Solomon and Circadian rhythms

It is now almost 1AM. I fell asleep just as Jeopardy was finishing, and am now as wide awake as a nocturnal hunting animal. In another hour or so I will start to doze again. As my doctor warned me, night work would confuse my Circadian sleep rhythms. (Circadian rhythm sleep disorders are a family of sleep disorders affecting, among other things, the timing of sleep. People with circadian rhythm sleep disorders are unable to sleep and wake at the times required for normal work, school, and social needs. --Wikipedia) After two and a half years of working 3AM to noon or later, those rhythms are not just confused--they seem to be stuck in the night mode.

In thinking about this, a passage came to mind which bears considering as I approach the autumn of life. Yes, folks, I don't think of it as that, but that is what it is, and I discover daily the truth of the little sign Grandma Hirschy had in her living room which said "Ve get too soon oldt, und too late schmart."

The passage I am referring to is the twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes. Even those of us who were "good" kids can look back at many episodes in our lives and say with the Preacher "Meaningless, meaningless! ... Everything is meaningless!"

But for the presence of God in my life in the person of the indwelling Holy Spirit, much of life would be without meaning, useless, an endlessly repetitive performance of tasks. But if I have learned anything in the last four years, it is that even in endless repetition, God can give us joy, and even pleasure, if we heed the words of the Preacher: "Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, 'I find no pleasure in them'." (Eccl. 12:1, NIV)

If that dimension of life is not found, life truly does become, as verses 2 through 7 illustrate, an endless "organ recital" in which the only thing we can think of is what is going wrong with our bodies and how our members are slowly shutting down and leading us to the final resting place of our flesh--the grave.

Once we have learned the joy of keeping our Creator in mind as a practice of life, though, we can conclude with the Preacher: "Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil."

With all of this in mind, I can only ask: Why does it take me so long to learn such wonderful truths? Was it necessary for everything to start falling apart before I realized that what puts meaning into life is a life of constant "God sightings". His work is always there--but quite often our lack of positive response makes us blind to His presence and insensitive to His desires for us. My desire for the rest of my life is to be always alert (even if I don't sleep at the right times) to God's work in my life, and ready for another day of rejoicing in my walk with Him.

The Quadruple Annunciation and Three Responses

Pastor Jim Laird had a very good message this morning. He shared with us the four annunciations. There is only one annunciation in the Bible, you say. Well, while technically that may be so, there are actually four. These are the annunciation to Zechariah, when an angel from the Lord told him of the birth of John the Baptist, who would herald the beginning of the ministry of Jesus. The message was that Zechariah and Elizabeth, who were 'way too old to have children, would have a child. Zechariah's response brought him a reproof from God in the form of a nine month case of extreme laryngitis. Why, because his response was one of "disbelief". After all, did he not know of the precedent God had set with Abraham and Sarah? God has very little tolerance for our disbelief.
The second annunciation was the one which we always call by that name. The archangel Gabriel told Mary that she would have a child, and that the child would have no physical father (though he did have an adoptive father in Joseph). Mary understood the words she was hearing, but was not able to understand how this could possibly happen--after all, it had never happened before, and never will again!! So her question was born of lack of belief, not disbelief. Our lack of belief can come about due to lack of information. God is okay with that, so long as it does not mean we choose not to believe because we cannot see how it could happen. God blessed Mary by giving her an answer--With God nothing is impossible. He also gave her the joy of being His vehicle for bringing Jesus into this world. WOW! The Word tells us that she treasured these things in her heart. Of course, she did. If we were to ask her about it, her response would have to be "if I told you, you'd never believe it." But at the wedding in Cana, her belief had matured, and she said "do whatever He tells you to do." Oh that my trust in Him would be so deep that my response would be "Aye, Aye, Sir", not "Why, Why, Sir".
The third annunciation came to Joseph when he had found out that Mary was expecting her first child. Since he had nothing to do with it, he naturally assumed that she had been unfaithful to her betrothal vows. But he loved Mary so much that he did not want to humiliate her, so he was planning to divorce her quietly. Enter an angel from the Lord, who told him not to be afraid to take Mary into his home and give her his family name, for God was in this thing. His response, though he did not understand all the details, was to consider the source of the message, and to follow through with taking her as his wife, without consummating the marriage until after Jesus was born. His action was proof of his belief, and if he had been mentioned in Hebrews, he would have been in the list of the Heroes of the Faith. God's direction is not always the "logical" thing. Many times it requires a decision to obey in spite of consequence. That is what Joseph did.
The fourth and final annunciation was given by a multitude of angels to the shepherds who camped out in the fields taking care of their sheep. The message was that a Savior was born, and their response was a joyful belief accompanied by immediate action. They did not even go and get a "sheepsitter", but went immediately to see this one who was born the Messiah of Israel. God rewarded them with a place of honor in the Scriptures. They did not question the message or the messengers. They only responded with immediate joy and extreme curiosity. I had to think: What would be my response in such a situation? Would I believe readily, and act upon that belief, or would I want proof?
God wants us to trust Him enough to obey without doubting. He does not always tell us why, but when he tells us what he wants from us, our response should be to obey joyfully and immediately.

Be Still and Know

Impatience is a human trait. Even a person who is naturally calm and longsuffering shows impatience sometimes. Now that everyone at my workplace and at our church knows that we are planning to move to Charleston, SC, I have begun feeling like the laughingstock, because no progress is being made toward that move. Michael's house has not sold, my transfer has not come through, and the economy has gone down to such a point that it may be impossible to sell the house except at a great loss.


But we are convinced that the move is His will, and are pursuing it while at the same time following our routine. So the question comes up: Did you pick up a wrong cue somewhere? Second guessing is not hard to do in my case, since most moves we have ever made have resulted in a worse financial situation. Looking back, though, they have brought about different aspects of growth that I needed, and for that I am thankful. Our move to Atlanta brought me face to face with the fact that I had not done much in the way of outreach, and that I knew even less about informal evangelism, the kind that allows people to get close to you and see what makes you tick and only then seeks a decision on the part of the unsaved person. I was able to observe the results in the life of several of the church folk here at Grace Church, and came to the conviction that it was not only what I needed to do, but that it would fit my way of relating to people much better than "buttonholing" a person on the first chance encounter. I asked the Lord to give me the opportunities to put that type of evangelism into practice, and He started to put a real burden on my heart for several of the vendors I dealt with day in and day out. After over a year of establishing a caring relationship with them, I began to find out about their lives, and finally felt that I was having some impact on them. Several of them turned out to be believers who desperately needed someone to care about them, pray for them and listen to them. Others were aware of the gospel but had not yet made a decision for Christ. Easter Sunday 2008 was a glorious day in that one of my vendors came to church (where he had attended as a child over thirty years ago) and made his public decision to accept Christ as Savior. It has been such a joy to see him grow throughout these last eight or nine months, and see how he has become burdened for others and has led one of his friends to Christ.

Many times during these four years of working at my present place of employment I have been ready to throw in the towel. But at those times the Lord has reminded me that my job is to be a witness, and that I am to "be still and know that (He is) God". (Psalm 46:10)

So we are back in "God's waiting room" waiting for Him to move in the salvation or rededication of others around us and the transfer to Charleston. His timing is always perfect, and any impatience on my part is wasted energy.

On Thankfulness and Generosity

"Thankful people are generous people; We, of all people, ought to be the most thankful." Our pastor, Jim Laird said this morning. He went on to point out that we have so many things to be thankful for that all else is negligible.



So I thought I would list some of those things.

• Family and friends who love us. Coming from a large family, and being a member of the FGBC gives me a huge list of these. The only problem with that is that I am not able to dedicate to each of you the time I would love to.
• Salvation. Just this morning our Sunday School teacher was reminding us of the security we have in our relationship with Jesus, because it is not based on our merits, but rather on the finished work of Christ on the cross. We don't have to "justify" our own salvation. Jesus has done so by means of a "declaration of righteousness" guaranteed by His blood.
• Jobs. We have been so blessed as a family in this area. Not only have we had steady, secure jobs, but as a general rule they have been enjoyable. How many do not have this privilege.
• A nation with a government that is stable. Even when we do not always agree with what goes on, we can be sure of one thing. Our nation is as stable as a free nation can be, and for that we are thankful. Many nations have greater stability, but it is based on lack of individual freedom, and in many cases on oppression.
• Food clothes and a roof over our head. The Scriptures challenge us to be content if we have those three things. In fact, I actually added one, because the roof is not mentioned. However, we have much much more, and I am thankful for these.
• God's Word in our own language and the freedom to read, study, and obey it.

Having so much to be thankful for, we ought (owe it) to:

• Tell others about the righteousness they, too can enjoy by trusting Christ as their Savior.
• Communicate with our family and friends. (Oh, how miserably I have failed in this area!)
• Seek to do our best at our jobs, not only for enjoyment's sake, but also to glorify God.
• Pray for our leaders. They are not perfect, and we may dislike their ideologies, but we can ask for Divine Intervention in their lives, and for wisdom for them.
• Conserve as much of what God provides, and then strive to share with those in need. As a nation, we will sooner or later pay for our wastefulness.
• Read, study and obey God's inspired Word, not as a great piece of literature, but as what it is... His lifebreath exhaled for our benefit, and meant for our good at all times, not only when it suits us!!!

May this THANKSGIVING Season bring to our rememberance many more reasons for thanks and ways to be generous.

Real life Illustrations of Biblical Truth

I just finished reading my dear sister-in-law's interesting post about having to go to the Civil Register to 'get married again'. It brought back memories of a time almost thirty three years ago when we arrived in Argentina with three children and eight years of marriage (proved by a marriage certificate which was notarized, legalized and had all the other legal requirements applied to it), when I went to pick up our National Identity Documents, and found that, although Mary's had a notation to the effect that she was married, mine showed me as single. I was especially provoked because of the trouble I had taken to get every i dotted and every t crossed, and to top it all off, I did not think to have a photocopy, but gave them the original, which they did not return.

So here I was, a 'single' man, living with a married woman with three kids, and serving as a missionary in Argentina. What to do? I couldn't marry her, for she was already married. I couldn't leave her because I loved her, had promised to care for and protect her, and she had three children by me.

This crazy state of affairs was, of course only an international bureaucratic snafu. But several years later, as I was teaching through the book of Romans, it became clear that there was more to it than that.

Because I was present when our marriage took place, (boy was I ever... it rained cats and dogs that afternoon, and about two hours before the wedding found me mopping up the foyer of the church where the torrents of rain had come in through a broken window) I knew that I was married. I also knew that Mary was my wife, because when I lifted her veil to kiss her, I recognized it was she and not one of her sisters.

So in my personal history book, these facts took precedence over anything any Civil Registry officer could say. Maybe they thought I was not married because the person married was Lynn Arthur Hoyt, and they had me listed as Arturo Lyn Hoyt but the fact remains that my marriage was deeply etched in my memory, and they could not take that away from me. I can, and I will, live as one who 'considers' himself married. Even if I wanted to experiment, there would be no loophole which would give me any right to a dalliance based on the laws of Argentina.

The Apostle Paul challenges us to live on the basis of what we know to be true. We know that our salvation is a sure and guaranteed fact because the guarantee comes from our bridegroom himself, who bought us and paid for us. Therefore He himself challenges us to "reckon" ourselves dead unto sin and alive unto God. His work on the cross made our salvation possible, and because of this we have every right to make an entry in our memory book which says that on such and such day, when we became part of the Bride of Christ through trust in Him, His righteousness was applied to our account, and we can set our course of action on the basis of that entry, paying no heed to the insinuations and accusations of the Enemy of our souls.

As we set our course of action in that direction, the next logical step is for us to yield our entire being to Him to obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit, who will just naturally prompt us to obey the Scriptures and be totally sold over to Him for His control.

Those are the theoretical facts of the case. So my question to myself is: Have you made that notation in your little black book that says: 'I am now the property of Jesus Christ, and there is noone else who can take His place'? Do you live that truth in spite of the enemy's slander and opposition? I pray this is so, both in my life and yours.

What is your definition?

The events of the last two years, with the constant posturing by candidates, speculation by pundits, musings by those of us who are acquainted with Bible prophecy have been bothersome, a motive for concern, laughable, scary, revealing, and many other things at different times.

I found them bothersome in that an expression has come to the forefront which has been used to a point of causing weariness. This expression is "person of faith". What is the new usage of the expression? May I point out that for those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ, this is not even an understandable expression, as it lacks the personal touch that comes from a walk with the Savior himself.

But in its use by the world around us, it can be used to signify anything from the simple trust a child places in his/her father and mother all the way to a deep confidence which gains its strength from having its taproot sunk very deep into the source of that faith.

For the past few elections, nearly all the participants have claimed to be persons of faith. Depending on who gave them that title in their written or spoken communications, the expression can be used as a term of reverence, derision, suspicion, hatred or love. The facial expressions involved can show pity, a feeling of superiority, a snarl of dislike or in isolated cases a wide-eyed look of unbelieving respect.

It is for the reasons above that I do not choose to call myself a person of faith. You see, faith is of no value unless the Object of that faith is worthy and trustworthy. Mankind, education, money, other persons, corporations, political systems, philosophies and creeds are not a good enough object for my faith. Faith, in my understanding, is not "believing in spite of evidence", a condition which the world seems to ascribe almost universally to Christians, but rather "Obeying in spite of possible consequence."

As the events of the next few hours, months or years unfold, it will be necessary to have the obedient kind of faith that weighs the possible consequences, but chooses to do God's bidding nonetheless. It will have to be the kind of faith demonsrated by Hannaniah, Mishael and Azariah, who chose not to act out their world imposed names of Shaddrach, Meshach, and Abednego, but rather made a deliberate decision to live like servants of the Most High God, and said "O king, our God is able to deliver us...but if he doesn't choose to do so, we will still obey Him".

I am quite sure that, if and when the occasion comes when I must make such a conscious decision, God will give me the grace to do so. My concern, however, is whether I will do so with the right attitude, a conviction that I am on the winning side, not the 'whining' side.