Have you ever wrestled with God? I mean if you believe God is Sovereign over the affairs of mankind, possessing extreme and ultimate power, and that He also loves you do you struggle with things happening in your life? For example, if you are longing to be married yet year after year you are alone how does that fit into your understanding of a Sovereign, loving God? If your arms are empty and you know God's word says that children are a gift from the Lord and yet you have asked for this gift but He has not given you a child how do you respond to your disappointment? If your marriage seems war torn and the trajectory of life spent with this other person seems more than you can bear do you ever wonder where God is?
I wonder if the people who received the letter from Jeremiah wrestled with what they read? They had been taken from their home. They were in a foreign land and all they wanted was to go home. Yet the message God sent them through Jeremiah was that they were to settle in this land where they had been taken captive against their will. But He also added, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."(Jeremiah 29:11) The real question was, could they trust God if His will for them was so contrary to their own will?
How do you respond to this wrestling match with a Sovereign loving God who sometimes allows things in your life that seem unbearable? If you have surrendered your will to God and yet have found yourself held captive by circumstances not of your choosing perhaps these words from Jeremiah will bring you comfort. "Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:12,13)
"Lord, here I hold within my trembling hand,
This will of mine--a thing which seemeth small;
And only Thou, O Christ, canst understand
How, when I yield Thee this, I yield mine all.
It has been wet with tears, and stained with sighs,
Clenched in my grasp till beauty hath it none;
now, from Thy footstool where it prostrate lies
The prayer ascendeth. Let Thy will be done." D.M. MacItyre
Friday, October 31, 2014
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
The Mystery
For almost fifty years now my days have begun by opening God's word and listening for His voice. Day after day, month after month, year after year I have returned to the same book. This is a mystery to me because I've never grown tired of it in fact it's just the opposite. In some ways it must be like drinking water and eating bread I have never grown tired of water or bread either. But it's more than that.
This is a book I have read the majority of my life almost every day of my life yet it always seems new and fresh. It is the story of God's love. The more I read the more I am drawn into the fathomless depths of this love. It is as impossible to measure the depth of this book as it is to measure the depth of His love.
This morning as I listened to His voice I heard, "Look, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything to difficult for me?" again I heard, "The LORD who made the earth, the LORD who forms it to establish it, the LORD is His name, says this: Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and wonderful things you do not know." (Jeremiah 32:27, Jeremiah 33:2) It was as if I had been issued an invitation to view life from an eternal, heavenly perspective.
I know that there are those who read the Bible and consider it foolishness. They consider people who base their lives on what is written within it's pages as unintelligent. They cannot understand nor can they make since of what is being said. This is completely understandable because the person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. God's word is not human wisdom but instead it is taught by the Spirit combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. No natural, unbelieving man can understand these things.
Heavenly Father, once more I have come to Your living word to be refreshed by the living water and the living bread I find there. I humble myself before You who are the God of all flesh. I call to You who made the earth and established it because You have invited me to call to You through Your word. Show me by the power of Your Holy Spirit the great and wonderful things hidden within it's pages.
This is a book I have read the majority of my life almost every day of my life yet it always seems new and fresh. It is the story of God's love. The more I read the more I am drawn into the fathomless depths of this love. It is as impossible to measure the depth of this book as it is to measure the depth of His love.
This morning as I listened to His voice I heard, "Look, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything to difficult for me?" again I heard, "The LORD who made the earth, the LORD who forms it to establish it, the LORD is His name, says this: Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and wonderful things you do not know." (Jeremiah 32:27, Jeremiah 33:2) It was as if I had been issued an invitation to view life from an eternal, heavenly perspective.
I know that there are those who read the Bible and consider it foolishness. They consider people who base their lives on what is written within it's pages as unintelligent. They cannot understand nor can they make since of what is being said. This is completely understandable because the person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. God's word is not human wisdom but instead it is taught by the Spirit combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. No natural, unbelieving man can understand these things.
Heavenly Father, once more I have come to Your living word to be refreshed by the living water and the living bread I find there. I humble myself before You who are the God of all flesh. I call to You who made the earth and established it because You have invited me to call to You through Your word. Show me by the power of Your Holy Spirit the great and wonderful things hidden within it's pages.
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
With the String of a Kite
I realized a gorge had developed between me and another person. I stood at the edge of the steep narrow cliff and looked across it to where they stood and wondered how this great divide happened. To again stand together as friends seemed an impossibility. I was ready to shrug my shoulders and walk away, but the Holy Spirit brought to my mind a story that gave me hope that a bridge could be built that would span the distance and bring us together.
Charles Ellet Jr. had been awarded the contract to build a suspension bridge across the Niagara River. In order to do this he had to first stretch a line across the 800-foot wide gap that was 225 feet above the turbulent waters of the Whirlpool Gorge. It seemed an impossible task. He considered many possibilities but finally settled on a most unusual solution. He decided to host a kite-flying contest. The first kite to span the distance between the Canadian side to American side would be the winner!
Homan Walsh was fifteen years old when he decided to take the challenge in January of 1848. Holman took his kite that he had named Union and crossed to the Canadian side of the gorge by ferry just below Niagara Falls, and walked two miles along the top of the cliff till he reached the place the bridge was to be built. He flew his kite all day and night but it failed to reach the other side because the string broke on the sharp edge of either the rocks or the ice. But Holman didn't quit. He made his way back to the U.S. side, retrieved his kite, and repaired it. Then he made his way back to the Canadian cliff side and tried again. This time he was able to fly his kite to the opposite bank and thus the bridge that crossed the Niagara River began.
Lord Jesus, by faith I lift my kite Union and I ask that the wind of your Spirit would blow it to its destination. Help me not give up if my first attempt does not succeed but instead help me remember that with you all things are possible.
Charles Ellet Jr. had been awarded the contract to build a suspension bridge across the Niagara River. In order to do this he had to first stretch a line across the 800-foot wide gap that was 225 feet above the turbulent waters of the Whirlpool Gorge. It seemed an impossible task. He considered many possibilities but finally settled on a most unusual solution. He decided to host a kite-flying contest. The first kite to span the distance between the Canadian side to American side would be the winner!
Homan Walsh was fifteen years old when he decided to take the challenge in January of 1848. Holman took his kite that he had named Union and crossed to the Canadian side of the gorge by ferry just below Niagara Falls, and walked two miles along the top of the cliff till he reached the place the bridge was to be built. He flew his kite all day and night but it failed to reach the other side because the string broke on the sharp edge of either the rocks or the ice. But Holman didn't quit. He made his way back to the U.S. side, retrieved his kite, and repaired it. Then he made his way back to the Canadian cliff side and tried again. This time he was able to fly his kite to the opposite bank and thus the bridge that crossed the Niagara River began.
Lord Jesus, by faith I lift my kite Union and I ask that the wind of your Spirit would blow it to its destination. Help me not give up if my first attempt does not succeed but instead help me remember that with you all things are possible.
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