Let God Be God

When I was a new believer in Jesus 30 years ago, it seemed like I tried more often than not to tell God how He ought to answer my prayers.

I was roughly six months along in my pregnancy with my first child, when my daughter decided to flip around and was in the wrong positon for the birth. Unless she was returned to the correct position, and quickly, I would be facing a cesarean section.

The doctor gave me exercises to try to get her to turn on her own, which I did diligently, but to no avail.

The doctor then scheduled an external version, where the medical personnel would move the baby around to the correct position by pushing on my belly, while I lay on the bed with my back uncomfortably arched. There was no guarantee that this procedure would be successful, but it would be somewhat painful. I remember asking my small group at church to pray. In my mind, I wanted the baby to turn before the external version would be necessary.

The procedure was scheduled, and all the while I hoped for a miraculous change in her position so I wouldn’t have to go through the procedure. The date for the external version came, and still my daughter was laying the wrong way. Reluctantly I submitted to it – thinking at the time that it was painful, but having no idea about the pain of childbirth that I was soon going to experience! The external version worked, and the nurses afterward told me that they had never seen such a procedure happen so quickly or easily.

You would think I would have been thrilled. I was able to deliver my child naturally a few months later, and God had answered my prayers. In my naïve pride, though, I was disappointed. I wanted God to supernaturally turn the baby without any medical help. I had my terms, and God did not meet them, even though the outcome was ultimately good.

It’s been many years since then and I now look back with embarrassment on my immature faith. How audacious for me to think I could tell God how He should answer my request and what it should look like in order to qualify as an answered prayer in my book.

That’s one reason we want to make sure that when we put our expectation in God, we leave it wide open to Him as to how He wants to deliver our miracle or provide help. Our expectation is not in a prescriptive answer or method. Our expectation is in God’s ultimate goodness, working out His benevolent plan in our lives. We can expect Him to be good to us.

Raising Our Hopes

Positive expectation: That feeling you had as a child on Christmas morning when you woke up and remembered what day it was. It's that wonderful mixture of adrenaline, pleasure, excitement and anticipation of something good that was going to happen to you. It was so real you could almost taste it. 

However, as we grew older, our expectation of good took a sharp downward turn. We experienced disappointment over and over and became wary of getting our hopes up. "Expectation is the root of all heartache," Shakespeare said. "Don't expect things to happen. It is better to be surprised, than to be disappointed," the pessimist tells us. To be truly happy: "Improve your reality, or lower your expectations."

But, is that how God wants us to live? Being cynical and having little expectation of good in order to insulate ourselves from disappointment? Perhaps our problem has been not in expectation itself but in whom or what we put our expectation:

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;
I shall not be moved. (Psalm 62:5-6, NKJV, emphasis added)

Israel's King David certainly had his share of disappointments and crushing despair, especially in his personal life. The context of this psalm is a time of attack and oppression from his enemies, but David remains confident in God's power to help him. Through his experience with God, he knows that the problems around him are not stronger than God's stability, defense and saving power, so he expects God to deliver him completely. 

When you are going through difficulties, do you expect God to help you or do you expect the worst? Do you expect you will have to figure things out on your own and make do with your own resources, or do you expect that God will come through for you with the miracle you need?

Hope is a prevalent theme in the New Testament, and one that is closely linked to our expectancy of God's goodness. Unfortunately, what “hope” means in our everyday vernacular is much different than how the Bible uses this term, so the impact of the message is often lost on us.

In modern speech, we use this word synonymously with "wish for," as in, "I hope it stops raining"; "I hope I can find a parking space close to the entrance to the store"; "I hope my boss gives me a raise."

Usually, there is no expectancy implied that what we hope for will happen. It's a weak, watered-down version of the definition as it is used in the New Testament, which is a pleasurable anticipation or expectation of good.

Using that definition in place of "hope" in the 80-plus verses that it is used in the New Testament could drastically alter how you understand God's desire for you to live. Here is one example:

May the God of expectation fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with expectation by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13, NIV, the word expectation used in place of hope)

God wants our expectation of His goodness to OVERFLOW in our lives. This can only happen through the Holy Spirit's power working in us. He is the God of expectation, not disappointment. If we hang around Him, we will be people of expectation.

If we suffer from a lack of joy and peace in our lives, it might be because we have little expectation of God's goodness. We are filled with joy and peace as we expect HIm to show up and show Himself strong on our behalf.

It's time to raise our hopes high and let God fill them.

Expecting Something Good

Familiarity breeds contempt, the saying goes. I never want that to happen with my relationship with God. After being a Christ-follower for more than 30 years, it's a very real danger because I can finish a verse you start and not even think about what it means.

It's not that I have learned everything there is to know about any topic in the Bible, or even that I am doing most of it. Far from it! It's more a problem of my brain registering familiarity and not taking a deeper look at what God wants to tell me.

The Holy Spirit helps me overcome this problem by giving me provocative definitions about familiar Bible words, usually when I am first waking up in the morning.

This morning, it was the familiar concept of "faith" from the Scriptures. How many messages have I heard (and taught) about that Bible term! But the Holy Spirit, with His laser-like ability to get to the main point, breathed new life into my understanding with this thought: "Faith is nothing more than an expectation that God will be good to you."

I like that. It's simple; it's fresh. As I tried out that definition in some well-known verses, I was amazed at how they popped with new meaning and relevance. See what you think: 

Hearing the word about Christ is designed to bring me expectation that God will be good to me. (Romans 10:17 ESV -- So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ ...)

Bible-reading should not be to build information but to build expectation! Each day when I look at the Scriptures, they can build an expectation in my heart of how good my God is and how good He wants to be to me. There is so much that is wrong going on all around us -- and maybe within us -- that we need to build this expectation daily.

To walk by faith means that I continually expect God to be good to me no matter what I see. (2 Corinthians 5:7 -- for we walk by faith and not by sight ...)

All hell can be breaking loose around me, but if I look past what my senses tell me and rely on the expectation inside about how God wants to be good to me today, right in the midst of the junk, then I can be at peace.

The only way I can please God is to expect Him to be good to me. (Hebrews 11:6 -- But without faith it is impossible to please God...)

This is how much God wants us to expect Him to be good to us -- He will not be pleased with anything less!

My expectation of God being good to me creates something tangible in the spiritual realm that changes what I see. (Hebrews 11:1 -- Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.)

Expectation can be sensed, just as hopelessness and despair can. It permeates the atmosphere, changes my body language, and can be heard in my voice. If i choose to be expectant rather than hopeless, I give God something to work with to bring the answers to my prayers to this earth.

God can help turn my fear into an expectation of good from Him because I know He loves me perfectly. (1 John 4:18 -- Perfect love casts out fear ...)

To be fearful is to expect evil to happen. God wants me to cancel fear through expecting His goodness to happen instead, simply because He loves me.

What all of this means is the end of frustration as I have known it, because to be frustrated means I have stopped expecting God to be good to me. The remedy? The word about Christ, telling me that God is for me, with me, in me and ready to help me.

Heavenly Father, help me to go to Your word and build expectation about Your goodness in my heart, so that I walk by faith all day today. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.

Jesus and the Cross

Contrary to what we might think, Jesus' ministry was not a bed of roses that just went south on the final week of his life. We read about the crowds impressed with the healings and provision and miracles he performed and think how great it would have been to be around Jesus.
But not everybody was giving him high fives or chest bumps and applauding His devotion to follow God.
Here is what a typical month might be like if you were Jesus or one of His followers back then:

• Preach at home church -- congregation gets mad and tries to kill you;
• Church leaders accuse you of blaspheming God and try to stone you to death;
• Religious higher-ups criticize you for eating with the wrong crowd, tell other people you are possessed by demons, and criticize your best friends for not being spiritual enough, especially when it comes to fasting and other church-related activites;
• When you deliver a tormented man who had been possessed by multitudes of demons and had been terrorizing the area, the people of the town are upset and demand that you leave;
• Your cousin in prison doubts that you are who you say you are;
• Your mom and brothers think you have gone crazy and try to get you to stop preaching because they are worried about your mental state;
• The most powerful people in the community are plotting to kill you and are continually setting traps to catch you in what you say so they can turn public opinion against you.

Still wish you could have hung out with Jesus?
Jesus told us that if we want to be his followers, we will deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him. (Matthew 16:24)
His sufferings are not car wrecks, cancer or not having enough money to pay our bills. As traumatic as those events are, that is not what Jesus experienced and what he asks us to experience.
He carried a physical cross to Golgatha, but each day of his life, following the direction of his Father, he also carried another cross. This cross was one of misunderstanding and rejection, it was a cross of reproach and alone-ness in obeying God, it was a cross of criticism and wrongful accusation -- all of the things our flesh hates to endure.
Jesus denied what his flesh was telling him to do -- which was avoid rejection and misunderstanding and take the easy way out -- and accepted his cross every day. It was a necessary part of obeying God. Those who choose to follow him will face the same decision. Are we willing to deny the way of conformity to the world and the strong instinct to protect ourselves from hurt, or follow him in carrying our cross?

Totally Invested

Have you ever put yourself in God's shoes?

It's an unusual position to be in, but worth giving it a try.

Recently, I put myself in God's shoes. Having one son out of four children,  I thought about what it would be like if my one and only son had to be sacrificed to save someone else's life. What if, for some unfathomable reason, my child had to spill his blood to save someone's life -- and he freely chose to do that?

I immediately thought of how much I would be interested in what happened to the person for whom the sacrifice was made. How ridiculous to think that we would go our separate ways, with me hoping that everything turned out for the best for him.

The only thing worse than having my son die would be for his death to be in vain.

No, I would be fully invested in seeing this person who was given a new chance at life be successful. I would do everything in my power to make sure his life was fruitful and blessed. I would not be indifferent, now that the ultimate sacrifice had been provided.

In the same way, our heavenly Father is fully invested in our future. He is not indifferent about what happens to us. The ultimate price has been paid. His Son's blood has been shed on our behalf. Father God is going to do everything in His power to make sure we "make it." He is not indifferent about our futures or about the plan He has for our lives. He gave his best so we could have the best -- experiencing everything Jesus Christ died to give us and living a life of fruitfulness and blessing.

That should bring us amazing comfort: Someone has our back, and we have nothing to fear.

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 8:32 NIV)

Leaning Into Him

Jesus could say a lot with few words. He made the famous declaration, "Have faith in God," after the disciplies heard him curse a fig tree for being unfruitful.  Not long afterward, they observed the tree withered up from the roots. (Mark 11:23)

Jesus' intent was not to impress them with his jaw-dropping faith exploits, reserved only for the Son of God. "You can have faith like this, too," He seemed to be saying.

My earliest understanding of this command was to see it punitively. "Have faith or else!" I felt pressured to perform. Did I have enough faith? Could I muster up some sort of quasi miracle working-power on my own to accomplish anything for God? Not likely. My faith seemed puny and ineffective, and I was frustrated.

Fast forward beyond several years of sporadic faith failures. I looked for another layer of understanding for this verse. It began to look like an invitation instead of a command. Jesus is offering you and me some of God's own faith -- it is something He is gladly willing to share with us. "Help yourself to some of God's faith!" We can partake if we are interested. God is not stingy, and He is more than eager to help us receive from Him. 

That sounds a lot more like a gracious heavenly Father who wants to ease our burdens and make our yoke light. He is willing to share His miracle-working faith with me to accomplish the impossible.

The invitation gets better. We are invited to take our eyes off of ourselves entirely and what we can accomplish and lean into Him. We are being invited to trust in and rely on Someone supernatural, who can do incredibly more than anything we can ask or imagine. We are asked to put our faith in a Being beyond ourselves and what we can fathom with our senses.

If we take it seriously, such an invitation will relieve any pressure we feel to perrform, not increase it.  I can relax. Somebody very big is in charge of my problems.

Jesus invites us into an intimate relationship with a mind-boggling Creator who is willing to put His power to work on our behalf to unravel our messes and bring creative solutions that no one else could think of or provide.

Have faith in God -- the God of no limits. Let's take Him up on His invitation.

How Sweet the Sound

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

God's grace is sufficient; it's enough for you and me.
What is it enough for?
For whatever you need it to be! Do you need grace to deal with emotions that are erratic, children who are exhausting, a spouse who is unpredictable, a boss who is grouchy?
What about grace for your fears for the future or worries for today? There is plenty to cover every need. 
There is not one area of our lives -- past, present and future -- where God's grace is not sufficient for us.
Sufficient means enough, or, as the Merrriam-Webster Dictionary says: "occurring in such quantity, quality or scope as to fully meet demands, needs or expectations."
God's grace can provide a life where your needs and expectations are fully met every time. That's the kind of grace I want to learn how to access!
The key is that God's power (His grace working on our behalf) is activated through our weakness. Uh-oh. Weaknesses are something we humans don't like to own up to. We like to hide our weaknesses, cover them up, refuse to admit them. That comes naturally to us, but that will frustrate the grace of God on our behalf. Instead, we not only need to admit our weaknesses, we can revel in surrendering areas we have been trying to control. (Did we really think we were in control anyway?) We give up. We say we can't do it, we can't fix it, and we are desperate for help. We reach out to the Creator as a little child in need, trusting that He is there to help us, trusting that He does not find fault with us when we ask Him to pour out grace on us.
We become God-needy instead of self-sufficient.
How many times a day should we look for God's help? As many times as we want grace to cover our lives. If we only want grace in the really tough places, if we only want our needs and expectations fully met at those crises, then only look to God at those times. But if you want a constant flow of God's grace for every moment of your life, then develop a continous looking to Him for His help, His wisdom, His nearness, His friendship.
His strength will be made perfect in your weakness, in your inability or unwillingness to handle life on your own. It is not irresponsible, it is the smartest thing you can do.
God's grace -- how sweet the sound!

Full and Great

The Lord is gracious and full of compassion,
Slow to anger and great in mercy.
9 The Lord is good to all,
And His tender mercies are over all His works. (Psalm 145:8-9, NKJV)

When I first got serious about meditating the word of God (see my previous post), this is the portion of Scripture that first came to my thoughts. 

• The Lord is gracious -- When I think of someone who is gracious, I think of the perfect gentleman or gentlewoman. A gracious person puts you at ease with his manner. This person smiles at you with kindness and benevolence as though you were the only person in the world. Your comfort and needs being met are that person's top priority. What a picture of our God!
• The Lord is ... full of compassion -- Picture a container filled with water -- there is no room for anything else! Fullness speaks of every available area of space being taken up. It also speaks of the possibility of spilling out, of overflow at the slightest bump. What is our Lord filled with? Compassion. That characteristic speaks of His oneness with our suffering and his yearning to see us relieved of the pain we live in. Certainly it was this compassion that ultimately sent Jesus to the cross to die for us and give us new life. This is the emotion that God has toward us -- in such a degree that He is filled to the brim with compassion to us and ready to overflow at the slightest provocation.
• Slow to anger and great in mercy -- Like a lumbering giant, God's anger is extremely slow to ignite. However, his mercy springs into action at the drop of a hat. What makes God great? What is He known for? His mercy, not his anger. He is defined by his mercy, his love, his forgiveness. He longs to show mercy. He would much prefer to be merciful than to be angry towards anything that He has made. It delights Him to be merciful.
• The Lord is good to all -- The Lord's goodness can't be reserved for only those who deserve it. No, His goodness is to ALL. His goodness has no boundaries and is like the ocean depths, that can't be fathomed. There is so much goodness available to each and every person, with none of God's limitless resources being exhausted.
• His tender mercies are over all His works -- God tenderly cares for all that He has made. He is not negligent about any of His creation, from the most minute particle to his crowning creation, mankind. I love the word "tender" in this passage. As if His mercies were not enough, there is also protective and affectionate tenderness toward us, like a mother toward her child. How can we doubt the love and care of such a God?