Work Woes

Exodus 5:10-14: “Then the slave drivers and the overseers went out and said to the people, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you any more straw. Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced at all.'  
The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, “Complete the work required of you for each day, just as when you had straw.” And Pharaoh’s slave drivers beat the Israelite overseers they had appointed, demanding, “Why haven’t you met your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as before?”

This verse is especially telling because someone I love is quite overwhelmed in his job today. It’s actually been ongoing for a very long time. The slave drivers keep beating him down more and more. What’s worse, I’m helpless to fix or change it. He wants to run. He wants to quit. Pharaoh is just asking for the impossible. He’s trying to squeeze blood from a turnip …

I’m looking into God’s Word for some hope that I can offer this individual. David cried out to the Lord, “I am poor and needy. Guard my life, for I am faithful to you. Save your servant who trusts in you...when I am in distress, I call to you, because you answer me." (Psalm 86)

That’s the answer! David was able to survive when everything around him was “caving” in - both literally and figuratively - because he called out to God during his distress. His life was in peril when King Saul was hurling spears at him, then chasing him into the desert. Later, David’s heart was shattered to pieces when he fled from his own son, Absolom. Yet, David cried out to God. He clung to Him for his very life. 

This complete dependence on God is reflected In Michael W. Smith’s song, "This Is The Air I Breathe." 

This is the air I breathe
This is the air I breathe
Your holy presence living in me
This is my daily bread
this is my daily bread
your very word spoken to me
And I I'm desperate for you
And I I'm lost without you

Today I pray that the one I love will depend on God like that. I pray he will desperately seek his heavenly father like the very air he breathes. Even if God doesn’t choose to ease the crazy, impossible demands of the slave drivers right now, I know that God will provide much-needed protection, and healing and peace.

Clinging and Swinging

In Psalm 63:8, King David told God, "My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me." This is a pretty amazing statement given that David penned it while running through the desert from his son, Absolom, who was hunting him down with plans to kill him.

Linda Dillow (author of A Deeper Kind of Calm, the book my women's Bible study is reading right now) asks us to remember a time when we experienced "clinging," and to describe those feelings. Well here's an example of NOT clinging:

When I was five years old, I was at my friend Sandy's house down the street, playing on her backyard swing. I was doing what all children do on swings: leaning back, pumping my legs, and looking up at the sky. "If you let go," her older brother, Larry, said, "you can fly!"



Me being the gullible idiot I was, I let go. Bam. That hard ground felt like cement. A burning pain seared through my body. After I caught my breath, I began to cry. In fact, I walked home, crying all the way. My collar bone was broken.  But what's worse, my trust in people was broken too.

What was going on inside that 5-year-old head of mine? Who knows. But one thing I do know is that if I had held on tight (and clinged) to that chain swing, I would have kept soaring higher and higher. I wouldn't have been hurt. I would have been free and happy. Instead, I chose to listen to - and believe - in the world's lies.

"Let go...and you can do this ...on your own..." 

Lord, please help me to ignore those lies. Help me cling to You with all my strength. I know You will never steer you wrong or let me fall. Amen

Psalm 65:6-13 (God in Nature)

I read Psalm 65 today, and was overwhelmed by how good God is to us. This "harvest Psalm", written by David, glorifies God (the Creator) through reflections of nature. Nature helps us understand God's character. It shows His generosity. He gives us more than we could ever need or deserve.

"O God, our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas, who formed the mountains by your power...



who stilled the roaring of the sea...



those living far away fear your wonders; where morning dawns and evening fades, you call forth songs of joy...



You care for the land and water it, you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water...



You drench its furrows...You soften it with showers ...



You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance...



the grasslands of the desert overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness...



the meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing."



It just doesn't get any better than that. David was definitely a "nature" guy. After all, he spent his formative years shepherding sheep. I love what he later wrote about gratitude: "because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of food." (Psalm 63:3-5) 


Lord, your love is the only thing that truly satisfies. Help me to eat, drink and breath your love, your presence, and your abundant blessings. Help me to be completely satisfied in You, Amen

Distractions

The other day I was trying to do my Bible study at the computer. Unfortunately, there was a very big, very noisy fly buzzing over my head that would not leave me alone! Back and forth from the lamp to the window he went. Finally, in desperation, I got a fly swatter. I sat perched in the chair - ammunition cocked  just waiting for him to swoop past me. Here he comes…swat … miss…there he went!

Now he was in the lamp. But he was just too fast. It was like he was on methamphetamines or something.  Zigging and zaggain, zigging and zagging! I kept swatting. Swat. Miss. Swat. Miss. After about 15 minutes, I sat back down and took a deep breath. In desperation, I prayed, “Lord, please help me kill this fly so that I can get back to my study.”

Soon, I heard the fly again. This time I just blindly swatted in the air above a high bookshelf. I’m pretty sure I got him. I couldn’t see his carcass, but the buzzing stopped. Finally, I was able to get back to my study.

So what did I learn from this crazy encounter? Mainly that the enemy of our souls wants nothing more than to distract us when we are trying to read God's Word. If he can get our minds, eyes, and ears off of what God is saying, then the battle is won. What's worse, Satan wants to make us crazy - swatting, reaching, grabbing for everything under the sun  except God.

Are there other things distracting me today from studying God's Word? Perhaps it's Facebook, or email, TV, or my cell phone. I need to "kill off" all those pesky flies and quiet my mind so I can hear what God is trying to tell me. First, let me just check my email one more time, though ....

The Blessings of Deprivation

When I was very young, I had numerous allergies. My mother said that I was congested all the time, so my parents did the only thing they could think of: they took away anything that made the allergies worse. Basically, my bedroom was a crib, wood floors, and a dresser. Anything that could possibly carry dust was removed, as were soft things filled with stuffing. No stuffed animals. No soft blankets. No pillow. I had a gate in the doorway to lock me in.



I actually have an early memory of standing at the gate, looking through the bars at the family gathered in the other room. I wanted to be there with everyone else, but I couldn’t because I was “quarantined.” I don’t know how long it lasted. Eventually, my allergies dissipated. All except for dust. As an adult, when I vacuum and clean, I constantly have to blow my nose and sneeze. (So, I can legitimately say that I am allergic to house work!)

When I look back at that little girl behind the gate, I distinctly remember that I hated feeling left out. I hated being a “have not.” Perhaps the fact that I couldn’t have soft things THEN explains why I NOW love my fleece bathrobe, slippers, socks, and blanket NOW. The fuzzier, the better!

Even though I didn’t like it at the time, the things my parents kept away from me were for my own good. I’m pretty sure that’s why God has chosen to keep material things away from me as well. I’ve never had a fancy house, clothes, toys, jewelry, bling, etc. I’m kind of a simple girl, I suppose. God knew that if I had too much of that “stuff” I would be too obsessed with it. I’m not sure why he surrounded me with friends who were well off, though. All through middle and high school I hung out with “rich kids” who lived in Carmichael along the American River. Yikes! talk about being on the other side of the gate.

But you know what? It’s okay. I know that God wants more for me that just a material girl. He wants me to be appreciative, thoughtful, compassionate, and deeply committed to Him. If I were to win the lottery or come into some serious money, I’d go downhill in a millisecond. Money wouldn’t be an allergy; it would be an all-out tornado that would suck me into it’s vortex! God knows that, and I trust Him.

So, today I will say thank you, Lord, for giving me a simple, blessed life filled with You, my family and friends. Those are the “things” that matter most to me. And my fuzzy slippers. As long as I surround myself with these things, I am a happy and content girl.

“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Luke 12:34)

Taking Jesus At His Word

I just read an amazing story of faith in John 4:46-53:

And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.
”The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
“Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.”
The man took Jesus at his word and departed. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.”
Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed.

The verse that jumps out at me is "the man took Jesus at his word" (then he left and headed for home). This man's son was close to death! He had just begged Jesus to bring healing. Can't you just hear the urgency? "Please, Jesus, come with me! He's so sick. I'm so afraid. If only you would touch him, he would be healed..."
But Jesus didn't have to go to the man's house to heal the boy. He spoke it. "Your son will live," Jesus assured. And that was that. Right at that moment, the man's son was indeed healed.

The question is, do I take Jesus at his word? Do I trust that what he says is really true? And more importantly, do I act on it?

"Lord, I believe, help me with my doubts!" (Mark 9:24, The Message) These words were spoken by a man so much like me. He was the man who brought his mute son overcome by a demon that caused seizures. Jesus said, "Bring the boy here." They brought him. When the demon saw Jesus, it threw the boy into a seizure; he writhed on the ground and foamed at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy's father, "How long has this been going on?"
"Ever since he was a little boy. Many times it pitches him into fire or the river to do away with him. If you can do anything, do it. Have a heart and help us!"
Jesus said,"If? There are no 'ifs' among believers. Anything can happen."
No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the father cried, "Then I believe. Help me with my doubts!"
With that, Jesus spoke a word and healed the boy (Mark 9:17-27).

Lord, forgive me for my doubts. Help me to completely trust you. Today I will take you at your word. Amen!

Troubling Thoughts

Everyone has troubling thoughts. Depressing thoughts. Thoughts that take us down into a pit so deep we can't crawl out. That's why we are supposed to take our thoughts "captive" to Christ. If we don't, pshhhhhhhumph! Down we go.

So how do we get out of the pit if we have fallen?



David leads by example in Psalm 55:1-22:

Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea; hear me and answer me.  My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught because of what my enemy is saying…my heart is in anguish within me; Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me. I said, 'Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. I would flee far away and stay in the desert; I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm…'

… As for me, I call to God, and the Lord saves me. Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice. He rescues me unharmed from the battle waged against me…”

I love this prayer because it’s so real. More amazing, it’s written by a guy! A guy who’s in touch with his more sensitive side. David admits that his thoughts are troubled. He’s depressed, discouraged - downright “anguished.” I can relate. How many days have I gotten out of bed only to hear the enemy already whispering in my ear: “Why bother even facing the day? Nothing will change. Life is pointless. You are pointless…”

Oh that I had wings, I would fly away and rest. When depression overwhelms me, that’s exactly what I do. I go back to bed. I crawl under the covers, and let my imagination take me away. Sleep is the only place that I can escape from the pain. As a little girl, I fell asleep every night imagining I was somewhere else. I had a different family, a different father (one who was actually loving and kind). I lived in a beautiful, clean house, a mansion really! I was beautiful, confident, joyful.

God sustained me through a very difficult childhood by giving me the gift of imagination. But today, when I’m feeling depressed, I don’t want to “escape”; instead, I want to be healed. I want to face the day - morning, noon, and evening - with a fresh joy and peace. God’s word promises that if I cry out to God in my distress, he will rescue me from the enemies in my mind. Today I will take those anguishing thoughts to him in prayer.

“Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you.” (psalm 55:22)