July 15, 2022

                                                         Listen

 

She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her. “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” – Genesis 16:13

 

Hagar had fled. She was done. She’d been unfairly used as a pawn by Sarai and Abram. Now she was pregnant and being abused for it.

 

Back in those days it wasn’t uncommon for a slave to be used as a breeder for children. No one asked their permission. Why would they? Slaves – and women – were property with no voice and no rights.

 

But here’s the thing: God met her in that place. He didn’t ignore her or punish her or demean her in any way. He heard her cry. He listened. Really listened. What an amazing gift!

 

We are a society focused on things. We buy things. We do things. We are quick to tell others what to do and how to do it. We want to “help” them become who we’ve decided they should be. But do we ever really listen to them?

 

It takes time to hear someone. It takes focus and an openness we generally don’t want to give. We want to throw a quick fix their way and be done with it. What a waste! We’ve moved on but they’re left standing there with an empty heart and, likely, resentment at not being heard.

 

Do you want to give someone a gift? Listen to them. Really listen. Don’t focus on your response. Don’t consider how you want to fix them or their situation. And don’t focus on your “wise” advice. Just listen. It’s the greatest gift someone could give to another person.

 

God didn’t miraculously change Hagar’s situation. He could have. Instead, God sent her back to her life as a slave. But she knew God was with her and her unborn son. God heard her. And in that moment that made all the difference in the world

December 21, 2018

Choose Happy

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. – Psalm 1:1-2

What does it mean to be blessed? We see that word in the Bible again and again, depending on your Bible translation. It’s a good word. Religious. But what does it mean for us?

Various dictionaries use words such as consecrate or holy, sacred or bringing good fortune. All those things are wonderful things and we long to be worthy. We want to be blessed in sorrow and pain (as Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount) just as we want to be blessed in mercy and peace.

But what about happiness? We can be stoic and tell ourselves to remain strong in the Lord as we suffer. We can bear our sorrows and tell ourselves we are blessed to walk with Christ during a difficult time. But do we ever have a chance to be happy? Does God want that for us?

Of course, He does! God didn’t create us to suffer through life. Sure, we’re going to experience pain and heartache but it’s doesn’t have to consume us. It doesn’t have to define who we are.

In her latest book, Lisa Harper digs back into the original Hebrew to discover what this psalm really says. Did you know that the Hebrew word used for blessed is asre, which can be translated into with “happy” or “blessed”?

Go back and reread the Psalm 1:1-2. Now substitute the word “happy” for the word “blessed.” Are you happy when you walk in the ways of the LORD? Are you happy when you meditate on His Word?

Let’s go back to the dictionary. What does “happy” mean? Contentment, pleasure, favored by luck or fortune, delighted, pleased, joyful. Do you associate those things with external enticements, such as new stuff, job, food? Or do you think about happy when it comes to God? That’s a question Lisa posed in her book, The Sacrament of Happy.

Are you happy that next week we’ll celebrate the birth of Christ? Or are you feeling the stress of preparations and gifts and company?

Are you happy that God loves you and me enough to send His Only Son into a broken world to save it? Or are you so focused on your present circumstances that you’ve missed the greatest gift ever given?

Are you happy to fill your heart with songs of joy and praise for the Messiah? Or are you so caught up in the trappings the world insists on that you miss the reason we celebrate Christmas?

Each of us has a choice to make: Are we going to choose to be happy with what’s truly important or are we going to choose stress and disappointment as we follow the world?

I choose happy. What about you?