Work on Joy?

Psalm 126

1When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.

2Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy;

then they said among the nations,

"The LORD has done great things for them."

3The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad.

4Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like streams in the Negeb!

5 Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!

6He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing,

shall come home with shouts of joy,

bringing his sheaves with him.

I never thought of joy as something to "work on." I always thought it was an after result of something that happened. We moderns look for joy as a result of entertainment. We sign up for a cruise, or go see a movie, buy the latest toy to pacify either the bordom, or to keep us in a state of perpetual denial to the realities of life. We look for joy as a result of entertainment. Joy is a by-product of faith, not of entertainment. We get things all mixed up.

The last frew weeks have been a very down time for me. Now that I think of it, my faith has been very low, weak, and enemic. Sort of like my 86 year old mother, who has been in the hospital. She collapsed and the doctors could not find out what was wrong with her. She was enemic, not sleeping, and worried about circumstances in other's lives whom she loves. I have also been in the same condition spiritually. Enemic, not resting in the arms of my Father, and railing against the hard things in life.

When I read in Psalm 126 that joy comes with faith, I then can understand why my joy is close to non-existent. The joy has not been there, because faith has not been there. "Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy." In order to have real joy, shouts of joy, you have to sow in tears. To sow in tears is to do hard work, even in the midst of crying. Most of the time, we do not do that. Instead of facing the giants, the obstacles, the hurts, the pain we buy a new car! We placate ourselves with food, drink, or anything that will not allow us to painfully deal with the issues or circumstances. These precious saints were in exile, in prison, in another country not their own. Oh, but when they were released, what joy!! They had fought the good fight, kept right on sowing even when it hurt. Kept the faith, kept believing. Then God brought them into a time of joy. Pure joy, where you know that it is from Him.

I am going to work on joy, work on faith. Knowing that faith produces Joy!!!

Darkness

When it is shown to a person that selfish ambition has been the driving force in their life, most of their life, it is a bit overwhelming. God always does these things for our good and His glory, but there is a transition period where you feel like you walk in darkness, stumbling to find the righteous ambition to follow. Thinking that I was made for something that I wasn't, is a hard place to be in. With this revelation comes new territory to discover, and to walk through. How does one start over in there late forties?

Isaiah 50 has always been one of my favorite passages in times of darkness. A prof. of mine a long time ago gave me the gift of Is. 50, and I have always turned to in in times of darkness. This time learning something that I have never seen before.

Isaiah 50:9ff

Behold, the Lord GOD helps me; who will declare me guilty?

Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.
10Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant?

Let him who walks in darkness and has no light, trust in the name of the LORD

and rely on his God.

11Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who equip yourselves with burning torches!

Walk by the light of your fire, and by the torches that you have kindled! This you have from my hand: you shall lie down in torment.

Sometimes walking in darkness is a much better alternative than to lie down in torment with all the artificial light that you could produce on your own.

Walking so very long with the light of my own torch, to walk in darkness, to trust the unseen, how? Will you be there when I let go of my own light, my own torch? How will I know you're really there? My own torch has been lighting my way for so long-I seem destined to walk in the dark, in the shadows trying desperately to find my way. Oh, to walk in confidence. To know each step will be the one you want for me.

Holding my hands out in front of my face I stumble against an unseen object in the dark, my eyes some what get adjusted and I begin to see shadows dancing against the wall. Reaching, stretching towards the light, I begin once again to see and reach my arms towards the light ahead of me. I gain such a feeling of uphoria that I relax, I place my feet confidently, deftly down. With each step I go faster, swifter. Then, the light dims and I stike my head against the wall that I didn't even kinow was there. Dazed, scared, hurt I wonder why I never saw it coming. My hand reaches up to rub my forehead to stop the throbbing pain. As I do, my eyes are peirced by a vivid illumination of objects ahead. I then remember I need to push on going once again towards the light. Where did I get the idea that my artificial torch would ever be my guide? Where did I ever get the idea that faith never stumbles or walks in the dark?

Revelation outside one's self

When there is a great deal of hub-bub about a book, especially one that is juvenile fiction, I feel like it is my duty to investigate, castigate, and envigorate those that want to know. The latest is The Golden Compass. The only reason it is causing such a stir right now, is because it has been made into a movie that millions of unsuspecting children will attend this holiday season.
I had to find out for myself, not just take someone else's word for it. I am sure you all have received at least one email warning you not to see or read the books. The Christian community got it wrong when in our haste to ward off anything that smelled of evil, we took Harry Potter to the wood shed and he stayed there for quite a while. Then Christians that like to think actually read the books, went to the movies, and decided that we had made a moutain out of a mole hill. My first reaction to all the hype, about The Golden Compass, was to tell the Christian ghetto not to make it more than it was, all we were doing was selling books, and movie tickets! I read the first tome in about five or six hours, maybe less. It was fast paced, easy to understand, mysterious, and interesting. My mind kept wandering to The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and to The Narnia Series as I tried to compare them for their literary highs and lows. Now that I am almost finished with the three, I have made some most interesting conclusions. The first thing is that they are much more dark than Harry Potter, or the other series I just mentioned. Harry Potter is written from a humanistic point of view, but so is Nancy Drew. Yes, there is killing in all of them, but the killing has to do with right verses wrong, even in Harry Potter! Human life is always upheld to be precious and something that we do not take lightly. Pullman doesn't regard human life as something that should held in high esteem. Lyra, the main charachter, uses people and regards them as pawns in her pursuit of her quest. In one scene, she comes across an old man being imprisoned by the King of the Bears. She can tell that he is "mad" and therefore it is ok to use him to gain what she wants. Another scene has the rightful bear king eating the flesh of a man that saved his life, because he was hungry (the man was already dead). It seems to Pullman that since he was already dead, it would be ok to desecrate his body and to "nourish" the bear's appetite. At another place the bear eats the heart out of a man, after he is dead. This goes against the sacredness of God's creation. God's image is not only shown in the soul of a person, but in his or her body as well. Pullman turns evil good, and good evil. Rebellion is a good characteristic for the characters of The Golden Compass. This is Lyra's number one characteristic.
Pullman has come out and said that he is an atheist and he hates God and the church. That point comes out loud and clear throughout all of the books. The bad guys are the priests, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, and the ultimate bad guy is God. According to the novel, we have gotten it all wrong, the bad guys are Christianity, God and the church. That is why there is repression and killing. The quest of the stories is to kill God and all will be well. He (Pullman)twists the Bible narrative, the story in the garden and original sin to be the real evil. I really feel sorry for Pullman. His anger, his repression (sexual and otherwise) pulses off of every page. He denigrates Christianity for the Bible being revealed, and Lyra his main character, cannot do anything apart from the "revelation" of the Athemeiter. Lyra cannot, without supernatural transcendence, go on her quest. I find that very ironic to say the least.
More coming later.