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Yet I will rejoice

11/23/2017

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Thanksgiving 2017 is just minutes old and my thoughts are turning to the Bible passage that was shared in the Thanksgiving Eve service our family attended on Wednesday. It is Habakkuk 3:17-19, one of my favorite passages:

“Though the fig tree should not blossom
And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail
And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold
And there be no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will exult in the LORD,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
The Lord GOD is my strength,
And He has made my feet like hinds' feet,
And makes me walk on my high places.
‭‭Habakkuk‬ ‭3:17-19

Later today, many people will gather together with loved ones, enjoy a feast, and give thanks for the many earthly blessings they have.

Many others will celebrate it differently. Some will eat Thanksgiving dinner in a hospital bed. Some will eat it in a homeless shelter. Some will do the best they can with what can be found in the pantry. Some will be having dinner, using borrowed dishes and gifted food, because everything they own was lost in a fire or a hurricane. Some will sit down to a table that is full of amazing food, but surrounded by chairs that should not be empty, but are, because of illness or accident or a madman's rage. Some will leave town and avoid it all together, unable to face it this year.

The prophet Habakkuk knew what that was like. He lived in a time of national crisis, when the kingdom of Judah was under God's judgement for turning away from him. His description of the circumstances in which he lived sounds pretty bleak - no fruit on the trees or vines, no food in the fields, no flocks, no cattle. A disaster for an agrarian society.

And then, the word that changes everything.

YET.

Yet I will exult...yet I will rejoice.

How? How does one find the strength to rejoice and give thanks in such dreary circumstances?

By focusing on what does not change, in a world that always changes. What does Habakkuk show us?

God's promises

"I will exult in the LORD." When the word LORD appears like that in capital letters, it is the name YHWH, the personal name of God that he gave to Moses, sometimes transcribed as Yahweh, or Jehovah. It is the name that speaks of God's covenant with his people, and the promise of his faithfulness in all generations. Even when everything in life has been turned upside down, I can know that he is faithful.

God's salvation

"I will rejoice in the God of my salvation." God is a promise-keeper, and one of his greatest promises is to save those who call on him. In Jesus, he did that fully. Every promise given is "yes" in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20). And through his death and resurrection, we can know eternal life that extends far beyond this world in which we live. Even when everything in life has been turned upside down, I can know that my salvation is secure.

God's strength

"The Lord GOD is my strength." Habakkuk rejoiced that God was his strength, even to enabling him walk securely like a "hind" - a deer able to walk with confidence in a rocky and dangerous terrain. In the same way, God is able to strengthen us, equipping us to walk nimbly, with confidence, even in the worst of times. Even when everything in life has been turned upside down, I can trust God to infuse me with his strength.

Do you notice that none of these changes our circumstances? They are all about changing us - helping us focus on God and his attributes more than our circumstances, whatever they are.

That is the secret of Thanksgiving. It's not to just say thank you for our visible earthly blessings, but to exult in the source of ALL blessings - God. It is to rejoice in what is unseen - His promises kept, his salvation freely given, his strength in our weakness.

Today, whether the thanks flows easily or with great difficulty, I pray you experience Habakkuk's secret, and when your circumstances threaten to overwhelm, you whisper with him,

"YET."

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Did God really say...? and why it matters

11/17/2017

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The first attempt at deception recorded in the Bible was not a statement at all, but a question. Genesis 3 begins, "Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, 'Did God really say, "You must not eat from any tree in the garden"?'"

Of course, what follows is the conversation with Eve in which the serpent moves from casting doubt on her understanding of God's word ("Did God really say?") to casting doubt on God's Word itself ("You will not certainly die") to casting doubt on God's love ("He knows that if you eat of it...[and is keeping something good from you]"). Most of the lies since then have, more or less, boiled down to these three, but they began with a question - "Did God really say..." and then suggestions that even if he did, it didn't really matter.

All of which brings me to a topic on my heart this week - the question of how biblically accurate we are in our Christmas observances, including the songs and movies and books we allow to entertain us this holiday season.

I'm not talking about the Santa Claus debate, or Elf on the Shelf, or commercialism or the whole idea of the fantasy and magic of Christmas. I'm talking about how biblically accurate we are while we make Jesus the reason for the season.

Here is a real life "for instance."

There is a new movie coming out tomorrow called "The Star." It is the story of the first Christmas, the nativity, from the perspective of the animals, especially one particular donkey named Bo. Full disclosure - I have NOT seen any screenings so everything I know is coming from review I have read from people who have seen it, especially these fromPlugged In and MovieGuide. The overall impression I have gotten from reading them is that this is a wonderful family film, reverential, and faithful to Christian theology and to the biblical account - with one minor exception that, as one reviewer puts it, "the movie condenses and shifts a few incidents found in the Bible."

What movie doesn't do that, right? For literary purposes, after all. Anyone who has seen Little House on the Prairie knows that after the first few episodes, the series departed from the actual incidents in the book, but it was still a much-loved and highly acclaimed series. Some things just don't translate well from print to screen. No big deal, right?

Or is it?

As a literary purist, I can argue the reasons why a movie should follow a book as closely as possible, and it would be a matter of opinion. But as a Biblical purist, it becomes much more of a question of what did God really say, especially if a movie is being hailed as "faithful."

So how exactly did The Star condense and shift incidents from the Bible? According to the reviews at Movieguide and PluggedIn:

When Mary tells Joseph that she is carrying the Son of God, he is confused, but seems more overwhelmed by his own insecurities than the belief that Mary betrayed their betrothal vows (granted, the idea of the virgin birth has always been a tough one to handle with children).
King Herod (not Caesar) orders a census.
Herod's census is ordered with the intent of finding the prophesied Messiah, a search that somehow leads his soldier to Nazareth, where Mary and Joseph have already left for Bethlehem. The donkey, Bo, catches up with Mary and Joseph to warn them of the danger to their unborn child.
The star seems to have appeared nine months before the birth of Jesus, not two years before the Magi arrive.

Hmmm.

Just to be clear - I am not really concerned about the whole idea of speculating about what could have been that the nativity narrative omits. I'm not even upset about the idea of animals in this movie. Obviously, animals don't talk. Obviously, this is a literary device to tell the story. It's not even a new one - the idea of animals talking at Christmas has been a fun story element for a long time (and honestly, Nester the Long-Eared Donkey will always be one of my favorite Christmas stories). But the fact that the story glosses over or changes clear historical facts bothers me.

And this matters for four important reasons.

It matters because the first Christmas is not just the "most beloved story" in history - it IS history.

Jesus was really born in a real place (Bethlehem, the Roman empire) to real people (Mary and Joseph) in a real time in history (during the reign of Caesar Augustus). Galatians 4:4 says, "But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son." Most Biblical scholars understand that phrase "when the set time had fully come" not only to be the fulfillment of prophecy, but also that there were certain real historical conditions present during the first century that made it the ideal time for the Messiah to come.

It matters because real people responded in real ways.

Although Joseph certainly may have been overcome at the idea of raising the Son of God, the biblical account specifically says that his original response to Mary's news was his intention to divorce her because she seemed to have betrayed him. Touchy stuff for a children's story, yes, but another reminder that Jesus' coming was to real people and a real first century middle eastern culture - NOT 21st century America where we are obsessed with self-esteem and following our hearts. To ignore this and inject modern sentiments into an ancient account merely adds the the confusion that already exists at Christmas.

It matters because of who the Magi were.

Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. His coming was foretold in the Jewish Scriptures, and the first (and likely, only) people at his birth were his Jewish family and Jewish shepherds (Luke 2). The Magi, educated and wealthy Gentiles, came along much later - we don't know exactly when, but the star had appeared some two years before their audience with King Herod (which was after Jesus was born, not before - Matthew 2), and from the words used in Matthew's account, most biblical scholars agree that Jesus was not an infant when they arrived. And this matters because Jesus came first to his own people, and then to the Gentiles (Romans 1:16). This was not an afterthought, as God always intended for Israel to be a light to the Gentiles (Isaiah 49:6), but that first Christmas belonged to his people, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And He did it that way for a reason.

It matters because of the Word of God.

Much in our world these days is in disarray because people do not believe that God's word says what it says or that it means what it means. To embrace a movie that rejects and even changes what is in the Bible because it is uncomfortable or doesn't seem fit the movie's message (because having Mary and Joseph on the run from the beginning seems to be important to the plot) is dangerous theology. And how we view the Word of God and its demands for our lives is just as much a part of theology as the positive elements of this story such as forgiving one's enemies and trusting God's plan for our lives.

Before you say, "But what about [fill in the blank with another popular Christmas movie]," let me say that I am trying to use this filter with all of our entertainment this holiday season, even our Christmas carols. I don't want to get rid of the fun and fantasy surrounding this time of year, but where a movie or story or book or song claims to share the message from the Word of God, I want to know it is, indeed, the Word of God.

That is what I want to encourage you to do this year. Not to boycott certain movies or events - what you see is between you and your family and God, truly. But to be aware, and to be critical consumers of the media around you, whether it is a Hallmark movie or a classic or a Christmas carol. Not critical and judgmental of people, but critical of the message. What does is claim to be Biblical truth? What is true and what isn't? And teach your children to listen critically for truth and error, even during this magical seasons.

Because yes, it matters.

Overwhelmed already by the coming holidays? Sign up below for your free copy of "Christmas: Finding Your Focus", a five-day guide to get your holiday season off to a good start!

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Holiday Homeschooling: Recitation

11/14/2017

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The second "R" in our homeschool routine is "recitation" - the discipline of memorizing. During the year, our children do this with our grammar memory work with Classical Conversations. But during the holidays, we are going to change it up a little.

Holiday poems

There are some wonderful poems for this time of year. Many of them have been put to music, but not all. Poems such as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" and the lyrics of such fun holiday favorites such as "Jingle Bells" and "Over the River and Through the Woods" are all fun ones to commit to memory.

Christmas hymns
Speaking of poems put to music, one goal I have for my children this year is to memorize more than the first verse of some of our favorite Christmas carols. Have you ever paid attention to the words that come after verse 1? Many of them move past the Nativity and on to the second coming of Christ. There is wonderful theology in many of these hymns - if we will pay attention to them. I went on a hunt for these kinds of Christmas carols recently and compiled them in a book for my children to copy - one verse a day - and at the same time, to sing together and begin learning both the words and the meanings of these beloved songs. Would you like a copy of my Christmas Carol Copywork? You can request one here.

Holiday Bible passages
Have you seen the Peanuts Christmas special, the part where Linus goes on the stage, calls for lights, and proceeds to recite part of Luke 2 in an effort to help Charlie Brown understand what Christmas is all about? I wonder how many of us could do that? And yet, what a wonderful goal to have this time of year. If you are wondering where to start, here are some familiar passages to get you started:

Luke 2:1-14
Matthew 2:1-12
Isaiah 9:6
Psalm 100 (Thanksgiving)
John 1:1-14

How can YOU easily include the skill of memorization into your holiday homeschooling?

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