computer, money, studies, English, leadership, words (speaking/writing abilities), time, health, friends, music, etc...ALL BE USED to gain more of God? Living life "in defense" will always involve some sort of reservation to live responsibly, uprightly; but when "in offense", you can GO 100% FOR GOD! It's a let-'er-rip mentality!

Man's natural thinking says too much bother; I want to do as I want to do, and no one can tell me how to live. But that's just "unrestriction to be unhappy" for very temporary, fleeting and unsatisfying, sometimes detrimental and dangerous, for-the-moment sense of pleasure & "freedom". Going hard after God is a VERY "restrictive"-on-the-outside liberty (similar to wearing a parachute when jumping from a plane, wearing an oxygen-giving and pressurized space suit when walking on the moon?)

I can do ALL I want to do, be totally free from any shackles about pleasing MAN, and procure satisfactions and joys that REALLY satisfy, that REALLY taste good and doesn't turn to cardboard or maggots after awhile, that REALLY bring out the "AHHH" an iced tea commercial claims.

Lord, let us see You've commanded us to be happy in You, & NOTHING ELSE WILL DO! May we be living advertisements of the Lord Jesus Christ, to proclaim an AHHH satisfaction and a "taste me" allurement!


"DELIGHT thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." (Ps. 37:4)

"My soul shall be SATISFIED as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall PRAISE thee with joyful lips." (Ps. 63:5)

"He hath put a NEW SONG in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall SEE it, and FEAR, and shall TRUST in the LORD." (Ps. 40:3)

Wilderness Wandering

When the children of Israel were taken 40 years in the wilderness, it's rather doubtful that individuals wanted to try going it on their own and strayed from the group. The hostility of the surrounding terrain made it necessary for them to stick together. Sometimes, I wonder if that wasn't "blessing in disguise", similar to how God seems to work today. Seeming threatening situations keep Christians PRESSED CLOSE TO the Lord; it's dangerous and foolish to depend on just oneself.

Strapped-on-Skydiving

There's a new form of sport-entertainment, in which a person goes up to try his hand at skydiving...only, he isn't alone. A skydiving instructor goes up with him, and strapped onto the instructor's back, they parachute through the sky together. I guess there's an added sense of safety with a good landing guaranteed at the end if the instructor is there too.

People who tried this kind of skydiving said it was "not at all scary; it was FUN!". It occurred to me, we can jump into any hostile environment guaranteed to cause emotional stress and find it not-at-all-scary AS LONG AS WE'RE STRAPPED ONTO THE DIVINE (spelling error intentional) INSTRUCTOR! In fact, we can have a great time flying through the air!

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as SHEEP for the slaughter.
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depths, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 8:35-39)

We are firmly strapped on! "Fastened firm and deep in our Savior's Love!"

Larger Heart

Back in January, there had been so many blessings flooding me that I felt I "couldn't keep up" and prayed for God to hold it just a bit and let me "catch my breath". He seemed to do so; for awhile, things seemed "back to normal", but then it felt AWFUL, like I was "slipping back" into the un-intimate, non-robust walk I'd known before. Instead of praying that God would give me just enough as I could take, I found myself praying for a larger heart that I could take more:

"I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt ENLARGE MY HEART." (Ps. 119:32)

But I felt like I was continuing to "slip" back. Then it dawned on me: God HAD so "enlarged my heart" that it felt empty even when being dowsed with blessings!

My first prayer then, after thanking God for what He'd done, was that He would lessen my yearning for the SENSATION of pulsating joy and simply want to see how much stronger, faster, higher, my new heart would take me--and learn another type of exciting-discovery by it. Help me, I prayed, to "step out...and find God is there every step of the way". And then, I prayed, may I explode with song, "My God Lives!!!"

That prayer changed the next day. "Turn up the volume" of SENSATION, I prayed, that it would break the "eardrums of my heart" until I begged for a larger, better heart once more!

Then came this thought: SOME CHRISTIANS STOP AT ASKING GOD FOR A STRONGER BACK TO WITHSTAND HARDER TRIALS. WHY DON'T MORE CHILDREN OF A GENEROUS, LOVING GOD ASK FOR STRONGER HEARTS, EYES, EARDRUMS, TO RECEIVE MORE BLESSING FROM HIM?!

"I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: OPEN THY MOUTH WIDE, AND I WILL FILL IT." (Ps. 81:10)

"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, said the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that THERE SHALL NOT BE ROOM ENOUGH TO RECEIVE IT." (Ma. 3:10)

Just Interpret

Yesterday, I did some interpreting for the short-term missionary. This morning, it hit me: the short-termer was the one who gave a testimony; I only put it into Japanese. But in a greater sense, even the person giving a testimony is just an interpreter for GOD who is the actual Source of the message! Whenever I "dismay about being unable", God must respond, "No problem; it's MY SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT; YOU JUST INTERPRET, okay?" (It's only when we try to add to/improve on/change/delete "unnecessary" stuff from God's voice we'd run into trouble!)

Cyberspace vs. Real World

Yesterday, I was making the comment "in cyberspace". Then I was going to say, "BUT the real world", and realized that wouldn't have been quite accurate. Cyberspace is just as real. But to a person who never touches computers, it wouldn't be "the real world." Any more than "light" would be to a blind person--they say "seeing-impared" now, don't they? And to the unregenerate person, I suppose, "spiritual realm" would be only in the mind. But all are real; just "receptors" that can or cannot perceive the realities!

Overheard

Sunday afternoon, and I also began feeling unwell. It looks like I caught a cold, so I cancelled everything else yesterday and today and am staying in the house. Sunday, the missionaries here had offered a bunch of persimmons to whoever wanted any, and I hadn't taken any. Yesterday, I thought, "Rats! Those persimmons would've given me lots of the Vitamin C I need now!" A few moments ago, the doorbell rang. My mother-in-law was there with a bowl of peeled, cut...PERSIMMONS! I think God winked. "Didn't think I heard that thought, did you?"

It may be just a Dark Disguise

I'm seeing another scene in my mind. The ocean isn't a dark one, but bright, with waves breaking on the cliff on a sunny day. There's this nagging thought about how too many Christians regard trials as ominous-and-to-be-avoided instead of to be treats-in-disguise to be looked forward to with anticipation. Anticipation of how a LIVING GOD can turn horrendous realities into the very bestest!

"Jesus doeth all things well"...no matter how things seem!

Unshakable Peace

I don't know where I first heard about the following:

There was an art contest with the theme of "Peace", the 2nd place award going to a BEAUTIFUL scenery in pastels in which you could almost feel the soft breeze and smell the fragrance of the blossoms and hear the chirping of the birds and low gurgle of the stream. It was only when viewing the GRAND PRIZE winner that it could be understood how that painting didn't win 1st place. That prize went to the following painting. It was a dark, ominous, violent scene of ocean waves crashing on rocks of an oceanside cliff. Looking closely, one could see a small branch sticking out of the cliff, a nest sitting on its end, a bird calmly perched there. This drawing showed a peace that COULD NOT BE SHAKEN by threatening surrounding circumstances. So it won.

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee." (Isa. 26:3)

Worship: Joy Echoes

What IS a "worship tape"?

The "style of worship" you mentioned--I don't know that I wouldn't enjoy it, much less appreciate it. If it has anything to do with soaking in the goodness of the Lord, melting in awareness of His Love, responding in spontaneous praise from the soul, THAT'S WHAT I FEEL MANY CHRISTIANS ARE MISSING OUT ON AND SHOULD HAVE IN THEIR LIVES!!! (That's the way most of my daily devotions end up.)

The "reserved" style used in our church may be vastly different from what's practiced in your church, but no matter. It's the same wonderful God communicating Himself to His own in different ways, getting different responses. This is something I've been feeling more and more of personally.

It's just this thing of "I can worship God WITHOUT going to church." I kinda think Christians SHOULD worship God when not in church! Even formal service procedures can evoke emotional recollections of intimacy with the Lord at home but can be pretty dead otherwise. Too many Christians go through life robbed of joy rightly theirs --"Joy Sabotage", I call it! Nehemiah 8:10. Okay, off my soapbox. Thanks for bearing with me!


I meant some services can be pretty stiff, formal, dead BY THEMSELVES; it's only when those attending services have vital, daily, personal WORSHIP at HOME that emotional responses result. "When God speaks to me," one Christian said, "I LEAK" (shed tears) ! My sister once said church should be like an oasis. Yes! It should be a place of enjoying JOY ECHOES, I think!

(Example of these emotional echoes: reading of scripture GOD JUST OPENED YOUR EYES TO THAT WEEK; singing songs THAT FLOODED YOUR HEART AT THE END OF YOUR OWN TIME WITH THE LORD; seeing answers to prayer and reviving love for people THAT CAME TO YOUR MIND WHILE PRAYING DURING DEVOTIONS; hearing over the pulpit the very words/subject matter THAT GOD HAS BEEN DEALING WITH YOU ABOUT ALL WEEK;...!)

God says, "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it." (Psalm 81:10), but WE have to open our mouths! He's not going to cram blessings down our throats! And if we choose to "open it" only on Sunday mornings, well, that's the extent of blessing we'll receive.

Overheard

Sunday afternoon, I began feeling unwell. It looks like I caught a cold, so I cancelled everything else yesterday and today and am staying in the house. Sunday, the missionaries here had offered a bunch of persimmons to whoever wanted any, and I hadn't taken any. Yesterday, I thought, "Rats! Those persimmons would've given me lots of the Vitamin C I need now!" A few moments ago, the doorbell rang. My mother-in-law was there with a bowl of peeled, cut...PERSIMMONS! I think God winked. "Didn't think I heard that thought, did you?"

Little Scamper

I get carried away with CONCEPTS and ANALYSIS...instead of ENJOYING GOD Himself! If left to my natural temperament, I'd probably be making mental judgments all the time. I've had to catch myself during devotions I-don't-know-how-many-times THINKING about parallels, truths, and so on...and realize I'm not really worshipping God anymore, just thinking ABOUT Him. I often refer to myself "Miss Prone-to-wander".

It was a thrill when the pastor at church talked about the Good Shepherd looking out ESPECIALLY FOR THE LAMB THAT TENDED TO STRAY, sometimes even lovingly breaking its leg to keep it from scampering off on its own. (Hm; maybe God calls me "Little Scamper"!)

Please keep in mind: some of the things written here happened years ago, so the "yesterday" might be reference to a day in a journal five years ago!

Blessing Wrapping

"That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;" (Phil. 3:10)

Oh--yesterday, we had to take my son to the hospital to have some deeply-embedded thorns removed from the heel of his left hand (accident at campground). He was brave--I was so proud of him--tears were streaming down his cheeks, he would gasp and wince and all but never once cried out in pain. When I saw the doctor digging and my son agonizing, I wanted to cry too. The doctor used anesthizing shots 3-4 times (they seemed to hurt something awful too), and it took about 45 mins.!!! There were about 11 thorns removed. We took him to the kindergarten right after that. On the way back, I thought to myself in the car, "to think those were only thorns & needles!"

"I wonder what it must've been like when rough NAILS were DRIVEN completely THROUGH Jesus' wrists, the blood spurting out, no anesthetic, Jesus' expressions of pain. How it must've torn Mary apart!" And, after an ordeal that lasted SEVERAL HOURS, Mary couldn't drive her son to school...He DIED! Probably the only thing that kept Mary from coming apart completely was knowing that Jesus' crucifixion would result in reconciliation, that death on the Cross was something Jesus Himself had wanted....

No, even that wouldn't have been enough for a human mother. Altho' there's no mention of it in the Bible, can't we believe that God would've sent super comfort (can't think of a better way to express it) to Mary at that time?

I wonder if those of us who claim to want to know God's super blessings are willing to experience the agonizing pains that often precede them?

Let sorrow do its work, send grief and pain;

Sweet are Thy messengers, sweet their refrain

When they can sing with me,

"More love O Christ, to Thee!"

More love to Thee,

more love to Thee!