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Calling All Nations

“You will summon a nation that you don’t know,

    and a nation that doesn’t know you will run to you

        because of the Lord your God…..”

Isaiah 55:5

How do you do with “out of the box” thinking?  Isaiah was a very, very out-of-the-box man.  Prophets always are.  He could “see” things that did not yet exist.  He could “see” at times with God’s Eyes.

Prophets not only “see” with God’s Eyes, but they also have such an impact that an entire nation may be affected.  In this passage, the person God is talking to apparently did three basic things:

  • Got involved with a nation he did not know;
  • Called to (summoned) that nation;
  • Was present for the nation to run to.

How often has God “ear-marked” people to step into a situation…or a nation, that they do not know, to tell those who have not heard the Good News, but did not go?  Jesus’ last words on this planet had to do with the word “GO”….”into all the world…”   Isaiah said it was an honorto be Called.

The exciting part of Isaiah’s verse is the impact upon the people to whom the “called one” went:  “…a nation that does not know you will runto you…”

“Because of the Lord your God.”

I had just a glimpse of that when I met two strangers – religious leadership men – who had been searching for anyone who was a Follower of Jesus.  They had never met one.  But they had found a verse in their own Book that said they should find a ‘person of the Book’ (Bible) and ask them to explain about Christ.  When they realized that I was a ‘person of the Book,’ their excitement was incredible.  Of course, I was trying to not panic, not knowing what they were expecting of me! 

We never know what God may stir in someone’s mind or heart, nor in a nation’s mind or heart.  But we can be certain that He is moving….stirring….in this world, and those who know Him must be willing to get involved in bringing understanding about Who God Is.  We don’t need all the answers….no one on earth has that!  But to the extent that you have come to know God, He calls on you to share that knowledge…that experience in your own life and heart….with whoever comes to you….calls on you….asks questions…..and identifies “Something” in you that connects you with God.

 

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Leading a Nation

“Worship the Lord your God,

fear him,

 obey his commands,

 listen to what he says,

 serve him,

and be loyal to him.”

Deut. 13:4

Moses was going to die. He knew it.  God had told him.  These above words were uppermost in his mind.

After a life that began as a slave’s baby boy, he grew up in the palace of Pharoah.

He learned how to lead a nation there.

Then came 40 years as a shepherd out in the wilderness.

He learned to be alone, and how to lead mottley sheep in a dry land.

He learned to lead a nation there.

Next he followed God’s voice to deliver his birth-people out of godless Egypt.

He learned to lead a nation there.

Another 40 years of leading refugees, former slaves, through another desert.

There he learned to hear and speak with God,

receiving 10 crucial commands for his people to live by.

He learned to lead a nation there.

From a mountain top he saw the Land that would be Home for his small nation.

He learned to say, “Good-bye” to his nation there.

And found his Home with God.

He learned how to rest in the Arms of God.

And lead a nation there.

 

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ACTS 12 COMEDY

There’s one in every bunch who seems to provide some comic relief to their friends.  I think Peter was “that guy” for the 12 disciples of Jesus.  I find him delightful, and love to “see” the color he often painted into the stories of Jesus.

Setting:   Jerusalem.  An intense time in Israel, with a maniac King (Herod) who had become obsessedwith abusive activities toward followers of Jesus. He had just had James (brother of John and one of the 12) executed.  That went over so well that Herod arrested Peter, too.

Peter now found himself in a prison cell under the 24/7 watch of 4 squads of soldier guards. Sixteen guards in a 4-squadron rotation. Two sat beside Peter in his cell, hands bound by two chains, while 2 more guarded the door to his cell.  We don’t know what Peter had been through under arrest, but King Herod was famous for brutality and torture, so Peter’s condition couldn’t have been good.  Yet, he slept.  Deeply, apparently.

A Glowing Angel from God suddenly appears in Peter’s cell, flooding it with Light.  I picture this shining angel’s sudden appearance in that dark, smelly, moldy cell.  It would have normally elicited shock and fear from the four soldiers and Peter. (Angels are used to that kind of reaction.)  But Peter didn’t even open an eye. Nothing stirred him.  I imagine the Angel sighing as he literally had to go over and nudgePeter.  He was “out!”  Not a common situation for an Angel, I would imagine.  Glowing Angel said,(likely in a whisper)  “Hurry!  Get up!” and Peter’s chains immediately fell off.

Glowing Angel returns to his regal stance of glowing.  But there’s a problem.  Peter’s still just sitting on the ground.  Perhaps nodding off again.  He’d been through alot…beatings, chains, probable death sentence.  You know….part of Peter’s “new life” in following Jesus.

Noticing the lack of activity from this sleepy fisherman-follower of Jesus,  Glowing Angel tells him to put his shoes on and get ready to go.  Go?  Go where?  Who are You?  Yikes…  OK.  Shoes on.   Again with the Regal Glowing Angel, “Put  your coat on, and follow me.”    I almost hear the celestial sigh and rolling of the glowing eyes.

Scraggly Prisoner and Glowing Angel walk right past the armed guards at Peter’s cell’s door and then past the next prison guardposts.  When they get to the iron gate that would lead to the city, the big old heavy thing opened by itself!  Groggy Peter thought he was dreaming.  The unlikely pair walked out, and headed up the street.

Glowing Angel of God had completed his brief, irregular rescue mission and disappeared. I wonder if it wasn’t one of the most unusual he’d ever been assigned.  Certainly a most uncommon reaction from the chosen Prisoner Peter.

Left on his own, with his shoes and coat on (hopefully), Peter went to Mary’s house, where a secret gathering of followers of Jesus were hiding….and praying.  For him.

Fully awake now, he knocked.  Here was a safe place for him.  Here were people surely praying for his safety…and freedom.   Through the door, Servant Girl recognizes that voice.  It’s Peter!!  Peter awaits a swift, stealthy opening of the door, ready to make quick steps into this safe house.  But instead, only silence as Servant Rhoda rushes back to tell the gathered friends that Peter was at the door knocking.  Knocking Peter keeps knocking.  No one in the room believed it was Peter, assuming he was now dead in prison.  The Knocker must be Peter’s angel, they thought.

Nervous Peter is in a predicament….he can’t call out, lest he be caught.  He can’t get in, as the door is locked.  At any moment the guards might burst from around the corner looking for their missing prisoner.

As the hushed conference continued inside the house, the Knocking Peter continued his frantic knocking…as quietly as he could.

The door finally cracks open…just enough for several eyeballs to see it was Peter.  Shushing them with his hand, Peter slips in.  What a story he had to tell them!  The whispered celebration must have continued the rest of the night.

Meanwhile….back at the jail, frantic guards were searching for Peter.  Even Herod was out there looking!   But Peter had disappeared.   And the most unfortunate guards realized they had spent the last night of their lives in the presence of a Sleepy Peter (and a Glowing Angel) who disappeared without a trace…shoes, coat and all!

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United Nations Petition

UNITED NATIONS

FOURTH COMMITTEE PETITION

OCTOBER 2019

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and members of this committee.

I come to you as a non-governmental, humanitarian American.   I have spent much time in the Saharawi refugee camps near Tindouf since my 1999.  During that first visit, I was approached by two United Nations personnel, working on a list of legally identified Saharawi adults who could be included in the pending referendum.  Of course, I did not qualify to be on that list.  That was 20 years ago, carried out by United Nations personnel!   What happened to all that documentation of the adults in the camps who could cast their vote  for their own futures?  What happened to your promise?

This was under your watch.

There has been no referendum.  That was the agreement for which they laid down their arms, fighting to return to their homeland free of Morocco’s occupation and control.  This has been under the UN’s watch.

It has now been 20 years of personalinvolvement for me, leading our humanitarian work in the camps.  I have also overseen dozens of volunteers who have been an on-going presence among the refugees for 15 years.  That represents hundreds of eye-witnesses of the realities in the refugee camps, with experience of allof their realities.  We have witnessed and livedtheir reality.

Under your watch, there has been no referendum.

Under your watch there is steadily decreasing food in the camps.

Under your watch, the refugees in the camps continue to receive news of family members suffering brutalhuman rights abuses, even death, by Moroccan troops.

This situation continues to be a horrible travesty by governments, including the UN, against a nation that was forcibly displaced by the invasions of Morocco and Mauritania, and with the cooperation of Spain at the time.  Mauritania and Spain chose to do the right thing and leave the conflict decades ago.  Morocco has chosen the opposite course and become brutaly entrenched in the homeland of the Saharawi people.

I have made it a practice to ask the common people living in the camps what they remember of their country…Western Sahara.  One of those stories I want to tell you now….

Muna was 5 years old. One morning, she saw her father come rushing through the front door, hurriedly spoke with her mother, and then watched her mom and dad begin frantically packing clothes, food, water and important papers.  She did not know what was happening.  Her mom gathered Muna’s baby sister and bigger brothers, giving them  belongings to carry, and rushed out the door to their car. Muna, wide-eyed and beginning to cry, was taken by her daddy’s strong hand and pulled out their front door.  He locked the door…their blue front door, trying to be calm and told Muna they must hurry.  He said they would come back soon.

Holding her father’s hand, Muna’s little legs had a hard time keeping up.  She began to cry.  Looking back at her home, her eyes fixed upon the blue door.   With her final view, she made herself a promise.  “Someday I will come back, and I will find my blue door,  and I will be home.”

Muna still waits. She longs to see her blue door again. Now, without her mother and father who died waiting in the camps years ago, she waits for her promise to come true….to return to her home in freedom, now with her own children, to find her blue door, … walk through it and finally be HOME, as a nation.

Under yourwatch, I  BEG you to MOVE this thing.  Do what is right.  Go there…talk to the people….see for yourselves the horrible injustice that the United Nations has been a part of for decades now, yet with NO justice or resolve. 

IF YOU CANNOT or WILL NOT DO ANYTHING, THEN SAY SO, AND LET EVERYONE MOVE ON.

Janet Lenz

International Faith and Peace Dialogues

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Holding Hands

“A person’s fear sets a trap for him,

but one who trusts the Lord is safe.”

Prov. 29:25

Fear has been a core theme of my life, unfortunately!   When I think of a fearful person, the picture I get is of someone looking all over the place for the “danger” they fear.  Up, down, side-to-side, head ducking down, shoulders and arms held close for protection, and a serious crick in the neck.  Basically, trying to make yourself small and least noticable as possible.

On the other hand, Trustis a very different image.  Trust isn’t focused on the ground, or making yourself “small.”  Trust looks toward the goal and keeps moving ahead, step by step.  Not foolishly nor carelessly nor even very confidently, perhaps.  But just enough courage to take the next steps . . . one at a time.

Sign language for the word “TRUST” is that of one hand above, one hand below, palms coming together in a clasp.  God’s Hand extended toward mine, my hand moving up into His, open and empty, ….until our hands meet and clasp…like a child holding Daddy’s hand.

When we are looking all around us, eyes darting to see any possible danger, we’re not focusing on the goal of our journey. If our hands are full of all the items that we think will help us be safe, we don’t have our hand free to grab onto His.  Being preoccupied with being safe may be the very distraction that causes us to miss what was actually the goal.

I remember one very dark night in the desert (no electrical lights existed) I was walking, having come from a very upsetting situation.  So absorbed in my emotional turmoil, I took a step into “nothing”, and landed in a very dark, very large, deep hole.  A strong man’s hand reached down to find mine, and pulled me up onto solid ground.  In the blackness of the night, I couldn’t see anything, but that strong hand brought me out of the dark pit and onto solid ground. 

Whose Hand are you holding?  It isn’t possible to hold a Hand from a distance….you can only be an arm’s length away.  Stay close to Him.  Hold His Hand, and never let go!!

 

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Perfect Peace

“With perfect peace

 You will protect those whose minds cannot be changed,

    because they trust You.” 

Isaiah 26:3

The long history of God’s people is full of really tough times and experiences. Drama was always around the next corner, it seemed.  Wars, captivity, living in exile, being refugees, running for their lives, long periods of extreme cruelty, and Death.  God allowed all of this to be woven into their Story.  He saw it all.  He allowed it to go on.  That’s a tough thing for us to contemplate.

When I reverse the order of this verse, there are two things that are “on us” as His people:  His people trusted God, and their minds could not be changed.  Life on this earth is tough.  Sometimes it seems impossible.  TRUST requires intentionally putting our small hand into His enormous, powerful Hand….and hanging on.  No matter what.  It means accepting the fact that I cannot control the events of my life.  I can really try, but it is not humanly possible. What I can dois hold onto His Hand, like a child with his/her father. There we touch His Strength, His Presence, His Protection and Assurance.  Our Perfect Father has the perfect view of what is ahead, around and behind us.  We might even close our eyes as we squeeze His Hand.  That’s fine!  Hang on for dear life!

Unlike a human father, our Heavenly Father will not let go when we put our small hand in His.  And each time we experience Him as He walks us through this life, our trust grows. Each experience adds to our level of confidence  in HIM.Step by step, He will not let go…only wecan do that. We may have to walk through frightening times, painful experiences, rocky paths, dark days…life on this earth.  But, holding on tightly, our trust slowly grows.  Our minds begin to absorb the reality of His Presence, His Love, His trust-worthiness….especially through the most frightening times.

And slowly, slowly, with each experience we walk through holding His Hand, our mind becomes more believing because of what we’ve been through together.  Our trust grows, because He has walked withus.  We realize that keeping hold of His Hand becomes our safest place on earth. And out of the years of walking together through life, peace….PERFECT Peace…becomes our experience…It becomes part of our hearts….our minds.  It becomes TRUTH for us.  The pain and troubles of this earthly life do not change.  But the PEACEthat has grown and deepened through it all…remains.

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Growing Old

“Even when you’re old, I’ll take care of you.

 Even when your hair turns gray,

 I’ll support you.

 I made you and will continue to care for you.

 I’ll support you and save you.”

 Isaiah 46:4

God’s tender words to Isaiah are so sweet…gentle…and intimate.  Isaiah had lived a long, long life.  He’d seen many Kings come and go throughout his long life as God’s mouthpiece to His people.

Prophets are often loners.  Their lives are focused on watching for and listening to God.  They’re not afraid to speak words…give messages….that “rock the boat” of other’s lives.  (I lived with one….I know what that’s like! Major boat-rocker!)   They need to get away from the crowds and be able to position themselves to listen to God’s quiet Voice.  They need to focus.   Practical things of life – especially plans for old age – are not a high priority. They’re far more tuned in to the here and now of what God is doing and saying.

In Isaiah’s time, there was no social security, no “retirement”, no medicare, and likely not much security of having children to take care of an elderly Prophet of God.  As he aged, his old bones would have been affecting his daily life.  Being alone brings a new reality to becoming old. And Isaiah was very old….

The tenderness of God’s Words directly to Isaiah’s old heart…..that “ear” that had heard so many Words from God which were meant for others – even kings – are poignantly personal and intimate for this old prophet.   God covered all of those bases that become part of the realities of the aged.   He knew. He saw.  He understood.  He was present in, and for, Isaiah.  This Message was specially for His old faithful servant.  His prophet.

Those Words give us a beautiful picture of God’s intimate knowledge of us.  When we are His, there can be no greater Love in our lives….even when we are “alone.”  Our hearts can rest, knowing that He is with us . . . with me.

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Unexpected Generosity

“All goes well for the person who is generous and lends willingly.

He earns an honest living.”

Psalm 112:5

 

Money and possessions really matter in our world.   It seems that has always been true.

Stepping into a world that has little in the way of possessions or money is very jarring….even shocking.  This verse goes to the core of that heart issue.  It almost seems an upside-down order.   It begins with giving money away, and then talks about how it comes to us.  The verse begins with the attitude towards what we have, and then the way it comes into our hands.

I had an upside-down experience concerning money during my first visit to the refugee camps.  My translator, a Saharawi refugee himself, told me of a man, a stranger, approaching him in the airport, asking if he could “borrow” some money from my translator.   Knowing how very poorthe refugees are, I found it offensive that any stanger would ask for money from one of them. Expressing my shock and distaste for the man asking to borrow the money, my friend quickly explained that he was actually very honored to have been asked.  “Why would you be honored by that?!” I asked.  He quickly responded, “There were so many people in that airport, and the man could have  asked anyof them for the help.  But out of all those people, he asked me!  He perceived that I would be willing to help him.  That was a big honor for me!”   And he gladly gave the man some money….never seeing him again.  Yet, he went on his way feeling privileged to have been able to help a stranger.  His dignity and desire to be able to be on the giving side was a big lesson for me.

My friend eventually was chosen to work for his people in their government in another country, where he has a good job and continues to serve his people in a meaningful way.

As God’s people, may “the stranger” sense that we value themmore than what we have…what we own.  May generosity be so much a part of our lives that we can see it as a privilege to help others.

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Hears = Does

“I love the Lord

because He hears my voice,

my pleas for mercy.

I will call on Him as long as I live

    because He turns His ear toward me.”

Psalm 116:1-2 

In the time this verse was written, the word “hear” included “do something in response.”

It wasn’t just “listen”.  There had to be an action tied to the “listen.”   This writer loves God, and has clearly experienced direct interaction with Him.  There is a story here of talking to God and knowing that God has heard…and has responded.  The response shows that he (the writer) has been truly heard.

What would stand in the way of God “hearing” us?   I can promise this…..it’s not on His end.  His ability to hear is perfect.  There’s something on our end that would have gotten in the way of Him hearing me.

My youngest son had a hearing problem.  Literally, with his ears.  But in his heart/attitude as well.  The physical problem was easily solved with “tubes” when he was 17 months. The other “hearing” problem was not a physical problem….it was much more of a heart thing…even at that young age.  Anyone who has lived with toddlers knows what I mean! 

In the day-to-day, I would often have to get down to his level, face-to-face, take his little face in my hands and say, “Look at me. Look at me!”   His eyeballs were going everywhere except to my eyes.  We’d have to be so close that he had little choice but to be eyeball to eyeball with me.  The proof that he had truly heardme was when he actually didwhat I had told him to do. [NOTE: He hears me now….wonderfully!   Even when I haven’t spoken words. !! ]

It’s easily like that between God and me.   I know….I’ve listened….I’m awareof what He is saying to me…what He may be asking of me.   But without a change – a response – in me, whether an action or an attitude, I haven’t truly heard Him. 

 God hears you.  Not only your words, but what is really in your heart. He is ready to respond to us.  His heart of course is perfect.  Ours is not.  But when He pulls us close, we look in His Eyes, and we truly hear Him, things change as a result

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Mercy

“Your mercy, O Lord,

fills the earth.

Teach me your laws.”

Psalm 119:64

“Mercy” and the “Laws” usually are not two words that normally go together in my head.I would normally think of “LAW” as the standard from which I would need the “MERCY.”

In reality, most of us need mercy because we have screwed up a law. 

The Psalm writer has a perspective of this earth that sees God’s mercy as the primary reality of his experience.  He has experienced great mercy throughout his life.  Once we truly realize God’s Laws we see how much mercy God hasgiven us all along.

When I first stepped into the desert world of my Saharawi people, I was a “westerner” who crashed into their Bedouin culture.  I had no idea of the values and traditions that were so deeply woven into their thoughts, values, and actions.  I wasn’t handed a manual of “do’s and don’t” when I arrived.  They just graciously moved with me as I stumbled along as a Westerner in their Eastern world.  (Who knew that we shouldn’t walk in front of everybody to find our seat in the “tea circle”…. Or that we ladies shouldn’t stand with the sunlight behind us, illuminating the shorts and tank tops we wore under the gauzey wraps in the 120 degree heat, … or that we should walk behind everyone as we went to our seats around the tea circle…etc., etc., etc.) They were too polite to say anything about how offensive and inappropriate our actions were to their cultural ‘laws.”

 When we finally realized that we were trouncing all over their cultural “laws” and began learning and following them, we all collectively breathed a sigh of relief!   We hadn’t learned their “laws” of appropriate cultural codes.  Once we did, and began to practice them, things took a beautiful turn for the better.  They felt so honored that we would choose to adjust “our ways” to embrace their world.

It’s like that with God.  When we step into God’s Kingdom, He does not slap a long list of Laws into our hands and require us to memorize and follow all of them.  We never could.  But His Mercy patiently allows us to be in relationship with Him, even though we are doing so many things “wrong.”  As we begin to find our footing in His Kingdom, we begin to wantto know His Ways….so that we can walk in them as we follow Him, out of the growing love between us.