To whet your appetite, here’s a sampling:

Thou shouldst have but one ambition – to love Me and to be near Me. Let Me take care of all the rest. Let Me arrange the pattern of thy life. Let Me direct thy service, and it shall be not a service of dead works and self-effort, but an overflow of divine love. This is My Father’s work. I do not require and have not requested thy work. Nay, but ye become a hindrance when ye set about to work for Me thus. Set thy heart to be near Me. Live close to My heart. Look upon My face. I will satisfy thee completely. I will keep thee from anxiety. I will heal all thy diseases. I will cause My face to shine upon thee, and thou shalt be glad.

Now, isn’t that just the best news you could hear all day?

What a mother. A certifiable hero.

Today I was doing a bit of spying again from the back row during chapel and set my sights on a wife and her disabled husband a couple of seats in front of me. Again the homily from an over-trained but well-intentioned chaplain was dry and unaffecting, failing to connect with the core needs of the audience. But never fear, the real sermons happen all around you at a Shepherd chapel. That’s where the scenes and sounds of glory take place. So it pays to sit on the back row sometimes.

But for the record, and as a pastor, I wouldn’t encourage it.

This afternoon’s message came from the pair in the photo. Danny, like the son in the aforementioned story, is a quadriplegic. He cannot move his arms. He would have to be assisted just to give his wife a hug and, even then, would not feel the warmth of her body.

I don’t yet know Danny’s story but I know enough that he was able-bodied when he got married to this woman, and now he moves his chair by blowing into a straw. I wish you could see this marvelous woman love on her man, checking every few seconds to see if there’s anything he needs, jumping up to wipe the spittle from the corner of his mouth, smiling at him just to assure him that he is still the man she married, albeit diminished, and would marry him all over again.

That is truly heroic if you ask me.

I am sniveling as I think of the Sandy’s and Mrs. Danny’s and the mommy’s who rarely get the attention they deserve. We are the victims of fortunately unfortunate circumstances and they are the angels, the saviors, the heroes.

Check out the body language of this wife who, I’ve no doubt, will grow old with her husband through sickness and health. Take careful note that she is seated on a white folding chair, but occupies only half of it—the half closest to Danny. She wants to be as near to him as the space between a wooden chair and a wheelchair will allow. It’s like they were teenagers in love in a movie theater. This is intimacy. Have your Hollywood sex all you want.

I remain transfixed by the love story unfolding before me. Sure there will be new adjustments and—yes—those dratted, humiliating physical limitations, but I applaud this heroic woman for rolling with the punches and braving whatever lies ahead.

I know about heroes. I live with one. If you want to read about Sandy and our amazing love story, scroll down the right margin of my blog to “Categories” and look for “Sandy” in the drop-down menu. Our story is well documented and you’ll get the picture. It’ll make you mist over too.

So…hat tips to the families, the wives, the moms and dads…of all who suffer…

…oh, and to the Emily’s (whose athletic sixteen year old brother became a quad a few months ago and ministers to him as tenderly as if she were his own mother).

From where I sit? You guys are the true heroes. Bless you.

“We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!”
1 Corinthians 13:12, The Message

We all long for [Eden], and we are constantly glimpsing it: our whole nature…is still soaked with the sense of exile.
–JRR Tolkien

The Father is longing for the day in which He can present to His Son, and to the earth, the one who “made herself ready” for His return.
–David Sliker

Twenty-eight years ago–today–a passel of bridesmaids and groomsmen joined the minister and prospective bride and groom–‘the Sange’ and me–for the rehearsal of our wedding. It was August and it was hot. Even the Tampa/St. Pete/Clearwaterians called it hot.

Vows were already written and in the hopper, the gown was hanging ready, tuxes were rented and the accoutrements of the next day’s celebration were gradually taking their place throughout the church. Amid the overbalance of familiar was a sprinkling here and there of transcendence. As the hours grew closer to the unveiling, however, the balance of common and sacred would shift. Dramatically.

Shortly before midnight Sandy and I parted ways: she to her house, me to my hotel. It wasn’t lost on me that the next time I saw her, she would take my name and I would take her home.

In the tension of “yes, but not quite yet” we ran the gamut of emotions in those in- between hours of preparation and realization, consecration before consummation, fine-tuning until finality…one moment we were walking on sunshine, the next walking in the quicksand of time stand still. Waiting. Doubting. Wondering. This is for life, sport. Am I really ready to commit to this? How could I even dare form the question? How many hours yet? Anticipating. Waiting. Then: watching as her face floats up and docks with my conscious thought: ah, yes, she is the one who causes my heart to race!

Until a few minutes after six on August 20, 1983, I had a pretty good idea about Sandy. I had memorized her face–from the gorgeous mole above her left cheekbone to the ‘talent specks’ in her hazel/green eyes. I knew she had a slight discoloration in one of her front teeth from a childhood mishap and a cute, subtle worry line between her eyebrows. I knew the shape and color of her lips that needed no artificial coloring. Yeah, I pretty much had her down.

Yet, all I had in the “yes, but not quite yet” was a blurry familiarity of my girl. It was stick-figure reality compared to the 3-D HD image I would soak in a few hours later. Even still, in my dusky twilight timescape, the image in my mind was Rembrandt in quality. Up until “then”.

And I was in love. Boy howdy, was I in love! I didn’t need any more evidence to convince me I had made the right choice. Or so I thought.

I was pretty composed until the doors of the lobby popped open and a bedazzling white surprise came into view. Suddenly, everything else faded away and I had tunnel vision as I watched this one I thought I had a handle on, move toward me. The most beautiful vision in the room, and she was making her way to me! The transitions from friends to modest lovers and now matrimoniously one was completed. For good. Why would she come to me?

Because nine months earlier I said (not word-for-word translation): “Here’s a crazy thought. Marry me. I promise to love you—and only you—always.” Somewhere in that goofy proposal, for better for worse for life, Sandy could not imagine another life. Thankfully.

Can you imagine “that” Day? The Eternal Day? When all our strifes, burdens, cares, failures, wins, blessings, hardships, doubts, waverings, repentings, struggles, following, pursuing, obedience, disobedience, falling, rising, trusting, warring, defending, sighing, crying and rejoicing—everything we knew of this life and all that was necessary to prepare us for the next—will have run its full course and we will be clothed with immortality. And why? Because, through it all, we believed what He said: “Follow Me, and I will make you…”

Follow Me. Through this narrow gate. Down this narrow road. It’s taking us Somewhere…you will never believe what’s ahead.

Something happened last week. I went on a retreat with an amazing spiritual director / teacher named Jan Johnson. By the end of our time together I realized that I’m done with living like a Christian.

• I’m done serving the poor.
• I’m done going the extra mile.
• I’m done being a husband who strives to love his wife as Christ loves the church.
• I’m done visiting the sick.
• I’m done opening up my life to Christian community.
• I’m done loving my neighbor.
• I’m done living with integrity.
• I’m done loving my enemies.
• I’m done giving finances to global causes.
• I’m done opposing violence.
• I’m done speaking out against hatred.
• I’m done standing up for the marginalized.
• I’m D-O-N-E done…

This past week made me realize that doing all these things won’t change the world. That’s because the world can’t be changed unless God changes me.

For the past several years, ups and downs defined my spiritual life. Moments in the journey were some of the most intimate encounters with Jesus that I’ve known. Real (nearly tangible) experiences, that can’t be explained by anything but the power of the Holy Spirit, took place. Other moments, when I showed love to a neighbor, prayed for an enemy, served the poor… these were times when Jesus was right there with me.

Then there were the times when I got stuck trying to live like Jesus. In the Christian world we call these “good works” or “ethics.” I made my aim “doing” rather than “being.” By “doing” I believed that my “being” would be consumed by an experience of the life of God. Unfortunately, the God encounters often fade when all my time is spent “doing” or theorizing about such “doing.”

For me, it’s time to stop doing. It’s time to simply be done. Done “doing” because the Holy Spirit invites us to stop and to “be.”

• To be the kind of person who serves the poor.
• Be the kind of person who goes the extra mile.
• Be the kind of person who is an awesome self-giving husband.
• Be the kind of person who visits the sick.
• Be the kind of person who opens my life up to Christian community.
• Be the kind of person who loves my neighbor.
• Be the kind of person who chooses integrity.
• Be the kind of person who loves enemies.
• Be the kind of person who gives generously to global causes.
• Be the kind of person who responds to evil with creative nonviolence.
• Be the kind of person who not only speaks out against hatred, but who suffers for the sake of the hated.
• Be the kind of person who stands in the margins with those who’ve been placed there by society (and even the church).
• I want to BE, and in the process, become a different kind of follower of Jesus.

Why the distinction? It’s easy to follow the Sermon on the Mount and other ethical teachings of Jesus and to miss the Christ who taught such things.

Dallas Willard puts it this way:

Jesus never expected us simply to turn the other cheek, go the second mile, bless those who persecute us, give unto them that ask, and so forth. These responses, generally and rightly understood to be characteristic of Chrsitlikeness, were put forth by him as illustrative of what might be expected of a new kind of person – one who intelligently and steadfastly seeks, above all else, to live within the rule of God and be possessed by the kind of righteousness that God himself has, as Matthew 6:33 portrays. Instead, Jesus did invite people to follow him into that sort of life from which behavior such as loving one’s enemies will seem like the only sensible and happy thing to do. For a person living that life, the hard thing to do would be to hate the enemy, to turn the supplicant away, or to curse the curser… True Christlikeness, true companionship with Christ, comes at the point where it is hard not to respond as he would.[1]

So, yes, I’m done with living like a Christian. I’m trading that in for living in a deeper relationship with Christ. I want to know Jesus. I want to hear Jesus. I want to be empowered by Jesus. Not simply in theory as I do the good things that he calls us to do, but as the natural outflow of intimacy with God. The former way “gets the job done.” The latter way changes the world.

For me, this means a new-found intentionality of placing myself in a position to hear from the Spirit. Spiritual practices like – solitude, Sabbath, lectio divina, silence, confession, prayer, and practicing the presence of God – these neglected areas of my life have led to a Christianity defined by “doing” rather than “being.”

My prayer for us is that our intimate relationships with Christ would make it impossible to not respond with the ethics marked out by the Kingdom of God. Not out of effort to do good things, but out of our efforts to know Jesus Christ through an awareness of the presence of God’s Spirit. When this becomes normative, we won’t be able to help it… we will just start looking like Jesus.

[1] Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives,7-8.

We are distressed/hard-pressed/troubled/squeezed on every side…
(Paul, 2 Corinthians 4:8)

Nobody puts ‘Baby’ in a corner.
(Johnny Castle, Dirty Dancing)

I’m feeling ‘hemmed in’ these days. Diminished. Limited. Grounded, like a teenager: no keys, no car, no friends. Just school, then home.

On top of that, I feel cornered. Outnumbered.

It’s redolent of a scene in Thor where the Viking hero and his compatriots infiltrate the Frost Giant’s lair and are met by a relentless enemy in wave after wave, each giant becoming more formidable than the last and more numerous than before.

Yeah, that captures it nicely.

On every front a vexing battle is being waged and it seems like I am losing ground.

Ministry.

Family.

Finances.

Friends.

Health.

Some fronts are more like skirmishes while others border on “Shock and Awe.” These days I look like the Arizona border, Iraq (in March, 2003) and Afghanistan all rolled into one.

Lord, is it warfare?

Am I being downsized? Capsized? Ostracized?

Then, like good news from home, these words came for me when I was about to arrive at some ill-advised conclusions:

On your behalf I speak to adversity, for I the Lord come to bring the power of My voice over the power that has come against you. For, I have been given all authority, and by that authority I speak over your life that you may be totally free from all adversity, oppression, depression, fear, anxiety and worry. When I am with you, you cannot be defeated. I speak into your life–peace be still. And, there will come a great calm and a great benefit. No longer allow yourself to sit down in the very pit and doldrums of failure, but arise to new heights. As the sun rises each day, arise and shine for you are the people of light; the children of light and the glory of My kingdom upon the earth. It is time for you to come to a new understanding of who you are in Me and who I am in you. It is time for you to feel the power of My wind upon you; the power of the wind that flows through your mind and regenerates your spirit. Come this day and receive a fresh baptism and allow the wind of My Spirit to move you and to lift you. Come and fly with Me, says the Lord.

On the other hand, I could be hearing:

Snip, snip.

That doesn’t negate the rhema word. Whether I’m being intentionally hemmed in (like a time-out for an unreasonable child) or it’s just my time for the gardener’s shears—either way—my trust is in God and I purpose to stay the course.

Faith may not know where it’s going, but it is in love with its Leader.

In faith, this day, I have it on good authority that I am not being shelved or downsized. Neither are you. We’re being prepped for reassignment. “Faithful is He who calls you, who also will do it.”

In faith, this day, I declare that “friends may fail me, foes assail me” but, hear this enemy: “He my Savior makes me whole.” Jesus. What a Friend for Sinners. I know He loves me to death, but not like Lenny in Of Mice and Men who loved a little too hard. His Hands enfold me, they do not crush me.

Though He slay me…even if there’s no seed in the barn and the cattle barns are empty…no figs on the branches…if this infection never leaves my body and my leg falls off…if (fill in your own blank here)…

Either way.

Whatever.

I say:

I will rejoice in the Lord!
I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
The Sovereign Lord is my strength!
He makes me sure-footed as a deer, able to tread upon the heights!
(Habakkuk 3:17-19)

Hemmed in. Targeted. Isolated. Pressed on every side. Fire on one side and flood on the other.

Do not despair, o my soul.

He always brings us through and out, and gloriously IN.

Related articles (some I haven’t proofread entirely, mind you):

• Watch Rob’s Story
• Will I Get Through This?. (greatriversofhope.wordpress.com)
• Thoughts about what I read this morning (standingatthedoor.wordpress.com)
• Habakkuk 3:19 (jantzika.wordpress.com)

No, a good look.

What you see right now is not exactly what you’ll see 30 days from now.

They say your skin sheds and regenerates every month. Off with the old, and papa’s got a brand new bag! If you’re keeping score at home, that’s about 3 billion skin cells that wave a white flag each and every day. Why does this happen? Glad you asked. Your skin, the largest organ of your body, is also the first line of defense against the body’s enemies: dehydration, infection, injuries, air quality, and temperature extremes. Gotta keep it pristine. Durable. Resilient.

Oh, and your skin constitutes about 20% of your full body’s weight, so, technically, you lose a fifth of your mass each and every month. Before you reward yourself with that extra scoop of rocky road, remember you also put it right back on.

Sorry.

Followers of Jesus also shed and regenerate every day. I like to read Watchman Nee and Oswald Chambers and Paul because they inform me that life in the Spirit is about subtraction. The crucified self. I also thumb through Guyon and Spurgeon and Paul because they bring out the renewing power of Christ in me. So I thought I might sate your palate with a menu that is rich in vitamins and minerals to get us ready for what awaits outside that door in the mean streets of life today.

The following items are more than tools for daily renewal. They are organic, when utilized in the grace of God, to filter, expel and rebuild. They are fuel. They enable us to shed unwanted pounds and take on muscle and bulk. These, then, become the first line of defense against laziness, flabbiness and gluttony, whilst taking up the offensive against the dark rule of the empire. Yeah, it’s that big!

So before we hit the floor or the door, it may behoove us to take our breakfast in bed.

• Early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You…(Psa 63:1)

• In the morning my prayer comes before You…(Psa 88:13)

• Morning by morning, O Lord, You hear my voice; morning by morning I lay my requests before You and wait in expectation…(Psa 5:3)

Breakfast, it would seem, is the most important meal of the day for God-warriors too . Regardless of time or place, our day should be shaped by the good grace this diet brings. It’s guaranteed to get you, uh, bikini-ready, spiritually speaking. It’ll fine-tune those abs. Flatten ‘em out. Promise.

Start your day, end your day, bookend your day, or fill your day (as the case may be) with these disciplines of grace:

1. A TEACHABLE HEART – come before the Lord with an “amen” in your heart; tell Him “Lord, whatever it is You show me, I will do it.” Open every crack and crevice, corner and closet to His gaze. Come open, ready, repentant, worshipful. Lord, I want a heart that is reachable, a mind that is teachable and a faith that is unimpeachable!
2. THE BIBLE – The Psalmist promises “the entrance of Your Word gives light” (Psa 119:130); it opens up blocked corridors and fills the house with the Presence and fragrance of Jesus who is the Christ, for the Scriptures testify to Him (Jn 5:39). While reading plans are helpful, don’t try to read to accomplish a goal, but for illumination. Stay on a verse or passage. Ask His Spirit to breathe on the scripture and give it life for you. Await His marching orders.
3. A JOURNAL – What else are the scriptures but the journals of His servants who wrote as they heard the living, breathing Word? Your journal is the record of your journey with the Shepherd and a pictorial of the places He takes you and where He lays you down in pastures of grace. On my library shelves sits literally thousands of pages of journaling—my prayers, raw expressions of faith and tables of His mercies in my life—my own books of remembrance that shape my life and keep me in the love of God (Jude 21).
4. A HYMNAL – Certainly the Psalms—the hymn book of the Bible—are a great place to sing back to God the attributes He possesses and the marvels of life in Him; an iPod or CD loaded with worship music is greatly beneficial but get yourself an old hymnal. How rich is the devotion of saints in a bygone era and how much we can learn from their own disciplines! The time with God should not be rushed but nourished and cultivated with overtures of love back to Him.
5. AN EXIT STRATEGY – What good is it to stare at yourself in a mirror, have it reveal what must be seen, then move on without dealing with that cowlick or bit of lettuce in your teeth? Do we rise from our session with Jesus, pat His back and say, “Good talk, Lord”? Here is where we put an exclamation point behind our “amen” and seek His grace to live through us. Did He reveal someone of whom we must ask their forgiveness? The first thing we do must be to grab the cell phone and set up a coffee with them. What did we hear Him say? Faith is not only hearing but doing. What is our takeaway? Our benediction is to follow through with our Shepherd’s instructions. Did He remind us we are not condemned but loved? Then all through the day we must confess those things that reflect that.

…and yet…lest I forget…

…there is the Accessible Man, Christ Jesus, full of grace and glory, the Son of Man (the last Adam, hooray!) and He has shown Himself to me. I leave the burning bush for a moment and am transported to a beach where a Man sits on a seashore cooking breakfast. He. Just. Sits. There. Food is sizzling and aroma is rising, and He waits for company. An earlier time, this Same Man swings in alongside a funeral procession and catches up to the casket. Another occasion, this Highly Accessible and Available Man pats his leg and a child jumps up into His lap and bounces, or plays with His fingers, or whatever. Remarkable.

Remarkable that this Man happens to be God-Who-Came-Down because we were too hard-hearted, stiff-necked, stubborn and rebellious to go up. Inconceivable that this One is the same One who had Face-to-Fire encounters with Moses while lightning flashed, thunder growled and a whole lot of people ran for cover, frightened out of their gourds.

The God who must be approached shoeless and the Lord on the shore waiting a table for a group of longshoremen are One and the Same. The Rumbling God at Sinai and the Whispering God on Zion’s Hill share the same space. The One Who cannot be looked upon, also offers His lap to be sat upon. He is Father and Mother. Fire and Cloud. Wrath and Mercy. Lion and Lamb. A Raging River and Redemption Drawn Nigh (see Isa 59:19,20).

The Great Equalizer is Jesus, and it is in Him that “mercy and truth have met together” and “righteousness and peace have kissed” and “from His fullness we have received grace upon grace” (John 1:16). Because of Jesus, Scary Mountains turn into Peaceful Pastures and “goodness and mercy follow me all the days of my life“.”

Grace upon grace.

Grace following grace.

By Christ, I gain entrance into Eternity’s Oval Office, not outside the fence on Pennsylvania Avenue snapping pictures of the White House. And, amazingly, again because of Christ, I not only get access to the most sacred places of all, but I can venture behind the massive desk and—being a son—can jump up into the lap of the Leader of the Freed world, who also happens to be my Father!

This is “grace following grace”. Such grace gets me to God, through the narrow gate, down the path and right inside the Inner Sanctum.

By entering the veil of Christ’s flesh, I now have “confidence” to stand before God, immune to the accuser’s charges against my being there, or cowering from the blinding Glory that pulsates and emblazons one end of Eternity to the other. I, indeed, have security clearance and an all-access badge that gets me inside the Throne Room where a scepter is extended to me, for I, too, am a son of the Eternal Creator God and the Only Begotten Jesus is my Big Brother.

So why do I spend so much time milling about on the South Lawn or even the Rose Garden? Why would I want a summary of Your doings in the Press Room when I can have a Private Audience with the Ruler-Who-Is-My-Father? I don’t want to hear about You…I don’t even want to talk about You like You’re not in the room; I want to look right at You, I want to sing right to You…

When I was a Prodigal, road-weary and bedraggled, You flew off Your front porch and met me with a prodigious bear-hug, so why would my expectation be any different as I make my way down the hallways to Your chambers? Will You not still meet me on the way, cheerfully and scandalously as a nobleman running in public?

If I draw nigh to You, will You not draw even more nigh to me?

Phillip said,“Lord, show us the Father and we’ll be satisfied” but could not connect You and the Father as One. Moses cried, “Show me Thy Glory!” and he, undoubtedly saw You. And he never had to ask again.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth…For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
(John 1:14,16-17, ESV)

“But the unique One, who is Himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.”
(John 1:18, NLT)

So I am grateful today to take off my shoes on this hallowed ground and run like the dickens in bare feet toward Grace Itself, carried on the wind by Grace, with Grace close on my heels.

Selah.

Take a seat next to Charles Wesley and let it flow…

May You, O God, shepherd me to Your private pastures, with cooling waters and fresh, vital springs…draw me into Your Life and introduce me to the reality of practicing Your presence. I ask for Your baptism to flow down over me and drown me in grace. I know well that there is “more” and I aim to go after it. As the deer pants for the waterbrooks, I want my soul to pant after You. Not just words, here, but heart and passion and desire. Rush to me, O God. Call me away. My spirit accepts the invitation to Rise Up and Come Away!

Lord, show me the deepest things, the deepest parts of You. Take me there and may the five sanctified senses in me experience You to the fullest. I yearn to hunger for Your Word again! To meet with You in the closet at our daily appointed time where we can embrace and linger in the air of closeness.

Take me higher! Make my feet as hinds’ feet and walk me upon the craggy heights! Take me from the congregation and draw me to the pinnacle of Your desire for me. All that You have for me is my desire. You are most glorified when I am most satisfied in You and I want and wish to glorify You. May this life hold no attraction for me; I pull from it even if its talons hold on for dear life and rip me apart. May the claim of my life become: “the world is crucified to me and I to the world!”

Put a holy dissatisfaction in me for the things of this world. I do not desire its accolades and acceptance but Yours alone. This is the cry of my spirit! My soul follows far behind at times and has for a long time, but I cannot go on in complacency and indifference. Stir me, Lord. Stir my heart for the things that matter to You and may the crevasse that I have allowed to come between us be bridged by Your gracious invitation to come along and follow hard on Your heels.

I pray for a heart of integrity, hands of skill, a voice of impact, the eyes of Elisha, the baptism of the Spirit and the tongue of the learned. For an inoffensible spirit, unconditional love and the fear of God and not man.

In Jesus’ dear Name, Amen.

While the Hebrew word is difficult to translate, most believe it is a musical term that means “pause” or “interlude.” I’ve also read that it could be a worship leader’s direction to change the tempo. For instance, to have the instruments and singers  s l o w  d o w n,  or, in some cases, pick up the cadence. If you dig even deeper, you find the word is also understood to encourage reflection. Like the applause sign in a live studio’s taping session, some suppose it signals to the listener “there is something hidden here; do not miss it…listen very carefully…”

Oh, and a really neat tidbit about “selah” is that it is used in thirty-nine of the Psalms, which is, as you well know, equal to the number of books in the Old Testament. And what is the Old Testament? It is the history of the people of Israel that is written down for our benefit and teaching. You’ll find that hidden little gem of a truth in 1 Corinthians chapter 10.

Twice.

Look it up.

The point I am making is that we have been called to a “selah” life. Sometimes we pause. Sometimes we pick up the pace. At times we rest overnight. At other times, we park at the foot of the mountain for a year or so. We sing (“alamoth” at the beginning of Psalm 46 is thought to indicate a choir solo for all the sopranos), we dance, we bow, we kneel. When our Director tells us, we pack up our tents and get a move on. And when He tells us otherwise, we make camp and get our groove on. There is marching and there is standing still. He speaks and we listen or He is silent and we wait.

Right about now some of you are moving into an “aha!” moment. You’re thinking, This is starting to sound like hearing and following the Voice of God and you would be right. Life is way too harsh and unforgiving to attempt on our own. Three million (or more) people moving as one through the desert can get noisy and distracting, so you can see how weekly sabbaths and daily selahs can turn a march into a journey. Likewise, as you and I journey through life, we must be constantly attuned to those inner prickings and promptings from the Holy Spirit:

“Make camp here for awhile. I have something I want to teach you.”

“There is an enemy afoot. Be on guard.”

“Turn here.”

“You need to let go of that. It will be a snare. Give it to Me.”

“You need to spend some time today with her. I will give you words that will encourage her.”

“Wake up. There is much to do.”

The “selah” life is the Spirit-led life. “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons and daughters of God,” the Apostle Paul says. As we pass through this wilderness on the way to Promise, every step walked in faith is a lyric to the Almighty. Every mile is a stanza of praise. Two or three walking together is a church hymn. Tribes and nations journeying as one is a cantata that the angels want to add to their repertoire. As for me, I cannot wait until the grand finale: the Hallelujah chorus!

Selah.

    ⁷O God, when You went forth before Your people,
         When You marched through the wilderness, Selah.
    ⁸The earth quaked;
         The heavens also dropped rain at the presence of God;
          Sinai itself quaked at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
                                                                           Psalm 68:7,8