Prisoners of hope

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your king is coming to you;

righteous and mounted on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.;

. . . and he shall speak peace to the nations;

his rule shall be from sea to sea,

and from the River to the ends of the earth.

As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,

I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.

Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope,

today I declare that I will restore to you double.

(Zechariah 9:9-12)

O daughters of Zion, rejoice this day. He has surely restored to us double in the death of our King. He has taken the wrath against our sin against Him, and poured it out on Himself! Is this not unfathomable love? Is this not unutterable freedom and grace and mercy and kindness and comfort?

Surely we are prisoners of hope! Rejoice and then rejoice again.

And again.

Not One!

Is it time for another Mr. Knightley picture? I think so. It's been a while. Soooo cute.

And here's Joshua at the end of his life, after he has led the people of Israel, finally, to the land that God had promised 40 years earlier when they were still in Egypt: And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass; not one of them has failed.

Wow. Not one word failed. This is our God.

And you know, all of you, that centuries later, the same can still be said. All of God's promises have come to pass; not one has failed. Think them through, beginning with Genesis 3:15. And don't forget Isaiah 53 and Ezekiel 36 and Psalm 22 and even little Malachi 4. Not one.

This, this Promise-fulfiller, Covenant-keeper, Lover of our souls, this is our God. Can anyone say "Amen"?

Spring!

"The flowers appear on the earth,

the time of singing has come,

and the voice of the turtledove

is heard in our land." (Song of Solomon 2:12)

What's up in your garden? I can't even believe I just asked that question in mid-March. Two months early!

This beautiful jack-in-the-pulpit is not up in my garden; my Jacks haven't even poked their little cigar heads yet. Trust me, I look daily for them. In fact, this is my neighbor's Jack a few years ago. Isn't he a beauty?

I have batches of resurrection lilies elbowing for space, and the forget-me-nots are at it as well. Daily garden walks are such a treat.

What do you have coming up?

Yes, my garden. Little sweeties. I suspect you have a little something as well, with this delightful March spring.

Remember our meditation yesterday on obedience? What, then, are we to obey? You and I both know the answer to that. But here's Moses' answer: Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. Okay, got that. We are firm on obeying the laws and commands of God. Why? For it is no empty word for you, but your very life . . . " That's serious. This is not obedience for obedience's sake, but for our very lives. God means it. It is not empty rituals and tasks we do. (That's in Deuteronomy 32.)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . In him was life and the life was the light of men (John 1:1, 4). He, Jesus Christ, who became sin for us, and experienced God's wrath against us, is our very life. No empty word, indeed.

Come to Him, take His yoke upon you, let Him be your very life. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20). Obey this word by the power of the Word living in you. He makes obedience possible.

Deuteronomy!!

Don't you just love the book of Deuteronomy? Isn't it so full of God's love for His people? This morning I felt as though I had arrived at the summit explanation of what it means to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure", as Paul writes to the Philippians.

Listen to this in Deuteronomy 31: And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. I can love the Lord my God because he has changed my heart, because He has first loved me, as John says.

Further on, Moses says this: For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. . . . But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. It is possible to obey God, not because we are strong or self-disciplined or naturally good and holy or from good stock or better than others. It is possible to obey God because of one thing: God has changed me, and is changing me.

Remember 2 Corinthians 3:18? We are being changed into His image as we behold His glory. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

So go ahead and obey. Do it well and fully and worshipfully. But don't ever think that you obey because you want to. It is because God has changed your heart and given you the power to do what you ought to have done all along. 'Tis mercy all, so rich and free.

Daily Praying

Okay, I changed my mind. My latest favorite book is "Everyday Prayers" by Pastor Scotty Smith from Nashville. He wrote a year's worth of prayers from his own devotional life as he went in search of Jesus from Genesis to Revelation and as he learned to preach the gospel to himself daily, a habit I also want to nurture.

Here's just a sampling from March 18's entry: When I mute my heart to the insult of grace, I deny your cross. When I think, even for one moment, that my obedience merits anything, I deny your cross. When I put others under the microscope and measure of performance-based living, I deny your cross. When I wallow in self-contempt and shame, I deny your cross. When I'd rather do penance than repent, I deny your cross.

Is that not good? Do you need any more reason to run, not walk, to the New Hope library and check it out, then find you must own it and put in an Amazon order? Tomorrow?

I trust that my prayers will be more gospel-centered, more thorough, and more worshipful because of using these written prayers for a year. Might yours be too?

Of Many Books

Solomon said rightly, "Of making many books there is no end" (Eccl. 12:12). Writers abound, and we wrestle with what to read next. So many choices, so little time.

Here are my two last favorites, although, now that I'm re-reading Understood Betsy this week, I'm not so sure about them any more. A couple of you mentioned The Bookends of the Christian Life by Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington, which is also my favorite. So many pearls in such a small package. Here's just one: "Are we saying we shouldn't be self-reliant about anything? Yes, that's exactly what we're saying" (p. 126, italics in the original). Do yourself a favor and read it. Soon.

My other? What is the Mission of the Church? by Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert. Here's another pearl: ". . . defining the mission of the church institutional is just not as simple as identifying all the Bible's commands to individual Christians and saying, 'There, that's the church's mission" (p. 233, italics original). An exposition of Scriptures on the kingdom and loving others, as well as a challenge to get right what God commands the Church to be about, this book just might change your mind about a few things. But don't let that stop you. It's an amazing read.

Any others?

Book Recommendations

"When this story begins, Elizabeth Ann, who is the heroine of it, was a little girl of nine, who lived with her Great-aunt Harriet in a medium-sized city in a medium-sized state in the middle of this country; and that's all you need to know about the place, for it's not the important thing in the story; and anyhow you know all about it because it was probably very much like the place you live in yourself." Thus begins one of my very favorite books ever, Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher, which I am reading again for the umpteenth time. My soul needs this book. I need to read it at least once a year. You probably should too.

Our daughter Amy has taught me to always read at least the first sentence in any book, and possibly the last as well, to find out if it's worth reading. For who doesn't know the first lines of Pride and Prejudice and A Tale of Two Cities? Case closed.

This week I want to tell you about my two favorite last books, not Understood Betsy, although you should probably read that one. But I want you to go first.

What have you read lately that is worth the time for the rest of us? What can you not wait to have others read? Well, here's your chance to tell all. Just post it in the comment section under anonymous, if the other options don't work.

Oh, and I know you're dying to know how Understood Betsy turns out. "That room was full to the brim of something beautiful, and Betsy knew what it was. Its name was Happiness."

I told you it was good.