When it doesn’t turn out like you hoped

I had hoped in what I believed was God’s plan for my family. But things did not turn out as I hoped and so I’m left with a heavy heart wondering how to live in this new reality. But I am in good company.
I’m reminded of the scene with Peter and several of the disciples. Uncertain of where their lives were going after Jesus’ death, they dejectedly went back to fishing (John 21). And then there are two of Jesus’ followers walking on the dusty road to Emmaus when they encounter a stranger. They tell him about Jesus (isn’t that a kick), sadly saying, “We had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21). They saw their lives going in a completely different direction than they expected.
Part of the problem is our understanding of the word “hope.” We say, “I hope it doesn’t rain out the picnic today.” “I hope he asks me to the prom.” “I hope you feel better soon.” – but these are spoken like “wishful thinking.” The Bible portrays hope as “an attitude of confidently looking forward to what is good and beneficial.” It’s not a hope in circumstances. It’s a hope in God. A hope that we can carry with us no matter what twists and turns life takes. Better yet, it’s a hope that carries us no matter what. That’s the kind of hope you and I need.
Remember Peter and those disciples on the road to Emmaus – the ones who had lost hope? Their stories didn’t end there. At the end of that fishing trip was breakfast with the risen Jesus and restored hope for Peter. At the end of the Emmaus road was the joyful realization that the stranger in their midst was the resurrected Lord Himself.
Proverbs 13:12 says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when dreams come true at last there is life and joy.” I believe this is an assurance that our God-given hopes don’t get cast aside when life takes an unexpected turn. Because God expected that turn, even if I didn’t, and somehow the desires He planted in my heart will make the turn too. And when He brings them to reality, they may not look exactly like I envisioned, but they will be full of life and hope. And Joy.

The Power of Your Words

This may surprise you, but sarcasm comes naturally to me. My mom was always after me about it. “If you can’t say anything good, don’t say anything at all.” That’s one of the reasons I tend to stay off of the Book of Faces after I post the day’s devotional. I do not trust myself to not get snarky. It’s just that – gosh – some people really deserve it.
But that’s the “old man” in me. That phrase comes from the Apostle Paul who wrote often about the tug of war between who we were before Christ and who we are to be in Christ. Even though our sin has been put to death by the Lord Jesus, our urges and desires remain until we are perfected. It is a life-long battle. For some, it may be drugs or alcohol or physical pleasure or materialism. But God has been working on my mouth for a long time for good reason.
Years ago I read in Isaiah, “I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand” (51:16). That verse grabbed my heart and I prayed that God would put His words in my mouth. The next day another verse came to life – very clear in its meaning and application for me: “If you utter worthy, not worthless words, you will be my spokesman” (Jer 15:19). Boom! I had a calling and a caution. I have bitten my tongue more than once – and failed to more than once.
Jesus said, “Men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken” (Matt 12:36). In the original Greek, that means idle words, useless words, lazy words, ineffective words. In other words, worthless words. So then, what are worthy words? Words that are productive, words that accomplish God’s good purposes, words that work hard for the good of others, words that edify. As Paul wrote, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Eph 4:29).
Solomon said, “The tongue has the power of life and death” (Prov. 18:21). Your words can do great harm or great good – you and I need to use them wisely and carefully. Beloved, let’s commit to speak only “apples of gold in settings of silver” (Prov. 25:11)

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.”

If the Truth Offends . . .

According to Scripture, my job as a Bible teacher is to make you mad. My brothers will tell you I’ve been practicing for this my whole life. The writer of Hebrews said, “Let us spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (10:24). The word “spur” means “to incite, irritate, or provoke” and it comes from a root word that suggests a sharp disagreement. “But wait a minute,” you say, “I thought we were supposed to always get along and be at peace with one another.” We are. But sometimes peace requires confrontation. The church suffers greatly because we are not willing to confront uncomfortable issues like what a Christian should look like. The writer pointed to two specific things: Love and good deeds.
Jesus said that love would be the distinguishing mark of His followers (John 13:35), and His Apostle John went a step further (on someone’s toes) and said if you don’t love fellow believers in Christ, that’s a good indication that you are not in Christ (1 John 2:9-11). Love is non-negotiable for the Christian.
We are also called to do good deeds. Paul said that we are saved by grace through faith, not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9). But James said that faith without works is dead (James 2:17). Who’s right here? Both. Salvation comes by faith in the grace of God and is evidenced by good works. No, you don’t have to go to Calcutta and join Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity to prove that you are a Christian. Simple acts of love, kindness, gentleness, and compassion are good fruit in the believer’s life. Hate, harshness, rudeness, and indifference are evidence that one is not a Christ-follower. If there’s no good fruit there is no root in Christ.
Love and good deeds are the identifying marks of the Christian. If they are absent, then Christ is not present. If that makes you mad then take it up with God – He’s the one who said it first, not me. Also, you might need to re-examine your relationship with Him.
The writer of wisdom said, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another” (Prov 27:17). Sharpening iron involves rubbing it with an abrasive stone to grind the edge. Sometimes we need kind words and other times we need a gritty whetstone. I’m called to give you both, Beloved. I love you too much to not tell you the whole truth – in love – even if it makes you mad.

The Sovereign Will of God

Sometimes God gives me the devotional early in the morning – sometimes even in my sleep. The message and Scripture are firmly planted in my heart. And sometimes I have to hunt around in my Bible a little before the Spirit highlights something. Today is one of those days.
This morning one verse jumped out at me – and the truth is, it has been jumping out at me for several weeks, but I didn’t realize this was the word until today. Maybe this is just the right time for this message for someone. Maybe me.
In the last chapter of Job’s saga, after 129 statements of His power and authority over creation, the Lord takes a breath, and Job, in humility says, “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2). I felt a nudge from the Spirit but I kept searching. A few pages over another verse sprang to life: “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord” (Prov. 21:30). And it all came together.
This is the word today: The Lord God is sovereign. What Job and Solomon said is that God has absolute authority over all things in heaven and earth, including human lives and human history. Yes, we have free will, but God has authority even still. I can’t explain how it works, but I know it does. And what God wills, man cannot break. Oh sure, we can run away or fight Him, but Jonah will tell you, in the end, His plan will prevail.
I count that as great news because God’s will is “good, pleasing, and perfect” (Rom 12:2) and His plan is “to give you hope and a future” (Jer 29:11). Here is where God’s sovereignty comforts me. God has a plan for my life, and satan and people are trying to stand in the way. But God. God will win the day. God will bring His plan to fruition. I know this because the enemy has tried to destroy God’s work in me, but the Lord has rescued me time after time and set me back in His will.
I don’t know who else needs this word today, but God clearly wanted you to hear it – He is the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth – and your life. Receive it and believe it, Beloved. If you are in Christ, everything He declares for your life will succeed. His plan cannot be thwarted.

Wait for God

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits. And in His word, I have put my hope.  My soul waits for the Lord, more than watchmen wait for the morning.  More than watchmen wait for the morning” (Ps 130:5-6).

Waiting on the Lord is never futile.  It may be uncomfortable, it may be nerve-wracking, and even a bit frightening, but it always ends with His blessing.  The key to waiting is to put my hope in God – not in an outcome, but in the Person.  The outcome I hope for may or may not come to pass.  But I can put my hope in God because He never fails.

The Psalmist understood that. The city slept as the watchman kept vigil, waiting for the sunrise.  As he stood guard in the black of night, he never once doubted that the morning would come. It came yesterday.  It came all the days before.  Yes, it was dark through the night, but the morning never failed to come.

 You and I can hope in God through the dark night because He never fails to come. I know this from personal experience.   He comes just as surely as the sun rises morning after morning.   Even more than this – He is the reason the sun rises morning after morning.  Yes weary one, God always comes.  No power in heaven or earth could keep him from coming for His child, not even death.

He comes every morning with new mercies (Lamentations 3:23).

He comes with glory (Exodus 16:7).

He comes with redemption (Ruth 3:13).

He comes with listening ears (Psalm 5:3).

He comes with rejoicing (Psalm 30:5).

He comes with strength (Psalm 59:16).

He comes with wonders (Psalm 65:8).

He comes with unfailing love (Psalm 143:8).

He comes with a sustaining word (Isaiah 50:4).

He comes with justice (Zephaniah 3:5).

He comes with resurrection power (Luke 24:1-6).

He comes with daily provision (John 21:4).

He comes with His Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4).

He comes with the Morning Star (Revelation 2:28).

He comes with peace.

He comes with Joy.

He comes with promise.

He comes with faithfulness.

He comes with unfailing love.

Oh, Beloved, are you surrounded by the darkness of a long night?  Put your hope in the Lord.  Morning is coming. Like the sun that rises at dawn, He always comes.  Keep watching.  Keep waiting.  Keep hoping.  The Lord your God is coming.

Acts: When God Changes Your Plans

I had a plan for my life when I was much younger. The only part of my plan to come to reality was I got older. Proverbs 16:9 says “In his heart, a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” I could have written that verse myself – you probably could have too. For sure Paul understood those words and lived them out. His life plan was to be a Pharisee – he was trained in Jewish law by the wise Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). But the Lord had other plans for him – “to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people Israel” (Acts 9:15). He interrupted his plans on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-19).

The Lord also interrupted his plans in Acts 16:1-10. Please read this passage and come back here.

After Paul brought Timothy on board his missionary team, he had plans to take the gospel into new territory. But Luke said that he and his companions had “been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia” (Acts 16:6). This was followed by another redirection as “the Spirit of Jesus” prevented them from entering Bithynia (v. 7). No additional details are given but as the passage unfolds, we learn why. God wanted Paul elsewhere. During the night Paul receives “a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’” (v. 9).

Here’s what the Holy Spirit is pointing out to me. First, when God saved me, He also claimed me as His own. It is His right to override my plans and send me in another direction. Secondly, His plans will always be better than mine. But here’s where I am being confronted and convicted. Paul didn’t complain. He didn’t whine about not getting to do what he wanted to do. He responded with immediate obedience. “After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them” (v. 10).

God is all about changing our plans and our direction. That is the Christian life in a nutshell. If He did not interrupt us, we would have no hope. I look back over my life, over my plans and see the foolishness and futility of them. I’m grateful He turned everything upside-down and inside-out. Beloved, are you still clinging to your plans, even as God has shown you a new direction? Lay them down and follow where He is leading you. The sweetest place you can ever be is in the center of His will.

The Secret to the Successful Christian Life

If I could suggest a “secret” to the successful Christian life it would be Paul’s counsel in Colossians 3:1 and 2: “Set your hearts on things above,” and “Set your minds on things above.” That covers everything. Our heart is the seat of our desires and emotions and our minds are the seat of our reasoning, and together they sit in the driver’s seat of our will and actions. Everything you and I think, say and do springs from our hearts and our minds. When satan went after Eve in the garden he went for her mind, refuting what God had said, and her heart, appealing to her desire for something tasty, something pretty, and something that would make her who she wanted to be: God. He hasn’t changed tactics since. He works through the world to discredit God and deny what He has said – enacting laws and cultural influences to turn the truth inside-out and upside-down. He works through education, which is not in and of itself evil. God counsels us to seek wisdom and knowledge and understanding, but our education system is almost entirely anti-God, from the pre-school level to the highest degrees in college. We do well to remember that “The Lord gives wisdom and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Prov 2:6). He works through the media, and our penchant for entertainment. He works through social pressure and – sadly – religion gone rogue. But he finds his greatest success by tickling our hearts – our desires and passions, and emotions. This is the fertile ground in which the enemy plants his most productive seeds. He really doesn’t have to do much work at all. He just taps into what is already in us. James was right: “Each one is templated when, by is own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed” (Jas 1:14). And that is why Solomon said, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Prov. 4:23). Guarding our hearts involves guarding our mouth, our eyes, our steps, and our direction (vs. 24-27).That’s why Paul’s words are so powerful and true. The strongest guard we can set is to keep the focus of both our hearts and our minds God-ward. We do that chiefly through the regular, diligent, and purposeful intake of Scripture – nothing you and I can do has as much transforming power. Not only does the Word of God transform our minds (Rom 12:2), but it also changes our hearts (Ps 119:111-112). So start right here. Don’t just read over these references. Look them up and meditate on them. Plant them in the soil of your mind and heart. Beloved, that’s how you harvest righteousness.

Why the Bible Matters

You may think I harp a little too much on the Bible and Bible study, and that may be so but it’s because the Bible is that important for us.  Just before his death, Moses implored the Israelites to “Take to heart all these words” and teach their children to know and obey them (Deut. 32:46). He declared, “They are not just idle words for you—they are your life” (v. 47). King Solomon said that the words of the Lord “are life to those who find them” (Prov. 4:22).

When I study the Bible, I like to do so slowly and deliberately, digging in deep, examining details, context, and words, asking questions of the text, cross-referencing Scriptures, and consulting resources for a better understanding. Like a jeweler turning a diamond over and over in his hand, I look at a verse from different sides to see what new facets I can find. What’s amazing is, no matter how much I look, I can never see it all. It’s a living Word and is constantly producing truth and wisdom. Not new truth or new wisdom, but more of what it has faithfully said for thousands of years.

Yet for all my digging and study, there are things about the Bible that I cannot make sense of. Not all my questions about the text have nice, neat answers. Maybe I should stop reading the Bible. Come to think of it, God has yet to answer a lot of my questions about life. Maybe I should stop believing in Him altogether.

Or maybe I should have faith. Maybe I should believe that God is good and His Word is true, even though I can’t resolve every issue with the Scriptures or with life. Maybe I should trust that things will make sense – in another time and another place. Maybe I should take Jesus’ words to heart: “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand” (John 13:12).

If you’re approaching the Bible for the sole purpose of finding answers to all your questions, I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed. The Bible isn’t merely a life-answer book or a self-help book. It’s not just a book of wisdom or direction – although those are all there. It is the testimony of Almighty God – His autobiography you might say. When you approach the Bible as anything less you miss the point entirely. And you miss God. If you come to the Bible to know God you will find Him on every page in every word. Beloved that is His heart’s desire for you. And it’s the greatest privilege of your life.

Who Can Know the Mind of the Lord?

I have this bad habit of trying to figure out how God can resolve my problems. As if He needs my suggestions. My little mind thinks in little terms. My imagination is limited to what I can see and understand. Not God’s. Isaiah spoke of a God who “did awesome things that we did not expect” (Isaiah 64:3) and Jeremiah 33:3 says that He knows “great and unsearchable things” that we do not know – things we have no capacity to discern or understand. Who am I to tell God what He should do?

The theologians call this God’s omniscience – His perfect and complete knowledge. I learn new things every single day.  There is nothing that God does not already know. He knows science because He created everything that exists (Gen 1: 1). He knows every human language because He gave the gift of words to us – and made us speak in different tongues (Gen 11:1-9). He knows every facet of wisdom because He is the source of wisdom (Prov 2:6; James 1:5). He knows truth because truth has its essence in Him (Jn 14:6). And yes, He knows you and me – inside and out – because He created us in His image (Gen 2:7). He also knows the future because what is ahead for us is the present in His view (Is 46:10).

In this present moment, the future is very murky for me. I am sitting in the middle of a multi-faceted mess with no idea how to get over it, past it, around it, or through it. It all looks impossible from my vantage point. But not from God’s. My sister-in-law recently reminded me that God is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power . . .” (Eph 3:20). In other words, I don’t have to dream up a solution – what could I possibly tell Him that would be better than His own plan?

What I do have to do is wait for Him. Quietly. And in the waiting, to watch and serve. And trust. He knows how to bring Joy back into my life. Beloved, God knows what to do with all the broken pieces. He knows how to overcome all that the enemy is trying to do. He knows the perfect plan for this situation. Stop trying to figure it out. Trust in the Lord. He’s going to do something you could never expect. Just wait for it.