Month: January 2017

From my library: Wounded by God’s People

Card catalogue data
Wounded by God’s People: Discovering How God’s Love Heals Our Hearts by Anne Graham Lotz (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2013)
Category: Christian living
Format: Kindle
Pages: 240 (in the hardcover version)

This is the second book I’ve read in January and thus the second book of 2017.

First paragraph

As I look back on my life, it saddens me to acknowledge that some of my most painful wounds were inflicted by religious people—Gods people. Those who have been the most hurtful, those who have been the most unkind, those who have betrayed, slandered, and undermined me have been those who have also called themselves by God’s name. They have been considered Christians by themselves and by others. Yet they have been men and women whose words and behavior are inconsistent with what they say they believe and contradict what God says. Even now, I shake my head in near disbelief as I recall some of the painful experiences I will share with you in this book.

Why I read this book
Like the author, I have had my share of hurts and woundings, many of them from God’s people. This past year has been no exception. I picked up this kindle book a while back when it was on sale, but I read it last week and it was perfect timing. At the beginning of a new year, with fresh, new goals, it seemed the right time to unshackle from some of the hurts that were holding me back still. And while forgiveness is a continual effort, I felt like this gave me a good start.

The book in a paragraph
Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of Billy & Ruth Graham, has written about how we get hurt by others, especially by Christians, and how we deal with that hurt. She opens up the bandages to show us the wounds in all their gory detail and empathizes with us about the pain they inflict. But then she goes deeper and shows us how to recover and even forgive. She uses the story of Hagar in the Bible as a running theme throughout the book. (Hagar was the servant of Sarah, Abraham’s wife. You may remember that, when Sarah couldn’t seem to have a child, she told Abraham to be intimate with Hagar. This produces a son, Ishmael, the beginnings of the Arab and Islamic worlds.) Lotz pulls many lessons from the account of the hurt that Sarah inflicts on Hagar and applies it to our modern lives.

The bottom line
We must forgive those that wound us. Forgiveness is not a feeling or a one-time act, but a continual choice we make to love the other person (although love is different from trust). And we show that forgiveness through specific acts of love toward that person.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
You may be tempted to think this is a book for women, but I found it to be engaging and applicable to men and women. Even though Lotz gives examples of her own wounding, she keeps the book grounded in Scripture. She is both sympathetic to the wounded while gently prodding them to do what they already know they must do: forgive. And everyone has been wounded, so the book applies to everyone. I highly recommend this book.

From my library: Twilight at the World of Tomorrow

Card catalogue data
Twilight at the World of Tomorrow: Genius, Madness, Murder, and the 1939 World’s Fair on the Brink of War by James Mauro (New York: Ballantine Books, 2010)
Category: History
Format: Hard cover from a used bookstore
Pages: 350 (405 with end matter)

This is the first book I’ve read in January, and thus the first book of 2017. Although the case could be made for counting it as the 23rd book of 2016 since I only read the final few pages on January 1. No matter. Let’s count it for 2017 since I have a higher goal this year.

First paragraph

By all accounts, 1934 was a remarkable year: Flash Gordon made his first appearance in the comic strips, and Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night, starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, would go on to win every major Academy Award. In May, one of the worst storms of the Dust Bowl swept away massive heaps of Great Plains topsoil; in August, Adolph Hitler became Germany’s new Führer. Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, Bonnie and Clyde, and John Dillinger were all gunned down in spectacular, tabloid-titillating fashion. On Broadway, Ethel Merman opened in Cole Porter’s big new hit, Anything Goes; while farther uptown, in Harlem, seventeen-year-old Ella Fitzgerald made her singing debut at the recently christened Apollo Theater.

Why I read this book
I have a fascination with the great world’s fairs and expositions of a bygone era and I’ve read a couple of other histories of them, including The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson and Tomorrow-Land: The 1964-65 World’s Fair and the Transformation of America by Joseph Tirella.

The book in a paragraph
This look at the New York World’s Fair of 1939 and 1940—built on The Great Gatsby’s infamous ash heaps—follows the lives of several key figures, including Albert Einstein, the Fair’s president Grover Whalen, two NYC police detectives, President Franklin Roosevelt, Mayor La Guardia, and others. It shows the irony of an extravagant gathering of nations to promote peace while the storms of World War 2 gather. The “World of Tomorrow” introduced television, the fax machine, nylon, and fluorescent lights to the world, but its lofty dreams of the future would come crashing down two years later.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
This is a wonderfully written book that focuses on a forgotten event in our past. The idea of a World’s Fair seems like an anachronism today. But in this book the excitement and drama behind the scenes are brought to life. Highly recommended.

Deliverance in 2017

I love the beginning of a new year. The post-Christmas calmness and stillness leads into a joyful celebration of a new year and new ideas and, yes, new resolutions.

While we feel calm and rested we make new year’s resolutions which we cannot possibly keep once the hubbub of life resumes in just a few days.

But hope springs eternal, as the saying goes.

For myself, 2016 was such a bust (and really the past three years were cruddy) that I look quite forward to 2017. Let’s leave the old year in the dust!

As you and I begin 2017 full of hope and promise, I want to encourage you—and encourage myself—to commit—or recommit—to a daily quiet time with our God.

As I was reading Psalm 32 yesterday in my first quiet time of the year, I was struck by how important daily connection with my Father is and will be for the coming year.

If you would, humor me and read this psalm of David below (NIV):

1 Blessed is the one
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
2 Blessed is the one
whose sin the Lord does not count against them
and in whose spirit is no deceit.
3 When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night
your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer.
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess
my transgressions to the Lord.”
And you forgave
the guilt of my sin.
6 Therefore let all the faithful pray to you
while you may be found;
surely the rising of the mighty waters
will not reach them.
7 You are my hiding place;
you will protect me from trouble
and surround me with songs of deliverance.
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
9 Do not be like the horse or the mule,
which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle
or they will not come to you.
10 Many are the woes of the wicked,
but the Lord’s unfailing love
surrounds the one who trusts in him.
11 Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous;
sing, all you who are upright in heart!

As I read through these verses and meditated on them, I felt the Lord giving me six diagnostic questions to meditate on as I begin the new year.

ONE  Am I seeking God’s forgiveness DAILY? (vv. 1-5)

David spends so much time at the beginning of this psalm singing of God’s forgiveness, and I think we should give the topic some important consideration too. Yes, if you are a Christian, Christ’s death and resurrection paid the price for your sin and you are forgiven. In that sense, salvation is a one-time event. But we do still sin and daily need to ask for God’s forgiveness.

It’s what Jesus talked about when Peter argued with Jesus about washing Peter’s feet in John 13:6-10. Jesus was saying that walking as a Christian in this fallen world will mean that our feet will get dirty and will need to be cleaned. That’s what daily forgiveness is about.

TWO  Am I praying DAILY? (v. 6)

David says “let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found.” We have a supreme privilege as Christians to enter into a friendship with a holy God! In Hebrews 4:16 we read that we can “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Why would we not take advantage of this open dialog that we now have?! We need to commune with Him daily.

THREE  Am I seeking God for my deliverance DAILY? (v. 7)

David sings here that our Father is our hiding place, our protection, and our deliverance. Whatever we’re facing in 2017, we can face it with God, knowing that He will protect us and deliver us. Am I daily acknowledging that truth and asking God to deliver me and protect me?

FOUR  Am I listening for God’s instruction and counsel DAILY? (vv. 8-9)

According to verse 8, our God wants to instruct us and teach us and show us the way to go and counsel us. Why? Because He loves us! But the only way He can do those things is if we take some quiet moments daily to listen to Him through His Word and through prayer. This is, partly, how God will deliver me, but I must do my part and listen.

The alternative is to be like a stubborn mule that can only be led by bits and bridles and discipline and punishment. My study Bible puts it well: “God longs to guide us with love and wisdom rather than punishment. He offers to teach us the best way to go. Accept the advice written in God’s Word and don’t let your stubbornness keep you from obeying God.”

FIVE  Am I trusting in God’s unfailing love DAILY? (v. 10)

When I trust in God—in His will for me, in His timing, in His ways, in His purposes, in His omniscience, in His sovereignty—it’s as if I can feel God’s unfailing love surrounding me. Even though circumstances may look grim, I trust in Him. Father really does know best. But at times this is a daily struggle to get to this reality by faith.

SIX  Am I rejoicing in God and His provision DAILY? (v. 11)

This last question is the summing up of all the other questions. Rejoice, be glad, sing. Be thankful and praise God for even minor steps of deliverance and provision. And when you can’t rejoice in anything else, rejoice in God, by faith. Find your joy in Him and in Him alone. Sing and lift up your voice to Him in praise. The Bible is such a help here when we don’t know what else to say.

These six questions all lead to a daily quiet time with the Lord. Make it a goal to daily get in touch with your Father God, with your Creator, with your Lord and Savior. And discover that He is your hiding place, your protection, your deliverance, your forgiveness, your teacher, your counselor. Discover that He is your deliverer and your source of joy and love.