No excuses

Has God ever told you to do something specific? No, not in an audible voice, but still in an undeniable, unshakable, inescapable desire to accomplish something. It starts out as a spur-of-the-moment idea, one of those concepts that you should be able to easily brush aside as nonsense, but it doesn’t brush away. It’s like a sand burr in your brain, and it keeps poking and poking until you can’t ignore it anymore. Or pressure on your heart.

At least, that’s how God talks to me outside of Scripture. Maybe I’m nuts, but that has been my experience. And I wish I were a “good” enough Christian to tell you that every time I realize it’s God talking to me I jump right up and do exactly like He’s commanding.

Right. Most of the time, I duck my head down, stick my fingers in my ears, and hum a song to myself in hopes that He’ll leave me alone and ask someone more qualified to take care of it. And it’s not that I don’t think He equips people for tasks. For me, most of the time, the issue is time itself. I don’t have much to offer. But something happened yesterday that made me remember exactly Who is in charge of time.

Moon rising over Safe Haven Farm, Haven, KS

Today’s verses are Joshua 10:12-14.

On the day the Lord gave the Israelites victory over the Amorites, Joshua prayed to the Lord in front of all the people of Israel. He said, “Let the sun stand still over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Aijalon.” So the sun stood still and the moon stayed in place until the nation of Israel had defeated its enemies. Is this event not recorded in The Book of Jashar? The sun stayed in the middle of the sky, and it did not set as on a normal day. There has never been a day like this one before or since, when the Lord answered such a prayer. Surely the Lord fought for Israel that day!

So much of the Old Testament can be confusing because of cultural references, and–let’s not beat around the bush here–the Old Testament records a lot of major supernatural things happening that we just don’t see anymore. True, the New Testament records miracles too but not like the first 39 books of the Bible. And today’s passage is just one small mention of one major thing.

According to this passage, the sun and the moon stopped moving until Israel defeated their enemies.

What the heck? That’s not something you hear about every day. That’s not something you hear about every thousand years. I mean, shoot, we get all excited for lunar eclipses. What would happen if the sun and moon both just stopped moving in the sky? It would make the Mayan apocalypse of 2012 look like a bad science fiction movie…. wait….

What am I getting at here?

Okay. Confession time. God told me to do something recently, and my response to Him was, “Are you freakin’ crazy? That’s nuts!” But God’s not crazy, and when He wants me to do something, He doesn’t stop leaning on me until I get it through my thick skull that, yes, He is talking to me. So I said yes, but I reminded Him how busy I was. I reminded Him how much work I had to do and how little time I had to do it in. If He didn’t help me out, it wasn’t going to work.

So what happened? To keep this long story short, the day after I stopped fighting, I got more accomplished than I have in ages. And I got it done everywhere, at work, at home, in my personal to do list. Everywhere.

Seriously?

I don’t know why God doesn’t just knock me over the head with a two-by-four some days. He has so much more patience with me than I deserve.

Here’s the thing, Christians (and I’m so talking to myself right now). If God has told you to do something, He isn’t going to leave the whole weight of it on your shoulders. Yes, many times, we have to take the initiative, but God doesn’t expect us to carry out His plans all on our own strength. After all, they’re not our plans; they’re His. So why would He give us something to do and then leave it entirely on us?

I have no excuse for refusing to do what God has asked me to do. All my supposed obstacles became opportunities.

So what’s stopping you? Are you scared? Ask Him for courage; He helped a teenager slay a warrior giant. Are you broke? Ask Him for resources; He can take five loaves and fishes and feed 10,000 people. Or are you like me and you’re too busy? Remember, you’re talking to the God who can stop the moon and sun in the sky whenever He chooses.

No excuses, Christ-followers. Think about it. Let’s stop handing Him a bunch of lines and just do what He asks. I think we might be surprised at what He does in our lives.

Before you ask, make sure you want an answer

Have you ever asked a question you didn’t want to know the answer to? I think we all have at some point or another. I know I’ve certainly gotten answers I didn’t want to hear, and when someone tells me something I don’t want to know, I usually react the same way: denial. If it’s an answer I don’t want to hear, I deny its truth. I try to come up with another explanation. Or I ignore it altogether.

And I suppose asking more questions about an answer you don’t like from a boss or a friend or a family member is a good idea. It’s always a good idea to look for the truth, and you can’t always trust that another person is going to tell you the truth. But I’ve learned over the years that if God answers in a way you don’t want, denying it doesn’t help you.

Shaggy mule at the Sedgwick County Zoo, Wichita, KS

Today’s verses are Psalm 95:7-8.

For he is our God.
We are the people he watches over,
    the flock under his care.
If only you would listen to his voice today!
The Lord says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah,
     as they did at Massah in the wilderness.

God wants us to search for Him. He wants us to reach out in the darkness and find Him, like Paul talks about in his message on Mars Hill in Acts 17 (we just finished up a series about it at church), and He always answers. Not always immediately in a way we can discern, but He always answers. The trouble is, do you want an answer? I think that’s the question we all need to settle before we start seeking Him. It’s easy to search. In fact, it’s expected in our culture now. Everyone searches for something, but some people find their identity in the search instead of in the answers they get.

I know people who are perfectly content to search for God for the rest of their lives, and I don’t suppose there’s anything wrong with that. But they’re making it way too difficult. God isn’t hard to find. He’s plainer than the noses on our faces, but He’s not popular. He’s not politically correct. And He answers our questions in a way that makes us realize how much we need Him, and that’s a hard pill to swallow if you want to live life on your own terms.

So ask yourself before you ask Him if you really want an answer. I’ve asked questions out of duty before and ignored the answers because I didn’t like them. Not only was it a waste of time for the person I was asking, I didn’t learn anything. True, later on I wished I’d paid attention, but that’s often how it goes. If you spurn wisdom when you hear it, you won’t have it when you need it.

God’s answers will probably upset you. Just prepare yourself for that because many times we want our own way. We don’t want to submit to His, and we have this idea that if God is good, He’ll let us do what we want. But it doesn’t work that way. It never has, and you don’t have to believe in God or follow Christ to understand that’s not how wisdom works. If you’re honest with yourself, you already know that.

God wants to talk to you. He wants to have a relationship with you. He loves you more than you can imagine, and He wants the best for you. He knows what’s best for you. But we are all like stubborn, willful children who throw tantrums when we don’t get our way, but God is a good parent and doesn’t give in. And we have to learn to accept His answers the first time He gives them to us. Why? Because it will save us a lot of heartache in the long run.

God doesn’t answer us in ways that make us unhappy to deprive us of our fun. He’s not trying to squash us or prevent us from living our lives. He’s trying to bless us. He’s trying to give us a better life than we can ever earn on our own, the kind of life where you have no regrets. Because if you twist off on your own, believe me, you’ll have regrets. And there’s nothing more poisonous to a happy life than regrets.

Do you want God’s answers? Are you willing to listen to what He has to say, even if it isn’t what you want? It’s your choice, but you need to get it settled in your heart before you ask. You need to check your attitude. Sometimes I forget and when God tells me something I don’t want to hear, I block it out, only to get down the road a day or so and wish I’d listened.

He knows what He’s talking about, and He’s worth listening to. Don’t shut Him out, and don’t harden your heart to Him. He wants the best for all of us, even if it doesn’t feel like it right now.

 

 

Waiting for God to answer

God is amazing. It’s one thing to believe it when life is difficult and circumstances try your patience; it’s something else to know it without a shadow of a doubt when you fully realize that He actually is listening, that He actually does care, that He actually does have a good plan for you.

Otter playing in the water, Sedgwick County Zoo, Wichita, KS

Today’s verses are Psalm 40:1-8.

I waited patiently for the Lord to help me,
    and he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the pit of despair,
    out of the mud and the mire.
He set my feet on solid ground
    and steadied me as I walked along.
He has given me a new song to sing,
    a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see what he has done and be amazed.
    They will put their trust in the Lord.

Oh, the joys of those who trust the Lord,
    who have no confidence in the proud
    or in those who worship idols.
O Lord my God, you have performed many wonders for us.
    Your plans for us are too numerous to list.
    You have no equal.
If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds,
    I would never come to the end of them.

You take no delight in sacrifices or offerings.
    Now that you have made me listen, I finally understand—
    you don’t require burnt offerings or sin offerings.
Then I said, “Look, I have come.
    As is written about me in the Scriptures:
I take joy in doing your will, my God,
    for your instructions are written on my heart.”

I’m going to be brief today because I don’t know if any commentary I can add to these verses will make them any clearer than they already are, but this is the state of my heart this morning. I’m just overwhelmed and amazed that God would answer a prayer I’ve been praying for so very long. And I’m looking for some way to express how grateful I am, but I don’t have the words for it. So it’s much like verse 5 says: “O Lord my God, you have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them.”

Now if only I can hold on to this level of confidence when things don’t go my way.

No matter what’s happening in your life or where you are in your walk, God has a plan. And every now and then you’ll get to see a glimpse of what it could be, a tiny part of what He’s doing. And even if you don’t get to touch it or finish it right at that moment, you still get the opportunity to glimpse the greater picture. And that’s enough to remind me that what God is doing is so much bigger than me, so far beyond anything I can accomplish on my own, and it’s so much better to let Him work on His own timetable rather than conforming to mine.

Are you waiting for God to answer? Keep waiting. He will. In some way, He will. Just be alert and pay attention. He won’t leave you hanging. Even though it may not be the answer you want (especially if it’s not the answer you expect), He will answer. It may take some time, but that just means you get longer to prepare for what’s coming. And let me tell you, if God’s got His hand in it, what’s coming will be too much for you. And that’s why He’s giving it to you, so He can help you do it.

Praying for flash drives and Benadryl cream

What can we pray about? It’s a legitimate question. Do you ever wonder if the requests you bring to God are too paltry for his attention? Do you ever not ask Him for something because you’re afraid He’ll think you’re being silly?

Pretty peach-colored flower at the Dallas Arboretum, Dallas, TX

Today’s verse is Ephesians 6:18.

Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m at a writing workshop at Glen Eyrie in Colorado Springs right now. So far, it’s been tremendously encouraging, and I’ve learned a lot about some writing process issues that I’ve always wanted to ask established writers about. My parents came with me, and they’re getting to chill on the grounds and around the area while I’m in the workshop.

I love traveling, especially road trips, but the downside to travel is luggage. I hate having to lug a bunch of junk around with me, so I have learned to pack light (and to live with wrinkled clothes because I refuse to iron anything). I live my life by landmarks, even when it comes to hotel rooms, so when I walk into a room and deposit my stuff, I expect it to stay there. I get into a routine throughout a day and try to leave things exactly where I expect them to be. Now that place may not make logical sense to anyone else but me, but if I can find it again, that’s what matters, right?

Well, this morning we had a bit of a panic attack because I couldn’t find two items that I really needed–some Benadryl cream for a mysterious bite/rash that has appeared on my lower back (and is driving me nutty) and my flash drive.

Last night, I ended up searching all over the bathroom area for my pills and found them in my mom’s bags. She likes to straighten things up, and she thought my things were hers because they look exactly alike. So I asked her if she’d moved my Benadryl cream. She didn’t remember doing that, so we started looking. And that’s when I realized I couldn’t find my flash drive either.

Maybe this is silly, but my flash drive is the one thing I own that I have to have. Everything else could be blown away, but my flash drive has the last 20 years of my creative life on it. I back it up regularly, but remember I’ve been at a creative retreat for the last few days and I’ve filled it full of new material I didn’t have before. Losing it would be a terrible blow.

The Benadryl cream was an issue of comfort. The flash drive was an issue of sanity.

We looked high and low. We turned the room upside down. I looked everywhere it should have been and everywhere it shouldn’t have been, and I couldn’t find it anywhere.

That’s when mom announced that she was praying that we’d find it. And I felt like a moron. Why hadn’t I thought to pray about finding it? Refer to previous blog posts. I scramble around like a madwoman trying to do everything myself first before I ask God to help.

And here’s the really big irony. The keynote session on Sunday night AND on Monday morning had been about whether or not God is enough for you if you lose everything you thought you were supposed to be about.

Yeah. Ouch.

So I sat down on the bed and told God that if He wanted me to find it, that would be great. But if He didn’t, I would still be great because He was great. And lo and behold! I glanced in my back pack (I had already looked there) and it was in a pocket.

Talk about a relief.

And then we prayed that we’d find the Benadryl cream too because my back was itching so bad I could hardly think straight. I hesitated at first because after God had already answered the BIG prayer about the flash drive, was it really okay to ask about the itch cream? That seemed kind of silly in comparison. But I remembered this verse. We’re supposed to pray about everything. Every occasion. All types of requests.

So I prayed.

And Mom found it in her cup with her toothbrush.

Go figure.

But the whole crazy scenario this morning just served to remind me that God honestly does care about what we care about. Whether it’s something big like a flash drive that stores 20 years of creativity or a tube of Benadryl cream that only halfway relieves itching, if it matters to me, it matters to Him.

But I thought it was funny I had to be willing to give it up before He’d give it back to me.

Enduring when God is silent

I like instructions. I don’t always read them, but it’s comforting to know they’re there in case I need them. So what happens when the instructions don’t make sense? A friend was telling me over the weekend that her husband bought her a desk and assembled it for her, but the instructions were missing pages. So putting the desk together was a nightmare. What happens when you’re missing the instructions and the things you thought would be easy turn into something difficult?

That’s a silly example, but many of us run into that question a larger scale when we’re trying to live. We lose our instructions or we encounter a situation where the instructions no longer seem relevant, and we ask God for guidance. And He doesn’t answer. We ask Him to tell us what do to, and He doesn’t respond. What do you do then? How do you endure when God stops speaking to you?

Distant, lonely tree in the snow at Safe Haven Farm, Haven, KS

Today’s verse is Job 13:15.

God might kill me, but I have no other hope.
    I am going to argue my case with him.

Job is one of those people I can’t wait to meet when we get to heaven. He’s one of my heroes. The story basically goes that Job was one of the wealthiest men at the time, but he was also one of the most righteous. He was a God follower, and he wasn’t afraid if everyone knew it. And God pointed him out to Satan one day, telling him about how no one could match Job. So Satan made a deal with God that he could convince Job to turn against God, and God allowed him to attack Job. Overnight, Job lost everything. His wealth. His family. His status. Everything that mattered to him was taken, and he was left with a bitter wife and friends who turned against him.

Job is a big book. It’s 42 chapters, probably the oldest book in the Bible, and the majority of it is Job questioning, until God starts answering. But God doesn’t answer right away, and Job is left to puzzle through all the horrible things that have happened to him without God explaining it.

Have you ever been there? Have you ever had to suffer through circumstances that you didn’t deserve? Okay, let’s be honest. Most of the time the really bad stuff we encounter usually has some root cause in our lifestyle or our choices or our past, and it’s our own actions bringing the trouble to our doorstep. But have you ever really run into situations where you have to suffer through difficult things and you didn’t do anything to deserve them? I have. I know others who have too. And it’s in those moments where I have been really tempted to get upset at God.

I mean, why would He let this stuff happen to me? I didn’t do anything to deserve it. Why is He punishing me for things I don’t deserve to be punished for? That’s not fair.

If you’re there, read Job. Because he was there for 41 chapters. We are all in a very different place than Job was. He didn’t have the Book of Job or any of the Bible. None of it had been written down yet. So he had nothing except his experience and his relationship with God to go on. But we have Scripture. We have the Holy Spirit.

And what Scripture will tell you about God’s silence is that it’s never actually there. God is never silent. We just stop listening.

Are you facing troubles today? Are you facing situations that you don’t deserve? Have you asked God to take them away and He isn’t answering? Do this. Go outside and sit down and close your eyes and listen. What do you hear? Do you hear the wind? Do you hear birds singing? Do you hear leaves rustling on trees? Do you hear other people and life in the city?

God doesn’t have to speak in an audible voice for us to know that He’s talking. He speaks through the Bible. He speaks through Creation. He speaks through provision. He speaks through other people in our lives. He’s never silent, but we often let our troubles distract us.

Job was fortunate enough that God responded to him. God spoke to him. And when God was done speaking to him, this is how Job responded in Job 42:1-6:

Then Job replied to the Lord: “I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’ It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me. You said, ‘Listen and I will speak! I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.’ I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.”

We don’t know why God chooses to do the things He does many times, but we know that He is fair and just and good and sovereign, which means He has the right do what He wants with what He made–and that’s everything. We know how the story of Job turned out. God blessed him with twice what he had before, and while Job had endured tremendous suffering, the second half of his life was more blessed than the first ever was.

So if you’re going through difficulty right now, think about Job. It’s okay to question God. It’s okay to wonder. It’s okay to talk to Him, to be honest with Him, to tell Him how you’re feeling, but remember who you’re talking to.

Everyone struggles through dark times. Everyone faces situations that seem unfair. And, yes, it’s frustrating and upsetting. But the more you focus on how God isn’t speaking to you, the quieter He’ll get. But it’s not that He’s speaking softer; you’re turning His volume down.