faith, trusting in God, not a mere, empty platitude

Immediately he made the disciples get into a boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Matthew 14:22-33

Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

John 6:28-29

In the Christian faith, there is something required on our part: faith, trust in God. We find that requirement all throughout scripture, and perhaps especially marked in the New Testament. It is a faith which looks to God, seriously to God, and trusts one’s life and every detail of life to God. And with the distinction in the New Testament to have faith in the one God sent, Christ.

I know for myself that while I basically live in this faith, nevertheless I can find it slippery quite often. Like Peter in the above passage in Matthew, I so easily take my eyes off of the Lord. Only by remaining fixed on Christ can we walk on the waves of life, right through the places where otherwise we would sink, or likely never tread. Or as in the John passage, trying to do the works of God on our own. Not. Not really. What is required of us again is faith, trusting in God.

This is something to enter into and put into practice day after day after day after day. No matter what the circumstance, what we’re going through, whatever it might be, and I mean whatever. Most all of that is okay, but what is needed and indeed required of us is simply faith. That means not looking to and depending on ourselves, but on God. God’s faithfulness, the faithfulness of Christ. That God will see us through come what may. And then we’re enabled to follow Jesus.

when love seems distant

At that time, says the LORD, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.

Thus says the LORD:
The people who survived the sword
found grace in the wilderness;
when Israel sought for rest,
the LORD appeared to him from far away.
I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
Again I will build you, and you shall be built,
O virgin Israel!
Again you shall adorn yourself with your tambourines
and go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.
Again you shall plant vineyards
on the mountains of Samaria;
the planters shall plant
and shall enjoy the fruit.
For there shall be a day when sentinels will call
in the hill country of Ephraim:
“Come, let us go up to Zion,
to the LORD our God.”

Jeremiah 31:1-6

Sometimes it seems like love is far away, distant, maybe even nonexistent. I’m talking about what it seems like in one’s thoughts, mood or experience. And all we do is like walking on sand or treading water, so much more difficult and like one is getting nowhere, often with the accompanying doubt that it doesn’t matter anyhow (see Ecclesiastes).

But just as God met God’s people of old, who surely had felt disenfranchised and at best put on the side, no longer relevant, God will do for us as well. God’s love can come to us from a distance, from that sense that the love is as remote as the sun’s warmth and light from Pluto. Yes, that love not only can, but because of God’s faithfulness will meet God’s people no matter where they’re at. God’s grace and faithfulness never ends. We’ll find it if we look, no matter how far removed we may seem to be from it.

hold on for the ride

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance, and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Hebrews 11:8-10

Faith is anything but static. It is dynamic through and through. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t a lot of seemingly dead spots. Take for example the story of Abraham in Genesis which the writer to the Hebrews is referring to above. When you read it carefully, and consider all the time elapsed in it, you’ll know that while monumental in the main plot, there are plenty of twists and turns and seeming dead ends. But that narrative along with the words above is simply giving us a heads up to expect something of the same on our faith journey. I think this certainly could include the journey of a faith community as well as an individual.

We have to have this awareness; we might say mentality and attitude to get through this. We would like it all to be predictable, and each day to be full of light, with none of the messiness of life. It doesn’t work that way anymore than the idea that we’re going to go through any given day perfectly. Life is full of struggles, unexpected problems, surprises that we may not know how to react to, as well as the normal humdrum beat which we can grow weary of. There is so much to life of course, and we find that wonderfully reflected in scripture.

We count on God and God’s faithfulness, no less. That is what will see us through. We must respond in faith, both receiving God’s help and acting as best we can with that help. Realizing we’ll never get it totally right. But God will accomplish even through us good that needs to be done, in the end when it’s all said and done, everything being good. In and through Jesus.

finding the rest that is only in God

For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall never be shaken.

For God alone my soul waits in silence,
for my hope is from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.

Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us.        Selah

Psalm 62:1-2, 5-6, 8; NRSVue

Only in God do I find rest;
my salvation comes from him.
Only God is my rock and my salvation—
my stronghold!—I won’t be shaken anymore.

Oh, I must find rest in God only,
because my hope comes from him!
Only God is my rock and my salvation—
my stronghold!—I will not be shaken.

All you people: Trust in him at all times!
Pour out your hearts before him!
God is our refuge!        Selah

Psalm 62:1-2, 5-6, 8; CEB

“If only such and such were the case,” or “if only such and such were not the case.” How often do our thoughts and wishes for inward peace go back to circumstances? We think all would be OK if only circumstances or things were different. We’re forgetting that living in the broken world in which we live means inevitable trouble, inescapable problems.

Where do we find rest? On whom do we wait in silence? The psalmist makes it clear: On God only. Paul tells us in Romans 8 that no matter what we’re facing in this life, the list including some of the darkest and worst experiences, that nothing, nothing, nothing at all in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

It’s not enough to try to be faithful in doing the right thing, though that’s an important beginning. We indeed do have to position ourselves in the place in which we can experience God’s blessing so that we might be a blessing. That’s not enough. We have to come into the experience where anxiety isn’t a constant weight on us, in fact an experience where we find rest in God in spite of what otherwise would fill us with anxiety.

Do we believe that God is for us? That God delights in us? That God is sheer love through and through? And that whatever we’re facing, God will take care of everything? Even through the darkest times and death itself? Do we really believe that?

What is more important than our faith is the ever-faithful God. God is present for us and wants us to do what the psalmist is getting at. To wait in silence before God and for God. And to find our rest in God alone, not in good circumstances, in fact in spite of bad circumstances.

That is an important legacy that would be good for us to leave to others. How God can help us, as normal and struggling as anyone else to experience something of the fullness of God that God wants to share with us in this life. So that we’re no longer troubled but learning to live more and more at rest. In God alone. In and through Jesus.

God’s protection

Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
our God is merciful.
The Lord protects the simple;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
Return, O my soul, to your rest,
for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

Psalm 116:5-7

This entire psalm is a testament to God’s protection in faithfully taking care of God’s people. The protection goes down to the last details, but when we think about it, it doesn’t mean that God’s people might not experience all that befalls humanity and worse. Somehow in the midst of all of that, God’s protection is present for us.

I like the thought that God protects the simple. The NET says it refers to those who are in formative learning stages. Even though that’s long past for me, I still am quite “simple” in a number of ways. Still learning, something which will go on until the end of life. So this applies to all with an open heart to learn from God directly and indirectly.

God’s ongoing protection makes little sense in a world where random accidents and worse go on (consider Job). People take advantage of others and worse. And Christ followers are not exempt from that. We must never forget that nothing in our experience can ever separate us from God’s love in Christ (Romans 8:35-39). We can rest assured in that. No matter what our experience or what we’re going through, God will see us through. We must hold on to that, not let go of God. God won’t let go of us. We will receive all the help we need to bring glory to God. In and through Jesus.

double-mindedness as in not believing

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

James 1:5-8

If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.

James 1:5-8; MSG

We normally equate double-mindedness with something other than failing to trust God. It might be in terms of people trying to be devoted to God, but also devoted to getting rich, a precarious position to be in, but a subject perhaps for another day. Or a supposed allegiance to God and country, as if the two are compatible with each other, not that we shouldn’t strive to be good earthly citizens, being concerned for our country out of love for our neighbor, while we remain beyond everything else, citizens of God’s kingdom. Or holding on to whatever sin it might be, as we continue to be religious. Double-mindedness.

But James equates it here with something we often consider much less harmful, if even a case of double-mindedness at all: the lack of faith. Do we trust God or not? That’s the question. The kind of faith and maturity God wants from us is to simply trust God through thick and thin, no matter what. When we don’t, we essentially are saying that we know better, or else we want to be in control, or we think somehow life depends on us, and that God is only there to help us in some kind of secondary, assisting way.

Instead James is telling us that God is calling us in the midst of trials to look to God, to trust God for needed wisdom. And that the issue is whether or not we believe God is willing to help us or not, and not only willing, but whether or not God will come through for us. We need to learn to rest assured in God’s goodness and faithfulness in whatever situation we’re facing. That God is with us in the trial. And that as we see in the context (click link above), God is working in our lives to make us complete in our character.

The last thing James is suggesting is that the trials we’re going through either are easy, or will become easy if we trust God. But James is certainly saying that trusting God will make a world of difference for us both in changing us over time, and in seeing us through. Both are essential, because what’s often worse than the trial itself or at least just as bad is our reaction to them. God wants to work in our lives to temper that down and help us instead to consider such situations pure joy, since we know God is at work in our lives, and that God will indeed help us, God the one in charge and not us. As we look to God in trusting prayer. In and through Jesus.

the importance of sleep and resting in God

In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to^[a] those he loves.

Psalm 127:2

We recently received a picture of a baby in the most peaceful looking sleep you can imagine: idyllic, almost like angelic. It reminded me of how we need to rest in God. I’m reminded too of when Martin Luther equated sleep to faith that God was running the world.

For our physical well being alone, sleep is vital. Maintaining our circadian rhythm is important, as well. We need to go to bed and get up basically around the same time, while maintaining a healthy number of hours of sleep. I like to take naps when I can. All of this becomes more evident as we get older. We can’t do some of the crazy things we did when we were younger, or if we do, we learn that our body just can’t take it like it used to.

Getting our needed sleep or physical rest as we see in this psalm can be an expression of faith in God. We hurry, scurry and worry about this and that and everything else. In this life there is often no end to that. When God would have us do something much better. Learn to rest in him.

Of course this doesn’t mean at all that we skirt our responsibility, or that we don’t have legitimate concerns. But in all of that, we learn more and more to depend on God. And know in the end that our ability, even our effort, and the outcome all depend on God, God’s faithfulness in the end, and not our own. We thankfully are not God. Indeed we can rest in God and need to do so even when we’re awake. Helping us to get the sleep we need. In and through Jesus.

hope in the midst of despair

I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”

Lamentations 3:19-24

In the midst of chaos and rubble; humiliation, loss and darkness many of Israel were experiencing and had experienced- and one has to read this book to realize and more than shudder at the full impact, at what actually happened- well in the midst of all that, we have this great word of hope. Yes, actually kind of sandwiched in between despair.

We can be assured of God’s faithfulness in terms of goodness, no matter what. Even if we experience setbacks and loss and even if our sin was a factor in that, we can still have hope. Why? Because of God’s merciful love, because of God’s great faithfulness.

God wants to put us on track. But that doesn’t mean we might not have to walk through some difficult spaces. God is at work in all of that, somehow for good, if we’ll only trust him through it all.

Lamentations is indeed a book of lament. Needed lament, and we need to learn to lament. See the psalms and elsewhere, as well. Pouring out our hearts and minds to God, being silent. While also remembering God’s great faithfulness. God is for us, even when we and others have failed, and are living in the fallout of that. And God is faithful. We can be assured of that. In and through Jesus.

Peter’s short prescription for anxiety

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

1 Peter 5:7

Yesterday I received some encouragement from Discover the Word of Our Daily Bread Ministries in a program entitled Waiting In The “In Between” with the simple observation that we will worry and be anxious, even though we’re told not to be, that we’re to trust our faithful Father who will take care of it all.

God in his grace makes provision for us in our weakness. We will have anxiety and worry when really we ought not to, when if we had a perfect faith, arguably we would never struggle that way, certainly not in the way we often struggle.

Ironically the thought that we will get anxious can help us relax and by grace grow toward a place where such anxiety and worry can be diminished.

This doesn’t mean that we don’t keep going back to Philippians 4:6-7 again and again to help us not be anxious or when pulled that direction, to ultimately find the peace of God that goes beyond understanding, guarding our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Of course we need to keep doing that.

But provision is made for us when we are overcome with anxiety. Doing it as Paul says in Philippians 4 is one way of casting our anxiety on God. Peter doesn’t go into detail how we’re to do that. He just says we’re to do it, because God cares for us. I like that simplicity. On the one hand we have to like and appreciate the details Paul gives us. On the other hand, we also have to appreciate and like the open-ended approach we see with Peter. Kind of like the idea of working it out with our loving Father, our loving God, our loving Lord.

Something we have to do: cast that anxiety on God. God will help us, and will take care of it. And we may need to do it again and again over the same matter. That’s okay. Let’s do it. I want to get better practiced at it. In and through Jesus.

discouraging thoughts

You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived;
you overpowered me and prevailed.
I am ridiculed all day long;
everyone mocks me.
Whenever I speak, I cry out
proclaiming violence and destruction.
So the word of the Lord has brought me
insult and reproach all day long.
But if I say, “I will not mention his word
or speak anymore in his name,”
his word is in my heart like a fire,
a fire shut up in my bones.
I am weary of holding it in;
indeed, I cannot.

Jeremiah 20:7-9

We are all wired differently. Jeremiah seems to have been a person who was easily, or at least often discouraged. When you consider what he was up against right from the get go, that he was submerged in discouraging thoughts is hardly a surprise. That he was able to continue on and be faithful to God’s calling to him for nearly 40 years is a testament of God’s faithfulness in his life. The fact is that for Jeremiah God’s word overrode everything, including his discouragement.

When your words came, I ate them;
they were my joy and my heart’s delight,
for I bear your name,
Lord God Almighty.

Jeremiah 15:16

That was said in the midst of turmoil. God and God’s word made the difference needed. Both in settling the prophet, as well as the message he had to set before others.

This is written for us today, and surely should encourage us in the midst of our own difficulties to keep on keeping on in the path God has for us. We can take consolation that it wasn’t easy for Jeremiah, either. Of course we can’t compare our situations with his. Most of us experience nothing so actually dire. But our experiences are just as real.

God will keep us going as we continue on in God’s word and prayer, whatever we have to deal with, no matter what comes. God will help us. In and through Jesus.