Abandoning the Paddles?

Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life. (James 1:12)

A little earlier in this chapter, we are told that 'if we don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father' and perhaps this is the best advice we could have when it relates to facing 'testing challenges' in life. There are far more times we face those challenges without a clear plan on how to 'handle' the challenge. We want to make it through unscathed, but we know that a whole bunch of stuff is about to be unleashed, and we are in for a whopper of a 'beat down' if we don't get some clarity quickly. At that moment, we can meet it head-on, but to do so without God's perspective on the matter would be sheer foolishness.

The testing challenge may be what reveals to us just how deep our loyalty is to God. It is where the rubber meets the road in our faith walk, isn't it? We don't really want to admit that we aren't fully devoted, but our attentions are divided. We don't realize how little we are truly trusting God with the everyday experiences of life we face, saying we 'trust him deeply', but living as though we trust him very little. How? By attempting to concoct our own plan, follow our own path, or just plain turn tail and run at the slightest difficulty. Faith doesn't just magically appear one day and all is well. There are far more times faith develops in the midst of the most 'testing challenges' of life!

Loyalty means unwavering dedication. Do we do more than recite the principles by which we say we live, or do we actually live by them when the tough times come along? We say we seek God's wisdom, but do we only do that when the times are harder than we'd like? What do we do in the 'not to tough' times? Could it be that we just sail along, feeling pretty doggone sure of ourselves? It doesn't matter if we are in the midst of trials galore or the best of times, loyal followers of Jesus do what they always do - they press into his Word, gleaning what they can for the moment, holding fast to his promises. They don't look for their deliverance anywhere else than at the feet of Jesus. Just because the boat is rocking doesn't mean we abandon the GPS, rudder, or paddles! We hold fast! Just sayin!

Is it really a bad hand?

Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you! I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy. (Psalm 63:3-6)

When you aren't 'dealt' the hand you expected, how do you respond? To be honest with you, I don't always immediately praise God for the 'lousy hand'. Sometimes I gripe about it, chafe against it, and get a little too 'me' focused right there in the midst of the 'hardship' I am enduring. "Me" comes first and "me" is not feeling like it is getting the 'best shake' in the moment, so "me" begins to resist and complain. Been there? Got the shirt and wore it out? Good! Sometimes our life is even turned upside down by the 'hand' we receive - what was up is now down, and the ground underneath us is quite shaky. When we 'receive' that 'hand', we might just forget who walks with us in the midst of the upheaval that seems to be closing in on us. God may have allowed the 'hand' to show us just how much he loves us - that he isn't about to abandon us to our own devices in the midst of uncertainty that surrounds us. That 'infertile' ground we stand upon is just about to become some of the most 'fertile' ground we experience, but first, there must be some work!

David experienced more than one 'lousy hand' in life, but he walked gracefully through them. Did he ever complain or gripe about the things he faced? Yes, he did! Although that gives us a little encouragement that we are not much different, there is one thing we see about David's life that shows us how he made it through when the 'cards' just didn't seem to be 'good'. Study his life long enough and you will realize he had a deep and lasting relationship with his Lord. He didn't just go to church on Sunday and live like he wanted the rest of the week. He didn't just turn to God when the times got tough - he lived with God in the leanest of times as much as he did in the times of great plenty. He did press in during the lean times, so maybe that is a good lesson for us to see. Lean times are inevitable - hardship cannot be avoided forever. Being a Christian might mean we have 'hardship insurance' - we have a place to turn when the 'hand' we are dealt doesn't provide the most 'optimum' of circumstances. We don't have this 'insurance' just because we say "yes" to Jesus - we have it because we allow him to cultivate his presence and peace within.

Where does this cultivation occur? Usually in the driest and most barren of places. It is in those places that we learn to value our relationship with Jesus - we find out how much his love and grace mean to us. How? The things we counted on in this world seem to bring little satisfaction or peace into our lives - but we find his presence restores our soul, invigorates our spirit, and soothes our confused mind. We want all the good stuff that comes from serving Jesus, like the best 'hand' in cards. When we get the 'lousy hand' in life, do we complain or embrace it, give it into his hands, and let him show us how to 'play it'? That is what David did when he lifted his voice time after time again in praise and worship. In the midst of the 'band hands' of life, he lifted his spirit and voice in praise. Why? It showed how much he valued God taking the 'hand' and 'playing it' as only he could! Praise and worship may not come naturally when we 'get the band hand', but if we have cultivated that love relationship with Jesus in the 'good hand' times, we are likely to carry that into the 'bad hand' times, as well. Just sayin!

Let's turn this boat around!

Thomas Fuller said, "Abused patience turns to fury."  Are you mad at God because something you have been hoping for has not come to pass yet?  I run across individuals who seem so angry at God because they had "big dreams" of being this or that, having achieve some goal, but in the span between the imagining of that dream and the present day their dream just never came to fruition.  We all can have times when we dream of the big catch and actually catch little fish!  Imagine the day the disciples fishing on the Sea of Galilee all day without any fish in their nets for that day's work.  When they returned to the shore with all their disappointments and frustrations for a day's labor without a great return on their investment, they were met with Jesus telling them to go back out and throw their nets in again.  Would you have obeyed? There are days when we just go for it, and there are probably others when "enough is enough".  To be "asked" to do anymore is just not in the cards for us and anyone asking us to do so is just going to be caught in the crossfires of our anger or frustration.

Don’t run from tests and hardships, brothers and sisters. As difficult as they are, you will ultimately find joy in them; if you embrace them, your faith will blossom under pressure and teach you true patience as you endure. And true patience brought on by endurance will equip you to complete the long journey and cross the finish line—mature, complete, and wanting nothing. (James 1:2-4 VOICE)

Tests and hardships - two things most of us don't stand in line for!  Yet, in the midst of the test comes the proving of what is within us and probably more importantly - who is within us!  Tests reveal the "center" - they have a tendency to strip away all the facade we each muster on a daily basis and then what is left revealed is what we really rely upon.  It could be our own efforts, or it could be we rely squarely on Christ to navigate us through the test.  Once the facade is out of the way, it is clearer for us to see who actually is at the center, even when we proclaim it is Christ, it may not be.

Hardships have a way of wearing us down.  As the name implies, it more than a short-lived test.  It is a condition that has a great deal of difficulty that most of the time we consider hard to endure.  There is some kind of suffering, deprivation, or even oppression within it.  This simply makes it a little harder for us to stand strong in the self-sufficiency of our own strength or endurance.  In those times, we toil continuously, but seem to get nowhere.  In essence, the hardship is really testing our endurance and most importantly, where it is we find our strength to endure.

As Fuller implied, when patience is tested beyond what we can possibly endure, we can get a little bitter in the circumstances.  This is why it is so important to consider what James says about embracing them with the mindset of having our faith increased and our patience expanded.  Most of the time we pray for patience in the test or hardship - but if we read this carefully, it is the hardship and test which reveals or builds our patience.  Many tests have come my way which revealed a lack of patience.  As a single parent, there was no escaping the pressures of parenting - so my lack of patience was often revealed when that "last nerve" was frayed and finally hit.  If I stopped in those moments to just consider the blessing those kids were in my life, I began to settle into the peace God gave.  It often doesn't take much to turn your mindset around - it just takes a step of obedience.  

We might not recognize the test or hardship when it first comes, but as it gives full "blossom" in our lives, we know it for sure.  What we can know is that in the moment we become aware of the test, or increasing difficulty, we can look squarely into the eyes of Jesus and then lean heavily upon his arms to make it through.  The disciples on that log day of fishing complained a little - they explained they had been out all day and their nets came up empty.  We do that, too.  God doesn't mind our complaints as long as the next step is to "set back out on the water" to do as he says.  In that step of obedience of "turning the boat around" and setting out again, we find the way for our faith to increase and as we "throw the nets in again" we might just be surprised as to how much God reveals about his strength, provision, and protection over our lives.  Just sayin!

Chisel away, God

I am going to ask us each a hard question today, but one which I think needs to be asked:  "What are you running from?"  Many times we run from the stuff which incites fear within, but we don't have any destination in mind when we start running "from" those things - we just run.  I don't like spiders - I am not arachnophobic by any means - I just don't like their creepiness!  I don't exactly run from them, but if you ever encounter one of those big, hairy brown wolf spiders of the Arizona desert invading your space INSIDE your home, you might just find yourself taking a few steps back! They are scary looking - move faster than lightening - and they don't seem to take no for an answer!  I can totally understand why we run from spiders, or dogs who seem to be doing a lot of snarling, while eyeing you are a solid piece of meat.  We run from other other things, too, which are maybe not the best things for us to be running from - things like conflict in relationship, failures which are just too hard to "clean up" after, and lessons which seem to difficult to embrace.  These are the things we need to embrace - not run from!

Don’t run from tests and hardships, brothers and sisters. As difficult as they are, you will ultimately find joy in them; if you embrace them, your faith will blossom under pressure and teach you true patience as you endure. And true patience brought on by endurance will equip you to complete the long journey and cross the finish line—mature, complete, and wanting nothing.  (James 1:2-3 VOICE)

Running is a form of escape - we hope to remove ourselves from the "immediacy" of whatever discomfort or danger we are sensing.  When we are running from compromise, this is a good thing!  When we are running from conflict because it is just too uncomfortable to face the music, this is not good. Tests and hardships are pretty much everywhere in life. Some involve huge personal loss on occasion, so we'd probably rather avoid those things.  When we lose a loved one, we face personal loss, but the loss doesn't have to consume us.  It can become the place of "launching" rather than the place of "anchoring" we often make it.  What we do in the moment defines what we learn from the moment and take into our future.  Run from the big, hairy spider who is also on the move in your house, and you may not sleep a wink that night because you have no idea what crevice he may emerge from while you are sleeping!

When we consider "tests" in life, they are simply an "investigation" into what we sometimes call our character. We find out more about ourselves in those moments of testing than we may at any other point in our lives. Tests are not always enjoyable - in fact, many of us can become quite anxious over them - even when we believe we are well-prepared.  I remember taking my nursing board exams. I took two - one when I became a Licensed Practical Nurse and one when I became a Registered Nurse.  Each time, I prepared and prepared, until the stuff I needed to know was drilled into my head.  I went in with confidence, but I left with questions about my success.  Why?  Those board questions were tough!  Combined with my own anxiety over having my knowledge of anatomy, disease processes, and assessment skills "investigated", they revealed just a little more "fear" than I'd like to say I expected.  I took those boards during the era when you actually had to wait about six weeks to receive the results - allowing all that anxiety to continue to mount as you recalled all the questions you agonized over when selecting the "best answer".  I had myself doubting my own competency!  It is sad, but we do this to ourselves from time to time, sometimes more than we'd like to admit.

Yes, I passed both sets of boards without issue, but those moments of self-doubt crept in and made the pressure of the "investigation" process that much more stressful.  In life, we can run from or run toward - the process of "investigating us" is still happening, though.  Adversity may come, but what we do with it when it faces us head-on is what will give "definition" to our character.  Much as a wood carver uses the chisel to take piece after piece of wood away from the piece he starts with, slowly and deliberately producing a new shape, form, and texture to the wood block in front of him, God is doing the same with our character through those hardships and tests we are undergoing.  The chisel is sharp, but that allows it to do the work of "reshaping" the wood. The sculptor will use one size and shape of chisel or tool one right after another until he has the final product in his view. He has an image in his mind, one which we may not fully understand or appreciate until he is nearly finished with the final cuts. 

We should not be discouraged when we don't see the image God has in mind for us!  He isn't using sharp tools to damage us, but is using them to shape us.  Tests and hardships are tools which we may not like to have used in "shaping" our lives, but they are the instruments God uses to reveal the beauty of his grace within each of us.  Just sayin!

I am flapping hard here!

Back in the day, before I knew any better, I had this ill-conceived idea that I could do anything, anywhere, at any time in my life.  I kind of thought of myself as "all powerful" - even believing if I flapped my arms hard enough, I could actually fly.  There was a time when I was around 4 or 5 that I actually did believe I could fly - turning over trash cans, climbing up on top of them and flapping into the wind!  Now, lest you think I am a little touched in the head, I really could not fly, but my imagination got the best of me for a short period of time.  It wasn't long before I was the best "cop" riding a Schwinn two-wheeler in pursuit of those "bad guys" who just robbed the bank, or a mom taking care of her little baby while making dinner out of mud-pies in the backyard.  As kids we often think pretty grandiose thoughts about ourselves - our capabilities and our dreams being so BIG we think the world cannot stand in our way.  Then we grow up!  Before long, we find all kinds of obstacles in our way and wonder where all that enthusiasm for life and "I am all powerful" belief went!  Let me tell you, if I had of known how hard life was going to be as an adult, I would have opted to be a kid just a little while longer instead of being so all-fired in a hurry to grow up!  What about you?  Yet, life comes at us, and time passes - making it impossible for us to remain as "children" in this world - we need to step into the next place prepared for us.  Adulthood in the natural sense is kind of like it is in the spiritual sense - it comes upon us in the course of time, but some of us embrace it whole-heartedly, while others of us look back wishing for the simplicity of the past.

My friends, be glad, even if you have a lot of trouble. You know that you learn to endure by having your faith tested. But you must learn to endure everything, so that you will be completely mature and not lacking in anything. (James 1:2-4 CEV)

James has a unique way of looking at life.  His attitude is one of embracing whatever comes his way.  This is indeed a commendable "habit", but how many of us actually live this way? In truth, we flap our wings, believing we can "fly", but in reality - we stumble a lot!  We see ourselves one way - strong, mighty, and courageous; or maybe weak, ill-fit, and kind of wimpy.  The way we see ourselves often determines how likely it is we will face the troubles in our midst in a positive, or sometimes kind of not so "enthusiastic" of a manner. We don't "fly" just because we flap our wings, do we?  We don't catch the "bad guys" in life just because we can ride fast!  We need more than "imaginative curiosity" to keep us going, right?  We need something on the inside which helps us take steps when everything else inside of us is saying "I can't" or "I don't think so".  

James reminds us of the certainty of troubles - those things which come our way and make it almost impossible for us to get around them.  Those things might be ruffled relationships, or a bad situation in a job environment.  They could be not feeling good about what we have become over the course of time, because we don't "fit the mold" of what others thought we'd amount to in life.  Whatever the reason for the present "obstacles" we face in life, be certain of this - they aren't there to impede our progress, but to cause us to dig deeper and move beyond them.  To many who face these obstacles today, I want to say this - they ARE big; they ARE hard; and they ARE going to tax everything inside of you.  There - now that we both realize the reality of the difficulty of what lies ahead, let's get on with it!

Sometimes we want to succumb to their "hugeness" in our midst - kind of like a fallen tree in the road, blocking traffic from passing on the right or the left.  Let me just tell you this - you may not be able to get around it, over it, or under it - but you can get through it!  You don't have to let the obstacle in your midst hold you fast where you are - you have a power within to get beyond it, regardless of how big it might be.  I didn't learn to fly by jumping off of trash cans in the front yard.  I learned to "fly" by jumping hurdles in my path with the encouragement and power Christ spoke into my life when I needed it the most.  I don't have to flap my arms to fly, I just need to pull our my faith a little bit further!  Once I realized the obstacles were just a way of revealing the faith Christ had already placed deep within me, I saw the obstacles differently.  They became a way to reveal more of Christ's power in me, more of his grace through me, and more of his solid foundation anchoring me.

We all "grow up" - be we don't always grow wiser, more understanding, or more convinced of the extent of the completeness of God's work within us.  This is where the obstacles come into play in our lives.  They are there to reveal these things in us.  If we begin to see them as revealers of truth rather than claimers of our victory, we might just face them differently! Just sayin!