Got Any Troubles?

Have you any problems? Have any temptations been teasing you? Let me step aside and let the Lord take center stage with a very germane message. It is from a little known Bible translation, the Phillips version, James 1:2-4.

When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives, my brothers, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realize that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance, But let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find you have become men of mature character, men with integrity with no weak spots.”

Let me encourage you to do as I did a number of years ago. For it to become your new outlook, memorize it. Just take it bit by bit for several days and learn it.

Now our Lord wants to offer you help in developing such an attitude in verse 5.

“And if, in the process, any of you does not know how to meet a particular problem he has only to ask God — who gives generously to all men without making them feel guilty, and he may be quite sure that the necessary wisdom will be given him. But he must ask in sincere faith without secret doubts.”

The Lord opened Himself for questions in that verse and through the years I have taken full advantage of the opportunity of asking.

In the first verses we are told trials help to make us complete. Verse five notes that at times we lack wisdom as to how to face our trials and temptations. Then comes the offer to give us wisdom to help us become more complete. 

God gives us wisdom from His unlimited supply. As the Creator of all things, He knows how they work and out of His supply of wisdom He will give us what we need, and not make us feel foolish for asking. 

We are to have faith in God, it is not faith in which we have faith. This passage does not endorse the blab it and grab it school of thought. Our faith must be in God and His ability to perform it. It is not faith that He will do a thing, but that He can do it. So we ask and leave it to His wisdom as to what He does about it.

Note this passage is speaking of asking for wisdom, not things. You can be confident that if you ask for wisdom this passage says you will be given it.

Why not pause right now and ask for the wisdom you need in facing a pressing condition.

Run to the Roar

What do you do when there is something worthwhile you really want to do, BUT…. That “but” represents some obstacle that might be intimidation, so you run away from it, considering the obstacle being too threatening. Thus a worthwhile objective goes unfulfilled.

Hidden in I Chronicles 11:22 is a narrative regarding which many illustrations have been made. 

“Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a mighty man of Kabzeel, mighty in deeds, struck down the two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion inside a pit on a snowy day.”

“Chase the Lion” tells the true story of an ancient warrior named Benaiah who chased a lion into a pit on a snowy day. That is when the story gets good. He didn’t run away, he jumped in the pit with the lion and a furious conflict resulted in Benaiah killing the lion. For most people, that situation wouldn’t just be a problem…it would be the last problem they ever faced. For Benaiah, it was an opportunity to fulfill his destiny. After defeating the lion, he was rewarded by becoming King David’s bodyguard and eventually the commander-in-chief of Israel’s army under King Solomon. Think of his loss had he run away.

Is there something you want to do, an objective you want to achieve, but have run away without jumping in the pit? Rather than face the lion you have chosen not to engage him. 

Do you have an aspiration, a dream so impossible that achieving it demands you face your fears, defy the odds, and get a vice grip on the Lord. Remember:

“For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, Saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’”

Identify your dream and name the lion. Know what your aspiration is and what is keeping you from at least trying to fulfill it. Devise your strategy and get in the pit. Give yourself a specific time to confront the lion you fear.

The roar of a lion is intimidating. There is a lion in a stage play in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee whose roar at feeding time in the morning can be heard in our cabin two miles away. It is a chilling sound, bullying.

Your lion may have you frozen so you can’t even run away. If your aspiration is a good one, it is good enough for you to even “get in the pit” to achieve it. Don’t cower away in fear.

The shepherd/king David who literally faced his own lion wrote: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4)

You Are a Potential Masterpiece

There is within you what God works to bring out of you. Agostino d’Antonio, a sculptor of Florence, Italy worked diligently, but unsuccessfully, on a large piece of marble.  In frustration over his failure to do anything constructive with it, he had it discarded.  Other sculptors tried in vain to work with its obstinate composition.  Michelangelo saw the massive discarded marble and had it brought to his studio where he painstakingly worked to release the hidden beauty of his classical work of “David.”

The secret was in Michelangelo, not the stone.  Look at your life!  Is it an incomplete, perhaps even discarded, potential masterpiece?  Put it in His hands and expect nothing but His best from your worst.  In love would you commit to Him?

To release David from the Carrara marble there was a lot that needed to be removed.  He was there all the time, he just needed the master sculptor to release him.

I have been to Florence and seen Michelangelo’s David. It is perfectly proportioned with one exception.  His right hand goes unnoticed by most admirers.  However, it is almost twice the size as the other well proportioned hand.  It was intended to depict David as described in Psalm 137:5 – “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget its skill!”  His endearment of Jerusalem was as special to him as his right hand.  Remember that statement was made at a time when manual skills were depended upon for survival, and the skill of the right hand was highly valued.

Think seriously, what do you value highly, how highly?

This is a good time to make a list of the ten most valued things in your life. The list might need reviving.  Perhaps some items need to be moved. Remember, stone had to be chiseled off to reveal the best David.  Consider yourself a potential David and remove anything not revealing your best self; not your better self, your best self.  Bad habits sometimes resist the best chisel.  What needs to go to reveal your best self, not your better self? Dedicate the effort to the Master Sculptor.  He can help you in finishing the sculpture; the best you.

Begin by praying this appeal David made of the Lord.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

Wait! Before David penned those words he got out his chisel and authored these.

“Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities.” Psalm 51:9

A Productive Pattern

There is a biblical pattern of how God develops our character. It is found in Romans 1:1-5.

It begins when He takes control of our expectations. Note they are our expectations. Often they stand in the way of God’s intended desire for us. Sometimes our expectations result in suffering, tribulation. It becomes the seed bed out of which grows character having a fragrance called hope.

The process is seen throughout the Bible. It involves:

Anticipation, followed by frustration, resulting in realization. Examples are:

Abraham, who had a son he loved. God had promised him an heir and his anticipation was realized. Many of God’s promises were embodied in Abraham’s son Isaac.

Frustration. Then God ordered him to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. On Mount Moriah Abraham built an altar and placed Isaac on it. That hope was about to be dashed. God never wanted a human sacrifice, but He knew Abraham’s love for the child. What God wanted was to give Abraham an opportunity to demonstrate that his love for Him was greater than his love of his most beloved object, Isaac. Once Abraham raised the knife to sacrifice Isaac and thereby demonstrated his love for the Lord by obedience, God stayed his hand. The child was spared, hope lived.

Realization. Isaac was the child through which Abraham was to be blessed, and indeed he was.

A second example is Jesus, the Son of God.

Anticipation had long existed that Messiah would come. Jesus’ followers had great expectation, Jesus, Messiah, was here.

Then came the cross and frustration. Hope was lost.

Three days later came the resurrection and realization. 

Has this pattern ever played out in your life? Perhaps it is at work right now, even resulting in frustration.

God is at work building character in us by keeping hope alive. Give God time to be God. In your hours of frustration live with hope and faith so that when your hour of realization comes you won’t be embarrassed when you look back on your conduct during your frustration.

Believing in Him means to accept the facts and trust the person. Consider this example. Assume we become friends, and my wife and I have the good fortune of you visiting us overnight. The next morning you come to the breakfast area. You skin color is pallor, you have sharp pain on the right just below the ribs. Those are symptoms of appendicitis. I say to you, “Our close friend is a physician, he lives at 769 Dear Run Road, his phone number is 604-379-8923, he is board certified and works at Kennestone Hospital in Marietta. Do you believe that?” 

“That is good news. If you say it, I believe it.” 

“Wonderful, you are well, you believe the facts, your pain is gone.”

No, you aren’t. The facts become real and relevant when you let me take you to the hospital where we are met by the doctor who runs tests that show you have appendicitis. You then must submit to the doctor’s scalpel. You must trust the person to be healed. Likewise we must trust Jesus, that is, submit to Him.

First, you accept the facts. That is good, BUT you then must trust the person. Applied, that means you must believe such facts as Jesus, in love for you died on Calvary as a sacrifice for your sins. If you do, that is good, BUT now confirm your salvation by trusting the person, Jesus.

Love That Lasts

“God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind. ” II Timothy 1:7

Every Christian has been given the spirit of love. Jesus wants it shown. The traits of love are revealed in I Corinthians 13:4 – 8. 

⁴ Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; ⁵ does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; ⁶ does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; ⁷ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. ⁸ Love never fails.”

Consider each trait as a column supporting a roof. The roof given support is noted in verse 7.  The word “bears” is translated from the Greek word “stegei.”  It means “to cover over or provide a roof.”  This means love puts up a shelter to shield or cover. Consider the columns and note if any need repair. 

* Love is long suffering, that is, is patient. The word employed always refers to patience with people, not circumstances.  There is another word for that.

* Love is kind. The Greek root word translated “kind” means to be “useful.” This means love is uncompromisingly courteous.  It is a triumph of grace.  

* Love does not envy. Envy is wanting what others have. Bragging is an attempt to make them want what you have.

* Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up. To “parade” oneself means to verbalize pride.  Our word “windbag” comes from this meaning.

* Love does not behave rudely. It is always polite and never disorderly.  It is Christian etiquette at work.

* Love doesn’t seek its own. It isn’t selfish. It doesn’t demand its rights.

* Love is not provoked. It isn’t always ready to quarrel or fight.

* Love thinks no evil. The word “thinks” translates the Greek work LOGIZOMAI which is an accounting term meaning “to keep an account.”  Love doesn’t keep score.  

* Love doesn’t rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.  Love doesn’t brag over sin.  It does not expose the weaknesses of others.

* Love believes all things. Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life is the personification of “the truth.” Do you rejoice in Him fully?

* Love hopes all things. It desires the fulfillment of all things good.

* Love endures all things, means to suffer to help people work things out.

Are your columns sturdy and your roof not leaking? Love, you have it, it is a gift from God. Now give Him an account as to how you are using it. Make a conscious effort to henceforth show love for Christ sake.