God's Healing Presence

Yesterday I learned something new from a portion of God's Word that I haven't spent much time in before, and I had the privilege of learning under the teaching of one of my sons in a Sunday School class at our church.  Probably because of my son's unique perspective gained in graduate school in Israel and my own recent visit to that country, my interest in Old Testament passages has been heightened lately.  I am recognizing even more than I did before that ALL of God's Word is full of truth that is applicable to our everyday lives.  Though the process of canonizing the Bible was far from perfect, it continues to be clear to me that God's hand was not just on the writing of his Word but active in every part of the process.  The Bible I hold in my hand doesn't tell me everything there is to know about history, and it carries with it many cultural understandings that are assumed by the writers; but, because it is God's Word, I can be sure that the Bible gives me all the history God thought was important in order for me to know Him better, and all Scripture has a purpose to teach, guide, and grow me (2 Timothy 3:16-17) - even obscure Old Testament passages.

I haven't given a lot of thought to the book of Ezekiel in the past.  As part of the books of prophecy, I was taught that many of the events depicted in Ezekiel's visions are about the future - things that will happen when Christ comes again to rule forever.  As such, I had basically written off these visions as having little, if any, value for my Christian walk today.  The images are hard to understand; and since I'm not in charge of what will happen in the future, my attitude was, "Who cares?"  Today, I'm reading this portion of Scripture with new eyes.

In Ezekiel 47, God gives Ezekiel a vision.  Here's what verses 1-12 say:

"The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east . . . the water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar . . . As the man went eastward . . . (he) led me through water that was ankle-deep . . . (then) led me through water that was knee-deep . . . (then) led me through water that was up to the waist . . . (then) the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in - a river no one could cross.

Then he led me back to the bank of the river . . . (there) I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river.  He said to me, 'This water flows toward the eastern region . . . and enters the Dead Sea.  When it empties into the Dead Sea, the water there becomes fresh.  Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows . . . this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live . . . Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river.  Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail.  Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them . . .' "

A little background information: For the Israelites, the temple in Jerusalem was where God's presence dwelt; water was (and still is) scarce in the area east of Jerusalem, and "river" carries a more significant meaning in Israel than in the watery Pacific Northwest where I live; the Dead Sea is so-named because it is four times saltier than any other body of water and therefore incapable of sustaining life of any kind; and not much of anything grows on the banks of the Dead Sea or the area where it is located.  In fact, the Dead Sea stops the flow of the Jordan River into it and makes the fresh water salty at that point. 

Present-day wilderness next to Dead Sea

 
Now a brief application to our daily lives: Healing for our lives comes from time spent in the presence of God and completely covers everything that could happen to us in this life.  When we look up from our own problems, we see that the life of God is happening all around us - trees are growing, salty water is becoming fresh, and life is being sustained in impossible places.  The presence of God makes all of this happen, and even produces in us leaves that will not wither and fruit that will not fail.  Makes me want to stay fully connected to God every minute of every day in order to completely swim in the healing flow of his presence.  I'm also motivated to go and read something else from the Old Testament!  

Colliding With God's Sovereignty

Yesterday my son who lives in another state called with some tragic news: a teenage boy in their church youth group whose family is active in their church died in the morning – an apparent suicide.  A young man about to begin his junior year of high school apparently decided that his life was no longer worth living.  My heart is sad for him, his family, his friends, and his church.

Many years ago, the church I was attending at that time also experienced the tragic loss of a young person when our pastor’s son fell while hiking in a canyon and drowned in the river below.  I know from that experience that nothing will ever be the same again for anyone who knew this teenager and that many different levels of grief and understanding will have to be worked through in all of their lives.

You see, Christians are not immune from life’s tragedies; but coming to terms with that when it happens to you or someone you know is not easy.  There is something about our understanding of God’s character that keeps us from being prepared for life’s tragedies.  It is much easier to want a personal relationship with a loving, gracious, and merciful God than the One who is also sovereign, just, and jealous.  But I believe God’s sovereignty provides the framework for all of his other characteristics to be exercised fully, and a proper understanding of his sovereignty helps us to face life’s tragedies properly.  Nothing that happens to us here on earth, no matter how terrible, can diminish any of God’s character.  That can only occur in our minds and hearts when we choose wrong ways of responding to our collisions with God’s sovereignty.

Part of understanding God’s sovereignty includes a recognition that his purposes are often different than ours.  While God can see a complete “big picture”, we can only see our own perspective.  Everything God does or allows is a part of his overall purpose of restoring man’s lost relationship with him and all creation (Ephesians 1:4-11).  This is both universal and personal, and I don’t completely understand it.  But I can choose to trust both God’s sovereignty and his purposes. 

So this is where our role as fellow Christians comes in: will you join me in praying for God’s purposes to be fulfilled during this difficult time in the lives of this boy’s family, his friends, his church youth group, his football team, his youth pastor, and everyone who knew him?  I don’t know why this teenager’s life ended so soon; but I know enough about God to know that it goes against his character to waste a tragedy.  God always knows what is best, even when we face incredibly hard circumstances.

I also have to say that there is a part of me that is angry today – and that is because the enemy has won another victory with his lies.  For whatever reasons, this boy believed Satan’s lie that his life wasn’t worth anything.  Satan’s native language is lying, and he’s really good at it (John 8:44).  It comes in different forms for each of us, but we all have to fight against believing what he tells us instead of what God tells us.  It started with Eve in the garden (Genesis 3:1-5) and will continue until Jesus returns to set up his eternal kingdom; but the victory has already been won by Christ’s death and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:57).  It’s important that we all focus on that truth and help other Christians to do the same. 

And if you have contact with young people of any age, take every opportunity to help them recognize how valuable they are in God’s eyes and how important it is to listen to what he says about them instead of what the enemy tells them through other people and society.  Praying today for everyone Diego’s life touched . . . and trusting God’s sovereignty and purposes in this situation.