Before the Throne – A Poem

This morning as I was listening to music on my iPod the song Trust in Jesus came on and I started to think about standing before God’s judgment throne. Paul confirmed what is written all throughout the Old Testament, that everyone, even Christians, will face God’s judgment.

For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.
It is written:

“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will confess to God.’”

So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Romans 14:11-12 (NIV).

It occurred to me that as much as I appreciate what Jesus has done for me now, it will only be as I face the judgment throne of God that I will be able to fully appreciate the magnitude of His grace. Just as Solomon did, “I thought in my heart, ‘God will bring to judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time for every deed.’” Ecclesiastes 3:17 (NIV). Perhaps it is to fulfill His promise to bring us great joy and blessing that God will reveal, at the end of our days, how much He truly loves us. Only by revealing our great need for His redemption can He make us understand.

Before the Throne

I stand before the throne of God
He opens His book to my list of sins
His messenger begins to read
my transgressions, one by one

In my mind I begin to prepare
my defense, my justification for each sin
I think I am ready to answer
to show that I deserve mercy

The list goes on and on and on
Will it ever end?
My justifications begin to fade
My heart grows weak with shame

How can I stand before His throne
the judgment throne of the Almighty
I tremble in fear of His wrath, His righteous judgment
I know it will destroy me, I cannot stand

I fall to my knees before His throne

I bow my head knowing His judgment is true
Realizing I have no defense
I have broken every commandment, every law
without a single justification

Suddenly before the throne
between me and God’s final judgment
Stands the One who came to save me
His mercy and grace pour over me

I remember with great joy
that while I was yet a sinner
He loved me, He redeemed my soul
I trusted in Him and He is faithful to forgive

Before the throne of judgment and grace
I lift my voice in praise and adoration
Finally understanding completely
What His great love has accomplished

1/8/13: Shared this for Open Link Night at dVerse Poets Pub today.

In Whom Can We Trust?

Trust is a fragile thing in relationships. One can make a conscious decision to love another, but I believe it is much harder, if not impossible, to decide to trust them. In comparing the synonyms trust, assurance, and confidence, Dictionary.com says: “Trust implies instinctive unquestioning belief in and reliance upon something.” When trust has been broken, instinct kicks in to expect more of the same.

At the core of trust is honesty. When we are not honest with others, then we will break their trust. Once broken, trust is very difficult to repair.

Trust is a beautiful crystal glass that holds the aromatic wine of a relationship. Broken trust is that crystal glass shattered on a marble floor. We can pick up the pieces and try to put them back together, but the shards will cut us in the process. The only hope is to find a new glass; renewed trust.

But there is One we can always trust, and that is God. We may not always like what God does, but He is always true to His Word. He is the Truth incarnate and can be taken at His word. This the Psalmists knew well, and they made it a recurring theme of the Psalms. Here are just a few examples:

Those who know your name will trust in you,
for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Psalm 9:10 (NIV).

But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
Psalm 13:5 (NIV).

The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
Psalm 19:7 (NIV).

Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
Psalm 20:7 (NIV).

In you our fathers put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
They cried to you and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not disappointed.
Psalm 22:4-5 (NIV).

The Lord is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.
My heart leaps for joy
and I will give thanks to him in song.
Psalm 28:7 (NIV).

We wait in hope for the Lord;
he is our help and our shield.
In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord,
even as we put our hope in you.
Psalm 33:20-22 (NIV).

As humans, we long to trust in others, to find those on whom we can rely. But scripture tells us that the only One we can truly place our trust in is God:

It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in man.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in princes.
Psalm 118:8-9 (NIV).

Sometimes that means we must trust that God is in control even as we struggle with the broken trust of our human relationships. And when we trust in God, we know that He can renew trust that has been broken beyond repair.

A Lesson from Joseph

In church today we heard probably the most important lesson in all of Christianity. It is also the most important lesson in all of humanity. It is the lesson of forgiveness.

Our scripture reading for the day was Genesis 50:15-21:

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father. ” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.

His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said.

But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children. ” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

When you consider all that Joseph endured all because his brothers were jealous of him and sold him as a slave to a passing group of Ishmaelites on their way to Egypt, he certainly had good reason to hold a grudge. If anyone had good reason to pay back the wrong that had been done to him, it was Joseph.

But he didn’t. Instead he forgave his brothers. He looked at the bigger picture and saw that although they had intended him harm, God had used what they did to accomplish a greater good.

If Joseph had stayed in Canaan as the favored son of his father Jacob, there would have been no one in Egypt to interpret Pharaoh’s dream of the coming famine. There would have been no one to put into place the plan of storing away enough food during the seven years of plenty to survive the seven years of famine. Not only the people of Egypt, but also those of all the surrounding nations, would have suffered great loss during the drought.

Often it is difficult for us to see the big picture when someone hurts us, to see how God could possibly use what another intends to harm us and turn it to good. It is difficult to forgive, especially when it is clear that the person who has wronged us intended to harm us.

But as our pastor pointed out this morning, scripture doesn’t give us an out. Jesus said, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Matthew 6:14-15 (NIV).

This seems like a harsh and unfair command. But our Heavenly Father requires us to forgive because He knows that the poison of anger and unforgiveness will kill our soul just as cyanide will surely kill our body.

If we desire to live, to truly live, then we must forgive. We must trust that God will use whatever comes our way for the greater good. We may not enjoy the benefit of seeing that good, as Joseph did, but still we must have faith that forgiveness is the better path.

Manna for the Day

When the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, God provided them with food called manna. The word “manna” is a Hebrew word that literally means “what is it?” The Israelites didn’t know what it was, but they discovered that it was nutritious and filling. They were instructed to gather only as much manna as they needed for each day, except the day before the Sabbath when they were to gather enough for two days. They discovered that if they gathered any extra it would spoil. See Exodus 16 (NIV).

Gathering only as much as was needed was a definite test in trusting God to provide. Because He is faithful and trustworthy, God always came through and there was always enough manna.

This past year of blogging, I have discovered that trusting God for what to write is kind of like trusting Him to provide manna in the desert. There have been times when I thought I would write ahead, spend a Saturday writing for the following week. Occasionally this worked when I really wasn’t going to have time to write the following week, like before we headed off to vacation. But other times I just couldn’t seem to think of anything to write ahead.

Last week, for example, while I was off work for the week before Christmas I was going to write this whole week’s worth of blog posts so I didn’t have to do any writing this final week of the year. But for some reason I just couldn’t get it done. I was left to trust God to provide something to write. So far He has come through, and knowing how faithful and trustworthy He is I know He will provide for the remainder of the week.

This is just one of many lessons in trust that we can learn from the story of the manna God provided in the desert. We all go through desert times. We all have times when it seems we can barely get through each day as we wander in seek of the promised land. It is during these times that we must trust in God to provide. I’ve discovered for myself that He always does.

But the Israelites didn’t wander in the desert wilderness forever. Eventually they reached the promised land, which was flowing with milk and honey and an abundance of good foods. Although they still were called to trust God, it was more of a “big picture” trust and not a daily food thing.

I think it is the same for us. Sometimes God takes us through wilderness experiences so we learn to trust daily for some basic and distinct need. He uses these times of intense trusting to teach us about big picture trust so that we will not forget Him when we emerge from the wilderness into the promised land.

We must always remember to trust God in and for all things. As James reminded us, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17 (NIV). Whether we are in the desert wilderness or the promised land, our faithful and trustworthy God will provide for what we need.

Trusting in the Midst of Chaos

I heard a new-to-me Sanctus Real song at the Casting Crowns concert on Friday night that really touched me. It is from their 2008 CD titled We Need Each Other. The name of the song is “Whatever You’re Doing (Something Heavenly)” and I found the official Sanctus Real video on YouTube:

I bought their 3-CD Anthology at the concert, and it includes this CD. I have listened to this song over and over, pondering what it means for me.

I’ve experienced a lot of healing in my life thanks to my dear Jesus. But I’ve come to realize lately that there is more to be done. I have felt lately that God is doing something inside of me; He is trying to tell me it is time for complete healing.

Whatever He is doing it does feel a bit like chaos inside of me, quite a bit actually. Some days I don’t like it and I find it hard to surrender. But beneath and through it all there is a peace I can’t explain. I trust completely that He knows what He’s doing, even if I don’t understand. As thoughts and emotions swirl seemingly out of control sometimes, I do know that He is in control and that what He is doing is something heavenly.

To Be Despised by All but God

I’m working my way through Ezekiel in the Old Testament, and before that I read Jeremiah. These are challenging books to read and to apply to our daily lives. Here and there is a nugget with direct – and easy – application, but I think these books are there for a much bigger purpose. The Old Testament prophets show us what is important to God. As I read, I find that God is primarily concerned with two things:

1. That His people trust in Him and not in idols of their own making. This seems reasonable, since He alone is trustworthy. An idol made of stone or gold – or as we often trust in these days, of paper in the form of money and stocks – cannot protect us or provide a sure and trustworthy future. Only God can do that.
2. That His people care for the “widow and the orphan,” that is, the less fortunate of society who are in need of a helping hand. This seems reasonable, too, since those of us who have been blessed should not find it a burden to bless others in return.

These are simple principles. When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus echoed these two principles when He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Matthew 22:37-38 (NIV).

And yet the prophets were hated and ridiculed for telling the Israelites that they would suffer and were suffering exile and death, war and famine, because they failed to follow these two simple principles. Instead of loving and trusting the God who had seen them through so much and protected them, they trusted in idols and the ways of their neighbors. Instead of loving their neighbors and caring for the downtrodden, they cared only for their own gain and gluttony. The Israelites were warned over and over by the prophets. I believe that the message of the prophets – that these two principles are paramount – is just as relevant for our world today as it was for ancient Israel.

The other day I received this wonderful quote in my Quotemeal email from Heartlight.org. I believe it illustrates not only the struggle the Old Testament prophets faced, but also the struggle those who trust in Christ alone for salvation and seek to share His expectation that we love our neighbors with the world face today.

To be forged upon the anvil of God’s purpose, to be at once His hammer, His tongs, and His molten iron; to hear words that rend the heart, see visions that pierce the chest; to be emptied like an urn, again and again and again until one desires only rest, only an end to the refilling — and to know one cannot live without the refilling. To be given words that one dare not speak, and to feel those words churning and boiling in the belly until one must speak them aloud, or die. To be despised, soon or late, by everyone except Adonai — and to desire it so, while hating it. This is to be a prophet.
– Thom Lemmons

I’m not suggesting that I am a prophet, but there have been times in my life when I was compelled to speak, or to write, words I did not wish to say or write. I have had words churn and boil in my mind and in my heart, felt the fear of saying or writing them, but had to push through that fear and let those words fly and land wherever God desires.

Just writing that last paragraph makes it seem all so dramatic, but really it just is. Sometimes I don’t push through the fear and I fail to share the words that are on my heart. Although I have not yet died as a result, a small part of my spiritual growth does whither. Perhaps my faith would be stronger and more souls would have been saved if I had always spoken up.

But, in the end, I know that God loves me and knows I am being sanctified daily, though sometimes more slowly than I would like.

When the Dice Are in the Air

I’ve never played craps and don’t really like gambling, but if I was going to gamble I suppose craps would be my game. Slots are too easy for the house to skew in their favor, and cards are just too complicated. With craps it’s just you, the dice, and the hand of God. Not that I think God is really into helping people out with their gambling, so don’t go thinking I’m advocating this as a method of finding God’s blessing. I really just want to use craps as an analogy for life.

Here’s how craps works. You hold the dice in your hand. As long as you hold onto them, you aren’t really in the game. You can’t win or lose. As soon as you let go of the dice, the outcome is completely out of your control and all you can do is hope for a 7 or 11, or at least to not get a 2, 3, or 12. For a split second the outcome is unknown – the dice are in the air and you’re just waiting. Once the dice land, you either win, lose, or get to keep playing.

Sometimes life is like a game of craps. If you try to stay in control of everything you aren’t really in the game. If you don’t take risks, you miss out on potential blessings. Sometimes you have to let go of the dice. Other times you don’t have any choice because they are forced from your hand. But at any rate, you are bound to face periods of uncertainty in life when the outcome of something – a job interview, or medical tests, or a romantic relationship – is uncertain.

The uncertainty may, as in craps, last only a moment. But often we find ourselves staring at the dice as they just hang in the air for what seems like forever. Why don’t they land already so we will know what’s going to happen? We impatiently await the job offer, or test results, or the opportunity to meet someone we can love. We don’t like to wait.

But wait we must. The only thing we can control is how we wait. We can let the waiting make us miserable, or we can trust that God is in control.

My church has been going through just such a waiting period as we seek a permanent lead pastor. Each member of the congregation is handling it in their own way; some are waiting more patiently than others. We know God is in control and will bring the right lead pastor for us if we trust in Him, but the waiting is still hard.

But there is one person who is an amazing example of trusting in God because the uncertainty of this situation in multiplied for him. That is our interim pastor. The rest of us really want to know who our lead pastor will be and when he will be here so we can move forward as a congregation, but church still goes on week after week while we wait. For our interim pastor, the calling of a permanent lead pastor will be the end of his call with us, and right now he has no idea when that will be. Where he will serve the Lord when his service with us is completed is also uncertain. The possibilities are many, but the outcome is uncertain.

And yet he has been a wonderful encouragement and witness to the rest of us of how to trust in God for the outcome. He is at peace with the situation, knowing that when the dice fall they will fall as God wills. He knows that while the dice are in the air, they are really in the hand of God. He sees and points us to the ways in which God has already been in control of the process in a very real way, right down to opening up a Sunday for our current pastoral candidate to preach for us and to meet the congregation.

So what uncertainty do you have in your life right now? Have you just thrown the dice or have they been hanging in the air for what seems like an eternity? Take heart, God is in control. When the time is right, He will cause the dice to fall as they should. Trust in Him for His perfect timing in all things. When you trust in Him, you will know peace instead of misery, even in the most challenging rolls of life’s game of craps.

You will keep in perfect peace
   him whose mind is steadfast,
   because he trusts in you.
Trust in the LORD forever,
   for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.
Isaiah 26:3-4 (NIV).

Trust, Sun, and Friendship – My Tuesday Three

Okay, I just couldn’t leave yesterday as my only post about the Third Day concert I went to on Saturday. It was so much fun and I had an awesome time, and so I decided for My Tuesday Three to share three great things about the concert.

The first great thing I want to share is that Third Day sang one of my favorite songs and I got it on video. Here’s my video of “Trust in Jesus” posted on YouTube.

I love how Mac Powell starts this song when he says, “This is a little ditty about the end times and judgment day.” He was kind of making a joke, but also being very serious. We will all face judgment before the throne of God. When we do, we have two choices. First, we can stand before Him on our own merits and say, “Okay, God, I’ve tried my best and I think I’ve done pretty good. I went to church, I didn’t steal or murder anyone, and I tried to be nice to everyone I met.” Second, we can say, “I trust in Jesus, because I know I’ve sinned and not all of my good deeds could ever make up for what I’ve done.” I’ve decided I’ll go with the latter option, and this song is a wonderful reminder of the choice I have made.

What are you going to do when your time has come
And your life is done and there’s nothing you can stand on
What will you have to say at the judgment throne
I already know the only thing that I can say I

There’s nothing I can do on my own to find forgiveness
It’s by His grace alone I trust in Jesus
Trust in Jesu

The second great thing I want to share is that the weather was awesome! It was a beautiful sunny day and 90°, which would have been too hot if not for some shade. But this being the Pacific Northwest, it could just as easily have been drizzling rain even in August. I personally love hot weather so it was just perfect for me. Mac commented that it seemed cool to the band compared to Atlanta, Georgia, where they are from. We were able to find shade to watch most of the show before Third Day, and by the time they came on stage the sun was starting to go behind some trees. It was a perfect!

So you might be wondering who else is part of this “we” I’ve mentioned. Well, that brings me to the third great thing about this concert. I bought my tickets over a month ago not having any idea who was going to go with me. Several times I posted on Facebook that I was looking for someone to go with me, but no one replied that they could. I had asked several people in the week or so leading up to the concert, but everyone had other plans already. My son said he would go with me if I couldn’t find anyone else, but he was just being nice and didn’t really want to go because he is not a big fan of concerts. (If I didn’t KNOW he was my son, I might wonder at this point, because I love concerts!)

On Saturday morning I had a meeting at church that I had to go to, and I still hadn’t found anyone to go to the concert with me. It started at noon, but I knew Third Day wouldn’t be on until after 5:00 so I figured there was still time. When I got home from my meeting I made a few more calls. I finally got a call back from my friend A, and she said she would love to go and that she just had a couple of things she had to do first.

We finally headed out about 3:30 and arrived at the venue by 4:00. We had lawn chairs because it was an outdoor event with seating on the grass. At one point A asked me if I thought it would be okay if she sat during Third Day’s performance because she has trouble standing for long periods of time. I said I thought that would be fine. In the end, though, she was having so much fun and enjoying the show that she stood up through the whole thing (except the one song where Mac told us all to sit).

As we were leaving the concert, my friend A said that this concert was such a blessing to her and that God had some relevant messages for her in the music. Knowing I had been God’s instrument for her blessing was a great blessing to me, too. On the drive home we both were just beaming with God’s love and hope. I was so happy that God had arranged for her to be the one to accompany me. It reminded me that even when I don’t know what He has planned, it’s going to be something wonderful.

So that’s it for My Tuesday Three. It was a concert of trusting in Jesus, sun shining down, and the blessing of friendship. Who could ask for more?

Trust in Jesus

It was Sunday evening and I still had not written my Music Monday post. Last week was so busy with my trip to Austin I just didn’t have time. The week ahead promises to be very busy as well, though probably not as crazy as last week.

One thing I am looking forward to this week is seeing my favorite Christian band Third Day in concert again. They are playing at Fish Fest in Gresham, Oregon this coming Saturday. I have two tickets and I think my son is going to go with me.

In anticipation of the concert I decided to post a video of one of my favorite songs on their most recent CD. The name of the song is “Trust in Jesus.” I hope you like it.

Faith, Trust, and Walking with God – My Tuesday Three

This life can be extremely challenging. Trials and pain, and even just the business of all that we must accomplish, cause us to worry and fret when what we need to do is trust that God is in control. He has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us, but still we find it hard to really trust.

I have discovered that I must truly trust in Him for My Tuesday Three post. I get so busy that it comes to Monday and I have no idea what to write — again! I was busy with work, not feeling well, and my sister coming to visit. (That last part was actually really awesome, but still took time away from searching for posts to showcase for My Tuesday Three). But God is faithful and led me to three posts in the span of about 20 minutes that all focused on putting our trust in Him completely.

The first post that I want to showcase is titled “Faith? Just Go to the Store” by Pastor A.C. Baker over at The Recovering Legalist. This post includes an awesome story of real and complete faith. Pr. Baker writes about visiting a family in Romania in the early 1990s and how they would bring out all the food they had to share with their American visitors, even though that meant they had nothing left for the following day. When the Americans protested that the Romanians didn’t understand that they needed to save food for tomorrow, this was the answer they received from a teenage girl:

“No, YOU don’t understand” the young girl said with almost a sad look on her face. “Don’t worry about us, because when this food is gone, there will be more. . . . [God] brought us food for yesterday and today, and He will take care of tomorrow.”

How many of us here in America have such faith? We store away money in our retirement accounts and pay insurance premiums in case of disaster tomorrow or next year, instead of sharing it with others in need. We trust God to a point, but compared to this young Romanian girl and her family, our faith is miniscule indeed. Their story is proof that faith in God does pay off and He is faithful to provide for those who trust.

The second post that I want to showcase is titled “Time to get out of the boat?” by Ann over at Tonirand’s Blog. This post is inspired by Matthew 14:24-33, which is the story of when Jesus walks on water towards the disciples in the boat, and Peter steps out of the boat towards Him. Ann has gleaned five wonderful truths from this passage, the first of which is this:

The boat has a purpose. Make sure you’re using it for the right reasons. Don’t expect the boat to become what it was not intended to be. In a storm, the boat is as vulnerable as you are – it cannot save you.  Place your trust only in Him.

I highly recommend you check out the other points, all of which emphasize the importance of Jesus in relationship to the boats and storms of our lives. As a special bonus, Ann links to three other wonderful posts to encourage you as you step out of the boat and into the grace of Christ. You will also be blessed by Ann’s beautiful closing prayer.

The third post that I want to showcase is titled “Life, Life, Life” by April over at April’s Faith Thoughts. April’s family has been facing some huge challenges lately, including the death of a very close friend. But in the midst of it she encourages us to walk with God through all the ups and downs of life.

Some days it is best to take it all one step at a time and one day at a time. In these moments it is even more important to embrace our hand in the hand of God. It is from Him, where we draw our strength. Living life abundantly means being carved more into His image and into more of His perfection. 

Putting our trust and faith in God alone does not mean that every day will be easy. But our Lord does desire for us to live an abundant spiritual life. He does not desire for us to go hungry or to be alone in the cold storms of life. I’d like to close with two verses of a Psalm that sums up the wonderful messages of faith, trust, and walking with God that these three bloggers have offered.

The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,
   a stronghold in times of trouble.
Those who know your name will trust in you,
   for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Psalm 9:9-10 (NIV).