I can pretty much guarantee that today will be a two-post day. Why? Because I have the SnowBall tonight, and any chance for me regale you all with tales of my innate klutziness on the dance floor must be taken. But I also have something else I want to write about and I haven't posted for a few days, so I am writing one now.
Hmmm... got to love my need to justify my actions...
I am currently decked out in my pajamas with a Christmas apron tied over top. My sister is baking brownies while I make lemon squares for us to take tonight. And I apparently feel no need to dress up for Saturday morning baking...
Over reading week I asked my Dad to go through his selection of nonfiction and pick me out some books that he thought I might like to read. I enjoy reading Lewis but find that I need a break in between his books. So right now I am reading Gospel Wakefulness by Jared Wilson. The book deals with the shallow Christianity that is often encouraged in churches. Wilson argues that we can know of Christ's saving power and the wonder of what He has done for us in our heads, but that what every person is truly in need of is a moment of what he calls "Gospel Wakefulness." A moment where you know in your inner being the you have been saved... and you are awed by that wonder.
The section I was reading today deals with the concept of pain, and reminded me of when I read A Grief Observed and The Problem of Pain by Lewis. Wilson states that "All creation groans for redemption, and this groaning comes in the form of grief, desperation, and pains and distresses of all kinds."
I find that this part of the Christian life is often overlooked. No one enjoys it when their life falls to pieces around them. Feeling overcome by loneliness, loss, and desperation are not emotions most people anticipate. We prefer the idea of that Jesus takes away all pain. That He is some sort of Cosmic Painkiller and a dose of Him will set the world to rights.
But more often than naught this is not the case.
Or we are taught to believe that the pain we suffer is a result of sin. If you are following Jesus then you shouldn't experience heartache or suffering. This too is faulty. Believing this means that when hard times comes, and come they will, we tend to believe that Jesus has forgotten us... that He has abandoned us... that if He loved us He would take away our pain, so by allowing us to hurt He is showing He doesn't really love us...
Wilson has a paragraph that addresses this. He says:
"The way God ministers to the broken, though, is contrary to our expectations and desires. We tend to think his ministry involves only the removal of pain. But that is not the only way God works. In the same way that the crucifixion--itself the consequence of a sinful world and a dark culture--was a victory over sin and darkness, our brokenness itself is the means of apprehension of the riches of the gospel of God's love. Where we always look for and request deliverance from suffering, the testimony of Scripture is mostly about what God wants to do for us in our suffering."
I mentioned in my last post about my take on Joshua assuming leadership over the Israelites and how it seemed like God was trying to assure him that He would be with him. Today I read in Joshua 4 about how they crossed the Jordan River and God told them to create a monument of 12 stones so that the Israelites would remember God's might and how He was with them. What I found really interesting was that it talks about how God exalted Joshua before the people so that they would know he was their leader and was equivalent to Moses.
It seems to be that God didn't take away Joshua's fear of filling Moses' shoes. God just told him to be strong and courageous and that He would be with him. Joshua still had to work through all of that. He could have wallowed, he could have pouted, he could have been convinced that a leader shouldn't feel the fear he probably felt. Instead he obeyed. He trusted that God would true to His word and would be with him through his fear.
And God worked through that.
Joshua working through his fear allowed God to be glorified through the parting of the Jordan River and in turn allowed God to glorify Joshua.
Sometimes our pain, our suffering, our hard times don't get taken away. Sometimes we have to keep trudging on, working through those moments.
Yet God can use those. In the times where we feel so weak and inadequate, He is our strength. In the times that our hearts have broken and the pieces have been scattered to the four winds, we can become so much more aware of who He is.
I think back to a few weeks ago. I had a really rough two week period. I didn't want to allow God to help me. I wanted to wallow. I was hurting and I felt alone. But it was in that time that God was able to show Himself to me. It was in that time that I became truly aware of just how much He loves me.
Such is the life of a Christian single.
Hmmm... got to love my need to justify my actions...
I am currently decked out in my pajamas with a Christmas apron tied over top. My sister is baking brownies while I make lemon squares for us to take tonight. And I apparently feel no need to dress up for Saturday morning baking...
Over reading week I asked my Dad to go through his selection of nonfiction and pick me out some books that he thought I might like to read. I enjoy reading Lewis but find that I need a break in between his books. So right now I am reading Gospel Wakefulness by Jared Wilson. The book deals with the shallow Christianity that is often encouraged in churches. Wilson argues that we can know of Christ's saving power and the wonder of what He has done for us in our heads, but that what every person is truly in need of is a moment of what he calls "Gospel Wakefulness." A moment where you know in your inner being the you have been saved... and you are awed by that wonder.
The section I was reading today deals with the concept of pain, and reminded me of when I read A Grief Observed and The Problem of Pain by Lewis. Wilson states that "All creation groans for redemption, and this groaning comes in the form of grief, desperation, and pains and distresses of all kinds."
I find that this part of the Christian life is often overlooked. No one enjoys it when their life falls to pieces around them. Feeling overcome by loneliness, loss, and desperation are not emotions most people anticipate. We prefer the idea of that Jesus takes away all pain. That He is some sort of Cosmic Painkiller and a dose of Him will set the world to rights.
But more often than naught this is not the case.
Or we are taught to believe that the pain we suffer is a result of sin. If you are following Jesus then you shouldn't experience heartache or suffering. This too is faulty. Believing this means that when hard times comes, and come they will, we tend to believe that Jesus has forgotten us... that He has abandoned us... that if He loved us He would take away our pain, so by allowing us to hurt He is showing He doesn't really love us...
Wilson has a paragraph that addresses this. He says:
"The way God ministers to the broken, though, is contrary to our expectations and desires. We tend to think his ministry involves only the removal of pain. But that is not the only way God works. In the same way that the crucifixion--itself the consequence of a sinful world and a dark culture--was a victory over sin and darkness, our brokenness itself is the means of apprehension of the riches of the gospel of God's love. Where we always look for and request deliverance from suffering, the testimony of Scripture is mostly about what God wants to do for us in our suffering."
I mentioned in my last post about my take on Joshua assuming leadership over the Israelites and how it seemed like God was trying to assure him that He would be with him. Today I read in Joshua 4 about how they crossed the Jordan River and God told them to create a monument of 12 stones so that the Israelites would remember God's might and how He was with them. What I found really interesting was that it talks about how God exalted Joshua before the people so that they would know he was their leader and was equivalent to Moses.
It seems to be that God didn't take away Joshua's fear of filling Moses' shoes. God just told him to be strong and courageous and that He would be with him. Joshua still had to work through all of that. He could have wallowed, he could have pouted, he could have been convinced that a leader shouldn't feel the fear he probably felt. Instead he obeyed. He trusted that God would true to His word and would be with him through his fear.
And God worked through that.
Joshua working through his fear allowed God to be glorified through the parting of the Jordan River and in turn allowed God to glorify Joshua.
Sometimes our pain, our suffering, our hard times don't get taken away. Sometimes we have to keep trudging on, working through those moments.
Yet God can use those. In the times where we feel so weak and inadequate, He is our strength. In the times that our hearts have broken and the pieces have been scattered to the four winds, we can become so much more aware of who He is.
I think back to a few weeks ago. I had a really rough two week period. I didn't want to allow God to help me. I wanted to wallow. I was hurting and I felt alone. But it was in that time that God was able to show Himself to me. It was in that time that I became truly aware of just how much He loves me.
Such is the life of a Christian single.
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