Faithful Fridays Two: Lamentations

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Ok, I am well aware that today is Saturday, lol...I got slammed with the sort-of-annual sinus/ ear infection Thursday night and was pretty well a slug yesterday.  The antibiotic is kicking in, though, so hopefully I will be un-slimey-ifed enough to go to work by Monday.

Fortunately, this weeks' book is short.  Unfortunately, I used the most obvious passage last time I did the Faithful Friday thing, so this week's choice is a little more...obscure.

Why should any living man complain when punished for his sin?  Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.  - Lam 3:39-40, NIV84

We are a little more...circumspect...in our language today and are hesitant to pronounce any negative situation as 'punishment'.  And, perhaps, rightfully so.  It's a fallen world and bad stuff happens to good people.  Just ask Job.   And I think most of the time our 'bad stuff' isn't so much a punishment as it is just...consequences.  Because to be disobedient is to deliberately remove oneself from God's protection.

If you're in God's Will for Your Life (that just reads as if it should be capitalized.  And I'm not being snarky here...I think everyone, deep down, knows whether or not you are trying to pursue what God wants you to do or whether you're sidestepping what you know to the the right thing with some kind of rationalization that 'I'm only young once' or 'This won't matter in the long run' or 'I'll just repent later' or some other self-talk.  I'm talking about making hard decisions based on walking in what you know of God's character and the instructions he gave us.  Anyway.)  the enemy has to come THROUGH that to get to you.  But...if you wander out of that sphere, then basically there's nothing to stop the enemy from taking pot shots at you whenever he chooses.  So...punishment?  Or consequences?  Does it matter?

Sin basically is deciding my way is better than God's way and then acting on it. It's what Eve did with the fruit in the garden, it's what Cain did with Abel in the field, it's what Achan did  in the battle for Jericho, it's what Saul did when Samuel was delayed and again when he was supposed to obliterate the Amalekites, it's what David did with Bathsheba and later Uriah and even later when he counted the fighting men, it's what Ananias and Saphira did when they lied about how much of the price of land they gave  (That wasn't about the amount at all...it was their money and they could have kept some without sinning...but they lied to make folks think they were more generous than they actually were.  It was the lying that got them).  Sin is what happens when I consider myself my ultimate authority.

And consequences...at the very least...and ultimately, if there is not repentance, punishment...is what follows sin.  That's for God's children, y'all.  Those who have rejected him will end up with the wages that sin pays.

So...that 'examine our ways' thing means to look for those things in which we have deceived our own selves into thinking something that goes against the Laws of God is ok. It means taking an honest look at ourselves and our choices.  

And repent and return, if the self-check shows that we have wandered away.  

Friday Faithfuls Two: Jeremiah

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Jeremiah.  I was, like, reading through instead of skimming...maybe I should just do a study of Jeremiah next?  I kind of shook myself this morning and went back to chapter one to skim through...get back on track...and I was kind of subconsciously wondering what there is about Jeremiah that pushes me to grief.

Jeremiah is the record of the last days of a once-great nation that had abandoned the foundation upon which it was built, with leaders who were outright contemptuous of  both those roots and those who were pleading with the people to return to their roots. Likewise,  the people refused to listed to any of God's true prophets and accused them of treason when the prophets didn't tell them what they wanted to hear. One prophet named Uriah had gone so far as to flee to Egypt due to the threats on his life and Jehoiakim (who was a true slimeball) sent soldiers after him.  They captured him there and drug him back to Jerusalem, where he was put to death (Jer. 26:20 - 23).  It was GRIM. Jeremiah's mistreatment was just an example of how those who spoke on God's behalf were treated.

So...despite the wonderful promises that are in Jeremiah for those who remain faithful to God, the remnant that God will bless and restore, the verse that grabbed my attention today is Jeremiah 2:19...a warning....

"Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you.  Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of me," declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.

Words to ponder in a nation that is increasingly stopping the ears and singing 'Lalalalala' when presented the words of God....

What's going on...

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

I really didn't mean to take a break on the Friday Faithfuls...but there's just been stuff going on.

Easter, of course, puts a capital on Busy, even with no church costuming to do.  

But the real truth is...The Flute Player is moving to Florida in the immediate future and I have honestly been spending Fridays with her as much as possible.  Her hubby has been tapped to be the preschool lead at Berkley Chapel in Auburndale; he's going to be on the church staff.  It's a great opportunity...but it is a freaking 12 hour drive.  Oy.  So I've been hanging with her while we have the chance, because it's gonna be a minute until we see them again.  Like, quite possibly, Christmas.

Plus I have kinda been dragging through Jeremiah.  I've just gotten caught up in the narrative and failed utterly to skim through it fast.  Jeremiah is one of the most heartbreaking books in the Bible...God repeatedly calling the people to repentance to stave off the coming judgement, and they repeatedly refuse to even acknowledge the invitation.  

I see today in Jeremiah every time I venture in...

I may not get back to it for a week or two, but...it will pick back up.

He Is Risen!

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Christ is risen indeed!

The Garden Tomb, Jerusalem.

I hope you have had an opportunity to celebrate Resurrection Sunday!  

I think we celebrate Easter and kinda forget that, you know, Jesus actually did come out of the grave.  We have so much mythology in our culture...Greek, Roman, Norse...that I think it gets easy for us to, well, not exactly put the narrative of Jesus on that level, but yeah, put the miraculous of the narrative on that level.  2000 years later, it's easy to let the story of the Resurrection become a story instead of history.

If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith....And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins...If only for this life we have hope in Christ, then we are to be pitied more than all men. -- 1 Cor. 15:14, 16, 19, NIV 84

If it didn't happen, Christianity is a farce at the best and a tragic hoax at the worst.

But.  It really happened. We have eyewitness accounts. 

Two seasons of the year always leave me in awe...Christmas and Easter.  Because it overwhelms me to think he would actually leave his existence in glory to take on the existence of a human...but beyond that, being born as a human, growing up subject to humans, and walking amongst humans who refused to see Truth when it was standing in front of them.  And then to go beyond that and submitting to the arrest, trial, abuse, and crucifixion by those same blind stupid humans.  He didn't have to, you know.

But he did it.  Because that was the only way to reconcile mankind back to himself.  

Because he truly loves us.

Friday Faithfuls Two: Isaiah

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

So our little skim through the Bible looking for a 'verse of the week' brings us to the Major Prophets...and the book of Isaiah.

It takes a minute to skim through Isaiah, lol.#secondlongestbookinthebible

But it is full of truth that we all should know.  If you read one chapter a day, it will take you just a little over two months to read through the book of Isaiah...and if you don't already have a reading plan, or if you're looking for the next one...Isaiah is worth considering.

We basically have two interwoven themes...the judgment coming upon those who reject God and his commandments, and the promise of deliverance to those who are faithful.

It wasn't a very successful 'skim' through, lol...I kept stopping and reading.  So  it took longer than I had anticipated, lol.  I actually jotted down about 8 different passages that caught my eye and tugged at my spirit; some were warnings, some were promises...a smattering from both themes.  

I thought about listing them all, but finally decided on 43:1 - 3:

But now, this is what the LORD says -- he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.  When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.  When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze."

The thing that struck me as I read this...God never said there would be no river to cross or fire to go through, but he did say that, as threatening as those things appear, they would do no critical harm.

Also...verse 1 opens the first episode of The Chosen.  You have seen at least some...right? ;-)

Something else that's worth a look.

Friday Faithfuls Two: Song of Solomon

 Posted  by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

I skimmed through Songs and found a verse that intrigued me...then discovered it was translated just differently enough in other translations to change what I thought it meant, so I pulled up the Blue Letter Bible site to check the interlinear/ Strong's dictionary and, whoa, that Hebrew is beyond my puny level of comprehension.  It has several untranslated Hebrew words that have no equivalent in English because they just indicate something about the structure of the sentence.

Anyway, over my  head on that one, so back to 1:1 for another skim through, lol. So I picked a verse that had been referenced by one of our associate pastors who spoke Sunday morning.

Who is this coming up from the desert leaning on her lover? -- SoS 8:5

He referenced it in a discussion of what happens when one wrestles through something with God...it leaves  a limp as a recognition that we cannot function on our own...we have to lean on Him...and he referenced SoS 8:5.

So many things happening on so many levels has convinced me that the root of the human nature is to insist on doing things independently of God, attempting to be self-sufficient, self-made, out from under God's authority and instruction, defying him in big ways and small ways in the process.

A humble limp,  a daily reminder of who God is...and who isn't God...is a small exchange to discover the privilege of leaning on the One Who Loves...me.

Sigh....

We must all update the computer at some time and this is the weekend for a new update for us.  

 We bought the computer on a Black Friday discount last November, lol, and it's been waiting for us to get around to doing the ugly process of uploading.  Which is now proceeding at something of a snail's pace.

I've already discovered that my bookmarks did not make the jump to to the new device.  Don't ask.

We've also had to upgrade the office subscription.  Gee, back in the day, it lived on the computer.   Then we had a home version that we all had access to. Now the rate is higher if more than account on the home computer is going to be using any office tools. (deliberately leaving off the name of the window company responsible).  Mayhap we should have just maintained one user and logged in/out of the browsers and such whenever we changed users.  Or maybe it's worth $50 a year to NOT have to do that...

Anyway, at least I have the work laptop that has a FEW of my most-used links identified, lol.

So that means I will be tracking down and resaving as many of my favorite hangouts as possible.  

And having to re-log in.  And re-verify.  And...and...

So, no regularly scheduled blog post today.  Hopefully I'll be back to normal next week.

Just an opportunity to exercise the fruit of patience....and a bit of kindness and forgiveness too, lol.

In view of the devastation others are facing, a few lost bookmarks is a ridiculous petty thing to complain about.