The Shadow of Your Wings

Mt 6:14,15 “… if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”

I’ve been thinking a lot about forgiveness lately. 70 x 7. I remember reading a Chinese proverb years ago that comes to mind often -

“Forgiving the unrepentant is like drawing stick figures on the water.”

At first thought one realizes it is a futile effort, but when held to Christ’s light it gleams with the truth of seventy times seven … over and over and over. That is the gift and grace of forgiveness.

When my sister and I were kids our dad would end arguments between us by making us tell each other we were sorry, “Sorreeee,” and then requiring us to “Kiss and make up.” “EEEWWWWW!” Didn’t help us learn much about forgiveness, but it did effectively bring an end to the tension as we burst into giggles and tossed a run by kiss in the other’s direction.

So, let’s see how this works … “Sorreee.” “Forgive me.” Wow - totally different attitude. The first claims no responsibility, is in truth a thoughtless, childish gesture offered without repentance. The second is a humble admission of wrongdoing and a plea that things be made right.

Which most accurately portrays my approach to God? Which should reflect our attitude of apology to others? Are we so secure in our relationship with the Lord, or our parents, children, siblings, friends that we think a quick “sorry” tossed their way will automatically insure forgiveness? Do we even recognize our need to be forgiven? Or the other person’s desire to forgive?

It occurs to me that there is a flip side to this proverb: Repenting before the unforgiving is like drawing stick figures on the water. hmmm …..

I seem to spend a lot of time sketching on the pond, forgiving those who have no thought of repenting or even apologizing, expressing my sorrow to those who don’t want to forgive. Lead me beside the still waters, Lord. Restore my soul,” and my peace, and my joy.

What a precious gift it is to be able to “come boldly” to the throne of God, knowing He will forgive, and forget my sins toward Him when I humbly ask. Trusting completely that in Christ I am forgiven, not because I deserve it or can expect it, but because He loves me, faithfully, truly, fully. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 Jo 1:9) How I thank You, Lord.

I saw a t-shirt a while back that had me LOL. A simple black number with bold white letters stating:

Sadly, the person I would have worn it for would never have “gotten the message.” She would have laughed but never realized it was meant for her, and besides, it was rude. (True, but rude.) So I decided that the $17.95 plus S&H could be better spent elsewhere - like on caller id for my phone so I can choose not to answer when I’m not up for listening. (I know, none of you ever do that. Just give me the Miss Non-congeniality award now and let’s get on with the pageant.)

I had another “friend” once who told me that when she started thumbing through her issues that she didn’t want my advice or even prayer, “just nod like the little bobble head doggie folks use to put in the back window of their cars.” I send her a Christmas card each year. That’s the extent of our relationship now. We seem to be content with that.

Truth is, we all have issues, and need a friend who will just listen. My husband snorts and shakes his head when he overhears some of my phone “conversations,” which consist of little more than, “uh huh,” “hmmm,” “Oh yeah, I get it.” He knows that I will be totally bummed out when I finally hang up. I’ve managed to get a little control over others’ issues with a caller id and having given away the cordless phone. I can honestly say, “I’ve gotta go, gotta go right now!” and am able to get off the line. (And with the amount of tea I drink the caller has no doubt that I’ve really “gotta go!”)

OK, tmi.

I’ve been thinking about that t-shirt again, though. Wondering if I can have it made with the printing in reverse - so that I can stand in front of the mirror and get the message to myself! I’ve grown weary of my own issues! I’ve tried being “spiritual” about it, like King David asking, “Why so downcast, o my soul?” Alas, my soul answereth me not. My mind, however, screams - Well, he does this, and she did that … Perhaps that is the cry of my soul. I’ve even tried installing a mental caller id - checking each ring of thought and “bringing it into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Cor 10:5) To be honest, that doesn’t always work so well either - like grabbing the phone out of habit before looking at who’s calling. I just get stuck with the conversation until I can manage a polite excuse to hang up. Bobble head me.

When I do offer advice to a friend regarding an issue it is most often to remind her that if she can’t change the situation she can at least change the way she responds to it. Someone recently shot back a tearful, “HOW? How do I respond to his thoughtlessness, her selfishness?” I could only answer quietly, “With grace.” “Oh,” she replied, “that’s fine for them! But I’M the one who has to live with the hurt! How do I respond to THAT?”  The Someone was my Self, and I have no answer.

What do you do with issues that just keep coming, piling up, when you can’t cancel your subscription?

David’s response was to “Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of HIS countenance … Therefore I will remember You … The LORD will command His lovingkindness … Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause … deliver me … For You are the God of my strength … Oh, send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your tabernacle. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and on the harp I will praise You, O God, my God. … Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.” (Psalms 42,43)

Jesus’ answer would be, “… seventy times seven.”

uh huh … Are you listening, o my soul?!

We’ve all heard the “ABC’s of Salvation” -

This has been used as a handy, simple tool for helping people voice their belief in Christ for many years. But what is the scriptural basis for “requiring” someone to admit to being or confess themselves as sinners before believing in and receiving Jesus?

I can find no reference that Peter, James, Nathanael, Nicodemus, Paul, (keep naming the names) “admitted” or confessed their sins when they first came to Jesus. They just believed Him, in Him, and all that was said and written of Him, received Him in the light of their revelation of Who He was, and confessed (told others of) Him as such. Confessions of sinfulness came later, as with Peter in the boat - “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Lu 5:8), or Paul declaring himself to be “chief” among sinners.

There is a call to “repent (turn from our sins) and be baptized.” Perhaps that is the basis for the ABC’s. We are sinners - “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” and in the presence of His holiness and wonder we cannot help but become aware of that, but it is the Spirit’s job to convince and convict, not ours. So why do we think we must ask people in need of Jesus to say the “sinner’s prayer”? Is it not enough that they recognize their need of Him? Is there a more perfect prayer than “Jesus, I need You!”?

I’m not trying to dismiss the ABC method. It just seems to me that not every soul comes to know Christ because they recognize their need for a Savior. What about the lost lamb who desperately seeks a Shepherd, or the one enslaved who desires a new Master? Or the man, perhaps like Nicodemus, who has believed whole heartedly in the religious teachings of his youth only to find one day that it is not enough to know Jesus is Lord, he now longs to know Him as Lord.

Romans 10:9 tells us with utmost simplicity “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Verse 11 reads, “For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame,’” and verse 13, “For ‘whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’” The book of Acts records the words of the jailer who asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” to which Paul and Silas replied, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Their response wasn’t, “Admit that you are a sinner then believe …” It was BELIEVE! Did Philip require the Ethiopian eunuch to enumerate his sins before being baptized? No. “What hinders me from being baptized?” asked the eunuch. “Then Philip said, ‘If you believe with all your heart, you may.’ And he answered and said, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

Considering these things it seems that I am more aware of the hearts of the ones I pray for and talk with. It is changing the way I respond to those who don’t yet know the Lord by sharing with them God of their individual need - the Shepherd to the lost soul, the Master to the bound slave, the Savior to the sinner, the Beloved to the lonely ...

When you first came to Christ what made you know that He was the answer to your need? Were you lost, confused, scared? Did “the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want” touch your heart for Him? Or was your life so bound by habits and fears that you cried out for mercy and release - as a slave would to his master. Perhaps you, like me, had been convicted of sin (by the Spirit and the Word) and needed the peace and forgiveness that only Jesus as our Savior could provide.

Whatever our reason, whatever the need, there is ONE who is the answer, One who says, “Follow Me, I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” “… that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

It’s simple as abc, just BELIEVE!

I would not be the first person to admit to being numerically challenged. I’m a “word” person. My husband, on the other hand, relates to numbers well. He actually enjoys figuring, to the point of distraction - mine! He seems to delight in reminding me (or forgets that he has already done so multiple times) that the 2 x 6 I want him to purchase for a new project won’t actually be 2 inches by 6 inches because (he tells me) the measurements of a 2 by whatever is really 1¾ by whatever! OK! I get the point! You, dear man, just get the lumber!

So, he gleefully trucks off to Lowe’s and returns with a bedload of wood which he then begins to measure and remeasure in an attempt to create what I have in mind. “Now,” he tells me, “you know this won’t actually be 6 inches wide, but I can add a ¼ inch strip of furring to make it exact if you’d like.” “Sweetheart,” I reply, … well, you don’t really need to hear the rest of the conversation. You get the point.

A few hours later, everything measured to within an nth of perfection, scraps of paper with figures, fractions, and equations scribbled on them lay on my kitchen counter. He’s prepared to start the work early in the morning. But for now, it’s time to relax and watch his favorite Friday night fare - NUMB3RS. (Of course.) So I sit, numbly, through the show, glazing over when the lead character pulls out his sharpie and starts charting his many faceted equations to catch the bad guy (who I detected within the first 10 minutes of the program with no help from math at all! The dialogue tells you everything you need to know.)

But there is one equation even I can figure out. There seems to be an alarming trend these days to discount or reconfigure the Word - even to the point of subtracting the One who IS the Word. I’ve been charting the “conversation,” carefully measuring the “dialectic” dialogue. As a word “Christ” is being replaced by “the anointing” (which can be argued as the literal meaning of the word.) A vast number of churches have removed the cross from their steeples and altars. Too many sermons are based on the most recent “word” of a favored “prophetic voice,” or the just published writings of Author Soandso, with Scripture being factored in as little more than fractional - or that pesky remainder after the division is done. “Truth” becomes experiential, “the Way” debatable and “the Light” is no longer being reflected as it is refracted by the murky depths of our “understanding” (upon which we are warned not to lean.) Even the mathematically challenging concept of 3 in 1 loses its distinction as the egg is cracked open and scrambled.

Here’s the way I reckon it - Jesus is the sum total, and if He is removed from the equation we will never have the answer. To put an algebraic term a (b + c - d) + e (f ¸ g = h) ´ i = ¥ into words - Christ Jesus (the anointed One + the Word - sin) + the cross (death ¸ sacrifice = salvation) ´ faith = LIFE.

I’m no mathematician and my formulation may not be exactly correct, but I’m 100% sure that I’ve got the answer right. Let others do the math, I’ll count on the Word.

A few weeks ago our pastor told a story about a young American soldier in Iraq. The tank he was driving tracked over an IED. The other men in his unit watched in horror as the vehicle burst into flames. When they were finally able to approach every heart ached with the certain knowledge of what they would find - when suddenly they heard the screeching of the hatch being opened from the inside. All eyes on the blackened husk of the tank each man held his breath, more from fear than the smoky fume. Slowly the hatch rose, flipped, and a hand emerged holding a small, camo covered Bible high. One soldier’s testament to the mighty God he served.

As Pastor shared this story I noticed the shoulders of the man in front of me begin to quiver, then shake uncontrollably as he wept. He, I knew, was a Gulf War vet. A member of an Armored Division - a tank driver. He’d seen too much. Too many mighty machines of war become tombs for his fellow soldiers, his friends.

This early Memorial Day morning I am trying to be quiet. My husband sleeps peacefully. He has the day off. He deserves this day off. He is a veteran of 2 tours in VietNam, 23 years of military service. He, too, has seen too much. Memorial Day, for him, isn’t pleasant. It causes him to remember things he’d rather forget. Not the men, or the camaraderie, but the loss of those friends on the battlefield. It’s difficult for him to separate the two - memorializing the living men he knew, often laughing, often frightened and the terrible memory of their deaths.

To most of us this is a day to celebrate a day off work, our freedom. It is a blessing for the majority of us to think of it that way. We might breathe a word of thanks on behalf of those who have ensured that freedom for us as we pack up the picnic baskets and load the coolers and head for the lake. Many, sadly, won’t give it a thought. Too few of us really consider the cost of our “Monday holiday.”

To those who do - the soldiers fighting even now, the families who wait, pray, hope - I thank and bless you, as I pray and hope with you.

To those who have survived the battles, I salute you. May you know, this Memorial Day, that you are remembered, and honored along with your fallen comrades. Thank you for your courage and your willingness to defend this country and freedom.

In memory of those who fought to their death to procure freedom for this and other nations, I am humbled and grateful. To their families - I weep with you, and pray for you as you bear the sorrow of the “ultimate sacrifice.”

May our lives be worthy of the sacrifice.