A Promise of Hope

No video of this song, we just have to listen to this one...


Acts 2:21

Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

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When you turn around, needing somebody there
Who can give you love and show you good care
If there's a place inside you that's empty and cold

You may need my love, to have, to hold
Call on me, call on me, call on me, call on me
I'll be by your side to keep you satisfied

I want to keep you satisfied
Call on me, call on me call on me, call on me
I'll be by your side to keep you satisfied

"Call on Me" from Straight Shooter recorded by Bad Company written by Paul Rodgers

The Lord saves. The Lord wants to save. The Lord wants to keep us satisfied. How's that for a thought.

There are many, many days when all evidence points to the contrary. Oh so many days when the world wants to wash over us like a tidal wave coming from the cesspool of sinful life. There are days when the only hope is when the stain and wretch and horror of life only reach chest high. Hope, that's for other people. The love of God? It seems like more of a cosmic punch line than a promise.

Here's the wonder of this piece of scripture, Peter is quoting the prophet Joel. Joel is prophesying end times. Let's talk about a time when people envisioned a tidal wave in a cesspool... But Joel had one piece of Good News, just one--Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Everyone.

There really isn't a time when we turn around when we don't need someone there. If we think there is there are two things going wrong: First we're thinking a little too much of ourselves; Second we don't see far enough ahead. We need love in our lives. We need the love of another. We need the love of the Lord. We need the love of the Lord's people. We need to be the Lord's people loving others. We need to call on the Lord.

The Lord cries "call on me." We need to cry and we need to hear because the answer comes. The Lord wants us to call. The Lord wants to respond. That is the promise of hope.

Broken Hearted

Exodus 32:7-14

The LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ ” The LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.”

But Moses implored the LORD his God, and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” And the LORD changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.

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Stop! In the name of love
Before you break my heart
Think it over

"Stop in the Name of Love" by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Edward Holland, Jr. recorded by Diana Ross and the Supremes

Here's an interesting story, the story of the changing of God's mind.

Moses is on the mountain with the Lord his God. Moses is learning. Moses is receiving the Torah, the law. He's getting the "Heavy Ten," the Ten Commandments. But more importantly, he is experiencing the most intensely personal relationship with God since Genesis. Moses is allowed to see the shadow of God, and for a human, that's all we can bear. And Moses is knee deep in the love and glory of God. He's getting God's wisdom, but above all else he is spending time getting to know the Lord. One more time-He's getting to know the Lord.

So Moses can just barely begin to imagine the Lord's disappointment when the Golden Calf is open for business. Weren't the people told to wait? Weren't the people told to be patient. Well, never mind, all that's out the door and the people have built an idol.

God is so upset that it's time to wipe the whole slate clean and try again. Moses can be the new Adam, first in line. Moses has already fallen, so nobody has to go through that again, but the Lord God can start over with someone who is discovering what it means to be faithful.

Moses says, "Stop in the name of love, think it over!" Moses asks God to, well, remember the Good times with the Nation of Israel. Moses asks God to consider "what the Egyptians will think." Moses asks God to remember the covenant with Noah not to wipe the nation out again.

God's mind was changed. God chose not to take a course of action because one good man interceded on behalf of a stiff-necked people. Or did he? It could be that the Lord never intended to wipe out the people. It could be this threat was made see how Moses would respond, and if this is so Moses passed with flying colors. God's heart, broken by the nation is salved by Moses.

We're still a stiff-necked people, but we also still have good men and women interceding on behalf of the world, and God responds. Thanks to those, like Moses, who pray; and thanks to the Lord God who listens.

A Brief Musical Interlude...

As found in various Psalms...

Selah

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Instrumental

"Little Wing" from "The Sky Is Crying" by Stevie Ray Vaughn

It's a word that appears dozens of times in the Psalms, but nobody bothers to talk much about it. Selah. A loose translation would be "interlude."

The Psalms were songs, they were the hymns of the day and many churches today use them as their only worship songs. There is nothing wrong with this, a service of psalter is wonderful and glorious. But what do we do with Selah?

Selah was the time in the canting of the psalm in worship when the harp, lute, pipe or other instrument would play and the cantor would take a rest. If you want, selah was the ancient Hebrew guitar solo.

People of the Book often get tied up in the words of worship. Sometimes it is just as important to get tied up in the music. Selah, the musical interlude of worship. This is when we just listen, we don't try to interpret the words. This is the time when we listen for the word of God.

In prayer often we try to say it all so that God will know what we feel and want. But we also need to listen to the music between the words. Often we will find this is where God is talking to us.

Nothing--I SAID NOTHING

Daniel 6:20-23

When he came near the den where Daniel was, he cried out anxiously to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God whom you faithfully serve been able to deliver you from the lions?” Daniel then said to the king, “O king, live forever! My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no wrong.” Then the king was exceedingly glad and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.

Romans 8:38-39

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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This is the lion's den
I hope you knew that before you came in
This is where the angels and the devils fight
And their choosing up sides tonight

"Snakedance" By Bob Walkenhorst recorded by The Rainmakers

Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Nothing. In our sin stained world this is a foreign concept. Hopelessness, helplessness, despair are constant companions. But this is not our way. Our hope is in Christ. Our hope is in the resurrection. Our hope is that in all of the plans that men prosecute and execute against one another; in the end God in Christ defeats them.

Jesus the Messiah conquered death. I suspect after that it's smooth sailing.

Now this is the lion's den. We don't don't get tossed into it like Daniel, it's just the state of our affairs. The angels and the devils choose up sides and they're both ready for a fight. If we don't know it's sin that does this in our world we're foolish. We better know what the score is before we take the field.

The most important part of that score though is our hope is in God in Christ who lives and breathes in us. This is the lion's den, but Daniel knew his hope was in the Living God, the God he worshiped under threat of death. The God we worship in the promise of new life. This is our hope. Our hope is that no matter what our fragile human experience may tell us, NOTHING can separate us from the love of God.

Cutting Away What Doesn't Belong

Hebrews 11:4-5

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain’s. Through this he received approval as righteous, God himself giving approval to his gifts; he died, but through his faith he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken so that he did not experience death; and “he was not found, because God had taken him.” For it was attested before he was taken away that “he had pleased God.”

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I'm lookin' for another kind of love
Oh Lordy, how I need it.
The kind that likes to leap without a shove
Oh, honey, best believe it.
To save a lot of time and foolish pride I'll say what's on my mind, girl
You loved me, you hate me, you cut me down to size.
You blinded me with love and yeah it opened up my eyes

"The Other Side" recorded by Aerosmith, written by Steven Tyler and Jim Vallance from "Pump"

Here's a question that I have never really had answered: What was so almighty acceptable about Abel's sacrifice? Is this how the Lord says, "Cauliflower? Shoot, I'll have more brisket!"  If it was, it would explain a lot about my diet and Texas dietary practices in general.

There are some theories. One is that this is just the first example that the Lord prefers the younger brothers. You see a lot of this in Genesis, but it doesn't say so. One is that while Cain just brought some fruit of the vine, Abel brought the best of the meat--the good stuff with the fat. Even the Lord likes good marbling. Well, again while this points to the Lord having an affection for good Kansas City BBQ, scripture doesn't say that Cain didn't bring first fruit.

Others say that this is just scripture introducing sibling rivalry which is truly one of the recurring themes of Genesis. Hebrews then reminds us that while he died, through his faith he still speaks. Able pleased God even though he was murdered.

The Book of Hebrews also reminds us that Enoch who never tasted death is in the Lord's presence. He is in the Lord's presence just as Able is even though he didn't die. Enoch was taken away because he pleased God, as did Abel.

Both of them were looking for a different kind of love, and as Steven Tyler sings, O Lordy how they need it! It is God's love that leaps without shoving, and it is our love that is to leap without being shoved too. We are called to go and to follow. We are to seize our foolish pride and declare what is true. We are to share our hope, God's love for us with the world.

It is this way that God prunes us to become what we are called to be. It is how God makes us what we are and cuts away what doesn't belong. In killing his brother, Cain cut away what God still loved and Cain found harsh discipline. Still, God doesn't hate as we are disciplined, as the imperfect is cut away, as we are cut down to size, but what is left is perfect.

It is said that when asked how he could carve such marvelous things from marble, Michelangelo would say that he would simply cut away the excess revealing what the stone contained all along. God cuts us to reveal what is there all along. In Enoch, in Able, in us, and yes, maybe even in Cain too.

This is our hope, That in our sinful imperfection the Lord sees what belongs to God.

Choose Your Weapons

Requested by my sister Mary Jane Tyra...



Exodus 20:16

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

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Ain't that what you said?
Ain't that what you said?
Ain't that what you said?

Liar, liar, liar

"Liar" by Ozzy Osbourne, Zakk Wylde, Bob Daisley, and John Sinclair. Recorded by Three Dog Night

It's funny when we talk about weapons. Most of the ancient world thought of swords and such. These days we think of guns and "instruments of Terror." It's funny, the most dangerous weapon anybody wields is their tongue.

A war of words can do more damage and leave more victims than most guns.

That old "Sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me" thing we learn growing up. We learn to say that only because words do hurt.

Scripture tells us not to bear false witness against our neighbors, so why do we gossip so?

It's seductive, to be in the know, to have a tidbit that only the best connected people have. Whether it's true or not is hardly the point. Having the scoop, that's the point.

A quick and cutting word, a word that belies care, a word not even meant to hurt, just a random hand grenade cast casually aside. Those are the worst, nobody expects those and the collateral damage is devastating.

Ain't that what you said? Liar!

Our hope comes in a few places. One is to resist the lies in the first place. Whether it means to tell them or to listen, don't. It's like any good drug market--when it dries up it disappears.

Second is to be an advocate. Hear a lie, Squelch a lie. Stand up for truth.

Third and final- Remember God has given us a set of rules to live by. It started with one ("Don't eat that"), went to ten, and grew into the mitzvah. Remember to forgive debts against you as we all pray others will forgive our debts against them. And remember, that's scriptural too.

Growing up my parents taught us both "Sticks and stones..." and "Words hurt other people, don't be like that." Maybe if we grow up with the latter knowing the former is really a lie then we'd live in a better world.

Battle and Death

2Samuel 1:25

How the mighty have fallen
in the midst of the battle!

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We come from the land of the ice and snow,
From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.
How soft your fields so green, can whisper tales of gore,
Of how we calmed the tides of war. We are your overlords.

On we sweep with threshing oar,
Our only goal will be the western shore.

So now you'd better stop and rebuild all your ruins,
For peace and trust can win the day despite of all your losing.

"The Immigrant Song" written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, recorded by Led Zeppelin from "Led Zeppelin III"

Edwin Starr and later Bruce Springsteen sang the song "War." It carries the chorus, "What is it good for/Absolutely nothin'." Well, many wars are good for nothing. Most wars have a tendency to kill young boys for the indiscretions of older men. Some wars are fought because someone can't leave well enough alone. More and more, wars are fought not for noble reasons, but only for wealth and power; both only fleeting blips on the radar of history.

Saul had fallen out of favor with the Lord. David is rising in stature. It doesn't help matters that Saul's son Jonathan and David are like brothers together, Saul's line is threatened because the people hail David, the conquering hero.

Philistines attack the Israelites at Gilboa and Saul heads into battle with his sons, but it is not to be his victory. Saul and Jonathan with Abinadab and Malchishua, two of Saul's other sons, all die in the battle. It is a horrible day for David.

How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle!

How soft your fields so green, can whisper tales of gore.

War is horrible, war is a terror; especially the wars that are fought for the wrong reasons with weapons and tactics that are devastating to the armies that fight them and the nations that wage them. (Yes, I am saying that war, when engaged poorly, can harm the very soul of a nation.) It is highly likely that there are people who feel this way of every war, without regard to whether it is just or not, and maybe this is what we need to remember, there is just war.

Perhaps even more important than the war itself is what follows. Is there justice in the peace that follows the war. The leading cause of World War II was the Treaty of Versailles. The way WWI ended, the penalties placed at the feet of the Germans, laid the groundwork for the next world war. The Marshall Plan rebuilt Europe after World War II. Europe is stronger today because of it. American reconstruction was another matter after the assassination of President Lincoln. This is an example of winning a war and losing a peace which America still pays for today.

It is time to remember Robert Plant's plaintive cry in "The Immigrant Song," "So now you'd better stop and rebuild all your ruins, For peace and trust can win the day despite of all your losing." In battle the mighty will fall. It is how we follow the fall that matters to the end of days.

Winning poorly only lays the way for the next generation of war victims.