Perspective on adverse conditions

Job 31:35. NIV

"Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defense—let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing.

Our enemy, the accuser, tries to convince us that our Father is the bad guy, that He is the accuser.  The accuser wants us to blame our Father for our adverse conditions, and the accuser wants us to think that our Father is indifferent to our pain and cries for help.

Job's first three "friends" thought Job was guilty, and Elihu argues that since God controls the weather and we can't, God would not listen to humans.  In one sense, we have no leverage against God to make Him listen to us and answer us, but we learn from David that our Father is compassionate towards us:

Psalms 8:3‭-‬4 NIV

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?

Our Father created us to abide with us and love us; we are objects of his affection. So we should show compassion, mercy, and grace to all humans, especially those who are experiencing adversity.

Father, you are kind, loving, merciful, and full of grace toward us.  Father, you sent Jesus because you love the whole world.  You cause it to rain on the just, as well as the unjust.  Jesus, you showed the Father's affection through beholding and healing people who were hurt.  Holy Spirit, please help me defend the Father's reputation against the accusations of the enemy.  I love you.

Yearning

Job 19:25‭-‬27 NIV

I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

There are so many things in this world for which people yearn.  But none of them will fulfill; nothing will ultimately satisfy except meeting God face to face.

I spend too much of my time thinking about work.

I'm reminded of the lyrics from Shane & Shane's song, Yearn:

Lord I want to yearn for You

I want to burn with passion

Over You and only You

Father, you are the only one worth yearning for.  I want to have a singular devotion to you that is motivated by a desire to know you and love you, in response to your great love.  Holy Spirit, please teach me.  I love you.

Yahweh is the reference for time

I'm reading the Bible in chronological order this year.

I've been contemplating the six days of creation.  I previously subscribed to the "young earth" perspective (i.e., that the earth was formed in six literal 24-hr days), but a number of years ago, I relaxed that position because the Hebrew word for "day" in Genesis 1 could also mean "age".  I think it is much more important to focus on the fact that Yahweh is the creator than exactly how much time it took based on Gen 1.

It occured to me over the past couple of days that the tricky point about 24-hr day versus "age" is that Yahweh created light on the first day, and He documented evening and morning in that first day.  But He did not create the sun until the fourth day.

So, what was the source of light on days 1 through 3? How could there be evening and morning on the first three days without the rising and setting of the sun?

After a week and a half of pondering, I eventually concluded that Yahweh is the reference for time.  He determines what a day is.

Father, you are the keeper of time.  You are eternal.  From my perspective within time, you are infinite in both directions of time; but actually, you are outside of time.  Timeless.  Teach me to number my days.  Jesus only had three years of ministry.  May my life be lived to the fullest.  I love you.

Intimacy with God - Knowledge of the Holy

Yahweh wants us to know Him.  He has wanted closeness with humans since he created us in the beginning.  He created Adam and Eve for relationship and intimate fellowship.  He created us with a spirit that is compatible with His Spirit.

I am impressed with the multiple layers of intimacy in John 14.  It is a hyper-dimensional relationship with Yahweh because of our relationship with the Father, Son, and Spirit and also because we are in each, and each is in us.  Below, I emphasized relational words/phrases in bold, and I underlined references to or pronouns of the Father, Son, and Spirit.

John 14 NIV
15 "If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them."
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?" 23 Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25 "All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Practically, what it comes down to is spending time together. Especially, unstructured time.  

So, how do I convince myself to spend time with the most valuable person in the universe?  The one who created me and everything else and wants to spend time with me so much that He sacrificed is own Son. 

Father, I want to value time with you.  My heart and mind are distracted by many things.  I want to dedicate time daily to spend with you, like Jesus did.  Holy Spirit, how do I do that?  Please guide me.  I want to grow in closeness with you.  Not just knowledge about you.  I want to really know you.  I love you.

Increasing the knowledge of His glory

Rev 4 (NIV)
6b In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:
"'Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty,'
who was, and is, and is to come."
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
11 "You are worthy, our Lord and God,
    to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
    and by your will they were created
    and have their being."

Presumably, the living creatures covered in eyes would have an acute awareness of God's presence on the throne, and it amazes me that they so are overwhelmed by the holiness, sovereignty, deity, omnipotence, and eternality that they repeat it over and over.  (Like an optical signal so bright that it saturates the detector of a spectrophotometer.)  In so doing, they are giving glory to God.  (In Heaven, I hope I get to learn how glory is measured.)  The 24 elders give glory to God, as well.

The creatures' recitation echoes from the scene in Isaiah 6:

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3And they were calling to one another:
"Holy, holy, holy is [Yahweh] Almighty;
    the whole earth is full of his glory."

The whole earth is already full of His glory.  It is everywhere.  But what needs to increase is the knowledge of His glory:

Hab. 2:14
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of [Yahweh]
    as the waters cover the sea.

I want my life to be constantly increasing the knowledge of the glory of God.

Father, too much of my life is interfering and distracting from the knowledge of your glory.  Holy Spirit, please purify me so that I can be more effective in showing your glory to people around me.  Jesus, I want to live like you.  I love you.

signs of progress

Last week, I received positive feedback about my application for tenure; there are still several steps in the approval process.  Also, we were able to register our environmental engineering program for a global academic ranking, so that was very encouraging, as well.

Father, thank you for the kindness and favor that you have shown me in this professional transition.  I love you.

father-brother-friend

When our kids were little, I felt a sobering responsibility to accurately represent the Father to them.  I wish I had started working on knowing the Father earlier in my life so that I could have been a better father to my kids.  The Father is so good, and I have misrepresented Him so many times.

When our two oldest boys were baptized, I realized that our children are not actually our own.  As a father, I am actually a big brother in the faith, a steward to lead them to know the Father and the Son (the only Begotten Brother).  I feel a responsibility to disciple them to know Jesus, love Him, and pursue Him.

Now that our two oldest boys are both in middle school, I'm realizing that I don't have as much time as I thought I did.  They want to spend time with their friends.  I want to develop a friendship with each of them.

My relationship with Yahweh is mysteriously multifaceted: I'm a son-brother-friend. I am a son of the Father.  I am a brother of Christ.  I am a friend of Holy Spirit. Three-in-one. In my relationship with each of our children, I am a father-brother-friend.

Father, please help me be a good father to our children.  I want to represent you well.  Jesus, please help me be a good big brother to these younger ones in the faith.  I want to be a good example for them to follow.  Holy Spirit, please help me be a good friend to these friends of God.  I want it to be a good friendship for eternity, overflowing with your eternal  love. I love you.