In the Details

God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, 

and in the flowers and clouds and stars.  — Martin Luther

An innovative architect of the early twentieth century, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe is quoted as saying “God dwells in the details.” Much speculation has gone into what he meant, but one modern architect put it this way: “Working out details requires great application – something akin to religious fervor… always worth remembering…when things are getting a little complicated.” 

It does us good to get a different perspective sometimes, especially when things get complicated. It’s one of the reasons I enjoy taking detailed photographs of flowers. We tend to look at them as bright spots in a field of brown or green bringing us a bit of joy, or blankets of beauty on the flowerbeds, but seeing them close up is a very different experience. 

The stamen of a crocus blossom.

For me, isolating the veins in the petals, the pollen on the stamen; the very elements of their existence, fills me with awe for the Creator whose attention to detail makes my perfectionist tendencies look like gross recklessness. 

Just as each detail of the flower’s anatomy (and ours) has a purpose, so each detail of our lives has a purpose as well. Yet, seeing it that way often requires a different perspective, if not a different lens. 

Nevertheless, the God who made the entire universe and attended to every detail of life therein, already knows all the details of our lives and their purpose. He has also already provided a solution to every problem.

There are conditions, of course. Call them details. For example, before the seed even goes into the ground, it must dry out. Once it’s planted, it must have the right elements in the right proportions to produce the green shoot, the flower, and the fruit of the harvest. None of this happens overnight. There is no Jack and the Beanstalk experience when it comes to discovering our purpose. 

It requires following the detailed instructions of the Creator who made us, who orders our steps to accomplish His purpose for our lives. It requires trusting that He is the one working in us, speaking into our spirits, bringing all of the elements together according to His plan. Indeed, it requires believing that He dwells in the details.

The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives (Psalm 37:23, New Living Translation).

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life (Ephesians 2:10, Berean Study Bible)

For the universe owes its origin to Him, was created by Him, and has its aim and purpose in Him (Romans 11:36, Weymouth New Testament)

For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1, New Heart English Bible)  

Excerpted from While it Is Called Today

a 30-day photo-devotional

By Dee Marvin Emeigh

 © 2018 Livingwell Seed Co Press

When the System is Broken

I walked not in the way of righteousness. … But the Almighty God, who sits in the court of heaven, granted what I did not deserve (Constantine 280-337).

The author of an article I read recently, regarding the current state of journalism and of photojournalism in particular (or the lack thereof), called it “a broken system that doesn’t deserve to survive.”

As time goes on, the old structure lets in more and more light.

The words could apply to many other systems as well and sadly, that includes the church “system.” We live in a world of broken systems. It is a broken world.

Broken systems have some common characteristics. First, they are not functioning as they were meant to function. Second, those who are comfortable with them try to patch them up to keep them working. Even in their lack of real ability to be comfortable, they are comfortable. Third, their very existence hinders their replacement. As long as they are working to some degree, even if ineffectively and even if they have outlived their usefulness, they continue to survive.

There is comfort in the familiar, in the rote, and the self-contained. People are drawn to it. In the church system it is about being comfortable connecting to God. 

But church was never meant to be rote or self-contained. It was never meant to be a system. It was meant to be organic and dynamic. By definition, that makes them unfamiliar and that can sometimes be very uncomfortable. 

No one knows what would have happened if the Emperor Constantine had not “validated” Christianity, allowing Christians to come out into the open and form public places of worship. We do know that what resulted was a somewhat different form of “Christianity;” one that was simmering on a back burner for at least a couple of centuries waiting its time. Let’s call it the church system. 

Whether it was his real motive or not, Constantine’s premise was to unify Christianity. That didn’t work. The system was flawed from the beginning. 

So, does this system deserve to survive? 

The answer, I believe, lies in acknowledging that the church system is broken. While it can be perceived as a life-raft, it is in fact a broken system made up of the pieces of shipwreck. But, it should not stop there. Seeing that the church system is broken, perhaps beyond repair, should cause us to look to the Father who made us to show us what to do with this broken system. In fact, that is our responsibility. 

In spite of its brokenness, the church still attracts those who want to find God. As individuals, we are called to be the church of God individually. So, it is not the system that deserves to survive. It is the people of God. They are the real church. The question then becomes, can the people of God survive without the system? Even more, can they go beyond surviving to thriving and growing as organic and dynamic members of one body? 

That is something only the Father himself can reveal. It is not a matter of opinion or debate. His answer may lead us into a wilderness or into a prison cell. It may even lead us into a crumbling infrastructure on a rescue mission. He is able to take what was meant for evil and turn it into something good (Romans 8:28, Genesis 50:28).

 And it just might be that in the brokenness of the system God may yet shine best. 

“There is a crack in everything – That’s how the light gets in” (Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson).

1 Corinthians 3:16

“Don't you yourselves know that you are God's sanctuary and that the Spirit of God lives in you?” (Holman Christian Standard Bible).

Ezekiel 37
“²God’s Spirit took me up and set me down in the middle of an open plain strewn with bones. He led me around and among them—a lot of bones! There were bones all over the plain—dry bones, bleached by the sun.

³ He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Master God, only you know that.”

⁴ He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones: ‘Dry bones, listen to the Message of God!’”

^5-6 God, the Master, told the dry bones, “Watch this: I’m bringing the breath of life to you and you’ll come to life. I’ll attach sinews to you, put meat on your bones, cover you with skin, and breathe life into you. You’ll come alive and you’ll realize that I am God!” – (The Message).

Ephesians 2

²⁰Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. ²¹We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord (New Living Translation).

Excerpt from  

While it Is Called Today -

a 30-day photo-devotional 

© 2018 Dee Marvin Emeigh

When the Game Changes

“The ragamuffin who sees his life as a voyage of discovery and runs the risk of failure has a better feel for faithfulness than the timid man who hides behind the law and never finds out who he is at all.”  ― Brennan Manning

Lichens growing from the stump of a dead tree. Life goes on...

 

I placed a bid on some sensory alphabet blocks for the grand baby earlier this week. We had seen them in a doctor’s office and she was hooked. When I discovered they are out of production, I turned to an online auction and found several offers. Last night at bedtime I was the high bidder on one set for a very reasonable $23.00 including shipping.

This morning there was no announcement of winning. No notification of losing. No items on my watch list. The blocks seemed to have disappeared. Then, I discovered the very same set, listed just last night by the very same seller, with a “Buy it Now” price of $49.95 including shipping.

There’s something about a game change that makes the offer less appealing. And there’s something about having the same thing happen three times in the same week that can cause you to wonder about your sanity.

As most weeks do, this one started on Monday. That’s when I learned that one of the two classes I was scheduled to teach had cancelled for lack of enrollment. At the end of the day, I was teaching in a different program and making $2,000 less.

As Tuesday ended, I had decided to look for a more stable source of (steady) supplemental income.

By Thursday, I thought I had found a perfect fit and while I still had two weeks to apply, I seized the opportunity, sent my résumé, and received an automated response.

On Friday, I returned to the website to refer to the job description and could not even find the posting.

All things considered, I knew the events of the week were merely echoes of another game change earlier in the summer that had flattened me. I was just beginning to get back on my feet. What is up with this? I reflected.

Our first inclination when things go wrong, and one thing after another continues to go wrong, is to think we have made a wrong turn. We were just merrily sailing along with a smile, thinking how good it was, and suddenly…

We begin to think we may have missed His voice somewhere, as we get pounded by one wave of circumstances after another and become disoriented.

We wonder if we have prayed for His guidance enough. After all, He wouldn’t lead us astray. But, if we have trusted Him to guide us each day, this is really just re-purposed doubt.

We think that maybe it’s just God’s way of changing our direction and changing us. And we might be getting close. But in this walk of faith, all the wondering and thinking and possibilities don’t give us solid answers. Those can only come from being still…from letting go and letting Him guide us to the truth… from waiting. Patiently. To hear His voice.

“What, then?” I asked.

“Faithfulness.” He replied. “When the game changes, will your faithfulness fail?”

The game will change. People will disappoint you with broken promises, the open market is bursting with bait and switch. Organizations will be more interested in making money than in making you feel secure. 

When things don’t go as you expect them to but you're there by faith, will you keep on trusting that He is with you and in you, guiding you and planning your good future? 
 
The good news is that the fruit called faithfulness is not developed by things going well all the time. Nor is it developed by your determination to be faithful. It is developed as you and I hang by our white-knuckled, weary hands, from the side of the rough-hewn, slippery remains of a shipwreck. When the winds calm down and the sun finally reappears on the horizon, you feel like you may have lost everything else but your relationship with the God who saved you.

How can a loving God allow all this to happen to one of his faithful followers? For that matter, how can a loving father allow His son to be bullied and crucified?

Faithfulness.

He knows it’s in there because He put it there. He knows what it takes to develop it. He, Himself, is faithful and His desire is to reveal Himself in us. Against the odds. Against the circumstances. Against the tide, the traditions, and the trends.

The game will change. But His faithfulness will not. In fact, it will be revealed through it all, in us.



Galatians 5:22-23
22 The Holy Spirit produces a different kind of fruit: unconditional love, joy, peace, patience, kindheartedness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. You won’t find any law opposed to fruit like this (The Voice).
 

James 1:17-18
17 Every good gift bestowed, every perfect gift received comes to us from above, courtesy of the Father of lights. He is consistent. He won’t change His mind or play tricks in the shadows. 18 We have a special role in His plan. He calls us to life by His message of truth so that we will show the rest of His creatures His goodness and love (The Voice).
 

Hebrews 10:23
Let us hold strong to the confession of our hope, never wavering, since the One who promised it to us is faithful (The Voice).

 
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Eternal, “plans for peace, not evil, to give you a future and hope—never forget that (The Voice). 

Excerpted from

While it Is Called Today

a 30-day photo devotional for the believer

by Dee Marvin Emeigh