Because Mondays are hard and sometimes you just need to laugh a little.
A Monday Funny
The Will of the Father
“We have nothing under our own control but our wills. Our feelings are controlled by many things . . . but our will is our own. All that lies in our power is the direction of our will. The important question is not what we feel or what we experience, but whether we will whatever God wills. That was the crowning glory of Christ: that His will was set to do the will of His Father” (Hannah Whitall Smith).
I want my prayer to be that I am like Christ in that I want God’s will no matter what. Regardless of what happens to me, I want God’s will to prevail in my life. I can’t control what happens to me but I can control how I respond. I can will what God wills and accept God’s will, even if it is not what I would have chosen.
Jesus chose the will of the Father even to the point of death. Am I willing to do the same? Am I willing to surrender to God’s will even if it costs me everything? That’s where American Christianity is not the same as biblical Christianity — we surrender up to the point where it is no longer safe or comfortable, while Jesus surrendered up to the point of death — and beyond.
The Day After My Birthday
“Through my whole life (young and old), I have never witnessed God forsaking those who do right, nor have I seen their children begging for crumbs” (Psalm 37:25, The Voice).
I’m 53 and I’m still learning that even when you don’t feel it, still you can choose to trust in God and His promises. You can claim God’s provision even when it seems slow in coming. You can thank God in advance for prayers He’s yet to answer.
The Bible says to keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking for as long as it takes. I said before that sometimes we don’t have because we don’t ask, and now I wonder if we don’t have simply because we asked a few times and gave up instead of keeping on keeping on asking. We should be like Jacob who wrestled with God and would not let go until He blessed him.
I think prayer is a taking hold of God in the secret place and not letting go. It’s claiming the promises, confessing sins of commission and omission, giving thanks, interceding for others, and waiting to hear what He would say to us.
Even when the heart is heavy with hope delayed, we can pray God’s future promises for us as if they’re already ours. We can show gratitude ahead of the gift. We can pray for those loved ones who are far from God believing that God can bring them home. We can lift up the hurting and dying in the name of the One who is able to bring life from the dead.
I’ve heard that we should never stop preaching the gospel to ourselves. I suppose that’s what this is. Me reminding myself of God’s goodness that remains when He is absent or silent.
“I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13, New Heart English Bible).
My Belated Birthday Blog Post
My birthday ended 33 minutes ago. I was tossing and turning in bed, trying unsuccessfully to sleep when I remembered that I had forgotten to write my daily blog post. I suppose getting a bit forgetful comes with turning 53.
I am blessed. This season of unemployment that I’m in isn’t one that I would have chosen, but I have learned a lot. Not so much new information, though there’s been some. Mostly, it’s just being reminded of what I already knew. It’s having that information go from theoretical to experiential.
I honestly don’t know what’s next. There have been moments of near-panic and high anxiety and there have been moments of calm and serenity. I have had thoughts of “God, please help” and “I can’t wait to see what God does next.”
My main prayer remains the same. It’s the prayer that never fails — Thy will be done. Even if it’s not my will. Even if it means my will, my desires, my goals be undone. Even if it means I am undone. I want God’s will because I know it’s the best.
I don’t believe in the saying that God never gives us more than we can handle. I think God never gives us more than He can handle. It’s true that God never allows us to be tempted beyond what we can bear but gives us a way out. But God’s testing is a different matter. My dependence on God grows as I am tested beyond enduring and I lean on the Lord for strength.
“We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:8-9, NIV).
There’s joy at the end of this tunnel.
Pray First
“Prayer requires that we stand in God’s presence with open hands, naked and vulnerable, proclaiming to ourselves and to others that without God we can do nothing. This is difficult in a climate where the predominant counsel is ‘Do your best and God will do the rest.’ When life is divided into ‘our best’ and ‘God’s rest,’ we have turned prayer into a last resort to be used only when all our resources are depleted. Then even the Lord has become the victim of our impatience. Discipleship does not mean to use God when we can no longer function ourselves. On the contrary, it means to recognize that we can do nothing at all, but that God can do everything through us. As disciples, we find not some but all of our strength, hope, courage, and confidence in God. Therefore, prayer must be our first concern” (Henri Nouwen).
It’s easy to make prayer a last resort after all my plans have failed, but it should be first. Before anything else, pray. Don’t be afraid to come boldly before the throne of grace and pray big to a big God. I wonder if we don’t have because we simply don’t ask. We want to appear spiritual before God as if He doesn’t already see what’s in our hearts anyway.
Pray for the big things. Pray for the little things. Pray for healing. Pray for lost keys. Of course, pray for others at least as much as you pray for yourself. Pray with the expectation that God will speak and pray to listen to what He has to say.
“Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—
as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes” (Matthew 6:9-13, The Message).
Miserable vs. Happy
Miserable people will tell you everything that’s wrong with the world. They will tell you who’s wrong and who’s to blame (which almost always ends up being someone else). Many people who are miserable don’t want to be happy. They have become so wrapped up in their misery that it’s a part of their identity, a kind of emotional security blanket that they wear at all times.
Happy people are the ones who know that there’s a lot wrong with the world, but are the ones doing their part to fix it. They know there are wrong people and bad people out there, but they know there’s a lot they need to work on in themselves and are too focused on being better people to dwell and harp on the other sinners.
Happy people are the ones the Bible calls blessed. They’re the ones who know what it’s like to be poor in spirit, to mourn, to be meek, to hunger and thirst for right living, to be merciful because they have been shown mercy, and to be pure in heart as they have been transformed by Jesus. They are blessed not because they’re materially wealthy or ridiculously popular but because they have the favor of God on them.
To be miserable is a choice. To be happy is a choice. It’s a choice we make every single day with every single decision and every single response to everything that is done to us. The Bible says that to be happy is to lose yourself to find yourself, to die to yourself that you might find real life, and to take up your cross and serve that you might know all the fullness of joy and abundance that God has to offer.
Peace at the Last
“OLORD, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in thy mercy grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last. Amen” (The Book of Common Prayer).
This is meant to be a family prayer for nighttime, but it could very easily work for someone who is nearing the end of life. It also makes me think of Father Tim Cavanaugh from the Mitford series by Jan Karon (which is adding another book to the series in October, by the way).
I love the idea that God supports us all day long until at the end of the day. In the Psalms, it says that He never slumbers nor sleeps but watches over His children all through the night. The old bedtime prayer about God keeping my soul reminds me that there is never a time when God is not mindful of me nor of my needs.
I found a version that is similar if not quite the same as I remember from when I was a wee little. It goes something like this:
“Thank you Lord for another day,
The chance to learn, the chance to play.
Now as I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
Please, guard me Jesus through the night,
And keep me safe till morning’s light.
But if I should I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.
And should I live for other days,
I pray that God will guide my ways.
Amen.“
Rejoice in the Lord Always
Paul exhorts us, saying, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice” (Phil. 4:4). How is it possible to “rejoice always?” … Many words are not needed, nor a long round of argument, but if we only consider his expression, we shall find the way that leads to it. He does not simply say, “Rejoice always,” but he adds the cause of the continual pleasure, saying, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” He who rejoices “in the Lord,” cannot be deprived of the pleasure by anything that may happen. For all other things in which we rejoice are mutable and changeable, and subject to variation. And not only does this grievous circumstance attend them, but moreover while they remain they do not afford us a pleasure sufficient to repel and veil the sadness that comes upon us from other quarters. But the fear of God contains both these requisites. It is steadfast and immovable, and sheds so much gladness that we can admit no sense of other evils. For the man who fears God as he ought, and trusts in him, gathers from the very root of pleasure, and has possession of the whole fountain of joy. And as a spark falling upon a wide ocean quickly disappears, so whatever events happen to the man who fears God, these, falling as it were upon an immense ocean of joy, are quenched and destroyed!” (John Chrysostom)
Again, the Bible does not say to give thanks for everything but in everything give thanks. There is a difference.
I don’t need to rejoice for suffering and pain in me or in those around me. I can rejoice confidently that God is working in those things to bring about His glory and our good. I can rejoice that in the seemingly unending changing of the world around me that God remains eternally changeless.
I can rejoice that God is with me even in the worst of circumstances, that He is for me even during my worst moments, and He is in me transforming my worst parts into glory. I can rejoice that He who began a good work in me will most definitely bring it to completion in Christ Jesus.
I can celebrate that what momentary afflictions I encounter down here won’t even begin to compare to the glory that’s coming. It won’t even be close. I can rejoice that at the end of the day, at the end of my life, God will have the last word and the last victory.
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
You are fearfully and wonderfully made.
“For you fashioned my inmost being,
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I thank you because I am awesomely made,
wonderfully; your works are wonders —
I know this very well.
My bones were not hidden from you
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes could see me as an embryo,
but in your book all my days were already written;
my days had been shaped
before any of them existed.
God, how I prize your thoughts!
How many of them there are!
If I count them, there are more than grains of sand;
if I finish the count, I am still with you” (Psalm 139: 13-18, CJB).
Stay in Your Lane
These days, I’ve noticed a bit of the Pharisee lurking in me, especially when it comes to social media. Whenever I see a post with questionable theology, I have a strong desire to go in, fingers blazing to give the correct doctrine. I wish it was because I want to fight for the truth, but more honestly, it’s because I want to be right and win the argument.
But I’ve noticed that very rarely has anyone ever changed their mind through an argument over social media. Most likely, the other person will double down on their side or point or whatever. Usually, whoever it is will see my post as an attack and me as the enemy. That does no one any good.
I’ve learned the best solution is to pray for the other person and for me. Typically, I pray that both of us will come to God’s truth on the matter, not mine or the other person’s. As much as it pains me to admit it, I could very well be wrong. In fact, I’ve been wrong a lot more times than I’ve been right.
The absolute best strategy when I see something that I don’t like or that bugs me: keep scrolling. It’s not my job to fix everyone else in the world and to gate-keep every biblical doctrine ever established. That’s God’s job, and He’s not looking for extra volunteers in that department.
Maybe if I spent more time working on me and seeking out how I can bless others and make a difference in their lives, I wouldn’t have as much time to cast a critical eye on social media. Just a thought.
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