All Well and Good

“And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” (Luke 12:19, emphasis mine)

Read what happens though, in the next verse. Positively horrifying, if you ask me. When God says “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee…”, it’s as if all the chips have been called in and then all the things—immaterial and non, I’m just going to throw that in here right now—with which we sought to substantiate our lives at large in this world, fade, vanish, disappear.

“In your patience possess ye your souls.” (Luke 21:19)

You want this

There is such danger in getting comfortable in your surroundings with reference to your stuff. God would have our needs supplied but only in Him do we find that thing our souls are searching for. The writer of Proverbs, chapter 30 ( verse 8) had it right when he said “feed me with food convenient for me”. But with reference to God, that space in us that yearns for more stuff, or even the divesting and winnowing down of the stuff we don’t need—in order to attain a sense of peace and calm and purpose—necessarily comes from Him alone.

“Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him…” (Psalm 37:7a)

Did you know that’s the answer for everything? The other day, I was reminded by the Lord to spend more time in the little place He and I have carved out over time. It’s there in all of us, memories, colors, feelings. Places within that bring an emotional response that can then in turn be directed to Him in praise and worship. Places in our hearts and minds that God dwells and that are like doorways back to the foot of the throne of grace (“Let us therefore come boldly…” Hebrews 4:16). Because we all go through our little prodigal moments. And while I believe He is always by our side, always with us, He most certainly is where we left Him, arms outstretched awaiting our eventual return. He knows.

You need this

“This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works. Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.” (2 Chronicles 32:30-31, emphasis mine)

Read through that again if you have to and think about what it implies (the italicized line). The depth of our heart is fathomless. As acutely introspective a person as God has made me, I am unable to line out the bottom of my heart. I feel things. For people, for pastimes, for atmospheres and qualities and even certain foods. But the weight of these feelings come and go. And I’m left pretty much the same person as when I started out (though I find my personhood is on a steady upward incline as I follow Christ). And so I come upon this passage from 2 Chronicles the other day and begin to understand what it implies. This particular story during Hezekiah’s reign is repeated twice in the Old Testament (see 2 Kings 20 and Isaiah 38-39). Of his sickness and judgment and repentance before the Lord. He was one of those kings who “did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did.” (2 Kings 18:3–David is that benchmark after which all the kings in his line were compared: the “man after [God’s] own heart” see Acts 13:22) But during this time of severe trial regarding an impending war with the Assyrians, Hezekiah made a mistake. It’s a broad correlation, to be sure, but follow me here. Jumping over to the version of the story from Isaiah:

“At that time Merodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered. And Hezekiah was glad of them, and shewed them the house of his precious things, the silver and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not.” (Isaiah 39:1-2, my emphasis)

Do you see that? And in case you were wondering, those two Babylonian regents’ names have dotted red lines underneath, just so you know. The word for “armor” is misspelled, apparently, as well but that’s neither here nor there. Think about what just happened. The first verse of chapter 38 says “In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death.” Isaiah, the prophet during that time comes around and tells Hezekiah, yes, his time has indeed come: he’s going to die soon. And so Hezekiah seeks God and God hears and heals him and then grants him fifteen more years of life. But moving forward, in the wake of this miracle and subsequent sign (see Isaiah 38:7-8) Hezekiah welcomes these Babylonian ambassadors into his innermost chambers. In the Old Testament, where many things symbolic were represented by physical objects and spaces, transgressions and infractions were met with their attendant punishments. This act, of squiring Babylon throughout all his kingdom necessarily meant that anything reserved between God and his people was open to the eyes of another kingdom, one that not only had been the enemy but that has always symbolized “the Enemy”. And so Isaiah comes back around and asks “What have they seen in thine house?” (39:4) Hezekiah at least answers honestly: “All that is in mind house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not showed them.” And this is where it gets scary and super serious. But before we go any further, if you’d like a starter crop for creating your own quiet place, find Douglas Wood’s A Quiet Place. Came out a number of years ago, beautifully written and illustrated (by Dan Andreasen).

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)

I have made many a mistake in this area. I would have to say that it boils down to needing and wanting validation from something or someone other than God. But as God dwells within (the aforementioned “place in our hearts and minds that God dwells”), letting someone or something else in who doesn’t belong there is dangerous. The repercussions to Hezekiah’s blunder are lined out as follows: “Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the Lord.” (Isaiah 39:6) Hezekiah at least takes it in stride responding with “Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken.” (verse 8) But it needn’t have gone that far.

You have to have this

“Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” (Hebrews 13:5, emphasis mine)

For Jesus to live His earthly life for thirty-three years in perfect obedience means the Father has seen all the ways of humanity exhibited perfectly in the body of one man. And so, “it is finished” (John 19:30). But this also means that the closer you get to the Lord, the more He begins to require those moments of prayer and praise and the active pursuit of His stillness, so as to ensure all the heavy, detail-laden ways of life into which we are now stepping out, continue to be infused with His presence. It takes time but it’s so worth it. Hezekiah wasted the entire stock of Israel’s treasure houses simply by voyeuristically letting the enemy in. Let us learn this lesson, that no matter what God gives us, we are to keep not only His relationship with us front-and-center but the objects (blessings, whatever) free from the prying eyes of those who have no respect and would only want to steal what you’ve got.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and uphold me with Thy free spirit.” (Psalm 51:10-12)

In closing, the point I’m getting at here is God will never leave you (the NLT says regarding Hezekiah that “God withdrew from Hezekiah in order to test him and to see what was really in his heart.”), Jesus will never forsake you. There may be times, though, where you feel a void where once you walked with your Heavenly Father and it’s only because He trusts you and desires to see into the depth of your heart, the things that you may not. Like crystal clear water at the bottom of a deep pool. Here, you can help him along. Pray this:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24)

A Forthcoming Relocation

Hey!

I am in the process of relocating all my stuff (and, going forward, all my future stuff) over to joshingram dot com (here: joshingram.com). I’ll keep putting the posts I do up here, and there. But after a while—say, a month or so—that’s gonna be “where it’s at”, dontcha know.

I really appreciate any reads and like and subscriptions! Lemme know if you need prayer for something.

Blessings, Josh

The Early Bird (For the Birds part 7)

“O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsteth for Thee” (Psalm 63:1a)

Far from being “the worm”, I find the earlier you awake to–and this is the kicker–meet with the Lord, the better your (my) day turns out. Perhaps this is how He planned it? It may not have any bearing on those who work graveyard or some such. Those who’ve been awake since last week for some obscure and bizarre case of insomnia. Forgive me for making light of it. The truth, though, of “the early bird gets the worm” works. How do you do it?

“One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” (Romans 14:5)

I once read how our brains reset upon walking from room to hall or where-have-you. This would account for stepping into a room and forgetting why you were there. Can’t say it makes a-hundred percent sense and that’s a highly simplistic paraphrase. But the idea has stuck with me. Referring again to “the day”, notice how each has its own feeling. A feeling that overlaps the yesterday and to where you forget the cares and worries of the previous twenty-four hours. This, I think, is the idea behind this statement of the psalmist:

“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24)

Jesus did it. “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” (Mark 1:35)

Earliest I’ve ever arisen was four. I was going through deep, dramatic stuff and I couldn’t sleep. I had slept but I also awoke and the tenor of the times dictated I get out of bed. Rather than stay in and continue to mull over the things that were haunting my dreams, I chose to wake up and take a walk. I had to do this a couple of times during that period and it most definitely helped. Watersheds, they were, in the working out of the particularly vexing spiritual circumstances in which I found myself. As the “worm” is to the “bird”, I received peace and direction and contentment with my lot. God knows how to give to us what we need. And He’s always awake.

“He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it.” (Romans 14:6a)

But again, maybe you’re just not a morning person? No matter. The point I’m looking to get across is that of letting God have your best self before you launch out on the grand adventure that is your day. And if worms are also your thing, then more power to you.

Nervous Systems

“A possibility is a hint from God. One must follow it.” Soren Kierkegaard

Sometimes, though, the possibilities we see don’t come from God. I believe that each neutral outcome can be both to His liking and also ours. But any others, ones that don’t seem to line up with the “good”, tend to cause worry.

“Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.” (1 Timothy 5:23)

Wracking up points

All the worry I expended never went anywhere. Doesn’t mean I don’t still do it. But this pattern. This pattern of “forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,” (Philippians 3:13)–the downsides to such–still tries to overwhelm me. What’s the one thought that diverts me off and on to the rails of worry and anxiety and fretting over things that are ultimately inconsequential? God knows.

“Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.” (Psalm 37:7-8)

All the worry in the world, when you’re a child of God, adds up to a bunch of smoke and mirrors. God, being the good father He is, allows us to see possibilities and potentialities that look like they’d pan out in the negative. With or without our help does this stuff look to derail. And if we don’t take necessary steps–out of common sense–it very well may. I’m not talking about lying down and doing nothing for its own sake. I’m talking about responding to the very-real worry that tries to get in. The stuff that’s never going to happen but we don’t know that. These are the thoughts that don’t belong in our head and heart.

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

When the dust settles

I noticed a dust mite floating in the middle distance today. I focused my eyes upon it and watched it descend to the floor. This is something I’ve noticed ever since I’ve been noticing and yet today, something struck me. I realized that this is where God dwells. Anyone observing me would have thought I was looking at the floor or lost in thought. It wasn’t any of that. It was something happening at that instance that I alone got to observe. And I realized the place God dwells is without time. Without worry and without hurriedness, if that makes sense. That fleck of dust means less than nothing in the grand scheme of things. All the rush of activitiy that roiled around me didn’t do anything to affect it. And even I, with all that was going on, had no bearing on what it did. It just was and then it was gone. But God remains. At once, more still, and also more present than all of it. He’s here to help, share your worries with Him and watch Him whisk them away.

“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35)

Stealing Away

“When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which receiveth the seed by the way side.” (Matthew 13:19, emphasis mine)

As catch can

This is one of those maxims, those rubrics for which I have no revisionist, corner-cutting reinterpretations. How else can I say it? “But thou shalt meditate therein day and night.” (Joshua 1:9)

It’s interesting how the word “steal” means both “take unlawfully” and also “put in place surreptitiously”:

“And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage.” (Galatians 2:4)

And neither definition bodes well for the believer, assuming they want to continue on in the things of Christ and not just stop at salvation. Jesus (as a Person, not a concept) begs to be known. Not just by the head but the heart. Knowing Him through His word–the ways and words in which He’s been revealed to the world–is the key to remaining free. Satan would like nothing more than to steal the very foundation of your standing in Christ. I’m not talking about your (as some would say) primitive belief the world was created in six days. I’m talking about sensing a vague and ambiguous notion that goes up against the definition of your now-recreated spirit. Once we were dead. Once we were on our way to hell having done something on which we could never put our finger. Once there was a void. Now there’s life, light, peace and hope and joy. The emotions and presence of Christ. Don’t let the devil take that from you. This is the “liberty which we have in Christ Jesus” as Paul reminds the Galatians in the above verse. This is what Christ died to appropriate for us–to open a channel through which we would be able to receive what He’s always wanted to give. The devil doesn’t have it and therefore cannot give it.

“Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.” (Ephesians 4:28)

While Paul talks here about “labouring”, it applies to the fruit that is grown out of whatever word God has spoken to your heart. Guard it. Apply it. Care for it and tend it. Meditate on God’s word day and night. And, if need be, excuse yourself if you’re among those who would “steal” it.

“And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, He was there alone.” (Matthew 14:23)

Zero, Some

“For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.” (Galatians 5:14-15)

Addend

The Indo-European roots “bheid-” and “bheidh-“, while one fricative (the ‘h’ sound) apart, essentially mean opposite. The former gives rise to words around separation. “Split” and “bite” and all the way out to “fissure” and “vent”. The latter means “to trust”. It spreads out, etymologically, into “abide” and “confide”. Things of fiscal responsibility and honesty.

This, to me, is one of those threadbare examples of black-and-white at work in the world. We get the opportunity, as Paul expresses in the top verse, to do one or the other. To strengthen our relationships through love and selfless interaction. Or to consume off our brothers and sisters in Christ, the qualities God would freely give were we to ask.

Augend

“Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.” (Matthew 10:8)

God is the most generous person in existence. One of the most important gifts we need is that slight, almost binary, change in our thinking. I find that one or the other, if it’s only “my own insight” as it says in Proverbs, is neither with Him. My efforts to do only what I think, in relation to others, most likely don’t go to the top floor. A zero-sum game as it were. In and of myself, I cannot “dredge” up the love needed to open people’s eyes and bless them as God would want. We all have those dead places in our outlook and way of thinking that need the same resurrection we receive spiritually. And don’t think you can reach them on your own. God has to show you by His Holy Spirit. I remember once praying and after a bit, getting reminded of an old acquaintance who I hadn’t completely forgiven for slights long past. This person and I had a falling out and the wounds had been layered over with time and activity. They were the furthest thing from my mind and yet after I prayed again through the things I’d done and they, I felt a release and a freedom I hadn’t known up till then.

“But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33)

Saying Grace

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.” (Titus 2:11)

God’s grace is like this gift that descended after Christ did what He did. Like, now it’s in the air and it’s something we breath and live and walk in without even knowing it. It “hath appeared”. It’s not that His grace wasn’t extant prior to Christ’s sacrifice, just that now it’s the law of the land. It’s yours and it isn’t a matter of earning it. Because something this freeing, something that would lift you out of the human mindset that has only the seventy-to-eighty odd year lifespan in its sights, would need to come from another plane.

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.” (Psalm 84:11)

Grace to grace

There are days when I bring my A-game to my routine. Where everything I do by rote is done with an effortless perfection and ease and I also feel pretty good. Then there are days in between that and this here: Days when I feel my life is this rut that has worn into a frozen earth surrounded by a tundra of hopelessness and misery. Call it bipolarity or depression (that’s what a rut is–a deep depression) or what-have-you, it’s the opposite of what I feel like on my A-game days. But the funny thing is how God is always the same when I come back to Him, I should say, when He draws me back by His Holy Spirit. To where one of the lessons that’s brought back to my memory is that of His grace. Because it’s His grace in which I walk whatever game (and again, I’m loathe to use “sports” metaphors) I bring. This notion is outside free will and determinism and, really, any thing inside ourselves. Stick your hand out in front of you and feel it. Because it’s there.

“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.” (Philippians 4:11-12, emphasis mine)

I came across a Japanese word the other day: kafusoku. It’s translated as “excess or deficiency”. While I may be missing some finer points around its usage and true meaning, I feel it relates to the aforementioned phenomena around which God’s grace freely floats and is also available. See, if you need His grace, it’s here. It’s there. God has abundantly supplied all our needs in the person of Jesus and grace is like the grease that enables life’s machinery to flow smoothly and without interruption. Paul sums it up perfectly when He says above “I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”

Canaries and Stool Pigeons (For the Birds part 6)

Coal: mine

“Then said I, Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5)

It isn’t until you actually see the Lord that you begin to glimpse your–or in the case of me myself, mine–sinfulness. The above verse is Isaiah relating his vision of the throne room. More than enough to get one to stop what they’re doing and take notice of God’s holiness. God is more than good to both show you your (my) sin and shortcoming and to also cleanse you of it.

“And when [the Holy Spirit] is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me….and He will show you things to come.” (John 16:8-9,13b)

Report, retort

Sometimes, and I’m being completely serious, you get to be the canary in the coal mine. That little yellow bird whose untimely demise would in turn save the lives of the miners down there with it. It makes me wonder though, would it be such a bad way to go? I mean, who wants to be down there in the bowels of the earth anyway? Digging for gold and treasure. It’s like you trade one type of cage or enclosure for another. Because with spiritual atmospheres, God would have you be so in step with Him that you are in turn attuned to the subtle shifts that herald either forthcoming revival or anything God would put a cap on as not in keeping with His plan. This is what I mean when I say you’re the canary. And I can guarantee you, at the risk of seeming crazy to everyone else, you may well be the only one who sees what’s going on spiritually.

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)

“For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest. With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves; or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver: Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light. There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.” (Job 3:13-17)

Observe, obverse

The parallel I’m seeing here is that of remaining where you are for the Lord, as the evil slowly tries to encroach and creep and seep in. To so shine for God (canaries are yellow, after all) that, rather than keel over from asphyxiation, you actually begin to affect the atmosphere in spite of it. To stop it if that’s what He wants you to do. Because it’s one thing to dispassionately bring to God what you see. It’s quite another to pass judgment on it as you observe. And it’s nearly impossible without the help of the Holy Spirit to both be in an atmosphere that conflicts with your spiritual constitution and remain loving and kind in spite of it. Not in spite of the people, mind you, but the darkness and dust. The imperative is to pray. To sing. Not to tattle or silently condemn or hole up in an enclosure of your own making to the neglect of those around you. The Lord will keep you alive as He shines through you.

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

Jettisoning Subreption

“He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips.” (Proverbs 20:19)

Do you need to talk?

No, seriously. I’m not telling you, I’m asking you. If there’s something you need to say, say it. Be mindful, though, of the facts. Should you want to enfold me in something best left to God and His, I would have to pass. There are manifold reasons why we spill the things we do to those we do. People, shoulders, kindred spirits we think can bear our story and all its attendant details. Let me just say here that life and its drama can get so ultimately complex that there is bound to slip through, some detail that will cause–like an ember to brush–the whole thing to go up in flames. Jesus is the only person who can take all the details and not break. Oh don’t worry. God has a plan of action and mercy and fire-retardant should the thing conflagrate. But it didn’t need to happen now did it?

“The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with.” (Proverbs 17:24)

A plethora, as you most likely know means “lots”. Adjectivized, however, it takes on a negative, if elitist, connotation. Plethoric means you’ve gone too far. I find that if I don’t continue to raise to Jesus the details that are stacked like straw upon my back, I get tempted with something akin to a clinical logorrhea. I talk to much. And, well, “loose lips sink ships” as the saying goes. Jesus encourages us to come to Him with our burdens. Those complex and full-cast dramas of which we play a lowly part. Sure we want to shine. But we don’t want to get burned.

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

Think about the term subreption. In spite of “talking too much”, subreption is where you leave out a crucial detail. With reference to God, as Christians, it behooves us to take the mundane minutiae to Him to see what He thinks. If you want to keep the peace where you’re at, God will need to tally it all up to ensure each part is bathed in prayer and forgiveness and, in turn, His peace. Because nothing can happen on the front you find yourself unless it’s infused with His peace. Subreption also refers to wrong conclusions drawn from the withholding of information. This is what causes the complexity and the burden you may well feel. Was there something missing in your laundry list of prayer you brought to God? Might wanna check it again and make sure He’s got all the facts. God bless you.

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Roborant

“That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness.” (Colossians 1:10-11)

I suppose that could be the biggest and tryingest test of patience and fortitude we face. Er, reworded a tad, it takes all the strength and power of God to remain patient. I’m not talking about the easily faked and readily available, garden variety tolerance we feel like showing to those we encounter we don’t otherwise know. I’m talking about the forty days in the desert fast type of patience. I’m talking about the kind of patience and longsuffering that is Spirit infused while you wait for someone to change their thinking to be more in line with–not your denomination–but the Lord. Something akin to “travail[ing] in birth again until Christ be formed” (Galatians 4:19). Formed in those who may or may not be born again but who certainly aren’t acting in concert with Him. This is a very special calling. To where God won’t let you rest until you see to it that the people in question are presented before God in prayer and intercession. Forgiving the attitudes and sins to which only you may be privy. And it’s one thing to do it for a time. But I can guarantee you your strength will falter and fail before any tinge of “longsuffering” enters into the thing. And “joyfulness” can only come from God. These are the things that make for a “walk” that is “worthy of the Lord”.

“He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength.” (Isaiah 40:29)

There are people on this world, walking around and acting normal–who are broken inside. They know it. And no one else but God does. If God brings you in and among those who fit this description, know that it’s a high honor to lift them up to the Lord. God won’t have you be in their vicinity forever. But the time you spend with or near them is enough to direct the simple prayers of blessing and fruitfulness and healing toward God before He sends either you or they on their way. Enough to nudge them on the path God has for them.

“O God, Thou art terrible out of Thy holy places: the God of Israel is He that giveth strength and power unto His people.” (Psalm 68:35)