The Mystery that is Prayer

Feb2

I don’t fully understand how prayer works. We’ve been praying fervently for the daughter of a friend for more than a month now. She suffered severe consequences after the birth of her 7th child and was near death. Now, 34 days later, she is home and recovering.

But 9 years ago, we prayed fervently for the young teenaged son of another friend who had suffered a severe brain injury after being closed up in a sofa bed while playing around with his sister, and he didn’t make it.

Both had large groups of people praying fervently. What was the difference? Did God love one family more than another? Not at all! Was He on vacation 9 years ago? Ridiculous! But I asked some serious “why” questions after Mark died.

We are commanded to pray, and James says that the “fervent prayer of the righteous availeth much” (James 5:16). Just throwing out the fact that God is sovereign doesn’t bring much comfort to that family that lost a child.

When I miscarried our first child after years of trying to get pregnant, I questioned God. But I never doubted His love. I just didn’t understand His plan.

Job said, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:20).

Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego acknowledged that their God was able to save them from the fiery furnace, but even if He didn’t, they would still not worship the idol that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

When Jesus said some things that were hard for some to hear, they turned away and stopped following Jesus, When that happened, He said to His disciples, “you don’t want to go away, too, do you?” Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God” (Matt. 6:66-69).

He is the Holy One of God. He loves us more than we can ever imagine. The Bible promises us that He works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

We don’t doubt this, but, as C.S. Lewis wrote, sometimes we just wonder how painful that “good” is going to be. But through the hard times, painful though they be, we don’t leave, because He does, indeed, have words of eternal life. And He weeps along with us.

Heaven on Earth

Feb1

I don’t get many free days when I have absolutely nothing scheduled. I LOVE those days. Last Friday was one. The grocery shopping was done, the grading of papers was done. I didn’t even have to think about making dinner because I was going out on a date with my middle child and dinner was my husband’s responsibility.

So what was I going to do with my 5 free hours? Read a book? Watch a movie? Go shopping and spend my birthday gift cards? No. I decided to clean the house.

I don’t like to clean the house, but with three kids, a big dog, a cat, a husband and a mother in law living here (not that the last two are very messy, mind you), the task was long overdue.

So after everyone left the house for the day, I tuned our new Blu-Ray player to stream a Pandora worship station through our stereo, cranked it up, got out the vacuum cleaner and the dust rag and had a great time jamming to tunes lifting up the name of Jesus while clearing out the layers of dust that had accumulated since I had put away the Christmas stuff three weeks before. It hardly seemed like work.

God inhabits the praises of His people. Worship lifts my heart and renews my soul. When the kids got home, I wasn’t tired and grumpy from having been cleaning all morning, I was rested, refreshed and cheerful.

Oh, how I long for heaven, when worship will be our native tongue. Amen. Come quickly Lord Jesus.

Boys Will Be Boys

Jan31
I have two sons, and, from an early age, they were into weapons. No matter that Mom hates guns, boys will be boys, I was told, and even if I never let them have guns or watch shows on TV with guns, they would eat their toast into the shape of a gun and then pretend to shoot someone with it. 

What’s up with that? Image

In James 5, Jesus’ brother talks about the corruption, exploitation and, ultimately, the murder of the innocent by which some of the rich in that day were characterized. That was not just an example of boys being boys. It was considered evil. “The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.”

Speak for those who have no voice. Be a champion for the downtrodden (Proverbs 31:8). Do not promote violence, but promote peace (Matthew 5:9). How about a new saying: Boys will be like Jesus.

 

Dirty Dishes

Jan30

Does life sometimes get overwhelming? Is it because God has given us more than we can handle? I’d like to think it was His fault rather than mine, but since I believe the Bible is true, that can’t be the case because the Bible says He won’t give us more than we can handle.

So when, on top of everything else, I’m commanded to be holy as God is holy, and purify my mind and be worthy of my calling, I can feel overwhelmed. I just want to get the kitchen cleaned, for crying out loud, how am I then also supposed to cleanse my heart?

Just do the next thing. Spend time in His Word. Take time to worship. Stay in fellowship with other believers. Confess my sins not only to God, but to a close friend who can help build me up in my faith.  

Letting the dishes pile up in the sink doesn’t move me toward my goal of a clean kitchen. I have to take one plate at a time and deal with it. Letting the spiritual dishes pile up in my soul doesn’t move me toward godliness either. Get moving. One dish at a time.

Stapled Apples

Jan29

I was in a small group of moms a short time ago, studying together about parenting. Between us six women we had 22 kids ranging from college age to infant. One of the books we read together was Age of Opportunity by Paul David Tripp. There was an analogy in there that I will never forget.

Tripp talks about children behaving out of the heart. He gives an analogy about an apple tree in your yard. Every year it blooms and grows apples, but just before they are ready to be picked, the apples fall to the ground and rot. In order to fix the problem of not being able to enjoy delicious apples, you go to the store, buy a couple of bushels of apples and an industrial stapler, cut all the old apples off the tree and staple on the pretty red ones you just bought at the store. What a great idea, right?

Wrong. As Tripp said, the problem is more than a fruit problem; there is something fundamentally wrong with the tree. You have exchanged good fruit for bad fruit, but it won’t last, because the tree itself can’t produce good fruit.

One of my mantras has been: “You can’t legislate morality.” The Pharisees tried to do that. More laws didn’t save them. Only Jesus coming and giving His life to break the hold sin had on them changed them–but only if they let Him.

David and I don’t give our money to political causes: we give our money and our time and our very lives to helping change hearts. James 4:1 says wars and quarrels happen because we want what we want. Our hearts are dark. But Jesus is the Light. We don’t want to just staple apples on the tree: we want to be grafted in to the perfect root that will bring the most beautiful, delicious fruit. Change from the inside out.