Perspectives

^{Ezra 3:10} When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the LORD, as prescribed by David king of Israel. ¹¹ With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the LORD :
"He is good;
his love to Israel endures forever."
And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. ¹² But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. ¹³ No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.



Some people love a good thunderstorm -- the power displayed thrills them. On the other hand you have others like my seven-year-old nephew (and his thirty-something aunt...*ahem*) who get a bit antsy when the thunder starts booming and the wind starts howling. So even about storms we have some lovers, some haters and some inbetweeners.

This passage from Ezra gives an Old Testament example of differing perspectives. The older folks recalled the beautiful temple of the past and saw the new temple as way inferior -- so they wept. The younger crowd shouted for joy in praise to the Lord! They didn't remember the past splendor and only saw the present temple which was far better than the ruins they saw prior to its completion. So the weepers and the shouters mingled and it must have been quite a sound to hear from far away.

Is that shouting?

No, I think people are crying!

Really? It seems like dance music so it must be some happy folks.

No, no, I think I detect sadness - wailing even!

However onlookers sorted it out, it must have really been an incredible sound.


Those Israelites surely did know how to dance and cry with gusto! (Did I just use the word "gusto"?)


How can we apply this lesson on perspectives to things happening today?

What does it mean to be blessed?

"To be full of joy, happy. To be blessed, however, is much more than a feeling; it is a joyous position resulting from a right relationship with God."


-- From the column note in my Quest Bible on Psalm 1:1

Isn't that great place to be?

Job, The Shack, Mema, Michael

Let's see ... today I finished reading Job. I wish you could have seen me reading the last four chapters when the Lord speaks to Job and his 3 "friends." I was really marveling at those chapters as God questioned Job by asking Job about nature. Really cool stuff. I totally got it when Job replied to the Lord this way:


Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know. -- Job 42:3


Wow! Reminds me of something my friend Joni recalled from when we read through The Shack late last year. When we judge things, from whose standard do we judge? In the case of music or movies or even food, what you might judge as good, I may believe to be terrible. So things happening which I deem as "bad" may, in reality, be eternally good for me if I saw them from God's perspective. So I was glad Joni reminded me of that.


My grandmother had a pacemaker put in yesterday, and she was able to go home today. I just wanted to thank the Lord for a successful surgery for Mema.

If you read this post, please stop and say a prayer for a friend whose family is going through a troubling time. I actually have several friends in this situation. So many troubling times. I'm glad God is in control and that He can handle all these things. They overwhelm me.

Michael came over this evening for a couple of hours. Stephanie was going out with friends so we watched him until Will could pick him up after work. He ate a pepperoni pizza Hot Pocket and some chocolate ice cream while we watched Looney Tunes on video. I love to hear him cackle at things. He's a sweetheart. Yesterday I took him to the park and it started thundering while we were on a trail. He immediately started heading for the car and said things like, "I hope that's only a guy rolling a garbage can" and "that sounds like a stampede of Road Runners." He doesn't care much for storms since a few weeks ago there was a really bad one while he and his dad were at Wal-mart. I think it made the power go out and so he is now fearful of them.

I think this is enough for now. I am so sleepy. Good night.

Bringing it back into focus

This morning I have been so mixed up! Thankful on one hand, but wrestling with aggravating thoughts, anger and some sadness, too. Argh! I am an emotionally mixed-up person. Definitely I'm not an unfeeling robot! Here is a passage I had written down from II Chronicles 32.

⁷ "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. ⁸ With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles." And the people gained confidence from what Hezekiah the king had said.


And then there is this passage from I John 4 where we are reminded:

⁴You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

So maybe I should gain confidence from what God has said. Instead it seems I am walking around so frustrated and halfway ticked off these days. I'm trusting in the "arm of flesh" and it's leaving me empty. I shouldn't be discouraged, but confident and joyful. If God is for me, who can be against me? Of all people, those who follow Christ should have hope, peace and joy, right?

I really need to shift my focus away from this "changing world scene" and fix it firmly on Jesus, the Author and Finisher or Perfecter of my faith.

Easier said than done.

Job Again

So I've read further in Job now and realize he is more human than maybe I originally thought when I wrote about him yesterday. He actually does question God because unlike we, who have the benefit of knowing the scene as told in chapter 1, Job doesn't. As far as he knew, his life was upright before God (and God agrees) so he didn't understand why his children were killed, his fortune vanished and his health deteriorated while he was stuck with a foolish wife and self-righteous friends preaching to him about his sinful life. The thought back then was if you were suffering, obviously you were sinful. If you were blessed with children, wealth and health then you were pleasing God.

Things were going so well for Job until that one bad week in his life. Seriously, I cannot see myself handling all those things with grace at all. Job's heartfelt questions for God make perfect sense to me. He is a feeling, hurting piece of clay ... not an unfeeling inanimate object!

Here are a couple verses that stuck out to me as I was reading earlier. I'm only halfway done with the book thus far. It has 42 chapters.

The first passage has to do with God's authority over nations and leaders. You can see the preceding verses for even more. From Job 12:

²³ He makes nations great, and destroys them;
he enlarges nations, and disperses them.

²⁴ He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason;
he sends them wandering through a trackless waste.

²⁵ They grope in darkness with no light;
he makes them stagger like drunkards.

These verses were from one of Job's friends, Eliphaz, in Job 15:

¹¹ Are God's consolations not enough for you,
words spoken gently to you?

¹² Why has your heart carried you away,
and why do your eyes flash,

¹³ so that you vent your rage against God
and pour out such words from your mouth?

Maybe one day I'll make some sort of application here, but I just wanted to note these for now. Job 15:11 was like a question straight from God this morning....sweet.

Finding Strength & Joy in Him

Recently I wrote about the power of praise. I have a lot on my mind today and need some of that power. Instead of trying to figure things out with a full mind and heavy heart, I need to start praising. So here I shall try. And I'll borrow words from I Chronicles 16.

²⁷ Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and joy in his dwelling place.

²⁸ Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength,

²⁹ ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name.

³¹ Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let them say among the nations, "The LORD reigns!"

³² Let the sea resound, and all that is in it;
let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them!

³³ Then the trees of the forest will sing,
they will sing for joy before the LORD,
for he comes to judge the earth.

³⁴ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.

I really love this passage. It makes a wonderful mental image of a happy creation - the rejoicing heavens, jubilant fields, dancing cows (don't you see the part in verse 32 about "and everything in them"? Well, cows are often in fields, ya know.), singing trees. And then check out those stunning tulips pictured above! Even Solomon in all his splendor was not clothed like them!

I will think on the first verse, number 27. Especially this part: "strength and joy in his dwelling place." So does this mean if I dwell close to God that I will get that needed strength and the joy that will make this heavy heart and troubled mind peaceful again?

I'll give it a try. Please, Lord, help me. You know how I struggle in this area.

Chronicles name

There are a lot of really, ummm, shall we say bizarre (at least to my western ears!) names in Chronicles, but one I made note of is

HAPPIZZEZ

Sounds like a person who was happy and sleepy (zzzzz).

Happizzez was in I Chronicles 24:15 in case you were wondering.