I think most people will readily admit that they don't know everything about God.
But imagine this: God is eternal, and those of us who follow Him will be with Him forever. So...is it possible that because God is eternal, we will never know everything there is to know about Him, even after being in heaven for all of eternity?
Can you get your head around that one?
Friday, January 29, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Sorrow Without Mourning
Sometimes I don't like the way God does things.
Remember how He told Ezekiel to play with toys and lay down for over a year? That seemed just plain absurd. I would think there would be a more effective (and time efficient) way to get a point across to a bull-headed people.
But then God does something awful to Ezekiel in chapter 24.
Ezekiel's wife died.
The delight of his eyes. His lover, his favorite person on the planet. The one he loved more than life itself.
The delight of his eyes.
As if to pour salt on the wound, God also told him to pretend like nothing had happened. Don't cry, don't be sad. Don't go to the funeral, and keep your jeans on instead of dressing in the traditional black. Don't accept any meals that your friends bring by the house. Carry on with your life as though your heart weren't just shredded right out of your chest.
And why did God do all this? What was His purpose? To tell the people that the sanctuary they so delighted in would be destroyed, along with their sons and daughters. And to tell them that they would do as Ezekiel had done - they would not mourn.
Seriously? God created this woman to grow up and fall in love with this prophet, to be his joy...just to kill her so He could tell the people their sanctuary would be destroyed??
I don't like it.
It doesn't seem fair. It doesn't seem like the best way to illustrate a message. And I don't get it.
Ezekiel was a better person than me. He did as he was told and did not so much as shed a tear. It's days later and I still can't make sense of this story and why God decided that was the best way. I can't even find a lesson to pull from this passage to apply to life. But one question remains.
If God does this to me, if He takes away the delight of my eyes, destroys my life, brings me to ruin for reasons that don't seem to make sense or seem worthwhile...
Will I trust Him?
Remember how He told Ezekiel to play with toys and lay down for over a year? That seemed just plain absurd. I would think there would be a more effective (and time efficient) way to get a point across to a bull-headed people.
But then God does something awful to Ezekiel in chapter 24.
The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes. Yet do not lament or weep or shed any tears. Groan quietly; do not mourn for the dead. Keep your turban fastened and your sandals on your feet; do not cover the lower part of your face or eat the curstomary food of mourners.Know what happened next?
Ezekiel's wife died.
The delight of his eyes. His lover, his favorite person on the planet. The one he loved more than life itself.
The delight of his eyes.
As if to pour salt on the wound, God also told him to pretend like nothing had happened. Don't cry, don't be sad. Don't go to the funeral, and keep your jeans on instead of dressing in the traditional black. Don't accept any meals that your friends bring by the house. Carry on with your life as though your heart weren't just shredded right out of your chest.
And why did God do all this? What was His purpose? To tell the people that the sanctuary they so delighted in would be destroyed, along with their sons and daughters. And to tell them that they would do as Ezekiel had done - they would not mourn.
Seriously? God created this woman to grow up and fall in love with this prophet, to be his joy...just to kill her so He could tell the people their sanctuary would be destroyed??
I don't like it.
It doesn't seem fair. It doesn't seem like the best way to illustrate a message. And I don't get it.
Ezekiel was a better person than me. He did as he was told and did not so much as shed a tear. It's days later and I still can't make sense of this story and why God decided that was the best way. I can't even find a lesson to pull from this passage to apply to life. But one question remains.
If God does this to me, if He takes away the delight of my eyes, destroys my life, brings me to ruin for reasons that don't seem to make sense or seem worthwhile...
Will I trust Him?
Monday, January 25, 2010
Then You Will Know
In my slow trip through Ezekiel, a certain theme keeps popping out at me. Over and over again, throughout each chapter, a phrase is repeated:
Then you will know that I am the LORD.
It's not so much the frequency of this phrase that grabs my attention as it is the negativity that usually comes before it.
When I think of the LORD revealing Himself to His people, I imagine Him doing great miracles, blowing people away with answered prayer, and heaping great blessings upon the faithful.
But God is not confined to my imagination.
Each time the LORD states this phrase, it's always after a prophecy of doom and destruction. War and death.
Then you will know that I am the LORD.
Famine and plague.
Then you will know that I am the LORD.
Wind and hailstorms.
Then you will know that I am the LORD.
Horror and punishment.
Then you will know that I am the LORD.
Destruction and desolation.
Then you will know that I am the LORD.
I asked Him why all the bad things, how death and destruction would draw His people back to Himself. It didn't make sense to me.
But then 9/11 came to mind. And it started to kinda make sense.
Look at our nation. We are a prosperous people with material possessions out the wazoo. We have entertainment and feasting and wealth and blessing that most of the world never sees. We have the good side of life.
And we have forgotton Him. The One our founding fathers built our nation to stand under. The One we now try to remove from every possible public place.
We are just like the people Ezekiel speaks to, with idols and rituals and sins that are detestable in His eyes.
But look at what happened on 9/11. Our country was brought to its knees.
And many turned to Him. Prayer meetings broke out all over the place and churches were packed full.
Then you will know that I am the LORD.
I don't like that it has to be that way, that it takes a major tragedy to remind people of Who He is. But maybe if we chose to remember in the first place, He wouldn't have to remind us so severely.
Then you will know that I am the LORD.
It's not so much the frequency of this phrase that grabs my attention as it is the negativity that usually comes before it.
When I think of the LORD revealing Himself to His people, I imagine Him doing great miracles, blowing people away with answered prayer, and heaping great blessings upon the faithful.
But God is not confined to my imagination.
Each time the LORD states this phrase, it's always after a prophecy of doom and destruction. War and death.
Then you will know that I am the LORD.
Famine and plague.
Then you will know that I am the LORD.
Wind and hailstorms.
Then you will know that I am the LORD.
Horror and punishment.
Then you will know that I am the LORD.
Destruction and desolation.
Then you will know that I am the LORD.
I asked Him why all the bad things, how death and destruction would draw His people back to Himself. It didn't make sense to me.
But then 9/11 came to mind. And it started to kinda make sense.
Look at our nation. We are a prosperous people with material possessions out the wazoo. We have entertainment and feasting and wealth and blessing that most of the world never sees. We have the good side of life.
And we have forgotton Him. The One our founding fathers built our nation to stand under. The One we now try to remove from every possible public place.
We are just like the people Ezekiel speaks to, with idols and rituals and sins that are detestable in His eyes.
But look at what happened on 9/11. Our country was brought to its knees.
And many turned to Him. Prayer meetings broke out all over the place and churches were packed full.
Then you will know that I am the LORD.
I don't like that it has to be that way, that it takes a major tragedy to remind people of Who He is. But maybe if we chose to remember in the first place, He wouldn't have to remind us so severely.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Beautiful Fog
Man, has it been a foggy couple of weeks around here.
I read somewhere that the lack of wind is to blame. (I used to complain frequently about the wind back home. Sorry, Kansas friends...South Dakota's steady gale-force winds trump Kansas breezes.) Therefore, it has been foggy.
Foggy on my way to work.
Foggy during the day.
Foggy on the way home at night.
Sometimes, the fog is so thick I can hardly see. I blindly take my left turn off interstate in hopes that no cars are coming from either direction, because I wouldn't be able to see them until they were in my backseat.
My car lights don't help a whole lot. High beams certainly don't do anything except reflect the fog back in my face. So low beams it is.
And I turn on my fog lights, because I know I'm supposed to use them. But they don't reveal any more road than what is immediately in front of my car.
Fog not only keeps out the light, it also keeps light from illuminating the road.
Sometimes life gets foggy. It's hard to see. Light isn't coming in, and my own lights I try to use sometimes only make my visibility worse. When I use the Light I'm supposed to, I can't always see the road any better.
But I can see just enough for the next step.
I don't mind driving in the fog so much. In a strange way, I almost find it comforting. There's something soothing about being tightly tucked in on all sides, like a big heavy blanket.
Besides, when I stop long enough to pay attention, I can see how beautiful the fog truly is.
I read somewhere that the lack of wind is to blame. (I used to complain frequently about the wind back home. Sorry, Kansas friends...South Dakota's steady gale-force winds trump Kansas breezes.) Therefore, it has been foggy.
Foggy on my way to work.
Foggy during the day.
Foggy on the way home at night.
Sometimes, the fog is so thick I can hardly see. I blindly take my left turn off interstate in hopes that no cars are coming from either direction, because I wouldn't be able to see them until they were in my backseat.
My car lights don't help a whole lot. High beams certainly don't do anything except reflect the fog back in my face. So low beams it is.
And I turn on my fog lights, because I know I'm supposed to use them. But they don't reveal any more road than what is immediately in front of my car.
Fog not only keeps out the light, it also keeps light from illuminating the road.
Sometimes life gets foggy. It's hard to see. Light isn't coming in, and my own lights I try to use sometimes only make my visibility worse. When I use the Light I'm supposed to, I can't always see the road any better.
But I can see just enough for the next step.
I don't mind driving in the fog so much. In a strange way, I almost find it comforting. There's something soothing about being tightly tucked in on all sides, like a big heavy blanket.
Besides, when I stop long enough to pay attention, I can see how beautiful the fog truly is.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
You Want Me To Do What??
I'm about halfway through the book of Ezekiel right now. My favorite part was Ezekiel's experience and description of his encounter of the glory of the LORD. My second favorite comes right after that, and it's so crazy I just have to tell you about it.
Ezekiel's first assignment as a prophet is one that, had it been mine, probably would have made me resign my position as regional prophet right there on the spot.
According to chapters four and five, here's what he had to do. Not just say to the people, "Woe are you." No. Not at all.
1. Find a clay tablet and draw a map of the city of Jerusalem on it.
2. Make little models of seige works, a ramp, surrounding enemy camps, and battering rams.
3. Place an iron pan between toy city and self and look at it.
4. Attack the toy city.
5. Lie on self's left side, one day for each year of sin of Israel. This totals 390 days.
6. After 390 days, give the left side a break and roll onto the right. One day for each year of sin for Judah. This totals 40 days.
7. The LORD will personally tie self with ropes to prevent any rolling over and cheating.
8. Prophecy against toy city.
9. Since self will need to eat, here is how to prepare food:
11. Burn 1/3 of hair inside toy city.
12. Use a sword to chop up 1/3 of hair around toy city.
13. Scatter the remaining 1/3 of hair in the wind.
14. Save a lock and tuck it in belt.
After all of that, the LORD interpreted the message He was sending. But can you imagine carrying this out? And I get all bent out of shape thinking that people will wonder if I'm out of my mind for randomly knocking on their doors to share Jesus. Ezekiel was probably called crazy for sure.
Ezekiel's first assignment as a prophet is one that, had it been mine, probably would have made me resign my position as regional prophet right there on the spot.
According to chapters four and five, here's what he had to do. Not just say to the people, "Woe are you." No. Not at all.
1. Find a clay tablet and draw a map of the city of Jerusalem on it.
2. Make little models of seige works, a ramp, surrounding enemy camps, and battering rams.
3. Place an iron pan between toy city and self and look at it.
4. Attack the toy city.
5. Lie on self's left side, one day for each year of sin of Israel. This totals 390 days.
6. After 390 days, give the left side a break and roll onto the right. One day for each year of sin for Judah. This totals 40 days.
7. The LORD will personally tie self with ropes to prevent any rolling over and cheating.
8. Prophecy against toy city.
9. Since self will need to eat, here is how to prepare food:
- Measure out necessary food and water before hand.
- To bake the food, make a fire out of poo. Since self is tied up and unable to move, may as well use own poo.
- But, since self does not wish to defile self in this way, cow poo may be substituted instead.
11. Burn 1/3 of hair inside toy city.
12. Use a sword to chop up 1/3 of hair around toy city.
13. Scatter the remaining 1/3 of hair in the wind.
14. Save a lock and tuck it in belt.
After all of that, the LORD interpreted the message He was sending. But can you imagine carrying this out? And I get all bent out of shape thinking that people will wonder if I'm out of my mind for randomly knocking on their doors to share Jesus. Ezekiel was probably called crazy for sure.
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