https://open.spotify.com/episode/636ZiJ6UkbZLqzgGbOY2wo?si=TSMrcWpGTtWJ_gz1iYBj0w

But sometimes, upon scrolling through my news feed, I just find it depressing.  You might, too.

So today, let’s set that aside and soak in God’s Word.  Receive some hope and inspiration from Psalm 91 (NLT):

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High
    will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
This I declare about the Lord:
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
    he is my God, and I trust him.
For he will rescue you from every trap
    and protect you from deadly disease.
He will cover you with his feathers.
    He will shelter you with his wings.
    His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
    nor the arrow that flies in the day.
Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,
    nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
Though a thousand fall at your side,
    though ten thousand are dying around you,
    these evils will not touch you.
Just open your eyes,
    and see how the wicked are punished.

If you make the Lord your refuge,
    if you make the Most High your shelter,
 no evil will conquer you;
    no plague will come near your home.
 For he will order his angels
    to protect you wherever you go.
 They will hold you up with their hands
    so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.
 You will trample upon lions and cobras;
    you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!

 The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.
    I will protect those who trust in my name.
 When they call on me, I will answer;
    I will be with them in trouble.
    I will rescue and honor them.
 I will reward them with a long life
    and give them my salvation.”

Now, read it again, and discern whether the Lord has a word or phrase that can encourage you today.  

Pause, and ask God what that might mean for you.

Then, read it again, and rest in the comfort of his care.  Amid all that’s going on in the world, it’s good to know that we find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

No, seriously:  let’s be real.

Too often as Christians, we feel the need to put on a happy face, even when we’re not happy, because, after all, the joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8.10).

That’s absolutely true:  the joy of the Lord is our strength.  But that doesn’t mean we can’t be honest with ourselves, and with the Lord.

Too often, we think we need to put on a brave face for others, and that somehow, God won’t notice the duplicity.  And we tend to think we can’t show real emotion before the Lord.

Here’s a stat that flies in the face of that:  in Hebrew, the Old Testament book we know as Psalms is entitled, “Praises”. Yet about 45% of the Psalms are classified as laments.

That’s right:  almost half of the Psalter demonstrates some form of sorrow or anger.

Even Jesus quoted one of the Psalms of lament when he cried out from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Psalm 22.1, NLT).

If it’s good enough for Jesus, it should be good enough for us.  We can and should share our honest emotions before God.  It’s not an act of unfaithfulness; the fact that we are crying out to God, with any emotion, is part of our praise, even as the Psalms of lament are part of the collection of songs that are entitled “Praise” in Hebrew.

But how can lament be considered praise?

As one scholar has pointed out, lament demonstrates that God is with us in our pain; it is a form of ‘radical praise’, where we dare to come to the Lord, who is sovereign, with our complaint.

So don’t be shy about expressing all your feelings before God in prayer:  praise, remorse, gratitude, delight, even anger.  He knows how you’re feeling anyway!  And be open to how he will work in your life in response to your expression of emotion.

Being able to shout to the Lord with brutal honesty, at any given time, is a way we grow in our formation in Christ.  Let’s be real.

Sometimes, we host guests at our home for part or all of this event.  This year, we had special guests.

It was a married couple engaged in ministry who have learned that sometimes, congregational work can be extremely difficult.  Occasionally, as they have found, to use the title of a book I read many years ago, “sheep bite”.

They wanted to meet with my wife and me to have a conversation that might assure them that it isn’t all bad, that there are many wonderful aspects to leading a congregation, and that when difficult times do rear their ugly heads, there are good things that emerge after the fact.

We have been through it all:  smooth ministry, challenging (to put it mildly) times, and blessings.  My own testimony is that congregational work can be tough, but God’s grace is enough to carry us through them as we emerge into times of strength and growth, both personally and in the church.

This sort of mentoring can be of great use to us all, whether in our vocation (in the church or otherwise), in our marriages, or just in seeking to live as faithful followers of Jesus.

So my encouragement to you today is to take what you have experienced and share it with people who may not be as far down the path as you are:  tell your story of God’s faithfulness, and give them hope for the future.  

It may be an investment of a short period of time, or it may be a longer journey, but the Lord has given you a story to share, and it can be of benefit to others.  Pray that the Lord will draw people toward you who are seeking to get the kind of mentoring you can offer, and give the gift of your time.  It’s not an overstatement to say that it will be an eternal investment.

“As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend” (Proverbs 27.17, NLT).

https://open.spotify.com/episode/57Ue0WxbSKrHCY1UuEsbs0?si=c-AU1ZJIQXCVO1pyS5LCPA

This week, I found a very long tweet (by Twitter standards) that, because I care about you, I am choosing to “retweet” through Encouragement From The Word.  It was written by American Lutheran pastor, Hans Fiene (the creator of “Lutheran Satire”).  I hope you find it encouraging and that it inspires your faith.  – JFL 

A devotion [on] the absurdity of wanting heaven without Jesus: Luke 15:11-32

When the older brother confronts his father about the feast of joy he’s thrown in honor of the prodigal son’s return, the older brother laments that, after all these years of faithfully serving his father, his father never even gave him a young goat that he might celebrate with his friends. Again, and quite notably, with his friends. Not with his father. And with this little detail, the older brother reveals the wickedness of his heart. He wants his father’s glory, but not his presence. He wants the splendor his father produces, but doesn’t want his father anywhere near it. He wants to be praised for his obedience, but doesn’t want the love of the one he obeyed.

And in this, we see a perfect depiction of the absurdity of unbelievers who get angry at the notion that they must have faith in Christ in order to have eternal life. It might sound perfectly reasonable to their own ears when they say, “why shouldn’t I be able to go to heaven just because I don’t believe in Jesus? Why should I go to hell just because I’m not a Christian?” But if we use terms that describe what heaven and hell actually are, we begin to see the insanity of the request. Heaven is being in the presence of Jesus. Hell is being apart from Him. Likewise, belief is ultimately wanting to be near Jesus, to receive His righteousness. And unbelief is wanting to be far from Him, wanting your own righteousness instead. And so, saying “if I’m not a Christian, why should I go to hell” is ultimately saying, “I don’t want to be near Jesus, but why should I be far from Jesus? Why can’t I be near His righteousness but not get close to it?” Just like the older brother in the parable, such people want the glory of God without the presence of God.

This request is nonsense. If you want the Kingdom of Christ, you have to want Christ. And if you don’t want Christ, then you’ll get what you desire and all the suffering that comes from being separated from Him. So if you want eternal life, despair of your own righteousness. Quit believing the lie that you’ve earned a goat and a celebration with your friends. Leave your pride behind and walk into the kingdom where the fattened calf has been slaughtered and where your Father’s love is radiating. Walk away from your sins and into the arms of your God. Beg for the blood of Christ to clothe you and cover you, and your Father in heaven will show you that it is already the robe around your shoulders and the ring on your finger. Stop lingering outside the feast. Come inside and live forever.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7wUeE1teQ9iR2iJtaewO9e?si=1AN-6O_zSz2PJzwQi8f9aw

I don’t know about you, but I’d never heard that word before; perhaps that’s a good thing!

It has crept into the vocabulary of many this week because of the news that this virus, which normally is transmitted by and between rodents, seems to have been transmitted from human to human aboard a small cruise ship touring the Atlantic Ocean.  A number of people, including a few Canadians, have been affected.

It’s no surprise that this might cause us some concern, given our experience with the Coronavirus earlier in this decade.  

Likely, the spread was caused by close human contact, so it’s unlikely to cause a pandemic such as we had a few years ago.

But when I think of highly communicable viruses, I’m led to wonder:  Why doesn’t the gospel spread as fast as a virus?

Maybe the simple answer is that viruses act passively between people; we’re not trying to make someone else sick (though friends of ours did once decide, in an effort to get it over with all at once, to have their children share a popsicle when they discovered that one child had the chicken pox!).

There is one sense in which God’s good news does transfer somewhat passively, and that’s the organic way:  when parents live out their faith, intentionally, their kids catch this reality and are more likely to live it out for themselves than if their parents did not live out their faith intentionally.

However, for the gospel to really spread, even in our families, we need to be intentional.  We need to be breathing it into the lives of others.

Sometimes, that works, and sometimes, it doesn’t.  Why?  Only the Lord knows who he has chosen to be saved; our job is to assume that’s everyone, and to share the good news far and wide, hoping and praying that it spreads like wildfire…or like a virus.

“Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone” (Mark 16.15a, NLT).

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1lOv4Hle2YSHsE9cmMGl4x?si=ANKrjxLZS1-P-9_8sAm_VA