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God’s True Desire

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God’s True Desire (CaD Ezk 14) – Wayfarer

…even if these three men—Noah, Daniel and Job—were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign Lord.
Ezekiel 14:14 (NIV)

There was a credit card company who used to use the tag line: “Membership has its privileges.” And, there are certain places in life when this is true. After three decades of regular business travel, I now have certain lifetime perks as a member of various hotel and airline loyalty clubs. It certainly makes travel a little easier.

I have observed along my life journey that it’s easy to think that being a member of a church or denomination has its privileges, as well. There is, however, danger in that line of thinking. Jesus repeatedly reminded the most religious people of His day about this. Just as Ezekiel is doing in his prophetic messages.

In today’s chapter, Ezekiel is given a prophetic word for the elders who served as leaders of the exiles in Babylon. God warns them of the people’s continued idolatry and specifies that they have “set up idols in their hearts.” The original Hebrew is, however more aptly translated “set up idols upon their hearts.” It was customary and fashionable in ancient Babylon for people to wear idols and amulets on necklaces. It is possible that the Hebrew exiles had taken up this practice themselves.

In his prophetic message, Zeke mentions that God’s anger was so great that even if “Noah, Daniel, and Job” were present they alone would be spared. To Ezekiel’s listeners, this would have been a brash statement that’s lost on modern readers.

The Hebrews were proud of their status of being children of Israel, referring to Israel (aka Jacob), the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham. But before Israel or the people of Israel existed, there were characters of antiquity regarded for being righteous. They were never considered Hebrews because they existed before the Hebrews existed and were therefore considered non-Jewish gentiles.

Two of these characters we know from the Great Story itself. Noah and Job. The third figure, Daniel, is not the Daniel we know. That Daniel, of the lion’s den fame, was a contemporary of Zeke, and his story is being lived at the same time Zeke is delivering his prophesies. The Daniel Zeke is referencing is found in non-Biblical ancient texts from Canaan. They mention an ancient king from the region named Dan-el who was a man known for his incredible righteousness and justice. He cared for the widows, the orphans, and ruled with unparalleled goodness.

I find two important lessons in Zeke’s reference to these three men.

First, they were characters renown for their righteous faith and corresponding lives. Noah was a man of righteousness and goodness while the world around him was going to hell in a hand-basket. Job, despite his incredible suffering at the hands of the evil one, refused to curse God and held fast to his faith in God despite the physical, mental, and spiritual trials his suffering put him through. Dan-el was a man of justice who cared for the poor, the needy, and the outcast.

Throughout the prophets, it’s easy to focus on the idolatry that is the surface problem the Hebrews are dealing with. But it’s not just the idolatry that God is mad about. It’s the consequences of the idolatry in which the people have become self-centered, arrogant, and immoral. They aren’t doing the things that God desires most: to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with Him.

It’s important to recognize that in referencing three gentile characters from antiquity who were not Israelites, Zeke was making the point that even gentiles who didn’t have the Law of Moses acted more righteously than God’s people were. They should not expect that simply being a member of God’s people to mean they had the privilege of escaping God’s judgment. It would not shield them from God’s anger because God even considered non-Jewish gentiles more righteous than they.

I’m reminded in the quiet this morning that even today it’s easy to fall into the trap of dutiful religion (e.g. being member of a church, throwing a buck in the plate, volunteering) while ignoring the things that God tells us He really cares about. God’s true desire is that I live daily life in a way that reflects His love, generosity, mercy, and righteousness. That includes how I treat my wife and family, how I live with my neighbors, how I conduct my business, and how I conduct myself in every situation. If my heart isn’t seeking after God’s Kingdom and His righteousness, then my religious acts and church membership are a hollow waste of time.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Generations

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But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him.
1 Kings 12:8 (NIV)

When I was a young man, I had all the confidence in the world. I had an intense belief that I could do anything to which I set my mind. I didn’t even question it. The only question was what it was to which I would set my mind and heart. I was three years old when Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the moon, and for my generation, I believe there was a certain anticipation and belief that we could shoot for the stars. Our grandparents were “the greatest generation” who grew up during the Great Depression and gave their lives to save the world from tyrannical evil in World War II. Our parents’ generation put men on the moon. There was no limit to what our generation could accomplish.

In those early years, I don’t remember having much anger or animosity toward the previous generations other than what I perceived to be their blind obedience to institutions and institutional traditions. I was an obedient and good kid for the most post, but I bucked traditions that I found silly and void of any tangible purpose.

By way of contrast, our daughters’ childhood and youth were marked by September 11, 2001, and a post-9/11 world. Taylor was 11, and Madison was not quite 10. Now in their 30s, I look at their generation and find them to have a very different mindset. My personal observation has been that they’ve largely rejected the faith and belief systems of previous generations outright. Despite being arguably the most affluent and privileged generation in the history of humanity, theirs is a pessimistic and cynical worldview of a world made perpetually evil by the previous generations and their belief systems, an assuredly apocalyptic future from any number of doomsday scenarios from climate change to capitalism, and their conviction that only they can change the world and save it for subsequent generations.

Generations are fascinating.

In today’s chapter, Solomon’s son Rehoboam takes over his father’s throne. I couldn’t help but think through the experience of the generations:

Generation #1: David
David has an incredibly difficult journey to the throne. Despite his early victory over Goliath and popular acclaim, David lives as a mercenary in the desert with a price on his head for well over a decade. He’s a middle-aged man by the time he ascends to the throne. He earned the kingdom through grit, faith, perseverance, and conquest.

Generation #2: Solomon
David’s marriage to Bathsheba and the subsequent birth of Solomon came relatively late in David’s life and reign. Solomon was born into the wealth and power of the royal family, but he was relatively young when he ascended the throne and inherited a vastly larger and wealthier nation that his father had spent a lifetime building. Solomon enjoyed the heck out of it, but his excess and extravagance came at a heavy expense to the everyday people of the nation.

Generation #3: Rehoboam
From what we can surmise, Rehoboam never knew a difficult day in his life. He great up, not only in the Royal palace like his father, but he also experienced the wealth, extravagance, and excess with which his father lived. Solomon may have known privilege, but Rehoboam knew only privilege and fortune on steroids. When he finally has his chance at the throne, he has no regard for his people or his nation. He and his entourage of similarly privileged and wealthy friends treat the throne as if it’s their golden ticket to continue their extravagant living while using their power to lord themselves over others.

In the quiet this morning, I ponder my place in the Great Story from a historical and generational perspective. On one hand, I feel humble in accepting the reality that generations are often unwitting products of the generations before them and the circumstances around them over which they have no control. On the other hand, I find myself desiring to not be fatalistic about the differences between generations but rather to help other generations with the wisdom of experience. Ultimately, you can’t control whether another generation will listen to or accept that wisdom.

The elders who tried to speak wisdom into Rehoboam learned that the hard way.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

“Effed Up Family”

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"Effed Up Family" (CaD Gen 48) – Wayfarer

Joseph said to [Israel], “No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”

But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.”
Genesis 48:18-19 (NIV)

Wendy and I became hooked on Yellowstone in its first season. It’s now in its fourth season. Sunday night has become a weekly watch party with our friends. Wendy and I have often described Yellowstone to family and friends as “The Godfather meets modern day Montana.”

Kevin Costner plays John Dutton, the widowed patriarch of a family who has owned a million-acre ranch of the most beautiful and desirable land in Montana for over a century. Everyone wants the land and they will do literally anything to wrench it from Dutton’s control. Dutton will do literally anything to prevent that from happening. Let’s just say, if he asks one of the ranch hands to drive you “to the train station” you’ve just been given a one-way ticket to the end-of-the-line. Dutton finds himself forced to manipulate and coerce his own adult children to “protect” the family and the ranch. Each of his children is, respectfully and understandably, his or her own form of messed up.

Our daughter and her husband watch Yellowstone every week along with another show about a wealthy, dysfunctional family empire. They’ve dubbed the evening “Effed up family night.”

I couldn’t help but think of it as I read today’s chapter. The book of Genesis is known by many as simply the story of creation and Noah’s ark. The truth is that about 80 percent of Genesis is the story of one man, Abraham, being given a promise that his descendants will become a great nation. It then tells how Abraham builds a wealthy nomadic herding operation and has a son, who expands the family and the family business. By the third generation, they grow to become a wealthy clan that other peoples fear as they wander the land. In the fourth generation, the clan continues to grow into the making of twelve tribes, who will become a people before the book of Exodus in which God makes them into a nation.

I’ve often said that all good stories are a reflection of the Great Story. Families growing into tribes, people, and empires is a common theme in some of the epic stories we love, as is the struggle of flawed human family systems to protect and perpetuate the family legacy. The story of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph is the seminal source material.

In today’s chapter, two recurring themes are present. First is the ancient patriarch on his death bed blessing his children. It’s the conduit through which power and privilege are passed down to the subsequent generation. The second recurring theme is the bucking of the embedded cultural tradition of the day in which the firstborn son inherits everything. Israel, the second-born son of Isaac who stole the birthright and deceived his father into receiving the blessing, is now the dying Patriarch. His first move is to call Joseph to him. Joseph was at one time his youngest son and his favorite. Joseph was the firstborn of Rachel, who was the younger sister, whom Israel loved. Two important things happen.

First, Israel raises Joseph’s sons, his grandsons, to the status of sons and heirs of their grandfather. Joseph’s sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, will become the head of their own tribes next to their uncles. In doing this, Joseph’s family is receiving a double-portion of Israel’s overall blessing.

Second, Israel willfully crosses his arms when blessing Manasseh and Ephraim. He places his right hand (the hand of favor) on the younger son’s head. He places his left hand (often the metaphor of disfavor or secondary favor in that culture) on the firstborn son’s head. Joseph is ticked-off at this and tries to reverse it. The tradition of honoring the firstborn son runs deep in family systems to this day. Israel refuses. Like Isaac, like Jacob/Israel, and like Joseph himself, the younger brother Ephraim will be the greater. Hundreds of years later, when the nation of Israel splits into two after Solomon’s reign, the southern kingdom will be called Judah (the fourth-born son who emerges as the leader of the tribes) and the northern kingdom will be often referred to as Ephraim. Prophecy fulfilled.

Along my earthly journey, I’ve observed that one’s place and position within the family system can often have a tremendous impact on how one sees and perceives themselves, their self-worth, and their place in this world. One of the things that Jesus taught, one of the spiritual realities He put into place, was that anyone who follows Him will be lifted into the potion of child of God, heir of God, and co-heir with Christ Jesus Himself. It’s good news for everyone who grew up with real family stories that would fit right in with “Effed up family night.”

While he was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers showed up. They were outside trying to get a message to him. Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and brothers are out here, wanting to speak with you.”
Jesus didn’t respond directly, but said, “Who do you think my mother and brothers are?” He then stretched out his hand toward his disciples. “Look closely. These are my mother and brothers. Obedience is thicker than blood. The person who obeys my heavenly Father’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” Matthew 12:46-48 (MSG)

…in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.
Galatians 3:26 (NIV)

You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, “Papa! Father!” Doesn’t that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you’re also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance. Galatians 4:6-7 (MSG)

This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance!
Romans 8:15-16 (MSG)

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day, Wayfarer Podcast

Roughing It…Not

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Roughing It…Not (CaD Ex 16) – Wayfarer

But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed.
Exodus 16:18 (NRSVCE)

I have never been big on camping. I love the romance of it, and it there are pieces of it that appeal to me. The truth is that it’s never been my thing as far as vacations go. My family vacations for the vast majority of my childhood was two-weeks every summer spent a family camp on Rainy Lake, Minnesota. But, we stayed inside a cabin that had heat if it was cold, shelter if it was raining, a bed to sleep in every night, and a full kitchen for making meals. “Roughing it” meant there was no television.

This kind of “getting away” continues for Wendy and me as we spend chunks of our summer at the lake. It’s not exactly roughing it, but there is still a measure of planning and preparation that has to occur. For my wife, who is gifted at planning and organization, the planning and prep begin long before our scheduled departure. Mean plans, water, stock, grocery plan, weather, proper clothing for the weather, anticipated activities, who will be with us, what those who will be with us will want/need, etc., etc., and etc.

In today’s chapter, the Hebrews continue their exit from Egyptian slavery. They find themselves in the wilderness. You have to think about it. Hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children of every age along with everything they own and their livestock. Essentially, this is the population of a large city “roughing it” together.

Nobody made a meal plan.

I can feel Wendy groaning with utter incredulity at the sheer magnitude of this oversight. I mean, there’s a grocery store just a mile from our place at the lake. There was no such luck for a million plus wandering Hebrews.

The big reveal in today’s chapter is God’s supernatural provision for the needs of Moses and the entire population. It wasn’t fancy. It wasn’t varied. You’d have difficulty coming up with an entire season of cooking shows for the Food Network that cover all the ways to make Manna and quail interesting. Nevertheless, it provided what was essentially needed. What struck me most this morning was that there was no excess, and there was no shortage. There was exactly what was needed.

I couldn’t help but think of these words of Jesus as I mulled all of this over this morning:

“You can’t worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you’ll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can’t worship God and Money both.

“If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.

“Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.

“If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.“

In the quiet this morning I find myself confessing that I never think about my needs because there has never been a day of my life journey that I couldn’t take for granted my basic needs would be met. This means that my entire life journey has been spent measuring the “quality” and “success” of life by the relative equation of my wants versus my acquisitions.

This differentiation is not trivial. I believe that it is essential to the conversation that we’re having about life in America and about life in our world. As a follower of Jesus, the differentiation is a critical piece of my spiritual journey. How can I be about God’s kingdom work in this world (e.g. “Your kingdom come and will be done on Earth”) if I am more focused on my own worldly kingdom than I am God’s?

As I head into another work week this morning I want to be mindful of the reality that my thoughts, concerns, and motivations are really not about my needs at all. Shelter, clothes, food, and water are mine in abundance, and if a tornado hit my house and destroyed it all I have a vast network of family and friends who would, in a heartbeat, provide me and Wendy with all we needed. My daily concerns are really about what I want, and with what I choose to be content.

And studying to be an actor taught me that what one “wants” is the key to understanding everything about that character’s words, actions, and relationships.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Overwhelmed, and Short on Confidence

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[Gideon] responded, “But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
Judges 6:15 (NRSV)

History is, by and large, filled with stories of privileged people. Kings, rulers, nobles, and generals were typically people born into the right families. They had the means to the best educations, were connected to the right people, and leveraged the opportunities at their disposal to become “great.”

Along life’s journey, I’ve come to appreciate one of the meta-themes of God’s Message which is summarized in His words to the prophet Isaiah:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.

Throughout the Great Story, God time and time again goes to the youngest, the least, and the weakest to use for His purposes. Today’s story of the calling of Gideon is a great example. You can feel the shame that exists at the core of Gideon’s soul. He is a nothing, a nobody, a person with no privilege, no means, and no connections. That is, until he received a visit from a very peculiar guest.

On this Monday morning, with a pile on my desk and a task list long enough to rival a child’s wish list to St. Nick, I can identify with Gideon’s attitude of being largely overwhelmed and a little short on confidence. Yet today’s chapter reminds me, once again, that God delights in calling unlikely individuals to particular tasks, and then graciously providing what is needed for the task to which one is called.

Theatre Journal, Wayfarer's Journal

An Honored Role

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This past Saturday night I had the fun and privilege of participating in a father/daughter dance with my friend Megan for the third straight year. Megan and her family became our friends through theatre. In 2006 when Wendy directed The Christmas Post, a young Megan was on stage with her mother and brother, and her dad was the show’s accompanist. Back in the spring of 2010, Megan’s dad passed away and it happened that she was, at that time, capably playing the role of my character’s daughter in the show K.O.L.D. Radio, Whitefish Bay.

Megan joined the PHS dance team, Forte’, when she got to high school and at the team’s annual home performance the girls always do a dance with their dads. It’s been my honor to be asked to play the role of her honorary dad each year. Talk about dancing with the stars 🙂

Thanks to Wendy for her exemplary job behind the camera!

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