Maybe Not Today, but Definitely on Time

I have good news and bad news: God is going to heal you. Just, maybe not today. God is going to take away your grief. Just, maybe not today. What do you make of that? Maybe you figure that some hope or a delayed answer to prayer is better than nothing. Maybe, to you, it sounds a little sketchy. I mean, if God can do it, if God is willing to do it, why not just do it right now?

One of the most theologically unsound, possibly abominably sacrilegious movies I ever watched was "Bruce Almighty." But, a point it made stuck with me. Bruce is angry. Life doesn't seem to be treating him as he'd like, so he complains. About God. "God" appears, endowing Bruce with infinite power and challenging him to do a better job. Bruce finds that in giving everyone everything they think they need, he is doing more harm than good. Now, I'm not saying God has limitations. I'm not saying God is like some irresponsible cartoony character wielding power like a two-year old handles a golf umbrella (experience talking here). What I am saying is, it is so much bigger than us. 

I have had those experiences where I prayed for one thing or another, God made me wait, and it turned out better than it would have if it happened as I intended. But, how can allowing a child to be harmed before intervening be good? How can healing someone of a disease after they've infected others be kind? How can allowing a drunk driver to wipe out an entire family be better than immediately answering a wife's decade-long prayer that her husband get sober? Those are all really terrible things, right? What if that child grows into an adult whose testimony brings hundreds to know the healing power of the Lord? What if those infected become invaluable in discovering a cure that saves thousands? What if, on the day of the funeral, many in attendance hear the Gospel for the first time, or are spared from a mudslide that wipes out their neighborhood? I know I might be oversimplifying, but trust me, we are going through the same thing right now. All we have known for the past two years has been turned on its head and people we love are in a place we are convinced is not best for them. I can feel God's presence, He has sent countless people to minister to us, but I don't always joyfully or gratefully receive it. When I give thanks for a word of encouragement, a voice within me whispers, "If You hadn't allowed this, You wouldn't have to work so hard encouraging me." But, it is so much bigger than us.

We have all been playing the game: maybe God is going to do this; maybe God is going to do that. Maybe the people who have reached out to us needed to be taken out of themselves. Maybe the people in the pews behind us are just watching, waiting to see how we live out our trust in God. We are looking for the plan, the purpose to help us get through this time. But God's ways are not our ways; His thoughts are not our thoughts. His are so much better, so much more refined and eternal. And rather than staying awake watching for the sun on the horizon, sometimes we have to close our eyes knowing it will be there in the morning. We have to let God be God rather than expecting He will reveal His plan to us, submit it for our approval. If He did, we'd only mess it up anyway. We have to know He is there through the sickness, through the grief, walking beside and encouraging us. We have to allow Him to heal us and hold us instead of wriggling free and insisting we're ready to move on. We have to trust that the bad news, the "maybe not today" part of this means the path of restoration and redemption that he set us on, that we pray for daily, will be so much better, so much bigger than we ever imagined -- but right on time.

"For there is still a vision for the appointed time;

    it speaks of the end, and does not lie.

If it seems to tarry, wait for it;

    it will surely come, it will not delay."

~Habakkuk 2:3

Listen and Obey -- Everyday

"Happy Tuesday!" The words stretched over the bottom of a beautiful sunrise. A meme that came to me just as I was forcing myself to take a walk. I'd been white-knuckling my entire morning, trying to get through this day alone -- the first. I was somewhere between "ripping the Band Aid off" -- forcing myself to get back to our old normal -- and wanting to crawl into a hole until death. "Happy Tuesday?" I objected. "You have no idea what an unhappy Tuesday this is." But I read on: 

"When storms come your way, just remember you know the Master of the wind. When sickness finds you, remind yourself you know the Great Physician. When your heart gets broken, just say, 'I know the Potter.' It doesn't matter what we face or go through. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. He is everything we need. Amen."

Tears began to pool. I texted back, "I guess you heard, or is this just God?" She hadn't heard. She had simply obeyed.

Let me tell you just a little something about the sender. She and I have never laid eyes on one another. We work in two different buildings, in two different states. We talk several times a week, but about things like trailers and drivers. In fact, I don't think either of us knew for sure the other was a follower of Jesus until we found ourselves grieving the loss of a mutual friend last year. (That was a "God thing" as well: sticking two sisters in the Lord in close range of a professed atheist!) But, the sender, knowing nothing of the week that had begun in our home, took the time to hear the Holy Spirit, and followed through. She sent a simple text, adding the words, "Continuing to pray for you always." Oh, my soul! The Holy Spirit had placed a heaviness on her heart, and she reached out, faithfully and gently, to encourage me. She could have prayed for me, or even made a mental note: "Gotta pray for her this week" as we sometimes do. But she didn't settle on either of those things. She acknowledge the prompts of the Holy Spirit. She prayed. And she let me know it. Not for any sort of recognition or that I might text back, "Praying for you, too!" but that I might be encouraged. What a beautiful spirit and a blessing to the Lord's name!

And I don't just want to brag on this wonderful sister, though I think I could go on, I want to challenge you as her act of love challenged me, to listen and obey. Don't dismiss those ideas. Don't make it about you. When you're standing in line at the market, watching the over-burdened mom keep her mind on her list and her eyes on her babies, and a word of encouragement comes to you -- Say it! Don't think, "I feel foolish; I don't know that person." It's about her; it's about being Christ to others; it's about listening and obeying in faith God will do something with that seed. When you've got that stack of cards your friend so lovingly crafted, sitting in a bin, envelopes empty and sentiments unwritten (as I do 😕 'cause I am preaching to myself right now) take the time -- ten minutes, twenty minutes, thirty -- and get them out to people who need to hear God's peace today. Listen. And obey.

And Happy Tuesday to you all!

There Are No Super Christians

"My name is Julius and I am your twin brother."

A smile begins to spread across Danny DeVito's face. "Oh, obviously! The moment I sat down I thought I was lookin' into a mirra."

The exchange takes place between Vincent, played by DeVito and his "not identical" (as Julius informs him) twin brother, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Julius' clarification, as you can imagine, is totally unnecessary. The differences between them are clearer than crystal. However, so are the similarities. As the movie plays out, we find their mannerisms are identical, the things they really want in life are identical, despite their more overt dissimilarities.

I have a friend who thinks I am some sort of a "super Christian." "You are so much further along than I a--" No, no I am not. "But you are so strong in the Lo--" No, no I am not. It bothers me, it really does. I cling to Christ because I vacillate. I seek the Lord because I am short-sighted. I move in His strength because I am weak. I am not super spiritual. The truth is, I am tethered to the Perfect, the Infinite, the Sovereign, the Eternal. He has promised to never leave me or forsake me; He has promised to help me, and He calls me "friend." It is when I ignore my relationship with Jesus and try to go it alone, you can see the real "me," the natural me.

I tell my friend all the time, "You have no idea how much alike we are." I say, "We are like twins separated at birth." I protest, "You have no idea what I am without Jesus!" I don't think I'm being taken seriously. The truth is, though, who I am today, the strong confidence I have that God is in control and working for my good, comes from years of walking with the Lord, hours and hours in the Scriptures, struggle after struggle and pain after pain. I was once in my friend's shoes. I could not, would not see how the misery would end. I wanted one day -- just one day in God's favor. "Couldn't He like me for just one day?" I whined to a sister in the Lord. She looked at me with such care in her eyes, "He does like you. In fact, He loves you," she said. "Trust Him and He will take you through it." Then, she said the words I have repeated to my friend so many times: "Believe me." She knew. She knew, because what I saw in her, that strength, the confidence and steadfastness, those things that, to me, made her some sort of "Super Christian," came from taking the hand of Jesus and holding on for dear life. 

In God's wisdom, His Scriptures reveal to us the failures, flaws and foibles of "Bible heroes." Noah drank, Abraham lied, Peter was a hothead and a coward, Paul wasn't one to give second chances. "Champions" of the faith, and yet, they failed. Sixteen second snapshots of any of our lives may reveal we are more alike than different. It's not hypocrisy; it's simple truth. In and of ourselves we are nothing but human. When we forget to Whom we belong, when we do things in our own strength, we can never be mistaken for any type of hero. 

There are no super Christians. They just don't exist. From the time we say, "I do," we are engaged in battle. We are praying and reading and meditating and rejoicing and weeping our way through eternity. All of us. There may be days when Jesus shares with us His victory. There will probably be many more days, at least in this world, where we get a raw taste of defeat. But "be of good cheer!" Jesus has overcome the world. He is the superhero. He is just gracious enough to invite those of us made in His image along for the journey!