Lord, Show Me Your Glory!

I have often wondered what it would have been like to be Moses and actually get to hear God’s voice audibly and clearly.  Exodus 33:11 tells us that “the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend.”  That must have been an incredible experience, and certainly a special privilege that he had been given, as God’s spokesman to the people of Israel.  Yet what really amazes me about Moses is what we find in the following verses of Exodus 33. 

Moses is feeling understandably overwhelmed by the task of leading the whole nation of Israel to the promised land, and he reminds God of His promise to go before him and be with him throughout this journey.  He realizes that what he needs most is a deeper understanding of Who God is and a greater awe of His glory.  This is the man who regularly spoke with God face to face, but he was not satisfied with this!  Instead, he boldly asked God to show him His glory (Ex. 33:18).  Although God reminded Moses that no man could see the full display of His glory and live, He graciously granted Moses’ request by allowing him to directly witness a small portion of His glory.  Even this small display must have been spectacularly awesome and caused Moses’ face to shine brightly long after it was over (Ex. 34:29).

I think about how privileged I have been to know and experience so much of the glory of God through His complete Word and through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, Who is the fullest revelation of God, and whom Hebrews 1:3 describes as “the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person.”  Yet have I allowed myself to become satisfied with what I already know of Him, or do I desire, as Moses did, to know Him more and see more of His glory revealed?  Am I thirsting for Him daily, as David speaks of in Psalm 63, realizing that everything I know of Him and have experienced just scratches the surface of the infinite depths of Who He is?  May my continual prayer be, “Lord, show me Your glory, that I may know You more!” 

Comfort or Contentment?

Recently I was in a girls’ locker room after watching a basketball game and saw a quote hanging up that I thought was very fitting for more than just sports!  The part that really stood out to me was, “Comfort is dangerous.  Contentment is essential.”  What a profound statement that reminds me of that elusive balance in life between being content with the life God has given us on the one hand yet not allowing ourselves to become too comfortable on the other hand.  This is something that I have been wrestling with for some time now and definitely don’t have it figured out, but it seems clear that the Bible calls us to contentment but not to a life of comfort.  So what is the difference between the two?  As I was pondering this question, I identified several parallels between them…

·         Comfort is an absence of challenges or pressures in life.  Contentment is the inner state of our heart regardless of the circumstances of life.

·         Comfort can exist without contentment.  Likewise, true contentment can exist apart from comfort.

·         Comfort can breed laziness, complacency, boredom, and ingratitude.  Contentment is motivating, stimulating, energizing, and tends toward thankfulness.

·         Comfort is what we naturally default to.  Contentment must be intentionally cultivated day by day.

·         Comfort can weaken us spiritually.  Contentment is an evidence of spiritual strength.

As we begin a new year, how can we cultivate true contentment in our lives, while fighting against our natural tendency to want to be comfortable?  We must start by looking to the One Who is Himself the source of true contentment, for He created us after all to be eternally satisfied in Him!  David writes in Psalm 63:5, “My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.”  In Psalm 16:11, he says, “You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”  True contentment comes from a right relationship with God and intimacy with Him.  We should never allow ourselves to become too comfortable with where we are at spiritually, but continue to diligently pursue the goal of knowing Him more fully!  This we do through the daily disciplines of prayer and Bible study.  The more we set aside our fleshly desires for comfort day by day in order to pursue God more earnestly, prioritizing prayer and His Word in our lives, the more truly satisfying we will find Him to be and the more true contentment we will experience.  As we seek Him and delight ourselves in Him, obedience to Him will often require us to do things that are outside of our comfort zone.  If we are willing to step out in obedience and do the hard things, we will be strengthened spiritually. 

Lord, show me how I can grow in the areas of prayer and Bible study this year!  Help me to discipline myself daily and invest the time and effort necessary to truly grow closer to You day by day!  Show me where I need to be willing to move out of my current comfort zone in order to be more fully obedient to You and grow stronger spiritually!

 “O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.” (Ps. 63:1)

“My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death… I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:10-14).

Is My Light Growing Dim?

Christmas time is nearly here, and one of my favorite things about this time of year is driving around after dark and seeing all the beautiful light displays people have put up on the outside of their houses!  Many are simple yet elegant, but some are truly spectacular in their brilliance!  I enjoy driving down one particular street this time of year, because it is lined with beautiful white light displays on either side for at least a couple of miles.  They stand out in stark contrast to the dark night sky behind them. 

All the Christmas lights remind me of the way that God describes what we as Christians are called to be in Philippians 2:15 – lights that shine brightly in a dark world.  Recently my pastor preached on this passage, but he brought out something that I had never really considered very much in connection with this.  The very next verse says, “Holding fast the Word of life,” thus connecting our ability to shine as lights in this world with how committed we are to the Word of God!  The word “hold” in this verse could also be translated “offer,” or “hold out,” which would give it a slightly different but closely connected meaning.  It is only as we are holding firmly to the Word of God ourselves and giving our lives daily to it that the power of God’s Spirit at work within us through His Word will set us apart from the world around us and make them curious to know what makes us different.  Often then, if God is at work, this will lead to opportunities for us to share that same Word with them, which alone has the power to transform them just as it is transforming us!  What a beautiful picture!  God’s Word is not only the means by which we are sanctified, as John 17:17 reminds us, but it is also the fuel for our Christian life (Matt. 4:4) that will enable our lights to keep burning brightly in the darkness all around us! 

So the question that I have to ask myself is, how prominent has God’s Word truly been in my life?  How much do I prioritize time spent in reading, study, meditation, and memorization of it on a daily basis?  If I am honest, probably far less than it deserves!  Is it any wonder, then, that my Christian life seems so often to lack the power and vitality that I long for, and my testimony for Christ seems often so ineffective? 

I need God by His Spirit to give me a renewed hunger for the eternal food of His Word every day, as well as the insight to understand its meaning for my life so that it will truly impact me on a daily basis!  Far too often I am so full of other things to which I have given a higher priority that I have little appetite left for God’s Word and find myself easily distracted and bored with it.  Oh that God would show me what lesser things I need to forego so that I have more time and interest left for what is most satisfying and strengthening to my spiritual life!

 

“Help me understand the meaning of Your precepts so that I can meditate on Your wonders… How sweet Your Word is to my taste – sweeter than honey to my mouth.  I gain understanding from Your precepts; therefore I hate every false way.  Your Word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.”  

Psalm 119:27, 103-105

Trials - a Tool in the Hand of Our Faithful God!

I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.  Psalm 119:75

This week I am celebrating one year since my brain surgery, and looking back I have so much to praise the Lord for as I consider the evidences of His sovereignty and loving Hand in my life!  Part of me hesitates to even call what I went through a "trial," because it seems so small in light of the suffering that many others have been entrusted with.  However, God, in His perfect wisdom, knew that this was exactly what I needed at this particular time in my life, and I have no doubt that He used it, and continues to use it, to teach me about His faithfulness.  As a loving Father, He does not always give His children what is most comfortable or convenient, and sometimes it is downright painful, but He always gives them what He knows will be most effective in bringing about growth in Christlikeness (Rom. 8:28-29)!  I will never forget the following statement that I once heard in a message - "God's goal is not to make me comfortable but to make me Christlike."  How thankful I am that He is willing to allow me to experience difficult, painful situations at times, not because He doesn't care or can't stop them, but He purposely chooses not to spare me from all pain, because He, my perfect Father, knows that would not be best for me!

The more I think about God's timing with this ordeal surrounding my brain tumor, the more amazed I am to realize that He allowed all of this to happen exactly at a time in my life when I most needed to be shaken up and learn by experience that God alone can satisfy me - that He alone is enough and always will be, regardless of the circumstances of this life!  I was at a point in my life that I was very dissatisfied with where I was at and was really struggling to find enjoyment in what He had given me to do.  By taking me out of commission for a few weeks and bringing me to a point of physical (and at times emotional) brokenness and dependence upon Him and others, I was awakened in a whole new way to His wonderful goodness to me - that I deserve NOTHING at all, and every day He gives me is a gift from Him to be used for His glory!  The fact that I was given the gift of complete recovery from a fairly major surgery just made me even more humbled and grateful for the gift of life and health and gave me a whole new perspective and excitement about life that I had not felt in a long time!  I can truly say that I went back to teaching and my other responsibilities a different person after that experience, and nearly a year later that new enthusiasm and joy is not diminished!  Now instead of longing for Friday and dreading Monday, I find myself looking forward to Monday, excited about starting a new week, and overwhelmed whenever I think about how privileged I am to be able to be doing what I'm doing right now - loving my job more than I ever thought possible, and thrilled with the incredible potential for ministry here in the Iowa City area!  Truly, it is only by His grace, and I praise Him for bringing me to this point!

I think that one of the reasons why trials can be such a powerful tool to awaken us to God's goodness and to draw us closer to Him is that they have the potential like few other things to humble us and to renew our appreciation for things that we so often take for granted!  Nothing can sooner weaken our effectiveness for Christ or dampen our enthusiasm in life than pride and ingratitude, and God knows that there is nothing quite like trials to weaken both of these enemies of our souls!  I truly believe this is why Paul could say, "Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me... for when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor. 12:9-10). 

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." I Peter 1:3-7

God's Subtraction Strategy

He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”  2 Cor. 12:9

 

My students and I just started a new chapter in 3^rd grade math this week about subtraction, and we introduced it by reviewing some mental subtraction strategies and then looking at the story of Gideon in Judges 7, where God subtracted from Gideon’s already outnumbered army until they were just a handful of men, to ensure that they would depend totally upon Him and that He alone would get the glory for their victory against Midian.  We talked about the fact that God often subtracts things from us, too, so that we must depend on Him, and in so doing He gets the glory for anything that is accomplished!  Little did I know that God would give me an example of that in my own life the very same day!

That afternoon, I began to develop a headache, but I had already told my conversational English partner from Korea that I could meet with her that evening.  I left school early enough to go work out before meeting with her, hoping that a good intense work-out would help relieve the headache, as it often does.  Instead, however, it just continued to get worse, and as I drove to pick her up and bring her to my apartment for our Bible study, I was praying that God would give me the strength to get through the evening.  I told Him, “God, I need You, because I really don’t feel up to this right now!  Please enable me to still be a blessing to her tonight in spite of my weakness!”

As it turned out, I had a wonderful time with her, during which she really opened up and shared how much she has been struggling with feeling like God is not as close to her as He felt before she came to America.  She asked me to pray for her, and right then and there I got to do just that.  God brought James 4:8 to mind – “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to You” – and I was able to share this verse with her and encourage her to really seek God intentionally every day in His Word and prayer, because when God feels distant it is never He who has moved away from us!  She confessed that it has been hard for her to make time to read the Bible regularly, and I was able to challenge her to start making that a priority daily, even if just a few verses, and I assured her I would be praying for her!  I just felt the Holy Spirit really directing my conversation with her and giving me the words and the energy that I needed that evening.   Meanwhile my headache had not improved, but God was giving me the grace to endure it and providing me with one of the best opportunities to encourage a struggling sister in Christ that I have had in a while!  He truly reminded me that day of the truth of 2 Corinthians 12:9, that His strength is made perfect in our weakness.  This is precisely why He allows us to feel so weak at times, for it is then that we depend most fully on Him and that He can be most glorified as He works through us in our weakness to minister to others!  This is His subtraction strategy to keep us humble and desperately dependent on Him and to ensure that He alone gets all the glory!

Is God Listening?

Have you ever been tempted to wonder why it seems like other people have such exciting answers to prayer to share, while your prayers somehow don’t seem to make much of a difference?  That friend or coworker continues to be uninterested in the Gospel, that relationship seems no closer to being healed, that person still doesn’t respond to you, and it doesn’t seem like God is using you in any significant ways at all.  I have had those thoughts many times, but as I was recently praying and thinking through some of these situations where it didn’t seem my prayers had made any impact at all, I began to realize that something indeed had changed!  No, the situations were no different, but I had changed!  My whole perspective on the circumstances was different, and I didn’t even realize that change was taking place!  Instead of changing the circumstances that I was in, God was giving me a peace and contentment and even joy in the midst of those very same circumstances!  He was transforming little by little my attitude towards the people I was praying for, too, and replacing my selfish motivation with a more genuine love for them and true desire for their good! 

God does often choose to answer our prayers the way we are hoping, and He wants us to bring our requests before Him, however great or small!  Nevertheless, the promise of Phil. 4:6-7 is not so much that God will do just what we are asking Him to do when we pray, but it’s about how we ourselves will be affected by prayer – “the peace of God which surpasses every thought will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  Sometimes God may not choose to calm the storm or settle the conflict or change our friends, but He will give us an inner peace through it and even use our prayers to change our perspective so that we can see the good that He is bringing about through it! 

What kind of an impact would it have on my prayer life if I started asking God to change me as I am praying for other people or circumstances?  Would my perspective on “unanswered prayer” be different? 

“Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  Phil. 4:6-7

 

Gospel-Centered Prayer

I believe that we serve a God Who cares deeply about every detail of our lives, and that He wants us to bring before Him every need that is on our hearts, both for ourselves and for others.  In fact, one of the best ways that we can serve others is by praying for them!  Recently I have been looking at some of the prayers of Paul with my 3^rd grade class during our morning devotions, and it has been very instructing and challenging to me to be reminded anew of the things that I should be focusing on in my prayers, both for myself and for others.  It is interesting that in Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, there is a pattern in the prayers of Paul for those churches, as well as the things for which he requests their prayers.  One thing that stands out is a desire for spiritual understanding of the Gospel and all that it means for believers, as well as for spiritual maturity, which seems to be directly linked to bearing fruit in Christlikeness (Eph. 1:17-19; 3:16-19; Phil. 1:9-11; Col. 1:9-11; 4:12). The similarities between Phil. 1:9-11 and Col. 1:9-11 are especially striking!  In both passages he prays that they be filled with knowledge and spiritual discernment, and that they grow in bearing the fruit of good works.  Then in Colossians 4, he seems to get a little more specific as far as what that looks like.  He prays in verses 3-6 for open doors to share the Gospel and exhorts the Colossians to walk in wisdom towards unbelievers, with gracious speech that is seasoned with salt, being always ready with how to answer anyone.  Similarly, in Ephesians 6:19, he asks prayer for boldness in proclaiming the mystery of the Gospel. 

It would seem then, at least in looking at these particular prayers of Paul, that we could summarize the things that he emphasizes as follows:  praying for spiritual maturity for believers through a deeper understanding of the Gospel, and (could we say as a result?) open doors for sharing this Gospel with unbelievers.  There are no greater things than these that we can and should be praying for ourselves and for those we love!  As we learn to pray this way, we should look with expectation for what God will do in our lives and the lives of others!

“And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” Phil. 1:9-11

“And pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel”  Eph. 6:19