Words of Faith

Several friends and family were talking over lunch recently about the plans of the Lord for each individual life, and where we thought the Lord was leading us. After some discussion, we commented on how much easier or more desirable it would be to have the Lord just give us a map or a blueprint with the path He wants for us all marked out and ready to follow. Wouldn’t it be so much better for Him to just lay the plan all out in its totality so we could see the big picture, understand it and then trek merrily along?

I am not so certain about that. There is a reason that the Lord many times only shows us the next step on the path He has for us, or maybe the next two. He may give us a glimpse of some of our destinations, but the way there remains firmly in His hands. And that is a good thing. It goes along the line of “ if I knew then what I know now” (about my life journey), would I go down the road? The Lord Himself declares that He will not give us more than we can handle. Many times all that we can handle of our walk with the Lord is today, or this week.

I fear that if at the beginning of my Christian journey, the Lord would have given me the entire map with all of the way clearly marked for me to follow, I would have said, “No.” “I can’t (or won’t) do it.” I would have suggested alternate routes. I would have wanted to skip the trials and gone to the accolades. Surely the Lord does not want me to go thru the depths of despair and the valley of the shadow of death! We say to ourselves and others that, without a doubt, we would totally and happily be obedient to the path, if only the Lord would just show us the way and lay it out before us. We can, however, take a lesson on humanity from Peter during the proceedings in the plan the Father had for Jesus. Jesus told His disciples about the plan- He would have to die. Promptly Peter went about to fix the plan- surely the plan couldn’t be for you to DIE, Master. It is the only place in scripture that Jesus so harshly rebukes His own followers. Not long after that, Peter (just like us, by the way) states that in no way will he ever deny the Lord Jesus. He will go to the death if it comes to that! And so will we. Until it comes time in the court of the religious rulers of the day when the rubber hits the road, and reality mixes with faith and humanness, and Peter-who had just spent the most awesome and amazing 3 years of his life with the One that he recognized and confessed as the Messiah – says, I don’t know Him, not once, but 3 times!!

In reality we are no different than Peter. We hope and pray that we will remain strong and true to the Lord when our life depends on it. We practice His presence and learn how to walk closely with Him and trust in His word. And when those moments come in which we are faced with the choice to deny Him and lose some portion of our life as we know it, we trust that we will be strong and courageous in the Lord to choose The LIFE. Until that moment of grace, however, we can not be certain. Jesus knew the plan. He had the map, and when faced with the final reality of the situation, Himself petitioned for a change in the direction, if possible. He also set the example of ultimate submission and obedience in choosing the Father’s plan and not His own will.

That is why God doesn’t just give us the map and say, “ Here, go for it, and I will be with you.” He knows us and He knows the way we must travel. He has practice points planned along the way, and part of His never leaving or forsaking us is Him revealing just enough to build our strength to never leave or forsake Him.

He beckons us forward, one step at a time, and one stretch of light at a time so as to keep us going, but not overwhelm us, to keep us constant and intent on Him. He does it to keep our flighty attention focused on Him and His purposes. As we see the plan unfold and look back on the way we have come, we see that the Lord, our Creator and Sustainer, took us by the hand and led us firmly and gently through the course of the map He has for us, and we took His hand, many times with the path only just before us illuminated… and that was, and is enough.

I was watering my garden a few days ago when I heard the most marvelous array of birds singing to me. What a present from the Lord, I thought, and how did all these birds get in my yard? After several moments, the songs became repetitious and almost frantic in nature. I was a little perplexed by all these birds singing their jingles in such a manner.
I left the hose on drip and went to explore my morning visitors. I traced the singing to one tree, in fact to 1 bird! A mockingbird was chirping merrily away in my backyard tree. He flitted from branch to branch, singing on… and … on. I affectionately referred to him as my little ADD bird. (And don’t take any offense- there is none meant. Having lived with ADD in my family, I am simply aware of how it can manifest.) He was quite vocal. My husband hypothesized that he was protecting a nest.
As in all things, there is a lesson to be learned. This persistent bird reminded me of the scripture that says, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be on my lips. (Psalm 34:1) Like this bird in constant and fervent song, our praise to our Creator and Lord should be constant and fervent also… and continuous.
We can find numerous references to continual praise to God throughout the scriptures, and particularly in the Psalms, which are, after all, songs to God. Psalm 42 speaks of the psalmist remembering that he used to go along with the throng and lead in the worship procession. He encourages his soul to return to that praise singing even in the night (v.8) and praising God in all situations (v.11). Psalm 71 deals with singing praises to God all day long (v. 14, 22-24) and particularly in troubled times. Psalm 5 talks about the Lord hearing our voice early in the morning. Psalm 16:8 says that I have set the Lord continually before me. One way to do this is to have the Lord always on our minds, and His acknowledgement and praise always on our lips.

Perhaps we can take a lesson from our little mockingbird and praise the Lord at all times. Let’s search the Psalms for additional scriptures and instructions. It is OK if the world thinks we are a little ADD over it. It is OK to be ADD if our attention is totally on the Lord, and the attention deficit is on the world.

I broke a tooth a couple of days ago. What an experience. I am now waiting to get it repaired, as there was “more filling than tooth” in that particular molar, and the DENTEMP that I bought on the way home would not solve the problem. We were at a parade, and people in the parade kept throwing candy at us. This bewildered me a little, since my youngest children are 14 and 17. After the first couple of handfuls, we waved and called, “Thank you, that’s plenty for us!” But the people must have just heard the “thank you” part and not the “that’s enough” part, as more and more fistfuls of sweets flew at us. We dutifully picked up the candy from the pavement and bed of our truck, and stashed it in a little bag. Although reluctant to actually stoop and pick up the candy from the pavement in front of us, as younger children scampered in delight to snatch abundant supplies of sweets aimed at them, my teenagers were thankful they had a little variety of gums and candies to make the trip with mom and dad more pleasant.

It was the day after the parade that I was rummaging through the sweet bag. I noticed a good sized Sugar Daddy sucker, held it up and warned my children, “Be careful of this one-it will pull your teeth right out of your head!” I encouraged them to just lick it, or get rid of it all together, as I chose a softer Starburst type to unwrap and take a bite from. I chewed happily until I felt something not so soft in the glob. I tried to ignore it, thinking it was probably a little ball of crystallized sugar, but something (or Someone) told me to fish it out. Sure enough, there was a whole corner of my back molar. Several trips to the dentist are now on my calendar.

Temptations are kind of like the candies in that bag from the parade. We all know the obvious and “big” temptations that will get us into serious trouble, and certainly avoid the Sugar Daddy temptations in our lives. We may even brag about it- watch out for that one, kids. We are much more comfortable, however, with the “smaller” temptations that we think we can handle. After all, we’re not slouches, we are mature Christians, and those pesky little temptations are something we hardly pay attention to. They won’t bother us, much less pull our teeth out. However, those Starburst thoughts that we allow to roll around a little too long, those soft coated barbs that we fling at each other without a second thought can do as much damage to our witness and relationships with others and God Himself, as any of the so called major temptations that we so carefully avoid.

Look at seven things that upset the Lord; that He hates, and that are an abomination (detestable) to Him:
Haughty eyes
A lying tongue
Hands that shed innocent blood
A heart that devises wicked plans
Feet that run quickly to evil
A false witness who pours out lies
A man who stirs up strife (dissention) among the brethren

We see lying, cheating, and killing in there, but what about those Starburst haughty eyes? How about that soft heart that thinks up hurtful and wicked plans? If my feet run to evil, that doesn’t hurt anyone else, right? And strife among the brethren can be stirred up without much effort. That little tongue does a fine job.

As Christians we can be on the offensive against even seemingly small temptations by keeping our hearts, minds and actions in tune with and centered on our best friend- Jesus. We have to be alert to the Starbursts that come our way as well as the Sugar Daddys (the Sugar Babies are just as potentially tooth-pulling).

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.

You will find me when you search for me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13