A Sinless Response to Suffering

This week I began reading through the book of Job in my time with God, as I do at least once every year. It's amazing to me just how rich a book this is, and how often it gets overlooked by Christians who label it as one of the "hard" books, right up there with Leviticus and Ecclesiastes. I won't say it's necessarily easy to read 37 chapters of anguish of soul, but there is so much for us to learn about God and our own trials through this account of Job's experiences. 

This time, as I read through the first two chapters, I was struck by what God said about Job's response to suffering. 

God allowed Satan to test Job's faithfulness by taking away all he had: livestock, servants, wealth, and, worst of all, his children. He was left with just his wife and the three servants who had escaped to bring Job word of what had happened.

Think about the enormity of his loss.

Now look at his response:

"Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." (1:20-21)

First, he acknowledged his grief. He rent his clothes and shaved his head, as was customary in the culture of the day. But then, in his grief, he fell down upon the ground and worshipped. 

He acknowledged God's right to take what He had given Job in the first place. He did not blame God, he did not even ask why. He just surrendered to God's will. 

And then he praised God. 

What a remarkable thing to do. I don't know if I would think to praise God in light of such grief and loss, but that is what Job did. And lest we think he was somehow harmfully repressing his emotions, look at God's view of Job's response:

"In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." (1:22)

Job sinned not.

Right there, in the midst of a magnitude of loss most people will never even come close to experiencing, Job responded sinlessly. He did not blame God, he did not argue with God. He simply accepted what God had allowed and chose to praise Him in the midst of his grief. Though Job was a sinner, just like you and I, this was one thing God said he did right.

But Job's testing was not over: Satan again accused Job before God, this time citing Job's health as the source of his faithfulness to God. So God in His wisdom --and yes, in His goodness, too-- allowed Satan to bring upon Job an ailment that would cause constant and intense suffering. Then, in the midst of his physical and emotional agony, his own wife tells him to "curse God, and die." Supportive, huh?

This was Job's response to her:

"What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" (2:10)

This response shows Job's unshakable commitment to the truth that God has the right to do whatever He deems best. How ungrateful we are to eagerly take His blessings, only to complain when He allows them to be removed, as if they were ours all along!

I'm reminded of a quote from Anne of Green Gables, where Marilla tells Anne, "God does not want you for a fair-weather friend". 

When suffering comes, it is easy to focus on the trial, seeing nothing but darkness around us, but Job's response shows us that when darkness surrounds us, when pain engulfs us from every direction, we can look up and find peace of heart in knowing that God is in control. 

God approves of this response as well: "In all this did not Job sin with his lips." (10)

The sinless response to suffering is to look up, acknowledge God's sovereignty, and trust His unchanging goodness. It is to surrender to God's will, and to praise Him, not just in spite of, but because of what He has given and taken away. In short, it is to trust Him.

 Fully. Completely. Stubbornly. 

Trust Him. 

"Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy."

James 5:11

Psalm 37: Truth for Tumultuous Times Part 2

In my last post, we saw from Psalm 37:1-15 that God wants Christians to respond to the chaos and clamor of the wicked world around us by delighting in Him, resting, ceasing from anger, and doing good.

Of course the reason we can rest in the midst of the wicked world is because we know that God is the Judge of all, and because we trust that He will make it all right in due time. If you haven't read the post, click here to read it.

The next two verses of Psalm 37 continue the theme of how to respond when the wicked are prospering. 

"A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the Lord upholdeth the righteous." (16-17)

It can be so easy to look around and wonder why the wicked seem to "get away with" their wickedness, and even seem better off for it, but we who try to do right just barely scrape by financially. Or perhaps it is that the wicked seem to get far more attention than the righteous. The world shouts their message, but tries to silence ours.

Whatever it is that strikes you as most unfair about our current situation, God again calls us to respond oppositely to the world. The world shouts "that's unfair!" and stamps its feet like a tantrumy child, demanding to be noticed and placated, but God calls us to be content. After all, the little we have is better than their riches, because, unlike them, we have God on our side, and He owns it all!

We can meet unfairness with contentment, because we know God, and because He knows us. Look at the next verses in our passage:

"The Lord knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away." (18-20)

God knows, and will provide for us. However the wicked seem to prosper, they prosper only for this time. They have their riches for now, but we will have ours for eternity! Again, we are reminded that God sees the wickedness of the wicked, and will judge in due time.

Next, God contrasts the behavior of the wicked and the righteous in another area:

"The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous showeth mercy, and giveth. For such as be blessed of Him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of Him shall be cut off.

Not only are we to delight where the world would worry, rest when the world would rage, and be content when the world would demand recompense, we are also to meet the world's dishonesty and greed with mercy and generosity. Again, we are to respond to the wicked by doing exactly the opposite of what they are doing.

I admit, it is hard to be generous to a greedy or stingy person. But isn't that what God does for us every day? Notice also that our generosity is fueled by His own. We can give because we are blessed by God, and are destined to "inherit the earth". I could go down a theological and eschatological rabbit trail here, but I'll save that for another day. The point is, we can afford to be generous, because everything we have has been provided by the One whose provision is limitless! He is more than capable of refilling anything we pour out to others. As my pastor likes to remind us, you just can't out-give God!

This generosity is not just financial, though. We are to be just as generous with our mercy. The knowledge of the eventual judgement toward which the wicked are heading should provoke pity in our hearts. After all, they are hurtling headlong into the hands of the Just and Righteous Judge, whose laws they have broken. It ought to burden our hearts, to motivate us to do all we can do to seek their salvation. After all, the greatest mercy we can ever show is to point a hell-bound sinner to Christ!

I'll end this post with some of the most encouraging verses in this passage. Against the backdrop of the darkness of this wicked world, God holds up a bright gem of hope:

"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and He delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with His hand. I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. he is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed." (23-26)

Here is a real life testimony of God's hand of blessing on the one who walks in His ways. When the world tries to trip him up, the Lord is there to catch him. When he gives generously, the Lord provides his needs. Despite the hopelessness of the world, God is there, and has promised to take care of His own.

The Magnitude of Small Things

I recently finished my tenth year of classroom teaching. It seems like just yesterday I was sitting in my first staff meeting, trying to comprehend all the ins and outs of how a school worked. In thinking back over the last ten years, I would have to say that one of the most significant things I have learned is the importance of small things. Small victories build upon one another, as do small defeats. Small kindnesses make big inroads into hearts. Small adjustments make big differences. Small weaknesses lead to big failures.

We naturally want to accomplish big things. We want our work to be meaningful, to make a difference. And it can be easy to get discouraged when your biggest efforts seem to yield only small results.

The prophet Zechariah ministered in a time of just such discouragement. The people of Israel had returned to the land after their exile in Babylon, and had begun to rebuild Jerusalem. You can read in Ezra and Nehemiah about all the opposition they faced from within and without as they attempted to build.

When the foundations of the temple were laid, those who remembered the glory of Solomon's temple wept because the second temple was so much smaller. Their work of rebuilding of the temple stirred up heavy opposition, and I think they must have wondered at times if it was really worth the effort. We know that God sent the prophet Zechariah to encourage them, and after assuring the people that the temple would be finished, the remarkable statement is made:

"For who hath despised the day of small things?"

Zechariah 4:10a

There is more to the verse than that, but basically, God assures them that His might is behind their efforts. Though their strength, their materials, their abilities may have been small, His are limitless!

That would have been encouraging to the post-exilic Israelites, for sure, but what about us? We are just as prone as the Israelites of old to "despise" small things, counting them as of little importance, perhaps even worthless.

But God doesn't see it that way. Everything has importance to Him, because He made it. From the great expanse of the universe to the very smallest electron, He made it all, and has a purpose for each and every part of His creation. He has a purpose for every millisecond of your life, and for the very smallest of your joys and sorrows. It all matters to Him.

I recently entered a writing contest for the first time. Although my entries did not make it into the finals, I did get the judging sheets back for each one. To my perfectionist sensibilities, my scores seemed like a "small thing" --I had hoped to do much better. But as I read through and analyzed the scores and comments, I began to realize that they weren't as low or as negative as I had initially thought, and that there was much to be encouraged about, as well as some things I needed to work on. Because I swallowed my pride and examined the "small things", I was encouraged in my writing instead of being discouraged by my need to grow in my writing skills.

It takes humility to look at the small, the inadequate, or the seemingly unimportant things in life and trust that God can indeed use them. At the same time, it takes faith to look at the large, overwhelming problems looming overhead and trust that God is bigger, and that He can use even your small strength to overcome them.

I am reminded of one of my favorite hymns by William Cowper:

"God moves in a mysterious way

His wonders to perform;

He plants His footsteps in the sea

And rides upon the storm.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;

The clouds ye so much dread

Are big with mercy, and shall break

In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

But trust Him for His grace;

Behind a frowning providence

He hides a smiling face.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,

And scan his work in vain;

God is His own interpreter,

And He will make it plain.

True Peace

We live in turbulent times.

Last night, my little town's four-block downtown was scheduled to be the site of a protest. You've probably heard the horror stories of the recent protest-turned-riot trend; buildings set on fire, stores looted, people hurt or killed.

As my family and I settled in for the evening, we weren't sure what to expect. I remembered a video someone had posted on social media earlier in the week from a city where protests were happening. Throughout the video, you could hear sirens and what sounded like someone shouting through a megaphone in the background. Would that be the soundtrack to our evening? We were only a short walk away from the protest, so if anything catastrophic unfolded, we would be sure to hear it.

So, we settled in for the evening, waiting, wondering, but oddly enough, I've never felt more safe. I had a sense of inner certainty that whatever the evening might bring, it would not be more than we could handle, because we were resting within the protection of our heavenly Father's care.

That is true peace.

One thing I think everyone can agree on is that we want peace for our nation, our states, our communities. We don't want to have curfews, or be in fear of our city being set on fire, We don't want to turn on the news only to hear of more violence or discord.

But collective peace comes from individual effort. Until we can be at peace individually, until we can be self-controlled and measured in our individual responses, until we are set free from the slavery of our own individual hatred and bitterness towards others, there will be no peace. And each of these individual qualities can only be addressed within the heart of the individual.

Instead of shouting or chanting or lying on the ground, what if the outrage sparked by recent events caused Americans to respond with quiet strength, to look first within and see what was in their own hearts, and then, having dealt with the beam in their own eye, to try humbly and patiently to help their brothers remove the specks from theirs?

Whichever side you may be on, there is no denying that the vehement, violent, destructive responses are fueled by individual hate. It is hate that motivates the individual to throw bricks, set fires, or shout in people's faces. That is not peace, love, or tolerance.

"There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked." (Isaiah 48:22) For the Christian, the state of our communities, our nation, and the world is not what determines whether or not we have peace. It is natural that the wicked be without peace, for we were not designed to have peace apart from God.

In John 16:33, Jesus says, "These things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."  He tells us we will have tribulations, but then tells us to be of good cheer. Humanly, that makes no sense. If we're going to be experiencing trouble, why would we be happy? Because Jesus has overcome. He is in control, and He is stronger than any force of evil we will ever face. Whatever trouble comes to us must first pass through His loving hands.

I read John 14 this morning in my time with God, and I was struck by Jesus' statement in verse 27. "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

A Christian's peace is not the peace of the world. The world has peace only when everyone is getting along and everything is going well. Its peace is dependent upon circumstances. As Christians, our peace transcends circumstances. No matter what is happening, no matter who opposes us, no matter how bleak our circumstances, we can be at peace, because we trust the One who is overseeing and orchestrating those circumstances for our good.

This is the same reason Christians can choose a measured response to wrongs committed against them or their loved ones, because they trust that God knows what He is doing in allowing those wrong things. Justice is right and good, but must be obtained through appropriate measures, and with a heart of forgiveness --not condoning the wrong, but extending to them that forgiveness which we ourselves have received from God.

So, how's your peace? Are you resting and trusting, or fearing and fighting?

I Shall Yet Praise Him: Dealing with Disappointment

I got out my planner this week. --You know, those books we used to use to write down all the things we were going to do? I haven't looked at mine since March.

Filling the squares of the calendar for this next week were event after event, responsibility after responsibility. It would have been the busiest week of the school year for me, with something going on every night as well as a writing conference all day Saturday. I remember feeling overwhelmed as I wrote in all the things I needed to remember to do that week, taking a deep breath at the recollection of how exhausted I usually am by the end of that week each year.

Yet at the same time, I looked forward to the excitement of the school year drawing to a close, to the bustle of preparation for the graduations and for the festivities of the last week of school to follow. I looked forward to all the new things I would be teaching my students during each of those school days, even if I would be tired from the long string of late nights. All those happy and exciting things almost made up for the stress and exhaustion of the week.

But now, as I look at the busy days that were to signal the final push towards end of the school year and the beginning of a new focus on writing for the summer, There's a lot to be disappointed about. Added to all that was the news I received this week of the cancellation of the four-day writer's contest I was going to attend in August. That and the one-day spring conference which would have been this week were like the two bookends of my summer, and with both of them cancelled, the disappointment seems complete.

However...

Looking at that planner, I was reminded of the verses in James which say: "Go to, now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that." (James 4:13-15)

It is natural to be disappointed when things we had so looked forward to are cancelled, opportunities are lost, or vacation time seemingly squandered by the necessity to stay home. I think everyone has at least one major thing they are mourning over right now, and it isn't wrong to feel disappointed.

It is wrong to stay there, though.

You have probably heard this example many times, but don't let familiarity rob you of its truth: While David was running from Saul (who was trying to kill him, even though he hadn't done anything wrong), he and his band of men had been living in the city of Ziklag with their wives and children. I won't belabor the background, but David's little army returned home to find that the city had been burned and all their wives and children had been taken captive.

Disappointing, right? Here they were, probably looking forward to some rest and time with their families, only to find that everything important had been taken away. This was even more devastating to David, because the men began to blame him, even to the point of wanting to kill him in revenge for what had happened!

So how did David deal with this mixture of disappointment, loss, and fear? he"encouraged himself in the Lord his God." (1 Sam. 30:6)

I don't know when Psalm 42 was written, or even if David was the one who penned it, but it expresses exactly how we should respond to disappointment, grief, and loss:

"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance." (Psalm 42:11)

Throughout this psalm, the psalmist is honest with God about what he is feeling, even to the point of asking why God has forgotten him, but then he reminds himself of the wonderful truth "I shall yet praise Him". In the midst of sorrow, loss, and disappointment, the psalmist didn't lose track of the truth that now is not all there is. Even without Romans 8:28, he knew that God could be trusted, and that there would again be reason to praise Him, no matter how bleak he felt at that moment. That was the hope he clung to.


Whatever is happening, whatever you are missing, God knows. Invite Him into your disappointment, and see how He reminds you of the truth that it's not over, that He has good things planned for you that cannot be cancelled.   

The Illusion of Safety

We live in a day where safety has become a daily concern. Slogans such as "Stay safe, stay home." are flashed across all forms of media, and debates rage over what measures we should be taking to ensure our own safety and that of those around us. Masks or no masks? Quarantine inside or getting out in the sunshine? Open up or stay closed? Arguments abound, but no one seems to be able to come to a sound consensus.

A news article about a White House staff member's recent Coronavirus diagnosis posed the question,

"If Coronavirus is in the White House, is anyone really safe?"

The truth is, the idea of safety is an illusion. At least, from a human point of view. There is no sure-fire way of keeping ourselves protected from Coronavirus, cancer, car accidents, airplane crashes, or simply tripping over our own feet and sustaining significant injury.

Sounds pretty hopeless, huh?

On a human level, it is. We can never ensure 100% that we will be safe or healthy, or that our friends and loved ones will be so. There will always be the possibility of illness or accident, always the possibility that the next breath we take will be our last.

So where is the hope in all this? Proverbs 21:31 reminds us that

"The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the Lord."

So yes, we should eat our veggies and wash our hands. We should follow the guidelines set out by medical professionals that are working so hard to find new ways to combat disease, but we should also remember that all this is vain if we are not looking to the Lord to keep us safe.

We must also bear in mind that God's idea of safety may not match our own. We like to be left alone in our own little world, with things exactly the way we want them, but God's desire is not to make us comfortable; it is to make us more like Him. So, "safety" might mean taking away something that is hindering your relationship with Him. It may look like plunging you into the midst of sorrow, so you can find that He is your true source of comfort. It may even look like allowing illness or injury to get your eyes off the distractions in life and back onto Him.

Whatever God allows, we can be sure that if we have accepted Christ's payment for our sins, we are God's children, and as such, whatever happens to us must first pass through the filter of God's loving care.

Shining in the Darkness

Our world is in chaos. Some are sick, even dying, others are facing another month of unemployment, wondering how they will pay their bills. Many are isolated from those dearest to them. As summer nears, the sun shines bright and warm and the days grow longer, but the world still feels immersed in darkness.

I am reminded of the passage in Exodus 10, where God brought the plague of darkness upon the Egyptians. It was a supernatural darkness, a darkness unlike any they had experienced before. The Bible says it was "darkness which may be felt". The land was covered with "thick darkness", but notice the difference between the Israelites' homes and the homes of the Egyptians:

"They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings"

Exodus 10:23 

The world around them was dark, the people isolated and afraid, yet the darkness couldn't touch God's people. 

This may seem like a dark time to those around us, but in reality, the light of God's goodness, sovereignty, love, mercy, and every other attribute of God is still shining, for God does not change. He is not hindered by any part of our current crisis. He is still at work, still powerful, still loving.

"If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to Thee."

Psalm 139:11-12

Nothing --not even the darkness of a world thrown into crisis-- can come between us and the love of God. As Romans 8:38-39 states,

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

When the world looks dark to you, look to Christ, for He is the Light of the world. In fact, I John 1:5 says,

"This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all."

It is only in our relationship with God that we can keep the darkness at bay. While others wallow in hopelessness and depression, we can confidently live in hope, joy, and the certainty that God will use all this for good. After all, in God there is "no darkness at all".

But we aren't just supposed to keep this light to ourselves. Unlike the Israelites so long ago, we are not just to enjoy the light, but to shine it into the lives of others. In Matthew 5:16 Jesus commands us:

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

The darker the world seems to those around us, the more they realize their need of the light, and the more opportunity there is for radiating the light of Christ into the darkness of those around us.

So how does God want you to shine your light into someone's darkness today?

Finding the Purpose of Your Wilderness

Have you ever been in the middle of nowhere? I remember once, on a trip with my sister, driving away from the highway into a terrain of low hills, with nothing but dirt as far as eye could see. It was late summer, and the ground was dry and dusty. The road was good, but the farther we got from “civilization”, the more I began to feel the suffocating feeling of being far from human help with no cell phone signal. 

My imagination began to conjure up “what-ifs”. The car could break down, we could get a flat tire, we could be on the wrong road entirely and not realize it until we ran out of gas, hopelessly far into the wilderness… all this ran through my thoughts within the space of a minute, then sped back through for another lap. Round and round they raced. I asked my sister how long it would be until we got there, and her reply bought me a few seconds of relief before my imagination got to work again. -I was so happy when we finally pulled into the dusty little town to which we were going!

There’s just something about being in a wilderness that is panic-inducing. I think for me it is because in a wilderness I become acutely aware of the fact that I am helpless, needy, lacking necessary resources, and completely cut off from human aid. 

I got to thinking about wildernesses today as I pondered the current state of our world. We are helpless in the face of this virus. We are needy and lacking necessary resources as workers are forced to stay home and companies reel with both the loss of business and a lack of workers. In addition to our economic resources, some other daily resources are in short supply: grocery stores have been out of staple food items, toilet paper, and cleaning supplies. Healthcare professionals in many places are facing a lack of masks, equipment, and medicine. 

As so many states and nations issue stay-at-home orders and social distancing has become the norm, we have become a people cut off from human aid, both physically and emotionally. We cannot gather together in person for encouragement or socialization, we cannot reach out to touch another person for fear of imparting or receiving a deadly illness. As masks become a more widespread precaution, we are even unable to smile at others when we do see them out in public.

Yes, this moment in history does feel very much like a wilderness.

And yet, did you know that God often takes His servants into a wilderness in order to fulfill a specific purpose? A quick scan of Scripture reveals many of God’s servants being sent into a wilderness for several purposes. Perhaps God will use one of these to encourage you today about your corner of the wilderness!

    1.      To meet with God

Moses was sent into the wilderness, where he met God, who spoke to him from the midst of a burning bush. It was in this encounter that Moses’ walk with God began. As far as I can tell from Scripture, Moses went into the wilderness viewing God solely as the God of his fathers, distant and impersonal. But by the time he left the wilderness, God was his own God, the God whom he now served and spoke with directly.

Perhaps this is you. Perhaps your wilderness is for the purpose of making God your own, of beginning or developing a true relationship with Him. Perhaps God has slowed your life down so that you will have no excuse but to take time to get to know Him.

    2.      To build your faith:

Israel spent over 40 years in the wilderness. Yes, it was in judgement for their unbelief and disobedience when they first got to the land, but God always has a loving purpose behind His judgements. He is just, but He is also merciful.

In the wilderness, their faith was tested and built over and over again. With every fresh difficulty came a fresh opportunity to learn to trust God, and to see that He is trustworthy.

The Disciples also found themselves in a wilderness at one point, and it was there that they brought to Jesus a lack of resources. They didn’t have food for the multitude, and it was too far for them all to walk to the nearest supply, but Jesus did a miracle and showed them that He was not hindered by their lack of resources.

Perhaps God is giving you an opportunity to learn to really trust Him. Look around you. Are there difficulties you can’t solve yourself? Those are the difficulties in which your faith can be the most effectively built as you learn firsthand that God is worthy to be trusted. God often removes our resources so that we can learn to trust Him to provide, just as the disciples had to trust Jesus to feed a multitude with just five loaves of bread and two small fish. (Matt. 14)

    3.      To prepare you for service

David spent years in the wilderness watching sheep, during which time God was preparing him to fight Goliath. He then spent years in the wilderness again while running from Saul, and was prepared to be king by the development of his leadership skills and the strengthening of his character. But more importantly, both of David’s wilderness periods were preparing his heart by teaching him first of all to delight in God, and then to wait upon God. He was being prepared spiritually as well as physically and mentally.

John the Baptist also lived in the wilderness until it was time for his ministry to begin. His was a solitary time, so far as I can gather, and it prepared him to hold fast to the truth God had for him to proclaim, no matter if people agreed with him or not. It prepared him to be bold with the truth and to stand firm, even when it meant prison and death.

Perhaps this time is a solitary time in which God desires to knit your heart to Himself, preparing you for later ministry through this time of decreased distractions. Perhaps the lack of human companionship is meant to teach you to delight in God, and perhaps the uncertainty of this time is meant to teach you to wait upon Him. (A book I’ve been listening to recently is Waiting on God by Andrew Murray. I highly recommend it!)

    4.      For Victory

Jesus Himself was led into the wilderness, not just to fast for forty days, not just to be tempted by Satan at the end of that time, but, --perhaps most importantly-- to have victory over temptation and the tempter.

Perhaps your corner of the wilderness is a corner fraught with temptation. This is the time to get close to God, cry out for His help, search the Scriptures for the truths that combat the lies Satan is using to try to trap you, and to finally experience the victory Christ has already won on your behalf!

Whatever the purpose is in your particular corner of this “wilderness”, know that it is a good purpose, for the will of God is “good, and acceptable, and perfect”. (Romans 12:2) Look to God, and ask Him to show you what He desires to do in your heart. Seek Him, dear reader, for He has promised to be found of you.

“And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart, and I will be found of you, saith the Lord”

Jeremiah 29:13-14a

“For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”

Luke 11:10

The Importance of Giving During a Financial Drought

Perhaps your state, like mine, has issued some sort of "stay at home order". Ours was issued about a week ago, and throughout this past week I have been hearing of more and more of my family, friends, and acquaintances who have had their income cut off or significantly diminished. This has even touched my own household, and has made me more thankful than ever for the blessing of my little income!

The truth is, we are in exactly the right position for our giving to accomplish what God intends it to. I know this topic is one that is annoying or offensive to many, but it is an important one, and the Bible has some greatly encouraging things to say about God's provision when we are using our money as He desires.

Now, I'm going to be totally honest with you: I'm terrible at remembering to put my tithe in the offering each month. It is a struggle to remember, and sometimes, --like this month-- it is nearly the end of the month before I finally get that check written and put in the offering. Part of that is because, as organist, I am often up front during the offering, but that's really no excuse. It's something I'm working on, but it takes intentional effort to remember. --So I understand that forgetting happens, especially during times like these where we are not meeting physically at church to be reminded by seeing the ushers walk to the front to take the offering. But that it why it is more important now than ever to remain faithful and make that extra effort to remember and follow through.

There are just two things I want to address here about giving: our responsibility and our faith.

Our Responsibility:

 Each one of us has a responsibility to do our part in supporting the local church. It's a bit like the offerings in the Old Testament. The offerings brought in were not all to be burnt to ashes. Many were meant to be used, at least in part, for the maintenance of the tabernacle or temple as well as for the sustenance of the priests. Nowadays, we don't have the same system, but giving in order to support both the work and the workers of the ministry is a New Testament principle as well.

Do you like meeting in a warm building? Do you appreciate having lights on and a sound system making it easier to hear the preaching? How about water so you can use the restroom or wash your hands or get a drink when you have a coughing fit? Are these things you enjoy? They are also things that cost money.

Does your church support missionaries? They are relying on God's people to be faithful in giving during this time so that they can continue to work for the furtherance of the gospel in countries that are being touched by this same crisis that we are facing. In a sense, your church is their "employer". Will you and your brothers and sisters in Christ be faithful, or will your missionaries face being laid off like so many in the secular workforce?

If everyone in a church were to do the bare minimum God requires and give just ten percent of their income, churches would be well provided for, and have the wherewithal to function and meet the needs they were designed to.

Has it ever occurred to you that God has a specific plan for the funds He desires you to give? Part of the joy of giving is the fact that none of it goes to waste: God has planned to use the money you give to meet specific needs. He is a God of detail and order, and knows exactly what He plans to do with your tithes and offerings.

But, you might be thinking, how can I give right now when there is such a strain on my finances? 

That brings us to faith.


Our Faith:
 
Not only do we have a responsibility to keep giving through whatever hardships God allows, we also have an opportunity to see the loving, gracious, generous hand of God that has already promised to meet our needs as we obey Him.

I read in my time with God this morning Luke chapter 5:1-16. It is the account of Peter and his fellow fisherman taking Jesus into their boat while he preached to a large crowd. When He had finished preaching, He told Peter to take the boat out into deep water and let down the nets. Peter's reply was

"Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at Thy word I will let down the net". 

 As I read, it struck me that Peter and the others had done all that they could do, to no avail. They had been utterly unsuccessful. I'm no expert on the fishing industry in Bible times, but it seems to me that for the fishermen back in Jesus' day, the formula looked something like:  no fish = no income.

Sound familiar? These fisherman had toiled, had worked their hardest all night long, but were faced with returning home empty handed. Yet, Peter did as Jesus said. Perhaps it was out of politeness or respect, perhaps it was to prove Jesus' plan would not work, perhaps it was with the smallest glimmer of hope that maybe there was some chance a fish might wander into the net --whatever his reason, Peter obeyed.  --And the result?


Fish.

Lots of fish.

So many fish that boat began to sink.


And Peter was brought face to face with the reality that God was standing before him. Struck by the consciousness of his own sin, Peter dropped to his knees, saying, "Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord". But Jesus told him not to be afraid, and commissioned him for a new calling.

I know this account isn't necessarily about giving, but it is about obedience, and obedience is at the heart of why we give. --And when we obey, God blesses.

This account of God's abundant provision in response to Peter's obedience reminds me of Malachi 3:10. Here, God literally tells the Israelites, "prove Me", that is, to try Him and see if He would do as He had always said He would if they were to obey.

"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

God is saying that if Israel obeys and brings in all their tithes, He will provide so much that there will not be enough room for it all! (Remind you of Peter?)

Now, this doesn't necessarily mean that if you give lots, you will become a billionaire, but it does mean that God is faithful, and often uses our times of financial dearth as an opportunity for us to build our faith by "proving" that He really can and will provide as we obey.

Those of us who have made a "faith promise" commitment, this is where the "faith" part comes into play. If God prompted you to make the commitment in the first place, surely He has a plan to provide for you to be faithful now, when it matters most!

So, be faithful, whatever financial stresses you may face, because God is always faithful, and His resources are unlimited!

Keeping Sunday the Lord's Day When Stuck at Home

We live in unusual days. The Coronavirus has caused several states to put their residents under a "shelter in place" order, and the states that haven't gone that far have at least issued a ban on meeting in groups. Across America, Christians are faced with the prospect of Sunday at home, whether for the short term or for an indeterminable "month of Sundays" as the saying goes.

 This is a challenge for us, because God has always intended for Christians to fellowship with other Christians. His plan for the church hasn't been that we each spend Sundays in our separate houses, reading our Bibles in solitude, so it is naturally  difficult to keep the Lord's Day feeling like the Lord's Day when we cannot be with other Christians. 

So, what's a house-bound Christian to do? 

Whether we stay home because of illness, cancellation, weather, quarantine, or whatever other uncontrollable circumstance might keep us from gathering with other believers on a given Sunday, we are still to take a day to rest and to focus on Him.

As I've thought through for myself how to keep Sunday the Lord's Day without the option of going to church, I settled on a few ideas that I think will help me accomplish this. Perhaps they will help you, as well!

1. Start the day with God.

This is something I try to do anyway, but it can be easy to fall into the rut of habit and not really pay attention to one's time with God. It can become just one more thing to check off one's list. A Sunday at home presents a reminder to bring the heart back into your time with God. It also (hopefully) is a time when you might have some extra time in the morning which you could use to prolong your time with God.

Time with God can, in fact, include nearly all the elements of an ordinary church service: worship in song, prayer, Scripture reading, and perhaps a sermon or commentary on the passage you have read.

 Our time with God on Sundays should be at least as precious and refreshing as on any other day, and while at home, with nowhere to go, we should be better able to keep what we have learned in our time with God with us all day long, thinking and meditating on it throughout the day.

2. Gather together (as you can).

For those who are housebound or under quarantine, this might seem to be a silly thing to say, but in our age of technology, it is easy to reach out to others and fellowship verbally when we cannot be physically present with them. There are lots of possible applications to this idea.

For those, like myself, who live in a house with other family members, it is quite easy to gather together on a Sunday and have one's own "church service". After all, Jesus did say that "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matthew 18:20).

I have warm memories of the few Sundays we were unable to go out to church during my childhood, whether because of weather or illness. If all of us were to stay home, Mommy and Daddy would cheer us up by bringing the "Sunday School box" down out of the attic. This was a box full of interesting items left over from the days when they had taught Sunday School before we were born. Because this box was reserved for churchless Sundays, we did not get it out very often, which made it quite a treat. We would pull each item out of the box, one by one, and then my parents would lead us in our own at-home Sunday School class. Honestly, I remember the box better than the lessons, but the principle still holds that Christians stuck at home together can still have their own "church service".

From what I have read, this was a common daily practice in Christian homes during the Victorian era. Now, I won't say that the Victorians were perfect, or that we should all try to make society go back to what it was then, but as with any time in history, there were some good things going on. One of these was the concept of the "family altar", where the whole family, and often the whole household, servants and all, would gather together to sing, read Scripture, and pray. There would often be a short lesson for the children to learn or recite, and the head of the household would often give some explanation of the text of Scripture read.

In modern times, we would call this family devotions, and Sunday is the perfect day to make sure this happens. If family devotions are already part of your family's daily life, Sunday could be a day in which you add something to it to make it special. Does your family like to sing? Have a special time of singing together. Do they like to memorize? Have a time for reciting all the verses each family member has memorized. Does your family have a flair for the dramatic? Have some of the family act out a portion of Scripture. Each family is different, so each family's devotion time will be a bit different as well. But as long as it draws the family's focus to the Lord, it will be time well-spent.

For those who find themselves alone, gathering together may mean reaching out to others over phone or text or email or even a video call like FaceTime or Skype. Mommy has a couple friends who regularly "meet" with her over the phone to pray together. Just because you aren't able to be present with other Christians physically doesn't mean you can't still have fellowship with them. --And it doesn't have to be a whole "church service", either. It can be as simple as texting a verse to a friend or telling them you're praying for them.

I'm told that during the 1918 outbreak of the Spanish Flu, many churches had to close for a time, similarly to what we're seeing today. One pastor I read about, Rev. W.B. Hinson, kept in touch with his congregation with the weekly church bulletin, which he sent out at his own expense. In these bulletins, he wrote to his church, encouraging them to keep focused on God while they were unable to meet, as well as bringing to their attention the preciousness of having a church to gather with at all. The result? The very first time the church was again allowed to gather, their congregation had increased "almost two-fold"! You can read about it here.

Many pastors are doing similarly, either through emails, podcasts, or live-streamed sermons. These are meant not only to teach and encourage those in the congregation who cannot meet together, but also to give the sense of fellowship as well as to keep the congregation on common ground, ready to move forward in unison when we can again meet together. After all, part of what unifies a local church is the common teaching we hear each week. It points us all in the same direction and gives us a Biblical foundation upon which to base our interactions with each other. 

3.  Choose activities that draw your focus towards God, and choose to refrain from activities that draw your focus away from Him. 

For many centuries of Christian history, Sunday was considered to be a day only for spiritual pursuits. One problem that arose from this was a cultural expectation that certain things were for "Sunday" but not for the rest of the week. The current attitude of Christianity towards this concept of a day set apart only for spiritual things is largely one of disapproval, citing the fact that we should be focused on spiritual things every day, or that it is "legalistic" to spend a day only doing that which is spiritual in nature, but I think we can learn a lot from those devoted Christians who made one day set apart, choosing to focus only on God and choosing not to focus on worldly things. 

Yes, this should be a daily focus, but that just means that every other day should be like Sunday, not that Sunday should be like every other day.

Obviously reading one's Bible and spending time in prayer are activities which should draw the Christian's focus toward God, but there are other things we can do that will keep our minds focused on the Lord throughout our day. For example, I have a number of Christian biographies I could read, as well as shelf upon shelf of commentaries, studies, and other Christian literature. Perhaps now is the time to get that big concordance off the shelf and do a good, old-fashioned word study.

 Studying the Scriptures is not a dry, boring task. You never know what God might do in your heart through the simple act of choosing a word from a passage you've read and looking up all the other references that use that word. Not only is it a good mental task that will keep your mind sharp, it is a task that the Holy Spirit can use to keep you spiritually sharp as well.

Sometimes, I find myself having to do something "mindless" on Sundays, like putting away laundry or doing dishes, and I have recently been enjoying listening to sermons or Bible study podcasts while I do these things. Another way to focus my mind on the Lord while my hands are busy with "earthly" necessities is to listen to some good Christian music.

Another activity that comes to mind is transcribing Scripture. There are lots of "Scripture writing plans" on Pinterest and other sites, and taking the time to write out verses on a specific topic or even to write out a whole chapter or book by hand can be a good way to spend a portion of your Sunday. Writing the verses out by hand makes us slow down and pay attention to every word, every phrase, even every punctuation mark! It is a good way to train our minds to notice small details as we read God's Word and to think more deeply about specific portions of Scripture.

4. Remember to rest

God is clear throughout Scripture that the "Sabbath" (which Christians began to celebrate on Sunday to commemorate Christ's resurrection) was to be a day of rest.

My church has a running joke about the Sunday afternoon nap being "the third ordinance of the church", but it is true that Sunday is to be spent not only in focusing on God, but also in enjoying the opportunity of rest He has provided to us. It is good for us to take time to rest on a Sunday, whether we are resting our bodies in sleep or our hearts and minds by taking time to be still before the Lord, rest is an indisputably important part of keeping the Lord's Day.

I think one of the keys to a Sunday at home is to treat it like a normal Sunday as much as possible --nap included-- and to keep one's heart grateful for the extra rest God has allowed for that day.

After all, we spend so much time rushing here and there that we come to view rest as a very valuable (and rare!) thing, but it is also a thing we tend to grumble about when we are finally forced to have time for it. When we are sick or snowed in or quarantined in some fashion, it can be easy to grumble about what we're missing or to wonder why God would allow such a thing to happen. Could it be that God's people need to learn to rest and look to Him for themselves without the external motions of going to church?

Above all, while you are obliged to spend your Sundays at home, remember that God has a good purpose for allowing this trial --for trial it is-- and that He is with you always. He has promised never to leave you, never to forsake you. Nothing can change who God is. Rest in that truth and have a blessed Lord's Day.

Truths About God in Light of the Coronavirus

I'm not an alarmist. I never have been, especially where global events are concerned. If there's nothing I can do about something, I would rather just go about my life until it hits close to home. 

When the Coronavirus hit China, I was of course concerned for the people affected, and prayed that God would work in the situation, and was encouraged to hear about Christians facing the threat of illness and death with faith, hope, and grace. It was so far away, though, and part of me thought that of course the virus would never come close enough to affect me, so I prayed, but did not really bother to think deeply about the matter, because it seemed so far removed from my daily life. 

Then last night, I learned that a case had been reported in my county. This morning, I learned that the person who had contracted the illness lived just one small town over from where I live. It still doesn't quite seem real, somehow, but it is a lot closer to home, and people are now talking seriously about "what if"s… you know, the "what if we get quarantined?", "what if school has to close?", "what if  American society and economy crumble completely?", "What if it's the end of the world?"... Seriously, people are beginning to feel as if the world is spinning out of control with no hope in sight. Even the high-ranking medical officials are frightened and worry that they will not be able to contain the virus. 

But we do not need to live in fear. Why? 

Not because the Coronavirus is something to be brushed off: it is a very serious matter. 

Not because our government or medical professionals have all the answers: they don't. 

Not even because America is somehow immune from everything that goes wrong in the world: it isn't. 

The reason we as Christians do not need to fear is because God does not change. I was reminded during my time with God this morning of some truths about God which apply to our view of the Coronavirus situation:

• God is Omniscient. (He has all knowledge.) The Coronavirus has not caught God off-guard. He knows, and has always known, that this would come at this specific moment in history, and He also knows what the outcome will be.
• God is Omnipotent. (He has all power.) Man on his own lacks the resources and ability to fight this virus, but God does not. He is able to do anything, and the truth of His ability should cause us to turn to Him for hope, rather than pinning our hopes on man's efforts.
• God is Merciful (He does not give us what we deserve). Let's face it: God could justly destroy the entire human race because of our sin, but the whole point of the Gospel is that God loves us and desires to show mercy. Why else would He sacrifice Himself for us? God is merciful, and if we look for it, we will see His hand of mercy in this crisis as well as in every other aspect of our lives. Lamentations 3 is a good chapter to read in times of difficulty and fear, for it speaks of God's mercy being new every morning, even in the midst of affliction.
• God is Good (He never does wrong; He is not malicious.) God is not just sitting around in heaven thinking up things He can send our way to annoy or hurt us. He is just, and He is good. He only does that which is right. In respect to the Coronavirus, this truth can help us to trust that He not only knows, but is doing what is right. He means this crisis for good for His people, and for those who are not His yet, but whose hearts will be softened towards Him through the pressure of this crisis. --God means this for good!

There are so many other truths about God which we can be encouraged by, even if the Coronavirus hits our towns, our homes, our loved ones, or even ourselves. The key is to fight fear with the truths of God's character. 

Satan loves to use fear to introduce lies about God and derail us in the midst of a crisis God means to use to build up our faith. By immersing ourselves in the truths of God's Word, we can fight fear and live with joy, hope, and peace in the face of a humanly scary and hopeless time.