As I sat in bible study today, I began to challenge the group to remember that while prayer is important and powerful, God uses people to answer prayer. That to simply pray God would comfort the suffering is to miss the point of Jesus' ministry. WE are to comfort the suffering as God's arms and ears. We are to provide through our abundance and gratitude. God uses people and He never intended us to walk alone.
My class simply debated with the typical religious answers that have been indoctrinated in so many over the years. Pray more. Give more. Seek God more. Sin less. Sounds to me like Job's friends who started out right by listening and ended up offending God by rambling solutions that do not reflect knowledge of His ways.
I have suffered and I have reached out. And, constantly I am faced with these "Job's Friends" answers that are shallow. I am looking for authenticity and so is God. That is what God saw in Job, among other things. He saw a man who was authentic with himself, his God and his friends.
We lack authenticity in our churches today. And, once again, I am finding I must keep looking for that rare church who can operate in authenticity so that love may abound more completely and correctly.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
The Silent Voices
"Ours is a culture that emphasizes cure, or, short of that, immediate relief from symptoms, so that we can carry on with our busy lives. Unfortunately, in our cultural denial of the reality of chronic illness and disability, we frequently silence the voices of those who cannot deny it." -- Marsha Saxton and Florence Howe
What a poignant statement this quote makes by two persons likely to have been silenced in their suffering too. I think it really addresses two audiences. Those who are ill and those who tend to avoid the ill.
First, for those who do suffer illness that is chronic, how much grace must we allow ourselves to keep from wanting to be part of that busy lifestyle again. Second, how many times has those with busy lifestyles failed to recognize the true meaning of ministry by forsaking business to "bear one another's burdens."
Which one are you? Are you striving to be society's success poster only to find yourself chronically knocked down. I urge you to give yourself the permission to rest and live at the pace God has ordained for you in this season. Or are you constantly seeking new personal achievements or filling hours with work and family, forgetting that all of the body of Christ is our family. Have you once invited the hurting to your dinner table and taught your children the value of mercy?
I am one who could possibly be labeled chronically ill. Do I shout from the mountaintops my woes. I used to. Because I wanted help. In God's grace, I have learned to walk in gratefulness and wisdom for those He points me to build such relationship with. But, I still find myself angry at those who pass me and many others like me by, simply because they have filled their schedule with more than enough obligations and activities.
We should all, regardless of health, operate our lives on such a level that we are NEVER to busy to welcome the less gifted into our lives. Ministry such as this resonates the second commandment, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Without demonstration of the second commandment in your life, people will always doubt the reality of the first, "Love God..."!
Remember how Jesus told one fellow how to identify his neighbor in the Bible? He gave an illustration of a Samaritan helping a beaten, dying man. A Samaritan. To a Jew, this was like saying blasphemer in a sense. How much deeper we could go with that one illustration. But, my point today is, give all you've got to keep not just the first commandment at heart, but the second one as well. They belong together, as do both the hurting and the well.
What a poignant statement this quote makes by two persons likely to have been silenced in their suffering too. I think it really addresses two audiences. Those who are ill and those who tend to avoid the ill.
First, for those who do suffer illness that is chronic, how much grace must we allow ourselves to keep from wanting to be part of that busy lifestyle again. Second, how many times has those with busy lifestyles failed to recognize the true meaning of ministry by forsaking business to "bear one another's burdens."
Which one are you? Are you striving to be society's success poster only to find yourself chronically knocked down. I urge you to give yourself the permission to rest and live at the pace God has ordained for you in this season. Or are you constantly seeking new personal achievements or filling hours with work and family, forgetting that all of the body of Christ is our family. Have you once invited the hurting to your dinner table and taught your children the value of mercy?
I am one who could possibly be labeled chronically ill. Do I shout from the mountaintops my woes. I used to. Because I wanted help. In God's grace, I have learned to walk in gratefulness and wisdom for those He points me to build such relationship with. But, I still find myself angry at those who pass me and many others like me by, simply because they have filled their schedule with more than enough obligations and activities.
We should all, regardless of health, operate our lives on such a level that we are NEVER to busy to welcome the less gifted into our lives. Ministry such as this resonates the second commandment, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Without demonstration of the second commandment in your life, people will always doubt the reality of the first, "Love God..."!
Remember how Jesus told one fellow how to identify his neighbor in the Bible? He gave an illustration of a Samaritan helping a beaten, dying man. A Samaritan. To a Jew, this was like saying blasphemer in a sense. How much deeper we could go with that one illustration. But, my point today is, give all you've got to keep not just the first commandment at heart, but the second one as well. They belong together, as do both the hurting and the well.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The Not So Obvious Road
I was reading a devotional today where the writer is studying Orpah. You know, the infamous quitter, as we've been taught. She is the one in the story of Ruth who chose to return to her forefathers as suggested. She went the other way, not to the land of the new God she had discovered in Naomi's family, but back where she grew up.
The word return, this writer says, indicates a returning but not necessarily to the way things were before. Imagine that, choosing the route of taking the message of Israel to a foreign land. Which decision really is harder?
It makes me think how sometimes God wants us to do a U-turn for His name's sake and repeat what we had escaped. Not like a dog returning to its vomit, but as a tiny light shining in the darkness. Alone. Without backup. How Orpah must have endured scorn and rejection, and we must wonder, did her faith hold up. Only heaven knows. But, I think Orpah went the direction God told her to, and sustained her in it.
Ruth moved to a land full of those of like faith, and she ministered there, becoming the lineage of Jesus Christ. But, Orpah, at the same time moved upon a people who no longer shared the same faith. She had a better way, and could very well have saved the otherwise lost.
Don't always choose a life of ministering to other Christians. If God is calling you to minister to the non-Christians, know it is a valid and needed calling. While God works within the body of Christ, we must also work from without.
The word return, this writer says, indicates a returning but not necessarily to the way things were before. Imagine that, choosing the route of taking the message of Israel to a foreign land. Which decision really is harder?
It makes me think how sometimes God wants us to do a U-turn for His name's sake and repeat what we had escaped. Not like a dog returning to its vomit, but as a tiny light shining in the darkness. Alone. Without backup. How Orpah must have endured scorn and rejection, and we must wonder, did her faith hold up. Only heaven knows. But, I think Orpah went the direction God told her to, and sustained her in it.
Ruth moved to a land full of those of like faith, and she ministered there, becoming the lineage of Jesus Christ. But, Orpah, at the same time moved upon a people who no longer shared the same faith. She had a better way, and could very well have saved the otherwise lost.
Don't always choose a life of ministering to other Christians. If God is calling you to minister to the non-Christians, know it is a valid and needed calling. While God works within the body of Christ, we must also work from without.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
The Purpose in Storms
Each day this spring, I have sat numerous times a day on my front porch and admired the huge oak tree in my front yard. I have watched it bud and blossom with leaves, until recently I noticed the leaves had withered and many had died. I pondered the need for some personal attention, perhaps some individual watering with the hose.
But then came the rains. Not just a drizzle or rainy day. But torrential downpours. And, guess what? My oak tree is blossoming and well fed.
I pondered then that the downpours came only with great storms and hazardous weather. What we may cringe to endure, that tree welcomed for survival.
Do you think perhaps we should change our perspective of storms in our lives? The rain we need to grow to our fullest comes only in the greatest storms.
God is mysterious in how He works. But, today, I hope to welcome the biggest storms in my life, for its sustaining watering of my soul will help me endure the dry summer ahead.
But then came the rains. Not just a drizzle or rainy day. But torrential downpours. And, guess what? My oak tree is blossoming and well fed.
I pondered then that the downpours came only with great storms and hazardous weather. What we may cringe to endure, that tree welcomed for survival.
Do you think perhaps we should change our perspective of storms in our lives? The rain we need to grow to our fullest comes only in the greatest storms.
God is mysterious in how He works. But, today, I hope to welcome the biggest storms in my life, for its sustaining watering of my soul will help me endure the dry summer ahead.
The Opportunity
What an extraordinary quote I happened upon in my personal journal today. It seemed timely and worth repeating:
"When Heaven is silent, my resources are depleted, and I am asked to simply "accept" the trial I'm facing. I have an opportunity to realize the depths of God's peace."
I leave you to ponder this.
"When Heaven is silent, my resources are depleted, and I am asked to simply "accept" the trial I'm facing. I have an opportunity to realize the depths of God's peace."
I leave you to ponder this.
The Vow Ring
Today I stopped at Mardels and bought a ring. I put it on the left ring finger to symbolize a vow I made to the Lord. I vowed, in this time of healing from divorce, not to date for a period of time. I asked Him to not only be my husband, as scripture describes, but to teach me how to be a proper wife and what to look for in a proper husband.
It resembles what teenagers today wear as a purity ring. But, for me, it is more than abstaining from sex. It is a commitment to look upward rather than outward for my satisfaction, fulfillment and provision. I truly want a more intimate friendship with Jesus and that is where we have started. He is closer to me than ever before and I can only imagine where that will go as I keep this commitment and seek Him only.
Scripture says the number one commandment is to seek Him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. I have not always had Him in that first position as I married before I met Him. Today, I hope to encourage those who have taken similar vows. And, encourage those who are already married to reassess who is their true number one, and to act in one accord with such a command.
It resembles what teenagers today wear as a purity ring. But, for me, it is more than abstaining from sex. It is a commitment to look upward rather than outward for my satisfaction, fulfillment and provision. I truly want a more intimate friendship with Jesus and that is where we have started. He is closer to me than ever before and I can only imagine where that will go as I keep this commitment and seek Him only.
Scripture says the number one commandment is to seek Him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. I have not always had Him in that first position as I married before I met Him. Today, I hope to encourage those who have taken similar vows. And, encourage those who are already married to reassess who is their true number one, and to act in one accord with such a command.
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