Marketplace Monastics

This Advent season, with our minds on gift-giving and all the things we would like to be able to do and share with others, we are taking time to give to God the things we think He might want the most.

Today, we are putting all our fears in a box, wrapping it with repentance, and tying it up with the Word of the Lord:

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. (1 John 4:18, NIV)

What could He want more?  Oh, if we would BOLDLY approach the throne of grace!  (Hebrews 4:16). If we would exchange our fear for the knowledge of His nearness!  (Isaiah 41:10). Shall we not have the peace that Jesus promised, absolutely free from fear? (John 14:27)

            He wants to be known, at Christmas and always, He somehow, wonderfully, wants us to know Him, and we cannot know Him as He is through the veil of human fear.

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Father God, we surrender our fears at Your feet.  We say that, to fear You unrighteously is never to know You as You are, and our carnal, unbelieving fears have separated us from Who You Are.  We won’t even fear that we cannot stop fearing and fretting, for YOU WILL HELP US, and You will deliver us from our fears, according to Your Word.  We won’t be afraid, You will do this!  Our gift to You will bless us forever …

I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.

 (Psalm 34:4, KJV)

Sassoferrato, The Virgin in Prayer, 1640-1650

unafraid – aren’t you glad Mary did not turn away in fear?

by permission, Wikipedia, public domain, death of the artist

What do you give to the God who has everything, Who IS everything good and true?  We shall give what He asks, always the very best idea, any season … let’s make it real, let’s make it our Advent devotion for 2019.

Father, I forgive.  I forgive every offense, every wound, every misunderstanding, every loss.

To make this present rich in your sight, I won’t wait until I feel perfectly loving and gracious toward those who have taken from me … I give them my forgiveness, my gift to You.

Tied with a shiny bow, I will pray for them and bless them when I can, when I think of them, and ask good things for them.  I don’t have to trust them or expect anything from them, I will trust You and expect You to help them find the joy I have in You.

I pray this day for __________________, and I rejoice, in Jesus’ lovely Name, Amen.

It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’ (Luke 24:47, NLT)

Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (Colossians 3:13, NIV)

Three Wise Men, Basilica Sant Apolinnare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy,

photo by Nina-No, by permission, Wikipedia

The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness;
    according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
 For I have kept the ways of the Lord;
    I am not guilty of turning from my God.
 All his laws are before me;
    I have not turned away from his decrees.
 I have been blameless before him
    and have kept myself from sin.
The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
    according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

 To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
    to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
to the pure you show yourself pure,
    but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.
You save the humble
    but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.

            For many of us, we don’t know what to say.

We never come before the Lord and say, “You have dealt with me according to my righteousness … I have been blameless before You.”  Most of us wouldn’t dream of it.

At the same time, we tremble to be among those who have said, “This is because of my sin.  The Lord has seen me, and He is rewarding my evil deeds and my unjust thoughts.”

Some did, in Scripture, cringe with their words.  From Adam and Eve forward, when we know we are naked before God, we hide ourselves.  Others, like Saul to Samuel and Simon the Magician in Acts, have cried out to the righteous, “Pray for me!”, too guilt-ridden to lift up their own voices before the Lord.

If those for whom we pray, our Dear and Desperate Little Friends, could only say to the Him, “Here I am, unformed in Christ and unclean in my heart at times, unbelieving, uncertain, and even uncaring, but when I call, when I know I am in trouble, I have heard that You will help,” what might become of them?  They do not all seem to be cowering, but pride and arrogance are the most commonly used fig leaves for our fears.

Our Father, our God, seems to me to be drawn to honesty. It attracts Him.  Not a boasting honesty (“I am hard and un-feeling and I don’t care!”) but a genuine honesty which acknowledges at least the possibility that an Almighty God might be All Loving as well, that we have all seen good days and have had opportunity to feel good and do good things, if only we would.  For every one of us, a beautiful sunrise, a full-blown cactus flower, a smiling child, a newborn infant, a mother’s love can touch our hearts with something extra-human, something divine, and we know it.  To hold the door for a bent old lady is Christ, unless we attribute someone else.

We have, and others may have, a righteousness of which to boast.  Those of us who do say so are not confused as to where we obtained that righteousness, not in and of ourselves, but ours it is, according to the Word of God.

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

1 Corinthians 1:30

Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption … ours, in Christ Jesus.  Ours to reveal and to offer to others, in Him.  The very reality that makes these our own comes with the reality that we desperately needed someone to clothe our nakedness.  With these, any spiritual battle may be fought and won, if only we can say it and believe it in our need and in our hearts.  Then shall we want it above all things for those we love.

Father God, we ask today in all the strength of the humility which brought us to Your Son and gave us His righteousness, give to those we love, those for whom we pray, to hunger and thirst for that very righteousness.  We ask in fulness of hope, because when we hunger for You, as You Yourself have said, we will and they shall be fed.  Amen.

Adam and Eve, entrance to Notre Dame Cathedral, photo by Jebulon,

by permission, Wikipedia

The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness;
    according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
For I have kept the ways of the Lord;
    I am not guilty of turning from my God.
All his laws are before me;
    I have not turned away from his decrees.
I have been blameless before him
    and have kept myself from sin.
The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
    according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

Here is an interesting matter.

We have been praying through the Psalms for those we know who are desperately wounded, down deep lost in sin and deception, and here we read the words of one who defends his own righteousness, and who recites the reward of it!

The part that arrests our attention is this, that while we have been praying for those who cannot lift up their heads, we ourselves will seldom – if ever – pray with this degree of boldness and affirmation.

Do we not hope for others that they might be able to confess and to attest to these things?  Steadfast!  Guiltless! Blameless before God!  Righteous and rewarded!

Yet we often demur … “Just a sinner saved by grace ….” “Nobody’s perfect, least of all me.” Is it possible that we might need a little more spiritual gumption in order to obtain a more widespread victory? The next words of Psalm 18 are these:

To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
    to the blameless you show yourself blameless,

 to the pure you show yourself pure,
    but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.
You save the humble
    but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
You, Lord, keep my lamp burning;
    my God turns my darkness into light.
With your help I can advance against a troop;
    with my God I can scale a wall.

            Let us consider today, for ourselves, for the Church, and for those still suffering and intimidated, that we need to be able to speak the whole truth concerning the finished work of Christ, and we need to be righteous in Him and to know we are.   It would seem that bold righteousness and humility exist together in a pure heart! We do not turn away from our God, we keep our hands and our hearts pure, and we must continue to advance against troops of spiritual enemies and scale walls that enclose prisoners and victims of wicked schemes and powers.

No slacking, and certainly never using imperfections as an excuse to wait or hang back.

For whom will your righteous soul fight and prevail this day?

photo: Screenshot/YouTube

He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy,
    with great bolts of lightning he routed them.
¹⁵ The valleys of the sea were exposed
    and the foundations of the earth laid bare
at your rebuke, Lord, at the blast of breath from your nostrils.

¹⁶ He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
    he drew me out of deep waters.
¹⁷ He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
    from my foes, who were too strong for me.
¹⁸ They confronted me in the day of my disaster,but the Lord was my support.
¹⁹ He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. (Psalm 18:14-19)

Oh, to be able to imprint these words and all this truth upon the hearts of our Desperate Little Friends!  Sometimes, we need to make sure they are imprinted on our own!

Were we to list the points of truth in these six verses, it would be a life teaching!  We have enemies!  Our God rescues us from them!  They are too powerful for us!  He is too powerful for them!  They draw no quarter … He delights in us!

When we are sad, when we feel confused, when we have been ensnared … none of these realities become unreal, in fact.

Why are we so tested upon this earth?  Probably we are tested because we can fail our tests, or when not, because others need to see the faithfulness of God.  If I am to become a surgeon of skill and renown, able to help thousands, I must be tested until I no longer sever the wrong artery or carve away the mistaken brain tissue!  It is not an easy thing to know God, but it is a good thing that I am tested until I do.

We think of Joseph.  He was tested until he was able to say, This is of God!  All your sin and wrong-doing only resulted in the glory of God to save us all.  His brothers were privileged to see through Joseph the God of their fathers whom they knew not.  Through Joseph, the mercies of God changed their lives.

Let us cry out and be rescued this very day, and on behalf of those we love.  They are not just unruly, unfriendly, unkind; they are unbelieving in places that wound them more than they wound us!  God will rescue us and them and bring us together into spacious places of forgiveness, grace, revelation, and hope.

Painting of Joseph interpreting Pharaoh’s dream

Adrian Guignet, by permission, age of painting, Wikipedia

In my distress I called to the Lord;    I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;    my cry came before him, into his ears.
⁷ The earth trembled and quaked,   and the foundations of the mountains shook;
    they trembled because he was angry.
⁸ Smoke rose from his nostrils;   consuming fire came from his mouth,
    burning coals blazed out of it.
⁹ He parted the heavens and came down;   dark clouds were under his feet.
¹⁰ He mounted the cherubim and flew;   he soared on the wings of the wind.
¹¹ He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—
    the dark rain clouds of the sky.
¹² Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
    with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
¹³ The Lord thundered from heaven … Psalm 18:6-13, NIV

Did I mention … I love this Psalm!  I cherish this revelation of God for me and for my Dear and Desperate Little Friends.

When in distress I cried out, my voice was heard, and as if in an instant, God arose to my help.  His action made the earth tremble and the foundations of the mountains shook!  He became, as it were, a fire of compassion and deliverance, rocketing to my help, burning with lovingkindness and zeal.

What I did not always know, and what few of our Desperate Little Friends yet understand, when He comes He is swathed in darkness. He makes no show on the earth of His glory in the heavens.  He arrives under cloak of black darkness, and if anything is seen of His advent, it is hailstones and bolts of lightning, atmospheric changes that do not seem to be answering our purposes.

Tell your friends, and I will tell mine, that He comes, He comes, when we cry out in the humility of our need and the greatness of His love!  Not as showgirls in Vegas on a spiral staircase or Elvis descending per Deux ex Machina, this is no evidence that God has run out of ways to deliver us and now He has to flex His divine muscles – no!

You come when we cry out!  You come to our aid and help!  You hear our voices!  Forgive us when we see nothing but darkness and storm and turn away when You are near, and for our Dear and Desperate Little Friends we pray the same, that they will be given grace to believe, to hope, even to know that You hear when they call, and You are on the way …

How many times have we failed of Your mercies and Your miracles, because we were quick to doubt and unwilling to wait?

God From the Machine, Euripides’ MEDEA … Syracuse Theater,

by Sailko, by permission, Wikipedia

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
    my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
    my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
    and I have been saved from my enemies.
The cords of death entangled me;
    the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
The cords of the grave coiled around me;
    the snares of death confronted me.

             I wonder, how many of our Dear and Desperate Little Friends are as desperate as they are because they have never been able to say these words?

How many of us, secure in the love of God, have known the entanglement of destruction and the yawning jaws of death?  Not even physical death, perhaps, but the death of hope, of purpose, or a relationship.  Many believers have faced these bonds and by the love of God, struggled free, and so we pray for those who have not.

Oh GOD!  Mighty God! You are our rock, our fortress and our strength!  You are our deliverer and our salvation, but we know one, we know two, we know more than a score of others, young and old, rich and poor, whose enemies have pulled them down to the depths of despair.

We say again, some of them are marked “Desperate” by their circumstances and their demeanor, and some appear to be more undaunted than desperate, but You have given us to see behind the veil, to see the fleeting glance as of a hunted animal or a soul whose light has gone out.

That is a privileged glimpse into the inner chamber where humans dwell with God – or not.  The very privilege of that glimpse assigns our compassion and our intercession.

            Father God, this day, on behalf of __________________________, whose heart I know is troubled beyond human repair, untangle the cords of spiritual death, usually a mistaken understanding of YOU, and spring the snares and rescue him/her from the torrents that have flown so swiftly downriver and out of safety, but for Your love and Your deliverance. 

            Save, O God!  My Rock, my Fortress, my Refuge, I cry out on behalf of my Dear Friend!  Save, for there is none beside You, none so worthy and none so capable.  Save, Father, I pray!

The Raising of Lazarus, Caravaggio, public domain, death of the artist

By permission, Wikipedia

I love you, Lord, my strength.

Psalm 18:1

I hope I don’t lose you here, but I could spend a couple of months on Psalm 18.  It means so much to me!  I won’t, but, oh, let’s wring every drop of glory out of these words, all that we possibly can!

It is what we need, Who He is, what He will do, why we cry out, why we sing, what will happen to our enemies, all rolled into one glorious song of praise and revelation!

With all that in mind, I would like to begin with a focus on one verse, the first verse, and as always in this manner, for our Dear and Desperate Little Friends.

Do you know anyone, young or old, rich or poor, successful or forgotten, whose life would change overnight if only they could say these words from the depths of their heart?

I love you, Lord, my strength.

Psalm 18:1

For me, there was a time when, with a very little bit of Christianizing in my childhood, Christmas and Easter Christianity for the most part, I would have recognized a little latent love for Baby Jesus, for Dying Jesus, but I seldom contemplated either beyond the holidays. Still, Christmas and Easter Christianity is powerful, isn’t it?  It is enough to take us to that place where, we may not really KNOW HIM, but we begin to hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Yet, to be able to say, to shout, to sing, to rejoice: “I love You, Jesus!” … that’s another dimension for most of us, and I can think of so many of my D.L.F.s for whom I might wish just an hour or an evening of time alone with the Lord, their strength, loving Him.

For best results, not just acknowledging, “Yes, I guess I love God,” but l-o-v-i-n-g Him, in prison, loving Him more than needing Him, at school, loving Him more than defending Him, at home, loving Him more than wanting anything more or else than His will and His way.

A step further, for my Dear and Desperate Little Friends, and for all of us, loving Him with that love that “hates” everything else.  There’s a Scripture about that, and it’s a hard one.  Most people think it means, “by comparison.”  I rather prefer the idea that nothing else can be held up to match or parallel that love in any way.  Oh, to love Him in such a way that we would “hate” our own way and our own thoughts, not in comparison with His, but because His are all good and true and right and perfect, and ours are not.

In prison, to “hate” any waking moment when we hate being there, because He is with us.  Talk about a hard saying, but is it not true?  When I pause to ponder, I don’t see Joseph or Paul “hating” prison; too much hate would have distracted them and diverted their love.  They seem to have been too busy serving and worshiping the Lord, their Strength.

In a difficult relationship, to “hate” wishing for something more or better, because HE is our portion.  The minute, the moment, we can stop hating our difficulties and begin loving our God, and through Him those He has given us to love, is the moment we step out of every prison of diabolical locks and bars.

Hating our parents, hating our past, hating our jobs, hating our faults, hating our failures, hating our lack, hating our circumstances, hating ourselves … Father, for those I love, for the dear ones for whom I pray and care deeply, may they be given grace to hate all the hating they have harbored, to hate comparing Your love to their lack, and decide instead to love You, O Lord, our Strength.

Chuck Colson, Founder of Prison Fellowship International and Evangelicals and Catholics Together, White House photo, U.S. Government image, public domain, Wikipedia

We have seen them, the wicked, those with calloused hearts, crouching like lions, lying in wait for those we love.

Our Dear Little Friends, our dear family members, some have been separated from the flock, tracked down, surrounded, and thrown to the ground, as a lion would a young gazelle, ready to feast.

Would you like to turn away just now, quickly?  Sometimes I do.  It’s too horrible, it seems too much like a bad fairy tale … until I look and I see that this is no fiction.  Those close to us, and many who are far, some we have never met, some just represented by people groups, witches, abortionists, terrorists, atheists, pedophiles, prisoners, gang members.

We have turned from them, in our hearts and with our speech. “They are ruining our culture, our nation, our children.”  But look! The Lord is a God who will rise up; He will confront the wicked, and if JUST ONE abortionist, gang leader, pedophile, dabbler in darkness might be rescued FROM THOSE THAT CROUCHED NEARBY, LYING IN WAIT FOR THEM, if just ONE pedophile might be saved, even vindicated from the evil trespassing in his or her heart for so long, if JUST ONE might awaken and see the Lord’s face, even see it in the mirror, impossible as that would be apart from grace and truth, apart from the blood of Jesus Christ, and be satisfied to see the Lord’s likeness looking back, then we are the Lord’s own, His army of warring intercessors, saving some even if from fire (Jude 23,) ever in search of the one lost sheep, and bringing them back to the flock of God.

Now, we pray concerning the REAL enemy, the devil, the dragon, the accuser of the brethren, and on behalf of even just one we ask,

Rise up, Lord, confront them, bring them down;
    with your sword rescue [this one] from the wicked.
¹⁴ By your hand save [those we love] from such people, Lord,
    from those of this world whose reward is in this life.
May what you have stored up for the wicked fill their bellies;
    may their children gorge themselves on it,
    and may there be leftovers for their little ones.

[Somehow, O Lord, our spiritual enemies will turn upon themselves when You rise up to defend.]

¹⁵ As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face;
    when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.

Heinrich Harder, by permission, public domain, death of the artist, Wikipedia

^{An homage to our parents today.} 

            ^{When we look at the words to this Psalm, it is an accounting of all that our parents wanted for us, taught us, and encouraged in us. We can nearly hear their counsel …}

             My steps have held to your paths;
    my feet have not stumbled.

                                                                                    ^{“My dad made me walk the straight and narrow!”}

I call on you, my God, for you will answer me;
    turn your ear to me and hear my prayer.
⁷ Show me the wonders of your great love,
    you who save by your right hand

                                                                                    ^{“If you are in trouble, pray!  God will hear you!”}

Show me the wonders of your great love,
    you who save by your right hand
    those who take refuge in you from their foes.
⁸ Keep me as the apple of your eye;
    hide me in the shadow of your wings

                                                                                    ^{“Jesus loves the little children.”}

            from the wicked who are out to destroy me,
    from my mortal enemies who surround me.

                                                                                     ^{“There are some bad people out there.”}

            ¹⁰ They close up their callous hearts,
    and their mouths speak with arrogance.
¹¹ They have tracked me down, they now surround me,
    with eyes alert, to throw me to the ground.
¹² They are like a lion hungry for prey,
    like a fierce lion crouching in cover.

                                                                                    ^{“Watch out for the kids that act big and talk smart; that kind of friendship will just bring you down. ”}

            ^{How grateful we are for parents who told us the truth and held us to it, and we are praying for those who parenting failed, or who failed their parents.  Our Dear and Desperate Little Friends.  Some of those were the “bad kids” in school and some are still, but for all they did not discover of the power and the love of God then, for all the fear of the Lord that didn’t “take” when they were young, we pray today.}

            ^{After all, with the Lord, today is always the day of salvation.}

Remember what it says: “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled.”  (Hebrews 3:15, NIV)

 ^{Sprinter Miryam Sidrensky, with her daughter}

by Yossef Orion, by permission, Wikipedia

copyright cleared, Israel