Scars and Trust

If God was small enough to be understood then He would not be big enough to worship! If a human being could wrap his or her brain around the Lord, He would not really be the Almighty! 
If our God is an awesome God then He must be wholly and fully infinite and the last I checked, our finiteness will only take us people so far and so high. I know some who threaten to shake their fist at God and give them a piece of their mind, but I believe that anyone who actually got an audience with the Lord would fall to pieces and suddenly become speechless at the sight of the Savior.
God made man in His image and not the other way around. Maybe it is time we stop coming to church so that we can tell the Lord what to do when we should really be doing nothing more than reporting for duty.
We need God to dictate our agenda if we are to correctly interpret the events of our times. Now is the time that Christians need to be committed to becoming scripturally correct rather than politically correct.
If we don’t know what God says, we are destined to be lost in the dark about the times and seasons when we should be living free in the light. Somewhere along the line, we need to move deeper than just piling up mere intellectual information for our brains when we should be applying spiritual behavior with our actions.
Seeking wisdom through human effort alone is a royal waste of valuable time. Wisdom is looking at life from God’s point of view. When we employ wisdom we are viewing life as God sees it. That’s why it’s so valuable to think Gods thoughts after Him.
Understanding is responding to life’s struggles and challenges as God would have us act. Believers should not react in panic and confusion but respond with prayer and practical godliness.
If we process life from only our limited vantage point, we will forfeit vision and suffer from living way too small and overly cautious. Wisdom allows us to trust and obey the Lord because we believe that He sees way beyond what we might ever get a glimpse of and that His heart for us is good, holy and just.
If we are to keep on going when the going gets tough, we need to secure a good reason to do so. The promise that God works all things together for good to those who love Him is hope enough for me.
What is the driving goal of your faith? Is it to live a life that is easy and pain-free?
If Jesus made it His desire to be pain-free, He would have never come from heaven to earth to die on the cross for our sins. Are we willing to learn from our suffering? I am not saying that we need to love it or even like it but we can’t loathe it so much that we pretend it isn’t there.
A hard road is not punishment from God. It is paramount for those of us who long to stay firm in our faith no matter what might come our way. We see only a part while our Lord views the whole. No matter how low our lives may go, the promise for every child of God is eternal victory in the heights.
The story doesn’t end in defeat. It culminates in miraculous victory for everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord!
Good times rarely bring the best out of us. It is suffering that helps us clarify our priorities and focus on the right objectives.
The greatest lesson that a true follower of Jesus will learn in the midst of his or her trials and tribulations is a personal relationship with the Lord that could never be grasped within a classroom alone just reciting theology and doctrine. Until our humbling moments, we think too highly of ourselves and put way too much stock in our own ability. It is when we come to the end of ourselves that we are ready to find God.
Why doesn’t God answer all your questions? Could it be because you aren’t ready to listen? As long as you insist on justifying yourself, God will not justify you.
When our words end, the wisdom of God begins and the understanding of our soul occurs! Plainly stated, the silence of God ends when we finally choose to just shut up!
Examine your prayer times! Who does most of the talking? Do you genuinely allow time for God to speak?
I think that we don’t always give the Lord a chance to get a word in edgewise. Maybe one of our biggest faults is that we have fallen in love with the sound of our own voice, or worse yet, we have allowed the authority that God should have in our hearts to others who really don’t care that much after all. If you care too much about what the crowd says, you won’t ever surrender to the instructions of Christ!
Little kids are really good at trust. My grandkids come running to me at full speed and then without hesitation launch themselves into my arms! They bank on the expectation that I catch them every time and I do. But as adults, we stop running and do no more jumping unless we examine the hands of our catcher and measure out the distances of our launch.
You will never know how sweet it is to trust in Jesus if you never allow Him the privilege to catch you. When life lets you down, Jesus will lift you up if you let Him.
As a teenager, Louisa Stead felt called to be a missionary. She went to America around age 21 and lived for a while in Cincinnati. She married Mr. Stead in 1875 and together they had a daughter named Lily.
While the family was picnicking off Long Island Sound, Mr. Stead tragically lost his life in a matter of moments while trying to rescue a drowning boy. Those around her told Louisa that her dream of being a missionary was over and done now that she was widowed but that’s not what the Lord was speaking to her soul.
In the midst of her grief and struggle, Louisa Stead wrote these words. We still sing them today in the beloved Hymn, “Tis So Sweet To Trust in Jesus, Just to take Him at His Word, Just to rest upon His promise, Just to know, Thus Saith the Lord.”
Most of the wonderful worship songs we sing today were not born out of times of sunshine, lollipops, and roses but from seasons of scars. Could God be writing a new symphony of praise from your story today? Remember the music will begin when you quit trying to lead and be simply content to follow!
 
ED. NOTE: The author is the senior pastor of The Lighthouse Church, 1248 Route 9 South, Court House.