Joining Him on the Way

“Let’s get started – when the others come they will find us on the way.”

I don’t know how many times I have heard this at informal Kasana gatherings/meetings over the past year. Probably at least half a dozen.

It’s a common sentiment, stemming from “African time” – the tendency of Ugandans and others to not be on time. If you’re at a place within 15 minutes of the assigned beginning time, usually you are early. ;) At functions out in the village, if the stated start time is 10 a.m., that may be when you leave your garden to go home and bathe before walking to the meeting – you may get there at 11 and still be one of the first.

On Tuesday night I attended Vespers, an occasional evening service that gives JBU students time to quietly reflect on passages of Scripture which they read aloud together. It was the students who slipped in a minute or two late to join the other students which made me think of my Ugandan friends.

Somehow then, my mind made a jump to spiritual matters. The thought flashed through my mind that this is what every one of us has done. God started history thousands of years ago. Every one of us living now have found Him on the way. He has been working His plan and accomplishing His goals for centuries and millennia before our parents (or great great great great grandparents) ever thought of our existence. We all find Him on the way.

I couldn’t help but think a bit about what that means.

To go back to the illustration that started this train of thought: Imagine that the meeting is one discussing an elaborate plan for how to celebrate someone’s birthday. Then imagine that the person arriving over an hour after the official start of the meeting suddenly jumps in and starts expressing her ideas about what ought to be done and how to do it. If the meeting has been productive (also a Western concept – the first phase of a less formal meeting in Uganda can often be visiting and catching up on one another’s lives), then plans have quite possibly already been made – it’s just the details remaining.

I think it is easy for us humans to do something similar on the grander spiritual scale. As we grow up, we start to have our own ideas about things. By the time we are adults, we can have grand plans and Opinions about the way things ought to be.

We feel like we are responsible for coming up with what we do and what happens around us.

We forget that we joined Someone else on the way.

That He has His plans & will carry them out!

That HE is the one writing the story.

That it’s HIS story anyway.

Zachariah, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, Simeon, Anna: Each one of them didn’t just find God on the way – they were caught up into a plan grander than anything they could have imagined. Some had to be made to shut up so that they would listen to the plan. Others accepted it with open arms, though I’m sure they were blown away by the enormity of what they were hearing. Each one didn’t set out to make something amazing of their lives; or maybe they did, but it paled in comparison to what actually happened. Instead, they were invited to join what God was already at work doing. They didn’t just find Him on the way, He met them on the way and changed the course of their lives, and human history, FOREVER.

Obviously, I don’t believe there will ever be something exactly like that again. Never again will the eternal, omnipresent Son of God choose to fully become a helpless baby. But I think we can still learn something from this.

On a much more personal note, being here in Siloam has made me think about the “me” that first moved here more than six years ago. An Esther that thought she was going to be a political journalist. NEVER did that Esther expect that six years later she would be looking at Uganda, a distant country in Eastern Africa, as HOME for the foreseeable future. I had no idea what God was going to do. But He invited me to join Him on the way; He worked so many different things together in my life to grow me and stretch me and envision me for something that I in myself would never have seen.

He has a plan that He put into motion thousands and thousands of years ago. Each one of us finds Him on the way. But not because we were looking for Him – He finds us and calls us to join Him on THE WAY. Because it’s definitely not a journey we walk alone. We have the Godhead, each person of the Trinity, willing and eager to walk with us and guide us each step of the way. For Jesus said that He IS the way, the truth, and the life.

Come, let’s join Him on the way.

{God’s} Character and {Man’s} Responsibility

{In Institute[1] the past couple weeks, each of us had the assignment of preparing a Bible story to present to part of the class, as though we were teaching it as a Sunday school lesson to children. We could pick the story and what age range we were targeting. I wrote this with 9-12 year olds in mind. As a challenge, our presentation could only be 10 minutes.}

Today we are going to look at a story that is an example of God’s faithfulness to His people, and how important it is to trust God.

Who were God’s special people during the time of the Old Testament, before Jesus came? That’s right! The Israelites.

Now, our story for today comes from the book of Judges in the Old Testament. Does anyone know what the book of Judges is about?

God had brought Israel, His special people, into their own land – performing many miracles to do so. But the people rebelled against God—they wanted to go their own way rather than obeying God.

Do you ever do things your own way rather than how your parents tell you to do them? That is exactly what the people of Israel were doing toward God. So as a consequence, God grounded them: He turned them over to be oppressed by their enemies.

And that is where today’s story comes in. While I tell the story, I want you to listen for how God showed His faithfulness and how His people needed to trust Him, okay?

                Israel had been oppressed by a king named Jabin for 20 years. Can you imagine that? That is twice as long as some of you have been alive! Now, Jabin had a general name Sisera, and he is the bad guy you’re going to want to remember for this story.

The people of Israel were suffering, and in their suffering they cried out to God for deliverance! Because even though they had gone their own way rather than obeying God, they remembered what He had done for their grandparents and great grandparents. And you know what? God heard their prayers, because He is faithful!

                During this time, there was a special woman of God named Deborah. She was a prophetess, which means God would speak to her and reveal what He had planned for the future! Deborah was also one of the judges of Israel that this book is named after.

One day, she called for a man named Barak, and she told him: “God has commanded you to go defeat Sisera!” Now remember, Sisera was the general of the evil king oppressing Israel. But Sisera had 900 chariots in his army, along with all his soldiers!

At that time, time, having chariots was kind of like having tanks today. Do you know what tanks are like? {Our teacher’s oldest son, age 7, informed us that tanks were vehicles with missiles on them.} Israel didn’t have any chariots, they just had men to fight, maybe with swords and spears. That would be like marching to fight against tanks while only having ordinary guns! But Deborah told Barak, “God is going to deliver Sisera’s army into your hand.” How do you think Barak felt??

                I think he was kind of afraid, because Scripture says he told Deborah, “I’ll go fight, but only if you’ll come with me!” Deborah said ok, but she also told him a woman would get the honor from the battle instead of him.

Barak gathered 10,000 Israelites to go against Sisera’s army, which included those 900 chariots. The Israelites were up on a mountain, and Sisera’s army was in the valley at a river. You know what? I think Barak was still afraid and not trusting God’s promise, because Deborah had to remind him to lead his men into battle. She told him, “Has not the LORD gone out before you?”

So then Barak and his 10,000 men charged towards Sisera and his army with their 900 chariots. And God was faithful to His promise! He totally routed Sisera’s army! That means they became confused and disorganized, to that Barak and his men were able to totally defeat them. The Bible says Barak and his men killed every soldier in Sisera’s army. It was an amazing victory!

                Now, Sisera had run away from the battle because he saw things weren’t going well. He came to the tent of a man named Heber, who was an ally of Sisera’s king—so Sisera thought it would be safe to hide there!

Heber’s wife was named Jael. Jael welcomed Sisera into her tent, her home. She brought Sisera some milk to drink, and then he lay down on the ground because he was so tired from running! Jael covered him with a blanket.

Sisera thought he was safe there, so he fell asleep. But Jael had other plans. She got a tent peg, and used a hammer to drive it straight through Sisera’s head and into the ground; killing him in his sleep.

                When Barak came searching for Sisera, Jael called Barak into the tent and showed him the enemy general, dead.

Even though Jael’s husband was an ally of Sisera’s king, Jael had decided she would trust God’s deliverance of Israel and kill Sisera.

Then Deborah and Barak sang a song of victory, praising God for how He had used them and the Israelite soldiers and Jael to deliver God’s special people from the wicked king and Sisera, his general!

                So that is the story of Deborah and Barak and Jael, which you can read in Judges 4-5. Did you see God’s faithfulness to His people Israel in that story? And who displayed trust in God’s promises by their actions?

Barak was hesitant at first, but he did obey. Deborah and Jael obeyed God too! And God proved His faithfulness by delivering His people when they repented and obeyed Him!

                So how does this impact your life? Have you ever chosen to go your own way rather than following God? We all do that often times, and that is called sin. Bug God loves the people He created, and so did He prove His faithfulness to us? YES!

He sent a deliverer for us, just like He did for the people of Israel! What is our deliverer’s name? Jesus! When Jesus came from heaven to earth, died on the cross, and rose from the dead, He won total victory for us over our enemies of sin and death, forever!

Just like God promised Barak victory over Sisera, God promises us victory through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus! And like we saw in our story today, God is faithful to keep His promises, isn’t He?

                But just like Barak had to trust God’s promises and go out to battle, so we each have to trust God’s promise that Jesus’ victory over sin and death applies to my life and to your life!

A lot of times, I find myself like Barak: afraid to go and fight the enemy of sin in my life because I am not sure whether I will win or not. But would I really be fighting alone? No!

Remember what Deborah told Barak right before the battle? I’m going to read it from the Bible, from Judges 4:14:

“Then Deborah said to Barak, ‘Up! For this is the day in which the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the LORD gone out before you?’”

We all need to ask God to help us have faith, and to remember that Jesus has promised us victory and goes to fight with us. Because He has already won the war for us!

And God is faithful to His promises to us, just like He was to Barak and Deborah and Jael, which means that we can trust His word to be true.

---

[1] “Institute” refers to the New Hope Institute of Childcare and Family, which is basically New Hope Uganda’s ministry foundations and philosophy taught in 20 weeks.

An {Uninspired} Psalm

{Uncle George, one of our Institute teachers, encouraged us yesterday to think about/write a psalm praising the Lord to share with class this morning. So here is a small offering of worship to my King, Savior, & Advocate. A few of my lines are direct quotes or "Esther paraphrases" of Scripture verses, as I'm sure you will notice.}

O God, You are my God.

                You are the faithful One,
                Regardless my wandering heart.

You are the all-seeing One,

Even when I try to hide myself.

                Eternally Existent

                        Self-Sufficient
                                Magnificent Creator
                                        Holy in Righteousness
                                                This is our God.

Yet Christ came, for the glory of His Father:
        Born of a woman, born under the law,
        Bound into the confines of an earthly body;
        Subject to the temptations of humanity,
        In all things as we were, yet without sin;
        You laid down Your life to redeem sinners,
        To show us the Father and bring us into adoption;
        Creator God, Come as a humble Servant
                And crucified;
        Oh my Savior, such a mystery I cannot comprehend.

And when You ascended in glory,
You did not leave us alone.
        You gave us Your Holy Spirit:
                Paraclete, our Advocate and Helper.
He lives within our hearts.

O Triune God, I pray:
        Give me eyes to see;
        ears to hear;
        and a heart which seeks after You;
That my mouth may declare Your glory alone.

One Person's Take

“It was Christians protecting Christians from Christians.”

So ran one line of a short article about Portland believers who blocked Westboro Baptist protestors from sight at a conference for the Christian Gay Network.

I heard about the conference and the protest yesterday from a friend of mine who is attending the conference. Seeing a retweeted picture of one of the conference goers posing with two protestors on either side of her was like a punch in my gut, especially because of her comment that she told them that she loved them all.

“Who is the better Christian here???” I asked myself. Not that I ought to judge “how Christian” someone is…..perhaps the better question is, “Who displayed a more Christ-like attitude here?” Was it the church protestors with their signs of hate and hell condemnation? Or was it the conference attendee who told those spewing such words that she loved them?

Wrestling with this issue embedded itself so much in my mind that I dreamed about it in some sort of fashion last night as I slept. I don’t even quite remember the details of it, I just know that was involved in it somehow.

Then I woke up this morning and went to church, where the sermon was on Romans 14:13-19, which says in part “Therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit….Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and things by which one may edify another” (vs. 16-17, 19). The sermon came in the context of this new year’s theme at the organization where I work: “Your kingdom come” from the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6, and as I listened to the preaching I couldn’t help but think of the situation in Portland.

Because, of course, the issue is much much deeper than what happened recently at one conference. I am from a country where an immense political/legal battle is being waged about states legalizing gay marriage. I currently live in a country where they have passed laws instituting strict penalties for carrying out homosexual acts. This issue is one of the major debates of our current generation, all over the world.

And it’s not an issue that I will even attempt to scratch the surface of here.

I am very sure I would never have gone as far as the Westboro protestors go. But my conservative background means that I grew up with definite opinions about the issue that were closer to them than to the Portland counter-protestors. It used to be easy to give pat answers to this question…but it is not anymore.

The brief reason for that is having friends whose sexuality does not fit into the easy, simple categories. I have three, that I know of, who have struggled with questions about their sexuality and gender. And as I have heard their stories and the stories of others like them, I have lost my ability to quickly judge people and dump them in a particular spiritual box based on this issue alone. All three of these friends attended the same Christian college that I did – and I know that at least one of them desires very much to know and love God just like I do.

The fact that we definitely do not see eye to eye regarding all topics—particularly this one—does not one bit change the fact that I care about each of them as individuals bearing the image of God, individuals for whom Christ died. I love them, and I pray for them just as I do many of my other friends.

In all honesty, I don’t always know what to say or how to respond. I don’t know how to reconcile the beliefs I was raised with to the questions—and sometimes hurt and pain—that I have seen my friends deal with. Sometimes a small part of me wishes I could ignore their stories and go back to my easy answers.

But life isn’t about easy answers. And life definitely does not rely on me for the final decisions—Thank God for that!

In the end, I am thankful for these three friends of mine. I am so thankful for them, for their courage and their willingness to share about themselves and their struggles. And the real fact is that I wouldn’t change my knowledge of their stories even if I could. Because hearing their realities has peeled another layer of judgmental scales off my eyes.

We are all broken people. We—each and every one of us—face personal challenges that we must wrestle with. And often the decision is at least partly up to us: Are we going to allow our trials and struggles to pull us away from God? Will we try to do life on our own strength? Or will we see those challenges and trials for what they are: a reminder of our daily need to run towards God and to rely on Him for EVERYTHING, to trust in His wisdom and His plan of redeeming ALL THINGS.

Because in the end, it is to Him that I turn when my earthly mind can’t rectify my friends’ stories with my original beliefs. When I don’t know the answers, it’s a reminder to trust the One who does. And so, I do not end this post with a pat theory that will solve all the problems. But I do end it with a call: A call to righteousness and peace and joy in our Paraclete, a call to love and work together to build one another up, not to judge and condemn.