“Never mind about others, you follow Me. . . .”

Years ago the pastor of a church we attended resigned. The congregation was upset, but he gave no reason. Their speculations were mostly unfair and painful for him. But when I asked, he told me that “God told me to.” He left, not to ‘bigger and better’ things, but in obedience and without a plan for the next thing.

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you… So Abram went, as the Lord had told him… (Genesis 12:1–4)

Abraham is praised for his faith, but this pastor was criticized for his. Today’s reading in Piper’s devotional reminds me of the way even Christians will decide how other Christians should be serving God. At times, their ‘suggestions’ can be from the Lord, but if not, they might be confusing and even hurtful.

But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. (1 Peter 3:14–17)

After a brief look at the meaning of righteousness, it is “doing what God requires” and with this pastor in mind, I wondered if the hurtful speculation and resulting accusations could be called a mild form of persecution. I also wondered if doing nothing is sometimes criticized.
By that, if God was asking me to wait, or not giving a direct command, or not leading me to any particular ministry, and others criticized my lack of action, could that also be a form of persecution? Peter called it “revile your good behavior in Christ” and that “good” could mean I am waiting on the Lord, without any assumption from my old nature to assume I should do this or that. Serving God should always include waiting on the Holy Spirit to give His leading.

Another possibility is that when following the Holy Spirit, I’m not examining my life at all. When others thank me for what I did, I’m thinking “what are they talking about?” because walking in the Spirit means self-awareness is vague, or absent, or not important.

Besides that, serving the Lord is not always about doing the same thing as someone else. I’ve noted how evangelists stress how all Christians should be evangelists, missionaries want everyone involved in missions, etc.

Nor does obedience mean trying to do all the work that needs to be done. Preach, teach, lead, give, counsel, wait on tables, visitation, or does it mean listening for the specific job God wants for me this time and this day? Yesterday it was communication with a family member, bake pies for my hubby, and ask an estimator a question unrelated to his work and getting a surprising answer that blessed me immensely. Today, the Lord asks me to pray with others, and who knows what He will tell me to do after that. I only know that I need to keep listening and doing what He says. The NT says “some plant and others water” — without defining how those things are done, or by who.

PRAY: Jesus, when I look at You and think of my responsibility to follow in Your footsteps, You knew the future and where those steps would take You. I don’t. I can make plans, yet know that “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9) One phone call, or a knock at the door, or an email, or many other events could take me a different way than my plan. You have been teaching me these last few months to listen to You by using dozens of unexpected events. Many of those ‘interruptions’ turned into opportunities to glorify You. It does not matter if others do not hear what You tell me, as long as I hear it and do what You say. Enable me to listen, and also to never assume I know what You are telling them, and remember that Your life was filled with interruptions.

Loving Jesus

Today’s reading is about surrendering all to Jesus. Yesterday’s sermon compared the supremacy of Jesus with trying to keep the Law of God. I say trying because I cannot do it. My efforts and ideas all fall short.

My plans also miss the mark. The past two weeks have been filled with interruptions to my agenda. Today I’m thinking that the interruptions are part of what God wants for me. Many of them were difficult: requests for prayer from a family in trouble, a relative in the hospital and his care-giver burned out, the death of an infant, threats to the well-being of a family member, people asking us to referee their feud with other people, my husband’s back injury still not healed, unexpected tasks added to my to-do list, and the pressure of not getting enough sleep.

All these added to the usual challenges to trust God with everything — yet as I pray and let Him interrupt my plans, there are lovely surprises: calls from loved ones, conversations with Christians young and older that were like tonic to my soul, words of affirmation, understanding and love, and enough energy to get the important chores done. Jesus is a faithful and wise ‘business manager’ for want of a better term, or perhaps ‘personal assistant’ — but more. He is Lord of life. I need to rejoice when He interrupts my schedule for He not only knows more and is wiser than I am, He wants to use me to somehow do what He wants done.

Yesterday a person that has seemed unteachable and stubborn asked me for help in three areas of life. A teen told all in hearing range that I am his favorite senior person. A couple about to move into a new home asked us come and pray for their life in that house before they enter it. In a long chat, a child asked me a dozen questions about life. One of our busy adult children called several times just to talk. We had a marvelous visit with a woman who is nearly 100, no dementia and delighted we came. Normally these would not seem huge, but with the other events, they were like a feast to a starving and very tired person.

Surrendering to Jesus means letting Him control life. I tried to do other things, but nothing happened that was not interrupted by His better plan. Now I see that He was using all this to affirm  that I can trust Him with the control of life’s events.

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. (James 4:13–17)

I’ve not boasted about what I will do, but the Word of God makes it clear that even resenting those interruptions would not be right. When the Lord wants something from me, I should gladly say YES.

Today’s reading says: “Be generous in your self-surrender! Meet His measureless devotion to you with a measureless devotion to Him. Be glad and eager to throw yourself unreservedly into His loving arms and to hand over the control of your life to Him. Whatever there is of you, let Him have it all. Give up forever everything that is separate from Him. Consent to resign, from this time forward, all liberty of choice, and glory in the blessed nearness of union…”

PRAY: And Jesus, I say amen. Thank You for the ability to not only see that You are in the interruptions, but that You have more in mind than just teaching me to humbly surrender. You are blessing others too and gladly going along with Your will is my opportunity to love them and love You with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. Thank You.

Defeating the thief . . .

 

This week has been filled with unexpected problems and many interruptions. Most of them robbed me of inner joy. My stomach sometimes churned in my impatience to get past each one and on with a ‘normal’ schedule. I realized some of this was a test: would I be patient and content no matter what? My test scores were not too high.

Maturity is measured by how far a person gets from a baby’s ‘I want what I want when I want it.’ The next step is learning delayed gratitude or dropping the ‘when’ and being willing to wait. However, Christian maturity involves dropping the ‘what’ and being willing to let the sovereign God use all things, even problems and interruptions, for His purpose: to transform my attitudes and life.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son . . . . (Romans 8:28–29)

God taught me these verses and this principle early in my Christian life. However, how easily I forget. I forget His goal and forget this principle also:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2–4)

I forget that trials are tests and that the test is to produce steadfast patience. My impatience gets me an F on the test, and it gets repeated until I start getting a better grade. This week, the repetition stressed the importance in God’s mind that I should grow up and be more like this:

I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that . . . you were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:10–13)

Today’s devotional lists some joy-thieves: willful sin, prayerlessness, fear, self-centeredness, focusing on circumstances, and lack of forgiveness are the main culprits with dissatisfaction and ingratitude being the most common. We live in a culture where health, wealth, and prosperity create expectations that take our eyes off God and place them solidly on ‘I want what I want’ even if we are willing to wait for it.

While the author focuses on preferences rather than necessities, I’m thinking about what I really want. Is it a life without phone calls, or without cries for advice or my help? Of course not. For these I should be thankful. But what about computer problems and the desire for a quick fix so I can do my thing instead of helping others understand why their PC is not working right? I should be thankful that God gave me experience to help, not be frustrated at the nerds who create complex software.

Paul’s words are both refreshing and a rebuke: “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am” makes no demands on God, only tell me to grow up. Whether the day is ‘normal’ or ‘nutty’ should not matter to a mature person. I need to be satisfied and thankful, able to see that in the tests are blessings to help me be more like Him. Jesus was not a whiner, and His attitude was, “Not my will, but thine be done.”

Jesus, Your Word says this realization that I can “do all things” through You is a secret, a mystery that is part of Your will but must be revealed to us. We are sinners who want what we want. I confess this has described me this week and ask You to produce in me a joy and contentment that transcends circumstances. I know people You bless in this way regarding far more serious matters than interruptions — that don’t affect my whole life, just my schedule. Obviously, You had a purpose for coming to earth, but You did not make up a daily to-do list. Help me see unplanned things as Your will for my day rather than resent their appearing to upset my plans. May I learn contentment and be thankful, and learn to deal with such things in a way that gives You glory.

Read 1 Kings 18:1–19:8. What did God do for Elijah when he was overwhelmed with his circumstances?