Next Book Club starts: Monday, June 7

Book: Gilead, Marilynne Robinson

ORDER @ INKLINGS BOOKSTORE for a 30% Discount: see sidebar for details.

See you back here on June 7. It is a great book. Hope to have you reading with me!

Cries of the Heart: The Cry of God for His People

The surprise ending of this book takes us to the subject Ravi says connects the cry of God’s heart with all the cries of our hearts—Worship. Such a controversial subject—a subject that has divided churches and caused church people to de-church. But, that is the narrow aspect of worship. Worship can enrich every aspect of our lives—every activity, every encounter, every motive, every purpose. Worship can transform our lives and give us tools and means to live our faith well.

Satisfy My Thirsty Soul, by Linda Dillow is a wonderful book on worship. I read it twice last year—I’m a slow but steady learner! One of the important concepts Linda discusses in her book is repeated here in Ravi’s. If we live without authentic worship, if we live with "shoulds" and "oughts" and acts of worship that don’t come from our heart but are preformed robotically, then we become weary in our faith and we lose the joy of our salvation. Ravi teaches that our cries to know God, to feel our faith, to understand and know how to live with suffering, guilt, pleasure and loneliness, are met when we truly meet the cry of God’s heart and worship Him.

As I process this week’s reading, I’m going to be very curious to see if you agree with Ravi in his assertion that worship is the consummate answer to the cries of our heart. He says, “Our cries meet up with the cry of God’s heart for His people—for that is what He seeks for us.” Please blog your response and how it will impact your life with God—your worship of Him.

This is our last week to study this book together. Thank you for making the journey with me. I’ve been challenged by our reading and the Holy Spirit has used Ravi’s writings to help me understand and live my faith in new ways. I hope you’ve been encouraged also. May God richly bless each of us as we learn how to worship Him in deeper ways in each area of our lives!

[Editor's Note: Next book, Gilead, starts June 7. See sidebar for book ordering details (30% discount!) See you in June!]

Cries of the Heart: The Cry of a Lonely Heart

I read this week’s chapter as a woman who has struggled with loneliness in several different settings. Language school was a lonely time as I learned to live in Latin America with my husband and two babies. No one else from our mission was there, and while we built friendships, it seemed we were just getting close and comfortable with a few people when it was time to move to Venezuela. And, once there, I was again lonely.

As missionaries in a declared Catholic town, we weren’t allowed to attend church. Our town was very isolated—people traveled by river or by the expensive, once-a-day flight to the capitol. All strangers were suspect—including Venezuelans from different parts of the country. Over the years we made great friends, but those first years were lonely as my husband was away long hours each day flying for missionaries living in the jungle while I was at home with babies and the HF radio to keep in touch with the pilots with no car, no phone, and no neighbors.

Those early years of loneliness taught me many lessons—lessons I’ve learned a lot more than once! And, now, many years later, we’re on the move again and I’m facing that same loneliness. I miss having familiar faces in my life, knowing my community, living near friends and family. Even as I write this I know we’re moving again—I just don’t know when or where. Life is changing again.

The lessons I’ve learned have been rich, and sometimes, time and place specific. Sometimes the lessons have had to be repeated, but often God has had new things for me to learn. Ravi’s lesson on loneliness includes concepts I’ve never before considered, like, “Our experience of loneliness is universal, and love alone is not the answer. There is a ‘beyond’ in all of us that love does not satisfy.” As I’ve thought about that sentence, I think it explains some of my loneliness.

This may be our deepest chapter to read yet.

I know the concepts tended to fly over my head as I read and I needed soak time to consider if what Ravi wrote made sense to me. With time, I think I’ve come to understand what he is saying. This week, as you write your response on our blog, instead of just responding to what Ravi writes about, would you be willing to write about a lonely episode in your own life and the lessons you learned during that time? We’d find your insights helpful.

And, if you are dealing with loneliness right now, maybe you’d like to pose a question for us. We can prayerfully respond to each other and hopefully be an encouragement to one another.

Cries of the Heart: The Cry for Freedom in Pleasure

Honestly, this isn’t my favorite chapter in our study.

Pleasure seems to be something the church hasn’t known how to deal with or teach—and I’ve been strangely OK with that. I’m a bit of a serious person—maybe that is why I’ve not struggled with pleasure the way I’ve wrestled with pain and suffering. But, taking time to consider where pleasure fits into God’s heart for us is important and worth the time it takes to dig into and honestly think about pleasure.

A question that Ravi poses at the first of this chapter captured my attention. “Is it not also instructive of our bias that society popularly brands all tragedies as ‘acts of God’ but fails to attribute equal credit when we enjoy something good?” At this point, Ravi has my attention because this is an observation I can agree with. He goes on to share 3 principles and 3 applications about pleasure in this chapter. And that is what I’d like us to focus on this week as we read. Please choose one of the principles and one of the applications to write your comments about. It can be that you agree or disagree with him—or you can see ways to apply his points in your life.

I’m looking forward to re-reading this chapter and considering how I can grow in my understanding of pleasure. Your comments will be very instructive and helpful for me—I hope to hear from you!

Cries of the Heart: The Cry of a Guilty Conscience

Chapter 4: The Cry of a Guilty Conscience

This chapter stirred my heart as I read of six different ways people deal with their guilt. Except for the last, these mechanisms are useless and add pain to our lives. Only the last way of surrendering our guilt to God’s grace can bring the freedom from guilt and sin that we so desperately need. But, it is sad to realize that we often default to irreverence, pride, fear, devalue it from a cultural perspective, or declare ourselves innocent. What bondage and pain we endure when we don’t bring our guilt to our Savior.

Which makes me ask the hard question—how do I deal with guilt? What do I do with my short-comings, weaknesses, sins? Do I treat them differently? Are some given readily to God and others explained away, or made excuses for? Do I justify, cover up, minimize? I’m afraid I have tendencies to do each of these.

In this Easter season when we remember our Lord’s death and resurrection, it seems so sad to me that my response to my sin sometimes ignores the incredible painful price He paid for my sin. Ravi says, “Only in the admission of sin is there a genuine restoration, because guilt is first a vertical problem before it is a horizontal one. God is the one who has been violated before humanity has been wronged.”

He also says, “I have a Savior for you. He went to the cross to carry that penalty and pay our price. It was not cheap; it was God’s priceless gift of His Son to bear the guilt brought by the sin of the world.”

We have been so blessed by Christ’s death—by the price He paid. As followers of Christ, we believe He died for our sins and rose again. But, sometimes, in the blush of realizing our guilt in daily sins, we don’t live what we believe—at least I don’t always live this truth.

So my questions for us this week are:

• How do you respond to your guilt? The past guilt? The present, daily guilt?


• How do you live every day as a person set free from death to life? Or, do you?


• What helps you respond with humility and acceptance of God’s grace when confronted with guilt?

I look forward to letting the Holy Spirit search my heart this week and writing my response on our blog. I hope you’ll be posting your thoughts there, too.

As I close, I offer this prayer for us:

Dear Forgiving God, who with unimaginable sacrifice paid for all the sins of the world—and all of ours, please help us to realize when our pride refuses your forgiveness for whatever reason. Please help us to turn to you in humility and genuine repentance to receive your grace, mercy and forgiveness. Help us to see the times we ignore, hide, minimize, trivialize, or justify our guilt and free us from those prisons. We love you, our amazing Heavenly Father, our generous and loving Savior, our faithful Teacher and Comforter.
Amen.

Cries of the Heart: The Cry for a Reason in Suffering

Chapter 3: The Cry for a Reason in Suffering

Suffering has hit me hard in life. My father was very ill and died when I was a child. Living overseas with poverty on my street showed me suffering I’d never seen in my stateside neighborhoods. Our family went through different traumas while overseas, including our daughter being sexually abused. I’ve had several serious health challenges. My trips to Thailand, Mexico and Ghana this year have given me opportunities to hear horror stories of women and children being used as sexual slaves. Examples from DRC, Darfur, Afghanistan, and Nigeria crowd the news of unimaginable tragedies.

Your list of sufferings may even be longer than mine. Suffering confronts us everywhere—it is something we dread, try to avoid and struggle to explain. When Ravi addresses this topic in chapter 3, he starts with a quick lesson about suffering from a philosophical perspective. Then, he dives into Job—the Biblical Poster Person for suffering.

G.K. Chesterton is quoted in this chapter. What he says is reminiscent of what Peter said to Jesus after many of His followers abandoned Him. “When belief in God becomes difficult, the tendency is to turn away from Him; but in heaven’s name to what? “ Peter said it this way, "Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life. We've already committed ourselves, confident that you are the Holy One of God." (The Message, John 6: 68-69)

How is your faith in God impacted when life is difficult—when suffering makes belief seem impossible? As you read chapter 3, please be honest with yourself about the suffering you’ve experienced or witnessed. What are the real questions suffering has raised for you?

May I give you a head’s up? Ravi’s explanation of God’s work in Job’s life is one of the best I’ve ever heard. I love how Ravi describes how Job’s faith grows from knowing God as Creator and Designer, to Revealer, Comforter, Mediator and Savior, Strengthener and Restorer. Job started his journey focused on himself—his character and purity. By the end of the book, he’d come to know and understand God much better and was now focused on His character.

Please pay extra attention to the conclusion of this chapter where Ravi notes four extremely important and encouraging truths about suffering we’re able to learn from Job. I hope you find them as helpful and insightful as I did.

I look forward to reading your comments on this chapter.