Understanding

This morning i was reading Proverbs 20, and i came upon this verse

“The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?”

If you are anything like me, friend, then you have had a hard time with this particular tenent of scripture. I know that the Lord is directing my steps...that doesn’t bother me...what does bother me is when things don’t necessarily go the way that i think that they should go. Its my understanding (or lack thereof) that drives me crazy. I mean, i really want to understand what is going on and when i don’t, I just go crazy. But I guess that’s the point. If i understood, then it would be all about me. My doing or not doing God’s will would at that point would completely depend on my understanding and then there would be no need to trust the Lord.

And the more that I’m in this season that I’m in, the more I realize that that is exactly what He is asking of me. To trust him...heart and soul...and by the way, completely regardless and independent of whether or not I understand...

If you are where I have been my friend, I encourage you to hang in there. Trust Him, even if you don’t understand. Lean on Him even if you don’t feel His presence. And of course...don’t try to figure it all out! ;-)

A Melted Heart...

So this morning the Lord just melted my heart....

So I’m at home...get up and then kinda plan out my day. First I’m gonna do a little work in the studio, then I’m going to go to the post office, then to Starbucks and read a little, then pick up Wally to head to work. Just one little bitty problem, I can’t find my car key.

Now here’s the deal on the key...the top part of it is broken, so i can’t actually put it on a key ring with other keys. I have to keep it separate and just keep up with it. So yes, I have had some issues with losing it, but usually I can find it very quickly, because I have certain spots where I put it, but this morning was quite the exception...

So I’m hunting for my key...cannot find it in any of the usual spots and have now circled the house several times. I’m starting to get really frustrated...yet still I look and still the key is hidden from me. I’ve now been searching for awhile...and I’ve begun to pray...”Lord PLEASE just help me find my key...”

Nothing. Except this still small voice that has begun to whisper in the back of my brain to stop looking and read the Bible for a minute.

WHAT??? How is that gonna help me find my key? So I ignore the voice...

Kept on looking for another 10 minutes and by this point I am extremely frustrated...not really at God, but kinda at Him for not helping me out...and all I keep hearing is “read the Word”. So after about the fifth time hearing Him tell me to read, I exclaim out loud “What, I’m gonna read the Bible and then You are just gonna magically make my key appear?”

So I reluctantly grab the Bible on the coffee table in the living room and sit down on the couch. I read Psalm 57...The first verse says:
“Have mercy on me oh God, have mercy! I look to you for protection. I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings until the danger passes.”

Immediately after finishing reading the Psalm...i pause to think about the whole situation and look up and what do my eyes see? My key...sitting right under where the Bible had been and where i had already looked several times.

I can’t say anything other than in that moment, i felt my heart melt. To quote a friend of mine who heard the story, the Word really is the Key!

Friend...i don’t know what to say, except that there are going to be moments when you hear that still, small voice of God and it just doesn’t make a lick of sense. But listen...just because you don’t understand doesn’t mean that God doesn’t. Just because something doesn’t make sense to you doesn’t mean that it doesn’t make sense to Him.

Trust Him. Let Him melt your heart that has been frozen by fear and doubt...He melted mine this morning, and it is an amazing feeling...

Battle weary, but battling nonetheless...

My friends, i don’t know if anyone has ever told you this, but you are in a battle, and i’m not just talking about Christians. Have you ever wondered sometimes why life is just hard and doesn’t make sense? Have you ever felt like there was just this brick wall that you couldn’t penetrate? To quote the movie Bruce Almighty, like there was an “anti-Bruce barrier?”

There is a battle going on all around you and there are only two choices (even if you are a non Christian). Am I going to fight or am i going to fail? Are you going to hang on even if you can’t see anything or are you going to wilt.

I had a revelation about a week ago that has just shaken me up. There really is no persecution in this country. I’m not talking about people laughing at you for your faith or making fun of you in school or work for standing up for what you believe; I’m talking about given the choice of dying for your faith or living without it, kind of persecution. And since there really isn’t that kind of persecution here in America (or countries like it) I sometimes wonder if God allows the enemy the come after us to see how hard we are going to hold onto him. I think the he will allow hard stuff to happen to see how sincere we really are. Remember Job? Lost everything he had ever had...including his kids. The only thing that God allowed him to keep was his wife and even she told him that he should just curse God and die.

I’m not saying that this is how things are all the time. Rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous...sometimes bad things just happen...but the next time that you are faced with something like that, remember what Jesus said...that the devil is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour...that he (the devil) has come to steal, to kill and to destroy, but that He (Jesus) is greater and wants you have ABUNDANT life....

Fight on you mighty man or woman of God. Cling to the promises in his word...put on the whole armor of God.

Ephesians 6:13 “That is why you need to put on God’s full armor. Then on the day of evil you will be able to stand strong. And when you have finished the whole fight, you will still be standing.” (NCV)