LIVING UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES OR ABOVE THEM?

This is the start of the third week of social distancing, thanks to Covid 19.  How are you coping with this forced distance from family, friends and co-workers?  I don’t know about you, but I’ve had good days and bad days.  

I had a day last week that was tough.  I’m almost ashamed to tell about it because I am NOT a doctor or nurse on the front lines of caring for the sick and praying I stay well while doing it. That’s tough!  I’m not out of a job because the business that employs me had to shut down.  That’s tough. I’m not grieving over the loss of a loved one to this virus. That’s tough.  No.  I was just having a hard time being in, staying motivated, and finding something productive to do.  I’m embarrassed to admit it, but there it is. 

I can say though that that day really was an exception.  What has occupied more of my time than usual lately and has kept me grounded, at rest and without fear, has been the reading of God’s Word.  I’ve been reading in the Psalms and also in the gospel of John.  We’re doing a 21 day prayer focus in our church too, with a devotional video from our pastor on John’s gospel and a prayer emphasis to focus on that day.  

As I’m reading God’s Word, it has been a longtime practice of mine wherever I’m reading, to look specifically for the words the writer uses to describe God, and to write the words in the margin of my Bible, and then to use those very words to worship God in prayer.  

This week I read these things about God from the Psalms:

He is Judge

Deliverer

Defender

Merciful

Powerful

Our strength

He hears our prayers

He attends to our voice

Rock

Strong tower

Savior

Salvation

The Lord of Hosts (Captain of heaven’s armies)

He rules

And from John’s gospel:

He is Messiah

The Christ

The Source of Living Water

Lord of the Harvest

Sovereign over Creation (turning water into wine)

Healer (with just a word and at a distance)

Lord of the Sabbath

Giver of life

The Son of Man

Sovereign over Creation (feeding 5000)

The Bread of Heaven (who gives life to the world)

The Great I AM

The One Who satisfies spiritual hunger and thirst

The Resurrection

Seeker of the Father’s glory

Giver of the Holy Spirit

A number of years ago a good friend was going through a horrific family situation that threw them into confusion and despair.  One day I asked her how she was doing and she replied:  Okay, under the circumstances.  

She didn’t look upset at all, rather she looked calm and confident in the Lord.  I remember thinking, I know why she’s so calm.  It’s because she really isn’t living UNDER the circumstances, she’s living ABOVE them!

These are days when we could easily live under our circumstances.  We could let fear, uncertainty, what if’s, losses, anxiety, depression push us down so that we can barely get out of bed in the morning.  

Or, we can look at who God is and be lifted up.  Who is this God of ours?

Our God is powerful.  He’s the One for whom NOTHING is impossible!  He is our Healer and Deliverer.

Our God hears our prayers and is attentive to us.  When Jesus prayed, He said, “Father, I know you always hear me.”  He hears us too, always!

When we’re afraid, He is our Rock and our Strong Tower.  We can run to Him because He can’t be shaken and He never changes.

He’s our Savior and our Salvation.  He did for us in Jesus what we never could have done – made us acceptable, righteous, and forgiven in the eyes of God so that no matter what happens, we don’t have to fear the future.  We KNOW Jesus waits for us there and we will see Him face to face.

He is Israel’s long-awaited Messiah.  From Genesis to Revelation He has been God’s plan and the Scriptures testify that He is the fulfillment of all God’s promises to Israel and to all who believe.

He is the Bread of Life and the Source of Living Water.  All who come to Him can be sure they will never be spiritually hungry or thirsty, but completely satisfied in Jesus.

He is Sovereign over His Creation.  Is He the source of the Coronavirus?  No.  The fall of Adam and Eve affected creation as well, bringing sickness, disease, floods, famines, tornadoes, weeds, and all those things that mar creation.  However, God has allowed the Coronavirus – for our good and His glory – that you and I might see our need of Him and seek and worship Him and make Him known.

We can’t fail to be lifted up ABOVE our circumstances in the light of Who God is and what He has done.

I had a tough day last week, and I’m sure other tough days might lie ahead.  But when I feel weighed down UNDER my circumstances, I’m going to look into God’s Word, I’m going to look for God’s names and His attributes, and I’m going to dwell on Him and His majesty and greatness instead.

I hope you will too.

My soul, wait silently for God alone,

For my expectation is from Him.

He only is my rock and my salvation;

He is my defense.

In God is my salvation and my glory;

The rock of my strength,

And my refuge, is in God.

Trust in Him at all times, you people;

Pour out your heart before Him;

God is a refuge for us.

Psalm 62:5-8

PSALM FOR A QUARANTINE

A friend of mine joked this morning in an email about this being day 5000 of social distancing, thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic.  Gave me a chuckle, but it’s really not a laughing matter, is it?  Besides all the folks getting seriously sick, there are fears of the economic fallout for countries virtually shutting down for weeks.  I think of my nephew who opened his own restaurant a year or so ago, who had to shut down and let all his employees go, and my hairdresser who is self-employed.  I know they and many others are wondering how they’re going to make it if things don’t go back to normal soon. 


I was reading from Psalm 57 this morning in my Bible.  It was written by a young warrior named David, of David and Goliath fame, who would later become king over Israel. (I Samuel, chapter 17)


David, just a shepherd boy at the time, keeping his father’s flock, was sent with food for his brothers who were serving with the army of Israel.  Every morning Goliath, a fierce giant of a man, would shout across the valley of Elah, taunting the men of Israel to fight, or at least send a representative to take on Goliath.


When David heard, he was incensed, and replied to those standing near:

What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel?  For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?

While King Saul and the rest of Israel’s armies “were dismayed and greatly afraid”, David went out to fight Goliath, armed with just a slingshot and five stones, and defeated him in the strength, power and confidence of his God.


David continued to serve under King Saul.  When David began to earn a reputation in the eyes of the people, King Saul began to be afraid of him.  For years then, David had to flee from Saul’s murderous intentions.  


Psalm 57 was written during this time when he fled into a cave to escape Saul. In verse 1 of the psalm, David describes this time as one of “calamities”.  


In verse 4 he speaks of his soul lying among lions whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword, causing his soul to be bowed down.


David was running from a human enemy out to destroy him, like a lion ready to tear him apart.  Every day was filled with uncertainty.  Would this be the day Saul would find him?  I’m thinking a lot of us can relate as we shelter in place to avoid COVID-19.


David had had the promise of God, and the anointing of Samuel, the priest, that he would be the next king of Israel, but that didn’t make the running and uncertainty any less anxiety producing!  


Or did it?


One of the things I love most about the psalms, and especially those written by David, is that in the same psalm in which David speaks of his enemies and his troubles, he also expresses his faith in the God who is sovereign over all.


In verse 1 David says:

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me!

For my soul trusts in You;

And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge.

Until these calamities have passed by.

I love the word picture of God shadowing His own under His wings.  It reminds me of a photo I saw once of a mother bird who was caught in a wildfire.  She was completely burned, but under her wings her chicks had been kept safe.  She was their refuge, as God was David’s, because David trusted in God with his whole soul!


Who or what is your refuge now that things are calamitous?  We’re finding out it’s not in health and job security, right?  It’s not always in government – they’re often as clueless about how to resolve an issue as we are.  It isn’t always in a home, or the security of full grocery shelves.  


David was experiencing calamitous circumstances that could change at any moment, but he chose to trust God who never changes, in whom he could shelter and find refuge IN the circumstances.


And even though David had enemies out to get him, he was confident that God’s truth would prevail.  He says that in verse 3:

God shall send forth His mercy and His truth.

David would be vindicated by God Himself when the truth was known.  


I have decided to only check on the virus updates once a day, you probably are checking yourself.  Have you noticed how much conflicting information there is out there?  Well, only God knows the whole truth about anything. If we seek Him, He promises to give us wisdom for how we are to live day to day according to His truth, even in the midst of calamity and uncertainty.  He wants us to seek Him, that we might know Him and His wisdom Proverbs 2:1-6:

If you receive my words, and treasure my commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding, Yes, if you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding.  If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.  For the Lord gives wisdom, from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Maybe you feel like you’re living in a calamitous time.  Ours isn’t a human enemy, but a viral one, that keeps changing the course of our lives every day, keeping us on edge and uncertain.  That’s how David felt too, but he didn’t stay there!


The end of psalm 57 is such a wonderful expression of David’s confident faith in the Lord, a faith that cannot be shaken, even in difficult times.  Verse 7:

My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise.

Would you describe the state of your heart these days as “steadfast”?  How did David have a steadfast heart in his circumstances?  

He poured out his troubles to God, and then he shifted his focus to God Himself – the God who he describes as merciful (v. 1), trustworthy (v. 1), a refuge (v. 1), God Most High (v. 2), Savior (v. 3), source of truth (v. 3), exalted (v. 5), and glorious (v. 5).


Wow!  When we look at GOD instead of our circumstances, it inspires trust and peace and not fear.  David knew that and so he sang and gave God praise.  What a great remedy for fear and a lack of steadfastness!  


Feeling fearful.  Turn off the news, turn on Christian radio and SING God’s praises! 

If you’re not usually a church person, now’s your chance to visit without pressure.  So many churches are broadcasting live on Sunday mornings.  Tune into one.   

(My church is Celebration Community Church, Celebration, FL.  You can find live services at 6 PM Sat and 9 and 11 AM on Sunday on YouTube)

In verse 9-11 David says:

I will praise You, O Lord among the peoples; I will sing to You among the nations.  For Your mercy reaches unto the heavens and Your truth unto the clouds.  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; Let your glory be above the earth.

I’m finding that there are so many opportunities in this calamitous time to sing God’s praises among the people around us.  Use Facebook and texts and emails to share with others just how good the Lord is, so that His glory might be known in all the earth. Suggest they catch your church’s live service on Sunday morning.

Feeling shaky instead of steadfast?  


God is:

Merciful

Trustworthy

A refuge

God Most High

Truth

Glorious

Praiseworthy

Exalted

Tomorrow, let’s begin our day by praising God for all He has revealed Himself to be, and then let’s seek Him in prayer because it’s only in Him that we will the strength and peace we need to face an uncertain future.  

WHO DOESN'T LOVE A GOOD STORY?

Do you enjoy a good story?  I know I do.  If you’ve read my blog, A Lifelong Love Affair, then you know I get most of my good stories from books.  I love mysteries, history, biography.  I love inspirational books, and of course, the Bible and Bible studies.  I especially love stories of people who inspire me.


Sadly, since Jim and I moved here, we spend a lot of time in the car.  Just about anywhere we need to go requires at least a half hour drive, often on crowded highways.  But, long ago we adopted the practice of reading stories on the journey to entertain, inspire, and redeem the time


In the last month or so we read two books while on our long drives: Hero of the Empire, a biography of the young life of Winston Churchill during the Boer War in South Africa.  The other, The River of Doubt, was the account of an expedition to explore an unknown branch of the Amazon River by then former President Theodore Roosevelt.  The author, Candice Millard, wrote them both in such a way that you could imagine being there!  Non-fiction that reads like fiction.


Of course, Winston Churchill was very well known to us as we grew up in the post WWII years, but we knew almost nothing about the rest of his life.  Hero of the Empire follows him through the war between the Boers of South Africa and Great Britain over the control of land occupied by the Boers.  Although he preferred to be in the military, Churchill enters the war zone as a war correspondent so that he can be in the thick of things.


What we found interesting about his young life was his overwhelming sense that he was destined for great things in the future.  That sense of destiny made him fearless to do all he could to insert himself in the heart of battle, engaging in it to such a degree that he was captured and treated as a prisoner of war.  


Churchill was fearless, to the point of being reckless, because of a supreme confidence in the glorious future he believed he had ahead.  In order to guarantee that outcome, as he saw it, he headed off for South Africa, found the place of fiercest battle, and ran into the thick of it, confident that by distinguishing himself, his reputation would one day propel him into a seat in Parliament. 


The other biography, The River of Doubt, is a gut-wrenching account of a very dangerous and almost impossibly difficult exploration of an unknown branch of the Amazon in Brazil, an expedition that included Theodore Roosevelt and his son Kermit, and many others.  


The planning for the exploration, left to others by Roosevelt, was a comedy of errors which left the men lacking the proper boats, food and medical supplies for the journey.  In addition, the river was so much more difficult to navigate than anyone imagined that only half-way through, supplies were nearly totally depleted, and the men riddled with malaria and other diseases that made continuing nearly impossible.


Both stories were adventures of great magnitude and danger, riveting to read, but neither had the impact on us than that of the most recent story we shared together.


Before all the quarantines for the Coronavirus were put into place, Jim and I drove only about fifteen minutes away this time, to see a movie called, I Still Believe, based on the book of the same name.  It tells the story of well-known Christian recording artist and song writer, Jeremy Camp and his wife, Melissa.  


Jeremy was in his early twenties when he enrolled in Bible college in California and met Melissa.  He was drawn to her by her obvious faith in Jesus and immediately fell in love.  During the time they were dating, Melissa was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and began chemo treatments.  Knowing that he wanted to marry her, Jeremy proposed, and they became engaged.  After 6 months, she was declared cancer free and they were married, but only a short time later, her cancer returned.  (There are other details, but I don’t want to spoil the story for you.)


What truly inspired us in this beautiful love story was the faith of this young couple, in telling others about Melissa’s illness and faith in Jesus, in asking for prayer, in trusting Jesus in the hope of a miracle.  And then, Melissa’s faith in Jesus, even when the miracle didn’t come, and she knew she was facing the end of her life.


Since then, Churchill, Roosevelt and Melissa have been circling around in my mind.


There was Churchill, arrogant and self-confident, wanting to make a great name for himself, certain he had a great destiny – and he did.  Britain needed him when faced with the threat of Nazi Germany.  His life is a story of courage and determination in the face of battle.


There was Roosevelt.  He had already made a name for himself by serving two terms as President of the United States when he left to explore the unexplored – and it almost cost him his life.  


When hardships were becoming life threatening, Roosevelt wrote in his diary:

“If I had to die anywhere, why not die in helping to open up to the knowledge of the world a great unknown land and so aid humanity in general, and the people of Brazil. . .”

Personally, when I read Roosevelt’s story, I thought it was foolhardy.  Certainly his courage and stamina and that of his companions was noteworthy – but the story didn’t inspire me.  


The story that truly inspired me was Melissa’s.  Melissa faced death confidently - not to make a great name for herself as Churchill did, or to risk her life for the sake of making an unknown river known, like Roosevelt.  


Her words to Jeremy as she faced the last days of her life were: 

If only one person’s life is changed by my story, it will be worth it.

Like Churchill, Melissa knew she had a destiny.  As she lay on her deathbed, she was confident of the soon fulfillment of all the promises of God for those who die in Jesus and she faced it, not only with fearlessness, but with joy. What Melissa cared about, and what inspires me, is those who would learn about the love of Jesus through her story.

She could have said something similar to what Roosevelt said when facing death in the Amazon:

If I have to die now, why not die in helping to open up to the knowledge of the world my great Savior, Jesus!

Melissa’s story points us to the KNOWN but unseen Kingdom of God, and its true and living King, Jesus.  And that’s what her story inspires me to do – not just on my deathbed, but now in the land of the living. 

If you don't know my great Savior, Jesus, but would like to, just ask me.  




“For see to your calling, brethren, that not many (of you) are wise. . .not many mighty, not many noble. . . But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things that are mighty. . . . that no flesh should glory in His presence.  But you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God – and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”  I Corinthians 1:26-30