Choose God’s priorities, not mine…

A few weeks ago I shared with someone that when my mother and father got married, they agreed not to fight. I told her that I’d never seen them even argue with each other. She responded saying that was not a good thing because one or both of them would resent not being able to defend whatever they wanted if the other person didn’t want it. That leads to a passive-aggressiveness that would block good communication.

I was surprised at that assumption. She assumed it better to be assertive and get their “I wants” verbalized in order to have good communication. She didn’t understand that my parents had a value system about unity. They were not interested in self-defense or having their own way. For them, getting along was at the top of their list, not being the winner in any sort of battle.

Today’s devotion touches on a similar attitude. Piper speaks of those who promise to do something, but it turns into a bad decision. What should that person do? Break their promise or keep their word? Two passages describe God’s will on such a situation: The psalmist asks:

O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? … (those) in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord; who swears to his own hurt and does not change. (Psalm 15:1, 4, italics mine)

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. (Psalm 37:5–6)

In other words, the person who makes a promise must keep it, even if it hurts to follow through. Integrity means not going back on a commitment. A good person’s word is more valuable than money or having his own way. His integrity is more precious than anything else so he stands by his word even if it hurts.

Note: The Lord is not addressing a marriage where one person is abusive and telling the other one to stick to the marriage vow “through thick or thin” rather than take action to protect themselves.

This integrity is like the vow made by mom and dad. Their decision to agree, to not fight, was far more important than getting their own way. And they made that decision before either of them knew Christ. Later, mom was saved, and much later my dad was too, yet it seems to me that God gave them this amazing strength of character before they had the Holy Spirit or knew how to roll their wants and needs unto God. Or did they somehow know anyway?

Obviously, trust in God is a factor. He gives strength to value unity and respect more than personal wants or needs. Somehow they saw the value in this priority before learning to trust God to come through for them in His way and in His time. They set an incredible example.

For me, growing up in that environment resulted in a big shock to see how most of the rest of the world lives. Many couples are in a relationship where their needs must be met — or they leave it. Money might be an issue, or other things like broken promises. Whatever messes with unity, God is not in it. “I want what I want when I want it” is often the priority, and if that does not happen, the results are usually disastrous. Despite my parents example, I’ve been there, done that.

PRAY: Lord, I know that selfishness and insisting on my own way so easily strains or snaps those marriage vows made so long ago. I’ve often needed forgiveness. Yet I’m thankful for the example of my parents. They showed me it is possible to yield and to prosper because of it. My mom’s “we must need it or we wouldn’t be getting it” mantra teaches me contentment and faith in Your ability to be my shield and defender, no matter what. You make my wedding promises more important and more rewarding than anything I might come up with. And I could write a book about the struggles — and about You winning them for me. I love You for a million reasons — one of them being that when I battle You, I always win when I lose!

God uses trials to produce godliness

 

Yesterday was emotionally challenging. Many Christian teachers say that facts should lead my thoughts, then faith, but emotions are the caboose in this train. I agree when life involves negative emotions, but when facts and faith are are in place, so is joy.

What then does it mean that joy is missing? Am I thinking in error? Have I sinned and pushed aside the Holy Spirit? In my life, if joy is absent, this indicates that the Spirit is not producing His fruit and I need to find out why not.

Yesterday, His joy never left, but it existed alongside the reality that my husband’s health was in jeopardy. I felt deep concern yet at the same time a deep sense of God’s arms around me. He didn’t spell out the results of many medical tests, or tell me what would happen in hubby’s life. He only assured me of His care and how He would help me respond rightly to whatever was going to happen.

Tight spot. God holding my hand and my emotions pulled the other direction by all sorts of negative thoughts. Will he need surgery? Will he not come home? Will he be damaged beyond being able to do anything? And the Lord kept saying He would be with me…

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. (Psalm 37:5–6)

Things are different this morning, yet I still feel the pressure of that tight spot. Reading the above verses helped. One devotional writer quotes these from another version:

Roll on Jehovah thy way, And trust upon Him, and He worketh, and hath brought out as light thy righteousness, and thy judgment as noon-day. (Young’s Literal Translation)

My mind imagines rolling my mixture of emotions on God and Him going to work to enable me to respond to all of it in a godly manner. To me, that means acting rightly in the midst of the turmoil without removing the turmoil. I think of Jesus in Gethsemane.

And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. (Luke 22:43–44)

He was given strength even as He was in agony. The Father did not remove the agony, His — or mine. But strength was there, both for His greatest trial and for my much less challenging event. If nothing else, the work that He worketh is to give joy in the craziness of a trial. He also worked to resolve the thing that caused me to feel great emotions yet let joy rule.

The devotional that I read warns against becoming so accustomed to delays to answered prayer that we expect them all the time. A tiny example… we drove into a full parking lot and I said, “Lord, it would be super to park near the door, but it is a nice day and we can walk.” And at that moment a car pulled out and we parked right in front of the door. No waiting for His answer.

Sometimes I don’t see the results. Faith is tested, yet “I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me” (Psalm 57:2) This is faith; trusting what I cannot see simply because God promises to act on my behalf!

PRAY: Hubby still has pain but You have shown him Your care and arranged a thorough exam that was helpful. The pain will go, but You remain, and Your love and blessing is always with us. So is that great joy, not linked to answered prayer but to the reality that You are always at work to bring forth increasing righteousness even in the pain, fears, and helpless feelings that come with trials. Bless Your holy name.

His Light

This morning as I walked in our gated vacation community, I noticed that the light is different in the desert than in the mountains, or the prairies, or in the far north. Here, the air is clear and nearly cloudless with a light that makes me feel as if I’m floating.

When You said, “Let there be light” — there was light. And You saw that the light was good and separated it from the darkness. (Genesis 1:3–4)

You use light to describe truth and knowledge. Yet You are the epitome of light. Jesus said it many times. “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

I’m trying to wrap my mind around this. You spoke light into existence, yet You are light. You saw that light was good, yet You are perfect goodness. You separated light from darkness, yet as John 1:5 says, the light shines in darkness and the darkness cannot overcome or conquer it — it being You.

Then I read another passage that tells me I have this light put inside of me. That is also mind-boggling — that a sinner could be entrusted with such a treasure!

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. (2 Corinthians 4:6–7)

I try to imagine the pure daylight on this morning’s walk being bundled up inside a clay jar. The movie makers could produce special effects that look as if this were possible, yet it cannot happen with physical light. However, wonder of wonders, You God can do it with spiritual light. You store it in human hearts, call it treasure, and this clay pot marvels.

Then I marvel again remembering this verse: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden” and “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14, 16).

You are saying those words to those who follow You. We are containers for Your light. So often I cannot wrap my mind around that. Sometimes I feel like a burned out candle or a pile of ashes with no signs of fire in me. Yet my devotional reading reminds me that even when I feel dim or even dark, God still “sees the Light.” You created it. You put it in me, Yourself in me. “God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are His’ and ‘Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity’” (2 Timothy 2:19). God sees the treasure even when I think I’ve lost it.

As I ponder these words about light, You draw my eye to the bottom line. Because I belong to you, I am to walk away from sin. Light overpowers darkness. It does not walk or mess with it. Light shines outward. In fact, I cannot imagine light even thinking about itself. With this image, one more verse comes to mind,

Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. (Philippians 2:14–15)

You give a simple application after all these lofty thoughts. Quit complaining. Quit doubting. You put the light in; I am to let the light out. However, I know I’m only a clay pot who has trouble finding the light switch, but You have an answer for that perplexity also: 

Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. (Psalm 37:5–6)