The distortion of distress

I notice when distress, problems or trials come my view of things begins to be distorted. I see things through my pain and I lose focus on reality.  Trials, distress and pain distort reality and it feels like God has abandoned us.

I know this is true from my own experience, but I know it too from others and especially from the writers of Psalms.  Take a moment and read this portion of Psalm 77 and then a few thoughts,

Psalm 77

For Jeduthun, the choir director: A psalm of Asaph.

I cry out to God; yes, I shout.
    Oh, that God would listen to me!
When I was in deep trouble,
    I searched for the Lord.
All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven,
    but my soul was not comforted. I think of God, and I moan,
    overwhelmed with longing for his help. Interlude

You don’t let me sleep.
    I am too distressed even to pray! I think of the good old days,
    long since ended, when my nights were filled with joyful songs.
    I search my soul and ponder the difference now.
Has the Lord rejected me forever?
    Will he never again be kind to me?
Is his unfailing love gone forever?
    Have his promises failed forever?
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
    Has he slammed the door on his compassion? Interlude

And I said, “This is my fate;
    the Most High has turned his hand against me.”

But then I recall all you have done, O Lord;
    I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.

They are constantly in my thoughts.
    I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.

O God, your ways are holy.
    Is there any god as mighty as you?

You are the God of great wonders!

Did you notice something in this heart-wrenching confession? Did you see the distortion this writer expressed?  Here it is again because if we miss this we will miss God,

                                              Has the Lord rejected me forever?                                                   Will he never again be kind to me?
                                               Is his unfailing love gone forever?                                                    Have his promises failed forever?
                                             Has God forgotten to be gracious?

Distress and difficulty quickly feels like our permanent fate, as if God will never help us, never change things.  Our perception of God, time and events is distorted and we begin to lose hope.

But the author caught himself.  He realized what he was doing and replied to himself with these insight,

But then I recall all you have done, O Lord;

I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.

They are constantly in my thoughts.

I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.

O God, your ways are holy.

Is there any god as mighty as you?

You are the God of great wonders!

He realized what he was doing (feeling sorry for himself, assuming God had abandoned him) and began to rehearse all the ways God had helped him in the past.  It moved the author to praise and corrected the distortion of his distress.

When you find yourself in a trial, a problem or with suffering of any kind realize your perception of God and reality will begin to feel a bit distorted.  When that happens take a moment and reflect on God's goodness in your life in days past, how good he has always been to you.  In your reflection and praise the distortion of your pain or problem will correct itself.  

Don't forget to remember- God is good even when it feels he has forgotten all about you.

10 years and 500,000 visitors!

I started writing this blog more than 10 years ago at the encouragement of my wife.  It's been a labor of love, spiritual frustration and growth.  I've had notes from around the world and been encouraged to keep writing.  Whether it helps anyone else at all it has helped me, so here we go with the beginning of year 11.  Thank you all for your comments and visits.  Mike

Squinting to see

Have you ever struggled to see something clearly?  As a child I learned that squinting, closing my eyes nearly shut and straining to focus, helped.  

But I find I struggle to focus clearly on one most important thing-  God.

I recently read an article about Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China.  He lived his life dependent on one verse,

"And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son." John 14:13

He saw God differently than I do.  His God was clearly bigger than mine and a magnificent promise keeper.  I'm ashamed of my faith as I read about his.  I'm humbled before his God, realizing that I can't see God all that well.

And so, as a stumbling believer, trying to see clearly, I have to constantly revisit the basics.  They are really simple, but I forget so easily.  In the midst of a problem, a storm, a crisis I forget to remember.

So let's work through this,  IF there is a God he has to be all powerful because he made everything, and IF he did communicate to us through the bible and through his Son, and IF he offered promises to us, and IF he's not a liar (and he's not), and IF he really loves us (and he does), THEN, can't I trust his words as Hudson Taylor did?  Can I believe that a loving all powerful God really meant what he said and I am missing out on what could be simply because I don't ask him?

Honesty, my God is too small, my faith shrinks in light of the size of my God and my prayer life reflects both of these.  And so, once more, I'm squinting to see God right sized, the sovereign amazing all powerful loving Father who invites me to ask him, to pray to him and says he will answer.

Lord, give me sight to see how big you are that my faith might be right sized as well.  Help me to boldly come and ask you for the needs of life and the world around me, help me to boldly ask for the impossible....simply because you invited me to ask.  And, thank you for inviting us to ask.  Might I see your hand in ways I never imagined simply because I asked.

Monday morning praise

"Be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord."

This is the admonition to the persecuted believers in James 5.

It's the passage I had the joy of teaching yesterday in church.

It's a great privilege to teach God's word and this passage was especially relevant to me.

James invited his persecuted readers to be patient, to trust God, until the Lord comes.  Not everything will be fair, right or just in this world, but there is a day coming when the Lord will appear and all that was unfair or unjust will be corrected.

Our great hope is the return of the Lord.

We wait for that day when Christ comes, when our hope is fulfilled.

We wait for the moment when our faith will be sight and all that is wrong in our fallen world will be corrected.

He will be make things right because this one, this Jesus, the lamb, is actually the KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

He, Jesus, the one who walked through the pages of the bible is the God of creation.  We believe that, we hope in that and it's that hope that one day will become sight.

Patience is often hard when things are so wrong in the world around us, but rest, wait, relax....the king is coming.  It could be today.

And, while we wait, he is still...even now...KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS...of everything.  He rules even now over the affairs of men.

In this I rest this early Monday....in a king who reigns even now when the world seems to be falling apart.  The King is on the throne, relax, all will be well.

Clutter

Welcome to my life.

It's a life cluttered with so many things that have simply clung to me as I've walked through my days.

The mental clutter is the worse, but along with it I find we have cluttered our lives with things.  Things we long ago stopped using, but they are still here depending on us to care for them.

I long for a drive to the dump where I can simply leave all the clutter of my mind,

my life,

and my possessions.

Sadly, the things that clutter my life have taken possession of me!

Having this car or that computer or this house defines me to others, but all it is really is just clutter that keep my focus on this world and not on God.

I know people around me who are hoarders.  Their houses are so full of things, of clutter times ten, that clutter now owns them. They can't live without it.

To be able to let go of all of this, all the things that keep me from God, from knowing him, obeying him, from letting him work in my life, is becoming an obsession.

The question we are working on now is, "why do we have this? do we need it? could we live without it?"

I remember, years ago, reading Philip Yancey's words as he described going to a monastic retreat.  The monk took  him to a sparse room with a bed, chair and small table.  As he left him the monk said, "If there is anything you need let us know and we will teach you how to live without it."

May this be my passion...only Christ!  The rest is just clutter.

Don't worry, there is a king!

Daniel is one of my favorite books to read. It's rich with the sovereign rule of God on every page as Daniel and his friends live in a foreign land. In chapter 4 Daniel tells the king,

"Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes.”

After the test and repentance of the king he says this,

At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever.

His dominion is an eternal dominion;
    his kingdom endures from generation to generation.
 All the peoples of the earth
    are regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases
    with the powers of heaven
    and the peoples of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand
    or say to him: “What have you done?”

Do you know there is a sovereign, a king ruling the affairs of earth? Do you know this is not out of control? Do you know he puts in office whoever he wishes?

There is a king ruling, he is the sovereign, will you take your fears to him and rest in his kind love for you? Regardless of who rules our country, any country, there is still only one king,

The Lord of heaven, YAHWEH, Jehovah, the God of the bible. He alone is God, he alone rules.

There is no other!

Early morning

Up at 4am. What a wonderful quiet morning. Reading, praying, and came to this quote, "All I have is 27 cents and all the promises of God." -Hudson Taylor. How often I forget, as I look at my checking account, that my resources come from the God who owns everything. My failure is that I do not pray enough, that I do not trust God for the needs around me. I wonder how much of God's blessing I miss because I don't ask him, don't trust him for what is needed.

Rabid worshippers

This morning I'm reading a portion of Revelation. 

As I read this amazing book of future history I 

realize we all worship someone or something. (Not a 

new insight.) The difference between us is what we 

worship, what we bow down to. 

We are all rabid worshippers. 

What do you bow before? Who do you worship? It 

will frame everything about your life and choices. It 

will determine how you live and how you respond to 

everything around you. Pick your God carefully 

because it really matters!

He sees!

"While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box.  Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins. “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them.  For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.”  

Often, when I'm honest, I will admit that I don't think I do much that matters for God.  And, even the little things I try to do are so small, so trivial, I wonder what difference I make at all.

We all feel that way!  When we look at the world around us and all that is happening we are tempted to ask, "So what difference can I make?  What I could do will change nothing."  

But, as I read this story this morning, once more I watch Jesus highlight the little things...the things we miss.   He tells the disciples, "Hey, did you see that?  That was amazing!"  And they reply, "What? What? We didn't see anything."  Jesus responds, "That woman who put two cents in the offering, did you see that?"  I'm sure they were thinking, are you kidding me?  What difference does that make?

To God it was big, to us it was nothing.  Could it be we miss the big things because they seem small to us?  Could it be that the deeds and actions that change eternity are invisible to a world looking the other way?

God sees the small things, the things done for him....even when no one else sees them he sees!  This morning God is asking the angels around him, "Did you see that?"  And they reply, as we do, "What? What? We didn't see anything."

But He sees.

The upside down world

"For the wisdom of this world 

is foolishness in God's sight."

1 Corinthians 3:19

... "For now we see through a glass darkly"

1 Corinthians 13:12

When you see things upside down how could you not be confused?

Welcome to our world!

This morning I was grieved to read about "pastors" "blessing" an abortion clinic.

How can we call good what God calls evil?

How can we "bless" murder?

How have we gotten this all so wrong?

We have done it by using our own wisdom and not God's wisdom.

We have wandered as we have created our own road maps and rejected the map God gave us, his word.

We have become fools, lost sheep, wandering mists, sad characters in a terrible play with a miserable ending.

Welcome to hell!

Grim words, aren't they?  But honestly, as we have demanded to do things our way, we have lost the only way to life.  Now, the wisdom of man rules the culture and it has proven to be foolish, empty and destructive.

Now the world around us looks a bit like this building in Poland.

Now, what was meant to be straight comes out crooked.

This is what it looks like when men depend on their own wisdom instead of God's wisdom.

This is the culture we get when we say "no" to God and yes to anything we want.

The only solution to turn this world right side up again is Christ.  

Only in him can we find life, only in him can we see things clearly once more. 

This morning I'm praying for our upside down world.

Perspective

He's God!

The author of Hebrews began his book with these words, they are profound and demand our attention,

"In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the 

prophets at many times and in various ways, but in 

these last days he has spoken to us by his 

Son,whom he appointed heir of all things, and 

through whom also he made the universe.  The Son 

is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact 

representation of his being, sustaining all things by 

his powerful word. After he had provided purification 

for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the 

Majesty in heaven." -Hebrews 1

This one, this Jesus Christ is 

Heir

Creator

Revealer

Reflection

Sustainer

Savior

and Sovereign

He is God in flesh.  He owns everything, it's all his! Why? Because he made it all.  And he reveals the nature of God to us. Want to know what God is like? Watch Jesus! And, while doing all of that he holds everything together. He's the only savior, the only sovereign.

He's God!

You can ignore him, dismiss him, deny him or claim he never existed, but you will one day deal with him because the one item I didn't list is this, He's also the judge!

One day we all, you and me and every human who has ever lived, will face this Jesus and he will judge us!

In fact, he's even the one who brings the dead back to life for that judgment!  Here's what Jesus said,

“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear my voice  and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned."

Bold claim, isn't it?  While living here Jesus basically said this, "One day, when you are all dead, I won't be and when I call you all humanity will come back to life and then I will judge you."

Do you realize what he's claiming?  He is claiming to be GOD!  You can't ignore that, he won't let you.

One day you will see him.  Will you meet him as your judge or as your savior?