timdowell.com

Unless you just crawled out of a cave, you’re familiar with the acronym WYSIWYG; “What you see is what you get.”  Psalm 12, from today’s readings in The One Year Bible, speaks to the reality that people are rarely WYSIWYG.  We tend more toward WYSAWYG, or “What you see AIN’T what you get.

¹ Help, O Lord, for the godly are fast disappearing!
The faithful have vanished from the earth!
² Neighbors lie to each other,
speaking with flattering lips and deceitful hearts.

Speaking “with flattering lips and deceitful hearts” is apparently nothing new.  In fact, it’s a timeless problem all of us suffer.  In the best sense we behave this way because it’s easier to say what people want to hear than it is to speak the truth in love.   In the worst sense we do so because we care only about “#1″ and we’ll say (and do) whatever it takes to satisfy ourselves regardless of the impact on our neighbors.

The author of the Psalm offered up one solution as to how God might rectify the situation…

³ May the Lord cut off their flattering lips
and silence their boastful tongues.

OUCH!  That seems a bit harsh – especially since I’m just as guilty of being WYSAWYG as the next guy.  I think I’ll offer up a less violent request:

God: Forgive us all for being WYSAWYG people, and by your Spirit at work within us, transform us to be as WYSIWYG as Jesus was.  Amen.

Today’s readings from the One Year Bible include Proverbs 30:18-19, which state:

18 There are three things that amaze me—
no, four things that I don’t understand:
19 how an eagle glides through the sky,
how a snake slithers on a rock,
how a ship navigates the ocean,
how a man loves a woman.

After two-three millenia, the sciences of physics and biology have answered the first three questions… but the forth?  That one is still up for grabs.

Who says the Bible isn’t fun to read!  Have a blessed day.

Today’s reading from the One Year Bible Online reminded me of the John Fogarty song, Centerfield, which revolves around the lyric, “Put me in coach, I’m ready to play, TODAY!”  The player in today’s reading was Isaiah…

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. ⁷ He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”

⁸ Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?”

I said, “Here I am. Send me.”

Isaiah wasn’t initially so eager.  His first response was to say, “No – I’m unworthy,” but God made him ready through the seraphim with the burning coal.  That’s what a good coach does; he prepares the players so when they are eventually put in the game they can succeed.

Such is the nature of our role in the Body of  Christ.  God, through the Holy Spirit at work in each of us, has bee preparing us to be put in the game that we might drive in runs (or this time of year, make touchdowns) for the Kingdom of God.

You might be asking, “Where is the game, what are the rules, and how is it played?”  The game is where you are, be it home, work, school, retirement, or anywhere in between.  In a word, the game is life.  The rules are laid out in the Bible.   How is it played?  That’s not always clear, but what is clear is when it’s played well, God winds up looking good, people are made whole, and everyone comes away a winner.

How has God been preparing you to “produce on the field?”  However that may be, know that you have an awesome coach who has been, and continues to prepare you to be a wonderfully productive player, so get out on the field!

Today marks the end of the looooonnnnngggg reading of Job in the One Year Bible. My conclusions:

1. Friends don’t judge.  They care and listen.
2. Friends that fail step 1 aren’t friends, they’re fools.
3. God is gracious… even to fools!
4. Steadfast faith will be rewarded.

That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.  For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!  So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.  (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

You think you have it tough? Consider the apostle Paul. According to his own account in 2 Cor 11:24-28, he had received 39 lashes five times, survived three shipwrecks, and encountered all sorts of dangers and trouble in travelling about the world telling people about Jesus. On top of that, he’s getting old and becoming more and more aware of his mortality. He knows that if shipwrecks and beatings don’t kill him, time eventually will. Nevertheless, he was still able to enjoy the hopeful perspective recounted above. Amazing! How was he able to do it? Simple. He was able to maintain a long distance perspective. He was able to focus on the promises of God beyond this life, and not be distracted by the trials of his day to day life.

I bet you do have it tough. We all do. Underneath the “I’m fine” face we put on in public most folks I meet have a laundry list of troubles; troubles that distract us from the hope we have in Jesus. Follow Paul’s advice. Fix your gaze on things that cannot be seen. The troubles you experience today will soon be gone, but persevering them in faith will result in a glory that is far greater than our troubles – a glory that will last forever.

¹ Then Job spoke again: ² “You people really know everything, don’t you?  And when you die, wisdom will die with you!
Job 12:1-2

This sarcastic comment by Job was a response to his friends – yes, friends – who were there to console him in the midst of his suffering.  The well intended words each friend spoke to comfort Job wound up doing more harm than good.  Why?  Because they were rooted in each man’s personal wisdom (which as it turned out, wasn’t very wise at all).   Even through the distraction of his grief and pain Job was able to detect that “their” wisdom was not “true” wisdom.

It’s easy to sit back as the reader and cast stones at Job’s friends, but the fact of the matter is; we’re in the same boat.  Like them, we too have our own “personal wisdom,” our own views we consider wise, but truth be known, there is a chasm of ignorance separating “our” wisdom from “true” wisdom.  The life well lived is the one lived in the chasm; aware that the wisdom one has… is not, and the wisdom that is… is not yet known.

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
1 Corinthians 13:12

The good Christian lives in the chasm, and studies God’s word in hopes that day by day the chasm might narrow.
The good Christian lives in the chasm, and speaks as one who knows the wisdom we have is not wisdom at all.

Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. .. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.” 1 Kings 19:3-4

Sounds like Elijah was having a bad day, doesn’t it? Truth be told, he was actually doing well. He had just completed a stunning work of God, demonstrating in grand fashion the false god du jour (Baal) was a fraud (1 Kings 18) and he would soon have a close personal encounter with GOD who would care for Elijah’s needs and send him into the next phase of his divine service. Despite the fact that he was being used by God in such significant ways and enjoying such an intimate relationship with God, Elijah was afraid and wishing he were dead.

A wise man once said while lamenting that his missionary children (and grandchildren) were serving in a dangerous overseas setting, “There’s no better place for them to be than right in the middle of God’s will, and I know that’s where they are.” That’s where Elijah was – right in the middle of God’s will for his life, and as a result he would do the great works of God recorded in scripture, and at the end of it all receive the rare honor of being taken up into God’s presence “in a whirlwind,” bypassing the grave altogether. That notwithstanding, from Elijah’s perspective, life stunk!

When life brings us trouble, like Elijah, we get scared and discouraged. It’s important to remember that our relationship with God does not come with a guarantee of happiness and easy living. There will be days when you’ll find yourself “under a broom tree wishing you were dead.” As Jesus put it in his last supper with his disciples, “In this world you will have trouble…” All of us know that all too well. Fortunately, Jesus went on to finish that sentence by saying, “…but take heart, I have overcome the world!” (John 16:33) That’s the true benefit of the Christian life. Not being promised a life of “sunny days,” but a life of hope that we have an eternity of sunny days waiting just beyond the storms we face in this life. Elijah would eventually move beyond the storms he faced in his life and enjoy eternity in the presence of God.

Do you find yourself sitting under a broom tree today? Take heart. Whatever you face has already been “overcome.” We serve a God who has promised us a better tomorrow that will last eternally longer than the troubles of today!

Carey Mallow recently shared a story with me from the May 2009 edition of Pro Bull Rider Magazine related to our recent “Bullish Faith” series. It’s the story of professional bull rider Lee Akin. In 2007, Akin suffered one “bear” of a brain injury when the bull he was riding, “Dick Dastardly,” bucked him and crushed the left side of his skull with a hoof. Akin spent 7 ½ weeks in a coma, and another six weeks regaining enough brain function to understand what had happened to him. He was a young man with a wife, Mary, and a 5 ½ month old baby girl. Immediately following the injury, most people thought it was simply a matter of time before he died, but not his wife, Mary. “We started right then praying and believing he was going to be fully restored. We believed the truth and not what the doctors had to tell us.”

Two years later Akin is very much alive and continuing his recovery from the horrific injury. Instead of spending time traveling around the country riding bulls in the PBR, he spends his time looking after his two year old daughter and continuing in speech therapy. He and his wife Mary are living examples that a “Bullish Faith” can see you through any “bear” of a circumstance, even one “bear” of a dastardly bull!

(Thank you Carey for sharing this inspiring story!)