God’s timing vs. my impatience

Today’s reading began with assurance that God's slowness to respond to my needs does not indicate lack of love but shows that He does love me. Getting my prayers answered is not as important as believing that He cares — even without any current evidence.

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. . . . When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. . . . Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” (John 11:5–42)

Then this statement from Charnock: “We should not depend upon second causes for our support, but look beyond them to the authority of the Deity, and the dominion he hath over all the works of his hands.” Jesus wanted this sister of Lazarus to believe based on His words, not based on the visible evidence that they are true. He said her brother would live, but she wanted to see him live.

When I pray for the salvation of loved ones, I want to see them living in faith. Jesus wants me to trust Him, to have that faith in Him as my Sovereign King. This is trust that draws me to Him in all experiences and keeps me in worship mode due to His royalty. Sometimes I come to Him with emptiness instead of being filled with holy thoughts and the strength that faith gives. My heart should be regarding Him as who He is and what He says. I can then be obedient according to my awe of who He is:

If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God. (Deuteronomy 28:58)

When I consider the majesty of God, I should not enter into His presence with light or foolish thoughts, as if He is a mere buddy, or worse, a genie in a bottle. I should not read His Word as if it were the voice of some ordinary scribe. It should always produce a consideration of His majesty and  engender reverence in my obedience and make me speak of God with honor and respect. He is a great and glorious king, far above His greatest blessings and those ‘second causes’ that are so easy to elevate as more vital. “If You had been here…” really! How could I think that He is not, or unaware, or does not care about the threats to my trust.

When I suffer or when others suffer and it seems God is not with us, I should remain confident. I’m to wait. I’m to weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15) and extend the love of Christ and the hope of salvation to all. And instead of hosting a pity-party, remembering that my time is short. We all are terminal. We all need to repent of telling God what to do and instead trust Him and live for His glory.

PRAY: Jesus, may Your goodness overwhelm me each day, even those days when it seems You are not here — but You are. You promised never to leave me. What do I believe? My feelings or Your Word? Enable me to live utterly for Your glory and for the joy of knowing You. Also enable me to trust You to gather the perishing into Your family, and to do whatever You ask me toward that happening.

His joy becomes my joy

Jesus looks for and finds the lost. He compares His saving work with that of a shepherd who has lost one of his sheep and goes looking for it.

And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ (Luke 15:5–6)

I remember those days right after my Shepherd found me. More than once, I sat on the front step of my porch in the warmth of the sun experiencing the delight of being at peace with God. My joy that was a new, wonderful, never-before experienced joy. I didn’t know then but I do know now that those emotions were from God.

When Jesus enters the life of a repentant sinner, He brings with Him His entire Person, emotions included. When I am yielded to Him, I am very apt to experience His emotions. That means when Jesus rejoiced at “finding” me, I felt that same joy at the wonder of what had happened in my life.

It is the same with what some call “righteous indignation.” When evil happens, my response is anger and sorrow. Those too are the emotions of Jesus. Events that did not bother me in my BC days began to bother me as soon as He came into my life.

He also says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15). I used to be envious of those who rejoiced, particularly if they had accomplished something and their joy was about themselves. I also ignored those who wept, not wanting to be involved in their negative emotions.

Jesus changed that indifference. He cares about others. He weeps alongside those with broken hearts. He cares when people succeed or fail, repent or harden their hearts. Because of Him, I can care also, but the caring is from Him.

Joy is the best gift though. When a lost soul is ‘found’ by the Savior, my heart soars. When a Christian grows spiritually, or uses their spiritual gifts, or is used by God to do great things, or has their prayers answered, I can rejoice with them — because the rejoicing Jesus lives in me and graciously allows me to feel His joy!

Christian maturity

Much earlier in my Christian life I’d read several books by well-known Christian authors. In my mind, they were giants of the faith and I was excited when given the opportunity to go to a woman’s conference near Chicago and meet some of them. I learned far more about spirituality that weekend than I expected.

One of those writers arrived on the front steps of the lecture hall the same time I did. I don’t know what I expected, but was surprised at her ordinary appearance. She could easily have been the mother next door, hair uncombed, stirring cookie batter, wearing an apron and talking about petunias.

The plenary speaker told of locking herself in the bathroom the night before and sleeping on the cold tiles in her nightgown until she realized the door opened the other way. Another speaker told of being followed in a store by someone she thought was a shy fan, until the other woman told her she had her skirt on inside-out.

God used that weekend to show me that I should never put the saints of God on a pedestal. The are like me, and I know that I don’t belong up there either. Elevating others in this way demonstrates that I am living according to the flesh, which is my old sin nature and opposed to true spirituality.

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? (1 Corinthians 3:1–4)

In these verses, only two fleshy attitudes are identified. Both are things that small children do, so Paul calls these activities of infants in Christ. The first is jealousy. Every time I see what others have and want it for myself, I am behaving in a childish human way. The Spirit of Christ is not like this. Romans 12:15 says I should, “Rejoice with those who rejoice,” not want whatever they have that makes them happy.

This might be about material things, but it can also be spiritual achievements. I could be jealous of someone’s ministry, a writer’s success at selling books, a teacher’s ability to get a point across. I could want the spiritual gifts others have or the places of honor they have been given. All this is fleshy, infant behavior.

The second fleshy attitude is strife. The people at Corinth were fighting over who had the best leader. I’ve heard similar strife over who listens to the best preacher, or who attends the best or biggest church. Strife can also cover almost every area of life. Babes and little children will fight over anything, from whose dad is the strongest to who has the best toys, to who has the best method for getting cookies out of the cookie jar.

Both jealousy and strife come out of people who are trying to be the best and defend their position. Christianity is not about this. Those who are mature in their faith know where they stand with God. They are content with His care and trust His wisdom in what He has chosen for their lives. They don’t need to enter the pecking order or try to be what they are not. They don’t fight over trivia or anything else that will divide them.

Whether I put others on a pedestal or try to climb up there myself, I am acting like a child, a human yes, but spiritual no. If I am motivated by jealousy or insecurity over who I am, then I don’t know nor am I living by the realities of who I am in Jesus Christ.

Since that experience at the women’s conference, I have met many famous writers and preachers. Seeing them as fellow members of the Body of Christ makes a huge difference in the encounter. Instead of putting them in the awkward position of what to do with idol-expectations, they can talk to me as a spiritual person, recognizing that I am interested in them. When I have no envy and am not using them to feed my ego or prove my own worth by being in their company, not only am I set free from fleshy behavior, but so are they.

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Father, this is an important and ongoing lesson. I still run into people who are smarter, or more spiritual, or in some way outstanding, and I am tempted by fleshy responses. I want to prove myself, or brag that I know them, or do some silly thing that is not of Your Spirit but from my immaturity. Thank You for the lessons of the past and for Your present and future care to help me grow up and more consistently have the right attitude.