Jesus Wept

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.  “Where have you laid him?” he asked.  “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.  Jesus wept.  Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”  But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” ~ John 11: 33-37

A beloved cousin had to bury her husband recently after a long struggle with cancer.  There’s nothing like going to a Christian funeral, though.  Smiles and laughter accompany the tears.  In the midst of loss there is comfort that though we’ll be without our loved one the rest of our lives, there is certainty that life isn’t really over for them.  In fact, they have acquired a new life of the kind desired by all humanity.  Life free from sickness, free from struggle, free from heartache and loss, and free from all forms of evil.  While the Christian grieves facing the rest of his or her life without access to their loved one, they couldn’t have wished a better outcome for them.

That is why I’m often amazed at how people interpret the simplest of verses in the Bible, “Jesus wept.”  I am not surprised by the reaction of people present at the time.  Naturally, they attributed his grief to the loss of his friend.  Naturally, they expected him to react in much the same way as they would have reacted.  Hence the confusion also expressed over why he hadn’t hurried to his friend’s side.  But here we are, generations removed from that moment and with the power of hindsight.  Looking back through the filter of Christ’s blood on the cross, we should be able to understand him in a way not yet revealed to those in attendance that day.  So, when I hear a pastor speak of Christ’s grief over Lazarus, my head cocks to one side like a beagle hearing something strange.  By this time he had spent years teaching us about the heart of God, about the meaning of things before and things to come, and about heaven and hell.  Knowing of Lazarus’ faith, and also knowing his own purpose there that day, there is no way he wept over Lazarus.  He was weeping instead for those grieved.

Look at the passage again.  Read it from beginning to end.  When was he deeply moved in spirit and troubled?  When did he weep?  When he saw how the people grieved.  To the onlooker, he seemed pretty cavalier about the whole matter until then.  Do you think seeing the mourners finally brought home the reality that Lazarus was gone?  No.  He was even more aware of death’s reality than the mourners, which is precisely how he could be so cavalier.  Jesus knew Lazarus was safe all along.  He was also well aware of his own intentions.  There was no hurry and no worry.  Not for him.

I live in hurricane country.  I was born here, raised here, and have experienced all kinds of direct hits or near misses.  Every year provides ample amusement in watching newcomers fret at the first hint of a hurricane in the Caribbean.  While I claim no true expertise on these great storms, I have sat through enough threats to know what can and cannot be predicted about them. There are certain rules to which I adhere: like, here on the northern gulf coast, I don’t heed a storm until after it crosses Cuba, and no matter how predictably a storm behaves, all bets are off once it hits the gulf stream and the continental shelf.  Familiarity allows me the security of knowing what to expect, so I know how to prepare.  The newcomers don’t have that.  The unknown is what frightens them, as it does any of us.  Those who live with the security of knowing what to expect don’t fret, and Jesus didn’t fret.  Not when he heard Lazarus was sick, not when he heard he had died, and not when he was confronted with the grief of the bereaved.  Jesus moved at the easy pace of a man secure in what came next.

The bereaved didn’t worry him, but their grief did move him.  He could see the pain of their loss.  He knew they didn’t feel the same security he had.  It was heart-wrenching for him.  Don’t you hear his voice crack as he asks, “Where have you laid him?”  Now the task before him is urgent, not for the sake of Lazarus, but for those who loved him.

I love this verse.  It shows the heart of a God who truly understands us — who puts Himself in our shoes and comprehends how we struggle.  The fear, the confusion, the grief … none of it is lost on Him.  For me, it is a great comfort knowing that even when He doesn’t undo that which grieves me, He is invested enough to grieve with me.  If I mourn, I never mourn alone.  This is something I know not only because of promises made from afar (Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant. ~~ Exodus 6:5), but because He was in the thick of it with us as Jesus, grieving for his beloved and being moved by our sorrow.

POINTS TO PONDER
What is it that you grieve?  Does it feel as though THE LORD doesn’t hear you?  Do you wonder if He even cares?  Take a moment to visualize the scene described above.  Now, insert yourself among the mourners.  Be comforted that OUR LORD is deeply moved by your pain, even though you don’t personally behold Him weeping.

Blessings Not of God

Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her. ~ Acts 16:16-18

Here in the States we are coming into a season of gratitude, kicking off tomorrow with our beloved national holiday of Thanksgiving. Feasts are prepared and prayers are said thanking God for the blessings He has bestowed from the previous year and to ask for his continued providence. The non-religious may honor the day’s sentiment by recounting blessings for which they are most thankful. The need for thankfulness seems to be universally acknowledged, whether aimed at a higher power or not.

Yet, I wonder how many of the prayers said this week will be in thanksgiving for blessings not of God.

We know as believers that God wants us to prosper (Jeremiah 29:11), and weekly I find this message being preached to full advantage from pulpits across the land. What I don’t find addressed in too many of these “prosperity sermons” is that the Enemy is in the blessings business, too. We’ve ended up with a culture blindly believing that if things are going well, then it’s by God blessing us. In general we think ease, comfort, financial prosperity, and social acceptance are good things to have in one’s life. Countless prayers of thanksgiving will be offered up for these things this Thursday, and countless times the wrong party will be thanked.

We know from the Word that God does not reward sin. Though He does want us to prosper, He wants us to prosper in righteousness more than anything. Prosperity in spirit and in relationship with Him is more important than in any other respect. We also know from the Word that our Enemy wishes to undermine us in these very areas. He is only too pleased to see credit given to God for a thing which actually keeps us from Him. Any “blessing” which allows us to ignore or justify what God has already called sin according to his Word should be regarded with suspicion, no matter how good it seems. Jesus thought it important enough that he suggested dismembering ourselves rather than letting a hand or a foot prevent us from being with God (Matthew 18:8).

Gifts from the enemy can look really good, too; Really beneficial. For the slave woman in Acts, it earned her an income. It bought favor with her masters and could have provided her a relatively easy life for a slave of that era. If you don’t know the source of a blessing, that’s okay. Ask God. If you’re brave, take it to Him and seek his approval. If you’re braver still, ask Him to remove from you any “blessings” not from Him, so that nothing may stand between you and the Lord. Take this holiday as an opportunity for more than expressing gratitude. May we be sure in our prayers of thanksgiving that we are thanking The Righteous One for HIS blessings; His alone.

POINTS TO PONDER
Could there be “blessings” in your life enabling your obliviousness or justification of a sin? Do you have courage to hand over ALL your blessings to the LORD so that He can return to you only those under his authority? What might change in your life if you did?

The Miracle of Ruth

At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”
Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” ~~Ruth 2:10-12

The Word of God is full of miracles.   There are stories of instant healings, cosmic phenomena, divine judgments, death reversals, and terrestrial anomalies.  The Old Testament is almost exclusively devoted to the supernatural, but there, tucked in the middle, is Ruth; a story so domestic, it’s miraculous in its normalcy.

Thank God for Ruth.   She’s not only an example for us.  She’s also an example of us.  Many of us.

Such a simple story, really.   Lacking the drama and intrigue of Esther.   Often called a love story, but it isn’t really.  Not in our modern sense.   It never speaks of their feelings.   It’s a domestic tale, and, in it, a domestic mystery.   There are no miracles in Ruth; only the story of how a foreign outcast kept her promise.

Not that much special about the woman, Ruth.   All she does is stand by Naomi.   She refuses to desert her.  She is loyal and obedient.   Never is it mentioned that she could cook well or sew.  We have no idea if she had any special skills.   She was obedient, doing what Naomi told her.   She could follow orders, but was there anything else to her?

Didn’t need to be.   Making herself readily available and not deserting her mother-in-law was enough.

I often feel quite useless.  I’m not a good housekeeper.   I’m not the person who knows who to call to get things done.   As a rule, I’m available, but I never know enough to just “jump in.”  But according to Ruth, that’s enough.

Ruth surely never had an inkling of the depth and breadth of her influence.   Could she have guessed that her domestic little life would become part of the Word of God?   What are the chances she ever would have given thought to the people thousands of years into the future whom she would influence?

Do you ever get frustrated with being unable to do great things for God?   Do you look to the examples of Joseph, Moses, David, and the Apostles thinking you want to do great, Bible-worthy deeds like them?   Read the book of Ruth and be reminded that God not only respects humble obedience; He honors it.   Each one of the most famous Bible figures began their incredible stories with simple obedience.

But what if you’re consistently obedient and still never see or participate in any “great works of God?”  Well, in that case, perhaps you’re like Ruth.  Maybe you are the miracle.

POINTS TO PONDER
Does ordinary mean useless in God’s eyes?   When it comes to God’s requests of us, are special skills ever involved?  Is there anyone God has used in your life who might be described as “ordinary”?   Because I guarantee you Ruth wasn’t ordinary at all in Naomi’s eyes.

Daring to Share the Faith: An Atheist Speaks

I just saw something that will make you feel like a heel if you’ve ever shied away from sharing your faith for fear of causing offense, or because you already know how the person feels, or just for fear of rejection.  I felt like a heel.

When I signed into YouTube tonight and visited a video update of a subscribed channel, something in the sidebar of recommended videos caught my eye.  Penn Jillette (of comedy team Penn & Teller fame) had created a video blog post titled “A Gift of a Bible.”

It sparked my curiosity for I vaguely recollected that Penn Jillette was an atheist.  Could I have been so drastically incorrect?  Probably something sarcastic and degrading, I suspected.  The positive title could be a trick!  I almost didn’t view it, but then, I felt I had to.  I had to give it a chance.  If it turned out to be offensive, I could just stop watching.

It wasn’t, and here is the video:

It’s sort of a Sunday School urban myth that someone knows someone who was asked by an atheist why Christians, being convinced of hell and eternal damnation for all unbelievers, don’t care enough about them to share their faith.  It isn’t that they expect or want to be converted, and no one likes being beaten over the head with any message, but it is wondered that if we care so much about it, and if we care about them, why don’t we care enough to even mention it.

What I find most amazing about Penn’s little vignette is that though the Christian gentleman who presented him with the Gideon New Testament may have had no shot at influencing Penn toward belief, that may not have ever been the point for God placing him there and leading him to that action.  The real purpose of the Holy Spirit may have been instead to influence countless Christians like myself who would come across Penn’s video, and then the countless more, like yourself, who might hear the story from someone like me.  It goes to show why it is so important that we always strive to do what is right, even when there is no recognition and the chance for rejection is great.  God has a way of even using the rejection we suffer for his own glory and to the benefit of others far, far beyond our imagination.  We never know how far his infuence can reach if we only submit to it, for what a blessing that anonymous Christian, simply by speaking to an unyielding atheist, has been to me.

The Name At Your Lips

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ~~Deuteronomy 6:5-7

I can distinctly remember standing with my mother, sister and grown nieces in my sister’s kitchen bouncing from one random topic to the next when I found myself invoking the name of a particular fellow who had been in my life for several years. We were very close friends, but over the last several months I’d started developing seriously strong feelings for him. Feelings which were returned, it seemed, but on which he had no intention of acting. So, you can imagine my chagrin when I noticed myself again enlightening my family with his thoughts on a new subject only a few minutes later. I couldn’t help myself. He was such a huge part of my life and always on my mind. It seemed there wasn’t a single topic which didn’t make me think of something he said or did.

Do you know one of the surest signs that a person is completely smitten? The name of their beloved is always on their lips, even when they try not to bring it up.

It’s almost cliché to hear someone say they are in love with God. I wonder, do I sometimes annoy my family and friends with what I’ve learned of His thoughts? Am I unable to keep His name from my lips? Am I unable to hide that I’m smitten because I am compelled to speak of Him in spite of my reserve?

The truth is I sometimes feel guilty when I find myself squelching an urge to bring Him into the conversation, but maybe the guilt is a bit unfair, because just havingan urge to speak of Him is profoundly telling. There are times I walk away wishing I had given in to the urge, but I always walk away knowing it will arise again in another moment. I simply pray that I know better then how to handle it.

When our love for God draws us into learning His thoughts and desires, spending time getting to know Him, there will be a compulsion to speak of Him, even when we try to hold back. His name will always be on our lips.

POINTS TO PONDER
Do general conversations in everyday life ever make you think back to something said in God’s Word? Do you ever find His name falling from your lips although you’d never intended to speak of Him at all?

Moving Toward Jesus

So he said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. ~~Matthew 14:29 (NKJV)

Ask anyone their favorite verse and common answers will include such encouraging nuggets as Jeremiah 29:11 (“For I know the plans I have for you…”) or Phillipians 4:13 (“I can do all things….”). Invaluable words, all of them, but my heart turns toward this often overlooked treasure, for in it I am reminded of how to live in a surrendered relationship with My Lord.

First of all, Jesus calls. Going back a verse, we see Peter request “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” We might say it starts there, but one thing is assured: When we seek to draw closer to Him, his response is automatic.He will always say, “Come,” and that is where our choice really begins. How will we answer?

When Jesus called to him, so simply … so unassumingly, Peter acted. He didn’t pause for doubt. He didn’t say “Woh! Wait, I was just kidding!” He trusted the Lord. He trusted Jesus over the circumstances. He trusted His Lord’s authority over external forces which might cause him harm, and he took action, stepping out of that boat. Stepping out of his former security. And where was Peter headed? The last part of that verse is so vital. He took the risk in order to “go to Jesus.” This is the KJV and NKJV interpretation of the text. Other versions say he did it “to come to Jesus,” or that he “came to Jesus.” The idea is essentially the same, but “to go” has a more decisive, action-oriented ring to it. It tells us how firm his focus was, but Peter was also obedient. In faith alone he could have stepped out of that boat with a proper focus, but he didn’t do so without first gaining His Lord’s approval. He acted equally out of faith and obedience.

Peter asked to be called; he was called; he obeyed the call in order to get closer to Jesus. Isn’t it funny how we over complicate life? And did you see what is tucked away in the middle of the verse? Peter “walked on water.” It’s almost an aside, isn’t it? We love focusing upon the exceptional, the miraculous. That’s where we want to go. We want to see and be a part of great things. We want to be part of the miraculous. However, we find here that the miraculous is incidental. It’s only a by-product of the really big deal, which is going to Jesus. In fact, later on, getting distracted by the miraculous is when Peter loses his security in the midst of it, and he sinks. Miracles happen. For that reason alone they are worth noting, but we err in making them our objective. The miraculous is a consequence of faith and obedience, but it isn’t the purpose for them.

I want to move closer to My Lord, which only happens by turning my heart toward him. Using this verse as my model, I decide to heed his call, acting in faith and out of obedience. The miraculous will take care of itself.

POINTS TO PONDER
Am I focused on what I might accomplish more than I am on getting to know My Lord? Do I seek his call? Do I hesitate or talk myself out of acting on his call? Am I willing to leave my security and step into the unknown in order to get closer to Him?