Exile & Return: Here Comes the Sun

Little darling, it’s been a long cold lonely winter;
Little darling, it feels like years since it’s been here.

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
And I say it’s all right.

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces;
Little darling, it seems like years since it’s been here.*

After seventy years living as refugees, our Old Testament exiles are finally returning home. Bruised, battered and defeated, they meander back to their native soil with lofty dreams of restoring their devastated fatherland.

It would never be the same. Gone were the days of King David’s military might and King Solomon’s majestic splendor. Slowly they hammered together a humble temple for worship and cobbled together city walls for protection. Their era of international renown was now a very distant and rather bittersweet memory.

It would never be the same. It would be better.

It’s true they would never again occupy a kingly palace or initiate far-reaching reforms. Yet their new generation of prophets envisioned a future without boundaries and an influence far beyond their own land and lifetimes. In the closing chapter of the Old Testament, their prophet Malachi offered this vision for their future:

“ . . . for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.” Malachi 4:2

Sounds like spring was in the air as God’s family finally headed back home.

The nation took the first step of the journey home we continue today. Bruised, battered and defeated, we also return to God with lofty dreams of restoring our lives, families and communities. We’re often left with bittersweet memories of a life that didn’t turn out as expected.

It will never be the same. It will be better.

As the spring-like wind of God’s Spirit breezes into our lives, we discover that our joy, peace and love isn’t held hostage by current circumstances. We have a future without boundaries and an influence far beyond our own land and lifetimes. We are no longer ordinary citizens—we are now kings and princes in a kingdom without end.

As we celebrate the coming Easter season, I pray that the power and love of Christ will carry you forward with unimaginable hope and grace.

Kevin
enCompass Church

* “Here Comes the Sun” was written by George Harrison—the Beatle shadowed behind the star personas of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. It’s a warm reminder that us less-known types can still offer enduring hope to many others.

This week’s Scripture readings: Each link offers the entire day’s readings, listed in succession via Bible Gateway—just keep scrolling down to read the next selection of verses.

•  Captivity: Ezekiel 6:1-10; 37:1-14; Daniel 1. Divinely disciplined for their self-destructive behavior, God’s people must adapt to a new land and a new lifestyle. None of us like unwanted change—but learning to trust God in unfamiliar terrain is always the foundation for building a resilient faith.
• Return: Ezra 1, Daniel 9. After his people’s seventy years of exile, God is on the move again. He moves the heart of Cyrus—the commanding king of the free world. More importantly, he moves the hearts of his people towards repentance, humility, and greater hope for their future. When we stop trusting in our own ability and start believing in the goodness of God . . . amazing things begin to happen.
• Restoration: Ezra 3:8-13; Nehemiah 1:1-2:8; 8:1-3, 9-12; Zechariah 8. The rebuilding process for the nation, worship, temple and city would be a slow, often painstaking ordeal for God’s people. In our instant “microwave ready” society, we want God to make quick changes to our lives and future. Sorry—it almost never works that way. Following God requires on-going faith, determination, patience, and a spiritual vision beyond our own lifetime.
• The Scattered. Esther 3:8-11; 4:13-17; 7-8. Back in the colossal Persian Empire, a young Jewish girl astonishingly becomes queen of the land. That’s all fine and dandy until she’s required to put her own neck on the line when her people are threatened with genocide. What might be God’s astonishing call on your life for our world today?
• The Coming Kingdom. Ezekiel 34:11-31; Malachi 2:17-3:4, Zechariah 3. The Old Testament closes with both stern warnings and epic hope. It’s real easy for us humans to quickly forget the hard lessons of our past. And it’s also easy for us humans to get lost in our daily routine and forget the grander vision God has for our lives, churches and world.

Thanks for joining along in our journey through the Old Testament. I hope you’re enthused to continue on as we seek hope and inspiration from the life, death and resurrection of Jesus in the weeks leading into Easter.

Luke 1: “As you wish . . .”

In our modern movie-going era, “The Princes Bride” (1987) is hailed as a contemporary classic. It’s a story inside a story—a grandpa visits his not-so-noticeably ill grandson, who’s skipping school for the day. To fill the time, grandpa reads for him an epic medieval fairy tale, stocked with swashbuckling sword-fights, cliff-hanging adventures and, of course, a magnificent smoochie kiss between the hero and heroin as the movie swells towards it’s conclusion.

A simple three-word quote weaves its way through the entire film. Working tirelessly to express his true love, our film’s hero Wesley repeats, “As you wish” to his sweetheart Princess Buttercup. It’s his not-so-subtle manner of saying “I love you”. The little phrase “As you wish” sets us up for the film’s closing scene: The grandfather finishes the story and prepares to leave, when the boy asks him to read the story again the next day. The grandfather smiles and replies, “As you wish.”

Why bring up the film at Christmas? The movie offers no allusions to the holiday season. While “The Princess Bride” offers solid family entertainment for this holiday break, film recommendations aren’t the business of this blog. Our goal is to capture encouraging insights from the biblical story of Christmas. A quote from Jesus’ mother Mary trigged my memory of the 1987 movie. Consider the context of the quote:

The angel Gabriel has swooped in to offer Mary the grand news: she will serve as the earthly mother of God’s heavenly son. Despite her adolescent age, Mary reveals exceptional spiritual strength. “I am the Lord’s servant,” she replies. “May your word to me be fulfilled”. Mary’s divinely appointed parenting role would propel her into overwhelming personal drama, unthinkable plot twists, and a truly astonishing ending. Despite these unpredictable shifts in her personal storyline, she practices a simple trust and devotion in God. “As you wish”, she seems to offer to the angel.

As Christmas comes at the end of each year, we often recall our own plot twists. I’d have to guess that not every scene from this past year happened in the way you might want it directed. How do we express our love for God when our life’s script isn’t what we would prefer? A simple statement of trust will suffice. “As you wish’, we offer to God. It’s the same prayer Jesus offered when he hit a rough patch: “Not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:39-46)

At Christmas we remember how God endured the ultimate plot twist. His own perfectly lovable son was ignored, abandoned, eventually crucified. It is God’s less-than-subtle way of saying “I love you”. As we learn to accept God’s love for us, we also learn to deepen our trust in God. Though our lives may not go as planned, we pause long enough to catch our breath, muster up a bit of courage, and say simply, “As you wish”.

It’s my prayer that the story of Christmas will offer a gentle reminder: God’s love has entered your story, too.

Kevin
enCompass Church

This week’s Scripture readings: (Blue links to Scripture provided via Bible Gateway)

• Luke 1:39-56: Having received the news of the baby, Mary hurries off to be with her relative Elizabeth. The two bring out the best in each other as Mary breaks into song. Her song reminds us that Jesus does his best work in the humble and the hungry, not in the proud and popular.
• Luke 1:57-89: Luke’s big Broadway hit musical continues, as Zachariah also breaks out into his own song and dance routine after the birth of his son, John. While John won’t be a “normal kid” (living in the wilderness would be one clue), God will do great things through him. Maybe being weird isn’t so bad after all.
• Luke 2:1-21: The classic telling of the Christmas story. Notice how God’s bigness (emblazoned angels and massive choirs) enters into our world’s smallness (a tiny manger and poor shepherds). Christmas reminds us that God’s glory can we experience by us little people.
• Luke 2:22-40: The Savior of the World has arrived—a fact lost to pretty much everyone. The only exceptions? A couple of obscure elderly folks who’ve been patiently waiting for his entrance. Pay attention here: only those who slow down and patiently wait for Jesus are given the opportunity to truly enjoy and appreciate him.
• John 1:1-18: Matthew and Luke offer us a ground-level viewpoint of Jesus’ birth. John shoots the scene from an alternative angle—from God’s eternal perspective. John harkens us back to the opening lines as Genesis: God is re-starting creation, and he’s starting with any of us who would really like to be re-created.
• Philippians 2:1-18: Yet another angle on Christmas—a picture of the whole story of Jesus . . . from his power over all creation . . . all the way down to his crucifixion . . . way back up to his grand coronation. Paul wants this story to inspire us to sustain caring relationships and a humble attitude. Considering the busyness of this season, that’s not easy to do. But let’s try anyway.
• Isaiah 9:1-7: This old text offers a fitting conclusion to our Christmas readings. Isaiah miraculously peers into the future to witness the power, wisdom and grace that the Messiah will bring into our world. Let’s do our best to be like the old prophet—filled with hope for all the ways Jesus’ power, wisdom and grace will be experienced in our often chaotic lives and undeniably crazed world.

Psalm 73: Giving up on God.

Ever wonder if it’s worth it?

You want to do what’s right—to please God, keep your life pure, give back to others. Yet step back and take a candid look at the way life really works. Do people of faith get any tangible reward for all their sacrifice and efforts? An honest assessment reveals that some of the best things in life fall into the laps of people who don’t give a rip about God.

The poet of Psalm 73 is struggling. Significantly. He’s tried to do what’s right—yet all it’s gotten him is a big pile of disappointment and discouragement. He’s ready to cash in. His faith feels like a fatally flawed experiment.

What do you do when you’re ready to give up?

Us people of faith are rather odd, I believe. When we want to give up on God, we often go right back . . . to God.

In a strange way, this actually makes sense. If God is the source of our problems, then God is the one who needs to fix it for us, right? It’s through the process of deeply doubting our faith that we often find the strength and courage to believe again.

As a well-known worship leader, the author of Psalm 73 knew that he’d make a real mess of things if he let loose with a public rant against God. Instead of a public rant, he tries a sincerely personal prayer—possibly a long succession of them. Though his doubts were truly raw, his conclusions eventually became exceptionally breathtaking.

As you read Psalm 73, I hope it will encourage you to work through the heart-breaking honesty of your own doubts. It’s often a necessary step toward experiencing the breath-taking joy of a stronger, deeper faith.

You might be ready to give up on God. Yet it’s possible God isn’t quite ready to give up on you.

Kevin
enCompass Church

Scripture readings for this week:

• Psalm 73: What do you do when you’re ready to give up on God?
• Psalm 74: What do we do when the unthinkable happens? (In this case, invading foreigners have destroyed God’s formerly magnificent temple.)
• Psalms 75 & 76: A simple reminder: Exactly who runs the Universe?
• Psalm 77: Finding hope in the past, Part 1: Remembering how God helped Moses.
• Psalm 78: Finding hope in the past, Part 2: Remembering how God guided David.
• Psalm 79: Begging for God to act—since everyone has pretty much made a mess of everything.

Psalm 46: A River Runs Through It

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.

We like to take pictures. Most of us pull out smart phones to snap cheesy photos of friends and family posing in familiar places. A few others among us possess the artistic patience and essential equipment to skillfully capture stunning images of the beauty all around us.

The Bible displays for us a variety of images. A lot of these pictures are snap shots of silly-grinned humans standing in front of historic events. Other images skillfully capture the creative brilliance of God’s artistry.

Psalm 46 invites us to sit down and flip through Scripture’s impressions of God’s beauty and strength. This particular collection highlights the serenity and power of a river that continuously flows through the story of Scripture. Here’s a brief retrospective of the ever-flowing river of God:

The headwaters of God’s river starts in the lush Garden of Eden (Genesis 2), streams its way through a variety of Psalms (including 1, 36 and 46) gains strength in the vision of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 47), significantly increases its volume in Jesus (John 7), eventually gushes into heaven at the end of human history (Revelation 22). The Bible’s river offers us hope—hope that we’ll also experience the abundance of God’s grace, love, joy and healing flowing through our lives.

In our high-demand world and stress-filled circumstances, it’s exceptionally easy to feel dry, restless and fatigued. Today you’re invited to take a short break from the torrent of pressure and put your feet into the imagery of Psalm 46. It’s a reminder that God’s grace and goodness continue to flow, even when the hot, dusty winds of our time seem to dry-out our souls.

My prayer today is that the rushing river of God’s gladness will flow into your life. It’ll likely be the most stunning image you’ll capture all week.

He says, “Be still and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

Kevin
enCompass Church

Psalms 42 & 43: An Unhappy Hallelujah

We live in the land of smiles. Teenagers snap streams of goofy selfies. Families clad in coordinated outfits pose for happy portraits. Advertising models flash their sparkly eyes and glistening teeth on glossy magazine covers.

It makes one wonder: Is there any room for sadness in our world?

The writer of Psalm 42 & 43 sought solace in God through a season of deep sadness. As a wave of loneliness and despair washes over his soul, our poet repeatedly tries to pull himself out of the dark abyss of his depression:

Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
For I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

Life is filled with many sorrows, grief and losses. To be human is to hurt—we simply can’t avoid it. During seasons of loss and sadness, it’s often difficult to see or sense God through the gray fog that’s settled on our soul. We find God to be distant, aloof, uncaring.

The melancholy expressions of Psalms 42 & 43 offer support as we seek to understand and express our own losses. Here we find words that renew our hope in God—even as our souls continue to ache. One of the great mysteries of faith is that God’s greatest work in us is often built through the pain we wish would simply go away.

No matter the depth of your sadness, I pray you’ll find the strength of soul to continue to cry out to God. In our smiley world, its often easy to feel alone in our grief. So we hold tightly to this truth: even as we struggle to cling to God, he continues to hold on most tightly to each of us.

Kevin
enCompass Church

PS. As you read through Scripture, you’ll occasionally find chapter breaks in odd places. When the book of Psalms was assembled, the single piece of poetry of Psalm 42 & 43 was divided into two separate songs. It’s clearly evident that together they form a unified expression of seeking hope in God.

Psalm 13: In a funk . . . and back out again.

Sigh.

Our author of unlucky Psalm number 13 seems to be having yet another bad day. He’s sick and tired of being sick and tired. He bemoans,

“How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long much I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart?”

He’s become nothing more than a jumbled up mess of depression, hurt and sadness. Pathetic, isn’t it? What’s a person do when enduring another debilitatingly bad day?

As with most of the Bible, when you get stuck . . . you just have to keep reading. Move forward only a few verses and you’ll discover the way our author starts to pull out of this personal nosedive:

“But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the LORD’s praise, for he has been good to me.”

When life becomes a jumbled mess of depression, hurt and sadness, it’s always recommended to stop long enough to consider the ways God’s goodness has shown up in the past. Both clinical research and personal experience teaches us that those who can find gratitude from past experiences are the best equipped to move through present day sorrows. While the hurt and sadness won’t necessarily instantly disappear, the more we can discern the ways that God’s goodness has been experienced in the past, the greater our strength in moving into a brighter future.

As you pray through unlucky Psalm 13, ask God to remind you of the ways his goodness has shown up through your past experiences. Invite God’s Spirit to use those memories to give you a bit more strength for today and hope for tomorrow.

Kevin T.
enCompass Church, Roseville.