Sticks and Stones

Welcome to Unseen today. II think this may be a post several of you need to see because I have had all kinds of trouble getting it posted. Read on to see  how God shows his care for us.

He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Psalms 23:5

 

Probably no other passage is as familiar as the 23^rd Psalm. The verse about preparing a table before me was always a neat picture, but it turns out the picture that I had was not the one the Psalmist intended to paint.  I had always thought that it meant, he prepares a table of food in front of me. In the little book A Shepherd looks at Psalms 23,  the writer explains that when it was time to move the sheep to higher pastures, or table land, the shepherd would go before he brought the sheep. He would prepare the table for them by removing boulders and sharp sticks, killing snakes  and predators and making sure there was fresh water and grass. He would also remove the small stones that could stick in their hooves and injure or cripple them. This fact stuck with me( no pun intended). The shepherd did not just remove the big things from the pasture, but all the things that could harm the sheep.

                In my life right now there are no lurking predators or great boulders.  The things that are bothering me today are stones by comparison. There are disappointments, hurt feelings, frustrations, irritability, and frustration with people who are being irritable. I am tempted to not bother God with my stones when other people have boulders . Does God have time to help me with my discouragement over a door that didn’t open when a two year old just got a colostomy or a mother doesn’t know where she will sleep tonight? Isn’t it petty to take up God’s time with my hurt feelings over a slight when an older person had a house fire this week and is suffering? Would a shepherd tell a limping sheep, “Shake it off. You’re just fine.”, or would he look for the problem and then correct it? The truth is these small troubles, while not affecting our salvation, can keep us exhausted and off guard so that we are not as effective and victorious as we could be. More importantly, the God of heaven and earth cares about the details of your life.

In Matthew 10:29 we read, "Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30"But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.…” In Matthew 6 Jesus advises us to avoid worry about the small things. HE says, Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?.

So many places in scripture tell us similar things. We are valued by Almighty God. When God brings about the restoration of all things we are told that he will wipe away every tear from our eyes.(Revelation 21). Bring your boulders, your lurking fears, and your stones to the shepherd  who has prepared a table before you.

This world is not my home.

Welcome to Unseen today. You might have noticed that life is hard. Did you ever wonder why? Read on.

This World Is Not My Home

We look for a city whose builder and maker is God. Hebrews 11:10

I am not a good outdoor person. I was not good outdoors as a teenager and I am not a good outdoor mother. I particularly dislike camping.  I don’t like being hot, being bitten by bugs, or being uncomfortable. This is pretty much the description of camping. When my kids were little after a Boy Scout camping trip they convinced me to sleep in the tent in the back yard. I made several discoveries. I discovered that while global warming may or may not be true, I believe the ground has become much harder than it used to be when we were camping out in Girl Scouts.  I discovered that while air mattresses start out comfortable they often leak and you wake up in a dip. I also discovered that two little boys take up a lot of room in a tent. . We were crammed in like the proverbial sardines. The cars whooshed by outside and I could not get in a position where the street light was not in my eyes. I tried to get my husband to participate in the next back yard campout, but I think he was smart enough to refuse.

Motor homes were not that much better.  One year we went on a mission trip to an Indian reservation in Arizona. There were lots of really neat things that week but the motor home was not one of them. Many people had their own motor homes or campers, or borrowed them. We ended up in the main one where the cooking was done and people gathered. We were crowded and had to keep things really clean, but what I remember most was that for some reason we were not allowed to use the bathroom in the motor home. We had to hike down to the chapter house ¼ mile away to use the bathroom or “Shower” with the water hose and a drain in the floor. 

What was the main problem with these settings? Besides the cramped quarters and rustic conditions, they were not home. It was not that bad I suppose, but they were only temporary. (Thank goodness) I was SOOO glad to be in my own bed and my own bathroom.

Well, we are in a temporary home here. There is a reason that we are not comfortable and feel out of place in this world. In Hebrews 13:5 we read For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Jesus said in John 14 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. Hebrews 11, the faith chapter, shows us this. All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.

This world is really tough to live in, but like we park our motor homes and roll up our tents, someday we will be in our true home. Fight the good fight.

All by myself ... or not.

Everywhere I have gone this last two weeks I have been seeing and hearing things that remind me I can't do it by myself.  I couldn't seem to distill them into a story until my husband gave me an idea. If you need proof that God can use anything to teach us, read on!

All by myself…Or not.

Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2

Cars come streaming into Pit Row. The colors and sounds are almost overwhelming and your eyes flit around. Then a strange thing catches your attention. A driver is climbing out of the window of his car. He runs to the back and puts fuel in. He runs to each tire and checks the pressure, adding some air in the front.  Then he races back and takes out the nozzle for the fuel. He quickly replaces the tear-off window screen and then puts on his helmet and climbs back in the window. What do you think the result of this escapade was? Not only is the driver behind, he is probably exhausted and now he can’t do his best. If only he had relied on his pit crew.

 No one would be that silly, right? At least no on the race track. How about in other parts of our lives? Do we isolate and refuse to use the team God has given us in life because of pride, shame or not wanting to bother someone? We may have different reasons. My favorite was always, “I won’t tell anyone what is going on (especially my mother) because I don’t want her to worry. That never worked with my mother and it probably doesn’t work with yours either. If my children are reading this it does not work with me.  Maybe we just don’t want to admit that we were wrong or that we don’t know. We would rather take care of it ourselves. If we rely on just one other person, such as a spouse or a friend, we can suck the life out of them. God has given us resources and people to help us. When we don’t we end up behind and exhausted. We can’t do our best for our families, our jobs or our ministry.

First Corinthians 12 describes very clearly the fact that we are a part of the body of Christ. He is the head and we are different parts of his body here. Try opening a door with just your pinky. ( I just tried.)  try walking 10 feet on your tiptoes. You can probably do it, but it is harder than it has to be. If you tried walking on your tiptoes I bet your calves are sore now.  It is the same way with our spiritual bodies.  We can do the work God has called us and equipped us for alone but we are not going to do it as well.  HE has given us other believers and he has given us his spirit.

One of my favorite verses  is in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

This lesson has been hard for me to learn. If you want to see something interesting look up the one another verses in the bible. According to blue letter bible. There are 234. We are meant to live in community and to be part of a team or a body.  Don’t let pride or fear keep you running around the car any longer.