Counting Blue Cars

Psalm 48

About thirteen years ago, the band Dishwalla (which is the worst band name in the history of mankind) released their only hit, “Counting Blue Cars.”  I didn’t care for the song at first.  I remember walking in to a movie theater in Virginia Beach one Sunday for the second ever Sunday service for Forefront Christian Church, and that song was blasting out of the speakers.  I remember thinking how crazy they were for playing that song.  Now, with nearly a decade of ministry experience behind me, I now know how ingenious it was for those guys to do that (and they still are).  Not only was it a huge hit that people could identify with (wow–I heard that song on the radio as I was pulling into the parking lot to go to church!), but it asks a life-defining question:  “Tell me all your thoughts on God?  Tell me am I very far?”

Everyone has thoughts on God–even those who claim He doesn’t exist (which, for me, is a small proof that He actually does).  A lot of those thoughts are way off base; some are close.  Without using up tons of space on dozens of posts, the evidence (especially the resurrection of Jesus) points to the God of the Bible as being the God of the universe (if you’ve read this blog for any amount of time, you may have concluded that I believe that already).

Psalm 48 is about the greatness of God and how He was Jerusalem’s stronghold.  He was Jerusalem’s protector.  Look what the authors wrote in Psalm 48:9, “We have thought on Your lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of Your temple.”  For the original readers of this Psalm, this would have meant thinking about God’s mercy as protector of Jerusalem.  They could look back on all the times He had delivered them and remember His mercy on them.

When was the last time you really thought about God’s mercy, love, and grace–and in more than an academic way?  When was the last time you really took time to reflect on God’s mercy on you–that, if you’re a Christian, He doesn’t give you what you deserve for your sin because Jesus already got it on the cross?  When was the last time you thought about God’s mercy on His temple, the church?  Think about it–a community of messed up, messy, sinful people that God loves in spite of their messiness.  A community of imperfect people that God uses to proclaim the good news of Jesus.  A community of spiritually sick people who’ve been healed and forgiven by God, and who are to be an emergency room for other spiritually sick people. 

That’s not what we deserve.  That’s mercy.

I want to do a better job of, as Brother Lawrence said so long ago, to practice the presence of God–to be aware of God’s presence at all times.  Part of that is taking time to think about His mercy.  Something I’m going to try to use to spur that thinking is repeating a line I heard from the movie “Amazing Grace”, which was uttered by Albert Finney’s character John Newton (who wrote the song Amazing Grace).  He said this, “I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior.”  That’s mercy.  That’s not what I deserve.  That helps me think of God’s mercy for me.

Do that today.  Think about this line over and over, when ever it comes to mind…

I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior.
I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior.
I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior.
I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior.

Here’s my thoughts on God:  I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior.  Because of His mercy, I am no longer far from God.  He has drawn me close to Himself.

Jesus Likes Rock Music

Psalm 47

I was a drummer for a couple of bands in college.  The first one, Jesus Wept, was… well, I don’t know what genre of music we played.  It was rock, but I can’t really pigeon hole it.  Some of our stuff (the stuff I wrote… all two songs) was straight up rock–loud guitar, loud drums.  The stuff that our singer did was more folksy.  The stuff our guitar player (waYne wagner) wrote was, well, what waYne wrote.  I don’t know how to explain it.  I just rocked out the drums to it.  People dug it.  We made a tape.  We went on tour (for about 24 hours).  It was fun while it lasted.  The second band, Olive Tree, was more of an acoustic pop band.  Their first drummer was frickin’ awesome.  He may have sold his soul to the devil he was so good.  I, on the other hand, played more like Dave Grohl when he was in Nirvana.  Loud.  Uncomplicated.  More loud.  The cool thing was, Olive Tree was maturing musically when I joined the band.  Their early stuff was a little bubble-gumish, but there toward the end, we were really developing a cool, acoustic rock sound.

And then we graduated.  I keep asking waYne when the reunion tour starts.  I need the dough…  And everyone in Olive Tree referred to my wife as “Yoko”.  OK.  Not really.

Psalm 47 is all about music.  It’s all about music that glorifies God.  And it’s not “Jesus, Lover of My Soul”, prom-song-about-Jesus music.  It’s God kicks ass music.  He subdues people and nations.  He chooses our inheritance.  He rules the earth.  This is like Metallica becoming followers of Jesus and leading “worship” music at your church (well, definitely at our church).

Take some time and listen to all kinds of music… and make sure most of it isn’t by a Christian artist.  We know they sing about Jesus–and a lot of them do it well.  But listen to the secular stations, or the rock stations on XM.  Really listen to the lyrics.  You’d be surprised how many tunes have spiritual undertones… on how many songs God has left his fingerprints, even though the artists and producers probably didn’t mean or want to.  No, they may not spell out major doctrines of the Bible in detail, but they’ll reveal that God is still working in the world.  He’s still in the business of redeeming people and creation back to Himself.

So turn it up.  To “11″.

Wednesday Extravaganza: Check Back Next Week…

Our church’s Network Celebration is this coming Sunday, which means our Sabotage series will continue the week after that.  So check back next Wednesday, when we’ll continue our Wednesday extravaganza.

STOP

Psalm 46

This may be a little off subject, but as I read more of the Psalms of the sons of Korah, I’m starting to appreciate the contrast between their stuff and David’s stuff.  David would have made a great front-man for a grunge or emo band–lots of angst, lots of dark stuff.  The sons of Korah are a boy band that doesn’t suck–maybe like Oasis (they had two brothers) without the drama–some good, solid, upbeat tunes that don’t make you want to down a bottle of antidepressants.  I like grunge; I like Oasis.  Both were extremely relevant in their day.  The good news about the Psalms… they’re still relevant today.

Such is the case with Psalm 46.  This is one of the better known Psalms of the sons of Korah.  It’s all about God being our refuge and strength.  It talks about the city of God (refuge) and God being able to end wars to the end of the earth (strength).  Out of everything that jumped out at me today, the section that jumped out most was Psalm 46:10, “Cease [striving] and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” 

I’ve heard so many Christians use this verse in ways that are somewhat foreign to the context, and because other Bible translations have chosen to translate the verse as “Be stilland know that I am God.”  They’ll says something like, “I had such a hectic day.  My kids were loud.  My TV broke.  My goldfish died.  I just had to do like the Psalm said–I had to be still and know God.”  Or, they refer to the regular time they spend with God, “When I read my Bible and pray, that’s when I’m still and I know that He is God.”  Don’t get me wrong.  There is truth to those statements and others like them.  But that’s not what the sons of Korah are getting at.

The previous verses show God in kick-ass mode.  He’s shattering bows and spears.  He’s napalming chariots.  He’s dismantling the war machine of entire nations that oppose Him.  He’s telling entire rebellious nations to STOP [the "striving" is implied by the context] and know that He’s God.  This isn’t a mantra for a stressed-out home schooling, sweater wearing, super-Christian mom.  This is a declaration from God ordering entire nations to STOP and know Him.

And yet, there is individual application for this verse…

There are so many people warring against God–in their beliefs, in their lifestyles, etc.  And many of them want to believe.  They struggle with things like all the evil in the world, death, illness, science, hypocrisy in the church, and a load of other things.  God’s declaration of peace still rings true for them:  STOP and know that He is God.  Stop warring against Him.  Stop rebelling against Him.

And whose job is it to deliver that declaration of peace?  The church.  It’s our job.

And we’re mucking it up.  How can we deliver God’s declaration of peace instead of continuing to declare “culture war”?  What can we do to show them the love of Jesus while being honest about our mistakes?  What will it take for them to stop and know God? 

Not by creating more “counter-culture”, but by engaging the culture.
Not by pointing fingers, but by being Jesus’ hands and feet.
Not by passively letting them check us out (they already are), but by going and being Jesus to them (they’re not expecting it).
Not by stockpiling more Bible knowledge, but by applying our knowledge.
Not by fixing them before they meet Jesus, but by jumping into their mess and letting Jesus fix them.

Does God want those who don’t know Him to stop their warring and know Him?  Yes.
But He also wants us to stop trying to do His job of saving, healing, and fixing people.

We’re all broken.  We all need fixing.  We all need to stop warring and know that He is God.

Pass It On

Psalm 45

Part of being raising in the army of the religious is church camp.  I was a camp junkie.  I couldn’t get enough camp.  I went every year from the first year of eligibility, only missing my last year due to working my first job before college.  I was a frickin’ church camp hall of fame All-Star.  Camper of the Week my second year (which was like camp MVP, and it meant a free week of camp the next year).  Every year, I led the camp in Bible verse memorization (one year, I was the only kid to memorize every stinkin’ verse on the list… and it was a HUGE list).  Bible Trivia, Bible Baseball legend.  It didn’t mean squat.  Don’t get me wrong.  I liked camp.  It was fun.  I learned a lot about God at camp.  I got to know some cool people at camp.  But it only led to my further development as an uber-religious church brat.

I told you that story to tell you this…

Every night, we had campfire.  We sang campfire songs about Jesus.  One of the most popular was this cheesy song called “Pass It On.”  It has been a camp classic since the early ’70’s.  Thinking back on the song, the only thing cheesy about it was that it was an accoustic play-it-around-the-campfire tune.  The lyrics spoke of passing God’s love on to other people.  I find it really ironic now–I sang about passing on God’s love, but now, I wouldn’t want to pass on what I was and what I became after camp… a kid who knew a lot of Bible verses and a lot about God, but didn’t really know God.  And I’ve been recovering from uber-religiosity ever since.  Jesus saved me from camp.

Psalm 45 is a Psalm that is all about Jesus.  It depicts a marriage between the Messiah and His bride (which, Revelation shows us, is Jesus and the church).  Look at how the authors (the sons of Korah) concluded it in Psalm 45:17, “I will cause Your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore the peoples will give You thanks forever and ever.”  In other words, they were passing it on.

If you’re a Christian reading this blog post, what are you doing to pass on God’s love so that other people will give God thanks?  In my recovery from religion, I’ve learned that passing on God’s love has little to do with knowing all the books of the Bible or memorizing lots of Scripture.  It’s what we do with that knowledge–meditating on it, letting it sink in, applying it, being transformed by it–that really makes the difference.  God’s love isn’t passed on to others if we only know the story of the Good Samaritan.  We must be “Good Samaritans.”  God’s love isn’t passed on because we know that pure and undefiled relgion is to keep ourselves unstained by the world and to care for widows and orphans in their distress.  We need to be holy and actually care for those in need–to actually get involved in their distress–to pass on God’s love.

God has really been working on me with this recently.  Posting on this Psalm couldn’t be better timed for me.  What about you?  Will you read this post and then go throughout your day, thinking your super because you’ve read your Bible and read a blog or two?  Will you be content to just soak up God’s love, or will you pass it on?

Remember, it only takes a spark to get a fire going (sorry, I couldn’t help it)…

Log Off of YouTube and Read Something: Lousy T-Shirt book

Or, the official title:  I Became a Christian and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt.

Vince Antonucci sounds like the name of a bit player that may have been whacked during an early season of The Sopranos.  Vince’s story would sound every bit as fantastic if it wasn’t true.  As the back cover reads, “Raised by a Jewish mother, abused and abandoned by his professional poker-playing father, Vince Antonucci found Jesus at age twenty after studying the Bible.”

This book tells the reader what happened after that.  And unless you’re still wet behind the ears from your baptism, you will identify with his story.  You will find hope from the lessons he’s learned.

Vince uses humor (the second lowest level of the career food chain is elephant proctologist), heart-tugging experiences (the old man who died in the chair praying to Jesus… wow…), and brutal transparency about his struggles with God’s grace through Jesus while helping hundreds of others find it at the church he co-founded in VA Beach.

Vince writes about what every Christian eventually faces–the disappointment of the Christian life.  We find ourselves to be like a kid who comes back from a vacation with that goofy T-shirt that reads, “I went to _________ and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.”  They’ve got a goofy souvenir, but they didn’t participate in the adventure–they missed the trip.  We’re cool with Jesus, but we find ourselves bored and asking if this is all there is to being a Christian–showing up for church on Sundays, then… blah, bored.

Vince’s point throughout the book is that we need to live life with Jesus while living the Jesus life.  We need to abide and abound in Jesus.  We need to meet with Jesus regularly in our Bibles and prayer–not to check it off our religious to-do list, but because we want to.  We need to serve others, especially those who are tough to love… because Jesus did.  There will be boring and tough times, but when we live life with Jesus and live the Jesus life, it helps us gain the right perspective about those times.  It helps us develop an expectancy.  It helps us to, as Brother Lawrence once wrote (and Vince refers to) practice the presence of Jesus–not to compartmentalize Jesus as a section of life, but to live life with Him… and to allow Him to live His life through us.

You’ll laugh.  You’ll cry.  You’ll think.  Milk might come out of your nose (unless you’re drinking Pepsi… then it’ll burn like crazy).

So don’t pass go.  Don’t collect $200.  Do cancel your elephant’s appointment with his proctologist.  And click the link below and buy this book.

Lousy T-shirt link:  http://www.amazon.com/Became-Christian-This-Lousy-T-Shirt/dp/0801068185/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203731915&sr=1-1

I Got My Self In, I Can Get Myself Out…

Psalm 44

Pride sucks.

I’m a proud guy by nature.  It’s something I’m not (pardon the bad word play) proud of.  There are times I’ve indulged my pride.  There are times when I’ve wept over my pride.  At this point in my life, it’s like the serial killer at the end of a bad slasher film.  He’s been killed seven ways to Sunday, he’s laying on the ground, he looks dead… but you know that he’ll come back, both for one last scare… and in the sequel.

I feel like I do when the credits role at the end of the 15th sequel to a B-movie horror film:  How many frickin’ Halloween movies can they make?  But I always watch the next one.

Psalm 44 isn’t about pride, because the authors express their hope and trust in God, even when it seems like He’s abandoned them (which He hadn’t).  The authors praise Him for their victories.  Look at what they write in Psalm 44:6-8, “For I will not trust in my bow, nor will my sword save me.  But You have saved us from our adversaries, and You have put to shame those who hate us.  In God we have boasted all day long, and we will give thanks to Your name forever.”

How many times in our life have we “dug ourselves a hole that we can’t get out of”?  I’ve done it a lot–through my actions, through my words.  I can’t even remember most of the times I’ve done it.  What’s the process?  We say or do something that “digs the hole”:  we lie, we ring up too much debt, we gossip, we sin.  Then we try to get ourselves out:  we tell lies to cover up lies, we ring up more debt, we spread more gossip, we sin more.  We just dig a deeper hole.  Let’s be honest, the only way we can think of to get out of the hole–more digging.  Which makes absolutely zero sense.

We need to stop digging.  We need to ask for help.

The authors of the Psalm say that they won’t depend on their trash can lids and light sabers for victory.  They will depend on God for victory.  Does that mean they got to sit back, relax, and drink some herbal tea while God kicked ass?  No.  They still had to fight.  They just knew that their own strength wasn’t the source of victory.  God was.

It’s time for us to do the same.  God won’t zap us with “instant sainthood” or put us in a sanitary bubble away from our problems.  Part of dropping our pride is wrestling with it.  We must realize that it takes more than a positive attitude and a strong dose of will power.  In fact, sometimes those things can hinder us.  What we need is submission to God.  That requires humility, which means testing from God, which means temptation from Satan.

It’s taken a long time, and lot of ass kickings from God, for me to even reach the final scene of my personal pride horror film–to get the serial killer laid out on the floor.  A close friend of mine died in a plane crash at the age of 24, right when we were about to relaunch our church.  It made me realize that no one, not even me, is indespensable.  It took several conversations with people that were one-sided–me lashing out for how stupid I thought they were–and having to deal with the fallout, to make me realize that I couldn’t force people into following me–that had to be earned.  It took over half of our church leaving for me to realize that God alone is responsible for the growth of a church, and that making disciples is a long, hard, humiliating process that relies very little on what skill and expertise I do have.  Looking back, I don’t think I’d change a thing, because it’s made me who I am.  It has made me realize that my sword and shield (in my case, my knowledge and ministry skills) aren’t what I need to rely on. 

What I need to rely on is Jesus.

What about you?  What is your sword and shield–what are the things you tend to rely on and find pride in that have the potential to shove God out of His rightful place on the throne of your life?  What will it take for you to stop relying on them and to start relying on Jesus?  That may be a question you don’t want answered.  The journey can be long.  It can be painful.  But in the end, looking back, it’s worth it.

Can I Get a Light?

Psalm 43

I live in an area of the country that sports a lot of caves.  I live three minutes from the oldest “Show Cave” in the country:  Grand Caverns.  It’s absolutely jaw dropping in its beauty.  Last year, I toured the cave for the first time in years–and they announced right before our tour that just a few hours before, they found a brand new section of the cave that doubled its “square footage,” and had never been seen by human eyes.   I live about an hour from one of the more popular caves in the area, Luray Caverns.  It sports the world’s only organ that uses the cave’s formations to formulate its sounds.  There are other caves around.  I even went into a house that is built over a cave.  You go down a set of steps, and there it is.  Caves are cool… until you turn off the lights.  Then it’s pitch black.  Its a darkness that can only be described as thick.  You can almost feel it.  It’s really creepy to put your hand an inch from your face and not be able to see it.  It’s claustrophobic.  You just wanna scream, “Can I get a light?”

Psalm 43 is super short at only five verses.  Yet, look what it says in verse 3, “O send out Your light and Your truth,let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill, and to Your dwelling places.”  Light is often used in the Bible to represent truth.  In our culture, it’s really popular to slam the notion of absolute truth and replace it with relative truth–whatever is true for you is true for you, even if it isn’t true for me.  At the risk of oversimplifying it, it just ain’t so.  Are there gray areas in life?  Sure.  Life is complex.  Not everything fits into a nice, ordered group.  But when it comes to God and truth, everything isn’t relative.

It’s really popular for my generation (Gen-X, Busters) and the one after me (Gen-Y, Mosaics) to customize Jesus.  It’s popular to think that he was a really nice guy who hung out with nice people, probably drinking herbal tea and driving around in his Jetta, and saying really nice things.  But what about the Jesus who got in the grill of the religious people and let ‘em have it?  What about the Jesus who, not once but twice, stormed into the temple in anger and disrupted a crooked money-making scam?  What about the Jesus who talked about picking up our cross daily and following Him?  What about the Jesus who was crushed on the cross?  What about the Jesus who rules the universe and who, one day, will return to kick ass and take names when He judges the world?  What about the Jesus who said that He was the way, the truth, and the life, and no one gets to God except through Him?  All of those things were integral to Jesus’ person, life, character, and work.  We cannot customize him buffet style… or we end up with a neutered, neutral, powerless Jesus.

So what are we who follow Jesus to do?  First, don’t be ashamed of who He is.  We don’t have to water Him down to make Him more appealing.  The fact is, watering Him down has the opposite effect.  People, for the most part, aren’t interested in following a Jesus with no expectations.  Second, we must (as Jesus said) let our light shine before men.  Do our lives reflect Jesus–are we being changed by Jesus in how we think, talk, and act?  Are we putting others first instead of living selfishly?  Are we taking risks with our faith (and sitting in a pew on Sunday for 90 minutes is hardly a risk, except to the nerves in your ass)? 

Can people see Jesus through us?  Can they see His light?  Can they see His truth?  Are we shining light into their darkness?

Wednesday Extravaganza: Sabotage–Character Assassination (6 of 13)

1 John 2:18-27
Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen; from this we know that it is the last hour.  They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for it they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us.  But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.  I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.  Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ?  This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.  Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.  As for you, let that abide in you which you have heard from the beginning.  If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.  And this is the promise which He Himself made to us:  eternal life.  These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.  And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.

Background
John writes with urgency as he exposes the core of the rotten doctrine of the false teachers he is confronting.  He shows his readers that the false teachers are antichrists–they stand in opposition to Jesus.  There were apparently claiming that a person could know God through their “secret knowledge”, which either gave no place to Jesus or saw Jesus as unimportant.  John urges them to hold on to the original gospel message that was preached to them–that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was crucified for their sins, was buried, and was raised physically from the dead.  The reason it is so important to stay true to the gospel message is this:  eternity hangs in the balance.

What It Means…
John urgently points out to the churches in Ephesus the red flags that show that the false teachers stood in opposition to Jesus (thus, he calls them antichrists).  First, they left the church over doctrinal differences.  If they really were followers of Jesus, they would have stuck around and would have conformed their beliefs to the gospel.  Instead, they took their false beliefs and left the church, attempting to take others with them.  Second, they denied that Jesus was the Christ–they were assassinating His character.  This was a direct blow on the false teaching of Cerinthus, who taught the false doctrine that Jesus and the Christ were two separate beings.  So, if they’ve left the church because of a dispute over the nature of the gospel (and they did), and if they deny that Jesus is the Christ (and they did), then it is abundantly clear that the false teachers really don’t know God and really are not Christians, because they have denied the core of the gospel message.  One cannot claim to know God, deny Jesus, and be a Christian.

John encourages them, telling his readers that they know the truth about Jesus, and that eternity hangs in the balance.  The anointing from God–the Holy Spirit–taught them all things, and did so in truth.  Therefore, the Christians that were under pressure to abandon Jesus from the false teachers could stay true to the gospel.  They knew the red flags that identified the false teachers as standing opposed to Jesus, and they had the true message about Jesus which they had heard and known since the beginning of their faith journey.  Therefore, they need to continue to stay true to the gospel, in their beliefs and reflecting it in their lives.

How We Can Apply It…
Filter what you hear about Jesus.  There’s a lot of garbage being spread around about Jesus in our culture.  Just because someone says something about Jesus–a TV talking head, a preacher, a friend, a documentary–doesn’t make it true.  Read, watch, and listen critically.  What is our criteria for filtering what we hear about Jesus?

The Bible–read it.  The Bible is about Jesus.  The only way we can get to know Jesus is if we read the Bible, and do so regularly.  Reading the Bible is exercise for the mind and soul–the more regularly you “exercise” through the reading of the Bible, the more benefits you’ll get from it.  Don’t expect to be able to filter what you hear about Jesus if you’re not getting to know Him.  Get the info from the main source–the Bible.

Stay true to the gospel, both in your beliefs and in your life.  Jesus is God in the flesh who was crucified for our sins and was raised physically from the dead.  His death and resurrection secured God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness.  Jesus gets us right with God.  Jesus keeps us right with God.  The gospel is about one thing:  JESUS.  We must stay true to the Bible’s teaching about Jesus, and we must reflect Jesus in our lives–in what we know, what we say, what we do, and how we live… in every aspect of our life.

Video Link:  http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=26887429

Thirsty

Psalm 42

I grew up on a farm, which means I had to work on the farm.  I mostly helped make hay in the summer, which meant long hours of riding a tractor.  Boring.  Hot (and not in the sense that Paris Hilton uses the word).  My father didn’t invest in the newest equipment with  air conditioning and tape decks.  His tractors had natural air conditioning and a broken 8-track player.  While I didn’t like the work, I did look forward to break time (and not just because I hated farm work).  It meant going to the local mom-n-pop store for a drink.  Nothing hit the spot like a Coke, which in those days was in a glass bottle, which meant it was really cold. 

Wow, I sound like an old guy telling stories to his grandkids.  If I keep going, I might pull a quarter out of your ear and give you some hard candy…

Thirst.  Farm work makes you thirsty.  Sports make you thirsty.  Any kind of exercise will make you thirsty.  It’s the body’s way of letting you know, “Hey, my water reserves will be runnin’ low soon.  Time to fill up.”

All of us know what physical thirst is like.  But how many of us know what it’s like to be spiritually thirsty?

Psalm 42 is all about spiritual thirst.  It was written by the sons of Korah.  It’s amazing that these guys had such a passion for God, considering who they inherited their DNA from.  Their ancestor, Korah, led a rebellion against Moses in the Old Testament (which was really a rebellion against God).  Long story short, God killed Korah and those who followed him.  It’s interesting to note that the Bible says this after Korah’s death:  “But the sons of Korah did not die.”  Unlike their rebellious ancestor, the sons of Korah had a thirst for God.  Look what they write in Psalm 42:1-2, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?”

When was the last time you were thirsty for God?  When was the last time you were desperate for God?  When was the last time you said, “If I don’t get a dose of God, I’ll die.”  For me, it hasn’t been often enough… and I get paid to work for God.  In our culture, where there are a million different sports drinks and water is just as available as air, we really don’t know what thirst is.  I think the same is true for our spiritual hunger and thirst.  I own nearly 20 Bibles, and all are different translations.  I have an entire closet stacked floor to ceiling with books about God.  I have a ton of computer and internet resources that I use that are about God.  There are Christian bookstores that sell overpriced books that are undernourished.  We may just be oversaturated with God… and thus we don’t appreciate Him.

What can we do to develop a hunger and a thirst for God?  Think about how this works physically.  The more you exercise, the more thirsty you get, and the more you drink.  Not only that, but if you’re smart, you’ll drink what’s good for you–water, Gatorade (I don’t see marathon runners chuggin’ Coors).  I honestly don’t exercise like I should, and I drink stuff like tea and soda–a lot of empty calories.  Is it any wonder that I’m not in prime physical shape?  Now, let’s make the jump to developing thirst for God.  The more you work those spiritual muscles–reading your Bible, praying, serving other people, loving other people practically, proactively, and sacrificially–the more passionate you’ll become about Jesus… and the greater thirst you’ll develop for Him.  I know that’s true for me.  Maybe it’s true for you, too.

Wanna develop that thirst for God?  It doesn’t appear magically.  It must be developed.  So let’s dust off our Bibles, start talking to God, and start serving other people.  In time, we’ll find ourselves parched.