Sacred Mundane: The Blog

• This waiting on Jeff’s car early this morning when he left for his half-marathon today! So grateful for amazing saints–friends–who encourage us daily.
• “Church” last Sunday night around our dinner table.
• Dreaming.
• Growing.
• Re-adjusting.
• Patience.
• Grace.
• That my awesome man is willing to forgo the formal race (and the fee!) and run a half-marathon by himself! 1 Corinthians 9:27
• Meeting him at the finish line.
• That His mercies are new every morning.
• Subordinating the seen to what is unseen. 
• That love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8)
• A HUGE cooler full of groceries, delivered to our kitchen by dear friends. What on earth? God is amazing!
• Apple juice, apple sauce.
• Pioneer Woman cauliflower soup.
• A whole grocery bag of corn on the cob, Dutch’s dream dinner.
• Chocolate chip cookies!
• Debra’s generosity. Again and again and again.
• Sunflowers on the table, smiling at me.
• Watching Dutch & Jeff outside in the yard, doing man work. I love my men.
• A clean kitchen.
• Early morning snuggles with my two squirrels.
• Pancakes.
• All around the table.
• Answers to prayer.
• Snyders. That we never want to leave.
• Half the Sky documentary. So many blessed opportunities to bring hope to our world.
  
• Asking God for His dreams.
• PK 🙂
• All these cloudless, glorious blue-sky days. Day after day after day! What a fall we have had! Thank you, Lord.
• Heidi’s words: “Mommy, you’re so pretty.” Me beaming at her and saying, “Thank you, Heidi!” Then her words, with a big smile: “You’re not really so pretty but I like saying that.” Hahaha, gotta love kids’ honesty!!
• Sunrise.
• Our family of five. (We love Debra!)
• Crisp fall air.
• Raking leaves.
• My squirrels, awake now. Signing off for family day.

“One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.”

Provers 11:24

If there is one principle God has been impressing on my heart lately it is this: God’s kingdom is an upside-down kingdom.  The first are last. The meek inherit most. The humble are exalted. The greatest shall be the servant of all.

When we give away we become rich. When we hold on tight we lose it all.

I know there’s a lot of controversy surrounding tithing. Because the 10% (tithe) isn’t clearly commanded in the New Testament, we are careful not to teach as a hard and fast rule that all believers must tithe. And I agree with that. BUT, perhaps in all our careful dancing around this issue we have actually kept many earnest believers from experiencing the blessing of faith-filled first-fruits giving.

What do I mean? I mean this:

For as long as I can remember my parents taught us to give first. We tithed off everything. Perhaps we “shouldn’t” have had a hard and fast tithe rule but can I just say that it was a blessing to be instructed from a young age and to have that habit instilled in us early on. My dad shares stories from his own early adulthood, learning to follow God’s upside down kingdom ways by giving first and even doing financially-backward things in order to be generous to God.

And it’s worked. Wow has it worked.

Now, I want to be careful here because I’m not saying “you give to God and then He makes you rich.” He might not. BUT, we also sometimes become so leery of the health-and-wealth garbage that we’re afraid to believe clear scriptures such as the one at the top of this post. Its meaning is clear: When you give freely you grow richer. There’s no other way to say it. Proverbs 3:9-10 is even clearer:

“Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.” Proverbs 3:9-10

I’m no scholar but this reads clearly to me: Give to God your first and best and you will have all that you need. 

Didn’t Jesus say the same thing when talking about material needs?

“Do not be anxious saying, “What shall we eat? or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” … your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:31-33

He’s not just talking spiritual stuff! Not just spiritual needs. All of these passages are talking about real stuff. Giving material stuff and receiving material stuff.  Yes, God might not make us millionaires (because He loves us too much to ruin us!), but when we give Him freely the first and best of what we have, He WILL supply all we need. 

Test Him! Try Him! He says to try it out:

“Bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.” Malachi 3:10

Is money tight right now? Test him! Get with your spouse and read these passages together and get on your face and pray and GIVE. Give 10% off the top of your next paycheck FIRST and test Him in this, if He will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for a blessing until there is no more need.

When we’re most tempted to stress is when we most need to trust Him, test Him, and give.  {Trusting Him with you! Thanks for reading.}

• His wrath is on the proud (2 Chron. 32:25)
• He pays back revenge on the proud (Ps 31:23)
• He will not tolerate the proud (Ps 101:5)
• He mocks the proud (Prov 3:34)
• He tears down the house of the proud (Prov 15:25)
• He detests the proud (Prov 16:5)
• He punishes the proud (Prov 16:5)
• He humbles the proud (Is. 2:12)
• He throws the proud to the earth (Ez. 28:17)
• He scatters the proud (Luke 1:51)
• He opposes the proud (James 4:6)

• He saves the humble (2 Sam. 22:28 & Ps. 18:27)
• He keeps back disaster from the humble (2 Kings 22:19)
• He forgives and heals the humble (2 Chron. 7:14)
• He holds back destruction and delivers the humble (2 Chron. 12:7)
• He turns His anger away from the humble (2 Chron. 12:12)
• He hears the humble (2 Chron. 34:27)
• He guides the humble in what is right (Ps. 25:9)
• He teaches  the humble His way (Ps. 25:9)
• He sustains the humble (Ps. 147:6)
• He crowns the humble with victory (Ps. 149:4)
• He shows favor to the humble (Prov. 3:34)
• He allows the humble to rejoice (Is. 29:19)
• He looks on the humble with favor (Is. 66:2)
• He gives rest to the humble (Matt 11:29)
• He exalts and lifts up the humble (Matt 23:12, etc.)
• He gives grace to the humble (James 4:6)
• He shows favor to the humble (1 Peter 5:5)

{Yes, please! This is the kind of attention I want! Let’s humble ourselves before Him (and others) today. Thanks for reading.}

I can almost hear the conversation:

“So…how long are we going to be here?”

“I don’t know.”

“You think maybe a day, two days, a month, a year?”

“I don’t know.”

“Where are we going next?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, when will we settle down and stay?”

“When we get to where we’re supposed to go.”

“And where’s that?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been there.”

“Awesome.”

This is how I imagine the conversations between the several-million Israelites and Moses, their leader.

Every conversation went something along the lines of the people asking what they were doing or when they were leaving or how long the journey would be or where they were going.

And Moses saying, again: “I don’t know.”

See, God clearly called Moses. I mean, He gave him a burning bush for crying out loud! This was a very clear calling.

But it wasn’t very detailed. Check it out:

“I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of a land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey … Come, I will send you to Pharoah that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” Exodus 3:8,10

I can only imagine my own response: Ok, got it. Let me just make sure I’m understanding: You want me to bring your people to a “good land” that flows with milk and honey. Where exactly is this place? Can I get the coordinates of this location? Is there a timeframe on this? Are we thinking this deliverance is going to take 10 hours, 10 days, 10 years? Any clues? Do you have the schedule for me, a clear map so I can plan our rest stops and let everyone know what to expect? I’d like to be able to clearly communicate with the people so they know the plan.

Silence. 

No map. No schedule. No coordinates. No agenda. God’s leading through Moses went like this:

“At the command of the Lord the people of Israel set out, and at the command of the Lord they camped.As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. Even when the cloud continued over the tabernacle many days, the people of Israel kept the charge of the Lord and did not set out. Sometimes the cloud was a few days over the tabernacle, and according to the command of the Lord they remained in camp; then according to the command of the Lord they set out. And sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning. And when the cloud lifted in the morning, they set out, or if it continued for a day and a night, when the cloud lifted they set out. Whether it was two days, or a month, or a longer time, that the cloud continued over the tabernacle, abiding there, the people of Israel remained in camp and did not set out, but when it lifted they set out. At the command of the Lord they camped, and at the command of the Lord they set out. They kept the charge of the Lord, at the command of the Lord by Moses.”

I have a whole new level of respect for Moses’ leadership. 

This kind of leadership is sitnkin’ hard. Our world tells us that leaders need to have a clear plan, a clear vision; they need to know exactly what to do and where to go in order to inspire confidence in their people. And because of that, as Christian leaders we can often spend the majority of our time constructing our own maps, agendas and schedules instead of teaching people to watch for and wait on the Lord. 

Can I just be honest and say it’s easier to make our own map than it is to wait on the Lord? 

In our RENEW adventure it’s as if God is only giving us about a 2-inch level of visibility at all times. He is giving us the exact next steps, one at a time, but nothing further. No map. No schedule. No agenda. When the cloud moves, we move. And I’ve been cool with that–that’s been common practice in our lives as a family.

But it’s a whole new ballgame when you’re leading a whole bunch of other people in the same way!

It’s hard when your kids, your family, your spouse, your friends, whoever it is you are responsible for, look to you and ask: “So what’s next? When do we leave? Where are we going? What’s the plan?”

Its takes transparency and courage to look them in the eyes and readily admit:

“I don’t know. I’ve never been this way before. We just need to watch and wait for God for our next steps. Will you keep an eye out for Him with me?”

And here’s the thing: When we spend our time constructing our own agendas, plans, and maps, it leads people to rely on us. It sets their eyes on us. And if we live according to the world’s values, that’s exactly what they want. In our world system leaders want followers to look to them. But in God’s kingdom, we want people to look to God. We don’t want them to rely on us. We want them to keep their eyes peeled for God’s movement. We want them to know that when He moves, we move. We want them to see right through us and learn themselves to trust and wait on God alone.

Easier said than done. 

Whether you lead one small child or a three million adults, you do lead someone. And we have a choice whether we will construct our own plans to appease those around us and make them feel falsely secure, OR whether we will admit that we don’t know the way, but invite them together with you to watch and wait on God alone.

As we embrace transparency with courage we will all learn to watch and wait for the LORD …

And we will see Him move. 

~

{The theme of our life right now! Waiting on Him, with you. Thanks for reading.}