MISCHIEF MANAGED!

Malachi 3:1-4:6; Revelation 22:1-21; Psalm 150:1-6; Proverbs 31:25-31

“The Lord Almighty says, ‘The day of judgment is coming, burning like a furnace. On that day the arrogant and the wicked will be burned up like straw. They will be consumed—roots, branches, and all. But for you who fear my name, the Son of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture. On the day when I act, you will tread upon the wicked as if they were dust under your feet,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

‘No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads. And there will be no night there—no need for lamps or sun—for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever…. The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ Let anyone who hears this say, ‘Come.’ Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life.”

“Praise him with a clash of cymbals; praise him with loud clanging cymbals. Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord! Praise the Lord!”

“Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised. Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.”

Harry Potter, the hero of J.K. Rowling’s delightful and creative series of novels, has a secret. He is the owner of a magical Map. The Map shows him various routes around his school, but more than that, it shows one who knows how to access its secrets where potential adversaries and allies are located along the way. This allows Harry to detour around problems; to more carefully plan his arrivals and departures; and, in general, just makes life easier. The incantation to turn the treasure back into an innocuous piece of parchment is known to every Potter fan: “Mischief Managed!” And that, Dear Friends, is not a bad metaphor for the conclusion of this journal. The mischief Satan was doing in my life has been managed… for now. Ol’ Slewfoot will be back, no doubt. I will be better prepared for him next time.

When I began this, the Devil had secretly gotten his talons in my heart and in my head. I’m not sure exactly how or when it first happened, but in retrospect, I’m pretty sure it began when I let my guard down a little. It did not take much. I was still reading and teaching Scripture, but my purpose was aimed more at others than my own spiritual health. (This is just one way our good becomes the enemy of God’s best….) Then, prayer became more of a sometime thing. In turn, this led to greater self-reliance and related, greater vulnerability to Lucifer’s deceptions and attacks. So the spiral went, right toward the drain. Before I had any idea what exactly was happening, I found myself struggling and out of control. Anxiety and uncertainty ruled.

Now, the blog is done. For the moment, the struggles are a whole lot less daunting. Mischief Managed! No, life is not perfect and never will be this side of heaven. I’m no better looking and no smarter in the intellectual sense of the word. However, I do feel somewhat wiser, and I have a whole lot better sense of the obstacles and pitfalls in life. The main one is a lack of discipline, followed closely by plain old rebellion, or disobedience. When I am undisciplined, I naturally drift away from the Lord’s direction. That’s both why and how I get lost. Not inconsequently, discipline and obedience have been the primary fruits of this journey. I have a much deeper appreciation of their benefits, and I now understand that I fail to practice them at my eternal peril.

I don’t have any amazing final revelation with which to close this blog. Life is still very much a work in progress, as are the things the Spirit has taught me in these pages. Like fine wine, some will take a while to fully mature. The good news is that the adventure begun here is far from over; it’s really just starting. What is most on my heart is appreciation and love for how far the Lord has brought me already.

I am grateful beyond words for this endeavor; for the Lord’s constant companionship through it; and for the love, tolerance, perseverance, wisdom, integrity and patience of my accountability partners. Most important, I have come to appreciate even more deeply the steadfastness and grace of my loving wife. Without complaint, she willing sacrificed a year of evenings and early mornings with her husband so he could grow a little closer to the man God created him to be. (Sweetie, I hope your investment in our future pays great dividends. May the Lord recognize your sacrifice and multiply your blessings as a result!) Each person contributed unique perspectives and insights to what the Lord has given us. They, too, committed time and study and prayer to this opus. I hope and pray that what they received as a result was as worth the effort as I found it to be. Love you, guys and gals. Thanks so much for traveling with me! You will never know how many times the Lord’s answer to why I should not stop was your support. Together, at least for now, we have managed Satan’s mischief, and we have done so in the power of Christ. Not a bad year’s work. We can be justifiably proud, in a good and humble way, of where we’ve been and how far we’ve come!

Finally, of course, for whatever has occurred this year, for whatever wisdom may be found in these pages, and for whatever blessings may grow out of this study, all praise, glory and honor goes to the Father, the Lord Jesus and His Holy Spirit. Few, if any, of us will ever truly grasp the enormity of His blessings. Yet, let us remember each breath as a reminder we were created for a purpose. We have a Friend whose power and love truly does pass all understanding. We can never say thank you enough. We can, however, live in such a way as to at least make others curious about Christ. If nothing else, I pray those who explore these pages in the months to come will find something intriguing. I encourage them to hold onto that feeling and go deeper into the Word. Anyone with a needful and open heart will find they are not alone. There is One who has gone before who is fully capable of showing us the way out of any wilderness.

Tetelestai! It is finished. In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, may the peace of Christ be with you. Come, Lord Jesus!

Amen, and Amen!

WHAT'S NEXT

Malachi 1:1-2:17; Revelation 21:1-27; Psalm 149:1-9; Proverbs 31:10-24

“You say, ‘It’s too hard to serve the Lord,’ and you turn up your noses at my commands,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.... Are we not all children of the same Father? Are we not all created by the same God? Then why do we betray each other, violating the covenant of our ancestors?”

“I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, ‘Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.’ And the one sitting on the throne said, ‘Look, I am making everything new!’ And then he said to me, ‘Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.’ And he also said, ‘It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.’”

“For the Lord delights in his people; he crowns the humble with victory. Let the faithful rejoice that he honors them. Let them sing for joy as they lie on their beds. Let the praises of God be in their mouths, and a sharp sword in their hands.”

“Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies. Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life.”

In his absolutely wonderful book, Travels With Charley, John Steinbeck made one particularly insightful point I have carried with me for well over thirty years now. Every journey has an end. It may simply lead into another beginning, but there is nevertheless always some point at which the old passes away and the new begins. The actual road we are on may not even change, but in some way, we still come to recognize one trip as complete. Then, in that simple realization, the character of our ongoing, overall voyage necessarily changes. For Steinbeck, his journey across America ended several states shy of his house. The rest of his trip was simply “hurry up and get home.” By his own admission, during that leg, he saw little and enjoyed almost nothing, until he was reunited with family and friends. For the Christian, as attractive as “hurry up and get Home” sounds, odds are, if we are alive, another adventure lies just ahead, ready or not. The culmination of one journey simply prepares us for the next. This is one reason the Israelites’ 40 years in the desert weren’t all bad. It kept them from putting down roots that would have prevented them from taking the next step toward the Promised Land. We actually saw this “root damage” in one of the original twelve tribes, when they chose not to cross the Jordan but to plant themselves on the known, safe side. Other than a few passing references to them in later battles, they soon disappeared from the divine manuscript altogether. I most certainly do not want that to happen to me. I want to be part of God’s plan, the Creator’s adventure, for as long as I have breath. I only hope and pray this journey has adequately prepared me for the voyage which is sure to follow.

Last week, I was having lunch with the same wonderful Christian pastor who first inspired me to begin this blog odyssey. As we talked about where it has taken me and how I’ve changed as a result, a question arose which I’d been thinking a lot about recently. My family may well choose it as my epitaph, too: “What’s next?” I spoke of how I really had no feel at all for my next Big Thing. That’s unusual, and normally, quite frustrating. In this case, though, I’m honestly content to let life come to me in the Spirit’s own good time. Frankly, I hope to just rest a bit and enjoy my own family and friends while I wait.

My friend pushed back from the table with a laugh. “You know,” he pointed out, “’What’s next’ is exactly the question you asked me a year ago. (“Huh?” I thought.) But what a difference in the way you are asking it today! No desperation. No frustration. No anxiety. Just patient confidence. That’s a good thing. You’ve come a long way to get back to the beginning.”

Ah, he’s right. It’s not just the beginning, though; it is a new beginning. I don’t know much, but that is obvious. I’m simply not the same anxious, fearful, insecure and fundamentally vulnerable person I was 364 days ago. Looking back, the one and only positive I could find to hold onto was that we are all created in the image of God. What an obvious cliché that is! But a wise person once recognized that the reason things become cliché is because they are so often true. That one small anchor became the very firm foundation of this year long expedition through the Bible, and the lynchpin that changed my very human weaknesses into something that is starting to look a bit like spiritual strength.

Here is my suspicion. This has been a year of obvious re-creation and preparation. I have no idea what I am being prepared for, only that there is, somewhere out there, an actual thing or activity I will be called to which I could not – or would not - have done, or been capable of doing, a year ago. Christ, in His Grace, allowed me to struggle this year because I needed to struggle, to understand better how to struggle productively, and to learn that I really could come out the other end stronger and more complete and secure than when I started. Simply, I needed to learn to trust Him. In that transition, I learned a whole lot more, as well. I was reminded, time and again, of God’s love. I was supported – even when I did not know it – by the prayers and thoughts of beloved friends. I was challenged, daily, to become more real and, however difficult it was, more transparent. Mainly, when I finally recognized my self-reliance just would not carry me where I had to go, I was taught the mega-blessings of putting my absolute trust and confidence in Christ. I am continuing to learn how to move ahead in faith, without tripping over my own thoughts, opinions and fears of failure.

What’s next? Don’t know. Wait. That’s not precisely true. Because I do know, at least a little: what’s next is an even closer walk with Jesus and His Spirit. Then, the next challenge. But I’m OK with that, because God is here. He really does make His home with and in us. We truly can rely on Him, and even bet our lives on Him. He is worthy of our hope and our praise. That, I think, is all I need to know… for now.