Certain as Dawn

Truth never moves

Hope stays the same

Love still remains

As certain as the dawn

Life can be as ever changing as the weather.  For much of the country you never know what the weather will be, even in the most knowledgable predictions the weather never ceases to surprise us.  I’m finding this to be true here in Colorado.  What I love about the weather is that although it can be a bit all over the place going from 80 one day to 40 the next (yes that happened last week), the sun still rises every day.  Now I may not experience the warmth of the sun every day but that doesn’t change the truth that every single day the sun comes up.  I love that because it reminds me of the things in my life that are true although I experience them differently daily.  When my world is falling apart hope stays the same; When I feel alone love still remains; When things feel shaken truth never moves.  Truth, hope and love are just like the dawn…certain.  

"So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth."

Hosea 6:3 NASB

Hosea paints a beautiful picture of God’s unconditional love for us.  It’s a love that keeps seeking even when we turn away.  Although Hosea’s wife continues to run after other lovers his love remains faithful, as does God’s love for us.  In light of God’s loyal love Hosea encourages the people to press on towards the Lord.  It was their lack of knowledge of God that destroyed them (Hosea 4:6).  Thus, he calls them back to knowledge.  In knowing God and His loyal, steadfast love we are compelled to know Him more.  When we know His presence is constant, His provision is timely and His restoration complete we can press on to know Him.  So let us know, yes let us press on to know Him, the One who is already madly pursuing you.  Even when nothing feels certain, He is always certain.  

You can also enjoy more insight from Spurgeon on this verse: 

“Notice, again, it is a repeated gift. He shall give the former rain and the latter rain. If you have had grace once the Lord has more for you. Did you have happy times when old Dr. So-and-so was your pastor? Well, the doctor is dead, but God is not. Were you very much delighted when you used to sit in such-and-such a church, in years gone by, and have you moved into the country now? Yes, but God has not moved. He is in the country as well as in the town. You tell me you had such happy times when you were young. Yes, but God is neither younger nor older. Go to him, for he is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Do you suppose that, because he gave you the former rain, he has emptied the bottles of heaven?” (Spurgeon)

Flip Flop

When life brings you flips and flops you must hold onto the truth that the flops can get flipped.  

I’m not talking about the sandals, although I do love my Rainbow flip flops.  Instead I’m looking at something that gets changed around. Flip means to cause to turn over with a sudden movement and flop means a total fail.  We all have those stories when something that you thought was a disaster gets flipped into something great.  It happens at levels large and small.  The cancelled appointment that gives you space for rest or the job you lost that sets you up for something more than you imagined.  This concept often reminds me of the job I didn’t get as a resident assistant.  I was devastated.  I thought I was a perfect fit for that job.  However, another job opened up in the leasing office that turned out to be a much better fit for me.  It felt like a flop, a total fail in that moment.  Yet, not getting that job allowed me to take the other job.  My flop got flipped and turned into something better.  While not all flops get flipped, it happens more than you might think.  The things that feel like a total fail in our lives can take on a whole new hope when we remember they could change into something great.  Let’s start flipping our flops into something great.  

“Come, let us return to the Lord.  For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.”

Hosea 6:1 NASB

One theme we see through the Bible is God flipping death into life.  When He steps into the story the Red Sea parts bringing life to doom; Saul the killer of Christians becomes Paul the one leading people to Jesus; the death of Jesus on the cross brings salvation to all.  Just when it looks like all is lost God reverses it.  He is the great flipper of our flops.  He is in the midst of both our flips and our flops longing to be the one to bring hope and life.  He loves to heal, bandage and restore us to life.  Even the biggest flops that seem unredeemable.  Yes, even those can be flipped.  Here in Hosea there is much impending doom due to the people of God continuing to turn away from Him.  Yet, even in their turning away God is ready to restore if they will only return.  Those are the places God loves to enter.  Just when it looks like all is lost, He revives.  Remember all those times He has restored in the past.  He is still the same God.  Yes, even here in the midst of desolation He can bring new hope and life.  

ideas taken from Old Testament survey teacher notes

A Different Question

Stop asking what you can’t do.  Start asking how you can thrive.

Kids seem focused on the rules and even more focused on how far they can go.  We don’t have to look much farther than a toddler to understand our inherent leaning towards breaking the rules.  Even once they’ve been told no they seem to want to see how strong that no will remain.  The problem is sometimes we don’t grow out of this desire.  We still want to push the limits.  While sometimes the limits need to be pushed, there are other times where we need to ask a different question.  Sometimes we are so focused on the limits that we miss the sweet spot where we can really thrive.  So the question is not as much about what is off limits to us but the question instead is where do I thrive.  Let’s keep asking questions.  Questions that are less focused on pushing the outside limits and more focused on expanding our internal limits.  

“Stop judging based on the superficial. First you must embrace the standards of mercy and truth.”

John 7:24, Passion Translation

Sometimes we like the Pharisees miss the point.  Here in John the religious rulers are focused on the rules and what the law says, but they miss the bigger picture.  The laws are to help us follow after truth and mercy and not the other way around. It is first about seeing Jesus and following Him.  Those rules and limits were put into place to help us along that path and to show us our need for Jesus.  So then we like the rulers need to change the questions we are asking.  The bigger question is not whether it’s right or wrong but does it help me follow Jesus.  Throughout history our tendency is to look to a list rather than to the Creator.  Glance first to your Creator when you ask your questions.  Stay there a while that He might show you what questions He wants you to ask.  Listen to His whispers to your questions.  Let Him lead you to that place not only free from sin but free to run free.  

Check out what Jon Piper has to say about the question, ‘Does it help me run?’: 

Running - John Piper Sermon Jam

by Refresh Ministries

Before the Ice Melts

There is beauty to be found if you’re willing to brave the storm.

I recently braved the cold of Michigan ice on the pier of Grand Haven.  With wind chills in the negative twenties it was definitely a feat for this Southern California raised girl.  While I generally avoid the wind and cold at all costs I found there is something beautiful that the cold creates, especially at extreme temperatures.  The way the ice forms on the water is amazing.  Normally I would say that I put up with the snow because it’s fire prevention for the summer months.  Yet I was reminded that even in the midst of the storm, and even before the ice melts, there is something beautiful to be found.  The same is true in the winters of our lives.  Usually I am waiting for the storms and the hard seasons of my life to pass while still knowing it is producing something good in me.  What if we also found beauty in the midst of the storm?  I wonder if we might find that even before the ice melts there is something beautiful happening in the midst of adverse conditions.  So while it feels cold, and the wind is blistering, look around and you might see, even here, even when there’s ice, there is beauty. 

“My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.”

Job 42: 5 NIV

Job knew a few things about rough conditions.  He lost his family, possessions, health and hope.  After much venting from Job God speaks to Job with a long discourse putting him in His place with questions like ‘where were you when I created the earth’ and ‘who do you think creates all these marvels of weather.’  Job begins to see the beauty of God even in that place of loss.  Although God does restore his possessions and his health it’s before God brings any physical blessing that Job finds the greatest blessing in the midst of his current conditions.  For Job finds God in all His beauty.  He had heard and known of Him but now He sees and now He truly knows.  This is our greatest blessing that our eyes have seen the Lord.  Can you see Him?  Although the conditions are rough there is beauty in that place that you find Him.  

Life is Messy

The reality of life is that it’s messy and that’s what makes it beautiful.

It feels like I am constantly cleaning up messes.  The messes of daily life like dishes, laundry, and house cleaning keep me busy (and I don’t even have kids).  Even without technically making a “mess” there are continual messes.  Then it multiplies when you add in dropping the jar that breaks all over the floor, the crack in your windshield, or the appliance that stops working.  That still doesn’t count the real messes of our lives like the relationship that is broken, the finances that aren’t making ends meet, and the obstacle you just can’t seem to overcome.  Life is full of messes big and small.  So often we see the messes as an inconvenience.  We define it as dirty or difficult.  What if we could embrace the mess?  What if we saw the mess as a part of the journey of life?  Somehow we expect life to be clean and see the messes as getting in the way of the life that we want when in fact messes make you more you.  We are human.  We are messy.  And it’s a beautiful mess.  

“God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn't deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that. “

Romans 8:3, Message

Very few stories throughout the Bible come without any messes involved. It is full of stories of pain, sorrow, loss, evil, enemies, lies, disobedience and more. Yet somehow the message we get is that we aren’t supposed to be messy.  Unfortunately the reality is that life is messy.  All throughout history we see this to be the case.  This is why we are in such desperate need of Jesus.  Here is Romans Paul is looking at the messy human condition that the laws and the rules were never made to fix, but rather they reveal how messy we really are in our humanity. Rather than staying far away from our mess Jesus entered into it so that He could set it right and set us right.  While, we still live in a messy world, we have the hope that one day it won’t feel quite so messy.  We have the peace that Jesus sits with us in our mess and loves us right there in the midst of it.  We have the truth that we have been made whole while we are still walking in brokenness.  We have Jesus who enters our mess and makes it beautiful.  

Hear more about how much He loves you in this mix...

How He Loves-David Crowder (w Matt Chandler John Piper)

by Dennis Lazau

More about Sheep

“While correction is never fun sometimes it’s the best kind of love.”

I continue to see how much I am like a sheep.  They are easily cast down and thrown off putting them in much danger.  While you can’t completely prevent this from happening one reason sheep are prone to this situation is an excess of wool.  The sheep however, do not like the process of being sheared, even though they find relief from the hot heavy coat that is often clogged with manure, mud, burrs and ticks.  We are so much like sheep.  We too don’t like the process of things being sheared from our lives.  It’s not until looking back, until we see all we’ve been carrying from the place of being free that we find we are glad for the shears.  So although the refining is painful, the freedom is worth it.  

“A refusal to correct is a refusal to love; love your children by disciplining them.”

Proverbs 13:24 MSG

We have a good good Father.  Sometimes we are like the sheep being sheared unable to see His goodness.  We don’t like the shearing and thus conclude that He isn’t good.  Like the sheep who can’t see all that has gotten in its wool neither can we see all that is keeping us from freedom.  Thus, we must trust our Good Shepherd and know that it is always in love that He brings out the shears.  Our Good Father is always for us and always with us, even when it’s impossible to see through the pain.  While not everything painful is His disciplining, He still remains a good Father in everything painful.  So whatever process you find yourself in with the Lord you can always go back to knowing that He is your Good Good Father who does everything, yes everything, truly everything in love.  

Adapted from A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, Phillip Keller

For a little more on our “Good Good Father” check out this song by Housefires…

Good Good Father by HOUSEFIRES II with Lyrics

Cast Down

It’s not whether or not we will be cast down or even why we’ve been cast down, instead the question is will we find a way to see hope until we find it.

Downcast is that feeling of low spirits in loss of hope or courage (wiktionary).  It’s that place where we feel cast down; where our hope has been cast down.  I’ve been learning how we are like sheep.  When sheep have been cast down it means they have been turned on their backs and are unable to get back up on their own.  Furthermore, if the owner does not arrive in time to set it upright the sheep will die within days.  Now I don’t know the thoughts of a sheep but I’ve learned they battle much fear and can easily become frantic when lying cast down.  Yet, it is this panic that makes things worse for the sheep and for us.  So you see, we are like sheep.  We like the sheep are easily cast down.  We like sheep are in need of help.  We like sheep make things worse the further we delve into panic mode.  So whatever has you cast down, feeling like your legs are in the air unable to get up, remember there is hope.  

"Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God."

Psalm 43:5

The thing about following God is that we have a Good Shepherd.  A good shepherd is always on the look out for cast down sheep.  They are constantly attentive to the condition of the flock and thus ready to pull any one of their sheep back to it’s feet.  This is our God.  So while it may seem helpless we too must remember to whom we belong.  This is what the psalmist is doing, he is remembering his God who brings hope and saving.  This is not a condemning question of why are you cast down but an invitation to remember that even though you may find yourself cast down you have a Good Shepherd who is always on the lookout for his sheep.  He sees you and will be faithful to you.  Keep your eyes always on Him, our hope and our help who has His eyes always on you.  

Adapted from A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, Phillip Keller