A new phone and God’s faithfulness

I had to buy a new phone recently because my old Nexus 5x shuffled off this mortal coil in quite a spectacular fashion (I wrote a review about it if you’re interested). And that left me with a conundrum. In a world of unlocked phones, how do I pick which one to purchase next?

I’m not made of money, so Apple products were out of the question. And reviews on some of the more reliable Android brands all pretty much said the same thing. In spite of utterly despising their brand campaigns, I ended up with a Moto G5 Plus.

How did I come to a decision?

Well, frankly, it had more to do with who was actually selling the phone than its actual brand. I got a special deal through Amazon. And now that I’ve had the phone for about a week, I’m actually enjoying it quite a bit (although the first thing I did was to turn off the sound for the activation screen because if I were going to have to hear “Hello, Moto” every time it restarted, I was going to throw it against a wall).

As a company and an organization, I trust Amazon. They’re reliable, and they provide options for returning items that are damaged or not what you expected. So while I initially looked at the phone because of its price, I decided to purchase because of who was selling it.

This post isn’t about a phone

I promise. This topic is just fresh on my mind, and when I was reading my Psalms the other day, this one particular verse stood out to me:

“Your promises are backed by all the honor of your name.”
Psalm 138:2

I bought my phone from Amazon because I trusted their quality of service, timely delivery, and customer benefits. That’s the brand that Amazon has built their name around. So have you ever thought about God’s brand?

God has a brand, and He spent several thousand years writing a guidebook about it, using 40+ authors. On top of that, we’ve got like 8,000 years of testimonials that speak to who He is. So when God says He’s going to do something, we can trust it because all of His promises are backed by His brand.

God’s brand is faithfulness

God has never failed His people once. He’s never broken a promise, and He’s always come through right on time, exactly when He’s needed. It may feel like everything is out of control in our lives, but God has all the pieces and knows exactly how they fit together.

Even when life is on its head and everything is going wrong and we’re surrounded by people and circumstances that seem bent on destroying our hope, God is who He is. (Psalm 138:7)

So don’t give up.

When life feels like it’s crashing down around your ears, stay the course. Hang on to God’s promises with all your strength, because His promises are good, just like He is. You can trust them, because you can trust Him.

God listens better than we give Him credit

Sometimes it feels like God doesn’t listen. I know He does, but what I know and what I feel isn’t always the same. And I’ve been around long enough to trust what I know more than what I feel, but sometimes life gets to a certain point where you just can’t help it. You feel like a nail that’s being pounded into unforgiving wood by a sledgehammer that does more to bend it than drive it in. And no matter how much you ask for mercy, more trouble keeps coming.

In those moments, it’s easy to think that God doesn’t care. It’s easy to believe that He’s not listening. Otherwise, if He cared, if He listened, why would He let so much bad happen in our lives? I don’t believe that God brings bad things to us; the evil in our lives can either be attributed to our broken world or consequences of our own actions. But it’s still difficult to face sometimes because we want God to make it all go away.

Lions in the sun at the Sedgwick County Zoo, Wichita, KS

Today’s verses are Psalm 138.

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.

Every king in all the earth will thank you, Lord,
    for all of them will hear your words.
Yes, they will sing about the Lord’s ways,
    for the glory of the Lord is very great.
Though the Lord is great, he cares for the humble,
    but he keeps his distance from the proud.

Though I am surrounded by troubles,
    you will protect me from the anger of my enemies.
You reach out your hand,
    and the power of your right hand saves me.
The Lord will work out his plans for my life—
    for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever.
    Don’t abandon me, for you made me.

I know this Psalm. I’m pretty sure I’ve blogged about it multiple times, but verse 3 caught my eye particularly this morning. God doesn’t always answer my prayers right away. Most of the time, I have to wait. Or if He answers, I don’t know about it until years later. But just last week God answered me immediately. Without going into the extraneous details, last week I was exhausted and worn out and stressed out, and it felt like the bad news just kept piling up. And as I was driving, I asked God to help me focus on what mattered, to get my perspective back to where it needed to be, and to help me get through it. And just like that, a song started playing on the radio.

I can’t remember what song it was, but it was exactly the song I needed to hear. Followed by another song that was also relevant. Followed by another song that was just as good. Needless to say, I cried all the way home, thanking God for hearing.

I listen to all sorts of radio, not just one in particular. But this one was a Christian station, and though I enjoy the music, most of the time I am not driven to tears by what I hear. But this time I was.

Maybe that doesn’t sound like answered prayer to you, but to me it was evidence that God was listening. I mean, who else could have arranged the music schedule on this station to play the three most relevant songs that would touch my heart in a way that gave me hope and strength exactly the moment I needed it? That’s a God thing.

So don’t ever let yourself believe the lie that God isn’t listening. Because that’s what it is. A lie.

In the dark moments of life, it’s easy to trust what you can see and what you feel because those are the things that are obvious. But we can’t trust our feelings, and we can’t trust our eyes because the things that are real are the things we can’t see. And it’s not sinful to ask God to show Himself in those moments. God wants us to look for Him. He wants us to reach out to Him, and He’s not so far away that He can’t answer.

So keep your eyes open. Keep your ears open too. And don’t be surprised if He answers right away–but don’t forget to be grateful. Granted, He probably won’t take your problem away, but just knowing He’s there, knowing He’s listening, and knowing that He will keep His promise is enough to get you through it.

You can’t thank Him enough

Do you ever wake up and just feel the need to be thankful? I don’t know about you, but I get caught up in all the picky little details of life so often. You’d think maybe I’d know better by now, but it seems to be instinctive. It’s so easy to get overwhelmed. It’s so easy to stress out over things I can’t control. And then, when I get my head back on straight, I look back and wonder what I was thinking when I was freaking out over nothing.

This is one of those mornings where I can clearly see how much I fret over things that I can’t control anyway, and I wonder what’s wrong with me. And I marvel at how patient God is with me, especially when I always go back and pick up the same worries I promise to lay down.

So today, I just want to spend some time being thankful, readjusting my perspective. Honestly, that’s what being thankful is–understanding that someone has done something for you that they didn’t have to do and recognizing it.

God is so good to me, so patient and so kind. He’s given me so much, and He’s got big plans. And that’s not just the case for me, but for everyone. And it’s easy to forget because the important things God has for us to hear are often said in that still, small voice, and that still, small voice can get lost in the loud, noisy chaos of ordinary life. And we need to slow down and be quiet if we want to hear it.

If you feel like you need to say thanks to God, do it. If you feel like you don’t need to? … Do it anyway. Because you still need to. And after a few moments of thanking Him for what He’s done, I’m willing to bet that you’ll move from needing to thank Him to wanting to thank Him, especially after you really see everything He’s done for you.

Waterfall in Sedgwick County Zoo Jungle Exhibit – Wichita, KS

Psalm 138 (The Message)

 Thank you! Everything in me says “Thank you!” Angels listen as I sing my thanks.
   I kneel in worship facing your holy temple
      and say it again: “Thank you!”
   Thank you for your love,
      thank you for your faithfulness;
   Most holy is your name,
      most holy is your Word.
   The moment I called out, you stepped in;
      you made my life large with strength. 

 When they hear what you have to say, God,
      all earth’s kings will say “Thank you.”
   They’ll sing of what you’ve done:
      “How great the glory of God!” 
   And here’s why: God, high above, sees far below;
      no matter the distance, he knows everything about us. 

 When I walk into the thick of trouble,
      keep me alive in the angry turmoil.
   With one hand
      strike my foes,
   With your other hand
      save me.
   Finish what you started in me, God.
      Your love is eternal—don’t quit on me now.