Blog
Monday, July 27, 2020
“The Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” —Proverbs 2:6
I have a bad habit that I’m usually able to convince myself is actually a good habit. Most days, I bombard my brain with data and information for as many seconds as I can tolerate. I read the news. I read analysis of the news. I read about sports. I look at statistics. I listen to podcasts. I read books (not as much as I’d like). I read email newsletters. I read emails from real people I actually know.
And I read the Bible. And I pray. And I spend a little bit of quiet time with God.
But too often I feel overwhelmed and unfocused, like the information is all coming at me too fast for me to do anything with it. I’m like a hungry man being pelted with fresh fruit and vegetables by the 30 best pitchers in baseball throwing at me simultaneously. It’s not really that helpful.
I think at the heart of the problem is misplaced faith. When I was in seminary, each day on the way to class I would walk past a stone engraving with words from Proverbs 9: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” The verse from Proverbs 2 that is part of today’s Daily Texts gets at the same idea. Knowing the Lord and being known by the Lord is the path to real, lasting, meaningful wisdom.
I’m not suggesting that followers of Jesus shouldn’t read anything but the Bible. All truth is God’s truth, and learning about God’s creation and our fellow beloved human beings is a central way of loving God with our minds.
At the same time, we must remember where trustworthy wisdom and understanding really come from. So often, I get overwhelmed, anxious, or confused trying to take in all the information around me. In these moments, when I’m forced to slow down, to encounter God, to remember God’s truth and God’s promises, I’m able to see the world around me through the lens of my faith-in-Jesus worldview.
When I’m worked up about the sin and lack of integrity in the world at large, it helps to be reminded that this is exactly the same sin and lack of integrity that exists inside of me. And it helps to be reminded that God is not surprised by this sin and lack of integrity. In fact, he has already worked his master plan to deal with it comprehensively through the love of Jesus Christ.
When I’m anxious about the future of my career or community or country or world, it helps to be reminded that God’s promises and presence are much bigger than any of the fears that I can conjure (real as those fears may be).
The Confessing Church leader Karl Barth reportedly told young theologians “to take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.” Those of us committed to loving God are all young theologians, and so the call to us is the same. By all means, learn. Learn from anyone you can. But do not forget the true source of wisdom and understanding. Do not forget the promises the Lord has made to you. Do not forget that our Lord has a plan for you and for this world he loves so much.
Friday, July 24, 2020
O that you would tear open the heavens and come down! –Isaiah 64:1
Rescue us from the evil one. –Matthew 6:13
A couple days ago, I watched the movie 1917. If you haven’t seen it already, I highly recommend it (ideally in a space where you won’t be embarrassed uttering involuntary, audible gasps like I did.) In the film, set in France during WWI, two British soldiers are tasked with traveling on foot to stop another regiment from walking, unwittingly, into a German trap. The movie begins with these two young men ready to risk their lives in an attempt to rescue 1,600 soldiers from peril they’re not even aware lies ahead of them.
The passages we’re reading today are requests for rescue. They are prayers asking God to intervene powerfully. Sometimes these words sound more dramatic, more weighty, than I feel my everyday circumstances merit. Jesus’ words at the end of the Lord’s Prayer, “deliver us from the evil one,” and Isaiah’s desire for the Lord to “tear open the heavens,” sometimes feel disproportionately epic and cinematic relative to my own day-to-day life. And yet, like the regiment in the film, we are all in desperate need of rescue, whether we see it clearly or not. What Jesus did for us truly is an event of epic proportion. Jesus defeated death. We call Jesus “Savior” because he has rescued you and me from the snare of sin, from our own inclination to separate ourselves from God, and from walking toward the things that would harm us. Jesus instructs his followers to pray “deliver us from the evil one” because there are strong forces that would pull us away from God without Jesus’ ultimately reliable protection.
The especially wonderful news is, we don’t have to hold our breath wondering if we’ll be rescued. We already have been. Jesus’ death and resurrection sealed the deal for good. We can approach each day—regardless of how epic or mundane it may seem—rejoicing in that rescue. As we continue to pray for God’s intervention and protection (as Isaiah demonstrated and as Jesus instructed) we can live in the secure knowledge that God has defeated the enemy in definitive and permanent ways.
It can be difficult to really take in these large-scale truths. May you find moments today to marvel at the sheer scale of what Jesus’ has done. May your words, attitudes, and behaviors be motivated by the staggering reality that you have been forever rescued by your Savior, Jesus.
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.” – Mark 4:26-29
Jesus talked a lot about the kingdom of God. What we see from his teachings and the manner in which Jesus lived, just how different God’s kingdom is from Earthly kingdoms. Where earthly kingdoms rule through force and oppression, God’s kingdom rules in service and love. Where Earthly kingdoms place the highest value on those things that separate us and actually diminish our enjoyment of life, God’s kingdom shows us that the highest values are love of God and love of neighbor. It’s living those principles out that will bring us true life and freedom.
Jesus’ promise in this parable is that when we look around and it seems impossible that earthly kingdoms will ever be unseated or that sins of greed, bigotry, or sexism will ever go away, through his life, death, and resurrection the seed was planted. The coming of the kingdom of God is “as inevitable as seed growing and producing fruit for harvest.”[i]
So then, may we encourage the growth of God’s kingdom today through our thoughts, words, and deeds.
[i] Klyne Snodgrass, Stories with Intent, p. 336
