The Locusts Have Not Won

 

The threshing floors

   shall be full of grain.

The vats shall overflow

   with wine and oil.

I will restore to you

the years that the 

swarming locust has eaten.

          Joel 2. 24-25

A poet friend mentioned to me

that after many hard years of

        physical suffering and

        blank pages,

she suddenly realized 

that lost fruitless time

   was not wasted after all.

God restored in ways

    she could not have imagined.

Faithfulness is never squandered,

even when it feels like

 circumstances nibble us to death.

God forms something abundant 

            through our hardships.

The locusts have not won at all.

God redeems backwards and

   forwards, right below our feet

and way beyond what we can see.

O LORD,

As the locusts are swarming

             all around us,

and all our work

  seems to be to no avail,

please help us 

   to cling to You,

knowing that You are working,

even in this,

          even through this.

Bring Your hope to us.

We see the affliction of locusts

    that seems endless.

But You see Your glory

   covering us.

Help us to take refuge in You

   to go forth strengthened.

     

 

Copying The Image

 

Beloved,

do not imitate evil

   but imitate good.

        3 John 1. 11

The time to make

     a conscious choice

is not in the middle of crisis.

What are we practicing,

     day after day,

in big decisions how to act

and in the small stuff

  which we only think

         doesn't matter,

   but actually marks us

     with indelible ink.

Someone once told me to

  watch what the faithful do,

what choices they make,

how they respond with

    shockingly different hearts.

What do they practice?

To pursue imitating good,

  and knowing what it does.

Copy the model of others

  who have chosen to

           live differently.

Imitate literally means

   copy the image.

And that would be 

  God's goodness,

  kindness and grace.

What are we practicing?

What are we modeling

   before others?

O LORD,

Grant to us the courage

  to choose what is good

  and honoring to You.

Release us from 

    selfish desires

   that only enslave us

       in a mess.

May we choose good,

not to earn anyone's favor,

or because we have to,

  but because we love You.

May Your goodness

   and mercy track us down.

Help us to pursue and practice

  what Your goodness can do

right here, even in this.

Full Court Press

 

A fool gives full vent

     to his spirit,

but the wise

quietly holds it back.

         Proverbs 29. 11

The wise do not ignore

   volatile situations 

   or even wrongs that are done,

not reacting like a fool,

    but responding differently.

The wise take a 

       different passage through

            the messy stuff.

We find another way 

     of going forth

   with a strength and wisdom

   that is not our own.

What if we instead gave

   full vent to the Holy Spirit?

Not just a small crack,

      but all doors thrown open.

Full court press is 

 an intentional all-out effort

to alter the trajectory, 

  to initiate change,

as only the Holy Spirit

                    knows how.

He covers all of us

   with His power

   like nothing we have ever seen.

O LORD,

None of us is immune from

   troubling relationships,

   hurt feelings,

   and impossible situations.

Help us to give full vent

   to Your Spirit

and watch as You work

  Your grace here.

Holy Spirit,

           enter into

not just these circumstances,

    but fully in our being.

If we want something different,

    something has to change.

And that would be our hearts.                    

Not Just A Feeling But The Reality

 

And there I will give her

her vineyards

and make the Valley of Achor

     a door of hope.

          Hosea 2. 15

In the most impossible places

    of hardship

    we find ourselves in,

in the midst of trouble,

a door of hope emerges

    out of the darkness.

God brings us to where

    we are suddenly aware.

God transforms

   not just our surroundings

           but our hearts.

He opens not a new door,

   but a portal of hope,

not just a different way

of looking at this mess.

We are no defined by the hard stuff,

   but being refined by God in it.

And God provides

    the vineyards we need

    to sustain us there.

Things will not always be

      as they appear now.

God gives us a future

            and a hope.

O LORD,

Wishing for something different

   leads us only deeper

   into despair.

But staking our lives on You

   changes everything.

Circumstances may not differ,

   but You transform us

               through them.

Help us to not miss

   Your Presence here.

Show us how to stay faithful

          even through this valley,

and know that hope will emerge

   in the most unexpected ways.

Help us too to point others

     in the valley of trouble

that You are here

                  among us. 

I Would Do Anything For You

 

By this we know love,

that He laid down 

      His life for us,

and we ought to lay down

   our lives for the brothers.

             1 John 3. 16

We love the first part of this verse

     about Jesus laying down

     His life for us.

But too often, we just mumble

        our part in this truth.

Love for others means

   laying down a lot of stuff

   we insist on carrying:

our "rights," our favorite idols,

our insistence on not forgiving,

and the biggest and bulkiest,

     our tightly gripped pride.

But the act of laying down

  releases us to do something else:

       to love and bless others

in extraordinary ways,

          even on ordinary days.

Are we willing to be selfless

    and loving in this situation?

Not thinking less of ourselves,

   but less about ourselves.

For the sake of the LORD,

   I will seek your good.

                Psalm 122. 9

O LORD,

Show us this day,

how to lay down our lives

  in order to pick up

  Your higher calling 

         in this situation.

Help us to see the best in

and seek the best for,

by loving others

       in tangible ways,

even those who have hurt us.

Grant to us the strength

   to restore our relationships,

and to bring Your love there.

Love says,

    I would do anything for you.

Indeed,

            You do everyday.

Help us to do likewise,

  even with him,

  even with her.

     

Distractions That Keep Us From Actions

 

....but the people

      who know their God

shall stand firm

           and take action.

           Daniel 11. 32

We live in a broken fallen world.

Those who know their God

         do something about it.

They have been trained and equipped

  through His Word to know Him more,

           day by day by day.

God's Word defends and protects,

strengthens and increases endurance.

God transforms us through it.

He opens our hearts to what 

     we have never seen before.

Knowing God changes our trajectory,

   because we see Him

   and see our paths differently.

God secures our steps.

       We don't walk alone.

God opens our hearts and eyes

  to take some kind of action,

  even in the really hard stuff.

Not "just do something,"

   but follow Him into it.

What is His appointment

   for me today in this place?

Push back the darkness here.

O LORD,

No matter how narrow

     or treacherous the trail,

secure our feet

and help us to lift up our eyes

           to You alone.

Keep us from distractions

  that keep us from actions.

In whatever we face today,

help us to be faithful to You,

   to stand firm in what honors You,

   to do what is good and right,

and take action to resolve,

      restore, heal wounds,

      and stand in the gaps. 

I Thought You'd Never Ask

I lift up my eyes

          to the hills.

From where

   does my help come?

My help comes

          from the LORD

who made heaven 

     and earth.

           Psalm 121. 1-2

I have hiked enough to know

that there are always surprises

        around the next bend,

yet another slope

         or stronger incline.

The really steep ascents

      before us are not meant

          to defeat us, 

but for us to realize

  from Whom 

  our strength comes.

God does not just send help,

or stand far off,

     watching us struggle.

He is our help.

When we lift our eyes to Him,

     He guides us through.

We may not even be able

     to see the summit,

but can fully know His Presence

     along the way.

Where is our help?

God whispers,

    "I thought you'd never ask."

O LORD,

Help!

We are stuck on the side 

   of a steep mountain,

not able to go either up

                or down.

Don't just show up, O God.

Show us

      how to walk with You

      through this.

There is a different outcome

  to these circumstances,

and it is not just at the top.

Soften our hearts,

change our minds,

and re-tie our hiking shoes,

that we may respond,

approach and navigate

    the really hard stuff.

And seize Your courage

   to take another step today.

Our help comes from You,

   Creator of the universe.

Doesn't get any better than that.