Coffee With The Lord

I wish I had an adequate video replete with great sound effects for today’s post (I hope what I provided a link for helps 😉!  I pastored in Longview, Washington for several years near the ocean… We would slip over to Cannon Beach, Oregon, go to Ecola State Park near there, and watch the waves crash against the rocks.  The scene and sounds were especially spectacular just before an approaching storm.  You’d just find yourself standing there is awe at the majesty and strength of the ocean waves!

That scene recreated itself in my mind as I read the following words from Psalm 93 this morning… “The Lord is king! He is robed in majesty. Indeed, the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength… Your throne, O Lord, has stood from time immemorial.  You Yourself are from the everlasting past. THE FLOODS HAVE ROARED LIKE THUNDER; THE FLOODS HAVE LIFTED THEIR POUNDING WAVES. BUT MIGHTIER THAN THE VIOLENT RANGING OF THE SEAS, MIGHTIER THAN THE BREAKERS ON THE SHORE – THE LORD ABOVE IS MIGHTIER THAN THESE!”

Phrases like, “Our God is an awesome God” and “Nothing is too hard for the Lord” and “Almighty God” come to mind, don’t they?  Perhaps I just need to close my eyes, relive the scene and sounds of the pounding waves of the ocean, and let it truth of it sink in again today! 

I’m rejoicing to be a “child of God” today.  I had no right to that title or relationship but because of what Jesus did on my behalf (and yours) I have both title and relationship.  Consequently I enjoy “adoption” and everything it entails!

Three of our children are “adopted” (see the pic – Shari, our birth daughter was not able to be there the day this pic was taken).  They are from a Native American background and culture, but they have become a part of the Bartel clan (and I happen to be German and my wife Sharon, Norwegian).  They didn’t cease to be Native American but they became “Bartels.”  My desire always has been that their relationship would be more than simply a legal reality (on paper) – it would also become an existential reality (they would “feel” like sons and daughters – and finally, one day they would become “heirs” of what I have…  I want them to experience all three things… I want them to be our children on paper – legally our children; I want them to feel the relationship; and finally I want them to profit from it as heirs.

Well, when I read Galatians 4:1-7 today, that is what happened to me through Christ – a “child of the Devil” (born in sin) became a “child of God”!  Here is how Apostle Paul puts it… “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His son… to redeem us… that we might receive adoption as sons (i.e. His children).  And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying ‘Abba! Father!’  So… you are no longer a slave, but a son!  And if a son then an heir through God!”

Through Christ, I’m legally a “child of God”!  But more than that, His Spirit is at work within me producing the sense – the “Abba Father,” the inner witness, the feeling – of being God’s child! 

And ultimately?  Well I’m also an ‘heir’ and enjoy the benefits and blessing of being God’s child in every way.  As I said earlier, today I’m rejoicing to be a “child of God!”

Read Psalm 92 again this morning and thought of a dear friend and former member of a church I pastored years ago… Dorothy Perrine!  Dorothy volunteered to clean the church.  I’d go over to the church to study or care for church business, enter a side door to go to the office and I’d hear a beautiful contralto voice wafting through the church singing praise and worship to God at the top of her voice.  She didn’t know I was there, but I’d pause and enjoy the private praise concert for a moment or two.  That was a regular occurrence for Dorothy… She was a worshipping Christian!

Now I’ve heard others as well … not as talented, with voices that were a bit off key, but just as in love with the Lord, with hearts filled with thanksgiving and praise!  They didn’t know anyone was listening (would have been mortified if they thought anyone was) but suddenly were captured by a heart of gratitude and worship and lifted a song to the Lord!  I paused, listened to them, grinned a bit and enjoyed the “concert.”  I know God was pleased… His word says, “make a joyful noise to the Lord!” (Psalm 95:1 and 100:1)

Here’s some tidbits from the passage that prompted this reflection today…

“It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your Name, O Most High!  To declare your steadfast love in the morning and your faithfulness by night… For you, O Lord, have made be glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy!  How great are your works, O Lord!  Your thoughts are very deep!”

So I’ll be singing somewhere today… be listening for me (I’m not going to tell you which group of singers I’m most like… you’re not my audience anyway, He is!).  And I’ll be listening for you… perhaps grinning.  Dorothy, however, if you’re out there somewhere this morning… Sing girl! Sing!