future

God takes the long view.

God takes the long view.

Lamentations 5

Ever since my first child was in her first year of life, I tried to live by a parenting principle I picked up from one of the books I read. It advised: Begin as you mean to go. In other words, that book suggests that parents begin training their children with the long view in mind. This way, training is purposeful and not erratic. For example, when I wanted Caroline to learn to feed herself in a certain way, I didn’t allow her to throw food onto the floor for three months before having to “re-train” her to keep her food on her plate. I started by never allowing her to throw food on the floor. I began as I meant to go. And I still do.

God turns great disappointments into great expectations.

God turns great disappointments into great expectations.

Jeremiah 45

This is the short message written on the back cover of my mother’s book about suffering: “After Ken was diagnosed with a terminal illness, I knew that our life as we had planned it was over. But then God turned our crisis into a grand experience, and He can do the same thing for you.”

God is always fresh.

God is always fresh.

Isaiah 42

When I was growing up, I was sometimes accused of having a fresh mouth. And I must admit, I have a sincere appreciation of sarcasm. But when I say that God is always fresh, I don’t mean that He has a fresh mouth (although He is very adept at sarcasm). What I mean is that He is always moving forward, never stuck in the past, always doing something new.

God knows the future.

God knows the future.

Isaiah 13

If there’s one thing I had to become quickly accustomed to as a new parent, it was driving around in the car with my daughter strapped into her car seat behind me—facing backwards. Since I was often driving with no other adults in the car, I wasn’t crazy about the requirement of a rear-facing seat for babies since it meant I wouldn’t be able to see Caroline at all while I was behind the wheel. A thousand wild ideas of what could “happen” to her while I couldn’t see her used to go through my head. So, before I could drive myself crazy, my husband bought a mirror that attached to the seat she was facing so at least I could see her reflection. Problem solved.

God puts prisoners in the palace.

God puts prisoners in the palace.

Psalm 142

David wrote this psalm while he was “in the cave,” presumably hiding away from Saul. At this point, he had already been declared the future king of Israel by God, but the fruition of that prophecy wasn’t coming very quickly. David was still spending much of his time running from his enemies and hiding out in dark places.

God dissolves fear.

Psalm 112

Here is one of the paradoxes of the Christian life: When we fear God, we won’t be afraid of anything. When we don’t fear God, we will be afraid of everything. Of course, as mentioned in yesterday’s blog, “fearing” God doesn’t have anything to do with being terrified of Him. It means to respect Him, to stand in awe of Him, to understand that He is over all and above all.

God has a future for you.

God has a future for you.

Job 29

In this chapter, Job reminisces about the past, remembering what it was like before he met with all his misfortune. Not only did he enjoy God’s intimate friendship (vs 4), but he was respected and honored in his community (vs 7-8), and he spoke with an air of authority (vs 21-22). At that time, Job felt like his legacy would go on forever: "Then I said, 'I shall die in my nest, and multiply my days as the sand.'" (vs 18)

God created us for the eternal.

God created us for the eternal.

Job 14

From this chapter comes a famous Bible passage which has been the subject of much music, mostly choral works: "How frail is humanity! How short is life, how full of trouble! We blossom like a flower and then wither. Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear." (vs 1-2) One in particular I remember from my college choir days, John Rutter’s Agnus Dei, included a repeated musical motif in the middle: In the midst of life, we are in death.

God works with small groups.

God works with small groups.

Ezra 1

The book of Ezra begins with the decree, made by Cyrus king of Persia in 538 B.C., that gave the Jewish exiles the right to finally return home to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple of the Lord. (Here’s an interesting side note to that story. Many scholars believe that Daniel was instrumental in stirring the heart of the king by sharing with him the prophecies in Jeremiah 25 and 29 regarding the return of the exiles from Babylon. Incidentally, these prophecies mention King Cyrus of Persia by name—even though they were written 150 years before his birth.)

God wants you to remember where you came from.

God wants you to remember where you came from.

1 Chronicles 1

Okay, brace yourself. We’re about to wade through nine—yes, that’s nine—chapters of genealogies at the beginning of 1 Chronicles. Mercy! Seems like a daunting task for a blogger. However, I think God had a very good reason for inspiring the writer of this book (Ezra, perhaps) to begin with this long genealogy, and it’s a lesson we can take to heart as well.

God knows the future.

God knows the future.

1 Kings 16

Tucked away into this chapter was this curious little detail: "It was during [Ahab's] reign that Hiel, a man from Bethel, rebuilt Jericho. When he laid its foundations, it cost him the life of his oldest son, Abiram. And when he completed it and set up its gates, it cost him the life of his youngest son, Segub." (vs 34) What in the world does this have to do with anything else in the chapter? And why did this man, Hiel, have to pay such a dear price for rebuilding a city?

God is going to sort things out.

God is going to sort things out.

Poor David. Fleeing from Jerusalem, rumors flying around him, and now, being abused by a man from Saul’s family. Not only was the man cursing David, but he was throwing stones and dirt at him and his troops as well. Finally, one of David’s men asked if he could go over and cut the guy’s head off. (What a nonchalant request.) David’s reply was very interesting:

Obscurity {ex1:8}

exodus-remember-obscurity-poem.png

“Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher.
There is nothing new under the sun.
Generations come and generations go,
but nothing ever changes.
We don't remember what happened in the past,
and in future generations,
no one will remember what we are doing now.
—from Ecclesiastes 1

No wonder the Teacher
took such a dim view
of human accomplishment.

Back-breaking labor.
Hours of study.
/blood/

Tragedy absorbed.
Ingenious invention.
/sweat/

Disaster averted.
Strategy planned.
/tears/

Battles lost and won
and lost again.

If a man can
single-handedly
deliver an entire nation
from destruction
and be forgotten
within a
single
generation,
there is no such thing
as a lasting achievement
among the peers
you try so hard
to impress.

Joseph would have fallen
into eternal obscurity
if his name hadn't been
remembered by
the only One
who doesn't
come and go,
the only One not
under the sun.

 

God is on the move.

God is on the move.

1 SAMUEL 16

I just love it when the Bible hauls off and slaps me upside the head. This was one of those chapters. I read the whole thing, of course, recognizing the most famous verse along the way—"People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."(vs 7) But, mentally, I never really got past verse one. It hit me right between the eyes the second I read it:

Premeditated Dreams {gn37}

Photo © biblevector.com

Photo © biblevector.com

Oh, the dreams! The bowing down!
The humbled faces on the ground!
A jealous sibling's lightning rod
(those dreams) but they had come from God!

He knew the visions would be told;
He knew that Joseph would be sold;
He saw a famine on the way
and hatched a plan to save the day.

Egypt thought they'd bought a mule,
but Joseph had been sent to rule.

Joseph's God is your God, too.
He has a future planned for you:
Never doubt it's bright and beaming—
What new dreams have you been dreaming?

 

Sonnet: A poem consisting of 14 lines with a particular rhyming scheme.

God is consistent.

God is consistent.

DEUTERONOMY 34

After the death of Moses, the record in Deuteronomy 34 says this: "Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face." (vs 11)  As I read this, it dawned on me that many of God’s good friends are found in the Old Testament, before the testimony of Jesus.

God wants a future with you.

God wants a future with you.

DEUTERONOMY 29

So, yet again, this chapter opens with a litany of Israel’s history—how they were slaves in Egypt, how God brought them out with signs and wonders, how God cared for them in the desert, and how they defeated all the nations who have come against them thus far. And I’m thinking, how many times have we heard this already? Do the Israelites have short-term memory loss? Why does Moses keep going over this again and again and again?