A Summer Well Spent

Jesus Set His Face Like Flint

Recently I’ve been pondering the following:  “Jesus set His face like flint to Jerusalem.”  The original thought comes from Isaiah 50:4-5, 10.

The Lord God has given Me the tongue of disciples, that I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word…The Lord God has opened My ear; and I was not disobedient nor did I turn back. I gave My back to those who strike Me, and my cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting. For the Lord God helps Me, therefore, I am not disgraced. Therefore, I have set My face like flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed. Who is among you that fears the LORD, that obeys the voice of His servant, that walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely on His God.

Jesus is obviously the fulfillment of this passage.  By His example, I learn what it means to be perfected through obedience and suffering.  In Luke 9:51 it says, “When the days were approaching for His ascension (still before His death), He was determined to go to Jerusalem.” The literal translation is that He - “set His face” - to go to Jerusalem. 

Just prior to this passage, Jesus spells out the true cost of discipleship in Luke 9:23-25.

And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?”

I want more of God and less of me.  I want more of God’s Kingdom and less of my own.

This past summer, Miss Brielle and I were standing at the back of the Tapawingo chapel while the CITs (Counselors -in-Training) led the camp in worship at Vespers.  The singing was full and vibrant; the music was excellent and well-ordered; and I have to believe that it was honoring to the Lord.  Tears were streaming down Miss Brielle’s face and I thought I knew why but I asked her about it later.  Her words were more profound than I was expecting:

“I was just thinking about all the summers that we and our friends spent here.  I was thinking of how the world would scoff at how they spent their summers.  The world would say they wasted them.  They would scoff at the fact that they weren’t getting the internships they should have.  But those summers were the farthest thing from wasted.  I was thinking of how blessed we are that we’re getting to see the result with our very own eyes.”

I get choked up just writing this.

I felt as though the scene was similar to this one: “Turning to the disciples, He (Jesus) said privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see, for I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them.’”

There are many summers that I have cried knowing what was coming ahead (It’s funny how the fear of laying your life down is actually worse than the action of laying it down.  It’s funny how joy-filled you can actually be when you are strengthened and humbled by 29 other women who for some crazy reason are doing the same thing.  It’s funny how full you can be when you’re running on empty).

If this is a flippant metaphor, please forgive me, but I tend to think of Luke 9:51 in modern words as, “Jesus got His game face on.”  He set out, with purpose and conviction, to do what He was called to do.  He had done the “suicides.”  He had spent His life training.  And now, with every fiber in His being, He was determined to set in motion the final leg of His mission, to fulfill His ministry to the very end.

I want to be like Jesus – to lay my life and my agenda down, not begrudgingly, but with joy and game-faced conviction.

If you’re looking for a summer with purpose – what greater purpose than this?   

It’s no secret: I’m looking for kingdom women to serve on staff this summer.  I’m looking for women who are in the habit of saying to Jesus, “I will follow You wherever You go.” (Luke 9:57). 

“God, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. And sever any tie in my heart except the tie that binds my heart to Yours.”― David Livingstone

I’ll go anywhere…just go with me.  I’ll do anything…just give me the strength. 

I’m looking for women who understand that this is going to cost some things: time, rest, money, vacation, weddings.  I’m looking for women who, unlike the man in Luke 9:58, have no, “I’ll follow You…BUTs.”  I’m looking for women who know their God is big enough to take care of the details as they step out in faith to, “Go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” If you’re this kind of woman, or if you know this kind of woman, send them my way – I want them on staff this summer!

One of my favorite things about Tapawingo are the songs we sing.  One song that stayed with me from this past summer was, "The Tree Song." 

  

I want to be like a tree planted by the streams of living water.  Oh, I want to be like a tree planted by the streams of living water...I want to be unmovable, unshakeable, let my roots go down deep, unmovable unshakeable in You...

  

We sang it with such joy!

  

It stems from Psalm 1:2-3 which says, "But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers."

  

On the flip side it reminds me of Jeremiah 2:13 which says, "My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water."

A tree - longing, thirsting to be near the only source of true life - versus a person who has forsaken the source of true life AND THEN begun digging and working and thirsting after such foolish things.   

  

It strikes me that when God could have accused the people of many, many things, He says only two...They turned away from Him and tried to satisfy themselves with other things...

  

Now that we are all back into the swing of the fall and school, it's a great time to ask ourselves a few questions...

  

1) Am I still thirsty for Jesus?  Do I still want to be like a tree planted by the streams of living water?

  

2) If not, where in my life am I thirsting for other things?   

  

Miss Charis once told me a story about horses.  She asked me if I knew how to tell who the lead horse was in a pack?  I was thinking it was probably the strongest, or fiercest.  Maybe it was the biggest.  But she told me that it was actually the horse that remained calm and grounded in the midst of chaos.

  

When all around you in school is difficult, will you be a leader?  When your friends are making choices, will you stand out this year as a woman who is unmovable, unshakeable, like a tree planted by the streams of living water?  Will you remain connected to the only true source of life? 

  

Now is a great time to remember the sisters you have who, like you, may be struggling, but want to STAND for righteousness this year.  Who want to thirst, more and more for the living water (Jesus) and who want to be the lead horses right in the middle of their friends. 

  

We won't regret it when we meet again next summer and tell each other stories of how we stood firm for Christ and became more deeply rooted.

  

Oh, and it's okay if you want to go outside and sing that song at the top of your lungs.

  

Much love,

  

Miss Joy

  

Joy Huseland

Tapawingo Director

518-774-6713