I had the pleasure of having dinner last night with friends. One of the lovely gifts that one of my friends gave me for Christmas was a space pen. It is a pen that writes at any angle. In excitement, she pointed it out and explained what it was. I could see her joy in giving it. She knows I constantly have thoughts bombarding my head and she wanted to give me something where I could quickly and easily capture my dreams or thoughts in the middle of the night. What a precious gift. It is the season of giving and any gift is thoughtful. Someone is thinking of someone else as they give it. This gift is even more so because she gifted it to delight me based on knowing me. She knows my ever-active mind. The true gift, however, is the friendship and love of these women who know and love the Lord. Sitting with friends is such a joy to the soul. The soul is satisfied with knowing and being known. As the beauty of my relationship with these women has unfolded and continues to unfold, my heart, which knows and loves my God and King, longs to know him even more intimately. This almighty, cosmic God who holds all things together is my personal, gentle God who meets me every day. My goal over this next year, is to sit with God more. My prayer, “Know me and let me know you more today”.
Matthew 5:3-11:
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
For they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
For they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
For they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
I look at this passage and I see a God of contradiction. This passage claims blessing nine times in conditions that appear, to our eyes and to our hearts, as the opposite of ideal. Nothing of the conditions in that list seems easy or blessed. How can one who is poor possess the richest of all kingdoms, how can one who mourns experience joy, how do the meek, often unseen and overlooked, inherit anything, how are the hungry satisfied? Our first reaction when reading the cost, is likely to be, “No thanks, I’ll pass. I prefer easy, comfortable, and cushy. Bless me God in the ways I want to be blessed.”.
There is completing, transforming work in brokenness towards the understanding that God, alone, is enough. There is danger in approaching God’s word with our earthly wisdom and our poor eyesight. Our wisdom is contrary to the wisdom of God, and if we continue to hold onto our wisdom, we maintain lives contrary to Him. Yes, none of the conditions in that list are easy, but they are, indeed, blessed. God is the God of consistency. We can hold his words as truth, clutching onto them in the worst of the storms. As we sat during dinner, we shared hardships and heartaches, lamenting circumstances. But in joy, we acknowledged that we have all experienced God’s transformative work in our lives during periods of brokenness and the beauty of brokenness. God does amazing things to the believer in hardship. Each of us have come to know him as the God who gives strength to the weary and the God who comforts in sorrow. Isaiah 40:28-31 “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” We’ve experienced what the Beatitudes claim and what Isaiah 40 claims because God is a God of revelation and truth. What we cannot see with our eyes as truth, He guides us to and then guides us through. Where we are predictable in our sin: our hoarding, our selfishness, and our doubt, God is predictable in His truth: His love and His promises.
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