Sunrise, Sunset

One of Joan's and my top five favorite musicals is Fiddler on the Roof (#1, hands down, is Les Miserables!) and we love the song Sunrise, Sunset.  I find it sad, however, that we live in a culture where far too many of us never notice either when the sun rises nor when it sets.  Many sleep right through the sunrises, and there's nothing inherently wrong with "sleeping in" unless we do it so consistently for our entire lives that, in the process, we miss out on a lifetime of beautiful sunrises.  And most of us are simply "too busy" (even though busy might be defined for many as watching television) to see the beauty of sunsets.

Not so with my friend Cary Branscum.  Cary takes some of the most gorgeous photographs of sunsets I have ever seen and shares them with the world on Facebook.  He takes them with his i-phone camera while on his daily walks.  They look professionally done.  But that's what God-designed beauty does for each of us, doesn't it?- It makes us all look good.  When I asked Cary about these beauties, he said, "You know, the sad thing is that so much of the time, we allow the "stuff" of life to prevent us from seeing- really seeing- all of the beauty God has designed and placed all around us to enjoy."  I think Cary is right.  So...next time it gets to be sunset time, "Be still and know...."

When Things are Tough and God is Silent

Have you ever had one (or more) of those times when life became particularly hard and, to compound the woes, God seemed uncomfortably silent at that very moment when you wished He'd sent a telegram.  I mean, granted, silence is His primary language- we've already established that- and it is in stillness and silence spent (invested is a better word) with Him that we come to sense His presence.  But on these kinds of days, there seems to be no sense of His presence at all.  He just doesn't seem to be there.

At such times, it would help to remember three things.  First, His promise is that He IS there- "I will NEVER leave you nor forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5)  He will NOT desert us, divorce us, abandon us, walk out on us, leave us- no matter how much it may feel like He has.  Secondly, He promises to catch our tears in His jar. (Psalm 56:8)  He has to be awfully close to pull that off, holding that jar up close enough to our cheek to catch the tears as they flow- even when it seems like He's the farthest away He's ever been.  Finally, remember your school days.  Your teachers talked a lot- right?  Except for one day each week, when they were noticeably silent.  That was test day.  They passed out the test and you never heard a word from them the rest of the day.  But they hadn't left the room.  They were still close by.  If you needed help, they would do what they could without robbing you of the joy of a job well done.  Their job was not simply to have you pass a test, but to encourage as they saw character grow in you through the process.

On life's toughest days (test days), God has not left the room.  He is still there.  He may be silent, but He's there.  Close by.  Ready to encourage.  Grieving with our pain, yet celebrating when He sees the character of Christ grow to maturity inside of us, because He knows that, as tough as those days are, we'll some day realize that they were well worth the trouble.  Even so, come Lord Jesus!

Holy

Eugene Peterson in The Jesus Way says, "The unique thing about the holy is that it cannot be known or understood apart from entering it... It is not a subject we learn from a book or lecture.  We enter in.  Some things don't change and there are no shortcuts."  It begins with a sense of unworthiness but progresses to the reality of purification.  It is time invested with God.  Holy.  Isaiah.  John on Patmos.  Holy.  Solitude?  Yes.  Isolation?  No.  "Here am I Lord, send me."  Prior to going out, we might do well to journey within.  He is there.  Holy.  And time with Him will change us for the better forever.  "Be still and know..."