Losing Touch

Psalm 27:8 (NIV84)

My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek.

Good morning Zebras,

Nick and Katherine, my two children, have always been really close.  When Katherine went off to kindergarten, Nick would sit and wait for her to return because in his three year old mind “playing without Katherine wasn’t fun.”  But times have changed and Katherine has now gone off to college and much to my relief Nick is not sitting around waiting for her to return.

In fact I think he is busier than ever.  God brought him a whole new group of friends after Katherine left, people she doesn’t even know, so Nick is busy building his life without his sister.

And Katherine, of course, is doing the same thing.  Going to college in a big city two thousand miles away from home required that she make new friends and find new things to do.  She doesn’t have the option of keeping everything the same, life is forcing her to adapt and change.

Each one of them is building a life independent of the other, which is good but unless they make an effort, beyond Christmas cards and status updates on Facebook, to stay in touch they will slowly drift apart. They will still be “close.” because of their shared history, but they will not be involved in the intimate details of each other’s lives.

Which is normal for siblings, but this morning I was thinking about how too often that happens with God.  We start out really close, we consult God over all our decisions, we are constantly seeking His face and His guidance,  but slowly over time we can drift apart and one day we wake up to find that we are building our lives without Him.

And not because that’s what we intended.  We did not intend to leave God out of the loop, we just got busy. Work, family, and ministry slowly pushed God to the back. We still pray before meals, send up “arrow prayers” when we need a little help and go to church when we can, but we just haven’t had any time for a good long heart-to-heart chat with God.

Fortunately, God is always willing to reestablish communication. He’s just waiting on you.  So if you woke up this morning feeling a little distant from God, resolve to spend some quality time with Him today and see how quickly that feeling goes away.

Love,

Jill

Lessons From Elijah (or Why I Love Zebras)

1 Kings 18:22 (NASB95)

Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men.

Good morning Zebras,

I love the story of Elijah, especially as God first calls him into ministry that’s recorded in 1 Kings 17-19. There are so many truths imbedded in this part of scripture and if you haven’t read it recently you might want to stop and do that now.

For example, God does not always speak in the big things.  You all know that part of the  story. Elijah was up the mountain and God came to encourage him, but He didn’t come in the wind or the earthquake or the fire, He came in a gentle whisper.

And that’s a lesson I think we all need to remember.  In a culture where everything is BIG and loud, it’s so important to set aside time to hear God speak in His quiet voice, just to you.

Second, Elijah is a great Biblical example of being forced to wait.  After calling the drought down on Israel, God put Elijah by the stream and when the stream dried up, He sent Him to live with a widow.  “After a long time, in the third year” the word of the Lord finally came to Elijah telling him what to do next.

Again in our fast paced, get-it-done-now culture, waiting on the Lord is a forgotten concept.  We wait a little while, a week or two, maybe even a month, but rarely do we have the self-control to wait three years, doing nothing but praying.


Third, the glory for what Elijah did went to God. Notice the people’s reply after Elijah called fire down from heaven.  They didn’t say: “Wow, Elijah is a great speaker!”  Instead the people fell prostrate before Elijah and cried “The Lord-He is God!”

Too often, these days, it seems to me, the glory for ministry goes to the person speaking or doing, rather than to God who enables them to speak or do.

And finally, even if it feels like it, you are never alone. God always saves a remnant for Himself.


God reminded Elijah of that when he came out of hiding on his way to find King Ahab.  The first person God had him run into was Obadiah, who told him, “I your servant have feared the Lord from my youth.”  Then went on to explain how he had hid a hundred of God’s prophets in caves so that Jezebel wouldn’t kill them.  

But Elijah didn’t listen; Elijah didn’t really hear what Obadiah said, because ten verses later, right before the great stand-off with the prophets of Baal, he is quoted as saying:   “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left.”  And that error, (the misconception that he was all alone, the last person standing for the Lord), was a contributing factor to Elijah running in fear for his life and ending up hiding in a cave.

That’s why I love Zebras.  It reminds me I’m never alone, and even if I don’t know all of you, I trust that you are zealous for the Lord, or you wouldn’t be here.  And some days, knowing that, is all that keeps me from fleeing to a cave.

Love,

Jill

Small Apples

2 Peter 19b

For a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.

Good morning Zebras,

Yesterday I had an epiphany, which was really not an epiphany at all, but more of a palm-to-the-forehead-“d’oh!” kind of moment.  And here it is: God has the right to tell me how to live, and that includes limiting and controlling what I eat.

From the very beginning God has controlled food.  The only restriction God put on Adam and Eve was “not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”  And He has been restricting people’s food ever since.

The Israelites were fed manna in the desert and then they were given a boatload of dietary restrictions when they went into the Promised Land.   Elijah was fed bread and meat by the ravens when God sat him by the stream.   And of course Daniel, probably the most famous “diet” of the Bible, ate only vegetables.

So what do all of these food plans have in common?  Obedience to God!

For years, God and I have been going back and forth on a certain food item, which for health reasons I need to avoid.  The food itself doesn’t matter, what matters is my reluctance to obey God’s clear instructions and my half-hearted promises to reform.

When Saul disobeyed “just a little” God sent Samuel to him with a scathing rebuke.   And God has been rebuking me as well.

Verses like these started finding their way into my quiet time more frequently:

Hebrews 12:15–16 (NIV84)  See to it that no one misses the grace of God...or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.

Deuteronomy 23:21 (ESV) “If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin.

Ecclesiastes 5:4 (ESV) When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow.

1 Samuel 15:22–23 (NIV84) But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.

But I still kept ignoring God.

Then, two weeks ago, at Founder’s Week, Jill Briscoe said, “there are no small apples” and God, in His grace, showed me what this “little” disobedience was going to cost me.  And it is too early to tell for sure, I’m thinking that this particular battle may be finally over, and although I’ve “lost” I actually won.

Love,

Jill

Compassion

Romans 11:22 (ESV)  

Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.

Good morning Zebras,

After the last posting I wasn’t surprised when I drew the attribute of compassion out of the box to write about next.  Not only have I been thinking about God’s compassion in my own life, I’ve found that God wants us to remember both sides of His nature. Yes, He is holy and righteous but He is also mercy, love and compassion.  Emphasizing one to the exclusion of the other is what gets us into trouble.

There are numerous incidents in the New Testament where Jesus shows compassion to the people including the feeding of The Five-Thousand.  And His compassion motivated Him to action.  Over and over the scripture says: Jesus looked at them with compassion and…healed them; taught them; fed them.  I didn’t I find one place where it said Jesus looked at them with compassion and walked away.

That could be a z-mail all by itself.  Do we look at others with that same type of compassion? Are we too moved to action when we see the lost and the hurting or do we simply just have sympathy?  We feel sorry for them, but it doesn’t change our behavior.

But that really isn’t what I wanted to write about.  What I wanted to write about was Peter.  Peter knew Christ, Peter promised to stay with Jesus till the end and we all know how that worked out.  Peter couldn’t live up to what he said he was going to do.

And yet Jesus showed great compassion on Peter when He restored not only their relationship but Peter’s ministry as well.  At that point, Jesus just as easily could have rejected Peter and picked someone else.

In the Old Testament, Saul disobeyed God and lost the kingdom.  Esau traded his birthright for a bowl of stew.  And both men tried to get God to change His mind.  Saul begged to keep and kingdom and the Bible says Esau “sought his blessings with tears.” But God did not change His mind.

Lately I have been struck by how often I am like Saul and Esau and how often Jesus treats me like He did Peter.  There is no reason why God should continue to reveal Himself to me.  I am not always faithful nor am I always obedient.  I sometimes do what I want instead of what God has asked me to do and I sometimes pick the things of the world over the things of God.  And yet He does not reject me.

If you are like me and you too often fall short of what you want to do for God, this is your word of encouragement.  God loves you, and He knows your heart.  He knows you desire to live a life honoring to Him and when He looks at you He does so with compassion and the desire and ability to help.

Love,
Jill

Eternal

Matthew 25:46 (NIV84)

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Good morning Zebras,

Today’s attribute is “eternal” which the dictionary defines as lasting or existing forever.

God, of course, is eternal.  He has no beginning and He has no end.  And He tells us that in His own words:  “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”  And although we had a beginning, we too are now eternal beings destined either for eternal life, or eternal hell.

We don’t really like to talk about Hell anymore.  I think it’s because it makes our God look “unloving.”  But three times in the book of Matthew, Jesus mentions the eternal fire prepared for those who reject Him. If Jesus thought it was important enough to talk about we probably should too.

It is not fashionable to believe a loving God would condemn people to hell and eternal fire, but that doesn’t change what the Bible says.  Just because people don’t like it doesn’t make it untrue.

What we must remember is that God doesn’t condemn people to hell; they choose that for ourselves when they reject Christ.

Francis Chan, one of the speakers at Founders Week, is pretty passionate about this subject and he used an illustration that I can’t seem to get out of my head.  He was talking about the tendency in modern Christianity to erase the judgment of God, to focus only on His love and mercy.  And he used Noah’s Ark as an example.

God told Noah to build the ark because He was going to flood the earth.  Genesis 6:7 says: “So the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.”  

But since Noah found favor in God’s sight He gave him the task of building the ark and saving those who were willing to get inside, which ended up being a total of eight people, all from Noah’s family.

Yet how many nurseries are decorated with Noah’s Ark?  Tons, right?  But when you think about what the Ark really symbolizes you realize how we have changed it to make it palatable.  We fill it with cute little animals poking their heads out of the side of the boat, but we forget the people and animals that didn’t make it in.  Noah’s ark should look more like the last scene of the Titanic than a cute nursery decoration.

When we look at the ark, or the cross, we should not only see God’s provision for those who believe, but His judgment on those who do not. 

Love,
Jill

Bigger Picture

Psalm 139:16 (NIV84)  

Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Good morning Zebras,

On the plane to Chicago I was killing time by looking through the free magazine the airlines provided.  I stumbled across a Sudoku and I found it was a good way to pass the time so I bought myself a book of them for the airplane ride home.

If you have never done a Sudoku, it is a repetitive logical puzzle which requires that you fill boxes, rows, and columns with the numbers 1-8. You have to work carefully because each number can only be used once in box, row, or column.

Now I have done Sudokus before, in fact I used to give them to my students for extra credit when I was teaching, so not only have I done them, I’ve taught others how to do them, so I thought I knew what I was doing.  But I was wrong, at least partially.

I knew how to do them, I just wasn’t doing them “right.”  I could do the easy puzzles, but I couldn’t do the harder ones and I finally figured out why. I was looking at the puzzles as individual boxes, rows and columns instead of looking at it as one big interrelated box. 

And isn’t that the way we look at life?  We look at small boxes, rows and columns, our own problems, trials and concerns instead of looking at the “bigger picture.”

This month my herd is pondering on the incomprehensible nature of God.  How God and the things of God are beyond our understanding and yet in His grace He gives us glimpses of who He really is and what He is doing. 

Last week, when I was in Chicago, I was struck that first morning by the fact that God knew, when He enabled D.L. Moody to start Moody Bible Institute that this week would come.  He knew Katherine would apply and be accepted, and that I would be prompted to come to visit her at Founder’s Week.  Then today’s verse came to mind.  So I looked it up and read all of Psalm 139.

It is so humbling to realize that God who created the universe watches over us in such an intimate way that He knows what we are going to say and do before we even do it.  But, He doesn’t just know what we are going to do He knows what everyone is going to do and He has orchestrated our paths and lives to be interconnected and interrelated with one another, not only in the here and now, but in the past and in the future. All for our good and His honor and glory.

And I think that may be the “bigger picture” we need to remember.

Love,

Jill

Founders Week

1 Peter 3:15 (ESV)

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

Good morning Zebras,

Last week I didn’t write because I went to Founder’s Week at Moody Bible Institute with my daughter.  I tried to write the first Monday I was there but my computer “died” and I couldn’t get it restarted.  Later that day when it decided to try again, the document I had written had “disappeared.”  So I took it as a hint from God, that I was not to write.

Then when I got home I needed time to process what I had learned.  Founder’s Week is like a BIG thing and I didn’t fully realize how big it was until I got there.  I find I have difficulty hearing God when things are big.  So I needed to stop and reflect on what I had heard and internalize those lessons that were intended for me.

To be honest I am still processing.  There were thirteen speakers with thirteen different messages and thirteen different styles but one main message: We as Christians have the hope that the world needs and we need to be ready to tell people about it. It was definitely a call to arms.

I wish I could encapsulate what they said, but I can’t and I don’t think I’m supposed to, because what God said to me may or may not be what God would’ve said to you, plus they say it so much better.

So if you have some free time today check it out.  All the sessions are available free on YouTube, listed under “Founder’s Week 2012.”  Ones I really enjoyed were: James Meeks, Jill Briscoe, and Erwin Lutzer.  But I learned something from all of them.

Love,
Jill

Speak Lord

1 Samuel 3:10b

Speak, for Your servant is listening

Good morning Zebras,

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of teaching the junior high Sunday school class at my church.  After the lesson I asked the students what they had learned.  At first no one said anything.  Finally, a girl raised her hand and said. “I learned God speaks to people.”

Now this was not the point of the lesson, in fact I never actually said that at all, so when she said that I was a little surprised and then very pleased. Because there is probably nothing that will transform your life more than realizing God still speaks.

People in the Old Testament were used to God speaking and people in the New Testament were used to God speaking, but what about us?  Do we live our lives expecting God to speak to us?  And not just through His Word, but through the everyday events of life.

Most of you have probably noticed that some people have started signing e-mails and other electronic communication with this symbol, <3.  It is a three and a less than sign and together it equals a heart.  But it only works if the “big end” is pointing at the 3.

Now to me it means nothing, it is just a cute little heart.  But to my friend, who needed an encouraging word from God, it took on a whole new meaning, which she said I could share with you.

She is going through a difficult time, and the other night, as she was sitting at her computer, praying and asking God for some reassurance He showed her the heart.  The three, He said it stands for Me, the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit, and everything else is “less than” that.  You don’t need to worry, He told her, I have everything under control. 

Of course, she already knew that, but isn’t it cool that God used a little heart to reassure her of a Biblical truth right when she needed it most?

Love,

Jill