Coffee With The Lord

I remember as a small child learning to float in the lake near our home.  My swimming instructor urged me to “just lay back in the water!”  She said, “LeRoy, don’t be afraid, it will hold you, you’re not going to drown, you won’t sink!  Just relax and do it!”

As a small child, I was so afraid!  This was a totally new thing!  I had never done anything like this before!  But she had – she said she had tried it and it works!

I KNOW THIS IS A SIMPLE ILLUSTRATION, BUT IT HELPS ME UNDERSTAND MY FEAR OF DEATH.  I’VE JUST NEVER DONE IT BEFORE!  I need someone who has heard from God – someone who has experienced it – to reassure me about what happens after I close my eyes in death.  Dying will be a totally new experience for all of us!  The apostle Paul had heard from the Lord!!  Like my swimming instructor he encourages us…

^“For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands… For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit. So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. For we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. (2 Corinthians 5:1-9 NLT)

 So, I guess I’m a little like I was as a child learning to float on my back in the lake when it comes to death… I’VE NEVER FACED ANYTHING LIKE THAT BEFORE!  I’ve got to trust the reliable testimony and assurance that God’s word provides… And I will!!  When the day comes that I close my eyes in death, I believe I will have a new body and experience all that “eternal life” means.  Jesus, my Lord and Savior has been this way before!! 

WHAT A POWERFUL THING A TESTIMONY IS!  It encourages, challenges and builds the faith of fellow Christians!

I remember my Sunday school teacher as a teenager, Marg McCready, standing in response to the invitation “does anyone have a testimony” in our little church in Western Montana.  She’d begin fairly composed as she began to recount the goodness of the Lord in her life, but before she was finished telling the story of God’s grace in her life or a recent event in which God had helped her, she was in tears (and nearly everyone else was in tears as well)!  Some testimonies are memorable!  Hers was – and PERHAPS YOUR STORY OF GOD’S GRACE IN YOUR LIFE WILL BE JUST WHAT SOMEONE NEEDS TO HEAR.  YOU (AND I) NEED TO SHARE THOSE STORIES WITH OTHERS!

Thought of Marg this morning as I read Psalm 66.16-20…

“Come and hear, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me.  I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and has heard my prayer.  Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!”

Spiritual leaders have been (and often are) favorite targets of critical analysis and unjust criticism! It’s been that way for a long, long time… How they dress, their hygiene and grooming, their idiosyncrasies, their spouse, their children, something they say (or fail to say), where they live, what they drive, issues of personal style… You name it, all favorite targets for microscopic evaluation and negativity.

Question is…. Is the Lord pleased?

There’s an account in the Bible that was part of my reading this morning (Numbers 12) that should cause caution! In fact, it even involved criticism of a “family member” who was a spiritual leader.

Moses’ sister, Miriam, and Aaron, his brother, had issues with his spouse… “that Cushite woman!” they said. It didn’t stop there either… They were jealous of Moses’ position and influence… “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?”

Moses was NOT the kind of guy who fought back and sought to defend himself! In fact Numbers 12:3 declares, “Moses was very meek – more than all people who were on the face of the earth!”

But God heard their unjust criticism, and it angered Him! … And God defended Moses! “The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting” and He summoned Aaron and Miriam to come forward! He confronted them and defended Moses (read it for yourself in Numbers 12:6-8) He said, “Why were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”

The Bible says, “The anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and He departed… When the cloud removed from over the “Tent of Meeting,” behold, Miriam was leprous, like snow!” Aaron acknowledged their sin and plead with Moses for intercession! And “Moses cried to the Lord, ‘O God, please heal her – PLEASE!’” And the Lord did heal her.

So just a word of caution… We need to be careful in our criticism of spiritual leaders! Our attitudes can be more poisonous and lethal than their perceived weaknesses and errors! In fact, our criticism may simply be a coverup for jealousy and envy. And if this account in Scripture teaches anything, it is that God is not afraid to defend His devoted servants (even imperfect ones)!

Believe me, Intercessory prayer is a much better approach! And one more word of caution… Guard your heart – keep watch over your attitudes. Oh Lord, I want to live that way!!!