Struggles as Blessings

I once had someone tell me that they had everything they could ever need, so they didn’t have a need for God.  While this made me sad, I know chances are their circumstances will change at some point and maybe then so will their view about God. 

But what has really gotten me thinking lately is sort of the flip side of that statement, or at least related to it.  What about those of us who have put our faith in God and seek to serve Him but at the same time seek to avoid struggle?  Meaning, we say we love the Lord, but our expectation of the relationship we have with Him is that He will bless us, provide for us, pour out His riches on us, and remove difficult and challenging situations from our lives.  We might say otherwise, but our hearts live with that expectation deeply embedded in them.

What are the implications of this?  I think when our lives look too perfect, too prosperous, and too easy we limit the testimony that God can use to draw people to Him.  Think about it.  If your life is easy breezy and you’re trying to show people their need of God, they might think, “Sure she loves God.  He’s given her everything she has ever needed and asked for.  But what if the bottom fell out?  Would she still trust Him?”  They probably with just reason, might doubt that we would.

I just started reading the book of Job that is written about a man who loved God with all his heart.  He had it all.  But one day Satan comes along and challenges Job’s faith by saying this:

“Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not  put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has?  You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.  But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse your face.” (Job 1:9-11 NIV84)

What happens after that is probably an example of someone who has experienced more pain, torture, and heartache than any man who has ever lived besides Jesus Christ. But the end outcome is that he continues to trust in God. God permits the circumstances to test Job’s faith and probably to give him needed credibility.   I bet people certainly took more stock in what he had to say after he went through all that.  I certainly do.

My prayer is not for poverty.  It’s not to be down and out.  But it’s also not to have it all.  Simply put my prayer is that God would pave the way for my life.  I wholeheartedly embrace the challenges and struggles that come with it as long as they build credibility in me as I share what God has done in my life with others.

The Yellow Shirt

"Mommy, Elton always wears the same shirt.  I think he likes the color yellow." J. said to me one afternoon recently.  Knowing the population of J.'s school I explained to him that his classmate Elton might only have one or two shirts.  Unlike his closet full of clothes, many of his friends likely didn't have the same.  Having this conversation with J, was something we had sort of hoped would happen when we enrolled him in his school.  While that might sound strange at first, let me explain.  We essentially had a choice to send J. to one of two schools.  The first school is a few blocks from our home.  It has a strong reputation in the neighborhood and most of the children who attend are for the most part like us; middle class with educated parents.  The other school is in the neighborhood next to ours.  It's a low income neighborhood.  Most of the children are immigrants themselves or first generation Americans.  Over eighty percent speak a language other than English at home.  The school was brand new last year and was near where I was working.  I had met with the principal and was very impressed with her and her vision for the school.

 I think for many people the choice of schools would be a no brainer.  Go with the "good" one.  Go with the school where J. would be able to relate to his peers and see them around the neighborhood.  I personally struggled with the decision and for the most part felt the first school was the obvious choice.  But there was something nagging at me.  More than anything else, we desired very strongly that our kids understood how much God had blessed them in so many ways.  It's one thing to explain this to them and it's a whole other thing for them to see this and understand it for themselves.  One of the things I used to imagine when we were deciding on schools was the kind of birthday parties we would attend.  We already had a taste of our neighborhood parties from preschool.  They were fun, great, but elaborate.  We knew we would never measure up in this area for our kids, nor did we strive to.  On the other hand I knew at the other school there probably wouldn't be birthday parties. In the end after much thought and prayer we sent J. to the school further away from home.

 We've been happy there with the teaching and the leadership, but it wasn't until J. came home noticing his classmates lack of wardrobe variety that we had our first taste of the teachable moments we had hoped for.  The result of J.'s statement led to a discussion about how many people have so much less than we do.  What followed that was better than I could have hoped for.  "Mommy, maybe we can get him some shirts." J suggested to me.  And we did.  A few days later in collaboration with his teacher J. brought Elton a bag of new shirts.  He knew not to tell him who they were from or to tell other kids in the class.  We explained to him that more important than anyone knowing he had done it, was knowing that God was pleased with him.  I am so thankful he had the opportunity to be a blessing to a friend and to know he was.   J. was able to tangibly understand this verse, "And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased." (Hebrews 13:16 NIV84). I'm sure there could be many other ways we could have taught him this, but his experience in school allowed God to orchestrate the lesson for him and I'm glad for that.

My Heart's Desire

“Delight yourself in the Lord

and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

Psalm 37:4 NIV84

I’ve always loved this verse in the bible.  It’s a beautiful promise showing that God cares for what we desire as long as what we desire is of Him.  Recently however this verse has taken on new meaning for me, meaning that I think is much closer to the verse’s intentions.

When I was a new Christian I used to read this verse and think to myself, “As long as I focus on Jesus and find joy in Him, then He will take care of giving me what I desire.”  I desired a husband, a family, a home.  I knew those things weren’t essential for sustaining life, but I knew they were good and I believed that if I turned my focus to loving God, in time He would give me those things.  I wasn’t wrong in my thinking really.  God did bless me with all of those things and I am very thankful and grateful every day that He did.  But I think my mind was really saying, “God, I love you and I want you, but please don’t forget to give me these things that I want so much or I don’t know what I’ll do.”

I can actually say much to my own shame really, that I have even looked at others who might not have some of the things God has blessed me with and wondered if they were really content.  How foolish.  They clearly had a greater grasp on the fullness of joy in Christ than I did. 

Unfortunately, for me I feel like I missed out on the blessing that comes when we submit our desires so entirely to Him, that they actually become almost irrelevant, a side note really to our desire to please Him and follow His will.  Not that the desire is gone, but it is under submission to something greater. 

As I learn to love Him with my whole heart, desiring only to please Him, He has shown me His ability to change my desires to match the one’s He has for me or to take the desire away all together.  That’s the truth in this verse, not that I will get what I want, no matter how good or wholesome that thing might be; but that I would WANT only what He WANTS.

The greatest desire of my heart right now isn’t for any one tangible thing.  It’s not to be able to walk down one specific road or achieve one specific goal.  My deepest desire and greatest hunger is to be obedient to Him.  That desire He promises He will fulfill as I delight myself in Him.  And I do!

God's blessing and prosperity

Today I've been thinking about what it means when we are in God's will for our lives.  I think I've always correctly assumed that being in God's will means we receive His blessings and we prosper.  But what does that really mean?  I think I've incorrectly assumed that being in His will means he will bless and prosper us with THINGS.  I have completely missed the mark on this one.  There are many, many believers who are very much in God's will and their lives do not get easier.  They continue to live with very little.   Sometimes they continue to suffer most terribly.   However, what they have, what I want to have, is the blessing of knowing Him better.  I imagine these believers are very close to God at all times.  And they know it.  The more I know Him and draw close to Him the more He shows me His face.  It's a very deep and beautiful thing.  I think His prosperity means He will give us more and more of Him in our daily lives as we draw close to Him.  That's not to say that his blessings don't come in the form of things sometimes.  I have no doubt they do.  But I don't think that's really the whole point of it all.

Our walk with him should never be about what tangible item we can get out of the relationship.  Recently I was watching a snip it from a reality TV show and the episode actually centered around the family on Christmas day.  Every time the mother opened up another gift she would say "Thank you Jesus", like for example "Thank you Jesus for this Rolex!" and "Thank you Jesus for this diamond bracelet!".  Certainly this women has received many material blessings and being thankful is never a bad thing.  But really is that all He is about?

My greatest desire and hope at this point in my life is that I would continue to receive the blessings of God.  Most desperately I long to be closer to Him, to understand Him better, to hear His voice more clearly.  I also hope that He will prosper me, prosper me in doing His work, whatever and whenever that may be.