The Self-Esteem Dilemma

 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.     Philippians 2:3

I have been blessed over the years to attend some churches with really good preachers.  The church we currently attend is one such place.  So, I confess, when I showed up at church yesterday and discovered that the lead pastor was not preaching, I was a little disappointed.  But, I saw who the speaker of the day was to be, and I felt a little encouraged.  He's preached before and done a pretty good job, so I thought it would be okay.  

He began his message with a bit of review of the series our pastor has been in.  And then he announced the topic of the day: self esteem. 

Those who know me well know that "self esteem" is kind of a hot-button issue for me.  I work in a sector which traditionally worships the ideas of "high self-esteem" and "positive self-image."  I have a little different perspective on the matter. 

So when I heard that the sermon was to be on self-esteem, I admit I did an inner eye roll and started to check out, thinking about where we might go for lunch after church and what I hoped to accomplish in the afternoon...

But, the Lord brought a little conviction into my wandering thoughts, and so I tried to re-engage.  

I don't personally hold to the idea that a lot of people are suffering from LOW self-esteem.  I do, however, believe that most folks have some level of struggle with the issue of self-esteem in general. It's not that we need to think more highly of ourselves.  We need to learn to think more "rightly" of ourselves.

When I was pretty young, I remember Whitney Huston releasing a song called. "The Greatest Love of All."  Everyone LOVED that song!  And the self-esteem narrative got a huge boost.  Everyone, it seemed, bought into the idea that self-love was the greatest love of all.  The concept was even preached from many church pulpits!

I took issue with the concept even in my youth. 

Here's the thing - I really don't believe that most people are struggling with loving themselves.  

If people truly did not love themselves, they wouldn't be putting on their seatbelts when they get in their cars.  They wouldn't look both ways before crossing the street.  They certainly wouldn't be wearing masks and worrying about viruses this year!  The self-preservation instinct alone is a pretty good indicator that people are not struggling with loving themselves.

 It's not that folks think too little of themselves.  That doesn't mean that people necessarily think too highly of themselves.  Some do, to be sure (although psychologists would try to attribute an overinflated ego to a problem with low self-esteem).

I believe that most folks really just think TOO OFTEN of themselves.

It is our nature to be selfish.  We literally are born that way.  Babies know nothing of the world around them.  They simply know how they feel.  And since a baby can't meet his own needs, he cries until someone comes and gives him what he wants.  His whole existence is centered around how he feels and who can help him feel good.

Sadly, too many people never learn to think beyond themselves.  Many people continue to live self-centered lives beyond infancy and into adulthood.  

What gets categorized as low or high self-esteem is really just too much focus on self.  And the fix is really pretty simple - stop looking in and start looking out.  It's not that we need to think less of ourselves, but that we need to think of ourselves less.

As Paul writes in Philippians 2:4, Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

As we learn to look beyond ourselves, the paradox is that WE reap the rewards!  As I cease looking inwardly and start looking out, I find that I am happier, more content, and less stressed.  

Anxiety creeps in when I spend too much time thinking about myself and my needs, but freedom and peace are the products of focusing my time and attention on God and others.

So the challenge today is to focus not on  a HIGHer self-esteem but on a RIGHTer self-esteem.  It could just be the path to the peace you've been seeking.

...Just a thought...

From "What If" to "Even If"

 Then this message came to me from the Lord:  “Son of man, with one blow I will take away your dearest treasure. Yet you must not show any sorrow at her death. Do not weep; let there be no tears. 

So I proclaimed this to the people the next morning, and in the evening my wife died. The next morning I did everything I had been told to do.          Ezekiel 24:1-16, 18 NLT

As I've read through the prophets this year, I've been amazed at their faithfulness, reminded that the Lord has never asked anything so difficult of me.  I always question if I would have responded with such unwavering obedience, as Isaiah did when God told him to take off his clothes and walk around naked, or as Jeremiah did when the Lord told him to lie on one side for months on end, cooking his meals on a fire fueled by dung.

In all honesty, I don't think that I would have done it.  And what that says about my faith bothers me.

But this morning's reading in Ezekiel crushed me.  As a sign to the people of Judah, God allowed Ezekiel's wife to die!  And because the Lord had so commanded him, Ezekiel did not outwardly mourn for his wife, his "dearest treasure."  He did not allow himself to receive consolation from his friends.  Instead, he delivered a message.

This story just makes my heart ache!  I cannot fathom the level of loss Ezekiel must have felt, nor do I understand the kind of trust he must have had in the Lord.  All I can think of is, "Why?"

Why?

Ezekiel was serving the Lord.  He was doing what God told him to do.  He had been living the uncomfortable life of a prophet while the people around him had just been living self-serving lives.  To my way of thinking, I would like to have seen God just really bless Ezekiel for his faithful service.

But clearly, my way of thinking is not God's way of thinking.  God didn't bless Ezekiel as reward for his faithfulness.  God took his wife away from him.

I just don't get it!

Truthfully, I don't think I want to "get it."  I don't want to take the time to really think on this matter.  I want to just skim over it and continue reading.  There are plenty of verses in Scripture to encourage me if I just read on...

But today I cannot just skim over it.  Today, God is calling me to consider this story.

*******************************

As often is the case, circumstances of life interrupt my thoughts - the ones in my head, as well as the ones I try to write and share.  In the two days since I began writing this thought, I've had some moments to ponder Ezekiel's loss.  As I have continued reading in the book of Ezekiel, it seems that the prophet just carried on with life - business as usual, so to speak.  He delivered warning messages from the Lord to the people, cities, and nations around him.  There's nothing in Ezekiel's prophesies that gives me any further insight into the loss of his wife.

But my Bible reading plan contains daily readings from both the Old and New Testaments, so as I am reading Ezekiel, I also happen to be reading Hebrews.  And this morning in Hebrews 11, I think I found as much of an answer is there is to be found.  The writer of Hebrews is telling stories of the "heroes of faith," and he tells us in verses 33-35 of those who experienced great victories in their lives, even up to the raising of the dead.   The writer then moves on in verses 36-38 about heroes who suffered and died for their faith.  There is no real transition between the victorious and the suffering, nor explanation as to why some "won" and some "lost."

Hebrews 11:39a tells us, though, that "All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith.."

At the heart of it all lies a very basic, but important, lesson in the sovereignty of God.  God calls us to live lives of faithfulness.  He has promised to bless us, but He has not promised that those blessings will come in this life.  Sometimes they do; sometimes they do not.  But the presence or lack of earthly blessings is not a good indicator of one's faith.  

The common denominator of the heroes of faith is found earlier in Hebrews 11.  Obviously, FAITH is the things all of the heroes held in common.  Faith.  Faith is that confidence that though I may not see with my eyes or understand with my heart, there is a future for me where God's promises will be fulfilled in ways that are beyond my current level of comprehension.

It is a call to trust God. No matter what.

Whatever comes my way in life - whether struggles or blessings, life or death - is bigger than me.  To be quite blunt, I am incidental.  Whatever happens to me simply serves the purposes of God. 

Ezekiel understood that.

I believe there is freedom in that kind of faith.

But it's a faith that scares me.  I say that I want the "no matter what" kind of faith,  but what I actually want is my life and my family in that nice safe "hedge of protection" that I pray over them.

Given the things that are happening in our world of late, I think it's fair to say that the Lord is calling us to a "no matter what" faith in Him.  Rather than living in the "what if" of pandemics and politics, I believe we are entering a season where "even if" must become our pattern of thought.  This is what will distinguish faith from folly.

It's a strong and scary thought, but it is...

...Just a thought...

The Choice to Obey

Pray that the Lord your God will show us what to do and where to go. Whether we like it or not, we will obey the Lord our God to whom we are sending you with our plea. For if we obey him, everything will turn out well for us.      Jeremiah 42:3, 6

Nebuchadnezzar had come to Judah and carried most of the people away as captives to Babylon.  A few folks had been left behind, including the prophet Jeremiah.  

So the people who had been left behind, knowing that Jeremiah was God's messenger, came to him with a request.  "Ask God what we should do, and we will do it."  

You see, for years Jeremiah had been warning all of the people about the trouble that was coming.  He had pleaded with them to repent so that God would not follow through on His plans for the captivity of Judah.  But the leaders and the people decided to arrest Jeremiah rather than heed his warnings.  And what he had warned them about had happened.

So these people who had been left behind knew who Jeremiah was, and they knew that they needed to change their ways.  They needed to start following God.  So they asked Jeremiah to get them some specific instructions from God, with a promise that they would do what God said this time.

Jeremiah knew that the people weren't really going to obey, but he went to the Lord for them anyway.  He brought them back clear, specific instructions.  And the people did the exact opposite.

God said, "Stay here."  They didn't.

God said, "Don't go to Egypt."  They went to Egypt.

God said, "Don't be afraid."

I don't know how much of the motivation behind the people's behavior was fear, or how much was just plain arrogance.  Perhaps at the heart of most of what we interpret as arrogance is actually fear.

Not that fear is better than arrogance.  Both are faithlessness.

Fear says, "I'm not sure I can trust God."  Arrogance says, "My plan is better than God's."

The solution to both of these problems is the same: obedience.

Obedience gives us a point of reference when the world is spinning and the ground feels shaky.  But the really awesome thing about obedience is that it is very freeing.

It's a bit of a paradox, but it is so very true.  We may not understand the reason behind the instruction, but as we obey, an interesting thing begins to happen.  Trust begins to grow, and with trust comes freedom.

I tell this to my kids all the time.  They want freedom, but I need to be able to trust that they are ready for the freedom.  That trust is built through obedience.  Without obedience, there is no freedom because there is not trust.  It's not about control - it is about safety.  

The things I ask of the kids is for their good and for their protection.  The things God asked of the people of Judah was for their good and for their protection.

I have a kid in my home right now who reminds me so much of this remnant who came to Jeremiah.  He says he wants to follow God.  He says he wants to hear from God.  But he is arrogant and rebellious.  I think he's really just afraid.  He wants freedom, and he fights and pushes and demands his way in an effort to get what he thinks he deserves.  

And so daily, with as much patience as I can muster, I calmly explain again that the freedom and the blessings are within reach.  What is necessary is to simply and consistently do what is asked in the most basic aspects of life.  

It's what God wanted from His people.

It's what He wants from us.

Follow His instructions They're pretty simple.  For the people who came to Jeremiah, the instruction was simply, "Stay here."  

Had they just followed the instructions, the benefits would have been great:

If you do, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you... I am with you and will save you and rescue you... I will be merciful to you... Jeremiah 42:9-12

The choice seems pretty simple - obedience or rebellion, safety or danger, freedom or bondage.

Choose well.

...Just a thought...

Winning

Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else.  For we are each responsible for our own conduct.     Galatians 6:4-5

Achievement.

The word once struck fear into my young heart.  Every spring, before we could begin to get excited about the end of school or look forward to lazy summer days, we had to navigate through the torturous days of achievement tests!  Remember those?  The first couple of years that I faced these tests, I felt a little overwhelmed, as I recall.  It wasn't that I minded tests - little nerd that I was - but these tests went on for hours... then days... weeks, months, years!  Well, that's what it felt like.

Achievement tests made my teachers grumpy.  So many instructions: "Pencils down!" - "Do not write in the booklet!" - ""Do not turn the page!" - "Number two pencils only!" - "Fill in bubbles completely!"   

And my classmates were grumpy, as well.  Some fretted and worried.  Some just didn't want to sit still and be quiet, which made the teachers even grumpier.

And then there was the instruction that was repeated repeatedly throughout testing days (and other days too, actually), "Eyes on your own papers!"  

Trouble comes when you look around.

The thing about achievement tests for me was not that they were difficult.  After the first couple of years, I kind of looked forward to that time of year.  I would work through the sections of the tests, then sit smugly in my seat as my classmates worked madly to finish the work before the teacher would say, "Stop! Pencils down."  When I looked around, if others will still working, I felt good about myself; but if someone finished before me, I would feel anxious.

In retrospect, the experience of achievement testing set me on a course that has led to a bit of frustration in real life.  A few weeks after testing was completed, there would be a parent-teacher conference to discuss the scores.  This is when it would be confirmed that I had scored in the highest percentile and that I was performing above grade level.  This is where pride would start to set in.  Achievement tests were all about performance and comparisons, and I performed and measured up well!

As long as I was in school, I continued to excel.  I earned numerous academic achievements.  I won athletic events.  Wherever there was competition, when I looked around,  I was winning.  

But where there were not well-defined goals or markers of success, I struggled.  Socially, I was kind of a mess.  I was shy, and making friends did not come as easily to me as scoring 100% on a spelling test.  As the years went on, school began to seem to me more social than academic, and when I looked around, I was no longer winning.  I was defeated. 

To live life by comparison is to live in constant frustration, and yet, to some extent, most of us do just that.  Whether it's about trying to "keep up with the Joneses," get a promotion or a raise, win the sales competition, or be named "employee of the month," our propensity for competition seems to follow us through life.  And our pursuit of worldly success will tend to lead us toward things like selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger.  These behaviors, Paul described in Galatians 5 as "desires of your sinful nature," or, in another translation, "works of the flesh."  Ouch!

The good news of today's verse is that God, through the apostle Paul, has given us a simple solution to the competition trap: Pay careful attention to your own work...

Basically, mind your own business.  It's a simple message.  But sometimes it seems to hard to do.  We want life to be "fair," but it is not.  So if fairness is what I'm looking for, I will live my life frustrated and defeated.  If I spend my life looking around, I will live life frustrated and defeated, because my focus is misplaced.  The choices of others are not under my control, and they are really not my concern.  I am simply responsible for my own conduct.

I'll confess, I've been frustrated lately.  The over-achiever in me has been working overtime trying to do things "right," but when I look at what the people around me are doing, I sometimes feel that my efforts are a useless waste of energy.  I believe the Lord is offering me a solution to my frustration today, and that is to "stop looking around!"  If I will simply focus on my own work, I can live life in peace, resting in the satisfaction that I have done my best.

Our world is a messy place right now.  There are a lot of people out there who are not doing what I think they ought to do.  The media offers these folks fame, and feeds the general sense of unrest.  But I think today if we will turn off the news and apply Paul's counsel to pay attention to our own work, perhaps we will find that elusive peace we have been seeking.

It seems like a pretty simple theory, but it's...

... Just a thought...

Answered Prayers

One of the things I always pray for is the opportunity, God willing, to come at last to see you.      Romans 1:10

There are days that I miss road life. And there are days when I don't!  I have friends scattered across the country and around the world, and while I love the technology that lets me stay somewhat connected, I miss the face-to-face interaction.  I miss sharing meals and having conversations and just being present, even if it may have just been once or twice  a year that we would be together.

I think there is a lot I could learn from Paul.  He, too, was a traveling minister.  He didn't have the travel luxuries that I had - no bus, motorhome, truck, or airplane took him from place to place.  And he didn't have the benefit of technology to communicate with the churches he visited.  And yet, Paul's "archaic" communication - the letters he wrote to churches - make up some of the most frequently read and quoted verses in Scripture, and his words continue to speak to believers today.  (Imagine what Paul could have done with the internet!)

Paul wrote letters to the churches he had visited.  He also wrote letters to churches he wanted to visit.  He didn't stick the letters in envelopes with stamps and addresses and drop them in a mailbox somewhere.  Paul's letters were hand delivered.  It kind of blows my mind to think about the investment that was made in time and effort for Paul's letters to be written and delivered.  And the impact of that investment was incredible!

In my daily Bible reading, I have just finished the book of Acts and am starting on the Epistles now.  I only got as far as the tenth verse of Romans 1 before I was struck with a fact I have overlooked for years.  Paul hasn't actually met the Roman believers yet.  He's heard about them.  He's prayed for them.  But He hasn't met them yet.  He wants to meet them.  He wants to have the opportunity to sit down with them, and share a meal, and have conversation, and just be present.  And that is what Paul is praying for, because Paul understands that prayer is his best hope for seeing the dream realized.  He wants to go to Rome, and so he prays for the opportunity to go to Rome.

Paul's prayer will eventually be answered.  

What makes Romans 1:10 so significant to me is what I have just read in the book of Acts.  I read about the time when Paul finally gets to go to Rome.  You know how he got that opportunity?  He got arrested!  Paul gets arrested, people try to kill him, he spends some time in prison, and eventually, he is sent to Rome to stand trial.  On the way there he takes a rough ride through a storm, gets shipwrecked, and snake-bitten.  But he does ultimately make it to Rome.

We need to understand that the answers to our prayers don't always look like we thought they would.  Usually, when I pray, I have an idea in my head of how I would like for my prayers to be answered.  I often explain in great detail to the Lord how I think He should do it.  Not surprisingly, that's not how things actually turn out.  So far, I have not been arrested or shipwrecked or snake-bitten, and I am very thankful for that!  

The bottom line today is this: in that difficult circumstance you are facing in life, could it be that God is actually answering a prayer you've prayed?  We can get so bogged down in the struggles that we end up missing the opportunities the Lord is placing before us.  We get so busy talking and asking/begging/pleading with God that we forget to listen for His answer.

I encourage you to take a step back today.  Pause in your asking long enough to listen for the answer.  It is possible that the very circumstance you are asking God to deliver you from may be the path by which He will choose to answer.  

This is a pattern we see throughout Scripture...  Noah and his family went through a flood.  Joseph was bullied, sold into slavery, and wrongfully imprisoned.  The Children of Israel had to go through the wilderness before they could get to the Promised Land.  The disciples had to be in a boat in a storm before they understood that Jesus could calm the storm.

In whatever storm you may find yourself today, consider what it is that you have asked God for.  I invite you to look a little deeper into your circumstance to see if maybe - just maybe - you can begin to see that God is at work.  Your prayers are being answered.  Just remember that the answer may not look like what you expected.

...Just a thought...

What the Righteous Can Do

The wicked are stringing their bows and fitting their arrows on the bowstrings.  They shoot from the shadows at those whose hearts are right. The foundations of law and order have collapsed.  What can the righteous do?” But the Lord is in his holy Temple; the Lord still rules from heaven.    Psalm 11:2-4a NLT

If ever there was a time when Psalm 11 rang true (aside from the time of David when the psalm was written, of course), it is today.  In the US in particular, we are seeing the foundations of law and order collapse.  These are strange times, to say the least, and it can be easy to follow a path of anxiety and fear.  

If you watch any variety of "news" at all - and I use that term loosely, because these days it is hard to discern fact from fiction - but, if you watch, read, or listen to news these days, there is little doubt that fear is driving the train.  And when fear is driving, we should not expect a good outcome.  We residents of the freest nation in the world have voluntarily surrendered so much of our freedom in recent days, it is hard to recognize that we are still living in the United States of America.  And UNITED is definitely not the word that comes to mind when I look at what is happening in our country!

But the crisis we are facing is not actually a political one, though MUCH is wrong in the political realm.  This is not a crisis of race or so-called "social justice," though the media would suggest that this is the most critical issue of our day.  The crisis is not even a health crisis, contrary to the headlines that suggest that if we go about our daily lives as we have always done, we are evil, homicidal bullies.  The true crisis is SPIRITUAL!

Surrounded by people who do not know Jehovah, who have not entered into relationship with His Son Jesus Christ, and who do not have the indwelling Holy Spirit to be their Comforter, is it any wonder that our country is spiraling into chaos?  

I am reminded of an old Moody science video that I saw as a child and that I replay for the kids in my care regularly.  In this video (I encourage you to follow the link at the end of this post to view the video for yourself), we see illustrated the impact of a pilot trying to navigate with only his senses to the exclusion of his instruments.  The message here is on the importance of faith, and understanding that things are not always what they appear to be.  As a pilot who trusts his feelings over his instruments can quickly spiral to the ground and meet a fiery demise, so a person who chooses feeling over faith is headed to a similar end.  

As Christians, we are called to live by faith.  We are warned in Scripture to be careful  about trusting our feelings (see Jeremiah 17:9, for starters).  As believers, we are at a distinct advantage in times such as exist in our day.  Unlike the world around us, we have an excellent - perfect, actually - source for truth and wisdom.  We do not have to walk by feelings!

But what about the people around us?  What about the lost?

Well, the first question that comes to mind is, "Why are the people around us lost?"  Yes, I realize they have free will, and they must make their own choice to place their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.  But do they know that?  Have WE told them abut Christ?  

The folks around us have no choice but to walk by feelings, and so it should not surprise us that the predominant feelings that are being manifest are fear and anger.  These people do not have the benefit of God's words in Psalm 23 to comfort them in the event of illness.  They do not have the reassurance of Psalm 139 to remind them that they were not only known by God before conception, but their days were already numbered, and so NOTHING will take their lives until all of those numbered days are lived out.  Without the "instruments" of scripture and faith in God, the world at large is spiraling toward a fiery death, and while they don't really understand what is happening, they know that they are afraid.

The fear that is driving our nation and our world is not going to suddenly go away.  There truly are not good answers to the questions at hand without a foundation of faith in Jesus Christ.  But with such faith, everything can change.

Instead of falling into fear and anxiety at this critical point in history, let us remember our call to love the unlovely.  Is there really anyone you hate so much that you would not want them to have the opportunity to be saved?  

Our government, doctors, scientists, and activists cannot solve the greatest problem facing our country and our world today.  Only the church can do that.  BE THE CHURCH!  That is what the righteous can do.  Share your faith.  Live out your faith.  And remember that the people around you only have their feelings to work with, unless YOU share with them a better way.

The Lord is in his holy Temple; the Lord still rules from heaven.

... Just a thought...

Here's that link (you may have to copy and paste, as the link doesn't seem to be publishing correctly, or just go to YouTube and search "Moody Signposts Aloft").  Do yourself a favor and check it out.  It's an "oldie," but it's so good!

https://youtu.be/dytsA6BGP1Y

Right To Remain Silent

Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.     Psalm 4:4 ESV

I've enjoyed watching cop shows on TV for most of my life.  From Adam-12 and Barney Miller as a small child, to T.J. Hooker, Hawaii 5-O (original and remake), and many others, I have heard the phrase, "You have the right to remain silent..." more times than I can try to count.  The point is that you are not required to incriminate yourself of wrongs you may have done.  (This always seemed contrary to what I observed in the court shows on television where you swear to "tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.."  But, whatever!)

The "right to remain silent" is a foundational right of citizenship, guaranteed by our Constitution here in the US.  This provision was made for our protection, and as someone whose spoken words don't always convey the intended sentiment, I can appreciate this right.  And yet, though we are given the RIGHT to remain silent, the ABILITY to remain silent seems to be sorely lacking in our world today.

We are living in unusual times.  Strange things are happening in our country and in our world.  And, for good or for bad, in the midst of these strange times, the platforms from which people can speak opinions and ideas are virtually unlimited.  With the technology of the day, information - and misinformation - travels near the speed of light (really, really fast!).  And lately, it seems, much of what is being communicated is rooted in hatred and anger.

Not surprisingly, the Bible has something very pertinent to say on the subject.  The Lord tells us in scripture that though we may become angry, we should remain silent.  The New Living Translation puts it like this:

Don’t sin by letting anger control you.  Think about it overnight and remain silent.

Why is something so simple so hard to do?  We can defend our positions, claim "righteous indignation," express our ideas as moral defense of the powerless, etc...  We may get passionate, and feel justified in our anger.  We may even actually be right!  But once our anger begins to drive our actions, and particularly our speech, our indignation is no longer righteous.  It is sin.  No matter how hard we try to pretty it up, the root of the problem is sin.  

This is not to say that it is a sin to get angry.  Anger is an emotion, not an action.  And emotions are not sinful.  Our emotions are our automatic responses to the things that happen to us and around us.  This is how God created us.  He created us with the capacity to get angry, and so obviously He expects us to get angry.  We should get angry about injustice in our world.  We should care when people are mistreated.  But when we are angry, we should keep our mouths shut.  We should not let our anger lead us into sin.

Silence is not the same as apathy.  Just because I am not vocal about a particular topic does not mean that I do not care.  Silence gives me time to be thoughtful.  The Psalmist goes as far as to say that we should think about it overnight.  That certainly seems like a good rule of thumb.  If there is an issue that needs to be discussed, once the anger has passed, it is much easier to think and speak rationally. I often find that by the next day, what I thought needed to be said in the moment really didn't need to be said at all. 

In these days when anger and fear are running rampant, remember that silence is golden.  Not every idea that comes into your head needs to come out of your mouth (or onto your social media page).  It's a hard lesson, but one that I am trying to learn in these uncertain times.

Take some time to read Psalm 4 in its entirety today.  I believe you will find comfort and encouragement there...

 Many people say, “Who will show us better times?” (v.6a)

     

In peace I will lie down and sleep,  for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe. (v.8)

Settle down.  Get quiet.  God can be trusted.  So rest well tonight.

...Just a thought...

Don't Stop Believing

And the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.”  And the man of God said to the king, “If you give me half your house, I will not go in with you. And I will not eat bread or drink water in this place,  for so was it commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water nor return by the way that you came.’”  So he went another way and did not return by the way that he came to Bethel.         

1 Kings 13:7-10

The stories of the Old Testament are sometimes odd and confusing to me.  I would love to have some more details to help me understand why God worked in the ways that He worked.  But He chose not to give us more details.  So I am left to contemplate and consider.

After reading this story in 1 Kings 13, I was confused, as I am each time I come to this story.  A "man of God" came to deliver a message to Jeroboam, the king of Israel.  The man delivered his message, what he said would happen happened, and he even healed the king while he was there.  He refused the king's offers of sustenance and reward because he was compelled to walk in obedience to the Lord.

The Bible calls this guy "a man of God."  His actions confirm this as an accurate description.  The man has completed his task and is heading home in his best effort to be completely obedient to the Lord's instructions.  Clearly, this is a man who heard God's voice and had some understanding of His ways.

But as he is going along the way, another man, identified in scripture as "an old prophet," tracks him down and invites the man of God to his house for dinner. The man of God relates the instructions he received from the Lord as he politely declines the old prophet's invitation.  The old prophet tells the man of God that he got new instructions from the Lord, and so the man of God believes him and goes home with the prophet for dinner.  During dinner, the old prophet gets an actual message from the Lord, and he rebukes the man of God for his disobedience.  As the story goes on, the man of God ultimately gets killed by a lion on the way home, and the old prophet sees to his burial.  

My initial reaction to this story is that it's just weird!  Besides that, it seems really unfair.  We get enough information from the scripture that we can know that both men would have been looked to as spiritual leaders of their day.  The man of God did what God told him to do - boldly, and at great personal risk.  When he had delivered his message, he started home, still carefully following the Lord's instructions.  On the surface, the only mistake the man of God made was trusting a fellow spiritual leader.  It just seems unfair that he has to die for this.  After all, why should he doubt the old prophet?  The prophet said his instructions were from God.  At the end of a difficult day, the man of God was tired (the prophet found him resting under a tree), so it would seem logical that the Lord might send someone to come alongside him so he could be encouraged and refreshed.  I mean, that would make sense to me.

So there must be a deeper principle at work here.  

The best conclusion I can draw from this seemingly strange story is the serious nature of continuing to believe and act on what you know God has said.  The man of God had a clear message from the Lord.  He delivered the message.  And he had clear instructions about what to do next.  He obviously understood the instructions.  But when he got tired, his faith wavered- just a little.  When the old prophet came with a message that contradicted the instructions, the man of God did not pause to ask the Lord what he should do.  He went with his feelings, and his feelings betrayed him.

Not every message that someone SAYS is from God really IS from God.  Even if the person bringing the message is known to be a spokesperson for God ("a prophet"), we must measure the message against what we know God has already said.  For us, this is the Bible.  No matter how good or inviting a message or idea may sound, if it contradicts what God has already said, we must be true to the Word of the Lord.  We must continue to believe what God has said, continue to do what God has told us to do, and not be swayed.

Interestingly, even after the old prophet lied to the man of God, "the Lord came to the old prophet..." (1 Kings 13:20).  After the prophet delivered a false message, the Lord still used him to deliver a true message.  I don't really understand this either, but that's a thought for another day.  

For today, I think this story is a call to examine my ways and to be sure that I am walking in obedience to what the Lord has set before me.  Whether there is pandemic, society on the verge of collapse, or simple weariness - regardless of what I may be feeling at any given moment, I must be careful to continue in what I know God has commanded.  He takes obedience seriously, so I'd better do the same.

...Just a thought...

An Unlikely Hero

 And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him.      Judges 13:24

Each year, I attempt to read through the Bible.  Every time, I discover new things that I've missed before - verses that seem as though they must be brand new, for I cannot recall having read them before.  And then there are stories that are just a bit odd, and that leave me with more questions than answers.

I just finished reading through Judges a few days ago, and I am once again puzzled.  Much in the book of Judges seems incomplete, and, in some ways, inconsistent with my small understanding of the ways of God.  

Which brings me to Samson...

As I consider once again the story of Samson, I am left scratching my head.  After the Scriptures tell us in Judges 13:24 that "the Lord blessed him," the chapters that follow give us details about Samson's life.  As I read about the things that Samson did and how he treated the people around him, I do not see a young man who is blessed of God and called to help his people.  I see a spoiled, manipulative, arrogant, lying punk who repeatedly engages in sexual sin throughout his lifetime.  In all that I read of Samson in the book of Judges, I don't find any redeeming qualities in him.  In chapter 15 of Judges, God gives Samson a great victory over his enemies, and rather than giving glory to God, we see Samson pitch a fit because he's thirsty!  He is not the kind of man I would have chosen to be a leader of any kind, much less the judge of a nation.

But clearly, the Lord saw Samson a bit differently.  After the whining and carrying on, God split open a rock and gave Samson water (Judges 15:19).  That would NOT have been my response...

As I read Samson's story, I struggle.  I really do not understand.  This is not a  hero to emulate.  He did not set a good example for the people of Israel to follow.  His lifestyle was not characterized by godly living, but by blatant, habitual, unrepentant sin.  

And to add to my confusion, consider what the writer of Hebrews has to say about Samson:

 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—  who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.  
Hebrews 11:32-34

Samson is listed among the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11!

I find myself wishing that the Lord would have included a bit more information in the Bible about some of Samson's finer moments, because the stories that are there are not very complimentary.  So I am left asking, "Why?"  Why did God choose Samson?  Why was someone like him allowed to judge Israel for twenty years?  Why is Samson listed and remembered as a hero of faith when he lived such an unfaithful life?

I don't know if I have the answer to those questions, but as I have pondered the matter, I have been reminded a bit about the sovereignty of God.  He can do what He wants, how He wants, and it is not required that I understand.  

But, too, I am oddly encouraged.  If God can take a "screw-up" like Samson and still accomplish His purposes, perhaps there is hope for a "screw-up" like me.  Perhaps, the stories of Samson are there to remind me that no shortcoming of mine can stop the purposes of God.

So whatever mistake you're dwelling on today, I'd like to refer you to the life of Samson.  I'd venture to guess that your mistakes pale in comparison to the escapades of the famous strong man of the Bible.  

Be encouraged that you are not beyond the reach of a loving and gracious heavenly Father who is ready and willing to redeem your past and Who still has great plans for your future!

...Just a thought...