My High Places

I recently heard a sermon on Psalm 121 and was amazed at the verse which I have ready many many times over the years, taken on new life and meaning for me.
Psalms 121 starts with a walk along the road to Jerusalem; the walker lifts their eyes from the view of the road and looks up. Looking up they see the hills surrounding Jerusalem. Hills at one time held the high places, the shrines of many different gods. The people would select the shrine which they felt would best suit their need and then go there to make a petition. Eventually, God pointed out – rather strongly – that the high places were where the view of the people was taken off of Him and onto something else.
I love hills, the softness of them from a distance, the way they shelter and embrace you from close up. And at the top, you can see so far. Sometimes though, the hills seem really far and really high – very high and very hard to climb. The roads are rutted, difficult to walk up. Each step becomes one of concentration and effort. Each time a foot is placed, it is checked for solidness before fully trusting. Looking up, I see the top of the hill and declare my effort and exertion worth it.
Looking up on the way to Jerusalem, the walkers would have been greeted with the sight of the high places. Could those really help them? No, of course not. Even the next verse goes on to say, “My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” There are high places in my life though, and if you are honest I would imagine that there are some in yours as well. What kind of high places? Well, security for one. I want to feel secure, and sometimes that means that I don’t really want to lean on God, because maybe it doesn’t feel secure. Another one might be trust as I have moved from place to place, why am I here God? Why not over there? Why move again? Time, priorities, matters of value, matters of conscience and integrity, decisions in a fast paced life.
When my eyes gather the view above, on the hills, I need to refocus. The refocus on God lets me cut past the places I put in place of God and realize where my help really comes from. “My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”

Awed

I am starting to have occasional dreams of spring, warmer days when I go outside barefoot at night and see the first fireflys against the night sky.  Standing on the grass that will hold the sun’s heat, I sing “I stand, I stand in awe of You.”  I don’t really know the entire song without words, so I will probably just blend that phrase in with something else several times over.  But, the point is that I want to be in awe of God, to realize just a little more of who God is. 

It is so easy for me to want to put limits on God.  My mind just can’t hold everything that He is.  The things that were started a very long time ago can become something common place, the sense of awe is lost.  Church, the fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ can become just something to do on Sunday.  Little phrases that you might more commonly hear amongst Christians or those who are proclaiming this belief might just become less meaningful over time.  We grow content and the extraordinary grace, goodness, strength, and love of God become rather commonplace in our minds.

“Guard your steps when you go to the house of God.  Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong,” (Ecclesiastes 5:1).  Guard my steps, I need to make sure that I am choosing the right path.  There is a hill I climb once every few years that is quite steep, leading up to a family cemetery.  You have to choose your foot placement carefully, guarding and judging so that each step is firmly placed.  Otherwise, you risk winding up on your knees holding onto the dirt path for balance. 

The other thing I think is the complacency I have to watch and guard against when going to the house of God.  Going near to listen, I need to make sure I am prepared to listen.  Listening to the message and then letting all of the words and instructions mush around a bit with my brain tissue before seeping out my other ear doesn’t quite accomplish what it is intended to do.  I need to listen, not only to the words that someone is sharing in a sermon, but at what God is telling me. 

I am in awe of God, and that keeps much of the habitual activities from growing stale and commonplace, from me growing complacent.  Stand in awe. 

A New Year – Standing on the Edge of Town

It is the beginning of a new year, a time with the promise of what can be and the reality of what will be.  Many articles for the next few weeks will be addressing resolutions for the new year, changes people will make, changes they won’t make, etc..  Looking back over the year, it is easy to think of what I would have done differently, opportunities to pursue, choices to change.  I also look back with that lovely benefit of twenty twenty vision and have a different level understanding of how God has worked in my life. 

Now, this new year is sprawling out in front of us, like a new land.  We can’t avoid brining the luggage from our past years, but where we go  and what we do with these things are new choices.  Standing on the edge of the new year, it is standing on the cusp of the future.   If the future were a town, where would I find you?  Where would you find me? 

In a town, you can choose where you go and what you do.  Think of the priorities, the “places” you have gone this past year.  Consider time, energy, resources, emotions, choices, attitudes, and priorities as if they were places in this town.  Choosing wisely, I am reminded of entering the town in Luke 10.  The disciples were instructed to enter a town and make a decision.  If they were welcomed, the instructions were straight forward to “eat what you are given, heal the sick, tell that the Kingdom of God is near you.”  If the town did not welcome them, then “wipe even the dust that sticks to your feet off.  Let them know as well, the kingdom of God is near.”  Now, consider those “places” in town again – time, energy, resources, emotions, choices, attitudes, and priorities.  As you decide where to go in the next year, will these places be welcoming or you should wipe your feet off of these things and go someplace else?

Psalms 65
Praise awaits you, O God, in Zion; to you our vows will be fulfilled.

O you who hear prayer, to you all men will come.

When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions.

Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! 

We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple.

You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness, 

O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth 

and of the farthest seas, who formed the mountains by your power, having armed yourself with strength,

who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, 

and the turmoil of the nations.

Those living far away fear your wonders; where morning dawns and evening fades 

you call forth songs of joy.

You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. 

The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, 

for so you have ordained it.

You drench its furrows and level its ridges; 

you soften it with showers  and bless its crops.

You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance. The grasslands of the desert overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness.

The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; 

they shout for joy and sing.