Dear Trekker,
A new calendar year has been born since we last wrote! No doubt you’ve been consumed, too, with turning the New Year corner. A few of us have made a resolution or two, and we are all far enough into the New Year to have already failed in one or more of those resolutions. Ahem!
A couple of incidents have taken place in recent days which have consumed my thinking. I want to write about them this month. The first is the New Year’s Eve service at my church here in Colorado Springs. Because of friend wife’s physical condition, we don’t get out regularly for weekly “church” these days. We worship “on-line.” But New Year’s Eve was different. We were in for a wonderful evening of worship, communion, fellowship and praise as we sat beside a dear friend of many years. Corporate, communal worship brings people together…always.
The theme of the service was Lamentations 3:22, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail!” We were challenged to see God at work in our lives despite affliction and hardship. The prophet Jeremiah’s Lamentations 3:19-26 was the entire, relevant passage: “I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope. Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”
And you know what? I got a new “take” on New Year’s resolutions! They aren’t really bad, but are severely lacking at the outset. They are refining “old life,” not injecting “new life energy” into hopeful change. One might say resolutions are good as far as they go, but do not deal with the gut issue, i.e. what brings real change. The evening’s meditation was focused on God’s faithfulness “to be there in 2020,” the forever present One! Psalm 139 was brought into the context as well! Psalm 139 (v.7-10): “Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”
I departed the service feeling buoyed by the presence of the Lord in my life! The speaker quoted the late Eugene Peterson, “I’m sticking with God! He is all I have left.” Somehow, I was moved deeply when I meditated on the challenge in the Shorter Westminster Catechism: “What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy Him forever!” I left the service saying to myself – “I need an awareness of God’s presence in my life… consciously, continually and compassionately!”
How does one have a conscious, continual, compassionate presence of God in one’s life…moment by moment! Here are some thoughts I am grappling with and seeking to apply their full meaning:
1) God is there whether I am aware of Him or not! Christ in you is the hope of glory and every new day (Col 1:27).
2) My challenge must be to acknowledge and build my life upon His presence within me before I do anything else.
3) I need to bring Him into my life consciously upon awaking every morning, meditating on a verse revealing His presence or humming a tune of praise.
4) My day is not complete without some spiritual reading. It should start with the Scriptures, Old and New Testament reading, as well as devotional meditation.
5) I should constantly be aware of His presence in the people I meet, in the news I see or read and, in my exercise need.
6) I should continually be thanking Him for His provision through people helping me, or being placed before me, to help them.
7) At any time, I should be able to praise and give Him thanks with a smile on my face. God loves smiles; He gave them to each of us.
The second surprise of 2020 which follows brings to the discussion (of last month) the late Richard C. Halverson. Dick was my friend and pastor years ago. He was my senior, passing into glory in 1995 at age 79 (I am now 85!). My mentor for a solid 20-year period! One of a kind. A divine original. I’ve walked Senate halls with him and can attest he knew every “no little person” by name, and everyone he met knew him with a divine smile on their face, matching his. And he would always introduce me to his other friends.
Well, low and behold, our local church pastor came up this month with quoting the Richard C. Halverson benediction as it has come to be known. (Trekker, Google the Halvorson benediction. You’ll find it.) It fits into my writing burden this month. It goes like this: “You go nowhere by accident. Wherever you go, God is sending you. Wherever you are, God has put you there. God has a purpose in your being there. Christ lives in you and has something he wants to do through you where you are. Believe this and go in the grace and love and power of Jesus Christ.
What a benedictory kick-off for catapulting one from worship into the world of work where woe and weal are the constant challenge and blessing, but knowing we are never alone! God is with us, for us, in us! (Trekker, keep Romans 8 on your periodic reading list. Perhaps one of the greatest passages of Scripture!) He has His life (in us) for our plan. So we are “Jesus with skin on,” as you know, this is one of my favorite phrases. He sends us! And if he sends us, we are on a mission by Divine appointment…wherever we are. He is carrying out His purpose through us, even in the darkest days. (Trekker, another passage you should be very familiar with is the life of Joseph in the Old Testament. Read Genesis 37-47 from time to time! A beautiful true story of the Pauline principle in Romans 8:28. All things do work together even in a sin-cursed world out of fellowship with our Creator God!)
If God has a purpose for me being where I am (and Dick would often say, “You can’t be where you are not”), I had better find out what I am to do for His glory where I am. A major purpose of the Holy Spirit is to empower me with the blessing of Christ on a moment-by-moment basis, where I can do His will and glorify Him (see Matthew 5:16). The goodness of Christ today is not random acts of kindness; it is intentional by God and His Spirit (the Spirit of Christ) into and through us, a race of little Christs!
I am not against resolutions, New Year’s or otherwise programmed change in habits. We all need discipline and change into Christ likeness. But we need to get in step with Jesus in 2020 and understand His provision and plan for each of us, before we bank on self-improvement practices. Man actually is in charge of little, not even himself in the final analysis. God is Creator, Maintainer and Savior of the universe…of people present, past and future, and we rise and fall, people and nations, based on His ultimate will and our acceptance of His beneficent provisions.
Trekker, 2020 will unfold like 2019, highs and lows, ups and downs. But God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Let’s get to know Him more passionately and serve Him better this year, not by accident, but by design, His and ours, while His love and grace keep us all alive until He returns.
Your friend,
Jim Meredith
