Following His Steps... to the Mediterranean Sea

Following His Steps… to the Mediterranean Sea

I am embarrassed to admit that, like Eve and all the women before me, I often question God’s goodness and loving kindness toward me.  I am engrossed in every detail of my life and wonder if He cares about them near as much as I do. I underestimate my worth to Him and feel insecure when the twists and turns of life take me by surprise.  I am often tempted to look to others for my identity and forget that God alone holds the keys to my heart and can meet my need for intimate love in the most personal of ways!    

My time in prayer every day almost always includes a plea for Him to remind me of His love- so unconditional and free.  He often answers me so personally and tenderly that I am brought to tears. 

Last year, while walking along a sea wall next to the Mediterranean, the waves crashed over unexpectantly and swept with them a beautiful piece of sea glass!  I picked it up and hid it in my pocket as a love gift from the Lord.  He knows how much I love the many treasures I have collected from the ocean in years past, and this one, from my first day in the Holy Land, seemed especially sweet.  But within only moments, He made it clear to me that I was to give the sea glass to a fellow traveler.  I did, albeit a bit reluctantly. 

I asked the Lord yesterday, while walking along the Mediterranean again, if He would remind me of His love through a simple piece of sea glass from this holy shore again.  I had barely stepped onto the sand before I found a white feather (another story all together!) and then a piece of sea glass… and another… and another!  I would be foolish to believe this was a matter of chance!  In the smallest of treasures, God pronounces His tender love for me, His child! 

Earlier this year, a precious friend bought a t shirt for me to wear as a reminder of His love.  I even brought it along on this trip!  On days like today, I need not wear it as a reminder, but a proclamation…  HE LOVES ME!

Following His steps… to Joppa

Following His steps… to Joppa

We landed in TelAviv at sunset on this Nov day. Our first stop was nearby Joppa, appropriately name the Ancient Gateway City to Israel on the Mediterranean Sea.  As I stood at the highest point in Joppa, I looked north toward the beaches of the Sea and could see the lights of modern day high-rises and hear the noise of bustling vehicles and airplanes overhead.  I tried to block out all that was new and imagine it as it might have been when Peter sat on the rooftop of Simon the tanner’s home somewhere nearby over 2000 years ago.  (Acts 10)

God had suggested the unthinkable in Peter’s vision… Take the gospel message to the Gentiles!  So unbelievable was this message, it was repeated 3 times before Peter awakened from his trance.  Even then, as he sat wondering what it could all mean, the Spirit interrupted his thoughts to say that three men were at the door looking for him.  He should go with them without hesitation. 

What was Peter to say when it was revealed that a Gentile man had sent for him and was waiting to hear the Gospel message?  Worst of all, he was a high ranking official in the oppressive Roman Guard.  Surely God did not intend to spread the Gospel to Gentiles such as these…

I wonder if Peter remembered Jesus’ parting commission and heard His words echoing in his ears as they suddenly had meaning like never before…  “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel”

Peter was slow to understand, yet he obeyed!  He left Joppa with the unexpected messengers the very next morning and made the journey up the coast to Caesarea (which we will actually visit tomorrow!).  God was commissioning Peter to carry the good news to a world not even looking for Him, and though this was not a part of the plan as Peter understood it, He was obedient to the Spirit’s call.  As a result, Cornelius and his entire household were the first gentiles to receive the Holy Spirit, as evidenced by their speaking in tongues, just as the Jews had on the day of Pentecost.  A new movement had begun because of the obedience of one…

What a contrast this is to the story of Jonah, whose journey had brought him to this very place over 750 years earlier.  Jonah had not come to Joppa to obey God’s commissioning.  Instead, he had come to run.  He would board a boat bound for a destination far, far away from Nineveh and the godless Gentiles God longed to use Jonah to reach.

Jonah ultimately obeyed, (even though it took three days in the bowels of a fish to convince him!) and he preached repentance to the people of Nineveh.  They responded by tearing their robes and turning their hearts toward God, but the Lord’s predictable mercy in response to their repentance, angered Jonah. 

These Gentile people had long been the enemies of God and Jonah failed to understand what Peter would 750 years later… God’s promises had begun with Abraham, but were never intended to stop there.  His intentions had always been that the entire earth would be blessed through the seed of Abraham’s faith and all those who would follow him in it.  His people were slow to understand a mercy that extended far beyond their human hearts could reach.  In the process, they risked missing His way all together. 

I must take a deep look inside myself as I stand in such holy places and honestly evaluate who I am.  When God beckons me to a plan foreign from my own… When God reveals Himself to me and asks me to extend His unexplainable mercy to my enemies, is my response one of immediate obedience or am I quick to run in the opposite direction with excuses for my disobedience?

Do I obey even when I don’t understand or do I rationalize and declare with my choices that I’d rather God overlook me and use someone else?  Will I be counted among those who discover joy in the service of the Lord, even when it takes me to places I never expected to go?

Peter’s obedience swept him into a ministry that would ultimately expand to millions around the world long after he was gone.  Even I would be counted among the fruit of his obedience.  As a fellow Gentile, you would too!

Jonah, on the other hand, was burdened by his sluggish obedience and on top of a traumatizing three days in the belly of a fish, he never discovered the joy Peter knew at the repentance of the lost. Tragically, he will forever be known as a joyless man who ran from God and was slow to obey. 

As I stand on these shores, I have a decision to make.  I need not wonder which would honor God and glorify Him as the Lord of my life.  Let my legacy be written like that of Peter’s… quick to listen; immediate obedience without questions; and immeasurable joy in being used by God for a redemptive plan so much bigger than I could ever imagine.  Count me in…    

“Be Still…”

The Sea of Galilee

This election season has revealed something about my heart I don’t like.  It has obviously revealed a lot of things many don’t like about the hearts of our candidates too.  But lest I think I am spiritually superior to those seeking office or any of their supporters, I need only look inside my own sinful heart to find a place that needs cleaning up too.  I am an informed voter.  I feel deeply for the future of the country I love, and I have overfed myself on opinions, polls and endless newscasts to find out what’s new.  I have no great affection for either candidate, but I am passionate about seeing our country return to the safe shores of honor, respect, and protecting the value of every single life, before and after birth.  While we cannot legislate morality- we can be unwavering in standing by it.  I long to see that again in this country I love.   I also long for a country where my religious freedoms are protected and I can know little of the persecution so many brothers and sisters in Christ face around the world.  I want a government without corruption, where every man and woman is free to live life apart from the control of power hungry leaders.  I want to pay as little in taxes as possible, and for our ministries to be free from them all together.  This is the world I grew up in, and I like it…

I do not have to look far to realize that the America I have known for more than 50 years is not the “norm” on planet earth… I need read only a few chapters into the Bible story, to find a world divided and fighting for power and control, riches and fame, and to make the name of their god the greatest.  So much so that by the time the book of Hebrews was penned, God’s inspired Word made it clear that His people were to know themselves as “aliens” in this world.  The story’s end will be victorious, and the promises our hearts long for will all be realized in a far better kingdom, where the Lord Jesus Himself will reign.  Until then, we are to expect and even welcome the frailties and pains that are part and parcel to the fallen world we live in. 

I often wonder why God chose to send Jesus into a world so corrupt, it would even make the worst among us blush.  Sadly, the religious leaders were so embroiled in the worldly system, even they did not recognize or welcome the Messiah they had been expecting all their lives. Jesus introduced Himself at the temple by turning tables over and throwing the money changers out into the streets.  If He was looking for a political following, this would not have been a good move.  But He didn’t come to put a corrupt political system to rest, or to bring the ease of freedom and prosperity the people wanted either.  I like to imagine Jesus walking into one of our recent debates unannounced.  His followers would have celebrated wildly!  The God of the universe had finally arrived to set everything straight!  With Him in charge, our world could be right on every account.  But can you imagine how disappointed we would be if Jesus simply threw some tables around and kicked the crooked moderators to the street and then walked out and back into obscurity?  Isn’t God as dedicated to our noble country, and to our comforts and freedoms as we are?  Apparently not.  While we look for a temporary fix, God has an eternal one in mind.  Instead of fighting the system, Jesus died for it.  Then He called us to join Him in dying to this world and living for something so much better… Him!

A close inspection of my heart these days, reveals one that still clings to freedoms this world can offer.  It clings to a patriotism that loves the land it once felt pride in… one that was different than any other, founded on principles that honored the God I love.  But maybe I have been holding too tightly to a worldly system that still looks to broken men and women to fix it.  That fix will never come this side of heaven.  If I am waiting for it, I will wait in vain.  And like the fickle people before me, I have bitten into an apple that will never satisfy my desire for real life.   Sadly, my heart’s condition tonight reveals that.

If I am being honest, I have to admit that I feel more than a little anxious about tomorrow’s election results.  I am tired of being consumed by these haunting thoughts and the impending gloom and doom if my choice does not win...   What this says about me is embarrassing.  I am one who claims to embrace the absolute sovereignty of God.  I believe that He is totally and completely in control of all things.  Did you catch that heart?  ALL things…  Even the direction and destiny of the country you love!   But the anxious state of my heart betrays my lack of trust in a God so sovereign.  If I truly believed that He held the affairs of my life and the world around me in His mighty hands, would I not rest? 

While I am embarrassed by my lack of faith, I know that I am not alone.  I found followers just like myself when I was reading in the Bible last week.  I’d like to think that had I been given the opportunity to walk with Jesus, I might have had a steadier faith.  Surely I would not have waivered had I been able to actually see His miracles close up and spend countless hours in intimate conversation with Him.  But such was not the case for His disciples the night they boarded a boat on the Sea of Galilee that would be battered by a terrible storm, while Jesus laid sleeping in the stern.  Convinced they were facing certain death, they shook Jesus awake!  “Do you not care if we drown, Master?” they cried in unison.  Jesus answered with a question, and I can hear His words in my ears tonight…  “Oh, you of little faith, why are you so afraid?”   Then He instantly quieted the wind and the waves with two words… “Be still!”

That same Jesus lies sleeping in my boat tonight.  The storm clouds are gathering and I can hear the thunder rumbling in the distance.  A terrible storm seems inevitable and I am afraid.  But tonight I have decided to believe that there is nowhere safer than right by His side.  I will lay beside Him and rest, knowing that He is able to speak to this storm the same way He spoke to that one on the Sea of Galilee more than 2,000 years ago.  As I drift off to sleep I can hear His voice as He commands the waves around us… “Be still!”