Soul, Are You Weary?

Overwhelmingly, it is the number one word women in my life keep using when I ask them, “How are you doing?” Weary. For many women when hard times and hard topics need to be navigated in their life, they hear the echo of that old hymn “O soul are you weary and troubled?” internally nodding their heads. Maybe it’s where your heart is also today. Perhaps, you are weary of suffering, others sin against you, doing battle against your own sin struggles, or the monotony of your season of life.

God isn’t surprised by your reaction of weariness in hard times or working through hard topics. In fact, we can see that he anticipated His people would be prone to weariness. After describing faith and celebrating His faithful people in Hebrews 11, He addresses this reality in Hebrews 12. That chapter begins with a charge to “lay aside sin” and live a life for Christ “with endurance.” Let’s read those verses before moving on:

“ 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.”

Do you see the picture that is painted in this passage? The believer is compared to a long-distance runner. As the believer lives a life of faith, she lays aside the burden of sins as she goes on her way. It’s like the various sins are carried on her shoulders, weighing her down, only making the running harder. These sins aren’t easy to dispose of, but rather leech like. She’s trying to pull them off, but it takes intentionality, perseverance and multi-tasking because she is, after all, still running. What is the motivator of the runner? Not positive visualizations of the finish line or a repeated mantra, but the person of Jesus. The runner is intentionally meditating on Jesus instead of herself or her surroundings. The runner thinks through the reality that Jesus is the origin of her faith, and that He will do the work of perfecting her faith. The runner meditates on the idea that Jesus is the One who joyfully, not begrudging, practiced endurance Himself on the cross. She remembers that Jesus put little weight in the dishonor of the experience of the cross because His true position is in heaven by God’s side. This central focus is her go to as she keeps placing one foot in front of the other sometimes slow and timid, other times, confident and fast paced.

Verse three is where we gain deep understanding in regard to how we are to address weariness in our life as we run our own long-distance race of faith. The answer is simple to understand, but difficult to faithfully implement: think about Jesus. Think through, weigh, contemplate the Jesus who also endured. He bore calmly the ill-treatment of rebellious people while He was dying for them. That old hymn by Hellen Howarth Lemmel was on the right track when it continued in the refrain:

“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.”

The remedy when we tire of this world, when we feel spiritually feeble or weak in our inner person, in our thinking, feeling, doing, and wanting is the same kind of intentional meditation of that runner in verse two. It’s turning from other things to focus on Him, looking at Him fully until we only see the Glorious and Gracious One.

One of my favorite verses, Psalm 16:8, says it this way “I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.” What a lovely visual, of Jesus, being with us as we live out our faith for the long haul. Jesus stands in front of us cheering us on, encouraging us by His own example of endurance on the cross, coaching us about our pace and form through His word and the work of the Holy Spirit. Moment by moment, we begin to remember that He is at work in us, that He has set the course for our good, that He has enabled us with muscles that can grow in strength and that when this race is over, we have eternal rest with Him where He will gloriously be always before us.

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Questions for Reflection

1. What has you feeling weary today? Take some time naming them before God in prayer.

2. Where do you see your weariness the most in your heart? Another way to say this: does your weariness come up most in your thinking, desires (wanting), emotions (feeling), or doing (your will)?

3. Think through Hebrews 11. Which hero of faith inspires you the most?

4. Consider how the hero you picked in question 2 “always set the Lord before them” or did God make Himself known to them?

5. Read verse 2 &3 again. Take some time to think through, contemplate, consider the Jesus who endured the cross. What stands out to you the most about the ways He endured? Spend some time in prayer asking Him for that kind of endurance.

*Resources used for reference: www.blueletterbible.org (Including, Strong’s, Vine’s Expository Dictionary, Thayer’s Greek Lexicon) and the ESV Bible translation.

Biblical Self Talk

You know that verse? The one you wrote out for each (able to read) family member to say out loud every time ya'll sit down to eat? The one that you've used to correct your children as they learn how to talk to one another? The one you've reminded yourself about as you're learning how to talk to your children? Yes, this one: "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear" (Ephesians 4:29). You walk through the words in your mind regarding how you treat your family members:

Are my words corrupt (rotten, not fit for use, worthless, putrefied)?

Are they building up or tearing down?

Are they right for this occasion (what the individual needs to hear right now)?

Do they give grace to those who hear?

You are making an effort to apply, to hide God's word in your heart and help your kids do the same as you interact with each other. Then life happens and the truth of scripture meets the reality of your circumstances. The happy car ride to school where everyone is singing joyously, giggles come skipping out of their mouths, where they blow you kisses and say their "I love you’s" as they head into school, the sweet smiles of the one-year-old that you watch when you pick her up, the good news from a friend--all those things that fill your heart and make it beam with thankfulness as you now drive to drop off the littles at preschool -- are interrupted by screaming. Yes, screaming and crying!

You look back as little man has the scariest look on his face. You shout, “What is wrong? What happened?” over the noise because you cannot see his little body, just his head from your driver’s seat. You look at little sunshine and she is crying and gagging. This is when you realize as little man's hand is moving into view that there is Lucky Charms puke everywhere. In the chaos, you are tossing the car garbage bag you have in your front seat to little sunshine just in time as she tosses her cookies 4 times! 4 times folks! This followed by another wave of screaming and crying.

You mentally trouble shoot: Cannot pull over. Nowhere to pull over for miles. I don't have anything to clean up this mess even if I could pull over. Out loud you say as soothingly as you can to the kids, “Are you ok? It's okay honey, calm your body down. I know it smells yucky. Don't look at it. Look outside. Breath in slowly. Here's a tissue. Just wipe your mouth. I am going home as fast as I can. Don't breathe through your nose just your mouth. Slowly honey, slowly. It will be over soon.”

You drive home as fast as the law will allow. You do all the disgusting things while only breathing through your mouth, but you are still gagging. You peel off clothes, quickly bath, dry and dress little shivering bodies into warm, comfy clothes. You set up beds for rest and prep them for the continued inevitable sickness. You scrub car seats, van floors, pull off upholstered padding of said car seats and spray and toss them in the washing machine. Through it all is the self-talk -- the corrupt talk, the talk that doesn't build up, the talk that isn't helpful in this situation, the talk that is not giving grace to the hearer--and the hearer is you.

You stop suddenly as you are overwhelmed with truth. It’s the same verse that you have been touting around before your family for all of you to relate better to one another, that you’re are memorizing as a church together. Suddenly, there is a light bulb moment. This is also how you need to talk to your own heart. You bawl your ever-loving eyes out because you realize when the everyday kind of yuck of life is going on, you internally tell yourself, and let yourself believe the ungracious, the putrid, words heavy laden with discouragement. They are untrue words, words without hope.

I’m not sure where you are most tempted to hurl those corrupt words at yourself. Maybe, like me a few years back, when my youngest two were still quite little, it is when you find yourself unprepared and you feel like you should have known better. Maybe, it’s when you give into a temptation, give up on a goal, make a silly mistake, aren’t growing like others, or don’t have a single New Year’s resolution. Whatever the circumstance, those words are often untrue (or at the very least half truths) and they are words without hope. These are words that God would never say of you. These are not the words that the gospel says of you.

So, run to Him when you are weary, heavy laden and see yourself not measuring up in some way. He gives rest when you stop striving (believing that you are doing life on your own, and in your own strength) and are still before Him. The roar of your unsettled, anxious, angry and accusing thoughts quiets to the steady beat of His truth about you. Listen to His heartbeat for you: child, forgiven, saved sinner, delighted in, disciplined for growth, loved. Speak only words that your Savior would say to you.

Questions for Personal Reflection:

Putting Off Unbiblical Self-Talk

1. What circumstances do you usually find yourself in when your self-talk is unbiblical? Make a list of tempting circumstances.

2. What corrupt (rotten, not fit for use, worthless, putrefied) words do you say to yourself? Make a list of the worst words/phrases you use on yourself.

3. Do these words build up or tear you down? Another way we could vocalize this is: Do these words help you to grow in your relationship with God or prevent growth or encourage stagnation?

4. Are these words right for the occasion you find yourself in? Are they what you need to hear right now? Be sure to differentiate between needs and wants. For more information on discerning your spiritual needs see the Discerning Our Kid’s Needs Series link. The truths of 1 Thessalonians 5:14 apply to your heart too! There is a right truth response when your heart is unruly, despondent or weak.

5. Do these words extend grace to yourself? Another way that we can put this is: Do my words remember that God extends me favor, not punishment; forgiveness not condemnation?

Putting On Biblical Self-Talk

1. Read through what you’ve discovered so far about your unbiblical self-talk. Make a new list of your tempting circumstances.

2. Write a new list of words that are honorable, noble, pure, useful, worthy, and encourage growth to replace the corrupt words.

3. Do each of the words in your new list help you to grow in your relationship with the Lord? Clarification: What are we building up? The context of Ephesians 4 suggests a couple things. The immediate previous verses clarify that this command is how we should be treating our “neighbor.” The surrounding chapter clarifies that it is for the purpose of unity and previous chapters suggest that a new life in Christ will consider the body of believers. It appears, that there is a communal purpose for this building up—that we are in fact, building up the faith of the individual in God in the midst of community.

4. Do the words/phrases in your new list address the need you have in these circumstances. Find a key verse to help encourage words of truth in this area.

5. Do your new words extend grace to yourself understanding the difference between your human error and your sin? Extending grace to yourself means, you recognize sin and run to God for forgiveness from that sin as you repent. As you repent, you accept God’s extended favor, acknowledge that you do not live under condemnation, but freedom as God promises to powerfully work in you.

*Resources used for reference: www.blueletterbible.org (Including, Strong’s, Vine’s Expository Dictionary, Thayer’s Greek Lexicon) and the ESV Bible translation.

Looking Back to Move Forward

Preparing for the New Year Series

As someone who loves hiking, I am always thrilled to find out what is around the next bend or over the next hill. Will the path lead me to a river, lake or waterfall? At the top of the rise will that be the breath-taking view? There is a longing to get to the next lovely spot. We often have this mindset as we go about life and as we plan for the new year.

There is something missing from this picture this hiking picture. When the trail is new to me, I have rarely gone on a hike without looking at beforehand or carrying a map. I want to be familiar with the lay of the land, and while I might not know the trail well enough to recognize which bend or hill has the view that I am hoping for, I do know it’s there. When I become more familiar with a trail, I have a new advantage, the advantage of context. At this point, I have more knowledge, but do not have the trail memorized. However, I can look back and see the terrain stretched out behind, knowing that I am almost at the vantage point for which I have been longing.. Looking back also helps remind me how far I have come and through what kind of circumstances. This act is a form of physical reflection.

Reflection before moving forward as we journey a trail as a hiker is similar to “run(ing) with endurance the race that is set out before us” (Hebrews 12:1b) as a believer. It is where to begin when planning for the routines and goals in a new year. We see this call for self and life evaluation throughout scripture. As an example, Psalm 119:59 tells us that the Psalmist “thinks on his ways”, he evaluates His way of doing life and then he “turns his feet to” God’s standards or God’s ways. This means he was oriented in the wrong direction either in his heart, in his actions or in both and a change was necessary. When we evaluate ourselves, we are measuring ourselves against something. For the Christian, that standard is God and His ways.

If we only evaluated ourselves with our own thoughts, our self-examination would be incomplete and potentially inaccurate. The most essential aspect of reflection and self-examination is inviting God into it. To be clear, this is not because God needs our permission. Rather, this act of inviting God into our self-evaluation acknowledges two truths. God is omniscient and knows us better than we know ourselves. This is partly due to the second truth that we are deceived by sin (Hebrews 3:13). Both of these facts aid in us understanding that we need His help when it comes to a proper understanding of ourselves.

As we look back to move forward into the new year many things will become evident. This reflective self-evaluation will result in being made aware of our strengths and weaknesses, of the areas of our life where sin abounds, and the areas where God has enabled victory. We will see a picture of how God is growing us toward Christlikeness. We will view how God is changing our heart and where we still need to grow. We will be vividly aware of how far God is bringing us in our faith walk. Our hearts will be overcome with His patience and love for us, with the fact that He doesn’t give up on us. This will overflow in thanksgiving. A thankful and worshipful heart is just the type of heart we need to begin planning for a new year. God is always primarily concerned with our being or heart because it is the soil from which our actions grow. It’s the perfect jumping off point before addressing the practical goals and routines or what we would like to be doing in the new year.

Reflection Questions for 2020

1. Think through the last year. Do your ways align with God’s ways? Do you need to “turn your feet” toward His truths? What would that practically look like? (If the concept of “ways” feels too broad or overwhelming begin with these two simple categories: Loving God & Loving Others).

2. Spend some time inviting God into your self-evaluation. Pray through all of Psalm 139 (with a focus on verse 23 & 24).

A. Ask God to show you your weaknesses that are sin (especially hidden sin/sin you are unaware of), and your weaknesses that are areas of immaturity. Ask Him how might grow in Christlikeness in those areas.

B. Ask God to show you areas of strength, how you might continue to grow in them, how you might serve Him and others with them and pray for a humble heart regarding them.

C. Write down your findings in order to create goals to address your strengths and weaknesses.

3. Consider what God has put on your heart in the above two questions. Where do you see God working in the past year in both your strengths and weaknesses? Pray a prayer of praise and Thanksgiving and to keep growing in your faith.

 *Resources used for reference: www.blueletterbible.org (Including, Strong’s, Vine’s Expository Dictionary, Thayer’s Greek Lexicon) and the ESV Bible translation.

Trusting God With Your Unknown Future

Preparing for the New Year Series

It’s that time of year again where we start thinking about what the next year holds. In our planning and goal setting, we usually aim high and have a heart attitude that is full of hope. The new year lays before us clean and shiny, full of possibilities. The circumstances of a pandemic, political strife and other hardships in 2020 have us feeling like life is a little heavier, like maybe our aim should be lowered, our heart attitude a little more prepared for disappointment and resigned to the fact that there will be less possibilities. I know in the quiet of my mind I am bent toward a focus that is a little more “realistic” than normally would be as I think through plans for 2021. My brain began by wondering how I was going to trust God with this unknown future. Then, sheepishly, those thoughts dissolved because my future has always been unknown to me. There is the rub, friends, to me means that there is a part of me that foolishly wants to rival God with control over my life.  What blessed assurance to know that my future is not unknown to Him! Unfortunately, this is not the first time I have struggled with this way of thinking and had the Holy Spirit remind me of its foolishness.

A good example of where this thinking has cropped up in my life is the future state of my health. For the last two years, I have been regularly reminded of my mortality every 3 months. It’s a part of the routine of someone who had had osteosarcoma, a bone cancer. I head into the hospital to receive a PET scan of my whole body and a CT of my lungs. They are looking for evidence of a recurrence which, statistically, is high for my brand of cancer. They scan the whole body because it could come back in any bone. They check out my lungs because if it metastasizes to there, it’s, likely, a worst-case scenario situation. The good news is that these scans have been clear for two years. The difficult part is that I only have a new lease on life for three more months. I’m always going to have to be tested, for the rest of my life. Since I have hit the two-year mark, my testing cycle moves to every four months for a year, then every 6 months for two years, and, finally, yearly until God takes me home to be with Him. Some cancer’s work in such a way that the patient can go into remission. Others, like mine, don’t have that finality. Every scan, I’m waiting to hear the words “no sign of disease”.

For the most part, I haven’t struggled too much with fear at each of these scans. The technicians, nurses and doctors are some of the best in the country. They are good, kind, hardworking people who always make me feel comfortable. They make an uncomfortable situation as easy as they can. This last scan felt heavier than usual. I was overwhelmingly sad that I was going to have to do this forever. I could see how God had helped me to not be anxious, so that it was not in the forefront of my mind. This did not mean there wasn’t a struggle. The conflict in my heart wasn’t over fear, but over trust because I was never going to be a person who could move on. The reality is that cancer can never be eliminated as a possibility in my life. I was a little fed up with this. As a result, I have to regularly lay this circumstance at the feet of Jesus, and preach to my own heart in whispers “Your will be done, Lord. I trust your sovereignty over my life. I relinquish my desire for control or answers.” This continues to be something I have to work through from time to time. Each moment I come to this point, there is a determination that looks a lot like surrender. This surrender isn’t resignation, it’s a battle that must be fought with God’s enabling. It concludes with accepting that if this is my lot in life, I am going to keep living as if the cancer isn’t going to come back until I know otherwise and while I have breath in my lungs it is going to be for the glory of God.

This struggle in my heart reminds me of John 6. Here, Jesus has been performing miracles including walking on water and feeding the 5,000. He is teaching to the crowds, and even the disciples think some of what He is teaching is “hard.” The people are asking for more miracles. He responds by emphasizing their spiritual needs over their physical needs. This calls them out on following Him because He has been providing for their physical needs. He then affirms that no one can come to Him unless granted by the Father. Many of His followers respond by no longer following Him. Jesus turns to the disciples and pointedly asks them if they want to leave too. Peter’s response begins with a rhetorical question,

““Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.””

— John 6:68

I am just like those disciples, aren’t you, at times? Following God to meet our temporary, physical needs, remembering His truths in His word and feeling like concepts such as His absolute sovereignty are hard, asking God for the miracle of our finite minds to know the future and then the fleeting thought of leaving this faith. Suddenly, my heart remembers that there is nowhere else to go and this is not in despondency. Rather, a seed of hope is reignited because belief has us remembering that we know Jesus is the only Holy One. Our hearts swell at the knowledge that this Holy One knows what is best for us, even our future.

Here’s a call, a call to relinquish 2021 into the very capable hands of the Holy One, a call to remember that we have never been in control of the future whether it holds the end of this pandemic or cancer reoccurrence. This is a call to trust that Jesus is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do. It will be for His glory and for His good. It, will often look nothing like how we would imagine it. As fellow writer Mindy Larsen shared,

““Living with unknowns is not a punishment—it’s an opportunity to relinquish control and place our trust in the One who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine.” ”

May we have tenacious confidence in His perfect, infinite, imagination for 2021 instead of our own.

Questions for Reflection

1. What are your worst-case scenarios for 2021. Make a list. Take time to verbalize in prayer God’s control over each of these.

2. What are the hard scriptural truths that you struggled to believe in 2020?

3. Make a list of the character of God. Think through how His character addresses each item on your list for question number one.

4. What temporary benefits of following God are you tempted to focus on instead of eternal ones?

5. Spend some time in prayer with what has come to light as you have answered these questions. Is there something you need to surrender into His capable hands? Take some time to imagine what your perfect, powerful, infinite God can do in 2021.

*Resources used for reference: www.blueletterbible.org (Including, Strong’s, Vine’s Expository Dictionary, Thayer’s Greek Lexicon) and the ESV Bible translation.

A Testimony of Worship in All Circumstances

Worship in the Waiting 2020 Advent Series

More than two years ago, I regularly thought that over the horizon there would be a utopia of circumstances that would allow for some form of better faithfulness on my part in my relationship with God. Have you, too, thought, “I’ll read that Bible study or serve this person with love or pray more or work on my impatience or practice worship when the kids are older or not struggling with (fill in the blank) issue or our schedule isn’t crazy or life is easier or at least not so hard?” Think for a moment, what is your “I’ll do blank” for God “when blank happens.” I’m telling you now it is a foolish way to think because we don’t know if tomorrow will be better. We don’t know if the struggle will subside, time will be ample, or life easier. We don’t know what tomorrow holds.

My tomorrow came, and as many of you know, every semblance of control, that I thought I had over my life, came crashing down. My husband, Brett, was just getting to the point of walking almost normally after ACL surgery and rehabilitation from a basketball injury. I would trip over his crutches from that surgery, tweak my knee and have pain that gradually increased over two months. What the doctor initially thought was an injury to my meniscus ended up being diagnosed as bone cancer in my femur. Osteosarcoma meant surgery to take out a large portion of my femur, and a small portion of my quad muscle, replacing my knee and my femur with plastic and steel. This surgery resulted in a lack of mobility, rehab and a long road of PT that I am still working on to this day. My leg isn’t as strong as it once was. Bone cancer meant 3-week cycles of 5-day, inpatient chemotherapy for months. It would wreak such havoc on my body that after less than a week at home with all the normal fatigue, digestive issuers and inability to keep food down, I would end up back in the hospital with a fever and some sort of infection.

At this time two years ago, while everyone else was making holiday preparations, I was in the ICU because the doctors were worried. I was having another adverse reaction to my chemo treatments but this one was dangerously starting to effect my heart and kidney function. My chemo was terminated, not because I had finished my course of treatment, but because my body couldn’t handle the high dose chemo treatments anymore. I was feeble in body, feeble in mind, and my faith—it was mustard seed size. I was sleeping 18-20 hours a day. My husband tells me that there were many times my mind “wasn’t all there.”

Do you know what was in my mind at that time? The constant ebbing in and out of exhaustion, grief, fear, sadness, loneliness, and confusion due to jumbled thinking. In these moments of intense physical and emotional pain, in the moments of weariness, God would bring a scripture, seemingly out of nowhere to my fragile mind. My thought life went something like this:

I miss Brett & the kids. I wish I could be with them. I feel so alone in this hospital. Where are you God?

“and behold I am with you always even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).“

This is so hard. My body doesn’t work right. I’m so tired of this body you gave me God.

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal(2 Corinthians 4:16-18).”

I am tired of pain Lord, tired of suffering, I know I am growing “weary of doing good (Galatians 6:9).”

“We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Romans 5:3-5).”

Day by day, moment by moment, I would struggle, and God would bring scripture to my weak mind. Can you hear it? The rhythm of my daily life? Sleep, pain, doubt, truth. Sleep, pain, doubt, truth. Each of these verses from past study of God’s word were a seed of faith planted in my heart, and it thumped on babum, babum sustained by those truths that had grown there. Before I had cancer, I tried to be faithful in knowing God better, but that faithfulness was messy with inconsistency, vacillating between joy & drudgery and sometimes motivated by the wrong heart attitudes. God took my messy faithfulness and He used it anyway. He used His words to minister to me in my weakness. His strength truly was “made perfect in weakness,” my weakness, as He promises in 2 Corinthians 12:9. Like the shepherds in Luke, God used my knowledge of Him to change me, and it resulted in worship in the quiet of my heart, a worship that was based on the seeds of truth God had planted in me through my imperfect faithfulness.

It was a worship that would make its way out of my heart, and onto my tongue as I reminded my kids about God’s presence with us, His strength in us, and His purpose for our pain. We would cling to those truths and recite them to one another because He was at work in their hearts too. Sometimes, that worship looked like singing songs of praise with tears in our eyes and smiles on our lips not because we were putting on a façade, but because we were experiencing both joy and grief. Each of our family members has a song of praise that was key to helping them through last year’s suffering. We would sing these to each other from time to time. My song was “Thy Will” by Hillary Scott where the chorus simply states “Thy will be done” three times. Ultimately, this song is about surrender to God who is good, sees and hears us. It’s about trusting and yielding my life into God’s hands because I can trust Him.

This worship wasn’t how we often imagine it. It wasn’t loud congregational song in a worship service or the carefree sing along of praise when it comes on the radio. It was sung with the quiet ache of suffering. It was whispered or hummed to as I prayed in my mind to believe the words. It was willingly placing myself under the scriptural truths as I timidly declared that God was who He said He was. This worship wasn’t important because God needed it. Worship is important because I needed it and you need it too! The truths about God that we recall take root in us and change our hearts as we recite them to ourselves and to one another. Our unsteady hearts slowly swell with the knowledge of His character and works as we remember Him. Soon, it beats to the rhythm of confidence in His truth until our minds are blown by the knowledge of Him. Francis Chan describes it this way,

““Isn’t it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate?” ”

Worship is an expression of high respect, awe and adoration to someone or something. The beauty of true worship is that it is centered around who God is, not what our circumstances are. This is why our family could worship Him in the midst of difficult times because His character and works remained the same even while our lives had changed drastically. Worship helped us remember this. Our worship wasn’t a denial of our situation, it was an act of remembrance that God is still who He says He is in the middle of all circumstances. You have a whole book of proclamations straight from God, where He gloriously declares the most beautiful story of who He is and what He has done, including the Christmas story we’ve been going through in Luke in this series.

My prayer for each of us is that God will keep using our messy unfaithfulness. I pray that we will grow in our knowledge of God. I pray that we remember our Mighty, Infinite, Majestic, All-knowing God, Our God who cannot be exaggerated and that this knowledge will resound first in our hearts, and then out through our mouth in praise both for the good of our own hearts and those of others around us.

Questions for Reflection

1. a. Read Luke 2:8-20. Think through the circumstances the shepherds were in based on last week’s blog post about them. Make a list of both the difficult and joyous circumstances they found themselves in.

   b. Consider: The shepherds had worship welling up inside them when they encountered the truth of the Messiah’s arrival and believed. Notice that their circumstances did not change. They still had to go about the physical labor of raising sheep. The Shepherds beheld Jesus and they were profoundly changed. Their circumstances didn’t change, their hearts did. John Piper puts it this way, “In the case of Jesus, he is infinitely admirable, and our admiration rises to the most absolute worship. Therefore, when we behold him as we should, the change is profound.” Think on what is infinitely admirable about Jesus.

2. a. Read Luke 1:26-56. Think through the circumstances that Mary found herself in. Make a list of both the difficult and joyous circumstances she found herself in.

     b. Consider: Culturally, Mary would be, at the very least, looked down on and gossiped about for being pregnant without being officially married. Her pregnancy was un unplanned one. In addition, while she knew that she carried God’s Son, what would other’s think of this explanation? Would she be believed or would they think she or she and Joseph were trying to hide their indiscretion? Mary was, likely, a teen at this time, as many married young. How does this play into her situation? Mary’s response is a song of praise to God for allowing her to be a part of His plan and for fulfilling His promise. Just before this, Elizabeth, in verse 45, says of Mary that she believed that the Lord would do what He said. What does her belief in God’s promise in the midst of difficult circumstances result in?

3. What hard circumstances are you in the middle of right now? What joyous circumstances are you in the middle of right now? What kind of emotions are going on in your heart right now? Consider what you know about God-- both His character and His works. Make a list of all of your circumstances and describe who God is in them based on His character and works. Is there a specific character trait or work that your heart needs to remember? Try to spend some time in worship concerning that trait or work of God.

Click the button below for a corresponding video on how to worship in all circumstances as a family:

 *Resources used for reference: www.blueletterbible.org (Including, Strong’s, Vine’s Expository Dictionary, Thayer’s Greek Lexicon) and the ESV Bible translation.

Worship Like the Shepherds

Worship in the Waiting 2020 Advent Series

Read Luke 2:8-20. As you do, put yourself in the shoes of the shepherds considering their example of faith.

““And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.”
”

When we come to this passage and take into consideration the culture and historical time period, Bethlehem is buzzing with crowds because of the census that is being taken. Mary & Joseph have already found no room in the inn and are in the stable with baby Jesus. This specific scene is a close-up of the life of a shepherd. These were hard working guys that were rough around the edges and may have been looked down as they were a lower class. At this time of year, winter rains had produced grass on the uplands outside of Bethlehem. The shepherds were at least five miles outside of town taking shifts to watch their flock and guarding it from predators because this was a prime place to feed their flock. Most of the shepherds were asleep, except for the shepherd who was “on duty” while the others rested. Their experience was like the worst version of your parents turning the lights on to wake you up or a deer in headlights type of reaction. No wonder they experienced some intense fear, as they were woken from sleep to the appearance of an angel above them and being completely immersed in the brightness, majesty & splendor of God. They listened to this extraordinary, unexpected proclamation that the Messiah who had been promised and they had learned about growing up was born. Suddenly, a troop of angels appeared alongside the original angel and bursts into praise “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth good will among men!” What a baby announcement! Can you imagine? It kind of puts our modern baby announcements on social media or via snail mail to shame, doesn’t?

Within this announcement, the shepherds are given two clues on how to find this baby. First, the baby would be wrapped like all babies were wrapped at that time in strips of cloth that bound the baby, cocoon like, to keep it warm and safe. Second, the baby would be laying in an animal feeding trough, not a typical place to put a baby. When the angels leave, the shepherds display they believe the proclamation of the angels, by deciding to “go see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” They travel the five miles to Bethlehem quickly and with urgency to find Mary & Joseph in a stable and the baby Jesus in the manger as the angels told them. This took a lot of effort, walking those five miles, searching through a town in the middle a of a census that probably had many feeding troughs, as at this time animals were the main form of transportation and livelihood.

When they arrive, they tell everyone in the area about the angels’ proclamation and how they found the baby just where the angels had predicted. People are astonished by their testimony. Mary responds by trying to preserve this memory in her mind desiring to bring all the intricacies of the event into her heart.

Lastly, the shepherds go back to work. They travel back five miles to the grassy pastures their sheep need for sustenance, but they go back to work changed men. These are men who are glorifying God and worshiping God by singing praises. What does the passage say motivated their worship: “all that they had heard and seen as it had been told to them by the angels.”

The Shepherds are a distinct example of worship for us. They have an encounter with new knowledge of God, and they listen. After acquiring this knowledge, they act on their belief and search for Jesus until they find Him. When they find Him, they tell everyone in the surrounding area what they learned, and how they found Jesus. Then they go about their everyday lives, but with changed hearts full of worship.

The shepherds had an intimate, first-hand, knowledge of God, and that personal knowledge produced sincere worship. N.T. Wright describes it this way

““If your idea of God, if your idea of salvation offered in Christ is vague or remote, your idea of worship will be fuzzy and ill-formed. The closer you get to the truth, the clearer becomes the beauty, and the more you will find worship welling up within you.” ”

Questions for Reflection

Like the shepherds…

1. …are you regularly listening to God’s truth?

2. …does your relationship look like chasing after Jesus with urgency, do you act on your beliefs, or is it a second thought, something you’ll pursue when life gets easier, more manageable?

3. …do you share what you learn about God and what you keep finding out about Him with those all around you? Are you talking openly about the truths that you’ve had to wrestle with, the truths that brought you joy & peace, or the truths that deeply convicted you?

Click the button below for a corresponding video on how to worship like the shepherds as a family:

*Resources used for reference: www.blueletterbible.org (Including, Strong’s, Vine’s Expository Dictionary, Thayer’s Greek Lexicon) and the ESV Bible translation.

Worship is Remembering the Story

Worship in the Waiting 2020 Advent Series

Have your kids done this? Have they asked you to recount the same story over and over? Mine have. They come with a wistful sparkle in their eyes asking “Momma can you tell me when you adopted me/when you and Daddy fell in love/when I was born?” They are delighted to hear it again and again. It’s as if this time is the first time when you see their animated expressions throughout the arch of your family’s little story. Eventually, it becomes so well known that they correct you when you forget a detail or they finish your sentences when you get to the best parts.

Isn’t this exactly what we do during advent? As Christmas draws near, we recite the elements of God’s big story in the story of a one-of-a-kind baby that was promised long ago. Our hearts yearn to hear, once again, the unwed young woman, the angel’s visit, Mary’s song of praise, the shepherds awakened, the heavenly choir, and the rush of shepherds to see the baby lying in a manager. Each gospel writer tells the story from a different perspective, adding details as if they are all peering at different facets of the same precious jewel.  They call us to make much of God by remembering the story.  It’s a story that echoes with who he is and what He has done.

In his book Delighting in God, A.W. Tozer states “It is simply not enough to know about God. We must know God in increasing levels of intimacy that lifts us up above reason and into the world of adoration and praise.” When we consider the Christmas story, the birth of Jesus, many of us know it well. Tozer is challenging us to not just know the Christmas story, but to know, intimately, our God who is the key player in the story. When we know Him and not just facts about Him, adoration and praise flow from us. Like a champagne bottle, shaken up, and uncorked, we cannot help but burst into worship. It is the outcome of deep knowledge of God. Our kids do it too with our family stories. At first, they simply listen, but as the years pass their intimate knowledge expresses itself in delight that cannot help but well up and burst out of them in exclamations of “This is my favorite part!” or the addition of details they don’t want to forget. May we all approach the Christmas story this very way! This is advent worship: remembering and retelling the story of Christmas with delight in our hearts that bursts forth in praise.

 Read Luke 2:8-20. As you do, mine this passage for knowledge about who God is and what He has done.

“And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest,
            and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.”

What kind of picture does this story within the bigger story of the Bible paint of who God is? First, we see God as the initiator in His relationship with us. He keeps pursuing us. It is He who sends angels to tell the Shepherds what has happened. We also see Him initiating relationship with us, as Philippians 2:7 describes, when He was “born in the likeness of men”, becoming like us so that we may be more easily receptive to Him. Second, coming in the form of a human baby shows his desire to be approachable. All I can think of is the Genie in Aladdin when he says, “Phenomenal cosmic powers…itty-bitty living space.” God is like that: all-powerful, eternal, limitless, and yet, He is packed into the body of a human baby. This is amazing because He deserves more, but He chooses humility in order to reach our hearts.  The Philippians 2 passage goes on to express it this way, “though he was in the form of God, He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant.” Thirdly, God is knowable. Just as the Shepherds listened and learned, and sought & found Jesus, we can too. We may not have a message to delivered to us in person by angels from God, but we do have a whole book where God reveals Himself to us. Fourthly, God is still worthy of our worship. We see this depicted in both the angels’ worship of Him, and the shepherds. Lastly, we learn that God is faithful. The angelic announcement essentially told the shepherds that what was previously promised in Old Testament passages, like Jeremiah 23 & Micah 5, had come to pass. What He said He would do, He has done. The Messiah is here, and He is born in the city and from the lineage of David as was foretold.

Let’s wrap up with a concluding thought. Worship is remembering The Story, the one truest story, reciting it over and over, preaching it to our own hearts. Worship is declaring to one another again and again. Worship is not just knowing facts about Him by heart. Repeating the story spurs us on to know Him deeply, by heart. Knowing Him by heart looks like being inclined to His ways in our will, emotions, intellect, and decisions. Knowing Him by heart produces authentic praise, praise that cannot help but resound in our hearts, pour out of lips and into the lives around us.

 Questions for Reflection

1. Read through the Luke passage again. Make a list of who God is (character) and what He has done (works) in the story.

2. How does the account of Jesus’ birth connect to the Old Testament? Why is the birth of Jesus necessary for the gospel?

3. Spend 5 minutes in worship/praise of God from your study.

Click the button below for a corresponding video on how to remember the story as a family:

*Resources used for reference: www.blueletterbible.org (Including, Strong’s, Vine’s Expository Dictionary, Thayer’s Greek Lexicon) and the ESV Bible translation.

Learning to Prioritize the Spiritual Over the Physical

Lessons Through Cancer

Our Physical Needs Are Real

It’s tempting to focus on my physical body as the priority in my life because it has real needs that I have to tend to regularly. Two years after the, bone cancer, osteosarcoma, I have quarterly PET and CT scans. My reality is that of a right leg that is weaker than a normal leg. As a result, there is continued PT, the regular need to not stand too long or sit too long in one position and a level of awareness that is exhausting because I cannot let my guard down in regard to that leg. I always need to be thinking about walking, making sure there are no obstacles, preparing for stairs and rough, slippery, steep terrain. In addition, I cannot run, which means I cannot rush. Lastly, I have neuropathy which means my feet usually feel prickly. The weather changing and exercise make this worse. Sometimes, the only thing that helps is to put them up. It’s takes a lot of intentionality to not tie my joy to the physical difficulties in my life and to not let myself be consumed by them. I’ve both grown weary and had God enabled victory in this area. This is a daily struggle. To be clear, it’s hard.

A Wrong Priority in John 6

Imagine my surprise, as I studied John 6, and found that Jesus’ followers also struggled with fixating on their physical needs. In this Chapter of the Bible we see Jesus addressing real, human needs like hunger and fear. In the previous two chapters, Jesus heals a terminally ill person and someone who could not walk. It is apparent that He cared about the physical and emotional needs of humanity as He ministered to them. However, Jesus is quick to call out His followers on their wrong prioritization. In verses, 26-27, He addresses that the crowds main concern is filling their bellies. They had, truly, worked hard to get to Him by boat, but for the wrong reasons. They were following Him because He provided for their temporary, earthly needs. He corrects them, encouraging them to put more effort into seeking their spiritual needs of belief and eternal life (vs. 29, 36, 40). He uses the figurative language of bread, and sustenance in it to point to their need for true spiritual sustenance of which He is the source. Their focus remains on their temporary need of literal food, and Jesus’ earthly family (vs. 34 & 42). They cannot help but be blinded to their spiritual needs when their gaze is unflinching fixated on their earthly circumstances.

Struggling to Prioritize Today

Isn’t that us? Don’t you see yourself doing the same? Aren’t you tempted to look at your real, temporary, human needs as you live in them because they feel the most pressing? Do you focus on them to the detriment of your spiritual ones? I do. We run to Jesus, making every effort to go to Him with our physical hardships. This is right, and even good. However, we are overwhelming concerned with them and it becomes a disservice to our spiritual needs. They are not the priority that they should be. Just like the crowds, we struggle to follow Jesus when we perceive that His focus isn’t on our physical, temporary struggles of today. We want to “no longer walk with Him” like they did (vs 66) when we stubbornly stomp our feet and demand God do things our way instead of His own. We look at how we feel today, this week, this year when God is offering us a greater, enduring hope. He stands over all time and tells us to focus on eternity.

Strength for Today and Hope for Tomorrow

This long view focus is an eternal one and in it we come to realize two things. First, this life, this body and these circumstances are fleeting, a blip on the timeline of our lives. Second, in the midst of this life, this God-given body, and these daily situations, God uses them as a vehicle to grow our belief in Him. Our spiritual needs aren’t something to address only after the physical ones have been dealt with personally or brought to God. Like a living parable, the circumstances of our lives show us our greatest need is only found in Him. Like the crowds, we need the reminder that our physical needs point to our spiritual ones. I know I need that physical picture so that I don’t forget that I will be sustained, not because I have my belly filled, or the cancer never comes back or my leg functions normally, but because He is growing a faith in me while my leg is weak, while I wait to hear every 4 months that the cancer hasn’t come back and while the pins and needles sensation in my feet ebbs and flows.

God withholds no good thing from me and He withholds no good thing from you. This includes using our physical needs as an instrument to grow our faith in Him. He will not stop prioritizing our greatest need of a life found in Him despite all the times that we do. Praise be to God for this needy body and His faithful work!

 Questions for Reflection:

1.       Name some pressing physical needs and consider how God has been meeting them.

2.       Name some pressing physical needs that may never be met on this side of heaven.

3.       When you come to God with your needs what does your time with Him look like? Prayerfully consider what you prioritize.

4.       How has God used your physical life as a “living parable” to grow your faith? What have you learned?

5.       Name your most pressing spiritual needs right now. Spend some time asking God for His enablement to grow in these areas. Write down actionable steps to work on these areas.

6.       Name the spiritual needs and physical needs that are made complete in heaven. Take time to praise and thank God for these future hopes.

*Resources used for reference: www.blueletterbible.org (Including, Strong’s, Vine’s Expository Dictionary, Thayer’s Greek Lexicon).

Weary? Fix Your Gaze On Jesus

Guest Post: Dawn Karels

Overwhelmed. Discouraged. Weary. Fearful. A lot of us are feeling those things right now as we watch the news and our social media feeds are filled with arguing voices and suffering with seemingly no end in sight. I have felt the weight of the suffering of humankind on my shoulders, the anguish of many and the effects of sin-even my own. These are constant reminders that this world is not our home.  

I’m tempted to hibernate, to impose a sort of self preservation quarantine. Except this time not to avoid a contagious coronavirus, but instead the disease that eats away at my peace of mind when I stare at the world’s problems with a fixed gaze. When I look at all of the suffering around the world with a magnified gaze, I can no longer see the one who truly brings peace: Jesus.  
 

As long as we live on this earth we will have troubles. In fact, Jesus himself guaranteed it!  Shortly before He was arrested and crucified, Jesus told the disciples this: 

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world!” - John 16:33 NIV Translation

Take heart dear daughters of The Most High God. We can have peace, because Jesus himself is our peace and Jesus has overcome the world! I’m reminded of an old hymn written by Helen Howarth Lemmel:

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!

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.

Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
O’er us sin no more hath dominion—
For more than conqu’rors we are!

His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!

I encourage you during this time to fix your gaze on Jesus, the only one who can free us from sin and bring peace. 

Reflection Practices to fix our gaze on Jesus:

1. In John 16, Jesus is encouraging His disciples with long term hope and joy as well as acknowledging their current and soon to be hardships in their lives. Name your troubles in a list. Now name the hopes and joys you have in Jesus.

2. Take some time to pray through your two lists asking for help, giving thanks and praising God.

3. One hope that we have is a future with God in heaven. Take some time to imagine what heaven will be like. Think through what our five senses would experience in heaven. This would also be a great exercise to do as a family at dinner time.

Survival Mode Requires Deep Dependence

Faith Lessons Through Cancer

Many of us have been there, haven’t we? When the job is lost and we aren’t sure how we’ll pay the bills or the necessary medical procedures result in overwhelming debt, when the disease threatens our life and we eek out insufficient energy to start and finish each day, when betrayal in a relationship turns our world upside down or when we lose someone we love deeply and grief overwhelms us, in each of these situations our life shifts into something noticeably different. We often give it the term “survival mode.” Though the circumstances vary, we all go through a process, of sorts, where we lay aside the less essential, hold fast to the highest priorities and simply try to make our way through the dense fog of financial hardship, illness and treatments, emotional healing from hurt or loss and many other forms of suffering.

How does one wade through that thick fog? Some will quip “one day, one moment, one decision at a time” with the understanding that it is a slow process that requires a focus on your short game. They aren’t wrong. There is some truth to that. We can only do what we can do in each minute that we live in. 

Let’s propose something else though because while life in survival mode may mean I have to lay many things aside to focus on the priority of a meaningful few, and while survival mode may look like taking each moment as it comes, it is also not just about my methods, actions or doing, but profoundly much more about who I will be. This heavy decision about who I will be takes place in my heart over and over again during my time of survival mode. It comes down to this simple question: will I be bitter, or will I be deeply dependent on God? 

This question will sound harsh to some, but let’s be clear. There is plenty of room before God for strong, sincere emotions around grief, doubt, and lament. We can follow our great God who is boundless in faithfulness as we navigate a range of emotions before Him. We can be on guard so that as we navigate those feelings, we don’t slide into bitterness that rots us from the inside out. We can surrender our circumstances to Him so that our faith is rooted in reliance upon Him. Psalm 73:21&22 describes bitterness this way, “When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.” Those words brutish, ignorant and like a beast clarify how suffering tempts us to interact with God in a manner that is not true to the nature of our relationship with God.  We relate to God as if we are not in intimate loving fellowship with Him, but are, rather, His enemies. These terms sound like a caged animal, don’t they? This brute is unhappy about their circumstances and lashes out toward God. I have been this person. Have you? I have let the seed of bitterness grow in my heart until my mouth was dripping with prideful anger and irritation that lashed out at God and others. Bitterness can change people that are hurting into people that hurt. Bitterness is a heart disease that attempts to find comfort in unrighteous anger instead of the comfort God provides. I’ve been that person as I looked in disgust at the new unwanted form of my body during surgery, cancer, chemo and rehabilitation. I have felt the anger that presumes a strong, healthy, normally functioning body is what is best for me in this life. I’ve let God know a thing or to about how I feel concerning His sovereign plan for me this side of heaven. This bitterness regarding my lot in life did not serve me well. It poisoned my mind into believing lies about my body and God. I knew I needed to do battle with it.

In survival mode, we flourish when we push away this animal like bitterness, exchanging it for dependence on God in those little moments, next right decisions, or daily steps. Deep dependence looks like remembering God’s intimate hand holding presence (Psalm 73:23). Deep dependence quickly runs to the counsel He gives in His word (Psalm 73:24). Deep dependence declares that God is our greatest resource and desire (Psalm73:25).  Deep dependence cries out to God for His enabling power (Psalm73:26). Deep dependence considers God’s presence good (Psalm 73:28). Deep dependence considers God his/her refuge because of His sovereignty (Psalm 73:28). Deep dependence tells others of God’s works (Psalm 73:28). Those that God has allowed in our sphere of influence take notice when we engage in deep dependence in God. We begin to hear these comments: “you’re so strong”, “I don’t how you do it”, “I couldn’t handle that!”

In my own experience, these comments made me uncomfortable, until I realized that they were gospel opportunities. Truly, we have the privilege to “know him” and make him known (John 17:3). We respond in two key ways: honesty and deflection. First, we tell them candidly that we aren’t strong, we are weak, it’s hard/not easy, we’re struggling to handle it and that we have all kinds of emotions we are navigating. We make it clear that we, in of ourselves, cannot bear up under this weight. We give credit where credit is due deflecting all glory to God. We clarify that the strength they see in us, that character they think we’ve mastered, or our hopeful attitude is God in us. This is how we live out the “but God” of scripture where over and over again we see that we can’t manage hard circumstances or our sinful hearts, “but God” can. We show them Christ IN us.

Let’s remember that bitterness won’t serve us well. Let’s trade the bitterness we are tempted to succumb to moment by moment for deep dependence on God. Let’s exclaim like the Psalmist in 73 “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” When we do, we are telling of God’s good work in our lives just as the Psalmist does in the conclusion of 73. When we exchange bitterness for deep dependence on God, we become believers who can truly comfort others in hardship because we have experienced the comfort of God through His presence, His word, His power, and His sovereignty. Deep dependence on God opens a window to others so that they may see how God is at work in us in all circumstances.

Questions for Reflection:

1.  What aspect of your life are you tempted to be bitter in? Where in your life do you see that your response to God is brutish? Ignorant? Beast like?

2. Using Psalm 73, complete the following to fortify deep dependence on God:

a. Read verse 23. Close your eyes and imagine God’s hand holding presence. Think through your five senses (sight, taste, touch, sound, smell). If Jesus was holding your hand right now, what would you experience with those five senses? How would this be a comfort to you?

b. Read verse 24. Choose one or two verses from scripture that are the counsel you need to be reminded of in your current circumstances. Write them down on a 3x5 card. Place them prominently in areas of your home/car where you will see them regularly. Each time you see them read them out loud to yourself and pray through them in times where you are tempted to be bitter.

c. Read verse 25. Make a list of the type of resource God is for you. (It might help to think through His attributes/character/divine work and how it relates to your life personally). Read through that list and take an honest look. Do you truly desire these in your life? Mark the traits you are struggling to believe right now.

d. Read verse 26. Cry out to God for His enabling power that you might persevere through this hardship and grow in Christlikeness. In prayer, ask for His power to strengthen your faith for those items you marked in step c.

e. Read verse 28. Consider how God’s presence has ministered to you before or to others you know.

f. Read verse 28. Think about the idea of God as a refuge. What does a refuge look like? Why does one take shelter in it? Why would God being sovereign help you to take refuge in Him?

g. Read verse 28. What was one work of God in your current circumstances that you can share with someone? Tell them today!

*Resources used for reference: www.blueletterbible.org (Including, Strong’s, Vine’s Expository Dictionary, Thayer’s Greek Lexicon).