The Providence of God

 

Friday, August 21, 2020

I give you thanks, O Lord, with all my heart; I will sing your praises before the gods.  I bow before your holy Temple as I worship.  I praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness; for your promises are backed by all the honor of your name.  As soon as I pray, you answer me; you encourage me by giving me strength.  Psalm 138:1-3

The Psalmist lets us in on a little key ingredient to faith; you’ve got to keep going.  I’m not talking about really tough times when you don’t know whether or not you’ve got it in you to take one more step; in times like that He carries you.  Rather, it’s more the times when you just don’t feel like taking any steps that you’ve got to keep taking those steps.

·       Did you ever just not feel like saying that prayer?

·       Have you ever felt like it was a waste of time to go to another worship service?

·       Has there been a time when you felt too angry to pray?

·       Did you ever feel like it was useless to forgive that guy….again?

Hear the Psalmist again: 

As soon as I pray, you answer me; you encourage me by giving me strength.

Faith isn’t spooky, doesn’t require a medium or fortune teller, and it certainly isn’t hiding anywhere.  Faith is constantly available, and the problem isn’t that God has made it only for the superstars, like Moses, Peter, or Paul; the problem is, frankly, sometimes we just don’t feel like it.  And this is the point at which we find that faith. 

If you have developed a habit of praying, giving, worshipping, helping others, or any other spiritual discipline, there will be times when you don’t feel like it.  Those are the times to put aside feelings and remember it is a discipline, and the strength God gave you to form that discipline, will be the same strength that shows up in that discipline.  This is so, because of another little key the Psalmist let slip…it’s not about us, or our feelings; God’s providence, His care for us, is all resting on the honor of God’s holy name.

In a discussion with a dear friend we were talking about this same issue, and I had the thought that many times I don’t really want to get up as early as I do.  Sometimes, even when I manage to drag my aging carcass out of the bed, stumble to the desk with my first cup of coffee, and begin to read, I do not feel like writing another devotional (perhaps just like you sometimes don’t feel like reading another devotional).  But, when it has become a habit, you do it anyway. 

And one of two things happen:

1.     Somewhere in the process, like the Psalmist, you realize that entering that time of prayer, or service, or devotion, God has encouraged you, replenished your strength, or resolve, or grown your faith.   The technical term is providence – the Lord has provided. 

The other possibility is:

2.     You don’t feel anything but bored, or tired, or angry, or, well…fill in the blank.  And, in this case, it isn’t that God can’t provide what you need; you’ve bumped into the need for a vacation….or a nap…or a nap on vacation.  You get the idea.

Your tank of human strength has run low, and God wants to replenish all of you, not just your spiritual side, He wants your mind, emotions, physical being, and relationships to flourish.  And, you’re not your best self when those feelings begin to control every decision, action, or word that drops from your tired, bored, angry lips.

For You Today

There are times to take a break, step back, and regain strength, or perspective; it’s time to let God replenish whatever is running on empty. 

Don’t be afraid of that.  It’s providential…one of God’s promises!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

VIDEO

Title image Pixabay.com ∞  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For another post on activating your faith, see Faith Finding the Path to Do Right

 

The Case For Worship

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Tuesday, June 5, 2018

The Lord is king!  Let the nations tremble!  He sits on his throne between the cherubim.  Let the whole earth quake!  The Lord sits in majesty in Jerusalem, exalted above all the nations.  Let them praise your great and awesome name.  Your name is holy!  Mighty King, lover of justice, you have established fairness.  You have acted with justice and righteousness throughout Israel.  Exalt the Lord our God!  Bow low before his feet, for he is holy!  Psalm 99:1-5^(NLT)

The Psalmist doesn’t leave much wiggle-room.  According to this Psalm the entire creation (rightfully) gives honor and praise, responding to its Maker with trembling, quaking, exaltation, and bowing at His holy feet.  There is no half-heartedness in this worship service. 

The reason behind worship could take more pen and ink than exists.  Just the mention of His name leads us to the source of awesome and holy.  He is the King of all because, as Creator, He is the author of all which exists.  How could we do other than worship?

But the Psalmist (as I mentioned above) leaves no room for question; besides being the author and sustainer of creation, God’s character is also reason enough to elicit praise from His creation.  He is the lover of justice, having established fairness, acting this way constantly towards all people.  Creating something presupposes the power to un-create it, or destroy what you’ve created.  You have the power to either sustain or unplug what you’ve made, like a child with a Legos™ castle takes it all down when she gets bored. 

Only there’s nothing boring or bored about God with His creation.  Rather than take-down a flawed creation, our loving, awesome, righteous and holy God is also willing to be humble, dying for us, so we don’t have to be destroyed.

So, this is the case for worship, bowing low at the foot of His throne.  When we rejected His Son, God reacted with lovingkindness.  We reject His love; He embraces us until we repent and come home…to his open arms, waiting to receive and bless.  We deserve nothing, but He still offers us everything!

How could you NOT worship a God like that?

For You Today

If worship gets a little boring sometimes, try taking your mind off the music you don’t like, or the preacher who just doesn’t seem to excite your imagination, or the kids (or their grandmother) who can’t keep quiet in the service, or the cracks in the wall, or the lag time between hymns, or, or, or…..

Try a little bowing at the feet of awesome majesty; boredom isn’t worship.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day. 

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com

Coronation Among the Donkeys

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Monday, January 15, 2018

When they reached the edge of town, Samuel told Saul to send his servant on ahead.  After the servant was gone, Samuel said, “Stay here, for I have received a special message for you from God.”  Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it over Saul’s head.  He kissed Saul and said, “I am doing this because the Lord has appointed you to be the ruler over Israel, his special possession.  When you leave me today, you will see two men beside Rachel’s tomb at Zelzah, on the border of Benjamin.  They will tell you that the donkeys have been found and that your father has stopped worrying about them and is now worried about you.  He is asking, ‘Have you seen my son?’  “When you get to the oak of Tabor, you will see three men coming toward you who are on their way to worship God at Bethel.  One will be bringing three young goats, another will have three loaves of bread, and the third will be carrying a wineskin full of wine.  They will greet you and offer you two of the loaves, which you are to accept.  “When you arrive at Gibeah of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is located, you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the place of worship.  They will be playing a harp, a tambourine, a flute, and a lyre, and they will be prophesying.  At that time the Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them.  You will be changed into a different person.  After these signs take place, do what must be done, for God is with you.  

1 Samuel 9:27-10:7^(NLT)

If you rewind a little in this story Saul is wandering the countryside looking for lost donkeys.  His father had sent him and his brothers to scour the land for the wandering beasts.  In the midst of the most mundane of everyday tasks, God’s prophet, Samuel shows up to crown a donkey-hunting nobody king in Israel; go figure!  To confirm what’s happening the prophet tells young Saul he will meet two men at a specific tomb who will tell him to come home because the donkeys are found and his father is now worried about his son.  In addition, he’ll meet three other men herding goats, carrying wine and bread, which they would offer to him.  And in addition to that, he would meet a band of preaching prophets, striking up the band music while they’re preaching…and Saul would join in prophesying loudly!  And just for good measure Samuel even names the instruments of this symphonic orchestra of preachers!  If you fast forward in this chapter you find it all came true.

What does it all mean?  There are several valuable lessons here; lessons beyond learning there are actually preachers who can do music (but in my case that would be a miracle)!  Just the sheer mathematics of Samuel’s prophesy are staggering.  He named a dozen or so participants, including what they would do and say.  He named animals, food, musical instruments, and places where all this would happen.  That it would all follow that script allows for only two possibilities – Samuel had set it up as an intricate ruse to convince Saul, or it was truly a miraculous vision giving insight into what would happen that day.  And, by the way, if you’re tempted towards that ruse thing – what do you do with the documented reality that later Saul actually became king in a land that had never had one before?  The astounding odds stack up to the moon on that one!  Faith with solid proof to back it up is the first lesson.  The second lesson I take away is that the mundane or even distasteful things we all do, like hunting for donkeys when we’d rather be fishing or playing third base for the Yankees, are not too far off God’s beaten path. 

I have learned to look for God in the most everyday kind of places.  One of the places God wanted to use me was about thirty years ago at a wedding for Bridezilla.  They were strangers to me, not church members.  She and her fiancé were only marginally acquainted with matters of faith.  They had seen our chapel and it was the perfect setting.  I require six sessions of pre-marital counselling, and she couldn’t understand why, but dutifully showed up and grunted through the times.  The wedding went off well, but the road to get there was rocky and less than gracious.  I got the distinct feeling when they drove away that day after the reception that she was so glad to see me in the rearview mirror, I’d never see them again.

Fast forward 10 years – I had moved 60 miles away and was not expecting any calls that Sunday before church.  When I picked up the phone it was Bridezilla:  hello, pastor Brownworth?  She sounded so different, but my suspicions were accurate – she had never wanted to see my face again.  She told me that those times in counselling when I said you can’t have a Christian home without two Christians humbly submitted to God, and serving Him, had annoyed her back before the wedding, and stuck in her craw…but eventually found its way into her heart.  She and her husband were being baptized that day, and she wanted to say thank you for being a faithful pastor. 

For You Today

Are you hunting donkeys…or waiting on God?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com