Be careful what you ask of God. There will be answers. It’s just that the answer may change everything.
Category: trust
Prove God?
Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has: it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but—-more frequently than not—-struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God. Martin Luther
It is so easy to believe in things that can be proved. Grass is green….the sky is blue. We can see those things for ourselves. Faith in God is a leap into the unknown. A step into something that is not physical and according to reason cannot be proved. What we don’t realize is there a many things that we can’t prove. Can I prove that I love someone? Only by actions and words. There is no science that can test it.
When science want to mock belief in God because God cannot be proved remember there are other things we have faith in that have no scientific proof.
Call God
Psalm 18:3-10
3 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
so I shall be saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death encompassed me;
the torrents of perdition assailed me;
5 the cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called upon the Lord;
to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.
7 Then the earth reeled and rocked;
the foundations also of the mountains trembled
and quaked, because he was angry.
8 Smoke went up from his nostrils,
and devouring fire from his mouth;
glowing coals flamed forth from him.
9 He bowed the heavens, and came down;
thick darkness was under his feet.
10 He rode on a cherub, and flew;
he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind.
I should have printed the whole Psalm as it goes on like this. This Psalm is not for the weak at heart. This is no namby-pamby God but a God of power. Just imagine….God was called by one of his people and he not only answered but came fast as lightening with scary special effects better than any movie. This is SOME GOD!
He will come just as fast to help us… all we have to do is call.
Just talk!
Psalm 94:2-3
2 Rise up, O judge of the earth;
give to the proud what they deserve!
3 O Lord, how long shall the wicked,
how long shall the wicked exult?
How much we would love for God to take out the people who hurt us. Just come with fire and wind and wipe them out. But no matter how much we want that it’s not what God is about.
However, we can learn something from the psalmist. God is not someone that we can’t talk to. He already knows all our secrets. He knows how much we want to have bad people get what they deserve. Tell Him that!
He know that we are angry because someone we love is in pain. Tell Him that. Ask Him why things are not fair. Tell Him how afraid you are of what is going to happen tomorrow. I promise you He can take it! God wants us to speak our minds. He is listening. He feels our pain and wants to dry our tears. Just talk to Him!
There is always hope
No one ever promised a perfect life. The world is not perfect. Bad things happen. The important thing is that no matter what we can count on God being with us. He will go with us down to the depths of despair and while there he will hand us hope. Hope…the thing that is always there. We only have to reach out and take it.
Trust
Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own insight.
Sometimes trusting God is not easy. Sometimes things seem so bad that we think that God has deserted us. Sometimes we just want to fix things ourselves.
All of these are times when we have to pray fervently, listen and wait for God. God is with us through everything. He never leaves us. We are the ones who leave. Turn back to God.
God with us
This is one of my favorite quotes. I repeat it over and over when things go wrong. It is good for soothing frustration and tension. Remember, God is with us always….no matter what.
Religion is like holding on to a rock in the middle of a raging river; faith is learning how to swim.” Source Unknown
Religion can be a wonderful thing but it is not the thing we strive for. Faith is the thing we seek. Faith is not just miraculously there one day. We have to work at. When we first start to swim we spend a lot of time sinking to the bottom. Even once we know how we can falter in a huge wave or use up all our energy staying afloat and sink. Faith is not a noun but a verb. It is not something we can hold in our grasp but something we must use. Faith is not knowing you can step out over the precipice but not being sure about it and still stepping out.
Prayer: Increase our faith day by day and give us the courage to use it. Amen
Use what you have
Your talent is Gods gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God. Leo Buscaglia
Some people have obvious talents. They can sing or write books or act in plays. Most of us don’t even realize we have talents. The things we can do seem so ordinary. Who would care if I could teach a class …so many others can too…or compute someone’s taxes or paint their house for them? I’m just an average Joe. But God cares. No matter if you think you can’t do anything for his glory he knows that you can. Every skill can be used for the glory of God.
Prayer: Lord, help is to see and use the things we can do for the glory of God. AMEN
Loving arms
I have always loved the 23rd Psalm. Especially the part about going down into the valley. God promises to be with us. It says his rod and staff will be there. God is with us in our darkest days. He is the light at the end of the tunnel. No matter how bad things are feel the loving arms of God holding you close and know that you are not alone.
Hear God in Other Voices 