September 13, 2010 Dissolved Into Strength

Every once in a while, I find myself in a place of absolute inability to function.  Whether it's my own fault or it's something that God is doing is impossible for me to tell, but I always come to the same conclusion: I am nothing without Him.  I could relate very much to this verse today: For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you. 
2 Corinthians 13: 4

I decided a long time ago that there isn't any point in trying to do something in my own strength.  What little natural strength I have is easily used up, and what meager things I can do on my own are nothing compared to what the Lord can do through me.  I have learned (more than once) that the world goes on without me.  This can come as a big shock to anyone who has finally believed that "I am the only one who can be me and do what I do."  As true as this is, we still must accept that it is up to God to empower us.  He is Life, and there is no substitute for waiting on Him.

I see myself as a sailboat.  My gifts and talents are like sails.  When the wind blows I will go somewhere as long as my sails are oriented to being filled with the wind.  Just as in the natural world, sometimes the wind is just not blowing!  A sailboat cannot control the wind.  It cannot fake wind either. Why do we Christians think we have to fake the wind?  Do we control the wind?  No.  We don't control the Holy Spirit, and we do not fake His activity.  We just wait.  We actively wait, for at the first sign of movement, we get our sails hoisted and ready to be filled.

It is the times that I am forced to rest that I see how very weak I am.  I feel overwhelmed at the idea of doing any of the things I had previously been doing with ease.  How much I need the Lord!  There is no shame in this.  If Jesus accepted this place of total dependency on God, then it good enough for me.  In fact, it is the only safe place to be.  I am reminded, with force, to be constantly dependent on Him and His strength alone so that I do not fall into pride and self-will.  Stripped of all that makes me feel acceptable to Him, I discover once again that He loves and accepts me "just because."  Everything gets distilled down to having a relationship with God and a more pure desire to please just Him.  Of course, this is the place of inspiration, where exploits are born.

Questions to ponder:
Are you naturally a "be-er" or a "do-er"?
What word-picture would you use to describe the way God empowers your life?
Do you ever feel you are trying to "do" your life on your own?  What do you do about that?
Have you ever felt a sudden shift in how the Holy Spirit was moving in your life?  How did you feel about that?  What was your response to this change?

August 4, 2010 As Long As She Lay Desolate

Sometimes I forget to do the most obvious thing: look into the Word and see what God is revealing about Himself.  Isn't that what it's all about?  There are a few things I noticed about Him in the Chronicles passage today.  1) He's compassionate, 2) He keeps His Word, and 3) He's in control.  I don't really need to go into all that, as these things are shown clearly in what we read.  We know these are supposed to be traits of God, but do we recognize them for what they are when He's revealing Himself to us in our daily life?

Usually, it's in hind sight that I can recognize that God's hand was clearly visible in all that was going on in my life.  Whenever I've been in a tough place that seems dark and threatening, it's not always been obvious that God was with me.  But He always has been.  It's good to remember hard times in which have we gained understanding about His ways, and how He used all things for our good.  If we can't remember anything helpful in our own life, it's wise to talk to someone who can, and who can help us see.  Reading the Word can also illuminate what the Lord is doing with us in the midst of darkness and distress.

One verse stood out to me and ministered to me strongly about my own life: "As long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years."  I know this is speaking of the land of Israel, but I take it to heart, as my body and my life are my own land.  It reminded me of what the Lord had said to me a little while ago, that I was in a "fallow year" (this had to do with writing music in particular).  If you'll remember, the tilled land was to lay unused for a season every seventh year, to give it and the laborers a rest.  (Exodus 23: 10-12).  The people were also to keep the Sabbath day of rest every week.  These are principles that go beyond Old Testament law.  If we don't rest and keep our focus on the Lord, bad things happen.  On the other hand, there are many other Scriptures that exhort us to stop vacationing and "break up your fallow ground." 

The Lord knows us and what we need, and if we follow the leading of the Spirit, we'll stay in step with Him and keep the Sabbaths we might need to take (some might think of them as fasts). If we don't, it seems that God has a way of intervening and making sure that we get the needed rest.  Sometimes it's our bodies that intervene, by simply breaking down because of the stress we've put them under.  I suppose when this happens it's because we weren't listening.  In the down times, we can feel that everything that meant something to us is stripped away.  While we are desolate though, we often seek the Lord as we should have been seeking Him all along-- with more depth and passion.

I'm always inspired by the Psalms, especially David's, as his response to difficulty was always to seek the Lord.  His greatest desire was always to be close to the Lord, but I think it was in the times of dire distress that his focus was clarified:
     
"One thing I have desired of the LORD,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD,
And to inquire in His temple.
For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock."
Psalm 27:4-5 NKJV
 
Maybe our weekly Sabbath rest, our break from our workaday life when we put our focus on the Lord, is our practice run.  It's when we have to face a layoff, an illness, a death in the family or other major loss, or a period of fierce opposition that we really put into practice what we have learned: that God is our refuge-- that He's compassionate, that He always keeps His word, and that although He did not cause our catastrophe, He's still and will always be, in control.
 
To study on your own:
What other traits of God did you see in the OT passages? 
What did Corinthians reading reveal to you about God? 
Can you think of examples of how He's revealed these characteristics to you in your own life? 
What is He doing with you right now?