When All You Have is God

The Red Sea is in front of you, and cruel soldiers are chasing you from behind. There is a quote that says, "Sometimes the only way out is through." But sometimes there is no way through. Sometimes you are trapped. You can't move forward, you can't stay still, and you can't go back. It's hopeless!

The Israelites came into this hopeless situation by following God's lead.

The Israelites had no boats, no ferries, no bridges, and no airplanes. All they had was God. All they had was the One who made the sea. The One who can make a way where there is no way. The One with whom nothing is impossible. 

All they had was all they needed. It was nothing for God to make a path through the sea just for them! It was nothing for God to bring the waters back down on the Egyptian soldiers so they would never bother them again.

Do you feel trapped sometimes? Do you panic like the Israelites did? Is all you have God? Our God is the One who can easily make a way through our Red Seas. It is nothing for Him.

But are you following Him? Or are you your own boss and guide? When we are following Him, we can have full assurance that when He leads us into a trap, He will also lead us through. We can know for certain that He has a good reason for this.

Look to the One who made the Red Sea. The One who makes a way where there is no way. Have full confidence in Him that He will get you through this for His glory.

Testing Times

There are times when God feels so close and the verses in the Bible feel like they were written personally for you. You see God answering your prayers. It's exciting!

 But then there are the times when it feels like God has forgotten about you. You pray and pray and see no sign of your prayer being answered. Nothing particular in the Bible stands out. God seems to be silent.

In those times I like to remember this thought...
When you are going through something hard and wonder where God is, remember that the teacher is always quiet during a test.

In those moments of feeling like God is far away, maybe you are going through a test. When students are taking a test, the teacher is quiet. The teacher doesn't answer questions like they usually would. But there is a good reason.

When teachers give a test, they prepare their students first. First they learn about something, then their knowledge is tested. The student has to remember what they've already learned. Although they may not be able to remember everything, they have already learned everything they need for the test. And when we go through testing times, we can take comfort in the fact that we have been prepared for this. (That is, if we are learning from our Teacher) We need to remember what God has already taught us and it will help us through this test. 

Teachers do not forget about the student during a test. Being silent doesn't mean that they don't care or that they're not there. And when you are walking with God and He seems far away, don't presume He's not there or that He doesn't care. A name for God I recently learned is Jehovah Shammah which means "The Lord is there." God is always there even when He seems silent. So don't stop praying and reading the Bible when God is silent, because He is always there and He does care. He is no less close than at other times. Tests don't last forever. They always pass.

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 1 Peter 4:12-13

Too Late

 "Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazerus.
When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was." John 11:5-6

I have been thinking on this story, and these are some things I have noticed. (Read John 11 for the whole story.)

*Sometimes we doubt God's love and care when we are waiting for Him to answer. And yet it may because of his love and care that He is waiting.

*Waiting times do end. Jesus did come.

*What God has in mind is always bigger and better than what we have in mind.

*With God, there is always hope.

*Jesus is not heartless. He cares about our pain and the fact that we don't understand.

*Mary and Martha both went to Jesus when they heard that He had come. They took their pain and questions to Him. They didn't avoid and stay away from Him because they didn't understand. We need to take our pain and questions to Him, too. Then He will help us.

*We need to follow God's instructions and obey His promptings even when they make no sense to us. (Take away the stone from the grave!)

*Sometimes we object at the way God wants to answer. (Lord, by this time he stinketh)

*God always hears our prayers and knows our needs. Just because He hasn't answered yet doesn't mean He's forgotten about you.

*With God, all things are possible. He's limitless!

*God's timing is different than ours. What we think is "too late" to God is "right on time!" We need to trust God's timing.

Walking With God

 If your life was summed up in one sentence, what would it be? 

There is a man in the Bible whose life is summed up with the words "Enoch walked with God."

If you put your name in Enoch's place, would it be true? Do you walk with God? What does it even mean to walk with God?

Here are some thoughts to think about. Let's compare walking with God to going for a walk with a person.

Who do you go for walks with? A friend or a stranger? Usually we only go for walks with someone we love and know--a friend or family member. If you walked up to a random person on the street and asked them to go for a walk with you, they would think you were strange! Walking with God means you know and love Him.

Since God is light, then walking with God means walking in the light. Confessing and forsaking sin, not hiding your sin or putting the blame on others.

Imagine walking with a friend in complete silence! When you go for a walk, you also talk. But you don't chatter none stop and give your friend no chance to talk. Walking with a friend requires both talking and listening. Walking with God involves both talking to God (prayer) and listening to Him (reading the Bible).

Imagine asking a friend to go for a walk with you, but you are in one town and they are in another town. Would that work? No, you have to be in the same place to walk together. You have to be close!  Walking with God means being close to God.

Walking with a friend means that you are not walking with others. So that might mean being different. People may laugh or mock you. But it's better to walk with God and be laughed at than be the ones who are not walking with God.

If your friend invites you to go for a walk with them, you need to go where they are going. And so walking with God means that we must obey Him and go where He leads.

Would you go for a walk with someone you don't trust? I sure wouldn't! And walking with God requires trust and faith in Him.

Would you walk with a friend while worrying how to please someone that you are not with? Walking with God means living to please God, not other people.

Walking with a friend also involves keeping in step with, not lagging behind or running ahead.

Enoch never died, God just took him to heaven (Heb 11:5) While those who walk with God will still have to die, they have no need to fear death. They will finally see in person the one they have been walking with on earth!

Limiting God

This week I have been reading the story of Creation. If God can create an entire incredible universe and everything on it, what is too hard for Him? Do you limit God?

“Our God has boundless resources. The only limit is in us. Our asking, our thinking, our praying are too small. Our expectations are too limited.” A.B.Simson

“Do not limit the limitless God! With Him, face the future unafraid because you are never alone.”~Lettie Cowman

Teach Me to Trust

 Teach me to trust when there is cause to fear,

When trials come and tempests sore appear;

Help me to know that Thou, O God, art near--

Teach me to trust, Teach me to trust.

Teach me to trust when skies are shining bright,

Or when I grope alone in sorrow's night;

Thy love provides whatever's best and right--

Teach me to trust, teach me to trust.

Teach me to trust 'mid all life's tangled ways,

In all its disappointments and delays;

Give me a song-- a sacrifice of praise!

Teach me to trust, Teach me to trust.

Teach me to trust when weary, worn and frail,

When sickness, pain and other ills assail;

Thy grace sustains, Thy promise will not fail--

Teach me to trust, Teach me to trust.

~John W. Peterson

God Will Turn This Trial Into a Blessing

  Last night Johan and I were looking at the traffic light system to see how/if it effects The Little Haven. I don't usually keep too updated with the news as it has the ability to depress me. Thinking about all the new changes and the whole covid situation once again made me feel depressed and very fearful of the future.

But when I got into bed and opened up my Bible, this phrase jumped off the page. 

"...Our God turned the curse into a blessing."

What a neat verse! (It is talking about when Balaam was hired to curse the Israelites, but God only let a blessing come from it. Nehemiah 13:2b)

Whether the whole covid thing is a "curse" or not is debatable! But I'm sure everyone would agree that is a big trial.

We serve a God who has the ability to turn any and every trial into a blessing. What matters is not so much who is right and who is wrong in the whole thing or even how we will be effected by it all. What matters is that we know this God and are staying close to Him. Then whatever happens to us, God will make it into a blessing that we never would have had without the trial.

God WILL make this trial a blessing! Keep your eyes on Him.

A Faithful God

 Many times in the Bible, we read about God's faithfulness. What does the word 'faithful' mean? Here are some meanings I've found and some verses which prove God's faithfulness.

1. Remaining loyal and steadfast
...for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Hebrews 13:5

2. The quality of being true to one's word or commitments

God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Numbers 23:19

3. Continuing to support someone or be their friend, even in a difficult situation

If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful— for he cannot deny himself. 2 Timothy 2:13

4. Someone who is reliable and consistent
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.  

Hebrews 13:8 

5. Able to be trusted or relied on.

Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Psalms 62:8

Thinking about God's faithfulness can help us to trust Him and His Word. And to go a step further, are you faithful?

I Don't Know About Tomorrow

 This is always a beautiful song and the future is always uncertain, but it has extra meaning when tomorrow is more uncertain than usual!

1 I don't know about tomorrow,

I just live from day to day.

I don't borrow from its sunshine,

For its skies may turn to gray.

I don't worry o'er the future,

For I know what Jesus said,

And today I'll walk beside Him,

For He knows what is ahead.

Refrain:

Many things about tomorrow,

I don't seem to understand;

But I know who holds tomorrow,

And I know who holds my hand.

2 Every step is getting brighter,

As the golden stairs I climb;

Every burden's getting lighter;

Every cloud is silver lined.

There the sun is always shining,

There no tear will dim the eye,

At the ending of the rainbow,

Where the mountains touch the sky. 

3 I don't know about tomorrow,

It may bring me poverty;

But the one who feeds the sparrow,

Is the one who stands by me.

And the path that be my portion,

May be through the flame or flood,

But His presence goes before me,

And I'm covered with His blood. 

Faithful Is He ...

 Faithful Is He Who Has Promised  

Are you passing through a testing.

Is your pillow wet with tears?

Do you wonder what the reason,

Why it seems God never hears?

Why it is you have no answer

To your oft, repeated plea,

Why the heaven still is leaden

As you wait on bended knee?

 

Do you wonder as you suffer,

Whether God does understand,

And if so, why He ignores you,

Fails to hold you in His Hand?

Do black doubts creep in, assail you,

Fears without--and fears within,

Till your brave heart almost falters

And gives way to deadly sin?

 

All God's testings have a purpose,

Someday you will see the light.

All He asks is that you trust Him,

Walk by faith and not by sight.

Do not fear when doubts beset you,

Just remember - He is near;

He will never, never leave you,

He will always, always hear.

 

Faithful is He who has promised,

He will never let you fall,

Daily will the strength be given

Strength for each and strength for all.

He will gladly share pain with you,

He will gladly give you peace.

Till your tired and weary body

Finds its blessed, glad release.

 

When the darkened veil is lifted,

Then, dear heart, you'll understand

Why it is you had to suffer,

Why you could not feel His hand

Giving strength when it was needed,

Giving power and peace within

Giving joy thru tears and trial,

Giving victory over sin.

So till then just keep on trusting,

Thru the sunshine and the rain. 

~Annie Johnson Flint~

Nothing more important

Do you have a relationship with God? If you do, what are you doing to grow and cultivate it? Close relationships take time, effort, and energy. They don't just happen! Make sure your relationship with God is number one on your priority list.

I like to look up word definitions, similar words and opposite words. It helps challenge my thinking.

One definition for cultivate is 'to help the growth or development of.'

Some similar words are 'encourage, forward, further, nurture, promote, advance'

The opposite words are always interesting!

'abandon, destroy, ignore, neglect, idle, laze' 

You can cultivate your relationship with God through prayer, meditation, singing/Christian music, journaling and most of all through His Word--the Bible. Anything that helps the Bible come alive to us can also help us like sermons, good books, podcasts etc.
 

Simple Faith

 As I was reading through the the fourth chapter of John, a certain man got my attention.  I pray that God would help me to be like this man! A nobleman, whose son was on the brink of death, came to Jesus and begged him to come heal his son. But instead of coming, Jesus simply said, "Off you go, He's better."

 I'm not sure I would have been happy with that answer. It took a lot of faith to believe that his son was better when he couldn't even see him. What if he got all the way home again (and it seems he must have travelled some distance) and found out that he was still sick?

 But what did this man do? He simply believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. And on his way home, his servant met him and said, "Your son's better." When the father asked what time his son had improved, he found out it was at the exact same hour that Jesus has said that he was better.

This man needed faith to take Jesus at His word. He also needed obedience to obey Jesus and go home, even when he couldn't see the answer. And he didn't see the answer until he obeyed.

I admire this man's faith to simply trust Jesus' word. I like to see the answer before I'll trust and obey! But that's not the way it works. 

How about you? Do you take God at His Word? We read God's Word in the Bible. Do you simply believe and obey it like this man did?

'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,

Just to take Him at His Word;

Just to rest upon His promise,

Just to know "Thus saith the Lord."

A Question Mark or a Period?

 One time my sister sent me a sermon that had been preached at her church. It was about overcoming. This statement really stood out to me. Overcoming is the discipline of believing God. It comes from James 5:4 "...This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."

This last week my Ladies Bible study group was studying the story of Eve. There were many lessons to learn from her, but there is one that I have been thinking about ever since because I can relate to her in this way! The lesson is that we shouldn't doubt God's Word. Satan asked Eve, "Has God said that you can't eat of every tree of the garden?" 

What God has said to Adam and Eve was simple and crystal clear. You can eat of every tree of the garden except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you do that, you'll die. Could it be any more clearer?

But Satan complicated things by putting doubt in her mind by asking her, 'Has God said?" He then went on to say, "It's not true!"

I don't generally doubt whether the Bible is true or not and whether God is real. But sometimes I find myself doubting specific things the Bible says, like the many promises. For example, I might doubt whether God is really hearing my prayers or whether He will eventually give an answer. I might question whether I should be doing something that He has already showed me clearly through His Word that I should. 

I think most of my discouragement comes simply from not believing God--from doubting God's Word. I need to take God at His Word and never doubt. When I do start to doubt, I need to go back to His Word again and again until the doubts leave, like Jesus did when Satan tempted Him. 

I love this quote "Never put a question mark where God has put a period."

My Strength

 

Fear Not...

 One hot summer's day I was cooling off at our local pool with my children. I had been given a blow up seat/ring for my youngest daughter, Lydia. The pool we were in was above her head, so either I had to hold her or she could go in this special seat. But whenever I tried to put her in the seat, she would panic and cling to me. She felt unsafe in the seat and she wanted to be in the safety of my arms. But she didn't realize that she was just as safe in the seat as she was in my arms. It was my presence that would keep her safe and I wasn't about to let her drown.

Sometimes I am like Lydia. I feel afraid of new and unknown things. I want to stay in my comfort zone because I feel the safest there. I have to remember that when I am in God's presence, I am safe. When I am walking with Him, I have no reason to fear. Because He is right there and He's not about to let me 'drown!' If He lets me get hurt, it's because He has a wise purpose in mind and He will help me through it. What matters is that I stay close to Him, because He is my safe place.

Is anything in your life making you feel fearful?  A change? A problem? Do you not want something to change? Remember that if you are walking with God, you have no reason to fear. He is more caring and watchful than the best mother. Any pain He allows is for your own good. Trust in Him and go where He leads you.

Trust and Obey

Two simple words that I get reminded of every now and again. It pretty much sums up the Christian life. Trusting God and obeying God. They can both be very hard to do sometimes. Sometimes it is very hard to trust God when we can't understand or see what He's doing. And it can be very hard to obey when we don't know that the results will be, when there's a cost involved or when it's something we simply do not want to do. But as the old hymn says, there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. Are you trusting and obeying?

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,

What a glory He sheds on our way!

While we do His good will, He abides with us still,

And with all who will trust and obey.

Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet.
Or we'll walk by His side in the way.
What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;
Never fear, only trust and obey.

Trust and obey, for there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

 

God Knows Best

 Our Father knows what's best for us,

So why should we complain--

We always want the sunshine,

But He knows there must be rain--

We love the sound of laughter

And the merriment of cheer,

But our hearts would lose their tenderness

If we never shed a tear...

Our Father tests us often

With suffering and with sorrow,

He tests us, not to punish us,

But to help us meet TOMORROW...

For growing trees are strengthened

When they withstand the storm,

And the sharp cut of the chisel

Gives the marble grace and form...

God never hurts us needlessly,

And He never wastes our pain,

For every loss He sends to us

Is followed by rich gain...

And when we count the blessings

That God had so freely sent,

We will find no cause for murmuring

And no time to lament...

For Our Father loves His children,

And to Him all things are plain,

So He never sends us PLEASURE

When the SOUL'S DEEP NEED IS PAIN...

So whenever we are troubled,

And when everything goes wrong,

It is just God working in us

To make OUR SPIRIT STRONG.

~Helen Steiner Rice~

When Your Faith is Put to the Test

 Seven things that I've been learning/relearning over the past year about trusting God. Things that we need to hold onto when our faith is put to the test.

 

Something Better

 An encouraging thought by Elisabeth Elliot. Sometimes we realize later that it is a good thing God never gave us what we asked for! We can trust that He will give what's best since He sees the big picture.

One With God is a Majority

   Lessons from David and Goliath #6 (1 Samuel 17)

Do you ever feel like there is nothing you can do to make a difference? Do you ever think, "I'm just one person. What can I do?" 

David was just one person. He was not just one person, he was a very 'insignificant' person. He was the youngest in his family. He was out looking after sheep, while the rest of his family was having a special meal together. In people's eyes he was no one special. And in this story, he wasn't even a soldier. So how on earth could he fight Goliath, the giant?

Do you hear him saying, "What can I do? I'm only one person." No, his attitude is, "I will do it. God will help me." He knew that one with God is a majority. On his own, he could never have killed Goliath, but God made ALL the difference.

This is very encouraging! Whatever God wants you to do, you can do it with His help, no matter how hard, overwhelming or even impossible it is. He makes ALL the difference. On your own you can't do it. But if you will TRUST and OBEY God, you can fight your giants! You CAN make a difference.