Posts Tagged: trusting God
“On Childproof Seals and Persistence”
“The Parable of the Persistent Widow
Luke 18:1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:1-8, English Standard Version)
I don’t know if “child-proof” packaging frustrates children, but it most definitely proves frustrating to this old guy. You see, not to get too graphic, I have some chronic digestive issues which makes it desirable for me to take over-the-counter meds. And these meds come in childproof individually wrapped packages. They have a tab, but I’ve tried various ways of using those tabs, and nothing seems to work. Even my wife has difficulty with them and has to resort to scissors to cut them open.
However, being the stubborn individual that I am, I decided to try to find a way to open it when I did not have scissors with me. My determination paid off. I discovered that if I ran my thumbnail along the pill packages where they were scored, and if I kept on doing that for long enough, I could liberate my antidiarrheal pills. Persistence pays off!
Anytime that you’re doing something that needs to be done, persistence also pays off. However, with very few exceptions, I am not known for patience or persistence. I expect to do things perfectly (or at least well) right now, effortlessly. My middle name is not Persistence.
Jesus told a story about a widow whose first name was “Persistent”. She kept going to the same corrupt judge over and over and over, seeking justice. She eventually got her justice, not because the judge was just, but because she was just a pain in various parts of the judge’s anatomy.
Jesus explains that God is not corrupt like the judge. God will take care of his people’s needs speedily. And yet, it seems to me that Jesus indicates that there is the need for persistent faith and prayer in God’s children. It seems so to me because Jesus explicitly says that this is so.
But if God is going to speedily intervene on behalf of God’s children, why there is the need for persistent faith and prayer? I don’t know. Jesus often juxtaposes two things, that in our way of thinking, don’t make sense together. Jesus, like Mary Poppins, never explains anything. But while I don’t know, I do have a couple of suspicions.
First, I suspect that God’s speedily isn’t our speedily. We are creatures of the moment. God is the Creator of all moments, and God lives in eternality. So, while we wait for God’s speed, we need to persistently pray and trust.
Second, I suspect that we wouldn’t even realize that it was actually God intervening if we did not persistently pray and trust. This suspicion is based on my own experience and the experience of others who have reported the same. Without persistent trust and prayer, we would ascribe the meeting of our needs to anything but God. We would fall into the delusion that it was luck, or hard work, or—worst of all—the result of our own goodness.
Now, I would really stop here, but in the interest of full disclosure, I have a confession. It is this: Here of late I haven’t been persistent in prayer, trust, or much of anything that is good. I haven’t murdered anybody or robbed a bank this past week, but I haven’t been persistent or consistent in Bible reading, prayer, praise, gratitude, service, or even making my bed and taking regular showers. Sorry to be so blunt, but I’ve just been kind of a mess. Not a total mess, but a mess nevertheless.
So, one of the things that I am going to be persistent about is writing and posting on this website every day this week. Hold me to that, dear reader!
Oh, I almost forgot! I’m also shaving and taking a shower every day.
“PROPHETS AND PREDICTORS”
I am currently teaching a class on biblical prophets, especially, the Old Testament prophets. One of the most difficult things for my students to wrap their mind around is the idea that the prophets are not primarily predictors of the distant future.
Notice that I said that they are “. . . not primarily predictors . . . .” I do believe that the prophets could and did predict the future. However, I do not believe that this was their main task.
Well then, what was their main task?
I suspect that the main task of the prophet was to call God’s people back to their main tasks: to trust and obey God, which involved God’s people cultivating personal integrity and a fair society.
One of the things that the prophets especially emphasized was the need to take good care of the weakest members of their society: widows, orphans, foreigners, the poor. Those who just looked after themselves were the targets of some of the prophets’ sternest condemnations.
And yet, all of these things—trust, obedience, personal integrity, and a fair society that takes care of those on the margin—are connected. Without trust in God, obedience, integrity, and fairness are difficult to pull off. Believe me, I’ve tried it without God!
I have to admit that there are certainly some atheists who are better at integrity and fairness than many who at least say they believe in God. Granted.
However, if there is a God who is good and wise and powerful, it might be more effective to involve that God in our striving for personal integrity and a fair society.
Now, let me bring this brief blog full circle. The prophets did predict the future. However, it was not primarily the distant future. Rather, they predicted the immediate future. And the prophets contended that God was very much involved in this immediate future. With God, the future of God’s people, and indeed all the people of the world, would be good. Without God, bad things were coming.
That’s a pretty simple prediction, isn’t it? Well, the prophets weren’t generally into being subtle. They were generally into Truth.
“THE CONTENT OF CHARACTER: CHOICES, THOUGHTS, AND DEEDS”
“The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you choose, what you think and what you do is who you become.” (Heraclitus)
I was just about to play some computer word games. The problem is that I am trying to eliminate them for a while. If I could play ten minutes and stop, that might be okay. However, I tend to play ten minutes, and then keep playing.
So, instead, I read some quotes from one of my favorite philosophers: Heraclitus. When I read the above quote, I was so glad that I had chosen not to play any computer games, because I don’t really want to become a computer game.
What do I want to become? I want to become love, humility, kindness, and courage. I want to become more like Jesus Christ.
But here is the important question: Am I in fact making the moment-by-moment decisions about my choices, thoughts and deeds that will help me to become more loving, humble, kind, courageous, and Christ-like?
Wanting is not enough. Choices, thoughts and deeds matter.
In one of my 12-step readings this morning, the author (anonymous as you might expect) pointed out that there are two basic requirements for sobriety: trusting God and doing something for your recovery.
It isn’t a case of either/or. It is a matter of both/and. And I’ve noticed that the more I really trust God, the more I am freed up to do what I need to do to be sober. And the more I do what I need to do to be sober, the more I trust God.
You’ve heard of vicious cycles? Trusting God and doing what I deeply need to do is a virtuous cycle.
“IN OVER MY HEAD”
Do you ever feel like you’re in over your head? “All the time,” you say?
Me too—especially right now!
Of course I feel overwhelmed most of the time, so the phrase “especially right now” should probably be deleted. However, I’ll let it stand. I’ve lived an overwhelmed life.
Teaching a fairly large group of people at the university, trying to help out more at Bob Evans, trying to be a good house husband, especially in light of the fact that my sweetheart is caring for her mom two days a week, teaching Hebrew, caring for the dog, trying to be helpful to my 12-step friends, trying to read the Bible all the way through this year, trying to work out more at the gym, trying to start a Celebrate Recovery program at our church: I am getting overwhelmed just listing stuff I should be doing. (Writing a blog post is one of my daily tasks, so I guess I am doing something after all.)
I suspect that I am not terminally unique in this regard. Some of you who made time to read this blog may be saying (and with good justification), “Would you like to trade lists? I think I like yours better!”
Well, I can’t help you much, if at all, with your list, and perhaps you can’t help me with mine. Probably, trading wouldn’t help either. However, what I can do is to think a bit differently about my own list. Who knows? This may also invite you to think differently about your own list.
So here are three suggestions that I am making to my own fevered soul. Perhaps they may be helpful to you as well.
Suggestion # 1: Do triage, and do the most important thing first. This is probably also the task that you find the most difficult to start, keep at, and finish. When I was little, I didn’t like green beans. Still don’t. So, whenever I am served them, I eat them first (except, of course, when I eat my dessert first).
This does not work well for everyone. Some folks find it best to do some smaller, more doable task first. This gives them enough of a sense of accomplishment to tackle the next task, and so on. Whatever works for you is what you should do.
Suggestion # 2: Give thanks for having too much to do. I tend to complain about having too much to do—or having what I at least think is too much to do. But what if I took the attitude that I get to do all this stuff?
I have heard that there is an old Tahitian proverb that says, “May you be banished to idleness!” I am told that this is the worst thing you can so to a Tahitian.
I had a friend who spent several years in prison. He said that it wasn’t really horrible—except for the boredom. Feeling overwhelmed in profoundly uncomfortable. Feeling underwhelmed is not easy either.
Suggestion # 3: Bear in mind that God may be giving you more to do than you can do in your strength, because God doesn’t want you to do things in your own strength. Trusting God is a daily task for me. Feeling overwhelmed keeps me humble and open to trusting the one who is never overwhelmed with anything. There’s a wonderful TobyMac song (“Beyond Me”) that makes precisely this point.
“Call it a reason to retreat
I got some dreams that are bigger than me
I might be outmatched outsized the underdog in the fight of my life
Is it so crazy to believe
That you gave me the stars put them out of my reach
Call me to waters a little to deep
Oh I’ve never been so aware of my need
You keep on making me see
It’s way beyond me
It’s way beyond me
Yeah it’s out of my league
It’s way beyond me
It’s way beyond me
It’s way beyond
Anything that I got the strength to do
In over my head keeps me countin’ on you
I’m leaving the sweet spot sure shot tradin’ it all for the plans you got
Is it so crazy to believe
That you gave me the stars put them out of my reach
Call me to waters a little to deep
Oh I’ve never been so aware of my need
You keep on making me see
It’s way beyond me
It’s way beyond me
Yeah it’s out of my league
It’s way beyond me
It’s way beyond me
You take me to the place where I know I need You
Straight to the depths that I can’t handle on my own
And Lord I know, I know I need You
So take me to Your great
Take me to Your great unknown
It’s way beyond me, way way beyond me
It’s it’s way beyond me, way way way beyond me
Yeah, You gave me the stars, put them out of my reach
Called me to waters just a little too deep
Oh, I’ve never been so aware of my need
Yeah, you keep on making me see
It’s way beyond me (it’s way beyond me)
It’s way beyond me (it’s way beyond me)
Yeah, it’s out of my league (it’s way beyond me)
It’s way beyond me (it’s way beyond me)
It’s way beyond me (it’s way beyond me)
It’s way beyond me
You take me to the place where I know I need You
Straight to the depths that I can’t handle on my own (it’s way beyond me)
You take me to the place where I know I need You
Oh take me to Your place
Take me to Your great unknown”
My affirmation to God for today is as follows:
“Today, by God’s grace, I am consistently doing the next right thing, so far as I can discern the next right thing. I am swimming in the deep water today. The Everlasting Arms of God are underneath me, teaching me to trust and swim.”
It’s a bit warmer today. Anybody care to join me for a swim? We’ll break the ice if we need to!
“Character Defects and Trusting God: #Iamtheproblem”
What is my central problem? My character defects! My central problem isn’t society. It isn’t women. It isn’t political persons or affairs. It isn’t my past or my future. My central problems is the fault lines in my own heart and soul.
#IamtheProblem!
And what are my character defects? They are many!
But is there a character defect that feeds all the others?
I don’t know, and maybe it isn’t important that I know. However, I do have a suspicion. I suspect that I don’t trust God. That, I think, is the central problem.
If I really trusted God, I would trust that he has given me enough, that I therefore have enough, do enough, and am enough.
Even if I am empty—as I am a good deal of the time—I would see that emptiness as a God-given emptiness.
Today, moment by moment, I will choose to trust God. I will trust and see what happens. There don’t have to be any signs or miracles. I will simply choose to trust that there is a God and that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek God (Hebrews 11:6).
I will begin by trusting God to give me the strength to trust God.
DO I TRUST GOD?
Am I trust-worthy?
This is question I have been asking myself here of late. There is evidence for a tentative “Yes!” There is also evidence for a decisive “No!”
However, it occurred to me today that this is not even the right question. The right question is, “Am I trusting God right now?” Paul says that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is about faith from beginning to end (Romans 1:17). At least, that is one possible understanding of the Greek phrase which may be literally translated “from faith to faith.”
Perhaps even clearer is what Paul writes to the Galatians.
“1 You foolish Galatians! Who has hypnotized you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified?
2 I only want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?
3 Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now going to be made complete by the flesh?”
Paul is saying here that the life of the believer started with the Holy Spirit, and that the life of the believer continues and is completed by the work of that same Holy Spirit. However, note that faith is also involved. We received the Spirit “by the hearing with faith.” Presumably, we continue to live in the Spirit in the same manner—by hearing accompanied by faith.
I am called to trust God moment by moment by moment. Faith is to the soul what breathing is to the body. No breath, no physical life. No faith, no spiritual life.
Perhaps faith is also a muscle. I develop my muscles little by little. You can make instant oatmeal, but not instant muscle.
I develop better muscle tone and strength by regular, increasingly strenuous exercise. And so it is with the muscle of faith: I trust God with little things, then with slightly bigger things. Eventually, I will discover that God can all kinds of things I had never believed possible.
But then, muscles can atrophy, can’t they? I remember being in a hospital many years ago. I was shocked at how quickly my leg and arm muscles became weaker, and how long it took to get back to where I had been before the accident.
So, today is the day that the LORD has made. Today is also the day the LORD has made for me to trust Him. Each moment—by my attitudes, thoughts, words, and deeds—I am answering the question “Do I trust God?”.
And that is the question for all of us, isn’t it?
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- “Even a Sliver of Light” April 9, 2024“For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 5:6, English Standard Version) I missed the total eclipse yesterday. There were a number of good reasons for this, but […]
- “The Process in Miracles and the Miracle of Process” March 11, 2024“2 Kings 5:1 Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. 2 Now the Syrians on one of their raids […]
- “The Power of Encouragement—Even for Old People” March 10, 2024“But encourage each other every day while it is ‘today.’ Help each other so none of you will become hardened because sin has tricked you.” (Hebrews 3:13, New Century Version) Yesterday, I was walking at a nearby park. There was a large group of young people some of whom were running while other young people […]
- “Endurance” March 10, 2024“For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.” (Hebrews 10:36, English Standard Version) “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us […]
- “The Limits of Non-Judgmentalism” February 24, 2024“Matt. 7:1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. Matt. 7:2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 7:1-2, English Standard Version) This morning, in my virtual 12-step meeting, we discussed the topic of judgmentalism. There were many wise […]
- “Delighting in Being Told What to Do?!?” February 23, 2024“Psa. 112:1 Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments! 2 His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. 3 Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures […]
- “Character is the Real Lesson” January 19, 2024I am often confused about what lesson I’m really supposed to be learning. For example, this morning I was trying to knock out several Spanish lessons. My intentions were a lot better than my internet connection. I’ve done three lessons. Or rather, I’ve done two lessons. One of them I did twice because the internet […]
- “The Year of Becoming Un-Planked” January 1, 2024Each year, I try to come up with one word or a short phrase for what I intend to work on in the upcoming year. 2024 is “The Year of Becoming Un-Planked”. What?!! What does that even mean? So glad that you asked! Jesus said to his disciples, “Why do you look at the speck […]
- “Searching for the Noble One” December 26, 2023My wife and I were reading Luke, chapter 2 on Christmas Day. Luke 2 talks about the shepherds being told to look for this very special child—in fact, this King—in a stable. I prefer the word “barn”. I grew up on a farm. I know what a barn is. A stable is entirely too biblical […]
- “That Don’t Impress God Much” December 14, 2023DTEB, “That Don’t Impress God Much” “That Don’t Impress Me Much” (Song by Robert John Lange and Shania Twain) Micah 6:8 (MSG) “But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be […]
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