The psalmists, like everyone else back in the day, were always walking from someplace to another place. No wonder they likened their walk with God to a path. Several thousand years later, it’s still good imagery to hold onto.
Walking with God is still about one foot in front of the other.
And each one’s path—the one laid out just for us since before we were born—is not like anyone else’s. There is no generic or random path of life. And yet our path is always His path…"for I know the plans I have for you” (Jeremiah 29:11). And because it’s His path for us, we can be sure it’s always the right path, because “All the paths of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of His covenant” (Psalm 25:10).
As with any real-life path, though, the terrain can change with the seasons.
It can be very beautiful and pleasant at times and it can also be challenging if not exhausting.
And we can wonder, “Am I doing this right?”
The answers are simple but easily forgotten in the heat of the moment:
Keep trusting the Way Maker daily, and…
Do not wish you had someone else’s path, and…
Do not be afraid and yet keep walking with a holy fear.
Wait, Fear?
“Fear signifies not panic but holy devotion,” says J.I. Packer. And so.…
“Who is the one who fears the Lord with awe-inspired reverence and worships Him with submissive wonder? He will teach him through His Word in the way he should choose.” (Psalm 25:12)
A creature of habit, no matter what the weather or time of year, one of the first things I do after waking up and grabbing a cup of coffee is to head out onto the porch. The weather-tight door always makes a distinct squeal and whoosh as it opens into a new day. It’s often the best part of waking up, even when it is still pitch black out. Like now, in mid-August.
Each season has their distinctive sights and sounds. In winter, the moon seems especially bright against the snow, the trees creek and branches snap in the frigid breeze, and on a still morning the sounds of a big rig on the distant highway and the even more distant town clock seem amplified. In spring and early summer, when there is a glorious hint of daylight even by 5 a.m., the porch door opens to the sound of a songbird symphony, a dog barking in the distance, and an early-riser motorcycle off in the distance. Fall is more of an aroma than a sound — decaying leaves, freshly fallen pine needles, and wood stove smoke.
But August is unique. I don’t need a calendar to tell me what time of year it is. The bird chorus is gone, with apparently many of them busily packing their bags for the long flight south for the winter. The wind in the trees sounds different, too. A bit of a crackle to it as the first hints of fall foliage smack against new growth, and with each small breeze, acorns and pine cones hit the woodland floor.
Most of all, though, there is the nonstop sound of tree crickets singing. It's not like the occasional cricket-in-the-grass chirping of early summer but almost as a quiet, pleasant ringing in the ears...
...Back inside, I hear a window fan whirring, the refrigerator humming and the clock ticking away. All vying for my attention. One morning last week, I was especially aware how these sounds were drowning out the beautiful, way-in-the-background sounds of August out on the porch. Almost annoyingly so, and so I got up and went back outside to not just hear noise but to listen. I wondered why the magnetic attraction and why it may have been the wisest thing I did all day…
“…and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased and delighted! Listen to Him!” —Matthew 17:5, Amplified
“My child, listen to — grasp — what I say
and remember, store up what I command you.
Listen carefully; bend your ear to wisdom;
set your mind on, stretch your heart to understanding.
Cry out for wisdom,
and beg — shout out loud — for understanding.
Search. Seek for it like silver,
And hunt. Search for it like hidden treasure.
Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord,
and you will gain knowledge of God.
—Proverbs 2:1-5, Expanded, NLT
“Listening to God — which is a key part of practicing His presence — is not a method, but a walk with a Person.”—Leanne Payne
Somewhere this week, lives were miraculously saved.
Somewhere this week, many lives of hopelessness and addiction were turned inside out.
Somewhere this week, weary hearts were revived.
Somewhere this week, a prayer drought turned into a prayer flood.
Somewhere this week, those who hated became those who Loved and were Loved.
All by the power of the name of Jesus.
And somewhere this week, and in too many other weeks in the past, people went public to find fault and nitpick.
Christian people.
What is the matter with us?
Have we not heard?…
"John spoke up, “Teacher, we saw a man using your Name to expel demons and we stopped him because he wasn’t in our group.” Jesus wasn’t pleased. “Don’t stop him. No one can use My Name to do something good and powerful, and in the next breath cut Me down. If he’s not an enemy, he’s an ally.”—Mark 9:38-41, Message
Suit-and-tie...blue jeans and t-shirts...(or, somewhere in between)…guitars, drums and multimedia...musty but much-loved hymnal and bulletin...make it mega-sized or even multi-sited...keep it intimate, in a living room, even. There is no right way to do Church other than this: let the Gospel and no other gospel be proclaimed, let its Subject and Author be worshiped deeply, and let the overflow be Life-giving. The rest is just packaging meant to connect with and help bring someone else Home that you or I couldn’t reach...
(Photo:denverpost.com)
...We're all prone to be taste-testers of anything not in "our group." How much better to cheer on the Kingdom’s advance in all its flavors.
"You may find hundreds of faultfinders among professed Christians; but all their criticism will not lead one solitary soul to Christ."
“The time is coming when we will no longer be concerned about whether to worship the Father here or in Jerusalem. For it’s not where we worship that counts, but how we worship—is our worship spiritual and real?”—John 4:21, Living Bible
Something wonderful happened Friday night. People were gathered to worship and we had come to the conclusion and “good night” of it all, or so we thought. There was one last and unplanned song. And when it was over, there was a holy hush in the place. No one was rushing to the door even though it was getting late. The only other time I remember that happening was at a worship conference several years ago when at the conclusion and “good night,” the leader remembered that some worship dancers had been forgotten, and so he invited them up. And when it was over, there was unrehearsed, spontaneous clapping for nearly eight minutes as in a declaration smashing of granite, from every generation in the room. No one was rushing to the door even though it was late.
Mysterious! And yet in both settings, the call seemed to be the same: “Be the Church. Worship Me deeply here, and by all means, worship Me deeply as you head out those doors.” We like to put God and God things in boxes. Jesus says, as He did to the woman at the well in John 4, worship is not confined to a building but is meant to be carried with us wherever we go. Worship is inside and it is outside. It is inside-out. And for a purpose beyond “just singing”, as the video clip at the end illustrates.
Not coincidentally this week, I came across this awakening, re-orienting journal entry from four summers ago..
…“My church, like any church, is far from perfect, because my church, like any church is not a building at all but a bunch of people. And every one of us, saved by Grace or still seeking, walks with a limp of one kind or another. We can’t help but bring it with us every time we walk through the doors, and inevitably the pain from the limp comes out from time to time…words are said which come out wrong and are received even worse, the spirit of offense rolls in, and so the people get distracted from the vision and purpose for being the Church.
It’s why many on the outside looking in often say, “the church is just a bunch of hypocrites.” No, just as it has been from the beginning, the church is filled with real and very imperfect humans seeking to follow a real and very perfect Savior. The adversary tries to use the distractions and offenses to sidetrack and destroy. Jesus uses them to strengthen as iron sharpens iron, to become stronger salt and light people of individual personalities and differences of opinions and likes because that is what the world is like and where the Church is sent—and distractions and all, He still says “…I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”
Because even as iron is sharpening iron, and everyone is desperately looking to Jesus as their example to press through and love and show grace, grace, grace, the adversary is getting kicked in the teeth: There is continual new Life—someone desperately seeking finally says “yes, Lord!,” and several someones of every generation are immersed in a lake baptism. And there are miraculous testimonies of God’s goodness through thick and thin that only God could do and that encourage us to hold on to our faith. And just about every day, scattered in several locations, fervent prayer and tireless service are going on—often, where no one sees and applauds but where Jesus smiles and empowers and answers.
I suppose it is this way in many imperfect Christ-one churches. And truth be told, none of them are as amazing and perfect as their social media hype would like you to believe. We are all a beautiful mess. But the Kingdom is advancing in stealth fashion nevertheless! And through all the messiness, I have found that other than the Gospel being preached and walked out, one thing really matters, something I experienced the first day I walked into our building that is called church—an overwhelming, can’t really put your finger on it sense of peace where your only words are: “Jesus is worshiped here, and His presence is welcome here. I feel like I’m home.” You know it in strange ways, like feeling the tension in your shoulders suddenly go limp.
“I wish that we might get back to worship again. Then when people come into the church, they will instantly sense that they have come among holy people—God’s people. They can testify, ‘of a truth, God is in this place!’”—A.W. Tozer
Sure, some gatherings are more engaged than others, but I can think of no better place to be, because in that environment of united worship by us bunch of individuals walking with limps, whether in hymns from a hymnal or new songs projected on a screen, Jesus is made huge again in our squinty eyes and heavy hearts, and faith is stirred, and you are reminded once more that with God all things are possible, and that this is why the Church is God’s wonderfully messy idea, and that a people who worship together and especially with no one else around throughout the week can make all the difference in the world, from the inside out…”
“…Sing loud when you can; stop and let the words and joy wash over you when you can't. Take the long drive. Those who do return to meeting with God again in worship, choosing to fill homes and cars and lives with worship music that lifts them in orientation to Jesus for a good, sustained long while, even if it's just running in the background, have told me they feel like someone who's just received a cool drink of water when they didn't realize how thirsty they had become. Don't lose this; it's life and help and strength because the Spirit meets us in it.”—Dan Wilt, "Engage in Worship Again"
“Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act.”—Psalm 37:3-5, ESV
The Kingdom of God is like the man who set out to take a photo of the early summer full moon. He had all the right equipment, a beautiful field in which to capture the moment, and not a cloud in the evening sky. The tripod was set. His compass pinpointed on the horizon where the moon would rise. And he waited and waited, patiently at first, but then grew fidgety as the appointed time of the rise came and went — he had forgotten that here, it had to emerge over mountains and trees first. There was much impatience and restlessness. And then the moment finally arrived.
“There it is!,” said the man. After much experimenting and adjusting, however, only a few of the many photos came close to capturing the majesty of it all. And then the much-anticipated moment quickly passed. A rush of joy but then a sinking feeling of closure so quickly…until the man began to put his camera away, and he noticed something wonderful.
Long before the moon made its appearance, during all the waiting and waiting and waiting, he had forgotten about how he had surveyed the field of gently blowing grass and wildflowers and fireflies, and how he had found incredible peace and joy in that moment and tried to do the impossible — capture it all on film — knowing that a picture only tells half the story. And he looked at the photos of the moon and he looked at the photos of the field and he heard a voice speak deep within:
“Never take for granted the beauty of the Journey and the joy of the moment, or to be in such a hurry to get to where or what you think you really want when the best and most satisfying moments of the Journey can be in the routine along the way, of waiting, of learning patience, of turning down your inner volume and being still so you can not just hear but listen.”
It was not unlike the same voice that often rose up in the man while running and looking forward to the finish line, when the best part always seemed to be not the finish line at all but all the processing and dreaming and clarity amidst confusion that often took place in his brain and heart along the way.
There is a saying that goes “trust the process.” But in the Kingdom of God, the saying is better: “Embrace the process.” Because it is here, in the fields and back roads of life, where the man with the camera and everyone else who Believes can hear best and where God often seems to speak loudest and to the deepest needs within, where real growth puts down roots, and where the eyes of the heart get their much needed and right perspective.
