Rabbit Trails

Rabbit trails.  They are the bane of my existence.  I have an inherent weakness for distraction that is going to be an obstacle to overcome as I memorize my way through Colossians.  I just can’t seem to avoid them as hard as I try.  Nevertheless, I find myself on one today.  Some days I see the path clearly, recognize the fruitlessness of heading in that direction and yet other times I am compelled even catapulted into going.  Today is one of those days.  Here I am wondering down the path of Job 3 and I am dragging you with me. 

Each year I start afresh reading through the Bible.  I have pretty much made this my practice since my salvation 18 years ago.  Don’t be impressed.  It is just a habit.  I am a victim to habitry (I made up a word).  Habits give me comfort.  Unfortunately not all my habits are good ones but this one is.  This year I am reading through three chapters a day.  I am starting with one from the history books (Genesis), one from the poetic books (Job) and one from the New Testament then continuing through to the end.  That is how I found myself on the rabbit trail of Job 3.

Job 3 has absolutely nothing to do with our Colossians project yet I feel compelled to write about it today.  I think writing is the way I thresh out my thoughts.  I have some thoughts about this verse today.  I am suspecting you will too.  Please feel free to comment.  This verse lends itself to discussion and I love, love, love spiritual discussions.

“Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?                                                             Job 3:23

Have you ever felt that way?  Light is a reoccurring concept in scripture.  Basically it refers to illuminating things, primarily spiritual things.   Job is wondering why God allows such understanding and illumination yet keeps our path hidden.  Doesn’t make sense does it?  Why give us light and revelation and hedge us in?  Kind of like God giving us a key that doesn’t open any doors.  Have you ever felt that way?  I have.  I am.   

As I thought about it this morning, I reflected on the full story of Job.  In reviewing the first two chapters I realized that Job didn’t know a lot of things.  He didn’t know about Satan, he didn’t know that there was a heavenly challenge going on and he didn’t know that he was the center of that challenge.  But there was something that I think Job didn’t fully realize either.  God was proud of Job.  He bragged about him to Satan.  He esteemed him as His servant.  And, He knew his faith could withstand the challenge. 

I think we can all take this truth personally.  Sometimes we go through stuff, hard stuff, stuff that makes no earthly sense and we utter the same kind of question to God.  Why give me light and make my way so hard?  Isn’t it supposed to be easy?  But then we read the first few chapters of Job because of our yearly habit and we are reminded. 

Perhaps God does this kind of thing with us.  Perhaps He sees us the same way He sees Job.  He is proud of us.  He esteems us as His servant and he knows that our faith will bear up under a challenge.   Then He releases that challenge and hedges us in.  We are stunned, shocked and left wondering.  ““Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in? “ 

God set out to prove Job’s faith genuine to the enemy but I think He wanted to prove it to Job also.  Job had no clue what was going on but he did end up with a deeper revelation of God (Job 42:5).  I think God desires to prove our faith genuine as well.  Perhaps its time to see things through the eyes of that faith.  Perhaps we need to start believing we are up for the challenge.  Perhaps a deeper revelation will follow. 

May this truth spiritually energize you today. 

         “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you;

                                                                        Job 42:5

Did I Say That?

Have you ever said something you haven’t thought of yet?

Have you ever done something you haven’t thought of yet?

You know what I mean. There you are just walking along living life and out of no where you say or do something that if you had thought about before hand you never would have done.

Not too long ago I was taking a class on the Prison Epistles at my church and we were studying different Pauline themes. One such theme was how the church is often referred to as a family. The teacher posed the question “what kind of attributes would you ascribe to a family?” Now given the fact that I have been serving in a counseling ministry for several years prior to this class and my own family history, I thought in my head without hesitation “dysfunction”. Much to my horror, the instructor turns to me and asked with eyebrows raised; “really Arlene, dysfunction?” As it turned out, it wasn’t just a thought in my head; it was a thought that I had given volume. Cue back peddling please. You can only imagine my embarrassment.

It wasn’t until several days later that I realized how stupid that remark was and the critical and bitter spirit it brought to that room. I started to wonder if I would ever get a handle over my mouth. I had no earthly intention on bringing that kind of negativity to that class but it just came out. What was wrong with me? I spiritually beat myself relentlessly and purposed to be more careful in the future.

We often hear the phrase in Christian circles “sin is sin”. While in the grand scope of things, this is true, Christ paid for all sin once and for all on the cross, I fear we miss out on the absolute measure of God’s love and grace when we adopt that mindset.

In scripture we see several different kinds of sin. We need go no further then Psalm 51 to search them out.

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” (v1-2 emphasis mine)

In these two short verses we see three kinds of sin mentioned. Let’s look at the general word for sin first. This word is most often used and it means basically missing the mark. This is where you set out to do things right but you kind of just miss it. It is like that acquaintance you have that just annoys you and you desperately want to get along with them. You try so hard to be kind but they just say that one thing that sends you over the edge and blah! You blurt out something that you know you shouldn’t. You have missed the mark. You tried but you just missed it.

Secondly, there is transgression. This could be defined as a willful deviation from righteousness. You might call it premeditated sin. You planned to do it. Let’s take the same scenario. There you are with that person again, only this time you have arrived with verbal ammunition. Your reaction to how this person acts is going to be on purpose. They do that thing again that sets you off and you just let them have it. You don’t hold back but let them know exactly what you think. You came prepared.

Thirdly, there is iniquity. This is defined as perversity or evil. Now this is more like you showing up at this same person’s house only not with just verbal ammunition but with the real deal, a loaded glock. They step over that line just once and bam!!!! It is over.

Why am I pointing out the distinctions between these words and there meanings; because Christ paid the penalty for all of these sins. That is where the popular phrase came about that all "sin is sin". But there is something even more amazing that I discovered about our sin.

“Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults.”
Psalm 19:12

Did you know that we have hidden sins? Do you know that we have sin that we don’t even know about? Have you ever said something that you hadn’t thought of yet? Have you ever done something that you just didn’t mean to do? It was the furthest thing from you mind. I want to encourage you today that God already knows about it and He has made provision for it.

“If a person sins and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD’s commands, even thought he does not know it, he is guilty and will be held responsible. He is to bring to the priest as a guilt offering a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value. In this way the priest will make atonement for him for the wrong has committed unintentionally, and he will be forgiven.” Lev 5:17-18 (emphasis mine)

Did you know that in the Old Testament, God made an allowance for unintentional sin? Did you know that Christ died to pay the penalty for all your sin? Whether it be the kind of sin that misses the mark, or comes about through premeditation, is blatantly evil or just plain old unintentional. Jesus has it covered. Can you accept that God is so determined to love you and to have a relationship with you that He has provided a way to cover anything that might separate you from Him? Do you live in that reality? Do you live in that kind of love that the Father has for you?

Old Testament scripture describes the covenant of love that God has for us. One of the definitions in the Hebrew for the word covenant is determination. God is determined to love us. He has designed a means to keep the way clear so that we can come to Him and He to us. He did this by sending His son to be that atoning sacrifice.

So the next time you sin and do something that you hadn’t thought of yet, know that God already knew that you were going to do it before you did and receive His grace and forgiveness. Open up your heart and allowed it to be filled with His covenant determined love for you and bask in His glorious goodness.

“But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God….because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”
Hebrews 10:12&14

I Miss Him

Have you ever caught yourself saying the same identical statement with an entirely different relevance attached to each? Or maybe you have been asked a question with two completely different meanings that left you scratching your head? Take these for example;

What do you think about the present? This question could have to do with such weighty issues as the economic crisis, the overturn of power in the House and Senate, the latest terrorist warnings or that awkward gift you got last Christmas.

What is your favorite season? You might hastily respond with all the attributes of your most favorite time of year while the inquirer was merely concerned with how least to offend your culinary palate.

How did your evening go? This could be a query regarding your prior night’s festivities or someone merely wondering if you managed to level out all the mulch they noticed had piled up in your flower beds.

Is Turkey your favorite? This time of year you are probably thinking of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday and all your favorite trimmings when in fact the asker was just wondering what your most beloved vacation destination is.

This kind of thing happened to me just the other day. I was talking to someone about the upcoming migration of college students off to their prospective Universities with my son being one of them and I confessed that I was a little upset about it. When they asked me why; I replied “because I miss him”. Even though he had not left yet, I was already contemplating the ache I would feel when he was gone. While I am happy for him that he is following his dream, I am sad because I knew it will be a hard transition and I was already missing him.

Fast forward to another discussion that very evening. I was sitting with some friends and we were musing over how time consuming the demands of ministry can be when I blurted out “I miss Him”. I realized that I had been spending so much time doing the work of the Lord that I had sacrificed the time that I was actually spending with Him. For years I had been very ill and since I couldn’t do much physically, I was able to devote huge blocks of time alone with Jesus. Now that I am more mobile and functioning at a much greater capacity of productivity, I found that that time had diminished considerably. I pondered whether that was what was supposed to be or have I gotten drawn into a life of business that wasn’t what was best for me?

The account of Mary and Martha, found in Luke 10:38-42, resonated new meaning to my present situation. Was Luke warning us in that narrative of the danger of getting too involved in doing for the Lord that we forget about the vitality of receiving from Him? Am I allowing Jesus to minister to me so that I may minister to others? Am I allowing Him the access He needs to my life so He can do that?

I remember reading a book many years ago that talked about spending quality time with your children. The author went on to explain that it was vital that we make that time with our children in order to nurture them and cultivate a life of character. I was provoked by the author’s next words; he noted that you can’t have quality time without quantity of time. In this day of instant everything, have I relegated my spiritual life to a certain time frame and then I need to move onto the next thing or do I sit and wait until I have been ministered to and then I move. Have I forgotten that God is the one who gave me the work to do in the first place and He is well aware of the time constraints that it brings? Have I chosen the “one thing that is needed”? I don’t know.

While I can’t do a whole lot about my son heading off to college, I will dearly miss him, I can make it my purpose to cut out some things in my life that are just wasting time to make room for Jesus. If I am expecting a quality connection where I recognize and enjoy a vital relationship with Him, then I am going to have to make time, quality time. And as I previously pointed out, I can’t have quality time without quantity of time.

“But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31

The Perfect Pursuit

I have some strong tendencies; others might categorize them as mild compulsions while still others blatant obsessions. I guess that distinction would lie in the relative proximity of their relationship with me. Those that are up front and close fall victim to these tendencies most often and have graduated from the “that is so cute” to the “you are out of control sister” mindset. I am working on tempering these inclinations for that last group.

As I sit here writing this post, I need only glance above the screen of my laptop to realize I am about to have a serious encounter with this particular disposition. I can’t help but notice that our television, which my husband had been working on the other night, was blatantly off center on its stand. Now mind you, I recognized this serious breech of decorative malfeasance the other morning and since I am working on my “tendencies”, I decided to exercise restraint and wait until someone else became aware of the obvious faux pas and rectify it. Well that was five and a half days ago; I can’t help wondering if there is a grave problem with the members in this house. I mean, seriously, am I the only one who sees how wrong this is? Can’t they see how important it is for the television to be sitting right in the middle of the table?!

Perhaps you have already been able to pin point my struggle. Hello, my name is Arlene and I am a perfectionist. I don’t mean to be that way and I can’t even isolate where this penchant for the perfect was birthed. But it seems to have escalated over the years to a full blown affinity to order. Doesn’t everyone live the credo “there is a place for every thing and everything belongs in its place”? No? Really?

Aside from the current pending issue I am well on the way to perfectionism temperance though admittedly I do encounter lapses now and again. Ok more now then again. I confess my motivation to moderation wasn’t due to the fact that I was driving those dear to me over the edge but I discovered that this proclivity for excellence doesn’t entirely line up with the Word of God.

Early on in my walk, I stumbled on the verse “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). You probably have figured out that that verse and my obsession was a disaster waiting to happen, the nucleic proportion kind, and it did. I self destructed. At that time, I didn’t understand the elementary basics of applying scripture with scripture. I hadn’t understood that while this verse describes the standard of righteousness, this standard can never be perfectly met by man himself, a person who by faith trusts in God enjoys God’s righteousness being reproduced in his life.

The Psalmist understood this when he wrote “To all perfection I see a limit; but your commands are boundless” (Psalm 119:96). I wonder if he had tendencies also. It would seem that he realized that all his ability to be perfect could never match up to the mighty righteousness of God. I think we might have had something in common.

In my desire to be free from this bondage of perfection I learned something stunning. God is not moved by my imperfections after all. In fact, if scripture holds true, and I believe that it does, He already sees me as perfect. The Song of Solomon reads “but my dove, my perfect one, is unique.” (6:9) I love that verse because my whole life I have been described as different, somehow it never felt like a compliment, but I rather like God’s terminology instead…unique. A girl could get use to that especially when it sits next to “perfect”.

But there is more. Not only does God see me as perfect, but He makes my way perfect. “It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.” (Psalm 18:31). “The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me.” (Psalm 138:8 KJV) To my understanding it would seem that God has decided to take up my pursuit of perfection and carry it out on my behalf. Don’t you find that utterly amazing?

However, there is something that I do need to do and that is “aim for perfection” (2 Corinthians 13:11). You see I stand in the righteousness of God because of what Christ did on the cross but that doesn’t negate my responsibility to work out that righteousness in my life. While I am in perfect standing before God that perfection is being worked out tangibly as I walk by faith with Him. Righteous perfection will never be attained but I am commanded to pursue it.

I think I can do that. To aim for something doesn’t mean that you necessarily have to hit the mark, it just means your trying to. I think that makes God happy. I think He likes it when want to please Him. I think our faith attempts are what count and not whether we actually hit the bull’s eye. I am content to live with that and even as I finish this post I am going to purpose to make it my pursuit to aim for better and not get crazed over the failed attempts. Yeah I think that will be my new focus. That is definitely what I will do!

As soon as I straighten the T.V..

“Faith is the courage to accept acceptance, to accept that God loves me as I am and not as I should be, because I’m never going to be as I should be.”
Paul Tillich

Could You Do Me A Favor?

Could you do me a favor?

Have you ever asked anyone that question? Has anyone ever asked a favor of you? Chances are the answer to both of those questions would be a resounding “yes”.

I have this one relationship in my life whose history is marked by favors. Over the years we have watched each others kids, ran each others errands and spent more then one phone call listening to each others struggles. What makes this single relationship different from most others is that we have come to a place where there is less inquiring and more aspiring. Our relationship is increasingly characterized as one that looks for premeditated opportunities to help each other out. We look to do favors for each other on purpose before the other even thinks to ask. As I write this I confess that she is much better at it then me. I am still an apprentice.

In my study of Ezra I learned something really interesting about this man’s relationship with God. Six times I saw “the gracious hand of God was on him” within the pages of this book. In Biblical terminology, graciousness of God would be interchangeable with the favor of God. I couldn’t help but wonder what was it about this man that allowed him to walk in the kind of favor that I saw described in this book. I need go no further then Ezra 7:9c-10.

“the gracious hand of his God was on him. For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the law of the LORD, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel.” (emphasis mine)

Ezra devoted or gave his whole heart and soul, to not only studying God’s law but also to doing and teaching it. I don’t think what drove Ezra to this kind of Bible study and radical level of obedience was so much a sense of duty but an overflowing love for God. I can’t help but wonder if there is a direct correlation between the favor that I walk in with God and my whole hearted devotion to these same things.

I believe Ezra enjoyed a radical relationship with God (he is referred as the second Moses in Jewish synagogues) because of his wholehearted desire to know and love God through His word. Because of that priority God was able to pour out favor upon favor in his life. Maybe the same things that afforded Ezra that kind of favor are identical for me as well. While I know that in Christ I am a favored child of God, is there more that I can have in Him? As I dive head first into the scriptures and learn about who my God is and not merely reading the word but doing it, might I bask in that same kind of favor Ezra had too? Could it be about cultivating a deep and satisfying relationship with God through His Word that I am after? Is that what I need to live in the gracious hand of favor of God?

Maybe it is kind of like the relationship I have with my friend. Over the years we have spent a considerable amount of time getting to know and love each other. I would like to say it was all blossoms and sunshine but a tried and true friendship rarely is. But I think because we have opted to understand and love through those difficult times we can now enjoy the security where we don’t need to ask each other for a favor, we already have it. Not all of my friendships are characterized in this manner. This one is truly special and greatly cherished at least on my end. I think that is what God desires to have with each one of us as well; a relationship of pure devotion. As I write this my heart swells with gratitude for my God and this friend He has given me. I think I feel a premeditated favor coming on.

“The Lord confides in those who fear him, he makes his covenant known to them.”
Psalm 25:14

"You Want A Piece of Me"

“You want a piece of me?”

What comes to mind when you hear this figure of speech? I am sure it didn’t take you long to conclude that someone is about to engage in a fight.
Or how about these familiar examples:
- “It’s raining cats and dogs” (raining intensely)
- “I will give you a piece of my mind” (stating a frank opinion)
- “I got your back” (rarely refers to an actual possession of someone’s spine)
- “Break a leg” (Good luck)
These are all figures of speech that are meant to bring emphasis to the literal thought. These are not literal but figurative.

“You want a piece of me?”

My question to you today is, can you think of an instance where this phrase should be part of our Christian vernacular literally and not figuratively? While we are called to a life of love, can you think of a time when we will have to engage in a fight?

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.” 2 Corinthians 10: 3

This scripture is referring to the battle that we wage against the enemy of our souls who is continuously harassing and provoking us to doubt God and turn from Him. But notice we do not wage war the way the world does.

“The weapons we fight with are not weapons of the world. On the contrary they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:4-4-5 (emphasis mine)

Interesting that word knowledge…there are two words from the Greek that are translated in the New Testament as “knowledge” that I want to bring to your attention. The first one is gnosis . This is a word for general knowledge or pieces of knowledge. The second word is epignosis. This word is the same word only intensified. It refers to a fuller knowledge of something specific. In other words, epignosis is an accumulation of pieces of gnosis. While epignosis is full and perfect knowledge of God, gnosis are the pieces that we already know.

So here is where it gets exciting. The word for knowledge that we find in 2 Corinthians 10:5 is gnosis or pieces of knowledge. When the enemy is raging against us, we don’t need to know everything about God and His Word, we just need to know a piece of it for victory. The more pieces we have in our arsenal the more victorious we will be. These pieces are scripture. How about we try out a couple:

“’no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me.’ declares the LORD.”
Isaiah 54:17

“In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered by setting me free. The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? The LORD is with me; he is my helper, I will look in triumph on my enemies.”
Psalm 118:5-7

“What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”
Romans 8:31-32

Say them out loud…don’t you feel tough. God has given us everything we need to walk a victorious life in Christ but we are going to have to use our weapons of warfare to achieve it. I want to encourage you today, when the enemy comes after you with all manor of harassment, why not step up with the response “you want a piece of me?” Why not bombard Him with the “pieces” of scripture you know literally? Then stand back and enjoy the victory.

Unexpected Delight

What kinds of things bring you delight? Pause for a moment and try to recall the last time you felt sheer joy. Was it with a person? Was it a circumstance? Was it an unexpected surprise? Was it an event? When was the last time you felt pure delight and what was was the catalyst that precipitated it?

The Apostle Paul, who wrote a respectable portion of the New Testament, tells us what he delighted in.
“….I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.” (2 Corinthians 12:10)

I can’t help but wonder, were any of these things on your list? When was the last time you were thrilled about feeling weak and not up to a task? How about insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties, do you find yourself rejoicing when faced with those kinds of things?

Paul’s bold assertions came from something that he understood and experienced that we as New Testament believers often miss.
“But he (God) said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness,’” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Paul knew that God’s power was never more evident in His life then when he was weak. In the age we live in, strength is usually equated with power. The stronger you are physically or financially the more power you wield. Sometimes I think that mentality seeps its way into the mindset of the church. We get frustrated with our inadequacies and weaknesses when those are the very things that God will work through. We tend to yield to our strengths and what is comfortable rather then stepping out in the areas we are less proficient. Can you imagine the power that we could generate if we stepped out in the kind of faith that actually believed that God could work through our weaknesses?

Do any of these weaknesses resonate with you?
I am not smart enough. My grace is sufficient!
I am not gifted enough. My grace is sufficient!
I am physically too ill to serve God. My grace is sufficient!
My husband is Jewish and not saved. My grace is sufficient!
I have a wretched past. My grace is sufficient!

Every one of those rebuttals was verbalized by my very own mouth at some point in my walk with Christ. I have found countless excuses not to step out in faith and to walk in what He could do because I was blinded by my own distorted perception of what God’s definition of weak is. Paul, however, was very clear about it.

“For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 1 Corinthians 12:10b)

Paul understood that when he was serving Christ, God would provide Him with what He needed. So much so that he boasted “ all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9b)

Do you have a desire to sense the power of God working in your life? Then I propose that you give Him your weakness and ask Him to pour His power in them. Ask Him to show you how to use the things that you feel weak in for His glory. By the authority of His written word, that is a prayer that He will answer. And you, my friend, get yourself ready, because you have just set yourself up to experience an out pouring of pure delight.

God comes in where my helplessness begins.
Oswald Chambers

"Daddy Could You Fix This?"

“Daddy could you fix this?” were the words my young son blurted out to his father after dinner one night.

It was many years ago and he couldn’t have been more then eight but I remember it vividly. It wasn’t the question that stood out but the attitude in the asking. After expressing his need, he confidently went about his business with the full assurance that it would be done.

What was his request? After declaring that his remote control for his video game was broken he was asking his father to fix it. When his dad replied that he didn’t know how, my son confidently replied “just take it apart and put it back together.”

You can’t really picture the humor of this request unless you know my husband. While he is very gifted in many areas in his life, taking things apart and putting them back together is not his forte.

After my son ran off, my husband turned to me with a look of astonishment mingled with frustration on his face and said “Does he really think I can do that?”

My reply came simply “Aren’t you glad that he believes that you can?”

I think that this is the way we are to approach our heavenly father. We sometimes come to Him in prayer thinking that we are supposed to know the ‘how’ to the answer. While much confidence can come from knowing God’s will in a matter and praying it through, I think the peace that passes all understanding that is meant to happen when we pray, comes from firmly knowing to whom we are asking it of and not the how of it being accomplished.

"Daddy could you fix this?"

In the book of Job, we find a man who endured great suffering. Much of the book he spends defending his righteousness before his friends. It is in chapter 38 that God comes to Job and speaks to him. Now you would think that He comes to him speaking kind, compassionate gentle words. You be the judge by reading the opening verses,

“Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said: ‘Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’” (Job 38:1-2)

God begins to challenge Job’s meager wisdom and overwhelms him with His majesty and mystery with questions like:
- “Where were you when I laid the earths’ foundation?” (38:4)
- “Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb?” (38:8)
- “Have you ever given orders to the morning and shown the dawn its place” (38:12)
- “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail” (38:22)
- “Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion?” (38:31)
- “Do you send the lightening bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?” (38:35)

Job chapters 38-41 are compelling reading if one finds themselves in need a spiritual attitude adjustment. No chapters of scripture put me in a posture of humility as quickly as these do while at the same time reviving my holy reverence for God. After God’s firm rebuke, Job replies “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted…Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.” Job 42:1-3

I believe that is the attitude that God can show Himself mightily through. We don’t need to know how God is going to answer something, just that He can. I wonder if our limited answers in prayer come from our limited perception of who we believe Him to be.

"Daddy could you fix this?"

My son had no idea how his dad would fix that remote control but he certainly had confidence in the one he was asking. When we come to God we don’t need to know how He is going to take care of the matter just that He can.

“The ability of God is beyond our prayers, beyond our largest prayers! I have been thinking of some of the petitions that have entered into my supplication innumerable times. What have I asked for? I have asked for a cupful, and the ocean remains! I have asked for a sunbeam, and the sun abides? My best asking falls immeasurably short of my Father’s giving; it is beyond that we can ask.”
John Henry Jowett

People Mover

I wonder if you are familiar with the ‘Peoplemover’. The ‘Peoplemover’ was an attraction located in the Tomorrowland section of Disneyland. Its allure was found in the opportunity to sit down, relax, take a ride around Tomorrowland and get a break from the congestion and crowds while enjoying a bird’s eye view of the park.

Sadly, the ‘Peoplemover’ was shut down in 1995. Apparently, the management at Disneyland felt people didn’t want to be moved anymore. But as these things go there was deep unrest about this decision. A group of ‘Peoplemover’ fans actually came together and formed a website called ‘People for the Peoplemover’. There you can sign a petition to restore this attraction as well as learn all kinds of interesting facts.

In studying the first chapter of Ezra, I came to understand this burning desire for the ‘peoplemover’ crowd to achieve their goal. There is a genuine appeal, in this time that we live in filled with stresses and pressures, to just sit back and let someone else do the driving. I propose to you today that our God is the original ‘Peoplemover’ and maybe we should allow Him the opportunity to take the wheel of this ride we are on called life.

In Ezra 1 we see three examples of God’s people moving skills. In verse 1:1 we read;

“In the first year of Cyrus King of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus King of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it into writing.”

Did you notice that God moved a heart of a worldly king? This tells me that God is a people mover with authorities that govern us whether it be in our country, our workplaces, our homes. God can move the hearts of Kings even if they aren’t following Him.

We also see;
“Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites – everyone whose heart God had moved – prepared to go up and build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem” Ezra 1:5

It would seem that God is the one who stirs His people as well. Not only can God move the hearts of Kings but He is perfectly capable of stirring the hearts of His people to action also.

Lastly;
“All their neighbors assisted them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings.” Ezra 1:6

God can direct peoples hearts to want to help you whether they are within the faith or not (some commentaries aren’t clear who the neighbors were). If your cause is His cause, there isn’t anything to prevent the supply that you need.

We see by looking at Ezra that God is the sovereign people mover. He is able to move the heart of a king, stir the hearts of His people and call on neighbors to assist you. I wonder if anyone is in dire need of a skilled people mover.

Maybe you have been seeking employment for what seems like forever and you need God to move the heart of an employer to your benefit. Or perhaps, you are in a situation where you could use a little help. Maybe you are currently overworked and can use for God to stir some hearts to come along side and assist you. Or maybe you are just sitting there wondering where the money is going to come from for the pile of bills that you are faced with for no other reason then a downturned economy. According to Ezra, God can change all of these situations by moving people.

So then you ask, why hasn’t He? My heart is deeply encouraged as I look at how God relates with His people. He is ever watchful of their need and is mindful of what He has in store for them. All three of these situations revealed to us in the first chapter of Ezra came about because God said it was time. What transpired in this chapter was a fulfillment of prophecy. God is all about timing in our lives as well. Read Ephesians 1:11-12;

“In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.”

Whether it be a King, His people, or provision, God is working it out and we can trust that He will show up at the perfect time. Maybe He isn’t overlooking your estate but it just isn’t time yet. In this fast paced world we live in we always think the time should be now when God is saying not yet. Trust Him. He is working it out.

In case you were in despair about the close of the ‘Peoplemover’ in Disneyland, you will be happy to know its return is imminent. I have just received information that a formal announcement will be made next week regarding the return of this attraction. It seems that the powers that be at Disneyland realized that there is a real need for people to be moved after all. Hmmm.

Mountain Climbing

“I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ’Move from here to there’ and it will move.”
Matt 17: 20b

Last weekend I and my husband celebrated our twenty-eighth wedding anniversary. While it wasn’t as pivotal as these milestones usually dictate, we still felt we were in dire need of a celebration. The sheer grit and determination to stay together all these years in a culture that screams the mantra “if something is hard or worn out, get rid of it” deserved some recognition. I can assure you, we have survived more then our fair share of hard times followed by seasons of just being plain old worn out with each other.

We decided to celebrate by doing something that we used to do many years ago when we were dating…we went mountain climbing. Not the kind that you need climbing ropes and pulleys, but rather steep trails that wove their way through the woods to the top. The work was hard but when we got to the summit the view was so magnificent that it made the strain of the climb well worth it. This past weekend, we both became consumed with desire to re-visit this avenue of our lives. For him, I think he wanted to reclaim part of his youth but for me it was a different matter. Climbing a mountain had a spiritual significance to me. In a prior post, I mentioned that several years ago I was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease that at first left me bed ridden unable to walk then barely able, for the better part of a year, to lead any kind of a normal life. I had come face to face with a mountain.

I wonder if you are currently facing a mountain in your life. Is there something that you are dealing with that just won’t seem to get out of your way? What would you characterize as your mountain?

The verse for today’s devotional tells us that if we have faith the size of a mustard seed that we can just speak to the mountain and it has to move. I wonder if you can relate to the following experience. I speak to one mountain and it moves but I speak to another mountain and it doesn’t seem to budge. What gives? Obviously I had mustard seed sized faith if I was able to move the one so why not the other.

I think the prophet Habakkuk might be able to shed some light on this for us.

“The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights”. Hab 3:19

Could it be that some mountains are meant to be moved and others are meant to be climbed?

I think God knows the exhilaration it brings us when we conquer mountains. The journey cultivates in us a strength and resolve that we didn’t even know we had. God knows when it would be better for us to get a mountain under our feet and when it is best to remove it. As Habakkuk trusted in the sovereignty of God, we can too.

As I meditated on this concept, I was reminded of the apparent differences yet total consistency between the Old Testament and the New Testament. What the Old Testament portrays in a physical sense the New Testament parallels in a spiritual sense. For example, in the Old Testament, the Israelites wandered in a physical desert while we as New Testament Christians find ourselves in spiritual deserts. In the Old Testament the Israelites had physical manna while we as New Testament believers, have spiritual manna. So in keeping with the parallel, while in the Old Testament there were physical mountains to be conquered, in the New Testament we have spiritual mountains.

I eventually found myself researching Old Testament passages on mountains and what I found was the kind of thing that sets your heart racing. Over and over, I discovered that God was on the mountain. You will find more then several references to the “mountain of the Lord” or the “mountain of God”. In keeping with the parallel, if God has called you to climb a mountain as a New Testament Christian, you can take comfort that He is all over that mountain.

What kind of mountain are you facing today? Is it an illness like me or maybe it has to do with your financial situation? Perhaps you have a relationship issue or maybe a mountain of responsibility that is overwhelming you. Take courage that you are not alone. Rest assured if God is inviting you to climb, He will be on your mountain. He will faithfully watch your every step, encouraging you when you feel weak and applauding your progress as you "go on the heights".

While I still struggle with this disease, I feel as if that mountain of infirmity is under my feet. This past weekend I felt the overwhelming need to prove it in a physical sense by putting on hiking boots and climbing. Near the end of our climb I confess I was overwrought with pain (No one knew, I have learned to deal with the recurring bouts of pain in silence. I hate to see people discouraged for me). I confess I was ready to bag it when the leader of our party of four decided to take a different trail then the one we were on. It was called Victory Trail. Jesus was on my mountain. I finished that climb that day and though every part of me ached, I was exhilarated with the victory.

What spiritual mountain in your life are you sensing needs to be climbed? Why not grab your hiking boots and backpack and go for it. Remember that if God is asking you to climb the mountain, He is on it. When you get to the top, Jesus will be waiting; He will put His arms around you; give you a drink of living water and whisper in your ear “I am so proud of you. Well done!”


“The Sovereign Lord is my strength, my personal bravery, my invincible army. He makes me to walk, not stand in terror but to walk on my spiritual high places of pain, suffering and responsibility." Hab 3:19 AMP





In case you are overly impressed with me spiritually. It wasn’t only my love for God that motivated me to finish the climb. Our friend and trail leader mentioned to me, just about the time I was ready to give up, that we would be stopping for pie afterward. Nothing on this planet aside from the Lord Jesus could have motivated me more at that moment. Truth be told we did get the pie. Can you get over the lavishness of God!!! Look at the size of that thing.

Fill Her Up

The most bizarre thing happened last night. On our way out to meet some family members for dinner we stopped at a gas station to fill our tank. The peculiar thing was no one could get the cap to the tank off. (I am wondering, has anyone ever heard of this kind of thing happening? It was just so strange.) We labored for quite a while and rather then be late for our dinner we decided to chance it and take care of this calamity the next day. We kept thinking how fortunate we were that we didn’t wait until the gauge was on E before we stopped. Notice that I said “we”, and not me. I am not nearly as careful about these details. I guess you might say I like living on the edge, at least where my gas tank is concerned. Note to those who don’t know me that well …getting gas is one of my least favorite things.

After service today, I was in the foyer talking to a sister in the Lord and we were commenting on how much we have missed Women’s Bible Study since we have broken for the summer. I was mentioning my longing for the love and fellowship that we enjoy during that time and I felt somewhat drained spiritually without it. We were commiserating about how we were both looking forward to starting up again.

Leave it to me to take a practical daily event in my life and find a spiritual application. These two un-seemingly related events turned exactly into one of those teachable experiences. Since starting to blog, I have a new eye on life. Where the bizarre and peculiar set backs on any given day used to cause me all manner of frustrations, I now embrace them with a fresh enthusiasm as “cool, a bloggable moment”. My broken gas cap became one of those moments.

As I thought about my quarter filled tank in my car I couldn’t help but be reminded about the very words that I had spoken that morning regarding my feeling spiritually empty. I was so glad that we found out about our gas cap situation before we were empty of gas. Wouldn’t that have been wise if I had done that spiritually rather then allow myself to go to E ? Wouldn’t it be cool if we had some kind of gauge that would tell us when we were getting low spiritually before it was too late? Then we would know right away when it was time to “fill her up”. I would lean towards a loud screaming siren then a little flashing light on my dashboard though. But that’s just me.

So I ask you today is anyone running on fumes and looking for the next gas station, I mean Women’s Bible Study. Come meet with us at Monmouth Worship Center as we study Ezra and Nehemiah starting September 14th.

You can check us out at mwcwbstudy.blogspot.com

For those of you who like to know how things turn out. My husband, my hero of the day, was able to wedge the cap off temporarily until we can replace the needed part. You will be happy to know that my tank is filled to the top!!!

Even If He Doesn't

“Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the King, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O King. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O King, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.’” Daniel 3:16-18 (emphasis mine)

A few days ago, I was reminded of this verse. I was sitting with some mighty women of prayer and we were pondering why God hasn’t moved in certain areas in the lives of those we love and pray for even though we know it would be in His divine nature to do so. It was then I remembered this scripture.

At times I find myself having to purposely bring to forefront of my thinking a special kind of faith that I, and I imagine a whole contingency of Christians, neglect. I call it the “even if He doesn’t” kind of faith. In our verse today, you see Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego boldly declare their faith in what God could do, they were confident that he was able to save and rescue them from the hand of Nebuchadnezzar who was about to have them thrown into a blazing furnace.

I find myself in that camp on some days. I am bold in my faith and what I believe and I am certain that He will deliver me. Then there are the days, like today, where I falter in that same faith. It is then that I need to ask myself, “Arlene what if He doesn’t, will you still follow Him?” Can I declare as the three men in this verse did that no matter what danger I am faced with, I will?

I struggle with an auto-immune disease that there is no cure for other then the intervening hand of God. I deal with pain and stiffness every day of my life and some days are far worse then others. Today is one of those days. I firmly believe that we have a God who heals. I have not wavered on that point since I first came to Christ. I was very bold in my assertions in my early days of walking with the Lord. Then came the diagnosis. That was when I learned that you have no idea what you believe until you are forced to believe it. When you are plagued with something that there is no known cure for and the only thing you have to lean on is God, that is when you know what you truly believe. It was really easy to believe God for a headache when I have 4 kinds of pain relievers in my medicine cabinet. It was even easier to believe God for the nasty cold I got a while back when the doctor told me it would run its course. The tricky part about trusting God for healing is when there is no back up plan.

I have fallen into the two extremes that I think most Christians fall into when the need for healing arises. One is that there must be sin in your life. My initial reaction when something negative shows up is to spend a time in self absorbed introspective character assassination to try to find what I did wrong to bring this difficulty in my life. Can you relate? Still worse, if the Holy Spirit doesn’t show me something, I will make it up.

The other extreme is that I start to question whether I do believe that God heals. I don’t know how to communicate this in writing but I really think I do. My husband, after falling through a roof on a missions trip, was told that he would definitely need surgery on his knee and he would probably not be able to run (which he loves) again. All I can say is I just didn’t believe it. I point blank told him not to believe the need for surgery as well. To be honest, his faith was more in the “I have to have surgery on my knee” camp. Truth be told he didn’t need the surgery and is running again one year later. You can see my frustration.

If I have faith to believe for my husbands healing and see it manifested in his life even though he didn’t believe, why don’t I see that same healing in mine? In our human nature, I think we like things to be either black or white. We don’t do well in the grey areas of life. We like to have a reason for something when it happens. As I already pointed out, we Christians tend to fall into two different camps, the first being un-confessed sin and the other not having enough faith.

But what if there is a third option? What if it does have to do with our faith? What if there is the “even if He doesn’t” option? Would we still follow God if He doesn’t bring the outcome that we expect for something we are believing Him for? Is it wrong to believe in an outcome rather then in Him? It is only when I face these days of pain and discouragement that I am confronted with the question “Am I following God because I love the gift or the giver of the gift”. “Do I love God for what He can do for me or do I just love Him?”

Last night as I lay in bed trying to fall asleep in spite of my throbbing joints, I purposed my mind to meditate on all that He has done for me since I gave my life to Him 14 years ago. I found myself thankful that the days of depression and hopelessness that consumed my life since I was a young child were part of my history and not my destiny. Instead He has given me hope and joy in His presence. While in the past, I might have been discouraged in the agony of the moment, last night I was able to say with a certainty I hadn’t felt before “Even if he doesn’t I will still follow Him”.

Maybe that is the kind of faith that truly glorifies God and causes the watching world to take notice. Maybe that is what God is after, in all our lives, with whatever we struggle in. When God doesn’t seem to answer your prayer could you find comfort in the “even if He doesn’t” walk of faith? Can you put your trust in a God who loves you rather then in an outcome? Can you just love Him because He loved you first?

Holy Determination

I am an awful person. I am a betrayer of the worst kind; the quintessential Judas. I came with a kiss whose sole purpose was to exploit my victim’s trust so I could hand her over to her enemies. Who is this unsuspecting recipient of such contemptible malfeasance? That would be my dog.

This past week we found a growth in my dog’s mouth that needed to be looked at by our vet. This is a bit of a problem since she is terrified of the doctor and there is no way they are going to be looking in her mouth without heavy sedation; either theirs or hers. My Avalanche is the sweetest dog in the world but put her in the same room as a veterinarian and there is no telling what kind of mayhem might unfold.

While I am concerned about the growth and the anesthesia she will be under, the thing that is tearing at my heart is her sitting there all day terrified of what is happening and wondering why I have done this to her. I lured her with her “favorite thing”,which admittedly for a dog could be almost anything, but in this case was a ride in the car, to bring her to her least “favorite thing” the vet. How will she ever trust me after this?

Many years ago, this wouldn’t have bothered me as much. Our relationship was somewhat detached. We had just gotten her as a puppy and since she is an Alaskan malamute, she was never really puppy sized. I had just been diagnosed with an auto-immune disease and was in the thick of unrelenting flare-ups. She was forever a challenge between training her, amusing her and keeping her out of trouble amidst my throbbing joints.

One day, around that time, I was teaching my son about how much God loves us. In Deuteronomy 7:9, God says that he has a “covenant of love” with us. The word for covenant in the Hebrew actually means determination. I explained to my son that God is determined to love us. Not a minute after that my dog did her business on the floor right in front of us. I was beside myself. I put her outside, slammed the door and proceeded to clean up the mess. As I was mulling over the temporary insanity that I must have been under to agree to get this “puppy”, when from behind I heard my son say “Mommy, you are not very determined to love Avalanche.” Leave it to God to use a child to speak the truth that plainly.

Those words from my son rang conviction in my heart that day and I knew that I needed to live out what I was teaching. It was time for me to stop allowing how I feel at the moment to dictate how I acted. The apostle John tells us to love with action and with truth. (1 John 3:18) We love by doing and my attitude needed to change about my doing. I set out to love Avalanche and after more then a few wrestling matches over the years between her will and mine she has just overtaken my heart and I her’s.

Like Avalanche, I have had many wrestling matches with God. So many times I have wanted to go my own way but God in His determined love refused to give in to what was less then His finest plan for me. I have been difficult and rebellious but He never diverted from doing what was best because of His love. But you know what I think, those wrestling matches, which He always won I might add, deepened my love for Him and my trust in Him has grown.

Today was a wrestling match with Avalanche, it took a lot of physical effort to get her into the examining room but I know that this is what is best for her. I love her too much not to keep wrestling. God knows what is best for me too even if it isn’t my most “favorite thing”.

Is there someone that you need to determine to love today?

“You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; and just so you learn to love God and man by loving. Begin as a mere apprentice, and the very power of love will lead you on to become a master of the art.”
Saint Francis of Sales.

The couch "my favorite thing" !