Seeing God in the small things…

God’s sense of humor shows up now and then when He tests me on my statements of faith. Yesterday’s devotion was about the sin of grumbling. I used a few small things as examples, mainly because I realize how easily I can complain about the least inconveniences and not even notice that I’m doing it. If my topic is wars, or shootings, or wife-beating, or other headlines from the news that bother me, I might realize that my grumbling is telling God that I don’t trust His sovereign actions. But those little things? Easy to let them be a regular part of life.

However, this morning He tests me. My thumb hurts. Two weeks ago I felt good telling someone how copper socks enable me to be without arthritic pain even though x-rays say I should have it. But this morning, I have it. I could almost hear God saying, “Now, what was that you said about grumbling?”

The OT describes Israel’s response when life handed them hardship…

They did not keep God’s covenant, but refused to walk according to his law. They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them. In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan. He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap. In the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a fiery light. He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep. He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers. Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert. They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved. They spoke against God, saying, “Can God spread a table in the wilderness? He struck the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he also give bread or provide meat for his people?” Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob; his anger rose against Israel, because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power. (Psalm 78:10–22)

The bottom line is that their faith was fine as long as it fit with their expectations, but when they craved more, or when the blessings were not to their preference, their lack of faith showed up. This story tells me what I must NOT do… don’t stop obeying Him, don’t forget all the goodness He shows me, don’t demand more and better, or complain.

God listens. Will I feel sorry for myself? Will I toss my socks in the trash? Will I go for pain killers? Will I grumble about this thumb, which is quite painful? Or will I thank God that I can trust Him, whether I’m hurting or not?

Reading the rest of Psalm 78 is a testimony to the love of God. In spite of their complaining, He kept pouring out His blessings. They “tested God again and again and provoked the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember his power or the day when he redeemed them from the foe” speaking of their exodus from slavery in Egypt. Yet in the end, He selected David to shepherd His people and continued to show them mercy.

This is God. Even when I am at my worst, He remains at His best. His love isn’t about my performance. He loves because of who He is, not because I deserve it. I know that even if I gripe, my sin was on the shoulders of my King, Jesus Christ who died so God could forgive me long before I was born. And for me, that is enough reason to ignore the pain and thank God for His remarkable goodness.

PRAY: Lord, if this is what You want for me, I will trust You. Even this small thing reminds me of my frailty and weakness, of my need for You and Your grace. Fill me with Your Spirit that I can be thankful for all things, even sore thumbs, that tell me You are with me and taking care of me. Bless Your holy name.

Abiding in the love of God

 

Most people have the idea that love will never do anything unpleasant to those loved. This results in doubting the love of God when life hands us lemons. When the sour stuff hits, many wonder if God loves them at all. We might blame ourselves for doing something that caused Him to cease caring or we sometimes misinterpret this verse:

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (1 John 4:16)

It sounds like His love depends on our love for Him, a backward idea but in our self-centeredness, assuming this is relatively easy. Today’s reading counters it with:

To keep ourselves in God’s love does not mean, as so many think, to keep ourselves loving Him. It means to settle ourselves down, as it were, into His love as an absolute and unalterable fact, to take up our abode in it, and to stay in it forever. It means never to doubt His love or fear losing it, but to believe in it and trust it, despite all seemings to the contrary, utterly and steadfastly and forever.

Still, verses like “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love” (John 15:10) add to the idea that this abiding depends on our performance. Others passages hint the same notion, yet I need to read them carefully:

No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. (1 John 4:12–13)

Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us. (1 John 3:24)

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. (1 John 3:9)

We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. (1 John 3:14)

Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. (1 John 2:6)

If my understanding is as the reading says, abiding in His love is not about my actions but about  living in the reality that He loved me while I was a sinner, sent Jesus to die for me before I was even born, and that love does not depend on my performance. God is love. He loves no matter what I do. He wants me to live as these verse say because that is best for me. Yes, obedience honors Him, but it is also the power of God to release me from sin and from the power of Satan.

I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. (1 John 2:14)

This means that as I live knowing I am loved, I become more and more aware of God abiding in me and I experience more and more victory over sin and the lies of Satan. When Jesus tells me to abide in Him, it is not about what I am doing but that I am always aware of and remembering what He has done and is doing…

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:4–5)

This is the secret of that promised abundant life… I live in the power of what Christ did and does, not in my own strengths (I have none) or abilities (all are His gifts anyway) and the freedom of this is amazing.

PRAY: Jesus, I’m seeing more and more the truth of Your promise: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (John 15:7) Abiding in You includes abiding or staying in Your Word for it is the source of continually remembering, knowing, and relying on what You do, not what I do. You change my life when my focus is there and not on my own performance. This does not negate obedience; it makes obedience possible. Wow! Thank You!