Hearing the Music

Teach Us to Number Our Days

Throughout our life together we remember the passing of loved ones. Often these passings come at the end of a long life lived in the presence of the Good Shepherd. In these cases we resonate with the psalmist, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints" (Psalm 116:15). Other times, the passing is not so clean. We grieve lives cut short by disease or tragedy. We feel the loss more acutely because we can’t be certain about the state of the soul of the deceased. It is at these times that we remember that death is an enemy, an intruder into our world.

The psalmist of Psalm 90 (Moses) wrestles with the reality of our days this way:

"For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you?" (v. 9-11) 

After wrestling such, what is his conclusion? He asks the Lord to, "teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom (v. 12).”  We are all moving toward the day of our death; it is one of the sure things that we all share. The psalmist invites reflection as we look ahead in order that the days of our lives might be marked by wisdom. The psalmist goes on to turn our eyes toward true Wisdom which can only be found in Christ when he says, "Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days (v. 14)". Can you think of two more beautiful concepts as markers of your life than wisdom and satisfaction? Wisdom and satisfaction seem so beautiful and at times so unattainable, yet they are clearly held out to us as we look to Jesus and surrender to him.  

_{Photo by Adam Tinworth on Unsplash}

20/20 Vision

Here we go with the first update for 2020! There have been a plethora of memes and puns centering around seeing with 20/20 vision in the new year. Clear sight is always our prayer as we journey with the Lord. Our heart's desire is that we would see him clearly and that we would live surrendered as we seek to follow him! To help us to this end our sermon series that begins on Sunday is going to be following a track through the Gospel of Luke in which we are going to be stopping in at the various miracles that Jesus performed. Over the course of the book we will see him heal the sick, cast out demons, overrule nature, and eventually be raised himself from the dead. What is interesting is that while Luke is a book that deals so heavily in the “supernatural”, Luke also claims from the beginning that he is writing that we might have certainty (Luke 1:1-4) regarding who Jesus is and what he came to do. This cross-pressure that exists between certainty and miracle will be a great occasion for us to wrestle with our own questions regarding faith and doubt, while ultimately pushing to a certain confidence in the Savior who lived and died for us.

None of us know what this year will hold, but we move forward with certainty and our sight on the Lord, knowing that our great King and High Priest never ceases interceding for us!

_{Photo by David Travis on Unsplash}

Here's to a Hope Filled Year

There is something special about ringing in the new year. No matter if you celebrate in the early seconds or a few hours later when the sun rises. It’s an opportunity to re-new, to re-focus, and depending on how your previous year went, either build on top of it, or start a fresh. There is so much joy and hope that can come at the start of the year. A recent study showed that only 3% of Americans planned to not celebrate New Years Eve in 2019. That means the vast majority of people were celebrating New Years Eve in some form or fashion. It’s safe to say that there aren’t many other events, beliefs, or decisions that bring so many of us together. Hope is contagious.

This week we are going to look at Isaiah’s account of the Holy City in chapter 60. There are so many aspects of the prophets vision that are remarkable. It’s a full account of a city full of goods, commerce, technology, a diverse swath of people, kings and rulers serving the people, gold, frankincense, imported woods and of course, the glory of the LORD. Of the twenty-two verses that portray this Eternal City, it is the second part of the concluding verse that sticks out to me this new year.“I am the LORD, in its time I will hasten it.” To be haste is something our culture is overly familiar with. However not in the same way we are called to think of it here. No, instead we are hasty with decisions, with the way we move about in our work, our family lives, from one activity to another. We hastily look to those in power to free us from injustices, we want hasty decisions that go our way. In other words we live in a fast paced culture that wants us to keep up. 

The LORD says, “in its time, I will hasten it.” The maker of all things, who created the earth and the contents it contains in six days, says…in its time… 

As this new year begins, this is a reminder that YHWH is working. The things we long for, like the Holy City, which releases us from sin, pain, death and the like, are coming. Yet they are coming on the LORD's timing. It’s a call to press into that reality this year, to be faithful in our worship of Him, glorifying the LORD in all that we do and remembering that “in its time, I will hasten it.” It’s right for us to hope and long for that time and place, it will be glorious beyond explanation. It’s also right for us to wait on the LORD's timing. So here’s to a new year, full of God’s grace and glory.

_{Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash}