Y’all are going to think I’m slow. As I was pulling weeds yesterday afternoon, I was thinking about two different families specifically. One is suffering the effects of a divorce after years of marriage and two nearly grown children. The other is grieving a loss of life. Suddenly, I thought of Gary Thomas’ book Sacred Marriage. His premise is “what if God gave us marriage, not to make us happy, but to make us holy.” Well, along the same lines: what if God gives us this life, not to make us happy, but to make us holy?

I know. Not exactly a unique thought, right? We know the scriptures:

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 (NIV)

“casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 (ESV)

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:34

In each of these verses is the realization that we are going to suffer and xhave trouble and be worried and anxious over the things we experience. We know this because we experience it all the time. 

But there’s encouragement coming alongside each statement of trouble: God is with us. Take heart! Jesus has overcome the world. God cares for us. Don’t worry. And we know this too. We’ve read the verses about striving for the goal, being disciplined to reach the goal.

“ . . . let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, . . .” Hebrews 12:1

“For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, . . .” Hebrews 12:6

And here’s the point: “ . . . but [God] disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.” Hebrews 12:10

Think for a minute about the Israelites coming out of Egypt. They were free! Praise God they were free! No more cruel bondage. No more murder of their sons. They were free. But freedom is not easy. And I really wonder if they considered just how much they were going to struggle and encounter difficulties. It seemed to take them by surprise. In the two years it took them to get to the Promised Land, they complained, murmured, grumbled against God ten times! Ten! They were stiff-necked and unbelieving and just plain difficult.

They didn’t believe that God was good all the time. They didn’t believe that He had their best interest at heart. They didn’t think they could trust Him with everything. Surely they didn’t think they were just going to get to lie under a palm tree and eat bonbons for the rest of their lives. Surely they realized they were going to have to work and struggle. They were going to have to fight. Yes, God was giving them the land, but they still had to fight the giants. God wasn’t in the business of making them happy; He was making them holy. 

And they resisted. Big time. Because they didn’t trust Him.

The writer of Psalm 42 (some scholars think it was King David) experienced anxiety and discouragement because of his circumstances. In verse 5, he wrote, “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me?” It seems to be the default of the human condition: when things don’t go the way we want them to go, we get upset. We mourn. We cry. We are depressed. And sometimes, legitimately. The loss of a marriage is devastating. The loss of a life is heart-rending. We experience many hard things which cause us to be disturbed and even to despair.

But we can’t stay there. Mourning and grieving.

It is a normal, healthy reaction for a child to cry when she trips over a crack in the sidewalk and skins her knee. So Mom cleans the scrape, puts on a bandage, and hopes that her daughter won’t soon come back having skinned her other knee.

And I think God feels the same way about us. We’ve stubbed our toe. We’ve fallen off our bike. We’ve hit a brick wall. He’s still there to tell us that He loves us. He has overcome the world. He  has a plan for our good. Trust Him. Pick yourself back up and praise Him for being the God who wants more for us than happiness right now. He wants us to be holy.

And here’s the remedy from the psalmist - the rest of Psalm 42:5, “Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.” (NAS). We are going to feel despair and discouragement. But don't stay there. Get back to praising God.

Because maybe God gave us life, not to make us happy, but to make us holy.

I was sitting in front of the fire, thinking about the upcoming week and all that has to be done. As cold as it’s been and with all of the snow, we’re going to have to get some more wood in. Sigh. Groceries. Making meals. Washing dishes. Paying bills. Laundry. The to-do list is long. Then I happened to look up. Oh, there are cobwebs on my ceiling. I need to do some cleaning too.

How many things are there to do which just have to be done again periodically!?! I remember as a kid laughing at a line in a kids’ song: “Why should I wash my hands when they just get dirty again?” Sweeping the floor. Knocking down cobwebs. Pulling weeds. Mowing the lawn. Cooking meals. Trimming brush out of the fence line. So many things that are never truly done; they’re just done for right now. And when you’re surrounded by the never-ending list of things that have to be done, it can seem more than overwhelming. It can start to seem rather pointless.

“For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” Romans 8:20-21

It certainly does seem like we have been subjected to futility - and some days more than others we feel that bondage to corruption!

But maybe, God in His mercy, subjected us to futility in these areas (washing our hands, sweeping the floor, pulling the weeds, etc.) so that we’d have an undeniable object lesson constantly before us. We, as human beings, have this inexorable proclivity to sin. Our first inclination tends towards the carnal. It takes work to bring every thought into subjection to Jesus Christ. It takes conscious diligent effort to choose God’s ways. It’s not one and done. It’s persevering through every instance and every new experience. Not being perfect, that perseverance is not 100%. Sometimes we fail. Sometimes we feel like being subjected to futility also applies to becoming perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect. We may not feel like we’ve any chance of coming anywhere close. It feels hopeless and pointless.

Ah. But here’s the message of the object lesson: are you going to let the weeds take over your garden and allow it to produce no fruit? Are you going to allow the grass to grow in your yard until the bugs move in and devour your house? Are you going to let the cobwebs and dust and dirt take over until you are thoroughly ill? No! And you don’t allow sin to take over your life either! When you see the weeds, you pull them. When you see the grass is long, you cut it. When you see the dirt, you clean. And clean. And clean. And when you sin, you get back down on your knees and you ask God for forgiveness. Again and again. As many times as you need to. He is faithful to forgive. And more than that, He is faithful to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Eventually, the desire for God’s righteousness (because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit) causes a change in our behavior. Our eyes and our hearts are focused on God. Our conduct follows.

I know I’m going to have to go get the broom and clean the cobwebs. I am likely to find more than I noticed at first glance. And while I’m at it, it’d be a good time to think about some of my recent choices. Did I go with my first inclination? Should I have considered what Jesus would have done? Have I some sin I should be repenting of? Now would be a good time to take care of that too. It’s not, after all, an exercise in futility, but being subjected to futility in hope that I seek Jesus Christ and be set free to obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

Happy cobweb hunting.

The summer before I started kindergarten, my dad brought home a puppy from the dog pound. Being five, I was not overly imaginative when naming him; the black puppy with four white stockings and white bib became Blacky. He was an amazing dog! I could tell you stories! But when he was still a puppy, he was extremely destructive when left alone. One day he started running laps in the backyard. Every time he went past Mom’s cherry tree, he grabbed a branch. Pretty soon, branches were strewn all over the backyard. That poor cherry tree was never very pretty after that but was bent and misshapen. The day, however, that Blacky chewed up the seat on Dad’s motorcycle was nearly the final straw!

Blacky wasn’t the only destructive dog we ever had. Tinker, a poodle mix, decided she didn’t want to be left inside the garage one day. So she chewed an arch-shaped pattern into the bottom of the door going out of the garage. She easily chewed through the outside of the door, but was stopped by the solid core. Dad was mad. The next time we had to leave her, he left her in the backyard. When we came home, there was a matching arch on the exterior of the door where Tinker had tried to get inside.

For Blacky and Tinker, it seemed to be more than just puppies needing to chew. They just didn’t know what to do with themselves while we were gone. They were not at peace.

2 Peter 3:13-14 (ESV) says, “But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.”

We are waiting, sometimes more impatiently than other times, for the fulfillment of God’s promise. We long for Jesus to return and set up His kingdom where there is righteousness, and no more sorrow, or tears, or pain, or death! We believe with all of our heart that it is coming.

So we wait, and we tend to focus on the first part of the admonition. We are diligent to study His word that we might not sin against Him (Psalm 119:11). We strive to walk worthy of the calling we have received (Ephesians 4:1). As we examine ourselves, knowing that we are unable to save ourselves (Romans 5:6), we rely on God’s promise that He will purify the Bride of Christ (Titus 2:14; Ephesians 5:25–27). We think about the effort that is involved in choosing to walk in a way that pleases God. We persevere and overcome - enabled by that power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. 

But do we give the last part of this admonition the same weight? Are we at peace?

Every once in a while, I have to be out of the house, running errands, keeping appointments, or spending time with my granddaughter. It is not unusual, when I ask how the dogs were while I was gone, for Ron to tell me that Pepper went upstairs, curled up in his bed, and went to sleep. I’m not home doing stuff, so Pepper just waits until I am. And he’s at peace - at least until he hears my car coming down the road.

What a fantastic object lesson for me to take to heart! God has given me a job to do until Jesus returns. I’m to live a life that points others to my Messiah, and a huge piece of doing that is the way I live my life - being at peace. A person who is calm and at peace witnesses to the hope set before her - without even using words. It’s so incredibly powerful because other people want that peace. But it’s not putting my head in the sand and ignoring the violence and vileness of our society. It’s not dismissing the greed, grief, and godlessness as just a part of the end time scenario. It’s seeing the world around me that is in such desperate need of the Savior and recognizing that God has given me an opportunity to be a light in an ever-darkening world. That light shines brightest when I exude His peace - because I trust Him and I know He’s coming back. Jesus will set all things right. I might not know why so many people are suffering, why there’s so much evil and pain, and how God can use it to His glory. But I don’t need to know. I just need to keep my focus on Him . . . and to be at peace.

What a gracious God I serve! I deeply appreciate the gentle object lessons He sets around me - teaching me, helping me to grow and to become an ever-more useful vessel for His service. And that’s the point, isn’t it! God is sovereign. He has a plan. The tapestry He’s weaving is altogether beautiful. My job is not to tell Him how to weave, but to be part of the final product. From my perspective as a thread, I cannot see the whole picture. I just need to do what He has set before me and to be at peace. After all, God’s got it all sorted.

I must have needed a concrete object lesson to show me who I am to God. So God gave me a puppy. Oh, she’s so cute. But, being a puppy, her natural inclination is to bite. She also wants to make friends with the cat. She wiggles up to the cat and licks her tail. The cat does not appreciate this! So she moves away. Molly tries to mollify the cat by getting very low to the ground and licking her some more, but she can’t help herself: she bites the cat’s fur. The cat puts up with it for just so long and then, she vacates the premises, often speedily. Uh-oh. What was a conciliatory puppy is now an attentive, ears up, energetic puppy who thinks the cat is engaging in a very satisfactory game: tag. And they’re off to the nearest place the cat can find to escape Molly’s overtures. I’m never like that, am I? Rubbing people the wrong way in my natural inclination and exuberance? Hmm. I might need to be more aware of how others are perceiving my actions.

It’s tricky teaching a puppy to come when they are called, especially if she is engaged in chasing the cat, if she thinks she’s in trouble, or if she thinks I might put her in that scary car. She doesn’t always trust me. I’m making food for her, taking her for walks, keeping her clean, watching out for owls and UPS trucks, taking her out in the middle of the night - but she hasn’t learned to trust me all the time. Do I treat God like that? God provides all that I need. He even gave His Son to pay for my sinfulness. Do I trust God despite the scary situations I find myself in? Do I try to hide from Him when I’ve sinned?

Thankfully I have a well-behaved older dog that Molly is content to imitate. Pepper comes when he’s called. When he helps himself to Molly’s bone, he’ll actually drop it and leave it when I tell him to - if I catch him quickly enough. I’m quite well aware that Pepper is a huge help in Molly’s training. Hmm. It’s a good reminder that iron sharpens iron. We can exhort and encourage each other in the Lord and our relationship with Him can grow more robustly, if we fellowship with believers.

Pepper and the cat have been incredibly gentle with this puppy of teeth, a tail, and persistent exuberance. We brought Molly home when she was 3 lbs. 5.2 oz. Either the dog or the cat could have dispatched her speedily. But they didn’t. However, they have become gradually more aggressive in their discipline because she needs it! I think God is similarly gracious in disciplining us. When we’re a new Christian, He is very gentle. (Think of God not wanting the Israelites to face war immediately upon leaving Egypt lest they become discouraged and turn back.) But as our rebellion persists, God increases the consequences. And I suspect He allows (or arranges) circumstances and people around us to discipline us. It’s a much better approach than instant lightning bolts for every infraction - especially to get us to where He wants us: obedience out of love. So the next time someone is irritating me, I’d better think seriously about what lesson it is that God has prepared for me instead of just becoming annoyed.

And then there’s the garden. In order to keep the critters at bay, Ron and I have an electric fence around it. I have been diligent to turn it off when Molly is around; I doubt she would appreciate the shock, especially since her first inclination is to chew on the wire. Sigh. How many times does God protect us from our own bad choices - without us even realizing what He has done?! I suspect, if we knew just how much protection and provision we receive, we would be overwhelmed with His graciousness to us. 

I’m so very glad that God gave me a puppy. (Thanks, Sam, too!) It’s caused a lot of introspection - and I’m very grateful that God has prepared my heart to be ready to do that too. God is good all the time . . . Gotta go. I have to rescue my slipper. . . .

Don’t you love how God uses the things in our lives to teach us more about Him? (Romans 1:20)

Ron and I have a new puppy. Molly has been with us for thirteen days now. Ron looked at me like I had two heads when I told him we hadn’t even had her two weeks yet. It feels like it’s been a month . . . at least. She has rapidly inserted herself into our lives and hearts.

It seems like I’m teaching her two things: No and Come. When I realized that, it occurred to me that God starts with each of us that way. “No. Don’t do that.” and “Come to me.” I wonder how much that is still the essence of His communication with me. That is, I need to stop doing whatever it is that I’m doing right now and I need to get closer to God.
As I was thinking about this, I looked at Pepper. He’s ten. There are times when he is definitely helpful. I very much appreciate the warning when someone is here. I appreciate how he dispatches the horse flies which bother me. He has become a very useful servant in many ways. And yet, I find myself telling him, “No, don’t do that” and “Come.” 

Being a puppy, one of Molly’s first lessons is “DO NOT bite.” She bites my shoelaces. She bites Pepper’s tail. She bites the cat as she walks by - although since the cat has long hair, that turned out a whole lot better than I thought it was going to! Molly bites leaves. She bites the fingers which try to pet her. How incredibly apropos Galatians 5:15 is! As Christians, we must be on our guard against “biting” one another!

Another first area of training is house-breaking. Thanks to Phil and Lisa, we have a crate to aid in this process! And again, isn’t it interesting that the Israelites coming out of Egypt had lost so much of what constitutes healthy living that God had to specifically tell them to bury their excrement!! They too had to be potty-trained! (Deuteronomy 23:12-14) This physical behavior was indicative of the unholiness and uncleanness that God exhorted them to eschew . . . which caused me to consider another aspect/analogy of having a puppy in the house.

Molly is a mixture of Australian shepherd and blue heeler. To say that she has strong herding tendencies would be an understatement! She has lots of energy. She’s going to require lots of work - a huge time and emotional investment - as a couple of people felt they had to warn me. Hmm. Again, the similarity to my relationship  with God came to mind. That is, God spends an enormous amount of time on me (and each of us). It is no little thing that God describes Himself as long-suffering and patient. He has to invest a lot of time and energy into disciplining and discipling me.

Another dear friend expressed his dismay that Ron and I would undertake a puppy. Dogs don’t live very long, comparatively. Inviting her into our hearts means we’re setting ourselves up for pain. I think about God so greatly desiring fellowship with us that He was willing to create us with free will, despite knowing what Adam would choose. It’s mind-boggling to think that Jesus was slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). God knew the cost, the enormous cost of adopting sons and daughters into the family of God - and He was willing to pay that price for me and for you.

Which brings us to Molly. Jennifer asked me Friday night, August 8th, if I wanted to get a puppy. I told her no. I have never gone looking for a puppy. If one comes to me, that’s a different matter. Imagine my shock when Sam, out of the blue at Sabbath services a few hours later, asked me if I wanted a puppy!! I asked the breed and saw the photos. Pepper is part blue heeler. And my dog when I was a teen was a blue heeler/Australian shepherd mix. Teddy was an incredibly intelligent dog! I have a soft spot for this mix - and probably wouldn’t be tempted by any other breed, even a lab. So then I called up Mom and asked her opinion, fully expecting her to tell me that I’m too busy to have a puppy right now. That’s not what she said. She said to get a female. O.K. I decided to put out the fleece. If the female was still available, I’d take a puppy. Then Jennifer asked me if I was considering names. I hadn’t been. After all, I didn’t have the puppy yet. I hadn’t seen her behavior. I rejected “Bandit” right away because 1) that’s a boy’s name and 2) everyone calls their Australian shepherd “Bandit.” I was busy working on something when Jennifer had texted me the question, so I went back to work, fully preparing to put off the name until later. Unexpectedly, “Molly” popped into my head. I have no idea why.

So Ron looked it up to see what “Molly” means. It has a couple of possible meanings: “bitter or rebellious.” Oh! That’s not a very nice name to saddle a puppy with!!! Or Molly can mean “beloved.” Oh! Kind of like me - rebellious against God, but He loved me enough to redeem me from my rebellion, to make me His own. Molly seems just about perfect. 

So Ron and I have a new puppy in the house. I can’t wait to see what God shows me next.

A week or so ago was harvest day for corn. It’s a bit tricky to hit just right: when the corncob is filled out and mature, but not so mature that it has slipped over into tough. Mom used to check the corn by pulling back the husk just a little to see 
the state of the kernels. But, my experience is that if I decide to check the corn, the raccoons decide the corn is ready and they demolish the entire patch overnight. So I try to gauge the dryness of the silk and the fullness of the ears from the 
outside. I missed it just a little this year. The corn was just on the verge of being too ripe.

There’s something very thrilling and satisfying about husking corn. You never quite know whether the cob will be completely filled out with rows of tender kernels or if a corn worm will have helped himself to the bounty. This year all of the time and effort of planting and weeding and trying to keep the critters from eating it was definitely rewarded.

But I couldn’t help thinking about how, like judging a book by its cover, it’s almost impossible to know what the corn is actually going to look like before you pull back the husks. And, similarly, it’s almost impossible to know what is going on in a person’s heart. Oh, we get some clues from their actions and their words. But just like the plumpness of the ears gives no indication of whether a corn worm is busily munching away inside the husk, we really don’t have any idea of the state of someone’s relationship with God - not truly.

All we see, from the outside, are hints, which may or may not lead us to an accurate conclusion. While each of us are tasked to be a light and to bring glory to God through our words and deeds, our hearts remain truly exposed only to God (1 Samuel 16:7). Unfortunately, even knowing that doesn’t stop us from looking at others and wondering about the motivation behind their actions. Have you ever caught yourself saying (or thinking), “Why did he do that? I wouldn’t have done it that way. What was he thinking?”

Shucking corn this year left me with five conclusions:

1. Who am I to judge another man’s servant? (Romans 14:4) I need to be very careful of making assumptions about why someone is doing what they’re doing. I might be totally off-base. And in reality, it’s not any of my business; I have more than enough to keep myself occupied with why I’m doing what I’m doing.
   
2. What kind of fruit am I developing - is it full and ready for harvest or full of worms? At the end of the age, will God be pleased with how I have used the time and the talents He’s given me? Matthew 13:47-48 indicates that God doesn’t keep all of the fish! I must be diligent to be found in Him! (2 Peter 3:14)
3. What kind of hints do I express to the world around me? That is, does the outward expression through my words and deeds accurately reflect my inward reality? I don’t want to be good at play-acting; I want to honestly be a trustworthy vessel to be used by Him. (2 Timothy 2:21)
4. The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). I need to prayerfully ask God to help me view myself through His eyes and to realize that He’s still working on my sanctification; I need to renew my zeal to seek Him with all of my heart.
5. God loves me. I’m not an ear of corn which is merely consumed; I have been bought by the precious blood of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 6:20). Many scriptures reflect God’s immense love for means me and all who are in Christ: Psalm 139:14; Romans 8:38-39; Isaiah 43:4; Colossians 3:12; Jeremiah 1:5; John 3:16.

I love harvesting from the garden. I love how God can take an ear of corn and use it to draw me closer to Himself. That’s what makes all of the time and the effort worth it - and I get to eat fresh fruits and vegetables as a bonus.

When things look dire, you’re crying out for help, and you have no hope, what can someone say to you that will fan that spark of faith that God will save you? There’s a fascinating passage in Exodus 6:6-8. These three short verses contain God’s subtle, but powerful, promise of salvation, help, and hope. When Pharaoh’s initial reaction to Moses was to make the task of the enslaved Israelites much more difficult, God instructed Moses to say to His people:

“I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.”

First look at how many times God says, “I will. . .” There are seven times in these three verses.

“I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.”

Seven is synonymous with God proclaiming an oath. God not only affirms that He will do these things. He repeats the promise with the number seven. The Hebrew shaba (#7650) which means “to oath, to swear, to seven oneself” is the denominative verb form of sheba (#7651) which means “seven.” So God is promising that He will do these things for His people, confirming it with an oath. But then it is confirmed again because it’s put into a chiasm:

A. “I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, [The Israelites are subjugated. They have nothing, no hope, no future.]

B. and I will deliver you from slavery to them,    [They are stuck in slavery in Egypt.]

C. and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.  [They will be redeemed in an obvious way by God.]

D. I will take you to be my people, [This is the covenant language found throughout the Bible. I will be to you a God, and you will be to me a people.]

C.’   and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. [Now they belong to God, redeemed/bought with a price - obviously done by God.]

B.’   I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. [God will take them out of slavery into their own land, from slaves to land owners.]
       
A.’   I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.” [God will give them everything, their own land, an inheritance, freedom -  hope and a future.]

In three distinct ways, God promised to save His people, to enter into covenant with them, and to give them a future. Do you know what the people’s reaction was? They missed it. They didn’t believe God. Exodus 6:9 records that “they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.” That didn’t deter God from fulfilling His promise. God did rescue His people from slavery, He did enter into covenant with them, and He did give them hope and a future. 

So this begs the question: was it just the Israelites who looked at the situation in which they found themselves and lost hope in what God could and would do for them? I suspect that there is a human proclivity to lose sight of the promise in light of current conditions, if the myriad of verses is any indication: Number 23:19; Hebrews 10:23; Romans 3:3-4; 1 Thessalonians 5:24; 1 Corinthians 1:9; Deuteronomy 7:9; 1 John 1:9; Titus 1:2; Lamentations 3:22-23; Hebrews 6:18; Isaiah 55:11; Psalm 119:90; 1 Samuel 15:29.

We are told that at the end there will be a “wearing out of the saints” (Daniel 7:25), that the beast will be “permitted to wage war against the saints and to conquer them” (Revelation 13:5-7). Matthew 24:13 says that the “one who endures to the end will be saved.” This all presupposes two things: 1) Life is going to become more and more difficult as the return of Jesus approaches; and 2) Many of God’s people will be tempted to lose heart and to give up.  Don’t be among those! Rather, fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Stay the course. Believe the promises of God. Be encouraged by God’s faithfulness. He will save us.

Life is hard.

It doesn’t even have to be a direct consequence of a poor choice you made or a sin. Just living in this world can be, at times, a struggle - and age just seems to exacerbate the difficulties. Taking care of infants, completing home repairs, fixing cars when they inevitably break down, keeping up with paperwork! I’m convinced that as the dryer eats socks (because why else is there always one left over?) paperwork multiplies on my desk overnight.  And then there’s death - death of a pet, death of a relative, death of a spouse, death of a child. Life is definitely hard.

That’s how Moses felt about leading the Israelites after the episode with the golden calf. God said He wasn’t going to go with them lest He destroy them on the way (Exodus 33:3). Moses’ response was that if God didn’t go with them, he didn’t want to leave.

What an incredible example for us! Is that my mindset? Before I do anything, or go anywhere, I want to make sure that God is with me - right? Well, I’d like to think that’s the way my mind works. But the reality is that when things are going well, human beings tend to get caught up in their successes, enjoying satisfying their curiosity and achieving  things. They forget that they’re not supposed to run before God or, worse, run without Him. God even warned his people to guard against this (Deuteronomy 6:11-12). But we all know the cyclical history during the time of the judges. The people would fall into apostasy and idolatry; God would send their enemies against them; the people would cry out to God for relief; God would send a judge to lead them in God’s ways. As long as the judge was alive, things were good. After the judge died, the people gradually, bit by bit, turned away from God and fell into apostasy and idolatry. Over and over again. So I have about 400 years of Biblical history to back up my statement that when things are going really well, I had better be extremely careful to seek God with all of my heart; the human condition has a perverse predilection towards choosing their own way rather than God’s way.

Doesn’t that seem odd to you?! God’s commands make life work well. They give wisdom (Psalm 119:98). They make the path plain (Psalm 119:105). Who wants the separation from the Sovereign of the Universe that comes with committing iniquities (Isaiah 59:1-2)? Don’t we, rather, want God to save us when things are not going well? Well, of course, that’s why our prayer request list is always so long.

But maybe, just maybe, I’m supposed to be keeping all of the difficulties in life in perspective. After all, just because I am experiencing trouble doesn’t mean that all is lost. Jesus told his disciples, “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). In other words, life is going to be hard. But you can’t lose your focus on what you have! You have a relationship, you are in covenant with, the Great God of the Universe. Your Heavenly Father loved you enough to pay the penalty for your sins through the death of His Son so that you can be adopted into the family of God and live with God for eternity! Think of the great love of God that He would do that for you!

I have to stop focusing on what I think would make life perfect right now. Adjust my perspective. Think of what I have already been given. Worship God with gratitude for the abundance of all the things He’s already done for me (Deuteronomy 28:47). Like my aunt would say, “Quit your belly-aching!” I must fix my eyes, like those cited in the Hall of Faith (Hebrews 11), on the promises of God. After all, God has been so good to me. He has blessed me over and over again. I have every reason to believe He will continue to do so.

I am so glad God listened to Moses’ entreaty to accompany His people. He told Moses, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (Exodus 33:14). I hold on to that promise. No matter how difficult this life is, God is with me. He will give me rest. And, if you trust Him, He will give you rest too. So go with God.

As we move into 2025, this is a good time to reflect on our relationship with Jesus Christ. In January 1874, Frances Havergal sent her friends a greeting card with the following original poem. It has since been set to the tune of "The Church's One Foundation."

As you read through these words, use them to reflect on where you are and where you'd like to be a year from now.


Another year is dawning,
Dear Father, let it be,
in working or in waiting
another year with Thee;
another year of progress,
another year of praise,
another year of proving
Thy presence all the days.

Another year of mercies,
of faithfulness and grace;
another year of gladness
in the shining of Thy face,
another year of leaning
upon Thy loving breast;
another year of trusting,
of quiet, happy rest.

Another year of service,
of witness for Thy love;
another year of training
for holier work above.
Another year of dawning,
Dear Father, let it be,
on earth, or else in heaven,
another year for Thee.

Amen.

Maybe I’m the only one who seems to live her life going from one thing that has to be done to the next thing that has to be done. You all are probably much better at not taking on new projects than I am. But occasionally I come face to face with a project that has been on my mental to-do list for months and I finally do it. That happened last week when we were getting ready to paint the porch. Everything needed to be taken off the porch so it could be power washed. I figured it was a good time to take down the wind chimes and wash them too.

I have two. The smaller one was a lovely gift from my college roommate when Ron and I were married. I had it hanging outside the kitchen window where I saw it every day when I was washing dishes. But I also saw the evidence of the birds perching on it. And in the last wind storm the center cord finally broke so it wasn’t singing anymore. I brought it in, cleaned it up, and put new cords on where it was necessary. Then I hung it in my office area. I hope that I can open the window this fall and let it sing right by me - where the birds can’t get to it.

Then I took down the huge wind chime that the kids bought me as a Mother’s Day present in 2015. I love the deep tones of that one, but it’s so big that it’s too loud to hang inside. Since it too needed some of the cords to be replaced, I brought it inside to wash it. To my shock and dismay, the long tubes were completely clogged by mud dabber mud. I dug out an unbelievable amount of concrete-like mud and muck from those tubes. Then I restrung the cords and rehung it on the porch. And then I was shocked again. It sang!

What an incredible object lesson God provided for me! We live our lives, doing the tasks that God has set before us - much like the wind chime did its task of singing when the wind blew. And sometimes, without us even recognizing what’s happening, we slowly get filled up with gunk or garbage that inhibits our singing. It happens so slowly we may not consciously recognize that we’re not singing like we used to; we just have some niggling awareness somewhere in the far reaches of our brain that something is not quite right. But we keep on doing what we’re doing, trying to complete the tasks God has set before us. Only we’re not truly singing; we’re just going through the motions.

So, what do we do? We need to intentionally allow God to clean us out again so we can sing. That is, we need to find the time to really focus on God. Going to church each week is kind of like cleaning the outside, dusting off the dirt from the week. But the really deep cleaning comes during the Passover in the spring and the Day of Atonement in the fall. It’s those times when the intensity of our time with Him allows all of the gunk and garbage to be purged. Do you know what allows my wind chime to really sing? It’s the free flowing air through the tubes. And do you know what allows my soul to really sing? It’s the free flowing of God’s Holy Spirit through my very being.

We are days away from the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that God has set a day of reconciliation with Him just prior to the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles.  I hope you take advantage of that time of refreshing and cleansing, so that in the middle of all of fellowship with people you haven’t seen for a whole year and all of the fun with family, you can truly sing.