The will of God will be done

Everything that happens to me is designed to be a blessing from God. I can say that because God promises to work all things together for my good. I can also say that because of the prayer of Jesus that I would be sanctified (set apart for Him), united with His people, and be ‘in Him’ with that same unity that He has with the Father . . .

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth . . . for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. (John 17:17–21)

Jesus prayed it, therefore it will happen. He uses methods that make no sense to me at the time, but in all events and circumstances, His goal is that set-apart unity that unravels my independence and draws me into a greater reliance upon Him. This is a blessing; even knowing it is a blessing.

The Bible says that I have the mind of Christ. If He cannot get me to use it by the power of His Word, then I might experience circumstances where my mind is void of ideas and I’ve lost all control. This pushes me into thinking with His mind, into saying “not my will but Your will be done.”

Normally that phrase is used in prayer, yet I realize that by praying I also learn the way God thinks. Some of that is trial and error. I might pray for someone to be healed and they are not. I pray that God would use their illness to draw them closer to Him; they run the other direction. I pray that God would humble them in their illness and aha, it happens. In that situation, I’ve learned the will of God by His answers.

The Word of God has much to say about the mind of God, but it does not tell me why a child dies, or why an airplane crashes, or what is going on when terrorists seem to have the upper hand. Praying helps, but am I going to learn the mind of God on everything? Not likely! I need to be made humble too, and not knowing yet still trusting is a humbling thing.

The people of God have this one great unifying factor: we don’t know what God is up to but we are agreed that He is God and because of Jesus Christ, we can trust Him. We can allow the upsets and uncertainties of life draw us closer to Him, and increase our resemblance to Jesus. As Chambers says, Jesus prayed that we have absolute oneness with Him and with one another. Some of us are not even close, yet God will not leave us alone until we are one with Him just because Jesus prayed toward that awesome goal.

God’s Amazing Gentleness

In many cultures, gentleness is not considered a virtue. In the early history of God’s people Israel, being gentle ran contrary to the thinking of the pagan world around them. Many of His people thought the same way. Even David, who was destined to be king and called by God as a man after His own heart, wrote many a personal testimony about the power of God and how He was his source of strength. Yet David recognized something about God that runs contrary to most ideas of what God is like, and even seems contrary to David’s description of His power.

For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God? This God is my strong refuge and has made my way blameless. He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights. He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your gentleness made me great. (2 Samuel 22:32–36)

David sees God as a rock, a strong refuge where he can safely stand. He sees Him as one who forgives sin and guides him in righteous living, for God has made his way blameless. God is his resource and equipper. God has given him speed and security, trained him to fight so that he could bend a bow reinforced with bronze, difficult to draw but a powerful weapon with which to defeat his enemies. 

David also understood that God had given him a shield. This may be a literal shield to save him from enemy attacks, but can also refer to the protection found in having a saving relationship of faith. The shield of salvation protects the entire person from spiritual judgment and destruction. By knowing God had forgiven and saved him from the penalty of sin, David was confident to move ahead with God’s leading. He had no concerns for his own safety or destiny because he knew that God had taken care of him. 

The last phrase is a surprise. All the greatness (increase, abundance, authority, excellence, plenty) that David knew came to him because of God’s gentleness, not His might or power or forcefulness, but through an entirely opposite characteristic of God.

The word means condescension, clemency, humility, meekness. This is a term that shows a side of God that ran contrary to pagan ideas about what a god should be. They wanted power not humility, meanness toward enemies, not meekness. Condescension was the last thing they expected from their gods. But David’s God, and my God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, humbled Himself that we might becomes great.

(Jesus) who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:6–8)

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)

The God whose gentleness made David great still does the same for those who are people after His own heart. He builds up all those who know there is no God but the Lord, no rock like Him. 

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Lord, this is a grand thought. You, the most powerful Being, are willing to give that strength to those of us who are weak, needing forgiveness and grace. The more helpless we are, the greater Your blessing. The less secure we feel, the more You come to our rescue. Truly, Your gentleness is the most amazing thing about You. Like David, I am in awe of all that You do — certainly because You are strong, but also because You are gentle.

Kept safe

Spurgeon begins his devotional reading for this morning with, “In some sense the path to heaven is very safe, but in other respects there is no road so dangerous.”

Most Christians speak of their Christian walk as quiet and peaceful. Some missionaries tell about the other end of the scale. Whatever our lot may be, the Lord makes the same promises to all and keeps us.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 24–25)

Much like the traditional marriage vows, God says that through sickness or health, trials or ease, He will never leave or forsake His people. We are His and He will keep us that way.

But there are dangers. Spurgeon talks about one false step, any of which may seem a little thing, but the more I walk with Jesus, the more I realize how weak I am. As he says, a straw may throw me or a pebble wound me. The dangers on my path are not always large and obvious.

Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. (Psalm 73:1–3)

The psalmist “almost stumbled” when he saw the prosperity of sinners. Envy is an attitude of heart and often unseen unless revealed by words. We can be alert to the larger stumbling blocks like anger or hate, but fail to see those hidden attitudes that can trip us before we notice them, like resentment or annoyance. In my walk with Jesus, I often feel like that little child who trembles taking her first steps. If my heavenly Father were not holding tightly, I would soon be down.

Besides those sinful and selfish attitudes, we have an enemy who casts temptation and accusations into our minds, even when we least expect his attacks. Only God who sees the unseen can protect His people and keep us from falling.

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Father, last week someone blind-sided me. It was verbal, but bordered on physical, a danger I did not expect. Most of the time my path is safe, yet I am more than ever aware of the “road so dangerous.” I am also convinced that You alone can preserve me from whatever lies ahead. Not only that, You are totally engaged to defend and protect me and even keep me from falling. I don’t want to stumble into sin even when someone sins against me. Shine light on my path. May I not be distracted or complacent. Help me see what I need to avoid and instead embrace Your loving care. I’m so thankful that even with this sense of utter helplessness, I am a child safe in my Father’s arms.

Safe from the fire

A man who survived an airplane crash later explained that he saw a fireball coming toward him down the aisle of the cabin. At that moment remembered a verse of Scripture where God promises to protect His people from fire. He said the verse aloud. The next thing he remembered was standing outside the burning plane away from the fire and without any burns to himself.

God has the power to protect. The story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego demonstrate how He delivered them in a fiery furnace. The heat was so intense that it killed the men who tossed them in, but these three were not harmed. In fact, the King who condemned them peered into the furnace and said, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God” (Daniel 3:25).

This is similar to Sir Ernest Shackleton’s experience when he and his two-man crew were forced to slide down the steep icy slope of a mountain. When they made it to the bottom, they could not speak a word, but later shared with one another the same question: “Where was the fourth man?” Each one sensed the presence of another man during that mile-high, hair-raising episode. (From Endurance, W.W. Norton & Co. New York, 1931)

Isaiah 43:1-2 says, “But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you.’”

I could speculate that these events and these promises of protection are about here and now. God did this and said this so His people would know He is keeping them safe. However, Christians have died by floods and fire. Did they forget that God promised His protection? Perhaps it was not their time to die? Or is there another reason for these examples and for those promises?

In the Bible, floods and fire are associated with judgment. In Genesis, God looked at the wickedness multiplying on the earth. He saw Noah as the only one who was faithful to Him. So God judged the earth with water and everyone perished except this one man, his family, and enough animals for sacrifice and to repopulate the earth.

After the flood, God created the rainbow to remind us that He will never judge the earth again by water. The next time will be a judgment of fire. Is that literal? Will the earth burn up? Will it be the end result of global warming, as some fear? Or will it be an act of God that cannot be explained any other way? Whatever it is, the Bible says this world will be destroyed by fire and replaced by a new earth.

Yet some, like the man in the burning airplane, will know the literal side of these promises in Isaiah. They will experience deliverance from a disaster like a flood or a fire. Others will not. I can, however, be certain of one thing; all who are redeemed and have been called into the family of God will never experience the fires of His judgment. He will judge our works to see if they had eternal value or if they were useless, but we ourselves “will be saved, ye so as through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:15).

I am not afraid of God’s judgment. Christ bore my sin and suffered the wrath of God in my place. Because He says to me, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are mine,” I am confident that fire will not touch me and like the man in the crash, I will find myself safe outside of the flames, and like Daniel’s friends and Ernest Shackleton, I will find myself in the presence of that fourth Man.

Spiritual Dementia

Some memory lapses are funny, but most are distressing. How frustrating when the name of a familiar person drops right out of my brain. How annoying when I cannot remember if I told a story twice (especially without my granddaughter here to remind me).

On the other hand, as I go through the day, sometimes something pops into my head that I need to do (and hadn’t written it on my to-do list), usually right at the time I need to do it. Where did that come from?

The question I have about remembering and forgetting is this: In old age, will I forget everything God taught me and only remember my old sinful way of life?

The Bible has lots to say about forgetting, even when it is very important not to. Psalm 78:9-11 says that, “The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. They did not keep the covenant of God; they refused to walk in His law, and forgot His works and His wonders that He had shown them.”

They were armed and given all they needed to conquer their enemies, but they disobeyed God and forgot all that He had done for them. Will I do that? My enemies are not physical so much as the world and its pull to lure me away from loyalty to the Lord, my fleshy old nature and its desire to please itself and not my Savior, and the devil whose lies would divert me from the truth of God. Can these enemies overcome an aging soul and cause me to turn away from God?

Paul wrote to Timothy about continuing to follow the Lord. He said in 2 Timothy 2:14-15, “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Jesus Christ.”

This and other passages say that reading the Bible is important. Its truths counter Satan’s lies, the sinful nature’s selfishness, and the world’s magnetism. The Scriptures remind me of what God has done so I will not forget. But what if I can no longer read? I have a dear friend with macular degeneration. She isn’t able to read even large print Bibles. Or what if I lost my hearing? Even the Bible on tape would be useless to me.

My husband would never allow our children to “what if” and would likely scold me for using these words. If he didn’t say, “You worry too much,” he would be thinking it. And he is right. Instead of fussing about the future, I need to focus on the amazing power of God.

For example, recently I had been feeling deep conviction over a bad attitude that I’ve had for a long time. I confessed this was sin and asked God to remove it from my life. A few days later, I felt as if I were a different person. It was odd, and I strongly sensed something was missing. It actually took me the whole day to realize that God had answered my prayer. Even more amazing is that I cannot remember what that bad attitude even felt like.

The bottom line for me this morning is that God is in control of what I remember and what I forget. He reminded me of a sinful thing. He reminded me it needed to be brought to Him. He took care of it and put it “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12), and then made me forget it too.

Spiritual dementia? My ‘senior moments’ are annoying, but this kind of forgetting is an amazing blessing. Thanks to Him, I’m also reminded that He is in charge of saving me—all of me—including what I need to remember as well as what I need to forget.

His Part & Our Part

January 18, 2008

When a mother carries her child, the baby often grips her neck as if his own strength is needed to keep him from falling. Of course this is not true. It is the mother’s loving grasp that carries the baby. After a time, the baby usually realizes that he need not fear; he can rely totally on his mother’s arms. My devotional reading points out that the “everlasting arms” of God (Deuteronomy 33:27) can be no less.

God protects His people. Like a little child, our defenses and means of self-preservation are nothing compared to His mighty care. Our grip around His neck signifies commitment more than having anything to do with being safe because it is His arms, His powerful love that holds and keeps us.

Nevertheless, He invites us to cling and we do that by obedience. I’m also reading through the Bible, something I’ve done for several years. This morning I noted three passages in Exodus that say something about the care of God and our part in receiving that care.

The first is from Exodus 15:25-26, God’s promise to give His people good health. It says, “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.”

His part was the gift of good health; their part was listening to and obeying Him. While it is never legitimate to blame all diseases on disobedience, this is a powerful promise. I’ve read several books on the effects human behavior have on our health, including None of these Diseases based on this passage, and When Your Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress. Both were written by doctors whose experience backs up this incredible promise from God. If I do what He says, He will take care of my body.

Another passage is about my complaints. The New Testament says I’m not supposed to grumble about my lot in life, but trust the Lord instead. This lack of complaining also can be a testimony to a world of people who are never satisfied about anything. However, Exodus 16:6-8 says this about the complaints of God’s people.

“Then Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, ‘At evening you shall know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt. And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord; for He hears your complaints against the Lord. But what are we, that you complain against us?’ Also Moses said, ‘This shall be seen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to the full; for the Lord hears your complaints which you make against Him. And what are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the Lord.’”

I’ve realized that any complaining I do, even when it seems to be against others, is really a complaint against my sovereign God who rubber stamps everything that happens to me. Yet this passage says that God hears those complaints I’m not supposed to make!

In this case in Exodus, He considered the spiritual maturity and physical situation of His people. At this point in their journey they needed to know that He cared about them and would take care of them, so He answered their cries and did something about their needs.

I’m not saying this makes complaining right. What I see here is that if something is wrong, I must tell God about it. I should not complain to others or even blame others. He is in charge and if the problem needs correction, He will correct it. My part is to give Him the opportunity, not bellyache as if He is not on my side or caring.

The third passage is Exodus 19:3-6 and is of far greater scope than my health or personal needs. It says, “Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.’”

His part is making His people a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Their part is obedience. Remembering His deliverance from bondage in Egypt and His care in the wilderness would help them keep His commands. As they did, He would do great things in their lives.

This is a New Testament truth as well. God is at work to make His church the very same thing. We need to obey or the process slows to a crawl. I need to obey so He can do this great thing in my life, giving me a significant role in His plan. When I don’t obey, I fall short of that ‘special treasure’ category.

The Christian life can be complex, but at times the simplicity needs to be restated. God is enough. All He wants from me is that I love and obey Him. He will take care of everything else.