All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6 ESV).

Years ago, when my son was considerably younger than he is now, his exact age at the time escapes me, I managed to lose him in a large public area. Every parent’s nightmare. We had gone to a park that had recently opened near our house. The expansive space, surrounded by a walking path, had several picnic pavilions and a fenced play area.

I repeat, the play area was fenced.   

In all fairness I’ll add that within the fenced play area there were several small benches where parents could sit while their children climbed, crawled, swung, and spun on the varied pieces of equipment. For me, the benches provided a perfect spot to sit and read a book while my child ran freely within the fenced play area. What could go wrong?   

The short and somewhat boring version of this story is that my son chose to ignore the fence. He was drawn to a creek that bordered the park, nestled down in a fairly deep ravine that hid him completely from my sight. At some point, I looked up from my book and scanned the fenced area, noting the absence of my son. Perplexity turned briefly to aggravation before becoming anxiety that soon went to panic. 

Shouting my son’s name alerted other parents to my predicament, some of whom were kind enough to join me in the search. After a few moments of searching one of those parents asked me if the kid in the creek was mine.

Just as Jesus’ parable spoke of great rejoicing over the lost sheep and the lost coin, I too greatly rejoiced, mingled with strong words of rebuke and threats of punishment aimed at my son.     

Ignoring the Fence

The basic idea behind the Foundation Series is that the Bible tells us one unified story that leads to Jesus. We’ve been working through the Hebrew scriptures for about twenty-one weeks. Along the way there might have been moments when it was hard to see how the story we’re hearing about each Sunday or reading during the week was taking us to Jeus. This week, however, the connection could not be clearer.

Today we’re looking at the well-known words of the prophet Isaiah that describe a suffering servant. In the picture Isaiah so poetically paints of one who is despised, rejected, and pierced for our transgressions, we see Jesus.

But the prophet also paints a picture of us. We are a wandering people, ignoring the fence, getting lost. Using the familiar image of sheep, a beast not known for its intelligence, Isaiah tells us that we’ve all gone astray. We’ve covered enough of the Bible’s story to understand that ignoring the fence is a sad and repeated theme.

The Bible opens with a man and a woman who ignore a very simple fence around a singular tree. Later in the story God gives his people his law, a clear description of what it means to live as God’ people and bear witness to God in the world. Most of the Old Testament is a tale of how that fence was ignored time and time again.

But the God of the Bible is a faithful and loving parent, searching diligently, pursuing his wayward children. In the Bible’s story the consequences of ignoring the fence are not laid upon the rebellious children. Rather, those consequences are borne by a faithful and obedient son. A servant. A servant who is crushed for our iniquities and pierced for our transgressions.

Isaiah speaks a gospel message, a word of good news: “By his wounds we are healed.”

None are Exempt

This word of good news will come up again before the Foundation series concludes a few months from now. We’ll come back to Jesus and how he bore “the iniquity of us all.”

Maybe for today we need to think about the ways we ignore the fence that defines fellowship with God. Maybe we need to identify both the serious and the small ways we get lured to play in creek beds and ditches that were not designed for our wellbeing.

None of us are exempt. We’ve all wandered, some farther away than others, but we are all sheep who stray.  “We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way” (Is. 53:6 The Message).

Can you think of any fences you’ve ignored? It’s good to remember them – but not dwell on them. We’ve wandered, but we are loved and sought too. And that’s where this story will take us in the weeks and months ahead.

Prayer:

Merciful God, you are patient with us, searching for us and pursuing us when we ignore fences and go our own way. We give you thanks for the gift of your son, the obedient servant who took on the consequences of our wandering.  Give us grace to walk in his steps and make us bold in sharing the good news of hope and healing he offers us, we ask in his name. Amen.      

To everything there is a season . . . (Ecc. 3:1)

If you live in North Carolina for very long you quickly realize that life is defined by two seasons. The first is basketball season. To be more precise, ACC basketball season.  The second of the two seasons – at least where I lived in Wake County – is tobacco season. As Ecclesiastes says, there is a time to plant and a time to uproot.  For four years I marked the season by seeing Richard, one of my church members, plowing the field across the street from my house on his John Deere tractor.   

To my distant and uninformed observations, tobacco farming was a seasonal endeavor marked by planting (settin’ out) and harvest (putin’ in). I assumed that tobacco growers worked hard in spring and late summer /fall, recuperating from their labor in the cold months. I learned differently when Donny Olive, another church member, showed me the greenhouse on his farm that sheltered hundreds of tiny tobacco plants and supplied growers throughout the state. 

Beneath a massive canopy was an expansive array of small plastic trays with little square compartments like the ones you used in the days before ice makers in your freezer. Each little compartment held a tiny tobacco plant, no bigger than the end of my little finger. These plants were carefully nurtured, watered on a schedule, never allowed to get too cold. 

It became clear to me that the success of what happened in the spring and summer depended upon the success of preparations made in winter. One season was integrally connected to the other and the “tobacco season” was actually happening all the time.

Chances are the season you’re in right now doesn’t stand alone.  If you know joy now, you may know it well because you’ve tasted sorrow. If you’re feeling smothered by sorrow now, past joy may be what you cling to as a source of hope for your future.  What’s more, God works all year ‘round, every single moment of it, and the season you’re in today may well be preparation for a season yet to come, a season you cannot see, a season not yet available to your imagination.

But that season is approaching. The arrival may be long in coming according to the mystery of God’s timing. But it will come.    

Here are two questions for you to ponder today: Can you identify a past season that somehow prepared you for where you are today? 

Further, can you see that the present season may in fact be God’s way of preparing you for a season yet to come?

Prayer:

Merciful God, I’m thankful that you are always working and that you are faithful in every season of my life.  Work in me today by your Spirit to prepare me for whatever you have for me in the coming seasons of my life, I ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

To everything there is a season . . . (Ecc. 3:1)

For three years I served on the chaplaincy staff of Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. During the first six months of my work there I was the chaplain to the maternity area of the hospital. Whenever I would mention this to people, it usually evoked a smile along with a comment that went something like, “How nice that you get to work in the happy part of the hospital!”

The comment was understandable. Birth is a miracle, and for most couples it ranks near the top of joy-filled, awe-inspiring moments of life. But it isn’t always this way.

Sometimes the miracle of birth is mingled with financial anxieties; the presence of the new baby sometimes presses against an already fragile marriage; the celebration that brings in the entire family also opens the door to stressful dynamics that crop up when the entire family gathers in one place. Even in the hospital, maternity involves more than a much welcomed and prayed for birth. 

At Baylor Medical Center I passed out little white New Testaments and prayed prayers of thanks for healthy babies. Down on the lowest floor of the same building was the special care nursery. There I walked into rooms where couples were reeling from words like “stillborn” or septic phrases like “failure to thrive.” Words of congratulations and celebration came easier upstairs. Silence and prayerful presence was often most fitting downstairs. 

While Ecclesiastes 3 moves back and forth rhythmically between the varied seasons of life, life’s seasons don’t actually come to us that neatly. The joys and blessings are often mingled. The lines blur between birth and death, between weeping and laughing.  It isn’t uncommon to be with a grieving family as they cry one moment and then laugh out loud at some memory or story. The tears call forth the laughter that in turn gives rise to more tears.

The seasons come for a time, for a purpose, and soon yield to another season. Maybe we’re tempted to echo those words of Solomon from Ecclesiastes and conclude that life doesn’t make sense. We’re whipsawed between different kinds of experiences that bring joy and sorrow. But there is a center, an anchor.

The Psalmist used words like fortress, rock, foundation, stronghold. This is God. God governs and transcends the seasons. Remember, every season comes to us with a purpose “under heaven,” and no matter what the seasons brig us we are held firmly in God’s hand.

How would you describe the season you’re in right now. What might God be doing in your life in this season?  

Prayer:

Eternal God, here on the threshold of summer, we’re aware of how seasons change. What we see happening around us also happens within us. The hope and joy of spring will eventually yield to barren winter. Yet you are unchanging, steadfast in your love and faithfulness. This is our confidence in every season, and we give you thanks that every season is governed by your purposes for us. We offer our thanks today in Jesus’ name. Amen.