storiesofvalue

When Jesus’ brother James told us to find joy in our trials because they develop perseverance, he added, “Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:4).  Maturity doesn’t occur overnight, or as a result of a quick fix that instantly cures our fears and doubts.  For this reason, when we face a trial we need to take a deep breath, ask God to help us order our steps, and take on our struggle one question at a time. (yesterday’s post)

Several years ago the church I serve experienced a devastating fire when lightning struck the steeple of its worship auditorium.  No one was seriously hurt, but we lost most of our facility and its contents.  Church members came to weep as the place where they were married, their children were baptized and funerals for their parents were held went up in smoke.  We prayed.  And we wept some more.

The day after the fire our leaders met to begin charting a course for recovery.  We were confident God would show us how to turn our tragedy into a triumph for His kingdom, but we knew the road ahead was long and we could only speculate how Satan might try to destroy us.  The good news is we survived with flying colors.  Our ministry emerged from our restoration stronger and more vibrant than ever.

I contribute our success first to a faithful God who guided us, secondly, to some of the wisest and most gifted leaders in the world, and third to a church family that responded with unwavering devotion.  As the Body of Christ we put our personal goals aside for the season of need and pressed on day after day, year after year.

But we didn’t move without a plan.  The first “day after”, we sorted through many necessary tasks, processes and priorities.  We assembled teams of people to assume important roles.  And most importantly, we resisted the urge to fix everything overnight.  In fact, our first step was to take a day to pray, plan and rest.  Many well-wishers came to help, but in most cases we wrote down names and phone numbers and told them we would contact them if we needed them in the future.

In times of crisis, there is an obvious need to take control and start “doing”, but sometimes what we need most is not control, but self-control.  If we fail in this respect we may miss an opportunity to make the wisest choices, or find ourselves paralyzed by too many choices.

If God’s divine option is infinite, then it makes sense to take the time necessary to consider how He might be working when life rocks the certainties of our faith.  Each step through the valley of fear and doubt needs to be processed.  Like the standardized test, two right steps taken at the same time might result in a wrong decision because we are trying to take on too much at once.

How do you avoid the temptation to try to fix too many things at once?  How do you know which steps to take first?

Dear God, give me the patience to put one foot in front of the other.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

On June 13, 2012, Michael Sokolski died.  Sokolski was the Polish-born American engineer who invented the #2 Pencil Test sheet.  Actually, the test sheet he developed is known as the “Scranton” for which he also invented an optical scanner.

If you do a little Internet research, you will find lots of interesting advice related to the Scranton system.  There are tips to help you cheat, debates about whether or not it is really necessary to use a #2 pencil, and constant reminders to guess if necessary since wrong answers don’t count against your final score.

There is one fact of the Scranton you can always count on: The scanner only reads one answer at a time.  Therefore, if you provide two answers to one question it will be automatically counted as wrong.

In relation to our trials, I don’t want to suggest we are wrong when we try to answer too many questions at once.  However, I have discovered if we try to resolve everything at once, we can jam our thinking process.  This condition is similar to a coin counting machine that shuts down when we pile up too much money.  The counter is capable of doing the whole job, but only if we are patient enough to pace our demand on the system.

This is why one of the first things we need to do when we are overwhelmed with a trial is break our struggle down into smaller pieces and prioritize our steps.  The gift of time helps us think more clearly, and gives us a sense of control over our circumstances.  And the assurance God will not condemn us for questioning and contending creates the spiritual flexibility we need to work through our disappointments.

When Jesus’ brother James told us to find joy in our trials because they develop perseverance, he added, “Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:4).  Maturity doesn’t occur overnight, or as a result of a quick fix that instantly cures our fears and doubts.  For this reason, when we face a trial we need to take a deep breath, ask God to help us order our steps, and take on our struggle one question at a time.

Why do you think we try to take on too many struggles at once?  What happens to you when you are impatient in the midst of your trials?

Dear God, give me patience.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Secondly, I am personally convinced God hears my prayers, and on occasion alters my circumstances.  When this happens I am overcome by joy, and filled with praise.  God uses my testimony to encourage others in their faith and draw attention to the glorious working of His power.

I do not possess perfect knowledge to ascertain with certainty when and how God has moved in my life.  Yet, when I have pleaded for mercy and witnessed His providential care, I must honor Him with thanksgiving.

Remember, God can exercise divine option within our #2 Pencil Faith framework of certainty.  The “law of possibilities”, introduced earlier, teaches us God can stay true to His will, even as He provides a variety of appropriate choices.  Do we know with certainty how He has acted and how He has used our actions?  Perhaps we do not.  But we are certain of His ability to act, and we learn to trust His wisdom as He weaves people, places and things together for His ultimate purposes.  If, in the course of making these determinations He considers our requests, hears out questions and changes history, then we can safely assume we may have been the blessed recipients of His grace.

Therefore, we should pray, believing God will hear us and possibly change our circumstances.  To think less would be to ignore James’ statement, “You do not have, because you do not ask God.” (James 4:2 NIV)  In the asking, however, we should pursue God’s ultimate design for our lives.  God is not pleased when we come to Him self-absorbed by our personal agendas (James 4:3).

God permits our contention, and in my opinion, is not displeased with it, as long as we respect His eternal plan, and come in a spirit of obedience.  I have seen people collapse under the false assumption any admission of doubt or fear will put their faith in peril.  It is true our faith can be destroyed if we don’t move beyond these struggles.  But we can also seriously damage our relationship with God if we try to deny them.

Grace is a broad shoulder upon which our tears can pour down.  Our Father already knows our pain.  It is fruitless to ignore it, and pretend we don’t care.  And it is downright dangerous to think for one moment He doesn’t care for us.

Do you think it is safe to ignore our doubts and fears?  Are you afraid God will be displeased if you are honest with Him?

Dear God, show me the breadth of grace.  In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

I have walked with many people through the valley of doubt and fear and joined them in their struggle with painful and perplexing questions.  More than once we have failed to resolve the key questions of “why me?” and “why now?”  Yet, in our quest for resolutions we have uncovered other truths of great value.  Like the man who sold everything he owned to purchase a priceless pearl, sometimes the things we originally sought seemed ultimately less important in light of greater lessons unearthed on the journey.

The process of debate not only helps uncover unexpected truths, but also exposes impure motives and hidden sin.  The writer of Hebrews tells us God uses our trials as a form of discipline: “Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.  No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:10-11).

The sin that has lodged itself in the inner recesses of my heart is not easily extracted.  It is meshed in a web of rationalization and self-justification.  Trials tear away at the web, and while I may never win a single argument with God, He leads me to victory over myself.

Therefore, contending teaches me.  It is a primary means of godly instruction yielding eternal fruit.  And while I would prefer an easier course of education, I know my stubborn heart must be challenged if change is to occur.

What has God taught you in the process of contending?  Why does a stubborn heart keep us from learning what He wants to teach us?

Dear God, break my heart of stone.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Both Jesus and the Israelites were concerned about the future, but one chose to remain in the Father’s will and the other to step outside it.  This is the line.  It is permissible to respond to frightening or complicated circumstances in life by testing God’s perceived will in our lives, but as we do we should come in humility, with every intention of obeying: even if it kills us.  (Previous post)

What value, then, is there in contending with God if we have ultimately determined to live for Him regardless of our circumstances?  Wouldn’t we save ourselves a lot of anxiety by accepting events as they occur without asking “why?”  We might at that.  But is this God’s will?  Did He create us with our own free will only to watch us refuse to face our fears and doubts and, as they say, merely accept the “hand that’s dealt?”  I am convinced there are two reasons why God is not disappointed in us when we raise questions, but rather pleased.

First, we learn through the process of debate.  School debate teams are more than vehicles for people who love to argue.  They create a thirst for truth, and present ideas in a public forum where they can be tested.  In other words, we learn by asking questions, and we expose bad logic by sharing our theories and conclusions with others.

Whether we call Jesus’ agonizing discourse In the Garden of Gethsemane a debate or not, He was obviously seeking confirmation as Satan pressed Him from every side.  The content of His prayer is not fully disclosed, but it had a different tone than the one recorded in John 17, commonly called Jesus “high priestly prayer.”  In His “priestly prayer” Jesus prayed for His disciples.  In the Garden He is engaged in a fierce spiritual battle that would ultimately determine our eternal destiny.  The question Jesus raised of His Father was simple: “Is there another way?”  The answer was simple as well: “No.”  And Jesus’ submitted with unwavering obedience.

If Jesus came to earth to die on the cross, why do you believe He was allowed to struggle with Satan in the Garden of Gethsemane? 

Why do you believe God allows you to struggle as you discern His will?

Sinning in the process of contending is bad, but refusing to contend can be worse because it allows Satan to eat away at our core uncontested.  As a result, I have learned to raise my hand and question God, not as a means of putting Him on trial, but of acknowledging my frustration and seeking divine guidance.  (Yesterday’s post) 

But where does the critical line lie?  What should we not ask, and how should we not ask it?

We find Jesus in the Garden, sweating drops of blood as He prayed before His crucifixion.  In His prayer He appealed to His Father, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup be taken from me” (Matthew 26:39).  Perhaps this is not true contention, but it does find the very Son of God reconsidering the agreed upon strategy.  This seems strange since it is clear from Jesus’ earlier comments He understood what needed to happen to win our salvation (Mark 8:31).  With a heavy heart and the cross looming in the future, our Lord needed assurance.  Then He spoke these important words: “Yet, not as I will, but as you will.”

We know Jesus did not sin.  Therefore, it must be permissible to ask God for confirmation when we aren’t sure the sorrow we have been asked to bear is necessary.  But we must come as Jesus did, with an attitude of obedience.

On the other end of the spectrum we find the children of Israel worshipping a golden calf at the foot of Mt. Sinai because they grew impatient while Moses was on the mountain receiving God’s Law.  They called the faithfulness of God and Moses into question and chose to put their trust in an idol instead.  As a result, God’s wrath was poured out on them and they learned the hard way there is a line one must not cross.

Both Jesus and the Israelites were concerned about the future, but one chose to remain in the Father’s will and the other to step outside it.  This is the line.  It is permissible to respond to frightening or complicated circumstances in life by testing God’s perceived will in our lives, but as we do we should come in humility, with every intention of obeying: even if it kills us.

Does this “critical line” make sense to you?  Are there others?

Dear God, guard my heart from sin when I have questions.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

“If four workers can build a shed in fifteen hours, how many workers will it take to build a shed in three hours?”  Who cares!

Alright, the manager of the project might care.  But there is no such person because this question is nothing more than a devious word problem designed to drive us crazy when we were taking tests as students.  To make matters worse, we were warned not to ask questions during the test, but to read the problem again and choose the best answer.

Maybe this is why I have always been a little reluctant to question God about my circumstances.  After all, He is God, and according to the Bible, He doesn’t make mistakes.  Thus, when I encounter a trial that doesn’t make sense, I face a quandary.  Do I dare question God?  And what do I hope to gain by doing so?

It wasn’t until I worked through the Old Testament book of Job during a graduate class that I began to find help for this dilemma in the theology of “contending.”  Up until that time, I had never considered the practice, and the closest I had stood to anyone contending with the Almighty was an Alcoholics Anonymous session where the leader made an obscene gesture at God and cussed.  I was attending with a friend who wanted me to consider opening our church building up to the group.  I passed.

I am not qualified to, nor have the intention of presenting a full commentary on Job’s experience.  However, I can summarize the lessons he taught me that have altered how I converse with God.  Job’s suffering was not a result of sin, as his friends suggested, but he did sin in questioning God’s wisdom with his limited perspective.  When God had heard enough, He spoke out of a whirlwind: “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.”  (Job 38:2-3)

What strikes me most is the fact Job survived his wrestling match with God.  Later, he despised himself and repented in “dust and ashes” (Job 42:6).  But he lived to walk with God on earth another day.

This doesn’t mean God disregards our sinful thoughts or statements just because we are in the midst of a personal storm.  He understands our trials, but He still holds us accountable.

Yet, I am convinced there is another sin that carries more potential for harm than anything we might say to God in a moment of passion.  In Genesis 4 Cain and Abel offered sacrifices to God.  God rejected Cain’s sacrifice, but accepted Abel’s, perhaps because it didn’t represent his best.

Cain didn’t handle God’s rejection well.  The Bible says, “So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.” (Gen 4:5 NIV)  And that’s where he stayed.  God tried to engage him in a conversation and warned him, “sin is crouching at your door.” (Gen 4:7 NIV).  But Cain’s anger boiled and he continued to look away from God.  In this state of mind, it isn’t hard to comprehend how Cain plotted his brother’s murder and carried out his evil deed in an open field.

Cain killed, in part because he refused to talk.  Had he contended with God over the rejection of his sacrifice he might have sinned as well, but at least he would have settled the matter and possibly repented of his wrong.  Instead, he allowed jealousy to take root in his heart and compounded his problems.

Sinning in the process of contending is bad, but refusing to contend can be worse because it allows Satan to eat away at our core uncontested.  As a result, I have learned to raise my hand and question God, not as a means of putting Him on trial, but of acknowledging my frustration and seeking divine guidance.

Have you ever disagreed with God?  How did you deal with your disagreement?

God, give me the courage to come to you when I have a dispute, and the wisdom not to sin in doing so.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

When Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery in the Old Testament account, they put his life in danger and brought incredible pain into their father Jacob’s life.  In the years that followed Joseph was slandered, imprisoned and abandoned, but God preserved him as a part of a bigger plan.  Later, after Joseph was reunited with his brothers, their father Jacob died.  His brothers were afraid Joseph would repay them for their evil so they fabricated a will from their father pleading for forgiveness.  Joseph put their minds at ease with this response: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:20 NIV)  Yes, God’s reasons trump the Prince’s purposes every time. (Yesterday’s post)

But God’s preeminence over circumstances only poses a familiar dilemma.  If His power is absolute, then why doesn’t He strategically position our trials so we have time to recover from one to the next?  Would it be too much to ask Him to set age limits on suffering, so our children have time to enjoy life before they are struck down by disease or some thoughtless act of violence?  In the interest of timing, perhaps the young single mother could be spared until her children are raised, or the husband until he has lovingly nursed his wife of fifty-five years through the despicable valley of Alzheimer’s.

I realize, were we to have our way each time we cried, “Why now?” we would do away with trials altogether.  Before long, ordinary events such as dental work, car repairs, power outages and even the door-to-door salesman who interrupts our family meal would be eliminated.

“Great!” you say.  “Would it really matter in the whole scheme of things if these unwelcome quests disappeared?”  Perhaps it would not.  But how would we know?  And what kind of people would we be if God shielded us from the uncertainties of life.  Could we endure the greater struggles if we escaped the lesser?

Such a proposition would also bring us to a theological dead-end since the abolition of all trials would require human perfection.  Since the Bible tells us all have sinned, and inasmuch as many of our sins bring pain into the lives of others, trials are inevitable.  Our only possible deferment would be for God to set limits.  He could merely allow just enough suffering in our lives to satisfy His design of mankind’s free will, but only permit it at a time of our choosing.

One might say, “But He does set limits!  He will only allow me to suffer what He thinks I can endure.”  Really?  And where does God make such a promise?  He does tell us He will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability to resist sin (1 Corinthians 10:13).  But this doesn’t mean we will be spared pain in the process.  It also doesn’t exclude the possibility we might die as a result of our convictions.

The only Biblical limit on suffering we are given is that God will give us everything we need to resist sin.  This is true even if our faithfulness takes us down a path of immeasurable pain.   Therefore, since it is not within our power to control the actions of others, and since we have no guarantee of God’s timing, we have no choice but to trust Him with circumstances as they unfold in our lives.

I personally assume some events are His doing, and others have been permitted.  I am also convinced He can bring good out of the evil others do, including my own sin.  It is possible my circumstances will overwhelm me, and even with God’s power working in me I might break under the pressure.  Yet, God will not abandon me in my hour of need, and even if His comfort comes in the form of attending angels as I breathe my last, He will give me everything required.

I tremble when I think on such things, but I don’t lose heart.  The Lord I live for is the same One I suffer with, and the One in whose presence I live now and forever.  I have no definitive answer for the questions of “Why me?” and “Why now?” but God’s wisdom and faithfulness sustain me.

How do you handle bad timing in your life?  Do you have a tendency to compare your circumstances to those of others?

Dear God, help me survive the hard times.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Logic sustains for a moment because it provides a mechanism by which we maintain order in our lives.  Yet, if we conclude the timing of our circumstances is disproportionate, we must also decide if this is an issue of fairness in a world controlled by a powerful God, a characteristic of fate in a world without God, or something in-between. (from last post)

This choice leads us from logic to the question of supernatural influence.  The fatalist accepts inequality as a universal principle embedded in the human experience.  However, those who believe in a God who participates in the lives of His creatures look beyond principle to the reality of divine option.  The One with absolute knowledge and vision has the freedom to exercise his wisdom in infinite ways to accomplish His purposes.  Those who trust in God, finding themselves on the losing side of mathematic odds, instinctively assume there must be a heavenly reason for their circumstances.  From their perspective, nothing happens without a reason.

A few years ago I sat in my office with a young woman who had lost nearly every member of her family within the span of a year.  The first two were murdered, a third died of cancer, a fourth of a massive heart attack and a fifth, the cause of our meeting, from cancer.  I began our conversation by projecting my presumptions of her doubts and fears, followed by my presentation of a theological framework for contending with God.  When I finally paused, this dear woman looked at me with a confident countenance and said, “Momma always taught us to trust God whether we understand what is happening in our lives or not.  I believe everything happens for a reason and that’s what I’m holding on to.”

I am in basic agreement with this “for a reason” approach, with the caveat that the force behind the happening includes both those things God causes and those things He allows.  In addition, I assume “reason” is defined by things of eternal importance versus the mere origin of an event.  This means God’s “reasons” trump those purposed by the Prince of Darkness and his bent toward destruction.

When Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, they put his life in danger and brought incredible pain into their father Jacob’s life.  In the years that followed Joseph was slandered, imprisoned and abandoned, but God preserved him as a part of a bigger plan.  Later, after Joseph was reunited with his brothers, their father Jacob died.  His brothers were afraid Joseph would repay them for their evil so they fabricated a will from their father pleading for forgiveness.  Joseph released them with this response: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:20 NIV)  Yes, God’s reasons trump the Prince’s purposes every time.

Do you believe everything happens for a reason?  Do you have to know the reason?

Dear God, help me reason through the reasons.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Dear Morning Devotion Group,

Our devotion entries for the #2 Pencil Faith series have been on hold for a couple of days as I have been busy participaing in our church family’s Christmas production.  Entries will resume on Tuesday morning.

Blessings,

Larry Jones