October 2009

I keep asking myself that question but can’t seem to find a satisfactory answer. Time moves fast when I’m working on the computer, yet computer work doesn’t always feel like real work. Maybe I enjoy it too much? Or maybe because I’m too easily distracted!

The Wives of King David website is almost ready with Abigail’s new section! I worked on content for all of the pages, but I finished that task so my son tells me the site could go live yet today. I hope so!

I found out yesterday that Crossings Book Club will be featuring Abigail in February and re-offering Michal at that time. So if you’re a member of Crossings, you’ll be able to get a hard-cover copy of Abigail! Fun!

Last night we went to a baby shower for a couple at church who recently adopted a baby girl. Their story of how God brought this child into their lives is nothing short of amazing. His timing, just when they had given up all other options, was perfect. But isn’t that just like God? I have come to believe that God highly values patience and He often makes us wait for things to teach us just that. But oh, the joy when what we have waited for finally comes to pass! He is indeed good!

We’ve had a lot of rainy, cloudy days here in Michigan. I hear California has a lot of sunshine. I am not jealous. I am not jealous. I am not jealous. Okay, so I’m jealous!

I remember a trip Ryan and I took to one of the ACFW Conferences in Dallas several years ago. The weather in Dallas had been warm and sunny, though inside of a hotel I didn’t see much of it. Ryan spent some time by the pool, so he enjoyed the warmth. I didn’t realize how nice the sunshine was until we were soaring above the clouds to the beauty of clear brightness. Then we hovered over Detroit and cut below the clouds.

Clouds do a great job of blocking all possible sun. Sometimes I’d like to take both hands and shove them apart – if only I could reach that high! I understand now why people in Michigan can suffer from SAD.

But clouds also remind me that someday Jesus will descend from them, a brighter Son than earth has ever seen. As the hymn writer put it so well – “The clouds be rolled back as a scroll.” And in that day, there will be nothing to block the view of His smile or the warmth and brightness of his face. There will be no need of sun or moon or stars. His glory will be enough. And we won’t suffer from seasonal affective disorder or discontentedly wish we lived in a sunshine state. I look forward to that day! :)

In the meantime, the weekend promises to be busy. We’ve got some sorting and cleaning to do, and I’m hoping to go see the movie Where the Wild Things Are. I’m told it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. I’m intrigued.

Back to working on Bathsheba’s edits. I’m cropping words here and there and am confident I can get it down to where my editor would like it to be. My critique partner finished reading it and had encouraging things to say about it, so hopefully, my editor will too! I’m going to miss this series! But I can’t wait to hold all three books together when it’s done.

Selah~

In New Testament Israel, a Pharisee was a teacher of the law, a respected member of the Jewish ruling council called the Sanhedrin. The Saducees made up the other sect, but the majority of these religious leaders were Pharisees. Jesus had many conversations with Pharisees. To those, like Nicodemus, who came to learn of him and from him, he answered their questions and taught them the truth. To those who opposed and tried to trap him in something he might do or say, he posed their greatest challenge.

It was to this group that Jesus gave a most scathing commentary, calling them blind guides, whitewashed tombs, and hypocrites. Not exactly the kind of comments you might find in books about how to win friends or influence people. But Jesus wasn’t out to win their affection. He had come to speak the truth to them in order to save them from the very things that blinded them.

Do Pharisees still exist today? I’m not up on the breakdown of the Jewish religious leaders of today, but Pharisees do still exist, just not in the same way. They are alive and well in our churches though, and that troubles me.

Jesus condemned the legalism of the Pharisees, the adherence to tradition and rules while negating the law of love. He got upset over the unbelief that allowed such men to condemn him for healing a man on the Sabbath day because in their minds it broke the tradition of their Sabbath. They placed their rules and traditions above compassion.

The Pharisaical attitude that showed so little compassion is clear whenever people choose to do all of the right things for God, while knowing little of God. The apostle John said it best when he said, “The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

One of the things John points out that God commands is to love. “But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.

“If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.” And previously he says, “Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.”

This was the attitude of the Pharisees. They loved to let people know what they were doing, saying lengthy prayers in the marketplaces to be seen of men, taking the best seats at banquets, and sitting in Moses’ seat (the teacher’s seat) in the synagogues. But they broke the law to fit their traditions and added heavy burdens to the backs of men. They judged and condemned and did not keep the spirit of the law, which said “to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself.”

Loving others is hard. Forgiving is hard too. But to hold bitterness and anger and hatred in our hearts is not love. And it does not please God. I’ve been on both the giving and receiving end of bitterness and it’s not worth it. The root goes too deep, the price is too dear both for the one holding the grudge and those whom the grudge is held against.

Blind guides, whitewashed tombs, legalistic hypocrites with no sense of compassion, no love for others. This was a Pharisee…

~Selah

A friend of mine recently returned from a trip to Austria. She sent me some photos and told me about her trip. The photos contained pictures of cathedrals and other buildings that have stood through the centuries. The architecture of some of these places is fabulous, intricate, and ornate. I marvel at the detail of such work. In years past, Randy and I have toured mansions in various parts of the United States, but have not had the privilege of visiting Europe or seeing some of the castles and cathedrals that date to medieval times. Such a trip would be fascinating, and someday would be worth doing. The history that surrounds such places intrigues me.

I wonder why the era of castles and kings lent itself to such artistic intricacy. Architecture certainly reflects this, but so do the costumes of the nobility of such times, not to mention the paintings and sculptures, some of which is evident in this second picture.

We saw similar ornamented churches in Israel, where the decorations go far beyond stained-glass walls. And I wonder, as I look upon these grand buildings, what the people who attended worship there thought of as they looked upon the images their hands had made. Did they see art for art’s sake? Did the paintings and sculptures cause them to consider the artist or the one for whom the designs were made?

I was reading in  Hosea yesterday, in chapter 14, verse 4 where it says, “…and we will no longer call what we made with our hands our gods. For it is only in you that the fatherless can find mercy.” Hosea is calling on Israel to return to Adonai their God from their disloyalty and their worship of idols.

The verse got me to thinking, how easy it is for us to worship what our hands have made, rather than to worship the One who created our hands and gave us the ability to create in the first place. While I believe art can and should be a reflection of our love for God, and we can obey Him more fully when we use our skilled craftsmanship, our creative talents for Him, I also know the temptation to let our gaze drift from worship through art to worship of art.

One thing my friend noticed upon her first view of the Alps was the breathtaking scenery and her immediate desire to get down on her knees and worship the God who made them. And isn’t that the difference between true and false worship? We worship every day what our hands have made – from businesses to portfolios to carved silver images. But it only takes one glimpse of a vast mountain range or an endless rippling ocean or a star-studded night sky or the vivid colors of a rainbow to recognize there is Someone who has created things far beyond what we can imagine. And He deserves our worship.

Hosea 13:6 says, “When they were fed, they were satisfied; when satisfied, they became proud. Therefore they forgot me…”

When we focus on what we have built and we eat and are satisfied, we think we don’t need anyone beyond ourselves. We forget to worship the God who made us. Perhaps we need to step outside and look up at the night sky or if we can, take a glimpse of the mountains or oceans and remember just how great our God is.

~Selah