Trust in the Lord

It is amazing how often I find there to be a reoccurring word or ‘theme’ in my daily reading. This day, I was running into the word ‘trust’ all over the place. I have several Bibles I use for different things but the one I read in my daily study time is The Complete Jewish Bible. It puts the original Jewish-ness back into the scriptures. It uses ‘trust’ everywhere the word ‘faith’ is used in other versions. Trust is a big deal….

This season of my life finds me a little shaky in the trusting of people. I do not hesitate in trusting the Lord but I am not so inclined to be as assuming in my trusting of people. This season has opened doors I would have preferred to keep shut, closed doors I wanted open and turned everything I knew to be true upside down and spinning like a top. Trusting in the Lord was the only thing I could count on…faith = trust.

Trust in God is often expressed by our restraint. We are expected to recognize that God is present, aware and lovingly involved in every difficult situation we face. It is required that Christians curb many of their “natural” responses, and learn to patiently, and often quietly, wait for God’s resolution. Of course there are times he calls us to stand up, speak out or fight, but more times than we’d prefer, God demands that we slow down, keep quiet, and wait for his intervention. We need to remember that in most cases “the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:20). So the more you consider the character of God and his omnipresent concern for his kids, the more you will be able to sincerely say with the psalmist, “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord” and you will gladly heed the call to “wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord” (Psalms 27:13-14).

‘Waiting’ is not something that comes so naturally to me, either, these days. My spinning world left me dizzy and confused. It’s hard to wait for normalcy when your world is spinning. I am more comfortable when I can make something happen, take charge of things and put my world in order. HA!!!!!! Not a chance. When it comes to living after Christ, we must learn to wait for His divine intervention. One thing I discovered about myself through this season is that I pacify myself during the waiting time by painting! Yep, I distract myself and sooth the beast within by painting something. Don’t stand still in my house too long or I will paint you!

The good news is when we truly trust, have faith in, the Lord, He will put things in order for us as He would have them to be. It may not line up with our game plan…BUT, it is His will for us and TRUST ME, that’s the best, as good as it gets.

THE MAN ON THE ROOF

A man was trapped on his rooftop by the rising waters of a flood. A fellow came over in a rowboat and called to the man, “Hop into my boat! I’ll save you!” The stranded man refused, saying, “No – God will save me!”

The water rose to the man’s knees, and along came a rescuer in a motorboat. “Get in my boat! I’ll save you!” cried the boater. “No!” the man on the roof replied. “God will save me!”

Soon after, the water was up to the man’s chest. A helicopter with a sling suspended from it came next. “Grab onto the sling!” called the pilot. “I’ll pull you up and save you!” As the man called, “No, God will save me!” a wave swept him off the roof and he drowned.

As he entered into heaven, God greeted him, saying, “Welcome to heaven! Glad to see you! Before I show you around and introduce you to some of the angels, do you have any questions?”

“Well, yes Sir, as a matter of fact I do have one question.” the man replied. “There I was stranded on my roof, with flood waters rising all around me! Why didn’t you save me?”

“Well!” replied God. “I sent you two boats and a helicopter! What more did you want?”

This is not original. I tell it to demonstrate that God’s answer to our prayers might not be in the form we expect. If we pray for health, perhaps we should eat right and exercise. If we pray for riches, perhaps we should endeavor to get an education or a better job. And if we pray for happiness, perhaps we should try to make others happy.

Are you standing on the roof with your list of “acceptable forms” of God’s help? God neither thinks nor acts as we do and you may find you’ve let the boats and helicopter go by as you wave your ‘list’. Don’t be the Man on the Roof; be open to His ways…they are much higher and better than our own.

God's Timing

Romans 11:33 How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!

What’s it all about, this thing named ‘a calling’ from the Lord? When you ‘know’ what it is the Lord has chosen for you to do in a deep spiritual way, reservations take a backseat to determination and you march on, head up, trusting He will show you the way. At least that is how it was for me. God’s vision for my life of service became my vision and I was determined to be faithful to that even though it seemed as remote and unrealistic as it could be for a little girl from small town Texas.

Catching a vision of the special contribution God wants us to make through our lives is exciting and inspiring. Once the initial ‘honeymoon’ phase of recognition has faded, we ask ourselves: Now what? What happens next?

Usually, the next step after catching a vision is to see it die. There is a special reason for this: our vision often contains a combination of godly concerns and human perspectives, so God engineers a way whereby the godly concerns remain and the human perspectives are changed to divine perspectives. His way of doing this is to cause the vision to die. This is a Biblical principle that can be traced from Genesis to Revelation. The vision Abraham received of being the father of a great nation "died" when he found his wife was barren. The vision Moses received "died" when he was rejected by his people and was forced to flee into the desert for forty years.

Why, we ask, does God bring a vision to birth and then allow it to die? For this reason: the waiting time in which we find ourselves during the death of a vision is God's classroom for the development of godly character in us. It is in the waiting time, as the vision "dies” that such qualities as patience, persistence, perseverance and self-control are built into us. We are molded by His hands so we are able to be more useful. Obedience and willingness to follow the vision came first, now we are going through refining process. He, alone, knows what will be required of us and what we lack to face the challenges ahead. His judgments and plans are perfect; we tend to get a little 'jiggy' about things and jump in the deep end before we learn to swim.

Has God given you in the past a vision of something that you knew was definitely from Him - but now the vision has died? Then don't be discouraged. This is the way God works. He is using the waiting time to change your ideas to His ideas and your perspectives to His perspectives. It's not 'over' by any means; things have not even begun to happen! Hold on for the ride of your life!

Divine Discipline

 “Rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry” (1 Sam. 15:23).

Over the course of the day and evening yesterday, I had to deal with rebellion; mine and that of Nikos and Pan Dulce. For me, it was over honoring the Sabbath with a day of rest. I told the Lord on my rising that I would and yet I kept having things pop in my head that I needed to do so I would jump up and try to do them; emphasis on ‘try’. Each time an overwhelming sense of fatigue would wash over me and I would have to sit or lie down. No joke, this wasn’t me just procrastinating, I had no say or choice here. I HAD to rest. Having recently started a new part time job, my body was tired, not stressed – just plain bone weary tired. Wisdom said to rest, to renew my strength. The odd human urge said to sweep, put away the laundry and the clean dishes. God had to ‘make’ me rest when I attempted to go back on my promise to rest. If Nancy had not stopped by, I would have spent the entire day in my nightgown. Believe me; I seriously considered throwing on a pair of shorts under my nightgown when I knew she was headed my way. After she left, I crashed back down on the bed….me and the pups.

As for the pups, each one had their moments of rebellion, too. Nikos jumped off my bed with me telling him ‘no!’ the entire time. My bed is on risers making it too high for his tiny Chihuahua legs to make the jump without risk of injury. He doesn’t know that, of course, but he does know to stop when I say ‘no.’ He gave one quick look at me over his shoulder then made the leap! When I called him, he did stop and consider coming back to me, grudgingly. I stood my ground and called him by name; he tucked his tail and walked back as slowly as he could. I took hold of him, turned him over on his back on the floor and held him there while I spoke softly to him. I was not harsh, loud, ugly or hurtful to him. I simply reminded him I was his Alpha leader and I would not be ignored. Later in the evening, Pan refused to come inside when I was closing down the house for bedtime. Once again, I stood my ground and called his name quietly until he walked to me. I repeated the act of turning him over, pinning him gently to the ground and talking softly to him telling him I would not tolerate his rebellion.

As I held Pan down, it hit me that was exactly what God was doing to me every time He ‘made’ me lie down during the day. I was trying to do things my own way, even knowing I shouldn’t and He had to remind me He is my Alpha. He didn’t get rough with me, didn’t yell at me…just quietly showed me He was in control and my rebellion would not be tolerated. It was for my own good and protection, just as my actions were for Nikos and Pan. I thanked Him for loving me enough to make me do as I should and not as I would.

By the way, after my little reminder lessons for the pups, my next contact was to pick them up and love on them. They have stuck close to me ever since and this morning, Nikos came to me to put him down off the bed and waited by my feet until I walked ahead of them to open the back door so they could go out.

Maybe you are in a situation that boggles your mind and/or frustrates you no end. Perhaps it is just a godly ‘time out’ to help you pause so you don’t do something rash or too impulsive. Maybe taking time to seek your Alpha is the next step. This is an important time to consider who or what your Alpha may be. Do you turn to friends for advice? Do you push through in brute strength all alone? Self-help or self-improvement books and articles can tell you all sorts of ways to ‘make your life better’ but the fact that the ‘self’ is even in those should tell you something. You are looking to yourself as your Alpha. Really? Didn’t you do enough already? If God is not your Alpha, you’re on the wrong track from the get-go. We all get rebellious in one way or another from time to time. If you deny that you are fooling no one but yourself…ah, there it is again...‘self’.

Modern Day Psalms

My Friends, if you do not fill your life with Christian music, you are missing out! I cannot tell you how often the words of a song have touched my heart when I needed it. God can minister to us in many ways and the beauty of Christian music is that is literally taken from scripture. In my area, the main source is found on the radio at KLOVE, 91.3. KLOVE can be found almost everywhere and you can even listen online.

This past week I journeyed back to see relatives. I’ve had a lot of change in my life over the last year or so, and going ‘home’ to see family can serve to bring back a sense of ‘grounding’ when life seems so uncertain. This trip, however, was to share time with my last four relatives of my parent’s generation. It can be emotional comfort food. I was aware of that and wanted to make sure I wasn’t swayed in my life decisions based on feasting on that emotional comfort food. I prayed before I hit the road that God help me see clearly in the midst of all that was familiar and/or tugged on heart strings of my childhood.

On the long drive back, I couldn’t wait for the place on the road where I knew KLOVE would tune back in. I needed it, I wanted it and I waited for it with anticipation. I was feeling alone and disconnected. The trip back made it clear I no longer belong there. All the sentimental, nostalgic emotions toying with me could not cover up the reality that I did not belong in the home of my past. Nor did it clear up anything about my future; that is still shrouded in the fog of God’s timing. I felt like I didn’t fit in or belong anywhere. Then God spoke to me through a song by Sanctus Real:

I’m Forgiven.  

Well the past is playing with my head
And failure knocks me down again
I'm reminded of the wrong
That I have said and done
And that devil just won't let me forget

In this life
I know what I've been
But here in your arms
I know what I am

I'm forgiven
I'm forgiven
And I don't have to carry
The weight of who I've been
Cause I'm forgiven

My mistakes are running through my mind
And I'll relive my days, in
the middle of the night
When I struggle with my pain,
wrestle with my pride
Sometimes I feel alone, and I cry

When I don't fit in and I don't
feel like I belong anywhere
When I don't measure up to much in this life
Oh, I'm a treasure in the
arms of Christ ‘cause

I'm forgiven
I'm forgiven