As the rain and snow

“The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.” “I bow my knees before the Father, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Isaiah 35:1-2; Ephesians 3:14,16-19

The royal poinciana tree spends most of the year looking bare and lifeless, like a wind-whipped umbrella. But then comes June, when earthlings leave for holiday, and the spectacular profusion of blooms moves in, taking up residence on every limb and twig, dressing the graceful canopies in the most magnificent vermillion. The regal array of red finery arrests even the most distracted passerby with its splendor. I have seen trees that only half-bloom, probably because of limited sun-exposure, and while nicely-shaped and still eye-catching, they are nothing like the full-blooming royals.

In our lives we go through seasons that appear fruitless, but God is working in our roots and grounding even during those desert times to produce rich, abundant blossoms. There are wildernesses of the heart, where heaviness or arid communion with our Lord seem to outweigh hope, but even here, the Lord is present and brings His flourishing through desperate dependence and deeper trust. Continual exposure to His light nourishes every part of us, bringing fruit not only from the healthy limbs of energy, tenacity, eager willingness, but also from weakness, fatigue, discouraging uncertainty. It is His Spirit in our inner being Who strengthens, Christ dwelling in our hearts through faith Who fills us with His fullness, God Himself Who produces fruit for His glory. (Philippians 2:13)

Am I choosing to thrive where it is easiest or where I am most comfortable, at the neglect of other areas where God wants me to place some attention? Is He calling me to expose my weaknesses that I tend to keep in the shade to His empowering light, so He can bring about strength in new and different places? Do I limit the full flourishing He intends because I’m staid in my ways and unwilling to allow Him to stretch me? Can I implicitly trust Him when I’m in the dry land to work invisibly to bring about gladness in His time, in a way that exalts Him?

Good Father, Your love and power are measureless to reach every part of me. Swallow my timidity and discouragement and fear in Your all-encompassing grace. Soak me completely in Your life-giving light. Please infuse me with Your Spirit from the deepest root to the farthest tip, that I may bloom fully, in thought, word, and deed, for Thee. (Colossians 2:6-7)

“From this time forth I announce to you new things, hidden things that you have not known.” “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own… One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  Let those of us who are mature think this way.” “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” “And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ These words are trustworthy and true.” Isaiah 48:6; Philippians 3:12-15; 2 Peter 3:18; Revelation 21:5

Seeing new growth on an established plant is invigorating for my soul. I have lived and learned for decades of life, and have a certain measure of confidence in what I know to be true in both knowledge and experience, but I can never stop growing. There are always new facets of my infinite God with which I can become acquainted, aspects of life in Him I can appropriate. Just last evening I heard someone speak about rest, and the Spirit opened up in my mind a whole new understanding of Jesus’s finished work and intention for me that I had never considered before. Our time here on earth is given that we might know Him better and be made more like Him every day. As deep our roots, as sturdy our years, there is always new growth that can sprout.

Watching Paul grow from a fiery opponent of Jesus to a zealous teacher and defender of the gospel convinces me he is quite mature, yet I marvel at his honest view of himself in his letter to the Philippians as one who has much still to learn. What an example are his urgency and zeal to leave behind where he has been, and his determination to keep straining forward in discovery and Christ-likeness! When we compare ourselves to others, we enter dangerous territory of either hopelessness that we can never know as much or be as deep, or platitudes of feeling superior which can slip us into complacent spiritual smugness and lethargy. What strikes me about Paul is he is always looking to Jesus, pressing on to know Him, laser-focused on the only One to whom he should compare himself and Who he wants to imitate.

The better we know Jesus, the greater grasp we have on areas where we need to mature. Drawing strength and nourishment from our roots in Him, we can, by His grace, put out new leaves from the fruit of His Spirit, stretch wider in our compassion and love, grow higher in our discernment, deeper in faith. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Lord, may I never stop wanting to grow. Give me perseverance to press on. Cause to sprout in me, day by day, new knowledge, discernment, righteousness, insight, and love of You, for my maturing and Your glory. (Philippians 1:9-11)

“Behold,.. new things I now declare. I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.” “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 42:9,16; 43:18-19

I watched the think ink sky begin to streak this morning, swept with the faintest grey, lit from underneath by radiance barely reaching, a brilliant sun not yet appeared. Over long minutes the wide swath changed, lined, then blotted, with more and more light, inverting from dark night to the earliest of day. Each morning, the show is different, yet the same delivery of new. Every dawn is a magnificent display of gravity and heavenly sphere orbiting the sun and the faithfulness of the God Who alone knows all that will transpire. We greet the gift with limited vision, but every new thing He does is to be watched, and His promise that it can be embraced and trusted is indeed clear.

I sense His stirring a new thing in me, and find myself watching the morning with wonder and expectation. The faint streaks of light He has sent through letters, conversations, small comments, inklings from His Spirit, biblical inspiration, are welling up to color my sky, and I want to listen keenly, to discern perceptively, to be prepared, to gauge the times. It may be a small reset, maybe a redirected priority; I need to watch, and hear His word.

“My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.” Psalm‬ ‭130:6‬ ‭

With the cacophony of life, it is easy not to be tuned in to small things, to faint voices, to dismiss short but distinct messages because other noise is louder, more urgent, more demanding. When God wants to do a new thing, He will, and He calls us to “behold,” to look, see, consider, and cast our lot in with Him.

Is there a specific aspect of me God wants to stretch, or put more emphasis? Are there former mindsets and habits to which I cling, and need to shake off so I can move ahead? Has there been a newly discovered or understood teaching that can make a significant difference in how I think, work, go about my living, plan my weeks, see and love others, honor the Sabbath, communicate?

Lord, may I begin every day looking to You, trusting what You know will come and submitting to Your design for me. Keep me open to every new thing You plan- for my interior mindset, focus, understanding, and for my external occupations. Beholding You is my high aim and chief delight.

“Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus: ‘I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. For the sake of… Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.'” Isaiah 45:1-7

With Assyria and their threat of takeover and destruction looming, Isaiah spoke into Israel’s bleak darkness of sure deliverance. Their imminent future was foreboding, but as God’s beloved chosen, they could count on His unique, divine power to equip a king they had never heard of with power to break their chains and open their doors to freedom. He would show Himself mighty, He was in control. There was none like Him.

Soon after defeating Babylon, the Persian King Cyrus sent exiled Israelites back to Jerusalem. Isaiah had prophesied this, and him by name, about 200 years earlier, an exquisite example himself of the ways Sovereign God works and uses people as His instruments to perform His bidding. The specific details in this prophesy, the personal way in which God would undertake for this heathen king, are promises that fed the Israel for decades with hope in their longing. Every word came true for Cyrus, for Israel, and foretells His wondrous work on our behalf today. (Ezra 1:1-4)

I know many people in very dark paces right now, in exile from loved family members, behind bronze doors of a waiting room where it seems injustice will prevail or cancer has returned, held as by iron bars in grief over the death of a child, a husband of half a century. In those very places, the LORD on high is present and not silent. He works even through those who know Him not, through the impossible horribles, in calamity and darkness, to bring about His perfect plans, reveal His treasures in the darkness, to shine light and bring bounty into the secret places we would never choose on our own to go. He is trustworthy, He is Ruler of all. (Psalm 50:3)

Tragedies, afflictions, adversities are measured in the hands of our Father. No matter the evil we face, the ugly combat or piercing pain, all things and people are situated by His hands of providence for our sake. We may not understand, but we can believe.

Lord, break the bronze of unbelief in me to trust You alone, and You wholly. Raise up Cyruses, and use me as You will, to “do all Your things,” for I know You do them well.

 

““I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin? Does not he see my ways and number all my steps? If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened to deceit,.. If my step has turned aside from the way and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has stuck to my hands,.. If my heart has been enticed toward a woman… If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or the needy without covering,.. and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,.. If I have made gold my trust or called fine gold my confidence, if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant or because my hand had found much, if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor, and my heart has been secretly enticed,… I would have been false to God above. If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook him,… If I have concealed my transgressions as others do by hiding my iniquity in my heart, because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors— Oh, that I had one to hear me! I would give him an account of all my steps.” Job 31:1,4-5,7,9,19-20,24-29,33-35,37

A friend recently challenged me anew to take time to allow God to search my heart. I find it can become rote to ask a quick blanket forgiveness, to, upon a twinge of guilty conviction, make immediate confession and move on, and realize mine is often a superficial ‘cleanse,’ lip-service to the One Who is worthy of my full concentration, and repentance. Job, in response to his accusing ‘friends,’ was thorough in his introspection, allowing the all-encompassing searchlight of God to invade his recesses of resolve, motivations, deceit, enticements, greed, misplaced affections, idolatry, malice, cowardice,  and attempts to hide all of the above. He was honest in reviewing these matters of his heart, appealing to One Who would hear rightly and reconcile.

Sin that initially teases can cover our senses with just enough film to dull our awareness and preclude clear thinking. Like rock smeared with moss that is at first glance deceptively stable, it is slippery under foot and can cause catastrophic harm. Do I take time to assess my heart, my life practices and habits, to account for my old and abiding sin before my merciful Lord? Will I, like Job, review these varied aspects of my intentions, attitudes, behavior toward others, deceptive or loose tongue, and allow God to extricate the root causes? Am I bold enough to own my irritation, jealousy, hoarding of time and control, fear of man, and submit to God’s scrubbing? Only then can I be clean and dry, a firm foundation on which He can build my next steps.

Thank You, Savior, that You do hear my confession, and know all my steps. Apply Your grace, the “faithful and just” of Your forgiveness won at Calvary, and cleanse me for Your use and glory. (1 John 1:9)

“But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever; you are remembered throughout all generations… Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord: that he looked down from his holy height; from heaven the Lord looked at the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die, that they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord, and in Jerusalem his praise, when peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the Lord… Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end. The children of your servants shall dwell secure; their offspring shall be established before you.” Psalm 102:12,18-22,25-28

The subtitle for this psalm is “A prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the LORD.” In all his distress, he finds hope and strength in “but You..,” the eternal reign of almighty God, His sameness throughout all generations, millennia past and future. In the midst of strife within and without, there is solid comfort knowing that the LORD’s throne is established and cannot be shaken, and that what He has fixed will be certain forever.

There is nothing like a newborn to remind us that God is faithful from one generation to the next, that His gift of life spans beyond our comprehension. A precious new life is a piece of offspring that will be told the story of God’s deliverances and wonders, and will carry it on. God is remembered through His recorded truth, and through His supernatural, delightful ways within families and nations and history that are told and retold. When we welcome a little child, we are stewards of this responsibility to record and recount the greatness, the transcendence, the affectionate and personal involvement of God the Creator with His creatures.

From generation to generation we are the people He loves, hears, watches, frees unto eternal life. We declare His praises by living His nature, promoting His example, telling His story, and those praises take on a life of their own, themselves a living generational cord that is held fast and passed along in fellowship and worship. The God Who laid the earth’s foundations and upholds it by His power is the God Who by grace establishes, secures, and continues generations among His people. This limitless and infinite LORD, Who is from everlasting to everlasting, has chosen us, delighted in us, and places His Spirit in us that we might bear His light and message of freedom to family, people, and nations. (Psalm 90:2; Isaiah 42:1,5-7; John 10:10; Colossians 3:16-17; Hebrews 1:3)

How devoted am I to passing along His story? What evidence is there in how I serve and love and speak that my God is a LORD of generations?

Father, forever enthroned in my heart, may Your reign be evident to those You have entrusted to me. May I faithfully praise You to the next generation, that they will also.

“When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive. I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and the pine together, that they may see and know, may consider and understand together,
that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.” Isaiah 41:17-20

Our God is a wonder-working God. He performs what to us is impossible, and He sets up His works in such a way that all who see with honest eyes will know that He has done them. Why do we resist the challenging, the painful, the impasses of life when we know it is in these tangly, dark, impossible places that Mighty God’s hand is most clearly seen?

One marvelous aspect of God’s great work is His intention. He does not swagger around as men might, boasting look at Me; He is not puffed up wanting credit for credit’s sake. Rather, He is always displaying and offering His vast love in the Person He is, opening His arms for the relationship He longs to have with us. He shows up in the driest deserts and leanest droughts, the heights of fear and depths of sorrow, to display His measureless compassion, His all-knowing ears that hear our cries, His gift of living water that assuages every thirst, His bread of life the satisfies unlike any other food. He bids us come and eat, drink, rest, be satisfied, be comforted. He exhibits His majesty in the splendor He creates, calling us to consider and understand His unifying love in the growing of different trees together to sing one praise. Wonderful His hand! (Matthew 11:28; John 4:14; 6:32-35)

His design is intentional not only in His miraculous provision, but in His including us in His process of giving. He parches the tongue and designs the wilderness so we cry. He brings us to the point of need, of saying this is impossible apart from You. And when we acknowledge that we are not enough, that our efforts are not sufficient, He answers our requests so we see His personal and specific acts. His promise not to forsake presupposes an inextricable connection that cannot be broken. He is ours and we are His, never to part. (Song of Solomon 2:16)

Father, as hard as it is, I thank You for the deep, dark, and dry places into which You have lovingly led me. Please keep me considering You in every one. Give me eyes of faith and understanding of Your ways, that I may see Your creative majesty and power, and know You better. In knowing You, may I give You all the honor and glory You deserve.

“I will sing of steadfast love and justice; to you, O LORD, I will make music. I will ponder the way that is blameless. Oh when will you come to me? I will walk with integrity of heart within my house; I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me. A perverse heart shall be far from me; I will know nothing of evil… Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure. I will look with favor on the faithful in the land.“ Psalm 101:1-6

Every holy resolve includes wills and won’ts, and David’s psalm sets for us a good tempo of balance between the two. Making a joyful noise to God lifts the heart and spirits to gladness and satisfaction in the LORD of all. When we sing a new and continual song, our mindset is delight in Him, and so infuses all our choices from then on. Determining to focus on God’s love and justice, to the world seemingly disparate and unreconcilable divine attributes, fixes in us our sense of accountability to Him, this lavish, merciful, and righteous LORD. Making music to Him awakens desire for blamelessness and integrity, and establishes our course of action before Him and among others within our house and outside. (Psalm 96:1-2; 100:1)

And in order to walk uprightly, there are certain bents we must check, practices we must not allow, “I won’ts” that free us to keep on the right path. It is hard to stay on the straight and narrow when we are fascinated with the world’s idols and involve ourselves thickly in worldly entertainment, business practices, vocabulary, ideologies. We must make choices about the regular company we keep and the places we recreate, which affect the topics we ponder and the manner of our living, relating, spending. Haughtiness, arrogance, unfaithfulness are poisons that seep into our psyches and open doors to perverseness we may not otherwise deliberately choose. Resolving to favor good over evil, developing companionship with those who exemplify faithfulness over deception and infidelity, choosing to praise God rather than criticize and complain about others, all make a huge difference in the way we will live. (Matthew 7:13-14)

For what will I use my voice today? What will I decide to put away, to reject, in order to sing to my LORD with all my being?

“Take my voice and let me sing always, only, for my King.
Take my lips and let them be filled with messages from thee.                                                                                                        Take my will and make it thine; it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart it is thine own; it shall be thy royal throne.”                                                ~Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879)

Father of all goodness, morning by morning, fix my mind and heart on so You that my mouth pours out songs of praise and gratitude. Grant me discernment in every observation and holy courage in every choice, that You are exalted in my life. (Colossians 3:1-2,16)

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve. You shall not go after other gods. He brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.” Deuteronomy 6:5-9,12-14,23-25

Loving God and living for Him flows from immersion in the scriptures. God’s word is the brilliant revelation of His attributes and ways, guiding light for our path, merciful pronouncement of warning, consistent goad to righteousness. Our practical companion for daily life, it is the supernatural nourishment and beautiful adornment for all our families, and we who have responsibility for them are to feed and clothe and remind continually. (Psalm 19:11; 119:105)

Where am I standing in the pathway and lifestyle and default practices of the godless, and need to extricate myself to move into the light? Have I eased into critical murmuring and caustic opinion-sharing, settling into a seat alongside mockers, and need instead to sidle-up to companions with a biblical mindset who would encourage me in the mind of Christ? When faced with important decisions, whose input do I seek? Am I walking in the counsel of the ungodly, whose minds are filtered through worldly input, or will I search out and delight in wisdom from God’s comprehensive, infallible word? I have long prayed that our children’s last thought before falling asleep and first upon waking would be Jesus, the truth of God, but have I diligently trained myself to practice the same, meditating on His word day and night? (Psalm 1:1-2; 119:130; Proverbs 2:1-7; 13:20; 1 Corinthians 2:16; 1 Peter 1:13)

This consistent handling and reminding of God’s word requires care, intention, even deliberate setting aside of other seemingly-more-urgent pressures, but it is the supreme priority that is of greatest eternal benefit. God says so, and what He instructs we know is right and for our good.

Father, every taste of Your word is sweeter than honey, more satisfying than gold. May I consistently lay up Your words in my heart and soul to inspire righteous thinking, doing, and teaching. Forgive me for hoarding, fill me to overflow so my mouth and hands share Your beautiful, life-giving word all along my way. (Deuteronomy 11:18-23; Psalm 19:10; 119:11,103)

 

“O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble… He will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is Zion’s treasure. The Lord in majesty will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams. For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our king; he will save us.” “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.” “There is none like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in his majesty. The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” Isaiah 33:2,6,21-22; 59:1; Deuteronomy 33:26-27

I have been especially needy of late, for certain wisdom, insight, understanding of the right way forward. I think I know myself pretty well, yet am finding the Lord revealing new strengths, new areas He wants to develop and use in me that are as yet untested, so I seek His guidance and courage. I feel as though I am trying out new vocabulary words I am not yet comfortable using in conversation. I appeal to His word.

“You have a mighty arm; strong is your hand, high your right hand.” Psalm 89:13

I carry a vivid memory of my father scooping up my resistant little sister when she was a pre-schooler, and jumping off a rock into the clear lake, cheered on by the rest of us who had already plunged into its liquid delight. She was fearful at the unknown and large, but held close in her father’s loving strength, was secure. There is nothing like the arms of a father.

So when I feel hemmed in and know not the way to go, I can look to the broad rivers and streams of my Lord. With all my questions and suppositions and ideas, I can ask for His wisdom, knowledge, and stability in thought. He Who judges rightly and hears my cry, interpreting even what I cannot articulate, reminds me of truth and divides His law into my understanding, even as He comes to abide, my Counselor and present help. He upholds and sustains in mysterious and marvelous ways, invisibly but palpably, like arms of cloud riding the heavens to my aid. (Psalm 46:1; John 14:1,26-27; Romans 8:26-27; Hebrews 4:12)

When my Heavenly Father takes my hand, and supports me with His ever-strong arms, I can not only rest in being held, and carried, but I can bravely go forth into the hard, the scary, the unknown, the battle. I can jump into the deep, climb the scrabbly slope, proceed into the fray where He leads, because He is mighty to save and enable and supply.

Lord on high, I know that Your arm is not too short and it is strong. May it strengthen and establish me against fear and dismay. Morning by morning, as You offer Your mighty hand and outstretched arm, keep me holding fast, walking arm in arm with Thee. (Deuteronomy 11:2; Psalm 89:21; Joshua 1:9)