All the way my Savior leads me

The same sun that warms the rocks also hardens the clay. The same losses and disasters that suck away the faith of those who thought they believed also builds it stronger in those whose faith is genuine.

Who appreciates trials? Not me. As I read God’s Word again, listening to what He might say to me, I think of the relatively short-term struggles of days, weeks, months, even a few years, but also the longer tests, such as praying for the salvation of those I love. Those prayers began more than forty years ago and many are still unanswered. Yet in that trial, my faith has not diminished. It has gone up and down, but in the long run is stronger.

This is a principle for those who walk with Jesus Christ. Trials are not mere tests of faith nor merely the attempts of our enemy to rob us of it. They are gymnasiums where the muscles and sinews of faith are pulled, stretched, developed. This is why God can have the audacity to say,

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)

These readings challenge me. Life is basically fair and sunny these days. Only yesterday my husband had a checkup at the cancer clinic with the good news that his white blood count dropped significantly (CLL involves a huge increase in WBC). Our family is well. We are blessed in many ways. Yet as today’s devotional writer says, “Yes, unbelievably they come. You and I go our sunny ways and live our happy lives, and the rumors of terrors blow to us from a world so distant that it seems to have nothing to do with us; then, it happens.”

He tells of the two men in the story of Jesus, who likely lived in the same village, went to the same synagogue. One day, some kind of gale blew into their lives. For one of them, everything collapsed for he had built on sand. In his day of need, everything was undermined and vanished.

The other man also faced the emptiness, loneliness and pain of loss, but came through braver, stronger, mellower, nearer God, for he had built on the rock. Read carefully this story. Jesus says, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24). God say something similar to Joshua,

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. (Joshua 1:8)

Today’s verse is the same one as yesterday and the days before. It is God’s reminder to me that my response to the small annoyances, inconveniences and difficulties are tests, but more than tests. They are my sit-ups, leg raises, push-ups, and weight training in the gymnasium, so that when the greater challenges come, I will be ready for them.

If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan? (Jeremiah 12:5)

Today’s devotional speaks of the sudden storms that blow up and buffet the breath out of me, then blow away as suddenly as they came. It speaks also of the “long purgatory of physical and mental agony” which is an even greater and more drastic test of faith, but of the right of Jesus Christ to take me on these paths. He alone knows what will make me strong.

I do not understand the purposes of God, at least in His initial dealings with me. I don’t always agree with Him or obey Him. I do not like the challenges of the gymnasium and would rather sit on the couch, but I do know one thing; after many years of both joy and sorrow, smooth places and rough, I think far more greatly of the grace and power of God than I did in the beginning. 

All the way my Savior leads me,

What have I to ask beside?

Can I doubt His tender mercy,

Who through life has been my Guide?

Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort,

Here by faith in Him to dwell!

For I know, whate’er befall me,

Jesus doeth all things well;

For I know, whate’er befall me,

Jesus doeth all things well.

All the way my Savior leads me,

Cheers each winding path I tread,

Gives me grace for every trial,

Feeds me with the living Bread.

Though my weary steps may falter

And my soul athirst may be,

Gushing from the Rock before me,

Lo! A spring of joy I see;

Gushing from the Rock before me,

Lo! A spring of joy I see.

All the way my Savior leads me,

Oh, the fullness of His love!

Perfect rest to me is promised

In my Father’s house above.

When my spirit, clothed immortal,

Wings its flight to realms of day

This my song through endless ages:

Jesus led me all the way;

This my song through endless ages:

Jesus led me all the way.

              (Fanny Crosby, public domain)

 

Responding to death

As a new Christian, I watched the Lord give peace to my elderly mentor Irene, as she buried her husband. She said, “I realize that my grief is just me feeling sorry for myself. When I think about where he is, I am joyful.” 

Today’s devotional again uses this verse, only this time to discuss the Christian response to death.

If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan? (Jeremiah 12:5)

Life is filled with smaller challenges that in some ways prepare us for those that will knock us off our feet. The devotional writer recently buried his spouse. He reveals deeply personal thoughts regarding loss and grief and those thoughts challenge me. 

Each time my husband’s blood tests reveal an advancement of his CLL, I feel as if a chunk of life is taken from us. Each test brings a test. I am not able to push death to the back burner, but must think about dying and the sorrow that it brings. I’ve raced with men on foot. Can I keep up with that dark horse? 

Actually, the Bible says very little about those who have lowered a loved one into the grave. It offers far more about those who have gone to be with Jesus. Today’s devotional asks if I could dare compare my “clumsy nothings” of my “poor blundering love” with all that Christ gives His people in eternity. This question mixes sadness and joy together in a pounding mass. 

Second, I realize I could go before him. I am older. I could be hit by a stroke or a truck and my husband might be the one lowers me into that black hole. In either case, can either of us give this up willingly? Can we tell God that we prefer being alone rather than having our spouse miss anything of the riches of glory? Is our love truly selfless?

The devotional author says, “When the blow fell… I felt I had lost her forever, that to all eternity she must shine far ahead of me, and my heart kept crying out, ‘I choose it, I choose it, do not for my sake deny her anything.’ I know, now, that I have not lost her. For love is not a thing one leaves behind. When we are young, heaven is vague. But as our friends gather there, it gains vividness and homeliness. And when our dearest have passed yonder, how real it grows, how near: Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. It is not far. They are quite near. The communion of the saints is a tremendous and most blessed fact.”

And this writer reminds me not to be afraid of life nor the frailty of it, nor the places that are steep and lonely, because we have a wonderful God. Romans 8:38–39 says nothing can separate us from his love, including death. Then he adds this, which blesses me and haunts me at the same time…

No, not death, for standing in the roaring Jordan, cold to the heart with its dreadful chill and conscious of its terror, I, too… can call back to you who one day will have to cross it, “Be of good cheer for I feel the bottom, and it is sound.”

On this Monday morning, I’m reminded of Irene who was given grace to not feel sorry for herself, and feel the emotions in this reading from one who has been to the bottom and found solid footing. Both make me weep. I want to go on to more cheerful thoughts, but God wants me to pause and realize that no matter what happens next, He is sufficient.

Run away from God?

Today’s devotional verse is the same as yesterday, but the author of the devotional takes it in an entirely different direction. He speaks about those who experience trouble and loss and run away from God. He says he does not understand life, never mind comprehend such action. He asks, “In God’s name, run to what? Having lost everything else, what could make a person decide to lose Him too?”

I suppose this decision would have something to do with a person’s concept of God. If He exists only to make my life comfortable, then difficulties would make me feel as if I am a mere bug that He steps on and squashes, perhaps not even noticing I am here. How could I trust a God like that?

But if I have been walking with Christ and learning about God’s love and faithfulness, I may lose sight of Him for a time, but I will trust Him to see me through when life goes dark. I will know that because God is true and His promises are certain, then I can hope in Him to keep me going.

Those who assume God is like a genie in a bottle will gain nothing but greater darkness by throwing away the bottle when their genie refuses to grant their wishes. In life’s crunches, their “faith” reveals itself as trust in their own judgment of how life should be, not in God’s grace or His plan.

In contrast, faith is not about experiences but believing that God is who He says He is, and relying on Him no matter what happens. We may believe when the sun is shining, but we must believe when it is dark too, for we have nothing else.

These verses also make me think about the importance of actually trusting God when the sun is shining.

If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan? (Jeremiah 12:5)

“Racing with men on foot” points to those ordinary days that belong to God as well as the “competitions with horses.” He guides my life in the grocery aisles and in vital decisions, while I’m cleaning my house and while I am facing far greater challenges. If I relegate God’s love and interest to only the difficult times of life, then I will never learn how to take them in stride without losing faith, or without doubting God’s presence and care.

Learning that faith in Christ is practical and fulfills itself, is real and that its most audacious promises are true happens in daily life. (Is that why Jesus taught us to ask for our daily bread?) He promises to provide clothing and daily needs, yet if I think I can handle that myself, what will happen if circumstances prevent me, if I cannot do what I once found simple and easy? Will I think God has abandoned me when my own resources fail? 

Life is a learning curve. In the beginning of my Christian experience, I trusted God for the silliest little things, later taking them for granted and even thinking He gave me a brain, etc. so I can take care of myself. Then troubles came and He brought me full circle, back to trusting Him for everything, because in His kingdom, nothing is little or silly. He knows and cares about each sparrow that falls and the number of hairs on my head.

Much of our Christian education happens through reading the promises of God while in the experiences of life. Faith grabs hold, realizing that none of what God’s Word says is speculation. Why were the prophets so positive that God would take care of His people? How did the psalmist know God would heal the broken?

Isn’t it because it happened to them? When all else failed, God stayed. Daniel knew this in the lion’s den. His friends knew it in the fiery furnace. Even as Christ cried out asking the Father why He had forsaken Him, read the rest of Psalm 22 that He was beginning to quote and see that He had not. 

We feel alone but are never alone. Jesus said, “I will not leave you as orphans” and “I will never leave you or forsake you.” To turn away and say that I will leave Him does not and cannot change what He promises. No matter how foolish I might be, the Lord Jesus Christ is present. If I should resist or push away, that does not change Him. Both the Bible and experience prove that in both sunshine and shadows — He remains. 

Faith perseveres

This morning I put my head in my hands and complained to God that I was tired already and the day was just starting. Then I opened today’s devotional reading and laughed loud.

If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? (Jeremiah 12:5)

It is so easy to be a fair-weather Christian. As long as God’s will lines up with my comfort, I’m happy and trust Him, but as soon as they clash, I’m quick to complain (a symptom of distrust). As the devotional writer says, “If the small ills of life have frayed our faith and temper, what will we do in the roar and swirl of Jordan?”

Laughing or not, I feel the sting of this rebuke and am thankful that this author turns my eyes from my pathetic self to the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is what he wrote:

Do you think Christ always understood or found it easy? There was a day when he took God’s will for him into his hand, turned it round, and looked at it: “Is this what you ask of me?” he said. Yes, and another day when, puzzled and uncertain, he cried out, “But is this really what you mean that I should give you, this here, this now?” Yes, and another still, when the waters roared through his soul, yet he would not turn back, fought his way to the farther bank and died, still believing in the God who seemed to have deserted him. That is why he is given a name that is above every name.*

My petty whining is nothing. Even if I was suffering greatly, my complaints bear no validity. Others have lost everything for their faith. Some have lost their lives. I need to think of their example and quit grumbling.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (Hebrews 12:1–4)

Enough said. I need to apologize to God.

*Arthur John Gossip, Take Heart---Daily Devotions with the Church’s Great Preachers, Day 42.

Does everyone have eternal life?

The parables of Jesus, I am told, have one basic meaning. These parables are like an extended metaphor in which Jesus is saying one thing (often the kingdom of heaven) is like something familiar to His hearers. Not every detail in the parable refers to some great truth, but the entire parable makes one point about the topic. 

For instance, Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, or that the joy in heaven over sinners who repent is like the joy of someone who has found a lost coin.

Jesus also told stories, such as the Good Samaritan (Luke 10) and the Prodigal Son (Luke 15) that served as parables yet sounded as if they came out of the daily news. One of them is about a man who died…

There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment. (Luke 16:19–28)

When I read this, I find it difficult to restrict the meaning to one point. Is Jesus describing the reality of life after death? The reality of heaven and hell? Or is His emphasis on the fact that once a person is dead and in one of these two places, there is no hope of getting out and going to the other one?

Jesus sometimes explained the meaning of a parable to His disciples later. For this one, He gives a bottom line in the words of one of the characters in the story.

But Abraham said (of the five brothers still living), ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ (Luke 16:29–31)

When some hear the Gospel and their need for repentance, they say, “I will wait and see what happens” or “I will let God decide my fate” not realizing that God has already spoken. He says that “the wages of sin is death” and although “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23) that gift is for those who are living. As the story says, those who are dead will not repent; repentance is for the living.

The ‘rule’ about interpreting parables cannot dismiss all the other parts of this story on the grounds that they are not the main point. That is, we cannot dismiss the parts about hell. The Bible teaches elsewhere about eternal punishment in a place of torment, such as this most sobering passage…

… when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might… (2 Thessalonians 1:7–9)

Some people describe hell as a void in darkness. They say that whatever sins a person enjoys now, that will be their occupation forever. That is, a liar will lie for eternity. Those who curse will curse non-stop. Those who covet will be envious forever. Anyone who refuses to hear Jesus now will never hear Him again.

It is also suggested that hell will be everything that Jesus is not. Instead of peace, stability, light, a good Shepherd, redemption, answered prayer, love, kindness, self-control, and incredible goodness, imagine the opposites. This makes me shudder.

No one needs to go to that place. It was “prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41) and everyone who makes Jesus their choice can avoid that eternal torment. He says, “Whoever comes to me I will never drive away. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24).

Those who follow Jesus eventually will say goodbye to all things physical and material, but death cannot take away the love of God and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Instead, as everything else fades away, He and His goodness will be magnified.