The Adventure of Discipleship

In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary, from New Zealand, and Tenzing Norgay, from Napal, stood on top of the world.  After several failed attempts, they reached the summit of Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain on the planet (2900+ feet).  It took their breath away (in more than one way).  But after a few moments to savor their victory, they quickly headed back down the mountain.  The mountain top moment soon became a well-documented but distant memory. 

Before the age of airplanes, climbing to the top of a mountain was the only way to see the broader picture of our surroundings and typography.  Fortunately, we do not have to climb Mt. Everest to experience a spiritual mountain top moment with God.  Those moments provide an opportunity to discover more about God, experience him differently, and see life from a higher vantage point.  These spiritual mountain top experiences often change the trajectory of our lives by expanding our horizons, clarifying our vision, and changing our perspectives.

Our spiritual mountain top moments (MTMs for short) don’t have to occur on a physical mountain; however, there are many scriptural examples where they do.  Consider the following significant God encounters on mountains:    

• Noah landed his boat on Mt. Ararat
• Abraham offered Isaac on Mt. Moriah
• Moses meets God in the burning bush on Mt. Horeb
• The Ten Commandments are given to Moses on Mt. Sinai
• Jesus was transfigured before the disciples on Mt. Taber
• Disciples were given the Great Commission on a mountain.

You can probably think of others.

I suggest we have three different responses (or combinations) on our MTMs.  I call them:

• The “Wow!” moment
• The “Whew!” moment
• The “Aha!” moment

The Wow moment.

On this MTM, we are confronted with the incredible wonder of our transcendent God.  It is when we see the Lord “sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted.”  We sense his creative power and sovereign reign.  He is the Lord of lords and King of kings.  It is a moment when we know deep within us that He is God and we are not.  And for a moment at least, we feel that’s how it should be.

The Wow moment not only elevates God to his rightful preeminence, but we sense our smallness in comparison.  As a long-time resident of the prairie states, I feel small whenever I travel in the Rocky Mountains.  Others may feel it when watching the ocean’s rolling waves, viewing the universe through a telescope, or seeing microscopic life through a microscope.

Our response in the Wow moment is to worship by personally humbling ourselves and elevating God.  In the Wow moment, our perspective changes from God is the Creator to God is my creator; God is sovereign to God is sovereign over me!  This MTM naturally elicits praise, gratitude, and thanksgiving.

I think this is the kind of moment the disciples had when they witnessed Christ’s transfiguration.  It was so incredible they wanted to set up camp and stay there forever.  It was the feeling that everything had come together and that “It can’t get any better than this.”

The Whew moment

Where the Wow moment takes our breath away, the Whew moment gives it back.  The Wow moment faces us with the transcendence of God, but the Whew moment exposes us to his immanence.  On this mountain top moment, we sing Psalm 23: “The Lord is my Shepherd….and that’s all I need.”  We can relax because we know God is with us.  Life may still have unresolved issues, but they are not important since we are secure in the presence of the Good Shepherd.

In this MTM, there is a sense of relief and peace:  Shalom.  God is not only sovereignly reigning over the world and everything in it, but he is also intimately walking beside me.  Down through history, the church has had a difficult time balancing the transcendence and immanence of God.  Medieval European gothic cathedrals emphasized God’s transcendence with spires and intricately decorated high ceilings.  The cathedral was designed to lift your eyes up to behold the holy, transcendent God.   Unfortunately, the imminence of God leading to a personal relationship with him was often thought impossible as (in their minds) he was too transcendent to care about the individual (immanence). 

However, in the Whew moment, God’s immanence overrides his transcendence as he invades our personal space.  In the Whew moment, God is not only the God who loves the world but the God who loves me.

Elijah experienced a Whew moment during a famine in Israel when a vengeful King Ahab pursued him.  Surprisingly, God takes him to an unlikely place for safety and provision:  the “mountain top” home of a poor Shunamite woman.  Her home was a shelter in the storm, where he could escape the threats and find shalom. 

The Aha moment

We gain clarity when we experience the Aha moment on the mountain top.   Above the clouds, we can see further than we can in the valley.  We are still limited by the horizon and our human line of sight, but from a higher vantage point we can see farther and gain new perspectives.   

The Aha comes as God’s Spirit uses the Word to open our eyes and hearts in a moment of revelation – even inspiration – to what has been a mystery, making it more understandable.  Our faith grows as we see what is true, even though it is invisible.  We may also gain hope as we claim promises not yet fulfilled.  Paul refers to his dramatic Aha Mountain Top Moment in 2 Corinthians 12.  “I know a man in Christ…(who) was caught up into the third heaven…into Paradise and heard inexpressible words…”

Mountain top moments, like the mountain meadow, don’t last long.  We must stop, look around, and savor the moment when they happen.  Years ago, when I directed collegiate ministries, we would take students on ski conferences during winter breaks, spending a few days in Bible study and then a few days on the ski slopes. 

After several of these trips, I began to gain enough confidence to move from the “bunny” slope to a green one, trying out my skill at “parallel” skiing.  After spending the afternoon trying not to cause a pile-up when I exited the ski lift and not hitting someone on the ski slope, I finally gained the confidence to quit looking at my skis and look up.  It was an amazing view, and I almost missed it.  I had spent the day looking at my ski boots when this breathtaking view from the mountain top was all around me.  I had focused on getting down the slope without falling when I could have focused on the grandeur of the mountain view.   

Sometimes we are so focused on living the Christian life without falling that we miss the view from the mountains.  Whether it is a Wow, a Whew, or an Aha moment, the mountain top landscape is a gift not to miss, maybe even create a memorial to remember them. 

For Reflection

1. Reflect on one of your Mountain Top Moments.  How did you feel?  How did God show up?
2. Reflect on one of the biblical mountain top events and note how God showed up.

The detours we experience are sudden changes in direction, route, or plans that are outside our control.  A detour is a deviation from our original plan, and it is inconvenient because, contrary to our plans for the shortest, fastest route possible, detours create delays. 

The dictionary defines a detour this way: to turn aside; a roundabout way, a deviation from a direct way; a route used when the direct or regular route is closed; a circuitous way.

Anxiety, impatience, frustration, disappointment, and even confusion emerge when confronted with a detour in life.  Unable to progress toward our goals, we may feel that we are wasting time, no longer in control, and unsure of the future.

To gain a positive perspective on detours, we need to look back through the lens of faith.  Hindsight often gives us a better understanding of how God was present all along. 

The following are six possible reasons why God orchestrates detours in our lives.   

  1.  The bridge or road we are about to cross is unsafe.  God reroutes us to protect us when the road ahead is unsafe and too dangerous to proceed. 

On August 1, 2007, the I-35W Mississippi River Bridge was an eight-lane, steel truss arched bridge carrying Interstate 35W traffic across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  It collapsed during the evening rush hour, killing 13 people and injuring 145.  Many families would have welcomed a sign: “Detour—Bridge unsafe.”

Our God does not always tell us that the road ahead is unsafe.  Instead, he graciously puts up the roadblock (detour) and asks us to trust him without explanation.  I am convinced that many of the detours we experience will one day make perfect sense and produce a humble response of gratitude.  (Isaiah 55:8-9)

2.  God wants us to see and experience a life scenic view we would not have seen or chosen by our initiative.  When living life on a 70-mph freeway, we barely have time to turn our heads and look at the countryside.  Our focus is on just getting there—wherever that is.  And once we get there, we get on the next interstate and do it all over again.  We observe little and learn even less. 

Jesus took his disciples on a detour in John 4 when traveling from Jerusalem to Galilee.  The cultural freeway was via the Jordan River Interstate.  The Samaria route was slow, dangerous, and politically incorrect.  But John said that “Jesus had to go through Samaria” (John 4:4).  After reading the rest of the story, we know he took this off-road route to encounter an outcast lady in an out-of-the-way city, giving his disciples (then and now) a countercultural view of a woman, a town, and a harvest away from the freeway.

Detours cause us to slow down and look around.  When we overcome our impatience, detours can open vistas we would have never seen from the freeway.  We may meet people who are lost, in pain, and lonely, or we may discover the hand of God in the beauty of nature’s simplicity, or perhaps we experience the kindness of a friend who showed up unexpectedly and unannounced (John 4:39-42).

3.  We are headed in the right direction but are not yet ready to reach our destination.  We need more time to mature to handle and appreciate what lies ahead.    Or perhaps the detour is for the sake of others as they are not yet ready for our presence or contribution.

Moses experienced a 40-year detour in the desert after killing the Egyptian.  It took those 40 years for the people of Israel to learn to cry out for God’s help and meanwhile, Moses was learning how to live in the desert and listen to God.

Paul was another leader who experienced detours.  After his conversion, he immediately began to proclaim the gospel of Jesus in Damascus.  His preaching resulted in a death threat that prompted the believers to sneak Paul out of town.  The details are sketchy, but Paul spent the following three years in the desert of Arabia.  He then went to Jerusalem, where he was cautiously introduced to the other apostles.  Once again, his boldness in proclaiming the Gospel got him into physical danger.  This time, however, the disciples sent him off to Tarsus (his hometown), where he stayed for another 14 years in obscurity.  Eventually, Barnabas gets Paul from Tarsus and brings him to Antioch, where there is a great moving of the Spirit of God.  Hardly the straight-line road Paul had envisioned in those early days in Damascus.

There are several other possible reasons why Paul had a 14-year detour from sharing Christ with the world.  It could have been for his development and maturity.  It could have also been for the development of the church under Peter’s influence in Acts 10-11.  What is clear is that Paul was eager to engage in his calling, but God put him on a circuitous path for several years. 

Detours can cause us to slow down and wait for God’s timing.  God’s clock doesn’t seem to run as fast as ours.  I think that is why one of the most repeated phrases in the Psalms is “wait on the Lord.” In Isaiah 40:28-31, the prophet emphasized the benefits of doing so!

4.  We are not headed in the right direction.  Sometimes God allows us to move in the wrong direction before redirecting us.  Remember, it is easier to direct a moving car than a stalled one.  In like manner, rather than becoming paralyzed with over-analysis and fear of making mistakes, we need to start moving.  However, we also want to avoid a stubborn, focused attitude that keeps us from accepting God’s course correction. 

An example is in Acts when Paul sought direction on his second missionary journey.  Luke tells us that Paul tried to enter western Asia, but “the Lord prevented him” (Acts 16:6).  Having hit the detour, Paul waited and adjusted as the Holy Spirit opened new doors into Greece.  Paul was a man in motion but allowed God to open and close doors.

5.  God wants to develop our trust and faith in his goodness.  He knows that there will be times when it will be crucial for us to respond and obey quickly to his leadership.  Detours are part of that development process.   Much of my early military training taught me to follow commands quickly and completely.  Military leaders know that in combat, that ability will save lives.  Faith in Christ puts us under new leadership…his.  He is now the authority we need to obey quickly. 

God used a cloud to lead Israel in their initial journey in the desert.  When it moved, they moved.  When it stopped, they stopped.  They stayed put if the cloud rested for a day, a week, or even a month.  There is no hint in Scripture that God gave them an explanation of why it stopped or started.  Following the cloud was training for trusting God in the future.

Under the new covenant, we are given the Holy Spirit as our “cloud.” Paul says in Romans 8:14, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Learning to recognize and respond to the voice of God is part of our spiritual development.  Detours are one of the ways God teaches us to follow (John 14:26).

6.  Our sin has altered our path.  Sin always has consequences, even after forgiveness.  These consequences appear as roadblocks, altering our course and creating a detour.  Sin may even eliminate the original destination, so it is no longer an option.                  

For example, when the children of Israel had the opportunity to enter the Promised Land, they refused, even though the spies reported the inhabitants were afraid of the Israelites.  Because of their disobedience, God put the Israelites on a 40-year detour and only the next generation was permitted to enter the Promised Land.        

Through divinely appointed detours, we discover God is our faithful Guide.  We also can learn to:

• Persevere, keep going, not quit or retreat.
• Wait on the Lord, not doubting his promises but following the direction clearly given by God, even when the path looks dark and forbidding. 
• Enjoy the new scenery, trusting that God has a purpose for the detour, even if we don’t understand it.   

Remember God’s promise to the Hebrews in the Old Testament when considering the detours in your spiritual journey.  Their sin resulted in captivity, but even then, God’s gracious promise was to give them a future and hope (Jeremiah 29:11).

For Reflection:

1.  Can you recall a detour in your life that changed your plans?  How did you respond?  Looking back, how did God show up?
2.  Can you think of other reasons God might create detours in your path?
3. What are other biblical examples of detours?  How did God show up?

God wants to be known by every person in every generation and from every nation, which is a theme that runs throughout the entire biblical narrative.  God designed us to know him; our ultimate good is found in that discovery. 

We are in a series called The Landscapes of Life, discovering how they are the canvas on which God paints his glory.  Each landscape is an opportunity to experience God’s presence uniquely, fulfilling his desire that we know him as he is rather than as we would imagine him to be.  

It should not surprise us that God would use all our life events to accomplish that purpose.  The challenge for us is to intentionally cooperate by seeking to know him through His Word and discovering him through our landscape experiences, ultimately declaring what we discover to the world around us.

In this blog, we will explore the landscape of darkness.  We usually use the term darkness as a metaphor for evil and a description of the absence of light.  I will use the latter as our picture for the landscape of darkness.

We frequently contrast darkness with light, but they are fundamentally different.  Light is a physical property that has a source and can be measured.  On the other hand, darkness is not a physical entity.  It is only described in reference to the absence of light.  For example, we can go to Lowes and purchase a flashlight but not a flashdark. 

In the same way, spiritual darkness is the absence of spiritual light.  An extreme level of spiritual darkness has been described as the “dark night of the soul.”  The phrase originated from a poem by St. John of the Cross. Secular and religious counselors use it to address a broad category of stressful conditions, including depression.  This level of darkness is the spiritual equivalent of physical depression.

Although some may experience a “dark night of the soul,” most of us experience our darkness as varying degrees of cloudiness.  It is not that light is absent but that it is obscured.  I describe the landscape of darkness as a period when our lives lack clarity; we feel confused, disoriented, and lack direction.  We may not be entirely overwhelmed, but doubt diminishes our hope, and our souls long for light and the clarity it brings. 

The theme of light is common throughout Scripture which identifies light sources as:

• The Bible (Ps 119:105, 130)
  • Jesus (John 1:4-9)
    • God (1 John 1:5, Dan 2:22, Psa. 27:1; Psa. 18:28)
      • The face of God (Psa. 31:16; 44:3)
        • Believers (Matt. 5:14-16; Eph 5:8)
          • The Kingdom (1 Peter 2:9

It is abundantly clear that as people of faith, we are to “walk in the light as He is in the light.”  So why does our journey sometimes take us into the darkness?  Several possibilities emerge based on the testimonies of those who have walked in and through the landscape of darkness.

The first time I experienced total darkness was when our family was touring a cave in New Mexico.  Our guide took our group down a descending walkway into a large cavern of stalactites and stalagmites.  Once we were all stationary, he demonstrated total darkness by turning off all the electric lights.  I couldn’t even see my hand next to my nose!  Then, our guide lit a solitary match.  In the darkness, the importance of that little flame was huge.  I could not take my eyes off it. 

Sometimes God uses the landscape of darkness to eliminate competing light sources and encourage our focus on the light of Scripture.  For example, the ubiquitous cultural influence can cloud our lives, preventing us from seeing the true light.  Our vision can also become cloudy when books about the Bible influence us more than the Bible itself.   “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path” (Psa. 119:105 emphasis mine).  (See also 2 Tim.  3:16-17; Hebrews 4:12).

The landscape of darkness can also result in a new perspective.  Our eyes get recalibrated in the darkness so that when the clouds roll away, our life is seen with greater clarity, simplicity, and appreciation.              

God can also use the darkness to convict us of sin, for which we need to repent.  As kingdom citizens, we are to be God’s image bearers and the light of truth to this world.  Unfortunately, we often become careless and allow dust and dirt to distort the effectiveness of our light, making our life and message of truth incongruent, irrelevant, and even useless. 

In the days when there were lighthouse keepers, they would need to continually keep the lens of their lighthouse clean for the flame to shine effectively.   A dirty lens distorts and limits the power of the light source.   Likewise, we need to clean our “lens” by using the promise of 1 John 1:9. 

Living in the landscape of darkness is also an excellent time to remember how God has provided light in the past.  It may not have been all the light we wanted, but it was all we needed to take our next step.  Looking back, we can see the providential hand of God.  He was leading us along, even though we didn’t see it.  God’s providence is most clearly seen when looking backward. 

During a period in my 20s, I was especially anxious about the direction of my life.  I was anxious, confused, disoriented, and desperately searching for clarity about my future.  I had no direction about a career or marriage.  I had several options, but nothing was clear.  On a long walk late one night, the question came to me, “What is the biggest decision you need to make right now?”  My reflective answer was “to decide if I would go to bed, wake up, and have a daily appointment with God.”  It was like God was saying, “That is all you need to know right now.  Do that, and I will take care of your future.”  A memory verse came to mind.  “Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.  Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take” (Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT).  So I went to bed, and when I woke up, I had my appointment with God.

God also uses the landscape of darkness to humble us, allowing God to remain a mystery.   We do not have all the answers, but we learn by faith to accept it as OK.  The story of Job comes to mind as his story illustrates our intense desire to know answers to the why questions of life.  But God frequently does not give those answers.  Instead, as he did with Job, he reminds us that he is the sovereign, almighty Creator, and answers to no one.  And like Job, we must humbly recognize that even with the light of Scripture, God remains a mystery, and his ways are far above our understanding (Isaiah 58:8-9).

So, how can we respond when traveling through our landscape of darkness?   Several possibilities come to mind.

• Wait on God.  Until God gives more light, do not force a direction.  Isaiah 64:4 says that while we are waiting, God is working.
• Review the light we do have.   Review God’s promises and claim his power and willingness to fulfill them.  “Don’t doubt in the dark what God has revealed in the light.”
• Focus on God’s character.  Be like a child holding on to their parent’s hand when the lights go out in the cave.

Like our other landscapes, we do not need to fear, seek to avoid, or hurry through the darkness, but we need to be confident that God will show up in it.  Let’s not miss all God wants to reveal about himself in the darkness. 

“I create the light and make the darkness.  I send good times and bad times.  I, the LORD, am the one who does these things” (Isa. 45:7 NLT).

For Reflection

1.    Remember a time when you were walking in a landscape of darkness.  How did you feel?  How did God use it in your life?

2.   What Scriptural promises can you claim when you are in the darkness?

I don’t think of a desert without remembering the old, yet popular, Western song “Cool Water.”  I must not be alone since it is #3 of the Top 100 Western songs ever.  It is about a thirsty man and his mule traveling a wasteland, tormented by mirages.

All day I’ve faced a barren waste, Without the taste of water, cool water, Old Dan and I, with throats burned dry And souls that cry for water.

I imagine a dirty, bearded, weary prospector and his mule drudging along in the blistering heat of a barren, dry landscape, squinting into the sun, hoping that what has always been a mirage in the past will finally turn out to be water.

The wasteland of the desert is hot, dry, barren, and silent.  The most critical need when traveling in a desert is water.  Lack of water results in “throats burned dry, and souls that cry for water.”  In that condition, it is hard to swallow, lips become cracked, and it is hard to think about anything else but water.  Thirst is a gift that drives us to search for “cool, clear water.”

Spiritual thirst is also a gift because it drives us to pursue the essential ingredient for soul life:  Living Water.  In the spiritual desert, our souls can feel dry and passive; there is little or no joy or fire in our souls.  Our prayers may seem like words bouncing off the ceiling.  We have no hunger for the Word; Scripture seems like just words on a page.  Worship services that used to be inspiring are now boring.   The Christian life feels dull.  God seems silent, distant, or absent and our hearts long for God’s presence, but we do not see him. 

Many spiritual pilgrims testify to “dry” times when their souls cried for water.  Their desert may have existed even during spiritual activities and busy ministry.   People may have surrounded them and yet they felt isolated. 

When God takes us to the desert, it is an opportunity to identify what we are thirsty for.  Perhaps we have been living on spiritual fruit punch and sodas instead of the “cool water” that truly satisfies us.  Maybe we are in danger of unintentional dehydration, and God wants to renew our thirst mechanism that has become faulty. 

God rebuked the children of Israel for substituting their own, inadequate cisterns for springs of living water.   “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13).

Spiritual thirst moves us to seek the Water of Life, found only by a faith encounter with Christ and the gospel.  Water in Scripture can refer to the Word, salvation, the Holy Spirit, or God himself.   In general, spiritual thirst is the recognition of feeling distant regarding our relationship with God.  David expressed it this way.  “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God.  I thirst for God, the living God” (Psalm 42:1).

Spiritual thirst leads us to faith in Christ (remember the John 4 account of the woman at the well) and also leads us deeper in our journey of discipleship.  A desert experience may be required to renew a spiritual thirst for God and help us put all other pursuits into perspective. 

David wrote his version of “Cool Water” in Psalm 63, “O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you.  My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.” Reading through this Psalm of David’s spiritual desert, we discover a pattern of how to respond when in our desert. 

• He remembers the past and how God showed up in power and glory.
• He anticipates the future when he will again praise God in joy.
• In the meantime, he focuses on the God who is his helper, shade, and strong right hand.

Instead of resenting the desert or rushing to get out of it, we should consider it a gift:  an opportunity to experience God in ways only the desert can provide.

The desert can:

1.   Heighten our desire for God alone.

2.   Revive our thirst for the clear water of the Word.

3.   Clear the clutter and simplify our lives.

4.   Purify our souls.

The following is a list of ideas I and others have found helpful in a desert landscape.

1.  Be authentic about the condition of your soul. 

• Are you physically tired or weary?  Have you just come off an emotional high or a major victory?  Do you need to rest and eat?  (Think of Elijah in 1 Kings 19).
• Are there “sins” or “weights” draining your soul?  (Hebrews 12:1-2)
• Are you drinking from sources other than the spring of Living Water?

2.  Consider the desert a time to wait on the Lord (Isaiah 40:29-31).

Waiting is not a posture of apathy or inactivity. Instead, it is a “leaning into” God and his promises, remembering that while we are waiting, God is working (Isaiah 64:4 NLT).

3.  Take the time to remember and review.

•  Remember the names of God and how he has shown up in the past.  “God is my …….” 

•  Review your identity in Christ.  “In Christ I am……”

4.   Hang around life-giving people.   Spend time with deeply spiritual people who will not condemn or expect you to snap out of it but allow you to walk in their wake without expectations.

5.  Do not hurry the process.  Allow the discomfort to draw you to God alone.  Look for his fingerprint in your desert.

6.  Enjoy places where God can touch your emotions.  Take walks in your favorite park.  Listen to music that helps you focus on the unseen reality.

7.  Spend time in the Word, even if it feels emotionally flat.  God’s Spirit lives in His Word, and his Spirit is where the living water comes from (John 7).  Listen for God’s quiet voice without expecting an earthquake, fire, or storm.  Think of Elijah in 1 Kings 19.  Take the advice of Eli to Samuel and say, “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.” 

The shadows sway and seem to say, “Tonight, we pray for water, cool water.” And way up there, He’ll hear our prayer, And show us where there’s water-cool, clear water.

For Reflection

1.  Can you describe a time when you were especially thirsty for God?

2.  What would you suggest to prevent spiritual dehydration?

We would not typically visit a cemetery on a sunny afternoon.  However, as much as we would like to avoid it, the cemetery is a landscape we will visit sometime along our journey.  The critical question is will we discover God’s fingerprint while there?

With the popularity of cremation, the cemetery may become an artifact of the past.  However, it is still an essential reminder of our link to history and that we are part of something much bigger than our current moment on the stage of life.  Something is engaging about a cemetery, with its headstones marking the life and death of real people.  The Vietnam Memorial honors those who gave their lives for our country.  Still, it did not have the same impact on me as visiting Arlington Cemetery in Virginia and seeing all those headstones in the ground.  

Death is a topic that makes us uncomfortable.  Substituting euphemisms for death or dying does not take away its painful reality.  None of us want to sit in the front row of chairs at a graveside service.  But eventually, we all will.

In the emergency room, we face the possibility of our mortality, but in the cemetery, we face its certainty.  A memorial service can celebrate the life of the one lost, but the cemetery is a place of sober finality.  It is a place where we do not want to linger but pass through as quickly as possible.  We may have a potluck at the church but not at the cemetery.  Cemeteries do not hide the reality of death but make it soberingly visible and memorable.  Cemeteries honor those who have died but also remind us that death is real and permanent.   

There is something uniquely important about the cemetery.  In writing the Apostle’s Creed, the early church fathers included the crucifixion and death of Christ and also his burial (think cemetery).  Death and burial are not redundant.  Paul writes, “For I handed down to you … that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4 emphasis mine). 

Cemeteries remind us that death is not part of God’s original plan.  Along with grief, it carries the feeling that this is not how things should be.  Even with the hope of eternal life for those in Christ, death creates confusion, sorrow, and grief.  However, in our grief, our Good Shepherd is with us–not to explain away the why questions but to bring comfort and hope. 

The place of exchange

For the Christian, the cemetery is not a “dead end” but a place of exchange.  While it is true that the cemetery involves letting go, it also involves taking hold.  We release one thing to gain another.  It is the exchange of mortality for immortality, a physical body for a spiritual one (1 Corinthians 15:12-26).   

 Using the concept of the cemetery to illustrate our spiritual journey, Jesus described the “cemetery” as being like grains of wheat that must fall to the ground and die so they can bear much fruit (John 12:24).  Clearly when our old self dies, it is not the end but the beginning of a fruitful life.    

Paul described this same process in his letter to the Galatians.  “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20).  Since we exchanged the old “I” for a new “I,” let’s have a funeral and place a headstone in our “cemetery.” Then each time we visit and see our headstone, we say, “Yep, that’s the “I” that was crucified with Christ.  Thank God that “I” no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”

The problem is that we sometimes hang on to the old “I” because we fear losing something important to us.  We forget what Jesus taught: “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 16:2).  “Until we are willing to lose, we will never find what God has for us” (AW Tozer, The Crucified Life, p 164).

In Luke chapters 9 and 14, Jesus said a defining mark of his disciple is the person who takes up his cross daily and follows him.  Some things continually need to be put to death and buried.  The author of Hebrews expresses it this way.  “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1). 

Repentance is a form of cemetery exchange.  Repent means to change direction or perhaps even do a complete about-face.  It includes letting go of something (burying it) in exchange for something better, such as: 

• Exchanging self-rule for Christ’s rule.
• Exchanging self-merit for Christ’s merit.

However, along our transformational journey of becoming his image-bearer, the buried old self still influences our daily walk.  Like barnacles on an ocean-going ship, we daily tend to pick up barnacles of self-rule and self-merit.  Perhaps part of what Jesus was referring to when he said we should take up our cross daily and follow him is to walk daily through the cemetery.  We must recognize the barnacles that have collected and repent of all self-rule and self-merit.  Our daily devotional time offers the perfect opportunity to do just that. 

The landscape of the cemetery is life-changing.  It will always involve letting go of something.  The pain involved relates to how tightly we have been holding on.  Corrie Ten Bloom once said, “Hold everything in your hands lightly; otherwise, it hurts when God pries your fingers open.”

God promises to show up in the cemetery.  But we need to be careful not to miss him in the grieving process.  When Jesus came to the cemetery of his friend Lazarus, he joined the grieving process with the family.  The Scripture simply says, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35).  Even though Jesus knew that death was about to be abolished, he was saying that he understands that death is painful.  In the grief of the cemetery, we have a landscape in which to experience God’s multifaceted nature.  He will be there and we will see him if we look for him through the lens of faith.

For Reflection

1.  Reflect on when you had to walk through a cemetery.  How did you feel?  How did God show up?

2.  Reflect on when God took something out of your hand.  How did you respond?  Was it a loss or an exchange?  Explain.

The metanarrative of the Bible is an epic story of love, adventure, danger, heroism, romance, sacrifice, warfare between good and evil, unlikely heroes, and impossible odds.  All of which make up God’s story.  Every classic story written in history is modeled after it.  In the Bible metanarrative, Christ is the main character, and his people are the supporting cast for displaying the glory of God.  

To understand this epic drama, we must understand the stage setting.  God reveals in Scripture that the created cosmos (time and space continuum) was created good but became corrupt due to a continuing conflict between God and demonic forces.  Scripture gives little detail about the origin of this cosmic conflict, but the brief snapshots given are sufficient for now.  The Bible claims Satan is a powerful being who leads a host of spiritual powers in rebellion against God and his authority.  Satan’s goal is to set himself above God and usurp his sovereignty. 

The battle between God and evil forces continues throughout the narrative of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation.  The Genesis account shows how humanity was caught up in the cosmic conflict.  In the Garden of Eden, humanity chose to join Satan in the rebellion against God by deliberately disobeying God’s command and thus replacing God’s authority with self-rule.  

The enemy

The Bible describes life on earth as living in the kingdom of darkness where Satan rules but with limited freedom.  One day there will be a final battle in which Satan and his accomplices will be rounded up and cast into hell:  their final destination.  However, in the meantime, as Christians, we are engaged in this cosmic battle. 

The New Testament epistles describe our battlefield as consisting of the world, the flesh, and the devil’s schemes (Ephesians 2:2-3).  This trifecta is waging war against God’s desires and design for his people.  Since we are engaged in a war, we must know what and who we are fighting.  We may confuse our real enemy with certain people, such as a demeaning boss, grumpy neighbor, or belligerent kids.  Satan may use such people, but people are not our real enemies.   On the other hand, our world’s caricature of Satan is one of a friendly, although perhaps ghoulish, harmless fiend more appropriate for Halloween than the real world.  In either case, Satan is neither taken seriously nor effectively opposed.  

Victory over Satan requires that we understand him for who he is and not attribute more power to him than he deserves.  There are spiritual forces of wickedness we should be aware of and stand in opposition to.  However, we do not live in fear of Satan or his host of followers because Jesus has already defeated him.  The victory has been won, and one day it will be finalized.   We are on the side of victory!

The Battlefield

As God’s people, whose final home is in heaven, we live as aliens in the kingdom of darkness and will always face opposition and hard times.  For example, people get sick and die, accidents happen, businesses fail, and homes are robbed.   Hardships, misfortunes, and trials are part of living in a broken world.  However, there is also a battlefield landscape with significant spiritual attacks.  The following are some examples.

• We are overwhelmed with false accusations against the nature of God
• We find ourselves doubting the truth and relevance of the Word
• We doubt our true identity in Christ
• We face an uncommon assortment of trials and losses, such as Job experienced
• We experience resistance when we invade enemy territory with the gospel and engage in kingdom ministry.
• Emotionally we experience an overwhelming sense of darkness, sadness, fear, or anxiety.
• We struggle with confusion regarding guilt, shame, and doubt.

Another type of battlefield is called a stronghold.  A stronghold can be any harmful habit, negative thinking, or irrational feeling that leads to sinful behavior for which we are in bondage. 

(Neil Anderson’s book, The Bondage Breaker, is a helpful resource regarding this type of battlefield.)

Discovering God on the Battlefield

When David was running from King Saul, he did not have a fortified city with walls to protect him, so he retreated to desert caves like Adullam and the forest of Hereth (1 Samuel 22:1-5).  Yet it was not his surroundings that he looked to for safety; it was his God. So if we were to ask David, “How did God show up during the years you were running from Saul,” he would say,“The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my savior, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” (Psalm 18:2). 

Another way God shows up on the battlefield is with his armor of protection and the power to fight victoriously.  Paul, in Ephesians 6, describes the armor we are to put on to be “strong in the Lord and the power of his might.”  Each piece of armor is a description of Christ, so to put on the armor is to put on Christ (Romans 13:14).

Battlefield Strategies

Max Anders has suggested that we encounter two types of spiritual warfare.   We respond to each with different strategies.

• A battle where the enemy can be defeated.  On this battlefield, we fight, wage war, wear armor, stand firm, resist, and sometimes flee.  We actively fight with the weapons God has given for our defense.  (Ephesians 6:13; James 4:7; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; 1 Peter 5:8; 2 Timothy 2:22; Matthew 4:1-11)

• A battle where the enemy’s attack is sustained.  On this battlefield, we experience God’s grace to endure.  Paul’s thorn in the flesh is a good example.  Paul identifies this “thorn” as harassment from Satan, but God refuses to remove it.  Instead, he directs Paul to accept it and experience his all-sufficient grace.  On this battlefield, we hide ourselves in the fortress of the character of God with prayer and praise. 

We can be confident that God will show up on the battlefields of life.  We are not victims but victors.  “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).  “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will trust in the name of the Lord our God” Psalm 20:7).

For Reflection

1.  Practically, how do we put on the armor of Ephesians 6?

2.  How do know when to fight and when to flee (a strategic withdrawal)?

Life’s experiences, or as I will call them, landscapes of life, are the places God can reveal aspects of his nature and glory.  Our landscapes can range from mountaintop miracles to slogging through the muck.  Most of the time, we experience something in between those extremes.  Paul expressed it this way: 

I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself (Philippians 3:10).

Throughout Scripture, God promises to always be with us in every landscape we face.  The Psalmist writes, “Where can I go from Your Spirit?  Or where can I flee from Your presence?  If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.  If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me” (Psalm 139:7-10)

My favorite “go-to” promise for God’s presence is, “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you.  He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you” (Deut. 31:8).  You probably have similar “go to” verses.  With God’s presence guaranteed, our question is not “Will God show up?” but “How will he show up?”  The point is the promise of God’s presence forms the foundation for discovering how God will show up in the various landscapes of our lives.  When we anticipate the presence of God, we can learn to be content in whatever topography we are experiencing and for however long God decides for us to be there. 

Over the following several blogs, I want to look at various landscapes we may encounter along our life journey of faith.  Each can provide a unique opportunity for God to show up, meet our needs, and reveal various aspects of his nature.  Each landscape will allow us to move from theory to experience: from God is… to God is my…  We will see his presence even in unexpected ways as we use the lens of faith and perhaps some CSI skills.

The Storm

First, I want to consider discovering God in the storm.  Nature’s storms, whether hurricanes, tornadoes, thunderstorms, dust storms, or just plain old rain storms, are a common part of life.  When it comes to storms, we know they will come, and we cannot control them.

Storms are those events in life where circumstances seem overwhelming.  Adversity, conflict, pressure, and disappointment can come in a wave that disrupts our calm, comfortable, ordinary everyday routine.  We may feel like our life is under attack in our finances, health, or relationships.  What makes it feel like a storm is that we cannot control it when it comes.

Storms affect

Since life’s storms are out of our control, we find them physically and emotionally threatening.   When the wind and waves of the storm toss around our “boat,” we can feel vulnerable, overwhelmed, helpless, exposed, and defenseless. 

The twelve disciples faced storms as they were following Jesus.  On one occasion, he told them to get in their boat and said, “Let us go to the other side.”  Their destination was the area of the Garasenes along the southeast side of the Sea of Galilee. 

When a sudden storm comes up, fear takes over, and when the disciples find Jesus asleep, they panic.  They cry, “Jesus don’t you care?” (Mark 4:35-41).  There have been times when I have had a similar response.  More than once, when a storm hit my life, I initially wondered if Jesus was “asleep.” 

After Jesus wakes up and calms the storm, he asks several penetrating questions.  “Why are you afraid?  How is it that you have no faith?”  Jesus was looking for a different response to the storm than he got.  The disciple’s faith response could have been based on two things.   One was his promise when he said, “Let us go to the other side.”  He did not say, “Let’s go out on the Sea and drown.”  Secondly, they had his presence.  Similarly, when we feel vulnerable in a storm, we can put our faith in the promises of God and his character.  

Fanny Crosby is one of the most prolific songwriters of our time, having written over 8,000 songs and hymns.  They include hymns like Blessed Assurance, Pass Me Not O Blessed Savior, To God be the Glory, and He Hideth My Soul.  She accomplished all this despite becoming blind when she was only six weeks old. 

Later in her life, she wrote, “It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank Him for the dispensation.  If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow, I would not accept it.  I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me.”

Fanny accepted this lifelong “storm” as a blessing because she discovered God’s touch through it.  She has encouraged believers for over a millennium by putting that knowledge into songs.  The storm provides a place to discover God as our anchor, harbor, and shelter. 

Storm prep

Since we cannot eliminate storms from our life, we would be wise to prepare for them.  Jesus told of two houses that faced the inevitable storms of life (Matthew 7: 24-27).  The stability of the house depended on the foundation.  The solid foundation in the parable was built upon hearing and doing his word.  Nothing fancy or complex … just daily listening to what God says through his word and acting on it.  Little by little, brick by brick, the foundation is laid in the secret place of our hearts.  Then when the inevitable storms come, our house will stand.  But unfortunately, it is too late to start laying the foundation once the storms hit.

When King Nebuchadnezzar put the three Hebrew men into his fiery furnace, they demonstrated their foundation through their response.  This was not their “first rodeo,” as the saying goes.  Captured, their homes destroyed, taken into exile, and forced into the king’s service, they found that every storm along the way was an opportunity to see the hand of God.  Now, in the furnace, they could say with complete peace, “God is able to deliver, but if not…”  Their response to the king was that their God could just as easily deliver them out of the fire or through it.  Either way, they had learned that God would show up. 

Storm Benefits

God uses storms to show us various aspects of his nature and complete the work of transforming us into his image-bearers.  Here are four ways God can use a storm to move us from God is … to God is my……

• Focus our lives (God is my Anchor)

Storms have a way of forcing us to simplify our lives, focusing on the essentials of life while stripping away the clutter and distractions.  Years ago, an unexpected storm came up while crossing a large lake on a fishing trip with my dad in Canada’s boundary waters.  The sky went from an azure blue to a menacing gray/black.  The lake went from glass-like smooth to whitecaps in just a few minutes.  Alone on the lake in our 17-foot aluminum canoe, life got simple.  We were not thinking about our plans for next week, not even what we were cooking for dinner that night.  We had only two thoughts: keep the canoe’s bow pointed into the waves and paddle like crazy!  All my complex life issues (family, work, relational challenges, and long-range plans) shrunk to a few things: Dad, me, and an aluminum boat.

Life storms can help us refocus on what is ultimately important … ultimately essential.  Even forward progress is eliminated.  A sailing ship in a storm takes down its sails and puts out the sea anchor.  Progress to its destination is put on hold until the storm passes. 

•  Test our faith (God is my Proctor)

Each storm we face tests our faith in our confidence in the promises and character of God.  They can serve as an exam in our course of faith.  The disciples got a D on their exam in the story above.  Not surprisingly, this was early in their training.   They would do better later…well, not always!  Our faith tests are also faith builders.  Each storm in which we discover the touch of God increases our faith.  That is why in a storm, Scripture tells us to remember how God has shown up in the past.

Storms strip away our self-confidence and the illusion that we are in control.  When our security and safety are threatened, we are forced to seek God as our refuge, our cleft in the rock.  No matter how many storms we weather, each new one tests, deepens, and strengthens our faith – if we let it.

•  Guide our journey (God is my Guide)

Jonah needed a course correction as he fled from God’s presence to avoid his mission to the Ninevites.  Headed in the wrong direction, God used a storm (and a fish) to turn him around.  God can use storms to guide and correct us, especially when we are not paying attention.

On his way to Rome, Paul took a detour via Malta when his ship hit a storm.  Shipwrecked and left floating on various debris from the ship, the Bible gives a typical understatement, “and so it happened they were all brought safely to land.”  For the next three months, Paul had a ministry on the island that was not in his original plan.  Storms take us to places we would not have chosen to go, but we have unexpected opportunities to live out the gospel once we are there.

•  Develop fruitfulness (God is my Gardner)

In January 2005, an ice storm hit Kansas City, the costliest in Kansas history.  During the several days of constant rain and ice, branches broke off our trees with the crack of rifle shots.  When it was over, tree limbs were in piles across our yard.  Our favorite maple tree looked devastated.  But amazingly, after a few years, it recovered, filled in, and looked better than ever. 

Jesus said we are like the branches of a grapevine that need pruning occasionally.  Sometimes, our heavenly Father uses the storms of life to prune us for greater fruitfulness (John 15).

We need to remember that God delights in being discovered.  Life storms allow him to show up in new ways if we look through the lens of faith.

For Reflection:

1.  Think back to a stormy period of your life.  What were your questions?  How did God show up?

2.  In what ways are you preparing for the storms yet to come?

If God is to reveal his glory to us experientially, he needs a context in which to do it.  Our life journey with its various landscapes is that setting.  But, before we consider this topic, let’s review some principles already discussed regarding God’s glory.

• God is serious about his glory.
• His glory is the revelation of his attributes.
• God wants each of us to know his glory in a personal/experiential way.
• His glory can only be experienced through a variety of different circumstances.
• It takes faith to see the fingerprint of God’s glory in our lives.

A key question we need to ask ourselves is, “Do we want to know God and his glory, or are we content to just use him?”  Several years ago, I was discipling an executive vice president of a large aerospace company.  We met weekly at a Denny’s near the company headquarters.  It was not a restaurant where he usually ate breakfast.  After a few months of meeting, he said, “Do you know why I like meeting with you?”  I initially thought of the wisdom I was passing on.  But he said, “It is because you relate to me for who I am rather than what I can do for you.  Almost everyone in my life is trying to use me.”

If we are to know God, we must be willing to travel through various landscapes to see his multifaceted nature.  As a young boy living in Iowa, the farthest we traveled from home was our annual weekly fishing vacation in Minnesota, which looked much like Iowa except for the lakes.  Then, one year in the late 1950s, we broke family tradition with a venturesome road trip to San Diego, CA.  Up to that time, my only knowledge of our planet’s various landscapes was from looking through a National Geographic magazine.  But pictures, good as they were in the magazine, were the result of someone else’s experience, not my own.

The interstate system in the 1950s was just being built, so we traveled much of the way on old Route 66.  Each state we went through offered a new vista of unique beauty.  Without the aid of smartphones, video games, and DVD movies, the only thing we had for travel entertainment was admiring the countryside.  Without the aid of air conditioning, keeping the windows down was necessary for survival, but it also allowed us to smell, feel, and taste what each landscape had to offer.

To my parent’s credit, the purpose of our cross-country trip was not simply to get to our intended destination but to experience the wonders of the American western landscape.  Unfortunately, with today’s interstate highway system, we usually trade travel expedience for experience. 

One of the purposes of the Bible narrative is to record the story of God and his people as they travel over life’s various landscapes.  Cultures and lifestyles change over time, but the landscapes remain the same, save for the addition of technology.  So, while reading the Bible stories and learning how God showed up in history can be motivating, it can be like reading National Geographic.   But are we substituting historical pictures for personal experience?

Over the following few blogs, I want to look at eight common landscapes we travel through on our faith journey.  Since each person’s journey is unique, the amount of time we spend in each setting will vary, as will the order.  But over our lifetime, it is safe to say we will all spend some time in each of these life landscapes.  Most of them cannot be experienced from the interstate.  We will need to get off the freeway and onto some two-lane, even dirt roads if we are to experience them first-hand.

Some of the landscapes are by divine appointment; we wouldn’t choose to go there.  If we were honest, some of them we would rather avoid.  Yet because God is serious about his glory, he will take us there by his sovereign hand.  He takes us there to show us something of his glory, not to make life hard.

However, some of the landscapes we travel through result from our rebellion, foolishness, and folly.  Yet even then, we have the promise that God can turn guck into glory (Romans 8:28-29).  No experience needs to be wasted if we are committed to knowing God in all his glory.

As we explore each landscape, we will examine them through the grid of:

• Typography
• Effect
• God’s fingerprint
• Observations
• Response

The classic Christian allegory, Pilgrims Progress, published in 1684, is built on a similar theme of a journey through various landscapes.  The story follows “Christian” a pilgrim on his journey to the Celestial City.  Along the way, he encounters various landscapes that challenge and strengthen his faith:  Delectable Mountain, Doubting Castle, Palace Beautiful, Valley of Humiliation, and Slough of Despair.

Like “Christian”, our journey towards the Celestial City will take us over various landscapes.  Each one presents opportunities to learn lessons, take pictures, and tell stories.  But the critical issue will be what we see of God as we encounter each one:  How does God show up?  What we discover about God along this journey becomes our “life song” – Psalm (see TAD Blog 90).

The book of Revelation tells us that the landscapes on the other side of the Celestial City are unlike those on this side.   “Eternal life” (John 17:3) is where we will continue to discover new aspects of his glory, glory that can only be experienced in our new, resurrected bodies. 

Since our future home will not include pain, suffering, or evil, there are aspects of God’s glory we can only experience in our current, fallen world.  One way God turns cosmic rebellion into victory is by showing us his multifaceted nature in our broken world.  For example, we can only experience God’s forgiveness of sin and comfort in pain in a broken world. 

If God wanted us just to know his nature only cognitively, he would have given us a doctrinal encyclopedia with a list and explanation.  He tells us through the lives of his people in the biblical narrative and he shows us in the context of our own personal “Route 66.”

Those who have gone before us, having experienced the glory of God, are cheering us on not just to finish, but to experience Christ in all his glory along the way.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith… let us run with endurance the race God has set before us fixing our eyes on Jesus… (Hebrews 12:1-2).

For Reflection

1. What other aspects of God’s nature are highlighted by a broken world?

•  What is your favorite “National Geographic” picture in the Old Testament?  What does it reveal about God?