I am reminded this week that there are times in our lives when plans change or get halted altogether. Sometimes we don’t actually like the plans that have been arranged. In those situations we rejoice and perhaps heave a sigh of relief when it doesn’t come together. At other times, a changed plan can be a huge frustration and great disappointment.
I have faced many situations that included a changed plan. It happened again this week, but different from being a frustrating situation, I was pleased with the change. I was due to make an international flight, but my mother had unexpected surgery, so I changed my flight plans. As I said, this has not been frustrating in the least. I love my mother, love being in Alabama enjoying the country life, so a delay in departure has been peaceful for me. But what about those times when a changed plan makes one want to scream in exasperation?
For the Christian, there is a wonderful reminder from our Father’s Word: “‘I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.'” Jeremiah 29:11 Isn’t that truly beautiful? Just think about it — Father God, Creator of the universe, has also created a plan, taylor-made for you and for me. Contemplate even further — no matter how aggravating or downright infuriating a change of plans may make us feel, let us remind ourselves that the plans of our Heavenly Father are always for our good, always with our future in mind, and always to give us hope.
Remember, too, our God is the master of change. He changed the leper’s sores into clean flesh, water into wine, Lazareths’ death into new life, the tyrant Saul into the Apostle Paul, a storm on the sea into calm waters, and He changed you and me from being bound by sin into freedom through the blood of Jesus.
When we take time to ponder upon God’s own thoughts about His plans for us, it puts the changes that come our way into proper perspective. Humanly speaking, we might say, “the apple cart has been upset,” but spiritually speaking we have to say, “Father’s changing something into good for me.” It’s what our Father does — takes what we think is bad, and makes it a blessing.
No one on earth escapes hard times. Perhaps difficult situations cause us to feel stressed, frustrated, rejected, angry, trapped — or — perhaps nothing has happened at all. Perhaps life is going well for us, and yet, feelings of despair and loneliness come upon us. We have the unexplainable “blues.” When we get the blues (and we all do at times) we might question, “Does God really care about how I’m feeling?” In answer to that, let me share this beautiful verse in Psalm 34:18, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose spirits are crushed.”
It’s easy, when we are feeling low, to forget that God cares. In fact, we can quickly turn our thoughts away from God, in order to concentrate more fully on our misery, but one thing is for certain — misery begets misery. We can become our own worst enemy when we are dealing with any level of depression. When misery attacks, the one thing we need to do, call upon our Father, becomes a last resort. Misery grows, and feelings of rejection from God and friends, takes on a false realism in the recesses of our mind. The “blues” likes to feed on misery. Therefore, the deeper we go into misery, the fatter becomes the blues. Before we know it, we’re rolling in melancholy and feelings of desolation. We have one big, fat problem, and we don’t know how to lose it.
I encourage each of us, when misery begins feeding on our inner turmoil — begin to starve it! How do we do that? It’s a training of our minds and it takes practice, but like anything that is practiced, we become skilled. In this case, we become adept in knowing how to better choke the blues away. Take a look at instructions given to us in Philippians 4:8, “And now dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” This is such an important instruction that, when adhered to, helps to bring our thoughts out of the doldrums, and back into joyful thinking.
I can share from personal experience — when I feel down and choose to think on “what is true,” despondency begins to lift. If, on the other hand, I continue to think on the misery itself, then despondency grows. We can feed it or starve it. Never forget, you are not alone even when you feel you are; your Father in heaven “is close to the brokenhearted and ready to rescue those whose spirits are crushed.” Let us take command of our minds. Be the one who takes the reigns of your own depressing thoughts that want to run wildly in the wrong direction. Lead your horse of despair to quiet waters and there reflect on “what is true and honorable, and right and pure and lovely and admirable.” Think on Jesus and His love for you. Think of His heart’s desire to rescue you. Then, envision your rescue. Imagine crawling into your heavenly Father’s lap, and rest there. Remind yourself of His love. Recall the times He has shown His care for you. Practice thinking on those things, and watch unexplained despondency melt away into peace.
Contemplating God’s will, and trying to determine what that will is for our individual lives, is a question that comes to every Christian. We ask things like: What job or career does God want me to pursue? What church should I attend? Who should I marry? Where should I live? Should I go to college? Should I teach a Sunday School class? What does God want me to do? How does He want me to pray? What should I pray for concerning myself and the people I care about? The questions continue for the whole of our lives. We so want to get it right; stress levels can rise with worry. We put ourselves under great pressure with thoughts that we may miss the boat of God’s choice, and land in a sea of chaos, because of our own bad decisions. Therefore, we ask, is it really possible to know God’s will? Does it have to be so hard?
There is good news — but not easy news, in answer to the question of knowing God’s will. God’s Word gives us the answer in Romans 12:2: “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” There we have the answer to knowing God’s will; we must let Him change the way we think which will transform us into a new person. What kind of a person? A person who resembles Jesus Himself by the way he or she talks, behaves, responds to people when they are kind or unkind, and by the attitudes they maintain when trouble strikes. When we let God transform us to be like His Son, then we begin to have the mind of Christ. Is that even possible? Yes. Philippians 2:5 tells us, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ.” Will we ever be perfect? No, not until we get to heaven, but on earth we can certainly get better. Like an athlete in training, the more we practice, the closer we get to our goal. No training — no goal reached.
When we make the choice to obey God’s instruction in Romans 12:2, and ask Him to transform us in behavior and attitude, then the way we think becomes more and more like Jesus. When our mind becomes more like Jesus, we can better determine what God’s will is for our lives.
Too many Christians, sadly, don’t want to work at living according to God’s instructions. Too many Christians don’t even know what God’s instructions are because they don’t want to take the time to read and study His wonderful, holy words to us. These same Christians will be the ones to complain that God isn’t answering their prayers, or showing them what to do in various situations.
One thing for certain: we cannot ignore God, refuse to learn about Him, and then expect to know His will for our lives.
Another thing for certain: we can talk to Him, read about Him, meditate on His instructions, and fully expect to know His will for our lives.
It’s not easy, but it’s wonderful and exciting. It’s a lifelong adventure. There’s no joy to compare. I encourage each of us: determine to pursue God; then His will for your life will unfold as you go along the way.
I was able to take an afternoon this week and do something I love to do — work in the yard. Yes, I love it. I cut low hanging branches from my mother’s pecan and cedar trees, got rid of weeds around the fence, and took off on the tractor mower to cut the grass.
After I cut the limbs from the trees, I began dragging them off, to pile them up to be burned. The task took longer than expected. I lost count after the tenth trip of going back and forth across the yard to the limb pile. It didn’t matter; the sun had slipped behind clouds, making the air more comfortable, so I trekked on in the enjoyment of my outside work.
However, after some time, I became aware of something uncomfortable. Immediately I knew what it was — a little piece of grit had found the inside of my shoe and was pricking my foot. It hurt just a bit. I shook my foot, knocking my shoe against the other one, in hopes of moving the unwanted object from beneath my foot. No, that didn’t work. I could still feel it, but it had moved so it didn’t hurt as bad. I walked on, gathering limbs, and taking them to the growing pile in the field near our house.
Back and forth I went with my tree limbs, taking care of a needed task to be done. The piece of grit in my shoe did not give up it’s own mission of making the walk difficult. Finally, after several trips, I stopped, took off my shoe, turned it over and gave a good shake, and out fell the piece of grit. It was so little but made it’s presence known in a big way. No one could have known by looking at me that I had a painful piece of grit in my shoe, and I certainly didn’t have to put up with it as long as I did, but I was busy. I was busy doing a good thing, so I ignored what was hurting me. It was only small.
As I walked on to finish my gathering of tree limbs, I noticed the immediate relief to my foot. Oh, how delightful it felt to walk unhindered. The thought then came — it’s the same in my spiritual walk. I can be doing something good for the love of Jesus or for the love of someone else. Then, somewhere along the way of doing good things, a little piece of transgression can slip into my shoe of walking in godliness. No one can tell. Perhaps it’s just a little misdeed. I can still walk on to complete the task at hand. But wait, someone can tell. My Father in heaven can tell, and I can tell, too. It’s then that I notice my joy level has subsided just a bit.
I stop then, remove my shoe and shake out the little piece of transgression. Oh, how delightful to walk unhindered. When we become aware of a transgression, no matter how little, let us not delay in shaking out our shoes, asking Father to “Create in me a clean heart, Oh God; and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10 Then walk on as joy returns!
I turn on the television news and immediately see that it’s another typical week of watching evil unfold around the world. There’s continued uprising in Egypt, chemical attack in Syria upon their own people, a teenaged girl kidnapped but found in the mountains, a little child abducted from a playground and found in a shallow grave nearby, an attempted shooting at an elementary school in Georgia, jihad declared upon Christians in Egypt for not following Islam. The list goes on and on about evil around the globe today. Evil reigns in the hearts of many.
The question then gets asked, usually by those who don’t know God personally: Where is a loving God in all of this? The question is asked with accusation, and sometimes anger and bitterness. To those of us who do know God personally, we know the answer: Where is God when evil is hurting innocent people? He’s right there doing as He has always done; He is offering the one and only way to a better world — He is offering Jesus who is “The way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)
Long ago, God gave His only Son to pay the death penalty for our sin. When we accept what He has done for us, recognize it was our sin that put Him on the cross, and ask His forgiveness — He not only forgives us, but He makes us a new person. He puts aside the past and sets us on a new path. He gives us a cleaned up heart. Like a car with an oil change we can run with hope along our journey in life, and leave behind the days of merely bumping along, wondering if we would really get to a good destination.
Today’s world is full of trouble, and intelligent people are asking, why? They outlaw God from every element of society, forbid prayer in public places, refuse His commands for moral living, and then get all upset when, as they say, “God isn’t doing anything to help in evil situations.”
God has clearly said, “Whoever is not with me is against me.” (Matthew 12:30) God is everything that is good and pure, lovely and beautiful. It stands to reason that, if we are for Him and choose to follow His ways, we will see goodness and purity, loveliness and beauty, fill the hearts of mankind. Such an outcome could only lead to goodness in the world. Instead, governments and other judicial powers, declare that God is no longer allowed in certain public places. They are against Him being the center; God is told to take a back seat. By this very declaration, they put goodness and purity and love on the back seat, leaving everything that is opposite of God to reign. Evil, then, takes a seat up front.
To every follower of Jesus, each one of us is only one person — or so we think. We must never forget that — one plus God is a majority. Never think that you cannot make a difference in the part of this world where God has placed you or where God sends you. I encourage each of us, when evil raises it’s ugly head, be ready to always answer the question: Where is God in all of this? “Be ready to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason for the hope that is in you.” (I Peter 3:1) When you walk in the light, and point to the light, you might be the very person to lead someone out of the darkness.
This past week I took a flight from London to Atlanta. I’m in the States for six weeks taking speaking engagements in various churches. I’m also happily looking forward to working two days a week with the veterinary staff at Jones Animal Clinic in Brundidge, AL. Being with them is always a tremendous joy.
When the airplane took off in London, all the passengers were seated and ready to go. Well, I should say, all the passengers except one. A young man stood up as the plane literally left the runway. It was difficult for him to stand as the plane was ascending and had not leveled. A steward called out for the man to “return to your seat, sir!” The man seemingly didn’t hear. He opened the top luggage bin and proceeded to remove his bag. At this point the steward was at the passenger’s side demanding that he sit down. Thankfully the man did as he was told.
Throughout the rest of the flight, I could not help but be aware of this particular passenger. He was constantly doing the wrong thing. When the seat belt sign came on because of turbulence, he chose that moment to get up and proceed to the bathroom. The steward told him to get back to his seat. During another instance of turbulence, the steward was walking up the aisle making certain the passengers had their seat belts buckled. It was no surprise that the passenger in question was not wearing his seat belt. The steward stood there while he buckled up. During preparation for landing we were instructed to bring our seats to an upright position. Of course, this passenger had his seat fully back. The steward had to tell him to bring his seat forward.
I couldn’t help but think to myself, what a pain this passenger was to both the staff and his fellow passengers. Even so, I was impressed with the steward who constantly dealt with the unruly man. He was always gentle, even when he had to be stern.
Immediately I was struck with the comparison of how we react to God’s instructions for our lives. He gives us directions to follow that will bless us if we follow them. If we don’t obey them, Father God in His love for us, gently but sternly, guides us back to the right path. If we get back on the path, all is well; if we do not, there are consequences. God will discipline His children because He so wants the best for them.
If we are all honest with ourselves, we have to admit there have been times in our lives, spiritually speaking, when we’ve ignored the instructions of our Father, and proceeded to do things our way. Spiritually speaking, sometimes we are each one, the unruly passenger.
How thankful we can be that Father never gives up on us no matter our mistakes or rebellious attitudes to His directions. He loves us in spite of ourselves, and remember: “God’s discipline is always right and good for us because it means we will share in His holiness.” Hebrews 12:10b
Yes or No. It has to be one or the other. No one can ever say “yes” and “no” to the same question. That thought came to me this week as I was reading in the Old Testament book of Jeremiah. In the first chapter, its’ recorded that God spoke to Jeremiah in verse 5. He said, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” We are informed in this verse that God had plans for Jeremiah even before he was born! Amazing!
Guess what else this verse reveals? It gives us an obvious conclusion that, if God knew His own plans for Jeremiah, then naturally, He knows His own plans for you and me, too. We also know, because Scripture tells us so, that God’s plans are for our good. Look at what He said to Jeremiah in 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, they are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Does that mean an easy road to travel? No, it means the best road to make us strong — strong to face anything and get through it!
Jeremiah was a bit scared when he understood the plan that God Almighty had for him. He felt inadequate. Do you ever feel inadequate? He felt nervous about the task. Do you ever feel nervous about some task? What did God say to Jeremiah in response to his fears? In verse 8, He says, “Don’t be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you.” Jeremiah’s task was to speak God’s word to the people but he was afraid of their faces. What would the people think or do to him?
Our fears are no different today. Perhaps we know God is leading us in a particular direction or perhaps He is keeping us in an uncomfortable situation and we want out. “Is this my future?” we moan inwardly? “This difficult road I’m on; is it to be forever?” “What will people think of me?” It’s so easy and understandable that we focus on our immediate surroundings rather than on the promises of God for our future. Even so, we are always given freedom of choice. We may say, “Yes,” to what He allows in our lives, or we may say, “No.”
Let’s keep in mind something else that our Father said to Jeremiah in 29:12-13; His words are for us, too. “In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” We can say, “Yes, God, I believe You,” or we can say, “No, God, I don’t believe You.” It’s one or the other, but we can’t say both.
It’s okay to be scared and still choose to believe. It’s okay to doubt that brighter days will come and still choose to believe. It’s okay to come before our Father in fear and trembling. The key is — always come; always say, “Yes, Father.” Our Father will unfailingly give you everything you need to get through anything, no matter the pain, tears, and fears. It may be raining on you today but the sun always shines after every storm.
The very title of this blog entry is absurd! We know a mere grasshopper is nothing against Almighty God! The only comparison is that one is weak and imperfect while the other is strong and flawless.
I was intrigued again this week while reading the account in the Old Testament book of Numbers about the twelve men of Israel who went to spy out the land of Canaan. They came back rather upset. Out of the twelve men, ten of them were shaken. They reported that the land God had chosen for them was rich and fruitful — “flowing with milk and honey.” However, the people were giants compared to them. “We’re just like grasshoppers compared to the people of this country,” the men reported in fear and trembling, “we can never take this land.”
There were two of the twelve men who reported in chapter 14 that, yes, the people are stronger and bigger in size than them. “However,” they proclaimed in courage and with conviction, “God has led us to this land and promised it to us; He will give it to us. We must enter to receive all that He has for us.”
God had promised them all along that He would give them a wonderful land to be their own. They travelled far, faced many obstacles, got to the door of promise, and stopped, trembling in their shoes. Why? One reason and one reason alone. They took their focus off God and put it on the obstacles. Then they put themselves in the place of God and saw only grasshoppers. They forgot that the battle and promise was God’s responsibility, and took that responsibility to be their own. Rightly so, they determined that, grasshoppers could not overcome the giant obstacles that faced them.
You and I can read such an account and see the obvious. We can easily scold the ten faithless ones — but how often do you and I see obstacles to what God has told us to do and, like the above, suddenly we, too, remove our focus from Almighty God — who has never let us down — and we focus on the hurdles that seemingly block our way.
You and I are truly like grasshoppers. We can’t face and overcome the giants that block our way. How comforting that we don’t have to; Almighty God will prepare the way, lead us along each step, and give His own wisdom and strength to overcome any hurdle — no matter how humongous the giant that faces us.
I was reading in the New Testament book of Matthew this week when I came to the following verse in 16:24: “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.'”
This is a verse that I find is often misunderstood among Christians. Many interpret it to mean a current burden being carried. Perhaps someone is dealing with a failed marriage, unemployment, financial difficulty, poor health — the list of life’s dilemmas goes on. We may hear a person, in the midst of such a painful predicament, say something like, “This is my cross to bear.” Actually, it’s a difficult circumstance to bear but it’s nothing to do with Jesus challenging one to “…take up his cross and follow Me.” Jesus was not referring to life’s troubles that come upon us all. He was referring to a change of heart; an attitude that comes with total surrender to Him.
Over the years I have had the humbling pleasure of knowing many people who truly “took up their crosses to follow Jesus.” When presented with the truth of salvation, they chose to follow Jesus even though they knew they would be shunned by their families and counted as dead. They chose Jesus even though they knew they would lose their jobs. They chose Jesus even though they knew they would be ridiculed throughout the community. They chose Jesus even though they knew a time would very likely come when they would be killed for their faith in Him. They heard Jesus say, “Will you take up your cross and follow me? Will you give Me total surrender no matter what the world may do to you?” They said yes. They counted the cost, made a conscious choice to pay whatever the price might be, and they followed Jesus in total surrender.
In our western churches, very often salvation presents itself to us in the following manner: we hear a sermon, make a decision to follow Jesus, and walk down an aisle to proclaim before all that we want to receive God’s free gift of salvation. If, after walking down the church aisle, we were asked the question: “Are you willing to lose your job, family, reputation, and possibly your life, to become a Christian today?” I wonder how many would go through with the prayer, and how many would walk away to reconsider?
Counting the cost to follow Jesus isn’t a scary thing; when we truly delve into the meaning, we discover it’s a joyful thing. It’s like Jesus is saying, “Do you want to go deeper into Me and find my treasures? Do you want to know the ecstasy that comes from total trust in Me? Do you want to be free from chains of fear and fly heights of jubilation instead? Then be willing to ‘take up your cross and follow me.’”
Such a command is not a burden to bear — it’s an attitude of surrender that sets us free from anything this world may do to us.
“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, will find it.” Matthew 16:25
We know of a certainty that God is a miracle-working God. We know He can do anything. We believe His Word to be absolutely true. We are thankful that He loved us so much that He sent His only Son to die for us. We know we are not worthy, and we gratefully receive His forgiveness and acceptance of us into His family. We revel in the promise that when we leave this earth, we will live in perfect happiness with Him in heaven forever.
We happily declare the above to be true. Our desires are to live in His joy right now on earth. We know God is a loving Father and He can help us through anything. However, we sometimes find ourselves in situations that pull our rug of happiness out from under our feet. Life’s cruel circumstances fall down around us, and we become like a bird in a net flapping wildly to get out. Nothing we try, in order to free ourselves from our situation, works. In the end, like the bird who has exhausted itself with effort, we stop and stare wide-eyed in fear. We hate to admit it, and perhaps we tell no one, but deep inside we know — we are heavy-hearted — despondent.
This is where our arch enemy, Satan enters the scene. Does he feel sorry for us in our difficult circumstances? Of course not! He loves to see us fall down so he can kick us some more! He lies to us, too, big time! He says things like, “some Christian you are,” or “you’re a terrible witness,” or “failed again, huh?” or “just give it up now; you know you can’t be a winner; you’re a born loser,” or “God helps everybody but you, have you noticed?” or “God sure is being unfair not answering your prayers,” or “forget God now; He’s never going to help you.” On and on go the lies of the evil one who hates our heavenly Father with a passion, and lives for every moment to bring confusion, gloom, and anger, into the life of any Christian who will listen to him.
What a mess we are in at such times in our lives! Nothing goes right; God doesn’t seem to be listening, and on top of all that, here comes Satan to rain despair on our already dismal parades. What in the world can we do?
I find that taking a reminder from Elijah helps me when I’m down in the pits. Let’s take a look at the following true story. There was Elijah, a successful prophet, used big time by God, performing mind-blowing miracles — but one day, in spite of all his godly living, Elijah becomes demoralized — weighed down with a crushed spirit. Why? What happened? The evil Jezebel, wife of King Ahab, despises Elijah. She hates all he does in the name of God. She sends him a message. The following is found in I Kings 19:2-4, “So Jezebel sent this message to Elijah: ‘May the gods strike me and even kill me if by this time tomorrow I have not killed you…’ Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. ‘I have had enough, Lord,’ he said. ‘Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.'”
Goodness, gracious! Poor Elijah! Such a strong man of God, but circumstances of life pulled his rug of happiness out from under him, and now we see him running scared, even to the point of not wanting to live anymore. Can we identify with Elijah? Absolutely. When we get scared, what do we so often do? We keep to ourselves. Suddenly we don’t want to see friends, we make excuses to stay away from church, we just want to be alone in our despair. We’re down in the dumps, and like Elijah, we put ourselves into a wilderness. Being alone, we then have no one to listen to but ourselves and the lies of Satan. Before we know it, like Elijah, we too, have melancholy thoughts. Despondency and pessimism grabs us by the throat, choking away our last ounce of hope. Like Elijah, we think we may as well end it all now. What more is there to live for? On and on go the dreadful thoughts. We’re trapped and there’s no way out!
But wait! The story doesn’t end there. Read on through verse 14. You will see that during the first night of Elijah’s wilderness experience, an angel came to give him bread and water to eat. What a reminder to us that, just as God was watching over Elijah in his misery and fear, so God will watch over us, too, and provide for our needs. Further on in the story, we see God having a conversation with Elijah who pours out his woes. Way to go, Elijah! We, too, must remember that our Father is always ready to converse with us, and He wants us to pour out our hurts to Him. After Elijah tells God of all his worries, God speaks something in verse 15 that is an amazing truth that we, today, can apply to our lives in our own moments of anxiety and distress. God says to Elijah, “Go back the same way you came…” Go back? To where? Go back to the place you were with God, before life’s circumstances made you run away from Him and everybody else, into a wilderness place.
Go back and remind yourself of the blessings that God has bestowed upon you. Go back and remember the last time God helped you out of a tough spot. Go back to times you felt alone and God sent a friend. Go back to the last time you sensed God’s sweet presence; ask for a touch from Him again.
Continuing on in the wilderness only promises feelings of aloneness and despair. Going back to fellowship with Father promises hope and comfort, guidance and courage. We all get dreadfully low in spirit. We can choose the wilderness or we can choose to — go back.
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