I don't think God is working

Some days when you’re parenting young children, nothing can prepare you for what you encounter.

I had just reminded my early grade school-aged son that he needed to go take care of his chores, and his face twisted up in anger.  He didn’t want anything to do with the responsibility we had laid on him.  Doing his best to form his rage into words, he spat out at me, “Why don’t YOU do some chores around here?  Why do my brother and I have to clean everything? You don’t do anything around here.  All you do is go to ‘work’ every day.”

If I hadn’t been so irritated by the indignant tone he used to justify his outburst, I might have laughed out loud at his ignorance.  But in that moment, my blood jumped immediately to a boil.  Fortunately, my wife stepped in and sent our son off to do the task he had been given.  I was both dumbfounded and aggravated that he would cast off the efforts of my career as being beneath the “slaving away” he was expected to do by sweeping the floors, or vacuuming the carpet, or cleaning a bathroom.

Since he didn’t hear from me while I was at work, he must’ve imagined “going to work” to be the same as going on a playdate in the park or seeing a movie.  My wife and I agreed that he really had no idea what I did each day after I left the house.  He didn’t understand the responsibilities I shouldered, or the reasons why I made the career choices I had.  In his anger, he also had forgotten all the other things I did take care of around the house: the landscaping, the maintenance, the repairs, and yes, even some cleaning chores.

But man, the gall was real.  He just didn’t see it.  And due to his ignorance, he imagined that the tasks placed on him were unfair and that his situation was amiss.  To top it all off, the one person he knew who could change his circumstances was the very one who put him there in the first place – and that guy obviously had no interest in helping him out of his sorry lot!

Looking back on the Christmas story, I think the Jewish nation probably felt a lot like my son did.  Even though God had brought the nation back from exile, times had not been easy.  Many nations opposed them reforming as a nation and even more so when they rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem.  The Greeks came in and conquered the land, which then led to many revolt attempts, political turmoil, and ultimately the Romans came in as their new occupiers.

They knew the Messiah was coming…but they weren’t seeing any signs of it actually happening.  It had been 400 years since God sent a prophet to the nation, and since that time – complete radio silence.  Not one word from God.  No encouragement or prophecy to rally the nation.  And the last thing they heard generations ago from that last prophet went like this:

Malachi 4:4-6
Remember the instruction of Moses my servant, the statues and ordinances I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.  Look, I am going to send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.  And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.  Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.

The last thing God told them was to keep doing what He had already told them to do…and then God said nothing.  After 400 years of silence, it would have been easy for them to yell at God: “Why don’t you do something about the state of the world?  Why are we the ones left trying to clean it all up?  You’re not doing anything of value, God.  Your ‘work’ isn’t helping us at all!”

But as we look back at the first century, God was working, even if it was in a way the Jews couldn’t see or couldn’t understand as they went about their daily lives.  The wars and the political upheaval brought about several changes to the world that helped rapidly spread Christianity in the first century.  The Greeks brought a common language to the known world.  The Roman rulership brought a relatively consistent peace in the land, as well as roads and civilization developments.  Just these three changes meant that the news about the life, death, and resurrection of an obscure Jewish teacher could quickly spread throughout the known world as believers could safely move along the well-traveled roads from different regions and connect with new people through their shared language. 

If I’m honest, the same thoughts can take hold in my mind when I don’t see God “working” in my life the way I think He should.  It’s hard to remember that God is looking at things from a much higher vantage point than we are.  Just like my son, it’s easy to get tunnel-visioned on our tasks and assume that we unfairly have to handle the brunt of everything.

In a few days, it’ll be Christmas.  We celebrate together and remember the birth of Jesus, and the Apostle Paul describe the event this way:

Galatians 4:4
When the time came to completion, God sent His Son…

The timing of Jesus’ arrival wasn’t random or on accident.  God sent Him at just the right time, when all His prep work had finally come to completion.  He does the same for our lives, as well.  Perhaps you think God isn’t moving fast enough…well, maybe he’s got some other work to do first.  Fortunately, God handles our frustration-filled outbursts better than I did with my son.  When we begin to feel that anxious anger because God hasn’t done what we wanted Him to do, we can cool down a bit as we remember how Christmas is the best example of God’s timing being the “best timing” and God’s work being the “best work” for us. 

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Round 2: Struggling with not knowing God's purpose

My wife is healing very well, and she is doing better each day. However, when I reflect back over the last month and a half, it’s dizzying to think of how quickly the entire life-changing process came upon us.

When you get “that call”, it is very tempting to fall into the thought pattern of Why me? Why us? Why now?

When we can’t get answers to those questions, we quickly shift into Where is God in all this? He could have stopped this from happening. Why didn’t He? Does He actually care that we suffer?

We’re often afraid to ask these kinds of questions, lest we be thought of as a “weaker Christian”. But what do we do when God doesn’t answer our prayers?

Struggling with not knowing God's purpose
originally posted on July 19, 2018

Last time, we saw how Jesus’ disciples struggled to trust His plan, even after He explicitly told them what He was planning.  Now we’re going to look at the other side of the equation, the one we’re much more familiar with – struggling to cope when we do not know how God’s plan is going to unfold.

But first, a quick recap of the situation:

Mary, Martha, and Lazarus are siblings who live outside of Jerusalem in a town called Bethany.  They also are very close to Jesus.  The Scriptures say repeatedly that Jesus loved them.  One day, Lazarus becomes so sick that the sisters send someone to make the several-days long hike to find Jesus and bring Him back so He can heal Lazarus.  As soon as He gets the news, Jesus says “Lazarus’ sickness will not end in death, but is for the glory of God” (John 11:4).  So that means He immediately gets up and leaves for Bethany, right?  Nope.  Instead, He waits.

John 11:6-7
So when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.  Then after that, He said to the disciples, “Let’s go to Judea again.”

Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.  They didn’t get to hear Jesus’ response.  They just knew someone had gone to get Jesus.  Surely, He would come to Bethany as quickly as He could.  Probably only stopping to sleep, definitely moving as quick as possible during the daylight.  I can easily imagine the sisters trying to encourage their brother:

“Just hang on, Lazarus.  Jesus is coming.  When He gets here, he’ll make you better.  Just hold on.”

But what’s going through Lazarus’ mind?  He can feel his body giving out.  He’s likely in pain and suffering.  He wants to hold on, so Jesus can fix him…but he’s not sure how much longer he can keep on holding.  Does he worry about dying?  Does he worry about what happens to his sisters if Jesus doesn’t arrive in time?

And then…Jesus doesn’t arrive in time to perform a healing.  Lazarus dies.  His family and friends go through the Jewish burial ceremonies, prepare the body to be buried, and then put him in a cave of a tomb – sealing the entry with a large rock.

Their emotions had to have been all over the place.  They watched, helplessly, as their brother died.  Did the messenger not reach Jesus in time?  Was He delayed?  Why did this happen?  Why were their prayers unanswered?  They grieved and processed these questions for several days…and then Jesus shows up.

As if their world wasn’t topsy-turvy already, now a new round of emotions flooded over them.  Frustrated, surprised, angry, bewildered…how would you have felt?  While the sisters separately approached Jesus, they both had the same mindset:

John 11:20-21, 32
As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet Him, but Mary remained seated in the house.  Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”…As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His feet and told Him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died!”

I believe they were 100% right.  Based upon other comments Jesus makes in this chapter, I am certain that had He been there, Jesus would have healed Lazarus.  Even though it wasn’t what Mary and Martha wanted…He waited, and it wasn’t because He didn’t care:

John 11:33-35
When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, He was deeply moved in His spirit and troubled.

“Where have you put him?” He asked.
“Lord,” they told Him, “come and see.”

Jesus wept.

This moment answers the questions we often struggle with: “Where is God when bad things happen?  Where is Jesus when everything is wrong?  Where is God when it hurts?”

His timing may not be what we would choose, but we’re not abandoned.  He’s not cold and distant.  Jesus is deeply moved and troubled as He sees us struggle.  Jesus weeps right along side of us. 

Jesus cares deeply about what we’re going through.  Jesus weeps at how we are affected by the consequences of sin.  He knows that without Him, both physical and spiritual death is inevitable for all of us.

And although we struggle to see it, He knows exactly what He’s doing.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Struggling with not knowing God's purpose

Last time, we saw how Jesus’ disciples struggled to trust His plan, even after He explicitly told them what He was planning.  Now we’re going to look at the other side of the equation, the one we’re much more familiar with – struggling to cope when we do not know how God’s plan is going to unfold.

But first, a quick recap of the situation:

Mary, Martha, and Lazarus are siblings who live outside of Jerusalem in a town called Bethany.  They also are very close to Jesus.  The Scriptures say repeatedly that Jesus loved them.  One day, Lazarus becomes so sick that the sisters send someone to make the several-days long hike to find Jesus and bring Him back so He can heal Lazarus.  As soon as He gets the news, Jesus says “Lazarus’ sickness will not end in death, but is for the glory of God” (John 11:4).  So that means He immediately gets up and leaves for Bethany, right?  Nope.  Instead, He waits.

John 11:6-7
So when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.  Then after that, He said to the disciples, “Let’s go to Judea again.”

Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.  They didn’t get to hear Jesus’ response.  They just knew someone had gone to get Jesus.  Surely, He would come to Bethany as quickly as He could.  Probably only stopping to sleep, definitely moving as quick as possible during the daylight.  I can easily imagine the sisters trying to encourage their brother:

“Just hang on, Lazarus.  Jesus is coming.  When He gets here, he’ll make you better.  Just hold on.”

But what’s going through Lazarus’ mind?  He can feel his body giving out.  He’s likely in pain and suffering.  He wants to hold on, so Jesus can fix him…but he’s not sure how much longer he can keep on holding.  Does he worry about dying?  Does he worry about what happens to his sisters if Jesus doesn’t arrive in time?

And then…Jesus doesn’t arrive in time to perform a healing.  Lazarus dies.  His family and friends go through the Jewish burial ceremonies, prepare the body to be buried, and then put him in a cave of a tomb – sealing the entry with a large rock.

Their emotions had to have been all over the place.  They watched, helplessly, as their brother died.  Did the messenger not reach Jesus in time?  Was He delayed?  Why did this happen?  Why were their prayers unanswered?  They grieved and processed these questions for several days…and then Jesus shows up.

As if their world wasn’t topsy-turvy already, now a new round of emotions flooded over them.  Frustrated, surprised, angry, bewildered…how would you have felt?  While the sisters separately approached Jesus, they both had the same mindset:

John 11:20-21, 32
As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet Him, but Mary remained seated in the house.  Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”…As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His feet and told Him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died!”

I believe they were 100% right.  Based upon other comments Jesus makes in this chapter, I am certain that had He been there, Jesus would have healed Lazarus.  Even though it wasn’t what Mary and Martha wanted…He waited, and it wasn’t because He didn’t care:

John 11:33-35
When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, He was deeply moved in His spirit and troubled.

“Where have you put him?” He asked.
“Lord,” they told Him, “come and see.”

Jesus wept.

This moment answers the questions we often struggle with: “Where is God when bad things happen?  Where is Jesus when everything is wrong?  Where is God when it hurts?”

His timing may not be what we would choose, but we’re not abandoned.  He’s not cold and distant.  Jesus is deeply moved and troubled as He sees us struggle.  Jesus weeps right along side of us. 

Jesus cares deeply about what we’re going through.  Jesus weeps at how we are affected by the consequences of sin.  He knows that without Him, both physical and spiritual death is inevitable for all of us.

And although we struggle to see it, He knows exactly what He’s doing.

Keep Pressing,
Ken
 

Trusting enough

Turn on a news broadcast or read through the headlines on any webpage, and it’s easy to get discouraged about the direction the world is heading in.  Despite humanity’s best efforts and good intentions, we continue to slide down the slope toward self-destruction. 

I am reminded of Jesus’ last words in the Bible, where He says

Revelation 22:20
“Yes, I am coming quickly.”

And I think how quickly is quickly?  How bad does it have to get?  How many more atrocities will God allow us to inflict on one another before He steps in and says “ENOUGH”?  How much more opposition will we have to deal with until God finally rescues us?

Despite warning Timothy about the difficulties, and instructing him on how to deal with them, Paul didn’t want Timothy to totally focus on how hard his task was or how long it would last.

1 Timothy 6:13-14
In the presence of God, who gives life to all, and before Christ Jesus, who gave a good confession before Pontius Pilate, I charge you to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in His own time. 

Timothy’s “mission completed” point isn’t when he thinks Christ should be coming back, instead it is when God the Father decides…which [He] will bring about in His own time. 

And why could Timothy trust God’s timing?  Ephesus wasn’t an easy place, it was a melting pot of sinful cultures.  There were popular views about God that were completely false.  There were people in charge that didn’t even acknowledge God.  And there was plenty of opposition to Timothy defending the true gospel message.  I’m sure there were times when he would have thought “Ok, God…You can send Jesus back anytime time now…”

In the next sentence, Paul reminds Timothy of who God is.  Do you think this resume supports God sending Jesus back in His own time?

1 Timothy 6:15-16
He is
the blessed and only Sovereign,
the King of kings,
and the Lord of lords,
the only One who has immortality,
dwelling in unapproachable light,
whom none of mankind has seen or can see,
to whom be honor and eternal might.
Amen.

In addition to remembering our good confession, the way Timothy would keep going with his mission was to remember who gave him his marching orders. 

Since God gives life to all, do I trust Him with what He says I should do with my life?  When I read through the God’s resume in verses 15-16, do those attributes convince me that God also knows what He’s doing when it comes to the timing of Christ’s return?

Instead of wondering “How much longer?”, our question should be “How can I trust Him today?”.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Passing the torch

We won’t get to accomplish everything we want to do in this life.  There will be activities and achievements which will escape our grasp.  Sometimes we will be held back by our own decisions, for better or worse.  And yet other times, it will be God’s choice that the task should be handed off to someone else.

As David was nearing the end of his life, he looked at his beautiful palace and lavish amenities.  David compared his living situation to the tabernacle of the Lord, which was still in the same tent-configuration that Moses had commissioned during Israel’s travels through the desert before entering the Promised Land.  David wanted to rectify this gross discrepancy.  He desired to honor the Lord with a proper place of worship, with a design that expressed the greatness of the Lord.

Although David desired to do a good thing, God didn’t want him to do it.  Instead, that project would be given to his successor.

1 Chronicles 22:6-10
Then he summoned his son Solomon and instructed him to build a house for the Lord God of Israel.  “My son,” David said to Solomon, “It was in my heart to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, but the word of the Lord came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and waged great wars.  You are not to build a house for My name because you have shed so much blood on the ground before Me. 

But a son will be born to you; he will be a man of rest.  I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies, for his name will be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel during his reign.  He is the one who will build a house for My name.  He will be My son, and I will be his father.  I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’ ”

David desired to do a good thing for God and he was called “A man after God’s own heart”…but he was still told “No.”  That had to have stung.  David could have stopped his desire right there, thrown up his hands, and basically told his young protégé “Good luck with that.  Apparently God says that it’s your job, not mine.” 

Instead, he takes the time to encourage Solomon:

1 Chronicles 22:11-13
“Now, my son, may the Lord be with you, and may you succeed in building the house of the Lord your God, as He said about you.  Above all, may the Lord give you insight and understanding when He puts you in charge of Israel so that you may keep the law of the Lord your God.  Then you will succeed if you carefully follow the statutes and ordinances the Lord commanded Moses for Israel.  Be strong and courageous.  Don’t be afraid or discouraged.”

But David didn’t give Solomon only instruction and well wishes.  He also gave Solomon a massive head start in gathering materials and resources for this significant task:

1 Chronicles 22:14-16
“Notice I have taken great pains to provide for the house of the Lord – 3,775 tons of gold, 37,750 tons of silver, and bronze and iron that can’t be weighed because there is so much of it.  I have also provided timber and stone, but you will need to add more to them.  You also have many workers: stonecutters, masons, carpenters, and people skilled in every kind of work in gold, silver, bronze, and iron – beyond number.  Now begin the work, and may the Lord be with you.”

David couldn’t do what he wanted to do for God, because God had designated that accomplishment for someone else.  Instead of sulking or giving up on his desire, David trusted God’s plan and wisely rerouted his energies into mentoring and assisting his protégé.

One of the ways God keeps a mentor’s ego in check is to tell him or her “No.”  We need to exercise trust and humility when those moments come.  If we desire to do a good thing, but God prevents us from doing so, then we can trust that God has something greater in mind.

When our mentor hands us a significant task or ministry, we also need to exercise trust and humility.  We may even believe that our mentor is better suited for the work than we are.  However, when God signals that it’s time to pass the torch, we must trust His timing and go for it.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Timing

Titus 1:1-3 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness – a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior

Timing.  We all struggle with it.  When we’re young, we want to be older.  When we’re older, we pine away for our younger days.  We get impatient that we aren’t married yet, or don’t have our dream job yet, or sourly reminisce about the opportunity we foolishly missed out on.

The most common deathbed regret is the lack of risk-taking during one’s life…that they wish they would have taken the chance to ask out that girl, or to start a certain business, or to actually tell their kids how much they really loved them.  Given the opportunity, we would rewrite our life’s history in a heartbeat.  The chances not taken, the words unspoken…or maybe we would take back the times we really messed up.  We all have moments like that, and they act like thorns in our memories and in our hearts.

But since time is linear, and we have to live in it…we can’t change the past, nor do we really know what the future holds.  While that may scare us when we honestly think about it, we have no choice but to live in the present and make the best of where we’re at in this moment in time.

But what makes me smile, what gives me hope, is found in verses 2-3, that

…God, who does not lie, promised [eternal life] before the beginning of time, and at his appointed season he brought his word to light…

When we look at the “timing words” in these verses, we find that God doesn’t work within time like we are forced to.  We see that God made a promise before the beginning of time, and that he has appointed seasons already planned ahead.

No mistakes.  No missed opportunities.  All according to his plan.

There is a ton of comfort when we meditate on this one simple truth – that God knows the beginning from the end, he’s planned it out…and therefore

He’s not surprised by life – even when we are

He’s not missing opportunities – like we have

He sees human history in seasons – and he works within those seasons

at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior

God chose the specific time in human history that Christ would sacrifice himself.  He met Paul at just the right moment, the exact right season, in order to reach him with the truth.  Since Paul accepted Christ as who he is – the Son of God and the Savior of our sins – Paul was then able to fulfill the mission God had chosen him for at that point in history. 

God also meets each of us at the exact right time in our lives.  After we accept Christ for who he is, we also have a mission for this season of history – to introduce those around us to him.  We can even use verse 3 as a template:

At [God’s] appointed season he brought his word to light through the __________ entrusted to me

How will you fill in the blank?

Keep Pressing,
Ken