Satisfied

Oh the sweetness of a mother with her baby – thirty plus years later and I can still vividly remember the quiet love that washed over me like a tidal wave when they placed my son in my arms. But he had only one thing in mind – his craving for nourishment. He wanted to eat! Every mom knows that infants will sound the alarm when the first pangs of hunger hit. Mom fills the baby’s empty tummy, and for a season that is all the child knows of her. She is the one who meets his needs. But children grow and the relationship grows with it. The baby soon discovers that Mom is more than a place to eat.
David wrote, “I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me” (Ps 131:2). This is a picture of the child who is past the craving stage; he no longer sees his mother as just a source of food. She is a person to enjoy, a person who loves him. Now he can be content just being in her presence without making demands of her. He still calls for her when he has a need, and he will frequently glance back at her to make sure she is still there and is satisfied to see her nearby.
Are you content simply being in the Father’s presence? Or do you still regard Him as a means to fill your wants and needs? Those who are most satisfied in their relationship with God are the ones who have learned to enjoy Him for who He is. Yes, they trust Him to meet their needs as they come. But He is so much more than a solution to their problems. More and more the Lord is teaching me to love Him for who He is, not just for what He can do for me.
Can you sit with Him in the quiet and just enjoy the privilege? God is able and willing to meet your needs – and your greatest need is Him. Beloved, won’t you come a sit a while with your Father?

Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust in the Lord

God doesn’t always do what I want Him to do. He doesn’t always answer my prayers according to my wishes or follow my well-laid-out plans. There are things I’ve prayed about for years that remain unresolved. Hard situations that haven’t magically gotten better. People I’ve laid at His feet over and over who get up and wander back into sin and self-destruction. What are we to do when – let’s call it what it really is – we’re disappointed with God? I know. It seems almost sacrilegious to say it, but if we’re not honest with God we will always be stuck with this gnawing sense that He can’t be trusted.
So what do we do when the doubts creep in? “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6). Two key things stand out to me. First: “trust” – it means to “have confidence in.” That’s pretty simple. But do you? Do you have confidence in God? Do you trust in His goodness, faithfulness, and love? Do you have confidence that He will always do what is right and best – even if what He does doesn’t meet your expectations?
Then – and this was huge to me – three words: “heart,” “understanding,” and “acknowledge.” The “heart” is the seat of our thoughts, emotions, and understanding. “Acknowledge” means to know, recognize, understand. Did you see the word “understand” all over this? “Understand” at its root – this is key – means “to consider with full attention.” There it is. When we lean on our own understanding – we are giving ourselves, our thoughts, and our emotions our full attention. But when we “trust in the Lord with all our heart” we give Him our full attention.
I don’t know about you, but I can easily drive myself into a rut of negativity. “God isn’t interested in your petty problems.” “He is angry at you.” “He is disappointed in you.” “You don’t deserve His help – you made this mess on your own.” You and I must continually bring our focus back to God and our thoughts back to Philippians 4:8. No, I’m not going to give it to you. Go look it up.
Beloved, where are you focusing your attention today? On yourself, on your emotions, on your problems, or on your God? He is your solid rock. He will never betray your confidence in Him. You really can “Trust in the Lord.”

Spiritual Ears

One of my favorite games with Joy when she was very little was “Where is Joy’s . . .” toes, eyes, fingers, nose . . .” “My nose is wright here” and she’d tap the end of her nose. Sometimes I would change it up and ask her “Where is Nana’s nose?” and she would giggle and tap my proboscis. One day I asked her, “Where is Nana’s ears,” and she touched them, then looked curiously at them, and said, “Nana, I know why you have ears. So you gwasses don’t fall down!” Then she noticed the frames resting on my nose and she was awestruck. I started to laugh until I noticed that she was serious. She had made a connection: Nana’s nose and ears are important for keeping her gwasses in place.
Jesus told the Parable of the Sower (Matt 13:1-23) and said, “He who has ears, let him hear.” Of course we all have physical ears – some of ours do double duty as Joy discovered – but Jesus was speaking of spiritual ears. Ears that will not just receive words like an adult talking in a Peanuts cartoon, but ears that hear – that attend to and consider what is said so that one might understand and perceive the purpose of the message. The purpose of hearing what Jesus said is obedience. God doesn’t just speak to be heard, He speaks to be obeyed.
Maybe that is why so many of us are not using our spiritual ears when we quickly run through our daily devotional. We know that if we hear and understand what the Bible is saying, we are obligated to respond. Jesus quoted Isaiah in saying: “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving” (v. 14; Is 6:9). We are looking for a nice word of encouragement to get through the day, but we don’t want something that is going to change our comfy lives.
But hear what the Psalmist said about the Scripture: “I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free” (Ps 119:32). There is real freedom in the Words of God. There is real rest and peace in His truth. There is real Joy in obeying His Word.
Don’t just let the words bounce off your ears, but receive them into your heart so that you will abide in them (Jn 15:7). Beloved, Let the Word of God be your delight and obedience be your offering.

One Day

I have lived so much of my life for “one day.” One day I will have enough time to . . . One day I can afford . . . One day I can retire and . . . One day I will have . . . One day I will go . . . One day I won’t have to . . . But it seems that one day keeps getting pushed farther and farther away. It can be so discouraging if our hearts are focused on this life and this world that is here now and gone tomorrow. But there is another “one day” that brings me hope and peace and Joy. It is an eternal day and it makes these temporal days easier to bear.
One day I will look in the face of Jesus and I will see that everything I believed was true.
He is good.
He lived a perfect, sinless life.
He is the King of heaven and earth.
He loves me.
He calmed storms around me and in me.
He overcame darkness and evil.
He met my every need.
He made the blind see.
He made the deaf hear.
He made the mute speak.
He made the lame walk.
He made the sick well.
And He made the broken whole.
He ran to meet me on the road back to Him.
He carried me when I couldn’t take another step.
He held me when my heart was breaking.
He raised the dead to life.
He called and anointed me.
He gave me rest.
He brought peace in the middle of chaos.
He brought Joy when I was brokenhearted.
He is everything He claimed to be.
He not only gave me hope but He was my hope.
He made a way when I couldn’t see any way.
He turned this filthy sinner into a spotless saint.
He is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
He prays for me.
He died for me.
He rose from the grave.
He is with me to the end.
And when the end comes, I’ll be with Him forever. And my faith will be proven right.
“For now I see through a glass darkly: but then shall I see face to face. Now I know in part: but then shall I know even as I am known.” (1 Cor. 13:12)
Today I see by faith, and that is enough for me.

Peace, Please

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you” (John 14:27).
I could sure use some peace – how about you? How about in your home or workplace? How about in our world? Why, if the Lord promised us His peace, is there so little of it around?
I believe it is because we are looking in the wrong places for peace. Our key verse tells us that the only source for genuine peace is Jesus Christ. Real, lasting peace comes only when we are at peace with God. Paul wrote that we “have peace with God through Jesus Christ.” (Rom 5:1). Peace cannot exist where God does not reign, be it in the human heart or between nations. In fact, peace between nations will never exist unless there is the peace of God in men’s hearts. Peace is the result of walking with and in Jesus Christ.
Peace also comes when we submit to Christ. Colossians 3:15 tells us to “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” The original terminology for “rule” means, “to decide as an umpire.” My husband used to umpire for Little League baseball, and it was up to him to decide if a pitch was a ball or strike, a hit was fair or foul, or if a player was out or safe. Whatever he decided stood. Coaches argued his calls at times, but his decision was the final word. When the peace of Christ rules in our hearts, we take His determination, through His Word and His Spirit, as the final word on our situation – and we have peace.
A lack of peace also comes from worrying – I know this one well. Jesus said “Do not worry . . . your Father knows what you need” (Matt 6:25-34), so we rest our anxious hearts and choose not to fret. He said “Ask, seek, knock,” and then trust Him to give (Matt 7:7-11) and so we present our petitions and wait for His answer. He said, “I will love you with an everlasting love” (Psalm 103:17), and so we take Him at His Word.
When the peace of God through Jesus Christ rules and reigns in your heart and mine, there is peace on the inside and peace on the outside. Peace that affects our homes, our nations, and our world. Most of all it affects us. Beloved, let’s live in peace.

Crazy-Quilt Life

I have two verses that are especially meaningful to me and they speak of the same thing.
Psalm 16:11: You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with Joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.
Psalm 119:105: Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
Did you see it? Path. A path in both contexts means a well-worn passageway. It is that trail or road that others have used before. These paths in Psalms tell me two things I need to know.
A path is there because it has been proven to get you where you need to go. A path would not exist if it got the traveler lost. A path says that others have been this way successfully. One person does not make a path. But many feet do. It is like an unseen guide calling out, “Follow me! I’ve been this way before and I know it is trustworthy.”
A path also implies a destination. Aimless wandering does not make a path. A path says there is something at the end that matters. There is a reason to follow the path. There is someplace you need to go. There is someone you need to see or something you need to do down the road. Many others have gone this way because they also had a purpose in their travels.
This speaks to me because my life seems like a lot of aimless wandering. I never imagined that I had a purpose or that there was a grand plan for me. I took whatever came to me and never tried to connect any dots to see if there was some direction or reason in any of it. Or if there was Someone behind it all. Even after I became a Christian, I assumed that I was to just do the best I could with the cards I was dealt and hopefully not mess up too badly before I could get to heaven.
Then I read a quote by Marilyn Meberg who said, “[You are] not on a haphazard course of [your] own poor choosing.” I cannot tell you how much that comforted and encouraged me. Yes, I have made many, many mistakes – some doozies. I have suffered the consequences – painful, hard, scarring consequences. But even in my stumbles, God has been working. I need to know that. I’ll bet you do too. Beloved, even a crazy-quilt life comes together to produce something beautiful. Stay on the path and watch God stitch.

Before and After

Some time ago I ran across some old photos of myself. I laid them out in the progression of ages from about 3 to my high school years, watching myself grow taller, with a variety of hairstyles and some very strange fashion sense. I saw something else. Somewhere between 10 and 18, the girl in those photos took on a dark demeanor and I remembered my past – things that had been done to me, and things I did to myself. Glancing up into the mirror on my dresser, I thought about how much I physically looked like the girl in the pictures, but I no longer recognized those dark eyes. I heard a whisper in my heart, “That is because that’s not who you are anymore. Then you were a victim and a rebel. Now you are Mine.”
In Ephesians 5:8, Paul wrote, “You were once darkness . . .” Then he gives the contrast: “. . . but now you are light in the Lord.” He was using words to paint a before and after portrait.
One of Satan’s favorite ploys is to assault us with our past, to tell us that we will always be who we were and there is no point in trying to resist those old familiar sins. “You know deep down, you still want it. You haven’t changed. You are bound to your past. You are bound to your sin.” But if you belong to Jesus Christ, you are free from your past. You are a child of light, purified from all your sins (1 John 1: 7). Where you were once held captive to sin, you are now bound up in God’s love. You have the power to say no to sin.
In Philippians 3:13, Paul gave the secret to walking in our new identity: “One thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on…” We can forget what is behind us because “as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. (Ps 103:12)”
Beloved, I want so much for you to understand that because Jesus Christ has completely removed all your transgressions; you are a new creation in Christ, no longer bound to a painful, sinful past or those dark desires. You have light in your eyes, and God’s love shines on your face. Because you are not who you once were. Now you are His.

Rest for Your Soul

Joy loves to snuggle up to me or Poppy at naptime when she is home. She always starts out facing away from us until she is ready to surrender to sleep. Then she will give a big sigh and turn over so that she is facing whomever she is with and immediately drifts off. I can feel the release in her body as she gives herself over to sweet sleep.
I always think of her when I read Matthew 11:28-30: Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
In the context of Jesus’ message, He was speaking to all those who had been burdened down by the Levitical law. The image was of a pair of oxen – the bigger, stronger ox bore the bulk of the load so that the younger, weaker animal did not become exhausted. The Levites took the original commands of God and added the 613 Levitical laws them to create an enormous burden for anyone who tried to live righteously. It was impossible to maintain. Jesus wanted them to know that He would not put any additional burdens on them; in fact, he would take their burdens on Himself and lighten their load.
As believers on this side of the cross, we don’t live under all those laws, but we live with struggles and difficulties and pressures and burdens. We live with wayward children and too much responsibility and too little support. We live with doubt and pain and broken relationships. We live with fearful diagnoses and fear of the world outside our door. We live with grief and loneliness and heartache. And we live with our guilt and shame. It all weighs us down and wears us out. Sometimes it’s all too much to bear.
Beloved, if you are tired – if the weight of the world, your family, anxieties, heartaches, or failures have made you weary, may I offer some advice? Take a deep breath and turn your face to Jesus. Give Him all your worries and fears and heartaches and sorrows. Roll the weight of it all onto Him and give yourself and your burdens over to Him. He will bear the load and carry you too. And you will find rest for your soul.

This Baby Changed the World

“While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son” (Luke 2:6).

They say that having a baby will change your life completely, and every parent knows that is true. You give your whole self away to your child and you never get yourself back. Your time is no longer your own – your days are filled with feedings and diaper changes, and more of the same through the night. Your money is not yours anymore – whoever imagined someone so tiny would need so much stuff? Your priorities are different, your goals are reshaped, and your entire identity is redefined. And you wouldn’t have it any other way.

There is a Baby who will change your life in far greater ways. This Baby will give your life direction and purpose. This Baby will bring you peace in the midst of a storm. He will comfort you when you are weary and broken. He will lift you up when you fall. This Baby will bring you immeasurable Joy. He can wash away the stain of guilt and shame and make you new. This Baby brings hope where all hope is faded. He brings light into the darkest night. This Baby brings healing to body and mind and heart. This Baby will change the way you think and the way you live. He will transform your heart and cause you to love in ways you never expected. And if all that wasn’t enough, this Baby will change your life beyond this life.

This Baby left the glory of heaven to save the entire human race. He brought peace between God and man. He broke the chains of sin. He erased the curse of death. This Baby took on your sin and mine; He bore the punishment that you and I rightly deserved. He surrendered His body to the cross and the grave. He did it all so that you and I could have life – full and abundant and eternal. He gave Himself away so that you could get yourself back. This Baby – the Lord Jesus Christ – changes everything. Beloved, I pray you have received this Baby, this Man – the Son of God – as your Savior.

Words of Wisdom

The book of Ecclesiastes was written by King Solomon, the wisest ruler that ever lived. His wisdom came to him directly from the Lord God when he took over his father’s throne as a very young man. He began his rule well, submitting to the Lord’s authority and Law. His decisions were righteous and just and his reputation for both understanding and wealth were known far and wide. Israel enjoyed peace and prosperity during his reign. But for all that God-given wisdom, Solomon acted very foolishly in his life. For starters, he got tangled up with multiple women – 700 wives and 300 concubines – most from foreign lands. “And his wives led him astray; [they] turned his heart after other gods” (1 Ki 11:3,4).

He also turned his heart toward himself. He “built houses for myself”, “owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem,” “amassed silver and gold for myself,” and  “denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure” (Eccl 2:4-10). The result of all his pleasure-seeking and self-satisfaction? “Everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind” (v. 11). He discovered what God knew all along – a self-centered life is a miserable life. Everything he did, everything he built, everything he gained was all for himself.

It’s a lesson humanity still hasn’t mastered all these generations later. We live in the age of self – self-esteem, self-worth, self-care, self-determination, self-knowledge, and selfies. No other generation seems more self-focused than this one.  When life is all about self, life is meaningless. People who do not have a relationship with God have such a sad outlook. But when our lives are about the glory of God, we find real meaning and purpose and passion. A life lived for self is wasted. A life lived for God is full and rich.

Solomon divided his discoveries into things “under the sun” and things “under heaven.” Under the sun referred to anything that was temporal: buildings, pleasure, wealth, possessions, reputation, earthly wisdom, position and popularity. Under heaven was anything with eternal value: love, Joy, heavenly wisdom, people, salvation, humility, kindness, peace, hope, and the glory of God.

In the end he said, “Here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (Eccl 12:13). It was the wisest thing he ever said. Beloved, it is the wisest thing you will ever do.