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Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you. Deuteronomy 31:8
One night I got a phone call from my father. He told me that my brother had been killed in a tragic accident. I was 600 miles from home. That call came over 40 years ago and I still remember the feeling today as though it were yesterday. He’d died too soon in my book. While I know I’ll see him again someday in heaven, it still hurts that I never got to say goodbye.
The more I travel this journey called life, the more I’m made aware of its uncertainty. My story is repeated thousands, perhaps millions of times throughout the day. Pain and discouragement can come from a variety of situations. Spouses served divorce papers. Doctors delivering bad news. Dad’s not returning home from work. Life is fragile.
The loss of a loved one through death is painful to be sure, perhaps the most painful thing many of us will go through. But sometimes I think the loss of someone emotionally is even more painful. We all know (and may have experienced) the pain of people we thought loved us suddenly leaving us.
Relationship is replaced by rejection. Support is replaced by criticism. Trust is replaced with finding out you’ve been attacked behind your back and thrown under the next bus.
Some friends of mine were foster parents for years to many children of various ages. Some stayed a day or two. Others stayed for a couple months. They ended up adopting one girl at the age of seven. They loved her as their own. Yet ten years later she robbed them and ran away, never to be heard from again.
For ten years they gave her their heart. The stealing of personal possessions hurt to be sure, but the pain of stealing their heart was far more painful.
Deuteronomy 31:8 gives us an amazing and comforting promise. “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.”
Here is reality. People will leave you one way or the other. Relationships will be broken. Deception will happen. Abandonment will attack your soul.
We have a Heavenly Father who promises to always love us. We have a Savior who calls us ‘friend’. We have access to the Spirit of God who promises to lead, guide and comfort us. Don’t allow the temporary attacks of fickle relationships detract from the everlasting love God has for you!
Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall. Psalms 55:22
One of the things I’ve always struggled with is asking for help. Asking for help is a sign of weakness. Asking for help can be placing a burden on someone else. Asking for help implies I don’t know what to do next.
All of those things aren’t necessarily true but that is how my brain works if I let it. The truth is, God created us for relationship. God created us for community. God created us to help each other bear the burdens of our lives.
That’s why, from the very beginning he states, ‘It isn’t good for mankind to go through life without a helper.’ (Genesis 2:18) We normally think of that in relation to the creation of woman, which is true, but in the broader sense, God knew we needed community.
We need to love on one another. We need to bear the burden’s of one another. We need to pray for one another. We need to encourage one another.
While all that’s true, there are some burdens others have that, in reality we can’t bear. We can pray for each other. We can do all sorts of other things to lift each other up, but the reality is some burdens can only be placed on the shoulders of Jesus, who is more than willing to take them on.
The burden of rejection from people you thought loved you. The burden of misunderstanding when you have done your best. The burden of unmet expectations. the burden of blame. The burden of criticism. I think you get the picture. Add your own burden to that list.
The reality is, even the most well-meaning people will reject you. But Jesus never will. NEVER. He doesn’t ask us to cast our burdens on him, it’s a command! You will be misunderstood, attacked and abandoned by some, but never by Jesus.
Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?” John 6:8-9
How much is enough? A little boy once asked his father for a candy bar at the counter of a grocery store. Times were tough. The dad’s heart sank. Much as he’d love to give his son everything he wanted, the small amount of cash he had would barely pay for the families groceries. When he told the boy ‘not today’ the boy replied, “but daddy, it’s on sale. Appreciating the boy’s attempt at thriftiness, he replied, ‘Son, if it only costs a quarter but you don’t have a quarter it doesn’t matter how cheap it is.’
How much is enough?
The negative voices inside our heads answer that for us.
‘I’m not smart enough.’
‘I’m not thin enough.’
‘I’m not rich enough.’
And I love the ‘Christian versions’.
‘I’m not spiritual enough’
‘I don’t have enough faith.’
‘I don’t pray enough.’
‘I don’t study the Bible enough.’
Do a quick study of what the Bible says about how much is enough!
One day Jesus was teaching on a mountainside. It was getting late. The nearest town was a distance away. People were tired, the disciples were tired.
Then, Jesus suggested they all share a meal together. It was a preposterous idea! His friends looked at the situation and tried to explain it would take too much time. It would take too much food. There wasn’t enough.
A search for food turned up just five small loaves of bread and two fish, the perfect amount for small boy’s lunch.
What didn’t seem like enough to the over 5,000 people gathered ended up being more than enough when Jesus got involved.
What are the negative voices telling you? What don’t you have enough of? If Jesus can provide enough for over 5,000 people, I think he may just have enough for you.
Take the little steps. Trust him with the little things. Trust with the little things leads to bigger things! With Jesus, everything you have is enough.
For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:19
I love seeing stories of reconciliation. In particular, children being reconciled with parents who surprise them with a return from deployment. It’s basically the same story over and over, but I never tire of it. The child is busy with friends or class and when dad or mom appear they run into their arms, many times with tears of joy.
One thing I’ve never seen was a child looking at the parent apathetically. I’ve never seen the parent seem aloof. I’ve never seen the child being apprehensive of how peers may react to their tears. The focus of parent and child is on each other. The reaction is one of love, relief, joy, contentment.
Reconciliation is amazing! Sin has separated us from the love God has for us. Like a child without a parent we struggle with feelings of value, identity and security. Then God came to us through Jesus, offering us reconciliation. What joy!
Not only are we blessed with that reconciliation, we have the opportunity to share that joy with others. Reconciliation is an act of love not judgment. Reconciliation focuses on forgiveness and acceptance. If we have truly experienced reconciliation with the Father then we have the opportunity to share that joy with those in need of being reunited with their father…Heavenly Father that is.
Who can you help to be reconciled today. Reconciliation is the result of prayer, relationship and sharing Jesus with others.
But I will rescue you from those you fear so much. Because you trusted me, I will give you your life as a reward. I will rescue you and keep you safe. I, the Lord, have spoken! Jeremiah 39:17-18
Fear is the great crippler of society. Fear causes to do things we never thought we would do. Fear allows us to be bullied. Fear opens us to abuse. Fear keeps us from living a life of freedom. Fear has been used for centuries to keep people in check.
Governments, family members, even the church has been guilty of using fear to keep people in line. One sad example is the philosophy some use in the church in which our faith in Jesus is a ‘get out of hell free’ card.
While our faith in Christ indeed promises us that we’ll spend eternity with him, the motivating factor of grace isn’t fear of punishment but love of Jesus. Grace is giving with no hope or standard of paying back.
Do you go to church to fulfill a religious obligation? Stay home. Do you read the Bible so you’ll be a better Christian? Stop wasting your time! Sound harsh? When we go to church, or any other religious activity out of obligation we are simply joining in legalism.
The Apostle Paul spent most of his writings reminding us we are saved by faith, not works. Other New Testament writers totally concur. Our hope comes from a love relationship with Jesus.
Freedom comes when we grow deeper in our love for him, not in participating in more and more religious activities. A love relationship with Jesus never involves fear.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 