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’s Covenant of Faith in His Promises . . .

 

Imagine being told this! Would I believe it and go . . . ?

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)

I might need to hear this more than once! Abram did; God said the same thing several times and even put fourteen provisions in this COVENANT: Abraham would produce a great nation, receive a land, be greatly blessed and have a great name. He would be a blessing to others. Those who bless Israel will be blessed, those who curse Israel will be cursed. In this man, all would be blessed. He’d receive a son through Sarah, his descendants would be in bondage in Egypt, other nations would come forth from him, his name and Sarah’s would be changed. And just as the rainbow was the token of the Noahic Covenant, so circumcision on the eighth day would be the token of the Abrahamic Covenant.

This covenant was confirmed through Isaac, not any of the other children Abraham fathered. It was also confirmed through Jacob, Isaac’s son — and his sons who fathered the twelve tribes of Israel.

Abraham stood as the representative head of the whole Jewish nation. This covenant is unconditional yet remains unfulfilled in the sense of the promises to Israel, however the NT declares him the father of all who believe. Since this promise came before the Law, the Law does not make it void.

The law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. (Galatians 3:17–18)

In other words, Abraham’s faith justified him before God, not because Abraham did anything to earn or even deserve the blessings of God on his life.

This covenant is spoken of throughout the OT:

O offspring of Abraham, his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen ones! He is the Lord our God; his judgments are in all the earth. He remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant that he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac, which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant. (Psalm 105:6–10)

The NT points out that the faith of this man is also the faith that marks all who are redeemed by God by grace through faith, not works:

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” (Romans 4:1–8)

The Abrahamic covenant declares the promise of God for all who believe God. “That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring — not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all” and “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.” (Romans 4:16 and Galatians 3:7)

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. The Bible says much more about Abraham and this covenant based on God’s promises to all who believe. It reveals Law was given to show believers how to live, not how to be saved. For now, I marvel at the power of God who keeps His promises. Did the promised of blessing come upon all who believe as Abraham did? Of course it has, and so also will God keep all that He said He would do. How and when are questions but faith simply trusts that God will do what He says. In these days of fearmongering and much fear all around me, this covenant is a comfort. Just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. I am one of her children. The evidence is Christ enabling me to do good and to be without fear of anything that is frightening. (1 Peter 3:6) I can trust the Lord who always keeps His promises, even when life presents great challenges.