I Lift My Hands. . .

Last Spring, I took my son John to an outdoor concert in Tempe Arizona. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and we really enjoyed the experience, even though I didn’t really enjoy the band personally. The band we heard is called Skillet and while they’re a Christian band, their style is a bit too much like the acid rock from my teen years for me to appreciate. (I know I sound just like my parents did then, don’t I?)

As I sat at the concert watching John enjoy it I noticed a number of things: I noticed that those who did like it were singing along, had their hands raised, sometimes were breaking out in yelling and cheering, and more, not to mention that at the end of each song, they broke out in loud verbal, and physical applause that included such gestures as jumping up and down, clapping with hands raised above their heads, as well as yelling until they were hoarse.

A few months later while I was in Mexico I visited a church where the same kind of behavior was going on. The difference between the two was that these expressions of praise, adoration, and appreciation were directed toward the Lord Jesus Christ instead of a popular band.

Honestly, my conservative side didn’t like it at first. I mean, weren’t they getting a bit carried away? I certainly was raised differently and the worship was a bit. . . more than I was accustomed to. As I thought about it though, I realized that I was holding onto a wrong attitude. Think about it for a moment: if we are so very willing to show that much adoration for a popular singer, or sports star, or even politician doesn’t the Lord, Jesus Christ deserve just as much adoration? Isn’t He, above everyone, worthy of that kind of enthusiasm?

Interestingly, in the Bible we see examples of that kind of adoration. King David was actually chastised by his wife for getting too carried away: so much so that he stripped off his clothing and danced before the Lord with all his heart. (2 Samuel 6)  It’s interesting to note that King David is the one man in the Bible that God actually says was a man “after His heart.” Could this act be one of those reasons?

And, we see in Nehemiah eight that all the people lifted their hands in adoration, while verbally praising God. If you read that passage, you’ll see that the people first lifted their hands in worship, and then fell down on their faces before the Lord. Ezra, who was their leader, then tells them NOT to mourn, cry, weep, but instead to be joyful and feast and rejoice. They are to do this because this demonstrates that the day is holy.

Too both Psalm 63 and 134 actually command people to praise God, and while praising Him to lift up their hands. Psalm 63 tells us we do this because “His loving kindness is better than life.”  It further describes the Psalmist desire for God as something that is akin to thirst in a dry and dusty land.

Which leads me back to my realization: if God really is who we believe He is, isn’t He worthy of at least as much, and as verbal, and as physical praise as a rock singer? And, relating to how I was raised, if I’m refusing to give that to Him, am I really honoring Him? 

So, next Sunday if you come to my church, maybe, just maybe, you'll see me. I'll be the one whose worshiping the One who is worthy of all my praise with all of my heart. (Not so sure about the dancing thing, but you'll probably see my hands raised in adoration, and you might see me sway a bit.) Then again, maybe you won't see me since you'll be so taken up praising God you won't notice me. 

Praising God. . . for forgiveness

No, these aren't my kids, or me, but they could be!

Early this morning, exactly fourteen minutes after I woke my kids up, World War III broke out in my house. The details of it aren’t very important, but the fight started over the boy teen calling the girl teen names, and the girl teen wanting the boy teen to not do something he was doing. Honestly, as a mom these are the moments when I need the wisdom of Solomon—in fact, I need more wisdom than Solomon in these moments. . . really, I just wish Solomon would take over for me in these moments.

However, Solomon didn’t come rushing over to my house, and I have to admit I didn’t handle this battle very well, and instead found myself joining them in the insanity of family wars, and all before breakfast.

Which leads me to another reason to praise and worship my God: forgiveness. 1 John 1:9 tells the Christian what they have to do to obtain God’s forgiveness. It says: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” So, for a Christian who has a bad morning like mine, the solution is super simple: take a deep breath, turn to God, and be cleansed. It’s as easy as that! Of course I had to go to my daughter as well, and let her know I didn’t handle that very well. But, there’s no more guilt, no more beating myself over the head, no more worrying about it, nothing but clean, clear freedom from sin and guilt.

This too is somewhat different from what I experienced before. You see, before I understood my responsibility to be perfecting myself by slowly but surely overcoming sins like anger, until sometime in the future when I would truly be better and then would truly be worthy in God’s eyes. Because of that point of view when I had a morning like today in my past life, I would be plagued with guilt and frustration at my own inability to perfect myself. I would experience a guilt trip, and in my guilt, call out to God for forgiveness this “one” time, and promise Him that once again I would not do this thing again. . . It truly was a constant pursuit for perfection, and one in which I failed all the time.

The trouble with that point of view is that it makes a person like a rat on a treadmill, running, and running, and running but never really getting anywhere because as soon as they stop they just fall back down to the bottom.

Biblical Christianity however, is based on the God who created us, who knows us intimately and knows exactly how to make human beings into His image. God knew that I would have mornings like this when a battle between children could so easily draw me in. Because of that He didn’t ask me to “try harder” to avoid that kind of situation (when the kids leave for college I might finally get that lesson!), but instead He told me He would perfect me while in this situation by working in me, forgiving me when I fail, and making me into the person He wants me to be.

And you know what? I see that happening. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly how and when God changed me, but He has. His Holy Spirit within me works in me all the time. His Holy Word shows me what He wants of me, and when I fail, He speaks to me, showing me that I did, indeed, react in a wrong manner. The proof of that is truly in the “fruit of the Spirit” that I see in my life: more love, more joy, more peace, more self-control, more faithfulness, more kindness, more long-suffering.(see Galatians 5 for what the Bible has to say about the fruit of the Spirit.)

So today I praise God because He is a God who works in His children, changing them, growing them, and most of all forgiving them when they fall.  

Praising God . . . for pack rats?

I was thinking this morning more about the issue of praising God. It’s a subject that I used to not understand at all but have come to appreciate so very much. In fact, now it’s not a matter of choosing to, or being told I should worship God, but instead it’s a part of my very being—I can no more not worship God than I can not breathe. This fundamental difference in me has made me think more about what exactly is the difference between then and now.

I realize that then my concept of God was a bit shaky. In many ways I thought of God as a man. Not that I intentionally tried to make him over in my image, but since man was all I knew about, that’s how I saw my God. Of course he was a much bigger man than I was, and much smarter, more powerful, wiser, holier, and well, just much more than I, but still in my thinking he was a man. Coupled with the belief that God was an exalted form of me too was the belief that if I did all the right things, and tried hard enough that I too would/could become a god myself. Both of these beliefs coupled together to form a god image that in many ways really wasn’t worthy of praise—I mean, I could do this, it wasn’t an impossible task—hard certainly, but not impossible.

My image of God now though is so much different. In fact, it’s so big that I have trouble really explaining it completely, and won’t even try to do it in just one blog.

An example of this is my image of God as the Creator of the Universe. Genesis 1:1 tells us that, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The verses after this verse describe how exactly God went about that, and it’s interesting to note that in every single instance God said, and it was then created. Thinking about that just blows my mind! It takes me at least a half hour to “create” a simple meal and this is something I do each and every day, and yet God spoke and the world, each and every aspect of it, was created. I can’t even begin to imagine the power behind that, not to mention the knowledge (and wisdom!) that all had to come together to create a world like what we live in, not to mention the rest of the universe.

The bigness of this is one reason that all throughout the Old Testament Israel is pointed back to God as their amazing Creator and praised again and again and again. To see what I mean go to biblegateway.com and type in the key word “created” and then read through just a few of the verses. This concept was so big in Jewish thought that it’s one of the major themes of the Old Testament.

Awhile back, I was cleaning up around my mother’s house and the immensity of creation really overwhelmed me with praise and gratitude to my Creator through the nest of a pack rat. For those who don’t live in the desert, a pack rat is a real nuisance. They are rats that live outdoors and collect junk to make their den. You can quickly tell their nests by the garbage collected around, usually a pile of cactus, papers, various seeds, foods, and even scraps of metal and plastic. Here are some photos for the uninitiated. 

Of course for those who dwell in the desert these nests are unsightly, not to mention most people don’t appreciate rats living near their houses. My mother is no exception so I was trying to clean out the rat’s nest for her.

What I discovered though was simply amazing! You see, the organic debris that the pack rat had gathered and made into a nest was degrading: it was breaking down into basic organic material. Those in wetter climates might not find this very interesting, but in the desert the process of organic material degrading doesn’t happen very quickly. A cactus can die and lie in the desert for decades in basically its same form. But, the rats, my mother’s scourge, actually were taking material that might never biodegrade, and making it break down and enrich the soil. (A process that is needed for the next generation of cactus or brush to grow!)

I know this is a small thing and probably not too significant in most people’s eyes, but for me it was eye opening to see that our Creator God had planned (and planted) an animal in the desert that did a whole bunch of things to make the desert more fertile. I didn’t plan that—my mother certainly didn’t (her plan was to kill them all), but our Creator God who knows way, way more things than I do thought ahead and planned it so that the desert could blossom and grow.

From this discovery I was filled with awe for my God—you see, my God is so big, so smart, so wise, that He planned out every single detail of creation. He didn’t just speak and hope things would turn out OK. He didn’t just accidentally create all of this stuff that works out so very well. He didn’t just put a plan in motion and hope it worked out. He didn’t do any of that, but instead He planned for every single intricate detail of nature to work together for His glory—even pack rats!

And it’s just these details about God, my amazing God, that bring praise to my lips and joy to my heart. It comes quite naturally because I see, really see, how BIG He really is, and how very worthy of praise He is.

Where I've Been (for those who were wondering)

I haven’t blogged for a bit because my kids and I took a trip to Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico for almost the entire month of July to help a missionary friend minister in a place where both Tarahumara Indians and Mexicans work making bricks literally by hand and live in pretty primitive housing. My friend, who works out there all year long, taught a month-long Bible course and I had the privilege of helping her by taking charge of the “nursery.” Since the nursery had kids up to eight years old there (anyone who can’t read was in the nursery), we did Bible lessons, crafts, and played with the kids every day. And, in the end the kids learned a few facts about God too!

It was an amazing and exhausting experience and we really, really came to love those kids, and miss them so much. I want to share a few pictures of the kids, and also my kids who were learning how to minister too! 

James worked with the kids, and learned how to encourage them to do their best, even though he's only a couple years older than them. Here he's teaching them how to work a jigsaw puzzle. (Remember he's doing this in Spanish, which is pretty impressive since he hasn't been there for over two years and has forgotten much of what he knew).

Anna absolutely loved working with the babies. This is her favorite, Martin. It was a great help to have Anna take the babies since that freed me up to work with the bigger kids and to help the teacher out.

I haven't had a kid throw a full-blown temper tantrum for years, so this was a good reminder of what it's like to have a two-year-old around. I just held him and loved him and after a bit he finally settled down enough to join us in coloring.

John is not a baby or little kid person, but he pitched right in and helped whereever he was needed. This day he was needed to help with a crying baby. It was a stretch for him, but he did a great job.

This is Ana, our Mexican teacher who we got to know and love while we were there. She was GREAT with the kids and a real blessing to all of us, especially me. Together we made a great combination as I made the plans for the day, the theme for the week, the song, and then she made it actually happen.

Lastly, this is my friend, Tasha, who is a missionary in Chihuahua. She is teaching the kids with a flannel board story here, and will continue to teach these precious children through the year on Friday afternoons.

A Faith that Please God

Faith is a tough subject because there are so many ideas out there about it. The devout Muslim for instance shows their “faith” by becoming a suicide bomber. Another person has faith by believing their church is true, even if it means ignoring any evidence to the contrary. Another teacher I once read taught that faith was believing that something you wanted to be true actually was true, until it became true.

The Bible of course teaches a lot about faith, and in some ways seems similar to the examples I mentioned above. For instance Romans 4 tells us that Abraham “staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he (God) had promised, he (God) was able also to perform.”  The writer of Hebrews adds more to this equation when he wrote “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Later on in chapter 11 he continues by saying: “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

The difference between the examples I mention above and biblical faith though lies in the source of that faith. You see, biblical faith is always based on someone, and is backed up by facts.

Let’s look at Abraham who is often mentioned as an example of biblical faith in the New Testament. The very first time we see Abraham in scripture we see him talking with God. (Genesis 12) Spend some time thinking about that. Abraham had faith because God had promised Him directly to do what He said He would (in this case provide a heir). So, Abraham’s faith was based firmly on who God was, and on what God had promised Him.

That’s why too, biblically speaking, a Christian can have full confidence that God will save Him. John 3:16 (among many other verses) tells us that God loved the world so much that He gave His Son, that whoever believes  in Him will have eternal life. As a Christian I can’t be totally sure (fact wise) that there is eternal life, but there are things I can do to find the facts in this promise: first I can search out the history of the Bible and come to know that it is trustworthy—above and beyond any real doubt. Then, I can seek out this God and find out more about Him: is He trustworthy? Does He have a track record of keeping promises? (The answer is yes.)  Is there evidence that He exists? (Yes again.) Finally, because I can believe God, and because I can believe His Word, I can believe this promise. These are the “facts” behind my faith, just as Abraham’s meeting God, and hearing His promise firsthand were the “facts” behind Abraham’s faith.

Again, and again, and again in the Bible we see Jesus affirming the fact that He is truth. He’s very, very interested in truth (He actually says that He IS truth) and because He is interested in truth, He wants us to seek out the “facts” that we can firmly base our faith on. That’s true and biblical faith, and it’s the faith that pleases God.

Praise to the. . . Man?

Praise to the Man is a LDS hymn that I was reminded of recently. It’s a hymn that was originally written as a poem right after Joseph Smith, first prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was killed. The poet wrote it from the depths of his grief and with great admiration for the man he considered a true modern day prophet of God. It was later set to the music of “Scotland the Brave,” a patriotic Scottish song, and is sung by faithful LDS people to this day.

I can appreciate a song written to honor a person you greatly admire. I’m reminded of the song by Elton John titled “Candle In the Wind” dedicated to Marilyn Monroe, or the song by Vince Gill called “Go Rest High on that Mountain,” devoted to Keith Whitley. Both of these songs are ones I enjoy, and like “Praise to the Man” reflect the deep sorrow and pain the death of the person caused to the artist.

However, as I search the pages of my Bible I am concerned about this type of praise: praise given to a man. Paul actually warns us against giving glory to any man in 1 Corinthians 3:21. Luke recounts in Acts 12 how Herod took glory for himself and was immediately struck dead. Paul seems to be very aware of this and tells us that he, himself is deathly afraid of taking the glory on himself in both 2 Corinthians and Galatians. (In Galatians 6:14 he actually says “but God forbid that I should glory. . .” And, in the book of Romans Paul gives a very stern warning against “changing the image of the incorruptible God into that made like a corruptible man” (Romans 1:23) He actually says those who do this are “fools.”

And really Paul, in his warnings about not glorifying man, but instead giving all glory to God, is quoting what God has said about Himself from the very beginning:

I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another. . . Isaiah. 42:8

If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart. Malachi 2:2

From Genesis 1:1 we see in scripture how there really is only One ever who is worthy of praise and honor: God Himself. And, the Psalms are full of that praise. Try an experiment: go to Biblegateway.com and search for the keywords glory, and praise. The Bible teaches us that the Heavens declare God’s glory, that man should declare His glory, and that the angels themselves declare His glory. He, and He alone, is worthy of our praise, and to praise and glorify anyone, or anything, else really is biblically speaking, idolatry.

So when we sing or listen to songs that glorify people, we really do need to check our hearts: are we giving someone the praise or glory that rightly belongs to only God? And, are we putting our leaders in the place that rightly belongs to God? Remember what happened to Herod when he allowed that to happen? God hasn’t changed.

Confession # 1

My daughter has been posting on Facebook her list of “confessions.” They read something like this: “Confession # 18 I need to shower badly, but I don’t want to,” or “Confession # 15 I’m so happy right now.” I realize too as I think about writing this blog that I’ve got a confession of my own and that is that I really, really don’t want to offend anyone.

I’ve been thinking of this more because my dear sister-in-law has recently joined Facebook. I really, really like this sister-in-law. We have a lot in common, and I very much appreciate her common sense, and strong sense of what’s right and wrong. If we lived closer (they’ve nearly always lived across the country from us), I suspect she’d be a good friend, one I could share my heart, my struggles, and my fears with.

The trouble is that her beliefs and mine are not the same. We grew up with the same beliefs, but somewhere in our growing up, we came to different conclusions. Her conclusions are based on what she believes with all her heart to be true. They are also based on her logic, and on spiritual experiences that she believes proves these things to be true. My conclusions also are what I believe with all my heart to be true. They too are based on logic, but not always based on my logic alone, but instead are based on what the revealed Word of God teaches to be true and they are different from hers and sometimes offensive to her. 

I suppose similar situations were what Paul was thinking about when he admonished the young preacher Timothy to “preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.” (2 Timothy 4:2) Or as the Amplified Bible, which includes every possible meaning of the words in the original language, puts it ^“herald and preach the Word! Keep your sense of urgency [stand by, be at hand and ready], whether the opportunity seems to be favorable or unfavorable. [Whether it is convenient or inconvenient, whether it is welcome or unwelcome, you as preacher of the Word are to show people in what way their lives are wrong.] And convince them, rebuking and correcting, warning and urging and encouraging them, being unflagging and inexhaustible in patience and teaching.”

Another time Paul wrote to the Galatian church and warned them:  But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8-9)

Then Paul goes on to address the same dilemma I have: For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:10)

Later on in that same book Paul asks the question: “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” (Galatians 4:16)

And, I guess that’s really what I’m afraid of, offending by telling the truth. To be honest, I don’t like it much. . .