God in a Box – Part One

by donyadunlap | Nov 12, 2011 | The Spiritual Life

Psalm 86:1-7
Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy.
Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee.
Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily.
Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.
Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications.
In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.

I love the psalms of David. His words echo through the centuries and touch my heart strings just as I imagine his fingers sweeping across his harp from the hillsides of Judea as a shepherd boy. This particular song, however, is not one from his youth, but is a cry to God as an adult for rescue from a band of wicked men who were seeking his life. This psalm resonates with me, not because I share similar circumstances, but because I share the very same God.

David calls out to God using several of His names, the first being Jehovah, the self-existent One, the eternal God. Sometimes I think we forget who God really is, mainly because we never really take the time to get to know Him as we ought. Each of us have our own opinions of God, but the Scripture reveals to us His true character.

I used to often think of God as an angry Judge, always looking for ways to punish me for messing up. I still struggle with this image in my mind. While it is true that God is a Judge who will punish sin, the Scriptures clearly state that as His child, He has pardoned my sin or declared me not guilty for the crimes against His holiness that I have committed, because of Christ’s payment for my sins on the cross. So as His child, I have the privilege of approaching God in my distress, just as David did in these recorded words from history.

In verse one, David pleads to the Lord to bow down, to pay attention to his cry because he is poor and needy—meaning depressed in mind and circumstances, destitute and in emotional want. David was distraught and in his need he turned to the only One that could provide the help that he needed. David continues his plea in verse two, begging God to protect him, to save his life because he has committed his life to God. The word “servant” means bondslave—one who has committed his entire being to his Master for the entire length of his life. He was not counting down the days until his contract was up—he was fully committed to God until his last breath. Why? Because his Master was his God, Elohiym, the Supreme God above all gods. The One deserving of his complete surrender and the One that David trusted completely as a refuge in times of trouble. All of David’s hope was in his God. He continues to appeal to God in verse three, asking Him to be merciful and gracious to him—meaning to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior. David’s cry was one of humility. He did not demand God’s help as an anointed king, but cried out as a helpless child. Here he calls to God, his Lord, using the name Adoni meaning his ruler, sovereign, master, owner. As king, David ruled his kingdom with power and authority, but his earthly position mattered little before the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe. Yet still he boldly cries out, addressing God by name with passion from deep within his soul. The word “cry” means to call out with the idea of physically accosting someone. Would God have been standing in front of David at that moment, David would have been at His feet, clinging to the hem of His robes, staining them with his tears and pleading loudly for God to intercede for him. David broadens his request, not only to protect him, but to restore joy to his heart once again. David is weary and emotionally spent and with all that he has left within him, he lifts up his heart to his Master and asks Him to show kindness and to make his heart merry in his service as he once was. David knows that he has done wrong, but he also recognizes that God is a good God who is quick to forgive and is abounding in never-ending love to those that call out to Him. David implores the Lord to pour out His merciful love and grace and affirms that he knows God will both hear and answer his prayers.

Do you feel like David did so long ago? Do you feel worn out, beaten down and emotionally spent? Do you feel like everyone is against you and you can’t remember the last time you felt truly happy? Sometimes when life gets us down, we shy away from God. I know that when I’m having a bad day, I don’t feel especially spiritual and I hesitate to turn to God in my need. Even though I know better, I feel like God wouldn’t want to listen to me because I’m not at my spiritual best. I’m not full of hope and rejoicing in the promises of God—I’m tired, worn out and in need of a hug. That’s why I love Psalm 86! It reminds me that I don’t have to clean myself up before I fall at the feet of Jesus, because He is quick to forgive and eager to bow down to me in my need. My God isn’t far away in Heaven refusing to acknowledge my pain because I’m in a valley of discouragement. He is right beside me, wrapping His loving arms around me and holding me while I cry.

I remember times as a young girl, and even as a grown woman, when I would kneel next to my mom in her chair, put my arm around her back, and lay my head on her lap to just be near her. She would gently scratch my back and all my worries seemed to be engulfed in that safe and happy place. Even now, when I am hundreds of miles away from my mom, hearing her voice on the other end of the phone makes everything seem a little better. My Jesus is like that too. Whether or not I am at fault in bringing about my current circumstances, Jesus is always there to make everything right again. Satan whispers to us that we have to do better, or be good enough, or work harder to achieve the presence of God in our lives, but all God wants us to do is to cry out to Him. He wants to extend forgiveness, mercy, grace and kindness to us, no matter how deep of a hole we have gotten ourselves into. He longs to hear our pleas for rescue and He delights in answering our prayers.

If you have God trapped in a box of condemnation and wrath in your mind, I pray that you will find freedom in the words of Psalm 86 tonight. Let loose the chains of Satan’s lies and call out to your Master, who does not enslave you, but gives freedom to all who commit their lives to Him. Cry out to the One who neither faints, nor grows weary, the One who is closer than a brother, the One who has promised to carry you through the trials of this life, protected by His strong arms. Fall at the feet of the Eternal One. Pour out your heart to Him. He longs to listen to every word.

Perfect Peace

by donyadunlap | Sep 5, 2011 | The Spiritual Life

I have been convicted lately of the need to be consistently memorizing and meditating on God’s Word. After watching John Piper eloquently recite several lengthy passages over the course of fifteen minutes as if he was reading a letter to his audience [watch here], I determined that I would stop what I was doing and respond in obedience to the Lord’s prompting. I pulled out a journal that my parents had given me for Christmas and prayed that the Lord would direct me to the passage I should choose as a starting point. I thought of a verse that I had heard someone discussing yesterday and turned to Isaiah 26 to read it for myself. At the beginning of the chapter, several verses above the verse I was looking for, I had marked two verses with stars. After reading them, I knew this is where I had to begin.

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. -Isaiah 26:3-4

I have been struggling a lot lately with anxiety and trusting God. I have had several moments of prayer when I have asked God to remove the tightness in my chest and sick feeling that seems to attack me at the strangest of moments. I have repeatedly asked the Lord why I seem to be having such a difficult time when in my mind, and I truly believe in my heart as well, I acknowledge that He is in control and that He will bring to pass that which is for my good and for His glory. I have asked the Lord to show me how to trust Him as I ought. I have begged Him to give me the peace that passes all understanding and yet I still struggle almost daily.

When I read these words tonight the same questions came to mind again. This is a promise from God, an absolute truth—but something still felt disconnected in my heart. I decided to pull out my Strong’s Concordance (thank you Mr. Swain!) to dig a little deeper. What I found left me (temporarily) at a loss for words! All I could say was, “Wow.” This is what I discovered:

Keep – to guard, to protect
Perfect – to complete, accomplish
Peace –  (shalom) safe ie: well, happy, friendly; also welfare ie: health, prosperity, rest, safety as in “all is well”
Stayed – to lean upon or take hold of, bear up, establish, uphold, lay, lean, lie hard, put, stand fast, sustain
Trust/Trusteth – to hide for refuge, to be confident or sure, be bold, careless, put confidence, hope, make to trust
Forever – duration in the sense of advance or perpetuity, eternity, perpetually, world without end
Lord – the same, the sacred name of God meaning the Lord most vehement
Jehovah – the self-existent or eternal One
Everlasting – time out of mind (past or future), always, ancient, continuance, perpetual
Strength – a cliff, a rock or boulder, a refuge

Do you see what I see? My God, has promised to guard and protect me in complete safety as long as I lean upon and stand fast on Him. Why? Because by doing so it shows that I am hiding and placing my confidence not on myself, but in Him, my Refuge. He then commands that I continue to place my confidence and hope in Him forever. And why should I do this? Because He is the eternal, unchanging, self-existent God who is and has been—since time out of mind, both ancient and future—my rock, my refuge, my immovable object in which I can find shelter and protection, my hiding place.

What I love most about these verses is the word “stayed”. My struggle lately has been with my feelings. I don’t feel at peace. I feel worried, pressured, overwhelmed, responsible for things outside of my control, helpless and trapped in my circumstances. These verses are telling me that my feelings do not equal truth. God’s promises equal truth. “Stayed” implies a continual, conscious choice, a repeated action. I must constantly lean upon, take hold of and stand fast on the promises of God—not in my feelings, but in my mind. I must choose to think on God’s promises and to claim His truth as if what He has said has already come to pass. He WILL keep me protected and safe. He will be my refuge. I may not feel safe hiding behind the boulder of His protection while the storms of life rage around me, but I AM safe. He will not let anything happen to me that is not for my good. That safety may not look like I think it should, but I must surrender my ideas to Him, trusting that His will is best for me. Even if the storms of my life bring me to my death, He will never leave me and in my death is my ultimate release into eternal peace! What an amazing and powerful truth! Why should I be afraid of my circumstances or my future when the Ancient of Days holds me fast in His strength? I don’t have to worry. I can live my life well, happy and friendly. Don’t you love that word choice? I don’t have to send my co-workers running for cover when I feel like my life is out of control. I can smile and be friendly, showing both the Lord and others that my trust is in my Everlasting Strength.

Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.
-1 Peter 5:7

Help me…

by donyadunlap | Dec 10, 2010 | The Spiritual Life

Have you been there? Have you been to the point when words will not form as you try to pray? Have you been so overwhelmed with all that life is for you that all you do is cry “help me” as the tears run down your face? Are you there right now? The words to Amy Grant’s song “Breath of Heaven” express my feelings tonight perfectly. It’s called “Mary’s Song” because it is written from the perspective of young Mary, mother of Jesus, as she was carrying Him in her womb. “Help me be strong…Help me be…Help me.”

For the last several years, and especially during the Christmas season, Mary, the mother of Jesus has been on my heart. I’ve spent much time thinking about her, and reading about what life must have been like for her. There is actually very little about her in Scripture, but there is much that we can glean from what is written and from history.

If Mary was a typical Jewish girl from a typical Jewish family she would have been waiting and praying for the Messiah to come, just as devout Jews do today. But, I imagine her to be taken quite off guard when He did come, and directly to her no less. She was, most likely, very young. History would place her at about 12-16 years old. She was betrothed, or engaged to be married to a young carpenter named Joseph. He was most likely a teenager as well. Betrothal was much more serious than today’s engagement period. It was a formal agreement or marriage where she would technically be considered Joseph’s wife. The actual marriage and consummation of the agreement usually took place about a year after the betrothal contract. It was during this time that the angel, Gabriel, told her that she was expecting.

Most assume that this would be a joyful pronouncement to Mary, but the Bible depicts her as being confused, as she was yet a virgin. She humbly accepts the responsibility upon Gabriel’s assurance that “nothing is impossible to God.” I have often wondered if the seriousness of her situation dawned upon her at this time or if it took a while for the full weight of this calling to sink into her mind and heart. This great honor, to be the mother of the Christ child, was quite literally a death sentence. Mary was considered legally married. A woman in her state that was found with child could very easily be publicly stoned for her unfaithfulness to her betrothed. She would be considered an adulteress. The other option would be for Joseph to divorce her quietly, saving her and her family from open shame. (Although I’m sure the gossip chain of their day would do plenty enough damage, as it would today.) Matthew 1:18-25 explains that it was Joseph’s obedience to the word of the Lord through a dream that caused him to reject “the norm” and to take Mary as his wife. This act would bring shame upon him as well, causing people to assume that it was he that had gotten Mary into this predicament before their marriage was official. It would be quite easy to count back from the birth of a child to a wedding day and figure out that not everything added up as it should.

Put yourself in Mary’s sandals for a moment. You are a young bride. You have your whole life ahead of you. Your husband is a just man—one that any woman would gladly marry. You come from a good home. Your parents are proud of the godly woman that you are becoming. You are diligently preparing for the day that your betrothed takes you into his home. You dream of the children that you will raise together and the happiness fills your soul. Until one day—everything changes. You are visited by an angel who tells you that you are with child by the Holy Ghost. “Maybe I’m dreaming,” you wonder. After a sound pinch or two you confirm that you are awake and the being in front of you is not a figment of your imagination or the result of an upset stomach. You have been given a heavenly responsibility. You have been called to raise the Son of God. But wait…what will your parents think? Will they believe you? What about your brothers and sisters? Will they ridicule you? Will they think you’ve lost your mind? Will your parents disown you? And what about Joseph? Will he have you stoned? Will he have mercy and only divorce you? But what if he does? Where will you go? How will you care for a child alone? An angel has appeared to you, but not to those at the temple or in the town square. Who will believe that you are to be the virgin mother of the Messiah? How will you bear the shame, the reproach, the lies? How will you convince them that the One they have been waiting for, praying for, has come in the form of a baby—your Son?

Each time I think of all that this young woman must have endured, my heart breaks for her. And this was just the beginning of her sorrow. Yes, there would be joy along the way. Kissing the forehead of your newborn child and the Savior of your soul would bring joy unspeakable, I’m sure. But in just 30 short years, she would have to give her Son over to a harsh and unbelieving world to be mocked, ridiculed, slandered, rejected, hunted, and eventually, 3 very short years later, tortured and killed. The thought gives new meaning to the term “broken-hearted.”

I wonder, who will be reading these thoughts of mine and at that same moment feel very much like Mary of old? What has God asked of you, dear friend, that seems more than you can bear? What burden weighs heavy on your thoughts? What road seems so impossible to walk that you can’t imagine arriving at a destination—you can only gather enough strength to take the next step? Perhaps you are in a difficult marriage, your child is away from the Lord, you have to work two and three jobs to make ends meet, you have an incurable disease or you’ve found yourself awaiting the arrival of an unplanned child yourself?

We all have burdens to bear. Some are heavier than others, but each has been specifically designed for us by a God that loves us and has chosen us for the task. Just as God chose the young woman who would carry His most precious Son, so God has hand-picked you for the trial that you face today. It may seem to you more of a curse than a blessing. It may seem impossible as Mary’s burden seemed to her that day so many years ago. But, heaven’s perspective is always quite different from our own. In the words of the angel, Gabriel, “Do not be afraid, [your name], for you have found favor with God…For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Nothing is impossible…with God. Nothing. With God. The fact remains that we cannot do the impossible. We are fragile, weak, emotionally ravaged human beings that sometimes can barely get out of bed in the mornings. But…with…God…nothing is impossible. If we look at our circumstances we can easily be so overwhelmed that we turn to drinking, drugs, sleep aids, food, friends, [fill in the blank] and we check out of our responsibilities, or even check out of our lives, in despair. Dear friends, God didn’t choose you to fail under the weight of a crushing burden. God chose you to carry it gracefully, walking in His strength, in complete surrender to the circumstances that He has placed you in, to be a vessel of His glory—to carry His message to a lost and dying world. Romans 12:1 tells us that we are to be a living sacrifice, just as Mary was. She gave her hopes, her dreams, her very life to God in sweet humility and accepted the task God called her to. Her response, recorded for us in Luke 1:46-49 was, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.”

I was speaking to a woman at church a few weeks ago who shared with me a special memory of her mother. She recalled to me how she would watch her mom churn butter on the front porch and sing sweet hymns like, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound…” as she worked. This precious woman told me how her mother always wore a sweet smile even though her face was battered and bruised from her husband’s angry blows. Things were tough in that little household and that young mother could have easily turned away from God and ran away from her circumstances, but instead she carried her burden with grace and a smile. That young mother influenced her daughter in a way that she couldn’t have imagined. That little girl now has grandchildren of her own, and she and her family are in church today, I am quite certain, because of the wife and mother that trusted in God to take care of her despite her circumstances.

Will you be like these women? Will you take your burdens to the Lord of All today and trust Him to do the impossible through you? He doesn’t ask you to walk your path alone. He only asks you to surrender your will and your plans to Him—He will do the rest through you. And in doing so, you will be blessed and those around you will be too. It may not seem like it will ever turn out right to you. I’m sure Mary often wondered what God’s plan was for her and her Son—but we know the rest of the story. I don’t know that Mary fully understood while she was on this earth, but as she watches God’s plan of salvation unfold in our lives from her heavenly position today, I’m sure she understands perfectly. I’m also quite sure that she would do it all over again, with the understanding that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 12:28)

Breath of Heaven (Mary’s Song)
By Amy Grant

I have traveled many moonless nights
Cold and weary with a babe inside
And I wonder what I’ve done
Holy Father you have come
And chosen me now
To carry your son

I am waiting in a silent prayer
I am frightened by the load I bear
In a world as cold as stone
Must I walk this path alone
Be with me now
Be with me now

[Chorus:]
Breath of heaven
Hold me together
Be forever near me
Breath of heaven
Breath of heaven
Lighten my darkness
Pour over me your holiness
For you are holy
Breath of heaven

Do you wonder as you watch my face
If a wiser one should have had my place
But I offer all I am
For the mercy of your plan
Help me be strong
Help me be…
Help me…

Breath of heaven
Hold me together
Be forever near me
Breath of heaven
Breath of heaven
Lighten my darkness
Pour over me your holiness
For you are holy
Breath of heaven

Click here to read a commentary entry on Luke chapter 1: The Announcement of the Birth of Jesus to Mary

Click here to listen to “Breath of Heaven (Mary’s Song)”