Category Archives: Trust

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Peace of Christmas

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“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”  Isaiah 9:6

The passage above is a familiar one…especially at this time of year.  I have heard and seen it more than a few times in the past month; have you as well?   As much as you’ve heard it, have you allowed it to pierce your soul and impact your sense of wellbeing?  In other words, is Christ really your Prince of Peace and are you at peace within your soul?  I can honestly say that I have been for the past few days.  Maybe it’s a bit of maturity, maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been dwelling on this topic or maybe it is simply Christ at work…I suspect that it is mostly the latter.  In the past 72 hours I have had a minor fender bender (I tapped our older daughter’s car pulling out of the garage), learned that family circumstances may be changing that will impact our family’s ease in gathering together, endured more severe symptoms of my health issues due to the holiday celebrations and have had a delay in preparing this post, yet my heart is at peace.  Though historically unusual for me, it is not entirely unexpected as I’ve been trying to be intentional in applying the things I learn while writing to my own life.   While it’s easy to glide over these names of Christ, are they not a summary of the source of our peace?

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The Hope of Christmas

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Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.  Proverbs 13:12

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.  Proverbs 13:12

Have you ever felt hopeless?  As the passage above says, hopelessness makes the heart sick and the world becomes a very dark place.  When I first became ill, that was very true in my life.  The pain I was enduring was relentless and creating a sense of fear and dread in our family.  The anxiety and uncertainty that it produced were intolerable.  If that wasn’t enough, I couldn’t reconcile God’s love with my illness.  I certainly didn’t see how any part of it could be working to my good, or to God’s glory.  Further, the Christians in my life at the time focused on my physical wellbeing, but never asked about my soul and did not attempt to present God’s spiritual truths that might apply.  As a result, I greatly desired my death.  Honestly, I desired it more for my wife and children than for myself.  As much as I wanted the pain and frustration to stop, I was most concerned about the damage that my illness and my inability to handle it were doing to them.  Daily I begged God to end my life.  In short, I was hopeless and my hopelessness was creating an adverse atmosphere in our home.  Thankfully it did not end there.  Eventually I learned to manage my illness somewhat, we became part of a church body that sought God’s will in all things and surrounded us with those who encouraged us in our faith, and the passage of time gave me the confidence that I could make peace with my circumstances.  However, the greatest change came when the word of God and the impact of Christians seeking to encourage me on a spiritual level invaded my illness and helped me to see that God had purpose in my pain and that it truly would work for my good and, more importantly, for the glory of God.  While I still struggle with the frustrations that come with living in a fallen world, it is the contrast between those dark days and the change that came with truth of scripture and the promises of God that keeps me going, points me to God and gives me hope.  One of the things that we celebrate as a part of the Christmas season is the hope that we have…hope in our God, hope in the salvation the Christ provides, and the hope of eternity.

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We can always find something to be thankful for, and there may be reasons why we ought to be thankful for even those dispensations which appear dark and frowning.

Albert Barnes
https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/inspiring-quotes/30-favorite-thanksgiving-quotes-experience-gratitude.html
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Thanksgiving Part 3

Thankful for Our Circumstances

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Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Most people are fairly comfortable being thankful for God’s provisions and for the people in their lives.  While we may not feel that our circumstances are quite as perfect as those depicted in Norm Rockwell’s “Freedom from Want”, we can generally muster a fairly strong attitude of thankfulness.  Certainly when we feel that things are going relatively well, we are filled with thankfulness, but what about when the times are tough.  Thanksgiving of 1992 I woke up in the hospital after having an ERCP the previous day.  I was in pain and groggy; I barely remember celebrating the holiday, let alone being thankful. 

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Rest, Respite and Repose

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By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.  Genesis 2:2-4

It is clear in scripture that we are to live our lives to the fullest in service to our Lord and fellow man.  It is how we fulfill our responsibilities as good ambassadors, stewards and children of God.  We are called to run with endurance as one striving to win the prize.  Yet God also understands how He designed us and that part of living well is rest, respite and repose.  In one sense these are all synonyms as reflected by the definitions of rest that I have found.  However, they each carry a slightly different connotation.

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Questions, doubts, and struggles are not the antithesis of faith.  The opposite of faith is a decision to not trust God.  The man who cried out to Jesus, ‘I do believe; help me overcome  my unbelief’  did not demonstrate faith with zero doubts but a willful decision to trust in God even in the midst of questions  and doubts.

John Burke
No Perfect People Allowed (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005), 57
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Belonging to God

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The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; the world and all it contains, You have founded them.  Psalm 89:11

I spent most of the last two days driving.  It’s not something I do easily, but God was gracious in providing the needed strength and endurance.  Knowing that I would be traveling and my time would be limited, I was considering what I would write about this week.  As I drove, the song “I am Yours” started playing.  It echoed the quote from Charles Spurgeon that I shared earlier in the week and is shown at the top of this post.  The common theme was not lost on me.  Given the calamity due to hurricanes, earth quakes, threats of war, prayer requests, etc., it seemed appropriate to consider the concept that we belong to God and what that means.

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No Coninsidences

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“The LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”  Deuteronomy 31:8

“I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where shall my help come?  My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.”  Psalm 121:1-2

This year has been as season of challenges and unplanned events.  While on vacation in July, my wife broke her ankle which led to surgery and several weeks of not bearing weight on her left leg.  Needless to say, it has caused challenges of various sorts for both of us.  Additionally, we’ve just returned for a trip that was to be a relaxing time at the beach.  Given the recent surgery, we considered canceling; however, as the trip included our aunt and uncle, we chose to proceed as planned desiring to take advantage of every opportunity that we have to spend time with them.  What was not planned was a hurricane Irma heading straight toward our chosen location.

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Life Is Like a Pack of Crackers

Guest Post by Shelly Hendricks

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“You can make many plans, but the LORD’s purpose will prevail.” – Proverbs 19:21

A frustrated woman, that’s what I was one day not long ago as I tried diligently to wrap and fold neatly, a pack of crackers. Sounds like a simple task, right? Try it sometime, and really pay attention to what happens. I found a few interesting tidbits that day that I could relate to life.

A pack of crackers, first pulled out of the box, is a beautiful thing, especially for a mind like mine that craves order. The package is crisp and smooth. The crackers are lined up neatly in a row, no breaks or crumbs in sight. The seam opens smoothly and they are crisp in your mouth. Then comes the trouble… how to return the package to a decent-looking state without losing your mind.

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Dry Bones

Revival

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“‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’ Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life.  I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the Lord.’”  Ezekiel 37:4-6

Most mornings, the pain in my body wakes me before the alarm goes off.  Laying there a bit irritated that my body has deprived me of sleep, the morning inventory and ponderings begin.  How much pain is there and is it the kind can it be ignored?  How much energy is available and will it improve as I start moving or quickly fade?  How angry is my gut and how well will it cooperate with eating throughout the day?  What is planned for today and will it have to be adjusted due to the responses to the prior queries?  At best, I will encourage my body to get moving and function relatively normally (for me) throughout the day.  At worst, I’ll end up more like a slug accomplishing the bare minimum.  More often than not, it will be somewhere in the middle of the two.  Notice that there is no “This is the day which the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it”, nor is there a mental or spiritual inventory.  In those early moments of the day, it’s usually all about the body.  Short sighted, focused and exhausting.  I long for days when I awaken refreshed and alive.  Whether or not one is ill, this life can be wearying.  Trials and illness most certainly sap the strength from us on every level encouraging us to withdraw and become self-focused.  However, jobs, family, relationships and social obligations are just as capable of draining us of physical, emotional and spiritual strength. Without attention to our souls, we become like the bones in Ezekiel’s vision: dried up, hopeless and cut off.  In those times it’s important to remember who we are, where our strength comes from and where or hope lies.

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