Month: December 2020

When the Fullness of Time Had Come (Repost)

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{This was a post from last December, but the tone is of anticipation, eagerness, and encouragement. I wanted to share it again to remind you to wait on our faithful God to keep His promises}.

We are in the season of Advent now. You may have lighted some candles on your advent wreath at church or at home. You may also be doing an advent study this month.

Advent means the coming or arrival of something important. It is a time of anticipation. Eagerness. Excitement. Waiting.

Followers of Christ are waiting for Him to come again. We know He will. We have His Word to read; we can study and learn while we wait.

We have the Old Testament with the Mosaic law. The history of God’s chosen people. Prophecies pointing to Jesus.

We also have the New Testament detailing Jesus’ birth, life and ministry, His death, and His resurrection. The early church and the spread of the gospel.

Stop reading for a moment and do something for me. Grab your Bible and sit it on the table or on your lap. Now flip to the end of Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament. Hold the entire Old Testament in your hands, from Genesis to Malachi. Look at that group of pages in your hands.

Now flip all that over to the left side. What remains on the right is Matthew to Revelation – The New Testament. Hold that group of pages in your hand for a moment.

Lay the pages of the New Testament over to the right side. Your Bible should be lying open now. You’re looking at the end of the Old Testament on the left and the start of the New Testament on the right.

Did you know there were roughly 400 years between the recorded history of Malachi and the recorded history of Matthew? Imagine that as the gap you’re looking at in your Bible right now with the Old Testament on the left and the New Testament on the right. Some refer to this as “silent years” because God was silent during this time. He gave no inspired messages to His prophets. Why? What was happening? What was God doing? Why wasn’t He talking to His people?

One thing is clear as we look back on that period from our current standpoint: God was preparing events in history to get the world ready for the birth of His Son.

Galatians 4:4 says, “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law.”

When the fullness of time had come.

Many Israelites had been faithfully waiting. God had been working. At the time of the writing of Malachi, the Jews were under the rule of the Persian empire. When Matthew opens, Rome is the dominate power having conquered most of the civilized and known world at the time. What does that matter?

When the fullness of time had come.

With the Roman Empire came a common language – many of the people could understand the stories told about Jesus.

The Empire built a vast and well-maintained road system – the apostles could travel from place to place to share the Good News.

There was also common form of money in use and an established and far-reaching government and laws.

The world was ready for Jesus because of the influence of the Roman Empire – enemy of the Jews. Dominant over Jewish life. In His providence, God allowed Rome to prosper and spread, and then He used its infrastructure to tell about His son.

When the fullness of time had come.

God always does what He says He will do. He keeps His promises. He is working.

When the fullness of time had come.

Galatians4_4.jpg
Image Credit: Harper Collins Christian

Why We Suffer (Repost)

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{The pandemic has me thinking a lot about suffering, especially its purpose; so I’m reposting this article I wrote in the spring}

It’s 1 in the afternoon.  My husband won’t be home for at least 3 more hours.  And the baby won’t.stop.crying.

He’s had a nap.  Been fed. Had a diaper change.

I’ve held him.  Bounced him.  Sung to him.  Put him down.  Picked him up again.  Everything I can think of.

But he won’t.stop.crying.

I remember a DVD the OBGYN gave me at a prenatal visit.  Something about “purple crying”.  The narrator explained that sometimes babies cry for no good reason – sometimes A LOT!  If you’ve done everything you know to do, and the baby is still crying, put the baby down in a safe place and walk away for a little while.

So, I lay him in his crib and go outside.  I slowly circle the outside of the house a few times to try and clear my head.

Each time I walk by his window, I hear him.  Still.crying.

That day is tattooed in my memory, but that baby is now in middle school.

EthanNewborn2009
Sleeping like a baby for his newborn picture in the hospital – January 2009

When I think of that day, I laugh.  Usually.  But it wasn’t humorous then.

What I didn’t understand as a new mama is that crying is the only way a baby is able to communicate.  To tell us there’s something wrong.

Why is that the only way, though?

And do they have to be so loud?  How is it that they change so quickly from content, cooing angels with their feet in their hands to irate, screaming banshees with their fists in tight balls?

Is there no other way to signal that they’re hungry or need a diaper change?  Surely God, in His wisdom, would have devised another way if there were one.  But, He didn’t.  So, there must not have been.

I mean, would I have kept the baby on a regular feeding schedule if he simply lay there sleeping peacefully or gazing contently at the ceiling fan?  Sure, I’d probably stare at him a lot, marveling at how cute he was.  But would it occur to me to feed him if he wasn’t causing a scene?  Possibly not.

The baby must do something to get someone’s attention.  To snap a caregiver out of her self-absorbed-ness.  To encourage a parent to…well, parent.

Hear me out…

This scene with my son came to mind recently when I read commentary on 1 Samuel chapters 16 and 17 from the English Standard Version Study Bible.  One sentence got my attention: “God trains David, through suffering, to lead his people”.

My immediate reaction: Wait? What?  Why use suffering?  Wouldn’t something else work?

To suffer is to undergo pain or distress.  To sustain injury.  It might involve anguish.  Suffering is…negative!

How does suffering  – which sounds negative – produce someone who will make a good king, parent, teacher, CEO, writer, leader…

Well, if I didn’t suffer, would I learn as much?  Would I pay attention as closely?  Would I even realize I was supposed to learn something?

If David hadn’t suffered, would he have become a great king?  Would he have been prepared to lead God’s people?

Maybe it is necessary to suffer because it drives us TO God.  As David suffered, he wrote songs that we continue to use to call out to God in our despair or to lift His name in praise.  David’s words have become prayers for millions.

When I struggled as a stay-at-home mom with an infant I couldn’t figure out, I cried.  A LOT.  And in my suffering, I turned back to God.  Whom I had been ignoring for nearly a decade.

Would I have done that if everything had been all cute baby giggles?  It’s less likely.  If everything were going well, I wouldn’t have seen a need for God.  I would have thought, “I’m doing awesome at this mother stuff!” and gone about my business.

But people aren’t usually compelled to move or change if life is a bed of roses.

I have found that God uses suffering to move me.  To prompt me.  To inspire me.  To change me.  To point me back to Himself.  To cause me to seek Him.

When I think of it this way, I’m not as bothered by the fact that I will suffer in this life.  If that is the way God, in His sovereignty and providence, has designed life to be, then I will meet it head on and embrace what He teaches me.

*Crossway Books. (2011). Holy Bible: english standard version, study bible. Wheaton, IL.

Sin and Sausage Balls

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They didn’t taste like my mom’s sausage balls. Not one bit. They didn’t even look like the ones I look forward to eating every Christmas.

I desperately wanted them to be like hers. I wanted to taste Christmas! I couldn’t figure it out! I followed the handwritten recipe on the 3-by-5 index card she gave me.

Or did I?

When I inspected the ingredients, I immediately realized my error.  I didn’t buy the exact kinds of ingredients she uses.

For “1 lb sausage,” she noted, “I use hot.”

Nope. I bought the regular flavor because I don’t like spicy food.

Beside “10 oz grated cheese,” she added, “I use sharp or extra sharp cheddar.”

You guessed it: I got regular cheddar because I don’t like the bite of sharp. {Insert eye roll here}

So, that explained why my sausage balls weren’t mama’s awesome, taste-like-Christmas sausage balls…because I decided to ignore the instructions and do things the way I wanted.  (How crazy was I to think the sausage balls would taste anything like hers if I didn’t make them exactly the same way she did?!)

Please tell me you’ve done this before, at least once or twice. I don’t want to be the only hard-headed one out here in the world, desperately trying to make things turn out the way they’re supposed to but all the while refusing to do things the way they’re supposed to be done.

Anybody?

How many times have you tried to go about things the way you wanted rather than the way you were directed?

Do you sometimes disregard instruction manuals and think, “I know a better way to do this?”

How often have you listened to sound advice but decided to go your own way just the same, thank you?

Do you do this to God, too, when He directs you?

I do.

When I do this – when you do this – it is the result of our pride: preferring our wants, our wishes, and our will rather than God’s will. And pride is a sin.

When I catch myself trying to go against God, trying to do what I want to do the way I want to do it, (when my pride gets in the way) God reminds me of Mary, quiet at Jesus’ feet as He taught, and of Martha, frantic in the kitchen preparing the meal.

I see Martha watching Mary out of the corner of her eye, wondering when Mary will get up and help, growing more frustrated by the moment.

I see Martha, but I hear my own voice (maybe you hear yours, too) demanding God’s help.  Complaining because something didn’t go like I wanted it to go.  Pleading with Him to give me the answer I want.

“But the Lord answered, ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.  Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken from her.” (Luke 10:41-42, ESV)

Mary chose to put the right thing first: her relationship with Jesus. She chose the worshipful posture of sitting at his feet and focusing on Him, on His will.  Martha had other things on her mind: her agenda, her checklist…her pride.

Does this sound familiar?  Have you, like me, found yourself in this position more times than you care to count?

Take heart, my friend. God knows we battle our pride every day, and he’s given us a remedy for the pain this causes.

Look at Luke 10:42 in the New Living Translation: “There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken from her”.

The one thing worth being concerned about is God’s will.  Mary figured it out and chose to submit to God’s will for her life.  Her choice ensured her salvation and freed her from the chains of her pride, her sin.  And, as Jesus said, that wouldn’t be taken from her.

God wants to take away the pain of giving in to our pride, too.  That happens when, like Mary, we submit ourselves to His will for our lives.  When we say, “Not my will, but yours, Lord.”

This is what we do when we accept His gift of salvation by believing in His Son, Jesus Christ and the power of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. But it’s also something we have to do every day. We have to daily submit ourselves to His will for our lives. We must spend time in prayer with Him to learn to submit. We must spend time reading the Bible to learn to submit. We must talk with and learn from experienced Christians to learn to submit. Forgoing our own pride and submitting to God will not be easy because it isn’t natural, but it is “the one thing worth being concerned with.”

It seems trite to compare my arrogance in buying different ingredients to make my mom’s sausage balls to submitting to God’s will for my life, but the lesson is the same. 

It might seem like a stretch to compare the times you chose to ignore wise advice from a trusted believer to submitting to God’s will for your life, but the lesson is still the same.

We have to look past our wants and wishes and be obedient to God’s will for our lives.  We have to stop trying to use the ingredients we want to use rather than the ingredients the recipe calls for.  The sausage balls won’t ever turn out right if we’re too arrogant to use the right ingredients. 

Guided Prayer

Father,

I am grateful that you are in control rather than me.  I trust your will for my life.  Help me to choose the right thing.  Help me to put aside my sinful pride that wants to lead me away from you.  Teach me how to submit to you.  Give me the strength to do it every moment of every day.

Amen