So I hated life

So I hated life.

— Ecclesiastes 2:17.

It can be good to hear things like this in the Bible because being sick and tired of life is something that happens to us all.  It’s hard to function when you feel like that…

On top of the pain and boredom, there’s also the fact that there is so much injustice and revolt…  What was the purpose of all this?

The preacher has seen it all.  Even the loneliness that chills and isolates a person.  “Woe to him who is alone when he falls!”  (Ecclesiastes 4:10).  And there’s so little we can do about it, not even for ourselves and our faults.  What’s crooked can’t be made straight again.

That’s exactly the way it feels when a person gets old or tired or depressed or maybe is still young but has no goal or desire or maybe just pressured by his own inexorable clear sight that sees through all the humbug in everything.

All this is described in the Bible!  It’s there so we will know it’s something God recognizes and cares about.  Even those who are tired of life are included in God’s mercy.  Their needs and thoughts are inscribed in God’s Book because they’re written in God’s heart.

There are a hundred reasons to be tired of life.  There’s just one reason, however—that’s better and more important—to have the strength to get through life cheerfully.  That reason is Jesus Christ.  Just because there are so many reasons to despair, we’ve received this one tremendous reason to trust, despite everything and in the middle of everything that seems so hopeless.

— This is an excerpt from To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz, currently my favorite devotional book.  (“Devotion for the Wednesday after fifteenth Sunday after Trinity,” 598).  To Live with Christ is currently on sale for an excellent price.

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“To Live with Christ” by Bo Giertz

Lately, I’ve been reading a new prayer book entitled To Live with Christ, daily devotions by Bo Giertz (1905-1998).  According to the forward, Bo Giertz

journeyed from atheism to become the bishop of Gothenburg in the Lutheran Church of Sweden…  Well-known for a sturdy confessional Lutheranism wedded to a warm piety born of confidence in the Gospel, Bo Giertz was a genuine bishop.

Indeed, what I have enjoyed most about these devotions is how they express genuine Lutheran doctrine with warmth and vitality.  Especially beautiful are the prayers.  For example, here is the devotion from Tuesday after fifth Sunday after Trinity (last Tuesday):

When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat.  1 Corinthians 4:12-13.

The apostle is the trustworthy steward of God’s secrets, and a steward is always loyal.  Paul knows that loyalty is his first duty as well as his most sincere aspiration.  He doesn’t inquire about what other people say about him.  He was obviously criticized and belittled in Corinth, although he didn’t care.  He knows who will be the final judge in his life, and he will remain faithful to Him.  Paul knows he’s a sinner.  Even if he’s not conscious of it, he needs forgiveness.  That’s exactly what he preaches:  Christ died for us all so we could become God’s children through faith.

However, Paul says, God’s kingdom does not consist of words.  Christianity isn’t what we call an ideology or outlook on life.  It’s not just a knowledge or conviction that things behave in a certain way.  It’s a force.  It means that God intervenes and creates.  Something new comes into the world and into our lives.  This new thing is God’s secret and the new life in forgiveness.  The Law ended where Christ began.  We are allowed to be God’s children for Christ’s sake and that fills us with joy every day.  For the world and for all the Christians who continue to think like the world thinks—and there were plenty of those in Corinth—it’s incomprehensible.  For them it’s foolishness to believe you can live without standing up for your rights and giving an eye for an eye when you’re treated badly.  Yet that’s how Paul lived.  He knows every Christian lives like that: never perfectly, yet in a way that shows something new has come.  Paul can point out simple facts:  He was reviled and blessed.  He was slandered, and he spoke good words.  He was persecuted, and he endured without giving an eye for an eye.  He did as Jesus said: bear your cross every day and follow your Master.

As Christians we live in the kingdom of forgiveness, where retaliation and the common order of justice no longer apply.  Living as followers of Jesus often means being strangers in the world, something people find absurd, provocative, unrealistic, or ridiculous.  At the same time we bear witness to Christ and open the eyes of those who are “of the truth.”

The prayer:

Dear Lord Jesus, help me to be a fool in the right way, a fool for Your sake, a humble and thankful fool in Christ.  I know Your foolishness is superior to all the wisdom in the world.  People mocked You when You were on the cross.  They thought you were powerless.  They thought they were right.  That’s when You completed God’s work with a victory.  Right there, God’s wisdom paved the way for a boundless blessing.  While You suffered and were down trodden, You gave life and forgiveness to the world.  May I never be afraid of suffering that leads to peace and reconciliation.  May I be joyous and thankful and believe in Your power, even when others think I’m throwing away what is right and can’t understand what’s best for me.  You are what’s right and what’s best for me, and that’s all I need to know.

The devotions are also arranged in an order that leads daily from one topic into another related topic.  This excellent devotional book is 830 pages bound in a hardcover, and is currently on sale at Concordia Publishing House for only $8.

May God bless the readers.

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The Beauty of a Winter’s Night

The Winter Solstice is the shortest day with the longest night of the year, this marks the beginning of Winter.  There is an austere sparkling beauty to a cold Winter’s night.

Those white dots in the photo are flashbacks from tiny crystalline snowflakes, both on the ground and in the air.  Different types of snowflakes reflect light in different ways:  Sometimes, the flash makes the snowflakes appear as a sky full of colored halos.

Even though there are evergreens in the background, we know this is not the growing season, they are dormant.  But sometimes God does things out of season.  Just as God gave a son to Sarah who was ninety years old and fifty years past child bearing age, so also God gave a Son to Mary, a virgin.  Now that was out of season:  Life does not come from a virgin womb.

Likewise, mankind was dead in trespass and sin, but from our dead flesh, from Mary sprang forth new Life: her baby Jesus Christ.  This is the unseasonal symbolism of Christmastime: a celebration of light and life from the dead in the cold of winter and deep of night:

“Behold, a Branch is growing
Of loveliest form and grace
As prophets sung, foreknowing;
It springs from Jesse’s race
And bears one little Flow’r
In midst of coldest winter,
At deepest midnight hour.”

“This Flower whose fragrance tender
With sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendor
The darkness everywhere.
True Man, yet very God;
From sin and death He saves us
And lightens every load.”

“O Savior, Child of Mary,
Who felt our human woe;
O Savior, King of Glory,
Who dost our weakness know,
Bring us at length, we pray,
To the bright courts of heaven
And to the endless day.”

— “Behold, a Branch is Growing.”  (The Lutheran Hymnal 645:1, 4-5).  See also Isaiah 11.

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On Jordan’s Bank the Baptist’s Cry

On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry
Announces that the Lord is nigh;
Come, then, and hearken, for he brings
Glad tidings from the King of kings.

Then cleansed be ev’ry Christian breast
And furnished for so great a Guest.
Yea, let us each our hearts prepare
For Christ to come and enter there.

For Thou art our Salvation, Lord,
Our Refuge and our great Reward.
Without Thy Grace our souls must fade
And wither like a flower decayed.

Lay on the sick Thy healing hand
And make the fallen strong to stand;
Show us the glory of Thy face
Till beauty springs in every place.

All praise, eternal Son, to Thee
Whose advent sets Thy people free,
Whom, with the Father, we adore
And Holy Ghost forevermore.

— “On Jordan’s Bank the Baptist’s Cry.”  (The Lutheran Hymnal 63).

Happy Advent!

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God says to the snow, “Fall.”

God’s word is not only inerrant, it is also effective and powerful.  (Isaiah 55:10-11).

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Abide with Me

“Abide with Me! Fast Falls the Eventide” from The Lutheran Hymnal, 552:

Abide with me!  Fast falls the eventide
the darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me!

A sundog shines over boats:

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day
Earth’ joys grow dim, its glories pass away
Change and decay in all around I see.
O Thou, who changest not, abide with me!

This old hymn is loved because it reflects the reality of life:  Days and lives come and go, but God is eternally faithful.

Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word,
But as Thou dweltst with Thy disciples, Lord,
Familiar, condescending, patient, free.
Come not to sojourn, but abide with me.

Someday, Christ will return on the clouds to be with us forever.

Come not in terrors, as the King of kings,
But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings
Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea.
Come, Friend of sinners, thus abide with me.

Α & Ω

Thou on my head in early youth didst smile,
And though rebellious and perverse meanwhile,
Thou hast not left me, oft as I left Thee.
On to the close, O Lord, abide with me.

The many masts of Fish Creek harbor:

I need Thy presence every passing hour
What but Thy grace can foil the Tempter’s power?
Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, oh, abide with me!

God paints the sky with colors.

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless
Ills have no weight and tears no bitterness.
Where is death’s sting? where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still if Thou abide with me.

We loved the many shifting hues in this sunset.

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes,
Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earths vain shadows flee
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me!

Heaven is our true home.

All the photos in this post were taken on the same day from Peninsula State Park in Door County, WI.

Now more than ever, in uncertain times, the Christian Church needs steadfast preaching and hymnody.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  (John 3:16).

May God bless you.

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The coolness of snow at harvest time

Like the coolness of snow at harvest time
is a trustworthy messenger to those who send him;
he refreshes the spirit of his masters.

— Proverbs 25:13.

This wasn’t the first snow of the season, but it probably was the first accumulation.  Those falling clumps of snow are about two inches in diameter.

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Olympics

Like many, I enjoy watching the Olympics (NBC Olympics).  The determination, dedication, and simple striving to do one’s best are inspiring.  The best of the Olympics fit into this category:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. [Philippians 4:8].

Imagine a sprinter who runs his race aimlessly and is not even cognizant of the finish line.  How do we run our races?

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?  Run in such a way as to get the prize.

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.  They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.  Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.  No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.  [1 Corinthians 9:24-27].

May God bless you; “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”  (Philippians 2:13).

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Flowers appear on the earth

Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.

The fig tree forms its early fruit;
the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
my beautiful one, come with me.

— Song of Solomon 2:12-13.

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The Eye Sees a Flower

The eye does not tell the world what it is.  In relation to the world the eye is like faith in relation to God: it receives.  God gives beauty, the eye receives beauty.  God gives truth, faith receives truth.

If the eye is good, the whole body is full of light.  If the eye is bad, the whole body is full of darkness.

We do not tell blind people to “look harder.”  Instead we heal the blind with the word of God.  God’s word of promise creates faith and makes the blind to see.

Through the gift of the eye we see the Giver of faith, the Creator of the eye, the Revelator of truth, the Light itself, Truth itself, Jesus.

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