Let the insolent be put to shame, because they have wronged me with falsehood; as for me, I will meditate on your precepts. Psalm 119:78
There are those who have it in for one of God’s servants. They will misconstrue what he says, find ways to make him look bad to others and envy his joy. When he enters a season of God-appointed suffering, there will be private rejoicing in the house of his adversary.
He sent from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters. He brought me forth also into a broad place; He rescued me, because He delighted in me. Psalm 18:16,19
Lord, I am confined. I’m in the company of those with whom I cannot talk freely. I’m weighing my words. When I speak, I am not known nor understood. I have little influence. The wisdom that comes from You is not wanted and without it, there will be calamity. I see it coming. The consequences of unbelief and rebellion will fall upon those who despise Your ways. I am so frustrated. I have attempted, over and over again, to speak for You. They have rejected You and me. I feel like a modern day O.T. prophet.
I am struggling with rejection, Jesus. I know it is You they hate but they do not know that. I am the one they contend with. I am the one they ridicule. You have prompted me to speak, to sow seeds of righteousness, but this sprinkling of Your Word has fallen upon spiritually deaf ears. You said, “Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.” John 3:19
My frustration is robbing my joy. My lips are shut. Anger is simmering. Where can I go with my complaint? King David knew and assured me that You would come to me from on high. You would draw me out of this place for spiritual rest. You would, and are, providing emotional and spiritual safety from this dangerous situation. You are opening the prison doors of limited language and inviting me into a broad and spacious place where my words are welcome. I hear Your voice, “What’s wrong, child?” Oh, not to weigh my words. With You, I can be myself without a second thought of rejection. You are my refuge. I can speak freely, cast words to the wind, and You are not shaken. You hold my life, and the ones who have driven me to You, in the palm of Your hand.
Grow me to see this situation as You see it. “Your Word is perfect and restores my soul.” Psalm 19:7 So, speak Lord, into my tears. Mend the ragged edges of my soul. It feels battered and weak. Restore me so that I may live. Renew me so that I can speak for You again and not grow weary of spreading Your fame to a wicked and perverse generation.
“You have answered me in the day of trouble! You have set me securely on high. You have sent me help from your sanctuary and supported me from Zion!” Psalm 20:1-2 Since You, my God, are for me, whom shall I fear! Amen
Do not let the oppressed retreat in disgrace; may the poor and needy praise your name. Psalm 74:21
Why do seasons of disgrace often span a decade or two? Shame doesn’t usually last a month or two and God can appear to be out of the picture completely; ignoring me when I’m oppressed. When a wilderness marks a large portion of my life, can I know that God is in the process of bringing about redemption? Yes, if I am God’s child. Captivity is never His intended outcome. No daughter of promise is to suffer crippling shame. God said, “Instead of your shame you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace you will rejoice in your inheritance.” Isaiah 61:7 Shame is to be replaced with double favor. Disgrace is to move out of the way for joy.
I have known seasons of affliction. None of them were short. All taught me perseverance, the power of prayer, and the nature of the wilderness. While great spiritual things prevailed at the end, the beginnings and middle of these seasons were pretty ugly. I had no clue how to navigate the years. Now I do know and that feeds my passion for ministry. Continue reading “An Atmosphere of Disgrace”
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. Psalm 56:3
We can watch our children suffer from many causes. They may get sick just because we live in a fallen world. They may groan under the consequences of their own choices. If they have followed the call of God on their lives, we will see their faith tested. Perhaps we’ve walked a similar road and we know how crushing testing can be. There will be moments when we cry out, “Lord, it’s hard to trust You with my child. Please strengthen my faith!”
As I watch my child come to the end of their resources as Jesus did in the desert of His testing, I will do about anything to end their torment. But the worst part of divine shaping is not the physical pain but spiritual anguish. To see childlike faith crack into pieces rocks a parent’s heart. I stay on my knees and ask God to preserve my child’s confidence in His love and promises.
Wait for the Lord and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off. Psalm 37:34
In the midst of desert experiences, the call to wait on the Lord can sound hollow. I want to know how long suffering is going to last? King David doesn’t throw out this challenge without personal experience. He had to wait over a decade to inherit his kingdom and had to also wait to see God’s purposes come to pass against his enemies.
James calls me to remember the prophets. As an example of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. James 5:10 Abraham received a promise but he never saw it fulfilled in his lifetime. Knowing that, would I ever say, “What a fool!” Instead, his faith inspires me. He believed that endurance would yield a nation, even if on the other side of his own death.
What about a parent who prays for a lifetime for the spiritual return of a child? Fifty years of praying amidst little encouragement can appear to be futile. Yet, when that child returns to God, yet when that child comes to Christ, would they say that their patience in prayer was wasted? Continue reading “Patience. The Virtue of a Fool?”
The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1
Many have prayed for the will of God, followed His voice, and experienced complete disillusionment when they found themselves in hostile surroundings. They blame God for being unloving or they blame themselves for being poor listeners. Hostility within the will of God is common and should not surprise God’s children.
Some years back, our family lived in a hostile environment. We begged, daily, for release. We were willing to move anywhere and do anything to escape our surroundings. Surely, we reasoned, God wouldn’t want for us to endure such a place. Yet, every request for a move away was met by the silence of God. Continue reading “Living Amidst Hostility”
I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue. Psalm 66:17
There are many times I don’t know how to pray because I don’t know what God’s purposes are for a certain situation. If I know I’m going to lose my job, do I bear down in prayer to keep it, or do I just assume God is using that loss to lead me somewhere else? If I’m experiencing a tragedy, do I ask God to take it away or do I assume that, like Job, God has ordained this chain of events to further His glory in some way?
This is where a prayer life gets stuck. I don’t know what to pray for because I don’t know the will of God. Because I don’t know, I can abandon prayer altogether. That would be, and has been for me, a mistake. Continue reading “Crying Out Is a Holy Expression of Faith”
WHAT WILL COME OUT OF YOUR MOUTH?
My soul magnifies the Lord. Luke 1:46
Words of faith do not originate from a vacuum. What spills out during the times when I am stretched to my limit reflects the kind of faith I have cultivated previously. A well known bible teacher said, “Who I am when hard times hit is really who I am.” True! The words I speak during my most painful moments are mirrors that reflect the foundation of my life.
Hannah endured the scourge of barrenness. When she was finally touched by the divine hand of God, she delivered a famous discourse that spanned a dozen verses. It is one of the most prophetic passages in all of scripture.
Elizabeth also suffered the heartache of being childless yet through it, she also cultivated her faith. She learned the Word of God, built the precepts of it into the fabric of her life, and when God visited her with a child in her old age, she also rose to prophesy.
Eloquence is not just confined to adults either. Mary was merely a teenager when she was visited by an angel. Given a task that would have crushed most grownups, she rose up to deliver the famous Magnificat. The fact that such words could flow from a twelve year old is astounding. She didn’t speak shallow words of praise. She reviewed God’s history, the ‘ways of God’ that could only be known by one who immersed herself in the stories of her ancestors.
Human nature wants to coast during the good times, only drawing close to God when the fires of adversity get hot. God is gracious and will certainly answer us whenever we cry out for help but there is a better way. I can fortify my heart today. If feeding my spirit is a priority, I create a storehouse of spiritual food that will serve me well when there’s a famine. When everything appears to have fallen apart, I will not hear patterns of hopeless and fearful words come out of my mouth. Ultimately, I’ll hear the language of faith.
Have I painted a picture that fails to embrace my own humanity? No. I’m not naive enough to believe that each of our spiritual heroes failed to have low moments. Hannah wailed in the temple and was so distraught that the priest accused her of being drunk. I’m also confident that Elizabeth wept her way through the scourge of barrenness. A lifetime of longing unearths pretty strong emotions. And Mary? We’re not given a lot of details but I can’t believe that she didn’t worry about abandonment, and about being hauled before the elders to face harsh punishment. I need to remember that there is no judgement against, what Job calls, ‘words for the wind.’ Each of us utter feeling statements when the fires are hot. “This will never work out!” “I’m headed for ruin.” “I’m so angry, I could kill him.” “I can never forgive this.” What proves or disproves our faith is what happens after the initial crisis. Will we embark on a lifestyle characterized by fear and unbelief or will we engage in some rugged introspection to place our feet, once again, on the Rock of Ages.
Lord, I walk in the shoes of Hannah, of Elizabeth, and of Mary. I may have my low moments but You raise me up to do what I was created to do ~ love You, worship You, and praise You. Bless every righteous seed planted in my spirit. Amen
Journal Question: Write a short script for yourself for your next crisis. What would you like to hear yourself say when trouble comes? Craft a short paragraph that contains the language of faith. Keep it close and begin to re-shape your defaults.
I SHOULD SECOND-GUESS MYSELF
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Proverbs 14:12
A twenty-four hour day is filled with dozens of decisions; some minor, some major. Most decisions won’t appear to present a challenge. I will think I know the right thing to do. I will argue that it’s pretty obvious.
But, what if my own common sense is leading me astray? Scripture says it will and I might take the wrong course of action completely unaware. My ‘take’ on things, though it seems so right, can be flawed and lead me to unpleasant outcomes.
I face ministry decisions daily that could be made by the laws of marketing. I tried that on and off for twenty-two years and the success left me void of spiritual confidence and void of a God-connection. In 1997, I made a vow unto God to never do ministry like that again. The difference has been huge.
Jesus, who was perfect, didn’t move without praying to discern the will of His Father. If He didn’t do it, how can I pretend to think I can! He didn’t heal everyone who needed it. He didn’t go everywhere He was invited. He didn’t spontaneously announce, “I think I’ll go to Capernaum today.” Everything was guided by a Father’s agenda who saw how all things fit together.
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