Tag Archives: Old Testament

Lessons from my daughter

Posted on August 23, 2012 by | Comments Off on Lessons from my daughter

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding (Proverbs 3:5).

My wife and I are proud parents of an almost two year old girl.  As the parent of a toddler at the age of 42, the entire experience has taught me important lessons about myself and my relationship with God.  One of the lessons that she has taught me this week is that we need to seek God’s wisdom, guidance, and help when we face difficulties.

Earlier this week, on Monday morning, my daughter was trying to get one of her toys from under the glider-rocker that is in her room.  Normally, when she tosses a toy and it lands somewhere she can’t reach it, she will come and get me so that I can help her.  Monday was different.  Instead of coming to get me, she managed to get her head stuck between the seat and the base of the glider-rocker. I was getting things ready for my Tuesday afternoon class when I heard her cries and screams for help!  

Since I made the decision to accept Jesus as my personal Savior, I would love to say that I have continually sought his guidance in all areas of my life including the problems I have faced.  Just like my daughter, occasionally I still try my own way first rather than asking for help from God.  When the apostle Paul wrote For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father, he was reminding Christians that at the time of our salvation and afterwards, we have a special relationship with God that allows us to call upon him as a child calls for his or her parents (Romans 8:15).

We all know Jesus’ teaching about the wise man that built his house on the rock and the foolish man who built his house on the sand.  This teaching also applies here – when we turn to our own understanding and reasoning in solving problems, we actually begin to build on sand.  This is why so many times in my own life that I have come up with solutions and quick fixes for problems only to see it all unravel.  The apostle Paul wrote to the early church at Galatia But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage  (Galatians 4:9)? When we pause to consider what this can imply: when we try to solve problems the way we did before we were saved, we are willingly putting ourselves back into bondage.

Consider what David, a man that God describes as being after His own heart, said about the peace that God provides:  The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake(Psalms 23:1-3).  If there is ever any passage of scripture where God reveals his desires for his children, it is this passage.  He doesn’t want us to experience difficulties and hardships of our own making, but wants to provide us a place of spiritual comfort and restoration.  Even Jesus taught in his earthly ministry to Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls (Matthew 11:29).

It’s a hard lesson to learn and even harder to remember when we are standing toe to toe with life’s problems.  One of my favorite hymns, Solid Rock, tells us to “cast our every care on the Lord…” Although my daughter’s loss was only a toy, it was her toy; and in her mind, her solution was going to work. For us, our loss can also seem just as large as a child’s toy is to them – whether it is a financial difficulty, the loss of a job, a family problem, or even a health problem – to God, it is as he reminded Abraham and Sarah, Is any thing too hard for the LORD (Genesis 18:14)?

On a personal note:  My daughter was not hurt and was just fine after I got her out of the glider-rocker.   Since then, she has had a couple of other toys end up under it, and each time, she has come to me and asked for help.  I, too, am doing the same thing with the problems our family is facing – asking God to provide for our needs.  Please keep us in your prayers.  

 

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Don’t put your faith in a box

Posted on July 24, 2012 by | Comments Off on Don’t put your faith in a box

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths (Proverbs 3:6).

Its amazing what we learn about ourselves when we finally begin to gain true perspective in our lives.  I didn’t grow up in a Christian home.  While I was saved while I was 19 years old and while at college, the church I attended did not offer much in discipleship.  Instead of seeking a church that did, I was content to approach my new-found faith based on what I thought it meant to be a Christian.

Believing what the world taught about faith and Christianity, I strove to keep my “church life” separate from my “school life” and “work life.”  Without knowing it I had done the very thing that Jesus warns against: No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Matthew 6:24).

I know that one of the reasons that my walk with God has not always been where it should be is because I did believe that as a member of modern society, I had to keep my beliefs separate from work, school, and secular pursuits.  Even as recent as a couple of years ago, I struggled with my Christian identity and faith while attending graduate school to work on a Ph.D. in U.S. History.  At one point, I even had one of my instructors tell me that it would be extremely difficult for me to ever teach at a liberal arts college if I insisted on displaying my Christianity.

When the apostle Paul was on his various missionary journeys across the Mediterranean world, he would often follow up with churches that he had help start.  These early churches did not have the benefit of having both Old and New Testaments to gain reassurance and instruction.  They faced tremendous pressure to conform to the world around them  – to worship pagan statues, to participate in state sanctioned appropriate activities and festivals to honor pagan gods.  Paul’s advice to them was to be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God (Romans 12:2).

The reason that so many Christians, myself included, have such a hard time in our walk with Christ is that we have been conformed to this world.  We have been taught to regard our faith as something we do on Sunday and at the home.  What Jesus calls us to do is far more radical – our faith should become the center of our life, not just some small and isolated component.  We adopted the world’s view of Christianity under the misrepresentation that we should not judge but instead be compassionate and respectful of those who are different that we are.

What Jesus calls us to do is to allow our faith to shape who we are without any reservation.  When we claim to be a follower of Christ but do not allow our faith to shape our daily lives, we become what Paul warns about: those who call themselves Christians and they profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate (Titus 1:16).  In other words, to live a Christ-centered life means that we must also acknowledge him in all that we do.  It should be evident from how we go from day to day, doing the things we normally do, that there has been a fundamental change in our lives.

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Why should I put my trust in God to solve my problems? (Pt 3)

Posted on April 14, 2012 by | Comments Off on Why should I put my trust in God to solve my problems? (Pt 3)

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil  (Proverbs 3:5-7).

The first installment in the continuing series, Why should I put my trust in God to solve my problems, focused on the concept that God knows what trials and difficulties we face and how they will end according to the choices we make.  The second installment focused on how God is aware of the pitfalls and traps that await us on any path we choose when we are confronted with difficulties.  As we continue this series, this post will focus on one of the things that God tells us specifically not to do when we are faced with trials, tribulations, and difficulties.

Why should I put my trust in God to solve my problems?

Our own plans and schemes to get out or avoid difficulties have roots deeply embedded in our sinful nature.

Back when I was a graduate student at Southern Illinois University I lived in an area called Southern Hills.  It was university provided housing for single and married graduate students.  I had a next door neighbor that was a Church of the Nazarine member; he and I frequently had philosophical and doctrinal debates over just about every aspect of Christianity.  One particular afternoon, as he and I began talking about faith, he commented that God had opened a door for him and had allowed his loan to be approved – he went to one of those title loan places and borrowed $500.00 against his car – that he had owned and was clear of any other liens.

About two months into his payment plan, he lost his assistantship and could no longer afford his payment plan.  His car, a 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee Sport, was repossessed for a balance he owed of around $300.  Although the car’s value was well above what was actually owed, he had no other choice but to surrender the car.  Just like my neighbor, we have a tendency to see our difficulties, our trials, and our tribulations through world-focused vision.  Having world-focused vision means that too often our “solutions” are also world focused.  We devise plans and scenarios that we believe will help solve our problems that fail and cause us to become discouraged.  Our solutions can also put us in a predicament where God cannot bless us until we have repented of our own selfish plans.

God dealt with the children of Israel with this very thing – trying fleshly solutions to problems – as he was leading them out of Egypt.  Here God had worked a tremendous victory and had delivered them from the bonds of slavery out of Egypt.  He fed them manna from Heaven and provided water for them to drink.  While waiting for Moses to return from the top of Mount Sinai, they became concerned and demanded that an idol be made for them to voice their prayers.  They believed that Moses was no longer alive; rather than seek God’s will, they decided to rely on their own understanding of the nature of God  (Exodus 32:1-4).  Knowing that man is tempted to understand trials, tribulations, and even blessings through explanations of the flesh, God includes in the Torah a reminder that Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes (Deuteronomy 12:8).

As children of God, when we rely on our own understanding of our trials and difficulties rather than trusting in God, we remove ourselves from God’s protection We no longer see objectively or clearly and become weighted down by the desires of the flesh (Proverbs 30:12).  The Bible is filled with stories, both Old and New Testaments, where God’s people have chosen thier own solutions to problems they faced and had to deal with the repercussions of thier decisions.  Abraham lied about his wife, Sarah being his sister; Peter denied Christ three times rather than admit he was a disciple when challenged – are just two of the many stories we see preserved within the pages of the Bible.

The choices made by the Abraham, the High Priest Eli, David, Peter, and even back at the beginning with Abraham to  rely on their own undersanding of the difficulties and trials they faced brought them to the point that the prophet Jeremiah recorded as God explained Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up… I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity (Jeremiah 18:15-17).  God cannot look upon our sin of disobedience and protect us as he does when we are living according to his plan (Proverbs 2:6-9)

God calls us to reject the path that the flesh and world would have us to follow.  Instead, he calls us to follow the path he has set before us; David, the author of the Psalms tells us that God wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Psalms 16:11).  This path brings us beyond death and into life everlasting and it will bring us great joy in the end.

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