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Afraid of the future?

“The outlook is so gloomy…” he admitted.

“I’m scared! I’m really scared!” she said.

They were in their mid-sixties, involved in a discussion about getting older and wrangling with medical issues and the health care system. But the comments could possibly be heard in a group of 21-year-olds talking about a bleak job market or 45-year-olds watching plummeting stock numbers or parents sending their twelve-year-old off to junior high.

On a larger scale, those comments can come at any time in a country’s history—during a time of riots and civil war, under a regime of a persecuting tyrant, in the shadow of a threatening cloud of nuclear annihilation, the insanity of terrorism, or—well, just look at the stories on the weather channel these days.

At any point in our lives, we could easily look ahead with anxiety and fear. Or we can listen to the voice of the Creator who made us and loves us with a love beyond any earthly love we’ll ever know. He’s made an eternal covenant with us—do we choose to keep our eyes on the unseen and trust in all the promises and hope He’s given us?

Instead of biting our fingernails over what may lie around the bend, we can clutch more tightly the hand of the One who says, “Don’t be afraid. You are mine, and I am here to help you and will never leave you.”

To whom do we give our ear? Who do we believe? The One who created us and chose us as His beloved children? Or the world who says, “Be afraid. There is no hope”?

Jesus said we will have trouble in this life; that’s a given in this world. But He tells us that He has overcome the world, He’s greater than anything we’ll meet on this earthly plane, everything is under His authority, and everything He has is ours as well.

Whose wisdom do we trust?
Whose truth do we believe?
Where do we look for strength and encouragement?

We must make a choice.

Listen to the One who says, “I have chosen you and will not throw you away.” He gives  reassurance for times of uncertainty, strength for days of weariness, courage for moments of fear.

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Scripture paraphrase from Isaiah 41:8-16

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Invitation in the Wilderness

Out in the desert, as the children of Israel began to pack up and move on from Sinai, Moses gave an invitation that still echoes through all the generations to us, right where we are today. And though he was the great leader of the wandering nation, this is not a command of a leader but an intimate invitation of brother to brother, sister to sister, child of God to wandering soul.

One day Moses said to his brother-in-law, Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, “We are on our way to the place the LORD promised us, for he said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us and we will treat you well, for the LORD has promised wonderful blessings for Israel.” (Numbers 11:29)

Moses had married a Midianite woman, someone outside the lineage of Abraham. The Midianites were people of the desert, and we do find out later that Moses also had a practical reason for inviting his brother-in-law to travel with them—Hobab knew the wilderness and places to camp. (Can you imagine trying to find a camp site for two to three million people?) But that does not lessen the power of this invitation.

“We are on our way to the place the LORD promised to give us.

We are on our way to the Promised Land. And for us, that does not only mean a life with God someday in a new heaven and new earth. It means life with God now, building our lives on His promises, moving ahead by faith in those promises, and learning both the sweetness and the power of our inheritance as His children. That’s the land flowing with milk and honey we seek today—and He’s promised to give it to us! His presence is constant and always guides us, like the cloud and the pillar of fire. We are on our way!

Come with us …

Jesus says “Come. Come to me; I’ll give you rest. Come and live in freedom. Come and I’ll give you new life.” As He lives in us, we open our arms and say, “Come.” Whether it is to a stumbling sister, to a wanderer in the wilderness who knows nothing of the family of God, or simply spoken as an encouraging word on the day a brother feels tired, we say, “Come, we travel together.”

…and we will treat you well,

Spirit, help us live this! We are all in great need of grace and mercy. And as children of God, we are now Christ’s representatives to the world and each other. We’re also called His high priests, His ambassadors, and Scriptures say, We speak for Christ … We are part of His work in this world–and He does not break the bruised reed or put out the flickering candle. He even washed Judas’s feet, knowing that within hours the man would betray Him. And by the power of the Spirit of Christ living in me, I want to treat you well, no matter who you are, what you are, or how you treat me. Because… His grace is amazing.

…for the LORD has promised wonderful blessings for [His people].”

As I type, my fingers suddenly cannot find words. How do we cover, in one short paragraph, the wonderful blessings the Lord has promised us? Scripture gives us many of His promises, often in simple language we humans can understand. But life in our Promised Land turns out to be beyond anything we have imagined or think possible, full of hope and power and surprises and amazement—and the very presence of the Almighty God of the universe.

Christ now living in this world through us wants this call to go out to every soul our lives touch. Encourage struggling and weary sisters and brothers, and give the invitation to all those outside the family of God—

We are on our way to the place the Lord promised us.
Come with us.
We’ll treat you well,
for the Lord promises wonderful blessings.

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A Confession and Cry for Healing

He suggested it, the boat trip across the lake. It was His idea, even though it was an ordinary move, a simple transition, and we got in the boat without much thought. None of us would have predicted the huge storm that bore down upon us and battered our small vessel so that I was sure we would all drown.

I bailed frantically, but my small efforts were of no effect against the huge waves that broke over us. I was angry with Him. It seemed He did not care that we were in such peril. Or at least, He was doing nothing about it. Did He not understand how fragile our craft against these storms? Of course He can sleep – He is God, what can a storm do to Him? But this storm could have killed some or all of us—why was He asleep and silent at a time like this? If He loves us as He says, why was He letting us drown?

Then, with one word from Him, the storm was over. And I see that once again, I have not done what I long to do. I have failed to live by trusting the Lord God Almighty who loves me.

He didn’t ask me to walk across the water to Him. All He asked was that I trust in His presence, that I rest safe in His love. Yet now, after the storm has calmed, I hear Him say, yet again, “Why were you so afraid? You have so little faith.”

His brother, James, wrote, Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

So now I confess. After all these years with Him, after I have seen with my own eyes proof of His care and provision and love—yet still I doubted. How little my faith. I hear His words and feel my own sorrow.

Lord Jesus! Hear my cry. Heal my unbelief and teach me to rest secure in Your love.

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Believing God’s Promises

Do you ever fantasize about a dream house? Or is there a certain community you’d love to move into? Maybe you’d like to build on a wooded property with a lake or on that hilltop acreage with views for miles?

Just for a moment, let’s pretend that a wealthy benefactor offers you that chance. Money is no object. Build what you what, where you want. The perfect spot and a house that suits you. Whatever you’ve always thought would make you happiest—we’ll make it happen.

The house is finally finished and furnished. The landscaping is done. All’s ready and it’s all yours. When are you going to move in?

Would you be there this afternoon? Or would you start thinking about practicalities—taxes, utilities, upkeep, moving the kids to a new school. Or might you start worrying about the possibility of legal fine print that you have yet to discover—what if it’s not really yours?  Maybe you even start feeling sentimental about that old house you’re crammed into now and wondering if you really want to leave it. Besides, you’ve got a lot on your plate and you aren’t sure when you’ll find time to move …

In the meantime, you look at pictures of the house and think about how great it would be to live there. You savor the satisfaction of knowing that someone has said it belongs to you. Sometimes you drive by and admire the place and determine that you’ll get there … soon. But it never happens.

Does that story seem ridiculous?  Read this story–

Then the LORD said, “I will pardon them … But as surely as I live, and as surely as the earth is filled with the LORD’s glory, not one of these people will ever enter that land. They have all seen my glorious presence and the miraculous signs I performed both in Egypt and in the wilderness, but again they have tested me by refusing to listen to my voice. They will never even see the land I swore to give their ancestors. None of those who have treated me with contempt will ever see it.” (Numbers 14:20-23)

The children of Israel have seen God’s mighty hand at work in their lives; He saved them from a hopeless slavery and destroyed the Egyptians who pursued them. He forgave their many and recurring sins—even idolatry—and did not rejected them as His children. He was leading them to a land they would call their own, a good place where He would bless them.

But now as they’re poised to enter the land God has promised them, they react in fear and distress when ten of their spies come back and predict problems ahead. And because they listen to the voices of men and do not listen to God’s voice and believe His promises, He declares they will never set foot in the land He wanted to give them. They have treated Him with contempt. They’ll wander and die in the wilderness, within sight of a promise that will never be fulfilled!

As we read the stories now, we can be pretty hard on the Israelites… with manna appearing every morning and miracle after miracle providing for them and that cloud and pillar of fire constantly with them – how could they doubt God’s care and protection and promises?

Yet we do the same thing. We forget all He has already done for us, and we don’t believe His words to us. Even though He has forgiven our sins, if our hearts will not trust Him, we can never live in the land He’s promised us. It’s very much like never moving into that dream house. Our lives here will never be what the Creator wants to give His children.

God says, ‘They are a people whose hearts turn away from me’ (Psalm 95:10). I believe this is not talking about those who reject God, but about those who call Him Savior but will not trust Him in daily life. Their hearts are not centered and anchored to God.

I see this as a matter of focus.
Do our eyes focus on what’s going on in the world or on what God is doing in our lives?
Are we tuned into what human thinking promotes or are we listening to what God is saying?
Do we build our bridges to tomorrow and lay our stepping stones to the future on the groundwork of worldly logic and practicality or do we move ahead by building on the foundation of God’s promises?

Have we turned our hearts away from Him? Have we treated God with contempt?

The same phrase is used in Jeremiah 17, the very descriptive passage that contrasts two ways of living:

This is what the LORD says:
“Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans,
who rely on human strength
and turn their hearts away from the LORD.
They are like stunted shrubs in the desert,
with no hope for the future.
They will live in the barren wilderness,
in an uninhabited and salty land.”

Turning our hearts away from the LORD lands us in a barren wilderness with no hope for the future. Believing Him and trusting His promises, Peter writes, is what enables us to escape that wilderness and actually enter into the life God has promised us (2 Peter 1:4). The next verses in Jeremiah 17 describe the secure and fruitful life of those who put all their hope and confidence in God. Where is my heart, my hope, my confidence?

If I put my faith journey into a very simple timeline it would be this: First, I believed being a Christian was all about what I did—I must live up to God’s standards. Then, I learned through painful lessons that we can never be good enough and it’s only God’s grace that makes us His children. And now, I’m concentrating on living my inheritance, believing and living the promises God gives His children. I want to know all those promises. I want to move into that house He’s promised me. I have no desire to wander in the wilderness with His promises unfulfilled.

I believe it’s a matter of turning my heart. Where does my heart turn? May it always turn to God’s promises and His unfailing love and care.

 Come, let us worship and bow down.
Let us kneel before the LORD our maker,
for He is our God.
We are the people He watches over,
the flock under His care.
If only you would listen to His voice today!
Psalm 95:6-7

If only we would listen to His voice today!

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Suffering: Between Eden and Eternity

Have you figured it out? Can you tell me why there is so much suffering on this earth? Even those who God has named His children go through terrible times of pain and grief. Why? Why? WHY? Does God bring suffering? Is it punishment or testing or discipline? Do we suffer because we aren’t good enough, wise enough, or in prayer enough? Or does trouble come because we are God’s children and Satan is at war with God? Is all this suffering caused by the enemy who constantly seeks to destroy what God creates?

We were created to live in unspoiled and utter intimacy with God, and that is still His plan. The paradise in Eden began with that intimacy between God and His creation, and now God’s people are promised a life with Him, a life where all tears, death, sorrow, crying, and pain will be gone forever (Rev. 21:4). But between Eden and eternity, between Genesis and Revelation, is the story of the whole human race and each individual life on this earth. And it’s a story of thorns and thistles and pain and tears.

Scripture does not answer all our questions about suffering and pain. In fact, it answers very few. Some passages read as though pain may be the discipline God uses to transform us into what He means us to be. Other passages might indicate it’s punishment or judgment on sin. Some arguments are made that it is the result of evil in a fallen world … And here we are, back to the same questions posed in the first paragraph.  And so we go ‘round and ‘round, asking Why? Who? What if? Why does God…? Why doesn’t God …?

I think we ask the wrong questions.

We will never be able to answer some of those questions about our lives. God’s thinking, ways, and plans are so far beyond our ability to comprehend that trying to understand, dissect, and define what God might be thinking could even push up against idolatry. Are we presuming that our intellect is able to understand God?

Yet there are things we can know because God does give us very clear, definite statements about what’s going on in this thorny, painful world.

* Jesus puts it bluntly: “In this world, you will always have trouble.” There you have it. “But,” He says, “I am stronger than anything the world can throw at you.” (John 16:33)

* Jesus is alive and with us now. God lives with us, right where we are, in every circumstance, in every moment. (John 14:23; 1 John 4:13; Matthew 28:20; Psalm 139:7-10)

* His plan is to change each child of God, to give us new hearts and new character and new lives, no matter what is going on in the earthly realm in which we live. (2 Corinthians 3:18 and 5:17; Ephesians 2:10; Philippians 1:6)

* Those who have been given new life and a new relationship with God are now His ambassadors on earth; we’re part of God’s work in bringing people back to Himself. (2 Corinthians 5:18-20)

* He works for our good in everything—and that includes suffering and tears. (Romans 8:28)

* He promises us all kinds of resources: power, strength, armor, refreshment, wisdom, comfort, guidance—everything, in fact, that we need to live a life devoted to Him. (2 Peter 1:3-4 and hundreds of other verses)

* We look forward to going home, where we will live in unspoiled and utter intimacy with God the Father and Creator in a place without tears and pain. (Hebrews 13:14; Revelation 21:4)

This is our story between Eden and eternity. The whys in our lives will always be mystery. The necessary question we must ask ourselves is, Are we believe-living His promises that enable us to live beyond?