SONRISE!

Read:
Malachi 4:1-6

"The Sun of Righteousness shall rise with healing in His wings..."  (Malachi 4:2).

Our state name, "Idaho," according to one legend, comes from a Shoshone Indian word, "ee-dah-how," which, when translated into English, means something like, "Behold! The sun (rising) over the mountain." I often think of that etiology when the sun breaks over the eastern peaks and spills light and life into our valley.

Moreover, I think of Malachi's promise: "The sun of righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.” This is God's irrevocable promise that our Lord Jesus will come again and all creation will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God![1]

Each new sunrise is a reminder of that eternal morning when "bright heaven's Sun" will rise with health and healing in his wings. Then, everything that has been made, will be made over and made irrevocably right. There will be no throbbing backs or knees, no shuffling feet, no gathering weight of the years. We will leap and frolic, "like calves released from the stall." This is my highest imagination and my hope.[2]

Jesus said, "I am coming soon." Even so, come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22:20).[3]

DHR

[1]] Romans 8:21
[2] "Hope," in the biblical sense, does not suggest contingency, but future certainty.
[3] German theologian, Helmut Thieleke, was asked what he will say when The Lord appears. "I will say,” he replied, 'I knew you meant it.'" (Cf., John 14:1-4.)

WHY ME?

"The secret things belong to the LORD our God..." (Deuteronomy 29:28)

Today, I read Psalm 131, one of my favorite poems. In the past, I viewed the text as an admonition to intellectual quietude--encouragement to understand that paradox is one of the hallmarks of God's character and that mystery marks out the proud limits of my mind. Like Job, I am unable to understand all that God is doing in his universe. "Insane, who hopes our reason may that space explore," said Dante.

Today I saw another side of David's quietism: I am unable to comprehend all that God is doing in me, and equally insane to try to understand it.   

David draws a comparison between a weaned child that no longer frets for what it once demanded, and a soul that has learned the same lesson. It is a call to learn humility, patient endurance and contentment in all my circumstances, whatever they are, though I do not understand God's reasons. Divine logic is beyond the grasp of my mind.

I ask, "Why this niggling affliction? Why this 'drop of anguish that scalds me now?'" The Father answers, "Hush, child. You wouldn't understand if I explained it to you. Just trust me!"

So, I turn from contemplating David's example to ask myself: "Can I, in my circumstances, 'hope in the LORD' (VS. 3). [1] Can I wait in faith and patience without fretting and without questioning God's wisdom? Can I trust him while he works in me his good, acceptable and perfect will?"

Can you?

DHR

[1] The Hebrew word for "hope" in this text (vs. 3), is a verb that stresses the concept of patient endurance rather than expectation.