The difference between arrogance & humility
Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,
but he who hates reproof is stupid.
Proverbs 12:1
I pray that God would protect me from the kind of spiritual arrogance that cannot receive discipline or reproof. Wise people love these things. It is humbling to be a sinner. But my only hope of growing in sanctification is to take necessary discipline and reproof. This often happens at the hands of other people.
Some people have to always appear to be in control. They cannot accept that God desires humble servants, not pompous overlords. And the church has often been hurt over the ages by this pride. Since I am in leadership in a church, I know that my highest temptation will be to become that sort of untouchable leader. And that is not what God calls me to be.
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Disbelieving despite the experience
Yet in spite of this word you did not believe the Lord your God, who went before you in the way to seek you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night and in the cloud by day, to show you by what way you should go.
Deuteronomy 1:32-33
The human capacity to disbelieve God is strong. The children of Israel, despite the clear Word of God and the visible presence of God among them, struggled to believe God. Now I find that hard to believe! This is an insight to the depth of human fallenness. I think that I have it harder because I do not have the kind of miraculous visible manifestation of God that Israel had as He led them out of Egypt, through the desert, and into the Promised Land. But their capacity to question God and trust themselves was just like mine is today. And despite all that God had done that they could literally see, they struggled to believe.
Many times I have wished to look for a pillar of cloud or fire to guide me. And all along I have had something greater, the very Spirit of God residing within me guiding me through the clear teaching of the Word of God. Am I any better than these Israelites in the Penteteuch? No. In some ways, I am disbelieving against a greater light! So I realize that when God is chastising Israel, He is clearly calling me to repent as well.
Lord God,
You lead me. You are with me. Your presence comforts and convicts. And today I acknowledge that I am not better than my fathers in the faith when I disbelieve or disregard that truth. Thank You for Your clear leadership and care. Your grace extends even beyond my struggles to trust. My faith shifts and sinks, but You abide faithful.
Amen
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In the Potter's Hands
"O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel."
Jeremiah 18:6
This is an appropriate image in the light of the last week. I have graduated from Calvary Theological Seminary with a Master of Arts in Biblical Counseling. I am both happy to be done and strangely waiting for it to sink in. I am not the kind of guy to throw parties in my own honor, so I have been quietly waiting for the next steps of instruction from God. I think God is telling me to simply allow Him to do with me as He would. And like the simple lump of clay that I am, I will need to let Him do the reshaping into the vessel He desires.
It feels a little weird not to have an academic element in my life since it has come to dominate a lot of my planning and schedule the past two and a half years. I suppose the spinning of the wheel has stopped for a while. And now I am in His hand again, only in a different way.
Those closest to me have shared in the trials, the sacrifices, and the joys of the Theological journey. And they have rejoiced with me at its completion. I feel a real need to give back to them. My wife and children have particularly done without me, had to cope with my lack of time management, and sacrificed things such as family vacations and time with me in order to allow me the space to complete my degree program. I will be giving back to them now. In terms of personal ministry, we shall all wait for God's direction. I do know that I have a lot to do with where I am right now, and am content to stay there if that is what God wants. There are people to help. There are life stories to enter. There are ministry opportunities to take part in. There is planning, implementation, and trust in God on the road ahead. But right now, in a calming way, it feels good to sit and wait for just a little while.
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Up on the Mountain to Pray
And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray.
Mark 6:46
Up...toward Your throne
higher I climb
from people alone
but closer to You
Onward...in progress
toward something
and Someone beyond me
I find a cleare view
Up on the mountain to pray
is where I need to be
there I find my time with You
and my soul is nurtured and free
Clear...vision for eyes
and air for the lungs
I breath in truth
I see You
Focused...on what matters most
I know that You will show
me what I need
to say and do
Up on the mountain to pray
is where I'll always be
there I find my time in You
and my soul is nurtured and free
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The joy in the pain
Your words were found, and I ate them,
and your words became to me a joy
and the delight of my heart,
for I am called by your name,
O Lord, God of hosts.
Jeremiah 15:16
The prophet Jeremiah wrote those words in the midst of a plea for God to intervene and protect him from persecution. On one hand he was suffering for the name of God. On the other, his purest delight and sustenance came from God. There is immeasurable pleasure and joy in God that outweighs any human hardship.
I remind myself of this. I am not persecuted (and don't know that I ever really have come close to the real sense of the word. I have been laughed at and shunned by those hostile to Christianity. I have never suffered for it.) I do know the hard side of things. I often have to deal with people in their worst places, sharing intimacies of confession and witnessing tragedy and sin's horrid destruction on a vivid emotional and personal scale. Jeremiah did so as he literally watched Jerusalem crash around him due to Judah's sin. And yet He could find sustenance and joy in his relationship with God. He went back to the core and the center to find strength and peace.
That is where I go. That is why any neglect of this daily, serious investment of time in God's Word ultimately results in loss for me. I have to have it in order to lift the rubble of destruction for another day. I gain the insight of the prophet this morning, and with his example firmly in my mind, I will feast on the Word of the Lord and find great joy there today. Your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, Lord Jesus, for I am called by Your name.
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Thoughts on Graduation
Cast your burden on the Lord,
and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
the righteous to be moved.
Psalm 55:22
The reality of life is that people will disappoint and hurt me but God will never do so. It is when I think that somehow God is behind what people are doing in a negative way that I might be tempted to be disappointed with God. By that I mean that if I expect God to be sovereign by forcing people act a certain way, I have missed Who God is. He is certainly in control. But human free will action is a very real and very true experience. Sin reigns in the unredeemed majority of the world. It affects even the people of God as they relate to one another. God does not force people to hurt me. They do so of their own sinful volition. He knows about it certainly and is sovereign over and beyond the actions of mere human creatures. So the actions of people will hurt me, even though God has not hurt me by choosing to let this sort of thing go on. He is above it. He provides the perspective OVER it. It is when I think that somehow God moved an evil personal action against me as some sort of chess piece to block me that I start thinking wrongly about the sovereignty of God. Yes, He can frustrate my sin. He will not frustrate my righteous obedience (when it is there).
I cling tenaciously to promises like this one. I have to admit that my big temptation and sin is to think myself somehow more important than I am. I am humbled when I am honored by people for this reason. I know this week that my professors and peers at CTS will say much about me to encourage me upon the completion of my degree. God allowed me to do so with academic excellence. I realize that it is a professional courtesy and also an expression of Christian love for them to honor and congratulate me. I won't let it become a set-up for other disappointments. I walk away from that line of thinking right now! I refuse to let it be a driving thought. When I do so, I will not be moved from the right place.
Lord,
Thanks for seeing me through. And I know that what You have in store for me this week will be confirming and encouraging. I expect only that You will ask me to be Your obedient slave.
Amen
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I am a full time volunteer with Reef to Outback - Youth With A Mission (YWAM) where I work in Communications and Information Technology. I am married to a wonderful wife, we have a five year old son and a one year old daughter.
