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“Every Possible Fig Leaf” Removed

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By Larry Short

One of the favorite parts of my week is sitting in the hot tub each Sunday night with Jason Comerford. Sometimes we watch wild animals come out of the quiet forest. This week we listened as a nearby fir tree made an enormous “crack” and plunged to the ground with a thunderous crash. In the midst of relative isolation, we enjoy hot water and good fellowship, we pray for each other and our church, and we ask God lots of questions.

And the question that has been most frequently on our minds and hearts in recent months is this: Where is God working in the midst of all this pain and chaos? What is He doing?

I read a blog this week by a pastor and writer I enjoy named John Myer. He asked that exact same question. And he used a set of Where’s Waldo? drawings to provide a possible answer.

First, here’s a Where’s Waldo? drawing from 2019:

How long did you have to look before you found Waldo? I confess I STILL haven’t. (I blame bad eyesight, LOL!)

And now here’s the 2020 social distancing edition:

            (Image credit: Times Free Press)

THAT was a lot easier, wasn’t it?

What’s the difference between the two drawings? Obviously the 2019 edition had a lot of noise: visual distractions, lots going on, lots of people. (We might now look back with a sigh—THOSE were the days!)

But in the 2020 edition, those distractions have been mostly removed. We enter a meadow near a forest in a state of solitude. Waldo is much more obvious once the distractions are gone, once the decks are cleared.

Myers made this very uncomfortable observation:

From the spiritual standpoint, God has cleared the decks.  There’s very little church stuff left to camouflage Him.  The only things left are you, the Bible, and those Christians you meet with.  Gone are the pageants, the events, the programs, and every possible fig leaf. (Bareknuckle Bible)

The “fig leaf” part really got to me. Darlene and I had a fig tree once. Fig leaves are scratchy, itchy, awkward, and very uncomfortable. They are of course what Adam and Eve applied as they sought (unsuccessfully) to hide their sin and shame from the God with Whom they had previously fellowshipped in the Garden. (In His mercy and grace, God of course gave them much more comfortable coverings, made of leather—costly as they were in terms of some poor, innocent animal’s blood.)

God calls us to the exact opposite of this scenario: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.“ Jeremiah 29:13

In the Garden, after Adam and Eve sinned, they stopped seeking and started hiding. God in His grace and mercy sought them out instead. And He has done this with each and every one of us. “God demonstrates His own love toward us in this While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God’s seeking was done on the cross. Christ’s blood became the covering for our sin and shame.

Now that we are forgiven, now that we have no more need of fig leaves, God desires us to seek Him. And He PROMISES us that if we do so with all our heart, we will find Him!

What has this got to do with COVID-19 and social isolation, the risk of possibly debilitating or mortal illness, loss of employment or retirement funds, the departure of many of our sports and entertainment choices, and the sudden evaporation of most if not all our previous trappings of doing church?

You may already see that the answer to this question lies in the two contrasting Where’s Waldo? drawings above. Peel away the distractions, remove the fig leaves, and God is far more easily found.

But, have we been looking? Or do we instead seek to embrace new fig leaves—to create new distractions with which to repopulate the Waldo drawing that is our world?

Are we complaining about our new normal and asking God to restore our previous comforts? Or are we seeking Him with all our hearts TODAY? Now is the time when, perhaps, He will be most easily found. If we would only seek.

Jeremiah challenges me, time and again, when my fig leaves are removed and I feel uncomfortably exposed, to claim God’s promise: “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.”

Will you join me in this, as my brother or sister in Christ?

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Seeking God in the Face of Adversity

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By Bill Naron

Each of us can no doubt remember a time before the COVID-19 pandemic. A time when there was no government shutdown and when churches gathered physically. In the face of our struggle against this disease, many aspects of our lives have changed. For many, the stay-at-home order and the resulting inability to gather with the ones we love is difficult. In some ways, this is a type of suffering that is not “normal” for us as Americans.

This hardship we are experiencing has disrupted our usual way of life. We are not able to go and to do the things that we would typically do. We are not able to gather with our friends and family. We are not able to corporately worship, as a body of believers, in the way we are accustomed to gathering. A suffering of this nature is not something that we, as Americans, have much experience with.

A week ago, as I was perusing YouTube, I came across a video by Francis Chan entitled “Message to the Hong Kong Church.” He read from the Psalms, specifically 46:10: “Be still and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” When I heard these words, I stopped cold. It resonated with me and was like a breath of fresh air.

“Be still and know that I am God.” What a powerful statement that is and what a great reminder of Who is in control. I know that there are many different opinions about the things that are happening and how Christians should engage. As I heard these words, they reminded me of Daniel. In Daniel chapter 6, the other high officials who served King Darius deceived him into signing a law that no one could pray to any god but him for 30 days. But God’s faithful servant Daniel did what he always did – the right thing. He defied the order and continued to pray to God

Right now, as we face this hardship together as a body and as we mindfully navigate these perilous times, there are three things we should not neglect to practice. First, we need to “be still” and know that God is on His throne. Second, we need to pray for our leaders at Elim and in the Church throughout the world, and for governmental authorities. And third and finally, we need to follow the example of the prophet Daniel, who made trusting, following and pleasing God the top priority in his life, regardless of the personal cost.

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