Getting a Grip When it all hurts Part 1 040114

Getting a Grip  When it all hurts Part 1  040114

1 Peter 5:6-11 ESV
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, [7] casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. [8] Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. [9] Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. [10] And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. [11] To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Wonderful words of encouragement and admonition.  But what do you do with it when it all hurts, when there is no sense of hope although you know there is a reason to?  What do you do when you read this and walk away empty and hollow?

First you realize that Satan will do all he can to create that hollowness and deepen it.  Whether through the world or the flesh he will use every means he can to deepen your despair.  We're not cut out to fight him ourselves but we must call upon - cry out for God to save us from this sense of hopeless sinking.  We must let God fight that battle for us and that is not easy.

Satan will do everything in his power to cast you down and to crush you.  One of his ploys is to isolate you from the Body.  We all know that in times of trouble people seem to withdraw, run, move away not wanting to be too close to the one in distress.  Now we can't blame them and we also know that we withdraw as well.  We, for whatever reason (shame, embarrassment even fear) want to hide away and curl up in a ball and disappear.

Satan wants us to be isolated - he doesn't hunt the herd but rather the solitary and wounded.  So when you are wounded and in despair it is making the situation worse if you curl in a ball in a corner.

Satan also wants to chase us into greater distress.  That's why he is roaring.  He wants us to run from him to where the rest of the pride is.  The pride is in the deep grass waiting for us to run into the middle of them so they may take us down.  We must not run.  We must slowly move in a safe direction and the only one who can show us that safe direction is God.

Satan also wants to get us to murmur - to complain about God as the Israelites did in the wilderness.  He wants us to complain about God and His treatment of us.  He wants us to deny God's goodness, His lovingkindness, His whole character.  He wants us to accuse God of wrong doing, of meanness, of hard heartedness or the typical - He's not fair.

All this and more Satan desires to do.  It is very very hard to stand in the face of a roaring lion but by the grace and power of God, we must.  Like Daniel we must stand among the hungry beasts and trust in God.  We must by the grace and mercy of God resist running - resist isolation - resist shame - resist murmuring.

None of us are the only believers who suffer.  Some suffer more and some less but suffering is suffering and when we are suffering ours is the only one we feel.  But Peter seems to indicate that knowing that we are not the only ones who suffer will be of benefit to us.  That's a hard thing but a true thing.  God is at work in the lives of countless believers and we should praise Him for that fact.  The starving, the oppressed, the persecuted are all trusting Him for so much more than the rest of us and they are holding fast - they've got a grip - faith.

Faith - faith that He can relieve us of our suffering.  Faith that it is meant for His glory.  Faith that it is meant for our good.  Faith that even if it kills us, as it does many, we will then be with Him, at peace and forever without suffering.

Heaven is not a consolation prize for those whose suffering kills them.  Heaven is the glorious reward that awaits those who are His and barring His coming prior to, death is the ony way to heaven.

I'll write more on this passage as I am able - but have faith my friends God is with you and for you - He wants to display His glory through, in and by your circumstances.  It is hard - at times is seems hopeless but I have to ask myself:  For what am I really hoping, treasuer here or treasure there?  The comfort of the world or the comfort of His grace.  It is a real battle - get a grip on His truth and providence and do not let go.

Getting a Grip When it all hurts Part 4 040414

Getting a Grip  When it all hurts  Part 4

1 Peter 5:6-11 ESV
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, [7] casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. [8] Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. [9] Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. [10] And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. [11] To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

[10] And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

"After a little while."  How long is a little while?  How long?  As we count time a little while is days - but when days pass it is weeks but when weeks pass it is months and on it goes.  God counts time differently and we have to get a grip on that!  But He does mean a little while.

Several years ago I got sick.  Noone could tell what was wrong.  It was just a matter of a few weeks but it seemed like forever.  Every minute was longer - every hour lasted 2 - every day seemed to be 48 hours long.  A little while seemed like ages.

Hopelss, in pain, high anxiety and loosing weight at an alarming rate every second seemed an eternity.  But it was just a few weeks.  A little while.

God counts time differently and His timetable does not run like ours.  His timetable, I believe, runs on our receptiveness to His work in our lives.  Why did Joseph have to be in prison as long as He was, what's up with 400 in Egypt?  Why did Jesus only have 3 years of ministry?  What's up with God and time?

I don't know.  But I do know that in this passage Peter uses "a little while," and I will take Him at his word on that.

Regardless of how long this little while is - isn't it worth the promise of restoration, confirmation, strength and being established?  Is the promise worth waiting through the period of provision.

Perhaps if we could come to see suffering as a period of provision we might do better than we do.  God is never idle and in our suffering He is at work within us and in His creation.  He CAN change things in an instant - He CAN change us in and instance - but except for a rare occurance we just don't see Him doing that in His Word - so can we really expect to be the exception to the norm?
A little while - it can be a tough little while if we are not believing that what is promised is behind the time and circumstance.  We can't know what the restoration, confirmation, strength and being established will look like.  Things may well be very different from what we desire or expect but a promise is a promise - right?  And is it not the promise that should guide us in counting the moments.  Should our "time anxiety" really be a strong expectation for His work to be done and for us to come to that moment of restoration, confirmation, strength and being established?

We live in a, "When you absolutely, positively need it overnight," world.  We want next day shipping from God.  We want it and we want it now.  But when we will come to see that this is not how God always works?  When will we see that for whatever good reason He works in His creation within our time.

Getting a Grip When it all hurts Part 2

Getting a Grip  When it all hurts Part 2

1 Peter 5:6-11 ESV
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, [7] casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. [8] Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. [9] Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. [10] And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. [11] To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.


And what are we to do when it all hurts?  Peter admonishes us to humble ourselves.  Well friends when you've feeling humiliation you can't risk confusing that with humbling.

Humiliation is quite simply of the world, the flesh and the devil.  Humiliation uses the world's standards to judge.  Humiliation springs from deep in the murky recesses of our not yet completely pure hearts.  Humiliation is an affliction from Satan fed by the world and enhanced by the flesh.  Humiliation is sin - insidious sin that Satan wants to inject into our lives to blind us to God's grace and mercy and to keep us from humbling ourselves under God's mighty hand.  Now - even that's a toughie.

Humbling ourselves - why did Peter have to say it that way?  Have you ever tried to humble yourself? It is not easy and lasts but a moment.  I find that when I kneel before God to humble myself all my flesh jumps to the front with all these great ideas about what I can to to relief the suffering.  If not that then my mind runs to all the ways God ought to fix the situation.  Humbling yourself is really really hard.

And yet, under Gods mighty hand, we are told to do just that. I don' t know about you but I think Peter knew well that humbling one's self was something one has to do over and over and over and over and ---well you get my point.

Humbling one's self is not some complex process - it's a hard one but not complex.  You simply (as a friend of mine told me) sit quietly and ask God to do the work.  As He works and the flesh rebels - stay calm - keep asking - repent of sins that aise in your mind - rebuke those self-driven thoughts - reject all those great ideas of yours.  My friend would simply go into the woods near his house, sit on a log and pray, "Lord, it's Travis," and then sit quietly waiting for his mind and heart to slow down and then he would begin to talk.

The, God's mighty hand, part of the passage gives me pause.  Does it mean that God is pressing me down with His hand or does it mean that His mighty hand is covering me, protecting me?   I would go with the latter although my flesh votes for the former.  In suffering it is hard to sense God's hand protecting you and easy to think that He is crushing you.  But does God really crush His people.  Even Job in all his sufferiing was not crushed and God's mighty hand was protecting him (see Job 1 and 2).  In all Job suffered God would allow Satan to only go so far and no further.

So it is, I believe, with us.  His mighty hand covers us -protecting us from anything that would crush and drive us from Him.

But we have to humble ourselves and I believe that means that we do what we can do and leave the rest to Him.  I've said many times, "When you have done all you can the rest is for God to do."  Of course we have to have a good definition of "all we can."

Now having said that I have to say that what we do - what we can do must be what he would have us do.  This quite simply demands three things of us.  First we must pray and I mean PRAY - It's not easy to pray when we are suffering but we have to - I've had to - fight through all the distractions to just pray.  But we must - well - demand that He do what only He can as we go about what we can do.  We need Him to both lead us and stop us.  We need to do what is in His will and not do that which is not - and this takes prayer!

Second, to humble ourselves under His hand, we must be in His word.  Here we will find everything we need to fill ourselves with a greater understanding of His will and His ways.  This is critical!  We must fill our minds with His truth - NOT just the usual happy verses but with the whole of His word.  We need to read the prophets to see any wayward way in ourselves.  We need to read the first five books to see His hand in the lives of real people who really suffered.  We need to read the Psalms and poetry to have our minds and hearts schooled in prayer and filled with hope.  We need to be reading the Gospels where we see God in the midst of real people as a real man.  We need the Epistles so that we understand, appreciate and live out the faith that saves us.

Third, to humble ourselve s we need the Body of Christ.  Yeah, I know, the first thing we think about is being embarrassed, being a burden, being a pain, being, "That guy."  But it is through the Body of Christ that God works in the lives of His people and so we must partake of God's provision.  All too often when we are suffering we want to lie and act as if everything was OK when it is anything but.  When we do this we lie - it's just that simple.  And that lie will crush us and keep us from God's providence through His Body.

Humility and humiliation - the first is a mercy the second a sin.  The first is of God, the second is of the world, the flesh and the devil.  The first will help you the second will harm you.  The first is life the second is death.  Finally the first will relieve the second.

Just a little while ago I was talking ith a guy I know from Caribou and we were sharing what ws going on in our lives.  I shared mine and Patti's situation and our concerns.  As we continued talking he said,  "Wait a minute."  Then he took $5 form his walllet and said, "The least I can do is buy you a cup of coffee."  Humiliating?  It should have been and almost was but God comforted my heart and I accepted the money.  Am I struggling with this even?  You bet I am.  It was embarassing and humiliating and --but it really was God's mercy and grace in a moment of time that I should cherish and take great comfort in - even if it is hard.

Humble yourself -- please.

Psalm 94:12. 091213

Psalm 94:12 ESV
Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD, and whom you teach out of your law,

Consider:

"A man by trouble comes to know his own heart, which in prosperity he is a stranger to.  He sees the weakness of his grace and the strength on his corruption; how nothing is weak but grace, nothing strong but sin; and this lays him in the dust"

Thomas Case, A Treatise on Afflictions

Do we really look deeply at His purposes in our afflictions or do we merely look at the affliction and seek its relief?  Do we allow the heat of the furnace to burn away all the fleshy concerns and fears that we might see the root, our sinfulness and its true power and place in our hearts?

Heart-breaking-ly it seems most common for us to seek relief without examination much like going to a doctor seeking some easy diagnosis and quick cure when we, in reality, suffer a terrible malady.  Would we really want to be told we have the flu when a cancer was eating away at us?  It seem, when it comes to our life in Him, we would.

God's hand can lay heavy upon the shoulders of His children.  But like a father who firmly grips his child as the come to a street crossing, He does it for our good and betterment.  It is not pleasant but when we do not allow the Master Physician the Great Father to show us the truth we merely delay the cure having to suffer the dis-ease again.

What affliction has God laid on you?  Be mindful that the affliction is secondary to what God desires to do in your life and heart.  Perhaps He desires a change of habit or behavior but I encourage you to look deeper, to your heart, and seek the root sin that gives bloom to the obvious one.

There is lies the lesson.

M

Finger Thinking 082513

Mat 6:10  Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Thomas Case wrote:
"By suffering God's will we learn to do God's will:  God hath no obedience children as those whom he nurtures in the school of affliction.  At length brings his scholars to subscribe, what God will, when God will, how God will."

Our striving after godliness is no mere walk.  It is a constant struggle to overcome the flesh (self).  Being wholly unable to make any progress on our own, our loving Father often uses the rod of corrections to teach us obedience.  And indeed, for the redeemed, all affliction carries with it a critical lesson /God desires us to learn.

No, it is never pleasant and it gives provocation to our flesh (self) but we must remain under it as the lesson He has for us unfold.  Whatever the lesson, we must learn it.  It is His will for us.  Learn it not the first time and His love demands we learn it under a new affliction.  His holiness and indeed His love demands He teach us in whatever way He must that we may be conformed to the likeness of His Son.

We fight it to our own hurt.  We crave deliverance to our own detriment.  When we resist His instruction through His Word and Spirit.  When we ignore the ordinary means He uses to teach us and mold us He must use those methods which we call affliction and suffering to quiet the flesh (self) - to overcome the abiding principle of evil we carry within our selves.

We have a choice.   We can humbly submit to Him in the exercise of those duties He calls us to or we expect the rod of correction to drive us to them.  In His mercy and grace we have the choice.  In our fallen struggle we must fight for the right choices.  If we do not, if we reject or ignore His common means for our instruction He has no choice but to correct us by what ever means for what ever duration towards His end for us.

There in lies a lesson.

From a very dark place - ever been there?

Ecc. 7:10  Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?” (ESVST)

Ecc. 7:14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider:God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him. (ESVST)

It's a tired old phrase, "I have come to the end of myself."  I know it's tired, I say it at least twice a day.  And yet I keep discovering that my self - that is my flesh and my pride - is without end.  It may hide while assaulted, it may lurk in the shadows of my soul - but it is never at an end.

Only in the presence of God, on that glorious day when we are made like Him will the self- the flesh finally and eternally be changed.  It will be wholly His and wholly for and to Him.  But here it is my arch enemy - my constant antagonist - my constant thorn and affliction.

When I read Paul:

Rom. 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (ESVST)

I want to volunteer.  But Paul goes on:

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin (ESVST)  Rom 7:25

In times of trial and affliction this is a passage of strange and alien meaning.  I want too respond, "So????"  My mind know god and my mind (all of me) loves God and knows He is worthy of love.  But my flesh seeks from HI what does not come and seeks relief He does not yet provide.

My peace becomes numbness my hope becomes flat and my comfort has no taste of substance.  This is my flesh.  There is no peace for the flesh, there is no hope nor comfort and so I find my flesh ruling my heart, distessing my mind and disturbing my soul.

The Word tells us:

Better is the end of a thing than its beginning,

and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit (ESVST) Ecc. 7:8

But what end?  Certainly this must mean death is better than birth.  The end of a trial better than the beginning.  But what of the in between?  

If all is vanity than what matters?  A chasing after wind is what living is.  Does this not apply to all our labor, all our effort, all our goals and gains.  Do we not better seek the end than the middle?

But we do not know the end and we are to hope in the middle for the end.  but we do not know, with any assurance, any other end but death and resurrection.  So many of us struggle in the middle fighting making the end ourselves.  Don't we?  Really?

What do we do when the desire to be with Christ where He is seems more powerful to be in Christ where we are?  It is, more or less depending on the person, a strong pulling, a great temptation.  

Job felt that the day of his birth was the worst day of His life.  Though we can see in Job that much of His middle part was good and lovely and a blessing.  Yet in his trial, not having been born was preferable to the in between place.

It is perhaps normal, in trials, to yearn with all we are, to be with Him.  Some even contemplate making that transition by their own hand.  I have had those in my life who have done so and I mourn their passing yet have compassion for their plight that led then to that conclusion and concluding.  I understand.

I understand and am ashamed when I have those thoughts.  Having known them intimately and being very familiar with their circumstances I think I understand their choice and comparing their plight to mine I am ashamed if ever that thought comes to mind as an option.

Yes, this is a strange blog but I am in a strange place.  It is not an unfamiliar place - it has always been strange when I have been here.  But the convicting questions is, "do I really want to be with Him or do I just feel so sorry for myself that I really want to be our of my affliction and use that temptation as an attempt to manipulate God?

I suspect the latter and so I am ashamed and convicted by my own sad sinfulness.

Oh well - the sun is up - I am alive - He must have something for me to do and I must be out and about life if I am to do it.

In short, as I have told many who have wandered where I now wander, "When God wants you dead, you'll be dead."  Hard words but until He makes me dead He has things form me to do and things for me to learn.  So I give my life to Him and only ask that I die to myself.

We would see Jesus 061013

Joh 12:20-21  Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.  (21)  So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, 

"Sir, we wish to see Jesus."

I can remember my homiletics professor telling us that these words were on a small plaque on his pulpit.  Every time he rose to preach he read them and was reminded that if he did nothing else he had to show those in the pews Jesus.  "Jesus," in all that term means had to be shown to believer and unbeliever alike.  If they did not see Jesus, he believed he had failed in his calling.

He would tell us, "Gentlemen, I do not care where you begin your sermon but always - always end at the cross of Christ for that is where the power and hope lies.  Ending anywhere else is to mislead your hearers."

The cross, His final redemptive act must be central to our lives.  You may wear a cross but do you ever think about that cross?  Do you return to the cross daily in gratitude and humility seeking that conviction that was the catalyst for your first love?  Do you take all your sin back to the cross again and again so that you may be assured again and again that you're sins are paid in full and that, "it is finished!"

Paul makes the centrality of the cross plain.  In the midst of all the issues he addressed at the Church at Corinth he made it plain:

1Co 2:2  For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Paul knew the Gospel must be preached to un-believers and believers alike.  He know the glorious good news of Christ's atoning sacrifice was indeed the power of God for salvation.  I find that all too easy to assume and not make a central issue in my prayers, conversation and living.  It is well said:

Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand, 

the shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land; 

a home within the wilderness, a rest upon the way, 

from the burning of the noontide heat,  and the burden of the day. 

Upon that cross of Jesus mine eye at times can see 

the very dying form of One who suffered there for me; 

and from my stricken heart with tears two wonders I confess: 

the wonders of redeeming love and my unworthiness. 

I take, O cross, thy shadow for my abiding place; 

I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of his face; 

content to let the world go by, to know no gain nor loss, 

my sinful self my only shame, my glory all the cross.

This is an everyday, every moment cross-awareness.  A consistent celebration of humility and gratitude and yet we struggle to keep it in the front of our minds.  We get diverted by the slings and arrows of our daily life and hence the greatest source of our hope and confidence remains on the fringes of our consciousness.

So, we struggle more and harder than we need to.  We bounce up and down, are tossed to and fro in our assurance and peace.  The cross, thought horrible was the most peaceful - peacemaking - place in all of history.  "It is finished," the greatest declaration.  The foot of the cross, the safest place.

Would you see Jesus?  Then see Him there.  Touch His suffering, see His love, know His graciousness.  The cross is the only place to begin and to end.  It is indeed the best abiding place as we face the trials of this life.  

Certainly we can see Jesus through out the Gospels.  We see Him healing and feeding.  We hear Him teaching, admonishing, confronting and correcting.  All this is good and useful but it is at the cross that His life and ministry made it's meaning and purpose clear.  When He surrendered His life for us He made it available to us.  Can we sideline the cross as merely a symbol, a decal, a lapel pin or a necklace?  No, we can not.

If you would see Jesus - and you should so desire - then see him first and foremost on the cross. See Him suffering for us and taking upon Himself our punishment.  Realize that what He experienced simply demonstrated - in ways we can understand - what we were to expect from God were it not for the cross.

Would you see Jesus - then see Him as the Suffering Servant, the Rejected Redeemed, our Master who freely gave up His life at the hands of evil men for our salvation.  See Jesus there and pray to be His servant in the sacrificial and submissive way He was for us.

Think long and hard and prayerfully about:

Gal 2:20  I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

If you never considered it - I beg you to do so.

1 Peter 1:6-7 ESV
In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, [7] so that the tested genuineness of your faith-more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire-may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Let's come clean.  My wife and I are now (actually have been) undergoing trials we never though we would.  Of course we know that we are not alone.  But as most of you know, in these trials, we feel very alone.

We are fortunate that our brothers and sisters in Christ are doing all they can to help us and walk with us through this - but that feeling of isolation still sneaks in and chokes one's heart and hope.  

We were doing OK - and then things began to go wrong(?) - or at least grow not good.  Then we found that there was little we could think of to "fix" things.  Like many of you we began to wonder why.  The more we wondered the darker it seemed to grow - and the more desperate we began to feel.

But - God has been faithful - through brothers and sisters who love Him we are loved, prayed for and to the degree possible provided for.  We can't deny His blessings even though we feel that sense of desperation.  It's a very hard thing to count your current blessings when what seems like disaster looms ahead.

We have both voiced Paul's comment that:

2 Corinthians 1:8b

 For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.

No, we in no way think we are anywhere close to the despair Paul felt - but at times it does feel that way.  

We are also learning to count whatever we have left as "dross" compared to the grace and mercy we have in Christ.  But the danger there is to begin to be bitter towards having acquired all the "dross" and beating yourself up for it.  We find ourselves wanting for someone to just come and take it all and sell it for whatever can be had.  That looks and feels like quitting - like faithlessness.

We know He is sovereign and our trial is for His glory and is not for our injury but our benefit - it just doesn't feel that way.  The fight is to remember it is good regardless of how it feels.

So what would I have you consider?  Consider that this could be you or someone close to you - and it can happen more suddenly than you think.  Consider your intimacy with God when things are "good" and work on making it and keeping it as do Stanton and healthy as possible.  Do not wait until that intimacy comes from a trial - from desperation.  That intimacy can never be too deep nor too constant.

Consider how prepared you are to serve others as we see the Body doing in Acts 2.
Consider that suffering is part of our walk - it can be long and small or sudden and crushing.  Consider being prepared - knowing and trusting Him more deeply - trusting Him for everything and submitting to Him more broadly.

I wish we had - but we thought we were.  We never do considered we would be where we are.

Prayers are offered.  Prayers are sought.

May He draw you closer and may you run to Him often.

He cares for us - let us let Him.

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud. Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the LORD.   (Pro 16:18-20)

Ok, I'm going to meddle - and expose!

Pride does indeed go before destruction.  But I've discovered two things.  First, "destruction" may come so that pride is exposed.  Pride must be exposed so we may repent of it.

Second, even in the "destruction" pride will fight tooth and nail.

We live in a culture of pride.  Pride of ownership, pride of place, pride of success.  We are encouraged to "have our pride" and to protect it regardless of the cost.  We are taught that humiliation and being humble are the same and both are bad.  

We recently received a couple of gifts to help us meet our obligations.  I can only describe me initial feeling as wonderful humiliation.  No sooner was I rejoicing at the kindness and generosity of my brothers and sisters in Christ than I was overcome with a deep and painful sense of shame and humiliation.

Pride makes us suffer, when we suffer, in isolation.  We are convinced that we need to "put a good face," on everything.  It's the old, "never let them see you sweat," admonition that sold tons of antiperspirant.  Huh?

Sweating is a normal and healthy bodily function.  We, however, have become convinced that it is not acceptable.  But, not sweating can be dangerous.

Suffering, difficult times, are normal for believers but we have become convinced that any suffering is a sign that we are somehow under God's wrath.  This is the cruelest deception our enemy perpetrates on us.  In Christ we have only God's discipline, never -- NEVER - His wrath.

Yet we react to suffering as though we should be ashamed.  Others react to our suffering as though we should be shunned.  This should not be - but it is - and we must work depending on Him to overcome it.

I am asking myself:   How do I face these people now that my need is known?  How can I hold my head up, look them in the eye?  What are they really thinking when they look at me?  What are they really saying when our situation comes up in conversation?

See the worm of pride in that?  See the self-focus?  See the suspicion of God's provision through His people?  Seer how the worm of pride eats away at the mercies and grace of God in our hearts?  See how pride is the great spoiler of blessings?

When God disciplines us with a "destruction" He does so because He loves us and He wants better for and of us than has been the case.  He wants us to depend upon Him more than we have.  This is a good thing even though it can be a painful thing.

In his sermon, 

109	February 29, 2012: Casting All Your Cares Alistair Begg | Messages from Truth For Life Truth For Life

Alistair addresses this issue.  I listen to this sermon every night as I go to bed.  I am working though the prideful anxiety he speaks about.  It's not easy and it is certainly not pleasant but I know it must be done.

Living in each 60 seconds casting my cares upon Him is tough.  I have learning and am still learning that it is not something I can do on my own.  I am also learning that I am not expected to do it on my own.  It is quite the opposite, I am to seek His provision, His power, to do it.  I won't do it on my own - not can I.

I want to encourage all of you who understand what I am writing about to accept not only His merciful discipline but also His gracious offer of care, comfort and provision.  


Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.  (1Pe 5:6-7)

This is the passage that Alistair preaches from.  Humbling and casting go together and we may have confidence in doing so because He cares for us.  

Father, let my focus on "I" be from my need for You and not because of my need.  You tell me to humble myself and to cast my anxiety on You.  I want to and I know that I must have Your provision to do so.  Please Father, keep this promise before my eyes and in my heart.  

Father, protect me from those pin-points of pride that steal my joy and confidence in you.  Make me understand that becoming humble is a good thing and what You are doing in our lives is a blessing and a mercy and that if flows from Your love and grace.

Father make it possible for me to know Your kindness and care and to accept You provision with a humble and contrite heart.  My anxiety does not come from You and I ask that You silence and still it.  Lord, take the sinful pride from my heart and make me move forward in Your love and grace and service.

Amen.

Being of more value. 012413b

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?   (Mat 6:26)

Continuing His lesson Jesus gives us an example from nature.

He asks us to consider our "value," to our Father.

Birds can't sow, reap or gather - yet they are provided for.

If you can't sow, reap or gather - does thin not suggest that God will feed (provide for) you?

Is this just about food?  I think not!  This is about value.

Actually I believe it's about who we look to in order to determine our value.

Birds?  I'm of greater value that birds?  Actually the idea here is that we are "of so much MORE value" than birds. 

Birds have a role in God's creation no less critical to the sustaining of that creation than anything else.  God maintains everything they need to fulfill their role in His creation.  There are lots of birds - that takes a lot of maintaining.  It's not a simple thing nor is it insignificant!

Then there is "us."  We were God's viceroys in the Garden.  Note:


Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 
(Gen 1:26)

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 
(Gen 2:15)

God's intention for us was to be His means of maintaining His creation.  We were to work and keep the garden which in turn would provide for all the creatures of the creation.  Pretty important stuff!  

Now, in this fallen world our role has changed.  Now we are called to show forth His glory, to be holy as He is.  We are his witnesses, living testaments to His glory and goodness.  How much value can we put on that?

Consider:

". . . . when He comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed."   (2Th 1:10)

Whose "value" do we choose accept?  His or the world's?  Who do we look to?  How do we measure it?  

The redemption of the creation - the birds - cost Him His Son.  However the price was demanded for our sin not for the birds' sins (birds don't sin they just suffer its effects).  So He paid the demanded price - for OUR sin - that He might redeems His creation.

Where in our fleshly spectrum of value do we really put that?  Is it first or just a close second?  Do we really accept that we are valuable enough for God to give His Son?  Are we willing to accept that his love for us was so great that he sent His Son to be a man, to suffer and be tempted as a man and then be killed as a criminal?  How valuable does that make us?

Are we willing to accept and live with Jesus as our total net worth?  Are we willing to be rejected and scorned and put down by the world so that we might live out His gracious gift for and to us?

Or do we play with the world's criteria for worth and value measuring our lives by their standards?  And how well have those standards served Him or His creation?  How cruelly have the standards of the world dealt with the world?

Think on what God has done for and in you.  Consider what you might be tempted to trade it for.  In times of weakness and suffering it is not uncommon for us to fall into "if only," and to see ourselves as worthless failures.  It is a struggle to cling to God's love and the value He has given us - He has made us ultimately valuable - He has given us a worth beyond words - Pray and think on that.

Father,

In these tough times I see my sin and my errors.  I see how I have been deceived and schemed by the world, the flesh and the devil.  Now, in my distress those three cruel enemies taunt me and pour shame upon me.  Help me Father, to cling to Your gracious gift as the only thing that matters.  Let the cruel accusations and aspersions of those three enemies drop from my mind and heart.  Deafen my ears to them, let me be comforted and let by Your Word and Your Spirit as I seek to  follow You in whatever circumstance I find myself in.

Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, "Who is the LORD?" or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.   (Pro 30:7-9)

In the name of Jesus and for His glory, amen.