Transaction

I will exalt you, O LORD,
because you have lifted me up *
and have not let my enemies triumph over me.      Psalm 30:1

                                      Raising Jairus' Daughter         Chris Higham

I will exalt you, O Lord, BECAUSE you have raised me up?

The Psalmist seems to be putting conditions on his reasons for exalting the Lord.

It sounds almost transactional.

It makes me wonder if we do that. 

WHY do we exalt God? Is out of fear? (If I don’t, that God might cast me out?)

Is it out of greed? (God as the great Santa Claus in the sky?)

Is it because we were taught to exalt God as children and just do it out of habit?

Or is there something more?

Or is it because we have considered the mystical beauty of God’s creation and discovered the  miraculous?  Or because we have been touched by God and experienced the fullness of Divine Love? Or because we have experienced Divine Love through the compassion of others?

Why did Jairus, a Temple executive, seek out Jesus, healer of souls?

Why do you?

God is God and I am not

Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind:

"Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

                                                                                          Job 38: 1

After 37 chapters of bad advice from his friends, Job finally gets his chance to plead his case before God to God about the terrible suffering he has endured.  And God came to Job “from out of a whirlwind”  and continues the battering by asking Job a series of rhetorical and sarcastic questions.            

 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth, Job?

               Who determined its measurements?  Surely you know, Job.”

Many of us shy away from Job because we are uncomfortable with “this side” of God.  We rationalize that its best to avert our eyes and stick only to those passages that provide us with a warm, fuzzy God who loves us unconditionally.  It’s decidedly more comfortable that way. 

But to deepen our understanding  of God, it is essential for us to examine all that the scriptures reveal about God. 

So what are we to glean from Job?

Perhaps Job is a reminder to us that God is ultimately in charge.

That God is majestic, with power over Creation.

That the world is not our oyster, but God’s.  

And ultimately, that God is God and we are not.

Thanks be to God. 

Growth Pains

It is like a mustard seed, which, when it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.                                                                        Mark 4: 32-33

The Mustard Seed         by Nelly Bube

It can be scary at times to wander into newness of life. We like things the way they are; we are comfortable. And yet God, who loves us just as we are, works deep in our hearts and minds and nourishes the potential in all of us. 

The work of growth is not easy as we emerge to the darkness and the dirt and the chill of spring rains. Our crusty seed coverings soften and the seed inside wakens to the smell of the earth in which it finds itself -- and struggles toward the Light. It is an arduous trek at times, but the seed can feel the draw of the Light. 

Emerging into the Light, God thrusts us forward and and into the dreams God has for us, which are infinitely more than we can ask or imagine for our own selves. Because the crusty old seed covering was pretty comfortable -- down there, deep in the soil.

Free Will

Adam and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.     Genesis 3:8

Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate from the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden. Immediately, their act of disobedience led them to hide from God.  This seems to be the frequent response of many of us -- a human response. When we stray from the path God has set before us, we often run for cover, hiding from God, dismissing God.  

But the thing is: God sees. God knows our hearts, knows our intent. This is not said for the purpose of shaming us - or trying to make us feel guilty; God is not about guilt or shame. Yet is in those very cross hairs of choice  that we face the miasma of free will.  Do we choose love or hate? Do we choose that which is life giving or that which drains life? 

 As we prepare to make difficult decisions that will affect our lives (and the lives of those around us), it is then when we must turn to the Creator of all that is lovely, all that is noble, all that is holy. It is no time to hide. It is time to square our shoulders and face down the abundance of all that has been granted us and to respond in kind.