It is not a word spoken

It is not a word spoken, 

Few words are said; 

Nor even a look of the eyes 

Nor a bend of the head, 

But only a hush of the heart 

That has too much to keep, 

Only memories waking 

That sleep so light a sleep. 

—Sara Teasdale (1884-1933)

Rich toward God

A new year, a clean slate, a fresh start. I'm glad 2014 is over. And yet I have apprehensions and doubts about looming responsibilities in 2015.

I have not intentionally laid out specific resolutions for the new year; rather, I've searched for a word or phrase to guide my pursuits, habits, attitudes, and priorities. A few strands of thought have been weaving themselves together to form my "phrase for 2015." In my Bible reading the other day, I was struck by the words Pharaoh gave Joseph to assure his brothers: "Have no concern for your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours." (Genesis 45:20)

It made me think about the imperishable, undefiled, unfading inheritance God gives His people. Not only is it kept in heaven for us, but even now we enjoy those "immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:7)

And remember that phrase from a time-tested hymn?

"Solid joys and lasting treasure
None but Zion's children know."

Rich toward God! – I recalled the passage in Luke 12 where Christ used the phrase "rich toward God" in His parable about the foolish mindset of a prosperous farmer. Immediately following the parable Christ continued the theme of living "rich toward God" as He spoke to His disciples: 

"Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on... For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you have need of them. Instead, seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom... Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Luke 12:22b, 30-32, 34)

Words of comfort, yes, but also words of instruction. Paul similarly exhorted the Colossian believers: 

"[Since] then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth... You have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator... Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful." (Colossians 3:1-3, 9b-10, 15)

And to young pastor Timothy: 

"As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life." (1 Timothy 6:17-19)

I pray that 2015 will be a year in which the realization of our riches in Christ leads to our deeper gratitude, joy, contentment, peace, humility, and generosity. 

Rich toward God!

May this be true in my life, and in yours, my dear one.

A new year

My dear one, 

I think of you on this eve of the new year. My heart continues to pray for you, even when I don't know the words to use. 

I plan to pick back up with more consistent writing in the days to come. This holiday season, stressful though it has been as I am visiting family, has given me some time to "re-boot," and I have been feeding on a particular theme in Scripture that has given me strength to face 2015! More on that soon...

For now, I wish you a blessed year, and I save my midnight kiss for you.

All my love, 
Your Evenstar

Heidelberg Catechism Week 52

127. Q. What does the sixth request mean? A. "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one" means, By ourselves we are too weak to hold our own even for a moment. And our sworn enemies - the devil, the world, and our own flesh - never stop attacking us. And so, Lord, uphold us and make us strong with the strength of Your Holy Spirit, so that we may not go down to defeat in this spiritual struggle, but may firmly resist our enemies until we finally win the complete victory.

128. Q. What does your conclusion to this prayer mean? A. "For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever" means, We have made all these requests of You because, as our all-powerful King, You not only want to, but are able to give us all that is good; and because Your holy name, and not we ourselves, should receive all the praise, forever.

129. Q. What does that little word "Amen" express? A. "Amen" means, This is sure to be! It is even more sure that God listens to my prayer, than that I really desire what I pray for.

My reflections on the reading from the book...

DeYoung: "God loves it when we pray, because sincere, honest prayer in Jesus' name shows two of the most essential virtues in a Christian: humility and trust." 

"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:15-16). 

"God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (1 Cor. 10:13). That "way to escape" is not freedom from temptation, but victory in temptation. The apostle Paul knew this deliverance, and he saw it to be a continuing deliverance: "The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto His heaven kingdom: to Whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen" (2 Tim. 4:18). And one day we will be completely delivered from the presence of all sin and evil!

Thine is the kingdom – Thy kingdom come!
Praise ye the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!

Thine is the power – Thy will be done!
Praise ye the Lord, Who over all things so wondrously reigneth!

Thine is the glory – Hallowed be Thy name!
Praise ye the Lord! O let all that is in me adore Him!

"Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen." (Jude 24-25)

Heidelberg Catechism Week 51

126. Q. What does the fifth request mean? A. "Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" means, Because of Christ's blood, do not hold against us, poor sinners that we are, any of the sins we do or the evil that constantly clings to us. Forgive us just as we are fully determined, as evidence of Your grace in us, to forgive our neighbors.

My reflections on the reading from the book...

DeYoung: "Forgiveness means our sins are no longer counted against us and we no longer count the sins of those who have hurt us."

Unwillingness to extend forgiveness to those who have wronged me is a sin that I must confess and repent of, if I sense it creeping into my life – because it hinders my fellowship with God! The parable of the unmerciful servant (Matt. 18:23-35) tells of one who refused to demonstrate to others the same forgiveness and kindness that he himself had received. This parable underscores the vital link between God's forgiveness of us and our own forgiving spirit. If I am unable to forgive others, I should look closely at my relationship with the Lord! 

May I treat others as the Lord has treated me – with forgiveness and grace! "Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you" (Eph. 4:32). It is through my Christlike attitude of forgiveness that I point others to the Saviour!

It's no fairy tale...

What little girl doesn't dream of being a princess? I believe that such a "fairy-tale wish" for a prince to choose her, pursue her, sweep her off her feet, make her his own, pledge to her his life, give her his kingdom, is fundamentally a God-given desire. However, that longing cannot be ultimately fulfilled in an earthly spouse, but rather by the Heavenly Bridegroom, the King of kings, the Lord Jesus Christ. Instead of waiting impatiently for a modern-day "knight-in-shining-armor" to arrive on the scene and make me his bride, I am called to eagerly anticipate the coming of Christ to join His bride, the Church. He has established a kingdom, and He is preparing for me a dwelling-place and a marriage feast. By uniting with the other members of His Church, I testify that He has purchased me and cleansed me with His blood, and declared me His beautiful and chosen one. This season of Advent, I eagerly read and re-read His messages of love and seek for ways to honor that love. I turn my focus to the idea of waiting, anticipating, preparing myself for His coming and the consummation of blessings that are already mine.

John Piper: "[God] may be . . . graciously and tenderly frustrating you with life that is not centered on Christ and filling you with longings and desires that can't find their satisfaction in what this world offers, but only in the God-man."

Heidelberg Catechism Week 50

125. Q. What does the fourth request mean? A. "Give us today our daily bread" means, Do take care of all our physical needs so that we come to know that You are the only source of everything good, and that neither our work and worry nor Your gifts can do us any good without Your blessings. And so help us to give up our trust in creatures and to put trust in You alone.

My reflections on the reading from the book...

DeYoung: "The simple act of getting on our knees... is the surest sign of our humility and dependence on God. There may be many reasons for our prayerlessness - time management, busyness, lack of concentration - but most fundamentally, we ask not because we think we need not... Prayerlessness is an expression of our meager confidence in God's ability to provide and of our strong confidence in our ability to take care of ourselves without God's help."

It is no accident that the Lord's Prayer opens with petitions concerning God Himself (His glory, kingdom, and will), before turning to personal needs. This order reflects the priorities we must maintain in our thinking and our praying. In fact, this sixth chapter of Matthew ends with the reminder to "seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness," and THEN "all these things shall be added unto you" (verse 33).

Yet we are indeed invited to make our everyday material needs known to our Heavenly Father. We acknowledge that we come to the throne of grace empty-handed, dependent upon our Jehovah-Jireh, the God who provides. When we read Abraham's confident statement to Isaac, "My son, God will provide himself a lamb" (Gen. 22:8), we look ahead to the time when Christ, the Lamb of God, became God's provision for us – the perfect Substitute and Sacrifice.

Exodus 16 records for us how our faithful God sustained Israel each day with manna in the wilderness. Through this miracle, the people learned lessons about daily dependence and trust. The Lord desires for us to exhibit the same attitude as we look to Him in faith to provide everything we need: from physical nourishment and strength, to the salvation of our souls! Let us sing with the Psalmist, "The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in due time. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing" (Ps. 145:15-16).

Advent longings

"Celebrating Advent means being able to wait. Waiting is an art that our impatient age has forgotten. It wants to break open the ripe fruit when it has hardly finished planting the shoot. But all too often greedy eyes are only deceived; the fruit that seemed so precious is still green on the inside, and disrespectful hands ungratefully toss aside what has so disappointed them. Whoever does not know the austere blessedness of waiting—that is, of hopefully doing without—will never experience the full blessing of fulfillment. Those who do not know how it feels to struggle anxiously with the deepest questions of life, of their life, and to patiently look forward with anticipation until the truth is revealed, cannot even dream of the splendour of the moment in which clarity is illuminated for them... For the greatest, most profound, tenderest things in the world, we must wait. It happens not here in a storm but according to the divine laws of sprouting, growing, and becoming... Not everyone can wait: neither the sated nor the satisfied nor those without respect can wait. The only ones who can wait are people who carry restlessness around with them and people who look up with reverence to the greatest in the world. Thus Advent can be celebrated only by those whose souls give them no peace, who know that there poor and incomplete, and who sense something of the greatness that is supposed to come, before which they can only bow in humble timidity, waiting until he inclines himself toward us—the Holy One himself, God in the child in the manger."
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"If there is a longing in your heart this Advent for something that the world has not been able to satisfy, might not this longing be God's Christmas gift preparing you to see Christ as consolation and redemption...?" 

— John Piper

Heidelberg Catechism Week 49

124. Q. What does the third request mean? A. "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" means, Help us and all people to reject our own wills and to obey Your will without any back talk. Your will alone is good. Help us one and all to carry out the work we are called to, as willingly and faithfully as the angels in heaven.

My reflections on the reading from the book...

DeYoung: "When we pray 'Your will be done,' we are confessing our confidence that God knows best, that His plans are good, that His way is always the right way." 

George Muller, a servant of the Lord known for his perseverance in prayer, provides us with some valuable counsel:

1. Be slow to take new steps in the Lord's service, or in your business, or in your families: weigh everything well; weigh all in the light of the Holy Scriptures and in the fear of God.
2. Seek to have no will of your own, in order to ascertain the mind of God, regarding any steps you propose taking, so that you can honestly say you are willing to do the will of God, if He will only please to instruct you.
3. But when you have found out what the will of God is, seek for His help, and seek it earnestly, perseveringly, patiently, believingly, expectantly; and you will surely in His own time and way obtain it.

Thou sweet beloved will of God,
My anchor ground, my fortress hill,
My spirit's silent, fair abode,
In Thee I hide me, and am still.

O Will that willest good alone,
Lead Thou the way, Thou guidest best;
A little child, I follow on,
And trusting, lean upon Thy breast.

O lightest burden, sweetest yoke!
It lifts, it bears my happy soul;
It giveth wings to this poor heart;
My freedom is Thy grand control.

Upon God's will I lay me down,
As child upon its mother's breast;
No silken couch, nor softest bed,
Could ever give me such deep rest.

Thou wonderful, grand will, my God,
With triumph now I make it mine;
And faith shall cry a joyous "Yes!"
To ev'ry dear command of Thine. 

(Gerhard Tersteegen, stanzas 1-2, & Jean S. Pigott, stanzas 3-5)

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.