C.S. Lewis wrote, “the real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it.  It comes the very moment you wake up each morning.  All your wishes and hopes [and I might add fears] for each day rush at you like wild animals.  And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in.  And so on, all day.  Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings, coming in out of the wind.  We can only do it for moments at first. But from those moments the new sort of life will be spreading through our system:  because now we are letting Him work at the right part of us…”  (from Mere Christianity Book IV, Chapter 8 )

C. S. Lewis is speaking of a contemplative life.  A life that quiets down enough at the very start of the day to listen to that still, small voice.  Psalm 143:8 gives us that wisdom for waking up.  “Let me hear of your steadfast love in the morning, for in you I put my trust.  Teach me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.”    This is the way we must start our day instead of focusing on all our fussings and frettings.  We must make the effort to hear and listen for His steadfast love in the morning.  He is there to greet us as we wake.

Blessings Scott, for Wellspring, Copyright 2009

Making Space for God

Disciplines for Life

November 6th and 7th, 2009

Retreat Schedule:  Friday night, 6:30-9 PM/Saturday morning, 8:30-Noon

Northern Hills Church, Brighton Colorado (1.5 Miles East of I-25 on Hwy 7 – Exit 229)

Solitude and Silence/ Preparing to Hear the Word

Scripture/ Taking in the Word

Prayer/ Responding to the Word

Simplicity/ Removing Distractions to the Word

• The retreat  will be a blend of small group gatherings & individual time around these four themes for the purpose of spiritual formation in Christ, the true Word of God (John 1:1).    
• Participants will come away from this retreat with a renewed connection to God and tools for deepening their relationship with the only One who is Life – “In Him was life, and that life was the light of men” (John 1:4).

Hosted by Wellspring Ministry, Retreat Leaders:

Dave Gifford  – an ordained Pastor and M. A. Counselor at Northern Hills Church in Brighton Colorado.

Scott Toillion –a spiritual director and current student in the Christian Spiritual Formation and Soul Care Program at Denver Seminary.

RSVP to Dave Gifford at Northern Hills @  720-685-1717 or at daveg@nhcc.cc

http://wellspring1.wordpress.com

Recently I was listening to a relatively modern day psalm.  It probably wasn’t written as a psalm but it sure sounded like one of those laments for someone who can help.  “Help! I need somebody, Help! Not just anybody, Help! You know I need someone, help.”  Yes it is by the Beatles and most likely is sung for a girl or a friend, or someone earthly who can help out a lonely, confused person.

HELP!

HELP! I NEED SOMEBODY,

HELP! NOT JUST ANYBODY,

HELP! YOU KNOW I NEED SOMEONE, HELP.

WHEN I WAS YOUNGER, SO MUCH YOUNGER THAN TODAY,

I NEVER NEEDED ANYBODY’S HELP IN ANY WAY.

BUT NOW THESE DAYS ARE GONE, I’M NOT SO SELF ASSURED,

NOW I FIND I’VE CHANGED MY MIND I’VE OPENED UP THE DOORS.

HELP ME IF YOU CAN, I’M FEELING DOWN

AND I DO APPRECIATE YOU BEING AROUND.

HELP ME GET MY FEET BACK ON THE GROUND,

WON’T YOU PLEASE, PLEASE HELP ME.

AND NOW MY LIFE HAS CHANGED IN OH SO MANY WAYS,

MY INDEPENDENCE SEEMS TO VANISH IN THE HAZE.

BUT EV’RY NOW AND THEN I FEEL SO INSECURE,

I KNOW THAT I JUST NEED YOU LIKE I’VE NEVER DONE BEFORE.

HELP ME IF YOU CAN, I’M FEELING DOWN

AND I DO APPRECIATE YOU BEING AROUND.

HELP ME GET MY FEET BACK ON THE GROUND,

WON’T YOU PLEASE, PLEASE HELP ME.

WHEN I WAS YOUNGER, SO MUCH YOUNGER THAN TODAY,

I NEVER NEEDED ANYBODY’S HELP IN ANY WAY.

BUT NOW THESE DAYS ARE GONE, I’M NOT SO SELF ASSURED,

NOW I FIND I’VE CHANGED MY MIND I’VE OPENED UP THE DOORS.

HELP ME IF YOU CAN, I’M FEELING DOWN

AND I DO APPRECIATE YOU BEING ROUND.

HELP ME, GET MY FEET BACK ON THE GROUND,

WON’T YOU PLEASE,

PLEASE HELP ME,

HELP ME,

HELP ME, OH. (The Beatles)

But in it I hear the call to the One who can truly help.  The line is right that it is not just anybody we need. It is Jesus we need.  When you are down, when you are trying to get your feet back on the ground, when your independence has vanished and you feel so insecure, when you just need someone to be around, He is there. 

So if you are singing this song of lament you are not alone.  Centuries of people have sung the same kind of song.  Some have sung it out in desperation to no one in particular.  However, there is someone to sing this song too who really cares.  The true Author of the 150 psalms of the Bible has given us permission to cry out to Him for help.  He will listen.  Psalm 121 speaks of this One who can help.

Psalm 121 A song of ascents.

I lift up my eyes to the hills– where does my help come from?

My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip– he who watches over you will not slumber;

indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD watches over you– the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all harm– he will watch over your life;

the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

 Sing to the ONE who can Help!

Scott for Wellspring © copyright 2009

“Now the house of David was told, “Aram has allied itself with Ephraim”; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.”  Isaiah 7:2

This is a little story of worry and fear.  It is a story of worry over something that would never happen.  King Ahaz of Judah is informed of the pending attacks of the kings of Israel and Syria.  Immediately his first reaction was to be utterly shaken with fear, he and his people.

“Then the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman’s Field. Say to him, `Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood–because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah.”  Isaiah 7:3-5

I can picture Ahaz pacing with fear at the end of the aqueduct of the upper pool wondering, what should I do, thinking, this is going to turn out badly for me and my people, it is all hopeless.  I know because I have been in his shoes too, not of course in this kind of situation, but my own places of fear and worry.  But God begins to intervene.  He asks Isaiah to go to the king and tell him to stop worrying, do not lose heart, do not be afraid.  Did God see something different coming in this story than Ahaz?

“Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’s son have plotted your ruin, saying, “Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.” Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “`It will not take place, it will not happen…”  Isaiah 7:5-7 

The Lord saw a different outcome…King Ahaz saw failure and fear…God saw two smoldering stubs of firewood…King Ahaz saw two impossible foes…The Lord saw that this would never happen.  How many times have I looked at a difficult situation and thought the worst?  Countless times.  Why did Ahaz not look to the Lord and ask for help and for guidance.  Why did he not ask, Lord what do you see in this?  Why did he not trust the Lord?  I have to ask myself these same questions.  Where is my trust? 

What is striking to me in this story is that God intervenes through Isaiah.  If we will look for it, God is intervening in our own stories.  It may be through the comfort of the Holy Spirit, through words from a friend or a pastor or a trusted spiritual director.  So what should we do when these things come upon us?

“If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.”  Isaiah 7:9b

The NLT version states it this way, “Unless your faith is firm, I cannot make you stand firm”.  Here it is, the point of it all.  Our faith must be in the Lord no matter what difficult thing we face.  And if it is, He will make us stand firm whether the thing we fear happens or not.  Whether in Ahaz’s case the kings of Israel and Syria attack and destroy or whether it never, ever happens.  If we trust the Lord, He will make us strong.

 Blessings, Scott for Wellspring, © Copyright 2009

“Wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage, yes, wait for the Lord.”  Ps. 27:14 

“One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.” Ps. 27:4

I have been on a journey of deepening in the Psalms for several years. These ancient songs are prayers of a kind that defy real description though many have tried. When life was hard I always found myself turning to these pages. They offered prayers of power but I never fully understood why. As I continued to grow and to move through difficult times in my life, many of the prayers of the psalms stayed with me. I began to see something in them that I hadn’t seen before: Raw life, a big God, and a real longing for Him. I began to gaze more at God through these prayers.

My journey in the psalms has led me to read rather prolifically on the topic of the Psalms and I have learned much from others. Let me share some of the insights of others much further along than I:

Dietrich Bonhoeffer – “Whenever the Psalter is abandoned, an incomparable treasure is lost to the Christian Church. With its recovery will come unexpected power.” … “Because Christ prays the prayer of the Psalms with the individual and with the church before the heavenly throne of God, or rather, because those who pray the Psalms are joining in the prayer of Jesus Christ, their prayer reaches the ears of God. Christ has become their intercessor.” – (Prayer Book of the Bible and Life Together).

Walter Brueggeman – “The agenda and intention of the Psalms is considerably at odds with the normal speech of most people, the normal speech of most people, the normal speech of a stable, functioning, self-deceptive culture, in which everything must be kept running young and smooth” … ”Most Psalms can only be appropriately prayed by people who are living at the edge of their lives, sensitive to the raw hurts, the primitive passions, and the naïve elations that are at the bottom of our life.”…[praying the Psalms] asks us to depart from the closely managed world of public survival to move into the open, frightening, healing world of speech with the Holy One” – (Praying the Psalms)

Eugene Peterson – “When we pray the Psalms and are trained in prayer by them, we enter into this centuries-long experience of being the people of God.” … “The Psalms come from a people who hear God speak to them and realize that it is the most important word they will ever hear spoken. They decide to respond. They answer.” Prayer and praying the psalms are in Language 1, the language of the heart, parent to child, lovers –“the language of personal intimacy and relationship”…”Language 2 is the language of information.” “Language 3 is the language of motivation.” Most of culture spends the most time in 2 and 3. We have lost our ability to speak and communicate in the language of prayer. The psalms are our permission to speak to God, “we can answer, we are permitted to answer. If we truly answer God there is nothing that we may not say to him” – (Answering God)

I have many miles to go in understanding all the prayers contained here in the Psalms. I haven’t yet really prayed them all but I have found myself at various times in seasons of lament, of sorrow, of thanksgiving, of anger at injustice, of praise, of awe, of need, of trust. I will be in these psalms of difficulty over and over in this life. But, perhaps I can learn to gaze more at the beauty of the Lord as I travel along and psalms of praise and gratitude will more naturally flow from my heart. That is my desire.

Blessings, Scott for Wellspring © Copyright 2009