What is Your Default Mode?

I love roller coasters. I love the anticipation of that big first drop. I love that feeling of being out of control. And I love the speed. Now I can love all those things because ultimately I trust the ride is safe. Even though it’s a tremendous thrill, I have confidence that I will make it through to the end of the ride.

My default mode or what I believe about roller coasters is: enjoy the ride because you’re going to make it out alive.

You and I also have a default mode for processing life. We have certain ways of responding to people, circumstances, difficulties, surprises, disappointments, etc. If we do nothing to change, we’ll most likely continue to respond the way we always have.

There’s a lot that goes into determining our default settings. Parents, friends, teachers and coaches had a part in setting them for us. So did the media we’ve been exposed to and the books we’ve read. Without consciously thinking about it–we’ve developed a default mode for how we process life and make our choices.

I’ve noticed something about my default mode that I really don’t like. When faced with bad news or even just the unknown, I worry, I fear the worst and I doubt God’s goodness. That’s my default mode. And it looks like it was the same mode the disciples struggled with.

Mark 4:35-41 says…

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

Some of these guys were experienced fishermen so they’d experienced bad weather before, but this must have been a really bad storm. There’s no record of anyone saying, “Hey guys, calm down! It’s not that bad. We can ride this out.”

This was a bad storm and they thought they were about to drown. Now what would have changed everything for them, what would have helped reset their default mode, was knowing that the one who was in complete control and who cared for them was asleep on a cushion at the back of the boat.

But they either doubted His power or His care because they wake Jesus up and ask Him a question we’ve probably all asked or at least wondered, “Don’t you care?”

It seems that our default mode, well, I won’t speak for you…it seems that my default mode is to question God’s goodness when circumstances are bad. I allow the severity of the situation to completely obscure the simple fact that God really does care for me.

Even when we don’t see Him doing anything, He is still good and He still cares. We will never escape His grasp. We will never be forgotten. We will never have to go it alone.

So Jesus got up and told the storm to be quiet and still. And it was.

What the disciples didn’t know was that their hearts and minds could have been quiet and still even in the midst of the furious storm. They didn’t have to wait for the storm to be quiet before they could be.

And that should really be my default mode when it comes to life. Sure, there will be tough times and painful circumstances and things I won’t understand, but because God is good and He cares and He’s in control, I can trust Him to see me safely through whatever ups and downs and twists and turns come my way.

Panic. Fear. Worry. Doubt. Discouragement. That’s my default mode. I wish I could say that resetting it is easy, but it’s not, at least it hasn’t been for me. Developing a new default mode requires ongoing effort and time in God’s word to believe the truth–that God is good, that God cares and God is in control.

What is your default mode for handling life?

Does it need to be reset?

God, Have You Forgotten Me?

Has that ever been your prayer? Or have you ever at least wondered?

You might be in the midst of a second round of chemo, like my friend Jeff.

Or like one young man I heard about today…in less than a year–your dad dies, your mom dies and then the day before you leave for boot camp–your girlfriend breaks up with you.

Or despite doing everything you know to do, your marriage continues to get worse. Or your child continues to rebel. Or your boss is still a jerk.

Or your finances keep getting worse. Just when it seems like you’re about to get ahead, you get hit with an unexpected bill.

God, have You forgotten me? Can You not see what I’m going through here?

Where are You, God? And why aren’t You helping?

When circumstances are bad and they don’t seem to be improving and God isn’t saying much…it’s easy to lose hope, to wonder where He is and what He’s up to. It’s easy to doubt His love for us. It’s easy to doubt if He’s even good.

I’ve been there. I’ve doubted. I’ve wondered. I’ve been angry. I’ve been discouraged.

And I’ve lost hope.

Have you? Are you there now?

I wonder if Noah could relate.

Noah was a righteous man living among a lot of evil. He was trying to do the right thing and honor God when those around him weren’t.

And God saw. He knew what was going on. Check out the story in Genesis 6.

So Noah does what God says and builds an ark. And God does what He says He’ll do and He sends a flood, which Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives ride out in the ark. Along with a bunch of animals. Read that part of the story in Genesis 7-8.

The flood began “in the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month…” And in the coming days, every creature that lived on dry ground is completely wiped out except for Noah, his family and the animals on the ark.

And “the waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.”

It rained for forty days and nights, but the earth was totally flooded for five months before God sends a wind so that the waters will begin to recede.

I grew up near the ocean, but I can’t remember ever being so far out on a boat that I couldn’t see the shore. I’ve also never been on a cruise. Maybe you have. Maybe you’ve been out at sea and couldn’t see land.

Of course, a cruise ship and Noah’s ark couldn’t be more different. Noah’s boat was built to ensure the human race would survive a world-wide flood. It held a total of eight human beings, a whole bunch of animals and enough food to last until the flood was over. No staterooms. No dining rooms and endless buffets. No deck chairs. No casinos. No shore excursions.

Just Noah, his family and the animals. Alone on the earth. Surrounded by nothing but water. For five months. And we have no record of God communicating with them during that time. Nothing. Not one word.

The first word of chapter 8 is one of my absolute favorites in the Bible: But.

“But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.”

A couple verses later, it says, “The water receded steadily from the earth.”

After five months, the waters are finally beginning to recede. And “the waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.”

Seven and a half months after the flood began, the tops of the mountains are now visible. Moses waits another forty days and sends out a raven and a dove. The raven kept flying back and forth. The dove looks for dry ground, but can’t find it so it returns to Noah. After a week passes, Noah sends the dove out again. This time the dove returns with a freshly plucked olive leaf in its beak, so Noah knew the water was receding.

After another week, Noah sends the dove out again. This time it doesn’t return.

“By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.”

In Noah’s six hundredth and first year on the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry. He and his family had been on the ark for one year, one month and ten days.

As I read this story today, here’s what jumped out at me…

The waters receded slowly.

Once the rain stopped, God didn’t zap away all the water. He sent a wind. That’s it. No zapping. No wand-waving. No miracles.

Just a wind. And then a lot of waiting.

Oh, and remembering. God always remembered Noah and his family and the animals.

He never forgot them.

Just like He never forgets you.

Maybe you’ve been enduring a 13-month trial of your own. Or maybe a 23-month trial. Or 33 months. Or longer.

God hasn’t forgotten though. There might still be a miracle coming, but there might just be a slow-receding.

Little by little the waters of difficulties and pain and confusion are receding. It might feel so slow that you don’t even notice. You will though. One day, you’ll notice the dove will return with an olive leaf. And not long after, the dove won’t return at all.

The waters will have receded. You’ll see dry ground again.

Until then, remember that God remembers. He never, ever forgets you.

God’s Timing

Waiting is one of the hardest aspects of walking with God. And since God never seems to be in a hurry, waiting is something we should not only get used to, but learn to embrace.

I won’t suggest I enjoy waiting. I don’t. But I do know it can be a rich, productive season, whether it lasts a day, a year or 40 years, like it did for Moses.

I have a friend who will undergo tests today in Houston to see if he is still cancer free. He had major surgery earlier this year to remove cancerous areas from his colon and liver. He’ll learn the results of the tests on Wednesday. Tonight and tomorrow will be a season of waiting. Two nights might not seem like a long time, but try waiting that long to find out if your cancer has returned.

Maybe you’ve also waited for test results. Or the return phone call after an interview. Or maybe you’ve waited for a spouse or a baby. I have two daughters who are married to men in the military. Each have had to wait for their husbands to return home.

It could be that you’re in a set of circumstances you’d rather not be in. You’re unemployed. You’re in a financial mess. Your marriage is falling apart. Your child continues to live in rebellion. Or you’re sick and the doctor can’t figure it out.

And you’ve prayed. You’ve cried out to God. And you’ve waited. And waited. And waited.

And you’ve wondered where God is and what He’s doing.

I’ve been there. It’s frustrating. It’s discouraging. It’s confusing.

Or, if we let it, the waiting can be a time of growth and greater intimacy with God. It can be a season that prepares us for what’s to come. Greater responsibility? Greater fruitfulness? Greater influence? Only God knows.

In Acts 7, Stephen is speaking before the Sanhedrin (a Jewish court):

²³ “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites. ²⁴ He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. ²⁵ Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. ²⁶ The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’

²⁷ “But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? ²⁸ Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ ²⁹ When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.

³⁰ “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. ³¹ When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to look more closely, he heard the Lord’s voice: ³² ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.

³³ “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals; the place where you are standing is holy ground. ³⁴ I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’

³⁵ “This is the same Moses whom they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶ He led them out of Egypt and did wonders and miraculous signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert.

When Moses was 40 years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites. He thought they would see him as the one to rescue them from the Egyptians. And then he commits murder. He decided. He thought. He killed. God wasn’t in it.

Clearly, this was not God’s timing or God’s ways. And so Moses flees. For 40 years. Until it’s God’s timing for him to return to Egypt and do things God’s way.

Look what happens though when it is God’s timing. The very same Moses they rejected is later sent back to them as the one God would use to deliver them from the hands of the Egyptians. Moses had the right idea–his timing was just off.

During your season of waiting, God will continue to work. You may not always see it, but He will never stop working. He will be working to mature you, to give you wisdom, to teach you His ways and to prepare you for what’s to come. He will be at work in your circumstances and in the lives of others.

When you lose sight of God, remember this: no matter what is happening, God will always be at work so you will know Him better and trust Him more. He will always be working for your good and His glory.

Maybe you have a dream or a desire–something you really believe God has put on your heart. But nothing is happening. There’s no forward progress. No end in sight to your current circumstances. God doesn’t seem to be cooperating.

As hard as this will be, let me encourage you to relax. Seek God with all your heart. Trust Him. Do everything He commands. And wait patiently.

His timing and His ways will always be best.

Does God Want Us to Fail?

Before you answer, let’s look at some of the definitions from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

• to lose strength: weaken <her health was failing>
• to fade or die away <until our family line fails>
• to stop functioning normally <the patient’s heart failed>
• to fall short <failed in his duty>
• to be unsuccessful <the marriage failed>
• to become bankrupt or insolvent

I’m going with the answer, “yes,” God wants us to fail. Based on the definitions above, here’s why:

God wants us to lose strength and understand we’re weak, so that we’ll also learn we “…can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13) If we insist on trying to follow Jesus in our own strength, God will let us fail. He’s not in the business of blessing our plans, but He will give us strength to do whatever He calls us to do.

God wants us, our natural selves, to die. He said, “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:27) Life is not about achieving our goals, accumulating wealth and having a good time. It’s about pursuing God’s goals, storing up treasure in heaven and experiencing the love, joy and peace of God.

God wants us to stop functioning normally, so we can start functioning supernaturally. Paul wrote to the church in Rome:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2)

Do you want to know God’s good, perfect and pleasing will for your life? It’s the result of offering yourself to Him and no longer “functioning normally” as the world does. We must choose to no longer conform to the pattern of this world, but to instead be transformed by the renewing of our minds. In other words, we must learn to think like God. That comes from having our minds saturated with His word.

God wants us to understand we’ve already fallen short of his holy standard. We chose to live life on our terms, not His. We went our own way. We rebelled against the sovereign King of the universe. Paul said, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Our only recourse is to accept the forgiveness that Christ offers.

God wants us to be unsuccessful whenever we choose to pursue our own plans. It’s always good to remember that it’s not about you. It’s not about me. My goals and plans and dreams aren’t relevant…unless they’re ones God has given me. Only then does He want me to be successful. Even that is conditional though–God wants me to be successful in achieving His goals in His strength and in His ways. Not my goals. Not my strength. Not my ways.

God wants me to know I’m spiritually bankrupt. Jesus said, “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.” (Matthew 5:3 NLT) The poor Jesus is referring to are the ones who realize their need for Him, not simply those who lack financial resources. We are bankrupt. We’re broke. We’re totally dependent on God for everything.

Are you experiencing a season of failure? Things just aren’t working out? Can’t catch a break?

Maybe God is allowing you to fail. Not to punish you or humiliate you, but to teach you and to bless you. He knows true life is found only in Him. Not in money. Not in a career. Not in sex. Not in a relationship.

In Him alone.

So why would He grant success in the pursuits that only move us away from finding our life in Him?

Failure isn’t permanent or terminal. Failure is a stepping stone to greater intimacy with God and greater fruitfulness in His kingdom.

The writer of Hebrews said, “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons.” (Hebrews 12:7)

Your current failure or hardship is God treating you as His child, a child He loves deeply and for whom He only desires the very best. Seek Him. Get to know Him better. Trust Him.

Ultimately, He wants you to be successful in everything He calls you to do. And He will always provide the strength and wisdom you need to accomplish His will.

For I Know the Plans I Have For You

I’ve begun a countdown. I even have a countdown app on my iPhone. Four hundred days from today, I will turn 50.

I don’t know about you, but 50 doesn’t sound young to me. Of course, it’s all a matter of perspective. If you’re 70, then 50 is young. If you’re 20, then 50 is ancient.

I have no expectation of living to 100 or even 90. My dad almost made it to 73. If that’s how long I have, then I’m well past the half-way point of my life. If my life is a football game, half-time is over and we’re playing in the 3rd quarter and I’m just six years from the 4th quarter.

Depending on your personality, you may be thinking all of this is a little morbid. Or you may be wondering who in the world actually thinks to countdown the days until they turn 50, especially when it’s still 400 days a way.

Here’s the thing–when I turned 30, I was disappointed. I had certain expectations that were unmet at that point. I expected my life to look different than it did. I figured by 30, I would “have my act together.” In hindsight, my expectations were the problem, not my life.

So when I turned 40, I had no such illusions of having a nice, orderly, problem-free life. There is no such thing. Turning 40 was no big deal. I guess the biggest thing I learned during the decade between turning 30 and 40 was how to extend grace. Even to myself.

So as I close in on 50, I don’t have expectations that life will be something it’s not, but I do have some expectations, of myself, that I believe are part of God’s plans for my life. There are some things I want to accomplish. There are character flaws I want to work on. There are people and activities I want to invest in.

I want to enjoy these next 400 days, but I also want to live purposefully. I want to have fun, while also walking obediently with God. In 400 days, I want to be able to look back and know I did life God’s way, not Gregg’s way.

What I’ve done is broken up the 400 days into 10 periods of 40 days each. Calendar wise, it might have been easier to just wait until the one-year mark and start counting down the months, but there’s something special about a 40-day period of time. (Jesus fasted in the desert for 40 days. The spies explored the Promised Land for 40 days.)

Each 40 day period will give me an opportunity to emphasize something different depending on what I sense God doing in my life. Maybe prayer will be an emphasis during one of the 40 days. Maybe training for a 5k race will be. Or maybe studying the book of Ephesians. We’ll see.

In this first 40 day period, I’m emphasizing writing more consistently. I want to post here more often and I also have a book I’ve been working on…or not working on. I plan to finish it by October 9th, the end of the first 40 days. My goal is to write 1,500 words a day. Ambitious, but doable.

One emphasis that will run through all 400 days, and beyond, is simply obeying God–walking according to His ways. Jeremiah 29:10-14 says:

This is what the LORD says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

The Israelites had been conquered by the Babylonians and carried into exile. They were no longer living in and enjoying the land God had promised to give them. They were captives in a foreign land.

Why though? What went so terribly wrong?

Israel had broken the covenant with God. He had given them His laws, but they chose to not follow them. God had graciously taught them how to live, but they stubbornly went their own way. Rather than give themselves wholeheartedly to God, they adopted the practices of the nations around them.

God had made it clear that if they would follow His commands, He would bless them and prosper them and protect them. But Israel rebelled against Him. They went their own way and did their own thing.

Maybe today it feels like you’re in exile. And you’re crying out for God to bring you back. You desperately want to experience His plans to prosper you and give you a hope and a future. Fortunately, He is always gracious toward us. When we cry out–He listens. When we seek Him–we find Him.

While you’re seeking and crying out though, maybe it’s also a good time to examine your life to see what caused “your exile” in the first place. Sometimes we get into bad situations because we live in a fallen, broken world. Bad stuff happens even when we’re trying to do the right things.

Sometimes though, our own disobedience leads us into exile. Our own choices got us to where we are. And while it’s good and right to cry out to God, it’s also time to make the changes we need to make. The surest path to experiencing God’s very best plans for our lives is to simply obey Him.

Is there an area of your life that needs examining? A relationship? Your finances? Something at work? What you watch or look at? How you use your time?

Remember, God’s commands are never meant to rob our joy or fun. It’s just the opposite. God’s commands provide for us and protect us. They keep us from danger. God’s ways are always for our good. Never for our harm.

You may not be 400 days from turning 50, but there’s nothing stopping you from using these next 40 days to intentionally walk according to God’s ways, so you position yourself to experience the plans He has for you.

Something Better Than Prayer

Before I get started, some disclaimers:

1. I don’t believe in formulas. In Chemistry? Yes. In life? No. God isn’t a predictable science experiment. If we do A and B, God is not obligated to do C.
2. Life is messy. We live in a fallen, broken, sinful world. Bad things can happen even when we do the right things.
3. Mixing a fervent prayer with the right measure of faith doesn’t always yield the results we want. See #1 and #2.
4. I don’t believe people get cancer and die because they didn’t have enough faith.
5. Sin does not always prevent God from blessing us. If it did, none of us would be blessed. Ever.

Those things being said, I’ve been thinking about prayer and obedience the past few days. Now I don’t mean to pit them against each other, but go with me for a moment. Which is better–prayer or obedience?

I guess the next question would be: better for what?

How about–better for getting what we desire?

We desire better health. We desire a new car or house. We want to get married or see our current marriage improve. We want to pay our bills on time, get out of debt and have a little left over for a vacation once in awhile.

Is it better to pray or obey?

I can already hear you saying the answer: Both!

And I would agree with you. It’s obviously better to do both, but my sense is that many of us only do one. We pray. We pray for God to intervene. We pray for Him to rescue us. We pray for Him to change someone’s heart. We pray for a breakthrough.

But often, we don’t obey Him.

A couple weeks ago while driving home from a weekend out of town, I stopped for gas at a little country gas station. As I came out of the store, I noticed a very obese woman sitting in her car smoking a cigarette.

Now imagine this woman begins to experience a chronic cough and shortness of breath. Not hard to imagine, right?

She has a choice now: she could begin praying God will heal her or she could stop smoking, eat healthier and exercise. We would think she was foolish for only praying, but not changing her habits, right?

I wonder how many of us get into difficulties with our finances, our relationships or our own medical issues and beg God for a miracle or some kind of breakthrough, but what may be better is for us to simply obey Him. And then add our prayers.

In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses is giving instructions to the Israelites before they cross the Jordan River to take possession of the land of Canaan. In chapter 28, Moses goes into great detail about what will happen to them if they fully obey God and carefully follow His commands. And he goes into even greater detail about what will happen if they do not obey.

There’s no mention of prayer. God’s blessings are contingent upon their obedience, not the fervency of their prayers. God graciously instructed them on how to live and was very clear about the blessings or curses that would follow their choices.

It’s not just Moses though. In John 15:1-11, Jesus is teaching His disciples that He is the vine and they are the branches. Apart from Him, they can do nothing. In verses 7-8, He says:

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you…” Isn’t that another way to say, “if you obey me?” Obedience plus prayer results in much fruit bearing.

Jesus goes on in verses 9-11 to say:

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

We remain in Jesus’ love by obeying him. And what is the result of doing that?

Joy. Complete joy.

Isn’t that ultimately what we all want? Complete joy?

So what are we to do about the difficulties we find ourselves in?

Let’s take our finances for example. If we’re in a mess–are we continuing to spend beyond our income? And just as importantly, if not more so, are we giving? 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 says:

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ⁷ Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

Are we crying out to God to give us relief from our financial difficulties, while choosing to sow sparingly? God promises we will reap generously if we sow generously.

Are we asking God to heal our high blood pressure, but eating a diet full of unhealthy food? God has given us healthy foods to eat for our enjoyment and good health.

Are we desperately pleading with God to heal our marriage, but not practicing the principles in Ephesians 5:22-33 or reading a good book on marriage or attending a Weekend to Remember marriage conference or seeking counseling? Sure it takes two to heal a marriage, but are we at least doing our part?

God not only gave us His commands for our own good, He also gave us His Holy Spirit to empower us to obey them. He has instructed us on how to live this life. But are we listening? Are we following through on what He’s already told us?

I’m not at all suggesting that obeying God is somehow better than praying to God. But I am saying that if we’re praying without obeying, then I can’t help thinking God is saying, “I’ve already answered your prayer. You’ll discover it as soon as you obey me.”

Last thing: it would be worth re-reading the five disclaimers I started with.

God Answers the “Why?” Question

When things go wrong, terribly wrong, we can’t help asking God, “Why?”

Why did You let this happen?

Why did you let him die?

Why can’t I get pregnant?

Why can’t I find a job?

Maybe you’ve asked one of those questions. Maybe you’re asking one now. Or a different one.

Often, no answer comes. Bad things happen, but we’re only left to wonder why. God just doesn’t provide us with a reason.

And in those times, we have to fall back on His character. If we forget or never realize that He is good, faithful, loving, kind and all-powerful no matter what happens, then we will quickly become angry, fearful, depressed or any number of other negative emotions.

Sometimes though, God pulls back the curtain and gives us more information. Sometimes He answers the “Why?” question. In John 11, Lazarus is sick and eventually dies, but Jesus says, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”

Now of course the disciples heard Jesus say this, but Lazarus and his two sisters who had sent for Jesus didn’t get to hear what Jesus said. They saw the miracle a few days later when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, but those were a rough few days of silence while they wondered why Jesus wasn’t coming.

In the first chapter of Haggai, we have another instance of God actually explaining why something bad was happening. The temple was in ruins and the remaining Jews in Jerusalem had been saying, “The time has not yet come for the LORD’s house to be built.”

They were wrong.

Apparently, the time had not only come, but had passed. As a result, the people were experiencing drought like conditions in all areas of life. They would plant, but not harvest much. They’d put clothes on, but not be warm. They’d earn wages, but it was like putting money in a purse with holes in it.

Nothing was working out.

Have you been there? I have.

Just when you think a situation can’t get worse–it does. It looks like something will work out, but it doesn’t. You seem so close to getting out of difficult circumstances, but can’t quite ever make it.

Twice in chapter 1, God tells the people, “Give careful thought to your ways.”

I’m not sure we’re very good at that. We don’t stop very often to give careful thought to our ways. I think we just press on, wonder why things aren’t working and then blame God for not helping us.

But in Haggai 1:7-9, God is very clear about why things have not gone well: “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the LORD Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house.”

There it is. God answers the “Why?” question. The people had been busy with their own homes, but had ignored His. God’s temple was in ruins, but the people were saying, “The time has not yet come for the LORD’s house to be built.”

They were wrong. It was time for the temple to be rebuilt. It was time for the people to be about God’s agenda.

You and I don’t have a temple to rebuild, but could it be there’s something else God has given us to do, but we’ve ignored it? We didn’t think it was important or we were busy or it would have made us uncomfortable or we simply forgot?

But the bottom line is we didn’t do it. And it has led to drought like conditions in our lives.

Press pause for just a moment.

PLEASE DO NOT HEAR ME SAYING THAT ALL BAD THINGS ARE THE RESULT OF OUR SIN OR FAILING TO DO WHAT GOD HAS ASKED US TO DO.

We live in a fallen world that’s badly stained by sin. Bad things happen. People get sick. Cars breakdown. Loved ones die. And it’s not because of anything we did or didn’t do.

Sometimes though, God does get our attention through frustrating circumstances. Is this one of those times for you? Maybe there’s something He wants you to do. Or maybe He wants you to start walking according to His ways, not yours.

If you ask Him, He’ll tell you, but if you’ll stop and “give careful thought to your ways”, I suspect you will know what He’s wanting you to do.

One Thing You Lack

In Mark 10:17-31, a man runs up to Jesus, falls on his knees and asks what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus tells the man to obey the commandments, which Jesus then lists for him. When the man replies that he has kept all those commandments, Jesus replies, “One thing you lack…”

Do you think the man was feeling pretty good at that point? He’s thrown himself on his knees in front of Jesus and declared that he’s kept the commandments. And now Jesus is telling him he only lacks one thing to inherit eternal life.

That’s when things taken an unpleasant turn for the man.

Jesus tells the him to sell everything he owns, give the money to the poor and then come follow Him. It’s essentially what He said to Peter, Andrew, James and John. He called those men to follow Him and they immediately left everything behind and went with Him.

They didn’t hesitate. They didn’t debate. They didn’t talk it over. They didn’t try to make a deal with Jesus. They left everything and followed Him.

That’s not what the man in Mark 10 does though. He went away sad because he was very wealthy. Jesus then goes on to tell His disciples how hard it is for the rich to enter heaven.

So why is it so hard?

Because the wealthy have made their money, their pleasure and their personal comfort their god.

Is Jesus saying that money is evil and that everyone must sell everything they have? No. The problem this man had was that his money was an idol. It was his god. To him, Jesus wasn’t just telling him to give his money away, He was telling him to give his god away. And the man was unwilling to do that. He chose his god and it wasn’t going to be Jesus.

Money, comfort and pleasure are excellent servants. But they’re terrible gods.

Now consider what the man gave up. Jesus promised him “treasure in heaven” and invited him to be one of His followers. Later, when Peter declares, “We have left everything to follow You!”, Jesus tells His disciples that no one who has made sacrifices to follow Him will fail to receive much more in return in both this life and in the life to come.

The man gave up following the one true God to hold onto his false god. He forfeited eternal life to gain the fleeting pleasures of this life.

By the way, if you live in the United States and make $25,000 a year–you’re among the wealthiest 10% of people in the world. No, I didn’t mistakenly leave off a zero. That’s $25,000, not $250,000. And if you make $75,000 a year–you’re among the wealthiest 1% of people in the world.

When Jesus talks about the rich, He’s talking about most of us. If you’re reading these words, it means you have access to a computer. That means you probably also have access to clean water, food, air conditioning and medical care. I think Jesus would consider you wealthy. As He does me.

So that makes us susceptible to the same temptation as the man in Mark 10. It’s tempting to make money our god. Our idol. The thing we can’t give up. The thing we want more of can’t quite seem to get enough of. The thing that occupies most of our thoughts.

The man wanted to know what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. So Jesus told him he only lacked one thing: get rid of the false god you’ve been following and “then come, follow me.”

Are you following Jesus wholeheartedly? Or is there “one thing you lack?”

Does money, comfort and pleasure come before Jesus?

Isn’t it interesting that we say we need to pray about whether or not to financially support a missionary, but it would never occur to us to pray about whether or not to buy a pizza and instead give that money away?

Would any of us ever consider giving up a vacation to help a neighbor in need?

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with eating pizza or taking vacations. That is unless they’ve become symptomatic of having the wrong god.

Spiritual Heat Stroke

“Get away from the water!”

Ask any high school football player who played prior to just a few years ago and he’ll probably tell you he heard a coach yell, “Get away from the water!” more than once in his life.

Things have changed though.

There was a mandatory parent meeting at my son’s high school last night for the parents of the football players. One of the topics was hydration and heat related illnesses (heat exhaustion and heat stroke). None of it was new information for me because I’d heard much of it at the parent meeting for junior high football last year. And the year before.

My son’s junior high football coach is one of the toughest I’ve seen. He’s a great coach and excellent teacher of the game. He has high expectations of the players and pushes them to perform. But he also frequently stops practice for water breaks.

Last night, the head varsity coach made it clear that his players could get water during practice whenever they needed it. No player would ever be told he couldn’t have water. And if an assistant coach denied water to a player–he probably wouldn’t be coaching there any more.

When I played high school football between 1977 and 1980, the conventional wisdom was that drinking water was a sign of weakness. Going without water made you tough.

Now we know how absolutely stupid that kind of thinking is. Now we know football players die from becoming dehydrated and over-heated. And a coach knows they’d probably be sued by the parents of any player who became ill during practice because he was denied water.

Of course staying hydrated isn’t just for athletes. We all need water to function. A lot of us are probably dehydrated and don’t even know it. It’s especially true during the hot, humid summer months.

Much of the United States is currently experiencing high heat and humidity. That large pink area on the map is an “excessive heat warning.” The heat index for Ames, Iowa today is forecast to be around 117 degrees. Ames, Iowa. 117!

This is a plant in my front yard. It not only requires a lot of water, but it’s in a spot that doesn’t get hit by the sprinkler. This morning, I filled a 2-quart pitcher at the kitchen sink and watered this poor plant. I filled the pitcher twice. As you can see, it needed it.

It’s not too strong a statement to say: water is life. Ask this plant. Or my son when he starts football practice on August 1.

It’s not just water that’s life though.

In Deuteronomy 30, Moses is speaking to the nation of Israel just before he dies. He’s giving them their final instructions before they cross the Jordan River to take possession of the land God promised to give them. In verses 19 and 20, he said:

“This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

The Lord is your life.

It was true for Israel. It’s true for me.

And it’s true for you. The Lord is YOUR life.

In Jeremiah 2:13, God said it this way:

“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

A cistern is a receptacle to hold water. When we turn away from the source of living water, we naturally look for “water” (life)  in other places. We try work, pleasure, relationships, possessions or anything else we can think of to fill our souls. What we don’t realize is that those things are broken cisterns. They can’t hold water. They won’t work. They won’t give us life.

Sadly, we will hear of a football player dying of dehydration and heat stroke somewhere in the United States this summer. His core body temperature will rise to 108 degrees and his internal organs will begin to fail. And it will be a totally preventable death.

Just like your death. Or mine.

Are we dying and don’t even know it? If we could examine our “spiritual organs”–would some of us find they’re shutting down? That we’re close to losing our spiritual lives and we don’t even know it’s happening?

I’m not even talking about heaven or hell. I’m simply talking about living life as it was intended.

You and I were created to live in an intimate friendship with the One who created us. We exist for His pleasure. And He commands us to seek Him and know Him and love Him. But we’re trying to find life in people and things who, like us, can’t provide it.

If we’re not drinking deeply of living water by spending time in God’s word and in spiritual conversations with others who are also drinking deeply, then we’re dying. We just are.

Maybe when you see your lawn turning brown or a plant wilted from lack of water or you think about all those football players out on the practice field this summer–you’ll let it remind you that your soul is in desperate need of the living water only God can provide and that His word is a constantly flowing spring. And that whether you feel it or not–you’re dying without it.

When God Surprises Us

Does God like to surprise us?

I think He does.

Yesterday morning, I was reading in the book of James. One of the passages I read was:

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. (James 2:14-17)

Later in the morning, I was listening to a podcast of a sermon by Mark Driscoll. He was teaching from the parable about the unrighteous judge and the widow who kept asking for justice. The judge finally relented and gave her what she wanted because she simply wore him out with her asking.

Naturally, we will all want to identify ourselves with the widow and conclude we need to persist in our prayers, which is the point Jesus was making. But Mark first encouraged us to put ourselves in the position of the judge. Are we in a position to help someone, but are withholding our help even though it’s in our power to act?

Early yesterday afternoon, I was helping to breakdown a fireworks tent that we’d operated to raise money for Young Life in Fayetteville. As I was breaking down cardboard boxes and stacking them in my truck, a beat-up, old car pulled up to where I was working. An elderly man waved for me to come over to his car.

I’ll be honest, I was little annoyed at that point. I was tired and hot, and now some guy wanted me to stop what I was doing and come see what he wanted. He could get out and come to me, I thought. So I approached the car and stuck my head in the passenger side window. Then I saw it would have been difficult for the man to get out of the car. His seatbelt didn’t really buckle–he had sort of tied himself in with it.

The man asked me if he could help stack the boxes, because he needed money for gas. He showed me a clipboard that had a number of addresses and dates written on it. It was his list of odd jobs he’d lined up to do around town. He just didn’t have a job that day and needed to put some gas in his car.

I told him I was almost done with the boxes and didn’t have any cash. I even opened my wallet to show him all I had were some receipts and a couple of used baseball tickets from last week.

It was very hard to understand what he was saying, but he kept looking at the fuel gauge and mumbling about needing gas.

I was about to send him on his way and get back to work when…

It hit me that wishing him well and sending him off with an empty gas tank wasn’t right. It didn’t matter that I was hot and tired. It didn’t matter I felt annoyed. It was in my power to help him.

There was a Conoco gas station about 200 feet away, so I told the man to drive over there and I would use my debit card to buy him some gas. As I was walking over, I was looking for a friend of mine who had called about ten minutes earlier and said he was going to stop by.

I thought about only putting $20 worth of gas in the man’s car, but decided I would go ahead and fill his tank. The pump clicked off at $50.81.

By this time, my friend had walked over to the gas station. I explained to him the situation with the old man and then we talked as we walked back to the fireworks tent.

After several minutes, my friend pulled two checks from his pocket and handed them to me.

One was a $1,000 donation to Young Life. Surprise!

The profit from the fireworks tent was below what we’d hoped for, so that check went a long way toward making up the difference and was a great encouragement, especially to my wife, Robyn, the Young Life director in Fayetteville.

The other check was made payable to me. For $500. Surprise!

If I hadn’t read that passage in James or listened to Mark Driscoll’s sermon, would I still have put gas in that man’s car?

I don’t know. Maybe I would have allowed my annoyance to override doing the right thing.

And if I hadn’t put the gas in his car, would God have still provided that money through my friend?

Well, the checks were written and he was on his way to see me, so yes, I probably would have still been given the money. I guess God could have changed my friend’s mind, but I suspect I still would have received the checks. I just wouldn’t have received the blessing of helping an old man who needed me yesterday. And I would have kicked myself the rest of the day (and today too) and felt terrible for not being generous when God was being so generous to me.

As I was reflecting on how God must delight in surprising us with blessings the way he did for me yesterday, I wondered if it’s not so much that God is surprising us as He is just doing what He said He’d do. What we see as a surprise is God just being faithful. We’re surprised because we really don’t think He’ll do what He says.

Now I know we won’t always see God give back to us within minutes. The reaping often comes much later than the sowing. Let’s never forget though–the reaping does come. It’s not a matter of “if” God will act, it’s only a matter of “when.” God is faithful to His promises.

If we act in faith, we show that our faith is alive. And when we do, God shows up. And sometimes, He shows up with a surprise.

Is it within your power to help someone today? I mean with physical or financial needs.

Do something then. Faith without action is dead.