“Hello, God?”

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Jody Neufeld

[reprinted from May 29, 2009]

Out of the depths I have cried to you, Yahweh. Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my petitions.          Psalm 130:1-2 (WEB)

It shall happen that, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.           Isaiah 65:24 (WEB)

I just read today that Amy, wife of Phil Mickelson’s (arguably the #2 golfer in the world) has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Cancer is no respecter of anyone! Cancer does not care if you are a young child or a genius or champion. I do not believe there is a more frightening word than “cancer”.

In my years as a hospice nurse or as the mother of a child with cancer, when cancer strikes it is an immediate drop into a deep pit of fear and despair. It is from this depth that you cry out to the One who can do something! I have said it many times and continue to stand by it: It is fear that you battle – the cancer is secondary. From the moment that the word is ‘cancer’ is said to you or one you love, every bit of faith you have cultivated comes into play. It is not paranoia or pessimism that has me counseling people to build their relationship with God now instead of “getting round to it some day”. Wrestle with God today on any questions or areas of disbelief. God is ready to meet now. Wrestling with God on an issue and battling cancer and it’s ‘Big Brother Fear’ is not the way to do it!

Teddy Roosevelt said to “walk softly but carry a big stick”! Look at God’s promise in Isaiah. BEFORE I cried out of my pit of fear and despair – GOD HEARD AND ANSWERED! God has given that promise and His promises are always true! I can walk quietly in the confidence that nothing takes God by surprise! Nothing!

“But if God knew this was going to happen – why did He allow it?” I do not believe that God created cancer or any other suffering. But I do believe that He is after all GOD. Nothing can happen against His will. I am not taking the easy way out of this question but this is too big a question for me. It is a question that is about God’s eternal plan and I do not have the ability to have that answer. It is a question that I have asked. It is a question that I felt only God could answer. Since His plan for each person is for each person – only God can give His answer to me! And God’s answer is going to be for my question – not yours. His answer may not come immediately and it may not be a total answer given in one moment. It may come in parts in various conversations you have with Him.

Whether you are going through a cancer battle yourself or are praying for someone you love – know that before you speak – God hears and answers. Let us stop now and lay our petitions before Him and include Amy Mickelson.

How Great is our God by Chris Tomlin

Jody note 6/6/12: I understand that Amy Mickelson is in remission and doing well and let us thank God for answered prayer. I have a new request today. It is for Camryn. She is only 3-years-old and she has just begun her battle against cancer. Let us prayer for her and her family today.

Posted in Isaiah, Psalms | Comments Off on “Hello, God?”

Even When I Cannot See

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Jody Neufeld

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, saying, “Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves to you. If you throw us into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from the furnace. He will save us from your power, O king. But even if God does not save us, we want you, O king, to know this: We will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”         Daniel 3:16-18 (NCV)

I believe the single most troubling aspect of my relationship with God – is how He decides to work in a given situation. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego summed it up for me in these few verses.

God can do all things. Period. There is nothing in my life that He cannot handle. He has set all the stars in their respective orbits. He has every beat of my heart continuing on until He says “stop”. Every tiny piece of kelp and every multi-ton whale is in the ocean where they are supposed to be.

There is no “furnace” of suffering that can be thought of by any despot of evil that God cannot stop with a thought and destroy without lifting a finger. The One who gave my grandchildren such beautiful blue or green eyes has enough love inside of Him to surround us with His love for eternity.

Why does God allow millions to be slaughtered in concentration camps, prisons, in the streets by people who are just plain evil?

Why are children dying every day from abuse and cancer?

I know this is a ‘fallen world’ and evil does exist. But the suffering of the ‘innocent’ ones is difficult to accept. I know that God’s understanding of how everything is to evolve and ‘end’ cannot be compared to my limited understanding. I know it is God who has the wisdom to bring everything together for ‘good’.

When I am walking down the path that God has chosen for me and has sent Jesus and His Spirit to guide me, I walk in this way with Him and wondered how God is planning to unfold this aspect of my relationship with Him. God can heal and save – but is that in His plan and will He do it? Suddenly I am no longer discussing a theological point. I am living it.

So often I am talking about my relationship with God in these devotions. When the road gets rough and ‘bad things happen to good people’, I find myself drawing closer to God. I strain to see His nature and who He is more clearly. I already know from experience that I cannot meet with Him and get in His face. I can shake my finger at Him and know that He will not turn away. I have learned through my living with God that even when I do not understand, I will not change my allegiance to Him. I may cry out to Him and weep for the suffering that I see. But I know that even in these times of troubling tribulation, God will be there to hold us and listen to all the questions, and even answer a few.

So if you are going through a difficult time or are reading stories of great suffering and wonder, “Where is God in all of this?” God is the same place He was since the beginning of time. Right here. Ready to give strength to the weak and comfort to those who have a great need.

Do you believe when God can and does? More importantly, will you praise Him when He doesn’t?

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Do You Live Reconciled to God?

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Jody Neufeld

As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying,“Take it, for this is my body.”

And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And he said to them,“This is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice for many.”           Mark 14:22-24 (NLT)

Lectionary texts: Exodus 24:3-8, Psalm 116, Hebrews 9:11-15, Mark 14:12-26

This week is celebrating “Corpus Christi”, the Body of Christ. For me it is about the the many facets of the mystery of how God reconciles us to Himself and we celebrate that through the sacrament of communion. (Remember that a sacrament is an outward sign of an inward change.)

In receiving the extraordinary gift of being reconciled to God through Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross, I am at once caught up in the celebration that is communion. I am “new” and “light” without the darkness and cloud of deception that covers me when I am in sin. I want to lift the cup and drink, dancing in jubilation over what Jesus has accomplished in my life. But Jesus doesn’t stop there.

It is Jesus’ desire that I learn with Him the completeness of what it means of be His disciple. That I learn the tools and recognize the value of His ongoing gifts of patience, kindness, and healing. But in learning I also realize that there is a cost involved in being a full disciple.

Jesus offered the bread and the cup to His disciples to drink. He did not force them to accept. They all did. Jesus asked, “Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?” (Matthew 20:22) And as He dsaid that we do not understand what this involves.

Jesus’ life was one of servitude and suffering. It was first a life of caring for others more than Himself. It washing the feet of those who may be un-lovely and ungrateful. It is a life with an abundance of joy and strength for whatever comes. It is choosing to live in that abundance of intangibles that makes this life more than beareable.

How can I repay the Lord for all the good He has done for me?
I will take the cup of salvation and call on the name of Yahweh.
I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people.

The death of His faithful ones is valuable in the Lord’s sight.
\Lord, I am indeed Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your female servant.
You have loosened my bonds.

I will offer You a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of Yahweh.
I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people,
in the courts of the Lord’s house—within you, Jerusalem.
Hallelujah!          Psalm 116:13-19 (HCSB)

Take time today and tell the LORD what you are grateful for . List the many, many many blessings that have fallen upon you and allow you to live in joy and peace despite any burdens that you must carry for now.

Posted in Mark, Psalms | Comments Off on Do You Live Reconciled to God?

Assurance

Posted on May 28, 2012 by Jody Neufeld

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a very high throne. His long robe filled the Temple. Heavenly creatures of fire stood above him. Each creature had six wings: It used two wings to cover its face, two wings to cover its feet, and two wings for flying. Each creature was calling to the others: 

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord All-Powerful.
His glory fills the whole earth.”
Their calling caused the frame around the door to shake, as the Temple filled with smoke.

I said, “Oh, no! I will be destroyed. I am not pure, and I live among people who are not pure, but I have seen the King, the Lord All-Powerful.”

One of the heavenly creatures used a pair of tongs to take a hot coal from the altar. Then he flew to me with the hot coal in his hand. The creature touched my mouth with the hot coal and said, “Look, your guilt is taken away, because this hot coal has touched your lips. Your sin is taken away.”

Then I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom can I send? Who will go for us?”

So I said, “Here I am. Send me!” Isaiah 6:1-8 (NCV)

Lectionary texts: Isaiah 6:1-8, Psalm 29, Romans 8:12-17, John 3:1-17

Do you have assurance that Jesus has saved you from your sins (past, present, and future) and you will spend eternity with Him in Paradise? I listened to a discussion about “assurance” this weekend and then Henry and I spent a bit more time discussing it. Where does assurance comes from? How do I know I have it? Can I lose it?

I believe assurance comes from the Holy Spirit. It is through the Spirit’s knowledge and revelation that I hear the truth of my relationship with Jesus. The Spirit sifts through my feelings. The Spirit tests my feelings against the truth and then confirms what is real. Jesus promised that the Spirit would remind me of all that Jesus had taught me. The Bible can be a tool of the Spirit to show me the character of God. When I grow in my knowledge and understanding of the character of God then I also know that I have a living relationship with God that will continue to affirm His presence in my life until we meet face to face and living together for all eternity.

Can I lose my assurance? Absolutely. The battles of this world are deceitful and undermining to my assurance. It is so important that I “tend” (pay attention) to my spiritual health so that assurance continues to grow and is not strangled by the lies of the enemy. Jesus frequently told us about the aspects of farming. He warned us not to allow weeds to choke off the tender faith and to actively stay connected to Him. Peter warned that the devil prowls around like a lion waiting to “pick off” those who have decided to take their walk of faith alone and try to live away from the pack.

Just as Isaiah found out in this passage today, it is not what I bring to God that cements our relationship but it is what God does in me that opens the door to our life together forever and ever.

I am going to be away one more week. I hope that you will continue to join me in studying this week’s texts and allow the Holy Spirit to sow His assurance in you through God’s Word and His words to you.

“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. A branch cannot produce fruit alone but must remain in the vine. In the same way, you cannot produce fruit alone but must remain in me.

I am the vine, and you are the branches. If any remain in me and I remain in them, they produce much fruit. But without me they can do nothing.” John 15:4-6 (NCV)

Blessed Assurance by Fanny Crosby (1873)

 

 

See you next Monday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Holy Spirit, the Vital Enigma

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Jody Neufeld

“When the Counselor comes, the One I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—He will testify about Me. You also will testify,because you have been with Me from the beginning.

I have told you these things to keep you from stumbling. They will ban you from the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering service to God. They will do these things because they haven’t known the Father or Me. But I have told you these things so that when their time comes you may remember I told them to you. I didn’t tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.”           John 15:26-16:4 (HCSB)

Lectionary texts: Acts 2:1-21, Psalm 104:24-35, Romans 8:22-27, John 15:26-16:15

It has been interesting to me as I have been reading the Lectionary texts that it appears to me that the ‘selectors’ of the texts leave out – troubling – texts, so that the ones designated are ‘chopped up’. The gospel text this week (John) cut out the first three verses of John 16. That leaves out an important ‘bridge’ between this great gift of the Holy Spirit that Jesus tells us, His disciples, is given because – frankly, things are going to get bad. Why would anyone want to leave that warning – that wisdom – out of the equation? Haven’t people (including Christians) killed in the name of their faith in God?

The Holy Spirit is, to me, the vital component in really understanding and growing in a relationship with God. Paul spoke truly when he described how my spirit can speak and understand God because of His Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:8-16). It is God’s Spirit that speaks in ways without words when I have questions that come from deep inside me. The Spirit sifts through my emotions and refines them so that I am left with the truth of what I am asking of the One who can answer.

I often tell people who are grieving the loss of a child or an unexpected loss of a parent or spouse that God is the only One who truly does understand and has answers to our questions. The answer may evolve as we are able to understand; as we are open to the possible answers. That is where the “peace that passes understanding” lives.

The Holy Spirit is known in Scripture as the Comforter but He is also the same Spirit that swept through that room on Pentecost and forever changed the lives of the disciples then and still. The Spirit who brought wisdom and knowledge and understanding also brought discipline and revelation that can disrupt and destroy the “old Jody” in order that the “new creation” can become all that God has planned. This discipline is like any discipline I received as a child, not always pleasant. It is disruptive and even painful as I learn to change course and submit in obedience to my Father’s instructions. Sometimes the Spirit gives understanding through His gracious knowledge. Other times, the Spirit helps me to grow in faith as I submit to obedience without knowing the “why”. The Spirit reminds me of God’s faithfulness and my faith grows as I respond.

As you read the passage in Acts 2 about the events of Pentecost, try to slide into the sandals of someone who is in that room, frightened by the unknown and the known persecution from both Rome and the local church. Both wielded swift and vicious swords to those they felt threatened them.

Then in Psalm 104 and Romans 8, receive the affirmation of God that He has provided and met all our needs by His power and love, even in the midst of great trials.

Send the Fire, Original text from William Booth, Sung by Lindell Cooley

 

 

[Jody note: I am traveling this week. I pray that you will join me in reading the texts several times during the week. See you next Monday.]

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Wisdom and Folly – Which Do You Listen?

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Jody Neufeld

“And so, my children,listen to me, for all who follow my ways are joyful.
Listen to my instruction and be wise.
Don’t ignore it.
Joyful are those who listen to me, watching for me daily at my gates,
waiting for me outside my home!
For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord.
But those who miss me injure themselves.
All who hate me love death.”             Proverbs 8:32-36 (NLT)

The woman named Folly is brash.
She is ignorant and doesn’t know it.
She sits in her doorway on the heights overlooking the city.
She calls out to men going by who are minding their own business.
“Come in with me,” she urges the simple.
To those who lack good judgment, she says,
“Stolen water is refreshing; food eaten in secret tastes the best!”
But little do they know that the dead are there.
Her guests are in the depths of the grave.         Proverbs 9:13-18 (NLT)

Proverbs 8 and 9 are part of my Sunday School lesson this week so I have been reading them. I want to be a student who is prepared! The topic this week is “Wisdom”. I definitely want more of that in my life so I want to soak up what God has to say in His Word and through the people in my class.

In these two chapters I see first “Wisdom” speaking; telling me to LISTEN! I believe that the more that I seek wisdom and am obedient to wisdom, the louder her voice gets in my spirit.

I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me. v17 (NIV)

I am promised treasures and wealth. But before I line up a financial planner, I must remember that God’s definitions for those words include a much larger view than money. There is discipline and correction involved. A person who seeks and listens to God’s wisdom is blessed but those who turn away – are choosing death. That is sobering and, yes, scary.

Then Folly has her say. She is seductive and can look really good. She is easier to find than Wisdom. Folly is on the wide path while Wisdom is found on the narrow path. By following Folly I can find myself in a “happy place”, deceived by instant gratification and quick fix. The place that seemed “happy” becomes a place of destruction.

I am reminded of the baked potato. THE best potato is that Idaho spud that is washed and wrapped in foil, poked with a fork 2-3 times and placed in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour. It’s been a long time since I made a baked potato like that. I’m usually in a hurry to throw the meal together and so I decide to use the microwave and have my potato in 6-8 minutes. I “settle” for easy instead of “best”.

Now that may not matter in baked potatoes but it does matter when I am choosing between wisdom and folly. This week has been really busy but I have been truly blessed when I took time to read these chapters more than once. It was like soaking up wisdom. There may be a ‘rainy day’ down the road in my life when I will need what I have been given today. Or maybe it will be something to pass along to another person walking the narrow path and seeking wisdom.

You Raise Me Up by Rolf Lovland and Brendan Graham, sung by Josh Groban


Posted in Proverbs | Comments Off on Wisdom and Folly – Which Do You Listen?

Wait for It!

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Jody Neufeld

[reprinted November 16, 2009]

~ Henry Neufeld

18He said, “What is God’s kingdom like? To what can I compare it?” 19It is like a mustard seed which someone plants in his garden. It grew and became a tree and the birds in the sky came and perched on its branches.    Luke 13:18-19 (HN)

We like to get things fast. We like to see the connections and to know just how we got whatever we got. This desire for “instant gratification” is often an accusation of the older generation of the younger, or of our various preachers or moral leaders of this generation as opposed to all generations. But really, it’s just a human thing. We all like it. I preach patience, but all too often I practice impatience. If I manage to appear patient, be assured that it’s only by the grace of God! If I don’t appear patient, well, I’m human.

I have even thought that Adam and Eve may have failed precisely on the point of timing. Many times we ask why God would make a perfect garden and yet place in it a tree that was poisonous not just to those who might eat it, but to all their descendants, to an entire species. But perhaps the tree represents something necessary, and that knowledge of good and evil was something that would have to come sometime, but in God’s timing. That would explain the tree being there, but being forbidden. Adam and Eve couldn’t wait. I could be wrong on this, but it’s intriguing.

But whether it started with Adam and Eve or not, it certainly is pervasive. Waiting, trusting, receiving without knowing—all these things really get on our last nerve! But God tends to work with greater subtlety.

We encounter this problem in evangelism. Someone shares their faith with a friend or neighbor, and gets no response. What happens? They get impatient, even desperate. Who can I get to persuade them? Why are they so slow? Surely they understand the importance.

But God says that the kingdom works like a tiny seed. You plant it. It grows. It becomes something much more than you thought when you did the planting. But for many of us this isn’t good enough. God should get in there and fix things now, while I’m watching. And somewhere in there we might even be thinking, “. . . and I should get the credit.”

Seed sowing is a principle of God’s kingdom. It means that God uses things that don’t look like much to accomplish things that are really quite incredible. That means that we will often not be able to get the connections, see the work go on, or account for the credit due to the various workers involved.

The same is true in your own life. The gospel is trying to grow inside you and transform you. You may wish that you had patience right now, so that you could accept this sowing principle in your heart, but God is likely to grow you up slowly. God is not a God of instant gratification.

What seeds is God nurturing in your heart?

Though it tarries, wait for it!”      Habakkuk 2:1 (HN)

 

Posted in Habakkuk, Luke | Comments Off on Wait for It!

The Way

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Jody Neufeld

[reprinted from February 8, 2010]

19Now then, brethren, we have boldness to go into the holiest place through the blood of Jesus, 20which he placed as a living way through the curtain, not previously available, which is his flesh. 21Jesus is also a great priest over the household of God. 22So let’s come with true hearts and full assurance of faith, our hearts sprinkled clean from bad conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.               Hebrews 10:19-22 (my translation)

~ Henry Neufeld

Sometimes we miss one of the most obvious facts about salvation, because it is something we live with all the time. No, I’m not talking about sin, though that is a critical point. I’m talking about the fact that we are so limited and ignorant. We could know nothing about God unless he chose to reveal it to us. There is no way that we could reach God, unless he chose to make a way.

You may recall something about infinity from math classes. Infinity minus any finite number equals what? Infinity. Infinity plus any finite number equals what? Yep, infinity again! Basically there is the widest gap possible between us and God, and we have no way of getting to God.

People often look at the tabernacle and later the temple as symbols of God’s presence with his people. And that’s not entirely wrong. But there is another set of symbolism involved. The structure of the tabernacle showed the separation between the holiness of God and the people. First we have the outer courtyard. There only priests and people coming to offer sacrifice could come. Then there is a veil, and another chamber. Here only the priests could enter. Then there is another veil, and the most holy place. There only the high priest entered one time each year.

Each veil served to illustrate how far God’s people were separated from their God, while at the same time pointing toward the possibility of coming in closer.

What Jesus did in becoming one of us was to empty himself of that infinity (Phil. 2:5-11) and show us the way. He bridged the greatest gap that can possibly exist. He made it possible for us to approach God. And he didn’t do it half way. He made it possible for us to approach boldly.

In our families, our communities, and our churches, we regularly face gaps. People are different. Some of us are annoying! Some of us are so perfect we can’t imagine how annoying we are! Often we think that reconciliation and forgiveness is not possible. The gap is just too big.

But always remember this: The biggest possible gap has already been crossed. When God emptied himself and became a human being, he showed us that there is no difference too great, no depth too low, no height so unreachable, no distance too great, that God’s grace wasn’t sufficient to manage to open a way. The grace may not be easy—it cost Jesus his life. But it is sufficiently powerful.

Remember: We worship a God who opens the way, no matter how impossible it looks to us.

19God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not counting their transgressions against them, and he has given to us the ministry of reconciliation.                2 Corinthians 5:19 (my translation)

Posted in 2 Corinthians, Hebrews | Comments Off on The Way

Proverbs 31: The REAL Deal

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Jody Neufeld

What should I say, my son?
What, son of my womb?
What, son of my vows? …

Speak up for those who have no voice,
for the justice of all who are dispossessed.
Speak up, judge righteously,
and defend the cause of the oppressed and needy.    Proverbs 31:2, 8-9 (HCSB)

Proverbs 31 is a usual source text for sermons on Mother’s Day. But I would be willing to make a non-money wager that these verses I’ve sited here are not the verses usually read.

Proverbs is a book of wisdom credited to have been written by King Solomon (and friends) for future generations. It has a “list” feel to me as if the writer is jotting down all the points he has learned in his life and passing them on. I can flip to any chapter and find something to write down on my own list to memorize and pass on.

Then I get to Proverbs 31 and I have had it “preached at me” so many times that it is difficult to read. That is until it was read to me on my wedding day, almost 13 years ago by my new mother-in-law. She didn’t read at me so much as she read it to her son. In that moment, in front of all those people, I realized that I was becoming a “Proverbs 31 Woman” not because of what I could do to make it happen but because of what God was doing in me. And then this year, I read and reread the first nine verses of Proverbs 31.

In the time of the writer of Proverbs, women had no voice. Women were frequently lost their home and starved when their father or husband was killed and they were left with no male family member to care for them. If a woman was found in the company of a man, not her relative, she was frequently judged a harlot and was stoned (Remember the set-up scenario the Pharisees did with the woman ‘caught’ in adultery?) Women had no rights.

King Lemuel’s mother taught him that he must stand up “for those who have no voice”. He must care for the women not only in his family but for all who are oppressed and needy. Then the writing goes into describing the virtues of those he would be defending; calling to his attention the many things he might have overlooked.

Proverbs 31:10-31 is a wonderful litany of the many opportunities that God puts into my path to serve Him and others. Is it just for women? No. But I throw open my arms to accept these many ways that God can be glorified through me because if I find myself in these verses – it is by God’s own strength, grace, giftings, and talents that I am.

It was wonderful to hear the voices of my children across hundreds of miles yesterday. It was wonderful to sit and have dinner with husband (a meal I didn’t cook!) and receive a bouquet of lilies. But as I heard the loving words it was accepting them because of what God had done in my life that was the best part of all! It was knowing how far He has brought me and continues to bring me that makes each day an adventure and a blessing!

 

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Give Thanks Any way

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Jody Neufeld

[reprinted from July 29, 2011]

Be quiet while I speak, then say what you will.
I will be responsible for what happens to me.
God may kill me, but still I will trust him and offer my defense.    Job 13:13-15 (CEV)

Jesus then asked his twelve disciples if they were going to leave him. Simon Peter answered, “Lord, there is no one else that we can go to! Your words give eternal life. We have faith in you, and we are sure that you are God’s Holy One.” John 6:67-69 (CEV)

The end of another week. Has it been “good”? How would you define “good”? Maybe it hasn’t been so “good”. Maybe it has been a mixture. Most weeks are.

Job had a bad week. Lost his children, his livelihood, and ended up with sores all over his body. If that wasn’t bad enough, he had three friends who thought they were going to show him the error of his ways, explaining why all this had happened to him. Real helpful!

Jesus and his disciples had had “mixed week”. In John’s gospel, Jesus had fed five thousand people and then walked on water in the middle of a storm. His disciples had seen the glory of God manifested in Jesus. But look out! Here comes the Church leadership with their questions and opinions, trying to keep Jesus in their proper place, somewhere below them. Many disciples had left, deciding that following Jesus was too hard. I can relate to that.

In 2002 and 2004 I was on a mission trip to Hungary. I was ministering to people, to children, sharing the Good News of Jesus. During both of these trips, my young son discovered that his cancer had reoccurred. He was in the United States and I was in Hungary. The first time it happened I was understandably upset. He was with his older sister and I knew in my mind that the few days passing until we returned would not alter any treatment options. But I wanted to hug him and hold him. The second time, I was angry. How could God allow this to happen again? And while I was out doing His work??!! (By the way, I think it was just as hard on Henry who was at home with our son, feeling equally as helpless for different reasons and had to notify me of the events.) I went through a “crisis” of faith, wondering if being a disciple was really worth the price.

I came to the same conclusion as Peter. And as Job. Life here on earth isn’t easy but that life without God would be so much harder. It would be life without hope. For me, if I did not have the assurance of Jesus, His love and care in my life; if I did not have the assurance of an eternal life, the Hope of something better, I would give up. Jesus is God. I trust Him. Even though I am flawed and imperfect, Jesus makes it possible for me to have this relationship with my Holy LORD. I will praise Him any way.

Let’s take time this weekend and turn to Psalm 136 and remember what God has done and continues to do.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever.    Psalm 136:1 (NIV)

 

 

 

 

 

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