Holding up the Train

A few months ago, I got a phone call from my brother, Pierre. It was fairly early in the morning so I thought it a bit strange to hear from him, at that time of day, since we normally caught up with each other late at night.

He started off with some innocuous conversation & then said: "I have some news." I replied: "Does it start with 'H?' He said: "How did you know?" 

I said: "I didn't; but I have been praying about you and Heather for some time now." How amazing is our God- answering a prayer that neither my brother nor my newest sister-in-law knew anything about.

Friends, the right spouse is truly worth waiting for, no matter what, (or who), may come your way.  Pierre and Heather both lost their spouses in the past few years; spouses whom they loved.  This marriage diminishes none of the former loves.  On the contrary- the joys and sorrows, the mountain peaks and the valleys- have shaped them both and I have no doubt that their life together will be to the glory of God.  With so much love to give, they are a perfect complement to one another, and to those whom they will serve in the coming days.

"Lord, may You continue to shape them in Your image; may their marriage be a wonderful reflection of Your love for Your bride, the church. Amen." 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJsx3GtXgxI

Be careful what you ask for

They asked for it.  And they got what they asked for.  The Israelites wanted a king, oh so badly.  They sent a delegation of elders to speak to the prophet, Samuel. (An aside: beware the delegation that comes knocking without heed to God’s purposes).  

They said: “Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations.” (1 Samuel 8:5)  “That we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles”  (1 Samuel 8:20); sounds like noble reasons to have a king. However, earlier on:. “And the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.” (1 Samuel 8:7)

So, God gave them a king, the son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin. “And he had a son whose name was Saul, a choice and handsome man, and there was not a more handsome person than he among the sons of Israel; from his shoulders and up he was taller than any of the people.”  (1 Samuel 9:2).    From 1 Samuel 10:23, 24: “So they ran and took him from there, and when he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward.  And Samuel said to all the people: “Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen?  Surely there is no one like him among all the people.  So all the people shouted and said: “Long live the king!”

Discussing this in our small group, it was said that the people chose someone who was ‘tall and handsome;’ hardly good qualities for ruling a nation-so vain and so shallow.  I, in a way-too-authoritative-voice, stated that it was actually God who had chosen Saul, as in the above verse and also here: “When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him, ‘Behold the man of whom I spoke to you!  This one shall rule over my people,” (1 Samuel 9:17).  And while this is true, it is also true that God chose the one that the people wanted.  Basically, God gave them a King “after their own hearts,” in direct contrast to their next king, David, whom God said was a man after His own heart. 

I am very glad that the ladies in our small group gave their understanding of the passages, as I was in need of a more gentle and humble spirit; I owe them an apology.  It was a fitting lesson to be drawn out of the biblical narrative of judging by appearances and rushing to conclusions; both of which the Israelites had done in wanting a king and what I had done with an overbearing attitude of superiority.  It was also a direct application from our pastor’s morning message, whereby he challenged us to always, everywhere, be focused on pleasing God. 

Saul turned out to be quite the wrecking ball.  The nation was at war and in chaos for the thirty-two years that Saul reigned as king.   He harboured an insane jealousy of David, whom the people had honoured above him, evil spirits haunted him, he used a witch to call up Samuel from the dead, he tried to murder his own son and he died an ignoble death; to name only a few of his missteps.  Well, the people had asked for a king and essentially got what they deserved, a king after their own hearts; handsome, tall and perhaps “dark,” in the sense that he was so proficient at not obeying God.

Be careful what you ask for; you just might get it.

In a world that is still characterized by much war, violence and sin, I pray: “Oh God, spare me from setting myself up as king; but rather let me be one who is after your own heart, so that I might be a light in a dark and dreary land.”  I am greatly heartened by Samuel’s prayer, during the reign of King Saul: “Moreover, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you; but I will instruct you in the good and right way,” (1 Samuel 12:23).  

The devil is in the details

I had not even noticed how my time had been spent from 9:55am to 10:05am.  Mom and I were on our way to church.  That morning, our pastor was preaching about anger, about the foolishness of how our need for hurry causes ridiculous anger, and this plague of hurrying, (not his exact words), has its root in selfishness.  “In your anger, do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry and do not give the devil a foothold.”  (Ephesians 4:26,27). 

I envisioned a ‘slowed-down’ version of me helping my Mom put on her winter coat, not even 50 minutes before his message.  I am always in such a big rush to get out that door.  So, of course, I force my Mom to go faster.  But she cannot. 

She cannot, because she gets stuck in the smallest of details, like pushing her hand past the ribbing at the end of her coat sleeve, or fumbling with a zipper that is now too complicated for her to manage or trying to get her hood on because she absolutely hates the wind.  And I know all of these things.  If only I would slow down.  But I cannot.

I cannot, because I will not.  I am in too much of a hurry, which ultimately means that, as our pastor said: “It’s all about me.”  If I had planned just a little differently, I would have had time to chat with Mom as I helped her with her coat.  We could joke about the weather, and talk about the days when she taught in a one-room schoolhouse with a pot-bellied stove and a little boy whose dog followed him into that same schoolhouse on a blustery, cold winter’s day.  And oh, does she ever love to tell that story!  Her face lights up and she gets so excited that half-way through, she switches from English to French, and then back to English.

The devil, as they say, is in the details. I allow him to shatter my day with little frustrations and minutiae about unimportant matters.  I refuse to see interruptions as God’s means of grace to me; as His means of taking the time to help my Mom push her hand through that sleeve and hear her say, “that’s what I needed, a little push,” and her tinkling laughter at her own little joke.

We all have an average of twelve to sixteen breaths per minute; I plan on using mine more wisely.  By God’s grace, I pray that I will not, and therefore, cannot, be hurried along at the expense of someone else’s joy or at someone else’s pain; nor do I want ungodly anger to be a hallmark of my days.

The devil is in the details.  But so is God, and He is greater than the devil. 

“Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.”

(1 John 4:4)