The Ninety and Nine

The Ninety and Nine

 

While Peter dreams big, my calling is for the one lost on the hillside-or stuck in a lonely prison cell.  I have been coming alongside two women--a Lao and American-who faithfully visit prisoners of many nationalities in Vientiane's infamous Phontong Prison.  Visiting time is limited to 15 minutes per prisoner, one visit a month.  We talk and provide food and medicine. Initially it was overwhelming.  But to see the joy on prisoners' faces and to know that many are coming to know Jesus...  This is a good reminder that even when we make poor choices, God's grace is there.

Besides this, I have been privileged to see spiritual depth and growth in a number of people I have been seeing as a spiritual director or mentor.  Some of these are "Skype" relationships.  Others live nearby, both expat and Lao, whose search for wholeness and balance have brought us together.  I have been humbled and stimulated by the many books I have been reading for my certificate program in Spiritual Direction, a program I will complete in July.  The quote below says much about how I feel.

  

"...Spiritual formation does not occur by direct human effort, but through a relational process whereby we receive from God the power or ability to do what we cannot do by our own efforts. We do not produce the outcome. That is God's business. "

 Life with God, Richard Foster

The Joy of the Lord? A meditation...

So, I read about joy this morning. Ezra called all the people together and read from the Book of the Law of Moses. And all the people rejoiced. They stood as one before him in the square; others stood around and explained the Law so that it was understood by the people. And their response after listening attentively was to praise God, fall down and weep--a great release of emotion. Then Nehemiah and Ezra told the people not to weep, but to rejoice, to celebrate, to enjoy choice food and drink--and to send some to those who didn't have them. He said not to mourn or grieve, but to rejoice--"for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

What is the "joy of the Lord?" It seems that this joy first of all, springs from a heart that is forgiven--a knowledge that my sin is "regarded no more." I remember my mother telling me that my sin would be removed, as far away as the east is from the west. And I tried hard to imagine it. I thought of those long plane rides, with overnights in Hong Kong or Honolulu, between Vietnam and California. Those rides have gotten shorter. But they're still far too long...

It seems too, that that Joy springs from a heart that knows who God is: how great and powerful and high and different he is from us. Knowing who God is, who I am in comparison--and that he still loves me--this is joy.

Finally, the joy of the Lord springs from a heart that takes comfort in God's law: in the limitations it places on us, in the way it guides us, in the way we discover a new determination to obey all that He has commanded, all that he has laid out for us.

This, I think, is the joy of the Lord. Help me to live in your joy today, Lord.