Your God is Too Safe - Week 4
Here at the Christian Book Club we are entering our last week with “Your God is Too Safe”. I have really enjoyed the book and I have enjoyed reading your comments. Thank you for your comments! This week we will be reading chapter 18 - 22 and the Epilogue. I have really gotten a lot out of the exhortations towards the spiritual disciplines. I liked how Chapter 17 talked about dead space. We seem to have so little quiet times in our lives. I did a quick overview of this weeks chapters. You will find some great stories and illustrations throughout. I look forward to your comments.
Habakkuk 3:17-19 (NIV)
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.
I hope we will all, like Habakkuk, pray and praise will all of our hearts, regardless of circumstance.
Next week we start with Max Lucado’s “Numbers of Hope 3:16″. If you don’t have your copy you need to get one. Later on this year we are going to read another book by Mark Buchanan called “Holy Wild” so I am sure we will be challenged once again. Have a blessed week!
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Comment by Wendy on 26 May 2008:
Chapter 18
Honestly I have never fasted. Is fasting always from food or would you consider a “fast” from a certain activity to be what God is desiring also? And if I do fast I won’t tell you about it because then I’ll be prideful
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I totally enjoyed chapter 19…read it twice in fact. You truly are what you eat, hear, see, feel, experience. Working in the Criminal Justice field I get the “privilege” of seeing what a disfunctional society/family/relationship will do to a person. It breaks my heart to know that children are exposed to so much junk as they are growing up and then based their decision making on the messed up way they were raised. As my former Pastor used to say “garbage in-garbage out”.
My other heart ache is that as Christians alot of us do NOT ingest anything. We barely chew on God’s word and we certainly don’t eat it! I teach Sunday School and nothing frustrates me more than for my ladies to open their Bibles once a week (during Sunday School!). I solve that problem by giving them homework! It’s not hard but I know who has at least open their Bible during the week.
My favorite story is about Dr. Bockmuehl (page 200) when he asks “Why didn’t he gather food with his own hands?” I will admit that only in the past 10 years of my life have I really “eaten” God’s word. I took my first in-depth Bible study about that time and I wasn’t sure I would be able to handle the work load. Now I can’t imagine my life without a Bible study of some kind that I am involved in -I know how easy it is to go back to Borderland and I’m not willing to let myself go there.
I want the ladies that I teach to really know that God’s word is alive and exciting. I LOVE history so the Old Testament is fascinating to me and I try to make it exciting for those I teach. Is it easy? No. Do I always succeed? No but I sure try.
Just lately I have been reading (really reading) through the Psalms and wow…they are awesome. I think my next Bible study I pick will focus on them.
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Chapter 20
It is hard to write about this because I feel like I’m bragging. Forgive me if it comes about that way. After the tsunami in Asia my husband traveled to India and then we both traveled to Sri Lanka to help build houses for the victims. We were told over and over again by those we met that only the “Jesus People” kept coming back to help them. The whole world stopped for awhile and sent money and people then they quit. I was thrilled to know that the “Jesus People’s” servanthood was being reflected back upon Jesus. Obviously the “Jesus People” were not trying to gain the glory for themselves and the people of India and Sri Lanka took notice of that and associated us with our Savior.
I like how Buchanan makes a point that anyone can do acts of service (page 211). Servanthood is to be our (my) attitude.
[I will discuss the rest of the book tomorrow]
Comment by stephenlawes on 27 May 2008:
I appreciate your writing about your experience in Sri Lanka and I don’t consider it bragging at all. What a great testimony of being Jesus people! I love it! Blessings on leading your Bible study. Giving homework is a good idea. I remember the story of a Pastor who wanted to see if the people were really doing their homework so he told everybody to read Mark Chapter 17 before the following class. When the next class started he asked how many people had done the reading assignment. Hands went up all over the room. Then he said, “Interesting, Mark only has 16 chapters”. So busted. You asked about fasting. I think fasting is a good idea for everyone. Not for the sake of bragging but just by way of commenting I try and fast twice a week, on Wednesday before I lead our mid week meeting, and on Saturday before the service on the weekend. As I understand a biblical fast, you eat your evening meal, begin you fast, and then you don’t eat again until the following evening meal. Ultimately you miss breakfast and lunch (and if you are like me you also miss midnight snack, second breakfast and afternoon potato chips). By taking the time spent preparing and eating food and hanging out with God instead it seems to really help bring some focus and intimacy with the Lord.
Comment by Wendy on 27 May 2008:
I wrote a really great comment and poof it’s gone…very sad….I’ll type it again and post it tomorrow (unless you find it Stephen!!!)
Comment by stephenlawes on 28 May 2008:
Hi Wendy,
I only have your comment from the 26th which was great. Sorry if you lost one. I haven’t had that happen before. I am not sure what to say. When you are working on a great comment (which I really enjoy) you may want to do it in Notepad and then copy and paste it in here when you are done. That way if you ever lose it you can just post it again. I am in the habit of writing a lot of thing in notepad first just so I have a copy. Sorry! I hope you get a chance to re-create it. I am finishing up with Your God is Too Safe and I have been giving Lucado’s book a quick review. Looks like it will be really good!
Comment by Wendy on 28 May 2008:
Chaper 21
God has REALLY been speaking to me about prayer and this was just one more instance of that fact. I even wrote about it on my blog. http://sirmax70.blogspot.com/2008/05/prayer.html
You should check out Steven James’ blog too. Just follow my link.
Prayer and waiting….not something most of us are very good at …are we? I’m not a very impatient person really except with people that waste my time because they seem to have no agenda for their lives. Yeah that irritates me. I have learned over the years that God is never late and I try to keep that fact in the forefront of my mind.
Page 227
I love Annie Dillard’s quote. We don’t have a clue the power we invoke.
One of the ways I’ve been trying to incorporate prayer into my life came from page 232. I have started praying the Psalms. They are amazing once you really sit down and read them. I really like how the author tells us that even though that day’s Psalm may have no bearing on your life’s situation you could be interceding for someone else. That’s how awesome God is and the amazing way He works.
Praying without ceasing. I’m not sure where I heard the term “arrow prayer” from but I that’s what I do. All during my day I send up prayers. Maybe it is a “thank you” for whatever or a “wow that was cool God” or “be with so-and-so”. It is just my way of making sure I bring God into my life. It has truly changed my attitude and outlook.
Chapter 22
One of my favorite sayings is this “happiness comes from happenings, but joy comes from Jesus”. (I have no idea where I first heard this but I use it a lot).
I have been in many situations that are just not “happy” but I’ve never lost my joy. I hope that can be said for you too.
Oh and if anyone has not read “The Screwtape Letters” make time to do so. CS Lewis is amazing.
Speaking of Lewis the mention of “Narnia” where the children find out that they have died makes me smile. They are upset because they think Aslan will make them return once again to their “life”. “Their hearts leapt and a wild hope rose within them”….what a sweet sweet thought. Our real LIFE is not here….can you even imagine?????
Page 251
“Only the one who keeps looking for Jesus, wherever He’s found, really gets to rise and go, made well by faith.”
As the hymn goes:
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace”
May we all keep our eyes focused on Jesus and leave (or not return) Borderland.
I’ve enjoyed reading this book again.
Now to go start Max’s book.
Comment by Carol on 29 May 2008:
Boy, do I feel dumb! Since the website changed
looks, I have been thinking that there were no
posts for this week’s reading, so I refrained from
writing any comments. I thought that this week was
the best portion of the whole book. I would have to
say “ouch” to the things that were discussed that convicted me, and that I need to do more of, like fasting. The comment about Jesus being his strongest instead of his weakest when the devil came
to tempt Him was the most interesting to me.
The honeysuckle bible chapter was really eye-opening too. In my women’s bible study we are taking apart Jeremiah. It’s a heavy book and a real downer for me because of all the consequences of people’s actions. I thought I was the only one having these thoughts, and then someone else in the
group verbalized the same thing. Wow, then I felt
better because kindred spirits were also feeling the same heavy feelings as me.
Perfume and bombs chapter - the description of
Revelation 5 with the living creatures falling down
caused me to sing (in my head) the song you wrote, Pastor Steve, and I couldn’t get it out of my head
for two days! Not complaining ~ because it’s a beautiful song, probably one of my top 5 all time
worship songs, and I can imagine we will all be singing it in front of the throne when we get to heaven. At least I hope!
Prayers becoming incense and bombs hurtling back
to earth is a strange concept. For many years, I have had a warped concept of prayer, and used it as
more of a tool for getting what I wanted instead of
what God desires. I remember reading a book on
prayer that quoted Eugene Peterson as saying a statement similar to “be slow to pray”. Of course
Eugene had the bigger picture in mind, and my pea-brain was still focused on my own needs. I also
enjoyed a book called “The Ten Prayers God Always
Answers” because it reminds the reader of what God
has in mind for our prayers.
I remember seeing a man on Christian television show whose son was in an accident and
died, and was brought back to life. The first words
from the man’s interview were, “I got my miracle. I’m sorry if you didn’t get yours.” That really reinforced the fact to me that all prayers are not
answered the same way.
The purpose of prayer is to make us more
like Christ. God isn’t so much concerned about our
circumstances as He is in developing our character.
Thank you, Mark Buchanan for pointing out these things for us to ponder and become part of us.
I look forward to reading the next Buchanan book as
well.
In the mean time, I will figure out where
the posts are located and be back on track for 3:16.
Comment by stephenlawes on 1 June 2008:
Hi Carol, Thanks for your comments. I am glad you remember the song. We have been singing it again here at the church. Sorry you have trouble finding the article to comment on. Look to the featured article first. The most current book club post should be the 1st article there. You can always find the posts by clicking on the Current Christian Book Club tab at the top of the page. It will display all the articles that have been written about the current book. Blessings!
Comment by Sarah on 2 June 2008:
I loved that verse he used from Habakkuk! It’s one of my new favorite verses! It’s great to discover verses like that that I have never read before - with such a powerful message behind them: “Though everything is falling apart, yet I will praise God.”
SUCH a good verse!