Trust in the Keeper of your Life

Psalm 16:1 Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.

What a beautiful prayer: "I'm counting on you!"

I know this Psalm gives voice for Jesus, our Messiah: "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither...suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." (v. 10) None will suffer in the same way He did, but we all have our cross to bear, and we learn from our Lord. 

This helps as I remember hearing the woes of a friend, whom I will call "Steve." He had said something like: "My son dislikes me, my job is failing, I can't make ends meet, I fear my wife will leave." And then almost as an after thought he said, "And my only car is dying and I have no money to fix it." I knew he was catching rides to work so his wife could drive. And I knew he was faithful in church and well-regarded by his peers.

He had called me for counsel and I knew I just needed to listen. For an hour he told me the various problems: grown children colliding with life's obstacles, a son still home struggling with school and perils of adolescence, extended family troubles that spilled over into their life from time to time. His wife was devoted and faithful: he knew this in spite of his fears. But he could barely talk when he thought about how his various shortcomings and their many troubles had made it hard for her.

After long listening and a few pauses, by a miracle of grace I opened my Bible to Psalm 16 and, barely knowing what I was doing, read aloud: "Preserve me O God, for in Thee do I put my trust."

Steve began weeping loudly. Through the tears I heard, "That's what I pray everyday -- every day -- but God is nowhere to be found. He doesn't even know where I live. If he did He would come and help me!"

He had spoken the truth of his soul and was taken back at his own outburst. I had nothing to offer but God Himself, and of course "God Himself" is infinitely more than nothing. At the end of our rope He is all we have. Problem is, Steve already 'knew' God didn't care.

I wish I could say we talked and he left healed and trusting. Perhaps that is true in part but then, and now, Steve suffers daily with struggles downstream from what he shared with me that day. Is there any hope?

This morning I look to this verse and wonder what I can take away for Steve, for myself, and for all who suffer in this world, convinced God has forgotten them. I came away refusing to go to weary platitudes, if even I could. It is amazing how the simplest and worn of words can sometimes bring transforming grace. I know not what I have or what can help. I'm looking, and here's what I see.

• The preserving of God -- the keeping -- is very earthy, physical, life-sustaining. It entails all aspects of our life but it is grounded there: in the real feelings, fears, troubles, woes of every day life as we experience it.

• We do well when we come to God if we do not varnish the reality of our life but rather voice it to him as it is. He already knows all about it.

• Finally, there is no path in any direction without trust. God is our only hope when pressed to the wall and if we abandon hope in Him what do we have left? Ourselves alone, with all the hardship that brought us to the end of ourself.

At the end of ourself we learn to say, "in Thee do I put my trust."

Fling yourself on Him. He will come through for you when you need Him most if your trust is stayed on Him.

Pascal on Eternity

"...a nothing of eternity, and an eternity of nothing..."

Ran across this from Pascal -- had never seen it before. So true and cuts to the heart of Jesus' command not to worry and Paul's "do not set affections" on this world and James' "life is a vapor". How could it be that we have things so backwards? The Fall did more than we can imagine. As Peter Kreeft has it, "We read the Times when we need to read the eternities." Pascal says it so well:
   

"Our imagination so powerfully magnifies time, by continual reflections upon it,
and so diminishes eternity for want of reflection,
that we make a nothing of eternity, and an eternity of nothing;
 and so vigorous and deeply rooted is this propensity, that the utmost efforts of our reason cannot extirpate it."

A Simple Guide for the National Day of Prayer

National Day of Prayer 

A Proclamation [excerpts]

During the Civil War Lincoln said that he was driven to his knees in prayer because he was convinced that he had nowhere else to go. During World War II, an unknown soldier in a trench in Tunisia left behind a scrap of paper with the verses:

Stay with me, God. The night is dark,
The night is cold: my little spark
Of courage dies. The night is long;
Be with me, God, and make me strong.

America has lived through many a cold, dark night, when the cupped hands of prayer were our only shield against the extinction of courage. Indeed, the true meaning of our entire history as a Nation can scarcely be glimpsed without some notion of the importance of prayer, our Declaration of Dependence on God's favor on this unfinished enterprise we call America.

On our National Day of Prayer, then, we join together... to petition God to show us His mercy and His love, to heal our weariness and uphold our hope, that we might live ever mindful of His justice and thankful for His blessing.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan...call upon the citizens of this great Nation to gather together in homes and places of worship to pray, each after his or her own manner, for unity of the hearts of all mankind.

- - - - -

Prayer Guide

As you pray today, ask God to intervene in the following arenas of influence. Dare to believe hearts could be changed and a revival of righteousness would sweep through. Pray for:

Family: pray for your own family, families throughout the nation, and that the value of family would be restored

Church: pray for the church, pastors, and congregations; for encouragement and renewal; for courage and strength in their various callings

Education: pray for our schools, Pre-K through college. Administrators and teachers need the help of God to be a force for good and righteousness

Government: pray for those whose daily decisions impact our lives in so many ways

Military: soldiers and all who lead them need encouragement and a sense of purpose. Pray that righteousness will prevail

Business: pray for a humility and generosity – the fear of God – to be manifest in all the business endeavors in our nation. With God all things are possible.

Arts, media and entertainment: these arenas have enormous influence. Pray for mercy, repentance, and truth.

- - - - -

The Prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ has been a guide for the Church for two millenia.

Let it guide you as you pray today.

Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Hallowed: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” It is right to bend the knee and honor God who made all things and in whom our lives consist.

The Kingdom Come Thy Will Be Done: God's ways are good, we can count on that. When we pray for His ways we are asking for blessing, and putting ourselves on the line to shape our hearts in God's ways. Ask God to have mercy and let His goodness prevail no matter what it may cost.

Give Us This Day: When we stop and pray we must remember we are children. Like children we are needy, we cannot make it on our own, so very  much is beyond our control. Like children we must ask. Here we humble ourselves, remember our neediness, and ask for the blessing of God. Yes, for daily provisions, but also for the life-giving presence of God Himself.

Forgive Us, As We Forgive: Our nation is deeply divided. Pray for grace to forgive those who deeply offend. Pray for a heart of mercy toward those you find to be destructive and terrible in their ideas and actions. Remember your own shortcomings and let go your anger toward others so that you, yourself, can be forgiven.

Lead Us Not Into Temptation, But Deliver Us from Evil: None of us will escape all hardship and peril, but we can ask. God is merciful. He sends sustaining grace for both just and unjust. Hardships come: pray that God will intervene and deliver.

For Thine is...the Power and the Glory Forever: It is right and true to recognize the place of God. He is great and mighty and eternal; we are frail and needy and time-bound. When we recognize this it sets our world aright, puts the lie to tempting pride, and helps us walk aright in gentleness and peace.

Amen: “So be it.” This is almost a shout of praise: “Do the good you long to do, O Lord! Let it be so!”

Grace to Receive [100WW]

The young man helped the elder. I started to help him with his shoe and then knew he needed his pride. It was enough to let the other man help him. He spoke with gladness, this unknown elder. George W. Carver put it something like this: “Bear with those who suffer, who are headstrong, who fall short, who must be helped: for in your life you will, sometime or other, be in all of these conditions.” Indeed. I watched and knew. I will someday need what that man needed. I hope I receive the needed help with his same grace.

Form and Substance: Decorum & Religion Help Shape Proper Expressions of Being [10"TU]

I have long wondered about the relationship between form and substance, action and reality. Like everything, I suppose, the question is deep and wide, and books have been written to explore it. It came to mind as I watched a man help an elder in a wheel chair. It seemed obvious the man was not his father, yet he treated him as if he were: gentle and patient with the wheel-chair, helping with a shoe after check-in at the gate, caring and giving and being-with.

Of course these things happen constantly everyday between un-related folks. Indeed, blood relation is hardly a guarantee of civility, or even good manners. Too often the very opposite is the case.

Yet, the substance of being related, of being a son or daughter suggests something. Implies. More than that: the substance requires particular responses and actions. This is the is-ought problem of philosophy and it is all over our everyday life.

We were considering son-to-father, but if we flip it we may find easier clues. What is implied in the substance of being father? This is the is question, begging for an ought. If I am a father, or intend to be, what is required of my behavior? What form must I adopt that will be the proper expression of my being father?

It simply is the question of ethics: what is the nature of things and how does that nature insist I act if I am to cohere with it?

To do otherwise is to incohere, and incoherence is not a good outcome on any reckoning.

Estate Sales, Letting Go, and Hope

I see the yard and trees and driveway through the window and wonder if anything stays the same.

In '61 a man and woman marry and 7 children come from the union. The first dies in infancy. Thirty-two years pass and the husband dies, too soon, leaving wife, two young sons, four other children grown and gone. Fifteen years later a life-time family friend dies after long illness and her lonely husband finds a widowed mother with children no longer at home. This man and woman find wedded joy on a small farm, “young at 70” and then “young at 80.”

It is that 3-acre farm I observe this morning as I remember the husband's recent death and the path my dear mother will take after selling out. She is 83 and longevity is in her bones. But no one lives forever, or so I'm told.

I'm no fan of this passing of time. I sort through the too much stuff, a lifetime of love and living, almost countless things that meant what life was. No one, least of all my mom, is foolish enough to think things matter most. All of this stuff of life mattered to my Mom because life mattered.

Now we are getting rid of it and dozens of people came by and bought this and that. “Should we get a dumpster, Mom?” I asked, knowing the days of the sale were ending and the thrift store would not take everything.

“I don't want my China going in the dumpster,” she replied simply and kindly. “I have friends that will help me box it up and we will take it to the drop off.” There were several thrift stores but only one could bring a truck. We six children helped her for a week but had to return to our work and families. I was glad to know some other someones in unknown homes would enjoy her life goods.

Where now? Elders lead the way, following the path of their own elders. My Great-Great Grandpa Markey moved to Kansas about 1908 to help build a Wesleyan Methodist College in the small farming town of Miltonvale. His daughter Elizabeth attended that college and married a man she met there, my Great-Grandpa Ray Davidson. He died in a drowning accident in the early 20's when my Grandma Freida was a toddler.

My Great-Grandma Elizabeth re-married a few years later to a widower, Lewis Currie, with child, Dorothy. Soon there was “his, hers, theirs” and the Currie blend comprised a family of 3 girls and 1 boy: Dorothy, Freida, Laona, and Lewis. Lewis still lives in Oregon at age 93.

All these elders followed those before and so will my Mom and so will I in time. No one knows when. It is a too well-worn path, one too weary for speaking, one that lodges in the throat like mud: Why must it be so?

There are clues, and clues abundant for dealing with it, like the one I heard this morning: “Better to give thanks you had the gift at all than complain it doesn't last forever.”

Give thanks. It is the only and best response. The wonder of life, rightly received, reduces us to thanksgiving, to worship.

But forever is written in. We cannot escape it. And what we call nostalgia hints of the beyond. We were made for forever but we are bound in time. We gambled with reality and lost.

But my Mom and Dad taught me the Gospel, that Christ who made the world also redeemed it. What was lost can be found. What was lost IS found. The second Adam outwitted the damning results of the first. The heal-bruiser will not survive the mighty head-stomp, and all will be new someday.

This is the blessed hope and lets me dare to believe this life really matters: the 3 acres, the stuff, the years of love and joy and trial that disappear as if never even there. An infinite personal God holds it all, He is with us, and He will do all things well.

That's the faith I have. And that's enough for me.

Bogus Bleak

   

there is a place where bleak meets wonder and pretends to win the day

for things that are more than things and we can never say

all that is there

  

but wonder wins or so I say and so I see within my soul

the knowing a thing so good as life could never go

into the doom

wonder wins for it did not rise of its own a layered response

rather it is real and speaks the lie to what is not

the bogus bleak