Comparing Candidates

OpenClipart-Vectors / Pixabay

This November, voters in the United States (and U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote but currently reside elsewhere) will go to the polls and vote for the man or woman they want to become the next President of the United States. Hopefully, those voters will carefully consider the qualifications of the candidates before choosing one and casting their vote.

To the end of assisting voters in determining whom to vote for, many organizations and individuals have published charts comparing two or more candidates and their positions on various issues. Of course, one always has to take these charts with a grain of salt, because they may be slanted according to the author’s bias.

I’d like to offer you a completely unbiased comparison chart between two contenders for something far more important than a U.S. citizen’s vote in November. Well, okay, not completely unbiased; it’s biased toward what the Bible says. In other words, I have prepared this chart as if what the Bible says is 100% trustworthy (because it is).

This chart compares the two leading contenders—actually, the only two contenders—for control of your life. You will choose between them each and every day (and sometimes moment-to-moment). They, are, as you have probably guessed by now, God and Satan.

But they’re not the only two contenders, you might say. I myself am a third contender for control of my life.

Nope. You’re not. The Bible says that anything that does not come from God is sin. And who is the author of sin? Satan. So if you think you are ever in control of your own life, think again. With every action, thought, and desire, you are either yielding to God’s control of your life or ceding control to Satan.

So here, for your consideration, is a chart comparing the two, in order to help you choose which one you want to follow.

God

Satan

What will he do in your life? Grant spiritual abundance (John 10:10) Steal from you, kill you, and attempt to destroy you (John 10:9)
How does he feel toward you? Loves you deeply and forever (Jer. 31:3; Eph. 3:18) Hates you (John 17:14)
Will he tell you the truth? Always (John 14:6) Only when it suits him (John 8:44)
Is he trustworthy? Yes (Numbers 23:19) No; he will lie whenever it suits him (see John 8:44)
Will he show you his true colors? Yes (see: the whole Bible) No; this would be to his disadvantage (2 Cor. 11:14)
Will he comfort and support you in times of need? Yes (Psalm 37:39) No; he wants to destroy you (see John 10:9)
Does he keep his promises? Yes (2 Cor. 1:20) No; he lies when it suits him (see John 8:44)
Can he give you everything you need? Yes (Phil. 4:19) No, and he wouldn’t want to, because he wants to destroy you (see John 10:9)
Can he protect you? Yes (Psalm 121:7) No, and he wouldn’t want to, because he wants to destroy you (see John 10:9)

 

I could go on and on, about how God knows everything and Satan doesn’t; about how God has all power and Satan doesn’t; about how God is everywhere, always, and Satan isn’t.

But ultimately, you are the one who has to make a choice.

So I leave it to you.

Joshua 24:15—But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD. (NIV)

Why I’m Longing for Easter Right Now

Easter TombSometimes, you know something, but you don’t really know it.

Maybe you know it for years, and then all of a sudden, one day, the topic comes up in a fresh way, and you have this epiphany that causes you to see things in a whole new light. And you wonder, Why didn’t I think of that before???

I’ve known for years that Jesus lived in unspeakable glory in heaven with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Likewise, I’ve known that Jesus came to earth, which wasn’t really glorious at all in comparison, and that while He was on earth, He suffered all kinds of indignities and mistreatments (the biggest one being, of course, His murder).

But God reached down to my heart and mind through the words of this week’s sermon and helped me “get it” in a way I never got it before.

Lately, I’ve been struggling with, well, lots of things. Lots of pressure, stress, discouragement, and grief. I’ve been asking some raw questions. Why do I have to suffer so much? Haven’t I had far more than my fair share of suffering in this life? Is life going to be like this forever?

But, Lent.

For those of you who don’t know, or who never really thought about it (as I didn’t until becoming a member of the Anglican church), Lent is basically the 40 days preceding Easter. On Mardi Gras, or “Fat Tuesday” (which I know you’ve heard of), people have a party. The idea is that the next day, Ash Wednesday, they begin to engage in the spiritual disciplines of denial.

One reason for this denial to remember Christ’s suffering here on earth—not just His suffering on the cross, but His suffering in even having to be here at all.

Even Jesus suffered on earth, which led to my first realization: Why shouldn’t I suffer? Do I really think that I deserve to escape that which even Christ had to go through? If only I could remain on the Mount of Transfiguration, basking in the glow. But I can’t. Even Jesus had to come down off the mountaintop, and so do I. That spiritual glow that I feel sometimes when I’m feeling particularly close to God and all is right with the world is only a step on the way to the Garden and to Golgotha.

I can’t remain on the mountaintop forever.

Lent is basically a microcosm of life. We start out grandly and gloriously on Mardi Gras (as Jesus started out grandly and gloriously in heaven). Then, we enter into suffering, just as Jesus did. Some people who observe Lent also observe a “break”, where they do not have to observe the denial they’ve been observing through the rest of the season. That’s kind of like how it is in life. We get breaks sometimes. The fact that we suffer doesn’t mean there are never any good days.

But after the break, it’s back to suffering. Until…Easter! Just as Jesus suffered until, well, Easter, when He again returned to His former glory and no longer suffers.

Friend, hear me: Easter is coming for us, too. For you and for me. And praise God that it is! Our suffering won’t last forever. It might seem like it’s eternal, but it isn’t. Easter (or, in our case, heaven!) is coming.

It’s coming as surely as seasons pass, and days, weeks, months and years. Each moment of suffering that we endure is only getting us closer to our Easter, the time when everything will once again be made glorious.

It isn’t quite Lent, yet. Maybe that corresponds to the fact that life is pretty good for you right now. It’s even pretty good for me. When I step back and look at the things that are weighing heavily upon me, I have to realize that I still have a pretty good life. But suffering will come. In some form or fashion, it will come.

But it won’t stay, at least not forever.

Easter is on the way.

Revelation 7:17—The Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. (ESV)

When One of These Things is Not Like the Other

different thingsDid you watch Sesame Street as a child? I did. I loved it.

One of my favorite segments was the “One of These Things” game. They would show a square evenly divided into four smaller squares. Then, they would add one item to each square, three of which were similar, and one of which was obviously different from the other three. (For example: fish, bird, cat, sun.) Then they’d sing the song:

One of these things is not like the others.
One of these things just doesn’t belong.
Can you guess which thing is doing its own thing?
Guess before my song is done.
And now my song is done.

They would ask which item didn’t belong, and kids everywhere would point to the screen and call out their answers.

I loved that game. It was fun to try to figure out which thing didn’t match the others.

Of course, nowadays, being an adult, this game would hold no challenge. It’s pretty easy to tell that a bicycle doesn’t match a pizza, an ice cream cone, and a bag of chips.

It can be much harder to determine when things don’t match up in life. For example, who would ever have thought that a woman who dislikes domestic pursuits but who loves action, excitement, and intellectual challenges would match well with the calling to be a stay-at-home mom? Or that a brother who is on the autism spectrum would be a good match for two sisters who are extremely sensitive to people acting “not normal” in public? Or that a woman with a traumatic childhood would be a good spouse for a man who grew up in a loving, secure, godly home?

Not very many people on this earth would have made these matches.

But God did. He put all three of these in my family.

Mismatches? Apparently not. Because God always knows what He’s doing.

There are some mismatches that are caused because of sin or poor choices (ours or others’). But those matches ordained by God are never “mis-.” To say otherwise is to say that God makes mistakes.

So when you and I don’t understand how life could have ended up like this, we need to realize that insofar as God has ordained the matches, we are perfectly matched up.

My personality and interests, combined with the circumstances of being a stay-at-home mom? Perfectly matched. Maybe not for smooth sailing and pleasing circumstances all the time, but for that which God wants to accomplish in my life.

I can either set my own happiness as my highest goal, or I can focus on the joy of God’s will being done in me. Which will I deem more pleasing? My temporary pleasure, or my eternal character?

I don’t know what seeming mismatches you face. But I do know this: God doesn’t make mistakes.

It’s not just probable that He has some good in mind for you that is far higher than the good you had envisioned.

It’s a certainty.

Isaiah 55:8—”For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. (NIV)

Can You Be Jealous Fairly?

envyWhy does she get to be so beautiful?

Why does she get to have such a nice house/car/husband?

Why does she get to be so talented/popular?

We’ve all wondered why that one certain person seems to have everything going for her, while our own life is falling apart. We’ve asked ourselves—or asked others, or complained to God—about why people who don’t seem to deserve it get “all” the blessings.

Why not me? is what we really want to know. Why don’t I get that?

It’s tough to see someone else getting the things we desire. The things we put all our energies towards, but can’t seem to attain. What about me? our heart cries. Why not me?

We’re jealous.

We don’t like to admit that, because we know jealousy is a sin. We try to pretend we’re not jealous. We try to squash the jealousy down so we don’t have to confront it. We plaster smiles on our faces and pretend like it’s not eating at us.

But it is.

We become jealous (or its close cousin, resentful) because we want what others have.

Sometimes, that is. You see, we don’t always want what others have.

Here’s what I mean. We ask why someone else gets (fill in the blank here with the name of the thing we want). We never ask questions like these:

Why does she get to be only 53 years old and dying from ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease)?

Why does she get to bury her son, who is dead by his own hand?

Why does she get to live in a shelter, because her husband was abusing her and her children?

The questions at the top of the page are questions I have struggled with in the past. I’ve never asked myself the three questions above this paragraph.

All of these situations—ALS, a child’s suicide, and spousal abuse—are circumstances that friends of mine are currently facing. Yet I’ve never asked why I don’t get things like that.

We take blessings for granted, and we don’t spend much time being thankful for them. Instead, we ask why we don’t get the things we want.

But the real question is not, Why doesn’t God give me the things I want?

The real question should be, Why does God spare me from the terrible things I don’t want?

The first question leads to a sense of entitlement. The second leads to a deep, profound gratitude.

Why don’t I get some of the things I want? I don’t know, but this, I do know: I also don’t get some of the things I really don’t want. And those are the things that are more important.

A large, pretty house? Nice…but not as big a blessing as my health.

Physical beauty? Nice…but not as big a deal as physical safety.

Being talented or popular? No comparison to having my children alive and here with me.

If you want to ask why you don’t have what someone else has, be fair about it: Ask that question in regards to everybody.

You will find that you are grateful that you don’t have what others have far more often than you are jealous.

Hebrews 13:5—Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (ESV)

When You Almost Miss a Blessing

Kids at Texas Rangers Baseball GameLast week, my three middle children—Kenny, Lindsey, and Jessica—and I went to see a baseball game at Globe Life Park in Arlington, where the Texas Rangers play. Although I can’t quote you any statistics or tell you much about the history of baseball, I do understand quite a bit about how the game is played, including things like strategy and rules.

So I found it rather amusing when my kids, who know virtually nothing about baseball, began to make comments and ask questions about…well, about everything.

“Mommy, why are those lights green?”
“Why are people clapping?”
“Do these guys get paid for playing this game?”
“Look at that plane flying overhead!”
“What just happened?”
“See those birds on the field? Whose team are they on?”
“Mommy, will the fireworks (set off when a Ranger hits a home run) kill any birds?”
“Mommy, why is there all that extra space?” (She was referring to the outfield.)
“Tell me if anybody hits a home run.”
“When is somebody going to come by selling food?”
“Aren’t we going to hit ANY runs?”
“I don’t understand much about this game. You’ll have to explain it to me.”

Or the “Who’s-on-First” routine between Kenny and Lindsey:

Kenny (reading the scoreboard): “Robinson Chirinos grounded to short.”
Lindsey: “He’s grounded?”
Kenny: “Short.”
Lindsey: “Why??”

After awhile, though, the constant, stream-of-consciousness comments and questions began to annoy me. Could we not just watch the game??? What did the kids think we were there for, anyway?

Apparently, they thought we were there for five trips to the concession stands and/or bathrooms. When the oldest kid you have with you is only 10, if someone has to go potty or wants a drink, all of you have to get up and make the trek.

Actually, to be strictly accurate, only four of those trips occurred in the first nine innings. Yes, you read that right: first nine innings. Because my kids got an unexpected bonus when the game went into eleven innings.

“Kids, the game just went into extra innings,” I said.

“Woo hoo!” shouted nine-year-old Lindsey. “I’m not even tired! I’ve had too much sugar!”

By the bottom of the eleventh inning, we were sitting in the very top row of the stadium, because the kids had noticed that nobody else was up there, and they thought it would be “really cool” to sit up so high. So when a Rangers player got a base hit, driving in the winning run, we had several rows to ourselves as we cheered and then jammed to the celebratory music playing over the loudspeakers.

It was a fantastic time, and the kids had a blast.

But I almost missed it.

It’s not that I wasn’t on time for the game. It’s just that after the first few minutes of questions and comments from my children, I began to perfect the fake smile and fake polite tone of voice that you only use when you don’t really mean it, and when people are around who might very well hear you. I was really annoyed. The kids were interrupting my enjoyment of the game. I wanted to share my love of baseball with them, and they were paying attention to all the wrong things. I had paid for our evening with extra money I earned from babysitting my friends’ son, and my kids were ruining it for me. Or so I thought.

Until somewhere about the sixth or seventh inning when I realized something: the kids were having a great time. As in, a really great time.

And all of a sudden, I was brought up short once again by my own bad attitude.

My purpose in bringing my children to the game was to show them a good time. And they were, indeed, having a great time. It just didn’t look the way I expected it to look.

I wanted them to fall in love with the game; they wanted to enjoy every minute of everything that was going on—the amazing immensity of the stadium, the crowds, the junk food, the sounds, sights, smells, and new experiences. The delight of being somewhere special with someone you love.

And I almost missed a huge blessing of enjoying it with them, of enjoying them, because the experience wasn’t turning out quite like I thought it would.

God was offering me something beautiful, but because it wore other clothing than I expected it to wear, I almost didn’t recognize it.

I wonder how often you and I miss out on God’s blessings because we’re looking for one particular kind of blessing, and that’s not what God has in mind.

How often do we hope things turn out a certain way, and when they don’t, we say, “Well, there’s nothing to enjoy here”?

Perhaps you’re facing disappointment right now. Is it possible that, if you could see the situation through God’s eyes, you would count it a blessing?

May God open our eyes to all of His blessings, not just the ones that look like we expect.

John 1:16—From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. (NIV)

Hope Now

If you’ve been following my devotions for very long, you know I love writing about heaven. I love thinking about the incredible things God has planned for us and wants us to look forward to; I love encouraging others to do the same. I’m glad and relieved to know that heaven awaits me—that this life isn’t all there is.

But something a friend said the other day on a different topic got me to thinking. It’s great to know that one day, all our troubles will be over. It’s marvelous to have heaven to look forward to. It’s fantastic to have hope in the future.

But we need hope now, too.

We need hope on those days where everything goes wrong. We need hope when grief is crushing us. We need hope not only that things will be better someday, but that we can make it through this day.

Precious mom who needs hope, let me tell you something: hope is exactly what Jesus came to give you. Not just for heaven, but for right now.

Do you need hope that someone will completely, perfectly love you and meet all your emotional needs? God will do that Himself. Sometimes He uses others to help Him minister His love to you, but even when others fail, He can—and will!—pour His love into you until your heart overflows.

Do you need hope that eventually, the wounds others caused in your life will heal? One of God’s names is Jehovah-Rapha, meaning God Who Heals. He can heal those scars in your heart and soul, the scars you think nobody else truly understands, because He does understand. And He can make you whole.

Do you hope against hope that someday, you will feel like you really matter? Like you’re infinitely worthwhile? God has declared repeatedly in His Word that you are already incredibly precious to Him. And He’s willing to repeat it to you over and over, and to confirm it with His love and by His Spirit within you, until you believe it.

Do you need hope that you can make it through another day? He’ll give you His strength to keep going when you feel like you just can’t.

Do you desperately hope that you’re doing a good enough job of being a mom? He’ll show you exactly what to do to be “good enough”—and it’s probably not as hard as you think. You can be a good enough mom. You can even hear Him say it.

If you put your hope in having pleasing or easy circumstances, you’re going to be disappointed, probably often. But if you put your hope in God Himself, you will never be disappointed. That’s because true, life-giving hope is found not in circumstances but in God Himself, and He’s guaranteed that He will never leave your nor forsake you.

Not just at the end of life. But right now.

Deuteronomy 31:6—Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of [anything], for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you. (ESV)

Note:
If you’d like to know more about heaven, eternal life, or the kind of hope you can have right now, I encourage you to contact me through my website or to read some of the materials already there under “How to Know God”. I’d love to hear from you.

I Bless You No Troubles

Usually I’m the one who takes Kenny to school in the mornings (he is temporarily enrolled in public school to work on some of his language issues). Each morning as he hops out of the car, I say something like, “I love you. Have a great day!” or, “I’m proud of you!”

The other day when Kenny got out, before I could say anything, he said, “I’ll make you proud today.”

“Aww, I know you will, Son,” I said.

Recently, however, Kenny has begun saying something different. Each day as he opens the door, gets out, and wrestles his backpack onto his shoulders, he says, “I bless you no troubles!”

After he’d said it a few times, we asked him where he got the idea of saying it. “Nowhere,” Kenny said, smiling. “I just thought it would be a nice thing to say, because I don’t want you to have any troubles after you go home.”

Indeed it is. It’s a beautiful thing for a barely-eight-year-old boy to come up with, all on his own, a blessing he can offer his parents each day. It’s beautiful that he even thought of doing something like this for us at this age.

You know what? I hadn’t thought of offering him a blessing. Sure, I always said something nice to leave him with that warm feeling in his heart right before he went into his school. But blessing him? Hadn’t thought about it.

Good thing God thinks about blessing me, His child, a lot more than I think about blessing my own children.

I’m not saying I don’t do kind, loving things for my children. I do plenty of those, and I’m sure you do too. But thinking of what I do and say in terms of blessing them? More than that, thinking specifically of speaking blessings into their lives? Haven’t really thought about it.

There are two things I want us both to make it a point to think about this week. The first is to speak words of blessing to our children on a regular basis. Before they go to bed would be a great time to bless them. So would before they go to school, when they return home, or when something significant happens in their day. Spontaneous blessings would be meaningful too.

How exactly do we bless our children? There aren’t any certain words we have to say. Blessings don’t have to sound a certain way. They can be something as simple as saying, “May you be blessed with a good friend to play with at recess,” or, “You know what? Today God wants me to bless you by buying you an ice cream cone. Let’s go!”

The second thing for us to think about is this: Let’s see how many of God’s blessings to us we can recognize. I’m not just talking about realizing that our house or apartment comes from Him, or that the clothes we wear come from Him (though they certainly do). I’m talking about realizing it’s a beautiful day outside and thanking God for blessing you with beautiful weather. Or having a conversation with a friend and thanking God for blessing you with a few adult minutes taken out of your chaotic, child-oriented day.

Not only that, but check out all the blessings found in your Bible from God to you, or from human beings to their families. Blessings are powerful things! God has given so many of them to us in His Word, and He continues to give us more each and every day. In fact, He says that He has given us every spiritual blessing—not just “a couple” of spiritual blessings, but every spiritual blessing.

In fact, God has had specific blessings in mind for us since before the foundation of the world. Let’s look for those blessings this week and see how many of them we can recognize. But let’s not forget to bless our children this week too—frequently, lovingly, and purposefully. Let’s do our best to bless their hearts the way God blesses ours.

Ephesians 1:3—Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

One Hand Only

A few days ago, the kids and I were hanging out in the living room. I was sitting on the couch watching them all perform “tricks” for me, which appeared to involve various feats of balancing themselves on the furniture or the floor in some creative way. “Mommy, wook at me!” Jessica invited as she balanced herself with her head, both hands, and only one foot on the floor. She extended her other leg up behind her.

Immediately, the other kids tried to imitate her. Her trick wasn’t that hard for them, so I decided to throw in a little twist. “See if you can balance with only one hand on the floor,” I challenged them. “Not the other hand, and not your feet.”

They tried for about half a second before Kenny sat down on the floor and said, albeit cheerfully, “I can’t do that.”

“I’ll twy,” Jessica said. I watched her try a little longer before giving up and sitting down.

At that point, Lindsey, who had been trying the whole time, turned herself upright and looked at me. “I did it for a little while,” she said.

What a fantastic illustration of the responses we sometimes give to God when He asks us to do something. Take motherhood, for example. God asks us to parent a child going through a difficult time, or a special needs child, or simply a child who won’t sleep through the night. We try for half a second and then say, “I can’t do that.” We’ve failed. It won’t work, so there’s no use trying.

Or perhaps we’re willing to try a little longer. Perhaps we don’t mind attempting to parent three kids ages three and under. “I’ll try,” we say, but we soon find it difficult, and we give up and sit down. “This is just too much,” we say. “God’s going to have to lighten my load.”

The third response is the best. We simply get to work, and we try to the limit of our endurance. When strength is gone, we say, “I did it as long as I could.” Not “I failed,” but “I succeeded for awhile.”

Make no mistake about it. We all will come to the end of our endurance. God knows that, and He doesn’t count it as failure. Failure is when we look at the evidence in front of us, and we don’t try, because we just don’t see any way it will work in the first place. Or failure is when we give up too soon.

That day in my living room, I didn’t help my kids balance as I told them to. Had I helped, they would all have succeeded. That’s the point. When God asks us to do something, He will help us. Why then do we ever refuse to try, or ever give up? We know we have His help. God never calls us to do something He won’t help us to perform. So knowing that we have His strength and wisdom to get us through, why would we ever consider doing something other than availing ourselves of the help He has stands ready to give? Then, like Lindsey, we could try to the limit of our endurance. The only thing is, our endurance would go a whole lot farther, because we would be operating in His strength.

In whose strength are you fulfilling your calling as a mother? Are you taking advantage of God’s strength, or are you relying on your own?

Parenting is hard and exhausting at times. Believe me, I know. But when we call upon God instead of trying to balance on one hand and our own strength only, we will make it. Not we might; we will.

Psalm 28:7—The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.

Running with Baby

At three-and-a-half years old, Jessica (whom we call “Baby”) is delighted with her body’s increasing abilities. She loves performing tricks for me, which usually involve some feat of balance or stretching. She’s also becoming a fast runner, losing that cute, toddler run that really young kids have (where they half bounce, half run).

The other day, the kids and I were leaving for somewhere, and I told Jessica to go get in the van. She ran toward it, obviously enjoying her newfound speed. The only problem was that Lindsey saw Jessica begin to run, which of course turned the whole thing into a race. Lindsey started running too, and because she’s two years older than Jessica, she passed Jessica up and made it to the van first.

What caught my attention was what happened when Lindsey passed Jessica. Jessica glanced up, saw Lindsey, and stopped running. Her little head drooped, and she walked the rest of the way to the van with her head down.

Two applications came to mind, and I want to share them both with you. First, I’ll share the more obvious one. I had planned to write this devotional about how we as Christians often leave weaker or less-experienced brothers and sisters behind, turning the Christian walk into a Christian race. We run on ahead of them, oblivious to the pain we cause them.

We should be conscious of our brothers and sisters along the way. The whole point of the Christian walk is the journey, not who can “win”. Sometimes, we’ll be the weaker sister, and sometimes we’ll be the stronger. But it doesn’t really matter, because we’re all on the same team and should all be working together.

It’s a good application, and it’s something we need to think about. But it’s the second, less-obvious application that I’m supposed to dwell on this week. That application is this: Jesus never leaves us behind in our journey toward the goal. He is infinitely more holy, powerful, and knowledgeable than we are, yet He travels with us instead of leaving us in His dust. He doesn’t drag us behind Him because we are too slow. Instead, He shows patience with us as we walk, so that one day, we will reach the journey’s end together.

What Lindsey did was perfectly natural. She wasn’t trying to make Jessica feel bad. She simply saw Jessica enjoying herself and decided to have the same kind of fun by pushing her own body to go faster. But how much different would it have been if she had extended a hand to Jessica and said, “Let’s run together!” Jessica’s joy would have been greater, and so would Lindsey’s.

Likewise, our joy increases when Jesus takes our hand and runs with us. What’s even more amazing is that His does too. He loves being together with us. We love being with Him (unless there’s something wrong). And when two people who delight in each other’s presence spend time together, the joy of both increases.

So next time you’re going somewhere, remember that Jesus is going with you. You can’t outrun Him, and He won’t outrun you. You’re in this together.

Psalm 89:15—Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD.

At Rest

My mom was a nurse for many years. Now, in her retirement, she works at Kmart a few hours each week. She enjoys the contact with her customers and would much rather be out interacting with people than sitting home with nothing to do.

Mom once told me of a time when a young couple came through her checkout line. The mother was pushing the cart, and the couple’s young son rode inside. The father held their daughter in his arms. She was sound asleep with her head on his shoulder.

Mom said she thought about how we who are Christians can do the same thing with God that the little girl was doing with her father: be completely at rest, knowing that God loves us and will take care of us.

Indeed. God’s promised over and over in His word that He will meet our needs. His willingness and ability to take care of us are boundless. The only problem is that our trust has definite limits. We don’t see Him providing the way we think we should, so we think He’s falling down on the job.

But sometimes we have a very different idea of what our needs are than God does. We think our needs are anything we deem essential for living the way we think we’re supposed to live—or the way we want to live. God defines our needs differently. He says the only thing that constitutes a need is something that is necessary in order for our lives to fulfill His purpose. In other words, maybe we don’t need a good night’s sleep like we think we do. Maybe what really need is to be awakened by our baby enough times in the middle of the night, enough nights in a row so that we’re driven to our knees in prayer. Or maybe we don’t need the smooth sailing we think we need; perhaps our greater need is to show forth God’s glory by allowing others to see how we make it through stressful circumstances on His strength alone.

I’ll always meet your needs, God promises. Not the ones you think you have, but the ones I know you have. And not necessarily in the way you think, but in the way I know is best.

It’s easy to say, but hard to live. I’ve heard it said that the longest 18 inches in the world is the distance between a person’s head and heart. It’s easy to give intellectual assent to things like God’s goodness and provision, but much harder to rest emotionally in the things we know to be true.

How do you know if you really believe in God’s provision? If you really trust Him? By your reaction when hard times come. Put simply: if you’re not at peace, you’re not trusting. I don’t mean that you’ll be happy all the time. God doesn’t expect you to like every circumstance that comes your way. But He does expect you to continue to trust Him.

Don’t let temporary circumstances cause you to doubt the eternal God and the truth of His unchanging word. When the wind is blowing and the waves are threatening to knock you down, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Don’t look to your circumstances; look to Him. Circumstances can look pretty bad, and emotions can change. But God’s promised you many times and in many ways that He’ll take care of you. And He’s kept every one of His promises to you. Every single one.

Matthew 14:29-31—Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

Joshua 23:14—You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.