Get me out of the Way

Today is the National Day of Prayer, so a few of us got together at the church this morning before work to spend time praying for our nation, our church, and those who don't know Christ. I couldn't help but think, "Why aren't we doing this more often?" Most great movements within the church happen by accident... well, let me clarify that. ALL great movements in the church happen by the power of the Holy Spirit, who never seems to fit into our schedules or programs - He just seems to show up whenever He wants. Or as Jesus explained to Nicodemus, "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)  So even though my first inclination is to jump right to setting a schedule, and arranging groups of people to meet and pray together, and maybe set up some musicians to provide some worship, and... Maybe I'll just sit and reflect on what God is doing and listen for the breeze stirring. 
With that in mind I offer you these reflections.

<sup>Get Me Out of the Way.


So many times I approach you with wishes,
Demands,
MY ideas MY desires MY plans for You

I come to you with a self-focused heart
A heart that longs for MY OWN goodness,
MY OWN satisfaction, MY OWN godliness.

In this relationship with you somehow it all I can think about is me, me, me.

Is it because I'm such a mess? Because I constantly fail?

I get so caught up in MY world,
work, family, responsibilities, entertainment.

I come to you wanting something for ME.

Won't you teach ME lead ME guide ME


When I stop to consider who you are,

the ALMIGHTY, the ETERNAL, the CREATOR, the Sovereign LORD

When I stop to consider what you've done

you committed yourself to a people who rejected you,
SPAT in your face, shook their finger at you, DEFIED you.

you became the lowliest of servants,
not just a man - a man of sorrows, a man of humility, a man who knew pain, loneliness, suffering.

When I get my focus off myself and look full in the face of your
Glory
Majesty
Power
Holiness

When I consider YOUR plans
To bring the lost back to you
To stand against evil in all its subtleties
To execute justice on the earth
To rescue the oppressed, the downtrodden - the orphan, the cripple, the widow
To display your unlimited, unconditional mercy, grace, and love
To judge sin with justice and righteousness


It is then that I can move beyond myself to something greater
It is then that nothing is impossible
It is then that You move through me
It is then that I see miracles happen

It is then, and only then that I find true fulfillment
And somehow all the things I thought were essential before,
Are lost somewhere in the amazing story YOU are writing in my life.</sup> 

Suffering, part 1

I often wonder if the world is getting worse, or if the constant stream of media just makes it seem that way... Tragedy is nothing new, but our obsessive, over-stimulated culture is constantly feeding off it. No longer do we get just one news report on it, either. It is dissected from every angle, analyzed, replayed over and over, and kept at the forefront of our consciousness for weeks on end. One has to wonder what the psychological impact of all this connectivity will be... but that's another post. Jesus warns His disciples "in the world you will have trouble..." (John 16:33), and Paul prepares Timothy that "evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse..." (2 Tim 3:13), so for followers of Christ the evil we see around us comes as no surprise. However, it is one thing to know a concept externally - to agree to its truth when we are not personally involved in the situation. It is quite another thing when that truth hits close to home and we find ourselves caught up in the middle of it. How do we handle the tragedies that come our way? The question of how a good God can allow such unspeakable evil in the world seems to have resurfaced in recent years - and not just by critics seeking to discredit the Christian faith. I have encountered it mostly with sincere people struggling to make sense of the world around them - people honestly seeking answers on which to base their lives. Never has there been such a need for Christians to provide REAL answers to the ultimate questions of life - and to suffering in particular.

The book of Job gives us the most complete insight into why God allows suffering into our lives, and as usual, the answer is not exactly what you'd expect. We find the weird story of a man who God Himself describes as "blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." In fact, God has such confidence in Job's testimony that he pretty much dares Satan to try and break him. Satan does his worst (within the limits God places in him), and Job ends up losing everything - his family, his possessions, his health. Job's "enlightened friends" are no help either - after chapters of empty philosophies and vain attempts to explain Job's situation they basically come back to "you must have done something terrible and God is punishing you."  Job maintains his integrity and cries out to God, demanding an answer to the pain he is experiencing. Notice that God does not hold his questions against him. He is not afraid of our doubts, our challenges. He patiently opens our eyes to give us a greater glimpse of who He is.

Modern skeptics would have us believe they have uncovered some new philosophical challenge that disproves either God's existence, His power, or His goodness. Job is one of the oldest books in the Bible, but even in this instance the question is not new. In fact, it has been around since before there was even any evil to question - which itself gives us some insight into its true nature. At the heart of this challenge is the idea that God is somehow holding out on us. That He could have chosen a better way to shape human history that would not have included suffering. That He does not have our best interest at heart, or that somehow if we were God, we could have done better. The origin of this question? 

Take a look at Genesis 3 - Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”  The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,  but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”  “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.  “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Adam and Eve lived in paradise! No guns, no sickness, no natural disasters - they had everything they could possibly need, yet they still questioned God's goodness! Satan's deception is subtle, and the challenge seems harmless enough, but at the heart of it is the same idea - that God is either unable or unwilling to give us the best life possible. That the world would be a better place if we were in charge. Even the harshest critic would have to admit they can see a purpose for some suffering - the principle that trials lead to maturity (James 1) is evident even outside the realm of Christiandom. So the question becomes, how much is too much? Who gets to decide which suffering is fruitful and which of it is just plain mean? How can we, as creatures with limited understanding, selfish motives, and very a narrow perspective, question the almighty, sovereign God who designed the very fabric of the universe we inhabit? This is God's answer to Job. Through a series of rhetorical questions He shows Job that it is his perspective that needs to change. Job's response is sobering - "My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

This world is not about us, it is about God. He created it for His glory, for His pleasure, and for His purposes. It is not His desire that we live nice, safe, quiet lives free from trouble, but that we come to know Him. That is the ultimate good in this world. It is as we know God and draw close to Him that we discover what goodness really is, and it is as we move away from Him that evil flourishes. An old practice among shepherds was to take a lamb that was prone to running off and break its leg. The shepherd would then carry the now helpless lamb while its leg healed, forcing it to be completely dependant on the shepherd for food, water, protection - everything. That momentary pain at first seems cruel until one understands the purpose behind it, and the safety it would later provide. Just like a surgeon that causes momentary pain in order to bring ultimate healing, it takes a long-term perspective and a detailed understanding to bring purpose out of the pain. You and I have neither - it is God alone who can make sense of what we observe in the world around us. As we will discuss later, it is when we take Him out of the picture that things really start to get blurry.

grace.

I read an article recently in which the author criticizes the recent “adoption movement” within Christianity. She had a number of accusations, most of which were based on extreme examples that come nowhere close to the typical evangelical adoptive family, but her more widespread criticism was basically that Christians were adopting with ulterior motives - wanting to somehow ingratiate ourselves to God and earn His favor. I can understand the confusion. Most religions are works-based and when your worldview is based on this type of mindset, then the author would be dead on. That is where the mystery of God's grace comes in.

God's promises are unchangeable. He does not base His favor on our performance, He gives it freely in spite of our performance. We show compassion, we reach out to this world, not to get closer to God - but because we already are walking with Him. The choice that we have to make, however, is whether we will live in the grace He provides or watch it from the outside. We can get caught up in the incredible wave of what God is doing in the world, or we can go our own way and do our own thing, and miss out on the best God has in store for us. Is that a little bit selfish? Perhaps. I want to be in God's will because I know that is what is best for my life, but it is a response to understanding who God is and His incredible love for me, not a means of earning that love. And because I know the heart of God, I know that His best for my life is also what is best for those around me.

My Way or God's Way?

The world just doesn't get it. You can try and explain it, you can shout until you are blue in the face... but it just doesn't make sense. As human beings our entire world view is based around, well... us. Everything we've been taught since infancy tells us to look out for ourselves, to do things our way, to build our own kingdom. As I was reading through the life of Abraham, however, I was struck with the simplicity of surrendering to God's will instead of our own. Easy, no? Simple? yes. Every time that Abraham submits to God's will, He receives God's blessing. Every time he tries to do things on his own, he fails miserably. Period.

He leaves his homeland and receives the promised blessing of God on him and his descendants. He trusts God's promises and receives great wealth, is able to defeat an entire army and rescue his nephew Lot, and has a child when it was physically impossible for both him and Sarah to conceive. God blesses him so much that when it comes time to bury his wife, he goes to the Hittites, the people in whose land he was the foreigner and sojourner to ask if he can buy some land to bury her. Their response? "You have been like a prince among us..." and they offer to give him whatever land he needs. Here is someone on whom God's hand rests so clearly that even the pagans around him can see it!

Yet Abraham is far from perfect. In the middle of trusting God and receiving His blessing, he gets impatient and has a son with one of his servants - an act which causes turmoil not just in his immediate family, but in future generations as well. Twice he prostitutes his wife to save his own skin by claiming she is his sister (a misleading half-truth), and both times God has to get through to a pagan king to rescue Sarah and return her to her knuckle-head husband. Through it all, however, God remains faithful to HIs promises, and blesses Abraham in spite of his failings.

Sometimes we make things more complicated than they really are. When faced with a choice or a problem we run to everyone and everything else first, then consult God as a last resort. But in every season of life, every situation we face, every choice we encounter, the first and often times the only question we really need to answer is: what is God's will in this situation? The hard part often isn't knowing God's will, it's having the humility and the patience to follow it.