INTERFERENCE!

“Sarah leading Hagar to Abraham,” it is called. This work, by the Dutch master Matthias Stomer (1600–1649), hangs in the Gemäldegalerie, State Museum of Berlin. I was transfixed by that painting for a long time last year, fascinated by the faces, the lighting, the hands, ….

The hands! Three pairs of them: one innocent, attempting to maintain her modesty (helped in part by Photoshop—Sorry, Mr. Stomer!); one guilty; one seemingly reluctant.

I am not entirely convinced about that reluctant pair of male hands. Genesis 16 concurs with Sarah’s taking the initiative in the matter, so perhaps Stomer is accurate in his depiction. But the pattern of Abraham’s life thus far hasn’t exactly been one that inspires confidence in my namesake’s innocence.

This is the guy who took his nephew along when God told him to leave his relatives and take a long trip (Gen 12:1–4). This is the character who, while he was fine obeying God when the going was good, hotfoots it into Egypt the moment a famine hits the land he was led to (Gen 12:7–10). And this is the rascal who palms off his wife to Pharaoh to save his own skin (Gen 12:11–20). Not exactly a sparkling Curriculum Vitae. And then Hagar.

All along this dude, Abe—God bless his heart!—is stumbling along in his faith. Not that he doesn’t have any faith (though at times one does wonder), but that he appears to want to help God out time and again. “Me have a child? What rubbish! I’ll just take Lot along. He’s a good kid. He can take over God’s promises.” Nope. Lot raises up the Ammonites and Moabites, lifelong enemies of the children of Israel. Then the Hagar episode. “Well, maybe I will have a child of my own. But through that old lady, Sarah? Who’re you kidding? Just look at her! Hey, here’s another idea. I’ll just, uh, you know, … collaborate with whatshername from Egypt.” And Hagar raises up the Ishmaelites. Nuff said about these latter folks.

I’m slowly learning that God doesn’t need my help. No, He doesn’t. My “help” is no help to God. My “help” is, in fact, interference. And what He wants is not my interference, but my dependence and my obedience.

Maybe that’s why He prefers to work through weakness. Less interference. More obedience. Maybe that’s why He often achieves His purposes through those who are broken. Less interference. More dependence.

And He has said to me,
“My grace is sufficient for you,
for power is perfected in weakness.”
Most gladly, therefore, I will rather
boast about my weaknesses,
so that the power of Christ
may dwell in me.
Therefore I am well content
with weaknesses, with insults,
with distresses, with persecutions,
with difficulties, for Christ’s sake;
for when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9–10

It is the one who realizes one’s feebleness, frailty, and failure who arrives at the point of dependence and obedience, to echo, with Paul …

I can do all things through Him
who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13

But without Christ, nothing!

“I am the vine, you are the branches;
he who abides in Me and I in him,
he bears much fruit,
for apart from Me
you can do nothing.”
John 15:5

Not interference, but dependence. Not interference, but obedience. The old song had it right:

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way,
To be happy in Jesus,
But to trust and obey!

Indeed!

INFLUENCE!

A giant passed away recently. Dr. Ralph Feigin, physician-in-chief of Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH) and head of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

A man with a humongous intellect and encyclopedic knowledge about all matters pediatric. Tuesday mornings at TCH were marked by Feigin Rounds (aka “Stump Dr. Feigin”). Residents and fellows would present to him the toughest cases and he, without turning a hair or blinking an eye, would reel off a myriad of possible diagnoses, finally settling on one that was always perfectly on target. One of the sharpest men I’ve ever known!

Compassionate towards his patients, but even more, passionate for his residents in pediatrics. He was utterly dedicated to his trainees. He once said:

“One of the greatest impacts I will have is as a role model and teacher to thousands of residents. Personally, I could treat maybe 50,000 patients in my lifetime, but with teaching the impact may be 50 million through students and the impact they have on their patients and pediatric research.”

In all, Feigin trained more than 2,000 pediatricians and pediatric specialists. Of those, 2 went on to become medical school deans, 22 became associate medical school deans, 10 became pediatrics department chairmen, and 180 became section heads of pediatrics. And at least one became a seminary prof!

Besides conducting my doctoral research and post-doctoral work in TCH, one of the foremost children’s hospitals in the world, I had the privilege of working for a year as an intern in pediatrics under Dr. Feigin. While my personal contact with him was limited, it was impossible not to be touched one way or another by this great man’s shadow. His enthusiasm for his subject, his charity towards his patients, his legendary benevolence to his residents and his selfless desire to see them succeed, were incredibly infectious. You couldn’t but be charged around him and driven to excel. A revered teacher. A role model. A father figure. A powerhouse of influence. And he cared! (Just read all the stories memorializing him online here.)

As we believers grow in Christ and mature in Christlikeness, we, too, are called to be influencers, by our words, our passion, and our character—the Aristotelian triad of logos, pathos, and ethos. Like Paul.

… for our gospel did not
come to you in word only,
but also in power and in the Holy Spirit
and with full conviction;
just as you know what kind of men
we proved to be among you for your sake.
1 Thessalonians 1:5

And what kind of men did they prove to be?

… we proved to be gentle among you,
as a nursing mother
tenderly cares for her own children.
Having so fond an affection for you,
we were well-pleased to impart to you
not only the gospel of God
but also our own lives,
because you had become very dear to us.
1 Thessalonians 2:7–8

A pouring out of life to influence others in their walk with God.

… we were exhorting and encouraging
and imploring each one of you
as a father would his own children,
so that you would walk in a manner
worthy of the God who calls you
into His own kingdom and glory.
1 Thessalonians 2:11–12

A worthwhile investment of life indeed. And it will get its reward.

For who is our hope or joy
or crown of exultation?
Is it not even you,
in the presence of our Lord Jesus
at His coming?
1 Thessalonians 2:19

Influencing others for God. May that characterize each of us.

CRY!

The other day, driving around here in Texas, I spotted this rather interesting bit of advice from “Larry.” We are, it sagely recommends, to call upon him. Particularly in situations that are less than salubrious or, in Larry’s own words, “when things get hairy.”

Only in Texas!

(Larry, it appears, is a poet of considerable ambition, though I wonder about his sense of rhyme. Of course, in Larry’s Southern drawl, his name probably does sound a lot like “hairy.”)

Anyhow, the whole point of Larry’s exercise, I take it, is to prompt us to call “All in One Electrical” in moments of circuitry crisis. When your hair stands on end, call Larry. Not wanting Larry to be deluged by hairy callers from all over, I smudged out the phone number that was helpfully displayed on the side of his van.

“When things get hairy ….”

Hairiness of life is not a rarity (I ought to know; after all, I deal in skin, hair, and nails!). Larry’s right; things do get hairy.

The Book of Psalms is replete with cries to the Lord for help in crisis. Things certainly were frequently hairy for the psalmist.

Hear, O LORD,
when I cry with my voice,
and be gracious to me and answer me.
Be gracious to me, O Lord,
for to You I cry all day long.
O LORD, the God of my salvation,
I have cried out by day
and in the night before You.
Psalm 27:7; 86:3; 88:1

In fact one psalm uses this hairy line as a refrain.

Then they cried out to the LORD
in their trouble;
He delivered them
out of their distresses.
Then they cried out to the LORD
in their trouble;
He saved them
out of their distresses.
Then they cried out to the LORD
in their trouble;
He saved them
out of their distresses.
Then they cried to the LORD
in their trouble,
And He brought them
out of their distresses.
Psalm 107:6, 13, 19, 28

Yup, life does get hairy, and often. But the thing about Psalms is that it ain’t addressed to no “Larry.” While that worthy gentleman may indeed be capable of extricating us from electrical exigencies, there is only One we must call upon when life gets hairy. The One who hears.

In my distress
I called upon the LORD,
and cried to my God for help;
He heard my voice
out of His temple,
and my cry for help before Him
came into His ears.
Psalm 18:6

The One who delivers.

In You our fathers trusted;
they trusted and You delivered them.
To You they cried out
and were delivered;
in You they trusted
and were not disappointed.
Psalm 22:4

The One worthy of our trust, because He alone can do all things.

I will cry to God Most High, to God
who accomplishes all things for me.
Psalm 57:2

And because we became the children of God when we placed our trust in Christ as Savior, we, too, can cry out.

Because you are children,
God has sent forth
the Spirit of His Son into our hearts,
crying, "Abba! Father!"
Galatians 4:6

Our God hears. Our God delivers. Our God is trustworthy. And one day, when all this is over, we’ll cry out—this time in joy—with the multitude of saved ones …

… and they cry out with a loud voice,
saying, "Salvation to our God
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb."
Revelation 7:10

When life gets hairy, we know whom to call!

SANDCASTLES!

We pondered many things together, my brother and I, in Myrtle Beach, SC, last week.

The sea was wet as wet could be,
The sands were dry as dry.
You could not see a cloud, because
No cloud was in the sky:
No birds were flying overhead--
There were no birds to fly.

And we couldn’t help but concur with the two protagonists in Carroll’s poem (from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872) …

The Walrus and the Carpenter
Were walking close at hand;
They wept like anything to see
Such quantities of sand:
“If this were only cleared away,”
They said, “It would be grand!”

It would! Indeed! As the sage Erma Bombeck noted, that’s what beach vacations are for: to occupy ourselves keeping the sand off our belongings, the saltwater off our bodies, and the sun off our skin. (Especially when you are a dermatologist.)

Anyhow, we pondered much (among other exciting activities that we undertook).

“The time has come,” the Walrus said,
“To talk of many things:
Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax—
Of cabbages—and kings—
And why the sea is boiling hot—
And whether pigs have wings.”

Well, we didn’t quite get that carried away in our musings and ruminations. But we did consider building sandcastles. And then thought the better of it. Why bother with things that get washed away so soon?

Almost like the days of our lives.

All flesh is like grass,
and all its glory
like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls off ….
1 Peter 1:24

Brief are our days here. Fleeting. Fading.

For all our days have
declined in Your fury;
we have finished our years like a sigh.
As for the days of our life,
they contain seventy years,
or if due to strength, eighty years,
yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;
for soon it is gone and we fly away.
Psalm 90:9–10

And all the intricate contortions we get into—sandcastles. The chasing after the impermanent—sandcastles. The illusory concoctions of our dreams—sandcastles!

You turn man back into dust and say,
“Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in Your sight
are like yesterday when it passes by,
or as a watch in the night.
You have swept them away
like a flood, they fall asleep;
in the morning they are like grass
which sprouts anew.
In the morning it flourishes
and sprouts anew;
toward evening
it fades and withers away.
Psalm 90:3–6

Sandcastles! May the Lord give us wisdom to focus on eternal things, the things of God.

So teach us to number our days,
that we may present to You
a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:12

Wisdom to build castles that remain—built on the Rock. Wisdom to chase after the only One worth chasing—God, and God alone. Wisdom to catch not ephemeral and insubstantial dreams, but Reality—reality based upon the Word of God.

The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God
stands forever.
Isaiah 40:8

Lord, give us wisdom! And were it not for Your sustenance, strength, and succor, our lives would indeed be spent as a vapor. Sandcastles!

For He Himself knows our frame;
He is mindful that we are but dust.
But the lovingkindness of the LORD
is from everlasting to everlasting
on those who fear Him ….
Psalm 103:14, 17

That’s what I need to seek. Lovingkindness for eternity. Not castles in the sand. So may I learn to walk in godly fear the rest of my brief days here.

EXAMPLE!

I’m one of those who believe that God has allotted us a certain finite number of heartbeats. I’m in no hurry to get to the end of my allotment. The slower I can get my heart to beat, the happier I am. So when someone suggested I go on the “Canopy Tour,” just the mention of those two words set back my lifespan a month (not to mention the ping-pong game that made me lose almost a year—another story, entirely). But I get ahead of myself ….

There I was in Mt. Hermon, California, one of the speakers for a Dallas Seminary-run conference. Mt. Hermon, blissfully nestled amongst the redwoods, and, unlike ye olde DFW, basking in the 60s and 70s. Exhilarating!

Anyhow, one of the recreation activities at Mt. Hermon was this Canopy Tour, introduced there a month ago—one of the few such tours in the US, and one of the very few set among redwoods anywhere in the world. By means of a series of zip-lines, the “tourist” soars about 150 feet up in the air, amongst the canopy of those grand old trees. Not exactly an activity yours faithfully is prone to engage in. But I did. A month-old course? Gosh, how do I know the cables will hold? Scary!

That’s where I met George. In his late-eighties (Yup! That’s right!), this sprightly young gentleman offered to chaperone the rest of us young bucks (there’s that octogenarian in sun-glasses). Not that he had done this before. He hadn’t. But, I tell you, that George is one brave dude! He actually went first, ahead of us, paving the way, proving the cables, smoothening out kinks, blazing trails, majestically defying gravity 150 feet above terra firma!

I was literally shamed into following him! To make a long story short, I did and survived the nail-biting “tour” to tell the tale. Yeah, I’m going to die a decade early now, but hey! it was worth it.

In these days in our churches where every activity is separated by age and generation, I’m glad I was grouped with George, and not left alone with Reg “Redshirt” who was seen scribbling his last will and testament with a trembling hand upon a stray napkin before he donned the harness for the Canopy Tour. Not George. He was an example.

… join in following my example,
and observe those who walk
according to the pattern
you have in us.
Philippians 3:17

The biblical model of spiritual formation includes imitation. Following those who follow the Lord. Walking in their footsteps. Attending to their example. Those who go before us have much to teach us. And we, we have much to learn.

Be imitators of me,
just as I also am of Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:1

And we, in turn, are to be examples to others of what it means to live a life in Christ.

You also became imitators of us
and of the Lord,
having received the word
in much tribulation
with the joy of the Holy Spirit,
so that you became an example
to all the believers
in Macedonia and in Achaia.
1 Thessalonians 1:6–7

No matter what our station in life, stage of spirituality, status of body, or stiffness of joint, we believers are to be an example.

… in all things show yourself
to be an example of good deeds,
with purity in doctrine, dignified,
sound in speech
which is beyond reproach,
so that the opponent
will be put to shame,
having nothing bad
to say about us.
Titus 2:7–8

Let’s imitate! And let’s be exemplary ourselves!