“But as for me, I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me.” (Psalm 40:17)

Usually when I think of myself as “poor and needy” it is because I have done something terribly wrong made a bad decision, messed up big time, or fallen short once again.  I feel broken, impoverished, foolish, heartbroken.  I feel the need to be rescued and pulled to safety.  I have no where else to turn and I want to give up.

David must have just had one of those moments when he wrote this psalm…maybe the Lord will remember me in spite of me seems to be implied.  On the other hand, what if a person learns the art of living humbly, acknowledging a constant state of poverty?  Could this be what Jesus meant when He spoke of the “poor in spirit” in Matthew 5:3?

It does seem to me that humility is a necessary ingredient to getting along in life.  It certainly has an impact upon getting along with people.  For instance, there is a huge difference between a person who is humble because of low self-esteem verses someone who has every right to be proud and even arrogant, yet, they choose to take the one-down position.

An important way to illustrate humility is the principle that is critical to marital communication: to seek to understand before insisting upon being understood.  Taking the time to listen and fully grasp what another human being is saying both honors the other person and it keeps in check our own desire to be heard.  This is one of those skills…it seems to me…that we could use just a little more of in our world.

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. (Ps. 27:14)

Passages like this always mystify me: “How is waiting on the Lord a sign of strength?”

So often I feel weak when I wait and I often chastise myself for waiting in the wrong line, waiting too long on hold, waiting for news…waiting.  It really stinks to have to wait, especially when it is for something I don’t want to know, or do, see or hear!

Then there is the good kind of waiting that fills me with anticipation.  Times like this are when I am waiting for the bride to come down the aisle, a family member to arrive on the airplane, dinner to come out of the oven or for anticipated good news.  Waiting can be an exciting thing, filled with anticipation.

At other times there is the agony of hesitation before making a decision.  The more significant the consequences, the more anxious we tend to become.  Especially when we are empowered to make choices that will speed the decision along we find that words like prudence and discernment rule when we would much rather move by impulse and follow our instincts.

We respect those who can make quick decisions when their instincts seem to lead to good outcomes.  When others make quick decisions and the consequences are negative we conclude that they are rash or hasty.  Sometimes the reality is that it is dependent upon the luck of the draw or one’s ability to quickly assess the probabilities for success.

Perhaps the emphasis in this passage is not so much on the first part: waiting.  I think the most important point is the “on the Lord” part.  We will wait, whether or not we appeal to the Lord for the wisdom to make the best possible choices.  Waiting is something every sentient being will do.  It is the waiting upon the Lord part that makes this insight leap off of the page.

I think I’ve decided that it takes great resolve and internal fortitude to resist the temptation to take the reigns to do it my way by myself and, rather, to choose to wait…on…the…Lord.  I have found that it really does take strength and courage to wait.  But, for the believer, even this strength and courage is not from within; it is a gift from God built upon years of practice.

A great paradox of life: “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Cor. 12:9-10).

What an incredible feedback loop!  He gives me the strength and courage to wait on Him to make the way clear so that I can trust His faithfulness so that I can become stronger and more courageous to wait on Him….

Wow! What an adventure!

Jesus Calms the Storm

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”  (Mark 4:35-41, NIV)

I have always loved the way the writers of the New Testament juxtaposed the humanity of Christ with His Sovereign nature.   Exhausted from a day of teaching, healing, traveling sandy shores and rocky pathways when He gets to the end of the day Jesus collapses on the cushion on the boat and falls fast asleep.  So deep is His sleep in the gently rocking boat with the oars’ rhythmic motion through the water that He simply does not notice when the boat begins to rock and roll.

Suddenly the storm clouds come up and funnel down directly onto the little boat that carries Jesus and His disciples to the other side.  Waves break over the sides and water begins to fill the boat.

And Jesus sleeps.

We know that Peter, Andrew, James and John were seasoned fishermen who had seen this before but what about the rest of the disciples?  I wonder if Matthew the tax collector had ever been in a boat in a storm?  What about Thaddeus, or Nathaniel, James or Judas?

As the boat fills with water you can hear the fishermen asking, “How many buckets on the boat for bailing water?  None? Well, use your hands cupped together and bail as fast as you can! The water is supposed to be outside of the boat.  Once it gets inside it is all over.  We need all hands bailing water out of the boat.

And Jesus sleeps.

Hey!  Where is Jesus!? He’s asleep at the stern of the boat!   In this storm?!  Wake Him up, now!

The storm was bad enough that all of them had fallen into terrified, abject fear: “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” was the cry of desperation.   To this point the story is about men in a boat caught in a storm desperate to survive.  Forget about getting to the other side.  This is a battle for living to see another day.

And then they wake Jesus…and everything changes.

We move from a simple story of survival to an event of overwhelming, commanding power when Jesus speaks: “Quiet.  Be still.” and the rain stops, the clouds break apart, the wind dies, the waves collapse and the sun breaks through and, Mark tells us, it became completely calm.

Imagine the twelve disciples standing in the boat, water up to their knees, the sides just above the water’s surface, drenched with robes dripping, hair strung over their eyes, panting, hands at their sides…mouths wide open…speechless.

This story confronts us with the question of belief in the way that Mark seamlessly reports on both the humanity and the divinity of Christ. Exhausted, Jesus collapses in His humanity to sleep…just like we do when we are tired to the bone…and, when He rises, He calmly issues a few brief commands and the storm evaporates and disappears.  No one does that except God Himself.  No other explanation needed.  No expansion of the story required.  Just the facts.  Jesus speaks and all nature obeys.

“Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Jesus asks.

Again, no other explanation needed.  Just the facts.  Jesus knew He was here to accomplish God’s purpose which was not to drown in a storm in the middle of a lake.  When you know that there is a greater purpose that drives you forward you don’t sweat the small stuff.   Mark tells us that when they realized who Jesus was, they were terrified.

Peter says it well in 2 Peter 1:14-18 – “For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.”

The Storms of Life

I believe there is a reason why this one story fills early Christian art and symbolism.  There is something about being in a boat in a storm that resonates within our humanity.  And there is something about the words of Jesus that takes our storms and brings us peace.

In fact, one unnoticed detail in Mark’s account is the other boats that were with Him.  Why include that simple detail?   There were others…

…were they in the storm too? Or were they watching the drama unfold from a distance.

…what was their reaction when they saw the impact of Jesus’ words as the storm stopped and it became completely calm.

…who were they? How many boats were there?  Did they make it to the other side, too?

Nothing.

Mark just mentions that there were other boats traveling with them.

These are the details that betray an eyewitness account; but, they also open the door to powerful metaphors for talking about matters of faith when times are tough.  Some interesting questions emerge that would be interesting to ponder….

Which ones come to your mind?

A new tier has been added to my menus at the top of the screen to help me organize the blogs I’ve written over the last year.  Most of it si pretty self-explanatory except for one of the titles: theophilos.  The word is actually Greek in origin and, as far as I know, it appears twice in the Bible in two books authored by the same author, Luke the physician (Luke 1;3; Acts 1:1).

In Greek it is actually two words put together.  The first is Theos which means “God’ and the second is Philos which means, ‘love.’  Put together the word is ‘lover of God’ much like Philadelphia means lover of men, philosophy means lover of wisdom, and theology means the study of God.

Anyway, that title, Theophilos, is meant to indicate that the topic under that heading are mostly focused upon God, the Bible, and things oriented towards faith.  Religious faith plays such a major role in the choices we make and the paths we follow, the values that guide us and the principles that set our moral compass.  Having served in churches for 30 years, I plan to place many of my studies in that section for those who may find them of interest.

The key is that my adventure into building up my WordPress website has taken an interesting turn lately and it is challenging me to expand my knowledge base in computers, web hosting, and more.  It is a good discipline that I am enjoying learning, filled with frustrations, roadblocks and hurdles that give great satisfaction when conquered or which have adapted to my way of thinking that they should be done.

Which got me to thinking…theologically, of course…that designing a website and maintaining it is kind-of like life….  Maybe I’ll save that for another time.  I guess I just felt like the name or word Theophilos was worth defining and there you have it.

Our histories are important in family counseling.  They highlight encounter points that have shaped who we are today, contributing to our present beliefs and expectations.

“Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. There he stayed….” (John 10:40).

Touching base with those points of personal encounters with God provide places along the road maps of our lives as we walk in faith.  When Jacob witnessed the ladder to heaven he raised a stone to commemorate the  event and called the place Bethel (Genesis 28:10-32).

I believe that Jesus found those points of contact to be valuable to Him.  We, also, can know more about ourselves as we review our own history and experiences.

Though we cannot re-live our past there is value in remembering those times when God stepped into our awareness and made the way clear.

Those points of encounter can come at special times such as the day you said, “I do!” or with the birth of your first child…or at a time of personal tragedy when you had nowhere else to turn except to God.  The events of 9/11 provided a touch point for a nation as well for each of us personally.

The key: never forget those points along the way!  They have a way of setting our compasses for the road ahead.