God Out of the Box

"All you nations, praise the Lord. All you people, extol him because the Lord loves us very much—great is his loyalty/love toward us—and his truth/faithfulness is everlasting. Praise the Lord!"—Psalm 117, Expanded

Not surprisingly, God knew Twitter long before Twitter was invented. The evidence is here in these two verses. (OK, maybe a bit over the 140-character limit, but who’s going to argue?) It's His eternal Genesis to Revelation love song to us—the simple Gospel boiled down to the shortest psalm of them all, even the shortest chapter in the entire Bible:

• “My unfailing love for you is more powerful than anything you can ever conceive." (verse 1)

• “My faithfulness in that love and in the promises I have made never has and never will quit on you.” (verse 2)

You mean, that's it? Yes, and it's more than enough!

While it's true that there are endless depths and riches of God to be explored and enjoyed so that we can know Him even more, if Psalm 117 had a hash tag regarding our Walk, in addition to expressing our praise extravagantly and often, it would be: #keepitsimple

And like this psalm, that includes ditching the unnecessarily complicated boxes we try to put both Him and ourselves in along the Journey:

Yes, God loves digging deep into us through long, meaty sermons and probing study.

But God also loves getting to the point quickly, with an exclamation mark or two beating fast in our hearts.

Yes, God loves it when we take a chunk of time to sing and pray our hearts out.

But God also loves our heart-felt, conversational, on-the-go sound bites, like “thank you!” and “help!” 

Yes, God really loves it when we can hang out with Him for hours at a time.

But God also knows that some days are, well, simply two-verse kind of days.

“Trying to figure out God," says author/pastor Matt Chandler, "is like trying to catch a fish in the Pacific Ocean with an inch of dental floss.” But the #keepitsimple, box-busting, rooftop-shouting, simple Gospel truth of the shortest Bible chapter ever written is this: Whether deep and wide or in "tweet" format, God loves to love us. And love deeply, and continually. Not from a galaxy far, far away either, but smack dab in the midst of wherever life's circumstances has us on any given day so that we, in turn, can learn to walk this way:

"So I give you a new command: Love each other deeply and fully. Remember the ways that I have loved you, and demonstrate your love for others in those same ways."

(John 13:34, The Voice)

"And I reach out, and You find me in the dust; You say no amount of untruths can separate us. I will rejoice in the simple Gospel, I will rejoice in You, Lord!"— Will Reagan and Brock Human, United Pursuit

Even in Winter

“…for wherever this water flows everything will come alive!“ – Ezekiel 47:9

You can take the same route to work, the same walk in your neighborhood, the same hiking path time after time, and suddenly the familiar seems to jump from the background into an explosion of awareness. God seems to love to continually communicate to us about Himself through His creation...and He's doing it all the time, 24/7, even when we aren't paying attention, with every change of color and cloud shape in an evening sunset, with every fragrant breeze, with every shadow and sunbeam dancing and forever changing the appearance of a familiar mountain vista. It makes you wonder if He's saying: "Hey, look at this! Check this out! Hey! ...HEY! I want to show you something more about Me for a sec, if you'll just stop doing what you're doing and stop thinking and worrying yourself silly."

It's true that in the opening verses of Genesis, when all of His creation had been created and in place, "God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good and He validated it completely." But that was just the beginning of The Beginning. As the New England preacher and revivalist Jonathan Edwards once wrote, "We have seen that the Son of God created the world for this very end: to communicate Himself in an image of His own excellency."

This is what is happening in Ezekiel 47. God communicates Himself as a river — that His very presence is like a non-stop, life-giving flow into our world that cannot be contained, diverted, or roadblocked by life's obstacles, questions, and circumstances. God's presence is so powerful, so wonderful, that it brings life to dead things, and fuels those all along its banks who choose to dig their roots down deep — they thrive and live abundant, fruitful lives. And the very essence of it all, says Ezekiel, is meant to bring healing to the nations.

Yes, but that all seems to be happening in a warm, sunny atmosphere. And Ezekiel has obviously never been to New England in the winter. Rivers freeze over. Trees shiver in the brutal breeze. You know His presence is still real and at work, but especially on "one of those days," there seems little evidence of it  — everything seems to have gone underground. Until...You can take the same route to work, the same walk in your neighborhood, the same hiking path time after time, and suddenly the familiar seems to jump from the background into an explosion of awareness.

 

Last week, while on one of those familiar walks after a few days of rain, I was especially aware of the river. What's this? It was no longer silent and underground, and it was loud, and cause for dancing (well, almost)...

...Lord, thanks for the incredible communication of a rushing river even in the midst of a frigid New England winter day — a reminder that Your presence is always flowing and ready to roar, rise, and break through in places and situations and seasons which, in the natural, may seem "dead" and cold. And most of all, thank You for always communicating Yourself to us even when we're not paying attention, because that's what You do and that's what You want — a relationship, not a religion.

"Even in the wilderness, through confusion and barrenness You are beautiful, God. Even in my brokenness, through this pain I will confess You are always good. Deserts will bloom in the Light of Your love; valleys make room for the river of God...You never run dry!..." — Housefires 

Immense with Love

"Still, when God saw the trouble they were in and heard their cries for help, He remembered his Covenant with them, and, immense with love, took them by the hand. He poured out his mercy on them while their captors looked on, amazed. Save us, God, our God! Gather us back out of exile so we can give thanks to your holy name and join in the glory when you are praised! Blessed be God, Israel’s God! Bless now, bless always! Oh! Let everyone say Amen! Hallelujah!"  

— Psalm 106: 44-48, Message

The long and winding adventure of the set-free children of Israel, out of the bondage, oppression and hopelessness of Egypt and toward the land where everything that flows is abundant and good, is the soundtrack of our Walk. Better still, it is the new song for another new year and another leg of this incredible journey...

God has fantastic promises, plans, and destinations ahead.

I will undoubtedly wander even as I follow.

Yet, He will remain faithful.

I will move forward, and even when it feels like I'm going backwards,

He will remain faithful.

I will, no doubt, be tempted to whine when the going gets especially tough.

Immense with Love, He will reach down and listen, in spite of myself.

Because what He promised, He promised.

He remains faithful.

Always.

My faith, my hope, my pursuit of Him may get shaky during certain stretches.

And yet even "If we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself."

As in all the years before, I will ask for help, for guidance, for provision time and again.

And as in all the years before, immense with Love, He will provide...

In His way, His timing.

And often, far beyond all I could imagine or think.

Since this world cannot satisfy,
I will regularly get desperate for refreshing of mind, body, and spirit,

And He will remind me of this:

"He opened the rock, and water gushed out; it flowed like a river in the desert."

Say it again: God has fantastic promises, plans, and destinations ahead!

No straight line, for sure, but there is great joy in this adventure

Because He formed me for this,

And knows me by name, and loves me

With an amazing Love that would willingly pay such a price,
Even if I was the only pilgrim on the highway of holiness.

How deep and wide and high it is.

My God is immense with Love!

Over the next 363 days, let my praise, my worship, my life never get sucked in to "whatever."

And even though life happens, with all its goodness mixed with trials and doubts,

This is another year, another beautiful gift given to press on, and in, and through

For what everything within strangely knows is the only thing ultimately worth pursuing,

Being reminded every step along the way:

Immense with Love, He will remain faithful.

"Old things have passed away
Your love has stayed the same
Your constant grace remains the cornerstone...
For all that you’ve done we will pour out our love
This will be our anthem song..."