The Advent of Interruption

Nobody expected God to come.

Sure, there were the old prophecies and the vague hope for a messiah someday, but no one was expecting God to break through and actively involve Himself in and through the lives or ordinary people.

Zechariah was minding his own business in the temple when he was interrupted by an angel. Even after the angel told him who he was and what was going to happen, Zechariah still incredulously asked for proof.

Mary wasn't expecting an angelic visitation, let alone a divine pregnancy, an immaculate conception. She neither asked for nor expected this invasive interruption of her plans.

Joseph wasn't anticipating his virgin bride to fall pregnant until after the wedding. Upon discovering her unwelcome interruption, he immediately set about to do what any self-respecting, God fearing man would do, break off the engagement with his shameful betrothed. Only another angelic visitation in his sleep convinced him to change his plans and adopt the Son of God as his own son.

The Magi were not sure what to expect as the stars told them a surprising tale of the King of the Jews to be born in a distant land. They stepped forward into their journey with an uninformed but sincere faith to see where the star might lead them, prepared to worship the as yet unborn King wherever they might find him. The most obvious place to search was at the palace.

King Herod certainly wasn't expecting to have to deal with a new threat to his rule. He had effectively eliminated all who he perceived as a threat, not even sparing his own family. He was not expecting the inconvenience of a messiah, of The Messiah. The arrival of the magi was an interruption that he could do without.

The scribes and teachers of the law who told Herod where the messiah would be born, in lowly Bethlehem, were not expecting it to happen in their day. Even the arrival of the strange magi from the east and Herod's cryptic inquiry were not enough to pique their interest. They evidently couldn't be bothered to follow up on the lead they provided and went about their business, not terribly curious about an apparent messiah in their midst.

The shepherds certainly weren't expecting an angelic visitation, let alone a heavenly invasion with the armies of heaven appearing before them and breaking into song on that evening in the wilds of Judea. Minding their own business, tending sheep, perhaps picking fleas from their cloaks or swapping stories around the fire, when they were terrified by the heavenly ambush.

No one was expecting God to interrupt their lives with good news of great joy. No one was expecting to be used by God to accomplish His marvelous purposes in history. At just the right time, although no one expected him, and few welcomed him, He came among us through the lives of ordinary people.

He does the same thing today.

Are you ready to be interrupted?

The Invitation

Come...

Come to me...

Come away with me...

Can you hear the invitation?

God calls to us. The heavens are His handiwork showing forth His brilliance and power. The birds sing His praises. The mountains and the seas demonstrate His awesome strength. Creation is a canvas upon which He masterfully paints His attributes, wooing us to Himself.

Every day it pours forth speech. Night after night it whisperingly reminds us of the glory, beauty, creativity, and love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The eternally existent Triune God invites us to join with Him. They beckon us to come, sit at Their feet and learn from Them. We, like Mary, can choose the one needful thing. To sit with Them and listen—to commune with Them.

All too often, I hear other voices—pressing, strident voices—demanding my time and attention. The needs are so great! The pain and despair so loud! All too easily, my head turns away from my Master, my Lover, and I busy myself with the work. The needs are real and there is SO much work to be done. I hurry and scurry to get it all done; frustrated with those who don’t share my sense of urgency.

Paul heard the voices. He saw the needs. He worked hard for the Gospel. He also knew what it was to walk with the Spirit. It is through Paul’s example and letters that we learn most about the Holy Spirit. Paul was compelled by the love of God and filled and controlled by the Spirit. There were times when the Spirit led Paul away from ministry opportunities. Paul followed the Spirit into the desert.

Jesus too heard the voices. He knew the pressure of work and the expectations of men. Jesus showed us how to live in the midst of this. Very early in the morning, when it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed. He often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Jesus could do nothing apart from the Father. The Son of God, emptied Himself and took on the very nature of a servant, was born, lived, and died, as one of us. He made a way—through His life, death, and resurrection—for us boldly approach the throne of grace. He showed us how a human life can be lived in union with the Father, and the Holy Spirit gives us all that we need for life and godliness.

This day, let us choose to heed the call. Let us answer the invitation of our Lover. Let us say, “I am my beloved’s and He is mine!” Let us join with Mary, and sit at the feet of our Jesus. Let us join with Paul and let the Spirit fill and control us, leading us wherever He will. Let us join with Jesus, and withdraw to a quiet place to spend time with the Father.

What's the point?

This life is not the most comfortable, is it? Sometimes it is hard work just living! Sometimes it feels like life is a random mix of issues and experiences. It’s not that I’m complaining. I’m just reflecting on life under the sun. What do we gain from our work, from our sacrifice? What does the worker gain from his toil?

In Ecclesiastes 3, Solomon asks it this way:

What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.

This passage comes immediately after the most quoted section of Ecclesiastes, where Solomon lists all the various seasons of life and activities under heaven. As he ponders all the things that come into our lives, some delightful, some painful and everything in between, he comes to the question of gain. He is essentially asking, “What do we get out of all this? What is the point?”

As he ruminates, he recognizes the sovereignty of God. He points out the God shaped hole in our hearts and the limitations of our understanding. He says that if this world is all there is, the best we can hope for is to eat, drink, and enjoy our work. Even the ability to enjoy our work is a gift from God. But Solomon pushes deeper into the mystery. There must be more!

He then returns to the mystery of God’s implacable sovereignty. We hear echoes of Psalm 115:3 as Solomon extols God and irresistible and unchangeable will. But the why question remains. Why does God do these things? Why does He fill our lives with pain as well as pleasure? Why is their war as well as peace, hate as well as love, weeping as well as laughter?

The key to understanding this passage is the very last sentence. “God does it so that men will revere him.”

Reverence is the only right response of a creature before their Creator. Therefore, God’s goal in all that He does under the sun is to restore the right relationship between us and Him. All the seasons and experiences of our life are a gift from Him to realign our hearts with His. God is freely and creatively doing whatever is best for us, whatever will form us more completely into the likeness of His Son. God measures out, into our lives, exactly what we need to renew our perspective and draw us into right relationship with Him.

What do we gain from our toil?  What is the pay off for slogging through the peaks and valleys of life? We gain an ever deepening relationship with God. We gain God Himself.

Awakening to an Invitation

I woke up early this morning.  As I lay there in bed trying to get back to sleep, I felt something.  At first it was just a sort of vague curiosity.  A sort of wondering feeling.  It was so subtle that I only became aware of it as it begin to coalesce into a longing, a longing still quite vague.  There was no distinct object of my longing, my desire.  Then it morphed again from a longing to an invitation.  That was when I began to awake to the source of the longing and the invitation.  God was at it again.

I got up and headed downstairs with my journal and Bible in hand.  I knew that I was hungry for God, that the hunger was from God.  I knew that I wanted to meet with Him.  As I opened my journal I saw that it had been many days since my last entry.  I silently repented of my neglect of this, my most important relationship.  It's not that I had not been praying, or even experiencing God in worship, contemplation, nature, or His children, but it had been weeks since I had taken the time to sit quietly with Him. 

In that moment I realized that I was in danger of talking more about God than with Him.  I was subtly sliding into a life about God but not with God.  As I sat on the couch I was desperate for His presence.  I sat quietly for a time and then began to write and pray.  I wrote about my heart and shared with Him my thoughts and invited His input.  I didn't feel anything except alone.  The quietness of the sleeping house broken only by the ticking of the clock. 

Gradually I began to be filled with memories and with gratitude.  I remembered how far He had carried me.  A growing wonder dawned on me as I realized anew the miracle of knowing Him.  I tried to remember why the sins of my youth had seemed like a good idea.  I praised Him for rescuing me and for healing the pain in my soul.  I needlessly apologized yet again for spending so many years fleeing from Him, the Lover of my Soul. 

Then I was filled by a desire to love.  I felt a deep desire to be an agent of His love, for others to be healed, for others to experience the fullness of joy, the abundance of life, that I have found.  I prayed for and wondered about those in my life.  How could I love them better?  How could I help them to find the blissful surrender to the Lover whose unrequited love for them never diminishes or fades.  Then I was moved again to wonder and to praise at the fact of His presence in my life and the love that He has lavished on me.

As I closed my journal and reached for my Bible, I wondered where to read.  I did not want to study the scriptures, I wanted to meet with my lover, the one who speaks through them.  As the Book fell open on my lap my eyes fell upon Isaiah 35.  From the first verse I knew that this too was a gift from my Lover, my Father, my Brother.  He spoke to me through the passage about redemption and healing. 

He met with me.  He loves me still.  He speaks to me still in the silence and in the scriptures.  He awakens me.  He woos me.  He draws me to Him again and again.