Two things are for sure: God extends His mercy even to the merciless, and, men can never thwart the plans of God. Oh sure, we’ll make up seemingly rational reasons why God may not extend mercy to the merciless. We will likely devise misguided agendas that supposedly prove we can thwart the plans of God, but, according to God, who is always right, mankind doesn’t have that kind of authority nor power. It is completely imaginary to think we can thwart the plans of God. All power and glory. honor and dominion belong to God alone, and there is not another.

Jonah 1:3, “But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD”

David Barrett of BibleMapper.com says Tarshish stood more than 2,500 miles from Israel. By Jonah getting on a ship in Joppa intending to sail to Tarshish, it is a good assumption that he wanted nothing to do with Nineveh. He may have feared for his life, but more than likely he despised those of Nineveh so intensely that he refused to participate in God’s plan of redemption for them.

Why would he prefer everyone in Nineveh to be lost in their sin forever? That seems pretty extreme. Historically speaking though, those in Nineveh had a reputation of dipping Jews in oil, tying them to poles, setting them on fire, and using them as lights at their feasts. Also, the leadership in Nineveh thought it was funny to torture Jews, feed them to the lions, and one historian wrote they skinned Jews alive and made them to roll around in salt as entertainment. In light of all that, we can understand a little why Jonah would want them dead. When God moved to send a head strong, contrary guy to preach good news to the worst people in the world, it would appear Jonah wanted nothing to do with it and intended to flee as far away from Nineveh as possible, or so he thought. God said, “Go”, Jonah said, “no”, God said, “Yes”, Jonah said, “I will not”, God said, “Oh yes you will”, Jonah said, “I’m leaving”, God said, “I’ll bring you back”.

As previously stated, it’s already a very long trip from Joppa to Tarshish but see the entire journey. He gets on a ship in Joppa, Jonah 1:3, once under way, a terrible storm of galactic proportions blows up, Jonah 1:4, one like no one had ever seen before. It was so bad they lost their cargo or profit margin, and everyone on board thought they were going to die at sea, Jonah 1:4-10. After much debate, at Jonah’s request, Jonah 1:13, he influenced the sailors to do the unthinkable, which was to throw him into the sea. With no other options, in desperation they agreed and tossed him over the side. Suddenly, the wind and sea went dead calm, another incredible miracle worthy of note and is hard to ignore by anyone. At some point Jonah is floating along and a huge fish appears, swallows him whole and Jonah begins 3 days and nights in the belly of the fish, Jonah 1:17. The giant fish swims all the way back to the nearest beach front, possibly somewhere near the city called Tripolis, meaning three cities, in Phoenicia, N of Byblos, otherwise known today as Tripoli, Lebanon. He sailed away from Israel only to be brought all the way to, possibly, the nearest shoreline. Think. This man r-e-a-l-l-y did not want to go and was determined to try and out distance God to keep from going to Nineveh to preach the word of the Lord. Yet, above all, God insisted Jonah yield in order that Nineveh be given the opportunity to repent and turn to God.

Recap: he went many miles away from Israel by boat and many miles back to the coast by fish, wherewith I’m guessing Jonah died a few times then was brought back to life during the trip. He finally yields praying earnestly in Jonah 2:1-10 and God hears his cry. He arrives at a likely unknown ocean shore line and endures the violent action of being vomited up. If anyone happen to be watching, I’m sure it was quite a terrifying spectacle to behold the surfacing of such a fish and the arrival of Jonah. Imagine, he is at least partly bleached out from digestive juices, he’s got chunks of slimy stuff on him with some seaweed on his head and shoulders. He has nothing — no provision, no friends, no clean clothing, no food, no shelter, and no bus service to Nineveh. He is reduced to his bare minimum, rock bottom and the only thing he’s got going for him is God.

Let’s look at a map. The Mediterranean Sea is approximately 370+ mi from Nineveh, which is modern day Mosul, Syria. Also, notice, there is no river running from the Mediterranean to Nineveh, so, how is Jonah going to get to Nineveh? To me this means he had a very long walk ahead of him.

i feel pretty certain that the Lord had plenty to say to Jonah while on the journey, on foot, of 370+ miles. The Bible says nothing about the conversation (that i can find) between himself and God while on his long walk to Nineveh, which surely happened. That was a very — long — walk and, I would imagine, a very — long — intense conversation on the way to accomplishing God’s purposes in the Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia.

Here’s an idea about the rest of Jonah’s travels after he was regurgitated on the beach. Let’s approximate that Jonah managed to walk 12 miles a day, some days a little less and some days a little more. Sometimes he might have even gotten a ride on a cart a little way, but i’d say the distance of approximately 12 miles per day for 370 miles, he was on the road at least 30+ days.

But wait! There’s more. After being back to dry land, he was now walking and talking to God. He went through plush places and baron places on the way to his appointment in Nineveh. i cannot begin to imagine the conversation between himself and God. It was likely very intense to say the least, with God being very persistent, purposeful, and very, very pointed. There were probably times of silence from God, dry deserts, bewildering wilderness, enemies, pounding heat, whipping rain, contrary winds, biting cold, and maybe a few little sanctuaries here and there. It’s safe to assume God must have made a provision for Jonah of food, water and shelter along the way. He probably occasionally met friendly people and hostile people, enduring all the things that constitute everyday life while on his way to Nineveh.

A lot of my imagining Jonah’s journey may not be wholly true, but i don’t think i’m too far off the mark. We should take care to note though, we can’t build sound doctrine from a platform of silence, or what scripture does not say … but, we can not totally ignore scriptural silences because they often do persuade the narrative.

After all that, among many lessons and morals concerning the book of Jonah, here are a couple to ponder. The first is that even though God had every right to terminate the relationship, that’s not what happened. He did not abandon Jonah and He will not abandon you. Hebrews 13:5b, “… for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Secondly, God WILL get our attention. He will work to get our attention in our spirit, and if that doesn’t work, He’ll work to get our attention in our mind, and if that doesn’t work, He’ll work to get our attention in our flesh. And if THAT doesn’t work then He’ll get our attention even to the shedding of blood, but one way or another, He WILL get our attention. Friends, yield to God and allow His words to persuade your heart. Life is much easier that way. Don’t be like Jonah.

So, several months ago, due to computer breakage, software malfunctions, hard drive crashes, miles and miles of frustration, and the realization that i’ve been making some pretty poor audio files, i decided it was time to upgrade. i got a new computer, new microphone, mic-preamp, and even upgraded to new and superior audio software. i am the proud owner of my very own DAW. i even know what it stands for, digital audio workstation.

With all my new stuff there came a very steep learning curve, which, through the entire process, God began to speak to me about the way i see myself. i sat for a few hours everyday, watching tutorials, reading, watching, reading, taking notes, trying different things with all this new stuff. i tell ya’, i felt like i’d moved from the drivers seat of and old VW bus to a high speed, snap your head back, major horsepower road car. When i double click the audio software to bring it up, it’s like turning the key to a double A fuel dragster and listening to it rumble and cackle, shake, rattle, and roll. It’s intoxicating. i mean the options were endless in how i could wrangle my voice this way, and twist it that way, make it deeper, and sharper, far away, on this side then that side, or right in your ear. i made many recordings and deleted many recordings, over and over with new settings each time for bass, mid, and treble, close to the mic, far from the mic, to the side, and even behind it, with effects and without. i’ve even gone so far as to put up quite a bit of sound proofing to try and get a better recording. Why? All because i really and truly want to make a very listenable product which someone wouldn’t mind listening to, maybe even find it pleasant. i want to do a good job with what God has given me.

Well, i’ve been really struggling. i’ve discovered when i’ve made a recording and i thought it sounded pretty good, if i compared my voice to someone else’s, i realized i sounded like i was in a tunnel, or under a blanket. Without the comparison, i really didn’t know i sounded like that. Without the comparison, i thought it was pretty good. i was reminded of when i was a kid and my parents had a little Lloyd stereo with a fold down turntable and speaker boxes that unhooked from the left and right side. i thought that thing was an amazing sound system. i learned to play guitar using that stereo, lifting the needle and moving it to play the same part over and over till i drove my folks crazy. Then one day in my little town, my dad took me to Elmer Neil’s stereo shop where i heard a set of Klipsch Horns which were like a voice from Heaven…. incase you’ve never heard such a thing, i’m telling you that’s top of the line, blow your mind, world class equipment. Suddenly, i had some perspective about our little Lloyd stereo my folks bought at Sherman’s Sporting Goods.

The first part of all this is some insight about perspective. We can’t understand a curvy line unless we have gotten, somewhere, the idea of a straight line. i didn’t know what a bad stereo was until i heard a really good one. My simple line example is very similar. How would you know that a line is curvy unless there was a straight line to compare it to? According to the Lord, everyone born, comes into this world with the concept of right and wrong. We wouldn’t know we were wrong unless we had a standard of right. Whether we admit it or not, i believe everyone knows in the bottom of their heart God is the standard. They may not like it, or agree, or believe it, but it doesn’t change the fact that the standard is there. i thank the Lord for showing me how good my recordings can be by my realizing how bad they were. Now i see a standard. Now i can tell when the recording is good or poor.

The second part of this little endeavor, is that the Lord pointed out to me that the reason i was struggling so SO hard with my vocals was because i was constantly trying to sound ….like someone else, anyone but me. With all my new fangled effects and high powered processing, He pointed out to me that i was constantly trying to edit “me” out of the picture, because i didn’t like how i sounded. One night the Lord said to me in a dream, “It’s ok to be you, and it’s ok for you to sound and look like yourself.” So now, i’m learning to relax and simply be ok with how i sound, and i’ll say to you too, it’s ok to be you. It’s ok to look like you and to sound like you. Don’t edit yourself out of your picture and out of life because you don’t like how you appear and sound to yourself….it’s ok for you to be in your own story. Breathe man breathe. God loves you and He really really likes you too….right where you are and it’s enough.

i read somewhere that apathy or indifference is a form of spiritual disengagement, lukewarmness, a state of spiritual slumber. It’s not simply a lack of knowledge or laziness, but a deeper indifference towards spiritual things, often rooted in neglecting God’s love and forgetting His promises. Apathy means “I don’t care.” It’s not the same as ignorance (“I don’t know”), complacency (“I am satisfied with my current status”), or laziness (“I don’t want to do anything”).

Romans 12:11, “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.” Also, pay attention to Hebrews 12:1b. “…lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” We must participate with the Lord in order for change to occur believing that change is not beyond our control.

A young woman was arguing with her mother in the kitchen before school one morning over something or other. It’s not important why they were arguing, but more focusing on the young woman’s attitude (“attitude” meaning “how you lean in your heart”). Every time her mother would point out an attitude that needed more consideration, the young woman began to flip her hair and dismissively said, “I don’t care.” The more her mother tried to press her points the more the young woman claimed indifference. “I don’t care, mom!” she yelled.

I don’t care? Really? As believers, here’s a question: Is God indifferent? About anything? Ever? If we say we are living like Jesus and want to be like Him, and God is not indifferent, then neither should we. Indifference, or as the Bible calls it “apathy” or “being apathetic” has far reaching consequences.

The folks at Bible Pathways make two very good points:

1. “Indifference represents a complete disregard for the needs and suffering of others.” “Disregard” may seem a bit harsh but, somewhere there the word disregard is absolutely applicable. Think. In order to be “indifferent” we must disregard the needs of others or ourselves. Is that a good idea? No.
2. “General apathy leads to spiritual apathy in believers, hindering good connection with God and others.” Did you get that? Apathy dulls our ability to connect with God and others. Now hear this — a little apathy inspires a little more apathy, and the more we are apathetic, the easier it gets to be apathetic. We are Christians who are in hard pursuit of God and His values, so in our modern society, being apathetic can have profound consequences. Is that a good idea? No.

Imagine … one day apathy comes to visit, at first posing as a friend. Then, to our frustration, decides to stay, camping out in the living room, making a gradual mess of everything and constantly stinking up the bathroom. More and more, apathy carelessly tosses soda cans on the floor, sprinkles food crumbs and empty candy wrappers everywhere. Apathy becomes absent-minded as to the well being of the house. Then begins a long string of heedless, irresponsible, reckless behaviors that makes us sorry we ever let apathy in the door.

Psalm 73:12, “Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.” Often in the Bible there are words used to point out indifference or apathy, words like “at ease”, “sleep” or “slumber”, and references to “the lazy”.

Thus, we gradually start to “wander away”. That is “wander away” in the sense of James 5:19, which is also translated as “led astray”. Did we wake up one day simply indifferent or was there something greater which “leads us astray”? Do you see it? Inch by inch, little by little, our apathy or indifference influences our faith, until one day, we wake up and realize we’re in real trouble and wonder, “How did I get way over here?”

In Lamentations 1:12, the writer notices passersby are indifferent to their suffering and sorrow. “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?” Rest assured, God has been addressing our tendencies toward apathy when, from the beginning, things are difficult.

So, what are we really saying when we claim indifference? Are we playing our “go along to get along” card, as in — others don’t seem to care, so I won’t either? Is it more that something is too painful to talk about, so in an effort to not deal with our internal conflicts we claim indifference? You do realize the longer we don’t deal with our conflicts the more we will resemble our conflicts. The doctor wisely advises the patient to stop drinking, but the patient retreats to their typical dismissive posture and claims, “I don’t care!” To me the patient is saying, in so many words, “don’t bother me, I’ve heard it a thousand times before. I’ve tried to quit over and over and failed, so i just resign to slowly killing myself.” i call that death on the installment plan. “I don’t care.”

How often, looking deep within ourselves with all honesty, how often does “i don’t care” actually mean “i don’t care”? After all, the only people who truly don’t care, having a through and through “care-less attitude”, are sociopaths and psychopaths. Think about it.

For me, often my problem was not that i was indifferent, but more i cared about everything so much I was burdened. So in an effort to escape my burden i claimed indifference, choosing apathy instead of empathy. In the claim of being indifferent, did i actually escape the weight of my affliction? No. My internal conflict was still there and the truth is I was still burdened by the weight by which I was so easily knocked off my feet. The truth is i did actually care, but there was something wrong with the way I was dealing with life.

Jesus said in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

25+ years ago the Lord began to address my apathy, my conflict of being indifferent. Over time i began to get the idea that i needed to re-think what was important rather than claim indifference. In the course of a couple weeks i went from pretending apathy to realizing and properly weighing what was of most importance to the least important. i was learning to prioritize. It was not that i didn’t care if someone remembered my name, but that it was not a great, pressing priority. If the name of Jesus is the most important name in the universe, then it’s obviously more important people know Jesus, not me. It’s not that we shouldn’t care what happens to the poor but more what level of importance does God assign it, and isn’t it more important that we align with God’s purposes?

Let us not “wander away”, or slumber when we need to pay attention. God never, EVER calls us to disregard others or to be indifferent. He is not indifferent or apathetic about anything and neither should we.

i’m Social Porter with Living In His Name Ministries.

Joy. You can’t buy it at the store, it doesn’t come in cans, boxes, easy applicators, bags, or sacks. It isn’t gotten with some easy 1-2-3, step-by-step method. Joy – so where does real joy come from?

Heaven is in no short supply of joy, it’s an abundant commodity available to anyone willing to believe on the name of Jesus. Sounds simple, and, well, actually … it is, we simply have to be willing to put our shoulder into faith in God. Sometimes easier said than done, but for millions, God has made a way to do just that. Let me add though, i’m almost always suspicious anytime someone uses the words, “If you’ll just…”, or “You simply have to….”, or “If we would only…” minimizing the thing to be done, making it seem easier to accomplish than it really is. One of the by-products of that faith-effort is joy, the joy of the Lord Himself. How do we get it? i’ll add that the luminary of my spirit, soul, and eyes gives the light of joy to my heart.

          In Psalm 43:4 the psalmist is so overwhelmed at the goodness of God he’s willing to pickup an instrument and sing songs of praise and worship.
^“Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And on the harp I will praise You, O God, my God.” The Lord Himself is our joy. He is life changing, over the top, beyond all hopes and dreams, and past all expectations. That all sounds amazingly wonderful, but i suppose we’ve got to ask a question of ourselves: do we have it? What is joy to you? i took a moment to look up “joy” in the Merriam-Webster dictionary which said, “the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires”. Honestly, that seemed kind of narrow to me. Does being a success at something give you joy? Of course, but what if God means for the idea of “joy” to be a part of us all the time and every day, even when things aren’t well with us and it isn’t dependent on the work of our hands? i believe His intent is that we would still have “joy” even in challenging circumstances. i do “enjoy” the work of my hands, but is there something more to joy that is deeper, longer lasting, and more a part of our foundation than just the joy of having what we want, or things merely going well for us.

          ! IF ! in the foundations of our heart “joy” is something which comes and goes, on again/off again as we succeed and fail, it would seem to not really hold to the idea of “joy” as God intended it, but more as men would describe “fun”. Do we, as adults, “enjoy” life because we have “joy”, or do we have “fun”? It may seem a subtle difference here, but 1000 yards away it’s a wide variance. It would seem “joy” is the mature version of what would otherwise by the juvenile “fun”. Don’t get me wrong here, i like having fun like the next person. i mean, i love a good rollercoaster! It’s fun, that is … as long as the ride lasts, and then it isn’t fun. But when i enjoy myself, it is joy which lasts and lasts. “Fun” rises and falls, it’s erratic, but “joy” is a constant. i wonder … is joy a vacuum in our hearts, but we’re so busy having “fun” we don’t realize that there is a hollow spot where joy should be? And everyday we look for better “fun” than yesterday, for if today’s “fun” doesn’t eclipse yesterdays fun, then many consider life dull and unhappy. Let’s think about that! If that is how we think of joy, then i believe we’ve completely misunderstood God and need to realize “joy” is not about “fun”.

Quite some time ago, my son came to me when i got home from work and asked, “Dad, did you have fun today?” It was a simple question from a young man wanting to engage his father in some conversation, but in the moment, something clicked in my head and i realized, i don’t have fun, but i enjoy and find joy in everything i do. i wondered when did i start enjoying all of my life, and when was the last time i had “fun”? i enjoy mowing the lawn and i have a rising joy when i sit on the porch in the evening watching the sun go down, smelling the fresh mowed lawn. Sitting on the porch, smelling the fresh cut grass and watching the sun go down isn’t fun, but it is certainly an enjoyable thing. And the memory of those times is joy all over again. It appears to me “fun” is in the moment, it is here and gone again, and today’s measure of fun is based on our evaluation of yesterdays fun. If we had more fun yesterday than today, many people don’t consider themselves to have had fun today. Do you understand what i’m saying? God has done something in our hearts concerning “joy” that is so invasive to all our being, that “joy” enters in to all our affairs, and His joy just stays, and stays, and stays and it’s always on a steady rising incline, unlike fun which oscillates from moment to moment. For me, yesterday’s joy didn’t fade by the time today got here, it’s still here, and getting better all the time, always on the increase. My joy isn’t dependent on a thing or another human being, my joy is completely tied to Jesus, and because He is consistent and always increasing in glory, my joy is consistent and always increasing also. Real Joy comes from God alone. It is a result of the Holy Spirit being in us as seen in the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23

In Psalm 5:11 “But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name Be joyful in You.” In Psalm 16:11 it says in God’s presence there is joy for ever and ever. What if i read that inserting “fun” in place of “joy”? It would read, In God’s presence there is fun for ever and ever. That totally doesn’t work, it sounds too much like a carnival or circus act. Psalm 48:2 says the city of God, the city of His presence is the joy of the whole earth. Wow! What a place. Joy is definitely something i want, don’t you? i mean, why would anyone not want the joy God offers all who will simply respond to His invitation to believe in Him, turn from their own self-centered agenda, and eat at His table? i don’t know about you but i’m not really interested in something i have to keep reinventing every day like fun, i’d like something more permanent and consistent like joy. And you know what, God has lots, and lots of it, and absolutely loves to give joy to those who want it! When God looks at us and says we are His children, the joy of His heart, He said we are the “joy” of His heart, not the “fun” of His heart.

Psalm 33:18-22 from the Message Bible, “Watch this: God’s eye is on those who respect him, the ones who are looking for his love. He’s ready to come to their rescue in bad times; in lean times he keeps body and soul together. We’re depending on GOD; he’s everything we need. What’s more, our hearts brim with joy since we’ve taken for our own his holy name. Love us, GOD, with all you’ve got— we are depending on you with all our heart.

Think about it.

Mara. Bitterness. Wormwood.

Deuteronomy 29:18, “Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the LORD our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root that beareth bitterness and wormwood;”

Bitterness can be a root in our hearts which drives all of our intentions, ideas, and decisions. It can influence our emotional capital so strongly, we find abundant reasons to turn away from right, and justify wrong. Beyond sad, it is more than merely being disappointed … beyond the horizon of grief — it is all those things with a vengeance, striking and snapping at all that’s around us.

Bitterness grips our thinking like waves, constantly washing in and out, pulverizing our dreams and healthy hopes. The writer of Lamentations used the word bitterness in Lamentations 3:15 in a way which says it’s like a tidal wave in our head with an attitude of an eye-for-an-eye with revenge. In Ruth 1:20, the word for bitterness or “mara”, ends in a Hebrew letter which paints a picture of something that grips in a full fisted grip, all our senses, twisting our sense of taste so that everything tastes bad, our impressions of odors only noting the offensiveness, accenting touch to recognize only the rough and indelicate textures in relationships, persuading our eyes to see all of life’s hard featured attributes, and all that’s wrong with everything. It filters our auditory functions to only focus on everything unkind and discouraging. Bitterness is powerful to narrow God’s goodness from our perception, inspiring revenge, spite, spiritual starvation, and social deprivation leaving us alone in a dark prison cell only reserved for violent offenders.

Offense and disappointment are always sending us invitations in the mail and knocking on the door of our heart, and if allowed in our house, they will germinate to grow more of themselves, taking root everywhere.

i met a man who said he had a dream, and in the dream he was in his living room. There, growing right in the middle was a big, ugly, horrible smelling tree, and it’s big oozing, knotted roots ran into every room, so much so he said he couldn’t hardly walk. He said the branches with gnarled, twisted little leaves draped over the windows, casting long shadows, and had gotten into the water supply so water wouldn’t easily flow from the faucets. He said it was awful, just awful and he woke up feeling like he was suffocating.

After some extended conversation, he mentioned his long running anger at God because his mother had unexpectedly died, but he wouldn’t let his anger stop. He perpetuated it, constantly revisiting the disappointment, and the more he thought about it all the more he thought about it all, until he resented the Lord for, in his words, “letting this happen”, blaming God, over and over until his resentment colored all his thinking, all his breathing, and all his feeling. Yes, even his unconscious thoughts and actions. i believe the dream was from the Lord painting a picture of how bitterness had been allowed to grow in his heart and head, and had become so invasive, it had taken over every room in the house, even blocking life giving water and light.

i’d say, that’s pretty accurate. Bitterness, or wormwood, if allowed to fester like a rotting wound, can kill you as the final action at a most bitter end.

One writer calls this form of ultimate self-centeredness to be like, “a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage, resulting in frenzied, joyless grabs for happiness filled with trinket gods and magic-show religion.” He wrote that “bitterness drives paranoid loneliness, all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants, a brutal temper and chainsaw styled judgment. Eventually, we’ll find ourselves cornered in divided homes, divided vision, divided lives, and small-minded, lopsided pursuits with a vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into being a rival.”

A fellow told me once that unforgiveness is hell-bent sin. i didn’t get it until years later when i found myself tied and gagged by offense, disappointment, and bitterness. The Lord said to me, straight out, plain as day, “You can be free of all that, but you’ll have to let go of some stuff.” He pointed out that it wasn’t my job to fix the other person, but to deal with my own things. i had to buy into forgiveness, and i mean really buy into it with all your heart. We’ve got to see, realize, and recognize the places we’ve allowed our flesh to gain power over our spirit, and get back our relish for righteous things. Not “what’s wrong with them?, “if they would only…. then i would” thus and such, but “where am i in this mess?”

God can free you of bitterness and wormwood. His solution is for us to gain a heart of thankfulness, being thankful for grace, living in it’s flow so much so it overflows to others. We may have to get counseling as to not “what” is going on with us, but “why” can’t we let it go. The love of God is overwhelming, but we really do need to be honest about ourselves, and let His abundant grace and forgiveness overflow us. Ask the Lord for help to get free. He hears you and He will, He will, He will answer. When He does, go with God, He knows the way out of the jungle of bitterness and disappointment which may very well have taken over your house.

What do you think?

Home: a place of residence or refuge. For believers, home may mean not only the place we live while here on earth, the physical place as in “Home is where you hang your hat”, but Heaven, our end place with Jesus, as in “Home is where the heart is”. The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can be as we are, wearing only one face and no facades. i think everyone is looking for home in some way or another, it is a quiet ache or persistent longing that tugs at even the hardest of hearts … and everyone has an idea of “home” that is unique to them. For some it may be sitting on a porch swing, swaying and creaking back and forth under summer stars, yet for others it is among kind friends and smiling faces, the smell of familiar bread, a laugh that fits just right. As we search for “home” we weave through memories, chasing belonging and connecting. i think these days there are many who hope for “home” but don’t find “home” nor do they know how. Maybe it’s the last place they felt safe, but i must add, in this world real, bonafide safety is fleeting and getting harder to hold.

i think we’re searching for “home” even when we don’t know we’re searching for “home”, it can seem endless and daunting, our restless heart not quite finding where we fit or belong, you know, that place where we connect. Belonging and connecting are two essential attributes for identifying “home”. How do you know when you’re home? In this earthly life we’re told home is a place which feels right – cozy, and a place of our own. Friends, to me, where ever Jesus is, there is home, and if we think we’re in Heaven and Jesus isn’t there, it is hell. It seems so many are looking for “home” and don’t know it. Some say they have found their home, a heaven of their own making. Again, i say if you think you’ve found Heaven and God isn’t there, it must be hell. God is at home, it’s we who have gone out for a long, lonely walk.

In a song by a well known artist, some of the lyrics are “Traveling at night, The headlights were bright. But soon the sun came through the trees. Around the next bend, The flowers will send The sweet smell of home in the breeze”, and “Home, Sings me of sweet things. Life there has it’s own wings.”. Is the idea of “home” one of peace to you? Should be. If home to you is a terrifying thought, i suggest it’s not really your home. For many, we love the IDEA of home, but we’ve realized with hand wringing grief, the place we really live will never be that place.

i suppose a more basic question should be, Are you at peace? Is home a place of refuge and rest, a place where you can be restored and recharged? Your sanctuary? Or is home a place of conflict and contention? Where is home to you? And if you don’t have one, imagine, what home would look like?

i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, a semi-live broadcast from the late evening, cascading banks of the Ockluhwahhah River. It’s a beautiful evening and the stars are out in all their splendor.

Imagine with me a moment. Get comfortable, breath in and out slowly and let your mind clear. See this: It’s evening. You’re on a familiar road which stretches ahead, the road hums beneath the tires, each mile marker a heartbeat closer to home. You ride past an occasional house with a warm interior glow here and there — trees and signs are a blur. Imagine getting closer, streetlights are coming more often, seeming to guide the way with an almost ghostly light. Just follow the light home. Anticipation builds — the comfort, warmth, and loved ones wait just beyond the bend. The journey’s end promises rest, a soft bed, and the sweet relief of being where you belong. Almost there.

The words, “almost home” brings vivid memories to mind for me. After being gone on one particular mission trip, for some reason, though short, it was the one which really pulled at my heart more than any others. My heart literally ached for home. After 21 days, 18 restaurants, 31 remote villages with untold amounts of prayer and all the wonderful God-stories, after all the taxi’s, the busses, and the miles and miles of walking, i was almost home.

The plane bounced incessantly over the next 24 hours. It seemed the sun was almost where i last saw it when we took off. People slept with the shades pulled low, tired people, restless people, all trying to get comfortable in a very narrow space. The lady next to me read 2 books, slept some more and then read a third book. A little hole over my head blew cool air; food and snacks came and went. Yet through all that, my mind was thoughts like — “I’m almost home. My heart aches for home. i just want to go home.”

Man, there’s no place like our house, my shalom place, past the barns, past the fields, up on the front porch and in the old door. Ahhhh … wow, i’m home. The couch is softer, the bed is sweeter, the shower runs just the way i like it, the smell is intoxicating, the embraces are more tender, oh, and the loved ones, smiling, hugging, affectionate. i’m so glad to be home. From property line to property line, from fence to fence, that is my Shalom place, the Kingdom of Heaven field office where we live. A place of divine appointment, under the complete protection of God Himself. A place of peace, even in the midst of terrible turmoil around me, this is my refuge. Do you have a Shalom place, a place of belonging and connecting?

As a little sidebar, i think it’s important to speak about two very valuable attributes of the idea of home: belonging and connecting. They are not the same. Belonging and connecting, though intertwined like two strings woven together, are each distinct. Belonging is the state of being part of a group, possibly an identity where we may hopefully get acceptance, as seen in biblical communities like the early church, Acts 2:42-47. Connecting, however, requires the consistent employment of a dreaded word in our society today: Honesty. Connecting requires active engagement and conversation, and not just one conversation like it’s one-and-done. That’s not connecting, that’s more like a skipping stone. Connecting is more the idea of emotional bonds through shared experiences like in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12. Anybody can belong to a family of some sort, or a church, or a local club yet feel completely disconnected, present but emotionally isolated, missing intimate ties but we don’t typically know that’s what is missing. For example, the Israelites belonged to God’s covenant but often felt distant from Him. Psalm 137:1-6, they belonged to God but felt far from Him and disconnected. Or how about in Luke 15, when the younger brother came to himself and returned home, he and the father went in the house to rejoice and left the angry, smoldering older brother out in the front yard mumbling to himself. The older brother was “of the family”, he had belonging, but he was not “in the house”, he didn’t connect. People, in general, who do NOT belong and/or connect in some fashion are the saddest, loneliest, most broken people ever and they wander like ghosts on the face of the earth, hopeless and homeless. Friends, it’s not necessary. God has a better idea.

True connection, unlike passive belonging, demands intentional effort to build relationships, fulfilling our heart’s longing for closeness. Belonging and connecting is not passively gained. Ok, that’s enough about belonging and connecting….

Being at home where we live is wonderful. If I can feel so welcomed and so wanted in an imperfect world, through an imperfect family, in an imperfect house, what must heaven be like — a perfect kingdom, through a perfect Father, in a perfect dwelling.

In John 14:1-4 Jesus was speaking of home, and then in verses 26-27 Jesus made sure to leave them with some encouragement until they got home, He said, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Like the disciples, there are some things about our heavenly home you and I really need to know, starting with the truth that our Heavenly Home Is Real.

Hebrews 11:10 speaks of Abraham who, “… was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” i believe that if Abraham was looking forward to it he was certainly imagining and dreaming about it before he was looking forward to his future destination. Where did he get those ideas? Imagining was before, and looking forward to something means he held it as the truth. His ideas and imaginations were not about where he was, past tense, but where he was going to be, with the verb “to be” pointing to his existence, his coming into being or becoming, his identity or abiding, and his state of being with God. The very powerful yet simple little verb “to be”, as expressed in the phrase “looking forward to”, linked him to his very essence, the roles he may play and the conditions he will live and breath in. Abraham’s descendants were also thinking about home as seen in Hebrews 11:15-16, “If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they desired, and were longing for a better country–a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” Going back to where they came from was not even in their thinking, but where they were going to was the object of all their considerations. To “long for” or “desire” in this case means to stretch or reach for, as in a heartfelt yearning and being hopeful. The word itself, “desire” or “long for”, brings with it the sense of someone climbing a mountain, and the closer they get to the top, the more hope of attaining a goal lifts their hearts. So, in Heb11:16, to say, “they longed for a better country,” is to say that they had a glimpse of where God was taking them, they had a vision enough of the top of the mountain that they were excited about attaining to their goal. In Exodus 16:3 the Israelites longed for the Promised Land, Psalm 137:5-6 the Psalmist was homesick for Jerusalem. Home.

As believers, our eyes are set towards home with Jesus. Hebrews 13:14, “For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come”, and how about 2 Peter 3:13, “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.”

Are you longing for, looking forward to, looking for “home”? i read a quote by a sorta famous fellow who said, “America cannot continue to lead the family of nations around the world if we suffer the collapse of the family here at home.” And that is “home” as in more than just a house, but a place where family lives, where familiar pictures are hung, and the place of our personal things and memories. Home not only includes all that but can also include familiar geography, streets and stores, faces of shop owners and weekly workman and women we grew up knowing. Home.

i was thinking this morning during my prayer time, so much of the American home idealogy is under incredible attack. We say a truth …our nation needs to be on track with God, but it starts in a much smaller and unique environment, our homes. If our homes and families are not on track with God, then hell has done it’s job and disrupted us at our core. Home is truly where our heart is, it’s where our treasure is, and, again to reiterate, if home is a shambles and God is not there, all i can conclude is, what we call Heaven must be hell. If in our homes we are always at odds with our spouse over power, money, or sex (and it seems it is truly always one or the other or any combination there of), if we’re always at odds, our home, sweet home, comfortable sacred home, our sanctuary is at war with itself, and we all understand this, that no nation divided against itself can stand. Selah!

Home – Through the Hebrew we get a word picture of home. It is seen through the idea of a dwelling place, a house, but with family and community attached to it, even including those who are socially bound together under one roof. That says to me a it’s a dwelling place with others of whom we relate to. Home, where we eat and relax and we can hopefully, be who we are with as few facades as possible.

In light of that, we can easily conclude that at least 50% of homes in America are not a refuge or a sanctuary, in fact it would seem they are chaotic and conflicted. If the divorce rate is at least 50%, and that is truly much too low, then the idea of home has been, and is being sabotaged at least 50% of the time. Hell is striking at the heart of mankind by breeding destruction in the very center of our sanctuary, our individual homes. At that rate, i’d say there are far, far more people who are homeless in their heart and mind than we can imagine. They aren’t belonging, they don’t connect, and their friends seem like no friends at all. Don’t you know? Belonging and connection are fundamental to all our well-being, it’s where we find shared purpose. i like that, “shared purpose”. Belonging and connecting within our community was God’s idea and design, and His purpose was for us to have support, accountability, transparency without fear of reprisal for merely being ourselves, and being grounded with love as our bond, like in John 13:34-35. We are not only made in God’s image, but His image AND reflection, similar to God inside and out, and it’s always personal and relational.

This is important so listen: Home isn’t the building but who inhabits the building. Having a dwelling place is one thing, but having a home is another. Edward Whiting said “You can no more measure a home by inches, or weigh it by ounces, than you can set up the boundaries of a summer breeze, or calculate the fragrance of a rose. Home is the love which is in it.”

i think Mr. Whiting was on to something there. If home is measured by the love which is in it, then Jesus and Heaven are obviously the highest choice. The Love of God exceeds and excels beyond our wildest imagination. God Himself and His house are our destination, not just because it is a place to live, but because of who lives there.

If Heaven wasn’t a “place” Jesus wouldn’t have said so in John 14:3. Heaven and our home are not a “spiritual condition” or a “state of being” but a place where Jesus is. God has created us to take pleasure in His companionship, and in each other’s. Home isn’t a solitary existence, there are others in Heaven, or at Home, and we can relate to that great cloud of witnesses. It is a family. All things will be right at home with Jesus – no abortion clinics or mental hospitals, no missing children, no rape, no murder, no drug addictions, no swindlers, no robberies, no worry, depression, illness, failure, or miscommunications. No hidden agendas, no politics or backroom deals, no secret ambitions, plots, hatred, or condescension. Can you imagine sitting and eating with God Almighty, mealtimes full of stories, laughing, singing, maybe a game of touch football in the backyard sometimes. Can you imagine such happiness without fear of being judged or measured, no lust or jealousy, no inappropriateness or hurt feelings? Can you imagine that? My heart aches for home, how about you?

One woman wrote, “It’s been easy for me through the years to find fault in the house we’ve lived in for the past eleven years.  Our abode is well over 100 years old. That means it has a lot of “character” right? Yes. If by “character” you mean that the toilets don’t flush well, the basement looks like the Adam’s Family lives there, and the dust from the Dirty Thirties is still stuck in crevices around each of our fifty drafty windows. That’s how I look at my house when I have a self-focused perspective. The world tells me I need new, shiny, perfect, better, best, improved, highest quality, and spotless.”

“Pinterest tells me I need my home and the contents therein to look as though they climbed out of a magazine – completely unique, yet altogether trendy (how it can be trendy and unique at the same time is beyond me). We must have the right color scheme, a lovely furniture arrangement all set up in a proper pose like movie props, and classy wall decor. Otherwise, we must feel guilty, deprived, and less than. What if we just decided to be thankful instead? i am thankful for where i live, and infinitely grateful to God for where i shall live. We can’t allow ourselves to judge where we will be by where we are, for no man can hold a candle to the things God has prepared for those who love Him.

The Lord is calling us to look above our view of where we live to see a greater vision, one which He has made for us beyond this world of brick and mortar, beyond the have and have not’s to see Jesus. Friends, if there is vision then there is provision, and if there is vision and provision, there is most certainly preparation. Let us cease to obsessively focus on where we are but begin to look to where we are going.

Jonathan Edwards wrote of Heaven: “No inhabitants of that blessed world will ever be grieved with the thought that they are slighted by those whom they love, or that their love is not fully and fondly returned. There shall be no such thing as flattery or insincerity in Heaven, but there perfect sincerity shall reign through all in all. Everyone will be just what they seem to be, and they’ll really have all the love that they seem to have. It will not be as in this world, where comparatively few things are what they seem to be, and where professions are often made lightly and without meaning. But there, every expression of love shall come from the bottom of the heart, and all that is professed shall be real and truly felt.”

Once at home in Heaven, the hungry will fill up, those who weep will laugh, and those who suffer tragedy will be compensated the victory.

i realize this is a lot of very positive and wonderful stuff about something that isn’t exactly in the here and now. And i realize most of us might be far more interested in things we can do in the now to help our present circumstances or situations, BUT, in putting the idea of home on the table and talking about being at home with Jesus, eating, walking, and talking with God, family, friends, and all the participants of the entire salvation message from beginning to end, it generates hope, the anticipation of becoming and overcoming, and hope is in very short supply in our world.

Revelation 21:3-5 “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.””

Those are the words of Jesus and we can take it to the bank. Live everyday in light of them. Let me encourage you to make every choice in light of God’s promises. C.S. Lewis wrote, “A man who has been in another world does not come back unchanged. A man who gives sustained thought to God and his future Home in Heaven, does not remain the same. He smells the banquet being prepared for him and he’ll never be the same, in Jesus Name.

Think about it.

Randy Alcorn wrote in his book titled “Heaven”, “We were all made for a person and a place. Jesus is that person. Heaven is that place.”

If you know Jesus, i’ll be with you in that resurrected world. With the Lord we love and with the friends we cherish, we’ll embark together on the ultimate adventure, in a spectacular new universe awaiting our exploration and dominion. Jesus will be the center of all things, and joy will be the air we breathe, and right when we think it all couldn’t get any better, it will!

Thank you for joining me here at Outposts for cool jazz and contemplative conversation! i’m Social Porter and this production has been brought to you by Living In His Name Ministries, 22 Skidoo Boots and Shoes on 3^rd and main, Tempo Music, Kevin, Tommy, and Perry of the Mebane Freedom League, Area 22 Guitars, Sisters Coffee, and Trinity Bakers, the sweet spot on main street where there’s always something good in the oven.

Come on home with Jesus, there’s a party going on for eternity and we ought not to miss eating, dancing, and talking with the King of the Universe!

Be strong and courageous, drive carefully, and i’ll see you at home where God makes all things new. Amen.