Category Archives: Thoughts From Scripture

“With one look at self…”

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In the e-mail devotional of Elisabeth Elliot‘s writing that I received this morning, there was an excerpt from her book, Keep a Quiet Heart, which told of a letter her father received from an old missionary friend, E.L. Langston, concerning some troubles that Elisabeth’s father was facing. After discussing the probability of spiritual opposition, Mr. Langston went on to discuss the discouragement that can “come from the flesh and self-introspection.” He went on to say,

“It is good for us to look at self and know how loathsome it is, but with one look at self we must take ten looks at Christ….”

How true that is. We are called to examine ourselves and take what we find there to the cross, but too much morbid introspection can be discouraging. We need to “turn our eyes upon Jesus.”

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. II Corinthians 3:18.

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith…Hebrews 12:2a.

Praying when you don’t feel like it

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From today’s reading in Joy and Strength:

Praying in Spite of Yourself by Mary Wilder Tileston

Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it.
–MALACHI 1:13

My soul cleaveth unto the dust; quicken Thou me according to Thy word.
–PSALMS 119:25

Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
–EPHESIANS 5:14

THERE are some who give up their prayers because they have so little feeling in their prayers–so little warmth of feeling. But who told us that feeling was to be a test of prayer? The work of prayer is a far too noble and necessary work to be laid aside for any lack of feeling. Press on, you who are dry and cold in your prayers, press on as a work and as a duty, and the Holy Spirit will, in His good time, refresh your prayers Himself.
–ARTHUR F. WINNINGTON INGRAM

Yielding

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I just finished reading Romans several days ago and Galatians this morning, and truths from both of them were in my thoughts.

There are two verses in Romans 6 that talk about yielding:

“Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God” (Romans 6:13).

“Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Romans 6:16).

While I understood and agreed with those verses, there was one aspect that troubled me in regard to my “besetting sins,” and that was the word “yield.” I was thinking of it as a synonym for “let” — in other words, don’t let yourself sin, but let yourself do right. “Let” seemed appropriate for yielding to sinful impulses — it is all too easy to let the flesh do what it wants to do — but it seemed I couldn’t just “let” myself do right. I rather needed to make myself do right, often with a lot of prayer and struggling with the flesh (remember, this is in the context of those “besetting sins” I have a continual problem with).

Tied in with those verses from Romans was this one from Galatians 5:16-17 that I just read this morning:

“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”

I thought of the word “walk” in terms of taking a series of steps, and walking in the Spirit as taking those steps under the Holy Spirit’s control and direction while verse 17 acknowledges that confluict between flesh and Spirit.

A picture came to my mind of coming up to a yield sign in traffic. What do you do when you see a yield sign? You put on the brakes and you let the people in the other lane have the right of way.

And suddenly it became clear: the whole idea of yielding to God involved stepping on the brakes of my flesh and letting Him have His way, not just in the big decisions of life, but my everyday walk and choices.

I don’t know if that distinction helps or makes sense to anyone else, but it was a light bulb moment for me.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o’er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit ’till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me.

– Ad­e­laide A. Poll­ard

(Photo courtesy of FreeFoto.com.)

Book Review: The Longing

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The Longing is the third installment in The Courtship of Nellie Fisher series by Beverly Lewis. I reviewed the first book, The Parting, here and the second, The Forbidden, here.

In the previous books, Nellie Fisher’s parents and several others in the community have embraced the truth of salvation. Their bishop has allowed an unusual time of for people to think and make up their minds, but that time is over, and everyone who has embraced the gospel is under the ban, which divides some families.

Nellie came to know the Lord in the previous book, dividing her from her Old Order beau, Caleb. Caleb’s father, a stubborn, authoritarian man, has disinherited Caleb for his involvement with Nellie, so now Caleb is without both his land and his girl, living with his grandparents.

Then suddenly Caleb’s father has a tragic accident — he is kicked in the head by a mule and becomes paralyzed. He calls Caleb home to help the family but makes it clear their relationship is not restored.

Caleb’s cousin, Chris, whose family became Christians years before and transferred to a Mennonite church, comes to help Caleb with the farm chores and in the mean time gets to know Nellie May, not knowing of Caleb’s previous involvement with her.

Nellie’s heart breaks for Caleb, yet his family shuns her family’s offers of help, so they still have no contact. Chris becomes more of a presence in her life, and she is attracted to him, delighting in the fact that they share the same faith, yet they live in different worlds, and she is not sure which, if either of them, would be willing to cross over to the other.

Meanwhile Nellie’s sister, Rhoda, has left home to deliberately go into the world, and Nellie’s friend, Rosanna, who has been unable to maintain a pregnancy and who suffered an unspeakable loss when the woman who gave Rosanna her twins to raise decided she wanted them back, finds herself once again pregnant and faces the fears and sorrow of what she feels will surely be another loss.

In previous series by Lewis, one or two family members would come to faith in Christ, trusting His grace rather than their own works, and either would have to leave home, or would remain quietly trying to be a witness as they were able. In this series, the father was the first to believe rather than the one opposing newfound faith. I was delighted to find in the author’s notes that this story was based on an actual revival in Lancaster Count, Pennsylvania, in the 1960s.

I rejoiced in the new believers’ steps of faith, their kind yet firm stand on the truth, and the joy and seriousness in the way they live out their faith.

Semicolon hosts a weekly roundup of book reviews on Saturadays, and Callapidder Days has a place here for those involved in the Fall Into Reading challenge to post their reviews here. They are both good sources for learning more about books you might be interested in or getting ideas for new books to read.

Peace Child

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I first encountered Peace Child by Don Richardson several years ago in the Reader’s Digest Book Section. I cut it out and kept it, but the pages aren’t stamped with the month and year like some magazine pages are now. When I was in college I also saw a film based on the book at Mission Prayer Band. I bought a new copy of the book after learning that these events took place in Indonesia, “next door” to where a missionary worked whom we supported.This missionary knew Don and some of the people he ministered to.

In the early 1950s, many tribes in the jungles of Indonesia were totally unevangelized and virtually untouched by the modern world. Though “primitive,” they were not at all unintelligent: they had developed many skills for living in the jungle and had many legends and elaborate rituals ripe with meaning that had developed over the years. The Sawi, whom Don Richardson came to work with, were headhunters and cannibals, as were many of the other tribes. The Lord opened the doors for these people to accept the missionaries through their thinking at first that white people (whom they called Tuan) weren’t quite human, though they knew they were different from the spirits; through rumor that the Tuan could “shoot fire” (with guns), and through gifts the missionaries brought of such things as axes, which could fell a tree in four strokes, whereas the hand-made stone axes required about 40 strokes.

Three communities or villages settled around the new Tuan. Don spent hours listening to them, learning their language and their customs, and trying to tell them of God’s truth about creation, the entrance of sin, the promise of Deliverer, and the life of Christ. But the Sawi weren’t used to listening to tales about other cultures and grew bored…until Don’s narrative got to Judas. They listened intently to the story of Judas’s close relationship with Christ and his betrayal. They whistled with admiration. In their culture treachery and deception were virtues, the admirable stuff of legends. They valued not just cold murder, but the “fattening with friendship” of an unsuspecting victim, then delighted in telling about the look of astonishment on his face when he realized they were about to kill and eat him. They thought Judas was the hero of the story. Don was astonished and chilled and tried to explain that the betrayal was evil, that Jesus was the Son of God. But he couldn’t get through. Don and his wife Carol knew that God had some way to reach this culture and “set [themselves] to hope for some revelation.”

The next day fighting broke out between the different villages. That day and in the days to come, Don urged peace. Sawi villages usually kept some distance from each other, and Don realized that by having three villages come together to settle near him, the villagers were constantly being provoked to battle. Finally he felt that he should leave and settle somewhere else so that the Sawi would not end up destroying themselves. The Sawi protested they did not want Don to leave. Discussions were touched off and leaders from both factions came to Don to assure him they would make peace.

The next day, the Sawi groups solemnly gathered. Don witnessed, to his amazement, a man from each of the warring groups bring one of his own children, with the mothers weeping, and exchange the children. Those in one group who would accept the child as a basis for peace were called to come and lay hands upon him, and the process was repeated in the other group. Then each child was taken to his new adoptive home. In a culture of violence and treachery, “at some point the Sawi had found a way to prove sincerity and establish peace…If a man would actually give his own son to his enemies, that man could be trusted.”

Don was horrified that his call for peace had caused this to happen, but soon began to see the parallels between the Sawi “peace child” and God’s sacrifice of His own Son. He began to tell them that Jesus was God’s own Peace Child to all men. Judas lost his status as hero because harming a peace child was one of the worst things someone could do. They began to see the inadequacy of their “best,” because peace in their culture only held as long as the peace child lived. When he died, old animosities could revive. But because Jesus rose again and was eternal, the peace He gave could never die.

It took many months for understanding and conviction to sink in, and even then they were afraid of angering the demons by departing from tradition. But when God enabled Don and Carol to revive a Sawi tribesman who was near death, the Sawi took this “as proof that the tuan’s God was powerful” and many began to believe.

Eventually more than half of the Sawi became believers, their language was reduced to writing, they were taught to read, the New Testament was translated, and some of the Sawi became teachers to their own people. Praise the Lord!!

As I have written before, some will criticize any attempt of other cultures to contact or influence primitive tribes. But, really, just as in the case of the Waodani, if no one had stepped in, the Sawi would most likely have eventually ceased to exist, because each treacherous act of one group against another would set off a series of revenge battles with many more being killed. The Richardsons were careful not to try to impose a Western church upon the Sawi culture.

Recently I searched for a copy of the film I saw of Peace Child so many years ago. I found and ordered a DVD of it and just rewatched it. I am amazed at how much of the story they packed into a 30-minute film. I can’t express what it does to my heart to see former cannibals at the end of the film singing gospel songs.

I would warn that the first several pages of the book describes a pretty ghastly deception and murder of one man to show by example what the Sawi culture was like. It is not gratuitous but it is graphic. I think this book would be perfectly suited for reading as a family or a class as well as for personal reading, but parents and teachers might want to preview that chapter to determine its appropriateness for the age level and personalities of their children. But I think anyone who reads it will get a glimpse into a missionary’s journey through adjustment to a different culture, perplexity in determining how best to share the gospel, the darkness of a culture without the Lord, and the amazing way God opens hearts and understanding to His truth. Stories like this are a part of the glorious fulfillment of the day John prophesies in Revelation 7:9-10: “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.”

Poetry Friday: Thy Sea Is Great

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When I was a teen-ager, I saw a plaque or poster with a stylized painting of a boat on the sea with the saying, “O Lord, Thy sea is so great, and my boat is so small.” That saying resonated with me on many levels. A few weeks ago my pastor quoted part of a poem with a similar saying as a recurring line. I searched online for it and found it was a hymn from Henry J. van Dyke in 1922.

815127_sunsetlake_2.jpg

O Maker of the mighty deep
Whereon our vessels fare,
Above our life’s adventure keep
Thy faithful watch and care.

In Thee we trust, whate’er befall;
Thy sea is great, our boats are small.

We know not where the secret tides
Will help us or delay,
Nor where the lurking tempest hides,
Nor where the fogs are gray.

In Thee we trust, whate’er befall;
Thy sea is great, our boats are small.

When outward bound we boldly sail
And leave the friendly shore,
Let not our heart of courage fail
Until the voyage is o’er.

In Thee we trust, whate’er befall;
Thy sea is great, our boats are small.

When homeward bound we gladly turn,
O bring us safely there,
Where harbor lights of friendship burn
And peace is in the air.

In Thee we trust, whate’er befall;
Thy sea is great, our boats are small.

Beyond the circle of the sea,
When voyaging is past,
We seek our final port in Thee;
O bring us home at last.

In Thee we trust, whate’er befall;
Thy sea is great, our boats are small.

Poetry Friday is hosted at The Miss Rumphius Effect today.

(Photo courtesy of the stock.xchng.)

(This is a repost from August 2007, resurrected for Poetry Friday.)

First lessons in trust

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Yesterday we had a consultation with the same orthodontist who shepherded my older two boys through their season of braces.

It seems Jesse has the complete opposite problem they did. They had overbites: he has a pretty pronounced underbite. His teeth have compensated by tipping inward: if they were straight, they would overlap his top teeth.

And that presents a problem: if they straighten the teeth without adjusting the skeletal problem of his jaw, he’d probably be worse off than leaving his bottom teeth crooked.

Thankfully the top teeth are pretty much ok, so when he smiles or when school pictures are taken it isn’t obvious he has anything wrong.

This particular type of problem is one that, when fixed orthodontically, can revert back if he grows significantly within the next few years. And at age 15, he probably does have a great deal more growing to do. So for now we wait and see what happens with his growth. They have their measurements from the x-rays they took, and we’ll go in about every six months to see how things are going. Once there has been no major growth within a six-month period, then we’re probably safe to start treatment.

Hopefully some of the jaw problem will grow in the right way. But if that doesn’t happen, or if the jaw situation gets worse…then we are looking at possible surgery to remove part of the jawbone. The doctor hopes that won;t be necessary, but felt he needed to mention the possibility in order to give us the complete picture. If he didn’t mention it now, and then brought up the need in a year, we would wonder why it hadn’t been mentioned.

I was wishing, however, that he hadn’t told me all of this in front of Jesse. I don’t want him to worry about the possibility for the next year especially when we can’t do a thing about it except wait and see how he grows.

As we got in the car afterward. I asked Jesse, “You’re not worried about the possibility of surgery are you?” He seemed to have taken it in stride.

But he answered, “Yeah, I kind of am.”

So we went back over what the doctor had said and discussed the need to pray about it and hope for the best, but to also trust the Lord that if He allows it, He will help us through it.

Later I got to thinking that this may well be the first major issue Jesse has had to pray and trust the Lord for. He’s too young to remember when I first got TM, and though we have prayed about things as a family and for our church and friends, and I have shared answers to prayer with the boys, but this is the first big thing to affect Jesse directly. And in the grand scheme of things, of course, it is not as big a deal as cancer or a heart transplant or that sort of thing, but, still, facing any surgery can be scary.

My heart’s desire all along for all of my boys has been that they develop their own relationship with the Lord. They have all made professions of faith and I think have seen the Lord work in our family. But part of that relationship is trusting the Lord through trial, or, in this case, learning to give the situation over to Him and trust Him for it while waiting for the outcome. In my desire as a parent to ease my children’s way through life, I can’t shield them from everything. And that is probably a good thing, because if I want them to be mature spiritually when they leave our home, they will have to go through some of these kinds of situations.

So, though if I had had the choice I would have shielded Jesse from the possibility of surgery, God in His wisdom allowed it as a first experience in learning to trust.

Alarmed and appalled

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Not long ago I discovered The Common Room from a link on someone else’s blog, but I don’t remember whose. But one thing I appreciate about The Common Room is links to and discussions of articles I otherwise would never find.

Several of the posts there recently have focused on an alarming increasing trend: the supposed “moral obligation” to do away with members of society who are less than fully functioning, particularly the demented elderly and preborn babies who have Down’s Syndrome or other disabilities. That there is a fringe element is no surprise, but in this article, Ed Morrisey writes:

In yet another revealing moment for nationalized health care, a highly respected British ethicist said that dementia sufferers should get euthanized in order to preserve resources for healthier people. Baroness Warnock, described as “Britain’s leading moral philosopher”, said that the government should license people to be “put down” and stop being a drain on society:

The veteran Government adviser said pensioners in mental decline are “wasting people’s lives” because of the care they require and should be allowed to opt for euthanasia even if they are not in pain.

She insisted there was “nothing wrong” with people being helped to die for the sake of their loved ones or society.

The 84-year-old added that she hoped people will soon be “licensed to put others down” if they are unable to look after themselves. …

Lady Warnock said: “If you’re demented, you’re wasting people’s lives – your family’s lives – and you’re wasting the resources of the National Health Service.

This is Britain’s “leading moral philosopher.”

In this post and this, The Common Room quotes an article saying:

Canadian doctor warns Sarah Palin’s decision to have Down baby could reduce abortions.

Sarah and Todd Palin’s decision to complete her recent pregnancy, despite advance notice that their baby Trig had Down syndrome, is hailed by many in the pro-life movement as walking the walk as well as talking the talk.

But a senior Canadian doctor is now expressing concerns that such a prominent public role model as the governor of Alaska and potential vice president of the United States completing a Down syndrome pregnancy may prompt other women to make the same decision against abortion because of that genetic abnormality. And thereby reduce the number of abortions.

As she says, this is the kind of reasoning that makes her call them pro-abortion rather than pro-choice.

There are several related posts there under the labels “disabilities” and “pro-life.”

Some would argue that the elderly and the disabled only live so long these days because of advanced technology, and if nature were allowed to take its course, that would not be the case. But if we allowed nature “to take its course” in every case, diabetics would die, as would those needing organ transplants, and we’d still be having polio outbreaks.

It is ironic that eugenic abortions are recommended now in this age when technology gives the disabled more ability to function than ever before, as this Common Room post says:

Christopher Nolan, poet, author, and wheelchair bound victim of Cerebral Palsy so severe he communicates only via keyboard writes of himself:

“‘A brain-damaged baby cannot ponder why a mother cannot communicate with it, and unless it gains parental love and stimulation it stymies, and thus retardation fulsomely establishes its soul-destroying seabed.’ Conscious of the breathtaking sacrifice involved in what his family did for him, yet he detected where destiny beckoned. The future for babies like him never looked more promising, but now society frowned upon giving spastic babies a right to life. Now they threatened to abort babies like him, to detect in advance their handicapped state, to burrow through the womb and label them for death, to baffle their mothers with fear for their coming, and yet, the spastic baby would ever be the soul which would never kill, maim, creed falsehood or hate brotherhood. Why then does society fear the crippled child…and why does it hail the able-bodied child and crow over what may in time become a potential executioner?”

Elsewhere in his writings young Christopher marvels at the age he lives in, recognizing that a hundred years ago a child like him would have been trapped in himself, unable to communicate beyond a rudimentary level with even the most doting of parents. He would scarcely have survived his childhood, and he certainly wouldn’t have published a book, spent any time in the public eye, or given national awards. The western cultural attitude towards disability is disturbing, especially given the technological advances that give the disabled lives they didn’t even survive to dream about in previous centuries.

I suppose those who believe in evolution would classify this as “survival of the fittest,” although in the animal kingdom I think that generally refers to the fact that the weaker usually don’t survive long rather than the stronger actually doing away with the weak of their own kind.

But don’t even those who believe in evolution believe man is more highly evolved than a wolf pack? Do they not regard compassion and mercy as desirable traits?

Conversely, those who believe in creation believe that God has a purpose for every life. “God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty” (I Corinthians 1:27b). We are instructed to “comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men” (I Thessalonians 5:14b), not do away with them.

What purpose could God possibly have for disabled or demented people? See my previous posts titled With All Our Feebleness, Why Am I Still Here? and Scriptural Reasons For Suffering,  Jason Jantz’s Fourteen Reasons For Fourteen Years, where he shares perspectives of what God accomplished through the fourteen years his brother lived in a persistent vegetative state after an accident, Michael G. Franc’s article “Your Brother Is a Blessing,” and The Common Room’s “Quality of Life, Quality of Mercy” about her own disabled daughter.

Book Review: Jessie

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Jessie by Lori Wick features the single mom/storekeeper of Token Creek, the community setting for Lori’s Big Sky Dreams series. We’ve seen Jessie in the previous two books as the independent and kind yet unbelieving storekeeper with two young daughters, but the story in this book begins begins before her marriage, details why her husband left, and then comes up to the current time in the other books when he unexpectedly comes back to town wanting to pick up the responsibilities he abandoned. Unbeknownst to Jessie, Her husband Seth got into a lot of trouble on the wrong side of the law, but believed on the Lord, and now wants to make things in his life right. Jessie naturally has trust issues and a conflict with Seth’s new faith. Her girls are delighted to have a father in their lives, but Seth struggles with exactly how to be a father to them.

This book is vintage Lori Wick, so if you like her other books I am sure you will like this one. I have appreciated that she has tackled different issues than what you usually find in Christian fiction in this series and handled them with grace and good taste.

This post will be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books, where each weekend you can find links to a multitude of book reviews.

Elisabeth Elliot: A Quiet Heart

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This is an excerpt from Elisabeth Elliot’s book Keep A Quiet Heart which was also sent yesterday as a part of Back to the Bible’s e-mail devotionals from Elisabeth’s writings.

A Quiet Heart

Jesus slept on a pillow in the midst of a raging storm. How could He? The terrified disciples, sure that the next wave would send them straight to the bottom, shook Him awake with rebuke. How could He be so careless of their fate?

He could because He slept in the calm assurance that His Father was in control. His was a quiet heart. We see Him move serenely through all the events of His life–when He was reviled, He did not revile in return. When He knew that He would suffer many things and be killed in Jerusalem, He never deviated from His course. He had set His face like flint. He sat at supper with one who would deny Him and another who would betray Him, yet He was able to eat with them, willing even to wash their feet. Jesus in the unbroken intimacy of His Father’s love, kept a quiet heart.

None of us possesses a heart so perfectly at rest, for none lives in such divine unity, but we can learn a little more each day of what Jesus knew–what one writer called the negligence of that trust which carries God with it. Who would think of using the word negligence in regard to our Lord Jesus? To be negligent is to omit to do what a reasonable man would do. Would Jesus omit that? Yes, on occasion, when faith pierced beyond reason.

This “negligent” trust–is it careless, inattentive, indolent? No, not in His case. Jesus, because His will was one with His Father’s, could be free from care. He had the blessed assurance of knowing that His Father would do the caring, would be attentive to His Son’s need. Was Jesus indolent? No, never lazy, sluggish, or slothful, but He knew when to take action and when to leave things up to His Father. He taught us to work and watch but never to worry, to do gladly whatever we are given to do, and to leave all else with God.

Purity of heart, said Kierkegaard, is to will one thing. The Son willed only one thing: the will of His Father. That’s what He came to earth to do. Nothing else. One whose aim is as pure as that can have a completely quiet heart, knowing what the psalmist knew: “Lord, You have assigned me my portion and my cup, and have made my lot secure” (Psalm 16:5 NIV). I know of no greater simplifier for all of life. Whatever happens is assigned. Does the intellect balk at that? Can we say that there are things which happen to us which do not belong to our lovingly assigned “portion” (This belongs to it, that does not”)? Are some things, then, out of the control of the Almighty?

Every assignment is measured and controlled for my eternal good. As I accept the given portion other options are cancelled. Decisions become much easier, directions clearer, and hence my heart becomes inexpressibly quieter.

What do we really want in life? Sometimes I have the chance to ask this question of high school or college students. I am surprised at how few have a ready answer. Oh, they could come up with quite a long list of things, but is there one thing above all others that they desire? “One thing have I desired of the Lord,” said David, “this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life…” (Psalm 27:4 KJV). To the rich young man who wanted eternal life Jesus said, “One thing you lack. Go, sell everything” (Mark 10:21 NIV). In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus tells us that the seed which is choked by thorns has fallen into a heart full of the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things. The apostle Paul said, “One thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:13-14 NIV).

A quiet heart is content with what God gives. It is enough. All is grace. One morning my computer simply would not obey me. What a nuisance. I had my work laid out, my timing figured, my mind all set. My work was delayed, my timing thrown off, my thinking interrupted. Then I remembered. It was not for nothing. This was part of the Plan (not mine, His). “Lord, You have assigned me my portion and my cup.”

Now if the interruption had been a human being instead of an infuriating mechanism, it would not have been so hard to see it as the most important part of the work of the day. But all is under my Father’s control: yes, recalcitrant computers, faulty transmissions, drawbridges which happen to be up when one is in a hurry. My portion. My cup. My lot is secure. My heart can be at peace. My Father is in charge. How simple!

My assignment entails my willing acceptance of my portion-in matters far beyond comparison with the trivialities just mentioned, such as the death of a precious baby. A mother wrote to me of losing her son when he was just one month old. A widow writes of the long agony of watching her husband die. The number of years given them in marriage seemed too few. We can only know that Eternal Love is wiser than we, and we bow in adoration of that loving wisdom.

Response is what matters. Remember that our forefathers were all guided by the pillar of cloud, all passed through the sea, all ate and drank the same spiritual food and drink, but God was not pleased with most of them. Their response was all wrong. Bitter about the portions allotted they indulged in idolatry, gluttony, and sexual sin. And God killed them by snakes and by a destroying angel.

The same almighty God apportioned their experience. All events serve His will. Some responded in faith. Most did not.

“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV).

Think of that promise and keep a quiet heart! Our enemy delights in disquieting us. Our Savior and Helper delights in quieting us. “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you” is His promise (Is 66:13, NIV). The choice is ours. It depends on our willingness to see everything in God, receive all from His hand, accept with gratitude just the portion and the cup He offers. Shall I charge Him with a mistake in His measurements or with misjudging the sphere in which I can best learn to trust Him? Has He misplaced me? Is He ignorant of things or people which,in my view, hinder my doing His will?

God came down and lived in this same world as a man. He showed us how to live in this world, subject to its vicissitudes and necessities, that we might be changed-not into an angel or a storybook princess, not wafted into another world, but changed into saints in this world. The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.

He whose heart is kind beyond all measure
Gives unto each day what He deems best,
Lovingly its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.
–Lina Sandell, Swedish

Sorry for the length — I really am aware of the need to make my blog posts shorter — but there was just nothing I could cut out.

Though I have read the book before, parts of it multiple times, and frequently given a copy as a gift, this entry really struck home. I read it again today.

I seem to be able to trust in the Lord’s wisdom and control more for the major trials of life than for the little everyday irritations like getting stuck in traffic or dealing with malfunctioning technology. Even though on one level I know the Lord is in control and has a reason for everything He does and allows, there is still part of me that chafes under certain circumstances that seem like such a waste of time and energy. But even those He allows, and I need to rest and trust in Him. “The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.”