By My Self

The Lord said to Gideon, "The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.' (Judges 7:2 ESV)

It seems that a mark of a child growing up is when they want to do things "by myself." They see independence as a good thing. Sometimes it is and sometimes not. As a parent, we have to help them see the difference and protect them when they are not quite ready to do things alone.

Every one of us wants to be in charge of our life. We don't like someone else telling us what to do and we don't like to defer to others. A sign of maturity is when we willingly accept proper authority over our lives. We place ourselves under others and realize our need for outside input and direction.

Along with this, we need to realize that we need help from others. There is no such thing as a self-made man. If we have attained anything good in life it is because others have helped us whether we realize it or not.

I am realizing the same with my relationship with God. There is nothing good in me without Him. I don't have a strength of my own.

It seems that through the years a belief came into my life that as I grew as a Christian I could become strong through various disciplines such as prayer and Bible reading. While those things are good and should not be neglected, they were not the source of my strength or success. Only God is responsible for that. What I need to realize is that those disciplines help me to know God and to understand His ways. With that, I can cooperate better with what He wants to do in my life.

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV)

I am weak and He is strong. His strength shows in my weakness.

With that understanding, things can really improve in my life.

Philip

Weeping Whores

As soon as the angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. (Judges 2:4 ESV)

Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the LORD, and they did not do so. (Judges 2:17 ESV)

My morning reading has taken me to the book of Judges. I am reminded of the roller coaster of spirituality that God’s people experience. Not only in the book of Judges but in all the Old Testament the story is the same. The people end up in bondage, spend years in captivity, finally God has mercy and brings deliverance and some years later, they repeat it again.

Don’t you wish we were not like them?

I know that as I look back on my life I can see some well-worn ruts that I have repeatedly traveled. A crisis may cause me to pay particular attention to certain areas of my life but time goes on, lessons are forgotten and sure enough, I end up on that path again.

One of my roads is summed up in this verse from Ephesians 4:29: Do not use harmful words, but only helpful words, the kind that build up and provide what is needed, so that what you say will do good to those who hear you.

I am really good at recognizing and pointing out the faults of others. I have a very hard time recognizing and pointing out the good things that people do. It’s something I pray about daily – that I would have encouraging speech, that I would recognize good done and that I would bring grace and joy into my home.

I think I am doing better on holding back some of the bad words but not as good in expressing the good I see in people. Even though I see it sometimes, I have a hard time saying it.

If you have any good ideas on how to cultivate the edifying speech, I would be glad to hear them. I would like to see some of those old ruts filled in.

Philip

Would we write the Psalms?

Would we? Could we?

Maybe the 23rd Psalm, as it is so nice and acceptable. But what about the ones that are so brutally honest, that express doubts and fears? Would we or could we write those? What would happen if we did? Would our position in the church or amongst Christian friends be diminished? Would people be concerned that we are having a crisis of faith and need to be put on the prayer chain?

We may proclaim that honesty is something we value as Christians but what happens when someone is really honest? How do we view the friend who tells us of their despair or the one who tells us of their struggle with sin? Do we applaud their honesty and embrace them or take a step back?

What would happen if your pastor preached a sermon that expressed the doubts, fears, and despair that David voiced so many times in the Psalms? Could he only preach it if it was wrapped up all nice and he indicated that he was near to feeling those things but summoned his strength and pulled himself out of it?

The psalmist David had a good relationship with God. 1Samuel 13:14 said David was a man after God’s heart. Could that be because of David’s reality with God and others? He sought after God, recognizing his imperfection and wasn’t afraid to admit what was going on in his life to God or others. Perhaps that honesty enabled him to move beyond those feelings rather than stuffing them deep down and acting like everything is okay.

Many of us crave transparency. We want to be known as we really are and are sick of the plastic, protective front. But what is the price – that is what we wonder. I heard a statement on the radio the other day that fits with this: the church needs to be a place where shame meets grace.

May it be so. May each of us lay aside our superior, judgmental attitudes and embrace the honest while gently helping them toward the healing they need. We hold God’s standards with a firm hand, realizing that we are also weak, not hiding our own past or present struggles, being vessels of the grace of God.

It’s coming.

Philip

By Chance

On my son’s blog, he raised the thought that sometimes we question why God didn’t do something when the true question should be why we didn’t do something. I came across this in my reading today and I thought it went well with Phil’s thoughts.

How many are the sufferers who have fallen amongst misfortunes along the wayside of life! “By chance” we come that way; chance, accident, Providence, has thrown them in our way; we see them from a distance, like the Priest, or we come upon them suddenly, like the Levite; our business, our pleasure, is interrupted by the sight, is troubled by the delay; what are our feelings, what our actions towards them? “Who is thy neighbor?” It is the sufferer, wherever, whoever, whatsoever he be. Wherever thou hearest the cry of distress, wherever thou seest any one brought across thy path by the chances and changes of life (that is, by the Providence of God), whom it is in thy power to help,–he, stranger or enemy though he be,–he is thy neighbor.

Arthur Penrhyn Stanley.

From Daily Strength for Daily Needs
- Mary Tileston

Philip