election night

i don't even want to watch the election results tonight. it fills me with dread, and maybe a little fear for the future of this country i currently call home.

but i also think: maybe, if it does get really bad here in the US, and people lose more and more of their money and privileges, it will force the American people to realize that electing a leader is not just a joke.

the ugly consequences of disregarding truth/virtue/morality and living just for ourselves may just force people to start thinking about REAL things, like 'is there a God?' and 'do i care about Him?' and 'what is the purpose of my life?'

maybe some will even start wondering if their everyday decisions and their everyday attitudes toward God have caused our country to be in the state it's in. instead of always pointing the finger and saying, 'they are messed up!', maybe they will look around at the spiritual illness in this land and realize we need a cure...

and where does that cure come from?

in the midst of dedicating the temple to God, Solomon heard these words from God:
"If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

this is a theme throughout the whole Bible: if people, who love to exalt themselves, and love to point the finger at everyone else's wrongdoings, and love to seek comfort above righteousness, would HUMBLE themselves and PRAY and SEEK God's face and TURN from their wicked ways, God will bring healing!

the story of the Israelites in the Old Testament was a roller-coaster of failing and repenting and sinning and repenting and rebelling and repenting. God remained the same. He was faithful. He was just. He was merciful.

so what is all this business of repentance?

what does the word even mean? it is literally a turning. it is something drastic and life-changing, not just a moment of sadness or shame.

it is like someone on a nature trail, who has been following a particular path, and then realizes as they look at the map that they are going the wrong way. the path they are on is actually going in the opposite direction of their intended destination! that is the moment for a decision: do i keep walking forward or do i turn around completely and go the other way? do i say, 'well, i've been going this way too long to change now,' or do i humble myself, admit the fact that i messed up, and turn around so that i can reach the right location?

repentance causes us to do some introspection and discover where we've fallen short. it comes with regret and remorse and humility and maybe some ugly crying.

but repentance doesn't just end there. it doesn't leave us groveling in the dirt at the end of the wrong path. NO! after we turn around, we WALK towards the correct destination! when we turn from our sins and turn to Jesus, it comes with rewards:

~God will hear us (2 Chronicles 7:14, 34:27)
~God will forgive our sins (2 Chronicles 7:14, 1 John 1:9, Acts 3:19, Isaiah 55:7, Acts 26:18, and more)
~God will cleanse us from unrighteousness (1 John 1:9, Acts 3:19)
we will LIVE! (Ezekiel 18:21-23)
~God will heal our land (2 Chronicles 7:14, Leviticus 26:4)
~and more! joy! peace! contentment! the gift of the Holy Spirit living in us!

so as i reluctantly watch the election results, i pray for my country. i pray for repentance. and i also pray for God's mercy: that it won't have to get TOO bad before we admit our sins and turn from our wickedness.

thankfully, i know that i serve a merciful God who has been patient enough to bear with us this far...

"For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!" Ezekiel 18:32

the bullet

imagine you're going about your normal business day. you're walking along the street as usual, when a man rushes up to you, grabs your arm, says, 'they're trying to kill you!' and pulls you into the alleyway! what is going on?! 
he says a few things to you, but in the rush and the confusion and the fear, you barely hear anything at all, and none of it makes sense.
then there is a sound at the end of the alley. before you can register much at all, the man pushes you to the ground and says, 'i'm going to take your bullet!' as he throws himself across you, a gunshot shatters the air.
and that's it. no more sound. nothing except your pounding heart.
you don't move for fear of alerting the 'bad guys' you didn't even know existed 5 minutes ago. but the man of top of you doesn't move either. he has gone completely limp, and with horror, you realize he really was shot, and he really is dead.
after waiting till you're sure the coast is clear, what do you do next?

what if the following is how i wrote the next part of the story?

hearing nothing more, you roll out from under the mysterious man. looking both ways and seeing nothing, you take a deep breath, gather your things, and straighten your clothes. you shrug, muttering, 'i wonder what that was all about?!' with no answer at the ready, you go about your day as usual.

'wait, what??!' you may be thinking. 'that's not how the story would go! i wouldn't do that! what happened? who are the bad guys? was someone really after me?what was that guy talking about? no one would just shrug and go about their day after that!!'

but i say that is exactly what most people, maybe you included, do every day.
what most people don't spend time thinking about is that there was a man who threw Himself over you and took a bullet meant for you. His name is Jesus.
and there really is a 'bad guy' who hates God's guts and wants you dead. his name is Satan.

the thing about the real-life story is that though Someone threw Himself over you and took your bullet, you have a choice. you don't have to be under His body, letting Him take the fall for you. you can refuse the help, ignoring His offer of salvation, and chance it out on the streets. but the killer will find you, and he will kill you.

what is your choice going to be? 

if you're not familiar with the story, maybe you should spend some time learning about the 'bad guy,' and about the guy who offers to take your bullet.

"Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man; 

though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 

But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: 

While we were still sinners, 

Christ died for us..." 

Romans 5:7-8

"For God so loved the world 

that He gave His one and only Son, 

that whoever believes in Him 

shall not perish but have eternal life." 

John 3:16

Abraham's agony

i recently read a book that included an amazing description of Abraham and Isaac's story in Genesis. i don't really have anything to add to it; it's just so good on its own. so here i quote from the book Wounds by Alton Gansky:

     "Genesis 22 holds an account that makes me furious. I cannot read it without a sense of outrage boiling in my gut. God asks for a human sacrifice. Not only that, He demands that His chosen man - Abraham - cut the throat of his only son, the son of divine promise. When I think of Abraham and Isaac crossing the distance from their home to Mount Moriah, the future site of Solomon's temple, I ache for them. What thoughts ran through Abraham's mind? What fears? Imagine the heartbreak. And what of the young man Isaac, who makes the journey with only one question: 'Where is the sacrifice we are to make to the Lord?' My anger grows when Abraham states that God will provide the sacrifice.
     "There the scene unfolds. The kindling and wood are laid for the fire to burn the sacrifice. Who set up that altar? Isaac, the one who would be asked to crawl on the wood arranged to burn his flesh to ashes. My fury mounts. At some point Isaac realizes what is being asked of him and based on his father's requests, lays himself on the mound of kindling.
     "Then it comes. The moment when the elderly Abraham lays the sharp edge of his knife to his own son's throat. Did he let it linger? Did his hand shake? Did he close his eyes?
     "The muscles in his back and shoulders and arm tense, ready to draw the blade and split Isaac's throat. Isaac, the son he longed for, prayed for, hoped for. Isaac didn't protest. We have no record of him begging for his life for making any attempt to escape. He could have gotten away. He was young; Abraham was old. If Isaac had chosen to fight, Abraham would not have had a chance. Isaac didn't fight back. His father was a man who spoke to God and if this was what God demanded, then he would not resist.
     "Then the knife began to move. Only then did God stop Abraham. No other passage makes me want to shake my fist in God's face. 'How could You,' I want to cry. 'What kind of God does that?'
     "I'll tell you what kind of God does that: the kind of God who would ask the same thing of Himself. Except for Him, there was no one to stop His hand.

Jesus is God the Father's Isaac.

    "Do I have a right to feel angry over the passage? I think so, but I also have a responsibility to remember that it was God who made that kind of sacrifice for us. We are supposed to be angry about injustice. We are supposed to be furious about the sacrifice Abraham was called on to make. It is the sacrifice of Good Friday. Jesus went to the cross willingly. He did so for us, and it was no easier for God to see than it was for Abraham. Our life came from Jesus' death. We celebrate Easter - Resurrection Day - but re grieve on Good Friday. The cartoon character Charlie Brown used to say, 'Good grief.' There is a good grief if that grief achieves an eternal difference.

We do not have Easter without Good Friday.

Out of death came life."