Hello, my dear friends! We have been pulled in several different directions over here; I apologize for the length in between posts, but wanted to jump on and let you know that all is well. We are committed to continuing the projects we have started, and we are still living in the same place (haven’t moved–yet).
As near as I can tell it, we are in a time of transition. (You never really know while you’re in the middle.) But in all the crazy, I feel like I’ve gotten a little off-track.
(By the way, that is the Nickle Plate Road steam engine at the top of this post. They came through our town last weekend! Isn’t it magnificent? You should hear it!) (But not at full volume–I recorded it a block away, and it’s still very loud.)
So where was I? Oh yes, off track.
Yesterday, I caught myself repeating the same prayer to the Lord that I have been praying for weeks. And I thought: “Doesn’t God get tired of hearing the same request for help, when I have done nothing to change things?”
I paused my prayer, and changed it. I asked God to give us wisdom, and to help us solve this thing that continues to nag at us. And I felt approval from Him when I did that.
Later, when we were reading Psalm 18 after breakfast, verse 35 jumped out at me. King David was talking to God here:
“You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your right hand has held me up, Your gentleness has made me great.”
That last phrase was what caught my attention. I had been thinking God was patient with me, but I realized that what I had experienced was God’s gentleness. He patiently waited for me to get tired of asking for the band-aid. But when He saw that I was ready to get serious and do something about the problem, He showed me how to make things right.
God knows the very best way to reach each one of us. He knows our strengths, our personality quirks, and also our weaknesses. He sees into the very depths of our hearts, and He knows our secret desires (including the ones we don’t even want to admit to ourselves.)
Still, He is gentle in the way he deals with us. His mercy is everlasting. He waits until we finally decide to open our eyes; He doesn’t force our eyes open. He treats us with respect, protecting our dignity. He knows that we learn best from our own mistakes, and so He reluctantly lets us make them, and then helps us when we cry out to Him.
God’s goal is to teach us. He knows how frail we are; He made us from dust. But He also expects us to act like His children, and He will never get tired of lovingly coaching us.
And for me, my wrong begins in an attitude of self-reliance. It is good to gain knowledge and use skill to help yourself and others, but we know from God’s Word that we are not designed to be independent.
We are designed to depend upon God, and to desire and pursue Him above all else. And if we are truly honest, we will admit that the kind of “self-reliance” we have been taught is only possible in a fantasy world that denies God.
As believers, we acknowledge that God, through Jesus Christ, made everything that exists. So any physical resource we use is sourced from God. We have bodies that God made. We feed ourselves with the plants and/or animals God put here. Every moment we breathe the air God created, into the bodies He made for us in the world He designed, all the time existing only because God shared His Spirit with us. . .
So how can we rely on ourselves for anything? We get to participate because God included us. That’s it. Our “self” had nothing to do with any of it, so going forward, anything we do is dependent upon what God already did.
We are all designed to live in unity and community with our believing brothers and sisters; we are to call upon them when in need (which involves humility and vulnerability); and we are to provide solace and comfort in turn when we are called upon (or when we see a need). When all this is done right, it testifies to the world who we are, and Who He is.
This is what Jesus prayed, in His last night on earth:
“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in Me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as You and I are one—as You are in Me, Father, and I am in You. And may they be in Us so that the world will believe You sent Me.” (John 17:20-21 NLT)
Our actions and interactions in this world will be different from others who don’t know Jesus. So as Christians, when we pull back from community and “go it alone,” we cut off our testimony of Jesus. This could be the way we live our lives, or it could be a verbal testimony. But when we live by the law of Love, our lives will point to Him.
I am finally beginning to understand that every wrong I can ever do begins with a bad attitude. It humbles me to recognize that I need God. It also humbles me to admit that I need other people in my life. But when I do admit it, and allow Jesus to do His heart-changing work in me so that I have something good to add, my relationships bring me great joy.
It helps me to remember that only Jesus can change our hearts, so that we love others the way He does. He stops us from being hypocrites, and gives us the power to live the way we know we should live. When we feel true, unselfish love, the I Corinthians 13-kind-of-love, and then act upon it, that is Jesus’s love that flows through us.
And if a human being lets us down or forgets something important to us, it’s only natural to feel hurt; but we can’t be destroyed by any human betrayal unless that person is more important to us than God. It actually protects us when we “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.”
God doesn’t expect us to struggle along with unresolved things weighing us down. He can give us insight into the problem, and if we ask for wisdom, He promises to give it to us (and not scold us for asking or not knowing already!) But too many times, I forget to ask God for help. I often pray for others, but forget to pray for myself.
Is that arrogance on my part? Maybe. I don’t think I am a proud person; instead, I often condemn myself. But our hearts are tricky, and they deceive us. All I know is that I should ask God for help more often than I do. I sure need it.
(Some chronic problems are not resolved easily, even with God’s help. But with Him, terrible tangles that seem unsolvable can be resolved. Some situations took a long time–even years–to build up, and they will also take some time to work out. But nothing is too hard for God. He will give you the grace to get through it, just like He has done, and still does, for me.)
I have seen miraculous changes in another person’s attitude after prayer. I have seen relationships mend, and bodies healed. My own body has been healed! I have seen people who were hostile to God, who have had their eyes opened; and these people have become some of His most faithful servants! I know of physical things that were hopelessly lost, but God restored them after prayer. How could I have forgotten any of this, and why would I neglect to pray for that kind of help in my own life?
But we do forget. The amazing things that God does for us get buried under the next shiny thing that captures our attention. We don’t intend to be easily distracted. But if we don’t create a way to remember, a journal entry, a picture, a small note to ourselves, etc., then we will forget. And it is so important that we don’t forget, because our history with God is our foundation.
And God, in His gentleness, will lead us out of our darkness and into His glorious light. He leads us in the way everlasting, the way toward eternal life. Light reveals the things the darkness wants to keep hidden, but if we press on toward the light, dealing with the sins and failures God reveals to us as we find them, then we will be among those who overcome. And we will receive the crown of life.
King David, who sinned some of the worst sins possible, said to God, “You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your right hand has held me up, Your gentleness has made me great.”
If you have gotten off-track the way I did, don’t worry; resolve to take action. Turn around and tell it to Jesus. When you take the smallest step toward Him, He will close the rest of the distance. He is always right there, because He loves you more than you love yourself. And we always know that Jesus longs to see our faces turned upward, seeking Him.
Thus says the Lord: “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls.” (Jeremiah 6:16)
Rest! That’s one of my goals right now. I am praying for all my friends who read this, that God will be with them today and on into the uncertain future. He knows the end already, and He will never leave you, so get back on track and hold onto Him!
Much love to you!
The Fullers Four 