The Peace of God in the Storms of Life

I need a word from the Lord this morning. I need to hear from the God who watches over little girls who are not where they should be and comforts broken-hearted Nanas. I wanted something like: “Don’t you worry, I’ll fix this.” But that’s not the word I got. The Spirit led me to Philippians 4:4-7: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

Rejoice. You’re kidding, right? No, He’s not. Rejoice. Not just when it’s all good and the sun is shining. Always. Now. When it hurts. When you don’t understand.

Be gentle. Actually, He’s not commanding an act on my part, He is reminding me to bear forth the fruit of His Spirit – gentleness – as I deal with the people and the situation. God knew when He gave me that word at the beginning of the year that I would need it right now.

Don’t be anxious. I need to tell that to my knotted-up stomach and my hammering heart. Literally.

Pray. I like the way The Message says it: “shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.” And petition Him. “Go boldly to the throne of grace” (Heb 4:16 emphasis added). ASK. “ASK and keep on asking, SEEK and keep on seeking, KNOCK and keep on knocking” (from Mat 7:7).

With thanksgiving. Yes, thanksgiving. Because God has been trustworthy in the past. Because He loves her more than I ever could. Because He can be where I cannot. Because He is still writing this story.

And because He plants four words in the middle of this passage that we often overlook but speak volumes: “The Lord is near.”

Rejoice–because the Lord is near. Be gentle—because the Lord is near. Don’t be anxious–because the Lord is near. Pray with thankfulness–because the Lord is near. I can have the peace of God that is unfathomable–because the Lord is near. My heart and my mind – and my stomach – need God’s peace.

I didn’t exactly write this one for you today, I wrote it for me. But I’ll share it with you because it’s His Word for us all. And because, Beloved, through it all—the Lord is near.

When Your World Crashes

Murphy’s Law says, “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.” Robert Frost wrote: “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” In the south, we say, “If the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise!” You get it, we make plans – big and small – and life happens. In high school, I planned to go to college, get married, be a journalist, and live happily ever after. Five years later I never made it to college, was working at a dead-end job, and going through a divorce. Not exactly what I had in mind. Perhaps you intended to get a big project finished at work yesterday, but an urgent task got tossed on your desk.  Your computer crashes in the middle of a big paper. Your child makes a huge mistake, your parent has a fall, road construction sends you on a long detour.  Something seems to always derail our plans. Flat tires, sick kids, an unexpected phone call, or the boss’s priorities can turn our day upside down. Divorce, cancer, layoffs, rebellious kids, and death can turn our lives upside down.

Aren’t you glad God is not subject to the winds of change and the whims of other people? Job testified, “I know that you can do all things; no plan of Yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:1). God is the perfect planner because He is sovereign; that is, He has absolute authority to determine what will happen and He has absolute power to pull it off. He also has the advantage of seeing “the bigger picture.” Like putting a puzzle together, He sees each piece as it fits into its place and becomes part of the whole. In fact, He is the one who designed the picture in the first place. In hard seasons I find comfort in knowing that God is never taken by surprise when life takes a turn. He has already determined how this hard thing will fit into the complete picture of my life and the lives of those I love.

I’m learning some big lessons about trusting God right now.  I can’t go into details, but all is not right in my family and my heart is breaking.  I’ve been blindsided and can’t do anything about it.  But I am leaning on the truth that God was not caught off guard. He’s not sitting on His throne wringing His hands over the unexpected. Because nothing is unexpected to the One who rules over all. He’s got the whole world, and my little family, in His hands.

God Loves You

She looked at my t-shirt and snorted. “Yeah, I know, ‘God loves me.’ But He’s way up in heaven and I am down here on this miserable earth. He’s too far away to care about me or do anything for me.” She walked away before I could answer, but she left me thinking about what I would have said.

I would tell her about Psalm 107. The Psalmist starts by saying, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever” (v. 1). Then he sets up several examples: People with no place to go, wandering hungry and thirsty; but when “they cried out to the Lord, He delivered them” and brought them to a place to call home (vs. 4-9). Prisoners who were suffering for their sin and rejection of God, who cried out to the Lord, and “He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains” (vs 10-16). People whose foolishness and rebellion brought them great affliction to the point of death, still, when they cried out to the Lord, “He sent for His Word and healed them; He rescued them from the grave (vs. 17-22).

Then there were the ones who were in grave danger in a storm at sea and “at their wits’ end” (can you relate?). You know the next line, when they cried out the Lord stilled the storm and hushed the waves and brought them safely to shore (vs. 23-32). He caused rivers and springs to appear in the desert, created a lush and fruitful land, and blessed and multiplied His people. And when they rebelled, He disciplined them. But then He “lifted the needy out of their affliction” – affliction they brought on themselves – and blessed them again (vs. 33-42).

With every situation, the Psalmist punctuates his story with the words: “Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for men” (vs. 8, 15, 21, and 31).  I wish I could tell her that God’s love is not a far-flung concept, but a reality that is seen and felt in the lives of those who trust and cry out to Him. I would share the Psalmist’s last words: “consider the great love of the Lord” (v. 43), and then I would tell her about Jesus. Maybe you are the one who doubts the love and care of God. Oh, Beloved, His eye is on you and He is as near as a whispered prayer.

The Rest of the Story

I’m living in the middle of a story that is causing me a lot of anxiety. I can’t see what is happening, I have no control over the particulars. I don’t know how this will end – or when. I am keeping an open prayer line to God and running to it often when panic wants to raise its ugly head. Somebody reading this can relate. I know a father with a demon-possessed son could too.  Please take a moment and read Mark 9:17-27 to get the scope of the story.

When we read accounts in the Bible today, as Paul Harvey said, we know “the rest of the story.”  But the people in the story didn’t.  Think about this from the father’s perspective – in real-time – as he stands before Jesus with pleading eyes, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us” (Mark 9:22).  Stay in the moment as we see Jesus turn to the child and speak with authority, “I command you to come out of him and never enter him again” (v. 25).  Watch as “the spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out” (v. 26)” But wait, what did Jesus do?  The boy looks dead – like a corpse!  The father brought his boy to Jesus and Jesus made everything worse.

Now, freeze the scene right here and consider this: just as the father lived out his story in real-time, you and I are also living out our story without the advantage of a written script that tells us how it all ends.  All we know is, right now, at this moment, the anxiety is high.

“But Jesus . . .” these are the most precious words in the Bible to me.  “But Jesus took [the boy] by the hand and lifted him to his feet” v. 27).  Wonder of wonders, the boy is not dead – he is alive – and healed!  He runs into his father’s arms with a smile of triumph. His father bends to kiss his son’s head with a look of amazement and Joy.

May I remind you not to give up on Jesus?  He can see the end from the middle. That moment when all seems lost, just as it was for this father, might be the moment just before all is found. Bring your need to Jesus, give Him room to work, and don’t lose hope. Beloved, your story isn’t over yet.

Come to the Throne of Grace

David was in it up to his neck (Ps 69:1). He could find no foothold to regain his stability; he felt like he was sinking in deep waters (v. 2). Though he cried out for help, he couldn’t see God coming to his rescue. He said, “My eyes fail looking for my God” (v. 3). David spoke of his enemies and we see their hatred toward him. His woes are understandable. But wait. Look at verse 5: “You know my folly, O God; my guilt is not hidden from you.” David is the cause of his own despair. David has put himself in the miry depths. The text doesn’t reveal his actions, but he talks about being “scorned, disgraced, and shamed” (v. 19).

David is suffering the consequences of his actions. Can you relate? I know I can. Most of my struggles and difficulties have my own fingerprints all over them. And my tendency when I fail is to withdraw from God and assume that I must lay in the bed I made. I have a hard time bringing myself to ask for His help when I messed up.

But David had no such qualms. He wrote, “But I pray to you, O Lord, in the time of Your favor; in your great love, O God, answer me with Your sure salvation” (v. 13). He pleads: “Rescue me . . . Deliver me” (v. 14). “Answer me” (v. 16). “Redeem me” (v. 18). “Protect me” (v. 29). David is convinced of God’s love and salvation. He appeals to the “goodness of Your love” and “great mercy” (v. 16). He knows that “The Lord hears the needy and does not despise His captive people” (v. 33).  He could have also written Hebrews 4:6 – “Let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

I don’t know what is keeping you from God today. But I know this beyond a shadow of a doubt: no matter what you have done, God’s mercy, grace, and love are yours for the asking. Because of Jesus, “nothing – not even your failures, sins and mistakes – will be able to separate [you] from the love of God” (Rom 8:38-39). Just ask Him, Beloved. Then receive it.  He loves to rescue His children.

Lean on God

My son called us early this morning fully dressed in his army uniform and hat with an anxious expression on his face. I remember that look well. I saw it on his first day of school. I saw it when he was a teenager and had to explain his actions to a police officer. I saw it when he faced things that were scary and unknown. That look of “I don’t know if I can do this.” He’s a grown man, but the boy was there on the screen, wiping away a tear from his eye. He starts the full run of basic combat training. It’s going to be hard. They will break him. The worst part, he said, is he won’t be allowed to call home for the first couple of weeks. Talking to his wife and daughter and mom has gotten him through. But we won’t have us for a while.

This will be the hardest thing he’s ever done, and he’s overwhelmed. Maybe you understand. You might be in the middle of the hardest thing you’ve ever faced right now and you don’t know how you will make it. I will tell you the same thing I told him. This is when you lean hard on God. When grief and sorrow overwhelm you, lean on God. When your body is racked with pain and fever, lean on God. When you walk out of your workplace with your possessions in a box, when the gas tank, the pantry, and your purse are empty, when the one who vowed to love you walks away, when you sit helplessly beside your loved one’s hospital bed . . . lean on God. When you head off to boot camp, lean on God. And when my son wipes away tears of anxiety 425 miles away, I’ve got to lean on God too.

What does that look like? A lot of prayer. A lot of time in the Word of God. And more prayer. And when the wave of anxiety or depression or anger or grief hits I pray more and read more and lean more. Because God is faithful. Every scenario I mentioned, I’ve lived through – or I should say God carried me through. He was with me in every one. He was my strength and my comfort. He was my hope and my peace. And now, I am entrusting my son into His hands. I reminded Troy of that before we signed off the call together. I’m reminding myself of that too. Beloved, whatever you face right now, lean hard on God. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart . . .” (Prov. 3:5). You’re in His hands – and there’s no better place to be.

Lord, Rescue Me

I’ve never kept secret the fact that I struggle with depression – I have since I was a kid. I write about it because I know many of you do as well. Sometimes it’s triggered by an event or circumstance but more often than not it comes from a chemical imbalance in my brain. I take medication to keep me on a fairly even plane. Some days are better than others and some days are downright hard. Depression (and medication) doesn’t mean I have lost my faith in God or am a failure as a Christian. In fact, it makes me all the more dependent on God every day.

It also makes me like many of the men and women whom God used – whose stories are scattered all over the Bible and throughout the history of the Church. This morning as I read I recognized myself in David. And I recognized the One who rescued David also rescues me. In his song of praise in 2 Samuel 22 ( also in Psalm 18), David wrote of two places in which I often find myself when depression hits. Drowning in deep waters and sitting in darkness.

Sometimes it washes over me like waves; sometimes it feels like I’ve fallen into brackish water. David said “[The Lord] reached down from on high and took hold of me; He drew me out of deep waters” (v. 17). The thing about depression is I don’t have the energy or even desire to swim. I need a rescuer – God knows and He comes. Why would He do that? Not because I am such a good teacher or writer or because I am some highly important person in His Kingdom. “He rescued me because He delighted in me” (v. 20b). It has nothing to do with me and everything to do with His heart.

Depression often feels like “darkness that can be felt” (Ex. 10:21). It presses in on me, making it hard to breathe and difficult to move. David said, “You are my lamp, O Lord; the Lord turns my darkness into light” (v. 29). Darkness is nothing more than the absence of light. When light – even the tiniest glow – penetrates the shadows, darkness flees. John said that Jesus is “the true light that gives light to every man” (John 1:9) and the darkness cannot overcome His light (v. 5). That’s good news for a lot of us.

Where are you today Beloved? Underwater? In the darkness? The One who rescued David and rescued me can rescue you too. More than that, it delights Him to do so. Take His hand. Look for His light. Your Rescuer is here.

Broken People

The world is full of broken people. They work in your building, sit beside you in class, share your pew in church, sleep under your roof, live over your head, drive on your road, and ring up your groceries. They’re your patients, your clients, your teachers, your preachers, your coworkers, your friends, and your family. They share your penchant for salsa, your last name, your house, your grandchild, your love of Scripture, and your campus. You see them as you walk among the crowds, as you sit behind your desk, as you push your cart down the aisle, as you watch your kids play, and as you turn off the lamp beside your bed. And if you’re anything like me, you see a broken person in the mirror every morning.

The truth is, we are all broken. We’re all flawed. We’re all scared. We’re all threadbare and wounded and limping. You and I can’t get through life unscathed. Stuff happens. Heartache. Divorce. Grief. Disappointment. Mistakes. Accidents. Abuse. Anxiety. But those things are not what broke us. Sin did. The sin of Adam and Eve broke mankind. It broke the relationship we once had with our Creator. And wonder of wonders, He allowed Himself to be broken that we might be made whole (1 Cor 11:24).

But when a broken person has been redeemed by the Lord God pours out healing and restoration onto others. Paul said that “the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those and any trouble with the comfort we have received from God” (2 Cor 1:3-4). Isn’t that amazing? God uses broken people to bring healing to broken people.

I came across a verse today that I love. The Lord is speaking to His people Israel. He warned them of the severe consequences of their rebellion and idolatry and the destruction that was coming, and then He promised them restoration when they turn back to Him. He told them “You will be called Repairer of Broken Walls” (Is 58:12). That’s how I want to be known – a Repairer of Broken People. No, I won’t be don’t the mending – that’s God’s work alone, but I can bring the Word that heals and I can apply the love and tenderness of God that soothes. I can let kindness and compassion seep from my cracked places and spill onto the wounds of others.

Beloved, you and I both know that you’re broken. What will you do with it? Sit in your chair and lick your wounds? Or will you allow God to use your brokenness for someone’s healing?  

For the Brokenhearted

This one is going to be a little different. My heart is heavy for some people who are grieving today. I want so much to offer a word of comfort, but what do you say to someone who has lost their whole world? We all face sorrow. In the past two years, my brother and my father passed away. I’m sure you also understand the pain of death. I’ve never lost a child – I understand from some of you that it is a crushing kind of grief that never ever goes away.

So, what kind of hope is there for our broken hearts? All have are words – but they are words from the Source of life. They are soft pillows on which to rest your head. They are balm for the aching hole in your heart. They are promises you can lean on when you cannot stand a minute longer.

Like, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted” (Ps. 34:18). When my granddaughter hurts, I hurt. When she cries I run to her and scoop her up in my arms and hold her close. God does much the same for us when our hearts are broken. He draws near to His hurting child so that you can rest your weary head on His big chest and feel His breath ruffle your hair. You might even hear Him singing over you (Zep. 3:17).

When you can’t stop crying, remember that your tears are precious to the Lord. He catches every one and stores them in a bottle like a treasure (Ps 56:8). He promises that one day those tears will turn into songs of Joy (Ps 126:5). And mourning will turn into gladness (Jer. 31:13). The memories that sting your eyes now will bring you sweet delight.

Your heart feels like it’s in a thousand pieces. God will put them all back together and every piece will refract His glory in new and beautiful ways – like the sun shining through a stained-glass window. The world will be in awe of how God glistens through you.

And the sweetest promise of all is that you and I will one day be reunited with our loved ones, never to be apart again. My Mom, Dad, and brother. My dear friend’s husband. Another friend’s sister. Your coworker’s fiancé. My cousin’s son. The neighbor’s wife. Your little girl. They will squeal with delight when they see you at the gate. They will take you by the hand and give you the grand tour of heaven. And you’ll have coffee together every morning and ice cream every night. Forever and ever and ever.

Grief is long and hard, but it isn’t eternal. God will come near to you. He will quiet you with His love (Zeph 3:17). He will put your broken heart back together. He will give you back what you lost. Not just for a moment, but forever. My prayers are with you, Beloved.

God knows

Every word of the Bible is true and speaks with authority and purpose and wisdom. I’ve never read a verse and thought, “Meh, that’s not for me.” But often I will read something that has my name written all over it – like this morning.

“The Lord is a God who knows” (1 Samuel 2:3).

I’ve been sitting here staring at those words for several minutes and pondering all that things that God knows. And I am awestruck.

God knows that I am weary and overwhelmed. David said, “the Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for Joy and I will give thanks to Him in song” (Ps 28:7).

God knows when I am in trouble. “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; He drew me out of deep waters . . . He rescued me because He delighted in me” (Ps 18:16, 19).

God knows when I am struggling with temptation. “God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out . . .” (1 Cor 10:13).

God knows when I’m in need. Jesus said, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him” (Matt 6:8).

God knows when I’m confused and don’t know what to do. He says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you” (Ps 32:8).

God knows when I am depressed and discouraged. The Psalmist said, “You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry” (Ps 10:17).

God knows when I have been treated unfairly. “But I call to God and the Lord saves me. He ransoms me unharmed from the battle waged against me” (Ps 55:16, 18).

God knows when I have sinned. “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin” (Ps 51:1-2).

God knows, Beloved. And most important of all, God knows you. He hears you. He sees you. He understands you. He cares about you. He loves you. David said, “But I trust in You, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hands” (Ps 31:14-15). You can trust Him too. He is your God. You are in His hands. They have your name written all over them (Is 49:16).