The Wisdom of Faith

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding;

In all your ways acknowledge Him.

And He shall direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Familiar verses.  These are some of the first verses that were ever shared with me when I first began to walk with Christ in earnest.  So many times I have revisited these verses, each time they become clearer, each time the application grows more vivid.  Think of how all encompassing these words are.  The only wise path available to humanity is a trust that is placed in the Lord - His character, plan and provision.  A complete and whole-hearted trust from the seat of the intellect, will and emotion.  The other side is equally challenging.  We spend most of our lives attempting to lean upon our own understanding.  Making our own judgments and drawing our own conclusions.  But this verse is challenging us to have a greater humility.  We are not to try to solve our problems and plan our ways by our own means and resources, but to submit ourselves fully to what His word has revealed to us and submit all of our choices to what He has revealed in His word and by His Spirit.  The last statement is the most terrifying.  Should we choose this life of faith, He will direct our paths.  This may mean that the path He chooses for us may lead away from what we think we want – but it will bring us to the place of having what we really need: a closer walk with Him.

Don't Know Fear

The LORD is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1)

Media sells to us based, in large part, on fear. Commercials sell us things by trying to convince us that we will not be able to keep up without this, or we will fall behind our neighbors without that, even something you may want or need will be sold with the threat that "this price won't last!" Fear and anxiety have effects traversing the spiritual, psychological and physical realms of life. The negative effects of fear had been seen by medical science. The world can come up with solution after solution about this, but we find the Psalmist has found a solution outside of himself.

The Psalmist fears no one and no thing because he trusts in the character and nature of God. For light, salvation and protection, David chose to look to the Lord and trust in Him. Notice that there is a resolve throughout this psalm. While David's faith is based on the facts of God's Word and built by God's faithfulness to him in the past each instance is a new opportunity to trust the Lord, and be without fear. When David was again surrounded by His enemies the choice to trust the Lord and not fear had to be made again. That trust is a forceful act of will, choosing faith over fear. Trusting that God really is who He says He is, and loves as the Bible tells us He does. There is a dogged determination to this courage that is rooted in the character of God, making the last verse of this psalm poignant and appropriate:

Wait for the LORD;

Be strong and take heart

and wait for the LORD.

Psalm 27:14

All Used Up

Perhaps you've noticed it in your every day life, perhaps you only notice when things get really tough. It is a regular occurrence for many of us. We get to the end of our rope, out of energy, out of resources. We find ourselves looking dismally into the mirror and finding that there is nothing that we can do to fix things. We realize quickly how limited our resources are, and how little that we can do. This can even lead us to discouragement, frustration and depression. For some this is the darkest hour that life has to offer. For us, as believers, I believe there is another way to describe this moment: the most glorious moments of our lives.

Is this surprising? Are we shocked and disturbed when we come to the end of OUR resources quickly? Should we have expected more out of our own strength? Why should we expect more of ourselves when we know Apostle Paul understood his own limitations: "And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest on me." (2 Corinthians 12:9) Are we so much stronger than Paul that we can do on our own what He had to rest in the Lord's strength for? More to the point - are we foolish enough to believe that we are strong enough to do things on our own?

The moment when we have nothing left, we are used up, we are incapable of any more is the moment when we should realize that we are operating from the wrong power source. That is the moment when we cry out in honesty to the Lord and hear his loving reply, that he never intended us to be operating on our own power to begin with. That moment of darkness is the moment that we must turn "...to Him who is able to exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us..." (Ephesians 3:20). We don't have to run out of our own steam to rest in Him, it is our choice. Will you choose this day to spin your wheels, and see how much you can do; or will you rely on His resources and see what He will do through you? There is a correct answer. There will be a test.

My Beautiful and Intelligent Wife

I don't know if I have mentioned it before, but I do know that I couldn't mention it enough. Aside from having been given the spiritual gift of being able to put up with me, my wife has other supernatural powers. Those of you who know us may know that we are struggling to keep afloat. Working a number of odd jobs to try to make a living and hoping (eventually) to break into full time vocational ministry. This process has been one of endless challenge and difficulty. So it has been incredible for us! This process of breaking, fighting, failure and rejection has been very difficult and has conformed us to Christ's image more than any other phase.

We have, at some level, hung our hopes on the possibility of serving at a church in Ft. Collins and flirted with the opportunity to try to plant a church in Prague. Quite a handful of things to consider and pray for. The Lord has brought us to the point where we feel like something HAS to happen soon or we will be in a heap of trouble that we wouldn't want. This has caused me to look even more despairingly at the small remaining possibilities and hope and pray that one of them may come through. While reason would say not to put all of our eggs in a basket that is by no means a sure thing, it is difficult for me not to.

In a conversation a week ago April had a breakthrough. She realized that it is no good hanging our hopes upon the possibility of this job or that, as if there was a pot of gold at the end of one of those rainbows that we are waiting for. The reality is the Christ is our hope and The Father has already given Him! Why do we need to go hoping on the chance occurrence of this or that when the reality is that our hope is in Heaven with Christ and the things promised to us here is tribulation and difficulty. Furthermore, we are promised that difficulty keeps us more and more pointed towards our real hope and home, and it ensures we will not become too wedded t this earthly prison that we are currently attached to.

It has been said by people much smarter than myself, but it bares repeating. I just need to look at Jesus today. Trust the Lord for the future. Not because "it will surely get better" and not because "there are better days ahead" there is no such promise I've found in Scripture (regarding our earthly walk - there are better days ahead once we are done with this planet and Home with the Lord) but because no matter what happens He will still be with us. The Holy Spirit is the Comforter, so I know that I will have the comfort that I need, not the necessarily the situation that I want. Reminds me of the well known verse:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace. ~Lemmel

That's good news. Right focus is everything. I was listening to the Screwtape Letters again and was once again struck by the enemies tactics at getting our eyes of Christ and off the present moment in favor of worrying our heads about things that have nothing to do with what we should be about at the present moment.

I have a smart wife. Thankful.