A few weeks ago, Kain Ramsay – a coach and trainer that I follow online – asked this question:
What do you think might happen if everyone in the world stopped defining themselves by their vocational roles, how they feel, what they believe or their personal preferences?
Also, if pursuing happiness was no longer an option, what might many people devote their lives to instead (and how might this be even better than happiness)?
Let’s get this week off to a reflective start…
Recently I read:
Do not be daunted by the enormity
of the world’s grief.
Do justly — now.
Love mercy — now.
You are not obligated to complete the work,
but neither are you free to abandon it.
— authorship unknown
A couple of days ago, I read this by Madisyn Taylor
We all experience periods where we feel separated from the loving ebb and flow of the universe. These times of feeling disconnected from the source may occur for many reasons, but self-sabotage is the most common cause for us choosing to cut ourselves off from the flow of the universe. We purposefully, though often unconsciously, cut ourselves off from this flow and from the embrace of humanity so we can avoid dealing with painful issues, shun the necessary steps for growth, or prevent the success that we are afraid of achieving from ever happening.
When you choose to disconnect from the source, you block the flow of the universe’s energy from passing through you. You become like a sleepwalker who is not fully awake to life, and your hopes, plans, and dreams begin to appear as distant blurs on a faraway horizon.
Universal support has never left you, but if you can remember that you became disconnected from source by choice, you can choose to reconnect.
And I couldn’t agree more – how often do we distance ourselves from God & our Source?
As I see here in Panama wave after wave of Venezuelans arriving, running from the disaster in their country, I realise that it is hard for us to welcome them with open arms. People here feel threatened by the mass migration wave that has hit Panama – “there are too many of them”. Crimes rates have increased over the past three years. Housing has become more expensive. Unemployment has increased. The cost of living has gone up.
And “the Venezuelans are to blame”…Read More »
Readings:
Isaiah 40:21-31 (NRSV)
21 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to live in;
23 who brings princes to naught,
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.
24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
25 To whom then will you compare me,
or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
mighty in power,
not one is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
30 Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
31 but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.
If you’ve experienced a storm in your life, you know being patient and waiting for a resolution can be so hard. If right now you are passing through a hard time, “waiting on the Lord” can seem like a tall order. Like the Israelites, you may be feeling and saying:
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
And my just claim is passed over by my God”?
The Jewish people that had been taken into exile in Babylon were in a precarious position. Nebuchadnezzar had long since passed, and he had been replaced by Nabonidus. Now Nabonidus had left the city of Babylon to live in the Arabian desert and worship the moon god, leaving his young son Belshazzar (Belsharusur) as regent king in his place. And this young regent was all about partying and having fun with his friends. You may remember in Daniel 5, with the hand writing on the wall, when the young king is partying with all his friends, drinking wine from the sacred temple goblets. Belshazzar was far from a good king.
Those who were taken into captivity were the old Judean aristrocracy. In Jerusalem, they had held positions of power, status and wealth. This was not the case in Babylon. They were forced to live in ethnic enclaves, something like our 20th-Century concentration or force-labor camps. Such a change would have created doubts in their mind as to whether they were truly the elected people of God on earth.
While the aristocracy was held in Babylon, society in Judah had disintegrated after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. The population was reduced by 90%, meaning only 10% of the population was left: death, exile and destruction of the temple gutted all the institutions that held the society together. There was no hope in the past, there seemed to be no future and way forward.
And so, in 550 B.C., Cyrus the Persian captured Ecbatana, the capital of the Median Empire. After this victory, he began to look south toward Babylon. Because of the way that Nabonidus and his son Belshazzar had been ruling, Cyrus was very welcome in Babylon. When Cyrus finally arrived, in 539 BC, he was greeted with shouts of joy from the conquered.
Isaiah chapter 40 starts with “Comfort my people”, and it is the beginning of the second Isaiah (as it is believed that chapters 1 to 39 were written by Isaiah, and the second half were written by a disciple of Isaiah). Regardless of who wrote chapters 40 to 55, there is a distinct change of tone: chapters 1 to 39 speak of judgement and disaster. Chapters 40 to 55 speak to salvation, hope and restoration. For 50 years, they have been “hidden from the Lord”, and so in chapter 40 we read “Comfort my people… Speak comfort to Jerusalem… her warfare is ended… her iniquity is pardoned”.
We find words of hope, “wait on the Lord”.
21 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
23 who brings princes to naught,
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.
25 To whom then will you compare me,
or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
What’s bigger? Your problem? or God? How often do we become so embroiled and caught up with our problems, that we make them into mountains? And even so, what is bigger: your mountain of problems, or God? When you go through something awful or unexpected, you get the chance to see whether or not your faith in God is real. Do you really wait upon the Lord when you are faced with challenges?
Some key questions we might ask are:
Habakkuk 2:1 says,
I will stand at my watchpost,
and station myself on the rampart;
I will keep watch to see what he will say to me,
and what he will answer concerning my complaint.
Are you keeping watch, at your watchpost? Are you continuing at your station or on the rampart, to see what God has to say about your complaints? I read somewhere:
“Hurry is the death of prayer. The reason why you don’t hear God is because you’re in too much of a hurry. ‘God, I want to hear from you. But hurry up! I’ve got to make it to my next appointment.’”
“Psalm 130:5-6: “I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, And in His word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord More than the watchmen for the morning; Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning,” he was comparing waiting expectantly on the Lord to the night guards of the city who watched the passage of time in anticipation of the coming dawn when they would be released from duty. The coming of the dawn was certain, but not without the passage of time.”
Psalm 46:10 reminds us:
Be still and know that I am God.
There is a moment to simply wait on the Lord, in order to renew your strength. Be still.
Psalm 62:5 (NRSV)
5 For God alone my soul waits in silence,
for my hope is from him.
Are you waiting in silence?
Psalm 27:14 (NRSV)
14 Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!
There are at least 29 verses in the Bible that speak of “wait on the Lord”. Psalm 23 speaks of waiting in rest: lie down in green pastures, restoring our souls. Ours is a society that has grown accustomed to immediate gratification. Due to modern technology and all our conveniences—telephones, refrigerators, freezers, microwaves, fast foods, airplanes, etc.—we have many things immediately at our fingertips. But yet we find a growing group of people that are learning mindfulness, breathing (“Just breathe”) and sitting quietly in silence. And we, as Christians, need to learn to wait upon the Lord.
But like the Jewish exiles, we are impatient for salvation. How long? How much longer? Are we nearly there yet?
In Mark 1, we read:
35 Early in the morning, well before sunrise, Jesus rose and went to a deserted place where he could be alone in prayer.
We also read in Matthew 14: 23:
After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone.
Mark 6:46
After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray.
Luke 5: 16
But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.
Luke 6: 12
It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.
Luke 9: 18
And it happened that while He was praying alone, the disciples were with Him,
Matthew 26 & Mark 14, in Gethsemane: “Sit here while I go over there and pray. “And he went a little beyond them and fell on his face and prayed.” “He went away a second time and prayed.” “and he left them again, and went away and prayed a third time”
We are reminded in the Bible repeatedly to “wait on the Lord”, and we see the best example in the life of Jesus. Pulling away from the crowds, pulling away from the hustle and bustle of life, pulling away into the wilderness, or onto a hill, or up a mountain, to pray. Before and after teaching and preaching, before and after healing the sick and throwing out demons – Jesus went aside to pray. He knew where his strength and stamina truly came from.
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
30 Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
31 but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.
Genesis 3: 8-15
1 Samuel 8: 4-11, 16-20
I can’t tell you how excited I am to stand up here today and let you know that today we’re going to talk about getting naked, and not going with the crowd!
I’m going to give you a moment to let that sink in…
We just read in Genesis about Adam’s reaction when his eyes are opened, and he realises he and Eve are naken – they sow together fig leaves and make themselves clothes, and in verse 10, Adam responds to God:
“I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
Yesterday, I was giving Isabella a bath, and I can tell you, two-year olds are not ashamed of their bodies, and have nothing to hide. If I would let her, I’m pretty sure Isabella would’t put on clothes at any time – she doesn’t understand what she needs them for. She struggles against you when it’s time to get dressed and routinely says “NO” when you say she needs to put clothes on.
More importantly, Isabella has no need to put up defenses and barriers between her and other people – she wears her heart on her sleeve. She laughs without reserve, she cries without reserve, and she simply shows every emotion that she is feeling. She even manipulates without reserve and then laughs when you call her out on it, totally living in the present moment and without shame. When she’s uncertain, she lets you know, reaching out for support. And if she gets scared, she seeks immediate shelter!
Take a moment – when was the last time you were truly authentic? How long has it been since you allowed yourself to take off your armour and defenses, take down all those barriers you’ve built to protect yourself, and actually allowed yourself to live and feel? We talk about “putting on our face”, rather than putting on make-up, or “keeping a poker face” instead of showing emotions.
How long has it been since you were naked and vulnerable before the people that matter the most in your live? Most of us have lived for far too long in a society where naked has a sexual connotation, and we’ve forgotten that it also means to be open and discovered; it means to be honest, sincere and real. Like Adam, we hide. And then, when those who know us best get through that defense and find us, we give excuses like Adam did – it was HER fault, not mine. That woman that YOU gave me, God, SHE made me do it! It couldn’t possibly have been my fault!
In coaching we talk about secondary and primary emotions – and most of us are only in touch with the secondary ones, and fail to accept to even admit that below that emotion there’s another one that we’re too afraid to even acknowledge. Many times our anger is simply a mask for impotence or pain and hurt; or our coldness and indifference is a mask for pain and vulnerability. We put on a brave front, when we are really scared and insecure. And we get so busy trying to convince the world that this is who we are, that we lose touch with ourselves and our true emotions.
All of this seeps over and into our Christian life and our relationship with God. How many times do we try to keep on the mask, saying hollow prayers and just going through the motions? When was the last time you were completely unarmed and defenseless before God?
Ephesians 6: 10-18 tells us to put on the full armour of God. I have a really simple question – have any of you ever tried to put on a suit of armour ON TOP of another suit of armour? If you are already wearing your own suit of armour, how could you possibly put on the suit of armour that God has to offer? I’d like to look at this quickly:
When we stand before God, we are supposed to be naked! Not naked, afraid and ashamed – naked, unashamed and vulnerable, open, holding nothing back, masking nothing.
Are you so busy trying to show everyone that you have it all together, that you’ve started telling this to God as well? Living your life as if you don’t need God’s help, assurance and salvation? God wants us to get real! To get real with him. Get real with each other. Talk from the heart!
To quote Kevin Smith:
GOD DOESN’T BELIEVE YOU! As terrifying as it may be, he sees through the whole facade – you can’t keep pretending.
God wants us to be free! And freedom starts with being who you really are, and then building from there!
Speaking for myself –
I am terrified of being vulnerable and opening up – my facade is cold and unfeeling – and God says – “be vulnerable, risk being hurt, and open up” – then, and only there, will you be able to truly show God’s love to others.
My facade is being “too busy”, and always having excuses – and God’s response is “take time to simply be still and know that I am God”, there’s peace there.
My facade is that I am self-centered and ego-centric – and God’s response is that God is love, and there’s more than enough to go around! I don’t need to live looking out for myself and my own interests, because the lie that I have been told that “there’s not enough” to go around is simply that, a lie. There is abundance! I can always afford to give, because God promises to each of us:
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
God’s gift for us is that we are a special people – we don’t need to live like everyone else does. We can be different and live in abundance. But most of the time, we want to have a king to rule over us, like the people of Israel in Samuel – without realising the blessings that we will lose as a result. Everyone else lives with barriers and facades, and so we should to? I don’t think so – we are intended to live naked and exposed before God and men – covered in the armour that God has given to us, rather than the armour of our own making.
Divine Presence: Letting the Infinite flow in my life 