He pursues us

My soul gave up all hope, but then I remembered the Lord. I prayed to you, and you heard my prayers in your holy Temple. “Some people worship useless idols, but those statues never help them. I will give sacrifices to you, and I will praise and thank you. I will make special promises to you, and I will do what I promise.” Salvation only comes from the Lord! (Jonah 2:7-9)

We might think there is no hope in our current situation, but God isn't afraid of the darkness, nor is he one to abandon his children. He gives us all the 'space' we require in order to come to the end of our 'selfishness' and 'rebellion', but he doesn't leave us there forever. When we call upon him, he hears - because he has never left us!

Jonah realized the God he served wasn't just some useless idol, but the One True God. His covenant with those whom he loves is forever. Most importantly, he realizes salvation comes no other way. Salvation is more than the deliverance from the penalty of sin that we find in relationship with Jesus. It also carries the meaning of the act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss, or destruction.

Jonah was counting on God to help him avoid harm - although things looked very bleak at the moment for him. Those who have a relationship with God may find themselves in places they don't want to be because of some compromise or rebellion in their lives, but it doesn't mean the relationship is abandoned. We can seek God's help - but as we explored earlier, it doesn't always mean we avoid the consequences of our rebellion. It does mean he is capable and willing to help us get on the right path again!

God doesn't look for our promises - he looks for us to act on them. Jonah made a promise and committed to do as he promised. When we engage with God in the things he asks us to do, we can be assured he will help us fulfill those promises we have made. He enables us to live out our right choices - but he pursues us with love and grace when we don't always follow the right path. Just saying!

Go and Tell

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed. (Mark 5:18-20)

The one set free from a lifetime of torment and torture was not always so 'grateful' and 'trusting' toward Jesus. When Jesus first sees the man who was demon-possessed, he asked Jesus to leave him alone - to not change anything in his life. He actually saw Jesus as 'interfering' with his lifestyle. Tortured though he was, the evil spirit within him didn't want to leave him. Jesus wasn't put off by the demons asking to stay. "Then Jesus demanded, “What is your name?” And he replied, “My name is Legion, because there are many of us inside this man.” Then the evil spirits begged him again and again not to send them to some distant place." (vs. 9-10) Why was this man's healing so long coming? Why is our deliverance so long coming? Could it be that Jesus is just waiting for us to be honest about what it is that is troubling us? 

At first, the demons did not want to leave - they had become comfortable right where they were. There was a 'willing host' and they weren't excited to be leaving. What do we hold onto that has become comfortable to us that is actually holding us back, bringing us down, and causing us so much misery. Like the man tormented by so many demons, we might just need to identify what it is and then be willing to let it go! The demons leave the man at Jesus' command and enter a herd of pigs, who promptly run wildly from their keepers and straight off a cliff. Nothing remains when Jesus utters the words of deliverance, my friends. We can rest assured that whatever it is that troubles our hearts is of concern to Jesus and his word is all it takes to change the course of what has been happening within us.

The man was free. The pig keepers were stunned. The crowds were amazed, but also a bit afraid. Why? When God displays his power in our lives, it can be a little frightening at times. We may not understand how he works, but we can always see evidence of his work. The change may be immediate, like it was for this man, but it could be gradual in revealing itself. Either way, our commission is to go and tell - all that Jesus has done in us is a message of what he can do in others, as well. Just sayin!

Content to just lay there?

I am going to ask a tough question today, but if we are truthful on this one, we may just realize a healing at the end. How long are we willing to live WITH our troubles before we ask God to get us out of those troubles? For some of us, it has taken us a long, long time to come to our knees, admitting we have been dealing with this 'trouble' longer than we ever should have. Trouble in the form of bitterness, anger issues, hurt feelings, or attitudes of deep regret and shame. While we are living WITH these 'troubles' we are 'hoping' for something to be different, but we don't really come out and aggressively seek our deliverance from them! It is time to admit we have been living 'with' them for way too long and we need God's help to finally move us from our 'placement' INSIDE those troubles.

Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?” “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.” Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! (John 5:2-9)

"I can't" are two words Jesus can deal with, but until we utter the ones that admit we actually want our healing, we aren't really ready for it! We might not be able to get ourselves from our 'placement' inside the trouble, but Jesus doesn't even need to change our 'placement' to begin the healing. He just needs to hear that we know we 'cannot' and he 'can'. Notice that the man was still on his mat beside the waters of Bethesda when Jesus asked him if he desired his healing. He had to admit he had no one to carry him to the water, but that didn't stop Jesus. Jesus told him to get up 'from where he was' and be healed. I think we might somehow believe our deliverance from the troubles we have endured for so long will require us to 'move' from here to there. Jesus just asks us to get up!

Too many of us stay right where we are, INSIDE the trouble we have endured a long time, making all kinds of excuses for why we cannot move FROM there. For this man, he remained paralyzed on his mat, beside the pool, with no one to carry him from here to there. For us, it could just be that we have lived with all this anger, bitterness, or feelings of deep hurt all because we think we have 'no one' to move us from here to there. The truth is that the 'one' who needs to move is us and we just haven't moved from being 'flat on our backs' to our knees in humble acknowledgement of our deep need. We just lay around in our 'self-pity', never realizing our healing is right there in front of us.

If we want our deliverance from INSIDE that troubling stuff today, we might just need to confess our need and stop making all the excuses for why we cannot be healed. Jesus gave some very specific actions the man needed to take - 'admit you need healing', 'get up', 'pick up your mat', and 'walk'. Our healing begins with confession - not the list of excuses. Our next actions should reveal we desire the change more than anything else in the world - get up and walk! We may have weak or wobbly steps at first, but when we finally move from our back to our knees, we may just be surprised at just how 'strong' that position make us! Just sayin!

Get me to shore again!

I know it is Christmas morning and this may not seem like much of a 'Christmas' message, but I think it may just be the one 'gift' we all need in our lives. In our moments or seasons of rebellion, there comes a time of realization - the moment in time when we realize just how far we have drifted from what God would have wanted for our lives. Those moments are described as being as low as one can go - being as far away from obedience as one can manage to get. In those moments, there comes a realization of where we are and we often find ourselves looking up - simply because there is just no help in looking down or in looking around! If we looked down - we'd only see our problem! If we look around - we'd see others right there with us, as helpless and lost as we are. When we look up - we see our hope for deliverance!

I was as far down as a body can go, and the gates were slamming shut behind me forever—Yet you pulled me up from that grave alive, O God, my God! When my life was slipping away, I remembered God, and my prayer got through to you, made it all the way to your Holy Temple. Those who worship hollow gods, god-frauds, walk away from their only true love. But I'm worshiping you, God, calling out in thanksgiving! And I'll do what I promised I'd do! Salvation belongs to God! (Jonah 2:6-10)

As far as we can go - a description of the distance we have placed between God's purpose and direction in our lives and our obedience! Doors slamming shut forever - or so it seems in our finite understanding of the place we find ourselves. Yet...in the midst of our despair...God is never far from us. It is indeed a shame for us to get to the place where our "lives are slipping away from us" before we realize how much our disobedience has cost us. Jonah is an example to us of redemption - grace where it is least deserved. In the place of rebellion, we don't realize how much of "life" is slipping away from us. It may not be our literal "life", but it is indeed our spiritual life. We don't sense the loss associated with all the actions in between God's direction and our continual resistance to his will (directives) for our life. Yet, this "drift" is real - and it has a way of "distancing" us from God, and sometimes even from others.

Jonah was in such a place. I have no idea what type of fish swallowed him up - nor am I going to speculate on this one. I do know scripture says God prepared a place for him - a place for him to come to the realization of his need. This is God's way! He knows the exact point our turning will come and he prepares the exact place for the "dawning" of our awareness of our intense need for restoration - for being on the right track again. We may not get swallowed by a big fish, but I am sure we have all experienced some "big fish" moments! The "stuff" we are in just isn't all that pleasant - it smells awful, it makes us feel awful, and it gives us a sense of darkness which just envelops us. We don't need a whale to swallow us to come to the awareness we are not where we need to be!

The "big fish" moment may be what some refer to as "coming to an end of our rope" or "reaching rock bottom". Whatever the expression, the heart need is the same - deliverance! David finds himself in the misery of covering up his sin with Bathsheba, torn apart by his compounding it with the murder of her husband. His bones ache, his mood is foul, and he has no joy in all the luxuries he is surrounded with as King of Israel. Sin has this effect - it robs us of every one of the pleasures we once took so much for granted. It is actually God's mercy that allows for us to get to "rock bottom". In allowing the "rock bottom" moment, he also provides a way for us to get on solid ground again! The very next part of the passage states, "Then God spoke to the fish, and it vomited up Jonah on the seashore." Out of darkness and foulness, God brought sound footing again! Look at when God does this, though. It is not when Jonah first goes overboard - there has been a passage of time in which Jonah comes to a place of realizing he has been running from the very thing God desired for him. David had this same "span" between his disobedience and God's sending Nathan to him to tell him the story of his sin and the hope for his deliverance.

We often need the "span" in order to come to a place of submission. We just don't recognize our misery until it has become our complete and total undoing. Truly, this is a sad reality, but something we see played out in life after life - including our own lives. There is hope beyond our imagining, even in that miserable place of absolute rebellion! In the moment of "rock bottom", God is prepared with the next move in our lives! In the moment of our cry for help, his actions are swift on our behalf. This is the God we serve - merciful, moved by compassion, and swift to provide for his children. It is far better to never reach the place of distancing ourselves from God - but if we have, we can rest in the absolute assurance of his grace! I don't know what "whale" has swallowed you whole, but I do know the seashore of God's deliverance awaits! All it takes is a cry for forgiveness! He does the rest! Just sayin!

You used to live that way...

18 You know that in the past the way you were living was useless. It was a way of life you learned from those who lived before you. But you were saved from that way of living. You were bought, but not with things that ruin like gold or silver. 19 You were bought with the precious blood of Christ’s death. He was a pure and perfect sacrificial Lamb. 20 Christ was chosen before the world was made, but he was shown to the world in these last times for you. 21 You believe in God through Christ. God is the one who raised him from death and gave honor to him. So your faith and your hope are in God. (I Peter 1:18-21 ERV)

All of us have points in our lives that we look back upon and say, "I used to...", but now we "no longer". I used to run - but no longer. I used to play sports - but no longer. I used to be married - but no longer. I used to like that person - but no longer. I used to be thin - but no longer. You get the idea! "Used to" and "what is" are not always the same! In fact, there is very little that is actually the same in life - the last breath you just took won't be the same as your next, nor will the last blink your eye made open with the exact same view as the image you beheld just before that blink. Everything changes - but one thing remains sure - the foundation of God's love in our lives.

Our "used to" moments are likely not always that "good" when we look back upon them. I used to do a whole lot of things I am really grateful that I no longer do! If we are all honest here, there are probably some things that need to go into the "used to" category in our lives. They may even be those things God has been working in our hearts to get us to let go of for some time now, but we just don't want to "let go" because we have become emotionally attached to it. The emotional attachment may not even be all that "good" or "edifying", but we won't let go of it. The moment we let go, we know something will be different and "different" scare us because it is the "unknown".

Let me just say we all have some "useless" things we hold onto in our lives and God has probably been after us for a while to get us to just rid ourselves of those things. We all form these emotional attachments to perceptions that may not have been right, or actions that may have wounded us. We also form emotional attachments to hopes that aren't very realistic and need to be laid down in order for us to move on from where we are right now. In essence, these "attachments" are "useless" - they need to be moved into the "used to" category in our lives. There is hope - it is found in what Christ wants to do with us when we finally let go and cast those things squarely into the "used to" rubble pile. We may not fully comprehend what he plans for us when we do, but we can count that it will be awesome.

Why do I say that with such assurance? I think our passage points that out for us - Jesus' sacrificial death was perfect - he gives perfect gifts! His plans are perfect. His actions are perfect. His determination and perseverance are perfect. God doesn't do things "half-way". He goes above and beyond what is expected and does the unexpected - that is what grace is! We may not want to let go of the emotional ties we have to that thing we know he is telling us to be free of, but we can count on this - if he asks us to let go, it is just so he can hold onto us until we are fully free of its hold! Just sayin!

Sometimes it takes more than once to "get it"

There is something pretty important we need to realize as we come to Jesus. As we come, we often expect the immediate healing of all our anxieties, hang-ups, and long-held issues.  The frustration comes in knowing there are things in our lives which Jesus forgives and then he "deals" with them for a while until we realize they are finally gone.  I often throw clothes in the washer without doing a thorough inspection of them to see if they have any noticeable stains on them. When I remove them, I usually try to look at them a little bit before I put them in the dryer because we all know the heat of the dryer "sets" the stain in deeper. There are those occasions when I just plop and throw - not really paying much attention to them either when I put them in the washer or when I add them to the dryer.  Guess what usually happens when this occurs - yep, there is inevitably some big old stain right down the front of one of mom's tops, or on my favorite pair of pants.  Now I have to work harder to get the stains out, taking not only extra effort, but extra time to work on them until they are gone.  Just as with the stains on the clothes, the stuff in our lives which gets "paid attention to" gets dealt with in pretty short order compared to the stuff we just let "get by". 

Jesus and his followers came to Bethsaida. Some people brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch the man. So Jesus held the blind man’s hand and led him out of the village. Then he spit on the man’s eyes. He laid his hands on him and asked, “Can you see now?” The man looked up and said, “Yes, I see people. They look like trees walking around.” Again Jesus laid his hands on the man’s eyes, and the man opened them wide. His eyes were healed, and he was able to see everything clearly. (Mark 8:22-25 ERV)

We "come" to Jesus just as we are - complete with all our hang-ups and messiness.  We sometimes "stay" with Jesus for a while with a few or more of these hang-ups and messy areas in our lives - not because he doesn't have the capability to immediately deal with them and remove them, but because there is something which happens in the continual "washing" which occurs.  In those moments of seeking him out again and again to finally remove the "stains" of sin from our lives, we find there is a connection made much like the connection made when he led this blind man out of the village.  

1. At first, we may not even realize how to get free from those things which have been "with us" for so long in our lives.  This is where we need the faithfulness of friends who will walk with us to the place we come face-to-face with Jesus.  It is important to note that this man might have known he was in the presence of Jesus, but he didn't yet see Jesus fully for who he was.  The friends were the ones interceding for this man - it wasn't the man begging for his healing - it was the friends.  I think we might just miss that when we casually read over this passage.  We need each other - plain and simple.  We may not recognize how much until we find our friends interceding for the mess or lives have become.

2. It isn't until we reach out and take the hand extended to us that our journey to healing can begin.  This is a starting point - taking the hand of Jesus.  We might want immediacy, but Jesus wants connection.  In those moments of holding the hand of Jesus, I imagine Jesus walking this man past one obstacle and then another, until he finally has him right where he wants him to be in order to receive his ultimate healing.  We might not recognize the obstacles we are avoiding along the way, but with the navigation of our Savior, we are sure to get to our destination.

3. We want the conventional, but Jesus is not afraid to use the unconventional means to begin within us what needs to be done.  I am not sure if I would have been all that excited about mud made from spit being placed on my eyes, but I do know God has used some pretty "unconventional" means by which he has opened my eyes to the reality of who he is in my life.  I don't want us to count on the "tried and true" as being the only "way" God works within us - he may go about bringing healing into our lives by some pretty "odd" means.  Our part is to remain open to the possibilities of what he is accomplishing by his touch. 

4. There were multiple points of "connection" in order for this man to realize his full healing.  He gained a little hope with the first "mud" application - but he gained much more with each repeated touch from the Savior.  It is this frequency of connection which brings us to a place we "open our eyes wide" so we can see fully what he has been accomplishing not only in us, but around us. The blind man depended on others to help his find his way, and as his healing began, he still didn't have perfect clarity.  We often don't "get fully" what God is doing in us, but it is that repeated connection with him coupled with our willingness to do as he says that brings us to the place of complete deliverance in our lives.

I don't know why Jesus made him walk out of town with him.  Maybe it was so he would begin to trust Jesus a little by walking with him a ways - depending on him to bring him safely to the place he needed to be.  I don't know why the first application of mud didn't do the trick.  Maybe it was because Jesus knew something about this man, or those who were looking on that day, which made him "take his time" in order to help others around him come to a greater place of trust and faith.  I don't know why the man was told to go home and not go into town, but maybe it was because Jesus wanted him to celebrate this beautiful thing with those he was closest to first.  We may not know the reason for the delay in our 'total healing' in some of those areas where we seem to be blind to any form of light streaming through, but trust me on this one - when we make frequent and purposeful connection with Jesus, we can count on our healing to come.  When it does, we need to celebrate it with those who had the faith to bring our need to Jesus in the first place!  Just sayin!

Deliverance

In the midst of some of the toughest places we could be in, there are moments when we just need to stop to take time to refocus.  In this moment of refocus, we are really re-centering our eyes of Jesus - his greatness, his graciousness, and his gentleness.  In the midst of chaos and terror, he becomes our settling peace.  In the moments of uncertainty and wavering, he becomes our strong foundation.  In the mountains of hardship and despair, he becomes our strong deliverer.  Some of us need to refocus more than we recognize.  On the surface, we might appear calm, cool and collected.  On the inside, we are falling apart, failing to pass the tests, and frantically trying to avoid the mess we are in.  As we face these tough places in life, we aren't alone.  Not only does the guy or gal next to you feel the pressures of life, but so do you - if you were honest enough to admit it.  

But let me run loose and free, celebrating God’s great work, every bone in my body laughing, singing, “God, there’s no one like you.  You put the down-and-out on their feet and protect the unprotected from bullies!” (Psalm 35:9-10 MSG)

David always has been my favorite Old Testament writer because of how honest he was in his psalms. He wasn't afraid to admit his struggles and he was quick to look to the one he knew could deliver him from those struggles - but he didn't learn this overnight.  His lessons came in times of testing - some embraced well, others requiring grace because he failed miserably - yet he always (and I mean always) came back to the place of trusting God.

David has many recorded adventures of being in tough places, surrounded by insurmountable odds, and just not in a good place emotionally.  When the struggles of life come in against us, we have the same response (or similar) - we get a little withdrawn, thinking a little bit too much about the "bad" stuff which is haunting us, and just bordering on the edge of being a little "whiny" about it.  Don't get me wrong - I don't think these emotions catch God off-guard one bit.  He created these emotions, so he knows we will "use" them on occasion!  His hope is that we will bring those emotions to him and allow him to set us in right order again.  When we don't, we oftentimes just bemoan our circumstances and get deeper into the mully-grubs.  Not a good place to be!

As David pens these words, they are sandwiched between a whole lot of other words describing just how much pressure he is under.  The pressure is from without, but it is beginning to affect him on the inside, too.  This is often the case with us - the stuff begins on the outside - exerting pressure of one sort or another.  This pressure has a way of "bullying" us until we either succumb to it, or we get lifted above it.  The time between being "bullied" by the pressures outside of us and the moment we begin to rise above it is what gives us the biggest hassle!  

God wants us to get honest with him about he pressure we are facing - while it is on the outside!  He doesn't want us to internalize that pressure and begin to wallow in our self-pity, fret over our inadequacies, or ridiculously believe we could ever get ourselves out from under the pressures on our own. In fact, he wants us to be open to allowing him to sort out the pressures in his way.  Some of it he may take away, because it only serves the purpose of tearing us apart.  Other pressure, he may actually use as a means of driving us closer to him - causing us to reach a little harder, study a little deeper, until we are changed by the pressure (much like a diamond emerges from the coal).  

As with David, God's hope is for us to admit to the struggle, turning our eyes fully toward him as the hope of our deliverance and the means of our salvation.  Isn't that the real Christmas story anyway?  God coming to earth to provide a means of deliverance and salvation to a world pressured from without and struggling with those pressures within?  As with David, God's hope is that we will realize his intent is to set us on our feet, squarely planted, no wavering to be found in us.  Crying out is the first step to deliverance - it begins the work of salvation in our lives.  I don't know about you, but when I finally get honest enough with myself about my need to be honest with God, I find the pressures within beginning to drain away.  It is the outcome of releasing things which we don't need to carry around any longer to the one capable of dealing with them better than we could ever hope to on our own.

My prayer for you this Christmas - deliverance.  Deliverance from all which burdens your soul and keeps your spirit weighed down.  Deliverance from the pressures within which only tear you apart day after day.  Deliverance from the pull toward that which only promises more misery in your life.  The means to this deliverance - cry out!  God stands ready - you just have to welcome him to do his work in your life.  Just sayin!

Crying the blues, are ya?

The blues - ya singing 'em?  We all have a time here and there when we just get into the "mulligrubs" - the place where we are kind of ill-tempered, grumpy, or just plain grouchy.  Our circumstances have been internalized and we are allowing them to affect the attitude we display about everything we touch in life.  Melancholy is not meant to be a way of life for a believer, but we sometimes find this path kind of worn smooth by our frequent passage over it, huh?  Sometimes our "souls" just need a good talking to - they need to hear clearly they are not where they need to be!  There is a song I remember from grade school - about the old gray mare not being what she used to be.  Now, if we were given to singing the blues now and again, we might just bemoan the fact the "old mare" or "old stallion" isn't what s/he used to be!  Physically we age and the aging process is sometimes less than kind to us!  On the other hand, I think we sometimes stay mentally, spiritually, and emotionally immature - never giving ourselves the chance to experience the growth God intends for us.  Instead, we choose to bemoan the fact our growth never seems to come.  We get downright melancholy in the process.  As I have said before - nothing good comes to those who just bemoan their losses, or dwell on their past.  We have to be outward focused if we are to overcome the mulligrubs.

Why, my soul, are you downcast?  Why so disturbed within me?  Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.  (Psalm 42:11 NIV)

Discouragement can be a deterrent, can it not?  It gets into our bones and even slows us down.  Our shoulders begin to slump, our muscles seem heavy, and even our breathing seems to be labored.  If discouragement affects us too deeply, we will just stall out - or crash land!  The truth is - none of us can live ABOVE discouragement at all times.  It is a natural part of dealing with life's stressors, the emotional roller-coasters we ride, and the affects of all kinds of forces we don't see, but certainly feel.  What is worse - not all problems we face are "fixable" by us!  We might want to get them fixed, but guess what - we don't possess the ability, or perhaps they are not our problems to fix in the first place.  If you have ever tried to fix a problem you don't own, you know the extreme frustration that causes you - usually because you are also trying to fix someone else in the process!  If you don't possess the ability to fix the problem, you might be a little reticent to ask for assistance to get it done - simply because pride, fear, or mistrust gets in the way.

So, we live with our discouragement as well as we can, not because we want to, but because we don't know the way out!  Sometimes the answers to what is giving us problems is not always going to be readily known.  We often need to ask for advice - to get instruction.  Here's the rub - we don't always know how to ask for help, nor do we believe anyone else will be able to help us.  In short, we deal with discouragement because our pride gets in the way of us asking God to help us out of the pit, or to take the hand of the one God has provided to actually give us a means of climbing out of the pit with their help. God wants us to "partner" with him and often someone else he puts in our path in order to rise above the discouragement.  He doesn't plan for us to dwell in the rut!

God gives us a certain amount of mental abilities - the ability to reason, make choices, run equations, etc.  This mental ability often is what we turn to when we are facing discouraging times - we attempt to "calculate" our way out.  I like watching some of the survival shows on occasion - not because I would want to do them, but because I see how their minds work in order to "calculate" their best opportunities for making it through what they are exposed to in the midst of harsh and punishing conditions.  The mind is made to "calculate the odds" and "run the scenarios" - it functions much like a computer.  The problem comes when we just "run the scenarios" and forget to enter God into the equation!  Discouraging times often get us to the point of only seeing the walls of the rut - forgetting to look up to the light just above those walls!

If you take only one thing away from today's study, here it is:  God wants us to be changed right where we are.  Discouragement would get us to focus on what we could have been, or what we should have done.  God wants us to focus on what he can do in the midst of where we are right now.  Why? Truthfully, it is because where we are is the only place we can grow!  A seed cannot grow where it is not planted - it grows exactly where it is planted!  If we are in the rut, then the opportunity for our growth comes IN the rut, not because we somehow find a way out of it.  You don't overcome discouragement by some mystical power from within - you allow the place you are planted to become a stepping stone for your growth - because you allow it to be attended to by the best one for the job - God himself.

Discouragement takes our focus off of God and gets it on ourselves.  It has us turned inward.  The things we see when we only gaze inward lead us to even deeper despair, for we don't possess what we need in order to get beyond the walls of self-pity, pride, or fear.  In looking upward (outward), we see not only the walls, but we begin to see the path which lead us into the rut.  We don't retrace the path "in" to find the way "out".  We look for God to provide a new path!  It is usually in front of us, not behind.  It is above us, not below.  We look for the messiness of life to change around us - God looks for it to change within us.  It is this change which begins to release us from the pit of discouragement we have come to call home!  Just sayin!

Behold the Savior!

We all pursue a Savior.  The purpose of a Savior is to bring hope, giving us a foretaste of a better future.  The Old Testament is full of promises of a coming Savior – the world looking forward to a coming Messiah.   A savior is one who has the specific mission of rescuing or delivering those who need rescue or deliverance.  He rescues from danger or harm.  There is no more dangerous place to be found in than to be in a place where you don’t realize you don’t recognize the danger you are in.  Many of us recognize the sins of others, but we fail to see those which are our own.  As long as we only see the “others” who need “rescue”, we fail to see how much we desperately need rescue ourselves.

¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah,the Lord. (Luke 2:10-11 NIV)

It is easy to give a Savior access to the "problems" in our lives.  After all, problems give us worry, create lots of chaos, and just are plain difficult.  We don’t mind it when a Savior handles the problems, but when he goes after "us", we resist.  I guess it is because as long as Jesus just “lightly touches” the fringes of our lives, we don’t resist.  But…Jesus is a Savior – as such, he comes to seek us out and to save us from what we may not even know we need rescue from.  You might be rescued from a sinking ship, but if you need to get to shore again, the rescuer only did part of the work which needed to be done.  To be saved, but left adrift in the sea is really not a rescue at all.

Jesus seeks us even before we know the need of a rescuer in our lives.  Once he lays hold of even the “fringes” of our lives, the purpose of his seeking becomes our saving.  His goal is not only to bring us into a safe place, but to also keep us from denying our need for him to deal with our sins.  Remember, the sins of others might just give us a little hardship in life, but the sins of our own doing bring much more hardship than we might realize.  We don’t realize the need of a Savior until we see the need to be saved.  A Savior can be just around the corner, but if we never invite him past the “fringes” of our lives, we still deal with our sins in our own best efforts.  It is only when we invite him into the inner aspects of our lives that we become aware of the “rescue” he designs for each of us.

We all have the ability to experience a moment of “salvation”, but it is the ongoing process of being “saved” which begins to impact us in the depth of our inner man.  God made flesh among us – the purpose of his birth was specifically to complete the work of a Savior.  Notice, I said “complete” the work.  Just allowing Jesus access to the fringes keeps the “meat” of who we are and what we struggle with the most from being touched by his hand.  The most significant part of rescue is in being kept safe from harm again.  To be pulled out of sin only to return there again is a form of rescue, but it is not deliverance.  Deliverance is liberation – to be finally and totally set free from that which binds or holds us in bondage.  When we recognize the need for a Savior, we also recognize the need for him to deliver us!  We are acknowledging we don’t just want to be taken out of the problems in life, but we want to be kept as we walk through them.  Many times, we don’t even recognize what has us bound.  It could be wrong attitudes, unholy thoughts, or even self-focused aspirations.  Many things “bind” us without us even knowing their impact on our lives – it is only when we see we are “free” from them that we recognize how much we were bound.

Many people believe in an “intellectual” salvation.  In other words, they have made a mental agreement of their need for a Savior, but there is no heart connection with the Savior.  When Jesus makes it past our “belief” into our heart, he becomes “God made flesh” in us.  There is no greater experience than to be delivered from what we don’t even recognize has us bound.  Don’t believe for one moment that you are without the need of a rescuer – you just don’t recognize you are bound!  The hand extended to you today is not content to just touch the fringes of your life – it searches the recesses of the hidden places – turning over every cold stone.  In turn, the “uncovered” becomes the “delivered”.  Isn’t it time for a little more of a Savior in your life?  Just sayin!

Going in circles?

¹ Then we turned around and went back into the wilderness following the route to the Red Sea, as God had instructed me. We worked our way in and around the hills of Seir for a long, long time.  ² Then God said, "You've been going around in circles in these hills long enough; go north."

(Deuteronomy 2:1-2)

There is seldom a time when "going in circles" isn't a waste of time.  I think that someone like a race car driver would be the exception.  He accomplishes either the winning or the losing of the race while staying on that oval track - going around and around at a calculated pace to accomplish the goal.  For most of us, going in circles is another story - we find that we accomplish very little in the course of our efforts.

Israel had been "going in circles" in the wilderness for years.  They had even shed a few tears of grief over their choice to doubt God's provision for them.  Something I have seen over the years (even in my own life) is that tears don't make someone change!  You cannot equate tears with repentance.  We can shed real tears without any real sense for what we need to change or how to change.  

"Circle runners" find themselves doing the same old things over and over again, wondering why they are not getting a different response.  In turn, they get frustrated and their self-will becomes even more determined.  When that happens, we find ourselves "taking another lap".  It grieves God for us to stay in our self-willed disobedience, but he allows us to "do the laps" until we come to a place where we recognize the futility of our having gone in circles so long! We often find ourselves complaining about the "circles" we travel - but if the truth is really known, we don't really want any other path!

"Circle runners" often don't realize what it is that keeps them doing the same things.  There is a lack of awareness because there is a lack of connection with the resources that will help the "circle runner" to "exit the track".  As long as self-will and self-direction is our plan, we may shed some tears at our outcome, but we are still not "uncomfortable" enough in our present circumstances to want any change.  We don't look for an exit when we are comfortable!  

God's promise is to be our guide - to give us clear direction.  The only thing is that we have to be near enough to him to actually catch the movement he makes.  A guide is useless if those being guided are not paying attention to his directions.  Just as the race car driver must be ever-vigilant in monitoring the conditions of the course by watching the man with the "flags" - so we must be with keeping our eyes on God.  I had no idea that there were so many flags they use in a race, but the list below gives us some idea.  Notice that some of these flags are what they call "conditional" flags - once a specific condition is met, the flag is raised.

• Green - Race begins or resumes.
• Yellow - Racing under caution. Conditions adverse or hazardous.
• Red - Racing has come to a halt. All pit crew and repair work must cease.
• Black - The "consultation flag". Driver must pit. Usually due to rule violation.  There is even a flag for violating rules - if we were smart, we'd look for these flags in our own "circle running".
• Black with White "X" - Driver no longer scored for failing to pit under black.  Ouch!  This one really speaks to the self-will, doesn't it?
• White Flag - Last lap of the race.  Woohoo!  We have an end in sight!
• Checkered flag - Race is over. Winner will be declared.  

The simple truth is that God looks for two things:  1) A waiting heart - one that is "tuned into" the exits and the warnings along the way!  2)  An obedient heart - one that actually takes the exits, heeds the warnings, and is tuned into the conditions of the path ahead!  If you are running in circles today, perhaps it is time to examine the "flag" that is flying in your life today!

The journey of a lifetime - Part II

^1-2These are the sermons Moses preached to all Israel when they were east of the Jordan River in the Arabah Wilderness, opposite Suph, in the vicinity of Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. It takes eleven days to travel from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea following the Mount Seir route.

^3-4 It was on the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year when Moses addressed the People of Israel, telling them everything God had commanded him concerning them. This came after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled from Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who ruled from Ashtaroth in Edrei. It was east of the Jordan in the land of Moab that Moses set out to explain this Revelation.

(Deuteronomy 1:1-4)

We began to look at this book of history a little yesterday.  Israel was taking up on an 11 day journey that would ultimately take them 40 years to make.  We examined how this is not unlike us as we consider our journey toward deliverance from the things that hold us back, or hold us in bondage.  Today, I'd like us to focus on the fact set before us that it was after a huge victory that God's directions began to come to Moses for the people of Israel.  It is often that way in our lives - we have a great victory, and then we begin to sense / know the direction of God for our lives.

Yet, we find ourselves often facing the "clarity" of God's direction with many mixed reactions.  Sometimes we embrace it, walk into it and enjoy our victory all the more when we do.  There are other times when we don't want his direction or don't accept it because:

• We fear the unknown
• We fear the things that seem insurmountable
• We don't trust those God has placed in our lives as leaders
• We don't trust God
• It is easier to complain than to be obedient (ouch!)
• It is easier to turn and flee, than it is to face our enemies
• We don't understand the timing of the Lord
• We want our own way (double ouch!)

Here's the cold, hard truth - it is time to "break camp"!  We have been stalled in our places of apathy, bondage, and disobedience long enough!  The fact is that God is more concerned with our movement than he is with our contentment!  When we get too content (even if it is in our misery), he begins to orchestrate things that will bring about "movement" in our lives.  We can resist this all we want, but it will happen!

These guys were going around that mountain 40 years - an eleven day journey!  It was "long enough" for them to get quite content in their journey.  It was time for God to mix things up!  Here's the truth we need to get from this story - until we are ready to "break camp" we'll never occupy the places of victory God has in store for us!  

The journey of a lifetime - Part I

^1-2These are the sermons Moses preached to all Israel when they were east of the Jordan River in the Arabah Wilderness, opposite Suph, in the vicinity of Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. It takes eleven days to travel from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea following the Mount Seir route.

^3-4 It was on the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year when Moses addressed the People of Israel, telling them everything God had commanded him concerning them. This came after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled from Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who ruled from Ashtaroth in Edrei. It was east of the Jordan in the land of Moab that Moses set out to explain this Revelation.

(Deuteronomy 1:1-4)

There are certain books of the Bible that keep each of us away - simply because they don't seem to speak "loudly" to us or they just don't seem pertinent to the day and the hour in which they live.  Yet, even our curriculum within our schools include history as a major subject of study.  Why?  It is important for us to remember where we have been as we are moving to where we are going!

As pilgrims and strangers, Israel set out from Egypt's brickyards and servitude to Pharoah's people.  In their venture into the unknown, two dangers really laid ahead of them that we often face as well:  1)  Our present condition has become comfortable to us, so it is easy for us to be "at ease" there.  2)  We might know that we want "something new", but rushing into it is seldom the best plan.  In all we do, God asks for one thing - commit our ways to him so that he can direct our paths before us.

Here begins the story of Israel's wanderings around a desert that took no more than 11 days to cover.  It took them 40 years!  Guess what....they are not too unlike each of us!  Has it ever amazed you to see just how much you cover the same old ground in your life over and over again?  Sometimes we are just plain "slow" in our travels through life lessons!

We are slow travelers simply because we are slow learners - we want to move on, but find ourselves held back.  When this happens, it is usually because we are certain that we are ready to move on, but we haven't fully dealt with what has us in bondage in the first place.  God wants us right where we are until we allow him to deal with those things - then we can move on.  This is not a measure of God's "punishment" in our lives - in fact, it a measure of his intense love for us.  Even though we are insanely slow to learn, he is awesomely gracious to take the time to teach us and to do that teaching thoroughly.  He wants us to get free of the old and to be ready for the new.

It was the eleventh month of the Jewish calendar when the started on their journey (sometime between January and February - the month of Shevat) - kind of midwinter.  Sometimes, God speaks when things are the "coldest" and the "hardest" in our lives.  Sometimes the "richest" message is received in the "hardest" of times.  What God wanted was that they would embrace the richness of his words for them - to accept his guidance and to submit to his care.  

As we explore a little further tomorrow into the journey that took close to a lifetime, let's begin today to examine where we are on this journey we call "life".  Maybe we are on the path to deliverance from some type of bondage - those things that just won't let go or that we won't let go of.  Or maybe we are getting pretty closed to the realization of the promises of God for our lives.  Regardless of where we are, we'd do well to consider the history recorded for us in this book of Moses.  There is much to be discovered about our journey.

My weapon? A donkey's jawbone!

^14-16 As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came to meet him, shouting in triumph. And then the Spirit of God came on him with great power. The ropes on his arms fell apart like flax on fire; the thongs slipped off his hands. He spotted a fresh donkey jawbone, reached down and grabbed it, and with it killed the whole company. And Samson said, "With a donkey's jawbone I made heaps of donkeys of them. With a donkey's jawbone I killed an entire company."

(Judges 15:14-16)

Israel is in a time of punishment - being attacked by the Philistines.  They have wandered into compromising sin and God is allowing the Philistines to be used as his means of judgment on their sin.  Samson was born of a woman unable to bear children - a miracle in those days that neither involved artificial means, nor test tubes!  As an angel of the Lord reveals that she will have a son, he also instructs her to set him aside (dedicate him) to the Lord's work of delivering the Israelites from the hand of the Philistines.  God was about to do the work of removing the curse of judgment that Israel had come under.  He is raised as dedicated unto the Lord, but when the time comes for him to be out on his own, he goes into the land of the Philistines and falls in love with a young Philistine woman.  His parents are livid - thinking this would bring God's judgment down on Israel even harder.  What they did not realize was that this was all in God's plan of giving Samson an "inroad" into the camp of the Philistines.

As the story of Samson's life progresses, we find it is time for him to receive his bride.  As was the custom, he came to make the final arrangements, arrange for the "exchange" for his betrothed, and there was a great feast.  At the feast (lasting 7 days), he brings up a riddle for the 30 groomsmen there in attendance to attempt to solve.  It has to do with Samson's recent experience of getting honey from the carcass of a lion he had previously slain with his bare hands.  The groomsmen cannot figure out the riddle, so they engage Timnah (Samson's betrothed) to "get it out of him".  When they provide the answer to the riddle, Samson is furious because he knows that Timnah has been the one to provide the answer.  The events enrage him and he goes out and kills 30 men, strips them and brings their clothes to the groomsmen, then heads home to his parents.  A short time later, he goes to the house of his future father-in-law and asks for his betrothed wife.  He is taken aback by the news that she had been given to his best man as his wife and that he will have to settle for a younger sister if he wanted to take a bride.

This infuriates him even further.  He takes 300 jackals, ties their tails together, lights a torch and places it between their tails, then sets them lose to burn up the fields of the Philistines - a devastating loss of crops for the people.  The Philistines want his head and his Israelite brothers are all to ready to assist.  Three dozen Israelite men go to him, sharing their fear that the Philistines will retaliate for what Samson has done.  They bind him hand and foot, bringing him to the Philistines in bonds.  This brings us to the events of our passage today.  The Philistines think they have it made - their attacker delivered to them by the hands of those that should have been most loyal to Samson!

But...the Spirit of God had a different plan!  This is often the case when things just seem to be "falling into place" for the one who stands against God.  When they least expect God's intervention - God's hand is proven stronger!  Samson's bonds drop free and he sees a bone from the jaw of a donkey.  Now, you might conclude that the bone of a donkey is not much of a weapon - especially against a band of angry military.  But God...the powerful words of our passage.  In his power, Samson uses the least likely instrument of warfare to slay the entire company of military men gathered to do him in.  

We don't fight against the things that hold us in bondage - those things that the enemy of our soul tends to use as instruments of his warfare - with traditional weaponry.  In God's hands, even the jawbone of a donkey becomes a tool of defense greater than the might of any marauding force!  The very thing we least suspect as able to provide our deliverance may be the very thing God designs for our use in times of struggle.  We often discount what seems unlikely to be the means of deliverance because we have preconceived ideas of what our defense should look like.  But God...

What I want us to see that our deliverance comes in the "But God..." moments.  When we least expect it, through the means we'd least expect to see used, in the moment when it seems all is lost - God is there!  Our deliverance comes in unusual ways sometimes.  Israel's deliverance from a marauding, domineering influence was being accomplished by the hand of a man dedicated to him - in very non-traditional ways.  Samson's deliverance was coming in ways that made onlookers gape in amazement and historians repeat in awe.  God's deliverance is sure - his means of deliverance is not always what we'd expect, but it is sure!