March

I’m interested in reading again and commenting on the story of the walls of Jericho in the Old Testament.  What an incredible act of obedience.

Joshua 6 says,

Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days.

Here the story begins. 

There was no way anyone was entering or exiting Jericho.  However, the Lord gave Joshua explicit instructions on how to penetrate this impossible situation, and experience victory.

It began with a directive to march.  All the way around the city with armed men.  For six days. 

Does that sound like a plan of warfare? Not at all.

God’s directives aren’t like the directives we expect to hear or obey.  They require faith that what he says to do will bring about His expected end – victory.

Are you in the middle of impossibility?  Pray and ask God to give you directions and obey – whatever he says to do – even if it starts with just a march.

Consider this Treat

I Peter 3 says Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.

Here we see the kinds of treats wives can expect from their husbands who follow Him.   We can be confident that the Lord wants them to consider us, to see us as a joint heir, to realize our weaknesses and come alongside us, and to realize that we are a gift to them.

And when they do, nothing will hinder their prayers!

I’ve seen that when I pray for my husband instead of pointing my finger and shaking it, this somehow gives an open road for him to hear and see God’s eyes for me and treat me with love, accordingly.

Funny how that works.

Treat him with honor and love, and he treats me with respect and consideration.

Sounds like a pretty good seesaw effect, a treat for both of us as we go up and down, up and down, treating each other with a push and a squeal of delight!

Treats for You

Hebrews 12 says Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?

Have you ever viewed discipline as a treat?

It really is.

When we treat our children to discipline we are, in effect, saving their lives.  What a treat.

When we receive and welcome and endure discipline from God, when he grabs us by the neck and keeps us from running off a cliff, he is saving our lives.

Earthly discipline from our fathers sometimes is performed in anger, and doesn’t produce anything good, and in fact leaves scars.

However, God is not like our early fathers.  All discipline and reproof is given in love to correct us and mold us into his image to where we can experience a full life where we are known and loved and accepted.

Allow God’s discipline, then respond, and be treated to His love.

Treat Them

I Timothy 5 says Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.

Once we’ve been treated with His love and forgiveness, then we are to treat others.

With what?

Honor, exhortation, as brothers and mothers, as sisters, and with purity.

When we are in the presence of others, we are to offer them treats…blessings…sweets.

In other words, we offer honor to others – not scorn or ridicule.

When we learn to treat others as members of our family, giving them the status and privileges that come with being related, we are offering them a fine treat instead of a trick.

When we treat our friends with condemnation, discouragement, and when we disregard them and devalue their worth, we are offering them a trick.

And pretty soon, they won’t be coming around to our door anymore…they will go elsewhere…where they are welcome and received.

What’s in your treat basket for neighbors?  Is it full of sweets or sours?

Just a Treat

Halloween is in a few days, the day our kids “trick or treat.”  So what does the bible say about the word treat?

Psalm 103 says he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;

What a treat!

We deserve death because we are sinners and He is holy.  HOWEVER, he doesn’t treat us with what we deserve.

He loves us and he offers us kindness and love.

In fact, his love for us is unfathomable, higher than we can imagine, greater than we can stand.

God is not a Lord who tricks us, but rather he’s a father who treats us.

He treats us to forgiveness and eternal life just for believing in Him.

And he sends us away with our basket full of sweet goodness and mercies to snack on, all of our lives.

The Four S's

James 4 says, 

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Here we end our verses about laughter, with a reminder to all of us of a life lived well.

Surrender to God.  Make that choice and watch evil run away.

Step closer to Him.  He will come closer to you.

Sin no more.   Grieve and mourn turn from wrongdoing.

Sit down before the Lord in humility instead of getting lost in frivolity. 

That’s four S’s.

Do these things and he will lift you up.

Laughter connected with joy in knowing him brings healing and life.

Laughter connected with mockery and shame blocks us from being blessed.

Enough said.

Blessed

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.  Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

These verses are part of The Beatitudes in the New Testament. 

God’s ways are never like ours.  We think it detrimental to our good lives to be without, to suffer hunger, and to mourn.  In fact, we avoid being in need at all costs.  We strive to have more than enough, to fill our homes and tables, and to enjoy our life and be happy.  But we all know that amassing “stuff” doesn’t make one satisfied.

However, these verses indicate God’s ways.  Being poor in spirit, having an ache of hunger, and even weeping at times, only results in good things – lasting satisfaction, the kingdom of God, and hilarious joy that brings laughter from the belly.

Are you in need right now?  God is present in the middle of your hunger and blessings are yours…he said so.

Weeping only lasts for a season.  Laughter is like a medicine that heals for a lifetime.

They Laughed

Matthew 9 is a sad commentary on a group of people who were with Jesus…

When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up.

Jesus showed up and made a statement that was contrary to what the people were seeing with their eyes.  They saw that a little girl was dead.  Jesus saw her spirit and knew she was only asleep.  And the people laughed at him.

He told the people to leave, then he took the girl by the hand and she woke up.

God always shows up in the middle of what we see as impossibility, and he speaks life into that situation.  We can either laugh at him in mockery, or we can agree with him and witness a resurrection.

I myself have been guilty of mourning and crying at what seems to be the end of hopes and dreams. But I wish I had realized and looked for God’s presence in the room to offer me life…and not death.

I don’t want to be among those who laugh at him, but rather with those who quiet the noise and listen and agree with what he says.

A Bad Stock

Ezekiel 22:4 says you have become guilty because of the blood you have shed and have become defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close, and the end of your years has come. Therefore I will make you an object of scorn to the nations and a laughingstock to all the countries.

Here we see the other end of the spectrum of laughing – when we ourselves become the subject of mockery and cruelty and others are laughing at us.

I can’t think of a worse humiliation than to be laughed at and made fun of…to be bullied.

Yet when we take the life and promises God has given us and over time, we dilute them with unbelief and mockery at God, by putting other things before Him in our lives, and then ignoring his presence and walking away from him…we set ourselves up to be mocked and scorned…and to suffer accordingly.

Sure, there are times when we will be mocked and laughed at because OF our faith in Him, but when life and others scorn us because we have deserted the God we proclaim, we are then the object of scorn and God himself is displeased because we have shamed his name.

Yikes.

I don’t want to be a laughingstock.  Do you?

It's Good for You

Ecclesiastes 7 says Frustration is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure. It is better to heed the rebuke of a wise person than to listen to the song of fools. Like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of fools.

Well, isn’t this interesting?  Frustration is better than laughter?  Sad faces are good for the heart? 

What?

Did you know that suffering and hardship brings about patience and endurance?  Two things that are necessary to win a race.

And constant fulfillment and pleasure bring about pride and contempt for others.  Two things that will cause us to trip and fall in the race.

So therefore, there are times when it’s better to be sober and serious in life, to realize the brevity and worthlessness of life, so that we can then experience the goodness and purposes of God in our lives.

There’s a time to weep, and a time to laugh, and life is full of both.

Filled and Laughing

Psalm 126 says When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed.  Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.

Here’s a proper excuse to laugh!

When God shows up, restores that which is lost, fulfills our dreams, gives us back our life – then our response is to be full of laughter and joy that bursts out of our mouths in song and praise to Him.  We can adore him by thanking him for the great things he has done for us.

In fact, we can proclaim it to the nations.

One of the best witnesses we can be to the world is by the way we respond in times of great need.  In fact, sometimes that is the only evidence of the difference between those who believe and those who do not – the way we react in crisis.

And the way we react when the crisis is over.

Laughter is so versatile, isn’t it?  We can laugh in joy at God’s word to us, then we sometimes laugh in mockery when that word is delayed, and then we can laugh again in joy when his mercy provides, and we can laugh loud enough for nations to hear when God comes through!

Are you laughing yet?

He Knows

There are several verses that say God laughs at the wicked.

Psalm 37 contains one of them…

The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them; but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming.

This type of laughter is one of complete unbelief at the absurdity of the situation.  Imagine a tiny ladybug crawling up your sleeve threatening to topple you over with its legs.  Wouldn’t that be absolutely absurd?  With one flick of your finger you can send that ladybug flying to never return.

How much more does the God we serve send away the wicked with one blast of his nostrils?  That’s why he laughs at their schemes and plans to destroy us.  They have no power over us because we belong to Him.  Their arms are too weak to even stand on His mighty arm that sustains us and provides for us.

If we could only grasp the bigness, the goodness, the righteousness of the God who loves us, we wouldn’t panic when we see with our eyes that it appears he is delaying.   We would laugh along with Him at the absurdity of it all, and that laughter might indeed bring us the healing we’re awaiting!

The Response

Now we see the third mention of laughter in the bible, the naming of Isaac and Sarah’s response, now that he is born.

Genesis 21 says, Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.”  And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

God was merciful to Sarah’s mocking laugh at his miraculous provision and brought her a son, fulfilling his promise.  And therefore, Sarah and Abraham named their son Isaac – which means “laughter.”  Isn’t that so cool?

And then we see Sarah’s response even further, to God’s merciful love towards her, she then says that God has brought her laughter (of a different kind – that mirth and joy kind) and she wants everyone to know of his provision so they too can laugh with her in joy.  She responds in amazement at the mercy AND provision of the God who keeps his promise.

We are most likely going to laugh in joy or mockery to our God, depending on how destitute and weary we become in the waiting process.  And when the promise comes, the best way we can respond is by marveling at God’s mercy and goodness even when we are not faithful to trust in him.

I love this story of laughter – the good kind – and the bad kind – and the only response of a merciful God – to offer mercy and grace – and to provide for us anyway.

When we have that day of reckoning and realize that God is who he says he is, we must respond with laughter and invite those who see to laugh along with us how Great God is in our lives.

Yes, You Did

The second mention of laughter is that from Sarah, Abraham’s wife, when she heard the news that she was going to bear a child in her old age.

It’s found in Genesis 18: So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?” Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.” But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”

This time, Sarah’s laughter was not one of joy or mirth, but rather one of disbelief and mocking. In other words, there’s another side to laughter and that is to make fun of or ridicule.  And because of the Lord’s reaction to her (as he knew her heart), we know this laughter was that kind.

Look at God’s response to her unbelief.

“Is anything too hard for the Lord?”

She then realized God know her heart and she lied and said she did not laugh.

I didn’t realize these were the first two mentions of laughter in the bible, and what a lesson to be learned!  When God makes promises to us and even reminds us to believe when all seems impossible, we have two choices.

We can laugh in joy and expectation, or we can laugh in mockery and unbelief.

And God will know which response is ours. 

I want to be found laughing in joy at God in all of his amazing glory when he comes to me to fulfill that which he has promised.

A Great Response

October 17

Did you know the first mention of laughter in the bible is when God told Abraham he would have a son in his old age?  It was man’s reaction to a miracle from God – the laughter of joy and amazement at God’s provision at something humanly impossible.

Genesis 17 says Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?”

Laughter is our innermost being responding to something we’ve heard or seen or experienced by an audible sound of chuckling or delight.

God let us know from the get-go that he is not limited by man’s resources…at all.  In fact, I think God quite delights himself in showing up when all of our resources are depleted, to grant us a miracle of something new.

God had promised Abraham a son, and as the years went by, that promise was entirely impossible for Abraham to bring to pass.  That’s because it wasn’t Abraham’s job to fulfill God’s promise.  That belonged to God.

Awaiting a promise today?  Are all of your resources dried up and you have no way of making it happen?

Listen for God’s voice and provision to come when you least expect it, and then respond with laughter.

At Rest

Oct 16

I John 3 says

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

Do you want to know and be assured that you belong to Him?

All you have to do is believe that when your own heart condemns you and you are reminded again of your shortcomings and failures, you know the truth and you stand on it.

You can rest in his presence because God is greater than your heart and the condemnation you feel.

In fact, God knows your heart and he knows the heart of every man and woman – it’s deceitfully wicked at the core.

However, at the beginning of this passage, he calls us “children.”  When we believe and love God, and it shows in our faith and actions, we don’t have to listen to condemnation any longer.

The truth is that Christ has set us free.

Free to do what?

Rest in his presence.

For Us

Hebrews 9 reminds us again of Christ and his sacrifice, made for us, so that we can enjoy the presence of a holy, loving God:

For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. 

The priests, back in the Old Testament, entered the “holy of holies” with bells attached to their robes.  And if they were slain in God’s presence, the people knew it because the bells would go silent.  I would not have wanted to wear those bells!

But Jesus, the righteous son of God, didn’t enter a temple made with hands.  He entered heaven itself, because he is God’s son, and he has a place beside his father.

He appeared spotless and holy before Him, in our place, so that we too can be called into God’s presence without wearing bells and without fear of crumbling to our demise in the presence of a holy God.

In fact, we are called to be holy and blameless like he is.

And we can only be that if we experience His presence that changes us to be like Him.

I know, that’s a mystery.  

But it’s a good one, one that we’re a part of, and we can just rest and give thanks for the mystery of salvation and acceptance in the presence of a most High God.

Wherever I Go

Psalm 139 is a great read (so read all of it when you get the time).  Here’s a great piece of it:

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

I can think of very little to add to those verses that promise us that God will never leave us or forsake us. In fact, he’s given us reminders of this all around us – above us his heavens declare his glory – below us the rocks declare our firm foundation – in the morning his sun rises in faithfulness – and across the oceans we are reminded of the extent of his love.

And even in darkness – we know that He is light all around us.

So there’s actually nowhere we can hide from him, where his presence will not draw us out into his marvelous light.

When He Comes

We’re skipping way ahead now to I Thessalonians 3 which says

May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

Did you know that the only reason we are able to experience the presence of God in our lives is because of Jesus?  His sacrifice, his righteousness, and his resurrection power are the reasons we are able to stand in the presence of God and not die…literally.

So here we are encouraged to strengthen our hearts.  How do we do this? Physically, we strengthen our hearts by exercising.  So, spiritually it stands to reason that we should exercise our hearts by believing – by having faith. 

And when we exercise our faith in Christ, we will be blameless and holy in his presence when he returns.

He is coming back.  We don’t hear it spoken about much, but it’s coming.  The holy God we serve is coming back, as well as those who have already died and are with him.  And those who are blameless and strong in Him in his presence will be caught up forever…to live eternally without sorrow or sadness.

We have his presence with us now, but we will live in his presence – face to face – one day.

Think about that fact.  Are you ready?

The Light

Psalm 89 says Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, Lord. They rejoice in your name all day long;  they celebrate your righteousness.

Did you know that His presence can be with us, around us, and yet we don’t realize it?  In fact, we completely dismiss it and walk as though we’re alone?

This verse says the ones who are blessed are those who have “learned” to acclaim him, and those who “walk in the light.” That takes action on our part to recognize and move in His presence, not to sit unaware and apathetic.

God presence is with us.  He says this in his word.  But when we walk as though this isn’t true by complaining, disbelieving and even cursing His name, we are not doing ourselves any favors.  In fact, we’re missing out on a blessing.

And we’re missing out on a celebration that includes rejoicing.

I want to be found among those who are learning and walking in his presence, so that when he says rejoice and celebrate I hear it and enjoy the party.

Even Then

Psalm 23 is among one of the most quoted chapters in the bible, and here’s a part of it:

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Here we read of two types of presence.

“…for you are with me” – God is with us even in the dark, and even when we are afraid, his rod and staff guide and comfort.

“…presence of my enemies” – yep, they’re real – the enemies of fear, loss, abandonment, etc. – and they’re ominous and scary.

However…because God is with us, we can actually sit down at a table prepared with food to satisfy and fill us, to laugh and recline at his table with Him, all in the very presence of our enemies and we will not be disturbed.

In fact, goodness and mercy will be our companions that follow us all of our lives.

I love visuals.  And I see here a table in the middle of a meadow with dark forest encircling it – with wolves howling, eyes peering through the branches, and threats all around.  But in the center of the table is an incredible light that is blinding to all of those peering enemies and they don’t dare come near, until the meal is eaten, the celebration is over and the light has moved on.

Are you rejoicing over this fact, yet?

In the presence of your enemies, you can eat and rest in peace.