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I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. Psalm 34:1
I received a phone call one day from the wife of a friend of mine. ‘Jerry’ had gone into the hospital the day before for tests. He was already considered disabled as a result of an illness that kept him from working. He’d lost his job, was forced to sell all of his ‘toys’ and now his wife was back in the workplace. The doctor’s report wasn’t good. It was determined that the disease had progressed to the point where he wouldn’t be able to take care of the kids while his wife was at work.
After talking with Jerry’s wife for a bit I decided to make the trip down to the hospital. On the way down I was praying for Jerry and his family, wondering what it would be like to have lost everything, thinking of how lucky I was to not be in his position. I also prayed for wisdom to be able to say the right things to lift my dear friend’s spirits during this most trying of times.
The walk down the hallway to his room was excruciating. I looked inside and saw him still connected to all sorts of tubes and wires and my heart sank. “Lord, help me know what to say,” I whispered under my breath as I entered the room.
Everything changed once Jerry I entered that hospital room…everything in my attitude that is. We sat and talked for nearly 45 minutes. During that time Jerry did most of the talking. He talked about how fortunate he was to have Jesus in his life. He talked about how wonderful his wife was. He bragged about how well his kids were doing in school. With my help he showed me a verse he’d read the day before and how it had blessed him. There was little said about the doctors, the tubes, the disease or his future. None of that mattered to Jerry. Jesus would take care of that.
I left the room wondering what had just happened! I was supposed to be the one to encourage, yet I was encouraged by the very person who should have been down. I was spoken to in a real way that day. The passage Jerry had shown me was Psalm 34. Psalm 34 was written by someone else who was in dire circumstances: King David.
When David wrote this Psalm he was running for his life from King Saul. He’d taken refuge in enemy territory and acted insane to save his life. He was humiliated, homeless; he’d been betrayed and felt completely alone. Still, in the midst of his despair he was able to praise his God.
The reason David was able to sing praises in his despair is because he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that no matter where he was, no matter what had happened in his life, no matter what lay ahead of him, God was with him to guide, provide and protect.
What struggles are you facing today? Is your past haunting you? Have you been betrayed or rejected? Do you have health, relational or financial concerns? Remember what Jerry and David remembered. In our times of deepest need we need only look to Jesus for comfort and strength. Trusting in Jesus doesn’t take away the pain of life, but it does give us strength and wisdom to move on.
PRAYER: Holy God. I thank You for the promise that you will be with me in every situation. I praise you because you know better than anyone else my pain, sorrow, frustration and fears. I ask that you would strengthen me to move on in life. Help me to put life in perspective so that I can be an encouragement to others regardless of my own circumstances. Amen.
Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe. Philippians 2:14-15
Saturday Night Live introduced us to a person named Debbie Downer. Debbie had a knack for making any situation dark. While the rest of the crowd was celebrating Debbie would douse the positive feelings with statements that drained the joy from everyone within earshot. In her world nothing was right.
While Debbie is a fictional character, we all know people like her who seem to be able to find something negative to say about anyone and anything. They point out the faults of everything from dress and hairstyles to political opinion. We are surrounded by a culture that seems obsessed by finding the negative in things.
Negative reactions are like one drop of black ink in a gallon of clear water. They can turn an otherwise joyful or good day bad. One negative comment, whether intentional or not, can destroy an entire day, or even a relationship.
Negative reactions imply, intentionally or otherwise, that God isn’t ‘doing His job’. If we truly believe that God is sovereign, and that He loves us then our attitude should show all those around us that He is a good God who can be trusted in the worst of circumstances.
King David states, in Psalm 139 that God has ordained or planned every one of our days from the time of conception until the time of our death. He is involved in every second of our existence. Our Father doesn’t ‘make bad things happen’ randomly to annoy us. He doesn’t bring ornery and mean people into our lives because He is vindictive and enjoys seeing us suffer.
We can say we love Jesus and our desire is to show the world His love but how does that play out when we are cut off in traffic? How do we show Jesus’ love when the server at the restraint gives us lousy service and doesn’t seem to care? How is ‘Grace’ shown when a co-worker accuses us or leaves us a bunch of work because they ‘weren’t doing their job.’?
Paul tells us that as Christ-followers we can make a huge statement by how we react to adversity. Adversity is inevitable. Finances, health issues, natural disasters, politics can seem to stack up against us. People are mean, selfish and demanding. All sorts of things can keep us in ‘Debbie Downer’ mode.
Paul’s words encourage us as Christ-followers to shine as lights of positive thinking in a world of ‘Debbie Downers’. As Christ-followers we don’t deny the fact that adversity exists. We don’t downplay the pain of physical, natural or relational disaster. But we do maintain a thought process that tells the world that in spite of the bad things happening around us we are encouraged because we know there are better days ahead because of Jesus’ love for us.
A proper view of God’s love defeats negative thinking every time. Negative thinking says, “While I believe in God, He’s proven to me that He is either unable to help in time of need or my needs are too small to be important to Him.”
Positive thinking doesn’t say: “Because I believe in God everything will be good and happy, Positive thinking says: “My faith in God will enable me to weather every storm that attacks me because I know that He is love and He will care for me regardless of what happens.
PRAYER: Dear Heavenly Father, I come to you today realizing that all too often I find myself either in ‘Debbie Downer’ mode or surrounded by others who are. I ask that you would empower me by Your Holy Spirit to live about the negative influences in my life. Help me to be a light shining in the darkness. A light that shows the positive aspects of Christ’s love living through me. Amen.
Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be. Job 8:7
There are times when all of us can identify with some parts of the story of Job. Those times when God seems distant; when everything is going wrong and we can’t get a handle on solutions. Those are the tough times along the journey. The times when the rocks and dust along the path choke our desire to go on. The times when our heart is faint as we view the gaping chasms that drop on each side of the road.
All too often we can add to that misery the myriads of people who see our dilemma and feel it is their duty to ‘cure us of our disease’ by offering all sorts of advice and suggestions. All too often these well-meaning ‘messiahs’ don’t take the time to consider our past or what we are going through. Emotional and spiritual battles are not solved by one-size-fits-all bandages.
Enter Bildad, Jobs friend. In the midst of his pain and devastation Job’s friends gathered around to tell him exactly what his problem was and how to fix it. The problem is, as is often the case, they were off base on their assumptions and too proud to admit their ignorance. They were no help at all!
Each of us has a ‘Bildad’ or two in our lives. People that have all the answers to all the world’s problems. They may be well-intentioned, but they are often of little or no help.
There are two things we need to realize when we run across the ‘Bildad’s’ of life. First of all, most of them are well-intentioned and we should do our best to accept them grace-fully even though their assumptions are not valid.
Secondly, as with Bildad in Job 8:7, there is some truth to be gleaned from their words. While the basis of Bildad’s tirade was false, verse 7 holds a nugget of truth each of us can hold on to when the road is rocky and our journey is in jeopardy.
Too often in life we want it all now. Setbacks can cause us to give up completely. We live in a microwave world and serve a God that works more along the lines of a crock pot. He brings things about slowly which is harder for us to take, but better in the long run.
Job suffered unbearably. Still, in the end his faith and perseverance paid off. He was able to see all his riches restored. It’s the same for us today as Christ-followers. Even though you may fail to see any good in what you are going through. Even though your health may be failing, your kids rebelling, your boss (or employees) is jerks. Patient waiting on God will bring all things about in His time, not ours.
God loves you. He wants to see you succeed in life. He wants to provide you with the best life can offer. Sometimes it just takes longer to get where you want to be. Trust Him to show you the way today.
PRAYER: Holy God. I thank you today for the fact that you know all about what I’m going through. Even though they are hard to deal with, I thank you for the ‘Bildad’s’ that cross my path. Help me to be patient with them and to try to see some truth in what they say. Most importantly help me to grow closer to you and wait for your working in the trials I’m going through. Amen.
The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”1 Samuel 16:1
Samuel was a priest who experienced first-hand the nation Israel’s transition from being a people governed totally by God (through priests) and being governed by a King when he annointed Saul as the very first King of Israel.
In spite of Samuel’s help, Saul had not proven to be a king that honored God. He was too easily swayed by the opinions of the people and was openly disobedient to the rules God had set forth for him. As a result God would soon be removing Saul from the throne and replacing him with a new king.
When God made this announcement to Samuel, he was very sad indeed. In fact the Bible tells us that he reacted in the same way one would react if someone close to us had died, by going into mourning.
God came to Samuel one day and told him it was time to be done with his sadness. He had a new man chosen for the throne and Samuel would be the one to anoint him as King, just as he’d done with Saul.
The man Samuel would anoint was a shepherd boy named David. He would become the strongest King the nation Israel would ever see and be referred to by God himself as a ‘man after my own heart.’
Imagine what is must have been like for Samuel to be involved in one more transition of power. He’d poured a lot of time and effort into Saul and it hadn’t worked out at all the way he’d hoped. When Saul failed I’m sure that Samuel felt a little bit of a failure as well. It’s never easy to see projects of yours fail. That’s true whether those projects are people, places or things. Failure hurts.
In anointing David, Samuel would witness a passing of an era as well. Change is never easy. Especially when that change involves something that is near and dear to your heart.
While we may never have an opportunity to anoint a king or usher in a new era, each of us know what it is like to experience the pain of failure. We are all to familiar with the effects of change in our lives. Relationships fail that we’ve counted on for a lifetime. Favorite TV shows are pulled from the air. Businesses we have frequented close their doors. And with each of these events we feel the pain of their passing.
We don’t always understand the reason for the changes that come into our lives. As Christ-followers we need to remember that if we trust God and look objectively at the changes that come we will see how God can take changes that are tough to handle and make them into blessings for our future. When changes come remember that God has everything in His control and will take care of you in whatever new challenges arise.
PRAYER: Father God. There are so many changes going on in my life right now. Some are of my own doing. Many are being forced upon me. Regardless of the reason, change is hard for me to take. I ask that you would empower me with your Holy Spirit to accept the changes that are ahead of me and look for the blessings that will come as a result. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 