Categories
Uncategorized

A Moses Moment

“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”1—Moses

Well said, Moses, and thank you. Thank you for sharing the purest of perspectives. Thank you for bringing us back to basics. Thank you for voicing the clearest of confessions: “from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”

pauseWe all need these Moses moments, don’t we? Our world, even our tiny sliver of it, is incomprehensibly bigger than we are and far beyond our ability to control, no matter how desperately we try. Difficult people can discourage us; onerous tasks can overwhelm us. Relationships can unravel, and health fades away. It is in these times especially that we can do no better than to “press pause” on this fleeting, finite world and take the time to consider anew the Eternal One who sits sovereign over all things.

Yet the wonder of God is not limited to His boundless power, rather His power abounds to us in limitless love. It was true for Moses, for “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.”2 It is true for us, as well, for the Son of God has a name for all who believe in Him—He likewise calls us “friends.”3

So take a Moses moment, press pause, and consider: Only God knows eternity. Only God owns eternity. Only God rules eternity. And He loves us as His friends forever.

1 Psalm 90:2 (ESV)
2 Exodus 33:11
3 John 15:15

Categories
Uncategorized

Another Lap around the Sun

 

earthWhen we stop to think about it, birthdays and New Year’s connote the same things, don’t they? On each, we commend yet another year of our personal annuls into the vault of history and open a fresh journal of empty pages awaiting living ink. So why is it we celebrate the one day so cheerfully yet approach the other more apprehensively? New Year’s Day is actually aspirational for us—a time of hope, a time of resolve, a new beginning of sorts. Our birthday, however, even though it likewise records another lap around the sun and the inauguration of a fresh one, greets us as a sober reminder of the brevity of life; we muse a bit more and enthuse a bit less.

Occasional reflection on the passage of time is a healthy thing, and the anniversaries in our lives serve as great reminders for us to pull off to the side of the road, consider our life journey, seek Divine direction, and adjust course as we are led. It was to this end, perhaps, that Moses implored of God, “Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). He had learned the enduring value of fresh perspective.

We reach a point in life when it doesn’t take a lot of “numbering” to figure out our own “omega” on this Earth is considerably closer than our “alpha” here. And with this realization grows a burning desire that each remaining day would count for the good of others and the glory of God. This is His desire as well, so we can be certain He will continue to work His will through us. Even when we fail, we need not be discouraged, for each lap around the sun consists of many new revolutions around the axis, each day of brevity abounding in new opportunity to share God’s love, truth and grace all around us.

Lord, teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Amen.

Categories
Uncategorized

Year-’round Yuletide

So Christmas has come and gone. Or has it?

Every time our two-year-old granddaughter comes to our house, she seeks out two things in particular. In a child-sized rocking chair she finds a stuffed bear waiting in unrelenting hope for the eager embrace of two outstretched arms and one wide-open heart. What child wouldn’t hasten toward one so soft and warm and unflinchingly loyal? Abigail’s other must-do, however, is a little less intuitive. With her fuzzy friend in tow, she opens a cabinet door and pulls out the basket of Easter eggs we store there year-around. March or April—or June, August, Thanksgiving or New Year’s, for that matter, it makes no difference—every day is an Easter celebration as far as Abigail is concerned.

Our little friend doesn’t realize the profundity of her play, for every day truly is Easter: Christ is always risen from the dead, and His Spirit lives forever in all who entrust their mortal lives to His immortal one. The same can be said for Christmas, for God has fulfilled His promise of Immanuel (which means “God with us”): in Christ, God has come to us forever, and He will never leave us. “If anyone loves me,” instructed Jesus on the night in which He would be betrayed, “he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23). And before ascending into heaven weeks later, Jesus assured His followers, “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

Then surely every day is Christmas. God’s promises of His Messiah are forever fulfilled, so our comfort in Him is complete. “God with us” is eternal, so the joy of the Yuletide is always ours if we stop long enough to savor it.

So today and every day, may you have a very Merry Christmas. And a Happy Easter, too!

God, send your Spirit to me this day, that I would trust your promises and live in the peace of their fulfillment. Grace me to bring your comfort and your joy to those around me today. Amen.