Tag: Faith

  • When we say no to God

    drawing of a petulant boy in oversized galoshes hands on hops, stern faced

    The little boy stood there on the path, facing his mother, hands on his hips. I don’t know what had happened, but when I got into earshot, I heard him angrily say, “No! I don’t need help.” The mother said something that I couldn’t quite hear, to which the boy stomped his foot angrily and replied, “I want to do it my way. I’m big now.”

    The scene was cute to me as an observer, though probably not to the mom. I stifled a chuckle and walked on by. I don’t know what he wanted or if he was successful.

    It’s not so cute when we get older. It’s even less so when we’re the petulant child, and God is the parent.

    Now, more than likely, we’re not wearing oversized galoshes and physically stomping our feet, but our response to God is often defiance, rather than humble submission. Or, perhaps that’s just me, but I don’t think so.

    The original sin was ignoring God’s commands. Israel wandered forty years in the desert for disobedience. Peter cut off the servant’s ear. The Scriptures are full of examples. If we all got our acts together the moment we believed, Paul’s letters might have read quite differently.

    We want to follow our own hearts and wills. That seems like good sense, but our hearts are wicked, and our wills are sin-filled.

    It’s why the psalmist says,

    Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5

    In Deuteronomy 28-29, the Lord promises blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. That doesn’t mean that if we follow God and are obedient, all our dreams will come true. Someone once said that God is more interested in our holiness than our happiness.

    Still, things will be better in our relationship with Him, no matter our circumstances, if we walk in obedience.

    May we be more like Jesus and less like petulant children.

    Be blessed

    Kevin

    Gleanings From The Word – Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life. 

    On a related note

    Stubborn Disobedience
    Those Little Doubts
    # Right Belief Must Become Right Living

  • Thorns – God’s grace is sufficient

    Hialayan blackberry closeup

    On a recent walk, I got grabbed by the thorns of a Himalayan Blackberry  bush as I passed by. They are mostly dormant now, but the thorns still grab the unwary.

    These blackberry bushes produce delicious, prolific berries, but are highly invasive. They are the bane of many landowners and park operators.

    Kathy and I joke that the blackberries are going to take over the world. They pop up in random spots and thrive. They crawl up and over anything in their path, including trees, cars, and fences. Their long branches hang down to snag on anything that passes by, and wherever those tendrils hit the ground, they root, and a new plant is started.

    Getting grabbed (again) got me thinking about a familiar passage in the Bible. After receiving revelations from God, Paul writes:

    So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:6-10

    There is a lot of speculation about what form that “thorn” from Satan’s messenger actually took. Was it a form of illness, chronic pain, a besetting sin? I don’t know, and scholars much more learned and wiser than I have debated it. If God had thought it crucial that we know, He would have been clearer.

    What is clear is God’s response to Paul’s complaining, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

    God’s grace is sufficient. No matter what thorns or problems we face, God’s grace is sufficient to carry the believer.

    Everyone faces times of suffering and trial. It has been said that Christians face more than non-believers because our faith sets us up as targets. We’re not immune. Being a Christian doesn’t give us a get out of jail free card that allows us to bypass pain and suffering.

    Quite the opposite, in fact. God’s grace allows thorns to strengthen us and make us more like Jesus. Paul writes:  

    “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:3-5

    We can go to God for relief from everything, but if it doesn’t happen how or when we want, we can still rejoice. His grace is enough.

    Enough? For what? His grace is sufficient for whatever we face. His grace will outlast any suffering, trials, or thorns we will encounter.

    Rejoice for God’s abundant, merciful, and perfect grace.

    Kevin

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