Author: Christine Wyrtzen

“He’ll Love Me This Time!”

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And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben, for she said, “Because the Lord has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me.” She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also.” And she called his name Simeon. Again she conceived and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Genesis 29:32-34

Leah is in an arranged marriage and is desperate for love. She believes that if she does just the right thing, her husband will love her. Every son that she bears him, she believes, will earn her the affection she craves.

In this case, Jacob never dangled the carrot of approval. He never said to her, “If you give me three sons, my heart is yours.” But many do make false promises and have no intention of keeping them. There is no hurt like the hurt that comes after broken promises. Yet, in spite of that, there’s something in me that keeps trying – even in disillusionment.

I want unconditional love. I’m born that way. The only person who offers it, without me having to do anything to earn it, is God. But because I can’t see Him and feel the divine hugs He offers, I’ll trade Him in for the counterfeits. I’ll transfer all my needs to a human being, and some of the time, to a deeply fallen one who has a history of promising love that never materializes.  At least with me, it doesn’t. The illusion is born when I see this person loving someone else quite well. I then believe that this love can also be mine.

Leah saw the light in Jacob’s eyes for Rachel. She saw the joy with which he labored for seven years without a thought for the sacrifice. She saw that he was a good man, an unselfish man, with a huge heart. It would be natural for her to believe that she could earn the favor of a man like this.

Whose love are you trying to win today? How many years have you tirelessly performed, believing that there will be payoff? Whether the love you seek comes from a pretty good man like Jacob or a godless trickster the likes of whom will break someone’s heart easily, the lesson is the same. Turning inside to earn another’s unconditional love is an empty pursuit. The only one who can affect the deep hole in your soul is God. That won’t mean that you’ll cease to love the one you’ve been enslaved to.  It will mean that your love will be expressed as an outpouring of the love you enjoy in God. The payoffs are these: 1.) You will know unconditional love and be at peace because of what God offers. And, 2.) You will no longer live handicapped because someone withholds what you believe you need to survive.

Wean me off any idolatrous relationship. Amen

When God Makes Our Enemies Fear Us

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For by You I can run upon a troop; And by my God I can leap over a wall.  Psalm 18:29

How does God protect us if we are His child? He nudges us to take a different route, buy a different house, even make a different friend. He’ll send angels to stand guard to keep us from harm. What’s little known is how God directly warns our enemies to stay away from us. He shuts the ‘mouth of the lions’ and puts a watch on their tongue. Certainly not all the time though. He didn’t even do this every single time for Jesus. Like Him, we will be hated and are called to carry a cross. But God has a destiny for each of us, a purpose for which we were born. He will take us safely through all He has ordained for us to do and protect us when His purposes are threatened.

Some examples ~ God came to Laban in his own Aramean tongue and told him what to say to Jacob. He came to the heathen King Abimelech to keep him from touching Sarah, Abraham’s wife. He also spoke to Balaam to prevent him from cursing the children of Israel.  God shut the mouths of Jesus enemies after one of his public sermons. Though they wanted to kill him, he walked right through the group and disappeared.

I can know that spiritual enemies are on God’s leash. No one will prevail over God’s child if it is outside of His will. He will intervene somehow even if it means speaking directly to our enemy. Have you ever encountered a dark person who seemed afraid of you? Perhaps you were confused about it. In these post-Christian days where society is rapidly deteriorating, we should be savvy enough to realize that this will become commonplace. The more oppressed the person, the more sparks will be generated when a child of God is in the same room.

A closing thought however. The safest child of God is an obedient one. I shouldn’t expect God’s protection if I’ve taken a self-willed detour. God made it clear from the beginning. ‘Obey me and you’ll be blessed. Disobey me and you’ll be led into captivity.’ God does protect but I can only count on God having my back if I am walking in Jesus’ footsteps.

It’s humbling to think about all the times you restrained my enemies yet I accused you of being absent from my life. Again, I’m sorry. How I praise You for being a present and active Father. Amen

The Tip Of The Sword

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For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

The point of a sword is sharp and it’s meant to penetrate a target.  It is not a club.  It is not a gun you fire from a distance.  It’s a weapon meant to get up close and strike a blow with precision.

This fine instrument, the sword of the Word of God, has limitless power.  It is something that can both build and tear down, heal and wound, create and destroy.  When I use it correctly under the direction of God’s Spirit, I will see all of the above and more.  It also is precise as it penetrates the heart of my sin, or my unbelief, or my challenge for which I have no direction.  Wherever it’s applied, the results of kingdom-sized.

It’s not that words are powerful in and of themselves.  The WORD has power because the Word is a person.  When I speak the Words of God, He is using my mouth to declare what He wants to speak into my world.  For every problem, there is a kingdom narrative to counteract it.  For every pain, there is a word to comfort.  For every temptation, there is an encouragement to overcome.  How will I know the right scripture to speak?  In some instances, it may be pretty obvious. But in others, where situations are complicated, problem solving and strategizing that is led by the Spirit of God is required.   Most of life is messy and I can’t possibly diagnose what’s wrong without the wisdom of the Spirit.  I also can’t put my finger on the scriptures I need to speak out loud, and in prayer, without His leading.

Some years back while teaching, a woman came up to me afterward to thank me for encouraging our group to pray with more precision and strategy.  She said that she was going to assemble some scriptures to pray about her marriage.  This sounded noble enough but when I asked her to tell me more, she explained that her husband had left her for a much younger woman but that God had promised her she’d get her husband back.  She was going to try to find scriptures that would support what she wanted – the breakup of her husband’s second marriage.  We had a long talk after that and I explained that scripture was not meant to be self-serving.  The Word is to be used to accomplish God’s will in this world.  God’s will and her heart’s desires were not aligned. I encouraged her to pray that her husband would surrender to Christ and be a godly husband in his new marriage.

 God said, My word that goes out from my mouth will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.  Isaiah 55:11   The exciting thing is that God desires to use me to bring His kingdom to earth.  “Thy kingdom come,” Jesus taught me to pray. But this privilege is conferred, and I become aware that I am commissioned to do God’s work ~ His way ~ with humble submission to His authority.  I am not Barney Fife with a weapon in my hands.

You spent your earthly ministry quoting the Old Testament.  You knew what to recall and how to apply it.  I need Your Spirit to guide me in all things.  Amen

I’m Never Sorry I Trusted Him

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When I think of your rules from of old, I take comfort, O Lord.  Psalm 119:52

On a bad day, it’s hard to believe that God is working behind the scenes and is as faithful as He promised.  I must take my narrow lens that focuses on this moment and widen it to include the testimonies of the saints from across the ages.  Would any say, at the end of their lives, that God had failed them?  Would any say that their trust in Yahweh was foolish?  Would any say that God hadn’t been faithful to all of His promises?

When any of us looks behind us, we have the beauty of hindsight.  We recognize God’s fingerprints even though, at an earlier time, they were indiscernible.  Our circumstances invited us to indict God and give him a guilty verdict but time corrected our perspective.

The longer I walk with Jesus, the more stories I accumulate of His faithfulness.  My life’s story reads like a long love saga.  As I review the crises, the disappointments, the desperate moments, I can see that God’s love was manifested in so many ways.  His care for me was tender.  His sovereignty had no fractures. His strength bore my many questions.  His understanding trumped my painful accusations.  His plan prevailed inspire of my detours.  This kind of review builds my confidence for today’s challenges.

If there was never a saint who trusted God and was sorry, then why should I think I’d be the first?  For all time, He has been faithful.  In every place my heart currently faints, I dig my heels in kingdom soil.  I remain resolute in the goodness of my Father.

I love our history, the story of You hovering over me.  I live in the truth of our memories.  Amen

Thorns of Worry

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Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. Matthew 13:7, 22

 Georgia is my home and though I’m a New England girl, I’ve been struck by how fast things grow here. That includes weeds. Leave some weeds long enough and they can become quite pretty, confusing the novice gardener. Weeds blend in and will take over the landscape. So it is with spiritual weeds.  Grown and tolerated over time, they choke out the possibility of good growth. The Word comes in strength and beauty but, almost instantly, its effectiveness is rendered powerless because of weeds. One kind Jesus identifies is the cares of this world.

Worries crowd out my ability to hear the Word of God. Historically, I come from a line of worriers. My grandmother lived wringing her hands, literally, in her favorite chair. I’ve been taught, by example, to obsess over fears, to turn them around in my hands in every possible configuration until I find a solution. Weighed down by the impossibilities, I work myself up into a panic. How can I be still to hear God’s voice? I have too many cares and I lack the ability to concentrate.

As someone who used to live with panic attacks, I can give this advice. Weed when weeds are small! When anxious thoughts occur, grab them and kill them with the promises of God. The apostle Paul called it ‘taking every thought captive.’ I remember that fear is Satan’s biggest tactic.

Weeds of anxiety, fed over time, become strongholds. I develop a mindset of anxiety where, by default, my first response to any bad news is fear. I feed the beast without even making a conscious choice. Is the Word powerful enough to re-wire the way my brain works? Oh, yes. Can it demolish a toxic mindset and build a new one? Absolutely. “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”  2 Cor. 10:5 The word for arguments is ‘logismos’ or logic. It’s the way I’ve learned to think and process. Paul wanted believers to be assured that the Word of God is a weapon that demolishes hopeless mindsets, fearful mindsets, and even cynical mindsets.

As any of us look back at who we were twenty years ago, may we be able to say of ourselves “To the glory of God, I no longer think the way I used to think. In fact, I can’t even get in my own skin anymore. My thoughts can’t travel those old paths.” Whether pleasures or cares, may neither be the culprit that smothers the stunning landscape of spiritual gardening.

I don’t think I still fully grasp the power of Your seeds. Enlarge my view of spiritual transformation starting now. In Jesus’ name, Amen

Can God Be Ashamed Of Me?

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They [strangers and aliens] desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.  Hebrews 11:16

Shame is a powerful catalyst.  Volumes of books have been written about it.  Countless hours of counseling have been dedicated to those who live under the curse of it.  I’ve had a decade or two when it plagued me badly.  Shame tempts us to hide our true selves from others and from God. While the thought of this is tragic, there’s an even more disturbing thing to consider. Can God be ashamed of me?

I won’t wait any further to answer it.  He is not ashamed.  Let that sink in if you’ve always feared He is embarrassed by you or something you’ve done.  On the days I sin, He does not change His mind about me. I have been declared forgiven and before Him, I am righteous.  Though I will stumble and fall, though I will grieve His heart many times before I die, I still walk in the perfection imputed to me after the death of Jesus.  God continues to build a city for those He has redeemed through the blood of the Lamb.  The hammer never falters when He sees me make bad choices.  The Father never winces and wonders if He should change His mind about the promises He’s made to forgive me and call me His own.  Construction continues without interruptions and without a trace of regret.  Covenant love rules the present, and the future, no matter what failures unfold.

One of my very favorite scriptures is Psalm 34:5. Those who look to Him are radiant, their faces are never covered with shame.  Not all faces without shame are radiant.  They may be stoic and just plain unreadable.  But God’s radical love gives more than enough reasons for eyes to shine and for faces to reveal the overwhelming joy of sins forgiven and the anticipation of eternity in God’s presence.

All of this makes me examine the times I was reticent to openly declare that You are my Lord and Savior.  Forgive me.  Amen

The Many Chambers of a Refuge

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Come, my people, enter your inner rooms, and lock your doors behind you.  Hide for just a brief moment until the indignation passes over.  Isaiah 26:20

When I am outside the safety of my home, there will be exposure and, oftentimes, danger.  I’ve been out walking when a thunderstorm comes out of nowhere.  There was a rush to get home.  I’ve been out in the middle of the lake when unexpected bad weather descended.  There was a rush to get to port.  I’ve been in an airport when there was a lockdown.  There was an urgency to find inconspicuous places of safety.

God tells His people that, in this world, there will be times of trouble.  There will also be times of judgement.  What should God’s children do in the middle of it?  Retreat into physical and spiritual safety until they pass.

  • The Israelites stayed inside their homes while the death angel ravaged the land of Egypt.
  • Rahab, having declared her spiritual allegiance to the God of Israel, nestled in place while Jericho was being destroyed all around her.
  • Noah took shelter in the ark when the floodwaters rose.

These safe harbors can be physical places like the security of a sanctified home but they are also spiritual places of refuge.  Throughout COVID, we are sheltering in place but God’s people are also sheltering their souls in God.  Jesus’ name is a strong tower and those who run to Him are safe.  My spirit, the place where the Spirit of God resides, has many rooms. I find that it is expansive the more time I spend there in prayer.  How could I begin to explore the depths of His dwelling place!

Every promise is a place of shelter.  Every righteous character trait of Jesus is a place to hide.  Every whispered assurance of love is a sanctuary and like the cavernous cathedrals across this world, His voice echoes through the chambers of my soul.

The stuff of this world drives me to safety and I am to live there until the trouble is over.  While there may be a respite coming from COVID, there will only be something else to take its place.  Until Jesus comes, sin will reign upon the earth and its bedfellows will besiege earth’s inhabitants.  Disease, broken promises, skewed power plays, loss, death.  As a child of God, I must learn to hide in the Rock of Ages.  “Show me your glory” must be my theme song and heart’s desire.

Seeing the glory of God in prayer puts iron in my soul.  Basking in His perfection defers my hope until a future day when God will make all things new.

Lord, until then, hide me.  My song of joy is sung to You only.  Amen

If They Could Only See Jesus In Me, Then . . .

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But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. John 12:37 

My husband, Ron, is a seasoned Bible teacher. At the conclusion of almost every lesson, he prays for everyone before they leave. “Lord, help others see Jesus in us this week.” Now, he’s praying this with his eyes wide open, knowing the possible outcomes of what happens when unbelievers encounter Jesus in a believer. They are either warmed and move closer to Jesus or they are repelled and reject Him.

I do well to remember this as I’ve often possessed magical thinking. I’ve believed that if people could just see Jesus in me, they would love Him and want Him in their lives. But when Jesus was here in the flesh, John revealed that the opposite is true. When someone comes into contact with the Light of the world, the majority is offended by holiness. They feel exposed. Unclean. And then, angry.

This is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. John 3:19-20

Should I pray for others to see Jesus in me? Yes. I’m told to be Spirit-filled and Spirit-led. My life’s purpose is to glorify my Father in heaven by the way I live. But I should also be aware that if someone sees Jesus and feels the impact, and they are an unbeliever, I shouldn’t be surprised by a combustible reaction. The very presence of Light in me will be felt by children of darkness. The more oppressed the person, the more violent will be his reaction to me. A simple business exchange at the dry cleaners, grocery store, restaurant, can become contentious because there is a ‘darkness and light’ undercurrent happening. Often, what we chalk up to a mysterious ‘rub’ is really two kingdoms colliding and giving off sparks.

The more I am Your image bearer, the more I will be despised. Just like You. Re-align my expectations. Amen

A Garment And Wings

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He asked her, “Who are you?” She answered, “I’m only Ruth, your servant. Spread the edge of your garment over your servant, because you are my related redeemer.”  Ruth 3:9

God never meant for any of us to live in the center of tragedy.  It goes against the very reason we were created; to worship God and to behold His glory.  To go down to the deep, away from the heights of God’s glory, is to subject our soul to dark plots and despair.  If our eyes focus on nothing but sad things, how can know joy in the midst of pain?

I’ve been feasting on the beautiful love story in the book of Ruth.  Her life had taken some dark turns and loss had become her companion.  With no husband, no heritage, no children, and living in a land as the most vulnerable of widows, she looked up from her circumstances long enough to to cry out to the one who could redeem her story.  She approached Boaz in an outrageous moment, as he was sleeping on the threshing floor to protect his store of grain from being robbed.  She startled him, and then proceeded to ask him to spread the edge of his garment over her.  Symbolically, it was an intimate request.  To be under His garment, his tallit, was to be united to him in covenant love.  In Hebrew, the account reads like this ~ ‘she pulled his wing over her.’ The four corners of a Jewish man’s tallit symbolizes being under God’s wings.

Jesus’ tallit, his shawl and outer garment, was touched by many who were sick and they became well.  He spread his garment over Jairus’ daughter and raised her from the dead.  The woman with the issue of blood, a woman who was ceremonially unclean, entered the crowd in an attempt to just touch the fringe of Jesus’ tallit. In doing so, Jesus felt spiritual power go out of Him and the woman was healed.

These days, it’s easy to be pulled into hopelessness.  We may grieve but we don’t  grieve without hope.  We can not rehearse the days’ events until they overwhelm us because God’s tallit beckons.  He lifts us up out of the shadows and hides us under His wings where there is protection, perspective, and healing.  Near to Glory Himself, our story is being transformed into a narrative of redemption.

David said, “When my heart is overwhelmed, I shall cry to You from the end of the earth; lead me to the cliff that is higher than I. For You have been a shelter for me, a strong tower against the enemy.  I shall stay in Your tent forever: I shall trust in the cover of Your wings.”  Psalm 61

There is an invitation to dwell in God’s tent, in the cover of His wings.  In doing so, we are lifted out of tortuous thoughts to praise our Healer and Redeemer.  He lifts us up to the cliffs, away from the carnage of the valley, where the billows of His wings descend upon the shoulders of the afflicted.  The cacophony of this world gone awry subsides. A holy calm invades to drown out the storm.

I am under Your wings, listening to the music of Your promises.  Amen

 

The Spiritual Gifting of Jesus

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Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.  Luke 4:1

And so began Jesus ministry.  After His baptism, He emerged from the water full of the Spirit and went into the wilderness for testing.  

There are things I often wonder.  Did Jesus have an edge over the rest of us as He functioned in ministry?  There are reasons I suspect this is true.  He came from the Father and perhaps had memory of their relationship and how the kingdom worked. He was perfect and, because of that, sin did not bring its bedfellow called deception. He had clarity the likes we’ve never experienced.  He could hear God perfectly and discern each situation with pinpoint accuracy. 

I consider the times He knew people’s thoughts before they spoke.  In the book of John, He said that ‘He trusted no one for He knew their hearts.’  If He was never fooled by anyone, then He must have known them through and through, unlike us.  He was the discerner of thoughts and read them like a book.  

He might also have had foreknowledge of everything that was going to happen next.  When He said that He ‘must needs’ go to Samaria, maybe He knew exactly who was coming to the well, her name, her story, and her ultimate conversion.  Perhaps there was no suspense as He sat on the side of the well and waited for her arrival.  

He did know that Peter was going to betray Him while in the upper room but perhaps He also knew that their relationship would be restored on a beach after His resurrection.  This is probable because Jesus also predicted Peter’s crucifixion.   

Yes, Jesus was God-man.  He was tempted like us.  He hurt like us.  But the spiritual gifts that defined Him were not similar to ours.  He was God – and possessed the mind of God – even though He was man and subjected to many of the physical and emotional limits of man.  

Nonetheless, powerful moments in Jesus’ life invite us to ponder them once again.  What have we missed?  And how will these new discoveries change how we see Jesus and ourselves?   

I think I know You well, Jesus.  But how could I?  You are vast beyond measure.  Surprise me and I will be humbled to worship.  Amen