He May Be Gone

“By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.” (So 3:1 AV)

The Song of Solomon is a metaphor depicting the saint’s relationship with he or her Savior. The king is a type of Christ and the Shunamite woman a type of the church.  In this particular verse, it appears as though the king and his future wife were relaxing and she fell asleep.  Not feeling as though his company was particularly desired at the time, the king arose.  Upon waking, the Shunamite discovered her love was missing and not to be found in the usual places.  She goes about the places looking for him.

It is quite common to take our spouses for granted. Specially when we are young and busy.  As one gets older, we appreciate and draw upon the presence of our spouse.  So too is it with the LORD.  We expect Him to be there every day.  We expect Him to be a shoulder we can cry upon and a comfort in our fears.  He is our guide, protector, and provider.  However, life can get so busy or we so tired, that we forget who it is that is most important.  The last two weeks have been so busy. And, it is about to get busier.  If I am not careful, after arising from a particularly exhausting day or week, the LORD will be nowhere to be found.

It is so important to keep up with daily quite time with the LORD.  It is so important to have conversations with Him throughout the day.  Not that He would necessarily be hurt if we do not.  But participating in a relationship keeps the other near.  It is to our benefit that we are able to approach the LORD of creation.  It is to our blessing we are privileged to approach His throne.  Why don’t we do it more often then we do?  If we are not careful, when we do desire His company, it will be difficult to find Him!

just go around

“If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.” (Ec 11:3 AV)

There are unplanned obstacles that should not deter opportunity.  It is just a matter of accepting the situation and going on with it.  Dealing with the problem and continuing on is how we get things accomplished.  There is no such thing as a perfect situation.  There will always be unplanned changes to the details of the plan.

Traipsing through the woods, one learns to adjust.  When the plan is to get across the valley or over the river, you just learn to deal with it.  It is what it is and it will always be what it is.  The years I spent in Boy Scouts taught me to live with spontaneity.  Find a solution and carry on.  It is no fun dealing with rain.  Trying to start a fire for cooking while the rain is coming down is not fun.  We learned how to make fire sticks.  We learned to come prepared with homemade fire starter.  We learned to keep firewood dry.  We learned to keep the rain running away from, instead of towards, one’s tent.   We trenched around our tent so the water didn’t run back underneath and soak everything.  Those who are hardy will find a way.  Those who are not will want everything settled for them.  Life just isn’t that way.

These things happen.  No one is out to get you.  It isn’t all about how much your life is more difficult than another’s.  Bring an umbrella and walk around the fallen tree.  You’ll get there!

Laugh Again!

“Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.” (Ec 8:15 AV)

We don’t laugh enough anymore.  The world is filled with bad news.  But what were we expecting?  Sure, the reality that sin destroys and the vast majority of souls will suffer hell is a serious matter.  A grave matter.  One the church and her saints should take very seriously.  These things burden the soul. As they should.  Yet, the Bible that tells us to walk soberly is the same Bible that tells us to rejoice.  There is a balance!  Too much of either will cause harm to the soul.  And perhaps more.

As I get older and things change, if there is no sense of humor, this soul will be miserable.  As one get older, things work a little slower.  A potty break is measured in half hours when it used to be minutes.  There is a game of hide-and-seek with car keys or other items of interest several times in the day.  The old ‘blank brain’ event as one enters a room and then promptly forgets for what one enters the room is a hourly occurrence.  A trick knee that goes out as one is trying to be distinguished, walking down and aisle to your seat is something that becomes old hat.  The pocking and prodding that our physicians are accustomed to is something one has to get used to.  Those embarrassing tests that we over fifty must now succumb to become a source of vulnerability unless there is a sense of humor.  On one such occasion, after being on laxative for twelve hours, I checked in for the test and the waiting room began to fill up.  I remarked rather loudly (to get a laugh) that it might no be wise to book all these patients who have been on laxative all at the same time because there is bound to be a mess somewhere.  No one laughed.

It seems to be either feast or famine.  Either you go to a church where people are constantly in party mode and rocking to worldly music, all the while destroying lives because they do not take sin seriously.  Or, there is the church were there is nothing to laugh at or joy over, and their children rebel against such staunch ambiance they gravitate towards the less intense contemporary worldly church culture.  There needs to be balance.  We need to laugh again!

The Wisdom of Silence

“A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.” (Pr 29:11 AV)

James tells us that the man that can tame his tongue is a perfect man.  If he can control ever word that comes out of his mouth, he is a sinless man.  That is the degree to which our thoughts and words can desecrate our souls.  When it come to a fool (which we all are to some degree or another), if it’s on his mind, he has to say it.  I am reminded of an incident which occurred just yesterday that proves the point.

Relaying the details would only repeat the lack of judgment, I must be vague.  Yesterday was a busy and labor filled day.  There were many hands helping.  Many opportunities for conversation.  On one such occasion, as a way to make conversation, I mentioned a few facts that others really didn’t need to know.  It wasn’t a matter of confidentiality or a revelation of past faults.  It wasn’t a reveal that would harm me in a spiritual way.  It wasn’t speech that would draw suspicion on my testimony.  It wasn’t inappropriate jesting or conversation. There was no wickedness at all.  To speak of these facts of which I shared at a latter date and in the past tense would have been fine.  However, give the present circumstances and hypothetical consequences, it was not the wisest thing to share.

The wise think quickly before they share a word.  They think of the ramifications of sharing information.  Can the individual be trusted?  Do they really need to know?  What do I hope to accomplish with such a statement?  What is my motive?  Could the conversation wait until later and under different circumstances?  Just because it is on our mind and we may not think it would be harmful to share it, doesn’t mean we should.  Wisdom is knowing what to say, when to say it, and how to say it.

What's The Good Word?

“As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him: for he refresheth the soul of his masters.” (Pr 25:13 AV)

If you are not from the frigged north, you may not understand the significance and blessing of a cold snow.  There are two types of snow.  There is the wet and heavy snow.  This snow falls when the temperature is slightly below freezing and the humidity is high.  Then there is the cold and dry snow.  This snow falls when the temperature nears zero with low humidity.  Both are frozen water.  But, the later doesn’t stick as easily to equally cold surfaces and is much easier to remove.  The later can be brushed away.  The former the widow maker.  That has to be removed no other way but by shoveling.  But what of the harvest?  What is it a blessing in harvest time?

Harvest time is a time of hard work.  Often, the laborer is overcome with the heat of the field.  When the cold snow comes, the temperature drops, the humidity drops, and the snow adds a cooling affect to the laborer.  The crops are not harmed because a light breeze will blow it off the yield.  But it feels really nice when that snow hits the face.  When I was a child, we shoveled a lot.  Snow bands called lake effect snow was common.  We measured snow by the feet.  Not by the inches.  We lived on a corner lot with a seven-car driveway.  More like a parking lot.  Needles to say, when shoveling by hand, it was not a simple job.  We would overheat being al dressed up for the cold.  When a dusting of cold snow fell, we would point our faces upward to cool off without getting cold.  The rest of the body was toasty.  But our faces were cool.  Refreshing!

Applied to a faithful messenger, we can see the wisdom.  When time of difficulty come, it is nice to hear “a good word”.  We often hear that question as a conversation starter.  “What’s the good word?”  There are times to be realistic and honest.  But that doesn’t mean we need to always dwell on the negative.  There are times when we need to hear some good news.  Just look at how popular network news is compared to all other programming.  It lags behind.  Why?  Nothing but bad new.  We need to be the cold snow for others toiling away.  We need to be that word of refreshing so that others can continue to labor!  “What the good word?”

Bricks of Wisdom

“Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established:” (Pr 24:3 AV)

The older I get the more I appreciate the wisdom of my father.  At the time, it was difficult to accept.  But raising three sons I learned to appreciate and incorporate many of the methods and lessons learned in childhood.  My father was not perfect in all that he did.  No father is.  There were things I did differently with my sons than what I experienced.  But looking back, there were many priceless lessons learned from a father who had wisdom.

My Dad had a world-view bigger than most.  Having been an exchange student to France, he learned at a young age to be independent and appreciate the world as smaller than one at first imagines.  He was drafted during the Korean conflict but served, per agreement with a major corporation and the army, to serve as a staff mathematician on a historical weapons project.  He was part of a team that constructed a arsenal that changed the course of history.  His part may have been relatively small, but he saw the larger picture.  He grew up in the Boy Scouts and with his own sons and daughters, scouting because a major part of our lives.  Coupled with playing special music in church, my father drilled into our heads that life is about service.  Hard work in the form of paper routes, recycling, and teenage jobs were the way my father kept us out of trouble.  These lessons of life is what formed what and what we are today.  Myself and my siblings all have gone down that trajectory which my father set many years ago.  A lot of wisdom, understanding, and discipline were his principles.  We were not always successful. Some of us made major mistakes in life.  As we all do.  But the wisdom my father exercised has carried us even through those rough spots.

Many churches are not built on principle.  They are built on pragmatism.  I’ll give you an example.  My father had 11 children.  If all he was after was to have all 11 children come to dinner at five o’clock sharp without being asked, he would have to have ice cream and Pepsi for dinner.  On the other hand, if he was after our well being and health, there would be meat and vegetables.  Pragmatism does what works in the short term.  Principle does what is right for eternity.  Pragmatism is interested in immediate results.  Principle is interested in lasting results.  Wisdom is the missing key!

Dig Deep to Dig Out

“Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out.” (Pr 20:5 AV)

This is a difficult proverb because of the meaning of the word ‘counsel.’  Some believe this counsel is the designs of the heart.  Plans that a wicked person may be making.  But the word actually means advice.  Now, there are two ways of looking at this.  The counsel one needs might be hidden deep in one’s own heart and a person of understanding knows how to help such a one discover what he knew all along.  Or, it could be the man of understanding is in need of counsel and he knows how to ask the right questions of the one who has the counsel to give.  Either way, the understanding of knowing what questions to ask is a skill those of us who desire to help others, or desire to gain help for ourselves, could learn.

I have a son who does not open up easily. When he was younger, it was quite a feat to help him.  On several occasions, it was clear that there was something bothering him.  Bothering him bad.  On those occasions, I would ask him of the nature of the problem and he would answer with one word. “Nothing”.  Clearly there was something. Not until I told him I was not leaving or ceasing to inquire until he told me, did he finally relent.  Sometimes, this took more than an hour.  His counsel was like a deep water.  It took patience and wisdom to draw it out.

Then there are the vast majority of people who come to a pastor for help.  Generally, they know what they need to do.  They just need someone to help them come to terms with what they already know deep within their heart.  Rarely does the counselor need to give a direct answer to a problem.  By asking the right questions, the counselor helps the counseled to come to the conclusion himself.  That way, it becomes the answer of the counseled and not the answer provided for by the counselor.  As parents, we often want to give a quick answer to a question our children have.  Lost is the art of mentoring.  Taking the time to lead a child to the answer he already knows makes the lesson stick!  Take the time.  Draw it out.  That soul shall be helped far more than one who was simply told.