Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

I have a constant companion --well, relatively constant. There are places she certainly doesn't need to be, and times when her loyalty to me is tested by someone upstairs opening a tin of butter cookies. But overall, where I go, Luci is not far behind. I was thinking about that when I read Robert Alter's translation of Psalm 89:15 this morning:

Justice and law are the base of Your throne.
Steadfast kindness and truth go before Your presence.

The Hebrew word translated "steadfast kindness" here is hesed. Hesed is a wonderful level of God's zealous love for His people. Hesed is often translated as mercy, grace. lovingkindness, and compassion, but none of these seems adequate to express the depths of the meaning of God's hesed. It's not just His warm, fuzzy feelings toward us, but a mighty, passionate, aggressive even, work of love. Hesed is an essential part of His character, infinite in capacity and endurance. Steadfast kindness, God's hesed, is the herald of His presence.

Truth, we know from the Gospel of John, is what sets us free --completely. Jesus Himself is truth, and we, His followers, are sanctified by His truth, His Word. The Hebrew word translated "truth" is emet, and is in some contexts equated with His faithfulness. Jesus' hesed and His faithfulness, or truth --integrity --go before Him like heralds before a King. 

In Medieval history, a herald was a type of royal diplomat or agent. The herald's word came directly to opposing armies as though from the king himself. It was important the communication reached the intended recipient, obviously, so heralds had to master the identification of the crests and symbols of various ruling houses. As a result, they became experts in the histories and lineages of the sovereigns. And lineage was crucial to character and credentials. Eventually, heralds took on the role of Master of Ceremonies at tournaments and would proclaim the virtues and qualifications of competitors. Their knowledge of the inner workings of the kingdom and foreign policy has allowed them to evolve into the heralds of today: counselors to the king in important matters of genealogies, family crests, and ceremonies. Today's heralds maintain authority with regard to familial names and family crests. Heralds testify to the legitimacy of an heir.

Having said all of that, and back to the original point, the hesed of God and the truth of God are His constant companions. His lovingkindness and veracity testify to His legitimacy, His credentials, and where they are, He is. But He does not follow them, He is them. Steadfast kindness and truth are His character which cannot be separated from Him. Acts of mercy and the upholding of truth indicate God is present and at work; they call us to worship the One True King. Conversely, the presence of the Lord guarantees mercy and truth are present as well. Those who walk with the Lord are accompanied by His infinite mercy and His perfect integrity. Lamentations 2:22, 23 promises God's hesed, His inexhaustible mercy is available to all His people, and the very name of our Savior and Brother is Faithful and True. If Jesus is our constant companion, the steadfast kindness and truth of our Lord is present wherever we go --present that we might know blessing, and present that we might be equipped to bless others and bring glory to God.

And He would never leave us for a butter cookie.

Midweek: Insert Coins Then Make Your Selection (2009)

This week I'm going with another reprint from "The Archives." It's been fun going back through some of the things I wrote years ago. Some articles assure me I wasn't as "off track" as I thought I was back then. Some posts are just plain cringe. But I'm leaving them there to show me (and you, if you'd like to do the research) just how far God can bring us. 

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Behold the simple vending machine:

...lots of options, simple principle -- you get what you want when you give it what it wants.  Works every time -- right?

        We have a couple of vending machines at work that work on the "slot machine principle" -- lots of coin in, just enough payout to keep you coming back.  From time to time I will pack some sort of snack or sandwich just to get around the frustration of dealing with those manipulative machines.  Eventually though, I am compelled to return, dropping in more money than I would pay for a family-size bag of some artery-clogging mess and paying twice the price for a warm, slightly expired soda, only to have the machine jam and dangle my Bugles before me like one of those stupid cat teaser toys.  I bang and fume and kick.  I turn as if some hidden camera crew is waiting to jump from hiding and joyfully reveal to me their ruse.  Satisfied no one is watching, or annoyed to the point at which I will not be beaten by an inanimate object regardless of an audience, I exhale, shrug my jacket sleeves up, position my trademark stilettos on the floor, and slam the top of the machine for all I am worth.  It rocks back, and I catch it on the return, rocking it back even harder.  In the end, I win -- forcing the machine to drop its dislodged bounty into the tray.  I open the door and retrieve it with a smirk of satisfaction, straightening my suddenly fabulous attire, and standing just a little taller, pleased with myself for putting the kibosh on that malevolent machine's unscrupulous practice.

        It occurred to me yesterday, that sometimes we treat God like the vending machine.  We put our money, our time, our faith in, and we expect to get just what we want right back.  "Have it your way."  "I want it all and I want it now."  "...right at your fingertips."  (Insert your instant gratification, self-serving, entitlement cliche' here.)

        How many times have we fumed and raged because we gave of ourselves and our precious dollars and "nothing came out."  We are still struggling to pay our bills, we are still pressed for time between carpools and clean-ups.  "When does God payback what He owes?"  Our sinful, ego-bound hearts seethe with perceived privilege; we are determined not to be taken advantage of!

        Or how often do we live "good, faithful, righteous" lives only to get those things we do not want?  "I never asked for MS!"  "I earned the good parents."  We all want to give that vending machine a kick or a shake just to get what we think we deserve.

        And the immediacy with which we expect results?  Feed the homeless here, get a bonus at work there.  We look at each potential windfall as God working to finally dispense the good fortune we desire, the reward we deserve, the paycheck we've earned in His service.  When our bounty doesn't fall, our frustration builds.  We become disenchanted with our very Savior, the One who gave His Life that we might live.

        I've received the "bounty at the bottom of the machine," and I've learned it was my arrogance and my foolishness that dropped it there and allowed me to walk away satisfied.  In the light of God's abundance and grace, it was offal for which I fought so long and hard -- a bag of six stale, broken chips and a warm, flat, dented can of ginger ale with something growing over the opening at the top.  God had so much more planned for me; how could I have been so pompous as to think anything I could squeeze from His hand would be better than what He could graciously give? 

In What World Is Adoption Normal?

Adoption is not normal. Think about it. You take a child --one of society's most vulnerable --you take a child you barely know, place them in your home, tell them you are his/her parents now, this is your room now, these are your classmates now, this is your neighborhood now, this is your family tree now, this is what we're going to call you now... This child, looking somewhat shell-shocked as expected, poses with you in pictures; they sleep just down the hall in a room that used to be an office. They now see themselves in photos surrounded by faces smiling as though this is the way things have always been. At night, they slide under the covers knowing the only people they can cry out to are people they've known for less time than it takes to pay off a bedroom remodel. And while it is the parents who wield most of the control, it's no less unnerving for them. Life has gone from feeling perhaps they should downsize to calling for estimates on an addition. The once heavy silence is now nerve-wracking cacophony. Days once spent sipping coffee, creating and cooking now hold barely enough time for meatloaf and boxed mac & cheese. Lunch with friends? How about six months from now? And a stranger moves about from room to room, touching picture frames that hold the images of those whose love came more naturally and writing his name in the fog created by his breath on the bathroom mirror.

But this was not mankind's idea. God instituted adoption long before it ever crossed our minds. In the Old Testament Pharaoh's daughter pulled the Hebrew baby she named Moses from the river and raised him in the palace as if he was her own. The book of Esther tells us the young woman, Hadassah in Hebrew, had no parents and was raised by her uncle. Scripture mentions people of other nations who were integrated into Jewish life (and the genealogy of Jesus!) and adhered to the Law and worshipped the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Romans 11 talks about the "grafting in" of Gentiles to the family of our Savior, and Ephesians 1:3-6 says those who are His were predestined to adoption.

At this very moment, I am listening to my husband and our son playing. When they are through and I have finished my work, we will sit down to dinner. We will wind things down shortly after that, preparing for a good night's rest and another week ahead. Our life with our son has taken on such a natural quality, I often remind myself he hasn't always been here. We have achieved normalcy, right? No. Simple misunderstandings have escalated to yelling, packed bags, refusals, failed attempts at redirection, "apologies" lasting mere moments until the infraction was repeated, broken promises, broken things, and broken relationship. Like adoption itself, this is not normal. This is the result of a curse, a curse that was brought upon all of mankind with the first sin. In a lush garden where relationship with God was intimate and love was normal, Adam, the representative of all mankind defied our God and brought condemnation to all mankind. Relationship with our Creator was broken. Can a relationship be anything but broken after that? The brokenness of that relationship is what causes us to act so wretchedly toward others and so self-destructively toward ourselves. The brokenness of that relationship is what leads us to the need for adoption and psychologists and all sorts of entities designed to fix other entities. The brokenness of that relationship is what creates in us a longing for "normal" and the need for wholeness. Adoption in this world, joining broken people to one another for the benefit of the whole, is a flawed attempt at repair. The adoption found in our Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ is perfect, complete in every way. The adoptee is safe, loved and guided by a perfect Parent. A special place has been created, and his/her name has been called as one of God's own since before the foundation of the world. Siblings are likeminded, life is made new, burdens are made light, the yoke is easy when the way is hard, and there are no strangers and aliens but us --us together, not us as individuals --placed here but at home with our Father. And while it may not be normal, while the impetus for it may be tragedy, adoption into the family of God is a gift. A means by which relationship can be established and love can be normalized again.

I don't think our adoption as parents, or our adoption of a son will ever come close to achieving that sort of wholeness; but I thank God we have been granted the privilege of imitating His perfect gift in one of the best ways available.  

Good Morning!

As for me --to You, LORD, I shouted,

and in the morn my prayer would greet You.

~ Psalm 88:14 (Alter)

Christmas morning, circa 1998. My children are young, and the level of anticipation is cresting. They are stirring after a restless night of sleep and I am, bleary-eyed, making my way down the stairs. No one moves until I say! I call out. I quickly dial the phone and get my mother moving from her house a short distance away to ours. I start the coffee --a personal necessity --and begin to create an atmosphere, flipping on lights as I go. Tree lights? Check! Lights in the windows? Check! Lights on all of the kitschy decor placed throughout the house? Check! One last check on the gifts and stockings. The back door opens. Nana is here. And Christmas may officially begin!

As I read the above psalm this morning, I thought about the anticipation of speaking with God, of welcoming Him into our messes and sacred spaces. In the morn my prayer would greet You. Imagine God awakening to the sound of your voice. You are so anxious to speak to Him, you awaken early to softly call Him to consciousness with your worship. Or perhaps, you are still going strong in your prayers and songs from the late hours of the previous night; you just can't seem to stop! You long for Him to round the corner or reach the bottom of the stairs. Look what I did for You! You are worth all of this! This is hyperbole, for sure, for the God of Israel never slumbers nor sleeps. But what an amazing challenge to us! Hello, God! It's me. I've been waiting for You. I was so excited, I couldn't sleep! I created an atmosphere to welcome You. 

What sort of atmosphere would we create? An "atmosphere of peace" --softly playing worship music, the cat purring softly beside you, maybe a candle burning? Not necessarily. Those things may help us be present, but not God. God is there amidst the driving rain, the crashing waves, and the howling winds. God is present in the pain and the chaos, the grief and the fear, the tears and the laughter. He is not distracted by the circumstances. He brings the peace. He IS the peace. In our hearts we "set the stage": desperation, longing, worship of God as our only Rock, our only Help, our only Source and Salvation. The atmosphere is a heart laid bare, transparent and honest. The atmosphere of a heart humble and needy. The atmosphere of willingness, openness to what God will do. The atmosphere of thirst, hunger for Him and His Word. We welcome Him because He alone has the words of eternal life! And we anticipate His perfect, wise, and good intervention!