January 2012

Birth Pangs

It was over thirty-five years ago that I had my last child, but the life-changing event is something you don’t forget easily. Certain details fade with time, of course, but most women can recall the final stages of giving birth with clarity because of the strong emotions that seem to burn the memory into their consciousness.

The process of birth is an amazing progression from the light cramping of Braxton-Hicks contractions to the real thing. Before we’re finished, we’ve gone from something that could be called a mild discomfort to a roaring deluge of pain so intense and focused that it drowns out every other consideration of life.

At some point in the labor process, a lot of mothers wish they could back out of the whole idea of having a baby and return to life as it once was. But knowing that just isn’t possible helps us to finally accept what’s happening and motivates us to do all we can to cooperate with the birth. We know we aren’t going to escape seeing it through to completion, so the wisest course of action is to find comfort in the fact that something monumental is happening and I’m a part of it!

When I was going through labor I remember thinking “This is awful… will it ever end?” one moment and then – just a short time later – gazing with wonder on the beautiful child cooing in a basket across the room. Joy replaces pain. Jesus understood this. He told His disciples: “A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world” (John 16:21).

Right now, as I write this, the earth is going through its own birth pangs. Most of the time we aren’t aware of them since they don’t last too long and they gradually fade away. Because they are so far apart in occurrence, we tend to forget them in short order. They’re like Braxton-Hicks contractions. But as each successive decade rolls by, we can expect at some point that true labor will begin. And once it does, there will be no returning to life as we’ve always known it. Nothing will be able to turn back the unrelenting succession of events that will eventually produce the return of Jesus Christ to earth.

For Christians, His return will bring us great joy. But we will find ourselves suffering along with the rest of the world during the labor process, the ever-increasing birth pangs. So we might as well decide right now how we will respond when the intensity of pain and sorrow increases and we begin to experience the roller coaster of emotions that will inevitably come as we see the world as we know it shaken to its core.

Old Testament prophets called this momentous event “the day of the Lord” and described it as both “great” and “terrible.” Kind of sounds like how we’d describe our experience of giving birth, doesn’t it? It’s great in its result, but terrible in its process. Isaiah says it will be a time when “men will be brought low and mankind humbled.” He advises the earth’s inhabitants: “Go into the rocks, hide in the ground from dread of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty! The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day … when he rises to shake the earth” (2:9-11, 21).

In chapter 3 of 2^nd Peter, the apostle describes the day of the Lord in detail. He says one characteristic of the last days will be “scoffers” who make fun of the whole idea of God’s judgment upon a sinful world. (Have you noticed the proliferation of books like Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion in the last few years? Atheists are becoming increasingly brazen in their attempt to wipe out every witness of Christ in our society.)

Jesus also gave a detailed description of how things will look just before His return. He said spiritual frauds will arise to deceive many. There will be wars and rumors of wars, and famines and earthquakes in various places. He called these signs “the beginning of birth pains” (Matthew 24:5-8). Then, as the birth pangs intensify, “you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved” (v. 9-13, emphasis added).

In the middle of these intense birth pangs we may wish we could turn the clock back, but there will be no stopping the “delivery” of Jesus Christ into human history for a second time. So our role as His church is to remind ourselves, something monumental is happening and I’m a part of it! We are His train, the jewels in His crown, when He comes to establish His kingdom over the whole earth. In the midst of all the turmoil we aren’t victims or helpless bystanders … we are in Him and He will be victorious over the enemy! That’s why Jesus tells us: “Make up your mind not to worry beforehand … By standing firm you will gain life” (Luke 21:14, 19).

Another characteristic of that time will be complacency. Jesus compared it to the days of Noah. “They knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away” (Matthew 24:39). In the same way a woman is never really ready for the severity and intensity of true labor, people living at that time will be unaware of how quickly their lives will turn. The mild discomforts of world events will suddenly turn into cataclysmic changes they won’t be able to control, change or escape from. If they aren’t “on the ark” – in relationship with Jesus Christ, the only Savior – they will be swept away in judgment.

Paul wrote to the believers in Thessalonica: “You know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:2-3). But unlike the rest of the world, Christians are “not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light. … So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled … putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (vv. 4-9).

We don’t know what the New Year will bring. As the birth pangs grow in intensity we can expect to see even more turmoil in world financial markets, more violence and hatred between people groups, an erosion of moral values and increase in wickedness, alarming climactic changes and natural disasters, and eventually a rise to power of someone who will seem to have all the answers to the world’s problems (the Antichrist).

There will also be more persecution for those who don’t agree with the world’s views about human rights and spiritual diversity. As we see darkness increasing in alarming ways, we’re sure to sense new anxieties arising in our hearts. That’s when we must stop and remember Jesus’ words to us: “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28).

 At the conclusion of this tumultuous labor period we can look forward to the joy that replaces all the pain. We will be with Him in all His splendor and glory! Everything will be made new as we – and all of nature – escape from every effect of the dominion of darkness. As Paul writes in Romans 8, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed” (v. 18-19). Through the triumph of Jesus Christ, everything will be made new, and we can look forward to “a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13).

While there is still time, let’s give ourselves to the awesome privilege of warning others of what is coming, so they can share in our joy when Jesus returns. God in His faithfulness will offer His salvation to the whole world before judgment falls: “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). This is why the church will be vital in the last days. We may have to withstand some pain and sorrow during the birth pangs, but His promise is that the joy to follow will be worth it all.

I can only think of one song that captures the excitement and vindication we will feel as we see Jesus Christ claim the kingdoms of this earth as His own. As you read the closing lyrics below, let yourself go and shout Hallelujah as you realize that the great and terrible day of the Lord simply means something monumental is happening and I’m a part of it!

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“When the Ship Comes In”

Oh the time will come up when the winds will stop and the breeze will cease to be breathin’,

Like the stillness in the wind ‘fore the hurricane begins, the hour when the ship comes in.

Oh the seas will split and the ship will hit and the shoreline sands will be shaking,

Then the tide will sound and the wind will pound and morning will be breaking.

Oh the fishes will laugh as they swim out of the path and the seagulls they’ll be smiling,

And the rocks on the sand will proudly stand the hour that the ship comes in.

And the words they use for to get the ship confused will not be understood as they’re spoken,

for the chains of the sea will have busted in the night and will be buried at the bottom of the ocean.

A song will lift as the mainsail shifts and the boat drifts on to the shore line,

And the sun will respect every face on the deck the hour when the ship comes in.

Then the sands will roll out a carpet of gold for your weary toes to be a touchin’

And the ship’s wise men will remind you once again that the whole wide world is watchin’.

Oh the foes will rise with the sleep still in their eyes and they’ll jerk from their bed and think they’re dreamin’,

but they’ll pinch themselves and squeal and know that it’s for real, the hour when the ship comes in.

Then they’ll raise their hands, sayin’ “We’ll meet all your demands” but we’ll shout from the bow: “Your days are numbered.”

And like Pharaoh’s tribe they’ll be drowned in the tide and like Goliath, they’ll be conquered.

Bob Dylan, c. 1963

November/December 2011

The Great Christmas Let-Down

During the months of November and December we hear a lot about Jesus’ birth. We seldom mention it during the other ten months of the year, but during the Advent and Christmas season we are treated to a seemingly non-stop retelling of the awesome event.

I don’t imagine I can bring any new insights to the story, since devotional writers, preachers, and hymn writers have been commenting for centuries on every detail surrounding His coming to earth as a baby. But maybe I can find something in the story that will fortify us for the year to come and rekindle in us a sense of wonder, thankfulness, and joy as we ponder the immensity of Immanuel… God with us.

There was a time – when my children were small and I was run ragged with activities and responsibilities associated with the Christmas season – that I was a reluctant and somewhat cynical participant in something I saw as a huge marketing scheme to rob families of their hard-earned money. I had no time (or so I thought) to contemplate the true meaning of the season. I was too busy trying to make everything perfect for a few short hours – from the gifts to the meal to the tree and decorations. It wasn’t easy on a very limited budget! My efforts never lived up to the spreads in the magazines, but that didn’t prevent me from trying to come as close as I could to what I envisioned as the “ideal” holiday experience.

There was some joy in watching the kids open their presents, of course, and I found satisfaction in preparing (and participating in) a delicious meal for our family and friends. But every Christmas seemed to also bring with it a tremendous let-down once everything had been opened and eaten. I was reminded of the plaintive song sung by Peggy Lee, “Is that all there is?” So much effort and striving for a few passing moments of pleasure! I couldn’t help but ask myself: “Was it worth all that?” No wonder I had a hard time conjuring up great anticipation for the whole affair year after year.

But those were the days before Christ became the center of our lives. Once we invited Him into our celebration, not just as a peripheral character in the manger scene but as the main focus, I could finally relax. No longer responsible for making the holiday perfect for myself and everyone else in the family, I stepped back and took a deep breath. With Jesus among us, the wonder came back to the holiday. In my own heart came a fulfillment of the promise in Isaiah 6: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. … For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given … and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (vs. 2, 6).

From that point on, the post-Christmas let-down I had come to expect didn’t happen. I guess the reason was the focus – it wasn’t on material stuff anymore, but on Him. So it made no difference whether we had opened the presents or not, or what day it was on the calendar. The presence of Jesus lingered the day following Christmas, and the day after that, and the day after that … all the way into the next year. Instead of a once a year celebration, I began to see Christmas as a never-ending celebration of a new life to be enjoyed every day of the year.

The Christmas story took on new meaning for me as well. Instead of seeing it as a re-telling of the same details over and over again, I began to realize that the story was multi-dimensional and there were many details of it that I had never taken note of before. In recent years I’ve come to appreciate two characters in the story that are rather minor when compared to Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, the shepherds, and the wise men. Even the innkeeper is mentioned more often than they are, but they can teach us some important lessons about our relationship with God.

In Luke 2, the writer follows the account of the angels visiting the shepherds and the shepherds’ trip to see the baby in the manger with the events surrounding Jesus’ dedication at the temple in Jerusalem. Here we meet Simeon and Anna, the two minor characters I mentioned. Both were blessed by God’s grace in a very special way. Simeon is described as a righteous and devout man who was waiting for the consolation of Israel (the promised One to deliver them from their oppressors). The Holy Spirit had told Simeon that he would not die until he saw the Messiah, “the Lord’s Christ. Moved by the [Holy] Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: ‘Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation … a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel’” (vs. 26-32).

We have no way of knowing exactly how long Simeon had been waiting for this promise to be fulfilled, but we believe he was at this time a very old man. He praises God that he can now die in peace as he holds the Christ child. During his time of waiting, there were probably times when Simeon wondered if it would ever come to pass, or if maybe he had misunderstood what the Holy Spirit had revealed to him. As the years passed, he likely asked himself why he was still looking. Shouldn’t he just give up and go on with his life? Why build himself up for something that might disappoint him in the end?

When we look at all the promises recorded in Scripture, we doubt sometimes if they will all be fulfilled. But God’s faithfulness to Simeon encourages me to trust Him, even when the promised outcome seems far away. Our God is the Sovereign Lord, as Simeon said. He can and will bring to pass all that He has prophesied through His prophets. We can wait with expectation and trust, knowing that “What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do” (Isaiah 46:11). If He says it, we can count on it! Though it tarry for longer than we’d like, we can wait with confidence. At the exact right time, it will come to pass.

The other minor character in the temple that day is Anna, a prophetess from the tribe of Asher. “She was very old” Scripture tells us – 84 years old to be exact – and she spent her days and nights in the temple worshiping, fasting, and praying to the Lord. Some of her fellow Israelites might have viewed her life as a waste. We don’t know if she had any children, but Luke does tell us that she only got to spend seven years with her husband before she became a widow. It is likely she had lived alone for more than forty years. The fact that she chose to live her life at the temple reveals a lot about the priority of her heart. Her main pursuit was God and seeing His kingdom purposes accomplished. And that day, her devotion and faith were richly rewarded.

While the temple leaders went about their business, unmindful of the glorious One in their midst, and other Israelites performed their ceremonial duties in spiritual ignorance, Anna was so in tune with God that she immediately saw the momentous event unfolding around her. “Coming up to [Mary and Joseph] at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38). She not only got to see the Messiah for herself – the fulfillment of all God’s promises to Israel through the Old Testament prophets – but she also was used by Him to tell others about the unique child who had been born and what He would do for them.

All those “wasted” years of being in the presence of God paid off in a big way that day. Anna teaches me that sowing to the Spirit reaps huge benefits that we can’t even anticipate receiving. No matter how old we are, the grace of God can break into our lives at the most unexpected moment. Anna had no idea when she spent those years ministering to the Lord that she would be one of the few who would recognize the Messiah when He came. But the important thing is that she had the spiritual discernment to follow His leading and, in so doing, stumble onto the blessing of a lifetime.

We don’t want to miss out on the times of His visitation. He still comes to those whose hearts are open to Him. When He is the central focus of our lives, we (like Anna) receive “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that [we] may know him better” (Ephesians 1:17). In the old Christmas carol, one verse expresses it so well: “How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given! So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heav’n. No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin, where meek souls will receive Him still the dear Christ enters in.” (Phillips Brooks, “O Little Town of Bethlehem”)

When the “dear Christ” entered my heart, I could finally understand and appreciate the immensity and wonder of the season. The great Christmas let-down became a thing of the past as I stopped trying to find perfection in a very imperfect world and began to fix my attention on the Father’s perfect gift to me in His Son. If I spend too much time and money on the seasonal trappings, I can still experience weariness and a touch of cynicism during Christmas. But if I can focus, as Anna and Simeon did, on the concerns of God’s kingdom and trust Him to fulfill all the good promises of His Word, I will be blessed with His joy and peace.

They got to see Jesus in His parents’ arms, as a newborn baby. They were blessed indeed. But we get to see Him through the eyes of the Spirit, not just on a particular day but throughout every moment of our lives.

Have you thought about how blessed you are to have eyes that see and ears that hear?  One writer has said “A Christian should observe Christmas in wonder, worship and witness.” This summarizes so well what Simeon and Anna experienced that day at the temple. May this be our ongoing attitude as we move from the Christmas season into all the challenges and blessings of the coming year. In our wonder, our worship, and our witness we will see Emmanuel come, both to our own hearts and to the people we touch in the world.

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“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”

O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear.

Chorus: Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer our spirits by Thine advent here; disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high, and order all things, far and nigh; to us the path of knowledge show, and cause us in her ways to go.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, Desire of nations, bind all peoples in one heart and mind; bid envy, strife and quarrels cease, fill all the world with heaven’s peace.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

Latin Hymn 1710

October 2011

Wild Honey From the Rock

As I sit down to write this devotional, I’m so grateful to the Lord for two things. First, that He loves me enough to discipline me when I am not up to snuff. I feel loved when His Holy Spirit gently reveals something in my heart that falls short of His holiness. Why? Because I really do want to be like Him. And without His help in showing me the blind spots I can’t see (or won’t see because of the current rebellion working in me), I would never reach my goal to become conformed to the image of Christ. Discipline, even more than blessings that come my way, show me how much I am loved by my Father. “God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness” (Hebrews 12:10).

The second thing I am very grateful for is that He doesn’t see me as “too old to learn new tricks.” I have been on my Christian journey for almost fifty years now, and someone other than God might think “She’s learned about all that she’s going to learn about this. I think I’ll leave it at that and ease up on her… After all, if she hasn’t learned it yet, she likely isn’t able to get it!” Praise God, my Father still sees me as able to grow and mature and change, with His help, in areas I’ve struggled with for years. I feel loved and valued that He is still working with me, believing that I can do better as I learn to rely on His power rather than my own.

When we recently started studying idol worship at our neighborhood Bible study, I have to admit that I wasn’t expecting the study to impact me very much. Don’t get me wrong - it’s a great book we’re using. Entitled No Other Gods by Kelly Minter, it’s spiritually insightful and very well-written. It also has great weekly homework to do and even incorporates recipes to use if the study includes sharing a meal.

But I honestly thought that I had dealt with nearly every kind of heart-rival that could compete  with my affection for God. So I settled back to mostly enjoy the fellowship of my friends and neighbors, figuring I would pick up something useful from the study to share with others. I did pray, though, asking God to show me if there were any hidden idols set up in my heart that I was unaware of, and apparently He was just waiting for me to ask.

I coasted for the first three weeks, enjoying the study and the applications made by our teacher. Then in week four I was spiritually blindsided. As I was reading through the homework for that week – readings from James 4:1-5 and Genesis 29 (the story of Rachel and Leah)­ – the Holy Spirit began to speak to me through them. He zeroed in on something that I thought I had dealt with years earlier. But there it was – obvious and glaring now that He had drawn my attention to it. I began to see how this “idol” was functioning in my life to rob me of the rich relationship with God that He and I both wanted. There was no point in trying to deny it. I could see how it had affected my attitudes and actions at times, making me fearful, petty, and far from generous in my interactions with others. I was devastated by this discovery. Yet, I was also delighted to finally get it out into the light where it could be dealt with. I knew what the Holy Spirit had highlighted could be overcome if I truly surrendered it to Him.

In Jeremiah 17 the prophet delivers this message to God’s people: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends upon flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord. He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will dwell in the parched places of the desert. … But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream … and never fails to bear fruit. The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct” (vv. 5-10).

Boy, did He search my heart that day! As I saw how much I was relying on my people idols and not on the power of my God, I began to understand why I had been feeling dull, joyless, and defeated as I tried to live for Christ. His penetrating question to me was simple but profound: “Am I not enough?” I immediately understood what He meant by this question. In it He was asking: Don’t you believe that I can supply the love and acceptance you’ve been seeking? Why do you look to those who are no stronger than you are? They will fail you when you need them most! Let me give you all the good things I have longed to give you, and be content with my provisions. Stop striving for things that won’t satisfy you in the end and let me prove how sufficient I AM.”

This was the problem plaguing Israel. Though they were delivered out of the bondage of Egypt by the mighty hand of God, they were constantly looking for something other than what they were receiving from Him. They longed for the food in Egypt and despised the manna He graciously supplied for them. They figured He had lured them out into the desert to abandon them,
starve them, or let them die of thirst. They did not trust Him. They were unthankful. And they grumbled and complained constantly. No wonder their relationship with Him went from bad to worse.

God wanted things to go well for the Israelites, but with their hearts set on idols, paltry substitutes for all He was, they were unable to appreciate their unique and privileged position as the people of Jehovah God. When they willingly worshipped the golden calf  that Aaron fashioned for them, they proved where their trust was placed: in the earthly and tangible comforts they could see and touch, just like all the pagan nations around them.

For us today, our idols are not made of wood, gold, or stone. Many times we don’t know what we are serving in the recesses of our hearts. But our loving Father knows, and His desire is that we may be set free so we can find our rest in Him. My idol, like all idols, was worthless. Yet I foolishly served it for a very long time in the secret hope that it would give me happiness and security. I am so grateful that God lovingly pointed out that those things are only found in Him.

Once I had repented of my idolatry, He set me free from its tyranny, bondage, and false hopes. The effects were immediate – I felt ten pounds lighter and was filled with a new joy, peace, and contentment. I believed, for the first time in a long time, that He was enough!

I ran across a wonderful passage in my daily Bible reading last week that spoke to me in a special way following my deliverance from this idol. I saw that there are hidden treasures to be discovered by those who serve Him with a pure and unrivaled heart. “You must never have a foreign god; you must not bow down before a false god. For it was I, the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things. … Oh, that my people would listen to me! How quickly I would then subdue their enemies! … I would feed you with the finest wheat. I would satisfy you with wild honey from the rock” (Psalm 81:9-10, 13-14, 16).

Idols keep us from experiencing the joys we could know if we would only trust in our loving God. How He wants to bless us – not necessarily with material wealth or earthly pleasures, but with wild honey from the rock – the treasures of His kingdom that are so great that they defy definition and cannot be numbered. Our hearts are made for Him, not for any other. That’s why we can never find true satisfaction until we are wholly and completely His.

Sometimes we think that we only have to battle the issue of our heart’s loyalty once. When we come to Christ Jesus and invite Him to be our Savior and Lord, we may feel this issue will never come up again. But learning to abide in Him and to let Him be first in our hearts is something we must contend for on a daily basis. When we become complacent, as I did, we can fall victim to an undetected intruder who will set up a rival kingdom in opposition to the rule of Christ. These idols will then rob us of the abundant life God has planned for us.

In his essay “Keep Yourselves in the Love of God” Oswald Chambers explores how we can guard ourselves against idol worship, (attaching ourselves to anything that will diminish our relationship with God our Savior). He writes, “We have turned our back on the ocean and are looking out over barren colourless hills for the ocean’s fullness. We need converting again – turning round, and there basks the ocean’s fullness, whose waves sparkle and ripple on fathomless deeps and fulnesses.” But once we turn, we must keep ourselves there by building ourselves up on our most holy faith, as it says in Jude 20. Chambers continues: “Drink deep and full of the love of God and you will not demand the impossible from earth’s loves, and the love of wife and child, of husband and friend, will grow holier and healthier and simpler and grander.”

Keeping ourselves in something means work, and this work never ends until we move from this life to the next. We must make the choices that will keep us close to God and learn to be thankful for all that He gives. Contentment comes when we learn through experience that the great I AM is truly sufficient for all we need and desire in this life. The world’s promises for security and happiness cannot deliver. They may give us fleeting pleasure for a short time, but they will leave us empty and unfulfilled in the end.

It’s never too late to take a spiritual inventory and invite the Holy Spirit to reveal and cast out all idols that have taken up residence in our hearts. Once we are free from them, we’ll be able to fully enjoy all the pleasures and rewards of a godly life. For me, I’m excited to discover new treasures from God’s hand and to experience the depths of His ocean love. As I abide in Him and call upon Him out of a pure and undivided heart, I may even discover what wild honey from the rock is like!

For my closing song I have picked one written by Kelly Minter, the author of our study on idols (yes, she’s a songwriter too). I hope her lyrics express the deepest desire of your heart. I know they do mine.

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“First in My Heart”

So this is love, it feels like war to slay my gods by the sword, making room for you to dwell here inside of me unrivaled. Though it
costs me everything, only You will be …

First in my heart, first in my mind, and in everything I long for in this life; first in my
dreams, first in my eyes, before every other love that I desire.

Take these idols a million miles from the allegiance of my soul; fill this hunger with your wonder till only You will, only, only, only,
You will be …

First in my heart, first in my mind, and in everything I long for in this life; first in my
dreams, first in my eyes, before every other love that I desire.

September 2011

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not?

When I was in high school I had some good friends who were Roman Catholic. Because we all attended church regularly, we sometimes shared ideas and how we felt about our faith. I remember how shocked I was the first time one of them told me how he saw the role of the Virgin Mary … that she was someone Catholics depended on to “soften up” Jesus. The idea seemed to be that God the Father and Jesus Christ were austere, distant, and rather judgmental, while Mary (because she was a woman) was more sympathetic with our human condition. My friend freely admitted that he often prayed to her, feeling that she was more likely to help him get the answer he was looking for.

A devotional like this isn’t the right place to discuss whether or not his view accurately reflected true Catholic teaching or was simply his erroneous take on the subject. I only bring it up to pose a question to those of us who are from evangelical churches.  Do we sometimes harbor a similar view without realizing it? Of course, we don’t look to Mary to “soften up” God for us, but do we sometimes feel like Jesus is the softer, kinder version of the God we read about in the Old Testament? Do we feel more comfortable approaching Jesus because we see Him as less wrathful and judgmental than our Father God?

What we believe about God should be firmly rooted in what Scripture teaches, not in ideas we have picked up from other people or favorite song lyrics. Some Christian songs are of course beautiful and wholly scriptural in content, but some are not. And we’ll only know which are which if we diligently study the Scriptures (see Acts 17:11)! In evangelical churches we have done a pretty good job of recognizing the role of Jesus Christ in bringing salvation to us. And most of us understand to some degree how vital the role of
the Holy Spirit is as well. Without His convicting power and revelation, we wouldn’t be able to even sense our need for a Savior. The Spirit’s indwelling presence enables us to be transformed and helps us to live out the new life we have received from faith in Christ.

But it seems that we rarely acknowledge the role of God the Father to bring us to himself, and I find that tragic. In the Gospels Jesus spent a great deal of time trying to realign His disciples’ ideas about God. “I and the Father are one” He declared in John 10. Together, they were bringing salvation to mankind who had been adversely affected by the fall of Adam and Eve. Jesus’ goal was to “do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (John 4:34). His obedience to the cross was in response to His Father’s plan, not His own. Yes, Jesus loves us. That fact is not in dispute. I just think our songs that suggest that He acted solely out of a burning love for us miss an important point. The primary motivation for His sacrifice was to please the Father and fulfill all that He had beencalled to do. It was out of His loving relationship with the Father that Jesus submitted to all that came His way.

It was shocking to the Pharisees to hear Jesus call God the Father Abba, the Hebrew equivalent of our term “Daddy.” It was a term of endearment, dependence, intimacy, and family entitlement – a far cry from their view of God. Jesus understood that unless
His disciples came into this kind of relationship with the Father, they would always be hampered in their ability to serve Him in the freedom of grace, not in the bondage of law-keeping. Paul picks up this theme in Galatians 4. “When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son … to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying
Abba, Father” (vv. 4-6).

Our salvation was God the Father’s idea. Jesus, out of His love relationship with His Father, submitted himself to the plan of redemption and gave up His life on the cross to redeem us by His precious blood. But we must not forget that Jesus was not the only one who paid a great price for us. It was God the Father who “so loved the world that he gave his one and only
Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) As one song from Hillsong put it, “the darling of heaven” was crucified for us, and His Father felt the pain of separation as much as Jesus did.

Consider how hard it was for the Father to ask Jesus to do the unthinkable – to come to earth, to take on human flesh with all its
limitations, and to experience the humiliation and pain of the cross for sinners.  Could we ask our children to do something so horrific, even if it meant salvation for many others? After all, we have to remember that it was a race of rebels who would benefit from Jesus’ pain, not friends of God. While we were still enemies in our hearts, willfully turning our backs upon the God who created us, God the Father “demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”
(Romans 5:8).

Is this Someone we can trust to continue to care for us? If He was willing to give His beloved Son to reconcile us back to himself, how much more will He demonstrate His love toward us now that we are reconciled? Will He withhold any good thing for those who are now His own dear children? If we could only grasp the implications of this truth! We could enjoy the same love relationship with our Father that Jesus enjoyed while He walked on the earth. Out of their perfect love for one another Jesus was able to submit himself to the cross, even though He did not want to. In the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of His betrayal Jesus wrestled with the calling of the cross. He asked His Father if there was any other way that we could be redeemed. And we know that the answer was “no.” I believe the reason Jesus found courage to face it was because of His love relationship with the Father. He trusted Him and wanted to please Him, so He “humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:8)

If we can come into that kind of trusting relationship with our Father, we can find courage for whatever we face too. “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us” the apostle John writes in 1 John 3:1. And “perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment” (4:18). Do we still fear the God of the Old Testament? Do we believe He is anxious and ready to punish us for our sins? What we see in Jesus Christ is a perfect reflection of what our Father is like. Scripture will inform us if we will study it and allows its truths to transform our hearts.  Colossians says that we are to joyfully give thanks to the Father, “who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (1:12-13). Wow… are we blessed or what?

“Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan!

Oh, the grace that brought it down to man!

Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary!

Mercy there was great, and grace was free;

Pardon there was multiplied to me;

There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary.”

(William Newell, “At Calvary” 1895)

Let’s cultivate this loving, intimate, dependent relationship with the Father. It will anchor our souls in His grace and enable
us to face life with new hope and confidence. It will drive fear from our hearts and help us to submit ourselves to His will with the same humility that Jesus demonstrated. Out of His obedience to the Father, we were blessed beyond description. Perhaps out of our loving submission to the Father others will be blessed by our obedience too.

I want us to leave behind the folklore in evangelical Christianity that has sentimentalized Jesus’ sacrifice to the point of almost
forgetting the role of the Father in our salvation. God is holy and He cannot tolerate sin in His presence, that’s true, but He has made every provision necessary to help us escape judgment. He has not only given His Son for our redemption but He has adopted us into His family, granting us all the rights and privileges of sonship.

Imagine the love that drew salvation’s plan – that rebels like us would be redeemed so perfectly that we can actually participate in the divine nature through the Holy Spirit! (2 Peter 1:4) As He walked among us Jesus tried to teach us about the love of the Father and the rich relationship we could enjoy with Him if we would humble ourselves as a child and trust Him fully.

The Old Testament scriptures are full of promises of the Messiah to come, the One who would set us free from the curse of sin and death. It was through the obedience of One – Christ Jesus – that the effects of Adam’s sin were erased, enabling us to enjoy a new relationship with the Father. The New Testament writers reveal the breadth, length, depth, and height of God’s love, helping us to better understand all that was involved in the Father’s plan to “bring many sons to glory.”

If we have any lingering doubts about God’s love, the record of Scripture will banish them. As we feast on the riches of His grace we can draw near to our heavenly Father with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, as it says in Hebrews 10:22. My prayer is that we can let His perfect love drive out all fear as we follow Him, and that we can finally enjoy all that our Father planned for us in our salvation.

________________________________________________________________________

“God, in the Gospel of His Son”

God, in the Gospel of His Son, makes His eternal counsels known;

Where love in all its glory shines, and truth is drawn in fairest lines.

Here sinners of a humble frame may taste His grace, and learn His Name;

May read, in characters of blood, the wisdom, pow’r, and grace of God.

The pris’ner here may break his chains; the weary rest from all his pains;

The captive feel his bondage cease; the mourner find the way of peace.

O grant us grace, Almighty Lord, to read and mark Thy holy Word;

Its truths with meekness to receive, and by its holy precepts live.

(Benjamin Beddome, 1717-1795)

July 2011

Pre-hydrate

I’ve just returned from the coast of South Carolina, where the air temperatures mixed with the heat index made it feel like 110 degrees. Stiflingly hot temps in addition to sky-high dew points made you feel like you were maybe a little crazy to venture out from under the comfort of air conditioning. People flocked to the beaches and swimming pools, of course, but you couldn’t help but wonder how the outside workers would fare under such conditions.

Apparently the southeast isn’t the only part of the country suffering from such brutal heat. We watched a weather reporter on TV interviewing an emergency responder in Oklahoma, where they have had weeks and weeks of severe heat advisories. As the responder talked about how to avoid emergency runs to the hospital, I heard him mention the basics, like wearing light clothing, covering your head with some kind of hat, avoiding excessive exertion (apparently some people try to jog in such weather!) and most importantly, drinking lots of water. Dehydration can be one of the most serious effects of heat on the human body. His suggestion was to “pre-hydrate,” that is, drink more water than you need ahead of time to minimize the dangers of becoming dehydrated. In other words, plan ahead for problems.

As I considered the wisdom of his advice, I thought about the spiritual implications of this analogy. Before we face spiritual dangers, we need to be “topped up” with God’s living water so we can stay strong in the midst of the challenge. To call on God for help when we are in the midst of the challenge is risky, simply because we don’t know how the crisis will affect us. We may be so traumatized by it that we find it hard to pray and believe that He will hear us. We may be so weak in our faith that the last thing we want to do is stop and pray, read His Word, worship, and seek counsel from a topped-up fellow Christian, who can give perspective to our situation and encourage us.

Jesus told us that “in this world you will have trouble” – He didn’t seem to make any exceptions to this statement of fact. All of us, Christian and non-Christian alike, will face times of testing, trial, and tribulation. We will come face-to-face with things unpleasant, uncomfortable, and at times, downright scary too. But in this verse Jesus also states a tremendous promise for those who know Him. It is such a wonderful truth that He tells us to “Be of good cheer” and (in another version) “Take heart.” Why? “Because I have overcome the world!” (John 16:33)

Those who belong to Jesus Christ have tremendous spiritual resources the world doesn’t have access to – most importantly, the promise of His presence with us in every circumstance of life. This should give us courage and strengthen us for whatever challenge we will have to face. But the key to appropriating His promises is to meditate on them and build up our faith in Him before we are in the thick of the emotions that always accompany difficulties.

When trouble arrives we need to already know the promises of Scripture and be confident of God’s love for us. We need to know – through experience – that He will not let us down. This is how King David was able to face the incredible times of persecution, physical danger, betrayals, enemy attacks, and family challenges he faced, both before and after he became king of Israel. Way back in his youth, when he was still living an obscure life tending sheep for his father, David meditated on the promises of God. He spent time with Him, memorizing His Word (the longest psalm talks about the beauty and wisdom of God’s Word), writing songs, and praying. His intimacy with God was well established long before he was anointed by Samuel.

Through putting his faith on the line, David found out that he could slay a lion to protect his sheep and could bring down a giant with a slingshot. David put his faith in God in action, and over time he was confident that God would be his help in every situation he faced. But the key to his spiritual success was this: he pre-hydrated. He sought God’s face because he loved Him and wanted to know Him better, not because He was David’s ticket to success. Oh that I might follow his example!

Out of his experience with God, David could confidently assure the Israelites they did not have to depend upon their own resources and strength. They had One who was looking after them, whose name was Almighty God. He would faithfully deliver them as they trusted in Him. “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. [That's us! The redeemed of the Lord, the body of Christ!] God is with her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. The God of Jacob is our fortress” (Psalm 46:1-2,4-5, 7).

This is a tremendous truth for us to meditate on every day. God is with us! God is in us! God is for us! He will be our fortress in the time of trouble! Knowing this will act as a refreshing stream, a life-giving source of strength, when we experience doubt, pain, persecution, sorrow, fear, resentment, and anything else that may appear in the midst of our difficulty. It’s interesting that the psalmist says a river would “make glad” the people of God.

Jesus picks up this theme in John 7, declaring: “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him” (vs. 38). “By this,” John points out in the next verse, “he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.” Rivers of living water are always available to us. If we will drink of them freely and on a regular basis, we can avoid spiritual dehydration.

None of us would start off on a long journey without filling our car’s tank up with gas. And yet we seem to think that if things are going well at the moment, we don’t necessarily need to seek God’s face. We view spending time with Him as a bonus – something we enjoy, but if we are busy we can forego in the interest of attending to more important matters. In good times, we begin to think that we can handle life in our own strength. So we invest in the things that make us feel personally strong and secure: our education, our finances, our jobs, our social connections.

While these pursuits aren’t sinful, they can be detrimental if we let them become the focus of our lives. They will not hydrate our spirits. And the tragedy is that if we’re not living out of God’s resources every day, we are likely to respond to troubles in the same way that our worldly counterparts do.

Instead of facing our difficulties with courage and faith in God, we worry and fret and grumble and become angry, asking “Why has God allowed this to happen?” We begin to grasp at worldly resources instead of God’s, cutting ourselves off from the tremendous resources available to us in the Holy Spirit. And as our unsaved family members, friends, and neighbors watch us, they are quick to conclude that our faith in God makes no real difference in our life. We’re just like them.

Pre-hydrating just makes sense, both in the natural world and in the spiritual. Having what we need in times of crisis requires planning ahead for the possibility of danger by investing our time in the basics of survival. If something is vital to our survival – and we all know that water is – we need to make it a priority, not just assume we’ll be okay.

Water has other benefits besides guarding us from dehydration. It keeps our skin soft, our lungs moisturized, our kidneys functioning well. It regulates our metabolism, helps our organs absorb nutrients better, protects our joints, and even helps prevent constipation (can you think of some good spiritual applications for this one?). If we’re well hydrated we think better, have more energy, and (as I found out firsthand recently) have less trouble giving blood to the med techs who want to run their tests. I’m sure there are many more benefits I haven’t mentioned.

Dehydration is serious. In the natural, it puts our lives at risk and often requires the intervention of medical help to pull us out of the decline. In the spiritual realm, the effects can be just as damaging to our spirits and our faith in God. So it’s important to pay attention to the basics and seek God’s face very day. As the old hymn put it, “Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord; abide in Him always and feed on His Word. Make friends of God’s children, help those who are weak, forgetting in nothing, His blessing to seek. Take time to be holy, the world rushes on; spend much time in secret with Jesus alone – by looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be; thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.”

His living water not only preserves us but also enables us to be a source of blessing to others. We can be a refuge and strength for those who don’t know Him. We have something they don’t have! Next time we face trouble, let’s demonstrate God’s peace, not our anxiety. Someone may be watching to see if our faith really makes a difference where the rubber meets the road. If we aren’t “made glad” by His rivers of living water, maybe it’s time we learned how to pre-hydrate.

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“Made Me Glad”

I will bless the Lord forever; I will trust Him at all times.

He has delivered me from all fear; He has set my feet upon a rock.

And I will not be moved, and I’ll say of the Lord:

You are my shield, my strength, my portion, Deliverer;

My shelter, strong tower, my very present help in time of need.

Whom have I in heaven but you? There’s none I desire beside you.

You have made me glad and I’ll say of the Lord:

You are my shield, my strength, my portion, Deliverer;

My shelter, strong tower, my very present help in time of need.

Lyrics by Hillsong Australia, recorded on the album Blessed, 2002

June 2011

Exposing the Dictatorship of Pride

Jesus repeatedly warned his disciples about the leaven (yeast) of the Pharisees. He
spells out in Luke 12:1 what He means: “Be on your guard against the yeast of
the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” By their teachings and example the
Pharisees encouraged others to do as they did – focus on outward religious
works and ignore the inner kingdom of the heart, where motives for our actions
are revealed.

Jesus described the religious leaders of His day as “blind leaders of the blind.” In
darkness themselves, they couldn’t show anyone else how to find God. In Mark
7:6 He said to them, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites
… ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.’”

In Luke 18:9-14 Jesus tells a story about a Pharisee and a publican who went to
the temple to pray. Luke says Jesus told this parable “to some who were
confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else” (v. 9).
In a surprising twist, it was the despicable and sinful publican who “went home
justified before God” because the attitude of his heart was right. He
recognized his sin and did not try to justify himself. Instead, he begged,
“God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” But the well respected Pharisee, who had
much to brag about with regard to his religious works, did not get God’s ear.                                                                                             Jesus tells us why: “Everyone who exalts himself
will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (v. 14).

Pride is a formidable enemy. Before we are Christians, it drives us to all sorts of
self-seeking behavior. It makes us unwilling to submit to the authority of anyone
else; it tells us we must run our own show and call the shots if we want to be
happy, fulfilled, and free. So it effectively keeps us from pursuing a
relationship with God, because that would require us to humble ourselves and
admit our need for His forgiveness and help.

Oh, sure, before new birth we may be quick to admit that we have messed things up,
especially when our lives are coming apart at the seams. But our prideful
hearts insist that we can get along just fine without God. Things may be messy
at the moment, but with just a little bit more effort, a few more avenues to
try, a couple of new gurus to consult, we will be able to get things back on
track. No need to consider something as radical as “new birth” to turn things
around.

Fortunately for us, God continues to love us and pursue us in spite of our prideful hearts.
Once we are willing to admit our need and, like the publican, cry out for His
mercy, we enter into a glorious relationship with Him. We’re transported into a
new realm, the kingdom of God, where we eagerly seek and find righteousness,
peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. We cheerfully embrace all those who love
Christ and are willing to help and encourage anyone who suffers for His name.
We live our lives in harmony with the Scriptures and serve God without
hypocrisy or resentment.

But some point we discover, to our horror, the pride we thought was gone has
reappeared. Maybe someone says something to us and we are immediately and
deeply offended by it. Our desire is to strike back in kind. Or maybe we aren’t
recognized or commended for something good we’ve done, and we feel angry about
the injustice. Perhaps it manifests as an unwillingness to forgive someone for
hurting us, or to admit that we are wrong and need to apologize to someone for
what we’ve done. Often, pride hinders us from saying “I’m sorry” and we engage
instead in elaborate self-justification. Whatever the situation may be, we find
ourselves – as followers of Christ – battling something in our hearts that we had
hoped and prayed was dead and buried.  We’re
shocked to see it rearing its head, seeking to dominate our hearts once again.

The other day my husband, Tony, who tends the shrubbery around our house, showed me
a new plant that had become intertwined with our bushes. We had to look hard to
find where it had taken root – in the shadows, behind the shrubs, in a far corner
of the porch. From that one spot it had spread in every direction, popping up
in the middle of some shrubs and weaving behind others. It looked a lot like
the plants it was invading but upon closer examination we were able to identify
what it was: poison oak.

This is how pride works in the Christian. It’s a noxious introduction into a life
that is flourishing in God’s kingdom. It masquerades itself and starts in the
hidden, dark places of the heart that we seldom see. But once it takes root and
begins to spread throughout our mind and heart, we quickly recognize that it is
foreign to our new life in Christ. It leads us into self-worship,
self-justification, and hypocrisy. Once we unknowingly touch it, its poisonous
effects (much like poison oak) can cause all kinds of problems. Unchecked,
pride will rob us of our fruitfulness and joy in Christ and alienate us from
other people, threatening our relationships.

C.S. Lewis wrote, “The devil is perfectly content to see you becoming chaste and
brave and self-controlled, provided all the time he is setting you up in the
Dictatorship of Pride.” Our spiritual enemy understands how to best defeat us
and render us ineffective against his purposes: reintroduce the power of pride
within our hearts. If it grows there undetected, it will infect us with the
leaven of the Pharisees and ruin our Christian testimony.

As soon as we see it, we must stop everything and immediately begin the process of
killing it before it takes any more territory. When Tony saw the poison oak, he
lost no time in spraying it at the root to stop its progress. If he ignored it,
its effects over time would grow and eventually choke out the life of our
beautiful shrubs.

How do we battle this formidable enemy? How do we dismantle the Dictatorship of Pride
and let Christ establish His throne in every part of our being? One thing is for
sure: We won’t defeat it by our own power or strength. When E. Stanley Jones
was serving as a missionary in India he watched the “holy men” who tried so
valiantly to overcome the hidden sins of the heart. They renounced the world
and willingly endured any humiliation that might free them from sin and self,
even to the point of walking around naked. But as Jones commented, “expelled
through the door, they [the secret sins] come back by the window.” One day he
noted how some of the holy men who were going to bathe in the sacred Ganges became
quite touchy about getting the proper place and prestige in the processions – a
sure sign that pride still resided in their hearts! Their self efforts had
failed.

Whenever I detect myself getting touchy, taking offense, vying for more recognition or a
better place to serve, putting someone else down so I can feel superior, insisting
on my rights and never admitting to being wrong, refusing to let God’s Word be
my final authority, or ignoring the clear leading of the Holy Spirit, I must
stop and immediately repent. Then I must call on my victorious Savior to defeat
what I am powerless to overcome in my own strength. Supreme Court Justice Louis
D. Brandeis once wrote, “Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.” The
apostle John declared “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” The
antidote to pride is to bring it into the light and fearlessly declare what it
is… sin.

The good news is that God has a remedy for eradicating our sin: “If we walk in the
light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the
blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without
sin, we deceive ourselves … [but] if we confess our sins, he is faithful and
just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1
John 1:5, 7-8).

To defeat the Dictatorship of Pride will require us to face it, name it, confess
it, and ask for God’s help in overcoming its influence. I’m so glad that “God
is greater than our hearts” (1 John 3:20). He can overcome every dictatorship
and every “high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God” (2
Corinthians 10:5). All He needs is our permission and our cooperation in
dismantling it. In the same way that sunlight disinfects earthly disease, the
light of God’s Word and the power of His Spirit can cleanse us from the multifaceted
sin of pride.

In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul reminds the Corinthian Christians that sin (yeast)
affects not only the individual but also the whole community of believers.

“Don’t you know that a little yeast works
through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a
new batch without yeast – as you
really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let
us keep the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and
wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth”
(vv. 6-8).

Joy replaces shame when we live honest and transparent lives before Him. So let’s
throw open the doors of our hearts and let Him expose and correct whatever is
there. As we walk in His truth He will set us free from all our enemies – even
the Dictatorship of Pride.

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“Search Me, O God”

Search me, O God, and know my heart today,

Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray;

See if there be some wicked way in me;

Cleanse me from every sin, and set me free.

I praise Thee, Lord, for cleansing me from sin;

Fulfill Thy word and make me pure within;

Fill me with fire, where once I burned with shame;

Grant my desire to magnify Thy name.

Lord, take my life, and make it wholly Thine;

Fill my poor heart with Thy great love divine;

Take all my will, my passion, self and pride;

I now surrender, Lord, in me abide.

Hymn by J. Edwin Orr, 1936

May 2011

Traveling Light

Once again I am packing and unpacking, a process that frequent travelers know well. With the new demands by airlines for lighter and smaller bags, we now must choose carefully what we will need for our destination. “What can I do without? What is absolutely essential to take? What makes sense to buy there, and what’s so expensive that I need to take it with me?” These are now standard questions for air travelers.

When we know where we’re going and what awaits us there, it’s much easier to answer these questions, of course. There are always unforeseen problems that could potentially arise, like sudden weather changes and shortages, but in most cases deciding what we’ll need is easier when we are going to familiar places, places we’ve been before.

Being a “safe rather than sorry” kind of personality, I always tend to pack more than I need on any excursion. After all, I think, what if I find it inconvenient to get my dirty clothes washed? And if I cut myself, how do I know I can easily find a drugstore? Traveling to Europe has been really challenging for me, because most of the countries we are traveling to I’ve never been to before. So I have no way of knowing what to expect. Another challenge is that the inter-European carriers like Ryan Air are even more restrictive about bag size and weight than a normal carrier.

All of these packing challenges have got me thinking … about my spiritual life. Do I complicate my life in Christ by insisting on carrying around more than I really need? Would He like me to learn how to travel lighter as I journey with Him, to be free from all the cares that more things and worldly concerns bring? Could I get by with less if I trusted Him more? Do I believe He can supply what I will need for my journey with Him?

In the book of Hebrews it says that believers in the past were commended for their faith in God. “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country” (Hebrews 11:8-9). Abraham really did live as an “alien and stranger” on earth. He had many rich promises from God, but his life was largely spent waiting on them to be fulfilled.

To those around him, Abraham was a misfit and a mystery. To many, he probably looked like a fool … serving a god he couldn’t see. For most of the Canaanites around him, life was all about trying to secure material wealth and physical prosperity through appeasing the many gods they believed controlled the weather, crop yield, fertility, etc. To be rich and successful was the extent of their goals and passions. But Abraham saw something of more value that he was moving towards… a “better country – a heavenly one” according to Hebrews 11:16. Yes, he enjoyed earthly blessings from God in all his material possessions, but they were a bonus, not the goal or the pursuit of his heart.

For followers of Jesus Christ, the pursuit of our hearts should be the same as His was while on earth: to walk in obedience to the Spirit and to fulfill the purposes of our heavenly Father. In order to accomplish these goals, we must have an Abraham kind of faith – a faith that believes God will be sufficient for everything we may face in life. We must be willing to set out on the basis of His word and His promises to a place we have never been before, content to take what comes, knowing that “he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23).

J.I. Packer writes in Knowing God, “You know what kind of life it is that Christ calls you, as His disciple, to live. You are called to go through this world as a pilgrim, a mere temporary resident, travelling light, and willing, as Christ directs, to do what the rich young ruler refused to do, give up material wealth and the security it provides. Having your treasure in heaven, you are not to budget for treasure on earth, nor for a high standard of living – you may well be required to forego both.”

When we live in exactly the same way that our worldly counterparts do, we miss out on the joys of traveling light. Because we are always busy meeting our own needs, we don’t experience the wonder and awe of seeing God come through for us in miraculous ways. We don’t get to experience for ourselves (as people like Abraham did) the fellowship of spiritual victory with God. Our faith remains small and ineffective for the challenges of life that inevitably come to all of us.

Packing light may seem risky when we set out, but we soon find out that many of the things we thought were “essential” for our well being in fact are not – we can travel much better without them. If comfort and success in this life are all we seek to attain, we’ll never discover what our inheritance in Christ really means. Our insistence on having everything with us as we journey with God will mean we travel slower, we go shorter distances, and we grow weary in the process far more quickly. We may finish the race, but our sluggish performance will not bring Him the glory He deserves.

Abraham’s faith also enabled him to stand strong in the face of ridicule and misunderstanding. He cared more about obeying God than impressing his neighbors. He was okay with being different because he was moving towards something far better than they could even conceive of. This earthly life, with its fleeting pleasures and fitful successes, is all they could ever hope for. But those who know God are heirs of promises that cannot fail and rewards that far outweigh any discomfort in this life. “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

Jesus urged His disciples to seek first His kingdom and righteousness, and trust that the other things needed in their lives would be supplied by their faithful Father. That takes faith in the One who said it. Only by faith can we find the resolve to alter our habits and reorder our priorities.

Can He supply? This was the question that the Israelites asked when traveling through the desert under Moses. And God answered by providing enough quail to make them sick. Their attitude angered Him because it cast doubt on His nature of love and His promise to supply their every need (see Numbers 11).

I want to learn how to travel lighter in the Spirit, relying on Him rather than my own effort or strength. In order to do that, I have to be willing to risk and let go of my desire to always “be safe rather than sorry.”

We are all on a journey called life that holds surprises and challenges we cannot plan for or anticipate. We can’t possibly know what we will need for what lies ahead. But we have a traveling companion who does know – He has successfully completed this journey ahead of us and His resources and experience are limitless. So why wouldn’t we trust in Him instead of ourselves?

Hebrews 12:1 advises us to lay aside every weight, every distraction and sin, that would keep us from focusing fully on the goal ahead, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the “author and finisher of our faith” (v. 2). If we focus on the journey itself, we’ll be overwhelmed. But if we keep our focus on Him, we’ll have the courage to persevere.

Is it time to reexamine your emotional suitcases? Are there some things you could do without, so you’re better able to follow Christ without restraint and distraction? If so, don’t delay … start paring down what you’ll be carrying and ask for His guidance as you repack your bags. We want to be able to react quickly to His call and to be able to handle with faith the hard bumps ahead. That means traveling light. Once you try it, I know you’ll be surprised by the unexpected benefits it brings … a more carefree heart and a “joy unspeakable” that’s “full of glory.”

For our closing song I’ve selected a hymn by Francis Havergal entitled “From Glory Unto Glory”. It was written in 1873 to celebrate the beginning of a new year. I’ve edited down the original 20 verses to a mere six… I hope it adequately conveys her joy in traveling with her heavenly King!

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From Glory Unto Glory

“From Glory unto Glory!” Our faith hath seen the King.
We own His matchless beauty, adoringly we sing;
But He hath more to show us! O thought of untold bliss!
And on we press rejoicing in blessèd hope to this:—

To marvelous outpourings of ‘treasures new and old,’
To largess of His bounty, paid in the King’s own gold,
To glorious expansion of mysteries of grace,
To radiant unveilings of brightness from His face.

“From Glory unto Glory!” What mighty blessings crown
The lives for which our Lord hath laid His own so freely down!
Omnipotence to keep us, omniscience, too, to guide,
Jehovah’s blessèd presence within us to abide!

“From Glory unto Glory!” Without a shade of care,
Because the Lord Who loves us will every burden bear;
Because we trust Him fully, and know that He will guide,
And know that He will keep us at His belovèd side.

“From Glory unto Glory!” Though tribulation fall,
It cannot touch our treasure, when Christ is All in All!
Whatever lies before us, there can be naught to fear,
For what are pain and sorrow when Jesus Christ is near?

Now onward, ever onward, “from strength to strength” we go,
While “grace for grace” abundant shall from His fullness flow,
To glory’s full fruition, from glory’s foretaste here,
Until His very presence crown happiest new year.

April 2011

Death Be Not Proud

The Easter season is a time of contradictions and ironies. While we mourn, we also rejoice. While we consider the great price paid for sin on the cross and bow our heads in shame to realize our sin and rebellion nailed Him there, at the same time we are thankful for what was accomplished through it. As the old hymn says, we “cherish the old rugged cross,” finding in it “a wondrous beauty,” because by it God was able “to pardon and sanctify me.” It was brutal yet healing, ugly yet divine in its power. Such are the mysteries of our marvelous redemption.

I can only imagine the deep despair that struck the hearts of Jesus’ disciples when they witnessed or heard about His crucifixion. All their hopes dashed in one day! All they had done for three years crushed under the feet of Roman tyranny and jealous religious rulers! Their precious Jesus had been taken away, and­ like Mary, who lamented to the one she supposed to be the gardener, “They have taken away my Lord and I don’t know where to find him,” the disciples too didn’t know what to do next. Fear and sorrow and profound disappointment filled their hearts, and all they could think to do was to gather together to find some comfort in their shared pain.

It was in this context that they received the unbelievably Good News … He was alive! The women who had been at the tomb were told from the lips of angels (what better source for spiritual information could there be?) words that seemed too good to be true: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again” (Luke 24:5).

Yes, He had died. There was no erasing the pain and anguish of that. Yes, He had been taken away from them for a time, buried in a tomb sealed and guarded by the Roman government. All had seemed lost during that awful time, but now … something more powerful than death had arrived. Resurrection cancelled the effects of death, rendering it impotent and less than final. Oh what glorious news! It’s no wonder that this stupendous revelation forever changed the apostles, making them ready to risk everything in this life knowing that there is something far more powerful than our enemy death.

Understanding this truth is what drove Paul to the kind of life he lived. As he explained to the Corinthian believers, “I tell you a mystery … in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet … the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ … Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:51-58).

 This glorious truth has been especially real to me this month as I have remembered the Lord’s sacrifice for me on the cross and His triumphant resurrection from the dead, and have experienced the death of my own

mother. While my mother’s passing at the age of 94 was not as shocking or unexpected as it might have been at a younger age, there is still a deep sorrow in saying goodbye to someone you have loved for over sixty years. Without the hope of reunion, such parting would be unspeakably tragic. But I have been sustained and comforted by the confidence that I will see her again in far better circumstances, without the constraints of poor health and the limitations of “looking through a glass darkly” (as Paul wrote in chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians). Like the old hymn expresses, “We shall meet on that beautiful shore … and our spirits shall sorrow no more.”

Through the “infirmities of the flesh” my highly intelligent mother was gradually reduced to someone who couldn’t remember what day it was, where she lived, or what she ate ten minutes ago. Her beauty also was “consumed away” (as it says in Psalm 39) in her last few years. She not only lost a lot of weight, but she also ended up without many teeth in the end. She even lost her glasses in the confusion of memory loss and lost her ability to read.

So many things we take for granted can be lost in this life if our bodies and minds fail us. But this is not the last chapter of our lives if we know Christ. All will be restored and so much more in the life to come! Knowing that, I rejoice for my mom because she knew Him. She is in His presence, safe from all the anxieties and fears of life she experienced here.

It gives me great joy to think about Jesus’ triumph over sin and death. Satan was sure that he had won when he inspired Judas to betray Christ and when the religious leaders persuaded the Romans to crucify Him. Finally he would defeat his arch rival and bring the advancement of God’s kingdom to an abrupt end. What he had failed to do in the wilderness through the temptations had finally been won through a Roman cross. 

How stupid he was! Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:8 that had the rulers of this age (evil men inspired by Satan) known what they were doing, “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” For in doing that, they ushered in the plan of God’s redemption and their power was overthrown just three days later by His resurrection. “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” Paul writes in another place. He turns everything that looks so terrible, so powerfully bad, into something amazingly good. We may groan as we await the transformation, experiencing the very real pains of suffering, sorrow, calamity, disease, and physical death, but we have hope as we await the fulfillment of all God’s promises to us. One day we will be liberated from earth’s bondage to decay and be brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God (Romans 8:21).

This is the heart, the joy, of our Easter celebration. Death can no longer be proud of its power. It is not final, and it cannot separate us from one another for long. There will be a glad reunion with all the saints who went before us, and with our glorified bodies we will stand together before the One who died for us and has overcome all so we can enjoy His fellowship forever. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your mighty victory over sin and death. You alone are worthy! How I praise you, and how I love you!

And as for you, death: Be not proud. Your triumph is short and one day you will be no more. Hallelujah!                               

 

“Death Be Not Proud”

                    by John Donne

Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not soe,
For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill mee.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell’st thou then?
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

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One of the last things my mom said while lying in her hospital bed was “We’re going to need a Baptist hymnal.” At the time, I didn’t know what she meant but I guess she was thinking ahead to her upcoming funeral. I’ll close this devotional with a hymn taken from her Baptist hymnal…

“I Saw the Cross of Jesus”

I saw the cross of Jesus, when burdened with my sin;
I sought the cross of Jesus, to give me peace within; 
I brought my soul to Jesus, He cleansed it in His blood; 
And in the cross of Jesus I found my peace with God.

I trust the cross of Jesus, in ev’ry trying hour, 
My sure and certain refuge, my never failing tower; 
In every fear and conflict, I more than conque’r am; 
Living, I’m safe, or dying, through Christ, the risen Lamb.

Safe in the cross of Jesus! There let my weary heart 
Still rest in peace unshaken, till with Him, ne’er to part; 
And then in strains of glory I’ll sing His wondrous power, 
Where sin can never enter, and death is known no more.

(Written by F. Whitfield, 1829-1904)

March 2011

His Story

I’ve always loved March. Down here in the South, we are treated to an early spring, so by the first of March we are already enjoying stunning profusions of white and pink cherry blossoms and bright yellow daffodils. Temperatures still fluctuate, but it’s not uncommon to experience balmy days in the mid-60s. If we open our windows, we can hear the unmistakable sounds that birds make in the spring—songs that seem to burst with joy and new life.

There’s another reason I like March. It’s the month of my birthday (and many of my good friends too). With no distractions from any significant holidays (St. Patrick’s Day notwithstanding), the month is a perfect time to celebrate my special day.

The value of birthdays, for all of us, is to rejoice in what our unique life has brought to the world. Hopefully we have all impacted many other people with our gifts, talents, work, personality, and encouraging spirit. I love the fact that each of us is specially designed by God and precious in His sight, even with all our failings. As beautiful and perfectly ordered as nature is, Jesus was careful to point out that we are more important to God than any leaf, bird, or flower. “Are you not much more valuable than they?” He asks rhetorically in Matthew 6:26.

We are important, to each other and to God. But sometimes I get carried away with my importance. How about you? I can begin to think that I should spend all my time on improving me and my focus becomes absorbed with my health, my dreams and goals, my likes and dislikes, my personal fulfillment.

When I get that way, I can forget that my story wouldn’t be worth much if it weren’t for His story. He made the decisive difference in everything I consider good in my life. The truth is, had the Lord Jesus Christ not been willing to lay down His life for me, my life story would look very different from what it is today. He turned my life “from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God” (Acts 26:18). Without His intervention, I would still be “without hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12).

When I get puffed up with my own importance, I lose sight of the fact that I am saved for a purpose that transcends my small little world—what I like, what brings me pleasure, what I need. If I’m not careful, I can start perceiving the Lord of glory as someone primarily concerned with improving my life, forgetting that my story finds its greatest expression in proclaiming His story.

God told His people through the prophet Isaiah: “I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. … You are my witnesses” (Isaiah 43:1, 10). As His witnesses in the world, what should our primary focus be? To draw attention to ourselves or to exalt the One who is worthy of all adoration, glory, and praise?

We are important, but only in relation to Him. After all, it is to Him that all knees will bow and all tongues confess at the end of the age. Aren’t you glad that we will be among those who will willingly and joyfully bow before Him, “lost in wonder, love and praise”?

Witnesses testify to what they know. Good witnesses seek to accurately and thoroughly explain what they know took place. As God’s witnesses, we testify both to what He did in redemption for every person and what He did in our individual lives. As one of the twelve disciples, Peter said they were “eyewitnesses to his majesty” (2 Peter 1:16).

While we weren’t there to see the Lord Jesus in the flesh, we know Him just as intimately through the revelation of the Holy Spirit in our lives. So God calls us to be His credible witnesses and to make His story known, even at the expense of our own personal desires and comfort.

A few months ago, this issue surfaced rather dramatically in my life during prayer. The Holy Spirit began to challenge me in an area that I thought was settled long ago.

For many years, Tony and I have served the Lord in our “separate but equal” ways—he did the traveling and ministry work out there and I worked for Jesus at home in a full time job and through local ministry opportunities. We prayerfully considered other alternatives, but we decided that it made good sense to minister out of our strengths rather than our weaknesses.

Tony was the adventurer, the front-line soldier, who loved new challenges and meeting new people in different cultures. I was the one who liked being home, routine, and predictable circumstances. I was the soldier who was content to stay behind the front lines and serve the war effort in a support role.

After seeing this arrangement work well for many years, I was surprised when the Lord began to challenge me to take another look at it. Over the following weeks, I was gripped by a new sense of urgency about winning people to Christ. As I thought about the opportunities Tony had to reach out to the lost, and knowing I could be there to support him in that work if I chose to, I began to feel like “an unprofitable servant” for the Lord.

Sure, I was serving Jesus where I was … but was I fully engaged in the spiritual battle, or was I hiding behind my own preferences? Probably the most convicting and convincing question that the Lord asked me as I sought His will was the following. “Is this about your comfort or my kingdom?”

Timing in God’s service is vitally important. I wasn’t ready for this call six months ago, or six years ago. I may not feel ready even now to begin to put myself more in the front lines of ministry and to engage in things that are definitely outside of my comfort zone, but the fact that I am being called there is evidence that God believes I’m ready. As Charles Finney said, “If God commands something, that is the highest evidence that we can do it.”

With God’s grace helping me, and my willingness to give it a try, I know it can work. After all, it’s not about my comfort … it’s about His kingdom! So, I’ve taken the rather drastic step of becoming Tony’s travel partner.

From a distance, obedience to God’s calling can seem restrictive and unpleasant. But once you make the decision to obey—whatever the cost may be—you find that you are filled with a joy and peace that you didn’t have before. Jesus said it was His peace and His joy—something the rest of the world can’t know.

People who don’t know God are constantly seeking fulfillment and happiness through personal enrichment and pleasure, but they never seem to find them. Yet Scripture tells us Jesus went to the agonies of the cross knowing that joy would come from His willingness to obey His Father’s will (Hebrews 12:2).

Joy eludes the self-centered, but those who choose to deny themselves for the sake of the kingdom find it. “If you obey my commands,” Jesus promised His disciples, “you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:10-11).

You may not be called to the front lines of service at this particular time, but He does want you to be open to the possibility. He asks all of us to be willing to examine our hearts in the light of His Spirit and to be ruthless in our goal to see our lives from His perspective. As Oswald Chambers said, “The best measure of spiritual life is not ecstasies but obedience.”

If we insist on calling the shots and never doing anything outside of our comfort zones or natural abilities and strengths, we may miss out on the joy of serving Him in His power and strength. Just think … His story can change hearts and transform our world. So what better use of my time and energy can I make than in making Him known?    

As one astute man wrote: “It has taken me half of my life to discover that my business in the world is not to try to make something of myself, but rather to find a job worth doing and lose myself in it.”

Sometimes we forget that we are not our own—that we are bought with a price—and our first priority must be to Him. As we make ourselves available, He can call us into the service where we will best express His story to the world. Jesus promised that we will find our lives by losing them in His great purposes. How exciting is that?!  
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All Glory to Jesus

“All Glory to Jesus, begotten of God, the great I AM is He;

Creator, Sustainer, but wonder of all—the Lamb of Calvary!

To think that the Guardian of planets in space, the Shepherd of the stars

Is tenderly leading the church of His love by hands with crimson scars!

The King of all kings and the Lord of all lords, He reigns in glory now;

Some day He is coming earth’s kingdom to claim and ev’ry knee shall bow!

And every knee shall bow.”  

                                                                                                         John W. Peterson, 1976

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 Am I a Soldier of the Cross?

“Am I a soldier of the cross, a follower of the Lamb,
And shall I fear to own His cause, or blush to speak His Name?

Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize, and sailed through bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face? Must I not stem the flood?
Is this vile world a friend to grace, to help me on to God?

Sure I must fight if I would reign; Increase my courage, Lord.
I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain, supported by Thy Word.

When that illustrious day shall rise, and all Thy armies shine
In robes of victory through the skies, the glory shall be Thine.”                                    Isaac Watts, 1724

February 2011

Spiritual Winter

It’s been a while since I wrote a devotional focused primarily on a personal word or encounter with God. There’s a reason for this—I’ve been walking through some emotionally tough months when I could barely distinguish a whisper from the Holy Spirit, a time when I felt all alone, bereft of God’s comfort and guidance.

Oh, yes, I know God has been with me throughout this lonely time. I was not abandoned. His love for me was just as steady and passionate as it has always been. I had the promises of His Word, and I should have been able to rise above my feelings and fears to grab hold of them. But I was in the grip of winter.

I like to read about the kind of high priest we have in Jesus—One who has gone through the heavens, yet is able “to sympathize with our weaknesses” because He has been tempted in every way we have been (Hebrews 4:15). He knows our human frame and understands that we are deeply affected by our emotions and thoughts—even the inaccurate ones.

While I was in this “spiritual winter” filled with dreariness and discouragement, I instinctively knew I couldn’t bounce out of it by simply wishing to do so. I had no choice but to continue to hope in God and live in the light of what He had already taught me, trusting that one day the clouds would part and the sun would shine on me in all its brilliance once again.

Most of us have experienced times when all seems dead around us and even our hearts seem to stop beating with the pulse of the Spirit. We go through the motions—continuing to attend church, read our Bibles, and minister as we have the opportunity—but it isn’t the same.

Perhaps we feel it most in our prayer life … the inability to really commune with our heavenly Father as we once did. Because we sense some kind of estrangement, it’s hard to find that natural rhythm of praise and petition we once enjoyed in prayer. Instead, our prayers seem to be mostly groaning and sighing.

The last four or five years of my life have felt like an extended season of mourning. I’ve mourned the changes I perceived as losses, both in myself and in those I love. I’ve mourned my inability to change or escape difficult circumstances. And I’ve mourned the season of mourning I found myself in! I just couldn’t seem to shed my cloak of sadness. I’d take it off for a short while and before I knew it I was wearing it again.  

I’m happy to write that my spiritual wintertime is finally starting to break up. I can sense hope again, and I’m approaching His throne of grace with some joy in my heart. I’m starting to receive fresh revelation from the Holy Spirit as I read God’s Word. Feeling warm and safe again, I find myself venturing out more, looking for opportunities to intersect with other Christians and to share my life in Christ with non-believers.

While I’m obviously pleased and relieved to see winter retreating, I also know it’s been used of God to develop my faith in Him. My spiritual winter wasn’t random or senseless. It wasn’t sent as a result of sin in my life. Rather, it was part of my Father’s good plan for me and was designed (according to His Word) to “prosper you and not to harm you … to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).

Recently I read a new book by one of my favorite authors—Mark Buchanan. Called Spiritual Rhythm, it looks at the four seasons as representative of the conditions of our hearts at different times. One of its themes is that each season has its own challenges to be faced and its own lessons to be learned. Winter is just as vital to our spiritual health as summer is, though admittedly not nearly as enjoyable.

In winter we have to hunker down and do less. It’s a time for pruning and getting rid of deadwood. It’s a time of patiently waiting on better things to come, and a time of planning what we’ll do when we see the arrival of spring and our energies are renewed. In the spiritual realm, it’s a time when we are enclosed with God. We must trust Him to do what we are unable to do ourselves—deliver us out of our uncomfortable circumstances.

The circumstances of our winters will look different for each of us. Whatever they are, they are rich in spiritual lessons if we have eyes to see and ears to hear. As Mark Buchanan writes, [In winter] “we see our lives in their truest light: see them for what they truly are, and know what really matters, and what doesn’t.”

Often God uses the time we’re shut in with Him to address things we would otherwise ignore. With fewer distractions to divert our attention, they become glaringly visible as the Holy Spirit searches our hearts. His desire is to root out the fears and misconceptions that keep us from fully trusting our Father.

When things are fine and good, when all seems to be rolling along with few challenges or setbacks, it’s easy to believe God and His promises. Secretly, we may even congratulate ourselves on how well we are managing our lives. But when crises come and they are more than we can handle in our own strength, we quickly learn that our faith in Him is rather shallow.

I don’t know about you, but when things get really tough, my tendency is to look for a way out. Some things, like relationships and jobs, lend themselves to bailing, but other things, like illness or accidents, aren’t so easy to walk away from. They trap us and then challenge us: How are we going to respond to this unhappy and unchangeable circumstance?

If we can persevere—continue to trust God—even in tough times, our faith will grow deeper and stronger. When we give up too soon, getting out when the getting is good, we may think we’ve avoided a catastrophe, but (to quote Mark Buchanan again) “maybe all we’ve avoided is the kingdom.” 

During his exceptionally difficult wintertime, Job knew despair and loneliness at a depth we can’t even imagine. From a place of prosperity and blessing he was plunged into a nightmare of confusion, pain, and loss. He felt abandoned by God and he had no idea why.

“If I go to the east, [God] is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him. When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him. But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold” (Job 23:8-10).

As we see in verse 10, Job’s feelings of abandonment did not prevent him from acknowledging God’s faithful care over his life. Job was confident that one day he would be delivered from his test and that his soul would be made better through the process. If we finish the story, we know that Job’s faith was richly rewarded. “The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first” (42:12).

He was blessed materially, but far more importantly, he came out of his winter knowing the One he had ignorantly served for years. Beyond the platitudes he and his friends had once believed about God, he now knew who He truly was. “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you” (42:5).

It’s unlikely that we’ll ever welcome spiritual winter. After all, it’s cold and uncomfortable and oh so lonely and bleak. But in time we may accept its arrival without grumbling, knowing it holds rich and unexpected blessings if we respond to it with faith.  

Some day our “faith lessons” will come to an end. We’ll hear our Bridegroom’s voice calling to us: “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come” (Song of Solomon 2:10-12). How glorious it will be to leave all our winters behind and bask in His presence forever!

But for now, we can rejoice in the fact that He is with us and for us and in us … and He’ll never let go of us, no matter what season of the heart we may be going through. I’ll close with this quote from Streams in the Desert (Feb. 8): “Never look ahead to the changes and challenges of this life in fear. Instead, as they arise look at them with the full assurance that God, whose you are, will deliver you out of them. Hasn’t He kept you safe up to now? So hold His loving hand tightly, and He will lead you safely through all things. And when you cannot stand, He will carry you in His arms.” 
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 “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
Your perfect love is casting out fear;

And even when I’m caught in the middle of the storms of this life
I won’t turn back; I know you are near.

And I will fear no evil, for my God is with me,
And if my God is with me, whom then shall I fear?

Whom then shall I fear?

(Chorus:)
Oh no, You never let go
Through the calm and through the storm
Oh no, You never let go
In every high and every low
Oh no, You never let go
Lord, You never let go of me.

And I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on,
A glorious light beyond all compare;
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
We’ll live to know You here on the earth.”

“You Never Let Go” (Written by Matt Redman, © 2006 Sparrow)