“At times God puts us through the discipline of darkness to teach us to heed Him. Song birds are taught to sing in the dark, and we are put into the shadow of God’s hand until we learn to hear Him. ‘What I tell you in darkness’ – watch where God puts you into darkness, and when you are there keep your mouth shut. Are you in the dark just now in your circumstances, or in your life with God? Then remain quiet. If you open your mouth in the dark, you will talk in the wrong mood: darkness is the time to listen. Don’t talk to other people about it; don’t read books to find out the reason of the darkness, but listen and heed. If you talk to other people, you cannot hear what God is saying. When you are in the dark, listen, and God will give you a very precious message for someone else when you get into the light.

After every time of darkness there comes a mixture of delight and humiliation (if there is delight only, I question whether we have heard God at all), delight in hearing God speak, but chiefly humiliation – ‘What a long time I was in hearing that! How slow I have been in understanding that! And yet God has been saying it all these days and weeks.’ Now He gives you the gift of humiliation which brings the softness of heart that will always listen to God now” (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest).

Some of you are going through dark places. Some even are walking through the valley of the shadow of death.

Believe that God is there with you, every step of the way from beginning to end. Believe that God has a special and precious message for you that you can only hear in this dark place. Believe that this is a message that someone else will need from you once you are back into the light.

Trust in God’s good heart when you can’t see His hand of guidance. Trust that He is good, no matter what and no matter where. God is good, all the time.

“We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters,about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us” (2 Corinthians 2:8-10, NLT).

I’ve always heard the adage that God will never give us more than we can handle. It seems like that statement is almost universally accepted as gospel truth. But is it true?

I do believe that God will never allow us to be tempted beyond our ability to endure. Scripture is explicit about that one.

Here’s what I believe. It’s not that God won’t give us anything we can’t handle, but that He won’t give us anything that HE can’t handle. He will on occasion allow us to go through circumstances that press our endurance to the point that we have no choice but to rely on God. We learn that we can’t bear these trials alone but instead learn to lean on each other in community.

After all, that’s what faith is. Christianity isn’t a glorified self-help program designed to make us independent and self-sufficient. It’s about how we learn to lean into and cling to and rely on Jesus until we get transformed by the renewing of our minds into His image.

If God never gave me anything I couldn’t tackle on my own, why would I even need God? What would be the point of God?

I think immediately of friends going through unbearable struggles at the moment. If you asked, they’d tell you that they know what it means to come to the end of self-reliance and to a place where all they can do is fall on the mercies and grace of God.

The good news is that God always comes through. God always saves and delivers His people. One day, those who endure will be able to comfort others going through the same ordeals.

God will never allow me or you to stay stagnant. He will accomplish all that designed for us in Christ.

For those of you who keep up with my TV binging, I’ve started a new series. Well, more of a spinoff series.

My original plan was to watch the latest season of Doctor Who, but after discovering I had to pay per episode, I decided to take a hiatus for a bit.

I’m onto The Sarah Jane Adventures, following the shenanigans of one Miss Sarah Jane Smith, former companion to the Doctor, and company.

So far, it’s fun. It can tend toward the cheesy, but it can also be riveting and suspenseful.

Unfortunately, there were only 4 seasons due to the untimely passing of Elisabeth Sladen who played the lead character. Yet another reason to hate cancer.

Still, she was fantastic.

“Lent is a time for discipline, for confession, for honesty, not because God is mean or fault- finding or finger-pointing but because he wants us to know the joy of being cleaned out, ready for all the good things he now has in store” (N. T. Wright).

“…a guilty suffering spirit is more open to grace than an apathetic or smug soul. Therefore, an age without a sense of sin, in which people are not even sorry for not being sorry for their sins, is in a serious predicament. Likewise an age with a Christianity so eager to forgive that it denies the need for forgiveness. For such an age, therefore, Lent can scarcely be too long!” (Edna Hatlestad Hong, The Downward Ascent).

Again whatever you choose to give up or fast from for Lent, make sure to put something positive in its place. For all the social media you give up, try reading a book or two. For all the television you give up, try going on a long walk.

Above all, make room for God. Not that He needs the room, but you do. You need the space to allow yourself to hear God’s voice and see Him at work around you. You need the margin in your schedule to sit at the feet of the Master.

Speak, Lord Jesus. Your servants are listening.

Actually, it’s day two of Lent, which officially started with Ash Wednesday. As usual, I’m taking a break from social media for the duration.

Also as usual, I’m trying not to be uber-legalistic about it. I don’t punish myself if I open Facebook or Instagram out of habit. I also reserve the right to post if urgent prayer is needed for a family member or friend.

But Lent is not merely a season to go without. It’s designed to create space previously taken up by other things and devote that space to God, to leave room to hear His voice.

Lent is a demonstration that what I give up doesn’t have a hold over me. I own my possessions, but they don’t own me.

I’m ready to see what God has for me this particular season of Lent. I’m hoping and praying for me that I can use my time well. My goal is to replenish my spirit and to restore my mind, to find calm and rest, to order my thoughts and center them around God again.

Ultimately, it’s about preparing my heart for Resurrection Sunday.

Lately, I’ve been seeing and reading about and hearing a lot of sadness. In fact, it seems that most of the news is sad news.

But rather than getting me discouraged, it gives me hope.

I know that one day there won’t be any more sadness. I know for a fact that one day God will wipe every tear from every eye and there won’t be any more sickness or suffering or death. No cancer. No strokes. No infant mortality. No dementia.

I believe as firmly as the air that I breathe that one day God will make all things new and right and whole again. When Jesus comes back, He won’t turn this world upside down, but will turn this upside down world right-side up again.

For those who belong to Jesus, we don’t have to grieve like those who don’t have hope. We have a hope that never fades or fails and that never perishes We have the promises of God that are certain and true as the God who made them.

In the meantime, we have a God of all comfort whose peace transcends human understanding and who walks with us through the deepest darkest valley imaginable.

Come, Lord Jesus, come. Make our faith sight and our hope reality.

“My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world” (1 John 2:1-2, NLT).

We have an adversary. In fact, the meaning of the Hebrew word for Satan is adversary, or one who accuses. You can’t go through a typical day without being assaulted with accusations about not being enough, not having enough, not doing enough. We get these messages from just about every radio, television, and social media outlet out there.

But we have an advocate, someone who speaks and acts on our behalf. The Bible says that Jesus is that advocate who pleads our case before God the Father. And who would God listen to more than His own Son?

I can rest well tonight knowing that Jesus intercedes for me and pleads on my behalf as my advocate. Whatever gets thrown my way, nothing in all the world can ever change or take away from the truth that I am a child of God forever. That goes for anyone who belongs to Jesus.

We may have a multitude of adversaries, but one this one Advocate trumps them all.

“The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray” (Samuel Chadwick).

It’s the one thing that makes the devil afraid, yet it’s the last resort for most of us most of the time.

May this be the day that you spend more time in prayer, knowing that the battle belongs to the Lord.

Gratitude works.

The Apostle Paul says, “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18, NLT)

Once again, note that it does not say to be thankful FOR all circumstances but IN all circumstances, knowing that God can work all things, even the worst of things, for good.

Gratitude is always a choice. You have to choose it every single day, sometimes multiple times in the same day. Otherwise, the natural human defaults of entitlement and complaining take over.

I believe the more you practice the art and discipline of gratitude, the more you will see God at work in your life and in your world.

Give thanks.

“God made a covenant with us. The word covenant means ‘coming together.’ God wants to come together with us. In many of the stories in the Hebrew Bible, we see that God appears as a God who defends us against our enemies, protects us against dangers, and guides us to freedom. God is God-for-us. When Jesus comes a new dimension of the covenant is revealed. In Jesus, God is born, grows to maturity, lives, suffers, and dies as we do. God is God-with-us. Finally, when Jesus leaves he promises the Holy Spirit. In the Holy Spirit, God reveals the full depth of the covenant. God wants to be as close to us as our breath. God wants to breathe in us, so that all we say, think and do is completely inspired by God. God is God-within-us. Thus God’s covenant reveals to us to how much God loves us” (Henri Nouwen).

I love that. God is for us, then with us, then within us.

I’m thankful for all three aspects of God’s covenant with us. He didn’t choose to watch us from a distance, like that old Bette Midler song.

He chose to be for us, to dwell among us, and ultimately, to make His home in us through His Holy Spirit.

How can it get any better than that?