Theology – EAST WILLOW PLACE

Relief = Happy? Maybe Not – What You REALLY Need Instead

We humans can be so short-sighted.

In a challenging situation or a season of suffering or hardship, all we care about is obtaining relief – and we think that if the challenge were to be removed, suddenly everything would be great. We would be so happy!

But is that true?

Exodus 17:1-7, written by Moses, tells about a time when the people of Israel camp in the wilderness at a location called Rephidim. “At the Lord’s command,” the text declares emphatically.

So what’s the problem?

There was no water at Rephidim.

For a large community of people, children, and animals, that’s a big problem.

Please note that these are the exact same people who saw the terrors of the ten plagues in Egypt and then the parting of the Red Sea only a few weeks prior. These folks saw the hand of God move mightily on their behalf, and have been following the moving pillars of cloud and fire – physical manifestations of God’s guidance – through the wilderness.

So with this new challenge, what do they do? They quickly turn in angry complaints to Moses, demanding for him to give them water.

Moses warns them to be quiet – clearly wanting them to respectfully ask and patiently wait to see the provision of God (as he had done so powerfully before), and reminds them not to test God.

But when they continue to feel the torment of strong thirst – they not only continue to argue but they attribute Moses (and therefore God, who is directing him) with harmful, hateful intent, saying “Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Are you trying to kill us, our children and our livestock with thirst?” (Exodus 17: 3)

Their discomfort and suffering completely overwhelmed them – all they could focus on was their current misery and how it would vanish with what they craved – water.

The beleaguered Moses cries out to God asking what to do – and God tells him. “Walk out in front of the people. They accused me publicly, they will be answered publicly. Take the same staff that struck the Nile and turned water to blood – and bring some of the elders to join you. I will stand before you on the rock at Mount Sinai. Strike the rock, and the water will come gushing out – and then the people will be able to drink.” (Exodus 17: 5-6, my paraphrase)

Did you see that?

God himself would stand on the rock that would gush out water.

Why?

Because what the people needed more than water was the Presence of God.

In our own ongoing struggles, the challenges and sufferings of life in a sin-darkened world, it is so very easy to be forgetful of what we know to be true.

God is always and has always been faithful, AND it is by his direct guidance that we are exactly where we are in this place of lack or suffering or hardship.

Therefore it means we are to stop blaming other people, stop accusing God of harmful intent or careless indifference, and smash our idols of perceived comfort and relief.

Because what we need most, no matter how much we crave other things, is not relief from the suffering – it is HIMSELF.

David wrote Psalm 63 during his own time in the wilderness – I encourage you to pull out a Bible and pray this Psalm for yourself, asking the Spirit to make it genuinely true for your heart:

“Oh God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water…  Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you!” (Psalm 63:1,3)

May we be a people who can sing this up to him in truth – even in a wilderness of no water and with suffering – that we find our God and his love better than life itself.

Wear your crown, carry your sword. – Maria

*(_{This post was inspired by John Piper’s excellent sermon “Water from the Rock for Undeserving People” from August 11, 2022, found here.})

It would mean so much if you shared this! Thanks! Sign up for these articles to be delivered straight to your inbox – you’ll be glad you did. (I don’t spam, cross my heart.)

How to Skyrocket Your Joy: The Gift of Anticipation

_{(Published as an Instagram Post on 12-17-2020)}

And the anticipation builds…

This is the first year my oldest kids voiced their understanding that waiting for Christmas was what made the day so special when it finally came.

Anticipation is a powerful joy-multiplier.
And in many ways, the time of looking forward to this holiday is a gift of time given to look inward, back, and forward –

INWARD at our hearts and lives, making careful evaluation, taking stock of whether we truly understand and cherish the gift of a Christ given to us, preparing room in our hearts just as He made room in His for us, welcoming His reign and inviting Him as rightful King of our lives.

BACK at the astonishing mercy on a broken human race who needed a Savior, expected a Conqueror, and got both – but not as they expected. The Utmost King humbled Himself to become a fragile baby born in scornful scandal and rejected even before His birth – “no room for them at the inn.”

Outcasts and celestial beings both worshipped at His birth:
All are welcome, and worship is the only appropriate response.

FORWARD to the time to come when He will return to dwell among His people once more, this time not as sacrificial Lamb but reigning Lion, when the celebration will be unprecedented and truly, deeply glorious and the joy will be perfect.

Our anticipation of Christmas is a picture of the anticipation we should hold in our hearts every day – He has come and He will come again.

We anticipate Christmas with a mere shadow of the true and weighty joy that is to come.

Even so, come.

The Ultimate Golden Ticket: You Are [Already] a Winner!

Recently, I saw a hilarious announcement: the owner of a company had a great plan! He was dressing up as Willy Wonka (complete with purple top hat and floppy golden bow tie), and had a handful of “Golden Tickets” which gave the recipient free goods and bonus just-released items. He was going to put the tickets randomly in various orders that were made that day.

It was a unique and creative way to encourage business!

Although you probably already know about Willy Wonka, the reference is from a children’s book by Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It is a fantastical, imaginative tale about a young boy from a very poor family who finds a golden ticket in a chocolate bar. The ticket grants the bearer a special tour of an amazing and mysterious candy factory run and owned by the eccentric millionaire Willy Wonka. There are only five tickets hidden in specific chocolate bar wrappers, and are greatly coveted and sought after by thousands of young hopefuls.

The five children who win the Golden Tickets and arrive for the tour later discover that they are the five candidates for Willy Wonka’s replacement – he wants to retire and the tour is in actuality a sort of interview to determine who the next owner of the factory will be.

Only one can emerge the new heir, and the series of events in the chocolate factory tour show that it will need to be a very uniquely qualified person indeed.

Who doesn’t love the idea of winning a “Golden Ticket”?

Especially if it was unexpected and entirely unmerited through your own effort or talent!

Going from a gritty and gray daily grind to suddenly having an entirely new opportunity that includes joy, creativity, pleasure, authority, and wealth – what an incredible prospect!

So guess what? For anyone who is a follower of Christ, you are already the winner of a Golden Ticket!

Granted sudden and immediate access to God through Jesus’ sacrifice, you’re invited into the Kingdom. And not only as a tourist or a day-visitor: You have been invited to become part of God’s Kingdom operations – given the work of growing and furthering it (Daniel 7:18).

And it wasn’t random chance that you received this ticket. Nope! You were hand-selected by God, chosen and called (Ephesians 1:4), because He sees you, knows you, and loves you. And He wanted you to be the one specifically in charge of the work He prepared for you before time began (Ephesians 2:10).

This Kingdom work is so multi-faceted and so greatly varied that there is plenty of space for everyone who is called to have their own particular area of operations. For me right now, this means taking a good hard look at the roles I have currently been given (mama and wife, homemaker, teacher/mentor, friend…) then, with passion, focus, and humility, getting up each day to fill those roles with all the strength and ability He helps me to have.

What roles and what work have been assigned to you in this time? Whatever it is, be encouraged to do it with all your strength (Ecclesiastes 9:10), knowing that you’ll be giving a project report on it at some point (Hebrews 4:13).

There is a brighter time coming, when we will reign with Him (2 Timothy 2:12, Romans 8:17). For right now, it’s like the part where we are faithfully learning and training as apprentices or interns. So we must not lose heart, even when it seems like the gray and the grit of our current circumstances are more real than the fact of a gleaming Golden Ticket in our hand.

Each person who won a Golden Ticket didn’t automatically receive the right to ownership of the Chocolate Factory by staying where they were – they had to act on the promise it gave, and show up on the appointed day to be allowed inside!

We can hold onto the same hope – knowing that the gate will swing open for us and we will be welcomed in, for we have been given a hope that is certain:

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. (Hebrews 10:23, NLT)

We just need to keep faithfully showing up.

Can’t wait to be heirs of the “Chocolate Factory” with you, my friend!

– Maria

If you’ve enjoyed this post, please share it on your social media!

Follow me on IG: https://www.instagram.com/maria.eastwillowplace/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MariaMillerWriter/

Outsider? No More! How to Find Belonging – and Joy

What does it take to create a true connection and communication? How can a family be created from strangers?

In People of the Deer, author Farley Mowat writes about his experience of living among the last surviving people of the Ihalmiut in the tundra of northern Canada. A people who lived traditionally and almost entirely off the migrating caribou herds, they had warmly welcomed Mowat into their camp.

Farley was delighted by the opportunity to learn from and experience the way these unknown and isolated people lived, but there was a significant problem: He spoke no Ihalmiut, nor did they speak any English. Initially they communicated brokenly through an interpreter who had learned some of their dialect, but the man was leaving the Barrens for good. It seemed pointless for Mowat to stay if communication was not possible.

Mowat made a decision: despite being told that their language was complex and incredibly difficult to master, he would learn it, as best he could.

This decision became the pivotal point in the relationship between him and the Ihalmiut people.

He writes that when he acted out his desire to learn their language to the two Ihalmiut men who had befriended him, the effect was astonishing. Once they understood what he meant, they in turn emphatically and repeatedly acted out complete acceptance of him as an adopted member of their people, claiming that he was now one of the Ihalmiut.

Humbled and deeply moved by the unexpected love these people showed an outsider, Mowat resolved to study their language with great effort. He was surprised to find, in the months following, he was able to make rapid progress and began communicating quickly. He was pleased by the seeming ease with which he mastered the basics of their language.

Somewhat arrogant about his success, Mowat tells of an encounter about a year later: Encountering a man who was a member of another related people group, he casually made a long, complicated remark in Ihalmiut – and was met with utter bewilderment. The man had no idea what Mowat was saying: it was unintelligible gibberish.

Mowat came to realize the stunning truth: the people of the Ihalmiut had deliberately created an extremely simplified version of their language to allow him to communicate with them.

Not only had this “pidgin” Ihalmiut been developed and used by the two men who were his self-assigned tutors, they had made sure the entire tribe used this simplified form of language!

The Ihalmiut language was incredibly sophisticated, with many distinct nuances and multiple precise tenses – all of which would have been too hard for him. He would have given up in discouragement immediately if he had tried to learn their language as it actually was.

Because of the love of these people for a complete stranger, and their whole-hearted acceptance and kindness in adopting him as family, they all willingly changed their language to allow him to live among them.

This is a story of unconditional love, undeserved kindness, and grace.

This is also a picture of the breath-taking love God has shown us.

In stunning kindness to us, this all-powerful, all-knowing Being chose to create a “pidgin” language to help communicate with us – He came to us as a human, Jesus Christ.

His Spirit inspired men to write in human words to help us attempt to comprehend Him, His character, and explain His glory. Yet even the most exquisite words can give only a feeble sense of His nature, His worth, His power and holiness.

It is when we make a decision to pursue a relationship with Him that everything we previously knew shifts. He knows we cannot grasp the extent of His greatness. He knows that we cannot fully comprehend the magnitude of His worth. But when we have taken that first step of stating our desire for relationship with Him despite the impossible challenge – He sees our feeble attempt and roars with joy as He rushes to meet us.

As we move toward Him, awkward and faltering, He exuberantly reaches out to us with His arms wide open and an enormous smile of joyous welcome. Declaring we are His forever and assuredly a member of His family, we are loved and accepted completely and finally.

There is no percentage in this relationship we can take any credit for – He gave us life, gave us the desire to seek Him, and then enabled the connection through Jesus’ sacrifice. This is no “lion’s share” of relationship. This is the entire share.

Why? Because He is love (1 John 4:8-10). And encountering this mind-blowing loveliness of God is what give us our greatest joy, deepest delight, and purest pleasure (Psalm 16:11, 36:8).

May we all come to a place where we, though awkward, stammering outsiders, experience the richness of love and kindness that makes us family with our King, though we have done nothing to deserve it.

The Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
John 1:14, NLT

-Maria

(If you have appreciated this article, would you please share it on your social media? Thanks!)

Why a Bible-Shaped Life is Vitally Important to Any Parent

If you truly want to have a lasting impact and raise your children for the Kingdom of God, the Bible must have a foundational, central, and overarching role in your home and heart life.

Read it, speak it, sing it, pray it, write it, discuss it, study it, and memorize it.

“And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.”
(Deuteronomy 6:6-7, NLT, emphasis mine)

Look for ways to honor and invite Scripture into your life and thoughts and routines until it becomes like second nature, your native language, completely familiar and beloved.

Because it’s going to be hard to tell your kids how crucial it is to them if it’s not essential to you, first. Kids are smart. They won’t buy hypocrisy, and they’re watching to see if it’s the real deal to you. So make it real!

Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to make it so addictive to you and so attractive you can’t miss it without missing it. Ask Him for creative ways to include it in your daily routine. Ask Him to help you with memorizing it. Ask Him to help you love it. Ask Him to help you make time to read it.

Then obey. Make time for reading it. Even if you start with only five minutes in the morning.

Busy moms still snatch a few minutes to eat throughout their day. (I know because I’ve been doing it for years.) Even if it’s later than everyone else, I still find a moment to eat something so I can keep going. I still make time for those two minutes of making my small cup of espresso each morning (and oh, the joy that creamy, deeply-rich-and-dark coffee brings my heart), so I know that I can also choose to take a couple minutes to crack open my Bible, quiet my heart, and let the words inspired by the Holy Spirit wash over me and feed my soul before I get into the flurry of a busy day with many little children. And often at the end of the day, I choose to spend a few more minutes with Scripture, as a comforting grace to hold in my mind as I drift off to sleep.

Time with the Bible shapes my thoughts and sets my heart in the right frame to handle my day with grace, courage, and intentional choices that lean toward righteousness. In parenting, I need this. (I’m guessing you might, too.) I can sure tell the difference on the days I miss my Bible time!

If you truly think you can only manage five minutes, perhaps start with just one chapter of the Gospels a day. Begin with the Gospel of John. When you get to the end, start Matthew, then keep moving through them.

If you make more time, read one Psalm a day as well. If you accidentally skip a day, ditch the guilt and pick it up again the next day without hesitation. Keep going. Don’t stop – if you don’t feed your soul with the Word of life, it will starve. What this world has to offer is temporary and unsatisfying at best. Nourish your heart with what will truly sustain you, grow you, and transform you.

Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
(Hebrews 11:6, NLT, emphasis mine)

The Bible should so permeate our thoughts, words, and behavior that we are known for being people of the Word anywhere and everywhere we engage with others. It should carry a certain lingering fragrance and presence that wherever we go we are noted for leaving the undeniable tang and strength of a life steeped in and shaped by the Scriptures.

The Bible is our tangible link to knowing and understanding who the stunningly loving, all-powerful, glorious, terrifying, and holy Spirit-Being who created our universe and our human race is – and why He deserves our adoration and obedience:

Because He, in spite of His perfect power and glory, became a man, and suffered and died a horrible criminal’s death to bring us life – demonstrating His love by paying the cost of our wrongdoing. Then by rising again, alive forevermore, He once and for all broke the power of sin and death, demonstrating His power, authority, and worthiness of our love and allegiance.

And this story and revelations of His character, as well as clear guidelines for how to live our lives as well, are found in the inspired Holy Bible. This is not something to hold with little esteem.

Here is where the Holy Spirit can speak to us each day.
Here is where we can find hope for our lives and the future to come.
Here is where we recognize the beautiful kindness of God’s love that suddenly seems to gleam from so many aspects of our own lives.
Here is where we see the mercy of God in the histories of other broken people, and find inspiration and courage for our own.
And here is where we find the wisdom to teach and lead our children in a way that truly points them toward God and a life lived in His love.

For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
(Hebrews 4:12, NLT)

Time spent prayerfully with the Bible is time allowing God to transform us into the godly people He desires us to be. It is time that gives us the strength to overcome the long-term sins and temptations we struggle with. It is time coming to know and love more deeply our One, Truest Love. And that will give us the deepest, most delightful, pleasurable joy we can ever experience this side of Heaven.

I may daily come short of adequately demonstrating the holiness and beauty of my God, but His Word never will. And I would rather faithfully stumble toward Him and daily fight to pursue Him than carelessly dance on my way in a life full of shallow pursuits, low standards, and vain regrets. He is worth my all, and His Word is worth every moment spent with it.

How many minutes will you spend reading the Bible today? Will you commit to reading it at least five minutes a day for 30 days? (If you miss a day, just keep going on the next!)

May a love and a desire for the Holy Word of God be ignited in our hearts, and an earnest pursuit of time with it be vibrantly evident in our homes and lives.

Walking with you in this!

– Maria

A New, Cute, & Fierce Animal Hero

A Grasshopper Mouse consuming a bark scorpion
https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2013/10/25/3876292.htm

(And the powerful lesson it gives us)

Do you know what animal is/does all these things:

– Stalks prey like a cat
– Howls like a wolf
– Hunts and eats venomous scorpions and snakes
– Nocturnal
– A distant relation to the common house mouse?

Behold, the incredible Grasshopper Mouse!

I’m astounded by this fascinating, tiny-but-mighty creature found in the desert areas of southwestern USA and northwestern Mexico.

But wait, there’s more!

The Grasshopper Mouse has an incredible resistance to the toxin injected by the bark scorpions it hunts, meaning that it barely notices when it is stung!

Unlike any other creature, which would become paralyzed from the same sting, the Grasshopper Mouse has a unique cell make-up which rejects the toxins and blocks the sensory pain signals, even with increasing levels of toxicity, so it carries on as usual – and the scorpion becomes lunch.

I think people who have put their faith in our Savior Jesus Christ are like common house mice who have morphed into becoming like the Grasshopper Mouse.

Sin, condemnation, and fear of death are like the poisonous toxins that bring pain, paralysis and ultimately, agonizing death – no matter how we try to run from it.

Yet, because of the life-giving, powerful infusion of our Savior’s blood, we become transformed (Hebrews 9:12)!

Sin, condemnation, and the fear of death no longer have any hold on us. Instead, we who formerly were like weak prey, guilty and defeated under the weight of our sin, become free (Hebrews 9:15).

We are now able to do incredible things for His glory through His power at work within us (Ephesians 3:20).

We are now more than conquerors, overcoming all manner of struggles, hardships, trials, sufferings, and losses (Romans 8:37), – because His love is now in our DNA and has created a cellular mutation that renders us immune to the sting of death and sin (1 John 1:7).

He gave us an incredible blood transfusion that transformed us!

Where we used to be timid and fearful in the darkness of this world, we can now be bold and courageous, behaving not like the skulking, shrinking victims we once were, but like the royally adopted sons and daughters we have become (Romans 8:15).

Where we used to be quiet, perhaps only uttering quiet squeaks in alarm or fear, we can now “howl” out our praises and worship to our God boldly and with thanksgiving in our hearts (Isaiah 24:14, Psalm 98:4).

Because our Savior loved us so dearly, He has taken the sting and suffering of our sin upon Himself, enduring the agony and death we deserve (Hebrews 2:9-10).

By placing our faith in Him, we gain the reward of a life now lived free from the fear of death, free from the stinging shame of condemnation, free from the poisonous toxicity of sin.

We can now exclaim with a new, joyful ferocity: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55)

The Grasshopper Mouse preaches a powerful sermon simply by being itself in its remarkable existence.

I want to do the same.

Let’s live like a horde of Grasshopper Mice: courageous, fierce, free from fear of death.

Maybe we can encourage other house mice to get the same “blood transfusion”, too.

The scorpions won’t know what hit them.

(Do you have any animal heroes?)