Unless you live in a cave in the backwoods somewhere, you are quite aware that the world is spinning out of control. War. Civil unrest. Political divide. Uncertain financial markets. Weather extremes. Gun violence. Just yesterday, another mass shooting. This time, a juvenile in Raleigh, North Carolina, shot and killed five people, injuring at least two others. And those are just the national and world events. What about the things closer to home for you and for me. I believe we have all felt some level of pain and suffering over the past few years. And often we just don’t have answers for some things that happen. There are any number of life events that cause us to pause and ask, “Where is God?” or “Why?”

Today I want to focus not on those two questions, even though they are real and reasonable questions to ask in times of tragedy and suffering. Check out my archives page for posts addressing those questions. Instead, I want to focus on how we should respond in our own moments of pain and sufferings.

I want to say that while pain and suffering does not come from God, in his providence He allows it to happen, and can use our pain and suffering for good. Hard to understand, right? But it is true. While suffering is never good from our point of view, in Romans 8:28 we read these words, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Notice the word “all;” this means the good and the not so good, the easy and the not so easy, the joys and the sorrows.     

Having said that, how can we respond to our own pain and suffering? There might not be any better illustration that Job. In Job chapter 1 we read that all ten of Job’s children died in a natural disaster when a windstorm blew down their house. Job was faced with the reality of seeing ten new graves on the hilltop. How did he respond? Surely, he had all the same emotions we experience when we face tragedy and suffering. With that kind of pain, it certainly would have been understandable if Job turned his back to God.

But, instead, in Job 1:20-21 we read – At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” Some versions say, “Blessed be the name of the LORD.”  

I am in no way downgrading the severity of anyone’s pain and suffering, or the devastation that comes with it, because it is real, and truthfully, it stinks. But Job shows us that it is possible to worship God even without explanations, even when we don’t know all the reasons.

So, today, it is my prayer that you experience the real life-changing presence of God, both in moments of ecstasy and moments of heartache, high on the mountaintop or low in the valley.    

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It is playoffs time for Major League Baseball. Over the years baseball has changed and evolved. What began as one league in 1876 with eight teams is now two leagues, the National and the American, with thirty teams. Up until 1920 pitchers could alter the ball itself with things like spit or tar. Doing so today will get a pitcher fined and suspended. Batters were once permitted to use flat sided bats. Today, of course all bats are round, no longer than forty-two inches, made of ash, maple, or birch wood.

Baseball stadiums look and smell nothing like they did in years past. Outfields have been shortened to allow for more homeruns. Those generic cookie cutter round stadiums of the 1970s have been replaced by stadiums that provide fans with a “gameday experience,” rather than just watching the game with a hotdog, Cracker Jacks, and an overpriced lukewarm beer. Even the playoffs continue to change and evolve. This year, the playoffs have expanded from five teams in each league to six teams.

Just as the game of baseball continues to evolve with the intent to make the game better and safer for the players and more enjoyable for the fans, we too need to look at our own lives and evaluate what is and is not working. We need to look for ways to continually improve ourselves. We should always be a work in progress, seeking to become a better version of ourselves. The ability to do that comes from the Holy Spirit. If you are a follower of Jesus, you are called to become like Jesus. In 1 Peter 2:21 we read – “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.”

When you said “yes” to Jesus, you also said “yes” to the Holy Spirit. He lives in you, desiring to guide your every step and thought – “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” (1 Corinthians 3:16).

I believe that after we initially receive the Spirit upon conversion, we need future fillings, and even though the Spirit lives within every Jesus-follower, there is a problem. We leak and continuously need to be refilled with the Spirit’s presence – “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,” (Ephesians 5:18).

Be filled with the Spirit. Literally, be continuously filled with the Spirit. Be filled with the Spirit is one imperative, one command. And when we are under the influence of the Spirit, rather than under the influence of alcohol, it will result in five things – “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:19-21).

As you step up to the plate today, tomorrow and every day, ask God’s Spirit to put His finger on those areas in your life that need to be re-tooled and re-manufactured, made better or changed, maybe even discarded. Ask Him to guide you and help you turn from a life focused on the desires of your flesh to more fully walking by the Spirit. (Read Galatians 5.) Ask Him to refill your leaky cup with His Spirit. In Ephesians 3:19, the apostle Paul prays that the faithful in Christ Jesus will be “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Is that your prayer today?

Batter Up!

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The culture in which we live is a steady stream of negativity. From morning until night, we are bombarded with news and information that tends to suck the life right out of us. How long can we keep personally experiencing or hearing about bad news after bad news before it takes a toll on our heart, mind soul? Do you wonder if God is taking a siesta? Or maybe, has He forgotten us?

Does your soul feel dry? Do you feel like tumbleweed, driven by the wind, rolling across the dry desert? If you are like me, when I find myself parched, it is sometimes hard for me to experience the closeness of God. Are you having a hard time feeling the presence of God? Has it been weeks, months, maybe even years, since you experienced God’s sweet intimacy?

Psalm 13 is a short six verse lament in which the psalmist (David) feels forgotten.

v.1 – How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

2 – How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?

3 – Look on me and answer, LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,

4 – and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

5 – But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.

6 – I will sing the LORD’s praise, for he has been good to me.

The first two verses reveal what David sees as the problem. Do you see the depth of David’s despair? Four times in these two verses he cries out “How long?” Maybe right now you find yourself crying out, “How long God must this go on!”

In v.3, David petitions God. Look what he says – “look on me and answer” and “give light to my eyes.” Can you hear the urgency in David’s voice? Maybe you have that same urgency today.

David is praying for victory in v.4. If losing wasn’t bad enough, the sting of hearing the victor boast after the victory was almost too much to bear. One of the hallmarks of David’s psalms is his awareness of both God and the enemy.

We see in v.5, despite his agony, David declares God’s mercy. Even if he can rejoice in nothing else, here we see David rejoicing in God’s salvation, just possibly in that moment the only solid ground David is standing on.  What are you rejoicing in today?

David began this psalm by pleading but in v.6 we see a huge transition. David’s pleading changes to praise! Even as he cries out “how long” to God, David’s eyes were enlightened, and he moved from a place of woe is me to a place of praise, from a place of despair to a place of declaration!

So, today, whatever it is that you are facing (and we all are facing something), maybe even as you cry out “how long?,” will you allow yourself to sing Yahweh’s praise simply because He is good? Don’t let the trees or the morning mist lessen the beauty of the sun that is awaking from its night slumber.

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We all know people who start well but always seem to end poorly. Somewhere between the starting line and the finish line, something went wrong, causing a poor finish. I was a sprinter in my younger days. How I started the race was important but running a smart race and ending well most determined whether or not I won the race.

Living in a broken world, one more fractured every day, it is hard to stay on track and not find ourselves getting derailed. It takes great determination and focus. It takes saying yes when yes is required, and no when no is required, regardless of the blowback by others. It takes living a life guided by rule and reign of Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit. It takes a clear sense of your purpose and calling. It takes a teachable, humble, and obedient heart. It takes the help of others. It takes an infusion of intentionality and effort to not allow the trappings of the world to gain hold in our life. In other words, it is not easy.

The apostle Paul gives us a model for running a good race, and for finishing well. In Philippians, he compares the Christian life to a race. Before continuing, either grab your Bible and read Philippians 3:12-14 or click here to read the passage.

I see v.12 talking about attitude. Paul realizes that his Christian conversion helped him to re-prioritize his life. It gave him a new assessment of his goals and an overwhelming desire to know Jesus more fully. Paul knows he must continue to pursue the plan God has laid out for him. Paul knows that it is not himself who supplies the resources to “press on,” but rather it will be Jesus who supplies those resources, energized by the Spirit.

In v.13 the emphasis is on focus. Again, Paul does not claim to have obtained his final goal – a full knowledge of Jesus and conformity to Him. The “one thing” he talks about is his passion for living the Christian life. Running a race that involves the relentless centering of his focus and energy on the course ahead of him. It involves effort, being focused on becoming more like Jesus. Forgetting does not mean wiping his past from his memory but instead, a conscious effort to not allow it to absorb his attention and slow his progress.

And finally, in v.14, we are called to stretch. Paul compares the Christian life to pressing on and stretching for the finish line. “Pressing on” is not easy and requires pushing past his comfort zone, ignoring the pain. This prize referred to is not simply eternal life. It is that but also dying to that self-centered life that is natural to all of us and our willingness to press on in living, and sharing, our new Christ-centered life.

The Christian life is not easy. It is hard to have the right attitude, to stay focused, and to keep stretching (pressing on), when most of the culture pushes us in the opposite direction. It is hard to have, and keep, Jesus in every aspect of our lives.

We find these words in 2 Timothy – “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith (4:7).

So, right now, either for the first time, or the umpteenth time, ask Jesus to be the center of your life, submit fully to Him, and then do not look back. Commit to not just running the race, but running it well, running it to win, finishing well.

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Falling in love is one thing. Staying in love is a completely different animal. I am in no way a relationship expert, but can we agree that falling in love is beginning to carve out space for someone in your life while staying in love is a choice to continually carve out more and more space for that person.

Think back to when you first fell in love. You felt an infatuation for that person. Maybe butterflies fluttered in your stomach. As you spent time with that person, that strong attraction of infatuation began to develop into a deeper experience of love. Falling in love is the easy part. Choosing to stay in love is the hard part. It requires work and commitment. Staying in love says – “I see you, all of you, the good, the bad, the ugly, I see all those things, and I still choose you.” Staying in love says – “I wholly love the imperfections and much as I love the good.”

My wife and I have what I think is a very good marriage. Is it perfect? Of course not. We are not perfect people. Can it improve? Sure it can. But over our five years of dating and now almost forty years of marriage, we have worked diligently to share life together, to carve out space for one another, even when the carving was hard. We are two flawed people, two vastly different people, committed to each other, continually in search of new ways to fall in love.

Think of your friendships. I am not talking about the five hundred friends you have on social media. I am talking about the friendships you have in which you really do life with one another. Those relationships do not happen by accident. They take commitment. They take spending time with each other, walking together over the splendor of the mountains and through darkness in the valleys. They require a choice to stay in love, a friendship kind of love.    

Staying in love with Jesus is no different. It is not happenstance. First and foremost, it requires giving Jesus complete rule and reign over your life. After that, it takes commitment to press in closer and closer, each and every day. And it also takes spending time with Jesus, meditating on scripture, praying, listening, pushing back against the ways of the world. The prophet Isaiah said this – “At night I long for you with my whole being; my spirit within me watches for you. When your judgments are at work in the earth, those living in the world learn righteousness” (Isaiah 26:9, CEB).

David, when he was in the wilderness in Judah fleeing from his son Absalom, wrote Psalm 63. This psalm reflects David’s never-ending longing for God, his desire to stay in love with God. It begins this way – “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands” (vv.1-4).

What investments are you making to stay in love, both with Jesus and those around you? Staying in love takes tremendous work, it is hard work, but the rewards far outweigh the costs. What things might you need to change up in order to stay in love, and to continually fall more in love, with Jesus and those around you?

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Think back to your childhood. One evening you and a friend were lying out in your backyard in the damp green grass looking up at the starlit night and dreaming about the lives that were ahead of you. Dreams of your suburban house with a white picket fence.

You had this idyllic view of your future. One that was happy, healthy, peaceful, charming, prosperous. There was no thought of serious health issues, unemployment, divorce, addiction, stress of dealing with aging parents, untimely deaths of loved ones, or any of the other challenges that we all have in life. Every one of your dreams would come true, and you would live happily ever after. You remember those childhood dreams, right?

Then, maybe somewhere along life’s journey, you invited Jesus to be your Lord and Savior. With that you thought the struggles would turn back into those childhood dreams. Somewhere along the way you got the false impression that anchoring yourself to Jesus would mean smooth sailing, no more rough seas, gusty winds, or capsized boats. But guess what, Jesus never promised any of that. He does however promise to be with us in all things. Which also means that God is with us (Matthew 1:23; John 1:1-2, 14).    

Fast forward to today. You look at your life and it just seems to be one challenge piled on top of another. Nothing makes sense. You find yourself becoming disillusioned, discouraged, frustrated, hopeless. At every turn you face another struggle. The dreams you had, well, you have stopped dreaming, and right now you simply just want to hang on and ride out the waves without taking on more water. You find yourself questioning your faith. Those pleasant childhood dreams, well, they have become nightmares.

Do you know the story of Joseph, found in Genesis? Not Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, but instead, Joseph, the son of Jacob and Rachel. If you know the story, then you know that Joseph had a difficult life. His brothers conspired to kill him then sold him into slavery (Genesis 37:12-36). His master’s wife made a false accusation against him (39:1-18). He was unjustly imprisoned (39:19-23). Through it all, we are told that God was with Joseph (39:21).

Later, when all the brothers, including Joseph, gathered to bury their father, Joseph’s brothers begged him for mercy (Joseph was by now in a position of authority in Egypt). Here is what Joseph said to his brothers – “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Genesis 50:19-20).

Joseph knew God was making sense of his life. Picture your life as a tapestry. God is weaving together a beautiful masterpiece. Often from our point of view, which is the back side, all we see is a jumble of knotted, frayed, tangled, twisted and random threads. Nothing makes much sense. But from God’s point of view, the front side, He sees art – rich and vibrant colors, a masterpiece of breathtaking beauty.

The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard said this, “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”

So, regardless of what you feel like, or what your life looks like, God is still faithful and caring for you. He is in control and is working out your life in a way that, looking back, will all make sense one day. God sees the “front,” while we on the other hand often only see the “back.” 

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