Life is Not Fair, But God Is

“That’s not fair!” I screamed, crossing my arms and stomping my feet simultaneously. “Well, life’s not fair” retorted my parents. I honestly think that phrase was one of my favorite ones to use. I remember yelling it a lot and throwing a huge fit at the same time. As I grew older, I stopped stomping my feet, but I still yelled “That’s not fair!” especially when it came to punishments being handed out to my brother and I for fighting. My mom’s favorite punishment was to make us sit and look at each other. Man was that torture! We had to sit there and look at each other with tears streaming down our faces until we could say we were sorry to each other and to our Mom. Sometimes it took a long time and other times we couldn’t sit there for long without apologizing. As I grew older, I realized how true my parent’s retort was. Life really isn’t fair, but God is. God is a righteous and just God. David knew God was just and in Psalm 7, he pleads with God to bring justice to his enemies, who were actively pursuing him. God looks deep inside the hearts and minds of everyone, even his children. He knows the motives behind everything we do and say. This is why he is the only just judge. No one else can see the heart of man like he does. David knew that. This is why he asked God to examine his heart for any reason his enemies would be rightfully after him. Since there was no reason for them to be after him, not only were they enemies of David, but they were enemies of God. One of the most important things we can do as followers of Christ is to constantly ask God to examine our hearts and expose any wickedness within us. This exposes our sin in order to allow us to eliminate obstacles in our lives that keep us from fully experiencing God’s mercy and grace. When is the last time you truly asked God to examine your heart and expose the sin in your life?

“I will thank the Lord because he is just; I will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High” Psalm 7:17

Disciplined By God

It takes discipline to learn anything worthwhile in life. Learning a musical instrument can be very frustrating at times. I can’t even tell you the number of times I had to stop playing the guitar and put it away because I was getting angry that I couldn’t get something right. I never left it alone for long. I picked it back up and tried again and again until I got it right. The same is true for our Christian walk. Often, it takes discipline to get it right. It takes learning from our mistakes to become who God has created us to be. Every faithful believer is at times disciplined by God. In Psalm 6, David is being disciplined by God for his sinful actions. God disciplines those he calls his children because he loves us, not because he is angry and wants to punish us. Just like any well meaning, loving parent, when his children disobey, he wants them to learn from their mistakes and never disobey again. Sin should cause in us the reaction that David had. He says “I am sick at heart” (Vs 3), “I am worn out from sobbing” (Vs 6), and “My vision is blurred by grief” (Vs 7) David was a man after God’s own heart and he was truly broken over his actions of rebellion against God. He was truly sorry, but God, in his loving mercy, still disciplined him. I have felt that strong hand of discipline in my own life. I was worn out from crying all the time and I spent a lot of time on my face, literally, on the sanctuary floor at my church weeping over the sins that I had committed. I was truly sorry and I know that God has used and continues to use those times of brokenness in my life to help me to learn from my mistakes and to help me to never make them again. In the midst of being disciplined, David doesn’t forget who God is. He knew that God heard his cries and he knew that God would answer his plea. While I was in it, there was such a struggle for me to believe that God heard me. I remember feeling a whole list of emotions from anger, to sadness, to despair and so on. I wanted it to stop. I begged for it to stop. So did David. “Have compassion on me, Lord, for I am weak. Heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony” (Vs 2). “Return, O Lord, and rescue me. Save me because of your unfailing love” (Vs 4). I pleaded with God in very much the same way that David did and even though he didn’t answer me right away, I still felt the loving presence of God right along with his strong hand of discipline. The next time you feel the strong hand of discipline in your life, don’t forget to thank God for it.

“The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord will answer my prayer” Psalm 6:9

After God's Own Heart

The Psalmist, David, was a man after God’s own heart and we can be women after his own heart. You see, what David understood was who God was. He had a healthy reverent fear of God and he knew what he was capable of. He trusted God and knew that ultimately he was in control. All throughout the book of Psalms you see David questioning, doubting, confessing, and pleading with God, but David never lost sight of who he is dealing with and even though he may be questioning, and doubting God in the midst of his circumstances, he never forgot to Praise God for who he is. David gets real with God, he confesses his sin and truly feels guilty and repentant for his sin. David cried out from the depth of his soul for forgiveness and he recognized that he could get forgiveness only from God. David should be an example to us of how God can take all the stuff in our lives, the good and the bad, and use it for his glory. He committed some pretty horrible acts of rebellion against God and yet each one caused him to end up on his face before God pleading for forgiveness. He wasn’t just sorry for his sins, he would have rather died than to never have God look upon him again. God was everything to David. This is why he was a man after God’s own heart. We can follow David’s example and truly be women after God’s own heart. This means that we praise him in all circumstances, even the ones that find us questioning everything we believe in. This means that we praise him when we have lost everything in our lives and he is all that is left. This means that when we sin against him we find ourselves upon our faces in front of God grieving over the sins we committed against him and him alone. This means that God is the center of our lives and that we trust him with every fiber of our being. This means that we never lose sight of who God is and how much he loves us. Are you willing to be a woman after God’s own heart?

“But let all who take refuge in you rejoice, let them sing joyful praises forever. Spread your protection over them, that all who love your name may be filled with joy. For you bless the godly, O Lord, you surround them with your shield of love.” Psalm 5:11-12

Where Do You Find Your Joy?

This summer I had the wonderful opportunity to go on my first international mission trip to Peru. When I left, I had the attitude of bitterness over my circumstances. It wasn’t fair that I had to suffer, right? I mean I don’t have everything I want and that doesn’t make me happy. (This is not a great attitude to have, just in case you were wondering) When I arrived in Trujillo, Peru I had no idea what to expect. I also had no idea who was picking me up from the airport, but when I arrived I was greeted with the warmest and biggest smile I had ever seen. Not to mention he was happily waving me over to him. Pastor Franz is the pastor of a church in Trujillo that is doing extraordinary things for what they refer to as “Alto Trujillo”. He even made references to it being the last place in Trujillo that needs a Bible believing church, you know, the ends of the earth. When we arrived in Trujillo, he took the team and I to the hotel and instead of turning around and going right back out after a long and very early morning of travel. He told us that he wanted us to rest and he would be back later. When he did arrive back later, he took us to the house of one of his parishioners. They had prepared beds for each one of us and gave us more time to rest. They also fed us such a wonderful meal. In fact the whole time we were at that church we spent quite a bit of time in that home with that family. They fed us two meals a day and we all really felt like we were a part of that family. It was amazing. When I finally arrived at the Mission, where I would be working, I was speechless. The houses were made out of straw, and cardboard, and tarps. If they were lucky enough to be able to make bricks out of sand, mud, and water, they had them, but most houses did not. When I saw the massive line of children waiting for us at the door of the Mission, my heart broke for them. Here they are without running water, living in the desert of Trujillo in some extremely poor conditions. They have seemingly nothing, but they were smiling. They were so excited to get simple things, like stickers, from us and they loved to color pictures. They cherished the crayons because they don’t have them. Even the older children were excited about coloring! There was something about those children and their smiles that spoke to me. Here I was complaining about what I don’t have and then I saw these children who were so impoverished, yet so very happy and content. It just blew me away. It showed me that I was not content with God alone. It showed me that I didn’t believe that he was enough. It showed me that I was more concerned with material things more than my relationship with the Lord. All of those temporary things will pass away – money, wealth, material possessions – But God will not. He is here to stay. He should be a source of greater joy than anything else in this world. Those children in Peru understood that. I am working on trusting God day by day and allowing him to be enough for me. How about you?

“You have given me greater joy than those who have abundant harvests of grain and new wine” Psalm 4:7

Out of the Darkness and Into the Light

You’ve tried everything you can possibly think of and nothing has worked. You’re tired of the fight and tired of losing the battle to everyone who challenges you. Slowly you sink into this pit - this place of emptiness and of alienation, a pit of darkness and despair -separating yourself from everyone in your life. You stop doing all those things that made you happy, all those things you enjoy and you lose all hope. No longer do you communicate with the outside world. You stay in that pit and live in that darkness, just hoping to survive. It’s hard down in that pit. You can’t see any light and all you can do is focus on what has happened and what has brought you to that place. You find yourself getting deeper and deeper in this pit and you have lost the hope of ever getting out. Not only do you start to feel differently about other people that were once a part of your life, before the darkness settled in, but you also start to feel differently about yourself. The days when you felt good about yourself and had the confidence to do even the normal tasks in life seem so far away and everything seems to be closing in on you. Your tears are your only companion down in that pit and you have given up. You go through day after day in that pit as if that is how your life is meant to be. You’ve stopped talking, stopped making any effort and all you do now is go through the motions of life. Then one day, and it happens out of nowhere, you hear a knock on your door. After debating about answering it for a bit, something inside you is pulling you towards the door. You get up and walk over to the door, not looking forward to what is on the other side. Slowly you open it and are blinded by such an intense light that for a moment you can’t see anything but the light. As your eyes adjust he is standing there, smiling, arms open for you. You question whether or not you should go to him. Can you trust him? You’ve been hurt many times before by people who lit up your life, but this is different. This light is brighter than any light you have ever seen, so bright that you are completely exposed. Your visitor at the door can see everything about you, nothing is left unseen. At this realization you fall to your knees in front of him and try to hide your face. Tears are running down your face making your vision blurry. Suddenly you feel a hand touching your face, and wiping away your tears. You can feel that hand lifting your face up to meet theirs. When you open your eyes, you are looking right into the face of your visitor and they are smiling! As you look deeper into their eyes you can feel loved, and accepted. This peace begins to settle over you as slowly, your visitor helps you to your feet and takes you in his arms. While he holds you there in that loving embrace you can feel everything start to melt away and the darkness you once knew, is now replaced with light. Your pit is no more. The heaviness you felt in your heart is now gone and all the things that brought you into that pit of darkness are no longer important. Your visitor reaches his right hand out to you and you take it. For the rest of your life, even if that darkness threatens to return, your new friend is with you side by side, holding your hand and guiding you through it and back into the light. You have hope. You have peace. You have rest.

“But you, O Lord, are a shield around me; you are my glory, the one who holds my head high” Psalm 3:3

The Seriousness of Sin

There is not a single person on the earth that has not made plans to do something. Whether it would be plans for your future or plans for dinner, we have all made plans at some point in our lives. In Psalm two, the psalmist is speaking of his amazement with the plans that were being made to deliberately rebel against God and the Messiah he promised. They were convinced that nothing would interfere with the plans that they had for the nation of Israel, but they were forgetting who they were dealing with. Deliberately choosing to rebel against God is basically another definition for sin. I wonder how many times I’ve deliberately chosen to rebel against God, to disobey what he has told me, and to follow my own path in life? I can think of too many instances to count. It saddens and pains me to realize that I HAVE consciously chosen to go my own way and disobey my Father on several occasions. Am I really forgetting who I am dealing with? I think so. Well, perhaps not as much forgetting, as it is ignoring and pretending like it doesn’t matter. But it DOES matter. When we choose to disobey God (and this is what happens when we sin) we are only hurting ourselves in the long run. Sure a snide remark at someone else’s expense, or talking about someone negatively behind his back, or even cheating on your taxes; does inevitably hurt other people, BUT sin in our lives hurts us way more than it can hurt other people. It affects our lives in every aspect from our relationships with others, to what we think about ourselves, and even to our relationship with God. Sin is spiritual suicide! It is in effect saying that what we wanted, that particular temporary desire, or high, is way more important than honoring God. Sin is a revolt against a loving parent. It is like saying, “Sure God you have done all this for me, more than I can imagine and I know you love me, but you know what I DON’T CARE.” It is like spitting in the face of God. Now, I don’t know a single person who would really like to actually spit in the face of God, myself included, but when we choose to sin, that is what we are doing! It is important to realize how horrible sin really is and how it affects us. When Peter betrayed Jesus and denied him three times, he felt horrible and he wept, not because he was embarrassed but because Jesus was dear to him! He was really important to him! Think of the person in your life that means the most to you. Now imagine that you do something so despicable, so horrible to them that it brings you to on your face in front of them asking for another chance and asking for forgiveness. You’d most likely never hurt that person again, right? This is how we should react when we sin against God. The good news is that unlike any person that we could ever sin against, God is ALWAYS willing to forgive us and give us another chance. This doesn’t mean that we have the right to sin or that we can get away with it, because we can’t. Sin will catch up to us and we will have to stand before God and answer to him about it. Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins here on earth, but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be any consequences. We are all sinners and we all fall short of the standards that God has made for us, but even in our sinfulness, God loved us enough to send his only son Jesus Christ to die on the cross in our place. God loves us enough today, to expose the sin in our lives and re-focus our attention back on Him, the author and perfector of our faith, the one who protects us and guides us in this life; the One who still chooses to bless us even though we spit in his face. I know I am guilty of this. I am guilty of spitting in the face of my loving Father. Take a moment today to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you anything that has caused you to spit in the face of God, ask him to break down those barriers today and ask for the strength to keep your focus on Him. God will give you all the strength you need, you just need to take the first step and ask him.

“Submit to God’s royal son, or he will become angry, and you will be destroyed in the midst of all your activities – for his anger flares up in an instant, but what joy for all who take refuge in him!” (Psalm 2:12, NLT)

“...If you make a run for God, you won’t regret it” (MSG)

Staying on the Right Path

Going hiking is one of my favorite things to do. I love to take a day and go to a State Park with my camera in hand and hike the trails, taking in all of the beauty before me. I take trail after trail wondering where each one will end up and wondering what beauty lies along each trail. I’ve been known to wander off the trail too. I usually end up climbing through brush, or over fallen trees trying to find my way back to whatever trail I can find, wishing I hadn’t left the trail in the first place. I always regret wandering off the trails, and yet I still do it. The same is true for the path that God has designed just for us. We can choose to stay on the path and follow what has been laid out for us keeping our focus on Christ, or we can choose to go our own way and find ourselves facing many more obstacles. Taking our focus off of Christ and placing it on our own selfish desires, causes us to stumble and even fall. It also causes us to climb over many obstacles to get back to where we belong. This is what happens when we sin. It creates an obstacle between us and God and it prevents us from following him and fully experiencing his grace and mercy. When we take our focus off Christ and set off on a trail that God has not designed for us, we will not only come upon obstacles, but we will slip and fall and often times not just once. The good news is that God is always ready and willing to help us up, brush us off, and place us right back to the path that he designed for us, and all because of his great love for us. He provides for us, not an easy path, but the best path for our lives. When we desire to stay on the path that God has provided for us, he will guide and direct each one of our steps, enabling us to stay on the path that he designed. If we slip we will not fall because he’ll be there ready to catch us.

“For the Lord watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.” (Psalm 1:6)

Are You Moving Forward or Drifting Backwards?

Imagine you are in a boat, paddling upstream. You are taking in all the sights and enjoying them, when you become curious. You want to look behind you and see all the progress you have made and your arms are getting tired of paddling, so you decide to stop and look back at where you have been. You see the rocky path you paddled over and remember how difficult it was, wishing you had some help to get you over the rough waters. It was a struggle but you made it. Right before those rough waters, you remember the serene glass like water and how you paddled through it with much ease. You remembered the fawn taking a drink along the riverbank as if it hadn’t even recognized your presence. While you are looking back at where you have been, you forget to keep your focus on where you are going and before you know it, you have drifted backwards into the rough water, struggling once again. This is exactly what happens when we take our focus off Christ and place it on our circumstances, our past, or something else. We end up drifting backwards and we end up right back into the rough waters of discouragement and disappointment. Going back to the boat analogy, if you are paddling upstream and you stop paddling, you are not going to remain stagnant, instead you will drift backwards. The same is true for your journey with Christ. When you take your focus off him and place your focus on where you have been – things you have done, people that have hurt you – you are not moving forward in your relationship with Christ and you are not staying in the same place. You are drifting backwards! God desires that our relationship with him be one of continual forward motion – of continual trust and continual surrender. This means that you consciously make the decision to choose to trust, surrender and follow God each day. It’s not easy, but God will give you the strength and endurance you need to make it.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)