Storms and Oak Trees

"Some of the storms of life come suddenly:  a great sorrow, a bitter disappointment, a crushing defeat.  Some come slowly...Yet it is in the storm that God equips us for service.  When God wants an oak He plants it on the moor where the storms will shake it and the rains will beat down upon it, and it is in the midnight battle with elements that the oak wins its rugged fiber and becomes the king of the forest."  
      - Mrs.  Charles E. Cowman, Streams in the Desert

Funny thing about storms.  They can be disorienting.  During one Northern California storm I found myself driving along through some mountain roads back to Humboldt County.  It was pouring so hard I could barely see the road in front of me.  The sun began to set and it was getting dark.  The fears of "what if's" began to rise.  Having been in a few car accidents, and having the prior experience of vehicles breaking down on some out-of-the-way roadsides, those fears weren't based on unrealistic ideas of what could happen.  They were based on some indelible bad memories.  Storms can be like that.  They take in not only what is happening in the present, but they can bring along a carload of baggage from our past.  

Yet each storm has the capacity to bring with it elements designed to strengthen our fiber.  With each variety of storm there is a faith-test.  It seems it often comes when we think we are dangerously close to that line of what we think we cannot handle.  I've found that the line I think I can handle and the line of what God knows I can cope with are two different lines.  Interesting, how we think we are in charge of that line.  But it is often in those moments when we believe we are at our wits end that God either brings us a solution or supplies us adequate grace to take the next step.

In those moments the faith-test goes something like this:  God asks,
"Do you still trust Me?"  When you can't see in front of you, when the circumstances are the worst thing you can imagine, and when you believe you have no inner resources to endure this particular nightmare, can God be trusted? 

The Faith Giants of the New and Old Testaments often stood on that wobbily dividing line that life put in their path and they had to make a decision whether to step forward by sheer faith alone or step back. 

Hebrews 11:6 tells us, "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him."  That belief is not merely an intellectual nod but concrete actions of trust.  Stepping forward, staying the course, going on and doing the right thing even when there seems little hope.

One reward of repeated steps of faith is the strong rugged fiber of the heart that is developed during hard times.  It replaces the former faint-of-heart kind of belief that wilts under adversity.  One's insides are changed.  Without storms our faith would remain delicate.  But through the storms we are made ready for the Master's service.

The Evening News, Gobbildy-Gook and Hope

The evening news was discouraging.  Politics, the aftermath of a natural disaster, people in despair, the economy...rough stuff.  One understands on a greater level why the 'Great Depression' had that  a very accurate name, and one wonders about the similarities to our current situation.  It appears that harder economic times will affect all of us...at least everyone we know.  Most everyone has already felt some of the sting.  I just talked to two people, that as of yesterday, no longer have their jobs.  People are hurting.

I so appreciate that I am able to watch the evening news with a former history teacher and someone who was involved in politics at the city level at one point during his life.  It is my dear husband.  I pepper him with questions about the Great Depression and the gobbildy-gook going on in Washington.  One reason I like to turn to history and to then engage in Bible reading is for the sense of perspective it gives us, especially in these times.  My daily reading took me to the book of Job where things weren't so rosy for this perfectly nice moral God-fearing guy.  In the nineteenth and twentieth chapters he is trying to defend himself against his so-called friends, he is physically in pain and what seems to be the icing on the cake is that everyone, and I mean everyone, has rejected him.  Even his wife finds his breath repulsive.  Talk about reasons to be depressed!

But then Job does this wonderful thing.  Amid reciting all the agonies of his current life he has a moment of clarity.  It's like he suddenly lifts his head up, sees the clouds, sees the rays of sun beating warm upon his hurting body and says, "But as for me, I know my Redeemer lives and He will stand upon the earth at last.  And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God!  I will see Him for myself.  Yes, I will see Him with my own eyes.  I am overwhelmed at the thought! (Job 19:25-27 NLT).

It's so interesting that Job breaks out with this beautiful truth in the midst of his suffering.  The bottom line was his hope was in God.  Job didn't deny how bad things were going.  He talked about it a lot, as I'm sure we all would given the same set of circumstances.  Yet his moment of perspective was vital for his stability and well being.  It was a glimpse of truth.

A couple more encouraging verses to uplift us when we are undergoing things beyond our understanding:  "The eternal God is your refuge;  and His everlasting arms are under you.  (Deuteronomy 33:27a).  And, "Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.  (Psalm 30:5b).  Sometimes nights are long, but the morning is as sure as our current experiences.  With the Apostle Paul we can concur:  "Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.  All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely."  (I Corinthians 13:12).

May you experience some moments of clarity today, may you be caused to lift your head and feel some rays of sun beating warm upon your soul.  And may you be encouraged that even if we don't see it now, there is a bigger picture on the horizon.

Perfect Peace in a Frenzied World

Christ followers have access to something that is foreign to the rest of the world.  It is something for which people greatly yearn. It is something so remarkable that people without Christ in their life would consider it “not normal.” Yet it is something they would love to have.  It is a true and deep human need, however this something cannot be achieved by natural means, for it is supernatural.   That something is peace and specifically inner peace in a turbulent world.

The truth is that our world has not been a place of peace since Adam and Eve chose to rebel from God’s perfect love in the garden of Eden. We see a world almost frenzied in a desire for peace but with no enduring way to achieve it. 

Even within our immediate families and extended families and with friendships there is conflict, disagreement and division. 

Like a Christmas song says, “peace on earth, goodwill toward men, every year we sing it again, such beautiful words, they’ve got to be true, but down deep admit it, you’d like to know when?”

Yet, the Scriptures talk about a “Perfect Peace.”  Isaiah 26:3  Says, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you!”  So what is this inner peace the Scriptures talk about? 

 1.     First we have to recognize that peace comes at the point of surrender. In the spiritual realm, we end our private war with God.  

2. Secondly, to pursue God’s peace we “put on” behaviors and practice those things that help keep our minds on God.  The Scriptures teach us to “lay aside” things and “put on” things.  Kind of like changing clothes.  

3.  Third, we choose to carve out time for God. To keep our minds on God we choose to remind ourselves to think about Him.  He will help us on this, count on it.  He wants to spend time with us more than we can imagine.

4. Fourth, we pray prayers of victory focused on who God is, rather than our current circumstances.  Perspective is everything.

5.  Fifth, we grow in our trust of God.  A growing trust in God allows us to experience His perfect peace, in fact I would say that the amount of peace we have in a situation has a direct correlation to the amount of trust we place in God as we go through that ordeal.  Trust is not an automatic response.  It’s an act of the will, and it is a process.  We learn to trust. 

Inner peace in a frenzied world - what an incredible gift!

 

Mary, Sweet Teenager

Mary sweet teenager, called upon by God
Mary, so vulnerable, what tumult did you go through?
The presence of the angel
The radiant warmth of God’s undeniable love
Must have been of such a magnitude
That it obliterated all fear and doubt.
Such faith.
Such conviction from someone so young.
She pondered this visitation, and obediently responded.
Her magnificat revealed a soul that yearned for God.
Did your heart skip a beat as you thought of the wonder?
Did your stomach knot at the thought of fear?

Be Ready for the Power Switch

"It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you." Acts 1:7-8

God doesn't always reveal timing. Time is such a fixation in culturally sophisticated countries like ours. God "keeps His cards close to His chest" on that one. But what He does offer us freely is power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us. This makes for a relationship where we need to be dependant upon God continually and to be completely trusting of His work in our lives. We may not know ahead of time the way God will choose to work or when His hand will move. However, if we're always ready - that is if we re in an abiding relationship with Him - keeping our hearts open through prayer and being in His Word and applying these Biblical lessons to our throughts and attitudes, then we will be ready to be used by the Master when He turns the power switch on.