Love the puzzles. . . .

Yesterday I was driving home from meeting with my prayer partner. As I came near to a pharmacy, I knew I was supposed to go there. The Holy Spirit insisted, but I didn’t know why. Once inside, I reviewed the aisles where I might need something, but nothing popped to mind. Then I found it, something important I needed but had totally forgotten until I saw it on the shelf. Praising God, I paid at the till and went home.

O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. (Psalm 139:1–6)

Too wonderful indeed! The Lord remembered what had slipped my mind, but instead of putting that in my head, He urged me to stop at the only place on my way home that had it.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9)

Why did He do that? To show me that He knows my needs even if I cannot remember them, and supplies my needs even when they slip my mind? If I worry about dementia, there is no need. If I get too busy to think straight, He will think for me.

While the word ‘higher’ can be translated ‘arrogant’ not so with God and His ways. Rather, they are beyond my imagination. This gives me reason to worship. It also gives me confidence to pray and ask Him to surprise me.

But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

Sometimes I’ve told God what I want done, but never have I been able to guess what He will do. His ways are higher, but not only that, I am not God and the Holy Spirit who lives in me does not let me in on everything about His creativity. He only tells me what I need to know so I will obey Him and so He will be glorified rather than me gaining any credit or praise.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20–21)

PRAY: Jesus, You show me how to live in a kingdom filled with surprises and instead of getting upset that I don’t know how or when, You enable me to trust You to answer prayers Your way and be content to wait with great expectation of what will happen next. I’m so blessed and so glad to enjoy the puzzle rather than chaff because I’m not able to guess Your mysteries. Bless You.

Black or white, I’m still a sheep

 

Sheep are silly creatures, easily spooked and often wander off into unsafe places. As today’s reading says, we consider ourselves much wiser than sheep yet would never judge our Shepherd to err in His care for us. However, as the reading says, because of our so-called ‘superior intelligence’ we presume to take matters into our own hands anyway. Instead of listening to Jesus, we wind up acting much like sheep.

I chuckle at bit at this thought. The Bible often tells me to humble myself and that is not a command to think less of me, but to think realistically of me. When I realize the analogy of being called a sheep is a reality, I’m starting to get a good idea of my IQ level compared to the wonder of God’s knowledge — and that is humbling!

Reading Charnock’s vast section on the omniscience of God staggers me. I not only know very little about Him, I’m basically in the dark about almost everything else. I cannot perceive what others are thinking, and I don’t even see myself clearly, but God does.

O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. (Psalm 139:1–6)

He is the same with all people, knowing the thoughts of hearts, what will be even before it is uttered, and knowing the number of hairs on each head. Multiply that by the number of people on earth, not just now but all who have ever lived. Staggering!

He also knows how to deal with each of us, and when He does, we are surprised, even shocked. This week alone, we had two different contractors find problems in our new home and quoted mega dollars to fix them, large shock. We were dumb-founded and not happy. But in each case, a different contractor came in to deal with two other issues. We told each of them about the first problems — and they repaired them for nothing! I told one of them, “You may not have wings, but you are an angel.”

How does God do that? He knows all things. He knew what we needed. He knew who could fill that need and how to send those persons our way. God’s surprises are faith-builders.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20–21)

The Message says, “God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!” Of course He gets the glory. In instances like these, we know that only God could come up with solutions like those two, and more. Each day seems to bring another surprise from God.

PRAY: I woke tired this morning, feeling needy even after eight hours sleep. Do I ask or imagine how to deal with this? Or do I wait on You to surprise me in some way that is beyond my ability? Lord, I’m too tired to do anything but wait on You. Thanks for assurance of Your presence and Your power to take care of all troubling things and to hold me from running off elsewhere like a silly sheep.

God can do it…

 

Planning this big event, our family reunion, has been a learning experience. In the past few months God has shown me that even though my faith moves from strong to weak and back again, He hasn’t changed at all. A life-long lesson for me and one that took forty years of wandering, and the death of an entire generation, for His people to learn.

They came to the land God promised but failed to enter. While they were weak and saw themselves as “grasshoppers” compared to the “giants” that lived there, it was not their weakness nor their enemies’ strength that kept them from going in, but their unbelief. The Lord was able but it took a long time for them to realize it. I can relate to that slowness to learn.

After their wandering, when most of them died, they trusted the Lord and took the land, but what is interesting is that they knew after leaving Egypt that God was capable. They sang an amazing song of praise (see Exodus 15:3ff) yet when they saw the giants, they forgot or neglected to act on what they knew and turned back.

How many times have I done the same. The reunion task is too big for me. In discouragement and feeling great fatigue just thinking about it, I often want to quit. Then God reminds me, sometime subtly and sometimes with a 2x4 at the side of my head, that this was His idea and it will happen. Curves come. Some who said they would help back out, the to-do list has too many items, well-meaning friends say “you can do it” without realizing that “no I cannot” is theologically correct. I cannot do it. But God can!

Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? … You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode… You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. The Lord will reign forever and ever.” (Exodus 15:15–18)

 Two days ago, I had no problem with the curves, the too-many to-do items, or believing God was at work. This morning I work up feeling like a grasshopper and wanting to run and hide. Nothing has changed except the way I’m thinking — in fear instead of faith. The task is the same and so is the God who entrusted me with it. Like the children of Israel, do I really want to wander in the wilderness or go at this with confidence?

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. (1 Chronicles 29:11)

I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. (Job 42:2)

Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. (Psalm 115:3)

For nothing will be impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37)

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20–21)

This last passage is revealing. It reminds me to watch out for a “little fox” that tends to mess me up — whenever God does amazing things, it is for His glory. If I get even the tiniest notion “that it will be glory for me” then He stops working on the ‘amazing things’ and puts His focus on my self-centered attitude with determination to change it to what it should be.

PRAY: Jesus, this task was Your idea and You are making it happen. I need to back off and have no thoughts of any sort of personal gain or fame from it, not even the glory that “oh, she trusts God” or anything else that puts the focus on me. Again, I’m my own worst enemy, foolishly trying to make a giant out of a grasshopper instead of looking to You — the One greater than any adversity or bad attitude.

Interruptions and Detours

 
The goal is good. I go that way, but then comes a detour sign and my route changes with this interruption. The signs are not large. I need to keep my eyes open to see them and turn where they indicate. Soon I am back on the route originally planned after this loop de loop that took me through unfamiliar territory. If it had not been for the signs, I would have lost my sense of direction and location.

This time, the signs are minuscule. I feel like turning around, or at least pulling over to wring my hands and wonder what next. But that still small voice urges me to do the next thing. Oddly, even in unfamiliar territory, I always know what it is.

Joseph had this experience from a youth to a mature man — a long time. He was told his destiny in dreams but not the route. Did he focus on that message from his dreams? His story does not say he did and those dreams seemed unlikely as he was sold into slavery, mistreated, lied about, put in prison, forgotten, and finally became a leader in a foreign land. Then his betraying brothers showed up and he had the authority over them that his dream foretold. He could have taken revenge, but his detour taught him something…

But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. (Genesis 50:19–21)

This was the lesson learned in the detour. He listened, responded to his trials as God desired, and came to his destiny with the attitude that God wanted for him. It was worth it all to weep at the end when his entire family was rescued.

This story makes me weep. It is God telling me that that His chastening and refining work of sorrow and trouble has a higher purpose. He can and will thwart my course, detour my plans. And put me on a path where I will reach the goals He has for me with an attitude that is far better than anything I could imagine. Like Joseph, He works all things together for my good — and for His glory.

Disappointments are gateways to prosperity in the very things we have thought they were going to ruin. It seems like God is slowing me down, putting obstacles in my way, yet these things are part of His purposes. Today’s devotional says that I must not conclude that all is over and give up in despair. These obstacles and challenges are shaping my heart and life for divine opportunities and challenges that are far better than my desires and goals. He is changing the very thing I resist and what seems to ruin good plans will turn into a crown of joy, a greater result and a destination far beyond what I  thought was His goal.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20–21)

PRAY: Lord Jesus, the KJV says You are “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that I ask or think” and my asking and thinking is already far more lofty than seems possible. Help me endure the present trial. I don’t want to detour from the seeming detour that You have put me on for I know that You know the way better than I do. In fact, You are the way. . . !

After we are gone

 

This came to mind when we vacationed at our daughter’s place in the south. What will life be like for our adult children, our grandchildren, and our great grandchildren? God is involved in their lives, for the first three it is obvious. We want to be remembered, mostly for our faith. We want all of them to trust the Lord.

Today, MacArthur writes about Joseph and how his life ended. Like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he was an heir to the covenant promises of God. His faith was strong and he knew his people would make it to the Promised Land. I’m beginning to have the same assurance as God makes many promises to the people of faith that include their children and their children’s children.

Joseph spent all his adult life in Egypt and never saw the Promised Land for himself, but his faith never wavered. At the end of his life, he “made the sons of Israel swear, saying, ’God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.’” (Genesis 50:25)

That request was fulfilled: Moses took the bones of Joseph with him according to that oath. The NT verifies this: “By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.” (Hebrews 11:22)

Joseph’s faith was more than just the future of his offspring. His whole life is noted for exceptional trust in God’s sovereignty even as he suffered evil from his brothers who sold him into slavery. He recognized God’s hand in every event and submitted to His will. Near the end of his story, Joseph said to his brothers:

And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life . . . And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. (Genesis 45:5–8)

But Joseph reassured them again with, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” (Genesis 50:19–20)

Joseph knew that God uses all things for good in the lives of those who trust Him. He could accept whatever happened because of that faith, even thinking that after he was dead, God would keep His promises concerning his children and future generations. He may not have realized that every person of faith since him can rely on the promises God made to him, but his trust is the example of faith that every Christian looks toward.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:28–30)

PRAY: Jesus, what a wonder that the faith of one man thousands of years ago would influence millions of people. I don’t know what effect my faith will have. It isn’t marked by the same strong trust as You put in Abraham, yet You keep assuring me that You are faithful to do what You promised to do. May my faith have a lasting effect on those who come after me. It seems so unlikely, yet You can do exceedingly above all I can ask or imagine.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20–21)

PONDER: God’s promises and rejoice in His faithfulness.