Meditations

I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:13-14

“Waiting for God is not laziness. Waiting for God is not going to sleep. Waiting for God is not the abandonment of effort. Waiting for God means, first, activity under command; second, readiness for any new command that may come; third, the ability to do nothing until the command is given.”

G. Campbell Morgan as recounted in The Minister’s Manual edited by Lee McGlone (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2007) 478.

Joy St. Clare modeled waiting for me and my family better than any human on the planet. Let me give an example and explain how it relates to generosity.

Twice daily day for six years or so, after she ate a cup of food each morning and each evening we would give her a chew to help with arthritis from overworking her joints while hunting.

Joy loved that liver flavored chew. You could liken it to waiting for the goodness of God. Remember, ‘goodness’ in today’s Scripture is the Old Testament word for ‘generosity’.

Joy always waited with expectancy. She would walk into the kitchen and point with her nose to the cupboard where the chews were located and stare with her gaze fixed. She would do this for minutes.

If we forgot, often due to a variety of unexpected factors, she would walk over to us and stare deeply into our eyes. She did not whine, fuss, or bark. She stared as if to say, “I’m waiting.”

She exhibited the readiness of receiving the goodness that the psalmist wrote about, and she had the ability to do nothing but actively wait as Morgan put it. Thanks for the lesson, Joy!

What does this communicate to you about generosity? Are you waiting to experience the generosity of God? Are you waiting for instructions regarding how to enjoy and share what God has supplied?

Pause and reflect. Wait for the Lord. Keep your eyes fixed on Him, waiting actively with unswerving focus, like Joy! Do this and I am confident you too will see God’s goodness.

Contend, LORD, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me. Psalm 35:1

“A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God’s truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.”

John Calvin in a letter to Margaret Navarre in 1001 Quotations That Connect: Timeless Wisdom for Preaching, Teaching, and Writing (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009) 170.

There is one thing I will never for get about Joy St. Clare. She only barked when she felt that we were in danger. Seriously, she almost never barked. But, if there was a stranger at the door, or if she was startled in some way, she would make this “woof” sound. It made us feel protected.

Do we make noise when God’s truth is attacked? Related to generosity, do we “woof” when worldly thinking on money prevails around us? This matters because it’s everywhere. We are cowards if we remain silent. Joy would not remain silent. Neither can we.

Live differently, especially when under attack. Give generously in defense of God’s truth.

So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was fervently praying to God for him. Acts 12:5

“Do we miss very much of the sweetness and efficacy of prayer by a want of careful meditation before it, and hopeful expectation after it? We too often rush into the presence of God without forethought or humility. We are like men who present themselves before a king without a petition, and what wonder is it that twe often miss the end of prayer? We should be careful to keep the stream of meditation always running: for this is the water to drive the mill of prayer. It is idle to pull up the flood-gates of a dry brook, and then hope to see the wheel revolved. Praying without fervency is like hunting with a dead dog, and prayer without preparation is hawking with a blind falcon.”

Charles Haddon Spurgeon in The Treasury of David (Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2016) 27.

Joy St. Clare (pictured above) was a hunting dog with fervency. God made her that way. She was a pointer, a German Shorthaired Pointer. When she hunted and caught the scent of a pheasant, she would point it and nothing would distract her focus. Nothing. That’s fervency.

Spurgeon suggests that we approach prayer with the same focus, the same fervency. It’s a brilliant word picture. When we hunted, we would constantly say, “Find a bird, Joy.” When she did, she would point when she either saw it or caught its scent. She wanted to be ready when it flushed.

We would hold her on point by saying, “Whoa, Joy!” She would point and not release and flush the bird until we gave the command, “Hunt it up!” Similarly, imagine being that focused in our pursuit of Christ! If He asked us to wait on Him, can we see ourselves holding on point.

We humans are not good at this. In today’s Scripture, God’s people were praying with fervency, but when their answer to prayer knocked on the door, they did not believe it was him until they saw him. Likewise, we are guilty of entering God’s presence without focus or humility.

What’s the point today and how does it relate to generosity? Consider this. God supplies everything for our enjoyment and sharing. Let’s fix our focus on Him with fervency, so that as He blesses us and gives us the opportunity, let’s jump to put His resources to work like a dog flushing a bird.

Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep. You, Lord, preserve both people and animals. Psalm 36:5-6

“One day, a ten-year-old boy came to see Bonhoeffer. Breaking down and crying, the boy explained that his beloved German shepherd, Mr. Wolf, had just died. The boy sobbed as he told the story, but soon his tears stopped and he asked Bonhoeffer, with deep intensity, “Tell me now, Herr Bonhoeffer, will I see Mr. Wolf again? He is surely in heaven?”

Bonhoeffer explained in a letter to a friend that he was dumbfounded. He didn’t know what to say. Never before had one of his astute professors or gifted fellow students made such an inquiry, a question that Bonhoeffer could see meant so much to this grieving boy.

Bonhoeffer sat with the boy, feeling small next to his important question. Clearly Mr. Wolf had meant so much to the boy. The overly confident protégé, who had always been told he had a brilliant answer for every theological question, now sat humbled by the boy’s love for his dead dog.

Finally, turning to the boy, Bonhoeffer said, “Well, we know you loved Mr. Wolf, and we know that God loves you. And we know that God loves all the animals. So, yes, yes, I think you will indeed see Mr. Wolf in heaven, for I believe that God loses nothing that God loves.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer as recounted by Andrew Root in his 22 August 2017 blog post entiled, “Excerpt: The Grace of Dog” from his book by the same title.

Picture this scene. Bonhoeffer had a boatload of knowledge about lofty things, but he was baffled by the love of this boy for his dead dog. I can relate because I have had dozens of people ask me if Joy St. Clare is with Lord since her passing only one week ago.

The answer to this question is difficult to pinpoint with certainty from Scripture, though texts like the one above note specifically that the Lord preserves both people and animals. What we can be sure of in hard times is the love of God. That’s what we must focus on.

We should all feel small next to the big questions of people who are hurting. Being with them is vital to understanding the bigger issues of life. If we want to be brilliant (and generous), we must do this for those who have lost one they love. Sit with them and remind them of God’s love.

I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. John 15:11

“Joy is essential to the spiritual life. Whatever we may think or say about God, when we are not joyful, our thoughts and words cannot bear fruit. Jesus reveals to us God’s love so that His joy may become ours and that our joy may be complete. Joy is the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing—sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death—can take that love away.

Joy is not the same as happiness. We can be unhappy about many things, but joy can still be there because it comes from the knowledge of God’s love for us…Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy, and keep choosing it every day. It is a choice based upon the knowledge that we belong to God and have found in God our refuge and our safety and that nothing, not even death, can take God away from us.”

Henri Nouwen in You Are the Beloved: Daily Meditations for Spiritual Living by Henri J. M. Nouwen and Gabrielle Earnshaw (New York: Convergent, 2017) reading for 1 June.

In my exploration of the relationship between man and dog this week, I surfaced the idea multiple times that a dog helps complete a man. A man learn things from his dog that no other teacher can get him to grasp, like unconditional love and gentleness.

Since our dog’s name was Joy St. Clare, my mind went to today’s Scripture and related thoughts by Nouwen. For many of my meetings this week, I have checked in “choosing joy” because I have been feeling sad and incomplete. I am realizing in real time that joy really is a choice.

For the Christian in crazy times, choosing joy is one of the greatest gifts we can offer those around us because we show that the hope that we have transcends our circumstances. And we all experience challenging stuff. In choosing joy, we show that nothing can separate us from the love of God.

No loss, no virus, no bad news, nothing phases us. Of course, we get to be human and shed tears in hard times, but we are not overcome by what happens to us. We can rise above it. Joy St. Clare was never phased by anything. She always exhibited joy. That’s what she would want me to do to.

Care to join me? Jesus, plant your joy in us so that we are complete. Amen.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

“Jesus, thank you for the gift of our four legged family. Their presence brings us joy and laughter in a different kind of way that human love cannot. Their innocence teaches us perspective on life. Their loyalty encourages us to forgive. Their courage and guard motivates us to move forward and proceed cautiously into unchartered territory when we hesitate. Their patience, gentleness, and physical touch teaches us family values. Their wiggling tail touches us and puts a smile on our face. Thank you for giving us all the gift of a pooch and the joy they bring.”

Andre Sergeyev is a Daily Meditations reader. He sent me an encouraging note yesterday which included this amazing prayer. I touched me so much I am sharing it.

God’s gifts in creation, including the four legged ones, do make us better people when we appreciate the good they can bring into our life. Sergeyev rightly notes that they bring us joy and laughter and teach us lessons that seem beyond human capability. I particularly appreciated his insight that they motivate us to move forward.

Though I am in a time of mourning, that’s exactly what Joy would want me to do. Keep walking.

He nails it that their “patience, gentleness, and physical touch” help us become the people God made us to be: family-oriented and loving. Pause today and give thanks for the gift of our four legged friends. And be sure to smile next time you see a wiggling tail. And keep that smile on your face to spread the joy generously.

God thanks for the gift of Joy St. Clare who did all these things and more for 13+ years. Help me be the person she thought I was, one day at a time. Amen.

I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:3

“Cynics often speak of the disillusioning effects of experience, but I for one have found that nearly all things not evil are better in experience than in theory. Take, for example, the innovation which I have of late introduced into my domestic life; he is a four-legged innovation in the shape of an Aberdeen terrier. I have always imagined myself to be a lover of all animals, because I have never met any animal that I definitely disliked. Most people draw the line somewhere. Lord Roberts disliked cats; the best woman I know objects to spiders; a Theosophist I know protects, but detests, mice; and many leading humanitarians have an objection to human beings.

If the dog is loved he is loved as a dog; not as a fellow-citizen, or an idol, or a pet, or a product of evolution. The moment you are responsible for one respectable animal, that moment an abyss opens as wide as the world between cruelty and the necessary coercion of animals…

But there is something deeper in the matter than all that, only the hour is late, and both the dog and I are too drowsy to interpret it. He lies in front of me curled up before the fire, as so many dogs must have lain before so many fires. I sit on one side of that hearth, as so many men must have sat by so many hearths. Somehow this creature has completed my manhood; somehow, I cannot explain why, a man ought to have a dog. A man ought to have six legs; those other four legs are part of him.

Our alliance is older than any of the passing and priggish explanations that are offered of either of us; before evolution was, we were. You can find it written in a book that I am a mere survival of a squabble of anthropoid apes; and perhaps I am. I am sure I have no objection. But my dog knows I am a man, and you will not find the meaning of that word written in any book as clearly as it is written in his soul.

It may be written in a book that my dog is canine; and from this it may be deduced that he must hunt with a pack, since all canines hunt with a pack. Hence it may be argued (in the book) that if I have one Aberdeen terrier I ought to have twenty-five Aberdeen terriers. But my dog knows that I do not ask him to hunt with a pack; he knows that I do not care a curse whether he is canine or not so long as he is my dog. That is the real secret of the matter which the superficial evolutionists cannot be got to see.

If traceable history be the test, civilization is much older than the savagery of evolution. The civilized dog is older than the wild dog of science. The civilized man is older than the primitive man of science. We feel it in our bones that we are the antiquities, and that the visions of biology are the fancies and the fads. The books do not matter; the night is closing in, and it is too dark to read books. Faintly against the fading firelight can be traced the prehistoric outlines of the man and the dog.”

G.K. Chesterton in this excerpt of his essay entitled, Dogs.

Since this was a long essay, I will share my thoughts briefly.

I believe Chesterton was a better person with his Aberdeen terrier. Joy, my German Shorthaired Pointer, made me a better person. She completed me as a man in an odd sort of way.

She positioned me for greater generosity because I ventured into life not alone but in an alliance. She was not an idol or a person, but a dog. I think the biggest lesson she taught me is how to love.

And today’s Scripture reminds me that I can give a lot but if there is no love, all my generosity is in vain. So, thanks Joy, for teaching me to love. My memories of you are now priceless treasures filled with love.

Wish we were sitting by a fireplace together. You were always fully present with me. Never distracted with work or other things. Miss you, but remembering your lessons to me with gratitude.

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14

“We were talking about cats and dogs the other day and decided that both have consciences but the dog, being an honest, humble person, always has a bad one, but the cat is a Pharisee and always has a good one. When he sits and stares you out of countenance he is thanking God that he is not as these dogs, or these humans, or even as these other cats!”

C.S. Lewis in his letter to Mary Willis Shelburne on 21 March 1955 on Luke 18:9-14, Yours, Jack: Spiritual Direction from C.S. Lewis (New York: Harper One, 2008) 261.

The professor gives us a glimpse into one of the gifts that we get from dogs. In his view (and with apologies to cat lovers), they teach us what humility looks like.

If I want to be the person my dog thinks I am, I too need to reflect humility. This appears as gratitude for the gift of each new day to be enjoyed and shared. Each walk. Each meal. Every morning and evening.

Joy taught me this. Sure, she get into mischief, like we all do. When caught with her head in the trash can because the smells were too enticing, it’s like she admitted she was guilty.

She exhibited the humility of the tax collector. She knew she had done wrong, and with her face, admitted it. The trash can lid was one of those that came off like a ring around her neck. There was no hiding where she had been.

God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Thanks God, for the way Joy modeled this posture. When we humble ourselves like a dog, we too become “man’s best friend.” God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Ephesians 4:1

“Your dog thinks you are amazing. Your dog thinks you are billiant. Your dog thinks you are trustworthy and reliable to the highest possible degree. When was the last time you said to your dog, “Hey do you want to go for a walk?” And your dog looked at you skeptically? … They believe us. Our words have weight with our dogs. Can you imagine how incredible it would be if everybody thought as highly of you as your dog does? Can you imagine if everybody thought you were as trustworthy and reliable as your dog does? Can you imagine if for everybody else your words had as much weight as they do for your dog… Be the person your dog thinks you are.”

Craig Smith in his Mission Hills sermon on the Third Commandment entitled “Be the person your dog thinks you are” delivered on 18-19 September 2021.

So, in case you missed the sad news I mentioned in yesterday’s Daily Meditation, our 13+ year old German Shorthaired Pointer, Joy St. Clare (pictured above at the favorite view point on our twice daily walk for years), died peacefully with Jenni and me by her side on Sunday morning.

Not only did she walk us twice daily about a mile or so, she hunted pheasant seasonally for about a decade, and was a trusted companion to Jenni whenever I would travel. Her passing came weeks after I heard this sermon, and Smith’s words are ringing in my ears with her passing.

Joy would want me to keep being the person she thought I was. She was so well trained and obedient to commands that we often referred to her as the “remote control” dog. She froze when we shouted “Whoa!” Even if a pheasant was right in front of her, and jumped at it when we said, “Hunt it up!”

She loved me. She cared for me well. And I think she’s telling me to be amazing, to be brilliant, to be trustworthy and reliable to the highest possible degree. And even as she belonged to me, she would tell me that I belong to Christ and to keep living a life worthy of my calling.

And she would say to be as generous as I can be. I will. Join me. If you are not a dog lover, well, I don’t kwow what to say other than the fact that Joy made me a better person. Gave me exercise. Taught me about grace. Taught me so much more. I need to mine it over the next few days. I’m just getting started.

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.” Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. 2 Corinthians 9:6-11

“The discussion of the use of 2 Corinthians 8-9 by the prosperity gospel teachers in Africa has revealed to me that this text is essentially adduced to motivate Christians to give one’s possessions in expectation of financial prosperity. In this context, material goods are seen as a right to be claimed and enjoyed by believers providing that they remain willing to give them out for the advancement of God’s work on earth.

The principle of seed sowing and reaping is largely involved in the above hermeneutics. Laws are formulated and backed up by quotations from 2 Corinthians 8-9 to teach the believer how to activate this general principles of reaping and harvesting drawn from Paul’s farming imagery in 2 Corinthians 9:6-11. In most cases, the concept of seed refers to money…it is emphasized that one must sow one’s seed in order to have a harvest, which means financial prosperity and other opportunities of success and promotion in one’s life…

The centrality of the concept of grace unanimously emphasized throughout the history of the church is badly missing in the prosperity gospel discourses… we must conceptualize Christian giving in terms of responsibility, gratefulness, and trust that God is faithful to His promise to take care of His children however the circumstances might be…the Christian is constantly challenged to appropriate Christ’s mind in his propensity to self-giving in order to serve and save humans.”

Viateur Habarurema in Christian Generosity according to 2 Corinthians 8-9: It’s Exegesis, Reception, and Interpretation Today in Dialogue with the Prosperity Gospel in Sub-Saharan Africa (Carlisle, UK: Langham Monographs, 2017) 317-318.

Habarurema lectures full-time at Protestant University of Rwanda and pastors part-time. I would love to try to meet him when my travels take me to that part of the world to collaborate on contextualizing biblical generosity materials for Africa.

This was a thought-provoking book. Habarurema started with the biblical text, looked at how it was understood in antiquity and through church history and then determined that grace was the missing piece in prosperity theology. Brilliant work!

Those who are looking for hope and help latch on prosperity theology because they are trying to do something to change their situation. It offers them an answer: give money to God and your change write a new future for yourself.

Before pointing fingers at the Africans or any others in the majority world for adopting such thinking, we must look in the mirror. We must consider, in the words of Habarurema, if our giving is “transactional” at all, which is giving to get.

All people wrestle with this. Sometimes people give to get accolades. Other times they expect some return from God for their giving. But the key point to notice is that as soon as giving becomes transactional for us, grace goes out the window.

I learned last week that my book, The Sower: Redefining the Ministry of Raising Kingdom Resources is being translated into Kinyarwanda, the native language of Rwanda. Only now do I understand the excitement about this.

The Sower addresses a core challenge there, namely, that the aim of Christian workers is to move beyond raising up gifts and instead to focus on growing sacrificial and generous givers. This is about moving beyond transactions to transformation.

From this study we have learned that “grace” must remain the key ingredient in our own lives to grow as a cheerful giver and to help others grow too. Also, to avoid the trappings of our situations we must fix our eyes on the self-giving example of Jesus.

If you would like a copy of The Sower in English, Chinese, Spanish, or Romanian in PDF form, reply to this email, and I will freely share it with you. It will help you discern the calling and work of the sower and equip you to grow givers with grace.

You will notice the header photo changed. Our faithful friend of 13+ years, Joy St. Clare, has been slowing down. I had no idea when I was having my daily office yesterday morning and writing this post that she was in the last hours of her life.

She passed away peacefully in our presence at 10:45am. Since “grace” was my key takeaway yesterday and what we will need to navigate a time of grief, I will turn the focus of the next series of posts to giving thanks for God’s grace and for Joy.