On the Way to Wonder

“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to him. (James 1:5)” What a beautiful promise. I am never without a place to turn when I despair.

King David of old seems to have known this verse as Psalm 19 (today is the 19^th) overflows with praise. Interestingly he opens by comparing God’s presence, his glory, to the heavens. My husband and I often close our day by sitting on the porch, enjoying the heavens, and praying. But I think of the heavens as somehow silent, witnessing indeed to the vastness of the universe but not “speaking wisdom.” David looks at the heavens and they symbolize to him God’s universal ability in all languages as the heavens cover all, God’s universal presence with all people as the heavens are present with all, and God’s stability, dependability, as daily the sun and moon make their journeys through the sky. David goes on to explode with praise for God’s law: reviving, trustworthy, bringing joy, giving light, enduring, righteous, precious, sweet, and rewarding.

I know what it feels like to “lack” not only wisdom but so much of what the world values, especially as age takes its toll. What comfort to know that God gives generously without me having to fill out forms, remember my identifying numbers, or pass tests. I suspect God gives because it is his nature to give even as we love to bless children and grandchildren. Then the verse says, God gives, but like David’s picture of the heavens, I envision God giving even to those who are not asking but are under his heavens and shining his sunlight even on the unmasking. It is hard to imagine a being that generous and it is far easier to think of a disciplinarian like parents. It is good to be reminded that we are free to ask a God who is present always and willing to give always. What do you need to bring to the Lord today? Blessings.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.   Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2-4)” Trials and testings! James is writing to followers, scattered around the known world who are for sure the minority, not only ethnically but also their worldview has been revolutionized by an encounter with Jesus and they no longer “fit in.” These days of political polarization, medical isolation, and social struggle certainly make it difficult to “belong” with any one group. Perhaps we can identify. James advises his scattered flock to “consider” trials as “joy.” As I ponder the word “consider” this morning, it seems to me we have a choice about our attitude as we face our day. Trials are not joy. Trials hurt but the attitude with which we face them makes a difference. Our text last Sunday about the woman crying for mercy and facing the common opinion that she was no more than a dog not worthy of bread, could have retreated in bitterness and anger but she chose to work the trial, ignoring the insult and asked for a crumb.

Next I note that trials and hard times are testing our faith. James does not ask the scattered followers to consider pain as joy, to deny reality that hard times are hard. That is just truth. But hard times often challenge us to quit and forget there is a God who cares and watches. I worked on a hotline counseling service in Hollywood as a young adult. People contemplating suicide called in all night. Under stress we get tunnel vision, focusing on the trial and forgetting our resources. If the counselor can help the person to open their thinking, to consider their options, often the trial becomes endurable. Because I feel so bad about myself and my inability to cope, I think others feel the same about me, and despair. It is at those times that often I pick up my Bible and open to just the right verse. Or maybe the phone rings and just the right person has called, or I call them. Or I turn on music and my mood changes.

Trials take time to resolve. Perseverance. We all want miracles and in our day of instant relief and answers for everything if we use the right cream, eat the right food, do the right exercise, it is easy to blame ourselves for our problems. If only I …. Miracles might happen because of prayer but perhaps the greater miracle is that I find the strength to persevere. I create space for God to work through his body thus growing the whole family of God.

“Not lacking anything” sounds a bit pie-in-the-sky but as I check my attitude, focus on faith, remember my resources and keep going when it’s tough, I develop spiritual muscles – I pray that will be a blessing to others. Blessings as you continue continuing in the trenches of life. Blessings!

“Monday, Monday…” Can you hear the Mamas and the Papas singing that song from the 60s. After the high of church and friends on relaxation on Sunday, comes Monday and the return to normal routines. Where do you turn for encouragement, for that word of comfort that lifts your soul? My wantabee boyfriend in ’75 told me he was memorizing Colossians! A whole book of the Bible! On the phone, my sister admitted she was working on Philippians and that our organist at our church was memorizing Hebrews. My young mind was blown. I joined those I admired and started memorizing James that has a theme of wisdom. At one point I could say the whole book with help and often I will return to trying to upgrade, refresh that memory.

Today I turned to James 1:1,2, “James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. To the twelve tribes scatter among the nations. Greetings.” James was a brother of Jesus but identifies as a servant. As I remember he was one of the head guys in the church at Jerusalem and was martyred for his relationship with his brother, for being a “servant.” What word would I use today to describe my relationship? My name can be shortened to “barb.” Would I be a thorn in the side or will I be as a Christian baby-naming book shared, the barbarian is a stranger bringing good news from afar? Lord, have mercy and help me be the latter.

Next I note that James is writing to the twelve tribes “scattered” among the nations. I feel scattered today. After church with friends here, I zoomed with Kenyan friends, talked with a dear friend in Florida, chatted with a son sheltering in Chicago and a sister in NY, not to mention touching base with friends in CA. I woke this morning with those conversations rolling around in my head and felt scattered among all the places in my life where God has so deeply blessed me. “Scattered” spoke to me of the love of God that is not geographically located and territorial but touches lives all over our world. Yesterday in our sermon text, a nameless woman, from the wrong tribe, irritatingly inappropriate in her request for mercy for her daughter, touches the heart of Jesus when she is willing to take a “crumb” from his table. She goes down in history because Jesus sees and values people who feel “scattered.”

This James, a servant, speaking to scattered people, greets me from the pages of history – and holds my hand as I walk through today. Pretty spiff. I am not alone. God will pull the pieces of my life together some day and I will see the “big picture.” But in the meantime, God says as I awake, “Greetings!” I am here and I am with you. Blessings.

“He who listens to a life-giving rebuke will be at home among the wise. (Proverbs 15:31)” is the verse that caught my attention this morning. How teachable am I and when was I last rebuked, I pondered. Then I thought of the woman in our text for tomorrow who is not Jewish, not a disciple, and not at peace but knows where to turn. She fears her daughter, again a woman, has a demon and she turns to Jesus. “Have mercy!” The disciples want to send her away. Jesus pulls out a Jewish saying, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” I think we are more familiar with the saying, “Don’t cast your pearls before pigs.” The implication is clear. This woman is not one of the wise, worthy of being dealt with. Amazingly, the woman is not defeated and works the insult. “Even dogs eat the crumbs from the master’s table.” She acknowledges not only that Jesus is her last resort but also that God is her first priority even if she is not one of the “chosen,” even as someone seen as a dog. She listened to the rebuke, did not argue but accepted and found the pearl of truth in it. She, unnamed, goes down in history as one of the wise who experienced the power of God. Wow.

So how do I handle rebukes? Do I start that inner dialogue defending myself and pointing out the stupidity of the other? Unfortunately I do too many times. Not all rebukes are deserved but am I willing to evaluate feedback to find the bit of truth I need to listen to. Perhaps the person for whom God is their first priority remembers in the face of criticism that God is their defender and their judge. It is he we want to please. Lord, help us to remember today that you see all and some day will bring justice to those wronging accused.

A nameless Canaanite woman calls out to Jesus from our text on Sunday, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” She is the wrong ethnicity, the wrong gender, probably the wrong socio-economic class in her day and she is even in the wrong geographical location. BUT, Jesus has taken veered from the Jewish countryside that he openly confesses as his “target audience,” has to deal with a person the Jews consider “dogs,” and by a woman who is at the end of her rope. The disciples are not impressed and want to send her away even probably as we become annoyed when bothered by things coming from outside our agenda, outside our box. The woman begs for a “crumb” that falls from the table and that dogs eat, not much, just a crumb. Today we may question if we are in the right location, saying the right words, just an irritant to God, perhaps no better than a dog but the truth is that as we turn to him as our first priority, he listens. “Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’”

We do not see an amazing miracle, an exorcism, that dazzles the audience but we see faith in action outside the boxes we draw for God. Wherever we are today, whoever we are today, and whenever we need him today, Jesus listens and responds as we make God our first priority and not our last resort. Blessings.

The Deaconess devotion for today focused on the life of Florence Nightengale who trained in one of the original “mother houses” in Gerany, Kaiserwerth. She then dedicated her life to healing as she worked with soldiers in the Crimean War, advocating sanitary reform. The soldiers called her “Lady with a Lamp” after a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1857).

The wounded from the battle-plain,

In dreary hospitals of pain,

The cheerless corridors,

The cold and stony floors.

Lo! In the house of misery

A lady with a lamp I see

Pass through the glimmering gloom,

And flit from room to room.

And slow as in a dream of bliss,

The speechless sufferer turns to kiss

Her shadow as it falls

Upon the darkening walls.

As if a door in heaven shoud be

Opened, and then closed suddenly,

The vision came and went,

The light shone was spent.

Today we will pass by lives, suffering how we do not know, but let us pray that our shadows will reflect God as our first priority and his eternal love for those around us. May the light of God in you bless others today.

“The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful. (Proverbs 12:22)” I believe that can be translated gender neutral to be culturally appropriate these days. Truthful lips reminds me of one of the major changing points in my life. I went to my first women’s meeting in the desert of Kenya. I drove a carload of women and nearly drove over a black mamba crossing the road that reared up to strike! The women offered me milk mixed with blood – we were not in the USA! But the speaker was an older missionary who focused on the little maid girl of the wife of General Naaman in 2 Kings 5. As the older woman spoke she drew simple pictures of this girl, captured in battle and taken to a foreign land, serving. Naaman had leprosy. The little Israelite girl says to her mistress, “if only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” The little girl led such a life of integrity that the woman believed her, told her husband, who told the king, who sent Naaman to the prophet Elisha and was cured. All because a little girl, a victim of war, was honest. Of course the old woman turned to her audience and asked us if we were people of integrity. It was a moment of truth and the awareness of the impact of a great teacher. My life was changed.

Even at a young age the young girl in the story knows God is her first priority and is able to cure – even an enemy. Not only are her priorities right, they are integrated with her actions. A casual comment changed history for all the people in the story. Today we will make many casual comments. Are we people of integrity? Is God our first priority and thought as we encounter others? Blessings as you go about your day.

I’m not Moses, Abraham or David. I will never be chosen like Esther to be queen. And so I my thoughts turned to Joshua who positioned himself near Moses as an assistant. He stood at the door while Moses met with God. He held Moses’ arms up when he got tired praying in the battle with the Amalakites. So I turned to the book of Joshua, chapter 1 and started reading. In the first ten verses God meets with Joshua, the man who actually leads the people of Israel into the promised land, and says, “Be strong and courageous.” Joshua will have to step into Moses’ sandles, will have to lead and is not to be terrified cause God will not leave him, wherever he goes. What a promise.

I suspect most of us feel like number 2, not the person getting the glory and the applause, trying to do jobs that we might not feel so qualified to do, following after a beloved leader. The words, be strong and courageous for I am with you, are a comfort. God sees the number twos and encourages us onward. So who are we positioning ourselves next to today and who are we learning from? Who helps us grow in making God our first priority? Who are our spiritual heroes?

Today as you go about your tasks, small and large, may you hear the Spirit saying, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

“His (the wicked man’s) ways are always prosperous, he is haughty and your (God’s) laws are far from him, (Psalm 10: 5)” The first two-thirds of Psalm 10 laments all the ways the wicked man seems so successful. I had to ask myself if that was not just a bit true but also a bit backwards. The rich, the wealthy, those in political power often have a shadow side that the news is so willing to exploit and debate. But should not the good overcome? Like Tevya or one of the men gathered to hear the newspaper read to them says in Fiddler on the Roof, Can’t you read something good?””  By verse 12, the psalmist calls on God to rise up in the face of injustice. “But you, O God, do see trouble and grief, you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. (v. 14)” It often feels like evil prevails but I would gather from this psalm that the helpless are thus forced to cling to God who cannot be defeated. God must be their first priority. I remember the adage, “The end of the story is not told.” In the middle of the story we worry what will happen to our hero or heroin and how the plot will work out. We vote for the underdog to be justified. Making God our first priority may not look like winning in the middle of the story of life but if I were to have someone in my corner, I would want it to be God. Let us not despair in the dark what we know is true light and as we face the challenges of the day, may we remember that the story is not finished. May we keep our priorities in order!

Yesterday we pondered Ruth and Naomi. The other book in the Bible named after a woman is Esther. She was a beautiful young Jewish woman, caught in the political intrigue in the middle East, taken captive and chosen to be the next wife of the king. A decree is passed for ethnic genocide of the Jews on a certain day. Her uncle comes to her and pleads for her to use her social power, go to the king and beg for the lives of her people. His famous line many remember, “Who knows but that you have been born for a time like this.” Esther, knowing protocol of going to the king without being summoned may cost her her life, responds to her uncle. Gather the Jews in the city and fast for me, no food and no water, for three days and then I will go to the king. “And if I perish, I perish.”

The book of Esther is criticized because it does not use the word “God.” Most of us are not preachers and we are uncomfortable vocalizing just how faith works as it is “mystery, not management” of God. Faced with probable death, Esther asks her community to unite with her in fasting and prayer and acts out the first priority of her life. The actions of our lives and of our communities show the priorities of our lives. Not often do we step out, willing to die for our beliefs. I note Esther did not endanger her friends lives as I think of this scenario in light of Covid but she did live out her faith. I note she did not destroy the property of others but she did act. I note she fasted and did not knee-jerk react to the problem but she did act. Today we will be called upon to act in little and perhaps ways that feel threatening. I pray we will look to God first and then do what we know would delight him. May we show he is our first priority!