Two kinds of comfort…

 

Consider this chain of events: The world is in a mess > It makes me feel awful > I want to be comfortable > I shut out what is going on > My world is a happier place. OR this one: The world is a mess > My heart is burdened > I realize I cannot fix it > I call out to God in prayer > He assures me that His will is done > I am at peace even though the mess does not go away.

God often comforts by removing the cause of my distress, or by giving me the ability to trust Him in the distress, but no real comfort comes if I try to get rid of it (which is beyond my power anyway) or ignore it, which can produce ulcers if nothing else.

How does God provide deeper water? It is not mysterious. In the power of the Holy Spirit, He reminds me of truth concerning Himself, a passage of Scripture, a verse from a hymn, a word from a Christian friend, a sermon, even the beauty of creation. In other words, He tells me about Himself and diverts my focus to His incredible goodness. Thinking truth about God comforts me.

Most marvelous is that God is honest, not two-faced. He is not like we humans can be with our mouth saying one thing and our mind thinking the opposite. This can show up even in my prayers so when distressed, I need to pray with integrity, not saying what sounds good but having my words match what I really think, like the psalmist who knew — God knows the heart:

Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit! (Psalm 17:1)
And not deserving the rebuke God gave to those whose words did not match their deeds:
Have you not just now called to me, ‘My father, you are the friend of my youth— will he be angry forever, will he be indignant to the end?’ Behold, you have spoken, but you have done all the evil that you could.” (Jeremiah 3:4–5)

God is not fooled by pretense. Jacob duped his father into thinking he was Esau. Those tribes apostatized from the true religion went to seek the Lord and sacrifice yet God’s prophet said of them:

With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the Lord, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them. They have dealt faithlessly with the Lord; for they have borne alien children. Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields. (Hosea 5:6–7)

As if God did not know their hearts. To do such things and continue to outwardly claim faith and obedience is saying my comfort is more important so if I flatter God with my words and outer actions, I’m okay. This is deceit and an unworthy concept of God. How can I satisfy the guilt of inward sins by external service, or by a loud voice with a false heart? God is far more interested in honesty and truth than any sacrifice with pretense or for outward appearance.

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:6)
(God)  stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, (Proverbs 2:7)

That said, God does not want me to say “I am fine” to impress others (or Him) when I am hurting or setting inside. This is not integrity. Yet if I am hurting but also experiencing that ‘deeper water’ that James 1:2-4 offers, then I can honestly say “I am fine” because God has given me the joy of the Holy Spirit in my trials. It all boils down to who or what I am listening to — truth from God or the ideas of the world, my flesh, or the devil.

PRAY: Jesus, I remember reading how the way a person handles stress will predict their health (When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress by Gabor Maté) and one of those ways is faking on the outside what is going on in the inside. Your Word speaks of this also. How vital to be honest about my inner life, whether it is rocky and uncomfortable, or rocky with enough deep water from You to glide over the rocks with joy. Your truths are blessing me and today I am still joyful — my body is tired and sore, but that joy makes such a difference!

God is Merciful… be like Him

 

There is one person I’ve had a problem with being kind or merciful toward. This person annoys me and while I know what is done, I cannot figure out why that behavior is so frustrating. At times it seems as if this person is a fake, insincere or not real, showing only what will impress others. I’m not impressed.

However, God tells me that I am not responding the right way and need to put aside my attitude and do what is best for this other person. One, changing my attitude seems impossible. Two, how can I know what is best for that person if they are not transparent about their own needs?

God had me read the following chapter this morning. I need to read it again:

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:1–23)

The italicized portion is my part to obey. Instead of being angry at someone, the Lord wants me to let Him have His way and like a glove with His hand, do whatever He asks of me, whether I feel like it or not. And obedience is from the heart, not a pretense lest I do what most annoys me in that other person: “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6) or any obedience that is ritual rather than real.

PRAY: Lord, my attitude must be Your attitude for I know that this other person may never change or please me — but that is Your concern. Mine is to listen and learn from You, and to be filled with Your Spirit so I will know and do whatever You know and do. Enable wisdom and obedience lest I sin against You and anyone else.

What delights God?

 
When Eve was tempted in the garden, Genesis 3 describes her response as “delight” meaning a desire or inclination to want something. Later, Numbers 14 says God will bring His people into the land because He “delights” in them, but this is a different word. It means to take a high degree of pleasure or mental satisfaction in something.

I’m thankful for this difference because I feel God’s delight often. Those around me, even my hubby, sometimes assume that when I express delight in something, I want it. They might try to give it to me, but I have to explain that just because I like something, whatever it is, does not mean I want it. Some examples? Horses, unusual paintings, clothing in a store window or jewelry that someone is wearing. I’ve even had friends take off their necklace and put it on me because I said I liked it.

As for God’s delight, there are many examples of what gives Him satisfaction. For instance:

The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers... (Deuteronomy 30:9)
Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness. (1 Kings 10:9

Most of the use of this term describing what delights God is in the Psalms and the Prophets:

He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me. (Psalm 18:19)
He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him! (Psalm 22:8)
Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, “Great is the Lord, who delights in the welfare of his servant!” (Psalm 35:27)
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. (Psalm 51:6)
The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify his law and make it glorious. (Isaiah 42:21)
Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9:23–24)
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:6)

As for other verses that tell me what I should take delight in, there is only one verse in the NT that even uses this term and it echos several OT verses that say the same thing:

His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:2)
Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them. (Psalm 111:2)
Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. (Psalm 119:35)

The NT verse: “For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being.” (Romans 7:22) However, this passage goes on to describe this inner delight conflicting with sin and the battle to serve God when sin wants something else.

So why does God focus on what delights Him in the OT and says nothing about it in the NT? I’ve heard people say that they want to “please God” but that is not a NT issue. Romans 3 is clear that we all fall short. The only One who pleases God is Jesus Christ and it is in Him we have any ability to love and obey Him. Trying to do it by our own efforts is futile. God delights in showing goodness to us, but without Jesus, we cannot delight in Him or in His Law.

PRAY: Lord God, this is why I worship You and delight in Your Son. Without Him, my only delight is sin but because of Him, I can delight in You and Your righteousness and commands, Your people and in their well-being. Jesus changes everything.

Wanting what God wants . . .

 

 

Today we eat turkey and give thanks. The turkey part is okay once in a while, but the thankful part should be all the time. I am so grateful to the Lord for taking care of all our needs, for the peace and joy we experience and for blessing us in so many ways. He knows what we want and need and knows just how to give satisfaction and contentment to our souls.

God’s Word uses DESIRE many times, most of them about human wants and wishes that are either fulfilled in good or sinful ways, or that are not satisfied. This is first verse I found that speaks of God’s desires:

Job 23:13. “But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does.”

Job knew that if God wants something to happen, it will happen. Nothing is too difficult for Him or beyond His reach to possess. For example:

Psalm 132:13–14. For the Lord has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his dwelling place: “This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.”

God also desires people to know Him, not merely go through the rituals, but know Him in such a personal way that our lives are changed. Hosea 6:6 speaks of His heart, “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” Jesus said that if we knew what that means, we would “not condemn the guiltless” by passing judgment on others who ‘break the rules’ that people invent to please God.

For this, Jesus came. He desired that we know God the Father through faith in the Son. This is the desire of God and He has the power to make it happen. In Mark 3:13, Jesus “went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him.” He still calls people and they come, even today!

Yet in the days of His time here, Jesus expressed more of His desires. For example, He said in Luke 22:15, “ “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” and He prayed in John 17:24, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” Jesus’ passion always concerns those that put their faith in Him.

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. In 1 Timothy 2, God tells His people to pray for everyone because “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” This motivates me to pray, even though my old nature desires to do anything but pray. The Bible speaks to that by reminding me that there is an evil spirit working in those who disobey, those “among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” I am no longer a slave to that evil desire.

Instead, I am to “put off that old self, which belongs to my former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires” and put on the new self that desires all people to be saved just as God desires, and I can now pray to that end. This is what the Bible means when it says God does not desire sacrifices and offerings — He wants to see my new life — in action. When I focus on what God desires, my choices and decisions become much simpler and my prayers are more about eternal matters rather than temporary issues. God cares about them too, but His greatest desire is for changed lives.

To all in Canada and everywhere, Happy Thanksgiving — and the joy of knowing the Source and Giver of all good things!