Why God?

Isaiah 40:28-31 (NIV)

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

 but those who hope in the Lord  will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,

    they will walk and not be faint.

How many times do we ask “Why” in our daily lives?  We see hate and crime.  We see a heartbreaking news headline.  We see disasters.  We see people pushing grocery carts in the street, and we ask “Why?”

Why, God?  Why do you not “fix” it all?  Why, God?  Why do you not make life easier?  Why God?  Why?

When you read the book of Job in the Bible you see the man Job facing a heartbreaking, painful time, and he and his “friends” also questioned why.  

Sometimes I mistakenly think that, if I ask God to do it, He will straighten my thinking out – straighten it all out -straighten the world out.  But God knows me.  He knows what I need.  He knows what the world needs, and much of the time the answer is not “rescue from the hardships!“ 

Many times, those hardships are just what we need to point us in the direction of His arms.  But friends, our hardships may not be sent just for us; instead it may be that they are being used to point others to the arms of our Father. It may be that these troubles have a role in bringing someone else to the knowledge of God’s love for His Children.  I think, (although, I confess I don’t always feel) that others should be my paramount concern.

So,
If I ask “Why” when skies are black, 
and angry clouds spill anxious tears;
if I ask “Why” the pain grows constant,
and night dreams preach of groundless fears.

If I ask, “Why this world seems up-side-down,”
and in its face there is a change.
People’s smiles - replaced by frowns,
and I ask. “Why God?”
There’s so much pain!”

But in all this I know 
God’s presence, His comfort, His love is so plain.
and
In His word He will speak tender hope in my pain.

If I listen to His heart I truly do know
that God can and will use
my grief and my woe.

If I only ask “why,”
but don’t look for God’s plan,

I’ll never see His tender care
 as He gently dries my anxious tears

and heals my little world again.

He’s in control!  He is able!  He is willing!
He loves You! 
He is God!

The storm

 

Matthew 8:23-27
tells us about a  day on the Sea of Galilee when Jesus and His disciples were hit by a storm.  Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat and the men were terrified.

Jesus had shown His power over evil spirits, disease, death and nature.  He had healed the sick, cast out demons, raised the dead, provided food and turned water into wine. Jesus was able to control anything -  any situation that they faced, and His disciples were afraid of a storm?

Hey, wait a minute!

That storm was absolutely huge!  It wasn’t just an ordinary squall.  The wind and the waves roared!  They covered the boat!  The boat was far from any harbor.  These guys were in the middle of something they had never faced before, and they were afraid.

Friend, are you in the middle of something you’ve never faced before?  Are the waves of pain, of loss, or betrayal covering the boat of your life?  Are you afraid?  Are you discouraged?  Do you feel abandoned?  Are you out of options?

Jesus understands the storm.  He sees the shoreline.  He sees beyond the clouds and the rain.

There’s a song I used to sing when my voice was young.  It was one by my favorite female singers, Dottie Rambo.  It speaks of a storm and a prayer -

Soul be calm, rest in His keeping.
Never fear, He has control.
He rides the wind and
He’ll chart the vessel
and calm the billows that toss me so.

Those words came from a heart that had endured much pain and trouble.  Dottie could sing it with conviction, and I would love to be able to say that I always believe them and trust with all my heart.  But still I've found that even in my fear, God always calms the storm. 

And Jesus said to the storm “Peace be still” Mark 4:39  and the wind died down and it was  completely calm. 

Psalm 108:1-5

Psalm 108:1-5 
I wonder if David woke up with a smile on his face the morning he wrote these words. 

He says, “My heart, O God, is steadfast.”   David was full of confidence, trusting - maybe even feeling secure in God’s love and in his own relationship with God – the Almighty.

Next David makes a commitment to “sing and make music with all my soul.”  In other words, when he sings, when he makes that music, he promises that it will come from his heart and deep in his soul.  He speaks as if his musical instruments are almost alive.  He says, “Awake harp and lyre.  I will awaken the dawn.”

Maybe he said, harp and lyre help me praise.  Help me make music so special that it will even make the sun come up over the horizon.   

“I will praise you Lord among the nations.  I will sing of you among the people.”  David was convicting me that my own singing, my own life, my own writing should be all about praising God.

Telling people of His glory, His majesty, His might and His love - that’s praising Him.  Praising Him is also telling God Himself that I love Him; telling Him that I know - I believe - that He is wonderful! 

The word, “wonderful” is often used carelessly.  But “a wonder” refers to something that is almost impossible to fathom - inexplicable.  That’s the wonder that David felt about the God of the universe.

David talks about God’s love being higher than the heavens.  He says, “Your faithfulness reaches to the sky.”  David can’t describe in words something he can’t see, or hear, or feel.  We’re like that as well.  The most expansive word David seems to use for something beyond his comprehension is the heavens – the sky.  So David says that God’s faithfulness reaches to the skies.

Isn’t it exciting to you that when we finally see God in all His splendor, majesty and might, we may even be able to describe Him?

When David praises God for His “faithfulness” it seems that is a word our current world doesn’t seem to understand.

Faithfulness - God IS faithful – committed and trustworthy.  He will never let us down.  He will never be torn away from his care for us.  We can go our own way; God does allow us free will.  But He never turns his back on us.  He is always at the door, ready to say, “Welcome home child.”  He is the Father.  He is the Savior.  He is the comforter.  He is a very perfect faithful God.

David finally says in verse 5, “Be exalted O God above the heavens.  Let your glory be over all the earth!”  All the first portion of Psalm 108 leads us to this!  

My heart, O God, is steadfast; 

I will sing and make music with all my soul. 

Awake, harp and lyre! 

I will awaken the dawn. 
 

I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; 

I will sing of you among the peoples. 

For great is your love, higher than the heavens; 

your faithfulness reaches to the skies. 

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; 

let your glory be over all the earth. 

Psalm 108:1-5 (NIV)

Empty?

Do you ever feel empty – like there’s nothing in you anymore? I think that sometimes we all feel that way, especially as we age. 

Today I want to look at that feeling – that feeling of emptiness, in a different way.   I believe that being empty is not always a bad thing.

When we are empty handed, God’s hands fill all our needs.
When we can’t even do the little things, we may find God doing everything.
When we don’t have the strength to move, God will hold us up.

When our hearts and lives feel empty our loving Savior will fill those empty places with His Spirit.

When I think about being empty, of course I think about a cup of coffee.  I love my coffee.   But, if the cup is half full and it’s been sitting around, and we fill it up with hot coffee – all the coffee in that cup becomes lukewarm and loses its flavor.  

But when the cup is empty, and we fill it with fresh hot coffee – it’s wonderful! 

So, Being empty is not always a bad thing.

Maybe we need to empty ourselves – to get rid of the idea that we can handle everything without God’s help. We struggle to solve life’s problems, but resting on God’s goodness and love is really what we need to do.

Much of the time we have the idea that we can do life on our own.  Maybe when we realize that we don’t have the answer to the troubles that haunt us and realize that our storehouse is pretty empty, then we can open our hearts and minds to what God wants us to know.  Then He will fill us.

When you think you’re in control, you become so full of yourself that there is no room for God to come into your heart and fill you.

In the Bible, John 4 tells us about a woman at the well.  Jesus asked her for a drink of water, and she asked him why He, a Jewish man, would ask her, a Samaritan woman, for water.

This is what John writes.

Jesus answered her. “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?  . . . “

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water (in the well) will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Jesus told us that we never need to be empty.  He will become our spring of water welling up to eternal life.  As we fill our minds with the knowledge of our Savior, as we trust in Him to provide love, and friendship, comfort, direction, strength, and peace, we will feel the warmth of His unfailing care and we will be filled.

Empty is when there is nothing left but God and you discover that He is all you need.

Unless we give control to Him

our zest for life is stilled.

Unless we know our emptiness, we never will be filled.

 

 Dear friends

Somedays I find myself wondering about whether to keep writing at this stage of my life.  But I expect that I'll continue as long as the Lord gives me the strength and the will to express the love I have for Him and the gratitude that overwhelms me when I remember His love. 

As long as the memories come - memories of times that He answered prayers, I will write of God's love.  Those remembered times, those specific prayers cannot be counted.  God heard the prayers for my husband's life, for assurance that a tiny bit of faith is enough for a particular season of great doubt, for comfort and strength for my children on many terribly painful occasions, and for the dream that I would one day know a special one has claimed Jesus as his Lord.  I prayed for peace when there seemed to be nothing but chaos, and for easing of pain for dear friends.  Many things big and small come to mind, yes, even our son's lost dog - found at a time of his life when it made a difference.  

These are memories of God hearing, answering, comforting, and changing situations and sometimes even changing my heart and my prayer.

The gratitude I have for my Savior goes beyond specific answers to prayer, but gratitude for His love and care brings  a feeling almost of pain to my heart.  The knowledge that He would even know or care for us, for all these flawed, sinful children of His, is overwhelming.  And the thought that He would care enough to become a man and live in our shoes, in our world, to endure all of the happenings that affect us day by day, and to know us as our brother as well as our Savior and our God, is nothing less than amazing.

And He did it all because He is the author of love.

To remember

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;  Lamentations 3:22

 His love has no limits, His grace has no measure,

His power no boundary known unto men;

For out of His infinite riches in Jesus

He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.

From Anne J. Flint's song about God's  Love and grace.

Copyright Public Domain