WHEN GOD HONORS THE UNDERDOG

And the angel of the Lord said to her, “Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.” Genesis 16:11-12

           The power of God is on full display in the story of Hagar, just as it is in the story of Abram and Sarai.  This mother of Arab nations is often thought of as the subject of some side plot in Genesis.  Oh, but that is a mistake.  There are some astounding things to consider in God’s encounter with Hagar.

Every ancient people of Hagar’s world are no longer alive today.  They are all relegated to history books.  The only two who have survived, and who are thriving, are the descendants of Ishmael and the descendants of Isaac.  The point?  God is true to His promises.

Though God told Hagar to return to Abram and Sarai and, under difficult conditions, resume her role as their slave, her son Ishmael would grow to become independent of the clan of Abraham.  He would be the father and ruler of 12 princes, paralleling the 12 tribes who would descend from Isaac.

God had compassion on this Egyptian slave girl who had been a pawn between powerful men.  King Abimelech of Egypt had passed her off as a gift to Abram. As a slave, Sarai had passed her off to Abram to be used as a surrogate mother.  She was without power in a world where women and slaves had no rights.  When no one else had kind regard for her plight, God did.  God is a kind champion of women!

The promises of God, spoken through the Word of God, stand for all time.  There are things that He speaks today that will be true thousands of years from now.  I am learning that my heart is time bound.  I am consumed with the fulfilling of God’s promises for the immediate, not the long run.  That’s because pain is short sighted.  I want relief, resolution, and deliverance today.  What happens a thousand years from now is usually not as important to me as what will happen tomorrow.

Nevertheless, my heart takes notice that I belong to a God whose Word is powerful enough to transcend time.  There is nothing that can nullify what He has spoken.  No power will come against me to erase God’s plans.  However badly things may look for me on a given day in history, once God chooses to pour out His favor on the oppressed and forgotten, a blessed future commences and remains.  No threat, no arrow, no scheme, even perpetrated by the kings of this world, can undo what God has put in motion.

I’m living in Your timeless plot.  Though the hands of time move slowly and I don’t see the fulfillment of Your promises in these 24 hours, the future course of blessing is set on Your servant who obeys.  I will see my life through the eyes of faith today, Lord.  Amen

LOOKING FOR A WAY OUT

The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.”  Genesis 16:7-9

            There is Hagar, pregnant and alone in the middle of a wilderness. She had been mistreated by Sarai and unprotected by Abram.  In an intensely stressful situation, no one had handled it well.  Hagar reached her breaking point and decided she couldn’t take any more.  She ran away and headed toward Egypt, her home of origin.

            Now, God comes to her in her perceived isolation.  He notices her, addresses her with an audible voice, and gives her a life-defining moment.  The greatest choice lies in front of her and it’s presented when the stakes are the highest.  She can go home and ignore God’s command or she can obey Him, return to Sarai, and risk more mistreatment.

            Every one of us will experience a moment when we long to escape from somewhere.  We each have our limit.  Oppressive environments drive us to the edge of our ability to cope and we look for any way possible to flee those who mistreat us.  (And in the case of personal safety, fleeing is always the right thing to do!)  But outside of that, what if God asks us to stay?  What if bearing up well in the midst of harassment bears eternal rewards?  It’s possible.  God promises treasures in the darkness and, oh, how precious they are.  Wisdom, private tutoring, spiritual grit, keen discernment about good and evil.  These are but just a few.

            Do you want to flee a job where treatment is unfair?  Wanting out of a marriage that grew cold long ago?   Are you a caregiver to an aging parent, one that doesn’t appreciate your sacrifices?  Maybe you’re dreaming of relinquishing responsibility and sending them to a nursing home.  The question is whether or not you and I are willing to stay, or go, depending on God’s revealed will to us.  Sometimes, God tells us it’s time to uproot.  Other times He tells us to suffer well for another season of time.  We can do either ~ by God’s grace ~ when we know He is personally with us.

            What gave Hagar the emotional and spiritual fortitude to return to Abram and Sarai?  She had a personal encounter with God.  She learned that she was neither forgotten nor alone on her solitary journey.  God regarded her kindly, patiently, and with a desire to bless her.  Such favor made returning bearable.  She knew that she wouldn’t be alone, no matter what the outcome.  She heard God’s voice, felt His love, and could depend on every promise He made to her.  The God of Hagar is my God today.  No matter how desperate I am, He is right here offering an encounter that will fuel obedience.

Stay?  Go?  No matter what I want, I want what You want more.  Amen

ONE WHO FIGHTS; ONE WHO FLEES

And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for my hope is in your rules.  Psalm 119:43

The Psalmist fears that when any given situation arises, the wisdom of the kingdom, born of the Word and the Spirit, will be absent from his tongue.  The word of heaven is one of precision and strategy; a word that is characterized by either a gentle rain for a parched situation or a bolt of lightening that strikes in a firestorm.  It is clarifying, it is corrective, it is healing, and it always causes the kingdom to intersect with the world. Continue reading “Two Reactions” →

ABRAM, GOD, ME & THE COVENANT

And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram.   Genesis 15:7-11

         God cut a covenant with Abram as a way to confirm the validity of all He had promised him.  It was a blood offering, a blood oath.  From that day on, there would be vows in place between God and Abram because of this ceremony.  The ritual of cutting a covenant meant that each party was pledging all they were and all they owned to be forever available to the other person.  Abram gave up all rights to himself and offered God the wealth of all he owned (exhibited by sacrificing the best of his flock for the covenant ceremony itself) as well as all rights to himself.  He was no longer master of his own life but permanently put himself at God’s disposal.

            God did the same thing.  He offered Abram all He was, all He owned; sharing the resources of heaven to lead, equip, and protect Abram.  Who benefitted most?  Abram, for sure.

            A new covenant was cut at Calvary.  Blood was shed again, except now it wasn’t the blood of animals, it was the blood of God’s own Son.  When I embraced Jesus and came to God through the way of the cross, I took part in the covenant He offered just as tangibly as Abram and God enacted their ceremony.  If I belong to Christ today, the covenant is firmly in place and this is what it means.

            Lord, I am completely yours.  I give up all rights to myself and like Abram, I am listening for Your voice to lead me on my journey.  All I am and all I have is Yours.  I am at Your disposal for always.

            God’s response.   And all I am is yours!  All I have is yours.  The resources of heaven are at your disposal.  Like Abram, you are on a journey and there will be hardships but hold on, you will inherit the land.  You are an heir of everything I have given my Son.  Defer your hope to eternal things.  Because of our covenant, I have your back.  I will fill you, be intimate with you, protect and keep you, and totally provide for you. 

            Who benefits most from this covenant?  Me, for sure!  Yet, throughout my journey with God, I break the fidelity of our covenant exchange.  In ancient times, the penalty was death.  But God even took care of that.  Jesus died in my place for all the times I would be unfaithful.   Covenant love is not threatened by my poor performance or my failing heart.

            I can’t tell you how many times I have thought, “Oh, how costly is my salvation.  I must give up all rights to myself and to my life?”  That is tragically skewed.  Did I only consider my part in the covenant.  Apparently.  I forgot that God’s promises of Himself and everything He owns trumps the offer of my puny life.

 

I can’t believe You’d give me, eternal God, all You are and all You have.  Forgive me for counting the cost and thinking the price is too high.  I am the beneficiary of everything eternal.  Amen

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Want to listen to the beauty of covenant love – through music?  Click here.  The lyrics are below.

COVENANT MAKER

Twila Paris

Covenant maker, I made a start
Covenant breaker, I broke Your heart
Your word is deeper; Faithful and true
Covenant keeper, make me like You

Covenant maker, You made a way
Infinite taker, I made You pay
But Your love was deeper; Faithful and true
Covenant keeper, make me like You

THE COST OF SELF-MADE SOLUTIONS

And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.  Genesis 12:15-16

         Abram panicked.  Afraid that a powerful Pharaoh would kill him and Sarai, he decided how he would save them instead of trusting God to do it.  If he told the Pharaoh that the lovely Sarai was his wife, the Pharaoh would kill him to acquire her.  If he said that Sarai was his sister, the Pharaoh would, most likely, take her but spare him.  What he didn’t even consider was that God might have a solution that would spare them both and their marriage.

         Is this not what afflicts faith-less children of God?  If I can’t conceive the answer, I assume it doesn’t exist.  Abram really believed there were only two options.  It will take failure and humiliation for Abram to see how powerful his God is.

         A self-made solution may bring immediate relief but it always comes with a price.  Because my ingenuity appears to have worked, this reinforces the lie that I must take care of myself.  When the next crisis comes, I won’t think twice about stepping in to play ‘god’ again.  I’m not aware until later that I’ve stepped outside of the miracle realm where God created me to live.  His design is for me to live wide-eyed and wonder-filled.  I was created to be a thrill-seeker and this is fulfilled in Christ as I journey by faith.  As I, daily, acknowledge my own powerlessness, I look up to see what God will do.  I’m always stunned!

         What did Abram lose by problem solving without God?  He lost his wife.  He lost respect with the Pharaoh.  God will be gracious, true to His promise, to save them but at this point, Abram doesn’t know that.  For the price of his life, he went to bed alone that night.  His so-called victory was hollow in the face of the loss of Sarai.

         Self-made solutions are always temporary and, sooner or later, yield bitter tears.

I will not take matters today into my own hands.  I know the payoff will only feel good temporarily.  I want the long-term payoff of seeing You work Your miracle.  Amen

The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” 

Genesis 18:10-12

Sarah’s cycle of womanhood was long over.  Logic.  Science.  These proved that it was humanly impossible to bear a child in old age.  Sarah laughed at the thought of something so out of reach.  She knew the physical impossibility.

Miracles aren’t miracles without the ‘impossibility’ factor.  Is this not why faith is so difficult?  We are surrounded by circumstantial physical evidence that disproves feasibility.  If I have a history of not having seen God’s power move on my behalf, then I will always lean toward logic and move away from what seems ludicrous to hope for.

What might I ask God for today if all reserve was moved out of the way?  Where does it seem risky to trust God?  Where would others laugh in my face and state the evidence against faith-filled prayer?  That points precisely, perhaps, to what God would, and can, do.

“But you can’t ask God for that!” Satan whispers.  His taunts, like arrows, come at me in thoughts but also through the mouths of friends and family.  He is not above using faithless believers to parrot faithless words.  So few walk by faith and I should remember that the next time a brother or sister in Christ comes with their ‘prudent’ warnings.

God has placed me in hundreds of impossible situations throughout my life.  There were times I had to pray for a miracle or there would be some horrible consequence.  So for survival’s sake, I hung onto faith, stood in the Word, and prayed for a miracle.  I have seen so many that faith is becoming my default response rather than unbelief that points to hard physical data.

God defies the odds.  He cares nothing about physics, past evidence, and present obstacles.  He who spoke to the earth, a planet that was once dark and lifeless, to transform it into a stunning environment full of limitless possibilities, is the same God who can do anything miraculous in my world.

Lord, show me where I can exercise faith today.  For what can I trust You that would defy all odds?  I’ll go there.  Amen

I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. Psalm 16:7

I’m often asked privately about dreams. Many believers are embarrassed to admit that they have them. (Even though they feel many are significant.) At times, they suffer from a season of nightmares and don’t understand why. In the latter days, we know that dreams will increase. The prophet Joel predicted it and Peter, in one of his sermons to the crowd, reminded them of Joel’s words. And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Acts 2:17 

I have to remember that just because I am sleeping, God is not inactive. God advances His kingdom at night as He instructs His children through dreams and ‘soul-surgery.’ As I stay engaged in the Word and continue to be transformed and rewired by the power of it, I believe that much of that transformation happens at night. There have been times I went to sleep believing one way about a person or situation and woke up feeling exactly the opposite. God did something!

Many nights, I ask God to guard my sleep. I assure Him that my heart is open to receive whatever He might show me. I have a catalog of dreams from the last twenty years and I believe that, for me, there are three kinds.

1.) Meaningless dreams. If I can’t remember what I dreamt by the time I get dressed, I know to dismiss it. It was probably superfluous mind activity.

2.) Tormenting dreams.  Satan thrives on torment and fear. He will concoct dreams that cause me to wake up and feel worse than when I went to bed. I’m shaken, fearful, and wonder if what I dreamt is a precursor of something down the road that I need to dread. I’ve learned to pray immediately and ask God to wipe it from my memory and to cleanse me from any oppression that came with it. Satan knows how to customize dreams to target what I dread.

3.) God’s dreams. These are the ones that stay with me in vivid detail. When waking up, no matter what time it is, I make sure to write them out. My spirit feels on fire when they come. As I journal, I can’t get the words out fast enough. Oftentimes, they’re truth-telling dreams about something or someone. Other times, they give warnings regarding someone I love. I know I had the dream so that I would pray for that person. And the rest of the time, God’s dreams are instructive, confirming, encouraging, clarifying, comforting, and even detailed in showing me the next steps I am to take.

If I believe a dream was from God, what should I do? I always ask God for multiple confirmations of what I believe He showed me in my dream. I put the contents of my dreams through the grid of scripture. It must line up with God’s Word. My Father has been faithful to bring assurances that the dreams were true. And very creatively, I might add. He loves to speak and is the consummate Communicator.

I love it when You speak to me. I love the effect of you whether in Your Word or through a personalized dream. You guard my life with instruction. Amen

And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see, that you did this thing, [turn over your wife to me]?” Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, ‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’  Genesis 20:10-11

         Sometimes, by all appearances, I am completely hemmed in. The only way of escape that I can see is to make a choice I would never otherwise make. It is against my conscience. Yet, my rationale overrules and I cave to engage in something unwise and even sinful.

         Abraham was in a tough spot. He had traveled into heathen territory and now He feared for the lives of his family. He assumed that the king would act in an unconscionable way by killing him in order to secure Sarah and all their wealth. It’s not that Abraham failed to be realistic about people. It’s that he assumed the worst about God. He believed God was not strong enough to keep His promises. As it turned out, Abimelech had a strong conscience and once he discovered that Sarah was Abraham’s wife, he trembled in fear over the sin he almost committed.

         What Abraham also did, and I never saw this before, was throw temptation before Abimelech. He provided the perfect opportunity for infidelity.  My bad choices always affect others.

         So many things can happen that make it appear that my world has fallen apart. I can be hemmed in by disease, finances, others bad choices, the mistakes of my past, and there appears to be no perfect way of escape. There just is no righteous door in sight. To cope, I manufacture a solution that is anything but perfect. I have to wince as I move ahead. If I could hear God speak, He would say, “Why didn’t you trust me? I’m never out of options and I would have led you through a door you couldn’t even see?”

         I have learned two things the hard way. 1.)When there is no righteous solution, I have learned not to move. Wait on God.   2.) When the righteous solution appears to have a bad outcome, I obey God anyway and know that He will order my steps into spacious places.

You are my hiding place.  You are my mountain mover.  You are the one who changes the hearts of those who have the power to harm me.  I vow to trust You and not myself.

WHEN I JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS

We wanted to come to you – I, Paul, more than once – and yet Satan thwarted us.  I Thess. 2:18

What I think are God’s plans for me and God’s actual plan are often far apart.  If I automatically assume that all my goals are His goals, just because they appear to be noble, then I will be confused when my way gets thwarted.  Is it Satan who prevents me from moving forward or is it God hemming me in order to move me in a different direction? Continue reading “Jumping To Conclusions” →

WHEN THE GLITTER IS REMOVED

I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad.  Psalm 119:96

            Matthew Henry lists David’s disillusionments.  He saw Goliath, the strongest man around, overcome by a small stone.  He saw his nephew, Asahel, one described as ‘swift as a gazelle’, killed on the battlefield.  He saw his fairest son, Absalom, deform in character and turn on him.  He watched the seeming perfection of everyone around him take on their true limits.  Their glitter was removed.  The only thing that grew taller and wider with time was the Word of God. It was a painful thing to have that which beguiled me take on its true form.  The disillusionment unraveled my world.

           Recently, I taught at The Cove in Asheville, NC.  I talked with a woman whose daughter was dating someone who was not good for her.  Yet, her daughter was absolutely taken with him.  “What can I do,” she lamented.  I suggested that she pray and ask that his true colors be exposed, that the glitter that her daughter sees be removed by a God who wants her daughter to know truth.

            Jesus is to be my treasure.  Any other person or thing that my heart covets in place of Him has had a bona fide paint job by the enemy.  Satan allures me to the counterfeits, making each one seem as if it will fill my soul where it aches.  It’s a mirage.  Though it may seem for a time that it’s the thing I was looking for all along, eventually its glitter is removed.  The downward spiral into the mire of disappointment can cripple me permanently if I don’t turn to the only One who expands with time.

            The more I attempt to see the glory of Jesus, the more glory there is to discover.  The more I attempt to understand a stunning Bible truth, the larger and more expansive it becomes.  The things of the kingdom are broad, never disappointing the true seeker.

I’ve known so many disappointments and, for a while, they crippled me.  It took me a while to find you as my treasure.  Now that I have, my joy of discovering your limitless love and power only abounds.  Thank you for drawing me to you, the source of all pleasure.  Amen