"Tight lines" is a blessing fishermen offer each other, a wish for lines taut with the weight of good fish. May God grant that the lines written here be taut with His blessings.
Tuesday, 12 January 2010 | |||
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Getting Through It | |||
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"How will I ever get through it?" is a question we
ask ourselves when facing a difficult task or circumstance. I asked it
back in October as I faced the aftermath of a car wreck and all the
responsibilities that remained despite being sore and without a vehicle.
I asked it in December when in a single week I ministered to a dying
member and led his memorial service, dealt with a flooded church building
(including my office), helped play host to a homeless shelter in our
other building, and came home to face both a broken oven and dead
refrigerator, not to mention all the other pre-Christmas events and
expectations of family and church. It was important to remember at those
times that God had been with me in similarly difficult circumstances in
the past. As we move on to Joshua 3 this coming Sunday, we find Joshua and the people of Israel facing a difficult and daunting circumstance. God has commanded them to cross the Jordan River into Canaan and take the land to the west has their own. But at that time of year, the river was swollen and flooding. The two spies of chapter 2 may have crossed in a little boat or raft or even by swimming, but it would be impossible to float over Israel's army of thousands, much less all the women, children and livestock. Many of them must have asked, "How will we get through it?" At this point the promise made to Joshua in chapter 1, "As I was with Moses, so will I be with you," comes into play and is shown to be true. Joshua had been there and participated in the great crossing of the Red Sea following the leadership of Moses. So he may have had some inkling and faith that if God was truly with him like He was with Moses, a similar thing might happen at the Jordan. Yet we need to remember that the people gathered here before the Jordan are almost entirely a new generation. It's forty years after the Red Sea. A vast majority of them would have been only infants or small children or not yet born when the stupendous miracle happened. If they were to have any faith in another miracle like the old one, it could only be by accepting the word and testimony of the previous generation, most of whom were dead and gone by now. As we face our own difficult circumstances, whether it's the loss of a loved one, unemployment, a divorce, a conflict with friends or family, a major illness or any number of seemingly unsurmountable barriers to continued good life, we may be in the same faith situation as that new generation of Israel. We may not by personal experience be able to recount and remember a point at which God came to our aid and saw us through deep waters. Yet we still have the testimony and witness of those who've gone before us. Our parents' or grandparents' stories of passing through the Great Depression or World War II are not just boring old tales. They are the record that God is faithful, that God will with us like He was with them, that God will get us through it, whatever "it" is. Facing my own impassable "Jordans," I pray for a better memory to recall how God has been with those who've passed through such things long before me. In that memory I find great resource to renew and strengthen my conviction that God will get me through it. May we all be blessed with such good memories. | |||
Tuesday, 05 January 2010 | |||
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Behind Enemy Lines | |||
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"People there are fascinated by blonde hair," said our
daughter about her trip to China this past summer. She had ample opportunity to
reflect on what it was like to be completely different in appearance from the
people around her, and how it felt to be on the outside of a culture looking
in. That "outside looking in" feeling shows up in more than one direction in our text for this Sunday from Joshua 2, where we find two young Israelite spies hiding out in Rahab's house in Jericho. We read both the experience of the young men who were found out and desperate in the midst of the foreign and hostile Jerichoites, and the experience of Rahab who sought sanctuary for herself and her family among the foreign and hostile Israelites. The story of Rahab reminds us that God is in the business of pushing people behind "enemy" or at least foreign or alien lines in more than one direction. We as Christians may find ourselves led like my daughter into the midst of a culture and people who are strange to us. At the very same time we are called, like the ancient Israelites saved and incorporated Rahab, to welcome and incorporate strangers behind our own cultural and social lines. As we "fight for survival," whether its economically as individuals or against terrorism as a nation or as a church against declining numbers, we remember that in the midst of its struggle for a place in the land Israel had room to welcome outsiders and bring them into their lives. Rahab shows up two or three times in the New Testament, most interestingly in the lineage of Jesus in Matthew 1. The Israelite welcome and redemption of a foreign prostitute was ultimately part of God's plan for their own redemption. Let us keep crossing the lines and finding those God wants to save, and in the process we will reclaim our own salvation. | |||
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Profile |
I am the pastor of Valley Covenant Church in Eugene, Oregon. I love to flyfish and hike along the beautiful rivers in our area. I welcome your comments as I share sermon work in progress and occasional other thoughts.
Thank you for visiting this blog. I invite you also to visit my web page.
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