Category: Waiting

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Abundant

“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; as it is written, “He scattered abroad, he gave to the poor, His righteousness endures forever.”

2 Corinthians 9:8-9

God is able. What do those words mean to you and me? Able to do what? When? How? Where?

For some, the notion of God being “able” rings hollow. After all, when was the last time we actually saw or experienced God’s work in our lives? For others, God is simply another in a long string of those who have disappointed them throughout their lives. Those who overpromised and either under delivered or never delivered at all. Those who fill us with hope only to break our hearts and shatter our souls.

It’s natural in a world so filled with secular noise to place God – an invisible, remote, impassive God – in the same category as His human creations. Is He really in control of everything? Is He concerned with us? Can He, in Paul’s words, cause “all things to work together for good?” Is He even there?

The passage I began with is one of only two instances in all of the New Testament where we find the words “God is able” (the other is in Romans 11:23). In the Old Testament, we see it once in Daniel 3:17. Yet to the reader with eyes to see and ears to hear, “God is able” has eternal meaning, the omnipotent power to do what only He can. 

Limitless

Consider for a moment a few of the limitless things only God has power to do.

  • God is able to save and protect us – forever. Peter wrote that God can protect us through our faith “for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” When we place our faith and trust in God, His power to save and protect us extends through eternity. We see this echoed in Hebrews 7:25, which tells us God saves “forever those who draw near” Him. Compare that to our own feeble attempts to demonstrate our power over the trials of life.
  • God is able to supply our needs – for everything. This is the essence of Paul’s meaning in the 2 Corinthians passage. How often have we truly placed our trust in God to “give us this day our daily bread?” This covenant is endless, unbreakable, yet so many times we reach a crucial life moment, a key decision, a seemingly insurmountable problem and instead of placing our trust in God, we place that trust in ourselves. This is especially true in our tithing. How many of us actually offer God the first 10% of our increase (time, treasure, thoughts, devotion)? “Test Me on this now,” God tells us in Malachi 3:10. Are you willing to test Him?
  • God is able to cure us. Jesus built a large portion of his earthly ministry on the power of our faith and trust in God’s healing ability. “Do you believe I am able to do this?” he asks two blind men in Matthew 9:28. He poses this same question to each of us – do we believe he has the power to heal us? God may not always provide immediate physical healing, but He always heals the needs of our souls. Our belief is the tool He uses for our road to restoration. Do you place your faith in God or in yourself?
The Burning Fiery Furnace, c 1832, George Jones
  • God is able to rescue us from death. In Daniel 3 we read the account of three Jews serving as administrators in Babylon during the captivity thrown into a fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, after refusing to bow down to the king’s image. “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire” they say in Daniel 3:17. God delivers us from the finality of death when we proclaim His sovereignty over our lives. Do you pray to God only in times of need or have you confessed Him as Lord of your life?
  • God is able to deliver us from sin. The Epistle of Jude teaches that we should “have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire” while giving glory to “Him who is able to keep you from stumbling.” God works through us to reach our brothers and sisters, giving physical evidence to His ability to keep us from straying and stumbling into the traps of sin. Do you mirror God in how you treat others?

His Greatest Gift

Of course, there are things God simply can’t do. Not because He is limited in any way, but because it is impossible given His nature. For example, God is unable to lie. He is unable to love. He is unable to break covenant. He is unable to deny Himself. God is unable to not exist.

The everlasting and eternal Truth is that God cannot do anything contrary to His Word. He cannot refrain from sharing His abundant Grace and Love to all who heed His call.

No better example of this exists than the Grace God bestowed on mankind through the gift of His son Jesus. Rather than spare His son from the pain and suffering of human transgressions, He willed Jesus to take on the pain and weight of those sins for everyone ever born or who will ever be born.

Credit: www.ucg.org

There is no rational reason for this kind of grace. God owes nothing to mankind. No humans are better or worse than others – we have all fallen short and all suffer from the burden of sin. Jesus himself said “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” There is none righteous in the sight of God. No one deserving of His Grace.

Three Acts

When we bring God fully into our lives, the doors of His abundance are flung wide. Sometimes this abundance takes a material or physical form. At other times, God’s abundance shows up in our relationships and peace of mind. In all cases, that abundance is real and available to all who are called to His purpose and will.

How can we experience that abundance, opening the gates around our hearts and letting God’s grace fill us? No two walks with God are identical, and your journey has likely been different from mine. However, here are three actions all of us can take to invite the power of God to become change we so desperately need.

  • Yield to God’s Will. This doesn’t mean simply paying lip service to God, as Jesus chastised in Matthew 15:8. Rather, it means giving our hearts fully and wholly to His will, offering our undivided allegiance to His sovereignty. When we place only part of our trust in God’s will, reserving the remainder for ourselves, God reserves the blessing of His abundance.
  • Wait for His response. We’re all impatient, wanting results and blessings right now. And there are times when the abundance we seek takes the form of a miracle we need immediately to cure a disease, save a marriage, prevent a financial disaster. Yet as we read in Isaiah 40:31 “Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength.” God wants us to prayerfully and patiently look to Him, not ourselves. Only when we focus our eyes on God, rather than our own solutions, will be open and ready to receive His power.
  • Keep our faith. Scripture repeatedly tells us that God’s power is unleashed in our lives through the strength of our Faith. If we do not expect God to work in our lives, He will not. There is the familiar story of Jesus in Mark 6 returning to his hometown, teaching in the synagogue to friends and family. Mark reports his listeners “took offense” at him, questioning from where he got his wisdom and ability to do miracles. Because of their disbelief, God did no great works or miracles. Jesus “wondered” at their unbelief. A few chapters later in Mark 9 Jesus encounters a man in a crowd who asks if Jesus can do anything to help his afflicted son. Jesus’ response is key: “‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.” God brings His power into our lives when we believe.

God can deliver His abundance to each of us. There is no imperfection in His power, only the imperfection in our faith. As the late Pastor Richard Strauss once wrote: “Believe that He can do what needs to be done in your life. Expect Him to answer, then watch for Him to do it. He may work in totally unexpected ways, but He will work with supernatural power. At this very moment He is looking for people through whom He can demonstrate that power. Why not let it be you?”

Peace.
Colossians 1:17

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Twelve Days of Advent – #12 Journeys in Time

“There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1

It’s here! Christmas Eve. Presents are wrapped, delicious food awaits us, family and friends are close. We look forward to this evening and tomorrow morning all year. For some, the journey to Christmas morning is simply from our bedrooms to our living rooms. Others travel many miles to join in the celebration. In fact, AAA recently estimated that this year over 112 million Americans will travel in some form this Christmas.

One of our biggest concerns when we take a trip, especially during the holidays, is whether we’ll get to our destination on time. Crowded airports, busy highways, overbooked hotels … when will we get there? Our travel plans sometimes seem more pressing than our travel destinations.

A different journey

There is another journey we should remember today as another Advent ends. A journey made by our Creator spanning the infinite stretches of time and space, from thought to Word to flesh to Salvation. It is the reason we celebrate this day, the Eve “O Come” became “Emmanuel.”

The Jesus so often stylized in paintings and song seems at odds with the Jesus of history. He was not born to princely riches, surrounded by the comforts of an Eternal throne. His arrival was greeted with a brief night of fanfare and praise but then life took hold.

The Jesus of history was born to humble parents, a day laborer and young girl barely into her teens. They lived not in one of the great commerce centers of Judea amidst the religious elite, but a dusty town nearly 100 miles from Jerusalem. Many in his day would never travel beyond the borders of their own villages. And it’s likely few people worried much about timetables and schedules.

Jesus’ life commenced with a journey, a continuation of the journey his Father began so many eons before. His life would end with a journey, a journey that would take him from death to transcendence. A journey that happened precisely on time.

During his earthly life, Jesus took many journeys: to Egypt as a baby, throughout Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. Every trip he made, every place he visited, Scripture records the travels not of an inveterate site-seer looking to check boxes for the ancient wonders of the world he visited, but rather, someone with a single purpose: to encounter us, engage with us, teach and minister to us, bring us the Good News of the coming of his Father’s Kingdom.

A visitor to all

A lot is written about Jesus’ focus on the downtrodden and the outcast, the forgotten members of society. And indeed, he did speak to the humble and the meek and poor, both in purse and in spirit. Yet, the remarkable thing about Jesus’ journeys was how he did not discriminate between rich and poor, famous or obscure. He visited with anyone.

An encounter with a rich young ruler mentioned Mark 10:17-27 is one example. The passage begins “As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to him and knelt before him, and ask him ‘Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

Notice the passage begins with Jesus embarking on yet another journey! Jesus seeks those who seek him – in this case, a man of wealth and means. Rather than dismissing the young man simply because of his wealth, Jesus engages him. That encounter didn’t end as the rich young ruler hoped, but Jesus still met him where he was.

Mary Annointing Jesus’ Feet, Peter Paul Rubens, 1618

Another encounter from John 12:1-8, describes Jesus allowing Mary to anoint his feet with an expensive and fragrant ointment that would sell for $20,000 today. In this story, Jesus has just come to Bethany in preparation for his final Passover in Jerusalem. Mary obviously has the means to possess such an expensive perfume and so was clearly not destitute. Yet again, Jesus did not criticize or shun her.

Jesus made an inconceivable journey for all of us. He came for the poor and rich, the unknown and the famous. He was no stranger to poverty and hardship, yet he was comfortable with the powerful and wealthy.

Jesus embodied his Father’s desire to reconcile all of mankind, regardless of circumstances. He realized that even those with means face struggles. Temptation doesn’t discriminate. He made his journey to you and me because we all hurt, we’re all broken, we all have fear and doubt.

The real point

The point of Christmas is to awaken us to the infinite capacity of God to reach inside our lives and heal us, to offer us the love and forgiveness only a Father can provide. To remind us of the journey He took to reach us.

Scholars estimate Jesus traveled over 21,000 miles during his life – nearly the distance around the earth’s equator. Yet that very last mile he walked, the mile from Pilate’s palace the hilltop on Golgotha, was undoubtedly his hardest. A mile few of us would willingly walk. And he arrived right on time.

Tonight as we prepare to celebrate the blessings of Christmas, let’s not worry too much about our own timetables or schedules. Rather, remember instead the long journey God made to reach us. And remember the journey He asks of us to reach those around us.

Peace.
Colossians 1:17

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Twelve Days of Advent – #1 The Waiting

“For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides You, who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.”  Isaiah 64:4

I’ve always loved music – any kind of music (well, I draw the line at Polka, but that’s a different post). Last year saw the passing of Tom Petty, a musical hero of my 20’s. In 1981 he released a song called “The Waiting.”

There’s a line in the song that says “You take it on faith, you take it to the heart, the waiting is the hardest part.” Many of us can identify with that sentiment, especially when we’re younger – I know I did. Waiting is, well, hard.

Stretching the analogy a bit farther, “the waiting is the hardest part” also describes much of what the season leading up to Christmas – and, ultimately, the season all Believers have been in since Christ’s ascension nearly 2,000 years ago – feels like.

“Pssst … Santa, you up there?”

As kids, we “wait” for Santa and his magical sleigh. As adults, we “wait” for gift-giving and Holiday parties. For Christians, Advent is a season of expectation, a time of preparation. Advent reminds us to wait and prepare for the inevitable return of Christ just as he came during that first Christmas season so long ago.

A different kind of waiting

Yet, I’m also reminded this time of year of a different kind of waiting; a waiting more immediate, more real, and perhaps more painful for many – both during Christmas and throughout the year.

This kind of waiting relates directly to prayers and the cries of our hearts. Prayers for intercession, prayers for healing, prayers for miracles we so desperately need. Prayers that the divorce our spouse just asked for doesn’t happen. Prayers that the doctor’s diagnosis of cancer isn’t real. Prayers that “what is” might become “what if?”

The same prayers of anticipation the nation of Israel cried out during the 400 years between the prophetic writings of Malachi and the miraculous events in Bethlehem. Prayers of waiting …

Credit: www.iprayer.com

Sometimes God answers prayers immediately. We feel the imminence and power of His hand in our lives and reach out to tell everyone about the amazing goodness of His love.

But other times – perhaps too often for many of us – prayers seem to be answered with deafening silence, miracles hovering forever just over the horizon. As time passes and God doesn’t appear genie-like in response to our plea-filled conjuring, our faith can falter.

Why does this happen? If God truly is the God of Salvation, a Savior who actually saves, why do we often feel so alone, so empty, so … forsaken?  Where is this God of Jacob and Abraham who sent His son to take our place on a Roman cross of humiliation?

Why, God?

On two occasions leading up to and in the midst of his Crucifixion Jesus himself speaks for those of us facing times of despair. The first occurred in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus prayed with such earnestness his sweat became like “great drops of blood, falling down the ground” (Luke 22:44). In this seminal moment of temptation, he asks God to take away the sacrificial cup, to spare him the trial and suffering to come.

We don’t read if God answers, because Jesus answers for Him, saying “yet not my will, but Yours be done.” Jesus knew God saw his heart, and knew his deepest desire was to follow God’s will.

“The Importance of Prayer,” Sebastiano Ricci c. 1701

How many times have we been able to ask and answer our own questions of God in confidence? Too often, our prayers seem like one-way streets, shouting to God to repair our lives yet stopping short of asking what God wants from us.

The second instance occurred on the cross. As described in Matthew 27:46, “About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’” Imagine the anguish of one who has been with God from before the beginning of time suddenly left alone, his prayers unanswered, his cries met with absolute silence. Yet still Jesus trusted.N

Not our will

Mother Teresa, writing in a letter to spiritual confident Rev. Michael van der Peet about the separation she experienced from Jesus, said “the silence and the emptiness is so great, that I look and do not see, listen and do not hear, the tongue moves (in prayer) but does not speak … I want you to pray for me–that I let Him have (a) free hand.”

Hear the reflection of Jesus’ approach to God in her words. In the face of unanswered prayers, she acknowledges His sovereignty in all things.

As we grow in our relationship with God, more deeply understanding His purposes for us, our attitudes change. We come to realize how much God loves us and already knows the desires of hearts. Even when we’ve been waiting. Even when we think He isn’t listening.

The true meaning of Advent is this: Pray and Trust. Ask God for a need, show our faith in His Will, Trust in His provenance, and wait with expectancy and hope.

“My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus,” Paul wrote in Philippians 4:19. His miracles are still here – Emmanuel still means “God is with us.”

During this Advent season, don’t fall victim to the belief hope is gone. Don’t build walls around your heart so you can’t feel God’s touch. Don’t deafen your ears to His call.

Trust in God’s promises. Lift Him up in praise and worship daily. Thank Him for the blessings and protections He provides and will yet provide.

Tom Petty passed away as all humans do.  God’s Word and His promises will never die.

Peace.
Colossians 1:17