Redeeming a Shame-filled Heritage

It is not unusual to find that the genealogy of Jesus is skimmed over at Christmas time. We are eager to get to the miraculous conception and the baby in the manger, and we hurry through all those difficult names and messy, sin-filled lives. We consider those men sort of insignificant - extras in the cast of a wonderful story. Personally, I love to linger over those names as I prepare for the Christmas story. I've always loved the thought that the people mentioned were real live breathing people, with jobs and families, feelings and dreams. Some of them I know well, because chapters of scripture are written about them, but some are mysterious, and I wonder what their lives were like. For years I've  wondered with amazement at the women mentioned in Jesus' genealogy - Tamar who seduced her father-in-law to have a child, Rahab the Jericho harlot who saved the Israelite spies, Ruth the Moabitess who loyally served her Jewish mother-in-law, and Bathsheba who committed adultery with a king. None of them are actually women that Jewish law and tradition would have considered upright and praiseworthy, but each, in her brokenness and sin, was made worthy because God chose them to be a part of His own Son's earthly story.

Then it hit me this morning. One of the first sacrifices Jesus made for us was to identify with a heritage of people who had messy, complicated, and very sinful lives. It wasn't just the women who were "disreputable" in some way, it was ALL of the people mentioned. Idolaters, adulterers, murderers, liars, cheaters, cowards, thieves … the list goes on and on. Even though some of the men mentioned were considered righteous by God, even those men committed some pretty awful sins. These were the men that the holy, righteous, good Son of God identified Himself with. He set aside His very identity as the only Son of God, and exchanged it for a genealogy of men and women who were known for their shortcomings, weaknesses, and sins. That horrifies me … and at the same time I find great comfort in it. To think of the burden Jesus bore at being related to such people almost embarrasses me. But then I realize that it is because of this that I can understand and accept His willingness to identify Himself with me. It fills me with awe that God is able to use even MY weak, broken, sinful life to bring about great things, because He has used lives like mine for generations past to bring about the full revelation of Himself in His Son.

There is great comfort for me in this list of men and women. As I look at this long list of names and see among them men who failed as fathers, I realize that God can bring about good for and from our children, even when we fail. As I see men and women marked through generations for their sins I realize God can use sinners like me. As I pick out names of no ones, I see that God is able to use simple, unremarkable people for great glory and blessing. God brings good out of failure and sin. God brings blessing to those who don't deserve it. God uses the weak and broken to show His strength. That is the whole message in the Christmas story.

There is one more surprise in this "boring list of names." We live in a world where families are divided and filled with disputes and dissension. In broken families husbands and wives fight, control over children is argued over, and children are left trying to figure out how to put together a genealogy of parents, step-parents, half-siblings, live-in boyfriends or girlfriends, etc. Joseph had no actual claim to the paternity of Jesus, and he knew it. And yet here in Matthew God does not dispute Joseph's lineage in the story of His Son, but proclaims it. God used the illegitimate relationship of Joseph to fulfill His very true and legitimate prophecies of His Son's genealogy. It makes sense. None of us are really "legitimate" children of God; we are all adopted. We are only made legitimate by God's One and Only Son. The only One who could claim His true paternity was of God was Jesus, yet instead of clinging to this identity and keeping it for Himself, He shared it. Isn't sharing Jesus and opening up our homes - our families - one of the best gifts we can give to those who don't have Him?

A Mother's Day Confession

Given to me by my Beloved, to remind me of His purpose in making me a mother.

My children take all that I give

Demanding more
Complaining
I give a little of myself
A little more but never all
Demand respect
For little

You gave Your all

Your only Son
Your very image
All in All
All You had

I take . . . I leave

I look elsewhere
Chasing idols . . . other things
Discontent with Your best . . .
With You . . .

My children forget my special days

Mine! I say
My worth . . . my value lessened
Diminished by their neglect
I cry--tears of self-pity

You give more . . . love more

Wooing, compelling, offering
Never demeaning or threatening
Through saddened heart
By my neglect
Your value, worth NEVER lessened
By the back of my head

In love, You gave me children

So often my heart's delight
My future hope
My life, my work, my purpose
Your gift to comfort me in love
Elevated to Your place

Yet using them, expose me

Reflecting You
Reflecting me
Pain in what I see
O Lord, the way I treat You!
More than the way that they treat me!

Let them resume their place

Forgive me! Consume me with You!

copyright 2009, Lisa A. Baker

Blessings: God's Answer for a Difficult Life

Psalm 127
A song of ascents. Of Solomon.

Unless the LORD builds the house,

its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city,

the watchmen stand guard in vain.

In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat--

for he grants sleep to those he loves.

Sons are a heritage from the LORD,

children a reward from him.

Like arrows in the hands of a warrior

are sons born in one's youth.

Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.

They will not be put to shame

when they contend with their enemies in the gate.
Psalms 127:1-5 (NIV)

I was just sharing with a friend how this Psalm hit me in a moment of anxiety and stress. I was struck by the progression in it, particularly from the vanity of frantic working, toiling, and going without sleep in an attempt to handle the difficulty of life. Then came the answer—God’s answer: children. Although a number of my friends had urged me to use my little blessings more extensively, it wasn’t until I saw it in this Psalm that I resolved to really hold the boys up to higher expectations of helping around the house (and around life!).

Tonight I went through some commentaries to see if any of the wise men I respect noticed the same thing. I found some interesting and even humorous things in Adam Clarke’s 19th century commentary.

This Psalm may be entitled, "The Soliloquy of the happy Householder: - The
poor man with a large loving family, and in annual expectation of an increase,
because his wife, under the Divine blessing, is fruitful." All are blessed of
the Lord, and his hand is invariably upon them for good.
—Adam Clarke's Commentary

This is his summary. Read on for some of the particulars that I liked.

Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord - That is, To many God gives children in
place of temporal good. To many others he gives houses, lands, and thousands of
gold and silver, and with them the womb that beareth not; and these are their
inheritance. The poor man has from God a number of children, without lands or
money; these are his inheritance; and God shows himself their father, feeding
and supporting them by a chain of miraculous providences. Where is the poor man
who would give up his six children, with the prospect of having more, for the
thousands or millions of him who is the center of his own existence, and has
neither root nor branch but his forlorn solitary self upon the face of the
earth? Let the fruitful family, however poor, lay this to heart; "Children are a
heritage of the Lord; and the fruit of the womb is his reward." And he who gave
them will feed them; for it is a fact, and the maxim formed on it has never
failed, "Wherever God sends mouths, he sends meat." "Murmur not," said an Arab
to his friend, "because thy family is large; know that it is for their sakes
that God feeds thee." —Adam Clarke's Commentary

Kind of cute since my best friend happens to have six children. What a rich couple she and her husband are!!! I also love that he seems to agree with my crazy idea that God will feed my boys and I through “a chain of miraculous providences.” Some of those providences might include different types of work, some might include the generosity and love of others, and who knows? Sometimes it might be manna from heaven or flour and oil that never seems to run out!

Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them - This is generally supposed
to mean his house full of children, as his quiver if full of arrows; but I
submit whether it be not more congenial to the metaphors in the text to consider
it as applying to the wife: "Happy is the man who has a breeding or fruitful
wife;" this is the gravida sagittis pharetra "the quiver pregnant with arrows."
But it may be thought the metaphor is not natural. I think otherwise: and I know
it to be in the Jewish style, and the style of the times of the captivity, when
this Psalm was written—Adam Clarke's Commentary

I LOVE it!!! I know a breeding, fruitful wife, and even though she’s a bit fruity at times, her husband IS a blessed man!

With the enemies in the gate. - "When he shall contend with his adversaries in
the gate of the house of judgment." - Targum. The reference is either to courts
of justice, which were held at the gates of cities, or to robbers who endeavor
to force their way into a house to spoil the inhabitants of their goods. In the
first case a man falsely accused, who has a numerous family, has as many
witnesses in his behalf as he has children. And in the second case he is not
afraid of marauders, because his house is well defended by his active and
vigorous sons. It is, I believe, to this last that the psalmist refers.

Heh, heh, heh. Don’t I know all about this! People comment that I don’t have to fear a burglar because of the German Shepherd guarding our house. Forget the dog! Look out for my little "virgorous and active sons!" They spend HOURS a day practicing the use of their weapons, and would LOVE to practice on living human subjects of the bad-guy kind!

Anyway, these are just thoughts from me. I do love this Psalm. It’s interesting how in our culture we’ve inverted the role of children to being our burden instead of relieving our burden.

Why I Can't Really Complain

Forty Reasons to Give Thanks for My 40th Birthday:

1. My parents who were both believers and who really loved the Lord and lived it, and loved each other sacrificially.
2. My mom who modeled the importance of being a wife and mother.
3. I got to spend my dad’s last years really getting to know him and love him.
4. I have three very healthy, fun, energetic children.
5. Every now and then, God gives me glimpses of how He might further His kingdom through my children and through me.
6. Every single day, God woos me to look at Him again, even if I’ve completely forgotten Him.
7. Books.
8. My car: even though it’s giving me fits right now, for now it’s paid for.
9. Through means I don’t understand, my house is somehow also paid for.
10. God has given me so many people to be my covenant family and to turn my eyes back to Him when I get down, even when I whine and complain about not feeling celebrated on my birthday. (Thanks Gara, Wanda, Eva, and Cheryl)
11. I get to homeschool my kids, and I LOVE doing it! They are so much fun!
12. I live in a free country where I have too much stuff, too much food, too much time on my hands, and things actually come pretty easily.
13. God has actually met my hearts desire to have a huge family by letting me be part-time “mom” to a number of other kids (oh, and how I love them!).
14. I am in a church which teaches, lives, and loves God’s inerrant, infallible Word!
15. God isn’t done with me yet, and yet He lets me see how far He’s come with me.
16. God continues to meet our physical needs, while giving me a simple life.
17. I can walk, and talk, and sing, and work . . . all pretty much pain free.
18. God has amazing, exciting, awesome things planned for my future.
19. Even though I don’t have a husband with whom I can share intimately, God has given me the most amazing couple of best friends who let me be me, and still love me. (What a miracle!)
20. Books.
21. God knew I needed the insights of men from time to time, and has given me friend’s husbands and a very special good friend to give me male counsel.
22. I have probably thirty copies of God’s Word in my personal possession.
23. I don’t have to worry that at any minute someone might break in the door and take me or my children away without any explanation or justification to do so.
24. I have indoor plumbing.
25. I have two sweet dogs who let me love on them even when the kids won’t.
26. So far, I haven’t been blown away by a hurricane.
27. Did I mention books?
28. The Internet.
29. God has given me relationships with some amazing single women who confirm and encourage my calling to stay home and care for my home and family.
30. The whole Watkins clan who still claim me as family (how I love you guys!).
31. In spite of anything I go through, I still have heaven to look forward to.
32. God has made me spiritually wise. This has NOTHING to do with me. It is ALL Him!!! But it is SO cool to see connections in scripture and know that for reasons beyond me He has chosen to show me things.
33. Pastors Barry Leventhal, Jon Krug, Greg Holladay, Rod Whited, and Phil Smuland who have fed me meat from God’s Word since I was very little until now, without shame or compromise, and who have modeled servant’s hearts for me. You guys are one of the biggest reasons I love scripture so much. Thanks for never trying to dumb it down for me.
34. More songs to sing than I will sing in a lifetime, and more to learn once I get to heaven.
35. My camera and the opportunity to use photography to tell a story and to minister to people.
36. A college education that might not be earning me big bucks right now, but which taught me to think and to write.
37. Twelve years with a man who was a wonderful husband and father, and who taught me about serving and loving another person. I really miss him.
38. An understanding of how dangerous and destructive sin is, and a deep desire to never get trapped in its grips.
39. Grace, salvation, and righteousness which I never would have had if God hadn’t loved me so much that He sent His best gift, his son Jesus Christ, to live a perfect life and to pay my price in exchange for my sin. I still think I got the better end of the covenant deal.
40. All of my books, and all those I will own in the future.

Now, I think I will head to Amazon.com to buy me a birthday present.

Christmas Beyond Imagination

My friend Crystal posted this verse on her blog:

Isaiah 9:6-7 "For to us a Child is born; to us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be calledWonderful Couselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this."

Once again the Lord reminded me that this peace He has given me will have no end, because the Messiah's reign will have no end. There will come a time when the Lord's justice will be perfectly dispensed, and after that nothing will remain to cause strife or conflict. For now He waits for those who will come to Him to come. In the meantime, we are given the peace of the Prince of Peace to live in now. Nothing that I got today for Christmas can compare with that.

One of the things I love about Christmas is all the goodwill and patience people have for one another. I read an interesting comment a couple days ago which suggested that this is part of the promised blessings that the angels proclaimed at Jesus birth: "Peace on earth, goodwill to men." It thrills my heart to imagine the time when all of my relationships will know that kind of peace, and in fact, the entire world around me will live in peace as our Savior rules. It will be like Christmas all the time, every day, forever! Wow!

Come, O Lord! Come soon!