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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.

Bitten By a Black Widow Spider

/ Bill Jones / 6 Comments
Female black widow spider guarding an egg case...

Image via Wikipedia

My wife, Sharon, is the only person I know who has been bitten by a black widow spider. One day she took her sweater from the coat rack, put it on and felt a sharp sting on her arm. She smashed her hand on the stinging spot, shook her sleeve and the flattened spider fell out. The telltale red hourglass-shaped marking on its shiny black body confirmed what it was. Sharon sealed her attacker in a plastic bag and took it with her as she drove to the hospital.

Everyone at the emergency room was excited because no one had ever seen, much less treated, anyone with a black widow bite. It seemed to Sharon the entire hospital staff stopped by to inspect the spider and the bite marks on her arm.

I was excited too when summoned from an out of town meeting to take a phone call. Sharon told the story and assured me the doctor said everything was okay. The anti-venom was on its way from Atlanta and would be at the hospital in a few hours. Most importantly, she had no extreme symptoms. I trusted her assurances, but it was still a long trip home to see for myself.

The doctor administered the anti-venom when it arrived that evening. Sharon spent the night in the hospital for observation and was released the next morning. Thankfully, the worst effects of the bite were the five days of mental fog she endured from the prescribed mega-doses of antihistamines.

“How did a black widow spider get in her sweater?” I claim the dubious honor as the agent of that. It was winter and we were using the fireplace, so at times I brought in pieces of wood and stacked them on the floor next to the wall. If you picture the wood on the floor next to the wall and move your gaze up, you come to…the coat rack. Apparently, the spider hitchhiked inside on a piece of wood, crawled up the wall looking for a dark hiding place and chose Sharon’s sweater sleeve.

Spiders don’t hide in our sweaters or coats anymore, because, after that episode I don’t bring wood inside the house like that.  I learned the lesson that even things that can be good (wood for warmth) can bring things in that you don’t want in your house (poisonous spiders).

We as Christians need to diligently apply that lesson to many things – the television, books and magazines, music and the radio, and especially the internet.  We are called to be holy because our God is holy, and in order to do that we must be careful of those unholy things waiting to bite us when we least expect it.

“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”  Pro 4:23, ESV