Safer than a known way

"The Gate of the Year" by Minnie Haskins 1908

I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year
'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.'

And he replied, 'Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!'

So I went forth and finding the Hand of God
Trod gladly into the night
He led me towards the hills
And the breaking of day in the lone east.

So heart be still!
What need our human life to know
If God hath comprehension?

In all the dizzy strife of things
Both high and low,
God hideth his intention."

Matt Redman - What I have vowed

The Desires of My Heart

Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:4

Once I thought that this meant if only I could try to love God more than anything else, He would give me the things I longed for.

But I was wrong.

I have found that really, as I see more of God and know Him better, I cannot help but delight in Him. And as I delight in Him, He gives me desires that are in line with His Kindgom.

The desires are His; I just share them with Him.

If I could tell you one thing...

The greatest reality in my life is that I am deeply loved by Jesus.

Each day I have an increasing awareness and comprehension of this Love: it is inexpressible joy, perfect peace, freedom from fear. It is the thread that runs through my whole life.

I do not deserve this Love, and I have not earned it. Following Jesus has never been about rules and restrictions; it has never been about me. It is about Love that was proven thousands of years ago and is still strong today. I am only an arrow pointing to that Love that is so much greater than me.

Celebration!!

The chief end and duty of man is to love God and to enjoy Him forever.

-The Westminster Catechism

Celebration is at the heart of the way of Christ.

Freedom from anxiety and care forms the basis for celebration. Because we know He cares for us we can cast all our care upon Him. God has turned our mourning into dancing!

Celebration is central to all the spiritual disciplines. Without a joyful spirit of festivity, the discipline becomes dull, death-breathing tools in the hands of modern Pharisees. Every discipline should be characterized by carefree gaiety and a sense of thanksgiving. Joy is the end result of the spiritual disciplines having functioned in our lives.

In the spiritual life only one thing will produce genuine joy, and that is obedience. Joy is found in obedience. When the power that is in Jesus reaches in to our work and play and redeems them, there will be joy where there once was mourning. Celebration comes when the normal ventures of life are redeemed.

God's normal means of bringing His joy is by redeeming and sanctifying the ordinary junctures of human life.

The spirit of celebration will not be in us until we have learnt to be "careful for nothing". And we will never have a carefree indifference to things until we totally trust God.

God has established a created order full of excellent and good things, and it follows naturally that if we think on those things we will be happy. This is God's appointed way to joy. If we think we will have joy only by praying and singing psalms, we will be disillusioned. But if we fill our lives with simple good things and constantly thank God for them, we will know joy. And what about our problems? When we determine to dwell on the good and excellent things in life, our lives will be so full of those things that they will tend to swallow our problems.

Far and away the most important benefit of celebration is that is saves us from taking ourselves too seriously. It can be an effective antidote for the periodic sense of sadness that can restrict and suppress the heart. And it gives us perspective. Finally, it begets joy.

We can do some specific thins to cultivate the art of celebration. One is to accent the creative gifts of fantasy and imagination. There was a time when visionaries were canonized and mystics were admired. Now, they are studies, smiled at, perhaps even committed. All in all, fantasy is viewed with distrust in our time. But we who follow Christ can risk going against the tide. Let us with abandon relish the fantasy games of children. Let's see visions and dream dreams. Let's play, sing, laugh. The imagination can release a flood of creative ideas, and exercising our imagination can be lots of fun. Only those who are insecure about their own maturity will fear such a delightful form of celebration.

We can take advantage of the festivals of our culture and really celebrate. We can create festivals of our own, specific to our family.

Guidance

There is a corporate aspect to guidance. We don't often think about how God leads through His people, the body of Christ.

We would be well advised to encourage groups of people who are willing to fast, pray and worship together until they have discerned the mind of the Lord and hear His call.

The Spirit can lead contrary to the available facts or in accord with them. He will implant a spirit of unity when the right path has been chosen and trouble us with relentlessness when we have not heard Him correctly. Unity rather than majority rule is the principle for corporate guidance. Spirit-given unity goes beyond mere agreement.

If you cannot listen to your brother, you cannot listen to the Holy Spirit.

Women and the Church

A look at 1 Timothy 2:11-12.

A woman should learn in quietness and full submission.
I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.

Context

Ephesus was the epitome of feminine supremacy in religion! For example, the shrine to Artemis, the great fertility goddess was there. She was worshipped as the source of life. There was confusion about the creation story in Genesis, with Eve being viewed as the liberator of the human race and God as a kind of evil dictator who was trying to keep knowledge from humans. So, the church in Ephesus has some confusion about the role of women in the church and especially harsh rules were needed!

Keywords

hesychia is translated as "quiet" in the passage above. The meaning of the word is probably more akin to "a tranquility and quietness arising from within". It is helpful to see what other passages the word hesychia occurs in:

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

1 Timothy 2:1-2

We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat.

2 Thessalonians 3:11-12

authentein is translated as "to assume authority over" in the passage. There are many other Greek words translated to mean authority in the Bible, but this is the only time this one is used! So, it is necessary to look outside of the Bible at other literature to find the meaning. It has a wide range of uses, including:

1. to begin something, to be primarily responsible for an action or condition
2. to rule, to dominate
3. to usurp power or rights from another
4. to claim ownership, sovereignty or authorship

Grammar

The grammar of v12 suggests that authentein has been used to explain the KIND of teaching that a woman should not be giving. If that is the case, the alternative translations would be:

"I do not permit a woman to teach or represent herself as originator (or source) of man, but she is to be peaceable."