pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: desperate


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Turning and Returning

Reading: Psalm 80:17-19

Psalm 80:18 – “…then we will not turn away from you!”

How often have you pled with God as Asaph does on behalf of the people of God? Just send us a good king, one able to end these threats, to keep us safe and make us great, “…then we will not turn away from you!” God, just get me out of this mess… just heal this person… just fix this relationship… just keep me out of jail… and I’ll follow you faithfully every day for the rest of my life. In our desperate moments, yes, we too cry out to God.

We are sinful by nature, exposed daily to the temptations of this world. When we fall to the tempting, we sin and fall short of the glory of God. In this fallen state, we are separated from God. But we don’t remain there. We seek forgiveness and restoration. We pledge repentance – to turn away and never return to that sinful life. We are well-versed in the turning from God and seeking to return to God, to be made whole and new again.

Like the people of Asaph’s day, we long to be whole, to live in right relationship with God and with one another, to feel safe, to belong. This too is part of our human nature. Created in the image of the divine, we long for connection and community. We long to be loved. And we have a longing to love God and one another. Here we reflect our creator, the one who is love.

Psalm 80 closes with words that are very similar to the words we looked at yesterday. “Restore us… make your face shine so that we can be saved.” Be with us, O God, shine your face upon us so that we can be saved – from temptation and sin, from this broken world, from ourselves. May it all be so.

Prayer: Lord God, thank you for who and what you are: unconditional love, endless mercy and grace, neverending forgiveness. Thank you too for creating us with these things in our hearts as well. Practicing and receiving these ways of being and living in the world, we find our place of belonging with you, with one another, with creation. Lead and guide us, walk with us daily, empowering us to be your hands, feet, and presence in this world. Amen.


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What God Has Done

Reading: Psalm 22:19-31

Psalm 22:22 – “I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters; I will praise you in the very center of the congregation.”

Photo credit: Robert Linder

Returning to Psalm 22 today we pick up on the desperate tone that dominated yesterday’s verses. David invites God, his strength, to come quickly and to help and deliver him. He pleas for rescue from the dogs, lion, and wild oxen that surrounded and threatened him. At the end of verse 21, though, there is a shift: “you have answered me!”

In verses 22-31 David offers a hymn of praise. In verse 22 David writes, “I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters; I will praise you in the very center of the congregation.” God’s rescue and restoration are worthy of his praise and worship. In the New Testament, in Hebrews 2:12, the author claims these words for Jesus. Jesus’ life and ministry declared who and what God was and is. His “work” was done in Israel, then center of God’s people.

David also sees a widening of the circle in verse 29. Here he declares that both the rich and powerful and the lowly and downtrodden will worship and kneel together before God. The inclusion of all peoples is a theme begun by Jesus and expands as the church moves out into the world. As the Psalm concludes, David looks to the future. He foresees a time when future generations will learn of the Lord. From Jesus’ life and example people will declare God’s righteousness, “telling them what God has done.” This is the sharing of the good news. As it was for the disciples and apostles, may it be for you and for me as we share our faith.

Prayer: Lord God, thank you for the rescue from those things that surround and assail us too. Thank you for your answers to our pleas. Lead us to declare what you have done. Guide us to speak of the rescues and transformations that you have worked in our lives again and again. Each day use us to witness to your love and grace. Amen.


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God’s Power Alone

Readings: Psalms 42-45

‭Psalm 44:25-26 – “Look: we’re going down to the dust… Stand up! Help us! Save us for the sake of your faithful love.”

Psalm 42 expresses a longing for God’s presence. This longing is something we’ve all felt. We all have dry seasons when our “whole being craves you, God.” Our tears too have been our food. In those moments it is important to remember God’s faithful love in the past. It is important even then to lift a song of praise to God. As the refrain says, “Hope in God! Because I will again give him thanks, my saving presence and my God.” God is unchanging. This truth will ever be true. God is our hope.

Psalm 43 is a continuation of Psalm 42. It closes with the exact same refrain. The writer calls for God’s light and truth. These will guide the psalmist; they will guide you and me. They lead to God, “my joy and my delight.”

Lament returns in full force in Psalm 44. It is a communal lament. The psalmist begins by remembering God’s guidance and provision in the past. This recalls Joshua’s conquest of the Promised Land, when God went before Israel. There is a recognition that it was God’s power alone that brought victory. It is the very thought that they count on now that they’ve been “rejected and humiliated.” When we struggle we too can draw upon God’s power, upon our memories of when God made a way. Remembering is a form of praying our faith forward. A desperate plea closes Psalm 44: “Look: we’re going down to the dust… Stand up! Help us! Save us for the sake of your faithful love.” Oh how we’ve prayed these words in our own translation. And may we pray them again and again.

As I began reading Psalm 45 at first I thought: “What?! A love song?!” Why, yes, a love song of God to God’s people. An invitation to celebrate, to be, to live out grace and beauty, truth and righteousness, humility and justice. From one generation to the next may our whole being embody, reveal, and bring praise to God forever and ever.

Prayer: Lord God, a song echoes in my mind: “Oh no, you never let go. In every high and every low, Lord, you never let go of me.” In seasons of disconnection, in times of suffering, in the valleys and on the mountaintops, may we declare your glory with our lives. May we trust daily in the only one who saves, in you, our God and King, our Lord and Savior. Amen.


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Clean Hands, Pure Heart

Readings: Psalms 21-24

‭Psalm 22:19 – “But you, LORD! Don’t be far away! You are my strength! Come quick and help me!”

What a range we have in today’s four Psalms. Psalm 21 celebrates God’s protection of the king. Psalm 22 begins as a desperate plea for help and turns into praise. Psalm 23 is all about trusting in God’s care. Psalm 24 celebrates God’s control over all things.

Psalm 21 begins with thanksgiving for all that God has done to establish the king. There is a two-way street: the king will not stumble because he trusts the Lord. The psalmist returns to thanksgiving in verses 8-12. This thanks is for God’s protection against enemies. There are parallels with Psalm 23 abounding here in this Psalm. Praise be to God!

Turning to Psalm 22 the immediate question is, “Where are you, God?!” The psalmist cries out day and night. Although faithful since birth, the author is now “poured out like water.” These words and others in these four Psalms echo the scene of Jesus on the cross. The cry to the Lord is renewed in verse 19: “But you, LORD! Don’t be far away! You are my strength! Come quick and help me!” This cry, however, is quickly followed by words of praise and proclamation. It is as if the psalmist of verse 4 (“Our ancestors trusted you”) has reconnected to the Lord our God. Psalm 23 speaks deeply of this trust and connection. This Psalm reminds us of the thoroughly sufficiency of God’s care for us in all of life.

Psalm 24 takes the themes and ideas of Psalm 23 and makes them corporate. All is God’s. The God who walks with us “through the darkest valley” is also the God who is strong and powerful in battle. Psalm 24 reminds us that “only one with clean hands and a pure heart” can ascend to the mountain of God. May it be so for you and for me.

Prayer: Lord God, how glorious, how mighty, how majestic, how powerful are you, O God. And yet you hear our cries in the night and our pleas by day. All-powerful yet personally intimate. You hold our hand in the valleys. Your hand anoints us with the oil of blessing. You are the king of glory! You are our God. Amen.


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The Clear Leading of God

Reading: Genesis 25:29-34

Verse 30: “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!”

As we continue the story of Esau and Jacob, Esau comes home from an apparently very long hunting trip. While he was away, Jacob has been busy too, working on this wonderful red lentil stew. At a place close to desperation Esau says, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” Maybe Jacob has been waiting for this chance, perhaps scheming for it ever since coming out of the womb. At this moment Jacob asks the famished Esau to trade his birthright for some stew. A desperate Esau agrees and satisfies his deep hunger.

We often read this passage and think that Jacob tricks his older brother or that he is deceitful in his scheming. But what if God was the one at work? What if the Spirit prompted Jacob to ask and Esau to answer as they did? What if this is another example of God’s penchant for raising the lowly over the powerful?

A birthright is a generations old tradition and practice that often insured the continuation of a family line by giving the oldest – the one who was usually the most experienced and most mature – the control of the family property, heritage, and legacy. It had operated this way for centuries and it has continued to operate through this day. Yet in this instance God has alternative plans. God’s ways are not always our ways. God’s plans are usually far greater than we could have ever imagined or taken them. So, in those moments, may we too lean into the clear leading of God, even when it is outside of what we think the norm.

Prayer: Lord God, open my heart to where and how you want to lead. Humble me so that I can easily get out of the way of whatever you are up to. Grant me the courage to step in to play a role as the Spirit leads. Amen.


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Pleading Earnestly

Reading: Mark 5: 21-24

Verse 22: “Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him”.

Photo credit: Patrick Fore

Today we begin to enter into this week’s passage from Mark 5. Jesus returns to the Jewish side of the lake and is greeted by a large crowd. A man named Jairus is in the crowd. He is one of the leaders at the local synagogue. He has encountered Jesus before. Now he comes to speak with Jesus. In verse 22 we read, “Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him”. What causes us to fall at Jesus’ feet, to plead with Jesus?

For Jairus, his daughter is dying. That would cause any parent to plead earnestly. In the same situation we would pray and pray and pray. And then we would pray some more. We can assume that Jairus has tried everything else to save his daughter. Why else would a respected, well-known Jewish leader come to this Jesus? Jairus is desperate. Jesus is his last and only hope. At least a small part of him believes and hopes that Jesus can “put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live”.

When we get to this point – to the place of desperation – have we tried everything else but deep, intense prayer? Only then do we come to Jesus with belief and hope? Do we approach him, fall at his feet, and plead earnestly? Yes, at times our prayers do get ratcheted up to this level. Yet a faithful walk with Jesus is at its best at a steady, daily, regular pace. May this be the routine of our prayer life, building us up for those times of intimate, powerful, intense prayer. May it be so for you and for me.

Prayer: Lord God, may my daily time with you be strengthening and encouraging each day. In steady faith, may I grow in you and in my trust in you. In those moments of great need, may I really lean into you, kneeling upon my rock and my hope. Amen.


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Stories

Reading: Psalm 78: 1-4 & 12-16

Verse 4: “We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord”.

On those days or in those seasons in life when it is cloudy and gloomy and stormy we desperately need a ray of sunshine. In those times when we feel stuck or trapped in the dark, we need the door to be cracked open, for a sliver of light to slice into our darkness. At times in my life there has been a weight upon me or a darkness and gloom hanging over me. It feels oppressive and defeating. On my own I was unable to move past that place. Looking back, though, I can recall specific conversations, lovely notes or letters, small acts of love – all done by family, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ – that lifted me up. Each person was living out the love of Jesus Christ, bringing light into my darkness.

Psalm 78, much like other similar Psalms, was a way for the people of Israel to tell one another and their children of times when God’s love lifted them up or was light in their darkness. Just as me recalling those times when God’s love rescued me, by singing or teaching the Psalm, the Israelites were reminded of God’s love for them. To be reminded, to remember that you are loved, is especially important in those times of trial and hardship. Instead of withdrawing and turning within, which is our natural tendency, by remembering we are turned outward and upward – to others and to the Lord. It is then that we become receptive to the love and hope offered by others and by God. Living in exile, Psalm 78 would be salve to their situation. The Israelites needed to remember that God loved them and to believe that God would provide a way through the darkness. By keeping that hope alive, the Israelites got to the day that allowed them to begin returning home.

My stories of when I was lifted up are like Psalm 78. I can recall them for myself and I can tell them to others walking in gloom and darkness. I can remind them of God’s love and care for them. Your stories work the same way. Who in your life needs a little encouragement or an act of kindness? They are all around us. May we be the love today.

Prayer: Most loving God, this day lead me to those who need to be reminded of your love. Bring to mind the story to tell or the Bible passage to share. Use me to open another’s eyes and hearts to your love. Amen.


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Daily Soundtrack

Reading: Psalm 119: 105-112

Verse 105: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path”.

Today’s passage centers on knowing God’s words or laws. The psalmist writes of following God’s ways no matter what life brings. For the psalmist it seems especially important to hold onto God’s words and laws in times of suffering and during trials. This tends to be our natural tendency – we pray most fervently when we are desperate or feeling very helpless or powerless. Yet as believers we are called to live out a faith that is more 24/7 than “on demand”.

The section of Psalm 119 that we read today opens with these words: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path”. For some, perhaps many, of us these words trigger a song that one can hear running through our minds. Sometimes when a song gets stuck in our heads, it can be really annoying. But what if we were intentional about what ran through our minds? That is what the psalmist is getting at. His or her desire is to have God’s laws and words ever on his or her mind. Maybe it is this key verse or the song that came from it that is the soundtrack of your day. Maybe it is another verse or passage. It can change depending on your needs day by day. For me, it is Micah 6:8 that I want for a daily soundtrack. What word of God do you need continually playing in your heart and mind today?

Prayer: Lord God, help me to follow your word today. Guide me to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with you today. Amen.


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Good News Story

Reading: Psalm 79: 5-9

Verse 9: “Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name’s sake”.

As I sit and look across the street at the gray house surrounded by big green trees, the world seems so peaceful. Looking to the left I see the church. The sand-colored bricks and darkened windows present a place of calm and rest. In the little moments like these, when God draws us in, the world feels like such a beautiful place. Then my mind turns to Psalm 79 and to the troubles of today.

The psalmist cries out to God, “How long”? It is a familiar refrain in the Bible and in our lives today. Because of the hard situation of exile, the psalmist cries out for an end to God’s anger. The psalmist asks God to pour it out instead on all those nations that do not believe in God. “May your mercy come quickly to meet us” is the desperate plea. In our time and in our lives we experience all of this. There are times when it feels like God is angry – or at least distant. There are times when a non-believer is living a blessed and enjoyable life and we wonder why the faithful suffer. There are times when God cannot lift us out of our valley quickly enough. We can relate to the psalmist’s words and to the place the Israelites find themselves spirituality and emotionally.

Even in the midst of such times Christians hold onto hope and to the promises that God is near and that we are beloved. Like the Israelites, we have experienced the hand of God intervening and have been brought up out of the pit by our God. But in this window of time, relief has not come. On behalf of the people, the psalmist petitions God, asking God to “Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name’s sake”. We pray this prayer or one much like it often. We find ourselves or we get ourselves into a tough place and we too seek God’s mercy and grace. When God finds us and renews us to wholeness and full life, as God surely does, then it becomes part of our good news story. And when we choose to tell that story to others, it brings God the glory. May we rejoice in the Lord our God, sharing the good news with others today.

Prayer: God, your mercies never fail and your love never ends. This I know to be true because over and over you are present to me in my need and in my joys. May my witness today help others to know you more. Amen.


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Trusting Faith

Reading: Mark 5: 21-24 and 35-43

Verse 23: “Please come and put your hands on my daughter so that she will be healed and live”.

In today’s reading a desperate father comes to Jesus. He falls at Jesus’ feet and begs Him to see his dying daughter. As a parent, I would do almost anything for my children. I think most parents fall into this mindset. We would give up much or do anything in our power to save our children from suffering and hardship.

Jarius is certainly willing to risk for his daughter. As the ruler of the synagogue, he is aligned with the powers that be. These powers, the Pharisees and Herodians, have already clashed with Jesus and have begun to plot His demise. Risking his position in the synagogue and within the powers that be, Jarius goes to Jesus. His daughter is dying. Jarius meets Jesus and falls at his feet. He begs Jesus, saying, “Please come and put your hands on my daughter so that she will be healed and live”. His daughter is dying. The time is short. He is desperate. Jesus is his last resort.

We are often like Jarius. We come to Jesus when we feel as if He were our last resort, when time has about run out, when we are desperate. We first try and do it on our own. Then we turn to “experts” next. We only turn to our faith when the end is near. Then we expect an instant solution, a quick fix. We can be sure that Jarius had a sense of urgency about his request. When he begged Jesus to come, “now” was certainly implied.

This is often our mindset when we pray. Jesus, answer my prayer now. Answer it how I want it answered. Now. Do what I want right now! We are not good at waiting. We do not do well waiting patiently for God’s will to be revealed. Perhaps if we started praying first…

Just as Jesus is finishing His conversation that interrupted the trip to Jarius’ home, Jarius receives some bad news – your daughter is dead. Immediately Jesus offers hope: “Don’t be afraid; just believe”. He is saying, keep the faith Jarius. Hold onto your faith. Turn your desperate faith into trusting faith. Believe. Allow your faith to be real. I cannot imagine what was going through Jarius’ mind as they walked to his house and then into his daughter’s room. This is how we must walk sometimes too: unsure but trusting in Jesus anyway. Like Jarius, may we walk in trusting faith, believing in God’s plan.