Stumps and branches

"Out of the stump of David's family will grow a shoot - yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root" (Isaiah 11:1). What hope in this promise of the Saviour!

I too am a lifeless stump, longing for a tender shoot of hope. I wait for love, I yearn for companionship. But God calls me to notice new life in another area - He points to the work His Spirit is doing in my heart to enable me to see the love He has for me, the companionship He provides, the joy and satisfaction only He can give.

As I sit by my newly decorated Christmas tree and listen to Advent music centuries old, I wish I could share these beautiful moments with a kindred spirit. And then my heart whispers, "You are not alone. Immanuel!" Words of deep consolation - God with me!

Heidelberg Catechism Week 48

123. Q. What does the second request mean? A. "Your kingdom come" means, Rule us by Your Word and Spirit in such a way that more and more we submit to You. Keep Your church strong, and add to it. Destroy the devil's work; destroy every force which revolts against You and every conspiracy against Your Word. Do this until Your kingdom is so complete and perfect that in it You are in all.

My reflections on the reading from the book...

DeYoung: "The kingdom is not about excellence in behavior. It's about our willing submission to God and living a life of love that befits those who belong to such a lovely King."

And though this world, with devils filled, 
Should threaten to unto us, 
We will not fear, for God hath willed 
His truth to triumph through us... 
Let goods and kindred go, 
This mortal life also; 
The body they may kill:
God's truth abideth still, 
His Kingdom is forever. 
(Martin Luther)

His kingdom cannot fail;
He rules o'er earth and heav’n;
The keys of death and hell
Are to our Jesus giv'n:
He all His foes shall quell,
Shall all our sins destroy;
Our songs of praise shall swell
With everlasting joy.
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice!
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!
(Charles Wesley)

Heidelberg Catechism Week 47

122. Q. What does the first request mean? A. "Hallowed be Your name" means, Help us to really know You, to bless, worship, and praise You for all Your works and for all that shines forth from them: Your almighty power, wisdom, kindness, justice, mercy, and truth. And it means, help us to direct all our living - what we think, say, and do - so that Your name will never be blasphemed because of us but always honored and praised.

My reflections on the reading from the book...

DeYoung: "Jesus teaches us that the first thing we ought to pray for, before we ask for anything else, is that God would be glorified and set apart as holy... Jesus would have us understand that the point of prayer is God's glory... 'Our Father in heaven, the concern nearest to my heart and the one that shapes all other requests is that Your name would be regarded as holy, that Your fame would be heralded in the earth, that You would be honored among the nations, that Your glory would be magnified for all to see. O Lord, be pleased to cause men everywhere to take pleasure in You, that You might be praised now and forever."

When we pray "Hallowed be Thy name," we are not praying for God's name to become "sanctified" or "made holy," for holiness is already one of God's perfections. Rather, we are asking for the Lord to make the greatness of His name displayed and magnified even further. "From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD’s name is to be praised" (Ps. 113:3).

Am I in any way hindering the Lord’s name from being magnified and praised? I should consistently be examining my life for areas that that might be bringing wrong honor and glory to myself instead of the name of the Lord. 

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." (Matt. 5:16)

"Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your name give glory, for the sake of Your steadfast love and Your faithfulness!" (Psalm 115:1)

Heidelberg Catechism Week 46

120. Q. Why did Christ command us to call God "our Father"? A. At the very beginning of our prayer Christ wants to kindle in us what is basic to our prayer - the childlike awe and trust that God through Christ has become our Father. Our fathers do not refuse us the things of this life; God our Father will even less refuse to give us what we ask in faith.

121. Q. Why the words "in heaven"? A. Those words teach us not to think of God's heavenly majesty as something earthly and to expect everything for body and soul from His almighty power.

My reflections on the reading from the book...

God Himself has revealed the name of "Father" as one by which we can call Him. As His children we can trust Him to know what is best for us. A father knows what his child needs much better than the child does. When I find myself begging God for something, I have to remind myself that He has my good in view even when it feels like He is holding back something I desperately want. Our omniscient, omnipotent Heavenly Father delights to hear and answer our prayers according to His will!

Heidelberg Catechism Week 45

116. Q. Why do Christians need to pray? A. Because prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness God requires of us. And also because God gives His grace and Holy Spirit only to those who pray continually and groan inwardly asking God for these gifts and thanking Him for them.

117. Q. How does God want us to pray so that He will listen to us? A. First, we must pray from the heart to no other than the one true God, who has revealed Himself in His Word, asking for everything He has commanded us to ask for. Second, we must acknowledge our need and misery, hiding nothing, and humble ourselves in His majestic presence. Third, we must rest on this unshakable foundation: even though we do not deserve it, God will surely listen to our prayer because of Christ our Lord. This is what He promised us in His Word.

118. Q. What did God command us to pray for? A. Everything we need, spiritually and physically, as embraced in the prayer Christ our Lord Himself taught us.

119. Q. What is the prayer? A. Our Father in heaven, hallowed by Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

My reflections on the reading from the book...

I'm so thankful for the privilege of coming to the throne of grace, bringing my petitions large and small to the great King of kings, through Christ the perfect Mediator.

Random reflection: Duggar developments

Confession: I'm somewhat of a Duggar fan. 

Last year I started in on a few episodes of "17 Kids & Counting" (now, "19 Kids") on Netflix. As a young girl with two little brothers, I had always secretly dreamed of being a part of a large family, and would often make-believe I had a bunch of sisters. And then I imagined that I'd have many children of my own. Not so sure these days if that will ever be... So in a sense I'm living vicariously through observing the Duggar family from afar. 

The most recent news is that newlyweds Jessa and Ben saved their first kiss for their wedding day (no surprise there...), but it took place in private after the ceremony rather than at the altar. I think there's something very sweet about that, and I would actually consider taking a similar approach if my future bridegroom agreed.

Heidelberg Catechism Week 44

113. Q. What is God's will for you in the tenth commandment? A. That not even the slightest thought or desire contrary to any one of God's commandments should ever arise in my heart. Rather, with all my heart I should always hate sin and take pleasure in whatever is right.

114. Q. But can those converted to God obey these commandments perfectly? A. No. In this life even the holiest have only a small beginning of this obedience. Nevertheless, with all seriousness of purpose, they do begin to live according to all, not only some, of God's commandments.

115. Q. No one in this life can obey the Ten Commandments perfectly: why then does God want them preached so pointedly? A. First, so that the longer we live the more we may come to know our sinfulness and the more eagerly look to Christ for forgiveness of sins and righteousness. Second, so that, while praying to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, we may never stop striving to be renewed more and more after God's image, until after this life we reach our goal: perfection.

My reflections on the reading from the book...

Coveting, the issue covered in the 10th Commandment, is essentially idolatry. DeYoung distinguishes coveteousness from desire: "One of two things must be present for a lawful desire to become coveting. First, we covet when we desire what belongs to someone else... Or we can covet when our desire leads to or is an expression of discontentment." DeYoung goes on to state, "Contentment and covetousness are opposites." I confess I struggle a lot with contentment. My Wednesday morning breakfast friends and I have just started reading Jeremiah Burrough's classic book The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, and it is already proving to be a convicting read. No, I will never achieve perfection in this earthly life, but God wants my heart united to fear His name. May I give Him my whole heart and refuse to hold back in any area!

Quality friendships

My dear one,

I'm sitting in a coffeeshop right now, celebrating my first quiet evening in two weeks. I  just can't bear to be at home right now, where the quiet is stifling. Life is so busy right now that I can't even imagine being in a relationship. Yet there is still that sweet, secret longing tucked away safely in my heart... I would love to have a good reason to shut down my computer, prepare a nice meal, and show you that you are the most important person in my life.

I am extremely grateful for a new friend I've found in one of my colleagues. She is a single woman 16 years older than I, with a real heart for ministry and an intensely energetic personality that somehow doesn't drain me but rather makes for refreshingly deep conversation. She's the kind of friend who builds me up, motivates me, and makes me feel a little less "alone" in my present circumstances. She is very conscientious of maintaining holiness in her spiritual walk, music pursuits, student mentoring, etc., yet without being dowdy or closed-minded. She always has Scripture ready on her tongue and in her heart, and I find in her an example of the kind of person I want to be in 10 or 20 years.

I pray that you have friends like this that can be an encouragement to you!

Love and prayers,
Your Evenstar

Heidelberg Catechism Week 43

112. Q. What is God's will for you in the ninth commandment? A. God's will is that I never give false testimony against anyone, twist no one's words, not gossip or slander, nor join in condemning anyone without a hearing or without a just cause. Rather, in court and everywhere else, I should avoid lying and deceit of every kind; these are devices the devil himself uses, and they would call down on me God's intense anger. I should love the truth, speak it candidly, and openly acknowledge it. And I should do what I can to guard and advance my neighbor's good name.

My reflections on the reading from the book...

Spreading gossip has never been one of my personal vices. Yet I do confess to secretly relishing the "juicy truths" that others too freely share. It is incumbent upon me as a child of God to refuse to participate in such, no matter which side of the false testimony or gossip - the sharing OR the receiving - I encounter.

Heidelberg Catechism Week 42

110. Q. What does God forbid in the eighth commandment? A. He forbids not only outright theft and robbery, punishable by law. But in God's sight theft also includes cheating and swindling our neighbor by schemes made to appear legitimate, such as: inaccurate measurements of weight, size, or volume; fraudulent merchandising; counterfeit money; excessive interest; or any other means forbidden by God. In addition He forbids all greed and pointless squandering of His gifts.

111. Q. What does God require of you in this commandment? A. That I do whatever I can for my neighbor's good, that I treat others as I would like them to treat me, and that I work faithfully so that I may share with those in need.

My reflections on the reading from the book...

Any means of taking anything that doesn't belong to me, or even of wasting what is given to me, is sin in the eyes of a just God. I cannot serve two masters, God and riches. The Lord invites His people to a life of generosity and wise stewardship.

Reflections on a mountain

My dear one, 

There are very few people who know me well. I am not quick to allow people into my circle of trust, for I have witnessed the hurt and betrayal that my parents and grandparents have endured over the years.

But sometimes this solitude is extremely difficult. I long to share my dreams and passions and fears with a kindred spirit. If you could be that person, I would show you a favorite mountain retreat where I can sit and view my hometown 25 miles away. We could sit at a picnic table at the state park and listen to the tree frogs as we eat our sandwich supper. I'd tell you how much I've always wanted to have a pianist for a best friend (dare I even say husband?) and to enjoy collaborating on a lifetime of recitals together. I'd admit my love of cheesecake, 19th-century poetry, college football, and a good cup of coffee. I'd explain my convictions about music, church, education, and my habits regarding housekeeping, health, and cleanliness. I'd confess my fears of getting cancer, of losing my job, of never have children.

For now though, these letters to you must suffice, shrouded in ambiguity as they are...

Praying for you today, 
Your Evenstar

Heidelberg Catechism Week 41

108. Q. What is God's will for you in the seventh commandment? A. God condemns all unchastity. We should therefore thoroughly detest it and, married or single, live decent and chaste lives.

109. Q. Does God, in this commandment, forbid only such scandalous sins as adultery? A. We are temples of the Holy Spirit, body and soul, and God wants both to be kept clean and holy. That is why He forbids everything which incites unchastity, whether it be actions, looks, talk, thoughts, or desires. 

My reflections on the reading from the book...

The verses that I cling to...

"Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23).

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8).

"Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body" (1 Corinthians 6:18-20).

"For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor" (1 Thessalonians 4:3-4).

Psalm 34

Verse 1...

I will bless the Lord at all times; 

His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

"If all we do may be done to the praise of God [see 1 Cor. 10:31], then certainly all we speak may be spoken to the praise of God; and indeed, seeing He never ceaseth to send forth continually His blessings, with what reason can we cease to set forth continually His praises?" (Sir Richard Baker, 1640)

Verse 2a... 

My soul makes its boast in the Lord.

"My confidence is that He who hath given me the resolution to will it, will give me also the power to perform it; that He who hath begun the work will also finish it." (RB)

Verse 4... 

I sought the Lord, and He answered me 

and delivered me from all my fears.

"To have delivered me from all my troubles had been a great favor, but a far greater to deliver me from all my fears; for where that would have freed me from present evil, this secures me from evil to come; that now I enjoy not only tranquility, but security, a privilege only of the godly." (RB)

Verse 8... 

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! 

Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

"If you would but taste Him, you would never take pleasure in other meat; if you would but see Him, you would never delight in other object... He that trusteth in God, and he only, is like to be admitted to taste the sweetness and to see the goodness that is in God, which only are  the things that can make us blessed. What is it to trust in God but to depend wholly upon him, and to put all our confidence in him? To trust in the world, is to lean upon a broken reed; to trust in ourselves, is to lean upon a shadow; only to trust in God is the true terra firma where the angels pitch their tents, and where, if we fix ourselves, the gates of hell can never prevail against us." (RB)

Scottish Psalter:

1 God will I bless all times; his praise my mouth shall still express. 2 My soul shall boast in God: the meek shall hear with joyfulness. 3 Extol the Lord with me, let us exalt his name together. 4 I sought the Lord, he heard, and did me from all fears deliver. 5 They looked to him, and lightened were: not shamèd were their faces. 6 This poor man cried, God heard, and saved him from all his distresses. 7 The angel of the Lord encamps, and round encompasseth All those about that do him fear, and them delivereth. 8 O taste and see that God is good: who trusts in him is blessed. 9 Fear God his saints: none that him fear shall be with want oppressed. 10 The lions young may hungry be, and they may lack their food: But they that truly seek the Lord shall not lack any good. 11 O children, hither do ye come, and unto me give ear; I shall you teach to understand how ye the Lord should fear. 12 What man is he that life desires, to see good would live long? 13 Thy lips refrain from speaking guile, and from ill words thy tongue. 14 Depart from ill, do good, seek peace, pursue it earnestly. 15 God's eyes are on the just; his ears are open to their cry. 16 The face of God is set against those that do wickedly, That he may quite out from the earth cut off their memory. 17 The righteous cry unto the Lord, he unto them gives ear; And they out of their troubles all by him delivered are. 18 The Lord is ever nigh to them in heart that broken be; Those who in spirit contrite are he saveth graciously. 19 The troubles that afflict the just in number many be; But yet at length out of them all the Lord doth set him free. 20 He carefully his bones doth keep, whatever can befall; That not so much as one of them can broken be at all. 21 Ill shall the wicked slay; laid waste shall be who hate the just. 22 The Lord redeems his servants' souls; none perish that him trust.

Refreshment for body and soul

Isaiah 40:26-31...

Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: 

Who created all these? 

He who brings out the starry host one by one 

and calls forth each of them by name. 

Because of His great power and mighty strength, 

not one of them is missing. 

Why do you complain, Jacob? 

Why do you say, Israel, 

"My way is hidden from the LORD; 

my cause is disregarded by my God"?

Do you not know? Have you not heard? 

The LORD is the everlasting God, 

the Creator of the ends of the earth. 

He will not grow tired or weary, 

and His understanding no one can fathom. 

He gives strength to the weary 

and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary, 

and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the LORD 

will renew their strength. 

They will soar on wings like eagles; 

they will run and not grow weary, 

they will walk and not be faint.

These are pictures from last Saturday's excursion - just now getting around to sharing them.

- Your Evenstar

Heidelberg Catechism Week 40

105. Q. What is God's will for you in the sixth commandment? A. I am not to belittle, insult, hate, or kill my neighbor - not by my thoughts, my words, my look or gesture, and certainly not by actual deeds - and I am not to be party to this in others; rather, I am to put away all desire for revenge. I am not to harm or recklessly endanger myself either. Prevention of murder is also why government is armed with the sword.

106. Q. Does this commandment refer only to killing? A. By forbidding murder God teaches us that He hates the root of murder: envy, anger, vindictiveness. In God's sight all such are murder.

107. Q. Is it enough then that we do not kill our neighbor in any such way? A. No. By condemning envy, hatred, and anger God tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves, to be patient, peace-loving, gentle, merciful, and friendly to them, to protect them from harm as much as we can, and to do good even to our enemies. 

My reflections on the reading from the book...

The sanctity of human life is under attack today. Abortion and euthanasia are being held up as "rights," while the right to protect oneself is being stripped away. Violence and terror reigns all throughout the world, while God's authority is denied and His laws ignored. It all boils down to the heart. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked..." (Jeremiah 17:9). Instead of loving God and loving our neighbor, our sinful flesh seeks merely its own gratification, protection, and exaltation. O Lord, cleanse my heart of envy, anger, bitterness, pride, and selfishness!