God’s safe keeping

In peace I will lie down and sleep,
    for you alone, Lord,
    make me dwell in safety.

Psalm 4:8

How can we feel safe in a dangerous world? The simplest answer, and maybe simplistic to many is only in God’s safe keeping. We see this at the end of Psalm 4, quoted above.

Reality is that God’s people suffer the same things as anyone else. And when you consider persecution, and even martyrdom, God’s people can suffer more. But even in this life we have the promise of God’s protection, not just in this psalm, but in others, as well (Psalm 91; Psalm 121).

Jesus assures us that the Father who cares even about the sparrow, cares about us all the more. That we can rest assured in him, and not worry about a single matter, even though each day will have its share of trouble (Matthew 6).

We can be completely at rest in God’s safe keeping, in his protective care. But that doesn’t mean that we’re assured of another day. Or that we will necessarily escape the dangers of living in a fallen, broken world. And that we won’t face more danger as God’s people. God does protect us in many ways, at times surely using his angels, or in whatever way God chooses. But sometimes that kind of protection is withdrawn. We can be sure that even then God will be with us with a protection that’s even greater, surrounding us with his presence. And ultimately, at our last breath, ushering us into his heavenly kingdom.

In the meantime, we trust for God’s protection now. While trying to live wisely. Yet ultimately knowing that God alone keeps us safe. In and through Jesus.

 

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ignoring the sirens

I remember years ago at the Bible college I was at for a year, that a friend used to always pray whenever he heard a siren, probably for the people involved, particularly those in need, a good practice. My point is metaphorical, yet just as good, in fact quite important at least for me, in the walk of faith. I believe that there’s a sense in which we need to ignore the sirens that hit us off and on, sometimes repeatedly, over and over again for different reasons. The call is urgent and compelling; after all, I’m likening it to a siren.

Concern, even alarm, and urgent attention mark this call. Or maybe just plain dread. In biblical, and I would add, real life terms, we’re talking about what ultimately becomes a crippling fear, or an angst as in anxiousness, just plain, pure anxiety, which we cannot shake. These are all tell tale signs that something is wrong. And that these sirens in our head are getting us nowhere. If we respond to them, putting us on a never ending cycle of more and more of the same.

We simply need to ignore such siren calls, developing the discernment needed from God to tell the difference between the gentle, yet persistent promptings of the Spirit from the loud, edgy, restless, and ultimately accusatory, even condemning tones of what comes from the enemy. It might come from ourselves, and the way we have responded to life over the years, sometimes certain key factors or moments from childhood playing a part. Even so, in biblical terms the flesh and the devil, along with the world are all intertwined. I think of the world here as a system which does not acknowledge God, or God’s good rule. The flesh as our broken humanity which is set against God, even if religious, and trying to do what is well, right and good on our own. And the devil as the demonic element which while not at all equal to God, has full sway in both the world and the flesh, as depicted here.

There is no way we can simply get rid of fear and troubling thoughts from what we’ve taken in of the sirens that surround us, or come our way.  We simply have to turn our ears in a new direction, and get them in tune for a different sound all together, as well as learning to hear the other for what it really is, so that eventually we don’t hear it much at all, if at all, since we understand it’s actually a false alarm, not from God.

But in the meantime, we simply have to take the stand of faith, not letting such sirens move us. Instead, when we hear them, waiting for God’s direction, the still small voice, or gentle whispering of the Spirit (1 Kings 19:12). And accepting nothing less than God’s peace. And in that, finding God’s help to navigate all the questions, and difficult paths of life we encounter. In and through Jesus.

working through disagreements

I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

Philippians 4:2-3

If you think at all, you won’t always agree with others. That is life. It’s not that the others are always wrong and us right, or vice versa. It is simply a case for a host of reasons of us having different opinions and perhaps even convictions on some things.

I think a key for us as Christians is to listen well to each other, really listen. Try to hear what they’re saying in its entirety, and ask questions for further clarification when needed. If we have serious disagreements, we can then express our concerns. But at a certain point in order to maintain the relationship, we have to agree to disagree, and agreeably so, in a way in which we can get along well with the other, and maintain good fellowship together in our Lord.

The key for me from the passage quoted above is the idea of being “of the same mind in the Lord.” It is where we’re united that we need to land on, and we as Christians are one in Christ. And in that union, we’re to find, I take it, something like a consensus in which we find agreement in a relational, functional kind of way, which is willing to set aside whatever disagreement remains for the sake of peace and for the sake of the gospel. And with a dependence on the Lord that he will see us through.

The idea expressed in this passage of a Christian leader mediating is of course of great value, and part of God’s word for us here. God can give that third party wisdom and an objectivity which is not possible for the parties in disagreement.

In the end we all need to work through and learn to live well with our differences because of and through our union with Christ. The gospel being the uniting factor from which we grapple with all the rest. So that even when our disagreements on other matters remain, our unity in Christ and in the gospel helps us to remain united in mind and heart. As we look forward to a better day to come beyond this life in and through Jesus.

fear or love

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

1 John 4:18

The older I get, the more I realize just how important it is to understand the experience of living in God’s grace/favor in terms of love. So that if we fear, somehow we are falling short of what we have in Christ: namely God’s love.

God’s love is not merely theoretical, or something we know in our heads. It is indeed something we’re to enjoy in our hearts. Bringing us peace, not fear.

So in a sense we should always be running away from fear toward love.

I am coming to judge more and more God’s direction in terms of whether or not I have God’s peace about something, which comes out of his love. A note: This is from John and in John’s gospel account of Jesus’s Upper Room discourse on the eve of his crucifixion, Jesus ties peace and love together, that in him his disciples are to have peace, so that they’re not to let their hearts be troubled. That they’re live in his love, just as he lives in the Father’s love (John 13-17).

If I am quite troubled, or fearful about something, that’s a good indication that God is not in it. I’m not referring to a healthy fear, which is something entirely different. For example a fear that I will hurt someone in some way. But rather a debilitating fear in which one’s existence in some way or another feels threatened. In God’s love in Jesus there is always peace, even the peace that transcends all understanding (Philippians 4:6-7). And that includes God’s convicting work of our sin, as well. It is never condemning in Jesus, the point of the 1 John passage quoted above. The devil’s argument to us is that God is out to get us in condemning us, rather than the truth that God is out to love us in and through Jesus. And as Jesus said, that he had not come to condemn even the world, but to save the world.

It’s either one or the other. Of course that doesn’t mean we have God’s peace apart from God’s love. God’s love certainly involves living in Jesus, which means living in God’s will. We don’t just do whatever, and think that we’re living in God’s love. God’s love for us in Jesus is always present, but we have to return home, and live in that love, not in the pigsty and deception of the world (and the flesh and the devil). We learn to live in the Father’s embrace, as imperfect as we are, even when we might be a mess, and struggling with a sin issue. Always and forever it is God’s love in Jesus which makes the difference for us, a love which we share with all others. The love of God in Jesus.

not letting the pressing duties of life get to us

 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

John 14

Life is pressure, period. Work is never entirely predictable, and even when it is, that predictability might have us living on the edge at times. And if you “own” a home, in some ways the home owns you as well, because if there isn’t one thing, there’s another to look after to maintain it. On top of this, there are always possible things to worry about on the side. Like is one’s car safe enough? Or where is the money (and/or time) going to come from for the next need. For those who have plenty of money in store, there are always potential problems, as well. In this world, there’s no short supply of that.

First of all we might say, yes, we need to do the best we can to do what we can, and certainly take care of what absolutely has to get done (like a house roof, which for me of course, means hiring a company to do it). But we as Christians do all of this as those on mission in Jesus for the gospel. That is our chief concern, indeed the passion that drives us, the very life we have in Jesus, which we would like in love to share with others.

Jesus imparted words of strength and comfort to his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion (see John 13-17 for that entire time in John’s gospel account). And even though they were Jesus’s appointed messengers and representatives of the gospel, we as Jesus’s followers can receive those same words for ourselves, since we too, even though not set apart in the same way, still are present as receivers and sharers of the gospel.

Jesus gives us his peace, and at the same time tells us not to let our hearts be troubled nor afraid. Even if we’re caught up in fear, we can let go of it by the Lord’s strength in the peace which he gives, and live in that peace once more, trusting in him to help us through whatever situation we might be in, as well as life in general. Including trusting even when things don’t go well.

Something I am learning, and want to hold on to in and through Jesus.

trusting in the Lord does not mean throwing caution to the wind

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord and shun evil.
This will bring health to your body
and nourishment to your bones.

Proverbs 3

Perhaps it should go without saying, though I think we have to tell the truth to ourselves and each other, that we simply don’t throw caution to the wind when we’re trusting in the Lord. In a strange sense we do in that we no longer want to act out of fear, or be led by that, except for a proper fear of God which is altogether different. Not to say that we don’t lock the doors of our house, or latch the windows at night, surely out of common sense, and not out of our own human emotion of fear.

When God’s leading might coincide with what we might ordinarily do, left to ourselves, than I can well imagine that the enemy’s accusing breath might be near, with some choice words to put us in our place. But the breath and voice of God are different. There is no doubt that under God’s leading there is quite a lot that we won’t do, and then other things we will, that without that leading would not have been the case. A key component in this is to wait on God in prayer. Our thought might be good, but the way of carrying it out, even if one is thinking only of the timing, may not be that good. We need to wait on God in trust that somehow God will direct us.

Obviously we don’t throw caution to the wind by doing what we feel like doing, and then attributing that to the Lord’s leading. There are times when any one of us might be susceptible to this. For example, we might like someone of the opposite sex whose looks might appeal to us. Of course that doesn’t mean we act on that impulse in a way which violates our covenant with our spouse and with God. In fact we reject such feelings as in any way offering us guidance as to what we can or even should do. Instead we submit ourselves to the truth of God’s word, even when that might go against our feelings at the time. Perhaps particularly for guys, and I’m thinking of a business trip alone in a motel, that might mean spending time in the word, and listening to the kind of music we enjoy, rather than watching at best a questionable movie, or even going to some pornographic website.

Our goal is to follow the Lord’s leading in all things. Part of that leading may be the freedom to make some decisions in collaboration with others in such a way which ends up agreeable to all. And that would include decisions within the family especially involving the wife and husband where there might be a disagreement, or different way of seeing things. Instead of jumping to one conclusion or another, it would seem best to spend some time together in prayer on the matter, and both pray separately with the goal of arriving to some place of peace between the two, all the while seeking the Lord on it for direction. Some things might be a matter of choice, and what might be best is for both to pray and reach some kind of peace together, seeking to find what’s best in the Lord’s eyes, all things considered. A considerable amount of wisdom beyond what any of us possesses in ourselves will be needed. Of course in answer to prayer God is always willing to grant that (James 1).

And so there will be times and matters in which we’re not sure what we should or shouldn’t do. Just because we are committed to the Lord’s leading in all things, doesn’t mean that everything will be easy. Perhaps while what we’re thinking may be alright, someone else has to work through it as well. And in the process both can grow. Relationships pleasing to God, as well the goal of complete trust in God must always be at the heart of what we’re about, along with the mission of God which is ours in Jesus as well, in terms of the gospel.

Properly understood, we don’t throw caution to the wind. Even as we continue to commit ourselves to being led by God in all things. In and through Jesus.

muddling through life

muddle through

phrasal verb

If you muddle through, you manage to do something even though you do not have the proper equipment or do not really know how to do it.

We will muddle through and just play it day by day.

They may be able to muddle through the next five years like this.

Collins English Dictionary

I am more or less a fan of muddling through life. I’m sure this can be misunderstood, and actually is not an easy position to come to. By nature, there’s so much in life that’s trial and error. And some of us seem to be easily overcome emotionally, or whatever is the best way to describe it. So that life itself can seem overwhelming, a challenge, a heavy burden, even suffocating at times. I’ve been there, and still am there more often than I like.

It doesn’t matter how many times you go through such an experience, it’s so awful, that although you hopefully handle it much better, and guard yourself from letting things get to you, you’re going to hate it just as much, and want to be rid of it. And if you so much as catch a whiff of it, you would like to turn tail and run, have nothing to do with it. But then you’re caught up in it again.

I would like to say you can get rid of it by the right thought, prayer, or whatever. Maybe rarely that happens, but by and large it doesn’t and won’t. We do well to address the source of it, as best we can, hopefully having light from God to understand that, and then act on it. And not give up, but keep doing that.

But I’ve found, oddly enough, that the darkness and heaviness begins to dissipate, when I simply at last come to accept it. As a wise pastor from our past told us, we can’t simply snap ourselves out of fear (or a bad experience), and neither should we act on it. An important aside. But again, when I at last accept it, and determine to live with it by God’s grace, maybe something like Paul’s thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthians 12 he asked the Lord to remove three times, but the Lord didn’t, then, usually sooner than later, the heaviness and darkness will recede, and the light of the Lord’s joy and peace will again be more or less present.

I also find, frankly, that ordinarily I have the sense of muddling through life, since in my own experience, I’ve had to face quite a few times when I feel inadequate and lost in and of myself. But I find that the Lord is present, as I seek to do his will regardless.

I am not much of a fan of the idea that everything should be great, that we should be on a high on some mountaintop experience, that if we were living the normal Christian life, we would bring heaven down to earth, and others would catch it from us. Actually that might indeed end up being the case from learning to live in the valley, in the depths. Finding there, that in our weakness and lostness the Lord is present, and that we are experiencing something of his strength. That he resides with the broken and poor in spirit. And even want to help others through us. All of this in and through Jesus.