enemy January 31, 2009

What does it mean to have enemies? 

King Saul decided David was his enemy and spent time and resources trying to kill him. David could not engage. as far as he was concerned, Saul was the anointed king by God and therefore must not be harmed, least of all by him.

Even when the opportunity presents itself, David chooses to walk away. So may films in the mainstream cinema industry are based on revenge. They are based on getting even, they are based on the enemy getting whacked.

Here the enemy is spared by the chasing victim. Incredibly, fleeing for his life, David does not allow himself to break free and get even. In the state of having to dodge attempts on his life, David still operates in grace. This is incredible. David isn’t an example to us to love our enemies, he is a model to love your enemies when they are trying to kill you. 

God’s wisdom is foolishness to man.

trainspotting January 30, 2009

When is the right choice almost right?
Sometimes we can make a decision and yet we can implement it in the wrong way. Right choice, wrong execution.

The issue here is to maintain the yardstick. Does this measure up to God’s calling for me?

Henri Nouwen writes, “make the conscious choice move the attention of your anxious heart away from the waves and direct it to the one who walks on them”

1 Samuel 17
David has made the choice. He is sure God is calling him to fight this Phillistine, Goliath.
Saul’s lack of belief does not discourage David. Saul says “Go, and God help you”

Just before he prepares to leave, David is compromised. The king, insists that David wear full battle armour. This is not only sensible and wise, it’s suggested by someone who doesn’t even believe in the success of the mission.

The choice that David made in fighting Goliath is still right. The precautions that Saul prescribrs however, are not Godly. They are man-size and not God-size.
Echoes of God telling Gideon to cut his army down from the masses to 300 can be heard.

Or what about Israel that couldn’t see they already had a king in God, when they complained to Samuel?

What seems logical in the eyes of the world can seem foolish in the eyes of God.

David rejecting mans armour is one of my favourite images in the bible. It crystalises the gulf between what we think is best and God’s way.

Choose life, even if that means rejecting the battle armour.

infinite joy January 30, 2009

CS Lewis wrote:

“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

What do I settle for in life? What did i settle for?

coronation January 29, 2009

What happens to Israel in Samuel 9?
Same old story, they forget.

Samuel appoints his many sons to be Judges over Israel. The people complain. They say the Judges are corrupt. They approach Samuel, we want a King to rule our nation. We want to be like all the other nations who have a king.

Israel did have a King in God, yet again they forgot their story and chose to follow the worlds model and not God’s. Did God say no? Did He say “get lost, I’m your king?”
Nope.
He told Samuel to give them what they want but warn them that it is a big mistake they are making.

God was rejected as a King. This would happen again when He would walk the earth 1000 years later.

The irony in the dialogue is that Israel did not even realize they had a king. They thought the judges were the equivilant of a king. To reject God is one thing, to not even acknowledge Him is altogether different.

So today in the choices I make, I can see that I can acknowledge The King or I can appoint a lesser king.

Buechner delivers this in a much more eloquent stream. When we acknowledge God as our King we are not just affirming we are also crowning Him in our hearts. A coronation within our souls that sees Him become King of our lives.

It’s easier to be influenced by that which engages with our senses than that which engages with our spirit. The people of Israel, saw, heard and spoke of other Kings for other nations.
Today we are faced with this on a myriad of levels. Sometimes the best way to clearly move forward is to close your eyes, not trusting in our senses and walking in the spirit.

There is a scene in Star Wars when Obi Wan tells Luke to cover his eyes when practicing his Jedi skills, by defending himself with his light saber. “but if I close my eyes, how will I see the training ball that fires at me?”
The point is that if we merely rely ok our eyes to see we miss so much more of what’s on offer.

Israel had their eyes wide open and failed to see they already had a King.

A daily coronation.
Eyes shut.
Believing in more than myself.
Trusting in my freshly crowned King.

To crown Him daily is to affirm the covenant. To crown Him daily is to submit to His spacious will. To crown Him daily is to choose life. Crown Him daily and ensure His throne remains His.

trainspotting January 28, 2009

Today I started to read through the book of 1Samuel.

Just as an aside; if you were to draw a timeline between Egypt and Babylon there comes a mid way point. Obviously the people of Israel are unaware of the unfolding events. We have the luxury to see how far they are from Egypt yet how much closer that brings the people to Babylon.

In fact the midway point falls around the time of Samuel. This is not only the midway point between Egypt and Babylon timeline but also is almost 1000 years after Abraham and 1000 years before Jesus.

Contextually the next few years in Israel’s story revolves around the lives of four charecters. Hannah, Samuel, Saul and David.

It was Hannah who was barren and cried to God for a child. God answered and she dedicated Samuel to the priesthood under the supervision of Eli. Samuel would go on to serve King Saul and that’s about where David enters.

In the macro let’s be aware that this is the salvation narrative. In the detail however some extraordinary passages about hearing God’s voice.

In 1Samuel: 3
Samuel hears God’s voice clearly although he’s not sure at the begining who the voice belongs to, ultimately it’s Eli who tells him it must be God.

God spoke to Samuel while he was quiet. However simple that sounds I feel it has a huge bearing on how we listen to God today. Do we practice quiet as individuals or even as a church? Was Samuel the first Quaker?

The second important feature is that there is the implication of a wiser soul to guide us.

I think we ALL need an Eli in our lives that can help decipher voices in our heads. Who is your Eli? Who is mine?

trainspotting January 27, 2009

Obama used the phrase icy currents in his innagaural speech earlier last week. The phrase stayed with me.

Reading Joshua and Judges I can still see God working the salvation of his people through the darkest situations. Through icy currents.

His salvation plan is a consistently recurring theme and what should bring joy and comfort to the reader of the bible, is that His salvation plan happens with a conceivable backdrop of our humanity. Good, bad, horrific, beautiful, sad and unjust. Even more reassuring and quite astonishing is that He choses the people to present His words in a simmilar fashion; good, bad, honest, dishonest. The fundemental aspect is the covenant and the salvation plan.

When God engages it is not outside of the reality of our circumstance.
Within the pages of the bible we can explore that God works into the situation with those who are present.

Peace January 27, 2009

 

Out of chaos is when it can be born. Never in the quiet. Never in the still. Never in the ordinary. Only in the storm. Only in the war. Only in the darkness can there be a total peace. One that contrasts that which it has been thrust into. Only then can it bring a warmth surrounded by winter. Only then can you fall asleep cradled by gargantuan waves and arctic winds. Then you can rest in the spacious, the permissive and the open. Then you can awake and whisper to the sea, “be still”

Rune January 27, 2009

Tea, tastes good first thing in the morning, but even better when someone else makes it. Life is beautiful. My middle son & I exchange random conversations as we nurse the early morning hours. We warm the downstairs for the pack.

Finally New Year Feels Like New Year January 27, 2009

For some it happened on 1st January. For us, as the clock crawled into midnight on a school night it felt “new”

Twenty Seven days late, but bang on Armani time. Welcome a New Year. The evenings are lighter at 5pm, I don’t have to walk home in the pitch dark.

Bradbury you are a titan and a ninja and you are my friend.

RESTORATION is the dish du jour every day this year.

angel January 26, 2009

Judges 13
A simple God centred life is what I seek. The story of Manoah and his wife is an example and testimony to this.

The exchange of listening, re-telling, praying, God listening and actioning is an incredible transfer.

This couple communicated with the Angel of God. They listened, they acted and the obeyed.

Manoah’s wife is told by an Angel of God that she’ll be pregnant with a special boy, God’s Nazarite. She listens to the angel.

She tells Manoah who listens to hear and then prays to God asking Him to reveal more. God hears Manoah’s prayer and sends The Angel again.

They listen and finally Manoah asks the Angels name so the husband and wife can remember the angel in their offerings.

The Angel says you can’t comprehend  my name and ascended to God within the flames of the grain offering.
Manoah and his wife fell facedown to the ground.

What strikes me is the trust, belief and communication they had built with God.

Sometimes laying face down on the ground is a great way to just “be” before God.