Tag Archives: devotionals

Lions and Snakes

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This morning I read Psalm 91. Below are verses 11 and 12.

For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.  – Psalm 91:11-12

This passage may be familiar to you; this is one of the scriptures that Satan tried and failed to use against Jesus in the wilderness temptation (Matthew 4). He hoped that Jesus would cast himself from the pinnacle of the temple and be rescued by angels. He tried to appeal to Jesus’ pride and short-circuit and destroy Jesus’ mission.

Of course, Satan failed. You can’t appeal to the “pride” of the One who had humbled himself far beyond anything we can imagine (Philippians 2).

Satan’s choice of this passage also demonstrates either Satan’s utter lack of irony or God’s sense of humor, or both. Satan, whom the Bible calls a “roaring lion” (1 Peter 5:8) and who took the form of a snake in the temptation of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3) picked Psalm 91:11-12.

I guess he forgot to look at verse 13:

You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

Our enemy, in any literal or metaphorical form he chooses to manifest himself, is no match for Lord Jesus.

Beloved and destined

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To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints . . . (Romans 1:7, ESV)

I love this salutation in the opening of the book of Romans.

“To all those in Rome who are loved by God . . .”

Do you see it? Paul addresses the believers in Rome as those who are loved by God. This is true of all believers in Jesus, and yet I’ve noticed that for some of us the idea that God loves us is difficult to accept. Yes, we know he has saved us. But it’s easy for me, at least, to think that he’s holding back his love from me until I get a little more adept at doing this Christian thing.

I was talking recently with a precious young believer who told me about her hard background. She said something very interesting to me regarding her relationship with her earthly father. They were a pair who didn’t naturally get along, but she said that eventually she “chose to love” her father, and he “chose to love her”.

I bring that up because, I admit, often times in my heart of hearts I believe that God is mistaken to love me. I think this because I’m not that lovable, frankly, especially when I compare myself to other believers or to God himself. In other words, it feels like I haven’t earned it yet. I’m  a fool for thinking that: God has chosen to love me; his love is not something I can earn. I hope that if you, like me, think God would have to be off his rocker to love you, you’ll let these words, this simple truth, sink deep into your soul: God loves you.

Believer, you are beloved by him. He cares for you in ways you can’t fathom, and he loves you passionately, fervently, with a love that is purer and more intense than any you have ever known on earth. Most of us have a deep, deep need to be loved and fully known. This causes much distress in our lives because of the Catch-22 it embodies: we fear that if we were ever fully known, no one could possibly love us. But God knows us far better than we know ourselves. He knows the truth about us, even the truth we hide from ourselves. He knows ever atom in our bodies and every thought in our heads and every action we’ve ever done, and he loves us.

The second half of Paul’s sentence brings this home: “. . . called to be saints”.

When I was a new believer, many moons ago, the word “saint” in the Bible tripped me up. I thought you only became a saint when men in elaborate robes met in a stone castle and elected you. But someone explained to me, early on, that Biblically all believers in Jesus are saints. The word “saint” simply means “holy one” or “called out one”. A saint is someone whom God is “sanctifying”. Now “sanctify” is another large word that might cause confusion. To be sanctified means to become like Jesus, to be made to conform to his likeness. Take a look at this verse:

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. – Romans 8:29

This hit me like a freight train a few years ago. I thought God saved me to make me a better person. I know now that God has no interest at all in doing small renovation projects on me, or performing minor cosmetic surgery, applying nips and tucks to my often unpresentable life. His goal is not to make me better. His goal is to make me new.

God is remaking me into the image of his Son. This is my destiny. It’s not an optional change, reserved only for the most devoted and dedicated of his followers. It’s the destiny of every person who has placed their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. He has us, and he means to bring us into perfect conformity with his perfect Son.

He’s not kidding around on this either. Our God is stubborn, zealous, and almighty, and he means what he says. This is the God who led his people with a pillar of fire to the promised land, bringing them out of the land of slavery with plagues and wonders and a strong and mighty hand. This is the God who sent his Beloved through the whips and thorns and nails of the cross to bridge the canyon-like chasm of our horrible sin and make us his sons and daughters. He is not fooling around.  If you are a believer in Jesus, you will one day be like him.

Case closed. It’s your destiny.

Idolatry versus Joy

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Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.  (Romans 1:22-25, ESV)

For some reason, I’ve recently become more aware of the ocean of idolatry I live in (and often swim in). Gone are the days when I would read of the Israelites rising up to play around the golden calf with a quizzical expression on my face. Idolatry can seem quaint, a relic from antiquity, but only when we are blind to what idolatry is. 

Here’s my definition: Idolatry is the expectation, pursued with our daily energy, that there is something out there that can make me happy in the ways that only God can.

There is much that we consider good that can be that graven image of a man, bird, animal or creeping things in our lives. Our family can be an idol. A relationship. Good music.. Our children. Technology – and before you roll your eyes, how excited were you for IOS 7? The day it came out my twitter feed turned into such a river of joy that for a moment I thought perhaps Jesus had returned.

Exchanging the glory of the Creator for the things that he has created is never good; it brings dishonor and destruction into our lives. It also, inevitably, brings disappointment. We weren’t designed to find ultimate satisfaction in things or people. But it doesn’t mean we don’t try. We keep replacing our idols with newer, shinier models because we have an innate knowledge that we were made for better things.

The mistake we make is trying to find joy in better things, or the next, better thrill, or a better relationship, or a better cause, or . . . you get the idea. The chase is fun for awhile, but it gets old. Running around in circles usually does. The scenery starts to look the same. Still excited about IOS 7?

Running after Jesus is the path of real joy, though our idols work very hard at blinding our eyes to that truth. One reason we find joy in Jesus is because Jesus’ path does not go in circles. It goes straight on and up! He is making all things new, including the daily joys of the former idolater who has found the true God that the false ones can only hope to imitate.

We were made by Him. They are made by us. Wise is the person who has compared the Creator’s credentials to those of us idol-makers and has chosen joy!

Remember

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And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.  And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.  Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years.  Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, theLord your God disciplines you.

– Deuteronomy 8:2-5

Happy New Year!

The more I read the Old Testament, the more it seems to me that a major theme of the scripture can be summed up in one word: “Remember”. The Lord constantly reminds us to remember. Remember. Remember what I’ve done for you. Remember my might and my power.

Remember I have humbled you.

If I have cast you down, I will lift you up.

Remember how I made you hungry, and remember how I fed you.

Remember  you are not live only on  what your appetites dictate. Remember  real life is in Me, in My words.

Remember  I have preserved you and have provided for you.

Remember I have disciplined you. because I love you.

Remember. I love you.

2013 is past. 2014 is just beginning. May I remember.  In many ways 2013 has been a very challenging year. But He has above and beyond provided for us. He has humbled me. and Lord, did I need it. He has made me hungry for Him. He has me now, like never before, feasting on His word. He has disciplined me, and is not done disciplining me.

He has taught me how real idolatry is, and that if I read the history of Israel dismissive of them as they fall to idols again and again, it’s only because I’ve forgotten how to look in the mirror. My heart, as has been said elsewhere, is an idol factory. Idols lead to death. It hurts to see people I care about willingly carried away into idolatry.

The Bible makes it plain that one main reason we get carried away by our idols is that we have failed to remember.

He has shown me people who have nothing, in two different countries, to help me understand how much I have, and to learn to hold it loosely.

He has put people in my path who I didn’t know before, and has blessed me with their friendship, their encouragement, and has even blessed me with burdens for some of them. He has helped me to remember that thinking of others helps loosen pride’s iron-tight fixation on self.

He has taught me that prayer matters, and has helped me grieve, in a good way, upon my prayerlessness. He is bringing me along in prayer, with such a long way to go.

He has reminded me that he loves me. My pride would deny his love, because it appears undignified, because it appears illogical, and because pride would rather sit alone, starving, feeding itself on rocks than fall into the healing hands of the King who alone has the true food our souls crave. Thanks be to God, His love is also fierce and stubborn and relentless and it laughs for joy as it crushes Pride as fine as the dust.

He has helped me remember that service is not a burden, but a joy. I battle this because another idol in my life is sloth. Yes, that needs to be crushed too.

Hoping for more Jesus in 2014. And to always remember.

The God who speaks – Genesis 1:27-30

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My notes from The Gospel Project, session 1: The God who Speaks

Question: What might be some of the reasons people don’t want to believe that God has spoken?

There are many reasons. Some people are still blind and deaf to him. Others believe, but don’t want to obey.

We may often find ourselves in that second category. If everything you hear from God is something you’re comfortable with, you need to ask yourself if you’re really hearing from him.

So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. – Genesis 1:27-30

The God who speaks gives us tasks

Notice the progression. God created, because he had authority to do so. Then God blessed, showing his mercy. Then he tasked his creatures with a mission.

Question: Why is it important to understand this progression?

It’s extremely important to understand, because our natural inclination is to get it backwards. We believe that we work first, and then God blesses.

Think of the pattern in scripture. God first delivered the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt, and then after that he gave them the law on Mount Sinai. When Christ was on the cross, he shouted “It is finished”; the work of our salvation was done, and our forgiveness was accomplished, while we were still dead in our sins and enemies of God. When he saved us, he blessed us with power from on high in the person of the indwelling Holy Spirit. It was only then that he commissioned us (Matthew 28:19)

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved–and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. – Ephesians 2:4-10

We invert the gospel. From the study notes: “When we begin with the task rather than the blessing, we cut ourselves off from the very power that is necessary to fulfill the tasks God has given us.”

We have to daily remind ourselves that God has done the work! Any good that we do must be in the power of the Holy Spirit and only in grateful response to what God has already done.

Questions:

Has God spoken to you through his word in the past few months? What scripture passages has God used to speak to you?

What blessings have you received from God in the past few months?

What tasks has God presented to you as a result of those blessings?

The God who speaks – Exodus 3:1-6

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My notes from The Gospel Project, session 1: The God who Speaks

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. – Exodus 3:1-6

Deism teaches that God created the world but took a hands-off approach from that point on, not interfering in our world but just letting it run on its own. Some people have this belief, and even many Christians who don’t hold to Deism live as though they do. But the God revealed in scripture is not the deist’s God. He breaks into human history for our salvation. Exodus 3 records one of these breakthroughs.

The God who speaks is merciful to reveal himself to us

God created us to have fellowship with him, but not because he is needy and not because he was lonely. Within the Trinity God enjoys perfect love-relationships and has no need of us. But he did decide to create us, as an act of grace. As the study notes say, “He created us to fellowship with Him, to join in the love song the three Persons of the Trinity sing to one another.”

Question: If you were to hold a deist view of God’s revelation, how would that affect your life? How would it affect your view of the Bible?

But in contrast to the silence imagined by the deist, God has spoken, and he has reached down to us. This is the good news of the gospel. Like Helen Keller, we are naturally blind and deaf to him. We needed his touch. We needed him to be with us, to touch us, and to bring us light.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. – John 1:1-5

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. – John 1:14

God can break through into your life, how and when he wants to, and when he does he will bring a burning that does not char and consume, and light where there was no light, and will turn the mundane desert and dry bushes of your world into holy places. In Christ he can and will send you to take the message of freedom to those who are still in chains. He has a people that he has called to himself, and his mission, in which he condescends to involve us, is one of mercy, rescue and deliverance. “Let my people go!”

The God who speaks – Genesis 1:1-3

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My notes from The Gospel Project, session 1: The God who Speaks

Someone was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the other the word water, first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten – a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that “w-a-t-e-r” meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope joy, set it free! There were barriers still it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away.

– Helen Keller, The Story of my Life

A light breaks through.

This moment was a turning point for young Helen Keller, only six at the time, and it released her from the dark silent world of wordless thought that she had lived in since she was 19 months old.

We were made to communicate. When we’re deprived of it, we suffer. Think about the movie Cast Away. Do you remember who became protagonist Chuck Nolan’s closest friend? A volleyball named Wilson. Chuck shared his life with that ball. He had to. Man was not meant to be alone.

The Lord created language and gave us the capacity for it. Have you ever noticed how powerful words are? And the more powerful or significant the speaker, the more powerful the words. For example:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. – Genesis 1:1-3

The God who speaks has authority

re’shiyth ‘elohiym bara’ ‘eth shamayim ‘eth ‘erets

These seven Hebrew words describe the initial creative activity of our Creator God. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. It should be noted that the word elohiym, which we translate as “God” is a plural noun, but the verb bara is singular, and describes creation out of nothing, the kind of creation only God can do.

A plural, singular God. Many scholars believe this is an early Jewish echo of the Trinity. A God who is self-existent in three separate Persons yet one Godhead, who had no need of anything and lives in a perpetual love relationship with the other members of the Trinity chose to bara, to create. And all he had to do was to speak to bring everything we know and all that we don’t know into being.

It was God’s word that created light. The Hebrew literally says “Light be!”, followed by the single word, recognizing the newly sprung, brilliant and glorious creation: “Light!”

Question: In what ways does the impact of a word of encouragement or criticism change depending upon the source?

Compare the impact of these words: “I now pronounce you husband and wife” to “Do you want fries with that?” One is life-changing. The other results in a salty snack.



Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the Lord! For he commanded and they were created. – Psalm 148:3-5

We have a God who speaks with supreme authority. This separates him from all the idols of this world.

Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”

Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.

They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.

They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.

They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk;

and they do not make a sound in their throat.

Those who make them become like them;

so do all who trust in them. – Psalm 115:2-8

What are the implications of this?

Our God speaks, and he speaks with ultimate authority. He speaks through both general revelation (Psalm 19) and special revelation (his word, the Bible).

We should listen.

How does the belief that God speaks affect our day to day lives? I think there are many good answers to this question, but I’m reminded of the moment light and speech broke through for Helen Keller.

w-a-t-e-r

Our God who speaks and who loves us brings things out of nothingness, brings light to dark places, brings wisdom and direction and guidance. But most of all, he brings touch and closeness, relationship. The creator of the universe condescends to speak to such as we are.

Amazing.

This happens

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Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” And Gideon said to him, “Please, sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” – Judges 6:11-13

It’s a familiar story, the calling of Gideon. I also think it’s a familiar happening, if we can but see it. I think this happens all the time, albeit not usually with the outwardly spectacular results that happened in Gideon’s case (read Judges 8-9).

But this happens. Perhaps it has happened to you.

There are a few things we can discern about Gideon even in this short passage. First, he’s scared, threshing his wheat in a winepress. I’ve had some experience with wheat, and a wheat thresher/combine. I’m also insanely allergic to wheat dust. Threshing wheat in an enclosed winepress would be miserable for me, and my guess is it wasn’t much fun for Gideon either. He was hiding because he was scared. Unless you’re in a child’s game, hiding is never much fun, and generally only done in grave necessity. Hiding demonstrates anxiety, fear of being found out, terror.

Many of us live in fear. Fear of the future, fear of enemies, fear of circumstances, the wrong kind of fear of God. This happens.

In the midst of this the Angel of the Lord appears, bringing joyful tidings of the Lord’s presence, and royal compliments to Gideon’s valor. Who is this Angel of the Lord? Bible scholars call this appearance a theophany, meaning a pre-incarnate visitation by Christ himself.

Gideon responds to the Lord with no small measure of cynicism and bitterness. “If the Lord is with us, why?”. That’s ironic, to say the least, because the Lord was standing right there. But Gideon couldn’t see. He didn’t perceive the Lord’s presence. This happens. It might happen to you, more than you think. We are, many of us, even as believers, dull of sight regarding the presence of the Lord. It’s common as believers to intellectually assent to God’s omnipresence and Jesus’ promise to be with us always, especially when all is well. But when you’re scared and at your wits end, you’ve got to know it in your gut. Gideon didn’t know it, not yet. In his defense, I often don’t either. This happens.

But here’s the beautiful thing that happens! The Lord God has no fear, and has perfect sight, and is infinitely valiant! He sees his children not as they see themselves, but rather as he has made them to be. You and I don’t often perceive the workmanship that we are, partly because we’re locked into time. So what we may only see as a half-formed and useless block of, well, something, God sees as a glorious work of art. God is not blinkered as we are,

“The Lord is with you, O might man of valor.” True words, though Gideon did not yet understand them.

This happens. I hope it has happened to you. It happens when God’s presence breaks into your despair. It happens when you find yourself used by him in ways you never would have thought possible, for things you never thought you could do. It happens when he saves you out of desperate straits and sets your feet on solid ground. It happens when God transforms you into a beautiful vessel of light and blessing to others, his courage courses through you, and against all odds the obstacles fall and his kingdom expands.

The story of Gideon gives me a hunger to have the Lord’s valor and to see his delivering work.

Golden and sharp

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The law of the Lord is perfect,

reviving the soul;

the testimony of the Lord is sure,

making wise the simple;

the precepts of the Lord are right,

rejoicing the heart;

the commandment of the Lord is pure,

enlightening the eyes;

the fear of the Lord is clean,

enduring forever;

the rules of the Lord are true,

and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold,

even much fine gold;

sweeter also than honey

and drippings of the honeycomb.

Moreover, by them is your servant warned;

in keeping them there is great reward.

– Psalm 19:7-11

and take . . . the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. – Ephesians 6

We’ve been looking at the Ephesians 6 armor of God passage in church lately. My pastor said something in his message last Sunday that I want to remember:

“Many view the Bible as God’s manual for successful living. This is true in part, but the Bible does not give us what comes naturally, but what comes supernaturally.”

Read the Bible and you may become wise. Follow its teachings and you will very likely live more successfully. But if that’s the extent of it, you’ve missed it all.

There’s a reason the Bible is called the Word of God. These living, powerful, sharp-edged words aren’t just ink on a page. They will slice you in half if you’re not careful.

God uses this word in the unsuspecting believer’s life, if that word is appropriated, to bring unlooked for revival to the soul, to bring external, Godly wisdom to the simpleminded, to bring joy to a heart that has no natural reason to rejoice. The purity of God’s word brings light to our eyes, and clarity to our thinking. It will endure forever, and, though in my darkened reasoning I can’t always fathom it, it is altogether sure, clean, pure, true, and righteous.

A confession: I don’t feast on the word enough. I don’t know it like I should. I think the reasons are expressed, in a way, in the Psalm 19 passage above. Notice that the Bible, embodied in the law, testimony, precepts, etc., owns the action verbs. Letting God change me through his word means that I wasn’t able to change myself. I want the natural remedy, and the credit that goes with it. I want control of the pace and the nature of the change. Or at least my flesh does. The status quo is comfortable and safe, and I’m even OK with a slow change that turns me into a better person. God is uncomfortable and dangerous and he means to make me like Jesus. I yearn for that and fear it at the same time. You may feel the same way.

Oh, surrender already! May I desire this sharp, sweet, golden treasure like never before.

Synchronize watches

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After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.”

As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman. And Eli said to her, “How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you.” But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.” Then Eli answered, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.” And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad. – 1 Samuel 1:1-18

Have you ever longed for something so badly that it hurt?

We humans have a problem with God. At least most of us do. It’s the problem of time.

Back in the day, I remember watching spy movies or military/action movies, and there was always that moment after the mission had been fully described, when the protagonists would exchange meaningful, determined glances and then one would growl “synchronize watches”. This was before precision, digital time pieces synchronized by satellite to the atomic clock. Back in those days, people had to get their watches all set to the same time so that each member of the team would know when the next step in the mission was to occur.

Most of us love ourselves and have a wonderful plan for our lives. We’d like that plan to unfold, post-haste, and so we look to God in prayer and, though we dress it up in spiritual language, what we’re really saying is “OK God, let’s get this mission started. Synchronize watches”. Unfortunately, for many of us, God’s watch, his timing, doesn’t synchronize with ours.

It’s tough to wait. It’s tough to see others wait, especially when they look to you to tell them why God isn’t answering. Hannah had been waiting a long time to receive the son that she longed for.

A few things to keep in mind:

1. It’s not wrong to desire things of the Lord. He is the Giver of all good things. Now, I’m not saying that our desires are always good, or that everything we want is good. It’s important to ask ourselves why we desire something. The answer may surprise us. Often our desires are wrong or misguided. But it may be the case that God has placed the desire in your heart for a reason.

Yes, it’s a bad thing to look at God as a cosmic ATM, where we punch up what we want and it gets delivered. Plus, he isn’t going to demean himself and destroy you by being that for you anyway. But it is also misguided to assume that all your desires are selfish. For reasons that we’ll soon see, Hannah’s desire wasn’t.

2. Persistence and pain in prayer is normal for one seeking the Lord. Prayer is hard work. It’s harder work than most of us know. Hannah poured her soul out before the Lord. As my pastor mentioned last Sunday, one side effect of this is that it turned Hannah into a theologian. Just read the first part of 1 Samuel 2 to see what I mean. Rather than holding what’s in our heart inside, it is infinitely better to pour it out to the Lord. This is being real before God. And we learn, at his gentle hand, to sort out the ungodly desires from those that please him.

Look at the heroes of Scripture. They wept and pleaded and bled in prayer. And God used them mightily.

3. The gift is often received in faith before it is received in life. “Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.” Hannah had not yet conceived, but still the promise from God spoken through the less-than-Godly and hitherto relatively clueless prophet Eli spoke to her spirit. Hannah knew God, and so she knew when the promise was given, before she conceived. The sense of the passage is not that she mentally forced herself to believe she had received, or to claim she had the promise. She just knew.

4. God’s purposes will blow your mind. The story of Scripture is God surprising his people with the enormity and creativity of his plan. Hannah prayed urgently and with many tears for a son, and I believe this urgency was from God. And through this faithful woman God brought forth Samuel, who was such a pivotal player in the life of the nation of Israel.

God wanted Hannah to pray, and pray hard, for a son. He had plans for Israel and Samuel was extremely important to those plans. Hannah didn’t know this, but she did know the desire, and she did have a heart to take her desire to the only One who could fulfill it. As believers, we so often stand dumbfounded in the early light of the first day of the week, in the first dawn of incomprehensible joy before an empty tomb, still not understanding the promises of our Lord.

Pour out your soul to God. Give him your desires. Let him replace the ones that don’t please and honor him. Who knows what God can do through the answers you will receive?