Blue Collar Theologian

I always feel like my mom gets the shaft because Mother’s Day and her birthday are so close together. I love birthdays (even my own)! I love to celebrate the person who God created in His own image. I hate that COVID-19 is keeping many of us from our loved ones!

My mom is a woman of patience, grace and mercy. I fall SO short of the example she set before me. My mom is quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger. My mom loves Jesus and is one of the most obedient people I know. In every situation my mom asks, “What is it that the Lord my God requires of me?”

I have NOT always been close with my mom or Jesus. For ten years (and possibly multiple times a day) I told my mom I hated her, until the one day I thought she was actually going to die. That freaked me out. I learned a valuable lesson on not taking people for granted. My attitude toward my mom did not change over night but it did soften.

One of the best bonding experiences occurred in June 2000 (wow, 20 years, time waits for NO one!). My mom took me on a riverboat cruise of the Loire Valley, France for my Graduation trip. Folks, we were the only two people on this cruise! There were more crew than guests! God is good because we each had our own room, otherwise I do not know how our bodies and our luggage would have fit in that tiny cabin!

Since that time my mom and I have had MANY more bonding experiences and many more trips to France. My mom has ALWAYS dealt fairly with me. From an early age my mom taught me that life is not fair! My mom always let the punishment fit the crime! When my brother and I were young if we went out for dinner and we misbehaved, my mom would make us practice sitting at the dinner table. Seriously, this is no joke we had to practice sitting and talking at the table. It was a minimum of 15 min and if we misbehaved she added time. Let me tell you, this is genius! It worked! It got to the point when my mom would say, “do you want to practice sitting at the table?” we knew to stop our misbehavior!

My mom was and is a woman of principle and conviction. We always knew where we stood with her and what she believed. My mom is one of the funniest people I know. I am similar to my mom in a lot of ways. My dad got me a wood sign that says, “Sometimes when I open my mouth my mother comes out!” I take that as a compliment!

When I was younger I had this great idea that I was going to be taller than my mom and that I would look down on her. Well, God truly has a sense of humor and knows what He is doing. I am 5ft tall and I am still looking up to my mom, literally and figuratively.

Mom, it is an honor and a privilege to be your daughter. I am thankful that not only are you my mom, but you are my best friend. I love you. I value you. You are the most beautiful person I know inside and out. Happy Birthday!

Father God, even in this time of COVID-19 may we not stop celebrating those who are created in Your image. May we look for new and creative ways to express our love and appreciation for those whom we are not with physically. Thank You Lord that for those in Christ there will be a day when no sin, disease, sickness and death separate us from Yourself and from others. Lord God, thank You for my mom. Thank You for her heart for You. May this reader thank You for those who have impacted their journey in the faith. Lord God, lead us and guide us today. In Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.

Father God, thank You for women. Thank You for all the ways that You love, care and use women to bring people to Christ. Lord God, this Mother’s Day is different. Bring comfort to the hearts of those who cannot see their children or grandchildren. Give comfort to those struggling to have children. Lord God, thank You for the gift of life. Thank You for making women life givers both physically and spiritually. Lord God, thank You for this reader and may they reflect and thank You for the women who have impacted and influenced their life. In Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.

I love studying Leviticus. I can understand why Leviticus was the first book studied by Jewish children. I grieve that Leviticus is most likely the least read book by the Church.  How can I have any understanding of Hebrews or what Jesus means when He says that He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets (Matt 5:17) if I do not know the Law (and the Prophets)?

In Leviticus 9 God accepts Aaron’s offering, initiating the Priesthood. In Leviticus 10, the first day on the job, Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s sons, “each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD” (10:1-2 ESV).

While I have spent much time studying Leviticus 9 and 10, I never considered the significance of Nadab and Abihu’s appearance in Exodus until yesterday.

“Then [God] said to Moses, ‘Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar…” Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.” And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD. And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, ‘All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.’ And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, ‘Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words'” (Ex 24:1, 3-8).

Some scholars think it stands to reason that these 73 men (including Nadab and Abihu) were the people on which Moses threw the blood, as there would have been thousands of people at this Covenant confirmation.

“Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel” (v 9). Nadab and Abihu were invited by God personally to partake in one of the most significant events in the life of Israel.

When I think about Nadab and Abihu in light of their role in the Covenant confirmation and in participating in the initiation of the Priesthood where “fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces” (Lev 9:24) makes their sin of offering strange fire even more egregious and tragic.

Nadab and Abihu were hand selected by God to participate in the Covenant confirmation. God chose them to be priests to the people of Israel. After all Nadab and Abihu had witnessed it only makes sense that “fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD” (Lev 10:2). The fire that consumed the burnt offering is the same fire that consumed Nadab and Abihu.

While the Lord does NOT play favorites, He does have intimates (NT example would be Peter, James and John). Nadab and Abihu did not adhere to God’s just decrees and as such were put to death. This is not harsh, extreme or severe. Sin has consequences. God uses this sin as an object lesson of what happens when one does not worship Holy God in a manner that He requires. Following and obeying Him pleases Him.

For those who are in a position of leadership, it is paramount to lead and teach people in a manner that is Biblically sound, glorifying the Lord. Familiarity can breed contempt, even with God. We cannot approach God any way we choose. God is Holy. May our worship, leading, teaching etc. be a pleasing aroma to our Holy God.

Father God, thank You that You are both Holy and Just. Lord God, help us to not take You for granted. Help us to not fear You but to revere You. Lord God make us sensitive to how to approach You in this season in life. For the one who is hurting, may they be honest with You about their feelings and experiences. For those who are joyful, may the bring their praises before You. For the one who is doubting, may they allow You to speak to their doubts. Lord God, thank You that life in Christ is NOT cookie-cutter (even though that is what it seems like we want sometimes). Thank You that You know each one of us personally. Lord God, for those who are starting to backslide in their faith because of not meeting in a Church building, I ask that You will send someone to encourage that person and to point their gaze and focus back on Jesus and Your Word today.  Thank You Lord for this reader. Amen.

 

 

In the Bible, the idea of scarcity first appears in Genesis 41. Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dream that in the seven years of plenty Egypt should store up food and resources for the following seven years of famine. In the first year of the famine the Egyptian people gave up their land for food, the following year their cattle and by the third year of the famine they had no collateral but themselves (Gen 47:13-19).

According to Brueggemann, “That’s how the children of Israel [became] slaves-through an economic transaction” (“The Liturgy of Abundance, the Myth of Scarcity,” The Christian Century, 1999, p. 343).

When God led Israel out of Egypt one of the first things that He did for them was address their short-term and long-term need for food by raining bread (manna) from heaven (Ex 16:4). Rain in Hebrew is a hiphil participle. A hiphil verb is one of causation and a participle is repeated action. God is the Agent, the one causing the action to occur. God’s raining of manna from Heaven was one that He caused and provided and did so continuously until the day Israel entered the Promised Land (Josh 5:12).

This gift of manna from heaven came with a test to see if Israel would walk in the ways of His Law or not (Ex 16:4). “The people’s willingness to obey the manna-gathering law  would show God whether or not they would be inclined to keep his covenant law as revealed at Mount Sinai. It was not just a test to see if they could follow instructions but a test to see if their hearts were inclined to be his covenant people. The test itself required faith for an agricultural people. Farmers know that if one harvests only enough food in a day to meet the needs of that day, eventually one has no food because no crops or animals produce food every day. Now they were being asked to restrain their natural tendency to gather as much as was available to gather in anticipation of the time when no gathering would be possible. God was teaching them to trust him every day afresh, and they were challenged to think about his provision in a way that had never before been part of their planning pattern” (Stuart, Exodus, NAC, 2006, p. 372).

Here is where the fear of scarcity filtered into the minds of the Israelites. On the sixth day, the Israelites were to gather twice as much so to have food for the Sabbath as well (Ex 16:5). “The resulting arrangement provided a weekly opportunity for the emerging Israelite community to be tested by God and to learn about his faithful provision. Every sixth day they would have to discipline themselves to gather twice the usual amount of manna but only that much. Every Sabbath they had to trust that when they woke up, there would be enough manna left to eat and that it would not have spoiled overnight as it might on other days. Thus each week they would see how God provided for them, in a manner counterintuitive to their normal sense of how to gather and store food, and God could see how they were doing in learning to obey him in advance of his giving them his full covenant law over many months following the encampment at Sinai” (Stuart, Exodus, pp. 372-373.

This reminds me of Proverbs 30:7-9 “Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God” (ESV).

Agur, the author of the proverb, knows his weaknesses. Agur’s prayer request is that the Lord would not give him poverty nor wealth, as falsehood and lying “are the deceptiveness of both wealth and poverty” (Garrett, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, NAC, 1993, p. 238).

This of course reminds me of Jesus’s Words in the Disciple’s Prayer (the Lord’s Prayer is John 17), “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matt 6:11).  Jesus’s Words here are an allusion to Exodus 16:4 where God will rain manna from heaven. “Just as God provided the wilderness generation with daily bread (i.e., the manna), so Jesus’ disciples, who are also living in a time of salvation, should petition God to provide them with daily bread” (Evans, The Bible Knowledge Background Commentary: Matthew–Luke, 2003, p. 125).

As I type this post we (at least in the States) are being given a narrative of scarcity. People’s fear and emotions are being elevated as we are being told that meat processing plants are closing due to COVID-19 and that the food may go to waste. While we should be prepared and buy meat, we do NOT need to hoard! Fear mongering is driving the narrative of scarcity. Again,  there is nothing wrong with buying meat, we do not need to hoard. People need meat to survive, so if you are compelled to hoard, let it be the toilet paper!

While I have lived in a farming community my whole life, no one in my family farms. What God has really taught me over the years is that the farther one is removed from providing their food, the less thankful they are. I have never had to work for my food. When I sit down to pray before I eat, my level of thankfulness is no where the same as the farmer or the person who is thankful for that specific meal and trusting God for their next.

These are stressful times for all of us right now. We are all dealing with fear in our own way and media outlets know this. When we start to fear the narrative of scarcity over the great abundance of God, may we ask Him to renew and transform our minds by remembering what He has done and how He has provided for us in the past, as well as discerning His Will for our lives now (Rom 12:1-2).

Father God, thank You for the ways that You provide for us each day. Lord, may we NEVER take Your provisions for granted. Lord, I ask that You help those of us in an area of abundance to not hoard. Lord God, thank You that You know our needs and You know exactly how to care for and sustain us. Lord God, may this time of COVID-19 bring us to a greater level of thankfulness and appreciation for You and for community. Lord God, give us wisdom when it comes to being prepared. Lord God, may we come to a place where we can say “we have Jesus, we have today and each other and that is enough.” Lord God, break the strongholds of consumerism that is plaguing society today. Lord God, teach us to trust. Teach us to exercise self-control. Help us to hear Your still small voice in the midst of all the competing noise. Lord God, thank You for this reader. Thank You that You are this reader’s Jehovah Jireh. In Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.

 

 

Almost ten years ago I took a short term position as a Physical Therapist Assistant in an outpatient orthopedic clinic. I remember this like it was yesterday. I can be skeptical of people who state they have back pain. With some patients I filtered their back issues and pain through my own experiences having thoracolumbar scoliosis.  Honestly, at times I was so judgmental I would think to myself, “how can it be that bad?!”

Well, it was not long after I started this job that the Lord allowed me to experience back pain in a way in which I cannot describe. It was horrific! I learned empathy real quick, I can tell you that! I remember saying, “Lord, I repent!” as if my cry of repentance would make it go away immediately. The only thing that calmed me was muttering to myself, multiple times a day:

So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:7-10 NLT).

God has also allowed me to experience digestive issues. I know what it is like to be afraid to eat because of pain. There is an emotional toll of knowing that you need to eat to live that gets mixed with the fear of having pain, making the situation more complicated.

Through these two painful experiences God taught me one very important lesson and one very important question to ask Him.

The lesson I learned was that it is easy to see that when someone has their leg in a cast, or their arm in a sling, or a brace around their knee, or using crutches that they have a physical issue. It is NOT easy to visualize a person’s problem when it is internal such as back, GI or neurological pain. We need to ask God to help us listen to a person’s pain rather than being dismissive or judgmental.

The life changing question that God taught me to ask Him was “is this real or perceived pain?” Is my back really hurting or am I being fearful that I will have pain? I have learned that the devil will use my fear of pain to distract me and keep me from stepping out in faith and trying new things. I literally have to ask God if the pain I am experiencing is real or perceived. While most times for me it is legitimate pain, there are times when it is not.

There are numerous times in my life where God has not taken my pain or healed me as I wanted; however, He has most certainly helped me endure. God has given me a greater appreciation for the times when I am pain free, and in my pain He taught me to trust and rest in Him.

Dear reader, I have NO clue what your pain looks like nor what the pain of your loved one looks like. I am in NO way minimizing or trivializing you or your loved one. I do know first hand that the devil loves to keep us worried, fearful and focused on our pain. The devil will NEVER point us to the Lord who will help us process our pain.

Father God, few things are as debilitating as physical pain, and the fear of it. Thank You, Jesus, that You know first hand the debilitating nature of pain. Lord God, I ask that You help us to discern if our pain is real or perceived. Help us to be vigilant and aware without being nervous and fearful. Lord God, help us to have empathy to those who are hurting. Help us to not add to people’s pain. Lord God, thank You that You are with us in our pain. Lord God, thank You for this reader. Lord God, give us wisdom, discernment and common sense when it comes to dealing with the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual toll COVID-19 is having on us all. In Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.

 

 

On April 15, 2019, six days before Easter, I remember watching Notre Dame in Paris, France burn. My mom was visiting and her and I were glued to the TV. Paris has ALWAYS had a very, very special place in my heart and life. April 10, 2020 with seven people present, Notre Dame held an online Good Friday service. (FYI I am strictly talking about the cathedral and am by NO means advocating for the Catholic church!)
Three days post Easter Sunday, I cannot help but reflect. Last year people lamented the burning of said structure and how there would be no Holy Week services. On April 10, 2020 with seven people present, Notre Dame held an online Good Friday service in hazmat suits. It does not matter how beautiful, big, small, old, new, etc. nor how much money one has or is raising for the church building, if there is no one there to worship.

Since the church is the people and not the building, when there are no people in the building, it ceases to be the church. It is the Good News authentically preached and applied that makes the church, the bride of Christ beautiful. COVID-19 does not discriminate it is affecting all of us; keeping us behind locked doors.

COVID-19 has stalled the rebuilding efforts of Notre Dame; however, our Triune God does NOT nor has He stopped, stalled or slumbered building His Body, individually and corporately. The temple is no longer a place, it is a literal physical body. Dear reader, your body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit, keep glorifying God with your body (1 Cor 6:19-20). While church buildings in the time of COVID-19 are closed, you dear reader, as a believer in Jesus Christ, sealed with the Holy Spirit are indeed a living representation of life in Christ to those who are hurting. While the church building may be closed, the Church Body is ALWAYS open.

A life changed by Christ is more beautiful than any gothic architecture style or rose window. “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!'” (Isa 52:7; Rom 10:15 NIV).

Jesus lifts up our branches that are not producing fruit and He waters, tends and nourishes them. In this time of uncertainty, doubt, frustration, cling to the One who heals and restores. Cling to our Triune God whose mercies are new each morning.

As the world is rapidly changing before our eyes, remember God is with you, in you and through you. God is still open for business and He is interested in using you! Please do not allow yourself (nor do I want to allow myself) to become a dead lifeless building.

Father God, it amazes me how much life has changed. Thank You Jesus that You are the same yesterday, today and forever! Lord God, may Your fire refine us in this time of COVID-19 to be a people who live and act more like You. May we be a Body who is in the world, not of it. Lord God, thank You that You are still in the people using business. Now more than ever Lord, Your people need to come together in prayer and worship. Lord, I am thankful for technology. I am thankful that in this time of COVID-19 that we are still able to communicate with each other even if it is not in person. With that said Lord, may we not get too comfortable with these platforms that when we are able to meet again that we would rather stay online. Lord God, thank You that You resurrect, heal and restore our physical bodies, relationships, mindsets. Thank You that You have chosen to indwell us. May we be reminded today that You, our Triune God are in us, above us, around us and want to work through us. Thank You, Jesus for the opportunity and ability to pray in Your Name because of Your sacrifice and work on the Cross. Amen and Amen.