Food at the Proper Time

Posted on June 9, 2015 by wamplerp

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How many are your works, Lord ! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number— living things both large and small. There the ships go to and fro, and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there. All creatures look to you to give them their food at the proper time. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things. When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground. May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works— he who looks at the earth, and it trembles, who touches the mountains, and they smoke. I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the Lord . But may sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more. Praise the Lord , my soul. Praise the Lord . – Psalm 104:24-35

There seems to be a food theme going with yesterday’s post and the passage for today.  The passage begins with a harkening back the very beginning of my walk with water where God lets the sea teem with creatures (Genesis 1:20-22).  The ships go to and fro on the sea where Leviathan frolics.  Based previous description of Leviathan I am not sure that I would describe it as “frolicing” but that is what it says.

The creates, us included, look to God to provide food at the proper time.  This is an interesting way to state this.  We are not promised food in abundance or all the food we want we are simply promised food at the proper time.  What is the proper time for food?  I suppose it is when we need it rather than just want it.  There are times when eating food is comforting.  For some reason food can take on emotional meaning beyond mere caloric intake.  Eating disorders can arise when something goes wrong with our bodies, and perhaps our emotions, related to how we take food to sustain our bodies.

The take home message is that God is bigger than what we eat or when we eat.  God does provide food when we need it — both spiritual food to feed our souls and physical food the feed our bodies.  Just as our physical bodies can succumb to eating disorders we can also succumb to soul disorders when we do not allow God to feed our souls the soul food they need at the “proper time”.

Prayer: God help us to know when and what to feed our souls.

 

Posted in Death and Dying, Discernment, Following God, Psalms, religion, The Earthly Realm, The Nature of God, The Spiritual Realm | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Helping the Hungry Hyrax

Posted on June 8, 2015 by wamplerp
Female-and-young-rock-hyrax-huddling-to-conserve-body-heat

Hyrax huddling for warmth

He makes springs pour water into the ravines; it flows between the mountains. They give water to all the beasts of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. The birds of the sky nest by the waters; they sing among the branches. He waters the mountains from his upper chambers; the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work. He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for people to cultivate— bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens human hearts, oil to make their faces shine, and bread that sustains their hearts. The trees of the Lord are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. There the birds make their nests; the stork has its home in the junipers. The high mountains belong to the wild goats; the crags are a refuge for the hyrax. – Psalm 104:10-18

This psalm is all about God providing for both humans and nature through springs, rain, and ultimately the hydrologic cycle.  The sentence “He makes springs pour water into the ravines” holds special meaning for me.  I have been working in Haiti for about 8 years now and in the region I have worked most of the water is provided by natural springs emerging from limestone rock.  They often flow out of the hillside and into a ravine where they become a surface stream.  Unfortunately, many of these springs are not pristine and have bacterial contamination which can be harmful, especially to children.

Water trip 084

Water gathering in Haiti

The description here of water flowing between the mountains is very accurate.  Most of the rural Haitians build their homes on ridges between ravines or valleys.  This means that to access the springs, which are located in ravines, one has to walk some distance down into the ravine and back up again with the water you are carrying.  The Haitians typically carry the water in 5-gallon buckets on their heads.

God provides water for us, the Haitians, the beasts of the field, wild donkeys, the birds of the sky, and everything else in creation — “He waters the mountains from his upper chambers”.  The water is taken up by evaporation, carried to the mountains where it falls as rain or snow, then it rejoins the parade back toward the ocean or basin from which it came.

This is an interesting spiritual metaphor for our lives.  God has described babies in the womb as being in a secret place receiving love and instruction from God…a spiritual ocean if you will.  We are born, i.e. we are precipitated onto the earth into our bodies to do all the things we do here on earth — we join the parade back toward the ocean from which we came.  When we die we are poured out, back into the spiritual ocean from which we came.  This is not an argument for reincarnation or any such thing.  I think that though we are derived from a “spiritual ocean” our spirits are individual and distinct.  God knows us and loves us as individual souls.

God sustains us on our journey through “grass for the cattle; “plants for people to cultivate — bringing forth food from the earth”; “wine that gladdens human hearts”; “oil to make their faces shine”; and “bread that sustains their hearts”.  God has given us everything we need to be healthy and happy during our journey here on earth…”The trees of the Lord are well watered”.  We have the water we need even if sometimes it is not the water we want.

Marmot

Marmot

The last part of the passage describes a whole world that God is caring for that is beyond our everyday lives – “The high mountains belong to the wild goats; the crags are a refuge for the hyrax”.  I confess I had never heard of a hyrax before reading this passage.  It sounds a bit like an animal from a Dr. Seuss book….”Horton hears a hyrax”.  They are really interesting critters that live in this part of the world in the “crags of mountains”.  They look a little bit like the backwoods cousin of a mammal called a marmot that is common in the Cascade mountains of Washington state where I grew up.

Prayer: God thank You for providing for us as we live here on earth.  Help us to feed both our bodies and our souls along the way.

 

 

Posted in Covenant, Death and Dying, Faith, Following God, Haiti, Heaven, Nature, Obedience, Psalms, Redemption, religion, The Earthly Realm, The Nature of God, The Spiritual Realm, Trusting God | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Clothed with Splendor and Majesty

Posted on June 7, 2015 by wamplerp


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Praise the Lord , my soul. Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty. The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters. He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind. He makes winds his messengers,  flames of fire his servants. He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved. You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. But at your rebuke the waters fled, at the sound of your thunder they took to flight; they flowed over the mountains, they went down into the valleys, to the place you assigned for them. You set a boundary they cannot cross; never again will they cover the earth. – Psalm 104:1-9

Today’s passage is a refreshing return to focussing on God and His majesty. I have to confess yesterday’s post was a bit of a downer for me. Maybe because I have a milestone birthday coming up and it hit a little too close to home. I much prefer to dwell on God’s light than a coming darkness. There are several interesting water references in today’s psalm so let’s get on the water and see where God leads.

“He stretches out the heavens like a tent and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters”…this sounds like poetic hyperbole and metaphor to me. I suspect in this time and Bedouin culture “tent” may have read something like “home” in modern western culture. I assume beams laid on waters is meant to describe a home in the clouds. This type of description has given rise to the pop culture version of heaven as a celestial cabin amid cotton clouds. I suspect the reality is quite different.

The concept of God and earth as immovable is explored in this passage. God is the reference frame within which all else exists and is measured. Somehow the earth, although spinning through space, is also immovable within this context.  In this sense when we feel far from God it makes sense that God is not the one who moved.

God covered the earth with water… this is essentially the same description given back in Genesis when God’s Rain covered the earth. The waters receded and found their places. In a sense they still do as part of the hydrologic cycle, just in a less dramatic and catastrophic way.

This psalm is a reminder of who God is and what our posture and perspective should be toward such an immovable force in our lives. God gives us the free will to choose. We can attempt to ignore Him, but He has a way of getting our attention.

Prayer: God You are the immovable one. May we embrace, rather than attempt to escape, this truth.

Posted in Christian Community, Christianity, Death and Dying, Faith, Following God, Free Will, Genesis, Love for the Lost, Miracles, Nature, Obedience, Psalms, reconciliation, religion, The Earthly Realm, The Nature of God, The Spiritual Realm, Trusting God | Tagged | Leave a comment

A Bird Alone on a Roof

Posted on June 6, 2015 by wamplerp

DSCN0654Hear my prayer, Lord ; let my cry for help come to you. Do not hide your face from me when I am in distress. Turn your ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly. For my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers. My heart is blighted and withered like grass; I forget to eat my food. In my distress I groan aloud and am reduced to skin and bones. I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins. I lie awake; I have become like a bird alone on a roof. All day long my enemies taunt me; those who rail against me use my name as a curse. For I eat ashes as my food and mingle my drink with tears because of your great wrath, for you have taken me up and thrown me aside. My days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass. But you, Lord , sit enthroned forever; your renown endures through all generations. You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come. For her stones are dear to your servants; her very dust moves them to pity. The nations will fear the name of the Lord , all the kings of the earth will revere your glory. For the Lord will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory. He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea. – Psalm 102:1-17

It is a little hard to imagine someone singing this psalm. It is clearly describing someone in distress…”in my distress I groan aloud and am reduced to skin and bones”. — not exactly an uplifting praise song to inspire the faithful. It also sounds like someone advanced in years who has become discouraged and self-focused.

As a person rapidly reaching advanced years status… the dreaded AARP invitation is just around the corner… I can relate to many of the bodily challenges described in this psalm. “My days vanish like smoke” – this sounds like the phenomenon of time seeming to speed up as one gets older. I am not sure why this happens, but enough of my friends and relatives describe the same thing that it is not just me who experiences this.

Bones that burn, a blighted heart, lack of appetite ( “I forget to eat my food.” ); insomnia (“I lie awake”) this sounds like a pretty comprehensive list of common aging ailments. Then comes the strange one “I have become like a bird alone on a roof”. For some reason I immediately thought of the play/movie “Fiddler on the Roof” when I first read this. I am not sure there is any connection, but Fiddler on the Roof is at least partly about introspection on the part of Tevye in his advancing years. I may have to watch it again, perhaps in light of this passage I will find new meaning in it.

What does being a bird alone on a roof have to do with the other common signs of advancing years? The only sense I can make of it is that when we are young we often find it easier to “stick with a flock of birds”– i.e. we are more comfortable and capable of being in community with other people. As we get older, and sometimes more self-focused, being in community is harder. Perhaps this is in part because our bodies are requiring more maintenance and care and we become set in our ways. It is just easier to be “a lone bird on the roof”. What is the remedy for this discouragement and distraction? According to this passage, and many others like it, we are to become increasingly connected to the spring, One who “endures through all generations” — God. This seems a much more palatable solution than the one chosen by the person in this psalm “eating ashes and drinking tears.”

Prayer: God help us to grow closer to You as our bodies grow older and begin to distract us from the time when we will leave our bodies to be with You.

Posted in Aging, Christian Community, Christianity, Conflict, Covenant, Death and Dying, Discernment, Following God, God's Love for Us, Life Together, Psalms, reconciliation, The Earthly Realm, The Spiritual Realm, Trusting God | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

“Cloud Speaker”

Posted on June 5, 2015 by wamplerp

Cherubim_on_Pillar_-_Altstadt_-_Dresden_-_GermanyThe Lord reigns, let the nations tremble; he sits enthroned between the cherubim, let the earth shake. Great is the Lord in Zion; he is exalted over all the nations. Let them praise your great and awesome name— he is holy. The King is mighty, he loves justice— you have established equity; in Jacob you have done what is just and right. Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his footstool; he is holy. Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel was among those who called on his name; they called on the Lord  and he answered them. He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud; they kept his statutes and the decrees he gave them. Lord our God, you answered them; you were to Israel a forgiving God, though you punished their misdeeds.  Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy. – Psalm 99:1-9

For some reason this psalm has been difficult to navigate. It does not contain particularly challenging water or rapids so I am not sure why I have been hung up on the rocks for this one. Perhaps it just feels like a reprise of previous psalms…the return of justice and equity. There are a few additional characters here…the cherubim that surround God.  God came riding on them back in 2 Samuel 22:8-14. These winged spiritual creatures are often associated with Renaissance art as pudgy babies with wings, although the actual biblical description does not sound so tame (Ezekial 10:14).

My sense is that no earthly depiction, or description, could capture the properties and nature of these Godly guardians. The closest I could come would be to imagine them as spiritual superheroes possessing special spiritual “superpowers”. I am not even sure that they would fly with wings like a bird, perhaps their “wings” allow them to navigate time and space in a way very unlike flying through the gasses we call air. The realm they inhabit is likely fundamentally different and spiritual in nature. When these creatures have been revealed to humans they have almost universally caused great fear in those who saw them.

Why would angels, cherubims, seraphims, and other spiritual creature induce such fear? I think it is because they exist not just outside our earthly experience, but outside the very structure which we use our human reason and senses to understand. The closest analogy I can come up with would be for a fish swimming in the ocean to all of a sudden encounter a cow walking along the bottom of the ocean. The fish would not have experience or knowledge with which to process the cow and thus it might well invoke confusion and fear.

I suspect this is a bit like what happens when we try to use our earthly senses to see or experience the spiritual realm in general. We cave dwellers lack the proper spiritual senses to interpret and perceive this spiritual realm and it inhabitants.

Now back to our regularly scheduled psalm…the middle of the psalm calls out a few specific God followers like Jacob, Moses and Aaron, and Samuel. I am not sure why these specific leaders were called out and not others like David or Elijah. In general, the psalm is describing the covenant relationship between God and His people. God spoke to them from the “pillar of a cloud”.

It just occurred to me that most clouds, at least those we see up in the sky, exist in a place between two very different realms…the earth and the vacuum of space. Perhaps the cloud form that God used to communicate with Isreal was a way to span the gap between the earthly and spiritual realms. The same role that Jesus, the Godly condensate, will play when He comes to show us the way to the “undiscovered country“.

Prayer: God our senses are not well suited to see spiritual things. Give us spiritual eyes to see and spiritual ears to hear.

Posted in Death and Dying, Discernment, Following God, Heaven, Love for the Lost, Miracles, Psalms, reconciliation, Redemption, religion, The Earthly Realm, The Spiritual Realm | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Let the Rivers Clap their Hands

Posted on June 4, 2015 by wamplerp

Patrick_salmon 104Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations. He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Shout for joy to the Lord , all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn— shout for joy before the Lord , the King. Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the Lord , for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity. – Psalm 98:1-9

This passage is very similar to the post from a few days ago when the seas resounded and the forests sang.  The last several psalms have been about singing a new song to God.  There is wisdom in this.  We could all use a new song when it comes to our faithful following of God.

This psalm also contains some interesting reflections of Him when it states that “The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations”.  God certainly made salvation known  when Jesus arrived on earth and fulfilled a longstanding promise to Israel.  Unfortunately the response from the people of the time was not jubilant song or music to the Lord.

The earth knows how to respond — the seas resound; the rivers clap; and the mountains sing for joy.  Creation rejoices at God’s arrival and the salvation that He brings.  Hand clapping has always seemed like an odd way to express appreciation for someone’s performance or work.  It is even more strange to imagine a river doing this.  The closest thing in my experience to a “river clapping” is a boisterous waterfall or a rollicking rapids.

This psalm ends with God judging “the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.  This is similar to the end of Psalm 96:1-13 except in that case God judges with righteousness and understanding.  Is there a difference between understanding and equity?  Both imply relationship and an ability to know individual hearts and souls.  This is both reassuring and scary.

Prayer: God You have provided salvation for us through your Son Jesus.  Help us to know and follow Him.

 

Posted in Christianity, Covenant, Faith, Following God, Obedience, Psalms, Redemption, religion, Sin, The Earthly Realm, The Nature of God, The Spiritual Realm, Trusting God | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Distant Shores

Posted on June 3, 2015 by wamplerp

DSCN0896The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice. Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side. His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord , before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all peoples see his glory. All who worship images are put to shame, those who boast in idols— worship him, all you gods!  – Psalm 97:1-7

“Distant shores” is an interesting detail here to describe who is to rejoice at God’s reign.  It sounds like based on the context that “distant shores” is being used in a similar way as “the ends of the earth” is used to describe where we are to spread the Good News in the new testament.

Then God is described as having clouds and thick darkness surrounding Him. This strikes me as somewhat counterintuitive. The clouds I get as God has shown up in this form many times in the old testament, but darkness surrounding Him…I thought God was always associated with light rather than darkness. I guess if one thinks of an approaching storm as the combination of clouds and darkness it makes more sense.

That interpretation seems to fit the rest of the passage where “His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles”. The word picture I get is of an approaching thunderstorm full of wind, rain, thunder, and lightening. I have been in storms like this in a tent and they are very scary. One of the most memorable times was when my wife and our young daughters were canoe camping in the Cascade mountains of Washington.

We canoed to the camp site and set up our tent just in time for a huge thunderstorm to show up just as the light was fading in the evening. We got into our tents and our tired children went right to sleep. We started to doze but were soon wide awake as the storm arrived in earnest. About halfway through the storm the bottom of our tent began to feel like a waterbed. We had pitched it in a bowl-shaped depression that was filling with water. I wasn’t keen on testing our tent’s waterproofing prowess so I put on my rain coat, grabbed the flashlight, and a children’s plastic canoe paddle that we had brought so my daughters could help paddle the canoe.

I didn’t really have a plan for what I would do with the paddle, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. God was watching over us that night and it turned out the paddle was just what I needed. He was there in the clouds and darkness. I began to dig a trench to direct the water away from the tent. As I dug I apparently uncovered an opening into a buried lava tube over which we were camped. The water simply disappeared down the hole and I was left standing there in the rain looking like a crazy man. My sister-in-law, her husband, and their kids were camped nearby and they saw me through the lightening flashes and can attest to the fact that I did look like a crazy man wielding my paddle in the midst of the storm. Thankfully my daughters slept right through it all and my wife and I still marvel at the way things worked out (by God’s grace)….but I digress.

The last part of this passage contains an interesting “riffle”. It says “All who worship images are put to shame, those who boast in idols— worship him, all you gods!”. Just which “gods” is God referring to? It sounds like he means any of us who fashion ourselves to be the god of our own destiny. We replace God with idols and images. It is almost as if God forsaw the invention of the television and movies. What a perfect vehicle for spreading the narcissistic worship of images and idols (fame and beauty).

Prayer: Thank You God for watching over me in the midst of clouds and darkness. Help me to worship You rather than images and idols.

Posted in Covenant, Discernment, Discipleship, Faith, Following God, Free Will, Life Together, Miracles, Nature, Psalms, The Earthly Realm, The Nature of God, Trusting God | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Resounding Seas and Singing Forests

Posted on June 2, 2015 by wamplerp
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Giant Sequoia trees in northern California

Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord , all the earth. Sing to the Lord , praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary. Ascribe to the Lord , all you families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth. Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.” The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity. Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it. Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. Let all creation rejoice before the Lord , for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness. – Psalm 96:1-13

DSCN0884Well I made good on the commitment I made in yesterday’s post to shout to the Lord today….I was at the beach of Lake Michigan, just me and the dog and miles of lonely beach.  I was not arrested and it felt very good.  I admit I did look around before and after…just in case someone was looking.  Maybe one day I will be bold enough to do it when there are people around without looking :).  But I Digress…on to today’s passage from the psalms.  The water reference is once again fleeting and minor but there was some interesting language here I wanted to explore…so here goes.

I am an unapologetic nature lover…I love God more than nature and creation, but I really feel close to God and my spirit is happiest when I am in natural places. That is probably part of the reason I became a geologist. It is one of the few jobs where you can get paid to enjoy nature (while working of course).  I am what some people would refer to as a “tree hugger”. I can be perfectly happy sitting quietly in a forest or beside a waterfall just soaking in the life and beauty around me.  Everything from slimy slugs to giant sequoias make me happy inside.

The first part of the psalm is all about followers of God proclaiming “his salvation day after day”.  Essentially sharing the Good News about God and what he has done for us.  Then comes a couple of things we are to ascribe to the Lord, namely “glory and strength” and “glory due his name”.  I had to look up the word “ascribe” as it is not a word I often use.  I think in this context it basically means “give credit”.  Give God the credit for all the amazing things in your life and in the world.

Creation and the world, “The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved” are to give credit and glory to the “great mover” that is God.  The very fields are to be jubilant, which I must say is an apt description of alpine meadows in the springtime — jubilant.  The seas are to resound and the trees of the forest are to sing.  All creation is to rejoice at God’s coming to judge the earth, including us humans.  Interestingly, the way God will judge the world is with righteousness, but people He is to judge with faithfulness.

I am not sure I fully understand this distinction between righteousness and faithfulness.  Perhaps it means that creation and the physical world will be subject to the physical rules and laws that govern them — righteousness.  Whereas people will be judged based on their relationship with God and the extend to which they have faithfully followed Him.

Prayer: God thank You for the beauty and majesty of all the living things in the world, and thank You for wanting to have a special relationship with us.

 

Posted in Christianity, Covenant, Discernment, Faith, Following God, God's Love for Us, Nature, Obedience, Psalms, religion, The Earthly Realm, The Nature of God, The Spiritual Realm | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Flock Under his Care

Posted on June 1, 2015 by wamplerp

DSCN0622Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord ; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear his voice, “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,  as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did. For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.” – Psalm 95:1-11

This passage has only a fleeting reference to water but it covered such interesting and familiar territory that I felt I should reflect on it. This psalm has been reprised many times in hymns and contemporary Christian music. I think what resonates for me with this psalm is the intimacy with God that it is describing. There is this amazing tension between the God in whose hand “are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him” and the God for whom we are the “people of his pasture, the flock under his care”. — majesty and intimacy at the same time.

In this psalm we are called to “shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation”. When was the last time you shouted to God, not in an angry fist shaking way but in a celebratory Super bowl kind of way. I know I cannot remember the last time I shouted for joy to the Lord. I am going to commit to doing that this week…. so if you hear about some crazy person arrested for disturbing the peace in west Michigan you will know I made good on my commitment.

What does it mean to be the people of God’s pasture and the flock under His care? I suppose it means: 1) we must be willing to be sheep, at least in relation to God; 2) we exist in God’s pasture; 3) we are to be a flock; and 4) we are under God’s care.

I have never been in a position to care for sheep, but my impression is that they are somewhat helpless, not so intelligent, and they require protection from predators that would seek to harm them. Humans tend to value the opposite of these attributes — independence, intellectualism, and self defense — rebellious sheep to be sure. So we must jettison our natural tendencies to join God’s “flock”.

We also exist in God’s pasture. He knows the pasture — every rock and bramble bush in it. If we want to navigate the pasture it makes sense to be connected to the one who knows it far better than we do. We can save ourselves a lot of time and anguish being lost by trusting the Shepherd to care for us.

Those who volunteer to be sheep are the flock. This implies that we are not to be lone sheep but rather we are to stick together as a “flock” as we seek and pursue God. Some might ask why we need other people to pursue God.   Why can’t we just pursue God as lone sheep? Short answer…I do not know. But it does seem clear that God has always worked within the context of community so who am I to question this approach? I also think that there is a softening of our strong-willed spirits that happens most effectively in community.

Lastly, we are under God’s care and protection. God has our backs. He loves us and wants to carry us like a son or daughter. He also believes in us and He wants us to believe in Him.

Prayer: God Thank You for being the good shepherd who loves us, knows the pasture, and wants us to live in community with other people who are seeking to know and love You.

Posted in Christian Community, Christianity, Discernment, Discipleship, Following God, Life Together, Obedience, Psalms | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Pounding Waves

Posted on May 31, 2015 by wamplerp

cropped-pa060087.jpgThe Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength; indeed, the world is established, firm and secure. Your throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity. The seas have lifted up, Lord , the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves. Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea— the Lord on high is mighty. Your statutes, Lord , stand firm; holiness adorns your house for endless days. – Psalm 93:1-5

This psalm is the first of the Psalms of Moses with a water reference. Apparently these psalms, psalms 90-106, were compiled or commissioned by Moses, although the origin and purpose of these psalms is not very clear.  The tone and content of these psalms is definitely distinct and they clearly were intended for a different purpose than the psalms I have been navigating up to this point.

If I had to distill this passage down to one sentence it would be “God is mightier than pounding waves.”. This is true in a literal sense as well as metaphorically.  When I read “pounding waves” I envision a rocky coastline being pounded by waves…an epic battle for territory between the land and the sea.

Metaphorically “pounding waves” could mean the the constant hammering on our souls by forces attempting to separate us, or keep us separated, from God. The spiritual battle for our souls is not unlike the constant battle that goes on where ocean meets land…beaches.

Beaches and rocky coasts are places of dynamic and sometimes rapid change due to erosion and deposition. These changes can happen both quickly as in the case of a landslides along the coast when the earth gives way to the pounding surf; and over long periods of time in the form of shifting sands and bars.

Both of these modes of change are an apt metaphors for the changes that can happen to the souls that inhabits our bodies.  Sometimes life events – “pounding waves” like a cancer diagnosis, death of a loved one, or betrayal by a friend cause rapid and massive shifts in our spirit.  These spiritual “landslides” can either be in a good direction toward closer connection with God or in a negative direction resulting in anger and estrangement with God.

Rapid and colossal shifts shifts in our spirit are typically infrequent and dramatic, while slow erosion of our spirits is a constant and in many ways can result in more dramatic changes over long periods of time.  The slow changes in our spirit are akin to the shifting sands along a beach which can, over a period of years, result in 100’s of meters of new beach or the loss of houses along the shore.

This process of shifting sands along the beach is the result of a process called long shore drift or littoral drift.  As each wave strikes the beach it carries sand up the beach toward land.  Since some waves arrive at the shore at an angle to the beach sand grains are carried up the beach at an angle to the beach as each wave arrives.  These same sand grains return the surf perpendicular to the beach as a result of gravity.  The end result is that sand grains are carried a short distance along the beach with each wave and massive movement of sand can occur over time along a beach.  This is a bit like a conveyor belt for sand along the shore.  If a jetty or some other feature is placed along the beach it will sometimes prevent the sand from moving causing sand to build up in some areas and to be eroded in others.

I ended up on quite a geogeek trail there but the point is that our souls can be moved by “pounding waves”, both in massive movements and in slow steady movement like the grains of sand along the beach.  Stability lies not in protecting the “beach” and preventing changes that result from “pounding waves”, but rather in remaining connected to the Maker of beaches.

Prayer: God it is easy to become discouraged and disconnected from You when we encounter “pounding waves”.  Help us to remember that you are mightier than the waves.

Posted in Conflict, Discernment, Faith, Following God, Free Will, God's Love for Us, Nature, Obedience, Psalms, The Earthly Realm, The Spiritual Realm, Trusting God | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments