As I wonder about the halls of this huge hospital, constantly reminded at every turn of the suffering that saturates the walls and floors and brick of this enormous building I think of my sister Eve whom I read about in my devotions today. Eve, the only woman who ever walked with God in the garden of perfection, the only woman who was in perfect face to face communion with the Creator.

 As I stand in the tiny hospital chapel, my hand upon the blue notebook filled with the cries of a multitude of people calling out for mercy, calling out for a miracle I was struck by the sharp contrast between what was and what is now.  What was it like to walk in His physical presence? To hear Him call out your name as you wandered about the delightful beauty of a new and perfect creation. I can only imagine.

  As we wade through the suffering of this world our eyes looking forward to the day of deliverance perhaps strength for the journey can be found in considering how terribly difficult it must have been for our sister Eve. To walk out of the garden, head down, tears flowing, the feel of death upon her skin from the raw hides that covered her nakedness. Hides fresh from the bodies of creatures she once frolicked with, perhaps even taking lazy naps with her head upon the flank of the magnificent creature whose skin she now wears. To realize what she has lost, to have witnessed that first death, the death of something innocent slain because of her shortcomings. To wonder how and when death would come to her.

 My sister Eve knows what it is like to stand in the very physical presence of God, to walk with Him, laugh with Him, delight in Him and then to be removed from that presence and cast out. And yet she endured. She endured and she believed in the promise that from her line would come a Savior, one who would crush the serpent that had deceived her. A Savior that would redeem her shame, restore her loss and set her free from the bondage she had willingly chosen.

 History has ever condemned my sister Eve, and yet I do not.. After all, I am certain that had I stood in her place I too would have reached for that fruit, I too would have tasted, and I would have handed some to you. She lost something that I have only dreamed of experiencing and yet she endured that loss and became the mother of all living. She endured.

    So as we walk through this world and all its suffering and need, let us set our sight upon His promises. Promises yet to come, promises of a time when tears are wiped away and sorrows are no more, promises of a time when we who belong to Him will see Him face to face.  Press on towards the goal. Be His hands, His feet, His voice, His heart. Shed the light of His love and sing of His promises. Share the good news of redemption. Endure.

 So I stand here, my hand upon the book filled with the cries of broken people calling out for deliverance and hope and I think of Eve and of Paradise lost. I stand and read the words in Your book of life, I read of your promises of Paradise regained. I stand here and the tears flow as You speak words of life into my soul. I lift up the prayers in the book, Lord hear their cries. I add my prayer to theirs and I leave the tiny chapel with a sure hope in my heart.

http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/what-gospel/

http://byfaithonline.com/a-reformed-presentation-of-the-gospel/

  This week in my daily devotions I have been considering the subject of mercy. The main focus of these devotional readings ( http://www.ifequip.com/category/beatitudes) has been Matthew 5:7.

   Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy.

   God blesses those people who are merciful. They will be treated with mercy!

   Blessed are those who show mercy. They will be treated mercifully.

   Happy are the kind and merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.

  They are blessed who show mercy to others, for God will show mercy to them.

  Looking at this one verse, in several different translations shows two clear points. A person will be blessed, and find joy and happiness in the act of being merciful, and God will be merciful to those who grant mercy to others.

    To whom am I to be merciful towards? Should my mercy be extended only to those who have earned it? Is there a certain type of character to whom I am to be merciful? Are there certain types that I should deny mercy to?

  I know of only one method of obtaining any kind of answer to my many questions on this subject. I go to Jesus and observe Him.

  Jesus describes mercy to us in a parable about a king and two debtors. The king forgave the debtor who owed him an enormous sum, a sum so great that it could not be paid back, but the one whose debt was forgiven by the king, ran right out and demanded a paltry sum be paid back right away by a man who owed him money. This man could not pay and begged for time, but the one the king forgave would not allow it and cast him into prison. When news of this reached the king he was very angry, and ordered the man whose debt he had forgiven to be cast into prison until the very last penny had been paid because he who had been forgiven so much, had no compassion and no mercy upon his fellow man who owed a tiny sum in comparison.

  Jesus was clearly merciful to the poor. He stopped by the roadside many times to heal beggars afflicted with leprosy, blindness, and lame. So it is clear that I am to be merciful to those who suffer from poverty or are afflicted by handicap or disease even if those handicaps or diseases are deplorable to society. (look up leprosy during the time of Christ.)

 Jesus extended mercy to the Roman soldier and restored to him his child. Rome was the oppressor in that day, the symbol of a tyrannical government. This did not stop Christ from showing mercy. I am to be merciful to those who oppose me politically, morally and to those who work in support of government and programs that oppose me politically and morally.

  Jesus was merciful to tax collectors, who were hated and despised by Jewish society. They were in a sense considered traitors. By their actions they betrayed their people and assisted the tyrannical government in oppressing them. Yet Christ demonstrated mercy to them. I am to be merciful to traitors and liars and cheats.

 Jesus was merciful to outcasts from society. Women of ill repute, lepers who were considered to be unclean and untouchable. He even touched the untouchable. So I am to be merciful to the untouchables of society.

 Jesus was merciful to the criminal hanging next to Him, one who according to scripture has earlier been mocking along with everyone else. A criminal who could do nothing at all for Christ, who could only call out "remember me, when You come into Your kingdom." Jesus was merciful. I am to be merciful to people without regard for what they can do for me, or have done for me, and regardless of their social stature.

  And last, but not least, in fact the most profound; Jesus was merciful to me! To the one who openly opposed Him, mocked Him, mocked His people, mocked His word, to the one who broke every commandment, to the one who did not extend mercy, who hated, who reviled, who stirred up trouble, who lied, cheated, stole, murdered with my words, to the one that did nothing at all, not one tiny thing to deserve mercy, to the one who earned and fully paid for condemnation with thoughts, words and deeds, HE EXTENDED MERCY. If He, in His outrageous grace, can extend mercy to me, then I should and must endeavor with all of my might to extend mercy to everyone.

 Now to some this is an unthinkable thing. But I think the distress comes from the understanding of what mercy is and how we go about extending it. Mercy does not automatically mean that we dismiss deeds committed by persons. Should someone commit a heinous crime, and murder another, being merciful to this person does not mean excusing their crimes, nor does it mean setting them free from the consequences of that crime. Perhaps mercy to this person would be to pray for them, to still see them as a living, breathing person, to see them as redeemable, to perhaps visit them in prison, or write to them.

  I think that extending mercy to all might become easy were we able to always see the humanity in another, even one who is opposed to us, maybe even hates us, or to one who has done the unthinkable, the awful, the terrible. In order to see the humanity in others I believe we have to see the capacity for inhumanity within us all. 

  There are those who murder with their hands, taking the life of another unjustly and without cause. Then there are those who murder with their lips, defiling the character, judging and condemning another, ruining their life, their peace and their reputation and refusing to extend any possibility of redemption. Both are murder in God's eyes.

  Okay, so I am to be merciful. I am clear on that, the next question is how. How do I extend mercy to the untouchables? Right now, in today's world there exists a group of persons who are hell bent to destroy us. Were I in their hands the most grievous torture would be enacted upon me, and I would most likely die, probably with my head cut off. We have all seen the countless videos and read the stories of the multitude of people murdered by the hands of Islamic terrorists. The fleshly me wants an eye for an eye, or in truth I want a head for an eye. My flesh screams out to nuke every last Islamic country that holds even a thread of terrorism within it into the stone age. My flesh cries out, assemble the armies and march upon them and bring destruction to every last living thing that stands in our path. But my soul cries out something different. I have to listen carefully, for I cannot hear it for the boiling blood and pounding heart of my flesh, but I pause, I consider, I remember the things I have been learning about mercy and I know that my cry for vengeance and destruction is not the cry of my soul. My soul cries for peace. My soul prays for the spirit of God to be poured out upon the Muslim people, be they terrorist or normal hard working folk, my soul cries for the eyes of those committing evil to be opened, for their hearts to be deeply burdened for the atrocities they have and are committing. My soul cries for the hate to stop, for the mercy of God to reside in the hearts of all men. My soul cries for peace on earth and good will to all.

 And I hear that still small voice saying "yes child", "pray for them, pray for this world, pray for grace, pray for mercy, pray for peace, and be a light."

 What does the Lord require of me? "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8

 

      The older I get the more I realize how broken we are. How broken I am. It's not something that we like to think about, and not something we like hearing, but in truth each of us is broken in some way, many of us are broken in a variety of ways, self included.

       With that being said, I think it is so very important that we love one another. Love one another despite our individual brokenness. This life we are in is not a contest, although many of us often live it like it is one. We are not in competition with each other, it's not about who is the most holy, who is the most beautiful, who is the most successful. It's about how we love one another, or how we don't.

     I have seen firsthand how God can take the broken and make it into something beautiful. A new church is forming here in my area, and the name of the church is Mosaic and their motto is "brokenness made beautiful". I really love that, it resonates with me, resonates somewhere deep down, in all the broken places.

   It's an awesome thing when God brings together the broken and molds them into something beautiful. I have seen Him do it on more than one occasion. Sometimes it is via a church, sometimes it is just a group of people working together, and sometimes it's via social media like a Facebook page or group, or a social movement. Broken people coming together, mending into a beautiful mosaic.

  Sadly I have also seen these beautiful things shaken up by the broken. When we cling to things as if they belong to us, when we take hold of the good and call it our own and seek to possess it and control it, and take credit for it. All the good that comes from the broken being mended together is God's good. It's His work, not ours. When we seek to possess and claim that which is God's we end up hurting others. Pieces of the mosaic rejected by other pieces of the mosaic, pieces pushed away, pieces ignored and forgotten. In our own strength we often mess up the masterpiece. Thankfully God is ever present and takes even our messed up ways and turns them to good.

  Be the piece of the mosaic that God has called you to be. Be joyful as He takes the various pieces and forms then into a beautiful picture of grace and love. Don't try and fit in pieces yourself, nor remove pieces that you think do not belong, nor limit the placement of the pieces. That is God's part of the work, yours is to shine where He placed you.

 Remember that in every mosaic one thing is the same always. Each piece is broken, each piece has it's own distinct qualities. Alone they are not much to speak of, but placed together, in the configuration of God's choosing they become a masterpiece of color and vibrancy. Love every piece, love it like a brother or a sister. Recognize that we are all broken, but God loves us in our brokenness and in Him and Him alone we find wholeness and rest. Be still in His hands and allow Him to form the beauty.

"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."

"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. "

"And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them."

"If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother."

"We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. "

"Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ... "

"Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth."

  

Brokenness made beautiful............ I really like that. (Thank you Mosaic Church! Love that concept!)

Brokenness made whole.

The wholeness comes as we learn to love Him and as we love one another.

"“God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.”
― Vance Havner

“Brokenness to redemption, where mercy and grace kiss both sides of our face.
Brokenness where we are split open.
Redemption where God knits us back together.
Mercy when we don't get the punishment we do deserve.
Grace when we get the lavish love gifts we don't deserve.
So here we are.”
― Lysa TerKeurst

      After spending three glorious days in the high mountains of New Mexico, with the calls of the birds, the gurgles and roars of water cascading over the rocks in a cold mountain stream, and the wind as it plays across the tops of the grandiose pine trees, it has been difficult to adjust to the assault of sounds upon my ears in our return.

   The sounds of our modern life have been an incursion, and invasion, they have been offensive, brash, harsh and an outright onslaught upon my ears.

  The first invasion was traffic, the sound of the vehicles as they sit awaiting a traffic light, the horns honking, the whooshing of great trucks as our car passed them on the freeway. Poor Hektor (the dog) was most affected by these invasions of noise. I am sure his poor ears were assaulted by the screeching of modern day America as we barreled down the freeway towards home. No wonder the poor guy did his very best to hide on the floorboards of the car.

  The worst for me was the television. How it blared. How ugly it’s words. There were angry people making angry political rants, photos of violence and death assaulting my eye, tiny perfect little boys floating face down in the water, commercials blaring and demanding that I purchase and that in purchasing my problems would all be solved.  And then there were the advertisements for drugs proclaiming that my churning stomach or my constant need for the potty would all be corrected, but with this correction would come constant diarrhea, headaches, joint pain, suicidal thoughts and outright death. Advertisements informing me of wonderful sleep medications that would insure a restful sleep….but I might be running up and down the street in my underwear assaulting my neighbors while I am deep at rest.

 That first night back I attempted to fall asleep while my beloved took in an episode of the Simpsons. I struggled to fall asleep. To go from the sounds of a bubbling stream to the sound of Homer and Bart and their nonsense was a full on assault of the senses to me.

  I awoke the next day irritated and grumpy. What a terrible loud obnoxious world I have to live in. It is loud. Young men with their music so loud their vehicles are vibrating as if the vehicle itself is the speaker to amplify this horrid boom to the world, whether those in the world wish to hear it or not. Even my phone is a nuisance, with its constant pings and rings and bells and whistles. I have a message, I have a Like or Comment on Facebook, someone has tweeted this or tweeted that.

  It is absolutely amazing how loud our world is, and most of the sounds we take in on a constant basis are not soothing, they are not beautiful, they do not inspire nor comfort. They are a constant assault upon our ears.

  I have been camping many times, I have sat many hours in beautiful quiet places, but for some reason on this past camping trip I actually noticed the quiet, noticed it and breathed it in. Breathed it in deep and reveled in it. And in so doing I opened my brain up to the contrast between the peace and quiet of nature and the constant noise of our normal daily life.

  We have been back five days now, and I have struggled to balance things. How does one have quiet time with God when you are surrounded by noise, assaulted by the constant moving pieces of the world around you, how do you sit at His feet when you are waiting in the VA emergency waiting room and you cannot help but overhear the conversations going on around you, many of them sad and tragic, how do you be still and know that He is God when the sirens are going off outside and the television is blaring out an assault upon your ears? More importantly, how do you hear Him speak amidst all the noise?

 I was reading several articles on the subject of quiet times with God and how to do this in the middle of the chaos of life. One had an excellent point. “The greatest “noise” that hinders us from hearing Him comes from our own minds”. For me, that was a very sobering point. I prefer to blame all the noise, blame all the hectic things going on around me, but upon reflection I must confess that the statement is true. I and my mind are what most often get between my soul and God communing. 

 For three days I dwelt in the beauty of nature, in the clear clean mountain air. I walked through beautiful green fields full of wildflowers, I sat and I slept beside a clear mountain stream that sang a beautiful lulling song as it tumbled over the rocks. I lounged on the banks of pristine mountain lakes where the pine trees sang in harmony their song of the wind as it whistled through their branches. One could not ask for a more perfect setting to commune with God. There was nothing but His glory all around, there was nothing harsh, nothing ugly, nothing pressing and no reason to do anything at all but BE STILL and know that He is God………and yet there were many times,  stretches of time, that I did not think of Him at all.

 So I sit here this morning, amidst an assault of sound, air conditioners blaring, people talking, traffic moving, dogs barking and confess that the problem is me.  He is constant. He is available. He always shows up when I just still my heart, still my soul, and listen for that still small voice.

 In order to hear Him, I need to develop the habit of acknowledging that every single place I go, He is right there with me.  In truth ignoring Him would be like you and I going shopping for the day and yet during the entire day I ignore you, never speak, never ask you your opinion, never even acknowledge that you are right there with me. That is what we do when we forget that as believers God is always with us, He is our constant companion.  

Meditate on God, remember who He is, what He has done already, what He has promised to do. Meditate on His word, read it, study it, ponder it. 

“What we focus on is what we make room for.”

 I plan on seeking the quiet moments and reveling in them when they are found, but we must be honest and confess that often in our busy chaotic world it is difficult to find real quiet. We have the noise of the world we live in and the clamor of the pain and suffering all around us and in us. It is difficult to live in quiet serenity. We must remember and live in the truth that God is with us amidst the noise. He does not require perfect quiet in order to hear us. He listens always.

 As Jesus slept in the boat, the wind was howling, the waves were crashing, and the disciples were being tossed to and fro inside the boat. There was probably a lot of yelling going on, their hearts were filled with fear, the thunder was booming, the lighting was cracking across the dark sky. There was a lot of external and internal noise going on…….yet God was right there with them, right there in the boat, all they had to do was ask Him.

 “When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

Be still, amidst the clamor all around, amidst the clamor inside you, be still and remember, He is with you always, even to the very end of the age.

It is well, with my soul.

 

http://www.godvine.com/Jesus-Is-With-You-in-Every-Moment-a-Touching-Video-2921.html

We recently took our big white dog Hektor camping. He is getting on up there in years and it had been some time since he traveled anywhere farther than a local walk across the mesa or a stroll along the Rio Grande.

  Hektor was purchased as a pup, but in many ways I view him as a rescue dog. He was 16 weeks old when we delivered him from bondage. He was the sole remaining pup from a large litter. Bred by a hunter with no breeding experience, Hektor was the runt of his litter and most likely had to hustle for food. He had developed a small bald spot on his body and his breeder decided that dipping him in gasoline would alleviate the problem. When my son and I arrived to pick him up he had been washed spotless clean of the mud that had covered him, the kennel where he had been living was basically a massive mud puddle where he had been standing in water a few inches deep. As we talked to the breeders and paid the necessary monies I observed the children “disciplining” the little pup with a slap across the face. So needless to say I think if Hektor could speak he would consider himself to have been rescued.

  From the time we got him, despite a lot of hard work trying to socialize him he has always been my nervous pup. He worries about breakfast, he worries about dinner, he worries about new places and new people and he just doesn’t care much for strangers or strange places.

  Observing him over the course of the three day camping trip I pondered the similarities between myself and Hektor as compared to myself and God.

  Hektor worships me, he believes that I am, he wants desperately to have total faith and trust in me. For the most part he does. With coaching I can get him to do new things, go new places and even allow strangers to examine him and care for him……but he does not rest in that trust. There is always a little piece of him that doubts. Will it really be okay? Will I really get my breakfast this morning? Is it really true that I do not need to fear this new thing? Is it really true that I do not need to attack this scary thing myself? Can I really rely on her to take care of me? Can I really rest in her presence assured that no harm will come?

  As I pondered these things, I heard the still small voice in my soul say “yes child, you do have a lot in common with the big white dog.”

  You see, I worship Jesus Christ, I love Him. Sometimes just thinking about what He has done for me brings tears to my eyes. I desire to follow Him ANYWHERE, to do ANYTHING that He asks me to do. I believe that HE IS! He is EVERYTHING! There is nothing above Him, nothing that comes close to Him. I believe all these things and yet sometimes I still fret.

 It is my desire to walk with Him, wherever He might take me, be it the normal everyday places that I am comfortable with, or some new and frightening place to which I have never been. Yet I expect should that be the call that I will be like my big white dog, happy to be with Him, excited that He is taking me somewhere, but a little anxious about where we are going…….do they serve breakfast there?

 In all seriousness, Christ calls us to follow Him, to do so willingly and in full trust of His ability to provide. Sometimes the places He calls us and the tasks He calls us to are scary, in some cases even life threatening. But we know, we can have full assurance that whatever comes, He is right there with us, and He will provide all that we need.

   Hektor had his anxious moments, those moments when he was not real sure if I had all this, not real sure that he was safe and could relax, but when he finally decided to trust me in these things he had peace and was content to just be with us and relax in our care.

  Hektor was blessed in his journey with me. He got extra breakfast, extra dinner, he hiked at a leisurely pace in cool mountain air, he slept beside swift flowing mountain creeks, he got to sleep by my side in the tent and all in all he enjoyed his trip. Hopefully he learned to trust me just a little more.  Hopefully I can learn from him to trust my Master fully. To have no anxiety about tomorrow, to not worry about what we will eat, or what we will wear, or what choices others we love might be making or not making.

 

 

 Lord, help me trust You in all things, still my anxious heart, calm my restless worried spirit. Help me to rest in the knowledge that wherever I might be led You are right there beside me, and You are my Rock of refuge, there is nothing that I need fear.

 

 

 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, "I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life."

“The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.”

“Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.”

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him,
    and he will make straight your paths.