Coming back...

It's becoming cool for people to act as though words (or rhetoric, or books, etc.) don't matter - as though they are merely distractions from the all-important task of living in the now (or, in Christian circles, living out God's calling in the present moment). I have to admit that sometimes people can get lost in the sound of the words themselves, and stop striving to live them out, becoming merely a sponge to soak up information or a megaphone to blast it out at other people. But without time spent dwelling in words of truth and beauty, where is the challenge to godliness, the inspiration for greatness, or even one's sense of purpose and calling going to come from? From the changing winds of one's own emotions? From the shifting sand of circumstances, relationships, or politics? All too frequently, yes. So we live like weather-vanes and wonder why we accomplish nothing lasting and our communities and nations are going nowhere. We ignore the words passed down through the generations - words of wisdom gathered from the experience of the ages - so that we can be relevant in the moment, and wonder why our philosophies fail to satisfy us and why our future feels so hopeless or shallow. We think we can understand God without the words of knowledge and godly interpretation that the church has given us, and wonder why He feels so distant or why so many cults and extreme doctrines are rising up.

People, God chose to describe Himself as the Word. The Word of truth and beauty, the Word that was from before the beginning of time and will endure forever, and yet which is never irrelevant to the present moment. Maybe instead of abandoning words as so much noise and static, in favor of pure action, we should strive to make our words emulate the Word, and to fill our minds and hearts with other words that reflect Him and His purposes. And maybe then, when words of value and meaning have had the opportunity to strengthen, equip, and challenge us, our actions will also have more meaning and more lasting value, instead of floating wherever the waves suggest.

So yes, I'm back blogging, because I do believe that words have power and value, and because I want to use my words to express beauty and truth, just in case someone is listening and the one ultimate Word chooses to display Himself in my small, stained mirrors.

The power that underlies grace

In Psalm 2, the rule of God - rightful and almighty authority - is contrasted with the rule of man - proud and greedy grasping for power and autonomy. We see the kings and rulers of the earth attempting to free themselves from what they perceive to be the bonds and chains of God over their lives, and God responding with derision because their attempt is so incredibly futile and with wrath because it is idolatrous rebellion and sin. But to be honest, the way the psalm is written has always been confusing to me, because it seems to paint God in a very negative light: as a wrathful God who delights in carrying out judgment on rebellious creatures, who desires to rule with an iron fist as a complete dictator, and before whom we come as cowering, terror-stricken subjects hoping that He will not be angry with us this time.

And this picture is so utterly the opposite of God as He has revealed Himself in the rest of Scripture that for a long time I've skirted around this psalm, bracketing it off in my mind as one of those parts of the Bible and Christianity that I just don't understand yet (which I think is often a healthy and helpful thing to do, because after all we are limited by nature and our understanding is furthermore hampered by sin, and there are a lot of things we don't understand now and may never understand at all in this life.) What I think I'm coming to understand, however, is that the focus of this psalm isn't on God's anger so much as it is on God's rightful and legitimate power and authority - and in our culture, we tend not to dwell much on that power and authority. A God of enduring faithfulness and unending love, without earth-shattering power or the authority of a judge and king, is a comfortable God, a God we can safely ignore when we want to but who will be there for us when we need Him. But the God who created the universe, without whose sustaining power our lives would not last a second, and whose innate holiness defines a moral law we can't even come close to living up to, is not a comfortable God. The God who seeks to reconquer our rebellious hearts with His grace and lovingkindness is also the God who will utterly destroy us in His righteous judgment if we refuse to surrender. And I think, if we lose our understanding of God's power and authority in judgment - if we cease to see God as the rightful and righteous King and Judge - we will also lose our understanding of the depths of His love and the riches of His grace. He is indeed a terrible and powerful God; the whisper of His wrath would utterly destroy us. But we do not need to be afraid or cower before Him without hope, awaiting the inevitable judgment, because He is also a God of love, who extends salvation to His people, and "blessed are all those who put their trust in Him."

The Seat of the Scornful

In Psalm 1, the blessed man is described as one who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful; that last phrase is one that has often confused me and given me cause to think and ponder. What I'm coming to think is that the scornful, or the mockers, are those who practice the soul-destroying art of flippancy in the Screwtapian sense. They are those who look upon good, noble, and virtuous things with a cynical and contemptuous gaze, or with open disregard for what they would call the foolishness and futility of those things. And to sit in their seat is to look at life from their vantage point and through their eyes. In some way I feel that this attitude of scorn toward life is one of the most dangerous and destructive things in the world, both for the individual who holds it and for the society around that individual, but it is incredibly difficult for me to express this importance with words of enough meaning and strength.

There are things in this world that are of primary and utmost importance, things that characterize our humanity and serve as the rich soil for our roots or the sky which healthy growth strives to reach. Some of these things are the innocent and fundamental aspects of physical and temporal life in the midst of all God's creation - things like hard work, marriage, babies, beauty in a flower or a mountain or the face of a woman, strength in the arms of a man, and the fellowship of believers worshiping God together. Others are the good and glorious principles and virtues that stretch through eternity and underlie all that is worthwhile in temporality - things like the love and grace of God, justice, righteousness, honesty, compassion, holiness, and judgment; the high praises of God in the mouths of His saints as they wield the two-edged sword of His word; all that is lovely, pure, noble, praiseworthy, and of good report.

But the destroyers of civilization - no, let us call them the destroyers of humanity - attempt to cut away at the reverence and value we ascribe to these things, and they do so with mockery, scorn, contempt, and the overriding derision of elite and enlightened opinion, first, and then of public opinion more broadly. If we cast away those things, however - if we trade in laziness and entitlement for diligence and hard work, for instance, or falsehoods and manipulation for honesty and faithfulness - what will we have left? There will be nothing left worth living for; there will be nothing left that is characteristically human in the majestic and beautiful sense of humanity for which we were all created, which we may one day hope to see, and which we as of yet can still see occasional glimpses here and now. By making those good and virtuous things objects of mocker and scorn, we lose both the rich soil of a godly and honorable temporal life and the high and glorious heavens that soar in the eternal visions and aspirations of one who seeks to know and follow God. Stunted and weakened, we wither inwards in petty sins and quiet despair, having barred the door of our hearts to both life and joy.

Silently waiting

As the year advances and Paul and I are still waiting (endlessly, it seems) to know for sure where we'll be in the fall and what this next year will look like, it's been hard for me not to be anxious or impatient. So I found in this verse both encouragement and peace:

"Truly my soul silently waits for God;
From Him comes my salvation.
He only is my rock and my salvation;
He is my defense;
I shall not be greatly moved." - Psalm 62:1-2

That first line in particular stands out to me, and I think the word "silently" is especially important. What it implies is that in our waiting (for God's direction and timing), we ought to stop all the complains and questions that rise up in our minds, and to put an end to the anxiety and impatience that dwells in our hearts. Then, when we've cleared all that away, there is space and energy left to genuinely trust God with the peace and calm of a little child.

Honestly, it's rather liberating to trust in this way. The little moments I manage to actually trust, instead of just stuffing the worries deeper inside or pretending that everything will be work out exactly the way I want it, are really awesome, because it lets me out of the confinements of my own fears and uncertainties into the full breadth and depth of God's faithfulness and sovereignty. Instead of hearing only my own anxiety or impatience going around in my head over and over again, my heart in its quietness can hear the truth and love God speaks to me. He is my rock! When all else is unknown and uncertain, He is who He is, unchanging and eternal.

A hurt and a healing (or, a sin and a repentance)

For the past week, I thought I was pregnant. I had all the right signs (which might be TMI given the regular tone of my writing here), and I was just waiting until Monday morning to take the pregnancy test (7-9 days after I would have expected to have natural evidence of no pregnancy) to make sure that I wouldn't have a false negative. By yesterday evening I was starting to let myself be really excited - I'd never been that late in my life, even when I was young and more irregular, or when I was hypothyroid and had longer cycles, and I hadn't even been close to being that late since I got married and started tracking my cycles more diligently. But this morning when I woke up, my body told me most definitely that I was not pregnant. So either I was just abnormally very late for some unknown reason, or I had an early pregnancy loss. 

Emotionally, it doesn't really make a difference. As logistically difficult as having a child would be right now, it hurt so much to have those hopes dashed when I had begun to think a child was actually already here. Honestly, I was angry at God. It felt like He was teasing me, or mocking me - like He was blowing up my bubble of happiness and expectation so big just so He could shatter it. Because He is in control of all these things, you know? He knows that my cycle is like clockwork, and He knew how excited I would get at the thought of having a baby with Paul (like a living overflow of our love), and yet He still caused it to happen. It just didn't seem very fair or nice of Him to do something like that. So I simmered away all day, trying not to be angry at God but still feeling hurt when I thought about it.

Before we went to our church service at 5, while Paul was showering, I listened to an Adventures in Odyssey program that just so happened to be about Job. The part that has always confused me the most about Job was God's response to Job at the end of the book, because it doesn't really address any of the things that Job had been suffering or discussing throughout the rest of the book. God simply reveals Himself in His glory, wisdom, power, and love. In the Adventures in Odyssey, they point out that Job's primary sin is one of self-righteousness - he perceives himself as being righteous and thus perceives his circumstances as unfair, implying that God is unjust. And it struck me that maybe I was doing that same thing - thinking that I didn't deserve to have my hopes raised and then crushed, that God was unjust or unloving to allow that to happen. I was taking my belief about what should happen in my life and using that to judge God's character and actions - and at the end of Job, the question left hanging is "who am I, a man, that I should judge the God who made and sustains me?" So, ever so gently, through a humorous children's program, God began to point out my self-righteous and presumptuous attitude about the whole situation.

Then, when we got to church, the assistant pastor opened the service with a scripture reading (as is usual) from the book of Job (which is not) - and it was from chapter 38, where God is showing Job His power and asking him who he thinks he is. Okay God, obviously this is something You really want me to understand, and something that You want me to repent of. God doesn't do things flippantly or carelessly, as if He were playing games with our lives, nor does He take joy in our sorrows or cause us pain for no reason. Whatever happened, I ought to trust Him to have a good and holy purpose as He is a good and holy God, you know? And as we were singing the final song of the night, I realized that even though God did not give me this good gift now (like I had thought He was for a few days there) - and even if He never does, as hard and disappointing as that would be! - He has already given me the greatest gift He could ever give: His redeeming grace, through His own Son Jesus Christ. In that alone is undeniable proof of His goodness and His love towards me! A hurt like my situation this morning shouldn't make me doubt His goodness when I know that He has given His Son for my eternal salvation, blessing, and glory :) So as we sang (and as I sang with tears in the sorrow of repentance and the joy of being loved), "it is well, it is well, with my soul."

Meditation on 2 John

If I had to summarize the main theme of 2 John into one sentence, I think I would say that it is about the importance of truth and the eternal and relational aspects and consequences of holding to the truth or failing to do so. Specifically, he makes these claims about truth:

• it is the foundation of our love and unity as members of the body of Christ (v1)
• it is eternal in essence and will be with us forever (v2); it will not change or fade
• it abides in us (v2); it has personal significance and presence in our lives as followers of Christ
• it is one of the defining characteristics of the blessings God gives us, along with love. The grace, mercy, and peace that He promises and gives are not an illusion or a deceit; He gives them in truth (v3)
• it is how we should live - colored all through with the light of truth, in obedience to God's commandments which are true (v4-6)
• it is centered on the doctrine that Jesus is God and came into the world as a man, that He might die for our sins and give us new life in His resurrection - for our lives, as Christians, this is one truth we absolutely cannot forsake, and it is the kernel of doctrine at the center of every use of the word truth in 2 John, I believe (v7)
• it is essential to the value of the good works we do and crucial to to pleasing and honoring God, and thus receiving a reward from Him in heaven (v8)
• it is proof of the legitimacy of the relationship we claim to have with the Father and the Son - if we do not abide in that central truth of Jesus Christ, we are not His (v9)
• it takes precedence over social norms, tolerance, personal comfort, etc. - it is so important that we must take all precautions not to share in the works of deceit, even if that means conflict and "intolerance" (v10-11)
• it is the source of joy, because it is the foundation of genuine love (v12)

One of the beauties of 2 John, however, is that he doesn't make a list like this about the nature of the truth of our faith, and proceed to lecture us philosophically. Rather, the whole book is glowing with deep, warm, godly love; all the points that I extracted were clothed in the rich garments of the love and personal concern that John had for the lady to whom he was writing and for her children, and I think this too is crucially important for us as we try to live in truth. It shows up a bit in my first and last points, but I would phrase it differently now: if a claimed belief in the truth of Jesus Christ does not outwardly manifest itself in the growth of genuine love for others, it is not true belief or it is at best belief that is neglected and dying. If we take root in the soil of His truth, we will bear the fruit of love. In our faith, the two are inextricably linked; any effort to hold to one while compromising the other is a failure and in some cases even a heresy. The issue is not one of finding a middle ground between the two where both truth and love can be uneasily and half-heartedly expressed, because this assumes that they are in conflict, and the whole wonderful point of 2 John is that they not in conflict at all, but are rather joined together in their work and in their very essence. Truth and love, exulting in the beauty they restore to our broken, sin-ridden world - this is the picture John paints for us in this little book, and it is glorious indeed.

Reading the Bible in 2012

Our church recently put a very helpful post up on their website encouraging us to read the Bible this year and giving us some practical guidelines and plans for doing so, at various levels of intensity (you should go check it out if you are in need of a Bible reading plan - they have a lot of good ideas over there). One in particular stood out to me because it seemed a little different from any other reading plan I've seen in the past and because it claimed to be a way to "master" the Bible - which is a rather extravagant claim, I would think! Basically, the idea is to choose one book of the Bible at a time and read it all in one sitting, continuing to do so until you've read the book twenty times. I think of a book like Genesis and I quail at the thought of reading it in one sitting... but the purpose is to grasp the primary messages and principles of each book as a whole, instead of getting lost in the details and the depth and never coming to a full, complete, and coherent understanding of the whole book.

So I thought, well, there's really no loss in trying this even if it doesn't turn out to be that doable, and I'm starting with the smaller books and working my way up to the more intimidating and lengthy ones. 2 John, at only 13 verses, took the prize for first, so I've been reading it repetitively for the past few days (I'm at 15 times through right now). And I do feel like I'm finally beginning to understand the point of the book. Each time I read through it, it's like I'm putting a piece into a puzzle, and the themes begin to emerge from the text, becoming clearer and more beautiful as I go. Maybe I'll write about it when I've made it through all twenty reads :) I'm finding treasures in that little book that I never knew were there, which really encourages me to do my best to follow through with the rest of this crazy plan to read the Bible! The beauty of the wisdom of God's word is breathtaking.

Establishing my path in eternity

This month, I'm attempting to read a chapter of Proverbs each day, as an easy reading schedule to remember but primarily as a means of soaking up wisdom and being challenged to put it into practice. Today, I noticed that the main theme of Proverbs 4 seems to be to follow wise instruction and stay on the right path - as v27 puts it, to "ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established;" that is, to be discerning and intentional about the way in which you live and about the direction and destination of the road you choose to travel.

From there I turned to Colossians 3 (as part of my more erratic attempt to read from the New Testament regularly as well) and was struck by how it seemed to perfectly complement Proverbs 4. First there were the encouragements and warnings to live by God's instruction and wisdom; then there were the practical details of how to do so. Of all those practical directions and commands, however, the one that struck me the most was, ironically, the least practical in appearance, in v2: "Set your minds on things above, not on things on the earth."


Now, both Proverbs and Colossians are rich with wisdom on how to live in this earth, with the things on this earth, so I doubt that this verse means we are to neglect our earthly relationships and responsibilities in order to meditate solely on eternity and on God. God did create us as physical beings and place us in a physical and temporal world, after all! Instead, I think it means that our desires, aspirations, intentions, and motivations - those things which are in our mind but which affect every action we take - ought to be focused on the eternal and the heavenly rather than the temporal and the earthly. When I plan dinners for Paul and I, do I do so out of love and respect (qualities eternal and heavenly in their essence, and relating to the good and right interaction between two eternal beings), or do I do so simply because cooking is something I enjoy and we need to eat? In other words, do I make dinner simply to satisfy my physical needs and experience temporal pleasure, or do I make dinner with eternity in my eyes? We have responsibilities regarding these temporal things, most certainly, but the mind behind our actions regarding the temporal must be gazing into eternity.

With an eternal perspective, the importance of ensuring the road we choose to walk through time is established and founded becomes more immediately apparent: it is not merely a temporal road, ending at death, destined to become a forgotten nothing; rather, it reaches past time and thus choosing the wrong fork in the road now could have eternal consequences (beyond affecting our eternal destination, our choices now shape who we will become for all eternity, to borrow an idea from C.S. Lewis). So even when the things we must think about and do seem almost entirely temporal in nature, by doing them for God and because of God we set our minds on things above. By pondering the path of our feet, we are able to choose the path which perceives and gives life to the eternal essence of all good and godly things, and thus can learn to live on the earth with our minds and hearts full of the glow of heaven.

As you have received, so walk

A very short and simple verse caught my attention this morning:

"As you therefore have received Christ, so walk in Him" - Col. 2:6

When we received Christ - when we put our faith in Him - we did so with a recognition of our own great need and desperate sinfulness (why else would we be asking someone to save us, after all?). We received Him with lowliness of heart, throwing ourselves in utter dependance upon the grace He offered us (we had no illusions about our own inability to be righteous and blameless before God). And we received Him with incredible joy, with wonder and thanksgiving (how could we not have joy, when we saw that our sins were forgiven?).

Unfortunately, I don't think I walk with Christ now with those same qualities. It's easy to forget that I still need God to help me live rightly, and to start thinking that I can do something in my own strength to please Him and earn God's acceptance and approval (forgetting what should be obvious - that through Christ I am already accepted and approved!) And it's easy to become discouraged and saddened by my own failures and by the general state of the world, and lose sight of the joy that comes through Christ. But realization is the first step towards change, right? :) Moreover, when we're striving to remember these things and live life in this way, we're striving to make our perception of reality concur with what is actually real, which gives us a firmer foundation for our thoughts, decisions, and actions.

He is the True Light coming into the world

"Oh, send out Your light and Your truth!
Let them lead me;
Let them bring me to Your holy hill
And to Your tabernacle.
Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God my exceeding joy;
And on the harp I will praise You,
O God, my God." - Psalm 43:3-4

 He has sent forth His Light and His Truth into our world, in human likeness, as a baby born in poverty, and He does lead us by that True Light into the place where He dwells. From this all our joy comes: that God became man and dwelt among us, bringing light into our darkness and truth into the sea of lies surrounding us, that we might know Him and draw near to Him.

This means war

I have to confess that sometimes I live as if I were a materialistic naturalist.

By this I mean that I think and act as if matter is all there that there is, and as if all things can be explained naturalistically and thus all problems can be solved naturalistically. I remember that I have a spirit as well as a body (although I don't always think about it very much), and I remember God who is the uncreated self-sustaining Spirit, but I don't give much though to angels or to demons. Most emphatically, I act as though angels and demons have no influence over my life or over the world I live in. Considering that we're in the middle of a spiritual war, with the eternal destinies of human souls at stake, that's probably not a good attitude for me to assume. But I honestly haven't thought about spiritual warfare very much at all, beyond some vague idea that the whole thing is a nice metaphor for being a good person and a diligent follower of Christ.

Over the past few days, having had the issue brought to my attention from at least three separate sources, I've been thinking that maybe it is more than just a metaphor. I don't like thinking that way! The thought of malicious spiritual beings bent on my destruction, active and unseen in the world around me, is extremely unsettling. I like this world where what can be seen or otherwise scientifically verified is all that exists, besides God - where all things proceed by natural laws, and known inputs lead to known outputs, and nothing is out of place or uncontrollable. It is very comfortable, you know? Acceptance of a spiritual reality is in a sense truly a release of control, because while we can often control nature we cannot control the actions of spiritual beings whose very existence is only tenuously revealed to us. For someone like me that is absolutely frightening.

But when I seriously look at the Bible I see that, despite my fears and despite my ingrained way of thinking, there is a real spiritual war going on. In 2 Corinthians 10 we see Paul saying that even though we are in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, but fight with weapons that are mighty in God for "casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God." Similarly, in Ephesians 6 he tells us that we are struggling against the "rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places". So the armor that he tells us to wear in the following verses is more than a metaphor - it is truly spiritual armor that protects us in this war in which we find ourselves. I think that may be one of the purposes of the book of Revelation, actually - to show us the reality of the spiritual war that is going on all around us, so that we might be strong in battle instead of ignorant sheep wandering towards slaughter.

Coming to Revelation, though, one finds more than just a vivid picture of the reality and significance of this spiritual war. We see that the war will end, and we see that God will win, and we see that all things shall be made new in beauty and glory and peace. Essentially, we see that there is a hope to live for, because of the greatness of our God! It might be frightening and unnerving here and now to think of fighting and struggling with evil spirits in our everyday lives, but it doesn't need to be, because of the power of our God and our confidence that He is indeed on our side. If we have placed our faith in Him, He holds our souls safe even as we fight on the front lines of the war.

This almost makes me want to laugh in the face of the demons! Ha! Bring it on! My God is greater than you and you are doomed and already defeated! I'm not afraid of you, or anything you can do, because God is on my side! I'm not sure that is the most beneficial or humble response though... :) One thing is certain, though - it is better to live and fight and be vigilant against sin in the strength of God then to passively cower in fear and try to make everything comfortable and controlled.

The Body of Christ

In reading 1 Corinthians 12:14-27 (about the body of Christ) while preparing for my Bible study tonight, I noticed a key phrase that had never really caught my eye before. Verse 18 reads:

"But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased."

 Each and every one of us thus has a function intended for us by God. We don't get to choose our function, beyond a limited range, because God has equipped us with specific talents and given us specific opportunities. As a hand, we could choose whether to wield a sword or carry healing herbs, for example, but we wouldn't be able to choose to be a foot or an eye. So, our responsibility as a hand would be to live as faithfully for Christ, in our unique position in the body, as we can, even if we don't always enjoy that position. It is not our responsibility to choose what seems like the most "Christian" profession to us and force ourselves into that mold, if God is calling us elsewhere, and it is not our privilege to pick the most prestigious or comfortable position and aim for that. God gets to choose what part of the body we are.

That might sound constraining to some but to me it sounds so freeing! If God has chosen what part I am to play in the body, then all I need to do is trust Him and obey Him - to follow hard after Him and seek to know Him more - and He will reveal to me what my function should be in the body and then by His Spirit transform me into a more godly hand or nose or ear or whatever I might be. I don't need to worry about finding the ideal vocation and pursuing it wholeheartedly - I just need to pursue God wholeheartedly and let Him lead me into the vocation He has chosen for me. And whatever it is, I can also be free from the stress and distraction of comparison and jealousy because I know I am doing what God has called me to do, and that my part of the body is just as much a functional and good part as any other! What I mean is that while I may not be a missionary or a translator, I am still a part of the body set where God was pleased to place me, doing the work He has given me to do in this time of my life, and following after Him, and that honors Him more than performing those other functions in an attempt to win glory for myself.

Meditation on Psalm 36:7-9

"How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!
Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings."


He holds me in the palm of His hand; His strength overwhelms me.
In the surety of His love I find peace.
I will make my home where the scent of His presence wafts in on sweetened winds;
I will sing praise in the beauty of my Lord.

"They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house,
And You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures."


Like an orchard heavy-laden in the harvest,
Like the heady draughts of autumn air and fresh-pressed cider,
Like the dazzling rich and deep-hued falling leaves,
His love drips down abundance and my heart responds with fruit.

"For with You is the fountain of life;
In Your light we see light."


All seeming light apart from Him is dimming darkness;
All seeming life apart from Him is death.
My love, in You the air is clear, the sun is bright, no lies obscure my sight -
In You my dying heart is made anew and learns to walk in life.

Samuel and the stone of help

The people of Israel were terrified of the Philistines. The memory of their last conflict with them, more than twenty years ago, still lingered in their minds with a bitter and mournful taste: the ark of the Lord had been captured, the two sons of Eli the priest had been killed in the battle, and the old man himself had died on hearing the news. The ark had been returned after the Lord plagued the Philistines, but He'd also killed some Israelites because of that ark, so it wasn't a guarantee that the Lord would be on their side.

This new priest Samuel, however, truly knew God. In addition to being the priest of the Lord, he was a prophet, and the Lord let none of his words fall empty to the ground. So when he told the people of Israel that God would deliver them from the Philistines if they would stop serving other gods and worship Him alone, they listened even though their fears  still lay close to their hearts. While Samuel prayed on their behalf, all the people gathered together to repent of their idolatry and sacrifice to the Lord, and they fasted in the sorrow of the hearts as they realized the depth of their sin.

But as they gathered together in repentance, the Philistines thought they were gathered as a threat and a council of war, and in the confidence of their might they marched upon Israel, in whose hearts fear once again rose up. In their fear, however, they turned to the Lord their refuge and their strength, and He heard their cries and the prayers and offerings of His servant Samuel, and even as the Philistines drew near for battle He thundered against them with power and terror so that they were overcome by the people of Israel. He did not require strength or might or skill from His people - simply hearts that sought Him.

Then Samuel took a stone and set it up at the place of the battle and called it Ebenezer, which means "Stone of Help", as a memorial to the strength of the Lord in the help and defense of His people. The Philistines were not completely overthrown - this was still years before the famous story of David and Goliath - but it was important for them to commemorate the work of God as it happened, in the middle of the process, acknowledging His favor and grace even before the time of fulfillment. In the old language of the hymns we sing,

"Here I raise my Ebenezer
Hither by Thy help I've come.
And I hope by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home."

And we sing these words even though we might be in a place of sorrow or fear, and even though the home at which we seek to arrive seems incredibly distant and our hearts are weary and weak, because we have seen His help. He has been with us as He has been with all who have walked before us in our faith, and we can look to our memorial stones, the Ebenezers we establish at the times of great grace when His working is clear, to remind us that there is still a reason to trust Him when His help seems far away. I know I have many of these (one is an actual stone, which is neat; some are just memories), and in remembering His past faithfulness I am encouraged to trust in His present and future faithfulness, just as the people of Israel through all their future struggles with the Philistines might have been encouraged whenever they walked past or remembered this Ebenezer that Samuel established - when they returned to God and He fought against their enemies on their behalf and liberated them from their oppressors.

Dwelling in the word

"Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, 'If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.'" - John 8:31-32

 The word "abide" is incredibly rich (at least to me...). It is like the word "dwell" - there is this feeling of resting and remaining, of making a home. So His word is to be, in a sense, our home - the place where we live, the place to which we return for comfort and strength, the place in which we are nourished, loved, encouraged, and helped to grow. It is the place where our identities are formed (if we are truly abiding there), and where we establish habits and patterns of godliness in our lives.

A family home here on earth is full of flaws, no matter how full of love it is, because no one in it is perfect in himself or has perfect understanding of the other people dwelling there. There can be conflict, tension, and strife; parents may impart poor values to their children; people can isolate themselves even while living under the same roof, causing distance in their relationships; family members may expect too much from each other and give too little; someone might feel left out, lonely, or sad; and in the worst cases, abuse could happen.

But when we're abiding in the word, we're spending time in God's home. Here He is the Father, and He knows His children completely - so He draws us into His love in the ways that we can understand and receive it, and He teaches us what is right without introducing error or sin, and He raises us up to be beautiful and holy sons and daughters in Christ. If we are choosing not to abide in His word, we are choosing to miss out on this deeper communion with Him that comes from dwelling in His home. Come, seek Him in the place where He lives! Make your home with Him, and know His love!

"Even the sparrow has found a home,
And the swallow a nest for herself,
Where she may lay her young -
Even Your altars, O Lord of hosts,
My King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in Your house;
They will still be praising You." - Psalm 84:3-4