This Is My Father's World

“This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears

All nature sings and ‘round me rings, the music of the spheres.

This is my Father’s world, I rest me in the thought

Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas

His hand the wonders wrought.”

On my way to church this morning, I heard Jadon Lavik’s version of “This is My Father’s World”.  The words are just beautiful.  Maltbie Babcock wrote those words in the late 1800’s, but the hymn wasn’t published until after Maltbie’s death in 1901.   

Maltbie pastored a church in Lockport, New York; in Baltimore, Maryland; and in New York City.  When he lived in Lockport, which is near Niagara Falls, he often went running or hiking in the beautiful countryside.  He told his secretary there, “I’m going to see my Father’s world.”

We can learn so much from nature, can’t we?

1. God’s works (earth, sky, sea) praise His name.  They show a small glimpse His beauty.
2. It’s often a great reminder of how small we are.  God owns it all!  And He keeps it running – He needs nothing from us.

“I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine.  If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine and all that is in it.”  Psalm 50:11-12

And YET:  He does tell us things.  He speaks to us through His Word.  He shows us that He loves us.  But as beautiful as nature is, God’s beauty & love are best seen in Jesus.    

Maltbie understood that.  He recognized that nature was place to be in awe…and to let that awe take him to the throne of grace. 

Have you ever heard the rest of the lines of “This Is My Father’s World”?  I looked them up:

This is my Father’s world, the birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world: He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father’s world. O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world: the battle is not done:
Jesus Who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and Heav’n be one.

This is my Father’s world, dreaming, I see His face.
I ope my eyes, and in glad surprise cry, “The Lord is in this place.”
This is my Father’s world, from the shining courts above,
The Beloved One, His Only Son,
Came—a pledge of deathless love.

This is my Father’s world, should my heart be ever sad?
The lord is King—let the heavens ring. God reigns—let the earth be glad.
This is my Father’s world. Now closer to Heaven bound,
For dear to God is the earth Christ trod.
No place but is holy ground.

This is my Father’s world. I walk a desert lone.
In a bush ablaze to my wondering gaze God makes His glory known.
This is my Father’s world, a wanderer I may roam
Whate’er my lot, it matters not,
My heart is still at home.

The beauty of nature often awakens our hearts to something bigger than ourselves.  Maltbie once said, “Life is what we are alive to.”

Oh, to be excited – to be made “alive” – by the person of Jesus Christ.  Is He what most awakens my heart?  Whatever my lot, I pray my heart will still be at home in Jesus.

My “lot” is pretty easy right now.  I sit in my house in North Carolina in safety.  Meanwhile, my brothers and sisters around the globe are dying for their faith as I type this.  I don’t know why I am sitting in safety while others are in danger. 

Although I don’t have all the answers, this I do know:  God is still on His throne.  The battle is not done.  Jesus who died will be satisfied. 

And sometimes, the cure for a hurting heart (or calloused heart) is to just go outside and sit under the stars.  Or hear the carols of the birds. Or see the beauty of the mountains.  Or experience the open expanse of the desert.

For this is My Father’s world.  And I can rest me in that thought.

Lessons from Moses

“The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with His friend…”  Exodus 33:11

Although Moses has been dead for quite a while :), I keep finding that God uses Moses’ life to teach me really important truths.  Some of these truths are ones I learned years ago.  Some are ones I thought I learned…but I need to be reminded of these every day.  

Even this week I was struck with another truth!  So I wanted to write these down as a “stone of remembrance” as I start a new school year tomorrow!

TRUTHS from Moses’s life:

1.       The answers to the biggest questions/doubts we have in life revolve around who God is, not who we are.  (Exodus 3-6)

a.       “Who am I?”  (3:11)  - IDENTITY

                                                               i.      God replies:  “I will be with you.”  (3:12)

b.      “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant.  I am slow of speech and tongue.”  (4:10)  - GIFTS/TALENTS

                                                               i.      God replies:  “Who gave man his mouth?  Who makes him deaf or mute?  Who gives him sight and makes him blind?  Is it not I, the LORD?  Now go, I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”  (4:11-12)

c.       “O Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this people?  Is this why you sent me?  Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”  (5:22-23) – SETBACKS

                                                               i.      God replies:  “Now you will see what I will do…I am the LORD…I am the LORD…I will…I will…I will…I will….I will…I am the LORD….I will…I will…I am the LORD.”  (6:1-8) 

(**It sure seems like God’s going to take care of things, eh? J)

2.       The ability to persevere through the hard times in this life is made possible by keeping our sights on God.

a.       Hebrews 11:24-27 “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.  He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.  He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.  By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible.”

3.       It is one thing to see what God is doing around us.  It is another thing completely to trust in His ways.  (even if you don’t fully understand)

a.       Psalm 103:6-7 “The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.  He made known His ways to Moses, His deeds to the people of Israel.” 

b.      Trusting in His ways comes from knowing who He is.  (I’m sensing a theme….)

c.       Moses specifically asked God that he would better understand His ways. (Ex 33:13)

4.       This last one I’m going to frame as a question, because this is the one I have had to relearn this week.  What is most important to me in this life?

Exodus 33:12-17 “Moses said to the LORD, ‘You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me.  You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’  If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.  Remember that this nation is your people.’

“The LORD replied, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’

“Then Moses said to him, ‘If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.  How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us?  What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?’

“And the LORD said to Moses, ‘I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.’”

This was a very important passage to me when I was graduating college a few years ago.  I read it and thought, “Yeah!  All my friends are getting married…I don’t know where I’m going or what I’m doing for you – who are you going to send with me?”  And I realized that God was going with me.  He loved me. He knew my name.  He would direct me and give me rest.

But as I looked at this passage again, I realized that being married or single is not what this passage is about (although God used it years ago to remind me of His presence going with me into the unknown).  Maybe Moses was never asking God about people to be with Him.  Maybe the whole time Moses was making sure that God would go with Him.  It sure seems like a theme throughout Moses’ life.

Beth Moore looked at this passage (Exodus 33) in her devotional book, Whispers of Hope.  Her thoughts were so encouraging to me, I wanted to retype them here:

• “Moses had a remarkable relationship with God…He experienced and indescribable level of intimacy that comes from two having their full attentions and expressions turned toward each other.”  (face-to-face)
• “So deeply involved were God and Moses that the weary servant could not bear the thought of proceeding a single step without God’s presence….Moses didn’t want good results.  He wanted God.”
• “How would you feel if God promised you success and victory but without His presence?  Would we know the difference?  Would we go on reluctantly?  Or would we trade in every victory, every dream come true – our chosen destiny – just to enjoy His presence?  Difficult questions.  But I think if we knew God – really knew Him so well He felt He could talk with us like a friend and share HIS heart with us as we share ours with Him – we would trade in everything just to enjoy His presence.”
• “…We will not want to make a move without receiving an answer to this question: ‘Is your presence going with me, God?  If not, keep me in the wilderness, seal away the milk and honey, keep the Jordan from my sight.  For if your presence does not go with me, do not send me from here.’”  (p. 103)

Moses’ life is filled with reminders that we experience the fullness when we know who He is, not who we are (but that also knowing Him clarifies who we are).  We can rest when we keep our eyes on Him.  We can trust in His ways.  We can develop a relationship where we speak with Him face-to-face.  Hopefully, someday, we can say like Moses that God speaks with us as a man speaks with his friend. 

And when all of that is true – I am sure that the choice between worldly “success” and God’s presence won’t even be worth contemplating.  

In the 2014-2015 school year, may His Presence be my goal.

Passion

This past Sunday at church, someone mentioned that it was the beginning of “Passion Week.”  I admit, under my breath, I chuckled a bit – because outside of a church setting, declaring a week to be “passion week” could be a bit risqué.  If we play a word association game and I say “passion”, I am pretty sure that Jesus won’t be the first thing to pop into your mind.  My guess is that you’d probably think of romance…and if we believe all that TV and the movies tell us, then “passion” must just be a synonym for sex.

So, why do we call this Passion Week?  Have we lost the original meaning of the word passion? 

According to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11^th edition), passion is a noun.

It is an English word derived from Anglo-French, which came from the Latin word passion.  Passio meant suffering…and the Latin word pati meant “to suffer”.

If you capitalize the word “Passion”, the dictionary says it means:

a.      the sufferings of Christ between the night of the Last Supper and his death

b.      an oratorio based on a gospel narrative of the Passion

***Side note:  PASSION. FLOWERS. ARE. SO. COOL.  They were named because of the “passion” of Christ’s death.  They are also called the “flower of the five wounds.”  You should read up on that when you get a chance. J 

 

That fits with “Passion Week”.  But how did we go from there to the meaning of “passion” today?

If this article is correct, then the word passion developed through time – was affected by different languages (Latin, French, English….even the Greek “pathos”) and different authors (Shakespeare).    

Using the word “passion” for suffering is now obsolete…but we do see the word passion being used for emotion or an “intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction”.  Merriam-Webster states that it can also refer to an ardent affection (love) or a strong “devotion to some activity, object, or concept”.  It can also mean a sexual desire or an object of desire or deep interest.  In other words, the dictionary now says, “Passion applies to an emotion that is deeply stirring or ungovernable.”  Passion, today, often means Love - an inexplicable emotion that takes over us and makes us do things we wouldn't normally do.

Can we think of Passion Week in those terms?  In some ways, yes. 

During this week, we remember and celebrate that Jesus “set his face towards Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51).  We are amazed that He would go to the cross for us – to take our punishment – to LOVE us that deeply.  I would say that qualifies as a strong emotion/ardent affection.  But, it was not without reason or ungovernable.  Jesus was in control of His emotions; He knew what He was heading into.  He even prayed this prayer:

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done.”  (Luke 22:42)

That cup included whipping, crowns of thorns, nails, a rugged/splintered cross, physical pain, spiritual separation…and He went anyway.  For us.

Passio is Latin, but so also is pati.  Pati is the root word for Patient, which is an adjective that means:

1.       Bearing pains or trials calmly without complaint

2.       Manifesting forbearance under provocation or strain

3.       Not hasty or impetuous

4.       Steadfast despite opposition, difficulty or adversity

5.       Able or willing to bear

That truly sounds like Jesus.  It sounds like Passion Week – the Lord Jesus Christ, the man who not only was able, but who was willing to bear our sins…calmly and without complaint.  That's not love as our culture portrays it.

Passion, like so many words today, has had an evolving definition.  Truly, today’s most prevalent definition would probably be a romantic passion seen most frequently in art.   

If TV, movies, and other art forms are really the cries of our culture’s heart and depict a world longing for passion…a world longing to understand what it means to truly be loved…then maybe we need to consider that there is a deeper passion than sexual passion.

And that Passion was Love displayed on a cross two thousand years ago.

 

This week, as I remember THAT Passion, may my heart echo with thankfulness the words of Charles Spurgeon:

"Come in, O strong and deep love of Jesus, like the sea at the flood in spring tides, cover all my powers, drown all my sins, wash out all my cares, lift up my earth-bound soul, and float it right up to my Lord's feet, and there let me lie, a poor broken shell, washed up by his love, having no virtue or value; and only venturing to whisper to him that if he will put his ear to me, he will hear within my heart faint echoes of the vast waves of his own love which have brought me where it is my delight to lie, even at his feet forever"  (Morning & Evening, April 12).