The Source

"So do not fear, for I am with you;

do no be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you;

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Isaiah 41:10

Fear.  The very word conjures up a different image for each of us.  I have many fears.  The fear of rejection, failure, and loss.  But the fear I am currently struggling with is the apprehension of where God will lead my husband and I in the future.  I feel like a pawn, being moved into position with no regard for my feelings, desires or wishes.  I feel manipulated.

As a result of this fear, I am putting pressure on my husband, friends and family.  I expect that they can comfort me, encourage me, say just the right thing to make it all better, or somehow set my mind at ease.  But this is unfair of me.  After all, they are only human with struggles and issues of their own.  I can't expect them to have all the answers for me!

But I can expect God to say just the right thing at the right time.  As I drifted into sleep last night, I asked God to comfort my heart, then I fell into a peaceful slumber.  When I awoke, I read my devotional as usual and here was the scripture God gave me.  "And as they followed, they were afraid. " (Mark 10:32)

God spoke to my heart at that moment, comforting and encouraging me, setting my mind at ease.  I knew at that moment that He was telling me that He understands my fear and is right there with me.

There are many things that God can give of which others are ill-equipped, incapable and powerless to supply to me.

Strength

I thought I knew a little something about strength.  After all, I powerlifted for a few years, setting records at a national level.  I have always been physically strong.  But that physical strength does not translate into spiritual or emotional strength.  I know quite a few people who are a whole lot stronger than me.

There is the young woman who lost her husband yet continues to lovingly raise her two children with dignity and grace.  Or the man who recently finished chemotherapy and radiation treatment with a smile on his face and a word of encouragement on his lips.  I can think of a woman who survived a horrendous childhood only to be greeted by a young adulthood filled with more pain and suffering, yet she walks into the future with her head held high, trusting God a little more with each passing day.   

This is the kind of strength I want.  This is the kind of strength that comes from trusting God.  When I study scripture in light of the above examples of strength I see in people around me, I notice one thing.  Weakness.  

The Apostle Paul struggled with his own affliction.  As he worked through it with the Lord, God told him that, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."  From this declaration Paul concluded that, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."  (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Perhaps Watchman Nee, a Chinese 20th-Century Christian who spent the final 20 years of his life in prison for his faith, explained this phenomenon of strength through weakness best.  He said, "God's means of delivering us from sin is not by making us stronger and stronger, but by making us weaker and weaker.  That is surely rather a peculiar way of victory, you say; but it is the divine way.  God sets us free from the dominion of sin, not by strengthening our old man but by crucifying him; not by helping him to do anything, but by removing him from the scene of action."

If I want to be strong, I must be weak so that God can be strong for me.

Help

This word brings to mind The Beatles song, "Help!"  Those four spunky Brits sang about their realization that we all need help from time to time.  "Help me if you can, I'm feeling down. And I do appreciate you being 'round.  Help me get my feet back on the ground.  Won't you please, please help me?"

Yes, a friend is good in times of need.  But my real help comes from the Lord.  The psalmist encourages me in Psalm 46:1 that, "God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble." (NLT)

How many times is a friend ready to help?  I may call but my friend may be in the middle of her own crisis, or she may be busy.  I could cry out to my husband but he is tired from a long and stressful day.  I wonder who has time to give me the time of day, let alone a little help!  Then I remember that God is an ever-present help in times of trouble.  The Lord does not disappoint me, but He gives me exactly what I need, when I need it.  

Tom Tripp writes in Leadership, "Our Lord does not send us to fight the good fight alone.  The Holy Spirit is our battle partner who covers our blind side and fights for our well-being."*

Only God knows the kind of help I need, and only He is able to provide that help at all times.

Support

I have recently taken up gardening in the backyard of our South Carolina home.  A country girl at heart, this satisfies the farmer in me and brings much joy.  One of the most rewarding vegetables to grow are tomatoes.  They do well in the hot sun and produce more of the juicy, red fruit than one family can possibly enjoy.  

One problem with the tomato plant, however, is that it needs support.  The vines cannot hold the heavy fruit on their own but need stakes or wire cages to lean on for reinforcement.

It is the same with me.  I am not strong enough to hold all the blessings God pours out into my life.  These blessings come in the form of events, people or situations and they don't always feel like good things.  But just like the tomato plant with the overabundance of fruit, I need support to keep from keeling over under the weight of it all.

It reminds me of Elijah.  He had challenged the prophets of Baal to a showdown, daring them to call on their gods to bring fire down upon their altar.  After hours of prayers, prophesying and dancing, Baal failed to produce fire.  Elijah drenched his altar with water, yet God was faithful to  burn up the sacrifice and dry up all the water, sending all those gathered into a panic.  All 450 prophets were killed that afternoon, and the evil Queen Jezebel was angry.  Elijah fled in fear, at the end of his rope.

As Elijah crumpled into a pile of dejection, God sent an angel to feed and encourage him.  Then God himself passed by.  Finally, He sent Elijah on his way. . . back in the direction he came.  God has a way of encouraging me so that I can face whatever it is from which I run.

God is more than capable of holding me up in my times of discouragement. 

When I am in trouble, it is natural for me to turn to the people around me.  But God is the source of strength, help and support that will get me through this life.

As I begin this day, it is my prayer that I will turn to The Source as the giver of all good things.

How do I place undo pressure on those I love by expecting them to do what only God can do?

How can I remember to turn to God as The Source?

* Tom Tripp, Colusa, California. Leadership, Vol. 15, no. 2. 

God of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

"Depart, depart, go out from there!
   Touch no unclean thing!
Come out from it and be pure,
   you who carry the vessels of the LORD.
But you will not leave in haste
   or go in flight;
for the LORD will go before you,
   the God of Israel will be your rear guard."

Isaiah 52:11-12

At this time of year, I hear a lot of talk about New Year's Resolutions.  Gym memberships are up, more fruits and vegetables disappear from grocery shelves, and parents spend more time with their children.  The new year is a time of reflection of the past year's glories and failures, and hope for improvement in the coming year.

Our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who called Moses and His people to flee from the tyranny of the Pharaoh, the God who sent His people into exile only to call them back home again, is a God of yesterday, today and tomorrow. 

Yesterday

One of my favorite songs by Casting Crowns tells about how I can decide to listen to the Voice of Truth, or I can choose to listen to the Father of lies.  One tells me not to be afraid and that whatever I do in obedience will glorify God, the other tells me I'm a loser, reminding me of past failures and telling me that I'll never win. 

My past is a part of the fabric of my life.   No matter how bad, God used it to work together for my good.  But it doesn't have to rule my life.  God is my rear guard.  He protects me from attack from the demons of days gone by that threaten to keep my in the past. 

I am a new creation, and I am created in Christ Jesus to do good works which He prepared in advance for me to do!  My God brought me through my past in order to get me to where I am now so that I can be the woman He created me to be.  I am infinitely valuable to Him, and He does not base my worth on what did or did not happen in the past.  He bases it on the fact that I am made in His image, and as His child, I am of infinite value to Him.

Today

Sometimes it is hard to live in the moment.  I am constantly thinking of the things I need to do which takes my mind from the present.  Perhaps missionary martyr Jim Elliot* said it best when he proclaimed,  “Wherever you are, be all there! Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.”

The present is where I am right now.  It is a gift of God's grace and I am wasting it when I dwell in the past, or think about what I need to do next.  Now will never come again.  I must depart from whatever it is that is keeping me from living in the now.  God has promised to go before me, He can handle the future.  He is protecting me from dwelling in the past.  I am hemmed in on every side.  He has given me every opportunity to live in the present.  Will I take it?

Tomorrow

The future is a funny thing because it can be anything I want it to be.  I can spend hours living in the future, creating a world where I am out of debt, where I am the perfect weight for my height, where I am perfectly patient and loving to everyone I meet, where I love and respect my husband at all times, responding to his every beck and call.  Basically, my future is ideal!

But God is the only One who knows the future, and part of faith is trusting Him with mine.  Whatever He wants it to be, that is what I accept as His child. Great 19th century evangelist D.L. Moody** said, "The sweetest lesson I have learned in God's school is to let the Lord choose for me."

Letting God have His way in my life means I may not do the things I day dream about.  In fact, I may even do some things I have no intention of trying on my own.  But God has a way of pushing us into that which we are afraid in order to glorify himself.  Just as He said to the apostle Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

It is only when I let God place me where He wants me to be, that He is made more and I am made less.  Just as John the Baptist said about Jesus, "He must become greater; I must become less." (John 3:30)  The only way that is going to happen, is if I follow Him who has gone before me!

As I begin this day, it is my prayer that I will leave yesterday and tomorrow in God's hands and live for Him today!

How does my past keep me from moving forward today?

How do thoughts of my future distract me from the present?

*Jim Elliot quote from   http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/12747

** DL Moody quote from  http://dailychristianquote.com/dcqrelationshipgod6.html



Rain

He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good,

and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Matthew 5:45

I awoke to the shower of life-giving liquid pitter-pattering against the roof just outside my window.  I sunk deeper into the warmth of my comforter, luxuriating in the soothing concert that sounded like the beautiful strains of a gentle melody. 

My mind recalled memories of the adventure of digging trenches around our tent in the dead of night to salvage the dry shelter from the onslaught of drenching downpours, to the pleasant lullaby it later played on the canvas stretched over my head as I  thankfully snuggled in my warm, dry sleeping bag.  

Allowing the lovely melody to lull me back to sleep, I thanked the Lord for this most wonderful of blessings.   

Rain.  Necessary for life, yet blocking out the warmth of the sun for a time as it falls to the ground like so much manna in the desert.  Isn't this much like the blessings God bestows upon us? 

Grace 

How much of my life is dependent upon God's grace?  Every breath!  But grace goes so much deeper than just the precious gift of life.  Pastor John Piper defined it as follows. "Grace is the pleasure of God to magnify the worth of God by giving sinners the right and power to delight in God without obscuring the glory of God."

Not only does the grace of God give me the gift of every beat of my heart, but it also miraculously gives me the ability to showcase the magnificence of God in the way I enjoy Him without my own wretchedness getting in the way.  

Grace empowers us in a never-ending flow to endure the difficulties of life. Paul suffered from some sort of painful problem.  As he pleaded with God for deliverance from his suffering, God replied that,  “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)  Grace gives us what we need to endure, exalting the wonder of God in the process. 

May I learn to recognize the thorns as just as necessary as the rain I so love.

Mercy

Many times I expect mercy from God because I know He is a merciful God.  But maybe I'm being a bit presumptuous.  In describing the sovereignty of God revealed to Moses in Exodus 33, the Apostle Paul concluded that, "Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden." (Romans 9:18)  

God is the one who decides from whom He withholds that which we deserve, and who instead receives what's coming.  It is all a part of His plan, that of which the scope I cannot fathom.  Trusting God means giving Him the right to do as He deems necessary, even if that means I might suffer in the process.  As a child of His, I know it is all for my good and a part of the refining process.

May I learn to recognize the sovereignty of God and His right to extend mercy upon whoever He decides, just as the rain can come as a sweet shower, or a torrential downpour.

Love

David was described by God as a man after His own heart.  Even though at times he failed to do what is right, grieving the Lord greatly in his sin, he intimately knew of God's love.  His words recorded in Psalm 86:15 illustrate this well. "But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness."

I have a low view of love as a human.  I think of an emotion of affection, fondess or even passion.  But this is not God's love.  A description of His love is found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.

Love is patient,

love is kind.

 It does not envy,

it does not boast,

it is not proud. 

It does not dishonor others,

it is not self-seeking,

it is not easily angered,

it keeps no record of wrongs. 

Love does not delight in evil

but

rejoices with the truth. 

It always protects,

always trusts,

always hopes,

always perseveres.

  Love

  never

   fails.

May I learn to recognize the abundance of God's love all around me in the midst of suffering, just as the clouds block out the glory of the sun while they bring life-giving rain.



There are no greater blessings in my life than that of God's grace, mercy and love.  Like the sound of the rain I enjoy so much, I will seek to delight in His greatness, relishing the good things He overwhelmingly provides, even if the beneficial is disguised as trouble.

As I begin this day, it is my prayer that I will focus on the goodness of God, and trust in His plan for my life.

Where do I expect good things from God to be pleasant and comfortable for me, thus denying His sovereign plan?

How do I fail to recognize the overflowing grace, mercy and love of God in my life?