Come and See

Posted on April 27, 2015 by wamplerp

hero_EB19900309REVIEWS3090304ARShout for joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious. Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing the praises of your name.”  Come and see what God has done, his awesome deeds for mankind! He turned the sea into dry land, they passed through the waters on foot— come, let us rejoice in him. He rules forever by his power, his eyes watch the nations— let not the rebellious rise up against him. Praise our God, all peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard; he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping. For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance. – Psalm 66:1-12

“Come and see what God has done”…what a great phrase.  I picture a small child grabbing the hand of a stodgy old adult to show them something amazing.  Everything is amazing to children.  My daughter taught me something about this once.  We were having a youth group meeting at our house when my oldest daughter was little and we were debating about whether we should have youth group outside in our backyard.  It was windy and my wife and I were arguing for having our meeting inside and the youth pastor was in favor of going outside…”what’s a little wind” he said.  My daughter grabbed his hand and took him outside and said “Mr. Dave this is wind!”.

I think this is a great model for what we should do when we see God work in amazing ways in our lives.  We need to be ready to take someone else’s hand and say “Come and see what God has done!”  The psalmist is doing this by remembering the parting of red sea as described back in Exodus 14: 15-31.

There is an interesting riffle near the end of the passage “he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping”.  Our walk through life can be very “slippery” at times.  I know I slip at times and I am pretty sure I am not alone in this.  Our walk with God can pass through very slick spots where we lose our footing and we find ourselves flat on our backs wondering what just happened.  I think God knows that we will stumble and fall because we are all flawed followers, but he loves and believes in us anyway.

The last part of the passage seems to be circling back…”You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance”  The Israelites were in bondage in Egypt; escaped the Egyptians by crossing the red sea into the desert, and eventually crossed over into the promised land that God prepared for them.

The process the Israelites went through is not so different from our journey to faith in God.  We start off in bondage to the things of this world and earthly concerns; we then have to walk with God through the desert and allow Him to provide for us; all on our way to the Promised Land of salvation.

Prayer: God help us to share your amazing works in our lives with the enthusiasm and excitement of a little child.

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Where Morning Dawns

Posted on April 26, 2015 by wamplerp

IMG_2273Praise awaits you, our God, in Zion; to you our vows will be fulfilled. You who answer prayer, to you all people will come. When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions. Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple. You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds, God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas, who formed the mountains by your power, having armed yourself with strength, who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations. The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy. – Psalm 65:1-8

This passage contains some interesting reflections of Him, Jesus….”you forgave our transgressions”…”Blessed are those You choose”…”God our Savior”…”the hope of all the ends of the earth”.  Once again I am surprised by the prophetic and seemingly dissonant language buried here, in the psalms. I wonder what the psalmist and those singing the songs thought about some of these phrases. They are such a stark contrast to some of the “clouds high above” and clouds filling the temple language used up to this point in the bible to refer to God.

I am intrigued by the statement that “We are filled with the good things of your house”.  There is a sense that we are to be filled up by God and the “good things that fill His house. I wonder if these “things are spiritual things of God, since His spacious place seems to be primarily a spiritual realm.

What are good spiritual things? This is a difficult question to answer, not because there is no answer but because the answer is fundamentally a spiritual one for which earthly words are insufficient. Perhaps it is sufficient to say that God gives us the Holy Spirit, His Holy Spirit and with all good spiritual things.

There certainly been other passages that have eluded to a savior, but this is the first that I recall where the language seems to be speaking specifically about the word who became flesh, the Messiah, Jesus Christ…” the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas, who formed the mountains by your power”. So God gave someone else, I would say Jesus, the power to form mountains, and that same person is our hope and Savior.  Wow this passage is truly a hidden well.

That person, Jesus, will have the power to “still the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations”.  Israel is certainly a nation that has known turmoil and tragedy, both in the past here and in the present day.   This Psalm would suggest that there is only one way to quiet the storm — seek after God the savior.

Hidden here in the Psalms is another reference to God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  It is stretches of “water” like this that make me appreciate the continuous and connected nature of the “River” and the journey that on which God is leading me.

Prayer: God it is so amazing to find You here in the psalms in a way that I did not appreciate before.  Thank You for guiding me and showing me these hidden wells.

SDG

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The Watches of the Night

Posted on April 25, 2015 by wamplerp

wpid-wp-1429920811883.jpegYou, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you; your right hand upholds me. – Psalm 63:1-8

I am learning that the more I rely on God and seek His face the more I desire to get “higher and deeper” into His presence.  It is almost as if in drinking the living water that God provides we acquire a taste for that water that no substitutes can replace.  The psalmist reminds us that “God’s love is better than life”.  The inner feeding of our souls is more important than the “richest of foods” that we can feed our bodies.

The last part of this psalm holds special meaning to me.  I struggle with a condition called gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).  Apparently this condition afflicts almost 1/5 of the U.S. population.  GERD is kind of a pain and the specifics are complex, but it can be boiled down to a lazy esophagus and a stomach that gets a little too rambunctious about producing acid.  GERD is especially active when I eat foods that are spicy or acidic, or if I eat a late dinner.  If I sucumb to temptation and grab a burrito or eat too late my stomach wakes me up at around 2:30 or 3:00 in the morning.  My wife and I refer to this as a GERD o’clock.

This night waking used to really annoy me until I began my walk with water in the Bible, in fact that was one of the reasons why I started my journey.  Each night as I lay awake during the “watches of the night” I felt like God had something more important for me to do.  So I started praying for those I knew and praying about how God could turn this annoyance into a blessing.  Part of the answer has been the Walking on Water Blog.  There are certainly nights when I would prefer to be sleeping at 2:30 in the morning, but there are also those nights when I really appreciate the quiet time I have spend and the insights God provides.

I am learning to “cling to God” and rest beneath His wings as I float through the bible.  I remember Him on my bed through the watches of the night.

Prayer: God thank You for meeting me in the middle of the night and helping to turn a burden into a blessing.

Posted in Discernment, Discipleship, Faith, Following God, Healing, Obedience, Psalms, The Nature of God, Trusting God | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Fault Scarps

Posted on April 24, 2015 by wamplerp
Photo of 2014 surface rupture from Mag. 6 Earthquake in Napa, CA (U.S.G.S)

Photo of 2014 surface rupture from Mag. 6 Earthquake in Napa, CA (U.S.G.S)

You have rejected us, God, and burst upon us; you have been angry—now restore us! You have shaken the land and torn it open; mend its fractures, for it is quaking. You have shown your people desperate times; you have given us wine that makes us stagger. But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner to be unfurled against the bow.  Save us and help us with your right hand, that those you love may be delivered. God has spoken from his sanctuary: “In triumph I will parcel out Shechem and measure off the Valley of Sukkoth. Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine; Ephraim is my helmet, Judah is my scepter. Moab is my washbasin, on Edom I toss my sandal; over Philistia I shout in triumph.” – Psalm 60:1-8

This passage contains some interesting geological details and a fleeting reference to water. First the geology. The first part of the passage provides a fair description of what geologists refer to as fault scarps. Fault scarps are the surface manifestations of a fracture deep in the earth – a fault. A fault rupture occurs when earth forces, usually due to moving tectonic plates, build up stress like a bending twig. At some point the stress exceeds the strength of the rock and it breaks resulting in “quaking” or earthquakes, movement along faults (“fractures”), and fault scarps (areas “torn open”).

The psalmist appears to be describing a fractured relationship between God and the Israelites. The Israelites prior to the writing of this psalm have experienced all kinds of “earthquakes” in the form of enemy attacks and persecution from neighbors — “desperate times”.  This is much of what the book of Kings was about as reflected in previous posts like the One River and Floating Axe Heads. They have often responded to these events more like drunken sailors (“wine that makes us stagger”) than children of God. The psalmist calls out for help and God answers.

God responds to the pleas for help by reminding the Israelites that He rules everywhere and everything — “Moab is my washbasin”. Why this reminder now? I think king David and the Israelites felt that things were spiraling out of control. They were caught in rip currents and raging torrents – carried by circumstances that were beyond their control.

Earthquakes are beyond our control as well. Human actions like groundwater withdrawal or hydraulic fracturing (fracking) can cause minor earthquakes  As far as I know humans have never successfully predicted or prevented an earthquake from occurring. So what are we to do with this sense that things are happening that are beyond our control? It is tempting to get angry with God or to conclude that God is angry with us, but perhaps we just need to let go of the idea that we need to be in control.

Experienced river rafters will be able to relate to this concept. When one is navigating whitewater in a raft the river dictates the pace and the path.DCIM100SPORT Successfully navigating big rapids and whitewater is all about working with the natural flow and movement of the river to choose a line that will convey both boat and bodies through the rapid without going for a swim. I don’t know too many rafters that get angry with a given rapid or stretch of whitewater or feel that a rapid is out to get them. They work with the River rather than against it.

I think our walk with God through our time here on earth is like rafting a river. There will be rushing waters and turbulence. We can get angry with God, conclude He is angry with us, or we can view these rapids as an exhilarating part of our journey of discovery of who God is and who we are.  I choose the adventure of pursuing God as he dictates the path and the pace — He knows the river way better than I do.

Prayer: God You love us and care for us. Help us to approach life rapids with faith rather than fear.

SDG
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In God I Trust

Posted on April 23, 2015 by wamplerp

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise— in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? All day long they twist my words; all their schemes are for my ruin. They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps, hoping to take my life. Because of their wickedness do not let them escape; in your anger, God, bring the nations down. Record my misery; list my tears on your scroll — are they not in your record? Then my enemies will turn back when I call for help. By this I will know that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord , whose word I praise— in God I trust and am not afraid. What can man do to me? I am under vows to you, my God; I will present my thank offerings to you. For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life. – Psalm 56:3-13

This passage contains the National Motto of the United States of America.  “In God We Trust” was passed as a joint resolution by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Dwight Eisenhower on July 30, 1956.  This motto is still prominent on our paper money and coinage, although it is a frequent target for those who would prefer a more secular nation.

The conflict between those who trust in God, and those who do not, is apparently not new as this passage describes a conflict which could equally apply to many of the modern day conflicts over the separation of church and state….”All day long they twist my words; all their schemes are for my ruin. They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps…”  Who benefits from the separation of our spiritual and religious lives from our secular lives?

The writer of this Psalm pleads to God to keep a record of our tears, samples of our souls.  We shed tears when our souls are crying out for help from God.  The Psalmist is confident that God has our Back and God believes in us.  I find this reassuring and it allows me to declare with the psalmist that “I trust in God”.

This passage ends with an amazing statement “For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.”  What an interesting turn of phrase…”Walking before God in the light of my life”.  I am not sure what this statement meant to the psalmist, but to me it sounds like a prescient reference to Jesus, the light of my life.

Prayer: God thank you for protecting us and providing your son to be the light of our lives.

 

Posted in Christianity, Covenant, Discernment, Discipleship, Faith, Following God, Free Will, Life Together, Love for the Lost, Obedience, Psalms, Redemption, religion, The Earthly Realm, The Nature of God, The Spiritual Realm, Trusting God | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Eddying Out – Term-in-us

Posted on April 22, 2015 by wamplerp

image

Well I am approaching the end of the term and the demands of grading, exams, and all the other end of the year tasks are taking their toll on my time and energy so I am taking a day to eddy out and take a breather.  I will be back on the water tomorrow.

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A Steadfast Spirit

Posted on April 21, 2015 by wamplerp

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. – Psalm 51:1-12

When I began my float through the Psalms I expected to find many hidden springs. I have come upon a few to be sure but not as many as I expected to find. This Psalm contains the kernel of the Good News that Jesus came to share – “Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin”. Jesus did this physically through the baptism he shared at the Jordan River. He asked only that we confess our sins and our love for God and agree to turn from our previous path and begin to swim upstream against our “natural” tendencies.

Then comes the really deep water…”Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight”. All the sins for which we need to be washed clean are ultimately against God, not the people we commit those sins against. God is our judge not because he is some sort of cosmic cop, but because He is the party we have harmed.

If a murderer commits murder the offense is not against the one who loses their life — it is against God. We are apparently born with this idea that we should know that there is a way that is God’s way, and a way that is our own. We get to choose and apparently this choice gets more difficult as we get older. It is almost as if when we are born our spirit is new to this world, fresh from wisdom lessons with God in a “secret place”.

God has the ability to wash us clean — to take our spirit back to the place where it started on this earth – “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me”. I think that is what we lose as we get older…a steadfast spirit. A spirit that is unwilling to settle for estrangement from God. A spirit that pursues God like a thirsty deer pursues water. A spirit restless not for things of this world, but for a secret place where God is waiting to teach us wisdom – the kingdom of heaven.

Prayer: God help us to have a spirit that is restless for You

Posted in Christianity, Covenant, Discernment, Discipleship, Faith, Following God, Forgiveness, Free Will, God's Love for Us, Heaven, Life Together, Love for the Lost, Obedience, Psalms, reconciliation, Redemption, religion, Sin, The Nature of God, The Spiritual Realm, Trusting God | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

There is a River…

Posted on April 20, 2015 by wamplerp

waves_at_coast_OregonGod is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.  There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. – Psalm 46:1-6

This passage provides a reflection of some of the language from Psalm 23. It also aptly describes the tumultuous and tenuous nature of the western coast of North America. Many locations quite literally have mountains that “fall into the heart of the sea”. The reason for this is that the tectonic plates along western north america are actively colliding with one another, which is why there are frequent earthquakes in California. Mountains are continually being built as a result of these continental-scale collisions – “the mountains quake with their surging”.

As mountains grow along the Pacific Ocean they come into conflict with the waves and breakers that “roar and foam” at their base. Large chunks of the foot of the mountains are removed through wave erosion. Removal of the lateral support for the mountains causes the “earth to give way” and the end result is that entire sections of mountains, and anything built on them, fall into the sea.  The rugged beauty of the coast is a result of this shifting of mountains and the great power of the sea.

The dangerous and unstable coast is contrasted with a river “whose streams make glad the city of God”.  How do rivers and streams differ from the waves and breakers of the coast?  Rivers can certainly cause erosion and landslides as the people of Oso, Washington learned during the tragic landslide of March, 2014.  So what makes the city of God glad of rivers and streams in a way that they are not about coasts and waves.  Perhaps it is that rivers, although occasionally destructive, are also very important in creating farmland and supporting life.  Rivers are like the lion and the lamb — the One River.

Prayer: God you are the one river from which brings both blessings and floods.  Thank You for being both our refuge and strength.

Posted in Christianity, Covenant, Discernment, Faith, Following God, God's Love for Us, Job, Love for the Lost, Obedience, reconciliation, religion, The Earthly Realm, The Nature of God, Trusting God | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Waves and Breakers

Posted on April 19, 2015 by wamplerp

2013-03-07 03.16.28My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?” My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, “Where is your God?” Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. – Psalm 42:6-11

This passage is actually a continuation of the passage yesterday about the Deer panting for water as our soul pants after God.  This passage takes up the sometimes confusing soul sickness that can accompany our following after God.  Part of the Christian experience seems to include both times when we feel very close to God and times when we feel far away. Job experienced numerous crashing waves that threatened to sweep him off the rock that was his faith in God.

“Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.”  This statement acknowledges that we will experience very difficult and confusing times as we pursue God.  There will be times when we feel like waves and breakers have swept over us and plunged us into the deep.   The very massiveness and power of God’s mighty waters can leave us feeling like He cannot hear us.  But God has promised that even in the wildest of life storms His voice can be heard if we have ears to hear his Whisper.

Remaining faithful when detractors mock our belief saying “…all day long, “Where is your God?”  We must confidently proclaim that God is with us, even when we find it difficult to hear his voice and our soul becomes downcast.  Jesus faced this same mocking when He allowed Himself to be placed on a cross for us.  He provided us a model of how to endure mocking and maintain our faith in a loving God.  A God who cares for us more than we even care for ourselves sometimes.

I cannot shake the image of being buffeted by waves and breakers sweeping over us. I spent much of my early life near the Pacific Ocean. The power of the waves as they arrive at the shore and crash into the rocks is truly awe inspiring. One feels very small standing on the rocks watching the waves crash into the rocks as if bent on their destruction.  God can be like this but he can also be as gentle as the most gentle of lambs.  That is the paradox…God is both the lion and the lamb.

Prayer: God help us to be confident in your love when we feel like waves and breakers are crashing over us.

Posted in Christianity, Conflict, Covenant, Discernment, Faith, Following God, Life Together, Love for the Lost, Obedience, Psalms, The Earthly Realm, The Nature of God, The Spiritual Realm, Trusting God | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Panting for Water

Posted on April 18, 2015 by wamplerp

35124_786598164035_850645_nAs the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One  with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng. Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. – Psalm 42:1-5

This is another passage that I have been looking forward to arriving at like psalm 23. The image of a thirsty deer panting for water is so vivid and poignant. I must admit I am somewhat convicted by it. When was the last time my spiritual “tongue” was hanging out of my mouth because my soul was thirsty for God? Why is it so easy to ignore our spiritual thirst?

Our physical hungers and thirsts overwhelm our spiritual ones. Perhaps this is the reason so many religions have sought ways to separate the earthly from the spiritual…chanting, meditation, rosary beads…all of these are attempts to separate the secular and spiritual worlds.  The noisy demands of our earthly bodies have a hard time competing with the more gentle whispers of our souls.

Deep down our souls are thirsty for God, the living God – “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God”.  What is meant by the living God?  Perhaps this is to differentiate God from all the idols and symbols that we put up to replace the God who sees us but who we sometimes cannot see.  The God who loves us is not dead, as the recent movie “God’s not dead” proclaimed.  The God who loves us is a living and breathing God who believes in us!

“My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?””  Following God unconditionally is not a Hallmark card full of warm and fuzzy aphorisms.  It is a heart wrenching journey not for the feint of heart,  but the longer I live the more I am convinced that it is the only journey worth taking.  As Robert Frost so eloquently stated:

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

The road of following the way of God is hard “my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God”  Yet it is the only road worth taking — the road less traveled.

Prayer: God it is sometimes hard and confusing to follow and seek after You —  Our earthly bodies get in the way.  Help us to choose wisely and follow You on the road less traveled.

Posted in Christian Community, Christianity, Covenant, Discernment, Discipleship, Following God, Obedience, Psalms, reconciliation, Redemption, religion, The Nature of God, The Spiritual Realm, Trusting God | Tagged , , , , , , | 18 Comments