Details for the Delicious Life

When we’re given a cookbook, we are eager to pick up the tips inside that will make our cakes taste incredible. When our sports coach presents us with a new strategy, we look forward to the impact it will have on the game. Yet we shudder with discomfort when we’re faced with words like “decree, instruction and commandment” from God. Imagine if we lapped up these concepts for the insights they hold and the life they bring. I guess this expectation all flows from our perception of the “instruction-giver”. If we truly grasped His heart and intentions towards us we’d be just as eager to put His directions into practice as we are to follow a good recipe! More than simply producing top-quality baked goods, I want the details for a delicious life!

“Your decrees have been the theme of my songs
wherever I have lived.
I reflect at night on who you are, O Lord;
therefore, I obey Your instructions.
This is how I spend my life:
obeying Your commandments.
O Lord, Your unfailing love fills the earth;
teach me Your decrees.” Psalm 119:54-56,64 NLT

Loving the Unseen

Yesterday my 3-year-old was asking how the wind can move the trees. I couldn't really think of a simple answer to this question so we both just marvelled at how something invisible to us can make such an impact. "That's like Jesus, Mum," she said. Wow. Absolutely. I actually can't remember a time in my life when Jesus hasn't impacted my day. Don't get me wrong - I have been through times of wilderness where I couldn't perceive what He was saying, but those times were marked by a hunger for more of Him. The times when pain was so strong I could feel it deep in my stomach were also the times when only reading the Bible, and letting the Holy Spirit move, could take it away. On one hand it's unexplainable how I can have such a passionate love for someone that's unseen, but on the other hand, it makes complete sense.

"You love Him even though you have never seen Him. Though you do not see him now, you trust Him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy." 1 Peter 1:8 NLT

Breath of Life

This morning I woke to find that a missing young man who I'd been praying for had met foul play. I don't know him personally, but through a friend's heart-felt cry I mourned with his family as though we'd been friends for life. I prayed and I prayed. And he died. But I believe in a God who restores and renews and I will continue to pray that He will breathe life into this family and that this tragedy will not be empty of meaning.

Reading through Ezekiel for some peace of mind, this poem emerged...

He said to me “Hey child of mine
These bones you see - your family line
They ache and cry, ‘Our hope is lost
We ourselves have been cut off!’
But you will speak, you’ll prophesy
Your words released to meet their cry
‘Our God has spoken, He will open
Graves, releasing what was broken.
Return to you all that was taken
Settle that which has been shaken.
Then you’ll know, you wont deny
The God whose presence shapes your life
His Spirit He will place in you
He’ll breathe afresh, restore, renew
And take you back to where you’ll find
That place of rest, that peace of mind.
Then you will know, you wont deny
The God whose presence shapes your life.’”

Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’ Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,” says the Lord.’ ” NKJV Ezekiel 37:11-14

Back Up On Your Feet

O my soul, bless God.
From head to toe, I’ll bless his holy name!
O my soul, bless God,
don’t forget a single blessing!
He forgives your sins—every one.
He heals your diseases—every one.
He redeems you from hell—saves your life!
He crowns you with love and mercy—a paradise crown.
He wraps you in goodness—beauty eternal.
He renews your youth—you’re always young in his presence.
God makes everything come out right;
he puts victims back on their feet. Psalms 103:1-6 MSG

Yesterday I left campus with a sense of unease. At first I thought it was just my shoddy playing during a worship time - embarrassment, surely that could be a trigger large enough to cascade into those feelings of inadequacy! Then I realised it wasn’t just my lack of musicality that weighed me down but the fact that I’d put others in an awkward position as well. That’s actually far more embarrassing.

Sometimes God speaks to me through particular phrases or impressions in His word. Before I read this passage in Psalms I had the phrase in my head, “Just get back on your feet”. And that was that. My peace returned and I knew there was something deeper inside of me that God had ministered to. It was time to just get back up.