Monday Morning Music Ministry

10-24-22

How often do you hear the testimony of someone who has “found Jesus”? Perhaps it is your own testimony, the feeling you had when you came face-to-face with your need for a Savior… and then face-to-face with the Savior Himself. I pray that this has been your experience, or will be soon.

“Finding Jesus” is a common way of describing Salvation – knowing Him; believing He is Who He says He is; surrendering to His Will for our lives.

We would do well, in terms of perceptions of reality, and “how we shall then live,” to see this blessed sweet communion with Jesus as, at best, a two-way street. More realistically, to think of it as Jesus finding you.

Yes, we all seek… for something. Every person in humanity’s long history was and is different, except for the common situation that we all sin; all need a Savior.

Yes, we all seek… for something. Is it happiness, security, forgiveness, acceptance? Most likely it is all of these things.

Yes, we all seek… for something. And what a menu the world provides: pleasure; sex; drink; drugs; entertainment; malleable standards; changing values. Lies.

God’s menu, however, offers only one item – one that will satisfy all needs, and Living Waters besides: Jesus.

And in that regard we should recognize that most of us – no: all of us – spend our lives seeking the wrong things. Empty calories of life, we might say. But the point is that we seek after so many things. Once we have checked the boxes of education and providing for family, we scurry about like mice on crack, seeking short-term and false goals.

The irony – astonishing, really – is that whether we also, at some stage of spiritual maturity, “seek” Jesus; or rejoice when we have “found” Him… we never had to seek, or look far, or wrack our brains somehow to seek and find Him.

First, He never was, or ever is, far from us. He is no stranger needing to be discerned, searched for, as if He somehow is hidden. Rather, He never leaves or forsakes us, but is a constant friend (not only “in times of trouble,” but always), and is closer than a shadow.

Second, too many of us have it backwards.

He seeks us.

But we hide from Him.

By our actions and inaction, by our inclinations, we avoid Him. We put Him off. We put other priorities before Him. We ignore Him when we sin. We do not study about Him, when the Bible always is open before us. We twist His commands. We dress Him up in our own wardrobes of excuses and distortions. We demote Him to a mere wise teacher. We assume His Words are not for today. We take His Name in vain. We recognize His form of godliness, but deny the power thereof. We reduce Him to a holiday figure, and not the Incarnation of God. We act like His miracles died in the tomb with Him; and did not rise for His followers today.

These are not the acts of people who seek Him.

We have many pictures, illustrations, and parables. Jesus Himself told us that He stands at the door and knocks. Get it? We are not knocking on His door, as much as He knocks at the door of our lives, asking to come in. Or maybe if we can come out and play, so to speak; for He is our friend.

He pursues, not merely seeks, us.

And I suggest that if that persistent, ever-present, inexorable, hounding, unrelenting, continual, Man of the Cross does not occasionally annoy you… you are not aware of your own situation. We hide so often, and in so many ways, that we cannot honestly say that we always seek Him.

… except, usually, in times of trouble and crisis. Bless His name, then we realize, in our mess, that we do in fact need Him. Ha, we call that “finding Jesus.” Well, fine. And by the way, if that is how humankind works, can we blame God for occasionally permitting crises to come into our lives… if that’s what it takes for us to “find” Him?

In another piece of irony – or maybe not, if it’s God’s plan – with all the seeking and hiding and finding, when we have become Children of God, one with Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, we play a new sort of “hiding” game.

We no longer will hide from God, but accept His offer to be our hiding place. From the storms of life, we will seek the shelter. He has formed a cleft in mighty rocks where we will be safe. “No other refuge can save, but Thee.”

At the end of this journey, who-found-whom is not really as important as the fact that we can “hide ourselves in Thee.” And we do not need to stand atop that Rock of Ages, shaking our fists at the world. What the Lord offers is refuge; happiness, security, forgiveness, acceptance.

The things we felt the need to seek all along.

You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. – Psalm 32:7

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Click Video Clip: Hide Thou Me

12-7-20

I watched a documentary on TV this morning. It was about Black Holes, and Worm Holes, and the Age of the Universe, and the Big Bang. I chuckled often, and I learned a lot. It was not, however, a comedy show; and despite what I learned I would probably fail the exam prepared by the three experts.

For an hour the experts on Zoom guessed as often as they asserted, and confessed to the ifs and what ifs. There were many shrugged shoulders, and a lot of confused giggles. So I giggled too. They spoke of “changed hypotheses,” even some of Einstein’s. Of course, black holes and the Big bang theory were not even in textbooks a century ago… and might not be, a century from now. These things, I learned.

What interested me, but did not surprise me, was that during an entire hour without commercials not one of the three scientists / experts / metaphysicians (whose domains are reputedly first things and origins) once mentioned God. Or Creation, Or the Bible. Not even as “one of those crazy beliefs,” or even “what people used to think.”

Such lovers of self – that is, reliant on their own wisdom – are the ultimate Deniers in this age when “denial” of any form is a virtual criminal offense. To ignore even a passing nod to the belief system of swaths of humanity over millennia is not an upward step toward enlightenment, but a descent toward baser ignorance. (By the way, this Big Bang idea sounds suspiciously like the first chapter of Genesis, sanitized of the Creator’s Name, doesn’t it?)

The natural questions were not asked, and I think never answered: What was there the moment before the Big Bang? If there is an End or an Outer Limit to the Universe… what is one foot beyond it? If there is creation, there ought to be a creator; so who or what made the Big Bang go bang?

If I don’t have metaphysical answers to these questions, they would claim that citing “God” is crutch of convenience.

OK. I plead guilty. Supporting my belief – my faith in such things – is the Word of God. I believe in Jesus as God Incarnate, and He stated His firm belief in Genesis and all such biblical accounts. Good enough for me; better than good, in fact.

And so forth. In such discussions as on TV, God is not a last resort of the ignorant. He is the source of knowledge and wisdom about First Things.

If I knew the answer to such matters as discussed – and way before my head starts to hurt – I would be God. He is; He knows; and He disposes.

In the meantime, if pinheads who chatter about Black Holes and Worm Holes and Big Bangs can accuse us People of the Book of being superstitious and ignorant seekers of fairy tales… I invite them, every time they say, “my best guess is…” or “current theories suggest…” or “scientists now believe…” to put on dunce caps and sit in the corner until the next round of guessing games.

As I said, I am extremely and honestly interested in scientific discussions and speculation, and even archaeological discoveries. It is, for instance, astonishing to see how many figures and cities and events in biblical history so recently dismissed as “legends” have been confirmed by artifacts and even entire buried cities!

Another “first thing” should be an attitude of humility when it comes to… well, when it comes to the things of God. We might get though life a little better if we trust Him in all ways and in all things, from everyday setbacks to election defeats, to choose two matters at random.

Even if doing so can make our heads hurt a little, we must remember that God does not require of us that we understand everything, but that we trust Him and obey everything.

And as Matthew Harrison Brady said, “I might not know about the ages of rocks, but I do know the Rock of Ages!”

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Double click the video to make full screen after your start it!

8-26-19

Oh, yes; God plays games. Not to deceive us, of course. But He is a play-ful God, never think otherwise. Despite the moon-faced Jesus of some movies and Sunday-school calendars, I believe He smiled as much as He rebuked; He wept but He laughed. He was tender with His mother; He gathered children around Him; He welcomed crowds.

“Jesus loves me; this I know.” He doesn’t get there by being stern or vacant. When God created the earth, He paused and “saw that it was good.” Smile!

God has used – and still uses – uncountable ways to instruct us. He shares His will for our lives through inspiration of the Holy Spirit; by Biblical passages; via circumstances. Balaam’s ass, you know the story. Sometimes even people who themselves are… well, you know, unexpected sources. Hard lessons. “Coincidences,” that some of us recognize afterwards as “God-incidences.” Sermons. Books. Radio and TV preachers. Song lyrics.

When God doesn’t whisper, sometimes He shouts.

Thinking on these things, I wondered whether we can find Godly messages even in games. Games, that is, that we might re-purpose, to see His purpose.

Here are some suggestions:

Ready Or Not, Here I Come! Can you picture Jesus calling that out? In a very real way, that’s what He said as He emerged from the tomb on Easter Sunday. His mother, and the disciples, hoped for the Resurrection, and vaguely remembered His promise… yet they were surprised. Were they ready? Are we ready? Because the Resurrection was an event at which to marvel, but – “ready or not” – then there is the life-long obligation to remain joyful, and to follow His commands. Here He Comes!

Tag, You’re It! In that game, the rules are strict. As much as you might wiggle or hide or evade, when the leader tags you… you are it. You know that Jesus seeks you, and soon enough will “tag” you. You’re it!

Leapfrog. Do kids play this any more? And maybe it’s a stretch, but let’s compare the jumpers to the challenges in life we have to get over. Isn’t it funny (or not) how every time we overcome the challenge before us, something or someone jumps over us and gets in the way all over again. Gotta keep jumping, running the race, and leaping!

Truth or Dare. This is easy. Can you keep secrets from God? Can you avoid His call? Can you avert His gaze? He already knows the Truth about your situation better than you do… do you dare break the rules?

Rock, Paper, Scissors. Um… whatever configuration, no matter how many do-overs, God always wins. He made the rocks, paper, and scissors!

Simon Says. Another old-timer. In the new version, Simon is God, giving the requests. Or, Simon is Jesus, who showed us how to obey. Or Simon is the Holy Spirit, who will help us play.

And win.

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Click: Hide Thou Me