Under His Wings

There is reason for joy and celebration today. "Remember His wonders which He has done..." Psalm 105:5 25 years ago today my beloved and I were united as husband and wife. Here is a picture of me in my wedding dress.

We were married in the little church called the Lone Rock Congregational Church in Lone Rock, WI. So many memories and a wonderful man to share them with. The rabbis say that uniting two people in marriage is like parting the Red Sea. Well, God did that miracle once and He is doing that miracle again in us and we bless His Name. He has brought us through times of hardship and sickness, of the joy of new babies and the joy of just being the two of us alone together. We love laughing when no one gets the joke but us. We love talking about the Lord and reading His Word. We love blessing others in any way we can. I came across a saying once that said, "We may not have much, but together we have it all."

"The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy." Psalm 126:3

For His Name's Sake.

Covenant obligation.  What is it and where does it begin?  These are the things I have been pondering and confused about in the last couple of weeks.  What is our obligation before God?  Most of the world lives like we do not have an obligation to Him, but that He is obligated to us.

In our Western mindset we tend to think in a linear thought.  We want things to be black and white, either this way or that way.   We don't like the tension that is at times inevitable in both Biblical thinking, as well as, in relationships.  For example,  the arguments that have gone on through the ages regarding free will or predestination.  We want it to be one or the other, but Middle eastern thought would accept a kind of tension.  Remember the movie, "Fiddler on the Roof" where Tevye says, "On the other hand".  One can look at both sides of the situation equally.

Growing up in Evangelicalism I was taught that we are saved and then we make Jesus our Lord.  The model that I always pictured was the Israelites coming out of Egypt......a linear progression.  God saved them from slavery, then He "baptized" them in the Red Sea, then He made a covenant with them at Sinai.  While this is a model of what happens to us spiritually, it is not quite as linear as this in reality.  When God does a work in us it is relational and not necessarily a nice and tidy, step by step account.  We can't necessarily say that He will do this first and next He will do this, etc.  But,  we can say that He saves His own and brings them into covenant with Himself.

So I guess those who are saved are obligated to God since we are in covenant with Him.  But, what are our obligations?  What is the covenant?  Each covenant has to have at least three things: 1) the parties 2) the stipulations 3) the promises.  The covenant we, as Gentiles, are a part of would be the New Covenant which can be found in Jeremiah 31:31-33 "Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people."

Who are the parties to this covenant?  God and His people which are here stated as Israel and Judah (and in the same passage, all of Israel) In the gospels, Jesus said that His blood was part of the New Covenant and in the Apostolic Scriptures, Paul says that the Gentiles are grafted into Israel.  So this covenant includes us when we are In Messiah.

What are the promises?  In verse 34 God says that He will forgive their iniquity.  He also says that He would write the Torah on their heart and that they would be His people and He would be their God.

Writing the Torah on their heart would enable the people to keep the stipulations, or obligations of the covenant which they could not keep in the flesh.  God made this possible when the Holy Spirit was given at the Feast of Shavuot or Pentecost in Acts 2.   There are obligations to obey the covenant.  God gives us the ability to obey.  It is only by His faithfulness that we are able to walk in His ways.

This quote is from a forum I am on and it encouraged me so much when the woman wrote it that I want to share it with you in the hopes that it will encourage you also.   For His Name's Sake.

"Ultimately, however, our faith is a gift from God, and likewise our faithfulness to Him is guaranteed by His faithfulness to complete His work in us.  Even though we must cooperate, if we are truly His we will do so, even though not always perfectly. Thus while I think such a distinction is very important to understand as clearly as possible, ultimately we must rest in His faithfulness to us, and we strive to be faithful to Him because He has given us the heart to do so. To God be the glory!"

We are in the fourth chapter of the book of Romans in my Sunday evening Bible study.   It has taken me quite some time to write about this because I have been mulling over the the concepts of this study for the past several weeks.   It is, at times, difficult to wrap my brain around Paul in his Hebraic context when my 21st century evangelical mind has been taught so differently.   Such is the case in the concept of righteousness.

"And you were dead in your trespasses and sins" (Eph. 2:1) God takes us from having no ability to seek him, from doing nothing good, and He does the work in me. "For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit"(1 Peter 3:18)

What is Righteousness?  " ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS." (Romans 4:3)  Abraham's faith was credited to his account as righteousness.  Righteousness.......acting in accord with moral law, free from guilt or sin.  This is the idea that we have of righteousness and we think that it means that we have a ticket to heaven.  In one aspect righteousness does mean to act in accord with moral law; to be upright, to do what is right.

If we talk about the righteousness of God.......for example in Romans 1:16-17 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."  In the gospel, the good news of God sending Messiah as He promised, His doing what is right is revealed from faith to faith.  God's righteousness is His doing what is right.  Faith is the idea of faithfulness.  God's faithfulness and our faithfulness which He enables.

Another aspect of righteousness is in the context of a law court.  You see this especially in the book of Psalms where you read of the righteous and the wicked.  God will judge the righteous and the wicked.  The righteous will one day be vindicated.  The wicked will be punished.  "Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish. " Psalm 1:5-6

One final way righteousness is used is covenant membership.  In the first few chapters of Romans, Paul is addressing Jews and Gentiles as to who should be covenant members of God's household.  He is using Abraham as an example and the sign of circumcision which was the seal of the covenant.  By the time of the Second Temple period, in which Paul was writing, the Jewish elders had made circumcision a requirement to come into the covenant.  Paul is making a case that this doesn't need to happen.  "Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness."(Genesis 15:6) ""And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you."(Genesis 17:11)  God declares Abraham righteous and then makes him a covenant partner.

Now, there are ramifications of being a covenant partner.  Covenant partners have obligations.  If you look back in Genesis 15 there are three things that God promised Abraham that he would do: give him land, give him descendants, and give him a seed that would bless the nations (Messiah) .  But, what were Abraham's obligations to the covenant?  This is where my thoughts have been dwelling these last several days.  Since this post is getting long and I have to do final preparations on the two studies that I am leading today, I will come back to this topic of covenant obligation later.   Please share any thoughts that you have.

For His Name's Sake.

This weekend was a weekend of refreshment.  I was able to hear a series of short talks on the Fatherhood of God.    I was impressed again this weekend with the fact that God wants to dwell with His people.  Now, lest I sound like a broken record, this touches me so deeply, I think, because I had a father who did not live in our home, nor did he desire to change his lifestyle to do so.  So the fact that the Holy God, the King of the universe, should desire to dwell among and have a relationship with His people is an awesome thing indeed.   It is not because we are anything special, not because of any righteousness on our account, but because He is love and has a Father heart.   Every person on the earth will know Him as Creator and as Judge, but we can choose to know Him as Father.

As a Father, God instructs us, He blesses us, He disciplines us, He gives us His Name, He defends us, and He sent His Son to represent Himself.  When we decide to go our own way we tarnish His Name.  But, He is a humble God who forgives.   He wants us to become like Him.

"See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God ...And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure"1 John1:1,3

For His Name's Sake

I couldn't exactly get the best angle for a picture last night.  Altogether we had 13 people at our table for dinner.  As you can see we had a handful of teens and a handful of younger children.  

This year on Wednesday afternoons my son's best friend comes while Josh is at jazz band and sits upstairs doing schoolwork for about an hour until Josh gets home.  We then feed the boys supper and they spend sometime together before Mark leaves for youth group.  Generally, Josh does not attend youth group any longer since we are no longer attending the church.  Last night we had extra guests for dinner.

Wednesday afternoons are also the days that Hannah spends with Toni, the young gal that she has mentored for the last four years.  Occasionally,  Toni brings a friend along to bring to youth group as was the case last evening.

Now for the extra six people.  Yesterday, my good friend, Lori called and asked if I would watch her five children while she went to the chiropractor and ran a couple of other errands.  Lori is expecting her sixth child at the end of Oct. and has been having back pain.  So they ended up staying with us for dinner.   So this was one hopping place again last night.  But, this was only the beginning of the excitement.

Immediately after dinner all the teenagers left.  It was bowling night at youth group so Josh went with Mark, Hannah dropped the girls off and then she had to go and play piano for the community theater practice which her roommate is the choral director for.  It's amazing how much quieter a house can get when there are only five children there.  Whoa!

Lori and I decided to take her children to a park in town that has gotten new playground equipment.  To get to this park we had to drive across town and over the bridge.  We also had to park on the far end of the park because of some construction that was being done to the road directly near the park.  As we drove over the bridge we noticed two small children, a brother and sister team, walking over the bridge alone.  Lori said aloud in the car, "Where is your Momma?"  And her youngest daughter replied, "Where is your Momma, " because the children didn't really know why Lori had said this.  Both Lori and I realized at the time that the children were obviously way ahead of their mother, but didn't think about stopping to check on them.

We got to the park about 6:45 p.m. and knew that we only had about half an hour before it got dark on us.  We kept the children within eyesight and chatted as we only get to see each other at Bible study.

It wasn't long before it started getting dark.  I'm not sure of the time it was when a boy about the age of 9 came up to us on a bicycle with the two children from the bridge and asked if we had a cell phone because these two children had left home to come to the park and didn't know how to get back home.   We learned that the girl, age 6, had fallen into the water and had somehow hurt her toe.  Besides being cold, she was frightened.  Her brother was 4.  Thankfully, the girl knew her phone number and we were able to call her mother who didn't even know that they were gone.  As far as she knew they had been outside playing and she was just about to go and call them into the house.

The sky grew more dark as we waited for her to come and it became difficult to see.  When she finally came and it was time to leave the little boy began to run off again.  My friend's five children all walked very close to her as they have been trained to do.

As we walked back to Lori's van I told her children that they had blessing in obeying their mother.   When they obey their mother they don't have to worry about getting lost,  possibly drowning, their mother not knowing where they are,  or being cold and afraid.  God in His mercy protected those children.  I don't know how that little girl got out of the water.  That park is on the Wisconsin River.  Surely it was His Hand.

For His Name's Sake.

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." Romans 1:16-17

My Sunday evening Bible study group has been meeting for about six years. Through those years we have studied the Torah, the Gospels, the Book of Acts and we have at last come to the book of Romans. We have been in Romans for about a month, maybe a month and a half and have gotten as far as chapter one verse 17 because we have been talking about background information on Paul and his perspective and culture.

Verses 16 and 17 of chapter one took on new meaning for me tonight. I remember saying these verses over and over with 1st through 3rd graders in AWANA many times and trying hand signals or whatever it took to help them learn. But, now I see so much more.

For Paul the good news would not be just a little tract similar to what is used so often today to try to get someone to pray a prayer to get to heaven. Paul came from a very different mindset. Paul's gospel is a gospel about the One True God, of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who keeps His promises to His people, which was told through the prophets of old. It is a gospel concerning His Son, Yeshua the Messiah through whose death we have forgiveness of sins and who was raised from the dead as the first fruits of those who believe. This Messiah has become Lord and King.

Paul says in Romans 1:17 that in this gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "But the righteous man shall live by faith." In verse 5 of the same chapter he says he has received apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His Name's Sake.

Let's see. Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. The righteous shall live by faith. In the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith..... obedience of faith among the Gentiles. Do you see? God's faithfulness in doing what is right leads to our faithfulness which magnifies God's righteousness which leads others to faith.....from faith to faith. The Hebrew word for faith is "emunah" which is "faithfulness". It is the idea of walking out our trust in who God is/obeying Him.

For His Name's Sake

After Moses died Joshua was given the task of taking the children of Israel into the Promised Land. God made sure that both Joshua and the people knew that the authority had transferred from Moses to Joshua through some very specific ways. Over and over again in the first chapter of the Book of Joshua God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous, He even commands this for the Lord will be with him. There is a very striking verse in Revelation regarding those who are not courageous, "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."Rev. 21:8 When we lack courage we are lacking faith in the Faithful God who promises to be with us wherever we go.

But, the Promised Land is not without it's difficulties. Israel had to drive out its enemies. God was at work destroying the enemy enabling Israel to have the victory. God and Israel were working together. In relationship.

There is an interesting story in chapter 7 of the Book of Joshua. God had placed a ban on the items that Israel could take from their enemies. Suddenly, Israel, in the midst of great victories, knew defeat as a result of someone in the camp disobeying God regarding the ban. "Israel has sinned and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. They have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived. Moreover, they have also put them among their own things." Josh. 7:11

God led Joshua to the man who did this after going through a detailed procedure. The man was Achan. "Then Joshua and all Israel with him, took Achan, the silver, the mantle, the bar of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent and all that belonged to him; and they brought them up to the valley of Achor [trouble]" and they stoned him with stones. Josh. 7:24-25

When I read this chapter a few weeks ago, I was especially struck by verse 12, "Therefore, the sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies; they turn their backs before their enemies, for they have become accursed. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst." We cannot stand before our enemy when we are disobedient to the Lord. So many, many times today we give a mental ascent to faith and then say that it is grace by which we stand and that God owes us something. We have drastically distorted the Biblical message. God has brought us into a covenant relationship with Himself. We need to be faithful to the covenant if we want Him to be faithful to us.

Another thing I noticed here is how the sin of one man affected the whole community. It was Achan's sin of taking the things under the ban which caused the destruction of the Israelites in battle. We don't want this to happen in our faith communities today.

On a side note, I was having a conversation with a friend last evening and she brought up a question that I am asked over and over again. Why did God demand that all the people in the Old Testament be killed? Men, women, children? Weren't they His children also?

Yes, God did create all people. However, He made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their descendants. He is jealous for His covenant people the children of Israel and He did not want them to worship idols when they went into the Promised Land. He was trying to wipe out the possibility of idol worship by wiping out the idol worshipers. He always accepts the people whose hearts are toward Him which we see in the examples of Rahab, Ruth, the "mixed multitude" who came out of Egypt, etc. Anyone who wanted to join Israel and worship their God, God allowed to do so.

For His Name's Sake

Yesterday was our last summer ladies' Bible study for another year. We have been meeting with this particular group for five years now and it has been a life changing study for me. Some of these women I only see in this summer Bible study; some of the women were new this year. We come from very different backgrounds and with very different needs. The Lord is always present as we seek Him.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, this year we studied the journey of the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt through the wilderness to the Promised Land. So yesterday we asked the question, "What did God especially teach you this summer?"

I think that I learned above all that in a world that is looking for an experience with God our walk with Him is about relationship. Over and over He states in His Word, directly or indirectly, His desire to dwell with His people. God brought them out of Egypt for His Name's Sake and so that they could serve Him. He led them through the wilderness covering them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, protecting them. He cared for their needs, their shoes never wearing out. He fed them. He desired that they look to Him to meet those needs. When they entered the Land which had been promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob He fought for them so that they could defeat their enemies.

True life is found in a relationship with God. Jesus talked about this. In John 17:3, "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" Not experience, relationship. A knowing, covenant relationship of give and take.

I could talk about this for a long time I guess. It amazes me. And thrills me. This is the Promised Land. To walk with God in this relationship now......and forever. One of the days of our Bible study the question came up of what exactly the Promised Land was. Is it death? Is it heaven? No. I believe it is Now! We can know the joy of walking with the indwelling Messiah now. One day we will see Him face to face, but we can know the reality of that relationship by responding in obedience to Him now. And resting in His faithfulness. I will have to revisit the topic of rest.

Our tradition in summer Bible study is on the last day we have a day of blessing one another. We go from woman to woman and tell each one how she has encouraged us, blessed us and we bless the Lord for her. There are times of tears and laughter, hugs and challenge. It is something we take very seriously and we pray before we arrive so that we are ready for how the Spirit will lead. This year I was going in one direction and the Spirit led me a different direction. I found a wonderful resource here on the Names of God. I was led to pray for each woman and the Lord helped me to pick a Name of Him which I saw Him working in each woman's life. For example, one woman has an autistic daughter and a husband who is disabled. The Name of God which I choose to bless Him with for her was "He who is sufficient for His people." For another woman the Lord led me to pick, "He who gives songs in the night" and it was so evident from the circumstances in the room that it was totally of Him. It was just a wonderful morning and we were challenged to encourage others every day.

For His Name's Sake.

Just before they reached the Promised Land Moses gave the children of Israel some final instructions.  How interesting that just at the time one of my Bible studies is studying this the Torah portions are in the Book of Deuteronomy where Moses gives these final instructions.   During our time of worship at our house fellowship this week some Scriptures were highlighted that I would like to share here.

"The LORD your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, for the wild beasts would grow too numerous for you." Deuteronomy 7:22   One thing that I noticed in particular is that this battle for the Promised Land is going to be something that the Israelites and God do together.  God says repeatedly that He will destroy the enemy and then they will do it.  But in this verse God says that the job will be done "little by little" and that it will not be done quickly.  Why?  One thing he says is that the wild beasts will become too numerous.  But, I think it is also that living in the Promised Land is a relationship with God that will last for eternity.

The other passage that we noticed is in Deuteronomy 10:12-22, "Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the LORD'S commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?

Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it. Yet on your fathers did the LORD set His affection to love them, and He chose their descendants after them, even you above all peoples, as it is this day.

So circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer.

For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe.

He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing.

So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him and cling to Him, and you shall swear by His name.

He is your praise and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen.

Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven."

This passage shows the awesomeness of God in the highest heavens, yet the mercy of God that he cares for the widow and the orphan.  It shows that God is a Judge who acts justly, not taking a bribe and shows love for the alien.  He is a covenant keeping God.  It talks about cutting the flesh away from our hearts to serve the Lord in purity, keeping the commandments in righteousness before Him.  He has done awesome things for His people.  There is blessing and freedom in obeying Him.

For His Name's Sake.

Here it is almost the end of July and I have not updated again for a couple of weeks. I hate it when I do that. This morning I am feeling the after affects of migraine medication, but want to update on summer happenings.

Josh passed his driver's test a few weeks ago so he is now driving his moped to the library and to the park to play disc golf occasionally. What more could a 16 year old want? We made a trip to the doctor's office last week to confirm that the rash on his neck was indeed poison ivy which has now spread to his elbow and his opposite hand. While we were there the nurse measured him and he is now officially 1/4 inch shorter than his dad at 6'2 3/4 inches and still growing. At least he has slowed down, I think.

Hannah is working at camp this summer. She took the young girl that she has mentored the last few years and is in some of the pictures that you see on my blog. They have been up there for two weeks and have two weeks for sure to go and possibly will stay an extra week as staff is short that last week of the summer. They have been doing accommodations work, cooking, dish crew, and working in the canteen. Yesterday during our prayer time in our home fellowship group one of the women prayed for Hannah and it was the first time that I realized how much I miss her.

Yesterday was my dear husband's birthday. I guess I'll put this picture of him up because

he likes it. How blessed I am to have someone to have shared so many wonderful and happy memories with, someone who has a servant's heart, a man of God who has a sensitive heart and seeks to please the Lord. I pray that the LORD will bless Buck as he walks in faithfulness after God.

I have been leading Bible studies and working at the crisis pregnancy center. The board approved to hire an assistant director and an administrative assistant, but the woman that was going to be the assistant director is not going to take that position so they are looking for someone. I have been asked to put in 5-8 hours a week in addition to the 4 hours that I am already putting in and these hours would be administrative hours, answering phones, etc. I see this as an opportunity to disciple women in a casual setting. However, since I am reading in the book of Numbers about the children of Israel not trusting God regarding the Promised Land, I really want to hear from God on this issue. I do NOT want to just jump into anything ahead of Him. My first priority is to my husband, my children and my home. My husband has already discussed with me that he doesn't mind me spending more time there. If God's Presence doesn't go with me, I don't want to be a part of it. I guess there are more questions in my mind that I am not ready to ask here. Please, if you feel led to pray, pray for me.

For His Name's Sake