He Will Take Care of the Rest!

You were trucking along, accomplishing something that you were certain God had directed you to do, and then suddenly an impossible circumstance rose up in your way.  You can't go around it, and it looks like you can't go through it.  Now what?  Has God changed the plan?  Is it time to give up?

If you have been following God for very long, you have probably encountered this "wall" at least once.  God told you to start a business or a ministry, begin a friendship or a relationship, go back to school or finish a degree, etc.  You launched in to the project with great enthusiasm and initially God confirmed everything you were doing.  You knew that it was right to start this project, and that God was in it, but now, where is the funding, support, or time?  If things continue as they are, you cannot see any end other than complete ruin.  This is when people around you begin to offer two takes on the situation: (1) "Have faith," or (2) "You're crazy/Give up now."

Now, I have to admit something here.  It is usually really easy to have faith in God when we can see that He is moving in our lives, or when we are having an easy time accomplishing the tasks set before us.  Even if life isn't fabulous in such moments, our faith can be.  However, when we come up against a wall, it seems that sometimes God, as well as our mission, can be obscured from our view.  It is at those moments when we see how faithless we can be.  When we are faced with a certain future--certainly doomed, that is--the world gets a chance to see how much we trust God.  What would people see in you in such moments?

On the Shore

I am reminded today of the Israelites' change in attitude as they left Egypt.  They went out celebrating and singing as they walked out of Goshen and all the other Egyptian cities where they had been living and working. They weren't just happy to be leaving; they were happy to have witnessed a miracle from God that delivered them from Egypt.  I see no evidence that they mistook the hand of God or thought they were coming right back.  They even took their bread dough with them in the kneading troughs (see Exodus 12: 31-39).  These people knew their mission, and they had proof enough that God was with them.
Then, they arrived at the shores of the Red Sea, and they looked back and saw that Pharaoh's army was coming to destroy them or to take them back to Egypt.  All of that joy was quickly forgotten; in fact, the Israelites are recorded as saying to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?  Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” (Exodus 14 : 11, 12 NIV).  Oh, what shining faith we have exemplified here!

Let us be reminded that the Israelites were not spouting "crazy talk."  They were taking what the whole world calls a perfectly reasonable assessment of the situation.  A few people in top condition might be able to swim across the bottom tip of the Red Sea (might; not likely, though); most people would die.  Even if they had started to run away at that moment, they could not have outrun horses and chariots.  There were women, children, and the elderly in their group, along with many, many animals and heavy possessions necessary for their journey.  This was a truly impossible circumstance!

If faith is assurance of what we cannot see (Hebrews 11: 1), it is clear from their words that they didn't have real faith.  It seems contrary to their attitude of joy and victory as they marched out to the shore, but it makes sense.  It is easy to believe in a God we can see; it is hard, very hard, to believe in a God who is invisible in our circumstances.  Our mind, and our eyes, rebel against our faith.

Stand at the Water's Edge

I think there lies the problem.  We cannot have a strong or lasting faith if, figuratively speaking, we are looking at the waterfront on one side and the chariots on the other.  We need to look up, to God, and trust that He is there, looking back at us, even if we can't see Him, and even though we feel we are acting crazy for doing so.  Can we do that?

Sometimes God calls us to the shore, and our task becomes that simple (or rather, difficult).  We have been called to walk to the water's edge.  That's it.  Can we be trusted to do that?  Can we stop looking around us and just remember that God hasn't asked us to do more than that?  Can we simply believe that God will take care of us, like He said He would do?

Today, if you are facing a "wall" that has risen up in your path to block you from obeying God, remember that God didn't call you to take out the wall--He called you to walk the path.  Your challenge is to stubbornly, firmly, (insanely) stick with the task, fully trusting in God to make it possible.  As God told Moses (who passed it on to the quavering Israelites), "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still," (Exodus 14: 14 NIV).  If you are truly doing His will, and you have seen confirmation of that at the beginning, don't waiver when the circumstances get tough.  Look to God, even if you cannot see Him.  Be still and know that He is with you, and let Him take care of the rest!

I'll let Keith Green take it from here.  His song, "He'll Take Care of the Rest," has lifted my spirits many times while I waited on God to remove the barriers from my path.  I hope it cheers you, as well!

Your comments are welcome, as always.  Until next time, stay savvy!

Weekly Tidbit: The Light that Exalts and Humbles

I cannot figure out who to attribute this quote to, but I wanted to share an idea with you today:

"The only dangerous mines in a minefield are the ones no one has discovered yet."

 I believe I heard this quote in an old movie once.  Anyway, the gist of it, if we apply it to our lives, is that the secrets we carry can one day come back to hurt us if we try to keep them concealed.  It is best to bring all things into the light and "explode the bombs" so that no one can use them to destroy us later.

This idea also stands in Scripture.  From ancient times until now, it has always been the unconfessed sin, the one for which no sacrifice was offered, that stands between God and man.  That sin, and not the one that was obediently confessed, is the one that brings punishment.

Proverbs 28: 1 (NIV) says, "The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion."  I have touched on this verse before, but I am speaking about it again from a different perspective.  The wicked have a great fear of being discovered for what they are and what they have hidden, and so they run, even from those who don't suspect them.  On the other hand, the righteous have no fear of a wrong step or something bad being revealed about them, and so they march boldly ahead into the unknown.  They have already faced the truth that they are fallen, in need of redemption, and they have found mercy from God.  What more do they have to fear?

The Bible also says, "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil," (John 3: 19 NIV).  God is that light, revealing even the deepest things and bringing all the hidden things to light (Daniel 2: 22).  Mankind has a tendency to try to hide from God, just as Adam and Eve tried to hide, but we cannot outrun light, no matter how hard we try.

What am I trying to say?  Only this.  Do not try to be someone you are not, before God or before man.  If people think less of you for confessing that you are a sinner, it is only because they are now operating on correct information.  If anyone makes an issue of it, God will deal with them, but as for you, God requires humility before honor.  His light hurts us and humiliates us, because it tells the truth about us.  However, if we face the terrible truth about ourselves, God has also promised to honor us for our submission and obedience to the truth.  Jesus addressed this when He was invited to an important Pharisee's house.  In Luke chapter 14, verses 7-11, we read about it:

When he [Jesus] noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable:  “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited.  If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place.  But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests.  For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

 God's light does not shine on us in such a way as to make us less than we are.  It only shows us the truth, plain and simple.  If we are living a lie, it will be revealed, and if we are being degraded beyond what God believes we deserve, He will honor us.  Simply put, if we are obedient, we have no need to fear what the light reveals.

Just a thought for today.  Your comments are welcome.  Until next time, stay savvy!

Another Ten-Second Interview

I spoke once before on a Christian's testimony and how it is shaped by our behavior in public events.  That post can be read here:  The Ten-Second Interview

Today I want to speak again (briefly, because I have so much to do) on this topic.  Perhaps we have the act, the costume, shall we say, of being a wonderful, loving public Christian memorized so well that we don't fear that a crowd of perfect strangers will get the wrong idea about us.  However, what about the times when the only ones who are watching us are people who know us?  If we had a follow-up ten-second interview, that is, a second, testimony-defining moment in our interactions with an individual, would that person's impressions of us change?  Would our friend still know that we know Jesus?  What if the second, ten-second interview came at a time when we were not paying attention?