promises

Good Remembering

| Marie Griffith

For those of you that receive an email when I post, I apologize. Technology is good to me most of the time but has been a challenge today. I accidentally published some of my random thoughts and ideas for posts. So you got a little look behind the scenes. It’s going to be a good Monday School anyway.

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

Lamentations 3:21-24

These are verses that are quoted often. To encourage. To give hope. To remind.

If you read the entire book of Lamentations or at least all of Chapter 3 you’ll understand better the power of the words. They were written by a man who’d seen dark days. Weighed down by chains, torn apart, mangled, and cowered in ashes are some of the ways he described the suffering. The saddest words are these: “I have forgotten what happiness is. My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord.”

“But this I call to mind….” Another version of the Bible uses yet instead of but to begin the sentence. Either way, the man remembers. And the remembering gives him clearer vision. Then he keeps remembering other things like, God’s forever love and His never ending mercies. He recalls God’s faithfulness and because of all the remembering the man has renewed hope.

This man who felt enveloped in darkness with teeth broken by gravel. This man who complained about being taunted and filled with bitterness is filled with hope and proclaims the goodness of the Lord.

I think the way the author remembered the steadfast love, faithfulness and mercies of God is by looking back at his own story and others too. Maybe it was a small thing or a life-changing event. But he remembered something good. Maybe it was something tragic but something good came from it. Perhaps he remembered his friends or other loved ones, good times and good food. Maybe he looked at the sunrise, the lake, and the stars and remembered the Designer.

Whatever it was, the remembering was good and needed and changed everything.

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

Lamentations 3:25

Mnemonic

The Heart of the Matter

| Marie Griffith

I continued my reading in Numbers last week so that’s where my Monday School comes from today. See the Monday School page to find out more.

Moses’ authority was challenged by his own brother and sister in Chapter 12 and Chapters 13 through 14 recounts more complaining and an all out rebellion of the people of God.

God told Moses to send spies to check out the good land of Canaan which He was giving them. Moses wanted to know a few things about the Promised Land. What was the land like? How many people are there and are they strong or weak? Are there trees on the land?

Besides confirming all the good things about the land, I’m certain Moses expected to receive information to help him and the other leaders develop a strategy to occupy it.

The report from the spies began well. They admitted the land flowed with milk and honey, but the report focused on the strong people who lived there and the large fortified cities. Caleb spoke up and reassured the people the land could be taken but this only made the other spies exaggerate their report even more. Of the people who inhabited the land the other spies said, “We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”  

Again, Caleb with Joshua, pleaded with the people:

“The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.” Numbers 14:7-9   

The people were so fearful……..so angry at the leaders for bringing them out of Egypt…………..so convinced that what God promised wasn’t true………hysteria took over and they wanted to murder Caleb and Joshua.

Ten of the twelve spies came back from the 40 day assignment convinced there was no way the land could be taken. The other two were more certain than ever of God’s promises. It makes me wonder. Did the spies stay together on their undercover journey? Or did they separate into smaller groups to explore the land? What did the spies talk about during all those late night dinners around the campfire? Did each of them know what the others thought? What did Joshua and Caleb see that the other ten didn’t?

God pointed out the difference between Caleb and Joshua and the rest. First in Numbers 14 then in chapter 32:

“But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.”    Verse 24

‘Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, not one of those who were twenty years old or more when they came up out of Egypt will see the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob— not one except Caleb and Joshua, for they followed the Lord wholeheartedly.’    Verses 11-12

Caleb and Joshua saw the same land and the same people as the other spies, but their hearts made them see with eyes of faith.

The ten spies saw the fortified cities. Caleb and Joshua saw the land God promised His people. The ten saw how big the people were and saw themselves as grasshoppers. Caleb and Joshua remembered the promises, remembered the miracles and deliverance, and saw themselves as God’s chosen ones.

Caleb and Joshua followed God wholeheartedly. It’s always about the heart.

Long after Caleb and Joshua, when the teachers of the law asked Jesus which commandment was the most important – this was his answer:

“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  Mark 12:30 ESV

I like this version of the verse because it sounds like a promise too.

Maybe we love more and more wholeheartedly as we continue our journeys and grow in the knowledge of who He is. Maybe we love God in proportion to our understanding of His love for us…….and our faith grows as our love grows.

Then let us ask for understanding.

 

 

Photo by Robson Hatsukami Morgan on Unsplash

 

Three Days In

| Marie Griffith

My thoughts for Monday School are on Thanksgiving. I expected to write about one of the many verses on thankfulness but when I read this story I knew this had to be in Monday School.

I like to think of myself as a grateful person, but I realize I’m more like the people in the story than I want to be.

Three days.

That’s how long the people of Israel traveled before they complained.

The first part of Numbers is about censuses, assignments of duties, march formations and camp set up. But by the end of chapter 10, the people of Israel are on the move. Verses 33 & 34 say, “So they set out from the mountain………..the cloud of the Lord was over them by day when they set out from the camp.”

After almost a full year at Mount Sinai the people of Israel began their journey to the Promised Land. Three days in “and the people complained….” But the complaining turned into something worse.

“The rabble with them began to crave other food and again the Israelites started wailing and said, ‘If only we had meat to eat. We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost-also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetites; we never see anything but this manna!”   Numbers 11:4-6

The people did the same thing three days into the trek from the Red Sea to Mount Sinai. (Exodus 15) They complained about water. After they saw the Red Sea parted and walked to the other side on dry land…….they complained about water. This time they grumbled about food. The bread of heaven had ceased to satisfy. It wasn’t good enough. And with each complaint the people romanticized their time in Egypt.

We do the same. We may not say it out loud but we grumble in our hearts. The business we prayed for finally happens and as soon as it’s more challenging than expected we dream of the easy days before it started. The promotion we wanted demands more conflict resolution skills than we care for and we want to give up. We pray for good friends but distance ourselves when the relationships requires more give than take.

Like the people of Israel, we want the Promised Land but not the difficult journey. We want the privileges without the responsibility, the transformation without the work, the patience without the perseverance, and the faith without the fight. We want all the good stuff without any of the hard stuff.

Like the people of Israel, we forget. We forget the miracles, the healing, and the promises kept. And we choose not to remember how it really was in Egypt.

We would never say it but we ignore God’s Presence, doubt His promises and despise His provision.

And like the people of Israel, sometimes God gives us exactly what we think we want.

 

For the rest of this story read Numbers 11.

 

Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash

Keeping the Promises

| Marie Griffith

Laughter floated in the air as food was prepared and decorations set. Flowers filled the entry ways, overflowed from vases on the mantel, tables and all around our home. Friends and family gathered yesterday to shower my daughter with blessings as she prepares to enter this new season of life and celebrate the upcoming marriage to her fiance. What a joyous time it was. We saw faces we hadn’t seen in years. Some came from far away, others from down the road. My sweet aunt who was married to her love for 74 years was there. Some newly marrieds and some who will be someday came too.

Along with lots of wonderful gifts for her home, our friends and family brought their love and blessings with them. My friend told us a beautiful story and shared some things she wish she’d known as a young bride. Then I prayed for my daughter.

It didn’t take long for me to settle on what to pray for her in her marriage. Her father and I celebrated 23 years of marriage the day before her shower so I was thinking of our story as I was thinking about how to pray.

Twenty three years ago in a small wedding chapel in Tennessee we vowed to love each other.

We promised to love each other when times were good and when they weren’t. To love each other in times of sickness and wellness, during feast or famine, and highs and lows.

We laugh now at the kids we were then because we thought we had it figured out. Now we know we still don’t have it figured out.

But we’re learning. We’re growing together, loving each other, and getting better and better at it. We’re keeping the promises.

We’ve experienced abundant joy and faced tragedy; enjoyed many blessings and walked through painful seasons. And we’ve done it for 23 years.

We’re better because of each other and for each other.

I began the prayer for my daughter with Ephesians 4:32. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

It’s not the typical marriage verse but I know from 23 years that when my husband and I are practicing this, we’re doing well. When we’re not following it, things aren’t as good as they can be.

I prayed for her the same things I ask for myself:

“Father, thank You that we can come to You with confidence and know You hear us. Thank You for our friends and family gathered here to celebrate our daughter’s life. And thank You for the divine gift of marriage.

Father, You promise to give us all we need to do what You’ve called us to do. Draw her near to You. May she look to You for guidance and wisdom as she grows into the woman You’ve called her to be.

You call us to kind actions and words but Your desire is not that we just do kind acts but that our hearts are tender which leads to kindness. God, keep her heart tender. Let her eyes be fixed on You and may she remember Your kindness and extravagant love toward her.

Give her a wholehearted love for You, Father. Because as her love for You grows, so will the love for her husband.”

And we all said, “Amen.”

“Love is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit, reinforced by the grace which both partners ask, and receive, from God.”   C.S. Lewis

photo by Markie Pearson Photography

Extravagant

Take Heart

| Marie Griffith

My Lenten journey coincides with another journey…..one I knew would be complicated and take me to hard and lonely places. But it’s a good journey. I don’t know of any worthy journey without challenges.

It’s the hard parts that make us stronger. We’re more courageous when we get to the other side of a trial. Our hearts are strengthened by God’s faithfulness and His promises become the anchors to our souls. And our trials are nothing compared with the glory to come.

“Jesus came to be the pattern, to leave footprints for the person who would join him, who would become a follower,” writes Soren Kierkegaard in the reading from Day 11 of Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter. He continues, “Christ’s life is a demand.”

God, give me courage to follow. Not to admire, but to follow.

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”    John 16:33

 

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photo by dietmaha @ pixabay

 

 

 

 

path photo by danielam @ pixabay

 

 

 

 

 

Underneath

| Marie Griffith

Now that the house is mostly empty we can begin the work of renovating. We’ve never done this before so we’re learning as we go. I’ve learned how to pull up carpet and removed hundreds of staples from the subfloor. My favorite part is taking a crowbar to the tack strips along the sides of the rooms.

In one of the back bedrooms, my parents’ room when I was a girl, we found hardwood floors underneath the carpet.

I would love to restore them but half the floors have been drilled with screws every half inch across the entire length of the floor. We have one more room that may have fully restorable wood floors. We shall see.

What covered those beautiful hardwood floors in that back bedroom was the ugliest carpet I’ve ever seen. It may have been the trend at one time but I hope mauve carpeting never makes a comeback. Why would anyone want to cover those beautiful hardwood floors?

We do the same thing. With our hearts.

We are hurt in some way and without even thinking about it we put a layer of protection around our hearts. More hurt comes…….a criticism, a betrayal, or broken promises. Another layer of protection. Someone lies to us, leaves us out or ignores us. So another layer goes around our hearts. And another. And then another.

We don’t even realize how guarded we’ve become. Unable to receive the good because we’re always expecting the bad.

We guard ourselves from the very thing we need and want most.

Love. Authenticity. Real relationships.

The covering over our hearts….the one we cling to…..that we think will protect us from hurt….. also shields us from joy and love and true intimacy with others.

But what’s underneath can be beautiful if we will just be brave enough to peel away the layers.

And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart  

 Ezekiel 11:19 NLT

In response to Authentic.