Cathy Bryant's Blog: CatBryant.com ~ Journey Blog, page 88

Persecution

While being a follower of Christ carries great blessing, it also carries difficulties. Jesus warned about it when He told His disciples "In the world you will have tribulation" (John 16:33). One form of tribulation that every believer will face at some point in their journey is persecution.



Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. (2 Timothy 3:12-13, ESV)



Some persecution is flagrant. We see this when people are martyred for their faith or when their livelihood is threatened. Other persecution is more subtle--taunting words, ridicule, etc.



Here are a few things to consider when you face persecution:



1. Our battle is ultimately a spiritual battle.



For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.  (Ephesians 6:12, ESV)



While the normal human reaction is to lash out at the people who persecute us, we can be sure that Satan is behind it all. A better response is to continue to act in a loving way toward those who persecute you, though it's certainly not an easy task.



2. Our suffering will be short compared to the joys of eternity.



This one small nugget of truth can get us through the darkest of days.



For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. (Romans 8:18, ESV)



3. We're called to love, trust, glorify God, rejoice, do good, be patient and steadfast, have faith, not fear, pray, bless, and endure.



Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. (Romans 12:12, ESV)



Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. (Romans 12:14)



When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; (1 Corinthians 4:12b)



Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2, ESV)



As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. (James 5:10-11, ESV)



Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. (2 Thessalonians 1:4, ESV)



"But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you," (Matthew 5:44, ESV)



But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. (1 Peter 3:13-17, ESV)



Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And "If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?" Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. (1 Peter 4:12-19, ESV)



For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, "Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. (Hebrews 10:36-39, ESV)



4. We are not alone. Through Him who has overcome the world we can be conquerors.





Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:35-37, ESV)





"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, ESV)



Father, thank You that You provided an example of how to endure in the face of persecution. Thanks for equipping and enabling us to overcome this type of tribulation. Help us to cling to our faith in You and to respond to persecution in a way that pleases You. Amen.

Wounded

When my boys were little we had a black cocker spaniel named Buster. Nothing made our little dog happier than when the boys would play outside in the back yard.



One day I heard the continued yelp of a dog in pain. I hurried outside. Buster had somehow managed to get one of his back legs stuck between two slats in the tandem swing on the boy's swing set.



By the time I reached him, he'd already struggled so much that he'd torn the skin open. I picked him up to free the back leg, and Buster did something he'd never done before. He bit me. He bit so hard that his sharp teeth pierced completely through one of my fingernails.



On any other occasion I would have punished Buster, but I didn't this time. I realized that the bite came from his pain, not from his desire to hurt me.



The life lesson I learned that day is that when people lash out, it's not necessarily for the purpose of hurting you. They may be wounded beyond what you can even imagine.

7 Questions Every Christian Blogger Should Ask

As Christ-followers our heart's desire is to use every means possible to proclaim the good news. That's why so many of us choose to blog in a saturated market. We believe that it's another way to honor Christ with our lives.



Unfortunately, the old sin nature is still strong within us, and we have the capacity to say the wrong things for the wrong reasons, or the wrong things for the right reasons, or the right things for the wrong reasons.



I've learned the hard way (in other words, through personal experience) that I must question and carefully dissect every post I write to make sure that it's of God.



Here are some questions I intend to ask myself with each and every post from here on out:

Is this post about me or God?
Is this post helpful to others?
Is this post about proving myself to others?
Is this post written to impress others?
Is this post written to prove I'm right and someone else is wrong?
Is this post written with love?
Does this post help advance the kingdom?
If you have other questions to add to the list, please leave a comment. We can learn from each other.

"Jesus: In The Present Tense" by Warren W. Wiersbe

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!



You never know when I might play a wild card on you!





Today's Wild Card author is:

Warren Wiersbe

and the book:

Jesus in the Present Tense: The I AM Statements of Christ David C. Cook (January 1, 2011) ***Special thanks to Karen Davis, Assistant Media Specialist, The B&B Media Group for sending me a review copy.***



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:



Dr. Warren Wiersbe is an internationally known Bible teacher and the former pastor of The Moody Church in Chicago. For ten years he was associated with the Back to the Bible radio broadcast, first as Bible teacher and then as general director. Dr. Wiersbe has written more than 160 books, including the popular "Be" series of Bible commentaries, which has sold more than four million copies. He and his wife, Betty, live in Lincoln, NE.





SHORT BOOK DISCRIPTION:

As Warren Wiersbe writes, "My past may discourage me and my future may frighten me, but 'the life I now live' today can be enriching and encouraging because 'Christ lives in me.'" In Jesus in the Present Tense, Dr. Warren W. Wiersbe explores the "I AM" statements of God—from His burning bush conversation with Moses, to His powerful reassurances to the Israelites, to Jesus' startling claim to be the Light of the World. Jesus in the Present Tense offers a fresh exploration of God—the I AM.



God doesn't want us to ignore the past, but the past should be a rudder to guide us and not an anchor to hold us back. Nor does He want us to neglect planning for the future, so long as we say, "If it is the Lord's will" (James 4:13-17). The better we understand our Lord's I AM statements, and by faith apply them, the more our strength will equal our days (Deut. 33:25), and we will "run and not grow weary [and]…walk and not be faint" (Isa. 40:31). We will abide in Christ and bear fruit for His glory today—now.



Product Details:



List Price: $14.99

Paperback: 208 pages

Publisher: David C. Cook (January 1, 2011)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0781404878

ISBN-13: 978-0781404877



AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:





Moses Asks a Question



Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"



—Exodus 3:13







When Helen Keller was nineteen months old, she contracted an illness that left her blind and deaf for life. It was not until she was ten years old that she began to have meaningful communication with those around her. It occurred when her gifted teacher Anne Sullivan taught her to say "water" as Anne spelled "water" on the palm of her hand. From that pivotal experience, Helen Keller entered the wonderful world of words and names, and it transformed her life. Once Helen was accustomed to this new system of communication with others, her parents arranged for her to receive religious instruction from the eminent Boston clergyman Phillips Brooks. One day during her lesson, Helen said these remarkable words to Brooks: "I knew about God before you told me, only I didn't know His name."1







The Greek philosophers wrestled with the problem of knowing and naming God. "But the father and maker of all this universe is past finding out," Plato wrote in his Timaeus dialogue, "and if we found him, to tell of him to all men would be impossible." He said that God was "a geometrician," and Aristotle called God "The Prime Mover." No wonder the apostle Paul found an altar in Athens dedicated to "The Unknown God" (see Acts 17:22–23). The Greek philosophers of his day were "without hope and without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12). But thinkers in recent centuries haven't fared much better. The German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Hegel called God "the Absolute," and Herbert Spencer named Him "the Unknowable." Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychiatry, wrote in chapter 4 of his book Totem and Taboo (1913), "The personalized God is psychologically nothing other than a magnified father." God is a father figure but not a personal heavenly Father. British biologist Julian Huxley wrote in chapter 3 of his book Religion without Revelation (1957), "Operationally, God is beginning to resemble not a ruler but the last fading smile of a cosmic Cheshire cat." The fantasies described in Alice in Wonderland were more real to Huxley than was God Almighty!







But God wants us to know Him, because knowing God is the most important thing in life!







Salvation



To begin with, knowing God personally is the only way we sinners can be saved. Jesus said, "Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17:3). After healing a blind beggar, Jesus later searched for him and found him in the temple, and the following conversation took place: "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" asked Jesus. The man said, "Who is he, sir? Tell me so that I may believe in him."







Jesus replied, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you" (John 9:35–38). The man said, "Lord, I believe," and he fell on his knees before Jesus. Not only was the beggar given physical sight, but his spiritual eyes were also opened (Eph. 1:18) and he received eternal life. His first response was to worship Jesus publicly where everybody could see him.







This introduces a second reason why we must know who God is and what His name is: We were created to worship and glorify Him. After all, only little joy or encouragement can come from worshipping an "unknown God." We were created in God's image that we might have fellowship with Him now and "enjoy Him forever," as the catechism says. Millions of people attend religious services faithfully each week and participate in the prescribed liturgy, but not all of them enjoy personal fellowship with God. Unlike that beggar, they have never submitted to Jesus and said, "Lord, I believe." To them, God is a distant stranger, not a loving Father. Their religious lives are a routine, not a living reality.







But there is a third reason for knowing God. Because we possess eternal life and practice biblical worship, we can experience the blessing of a transformed life. After describing the folly of idol worship, the psalmist added, "Those who make them [idols] will be like them, and so will all who trust in them" (see Ps. 115:1–8). We become like the gods that we worship! Worshipping a god we don't know is the equivalent of worshipping an idol, and we can have idols in our minds and imaginations as well as on our shelves.







Our heavenly Father's loving purpose for His children is that they might be "conformed to the image of his Son" (Rom. 8:29). "And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man [Adam], so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man [Jesus]" (1 Cor. 15:49). However, we should not wait until we see Jesus for this transformation to begin, because God's Holy Spirit can start changing us today. As we pray, meditate on the Word of God, experience suffering and joy, and as we witness, worship, fellowship with God's people, and serve the Lord with our spiritual gifts, the Spirit quietly works within us and transforms us to become more like our Lord Jesus Christ.







The conclusion is obvious: The better we know the Lord, the more we will love Him, and the more we love Him, the more we will worship and obey Him. As a result, we will become more like Him and experience what the apostle Peter called growing "in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18). Paul took an incident out of the life of Moses (Ex. 34:29–35) and described it this way: "And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:18). Moses didn't realize that his face was radiant, but others saw it! He was being transformed.







God commands us to know Him and worship Him because He wants to give us the joyful privilege of serving and glorifying Him. Commanding us to worship isn't God's way of going on a heavenly ego trip, because we can supply God with nothing. "If I were hungry," says the Lord, "I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it" (Ps. 50:12). He commands worship because we need to worship Him! To humble ourselves before Him, to show reverence and gratitude, and to praise Him in the Spirit are essential to balanced growth in a normal Christian life. Heaven is a place of worship (Rev. 4—5), and we ought to begin to worship Him correctly right now. But unless we are growing in our knowledge of God and in our experience of His incredible grace, our worship and service will amount to very little.







Salvation, worship, personal transformation and loving service are all part of living in the present tense and depending on our Lord and Savior. "And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ" (1 John 1:3).







Preparation



Moses spent forty years in Egypt "being educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians" (Acts 7:22). Then he fled for his life to Midian, where he spent the next forty years serving as a shepherd. Imagine a brilliant PhD earning a living by taking care of dumb animals! But the Lord had to humble Moses before He could exalt him and make him the deliverer of Israel. Like the church today, the nation of Israel was only a flock of sheep (Ps. 77:20; 78:52; Acts 20:28), and what the nation needed was a loving shepherd who followed the Lord and cared for His people. The Lord spent eighty years preparing Moses for forty years of faithful service. God isn't in a hurry.







The call of Moses started with the curiosity of Moses. He saw a bush that was burning but not burning up, and he paused to investigate. "Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect," said British essayist Samuel Johnson, and Moses certainly qualified. He saw something he couldn't explain and discovered that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was dwelling in that burning bush (Deut. 33:16). The Lord God had come to visit him.







What did that remarkable burning bush signify to Moses, and what does it signify to us? For one thing, it revealed the holiness of God; because throughout Scripture, fire is associated with the dynamic holy character of the Lord. Isaiah called God "the consuming fire" and the "everlasting burning" (Isa. 33:14; see also Heb. 12:29). Note that Moses saw this burning bush on Mount Horeb, which is Mount Sinai (Ex. 3:1); and when God gave Moses the law on Sinai, the mountain burned with fire (Ex. 24:15–18; Acts 7:30–34). How should we respond to the holy character of God? By humbling ourselves and obeying what He commands. (See Isa. 6.) Theodore Epp wrote, "Moses was soon to discover that the essential qualifications for serving God are unshod feet and a hidden face."2 How different a description from that of "celebrities" today, who wear expensive clothes and make sure their names and faces are kept before their adoring public. God wasn't impressed with Moses' Egyptian learning, for "the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight" (1 Cor. 3:19). God's command to us is, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time" (1 Peter 5:6). When the prodigal son repented and came to his father, the father put shoes on his feet (Luke 15:22); but spiritually speaking, when believers humbly surrender to the Lord, they must remove their sandals and become bondservants of Jesus Christ.







The burning bush also reveals the grace of God, for the Lord had come down to announce the good news of Israel's salvation. He knew Moses' name and spoke to him personally (Ex. 3:4; John 10:3). He assured Moses that He saw the misery of the Jewish people in Egypt and heard their cries of pain and their prayers for help. "I am concerned about their suffering," He said. "So I have come down to rescue them" (Ex. 3:7–8). The Lord remembered and honored His covenant promises with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the time had come to deliver His people.







It was by grace that God chose Moses to be His servant. The Lord wasn't disturbed by Moses' past failures in Egypt, including the fact that even his own people had rejected his leadership (Ex. 2:11–15). Moses was now an old man who had been away from Egypt for forty years, but this didn't hinder God from using him effectively. The Lord knows how to use the weak, foolish, and despised things of the world to humiliate the wise and the strong and ultimately to defeat the mighty (1 Cor. 1:26–31). God would receive great glory as Moses magnified His name in Egypt.







Identification



If Moses was going to accomplish anything in Egypt, he needed to know the name of the Lord, because the Israelites would surely ask, "Who gave you the authority to tell us and Pharaoh what to do?" God's reply to Moses' question was, "I AM WHO I AM." Moses told the Israelites, "I AM has sent me to you" (Ex. 3:14). The name I AM comes from the Hebrew word YHWH. To pronounce this holy name, the Jews used the vowels from the name Adonai (Lord) and turned YHWH into Yahweh (LORD in our English translations). The name conveys the concept of absolute being, the One who is and whose dynamic presence works on our behalf. It conveys the meanings of "I am who and what I am, and I do not change. I am here with you and for you."







The name Yahweh (Jehovah, LORD) was known in the time of Seth (Gen. 4:26), Abraham (14:22; 15:1), Isaac (25:21–22), and Jacob (28:13; 49:18). However, the fullness of its meaning had not yet been revealed. The Law of Moses warned the Jews, "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name" (Ex. 20:7; see also Deut. 28:58). Their fear of divine judgment caused the Jewish people to avoid using the holy name Yahweh and to substitute Adonai (Lord) instead.







In nine places in the Old Testament, the Lord "filled out" or "completed" the name I AM to reveal more fully His divine nature and His gracious ministry to His people.







• Yahweh-Jireh: The LORD will provide or see to it (Gen. 22:14)



• Yahweh-Rophe: The LORD who heals (Ex. 15:26)



• Yahweh-Nissi: The LORD our banner (Ex. 17:15)



• Yahweh-M'Kaddesh: The LORD who sanctifies (Lev. 20:8)



• Yahweh-Shalom: The LORD our peace (Judg. 6:24)



• Yahweh-Rohi: The LORD my shepherd (Ps. 23:1)



• Yahweh-Sabaoth: The LORD of hosts (Ps. 46:7)



• Yahweh-Tsidkenu: The LORD our righteousness (Jer. 23:6)



• Yahweh-Shammah: The LORD is there (Ezek. 48:35)







Of course, all of these names refer to our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Because He is Yahweh-Jireh, He can supply all our needs and we need not worry (Matt. 6:25–34; Phil. 4:19). As Yahweh-Rophe, He is able to heal us; and as Yahweh-Nissi, He will help us fight our battles and defeat our enemies. We belong to Yahweh-M'Kaddesh because He has set us apart for Himself (1 Cor. 6:11); and Yahweh-Shalom gives us peace in the midst of the storms of life (Isa. 26:3; Phil. 4:9). All the promises of God find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 1:20). Yahweh-Rohi takes us to Psalm 23 and John 10, encouraging us to follow the Shepherd. The armies of heaven and earth are under the command of Yahweh-Sabaoth, and we need not panic (Josh. 5:13–15; Rev. 19:11–21). Because we have trusted Yahweh-Tsidkenu, we have His very righteousness put to our account (2 Cor. 5:21), and our sins and iniquities are remembered no more (Heb. 10:17). Jesus is Yahweh-Shammah, "God with us" (Matt. 1:23), and He will be with us always, even to the very end of the age (Matt. 28:20). "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" is still His guarantee (Heb. 13:5). In His incarnation, Jesus came down to earth, not as a burning bush but as "a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground" (Isa. 53:1–2; see also Phil. 2:5–11). He became a human, a man, for us (John 1:14); He became obedient unto death for us and became sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus became a curse for us and on the cross bore the curse of the law for us who have broken God's law (Gal. 3:13–14). And one day "we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2)!



What is God's name? His name is I AM—and that is also the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord!









My Review:

I was eager to read Warren Wiersbe's latest book, Jesus: In The Present Tense, and I'm grateful for the opportunity. The book does a great job at presenting spiritual truth about the "I AM" statements of Jesus:

I AM the Bread of Life (John 6:35)
I AM the Light of the World (John 8:12)
I AM the Door for the Sheep (John 10:7)
I AM the Good Shepherd (John 10:11)
I AM the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25)
I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6)
The author, a former pastor of The Moody Church in Chicago, expounds on each of these statements with the precision of a skilled surgeon and backs up his explanation with scripture.



I highly recommend this book for anyone who desires a closer study--not of who Jesus was--but of who Jesus is.

The Window Through Which We Look

A young couple moved into a new neighborhood. The next morning while they were eating breakfast, the young woman saw her neighbor hanging the wash outside. "That laundry isn't very clean", she said. "She doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap."



Her husband looked on, but remained silent.



Every time the neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments.



About a month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband: "Look, she's learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this."



"I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows," replied the husband.



And so it is with life. What we see when watching others depends on the purity of the window through which we look.



"Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." ~Matthew 7:3-5 (ESV)

"Havah: The Story of Eve" by Tosca Lee

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!



You never know when I might play a wild card on you!





Today's Wild Card author is:

Tosca Lee

and the book:

Havah B&H Books; 2 edition (August 1, 2010) ***Special thanks to Julie Gwinn, Trade Book Marketing, B&H Publishing Group for sending me a review copy.***



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:



Tosca Lee is author of the critically acclaimed and extensively-awarded novels Demon: A Memoir and Havah: The Story of Eve. A sought-after speaker and former Mrs. Nebraska, she continues to work for local charities and as a senior consultant for a global consulting firm. Tosca holds a degree in English and International Relations from Smith College and also studied at Oxford University. She enjoys travel, cooking, history, and theology, and lives in Lincoln, Nebraska.







Visit the author's website.









Product Details:



List Price: $14.99

Paperback: 384 pages

Publisher: B&H Books; 2 edition (August 1, 2010)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1433668793

ISBN-13: 978-1433668791



AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:





A whisper in my ear: Wake!



Blue. A sea awash with nothing but a drifting bit of down, flotsam on an invisible current. I closed my eyes. Light illuminated the thin tissues of my eyelids.



A bird trilled. Near my ear: the percussive buzz of an insect. Overhead, tree boughs stirred in the warming air.



I lay on a soft bed of herbs and grass that tickled my cheek, my shoulders, and the arch of my foot, whispering sibilant secrets up to the trees.



From here I felt the thrum of the sap in the stem—the pulsing veins of the vine, the beat of my heart in harmony with hundreds more around me, the movement of the earth a thousand miles beneath.



I sighed as one returning to sleep, to retreat to the place I had been before, the realm of silence and bliss—wherever that is.



Wake!



I opened my eyes again upon the milling blue, saw it spliced by the flight of a bird, chevron in the sky.



This time, the voice came not to my ear, but directly to my stirring mind: Wake!



There was amusement in it.



I knew nothing of where or what I was, did not understand the polyphony around me or the wide expanse like a blue eternity before me.



But I woke and knew I was alive.



A rustle, a groan practically in my ear. I twitched at a stir-ring against my hip. A moment later, a touch drifted across a belly I did not yet know I owned, soft as a leaf skittering along the ground.



A face obscured my vision. I screamed. Not with fear—I had no acquaintance with fear—nor with startlement because I had been aware of the presence already, but because it was the only statement that came to lips as artless as mine.



The face disappeared and returned, blinking into my own, the blue above captured in twin pools. Then, like a gush of water from a rock, gladness thrilled my heart. But its source was not me.



At last! It came, unspoken—a different source than the voice before—and then the words thrust jubilantly to the sky: "At last!"



He was up on legs like the trunks of sturdy saplings, beating at the earth with his feet. He thumped his chest and shouted to the sun and clapped his hands. "At last!" He cried, his laughter like warm clay between the toes. He shook his shoulders and stomped the grass, slapping his chest as he shouted again and again. Though I did not understand the utterance, I knew its meaning at once: joy and exultation at something longed for suddenly found.



I tried to mimic his sound; it came out as a squawk and then a panting laugh. Overhead, a lark chattered an extravagant address. I squeaked a shrill reply. The face lowered to mine and the man's arms wrapped, wombtight, around me.



"Flesh of my flesh," he whispered, his breath warm against my ear. His fingers drifted from my hair to my body, roaming like the goat on the hills of the sacred mount. I sighed, expelling the last remnants of that first air from my lungs—the last of the breath in them not drawn by me alone.



He was high cheeked, this adam, his lower lip dipping down like a folded leaf that drops sweet water to thirsty mouths. His brow was a hawk, soaring above the high cliffs, his eyes blue lusters beneath the fan of his lashes. But it was his mouth that I always came back to, where my eyes liked best to fasten after taking in the shock of those eyes. Shadow ran along his jaw, like obsidian dust clinging to the curve of it, drawing my eye to the plush flesh of his lips, again, again, again.



He touched my face and traced my mouth. I bit his finger. He gathered my hands and studied them, turning them over and back. He smelled my hair and lingered at my neck and gazed curiously at the rest of me. When he was finished, he began all over again, tasting my cheek and the salt of my neck, tracing the instep of my foot with a fingertip.



Finally, he gathered me up, and my vision tilted to involve an altogether new realm: the earth and my brown legs upon it. I clutched at him. I seemed a giant, towering above the earth—a giant as tall as he. My first steps stuttered across the ground as the deer in the hour of its birth, but then I pushed his hands away. My legs, coltish and lean, found their vigor as he urged me, walking far too fast, to keep up. He made for the orchard, and I bolted after him with a surge of strength and another of my squawking sounds. Then we were running—through grasses and over fledgling sloes, the dark wool of my hair flying behind me.



We raced across the valley floor and my new world blurred around me: hyssop and poppy, anemone, narcissus, and lily. Roses grew on the foothills amid the caper and myrtle.



A flash beside me: the long-bodied great cat. I slowed, distracted by her fluidity, the smooth curve of her head as she tilted it to my outstretched hand. I fell to the ground, twining my arms around her, fingers sliding along her coat. Her tongue was rough—unlike the adam's—and she rumbled as she rolled against me.



Far ahead, the adam called. Overhead, a hawk circled for a closer look. The fallow deer at a nearby stream lifted her head.



The adam called again, wordlessly, longing and exuberant. I got up and began to run, the lioness at my heels. I was fast—nearly as fast as she. Exhilaration rose from my lungs in quick pants in laughter. Then, with a burst, she was beyond me.



She was gone by the time the adam caught me up in his arms. His hands stroked my back, my hips, my shoulder. I marveled at his skin. How smooth, how very warm it was.



"You are magnificent," he said, burying his face against my neck. "Ah, Isha—woman, taken from man!"



I said nothing; although I understood his meaning, I did not know his words. I knew with certainty and no notion of conceit, though, that he was right.





At the river he showed me how he cupped his hands to drink and then cupped them again for me. I lowered my head and drank as a carp peered baldy from the shallows up at me.



We entered the water. I gasped as it tickled the backs of my knees and hot hairs under my arms, swirling about my waist as though around a staunch rock as our toes skimmed a multitude of pebbles. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders.



"All of this: water." He grunted a little bit as he swam toward the middle of the river where it widened into a broad swath across the valley floor. "Here—the current."



"Water." I understood, in the moment I spoke it, the element in all its forms—from the lake fed by the river to the high springs that flow from the abyss of the mount. I felt the pull of it as though it had a gravity all its own, as though it could sweep me out to the cold depths of the lake and lull me by the tides of the moon.



From the river I could see the high walls of our cradle: the great southern mount rising to heaven and, to the north, the foothills that became the long spine of a range that arched toward the great lake to the west.



I knew even then that this was a place set apart from the unseen lands to the north, the alluvial plain to the south, the great waters to the east and far to the west.



It was set apart solely because we dwelt in it.



But we were not alone. I could see them after a time, even as we left the river and lay upon its banks. I saw them in sidelong glances when I looked at something else: a sunspot caught in the eye, a ripple in the air, a shock of light where there should be only shadow. And so I knew there were other beings, too.



The adam, who studied me, said nothing. We did not know their names.





The first voice I heard urging me to wake had not been the man's. Now I felt the presence of it near me, closer than the air, than even the adam's arms around me.



I returned the man's strange amazement, taken by his smooth, dark skin, the narrowness of his hips, his strange sex. He was warmer than I, as though he had absorbed the heat of the sun, and I laid my cheek against his flat breasts and listened to the changeling beat of his heart. My limbs, so fresh to me, grew heavy. As languor overtook me, I retreated from the sight of my lovely, alien world.



Perhaps in closing my eyes, I would return to the place I had been before.



For the first time since waking, I hoped not.



I slept to the familiar thrum of his heart as insects made sounds like sleepy twitches through the waning day.



When I woke, his cheek was resting against the top of my head. Emotion streamed from his heart, though his lips were silent.



Gratitude.



I am the treasure mined from the rock, the gem prized from the mount.



He stirred only when I did and released me with great reluctance. By then the sun had moved along the length of our valley. My stomach murmured.



He led me to the orchard and fed me the firm flesh of plums, biting carefully around the pits and feeding the pieces to me until juice ran down our chins and bees came to sample it. He kissed my fingers and hands and laid his cheek against my palms.



That evening we lay in a bower of hyssop and rushes—a bower, I realized, that he must have made on a day before this one.



A day before I existed.



We observed together the changing sky as it cooled gold and russet and purple, finally anointing the clay earth red.



Taken from me. Flesh of my flesh. At last. I heard the timbre of his voice in my head in my last waking moment. Marvel and wonder were upon his lips as he kissed my closing eyes.



I knew then he would do anything for me.





That night I dreamed of blackness. Black, greater than the depths of the river or the great abyss beneath the lake.



From within that nothingness came a voice that was not a voice, that was neither sound nor word but volition and command and genesis. And from the voice, a word that was no word but the language of power and fruition.



There! A mote spark—a light first so small as the tip of a pine needle. It exploded past the periphery of my dreaming vision, obliterating the dark. The heavens were vast in an instant, stretching without cease to the edges of eternity.



I careened past new bodies that tugged me in every direction; even the tiniest particles possessed their own gravity. From each of them came the same concert, that symphony of energy and light.



I came to stand upon the earth. It was a great welter of water, the surface of it ablaze with the refracted light of heavens upon heavens. It shook my every fiber, like a string that is plucked and allowed to resonate forever.



I was galvanized, made anew, thrumming that inaugural sound: the yawning of eternity.



Amidst it all came the unmistakable command:



Wake!





My Review:

I enjoyed this first-person, fictionalized account of Eve. The author is skilled at the use of beautiful prose that adeptly describes God's flawless creation before man's fall and contrasts it with the cursed result of disobedience. Through Eve's eyes we see the glory of the garden, the temptation by the serpent, the toil and labor of the ones expelled from Paradise. We feel Eve's horror at losing not one son, but two. With her, we rejoice in the redemption that is ours through the One that is. On the down side, there were some parts of the fictionalized parts of the story that I didn't particularly care for.

Only One Thing Is Needed

Somewhere along the way, I got off track.



I thought I was just following the Biblical command to let my light shine before men. But the harder I tried--the more I struggled to please God--the less pleasing I became to both God and man.



My light grew dimmer and dimmer. The way grew darker and darker. Why?



Because in my effort to do, I forgot to be. In my pride and misplaced zeal, I made my feeble human efforts more important than God's gift.



In John, chapter six, the crowd had just witnessed one of the greatest miracles in the Bible: the feeding of the five thousand. With an all-too-typical greedy hunger for more, they pursued Jesus across the water, and in His usual frankness, He told them the truth about themselves and why they were really following Him.



They still didn't get it. With the focus still on themselves, they asked: "What must we do to do the works God requires?" (6:28).



His answer is too simplistic for them. And sadly, it's often too simplistic for me.



"This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent." (6:29)



As much as we like to think that all our vain scurrying and striving is for Him, it's wise to take a closer look. Is it really? Or is it a subtle attempt to somehow make ourselves more acceptable to Him and to others? And perhaps even more palatable to ourselves?



Upon deeper contemplation, I have to confess that too many times my work for the Lord is really just work to make me feel good. A way to bury my sin in a pile of human work. While my head knows I can never earn my way into God's favor or His Kingdom, my heart is slow to follow suit.



My prayer for all of God's family, in the busyness of life, is that we'll take a moment to step back from our "doing" for God. That we'll allow Him to be frank with us and accept the light of truth He sheds on all our works. Only then can we see that even our best work for Him is nothing but filthy rags.



Under His Wings,

Cathy

Creation - Day Six - Animal and Human Life

And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds." And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.



Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."



So God created man in His own image,
in the image of God He created him;

male and female He created them.



And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.  ~Genesis 1:24-31 (ESV)

Day six of creation is full of activity and God's creative power!



And God Said...And It Was So (And it was good!) I hope you notice and consider how these recurring phrases throughout the creation account suggest not only the triune God's power and delight in His creation, but His faithful consistency. He finishes what He starts (Philippians 1:6; Hebrews 12:2)!



Living Creatures Here God "fashions" living creatures. Notice that the living creatures God creates to populate the earth are divided into three distinct types--each according to their kinds: livestock (tame animals), creeping things (reptiles and crawling insects), and beasts of the earth (wild animals).



Stop and consider the impressive order and interdependence of God's creation so far. The universe is vast, and man hasn't yet uncovered all its secrets. Every operation of creation is precise and dependable.



"But nothing to this point has the capacity for personal response to and fellowship with its Creator." (Laymen's Bible Book Commentary, Vol. 1)



Let Us/Our God is One being (Deuteronomy 6:4), but He manifests Himself in different aspects of His being through the trinity--Father, Son, Holy Spirit. With the use of the plural pronouns, "us" and "our," God is portrayed as consulting with all parts of Himself to make the pinnacle of His creation.



Mankind - Male and Female  The Hebrew word for mankind is adam, and becomes the name of the first human male, Adam. We learn from an up-close, camera shot of the creation of man (Genesis 2:7-25) that Adam was fashioned first and placed in a beautiful garden to work it and take care of it. He was given a restriction of one tree of which he could not eat, then all the animals were brought to him for him to name.



When God saw that Adam had no helper fit for him, He put Adam to sleep and removed a rib in order to fashion woman.



Image and Likeness of God An image or likeness is a resemblance, very much like a reflection. Human worth is determined by being created in God's image. When we put ourselves or another person down, we're in effect criticizing what God has made (James 3:9-19). 

On the other hand, we shouldn't have too high of an opinion of ourselves (Romans 12:3). Nothing about us is because of our own doing, but because of God. (And if you really want to be humbled, consider that He formed us out of dirt!)



Dominion Over Creation To further set apart His creation of man, God put them (male and female) in charge when He gave them dominion over the fish, birds, and animals. This carries with it the idea of both ruling over creation and stewardship of it. All of creation belongs to God; here He was simply entrusting His flawless creation to man. 



In addition to ruling over creation, man was to subdue the earth, to conquer it and bring it under control. I have this mental picture of our loving Father building this perfect playground for man, then setting them loose to explore and enjoy. (It makes the coming fall of man even more heartbreaking.)



When man was created, he found everything else already existing. He was brought forth into perfection--into Paradise itself. Before God created man, He provided for his every need. But with every great privilege comes great responsibility. From Adam to us, we're accountable to God for what He so abundantly provides. We need to use this earth's resources in such a way that the quality of life is enhanced for all, and in a way that glorifies our Creator.



The Blessing of Reproduction Once again, as with plants (Genesis 1:11) and water/sky creatures (Genesis 1:22), God gives the command to multiply. And God also blesses man.



Vegetation Given As Food Believe it or not, the first man and woman started off as vegetarians. Meat wasn't given until after the flood (Genesis 9:2-3). But notice God's use of the word "given." He owned this creation, but handed it over as a gift to man and all living creatures to use for food. What a great Father God we serve!



Not Just Good, But VERY Good Now God steps back to take in all that He has brought into existence. Creation in its totality is excellent and approved completely. The added "behold" helps us consider creation from God's perspective. To this day, everything God has created is good and to be received with thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:4; James 1:17)



Closing Thoughts

Though we've studied the intricate details of creation, I think it's important to once again mention that this first chapter of Genesis is more about who and why than how and when . God's Word is ultimately a revelation of who He is and His great love for us.



Father God,



We praise You for who You are--Creator, our all-powerful God, Elohim--and we're grateful to You for expressing Your love for us through Your providence and sustenance. Give us fresh eyes to take in Your gift of creation.



In Your name we pray,

Amen

Creation - Day Five - Air and Sea Creatures

And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens." So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. ~Genesis 1:20-23 (ESV)

And God Said... The fifth day of creation begins with familiar words--And God said--to once more accentuate the fact that our God is so powerful all He has to do is speak to make it so. This world He is summoning into being through His Word is His creation, something only an Almighty, All-Powerful, Sovereign God can do. Once more, He pronounces His work as "good."



Swarm The Hebrew word used here means to swarm, to teem, and to multiply. When I hear the word I think of abundance. God is preparing an abundance of creatures in His perfect creation.





Birds Oph is the Hebrew term used here, and it literally can be a general term for birds, but is also used to refer to flying creatures, including winged insects. So this part of creation not only included birds and fish, but also other water creatures and flying insects.





Living Creatures/Great Sea Creatures Notice that the term "fish" is not used here, but instead a general reference to living creatures in the water, possibly suggesting not only fish, but also other organisms. The word "fish" in creation is not used until the next day when God tells man to have dominion over all living creatures, including fish. 



The Hebrew word for "great sea creatures" used here is tanniym, a sea-serpent or monster, or perhaps a whale.





According To Their Kinds One commentator suggests that water creatures are the simplest forms of life (consider the amoeba and plankton), with birds a little more developed life-form, yet less complex than the mammals (created on day six). I'm not a biologist, but one way or the other, we see the perfect and detailed organization of God's creation. I've often heard the expression, "the devil is in the details." I couldn't disagree more. GOD is in the details!



The Blessing of Fruitfulness You may want to sneak a peek at the sixth day of creation in Genesis 1:28 and also look back at how the plants produced seed. Fruitfulness, the ability to multiply, is a blessing of life, as God's creation continues to sustain itself day after day. (See also Genesis 9:1)



Closing Thoughts

What wonder and awe should be ours when we consider God's work of creation. On this fifth day, every part that He has formed (waters, sky, land), He is now abundantly filling with life. Not only did He determine their place in either the sky or sea and their very existence, but He determined how they would move (swim and fly). His creation is not only ordered in great detail, but varied with such complexity that it's mind-boggling to think about. How sad that we've become so jaded that we often miss the sheer awe and wonder of what God accomplished at creation.





O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom have you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
Here is the sea, great and wide,
which teems with creatures innumerable,
living things both small and great.
There go the ships,
and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it
(or, you formed to play with).
These all look to you,
to give them their food in due season.
When you give it to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
~Psalm 104:24-28 (ESV)

12 Times to Quit

There are times when it's okay to quit.

Yep, you heard me. It's okay to QUIT...

... Quenching the Spirit Do not quench the Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 5:19)Throughout scripture, the Holy Spirit is compared to fire (Matthew 3:11; Luke 3:16; Acts 2:3). Anytime the Spirit's ministry is stifled in an individual or in the church that fire is quenched.

... Living for Yourself Then He said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me." (Luke 9:23) We're here to serve Him, not ourselves. To the people of Luke's day, the cross meant one thing: death. Daily we need to die to self and follow Him.

... Pretending "...for they do not practice what they preach....Everything they do is done for men to see..." (Matthew 23:3b, 5a)

The whole twenty-third chapter of Matthew deals with hypocrisy (pretending). While we're not to judge others, we are to examine ourselves. If a big part of your walk is pretense--if you can't be real--then it's time for that self-examination. 

Jesus is our example. In His time on this earth, He freely expressed who He was, often to the point that it angered others. Follow Him. Be who He created you to be. In other words, be yourself, not who you pretend to be to please others.

... Worrying "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matthew 6:34)

It doesn't get any more clear than that. Jesus says not to worry. If you struggle with this like I do, remember that the antidote to worry is extreme trust in God. The two are mutually exclusive. You can't worry and trust at the same time.

... Being Afraid ...for God gave us not a spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control. (2 Timothy 1:7)

Fear isn't from God. All throughout the Bible, God again and again tells His people to not be afraid. Anytime someone tries to scare you into doing something, you can be convinced that it's not from God. In fact, fear is the scare tactic of the enemy.

... Walking by Sight And without faith is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)

We're not on a sight journey. Faith means living above "see-level." We're called to trust God and follow after Him. We can't live a life that's pleasing to Him if we're not walking by faith.

... Doing Things in Your Own Strength If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 4:11b)

Compared to God's strength, our strength is puny (1 Corinthians 1:25). Why would we even want to do something in our own strength when God promises us His strength? "The LORD is my strength and my song..." (Exodus 15:2) "It is God who arms me with strength..." (2 Samuel 22:33) "...the joy of the LORD is your strength..." (Nehemiah 8:10) "The LORD is my strength and my shield..." (Psalm 28:7) "God is our refuge and strength..." (Psalm 46:1)

... Following the Traditions of Men See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. (Colossians 2:8)

Our enemy is sly. He's an expert at mixing a little truth with something as innocuous as a tradition. If we're not careful, our spiritual practices will become nothing but the traditions of men rather than the worship of God with the entirety of our lives. Satan's lies are rampant. Watch out!

... Focusing on the Negative Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. (Philippians 4:8)

Isn't it easy to fall into the trap of thinking only about the bad? I don't know about you, but I can become distracted and consumed by negative thoughts in a millisecond. Those thoughts quickly lead to bitterness, anger, and eventually hatred. It's imperative for our spiritual health that we learn to think about what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. Of course, the only One that is all of those things to the max is God. When you sense your thoughts giving way to the negative, turn your mind toward Him. He'll keep you in perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3).

... Grumbling and Complaining Do everything without complaining or arguing... (Philippians 2:14)

We all complain to some extent or the other, but some make it a habit. Poor Moses. The Israelites were constantly growsing about this and that (Exodus 14:11; 15:24; 16:2; 17:3). Finally God got tired of it (Number 11:1; 1 Corinthians 10:10).  Let the Hebrew people serve as an example of what NOT to do.



... Judging Others

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged." (Matthew 7:1)



...who are you to judge your neighbor? (James 4:12)



We humans are so quick to make snap judgments, but we have an incomplete picture of all the details. Anytime we point a finger of blame and accusation at someone, we're calling God's judgment down on ourselves. The truth is, we're all flawed and sinful people. Get off your high horse and love people, instead of looking for someone to blame.

... Being Bitter and Resentful See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. (Hebrews 12:15)

I understand firsthand how difficult it can be to battle bitterness and resentfulness.Take heart. Even the psalmists struggled with it, too, as they wondered how wicked men continued to escape. Bitterness isn't the answer. In the long run it only hurts us more as we hold on to unforgiveness and hurt feelings.

The seeds to overcoming the root of bitterness are contained within this same verse--see to it that no one misses the grace of God. In His marvelous and amazing grace God has given and  forgiven us EVERYTHING--surly attitudes, thoughtless words and actions, sins of omission. Grace is the costly giving of oneself in a way that continues to benefit the recipient, even though they've done nothing to deserve it. If the grace of God does that for us, how can we not do it for others? The only way to overcome bitterness is to extend grace.

* * * * *

As you can see, there are lots of times that it's okay to be a quitter. In fact, there is so much more that could be added to this post it could easily become the world's longest blog post!



I'd love to hear your thoughts on other times when it's okay to quit ...