When We Do Not Feel LIke Singing--Can We Take Heart from the Songs of Others?

Last Sunday morning was one of those times when one of life's storms had crashed us up against the rocks.
I was flat on the bed after breakfast, thinking I wasn't going to even be able to get up much less go to church. But I knew I needed to be around people, and the children had already started walking to a church nearby, and by sheer will power, and Jonathan's help,
I made it up and out to the van.

I hadn't even thought of putting the Sunday roast into the crockpot the night before,

so when Jonathan asked where the lunch crockpot was,

I had to admit it was nowhere!

We decided we'd have hamburgers for lunch.

Until we got to church.

And we saw one person after another bringing crockpots to the fellowship hall,

and the pastor greeted us warmly and immediately insisted that we join them for their Thanksgiving potluck after service.

We learned later that the church had just recently been through a problem in which quite a number of people left. There were no longer the Saturday evening and early Sunday morning contemporary services, just this one traditional service.

 The folk were more than welcoming, and we so appreciated the many old hymns and songs,

and the young pianist who had taught himself to play piano and accompanied so simply and yet so well.

He and his mother also played stringed instruments for the special, "Amazing Grace,"

and then he sang, "I'm Drinking From My Saucer 'Cause my Cup Has Overflowed."

He sang it in such a simple way, playing the guitar exactly the way we like it!

 And when more than one person insisted we stay and help them eat the generous meal,

we were too hungry and spent to say no!

While waiting, the pianist's father, a rancher, asked us if we had animals, and when Jonathan and the children went down the list and told him we'd just been given a horse, 

he asked quickly, "Do you have a saddle?"

 Okay, where was this going?
Well, the next day, we were the new owners of an old saddle that was just getting dusty in their garage!

Plus all at the same time, we also met a neighbor who attends there.

He is a Gideon.

About 10 or 12 years ago, someone from his place had been riding by our property and our dogs chased them, and the person got very mad and hollered at me, and I ended up sitting on our dog to keep it from chasing the horse, and after that, the children and I were petrified of those neighbors!

What a blessing to have this kind man introduce himself and offer to help anytime we needed it.

And all the petrification left. Thank You Jesus!

In a recent article in desiringgod.org., I was touched by an article that talked about how sometimes others have the voice we need when we don't feel like singing in church. The author wrote,

"Each Sunday, a good portion of our churches gather for worship with genuine anticipation for singing, praying, and hearing the word. But not everyone. Life is too real, and the ancient fall of Genesis 3 is still too valid, to think nobody walks into church with scars, shame, or even cold apathy... Even the most stably enthusiastic in our gatherings have had Sundays when we wished our hearts burned more brightly. We experience an inner struggle in these moments. On the one hand, we know that we should sing because we’re at church. On the other, it’s good to be authentic and real, so it feels like a lie to sing when we don’t feel like it. Is it better to be honest and silent than an audible hypocrite?

"Of course, we don’t want to portray something false about ourselves. Nevertheless, we have at least two good reasons for us to open our mouths and lift our voices even when we don’t feel like it.

"You Have the Voice Your Neighbor Needs"

 

"People in every congregation have no voice at times. They’re not singing, but not because they don’t want to. They’re weak and worn, and in that hour they can hardly speak, much less sing. Maybe it’s a young woman who can’t sing “It Is Well” because that Sunday marks one year since her mother’s death, or a young couple who can’t sing “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” a few days after another miscarriage.

"In God’s infinite love, he has not left these people alone. Instead, he has ordained for corporate worship to work not only vertically, but horizontally. In that moment, when the broken believer struggles to address God, we remember that God has told us to address one another with our songs (Ephesians 5:19).

"When we don’t feel like singing, we have an opportunity to consider the interests of others and count them more significant than our own (Philippians 2:3–4). We have the privilege, in a way, to open our mouths for the mute (Proverbs 31:8). You may not want to sing, but the person next to you, in front of you, or behind you may need you to sing. The sight and sound of your singing may impress on them the truths of the gospel, or spur them to believe, with the psalmist, “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you” (Psalm 63:3).

"The sight and sound of God’s people singing is a powerful, stirring exhortation for struggling hearts to believe the truths they hear sung around them. The next Sunday you’re inclined to keep quiet, remember your neighbors and sing their song."

For the entire article, see: http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-if-i-don-t-want-to-sing?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Desiring%20God&utm_content=Daily%20Desiring%20God+CID_f78d7de4e3ea6647ab6a3183ade4418b&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=What%20If%20I%20Dont%20Want%20to%20Sing

Such a Fun Thanksgiving Feast!

This Thanksgiving, it was a joy to have our dear friends, Ward and Naomi French, her brother Tim and Candy, Uncle George and Aunt Irina around our dinner table.

Timmy loves to smoke meat in the smoker Tim lent us, so he smoked our turkey before we baked it.

Naomi brought a second turkey, roasted to golden perfection!

She also brought the best mashed potatoes and yummy gravy and pies.

Candy arrived radiant, bringing jellos and broccoli and another pie, and wanting to see our new pig family!

Oh, and she brought these wonderful rolls!

Here are the desserts!

We had a fun time of first singing the Doxology and then having Ward offer a grateful prayer,

and then fell to!

Afterwards,  every last person except Uncle George participated in a fun game that left us in stitches at times.

It was a great celebration of family and friends. 

Later I hope to blog about the next day, when a water technician came to gather data to help us determine where to drill a new well.

Thanksgiving--Feasting with Godly Intentionality

 Yesterday evening Jonathan and I read to our children an article from desiringgod.org

called "The Lost Art of Feasting."

I loved the way this author shared exactly my sentiments in words I could not say myself.  

While many people indulge selfishly with no godly intention,

others go to the other extreme and think we ought not to celebrate holidays at all 

since that is "what the world does."

 David Mathis finds a wonderful balance.

 He wrote how "true feasting is...in decline through familiarity and lack of spiritual purpose. Most of us have never given any serious thought to what it might mean to feast with Christ-honoring intentionality.

We’ve grown dull to the wonder of ample food and drink through constant use, and overuse. When every day is a virtual feast, we lose the blessing of a real one. When every meal is a pathway to indulgence, not only is fasting lost, but true feasting is as well."

He wrote how feasting is a spiritual joy, and how the kindness of God is shown in His provision ofour daily food, but "there is the special grace of a feast."

This is "not the same as indulging.."

We are not "free to feast in a way that dishonors God. And forgetting him altogether is profoundly dishonoring. As Christians, we want to learn to feast in such a way that we’re tasting God’s supernatural goodness as we enjoy natural tastes.

"Feasting is not first about the food. It is foremost about the Godward celebration of some specific occasion together. Good food and drink, in abundance, come in alongside our corporate focus to accentuate the appreciation and enjoyment of God and his kindness. The heart of feasting is not the food itself, but the heart of the feasters. A true feast is bigger than the food — infinitely bigger. The center is God and his greatness and grace toward us in Christ.

For Christians, feasting is not the same as mere indulgence. There is nothing particularly Christian about eating and drinking more than usual. What makes feasting a means of God’s grace for nourishing our souls is explicitly celebrating Christ together in faith. Whether it’s Thanksgiving or Easter, a birthday or anniversary, when we feast as Christians, we celebrate the bounty and kindness of our Creator and Redeemer. Feasting in Christ is no mere physical event, but deeply spiritual."

 

Then Mathis describes how we can prepare the way for feasting.

One way we can learn to be more thankful is to first be more simple.

"Good preparation for a good feast typically begins before the feast day — not only in our planning, but in our pattern of eating. When our normal daily consumption is characterized by sufficient restraint, then feasting is something we can rise to on special occasions, by faith and in good conscience, rather than being the baseline of everyday eating. If you’ve so overindulged leading up to the feast that you feel a need to count calories at the feast, something is not right. Daily restraint both keeps our stomachs primed for times of fasting (so we’re not miserably famished) and makes possible a kind of special indulgence on feast days.

But exercising self-control in eating and drinking as a habit of life is only a prerequisite to good feasting. For a big Thanksgiving dinner to honor God — and feed not only our stomachs, but our souls — we need a few simple, but significant, steps to make it holy.

"How is a Christian feast distinct from any old American Thanksgiving?"he asks.

First, we should plan with Christ as the center.

"We don’t just plan for the food and drink, but to make much of Jesus at the culminating point. The night before, or morning of, perhaps the man of the house gives a few moments reflection to what “words of institution” will be spoken before the prayer of blessing.

Also planning with Christ at the center may mean having an open door, and extending invitations, to uncomfortable people. True feasting is not about being socially comfortable, but having the heart of Jesus to ask, “Who should we invite to dinner?”

“When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” (Luke 14:13)

Then, we need to " speak a Godward word."

"It does not need to be a sermon. Keep it short, but clear. Perhaps a text of Scripture read or recited to join hearts and hungry tummies together, accompanied by a heartfelt word about this occasion and its spiritual purpose.

This is the moment when the grace of Christ is made most explicit. This word (along with the prayer) moves the feast from mere eating and drinking to doing so “to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31) and for the strengthening of our souls, not just feeding of our stomachs.

 

Third, we should sanctify the feast through prayer.

 Feasts are made holy “by the word of God and prayer” (1 Timothy 4:4–5). First we hear a Godward word; then we speak back to him to express our collective gratitude — not just for the food, but in particular for the stated focus of our celebration.

"The prayer need not drag on and on to feign holiness. Feasting is made holy by a Godward word and earnest prayer. Again, as with the word, earnestness does not entail length, especially when stomachs are growling and the hot food is cooling."

Finally, we enjoy the food, drink, and company.

 Don’t feel the burden to keep Christ ceaselessly in your consciousness, such that you don’t enjoy the tastes and engage with the company. "

That was from David Mathis.

This is from me.

I hope tomorrow, on Thanksgiving Day, each of us will in some way remember our brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering and starving and wasting away in prisons and under persecution while we feast.

Two Sundays ago, our family did an activity that came to us in the mail from Spirit of Martyrdom which is affiliated with Voice of the Martyrs.

It was a serious kind of game where you rolled a dice to know which space to land on, and each different square gave you a little project to do such as pray for a certain country restricted to the gospel, or pray for a Christian in prison, or look up on a map 10 countries where there is persecution, or make up a little pack of bottled water, snack and gospel tract to give a homeless person.

We appreciated this creative way of sharing in prayer and care for our suffering brethren.

Here is the link to the article I shared from above.

http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-lost-art-of-feasting?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Desiring%20God&utm_content=Daily%20Desiring%20God+CID_2687adb4ccf0a1d65b9ba299650ce118&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=The%20Lost%20Art%20of%20Feasting

Liberty--Our Free Horse!

A week ago Saturday Jonathan got a call from our neighbor who boards horses.

Someone whose horse he was boarding had neither been paying for the boarding nor riding her horse,

and had finally told him to just get rid of it. 

And he wondered if we wanted a horse--for free?

She is a 15-year-old bay mare, extremely gentle, and the children can ride her bareback without even a bit.

The day we got her, we had a 13-year-old boy here who had stayed overnight with our Timmy.

This city boy, whose story would rend anyone's heart, got to be the second person to ride the horse.

It made us feel like not only had God answered our own children's prayers and desires for a horse, 

but also He had a plan for us to share that horse with city kids and others.

What fun the children had riding her!

That night we discussed names. 

We thought since she was given to us the week of this historic election, we should give her a patriotic name.

So after much deliberation (almost as much as went into ratifying the Constitution! :)

we all decided that the name Liberty was just perfect!

So Liberty she is!

For a week, we didn't even have a halter for her,

but the children fixed a rope to make do for reins and halter.

And then, I'll have to tell the story later,

Monday new friends gave us a saddle!

When they found out we had a horse but no saddle, they said they had a saddle in their garage collecting dust!

And so, we drove out to their place, near some bluffs where they said a pair of golden eagles raise two eaglets every year,
and we picked up this saddle, complete with a saddle blanket!

God is so good to provide what we need!

I had just been thinking that especially Rose needed a horse.

And God gave us one--

Liberty--our free horse!

When Birds Bend Their Knees

One morning, one of the children discovered one of our chickens in a cupboard of our garage!

Apparently it had sneaked into our garage during the day, 

and, thanks to its roosting instinct, had found a place to roost overnight.

So there she was, up in the cupboard, seemingly quite content!

"Daddy!" Danny exclaimed another morning.

"Do you know how birds stay on their perches at night?"

Excitedly, our little boy told how that when a bird's knees bend,

its toes automatically curl up and grasp whatever it is perching on.

That way, it can sleep all night without fear of falling off its perch!

And so, this mother has gone to her knees in recent days, 

because when our knees bend, we automatically grasp something to keep us from falling,

something on which to hang our burdens and our cares,

our hope and our faith.

In the darkest and longest nights of the soul, the bended knee gets hold of something we could not otherwise grasp--the Branch of God.

 And haven't we all heard that if you want to pick up something heavy,

you should bend your knees and use your leg muscles

rather than lift heavy things with your back?

 It only stands to reason then, 

that when something is too heavy for us,

rather than trying to deal with it in our own strength,

we ought to bend our knees.

Heavenly Father, as our knees bend before You each day,
be the branch on which we may safely rest!
And remember also those days when our very restlessness or weariness drives us to pace in prayer instead of kneel.
Even then, remember our infirmities, and that we are dust.
Teach us to quiet ourselves and to trust in You.
And when we can't quiet ourselves because of the storm,
would You Yourself calm the storm and speak peace to our troubled hearts?

The Garter Snake and the Starling Snare

A few weeks ago, I found a garter snake in the road.

The children love to play with these harmless garter snakes.

Even Hannah has to prove that she is no sissy when it comes to garter snakes.

She's got to keep up with her brothers.

 That little serpent reminded me of the words I had just been pondering and talking to Jonathan about,

the serpents' words that set the first trap for human kind--

"Yea, hath God said?"

 The words cast doubt in Eve's mind as to what God had said, and what He meant, and whether He was wise enough to be obeyed.

"Perhaps, Eve," the serpent beguiled, "you should not be so simple as to believe what God has said.

Why, if you do what God has said not to do, you will know the difference between good and evil,
and be as wise as God!"

Thus Satan gets us to doubt the authenticity and final authority of God's Word,

and decide that actually we are as good an authority on what is good and evil

as God is.

But that is precisely where we get trapped.

We end up thinking we know as much as God,

and that our own opinion is as wise as His.

Timmy built a starling trap recently to capture these pesky rascals that eat our dogfood and chicken feed

and are a pain to have around the ranch.

The starlings easily find their way into the snare as they seek to get to the dogfood inside.

But then they are too stupid to know how to get back out.

Here is one in the trap. 

There is a way out.

The starling is just too stupid to figure it out.

I called the boys back to school, and a while later, that particular starling was gone from the snare!

It had found its way out!

The Psalmist wrote, "Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowler.

The snare is broken, and we have escaped."

"Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth."
Lord, You know the snares that the devil has set and is setting for each of Your people.
Perhaps some snares are ready to snap today.
Perhaps some of Your children are already caught in the snare and cannot find their way out.
Please break the snare through the power of Your name and through Your blood.
Show Your children the way of escape, that they may be able to bear whatever trial or temptation is coming against them.
Keep us, Oh God, from becoming ensnared in the worldly wisdom of our own understanding
which is folly,
but to acknowledge You so that You may keep us safe under the shadow of Your wings!

"Seven Ways to Pray on Election Day"

from desiringgod.org by Joe Rigney    This is an excellent, convicting prayer I hope to use in our prayer time on Election Day.

"Our Father and God,

We acknowledge that in this election you are, as it were, holding up a mirror to America. You are showing us who we are as a nation. We may not like what we see, but the two major party candidates represent us well. Lies, corruption, selfishness, unbridled ambition, shameless sexual immorality — all committed with a high hand. That’s our nation. You are giving us the leaders that we deserve.

If you are judging our nation by showing us who we are and what we deserve in these two candidates, then our proper response is to embrace your judgment. We say “Amen” to your judgment, to agree with you about who we are as a people, and that begins with repentance.

And it begins with our repentance. Judgment always begins with the household of God (1 Peter 4:17). Sins that are celebrated without shame in the wider culture are almost always present and active in the church, even when they are hidden. Removing the log from our own eyes is the prerequisite to speck-hunting in our neighbor’s out there (Matthew 7:3–5). Heartfelt repentance for our sins is where we must start.

We are people of unclean lips, and we dwell amidst a people of unclean lips. We are humbled by the greatness of our transgressions and by the weight of our wickedness. Left to ourselves, every intention of our hearts is only evil continually. And so we confess these sins on behalf of ourselves and our nation, casting ourselves wholly on your great mercy in Christ. 

 

Sexual Immorality

Father, our nation is awash in sexual foolishness. We have exalted our lusts and pursued them with reckless abandon. We have despised our daughters, ruined our sons, and betrayed our wives and husbands. We not only indulge dishonorable passions, but we give hearty approval to those who practice them, and malign those who refuse to join in. We are a people who glory in our shame.

This is a great evil.

Father, as your people we acknowledge our guilt in these sins. We have tolerated sexual immorality in our midst. We have hidden it, swept it under the rug, treated it as a small matter. We have justified and excused our indulgence. We have made provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. We have attempted to make peace with these sins, refusing to cut off our hand in order to pursue your holiness.

Forgive us, O God, in your great mercy.

Abortion

Father, for over forty years, our nation has sought to escape the consequences of sexual immorality by legally permitting violence against the weakest members of the human race. We have regarded unborn children as collateral damage in the sexual revolution. Our hands have shed innocent blood, and that blood cries out to you from the ground. We have waged war against our children.

This is a great evil.

Father, as your people, we acknowledge our complicity in this matter. We too have embraced the false idol of personal autonomy. We have thrown our lot in with the sexual revolutionaries. Through our own sinful indulgence, we have strengthened the culture of death. And we have grown weary in our resistance to abortion. The failures of politicians and judges have left us despairing, and so we turn our back on the silent screams.

Forgive us, O God, in your great mercy.

Racial Animosity

Father, our nation is rent apart by ethnic and racial strife. Our sad history is filled with racial superiority, animosity, and oppression of the most grievous kind. We are still reaping the bitter harvest sown by our forefathers. What’s worse, we are sowing more seeds of racial suspicion and hatred, and thereby afflicting our children with the same ugly fruit. We have despised people because of the color of their skin and the shape of their features and the language that they speak. And in despising them, we have despised you, the God who made all of us in your image.

This is a great evil.

Father, as your people, we acknowledge our guilt in these matters. We have tolerated racial divisions because the pursuit of racial harmony is hard. We have shrunk back in fear; we have failed to be peacemakers; we have allowed ourselves to be manipulated by race hustlers of all colors. We have rejected your justice and righteousness, and sought to establish our own.

Forgive us, O God, in your great mercy.

Anxiety and Fear

Father, we are an anxious and fearful people. For all of our bluster and bragging, we are so easily shaken. We are anxious about money, anxious about the future, anxious about the economy, anxious about the election, anxious about our enemies, anxious about food, anxious about health, anxious about safety, anxious about everything under the sun. We live in so much fear. And we confess that anxiety is fundamentally a form of pride. Our anxiety is our sinful and arrogant reaction to the truth that we are not ultimately in control.

This is a great evil.

Father, as your people, we too live in fear. We have baptized the worries and anxieties of the world. We have feared what they fear, and lived in dread of what they dread. And in our fear and anxiety, we have become reactionary and easily manipulated. And because our anxiety and fear feels so justified by the riskiness of life, we do not feel it to be really sinful. We do not feel the arrogance in our insecurities.

Forgive us, O God, in your great mercy.

Envy, Covetousness, and Greed

Father, our nation is shot through with envy, covetousness, and greed. We crave and crave, and demand and demand more and more. Our envy masquerades as a concern for justice. We say, “That’s not fair,” when what we really mean is “Why not me?” We have loved money and possessions and the false stability that it brings us. We have looked to our wealth to deliver us; we have served Mammon, rather than you.

This is a great evil.

Father, as your people, we too have committed covetousness, which is idolatry. We have sought to store up treasures on earth. We have tried to serve two masters. What we’ve received, we’ve hoarded for ourselves, and when we’ve not received, we have resented the blessings and success of others. We too have cloaked our envy and greed behind a façade of justice.

Forgive us, O God, in your great mercy.

Lies

Father, we are a nation with a lying tongue. We love lies. We have exchanged your truth for a lie. We are willing to lie and deceive in order to get our own way or save our own skin. What’s more, we will believe any lie, provided it reinforces our own biases. We especially love to believe lies about our enemies; we want them to be as wicked as possible, in order to justify our hatred of them.

This is a great evil.

Father, as your people, we too have loved lies. We love the convenient lie, the falsehood that gets us off the hook or allows us to indulge a sinful desire. We twist your word in order to get the result we want. We massage the truth, sanding off its rough edges and sharp points, so that it doesn’t offend us and others. We cover up the truth in order to be accepted by the world.

Forgive us, O God, in your great mercy.

 Pride

Father, at the heart of our nation’s sins is the great sin of pride. We have placed ourselves and our wants and desires at the center of reality and sought to conform reality to us. We have exalted ourselves. We have insisted on our own way. In our prosperity, we have rejected you and sought to make a name for ourselves. And now in our distress, when all of our idols have failed, we find ourselves hopeless, despairing, reactive, and afraid. But still proud.

This is a great evil.

Father, as your people, we too are proud. We cloak our pride behind a mask of humility. We try to make a name for ourselves in appropriate “Christian” ways. We live to impress other people so that they see how godly we are. We look down our noses at those we deem beneath us. We pay lip-service to you, but for all practical purposes, we rely and depend on ourselves.

Forgive us, O God, in your great mercy.

Have Mercy on Us

Our sins have arisen to heaven. They are a stench in your nostrils. And so you are bringing your judgment; you are giving us over to our sins. Father, we see what you are doing, and we confess that it is good and right. Those who practice these things deserve to die.

But you are a God, merciful and gracious, abounding in steadfast love and kindness. And so we appeal to that mercy and ask for that grace through your Son Jesus.

Forgive us, O Lord, and lead us back to life in you.