When times are tough

Today we fly home from the best vacation ever, two weeks with our daughter and son-in-law in a warmer part of the world amid 100-foot trees and a view out the window of four holes on a championship golf course. She is a perfect hostess but today is a tough day for them as her hubby is having surgery. MacArthur says that “focusing on heaven is the best way to endure difficulties on earth” but this will not work for everyone or in every situation. A focus on heaven for our SIL would be a focus on dying, likely adding to his anxiety. Besides, he is a doer and will not be able to do much for several weeks. He is asking God for patience.

Following God isn’t always easy. He is asking me for changes, not as scary as surgery but still challenging. He expects me to trust Him explicitly. He does not want my input on decisions that may impact me dramatically nor does He tell me His specific plans much ahead of time. I am not always sheltered from adversity and our SIL knows that for his situation too.

I also realize that God tests my faith to produce endurance and spiritual maturity. Those tests can be painful yet He says this:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2–4)

This thought has settled into my mind and asks for a trust that nothing happens to me without a good reason; God is working all things together for good, that I might be more like Jesus. I can pray for that for our dear SIL, even though he may not realize it for a time as his trial is far from being joyful right now.

For me, thinking about Abraham is helpful too. This man had no Bible, no pastor, no sermons, no commentaries, and no Christian encouragement or accountability. He did have the promise of a nation, a land, and a blessing and that promise sustained him:

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1–3)

Yet Abraham never settled in that land, nor did his son Isaac or his grandson Jacob. They lived in tents.  Abraham never built houses or cities and only possessed the land by faith. Yet he patiently looked to God and did what He asked. He looked forward — whether or not he ever saw it in his lifetime . . . 

By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. (Hebrews 11:9–10)

The NT tells me to be heavenly minded. This is a cure for discouragement and spiritual fatigue: “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1–4)

It also helps to think of God’s purposes for life here on earth. Jesus to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (Matthew 16:23) and Paul said, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” (Romans 8:5–6)

This is the way to think in difficult times: God has a good purpose for this and in it, I can become more like Jesus so need to keep my mind on Him, facing the trial and trusting Him to do His transforming work.

PRAY: Jesus, You are my Savior. You save me from my fears and from giving in to self-centered thinking when life is tough and Your Spirit leads me to You in faith. You are a marvel, a wonderful help in times of need and a joy both then and in times of plenty. Be that for our SIL and surprise him with Your amazing grace.

PONDER: All the past trials and how God used them for His will to be done. Be thankful!

 

 

God wants me to rest . . .

 

Consider this: September 1^st I fell down some stairs, was bruised and sore for a time, but it didn’t faze me very much. I was aware of God’s care and protection as my slight injuries could have been much worse. However, this week I have a head cold, the first in many years and for a few days have been feeling sorry for myself and wanting to skip devotions, skip prayers, do nothing but snack and sleep and complain. Go figure. Since God carried me through a far more serious incident, what is the matter with me and this ordinary problem?

A couple weeks ago one of our pastors preached on Sabbath rest. It was not about rules for Sunday but about a life pattern. God designed it for our good; six days of work and one day of rest. Rest is not necessarily lolling on the sofa with my feet up, but that is not what hit me in this sermon. It was one line the pastor used to describe what many people do: hurry, hurry, hurry, crash, hurry, hurry, hurry, crash. I see myself as one of those and I am crashing.

The pastor used the story of slavery in Egypt to remind us that we have been delivered from slavery, not to go back there. Then he asked, “What is your Pharaoh?” or my slavedriver? And my immediate thought was my to-do list, part of that hurry, hurry, crash pattern. My hubby will not let me blame the list though. He often says we are busy by choice. Eventually that choice takes a toll, and in my case, hurry, hurry weakened my body enough that it finally gave in to a virus.

Today’s devotional begins with some scolding but designed to get my thinking back on track: “The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart . . .”  (Psalm 19:8) A friend of ours used to call my attitude “stinkin’ thinkin’” — not because it makes a person smell bad but because it results in anything but rejoicing. It is thinking like most of the world thinks —assuming joy can only be found when you are 100% healthy. This idea is part of a false teaching called the prosperity gospel. Instead, the Word of God says:

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. (Psalm 1:1–3)

I need to get my mind off poor me and on to the wonder of God’s ways. He can give joy in trials. He did it when I fell down those stairs and He can do it again. I need to read His Book because it is “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105) My purpose in being here is not to feel sorry for myself but rejoice because I have been raised with Christ and can, “seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1–4)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:3–12)

PRAY: Lord, forgive my selfish attitude and fill me with Your Spirit. Help me be mindful of the reason I live and to seek Your grace and power, rather than feel sorry for myself.

PONDER: the goodness of God and trust in His will for me. Seek Him in all things, big or small.