The Land of Beginning Again

With apologies to Louisa Fletcher...

The Land of Beginning Again
Song for the Fish’s Belly

For Jonahs of every age there’s a place
Called the Land of Beginning Again,
Where willful mistakes and stubborn heartaches
Rank rebellion and selfish old pride,
Can be dropped, like a string of seaweed, on the beach,
And never cling to us again.

Perhaps it was something we refused to do,
And we think we’ve repented too late
Of praises unspoken and promises broken,
And multiple lives have been hurt -
Even “Ninevites” who were depending on you
And me to escape judgment’s fate.

But runaway "prophets" like us can return
To the center of His plan.
For the God we ignored, disregarded as Lord,
Is the God of the Second Chance.
He is calling out still from Calvary’s Hill –
That true Land of Beginning Again.

No matter the years and the tears and the fears
Time lost and memories past,
Now is the time, opportunity prime,
To bow down and make it right,
Tell the God we’ve not heeded we’ll do what is needed,
Give obedience willing and fast.

Yes, Jonahs, there is a wonderful place
Called the Land of Beginning Again
Where willful mistakes and stubborn heartaches
Rank rebellion and selfish old pride,
Can be dropped, like a string of seaweed, on the beach,
And never cling to us again.

Deep-Sea Prayer

Isn’t Jonah unbelievable? Referring to himself twenty-six times in an eight-verse prayer? How could anyone be that fixated on himself?

C’mon, let’s be honest. We can relate to prayers like that! I can, at least. It’s biblical, isn’t it? “Pour out your hearts to him,” the Psalmist David urged. But then he went on to add, “for God is our refuge” (Ps. 62:8 NIV).

That’s a very important addition, for the one thing can save our fishbelly prayers from becoming merely a time of venting, of self-expression, of self-fixated monologue, is to see God for Who He is. To recognize Him as loving and welcoming and immense and powerful and wise and the Rock in which we can always, always hide.

So by all means let’s keep pouring our hearts out to God. Let’s use “I,” “me,” myself” and “mine” twenty-six times if we need to. But let’s at some point pause and look around at our refuge, and really see where we are. We’re not just trapped in a crisis, surrounded by the disturbing sounds of ourselves being digested… we’re inside of God! He is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble, He never leaves us or forsakes us, He takes complete responsibility for us, He watches over all that concerns us, He is sovereign over circumstances, He has good plans for us and not evil ones, and He surrounds us on all sides with impenetrable protection and holds us there until deliverance comes. Whew! What a wonderful God He is, and how wonderful is His heart for us!

If Jonah had really, really looked at God, he might have dropped of few “I’s” and “me’s” and added some “Thee’s” and “Thou’s.” He might have seen how unlike God he was and torn his slimy robe in the anguish of genuine repentance for his rebellion. His heart might have been broken with compassion for the people of Nineveh, moving him to obey God out of desire rather than coercion. And it might have changed the way his story ends.

A fresh vision of God. It would have done Jonah a lot of good, and it won’t hurt us any, either.

Preparing for the Whisper

“The word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai”…

Lucky Jonah. God never speaks to me, we lament. I need direction, but I don’t hear His voice. I want to get closer to Him, but He seems silent. I’d like to do something for Him, but He never gives me any instructions. Why?

I think it’s sometimes because of His mercy. If He told us clearly what direction He wanted us to go, He knows we would balk. If He drew close to us and whispered the truth He really wanted to say, He foresees our defensive protests. If He assigned us the task He longs give us – the work He’s designed and gifted us for – He know we’d scoot in the other direction, just like Jonah.

He’s sparing us the bad decision and the broken relationship and the consequences… the storm and the sinking and the fish. If He spoke and we didn’t respond, it would only increase the distance between Him and us. Our excuses and rationalizations would harden our hearts.

I don’t know why God spoke to Jonah when He knew the response He would get – except that He loved Nineveh so much He had to let them know. And He had lessons for Jonah – and for us. One lesson is this: Those who hear God’s voice need hearts that are ready to receive what He says, to believe His truth, to accept His guidance, to act on His instructions. Otherwise we are far worse off than we were before. This should not make us afraid to hear from God; it should remind us that His whisper is not to be taken lightly.

Do we long to hear that whisper? Do we want the word of the Lord to come to us? Then we must get our hearts and minds ready. We must ask for receptive and obedient spirits, so that whatever He says to us, we will do – His way, in His time, for His purposes, in the power of His Spirit. Then the word of the Lord can safely come to us… and we will be blessed, others will be helped, and He will be honored and worshipped and glorified.

Keeping Pace

Can two walk together unless they be agreed? (Amos 3:3) A.W. Tozer has pointed out that for two people to walk together there must be agreement on at least a few major points:

They will have to agree whether they want to walk together. There must be some kind of compatibility; they must have something in common.

They must be agreed on the direction. If one man is going north and one is going south it is a physical impossibility that they could walk together.

They must be agreed on their destination. If they were aiming for two different cities, they would have to separate somewhere on their journey.

They must agree on what path they want to take. There might be a dozen paths to where they are going, and if they are going to stay together they are going to have to take the same path.

They will have to agree on the rate of speed. If one walks very rapidly and the other saunters along, they might ultimately get to the same place but they could not go together because they could not agree on the rate of speed.

Tozer’s insights are very helpful to me when I think about keeping pace with the Holy Spirit, walking in step with Him. It helps me realize I need to continually agree with the Spirit that, yes, I want to walk with Him, I want to go in the direction He’s headed, I want to share His ultimate goal for this journey, I want to follow in the specific path He’s taking to reach that goal, and I want to travel at His pace.

It might seem like an unduly strict discipline, this devoting every second and every step to following His leading. For sure, the enemy will tell us it is unnecessary and impractical and it will stifle our dreams and dry up our potential… but here’s what Satan won’t tell us:

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Cor. 3:17). Somehow, in the wonderful, indecipherable way of the Kingdom, when I follow closest, I am freest. When I share the Spirit’s goal, I reach my greatest potential. When I travel at His pace, I accomplish the most. When I agree with His leading, doors open into places I’ve never dreamed of.

When I fall into step with Him, we walk together, in triumph, into glory.

The Spirit of Power

Power. It makes me think of tractor pulls, for some reason (too many county fairs!). When those mechanical monstrosities are backed up to the weighted sled and hooked onto their load, the idle purrs and the tractor waits, motionless. But then… suddenly it leaps forward, engine roaring, back tires digging in and front tires lifting off the dirt, black smoke billowing out of the exhaust pipe, pulling strongly, steadily, three hundred feet to victory.

Power. The Holy Spirit promises power to believers who open themselves to Him. Who just fling open the doors and windows of their inner beings and of their lives, and say, “It’s all yours. Do what you want to do.”

Then we listen for the roar of His engine and watch for the column of smoke to pour from our service to Him. And alas, because there often are no crowd-pleasing theatrics, nobody raised from the dead, no multitudes flocking to the kingdom through our witness, we wonder if we got it wrong. Aren’t tuned up right. Didn’t say the right words. Didn’t surrender everything. Missed a cue somewhere along the way.

Think about this, though. What if into that county fair arena purred a tractor that hooked onto the heavy sled fast and pulled it fast and far without lifting a front tire or venting a puff of smoke or throwing a clod of dirt or even raising the idle. Which tractor really had power?

The power of the Spirit isn’t just about miracles and mountaintop experiences and multitudes pouring through the pearly gates. And His power isn’t proven by noise and motion - those things are not the by-product of power. They’re the by-product of effort.

As A.W. Tozer’s points out, true power is defined as simply “the ability to do.” I looked it up in my Webster’s dictionary to be sure it was really that straightforward, and, yep, the foremost definition of power is: “Ability to do.”

So when we wonder if we are living in the power of the Spirit, we don’t need to look for smoke and commotion and people cheering. All we need to ask ourselves is, Do I have the ability to do? When He asks me to do something, am I able? Do I feel His strength pouring into me when I need it? Does the job get done?

If the answer is no, the solution is not more effort on our part. It’s stopping all our plans and efforts, and opening ourselves to His – because “it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Phil. 2:13 NIV). It’s His strength, not ours. His power, not ours. His victory, not ours. To God be the glory!

An Aggressive Peace

What an intriguing phrase Pastor Ben tossed out in Sunday’s sermon… did you catch it? An aggressive peace. Have you ever thought that maybe the delicious fruit of the Spirit called peace isn’t such a fragile, delicate thing after all? That it might actually be able to weather the worst life can send our way – that it might even rise to the occasion and beat back the enemy and protect our minds and hearts for us? That it might be… aggressive?

Webster defines aggressive as “ready or willing to take issue or engage in direct action; militant.” Doesn’t sound very peaceful, does it? But listen to Philippians 4:7: “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

John MacArthur writes: “The word for ‘guard’ in Philippians 4:7 is not the word that means to ‘watch,’ or ‘keep imprisoned.’ It is a word that is often used in a military sense, meaning ‘to stand at a post and guard against the aggression of an enemy.’ When peace is on guard, the Christian has entered an impregnable citadel from which nothing can dislodge him. The name of the fortress is Christ, and the guard is peace.” I like Chuck Swindoll’s word picture; he says the peace of God “will do sentry duty” around our hearts and minds. Can you envision His peace protectively patrolling your inner being while you sleep and eat and work?

There’s a condition to be met by us, however; it begins in verse 6: “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank him for his answers. If you do this you will experience God’s peace” (TLB)… that peace which is commissioned to do sentry duty around your heart and mind. Never sleeping, always watching, missing nothing, God’s peace knows well the lay of the land in our hearts and lives. It sees the direction from which the enemy is approaching and calls out sharply, challenging the intruder. It sounds the alarm and alerts us to the looming threat. We hear his voice, a pinprick in our hearts that says, “Here comes trouble. What will be your response?”

Too often, at that point we forget to “pray about everything.” To tell God our needs and thank Him – in advance – for His protection and His answers. By our silence, our growing inner dread, our outward shaking on our boots, we say to the sentry, “Let the enemy pass.” We will not resist him. We will not fight. We cave and cower and run up the white flag. Peace steps back, then, and watches helplessly as fear and worry and all their troops rush the walls of our hearts and minds, scale them easily, and quickly begin their evil work, wounding, tying up, taking captive.

Paul is saying that it doesn’t have to happen. God offers an aggressive peace that will encircle us, watch for us, warn us, and effectively protect us – not from the battles of life, but from fear and worry and dread. His peace will not desert, but it cannot protect us without our permission and cooperation.

Sunday’s sermon nudges me; I can do a better job of this. I can make my Sentry’s job a lot easier than I have in the past, and I can let him rout Fear and Worry from every situation… even from the situation that threatens right now…

The question is, Will I?

Giving Our Lives Away

Have you given your life to Christ?

Probably everyone reading this blog would answer “yes,” and nearly everyone listening to Pastor Ben’s sermon Sunday would also answer yes. But I’m afraid by “yes” most of us really mean:

“I have given my sins to Christ.”
“I have given my really bad habits to Him.”
“I have given my major decisions to Him.”
and, if we’re really surrendered,
“I have given my deepest struggles to Him.

But our lives. Have we truly given our lives to Him? That can’t be done in one lump surrender. It can be decided then, but it can’t be done. We can only give our lives away like we live them – day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute. An unceasing, perpetual giving, like a spouting artesian well or a thundering waterfall. Like Old Faithful; no, like the Niagara Falls.

That begins to happen when we acknowledge that we no longer have control over our seconds and minutes and hours and days. It’s never again going to be “our turn to say what we do today,” never time for some off-duty self-indulgence. We gave our life to Him and from now on we’re alive on His time and terms; we’re operating under His authority; we’re living out His days and plans and purposes for us.

Lest we think God is expecting something unreasonable in this arrangement, let’s remember that Jesus gave His life for us (did He not give His seconds and hours and days, as well as His final breath, for us?)… should we not at the very least return the favor?

I say all that to say this: being led by the Spirit is just what it sounds like – following Someone else every second of every day. But it’s not just the lifestyle of a few fanatics. It’s actually what every one of us signed up for when we gave our lives to the One who gave His life for us. It’s for you and me.

No, it doesn’t come automatically; it’s something we have to learn, something we have to work at. Something we get better at day by day and step by step and breath by breath. Something we need a Teacher for, something that calls for a Guide… Someone like the Holy Spirit.