Gospel for June 19, 2022

Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. (Luke 8:32 NRSV)

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Luke 8:26-39
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The ministry of Jesus was quite itinerant.  Other than his childhood visit to Egypt as a small child as reported in the Gospel of Matthew 2:13-15,  Jesus remained within a 90-mile radius of his hometown in Nazareth.  However, Jesus stayed on the move during his ministry, visiting many towns in Galilee, traveling to Gentile regions to the north and east of the Sea of Galilee, and of course Samaria and Judea.

Here is the back story of today’s Gospel reading  — Jesus and his disciples have taken a boat across the Sea of Galilee, likely sailing from Capernaum in Galilee to the region of the Gerasenes (also known as Gadara) in the Gentile region of the Decapolis (which means the Ten Cities).  The Decapolis were likely Greek and Roman cities outside of the political and cultural orbit of Jewish Galilee and Judea.

When Jesus arrives on the shore, he is immediately greeted by a naked, desperately wild, demon-possessed man. The manifestations of his demon possession were quite extreme — even chains and shackles were insufficient to hold him when he was tormented by demons.  He lived in the wilds and in the cemetery, both places reputed to be a refuge for unclean spirits.

We are reminded that there is a kind of spiritual warfare in which Jesus is engaged against demonic forces, as the man falls down before Jesus and shouts:

“What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”— for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man.

Jesus recognizes that this man is more victim than villain.  As Paul will write later:

our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).

Jesus asks the man his name, knowing that he is not really speaking to the man but to the demons that have possessed him.  The demons must answer the Son of God with the truth.  Their name is Legion, suggesting that an army of demons have taken possession of this man.

We then get a small glimpse into the future fate of the demons:

 They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.

Although demonology and the place of demons in Christian theology may be of interest, this isn’t really the place to explore such subjects.  Suffice it to say that the New Testament takes the existence of supernatural beings for granted, and this includes the existence of demons.  The abyss is generally understood to refer to the “bottomless pit” and the place of the dead.  (For more information, I refer you to 2 Peter 2:4 and Revelation 9:1-2, 11; 17:8; 20:1.)

What we know from Luke’s Gospel is that the demons are desperate not to be sent there!

And perhaps we should be a little surprised that Jesus accommodates the request of the demons to be sent into a large herd of swine.  It would seem that they require a physical host in order to function in the physical world.

The discerning mind may pick up on a little New Testament humor here.  Swine, in the Jewish world, were regarded as one of the most unclean of animals (Leviticus 11:7-8).  How appropriate that the unclean demons should wish to be sent there!

And, in another somewhat humorous development, even the herd of swine turns out to be an inhospitable home for the demons:

Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

Jesus and his disciples are now in Gentile territory where pigs are a source of income.  The destruction of the swine represented an economic disaster for the owner.  The swineherds flee in a frenzy and are eager to place the blame on Jesus.

When people from Gerasene hurry to see what has happened:

they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.

Curiously, their reaction to this amazing exorcism and dramatic change is great fear!  They beg Jesus to leave the area.  Rather than rejoicing that this poor man has been restored to sanity, they fear Jesus more than they seem to fear the demons!

As Jesus is preparing to return to Galilee by boat:

The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus  sent him away, saying,  “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

This cleansed man becomes one of the first of the Gentile witnesses, who is instructed to spread the news to non-Jews about Jesus and his mighty power!

APPLY:  

Jesus is able to make a distinction between the flesh and blood of this unfortunate man and the spiritual forces of evil that possess him.  Thus Jesus is able to separate the man from the demonic powers.

Mustn’t we do the same in our time?  We are led to believe that the problem with the world is a certain group or a particular belief, and we cannot distinguish between the demonic behavior inspired by certain ideologies and the people who espouse those ideologies.

Jesus loves the man, and cleanses him by separating the man from the demonic influence in his life.  Perhaps we can begin to distinguish between the immoral behavior and violent rhetoric of  people and instead try to see them as people.

RESPOND: 

This week as I meditate on this Scripture, I’m very aware of events in Orlando, Florida.  A nightclub that caters to the LBGTQ community was the location of the second largest mass murder in American history. They were systematically murdered by a young Muslim man.  I deplore what has happened there, and grieve for those who have lost their lives so violently.

Reactions to this atrocity have predictably reflected every possible ideological, political, and religious perspective.

Let me be clear — I believe that the Scriptures teach that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. And further, I believe that there is a brand of “radical Islam” that is dangerously violent and doctrinaire.

However, I am equally convinced that God loves all people — gay, straight, Muslim or whatever they may be.  Unlike ourselves, God is able to distinguish between those behaviors and attitudes that oppress and possess us, and love us in spite of ourselves.

What truly inspires me is the example of love and forgiveness like that of the Amish community of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania  in October of 2006. A disturbed man named Charles Roberts burst into a one-room Amish schoolhouse and shot ten Amish schoolgirls, killing five of them and then took his own life.

The Amish community was devastated by the murder of innocents.  But family members of the girls began to express their forgiveness of the murderer.  Several family members of the girls buried their own daughters, and the next day attended the funeral of Charles Roberts and embraced his widow and family members.  Later the Amish community took up a collection for the widow and her three young children.

Did the Amish deplore the murderous act of Charles Roberts? Of course! But were they able to see that despite his act he was a human being who was loved by God? Yes!

Lord, help me to see the demon-possessed and the “evil” through your eyes — the eyes of love.  Help me to be a part of your mission to deliver all of us from the demonic forces that surround us.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
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Epistle for June 19, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Galatians 3:23-29
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Apostle Paul begins to make some applications of the doctrine of justification by faith to the church at Galatia.  He briefly addresses the tension of law and grace, and then makes a startling claim that has broad socio-economic and racial implications.

We are mistaken if we draw the conclusion that the Apostle Paul was anti-law. He tells the Roman church that the law is a kind of mirror that reveals our sinful nature because it reveals the holy standard of God’s nature:

What then should we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin (Romans 7:7).

In today’s lectionary passage from Galatians, Paul elaborates on the purposes of the law.  The law was a guard and a disciplinarian prior to the coming of Christ.  It is faith in Christ that justifies, not the law.

This suggests that the purpose of the law was not only to convict but also to prepare the believer for faith.  The word that the NRSV translates as disciplinarian is the Greek word paidagogos.   This word is the root of our English word pedagogue — one who is a strict teacher or trainer.

This is not necessarily a negative connotation — the pedagogue raises the bar of expectations for a student or an athlete by demanding the best from them.  The dilemma is that the law raises the bar of expectations but cannot fulfill those expectations.

The advent of faith accomplishes what the law could not do:

But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.

In the verses prior to our passage, Paul has explained that the righteousness of Christ has fulfilled the demands of the law through his death and resurrection:

 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us…. (Galatians 3:13).

This echoes the famous declaration from 2 Corinthians 5:21:

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The righteous, sinless one becomes a curse, and becomes sin by fulfilling the just requirements of the law on our behalf.  This is the work accomplished by Christ on the cross.  And this righteousness is accessed by us through faith.

In our baptism, then, we are represented as having been identified with Christ by faith:

 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

This is part of that new life that Christ now invites us to live with him as we are crucified with Christ and raised to life with Christ — and as a result Christ lives his righteous life in us when we live by faith (cf. Galatians 2:20).  Baptism is a sign of death to sin and resurrection with Christ.

And then, in an unexpected application of the effect of this new life that is the result of faith in Christ, Paul makes a few very radical statements about the effect of such new life in social and cultural terms:

 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

It is so easy for readers in the 21st century to miss just how radical this statement is.

• Jews in Paul’s time considered Greeks and Gentiles to be cursed, and ineligible for covenant with God; and many Greeks regarded non-Greeks as barbarians. And yet, these two groups are now one in Christ Jesus!
• Slaves were regarded as living tools who could be used as their owner pleased, and could even be killed by their masters without consequences. Yet slave and free are one in Christ Jesus!
• Women were subjugated to the authority of men, and regarded as useful for breeding purposes and pleasure, but with little status in the Jewish or the Roman world of the day. Yet male and female are one in Christ Jesus!

Clearly, this was a radically counter-cultural statement for Paul’s time, presaging the end of class distinctions in the church to be sure, but also looking ahead to the permanent end of slavery and to women’s equality in countries influenced by Christianity in the future.

And finally, Paul repeats a theme that appears also in Romans 4:13-17, that those who follow the example of the faith of Abraham are his true heirs, rather than those who share his DNA:

And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

APPLY:  

The great doctrines of the Christian faith, derived from Scripture, are not simply dogmas that appear in our creeds — these great doctrines have very practical applications in our lives.

We can be grateful for the law that acted as a strict pedagogue and harsh disciplinarian in our lives — the law helped us realize that we can never be “good enough” by obeying the law.  While the law is holy and just and good (Romans 7:12), when we look into the mirror of the law we see just how unholy and unjust and evil we really are in comparison.

As John Wesley would say, the law ‘drives us to Christ.’  Christ fulfills the law on our behalf , and gives us grace in the form of his own righteousness.  This grace we receive by faith.

And here are some of the results of this faith:

• We become children of God through faith (verse 26).
• We are united as one in Christ — Jews and Greeks, slaves and free, male and female, black and white, first world and third world — our unity in Christ transcends socio-economic-racial-national differences.
• We become the true heirs of the promises to Abraham because our faith emulates his faith.

So, perhaps we should begin acting like the children of God, the one body in Christ, and the heirs of Abraham!

RESPOND: 

The story is told that when the evangelist Billy Graham preached an historic crusade in Montgomery, Alabama, he insisted that the mass choir be integrated.  The local newspaper editor was appalled, and wrote an editorial that declared “Billy Graham has set the church in Alabama back one hundred years.”

Billy Graham’s response was wonderful .  He said, “If that’s the case, I failed in my mission.  I intended to set it back two thousand years!”

If we truly believe, as I do, that the Scriptures are the revealed Word of God, then we need to go back before we can go forward.

Do we see churches today where sinners are transformed into saints, filled with holy love for God and neighbor? Where there are no distinctions between races and socio-economic classes? Where people are truly being equipped to become disciples and to make disciples?  Where there is real, substantive ministry to the poor and the homeless that offers dignity, and doesn’t depend upon the government?

I would love to be a member of that church!

Lord, I believe that you have given guidance to your church through your holy Word.  But I confess, our application of your Word has been selective at best, and corrupt at worst.  As we place our faith in you, break down the barriers of division and make us one in Christ. Amen. 

 PHOTOS:
"Galatians 3.28" by Baptist Union of Great Britain is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for June 19, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 42
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Psalm 42 contains some of the most beautiful and haunting imagery in all the Psalms — which is quite a claim, given the rich language found there.

There are a few interesting items about Psalm 42 that might also enhance our appreciation:

• It is the first Psalm in Book II of the Psalms. We note that there are five Books, or sections of the book of Psalms — this no doubt mirrors the five books of the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy).
• This Psalm is one of thirteen that are called a maskil which has been interpreted to mean it is a wisdom Psalm.
• And this Psalm is also a maskil of the Korahites. There are eleven Psalms attributed to the Korahites.  The Korahites were descendants of Levi, and were assigned to duties in the temple as guardians of the threshold and caretakers of the pans for the sacrifice of the meat.

The Psalm itself reflects the aspirations and anxieties of the human spirit.

The metaphor that the Psalmist uses to describe the deep and unsatisfied desire for God is evocative:

As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
the face of God?

Why is the Psalmist expressing such deep longing for God?

My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me continually,
“Where is your God?”

Presumably, people are mocking the Psalmist because of some misfortune that has occurred in his life.  Although the Psalm doesn’t give us specifics about the source of his angst, we do get a hint a little later in the Psalm:

I say to God, my rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk about mournfully
because the enemy oppresses me?”
As with a deadly wound in my body,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me continually,
“Where is your God?”

However, the Psalmist finds comfort in remembering his experience of worship in the temple, and joining the throng as they entered:

with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,
a multitude keeping festival.

And when he feels cast down and uneasy, the Psalmist exhorts his soul to hope in God, and remembers the waterfalls and torrents at the mountainous source of the Jordan River:

My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep
at the thunder of your cataracts;
all your waves and your billows
have gone over me.

What exactly does the Psalmist mean to express with this very descriptive metaphor?  Perhaps the overwhelming depth and presence of the Lord’s abundant love that pours forth into the life of the Psalmist. God satisfies his thirst.  He continues by declaring:

By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.

Despite the adversity and the taunts, the Psalmist affirms that God’s steadfast love attends him day and night.

As the Psalmist has stated earlier in verses 5-6, he has good reason to trust in God:

 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.

APPLY:  

What a vivid description of the soul’s thirsty yearning for the presence of God, for the living water. Thirst denotes the absence of something that is absolutely essential to life and God is absolutely essential to the life of the believer.

The crisis for the believer, though not specified exactly in this Psalm, is certainly exacerbated by the taunts of the unbelievers.  When a believer goes through difficult times such as sickness, tragedy, or even natural calamity, they certainly do experience the mocking of those who ask:

“Where is your God?”

But how does God respond to this thirst?  Perhaps the best image possible is the one the Psalmist chooses:

Deep calls to deep
at the thunder of your cataracts;
all your waves and your billows
have gone over me.

God’s grace and love are so satisfying they are like waves and billows of powerful torrents of water!

So, when we do experience the cast-down soul and the disquiet that comes from time to time, the answer is to remember what it is like to truly worship God, and to remember the torrents of grace that we have experienced in the past.   And we are to trust that God’s grace will wash over us yet again.

RESPOND: 

Years ago I ran across a story about the thirst for God.  Although it comes from a non-Christian tradition, the story nonetheless captures for me some of my longing for God.  Obviously, for me God is the one who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit — i.e., the One God who manifests himself in Three Persons.

The story is told of a young man who was searching everywhere for God. His quest took him to temples and holy places everywhere.  And then he came to a river and discovered there a holy man who spent his days by the flowing waters.

The young man explained his quest to the old holy man, anticipating that the saint might impart some great wisdom, or refer him to some holy text.  Instead, the old man grabbed the young man by the ears and wrestled the young man down into the river, holding his head under the water.

The young man fought and clawed, trying to escape the strong grip of the old man, to no avail.  He was just about to give up helplessly and drown, when suddenly the holy man yanked him up out of the water.

The young man gasped and sputtered.  But before he could speak to admonish the old man, the saint said to him: “Until you desire God as much as you just now desired air, you will not find him.”

Of course, in the Christian revelation, God is the one who always takes the initiative.  He comes seeking us before we even know that we need him.  However, there is also a sense in which God comes to us and creates a thirst for him.  Sometimes he seems to “hide” and we desperately seek him — although he is actually already present in our lives.

Our thirst for God is ultimately satisfied by torrents of grace.

Our Lord, I am so thirsty for you.  In this time of harsh criticism directed toward people of faith, we need so desperately to know that you do satisfy us. I pray that my times of worship and reflection will draw me closer to you — and I thank you that you meet me in times of drought and of plenty.  Amen.

PHOTOS:
“It is the God we trust who keeps us (Psalm 42:1-2)” by John 9:25 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for June 19, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
1 Kings 19:1-15a
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Elijah has been the point man and the “lightning rod” in the struggle between the prophets of Baal/Asherah and Yahwism.  He has enjoyed a dramatic victory over these pagan prophets at Mt. Carmel that resulted in their wholesale slaughter — 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah.

Jezebel was not the kind of queen to let that pass without consequences — after all, these were the prophets of her own religion, who had eaten at her own table.  So she sends a solemn warning to Elijah:

 “So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.”

Elijah reacts the way any normal person might react to a threat by a very powerful adversary — he flees in terror.  He travels as far south as he possibly can to escape the jurisdiction of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel in Israel.  His first stop is in Beer-Sheba, which is near the farthest boundaries of Judah, and then beyond that into the wilderness.

Remember that Judah was a separate kingdom at this time, under King Jehoshaphat, who was by and large a good and Godly king.  So, Elijah had nothing to fear from him.

Still, Scripture tells us:

he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree.

Elijah has gone off by himself in complete solitude — we have the impression of deep depression:

 He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep.

However, there is supernatural intervention, as an angel wakes him with a touch and instructs him to eat fresh bread and drink water.  This happens twice, until the Angel of The Lord gives him direction:

“Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.

Elijah’s destination is quite significant.  It was at Mount Horeb that Moses, some 500 years earlier, had first encountered YHWH at the burning bush (Exodus 3).  According to most authorities Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai, famous as the place that Moses received the Law following the escape of Israel from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 20).  Surely, Elijah returns to Horeb as one might return to a sacred place, especially in this time of danger and persecution.

While Elijah cowers in the cave, the Lord addresses Elijah — not with a statement, but with a question:

“What are you doing here, Elijah?”

We can assume that the Lord already knows the answer — but this forces Elijah to confess that he is seeking refuge from his adversaries:

 He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.”

The Lord instructs him to stand on the mountain while the Lord passes by.  We are reminded of the experience of Moses on Mount Sinai after the Ten Commandments had been given, and when the Lord was instructing Moses to lead the Israelites in their further journeys.  Moses also appears to be experiencing some self-doubt, for he tells the Lord that if the Lord’s presence does not go with them, the Lord should not lead them up from there; and he asks the Lord to reveal himself to Moses. The Lord does cause his glory to pass by the cave where Moses hides, but the Lord also warns Moses:

“you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.” (Exodus 33:20).

Similarly, the Lord tells Elijah that he is about to pass by.  What happens next is quite dramatic — a mighty wind breaks rocks, but the Lord isn’t in the wind; and an earthquake shakes the mountain, but the Lord isn’t in the earthquake; and then a fire rages over the mountain, but the Lord isn’t in the fire.

Only after all these phenomena are finished does Elijah hear:

a sound of sheer silence.

This is counter-intuitive, of course.  The prophet should have expected the Lord to reveal himself in the dramatic effects of wind, earthquake and fire.  Instead it is in the sound of sheer silence, stillness, that the voice of the Lord is heard:

 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

For a second time, the Lord asks the question:

“What are you doing here, Elijah?”

We can hear the plaintive self-pity of Elijah, and perhaps a hint of blame against the Lord, as well as his self-justification:

He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.”

Despite all of his successes — feeding the widow of Zarephath with an endless supply of oil and meal, raising her son from the dead, and then vanquishing the prophets of Baal and Asherah —Elijah is still feeling discouraged.  Even after his rest under the broom tree, and the provision of food by the angel, and the spectacular divine manifestation on this mountain, Elijah is still experiencing a “pity party.”  He feels very much alone.

I take issue with our lectionary editors, who leave off a key piece of information in the suggested text.  The part they leave out that I think is so important is underlined:

 Then the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram. . . Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” (1 Kings 19: 15, 18).

Yes, Elijah is given specific instructions about the political, religious and military future of the region — Hazael shall be anointed king of Aram; Jehu over Israel; and Elisha shall be anointed prophet as Elijah’s successor.  And there will be war.

But to me the most significant message to Elijah is that he is not the last or the only Israelite who is faithful to the Lord.  At least seven thousand in Israel remain — and that is likely a symbolic number indicating that there are many more than that number.

APPLY:  

Anyone who has ever attempted to serve as a pastor, a Sunday School teacher, a church leader, or even a responsible, faithful civic leader or politician, has likely experienced discouragement and burn-out.

All the symptoms are there in Elijah’s case — he flees as far from responsibility and threat as he possibly can; he withdraws into himself, alone; and he seems to seek refuge in sleep.  I can’t imagine that sleeping under the broom tree in the desert was a comfortable experience.

And the Lord responds to Elijah’s depression in a dramatic way.  First, Elijah is fed.  Second, he seeks real refuge in one of the holiest places of Hebrew history — Mount Horeb.  There, the Lord does encounter him.

We notice that the Lord’s communication with Elijah isn’t necessarily through signs and wonders, although they are certainly manifested in the wind, earthquake and fire.  No, the Lord is a bit more subtle than that — asking Elijah questions like “Why are you here, Elijah?”  And then the Lord communicates his own mystery through the sound of sheer silence.  We can’t help but think of the Lord breathing his name I Am that I am (Yahweh) to Moses in Exodus 3.

Don’t we sometimes need to be asked why are you here? — and to answer in God’s presence?  And don’t we sometimes need to follow the counsel of Psalm 46:10:

Be still, and know that I am God!

And the Lord gives Elijah something to do and reminds him he’s not the only one out there who is faithful.  And if we listen to the Lord, we will also be given a task to do; and we must remember that we are not alone.

RESPOND: 

I have a good friend who used to say, “No good deed goes unpunished.”  There are consequences for our bad actions; but there are also consequences for our good actions.

Sometimes our faithfulness may bring criticism or worse down upon us.  That doesn’t mean we stop being faithful.  It means that we may need to follow the pattern of Elijah — get away with God for a while, let God ask us “why are you here?”, and listen to his quiet voice.  And then obey it.

Lord, I thank you that I am not alone in following you.  Sometimes, as I look at the crazy world around me, I begin to think that way.  Lead me to quiet, holy places where I can listen to your voice; and then give me the faith and the energy to obey your word, however challenging it may be.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“Elijah Alone” by Matt Gullett is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for June 19, 2016

Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. (Luke 8:32 NRSV)

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Luke 8:26-39

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The ministry of Jesus was quite itinerant.  Other than his childhood visit to Egypt as a small child as reported in the Gospel of Matthew 2:13-15,  Jesus remained within a 90-mile radius of his hometown in Nazareth.  However, Jesus stayed on the move during his ministry, visiting many towns in Galilee, traveling to Gentile regions to the north and east of the Sea of Galilee, and of course Samaria and Judea.

Here is the back story of our passage — Jesus and his disciples have taken a boat across the Sea of  Galilee, likely sailing from Capernaum in Galilee to the region of the Gerasenes (also known as Gadara) in the Gentile region of the Decapolis (which means the Ten Cities).  The Decapolis were likely Greek and Roman cities outside of the political and cultural orbit of Jewish Galilee and Judea.

When Jesus arrives on the shore, he is immediately greeted by a naked, desperately wild demon-possessed man. The manifestations of his demon possession were quite extreme — even chains and shackles were insufficient to hold him when he was tormented by demons.  He lived in the wilds and in the cemetery, both places reputed to be a refuge for unclean spirits.

We are reminded that there is a kind of spiritual warfare in which Jesus is engaged against demonic forces, as the man falls down before Jesus and shouts:

“What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”— for Jesus  had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man.

Jesus recognizes that this man is more victim than villain.  As Paul will write later:

our  struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).

Jesus asks the man his name, knowing that he is not really speaking to the man but to the demons that have possessed him.  The demons must answer the Son of God with the truth.  Their name is Legion, suggesting that an army of demons have taken possession of this man.

We then get a small glimpse into the future fate of the demons:

 They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.

Although demonology and the place of demons in Christian theology may be of interest, this isn’t really the place to explore such subjects.  Suffice it to say that the New Testament takes the existence of supernatural beings for granted, and this includes the existence of demons.  The abyss is generally understood to refer to the “bottomless pit” and the place of the dead.  (For more information, I refer you to 2 Peter 2:4 and Revelation 9:1-2, 11; 17:8; 20:1.)

What we know from Luke’s Gospel is that the demons are desperate not to be sent there!

And perhaps we should be a little surprised that Jesus accommodates the request of the demons to be sent into a large herd of swine.  It would seem that they require a physical host in order to function in the physical world.

The discerning mind may pick up on a little New Testament humor here.  Swine, in the Jewish world, were regarded as one of the most unclean of animals (Leviticus 11:7-8).  How appropriate that the unclean demons should wish to be sent there!

And, in another somewhat humorous development, even the herd of swine turns out to be an inhospitable home for the demons:

Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

Jesus and his disciples are now in Gentile territory where pigs are a source of income.  The destruction of the swine represented an economic disaster for the owner.  The swineherds flee in a frenzy and are eager to place the blame on Jesus.

When people from Gerasene hurry to see what has happened:

they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.

Curiously, their reaction to this amazing exorcism and dramatic change is great fear!  They beg Jesus to leave the area.  Rather than rejoicing that this poor man has been restored to sanity, they fear Jesus more than they seem to fear the demons!

As Jesus is preparing to return to Galilee by boat:

The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus  sent him away, saying,  “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

This cleansed man becomes one of the first of the Gentile witnesses, who is instructed to spread the news to non-Jews about Jesus and his mighty power!

APPLY:  

Jesus is able to make a distinction between the flesh and blood  of this unfortunate man and the spiritual forces of evil that possess him.  Thus Jesus is able to separate the man from the demonic powers.

Mustn’t we do the same in our time?  We are led to believe that the problem with the world is a certain group or a particular belief, and we cannot distinguish between the demonic behavior inspired by certain ideologies and the people who espouse those ideologies.

Jesus loves the man, and cleanses him by separating the man from the demonic influence in his life.  Perhaps we can begin to distinguish between the immoral behavior and violent rhetoric of  people and instead try to see them as people.

RESPOND: 

This week as I meditate on this Scripture, I’m very aware of events in Orlando, Florida.  A nightclub that caters to the LBGTQ community was the location of the second largest mass murder in American history. They were systematically murdered by a young Muslim man.  I deplore what has happened there, and grieve for those who have lost their lives so violently.

Reactions to this atrocity have predictably reflected every possible ideological, political, and religious perspective.

Let me be clear — I believe that the Scriptures teach that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. And further, I believe that there is a brand of “radical Islam” that is dangerously violent and doctrinaire.

However, I am equally convinced that God loves all people: gay, straight, Muslim or whatever they may be.  Unlike ourselves, God is able to distinguish between those behaviors and attitudes that oppress and possess us, and love us in spite of ourselves.

What truly inspires me is the example of love and forgiveness like that of the Amish community of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania  in October of 2006. A disturbed man named Charles Roberts burst into a one-room Amish schoolhouse and shot ten Amish schoolgirls, killing five of them and then took his own life.

The Amish community was devastated by the murder of innocents.  But family members of the girls began to express their forgiveness of the murderer.  Several family members of the girls buried their own daughters, and the next day attended the funeral of Charles Roberts and embraced his widow and family members.  Later the Amish community took up a collection for the widow and her three young children.

Did the Amish deplore the murderous act of Charles Roberts? Of course! But were they able see that despite his act he was a human being who was loved by God? Yes!

Lord, help me to see the demon-possessed and the “evil” through your eyes — the eyes of love.  Help me to be a part of your mission to deliver all of us from the demonic forces that surround us.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
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Epistle for June 19, 2016

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Galatians 3:23-29

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OBSERVE:

The Apostle Paul begins to make some applications of the doctrine of justification by faith to the church at Galatia.  He briefly addresses the tension of law and grace, and then makes a startling claim that has broad socio-economic and racial implications.

We are mistaken if we draw the conclusion that the Apostle Paul was anti-law. He tells the Roman church that the law is a kind of mirror that reveals our sinful nature because it reveals the holy standard of God’s nature:

What then should we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin (Romans 7:7).

In today’s lectionary passage from Galatians, Paul elaborates on the purposes of the law.  The law was a guard and a disciplinarian prior to the coming of Christ.  It is faith in Christ that justifies, not the law.

This suggests that the purpose of the law was not only to convict but also to prepare the believer for faith.  The word that the NRSV translates as disciplinarian is the Greek word paidagogos.   This word is the root of our English word pedagogue — one who is a strict teacher or trainer.

This is not necessarily a negative connotation — the  pedagogue raises the bar of expectations for a student or an athlete by demanding the best from them.  The dilemma is that the law raises the bar of expectations but cannot fulfill those expectations.

The advent of faith accomplishes what the law could not do:

But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian,  for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.

In the verses prior to our passage, Paul has explained that the righteousness of Christ has fulfilled the demands of the law through his death and resurrection:

 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us…. (Galatians 3:13).

This echoes the famous declaration from 2 Corinthians 5:21:

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The righteous, sinless one becomes a curse, and becomes sin by fulfilling the just requirements of the law on our behalf.  This is the work accomplished by Christ on the cross.  And this righteousness is accessed by us through faith.

In our baptism, then, we are represented as having been identified with Christ by faith:

 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

This is part of that new life that Christ now invites us to live with him as we are crucified with Christ and raised to life with Christ — and as a result Christ lives his righteous life in us when we live by faith (cf. Galatians 2:20).  Baptism is a sign of death to sin and resurrection with Christ.

And then, in an unexpected application of the effect of this new life that is the result of faith in Christ, Paul makes a few very radical statements about the effect of such new life in social and cultural terms:

 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

It is so easy for readers in the 21st century to miss just how radical this statement is.

• Jews in Paul’s time considered Greeks and Gentiles to be cursed, and ineligible for covenant with God; and many Greeks regarded non-Greeks as barbarians. And yet, these two groups are now one in Christ Jesus!
• Slaves were regarded as living tools who could be used as their owner pleased, and could even be killed by their masters without consequences. Yet slave and free are one in Christ Jesus!
• Women were subjugated to the authority of men, and regarded as useful for breeding purposes and pleasure, but with little status in the Jewish or the Roman world of the day. Yet male and female are one in Christ Jesus!

Clearly, this was a radically counter-cultural statement for Paul’s time, presaging the end of class distinctions in the church to be sure, but also looking ahead to the permanent end of slavery and to women’s equality in countries influenced by Christianity in the future.

And finally, Paul repeats a theme that appears also in Romans 4:13-17, that those who follow the example of the faith of Abraham are his true heirs, rather than those who share his DNA:

And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

APPLY:  

The great doctrines of the Christian faith, derived from Scripture, are not simply dogmas that appear in our creeds — these great doctrines have very practical applications in our lives.

We can be grateful for the law that acted as a strict pedagogue and harsh disciplinarian in our lives — the law helped us realize that we can never be “good enough” by obeying the law.  While the law is holy and just and good (Romans 7:12), when we look into the mirror of the law we see just how unholy and unjust and evil we really are in comparison.

As John Wesley would say, the law ‘drives us to Christ.’  Christ fulfils the law on our behalf , and gives us grace in the form of his own righteousness.  This grace we receive by faith.

And here are some of the results of this faith:

• We become children of God through faith (verse 26).
• We are united as one in Christ — Jews and Greeks, slaves and free, male and female, black and white, first world and third world — our unity in Christ transcends socio-economic-racial-national differences.
• We become the true heirs of the promises to Abraham because our faith emulates his faith.

So, perhaps we should begin acting like the children of God, the one body in Christ, and the heirs of Abraham!

RESPOND: 

The story is told that when the evangelist Billy Graham preached an historic crusade in Montgomery, Alabama, he insisted that the mass choir be integrated.  The local newspaper editor was appalled, and wrote an editorial that declared “Billy Graham has set the church in Alabama back one hundred years.”

Billy Graham’s response was wonderful .  He said, “If that’s the case, I failed in my mission.  I intended to set it back two thousand years!”

If we truly believe, as I do, that the Scriptures are the revealed Word of God, then we need to go back before we can go forward.

Do we see churches today where sinners are transformed into saints, filled with holy love for God and neighbor? Where there are no distinctions between races and socio-economic classes? Where people are truly being equipped to become disciples and to make disciples?  Where there is real, substantive ministry to the poor and the homeless that offers dignity, and doesn’t depend upon the government?

I would love to be a member of that church!

Lord, I believe that you have given guidance to your church through your holy Word.  But I confess, our application of your Word has been selective at best, and corrupt at worst.  As we place our faith in you, break down the barriers of division and make us one in Christ. Amen. 

 PHOTOS:
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Psalm Reading for June 19, 2016

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 42

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Psalm 42 contains some of the most beautiful and haunting imagery in all the Psalms — which is quite a claim, given the rich language found there.

There are a few interesting items about Psalm 42 that might also enhance our appreciation:

• It is the first Psalm in Book II of the Psalms. We note that there are five Books, or sections of the book of Psalms — this no doubt mirrors the five books of the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy).
• This Psalm is one of thirteen that are called a maskil which has been interpreted to mean it is a wisdom Psalm.
• And this Psalm is also a maskil of the Korahites. There are eleven Psalms attributed to the Korahites.  The Korahites were descendants of Levi, and were assigned to duties in the temple as guardians of the threshold and caretakers of the pans for the sacrifice of the meat.

The Psalm itself reflects the aspirations and anxieties of the human spirit.

The metaphor that the Psalmist uses to describe the deep and unsatisfied desire for God is evocative:

As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
the face of God?

Why is the Psalmist expressing such deep longing for God?

My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me continually,
“Where is your God?”

Presumably, people are mocking the Psalmist because of some misfortune that has occurred in his life.  Although the Psalm doesn’t give us specifics about the source of his angst, we do get a hint a little later in the Psalm:

I say to God, my rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk about mournfully
because the enemy oppresses me?”
As with a deadly wound in my body,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me continually,
“Where is your God?”

However, the Psalmist finds comfort in remembering his experience of worship in the temple, and joining the throng as they entered:

with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,
a multitude keeping festival.

And when he feels cast down and uneasy, the Psalmist exhorts his soul to hope in God, and remembers the waterfalls and torrents at the mountainous source of the Jordan River:

My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep
at the thunder of your cataracts;
all your waves and your billows
have gone over me.

What exactly does the Psalmist mean to express with this very descriptive metaphor?  Perhaps the overwhelming depth and presence of the Lord’s abundant love that pours forth into the life of the Psalmist. God satisfies his thirst.  He continues by declaring:

By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.

Despite the adversity and the taunts, the Psalmist affirms that God’s steadfast love attends him day and night.

As the Psalmist has stated earlier in verses 5-6, he has good reason to trust in God:

 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.

APPLY:  

What a vivid description of the soul’s thirsty yearning for the presence of God, for the living water. Thirst denotes the absence of something that is absolutely essential to life  and God is absolutely essential to the life of the believer.

The crisis for the believer, though not specified exactly in this Psalm, is certainly exacerbated by the taunts of the unbelievers.  When a believer goes through difficult times such as sickness, tragedy, or even natural calamity, they certainly do experience the mocking of those who ask:

“Where is your God?”

But how does God respond to this thirst?  Perhaps the best image possible is the one the Psalmist chooses:

Deep calls to deep
at the thunder of your cataracts;
all your waves and your billows
have gone over me.

God’s grace and love are so satisfying they are like waves and billows of powerful torrents of water!

So, when we do experience the cast-down soul and the disquiet that comes from time to time, the answer is to remember what it is like to truly worship God, and to remember the torrents of grace that we have experienced in the past.   And we are to trust that God’s grace will wash over us yet again.

RESPOND: 

Years ago I ran across a story about the thirst for God.  Although it comes from a non-Christian tradition, the story nonetheless captures for me some of my longing for God.  Obviously, for me God is the one who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit — i.e., the One God who manifests himself in Three Persons.

The story is told of a young man who was searching everywhere for God. His quest took him to temples and holy places everywhere.  And then he came to a river and discovered there a holy man who spent his days by the flowing waters.

The young man explained his quest to the old holy man, anticipating that the saint might impart some great wisdom, or refer him to some holy text.  Instead, the old man grabbed the young man by the ears and wrestled the young man down into the river, holding his head under the water.

The young man fought and clawed, trying to escape the strong grip of the old man, to no avail.  He was just about to give up helplessly and drown, when suddenly the holy man yanked him up out of the water.

The young man gasped and sputtered.  But before he could speak to admonish the old man, the saint said to him: “Until you desire God as much as you just now desired air, you will not find him.”

Of course, in the Christian revelation, God is the one who always takes the initiative.  He comes seeking us before we even know that we need him.  However, there is also a sense in which God comes to us and creates a thirst for him.  Sometimes he seems to “hide” and we desperately seek him — although he is actually already present in our lives.

Our thirst for God is ultimately satisfied by torrents of  grace.

Our Lord, I am so thirsty for you.  In this time of harsh criticism directed toward people of faith, we need so desperately to know that you do satisfy us. I pray that my times of worship and reflection will draw me closer to you — and I thank you that you meet me in times of drought and of plenty.  Amen.

PHOTOS:
“It is the God we trust who keeps us (Psalm 42:1-2)” by John 9:25 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for June 19, 2016

Start with Scripture:

1 Kings 19:1-15a

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Elijah has been the point man and the “lightning rod” in the struggle between the prophets of Baal/Asherah and Yahwism.  He has enjoyed a dramatic victory over these pagan prophets at Mt. Carmel that resulted in their wholesale slaughter — 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah.

Jezebel was not the kind of queen to let that pass without consequences — after all, these were the prophets of her own religion, who had eaten at her own table.  So she sends a solemn warning to Elijah:

 “So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.”

Elijah reacts the way any normal person might react to a threat by a very powerful adversary — he flees in terror.  He travels as far south as he possibly can to escape the jurisdiction of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel in Israel.  His first stop is in Beer-Sheba, which is near the farthest boundaries of  Judah, and then beyond that into the wilderness.

Remember that Judah was a separate kingdom at this time, under King Jehoshaphat, who was by and large a good and Godly king.  So, Elijah had nothing to fear from him.

Still, Scripture tells us:

he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree.

Elijah has gone off by himself in complete solitude — we have the impression of deep depression:

 He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep.

However, there is supernatural intervention, as an angel wakes him with a touch and instructs him to eat fresh bread and drink water.  This happens twice, until the Angel of The Lord gives him direction:

“Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.

Elijah’s destination is quite significant.  It was at Mount Horeb that Moses, some 500 years earlier, had first encountered YHWH at the burning bush (Exodus 3).  According to most authorities Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai, famous as the place that Moses received the Law following the escape of Israel from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 20).   Surely, Elijah returns to Horeb  as one might return to a sacred place, especially in this time of danger and persecution.

While Elijah cowers in the cave, the Lord addresses Elijah — not with a statement, but with a question:

“What are you doing here, Elijah?”

We can assume that the Lord already knows the answer — but this forces Elijah to confess that he is seeking refuge from his adversaries:

 He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.”

The Lord instructs him to stand on the mountain while the Lord passes by.  We are reminded of the experience of Moses on Mount Sinai after the Ten Commandments had been given, and when the Lord was instructing Moses to lead the Israelites in their  further journeys.  Moses also appears to be experiencing some self-doubt, for he tells the Lord that if the Lord’s presence does not go with them,  the Lord should not lead them up from there; and he asks the Lord to reveal himself to Moses. The Lord does cause his glory to pass by the cave where Moses hides, but the Lord also warns Moses:

“you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.” (Exodus 33:20).

Similarly, the Lord tells Elijah that he is about to pass by.  What happens next is quite dramatic — a mighty wind breaks rocks, but the Lord isn’t in the wind; and an earthquake shakes the mountain, but the Lord isn’t in the earthquake; and then a fire rages over the mountain, but the Lord isn’t in the fire.

Only after all these phenomena are finished does Elijah hear:

a sound of sheer silence.

This is counter-intuitive, of course.  The prophet should have expected the Lord to reveal himself in the dramatic effects of wind, earthquake and fire.  Instead it is in the sound of sheer silence, stillness, that the voice of the Lord is heard:

 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

For a second time, the Lord asks the question:

“What are you doing here, Elijah?”

We can hear the plaintive self-pity of Elijah, and perhaps a hint of blame against the Lord, as well as his self-justification:

He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.”

Despite all of his successes — feeding the widow of Zarephath with an endless supply of oil and meal, raising her son from the dead, and then vanquishing the prophets of Baal and Asherah —Elijah is still feeling discouraged.  Even after his rest under the broom tree, and the provision of food by the angel, and the spectacular divine manifestation on this mountain, Elijah is still experiencing a “pity party.”  He feels very much alone.

I take issue with our lectionary editors, who leave off a key piece of information in the suggested text.  The part they leave out that I think is so important is underlined:

 Then the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram. . . Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” (1 Kings 19: 15, 18).

Yes, Elijah is given specific instructions about the political, religious and military future of the region: Hazael shall be anointed king of Aram; Jehu over Israel; and Elisha shall be anointed prophet as Elijah’s successor.  And there will be war.

But to me the most significant message to Elijah is that he is not the last or the only Israelite who is faithful to the Lord.  At least seven thousand in Israel remain — and that is likely a symbolic number indicating that there are many more than that number.

APPLY:  

Anyone who has ever attempted to serve as a pastor, a Sunday School teacher, a church leader, or even a responsible, faithful civic leader or politician, has likely experienced discouragement and burn-out.

All the symptoms are there in Elijah’s case — he flees as far from responsibility and threat as he possibly can; he withdraws into himself, alone; and he seems to seek refuge in sleep.  I can’t imagine that sleeping under the broom tree in the desert was a comfortable experience.

And the Lord responds to Elijah’s depression in a dramatic way.  First, Elijah is fed.  Second, he seeks real refuge in one of the holiest places of Hebrew history — Mount Horeb.  There, the Lord does encounter him.

We notice that the Lord’s communication with Elijah isn’t necessarily through signs and wonders, although they are certainly manifested in the wind, earthquake and fire.  No, the Lord is a bit more subtle than that — asking Elijah questions like “Why are you here, Elijah?”  And then the Lord communicates his own mystery through the sound of sheer silence.  We can’t help but think of the Lord breathing his name I Am that I am (Yahweh) to Moses in Exodus 3.

Don’t we sometimes need to be asked why are you here? — and to answer in God’s presence?  And don’t we sometimes need to follow the counsel of Psalm 46:10:

Be still, and know that I am God!

And the Lord gives Elijah something to do and reminds him he’s not the only one out there who is faithful.  And if we listen to the Lord, we will also be given a task to do; and we must remember that we are not alone.

RESPOND: 

I have a good friend who used to say, “No good deed goes unpunished.”  There are consequences for our bad actions; but there are also consequences for our good actions.

Sometimes our faithfulness may bring criticism or worse down upon us.  That doesn’t mean we stop being faithful.  It means that we may need to follow the pattern of Elijah — get away with God for a while, let God ask us “why are you here?”, and listen to his quiet voice.  And then obey it.

Lord, I thank  you that I am not alone in following you.  Sometimes, as I look at the crazy world around me, I begin to think that way.  Lead me to quiet, holy places where I can listen to your voice; and then give me the faith and the energy to obey your word, however challenging it may be.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“Elijah Alone” by Matt Gullett is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.