STOP WAIT GO

"Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have

this attitude; and if in anything you have a different 

attitude, God will reveal that also to you:"

Philippians 3:15

     I wrote the other day about having the endurance to run the race.  I have the endurance to run the race for eternal life but I am struggling with the race of this life.  We live in this life.  We have all those day to day things we have to do.  Laundry, cleaning the house, running errands, paying bills and on and on it goes.  But when our life abruptly changes, shifting gears can be hard.  In our early married life, I was a stay at home wife and then mom.  I loved those days although I was bored sometimes especially once the kids were in school all day.  So in that time, I decided to finish the degree I had started before marriage and I bravely set out to do that.  When I finished, I got a job teaching.  That life consumed my time for the next 21 years.  My husband said to me the other night, "I'm glad I have you back after sharing you with 24 kids every year.".  

     I retired from the public school merry go round and then ventured into the Christian school realm.  What a difference that was from the public school experience.  I loved every minute of it, all year, until that last day when I was called in and told I was no longer wanted.  Ouch!  I had never heard those words before.  I was shocked and hurt beyond words.  I walked from the office stunned and in shock.  I managed to get myself home despite the tears flowing down my face.  That abrupt change I mentioned, here it was, ugly and unanticipated.  I knew when I left public school education I was doing what God had asked me to do.  I knew without a doubt He led me to the Christian school.  Then it was over.   I am unemployed, fired for the lack of a kinder word. What do I do now?

     Then it occurred to me that it isn't what am I going to do now.  It is what is God going to do now?  As I work through the hurt and pain of being rejected, I know that God has this in His hand.  I know that like Philippians 2:13 says, "It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.".  As I have been rereading Priscilla Shirer's book Discerning the Voice of God,  she says that "Desiring and doing His will is not your responsibility to discover; it is His responsibility to reveal.".  So it is up to God to show me my next steps, if any, right now.  In her book, she talks about the stoplight and how those red, yellow, green colors are a way to remember what God is doing in our life.  "The red light of conviction is a His way of saying STOP!  The yellow light of dis-ease means WAIT! and the green light of ease and peace is His way of saying GO!".  I am in at the yellow going to red light.  I do not have the ease and peace of the green light but the dis-ease of yellow and the conviction to just stop and listen.  Matthew 17:5 says, "this is my beloved son...LISTEN to Him!", it doesn't say serve him or talk to him it says LISTEN!  So as I am in this forced abrupt state of uncertainty.  I am certain that God is in control. I am certain He has me where he wants me.  He wants me to rest.  He wants me to wait. He wants me to listen.   If I were merrily going along content and happy with the state of things, I would not be reliant upon God as I should be. I think that is one reason why I am here, to stop, wait and then go when He says to do it.

"Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift

is from above, coming down from the Father of lights,

with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow."

James 1:17

   

Running the Race

"... and let us run with endurance the race

that is set before us,"

Hebrews 12:1

    

     As I read this verse this morning,  it occurred to me that we are running a race.  Just to think of the word race brings the feeling of being rushed.   Rushing to get to work, rushing to get to school, rushing to get this or that finished, hurry, hurry, hurry, all the while we are in that race.  Are we racing to get to God?  Are we racing to get to eternity?  What are we racing to or for?  Is our race for more success or money?  Is our race to be better at something than our coworker or neighbor?  Is our race against time?  What are you running the race to do or see or be?   

      There is more to this verse but this part of the verse is the most important to me.  I am in the race set before me...

   Looking to Jesus for guidance-

   Looking to Jesus for security-

   Looking to Jesus for peace-

   Looking to Jesus for grace-

   Looking to Jesus for help-

   Looking to Jesus for promise-

   Looking to Jesus for direction-

Things in the world have changed mightily in my lifetime.  The world is seeing the beginnings of those labor pains that are ushering in the coming of our King, Jesus.  The things that are happening are swiftly calling to our Lord to come to this earth.  Looking to Jesus to return should also be on my list.  Looking for Him to come and fix this messed up world. He is calling to the people.  He is showing signs of His return.  The earthquakes, the crazy weather, wars, and rumors of wars are telling the people to run the race.  But many of the people wander aimlessly looking for the things that will satisfy the running of their race. Their races of success or of something else.  They are not looking to Jesus.  Let us run the race with endurance, not out of breath and rushed.  Let our race be steady and sure.  Let our race be away from sin and into the mighty arms of our Lord.  He sets the race before us.  Let us make sure that we run the race as He would want us too.   "Do you know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it." (1 Corinthians 9:24)  Run the race to obtain the prize of salvation and eternal life.  Run like your life depends on it.   He is all we need.

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race,

I have kept the faith."

2 Timothy 4:7

Love

"So now faith, hope, and love abide,

these three; but the greatest of these is love."

1 Corinthians 13:13

     This week we celebrated 39 years of marriage. Wow!  Some days it seems that long, but other days it seems only yesterday we were that young, excited couple starting our life together. As a young couple, and by today's standards 20 and 24 is young, we were excited to be moving to another state 500 miles from our hometown to begin a new job and our new life.  It never occurred to us that we should be scared.  We had each other and we had God to lead the way.  It was an adventure.  We didn't have a lot of money but we didn't care.  We put away what we needed to pay the bills and the rest was for groceries and gas.  There wasn't any extra.  So for us to have recreational entertainment, it was long walks, drives in the country, visiting historical sights around the area, and board games.  There was no internet or smartphones to distract us.  There wasn't much on TV even with a limited cable.  Looking back, I wish it was still that way.  The distractions of life that get in the way of living.

     Those distractions take us from the loving God that is there for us.  I John 4 tells us that God is love. The word love is mentioned in the Bible many times and depending on the version which you are reading.  The Kings James Bible mentions love 310 times, in the New American Standard Bible, it's mentioned 348 times. In the New International Version, love is mentioned 551 times.  We use the word love a lot too.  We love this pizza, we love that TV show, we love our families and friends.  

      The word love is tossed around and used flippantly without people realizing the depths of the word.  "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast, it is not arrogant or rude.  It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful, it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends...". (I Corthinians 13: 4-8)  Love is the greatest of all things.  

       The love of God is so great that it is unfathomable to us mere humans. I John 4:10 states, "in this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.".  He gave us His only Son to die for us.  To take the sins of every man and woman and crush them forever.  We owe God everything but we give Him very little.  We give him Sunday mornings and some don't even give Him that day.   We don't spend the time with Him that He deserves for what He has done for us.  We spend our days looking at our smartphones and cruising the internet mindlessly even though we know there is nothing new or different there than the five minutes before when we looked.  We should be spending that time in prayer and reading of the Word so that we know the love of God.  So we know that God is there for us when things get tough.  So we know that when we do not have much we still have everything we need.  God is love and all we need to do is reach out to Him and give Him the time He deserves.   Will you do that?  

"We love because He first loved us."

I John 4:19

Be Still

"Be still and know that I am God,

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!"

Psalm 46:10

    These weeks I have not been at rest.  I have been restless. I have been distracted.  Striving to do things on my own when I should just rest.  Rest in the Lord.  It has occurred to me this week that perhaps this season is for resting.  It is for restoring my relationship with the Lord.  It isn't about thinking about the next job, or where the money is going to come from to pay the bills this month. It isn't about lingering my thoughts on the hurt I incurred.  It isn't about the anger of the rejection.  It is summer, normally as a teacher, a time to regroup.  A time to rest.  Instead, I've spent the last several weeks in turmoil.  My thoughts tumbling around the whys and why nots which I can not answer.  The Lord knows the answers.  He knows the whys and I do not need to know.  He is working it out for good (Romans 8:28).  

     Matthew 11:28 tells us "come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.". Jesus came down to restore us to the One who made us.  He came offering us rest for the soul.  All we need to do is accept it.  Am I accepting it now?   We haven't been to church in a while. No real reason just haven't gone. But this week we decided to go and we are so glad we did.  The pastor was talking about this, the need to rest, to pause in our daily craziness and seek the Lord.  His illustration was a yoke, a 150-year-old wooden yoke.  It was pretty cool looking, but when he held it up I noticed something I'd never noticed on a yoke before.  One side was larger than the other.  The pastor proceeded to tell how an older more experienced ox would occupy the larger side, while a smaller, less experienced ox would be on the smaller side.  In Matthew 11: 29-30,  Jesus tells us to "take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.". Next to this verse in my Bible, I drew a yoke to remind me that I am the smaller, less experienced one.  Jesus is the stronger one and He leads me.  His leadership is gentle.  He knows my story. He knows yours. He will press us but He will not crush us.  He will ask us to trust Him.   Let Him take the burden.  He tells us to "be still" (Ps. 46:10).  Stop striving to be and know that He is God.  Let Him give us rest for our weary souls.  Let Him give us rest for the frenzy of our lives.  Pause.  Rest.  Bask in His peace.  Know that He is God.

"For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Matthew 11:30

Change

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, 

coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is 

no variation or shadow due to change."

James 1:17

     Change, I hate it.  Never been a fan. Never want it to happen.  Change happens whether we like it or not. There have been so many changes over my lifetime starting at age 20.  Prior to that, things didn't change.  We lived in the same house, went to the same school, saw the same people.  But at age 20 things changed.  I got married.  I moved to another state 500 miles away.  I wasn't taking college classes anymore.  I was in a strange place where I knew no one. Eight moves in twelve years, 2 kids, taking classes again, getting a full-time job, things changing constantly and quickly.  Now, 39 years later, things are still changing.  The kids are grown, there are three grandchildren, husband's semi-retired, I am retired, between jobs maybe, and struggling with the change.  But through it all, one thing has never changed.  Jesus has been there.

      Jesus never changes.  Malachi 3:6 states that succinctly,  "For I the Lord do not change.".  There is nothing wishy-washy in that statement.   Plain and simply put, the Lord doesn't change.  We change all the time.  We change our clothes, our hairstyles, our homes, our furniture, our jobs, something is always changing with us.  But we can count on the Lord to never change.  He is still all knowing, all powerful, loving, compassionate, and merciful.  No matter our circumstances or our sin, He is still there and is still God.  He is still watching over us as He always has.  

      What has changed?  I have.  My heart has changed over the years to desire to be closer to the will of God.  I want to walk where He leads.  I want to see what He wants me to see.  As the changes of the seasons, so am I in change.  I am going from a job I loved to an unknown course.  I am trusting in the Lord to guide me through this change.  Although I hate change, I am trusting the One who knows the way through the brambles of this path.  I can't see the way.  I can't get past today. My eyes are clouded by the tears of uncertainty and sorrow. But, I am thankful that God is leading and paving the way through this change.  He knows my heart.  He knows my desire even when I am no longer sure.  Change is good.  Change helps us to grow. Change leads us into the arms of Jesus.  As we go through this life of change, we can rest assured that God is in control of it all.  His ultimate outcome is for all to know Him.  Keep praying through the change.  Keep firm in knowing that God has it all in His hands.

 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today and forever."

Hebrews 13:8

The Lord is my Shepherd

"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want,

He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me 

beside still waters, He restores my soul."

Psalm 23: 1-2

     The 23rd Psalm has been in my heart since I was 9 years old.  It was September of my third-grade year.  I had to memorize Psalm 23 to get my RSV Bible in Sunday school.  My first Bible, though not my last, is still going strong.  Although I use a different one these days, that little Bible still represents a time of my first faith lessons.   I carried that little Bible obediently to every Sunday school class.  Its pages are wrinkled and tattered.  The binding is cracked.  As I picked it up to write this devotion, the silk ribbon bookmark was in place, Psalm 23.   In my 9-year-old handwriting, the words are carefully underlined, no highlighters back then.  As I read the words, peace flows over me.

    The Lord is my shepherd.  In my recent study of Ezekiel, chapter 34 talks about the shepherds of Israel not watching over the flock.  God is telling Ezekiel to prophesy against the shepherds because they had not taken care of the flock.  They had not fed them, or taken care of the weak and sick ones. They had let the lost wander with no effort to retrieve them back to the flock.  The sheep were scattered over the face of the earth.  The shepherds allowed the sheep to become prey and food for all the wild beasts.  But God says He, Himself, will search for His sheep and rescue them and return them to the fold from the scattered places.  

     We are the sheep.  The shepherds are the leaders of the church or in Ezekiel's time of Israel.  Some of these leaders have let us down.  They have shown they are human.  They have been placed on too high of a pedestal when they shouldn't be on one anyway.  They've ignored the lost, the weak, and the sick.  They have left the sheep to wander among the wolves and other beasts that seek to devour.  BUT God is there calling His sheep to Himself.  He is bringing the sheep to Him.  

      The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.  I will be content.  I will not lack.   He makes me lie down in green pastures, safely guarded against the enemy. There is no reason to worry.  He is there keeping watch.   He leads me beside still waters.  Water that will refresh my weary self.  He restores my soul, my aching dry soul.  He fills it with the living water and brings healing and renewal.  The Lord is my Shepherd.   I need nothing or no one else.  He is the Good Shepherd.  I will dwell in His house forever.

"I am the Good Shepherd..."

John 10:11

Free!

"and you will know the truth, 

and the truth will set you free."

John 8:32

       As parents, we admonish our children to "tell the truth".  In a court of law,  people are sworn in to "tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth".  In the Bible, John relays Jesus's message of "if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free."   What is truth?  How is truth defined?  The world says that truth is whatever you want to believe.  Webster's dictionary says it is the body of real things, events, and facts.  

       Jesus, as he stood in front of Pilate being questioned, was asked: "so you are a king?".  To which Jesus answered Pilate, "you say that I am a king.  For this purpose, I was born and for this purpose, I have come into the world--to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice."  Pilate then asks Jesus, "what is truth?".  Jesus does not respond. Pilate found no guilt in Jesus.  (John 18: 37-38)   But yet Jesus was crucified anyway.  

       When we tell the truth about something we did which was wrong, we feel a freedom in our spirit.   If we tell a lie and think we have gotten away with it our spirit is heavy and weighed down with guilt.  When we tell the truth we know that we are set free.  When we lie then we are of the character of the enemy who is a liar and the father of lies.  The enemy does not stand in truth, but Jesus does and is the truth.  Lying is a sin and we are slaves to sin.   The only way out of that life of lies is to stand in the truth. Stand in the Word of God which is the truth.  Everything in the Bible is true.  The promises are true, the historical references are true, and the prophecies which have been fulfilled are also true.  We can stand firm knowing that God is true.  There are no "ifs or buts", there is only truth. 

In truth lies our freedom.  We are free from sin if we have the truth, ie, Jesus living in us.  Truth guides our way, truth illuminates the darkness, and truth is a pillar and fortress.  Our founders stood in this truth.  They knew the way to freedom was by declaring that which is true.   We need to stand for truth.  Some may not like the truth,  some may not believe the truth and others may not want the truth but the truth will always come out and the truth will always stand above all else.  We can have that freedom in our lives by declaring that the Word is truth and that the Word abides in us.  Because "... if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." (John 8:36)

"But now that you have been set free from sin..."

Romans 6:22

Praise the Lord!

"Praise the LORD!

For it is good to sing praises to our God;

for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting...

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."

Psalm 147: 1, 3

       When I was just out of high school, my friends and I started a worship band at church.  Now, this was over forty years ago.  Worship bands were not known especially in a Presbyterian church.  We played and sang songs from artists like The Imperials,  Andrus Blackwood and Company,  and Dallas Holm.  We were just some teenagers and early twenty-somethings singing for the Lord.  Many times we surprised the congregation we sang for on those Sundays.  We were sure they thought we were daft when we sang Oh Buddha.   But our hearts were pure and we sang from them.

        One song to this day touches my heart.  It is the song Praise the Lord by Ruff Taff.  This song touches my heart for many reasons.  First, because the dear friend who sang it had cystic fibrosis. One would think he couldn't sing but boy, he could.  He became the best man at our wedding a few years later.  He died a few years after that.   When I hear that song today, it reminds me of him singing.  Another reason is the lyrics remind us to praise the Lord no matter the circumstances.  When we are up against struggles and difficulties that shatter our dreams we are to praise to the Lord.  When our faith is feeling small we are to praise the Lord.  When we know Satan is wreaking havoc in our lives we are to praise the Lord.  Because when we sing out praises to our King, those chains that bind us fall from our wrists.  Those chains are powerless and fall useless to our feet when our praises reach the ears of the Lord.  

         King David had many reasons to praise the Lord.  His Psalms resonate with them. "Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise in the heights!  Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts! Praise him sun and moon",  and the praise goes on in all creation (Ps.148).   We should want nothing else but Jesus and to spend our days worshipping and praising Him.  We should give him our hearts and everything else will be provided to us.   

           When we praise God, we are listing his attributes.  He is gracious, kind, wise, powerful, merciful and faithful.  All of these help to remind us who He has been and will continue to be.  He is near to all of us if we just call on Him.  We can praise Him in all things with thanksgiving.  When we praise God we are giving credit where the credit is due.  He is our Lord and we should praise Him forever and ever. Praise the Lord!

"Praise the Lord!  Praise the Lord, oh my soul!

I will praise the Lord as long as I live:

I will sing praises to my God while I have my being."

Psalm 146: 1-2