Meditations

Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. Psalm 96:12

“Divine wisdom has dispersed woods and forests in more or less abundance all over the world. In some countries they are at great distances. In others they take up several leagues, and raise their majestic heads to the clouds. Neither the constant use made of it so lavishly by mankind, nor the ravages of accidental fires, nor severe winters have yet exhausted these rich gifts…”

Christoph Sturm (1740-1786) in Day’s Collacon, compiled and arranged by Edward Parsons Day (New York: IPPO, 1884) 1034.

It’s summertime in America, a time when people often explore the woods and forests that God has scattered across our land. Many go camping. My son, Sammy, and I like to explore God’s creation by going fly fishing.

There are about 60 species and sub-species of trout and salmon that God placed in the woods and forests of America. We’ve caught and released 27 of the 60 up until this trip. We hope to locate more this week.

Enjoy the woods and forests. They are gifts from God! As stewards, leave them nicer than you found them. If you can’t make it outside, then we will bring the experience to you. Check out: Goose Lake Basin Redband Trout Fly Fishing.

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Psalm 24:1

“Great abundance of riches cannot of any man be both gathered and kept without sin.”

Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) in Day’s Collacon, compiled and arranged by Edward Parsons Day (New York: IPPO, 1884) 813.

As stewards we own nothing. God owns everything. To gather and keep for ourselves is both stealing from God and failing to use all God supplies rightly. Regardless of what society says or does, it’s wrong! It’s sin.

Sammy and I are fly fishing in Southeastern Oregon looking for various species of cutthroat and redband trout. We try to catch, film, and release them. Some time later Sammy produces videos to share the blessing of the experience.

One summer we aimed at catching 500 fish. That year we landed 541. What if we kept them all for ourselves? You might cry, “Foul!” You might say, “There’d be none for anyone else.” You’d be right!

Many of the species we target have not been stewarded well. As variety of factors leaves them nearly extinct, we treat each trout we catch as a gift from God, and we release each one as our gift to the next angler.

For a look at the kind of fly fishing we are doing for native trout, check out: Owyhee River Basin Redband Trout Fishing.

I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners. Ecclesiastes 5:13

“Among the superfluities of life, we seldom number the abundance of money.”

Noah Webster (1758-1843) in Day’s Collacon, compiled and arranged by Edward Parsons Day (New York: IPPO, 1884) 912.

Short and sweet. That’s what the meditations will be this week as Sammy and I are heading West to Oregon for a week of fly fishing together. I located short quotes worth contemplating and sharing that use my word for 2018, abundance .

Noah Webster uses an uncommon word, superfluities. He defines it as “excess or oversupply.” He’s saying that most people would probably say you can’t get enough money. Is that the view we should take? Solomon teaches us otherwise.

As the famous song goes, money can’t buy you love or anything else you need. So, has God blessed you financially? Don’t let it stay with you to your ruin. You have been blessed to be a blessing. Be generous with it.

And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

“[Paul] accepted his heaven-sent affliction with the same humility with which he received the vision from the Lord…The world translated “thorn” comes from the Greek term skolops, meaning a “sharply pointed stake.” Specifically [Paul] wrote, “There was given to me a stake in the flesh.

After the glory came the groaning. On the heels of supernatural privilege came physical throbbing pain. Following the exalted heavenly revelations came humiliating and agonizing earthly suffering. It was an agony that would accompany him the rest of his life.

Now what was the thorn? Suggestions abound…The truth is we don’t know…Nobody knows for sure…And you know what that means? It doesn’t matter. The man who endured it calls it a “messenger of Satan.” The enemy hoped to use it to cause the apostle to defect or to retreat from his calling. God used it to keep the gifted servant on his knees…

I see an interesting tension here. While Satan punched and pounded the apostles resolve, the Lord’s purpose was to humble him, to keep him from exalting himself. Pride doesn’t reside in the hearts of the broken, the split-apart, the wounded, the anguished of soul.”

Charles R. Swindoll in Paul: A Man of Grace and Grit (Great Lives from God’s Word, Volume 6, Nashville: W Publishing Group, 2002) 99-100.

Abundance is my word for 2018 and in today’s Scripture it comes into view in a different way than I expected. When Paul could have gloried in an abundance of revelations, he received a gift from God: a thorn in the flesh.

I can relate this week. It’s been a week when I could be tempted to take pride in some earthly accomplishments. God has given me the gift of nerve pain which shoots into my hip and down my leg that has brought me to my knees.

Don’t miss God’s generosity. In times of abundance, when we could be tempted to be prideful, He gives us things like thorns coupled with sufficient grace for our good. Thank you for the gift of thorns. What a generous God we serve!

As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I want to see,” he replied. Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God. Luke 18:35-43

“You notice that prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, or what is known as the Jesus prayer — that is to say, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me’ — when frequently repeated, has the greatest power and very easily opens the heart and blesses it. This is to be noticed very clearly in the case of the apostles, who had been for a whole year disciples of Jesus Christ, and had already been taught the Lord’s Prayer by Him — that is to say, ‘Our Father’ (and it is through them that we know it). Yet at the end of His earthly life Jesus Christ revealed to them the mystery that was still lacking in their prayers. So that their prayer might make a definite step forward He said to them, ‘Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name. Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name He will give it you.’ And so it happened in their case. For, ever after this time, when the Apostles learned to offer prayers in the name of Jesus Christ, how many wonderful works they performed and what abundant light was shed upon them.”

R.M. French translated The Way Of A Pilgrim And The Pilgrim Continues His Way (San Francisco: Harper, 1991) 151-152. Click to read a free copy of this classic spiritual formation resource.

To live a generous life is to serve as a conduit of spiritual and material blessings that come to us from God. Often, on the journey, we have needs that arise. Jesus anticipated this, which is why He instructed His disciples to ask the Father for what they need in His name. He also modeled responsiveness to such a request in how He responded to the blind man’s humble cry.

Taken the wrong way, this can lead many to thinking “the Jesus prayer” (as it is commonly called) is a magic formula for manipulating God to get what you want. Don’t go there! It’s arrogant rather than humble, and God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. See it not as formulaic, but rather, formational. Recounting this Scripture as a prayer teaches us humility.

I had breakfast with a mate this week who shared with me that God is teaching him a number of things, one of which is humility. If that’s you too, pray this prayer often. My wife, Jenni, in her spiritual direction encourages people to pray it as a breath prayer. Breath in saying to yourself ‘Lord Jesus Christ’ and breath out saying ‘have mercy on me a sinner’. Try it to train yourself in humility.

Why celebrate the abundant light in this prayer? Understanding the humble posture we must take coupled with the access to the Father we have through our Lord Jesus Christ is integral to the life of a generous disciple. We cannot live generously without dependence upon and connection to the Father through Jesus Christ. The only way to ‘generosity’ for all us as pilgrims is to take the path marked ‘humility’.

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13-14

“This way is not dangerous. If it were, Christ would not have represented it as the most perfect and necessary of all ways. All can walk in it; and as all are called to blessedness, all are called to the enjoyment of God, both in this life and in that which is to come, since the enjoyment of God is blessedness. I say the enjoyment of God Himself, not of His gifts, which can never impart essential blessedness, not being able fully to satisfy the soul, which is so constituted that even the richest gifts of God cannot thoroughly content it. The desire of God is to give Himself to us, according to the capacity with which He has endowed us; and yet we fear to leave ourselves to God! We fear to possess Him, and to be prepared for divine union!”

Jeanne Guyon (1648-1717) in A Short Method of Prayer (London: Sampson Low, 1875) 49. This work may interest those who desire a deeper walk with Christ.

Jesus desires our maturity, or in biblical terms, our perfection. He wants our focus on God and nothing else because He knows that when we fix our gaze there, paradoxically, everything else comes into proper focus.

For example, we are tempted to focus on what the world looks at on the broad road that leads to destruction, namely, the gifts of God rather than God, or the blessings of God instead of His blessedness. Don’t do it!

Instead, focus on God, find contentment in His blessedness, and fear not to abandon yourself fully to Him. His goodness knows no depths and His faithfulness is unfathomable. What’s this got to do with generosity?

When we hold on to the wrong thing (the gifts we have received from God rather than God), it greatly limits our openhanded giving, and leaves us feeling insecure and discontent.

Alternatively, when we hold on tightly to the only One “able fully to satisfy the soul” then we realize we have everything we have and will ever need so we can be generous at all times and occasions. That is life!

On a personal note, next week I will go on a week-long fly fishing road trip with my son, Sammy, tracking down native trout in remote parts of Oregon. Why mention this?

When we cherish God above all else, only then can we rightly enjoy His gifts. The reason Jesus desires our maturity is so that we can enjoy Him and His generous gifts (such as an adventure like this one) rightly.

The Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the Lord. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Leviticus 25:1-4

“All labour was to cease in the seventh year, as much as daily labour on the seventh day. These statues tell us to beware of covetousness, for a man’s life consists not in the abundance of his possessions. We are to exercise willing dependence on God’s providence for our support; to consider ourselves the Lord’s tenants or stewards, and to use our possessions accordingly. This year of rest typified the spiritual rest which all believers enter into through Christ. Through Him we are eased of the burden of wordly care and labour, both being sanctified and sweetened to us; and we are enabled and encouraged to live by faith.”

Matthew Henry (1662-1714) in Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Bible (Grand Rapids: CCEL) 162. Click to download freely this Bible commentary.

On this day, the Fourth of July in America, my mind reflects on the similarities between the Israelites and Americans. God’s people lived in slavery to the Egyptians. Americans wanted to be rid of British rule. Both longed for freedom from oppression. Our proclivity as humans back then and now, however, is to use our freedom for self-indulgence rather than selfless service.

After delivering the people, the Lord told Moses to tell the them to trust Him to care for their needs, to “exercise willing dependence on God’s providence.” So he gave them an assignment. They were to demonstrate trust by ceasing their labor and trusting God to supply. God’s servant, Moses, was to teach God’s people, as Henry rightly puts it, that “we are enabled and encouraged to live by faith.”

Last Sunday, our pastor, James Hoxworth preached a great sermon entitled, “Fear Not” on Psalm 46. He asked people to think about their fears. Our fears are often linked to misplaced faith. We trust in money and things rather than God. As “the Lord’s tenants and stewards” we can only be still and find rest in Christ. Like Henry and Hoxworth, let us teach others how to do it. In resting, we declare our dependence on God.

God, your design for your people back then and now has always been to learn to trust you. The only way we learn it is to cease from our toil and rest in you. As we do it, show us your faithfulness and our purpose, to show others how to find rest they seek. Thank you that we are both enabled and encouraged to live by faith in Jesus Christ alone who is faithful. Amen.

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. Luke 9:24

The Valley of Vision

Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights; hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold thy glory.

Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive, that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells, and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine; Let me find thy light in my darkness, thy life in my death, thy joy in my sorrow, thy grace in my sin, thy riches in my poverty thy glory in my valley.

“The Valley of Vision” in The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions, edited by Arthur Bennett (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Trust, 1975) xv. Click to download a copy of this classic book of Puritan prayers and devotions.

This famous Puritan prayer reminds us that we must “learn by paradox” if we are to grow in this Christian faith. Everything about following Jesus is counterintuitive to our flesh.

Regarding generosity, “to give is to receive”, because in Christ “to have nothing is to possess all”, and to attain God’s riches we must actually move toward poverty. My wife, Jenni, and I have learned, along with our son and daughter, Sammy and Sophie, that you only figure it out when you live it out.

Father, help us learn by paradox. Holy Spirit, show us how to unlearn life by sight and teach us to live by faith. Jesus, cause our humility to bring you glory. Amen.

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. Colossians 4:2

“Spiritual forces cannot work while we are trusting earthly forces. Often we fail to give God an opportunity to work, not realizing that it takes time for Him to answer prayer. It takes time for God to color a rose or to grow a great oak tree. And it takes time for Him to make bread from wheat fields. He takes the soil, then grinds and softens it. He enriches it and wets it with rain showers and with dew. Then He brings the warmth of life to the small blade of grass, later grows the stalk and the amber grain, and finally provides bread for the hungry. All this takes time. Therefore we sow the seed, till the ground, and then wait and trust until God’s purpose has been fulfilled. We understand this principle when it comes to planting a field, and we need to learn the same lesson regarding our prayer life. It takes time for God to answer prayer.”

Lettie Burd or “L.B.” Cowman (1870-1960) in Streams in the Desert, reading for 18 April (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997) 160. Here’s yet another classic devotional book available freely online in PDF form.

The human tendency is to trust in earthly forces to make things happen. As the greatest earthly power is money, many try to use money to make things happen, to control outcomes, to solve problems. If this pattern guides our giving, we don’t exhibit Christian generosity. Such activity merely reflects us taking matters into our own hands. Think about it. It’s like we are trying to play God. That’s not our role!

What if, alternatively, “we give God an opportunity to work” and make that way of thinking the cornerstone of our generosity. If we believe and trust in His sovereignty, we can obey His teachings and trust that He can answer prayer and sort situations better than we can. So what’s our role? We are simply sowers. We sow ourselves and resources that He supplies not trying to solve problems but show His love as obedient, grateful disciples.

And we leave all the results to God in prayer. That way He’s sure to get the glory for all that happens! This perspective brings today’s Scripture squarely into view. We devote ourselves to prayer with watchfulness, which is anticipation that in His time He will work, and with thankfulness, which is gratitude that God will do his part to sort all the world’s problems. And this posture shows we depend on His spiritual forces rather than earthly ones!

As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.” By your favor, O Lord, you made my mountain stand strong; you hid your face; I was dismayed. Psalm 30:6-7

“Give a man wealth; let his ships bring home continually rich freights; let the winds and waves appear to be his servants to bear his vessels across the bosom of the mighty deep; let his lands yield abundantly: let the weather be propitious to his crops; let uninterrupted success attend him; let him stand among men as a successful merchant; let him enjoy continued health; allow him with braced nerve and brilliant eye to march through the world, and live happily; give him the buoyant spirit; let him have the song perpetually on his lips; let his eye be ever sparkling with joy — and the natural consequence of such an easy state to any man, let him be the best Christian who ever breathed, will be presumption; even David said, “I shall never be moved;” and we are not better than David, nor half so good.

Brother, beware of the smooth places of the way; if you are treading them, or if the way be rough, thank God for it. If God should always rock us in the cradle of prosperity; if we were always dandled on the knees of fortune; if we had not some stain on the alabaster pillar; if there were not a few clouds in the sky; if we had not some bitter drops in the wine of this life, we should become intoxicated with pleasure, we should dream “we stand;” and stand we should, but it would be upon a pinnacle; like the man asleep upon the mast, each moment we should be in jeopardy. We bless God, then, for our afflictions; we thank him for our changes; we extol his name for losses of property; for we feel that had he not chastened us thus, we might have become too secure. Continued worldly prosperity is a fiery trial.”

Charles Haddon Spurgeon in Morning and Evening: Daily Readings (Grand Rapids, MI: CCEL) morning reading for 10 March. This is a classic devotional with short devotionals to read twice daily. Click to download the PDF. As we find ourselves now embarking on the second half of 2018 (Can you believe it?), I looked for the theme of abundance in this work and found keen wisdom for us about presumption and smooth places.

The world aims at wealth and prosperity, preserving comfort and smooth living, and avoiding difficult times at all costs. All this presumes that people are in control and positions them for self-indulgence and a host of related sins! No wonder Spurgeon says “Beware” and rightly directs us to the words of David in Psalm 30 to remind us that life has highs and lows linked only to the favor of God. Since that’s true, we must focus on the Lord rather than lands or losses!

What does this have to do with generosity? We follow the world’s pattern if we think giving flows from our capacity. It does not. Our lands or losses are determined by the Lord. All we choose is what to do with what the Lord entrusts us. When we use his provision faithfully, He often supplies more. The key, which is why it’s a fiery trial, is not to worship the provision, but rather the Provider, by obediently putting to work all He supplies to maintain a posture of dependence.