Coffee With The Lord

Anyone ever make you mad? They unjustly attacked you or criticized you. Perhaps they did more than that… they were clearly out to get you – even destroy you. If the truth were known, it has become increasingly hard for you to think a kind thought about them. In fact, it doesn’t take much to set you off when it comes to telling someone else what you think of that person. You’d probably like to find a way to get even with them for what they did. It was unfair – completely unfair!

In my Bible reading this morning during “coffee with the Lord” I read what could be called an “imprecretory psalm.” In it David says, “Wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. They encircle me with words of hate, and attack me without cause! … They reward me evil for good, and hatred for my love.” (Verses 2-3, 5) My hunch is, all of us sometime in our lives have felt we could identify with David.

Later in the Psalm (verses 6-20) David gets his feeling about these people “off his chest in no uncertain terms!” You really ought to read them… Wow! In fact, I wrote these words in the flyleaf of my Bible this morning, “David, why don’t you tell us how you really feel?!”

Now there may be those that criticize David for what he said… They would call his words less than charitable – perhaps not very godly – certainly “pre-Christian. Here’s my take on it… What he “got off his chest” he expressed to the right person… GOD! He didn’t spread it “around the neighborhood!” Secondly, prayer is the right context for such feelings… God is a great listener and therapist! An honest encounter with Him about your feelings can result in healing and regained perspective… In fact it can be a context, where along with Him, you can get your feelings right!

Embedded, however, in this bit of David “getting things off his chest” is something of a spiritual treasure and wonderful insight… David says, “In return for my love they accuse, but I give myself to prayer!” I’ve got to tell you, I’m impressed with that kind of resolve. When someone does something that just makes me mad and that I consider to be very unfair, I want to respond with that level of grace… Instead of retaliation and bitterness I want to be able to say “I give myself to prayer!”

Got up early this morning and had “coffee with the Lord!”  Had a wonderful time of fellowship with Him!  The following passage was a part of my Bible reading…  Thought about taking the passage literally, but it was really too early for that (the rest of the family who were still sleeping in the Bartel cabin might not have appreciated that bit of exuberant worship so early in the morning! 😉  So I decided to let the birds in the trees around our mountain cabin do it.  Later in the day though, when everybody is up perhaps I will….

“My heart is steadfast, O God! I will sing and make melody with all my being!  Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn!  I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples! I will sing praises to you among the nations!  For your steadfast love is great above the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!  (Psalm 108:1–5 ESV)

This has been one of those “me too” mornings as I read the Bible… You know what I mean; you read something in the Bible and find yourself saying, “Me too! That’s just the way I feel – that’s what I believe! Include me in that too! … You got my vote!”

Here’s what I read this morning from the Bible that elicited that response from me (and then just a couple of comments)…

Apostle Paul said, “I was made a minister of the gospel according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of His power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for EVERYONE what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things.” (from Ephesians 3:7–9 ESV)

Paul saw himself as a “diakanos” (a “servant”) of the gospel. So do I! My “master” – the Lord Jesus Christ – has given me a commission – a divinely given privilege and task… to proclaim to EVERYONE I can (regardless of their race, their cultural background, their location on planet earth, or their station in life) the wonderful treasure – the incalculable blessings that are available “in Christ!” Paul called it a “mystery” – a divinely revealed truth – that people everywhere are included by faith in all of God’s blessing in Christ Jesus!

I don’t deserve this privilege of serving the Lord in this way – It is a gift freely given to me – a “grace” granted to me, an undeserving “sinner!” … But I accept it wholeheartedly!

So my hand goes up… I’m yelling out, “Me too!” with all my heart! I want to proclaim it – to tell to everyone I can – the incredible, “unsearchable riches” that are available “in Christ Jesus”! I’m going to look for opportunities to do that today… Aren’t you?