The LORD doesn’t see things

the way you see them.

People judge by outward appearance,

but the LORD looks at the heart.

1 Samuel 16:7)

 

Battle Setting: the Valley of Elah

 

Main characters:

Goliath – the antagonizing bully who stood over 9 feet tall.

David – a young shepherd boy who was dark and handsome and had beautiful eyes.

 

The two were extremely unevenly matched for battle, but in a way the surrounding soldiers didn’t understand. The bully was in way over his head—but he just didn’t know it.

 

The bully’s taunt: I defy the armies of Israel today! Send me a man who will fight me! (1 Samuel 17:10)

 

The shepherd’s response: Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God? (1 Samuel 17:26)

 

And then armed with his shepherd’s staff, slingshot, (and the LORD of heaven’s armies), the shepherd set out across the valley to fight his giant.

 

“Am I a dog that you come at me with a stick?” roared the bully. (1 Samuel 17:43)

 

The shepherd’s reply, “You come at me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

 

Today the LORD will conquer you…and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.

 

And everyone assembled here will know that the LORD rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the LORD’s battle…” (1 Samuel 17:45-47)

 

And so it was.

 

I love the unleashed power stories of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies in the Old Testament. They flow seamlessly into the New Testament descriptions of continued battles that we fight daily.

 

For we are not fighting against

flesh-and-blood enemies,

but against evil rulers

and authorities of the unseen world,

against mighty powers

in this dark world,

and against evil spirits

in the heavenly places.

(Ephesians 6:12)

 

For the sheer beauty of poetry, I love the King James version of the 23^rd Psalm.

 

The Lord is my shepherd;

I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:

he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul:

he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness

for his name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through

the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;

thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me

in the presence of mine enemies:

thou anointest my head with oil;

my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy

shall follow me all the days of my life:

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

 

Forever. That’s my plan.

And I’ll see you in 100 years has become one of my favorite ways to say good-bye. But it’s only going to work if the other person has also completed a personal transaction for the same destination.

Romans 10:9 is a great place to confirm your reservation:

 

If you declare with your mouth,

“Jesus is Lord,”

and believe in your heart

that God raised him from the dead,

you will be saved.

 

Amen.

 

…you came to me and said that

you wanted a king to reign over you,

even though the LORD your God

was already your king.

All right,

here is the king you have chosen.

You asked for him,

and the LORD has granted your request.

1 Samuel 12:12-13

 

You asked for him. Scary words. It’s one thing for God to say “yes” to my prayer, but quite another to hear “you asked for it” preceding his “yes”.

My two-year-old granddaughter, Faith Cora, loves little animal figures and we shopped today to add to her small collection. She first chose a horse, cow, and reindeer. Then decided on a boxed collection of five jungle animals. Then changed her mind back to the cow, horse and reindeer. Then repeated the process one more time.

I didn’t rush her. It was completely her decision. She was a happy girl when we left the toy aisle with the horse, cow and reindeer in our basket. And she was still content when she placed them on the checkout conveyor belt all by herself.

We walked to the car, I buckled her in her car seat, and handed her the sack containing the horse, cow, and reindeer.

And she immediately burst into tears and said, “We got the wrong ones”.

Buyer’s remorse.

Maybe that’s why Jesus said to pray like this:

 

Our Father which art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done in earth,

as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power,

and the glory,

for ever.

Amen.

 

 

(bold/italics mine)

 

 

Some of Jesus’ family thought he was crazy during his early ministry.

 

Then Jesus entered a house,

and again a crowd gathered,

so that he and his disciples

were not even able to eat.

When his family heard about this,

they went to take charge of him,

for they said,

“He is out of his mind.”

Mark 3:20-21

 

Between 1900 and 1925, Russell Conwell delivered his famous motivational speech Acres of Diamonds over 5000 times. The essence of his theme was that oftentimes people overlook, and even abandon, treasures in their own backyards to go treasure hunting in places where they’ll never find what they’re seeking.

 

What a waste of time, relationship, and opportunity.

 

Makes me wonder how often Jesus’ half siblings—four brothers and at least two sisters—re-examined their childhood memories, once they realized they’d been raised in the same household as The Messiah.

 

What a waste of time, relationship, and opportunity.

 

And then on the days that I don’t choose to spend some private alone time with:

YHWY – I AM

ADONAI – The Lord is Master

JEHOVAH JIREH – The Lord Will Provide

EL SHADDIA – The Almighty God

JEHOVAH SHALOM – The Lord is Peace

JEHOVAH ROHI – The Lord is my Shepherd

 

What an incredible waste of time, relationship, and opportunity.

 

 

With a loud screech of metal against metal, the riding lawnmower blades came to a shuddering stop. I knew exactly what the problem was…I’d run over a piece of wire from the old electric fence and it was tangled in the mower blades. But identifying the problem and knowing how to fix it were two different things.

After 33 yrs of sharing tasks, it’s hard when everything becomes your responsibility…especially the things that weren’t yours before. I’d not driven a mower in years and had to get my son to teach me how to handle it. Every time I’d need to crank it, I’d have to call him to go over the steps one more time. Then when it wouldn’t crank I’d have to call and be walked through the terrifying (to me anyway) steps of hooking up the battery cables to jumpstart the battery.

It’s embarrassing to feel so helpless, but I called again to ask what I should do now. He said he could drive 5 hrs to come fix it for me or I might drive it up a couple of the wide front porch steps and try cutting away the wire.

It was scary to drive the mower up the steps, but I did it. Then I lay down on the ground and looked under the mower. The wire was twisted and wrapped from every direction at least a dozen times around the blades. I just stared at it for a while…there was no way to untangle the mess. It looked totally unfixable.

So I decided I’d just start clipping wire every place I could get the wire cutters to reach. Even if it didn’t make sense to clip it at that spot, I’d clip it anyway. There was a small space on the top where the clippers could reach through. And a little space on the side where I could see part of what I was doing. But I had to do most of the clipping sight unseen. I’d touch the wire with my left fingers to position the clippers with my right hand. Then I’d hold the wire from under the mower and clip through the space from the top.

After numerous cuts, it felt wonderful to see little pieces of wire begin dropping off. And eventually, after a couple hours of clipping, every single last piece of wire came off.

I was sweaty and dirty and incredibly proud of myself. The unfixable and tangled wire bore strong resemblance to how my life felt at that time. And each little clip represented the importance of just doing the next thing. I couldn’t see how life could ever be good again, any more than I could see how all of that wire could be removed.

But all the wire came off.

 

Your own ears will hear him.

Right behind you a voice will say,

“This is the way you should go,”

whether to the right or to the left.

Isaiah 30:21