"BEING In The Wilderness"

The Power and the Majesty of God

Isaiah 40:21-31
This lesson is a kind of doxology. Every Sunday, we sing “the doxology” (Praise God from whom all blessing flow, praise him all creatures here below, praise him all heavenly hosts.), but in truth this is only one doxology, the one chosen by the early church fathers to be sung in worship. And the Bible has numerous doxologies recorded. Even the Gloria Patri is a doxology, declaring the preeminent power and majesty of God: “Glory be to the father and to the son, and to the holy ghost. As it was in the beginning, now and ever shall be, world without end.”
Another familiar doxology, though not called that, per se, is the closing words to the Lord’s prayer: “For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever." This version of the Lord’s prayer had the doxology amended to the versions of the Lord’s prayer that appear in Matthew (6:9-13) and Luke (11:2-4). We can also find doxologies throughout the Psalms and in other parts of the scripture.
The message of all doxologies is that God is without peer. He has all power, he is sovereign, he is the very epitome of glory, honor and majesty. He stands alone as our creator and as the arbiter and finisher of our fate. If there is hope for us, it is by his hand and by his grace. When we find strength in life’s withering circumstances, and are able somehow to carry on, it is the Lord’s doing. And every now and then, in the midst of our petitions and wailings, and routine expressions of gratitude, we ought to pause and acknowledge, even to ourselves, what an awesome God he is; what an awesome father he is; what an awesome protector/defender he is; what an awesome friend and foundation of hope he is! Not for his sake, but ours. Every now and then we ought to declare with our loudest voice that without God, we are nothing; that our highest calling is to serve him; that our destiny is all wrapped up in his will for us.

Speaking to the Spirit

Mark 1:21-28
God’s preference for you is that you are a healed, whole, self-actualized human being---growing to your fullest potential, to the glory of God. After all, as Psalm 100 aptly says, “it is He that has made us, and not we ourselves”. So it is only natural that one who is created by a God who makes no mistakes, should be freed in their spirit to become all they can become, using their God-supplied tools and energies. When a person excels, when they are beautiful inside, when they live redemptive lives with a self-giving purpose, they are the very evidence of the love and compassion of God. When we are healed; when we are joyful; when we are selfless and compassionate; when we are tolerant and patient and respectful of others, we are in the truest sense, evangelists.
Too often our efforts at bringing people, or inviting people, to accept Christ are impaired because such invitations are too often extended by people who are themselves bound by some variation of the same unclean spirit that caused the man in our lesson today to yell out to Jesus in the synagogue.
We cease to be agents of the gospel, the good news, when we ourselves are bound by the demons of resentment, bigotry, and a compulsion to judge others; by lust, by addictions of various kinds, by class prejudice, color prejudice; by ignorance, anger, envy, low self-esteem, fear, impatience, you name it. And sometimes, we can be miraculously rid of one demon, but rather than having our spirit freed, we trade in one demon for another. And what is more toxic and self-righteous than a reformed, intolerant anything? (ex-smoker, ex-philanderer, ex-overeater…) There are few things more overbearing and off-putting than a person who has only recently seen the light.
It is the Lord’s will, not that we trade or substitute demons, but that we are rid of them, that we are totally, completely, thoroughly unbound! His aim is not to condemn us, but to call out of us the spirits that contaminate our lives--- to free us of our bad attitudes, our negative outlooks, our feelings of victimization, our need to dominate and control. His will is that our lives be redeemed and set free to serve others.
God’s love for you is immeasurable. His perennial focus is your rescue from the shadows, to bring you into his marvelous light. His hatred is for the spirit that keeps you from channeling his love and grace in the world. You are not the enemy of godliness; instead, the unclean passions that direct your conduct are God’s enemies. That is why Jesus speaks not to the man in the synagogue, but to the spirit that is within him. “Be quiet! (He says) Come out of him! And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.”
By whatever name the unclean spirit goes, human beings are seldom without one or the other. They cause us to yield to the temptations of the world. They cause us to put ourselves first in all things. They cause us to fear acknowledging we are weak and in need of help.
But it really doesn’t matter what they are and how they manifest themselves, whether quietly or in open defiance, they need to come out, and the blood of Jesus is the vehicle for our purging. He can wrench them from us if we fall to his feet and avail ourselves of his mercy.