When life crumbles around us and we are left to pick up the pieces, it is often hard to find any glimmer of hope in the pile of bricks. While living in coastal North Carolina, we witnessed the utter devastation caused by hurricanes. Houses destroyed. Businesses gone. Watching people pile what is left of their personal possessions at the curb to be hauled away, gut wrenching for me. Imagine what the feeling must be if it is you seeing all you own in a heap at the curb. Horrible. Just horrible. 

The death of a loved one. A broken relationship. A job lost. Surveying the ruins of any loss, big or small, there is simply no easy and pain-free path to get to the other side. If truth be told, depending upon the extent of the loss, you or I might not even see any path forward, let alone an easy path. All hope for a brighter tomorrow as been lost behind the clouds. But, even when we think we have lost everything, we do still have one thing left – the very presence of God.

Let’s look at a story in the Old Testament. This particular story takes place approximately seventy years after Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Babylonians under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. Nehemiah, a Jew who was a high official in the Persian court, wanted permission to rebuild the City’s walls. Ezra and Nehemiah were contemporaries. Ezra wrote about the rebuilding of the temple by Zerubbabel while Nehemiah wrote about rebuilding the city’s wall. At that time in history, cities in the Middle East were surrounded by a wall as protection for the inhabitants. Business was regularly conducted at the wall’s gates.

Nehemiah asked King Artaxerxes for permission to return to Jerusalem with the intent to rebuild its wall (Nehemiah 2:1-8). Prior to this, in Chapter 1, Nehemiah prayed, and God granted his request to be allowed to return to the City. As Nehemiah viewed the devastation, his heart must have been broken, seeing the city he loved in ruins. But even as Nehemiah viewed the piles of bricks (2:11-16), because he knew God was with him, he looked towards what could be and not simply at what was. Remember, Nehemiah had prayed for God to guide the rebuilding. God’s blessing means God’s presence.

As he assessed of what remained, Nehemiah likely saw beauty rising out of the ashes (2:17-18). Hope began to replace hopelessness. Delight overtook despair. Even as he was jeered and mocked by Arab men, Nehemiah knew rebuilding the wall would not be thwarted by those who opposed him. We find these words in Nehemiah 2:19-20: “But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they jeered at us and despised us and said, ‘What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?’ Then I replied to them, “The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem.’”

Nehemiah and his team of wall rebuilders continued to face opposition, but God continued to be with them as they rebuilt Jerusalem’s wall, just as it had been prophesied by Daniel (Daniel 9:25). In a previous post, I wrote about some of that opposition. To read that post, click here.

Upon completion of the wall, we are told that all of Nehemiah’s enemies knew that the work had been accomplished with the help of God (6:15-16).

So, the next time ruin is all you see, ask God to increase your faith, helping you look past your pile of bricks toward the hope and joy of restoration!

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Have you ever felt abandoned? Abandoned by your family. Abandoned by your friends. Abandoned by the world. Maybe even abandoned by El Shaddai, Almighty God himself. Left without protection, care, or support. No longer thought of. You wonder if anyone knows or cares that you exist. That feeling of isolation, aloneness, is not a place any of us ever want to be. But, if you are like me, you have felt that isolation, that aloneness, at some point in your life. Maybe you feel it right now.

While it is true that people do at times abandon us, and we to them, it is also true that God will never abandon those who are His. In a world that seems to look for reasons to kick people to the curb, a comforting promise is that God never kicks us to the curb. The writer of Hebrews says this, referring back to Deuteronomy 31:1-6 – ^“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he (God) has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’” (13:5).

Jesus Himself made this promise when He commissioned his eleven remaining disciples to continue the work He began – “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b).”

You might be saying, those verses sound comforting, but right now, as I sit here all alone, is God really close to me? Let me share a story from the Old Testament. A time when the Israelites likely wondered if God had forgotten about them.

Jerusalem had been destroyed and most of its inhabitants were in Babylonian captivity. If God was truly with them, they must have said, then this would not have happened. They, often like us today, equate pain and suffering with God seemingly abandoning them. In the story, found in Isaiah 49, we find this cry – “But Zion said, ‘The LORD has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me” (v.14). You ask, who is Zion? Zion is a placename in the Hebrew Bible, often a synonym for Jerusalem, the city of God, as well as the land of Israel in its entirety. So, here we see the people were filing an objection against all of the promises that Yahweh had made with them. They allowed their current circumstances to cloud what they knew to be true. Have you ever been in that situation?

God countered their objection by asserting that He is as near to them as a mother is to her nursing baby. Here is what God said to them – “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you” (v.15). To further the point, this – “Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me” (v.16).

This engraving alludes to an ancient custom of tattooing one’s hand with impressions of the Temple, as a way to remember the Temple of God simply by looking at the indigo ink tattooed in their palms. Centuries later, Jesus engraved us in His palms as the nails were hammered through His hands on the cross.

So, the next time we are tempted to wonder if God has abandoned us, we only need to look at our palms and envision the indelible marks on His hands for us.   

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You and friends are in a sailboat, enjoying a relaxing day at sea. As it gets dark you find a quiet and secluded cove to anchor the boat for the night, keeping you safe and secure while you sleep. One problem though, you forgot to drop anchor. While you and your friends are sound asleep in the boat, it slowly drifts out to sea. From inside the boat, you cannot feel this movement, but after hours of not being anchored, the boat has ended far away from shore. In the morning, you climb up to the deck, only to be horrified to find yourself in the middle of the ocean, not even knowing where you are, let alone how you will get back. Failing to anchor your sailboat has allowed it to slowly, almost unnoticed, drift away from safety.

As you look back over the past weeks or months, maybe years, do you find yourself asking, “How in the world did I get here?” You find yourself far from where you want to be, maybe not even acutely aware that you have been drifting off course or away from safety. Over time you neglect your physical health and then one day you look in the mirror or get on the scale, and it hits you, you are overweight and in poor shape. You spend hours upon hours online shopping, always finding something you “want,” until one day you wonder how you will ever pay off the credit card balance. What began as seemingly harmless conversation with a friend turned into something not so harmless. Whatever it might be, you have drifted from where you wanted to be or thought you would be.

The same can be said of your relationship with God. Your once red-hot faith begins to cool. You slowly begin to neglect your spiritual life, just little by little, until one day you wonder how you got so far away from God.

The writer of Hebrews gives us this warning – “We must pay careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away” (2:1). Drifting has disastrous consequences – you wake up one day and find yourself drifted outside of God’s will, trapped in sin, guilt, doubt, defeat, maybe even hopelessness.

The apostle Peter also gives us a warning; to be on guard against anything and everything that carries us away from God. We find these words as the last two verses in the New Testament epistle 2 Peter – “Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen” (3:17-18). The context for these two verses is the entirety of 2 Peter, just three chapters. The “therefore” in v.17 points back to the two main themes of this epistle – (1) be on guard so as to not be led astray by false teachers or false ideologies, and (2) an exhortation to grow in Christ.

The rebellious spirit in all of us, due to our sin nature, causes us to naturally drift away from God. It takes commitment and continuing work to not only stay close to Jesus, but also to strive to become more like Him.

How do you get back to land? How do you stop the drift?

Begin by making a decision to not live that way any longer. Realize that you are drifting and be willing to change course. Repent of your disobedience. Then ask God to, by His great love, power, grace, and mercy, through the power of the Holy Spirit, begin to change you and draw you back into submission and obedience to Him. Anchor yourself to the Word of God.

Today, if you find yourself drifting at sea, and we all drift from time to time, look to God to help you begin the journey back into His good and perfect will.

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This is the time of year when many people engage in what is commonly called “spring cleaning.” Garages are swept out, decks are power washed, and windows get cleaned. The longer hours of daylight allow for us to freshen up flower beds, removing the leaves and debris that accumulated in them over the winter, getting them ready for the planting of new flowers.

Dandelions are sprayed with weed killer, but tomorrow ten more appear. Did you know that technically dandelions are not weeds, they are part of the aster family of flowering plants (think zinnias, sunflowers, marigolds). And did you also know that dandelions produce seeds without pollination, thus the offspring plant is genetically identical to its parent plant; a process known as apomixis. So, how many dandelions does it take to eventually cover your entire lawn? The answer can be found later in this writing. 

We don’t just spring clean outside; we also do the same inside our homes. Winter clothes are replaced in closets by warm weather clothes. Christmas decorations that have been sitting in the spare bedroom are finally put away in the attic. You might even have a garage sale or donate items to a local charity.

And not only do we need to do spring cleaning to our homes and yards, it is a good idea to look in the mirror and spring clean those areas in our lives that have gotten neglected, cluttered, avoided, abused, unbalanced, or put in a box but never really put away. In this hectic world, we are seemingly always in survival mode, frequently causing us to fail taking care of the things that are important, both our inside and outside our home as well as within ourselves. This is a good time to take inventory of your life and make changes where they might be needed. Some of those changes will be quick and easy, while others might be painstakingly long.

The Bible gives us a roadmap to a better tomorrow. That roadmap begins and ends with asking God to make you more like Him. Psalm 139 begins with David acknowledging that God has examined his heart, and that He knows everything about David. In fact, nothing about David or his life is hidden from God. We read in Psalm 139:1-4 – “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, you Lord, know it completely.”  

The psalm ends with David’s prayer for God to examine him and point out what needs spring cleaned. In verses 23-24 we see these words – “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” 

What areas do you need “spring cleaned” or maybe totally jettisoned like the solid rocket boosters from a spaceship after liftoff? God is ready to help you spring clean your life. Ask Him today to not only examine your life, but also your soul, and then with His help, begin spring cleaning.

The answer to the question of how many dandelions does it take to eventually cover your entire yard is one. One lousy dandelion can turn your beautiful green lawn into one of widespread yellow.

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On September 20, 1991, the seventy foot “Andrea Gail” set sail from Gloucester Harbor, Massachusetts, and headed north to the fishing grounds of the North Atlantic. On October 28, after a somewhat lackluster sword fishing expedition, Captain Billy Tyne and his crew were heading home when he gave this message to nearby fishing boats about an approaching storm – “She’s comin’ on boys, and she’s comin’ on strong.” No one heard from the “Andrea Gail” ever again. Within hours of that message, the “Andrea Gail” was lost at sea along with her crew of six. Days later search and rescue teams found some floating wreckage, but the boat and its crew members have never been found.

The National Weather Service forecaster who tracked the deadly storm said that three weather systems, three pieces of energy, came together to create this phenomenon, thus this storm has become known as the “Perfect Storm.”

Just like the “Andrea Gail,” we sometimes find ourselves in the midst of a storm. Storms that rock our lives and seem to threaten the very foundation we stand upon. Storms that cause us to become discouraged and ready to give up. Sometimes the storm is caused by only one piece of energy, other times, three pieces of energy, thereby creating a massive “perfect storm.”

So how can you weather these storms of life? Begin by putting your trust in Jesus and knowing that He is your anchor. Hebrews 6:19 tells us that Jesus is “an anchor for our soul, firm and secure.” And in Isaiah 25:4 we read these assuring words – “You have been refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat.”

Jesus promises to be right there with you, every step of the way. Not only is Jesus a licensed boat captain, He is also a certified lifeguard. He is qualified to navigate your boat through the storms and He is qualified to rescue you from the raging ocean waters should you fall off the boat during the storm. Jesus reaches out His hand to you and says “grab hold.”

The Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Make, Luke, tell the story of Jesus calming a furious storm (Matthew 8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22-25). These stories all took place on the Sea of Galilee. In my biblical studies I remember reading that the Sea of Galilee is the only body of water where four different weather patterns can converge simultaneously. This weather phenomenon can produce severe storms. Storms that come on very quickly. Storms that can sink even the sturdiest of boats.

In all three of the calming of the storm accounts, the disciples are amazed at Jesus’ supernatural power, because only God can make the winds and water obey. If Jesus can calm a furious storm on the Sea of Galilee with one word, He can calm the storms of life, or calm us in that storm, as well.

The Synoptic Gospels parellel one another, whereas John’s gospel is largely distinct from the other three. John’s gospel is not inferior to the other three, but rather, simply written differently. John puts much focus on Jesus’ miracles as a way to point to His divinity.     

So, today, whether the storm you face is the Perfect Storm or simply a quick moving thunderstorm, take shelter in Jesus. Don’t lose hope. Instead, cling to Jesus, and trust completely that unlike the captain and crew of that fishing vessel who have never been found, God never loses sight of you and He promises to be your anchor and your shelter in the storm.

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Once upon a time there was a boy in a land far, far away who was different from many of his friends and classmates. This boy talked with a speech impediment. He hid behind this impediment and strived to excel in athletics to hide this defect in his speech. He believed this “defect” defined what he was – damaged.

This boy once told a friend, “If I can be a football all-star or run faster than everyone else, then maybe just maybe people will forget that I struggle when I talk.” He tried to convince himself that the thrill of a stadium full of fans cheering loudly or a trophy case full of awards would somehow magically replace his loneliness and emptiness.

The story goes on to say that this boy did receive a few football accolades and he did run really fast, but he still felt “defective.” But then something happened. As this boy matured, he began to see that the people who liked to be around him were not doing so because of successes or accolades, but rather, it was because of the person he was – the very person that God made him to be. The insecurities caused by his speech impediment still lingered. Still causing this boy, now a man, to hide behind his “defect,” not fulfilling his God intended purpose.   

As the years wore on, God began to work in this man’s heart, even as the man continued to run and hide. God did not push His way into the man’s life, but He just patiently pursued him, softening his heart, one blood vessel at a time. One day this man found himself coming face to face with his speech impediment as he stood behind a podium and was about to speak in front of an audience for the first time. He knew God had put him in front of the microphone, but still he was terrified. He stood there thinking to himself, “I hope I don’t make a fool of myself.” He continued to view his speech impediment through the eyes of his own insecurities rather than through the eyes of God.

The story goes on to say that this man became a pastor. He is very comfortable talking in front of audiences. He still has a speech impediment, but now sees it as part of God’s story. This man is no longer pastoring a church, and now does much of his pastoral “speaking” through writing. At times, this man falls back into insecurity when his speech is difficult. It is still very much a work in progress, but these days he mostly sees his imperfect speech as a true gift from the perfect God. He loves to share the story with anyone who will listen – the story of how God pursued him and had a plan for his life, and how God is not going to let a little thing like imperfect speech patterns get in the way of that plan. In fact, it was God who allowed this speech impediment in the first place.

So today, maybe you do not have a speech impediment, but maybe it is something else that is keeping you from becoming all you can be. My encouragement for you today is to just step out of your comfort zone and watch what God does. You find yourself wondering, “Is God really pursuing me? And what could I possibly have that He wants?” From the very first pages of the Bible we see God’s pursuit of mankind. And it is not what you HAVE that he wants. What He wants is YOU. God wants to use you, with all your broken parts, in His story of rescuing and redeeming a lost world.

The boy in this story is not the main character. God is the main character. The boy is simply in the cast of characters. I think this is such a beautiful story. Not because of the boy’s willingness to surrender to God, but because it is about the lengths to which God goes to accomplish His plans in and through each of us. God is not as much interested in our ability as He is our availability.

You are in God’s story too! He is lovingly chasing after you. Will you allow yourself to be caught? Will you embrace all that He has for you, broken pieces an all?

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