Tuesday, October 24, 2006

I Love That Scent You're Wearing!

Rod recently bestowed upon me my very own i-Pod, complete with over 700 songs. One of my very favorites is Scarborough Fair, performed exquisitely by Gypsy Soul. An odd little song with a haunting melody, I've never been quite sure what it was about- until now. I've always wondered why they sing, over and over again, "Parsely, sage, rosemary, and thyme". And I think I've figured it out- it's about scent and memory. Anyone who has cooked with fresh herbs knows they are heavy, unique scents. This lover is remembering her true love who is gone away and for some reason, the scent of parsely, sage, rosemary, and thyme bring back his memory.

There's a scientifically proven link between scent and memory. No other sense can trigger memory as strongly as smell. I think this is interesting when considering the verse from Isaiah that says,
Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. (Is. 26:8, NIV)

Now, you may be wondering what scents have to do with this verse- so I'll have to tell you!!! (Watch out! I've been looking up Hebrew words again!) Since I have recently studied "delight" and that word was sometimes translated "desire", I started wondering what this particular "desire" meant. This was a different "desire"- this one is nephesh, meaning the very inner being of who we are- our essence, our soul, appetite, mind. So ponder that: The very essence of my being, my soul, my appetite, desires this thing- that's a deep desire- and for what? The desire is for "God's name and renown".

Hmmm. God's name and renown. I am to have a deep, essence-being desire for God's renown. What does that mean? So I looked up "renown". And here comes the smell... renown is the Hebrew word zeker meaning scent, memory, memorial, remembrance. There they were- scent and memory in one word- together. We are to desire with our innermost being- our very essence- the scent of God- the memory of Him.

Smells are not private things. Just walk down the mall near a Yankee Candle store and you know everyone else is smelling it too- like it or not! We strive to cover our own personal scents with things like deodorants and perfumes. And it is the scent of God that we are to desire to conjure up. We are to desire His scent to be present where ever we are. It's who we are- what we are about in our very essence. And when we bring up this scent of God it will not be a private thing- it will be noticeable to others.

I wonder how often I actually conjure up the scent of God- or even how often it is in my very essence to desire to do so. Can I really claim what Isaiah says as my own, real, desire? Oh how I want to. I want it the way Paul describes it:
In the Messiah, in Christ, God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade. Through us, he brings knowledge of Christ. Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance. Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation—an aroma redolent with life. But those on the way to destruction treat us more like the stench from a rotting corpse.
-2 Corinthians 2:14-16 The Message

I want the scent of Christ to eminate from me and to call to mind the God of the universe that others would be drawn to Him. But how does one achieve this? Obviously they don't sell this scent at Bath and Bodyworks but sadly enough, I believe many think they can slip into church and pick it up at the altar on the way out, much like shopping at Bath and Body. No, this scent comes from staying in close proximity to our Lord.

Sometimes Rod rubs my face with his just before he leaves for work for the day. All day long I can smell his cologne from where it rubbed off on me. This is much the same way we are to obtain that scent of God for others to smell. Rub up against Him- close against Him- closer still. So close that His scent rubs off on you. And stay there- praying, praising, reading His word, pondering Him. Then, when we go out into the world, we smell like Him. And who knows what the result of that might be?

Friday, October 20, 2006

Active Delight

He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.

I ran across this verse yesterday in 2 Samuel 22:20 and I pondered what it meant for God to delight in me. To me, the word "delight" means that I enjoy something. I would be "delighted" with a gift, or your company, or dessert! Was this the kind of delight David was talking about? It didn't really seem the same to me, so I looked it up at Crosswalk.com in the Hebrew lexicon.

The word translated here as "delight" was used 71 times in the Old Testament. It was used when Boaz was committing himself to Ruth as her kinsmen redeemer(Ruth 3:13). It's the word used when Isaiah says that God's word will not return without accomplishing what he desires, what he pleases (Is.55:11). It's also the word he uses to say that it was God's desire, his pleasure, to bruise his servant (Is.53:10). It's the delight that is used when Shechem delighted in Dinah that resulted in her kidnapping and rape and ultimately his murder (Genesis 34).

At first it seemed that there were a lot of different meanings. But as I studied each entry, I saw that each time, the delight resulted in something. It was not a static delight like my delight of receiving a gift or experiencing something. It consistently resulted in action. It is the desire of actively seeking. The desire that takes us where we want to go and accomplishes the goal. It found a redeemer for Ruth. God's word accomplishes his will. Jesus was bruised, crucified, killed for us. Dinah's innocence destroyed. And in 2 Samuel 22:20, it resulted in David's rescue.

This is the kind of delight God has in his children. A delight that results in action. It is not a stationary, effect-less delight. God is not far away, uninvolved or removed from his children. Jeremiah 9:24 says that God delights (same word) in loving kindness, judgement, and righteousness in earth. That means that he will accomplish these things. And because we are his, I believe it is through us and in us that these delights will be accomplished.

I like accomplishing what I set out to do. There is little more frustrating to me than to look back over my day and to admit that I have accomplished nothing. In the Psalms, the word is used 17 times but only 5 of those times does it refer to mankind's delight (and one of those five is our delight for war!) People on the whole are probably not exceptionally good at using our desires or delights to accomplish great things. But according to the psalmists, the greatest delight we can shoot for is to delight in our God. Delight in a way that moves us towards him. Delight in a way that improves us and honors him. So I'll leave you with these verses to ponder... and a wish that you have a delightful day!

Psalm 40:8 (NIV)
I desire to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart.

Psalm 73:25 (NIV)
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

Psalm 112:1 (NIV)
Praise the LORD.
Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
who finds great delight in his commands

Psalm 119:35 (NIV)
Direct me in the path of your commands,
for there I find delight.

Friday, October 13, 2006

Breaking the Illusion Addiction

I must admit that lately, I have been discouraged. And today's Oswald was about exactly that. Poor Moses. Can you imagine as a young, influential prince of Egypt, knowing that God had placed you there to liberate your oppressed people only to have Him chunk you to the desert to feed sheep for 40 years? What discouragement!

Sometimes when we are discouraged, we say that we have become "disillusioned". I believed God wanted me in that place doing that certain thing but now it has become obvious that that is not where he wants me. When people become disillusioned, it is sometimes quite easy to become bitter or cynical. "After all I've suffered through, I can tell you what the world is really like!" But Oswald teaches that becoming disillusioned can actually be a very good thing- a very freeing thing. Becoming dis illusioned means becoming free from the magical thinking you have created surrounding a certain circumstance or person. (July 30th) Jesus was consistantly free from illusions or magical thinking. Oswald points out that Jesus never trusted human beings because He knew our hearts, he knew what we were made of. This didn't cause him to become cynical or bitter; it caused him to encourage us to move on. When the disciples fell asleep at Gesthemane, Jesus finally said, "Go ahead and sleep" and then upon returning the last time asked them to wake, get up and get moving- on to the next thing. He accepted that they were unable to do as He requested and accepted what they were capable of doing. He did not have false expectations. He did not have illusions about what we were able to do. (See Matthew 26:43-46)

One of the things I like to do is to read past the ends of "chapters" in the Bible and see how what follows is really part of what preceded. Knowing that the writers didn't put the chapter breaks in, I like to pretend they're not there and often it gives me a new insight into the subject. Take, for example, John 2:24-25, the end of the second chapter of John.
During the time he was in Jerusalem, those days of the Passover Feast, many people noticed the signs he was displaying and, seeing they pointed straight to God, entrusted their lives to him. But Jesus didn't entrust his life to them. He knew them inside and out, knew how untrustworthy they were. He didn't need any help in seeing right through them.
-The Message

The first part of the next chapter is the story of Nicodemus questioning Jesus about how one is to be born again. It's quite possible to forget about the last verse in chapter 2 while you are reading this story- the verse that says that Jesus held no false beliefs about humans- he knew their hearts and what they were made of- the verse that says how he knows how untrustworthy we are. But reading on, with that in mind, you come to verses 19-21, where Jesus says to Nicodemus,
This is the crisis we're in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won't come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.

There it is: Jesus says that this is our crisis: we are addicted to denial and illusion. This is obviously not his crisis because back in chapter 2, we read that Jesus had no illusions (no misrepresentations, no magical thinking) about what we are and what humans are capable of. He didn't trust us. But it didn't make him not love us, either. Jesus wasn't discouraged because he was free from illusions. He saw the picture the way it was- no rose colored glasses.

I don't know if I'm getting across what I'm wanting to say today. It's just that I think this is huge- to see the source of our pain- our disappointment- our discouragement- as the illusions we are addicted to. Moses addicted to the illusion that he could free his people under his own power as a prince of Egypt- disillusioned by 40 years in the desert feeding sheep as a fugitive. Peter addicted to the illusion that he could fight to the death for his Lord- disillusioned by three previously forewarned denials of the same. Saul of Tarsus addicted to the illusion that he could best serve his God by killing all the Christians in his power as a Pharisee- disillusioned by a blinding vision that incapacitated him and possibly left him with his "thorn in the flesh" but changed his life forever, allowing him to become the very disciple of the Jesus he was trying to obliterate. Being disillusioned is no cause for cynism or bitterness- no reason to become discouraged. It is a call to a new life, where I am made into something God can really use. The magical thinking about how things would be done if I were God is removed. And I am left with clear vision of Truth and Reality in which I can walk in and welcome the God-light. None of me...all of God.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Dishwasher Dogma

Last night, as I helped my youngest work on a report about inventions, she complained that she didn't want to know anything about dishwashers- dishwashers were stupid. There was no amount of expository preaching on my part capable of convincing her that finding out about how or why dishwashers were invented could be fun or interesting. Now take that dishwasher away and make her chore actually washing the dishes as opposed to only unloading the dishwasher and her tune might change. That's because she has a "relationship" with the dishwasher; she has experienced it and now can see what a change it has made in her life!

This morning's installment of Oswald was entitled, "Whereby Shall I know?" or "How shall I know?" He explored how we come to an understanding or knowledge of the ultimate Truth. It is through obedience, not study- through experience, not fact recitation- that we come to know God- to have relationship with Him- to love Him.

Anyone can read a Bible and have factual knowledge of God. That does not mean that they will be changed. I know people who can recite John 3:16 in multiple translations (and maybe even several languages) that haven't been truly changed by what it means to be "so loved". They are still filled with bitterness, unforgiveness, judgement, hatred, worry, anxiety, self-centeredness. (Whoa...some of those things hit just a little too close to home...)

Jesus said that if we love him, we will obey him- that if we love him, we will continue doing what he was doing- that we would be about his work, continuing it. And that if we needed him to do anything to help us continue his work, all we need do is ask and he would give. (See John 14:11-14) (On second thought, just read John 14!) Those who had experienced a relationship with him would continue his work, would find it interesting, would pursue what his heart pursued. While those with only knowledge of him, without relationship with him, would attempt to kill him.

This summer, before we went to Petit St. Vincent, I was so excited about it I read everything I could about the place. I would google search PSV every other day, just to see if any new blog sites, travel reviews, or websites had popped up over night. I knew that most travel books in Barnes and Nobles contained only a paragraph or two about PSV. I simply could not get enough information about it. And then we went there...I experienced it. There is nothing like it, no way I could explain it. I didn't blog about it- I couldn't do it- it was too overwhelming, too wonderful. It would take multiple entries to express to you what I experienced there. So many entries, you'd be sick of it! I just didn't even try. (Well, I did try- I just couldn't bring myself to type anything!)

I think that's what Oswald's trying to say about a relationship with God. That until you experience it, it doesn't change you. You can know about it, you can fight it, you can pretend you've been there when you haven't. And you will continue to walk in darkness. But those who know him, who have experienced him, who have obeyed him, have come into a relationship with him that has changed them forever. They have seen a great light and no longer walk in darkness(Isaiah 9:2). This relationship is gained only through experiencing him. And experiencing him requires that you step out on faith and obey. You do what he does. You follow his heart. You may not be able to explain it to someone but you know it's true anyway. You've experienced the dishwasher... and it's a good thing.
Jesus once again addressed them: "I am the world's Light. No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness. I provide plenty of light to live in."
The Pharisees objected, "All we have is your word on this. We need more than this to go on."
Jesus replied, "You're right that you only have my word. But you can depend on it being true. I know where I've come from and where I go next. You don't know where I'm from or where I'm headed. You decide according to what you can see and touch. I don't make judgments like that. But even if I did, my judgment would be true because I wouldn't make it out of the narrowness of my experience but in the largeness of the One who sent me, the Father. That fulfills the conditions set down in God's Law: that you can count on the testimony of two witnesses. And that is what you have: You have my word and you have the word of the Father who sent me."
They said, "Where is this so-called Father of yours?"
Jesus said, "You're looking right at me and you don't see me. How do you expect to see the Father? If you knew me, you would at the same time know the Father."

-John 8:12-19 The Message