Be careful little mouth what you say…

Life has learning experiences that I do not want to miss. After yesterday’s revelation, I can better understand what Job experienced, but also better understand the danger and even foolishness of trying to figure out the problems of others. People can get to a place of confusion or despair many different ways, but when anyone gets there, hope for improvement vanishes. This hopelessness takes people as close to insanity as possible without falling off the edge. In other words, despair is the hopelessness that overtakes a sane mind when it is pushed to the extreme in grief.

Job is up against the religious pose of men who do not begin to understand where his sorrow lies. Finally after all their supposing why he suffered, he said, “I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all. (Job 16:1–2)

Job refused to say he was guilty of what he knew he was not guilty. He says, “I am not suffering because I have committed sin; I do not know why I am suffering, but I know that is not the reason.”

Many Christians would begin to assume they must be guilty or deserve this is some way, but it turns out that Job was not revolting against God but against the presentation being given of Him.

Though I speak, my grief is not assuaged: and though I forbear, what am I eased? But now He hath made me weary: Thou hast made desolate all my company. (Job 16:6-7)

This is what happens when the person in despair is counseled by someone who has no idea what they are going through. No comfort. More desolation. These friends could be helpful only if they had been where Job was — not the same events that he experienced but the same despair.

One writer says this: The only thing to do is to be reverent with what we do not understand. The basis of things is tragic; therefore God must find the way out, or there is no way out. Human reasoning and a human diagnosis of things will do exactly what Job’s friends did — belittle the grief.

PRAY: Lord, how little I realized how much my diagnosis of despair can hurt those who are suffering already until You allowed me to suffer. This was a painful class but a much needed lesson for which I give You thanks.

Faith relies on facts not feelings

 

The past few weeks I’ve struggled with up/down emotions concerning my responsibilities. Some days they are challenging but doable. Other days I feel totally overwhelmed and want to sleep all day. This is a new experience for me. For years, I have felt confident in taking on most things, but God is working in me to remove self-confidence and rely on Him only. For this, He used a month of trauma.

Today’s devotional expresses it this way: “It is all very well, perhaps, to rejoice in God’s promises or in the revelations He may have granted us or in the experiences we may have realized; but to rejoice in the Promiser himself—Him alone—is the crowning point of Christian life. This is the only place we can know the peace which passes all understanding and where nothing can disturb.”

This is difficult to describe, but as I read the rest of it, the lights came on. That sense of God being enough is wonderful, but if that sense is not there, that indicates that I have been relying on my feelings or view about Him and that is not what “God is enough” means.

The author of the devotional puts it this way: sometimes what satisfies us is not the Lord but our own feelings about the Lord. Usually we are not conscious of this, but our feelings fail, we think it is the Lord who has failed. At that, despair easily follows. Of course, this is foolish, yet it is such a common experience, that very few realize what has happened.

An illustration likens the Christian experience to a train. Fact is the engine pulling it. Faith is the the coal car that fuels the engine, and feelings are the caboose that trails along behind. Although it trails, the caboose is important – it is where the train crew lives.

However, it does not work to put faith or the caboose in the lead. When that happens, the facts are not the main source of living. As long as faith and feelings are solid, all is okay, but once they take a dip (and they often do) facts need to be put in place. This has never been a problem for me until this past while. And like the devotion says, I couldn’t figure out what was going on so prayed that God would show me, and He did. My caboose was taking the lead.

This past few weeks I’ve had three big projects happening, plus being very ill, plus two deaths, plus no ladies prayer time or small group Bible study meetings (leader is on holidays) and I’ve stayed home too much. The family of God needs each other to keep on track, to be fact-checkers for one another. This devotional reminded me of these verses:

But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. (Psalm 73:16–17)

My struggle is not the same as the psalm’s author who was concerned about the prosperity of the wicked, but the solution is similar; he sought discernment in the place where the people of God gather to worship. I need Christian fellowship, not coffee and cookies but sharing truth about God. Truth is the facts that pull the train. Too much time alone opens the door to other visitors, like burdens, difficult experiences, emotional issues, etc.

PRAY: Knowing that You have not abandoned me even when I feel as if You have is important Lord. Having other Christians remind me that You are here, or even me being the one who does the reminding for them is the way to keep that fact engine pulling my faith and keeping my feelings square with the facts. Thank You Jesus for being the way and the TRUTH and my life. This is going to be a good day! (Later: and it was!)

God’s Wisdom

 

I love the surprises of God. Sometimes they are little things like all the lights are green when I need to get somewhere on time, or I find a bargain that I’ve prayed to find, or someone calls that I needed to visit. Sometimes He surprises me with unpleasant news. I didn’t expect my sister to die so soon and so quickly. Or Sunday’s sermon ties in to a convicting devotional with both challenging me to unwelcome change.

The point is, I cannot predict what God will do, except those times when I pray with absolute assurance that He is going to answer the way I’m hoping. We once tried to rent a house only to be told it was taken, but I knew we were going to live in that house. The person who planned to changed his mind and we were given the house.

Another time I knew that I should call a store and confirm a sale price, even though it was printed in the newspaper. I did, went to the store, and was told the sale was over. I said, “But I called…” and the clerk said she remembered that call and gave me the item for the sale price.

More recently, I was praying for a prodigal and a song came to mind that he would soon be “coming home” and I was so certain of it that I just kept singing that song. Within a few days, he called to share he was again actively following Christ.

These things are wonderful when they happen, and when they do not, I feel like a starving person. When the devotional writer says we need to be careful that we are not worshiping the gifts more than the giver, I am convicted. Yet how can the two be separated? It is the same with our dearest friends. They give us reasons to consider them dear, and those reasons cannot be laid aside. They define who that person is.

The devotional writers says if we wiped every promise out of the Bible we would still have God left and God would be enough — but without the things that God does, how would we know that He is enough? If He just surprised me all the time, prayer for help in a crisis or guidance in making decisions would be pointless. I would have nothing to base my hope and confidence on if I didn’t know that God makes and keeps His promises.

It seems the devotional writer is saying I should not assume that God will do whatever I want Him to do or be presumptuous in any way. I can remember a plebiscite taken in a town we lived in and a Christian was certain the vote would go God’s way. I thought of sports pundits and news people who predict winners and are often wrong, but did not say anything. How can we mere mortals be certain what our God of surprises is going to do? In this case, the plebiscite was voted against what that person was so sure would happen and I learned something about God. Again, who can second-guess Him?

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8–9)

Still, God is enough, yet this is the gist of it — not that all that God does is missing or unseen, but  His way of thinking and dealing with the world, the mess in the world, and the sinners that seem happy and in control is beyond my way of thinking. I don’t need a specific promise nor do I need a more solid doctrine, or deeper understanding. I just need to remember that He is able and my inability to see or deal with any of it with insight and understanding will always fall short. God’s ways will always be beyond my comprehension and that is precisely why I can trust Him. My ignorance of what God is doing is actually a form of proof for His greater power.

PRAY: Jesus, You know how I want to be a know-it-all who can figure out the reason things happen and the possible solutions that You will bring to those things. That is sheer arrogance on my part. It shows up in my pouting when it becomes apparent that I really have no clue what You are doing. Forgive my pride and lack of letting go of my suppositions, even if they are based on Your prior revelations of Yourself. I should have learned by now that even though You are faithful and reliable, You are also not likely to do the same thing twice. You will always surprise me with Your answers to my perplexities.

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)

The most worthy goal

This week we received a video of a couple in their nineties dancing — fast jive with dips and twirls — for over two minutes. Inspiring, yes. A goal I want to set, not likely. If I were a few dozen years younger, I might. Dancing like that isn’t something to start now, with a pacemaker. It is good to have goals though.

Right now, I have a few. Declutter and simplify our home. Keep cooking interesting recipes. Exercise daily. Use up as much of my fabric stash as I can. Keep in touch with family, especially grandchildren. Pray often for all things. At the top of this ‘list’ is grow in faith and become more like Jesus.

Today’s devotional is about that goal. It begins by saying that truth about Christ should fill my heart, but more than that — Christ Himself must fill my heart — and it totally belongs to Him.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14–19)

Reading Jesus words make this seem impossible: “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) This means spiritual maturity, being like Jesus using  all things to accomplish that purpose:

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, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:28–29)

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 13:20–21)

Unlike dancing or my other goals, this one can be accomplished only by the power of Christ. Becoming like Him is by His working in me, not by me working on myself. When it seems that this purpose of God will never happen, I must remember that God is not done with me yet.

Also, when I groan with my slow progress, so does the whole world.

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:19–23)

Yet the deliverance and fullness of God’s goal will come. And this promise is my hope and assurance:

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (1 John 3:2–3)

PRAY: God, perfection seems impossible, yet You have the power to transform me and that perfection will come, and sooner rather than later as I get closer to the end of life here. In the meantime, I take all other goals to You in prayer and marvel at how You help me with progress in them. The assurance that spiritual perfection will also be mine gives me the encouragement and even the energy to keep at all that You have given me to do and more.

Maturity is not about age…

 
The few people I know that are afflicted with bi-polar problems struggle to explain what life is like for them. This is a difficult condition to understand. For me, the spiritual version is easier to understand. As a Christian, I have a new nature from Christ. My old nature is said to be “dead” meaning it is separated from God (and always has been) and cannot live like a godly person.

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. (2 Peter 1:3–4)

However, that old nature is a stubborn tenant and tries to remain in charge even though new life from Christ means that I have another way to think and live. My new preferences and purposes are like Christ’s desires. If this were not so, I could not call myself a Christian. I am defined by the divine nature of Jesus.

The goal of God is that I cease from my own efforts entirely and by faith put on Christ, letting Him live in me and work in me to both desire and do His will. The idea is to abandon myself entirely to Him. He is my life, my destiny and I am to be entirely committed to let Him rule my thoughts, words, everything. The NT describes it like putting off an old garment and putting on this new life.  

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. (Colossians 3:9–10)

The problems come with shedding those old habits. Pride and practice make many of them seem ‘good enough’ or the old habits so easily happen without thinking. For instance, I grew up on a farm where every meal had a dessert. We worked hard and ate well. Now that the physical labor is not so vigorous, I don’t need that much sugar, but the habit has me craving a dessert after a meal. Mentally I know better but the habit is hard to put off.

It is the same with many behaviors. The new life in Christ wants me to think like Jesus but the old life fights it, along with the help of the world (all those TV commercials about food and recipes for yummy looking cakes and cookies, for instance) and the liar who tries to convince me that ‘everyone does it’ or that ‘just once won’t hurt’ or some other excuse to abandon old habits. But the Bible says:

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:11)

This is precisely why I need a Savior. The battle is hopelessly lost without the divine power in the new life of Christ. I need to trust Him for whatever is needed to put off those old ways and live for Him and be like Him.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12–13)

PRAY: Jesus, we who are getting older complain how much longer it takes to do normal chores and how much more difficult they get as our bodies become less cooperative. I recall the young man who said to me, “Getting older must make it easier to be a Christian.” I laughed, but there are days when this is not funny. The weakness of aging is one thing that discourages putting off the old and putting on the new. I am thankful that your “strength is perfected in weakness” — otherwise I fear this would be a losing battle.

Putting Doubt on the Altar

Lately I’ve wondered if the average Christian considers doubts and unbelief concerning the promises of God to be sins. Doubt gets labels such as worry, concern, fretting, anxiety, even burdens, that should be prayed about…

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:5–7)

Yet doubts should be seen for what they are: failure to trust God. I can call them whatever I want, but must remember that if someone is not trusting God at all, the Bible labels them as sinners. For a Christian, the only way to deal with sin is this:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Instead of praying, if I am in a dither, why is that? Do I think I am responsible for the needs all around me and must ‘do something’ to fix them, as if I could? Or do I say I’ve not heard a direct order from God about taking action, so don’t even pray but still worry. Or am I using an excuse to avoid getting involved but still feel anxious? Or feel nothing and do nothing?

A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. (Luke 10:30–32)

Their excuses are not given. Maybe the priest had an appointment or the Levite didn’t hear God tell him to stop. Maybe both of them said helping victims of crime is not my job. I can hear myself in this story saying I don’t have time, or such and such is more important, or I have no skill in dressing wounds, or something other than faith to ask, “God, equip me, fill me with Your Spirit so I know what to do and how to do it”?

I’m not certain all disobedience boils down to doubt, but it likely does. Today I sense my doubts in procrastination. I’m responsible for three looming tasks that do not match my skills or experience. I need God’s input. I have experience in getting His help in the past — for many challenges. Why am I faltering on these three? Is it because I don’t think He will help me?

To be free from unbelief, the most effectual process is to lay those doubts, just as I lay other sins, on God’s altar and totally surrender them and myself to Him. I must give up all liberty to doubt and instead consecrate my faith to Him, trusting Him to keep me trusting Him and refusing to question His love and faithfulness. He says He hears and answers, so why hesitate? I excuse it with laziness — but that needs to be confessed too!

The temptations might sound like, “God isn’t concerned that these get done” or “Perfection is required and I’m not up to that” or “I need human help but there is none” and blah, blah, blah.

God tells me to turn a deaf ear to all that, confess what is sin, then just jump to it, trusting Him with the first steps (which are usually very simple) and see what happens. The fight to do this seems severe, even impossible, yet today’s devotional reminds me of Job who faced far greater challenges than mine. He complained much (I can relate to that) but he also said, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15).

PRAY: Lord, forgive my fears and doubts that You will hear and help me. If you don’t, maybe these three things are not important right now (or is that another excuse?) but if You do, You will be glorified. Certainly this fight with doubt is part of the enemy’s strategy to keep me from both praying and just moving ahead in faith, trusting His supply and bringing Him glory.