Month: September 2024

“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying around the death of Jesus in our body, in order that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are continually being handed over to death because of Jesus, in order that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal flesh.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-11)

“Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

If the truth were ever told about the effect that doubt could have in your life, the above verses hit the nail on the head.

I’ll tell you something else that’s true about doubt. It is expected in the life of every believer. So don’t be discouraged when doubt comes your way. It’s never a permanent condition, and the irony of doubt is that it always brings with it an opportunity to grow closer to God.

I don’t like the feelings I get in my gut from doubt either. I was embarrassed, for example, to admit in a column I wrote several years ago that a friend’s brush with death actually got me to wondering if there really was a heaven. Fortunately, it forced me to re-think my beliefs, and reminded me that only God could console me from the emptiness and shame that came with that experience.

No, doubt will never give you the confidence you need to ride out the storm of confusion that it inevitably brings, but God will reward you for enduring that storm.

Those doubts I had about heaven years ago continue to strengthen my faith today because I searched my heart and answered some tough questions about what I believed.

It has been said that to believe with certainty, we must begin with doubting. That’s a spiritual truth that was played out in the Bible through an encounter that Jesus had with one of his own disciples, Thomas.

Thomas was not present when Jesus first appeared to the disciples after the resurrection, so he didn’t believe his friends when they told him they had just seen Jesus. “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it,” he told them. (John 20:25)

A week later, Jesus came to his disciples again, and this time, he went straight to Thomas. “Put your finger here,” he told Thomas, “see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” (John 20:27)

Did you hear what Jesus said? “Stop doubting and believe”, but not before he told Thomas that it was okay to touch and see. To believe with certainty, we must begin with doubting.

Bill Gaither was once so plagued by the confusion that doubt brought his way, he wrote a song about it, but not until it forced him to answer some tough questions, too. Read the lyrics and think about his advice.

I believe. Help thou my unbelief.
I take the finite risk of trusting like a child.
I believe. Help thou my unbelief.
I walk into the unknown, trusting all the while.
I long so much to feel the warmth that others seem to know.
But should I never feel a thing, I claim Him even so.
I believe. Help thou my unbelief.
I walk into the unknown trusting as a child.

There are so many infinately deep and difficult questions about God that we will be confronted with during our lives that there invariably be moments of doubt. “How can this all be?” might race across the screen of our mind at times.

But here is the truth. Don’t leave the theater with that on the screen. Deal with the doubt by going to the Word, not setting it aside. Deal with the doubt by talking to those who you trust. Deal with the doubt by fervently praying about it. Deal with the doubt by revisiting your past confidence. Deal with your doubt by actively dealing with your doubt. Don’t let doubt become the reality of your spiritual life.

Doubt is focusing on what is around us rather than on Who is in us. Focus on Him. I believe. Help thou my unbelief.

“Be ye also patient; prepare your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draws near.” James 5:8

Getting to spend time with the grandkids over the last few years (actually 20!) has taught me a lot about patience.  The kids always have so much energy and they are ready to go from one activity to another without even having to catch their breath.  Because I have to catch my breath occasionally I need to learn some patience or I will get ahead of myself.  I am not a kid anymore and at 73 I hardly remember even being a kid.

Being with the grandkids is a kick. The following story did not happen, but it is in my memory banks and I could sure see it happening because so many equally neat things have happened during the years. Picture Nana preparing pancakes for all the kids (which she did), Asher and Isaac begin to argue over who would get the first pancake (which is possible). Nana sees this as an opportunity for a good Bible lesson not only for the two little ones, but for all the rest. So she says; “Now kids, if Jesus were sitting here, He would say, ‘Let my brother have the first pancake. I can wait.'” Asher then turns to Isaac and says, “Isaac, you be Jesus.” Did it happen? Naw, but could it happen? Sure. With all the great lines and all the wonderful things that have happened through the years, it might even happen the next time we are with them.

So kids want to eat first, bat first, fish first, and well, do almost everything first. (Except be punished first. They seem to be more patient in that instance). But every year as the kids get older they get more and more patient. I have heard many times recently the line, “You go first,” and it seems as the kids get older, they get more mature in this area. As we get more mature in our Christian walk, we need to show the same kind of progress in our patience.

Patience is especially important when it comes to the Lord. He has a whole lot of things to take care of and sometimes what we want to see happen now, just can’t. We have all heard the prayer, “Lord, give me patience and give it to me now.” If we don’t have patience we can easily get discouraged with the pace that God sometimes keeps. Maybe that friend we pray for just never seems to get the gospel. Maybe our ministry at work never seems to pay dividends. Maybe our life seems to stand still while those around us fly on ahead. Whatever the situation, it is possible for even the most dedicated Christian to get discouraged with God’s schedule.

The Word shows us time and time again that growth and strength in waiting are often more important than the end so impatiently longed for. Paul had time to realize this as he lay in prison, and the result was God’s words that he penned for us. Paul could have been pacing his cells waiting for God to move, but instead he used the time to write words that would change the world. Moses must have asked, ‘Why?’ many times during the delays in the wilderness, but yet the wanderings (and wonderings) were necessary to build God’s nation. Even Jesus Himself experienced the discipline of delay in His first 30 years or so before the beginning of His great public ministry.

Sometimes when we have been waiting on something for a long time, we get very weary. But we must remember we are not alone! Sometimes, like the cake that is in the oven, God’s plan must be finished before we can enjoy it. If we get it when we want it, it won’t be ready for us. Our impatience would lead to an inferior result. Let’s allow God to move at the pace He wants, because it will always be better than the pace we call for. If we ask the Lord to renew our hearts and desires today, and give us a fresh infilling of strength to wait on His perfect timing, He will do so. He wants us to have the greatest gifts at just the right time and because He is the creator of both- it is best if we let Him handle it.

“Indeed, my plans are not like your plans, and my deeds are not like your deeds, for just as the sky is higher than the earth, so my deeds are superior to your deeds and my plans superior to your plans.” Isaiah 55:8,9

I like to think of myself as okay. Not great, but at least okay. I am probably not the only one who does that. It is comforting, I guess, to look around and believe that there are a lot of people worse than we are. But today I was looking at these verses in Isaiah and I realized that the word “your” in these verses was talking about me. Not the other guy- me. My deeds are not like God’s deeds. My ways are not God’s ways. In all ways, His ways are superior to my ways.

Well, I guess that can be fairly depressing if we ponder it. But God does not stop there and leave us with no hope. Almost every part of the Bible is about hope; about how we can triumph in spite of our misguided ways. The Bible gives us hope in a world of hopelessness.

Today I was thinking back to a few summers ago to the inferior rafts that I bought for our family camping trip. I recently upgraded to one that actually floats. I thought it would be a good investment, especially for whoever is in the middle of the river in it. Our ways are like those old rafts. They are inferior and regardless of how fast or slow the leak- our ways always leak. And like the rafts, we cannot patch them on our own. We can try to fix things up on our own, but it will never work. I had to get a new raft, just like we have to become new creatures. We can’t patch up the old, we must become new. That can only be done through Christ.

I like to think some of my ways are good. But no matter how good I think they are, if they are mine, they are not the ways of God. What I need to do is to know God well enough to know His ways. When I start becoming more like Him, my ways will start to come in line with His ways.

Many people want to try to do their own thing and try to align God with them. That cannot be done. Going back to the rafts, that would be like coming back to camp and instead of pulling ourselves to shore, we try to pull the shore to us. The shore, like God, is fixed. We must be the ones that move. If God’s ways are superior to ours, why should He come to us. It is logical that we go to Him. Unfortunately, the common practice is for us to do our own thing and then try to say that is God’s way as well.

I think back to that past summer and what it was like when my raft was sinking in the middle of the river. I was thinking that I will probably go down with both ends of the raft above my head closing in on me like a giant clam. I thought how much better it would be to have a raft that holds air. Now I have a good raft because I purchased one. If we want to get rid of our inferior ways, guess what, we don’t have to purchase it. It has been paid for and all we need to do is receive it.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23

While reading through the Bible there is the reoccurrence of a theme that we should keep in mind every time we open the Word. God is not hesitant to point out the diseases humankind faces, but as is the nature of a loving God, He just as quickly points out the cures. In the greatest example, God, through men with pens, has warned us of the poison called sin that pulses through each of us. God, through those same men, has revealed to us the antidote- Jesus.

This pattern is seen in almost every one of the New Testament books. God says, “Don’t do this (because it is injurious to us), but do this (because it is beneficial to us). A wonderful example can be found in Ephesians 5. Verse 17 says, “So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is,” and 18 says, “And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless actions, but be filled by the Spirit.” Paul tells us what we should not do, but does not leave it there. He tells us what we should do instead. Every “don’t do” in the Word is followed by a “but do” and He gives us the power to do it.

Paul understands, through the Holy Spirit, that just pointing out what we should not do leaves a void that needs to be filled with something. Not long ago I heard a phrase regarding parenting. A child psychologist said to a group of parents, “if you don’t train up your child, someone else will.” What that means is that if we take something away, it will be filled with something else, but that something else isn’t always good. That’s why Paul does not just say, “Don’t be filled with spirits” and stop there, but goes on to say that we should be filled with the Holy Spirit instead.

It is said if someone quits smoking he needs to do something to fill the void left. When my dad quit smoking in 1969 he had to have something to replace the three packs a day that he smoked every day. He had to have something that replaced the nicotine, the smell, the movement of hand to lips, and a host of other habits. There weren’t enough packs of gum, nicotine patches, or suckers that could replace that thirty-year habit. He replaced the habit with prayer. He said he prayed non-stop all the way from Portland (where he smoked his last cigarette) to Grants Pass (where he died over forty years later). He said that after that day in 1969 he never craved a cigarette again. No nicotine patch for him- he put on a prayer patch instead. God always supplies the alternatives if we want to use them.

In Ephesians 4:31-32 Paul tells us “to put away every kind of bitterness, anger, wrath, quarreling, and evil, slanderous talk. and instead, be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you.” We cannot just put away the bad and stop there. We must put on the good, as well. If we don’t, the bad will return; the vacuum will be filled; the old nature will step back on the throne.

The other day in my Bible reading Abraham was called to make a sacrifice and his son was laid upon the altar. When the time came for the sacrifice, God didn’t say, “Nevermind, Abraham. You proved yourself. Untie Isaac and go home.” No, God filled the void that was left on altar with a ram caught in a thicket. If God asks us to give up something, he will graciously provide a better alternative.

The Bible is a book of answers. To be otherwise would show a merciless God who has penned a medical book that lists diseases without the cures. But our God is merciful and prefers instruction to destruction. The Bible is the greatest book ever written and describes the human dilemmas more honestly than any other. Fortunately for us, it is also the book that outlines how to deal with those dilemmas. So when God directs us away from something, He always directs us toward something else. That is what a good God does; that is why we can say we have a good God.

Have a Great Day.