From Isaiah - When the Enemy Approaches

One of the things I love about reading through a book of the Bible or the whole Bible without an agenda is seeing how what I read impacts my daily life even when I am reading about ancient prophecies written to an ancient people.

This week, the Israelites are but a remnant. They have been beaten down and beaten back and have even gone so far as to seek refuge in an alliance with Egypt, their former oppressor. And now in the middle of Isaiah, they are facing Assyria's strong army coming to subdue them.

Assyria's commander speaks loudly, confidently. He knows he will conquer this remnant of religious people. Their god has left them and Egypt cannot protect them. The Assyrians know, without a doubt, that Israel's only hope is to submit to them.

And what can King Hezekiah do? He knows logically it is true. His army cannot defeat the Assyrians. Egypt is not able to protect them as he had hoped. His people had placed their hope in Babylon which would not save them. There was nothing left for Hezekiah to do to fix this problem.

Nothing left but turning to God. And so he did. When Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers telling of Assyria's threats and taunts and had read it, he did the only thing left to do.

Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord... (Is. 37:14b)

I try so hard to solve my own problems, to figure life out. But then I am faced with an enemy I did not expect. A lady at the pool making a demeaning comment about my boys. A possible job loss that is both unexpected and really bad timing in our minds. Feelings of inadequacy, of worthlessness, of being unlovable. Enemies come from unexpected places and I am left with the only real solution, turning to God.

And here is the thing about God - He is still in control.

I love what the God says through Isaiah in chapter 37.

Have you not heard?
Long ago I ordained it.
In days of old I planned it;
now I have brought it to pass... (v. 26a)

Don't worry Hezekiah. I have a plan. It has been in the works for a long time and you are just now going to see what I have been doing behind the scenes all these many hours, days, months, years.

Don't worry Jen. I've got this.

Again, I am surprised that God shows up in my life, my 2012 life, through the words written on scrolls so long ago.

But He does.

When I do.

Grace Is! (Not It Will Be)

A friend of mine asked me to lead My Girls on Monday. My Girls is a gift my friend Jennifer gives us each Monday when she opens her home to whoever comes and lets God's spirit fill the room and lead us toward Him. I was planning on posting what I shared but Jennifer beat me to it and she wrote an amazing post about how God works in mysterious and personal ways.

Read her blog post here.

I desperately want my friends to know God's grace because it sets us free. It saves us from ourselves.

I posted this comment at Jennifer's blog.

Been thinking about this post, this experience, for a few days. You are right that we didn't deserve grace. We didn't. But that's the thing. It is past tense. It is out of our hands. It was finished with the cross. It's not open for debate. It is only open for receiving. That's the thing about grace. It is a gift. It is not quid pro quo. The moment we try to earn grace, or to even merit it, to even be worthy of it, we diminish our experience of it. We reject the gift. It is still there waiting to fill our lives, our souls, but it is left waiting like a wrapped present under a Christmas tree still up in June.  

Because of Christ's work on the cross, because of God's love, we are redeemed. We are His children. We are His girls. And because of Him, we are worthy. We do deserve love.

If you are reading this and it doesn't make sense, or you want to talk about it, or want to share, I would love to help you find God's grace. Because it is God's grace that has redeemed me, has redeemed my life, and has brought "beautiful things out of the dust."

From the Archives - What Are You?

I am trying to get reacquainted with the characters in my book. I have neglected them these past couple of weeks with the painting, and the moving, and the Spring Breaking, and the recuperating from all the doing.

So I spent my afternoon with Mia and Maggie and Tim, and the host of characters I am finding in my book. You can read the first few snippets here, just make you start at part 1 which is at the bottom. Also, if you like my blog, you may want to subscribe to it via email or follow me at Twitter or Facebook which are all available on the right side of this page.

But apart from all that, I have really felt a need to remember and to remind my dear friends that who we are is not what we do. So here is another post from the archives. This one is from November 2010.

*****

Yesterday at church I was sitting near the front. A place I am often found first because if I am up front, I am less distracted by my friends and the people around me. Also because there are always seats up front when I come in late. During the greeting part, my pastor came up to me, since I was up front, and asked me, "what are you?" Since it was Halloween I thought he meant what was my costume going to be.

Turns out he was asking what am I? As in what is the core of who I am. Since I was not expecting such a deep question I floundered for a second and the went with the obvious. "I'm a follower of Jesus," I said. Immediately after the words were out of my mouth, actually as the words were forming on my tongue, they felt false. I knew in that moment that while the "correct" answer might be that I am a follower of Christ, it was not really true. It is not the essence of my being or the deepest definition of who I am.

I may want to be a follower of Jesus but my life is evidence to the fact that I am not most of the time. I want to claim being sold out for Christ but I like comfort, warmth and safety a little too much. My every action shows me really shows me being a follower of Jesus only a percentage of the time.

But even more than my actions giving me away, the truth is that my identity is based not on my actions but on my being. Not on what I do but who I am. And to that question I answer confidently and gratefully that I am a child of God, loved and redeemed. That is the very essence of my identity. Being a Jesus follower is something I try to do because He first loved me. But I am first and foremost a child of God, living in the grace He has extended to me.

From the Archives - The Promises of God

Sometimes, people need to read old words anew. Somedays, I need to read my words again. Here is another post from the archives. This one was written in June 2010.

*****

I have been thinking a lot about the promises of God recently. I think part of this was provoked by a sermon series on the Good News and part was prompted by my reading through the Old Testament. There are so many promises God has given us in His word:

- And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

- If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

- And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:20b

- Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6

- The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. Proverbs 18:10

- Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. Isaiah 65:24

- All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

These are just a few of the thousands of promises that are written in the Bible, God's word for us. Truth we can hold onto in times of struggle, a foundation on which we can build our faith. Some of these promises are completely centered on God's actions, some require action on our part. But we can be sure that God will always keep His promises.

I thought I got it last week and was all excited to write a post about our need to know God's promises. Because when we know God's promises we can find comfort and strength in them. We can know for certain that God will hear us, protect us, guide us, redeem us and love us. Maybe by knowing God's promises we could let go of the stress we feel, the strange requirements we put on ourselves and the overbearing sense of being lost in a wilderness that we often feel as we traverse life. I thought I knew where to find the magic key we all seek.

And then I got reminded yet again, that I really don't get it. I was reading "With Christ in the School of Prayer" by Andrew Murray (as always because I am sooo, sooo slowly making my way through this book which I do highly recommend) last week when this sentence struck me to the core.

Learn to believe in God, hold on to God, and to let God take possession of our life. It will become easy to grasp the promise. Whoever knows and trusts God finds it easy to also trust the promise.

and later he writes

It was the revelation of God Himself that gave the promise its living power to enter the heart and cultivate faith. Because they knew God, these men of faith could not do anything but trust His promise.

And then to get to the root of my turning God's gifts into my idols, I read this sentence.

Jesus is teaching us a precious lesson today. We seek God's gifts, but God wants to give us Himself first.

I was going at it backwards, yet again. Learning God's promises, knowing His word, points us to God himself. These promises show us who God is. They are an extension of His very being, the pouring out of His heart into our world.