THE DONKEYS PERSPECTIVE OF PALM SUNDAY

The following story is inspired by Matthew's telling of the Triumphal Entry (Matthew 21:1-11)

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It was an uncharacteristically busy morning in the usually peaceful village of Bethphage. The town was situated on a hillside that people referred to as the Mount of Olives, and it overlooked the sprawling city of Jerusalem. It wasn’t much of a destination. Nobody said, “Let’s go to Bethphage for the weekend.” It was just the final rest stop for pilgrims on their way to worship at the Temple in Jerusalem. 

But for Simon the donkey, it was home.

He lived here with his mom and their owner. Simon was still young, just a colt really, though he didn’t see himself that way. After all, he was almost a year old! Why, before long his owner would be riding him into the city to get supplies, he just knew it.

But today, Simon was distracted by the number of people walking along the road, heading into Jerusalem. He asked his mother what was going on.

“That’s right, this is your first Passover,” she brayed to her son. “Every year at this time, people head into the city for a great feast to celebrate the time God saved His people. It must be that time again.”

Simon grew excited. He’d heard of the Passover, the greatest feast day of the year, but this was his first time getting to experience it firsthand. In his curiosity, Simon began to wander towards the road so he could watch the pilgrims passing by. As he drew closer, he began to overhear bits of their conversations, and all of them seemed to be talking about the same thing: apparently some Rabbi named Jesus had raised a guy from the dead one village over. That must have been quite a sight. Simon wished he could have been there to see that. In his excitement to hear more, he began to follow a group of pilgrims down the road eavesdropping on their conversation as they went.

Suddenly, he heard the gruff voice of his master behind him. “There you are, you naughty donkey.” 

Busted! 

Simon hung his head in embarrassment. This wasn’t the first time he’d wandered off. But what did they expect? He was curious and the world was so much larger than his little village!

Simon’s owner led him back home, and then tied both Simon and his mother to a hitching post to ensure that the little donkey wouldn’t wander off again. Simon tried to look properly sorry for getting them both in trouble, but his mind was preoccupied with the thought a man who could raise people from the dead.

The day passed quickly with Simon lost in his thoughts, until his daydreaming was interrupted by a couple men in dusty robes who were walking down the street towards him. They must have been pilgrims, because Simon had never seen them before.

“There it is, just as the master told us,” one of the men said to the other. Then they boldly walked up to Simon and began to untie him. 

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” Simon’s owner yelled.

“The Lord Jesus is coming and he sent us ahead to get a colt for him to ride,” one of the men replied. Surprisingly, Simon’s owner complied. Apparently, he had also heard the rumors of this Jesus, who had the power to raise the dead. He even sent Simon’s mother along in case Simon wasn’t strong enough to carry Jesus. But Simon knew he would be. He was almost a year old, after all.

The men led Simon and his mother out to the road, where a ragtag group of men and women were waiting. One of them threw a cloak over Simon’s back and then another of the pilgrims, a man who didn’t look all that different from the rest, climbed on.
This must be the Rabbi that everybody was talking about, though he didn’t look all that special to Simon.

The group began to make their way down the Mount of Olives and across the Kidron valley, heading towards one of the gates into Jerusalem. Simon and his mother were in the lead. As they drew near, crowds began to whisper, “It’s him.” “Here he comes.”
Simon was surprised that they even noticed him. After all, this was the first time he’d been out of his village.

One of the pilgrims ripped a palm frond from a nearby tree and laid it on the ground in front of Simon. Then another followed suit. Still others began to lay their cloaks down on the ground in front of him. And all the while, the crowds began to shout, “Hosanna.” “Hosanna in the Highest!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Simon didn’t know what those words meant, but he knew they were directed towards him. 

Simon was amazed at this unexpected welcome. He knew he was special - his mom had always told him so - but never in his wildest daydreams would he have expected this sort of reception! The crowd of onlookers grew larger and larger as Simon and his mother made their way into the gates of Jerusalem. Each step he took was upon a cloak or palm frond that had been laid at his feet, and all-the-while he was showered with the cries of “Hosanna!” He could get used to this.

The sun was setting as Simon and his entourage made their way into the city. When they came to the temple, Jesus promptly slid off of his back and the group of pilgrims made their way inside while Simon and his mother were led into the nicest stable he’d ever been in. 

Ok, it was the only stable he’d ever been in, but who’s keeping track. He and his mother spent the night there, though Simon barely slept– he was just too excited.

In the morning, he was up before the first rooster crowed. He couldn’t wait to bask in the adoration of the people again. 

Shortly after first light, Simon’s owner came to collect him. Simon was surprised his owner didn’t sing his praises, but perhaps he was just waiting until they got home.

As they made their way through the streets of Jerusalem and out the city gate, Simon waited to hear people shout, “Hosanna,” but the cries never came.

They crossed the Kidron Valley and began to make their way up the Mount of Olives, passing pilgrims along the way, but for some reason none of them stopped to lay a cloak or palm branch on the dusty road in front of them.

“They must not know who I am,” Simon thought to himself. “Just wait ‘til I get home! The villagers must be preparing to throw me a welcome-home party.”

But as they entered Bethphage, nobody looked up from their morning tasks.
Nobody so much as waved at him. 

Simon’s heart was filled with confusion and disappointment, but he did his best to hold it in. After all, he was almost a year old…and he was kind of a big deal.

His owner led him and his mother back to the hitching post and tied them up again. Now, maybe it was the familiarity of being home, or the indignity of being treated like a common donkey, but Simon could no longer hold his emotions in check.

He began to cry.

“What’s wrong, my son?” his mother asked.

“I don’t get it,” Simon replied, salty tears rolling down his dusty cheeks. “Yesterday, everybody loved me. Today it’s like they don’t even see me. What did I do wrong?”

His mother smiled as she comforted her son. “Oh, my child,” she whispered in his ear, “you did nothing wrong. But you misunderstood. 
It was never about you.”

HE LEADS ME ALONG THE RIGHT PATHS

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 

He leads me along the right paths for His name's sake.

One of the most unexpected and widespread effects of the ongoing crisis has been the disruption of our daily routines. Seemingly overnight, all the rhythms of our lives were thrown out of the window, and many of us (myself included) have struggled to adjust.

It makes me think about something I read in Phillip Keller’s book, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23. According to Keller, who spent years working as a shepherd, “sheep are notorious creatures of habit. If left to themselves, they will follow the same trails until they become ruts; graze the same hills until they turn to desert wastes; pollute their own ground until it is corrupt with disease and parasites.” (p.83)

If this continues unchecked, the sheep will grow increasingly anxious and restless as they become malnourished and sickly. So a good shepherd doesn’t leave the sheep to fend for themselves. Instead, he leads them along new paths into fresh fields and to clean watering holes so that the sheep can find true nourishment and rest. He doesn’t lead them aimlessly; he knows where He wants to take them.

Of course, the sheep aren’t always excited about leaving the comfort of their familiar foraging grounds. Sometimes the paths the shepherd leads them along are rocky and treacherous, but when the sheep trust their shepherd more than they fear the unknown, then they will discover that their shepherd knows what they need far better than they do.

I suspect a lot of us can identify with sheep. If left to our own inclinations, we will choose the comfort of familiarity to the discomfort of the unknown. Many of us have been doing the same routines, walking the same paths day after day, year after year. And then we wonder why we find ourselves walking in ruts, or why the same amount of effort produces less and less growth.

For anyone who’s ever tried to get in shape, it’s like doing the same exercise over and over. What starts out as challenging and strenuous can quickly become routine and boring. So, like a good personal trainer, God will change up the routine, challenging our spiritual muscles in different ways that will elicit greater growth. He will lead us to new, fresh pastures. He will allow us to go through experiences that remind us that He’s in control, we’re not. And He will ask us to trust His lead. Sound familiar? I suspect that your faith is getting a good work out right about now, huh?

We have the best of Shepherds, and He often leads us away from our familiar ruts, along new paths, to new grazing grounds. But He doesn’t just do it for our well-being. He also does it as a testimony of his competency.

“He leads me along the right paths for His name's sake.”

You see, a shepherd’s reputation is tied directly to the state of his flock. If the flock suffers, which happens when the sheep are left to fend for themselves, it reflects negatively upon the shepherd. And when the sheep flourish, when they grow strong and healthy, the shepherd’s reputation also flourishes. Our spiritual well-being is actually a testimony of God’s capability; it’s a sign both to us and to others, that our Shepherd knows what He’s doing with us.

I am well aware of how disruptive this season of self-isolation is for most of us. All of our rhythms have been thrown out the window and we may feel lost. But sometimes that’s exactly what we need in order to continue spiritually growing and thriving. Our shepherd knows this. So He invites us to follow Him out of the familiar, out of the places where we can rely on muscle memory and slip into autopilot for weeks on end.

What’s more, He knows where He’s leading us, even if we don’t. We may resist following, for fear that we’re going the wrong way, but what makes the paths we're walking "right" is that He is with us, leading the way. So long as we remain at our Shepherd’s side, it won’t matter whether our path runs through a green pasture or a dark valley, because He is with us, guiding and comforting us along the way.

So Jesus lead on. We will follow. We invite you to disrupt our rhythms, frustrate our independence, motivate us to move, and guide us where you want us to go. We are your flock, the people of your pasture, so take us where you want us to go. Amen. 

HE RESTORES MY SOUL

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside quiet waters,
He restores my soul. 

Psalm 23 is a song of absolute trust written from the perspective of a sheep towards his shepherd. I suspect that the reason it resonates so deeply for us is because it’s so profoundly personal. David didn’t describe the Lord as “our shepherd,” but rather “MY shepherd.” He was writing as one who knew His shepherd intimately, and had seen countless examples of his shepherd’s capable care.

I suspect we have also seen countless examples of God’s capable care, of the ways He provides for us in times of scarcity and guides us through difficult seasons. And in a time like this, when we are experiencing levels of scarcity and trouble unlike any other time in our lives, it has never been more important for us to remember who our Shepherd is and how capable He is of caring for us.

Yesterday, we began to unpack the second verse of the Shepherd Psalm. After declaring his absolute trust in his Shepherd, David writes:

“He makes me lie down in green pastures, 
  He leads me beside still waters,
  He restores my soul.”  

We’ve already commented on the irony that our Shepherd has to make us lie down. Even after a shepherd has properly fed and watered his flock, sheep are prone to wander in search of one more tuft of grass to crop or another mud-choked puddle to drink from. So shepherds regularly need to make the sheep lie down and rest.

Similarly, even though we intellectually understand that our identity is found in our relationship with God, not in what we do, we are still prone to wander in search of things that can prop up our identity and affirm that we matter. And in a time like this, when we are forced to isolate in our homes, being still can feel like a punishment. But I would suggest it’s a time when our Shepherd is inviting us to lay down and rest in His presence, because He is enough.

But it’s that last line that I want to zero in on this morning: “He restores my soul.”

What does that mean? How does our Shepherd restore our soul?  To answer that, it helps to understand how a shepherd restores a sheep that has become cast down.

One of the most dangerous things that can happen to a sheep is it becomes “cast” – that means it’s fallen and isn’t able to regain its footing by its own strength. This could happen for any number of reasons: perhaps it’s grown too fat, or its fleece has grown too full or it has gotten clogged with mud and branches,  or it’s simply stumbled into a ditch and can’t get out. Initially, it’s simply uncomfortable for the sheep, but if it’s not restored back to its feet in a reasonable time, it can die.

Like sheep, we too can get cast down. It happens for lots of reasons: perhaps we stumble in sin, or we get too full of ourselves, or we get bogged down with fear and anxiety about the unknown. Or maybe we just get sideswiped by life. I think a lot of us find ourselves in that place right now. The coronavirus came out of left field and has swept the legs out from under many of us and we just don’t know how to get back to our feet. Thankfully, this is where the shepherd comes in.

A good shepherd is constantly looking for those sheep who have fallen, and when he finds one that is cast, he “restores it” to its feet with gentleness and grace. The same holds true for us.

When we find ourselves flat on our back and unsure whether we have the strength to get back up, we might think that God will be mad with us, that He will be disgusted and fed up. But that’s not the attitude of our Shepherd. A good shepherd cares for his flock, and we have the best of shepherds. He knows that we all get cast down from time to time, so rather than getting disgusted with us, He takes pains to restore us to health and wholeness.

If anyone knew this to be true it was King David, the guy wrote this psalm. David fell harder than any of us have. It started innocently enough. He saw a woman bathing and didn’t look away. His initial interest turned to infatuation, then to lust, and that’s when things really went sideways. The woman in the bath, who was aptly named Bathsheba, turned out to be the wife of one of his closest friends. David got her pregnant and then tried to cover it up by bringing her husband home from war so they could easily write the baby off as his. But when that didn’t work, David tried to clean up his mess by intentionally sending his friend to the front lines so that he would be killed.  In a matter of days, David not only became an adulterer, but a murderer (even if he didn’t wield the sword that killed his friend).

Now, God could have easily rejected David at this point; He could have taken the throne and even David’s life for his mistakes. But he didn’t. Nor did God simply ignore David’s misbehavior. He didn’t turn a blind eye to it, because left unchecked it would have caused even more destruction. Instead, God restored David gently, through the Prophet Nathan.

Nathan presented David with the truth of his sin, and David was humble enough to acknowledge the mess he had made. Now, you might say, “God was judging David by exposing his sin,” but I beg to differ. Exposing his sin was God’s grace. God’s judgement is when He gives us over to our destructive tendencies - when He leaves us cast down.

What I love about David, and one of the primary reasons why he continues to be called “a man after God’s heart,” is that once his sin is exposed, he doesn’t deny it, excuse it or try to run and hide from it. Instead, he owns it, confesses it openly, and runs to his Shepherd for consolation. 

In fact, we have a record of David’s response, penned by his own hand. It’s Psalm 51, and it is a beautiful cry for help from a cast sheep to his shepherd. Let’s listen in:

Create in me a clean heart, O God.
    Renew a loyal spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
    and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and make me willing to obey you.
                                  - Psalm 51:10-12


Father God, you are my Shepherd, and you are faithful. Even when I am not; even when I am drawn away by the things of this world, or my faith is eclipsed by my circumstances, still you are faithful and vigilant. I thank you for your patience with me, and thank you for your grace. I pray that you would restore me to my feet, and help me stand. Jesus, I pray in your name, Amen.

He Makes Me Lie Down

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads be beside quiet waters…

There was a time, about 6 years ago, when David’s declaration of trust from Psalm 23 was like a drink of water in the midst of a desert. At the time, I was a new father, an adjunct college professor, and an associate pastor at a growing church down the street. Life was exciting and I was running hard and fast. It felt like there were never enough hours in the day to do everything I needed to get done, and my relationships with my family and with God bore the brunt of my harried schedule.

Whenever my wife would ask me to choose her and our infant son over work, I would feel frustrated. Couldn’t she see that everything I was doing was for them?! Wasn’t it enough that I was providing for them and serving God?  Speaking of God, during this season I was acting a lot like Martha. I was far too busy working for God to actually spend any time with Him.  So I drove myself into exhaustion, never realizing that I was in danger of burning out. Looking back, I can clearly see the warning signs. I was red-lining and running on fumes, but the excitement of feeling needed kept me going. Little did I know that a break down was imminent.

 

It’s funny how people around us can see the warning signs better than we can. I was physically present, but emotionally distant. My marriage was suffering and my desire to minister to others was waning. It was even hard to scrape together the desire to worship at church. Something was amiss; I was in a funk and everyone around me could tell.

So one day, my director at church pulled me into his office and voiced his concern. “Eric, I don’t know what’s going on with you, but the joy-filled guy that I know is gone,” he told me. “I’m concerned about you and I want you to take the rest of the week off to spend some time with God and your wife and figure out what’s going on.” I know that he only wanted the best for me, but in the moment it felt like I’d been called into the principal’s office and suspended.

I went home and collapsed onto the couch with Cathy, feeling utterly defeated. Thankfully, it was my son Ethan’s nap time, so my wife and I spent the next hour praying together for God’s wisdom and direction.

During that time, He gave me a mental image of me lying in a bed, under a heavy blanket. But as the sheet was pulled away, I saw that my body was withered and emaciated. I knew in my heart that God was showing me the state of my soul, which had grown dry from constantly pouring out but never stopping to be refilled.

It feels ironic to admit that, as a pastor, I had grown spiritually dry, but it was true. In my drive to care for other’s needs, I’d neglected my own relationship with God, so I’d been pouring into other people out of the dregs, not the overflow of my heart. As a result, ministry had become an obligation, not a joy, and though I didn’t realize it in that moment, my Father in Heaven was putting me on the sideline for my own good and the good of those who depended upon me the most.

During a time of quiet reflection one morning during my forced sabbatical, He led me to Psalm 23 over and over again. David’s words felt as if they were written specifically for me:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.

As I sat in the stillness of my home, alone with God as everyone else in the house was still asleep, I felt as if my Shepherd was using David’s words to tell me that He needed to pull me out of ministry so that He could minister to me. My Shepherd was going to make me lie down in a green pasture to rest.

It’s seems odd that the shepherd has to make the sheep lie down, doesn't it?! But shepherds need to do it all the time, because sheep are prone to wander off in search of one more tuft of grass to crop or one more mud-choked puddle to drink from. And like sheep, we are prone wander in search of things to prop up our identity and prove our value to ourselves and others around us. But our identity and value has never been found in what we do for a job or how in-shape we are. They are found in our relationship to our Shepherd, and sometimes our Shepherd needs to make us be still so that we can remember that.

For many of us, this season of self-isolation feels like being forced to lie down in a green pasture. We can’t run to the things we normally run to for consolation and purpose, so we sit at home and wonder if anybody even misses us. But what if this is a time in your life when your Shepherd is inviting you to be still and know that you are enough, just as you are, because He is with you and He is watching over you.

I remember how painful it was during that forced-sabbatical to sit and be still. It felt punishment. Like I was in time-out. But David’s words from Psalm 23 were like a balm to my aching heart, because they assured me that my Shepherd’s intention was not punitive, but rather restorative.  

He was going to restore my soul.

We will explore what it means to have our souls restored, and how God does that tomorrow. 

For today, I would simply invite you to spend some time in silence, resting in these truths:

• You are not alone. Your Shepherd is right there with you.
• He loves you - not for anything you do, or anything you will do - but just for being you.
• You are enough, and so is He.

The Lord is My Shepherd

Psalm 23 is one of the most well-known passages in the Bible, rivaled only by John 3:16. But there’s a danger to familiarity – when we know something so well, we can stop really listening to what it has to say, like a song we’ve sung so many times that we never consider what the lyrics mean. So our goal over the next two weeks will be to strip away the familiar veneer and chew on this beloved psalm one verse at a time, so that we can truly consider the gravity of what it declares.

This morning, I want to start with that first verse that we know so well:
“The Lord is my shepherd, I have everything I need.” Or as most of us memorized it, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.”

It’s important to remember that, as famous and well known as these words are, they were penned by a real person, a guy named David who happened to be the most famous King in Israel’s history. But he didn’t start out as a king. When we first meet him in the Bible, he is out tending his father’s flocks. That’s right. As a kid, David was a shepherd. So it’s no coincidence that when he was searching for an analogy to describe his relationship with God, he would choose to call God his shepherd.

And that means David identified as one of the sheep.  Which is an interesting choice, because sheep can’t take care of themselves. They have no claws or horns to defend themselves. They aren’t fast enough to run from predators, they aren’t smart enough to feed and care for themselves. Sheep are, by nature, dependent creatures, and it is the shepherd’s job to lead and guide, protect and provide for them.  That means that the flock’s well-being is directly tied to the quality of the shepherd caring for it.

Psalm 23 is an emphatic declaration of David’s complete and utter trust in his shepherd. Just consider the opening line: “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not be in want.”

As the king of Israel, David could have said, “The Lord is OUR shepherd.”
But he didn’t. Instead, he declared, “the Lord is MY shepherd.”  It’s a much more personal statement, and the Psalm as a whole has the feel of a sheep resting contentedly under his shepherd’s care. And because God is caring for him, David declares, “I shall not be in want.”

Now, I’ll admit that this could sound like a bit of an overstatement, as if David is suggesting that he has no desires beyond what God gives him. But that’s not what he’s saying. There’s a huge difference between wanting something and being in want. Remember, it’s the shepherd’s job to provide for the needs of his flock; however, that doesn’t mean the shepherd will or should always give the sheep everything they want. Imagine if I gave my boys everything they wanted? We’d be eating ice cream at every meal. To give into our children’s every whim is the best way to ensure that they will be fat, unhealthy and spoiled. And in the same way, a good shepherd recognizes the difference between what his sheep want and what they truly need. Every one of us want things that could hurt us, and a good shepherd will protect us from them. A good shepherd will tell us “No” from time to time.

Perhaps we should paraphrase the opening this way: “The Lord is my Shepherd; He gives me what I need so I shall not be in want.” David experienced this first hand. He saw God’s hand of guidance, provision and protection throughout his life, in both the good times and the hard ones (and let’s not forget that David had plenty of hard ones). He spent years on the run from Saul. He had moments of doubt when it seemed like God had abandoned him and destruction was just around the corner (just read the Psalms, which are full of his cries of frustration and disappointment). He had some painful moments when he fell flat on his face into sin. Yet even then, his Shepherd didn’t abandon him. Rather, God met him in the midst of his mistakes and led him out of bondage to sin and guilt. David could say with confidence that “the Lord God is MY Shepherd, I shall not be in want.”

Can you say that?

As you survey the pathway of your life, the twists and turns, the triumphs and the disappointments, can you see God’s hand of guidance?

Can you see the ways that he has protected you from things you wanted, but ultimately needed to avoid?

And can you see the ways He’s provided for you?

I sure can. Though life hasn’t always gone the way I would have expected, I can see God’s sure hand of guidance and protection all along the way. At times He’s led me with a clear, loving ‘No,’ and my life is better for it. Sometimes He’s led me with the rod of discipline, to get my attention and set me on the path of righteousness again. And sometimes He’s just flat out blessed me beyond what I could have ever imagined.

So the Lord is a worthy, capable shepherd. But he’s more than that. He’s also our rightful owner. After all, He created us and sustains our every breath. And He paid the price to buy us out of slavery to sin. He is our rightful owner, yet he doesn’t force His ownership upon us. He allows us to choose whether or not we want him as our Shepherd. He allows us to choose whether we will follow His lead.

So I ask you again, is the Lord Your Shepherd?
Have you chosen to submit your life to His care?

A lot of times we treat this like a one-time decision – whether to pray the prayer or not – but the truth is that following our Shepherd is a daily decision. Every day and every circumstance is an opportunity to declare our faith, through both our thoughts and our actions. Will we take up our cross and follow Him, or will we choose to chart our own course, running after the things that we think we need to be happy and fulfilled?

I think Joshua said it best: “Choose this day whom you will serve.” Choose this day whom you will place your trust in and follow. God is the rightful ruler of your life, the only one who has both a claim and a capability to guide your steps through this sin-scarred world. But He still gives you a choice. So choose whom you will serve. As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. Why?

Because the Lord is my shepherd, 
and I have everything I need.

The Lord's Prayer - Part 5

Lead Us Not Into Temptation

This week, we’ve been slowly working through the Lord’s Prayer. And as we’ve seen, it’s more than simply an incantation by which we force God’s hand to do what we want. Rather, it is a declaration of our dependence on our Father in Heaven, who stands above the chaos of our circumstances but still cares about us as we walk through them.

As we dive into the final part of Jesus’ prayer, let’s ground it in the context of the whole thing:

"This, then, is how you should pray: 

   ‘Our Father in heaven, 

      Holy is your name.

   May your kingdom come, 

      and your will be done, 

      on earth as it is in heaven.

   Give us today our daily bread.

   And forgive us our debts,

      as we also have forgiven our debtors.

   And lead us not into temptation,

      but deliver us from the evil one."

                             - Matthew 6:9-13

Now, it would be easy for us to misunderstand the last part of the Lord’s Prayer as suggesting that God intentionally tempts us to sin, perhaps to see if we'll give in. Otherwise, why would Jesus use the language, “lead us not into temptation?” But we know from James 1:13-14 that God doesn’t tempt anyone.

“When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.” James 1:13-14

So God’s not the one doing the tempting; it’s our own impulses towards things we yearn for that lead us into dangerous territory. I can think of a lot of temptations in a season like the one we’re in:

·       We may be thrown off by the radical changes to our daily rhythms that this pandemic demands. If so, we might be tempted to ignore the requests to shelter in place and go on with life as usual, regardless of the consequences.

·       We might be fearful that God won’t provide what we need in this time of scarcity, and so be tempted to run from store to store to stock up on anything and everything we could ever need.

·       In our hunger for interaction with the wider world, we could be tempted to fill our days with social media, which is like cotton candy - momentarily satisfying but lacking the relational nutrients we really need.

·       Nobody knows what’s coming next, and that’s frightening. But in our fear, we might be tempted to spend our days consuming every news report that comes out so that at least we won’t be taken by surprise.

These are just a few of the temptations we might feel in a time like this. I’m sure you could add others. In fact, take a moment and consider what you’ve been feeling lately and what you’ve been tempted to do in order to alleviate the discomfort.

No seriously, stop and think about it. I can wait…

Now, I want to be sure to mention that it’s not sinful to be tempted. Jesus was tempted, but he was without sin. He just never gave into his temptations. He never allowed them to dictate his actions. The same holds true for us. We will all be tempted. But our temptations only become sinful when we give into them and allow them to lead us away from our trust in and dependence upon God.

So the last part of the Lord’s Prayer is simply a cry to our Heavenly Father for protection from the things that would draw us away from Him and make us vulnerable to attack. Most of those temptations originate within us and arise in response to our fears and appetites. But the words “deliver us from the evil one” acknowledge that we have an enemy that is actively working to distract, discourage and dishearten us.

We are told that the devil is like a prowling lion, roaming around looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8) And like any lion, he tends to attack us when we are at our most vulnerable – in our moments of weakness and isolation. But that’s why it’s so imperative that we remember that we are never alone. Though we may be separated and unable to gather together with one another, our Father is always with us and He’s greater than anything we will face – greater than a virus, greater than anxiety, greater than financial hardship, greater than our enemy.

And we can take comfort in God’s promise that he won’t allow us to be tempted beyond what we have the ability to endure.

 “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13

So Father, we thank you that you never leave us or turn your back on us. And we’re grateful for the ways that you provide a way out when we feel tempted to stray from your side. So we choose to fix our eyes on you and follow your lead. We know that you won’t lead us astray, and that you are so much greater than our enemy. So Father, lead on. We will follow. 

Lord's Prayer - Part 4

The Prayer of a Forgiven People

Today, we are going to explore the topic of forgiveness, but before we get to that, there is one huge assumption that Jesus made when he taught his disciples the Lord’s Prayer: he assumed that the person praying actually identified as a child of God. After all, if we don’t accept that God is our Father in Heaven who is Holy (and therefore worthy of our respect), then we’re not going to be interested in seeing His Kingdom advancing into our world, or His will being carried out in our spheres of influence. And if we don’t accept God as our Heavenly Father, then we won’t look to Him to provide what we need - our daily bread.

But if God IS our Father, then it follows that our values would reflect His values. Or at the very least, as members of His family we’d desire that our values be a reflection of His. And this is nowhere more important than when it comes to forgiveness.

   Forgive us our debts,
       as we also have forgiven our debtors.

A debt is something owed to another, and when someone owes us, we’re usually pretty aware of it: If someone runs into my car, they owe me what it costs to fix the damage. If someone says something rude to me, they owe me an apology. If someone takes something that belongs to me, they owe me that thing back. Right?

My guess is you can think of several things that people owe you. Take a moment to think about it. And I’m not just talking about money or things people have borrowed. Think of people that have wronged you, hurt you, sinned against you.

Are you thinking of someone? Maybe a couple people? What is it that you feel they owe you? What is it you want from them?

Repayment? 

An apology?

That they feel bad for what they did? 

That they suffer like you’ve suffered?

But forgiveness is the act of releasing someone from what they owe us, without the expectation of repayment, and as children of God, He calls us to forgive as we have been forgiven.

One of Jesus’ disciples asked him how many times we should forgive someone. “Up to seven times?” the disciple asked. According to Jewish rabbinic teaching, if someone harmed you three times, you were to cut that person off and have nothing to do with them. This disciple doubled that number and added one. I’m sure he felt he was being overly gracious. But Jesus blows his idea of grace out of the water:

“I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” (Matthew 18:22) 

In other words, never stop forgiving. Never run out of grace towards others. Why? Because God has already forgiven us more than we could ever hope to repay. Consider how much selfishness and rebelliousness was nailed with Jesus to the cross. It would be ridiculous not to show the same sort of grace towards others.

Jesus illustrates this point with a parable about a servant who owes his master more money than he could ever repay. If he’d tried, even if he’d paid every penny he earned at the average daily wage, it would have taken him 200,000 years to pay it all back. Yeah, he owed a lot.

But here’s the crazy thing: when the servant begs for patience, his master not only relents, he actually forgives his debt in full. The servant didn’t have to pay back a penny. I bet you wish someone would do that with your mortgage, huh?

Later on, this servant runs into a man who owes him a whole lot less (about 1/600,000) of the debt he’s just had forgiven. But rather than show mercy to the man who owes him, he begins to demand repayment and even goes so far as to have the poor guy thrown in jail.

You can read the rest in Matthew 18:21-35, but let’s just say that when the master finds out, it doesn’t go so well for the unmerciful servant. And the point of Jesus’ parable is that it is both unfitting and spiritually dangerous for children of God to be unforgiving towards others. If we hold onto grudges and slights, then we have no right to ask for forgiveness from our Heavenly Father.

Now, forgiveness is not the same as ignoring abuse or submitting to more of it. If someone is being physically or emotionally abusive towards you, Jesus is not suggesting that you allow this person to continue hurting you. All it requires of us is to release this person from the debt we feel they owe us, just as we have already been released by God. And as has been said many times before, when we hold onto grudges or unforgiveness, we are actually hurting ourselves. It is like ingesting poison and hoping the other person will die.

Nor is forgiveness the same as reconciliation. Forgiveness requires one person to release another; reconciliation requires both people to want the same thing. While reconciliation can happen, and I pray that it does, all you can do is choose to release the person from the debt they owe you. It may be hard, but I can assure you, the debt you forgive is far less than the one your Heavenly Father has wiped away for you.

Father, thank you for the immense gift of grace you shower upon us day after day. As your children, we pray that you would help us reflect your heart. We invite you to search us and unearth any bitterness, anger, resentment or unforgiveness that has taken root in our hearts. And when it is exposed, we pray that you’d give us the courage and strength to lay our right to demand repayment. Help us to forgive as we have been forgiven. Amen