The Joy of the Lord is Our Strength!

/ Bill Jones / 32 Comments

 

This post is part of the Christian Writers blog chain. Our theme for this month is “Joy”. Please see the list to the right and visit my friends’ blogs to see what they have to say about this topic

Our church is having a Good Friday Tenebrae Service tonight. Tenebrae is a Latin word meaning shadows or darkness, and the service commemorates Jesus’ last days leading to the cross. With a combination of music, and Scripture readings from the Prophets and the Gospels, we’ll follow the path from light to darkness.

The candles will be lit during the opening song, “Jesus is the Light of the World”. As the service progresses with more songs and Scripture, the candles will be extinguished one by one. Total darkness comes after the singing of “The Power of the Cross” and a reading of John 19:30: “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” The congregation will leave in silence (in the shadows, in the darkness) as the choir sings “Beautiful Savior”.

As you might imagine, it can be a solemn and touching service. Participants can find themselves grieving like the people of Israel when Ezra read the Law. In the eighth chapter of Nehemiah, we read of Ezra and other priests publicly reading the Word of God. Apparently, that had not been done for many years, and “all the people wept when they heard the words of the Law” (v9).

Nehemiah’s response to their weeping: “Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared : for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry ; for the joy of the LORD is your strength. So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither be ye grieved.” Nehemiah 8:10-11 KJV

Nehemiah wasn’t telling them God’s Word should have no effect on them. He was saying the time to weep was over – it was now time to rejoice – much as described in Ecclesiastes 3:4, there is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” At times, The Word should cause us to mourn over our sin, but The Word will also take us beyond that into great joy. And, as Nehemiah said, the joy of the Lord is our strength that overcomes and can turn us from grief to rejoicing.

In a Tenebrae service, such as many churches will have tonight, or in our own time of Bible study and meditation, we should be broken-hearted when we consider the suffering Jesus endured for us. It may bring tears to our eyes when we imagine the hammer’s ring as the nails are driven in, or remember His forlorn cry of “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” as the Father turned His face away.

But, we can’t stay there long. We should continue to what awaits – to what washes all the darkness away – the joy of the empty tomb! Yes, the joy of the Lord – Who He is and what He has done for us – is our strength that overcomes the darkness.

 “Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favor is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Psalms 30:4-5

Really, Really Bad Spring Fever

/ Bill Jones / 2 Comments
Spring Flowers

Spring Flowers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Spring has been busting out all over for several weeks now, and the season did officially change last week. So, spring fever is rampant. It’s been a struggle to stay inside working while the weather has been so great. I kept eying the postcard that announced the Georgia Southern University Botanical Gardens spring festival and plant sale was at hand. They hold that on a Saturday, but they also have a preview sale the day before for members. Since at the preview you get first pickings, and they usually have a lot of unusual plants, I decided to take the afternoon off and take advantage of that.

The postcard said the preview was from 3 to 6 PM, and I arrived a couple minutes before 3. There were only a few cars in the parking lot and not many people around. I took a hand pulled wagon, and started around the tents and lines of plants for sale. There was one woman there who also had her wagon. She noted we seemed to be playing leap frog as we took turns moving a little and stopping to check out the plants, while the other one went around. There were very few others looking at the plants, so I was thinking it was still early and the crowd would increase as time went on.

The woman stopped her wagon under the checkout tent and told the guy there she needed another one and left to get it. I pulled mine next to hers and looked to the “checkout” guy.

“Are you with Susan?” he asked.

“I guess not, since I don’t know who Susan is.” (I now assume Susan was the woman with the other wagon)

He looked confused and quizzical and asked if I was a member. I replied that I was and asked “It was from 3 to 6 wasn’t it?”

“Well, it will be that time…tomorrow afternoon.”

Wow! Somehow, my spring fever had taken hold enough to make it Friday afternoon in my mind, when it was actually still Thursday.

I apologized and explained that since I had taken the afternoon off, I must have started thinking it was Friday already. We worked it out pleasantly and he was kind enough to allow me to purchase the plants I had loaded in the wagon. As I apologized once more, thanked him and began leaving, he said “Since it’s Friday, don’t forget and go into work tomorrow!” We both laughed and parted ways.

Several things worked together to cause my miscue. I work out of our house, and for some reason, in that situation, it’s easy to forget what day it is (more on that some other time). I also have a one track mind – I had been debating throughout the week whether to take Friday off, and then I decided to take two afternoons off instead of a whole day – but I guess that wasn’t on the track my mind stayed on. However, most of all, I really, really had spring fever, and really, really wanted it to be Friday.

I guess the lesson is that God worked it out for me, even though I wasn’t paying attention. We find that happening often, because our God is so gracious and merciful!

“Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful.” Psalms 116:5

A Prayer for Our Leaders

/ Bill Jones / 2 Comments
English translation of hebrew version. Map of ...

Map of the twelve tribes of Israel (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I stopped reading and listening to the news several years ago. Someday, I’ll probably give more explanation of that, but for now, I’ll just say I realized it added very little that was positive to my life. So, I try to live as I should, and do pray and vote, and that seems about all I can do. (I say “try” because I identify with the Apostle Paul when he bemoaned the fact that he didn’t do what he should but did do what he shouldn’t).

However, even if you make a concerted effort to avoid it, you are bound to read or hear snippets of news every day. You can even hear news on The Weather Channel, and if you go into a business or office that has a TV, it’s likely tuned to CNN or Fox News. And, you don’t want to be rude and run away if folks around you start a conversation about politics or the economy, so you have to participate in those to some extent.

I say that to note that I am aware of some of the conflicts, roadblocks, and seemingly senseless happenings within our government. Based on those, it appears to me that we need some men of Issachar among us these days.

Chapter 12 of the book of 1st Chronicles gives an account of King David’s mighty men. Some joined him when he was still fleeing from King Saul – they were of Saul’s tribe of Benjamin and were able to use both hands in shooting arrows and flinging stones. The Gadites joined him in the wilderness, and were fit for battle and swift as the deer in the mountains. It lists the names of the tribes, along with their characteristics, among the group who went to Hebron to turn the kingdom of Israel over to David after Saul died in battle. Of the tribe of Issachar:

“Of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, 200 chiefs, and all their kinsmen under their command.”  1 Chronicles 12:32 ESV

That’s why I said we need some men of Issachar among us – we need people (men and women) who understand these times. Most of all, we need them to know what the United States ought to do. May we all pray that God will bless us with such leaders as that.

I searched and searched,but the lettuce had bolted!

/ Bill Jones / 2 Comments

Bolted Lettuce

Radish (or other) roots

Last Saturday, for the first time in several months, I enjoyed a day playing outside. Bad or cold weather, scheduling problems, and a few bouts of just plain laziness have come in various combinations to keep me otherwise occupied. However, Saturday was clear and warm and I didn’t feel lazy, so, even though I did have some “to do” items, I ignored them and indulged myself.

I cut the grass (actually, mostly weeds at this point – but it still looked good when I finished). That was after I pumped up two lawn mower tires that were flat from just sitting there a couple of months.

I cut down the dead stalks of the angel trumpet in the flowerbed by the back door – and could see the new shoots coming up around the base of the plant. The purple verbena was blooming and had already invaded territory reserved for the coneflowers, coreopsis and liriope. So, a good whacking was completed and its normal borders were re-established.

The remnant of the fall crop of greens was still in the raised beds so I started clearing them out. The mustard and turnips had long since faded and were yellow with age and covered with insect chewed holes. I had left several carrots after an earlier harvest, but now found only holes in the dirt where they had been. Since the bed is covered with netting, I assume it wasn’t rabbits from above, but moles from below that got them.

The most interesting beds still contained combinations of “microgreens”, mixed greens and various kinds of lettuce that were planted in the fall. You can see from the picture that one plant had gone to seed (or bolted as it’s sometime called). Once it’s been neglected long enough to do that, it’s not any good to eat. I’m not sure it’s lettuce but that’s what the seed pack said.

I’m also not sure what the other picture shows. It looks like radishes but they smelled like a root (dirt) with no pungent radish smell. (Maybe someone can give us an idea of what type of plant it was). I wasn’t brave enough to taste it since I didn’t know what it was. Rather than going to seed, those plants had apparently “gone to root”, and were probably beyond the good eating stage too.

It was a great day, and on Sunday, I told Sharon I was wonderfully sore and stiff from the first good bit of exercise in a while.

The story above has several possibilities for devotional topics: The mower tires went flat when neglected. The angel trumpet stalks died but the shoots showed new life and God’s promise that the seasons will change until the end of time. The verbena can be invasive and overwhelm other plants around it, so it needs a good whacking now and then. The carrots were covered with netting but still had something attack them from an unexpected direction. The lettuce (?) bolted and was now unfruitful because I didn’t pay attention. The radishes (?) had taken root in a big way when left alone to grow unchecked.

I may develop those someday, but today I just want to thank the Lord, and praise Him for the work He allows us to do, and the fruits of our labor that we enjoy as blessings from Him. And sometimes, those can be as simple as being stiff and sore from doing something we love.

“Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God forever and ever. Amen.”  Revelation 7:12