Righteousness like a never-failing stream!

Posted on March 16, 2018 by wamplerp

Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord ! Why do you long for the day of the Lord ? That day will be darkness, not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him. Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light— pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness? “I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! – Amos 5:18‭-‬24

I officially like Amos. He seems like a kindred spirit to me, like someone always game for an adventure that I could imagine grabbing a beer with. The language and descriptions he uses feel like they are born of abundant life experience with things like lions and bears. Perhaps he is drawing on his experiences as a farmer and a shepherd.  The closest I have been to a lion or bear is the zoo or a distant beach in Alaska.  I have certainly not fled from a lion or a bear. I think the closest encounter I have had was when I wrestled a deer outside my office.  Why you ask was I wrestling a deer outside my office, excellent question….

I am a geology professor at a regional university. A number of years ago I was meeting with a student in my office. In the middle of our meeting we heard what sounded like someone dropping a bowling ball in the hallway.  We both looked at each other and decided to peek our heads out the door to find out what was going on.  As we did we saw a crowd of students fleeing down the hallway in distress.  I was puzzled and perplexed so I decided to go see what they were running from down the hall.  When I got to the corner of the building I saw what the bowling ball noise was coming from.  A young deer was charging the full length windows at the corner of the building, bashing his brains out against the window.  Blood was smeared in long streaks down the glass.

I was a recently transplanted from Oregon into a new position and state. My first reaction was to think “someone has to help that deer”.  Well no one else was stepping up so I ran outside, jumped over a wall, and grabbed the deer by the neck to prevent him from bashing his brains out against the window.  I think it was at this point that it occurred to me this was an predictable wild animal and I may actually be in some danger.  Fortunately for me another crazy individual decided to help me by holding the deer’s legs while I held his head until the police showed up and put zip ties on the deer’s legs and placed him the back of the police truck.  I am not sure what happened to the deer after that, and perhaps I do not want to know, but I was shaking from the adrenaline.

I had to give a lecture shortly after this excitement and I failed to notice that I had deer blood smeared on my shirt.  There was more chatter than usual in my 120-student lecture class and finally a young woman raised her hand and asked “Dr. Wampler is it true that you just wrestled a deer”. Word travels fast in a student body and this was before smart phones and Youtube.  I can only imagine what would have happened if someone had a video of the event on their smart phone.  I would probably forever be branded as the “deer wrestler”.

Getting back to reality…it seems the main point of this passage is that God is warning that we should not long for adversity like lions, bears, and deer bashing their brains against windows.  The coming day of the Lord will “be darkness, not light— pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness”  So in the end God will win, but it will not be a pretty scene and one that we would probably avoid if we could.  Justice will “roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!”

What does it mean for justice to roll on like a river?  Or righteousness like a never-failing stream? Combining these two river descriptions I get the picture of a large meandering perennial stream like the Mississippi River. I had to look up the word justice, and here is what Merriam-Webster says, justice is “the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments. So the metaphor essentially means a perennial and consistent adjustment of rewards and punishments, in this case by God, the One River.  God is the ultimate arbiter of our punishments and our rewards. At this point in history there was no escape from the snare of sin and falling short of God’s expectations.

Fortunately for us the snare has been broken and God has extended His arm to save our souls from this darkness and train us “cave dwellers” to live in the light. When God chose to bring light into the darkness through Jesus He essentially promised that if we seek Him we will find Him, no matter how dark and confusing it gets. His justice will roll on like a river, but this is a river He has promised to help us cross.  This is a reassuring truth to be sure.

Prayer: God thank You for freeing us from the snare of sin and bringing light into darkness 

Posted in Amos, Conflict, Covenant, Following God, Forgiveness, Free Will, God's Love for Us, Obedience, reconciliation, Redemption, Sin, The Earthly Realm, The Nature of God, The Spiritual Realm, Trusting God | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director of the Drops

Posted on March 15, 2018 by wamplerp

He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns midnight into dawn and darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land— the Lord is his name. With a blinding flash he destroys the stronghold and brings the fortified city to ruin. There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court and detest the one who tells the truth. You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine. For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times, for the times are evil. – Amos 5:8‭-‬13

The water imagery in this passage is beautiful and spot-on from a science perspective. The same God who set the sun, stars, and planets in motion also “calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land”. It was God’s idea to set the waters in motion in a grand hydrologic cycle that gives and sustains life on Earth. A world without water in motion would be a very boring and dead place. A little bit like a world without God I guess as God, in many ways, is like water.

Does that mean that God’s hand directs every drop? I don’t think so. Let me explain, or in the words of Inigo Montoya from Princess Bride, “…No, is too long, let me sum up.” God’s direction of every aspect of the hydrologic cycle, directing the drops, would remove the “freedom” of this Earth system to operate within the broad physical laws that God Himself created. It would be “rough” magic and remove the “free will” of the planet’s natural systems. I think there is a parallel between this and the free will God has granted us humans who were ultimately created by God too, but through a physical act between two humans.

Do I believe that God created the universe and us like a magician pulls a rabbit out of a hat? No. I believe He created the logos (reason) and physical laws that in turn govern the physical universe. Does God occasionally do things that are outside these physical laws? Yes. I am confident that He has and will do this when it involves our relationship with Him.  This was the case with Jesus and many of the miracles He performed that were outside the physical laws God created.

When it comes to the metaphysical world of our souls and spiritual existence are part of a spiritual cycle created by God.  Our souls are separate and distinct, and as we learned yesterday. God wants to “pluck us out of the fire” here on Earth to be with Him. Our “drop” of soul will someday be poured out and join the spiritual ocean, but there is a difference between the physical and metaphysical worlds in my opinion.  In God’s spiritual ocean we remain distinct and unique.  God knows us as individual souls and wants us to join Him, not to disappear, but to become what we were always meant to be – with Him.

Prayer: Go thank You for loving us as individual souls and allowing us to be with You if we choose to be.

Posted in Amos, Death and Dying, Discernment, Following God, Free Will, God's Love for Us, Nature, The Earthly Realm, The Nature of God, The Spiritual Realm, Trusting God | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Burning Stick Snatched from the Fire

Posted on March 14, 2018 by wamplerp

“I gave you empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord . “I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away. I sent rain on one town, but withheld it from another. One field had rain; another had none and dried up. People staggered from town to town for water but did not get enough to drink, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord . “Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards, destroying them with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord . “I sent plagues among you as I did to Egypt. I killed your young men with the sword, along with your captured horses. I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord . “I overthrew some of you as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord . “Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel, and because I will do this to you, Israel, prepare to meet your God.” He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind, and who reveals his thoughts to mankind, who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth— the Lord God Almighty is his name. – Amos 4:6‭-‬13

Well Joel was 123 and out. It was so quick I had to take a day off the water to recover and regroup. So today we float on into the book of Amos. Amos is another of the “minor” prophets, maybe he will best Joel for water references. Amos was apparently not a “religious” man born of other prophets or religious people.  He was apparently a farmer and a shepherd, a person of humble means.  I am looking forward to learning more about this man and How God is leading him.

This passage gets into deep water right away with some pondering about what we are to do if God “sent rain on one town, but withheld it from another”. This would seem to be a variant of a question that many ponder which is “why do bad things happen to good people” or “why would a good God allow bad things “rain” to happen to some people and not others? The answer provided by God is that He wants us to be “returned to me”, “me” being God.  So when we encounter a “dry town” we are not supposed to frantically go in search of a “wet one”, we are to frantically pursue God, the Father of the Rain.

It sounds like all the adversity and calamity that the people of Israel are experiencing has only one purpose, to drive the people back to God. The imagery here is very powerful and poignant, “You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire, yet you have not returned to me”.  One would think that upon being “snatched from the fire” we would be grateful “sticks” and seek the arm that reached out and delivered us from the fire, but God has given us the freedom to remain in the fire if that is what we choose.

In the end God wins, the people of Israel will either meet God because they seek Him or because His presence will become self-evident. “Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel, and because I will do this to you, Israel, prepare to meet your God.”  God is asking the people to prepare themselves to meet the One “who forms the mountains, who creates the wind, and who reveals his thoughts to mankind, who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth”.

I find it interesting and intriguing that included in the list of amazing things God can do is tucked, “reveals his thoughts to mankind”.  This one item seems somehow out of place and different than the others.  It is the only item that involves God reaching out to us on a soul to soul level, His mind to our mind and our thoughts to His thoughts….

So I confess I am a Star Trek fan and I actually grew up watching the reruns of the original series with William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy.  Spock had this neat mind-meld trick where he could communicate mind to mind and soul to soul with pretty much anyone, even other species like a large silica monster that can dissolve rock. I am pretty sure that God does not have pointy ears like Spock and He does not need to stick His fingers on our faces to make a soul to soul connection.

So what is God telling me here.  I guess it seems like He is saying that when things are hard and when we are encountering adversity like Job with wave after wave of troubles our first response should be to run to God as fast as our legs can carry us.

Prayer: God help us to respond to difficult times by seeking Your face.

Posted in Amos, Conflict, Covenant, Following God, God's Love for Us, reconciliation, The Nature of God, The Spiritual Realm, Trusting God | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The Valley of Decision

Posted on March 13, 2018 by wamplerp

Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine. The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the heavens will tremble. But the Lord will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel. “Then you will know that I, the Lord your God, dwell in Zion, my holy hill. Jerusalem will be holy; never again will foreigners invade her. “In that day the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk; all the ravines of Judah will run with water. A fountain will flow out of the Lord ’s house and will water the valley of acacias. But Egypt will be desolate, Edom a desert waste, because of violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood. Judah will be inhabited forever and Jerusalem through all generations. Shall I leave their innocent blood unavenged? No, I will not.” The Lord dwells in Zion! – Joel 3:14‭-‬21

What an interesting turn of phrase here in Joel, “the valley of decision”.  That can be taken so many ways.  At its most literal it would be a geographic location, specifically a valley, where an important decision was made.  What was the decision and who made it?  Lets plumb these depths and see what we can learn.

Apparently the “valley of decision” was the name of a romantic movie from the 1940’s based on the Marcia Davenport novel by the same name. It tells the story of a young Irish house maid (Greer Garson) who falls in love with the son (Gregory Peck) of her employer, a local steel mill owner. I am pretty sure that God did not have this movie in mind when He inspired Joel to write this passage.  I am not sure what romance with a backdrop of the Pittsburgh steel industry has to do with a “valley of decision”. I guess I will have to watch the movie and find out.

In my exhaustive research I also found out that “the valley of decision” is a music album by a group called Albert Griffiths and the Gladiators (2011).  I downloaded their album and it is reggae-style music which I do not always like, but this album is pretty good. I found myself head bobbing as my head was pondering this passage, but I am pretty sure this is also not what God had in mind when He inspired Joel.

I digress, too much reggae I guess, but in the words of Elliot from the movie ET “This is *reality*, Greg”. So let us return to the wording in the passage and see what we can learn.  The valley of decision was filled with “multitudes” which to me means lots of people or perhaps all people in the world depending on how you think about it.  So we have this valley, either a place or perhaps a metaphorical valley, that is filled with people and then something happens, “the day of the Lord is near”.  It is a time when “The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine”.  This sounds like the end of the world to me, judgement day. In the midst of this end times chaos God will be “a refuge for his people”.

Now one could interpret this verse purely in terms of the people of Israel and historical events, but I think there may be a deeper meaning here.  I think it is a description of the end times when we will all be given a choice of whether we will take refuge in God or ourselves. When God comes “the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk; all the ravines of Judah will run with water. A fountain will flow out of the Lord ’s house and will water the valley of acacias”.  I am not sure what this means, but one could certainly interpret it as a reflection of Him, a reference to the coming of Jesus to rescue His people for all time through His death on the cross, “the new wine”.

The passage ends with a pretty definitive statement, “The Lord dwells in Zion!”  I think that is true, but it may be a little more complex than it seems.  Is Zion merely a geographic location?  Perhaps it represents a holy place that God has prepared in each one of us, a “God-shaped hole” or as Blaise Pascal actually put it:

“What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace?

This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself”

I think the people of Israel, and all of the “multitude”, including myself, have a God-hole that we seek to fill with everything and anything.  In the end we will have a choice whether to let ourselves be stripped down to the soul and replaced by God’s presence, Emmanuel, God with us.

Prayer: God thank You for preparing a place in each of us for Your Holy Spirit to dwell.

 

Posted in Conflict, Covenant, Death and Dying, Following God, God's Love for Us, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Joel, Obedience, reconciliation, The Earthly Realm, The Nature of God, The Spiritual Realm, Trusting God | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Autumn and Spring Rains

Posted on March 12, 2018 by wamplerp

I will drive the northern horde far from you, pushing it into a parched and barren land; its eastern ranks will drown in the Dead Sea and its western ranks in the Mediterranean Sea. And its stench will go up; its smell will rise.” Surely he has done great things! Do not be afraid, land of Judah; be glad and rejoice. Surely the Lord has done great things! Do not be afraid, you wild animals, for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green. The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches. Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the autumn rains because he is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil. – Joel 2:20‭-‬24

In today’s passage God is recounting how He will show up and have the backs of the people of Israel amidst calamity and invasion from the north. God describes drowning the invaders like a huge gust of wind, blowing them east into the Dead Sea and west into the Mediterranean Sea. This reminds me of the scenes from the Lord of the Rings when many foes are felled by superior power. Certainly God has that power if He chooses to use it and witnessing His doing so could certainly be scary. Perhaps that is why the passage says “Do not be afraid, you wild animals, for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green. The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches.

I find it interesting that God refers to the people of Israel as “wild animals”. The last time I remember reading about “wild animals” was back in Daniel when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was domesticated by God after being given the mind of an animal. So what is the difference between being a wild animal and being a human? I would argue that the main difference is that humans have the ability to reason and make choices and wild animals are driven by instinct and impulse. We make choices based on a complex calculus of emotions, physical needs, and experience.

So why would God refer to the people of Israel as wild animals? It seems like they were behaving in a way that made them subject to instincts and impulses rather than the reason given to them by God. The evidence for this appears to be the bad fruit, or lack of fruit, that the people are experiencing. God, the Father of the Rain, promises here to give the people “autumn rains because he is faithful”. God will make the people fruitful if they are “glad”, and “rejoice in the Lord your God”. God’s rain will bring both judgement and growth for the people.

God will send “abundant showers”, “both autumn and spring rains, as before”. I am not sure what is meant by “before”, perhaps that was hearkening back to God providing rain on a dry and dusty land or water to fill ravines. Rain is a funny thing. If you have too little rain plants die, too much rain and rivers flood, and rain at the wrong time and things get water logged.

I spend quite a bit of time in Haiti and it rains a lot there during certain times of the year. The first rainy season starts about when I usually arrive in Haiti, in Mid-May. For some reason most Haitians do not really like the rain, although they do appreciate the need for rain for their crops. I am not sure why they dislike the rain, perhaps it is because it sometimes brings danger and adversity in the form of thunderstorms and hurricanes. I suppose that is the same reason we fear God sometimes. We are afraid of the adversity and danger that following Him might lead to along the way. I guess the reassuring thing for me is that God has promised to be with us in the midst of adversity, ready to carry us like a son or daughter.

Prayer: Thank You God for providing the rain we need and being with us when things get hard.

Posted in Faith, Following God, God's Love for Us, Haiti, Joel, Nature, The Earthly Realm, The Nature of God, Trusting God | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

They Gallop Along Like Cavalry

Posted on March 11, 2018 by wamplerp

“Big Dog” robot created by Boston Dynamics

Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming. It is close at hand— a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come. Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste— nothing escapes them. They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry. With a noise like that of chariots they leap over the mountaintops, like a crackling fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army drawn up for battle. – Joel 2:1‭-‬5

Well this is a cheery passage…I guess God, through Joel, is trying to get the attention of “all those who live in the land” – blowing a trumpet in Zion. This apocalyptic vision is full of darkness and gloom, “a day of clouds and blackness” to be sure. Clouds up to this point have usually been used in reference to God. God has shown up as a “cloud in the temple“, “clouds high above us“, and this very same phrase “a day of clouds” was used back in Ezekiel 30:1‭-‬19 to describe a coming calamity that was to befall pharaoh and Egypt.

In this passage the target is Zion and it not clear whether this event has already happened or is yet to come from our current position in history. The passage suggests that this event is like nothing that has happened or will happen again, “Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come.” This seems like an end times reference to me, something like the many invaders that are prophesied to “cleanse the land” in Ezekiel 39: 9‭-‬14.

What is being described here is the ultimate in a “scorched earth” campaign, “Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste— nothing escapes them”. At this point the passage takes a perplexing turn into what appears to be metaphor. The invaders are described as having “the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry”. So what looks like a horse but is not a horse and can wreak havoc in the land? The first thing that came to my mind is the robots currently under development by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Boston Dynamics. They have several robots that behave in eerily life-like ways and could unquestionably be weaponized at some point if we and our leaders allow it.

I hope I am wrong, but it seems the age of robots in warfare is almost inevitable. We already use human piloted drones to strike far flung targets with no humans on board. I do not think it is hard to imagine a time when military planners would be able to justify the use of humanoid or other robots in conflicts because they would reduce human casualties, presumably that is the same argument being used to justify remote drone use for targeting enemies now.

The coming hoard in this passage, whether it is a metaphor for something else or not, is described as coming “With a noise like that of chariots they leap over the mountaintops, like a crackling fire consuming stubble”. It seems like this invasion is going to be something different than humans have seen before, maybe something mechanical in nature “like a chariot”, based on the description here. Perhaps all of this is merely meant to describe an army that has already invaded Zion, but passages like this certainly make me wonder.

So what is one to take away from a perplexing passage like this? I do not know. The thing that it makes me remember is that there is potentially a tapestry of time and history that has already been laid and God sees the entire thing at once. We are simply one “thread” in this tapestry that is fixed in time. Our job is not to try to unravel the tapestry so that we can find our place in it, but rather to allow God to weave us into it when and where He needs us.

Prayer: God help me to see where I fit into Your plans so that I am not working against them.

Posted in Conflict, Death and Dying, Joel, Obedience, Prophecy, The Earthly Realm, The Nature of God, The Spiritual Realm | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Wild Animals Pant for You

Posted on March 10, 2018 by wamplerp

Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes— joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seeds are shriveled beneath the clods. The storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken down, for the grain has dried up. How the cattle moan! The herds mill about because they have no pasture; even the flocks of sheep are suffering. To you, Lord , I call, for fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness and flames have burned up all the trees of the field. Even the wild animals pant for you; the streams of water have dried up and fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness. – Joel 1:16‭-‬20

Welcome to the book of Joel! I have not really spent much time reading this book so I am looking forward to the bends and backwaters that God reveals here. Apparently Joel’s name means “one to whom YHWH is God,” that is, a worshiper of YHWH, the Hebrew name for God. Joel’s “claim to fame” if you will is in Peter’s reference to the book (Joel 2:28-32) at Pentecost when he invoked God’s promise to “pour out my spirit upon all flesh”. Joel is considered one of the “minor prophets”, but based on the meaning of his name alone I have major hopes for his message.

The book of Joel begins with the admonition to “all who live in the land” to “tell it to your children”, referring to the prophecies and messages in the book. Today’s passage follows a rather graphic description of some sort of invasion and sacking of the land, presumably the region of Israel and/or Judah. The end result is a “drying up” of the land and a loss of the “new wine”. It seems there is a general loss of joy and a hopelessness that is to descend on the land and its people.

Joel’s response to all of this is to call on God for help, “To you, Lord , I call.” There is a sense that the proper order of things is out of whack, “Even the wild animals pant for you”. I am not sure what this means, or even looks like, but it does not sound good. I am reminded of the Psalm about the deer panting for water “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Psalm 42:1-5). In the Psalms the thirsty deer was a metaphor for our thirsty souls. I think the same is true here, all of us “wild animals” are to be thirsty for God.

Amidst all the outward signs of calamity, like “fire devouring pastures” and “streams drying up” I think God’s message through Joel is that the true calamity here is a spiritual one. God wants to use this adversity to channel the hearts of His people (their souls) toward Himself. God wants to have souls that seek Him out in the midst of physical discomfort and distress. The paradox is that God is both seeking us out and desiring us to seek and pursue Him – a celestial game of spiritual hide and seek.

Prayer: God please reveal hidden truths in the words that you shared though Joel and help me to understand them.

Posted in Following God, God's Love for Us, Joel, Obedience, Prophecy, The Nature of God, The Spiritual Realm, Trusting God | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Rabbit Trail #14 – Water Park

Posted on March 9, 2018 by wamplerp

I just finished floating through the book of Hosea and it was much richer and deeper than I anticipated going into it. I found many prophetic references to Jesus that I had no idea were buried in Hosea. That has been the amazing thing about my experience so far on this journey of reflecting on water passages in the bible. Everywhere I look I find interesting and intriguing eddies of understanding that I would have never found had I not embarked on this journey. Over the last few weeks it has occurred to me that the bible is a little like a water park, yes a water park, so I decided to take a break between Hosea and Joel to follow this rabbit trail.

Water parks are often located in places that get hot, although there was one along Interstate-5 near Seattle, WA where I grew up that tried to make a go of it. Locating a water park in Seattle is a little like selling water to fish. Sure you may get the odd customer, but your marketing plan may need to be pretty good. The Bible is often seen as something “out of place” or out of date in many people’s lives, it certainly was for me. I have often found it difficult to spend time reading the bible. That is part of the reason I started this blog and journey in the first place.

When I first started studying water and the bible it was hard and I often felt like a fish out of water. As I have continued to stay on the river, with plenty of fits and starts, God has been faithful in providing me with insights and wisdom that are far beyond my own knowledge. I do not say this to boast, but to give credit to God for making something, the Bible, that has been difficult for me to approach with passion into something dynamic and fun – like a water park.

People go to water parks to have thrills and excitement without the dangers associated with “wild water” in a river or at the ocean. I remember once when I was in the desert southwest attending a geology field camp we took a break from work and the heat to visit a water park. A friend who was with us proudly wore his new “swim trunks” that his fiance had sent him all day. At the end of the day he realized, with some embarrassment, what everyone else probably had realized much earlier, that his “swim trunks” were in actuality boxer shorts.

I feel this way sometimes as I navigate through the bible trying to make sense of perplexing passages and prophecies. I look back on some posts that I thought were very clever at the time, and I realize that what I thought were “swim trunks” were actually “boxer shorts”. My “wisdom” was way off base. I have learned to move on from these potentially embarrassing epiphanies, and I am confident that God will understand and honor my attempts at understanding, as imperfect as they may be.

Water parks are fun and exhilarating, two words that you do not hear in reference to the bible very often. Water parks push us to do things that scare us and help us to feel alive again. God has been doing the same thing with the bible for me as I have navigated turbulent water and trying times since I started this journey on June 22, 2014. God has brought many passages of the bible alive for me through experience and helping me remember times in my life where God showed up in amazing ways. I confess I am still looking forward to the more familiar water of the new testament, but I am content to “play” in this part of the “water park” for now as God teaches me about passages and places that I had no idea were there and may have missed entirely.

As I was writing this post a song came on Pandora that hit me in the heart and made me cry. It was the equivalent of a hug from God. The song was Come to Jesus by Chris Rice. Here are the lyrics:

Weak and wounded sinner
Lost and left to die
O, raise your head, for love is passing by
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus and live!
Now your burden’s lifted
And carried far away
And precious blood has washed away the stain, so
Sing to Jesus
Sing to Jesus
Sing to Jesus and live!
And like a newborn baby
Don’t be afraid to crawl
And remember when you walk
Sometimes we fall, so
Fall on Jesus
Fall on Jesus
Fall on Jesus and live!
Sometimes the way is lonely
And steep and filled with pain
So if your sky is dark and pours the rain, then
Cry to Jesus
Cry to Jesus
Cry to Jesus and live!
O, and when the love spills over
And music fills the night
And when you can’t contain your joy inside, then
Dance for Jesus
Dance for Jesus
Dance for Jesus and live!
And with your final heartbeat
Kiss the world goodbye
Then go in peace, and laugh on Glory’s side, and
Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus and live!
Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus and live!

Prayer: God thank You for making reading the bible and this journey with water and the bible a fun and exhilarating experience that is new every morning.

Posted in bible, Christianity, Faith, Following God, Obedience, Rabbit Trails, Redemption, Sharing the Gospel, The Nature of God, Trusting God | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Waywardness

Posted on March 8, 2018 by wamplerp

“I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots; his young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon. People will dwell again in his shade; they will flourish like the grain, they will blossom like the vine— Israel’s fame will be like the wine of Lebanon. Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? I will answer him and care for him. I am like a flourishing juniper; your fruitfulness comes from me.” Who is wise? Let them realize these things. Who is discerning? Let them understand. The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them. – Hosea 14:4‭-‬9

Well this is the last water-related passage in Hosea and it is a very appropriate one to close out a book that has contained many hidden wells of wisdom for me. The main focus of this passage is waywardness, and how God sees it. Waywardness is an interesting concept. It conjures up for me images of a runaway teenager that has chosen to leave a loving home for something that seems to be better out “on the road”. It seems like the freedom that many runaways find is not so free after all with plenty of predatory people out there to take advantage of their desire for freedom. God’s promise here is to “heal their waywardness and love them freely”. This is a very reassuring picture of a God who believes in us even when we have chosen to run from Him.

I am reminded of one of my favorite parables, the story of the prodigal son from the Gospels. The picture of a loving father running to meet his wayward son is a very powerful one for me. I am reminded of a song called “When God Ran” originally sung by Benny Hester. Here are some of the lyrics:

Almighty God, The Great I Am,
Immovable Rock, Omnipotent, Powerful,
Awesome Lord.
Victorious Warrior, Commanding King of Kings,
Mighty Conqueror and the only time,
The only time I ever saw him run,
Was when
He ran to me,
He took me in His arms,
Held my head to His chest,
Said “My son’s come home again!”
Lifted my face,
Wiped the tears from my eyes,
With forgiveness in His voice He said
“Son, do you know I still love You?”
He caught me By surprise, When God ran…

Songwriters: Benny Ray Hester / John Parenti

For many years I have had discussions with others and to some extent with myself about reconciling the God of the old testament with the loving picture of Jesus in the New Testament. Comments run something like “how could the bloodthirsty God of the Old Testament be the same God that we see in Jesus?” I think the answer to this questions is probably “beyond my pay grade”, but it is verses like this that leave no doubt in my mind that the God being described here in Hosea is the same God who reached out his arm to save us in Galilee in the form of Jesus.

We are all wayward in ways that may seem quite different to us, but I am convinced that they are all equal in God’s sight. His love overcomes all the things that we hold onto as reasons to remain separate from Him and His love. When we are a far from God it is not because He is a God so far above us that we cannot reach him. It is because we are still running away rather than toward Him. The father in the story of the prodigal son had to await his wayward son’s return, his son had to turn around and return home before his father’s arms could surround Him.

God’s promise is pretty amazing, “I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots; his young shoots will grow.” Although this comment was directed at Israel I think it applies to us as well. His “dew” in modern times is the Holy Spirit and it covers and infuses all those who are willing to be covered by it.

God finishes with a bit of a warning that we remember where our fruitfulness comes from when we follow God. “your fruitfulness comes from me.” Who is wise? Let them realize these things. Who is discerning? Let them understand. The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them”. Fruitfulness in our following God is not a “reward” for good behavior, but rather a consequence of being drenched in the “dew” of the Holy Spirit, planting ourselves near the one river, and sinking our roots deep into the spring of Living Water that God offers to all those who would follow Him.

Prayer: God thank You for pursuing our wayward souls even when we are running from You.

Posted in Discernment, Following God, Forgiveness, Free Will, God's Love for Us, Hosea, Love for the Lost, Obedience, The Nature of God, Trusting God, Wisdom | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Come Out of the Womb

Posted on March 7, 2018 by wamplerp

So in my anger I gave you a king, and in my wrath I took him away. The guilt of Ephraim is stored up, his sins are kept on record. Pains as of a woman in childbirth come to him, but he is a child without wisdom; when the time arrives, he doesn’t have the sense to come out of the womb. I will deliver this people from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction? “I will have no compassion, even though he thrives among his brothers. An east wind from the Lord will come, blowing in from the desert; his spring will fail and his well dry up. His storehouse will be plundered of all its treasures. The people of Samaria must bear their guilt, because they have rebelled against their God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to the ground, their pregnant women ripped open.” – Hosea 13:11-‬16

This passage begins with a reminder that the people of Israel asked for a king to replace God and God relented and gave them an earthly king. Ultimately earthly kings will fail “Ephraim”. I had to circle back and relearn who Ephraim was so that I could better understand why God refers to him here. Back in Jeremiah 31:7-14 Ephraim is referred to as “my firstborn son” and God described caring for this remnant of the people of Israel with new wine after a difficult road.

Ephraim in Hebrew apparently means “fruitful”. It also refers to a geographic region north of Jerusalem and the second son of Joseph, whose decedents comprise one of the twelve tribes of Israel. I think it is being used here as a proxy for all the people of Israel. God is not happy with his “child” and says “The guilt of Ephraim is stored up, his sins are kept on record. Pains as of a woman in childbirth come to him, but he is a child without wisdom” – ouch. The people of Israel have changed from “fruitful” to a “child without wisdom”.

The language then turns prophetic as Ephraim (Israel), at some future time, will apparently be caught sleeping, “when the time arrives, he doesn’t have the sense to come out of the womb”. It sounds like Israel will be given an opportunity for rebirth, but will decide to “remain in the womb”. This sounds like a “reflection of Him” to me – the coming of the promised Messiah. God will “deliver this people from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death”. Jesus certainly did, and still does, both of these things for all of those who choose to be children of God by having the sense to “get out of the womb”.

I think “the womb” is a metaphor for the comfortable coffin our souls inhabit here on Earth which can become permanent unless we leave it and accept the rebirth God has promised here. The passage continues with more interesting prophetic language, “An east wind from the Lord will come, blowing in from the desert”. Isn’t it interesting that Jesus, after spending time in the wilderness, “blew in from the desert” to begin His ministry of rebirth and redemption. Once again I am blown away by the hidden wells here in the old testament.

Ephraim will fail this “Meribah test” and as a result “his spring will fail and his well dry up.” Springs and wells are what Ephraim was relying on rather than God, the great cistern. God is describing a time when the “water supply” of the people of Israel will be replaced with something better, but they will not have the wisdom to see it and they will “remain in the womb”.

Prayer: God help us to have the sense to leave the womb so that we can have rebirth in You.

Posted in Covenant, Death and Dying, Following God, Free Will, God's Love for Us, Gospel, Hosea, Jesus, Obedience, Prophecy, reconciliation, Redemption, Sharing the Gospel, The Earthly Realm, The Nature of God, The Spiritual Realm, Wisdom | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment