“Then, by the good hand of our God upon us, they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli the son of Levi, the son of Israel, namely Sherebiah, with his sons and brothers, eighteen men . . .”
Ezra 8:18
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Having understanding is a step towards compassion.
Oh Lord, we pray and seek You to be men and women of understanding.
And here’s a simple poem . . .
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The Basics
I may not comprehend algebra
or scientific equations
or have the solutions for
complex complications
but I ask You Lord
to help me understand
to love and care about
the basic needs of fellow man.
‘Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.”
Jeremiah 32:17, ESV
“One should go to sleep as homesick passengers do, saying, “Perhaps in the morning we shall see the shore.”
Henry Ward Beecher
I have never been there, except in a stuttering way on my knees in the Lord’s presence. From there it is like climbing a mountain, and breaking through at the summit. It is an astonishing awareness of home. It is where I belong. He wants me there.
But most of the time, I’m slogging through the peanut-butter of everyday reality. It’s ‘scootch-slide-scootch’ most of the time. But I recall my last trip up, so I hold on to that fragrant memory, and it is a tremendous relief to think about his presence.
I want home. I can’t wait. I hope he’s not disappointed in me, or disturbed by the fact that I have made such little progress. The depression and despondency will slough off its skin like a snake. I will know true freedom. This is a sure thing.
I want home. The presence of Jesus is waiting. All of the knots will be worked out. The dark burdens that nip at my heels will disappear. This change is going to be powerful, and most certainly dramatic, and I want home.
For those of us who believe, we will arrive at a place of profound blessing. We will squint back at our life on earth, and wonder what it was all about. A hundred thousand years from now it will seem like a difficult dream which we really can’t remember upon waking.
We will be moving toward him. There will be a magnetism that will exert its pull on our wandering hearts. He will draw us to himself. Guilt and shame, which has deeply infected us will be eradicated. Sometimes, when people train to run they will wear “training weights,” creating more of a burden that has to be overcome. In that way heaven can be understood, for we have spent well over 50 years training for that place.
We come into all of this like a man who has been lost in the desert. Without water, we stumble into what looks like a watery oasis, and we find a refreshing relief. We have been “saved” from a certain death. When we consider what has happened, and how the superheated desert almost destroyed us, we will marvel, and that quite often. Each one there will have a story of failure and faith, and we will listen and than tell our story as well.
What has to be stated, and restated, is the astonishing presence of Jesus in that place. Not only in our thinking, but in a real concrete way. Heaven is not an an abstract or ethereal thing. It is solid and strong. We don’t imagine heaven, instead we are pounded by it. It is more real than real, with a solidity that we will find most refreshing.
“God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.”
James 1:12
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown.”
Revelation 3:11
Hold on guys, keep your crown. Don’t let anyone snatch it from you. Advance into his presence, and let him do his stuff on you. He loves you, far more than you love him. He is pursuing you more than you are pursuing him. Somehow that is quite comforting. I want home!
“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”
Romans 3:23, NLT
I know myself pretty well. I fully understand how dark I can be. I’m nasty and mean, selfish and destructive. I am the “King of Filth and Deceit.” (That is my official title, look it up.) King Midas turned everything he touched into gold. It seems that everything I touch turns black and putrid. I have come to understand Martin Luther’s own assessment, “Sin boldly, but believe in God more boldly still.” He wasn’t encouraging sin; nor was he giving out ‘a license to sin.’ He was simply acknowledging our nature. He was also speaking of God’s wonderful gift of grace, and the faith needed to obtain it.
But I have heard that there is a place where I can be made white and bright; fully and truly cleansed of an immensity of evil. He can heal me, and I do not have to continue to produce such wickedness. I do not have to hurt His dear ones anymore. When I accept Him, His blood releases me. He makes it possible for me to have a new life.
So I come to Him, and cling. I will not let go, I grab Jesus and hang on.
I won’t slide back into this painful darkness. I will latch on to Him with everything I have. I cry out for ‘the spiritual velcro’ of Grace. I do this over, and over– until it works. Just give my sin-addled soul Jesus. I’ve had enough religion, now I want Him.
I’m learning that I must learn to forgive myself. He has already forgiven me. A weaver works diligently on a rug that he is making. He uses even the dark thread as he does his work. In the same way, those deep transgressions must become a part of the Spirit’s work from my life. He takes it up, without flinching, and weaves it into His work. What He does is miraculous.
God’s specialty is turning rascals into sons and daughters.
I see sadness and confusion, and He sees glory. I see nothing but evil, and He chooses to turn it into a special grace. And so, I cling to Him and wait for the Lord to meet me. He is not overwhelmed by my stains, and He promises a complete deliverance from my great darkness. So I cling, as a drowning man latches on to a life preserver.
Oh, dear one. Someone has been looking for you. Jesus has been searching, trying to save you. You can go your own way, but I predict nothing but a difficult sorrow, if that is your real choice. But, there is a way of escape, and it is full of joy and peace. And it is real.
I know, (first-hand,) that it difficult, but that is just the first stage. There is a raucous joy that is waiting for you. You will find such a purpose and completeness that will make your head spin. He will launch on you into a love and a kindness that you will hardly be able to contain.
“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
“A crack in everything.” As a broken person I appreciate hearing the wisdom of this particular poet. I am intensely aware of being very different then others. I worked my way through college frying donuts and it was a challenge. After about six months my boss was telling everyone that, “Bryan is one of the most eccentric people I have ever met.”
I was not trying to be odd, or eccentric. I was taking “Greek” at the time and knew that eccentric was a contraction (of ek, meaning “off, or the one side,” and “centros,” meaning, “center”). He was basically saying that I was “off centered”. That really troubled me because I always felt like I was a very well-balanced person and fit in.
The above poem tells us certain things, it holds a simple truth. First, there are bells that can’t be used, they don’t work anymore. Second, we need to “get real” and to understand that “a perfect offering” is beyond our capability.
Maybe 20 years ago idealism would’ve carried the day for us. But, as we get older, we have figured out a thing or two, but by the time you turn 50, you start carrying a total other awareness of things. By then we see the cracks in everything, nothing has gone by untouched, or unscathed.
But the poet states a paradoxical truth, “that’s how the light gets in.” To learn this is to turbocharge your recovery. It takes your recognition of the reality of being a broken person. It also summons up a discernment of how we must grow spiritually.
I find that the broken, weak, burned-out people are closer to the Kingdom then the strong, suave and gifted. This is an incredible truth, we must see our brokenness is in all the right places. You see, that is how the light gets in.
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.”
Broken Believers 