PAULA WISEMAN

Faith and life meet in a story

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Posts that reference the book of Hebrews

Hope

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Hope

“This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast,” Hebrews 6:19

Advent is a time of hope.
Not the schmaltzy kind we find in the succession of made for TV movies.

This is a confident hope.
Secure. For the writer of Hebrews it was a secure as the promises and integrity of God.
It looks beyond the temporal and immediate to the unseen and the eternal.

It is a realization that the infinite God in His limitless love has reached out to us personally, individually and made a place for us in His unfolding plan.

Hope remembers the first “Let there be,” with the assurance it will all once again be “very good.”
It anticipates the time when His will is done on earth just as it is in heaven.

It is embodied in the coming of Jesus Christ.
It reminds us our hope is as sure and steadfast as the promises of God.

De-Junking My Heart

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De-Junking My HeartTherefore if anyone cleanses himself … he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master. 2 Timothy 2:21

 

This past May meant the end of another school year and time to clean and declutter my office once again. It’s amazing (and disappointing) how much stuff accumulates in such a short time. It was a process of carrying out bags of junk, packing and filing this year’s papers, taking care of the papers I didn’t have time to deal with because school was going on, then vacuuming and dusting. When my office is neat, it’s an extremely functional space. I love it. All the stuff I need is close by making it easier to accomplish what I need to each day.

When it’s not neat … it’s a completely different story.

I find it’s not just my living spaces that need periodic cleaning. My heart does, too. I know I’ve accumulated a lot of junk, like a box of frustration there, a folder or two of fear stacked on the bookcase, a bad attitude taking up most of the room. When it gets that way, things like joy and peace are hard to find underneath all the other mess. (I know they’re in here somewhere … I remember bringing ‘em in and putting them right over there by that big pile of doubt.)

For a packrat like me, determining what needs to go is often a challenge. There are rare occasions when the right mood hits, and I can toss out with the best of them. However, when it comes to de-junking my heart, the mood never hits. I need outside help. Not just professional help. Divine help.

I have to rely on God and His word to identify the junk in the first place. Psalm 139 says, “Search me, O God and see if there be any wicked way in me.”(Ps. 139:23-24). I appreciate David putting that “if” in there, but we all know He’s going to find stuff.

I have to let go of the junk. Hebrews instructs us, “Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us.” (Hebrews 12:2). This is a lot easier said than done. I’m used to the junk. It’s comfortable. It’s familiar. But it’s interfering with God’s ability to work in me and through me.

Finally, I need Him clean out the place. Create in me a clean heart, O God. (Psalm 51:10). If I do it, it looks like a group of four-year-olds have been on the job. Not only that, but I tend to bring the junk right back in. God is much more thorough, and He fixes it up the way He likes it.

Truth be told, I need to de-junk my heart a lot more often than I do. I tend to wait until I get tripped up and I’m forced to take some action. By that point, it’s a much bigger job. Even so, I’m always really glad when it’s done.

What about you? Ever had to de-clutter?

 

 

 

 

Following Directions

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Noah's ArkBy faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldn’t see, and acted on what he was told. The result? His family was saved. His act of faith drew a sharp line between the evil of the unbelieving world and the rightness of the believing world. As a result, Noah became intimate with God. Hebrews 11:7 (The Message)

 

I grew up in town. It wasn’t a big town by any means, but it had street signs and stop lights and landmarks. My husband, on the other hand, grew up in the country, thirty minutes from town. When we got married, we moved into the house– out in the country– that his uncles built for his grandparents.

Like most newlyweds, we were excited to have a place of our own, and we were also very proud of our little house and invited everyone to come see us. While the directions were very straightforward–drive 7.1 miles north on the state highway and turn right, then drive 9.4 miles and turn left and the house is a half-mile down the road on your left–there weren’t a lot of good landmarks.

For people who had grown up in the country, this was no big deal. For townies like my friends and family, it was a very big deal.

But I learned that if I added a couple of sentences to the directions, they found us without fail. I said, “When you’ve been driving for a very long time, and you’re beginning to think you’ve made a mistake, or missed the turn, keep going. You’re almost there.”

Sometimes God sets us on a path, and we faithfully follow the directions He gives us, but often we don’t get any spiritual “landmarks,” things that would reassure us we’re headed the right way. And we get nervous. And our faith gets shaky. And we begin to question whether we missed a turnoff or something.

Keep going. You’re almost there.

When God told Noah to build the ark, it was another hundred and twenty years before the rains came. A hundred and twenty years! We get antsy if God’s plans don’t work themselves out in twenty days. God is a big-picture, long-term thinker. His plans extend through eternity in both directions. He has called us to play a part in them. Sometimes that means that means the directions He gives may not resolve as quickly as our short-term vision demands.

But that’s okay. We can trust Him, and we can trust His directions. Even when it seems like we’ve been working at them for a very long time. And we start to wonder if we’re doing something wrong …

Keep going. We’re almost there.

 

Believing Is Seeing

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the santa clauseJesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” John 11:40

If you’ve had the chance to catch The Santa Clause one of the dozens of times it’s airing this month or have seen it in the twenty years since its release, you may recall a scene early in the film. Scott Calvin has arrived back at the North Pole and an elf named Judy is helping him settle in for a well-deserved night’s sleep with a cup of perfect hot cocoa. Scott comments that the North Pole and everything around him is too wonderful to be real. “I see it, but I don’t believe it.”

“You’re missing the point,” Judy says. “Seeing isn’t believing. Believing is seeing.”

For hundreds of years, the Jews believed God would send a Deliverer. Generations of them believed, but never saw that promise fulfilled. That’s how faith works. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is the evidence, the proof of things we haven’t seen.

But sometimes, that’s asking a lot. Especially in a world where chaos seems to be winning. Especially when the some of the promises are entering their second millennium without being fulfilled. Especially when the things I see around me don’t seem to square with those promises.

There was a man in a similar situation in Jerusalem a very long time ago. He had lived his entire life under the domination of a brutal foreign power. There was heavy taxation. There was mockery of his religion and his heritage. There was no recourse for anyone mistreated at the hands of the government. And there had been no word from God in 400 years.

Yet Simeon believed.

He was committed to the hope of a Deliverer. It didn’t matter what he saw around him. He clung to what he knew. God keeps His promises. The Deliverer would come. Simeon’s belief was so strong that he expected to see this Deliverer.

So he watched for Him.

Day after day after day.

For a lifetime.

Believing became seeing.

At the prompting of the Holy Spirit, Simeon came to the Temple on the very day that Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to fulfill all the requirements of the law of Moses. Simeon knew. As soon as he saw the baby, he knew.

He took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said,“Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation.” Luke 2:28:30

I get choked up every time I read that. Every single time.

Simeon’s faith was rewarded. His faith became sight.

Yours will be, too.

Keep expecting. Keep watching.

 

 

Surrounded by Witnesses

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fans in a stadiumTherefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Hebrews 12:1

 
Football season is winding down. My son played his last game almost two months ago now. The local high school team had a great run in the playoffs, but their season has finished. Even college football is wrapping up. (It’s a very sad time at our house, saved only by the start of college basketball. But I digress.)

You don’t have to go to very many football games before you realize that folks in the seats have some very strong opinions about what’s happening on the field. Some of them are not the least bit bashful about sharing those opinions. Loudly. And often.

Now a lot of them have those strong opinions because they’ve played the game. They know exactly what it feels like to tackle, to be tackled, to block and so forth. They’ve put in the hours on the practice field, and in the games. At one of the high school games, we sat in front of the junior high coach. He was so emotionally invested in every play because he knew each of the boys. He knew their strengths and weaknesses. He could tell how every one of them had improved and matured.

Then there are the other guys.

They know how to play better than the players. They coach better than the coaches. And they never miss a call, like the refs do, even from sixty yards away and across the field.

These types of folks aren’t confined to the stands at a football game though. I’m sure you’ve run into them more than once. They know just exactly how to fix your marriage, or how to deal with your teenagers, or how cope with your loss. They’ve got all the answers. Most of the time … they’re full of pickles.

The writer of Hebrews uses the imagery of fans in a stadium to encourage a group of believers who were ready to give up. The recipients of the letter faced intense persecution and many of them were deciding this Jesus stuff was more trouble than it was worth. To combat that, the writer challenges them to keep going because they are surrounded by a great crowd of witnesses. Not spectators. Witnesses. Men and women who knew exactly what the Hebrews were experiencing because they had endured the same pressures.

You too, no matter what difficulties lay before you in this moment, are surrounded by witnesses. These witnesses know what it’s like to be pressed, to be broken, to be out of answers and options. Some are even like that junior high coach, folks that have mentored you, who are invested in your faith journey. They are cheering you on, they are pulling for you and they are praying for you. Oh, the pickle people may be more obvious, and more vocal, but the witnesses are there. And they’re the ones who have your back.

Trust me. I speak from experience on this one.

If you have your doubts … ask God to make you aware of someone cheering and encouraging you. Ask Him to let you know folks are praying. Email me — I’ll pray. We’re on the same team after all.

Now get out there!

 

 

 

Study Tip: A Tabernacle for Christmas

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sunburst thru the treesWhat does the tabernacle have to do with Christmas? Quite a bit, actually.

You remember the tabernacle from the Old Testament? It was a specially designed tent where God’s presence was. It served as the focal point of the Israelite camp once they left Egypt. In Exodus, God spends three chapters instructing Moses how to build the tabernacle. Then another four chapters recount the construction and fabrication of the furnishings. In Exodus 40, Moses finally sets the thing up. The first ten chapters of Numbers describe how the tribes are to array themselves around the tabernacle in the camp and when they move. The rest of Numbers tells us about the times tabernacle was picked up and moved.

If you gathered from all this that the tabernacle was a big deal, you’d be right. It is far more than just a worship center for a nation of nomads. The tabernacle is one huge object lesson for us, too. We could spend a great deal of time looking at all the intricacies of the tabernacle itself, (and it is almost painful for me not to), but for this tip, I want to focus on the big picture.

Here’s what God said about the tabernacle. “And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat…” Exodus 25:22. The KJV says, “And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat…”  I love the word “commune” here. In my mind, it hearkens back to the time in Eden before the Fall, when Adam and God shared an intimate face-to-face relationship.

God chose to meet with us and He chose the tabernacle as the spot where that would happen. It was the visible, tangible sign of God’s presence. The only downside was that it was temporary. Now fast-forward fifteen hundred years.

The Tabernacle and Christmas

In the gospel of John, the apostle immediately establishes that Jesus is divine. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1. Then in verse 14, John continues the story. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory …

The Greek word for “dwelt” is translated all sorts of ways depending on your translation of the Bible, including, “made his home among us,” “lived here with us,” even “moved into the neighborhood.” These all fall short of what John was saying. He used a word that meant to encamp, to pitch a tent, to … tabernacle. That word would have caused his Jewish readers to sit up and take notice and it reinforced his point that God had become man. Christmas marks the time when God tabernacled here with us.

The tangible presence of God was no longer marked by a tent, it was a man.

For Jesus’s lifetime, especially those last three years, God made a point of meeting with us and communing with us. It was the pivotal event in human history. But once again it was temporary. Jesus returned to heaven, and while He gave us His spirit, we no longer have the tangible physical presence of God with us.

That’s all going to change.

The Tabernacle and Heaven

Remember that the tabernacle was an object lesson. In the book of Hebrews, the writer explains that the tabernacle Moses constructed was a copy of the real tabernacle in heaven. John saw it in Revelation 15:5.

Then in Revelation 21:3, John relates, And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.”

Note the changes. The real tabernacle is:

No longer temporary.
No longer an object lesson.
No longer limited by a human body.

The work Jesus did on the cross destroyed every last barrier preventing us from entering God’s physical presence. Not only that, but He will restore the communion He intended to share with us all along at the consummation of our salvation.

See the connection? The Tabernacle. The Incarnation. Heaven. Each is a key step in the unfolding of our redemption story.

 

If you want to dig deeper, consider how the Feast of Tabernacles fits into all this.  Also consider 2 Peter 1:13 and 2 Corinthians 5:1. I’d love to hear your thoughts!