2 Corinthians 4:9 We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going. I am feeling hunted this morning. At work I feel like “Big Brother” is watching every move I make so he can pounce on any small mistake to use against me. And now, I get that feeling at home, too. I haven’t felt like this since I was a child. It’s really frustrating because I can’t ask the questions I want to ask or make the observations that I want to make. So, I’m praying for God’s grace and patience in the situation. This verse spoke to my heart because God doesn’t abandon me. He’s not like the watchful, vengeful spirits or people that are just waiting for something to comment on or use to make a point. He doesn’t lay in wait for me to make a mistake or do something he doesn’t like. He is always there and doesn’t leave me when I’m in a precarious position. When I feel crushed under the weight of the fishbowl, He is there to give me His support so that I can get back up and keep going. That’s what I need now.
Psalm 50:13-14 “…What I want instead is your true thanks to God; I want you to fulfill your vows to the Most High. Trust me in your times of trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.” In this Psalm God is telling His faithful ones that He doesn’t need their sacrifices because He already owns all the resources of the universe and beyond. What He really wants is different – their thanks, the fulfillment of their vows, and their trust in times of trouble. I’d imagine those are the same things He wants from us. I was listening to the radio yesterday (Z88.3) and one of the DJs told a story of this woman she’d talked to who didn’t have anything to give her child for Christmas and didn’t really have any way to celebrate Christmas at all. The DJ was making the point that Christmas isn’t really about the gifts and presents and lights, but it’s about Jesus and what He’s done for us. What hit me though, was that I am so blessed! I don’t have a lot of money and most months I’m really happy to squeak by without running the accounts to zero. But God provided enough to buy gifts for my children and for my husband and me. He has been SO faithful about making sure we have what we need (not what we want, but always what we need) and then a little extra. That story really made me realize how much He blesses us. Trusting God in times of trouble sounds like it would be easy, but it’s easy for my first thing to do is try to fix it myself. Of course, that usually makes a bigger mess… But trust is hard for everyone, I think. So often when we trust people or things our trust is broken. I see this in politics a ton, but also in day-to-day life (someone says they’ll do something but they forget about it). We trust big companies to make products that help us but find out later they make them specifically to break down after a certain amount of time so that we’ll all have to go buy more stuff… The list goes on. So trust is hard. But God wants us to trust Him. In fact, He promises to rescue us if we trust Him! That’s a pretty nice deal! But, I suspect that we have to completely trust Him, without holding on to that last bit of rope. We have to completely open our hands and trust that He’s got us. That’s kind of scary for most people, I think. Ultimately, we can tithe all we want and we can give God things all we’d like, but what God wants is our thanks, or honesty, and our trust. That’s not too much to ask, is it?
Daniel 3: 17-18 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, Your Majesty can be sure that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.” I often feel that God can do anything, but I don’t know if He’ll do it for me. It’s kind of pessimistic, now that I think about it. But here we have three young men about to die for standing up for what they believe in, and they tell the most powerful man in the known world that there is no way on earth they’re going to obey him! Whether God chooses to save them or not they are going to be obedient to what they know is right. Even if it means they die. That’s pretty amazing to me! There are times when I have a hard time living up to my own rules, and I’ve never had to deal with consequences as dire as what these three had to. So what’s the point? Even though they knew God could, they declared their obedience even if He didn’t. It wasn’t a definite thing or a conditional thing. It wasn’t definite because they didn’t know for certain that God would rescue them. However, it wasn’t conditional either because they chose to be obedient no matter what the circumstances and no matter what the cost. That begs the question: what about me? Do I obey like that? Do I live like that? Will I trust God even if I’m quaking in my boots and it’s my life on the line?
Jeremiah 28:10 Then Hananiah the prophet took the Yoke off Jeremiah’s neck and broke it. Hananiah was prophecying that the Babylonians would return the captives and all the temple treasure and that Israel would be free of the yoke of bondage within two years. Jeremiah knew he wasn’t really giving the people a word from God, but he knew the people wanted to believe Hananiah. Later God told Jeremiah to give a message to Hananiah. He told him that Hananiah had broken a wooden yoke, but that it would be replaced with an iron yoke that was even more oppressive. He also said that Hananiah would die within a year because of his false prophecies and because he led the people astray (even more). So I was trying to apply this to life. It’s in the Bible so there’s got to be something. My thought is that sometimes we carry a wooden yoke because God is trying to teach us something important or to discipline us lightly to keep us from doing the wrong thing (and often, from hurting ourselves). It’s tempting to do everything in our power to escape from the yoke and get free. The lies of the world and, sometimes, of very well-meaning people lead us to believe that surely God wouldn’t discipline us or allow trouble in our lives. Surely it’s a test and surely if we were good enough or prayed enough or followed this special formula (that they’d tell us about, if we’d just donate a little to the proper cause) that it would all go away. That’s why it’s so important to pray and read God’s Words for ourselves. If we do, we’d know the truth about our struggles, we’d know the voice of our Father, and we’d be less likely to be fooled by people. Remember Job’s friends? I think they meant well, but the information and advice they gave him were waaaaay off base (so much so that God wanted to punish them pretty severely, but Job interceded). I know in my life I’ve listened to others or done what I wanted instead of asking God and being patient enough to listen (and be willing enough to get an answer I didn’t want), and that’s always resulted in my situation growing even worse. So, don’t try to break the yoke that God gives. Instead submit, offer it to God (in Matthew 11:30 Jesus says, “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”) and accept with faith what He has for you. I know I’d rather carry Jesus’ yoke than the yoke this world would give me. Either way I’m carrying something. At least I know that Jesus has my best in mind.
I realize more and more how patient God is when, once again, my plans are foiled by a shift in sleeping patterns! Jeremiah 27:6 So you must submit to Babylon’s king and serve him; put your neck under Babylon’s yoke! God is warning Israel that He has chosen the Babylonian king to rule over many nations and be His instrument (interestingly, he calls King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon His servant – did He worship God?), so Israel must submit to Him or be punished further. Sometimes the hard things in life are appointed by God to do good things in our lives… even when they are harsh and unpleasant. But, similar to Israel, if we submit to the process and stop struggling to get away from it, that’s the fastest way through, the safest way through, and ultimately the only way through. Definitely not the easy way. I’m not good at this because it means I have to give up control. When we had our second little boy, our finances took a huge hit. My instinct is to try and figure out what I can do to fix it. But God wanted (wants) to use that in my life to teach me to trust Him and surrender control of this area (arguably the hardest thing to take my hands off of). Submitting to the process is the best way to work through it, trusting God and learning to stop trying to do His job for Him. Am I done learning? Apparently not, but I’m learning.
Psalm 94:18-19 “When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your love, O LORD, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.” School officially starts tomorrow and, like many teachers, there is great anxiety about the upcoming year – will our students be good? Will we be able to teach them effectively? How can we make learning interesting and relevant? How do I incorporate all the things that I’ve learned to be a better teacher this year than last? There are a lot of questions and unknowns. God is a God of Peace and His peace is soothing. Ironically, when I need the time to spend in His Word soaking up a little peace, my children decide that they will wake up before the birds and I don’t get that time I crave. (Yup, today they were up at 5am again). But He knows that, too. However I am able to spend time with the Lord, it brings joy to my soul. Sometimes that joy is more pronounced than other times, but however subtle it may be, it’s there. And by remembering that God has it all under His control (even my classroom) I can be less anxious and trust Him to smooth out the kinks.
Phillipians 3:12No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven. One things I’ve been reminded of recently is that I can’t move forward if I’m always looking back because I’m facing the wrong direction. Whatever direction your head is facing is the direction your body will go. So, logically, if my face is always looking backwards then I’ll be moving that direction. That’s a scary thought. There have been a lot of times recently when I’ve caught myself looking back and wishing I’d done something or other differently. The problem is that if I keep looking back at that time, I’ll never move forward or learn from it because I’m fixating on the issue. It’s so easy to stay chained to mistakes we’ve made and refuse to step out of the chains, even though they’re not locked on us because we’ve been forgiven by Jesus. He has set us free. He doesn’t look back (He’s forgotten it, remember), and neither should we. Look forward so we can move forward. What can I do today, what can I do tomorrow. Or better, rejoice in today and rejoice in the promise of tomorrow, resting on God’s strength and promises to see you through today and tomorrow.