Things I Think…
1. The Twitter feed for the forest fire in Redding, CA rolled frantically over the weekend as it appeared the inferno could might envelope the entire city.
“Pray For Redding” cried many of the tweets and pray we did…but the fire roared on.
The prophets and apostles at Bethel decreed rain and declared the fire out and the flames laughed and burned through some more homes.
Word came that a great grandmother and her two great grand children were missing…pray for them.. and we prayed with fervor.
They found them…the grandma had covered the children with a wet blanket, then with herself, and they died together in terror I can’t imagine lest I lose my mind.
Both holy and heathen lost everything and no rain fell either on the just or the unjust…the fire fell on all.
Prayer, it seems, was a poor substitute for fire retardant and defensible space.
Some of those whose homes were saved thanked God for doing so without offering an explanation for the fact that their neighbors homes were now ashes and scrap metal.
I don’t have any explanations either.
I prayed…
There is thick, inexplicable, mystery around the ways of God that we try to explain away with our theologies to try to keep our own terrors at bay.
They all fail at some point and are reduced to ashes in the fires of life.
Still, faith lives on.
We embrace the mystery because that is where we find life… in the ruins, in the dark, in the ashes, and sometimes, in the light as well.
We pray…”thy kingdom come, they will be done”…now, if possible…believing it is coming whether we see it now or not…I believe, help my unbelief…
2. A memorial service was held this weekend for a man that spent his life “on fire” for Christ like no one I’ve ever known. He couldn’t pray away his depression and PTSD, nor could he let others see his pain and weakness and he took his own life. There is mystery and darkness here…but the fruit of a life lived for Jesus remains and the light from his fire glows on…
3. Hovering over that memorial service was the shadow of the man we had both worked for, the man who basically created this blog through his sin. The good fruit of his ministry is still enormous…and in the inexplicable ways of God, I hope this blog is part of that good fruit…
4. I believe the wisdom of the mature saint is in ceasing to try to understand and seeking to worship instead…
5. I am learning to refuse the need to explain and to simply rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who are weeping…
6. Without an ancient liturgy to follow the pastor is left to his own devices…and those devices will inevitably be informed by the temporal, not the eternal…
7. I am amazed daily now at the things people will believe when they no longer believe those they once trusted…
8. I am no longer confounded by wondering how people will believe the Anti-Christ…there are many anti-Christs among us with a devout Christian following…
9. You can sermonize about how all our righteous acts are “filthy rags’ or you can rejoice at watching how communities come together in crisis…
10. I still believe and my faith is strong…not because God sent a book,but because He came Himself and suffered with us and for us…thy kingdom come, thy will be done…as soon as possible, Lord…
No prayer in the name. of Jesus is wasted and some pray not yet knowing Jesus and are heard by God…
It is that faith that pleases God, but His ways(His answers) truly are beyond our understanding…. Our. mortal lives are short, but Eternity (and absolute Truth) is a very, very long time. ?
and so i pray…. ?
Em,
I think you covered it well…and we will keep praying…
Michael, i’ve come late in life to the conclusion that when i feel that God doesn’t hear, doesnt care about little old insignificant me and cease to bring things on my heart to the Father, i am like the 2 year old who pouts when things don’t go in a way calculated to please him … or her
Bible does make it clear that He’s waaay smarter than me, but it has taken me a long time to actualize that He really does know what is going on. ?
God, the creator of heaven and earth, who reigns providentially, and hidden, over creation, hears everything. However, what he hears outside of Christ, is condemned.
Only the blood of Christ will deliver wretched man from his body of death, including his prayers and other filthy works. Bless the Lord for his abundant mercies and grace, which are daily given to the children of man in and for the sake of the Lamb of God.
#8 could probably use a little explanation. How can Christians follow anti christ? The purpose of any anti Christ is to lead away from Christ.
To say that Christians can follow anti christ makes no sense. At best, these would be former christians.
Michael
Nicely said… 1 to 10.
And No. 10 is a doxology for all of us… “I still believe and my faith is strong…not because God sent a book, but because He came Himself and suffered with us and for us…thy kingdom come, thy will be done…as soon as possible, Lord…”
Michael,
You’ve taken great care to not provide the name of the pastor who died. May I ask why?
Because the people who needed to know his name already know it…
Thank you, Duane…I thought a doxology necessary today…
Cool. Just curious
Thx for the answer.
The Psalms are such a frequent source of comfort in later days.
Especially when coupled with an audio bible and a walk outside.
May we all find the Lord’s sweet comfort.
And to think i used to think david was just having a bad day
#6
Totally agreed. Excellent point.
Although I assume there are many nonliturgical churches where the pastor tries
to focus on the eternal not the temporal.
But Michael your point stands…when you have something that transcends the
present, the present becomes of lesser import and it’s much easier to put
the concerns of the moment in proper perspective…if that makes any sense!
#4–#4; maturity is, perhaps in my case, better explained by fatigue at trying to explain…
I believe the wisdom of the mature saint is in ceasing to try to understand and seeking to worship instead…This rings so true with me. The ways of God are unfathomable even by the most spiritual among us. And this amazing inability to understand should, just like you said, inspire us to worship Him who holds the entire universe in His Hand.