Renunciation

Fear believes a lie,

Eden's lie: God has played false.

Faith cleaves to God-Truth.*

Let us give thanks today, trusting the truth revealed by God about Himself:

YHWH, the LORD,

a God merciful and gracious,

slow to anger,

abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,

keeping steadfast love for thousands,

forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin;

who heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit,

who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

who satisfies you with good;

He will not always chide or stay angry forever;

He does not repay us according to our iniquities;

His love is as great as the heavens are high;

He removes our sins as far as east from west;

His compassion is great toward those who revere Him;

His love is from everlasting to everlasting to those who fear Him;

and His kingdom rules over all.

(counting gifts still, #6936-6952, from Exodus 34:5-7 and Psalm 103)


*My friend Teagirl has me searching for haiku, even though not about nature, ever since her post last week.

God Is More than Enough {Book Review}

The headlines here in the last week have included the mass shooting in Colorado, the second local death from a mosquito-borne disease, and further compromise of our water supply by an invasive mussel. Panning out to the last month or so, there have been wildfires which destroyed hundreds of homes in Colorado Springs, devastating drought in the Midwest, civil war in Syria, and an election result which may exacerbate the suffering of a Christian minority on the other side of the world. That's not even taking into account the trials among my own family and friends.

Is any place safe anymore?

Into such troubled times, God Is More Than Enough by Tony Evans offers the only genuine reassurance: truth about the character of God. In a slim volume that walks the reader verse by verse through Psalm 23, Dr. Evans reminds us that true safety is not a place but a Person, Yahweh our Shepherd.

Dr. Evans has a knack for communicating even lofty theological concepts in rhythmic rhetoric which is as pleasing to read as to hear. Vivid, apt illustrations like the following make the teaching even more accessible:

If you’re where God wants you, even if it’s in the storm, you’re safer than anywhere else you could be. The prophet Daniel was safe and at peace in the lion’s den, while the king in his palace stayed awake all that night with worry. You’re safer with God in a bad place than you are without Him in what you think is a good place.

I had to learn this from my father, who still lives in the ghetto. I’ve been trying for years to get him to move, but he won’t. I went to visit him recently and as we sat on the porch, we saw drug deals going on down the street, and two women started fighting in the middle of the street like cats and dogs. It was another normal day in that neighborhood.

“Daddy,” I said, “why won’t you move? This is not a safe place.”

“Boy,” he answered (he still calls me that): “boy, let me explain something. The same God who got you out of this neighborhood, and the same God that got your brothers and sister out of this neighborhood, is the very same God that I’ve got with me right now. If God tells me to move, I’ll move. But He has me at peace right where I am, and if I’m in His will, I’m as safe here in the ghetto as anybody out in the suburbs.”

This book does not delve into scholarly linguistic analysis or much detailed agricultural information about shepherding in the ancient Near East, but neither of those is the primary concern here. Rather, Dr. Evans offers real sustenance and encouragement in the goodness, mercy, sovereignty, protection, discipline, and love of God our Shepherd. He is enough and more. Dr. Evans "puts the cookies on the bottom shelf" in readable prose and memorable illustrations which linger beyond the last page. In this reader's opinion, he succeeds admirably in bringing home his main point: God Is More Than Enough.

• More Info
• Read Chapter One
• Author Bio
• Another quote from this book in a previous blog post

Full disclosure: Waterbrook Multnomah provided me a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Lord Is Peace {Names of God}

Judges 6:
Gideon is afraid. The angel of the LORD appears to him under the terebinth as he threshes wheat in a wine press, afraid of the Midianite raiders. When Gideon finally figures out who has been speaking with him, 11 verses after we do, he's afraid for his life. Who can see the angel of Yahweh face to face and live to tell the tale? (Never mind that this same angel has just given him marching orders.)

Gideon is afraid, and the angel speaks peace. Gideon raises an altar to praise the Lord. "The LORD is peace," he names it. Yahweh-Shalom. The Lord is peace: peace in the midst of marauders and impossible tasks; peace that calls Gideon to walk through fear and find God faithful.

Mark 4:35-41:
The disciples are afraid. The storm strikes so suddenly and fiercely that the waves swamp the boat. It was Jesus' idea to cross the lake, after all, but he lies sleeping in the stern when they need Him to bail. Despite their long-honed sailing skill, they panic. "Don't You care that we're perishing?"

Jesus speaks peace: peace to the wind, peace to the waves, rebuke to the disciples. They haven't figured out in four chapters what Mark told us in 1:1, that this Jesus is Messiah, the Son of God. All these miracles, all this teaching, and they still don't understand. (All His provision, all His Scriptures, two millennia of Christian witness, and am I any better?)

Jesus speaks peace to the storm, and the disciples are more afraid than ever, because they don't understand who Jesus is.

As to this Jesus, "He Himself is our peace," Paul writes to the Ephesian believers (Eph. 2:14). Peter proclaims to the Gentile soldier Cornelius "the good news of peace through Jesus Christ" (Acts 10:36).

These are troubled times. The news in the headlines is anything but good. Still, the word of the Lord stands. The LORD is peace. Jesus Himself is peace to His people. The apostolic witness in the Scriptures proclaims good news of peace through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ the God-Man (Acts 10:34-43).


Let's press through fear, my sisters and brothers, and raise our own altar of praise and thanksgiving, proclaiming to the world that even now, even here, The Lord Is Peace.

Thanks be to God for His good gifts (#6864-93):

His Word, living and written
Reading through the Bible year by year
New connections among familiar passages, always more to learn
The Holy Spirit's unfolding of Your words to give understanding to the simple
Peace, a Person
His patience with the fearful
His mighty works, in times past and still today
Opportunities every day, every moment, to call on the name of the Lord for peace to those who suffer (Peace to the grieving in Aurora!)
Protection from dangers, seen and unseen

Phone visit with a friend
Lunch visit with my parents
Arrangements coming together to replace our HVAC system
Minds working in harmony

Follow-up visit with new rheumatologist
Her commitment to resolving this chest pain
Compassion beyond the clinical data
Changes in medication routine
Further tests ahead
Another new doctor

Weekend time with family
Nonni hugs
Watching our 3 little "pirate" nephews walk the plank, have a (balloon) cannonball fight, and search for treasure in their sandbox
Birthday cake
Husband a good uncle, playing with the boys and making them laugh

Three hummingbird sightings at the feeder
A very young male cardinal being fed by his papa and learning to forage for himself

Laughter
A Carolina wren singing benediction beneath the kitchen window
A thunderstorm bringing lots of noise and a heaping 1/8" rain
Rainbow flying in a day later

A painted bunting, which we've never had at our feeder before

Looks pretty fierce for a rainbow, doesn't he?

What We Need Right Now

In a bit of a fretful week, what comfort it was to read these comments on Psalm 23 from Dr. Tony Evans:

David didn't say, "The Lord was my shepherd." He didn't say, "The Lord will be my shepherd." He said, "The Lord is my shepherd." Right now. In this very moment. It's a present-tense relationship, which it must be, since God's name is I Am, and that name also reveals His eternal nature.

When God says, "I Am That I Am," He's saying, "I am always in the present tense." Everything for God is now. God has never experienced a yesterday. Nor does He have a tomorrow, so God never has to use the words I hope. . . .

Why is it important to know this about God? Because when I have a need, my need is in the now. When I have a struggle, my struggle is in the now. When I have a hurt, my hurt is in the now. And God tells us, "I am the Eternal Now. I can meet you in your present experience."

Then there are those of us that are worried and upset. . . because we're thinking about tomorrow. But God shepherds us one day at a time--He makes sure we have enough grace to cover the troubles of today. God says, "Don't worry. When you get to tomorrow, I'll be there. Just deal with today. Just let Me be your Shepherd, and I will take care of you. Receive My grace for this moment. And if you take time to thank Me for the present, you won't have time to worry about tomorrow."

God meets today's needs today. He'll meet tomorrow's needs tomorrow (God Is More than Enough, 16-17, full review to follow soon).

It's a funny thing about anxiety that it dwells on negative possibilities for future events but almost always excludes from the picture the grace of God. Even when my worries do come to pass, that grace can make the impossible possible and the painful things full of inexplicable peace and grace. I can borrow trouble from the future, but I can't borrow grace any more than the Israelites could borrow manna. It is daily bread Jesus taught us to request.

Following the advice of Dr. Evans, I will take time to thank my Shepherd for the present and to renew my thanks for His gifts of this past week:

6772. The Lord my Shepherd
6773. Jesus my good shepherd
6774. Grace enough for today
6775. Grace to endure discomfort
6776. Allen's help to get the cleaning done when our helper called in sick
6777. 1/4" rain over two evenings, the first since early June

6778. My mom able to blink her right eye for the first time since the onset of Bell's palsy after her last fall
6779. Blinking, one of those gifts we don't appreciate until we can't do it
6780. Freedom to ask for prayer
6781. and give it as well
6782. God's patience in sending me the same message several times in a short period to make sure I hear what He's saying, just like "rising up early and sending" the prophets to Israel
6783. the courage of those prophets (I'm reading in Jeremiah and Amos right now) to speak what God revealed even when they knew the message would be rejected
6784. Anxiety replaced with inexplicable peace
6785. Four years of snuggles from this sweet little guy 

6786. A midday concert from our little wren friend, singing perhaps half and hour, just for Ebony and me

6787. A friend's perfect ultrasound

6788. Virtually vacationing with another friend on a Revolutionary War tour (no packing or extra laundry on my end, just lots of great photos)

Q: If you wish to comment, I'd love to hear one thing for which you're thankful right now.

Ebony's Favorite Things {A Giveaway}

*Giveaway is now closed. Ebony is happy to announce that Lucy Mae Boggess will be receiving some of his favorite things to play with. His mama will be contacting her mama for postal address details.

In honor of Ebony's anniversary in our home, we at Wits' End would like to give a few of his favorite things to one reader to be selected by random.org at noon (CDT) on July 20. (U.S. postal addresses only, please.)

The gift box will include the following:
One Smarter Toys IQ Treat Ball in the winner's choice of size,

One Classic KONG dog toy, also in the appropriate size for the winning pet,

and a Natural Balance Dog Food Roll. (The dog trainer we worked with in Ebony's early weeks here chopped up this food as training rewards, and we're still using it four years later.)


To enter, just leave a comment before noon, Central Time, July 20.