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.
I was talking with a friend recently about how, with all God’s blessings and all we have to be thankful for, we should be overflowing with gratitude.
Instead, we often have to “make” ourselves stop and think about thankfulness.
Oh, sometimes we’re spontaneously inspired to praise God when we see a beautiful sunset, or when someone does something unexpected for us. We love that Thanksgiving gives us an opportunity to focus on our blessings. Some even post on blogs or social media something they are grateful for every day in November.
Those are all good practices.
But what about the rest of the year? How can we overcome the distraction of everyday cares and duties to be intentionally thankful?
Here are a few ideas:
Read the Bible regularly. Not only will we see multitudes of things to be thankful for, but we’ll see examples of how people thanked God. The admonition to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” in Colossians 3:16-17 is sandwiched between verses telling us to be thankful, suggesting a connection.
Some years ago I did a Thanksgiving Bible Study that turned out to be a big blessing. Just looking up a few verses with “thanks” or “thanksgiving” in a concordance will inspire us.
The psalmists talk about their problems, confusion, and pain, but the psalms are threaded through with hope and praise. The last several psalms especially focus on praising the Lord in just about every manner possible.
Psalm 145 is one of many that shares the two main categories of things we praise God for: who He is, and what He has done. The first seven verses say:
I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. 2 Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. 3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.
4 One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. 5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. 6 They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. 7 They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
Pray. We can ask God to open our hearts to see the ways He has blessed us and help us not to just mention them rotely, but to be truly thankful. It helps, also, to turn psalms or thanksgiving passages into prayer.
Some incorporate a regular time for giving thanks in their prayer time. Some use the acronym A.C.T.S.:
A: Adoration, praise C: Confession of sin T: Thanksgiving S: Supplication, or requests
Say thank you to God immediately.We’re taught from an early age to say thank you when someone gives to us or does for us. Why not do that with God in real time all through the day?
Thank you for this good parking space!
Thank you for helping me see that unadvertised markdown on pork chops at the store.
Thank you for helping that difficult conversation go well.
What beautiful tiny flowers by the sidewalk. Thank you for creating them and putting them here for me to see. What artistry You put even in a small gathering of blooms.
We don’t have to wait untll our official prayer time to mention these things. We’d likely forget most of them then. But we can keep up a running conversation with God all through the day.
Recall blessings as you fall asleep. I used to listen to music as I fell asleep. More recently, I set my audiobook timer. But as Bing Crosby crooned in the movie White Christmas, we can “Count your blessings instead of sheep.” I don’t know if the songwriter had the psalms in mind, but David wrote, “My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night;for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy” (Psalm 63:5-7).
Start a gratitude journal. Some like to keep a running record of what they are thankful for. This has two advantages. Writing them down helps reinforce them in our minds, and we’re blessed again when we later peruse our written records.
Recount your Ebenezers, In 1 Samuel 7, Samuel set up a stone to commemorate the Lord’s help, calling it an “Ebenezer,” which means “stone of help.” Some years ago I was encouraged to make a list of those special times in life when I especially saw God’s hand at work. As we tell stories of God’s faithfulness and blessings, we encourage ourselves and others.
Set times for thanksgiving. Some families make time on Thanksgiving Day for everyone to share something they are thankful about. Why not do this at intervals through the year?
Use music. Elisabeth Elliot wrote in On Asking God Why: “When I stumble out of bed in the morning, put on a robe, and go into my study, words do not spring spontaneously to my lips–other than words like, ‘Lord, here I am again to talk to you. It’s cold. I’m not feeling terribly spiritual….’ Who can go on and on like that morning after morning, and who can bear to listen to it day after day?”
She goes on to say that two things helped her. One was the book of psalms. She writes of David: “He found expression for praise far beyond my poor powers, so I use his and am lifted out of myself, up into heights of adoration, even though I’m still the same ordinary woman alone in the same little room.” The other help was hymns. She cites a few and writes, “By putting into words things on earth for which we thank him, we are training ourselves to be ever more aware of such things as we live our lives. It is easy otherwise to be oblivious of the thousand evidences of his care.”
Many hymns contain thanksgiving, but they also have phrases that could be turned into prayers of thanks.
Here are a couple of my favorites:
“Thanks to God for My Redeemer” sung by the Sacred Music Services‘ men’s chorus.
“My Heart is Filled with Thankfulness” (written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. I don’t know the folks in the video, but I like this version).
What about when we don’t really feel thankful?
Thanksgiving isn’t a feeling; it’s an action. We can give God thanks whether we feel thankful or not. Usually, once we do, the feelings come.
And usually, once we start looking for things to thank God for, it’s hard to stop.
How about you? Do any of these practices resonate with you? Do you have other ways to be intentionally thankful through the year?
We probably all know what it’s like not to be chosen in some way.
Some of us were always among the last chosen for any kind of physical game. Others were chosen last for the spelling bee.
We might not have been chosen for cheerleader, class president, or homecoming queen. Perhaps the person we liked in college chose someone else.
As adults we might not get the expected promotion or desired assignment.
As writers, we watch others get agents or contracts or win contests while we don’t seem to be making any progress.
I thought of this in the contrasting reactions of Esau and Jonathan in the Bible. In the normal scheme of things, each would have succeeded his father as leader. But God chose someone else instead.
Esau was the oldest son in his family, a position of privilege and honor in Bible times. Yet before he and his twin brother, Jacob, were even born, God said “the older shall serve the younger” (Genesis 25:23). Neither of them were ideal sons, but this pronouncement was made before they had done anything.
What was Esau’s response when Jacob received the birthright and blessing that would normally have gone to Esau? He hated Jacob and planned to kill him after their father died. (Genesis 27:41). Granted, Jacob obtained those things by deception and manipulation rather than waiting for God’s timing. But Esau had shown by his previous actions where his values were.
Jonathan was the oldest son of Israel’s first king, Saul. God rejected Saul due to his disobedience (1 Samuel 15). Jonathan could have ranted and raved that it wasn’t his fault that his father disobeyed God. Jonathan had good character and a good reputation. Why not make him king instead of his father?
But Jonathan didn’t grouse and complain and whine. He protected David from the machinations of Saul.
Years later, David had his own “not chosen” moment.
David wanted to build a temple where people could worship God. Nathan, the prophet of God, thought that was a good idea.
But that night, God told Nathan that David was not to build the temple. One of his sons, Solomon, would. God had other things, great things in store for David.
Did David sulk? No, he responded in humility, thankfulness, and love. Then he did everything in his power to help and prepare Solomon.
What are some things we can learn from not being the chosen one?
Sometimes not being chosen has nothing to do with merit. Jonathan was a fine, godly young man. But God had chosen David to be the next king.
But sometimes not being chosen does result from one’s actions. Saul lost his kingship because of disobedience. He still could have repented and gotten right with God, even if he was never reinstated as king. But he didn’t. Others in Scripture were removed from their positions for disobedience as well.
God sets up one and puts down another (Psalm 75:6-7). Sometimes we’ve prayed hard and long for election results that did not go the way we thought they would. All we know is that God has the big picture in mind.
God gives gifts and abilities. Though I probably could have worked hard and improved in playing some athletic game, if I had wanted to, I would never have been a star athlete. My gifts were elsewhere.
One of my favorite passages tells how God gifted different people to do various kinds of work on the tabernacle, even down to those who worked with metal, wood, weaving, and embroidery. The New Testament lists different spiritual gifts God distributes to Christians. One of those passages is 1 Corinthians 12, where Paul goes on to compare the church to a body, where it would be strange if we were all eyes or hands. We need different parts of the body to perform their function.
God has a plan for us. He may have chosen someone else for the particular opportunity we had in mind. But that doesn’t mean we’re on the bench. We need to seek His will for us and serve in the capacity He brings before us.
We can help and support the chosen one. Just as Jonathan helped David and David helped Solomon, we can aid the person chosen to do what we wanted to do.
One of our former pastors said he viewed his position as that of Elisha, who “poured water on the hands of Elijah” (2 Kings 3:11). That phrase conveys service and attending to the needs of another. This associate pastor wanted to serve and help the senior pastor as much as he could.
We can be content in God’s will and calling. In the book On Asking God Why, Elisabeth Elliot tells of a time when missionary Amy Carmichael was to attend a missions conference with a dear friend, nicknamed Twin. But when she saw the list of assigned seats for dinner, Twin was to be seated next to another friend, Mina. Amy wrote to her family:
Well, I was very glad that dear Mina should have Twin, and I don’t think I grudged her to her one little bit, and yet at the bottom of my heart there was just a touch of disappointment, for I had almost fancied I had somebody of my very own again, and there was a little ache somewhere. I could not rejoice in it. . .I longed, yes longed, to be glad, to be filled with such a wealth of unselfish love that I should be far gladder to see those two together than I should have been to have had Twin to myself. And while I was asking for it, it came. For the very first time I felt a rush, a real joy in it, His joy, a thing one cannot pump up or imitate or force in any way. . .Half-unconsciously, perhaps, I had been saying, ‘Thou and Twin are enough for me’–one so soon clings to the gift instead of only to the Giver.
It’s all about God’s glory and purposes. When Israel was going to fight against the Midianites who were oppressing them, God told Gideon his army was too big (Judges 7). They would be proud and attribute their win to their own abilities. God told Gideon to tell everyone who was afraid to go home: 22,000 did, leaving 10,000 still ready to fight. God said that was still too many. He sent them all to some nearby water to get a drink. Some of the men bent down and lapped the water like a dog. Others knelt down and cupped the water into their hands to drink. I’ve heard many sermons where the preacher read between the lines and proposed all kinds of reasons why God chose one group over the other. But that’s just speculation. The Bible doesn’t give us God’s reasoning. Personally, I think God just chose whichever group was the smallest. The 300 who lapped went on and won a miraculous victory that showcased God’s power, not their own.
Amy Carmichael’s original ministry in India involved evangelizing women. God used her remarkably in that capacity. Then she learned that little girls were being sold into temple prostitution. Elisabeth Elliot writes that Amy “prayed that God would enable her to find a way to rescue some of them, even though not one had ever been known to escape. Several years later, God began to answer that prayer…and in a few years Amy Carmichael was Amma (“Mother”) to a rapidly growing Indian family that, by the late 1940s, numbered about 900.” Amy struggled a bit with the fact that this ministry to girls (which later included boys) was quite different from what she had been doing. She was even criticized in some corners. But she felt that teaching, training, protecting, and taking care of children was only a different ministry, not lesser one.
Elisabeth Elliot wrote this about jobs, but it’s true for positions and ministries and opportunities as well:
This job has been given to me to do. Therefore, it is a gift. Therefore, it is a privilege. Therefore, it is an offering I may make to God. Therefore, it is to be done gladly, if it is done for Him. Here, not somewhere else, I may learn God’s way. In this job, not in some other, God looks for faithfulness.
In a sense, we’re all chosen. We may not have gotten what we originally wanted. But for those who trust in Christ’s saving work on the cross to atone for their sins, “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). Whether we serve out in front or in obscurity, in a desired or unwanted position, with people who love us or people who try us, we can serve God by His grace, for His honor and glory.
I’m not sure I like the term “empty nest” as a description of life when children grow up and leave home.
Have you ever seen a used empty nest?
Some type of little brown birds used to build a nest every year on top of the corner post of the porch. We could watch their life cycle from our front door: the parents building the nest, the mother sitting, the babies growing and straining their beaks toward the food brought by the parents.
Finally, the parent birds would fly to a nearby bush and call for the babies to come. The babies didn’t move from the nest at first. But eventually, one by one, they flew off.
When we were sure they weren’t coming back, we’d take the nest down and brush away the debris of broken twigs and bird droppings from the post. The nest itself was a mess, as four or five baby birds lived there for weeks without a designated spot for relieving themselves.
Mother bird and I share similarities of raising a flock who have successfully gone on to live independently as adults. But that tattered, speckled, messy weaving of twigs doesn’t match up with how I envision my home or life after grown children leave.
As my oldest sons approached adulthood, I wasn’t sure how I’d cope when they left home. I always felt being a wife and mother were my main responsibilities and priorities. How could such an intense relationship with daily interaction abruptly change? How could I suddenly flip a switch from full-time mother to a “retired” one?
Actually, it wasn’t such a sudden switch after all. From the time we first teach them to feed and dress themselves and become responsible, we show them how to start operating independently of us. As they learn to drive, become involved in youth group or music lessons or a part-time job, they spend more and more time away from us. They go to camp and then youth group mission trips. When they go away to college, they take first steps towards adult living while coming home for breaks. (Even though mine commuted to college while living at home, they spent their days and evenings away.)
So by the time kids leave home, they and their parents have had some experience being separated.
Still, that initial move away from home is hard. My middle son left first, getting married a couple of months after college graduation. It didn’t hit me until he started bringing home boxes to pack his stuff in. When I got teary, he made a sign that said “Sewing Room” and put it on his door.
Even though he didn’t live under our roof after marriage, he and his wife lived just a few minutes away, and we saw them frequently.
Then we found out that we were going to be the ones moving away when my husband’s job transferred him to TN.
My oldest lived at home for a while after graduation, not sure what his next steps should be. But when we found we were moving, he decided it was time to step out. He had several friends in RI, and one of them offered him a job.
So it felt like our “nest” emptied by two-thirds all at once, as we left my middle son and his wife in SC, and our oldest went to RI, and we moved to TN.
That was agonizingly hard for all of us.
My youngest son moved with us, finished high school, and attended college locally. He lived at home for a few more years, but moved out a couple of years ago. He’s not far away, thankfully, though he’s talking about (and I am praying against) possibly moving to Washington state or Canada.
So my “nest” has been officially empty for a few years now. Here are some thoughts that helped the transition.
Though our children don’t live at home any more, I have not stopped being a mother.
I miss the everyday hearing how their day went and knowing what they’re up to. But I’m abundantly thankful for texts, emails, and FaceTime.
Sometimes they ask advice, and I try to refrain from offering any unless asked.
We still see each other frequently.
I still pray for them, sometimes I think even more intensely.
Though wifing and mothering were my first priorities, they weren’t exclusive. How much to be involved in other things was always a struggle as my children were growing up. But I felt service, both within church and to individual people, was important. I wanted to serve, but I also wanted them to see service was a normal part of Christian life.
I also wanted them to see that hobbies and friendships with others outside the home were healthy.
I had things to look forward to when my kids moved out. Though I missed them, I enjoyed turning one of their bedrooms into a sewing/craft room. Not only was that fun, but it helped so much to have a place for all my materials, to work on projects, and to leave them out.
I look forward to writing more.
I enjoy being able to pick up and and go somewhere with my husband without concerns about babysitters or teenagers at home.
I could “mother”others. Titus 2 specifically instructs older women to teach and encourage younger women. Sometimes that happens via a formal mentoring situation; most often it happens through friendships and “doing life” together. Though we might not consider ourselves “older women” when the nest first empties, we’re older than someone and can encourage them along the way.
Phyllis Le Peau followed Jesus’ admonition “to feed the hungry, care for widows, and visit those in prison.” She found ways to serve in each of those areas.
My mother-in-law’s hospice chaplain had taken on that as well as a jail ministry in retirement years.
An older lady in our church took it upon herself to visit my mother-in-law a couple of times a month in assisted living. When we moved and my mother-in-law lived with us, one lady in the church wrote regular newsy notes.
I think older women are some of the best at what someone called the “ministry of the pew”–showing an interest and talking with others. At every church we visited in the last year and a half, there was always an older woman who went beyond “We’re glad to have you with us” to make us feel especially welcome.
God’s grace is sufficient for every need at hand. God will enable us to transition to the empty nest years when they arrive—not three years before. He is always with those who believe on Him. He created the family structure such that our children grow up, “leave father and mother,” and serve Him as adults. We can trust Him for our children as they leave the nest, and for ourselves as we serve Him in different ways.
I loved being a full-time mother. But God doesn’t want me to live with regret and longing for the past. He has something for me at each new stage of life.
Stray Thoughts 