Taking the time to see the work of God

There is a quote attributed to the late actress Carrie Fisher in which she said: “Instant gratification takes too long.” We live in that kind of culture. There is a kind of virtue our society places on being able to do things quickly. It once was said that things worth doing are worth doing well. Perhaps, that old proverb modified for today might read that things worth doing are only worth it if done quickly.   

While there are many aspects of our lives in which "instant" or "quickly"  have been real improvements to our lives, there are others which simply require the passage of time. They take a passage of time that simply cannot be sped up. Education, for example, from kindergarten to college, still requires many years of study. A child, within his or her mother's womb, still needs about nine months to become developed enough to be born.

The Bible is full of examples where God's work among His people, as communities of faith, or as individuals, requires time. We learn that trying to speed up the process could actually work against our best interests. When the people of Israel were about to start the process of conquering the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua, God indicated that the conquest would not happen quickly because it should not happen quickly. God told His people:

"The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once, lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you."  Deuteronomy 7:22 (ESV)  A rapid conquest would bring about other problems. Rapid human de-population would lead to the rapid  growth of the number of wild beasts in the land. A successful and stable conquest required time.

It can also take time to recognize God's work in our lives. For some of God's people, very obvious changes in them have happened quickly. However, that is not always the case. In the Gospel accounts, we find that our growth in Christ is likened to the growth of wheat. The Lord Jesus told the parable of the wheat and weeds. They both develop, side by side, until the time of harvest. (Matthew 13:18-30). Growth in evil happens over time. So does the growth of holiness in Christ. 

Please recognize that there are occasions where it may take time to see that God is doing a truly wonderful work. We find such an example in the 28th chapter of the book of Acts. In that chapter, Luke gives the account of a shipwreck. Those who escaped the shipwreck, including the apostle Paul, find themselves on the island of Malta.  In that account, we find that after getting ashore, Paul gathered some sticks for firewood. Luke tells us:

"When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand."

The reaction of the onlookers made perfect sense:

"When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.” He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm."

You could imagine what it would have been like to have been there to witness that event. Everyone was waiting for Paul to fall over ill or dead.  And waiting, and waiting...

Luke confirms this: "They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead."

However, the unexpected happened, not the expected natural outcome of a viper bite.

"But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god."

Those onlookers drew the wrong conclusion about Paul being a god. However, they drew the right conclusion that something supernatural and out of the ordinary happened. 

Sometimes, when God works miraculously, the effects are sudden and dramatic. It does seem to be more the case that when God is working among His people, that work looks, at the beginning, like an ordinary event. Yet, it takes the patient watching of His people to know that something different, something unusual, is slowly unfolding. It simply takes time to distinguish between an everyday event and something special which God is doing.  Keep this in mind when you see what God does and has done, in the lives of His people, especially your own. 

What will you take with you?

Back in April, I had the opportunity to return to London for a five-day visit. From my American perspective, that city's history is simply "off the scale." To get a sense of that scale, one of its' newer buildings, the current Saint Paul's Cathedral, was completed a little after the founding of the city of Detroit over 300 years ago.

Among the stops that I made was to the Museum of London, only a very short distance from the site of John Wesley's Aldersgate experience in May of 1738. The exhibit which captured my attention at the Museum of London was a remembrance of the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London in September, 1666.

There were a lot of artifacts from that era in the exhibit that day. Many were books which provided eyewitness accounts of the fire. Another artifact was a charred brick from Pudding Lane, where the fire started (pictured here). This brick "experienced" that fire; We were allowed/encouraged to touch that brick and connect ourselves with its history. There was a large backlit timeline of the fire as well as an interactive map which showed the spread of the fire in old London, a city which in 1666 was mainly made up of wood-constructed buildings.

As I walked through the exhibit, the dimension of human suffering that fire caused became clearer and clearer. The Great Fire wasn't a fictional story. It happened to real flesh and blood people, whose lives were turned upside down so very quickly. It is estimated that 70,000 out of 80,000 buildings were destroyed by the fire in a matter of only a few days. Thousands lost their homes and their livelihoods. The official death toll stood at six, though historians suspect the death toll could have been much larger, possibly in the thousands as the fire would have hidden the evidence of those deaths. Thomas Goodwin, a Puritan minister of the era, lost a sizable part of his large, personal library. In walking through this exhibit, you could feel the near sense of panic those Londoners felt to halt the fire. They had nothing resembling modern fire-fighting equipment. Buildings were purposely blown-up to act as a buffer from the fire's further spread.

One part of this exhibit that got my greatest attention had to do with a small wooden chest. Many of those Londoners, during those frightful September days, knew that the fire would shortly destroy their homes. They might have hours, perhaps minutes, to take a handful of earthly possessions with them and flee from the oncoming fire. The exhibit pointed this out so well. That small wooden chest I saw was like the ones those desperate people would have used to carry a handful of earthly possessions to safety. Next to the replica trunk, the exhibit sign (which encouraged an interactive approach to the tour) read:

Pack your trunk. Save your belongings from the Great Fire! Time is short and space is limited so you could only choose THREE things. What will you take? What is most precious to you? Or most useful?

I've asked myself that same question over the last several months. If I were in a situation from which I had to flee for my life and could only take three things, what would they be? From the safety in which I currently live, I think that I'd like to take with me a copy of the Bible, some notecards, a few pens and a copy of Thomas Goodwin's 1651 book "The Heart of Christ." (I know that's more than three items but shirt pockets come in handy).

"What will you take with you?" is a question which millions have people have asked  in the past and in the present moment in the face of fires, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, wars, political upheavals and disasters, both natural and human-made. In recent weeks, a series of hurricanes and earthquakes have devastated many of the Caribbean islands as well as parts of Mexico and the parts of the states of Texas and Florida in the United States. Catastrophes have a way of sifting out the important from the unimportant in our lives. Like Thomas Goodwin's library, very valuable things, perhaps irreplaceable things, will be lost. Yet, things to which we have been attached seem less important as a result, perhaps even garbage-worthy.

Several years ago, the Detroit area encountered a "storm of the century" which resulted in local freeways being flooded out and thousands of families, including my in-laws, experiencing something which they never faced before, several feet of water in their basements. Family treasures and memorabilia, safe and dry one week, became water- logged items for the next week's garbage pick up.

Eventually, each of us will face circumstances when we will be forced to leave the place we live. Perhaps we will have years, or months or days to prepare for it. For some, like Detroit's "Storm of the Century", it will come quickly and unexpectedly. To that place we are going, we cannot take even one of our earthly possessions. That moment, will be the moment of our death. We will leave time to enter into eternity. As we flee from this world, we can take no earthly possession. Yet, we can take a heavenly one. In your spiritual version of the Great Fire of London chest, carry with you a love and trust in God in Christ. It is your only sure possession which will last you now and for eternity.

E100 - Week 16 - The Travels of Paul

Here are the E100 Readings for Week 16

THE TRAVELS OF PAUL
76 The Road to Damascus           Acts 9:1–9:31
77 The First Missionary Journey Acts 13:1–14:28
78 The Council at Jerusalem       Acts 15:1–15:41
79 More Missionary Journeys     Acts 16:1–20:38
80 The Trip to Rome                   Acts 25:1–28:31

E100 - Week 15 - The Church is Born

Here are the readings for Week 15 of the Essential 100 Bible Reading Challenge:

THE CHURCH IS BORN
71 The Day of Pentecost     Acts 2:1–2:47
72 Growth and Persecution Acts 3:1–4:37
73 The First Martyr              Acts 6:8–8:8
74 Sharing the Word            Acts 8:26–8:40
75 Good News for All          Acts 10:1–11:18

E100 - Week 14 - The Cross of Christ

Here are the readings for Week 14 of the Essential 100 Bible Reading Challenge:

THE CROSS OF CHRIST
66 The Last Supper          Luke 22:1–22:46
67 Arrest and Trial           John 18:1–18:40
68 The Crucifixion           John 19:1–19:42
69 The Resurrection        John 20:1–21:25
70 The Ascension             Acts 1:1–1:11

E100 - Week 13 - The Miracles of Jesus

Here are the readings for Week 13 of the Essential 100 Bible Reading Challenge:

THE MIRACLES OF JESUS
61 Feeding the Five Thousand             Luke 9:1–9:36
62 Walking on Water               Matthew 14:22–14:36
63 Healing the Blind Man                     John 9:1–9:41
64 Healing a Demon Possessed Man      Mark 5:1–20
65 Raising Lazarus from the Dead    John 11:1–11:57

E100 - Week 12 - The Teaching of Jesus

Here are the E100 readings for Week 12:

THE TEACHING OF JESUS
56 Sermon on the Mount – Part 1  Matthew 5:1–6:4
57 Sermon on the Mount– Part 2   Matthew 6:5–7:29
58 The Kingdom of Heaven           Matthew 13          
59 The Good Samaritan                 Luke 10:25–10:37
60 Lost and Found                         Luke 15  

E100 - Week 11 - In The Beginning

Here are the E100 readings for Week 11, the first week of the New Testament texts:

IN THE BEGINNING

51 The Word Became Flesh John 1:1–1:18

52 Gabriel’s Message Luke 1:1–1:80

53 The Birth of Jesus Luke 2:1–2:40

54 John the Baptist Luke 3:1–3:20

55 Baptism and Temptation Matthew 3:13–4:17

E100 - Week 10 - The Prophets

Sorry for the delay in getting this posted. Here are the E100 readings for Week 10, the final week of Old Testament texts:

THE PROPHETS
46 The Suffering Servant Isaiah 51:1–53:12
47 Jeremiah’s Call and Message Jeremiah 1:1–3:5
48 Daniel in the Lion’s Den Daniel 6:1–6:28
49 The Story of Jonah Jonah 1:1–4:11
50 The Day of Judgment Malachi 1:1–4:6

E100 - Week 9 - Psalms and Proverbs

Here are the readings for Week 9 of the Essential 100 (E100) Bible Reading Challenge

PSALMS AND PROVERBS
41 The Lord is My Shepherd Psalm 23:1–23:6
42 Have Mercy on Me Psalm 51:1–51:19
43 Praise the Lord Psalm 103
44 Godly Wisdom Proverbs 1:1–4:27
45 Proverbs of Solomon Proverbs 16:1–18:24

E100 - Week 8 - The Fall of Israel

Here are the readings for Week 8 of the Essential 100 (E100) Bible Reading Challenge

THE FALL OF ISRAEL
36 David and Bathsheba 2 Samuel 11:1–12:25
37 King Solomon 1 Kings 2:1–3:28
38 Solomon’s Temple 1 Kings 8:1–9:9
39 Elijah and the Prophets of Baal 1 Kings 16:29–19:18
40 The Fall of Jerusalem 2 Kings 25:1–25:30

E100 Challenge - Week 7 - The Rise of Israel

Week 7 - E100 Challenge - The Rise of Israel

THE RISE OF ISRAEL
31 Samuel Listens to God 1 Samuel 1:1–3:21
32 King Saul 1 Samuel 8:1–10:27
33 David and Goliath 1 Samuel 16:1–18:16
34 David and Saul 1 Samuel 23:7–24:22
35 King David 2 Samuel 5:1–7:29

E100 Challenge - Week 6 - The Judges

Welcome to Week 6 of the E100 Bible Reading Challenge

THE JUDGES
26 Israel‘s Disobedience Judges 2:6–3:6
27 Deborah Leads Israel Judges 4:1–5:31
28 Gideon Defeats the Midianites Judges 6:1–7:25
29 Sampson Defeats the Philistines Judges 13:1–16:31
30 The Story of Ruth Ruth 1:1–4:22

E100 Challenge - Week 4 - Moses and the Exodus

Welcome to Week 4 of the E100 Bible Reading Challenge.

Moses and the Exodus

16 Birth of Moses              Exodus 1:1–2:25
17 The Burning Bush         Exodus 3:1–4:17
18 The Ten Plagues          Exodus 6:28–11:10
19 Passover and Exodus    Exodus 12:1–12:42
20 Crossing the Red Sea   Exodus 13:17–14:31

E100 Challenge - Week 3 - The Story of Joseph

Welcome to Week 3 of the E100 Challenge. How are you enjoying the challenge?

THE STORY OF JOSEPH
11 Sold into Slavery                  Genesis 37:1–37:36
12 Prison and Promotion           Genesis 39:1–41:57
13 Ten Brothers go to Egypt     Genesis 42:1–42:38
14 The Brothers Return             Genesis 43:1–44:34
15 Joseph Reveals His Identity Genesis 45:1–46:7

The E100 Challenge - Week 2 - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

Ready for Week 2 of the E100 Challenge?

ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB

6 The Call of Abram Genesis 12:1–12:20

7 God’s Covenant with Abram Genesis 15:1–15:21

8 Isaac’s Birth and ‘Sacrifice’ Genesis 21:1–22:19

9 Jacob and Esau Compete Genesis 27:1–28:22

10 Jacob and Esau Reconcile Genesis 32:1–33:2

The Essential 100 Bible Reading Challenge

It is ironic that, at least for American Christians, there is an unprecedented level of access to the text of the Bible in English while measures of biblical literacy indicate a low-level of those who have read the entire Bible.

Access is not the problem. Engagement with the text of the Bible is. To help address this concern and to provide a means of getting a good overview of the themes of Scripture, Scripture Union has developed a plan called the "E-100" (Essential 100).

There are 100 passages of Scripture, 50 from the Old Testament and 50 from the New Testament, which provide a foundation for understanding topics such as "In The Beginning", "Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" or "The Living Word",  "The Cross of Christ" or "The Apostles' Teaching."

Starting the week of August 9th, I'm challenging my readers to join me in reading through the E-100. We will take five passages each week, as each week's readings center on a specific topic. This challenge will take us to the last week of 2015. I will be posting a listing of each week's readings here (and also linked to the Restoring The Core website).

You can also download the pdf of the list of all 100 readings (courtesy of Scripture Union UK).

I'll be reminding you on Twitter as well. #essential100  #spiritualclay

John Wesley's Prayer Room

My wife Julie and I had the opportunity to visit London for six days last month. We saw a lot of sites which are tied to Christian history. I want to take the opportunity to revive the use of the School of the Solitary Place blog to recap some highlights of the trip. 

The site I will discuss in this entry is John Wesley’s Chapel and House. Both are open to the public. The Chapel was built in 1778 to replace Wesley’s original chapel known as the Foundery. Wesley’s house was built one year later. The Chapel is remarkable place to visit. There are numerous memorials to those who in some way contributed to this place of worship. There are also a number of other features which have been added or modified over the years, including a communion rail donated by Lady Margaret Thatcher who served as the UK’s Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990 and was married in the chapel in 1951.

My wife and I were impressed as our tour guide indicated that services at Wesley’s chapel were never meant as a replacement for the services of the Church of England. John Wesley was a faithful Anglican priest throughout his life. Services at the Chapel were intended to supplement what was happening at Anglican services.

One facet of history which I find so intriguing is that of having some form of contact with a person, place or event of history. At Wesley’s chapel, we had, right in front of us, the very pulpit from which John Wesley preached while in London during the last twelve years of his life. For myself, what I found even more intriguing was standing in Wesley’s house, just next door to the chapel.

Being able to take in history in this way provides a dimension which reading simply does not give. My wife and I were able to see the cabinet with Wesley’s theological library. We were told that Wesley was in the habit of writing in his books with comments on what he was reading. Not only does having these books give us an insight to Wesley but his comments allow us an added perspective into his thinking as well.

John Wesley was a strong advocate of physical fitness. He had a rather interesting, hand-driven device which would generate a small electrical current. It was thought at the time that small amounts of electricity were beneficial to the body. Thus, Wesley had his own electricity-generating device which still exists and is on display at the house. He also had a spring-driven chair from which you had to push up a little harder to get out of the chair. It’s not quite a home gym from the 21^st century but still rather impressive for a late 18^th century home.

Perhaps what was the most moving part of the tour at Wesley’s chapel and house was being able to step inside John Wesley’s prayer room. In this room, just off his bedroom, Wesley prayed every morning at 4am. This room has been called the “Powerhouse of Methodism” due to Wesley’s consistent, fervent and disciplined prayer life in that room. Actually being able to stand in this very room was a great reminder to both my wife and me of the importance and power of a life of consistent, fervent and disciplined prayer.

One of the great treasures we found while at the Wesley house was the gentleman who was our tour guide. He was very engaging and gave us a good lesson in the value of those who have living memories of an event. Any city or region is shaped by the times and circumstances which the people of that city or region experienced. For a city as old as London, that is particularly true. Our tour guide made reference to the bombings which London endured in the course of the Second World War. Our guide mentioned one night, when he was ten years old, while living in an area west of London, that on one particular night in 1940, he could look east and see a reddish glow off the horizon. He told us that the glow was not the first light of dawn but the light coming off the fires happening in London due to the incendiary bombing it faced. My wife and I are thankful that a gentleman who is 84 years old was able to relate to us what it was like to be in England at that time. What a wonderful living treasure.

Next time, I will examine our visit to Saint Giles Cripplegate. 

My new podcast is officially online

Today, my new website and podcast are officially online. The new website is at
www.restoringthecore.com.

This website is the platform for my new podcast Finding Hidden Treasure. This weekly podcast will feature something or someone not widely known in the Christian community and turns out to be a kind of hidden treasure which I want to share with others.

Currently, I am planning to post a new podcast every Friday. Today's first episode features a book written by the 17th century British minister John Owen entitled The Glory of Christ.

You can listen to the podcast in a number of ways. There is an audio player embedded on the episode page on the Restoring the Core website for each episode. You can also do a direct download from the same episode page on the site. The program is also available for subscription through iTunes or RSS feed. You can subscribe by going to the side panel of the Restoring The Core website.

The podcast has its own Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/RestoringTheCore

Please stop by the Facebook page and "like" us.

We're also on Twitter: https://twitter.com/restorethecore

My name is @restorethecore

I will continue to post to this blog (School of the Solitary Place). It is actually part of the Restoring the Core initiative. While more can be found about the nature of the initiative on the "About Us" page of the new website, my goal has been to use the Internet to supply Christian resources to those looking to go deeper into the Christian faith. The Internet is where the early 21st century goes for answers to the questions of life. It is my goal to have the existing blog, the new website and podcast, as well as my book be a contribution to this new market place of ideas and resources.

Please visit the new site.

Second Anniversary

Today is the second anniversary of the School of the Solitary Place blog. By the grace of God, I've been able to post over 70 articles on various topics, usually relating to prayer (there was an exception back in June when I posted about the Detroit Red Wings winning the Stanley Cup earlier that evening).

The picture in the upper left is a personal rendering of an early morning scene, while it is still dark but with the hint of dawn's first light. I can imagine that the Lord Jesus saw something similar when He was praying on that early Sunday morning mentioned in Mark 1:35.

I know that this blog has had a readership throughout 45 states in the United States and hits on servers in over 30 countries. What a privilege. Thanks for reading this blog and for your interest. If you are so inclined, please write and let me know that you've been a reader. The e-mail address is schoolofthesolitaryplace@yahoo.com

The following is from that first blog entry of two years ago:

The School of the Solitary Place is the place where we learn prayer. It is where we learn to commune with God. We learn from our school-master of prayer, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.Early in His ministry after conducting a busy night of healing:

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." (Mark 1:35 NIV)

The Lord Jesus is our teacher in this school. While we as Christians are called to corporate prayer and worship, the practice of individual prayer lays the foundation for a deeper relationship with God and the ability to pray with others in more than a merely formal manner.

The solitary place is a place of solitude to shut out the voices and demands of our everyday world so that we can pray without interruption to the God who made us. It is not necessarily a barren and howling wilderness. The Lord Jesus refers to such a place as a "closet" or an inner room. It might be a nearby park. For the 18th century American theologian Jonathan Edwards, a solitary place was found in walking alone with God in his father's fields, or as young minister in New York City, he later wrote how he very frequently

used to retire into a solitary place, on the banks of Hudson's River, at some distance from the city, for contemplation on divine things and secret converse with God: and had many sweet hours there.

The 20th century minister A.W. Tozer used a corner of the family basement as a place to meet with God in solitude and prayer. A 15th century monastic instructor named Thomas A Kempis wrote how the monk's cell was a wonderful place to meet with God. He said:

"Your cell will become dear to you if you remain in it, but if you do not, it will become wearisome. If in the beginning of your religious life, you live within your cell and keep to it, it will soon become a special friend and a very great comfort. In silence and quiet the devout soul advances in virtue and learns the hidden truths of Scripture. There she finds a flood of tears with which to bathe and cleanse herself nightly, that she may become the more intimate with her Creator the farther she withdraws from all the tumult of the world. For God and His holy angels will draw near to him who withdraws from friends and acquaintances."

(By the way, it should be understood that the meaning of "cell" has changed over the years. That word today carries the meaning of a place of punishment and confinement. However, centuries ago, the word "cell" was derived from the Latin word "Coelum" which means "Heaven") In 1895, Andrew Murray echoed the words of Thomas A Kempis written almost 500 years earlier. In his classic work on prayer entitled With Christ in the School of Prayer, Murray wrote:

"We have learnt to know and accept Jesus as our only teacher in the school of prayer. He has already taught us at Samaria that worship is no longer confined to times and places; that worship, spiritual true worship, is a thing of the spirit and the life; the whole man must in his whole life be worship in spirit and truth. And yet He wants each one to choose for himself the fixed spot where He can daily meet him. That inner chamber, that solitary place, is Jesus's schoolroom. That spot may be anywhere; that spot may change from day to day if we have to change our abode; but that secret place there must be, with the quiet time in which the pupil places himself in the Master's presence, to be by Him prepared to worship the Father. There alone, but there most surely, Jesus comes to us to teach us to pray."

The purpose of this blog is to encourage you in your personal and private times of prayer in Christ. In this School of the Solitary Place, we learn the aspects of personal prayer to enter, by ourselves, into a one-person schoolroom to be tutored by Christ personally in this wonderful privelege.