Days 71 & 72: To Be A Child

Mark 10:13-16

New Living Translation (NLT)

Photo by Christophe Libert

Jesus Blesses the Children

¹³ One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him.

¹⁴ When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them,“Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. ¹⁵ I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” ¹⁶ Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.

***

Have you ever looked into the eyes of a child and marveled at how full of innocence and wonder they are? The kind of eyes that haven't yet learned not to trust, framed by the face of a little boy or girl that is eager to believe everything good that they hear. A kid who feels safe and secure, knowing that mom and dad are right there, making sure nothing bad ever happens to them. 

It is said that children are much more perceptive of both the natural and the supernatural realm than adults are, and I totally believe that. I remember experiences from my own childhood that, if they had occurred today, I'd have thought was my imagination playing tricks on me. That's what happens as we grow older; We stop trusting our instincts, because we've been told so often that they're wrong! 

I remember so many instances from my own youth, some natural, some supernatural. I was about 7 years old when I looked out my bedroom window one dark night. I called my parents in, frightened, because I could see a tornado. It was so clear to me! There was no doubt in my mind what I was seeing, and I was worried about the people that might get hurt. My parents couldn't see it, though. They peered out my window, and finally, seeing nothing, assured me that my mind was playing tricks on me. The next morning's news report vindicated me, though. About two miles behind our house, a train had been derailed by a tornado.

As frightening as that was, it wasn't anything supernatural. Nope, the supernatural was much scarier. In my neighborhood, there were a lot of kids, but most of them were a few years older than me and preferred to hang with my brother. There was one girl, however, who just didn't fit in with the rest, and she became my best friend at the time. My only friend, really. She was still closer to my brother's age, but she really was the outcast. We got along well, because nobody wanted to play with me, either.

No way would I have ever turned from the friendship she offered, but man, I hated that she was my only friend! Her house was just downright spooky! I would see things there that just couldn't be explained. If I could describe them, I'd say they were demonic imps moving around in her closet. Or shadows of a woman when there was no light source and no adult in the room. And it wasn't always what I could see, sometimes it was what I felt! I loved to read, and there was a built-in floor to ceiling bookshelf in the hall by my friend's bedroom. I would sometimes sit there for hours, thumbing through the novels that were kept on the lower shelves, the ones that were suitable for younger kids to read. The books were irresistable, and I couldn't stay away. But the odd thing is, it was always cold right there. I have to tell you, there was no central air conditioning system in that house, and although they'd turn on the window units when it got miserable, most of the time the windows were open to catch whatever breeze there was. I can't say it was hot in the rest of the house, but there was no explanation for the chill that I always felt next to those shelves. It wasn't until I went back to visit as an adult that I understood. On the lower half of the shelves were the same books I loved as a child, now covered with dust. On the upper shelves, though, where i couldn't have reached before, waere row after row of books on the occult.

Most people would dismiss my childhood experiences as an over-active imagination. Fears brought on by listening to too many ghost stories that my friend loved to tell, or watching too many scary tv show like Dark Shadows at her house. (I was always so grateful that my own home was 'safe' from such things!) Those same people would dismiss my sudden enlightenment when I went back to visit as the adult mind trying to rationalize my childhood fears. 

But that wouldn't explain my daughter's experience.

Rana was barely two when she first saw into the supernatural. We lived in a third floor apartment, and her bedroom faced an empty field. There was no fire escape, or anything else that would have allowed anyone (or anything) access to her window. One night her father and I woke up to hear a blood-curdling scream coming from her room. We rushed into her room, and she was sitting up in her bed, pressed into the corner of he wall, and pointing at her window. She wouldn't even blink as she stared transfixed, crying and screaming about the eyes trying to come in. She was in absolute terror, and yet there was nothing there! No eyes, no animals, not even headlights from a car could be seen from that side of the building. Nothing could explain what had my toddler so terrified. After a few minutes, realization settled over me like a chill. I looked at my husband, and he looked at me, and I think he must have known at the same time as I did. Immediately he got up and started praying through the room, out the door, and through the rest of the apartment. Within seconds, my daughter calmed down. By the time her dad had circled through and come back into the room, she was sound asleep.

Night terrors? Yes. But they were real.

I'm not writing all this to explain how little kids get scared; I'm writing this to point out that children are so much more perceptive than we are! The supernatural isn't just made up of scary stuff, it's full of beauty and glory, too! I heard once that there were at least three angels for every demon. While I can't find any Biblical support for that number, Jesus said in Matthew 18:10 that children are assigned their own personal angels. I think our angels are never reassigned to someone else, I just think we grow up and quit believing.

So when you read that Jesus wants us to receive Him the way a child does, or when you hear the phrase "child-like faith", what it really means is that we need to embrace what we knew so instinctively as a child. We must again believe everything that the Bible says. We need to shake off the disbelief that has crowded out our faith, and start recognizing God's hand in our lives. We have to start giving him the credit when things go right, and be willing to learn lessons from whatever trials he puts us through. We should start recognizing that sometimes our trials are spankings from God, and that often His "silence" is our "Time Out".

We must give up this worldly notion that what happens in our lives is fate, or karma, coincidence or luck. Why is it that nobody questions Newton's law of motion, that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and yet we can be so blind as to how that works? Newton's law transcends time and space, and connects physical to spiritual, normal to paranormal, natural to supernatural.

Understanding that is the key to receiving the Kingdom of Heaven like a child.

Day 21: R-E-S-P-E-C-T

1 Samuel 18:5

New Living Translation (NLT)

David waiting for word from Jonathon 
copyright V. Gilbert and Arlisle F. Beers

⁵ Whatever Saul asked David to do, David did it successfully. So Saul made him a commander over the men of war, an appointment that was welcomed by the people and Saul’s officers alike.

I had a hard time deciding what to blog about today. There is just so much to be said about David that it's difficult to choose just one thing! Unless that one thing can be painted with a really broad brush, like the subject of his character.

David was just a decent guy, no matter how ya slice it. No matter what life threw at him, he handled it with dignity, with the notable exception of Bethsheba, which happens a bit later in his life. 

Anyway, to stay on topic, David had a remarkable work ethic. He had unshakable faith and gave God glory in all he did. For example, when he was chided for offering to slay Goliath in chapter 17, he pointed out that God had delivered both lions and bears into his hand as a shepherd, and that God would deliver the Philistine into his hand as well. Then he took a slingshot and brought the giant down.

He was humble. When King Saul offered his daughter to be David's wife, David  couldn't understand why he should be honored in such a way. Of course, there are a thousand better examples of David's humble nature, but I don't want to get ahead of the current chapter.

He went above and beyond when assigned a task. When King Saul told him to bring him 100 foreskins from the Philistines, he brought him 200 instead. 

He was smart. Everything David did, he did successfully. He showed wisdom in his thoughts, decisions, his tactical maneuvers on the battlefield, and in every aspect of his life. It gained him the respect and admiration of everyone around him, and everyone who worked for him.

He was forgiving. When King Saul became so jealous that he sought to kill him, David refused to avenge himself. Even when he was given two perfect opportunities to kill Saul himself, he wouldn't. Instead, he cut the corner of his robe, or took his water jug, and then begged Saul for mercy, even calling himself Saul's servant, and calling Saul God's annointed. Why he couldn't see that God's annointing was long gone from Saul is beyond me.

He was compassionate. Although he wanted to take revenge on Nabal, a wealthy man whose shepherds David and company had protected, refused to be charitable to David's men when they needed food, he stopped and listened to Abigail, Nabal's wife, when she stepped in to undo her idiot husband's stupidity. He agreed to spare her husband's life because of her request. Shortly thereafter, when God caused Nabal to die of a heart attack, David offered to take the widow as his own wife.

So there you have it. If you want to be the kind of person esteemed by God, and admired by people, then you need to adopt the elements of David's character.

• Let your life be a testimony to God. 
• Seek His will in everything.
• Be humble and give God the glory.
• Work harder than you have to.
• Act wisely in all you do.
• Be forgiving to those who wrong you.
• Be compassionate to those around you.

Day 2: Gen 17-28

Scripture: 
Genesis 22:9-17 (New King James Version)

Rembrandt's depiction of the sacrifice 

9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”
So he said, “Here I am.”
12 And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide;[a] as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”

15 Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— 17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.

Observation: 
what strikes me about this passage is two-fold... not only is abraham 100%, unwavering in his obedience to the Lord, but he has raised his son to be equally as obedient, even when asked to do the most unimaginable thing!

Application:
This passage has always, my entire life, troubled me. what if i were in abraham's shoes? could i have trusted God enough to provide an alternative and spare me from what He asked? would i be so obedient as to strap my child down on an alter and raise a knife above her chest? (and have i raised my daughters to be so trusting and obedient? no, my kids would have knocked me six ways to sideways and taken off for the hills.)

i'd like to think that i could say yes, i'd be so obedient, and so faithful. heck, i'd like to even use the excuse that "nobody really knows what they would do in that situation, we just have to thank God that He would never ask such a thing of us". i remember my mom used to say something similar when i'd ask about being totally obedient to God in certain circumstances.

but i'm without excuse. i KNOW the answer. i would not be so obedient. i'd be bawling and screaming and throwing a major temper tantrum before the Lord and in the end i'd tell him forget it, find someone else. my obedience would have gone only so far as to get to the destination and build an altar. and then i'd have sat there. and sat. and sat. but not in my wildest dreams can i imagine being so obedient that i would be willing to put my child on that altar. i would not have the kind of faith that God would stay my hand and provide a suitable offering at the last minute. 

i would fail the test.

Prayer:
God, i can't even begin to say how sorry i am that i'm so stubborn, and that my faith and trust in you is so shaky at times. i guess i don't get any brownie points for honesty, but God, i can tell you this much... i'm extremely thankful that your grace and mercy cover my weaknesses. and i do really want to become more trusting, more faithful, and more obedient to you! teach me to trust you more, Father, but please, let my tests be a little less gut-wrenching than abraham's was.