Walk by faith, not by sight or…

Since having pneumonia, changing to a Mac instead of a PC (learning curve) and having challenges come at me one after the other, I’m realizing a helplessness that is important to Christian living but I’m not enjoying it very much. Being dependent on Christ alone is not as easy as the words to many of our hymns and songs claim it to be.

Today’s devotional says many Christians sing words like: “Thou, O Christ, art all I want, More than all in Thee I find” but the author doubts if we could honestly say those words express the reality in our experience. I get that. Recently being several times in situations of helplessness, I’ve felt like being in a foreign land where I don’t know the language, have no one to guide me, and the map isn’t making sense. Lost, no routine, not even a friendly face.

Yes, that is an exaggeration, and I do realize that this is part of the sanctification process. I do want to honestly say God is enough, but my experience has been pushing me in many directions. I would like a constant realization of His presence, a sense of His love, and consistent answers to my prayers. Even so, I’m not sure what ‘Christ alone’ looks or feels like. Maybe David didn’t either when he wrote these words;

For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. (Psalm 62:1–2)

It might be easier to describe what this means by what it does not mean. I do trust Christ alone for my salvation. Helplessness adds to the truth that in ourselves, we are not able to be godly people, never mind set ourselves on the way to heaven or gain eternal life. This is a given.

However, to say that God is enough is not about having sound doctrines. While having them challenged does not make them unsound, it does wipe any cocky confidence out of my heart. I cannot rely on every jot and tittle in my beliefs when helplessness also mocks them. If I know it all, why then do I suffer as if I know nothing?

God is enough is not about good feelings either, no more than I can rely on ‘my feelings, or on any righteous works, or fervent prayers, or earnest striving’ as the devotional writer says, because waiting on God can seem like building on the sand. He cannot be second-guessed. That means “God is enough” is not being sure about much of anything else.

At the same time, in all that uncertainty, I cannot put my trust in God alone because all else fails and there is nowhere else to go. I need to trust Him alone just because God is God — whether I can hear Him speak, or see Him at work, or know for sure that He is answering my prayers.

PRAY: Lord, it is easiest to trust You when You speak and when I can see You in action. Yet when I cannot, You have not changed. You are who You are and faith means knowing You will do what You do whether I am in on it or not. Keep me close.

I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. (Psalm 18:1–3)

Prayer changes things . . . and me

A friend told us that before she became a Christian, she knew the people who were Christians because they had shiny faces. Those glowing believers were in good company . . .

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. (Exodus 34:29)

The posters say “Prayer Changes Things.” The Bible and our lives are filled with examples. This morning’s illustration is the conversion of Paul. God encountered him in blinding light, literally, and he was led to a house. In the meantime, God also gave instruction to a man named Ananias to go and minister to this newly saved but newly blinded man. “So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized . . .” (Acts 9:17–18)

A prayerful touch restored Saul/Paul’s sight, but Christians know that prayer also changes the one who is praying. Here are two of hundreds of examples from Scripture . . .

Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. (Psalm 33:20–21)

The psalmist waiting on God and was not only helped but made glad. I can say amen to that, for almost always the biggest impact prayer has on me is to restore my trust and fill me with joy.

For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. (Psalm 62:1–2)

Waiting on God also produces a serene spirit. It shows in the faces of those who pray, like it did on the face of Moses. Last Sunday, we sat at brunch with some friends and noticed that all four of them simply shone. Their conversation also made obvious that they had spent time with the Lord and verified the glow on their faces.

But there is more. Spending time with God helps me get His perspective on life, and therefore changes the way that I think. It can move my mind to eternal values, and put the things of earth in their proper place . . .

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)

As an artist, I try to keep superior examples of art on my walls, even on the desktop of my computer. This sets before me a high standard. Being with Jesus does the same thing. He puts His perfection before me. The world can bombard me with its distractions and temptations, but time focused on Jesus and with Him can keep my heart and mind on loftier things. Prayer is hiding in the fortress of the Lord, safe from those thoughts and allurements that could pull me down, rob me of joy, and take the shine off my face. 

Yielding all . . .

What is the meaning of “absolute surrender”? What does it look like?

Perhaps the most poignant event in the Old Testament is when God asked Abraham to take his son Isaac up on a mountain and sacrifice him. For one thing, this is contrary to the very commands of God and raises many questions about what He might ask me to do and how would I know it was Him doing the asking? However, I must leave those questions and look at this story.

It turned out to be the ultimate test of absolute surrender, not only for the father, but also the son who willingly laid on the pile of wood as his father asked him. Isaac asked about the lamb for the sacrifice and dad said God would provide. Then, just as Abraham was about to do the deed . . .

The angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” (Genesis 22:11–14)

So much could be said about God’s provision too, but I’m thinking prior to that about the absolute surrender. In this case, God asked and Abraham yielded. His surrender was total, absolute.

In some situations, the decision to surrender is made or called for when disaster strikes. A child is born blind. A brother is in a car accident and near death. A spouse is deliberating whether to stay or go. An employer is downsizing and your job is on the line. These outside circumstances are out of your control, but as Christians see it, they are in the control of Almighty God.

A couple weeks ago, one such event happened in my life. Through it, I knew that all I could do was surrender to the will of God. Even though I know God loves me, that He works all things together for my good, and He answers prayer, this was a most difficult surrender. Numb, I kept saying, “Not my will, but thine be done.”

In David’s sixty-second psalm, he repeats the following two times . . .

For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. (Psalm 62:1–2)

These, I think, are another evidence of total surrender; silence and a calm spirit, with hope in God, not in a good outcome, a better plan, the skill of a doctor, or even a good conclusion. He is a strong tower, a hiding place. Even if the world falls apart, absolute surrender trusts God, no matter what.

I’m not there yet, or at least not all the time. A young missionary said, “The only problem with a living sacrifice is that it keeps crawling off the altar.” She is right, but progress is possible. Otherwise God would not ask His people to surrender all and simply trust Him with all our hearts. I’m thankful for the example of Abraham, and thankful that God is in charge of these matters. He not only controls the events of life, but is able to provide whatever I need whenever I need it, even silence and a calm faith that is yielded to Him.