Weaned

 

	“But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.”
	—Psalm 131:2

Tantrums, hot tears, and screams—all the things babies know instinctively that will annoy and exasperate their mothers. These behaviors come as demands for one’s own way, for selfish, even narcissistic challenges to a parent’s authority.

I suppose God has pretty good reason to use the picture of a baby for new believers. Through the Scripture writer, he says to immature Christians in Hebrews 5:12:

“…though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!”

This writer wisely exhorts these Christians to move on to maturity.

Likewise, the Apostle Paul urges the Philippians to learn, like he has, to be content in all circumstances. He writes in Philippians 4:12:

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”

Babies “learn” to put off the gratification for milk. They learn to eat other foods, some that likely taste very peculiar to them, but nonetheless fill them with nutrients they need. Sometimes these trials come with spitting and tears, and show the difficulty such a process involves. We do much the same in our own spiritual lives.

At first, Christ allows us the wonder and constant joy of the new life in Him. Later, however, when the tasty milk of our first days gets replaced with waiting for answered prayer, we cry out. When trials we didn’t expect God would allow to affect His “little dear” try our patience and bring more questions than answers, we spit and throw things, and generally show our immaturity in the faith.

Sometimes, we need to take inventory. The verse at the beginning of this blog post from Psalm 131 calls us to examine our growth in Christ.

Do we still throw tantrums, pout and refuse to obey when God brings us through a “weaning process”? Or, have we “learned” to be content, to enjoy knowing that our Heavenly Parent has tasty new ways for us to grow?

God needs us to calm ourselves in His presence and accept His love for us like the grownups we should be!

 

 

UFOs

 

	“Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”
	—Hebrews 1:14

Unidentified Flying Objects? Angels! Maybe, to be more precise, we should call them IFOs—Invisible Flying Objects. More than “objects,” God created them a little higher than human beings to live and do the will of our God.

So often, we see people with angel pins on their lapels, or “Guardian Angels” hanging from their rear view mirrors or in some other place of honor. Some people “collect” angels. Some people who sport these representations of angels believe that by displaying these images these “angels” somehow magically will protect them. Because of this false belief, many Christians like me have shied away from considering the truth about these magnificent heavenly beings.

When I started looking, I found many more references to angels in Scripture than I would have ever guessed. For a deeper study of the subject, I would recommend Billy Graham’s book, Angels: God’s Secret Agents.

The Bible speaks of angels who deliver messages from God, like those who proclaimed the message to the Christmas shepherds. It also speaks of those who have come to strengthen weak servants of God, like Elisha. And, Hebrews 13:2 speaks of those angels who shed their invisibility to come in human form when we are unaware of them.

These reports of heavenly beings certainly can comfort us when we need to feel the presence of God in a difficult or desperate situation.

“Ministering spirits” defines the purpose for which God uses angels in the lives of His people. They protect and defend, stir and excite us to duty, and they comfort and encourage.

However, the image I love most comes from Psalm 34:7:

“The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.”

He “pitches his tent” and determines to stay awhile with us! He “occupies” the territory in which we dwell against the enemy. These mighty beings will stay throughout the duration of the battle and see us through it.

God has decreed to send us this kind of personal ministration when we most need it. No, God doesn’t instruct us to pray to angels, or direct them to do our bidding. God does that for us, commanding His own “heavenly hosts”—thousands and thousands of angels to minister to and keep vigilance over His people, as recorded in Revelation 5.

I hope you feel encouraged by knowing these heavenly beings exist. God has them at His own right hand and will dispatch them quickly, powerfully, and lovingly when we need them. Praise Him for His loving and wise care!

 

 

Fix Your Eyes

 

	“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”
	—Hebrews 12:2

	“…God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.’”
	—Hebrews 13:6

The word “fear” occurs more than 300 times in the Bible. That tells me that this human emotion presents itself to us, even Christians, with some frequency. But how do we live with such a domineering character who seemingly vies to crush our joy and ship-wreck our daily walk with God?

Some of us quite naturally have more trouble with fear than others. The Enemy of our souls will constantly throw us into terror and even rule us through his use of this emotion.

In Hannah Hurnard’s classic allegory Hinds’ Feet on High Places, the main character has the name, “Much-Afraid,” and comes from a family of Fearing relatives, including a cousin who constantly dogged her steps, “Craven Fear.”

This theme also appears in another allegory, the journey of Pilgrim in John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. Pilgrim sets out on his pilgrimage from the “City of Destruction” to the “Celestial City.” Soon it becomes dark and he is led to the “Hill of Difficulty” on which sits a “Porter’s Lodge” for the purpose of refreshing pilgrims on their way.

However, as Pilgrim trudges upward, he sees two lions in the way. Struck with fear, he stops. As the Porter from the Lodge watches him, it appears Pilgrim—now a Christian—will turn and retreat.

The Porter calls out to him, “Is thy strength so small? Fear not the Lions, for they are chained, and are placed there for trial of faith where it is, and for discovery of those that have none. Keep in the midst of the Path, and no hurt shall come unto thee.” ¹

The comfort of hearing the Porter’s voice, and the assurance of safety, gives Christian the focus he needs to keep on the path and to overcome his fear.

In like manner, when we find ourselves in the midst of trouble, when we see nothing but danger all around, we need the comfort of hearing our Savior’s voice telling us to not be afraid.

God, our God, remains Sovereign over all things, and has vowed to care for us and watch us all our journey through. How can we stay on the path without fainting? By remembering His words to us from the Scriptures.

If you are going through a terrifying time in your life, or just have constantly recurring fears, learn to keep the Word of God close by. Memorize scripture verses that give you courage and confidence. And, keep your eyes focused on Jesus. He watches you as the friendly Porter and will guide you to a place of safety and security with Him.

Keep on the path. The lions are chained!

______________________

1 from The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan, in The Harvard Classics, pg.49.

 

 

A Prepared Place

 

	“From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.”
	—Acts 17:26

“Number 10 B Dutch Way”—my Mom’s last address before she left us for Heaven. She only lived four other places during her entire eighty-nine years. This last address identified her room and bed number in a nursing home.

A year before, we would never have considered choosing that kind of “home” for her last days. When we saw that particular room, though—the one bed available in the facility, right by the window—we knew it was a perfect room for her.

My Mom loved birds and trees and nature in general, having always lived on a farm. Even here she could look out over the lawn, and after my brother-in-law brought her bird feeder and placed it just outside her window, she could enjoy a few last days in a very comfortable place—a prepared place just right for her.

I have always been fascinated by Acts 17:26. This verse gave me assurance at a time, early in our marriage, when we had to make a very sudden move from a nice apartment. The owner had decided to transform our apartment into a condominium. We could not afford to buy this place we had lived in four years. We had just a few days to find a new place to live.

We looked high and low for a place to accommodate the two of us. We finally found a rental condominium through some miraculous answers to prayer. Little did we know that within a few months, my husband’s father would die and his mother would need to come to live with us.

Suddenly, we needed all of the additional space this new living place provided. We could never have anticipated this need. But, not only did God prepare it for the two of us, He prepared it for my husband’s mom, as well.

The Apostle John talks about the way that God is preparing a place for us, His children, in Heaven. The Apostle writes in John 14:2:

“In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.”

When we read that God prepares a place for us after this life, I think it is also safe to assume that He pledges to take care of every place we need to live until then. Like a loving Father, He watches over us and reassures us that He will make sure we will always have a place prepared for us!

Though we may not have to think about finding a new place to live very often in our lives, it can become a most stressful time when it happens. If you need a new home, or a loved one does, trust God to take care of this need.

Surely, our God who said He would take care of our need for food and for clothing in Matthew 6:25-34, will also take care of providing us a place that He has prepared just for us.

 

 

Simple Gifts

 

	“How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all…When you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things.”
	—Psalm 104:24, 28

Out they came, mouths open, tongues out, excitement showing on every face. I stood by the front door of the school doing my daily end-of-the-day bus duty. As though playing from some script, over and over again, the children ran out of school into the new snow with the same reaction. Cries of delight, eyes skyward, they couldn’t have been happier.

The adults reacted with far less joy. We complained and worried about the drive home, finding nothing so gleeful in it. I wonder which group pleased the Lord more. He must have watched with pleasure as the children enjoyed this gift He’d brought to an otherwise ho-hum school day.

As I watched the children’s reaction and delight, God reminded me not only of His wonderful creation, but His kind and gentle way with children. He gives us their happy spirits to remind us of simple pleasures and of beauty He constantly provides around us.

Thank you, Lord, for revealing the beauty that I wouldn’t have seen except for these open-mouthed, gleeful children.

As you live through gray, lifeless days, look for the beauty and wonder that children see. You may find that you, too, can find enjoyment in God’s simple gifts.

 

 

Bluster or Blessing

 

Those of us from the early Boomers remember the “Howdy Doody Show” on black-and-white TV. My sister and I loved to watch Buffalo Bob Smith and his puppet friends: Howdy, Flub-a-Dub, Dilly Dally—and the live characters: Chief Thunderthud, Princess Princess Summerfallwinterspring, and of course, Clarabell the Clown.

I was always intrigued by the name of the mayor of Doodyville, Mr. Phineas T. Bluster. He had eyebrows that shot straight up when he was surprised and his grumpy nature never changed.

Imagine my surprise when I read about another Phinehas in Scripture (spelled differently). His story can be found in Numbers 25. His anger over the practices of the Israelites, called by God’s name, caused him to act against their sin. We read in Numbers 25:10:

“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Phinehas son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites; for he was zealous as I am for my honor among them, so that in my zeal I did not put an end to them. Therefore, tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him. He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.’”

“Zeal,” a word Scripture extols, is a word that we don’t use very often. It means “passion” and Paul told us in Romans 12:11 to:

“…never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.”

When Jesus got angry over the money changers in the temple, his disciples referred back to Psalm 69:9 and said:

“Zeal for your house consumes me.”

Now before we go wrecking furniture or polishing our spears, we do read this warning in Proverbs 19:2:

“It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the mark.”

We see a live example of zeal without knowledge in the life of Peter. He made a bizarre suggestion to build shelters on the Mount of Transfiguration for Jesus, Moses and Elijah as recorded in Luke 9:33. I have to think, though, that Jesus especially loved Peter for this characteristic of zeal in his Christian life.

Paul showed zealous action too, without knowledge, and arrested Christians before he himself met Jesus on the way to Damascus as described in Acts 9:1-31. Yet his zeal as a Christian helped establish the church and gave him the perseverance necessary for the task.

These negative examples should not frighten us from our own zeal, as we go about passionately doing God’s work. God loves those who guard the honor of His name and courageously fight to hold His banner high. And that’s no bluster!

 

 

The Help

 

	“Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”
	—Psalm 124:8

Perhaps Americans have been reminded more recently about people who function as servants. As in the movie, The Help, servants usually work for individuals or families who are well-off enough to afford butlers and maids. In that movie as in the popular television series, Downton Abbey, we see the wealthy family benefitting from the care given by these servants of various kinds.

Truth be told, if we knew the lives of servants in real life, we would probably find a group of hard-working, yet plain people who, in many ways, need help themselves.

We all need help! We reveal our pride when we refuse to acknowledge our need for the assistance of others. As we get older, it becomes more apparent that we can’t do many tasks without aid.

What a Helper we have in God! The very Maker of heaven and earth wants to be our resource. In fact, He desires that we see our own weakness and come to Him. Consider this from Hebrews 4:16:

“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

I like the “timeliness” of His help. “In our time of need.” We also read in Psalm 46:1:

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”

Not only is He our Help, He is our “ever-present Help.” In our too-busy lives, we forget that He stays with us, prays for us, and waits to hear our cries for His assistance.

Make note of the many times in a day that you call upon God’s help. Isaiah 59:1 confirms that we don’t serve a God who can’t reach us, or whose arm is too short to save us. He has all of heaven full of angels to help His people. He has servants in every place on the map and an ear to hear us call.

Praise Him today, and call upon Him. Watch how He comes with His Help. He is always nearby!