Sipping Downstream

Unsplash: Matthieu Petel

It wasn't long ago when I was chopping up vegetables to put into a tossed salad. The house was quiet; it was that awkward hour before dinner and evening activities, but after the school day for my teenagers.

My mind wandered. I was bored.

Like a roulette wheel, my mind shuffled through all the options that could brighten this late afternoon and give me a lift after the salad was assembled and the table set...

a scroll down social media, a glass of wine, online shopping for that graphic tee I'd been eyeing, a sweet treat...

And then, I felt the Lord tell me--in my heart of hearts--that these things weren't bad, but that'd I'd be "sipping downstream."

I thought about that image in my mind.

You see, if Christ is our ultimate source of satisfaction and comfort, then I liken him to a fountainhead. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a fountainhead as the starting point, the principle source, of a stream or river, and to sip downstream from that could only mean two things: 

You are sipping diluted water (at best) or polluted water (at worst).

I think of all those minerals that come from natural springs that become diluted the further out you gather up a glass to bottle it up and enjoy its medicinal qualities.

I think of all the cities, power plants, and landfills that rivers ultimately pass by to empty into the Chesapeake Bay, close to my house. I'd never want to drink from all that toxic pollution!

Instead, God draws us to Himself to enjoy the REAL deal--the true source of pleasure, delight, comfort, peace, and rest. He created us to be unsatisifed with diluted or polluted sources of these things.

So in that moment, as I pivoted to the sink to wash up my knife and cutting board, I prayed. I prayed that the Lord would meet my need and be my cure for restless boredom. I asked Him to soothe my buried stress, calm my anxieties, give me peace and rest in Him alone.

A few days later, as I studied the book of Jeremiah, I found this challenge within it's pages:

"And now what do you gain by going to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? Or what do you gain by going to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?"  Jeremiah 2:18

To God's people in the Old Testament, Egypt was a place of great wealth, stability, political power and military strength. But the Almighty God was in covenant with His people and called them to love and fear Him, to depend upon Him to lead them, provide for them, and strengthen them.

I am left to think about how I turn to "Egypt" for comfort and solace, strength and peace, when I'd only be sipping downstream from the Fountainhead of my Lord and Savior.

I am still working out how drinking from the Fountainhead...and not sipping downstream...looks, day to day, hour by hour, and I know I am not alone. I smile to hear a song from Forest Frank on my Pandora station: 

"Give me faith to move mountains

How could I be thirsty, when I'm sippin' from Your fountain..."       Thank You song

How about you, dear friend? Will you join me in considering ways you "sip downstream" in your life...in big ways...in small ways...diluting God's peace and joy in your life? May we not settle for diluted or polluted sources of strength and comfort, but turn to God in prayer and seek His Word each day to refresh and guide us at the deepest level.

 

Carried vs Carrying

Unsplash: Alexandra Tran

Over the past years, as I've made my way through my 40s, a little passage from the book of Isaiah has been particularly dear to me:

" 'Listen to me, O house of Jacob,

        all the remnant of the house of Israel,

    who have been borne by me from before your birth,

        carried from the womb; 

   even to your old age I am he,

        and to gray hairs I will carry you.

    I have made, and I will bear;

        I will carry and will save.'"  Isaiah 46:3-4, emphasis mine

 

This image of God carrying me--from the womb and on into "old age and gray hairs"--has been profoundly encouraging to me, especially on days that feel out of control or overwhelming. I've also been struck by the reality that God is near to me and is faithful to me, through difficult times, yes, but also in all those ordinary and mundane times that never cease to exhaust me as a mother of three teenagers.

And yet, what I've never noticed until this week is the startling juxtaposition that exists between this passage and one just a few verses before it: 

"Bel bows down; Nebo stoops;

        their idols are on beasts and livestock;

    these things you carry are borne

        as burdens on weary beasts."  Isaiah 46:1, emphasis mine

You see, these two passages, when taken together, demonstrate the stark contrast between our one true God and all of the lesser, counterfeit gods (aka idols) that we erect in our lives:

One carries us.

The others we must carry ourselves.

While reading this short passage, I can just feel the weight that all those things that I chase after for fulfilment and meaning that are really just heavy burdens that complicate my life, weigh me down, and leave me weary and exhausted.

I find the late pastor Tim Keller's definition of idols to be particularly helpful:

 "An idol is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give"  --Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods

An idol that I erect in my life could include my relationships, hobbies, food, alcohol, working out...the list could go on and on.  Many of these things are wonderful gifts from God, but if I turn to them for comfort or satisfaction in life, instead of turning to God, then they just become burdens--like wooden or stone idols the people in Isaiah's day carved out and had to carry. Not only do these idols fail to serve my life, but instead, they detract from it and hamper me from running the race God has for me. 

This reminds me of the exhortation we've examined before in the book of Hebrews: 

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."  Hebrews 12:1-2

Will you continue to cling to and carry all those idols that ultimately fail you and weigh you down? 

Or do you, like me, long to be carried through it all in the arms of the One who is stronger than us?

Together, let's ask God to examine our hearts and show us how we can continue to let go and follow Him fully. May we relish the freedom and joy of being carried by our Almighty God, who will never leave or forsake us, this week and beyond!

The "Wow, Woe, and Wherever" Response

Unsplash: Joshua Earle

I'm journeying through the book of Isaiah (with the aid of this beautiful Bible study guide), and I've come to a familiar passage found in the beginning of chapter six.

Perhaps this passage is familiar for you as well. It is Isaiah's vision of God, his "cleansing and calling" as some scholars put it.

"In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!'  And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke."   Isaiah 1:1-4

I've come to see that this is the WOW part of Isaiah's response to God. It is true: when we get a sense of how awesome, holy, BIG and powerful God is, it makes a profound impact on us and causes us to stop what we are doing and do a mental and spiritual reset.

But the next part of Isaiah's response is interesting and impactful as well:

"And I said: 'Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!'

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: 'Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.'"  Isaiah 1:5-7

I call this the WOE response. When we see God in his greatness and glory, we soon realize how small, sinful, and weak we are, and it can cause us to despair.  Our WHOA soon turns to WOE as we know that we don't have a lot of moral ground to stand on beside God in our own strength and ability.

Thankfully, God makes a way for us to be with Him through the process of atonement! We see a picture of this when the angel touches a burning coal to Isaiah's mouth to take his sin and guilt away. We as believers experience this cleansing when we trust in Jesus' saving work to take away our sin, so we can be united to Him and stand justified before God.

But Isaiah's response which follows this WOW and WOE is most interesting and challenging to me.

"And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' Then I said, 'Here I am! Send me.'”  Isaiah 1:8

In essence, Isaiah says to God WHEREVER--wherever you want me to go, whatever you want me to do--send ME.

Is that not beautiful? 

It seems that whenever we truly encounter the living, holy, awesome, mighty God, it ceases to be "life as usual" for us.

We see this in the lives of the disciples whom Jesus called.  At his command to "follow Him," they promptly left their day jobs, lifestyles, even friends and family in some cases, to adopt the agenda that Jesus had marked out for them to spread the gospel throughout the land.

So, what about you, dear friend?  Have you had an encouter with the living God that has caused you to see your sin, step into forgiveness, and then lay down your plans for your life, eager to do and say all that God asks of you?

May your life--may my life--never be the same when we encounter God.  May we be able to say to God, like Isaiah did: "wherever and whatever" in the power of his Holy Spirit today.