And from now on all generations will call me blessed.
For the Mighty One is holy,
And he has done great things for me.
I saved Mary’s song for this week because the theme of Advent 3 is joy. Few songs in Scripture are as joy-filled as the Magnificat as Mary praises the Lord with her whole being.
When our daughter Karis was thirteen, she imagined what it might be like to be Mary and wrote what she called “Mary’s Diary.” It’s available as a booklet, which I’ll be glad to mail to anyone upon request.
Karis imagined Mary writing:
“I guess that’s when God seems the greatest: when he takes a nobody (like me) and makes something out of them. Oh, thank you, God, for your amazing grace … Oh, even this moment, I praise the Lord. Jehovah gave me a song that I have written down, and I am singing it back to him every day. … Oh, how my soul praises the Lord! All my fears for myself have been put to rest. How amazing is Jehovah.”
What song can you sing to the Lord today, from delight at his work in your life?
But God wants us to remember and tell how he has helped us
1 Samuel 7:12 Samuel then took a large stone and placed it between the towns of Mizpah and Jeshanah. He named it Ebenezer (which means “the stone of help”), for he said, “Up to this point the Lord has helped us!”
[Debbie] I’m delighted to introduce you to Bonnie Budzowski, who offers not just a blog post but a whole book dedicated to noticing, remembering, and sharing with others what God does in our lives. I asked her to do this for Thanksgiving since it’s such a perfect time to begin a lifestyle of intentional honoring of the Lord in this way. As always, I would love for you to share your “But God …” story with me and with the readers of this blog.
Here’s Bonnie:
Sometimes I purchase a greeting card that I’m reluctant to send. It might be the perfect picture, the sentiment, or both that I want to hold onto. Is it a sin to hoard a greeting card?
Once such card features a photograph of a young girl reading from a book. The girl looks to be about six years old. She is happily reading to a dog that is bigger than she is. The dog sits with rapt attention, his pink tongue hanging out of his dog-smile.
The sentiment below the photo is a quote attributed to the poet and activist Muriel Rukeyser: The universe is made of stories, not atoms.
For more than fifteen years, my job as principal of Gravitas Press was to act as a story whisperer, to help people find and articulate their stories in compelling ways. Even before those years, I knew I would one day write a book chronicling the stories of God’s surprising grace in my life. I knew the project would wait until I was near retirement.
What I didn’t know was that in the process of writing the book, something new and fresh would once again surprise me. I would discover a spiritual discipline that is largely missing in people who are otherwise devout Christians.
I discovered that God’s people have always intentionally created memorials to commemorate God’s acts in their history.
For example, following encounters with God and his promises, Abraham built altars. Jacob anointed the stone he used as a pillow the night he saw angels climbing a ladder between heaven and earth. Joshua instructed representatives from the twelve tribes of Israel to each contribute a stone to create a memorial to mark the miraculous crossing of Jordan River. Samuel set up a stone memorial to mark the time God sent a display of raucous thunder to defeat the Philistine army. Samuel called his memorial ebenezer, a word meaning “stone of help.” The psalmists continued the tradition, using words rather than stones. And Jesus commanded we practice a meal of remembrance.
What’s the purpose of this pattern of remembrance? It’s to ground us in the biblical story of God’s work and repeatedly draw us back to trusting in God’s faithfulness. Ebenezer Chronicles: The Missing Spiritual Practice invites you to consider what might happen if you added a practice of intentional remembering into your prayer life, around your table, and in your everyday conversations. It’s also a collection of stories of God’s amazing grace in my broken life. It’s a book in which God is the hero.
Ebenezer Chronicles, The Missing Spiritual Practice is available at Amazon.com. To read the first chapter, visit me here and learn about workshops for your group, including a virtual book club.
Ezekiel 36:26-27 [A message from the Sovereign Lord] “I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.”
John 14:15-17, 26 [Jesus told his disciples at the last supper] “If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. … He will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.”
While waiting in stillness for a worship service to begin, my heart and hands open to what the Lord would offer me that day, God’s Spirit told me clearly, “It’s time to let this go.”
For years, I had struggled with my relationship with a member of this church. This person had moved away, yet every time I walked into the building, I still automatically steeled myself, still reacted to memories of difficult encounters with that person in this place. In word and intent, I had forgiven her, yet my soul had not released her.
“How do I let this go?” I asked Spirit.
“Give her to me.”
I did, and just like that, the anguish of years lifted and has not returned.
Why did it take so long? Had my deep sense of injury dulled me to Spirit’s prior attempts to free me from this burden? Likely. I don’t know. Perhaps I was just ready to hear and obey Spirit’s prompting to release a root of bitterness in my heart.
We all obey.
The question is who, or what, holds authority over us. Our lives reflect whoever, or whatever, we bow to: our own inclinations and desires and perceived injustices, the influences and pressures of our culture and society, the temptations fashioned to match our individual vulnerabilities by the enemy of our souls, the urge to conform to our peer group …
Or, the King of Love, our Shepherd, creator, redeemer, advocate, and teacher, who wants us to live in freedom and joy.
Ezekiel 8:3 The Spirit transported me to the north gate of the inner courtyard of the Temple in Jerusalem …
Acts 8:39-40 When Philip and the eunuch came up out of the water [after Philip baptized the eunuch], the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing. Meanwhile, Philip found himself farther north at the town of Azotus. He preached the Good News there and in every town along the way until he came to Caesarea.
Getting from point A to point B in the city of São Paulo, Brazil (22 million people in one metropolis) can be tricky. Once after Dave traveled to another part of Brazil, a pastor friend died. Dave asked me to attend the funeral in his place. The catch: I would have to drive to the (for me) confusing and intimidating eastern zone of the city.
A view of one slice of São Paulo
I dropped our kids off at school and started out. I didn’t have a cell phone or GPS. I had a thick book of maps, each one a small piece of the city. The night before, I had pored over the maps, figuring out which page to go to from the previous page to take me to my destination. As you can imagine, this is much easier to manage with a navigator next to you!
On my way, I nervously watched at one intersection a car being burglarized. (Whenever possible, one doesn’t stop at intersections in São Paulo). A kilometer or so later, a car in flames in the middle of an intersection stopped traffic in all directions. I had to recalculate my carefully charted map plan to accommodate this detour, and then another: a road closure for construction. And then another, this time a three-car accident.
When I finally arrived at the church, the service was over, and mourners had moved to the cemetery. I navigated to the cemetery and found the correct grave site, only to see the last cars departing. I wasn’t able even to greet the pastor’s family to convey our condolences.
I took a deep breath, recalculated my return trip, and set out once again, arriving at our children’s school late enough to cause them anxiety. No cell phone, remember? As they climbed into the car (“Mommy, where were you?”), I sat trembling, so grateful I had made it back safely: no accident, no burglary, no car theft or breakdown, no getting lost—thanks to my trusty book of maps. Just a “wasted” day filled with “Lord, help me! Protect me!” prayers.
So, when I read about the Holy Spirit picking up Ezekiel and transporting him from place to place (eight times! Ezekiel 2:2, 3:12, 3:14, 8:3, 11:1, 11:24, 37:1, 43:5) and recall our long days of travel last week to Bogotá and back, I feel just a bit jealous. Except for the one where the Spirit took Ezekiel by the hair (8:3). And I’m not sure I want my destination to be a valley filled with dry bones (37:1), even in this month of Halloween, the American holiday I have never understood.
The thing is, God showed Ezekiel something important at each of the places he found himself snatched away to. So, I asked, “What did I learn from my apparently worthless trek across São Paulo?” I failed in my mission—to offer solidarity and comfort to the grieving family of a friend. I caused my children considerable anxiety when I didn’t show up at the end of their school day.
I realize now, though, two things: I have deep empathy for those who must drive to work in São Paulo every day, like my son-in-law. Moreover, I recognize that at no moment in that solitary challenge was I alone. The Holy Spirit accompanied, steadied, and guided me and brought me home safely. I see this now as a “dry run” for so many times after that when I had to navigate life alone, especially during the difficult Karis years when each day held enormous challenges.
But no, I wasn’t alone. For the Holy Spirit faithfully shepherded me, through each moment and each place Karis’s journey took us.
Isaiah 63:10-14But they rebelled against him and grieved his Holy Spirit. … Then they remembered those days of old when Moses led his people out of Egypt. They cried out, “Where is the one who brought Israel through the sea, with Moses as their shepherd? Where is the one who sent his Holy Spirit to be among his people? … As with cattle going down into a peaceful valley, the Spirit of the Lord gave them rest.
Isaiah 12:4-5 Tell the nations what God has done. Let them know how mighty he is! Sing to the Lord, for he has done wonderful things. Make known his praise around the world.
The theme of remembering we considered in the last post continues in Isaiah 63, when Isaiah looks back 750 years to Moses leading the people of Israel in their great exodus from slavery in Egypt. Isaiah cries out for the Lord to show himself anew in his time as he did way back then.
Timeline by Anthony Scott Ingram. Isaiah prophesied approximately 750-700 BC. The Exodus occurred approximately 1500 BC.
Think about that for a moment. What do you know about your history 750 years ago, in 1275 AD? That date means nothing to me. I asked Google what was going on in the world back then:
“In 1275 CE, the English King Edward I issued the Statute of Westminster to define landowners’ rights, the Marinids captured Algiers, and a significant British earthquake occurred. In the East, Kublai Khan sent more ambassadors to Japan, leading to the execution of messengers and prompting the Japanese to fortify Hakata Bay. Marco Polo reached China and entered the service of Kublai Khan, beginning his significant journey across Asia …”
Then I asked Google what was happening in Christianity in 1275 AD:
“In 1275 CE, a key event was the arrival of Marco Polo in China, where he presented letters from the previous Pope, Gregory X, to Kublai Khan. This followed the Second Council of Lyon in 1274, which Pope Gregory X had convened to attempt to reunite the Eastern and Western churches but ultimately failed to provide a lasting solution to the Great Schism.”
The Great Schism, I learned, “was the formal separation of the Roman Catholic Church in the West from the Eastern Orthodox churches in the East in 1054, a division that continues to this day.” A rupture in God’s family never repaired, except perhaps in individual relationships.
What I can’t ask Google is what was happening in my ancestors’ lives 750 years ago. Did they love and serve the Lord? Did they see him do mighty acts on their behalf?
What was God doing among his people in 1275 AD, not just in major historical ways, but personally? I don’t know. I don’t even know my own family story—not in any detail—past two generations before me. We haven’t done a great job of passing down from generation to generation God’s great acts in our lives.
I can’t change the legacy I received. But I can change the legacy I pass on, by recording the miracles God has done in my life; the works of the Spirit that I have witnessed. I want my great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren to have a record they can look back to, as Isaiah looked back to Moses: a testimony to God’s faithfulness that may bolster confidence that he sees and cares for them too.
In the long run, this may be one of the most important things I ever do. You too?
When I wrote the Karis book, I was thinking only of my grandchildren, yet unborn. Perhaps, though, later generations will read it. If they do, I hope they will see that God is alive, active, and attuned to their needs as he was to ours. I hope they realize he sees them.
Our youngest little this week, turning 3.
Lord, look down from heaven; look from your holy, glorious home, and see us. Where is the passion and the might you used to show on our behalf? Where are your mercy and compassion now? Surely you are still our Father! … Return and help us, for we are your servants (Isaiah 63:15-17).
But God’s Spirit tells us what matters to the Father
Isaiah 48:16-18, 22 And now the Sovereign Lord and his Spirit have sent me with this message. “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow. Oh, that you had listened to my commands! Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea.
The wonderful song “I’ve got peace like a river” has a prerequisite: obedience to the Lord.
This idea isn’t always popular. But even Jesus had to practice obedience to his Father (Hebrews 3:2, 5:8).
I just read through the book of Hebrews. Here are a few of the statements and instructions that stood out to me, that I need to embrace and obey:
Jesus’s throne endures forever. He rules with a scepter of justice (1:8). No human authority can take his place in our hearts.
Today, when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts(3:7). Keep my heart soft and receptive to the Lord (3:10). Deal with any bitterness or anger (12:15).
For the Word of God is alive and powerful … he is the one to whom we are accountable(4:12-13). When Scripture teaches something different from what others are saying, I must obey Scripture.
Solid food [of God’s Word] is for the mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong(5:14). Lord, keep growing me and teaching me.
Keep on loving others as long as life lasts(6:11). Don’t give in to the hate, slander, rude speech, and categorizing of others as “evil” so prominent in public discourse today. Give others honor and respect. Don’t speak disparagingly about others. Don’t assume that I know their hearts.
I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins … the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds (8:12, 9:14). Don’t keep grudges or hold on to hurts, even against myself.
Christ said [to his Father], “Look, I have come to do your will” (10:9). If even Jesus was obedient to the Father, how much more I must be.
We can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus … let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him(10:19-22; 4:16). Several times the author of Hebrews reminds us of our welcome in the very presence of God, because Jesus opened the way for us. This is faith: trusting God’s judgment over my own.
Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works (10:24). Not to acts of harm or violence.
Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us(10:29). When I see people behaving badly, even those claiming to do so in God’s holy name, I should feel compassion, because their judgment is coming. As God gives me mercy, I must extend mercy to others.
They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth … looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. … God has prepared a city for them (11:13-16). Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” So I should not let myself get tangled up in earthly affairs to the point of failing to invest in the world that will last forever (12:2, 13:14; 2 Cor 5:1, Col 3:2, 2 Tim 2:3-4).
Think of all the hostility Jesus endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up (12:3). This encouragement not to give up is a word I need to hear every day.
Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life … Look after each other(12:14-15). No matter what is going on around me. “Everyone” is inclusive!
Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking to us from heaven. … Let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe (12:25-28). Tender, thankful heart.
Keep on loving each other … brothers and sisters, strangers, those in prison, those being mistreated (13:1-3). Those whom our society is treating as if they are sub-human, without the rights we insist on for ourselves.
Now may the God of peace …
equip you with all you need for doing his will.
May he produce in you through the power of Jesus Christ
Isaiah 44:3; 59:21 For I will pour out water to quench your thirst and to irrigate your parched fields. And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your children. … “And this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit will not leave them, and neither will these words I have given you. They will be on your lips and on the lips of your children and your children’s children forever.
This is a quick post to make up for missing last week while I was traveling.
Recently, one of our mission teammate’s father, Dr. Roger Gulick, died from cancer. Part of Roger’s legacy follows. We can partner with the Holy Spirit by blessing children in this way.
Biblical Virtues to Pray for Kids (whatever their age)
From ENCOURAGE by Roger Gulick, 2025
1. Salvation. “Lord, let salvation spring up within my children that they may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory” (Is. 45:8, 2 Tim. 2:10).
2. Growth in grace. “I pray that my children may grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ “(2 Pet. 3:18).
3. Love. “Grant, Lord, that my children may learn to live a life of love, through the Spirit of God who dwells in them” (Gal. 5:25, Eph. 5:2).
4. Honesty and Integrity. “May integrity and honesty be their virtue and their protection” (Ps. 25:21).
5. Self-control. “Father, help my children not to be like many others around them, but let them be alert and self-controlled in all they do” (1 Thes. 5:6).
6. Love for God’s Word. “May my children grow to find Your Word more precious than much pure gold and sweeter than honey from the comb” (Ps. 19:10).
7. Justice. “God, help my children to love justice as You do and act justly in all they do” (Ps.11:5, Mic. 6:8).
8. Mercy. “May my children always be merciful, just as their heavenly Father is merciful” (Lk. 6:36).
9. Respect (for self, others, authority). “Father, grant that my children may show proper respect to everyone, as Your Word commands” (1 Pet. 2:17).
10. Biblical self-esteem. “Help my children develop a strong self-esteem that is rooted in the realization that they are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:10).
11. Faithfulness. “Let love and faithfulness never leave my children, but bind these twin virtues around their necks and write them on the tablet of their hearts” (Prov. 3:3)
12. Courage. “May my children always be strong and courageous in their character and in their actions” (Deut. 31: 6).
13. Purity. “Create in them a pure heart, O God, and let that purity of heart show in their actions” (Ps. 51:10).
14. Kindness. “Lord, may my children always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else” (1 Thess 5:15).
15. Generosity. “Grant that my children may be generous and willing to share, and so lay-up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age” (1 Tim 6:18-19).
16. Peace-loving. “Father, let my children make every effort to do what leads to peace” (Rom. 14:19).
17. Joy. “May my children be filled with the joy given by the Holy Spirit (1 Thes. 1:6).
18. Humility. “God, please cultivate in my children the ability to show true humility toward all” (Titus 3:2).
19. Responsibility. “Grant that my children may learn responsibility, for each one should carry his own load” (Gal. 6:5).
20. Compassion. “Lord, please clothe my children with the virtue of compassion” (Col.3:12).
21. Contentment. “Father, teach my children the secret of being content in any and every situation, through Him who gives them strength” (Phil. 4:12-13).
22. Faith. “I pray that faith will find root and grow in my children’s hearts, that by faith they may gain what has been promised to them” (Luke 17:5-6. Heb. 11:1-40).
23. A servant’s heart. “God, please help my children develop servants’ hearts that they may serve wholeheartedly, as if they were serving the Lord, not men” (Eph. 6:7).
24. Hope. “May the God of hope grant that my children may overflow with hope and hopefulness by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 13:15).
25. Willingness and ability to work. “Teach my children, Lord, to value work and to work at it with all their heart, as work for the Lord, not for men” (Col. 4:23).
26. Passion for God. “Lord, please instill in my children a soul that “follows hard after You” (Ps. 63:8), one that clings passionately to You.”
27. Self-discipline. “Father, I pray that my children may acquire a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair” (Prov. 1:3).
28. Prayerfulness. “Grant, Lord, that my children’s lives may be marked by prayerfulness, that they may learn to pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests” (Eph. 6:18).
29. Gratitude. “Help my children to live lives that are always overflowing with thankfulness and always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 5:20, Col. 2:7).
30. A heart for missions. “Lord, please help my children to develop a desire to see Your glory declared among the nations, Your marvelous deeds among all peoples” (Ps. 6:3).
31. Perseverance. “Lord, teach my children perseverance in all they do, and help them especially to run with perseverance the race marked out for them”(Heb. 12:1).
Isaiah 40:13 Who is able to advise the Spirit of the Lord? Who knows enough to give him advice or teach him?
Patience.
I’m impressed this morning that this beautiful virtue, one of the fruits the Spirit produces in us, is one of his defining characteristics.
How often I’ve thought, even if I haven’t said out loud to the Lord, “I know better. If I had your power, I wouldn’t allow what’s going on in the life of my beloved one.”
Once while attending a conference in the U.S. after we had lived in Brazil for many years, I greeted the woman ahead of me in line. She asked where I was from, and I told her São Paulo. She said, “Oh, your Spanish must be pretty good.” The rest of the time we were in line, she told me how my husband and I should minister in Brazil.
Had she ever been there? No. She ended as we reached the serving line, with a bright smile, “I’m so glad God put us together this morning, so I could be of help to you.”
As I ate my breakfast, after I finished internally rolling my eyes, I reflected on how God could use her “help” to me: to teach me patience. And humility. And to understand better the disconnect between my world and that of people whose reality I don’t experience.
Thinking a little more deeply, the Spirit nudged me. I’m like her. I think I know, when what I understand is but a tiny slice of what’s going on beyond myself. And some of that tiny slice isn’t even accurate. In Brazil, we speak Portuguese. In the Kingdom of God, the Spirit speaks Love, and my comprehension of that language is dismally inadequate.
Yet I try to tell God how Love should be spoken in the life of a person I care about.
Your will be done, Lord. Your Kingdom come on earth as in heaven.
Isaiah 32:15 … until at last the Spirit is poured out on us from heaven. Then the wilderness will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.
Isaiah 34:16 Search the book of the Lord and see what he will do. Not one of these birds and animals will be missing and none will lack a mate, for the Lord has promised this. His Spirit will make it all come true.
When I think of exuberant beauty, I think of the flowers that transformed a rustic camp into a paradise at my daughter Valerie’s wedding.
Interesting—just before I started writing this blog, I read an article about MAID—Medical Assistance in Dying, which is legal in several countries and (so far) eleven states.
The pros and cons of MAID reminded me of Karis’s struggle to understand transplant friends who made that choice, feeling that life is always the correct answer. In her suffering in the last months of her life, though, she re-thought her perspective to the point of feeling compassion and comprehension of why someone would choose when and how to end his or her life. She didn’t do it, but she certainly thought about the joy of being with the Lord, free from all that constrained and hurt her here on Earth. In the months before her death, she wrote often in her journal, “Father, please, please take me Home. I can’t do this anymore.”
I went from there to contemplation of Isaiah’s celebration of LIFE, of both flora and fauna, mediated by the Holy Spirit, and the blessing to people of flourishing, fertile fields and animals. (Even the deer, groundhogs, turkeys, and bunnies that plague my efforts at gardening, Lord?)
I’m writing a book with a double setting: Bethlehem/Jerusalem and Heaven. The Heaven of my imagination overflows with vibrant life of every kind and natural beauty that is the “real thing,” only reflected in the mountains and valleys, rivers and oceans, gardens and fields of waving grain of our world. In creation, I see how much God cares about the details of texture and color and fragrance, of shape and function, of variety and mystery in our amazing world. How could Heaven not celebrate every form of life?
I think that even when, through human negligence and abuse, species become extinct on Earth, hurting their Creator’s heart, they are preserved in Heaven. How else could Isaiah’s promise be fulfilled, that not one will be missing?
I invite you to read aloud Isaiah 35. Yes, the whole thing, all eleven verses. Because our Lord is the Author of life, in all its forms. And that includes our own hearts and imaginations.
Sorrow and mourning will disappear, and the redeemed will be filled with joy and gladness (Isaiah 35:11).
A 3000-piece puzzle called Life that our daughter Karis put together, framed, and hung.I’m trying to find out the name of the artist.
But the Spirit grieves when we hurt ourselves or others
Isaiah 30:1 “What sorrow awaits my rebellious children,” says the Lord. “You make plans that are contrary to mine. You make alliances not directed by my Spirit, thus piling up your sins.”
Isaiah 63:10 But they rebelled against the Lord and grieved his Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve (bring sorrow to) God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live.
[Note: I’m posting this now because I’m traveling tomorrow.]
My breath caught. “Don’t do it!” I screamed inwardly as from too far away to intervene I saw my angry grandson pick up and hurl a small stone.
The injury caused by the small stone connecting with his sister’s arm ruined river play for all three of us. But the pleasure of our outing had already been spoiled.
My granddaughter had kicked her brother’s carefully balanced tower of rocks while he went downriver to search for more flat stones.
Why had she demolished his tower? Because she wanted him to play with her, concocting what they called “river soup,” stirring together an assortment of sticks, leaves, and pebbles into “the best soup in the whole world!” That day, her older brother preferred his solitary tower building.
At two and four, the present moment is everything, patience is still developing, and diversion from an anticipated delight (making the soup like they “always” did at the river) may only be effective for a short time. That did not excuse what either of them did to hurt the other. The consequent immediate end to river fun grieved us all.
Isn’t it true that we’re capable of hurting the most those whom we most deeply love?
I believe that the one most grieved that day was the Holy Spirit. Because he passionately wants our best. He sorrows when we hurt ourselves and one another. The context of these verses in both Isaiah and Ephesians is relationship: the call to care for each other with compassion. In Isaiah 30, the Spirit is sad because Israel has committed to a relationship that will prove harmful to them. In Isaiah 63, at issue is Israel’s relationship with the Lord himself.
And in Ephesians 4 and 5, Paul’s concern is the Ephesian believers’ relationships with each other.
Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ (Ephesians 4:31-5:2).
Debra Kornfield 