Tuesday, October 21, 2008

SSU October 21, 2008

NAS Jeremiah 15:19 "If you return...I will restore...if you extract...you will become..."

Extraction is not an easy task. I remember a phrase from my youth. "Getting you to _______ is like pulling teeth!" You can fill in the blank, but the point of the phrase is that whatever it is you are attempting to do, it is a hard and difficult process that often involves pain. I have had a tooth extracted before. It required a pair of pliers and a lot of pain medication!

Extracting truth, extracting what is precious often involves a similar effort. However, the pain is worth it. Actually, if you leave the infected tooth in place you will discover what real pain is. The pain of the extraction will pale in comparison to the pain of a decaying, infected tooth.

It probably isn't good PR for the processes of God to reveal the role of pain, but it seems to me that Jesus was never in the PR business. In fact, just the opposite seems to be true. He continued to say difficult things to his listeners (Eat my flesh, drink my blood!), to the point that many walked away. "If you extract...you will become..." The walk with Christ is all about becoming. I was created in the image of God and I am becoming the likeness of Christ. Pain is a part of the process. It is one of the tools God uses to shape us into Christ's image.

In our time of contemplative prayer today, I believe I heard God speak to me. My wife and I are walking through a very challenging season. The demands upon us are very high. Our strength is ebbing. The reading today was Psalm 23. When read to us, the phrase that was prominent to me was: "Surely goodness and kindness shall follow you all the days of your life." (NRSV)

I felt God speak to me that this season Janet and I are walking through is the kindness of the Lord for us. I must admit, I was not too thrilled at this thought. I was reminded of a comment that Theresa of Avila made to God, "If this is the way you treat your friends, it's no wonder you don't have very many." Our contemplative prayer leader put the question to us: "Can you embrace what God is saying (the leader of our group did not know what God was saying to me)?" Can I embrace what God is saying? "If you embrace what God is saying, what will it look like?" My answer to that question was that I would have a great deal of peace, that is if I embraced the notion that this challenging season was a kindness from good to me. Peace was an appealing thought. Can I embrace what God is saying?

Time will tell the answer to that question. My heart is seeking peace...and rest...and relief...and restoration. "If you will return...I will restore." Will I return? Will I embrace? Will I extract so I can become? Great questions. They sound like questions that will lead to a journey.

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