Divine delays – and surprise endings

Late last night I started to think more about some of the divine delays that I mentioned in my last blog. The thing that really struck me was the eventual conclusion was not only far better than what could have been hoped for or imagined but also far different.

We don’t know what daydreams Moses indulged in his long sojourn in the wilderness but I suspect he never forgot his people and his aborted attempt to help them. Could he have imagined that God would after 40 years use him to bring liberty?

When Abraham heard God promise him and heir that would bless the world did he really see the reality shifting implications of what happened with the eventual birth of Isaac? (or the devastation caused by his impetuously taking things into his own hands?}

Now Lazarus I will leave alone but we are not given any clue about what he was thinking when he was dead in the cave. It is however interesting that there is not record of his experiences and that he did not write a book about it.

With the disciples, hope was being reborn when Jesus rose from the dead and once again poured himself into them. It says that he constantly spoke to them about the kingdom. Dream would have again been rising in all of their hearts only to have them fall to the ground when Jesus left them once again. But were any of their dreams even close to the grandeur of God’s reality? And that reality was not only greater but also radically different than the small dream of a restored Israel.

Thank God that he restores our hope. Thank God that he does not always give us our dreams but often gives to us His instead. And the opportunity to be changed in the process.

Waiting, abandonment and spiritual development

What about those 10 days?  The followers of Jesus must have went through some emotional roller coaster rides during that time.  There was the despair of the crucifixion, the amazement of the resurrection and then He just left them.
At what should have been the moment of great triumph Jesus just left them staring into the sky. Yes, they had been given the promise of the Holy Spirit but they had not been told when the promise would be fulfilled. They had been told to go into all the world and also to wait. Seriously mixed signals here!

The longer I walk as a follower of the Lord, the more I realize that the periods of waiting and seeming abandonment are often signs of the Lord's hand and not indications of His having left me. I seldom understand this at the time it seems.  I often seem to be caught in between hope and the fulfilment of that hope.  There are times where I am most confident of the Lord's presence and guidance only to suddenly left wondering.

Divine delays can be found throughout scripture and are a fascinating study. Why did Jesus wait 3 days to go and disrupt the burial of Lazarus? Why did Moses have to walk in the emptiness of the wilderness for 40 years? Why did the promised coming of the Holy Spirit have to be over a week after the departure of the Lord?

Perhaps the saddest example of divine delays was the promise of a son and heir to Abraham. It was a promise of God - there was no doubt of that. But in the long delay, Abraham and Hagar came up with their own plan to accomplish God's purposes. That did not work out so well. It never does.


When we have faulty understanding of the character and history of God's interaction with His people it is easy to look for false comfort and temporary solutions during the times of waiting. It is hard - there is no other word for it.

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick"  (Proverbs 13:12)

We all succumb to it at times if we are honest.  Sadness and even depression when our hopes are not realized in the way and time that we anticipate. And it is even harder when the person who seems to be responsible for your deferred hope is God! 

I think that the time between the Ascension and Pentecost should be named "waiting week" when we are encouraged to think about the ways in which the Lord often gifts us with opportunities of growth during periods of waiting.

As I rode my bike into church this morning I was thinking a lot about this.  I had started the blog at home and was just meditating on this concept and the many ways that I dislike waiting. I ride along through fields and along many canals (I live in Holland which is bike riding heaven) and suddenly noticed an owl beside the bike path - waiting.

I braked hard and he just ignored me. I guess he decided that I was too big to eat and not aggressive enough to be a threat. He just sat - but with his eyes wide open and his head slowly turning. He was at rest but his muscles were coiled ready to fly.

I think that waiting is like that - patient without being passive.  I shall remember that owl in this week of waiting.....

God's original idea was not the church

A great blog by Frank Viola, http://tinyurl.com/74rydjf, starts me thinking about God's original purposes and I realized that I often fall into the trap in thinking of the church as God's original goal. The Lord did not create our universe and our world to be the locate for wonderful churches to be built. god"s original plan was the redemption of fallen man. Here is how Viola puts it. "With few exceptions, the story that Christians tell others and themselves begins with Genesis 3 rather than Genesis 1. Our starting point is the fall of humanity. The result: Everything is framed around God’s redemptive mission. It’s all about saving a lost world." I agree. The purpose of God was not redemption but rather friendship. The garden, and indeed all of creation,Rene built by our loving God as a place for us to enjoy and where we could learn how to be His friends. The high point of the creation saga is the unfolding friendship epitomized by the wonderful picture of God coming to take an evening walk with Adam and Eve. The fall from this friendship resulted in the long story of God redeeming His children so that friendship can be restored once again. When we gather together, the meaning of ecclesia -church, it is as friends gathering for a party to remember, celebrate and encourage each other within this friendship. A great party like that has a way of attracting others who want to join in. An interesting picture of the church and evangelism.

The battle and the party continues - Ascension Day

Tomorrow will be the first day that I have spent in a country that celebrates Ascension Day as a National Holiday - and I had to admit that I needed to look it up to understand it. Apparently it is considered one of the universally celebrated feasts along with Easter and Pentecost. It appears that I have been missing it!

As I rode in this morning, I started to think about the importance of the ascension. I have always believed that it took place but i am not sure that I have ever studied it or even looked at it seriously.  I suspect that should change.

I started to wonder if there would have been a great party in heaven when Jesus returned home? The angels would have been watching the whole drama unfold with increasing understanding as they saw God's wonderful plan of redemption develop before them. As lovers of God they would have grieved at his death and celebrated his resurrection. Likewise, they would have also welcomed Him home with love.   But party? The great party in heaven seems to be delayed until the great feast of all ages at the marriage supper of the Lamb - now that will be a party.

I believe that when the Lord went home it was not to rest but to continue His battle in a different way. The great victory had been won over Satan and his friends, over sin and death; and yet, there was still more to be done.  The real significance of the ascension is that the battle now might still be the Lord;s but it is in our hands in many ways. The proclamation of the Kingdom of God with words and deeds is now our responsibility.

Empowered by the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead we are commissioned  to be His body showing His love.

Ascension day does not mark the end of the war but rather a change in tactics. Having set us free by His death and resurrection, Jesus now prays for us and the Holy Spirit reveals to us His plans and purposes in the world. That is the privilege of being friends!

The cross was all about what Jesus did for us - the ascension is all about what Jesus will do through us! What a great way to prepare for the next great feast where it all really comes together - Pentecost.

Happy Ascension Day! May His kingdom Come!

Living in the present

I  flew back to Holland from Canada last night and happened to watch a movie about Margaret Thatcher called "The Iron Lady". Interesting enough movie but not quite captivating enough to hold me rapt in the middle of the night. It did have one very interesting scene where an elderly Thatcher was endlessly watching video's of her twins when they were young. Her husband, who was dead but that was another story, commented that " no matter how many times you watch them, you cannot change the outcome."
I had already been thinking along those lines thanks to my brother David because something that he had written in a blog. His blog - http://tinyurl.com/6q49qyu - mentions an interesting and simple truth that is alarmingly real. We can only meet God in this present moment.

This is significant because of how easy it is to avoid the present when it is difficult or uncomfortable and there are just so may ways to do this. We certainly can use entertainment, whether it is television, books, sports or even exercise, to distract us and help to mount a successful avoidance campaign. Another attractive option is simply to stay busy. It works as it keeps all of the spaces in our lives filled up so there is no room to ponder.
The other two areas, and the ones which were mentioned in my brother's blog, have to do with the way we treat the past and the future.
It is easy as David writes, "we can escape to the past through nostalgic remembering and compulsive review". The "good old days" are tempting to live in even if we view them with a great deal of selective memory and editing.

We can also escape to the past by replaying the bad days and fantasizing about what should have been said or done. This is tempting but seriously keeps us anchored in the dismal realm of "what could have been".
This is the trap that Thatcher, and millions of others, were encountering.
Whether it is comfortable nostalgia or painful replays, it anchors us firmly in a place where the present reality of God's love cannot touch us.

The other trap is to avoid the present by dwelling in the future. We can do this easily by daydreaming, or compulsive planning about the future in such a way that we avoid living in the present moment.
There have been periods over this last year when uncertainty seemed to reign supreme within our lives. The present was unstable and the future unsure. It was very easy to avoid the unpleasantness by focusing on the future - the decisions, the issues, the options - and miss the moments that the Lord was giving us.
Fantasy was an attractive option at times - just not a healthy one.

We can only meet God in this present moment. We can only enjoy the blessings of the Lord when we open our hearts and mind to what God has brought into the moment. The joys and terrors of today will give me more than enough opportunity to meet the Lord I suspect.

How much does forgiveness / Unforgiveness cost?

Can love grow after a cold snap?

I am Canadian and, although I have lived a lot of my life outside of Canada, I do at times  miss the weather. I love the reality of the four seasons. Spring seems so much better after a vigorous winter!

I also love those strange times when there is a mid winter thaw when  the snow disappears and February feels like April for a few days. What I dislike is that sometimes when that happens, the trees begin to bud only to be shocked by the harsh reality of the returning freeze. The new growth dies and sometimes is hard to restart once the warmer weather rally comes.

The analogy is imperfect but it is not dissimilar to what happens when you start to trust someone after you have been hurt; love begins to grow again and then the chill returns with more force than before as you get hurt once again.

Forgiving once is hard - 7 times is even harder. Why should you open up your heart again to the possibility of love and hope? Why should you forgive when they will probably hurt you again? What is the point?

Many years ago Paul Simon wrote a song called "I am a rock"

A winter's day

In a deep and dark December;

I am alone,

Gazing from my window to the streets below

On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow.

I am a rock,

I am an island.

I've built walls,

A fortress deep and mighty,

That none may penetrate.

I have no need of friendship; friendship causes pain.

It's laughter and it's loving I disdain.

I am a rock,

I am an island.

Don't talk of love,

Well I've heard the word before;

It's sleeping in my memory.

I won't disturb the slumber of feelings that have died.

If I never loved I never would have cried.

I am a rock,

I am an island.

I have my books

And my poetry to protect me;

I am shielded in my armor,

Hiding in my room, safe within my womb.

I touch no one and no one touches me.

I am a rock,

I am an island.

And a rock feels no pain;

And an island never cries.

Sort of a depressing song - sort of true.

I do remember times as a teenager when I thought that utopia might be living on an island by myself writing poetry. I recall visiting that fantasy since then - although I would take my wife now.

The only way to get love to grow again after the bleak reality of repeated hurts, is by doing some hard work. Continuing to choose to forgive is hard as it is tempting to justify non forgiveness.  Choosing to apply Paul's injunction to think only on what is good and if good report when thinking of the one who hurt you is a not always easy but it is a life giving option.

There is also a very dangerous prayer that you can pray if you are really serious - Lord, show me your heart towards ......" The Lord loves to answer this sort of prayer.  It is hard to pray that and hang on to your anger for long.

Forgiveness is costly.  Unforgiveness more so.

This weekend has put me in touch with some folk from my past and the encounter has left me rather saddened. I saw lives that were touched deeply and harshly by the reality of unforgiveness. Collecting and carrying grudges has turned out to be a very costly exercise.

I found a quote that I paraphrased when I was preaching a few weeks ago from Nelson Mandela. He had been asked how he could forgive his jailers and not hold resentment against them.

He responded by saying that no forgiving  was like drinking poison and hoping the other person would die. Not so smart an idea.

I long for heaven when such discussions will no longer be needed. While I am here, I long for God's love which still keeps no record of wrong. That is the kind of love that I want to live in.

Performers and audience or door openers and pilgrims?

I have the hard task of digging through some boxes in our basement storage and I happened upon sermon notes from somewhere in the past. The opening line was all I really read - The Lord is not looking for either a better audience or better performers. I don't if I read it or thought it up, but it is a rather cool statement. Pastors and worship leaders tend to be performers. We are built and wired to survive and even excel in the joys and tension of being in front of people. I know that it was what I was built for. I come alive and totally enjoy both activities. But as I thought about I had read, I realized that I can quickly judge myself on my performance in ways that are very unhealthy. I can be ruthless in how I evaluate my messages or leadership. Rather arrogant actually as well as being insecure. Although I first heard the following in the context of worship, I think it applies equally to worship leadership and preaching. Here is my paraphrase..... Preachers and worship leaders are like the best man at a wedding- their primary task is to everything possible to make the groom look good and to everyone enjoy their time with he and his bride. Imagine the silliness of a best man who only sought attention for himself or who was so naive that he thought that everyone came to see him. Hmmmm.. I also must confess that there are times as a pastor and worship leader that I think of the congregation in terms of how good they are. Do they engage? Are they attentive? Did they show appreciation? Pastors and worship leaders are better described as door openers helping the fellow pilgrims that they serve to better encounter in a transformational way the God whom they are following.