Day 234: Sweet Worship

John 12:1-26; 2 Chronicles 14-15; Psalm 77

Only 8 verses in to John 12 and man, there's a lot to discover! First, Mary pours very expensive perfume on Jesus' feet. For some reason, John records this very poetic line: "and the sweet smell of the perfume filled the house." Why would he record that? It was a beautiful act of worship that Mary was performing, an action that we should emulate in spirit. But this line? I think this is representative of the incredible beauty that a true act of worship and sacrifice has. The sweet smell filled the house and everyone knew what had been done, they could experience it too, its presence was strong and apparent to everyone there. The same is true when we worship The Lord. When our hearts pour out in humility and love, when we sacrifice our best, when we love of Jesus the way we were designed to do and the way he deserves: the evidence of it is beautiful and permeates all the space around us. People will see it, feel it, experience it, be moved by it. Way to go Mary.

Contrast that with stinky Judas. He masquerades as being holy but his heart is selfish and set on money. "Why wasn't that money given to the poor?" he asks. Does he really care about the poor? No, because what he really means is "why was that money wasted"? Geez, this kind of question gets asked by a lot of skeptics in the church. People give their money to people in need, they buy something for the church, and the question that is in the hearts of those whose lord is money, wonder why the money was wasted on that. Worship and sacrifice of and for Jesus. That's what Mary was showing us. May we follow her example, not Judas'.

Ok, normally I only write one comment per story, but this is just too good. The "chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus." For heaven's sake, why? He's not Jesus, he's not healing people, he's not the leader! Maybe not, but he is an example of the saving power of The Lord, a testament to what God can do, living proof of the life Jesus gives. His word and life are in some ways just as powerful for listeners as Christ's were. People, this should be us! We have been saved, risen, brought to life by our Lord! It says in the scripture that "he was the reason that many of the Jewish people were turning from there and putting their faith in Jesus." His story of salvation is very similar to our own. People should be hearing our story and want to put their faith in Jesus. I'm just as guilty as the next person of keeping Jesus a secret, and this is something I definitely need to work on. But wow, way to go Lazarus.

Check this out: "a grain of wheat that falls on the ground will never be more than one grain unless it dies. But if it dies, it will produce lots of wheat." So awesome! If we do not give up our lives for The Lord, we will never amount to much. Our influence, our faith, our service will never mean anything or be very powerful. But, if we surrender our life for Jesus, he can make our life matter in an eternal way.

Asa destroyed, smashed, cut down, and destroyed again. Is he a violent guy? No, he is obeying God. This is how God wants us to take care of the idols in our lives and in this world. We are not to hide them in the closest, shove them to the back, cover them up. The Lord blessed this guy for tearing these things down and telling everyone to worship God. Asa even makes his grandma mad because she had build a "disgusting idol" and so he "cut it down, crushed it, and burned it." Then he removed her from her royal position. Idols of any kind are dangerous, Asa knew this, and was not afraid to confront his own family about it.

Day 233: See The Glory

John 11:28-57; 2 Chronicles 12-13; Psalm 76

Jesus asks the people who have gathered to mourn for Lazarus, "Didn't I tell you that if you had faith, you would see the glory of God?" This strikes me as a very interesting question. It suggests that in order to see God's glory, we must put our faith in him. So what is God's glory? Power? Compassion? Salvation? Miracles? Jesus? I Googled it (why not) and it said that the glory of God is the "beauty of God's spirit." Cool. So if we have faith in Jesus, then our eyes and hearts will be opened to his love, his greatness, his heart. That means that even for us, today, if we have faith, God will allow us to see the glory, the beauty, of who he is.

Because of how incredible Jesus proves himself to be, the Pharisees plot to kill him. Even Jesus, or should I say, especially Jesus, lives in such a way as to upset people because of how radical he is. The Pharisees make a very interesting comment in their discussion: "Then the Romans will come and destroy our temple and our nation." Do they not believe that God Almighty will guard and protect them? That The Lord will abandon them? Perhaps they believe that God already has since their hearts are so far from him. Either way, they demonstrate that they are not followers of The Lord in order to get to know the heart of God better, but to be over the sinners and have a higher status.

In the last post, I was proud of Rehoboam because he seemed to be wising up. In this next passage, Rehoboam shows that he still had a lot to learn. He allowed the people to stop obeying The Lord. As a result, God allowed the king of Egypt to invade and take over. When we stop obeying God, stop relying on his strength, ignore his wisdom, we open the door for unhealthy, foreign, dangerous things to enter our lives. That's what happened to Rehoboam and his kingdom. Now, they eventually said they were sorry and God made them prosperous, but had they simply continued to follow The Lord, they would not have fallen into the hands of their enemies.

Abijah sounds pretty cool. He has half the number of troops that his enemy, Jeroboam has. He steps up to the top of the mountain and declares that Jeroboam doesn't have a chance since he turned his back on God, while Abijah and his people still obey God. And indeed, despite his lack of numbers, his troops being trapped, God comes through and they are victorious in every way. When we put our faith in God, we will have victory over our enemies, whatever they may look like.

This psalm could have been written by Abijah himself. (It's not, but the message is similar.) In this passage, God is being glorified for his power and ability to bring rulers to their knees and destroy those who oppose him. This should be encouraging to followers of him, that he has power over the evil of this world and can defeat it.

Day 232: Advice from Friends

John 11:1-27; 2 Chronicles 10-11; Psalm 75

In the story of Lazarus, Jesus' wisdom and power are evident. He says at the beginning that Lazarus' sickness won't end in death...but he is dead when Jesus shows up. What exactly does this mean? It could mean that Jesus' perspective is further than what is happening at the moment. The same can be said for Martha's response: "I know that he will be raised to life on the last day, when all the dead are raised." She has the same sort of eternal perspective that Jesus is essentially alluding to. Even death doesn't end our journey, our story, our life. Just as in losing a job, a loved one, a friend, isn't the end of our journey. Lazarus died, indeed. But there is so much more to his story that was going to be revealed by The Lord. Everyone who has faith in Jesus "will live, even if they die." Our hope, our perspective, our life, should be focus beyond our physical death because there is so much more to our story than just what we do on this earth.

In 2 Chronicles we see a story in which the message is very clear. Rehoboam asks some older, senior advisors for advice, then asks some younger officials who are his age for advice. The older ones suggest kindness, service, gentleness, but the younger suggest a demonstration of power and force. Rehoboam shows his true colors--that he is power hungry and prideful--and takes the advice of the younger generation. The result is terrible. Sometimes we like to seek advice from people, and a lot of times we ask our friends or those we have a lot in common with that are similar in age and stage in life. This story clearly shows the potential danger. Rehoboam might have had some wise friends his age, but they are not recorded in this story. Instead, it is the older generation who demonstrates wisdom and grace and should have been listened to. Perhaps we should seek council from our elders, whether that means they are elders by 10 years or 50. Often, their judgement will be better, their wisdom solid, and their experiences expansive. Friends are great, but if we need advice, perhaps the best place to seek it is from those who have experienced a lot more of life than we have. Then once we hear it, even if it isn't desirable, we need to strongly consider following it. Good stuff in the Old Testament!

After Rehoboam makes a stupid mistake early in his rule, he lives much better for the next chapter. He wants to attack the people that rebelled against him, but God tells him not to and he listens. When the people of the other tribes cannot worship The Lord purely because of Jeroboam and they come to Jerusalem, They worship and are loyal under Rehoboam who obviously kept the temples pure and was someone they were willing to serve for several years. Rehoboam has a lot of wives and ultimately a lot of sons. He picks one to rule as king, but scripture says he "was wise enough to put one of his sons in charge of each fortified city in his kingdom" and he gave them all they needed. Rehoboam grew up! Good for him!

Psalm 75 is about how God has power over the wicked. It talks about how he will judge with fairness, he will take their power, he will pour out his anger on them and defeat them. On the flip side, this Psalm also includes praises to God. The psalmist says "our God, we thank you for being so near to us! Everyone celebrates your wonderful deeds." God is indeed near to us and if we praise The Lord and tell of his wonderful deeds, he will "give strength to those who are good." We don't need to be afraid or troubled by what the evil or wicked people are doing. Do we need to try and hinder their hurtful actions, protect the weak? Definitely. But, God holds the ultimate power and he will make sure that those that love him will be saved and those that do not will be judged accordingly. God is good and wise and right.

Day 231: Actions

John 10:22-42; 2 Chronicles 9; Psalm 74

While the significance of all of what Jesus says in this passage isn't completely clear to me at the moment, there are some things that stick out. First, Jesus says "I have told you and you refused to believe me" but it is "the things I do" that "show who I am." His point is, he can say and say and say all day long, but it is his actions that demonstrate who he really is. It's the same for us. I can say and say and say, until I'm blue in the face, that I'm a Christian, but until my actions reflect such a statement, who I really am could still be questionable. Words don't mean much without action to back them up. Anyone could agree with that, and that is precisely what Jesus is saying. Secondly, Jesus tells these people that they are not his sheep, so they don't know his voice or follow him. I've always wondered, does God send the people to the message, or the message to the people? In this passage it sounds like he prompts the people to seek out and believe the message. I'm not sure if that is significant or not, but there you go, my thoughts.

Solomon is the man. He is so wise and so wealthy, that people came from all over the world to just listen to him, even the Queen of Sheba. She had heard rumors of how famous and intelligent Solomon was and went to check it out for herself. I think that shows her wisdom: she was unwilling to just hear the rumors and be satisfied, so she went to discover the truth for herself. Because of that, she praises God, and God earns more glory on that day. Solomon's life was a testament to how much God loved his people. The Lord placed a ruler above all rulers to lead the people demonstrating that he cared for the wellbeing of his people. Solomon obeyed The Lord and everyone was blessed because of it.

It is weird that on the same day as I write the above, the psalm is about how distant God seems from his people. This passage is a cry to The Lord to see and do something about the enemies that disgrace The Lord and beat down his children. It reminds us, first, of how God is the ruler of all things: the land and sea, the night and day. If God can conquer the oceans and split the landscape, then he can manage some enemies. And so this call to him begs him to rescue his people. To contrast this with the previous reading, this just shows that life isn't always going to be peachy. Sometimes God is going to seem really close and his blessings are going to be obvious and numerous. Other times, we will face lonliness and emptiness and even defeat. God will seem more distant and uncaring at those times. But, that's where faith and a deep relationship with him is so important. During those times when it feels like we have to do it all alone, God's still here, he promises that. And the only way that isn't true is if our Sovereign Creator is a liar. So, I pray that we pursue an intimate relationship with our Lord so that in those dark times, we still believe he is here and faithful.

Day 230: We are Sheep

John 10:1-21; 2 Chronicles 8; Psalm 73

The good shepherd knows his sheep and they know him. He leads them with his voice. He walks in front of them and the sheep follow. He gives up his life for the sheep. He gathers other sheep so that he can have one flock. Those who believe in Jesus actually know him, not just know of him. Believers trust Jesus and they recognize his voice, they understand his word, they see him in this world. True believers of Jesus will actually follow him wherever he leads, and will follow the example he has set. Jesus has given up his life for us and wants for his brothers and sisters in Christ to be united because of him, not divided for whatever reason. I love the metaphor of the shepherd and the sheep. Sheep are dumb. They are defenseless and completely helpless. They need the shepherd to survive, because without it, they will wander off into dangerous places or never find water. Our need for Jesus is the same. We can be so dumb. I am so weak on my own and completely helpless to save myself. Without Jesus, I will walk a path of sin and never be satisfied. The sheep are completely dependent on their shepherd for their life; I'm learning that I am and need to be completely dependent on Jesus for my life.

Another small side note about this story: Jesus' words divided people. Because they are so radical, so powerful, so contrary to our worldly expectations, his words cut deeply to the heart and ultimately cause division because people want to believe certain things and refuse to accept the truth that Jesus speaks.

Solomon was a builder. When he finished constructing one thing, he built something else. He did build himself a palace, but most of what he built was for God and for the people: the temple, walls for protection, towers for lookouts, larger cities for people. And in between all of this, Solomon followed the Law given to Moses exactly. He didn't put off his worship of The Lord until all of his projects were done, his kingdom was perfect, he had complete peace in his kingdom. Since all of it was for God anyway, his worship was a part of the building he was doing.

Psalm 73 is awesome. It is so real, so raw, so honest. The psalmist starts out saying how frustrated he is because the wicked, the evil, those who do not follow God, seem to be so successful. They prosper, don't have problems, and yet they are foolish and don't honor The Lord. He says that he was frustrated and angered by this. I've felt that too. How could such evil people rise to such power, fame, and wealth in this world, and a lot of times, cause hardships for others? It just doesn't seem fair or right. But as the psalmist seeks guidance and wisdom from The Lord, he realizes that God isn't ignoring those people. They will stumble and fall and not be picked up. God will punish them, they will be destroyed, and never remembered. Their reward was received here on earth, the short time they got to be alive. But the rest of eternity, they will have nothing but pain.

The psalmist goes on to say how he was once "stupid and ignorant" and he treated God like a wild animal would. I was like, "how's that?" Then I realized that a wild animal is not submissive to anyone or anything. They keep their distance and take and take for their survival. Sometimes people treat God that way. They do not submit to his good and perfect will. They keep their distance, scavenging only when they need something. God deserves our devotion, our submission. He wants us close, relying on him for all our needs. Several verses at the end are so powerful:
"Your advice has been my guide, and later you will welcome me in glory. In heaven I have only you, and on this earth you are all I want. My body and mind may fail, but you are my strength and my choice forever. Powerful Lord God, all who stay far from you will be lost, and you will destroy those who are unfaithful. It is good for me to be near you, I choose you as my protector, and I will tell about your wonderful deeds."