The Slow Work of God....

“Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are quite naturally impatient in everything
to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way to something
unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through
some stages of instability—
and that it may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you;
your ideas mature gradually—let them grow,
let them shape themselves, without undue haste.
Don’t try to force them on,
as though you could be today what time
(that is to say, grace and circumstances
acting on your own good will)
will make of you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit
gradually forming within you will be.
Give Our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete.”

― Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

w work of God.
We are quite naturally impatient in everything
to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way to something
unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through
some stages of instability—
and that it may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you;
your ideas mature gradually—let them grow,
let them shape themselves, without undue haste.
Don’t try to force them on,
as though you could be today what time
(that is to say, grace and circumstances
acting on your own good will)
will make of you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit
gradually forming within you will be.
Give Our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete.”

― Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Oy Vey!

Oy Vey

 There are two Hebrew expressions that capture two opposite experiences that every human being encounters in this life.  These two expressions are often uttered or perhaps shouted as a prayer.  They most certainly demonstrate the pendulum swing of our emotions.

1.   The Yeddish expression “Oy Vey”:   It is proclaimed when life is simply not working out the way you expected.  It’s the “what ELSE can go wrong expression!  It is the Hebrew WTF.  Notice this expression seems always to end with a BIG question mark.

 

2.   The other expression is a single word derived from a combination of two Hebrew words: Hallel which means Praise and Yahweh which is God.  So we have Hallelujah….literally Praise God.  This expression seems always to end with a BIG exclamation mark.  This certainly is the other end of the spectrum!   Life is GOOD!

      o  We’ve won an all expense paid vacation to Hawaii!  Hallelujah!

         o  We’re getting a Tax refund this year!  Hallelujah!
         o  I got a huge promotion at work!  Hallelujah!

 Two extremes: One (Oy Vey) expressing the "FUD" factor:  fear, uncertainty and doubt; leaving us with nothing but questions.  The other (Hallelujah) expressing joy, excitement, and awe; leaving us with us with THE Answer.

Those two expressions become part of the way we see life.  The character Eore, in the Winnie The Poo stories, was definitely an “Oy Vey” sort of character.  His favorite expression…”O bother!”  On the other hand there is Tigger, zipping and zooming and he sees the positive in everything.  

How do I want see life, how do I want to live?  How do you want to live?   Like Eore or like Tigger?  Truth is I, at times, live like each of them.    I start living in the FUD factor with all kinds of questions.  One of the reasons, we sometimes live like Eore is that we have a deceiver and John 10:10 describes his mission:   the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy….”  Satan really does suck.   

BUT….   

I also live like Tigger because God is faithful and He draws me back to truth and convicts me (the more accurate translation of the Greek word is CONVINCE) …of my righteous.  The rest of John 10:10 says …I have come to give you life and LIFE ABUNDANTLY.  Tigger lives life abundantly.

 I don’t like those solemn portraits of Jesus that make Him look like he was about to eat liver and onions for dinner…. No smile, sad eyes, staring out into space.  The Jesus I’ve read about in the New Testament was a lot more like Tigger.  He got invited to parties; children wanted to be around Him.  I'll bet He never used the expression "Oy Vey". 

Hallelujah tells the world in a word, "God is Good", "my life has purpose", “I am a winner”!

 Is it possible to get from “Oy Vey” or “Oh Bother” to  “Hallelujah”?

 

Well, there’s another one word or almost one syllable prayer that is bridge between the two realms.  Brennan Manning said it was the most revolutionary thing that Jesus ever taught.  It literally turned Judaism  upside down.  The word is, “ABBA”.  Jesus taught us that God was not only approachable but He was our “Daddy” …Hebrew = Abba!  Jewish children at that time and probably even today called out that name as their first spoken word…”Ab..Ab…Abba”.

Picture this:  A little baby hungry, alone, frightened, perhaps in pain, messy diaper…life isn’t going the way he or she imagined it. They cry out the only word they know..Abba!

                         And Abba hears them and
                         Abba embraces them and
                         Abba surrounds them with comfort and peace and
                         Abba changes the future.

The word... the Name, the prayer, between defeat and victory, between loosing and winning, between Oy Vey and Hallelujah is more than a word, more than a prayer it is a relationship.  When that baby calls out in the middle of the night, surrounded by darkness for Abba he or she is invoking the name above every name.  The unmistakable faith of a baby literally screams, “I can’t…BUT YOU CAN!”  And folks that’s the prayer that makes us all winners!

 The revelation from the Holy Spirit that leads us to that moment of brokenness in every event of life when we recognize that we can’t but He already has, that revelation and confession allows us to see the “Finish Line” through the eyes of love…and God WINS…and so do you because He is in us and we are in Him.

Note: Jesus told His disciples a truth concerning brokenness,

            John 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it          

           abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit. Jesus was talking about His

           impending death. He told the disciples it was a good thing that He was going to “go away”

           …going to die.  Good because the result would be the New Adam, the Indwelling Holy

            Spirit,  the Victory.

When you and I “give up” the love of God that “faileth not” takes over.  Agape is released to transform.

So, let's forget those lofty prayers.  Forget the balance scale of good and bad that we've done.  Forget all those theological terms of scantification and justification,  free will and pre ordination.  You only need to know one word… and it can be shouted from the roof top when life is at its best or spoken sobbing between gasp for air.  “Abba”.

Love WINS!  Agape DOES NOT FAIL.