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...