14 July: Tuesday Refocus

‘He comes to you and me in our sorrow.  And He says, ‘Trust Me.’  ‘Walk with Me.’ – Elisabeth Elliot

God comes to us in our sorrow.  He is not absent, but inviting.  Whether our sorrow is a result of our own sin, sin against us, or the reality of living in a broken world - sorrow is an invitation deeper into His heart.  A heart that says, ‘For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, ‘Fear not, I am the One who helps you (Is 41:13).’

Because we are met in our sorrow, we can cling to the One who holds us up.

‘My soul clings to You, Your right hand upholds me (Ps 63:8).’ Lord, You are worthy of my trust, my soul cling to You alone. Amen.

Upheld,

AB

July 7: Tuesday Refocus

'Man's heart is never large enough to hold either its joys or its sorrows.' - Charles Spurgeon

I do not know that those words have ever felt as true as they do at this moment.  Our stories and suffering have been given for sharing.

Our illusions of self-sufficiency have ruptured under the weight of each individual having to think outside themselves when it comes to quarantine response.  And even the most introverted among us feel the ache of grief accompanying the loss of regular gatherings of family, friends, co-workers, and fellow worshipers.  With the ever-flowing stream of statistics and fear, we can feel it.  It is too much to bear.

We cannot carry the weight of this life on our own.  But because Christ has taken our sin, suffering, and death upon Himself, the weight is no longer ours to carry (1 Pet 2:24).  In fact, we are invited to come to Him - the One Whose yoke is easy and burden is light (Matt 11:30).  And because Christ has carried us and our burden, we too can ‘Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ (Gal 6:2).’

I have no idea what life after COVID-19 will look like, but I hope that we will emerge as people who have learned to deeply bear the burdens of one another as Christ bears us up.

‘Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation.’ Ps 68:19

Lord, in the confusion of our world, would You continue to bear us up.  May we emerge from this time with hearts that have been carried and learned to carry.  In Christ’s name, amen.

Carried,

AB

June 30: Tuesday Refocus

‘We cannot go further until we go deeper.’ – E. Stanley Jones

The longer we journey through this pandemic, the more parallels to the spiritual life I find.  I thought it would be different by now, but while cases increase and States open, I have to pace myself for endurance, and long-term faithfulness.

I cannot reach the end of pandemic life by sheer force of will and adrenaline.

Nor can I be found faithful to the end of my spiritual life living off of the spiritual life of another.

I will only endure as…

…my life is rooted, and planted by streams of water so I do not wither (Ps 1:3).  

…my heart daily seeks the face of God (Ps 27:8). 

…I feast on the abundance of His house and drink from the rivers of His delights (Ps 36:8)

…I set the Lord always before me (Ps 16:8).

…I fix my eyes on Jesus and run the race before me with endurance (Heb 12:1-2)

‘So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.’ 2 Cor 4:16-18

Lord, grow our faithful endurance as You go before us, walk beside us and come after us with Your grace and mercy.  In the enduring name of Christ, amen.

Enduring together,

AB

June 23: Tuesday Refocus

No one is self-made.  We have made an idol of individuality and autonomy in the modern, Western world, but this runs counter to the reality of Scripture.  Followers of Jesus are called the body of Christ. ‘For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ (1 Cor 12:12).’  We are a body made up of every tribe, tongue and nation, saved to be a people, together (Rev 7:9, 1 Pet 2:9).  No member of this body can say ‘I do not belong,’ or ‘I have no need of you (1 Cor 12:15,16,21).’

In the Genesis story we see that the sin of one man has affected all men: ‘Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned… (Rom 5:12)’  In the good and bad, we are interdependent.  This is why I find corporate confession of sin so beautiful.  In corporate confession we acknowledge that although we as individuals may not have perpetrated a specific sin, we belong to one another and ‘…if one member suffers, all suffer together… (1 Cor 12:26).’

In corporate confession of sin, we denounce both ways in which we have sinned corporately – like the reckoning the American Church is beginning to acknowledge in systemic racism and abuse – but we also denounce the idol of individuality and autonomy.

Confession: ‘We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD, and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against You.’ Jeremiah 14:20

 Assurance: ‘The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will He keep His anger forever.  He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us.’ (Psalm 103:8-12)

Confessing together,

AB

June 16: Tuesday Refocus

‘Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to Your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be justified in Your words and blameless in Your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, You delight in truth in the inward being, and You teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that You have broken rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.  Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will return to You. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of Your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise. For You will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; You will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. Do good to Zion in Your good please; build up the walls of Jerusalem; then will You delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings: then bulls will be offered on Your altar.’  Psalm 51

Penned by one of the most beloved people in all of Scripture, Psalm 51 is a familiar prayer of confession.  David’s sin is confronted and exposed by Nathan (2 Sam 12), and he repents.  What I find so powerful is that David’s repentance was sufficient, but he also gave the people of God a gift in his repentance.  He wrote this prayer, this song, to be used corporately in the life of the body of Christ for centuries.

David models confession for us – a confession that does not only bring sin to God, but brings our whole self to God (Ps 51:2,7).  When we bring our sin to God through Christ we find Him to be the One who casts our sin into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19), does not treat us as our sins deserve (Ps 103:10), and chooses to remember our sin no more (Heb 8:12).

When through Christ we bring our selves to God, we find the bones that He has broken can indeed rejoice (Ps 51:8).

Hallelujah.  Amen.

June 9: Tuesday Refocus

‘Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”  He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered Him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 16:13-17

It is maybe the most obvious way to view confession as an admission of guilt, but a confession is also a statement of belief.  And what I find so fascinating in this exchange with Jesus and His disciples is that a confession is not self-generated, but God-revealed (v17).

The salvation which is ours, when confessed with our mouths and believed in our hearts, is itself a gift of God (Rom 10:9, Eph 2:8-9).  And when we stand and confess our faith through creeds passed down through the centuries, not only are we confessing our belief, we are admitting that none of us is self-made, or self-generated.  We are only ever and always people who receive.  How much more should we who receive from God be quick to confess our sin to Him and to others?

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy 

Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.

He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried, He 

descended to death.

The third day He rose again from the dead.

He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father 

Almighty.  From there He will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, 

the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

Amen

Confessing,

AB

June 2: Tuesday Refocus

‘Merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against You in though, word and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.  We have not loved you with our whole heart and mind and strength.  We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.  In Your mercy forgive what we have been, help us amend what we are, and direct what we shall be, so that we may delight in Your will and walk in Your ways to the glory of Your holy name.  Through Christ, our Lord.  Amen.’ - Book of Common Prayer

In many contexts confession sits more comfortably within courtrooms than it does the gathered body of Christ.  But when you look at Scripture, the life of the Christ follower is to be marked by confession.  Confessions of faith (Matt 16:17, Rom 10:9), confession of sin - both individual and corporate (1 Jn 1:9, Ps 51:4, Ezra 10), confession to God, and to one another (Ps 32:5, James 5:19).

So where do we begin when it comes to confession?  The prayers of the Psalmist are ever helpful: ’Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!  And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!’ (Ps 139:23-24).  And as the Spirit reveals areas needing to be conformed more closely to the image of Christ - confess, rather than constrict.

Confessing,

AB

May 26: Tuesday Refocus

‘God does His deepest work in our darkest hours.’ – A.W. Tozer

Have you sensed the darkness in these weeks and months of quarantine?  The confusion and uncertainty externally has only served to highlight my own internal darkness.  I am left with so few ways to numb, avoid or ignore when the distractions are removed, and noise is quieted. 

But what feels dark to me is as bright as the day to Him (Ps 139:12).  He who saw my unformed substance in the dark, weaving me together in the depths of the earth, calls me out of the darkness and into His marvelous light, by meeting me in the darkness (Ps 139:15-16), 1 Pet 2:9, Jn 1:9).

He is working even here, even now.  Leading us with kindness toward repentance (Rom 2:4).  Coming after our hearts with the invitation, ‘where are you? (Gen 3:9).  And He is once again forming the unformed parts of our hearts in this land of deep darkness by shining the light of Christ (Is 9:2).

God, thank You, that You work even in the darkness, even in the darkened parts of our heart.  There is nothing that goes unseen or unnoticed by You.  No mystery or uncertainty in us, or in a world that is overwhelmed with a very real disease.  Give us hearts that desire the light of Your holiness to illumine the darkened places in our lives.  In Jesus name, amen.

To light,

AB

May 19: Tuesday Refocus

‘Teach me Your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.  Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence.  I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!’ Psalm 27:11-14

 My soul has an accuser (Rev 12:10), I am surrounded by enemies (v3), but there is no foe I fear more than the one who lives inside of me.  The enemy within leads me down a path that seems right, but in the end leads only to death (Prov 14:12). 

But the way of God always leads to life, for He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Jn 14:6).  He is the level path (v11), the narrow road (Matt 7:13-14), the easy yoke (Matt 11:30), the place of delight and blessing (Ps 119). 

Lord, we look to You and live.  In Christ’s name, amen.

Looking,

AB

May 12: Tuesday Refocus

‘And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the LORD.  Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me!’ Psalm 27:6-7 

I can cry out to the Lord – the One who hears the desire of the afflicted inclines His ear and strengthens their heart (Ps 10:17).  I desire to be pulled from my circumstance, He desires to lift my head (Ps 3:3), to gaze upon His beauty (Ps 27:4).

‘You have said, ‘Seek My face.’ My heart says to You, ‘Your face, LORD, do I seek.’  Hide not Your face from me.  Turn not Your servant away in anger, O You who have been my help.  Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation!’  Psalm 27:8-9

It is only as He lifts my head that I am even capable of seeking His face because ‘no one seeks for God (Rom 3:10).’  But He does not hide Himself, He has said ‘You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart (Jer 29:13).’  

‘For my father and mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in.’ Psalm 27:10

I could be surrounded by enemies or forsaken by my own flesh and blood, but He has not left me an orphan, He has come to me (Jn 14:18).  The One who knit me together in the womb of my mother, in whom I live and move and have my being, is the stronghold of my life (Ps 139:13, Acts 17:28, Ps 27:1).

God, when our circumstances are difficult and painful, would you lift our gaze to see and seek You?  In Christ’s name, amen.

Seeking,

AB

May 5: Tuesday Refocus

‘The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.’ PS 27:1-3

No enemy is a match for the nearness of the saving, stronghold that is Christ. The threats may be real, the circumstance may not change, the darkness may be oppressive but ‘…in Your light do we see light (Ps 36:9).’ His light shifts my perspective and reorients my desires…

‘One thing I have asked of the Lord, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple. For He will hide me in His shelter in the day of trouble; He will conceal me under the cover of His tent; He will lift me high upon a rock.’ PS 27:4-5

Oh, to have the same heart cry as the Psalmist - an awareness of reality, and a fixation on the beauty of the Savior.

Let it be so, Lord. Amen.

Desiring,

AB

April 28: Tuesday Refocus

‘Lord, today You know what I need to do,

But You can do more in my waiting than in my doing I could do. So I won't run anymore.

I'm waiting on You.’ - Bethany Barnard [To Those Who Wait]

Our time has been filled with waiting... waiting for normal, for a diagnosis or a return to health, for work, for help, for the opportunity to gather once again.  This waiting feels heavy and toilsome.

‘...but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength...’ Isaiah 40:31

In the midst of your waiting, you are invited to wait on the Lord.  This word wait literally means to hope, to look eagerly for, to bind together, to linger.  Let’s turn our waiting into lingering - into expectant hope that we are being drawn more deeply into the heart of a loving Father.  The One who knows our need before we ask (Matt 6:8), who delights in us and over us (Zeph 3:17), hears our prayers (1 Jn 5:15), withholds no good thing (Ps 84:11), catches our tears (Ps 56:8), gives generously of wisdom (Jm 1:5), grace (Jm 4:6), and Himself (Titus 2:14), keeps steadfast love and faithfulness (Deut 7:9).

Linger in the reality that He can do more in your waiting, than in your doing you can do.

‘Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!’ - Psalm 27:14

Lord, when our waiting feels like striving, will you help us linger? In our lingering will you rearrange our hearts to be strong, take courage, and be bound to You? In Christ’s name, amen.

Linger > waiting,

AB