WILL THINGS EVER CHANGE?

The fact that I haven’t posted a blog since Tuesday is an indication of what type of week I’ve had. A few words to describe the past few days: INTENSE; STRESSFUL; and RELENTLESS. Even with everything going on, Friday closed out on a positive note. I was  ble to try out a new restaurant (Jalapenos for local readers) with three friends, while our wives are at the Beth Moore event in Tacoma. 

Yesterday afternoon, as I drove to a graveside service, I passed over the Nooksack River. The water resembled something like chocolate milk. As someone who enjoys fishing, I always look to see if the river is in “fishable” condition, even when I don’t have time to get out. When I see the river looking like it did yesterday, all mucky and muddy, it causes me to wonder if the water will ever recede and clear. The answer, as we all know, is yes! Give it several days of cooling temps and drier weather and the river will return to its more normal color, which is a shade of green in the lower section. 

When we go through those times when the pace and pressure of life is bordering on out-of-control, which only means it’s beyond our control, we wonder if things will ever return to normal. Will the chaos ever clear? On about Wednesday of this week, things seemed like they couldn’t be any more intense. I was uncertain how I would navigate around what seemed like insurmountable obstacles. When Job described his circumstances in 10:17, he said it felt like “wave upon wave” (NIV) was moving against him. Of course, he was still mired somewhere in his time of tribulation. He didn’t know how and he didn’t know when things would begin to get better, and he was so overwhelmed with despair, he really wondered if they would ever change.

I am so thankful for God’s grace gifts, his love, wisdom, strength and peace. John 1:16 says, “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” (NAS) When life seems to be bringing us “wave upon wave” of tribulation, and things are going from clear to chaotic, that’s when our loving God sends his “grace upon grace.” I pray that the God of all comfort and compassion will infuse your spirit with His Spirit today. (2 Corinthians 1:3-5) Change is coming your way!

TROUBLE DOESN'T HAVE TO STOP YOU!

There is no shortage of trouble in the world. If we don’t find trouble, trouble finds us. There came a point when Job exclaimed: “They come at me from all directions. They rush upon me when I am down.” (Job 30:14 NLT) Whether your trouble is connected to the consequences of your sinful disobedience, God’s refining purposes or the devil’s evil schemes, or in some circumstances a combination of causes, it makes life messy. It’s been my experience when trouble comes it’s not just one thing to deal with. I’ve got a lot going on in my life right, situations which are extremely challenging and complex. I am learning to lean into God’s grace in a whole new way. And then the other day we received four letters from the IRS, two which arrived via certified mail. Yeah, I didn’t have a good feeling about this. I opened one of the letters, which four copies, only to be informed I had been randomly selected for an audit. I guess there is a government program where they’re studying the tax process and it involves conducting random audits. It’s doesn’t mean anything was done wrong on my taxes it’s simply the luck of the draw. Ugh! I felt a little like Job: “They come at me from all directions.” 

For the past several blogs I have written on the theme: YOU CAN’T STOP TROUBLE! Today I want to conclude my thoughts on this theme and look at how to respond when trouble comes. When the trouble which comes into our life is primarily connected to God’s refining purposes, the way to respond is to SEEK God. The first seven verses of Second Chronicles 15 contain a challenge to seek God when facing trouble: “Then Azariah son of Obed, moved by the Spirit of God, 2 went out to meet Asa. He said, "Listen carefully, Asa, and listen Judah and Benjamin: God will stick with you as long as you stick with him. If you look for him he will let himself be found; but if you leave him he'll leave you. 3 For a long time Israel didn't have the real God, nor did they have the help of priest or teacher or book. 4 But when they were in trouble and got serious, and decided to seek God, the God of Israel, God let himself be found. 5 At that time it was a dog-eat-dog world; life was constantly up for grabs - no one, regardless of country, knew what the next day might bring. 6 Nation battered nation, city pummeled city. God let loose every kind of trouble among them. 7 "But it's different with you: Be strong. Take heart. Payday is coming!" (The Message) Did you catch verse 4? “But when they were in trouble and got serious, and decided to seek God…God let himself be found.” 

When God’s refining fire is operating in our lives, it’s time to “get serious…(and) seek God.” Whatever you do to draw closer to God, do that! The tendency and temptation is to pull away from God, whether it’s due to discouragement, despair, or disagreement with God. We get so consumed and obsessed by our trouble it takes our focus away from drawing closer to God. I think it’s important to seek God for God, not just because we want him to fix our trouble. So when you pray, you don’t have to focus all your attention on your trouble. Instead, pray for the needs of others, your church and the world. One of the things I say frequently, so some of you have heard this, is: “Instead of telling God how big your problem is tell your problem how big your God is!” When you fast, it doesn’t have to be because you want God to fix your trouble, it can be because you what to grow in knowing him and loving him.

When the trouble which comes into our life is primarily connected to Satan’s evil schemes, the way to respond is to STAND. Paul challenged the Christ followers in Ephesus with this: “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”(Ephesians 6:13 NIV) In the original Greek, STAND, is a rich word: Histemi (his’-tay-mee) means ”continue safe and sound, stand unharmed, to stand ready or prepared; to be of a steadfast mind; one who does not hesitate, does not waiver.” (Strong’s Concordance) I want that kind of faith “when the day of evil comes.” 1 Corinthians 15:58 says:  (NAS) “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable (NIV “let nothing move you”), always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”

You can’t stop trouble, but trouble doesn’t have to stop you! Trouble doesn’t change God’s plans, his will for your life and my life. Trouble may cause a delay or a re-direct in God’s plans, but “the LORD’s purpose will prevail.” (Proverbs 19:21 NLT) We have God’s Word on it!

SATAN IS MAKING A BIG MISTAKE!

This is the third blog on the theme, YOU CAN’T STOP TROUBLE. In our previous blog we considered the kind of trouble which God allows in our life as a purifying fire—see Peter 1:6-7.  It is our faith which is forged in the fire. When John Gram was a high school junior he gave a speech (http://www.leaderu.com/common/johngram.html) titled, FAITH FORGED IN THE FIRE. It is a very encouraging and, at the very same time, challenging speech. There is one statement which grabbed my attention as I read the speech the first time: “It is very easy to trust when we have the answers; faith comes from trusting without the answers.” As the intensity of the fire continues to increase and the length of time in the furnace of adversity is extended, each of us is faced with a choice: Will I continue in faith, and trust God for my life? 

There is another kind of trouble which God allows in our life—the devil’s evil schemes. In 2 Corinthians 2:11 (NLT) “…so that Satan will not outsmart us. For we are very familiar with his evil schemes.” Paul brings to the attention of his readers the “evil schemes” of Satan. He refers to these schemes in the context of forgiveness (which will be our theme in the teaching this coming Sunday, March 13, at King Mountain Church). Even though we’re told repeatedly in the Bible that Satan is on a mission to bring destruction and devastation in our lives, it seems like many times we fail to recognize his strategies. It’s like we don’t want to believe we have an enemy of our soul. The words of Jesus in Luke 22, as he talked to Simon Peter, impact me on a deep, deep level: "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to have all of you, to sift you like wheat. 32 But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail.” When I replace Simon’s name with mine, it causes me to see the spiritual battle for our faith, in a whole new way. “Mark, Mark, Satan has asked to have all of you, to sift you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Mark, that your faith should not fail.” Writing this while sitting in Starbucks, might not be my best idea in awhile, because as I am reminded that Jesus is praying for me and, specifically, praying that my faith will not fail, hits me on a deep level. (Insert your name in Luke 22:31-32 and see what happens!)

Hebrews 7:25 NIV “Therefore (Jesus) is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”

Romans 8:34 NIV “Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”

 

BTW, Romans 8:26—The Holy Spirit is praying for us, too!

I feel like I have personal experience with the phrase “sift you like wheat.” I am very aware the evil schemes and strategies of Satan which have been at work in my life and the lives of those around me. But Satan is making a big mistake! He may be doing his thing, and trying to destroy our faith in God, but it’s not going to work. Our faith is NOT going to fail!!! We’re going to keep trusting God, even when answers to the troubles in our life are delayed or are different than we desire. 

I am praying for you, and even better, Jesus is praying for you. 

TO BE CONTINUED

WHEN THE HEAT IS ON

In my previous blog, I addressed the issue of trouble: “YOU CAN’T STOP TROUBLE.” (March 3) In John 16:33 Jesus said, (God’s Word Translation) “I've told you this so that my peace will be with you. In the world you'll have trouble. But cheer up! I have overcome the world." 

If we really can’t stop trouble, then the real issue is how we deal with trouble and what we do in response to its ominous presence in our lives. Trouble, more than any other factor, forces us to a place where we search our hearts and seriously seek God. In today’s blog I want to continue to focus on the type of trouble which comes to us, not as a consequence of our sin or a decision we’ve made, it comes because we’ve become a target, either of God’s refining purposes or the devil’s evil schemes. 

In today’s blog I want us to look at God’s refining purposes. In Mark 9:49 (The Message) it says, “Everyone’s going through a refining fire sooner or later…” When the heat is on (to use a familiar slang):

• We’re compelled to consider the condition of our spiritual heart.—Charles Spurgeon said: “Trials often discover sins—sins we should have never found out if it had not been for (the trials).”
• We’re confronted with our personal and profound weakness.—In the introduction of J.I. Packer’s classic book, Knowing God, he describes the modern man (and I am paraphrasing) who “thinks great thoughts of man and small thoughts of God.” Trouble has a way of humbling us, like nothing else.
•  We’re convinced of our desperate dependence upon God.—When you can’t stop trouble no matter what you do (how hard you pray, regardless of your faith and faithfulness) there’s no other choice but to trust God. And then trust Him some more!

 When you find yourself going through “a refining fire,” and you will “sooner or later,” look at what Peter writes we are to do: 1 Peter 1:6-7 TNIV “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (Note: This is the same Peter who Satan demanded permission from Jesus to “sift…like wheat”, Luke 22:31, so he understood trouble more than most!)

In Job’s case, the refining process was more important than God breaking his extended silence, even though Job had many questions and was in a place of deep despair and confusion. The process was more important than God intervening and shutting up Job’s friends. (Duct tape had not yet been invented but it could have been put to good use.) God’s refining process was more important than prematurely rescuing Job from trouble. 

Just so I am not misunderstood, I am not suggesting that Job’s trouble was primarily for the purpose of refining his faith. Though Job’s statement in 42:5 (NIV) demonstrates his faith in the Father was dramatically impacted on the other side of his trouble: “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.”

When we go through trouble, we learn things about ourselves. On the other hand, when we go through trouble, we learn things about God which can be discovered no other way.

TO BE CONTINUED

YOU CAN'T STOP TROUBLE

There was a Jewish carpenter who once made the statement, “In the world you’ll have trouble.” Maybe you’ve heard of him, his name Is Jesus Christ. (Note: I typed those first two sentences, and then my laptop got stuck in some type of loop and wouldn’t load the webpage I had selected. Do you  think he was talking about computer trouble?) Even though Jesus told us trouble would come, it’s not something which is expected by many people. As I’ve shared in previous blogs I am part of a small group which is studying the Book of Job right now. I don’t know about everyone else in the group, but I know I am learning a lot each week. 

The trouble in the world takes many different forms. There are the kinds of things Job experienced as he moved: from prosperity to poverty; from a father of ten children to childless; and from physically healthy to desperately ill. We don’t know much about his relationship with his wife, but enough to assume things were going along well for them and in a short period of time she’s encouraging him to curse God. I'm pretty sure that introduced a whole new dynamic to their relationship. Oh, yeah, and in his rapid fall from the most blessed man in his part of the world, he was reduced to three or four friends, who weren’t exactly the most encouraging guys. 

The trouble Job experienced in a period of what was likely less than two years, are the types of trouble which shows up in many of our lives. Financial trouble is a major issue for many people right now because of our economy. Family trouble is impacting many homes. Not necessarily the loss of life, but a level of conflict which is negatively impacting how members of the family relate to one another. Health-related trouble is something many people deal with today, from short-term illnesses to chronic and terminal conditions. Marriages may be more troubled than ever.

Here’s what I am thinking today. There are many times you can’t stop trouble. Jesus told us it was coming, and, you know what, he always told the truth. There was nothing Job did to deserve the trouble which came into his life. It wasn’t a consequence of sin, though his friends definitely tried to make that connection. It wasn’t because he messed up somehow. Catch this point: There was nothing Job could have done to stop the trouble from coming into his life! That may not be the good news you were hoping for today. But stick with me here because there is an important point in all of this. There are times when the trouble in our life is a consequence or connected to our choices and we have to accept full responsibility for those things, and know God’s grace and mercy is available to help us navigate through and out of such situations. Then beyond the situations where we reap what we sow, is all the other trouble which comes into our lives; the trouble we can’t stop. In all of these situations, the most important thing is how we respond when trouble comes. 

I think I will continue this theme in the next few blogs, but let me close today with this thought. If the trouble which has come into your life is of the type you didn’t cause and you couldn’t stop, stop blaming yourself and stop allowing others to blame you. Job’s friends tried to convince him that he was the cause for all of the trouble in his life. Even though Job didn’t understand why everything was happening, and even went through a period where he felt like God was against him, he never really blamed himself nor accepted the blame of his friends. As someone said, “Sometimes things just are what they are.” I think that fits here, sometimes trouble just comes. Jesus said to expect it, we aren’t always going to cause it, and we can’t stop it. But we do have to deal with it, and we’ll talk more about that next time. Grace and Peace! 

John 16:33 (God’s Word Translation) “I've told you this so that my peace will be with you. In the world you'll have trouble. But cheer up! I have overcome the world."