Episode Transcript
Welcome Bonnie McClure to the Wake-Up Call as she continues the mini-series on Psalm 103. Bonnie is from Bremen, Georgia. She is married to Matthew, and mother of two sons ten and eight, and a dog named Kudzu and a cat named Rose. She’s a high school bookkeeper by day and a writer by calling. She writes regularly at the Pointed Arrow.
PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Abba, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Abba, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Psalm 103 (NLT)
Let all that I am praise the LORD;
with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
Let all that I am praise the LORD;
may I never forget the good things he does for me.
He forgives all my sins
and heals all my diseases.
He redeems me from death
and crowns me with love and tender mercies.
He fills my life with good things.
My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!
The LORD gives righteousness
and justice to all who are treated unfairly.
He revealed his character to Moses
and his deeds to the people of Israel.
The LORD is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
He does not punish us for all our sins;
he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
He has removed our sins as far from us
as the east is from the west.
The LORD is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
For he knows how weak we are;
he remembers we are only dust.
Our days on earth are like grass;
like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
The wind blows, and we are gone—
as though we had never been here.
But the love of the LORD remains forever
with those who fear him.
His salvation extends to the children’s children
of those who are faithful to his covenant,
of those who obey his commandments!
The LORD has made the heavens his throne;
from there he rules over everything.
Praise the LORD, you angels,
you mighty ones who carry out his plans,
listening for each of his commands.
Yes, praise the LORD, you armies of angels
who serve him and do his will!
Praise the LORD, everything he has created,
everything in all his kingdom.
Let all that I am praise the LORD.
CONSIDER THIS
I once had a Sunday school teacher who told our class she did not like thinking of God as a father figure because her experience of her own earthly father was so negative. While I can absolutely sympathize with her experience and understand why she would come to that conclusion for a time, my prayer for her would be to eventually give that experience over to God to heal so that her human experience no longer dictates her spiritual experience. Of course, all in God’s time.
This is because, as we’ve earlier explored, God’s nature is to heal. God desires to rewrite any negative experiences we have here. He wants to become, himself, the true representation of whatever it is we are lacking. For whatever we are lacking, he can fulfill. Not only can he fulfill these areas for us, but also he has been known to use these weaknesses to display his most glorious works: “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9 NLT).
In his sermon titled, “A Woman, A Slave, and a Gentile,” the late pastor Timothy Keller highlights three ways that the gospel comes to each of these very different people, of very different backgrounds, and in very different circumstances. This is possible because, he says, Jesus, both adapts to us and challenges us.
Keller explains that if Jesus only ever adapted to us, we would never grow and change; we might become in danger of following our own, isolated theology. But, on the other hand, if Jesus only ever challenged us, without some sort of acceptance of who and where we are, we would shut him out, never accepting what he offers.
Finding the balance between adaptation and challenge is something a good father would do and if you’ve ever had one or the figure of one in a mentor, I’m sure you can recall the nuanced skill that it takes to first adapt to a child, understanding nonjudgmentally where they currently are, and then gently, intentionally leading them forward with incremental challenges in order to help them grow and develop.
We do this for each other imperfectly though sometimes well. But for God, not only does he do it perfectly for each person, but it is, as we are finding, his nature to relate to us this way.
The LORD is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
This, at least in part, is because God’s infinite, eternal, omnipotent being recognizes and accommodates, to some degree, our frail, finite, temporal, and limited nature as a human on this planet.
For he knows how weak we are;
he remembers we are only dust.
Our days on earth are like grass;
like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
The wind blows, and we are gone—
as though we had never been here.
As he knows us, he sees us completely, from beginning to end, and as we become more transparent about who and where we are, we find that Jesus has actually been present all along, through all of our mistakes, missteps, and misunderstandings. He accepts them, he adapts to them in order to connect to us, and he will make good of them all.
Sharing this connection and acceptance with Jesus is what liberates our growth. In the same way, a good father will first seek connection before correction, our Father who art in heaven extends his hand, and as we trust and follow his lead, our becoming the person he designed us to be is natural and organic.
This relationship is ongoing. As parents, we do not have children, install good practices, and then never speak to them again. No, we grow alongside them, introducing age-appropriate lessons and expectations that closely match the child’s capacity and maturity. Why would we not expect the same milestones of spiritual growth and relationship from our Father God?
THE PRAYER
Father, we thank you that no matter how varied our lifestyles, upbringing, backgrounds, or social roles become, you find us as we are and meet us in the sacred place. We thank you for the ways you accept us and connect to us and we thank you that you love us enough not to leave us alone there. We thank you for the pathways of growth and healing that become liberated once we connect to your grace and love. We thank you for the ways you enlighten us and make our lives full of your joy and blessings. We thank you for the hard lessons and gentle corrections that make us more like you.
