Often I’ll turn the radio on while I make my breakfast, and usually Dr. Stephen Davey’s program, Wisdom for the Heart, is on at that time.
One day last week, Dr. Davey was speaking from Psalm 19. It’s a familiar passage to many of us. It starts with “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above [firmament in the KJV] proclaims his handiwork,” and then goes on to develop that theme for the next several verses.
The last half of the psalm talks about how God’s character is seen through His Word. Verse 7 starts off another familiar passage: “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. . . ” Perhaps you remember, as I do, a song made of these words.
The passage is so familiar, in fact, that it’s easy to zip right through it without stopping to take it in.
But Dr. Davey pointed out something that stopped me in my tracks.
The latter half of verse 7 says, “The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.”
Dr. Davey said:
This is legal language; whenever someone is called into court by the prosecution or defense, they give their testimony. They testify to what they know – what they’ve seen – what they’ve heard.
David writes in legal terminology – God is testifying . . . and whatever and whenever He does, David writes here, The testimony of the Lord is sure.
In other words, you can count on it. One author* wrote, “You can throw your weight on God’s testimony and it will hold up.”
You can throw your whole weight on God’s testimony.
Does that impact you like it does me?
It’s not that this truth was new to me. But hearing it put that way brought my understanding to a whole new level.
God’s Word is sure. It’s trustworthy. We can stake the whole weight of our souls on it.
BibleStudyTools.org says the Hebrew word translated “sure” here means “to support, confirm, be faithful; made firm, sure, lasting; verified; reliable, faithful, trusty .”
What God tells us about Himself, the world, and ourselves is dependable.
His promises won’t break when we lean on them. That doesn’t mean all our prayers will be answered just the way we hoped, or that life will have a fairy-tale ending. But when He tells us who He is and that He will be with us and take care of us, we can rely on His Word without worry.
I did not grow up in areas where ponds freeze over. But I am familiar with the concept of testing the ice to make sure it’s solid before walking or skating on it. And I have stepped on a bridge, fallen log, or even a piece of flooring and felt it give, wondering if it would hold my weight.
But we’ll never have that experience with God’s Word. It is sure.
Is there a passage you’re staking your soul on today?
* Donald Williams, Mastering the Old Testament: Psalms 1-72 (Word Publishing, 1986), p. 153), quoted in Psalm 19:7-9) God’s Inspired Little Book by Stephen Davey on the Wisdom for the Heart Radio Broadcast, 1/22/2024.
You’re probably familiar with the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10: a man is traveling, robbed, beaten, and left for dead. First a priest, then a Levite (someone who had temple duties) saw the man, but passed by on the other side of the road. Finally a Samaritan, who was of a race in conflict with Israelites and the unlikely one to stop, took care of the man at his own expense.
Jesus told this story in response to another conversation: a lawyer, knowing that he was supposed to love God supremely and love his neighbor as himself, wanted to know just who his neighbor was. Verse 29 says he asked this “desiring to justify himself.” He probably thought he was doing a pretty good job.
But Jesus’ story upended the lawyer’s assumptions. Our neighbor is anyone in need, even strangers, even enemies. Ultimately, the Good Samaritan pictures Jesus’ rescue of us spiritually.
Even though those are the primary lessons of the parable, I was recently instructed by a secondary consideration.
We like to rag on the priest and the Levite as being typically self-absorbed, “don’t want to get involved” people. We shake our heads at their lack of compassion toward their fellow countryman.
But there is another layer here. Under Levitical law, if a priest or Levite came in touch with a dead body, they would be ceremonially unclean for a certain amount of time. They couldn’t attend to their duties in the temple if they were unclean without performing certain rituals.
So they didn’t even want to take the chance to see if this beaten man was alive. To protect their calling of serving in the temple, they denied their greater calling of caring for a fellow Israelite in great need.
We’ve probably seen this happen in other situations as well. A father feels so responsible to provide for his family’s needs that he becomes a workaholic, neglecting their greater need of his guidance and presence. An overburdened doctor has so many patients that he shortchanges each one of time and attention in order to get through them all. A pastor bypasses a troubled church member seeking his counsel because he’s scheduled to eat lunch with the visiting guest speaker.
I was convicted years ago when I got short-tempered with one of my children when they interrupted me while I was reading a book. Ironically, the book was How to Be a Good Mom.
We can get so fixated on fulfilling what we think is our calling that we miss it entirely.
I struggle with this most now in desiring to write. I feel writing is something God wants me to do. But I’m discovering most writers struggle with making the time to write. I was encouraged in Elisabeth Elliot’s biography that even she struggled with this.
So the natural response is to stake a claim on my time, push people away, and resent interruptions.
But my first calling is to the people under my own roof. It would be wrong to push them away or resent them when they need me.
And if I want to write to encourage other people, particularly women, in their walk with the Lord, I can’t do that by selfishly manipulating my schedule, grasping for time.
So what’s the answer?
I’m still working on that.
But one thing I need to keep in mind is that my first calling is to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love others as I love myself.
And then I need to remember that God’s callings are not in conflict. They seem like they are sometimes. But if He wants us to do something, He’s going to make a way to do it.
We don’t need to be manipulative and grasping. We can prayerfully seek God’s will and leading. We may have to lay aside lesser pursuits.
Instead of being territorial with my time, I need to be generous, trusting God to make it enough.
There is a principle throughout the Bible that if we’re generous, we’ll be blessed. But if we grasp and hoard for ourselves, we tend to lose whatever we’re holding onto so tightly.
There is one who scatters, and yet increases all the more, And there is one who withholds what is justly due, and yet it results only in poverty. A generous person will be prosperous, And one who gives others plenty of water will himself be given plenty (Proverbs 11:24-25, NASB).
For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it (Matthew 16:25).
Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you (Luke 6:38).
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:33).
On the other hand, being generous with our time doesn’t mean we are always available for everyone else’s whims and can never make plans.
Once, after a busy evening of healing many people, Jesus got up early the next morning to pray alone. The disciples searched for him and told Him, “Everyone is looking for you.” “And he said to them, ‘Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out'” (Mark 1:35-39). He didn’t go back to do more healing in the place where they were looking for Him. Healing was part of His calling, but His greater mission was to preach.
How we need to pray for wisdom and guidance as we seek to serve Him and others each day. As we seek His grace to love Him and others well, He will guide us moment by moment.
Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established (Proverbs 16:3).
To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power,so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12).
Several years ago, our church’s youth pastor felt led to leave his position at our church to begin another ministry. Then an older couple in the church led the teen ministry for several months—maybe a year or more.
When the church finally found a new youth pastor, but before he came, some of the teens were giving grateful testimony of the couple who had filled in. One girl spoke about how much she hated change.
I thought, “Oh, honey. You’re just starting out, and there is so much change ahead of you!” She would have been in for a rough time.
Some people thrive on change and variety, always looking for something new and exciting.
Others of us don’t mind changes every now and then. But we’re eager to get back to our comfortable routines.
Change is a part of life. Without change, we wouldn’t have:
autumn leaves
spring flowers
butterflies
babies
growth
sunrises and sunsets
the change from law to grace
salvation
resurrection
the progression from friendship to love
. . .and so much more
We like those kinds of changes. We’re not thrilled about hard, unexpected disruptive changes.
So many people in the Bible had to face unexpected changes in their lives.
David went from a shepherd to a king.
Moses went from Pharaoh’s stepson to a shepherd to the leader of Israel from Egypt through the promised land.
Gideon was quietly trying to make do in a country under rule of an enemy when God called him to be a leader and fight.
Daniel was a young man when he was taken into captivity, away from family and country, and taken to Babylon.
Mary thought she’d have a quiet life with Joseph, until an angel announced she would carry and bear the Messiah.
Zachariah and Elizabeth probably thought their opportunity to have children was gone. But in their old age, an angel told Zachariah that he and Elizabeth would have John the Baptist.
Paul’s Damascus Road experience had profound effects not only for himself, but also the first-century church and Bible readers today.
Change can be hard. Most of the changes these people faced were great upheavals to their lives.
But if God brings change, He also brings grace to handle it.
And some things will never change:
God’s character
God’s love
God’s Word
God’s truth
About thirteen years ago, we faced several big changes all at once. My husband’s company was moving us to a new state, which would involve new coworkers, a new city, new house, new neighborhood, and new church. My oldest moved to a different state, the first of my kids to move far away. We left behind my middle son and daughter-in-law. My youngest son came with us and had to navigate a new school, friends, and youth group.
During that time, a line from the hymn “Be Still My Soul” stood out to me: “Through every change, He faithful will remain.” That was a steadying truth through all the changes of that year.
Not too long ago, a line from “Abide With Me” came to mind: “Change and decay in all around I see. O thou who changest not, abide with me.”
The first verse of “Still, My Soul, Be Still” by the Gettys and Stuart Townend brings comfort in the face of change:
Still, my soul be still, And do not fear Though winds of change may rage tomorrow. God is at your side; No longer dread The fires of unexpected sorrow.
God, You are my God, And I will trust in You and not be shaken. Lord of peace, renew A steadfast spirit within me To rest in You alone.
Recently I was reminded of a quote attributed to Helen Keller: “A bend in the road is not the end of the road . . .unless you fail to make the turn.”
God, by His grace, will be with us and help us make whatever turns are in the year ahead.
How about you? Have you gone through a time when God helped you make a major change?
We usually put the wise men with the Nativity scene, representing their part of the Christmas story. But the wise men didn’t arrive to visit Jesus and His family until some time later.
After the wise men gave Jesus their gifts, they were warned in a dream not to go back the way they had come, the way to king Herod. He had said he wanted to know where the new king was, so he could pay Him homage, too. But he actually wanted to destroy what he saw as his rival.
Joseph, meanwhile, had been warned in a dream to take Mary and Jesus and flee to Egypt until the danger was past. So, thankfully, Jesus was safe.
When the wise men did not return and Herod realized he’d been tricked, he was so furious that he had all the male babies under the age of two in the region of Bethlehem killed.
How jarring, after all the talk about peace on earth and good will toward men, to have this horrible, senseless thing happen.
Satan is a defeated foe: “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14).
Satan is something like a general who gets word that the war is over; the army has been defeated. But until the authorities come for him, he’s going to wreak as much havoc and destruction as he can.
Or he’s like a snake that a neighbor in my childhood killed after getting it out of our house. Though she chopped off its head, its body still writhed and its mouth still opened and closed. It was not a poisonous snake, thankfully. But if it had been, it would have still been dangerous for a while even after death.
Satan’s targets are anything belonging to God. Revelation 12 gives us an allegorical picture:
When the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who had given birth to the male child. . . . So the dragon was furious with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep the commands of God and hold firmly to the testimony about Jesus (Revelation 12: 13,17, CSB) (p. 146).
So what about peace on earth? Does that not come until Jesus returns? Does mankind just hold on until then, trying not to drown in violence, injustice, and oppression?
No. Colossians 1:19-20 says, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” He carried the weight of all sin on Himself, paying its penalty in our stead.
He gives us peace with Him when we believe on Him as our Lord and Savior.
Then He gives us peace in the midst of life’s storms and trials because He is with us.
He gives us peace because He is our peace: “Now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace” (Ephesians 2:13-14a).
Ultimately, the day will come when Satan will be done away with completely. Violence and oppression will cease. Someday, “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;and a little child shall lead them” (Isaiah 11:6).
Until then, Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27).
We may have faced sorrows and troubles even at Christmas time. We don’t know what the year ahead might hold. But we can face whatever comes with God’s peace.
I wish all of you a wonderful, special, merry Christmas.
May the love our Savior showed in leaving heaven’s splendor to come to earth, live a righteous life in our place, die for our sins, and rise again fill your hearts and draw you to Him.
Infant holy, Infant lowly, for His bed a cattle stall; Oxen lowing, little knowing, Christ the Babe is Lord of all. Swift are winging angels singing, noels ringing, tidings bringing: Christ the Babe is Lord of all. Christ the Babe is Lord of all.
Flocks were sleeping, shepherds keeping vigil till the morning new Saw the glory, heard the story, tidings of a Gospel true. Thus rejoicing, free from sorrow, praises voicing, greet the morrow: Christ the Babe was born for you. Christ the Babe was born for you.
Traditional carol, translated from Polish to English by Edith M. Reed, 1921.
We moved when I was in junior high, and my new school was the most clique-ish place I have ever seen. Very distinct groups rarely interacted with each other except when required to for class. I spent weeks, maybe months, eating alone and walking around the grounds in tears during lunch break until finally I found a friend.
So that’s one option when we feel unwanted: cry. 🙂
Another option might be to become a pathetic sycophant, doing anything to be accepted into the group. Kids get drawn into gangs this way.
A third option could be embracing the opportunity to be a maverick, with a “Who needs them, anyway” attitude.
Unfortunately, some people seek revenge on the group for making them feel like an outsider.
One of the saddest Bible verses to me is John 1:11: “(Jesus) came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”
The world was inhospitable to Him since He was in the womb.
There was no room for Him to be born (Luke 2:1-7).
Herod tried to kill Jesus by having all the male babies under two years of age in Bethlehem killed (Matthew 2:13-23).
Satan tried to tempt Jesus to do away with Himself (Matthew 4:1-11).
During His public ministry, Jesus had “nowhere to lay His head” (Matthew 8:19-21).
His own half-brothers did not believe in Him (John 7:3-5).
People listened while He healed and gave them food. But when He started to say “hard things,” they left (John 6:60-71).
Some tried to throw Him off a cliff (Luke 4:28-30).
His disciples often didn’t understand or argued over which of them would be the greatest.
The scribes and Pharisees publicly debated and baited Him and eventually called for Him to be crucified.
He was the Messiah they had been promised and were expecting for centuries. But He wasn’t quite the kind of Messiah they were looking for. They didn’t just ignore Him or overlook Him: they rejected Him. Some went even further than rejection: they sought to do away with Him.
Jesus, thankfully, did not choose any of our listed options when people ignored, rejected, despised, or threatened Him.
He loved.
“God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
He didn’t wait to die for us until we had cleaned up our act. He knew when He came that people would reject Him. But He loved them anyway. He took the initiative and sought to turn their hearts to Himself.
John 1 goes on to say that, though His own people did not receive Him, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).
“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life” (Romans 5:10).
He goes beyond acknowledging and saving us. He makes His home with us. “Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him'” (John 14:23). He rejoices over us with joy, prepares a place for us.
Even once we come to know Him, we can sometimes let the cares of this life crowd Him out. We celebrate His coming with such frenzied activity that we neglect the very One whose birth we’re celebrating.
Room for pleasure, room for business, But for Christ the Crucified, Not a place that He can enter, In the heart for which He died? – D. W. Whittle, “Have You Any Room for Jesus?”
His love is perfect and perseveres despite all obstacles.
Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King! Let every heart prepare Him room, and heav’n and nature sing. – Isaac Watts
May our hearts be hospitable to our Savior. May we not only make room for Him in our minds, affections, and time: may we give Him first place. And may we let His initiating, persevering love flow through us to others.
I’m not sure where or when or how the phrase originated, but the last few years I’ve seen many women fretting over not being “enough.”
My first thought on hearing this was “Enough for what?” Enough for their responsibilities? For the demands on their time? Enough spiritually? Enough in their relationships?
My second thought was “Of course we’re not ‘enough.'”
In speaking of his ministry to the Corinthians, Paul states, “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us” (2 Corinthians 3:5). In place of “sufficient,” some other translations use “competent,” “qualified,” “adequate”—all synonyms for “enough.” The dictionary definition for “sufficient” uses the word “enough.”
One commentary said this verse hearkened back to a question Paul asked in chapter 2, verse 16. After speaking about spreading the “fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere,” Paul asks, “Who is sufficient for these things?”
The answer is given in the second part of verse 5 in chapter 3: “But our sufficiency is from God.”
Other passages bring out these same truths.
In John 15:5, Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 26:41, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Paul agrees in Romans 7:18: “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.”
But, he says in Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”
And he said God told him, in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
And you know what’s even more amazing? God doesn’t do just what’s enough.
In 2 Corinthians 9:8, Paul says, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”
In Jeremiah 31:25, God says, “For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul” (KJV and NKJV). Other versions say God satisfied the weary soul. The idea is being saturated, drinking one’s fill.
When Jesus fed 5,000 people in Matthew 14, there were twelve baskets of leftovers above and beyond what the crowd ate.
In Luke 6:38, Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.”
In Ephesians 3:20, Paul says, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (KJV and NKJV).
So, dear friend, don’t worry about your not-enoughness. Let it turn you to His all-sufficiency. Abide in Him like the branch abides in the vine, letting His Spirit work in and through you. Rest in His grace, His strength, His provision for every need, physical, spiritual, mental, emotional. He is enough. He is more than enough.
In my early Christian life, whenever something went wrong, I would doubt God’s love for me. When preachers said God did things for His glory and our good, I would think, “His glory maybe, but my good? How is this good for me?”
There may be many reasons for that reaction, too many to explore here. But surely one was being spiritually immature and not knowing my Bible well enough. Another was the mistaken (and also immature) notion that if God loved me, I wouldn’t have problems. A popular book at the time was If God Loves Me, Why Can’t I Get My Locker Open? I never read the book, but I identified with the feeling.
Satan has capitalized on those feelings since the beginning. When he came to tempt Adam and Eve, he questioned what God said, contradicted it, and insinuated that God didn’t really have their best in mind.
Perhaps that’s one reason Paul prays in Ephesians 3 that God would “grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” It’s interesting that the next well-known verse in that passage comes in this context: “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
God wants us to know and rest in His love.
Why?
Well, anyone who loves wants the other person to know it.
But also, when we’re secure in God’s love, we’ll be less inclined to believe Satan’s lies. We can go forward through whatever trial is ahead knowing God is with us and has allowed it for some good purpose. We can obey Him because we know He is good, righteous, kind, and loving. We can love others out of the overflow of God’s love to us.
So how can we remind ourselves of God’s love when we might not feel it?
Remember what He did to save you. God would not have put up with all He did throughout humanity’s history, and Jesus would not have come to earth to live and die for us, if they did not love us. John 3:16, probably the most famous Bible passage in the world, tells us, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
God’s law convicted me of my sin and showed me my need for a Savior. But it was His love that drew me, that convinced me He would receive me. He loved me when I was still in sin, His enemy, and uninterested. “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Chas. H. Gabriel expressed this beautifully in his hymn “He Lifted Me”:
He called me long before I heard, Before my sinful heart was stirred, But when I took Him at His word, Forgiven, He lifted me.
From sinking sand He lifted me, With tender hand He lifted me, From shades of night to plains of light, O praise His name, He lifted me!
In Hosea, God says He drew Ephraim with “gentle cords, bands of love.” James Grindlay Small captures this in “I’ve Found a Friend”:
I’ve found a Friend, oh, such a Friend! He loved me ere I knew Him; He drew me with the cords of love, And thus He bound me to Him. And round my heart still closely twine Those ties which naught can sever, For I am His, and He is mine, Forever and forever.
Get to know God better. Jesus said, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). Eternal life begins with knowing God. But we come to know Him increasingly more through our lives. We learn about Him from nature and other people, but the primary way of knowing Him better is through His Word. The more we know Him, the more we rest in His character and love.
Remember how He has blessed you. I’ve mentioned before “Ebenezers,” those times in your life when you especially saw God move and work in your behalf.
Meditate on His Word. I’ve referred to a few verses about God’s love. Here are a few more:
The LORD delights in you (Isaiah 62:4).
Can a woman forget her nursing child,that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?Even these may forget,yet I will not forget you.Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;your walls are continually before me.(Isaiah 49:15-16).
The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love (Psalm 147:11).
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness;he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing (Zephaniah 3:17).
But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Psalm 86:15).
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love (John 15:9).
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are (1 John 3:1).
In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:37-39).
May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. (2 Thessalonians 3:5).
Listen to Scripture-based songs about God’s love, or read the lyrics. I’ve mentioned a few already. Here are some more:
Could we with ink the ocean fill, And were the skies of parchment made; Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade; To write the love of God above Would drain the ocean dry; Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Though stretched from sky to sky.
Here is love, vast as the ocean, Loving-kindness as the flood, When the Prince of Life, our Ransom, Shed for us His precious blood. Who His love will not remember? Who can cease to sing His praise? He can never be forgotten, Throughout heav’n’s eternal days.
“How Deep the Father’s Love For Us” by Stuart Townend (This is still under copyright, so I won’t post its lyrics, but you can find them here).
“O Wondrous Love” by Steve and Vikki Cook is also still under copyright: the lyrics are here.
Loved with everlasting love, Led by grace that love to know; Spirit, breathing from above, Thou hast taught me it is so. Oh, this full and perfect peace! Oh, this transport all divine! In a love which cannot cease, I am His, and He is mine.
In heavenly love abiding, No change my heart shall fear; And safe is such confiding, For nothing changes here: The storm may roar without me, My heart may low be laid; But God is round about me, And can I be dismayed?
Remember God’s love and truth work hand in hand. Some people emphasize God’s love to the exclusion of His righteousness and holiness. They see God as a doddering old grandfather who overlooks any wrongdoing and slips them sweets when their mother isn’t looking. They don’t understand that God is a God of truth as well as love, that it wouldn’t be loving of Him to let us go on in our sin without chastening.
A loving parent has to say no sometimes, or require hard things. A child might feel the parent would show more love by giving everything the child wants or making life easy. But that kind of behavior is selfish rather than loving, wanting the child’s approval (or wanting to avoid a tantrum) instead of doing what would build the child’s character.
Remember God’s love is based on His character, not ours. When we’re doing what we’re supposed to, we “feel” loved by God. But when we fall and fail, we feel maybe His love has dimmed a little, if not evaporated.
But the Bible tells us that “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust (Psalm 103:13-14). Verse 17 goes on to say, “But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him.”
He chastens us like a father because He loves us (Hebrew 12:5-11).
Though John 3:16 says God loves the world, that doesn’t mean the whole world has automatically become His. Some reject or ignore God’s love and gifts.
“God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11-12).
If you do know God, rest in His love, remind yourself of it often.
May you “come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 John 4:16).
In the USA, we’ve just celebrated Thanksgiving. Deliberately set for the time just after harvest, the holiday traditionally called for joy and thankfulness when provisions for the next year had been safely gathered in.
Though not everyone farms or gardens these days, we still use this time to remind ourselves just how blessed we are. Those who know the Lord, and even some who don’t, thank God for what He has given.
But I’ve learned from farming friends and history that not all harvests are created equal. One can do everything possible to raise a crop, but one can’t make anything grow. Bad weather, drought, insect invasion, or plant disease can diminish, if not totally wipe out a crop.
Some Thanksgiving seasons find us overflowing with burdens rather than blessings.
What then?
It’s relatively easy to thank God in times of health and plenty. But in times of want, illness, or sorrow, are we exempt from thanking God?
I think of Philippians 4:11-12, where Paul says, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.”
Content in all things? Even in hunger or need?
Why would God allow His children to suffer need?
To convict of sin. Often in the Old Testament, when Israel looked to idols or other countries for help instead of God, God allowed them to suffer need. This wasn’t vindictive or petty. In love, God had to let them see that other sources they looked to were useless and powerless. This doesn’t mean every trial or need comes because one has sinned. But trials provide a good opportunity to see if any sin is hindering God from answering our prayers.
To sanctify and humble us. Paul said his thorn in 2 Corinthians 12 was given “to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations” given to him.
To help us grow. In John 15, Jesus said He was the vine, his Father the vinedresser, and we’re the branches. Then He said, “Every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (verse 2). I’m not good with plants, but I have discovered the truth of this principle. Many plants don’t grow as they should if they’re not cut back at times.Trimming the branches helps the plants grow not only more healthy, but more blooms. So when God removes something from our lives, we grow in ways we would not have without that pruning.
To bring us to maturity. James i:2-4 says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
To turn our hearts to what is most important. At the end of Israel’s years in the wilderness, God told them, “You shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 8:2-3).
As a testimony that we don’t serve Him just for His blessings. That’s what Satan accused Job of: that Job only served God because God had blessed him so much. Take away his blessings, Satan urged, and Job will curse You (Job 1). Job went through a rough time and questioned God, but he didn’t turn away from Him in faithlessness.
Elisabeth Elliot wrote in her September/October 1984 newsletter (which was later published in Keep a Quiet Heart), “It had to be proved to Satan, in Job’s case, that there is such a thing as obedient faith which does not depend on receiving only benefits. Jesus had to show the world that He loved the Father and would, no matter what happened, do exactly what He said. The servant is not greater than his Lord. When we cry ‘Why, Lord?’ we should ask instead, ‘Why not, Lord? Shall I not follow my Master in suffering as in everything else?’ Does our faith depend on having every prayer answered as we think it should be answered, or does it rest rather on the character of a sovereign Lord?”
She goes on to say, “Genuine faith is–the kind of faith that overcomes the world because it trusts and obeys, no matter what the circumstances. The world does not want to be told. The world must be shown.”
You might think, “Okay, I can see why God might allow us to suffer need sometimes. But how can I be content even then? I have a hard enough time being content even when everything is going well.”
In the Philippians 2 passage mentioned earlier, where Paul speaks of being content in every situation, whether in plenty or need, he follows that statement with a verse that we take out of context and apply to everything else: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
I’ve found it amusing when two Christian ball teams claim Philippians 1:13 as they compete against each other. They’re thinking of it in terms of winning. But one team will need His strength to lose well.
In 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, Paul shares that he prayed three times for God to remove his “thorn in the flesh,” whatever that actually entailed. But God did not remove the difficulty. Instead, he promised, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (NKJV).
Paul’s response? He didn’t whine, “That’s not fair.” He didn’t get angry. He said, “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Perhaps that’s the main reason God sometimes lets us suffer need: to cause us to rely on Him.
This doesn’t mean we never seek help or take measures to deal with our needs. But we realize God is the giver of all good gifts. We can’t do anything without Him. He’s promised to meet all our needs. We don’t have to worry and fret: we can rest in His care and timing.
One time I experienced these things was minor in the grand scheme of things, but major at the time. I was getting ready to leave for a writer’s conference and prayed for a good night’s sleep. I wasn’t consciously nervous, at least not like I had been the first time I went. But I only got about an hour’s sleep all night. I tossed, turned, went to the couch, tried all my usual tricks like listening to soft music, prayed and prayed and prayed. Yet sleep wouldn’t come.
I got up around 4:30 and took a shower. I had a three-hour drive ahead of me, but knew it wasn’t safe to get behind the week in the state I was in. I had asked the Lord to search my heart for anything amiss and to help me know if this was His way of telling me not to go. I decided to try to take a nap in my desk chair and asked God to multiply my sleep like the loaves and fishes so it would be enough.
I woke up and headed out. I missed the opening session, but it wasn’t critical, and I had a wonderful time at the conference.
However, I was still confused, and even hurt, to tell the truth, that God had not answered my prayer for a good night’s sleep.
Over the next few days, some of these principles came to mind and helped. Then I realized God had answered my prayer—just not in the way I expected. The sleep I got was sufficient for my needs, even though it normally would not have been.
I’m still not sure why God allowed things to happen just that way. All I know is, sometimes He brings us to the end of ourselves so that all we can do is lay our need before Him. When we look to Him alone, He gives us the strength and grace we need.
“To give thanks is not the same as ‘feeling thankful.’ To give thanks in the midst of pain and problems is to take a step of faith based on the command of1 Thessalonians 5:18: God tells us to give thanks in all circumstances (not just those we can handle or feel on top of). For what things can you give thanks, even while you’re hurting?“
Joni Eareckson Tada, A Thankful Heart in a World of Hurt
Though the world is full of trouble, and we have trials and problems, God has given us much to be thankful for. He is with those who believe on Him and promises to give us everything we need. He blesses us beyond measure.
Stray Thoughts 