Obviously, I got off
on my date just a little bit. But I am
okay with that. There is always room for
grace. Right? Besides, I much prefer the idea of Sunday
being my reflection day, because that's when I do the bulk of my reflecting
anyway.
There are so many
things I have to think about for this week, and reflect upon. But I want to start with today's sermon. Our pastor, Ryan Cox, continued his sermon
series on James. Today we covered James
1, verses 5-8. My take-aways were pretty
poignant. The first point he made was
that wisdom turns to God first. Far too
many times in my life, I have turned to God as my last resort, rather than as
my first response. He even made mention
of the fact that, far too often, people are heard saying that the only thing
they have left to do is pray. Man alive,
have I been there so many times this past year.
His second
point: Wisdom trusts God. Over this past year, I've found myself
saying: "well, we trusted God and
then, it feels like he dropped us on our heads." I know the reality is that he did not drop us
on our heads; just like he didn't lead the Israelites into the desert to let
them die. Jesus also did not lead the
disciples out onto the water to let them drown in a storm. Why does it seem like God dropped the ball on
this? Well, because I stopped trusting
Him when He didn't answer my prayers the way I wanted Him to.
If I could wrap this
week up with just one thing, I think it would have to be how amazing I think it
is the way God works. A year ago, I was
going to our pastor at sermons he would preach, tears streaming down my face,
telling him how what he had just preached about was exactly what I had been
reading or dealing with this past week.
This week was no different. I've
just made a standing appointment with him, for after church, every Sunday we
are doing James, because I just have a feeling that this book is going to be
hitting some tender spots. The neat
thing about the spots that it's hitting:
this time last year, if this message series had been preached, it
would've reached an entirely different person and I would've heard a completely
different sermon.
I've sat through
church the last two weeks amazed at how well God can judge a situation. Don’t get me wrong, I don't think that the
messages are geared toward me and what I’m going through. But I am dumbfounded, blown away, bowled over
by the fact that God knew exactly when I would be ready to hear a message the
likes of which I heard today, or last week.
I am in awe of His timing.
The kids and I just
finished watching Man of Steel. There was a line in it about trust that I will
paraphrase and pass along to you because it so aptly applies to what I've been
dealing with. Sometimes you just have to
act, and the trust will come later. God
doesn't need me to agree with Him to be right.
God doesn't need me to trust Him to be right. And sometimes, you may not trust what God is
asking you to do, or that it will turn out right, but you still have to trust
the one who's asking you. God is many
things. He has many names. One of the most important names is Abba. Father.
Or, if you know your Hebrew, Daddy.
It is a term of endearment. It
signifies a personal relationship. A
Daddy cares about His children. And
while he doesn't want anything bad to happen to them, he knows he must prepare
them for the day that it will because we live in a world where bad things
happen all the time. To not prepare
one's children for the day that things might not go their way is neglect, and
God is not capable of that because He has said He will never leave us nor
forsake us. If that's the case, then
when it looks like God is nowhere to be found, we can trust that is just our
perception of our situation, and not the reality because God cannot lie. And what kind of Daddy would God be if He
allowed us to be spared from everything that ever came our way that way
hard. We would all end up like
butterflies that people tried to help out of their cocoons. We would look like butterflies. We would have all the necessary requirements
to qualify, on the surface, as a butterfly.
But without the ability to fly.
And without the ability to fly, we would not be able to eat. If we don't eat, we die. A good father, a Daddy, would never do that
to his children. No. Rather, he would let them suffer their way
out of their cocoon, knowing that the hard work will have its reward. He knows that His Children will come out of
their cocoons stronger than they could ever imagine and that strength will
enable them to fly just the way they were designed to.
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