Shall I take from Your hand Your blessings,
yet not welcome any pain?
Shall I thank You for days of sunshine,
yet grumble in days of rain?
Shall I love You in times of plenty,
then leave You in days of drought?
Shall I trust when I reap a harvest,
but when winter winds blow, then doubt?
Oh let Your will be done in me
In Your love I will abide
Oh I long for nothing else
As long as You are glorified
Are You good only when I prosper?
And true only when I'm filled?
Are You King only when I'm carefree
and God only when I'm well?
You are good when I'm poor and needy
You are true when I'm parched and dry
You still reign in the deepest valley
You're still God in the darkest night
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
standing still.
Some days I feel as though life is passing me by.
As though a blink would be enough to miss it all.
As though I'm standing still while everyone else keeps moving.
It's easy for me to say that God is in control and has a plan, but it's hard for me to always trust in that promise.
As though a blink would be enough to miss it all.
As though I'm standing still while everyone else keeps moving.
It's easy for me to say that God is in control and has a plan, but it's hard for me to always trust in that promise.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
hope.
I love Spring! I love the weather (until it gets too hot, anyway), the promise of summer (which means a break from school), and all of the holidays. I've decided that I'm much more optimistic when the weather is perfect. Spring brings with it a sense of hope and new life. And yet, as I look around me, I see the loss of hope, that something better is never going to come.
It's easy to understand, really. When we place our hope in things like financial success, monetary value, better careers, and the latest technology, we are sure to be disappointed. It's not as though any of those things have the ability to save us. They may make us happy for a season, through spring, summer, and even into fall. But winter is always around the corner, bringing with it a season of coldness and despair. And that's usually when we realize that the object in which we have placed our hope has, once again, let us down.
Winter is interesting, though. It is a time of fallen hopes, of darkness and despair, of loneliness. But winter is also necessary. During winter, trees lose their leaves and become dormant. If there was no winter, we would also have no spring. What is lost during winter is brought back to life in the springtime.
"From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth-- he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do. No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you." (Psalm 33:13-22)
Placing our hope in Him does not mean that winter is over. Rather, we know that God will be near us through every season. And even when it feels like winter is never going to end, we know that spring will come again. May we rest in His promise to sustain us, to never let us go.
It's easy to understand, really. When we place our hope in things like financial success, monetary value, better careers, and the latest technology, we are sure to be disappointed. It's not as though any of those things have the ability to save us. They may make us happy for a season, through spring, summer, and even into fall. But winter is always around the corner, bringing with it a season of coldness and despair. And that's usually when we realize that the object in which we have placed our hope has, once again, let us down.
Winter is interesting, though. It is a time of fallen hopes, of darkness and despair, of loneliness. But winter is also necessary. During winter, trees lose their leaves and become dormant. If there was no winter, we would also have no spring. What is lost during winter is brought back to life in the springtime.
"From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth-- he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do. No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you." (Psalm 33:13-22)
Placing our hope in Him does not mean that winter is over. Rather, we know that God will be near us through every season. And even when it feels like winter is never going to end, we know that spring will come again. May we rest in His promise to sustain us, to never let us go.
Monday, April 6, 2009
this isn't what we had in mind.
When I think about doing God’s work, I always picture these large, grand ideas in my head: feeding the hungry, going to Africa and eradicating AIDS, eliminating poverty, etc…you get the idea. Of course, there is nothing wrong with those things. Those are the underlying ideals that so many people seek and strive for. And they truly are good goals to have. But maybe those aren’t the things that God is asking you to do.
It is easy to identify your work as God’s work when you are a part of something great, like those, and countless other, things. Those are the times when it really feels like we are doing something important, doing God’s work. Everybody can see the good we are doing, so that must be when we are making the biggest difference…right? I think we all know the answer to that. Of course God can lead people to do those things, to be a part of such grand plans. But what about when it seems like the task we have been given is menial? We know that we could be doing so much more with ourselves, our time, and our resources.
One of the things that I have had to learn is that not everybody is going to, or is even supposed to, be a part of these things. What do we do when we want to feed the hungry across the globe, but it seems that God is prompting us to get to know our neighbors? When we have great plans, but God wants us to do something that seems meager in comparison?
In Exodus 2, the story of Moses begins. He is a Hebrew man, raised as an Egyptian and ruler over the Hebrews. It seems, though, that Moses was not content with his life as an Egyptian ruler. He knew who he truly was and had compassion on his fellow people. It appears that Moses saw himself as the deliverer of his people. He took matters into his own hands, and one day, when he thought nobody was looking, killed an Egyptian that was beating a Hebrew. He hid the body, thinking that what he did was in secret. But Pharaoh found out what Moses did and tried to kill Moses as punishment. Moses fled into the wilderness until he came to Midian. Verses 16-19 say this:
‘Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock. When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?” They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”’
So, Moses tries to help his people and ends up fleeing Egypt to save his own life. He had thought was he was going to deliver a nation. His had a grand scheme for how he would deliver his people. But God had different plans. Instead of delivering a nation, God presents Moses with the opportunity to save a priest’s daughters from harm. It wasn’t what Moses had pictured, but he stands up and does it anyway.
Moses is then invited to stay with the priest, marries one of his daughters, and establishes his life there in Midian. I think we all know what comes next: God knows the Israelites are still enslaved in Egypt and He calls Moses to be the one that goes to Pharaoh and ask that the Israelites be freed. Moses is given a chance to be the deliverer of his people one again. Only this time, he does so in accordance with God’s plans and achieves a much greater outcome.
So, what do we do when God is prompting us to get to know our neighbor? It may not be what we had in mind, it may not be the grand scheme we had pictured. But stand up and do it anyway. You may (and probably will) find out that God had a reason that prompting. Maybe your neighbor is going through a financially difficult time and doesn’t have enough to make ends meet. He has put on the façade that everything is alright. But, when you took the time to get to know them, you learned that your plan to feed the hungry across the globe can begin right next door.
It is easy to identify your work as God’s work when you are a part of something great, like those, and countless other, things. Those are the times when it really feels like we are doing something important, doing God’s work. Everybody can see the good we are doing, so that must be when we are making the biggest difference…right? I think we all know the answer to that. Of course God can lead people to do those things, to be a part of such grand plans. But what about when it seems like the task we have been given is menial? We know that we could be doing so much more with ourselves, our time, and our resources.
One of the things that I have had to learn is that not everybody is going to, or is even supposed to, be a part of these things. What do we do when we want to feed the hungry across the globe, but it seems that God is prompting us to get to know our neighbors? When we have great plans, but God wants us to do something that seems meager in comparison?
In Exodus 2, the story of Moses begins. He is a Hebrew man, raised as an Egyptian and ruler over the Hebrews. It seems, though, that Moses was not content with his life as an Egyptian ruler. He knew who he truly was and had compassion on his fellow people. It appears that Moses saw himself as the deliverer of his people. He took matters into his own hands, and one day, when he thought nobody was looking, killed an Egyptian that was beating a Hebrew. He hid the body, thinking that what he did was in secret. But Pharaoh found out what Moses did and tried to kill Moses as punishment. Moses fled into the wilderness until he came to Midian. Verses 16-19 say this:
‘Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock. When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?” They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”’
So, Moses tries to help his people and ends up fleeing Egypt to save his own life. He had thought was he was going to deliver a nation. His had a grand scheme for how he would deliver his people. But God had different plans. Instead of delivering a nation, God presents Moses with the opportunity to save a priest’s daughters from harm. It wasn’t what Moses had pictured, but he stands up and does it anyway.
Moses is then invited to stay with the priest, marries one of his daughters, and establishes his life there in Midian. I think we all know what comes next: God knows the Israelites are still enslaved in Egypt and He calls Moses to be the one that goes to Pharaoh and ask that the Israelites be freed. Moses is given a chance to be the deliverer of his people one again. Only this time, he does so in accordance with God’s plans and achieves a much greater outcome.
So, what do we do when God is prompting us to get to know our neighbor? It may not be what we had in mind, it may not be the grand scheme we had pictured. But stand up and do it anyway. You may (and probably will) find out that God had a reason that prompting. Maybe your neighbor is going through a financially difficult time and doesn’t have enough to make ends meet. He has put on the façade that everything is alright. But, when you took the time to get to know them, you learned that your plan to feed the hungry across the globe can begin right next door.
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