Tag: highs

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Praises in life’s highs and lows.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation. ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭100‬:‭1‬-‭5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Dedication day, both of the brand new temple and moving the ark of the covenant to its new home, was THE height of everything the nation of Israel wanted. They had the king they comparibly imagined. They had wealth and were winning in their personal lives as well as a high GNP (gross national income). Nations were sending envoys and gifts because they had heard of the wise king Solomon. They were at the pinnacle of success. At this high mark and season in Solomon’s own life he rightly declares just how good God is to them!

Solomon’s words are dripping with praise, ever grateful to God. These moments were absolutely true, real, and genuine. Amidst all their dreams and desires being fulfilled, God was central. May I offer this: It’s rather easy to have high praise for God when everything is going well.

I am not going to turn a very amazing moment of true praise to God into a negative reflection. However, I will point out that those peak, mountaintop experiences cannot last. Psalm 100 is true in the epitomes of fulfillment. And, Psalm 100 is also true in the shadowy depths of disappointment, even disaster. God is God in both and above both experiences.

We ride the waves of emotions and experiences filled with highs and lows – this is the reality, even the wonder and beauty of life as humans! Apparently we love the high heights, the feel-goods and epiphanies of fulfillment so much that we try to stay there, LIVE there. And, although we can experience plenty of those moments, even seasons, we cannot exist solely, permanently, at that spiritual elevation here on earth.

Life is the great adjudication of highs and lows! Yet, surprisingly, thankfully, God exists in, above and beyond this life. And, as God’s creation, we get to find him and praise him in ALL situations. Psalm 100 is the psalm reminding us that it is not only grand moments that should elicit our praise, it is also the lowly ones. God is good in both.

Isaiah captures the height, depth, and width of God’s spectacular perspective. “The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: “I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.” Isaiah 57:15.

Prayer

Dad,
Being above and beyond what I can even imagine from my perspective, gives me a stable, anchored tether within the vast experiences of life. Whether I am living the grand and glorious high of fulfillment, peace of hope or the sad and shadowed low of disappointment, fear or failure. You are my unchanging reality, my rock. And, in both those ultra-wide dispersions of emotion, you are here, with me. You speak joy when I celebrate and peace when I am perplexed. It is my utmost challenge to bring you praise in both my highs and lows. Amen.

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Tis the Season

Reading Time: 3 minutes

”Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.“ Ecclesiastes‬ ‭3‬:‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Solomon writes about his experiences with being one of the wisest human beings of all time. And, he does so in this beautifully written genre known as wisdom literature. Wisdom literature is concerned with the application of truth (from creation and the Law) to daily life and choices. Chuck Swindoll writes, “The title “Ecclesiastes” comes from a Greek word indicating a person who calls an assembly, so it makes sense that the author identified himself as the ‘preacher’.”

In this famous chapter, Solomon reflects on seasons, poetically posturing this phrase, “A time to…” ”For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven,” ‭(3‬:‭1‬). Then Solomon lists the most common highs and lows of life itself. Fourteen contrasting circumstances of what it means to be human and to live the human life. The powerful lesson, seasons come and go… they don’t stay forever! The extreme highs of harvesting, healing, laughing, dancing, embracing and loving are countered by NORMAL seasons quite opposite. Hard seasons of planting, war, crying, grieving, pushing away and even hating are just as much a part of the spectacular life we get to live. Yeah, no one likes or celebrates crying, quitting, throwing out, walking away, or tearing down. But maybe we should recognize, life here on earth, even with all its wonder and beauty is still considered to be the “dark planet” because of our sin the effects of humans desiring to have their own way.

I do not celebrate war, the loss of life and the devastation of cities or entire countries. But, I can be grateful that war is not forever. Just to give a proper perspective, the longest recorded war is human history was the Reconquista war lasting 781 Years! It was fought by Spanish and Portuguese forces against the Muslim rulers of the Iberian Peninsula. The shortest war, on the list of top ten, the Mexican Indan Wars refer to a series of conflicts between Spanish conquerors and the indigenous peoples of Mexico and the surrounding areas lasted almost a half millennium (414 years)! We make the mistake of stereotyping countries and people groups believing they are the epitome of warmongering! Wars have always existed, but they don’t eclipse the entirety of human experiences on this planet. Truth, as long as there is sin, there will be war! The Psalmist declares that God is the only one who will bring peace and put an end to all wars – Psalm 46:9. Yea God!!!

We live in seasons of good and bad, easy and hard, hilariously joyous and grievously sad. This is the human experience! If you are in a bad season, know this truth, it will not LAST. If you are living high on life and wondering when the “other shoe” will drop – stop ruminating and just enjoy the season of good, without ruining it by looking for bad.

When we are in a good season, we should thank God and celebrate. When we are in a bad season, we can still thank God – not for the circumstances, but for his grace, mercy and comfort. The silver lining, if we are savvy, we’ll grow and appreciate more in seasons of struggle by asking “what have I learned,” after coming through it. And God’s honest truth – you will come through it…don’t give up!

Prayer

​Dad,
I have seen you active and working in all the seasons of my life! Even in the darkest, hardest times, you were with me and I knew I was not alone. Even in the overwhelming emotions of crushing fear, you were holding me in the comfort of your presence. I will never forget those moments. Thank you for the high seasons of joy, but thank you also for the moments of peace in the depths of despair. I am not alone, YOU are with me.