Thank you to those who commented on my previous post. Unfortunately, it takes a large amount of effort that I don’t really have time for at the moment to work on that project. You may have to wait a long time to read more. So, for now you just have to deal with my normal ramblings.
Katie and I are in a small group at church that has shifted to reading a couple chapters of the Bible before we meet, and discussing the parts that stuck out to us in some way. We are starting with the book of Romans, and I think it is going to be a great time of growth and exploration of ideas and opinions about what God is saying through Paul. For our most recent session we read the first two chapters of Romans.
In recent history, I think that the first chapter of Romans has been used to justify judgment of some individuals in our society. We decide to pick and choose some ideas that Paul expresses, twist them into what fits our motives, and use them to degrade some individuals placing them further away from God than us in our minds and hearts.
Romans 1:18-28 is entitled God’s Wrath Against Mankind and I will paste it below:
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Recently there has been a tunnel vision for Christians to focus their attention on verses 24 through 27 in which Paul discusses God giving mankind over to what seems to be homosexuality. Whatever your interpretation of who God is condemning in this section makes absolutely no difference.
Why? Because the section is entitled God’s Wrath Against Mankind.
Mankind, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is “the human race: the totality of human beings.”
Our small group has not reached Romans 3:23 yet, but is says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The upside down thinking involved in focusing on a certain group of individuals and claiming they have fallen further, or deserve God’s love and grace less, is revolting. We are all a part of mankind and we all are nothing without the grace of God through His son’s death on the cross. If we think there is a difference between us and someone who we hold up as being wholly more sinful than us, we blatantly ignore God’s word when it says that, “righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference (Romans 3:22).”
So if we are all sinners, what are we called to do? LOVE EACH OTHER!
When I first started this blog, I said that I would be looking for God in places that He might not be expected. Some of my friends and I use to get made fun of a lot for doing this in high school. We were in to indie music and movies, and would claim that there was a definite tie between these seemingly secular things and God. I think it is easy to fall into thinking that God wouldn’t want to be in those things, and if the person who created it didn’t mean for God to be there He isn’t. I think that idea is horribly wrong. God does not have boundaries. He does not need us to want Him to be there to show up, and He does His best work when He is found in places no one would expect Him. I mean, think about Jesus. Did the people find him in the temple hanging out with Rabbis? No, they found him on the streets and at parties, hanging out with the outcasts of society. So why couldn’t he show up in a song by Outkast today? I know, bad play on words, but I had to do it.
I got hooked on a show called Skins recently, and watched the first two seasons on Netflix. I originally was pulled into the show because I heard that it was where Dev Patel from Slumdog Millionaire was discovered. I don’t recommend the show for the easily offended, and please don’t think poorly of me if you watch it and do get offended. It is the BBC version the Gossip Girl or The Secret Life of an American Teenager without the censorship laws that we have in the US. For the most part, the storylines are outrageous and make me scared for Europe if it is a real representation of a teenager’s life in that culture. It is filled with a lot of drug use and unhealthy relationships, but at the same time it is a very raw picture of some of the pressures that teenagers today face.
In the first season, Dev Patel’s character, Anwar, is struggling with the cognitive dissonance between the doctrine of his Muslim religion, and the way he wants to live his life. A major issue in this chasm between his religious affiliation and his life is the fact that his best friend, Maxxie, is a homosexual. Desiring to be a good Muslim, and make his father proud, he begins to distance himself from his best friend, which causes a great deal of pain for them both. Anwar’s father, a devout Muslim, is constantly asking him why he has not seen Maxxie around lately, and pressures him to hold on to such a good friend. Anwar does not have the guts to share with his father why he is distancing himself, because he holds on to hope that he will be able to preserve his friendship and his religion. He fears that his father will make this impossible if he finds out his friend is a homosexual, due to the Muslim religions adamant denouncing of homosexuality.
In the season finale, Maxxie refuses to enter Anwar’s birthday party because of fear of what will happen when Anwar’s father finds out he is gay. It has come to a point where the friendship cannot last until it is out in the open. Anwar’s father comes outside with Anwar and sees Maxxie. He hugs him, and begins talking to him about all the food inside while Anwar interjects that Maxxie is gay. His father ignores the comment and continues talking until Maxxie interrupts with the same statement. The following is what Anwar’s father says to Maxxie:
“It’s an (expletive), stupid, messed up world. I’ve got my god. He speaks to me every day. Some things I just can’t work out, so I leave them be, okay, even if I think they are wrong, because I know one day he will make me understand. I’ve got that trust, it’s called belief. I’m a lucky man. Come Maxxie, the food is ready.”
I don’t cry too often at movies or television, but Anwar’s father’s words brought me to tears. Although his religion differs from mine, his concept of how to treat mankind is profoundly like my God wants from me. He loves Maxxie for who he is as an entire person, not for one thing that he thinks is wrong and does not understand. He loves Maxxie because he has faith that his god loves him enough to one day explain to him the things he does not understand. He opens his life to Maxxie and says he knows he is a sinner and still wants him at his dinner table. God’s message showed up in a raunchy BBC television show and shared a message that so many followers of Christ seem to be missing.
We are not commanded to judge, we are commanded to love. Jesus said that every law hangs on two commandments (Matthew 22:36-40):
1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
2. Love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no room for judgment in these two commandments. There is no room for hate or bigotry. There is only room for love. We are not called to place ourselves closer to God by degrading others. We are called to have the same grace that God’s has for us for all mankind, because we are all in the same messed up world. We are all unworthy of God’s presence, but he invites us to his dinner table anyway. Who are we to think that we have the right or ability to exclude any part of his creation from eating at that table? Who are we to accept God’s grace and divvy out judgment?
Like Anwar’s father said, have faith that God will one day bring clarity to the things you don’t understand. In the meantime, remember the gift you have received, and show your gratitude to God by loving His creation.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
I need some motivation...please!
A while back I began writing about the experience of giving my father’s eulogy, and the experiences that led to that moment. I planned on it being a full length memoir of sorts about his faith journey intermingled with mine, and the places it crossed to lead to that day. I had a horrible time starting, and after writing only a little, I just put it to the side. I would like to post what I had written, and see what you all think. I am not begging for compliments, but looking for motivation to continue the process. Please leave any comments you have positive, negative or neutral. I would like to see if you responses spark a new drive in me to keep writing about those experiences.
Thanks!
I find myself in a storage closet. They claim it is the pastor’s study, but as my elbows bump into music stands, and I am forced to dodge and old worn out piano, I do not feel the comfort that a place of quiet mediation should bring upon its inhabitants. I pace back and forth in the cramped space trying to find my breath...my thoughts...my words. I sit down, stand up, pace some more. Minutes seem like days, and I am constantly reminded of my reason for being here. You cannot escape it in this place, it is not possible. The sounds, the smell, the frigid air, there is no mistaking where I am and why I am there.
Ever since I can remember, when my nerves are at their peak I have this unquenchable feeling that there is phlegm sticking to the back of my throat. I have a constant fear that I will open my mouth and not be able to speak because of the crippling concoction coming up from my lungs and into my throat. Every couple of minutes I leave the closet to search out a place where I can dislodge this mucus. As I walk through the halls, I avoid people’s eyes, but they have an inability to avoid me. Their words are everything but comforting. For the most part, they make me feel completely inadequate and only heighten my anxiety. By the time I reach the restroom it feels like my sinuses have completely drained, and are entirely blocking my esophagus. No matter how many times I try to spit I still feel the lingering remnants, and I still have the fear that when I open my mouth to speak nothing will come out.
Back in the closet I sit down at a small cushioned chair and open my bible. I thumb through the pages that I have marked, ensuring myself that they are the perfect verses for the occasion. I cautiously read over my notes to reassure myself that I will tread a line of strong emotional depth and evangelism without making anyone in the room feel uncomfortable being in the pew. I want people to know my heart. I want them to know that there is only one way to heaven, and only so much time to find the way. However, I also want them to feel like the God who became man to save them from death is approachable. They need a strong dose of hope with just a little fear to fuel the fire.
There is a small peep hole in the door leading out to the sanctuary. As I look out of this portal into my future, I can only see half of the room, and it is completely empty. I know the people who will fill this half of the room, some of them personally but most of them only by occupation. I also know why the seats are empty. This half of the room is not anxious to enter a place where there can only be real emotion. Walls can only stand for so long before those seats break them down. My older brother had found out this fact only a moment earlier as the emotions finally sank in as he sat in a pew on that side of the room and wept. This is the side of the room that I so desperately want to talk to, but right now I fell like when I open my mouth they will only hear silence, and the whimpering noise of a child calling out for his father.
The last time I remember crying out for my father was when I was only three years old. It had only been a couple months since we had moved from my birthplace of Macomb, Illinois to Clearwater, Florida. As a young child I was prone to rolling right off of my bed, and it stuck with me until the day I rolled out of a bunk bed. Pain can quickly correct habits. On a hot, humid night in Clearwater I rolled out of my bed on to the rock hard linoleum floor. Reeling in pain from the crash, I rolled underneath the bed and became paralyzed with fear in the darkness. I yelled out for my dad. I am sure that he thought it was something much more serious, because it was an extremely rare occasion that I would scream for him and not for my mom. In my mind, this situation seemed too scary for my mom, it was something only dad could handle. He stormed into the room, but couldn’t find me. I continued to yell in the darkness, and he echoed back my name until our game of Marco Polo led to him discovering my location and saving me from the shadows.
I am sure there were other times I called out for my father’s help, but in all honesty I cannot remember them. My dad was unapproachable for most of his life. The world had made him a rough, cold, emotionless machine. For most of my time with him I feared him, avoided him, or was disgusted by him. So I guess the question you may have is, what am I going to say when I walk through that door? Why am I the one who will stand at the podium? Why have I been chosen to perform my father’s funeral?
Thanks!
I find myself in a storage closet. They claim it is the pastor’s study, but as my elbows bump into music stands, and I am forced to dodge and old worn out piano, I do not feel the comfort that a place of quiet mediation should bring upon its inhabitants. I pace back and forth in the cramped space trying to find my breath...my thoughts...my words. I sit down, stand up, pace some more. Minutes seem like days, and I am constantly reminded of my reason for being here. You cannot escape it in this place, it is not possible. The sounds, the smell, the frigid air, there is no mistaking where I am and why I am there.
Ever since I can remember, when my nerves are at their peak I have this unquenchable feeling that there is phlegm sticking to the back of my throat. I have a constant fear that I will open my mouth and not be able to speak because of the crippling concoction coming up from my lungs and into my throat. Every couple of minutes I leave the closet to search out a place where I can dislodge this mucus. As I walk through the halls, I avoid people’s eyes, but they have an inability to avoid me. Their words are everything but comforting. For the most part, they make me feel completely inadequate and only heighten my anxiety. By the time I reach the restroom it feels like my sinuses have completely drained, and are entirely blocking my esophagus. No matter how many times I try to spit I still feel the lingering remnants, and I still have the fear that when I open my mouth to speak nothing will come out.
Back in the closet I sit down at a small cushioned chair and open my bible. I thumb through the pages that I have marked, ensuring myself that they are the perfect verses for the occasion. I cautiously read over my notes to reassure myself that I will tread a line of strong emotional depth and evangelism without making anyone in the room feel uncomfortable being in the pew. I want people to know my heart. I want them to know that there is only one way to heaven, and only so much time to find the way. However, I also want them to feel like the God who became man to save them from death is approachable. They need a strong dose of hope with just a little fear to fuel the fire.
There is a small peep hole in the door leading out to the sanctuary. As I look out of this portal into my future, I can only see half of the room, and it is completely empty. I know the people who will fill this half of the room, some of them personally but most of them only by occupation. I also know why the seats are empty. This half of the room is not anxious to enter a place where there can only be real emotion. Walls can only stand for so long before those seats break them down. My older brother had found out this fact only a moment earlier as the emotions finally sank in as he sat in a pew on that side of the room and wept. This is the side of the room that I so desperately want to talk to, but right now I fell like when I open my mouth they will only hear silence, and the whimpering noise of a child calling out for his father.
The last time I remember crying out for my father was when I was only three years old. It had only been a couple months since we had moved from my birthplace of Macomb, Illinois to Clearwater, Florida. As a young child I was prone to rolling right off of my bed, and it stuck with me until the day I rolled out of a bunk bed. Pain can quickly correct habits. On a hot, humid night in Clearwater I rolled out of my bed on to the rock hard linoleum floor. Reeling in pain from the crash, I rolled underneath the bed and became paralyzed with fear in the darkness. I yelled out for my dad. I am sure that he thought it was something much more serious, because it was an extremely rare occasion that I would scream for him and not for my mom. In my mind, this situation seemed too scary for my mom, it was something only dad could handle. He stormed into the room, but couldn’t find me. I continued to yell in the darkness, and he echoed back my name until our game of Marco Polo led to him discovering my location and saving me from the shadows.
I am sure there were other times I called out for my father’s help, but in all honesty I cannot remember them. My dad was unapproachable for most of his life. The world had made him a rough, cold, emotionless machine. For most of my time with him I feared him, avoided him, or was disgusted by him. So I guess the question you may have is, what am I going to say when I walk through that door? Why am I the one who will stand at the podium? Why have I been chosen to perform my father’s funeral?
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Soul Revival February
From Elijah’s answer to God’s question, he must have been feeling pretty lonely. Some of it was his own fault; I mean he is the one who left his servant behind (1 Kings 19:3). The other part of his loneliness was a misconception that he was the only Israelite left who had not bowed down to another god or been killed. I can’t imagine walking for forty days and nights just thinking about how lonely I was and how miserable my life had become. However, I can relate with Elijah in some ways. I often feel alone, and it is also my own fault. I am horrible at relationships. I would have asked my servant to stay behind too, mostly because I wouldn’t have wanted to try to think of what to talk to him about for forty days and nights.
Crazy enough, God has been challenging me in this area of my life recently as well. I told Katie that I was deeming this month “Soul Revival February.” I have been getting into my Bible, praying, reading Streams in the Dessert each day and digging into to the book Reaching Out, by Henri Nouwen. To say God has been changing the way I look at the relationships I have with the people around me is an understatement. He has been creating major shifts in thinking that have rattled my entire framework of interacting with people. He has been working to break down barriers to meaningful relationships that I have had in my mind longer than I can remember.
I am anti-social. I have never really been able to put my finger on why I am anti-social, but I know that I am. The awkwardness of meeting new people scares me like airplane bathrooms scare a person with claustrophobia. This fear comes from my desire to find some easy overlap between my life and the person I am meeting. When this overlap does not come easy, I lose all ability to relate.
Let me try to make this clearer than the thoughts in my head. I am not that in to sports, I don’t really like the outdoors all that much and, for all of you John Eldredge fans, I am not “wild at heart.” So, I fear conversations with men because according to Eldredge, and most of the church, I may be living in sin if I don’t want to climb mountains and kill animals. Without this immediate connection, I fear being unable to build a meaningful relationship.
For all of my life I have placed the blame for me being bad at making friends on everyone else. Nouwen said, “Hey Jordan, maybe you are the problem.” I said, “No way…but since it Soul Revival February I will hear you out.”
Reaching Out discusses three spiritual movements, but I have really seen the book so far as a guide to relationships. The first epiphany is that I have no right to expect anybody to be anybody but themselves. We claim to be a very individualistic society, but at the same time expect others to be very similar to ourselves. At least I do. When I find out they are different, I don’t know how to relate and I leave them behind like the servant. Nouwen says,
“We can strengthen each other by mutual respect, by careful consideration of each other’s individuality, by an obedient distance from each other’s privacy and by a reverent understanding of the sacredness of the human heart.”
Wow, so Nouwen is saying that the beauty of relationships is not the overlap of our lives. The beauty is in the differences, that vast space between us, that we must cross to be in relationships. That gap that I run from in fear is the space where God is present, and I have been avoiding it all my life. Try to imagine a sphere of water, like earth. On the sphere is a bunch of floating islands, all unique besides that fact that they are all floating in the same water. The water represents God’s presence and the islands represent us. In order to build relationship we have to cross this huge expanse of water that is frightening. There are crashing waves, and who-knows-what kind of creatures lurking in the deep waters, but when we reach the other island we understand ourselves, God and each other in ways that can change our lives.
When I can begin to see others as wholly separate from myself, but basking in the same presence of God, I can no longer run in fear. I have to run in faith towards God’s presence, and towards relationship with others. Elijah feared that he was the last person to be in the presence of God, but God showed him that there were still Israelites who were faithful to Him. The thing about Jesus is that His life abolished the fear of no one else being in His presence. Being in relationship with Him is no longer set aside for the Israelites, but is open to us all.
Being in relationship with others is so important to our walk with God. Nouwen asks the question, how would life have been different if the widow would have refused a relationship with Elijah (1 Kings 17:7-24)? I mean, no one would have faulted her. He probably looked like a scary homeless man, and he was asking for the last of her food and water. However, if she wouldn’t have entered that relationship in faith, her and her son may have starved to death, and even if they had survived, her son would have died from illness. How much easier should it be for me to enter in to a relationship with someone who I just feel like I wouldn’t relate to very well? How much easier should it be for me to have faith that God can do His best work through relationships with people who are completely different from me? There may be rough waters, people may still annoy me most of the time, but when we meet in the presence of God there is only room for growth.
Crazy enough, God has been challenging me in this area of my life recently as well. I told Katie that I was deeming this month “Soul Revival February.” I have been getting into my Bible, praying, reading Streams in the Dessert each day and digging into to the book Reaching Out, by Henri Nouwen. To say God has been changing the way I look at the relationships I have with the people around me is an understatement. He has been creating major shifts in thinking that have rattled my entire framework of interacting with people. He has been working to break down barriers to meaningful relationships that I have had in my mind longer than I can remember.
I am anti-social. I have never really been able to put my finger on why I am anti-social, but I know that I am. The awkwardness of meeting new people scares me like airplane bathrooms scare a person with claustrophobia. This fear comes from my desire to find some easy overlap between my life and the person I am meeting. When this overlap does not come easy, I lose all ability to relate.
Let me try to make this clearer than the thoughts in my head. I am not that in to sports, I don’t really like the outdoors all that much and, for all of you John Eldredge fans, I am not “wild at heart.” So, I fear conversations with men because according to Eldredge, and most of the church, I may be living in sin if I don’t want to climb mountains and kill animals. Without this immediate connection, I fear being unable to build a meaningful relationship.
For all of my life I have placed the blame for me being bad at making friends on everyone else. Nouwen said, “Hey Jordan, maybe you are the problem.” I said, “No way…but since it Soul Revival February I will hear you out.”
Reaching Out discusses three spiritual movements, but I have really seen the book so far as a guide to relationships. The first epiphany is that I have no right to expect anybody to be anybody but themselves. We claim to be a very individualistic society, but at the same time expect others to be very similar to ourselves. At least I do. When I find out they are different, I don’t know how to relate and I leave them behind like the servant. Nouwen says,
“We can strengthen each other by mutual respect, by careful consideration of each other’s individuality, by an obedient distance from each other’s privacy and by a reverent understanding of the sacredness of the human heart.”
Wow, so Nouwen is saying that the beauty of relationships is not the overlap of our lives. The beauty is in the differences, that vast space between us, that we must cross to be in relationships. That gap that I run from in fear is the space where God is present, and I have been avoiding it all my life. Try to imagine a sphere of water, like earth. On the sphere is a bunch of floating islands, all unique besides that fact that they are all floating in the same water. The water represents God’s presence and the islands represent us. In order to build relationship we have to cross this huge expanse of water that is frightening. There are crashing waves, and who-knows-what kind of creatures lurking in the deep waters, but when we reach the other island we understand ourselves, God and each other in ways that can change our lives.
When I can begin to see others as wholly separate from myself, but basking in the same presence of God, I can no longer run in fear. I have to run in faith towards God’s presence, and towards relationship with others. Elijah feared that he was the last person to be in the presence of God, but God showed him that there were still Israelites who were faithful to Him. The thing about Jesus is that His life abolished the fear of no one else being in His presence. Being in relationship with Him is no longer set aside for the Israelites, but is open to us all.
Being in relationship with others is so important to our walk with God. Nouwen asks the question, how would life have been different if the widow would have refused a relationship with Elijah (1 Kings 17:7-24)? I mean, no one would have faulted her. He probably looked like a scary homeless man, and he was asking for the last of her food and water. However, if she wouldn’t have entered that relationship in faith, her and her son may have starved to death, and even if they had survived, her son would have died from illness. How much easier should it be for me to enter in to a relationship with someone who I just feel like I wouldn’t relate to very well? How much easier should it be for me to have faith that God can do His best work through relationships with people who are completely different from me? There may be rough waters, people may still annoy me most of the time, but when we meet in the presence of God there is only room for growth.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Separation Anxiety
I want to talk about Elijah’s, for lack of a better term, separation anxiety.
As I was thinking about the idea of mountain top experiences, I came across a misconception in my head that was actually in my last post previous to editing. I didn’t know why I removed it, but it just didn’t seem to fit. Since deleting it, God has shown me, through the works of some great authors and alone time with Him, why I was lead to remove this misconception.
When I think of mountain top experiences, I think of highs and lows or ups and downs. I would say that most of us have a man made concept that God is above us. This is obviously true in a figurative sense, but not necessarily true in a physical sense. However, we see heaven as some place UP in the sky, and therefore see God as UP there as well. So, my natural inclination when I think of mountain top experiences is to think of those experiences in relationship to our closeness to God. When we are high on the mountain top we are close to God, and when we are in the valleys we are far from God. I now know that I am completely wrong in that assumption, but it gives some insight into Elijah’s story, and another way to see how it relates to our own lives, or at least mine.
Elijah must have felt that God had abandoned Him, at least for a second, because he was so fearful of Jezebel after he had just seen the amazing power of God. In this moment of perceived separation he felt completely alone, and feared that no one was present who would stand by him. So he ran away. He thought that because he was no longer on the mountain top, that God was no longer with him. This could not have been, and can never be, further from the truth.
For Christmas, I received a daily devotional called Streams in the Desert by Mrs. L.B. Cowan. Cowan took care of her ill husband for six years until his death and from her experiences came this devotional. The name of the book could not be more telling. In a time where I have been feeling like I am in a drought, her words are like mouthfuls of cold water. In the January 31st entry she writes,
“ ‘He giveth quietness’ – quietness even in the midst of losing our inner strength and comforts. Sometimes He removes these because we make too much of them. We are tempted to look at our joys, pleasures, passions, or our dreams, with too much satisfaction.”
In the middle of the valleys, as God feels far away, He is giving us an opportunity to lean in to Him. However, the other truth is that when we feel He is far away we are fooling ourselves. If we believe that difficult times are only products of separation from God, then we ignore the comfort of knowing He is never out of reach. 2 Corinthians 1:5 says: “For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.” When I read a verse that uses the word suffering I think physical pain, and physical pain can definitely be a time of suffering. However, dealing with our brokenness bears suffering as well, when we know God but forget His love for us there is suffering. In that suffering comes an opportunity to look to God for comfort and grow closer to Him. Cowan combines scripture from Isaiah and 2 Thessalonians to create this image of what God is telling us:
“I ‘am a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.’ I have allowed your earthly comforters to fail you so that by turning to me you may receive ‘eternal encouragement and good hope’”
God doesn’t ask questions to learn, He already knows the answers. When He asks questions it is too teach. You see this time and time again with Jesus’ ministry on earth, and you see this vividly in the story of Elijah at Mount Horeb. God did not ask Elijah why he was there because He didn’t know the answer. I think He was asking so that Elijah would hopefully hear how misguided his answer was. This idea that he had fought so hard, was the only one left standing and now would be sentenced to a horrible death as well could only come from an idea that God had left him alone. God gives Elijah a chance to rethink this thought by showing Him his amazing power, and then speaking to Him in a close and personal whisper. Elijah answers the question in the same pitiful way. God could have become frustrated and said, “Fine, you are alone. So, you can die in this cave or you can die by the sword of Jezebel. I have used you for what I need, and could care less about what happens to you now. You have had your mountain top experience, and now I need some space.” That is not our God. He cures his fears of loneliness and tells him the plans He has for him.
So, how does this relate to our lives? When we realize that God is not up, or down, or east, or west we will know that if we seek Him we will find Him. When we realize He is as present in the valleys as He is on the mountain tops, we can begin to listen for His whisper. When we get to a place where we feel alone, forsaken, and drowning in pride, we can ask ourselves what God asked Elijah: “Why are you here?” The true answer to that question will not come from ourselves. The true answer will come in seeing how God has been present in the journey to that point, and, in the personality of God, it may come in the form of another question: “Where should you be?”
As I was thinking about the idea of mountain top experiences, I came across a misconception in my head that was actually in my last post previous to editing. I didn’t know why I removed it, but it just didn’t seem to fit. Since deleting it, God has shown me, through the works of some great authors and alone time with Him, why I was lead to remove this misconception.
When I think of mountain top experiences, I think of highs and lows or ups and downs. I would say that most of us have a man made concept that God is above us. This is obviously true in a figurative sense, but not necessarily true in a physical sense. However, we see heaven as some place UP in the sky, and therefore see God as UP there as well. So, my natural inclination when I think of mountain top experiences is to think of those experiences in relationship to our closeness to God. When we are high on the mountain top we are close to God, and when we are in the valleys we are far from God. I now know that I am completely wrong in that assumption, but it gives some insight into Elijah’s story, and another way to see how it relates to our own lives, or at least mine.
Elijah must have felt that God had abandoned Him, at least for a second, because he was so fearful of Jezebel after he had just seen the amazing power of God. In this moment of perceived separation he felt completely alone, and feared that no one was present who would stand by him. So he ran away. He thought that because he was no longer on the mountain top, that God was no longer with him. This could not have been, and can never be, further from the truth.
For Christmas, I received a daily devotional called Streams in the Desert by Mrs. L.B. Cowan. Cowan took care of her ill husband for six years until his death and from her experiences came this devotional. The name of the book could not be more telling. In a time where I have been feeling like I am in a drought, her words are like mouthfuls of cold water. In the January 31st entry she writes,
“ ‘He giveth quietness’ – quietness even in the midst of losing our inner strength and comforts. Sometimes He removes these because we make too much of them. We are tempted to look at our joys, pleasures, passions, or our dreams, with too much satisfaction.”
In the middle of the valleys, as God feels far away, He is giving us an opportunity to lean in to Him. However, the other truth is that when we feel He is far away we are fooling ourselves. If we believe that difficult times are only products of separation from God, then we ignore the comfort of knowing He is never out of reach. 2 Corinthians 1:5 says: “For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.” When I read a verse that uses the word suffering I think physical pain, and physical pain can definitely be a time of suffering. However, dealing with our brokenness bears suffering as well, when we know God but forget His love for us there is suffering. In that suffering comes an opportunity to look to God for comfort and grow closer to Him. Cowan combines scripture from Isaiah and 2 Thessalonians to create this image of what God is telling us:
“I ‘am a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.’ I have allowed your earthly comforters to fail you so that by turning to me you may receive ‘eternal encouragement and good hope’”
God doesn’t ask questions to learn, He already knows the answers. When He asks questions it is too teach. You see this time and time again with Jesus’ ministry on earth, and you see this vividly in the story of Elijah at Mount Horeb. God did not ask Elijah why he was there because He didn’t know the answer. I think He was asking so that Elijah would hopefully hear how misguided his answer was. This idea that he had fought so hard, was the only one left standing and now would be sentenced to a horrible death as well could only come from an idea that God had left him alone. God gives Elijah a chance to rethink this thought by showing Him his amazing power, and then speaking to Him in a close and personal whisper. Elijah answers the question in the same pitiful way. God could have become frustrated and said, “Fine, you are alone. So, you can die in this cave or you can die by the sword of Jezebel. I have used you for what I need, and could care less about what happens to you now. You have had your mountain top experience, and now I need some space.” That is not our God. He cures his fears of loneliness and tells him the plans He has for him.
So, how does this relate to our lives? When we realize that God is not up, or down, or east, or west we will know that if we seek Him we will find Him. When we realize He is as present in the valleys as He is on the mountain tops, we can begin to listen for His whisper. When we get to a place where we feel alone, forsaken, and drowning in pride, we can ask ourselves what God asked Elijah: “Why are you here?” The true answer to that question will not come from ourselves. The true answer will come in seeing how God has been present in the journey to that point, and, in the personality of God, it may come in the form of another question: “Where should you be?”
Sunday, January 31, 2010
"Why are you here?"
A week ago I shared one of my favorite Bible stories, and explained how the story led to the name of this blog. However, the part of the story the really solidifies its correlation to my life is the next chapter of the saga. 1 Kings 19: 1-18 tells the story of what happens directly after the excitement of God’s presence in Elijah’s life gave him the ability to the chase down the chariots of the King.
Ahab gets back to his kingdom and shares with his wife, Jezebel, all of what Elijah had done on Mount Carmel, including him putting to death all of the prophets of Baal. She is furious, and sends a messenger to tell Elijah that she will make sure he faces the same fate of the prophets of Baal by that time the next day.
Before we look at how Elijah reacts to this message, let us remember all that God has done to ensure his well being up until now. During a drought of over three years, he has been fed by ravens and by a widow whose dwindling supplies of food continue to miraculously multiply. In order to stay in the widow’s good graces, God answers his prayer to bring the widow’s son back from the dead. God then brought Elijah out of the desert and showed his power to all of Israel by raining fire from the sky, and then ending the drought as Elijah had prophesied. So, you would suppose that Elijah’s confidence in God would be pretty strong at this point. He would probably mock Jezebel like he mocked the prophets of Baal, and ignore her threats because he knew God would protect him.
Elijah was afraid, and ran.
He wasn’t running to shout God’s wonder to the world this time. He was running from the idea that his calling from God would lead to his death by the hand of an evil Queen. He wasn’t running because of joy, he was running because of fear.
Elijah left his servant in Beersheba and walked into the desert for a day. He sat under a tree, prayed for the God who had saved him over and over again to take his life, and then he fell asleep. All of a sudden, and angel touches him and tells him to get up and eat. By his head was bread and water. He ate, drank and then fell back to sleep. The angel woke him up again and told him to eat and drink again because the journey was too much for him. This time, after he ate he traveled for 40 days and nights to Horeb, the Mountain of God, where he went into a cave and spent the night.
God said: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
He tells God how passionate he has been while the rest of the Israelites had broken their covenant with God, broken down the altars to Him, and killed all of His prophets. He says he is the only one left, and now they are trying to kill him.
God tells Elijah to go stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord because the Lord is about to pass by.
A great wind rips through the mountain shattering rocks in its path, but the Lord is not present in the wind.
An earthquake rocks the foundation of the mountain, but the Lord is not present in the earthquake.
A fire burns the face of the mountain, but the Lord is not in the fire.
Then came a gentle whisper.
When Eli heard the whisper, he hid his face with his cloak and went to the mouth of the cave.
The gentle voice of God said: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Elijah responds in the exact same way as he did the first time God asked, but this time God tells him how wrong he is. He tells him of four men who will put to death every Israelite who has turned from Him upon Elijah’s anointing, and of seven thousand Israelites who had not bowed down or kissed the false god, Baal.
I am struggling with which direction to go in my initial post about this section of Elijah’s story. There are so many parallels to my life and the lives of many Christian’s I know. In order to not make this post a book I am going to focus on one portion of the story that grabs my attention. However, be prepared for me to come back to this story over and over as I search for God in the world around me and share my findings with whoever is out there reading this blog.
I want to focus on the question God asks Elijah: “What are you doing here?”
Two precursors:
1. It is very easy to look at Elijah, the disciples, or other people in our lives and say, “I can’t believe they didn’t realize how much God had protected them and ran in fear at the first sign of trouble.” I want to challenge you to use the examples of others to examine your own decisions to run in fear instead of running because of the joy that God is with you.
2. If you are still hung up on this being an Old Testament story and feel like God isn’t as attainable as He is to Elijah, I challenge you to read my mom’s e-mail in this previous post and try to argue with me about whether God still shows up in our lives today.
So, “What are you doing here?”
First of all, I think we can agree that God was not asking about why Elijah was at the physical place of a cave in the side of Mount Horeb. I am assuming that although the Bible does not say that the angel gave Elijah specific instructions, that he was led by God to the cave in Mount Horeb.
I believe God is asking Elijah why he is at a place in his life where he feels like he no longer wants to live. After God has brought him through trial after trial, and showed himself to him in ways that are indescribably magnificent, how could he not want to live to chase the chariots he had once passed on the way to Jezreel? This may make you feel awkward when you see me next, but I have been exactly where Elijah was, and God asked me the same question. “What are you doing here?” Much like Elijah, my answers were selfish and wrong. It is easy for us to praise God in the times where we feel close to Him, when we see him so clearly working like he has been in my mom’s life, or in times where he is carrying us through marathons or the deaths of people closest to us. However, it is just as easy to be distracted by the temptations of this word and begin running away in fear.
C.S. Lewis, although most well known for the Chronicles of Narnia series, has written a large library of non-fiction and fiction works. Some of my favorite works of his are his space trilogy. The second book of the series, Perelandra, tells the story of Elwin Ransom who is sent to Perelandra, where a new Garden of Eden and a new Adam and Eve have been created. He is given the mission of stopping the serpentesque human physicist Professor Weston, who has been sent to corrupt the Eve figure. In one of the most powerful scenes, Weston, who does not require sleep, is attempting to wear Ransom down by constantly repeating his name in the night.
Weston: Ransom……Ransom……Ransom
Ransom: What?
Weston: Nothing…..Ransom…..Ransom…….Ransom
All night long
In the middle of the night, while Weston is constantly mocking his name, Ransom prays: “Father, what must I do?”
This is a picture of our lives. Satan, or the world, or society, which ever you feel comfortable saying at this point, is calling out to us constantly. They are asking us to remove our attention from God and float off into the loneliness and fear that comes from a separation from Him.
The answer is not to run in fear; it is to remember the joy of being close to God and turn to Him for help. Turn to the God who has shown His love to us over and over again and ask, “Father, what must I do?”
After I received the call from my mom about my father dying I called my brother. I remember him asking me, “What are we were supposed to do?” I told him we have two choices, but only one is an option. We can turn towards Him, or we can turn away from Him. If you read my mom’s words and were in awe at her strength, please realize that her strength comes from our family’s decision to run towards God in joy instead of running away from Him in fear. Remember the words of Jesus in Luke 11:9-10: “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Ahab gets back to his kingdom and shares with his wife, Jezebel, all of what Elijah had done on Mount Carmel, including him putting to death all of the prophets of Baal. She is furious, and sends a messenger to tell Elijah that she will make sure he faces the same fate of the prophets of Baal by that time the next day.
Before we look at how Elijah reacts to this message, let us remember all that God has done to ensure his well being up until now. During a drought of over three years, he has been fed by ravens and by a widow whose dwindling supplies of food continue to miraculously multiply. In order to stay in the widow’s good graces, God answers his prayer to bring the widow’s son back from the dead. God then brought Elijah out of the desert and showed his power to all of Israel by raining fire from the sky, and then ending the drought as Elijah had prophesied. So, you would suppose that Elijah’s confidence in God would be pretty strong at this point. He would probably mock Jezebel like he mocked the prophets of Baal, and ignore her threats because he knew God would protect him.
Elijah was afraid, and ran.
He wasn’t running to shout God’s wonder to the world this time. He was running from the idea that his calling from God would lead to his death by the hand of an evil Queen. He wasn’t running because of joy, he was running because of fear.
Elijah left his servant in Beersheba and walked into the desert for a day. He sat under a tree, prayed for the God who had saved him over and over again to take his life, and then he fell asleep. All of a sudden, and angel touches him and tells him to get up and eat. By his head was bread and water. He ate, drank and then fell back to sleep. The angel woke him up again and told him to eat and drink again because the journey was too much for him. This time, after he ate he traveled for 40 days and nights to Horeb, the Mountain of God, where he went into a cave and spent the night.
God said: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
He tells God how passionate he has been while the rest of the Israelites had broken their covenant with God, broken down the altars to Him, and killed all of His prophets. He says he is the only one left, and now they are trying to kill him.
God tells Elijah to go stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord because the Lord is about to pass by.
A great wind rips through the mountain shattering rocks in its path, but the Lord is not present in the wind.
An earthquake rocks the foundation of the mountain, but the Lord is not present in the earthquake.
A fire burns the face of the mountain, but the Lord is not in the fire.
Then came a gentle whisper.
When Eli heard the whisper, he hid his face with his cloak and went to the mouth of the cave.
The gentle voice of God said: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Elijah responds in the exact same way as he did the first time God asked, but this time God tells him how wrong he is. He tells him of four men who will put to death every Israelite who has turned from Him upon Elijah’s anointing, and of seven thousand Israelites who had not bowed down or kissed the false god, Baal.
I am struggling with which direction to go in my initial post about this section of Elijah’s story. There are so many parallels to my life and the lives of many Christian’s I know. In order to not make this post a book I am going to focus on one portion of the story that grabs my attention. However, be prepared for me to come back to this story over and over as I search for God in the world around me and share my findings with whoever is out there reading this blog.
I want to focus on the question God asks Elijah: “What are you doing here?”
Two precursors:
1. It is very easy to look at Elijah, the disciples, or other people in our lives and say, “I can’t believe they didn’t realize how much God had protected them and ran in fear at the first sign of trouble.” I want to challenge you to use the examples of others to examine your own decisions to run in fear instead of running because of the joy that God is with you.
2. If you are still hung up on this being an Old Testament story and feel like God isn’t as attainable as He is to Elijah, I challenge you to read my mom’s e-mail in this previous post and try to argue with me about whether God still shows up in our lives today.
So, “What are you doing here?”
First of all, I think we can agree that God was not asking about why Elijah was at the physical place of a cave in the side of Mount Horeb. I am assuming that although the Bible does not say that the angel gave Elijah specific instructions, that he was led by God to the cave in Mount Horeb.
I believe God is asking Elijah why he is at a place in his life where he feels like he no longer wants to live. After God has brought him through trial after trial, and showed himself to him in ways that are indescribably magnificent, how could he not want to live to chase the chariots he had once passed on the way to Jezreel? This may make you feel awkward when you see me next, but I have been exactly where Elijah was, and God asked me the same question. “What are you doing here?” Much like Elijah, my answers were selfish and wrong. It is easy for us to praise God in the times where we feel close to Him, when we see him so clearly working like he has been in my mom’s life, or in times where he is carrying us through marathons or the deaths of people closest to us. However, it is just as easy to be distracted by the temptations of this word and begin running away in fear.
C.S. Lewis, although most well known for the Chronicles of Narnia series, has written a large library of non-fiction and fiction works. Some of my favorite works of his are his space trilogy. The second book of the series, Perelandra, tells the story of Elwin Ransom who is sent to Perelandra, where a new Garden of Eden and a new Adam and Eve have been created. He is given the mission of stopping the serpentesque human physicist Professor Weston, who has been sent to corrupt the Eve figure. In one of the most powerful scenes, Weston, who does not require sleep, is attempting to wear Ransom down by constantly repeating his name in the night.
Weston: Ransom……Ransom……Ransom
Ransom: What?
Weston: Nothing…..Ransom…..Ransom…….Ransom
All night long
In the middle of the night, while Weston is constantly mocking his name, Ransom prays: “Father, what must I do?”
This is a picture of our lives. Satan, or the world, or society, which ever you feel comfortable saying at this point, is calling out to us constantly. They are asking us to remove our attention from God and float off into the loneliness and fear that comes from a separation from Him.
The answer is not to run in fear; it is to remember the joy of being close to God and turn to Him for help. Turn to the God who has shown His love to us over and over again and ask, “Father, what must I do?”
After I received the call from my mom about my father dying I called my brother. I remember him asking me, “What are we were supposed to do?” I told him we have two choices, but only one is an option. We can turn towards Him, or we can turn away from Him. If you read my mom’s words and were in awe at her strength, please realize that her strength comes from our family’s decision to run towards God in joy instead of running away from Him in fear. Remember the words of Jesus in Luke 11:9-10: “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Message from my mom
The following is a message from my mom. I think it is a great example of God showing up when we search for Him and when we need Him:
"Everyday, when I wake up and go to bed, the reality that your dad is not here enters my conscious. He is always with me but sometimes the thoughts of him are more frequent because of so many memories and years of being together. I am sure it is the same for you. Anyway, when I got up to make my coffee this morning and the water did not funnel through to the pot I started thinking about how I'd go buy another Bun. It reminded me of how excited dad would be purchasing a new coffee pot. As soon as we'd get home with a new pot, he would be the one taking it out of the box, setting it up, cleaning it (according to instructions he would read) and making preparations for the first pot of coffee. It will be a first for me.
Then I read your blog. I really didn't expect it to end the way it did. That memory of your dads lecture has meant so much to you. It was one of those highlights in his walk that I will always remember too.
I was getting ready to run to the store and post office when I saw one of your dad’s students getting ready to clean my driveway. I would have had no idea who had cleaned the drive if I had been gone. I would have thought it was the neighbor. It was Chris Logan's son. Chris worked security at Indian Hills Community College and still does. His son was in the Criminal Justice program and came to the house after dad passed away.
Finally, in the mail there was a letter from the Iowa Donor Network. It stated that in a separate sealed envelope was information on Roger's donations that were received. It said please feel free to open and read it at a time that is right for you.
I did not think it would be a big deal, so I opened it in the car at the post office. I couldn't finish it. Sixty-seven bone grafts have been created from Roger's gift! It said the grafts would be used for reconstructive surgery, spinal fusions and oral surgery. It actually lists 13 individuals’ names, ages ranging from 19 years of age to 65, and where they live, that have already benefited.
What really moved me was when it said "In the case of Roger's gift a pulmonary graft has been transplanted in a 3 month old baby boy at a hospital in New York."
It was worth the process, although I questioned it at the time.
It has been an emotional day but a B-E-A utiful day to praise God and keep on looking for him in those unexpected places and at unpredictable times. I have been blessed today in ways I cannot begin to explain, and I wasn't at church."
My mom is the best person I know at finding God in her everyday life, so for her to act like my blog had anything to do with it is probably an exaggeration. She understands that Heaven isn't a distant place in another dimension, but a place that, if you look close enough, is right in front of your eyes. Without getting too theological and out of my league, I believe Heaven is where God resides, and I believe God resides in all of His creation. So, take a look around, and then take another look, because if you search for Him you will find Him, and you might find a little piece of Heaven as well.
Thanks Mom for your note, and for your constant inspiration in my life.
"Everyday, when I wake up and go to bed, the reality that your dad is not here enters my conscious. He is always with me but sometimes the thoughts of him are more frequent because of so many memories and years of being together. I am sure it is the same for you. Anyway, when I got up to make my coffee this morning and the water did not funnel through to the pot I started thinking about how I'd go buy another Bun. It reminded me of how excited dad would be purchasing a new coffee pot. As soon as we'd get home with a new pot, he would be the one taking it out of the box, setting it up, cleaning it (according to instructions he would read) and making preparations for the first pot of coffee. It will be a first for me.
Then I read your blog. I really didn't expect it to end the way it did. That memory of your dads lecture has meant so much to you. It was one of those highlights in his walk that I will always remember too.
I was getting ready to run to the store and post office when I saw one of your dad’s students getting ready to clean my driveway. I would have had no idea who had cleaned the drive if I had been gone. I would have thought it was the neighbor. It was Chris Logan's son. Chris worked security at Indian Hills Community College and still does. His son was in the Criminal Justice program and came to the house after dad passed away.
Finally, in the mail there was a letter from the Iowa Donor Network. It stated that in a separate sealed envelope was information on Roger's donations that were received. It said please feel free to open and read it at a time that is right for you.
I did not think it would be a big deal, so I opened it in the car at the post office. I couldn't finish it. Sixty-seven bone grafts have been created from Roger's gift! It said the grafts would be used for reconstructive surgery, spinal fusions and oral surgery. It actually lists 13 individuals’ names, ages ranging from 19 years of age to 65, and where they live, that have already benefited.
What really moved me was when it said "In the case of Roger's gift a pulmonary graft has been transplanted in a 3 month old baby boy at a hospital in New York."
It was worth the process, although I questioned it at the time.
It has been an emotional day but a B-E-A utiful day to praise God and keep on looking for him in those unexpected places and at unpredictable times. I have been blessed today in ways I cannot begin to explain, and I wasn't at church."
My mom is the best person I know at finding God in her everyday life, so for her to act like my blog had anything to do with it is probably an exaggeration. She understands that Heaven isn't a distant place in another dimension, but a place that, if you look close enough, is right in front of your eyes. Without getting too theological and out of my league, I believe Heaven is where God resides, and I believe God resides in all of His creation. So, take a look around, and then take another look, because if you search for Him you will find Him, and you might find a little piece of Heaven as well.
Thanks Mom for your note, and for your constant inspiration in my life.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Chasing Chariots
The time has come to share with you where the name Chasing Chariots is derived from. It really is kind of a stretch to make one of my favorite stories in the Bible relate back to running, but it is a stretch I am willing to make.
I had the wonderful privilege of reading through 1st and 2nd Kings with a group of men from Orchard Hill Church led by the extremely knowledgeable Ed Baker. Not only was Ed’s knowledge inspiring, his passion for the word of God made me appreciate the stories of the Old Testament in a way I did not know possible. My favorite story from this journey comes in 1 Kings chapters 17-19. Each time I read the story I find more things that I love, and more ways that this crazy Old Testament story that normally sounded like a fairy tale to me relates very intimately to my life. So, although I will paraphrase the story I encourage you to read through it in the pages of your Bible. If you don’t have Ed Baker handy to explain all the nuances, grab a commentary from a book store or one online. However, don’t let the burden of understanding all that is going get in the way of letting God speak to you through the story.
There is this King Ahab who like so many before him has done wrong in the eyes of God. He has married one of the scariest characters in the Bible, Jezebel, and set up places for his people to worship the idols, Baal and Asherah. Elijah gets a message from God to tell Ahab that it will not rain in his land for the next few years until he says so.
God protects Elijah by telling him to go to a brook where he had plenty of water and the ravens, yes the ravens, brought him food in the morning and at night. When the brook dries up, God sends Elijah to a widow who is poor and famished and has resolved to die with her son. When Elijah asks for food and water she tells him her plight. Elijah tells her to go home and make him, herself and her son some bread with the supplies she has and tells her to not be afraid because the Lord said the supplies will not run out until it rained on the land. Some time later the woman’s son became ill and stopped breathing. She thinks that Elijah has been sent to remind her of her sins and take her son from her. Elijah prays to God to save her son and the Lord brings him back to life.
After at least three years of no rain God tells Elijah to go talk to Ahab. Before making it rain God wants to know that the people know they are worshipping false idols and He is the only true God, so he calls for a bit of a show down. Elijah comes across the person in charge of Ahab’s palace, Obadiah, and tells him to tell Ahab he is back. Obadiah is scared to do so because while Elijah has been gone Jezebel has been killing every prophet of the Lord she could find, and Ahab has been searching everywhere for Elijah. He was afraid that if he told Ahab he was back, and then Elijah was called somewhere else, that Ahab would kill him. Elijah promises this will not happen and Obadiah tells Ahab of Elijah’s return.
When Elijah meets with Ahab he reminds him of why the drought is happening. He tells him to gather all the people of Israel, the prophets of Baal and the prophets of Asherah and tell them to go to Mount Carmel. When everyone arrives Elijah gives them a ultimatum. He says you worship God, or you worship Baal. You can’t have both. He claims he is the only prophet of God left but there are 450 prophets of Baal. To prove that God is the only God he sets up a test. The prophets of Baal will prepare a bull for sacrifice and so will Elijah. They will both ask their god for fire and the god who answers is the true God.
The prophets of Baal go first because Elijah is so outnumbered. They call on Baal all morning but nothing happens. Then Elijah starts a bit of trash talk. He even implies that maybe Baal is too busy using the toilette to answer them. The prophets became upset and slashed themselves with swords to bleed in order for Baal to answer. They did this into the evening, but nothing happened.
Elijah then called everyone’s attention to him. The people came and helped him prepare the altar of the Lord with twelve stones for each tribe of Israel. He arranged the wood and placed the bull on the altar. He then asked the people to fill the trench they had made with 12 large jars of precious water during a drought. Then Elijah called upon the Lord to let the people know that he was the one true God so their hearts would return to Him. Fire came down that was so hot it burned up the entire altar: bull, stones, wood and water. The people of Israel turned back to God, and the prophets of Baal were put to death. Elijah told Ahab to go eat and drink because rain was on its way. As the people celebrated , Elijah knelt down on the top of Mount Carmel and prayed to God for the rain to come. He told his servant to go look for clouds seven times, and on the seventh trip he saw a small cloud coming over the horizon.
Elijah told Ahab to get in his chariot and get back home before the rain made it too hard to travel. The sky grew dark, the winds picked up, and a heavy rain began as Ahab rode of in his chariot. Elijah was so overwhelmed by what God had done that he was filled with the power of the Lord. He tucked his cloak into his belt and began running in the direction of Ahab’s chariot. The Lords power was so strong in him that he chased down Ahab’s chariots and passed them, beating them back to the town of Jezreel.
Elijah was so excited about what God had done for him and his people that he could not hold in his amazement and gratitude to God. He wanted to shout it so loud that he was able to accomplish the super-human feat of beating the chariots back to Jezreel from Mount Carmel. The story reminds me of my father’s conversion after attending a Young Life camp. He was so dumbfounded by this new knowledge of God’s amazing love for him that he could not hold it in.
I remember getting a call from him before he was to be a guest lecturer at UNI. He said, “Jordan, is it okay to talk about Jesus in a classroom at UNI.” I said, “Dad, I thought your lecture was about youth drug culture and intervention.” He said, “Well I can’t really keep my faith out of anything.” I said, “If you think it is the truth, no one can stop you from telling it.” A woman in the class asked him if he thought that jail or rehabilitation really changed anybody. He said, “No, because the only thing that can really change anybody is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” My father had the power to chase chariots in order to shout from the mountain tops the love and forgiveness that Jesus Christ had offered him. I hope that as I discover God in new ways that I don’t keep it to myself. I hope that God will fill me with the power to share it with the world. I hope that I am always chasing chariots.
I had the wonderful privilege of reading through 1st and 2nd Kings with a group of men from Orchard Hill Church led by the extremely knowledgeable Ed Baker. Not only was Ed’s knowledge inspiring, his passion for the word of God made me appreciate the stories of the Old Testament in a way I did not know possible. My favorite story from this journey comes in 1 Kings chapters 17-19. Each time I read the story I find more things that I love, and more ways that this crazy Old Testament story that normally sounded like a fairy tale to me relates very intimately to my life. So, although I will paraphrase the story I encourage you to read through it in the pages of your Bible. If you don’t have Ed Baker handy to explain all the nuances, grab a commentary from a book store or one online. However, don’t let the burden of understanding all that is going get in the way of letting God speak to you through the story.
There is this King Ahab who like so many before him has done wrong in the eyes of God. He has married one of the scariest characters in the Bible, Jezebel, and set up places for his people to worship the idols, Baal and Asherah. Elijah gets a message from God to tell Ahab that it will not rain in his land for the next few years until he says so.
God protects Elijah by telling him to go to a brook where he had plenty of water and the ravens, yes the ravens, brought him food in the morning and at night. When the brook dries up, God sends Elijah to a widow who is poor and famished and has resolved to die with her son. When Elijah asks for food and water she tells him her plight. Elijah tells her to go home and make him, herself and her son some bread with the supplies she has and tells her to not be afraid because the Lord said the supplies will not run out until it rained on the land. Some time later the woman’s son became ill and stopped breathing. She thinks that Elijah has been sent to remind her of her sins and take her son from her. Elijah prays to God to save her son and the Lord brings him back to life.
After at least three years of no rain God tells Elijah to go talk to Ahab. Before making it rain God wants to know that the people know they are worshipping false idols and He is the only true God, so he calls for a bit of a show down. Elijah comes across the person in charge of Ahab’s palace, Obadiah, and tells him to tell Ahab he is back. Obadiah is scared to do so because while Elijah has been gone Jezebel has been killing every prophet of the Lord she could find, and Ahab has been searching everywhere for Elijah. He was afraid that if he told Ahab he was back, and then Elijah was called somewhere else, that Ahab would kill him. Elijah promises this will not happen and Obadiah tells Ahab of Elijah’s return.
When Elijah meets with Ahab he reminds him of why the drought is happening. He tells him to gather all the people of Israel, the prophets of Baal and the prophets of Asherah and tell them to go to Mount Carmel. When everyone arrives Elijah gives them a ultimatum. He says you worship God, or you worship Baal. You can’t have both. He claims he is the only prophet of God left but there are 450 prophets of Baal. To prove that God is the only God he sets up a test. The prophets of Baal will prepare a bull for sacrifice and so will Elijah. They will both ask their god for fire and the god who answers is the true God.
The prophets of Baal go first because Elijah is so outnumbered. They call on Baal all morning but nothing happens. Then Elijah starts a bit of trash talk. He even implies that maybe Baal is too busy using the toilette to answer them. The prophets became upset and slashed themselves with swords to bleed in order for Baal to answer. They did this into the evening, but nothing happened.
Elijah then called everyone’s attention to him. The people came and helped him prepare the altar of the Lord with twelve stones for each tribe of Israel. He arranged the wood and placed the bull on the altar. He then asked the people to fill the trench they had made with 12 large jars of precious water during a drought. Then Elijah called upon the Lord to let the people know that he was the one true God so their hearts would return to Him. Fire came down that was so hot it burned up the entire altar: bull, stones, wood and water. The people of Israel turned back to God, and the prophets of Baal were put to death. Elijah told Ahab to go eat and drink because rain was on its way. As the people celebrated , Elijah knelt down on the top of Mount Carmel and prayed to God for the rain to come. He told his servant to go look for clouds seven times, and on the seventh trip he saw a small cloud coming over the horizon.
Elijah told Ahab to get in his chariot and get back home before the rain made it too hard to travel. The sky grew dark, the winds picked up, and a heavy rain began as Ahab rode of in his chariot. Elijah was so overwhelmed by what God had done that he was filled with the power of the Lord. He tucked his cloak into his belt and began running in the direction of Ahab’s chariot. The Lords power was so strong in him that he chased down Ahab’s chariots and passed them, beating them back to the town of Jezreel.
Elijah was so excited about what God had done for him and his people that he could not hold in his amazement and gratitude to God. He wanted to shout it so loud that he was able to accomplish the super-human feat of beating the chariots back to Jezreel from Mount Carmel. The story reminds me of my father’s conversion after attending a Young Life camp. He was so dumbfounded by this new knowledge of God’s amazing love for him that he could not hold it in.
I remember getting a call from him before he was to be a guest lecturer at UNI. He said, “Jordan, is it okay to talk about Jesus in a classroom at UNI.” I said, “Dad, I thought your lecture was about youth drug culture and intervention.” He said, “Well I can’t really keep my faith out of anything.” I said, “If you think it is the truth, no one can stop you from telling it.” A woman in the class asked him if he thought that jail or rehabilitation really changed anybody. He said, “No, because the only thing that can really change anybody is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” My father had the power to chase chariots in order to shout from the mountain tops the love and forgiveness that Jesus Christ had offered him. I hope that as I discover God in new ways that I don’t keep it to myself. I hope that God will fill me with the power to share it with the world. I hope that I am always chasing chariots.
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