There’s a story in the news recently with the headline “Mom expected God to provide food, daughter testifies” That I just can’t get out of my head. It’s the kind of thing that you hear about once in a while and always serves to make people look like nutjobs for even saying anything about putting their faith in God.
From the story:
The money ran out first. Then the food.
Over three months in 2006, as her five children grew more emaciated and listless by the day, Estelle Walker made no move to find a job, no effort to scrounge up a meal, her kids told a jury yesterday.
“We were supposed to wait for God to provide,” said Walker’s oldest daughter, now 21. “And that’s what we did.”
At one point, the daughter said, she and her siblings went 11 days without food. When police were at last summoned to the Sussex County cabin by neighbors, investigators found the children so malnourished they had difficulty talking.
I have to say right away that I firmly believe that putting ones faith in God is *ALWAYS* the right thing to do. However I *DO* question just what it is that people who do things like this are expecting from God that would make them believe that it’s somehow alright to allow children to starve or go without desperately needed and easily available medical attention. Or worse.
The question is not whether putting faith in God is right, rather it’s “What are you expecting from Him?” This woman sat there allowing her children to starve when it would have been a simple matter to get them the food they needed. “God will provide” you say? I agree, He will and in fact HAS provided.
Here’s some of the ways in which God provided:
There are food pantries, churches and charities galore that do a LOT to provide food for those that need it. This woman had been a teacher but didn’t do anything about trying to get a job, either as a teacher, or in any other position that would have meant money to feed her children. She had family that I’m sure at least some of whom would have helped but apparently she did nothing about that either.
This reminds me about the old story about the man who, when the area where he lived started to flood, refused to leave saying “God will save me”. The flood waters rise and a neighbor is there with a boat offering him a ride to safety. The man turned down the offer saying “God will save me.”
Later the waters have risen so high that he’s sitting on the roof of his house because the rest of it is underwater. A news crew comes by in a boat and offers him a ride to safety. “No thanks.” he says “God will save me.”
A few hours later the flood waters have risen so high that he is now clinging to the very top of his chimney, holding on for dear life lest the current sweep him away. A rescue Helicopter spots him and hovers over him, sending in a diver and lowering a rope ladder to help him to safety. “I’ll be ok.” he says “God will save me.” and he refuses to board the helicopter.
Some time later as the water continues to rise the man loses his grip, is swept away and soon drowns. He finds himself in heaven and confronts the Lord asking Him “Why didn’t you save me? I had complete faith in you.” The Lord looks at him shaking His head and replies “Son, I sent you two boats and a helicopter. What more do you want?”
The point of this story is that while putting faith in God is definitely the thing to do, it’s important to recognize when He’s provided the help you need. This woman said that God will provide and He DID provide. In many ways. She simply was unable or unwilling to see it.
Did she perhaps expect manna from heaven? Some other miraculous provision? While that’s something that God can and has done it’s generally the exception rather than the rule. I think it was nearly four thousand years ago that the children of Israel ate manna for forty years as they wandered in the dessert. To my knowledge nobody else has since then.
For that matter, I’m quite sure that God could easily arrange for bars of pure gold to fall out of the sky and land in your front yard with your name engraved on each one. That doesn’t mean however that you should hold your breath waiting for it to happen. God is much more likely to provide in other ways. In my own experience His provision has often comes in ways that I never expected. Usually by showing me what resources there were and how I could, and should, make use of them.
There was ONE time that somebody came up to me, handed me five dollars (which I really needed badly at the time.), and said “God told me to give this to you”, and turned and walked away before I could respond. A moment later they were gone and nobody around remembered seeing the person.
I was and still am very grateful but I’m not going to look for something to happen like that again.
There’s a LOT of God’s people on this earth that are doing His work, providing for people in need. The odds are good that some of these people and the things that they do were some of the ways in which God provided for this woman.
So in the end I say yes, PUT your faith in God. Wholeheartedly and without reservation or hesitation at all. Be KEEP YOUR EYES AND MIND OPEN, you have NO idea how He will provide the answer to your need.
In other words as Lura once put it in one of her articles “Take God Out Of That Box!“, which means don’t box Him in your preconceived ideas. He is bigger and more capable than you or I can even begin to imagine and if you try to box Him into a neat little package you’ll miss out on most of what He’s got for you.
One of the things that Lura would do with this blog from time to time is post videos, music and otherwise, that expressed some aspect of Christian life. I’m continuing that tradition with this video that I ran across on YouTube that I’m certain she would have loved.
A lightsaber battle that takes place within the soul of a young man who must choose between his Godly nature and his sinful nature.
In addition to taking a look at an ancient conflict in light of a modern popular science fiction story and special effects, it also won second place in the “lightsaber Choreography Competition 4″ on “theforce.net” fan films forum.
For the best effect, I recommend watching this in full screen mode.
Romans 7:19-20, “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”
By now I’m sure that regular readers of this blog are aware that my wife Lura who created and wrote in this blog went home to be with the Lord last December 30th, 2008. You may also know that in a final posting that I put on several of her other blogs that I said that intend to keep this one going because it while she didn’t post here nearly as much as she wanted to, she felt that this was the most important of the blogs that she wrote in.
Several times I’ve sat down with the intention of starting this task but I’ve always found myself at a loss for words and ended up putting it off again. I’ve come to the conclusion that perhaps the best, most fitting way for me to begin posting here is to start with the basics. Later I’ll be referring to her notes and posting things in them that I know she intended to post here. I’ll probably throw in my own two cents here and there as well.
I guess the best place to start is that while I miss her terribly and wish very much that she was still here, I have not actually lost her. I know exactly where she is and fully expect to see her again someday.
You see, Lura accepted Jesus as Lord many years ago. Because she did, I know that she’s with Him now and that when my turn comes to leave this mortal world I’ll be joining her. And that’s the message that I know she wanted to get across.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the world we’re living in is, in many ways, getting worse every day. Evil is showing up more blatantly and more severely in more ways and places than ever before. All it takes is reading Matthew 24 & 25 and taking a good look at the world and people around us to see that we are in fact living in the last days. Because of this it’s more important than ever to make sure that everyone accept Jesus as Lord and claim the forgiveness that He died to give us.
We have to recognize that God exists, and that there is an eternity waiting for all of us. We each have the ability to choose how we’ll spend that eternity.
If a person makes the choice to ignore or reject God then they are in fact choosing to spend their eternity in a place of eternal condemnation that was NOT made for humanity. It’s important to note that God neverdamns anyone. He want’s us to come to Him. It’s up to US to decide to obey Him or not.
If that same person chooses to Accept Jesus as their Lord then they are able to become citizens of the Kingdom of heaven.
God does not force us to obey Him, he’s given each of use the ability to decide for ourselves what we’ll do. If he made the choice for us or forced us in some way then our accepting Him would have no value. He’s not after mindless automatons or robots, He wants us to come to Him freely.
So what do you have to do?
Believe that God exists and that He will reward those who diligently seek Him.
Understand that Because God’s standard is one of absolute perfection. Sin cannot exist in His presence and will never enter the kingdom.
Admit to yourself and to God that you cannot “save yourself” or by your own efforts meet this standard of perfection and qualify to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Believe that Jesus died to pay for your sins and that he rose from the dead on the third day.
Accept him as your Lord and accept the gift of salvation that he died to give you.
After that it’s a really good idea to get a Bible and begin to learn about Jesus and His teachings (start with the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.), get connected with other Christians (in person and online) that can help you understand the scriptures, spend some time every day both praying and studying His Word.
Then, when you see the things that are going on in the world you can rejoice in the knowledge that Jesus is going to return some day, probably sooner than most would like to think about, and that when He does you’re going with Him to an eternal reward.
How many people ask you that? OUCH! That question came from God. It hurts to hear it because most of us never hear that question coming, no one asks. Why is that? The reality is that those same people do not see Jesus in us. OUCH! Yes, these things hurt us and it hurts our witness. We are not doing what we must to put forth the Word of God as we should. If we were doing what we were supposed to be doing, the world would already be completely divided into two factions, believers and non-believers. That is so true. Right now, even though you can argue that this is exactly what we have, I say that’s not strictly true. What we have are THREE factions; believers, non-believers and fence sitters, those who might or might not choose the Lord. Some are that way because they have never heard the Gospel, ever. Is it so strange to realize that people right here in the U.S. have never heard the Gospel? How about in other countries where it’s preached a lot?
We need to get the Gospel to the world! Why? Jesus told us that when that happens, the end shall come. What end? The world? Oh no. Jesus was talking about the end of an age of misery and pain, death and destruction. That is the end Jesus was talking about. The end will come when Jesus comes back to claim what is rightfully His. There is a song that I love to hear and sing, Till We All Fly Away. Songs like that move the heart, spirit of a person. I have no idea when we will fly but we will. God was clear that the Christian will not go through the wrath of God. And make no mistake, God’s wrath is coming. With the world conditions as they are now, the time is ripe for the enemy to take hold with his diabolical and horrifying dark servant, the anti-christ. He is exactly as that sounds, anti, the very opposite of God and Jesus. Our Father is giving, compassionate, loving, merciful, graceful, saving and Lord. The enemy is just the opposite and his dark servant will be the same. Time is ready for that to occur.
We absolutely must be ready for a time when people will come to us and say that very thing, “Please, tell me about Jesus!” and we will need to be prepared to answer that with the joy of the Lord, the salvation message. But if you never give anyone that message, are you doing your job as a Christian believer? I don’t think so. We ask the Lord Jesus into our hearts because we feel that need inside ourselves to know Him and want Him in our lives. He drew us to Him by the power of the Holy Ghost through others who felt the need to pass on what they knew.
Let me ask you this. If John, Peter, Paul, Luke, Mark, Matthew had not heeded God and wrote the New Testament, where would we be? I have no idea how God would have done it, I am certain His plan would go forth but how much harder would it have been to understand the Gospel message? Do you see how easy God has made it for us? Do you see how God worked it out so that we could have His message, His Word right in front of our eyes? We take that so for granted. I think about the countries that did not allow the Gospel to come in like Russia and the satellite countries at the time. One of the most compelling stories I have ever read concerned Brother Andrew and how he got Bibles into the closed countries. He started with one Bible, hidden from view. Then another Bible that sat on the seat beside him which the guards could not see. When that realization hit, he decided to send truckloads of Bibles into a country that said NO! You cannot have that here. Still, the people in that country were taking ONE Bible, cutting it up and each person having a page to memorize and pass around. Now that is wanting to know the Word of God.
People, we are so blessed in the countries where the Bible is fully accepted. We can have as many Bibles sitting in our homes as we have money to purchase them. How blessed and fortunate we are. But do we use that? Not really. And there are so many excuses not to share the Gospel. “I can’t say anything at work, I would get fired.” “I don’t know how to tell anyone.” “My neighbors would think I’m strange or lost it.” “I’m too shy to do all that. I don’t know where to start.” All these and so many more excuses are just that, excuses. I want to know something here. Are you grateful for the saving grace of Jesus? Did you go to the cross and have Him tell you no, that you were not good enough? Did He say to you that He was too shy to tell you the Gospel? No, He died a horrible, horrifying death on a cruel cross so that you could go to church and sit silently in your little pew for years on end, putting your dollar into the plate every week, listening to the pastor preach, wagging his hand after the service and going home to the same old situation, having forgotten everything the pastor just preached to you.
Before I get all the comments, I do realize that not everyone is like that. But just examine your life. Are you the shining example of Christianity so that someone will come to you some day soon and say to you, Please, tell me about Jesus! Examine yourself to see if those around you will know that you have something that they want. See, you do not have to present the Gospel at work by having a meeting around the table. You can be a shining, silent example of Jesus just by living the life of a righteous, born again child of God, a child of a King! The King’s kids act like King’s kids usually. They simply have the assurance that they are rulers. We have that as children of the King but we do not live like it.
Isn’t it time to live the life we were born to live? We, who claim to be Christians, need to show by example and our lives who we are in the Lord. You know, Jesus told us to let our lights shine and not put them under a bushel basket. Most of us live in our basket covered world. Let the Light shine! And one day, someone will come up and beg you to tell them about Jesus and because you love Him so much, are so grateful to Him for what He really did for you, you will tell the story to them and they will know that they can have what you have. No more secrets!!! Let the Light shine!
Early this morning, Jess passed away. He was a Christian, a preacher, a compassionate person. My sis and brother in Texas knew him far better than I did so I cannot talk about him as well as they can. However, he believed in the Lord Jesus and that makes him my brother too. He will be mourned but also celebrated for he is no longer hurting like he was yesterday with the nasty cancer that was consuming him. Today, he is with the Father with no pain.
Jess deserves the celebration that is his today. He walked the path we all need to walk, of being a Christian and a witness of our Lord Jesus Who died on the cross for us all. But only those who will accept that fact will be with the Lord. And make no mistake, Jesus is coming back very soon, very soon indeed. Because of the current events, it is possible to know the times and seasons for this event, the return of Jesus Christ. Jess knew this.
Now, in honor of Jess (James/Sonny) Two Moons Moore, here is a beloved song that touches the heart:
Jess would be happy to know that you are interested in this song and being part of the wonderful family of God. He would be thrilled to know that he was part of that event. Please think about asking the Lord into your heart today. Just ask forgiveness for what you have done. Yes, you can! It does not matter what you have done. Go to the Lord with it. Stop running from Him and go to Him! He wants to comfort you and help you right now! Seek the Lord while He may be found!
I love that song. It tells me what I need to keep in mind at all times. Tonight, there is someone who is needing to be uplifted so badly. Something really bad has happened to her and she is so down but she does not have to be. God is in control. Yes, it seems that He is not around when you need Him but He is right there to hold you, to give you peace that passes all understanding. No matter what has happened to you, He is there for you. It just seems like the world is against you, that no one understands your situation but you are wrong about that. God knows! He is holding you in the palm of His hands. He loves you!!! And so do I.
God and I wanted you to know that and to give you a song that will help and uplift you. Till We Fly Away sung by Ernie Haase and the Signature Sound. This touches my heart.
Remember, no matter what, we love you! And that was not one of those lessons to learn. Evil is running around rampant in the world right now. The enemy is gearing up because he knows he has but a short time. He is trying to gather as many into his prison as possible. Don’t listen!! Let this song and your Lord help you through this! It DOES matter. He is in control no matter what it may look like right now. We have been where you are tonight. God loves you. Come to Him.
Do you have that? Sometimes I think that we say we do when, in fact, we have no idea what that is, not until we experience it.
(Neh 8:10) Then he said to them, Go eat the fat and drink the sweet, and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy to our LORD. And do not be sorry, for the joy of Jehovah is your strength.
God is so interested in us receiving the joy of the Lord that He told us that it IS our strength. Don’t you sometimes feel like a wet dishrag, like someone has taken all of your strength and zapped it away. Not all of that strength is spiritual. Remember, God is a Spirit first so He teaches spirit first but He also teaches us how to handle our physical selves too. The problem is that if we do not immerse ourselves in the Lord, we lose the strength we have. Then when it’s needed, it’s already depleted.
I get the feeling people think that the joy of the Lord is all about jumping around and being happy, happy, shouting and having a good time. Maybe it’s partly that, though that would be the smallest part, it is also a knowing in your heart that the Lord is with you and taking care of everything for you, that He is right there no matter what. Now, lots of people say that they believe that but when push comes to shove that is not necessarily so. Why? Because they need to immerse themselves in God. Taking the time to talk with Him, study His Word and learn all you can is immersion in the Lord. I admit that I have not done that for a while myself. But it is time.
Billy Sunday, noted preacher once said;
“If you have no joy, there’s a leak in your Christianity somewhere.”
That is so true. Where is the leak in your Christianity today? Are you filled with the joy of the Lord which is your strength? Take note here. The joy of the Lord IS YOUR STRENGTH. If you do not feel strong in the Lord, perhaps it’s time to get back to the way things should be. God is right where He always is. It would be you who changed directions and tracked off somewhere. Yep, I know about that one. These days are dangerous and perilous. You can watch the scripture coming true right in front of your eyes. What happens when the world falls apart? Will you still have the joy of the Lord which is your strength? Not if you do not talk to the Lord, seek His face and enjoy the peace that passes all understanding.
(Php 4:7) And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Add this together with the joy of the Lord and how can you miss?
The country and the world, for that matter, are gripped in fear at this moment. Fear is running the tanking of the stock markets all across the globe. Tanking. What a word. The definition is that super fast slide downward and it doesn’t appear to want to quit anytime soon. This is the worst sliding down that anyone has ever seen. It is now time to sit up and take notice, something that most people have not done in all these years. When I say “all these years” I am not referring to just the few years since the black Tuesday of the depression. Oh no. I am talking about in all the years since Jesus walked the earth.
I should like to point out here that fear is a destructive force and it should by now be quite evident to everyone just how much. In the New King James version of the Bible, the words “fear not” appear 375 times from Genesis to Revelation. In my experience with the Lord, I have found that the more a statement or phrase comes up, the more emphasis God is putting on it. Now, that does not discount those that are only spoken once or twice. Oh no way. But He is very clear that certain phrases and words are to be continually noticed. “Fear not” is one such phrase. Wonder why? Perhaps you can guess just seeing what happens when fear takes over as it has at Wall Street and in the financial community at large.
Why would God say “fear not” so much? Fear takes over. Fear runs from God. When someone is fearful, it’s very hard to get through to them about anything. You have to get their attention first. Sometimes, people actually look out of it with their fears. And the enemy loves for you to be afraid since that is the opposite of faith. Often, the fear will come upon you without warning. I know that one. Your heart starts to pound, adrenaline courses through your veins and everything is focused on what started the fear in the first place. So God says:
(Heb 13:5-6) Let your way of life be without the love of money, and be content with such things as you have, for He has said, “Not at all will I leave you, not at all will I forsake you, never!” so that we may boldly say, “The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do to me.”
Do you see that this verse actually answers the whole crisis here today? Do you see that if only we would follow THIS VERSE, we could feel joy in the face of this world wide crisis? Those who started this whole money crisis were greedy to the point of not caring what it might do to family, friends, company or world. They did not do anything to stop it when they could. Now, it is a world wide epidemic for fear is an illness of the spirit, spiritually driven by the enemy. We can deal easily with this crisis by not allowing ourselves to have a love of money and be content with what we have available to us right now. That is not so easy when the bills stack up but if we just put our trust and faith in the Lord, He knows the end from the beginning, He can handle your own particular crisis though it may not be the way you would like it to be. God gives you what you need, not always what you want. If your car that you could hardly afford or not afford at all is being repo’d for instance, it would not necessarily be saved by God.
You must allow God to work in your life, not try to direct His path in the way YOU would like Him to go. And how do I know you are doing that? Heah heah. I know since I have been guilty of that myself. You panic because the payment is coming in a day or two and you do not have the money. Fear takes over. You can’t think what to do. On the corner is this really great payday lender who can help you out at so much interest on your loan. Hey! An answer! Thank You, Lord! Wait just a minute. Is God really in that or are you grabbing at straws because you cannot see what other solutions could possibly be there? Uh huh. Just as I thought. That lender is not your friend. He is not God’s answer for you. Now it’s time to bite the bullet and get real with God..not the world. You know in your heart that getting the money like that isn’t right. Take the time to talk to God and ask what HE wants you to do.
Perhaps that person a few doors down is having a problem. You knew about it but sort of put it off to another day. God has been nudging you to visit them anyway but you didn’t have time. Is it possible that you could do that visit now instead of wondering what God can do for you? Maybe just taking the time to listen to their problems will give you an idea how to help them even if all they needed was to talk for a few moments. Perhaps you have the answer to their problem. God must think so or He would not have been nudging you to go to them. They may need you to tell them about Him. Ah ha, the fear is back. You can do this! God equips you with what you need when He sends a person out.
Right now, take the time to talk to God. Find out what He wants you to do. Seek His face while He may be found. That verse keeps hitting me when I type these posts out. He wants us to seek Him out, nestle into His arms, get into our hiding places in the Lord. He will comfort you, give you strength through His joy, the faith will grow since you are relying on Him for all your needs. The time is coming when we will have to give all our attention to God and let Him take care of our needs. That time is coming very quickly now. Seek the Lord while He may be found.
(Isa 55:6) Seek Jehovah while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.
Have you hollered that one at God lately? I have. It’s getting worse and worse. Isn’t it strange that a few years ago, many of the television preachers were telling us all to get out of debt because a financial crisis was coming. I guess they were right. So, we call out to God concerning our money problems and He comes back with…..what? Silence? Sarcasm because we did not listen? The latest get rich quick scheme? No, actually He brings up this:
(Mark 4:35-41) And evening having come, He said to them on that day, Let us pass over to the other side. And when they had sent away the crowd, they took Him with them as He was in the boat. And there were also other little boats with Him. And there arose a windstorm, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was now full. And He was in the stern of the boat, asleep on a headrest. And they awakened Him and said to Him, Master, do You not care that we perish? And He awakened and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, Peace! Be still! And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And He said to them, Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?And they feared exceedingly and said to one another, What kind of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?
I wanted to mention a couple things here. Jesus was asleep as the storm was tossing the boat around. Most people would have gotten up and panicked about what to do or would go about securing the boat and bailing water out of it. But Jesus was peacefully sleeping. That takes the confidence of knowing that there was no danger. Period. God wants us to know that even in dangerous situations, if we will simply go to Him concerning the problems and dangerous situations that He will take care of it. But it does require a confidence that, no matter what happens, God is in control. Jesus knew that.
The disciples did not have that confidence, obviously. They came in and woke a peacefully sleeping Jesus to ask an absurd question. “What’s the matter with you? You are sleeping peacefully while we are about to drown. Why aren’t You getting up to panic with us?” “Don’t You care that we are going to die? Don’t You want to die fearfully with us?” Pick any of those ridiculous questions because they all pretty much sum up what they were asking. Now, why is that a ridiculous, absurd question? Since you asked, I will tell you. The first part is that He was sleeping. I don’t know about you but if I had been with this guy as long as they were, I would be asking myself why he was asleep during all this but not because I thought we were going to die. I would want to know because He wasn’t afraid. He didn’t jerk awake and run screaming like they were doing.
Jesus was not afraid because He had the confidence and sure knowledge that God was in control and that, no matter what, He would guide them safely across the lake. They allowed fear to enter in and make them panic. No one tends to make good decisions when in a panic. So, when they woke Him up…and that must have been one of those jerk awake things which I hate….He got up, took a look at the situation, rebuked the wind and storm, went back to the guys and said…”What’s up with you people? Fear about a little storm? Have you listened to nothing I have taught you?”
If that had been me, I would have looked at them with mouth dropped open wondering what would it take to get through to these obviously hard headed people who pay zero attention to what I’m saying. Jesus is a gentle person Who is not going to rail about things like this but He had to be frustrated with the lack of faith that was showing so strongly. In fact, with His question about faith, you KNOW He was having a problem with them. And what happened after He asked the question? More fear. Isn’t that pretty typical? It’s an unknown. Better have fear. Don’t understand. Bring on the fear. And worse, fear is the total opposite of faith. So, any faith they might have grown leaked out of them fast.
What is the moral of this story and what does it have to do with our financial situation? First, God is not sleeping. He is waiting for you to seek Him. Second, He does not want you to drown financially. But you have to do your part too. Seeking Him is the way to deal with the problem right from the beginning or in the middle. Wherever you are, go to the Lord and seek His help. He sees the end from the beginning. While you may not know about or understand your situation and what will deal with it, He does know. Ever wonder why God does not allow us to see outcomes prior to getting there? Because we would not need faith, would we? And that is the whole point of this lesson, to grow our faith. If we did not have trials, there would be no point in living here. We need our faith to grow strong in the Lord so that we will lean on Him more and more for our needs and wants. At the same time, we need to have a relationship and fellowship with Him. He needs to be your closest family member and friend.
What was the downfall for the disciples? Fear. That fear blocked out everything they knew about boating. See, there were at least a couple of really good fishermen on that boat, remember? How is it that they did not just go ahead and secure the boat, work what they knew about boats? And just to throw in another goofy question….if they couldn’t deal with the problem themselves, what did they hope to accomplish by waking one guy up? One more guy is not going to change anything if they thought that they were about to die. But somewhere in those brains, they knew who He is. But then, He gets up and calms the storm. When He asked them about fear, they panicked some more. Who is this guy? Does anyone see how ridiculous this is? They woke Him up to get Him to do something about the storm. He does it and they get afraid. See how ridiculous fear can be? The problem is that when someone is in a panic, they are not thinking rationally. Obviously.
The lesson here is to seek God and get your faith growing up into maturity. When that happens, you will no longer be afraid of circumstances since God is in control and taking care of everything. EVERYTHING. Now, what does this have to do with the current financial crisis? You guessed it. Faith. God is in control. Now He might not handle your situation the want YOU want Him to do but remember….God knows the end from the beginning. He can handle all situations if only you will give it all to Him. Now is a great time to start that. God will meet you wherever you are right now. Seek Him. He is waiting for you.
When I was a kid, I hated that word. It meant that I was not going to get what I wanted regardless of what it was. My parents were usually pretty busy folks so they really did not have time to stop and do things I selfishly wanted but I did not get that at the time. In fact, my father had a horrendous phrase he used when something I wanted to do did not fit into the time frame. He usually said “Let’s don’t and say we did”. Then he would tell me to be patient. I had no idea what the phrase meant but I hated it and the word “patience” since they always went together. Of course, now I realize that he was trying to do so many things in the short, short time he had at home that my requests probably seemed small to him. They were. I paid no attention to what they were doing. My patience was thin, to say the least. My father’s was better than mine.
Thinking again about my childhood, Christmas was way too far away most of the time. I had such a hard time waiting on it. No one would give me any hints on what I was getting. Being an only child (at the time), I had no competition for “the stuff” coming on that banner day! Having no concept of reality in those days, I started my Christmas lists in the summer time when the latest Sears and Penny’s catalogs came out. This gave my parents plenty of time to work out the amazing numbers of “stuff” I should get. Spoiled? Me? Nah.
A lack of patience for any reason takes us down a road we do not want to travel. We live in the “right now” time and generation. With the internet at our fingertips, there is very little that we can’t get right now. Actually, we are a fast food people with fast food thinking. And fast food thinking has been passed on to the next generation of young people who have little to no patience. They have little use for it. As a young adult, I really never heard of road rage but now, road rage is way too common. That happens when patience wears thin or is not there at all. The “I want it now!” generation does not even know what patience is.
(Jas 1:2-4) My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into different kinds of temptations, knowing that the trying of your faith works patience. But let patience have its perfect work, so that you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing.
Are you kidding? God actually wants us to HAVE patience. Go figure. And He says we should count it a joy when we fall into temptations. I am usually trying so hard to get away from the temptations that I don’t have time to find the joy in it. But we must learn to have the patience to wait on the Father. Remember that He knows the end from the beginning. He knows what is going to happen. His will for our lives should be what we strive for. And with patience, we can have very happy lives.
However, if we do not learn this lesson on patience, God will continue to give that lesson until it’s learned. Unfortunately, that one is probably one of the hardest lessons to learn. A couple of centuries ago, people didn’t communicate except by one person taking a letter or a note from one place to the other. It took weeks, sometimes months to get to the destination. Even people living only a couple of miles apart might not receive word for days. Patience was pretty easy since there was nothing a person could do but wait. The lesson was very easily learned. Today, that is not the case. Our fast food thinking is causing lots of problems.
There is good news here! Patience has a reward. If you get into a temptation and exhibit the patience the Lord is trying to teach, faith grows. When faith grows, God works it out. You then lack nothing. Lack nothing. Sweet words to my ears. Is that the secret? It’s not really a secret but…yes. Out of patience, you receive joy, growing faith, resistance to temptations, lack for nothing. I would say that is a pretty good reward. I think I am going to work on my patience again. That word again. When we do work on it, we certainly will be happier.
