To and Fro: Whose Eyes are On You?

I'm not the type person who goes around looking for Satan and his crew of fallen angels hiding behind every rock.

More often, I know life's hardships are either a work of my own making or a direct work of God to draw me closer to Him, to reel me back in when I've strayed, or to burn off some impure part to make me as gold refined.

Over the past week, though, I have distinctly felt as if my family has been under attack. Each turn of the day found me reliving a Job-like moment when one servant after another would run in with more bad news.

Monday brought my daughter a painful ear infection, Thursday added her twin brother to the injured reserve with a case of pink eye, Friday brought sinus infections and high fever for both sons, and Friday evening found me with a scratched right cornea after I impaled it with a stick.

Then came Saturday morning with husband's news that no, he wasn't minutes from home but stranded out west because of flight delays and cancellations.

In the midst of it all, my mind kept envisioning Satan as he twice describes himself in the book of Job, as one who is "roaming about on the earth and walking around on it" (Job 1:7 & 2:2). The King James Version words it as Satan is "going to and fro in the earth."

I could even hear Peter in the New Testament warning Christians of Satan: "Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (1 Pet. 5:8).

The above verses are imprinted in my mind because they incite a bit of fear in me, serve as a warning that no Christian is ever "safe" from temptation, that I must ever be on alert against a vicious foe whose desire is to destroy man--any man--as a hungry lion seeks to devour any animal in its path.

Yet, these verses only tell half the message. And working with an incomplete message from the Lord will lead to nothing but fear, despair, and a gaping hole in our gospel.

While my heart clung to those images of Satan roaming around the earth, somehow, I missed a more important verse about my sovereign God doing the same, but with the opposite intent.

The writer of Chronicles states, "For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His" (2 Chron 6:9).

To and fro. The whole earth. Just like Satan.

But not at all like Satan.

Our God's eyes are moving throughout the earth not to destroy, not to devour, but to support, to strengthen His children.

And the same Peter who wrote of Satan's prowling? He also penned parallel words about the Lord and His eyes being ever on His children: "FOR THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE TOWARD THE RIGHTEOUS, AND HIS EARS ATTEND TO THEIR PRAYER" (1 Pet. 3:12). Again, the Lord's eyes are on those who are His not for their harm, but for their good.

Even in the midst of trials where you and I feel we are under attack from this prowling lion, if we are fully committed to the Lord, we can still feel peace, knowing that the Lord's eyes are always on us, too, always seeking to strengthen us for His glory.

Image: "to and fro" from "not1word"

Stuffing Jesus Back in the Tomb

They each wanted to touch Him, chubby fingers possessively grasping molded legs and outstretched hands, eyes studying His bearded face. Even without being told, they all knew this, this was Jesus.

When all three had held Him, they crowded around to watch as I lay Jesus in the tomb, then rolled the stone firmly over the entrance. There, the children listened to my warning. Each solemnly nodded understanding and echoed back my words: "Jesus must stay in the tomb. Yes, touch the angel, but do not touch the stone until Easter."

This scene played out some sixty-eight days ago. Since then, the angel has moved from the bathroom to the kitchen to under the covers of someone's bed. But the stone? With a few exceptions early on, it has remained unmoved.

Late yesterday afternoon, like a child at Christmas excited at what was coming with tomorrow's sunrise, I just couldn't wait. Or maybe it was that I didn't want to wait, didn't want to live in the darkness of death for one hour more. So, I rolled back the stone and Jesus came forth--alive!

The twins found Him first. Within seconds, Amelia mumbled her disapproval to Emerson, shoved Jesus within, and rolled the stone back in place. I quickly intervened. "No. It's ok. Jesus isn't dead anymore! He's alive! He rose up from the grave."

It seemed they understood me; yet, sometime later, someone silently slipped into the foyer and re-entombed Jesus. I rolled the stone away again.

Four more times that evening, they and I replayed the scene of Jesus being placed into total darkness of death and sin only to then arise to new light and life three days later (or a few minutes in this case).

You and I--we are not children who have memorized only half the Easter story. And still, sometimes our actions reflect hearts that act as if Jesus is still in the grave.

I am guilty.

I roll the stone back in place...

Each time I live enslaved to the guilt of past sin. At times, my mind is my worst enemy. It can replay decade-old scenes better than any HD television with closed captioning. In those times when I allow my past sin to incapacitate me, to keep me from living in victory--even for a moment--that is when I am saying that Jesus' sacrifice wasn't acceptable enough to the Father...not enough for my sin.

Paul says, "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death" (Rom. 8:1-2). Under the blood of Jesus, my sins are forgiven.

And although my mind may still remember them, David says, "As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us" (Ps. 103:12). The prophet Micah even says God "will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea" (Mic. 7:19).

Living in the shadow of guilt over sins that we have confessed, repented of, and turned away from (and that God forgave long ago) is, at best, an act of ingratitude and, at worst, sin itself. In Scripture, God never once asks us to forgive ourselves...just to repent and accept His forgiveness so that we can fulfill the plan He has for us.

I roll the stone back in place...

Each time I live enslaved to present sin . Even for a non-newborn Christian, it's all too easy to grow discouraged at a failure to stop sinning and simply give up the quest to overcome, especially with sin that is habitual, that has its roots deeply embedded in the past.

The problem is we can't just give into sin because "our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin" (Rom. 6:6-7). In other words, Christ was a victor over sin; as Christians, we must claim that same victory and strive, strive, and strive some more to let the Holy Spirit empower us to be victorious over sin...not slaves to it.

I roll the stone back in place...

Each time I live in fear of man, of public perception, of circumstances. Truth be told, this is where I put my back into it and press against stone the most.

Paul says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6-7). The Psalms are filled with the repetition of "What can man do to me?", a reminder that our free-will God is somehow mysteriously in control of every man's action as well as every atom's function in the universe since He "works all things after the counsel of His will" (Ps. 56:4, Eph. 1:11).

I know all of this. And yet, I get stuck before the "but" in Philippians, forgetting the key to not being anxious is prayer...well, not really forgetting so much as being so caught up in the busy-ness of living with the problems that it's easier to let worry tug at the corner of my thoughts than to stop and take time to bow the knee.

If Jesus is a victor over death, what can He not be victorious over? We must embrace the Holy Spirit within us, the same Spirit that Christ's death provided to all believers, and stop living as if He is powerless to help in all circumstances.

Each time we fail to believe in the total cleansing power of a risen Savior, it's like we are placing Jesus back in the tomb, like we are saying He is not an acceptable enough sacrifice for our sin. Not a victor over the power of present sin. Not a victor over the power of death.

Our Savior is enough. And He is alive.


(Posting from the archives today. My daughter has been sick since Friday with high fever. Please pray with us for her healing.)

Why Hoarding Never Works

To a certain degree, I understand the people who appear on TV shows like A&E's Hoarders. While I crave organization with boxes and labels, I also feel a conflicting urge to save everything.

Toilet paper rolls? Cotton from the tops of vitamin bottles? Creamer containers? They're all great for preschool crafts.

The kitty litter container? Empty peanut butter jars? International Coffee tins? They're so useful containers for sunflower seeds, pasta, and ten penny nails (in that order).

Thriftiness and being a wise steward of what God has given us are both good qualities. But what about those things I really should get rid of, but can't, like those clothes that went out of style in the 80s or that stack of rusted old tin behind the barn.

If I allow myself to dwell on the state of the world, that knot of fear overtakes more than just my gut to the point where I want to hoard large stockpiles "just in case" the world as I know it disappears and is replaced by one where I can't find (or afford) clothes and food.

I get scared. After living through the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, with weeks of no electricity, no milk or bread, when shopping meant walking through a roped-off section of Wal-mart in small, escorted groups and waiting in long lines at the pump or passing stations with no fuel for days...

I don't want to just trust God. I want to do something, to trust in me and in what I can save up for the rainy day that just might come close to flooding my whole world again in chaos, deep depression, and famine.

This closet desire to hoard is nothing new. The Israelites experienced it when they wandered the wilderness for forty years, fed daily quail and manna by God's daily benevolence, by Jehovah-jireh, our God who provides.

Yet, there were rules to be followed when gathering and consuming God's provision.

First was that the Israelites had to walk outside their tents and actually work to gather the manna from the ground. God provided the sustenance, but the people still had to do their part and gather what God provided. It wouldn't just appear in their pots, ready to eat: "This is what the LORD has commanded, ‘Gather of it every man as much as he should eat" (Ex. 16:16).

Secondly, the Israelites couldn't gather the manna on their own timeline. Scripture records, "They gathered it morning by morning... but when the sun grew hot, it would melt " (v. 21). If someone decided past the cool of morning, she would go hungry.

Finally, the Israelites could not hoard the manna. God had warned through Moses, "Let no man leave any of it until morning” (v.19). But of course, somebody didn't listen. Somebody wanted to hold back a little extra, hoard it just in case God forgot to lay out tomorrow's main course.

The next morning revealed that God would not allow such disobedient hoarding. The first light of morning shone on leftovers "foul" and covered in "worms" (v. 20). God was making a point--He required, not requested His people to trust daily in Him.

In Deuteronomy, God explained why the daily-ness of manna was so important: "He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD" (Deut. 8:3).

God was trying to teach the Israelites what He desires to teach us--humility, our inability to be self-sufficient. But when He provides, we can't just sit back and expect God to spoon-feed the manna in our mouths. We must labor to gather what He provides. That means daily prayer and Bible study, daily labor in the spiritual disciplines.

Also, we don't get to pick and choose how and when God provides. That means we must be in daily relationship with Him so that when He does provide, our hearts are ready to receive it.

In this the week before Easter, such a message may not be quite what you would expect, but Easter Sunday finds people making sure to be in church even though they haven't been regular. These are often hoarders, those who try to fill their tanks with "just enough" God to get by. But hoarders also come in the in-the-pew-every-Sunday variety.

When anyone goes for more than a day, a week, a month without an intimate relationship with God, s/he is attempting to hoard that warm soul feeling he gets in worship, hoard that message God spoke to her.

Living on yesterday's manna will be as healthy as eating worm-laden bread.

And what's more, if we do not have a daily relationship with God, then we will hoard the Word He gives us. We won't be able to share it with others because who knows when we'll step outside our tents, our comfort zones, to go gather another.

It's a serious question to ask ourselves this season of sacrifice: are we hoarding God or are we willingly sharing Him with those around us?

Your Mission: Why Wear a Hat This Week

We traipsed through the Little Hundred Acre Woods again just last week and paused by the osage orange thorn bush growing wild in the fence line. Although Spring has come early, its branches have yet to show its beauty in bloom.

My farmer husband calls it a horrid weed to be painted with full strength RoundUp. My children know it as "a crown of thorns," a plant that is so precious, one must touch it gently, examine it, discuss it repeatedly and at length, all because its prickly branches are a reminder of our Savior's suffering.

Years ago, my mother fashioned some of the wild branches into a circlet, an Easter decoration to focus her family on Christ's pain and sacrifice before the beauty of the resurrection. My three children beg for the privilege of placing that literal crown of thorns of tender heads each time they visit. When they are finally granted permission, it is never with grins but is always a serious, somber moment, for this crown, too, will pierce and draw blood.

My oldest, Wyatt, named it a "God hat," and I haven't been able to think of it otherwise since.

John 19:2 describes Christ on the day of His crucifixion: "And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put [it] on his head, and they put on him a purple robe."

Those thorns, though, didn't just sprout from the earth on that day. They had been growing all across the earth's surface, digging in deep and entwining their roots around the sin-stained heart of mankind ever since that day back in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve chose disobedience and became permanently separated from intimacy with God.

Those thorns were part of the curse, when God said, "Cursed is the ground because of you...It will produce thorns and thistles for you" (Gen. 3:17-18).

Hanging on that cross, Christ both symbolically and literally took the curse of sin represented by the curse of thorns upon Himself.

Righteousness became unrighteous. Sinlessness because sin for all time. The curse of Eden came full circle and pierced the head of the One who had come to undo its power.
Earlier, Christ spoke of thorns in a parable, thorns that "grew up and choked it [the Word], and it yielded no fruit" (Mar. 4:7). It was these same thorns that He willingly bowed His head to accept so that we may be able to bear fruit in Him.

Without His taking on that crown, that curse, we would be like the ground that "yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned" (Heb. 6:8).

As Palm Sunday grows ever closer, we must remember the thorny crown that our Kingly Savior chose to wear so that we would not. I'm challenging you to do what I plan to do--take one day this week and wear a hat--any hat. When you do, let its presence remind you of the weight of that "God hat" crown of thorns placed on His head for you and me.

A Drink of Cistern Water

Once the thermometer inches above 80 degrees like it did this past week, our household begins consuming more water to replace what the body loses through profuse sweating in the south Louisiana sun.

I take for granted being able to walk in the kitchen and turn on the tap for a high pressured stream of crystal clear, filtered water. But in other parts of the world, water is much more difficult to come by.

In the deserts of ancient Israel, fresh, pure living water was scarce, which led people to dig individual or community cisterns for storing large quantities of rainwater. A typical cistern was 2-3 feet wide at the top, 15-20 feet deep and was carved out of solid limestone to hold several thousands of gallons of rainwater underground .* Still, during the severe drought of summer, many would dry up.

Although most cisterns were covered with a large chunk of rock to keep out critters in search of a drink, you can imagine how much debris accumulated over time in these giant water vats. According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, “Cisterns, belonging to the common natives, are rarely cleansed, and the inevitable scum which collects is dispersed by plunging the pitcher several times before drawing water. When the water is considered to be bad, a somewhat primitive cure is applied by dropping earth into the cistern, so as to sink all impurities with it, to the bottom.”

In other words, having access to cistern water was better than having no water at all, but the water was stagnant and stale, at best. And at worst, it was contaminated with animal excrement that washed in the cistern along with the rainwater and perhaps even small dead animals who fell in and drowned.

Knowing how cistern water would taste, why would anyone choose it if she had access to living water?

In Jeremiah 2:13, God criticizes Israel for just that…for choosing to dig its own cisterns rather than rely on Him for the refreshing, living water: “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water” (Jer. 2:13).

The problem isn't the physical act of digging an underground rain barrel. Instead, it's the attitude of self-sufficiency. When the rain failed to fall, Israel would rely on its cisterns to provide rather than on God to sustain them through the hard times.

Jesus tried to explain this concept to the Samaritan woman, a woman who would have understood the benefits of living water over cistern water: “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water…. Everyone who drinks of this [well] water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life" (John 4:10, 13-14).

Christ identifies Himself as the living water that purifies, as the only sustainable source of water…quite the opposite of what a cistern provides.

Each day, we can choose to carve out our own cistern. To do so means we are choosing to trust in ourselves to meet our needs and wants instead of relying on God to satisfy our thirst. And since by nature, we are all broken, human vessels, we should realize that trying to provide for ourselves in our own strength, with our own talents, through our own successes—it’s useless. The water collected by our own hands will seep out slowly until we are dry and unable to provide for ourselves any longer.

My prayer is to leave the cistern of self-sufficiency and rely in faith on the fountains of living water like David did: “As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Ps. 42:1-2).

* “Ancient Cisterns” Bible Background Study. http://www.bible-history.com/biblestudy/cisterns.html.


(Posting from the archives this week as I am literally overwhelmed with a twin's sinus infection coupled with packing for a last minute car trip to see my brother and his wife at the 100th Cherry Blossom Festival in D.C. Pray for us all good health and journey mercies.)

Happy New Year!!! (Again)

My calendar reads March, the third month of the year. With the first quarter of the year nearly gone, I'm already looking ahead to the half-way point, lining up my summer teaching load, evaluating progress in the year's goals, and crunching the numbers to see if the bank account can swing an above-ground swimming hole for lessons.

In my father's office, is another calendar, one that shows a year is now ending and another one ready to begin. This is the Jewish calendar, which sets the first month of the Jewish year in the middle of March-April.

Nissan .

For those who follow the Jewish calendar, the old year is winding to a close. Even for those Christians like me who are not Jewish, we are still grafted into the vine, adopted into Christ's family. As such, this "new year" is important for us, too.

And such a new year starts out with a bang!

The first month of the Jewish year began with the Festival of the Passover where on the fourteenth day, each family would kill a lamb and put its blood on the doorpost. As commanded in Leviticus, "The LORD’s Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month" (Lev. 23:5).

This part of Passover was then followed by the Feast of the Unleavened bread, starting on the fifteenth day of the month and lasting for seven days: "for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast" (Lev. 23:6). In Jewish households, all leaven had to be purged from the house, symbolizing the purging of sin.

Finally, the Passover season would end with the Feast of the Firstfruits, the day after Sabbath, wherein the priest would wave a sheaf offering as a promise of the harvest to come: "bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. He is to wave the sheaf before the LORD so it will be accepted on your behalf" (Lev. 23:10-11).

The very first Passover was celebrated in Exodus 12. Before that large group of Israelite slaves took one step towards the promised land, before they crossed on dry land through that wall of water at the Red Sea--they celebrated Passover.

Their new year, their new life symbolically began with that Passover, one where they were covered by the blood and purged of sin as they looked forward to the cross where Christ would play the part of the spotless lamb.

Generations later, the Jewish exiles returned home after 70 years in Babylon. Once there, they rebuilt the temple, dedicated it, and then came the start of another year and, you guessed it, another celebration of Passover:

"On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles celebrated the Passover. The priests and Levites had purified themselves and were all ceremonially clean. The Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their relatives the priests and for themselves. So the Israelites who had returned from the exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the unclean practices of their Gentile neighbors in order to seek the LORD, the God of Israel. For seven days they celebrated with joy the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because the LORD had filled them with joy by changing the attitude of the king of Assyria so that he assisted them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel. " (Ez. 6:19-22)

This Passover was very similar to that very first celebration in Egypt. Those who once were slaves were now given their freedom. Those who were once far off had found their feet making desert tracks again to the Promised Land.

With that celebration of a new year, the Scripture above shows the people's attitude was one of joy. Their focus was on setting themselves apart from the world, on purity.

We're still about a month away from the Passover Festival (Jewish Year 5772: sunset April 6, 2012 - nightfall April 14, 2012). Yet, this side of the cross, how much more should we be excited about this coming of a new year?

When God became flesh and dwelt among us, He became our passover lamb, covering us with His blood and making us "unleavened" before being raised as the"the first fruits of those who are asleep" (1 Cor. 5:6, 15:20). With His death, He started not only the New Year, but also a New Age with a calendar now counting down to eternity.

As we prepare our hearts for our Lord's death and resurrection, our attitude looking forward and backward to Passover should be one of joy. Our focus should be on setting ourselves apart from the world, on becoming more pure.

Diagnosis: Habit Resistant

How long does it really take to form a habit? "Thirty days to a better you" seems to be the mantra of glossy magazine covers at every checkout counter.

Yet, a 2009 study in the European Journal of Social Psychology concludes that the answer isn't nearly that swift. There is no magic day that once you reach it, you're home free. Instead, "it depends."

On average, forming a new habit takes 66 days. Simple habits like "drinking a daily glass of water became automatic very quickly but doing 50 sit-ups before breakfast required more dedication."* It makes sense that the more the new habit requires of us, the longer it takes to become second nature.

What interested me, though, was one of the researchers' conclusions: "A sub-group took much longer than the others to form their habits, perhaps suggesting some people are 'habit-resistant'."*

Ouch. Habit Resistant.

I've felt this resistance. It's especially strong when the new habit I wish to form involves overcoming my flesh?

Being in the word daily. Bending the knee in my prayer closet. Fasting. Ministering to others. Doing physical, intellectual, and spiritual exercise. It's these good habits that strengthen my relationship with God, that improve my mind, body, and soul.

But these are also the habits I'm most resistant to, when I must die to self, sacrifice something else to cultivate the new habit.

God's Word recognizes this. The New Testament constantly encourages believers to form good habits, even when the resistance of the flesh seems overpowering.

Paul said, "Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude...For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete" (Col 2:6-7,9-10).

Here, Paul reminds us that a Christian is already complete in Christ when he became "firmly rooted" in Him. Yet, Paul also emphasizes that a Christian is still becoming complete, is still being "built up" and "established."

To be built up in Christ, to be established in Him requires what others have referred to as "spiritual disciplines,"** the practice of which is for our sanctification, to make ourselves more like Christ. These spiritual disciplines (prayer, fasting, confession, frugality, etc.) don't come easily. We must intentionally, habitually strive to be more like Christ--not in an "Uh, it's time to do that again" type habit, but in a habit that we desire to practice, striving to overcome the flesh and create a deeper relationship with Him.

Cultivating a habit can make our relationship with God second nature, automatic, like breathing.

Paul again tells the Colossians of this need to become complete in Christ: "We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me" (Col 1:28-29).

Here, Paul emphasizes that becoming complete in Christ isn't easy but requires "labor" and "striving," not in our own power, but in His power.

And therein lies the key to overcoming habit resistance--Christ, Himself, who works within us.

When we find it difficult to cultivate habits that we know God's word commands, that we know will bring us into a deeper relationship with Him, then, we must ask the Spirit within to help us overcome our fleshly resistance. And we must not give up.

God's word says that "a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again" (Prov. 24:16). Our flesh is weak. It is resistant to habits that don't feed it. Yet, in Him, we can be strong enough to dust ourselves off and keep going.

* "How Long to Form a Habit." PsyBlog: Understand Your Mind. 21 Sept 2009.
**For a discussion of spiritual disciplines, see: Charles R. Swindoll. So, You Want to be Like Christ, Thomas Nelson, Nashville, TN. 2005.