Missions Paul

Song of Songs 1
Over the next 8 days I am going to leave you with just one thought each day for you to think on. Please don’t just read it and forget it. Read it, think on it and pray it.

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, v2

The kiss of the mouth is the kiss of intimacy that God desires to have with you. But He waits for your permission, for your desire, for your prayer. Pray for such closeness.

Ecclesiastes 12

Old man Solomon has looked back on life and concludes that without God everything is just meaningless.
He has it all, has experienced probably everything and knows more than everyone. However, it is meaningless.
The whole duty of man, the meaning of life, the purpose to it all comes down to 2 things: to Fear God and keep His commandments, v13.
It is as simple as this. But ever since, the Church in particular has thrown all its energy into making this as complicated and unachievable as possible.
So man has been taught a scary God who has created a hell for all the disobedient. Man has been taught not just 10 but 10 times the many commandments that appear throughout the ongoing generations and cultures.
A mild-mannered man was reading a book on being self-assertive and decided to start at home. So he stormed into his house, pointed a finger in his wife’s face, and said, “From now on I’m boss around here and my word is law! I want you to prepare me a gourmet meal and draw my bath. Then, when I’ve eaten and finished my bath, guess who’s going to dress me and comb my hair.” “The mortician,” replied his wife.
Is God this horrible husband who just orders his wife around and demands for her to be at his service? Everyone has met someone who tries to rule with this kind of fear. This is not the kind of fear we should have of God. The word means “to stand in awe of, to reverence, honour and respect.”
Here is what I have come to understand:
Fear is to believe He exists when it looks like He doesn’t.
Fear is to know I am a continuous sinner who is continually forgiven.
Fear is to worship a personal God who speaks to me but who is far off.
Fear is to love what he loves not what He hates and hate what He hates not what He loves.
Fear is found in the contradiction.
Have you been to the symbol of this contradiction?

Ecclesiastes 11

Cast your bread upon the waters …v1

Whatever you do today will probably involve work.
Whether it is a paid or voluntary place of work, or maybe you are caring for a family member, you wake today to work.
Solomon says get up in the morning and work, v6. He tells us not to stand around idly looking at the weather or the sky, v3-4. Also, don’t just channel all your energy into one source. Have a variety of things you can do. If you are working then develop a hobby, get another qualification, learn something new, for one day you may be thankful you did, v2.

Solomon is not asking us to throw a slice of bread into the sea. It has to be about some sort of trade of bread or grain to destinations and if you work hard at this then you will eventually find a return for it.

Cast your bread speaks of:

The Bible telling us to work.
The fact we know God works.
Working gives a return to us of value which not working does not.
Our work may take time before the rewards come, even many days of work, but it will come.

So enjoy your work today, whatever it is.

Ecclesiastes 10

If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed but skill will bring success, v10.

Now we all know Solomon is not talking about sharpening axes and using them with skill! He’s an old man looking back on his life and seeing that much of life is sheer effort, sweating with little success because we have failed to work smartly.

It makes sense to sharpen the ax, but for some reason we don’t, we haven’t got the time, there is so much to do and it needs to be done yesterday. So we just keep working with dullness.
We know we should rest, play, slow down, but we don’t. We know we should eat healthy but we don’t. We know we should pray but we don’t. We know. But we don’t.
Something is wrong with our brain.
I wonder how much of our lives is spent with a dull blade? No one can deny our effort. But we could have been more focused, smarter, more balanced.
How much flexibility is in us? Do we think the same way, make the same decisions and do the same actions?
Recently I found myself literally staring at a puzzle which seemed to last for hours! It is part of the cognitive reflection test and it is used in place of IQ tests to see how patient candidates are and how good they are at making decisions. Here it is:

A bat and a ball cost £1.10. The bat costs one pound more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?”
My immediate response was 10 pence. It is wrong.
I spent so much time coming up with the same answer.
I had to google it to find the answer!

So today like most days I pray for wisdom, sharpness, the willingness to change, to be flexible, to slow down, to breathe, to enjoy and engage, to work at a puzzle, to learn to not be driven by my first response, to google.

Ecclesiastes 9

I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all, v11.

There are no guarantees in life. You may think you are in control but then something happens and you realise you are far from it.
The old man reflects and realises that the fast don’t always own the race, the strong don’t always succeed etc.
Life is not so predictable.
In 2001 Rudy Giuliani was a failed New York City mayor with a failing marriage. In the aftermath of September 11 he was declared “2001 Person of the Year”.
At the same time Ted Olson was the up and coming star in the U.S. as Solicitor General of the U.S. But the world watched him bury his wife, a passenger on
American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon.
One man weak who became strong. One strong who through no fault of his own was weakened by disaster.
With such unpredictability doesn’t it further show that the sooner we put our life into the hands of God the better?
So today, realise anything could happen, shocks and surprises are ahead of us, so give your life, your desires and decisions to the One who is never shocked and is always in control.

Ecclesiastes 8

Solomon had looked at everything and found nothing or no one who made life meaningful.
In this chapter he looks at the power found under the sun.
He sees the power of those in authority, v2-6. He concludes that the only thing we should do is to obey. If you choose not to then you will be punished. Even if you disagree with the king you should view him as a man under God for God’s purpose, v2. For all those working for a difficult boss today this is no doubt encouraging. Though for Solomon in his generation he could find no one who could say,”You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.”
He sees the power within the storms of life, v7-8. This morning, the news in the UK is all about last night’s storm. No one had the power to stop it. Maybe you are waking to a storm of life today. I hope you are not like Solomon who could find no one who could rebuke and quieten the storm.
He sees the power of those who arrogantly bully others, v9-10. There are many in the hands of a dictator, of a manipulator, abused by the strength and pride of the big-shot. It would seem that to get to the top in a career you have to walk over the many. It is all under the sun and we have seen it. For Solomon, he had not seen any one who on being a lord did not lord it over others. He had not witnessed true servant-leadership.
Today you may be experiencing one of these or all three powers. But you are different to Solomon. Life is not meaningless. For you have met the One who has showed us all how to obey, how to survive and how to lead.
You have found wisdom. You know His name.

Ecclesiastes 7

Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart, v3.

I am known for my optimism, for being positive and happy.
But those who really know me also see sadness in my eyes. Over the years missions has ruined me. It has brought me to the place of embracing frustration and sadness into my heart. I laugh so easily, however, tears come without warning. This is who I am. Very unpredictable! But the Great Commission did this. Let me explain.

The authors of the book “When helping hurts” explain how the World Bank tried to alleviate world poverty in the 1990s. They asked the poor from 60 low-income countries this question: what is poverty? Here are some of the answers:
From Guinea-Bissau: “When I don’t have any [food to bring my family], I borrow, mainly from neighbours and friends. I feel ashamed standing before my children when I have nothing to help feed the family. I’m not well when I’m unemployed. It’s terrible.”
From Uganda: “When one is poor, she has no say in public, she feels inferior. She has no food, so there is famine in her house; no clothing, and no progress in her family.”
From Moldova: “For a poor person everything is terrible—illness, humiliation, shame. We are cripples; we are afraid of everything; we depend on everyone. No one needs us. We are like garbage that everyone wants to get rid of.”

Today the Christian doesn’t need to go overseas to see poverty, they just need to come out of the churches and walk across the street. But the further you journey you will see an increase not just in the lack of essentials that we take for granted, but that also of shame, inferiority, powerlessness and a voiceless humiliation. The journey you make doesn’t have to be physical it can be that of awareness.
I appeal to you today to get involved in the Great Commission. To become missional. To embrace sadness into your happiness.
Solomon says it is good for you.

Ecclesiastes 6

Everyone’s toil is for their mouth, yet their appetite is never satisfied, v7.

Solomon had it all: wealth, possessions and honour.
But he also had something which he describes as an evil.

We may wonder at all the evils in the world. The things that man does to man are at times nothing short than wicked. They originate in hell and they belong there. Solomon says he has found another evil: dissatisfaction.
Having it all, having hundreds of children, living for 2,000 years and yet if the person is still dissatisfied it is an evil thing.

If you think you deserve it and you ought to have it you won’t be happy till it comes and when it is finally yours you won’t be thankful when you have it. This is the evil.

It is the ones who have that are dissatisfied the most. This is the evil.

Dissatisfaction, an evil? Really?

Yes, because God gave this insatiable appetite for Him. When it is not for Him it immediately gets transferred to things, people, creations of the mind, to things that then become idols and gods, to yourself, toiling for your mouth.

This is not God’s plan, it has been spoilt. This is evil.

Being a Christian is replicating God’s incredible desire for us by loving and wanting Him, we were created for such. To do anything else is evil.

Ecclesiastes 5

There are so many today with big dreams and big faith-talk to match. It would appear, certainly if you’re a leader, that to not have a dream makes you deficient in some way. Once you get a dream it is a must to make it known. Put it on paper, speak it out, claim it by faith. So we are taught.

Now I am a firm believer in having a purpose and a plan for life and not to wander aimlessly. Author and poet, Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) rightly advises of the tension that can exist in us all.
“There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud”.

I don’t want to be a person without vision. But there are some wild and wacky plans out there.
—
A dream comes when there are many cares, and many words mark the speech of a fool, v3.

The old man brings some wisdom that he has learnt.

To dream when you have problems is like a fool who says too much which he will later regret.
Not all dreams are healthy, Godly, or possible.
Our cares belong to God not fuelled into dreams.
Dreams can be nothing more than hallucinations based on personal gain if they come from problems.

Solomon says be quiet, don’t be hasty, learn to listen, less words the better.
It is in this place of quietness and trust, of fear and silence that the dreams of God are conceived.

Ecclesiastes 4
There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother. v8

Every man should have a son. I mean someone younger whose life you are helping to shape by encouragement, directing and praying.
Every man should have a brother. I mean someone who you can be accountable to, who will not let you hide and who will ask you the tough questions.
Without a son and a brother every man is alone.
There is a worse scenario though. This is the man without son or brother and without a friend also, “no friend to help him up”, v10.
There are some that are only friends for the sunshine, it takes the clouds of life to blow them away and then you are left with your true friends. Adversity, mistakes and failures will prove your true friend.
Jim was just a little older than his best friend Phillip and often assumed the role of leader, they did everything together. They even went to high school and college together.
After college they decided to join the marines. By a unique series of circumstances they were sent to Germany together where they fought side by side.
One sweltering day during a fierce battle, they were given the command to retreat. As the men were running back, Jim noticed that Phillip had not returned with the others. Jim begged his commanding officer to let him go after his friend, but the officer forbade the request.
Risking his own life, Jim disobeyed and went after Phillip. His heart pounding, he ran into the gunfire, calling out for Phillip. A short time later, his platoon saw him hobbling across the field carrying a limp body in his arms.
Jim’s commanding officer upbraided him, shouting that it was a foolish waste of time and an outrageous risk. “Your friend is dead,” he added, “and there was nothing you could do.”
“No sir, you’re wrong,” Jim replied. “I got there just in time. Before he died, his last words were ‘I knew you would come.'”
Loneliness is no son, brother or friend.