Finding the story within the story

Recently I was reading through the story of Joseph with some buddies of mine and I was impacted not by the story of his life.  That may sound strange,  as we typically read it and all assume we are like Joseph, but this time the Lord led me to the interesting side note on Judah that takes place from Genesis 37-50.  Judah is the story within the story.

To summarize, Joseph was Jacob's favorite son and the other eleven decided one day to kill Joseph as they were overcome with anger and jealousy.  The brothers agree to kill him but Reuben talks them into  beating him until they could decide what the next step would be.  As they are waiting, Judah convinces the brothers that killing him was a bad financial mistake when they could make some money out of selling him into slavery.  It was bad enough that their jealousy overcame them to the point that they wanted to kill their brother (This was not new as Cain had revealed in Genesis 4), but Judah wanted to get something out of it.  Genesis 38 takes a timeout from Joseph and tells a story of Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar.  It seems oddly placed for a number of reasons.  First, chapter 37 shows a focus on Joseph that would continue, it set the story up with the foreshadowing of his dreams and the lack of resolution at the end of the chapter, thus it steps away from the direction of the narrative.   Second, the story paints Judah in a particularly negative light as lacking the integrity of his daughter-in-law, a Canaanite widow who pretended to be a prostitute.  Surely this would have been an easy story to leave out, or set aside.  

Following this story Judah takes a central role in the resolution with Joseph.  In 43:1-11 Judah convinces Jacob to let him take Benjamin back to Egypt.  This had been tried by Reuben in 42:37 unsuccessfully.  In 44:14 Judah becomes central in the conversation with Joseph, expressing the sentiments of all of the brothers.  In 46:28 Jacob sends before him to show the road that led to Joseph.  Judah's transformation culminates in the blessing he receives from his father in 49:8-12.  It lasts the longest and is the greatest of all the blessings he gives to his sons.  The story hinges back at 38:26 where Judah repents of his wrong doing.  

I'd like to think the story is included because it shows the transformation that took place in Judah's life.  Transformation cannot happen until we recognize the depths of our unrighteousness.  I think we like to associate ourselves with Joseph when reading Genesis 37-50 because we think he seems like the innocent one, that everything he touches turns to gold and God blesses.  The reality is that far too much of our stories are more like the story of Judah.  The depths of our transgression and rebellion is great and even then we long to make more of a profit at our brother's expense.  We fail at parenting, we fail as patriarchs, we lie and worse yet, we are quick to condemn someone else when they look to be in sin.  It's not until we are forced to face the reality that we are unrighteous, that we fall short of God's standard that life-change can happen.  

I like to think Judah changed because of the grace he found in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and his father Jacob and that set him on a trajectory to live radically different.  The text isn't explicit, but the author seems to use his recognition of his unrighteousness as a launching pad for transformation.  Don't get me wrong, the blessings Judah received were not a reward for better living or a change of heart, but as John says, they were merely "grace upon grace," that Judah's blessings were unmerited and a further testimony of the depths of God's love.  What a sweet picture of God's redeeming love for a sinner.  Don't miss that story because Judah's story is our's as well.

Ministry of Presence

What do we say to someone in the midst of a trial?  How do we comfort them? How do we encourage them and come alongside them as Jesus would want in those moments?

Despite your career or background, these are questions we all long to know because we've all been faced with situations in life where a co-worker, classmate, or friend was walking through a season of trials or loss.  Your heart ached for them because their grief, fear, and worry was pasted on the expressions of their face and their body language.  In those moments we want so badly to remove their hurt, the cause of their pain and worries.  Knowing we can't do that, we wonder how we can do something, however small to help and bless them.

I've often heard ministers talk about the ministry of presence, and that being with someone, taking the time to visit is so critical to comforting them.   In my experience there truly is something powerful about people's presence and knowing that the trials you face you do so not alone, but accompanied by others.  Let's look at this approach from a different angle.  Recently I've been reading through the book of Job and in chapter 2 Job's three friends; Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite came to visit.  These friends are often treated pretty badly by commentators and readers alike, and well they should, but in 2:13 the text says that the friends spent the first seven days with Job, not saying a word.  This is the ministry of presence to the extreme!  For a second let's give the guys some credit, they traveled great distances to come to Job in his trials, and were with Job in his suffering, refusing to leave him for an entire week, while not saying anything.

But the time came when they had to give Job counsel, and that's when the problem arose as their counsel was not wise or sound.  It didn't reflect God's character or His dealings with mankind, but rather reflect a system void of grace.  Despite how one may attempt a ministry of presence with those walking through a trial, the moment will come when you must speak.  That's a lesson to be learned from all of us about Job's friends.  So what should be said?  Here are a few suggestions;

• Less is more Sometimes we don't know what to say and babel on and on and end up saying too much (kind of like grocery shopping when you're hungry!).  Affirming your commitment to them, offering aid, and pointing them back to the Lord and His Word are non-negotiables, but leave the rest for some other time.
• Offer to pray with them We often tell people in trials that we are praying for them, but seldom do we offer on the spot to pray with them (this would depend on the setting).  Prayer has a way of easing the worries and concerns of the person.  Sometimes in the midst of trials you don't know what to tell God and it can be nourishing to the soul to hear others praying for you to the Lord, almost as if it gives you words that you were unable to find.   
• Never call evil good I've heard people quickly quote Romans 8:28 and wrongly suggest that sickness or loss will be good.  I'm inclined to think that sickness, loss, and death are all a result of the fall and would never be looked at as good by God, but instead as a result of our rebellion to Him.  I avoid that verse in the moment, and prefer to look at the Psalms, places in Isaiah, or others that focus on God's character and faithfulness.  After all, what we need to hear in those moments is that we worship a God who is with us, who is both powerful and compassionate, who will take this evil and work through it to bring about some seeds of good.  

All things to all people

Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 9 seems to be quoted often as a rallying cry for Christians and our ministry to the lost.  I've heard youth pastor's quote it for students to overlook social cliques in school for the sake of the gospel, I've heard college pastor's use it to urge students that regardless of fraternity, school, or even attitudes about alcohol, we are called to those who are different from ourselves.  I've heard pastor's use it to encourage their congregations to view their neighbors as a field ripe for harvest, and to do whatever it takes to win them for the gospel.  All could be right applications, but may miss the mark.  With all due respect to those who have used the passage in the previous ways, I think they are missing the magnitude of Paul's statement.  Each time I go overseas and enter into a foreign culture I am reminded of the immense sacrifice Paul is making for the sake of the gospel.

Last Friday I returned from Thailand having spent a week on the ground working with some mission partners in Chiang Mai.  The trip was an incredible opportunity to see what the Lord is doing in the lives of, and through brothers and sisters in Christ in Thailand.  Though we were setting aside our preferences when it came to certain details of our day to day life such as what we had for breakfast during our stay in Thailand, what Paul was saying in 1 Corinthians 9 was still greater than merely laying aside preferences on meals.

The passage must be read in light of Philippians 3 or Acts 22 to understand the depths of Paul's allegiance not only to Judaism, but to the Pharisaical strand of the faith, which practices great discipline and ostracism from the larger Graeco-Roman culture.  As Paul talks about becoming all things to all people he is talking about eating as a Gentile, something he once would have thought of as morally reprehensible.  He would have considered it unholy and forbidden by God.  It would have meant sitting with people he once would have avoided as sinners who were unclean.  All that changed when he came to Christ.  The gospel not only changed Paul's eternity, but it penetrated even the mundane details of his daily life.  Paul's perspective on people, food, and fellowship was forever transformed by Christ.  Ironically, Paul became less legalistic after coming to Christ.  Something that seems so strange because in most evangelical settings the opposite is true as many of us become more legalistic.  The reality of Paul's life is that he transitioned from law to grace, whereas most of us transition from grace to law.

The experience in Thailand reminded me once again of the sacrifices we are called to make for the gospel, that it should change every aspect of our lives.  I'm grateful for the way it changed Paul's heart and asking the question where are those areas in my life that it must continue to shine it's light?

Hospital visits

I've now worked at two different churches in my time in ministry.  Every church has its own culture, own expectations, and own priorities.  Each church's culture and expectations are no better or worse than the church down the street, just different.  The two churches have been pretty similar in a lot of ways, but one of the differences that I noticed quickly at McKinney was the importance of doing hospital visits.  Every pastor does them regularly, whereas at Countryside we did not do them daily but would visit if a member we knew well was in the hospital.

As a young pastor, for whatever reason I viewed regular hospital visits as somewhat old fashioned, like something you expected pastors to do a few generations ago, when they were paid in produce and poultry.  It's not that I didn't enjoy doing them, in fact from the very beginning I've loved that opportunity to go and visit with those who are sick, those who are bringing new life into the world, or those who are hoping to hold onto this life for a bit longer before going to the land of the living.  In many cases this ministry of presence is the most pure and humbling ministry I do all week.  As Paul says in Romans 12, "we weep with those who weep, and rejoice with those who rejoice."  That's the ministry of hospital visits.

I was recently studying Ruth 1 in Hebrew and came across a passage that gave me a more pure perspective of this visitation ministry.  In Ruth 1:6 it says, "for she had heard in the land of Moab that the Lord had visited His people in giving them food."  That phrase, "that the Lord had visited," in the Hebrew is  פָקַ֤ד יְהוָה֙, (paqad Adonai).  The verb "paqad" has a variety of different meanings, but often means "to visit" or "to care" in association with the Lord.  This is the construction used in Exodus 4 when the LORD says He has visited or has concern for His people and in I Sam. 2 when the LORD has concern for Hannah's grief at being barren.  In each of these instances, what greater news could Naomi or the Israelites or Hannah had heard, than that the LORD, the God who is alive had visited, had cared for and was concerned for them?  

Certainly there are passages instructing us to visit one another in the NT, but this concept of the paqad Adonai is the foundation of the the ministry of visitation as it is grounded in God's nature as a God who visits, ultimately in the incarnation of Christ.  For He left the glories of Heaven and visited this world for a brief thirty years, making His presence, concern, and care for humanity known by visiting our world and even our fallen human nature.  Though our hospital visits do not come with the same power, or miracles as the paqad Adonai, we visit to show our concern, our care, and ultimately to be present with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  We visit because our hearts are full of gratitude because of the grace and concern we have been shown from the paqad Adonai.  

Not the Way it's Supposed To Be

Jen and I recently updated our zoo membership to the Fort Worth Zoo.  As we left Stillwater, a sweet family bought us a family membership to the zoo at Fort Worth (as they had heard about how great Fort Worth's zoo is).  It was one of the most thoughtful gifts anyone gave us and turned out to be very useful and cheap entertainment to a poor seminary family!  We've probably used it somewhere around 15-20 times over the last fifteen months.

I love taking the boys to see all of the different animals.  They each have their favorites and those favorites seem to change from one trip to another.  The excitement in their eyes as they see a cheetah dart into a clearing, or a set of otters dive into the water would be well worth the price of admission.  More than the excitement in their eyes, I enjoy the conversations that are sparked as we see the diversity and creativity among the different animals.  I get the chance to talk about the God we worship to Hudson and observe his eagerness and willingness to ask me about why God made the orangutan so big, or the jaguar afraid of the water.  As parents, Jen and I pray for those conversations and are thankful for an environment where those conversations can be accelerated as we enjoy the creativity that He has put on the earth.

But to be honest, the zoo is a bittersweet trip.  As I walk around and see these magnificent animals, I can't help but feel that this isn't the way it's supposed to be.  My heart hurts as I hear people yelling at the bears, hoping to entice a growl, or making goofy faces at the silverback as if seeing him run into the glass is humorous, because this wasn't the way God designed us to interact with creation.  Certainly God designed man to rule over all of his creation, and to bear his image and likeness to it, and the idea of image and likeness has an authoritative role to it, but not like this.  Man was not made to cage the animals, and poke and prod at them, laughing and making fun of their lack of freedom.  Instead, man was to serve as God's representative on earth, ruling and reigning with care and justice.  In this way the zoo serves as one more reminder of the consequences of the fall.  Adam and Eve did not just lose fellowship with God and with one another due to their sin, but they also lost fellowship with creation as a result of their rebellion.

I usually end my trip to the zoo on a high note, as it reminds me again of the longing I have for Christ's return and I believe those animals and all of creation long for the same thing (Romans 8), when all of this world will be restored and reconciled with one another.  At that time no bars will need to separate me from tiger or lion, as this world will once again be the way God created it with the God Man ruling over all of it with care and justice as God designed in the beginning.  And perhaps this is the very best conversation I can have in those moments of the zoo with Hudson and Athan, that though we enjoy seeing these animals and the creativity that God has revealed in them, the best is still yet to come!

Lent 2012

So this year I once again have been observing Lent. In the past few years I've given up Coke or Chick-fil-A but this year I decided to give up biting my finger nails. To give you some background, I've bitten my fingernails as long as I can remember. In fact, I don't ever remember using clippers on my fingernails. Now that I'm a few weeks into it here are some of my thoughts;

This has been way harder than I could have imagined. I used to bite them without thinking about it. I bite them when I'm worried, bored, hungry, tired, as you can see I used to always bite them! I've appreciated this difficulty for a number of reasons.

First, it serves as a constant reminder of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. As I'm thinking about biting them, I've been reminded of our faithful and perfect High Priest who never sinned (Hebrews 4:15).

Second, it's also reminded me that the temptations we face in life are constantly present, real, and crouching at the door. I want to grow to be aware of sin in my life and the temptation to fall into it with the same cognizant awareness that I have sought to have with this.

Third, I've noticed how well I can do in spurts and how quickly it can end. I loved this reminder the other day as it once again reminded me of the seriousness with which I should approach sin and how slippery that slope can be.

I'll try to post pictures before Easter to show my progress!

Back from Blogger Sabbatical

Let me start off by apologizing about my break. I must admit, I got overwhelmed with school towards the end of the year with school and work and had to set blogging aside. Here's how the year ended;

• Missed my goal of 3 A's in Greek by one (factoring in the DTS grading scale)
• Nearly got Hudson to do a Packers b-day party but a stomach bug ended that dream for both of us.
• Taught Athan to say "Ma-ma" first, only to have him get stuck saying "Da-da" for the next three months.
• Decorated our apartment with Christmas lights that would remind you of a college apartment.
• Experienced a Texas winter filled with two days below freezing and Mother Nature teasing us of snow with frozen dew.
• 2012 started with a great dodgeball game between me and the boys. I actually think I lost.
• I just translated Genesis 1:1-8 from Hebrew to English, so yeah I'm pretty excited about Hebrew.

Moving forward, I'm going to keep the weekly blog goal with blogs about family, ministry, and theological observations. See you next week!