a friendly place to discuss life's difficult questions over a cup of coffee
TRADE
Every morning I deal with God…
I give Him my sins, He gives me forgiveness.
I give Him my weakness He gives me strength.
I give him my frailty He gives me immortality.
I bring immorality He gives me grace.
I bring hatred He gives me love.
I bring brokenness He makes me whole.
I bring despair He give me hope.
I bring myself, He gives new life.
The world says I have no meaning.
My existence is mere chance.
Life has no eternal nature.
I am here by happenstance.
My life, it is so empty.
I’m not sure why I exist.
I don’t feel that I am wanted.
If I were dead, would I be missed?
*
I have some friends and family.
I think I’m loved by them.
But of that I am not certain.
At times they do condemn.
I have no peace within me.
Contentment, I cannot find.
Sometimes I do consider
My life to leave behind.
*
I’m certain that there must be more
To this miserable life of mine.
I’ve noticed other people.
With peace their lives do shine
Satisfaction and contentment.
They beautifully portray
I really want what they do have
There’s got to be a way
*
Then one day someone told me
Of Jesus’ love for me.
Of my sins he did forgive me.
From my chains he set me free.
In His image I am created.
A new purpose He did give.
I have sweet peace within me
A reason for me to live.
*
For so long I had been trapped
Deep in the worlds old womb.
But Jesus chose to give me life.
Set me free from that old tomb
And now I have been born again.
A spiritual conception
Fearfully and wonderfully made
Planned from the worlds inception
*
Confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord
Believe God raised Him from the dead
You will be saved, you will be saved
With the heart we believe
Through confession we are saved,
we are saved.
*
I have come that you might have life abundantly.
Peace, I leave with you, my peace I give to you.
I have loved you within everlasting love.
Come to me, all you who are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest, I will give you rest
This came at the end of nearly a year of unemployment. I applied for well over a hundred jobs and interviewed across the country. It wasn’t until I reached this point (described below) that God provided work for me. I think He had a work He was doing in me that had to be completed before He brought my trial to an end.
It is enough!
Is it not enough that Jesus left His home in glory and took the form of man?
Is it not enough that He was despised and rejected as a part of God’s plan?
Is it not enough, although being deity, He became a servant, the lowliest of men?
Is it not enough that He died on the cross where I should have been?
*
Is it not enough that He was rejected by those He came to save?
Is it not enough that He was beaten, mocked and shamed?
Is it not enough that He was denied by His closest friends?
Is it not enough that He died to save us from our sins?
*
Is it not enough that He was misunderstood and hated by those he loved?
Is it not enough that that He suffered and bled as God restrained the angels up above?
Is it not enough that He was ridiculed, scorned, and thought to be a fraud?
Is it not enough that He was forsaken by his Father and his God?
*
Is it not enough to have our sins forgiven because of His nail pierced hands?
Is it not enough for us, though sinners, to gain redemption’s plan?
Is it not enough to be justified and possess salvation full and free?
Is it not enough that he deeply loves us all, both you and me?
*
Yes! Yes! He is enough; Christ Himself is sufficient for me.
He is enough, what else do I need?
He is enough for me, my trials I will endure.
Christ alone is enough, of that I am so sure.
*
If He never does another thing for me,
If He never answers another prayer or hearkens to my plea,
If He never tells me ‘Why’ or meets another need,
It is enough all that Jesus did for me!
*
Christ is enough I’ll live in faithful obedience to Him!
He is enough, I say, with a hearty Amen!
Beware!
During this time of separation, the tempter is at the door (Gen 4:7). We’re not meeting together corporately to worship, to praise our God, to listen and learn from His word or to encourage each other. One of the tempter’s primary tactics is to separate us from one another and to give us idle time. That’s when we become vulnerable. He has accomplished both by way of the COVID-19 virus. We need to be aware of his tactics and schemes.
Imagine yourself walking along an extremely deep ravine with no way to cross over to the other side. God is on one side, the side you’re on, and Satan is on the other. Even though the other side looks very attractive and appealing you know it’s wrong for you to cross over. And even if you wanted to there is no way to get there because of the cavernous ravine, so it’s not a problem. However, as you walk along the edge you come to a bridge called temptation. Now you have a problem. What will you do? There are several options available.
Option #1. You could completely give in and cross over the bridge. You could indulge yourself in the pleasures of sin. You could turn your back on God and enjoy the worldly lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes and the boastful pride of life ( I John 2:16). This of course is not God’s desire for you. Although He can work through sin and accomplish His purpose in our lives in spite of sin, it’s not His best for us. It breaks our fellowship with God and hinders our spiritual growth and development. It doesn’t draw us closer to God or conform us to his image.
Option #2. You could go half way across the bridge and contemplate crossing over, wondering and imagining what it would be like on the other side, remembering the pleasures of sin. But this would be playing with temptation which takes you further down the road called sin and even closer to surrendering to it; you’re favoring the temptation and feeding it rather than denying it. Doing so is likely sin itself because you have already given in mentally, even if you haven’t yet given in physically. You are fully indulging your mind, will and emotions. You’re mentally and emotionally indulging in sin.
Option #3. Run to God. Turn your back on temptation and depend fully and completely on God. Admit that you can’t overcome temptation in your own strength (Rom 7). I recently heard a quote from Alistair Begg which hits the nail on the head. “If dependence is the objective then weakness is an advantage.” Let’s admit our weakness and depend on God for strength. Don’t entertain the thought or the pleasures of sin. Rely on the strength of God’s Holy Spirit in you. This is God’s desire. It is His purpose in temptation, full and complete dependence on Him. Even Jesus, when He was tempted did not rely on His own strength but depended on the word of God. The temptation drove Him to God. It is why God allows temptation in our lives. Stop temptation in its tracks by asking God for strength and then depend fully on God. Jesus resisted temptation by quoting and focusing on scripture. Don’t think about the temptation, don’t contemplate it, don’t consider it. Turn immediately to God and His word.
God provides several pictures of the process of temptation for us to learn from and be forewarned. Let’s look at Eve in Gen 3: 1-7.
Step#1. Eve listened to the lie when she conversed with the serpent in verses 1-3. She allowed Satan to have her ear. She entertained the thought of temptation.
Step #2. She believed the lie when she saw the fruit that it was good for food, pleasant to the eye and desirable to make one wise in verse 6. She was agreeing with Satan. She mentally, emotionally and willfully gave in to temptation.
Step #3. She acted on the lie when she took of its fruit and ate in verse 7. She physically expressed what she had already given in to.
(See also David’s sin with Bathsheba in II Samuel 11)
Based on Eve’s example, which God spelled out in detail for us right from the beginning so that we would be aware of the progression down the road which leads to sin, it is imperative that we discipline ourselves to nip temptation in the bud.
Therefore, let’s commit to Option #3, running to God at the first hint of temptation. That’s what God desires and is the very purpose of temptation; full and complete dependence on God. Let’s learn from the opportunities that God puts in our lives to teach us, to grow us and conform us to His likeness.
I Peter 5:8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.
Have you ever complained about the fast pace of our culture and our lives, too busy to stop and contemplate the important things in life? Have you had times in your life when you wished and prayed the world to stop so you could catch your breath and refocus? Well your prayers have been answered. God has stopped the world. So now what?
In a culture where it seems the goal is to constantly keep our minds occupied with the superficial, we desperately need to STOP. We need to turn it off. We need to examine our priorities, the use of our time, the focus of our minds. We need to learn to have times of solitude with God, we need to learn to meditated on His Word and His attributes. We need to learn to commit dedicated time to God in prayer. It’s interesting that we all know we need to stop but we don’t seem to get it done. I think maybe God is tired of waiting and has decided to bring us to a screeching halt.
Let’s look at the life of Jesus and learn from His example. The first thing we see is that He was intentional about His time of solitude. He didn’t wait for those times to come, He made them happen. We should do likewise. We should follow His example. We have to be deliberate and intentional about spending times of solitude with God. Secondly, how did He use this time? It was often after times of intense interaction with the public that we see Jesus slipping away. We see that He used times of solitude in prayer. In Matt 14:23 we see one of these times.
“After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on a mountain to pray; and when it was evening He was there alone.” Matt.14:23
This verse immediately follows a full day of teaching large crowds and the feeding of the 5000. At the end of the day Jesus sends the crowds and His disciples away. He needed time alone with His God and Father to refocus, reconnect, to have time of intimate communion with the most important person in His life.
In Daniel 6:10 we see that Daniel had a habit of committing quiet time to God. Three times a day he would dedicate time to be alone with God in prayer even when he knew it could cost him his life.
“Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered His house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God as he had been doing previously.” Dan 6:10
God has stopped the world; He is giving us an opportunity to slow down, to prioritize, to spend quiet time with God in His word and in prayer. Let’s not let this opportunity pass without learning and applying what God is trying to teach us
See also Matt 6:5-6, Mark 6:46, Luke 6:12, Luke 5:16
Amos 4:6-13
“But I gave you also cleanness of teeth in all your cities
And lack of bread in all your places,
Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the Lord.
7 “Furthermore, I withheld the rain from you
While there were still three months until harvest.
Then I would send rain on one city
And on another city I would not send rain;
One part would be rained on,
While the part not rained on would dry up.
8 “So two or three cities would stagger to another city to drink water,
But would not be satisfied;
Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the Lord.
9 “I smote you with scorching wind and mildew;
And the caterpillar was devouring
Your many gardens and vineyards, fig trees and olive trees;
Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the Lord.
10 “I sent a plague among you after the manner of Egypt;
I slew your young men by the sword along with your captured horses,
And I made the stench of your camp rise up in your nostrils;
Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the Lord.
11 “I overthrew you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
And you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze;
Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the Lord.
12 “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;
Because I will do this to you,
Prepare to meet your God, O Israel.”
13 For behold, He who forms mountains and creates the wind
And declares to man what are His thoughts,
He who makes dawn into darkness
And treads on the high places of the earth,
The Lord God of hosts is His name.
God clearly works through events in our lives to accomplish His purpose whether it is in us individually or collectively. Somewhere, in someone, God is accomplishing His purpose through corona virus. Quite often His purpose is not revealed to each individual which leaves us wondering what He’s doing. This can lead to frustration and even anger at God and can cause us to ask the ‘Why” question. Why are you doing this? Why are you interrupting my life? Why are you allowing so many people to get sick and die?
One of God’s purposes that He has revealed to us, as seen in the scripture above, is to call all people everywhere to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
The ‘Why’ question is settled only through ‘Trust’. We often don’t know why but we do know ‘who’ and we need to rest in ‘who’.
Remember in the gospel of Luke chapter 1, God needed to get Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem so Jesus could be born there as the scriptures foretold. How did He accomplish this? He taxed the whole world. He inconvenienced everyone so He could accomplish His purpose in three people. How do you think everyone else responded to this? I’m sure there was a lot of mumbling and complaining, a lot godly people asking why, a lot of misunderstanding. Things don’t happen in this world on a global scale without God having a purpose in it.
During the reign of Nebuchadnezzar God was working on a global scale to accomplish simultaneous purposes, one of which was the punishment and correction of His people. Another was to bringing Nebuchadnezzar to the point that he “recognized that the Most High God is ruler over the realm of mankind…” Daniel 5:21
Daniel 4:34-35
34 “But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom endures from generation to generation. 35 “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’
Perhaps we need to rest in the statement…‘ the Most High God is ruler over the realm of mankind’. We don’t yet know God’s purpose in this and perhaps never will but we can rest in knowing that ‘the Most High God is ruler over the realm of mankind’. That gives me comfort and peace. Let’s trust in our God, knowing that He is doing the right thing.
Romans 8:28
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Hope in Times of Difficulty
Winter is a time of survival, a time of subsistence living for all of nature. It is a time to be endured until the coming of spring. The trees have dropped their leaves, the herbaceous plants have died, many animals have stored up food reserves in hope that it will be sufficient to for a long winter, while others simply sleep through it. But when spring approaches and brings with it the hope of new life, we look forward to the end of a long dreary winter. We look forward to new life, to plants springing up from the ground, the trees bursting forth in leaf, the flowers celebrating in full color and vigor. It’s a time of hope, life and even resurrection. Isaiah 45:8 comes to mind when I think about these things.
“You heavens above, rain down my righteousness;
let the clouds shower it down.
Let the earth open wide,
let salvation spring up,
let righteousness flourish with it;
I, the Lord, have created it. (NIV)
Can you imagine a time when the heavens will rain down God’s righteousness, salvation springing up like the green grass of spring and the righteousness of God flourishing in the earth. What a glorious time!
A couple other similar verses come to mind.
Hosea 10:12.
Sow with a view to righteousness,
Reap in accordance with kindness;
Break up your fallow ground,
For it is time to seek the Lord
Until He comes to rain righteousness on you. (NASB)
This verse speaks of our responsibility. It tells us how we can bring about this time when God will rain His righteousness upon us in our own personal lives. We should be sowing seed in the lives of others. As we reap God’s blessings in our lives we should share those with others to help and encourage them. Lastly we should break up our fallow ground. Those hard crusty areas in our lives, in our souls, that need to softened buy God’s Spirit so it to can be productive in the time of harvest.
Isaiah 61:11 says:
For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
And as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up,
So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
To spring up before all the nations. (NASB)
Can you imagine? What a time to look forward to? Soon we will be planting our gardens, tending them, watching as they spring up from the ground and eagerly waiting for the harvest. God is also planting and one day He will cause “righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.” “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;” Acts 3:19 (NASB)
We can have times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord in our own lives, here and now as we repent and return. God doesn’t like weeds and briars and thorns of sin in His garden and neither should we. Repentance pulls them out and throws them aside to be burned making the soil in our lives more productive in God’s garden.
Let’s look again at Isaiah 45:8.
“You heavens above, rain down my righteousness;
let the clouds shower it down.
Let the earth open wide,
let salvation spring up,
let righteousness flourish with it;
I, the Lord, have created it. (NIV)
Can you imagine God’s righteousness raining down like a pleasant and necessary spring shower with salvation springing up? During this time of solitude and isolation let’s meditate on God’s word and as is says in Philippians “let’s think on these things”.
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