Trials and the Blessing of God's Presence

Expect Trials to Multiply

Do not think that as you grow in grace your path will become smoother and the sky calmer and clearer. Quite the contrary. As God gives you greater skill as a soldier of the cross, He will send you on more difficult missions. As He more fully equips your ship to sail in storms, He will send you on longer voyages to more boisterous seas, so that you may honor Him and increase in holy confidence.
You would think that in Abraham's old age - after he had come to the land of Beulah, after the birth of Isaac, and especially after the expulsion of Ishmael - he would have had a time of rest. But "it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham" (Gen. 22:1). Let Abraham's story warn us to never plan on a rest from trials this side of the grave.
The trumpet still plays the notes of war. You cannot sit down and put the victory wreath on your head. You do not have a crown. You still must wear the helmet and carry the sword. You must watch, pray, and fight. Expect your last battle to be the most difficult, for the enemy's fiercest charge is reserved for the end of the day.

Lest that lead to discouragement and despair, Spurgeon reminds me that God is with me and so I may rejoice!

Blessed Beyond Measure

The greatest blessing God gives is His presence. If I could choose any of life's blessings, I certainly would not ask for wealth, because wealth cannot bring freedom from pain, concern, or anxiety. I certainly would not ask for popularity, because there is no rest for the world's leaders. My choice, my highest honor, would be to have God with me always.
When God is with us, there is no difference between Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace (Dan. 3:19) and a comfortable bed. It does not matter! We will be happy in either. If God is with us, if His divine love surrounds us, then we carry our own atmosphere and residence wherever we travel, and we can say with Moses, "Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations" (Ps. 90:1). The individual who can say this is full of heaven, full of God, and blessed beyond measure. This is the privilege of all who truly believe in Jesus, of all who come out from the world, and of all who, like Abraham, live a life of faith (Gen. 12:4). Bow your head, believer, and let the Lord God pronounce this blessing, "I will bless you."
If you are sorrowing, suffering, weary, or burdened, receive this blessing from God's own mouth, "I will bless you."
If you are poor, despised, or slandered, this blessing is not shortened. Take it with you, and go on your way rejoicing.

(Thanks to my friend Teresa for giving me a copy of these.)

photo: home - November, 2007

The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength

For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law. Then he said to them, "Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved." And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them. - Nehemiah 8:9-12

This is the day that the LORD has made;

let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24

photo: Conestoga Gardens, 2010

Identity

My identity is not found in anything other than Christ. God is my Father, and I belong to him. My roles and relationships do not define me, so when I struggle with them I can still be secure and unwavering in my faith. I am God's daughter. I belong to Him. And there is great comfort in that.

I need to own my identity in Christ and let my lesser associations fall into place far beneath. What will this look like? It looks like having peace in situations when I am misunderstood, because God understands me more than I understand myself - and still loves me despite my great sin! It looks like not being paralyzed with fear of man or seeking after an idol of approval. It looks like being faithful to what God is clearly calling me to in each moment, trusting him to enable me and trusting him for everything outside of the moment. It looks like forsaking anxiety by handing him my future, no matter if it holds more difficulty. It looks like embracing him as my treasure, delight, and ultimate center of everything. When I look to him and then see my identity as his child, I have hope for my circumstances and relationships. Why? Because I already have everything I need in Christ.

This realization that my identity is "child of God" makes me want to commune with him in prayer. When I have desires, it pleases him that I should bring them to him. When I see God as the loving Father that he is, I cannot help but want to talk with him and "bring him into my day." Even though he already knows everything, I delight to open my heart to him, and he delights in me!

What a sweet thing it is to be called a child of God!

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" - Romans 8:15

photo: Mya R. - May, 2010

Hope for Communication

God graciously made a connection for me on the way home from Theos (a Vital Life course at church) tonight. The class was on the communicable attributes of God.

If God condescends so much to communicate himself to lowly humans, is he not also able to help those lowly humans communicate with one another?

See also Romans 8:32.

photo: Grand Canal in Venice, Italy 2007

Father, I Know That All My Life

Father, I know that all my life is portioned out for me,

And the changes that are sure to come I do not fear to see;

But I ask Thee for a present mind intent on pleasing Thee.

I ask Thee for a thoughtful love, through constant watching wise,

To meet the glad with joyful smiles, and to wipe the weeping eyes;

And a heart at leisure from itself, to soothe and sympathize.

I would not have the restless will that hurries to and fro,

Seeking for some great thing to do or secret thing to know;

I would be treated as a child, and guided where I go.

Wherever in the world I am, in whatsoe'er estate,

I have a fellowship with hearts to keep and cultivate;

And a work of lowly love to do for the Lord on Whom I wait.

So I ask Thee for daily strength, to none that ask denied,

And a mind to blend with outward life, while keeping at Thy side;

Content to fill a little space, if Thou be glorified.

And if some things I do not ask in my cup of blessing be,

I would have my spirit filled the more with grateful love to Thee,

More careful, not to serve Thee much, but to please Thee perfectly.

There are briers besetting every path that call for patient care;

There is a cross in every lot, and an earnest need for prayer;

But a lowly heart that leans on Thee is happy anywhere.

In a service which Thy will appoints there are no bonds for me;

For my inmost heart is taught "the truth" that makes thy children "free."

And a life of self renouncing love is a life of liberty.

-Anna L. Waring

photo: St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, Germany

2007 (Johann Sebastian Bach)

Motivation for Living

When we're only scraping by, we work for shelter, heat, and a good cheesesteak. But if we're a multimillionaire, we work for pleasure. With all financial needs resolved, work isn't something we have to do, but something we get to do.

It's the same with our ambitions. As the great theologian B.B. Warfield said, "The one antithesis of all the ages is that between the rival fromulae: Do this and live, and Live and do this; Do and be saved, and be saved and do." In Christ we live - therefore we do, and do gladly. . . .

Much as I'd like to, I'll probably never shoot close to par in my life again. More importantly, there are many other things I want to do and should do that will never get done. And there are things I'll do that I may regret. But I don't struggle with fear or guilt over that, and I certainly know better than to try to atone for my failure - on the golf course or anywhere else.

My confidence is in the completed round of another - the Perfect Man, Jesus Christ, my Savior. Like J. Gresham Machen, I know my hope is in his perfect obedience, both for this life of spotty performance and the next life of eternal glory (emphasis added).

-Dave Harvey, Rescuing Ambition, pages 60-61

which will proper

As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.
In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good. - Ecclesiastes 1:5-6

My dad noticed something in these verses. They do not give an option of nothing prospering, only which (this or that) or both. That can be encouraging when you see nothing but failure and fatigue - no fruit, growth, progress, or prospering from your labors in life. But what's even more encouraging to me is that I do not "know the work of God who makes everything."

For my thoughts are not your thoughts; neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. - Isaiah 55:8.

I'm so glad my hope is outside of myself.

photo: fortress in Salzburg, Austria 2007

Sin and Salvation in Serving

Feelings of bitterness or resentment that arise in me in relation to serving are red flags that reveal something even deeper in my heart. Of course bitterness and resentment are sinful, but how can I see that and turn in repentance in the middle of the moments when I'm steeped in my sin? What is my flesh craving when I am not overflowing with joy at the opportunity to humbly and sacrificially serve yet again? My own glory. And nothing urges me to drop the pursuit of my own glory quite like when God replaces my selfish desires for personal glory with something far better: a longing for God's glory. Not only that, but he also gives me a perfect example of what this should look like in Christ.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. - Philippians 2:5-8

I want to be someone who is saturated with thoughts of how great God is and live to know and exalt him more.

photo: fortress in Salzburg, Austria 2007