Contemplation

contemplation: the action of looking thoughtfully at something for a long time; deep reflective thought; serious and quiet thought for a period of time; to consider something with attention

Yes, I awoke this morning thinking about . . . thinking.

Contemplation is almost a lost art. Why? It requires time and silence and patience. 

Our culture today is literally addicted to noise and busy-ness and immediacy. 

When was the last time you literally sat in silence for any length of time or could find a place void of noise? When was the last time you were not rushing around flitting from one task/place to another? When was the last time you actually sat patiently waiting (not talking about the drive-thru or the checkout)? 

Our culture seems to fear silence and empty schedules and waiting.

Seriously, the noise of this world is deafening. The pace of this world is dizzying. The demand for immediate gratification is distracting. Deaf . . . dizzy . . . distracted . . . sound familiar?

This is not the way we were designed to live. We were designed to be alert and aware and atune to God. Read almost anywhere in scripture, and you'll find admonitions to be still and know, to wait patiently, to be alert and listening, to be focused.

In a worship service, the music and the teaching and the prayers are designed to make us think about God. This thinking is the beginning of ALL worship, a joining of heart and mind. 

It's hard to adore something/someone that you're not thinking about. It's impossible to follow someone if you're not listening to him. It's difficult to receive instruction if you're not waiting to hear. 

Remember falling in love? Remember all the time spent thinking about that special someone, longing to please him, desiring to be with him? Remember how everything else and everyone else suffered because of that special someone, that person who illuminated and filled your empty soul? 

I too am guilty. The noise and the rush and the immediacy of life on our planet affect me as well.

We absolutely MUST make quality time and space for God in our lives. It is essential for our spiritual health and growth. Without it, our intimate relationship with God will suffer.

Julian of Norwich (1342-1413), a British mystic who had an intimate, ongoing vision of divine love which she recorded for all history (because she made time and space for God in her life), offers some advice which will "never fail to lead you to the spiritual wellspring that issues health and strength to your soul."

• Think on the suffering of Jesus. He gave up heaven to become FULLY man, was tempted in ALL things as we are, and experienced EVERY kind of anguish we can feel. He WILLINGLY suffered a criminal's bitter death, though innocent. He died in OUR place, for OUR sin.
  
• Fix your soul upon our heavenly Lover. His love is UNFAILING. He KNOWS our weaknesses, yet His compassion places Him EVER at our side to help us in ALL of life.
• Set your soul upon the high and noble nature of the King who lives inside. He is sovereign over ALL. As we absorb this truth, an UNSHAKABLE trust will evolve. [It's extremely difficult to trust someone we do not know.] As we trust Him, we will begin to see Him, to know Him as He REALLY is. He is from everlasting to everlasting, containing ALL that is created in Himself, sovereign over EVERYTHING that comes into our lives. 

We could spend our lifetime getting to know the Lover of our souls, but to do this we MUST learn how to enter His rest (Hebrews 4-6). 

• This walk of faith "will lead us to our ONLY Hope." 
• This walk of faith "will break our hearts with godly sorrow when we sin." 
• This walk of faith "will daily renew our soul's devotion to Christ . . . and thereby we remain in the comforting presence of the Lord." 
• This walk of faith will keep "our soul open to the inner working of grace, which IS the power of our Lord God to fill us with everlasting life." 

Let's do something about our addiction to noise and busy-ness and immediacy.

How? Get up a little earlier than usual.

Deny yourself the lure of social media or 24-hour news.

Turn on the silence in the car instead of Sirius.

Talk to God just like you would to a human.

Take a walk, sit in a swing, look at the stars, enjoy a cup of joe.

Learn how to say "no."

Stop comparing your life with another's and feeling sad when it's not as marvelous.

AND THINK . . . lest we be destroyed by a lack of knowledge of God.

Woke up this morning thinking about the right hand of God.  Nope.  No tequila last night.  Just one of those moments.  

I have read through the scriptures many times, but never have I ever seen mentioned the left hand of God.  Yes, the hands of God are mentioned, but never the left hand of God.

Is God right handed?  Sorry, my lovely lefties.

I have been fascinated with this right hand phenom for 25+ years.  I even have Bibles with RH, RH, RH, RH inserted in the margins throughout.  Several times I thought about researching this right handed thingy and writing a book or something about it, but life always interrupted until I encountered yet another right hand.

So, what is this thing with God's right hand?

Throughout scripture we see reference upon reference about His mighty right hand (and arm).  We see this right hand dole out mercy after mercy after mercy.  We also see it deliver judgment and punishment.  Furthermore, we also discover that Jesus sits at the right hand of God Almighty, so maybe the right side stands for divine authority over ALL.

There is a passage in the Old Testament that describes the initiation ceremony of the early priests.  In these first priests, the ceremony involved an anointing section.  In this ceremony, the priests were anointed on their right ear lobe, right thumb/hand, and right toe/foot.  I understand the symbolism: anointing their hearing, their doing, and their going.  But why not the whole body?  Later the anointing involved pouring the oil on the head and letting it flow over the whole body.  If I'm going to be anointed, let me be like Peter and cry out for more - "not just my feet, Lord."  Why not all of me?

FYI:  When I began praying for people a long time ago, (you know, touching them with my hand) I noticed that my right hand vibrated and trembled, not the left.  I've experimented many times, but my left hand just did not feel God's power like my right.  So what's up with that?  Only God knows.  I love the mystery of it all.

So how did my fascination with God's righthandedness begin?

Well, to begin we'll have to start with the end . . . of the Bible - Revelation.  There we'll find perhaps one of the most beautiful references about God's right hand.

John was exiled to the island of Patmos for preaching the word of God and for his testimony about Jesus.  While worshiping one day, he had a vision of Jesus, a revelation.

I saw seven gold lampstands. And standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone like the Son of Man.  He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across His chest.  His head and His hair were white like wool, as white as snow.  And His eyes were like flames of fire.  His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and His voice thundered like mighty ocean waves.  He held seven stars in His RIGHT HAND, and a sharp two-edged sword came from His mouth.  His face was like the sun in all its brilliance.

When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as if I were dead.  [Here's the good part.]  But He laid His RIGHT HAND on me and said, "Don't be afraid!  I am the First and the Last.  I am the living one.  I died, but look - I am alive forever and ever!  And I hold the keys of death and the grave.

If God, the Son, Jesus, were holding these stars in His RIGHT HAND, then what did Jesus have to do to comfort John?  Yep, lay down the stars.  

Jesus laid down these stars which weren't just ordinary stars and took the hand He had used to hold these stars and touched John.  Wow!  "Don't be afraid!"

How many times has Jesus done just this for me?  I cannot count the times, maybe even more than once a day.  How many times has He whispered to my heart, "Don't be afraid!  I am the Living One.  I hold it all in my hands [my mighty right hand]."

This is a beautiful story of hope in the midst of the whatevers of life.  John's whatever was being exiled on an island.  My whatevers have been numerous and varied.  However, God, the Holy Son, Jesus never fails to come and whisper those sweet words to my trembling heart.

This is why I am fascinated with the mighty right hand of God. 

P.S. Guess what showed up in my devotional reading this morning AFTER I had written this.  Yep, the right hand of God.  God and I had a good chuckle.