The Hard Choice

I don’t care who you are—suffering will touch you. There is really no such thing as a charmed life. The wealthiest all the way down to the poorest. We all suffer. You might be saying, “Oh, I’d like to suffer the way they have to suffer. At least I’d have a Beemer.” “Or at least I’d suffer in a million dollar house.”

If that’s your type of thinking then you haven’t really been paying attention. If watching hurricanes and tornadoes sweep across the land has taught us anything, it would have to be that the million dollar houses can be ruined and swept away as quickly as the shanties.

Recognize that while you may be thinking of a better way to suffer, there are millions of people who are suffering much worse. Did you know that there are children being born in Africa today, to parents with AIDS. Those children themselves, are born with AIDS, and they will live their entire life and then die an early death and not know one day without suffering.

Think about that. If you have had at least one day in your life free of worry or pain, you’ve got more than they will have in their entire lifetime. But recognize that it is not the suffering, itself, that brings you closer to Jesus.

It is what you choose to do with your suffering. It is how you choose to handle the crisis, the trauma, the
sickness, or the bad news. You can choose to run to Jesus and allow Him to comfort and strengthen you in (and perhaps even deliver you from) your suffering, or you can choose to run away from him and blame Him for your suffering.

One choice will bring you closer to Jesus and give you strength to bear up and persevere through whatever it is you are having to face. The other will cause you to grow bitter and miserable, to the point that others will soon go out of their way to avoid you.

Choose wisely..but choose. Don't let your life go into default.

The Wisdom of Worship

Feeling unsettled no matter how much you binge watch or play video games?  Always seem to have that dark sense of foreboding hanging over you when you stop focusing on anything?  Let me take you on a journey back in time, in light of this current coronavirus pandemic, to look at a story in Scripture that I think may help give you a much more peaceful outlook.  So…to the story.

In the early morning light, in the desert of Tekoa, a strange and fascinating scene was unfolding before the eyes of the soldiers as they stared at the oncoming army.  Usually by this time, someone would have sounded the command to attack, but they all stood transfixed in their ranks, listening to the unmistakeable sound of- a choir?  What would a choir be doing out on the battlefield?   Before their question could be answered, suddenly there came warriors out of nowhere.  Fierce. Big. Determined.  With a single slash of a blade, 10 men would fall.  Panic.  Run for your life.  Kill or be killed.  And the once formidable army became a terror-filled, “every-man-for-himself” retreat.

In the book of 2 Chronicles, chapter 20, a fascinating story is recorded that every Christian should acquaint themselves with.   On different boards and committees, we often worry about what type of precedent a given vote might set.  This story contains a number of key decisions that I think would serve as precedents for the modern Christian.  So let me share with you 2 Chronicles 20 beginning with verse 1.  I’ve chosen to use the New Living Translation for it’s easy readability.

1After this, the armies of the Moabites, Ammonites, and some of the Meunites^a declared war on Jehoshaphat. ²Messengers came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army from Edom^a is marching against you from beyond the Dead Sea.^bThey are already at Hazazon-tamar.” (This was another name for En-gedi.)

This was no run-of-the-mill army. These were long time enemies that wanted to settle old scores. These were the children of Esau wanting to do in the children of Jacob, now named Israel.   In fact, they wanted nothing less than to wipe the Israelites right off the map.  And now they had joined forces with other countries around them and were descending, even now to leave a path of death and destruction in their wake.  And word reaches Jehosphaphat, and the message is very clear…”YOU are a DEAD MAN Big J!”

Oh, great!  What a day-brightener.   Ever have one of those kind of days?  You’re doing fine until someone comes and says,  “There are three known cases of the Coronavirus that have been identified to have been in the same building you were in.”  Or “You’re  Corvid-19 test came back positive.” Or it could be more along the lines of general life, “You owe $4,000 more in taxes.”  Or “There’s been a terrible accident…”

No matter how it comes, bad news seems to always catch us off guard.  It causes our knees to go weak, our stomach to develop a pit of anxiety, and our mind to start racing.  We immediately start trying to… what?  Figure out what we are going to do.   We start checking our savings accounts, calling to see if we can get our credit limit extended, or looking for the name of the best doctor available.  Anything we can do to help us out of the bind.  And most of us won’t stop until we have arrived at some form of a solution.  But notice what Jehoshaphat did.

Precedent # 1.  v.3Jehoshaphat was terrified by this news and begged the LORD for guidance. He also ordered everyone in Judah to begin fasting. Jehoshaphat was human.  He developed the pit in the bottom of his stomach.  But his reaction was far different than many of ours would be.  He begged the LORD for guidance, and then proclaimed a fast, so they could have clear minds to hear whatever God was saying.  In short, he took his problem to the Lord in prayer.  He didn’t just complain about what a difficult situation he was in and then whiningly hope that others would pray for him or that it would somehow work out.  He went directly to the Throne, himself.  Immediately.

 v.4 ⁴ So people from all the towns of Judah came to Jerusalem to seek the LORD’s help.

2Chr. 20:5      Jehoshaphat stood before the community of Judah and Jerusalem in front of the new courtyard at the Temple of the LORD. ⁶ He prayed, “O LORD, God of our ancestors, you alone are the God who is in heaven. You are ruler of all the kingdoms of the earth. You are powerful and mighty; no one can stand against you!

Notice his approach. (He first acknowledges God’s greatness.  He says, “I know that you can do anything.)  

 v. ⁷ O our God, did you not drive out those who lived in this land when your people Israel arrived? And did you not give this land forever to the descendants of your friend Abraham? ⁸ Your people settled here and built this Temple to honor your name. ⁹ They said, ‘Whenever we are faced with any calamity such as war,^a plague, or famine, we can come to stand in your presence before this Temple where your name is honored. We can cry out to you to save us, and you will hear us and rescue us.’

(He refers back to a prior agreement that God had already made with His people.  He claims a promise, as it were.)

  2Chr. 20:10   “And now see what the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir are doing. You would not let our ancestors invade those nations when Israel left Egypt, so they went around them and did not destroy them. ¹¹ Now see how they reward us! For they have come to throw us out of your land, which you gave us as an inheritance. ¹² O our God, won’t you stop them? We are powerless against this mighty army that is about to attack us. (He acknowledges that he has neither the resources nor the strength to fight the battle.) We do not know what to do, (and here’s the kicker) but we are looking to you for help.”  

The New International Version says: “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.” Not focused tightly on the problem, but on God.   

Precedent #2.  They choose to wait.  They have made their request known to God, and now they wait and trust that God will do what He has promised.  Jehoshaphat knew that no matter what befell he and his people, if they would simply turn and seek the Lord, God would take care of things.  It takes humbling oneself, acknowledging that you have neither the answer or the direction, but enough faith to know that if you will but wait, God will deliver on his Word.  Not only the leader, but his entire people stood there before the Lord.

Nothing is needed more in the Church right now, than for Christians to stand humbly before the Lord.  No pretense.  No politics.  No power plays.  Just prayer and faith-filled hearts that He will provide.  When we wait, He answers.  Let’s go back to the story.

v. 13 As all the men of Judah stood before the LORD with their little ones, wives, and children, ¹⁴ the Spirit of the LORD came upon one of the men standing there. His name was Jahaziel son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite who was a descendant of Asaph.

V15   He said, “Listen, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Listen, King Jehoshaphat! This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. ¹⁶ Tomorrow, march out against them. You will find them coming up through the ascent of Ziz at the end of the valley that opens into the wilderness of Jeruel. ¹⁷ But you will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the LORD’s victory. He is with you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Go out against them tomorrow, for the LORD is with you!”

How do you respond to a message like that?  Wouldn’t it be great in the face of this virus and life’s uncertainty for the Lord to say, “Stand still and watch the Lord’s victory.”  I believe He is.  

But wait, Pastor Don…what was the point of going out if they didn’t need to fight?  What is the point of  taking up their positions and then standing still?

In the midst of the waiting, it doesn’t mean that we don’t have to do anything.  We need to continue to be obedient to what God has asked of us.  He has asked us to bring courage to those around us, and in the going out, or in this case, the staying home yet with peace and sharing that, that may lead others to find peace as well.  We practice common sense and precautions, yes, but it also means that we acknowledge we don’t have the resources, the knowledge, the wisdom, nor anything else to make a difference in the outcome.  We are trusting and waiting on God.  And in the waiting, notice how Jehoshaphat and his people respond.

Precedent #3.  They worship.  v.18 Then King Jehoshaphat bowed low with his face to the ground. And all the people of Judah and Jerusalem did the same, worshiping the LORD. ¹⁹ Then the Levites from the clans of Kohath and Korah stood to praise the LORD, the God of Israel, with a very loud shout.  

This wasn’t just half-hearted worship while wondering how the roast in the oven was doing.  This was full-blown, “we-have-an-answer-from-God-so-get-up-and-shout” type worship.  It was a celebration-type of worship-(of course I’m sure they didn’t use drums-ha).  But notice something here.  This celebration of worship happened before God had even delivered them. 

They got peace in their hearts on the issue and went ahead and rejoiced because they knew He would do what He promised.  They were joyous because they knew that no matter how scary the problem had seemed a few minutes ago, that whole picture just changed when God came on the scene.  Those Moabites and Ammonites and Meunites were a mighty big force, but when God walks in, their party’s over!

No matter how dark your picture looks, no matter how scary, or hopeless, or bleak, when God gives you an answer, it’s time to celebrate, because we know that He’s going to do exactly what He says.  Don’t sit there whimpering, “Oh, I hope it works out.  Oh, I hope He does what He promised.”   If you have prayed, if you have waited, if you have gotten an answer, from the wealth of promises in scripture, or from the Holy Spirit impressing you, then go ahead and throw a worship party. He’ll do what He promises when you can hold on by faith.

When you can learn that type of spiritual walk, the Holy Spirit will empower you to be a mighty, dynamic and effective witness for His cause. People will take note of the life you live.  Jesus wants to empower us to do His work.  He wants to make us powerful witnesses.  When you and I can learn to wait for His empowerment, trusting that He will make good on His promises,  great things will always happen.  Back to 2 Chron.

20 Early the next morning the army of Judah went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. On the way Jehoshaphat stopped and said, “Listen to me, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Believe in the LORD your God, and you will be able to stand firm. Believe in his prophets, and you will succeed.”  21After consulting the people, the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the LORD and praising him for his holy splendor. This is what they sang:

“Give thanks to the LORD;

his faithful love endures forever!”

Now this just blows my mind.  The king consults the people and they all agree that the best thing they can do is put the choir out in front of the army.   They want to show that they are not worried about the Lord keeping His promise.   And some of the choir boys probably said, “Yeah, that’s easy for you to say”, but the very fact that they went out first speaks of their confidence in the saving power of the Lord.  They saw wisdom in worshipping.  They realized that their worship brought their salvation.  

Can you imagine the enemy army.  They look up through the clear desert air and see. . .a choir?  

“That can’t be a choir.   It’s a mirage- just a vision.  Fairly realistic though, because I can hear music too.   We been out here too long!”

 22 At the very moment they began to sing and give praise, the LORD caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to start fighting among themselves. ²³ The armies of Moab and Ammon turned against their allies from Mount Seir and killed every one of them. After they had destroyed the army of Seir, they began attacking each other. ²⁴ So when the army of Judah arrived at the lookout point in the wilderness, all they saw were dead bodies lying on the ground as far as they could see. Not a single one of the enemy had escaped.

Precedent #4: They watched the Lord’s deliverance.

When God grants victory, He truly grants victory.  Did you know that in light of your own salvation, that’s all you can do?  Pray, wait, worship and watch.  Pray for forgiveness and seek deliverance from sin.  Wait as the Lord works in you to will and to do His good pleasure, worship Him for His goodness, His mercy and love, and watch Him take you to heights that have been unattainable to you.

Whenever you face trials of every kind, know you can find peace through His chosen route.  Pray for deliverance, wait, trusting in Him, worship Him, watch His mighty deliverance.   

In our current crisis, we have received the bad news. There is a new plague among us! We can panic and freak out, or we can practice the precautions we do know and turn our eyes towards God.  Are we praying?  And in the current crisis, there is nothing we can do but wait…it has been mandated.  But are you just waiting it out or waiting on God?  

What you do next will determine the amount of peace you experience.  Why not Worship?  I’m convinced if we would follow Jehoshaphat’s example, God would be able to bring about victory after victory in our life. Fears would melt away.  Doubts would flee.  Long-term rivalries would end, and forgiveness would begin to flow where once only grudges resided.  And yes, your trust in God would grow exponentially.  Worship takes us out of the present and transports us to the throne of Grace.  No matter what the circumstances, there is wisdom in worshipping God.   

There is no wiser course we can set but to worship.  Not  ho-hum worship, but worship that lifts the soul heavenward.  Worship that we participate in that allows us to experience God’s forgiveness, acceptance, love and yes, His peace.   Worship that has at its very core, Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  Worship that allows our hearts to dance with the joy of His victory.  And when you participate in that kind of worship, it will be said of you, as it was of the Apostles in Acts 3:13,  that “these men had been with Jesus.”

If we are worshipping, we are already demonstrating that we believe His deliverance is coming. Watch for His deliverance. It may not be in the form that we imagine…because God seldom does the expected.  It may not even be in the form of protecting us from the Coronavirus or from dying.  Even in the face of death, I can have peace knowing that God will bring about our ultimate deliverance!

Let’s finish our story.   25  King Jehoshaphat and his men went out to gather the plunder. They found vast amounts of equipment, clothing,^a and other valuables—more than they could carry. There was so much plunder that it took them three days just to collect it all! ²⁶ On the fourth day they gathered in the Valley of Blessing,^a which got its name that day because the people praised and thanked the LORD there. It is still called the Valley of Blessing today.

27   Then all the men returned to Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat leading them, overjoyed that the LORD had given them victory over their enemies. ²⁸ They marched into Jerusalem to the music of harps, lyres, and trumpets, and they proceeded to the Temple of the LORD.

29   When all the surrounding kingdoms heard that the LORD himself had fought against the enemies of Israel, the fear of God came over them. ³⁰ So Jehoshaphat’s kingdom was at peace, for his God had given him rest on every side. 

When you pray, wait, worship and watch, the Lord brings to you blessings.  And the most important blessing is the ability to have peace when everyone else is freaking out.  Had Jehoshaphat stopped with the collection of the plunder, he would have missed the greatest blessing of all.  But because he saw Wisdom in Worship, God granted he and his country the greatest blessing, peace on every side.   

And friend, if you’ll put into practice God’s way, seeing the wisdom of worship no matter how dark or scary your circumstances may seem, that’s exactly what He will give you.  I’m praying that peace for you this day!

King ME!!!

Ever since Eve bit into the apple and then shared it with Adam, we’ve been a race bound for destruction.  Though they were created with no selfishness, the desire to be like God, which in itself is a noble thing, proved to be their destruction.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to be like God, is there?  I mean, isn’t that our goal as Christians?  To be like Jesus?  So what was the problem?  They not only wanted to be like God.  What they actually wanted was to be God.  That’s really what Satan was offering them in Genesis 3:4.   Let’s go to Genesis chapter 3.  We’ll begin in verse 1.

Gen. 3:1   Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”  2   The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,  3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”  4   “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman.  5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Did you see that phrase?  “You will be like God”.  The original language, Hebrew, indicates that Satan is offering them a short-cut.  What he is actually saying to them is:  “Your state of being will instantly become God-like.”  Another unstated implication of that statement would be:  You won’t any longer need God since you will be a god yourself.  And with that, a new thought that had never occurred to Eve, suddenly became the temptation that she could not resist.  “I want to be god.”   And with that bite, Eve feels a rush of energy and a change of being and she begins to run through the garden singing at the top of her lungs, “It’s all about ME!”  Well, maybe not just like that, but her focus, which had only been God-centered, suddenly turned selfish.  She wanted to be God.   And it continues, to this day, to be the one temptation that none of us can resist.  

You’ve said it, oh, maybe not in those exact words, but every one of you has fallen prey to that temptation at some point in your life.  You’ve re-mixed the words maybe, but it’s the same thing.  I want it now!  Hey, that’s MINE!  You leave MY stuff alone!  Or maybe you’ve grown more sophisticated: “C’mon lady, the gas pedal is the one on the right!  Step on it already!  I’m late!”  or  “Oh, look at how much she has in that cart.  If I hurry I can make it into line before she does.”  Or “If he thinks for one minute that I’m gonna put up with that, then he’s got another thing coming.”

What do all of those things focus on? Or perhaps I should say, WHO do all those previous statements focus on?  ME.  You see, I have to admit that in my inner core, I am inherently selfish. I want what I want, and I want it now!  I want to do what I want to do, go where I want to go, be who I want to be, say what I want to say, play where I want to play, and I don’t want any negative consequences.  I want to be like a King.  They can order people around, be coddled, made over and pampered.  People are always at their beck and call and if they decide they don’t like someone, they can have them killed with no consequence.  I like the sounds of that.  King ME! Consequence free.

But is that really the case?  Or is there snag in the theory?  Sin causes separation from the life giving source.  Separation has a natural consequence--death.  If you unplug a computer from the power...it dies...oh, perhaps not right away...if it has a battery.  But eventually.  And if you don't plug it back in, it becomes useless for little more than a paperweight.

Are you unplugged spiritually?  Is your battery running low?  Maybe it's time to swallow the pride and plug back in.

The Quiet

Quiet reigns on campus this morning as Christmas break officially started yesterday. Soft Christmas Carols are playing in my office as I sit and wonder just where this year has gone.

It has gone unbelievably fast and will soon be only a memory with its events recorded in our personal history books. And yet, we find ourselves here again. Christmas. All the lights, the commercialism, the clogged parking lots, the TV commercials calling us to buy, buy, buy. And with relatives coming, or with us traveling to see others, we long for it to be a Hallmark Christmas and hope that our family can stay away from any hot button topics. And all of that simply adds stress to the season. And as if that weren't enough, we still have 4 more gifts to buy and a few more holiday parties to attend.

We have certainly learned how to celebrate haven't we? We take a good thing and add others expectations along with our own expectations, and pile them high and deep...and then collapse under the weight of them.

But perhaps this year, maybe just for a short while, we should ponder that it just might be possible that the Christmas season should actually be more about the Quiet. Perhaps we should say, "Be still my soul and ponder the richness of life." Ponder the things that have happened this year that have brought joy, or perhaps the things that have brought pain, yet pain that was beneficial for your own growth.


Perhaps you and I should make it a point to rediscover the Quiet. Take a few moments to sit quietly outside on a clear night and just drink in the view of the stars. Or get up early and make a cup of your favorite hot beverage and sit staring out the window and just be quiet. And ponder. And along with all of your other ponderings, ponder this: There is a God who loves you beyond words. He loved you so much that He chose to come in the form of a Baby. To the quiet of a barn stall. With animals as the only observers.

It is almost unimaginable. Almost. But try. In the Quiet.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Ask Anything?

I want to take a look at the role of prayer in the Christian's life, and there is too much to put into one post, so I'm going to spread it out a bit.

The question always comes, if God knows everything already, then why should I pray?  Or put another way, does prayer really work?  I’ve prayed and nothing happened—therefore, I’ve concluded that prayer doesn’t actually work and furthermore, there must not be any God.

Part of our problem with prayer comes perhaps, from a misunderstanding of prayer.  We read verses that seem to tell us that God will give us anything if we just ask. Matt. 7:7-11   “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Matt. 7:9     “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Or Mark 11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Or John 15:16  You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

John 16:23 In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

1John 5:14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.


We see all those “whatever you ask” verses and we say ok…I’m asking…but I’m not receiving.  And we wrongly conclude that God isn’t there because He didn’t do anything.

Ever asked your parents for something and were told no?  You didn’t conclude that since you didn’t get it, they must not exist.  They simply said no.  You might not have been happy with the answer, but you never questioned their existence.

Did you know that sometimes God says no.  Look a little more closely and notice something else.  Jesus actually taught that there were some conditions on prayer.  Go back to 1 John 5:14 "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us."

Do you see the first one? If we ask anything according to HIS will.  Too often, we are asking according to ours.  He's not a vending machine...He is the God of the universe who wants RELATIONSHIP...with YOU!  More to come.

Of Dungeons and Dreams

Ever felt trapped in a dead end job?  Stuck.  Unable to go any higher.  Or perhaps it’s a situation or a set of circumstances that seemed to have you locked in.  Wherever you may be, you have a choice.  You can drag through the day, hoping it will get over with quickly so you can go home and lay down, or you can meet it head on and make the best of it.

When faced with temptation, Joseph stood firm and did the right thing and it got him nowhere except the Dungeon. Ever wondered if it was worth doing the right thing? Ever had things go from bad to worse as a result of trying to choose to do the right thing? What do you do when you seemed to be locked in a tough spot and life doesn't make sense?  What do you do when you find yourself locked in the dungeon of your soul? 

Joseph was sold to Potiphar and was in his house 10 years, faithfully serving God and Potiphar.  The Bible says that God blessed everything that Joseph did, and Potiphar made Joseph chief of his household, in charge of not only the other servants, but all of the business affairs and in touch with many of the political leaders of Egypt.  The only thing that Potiphar withheld from Joseph was his own wife—for obvious reasons.

Gen 39:6 says that Joseph was “well-built and handsome” and that Mrs. Potiphar noticed him and began to desire him.  She tried everything to tempt him, coerce him, command him to do what she wanted, but he firmly resisted.  He did the right thing.  One day, she came and grabbed him and Joseph slipped out of his cloak and ran out of the house.  She began to scream for the other servants to come help her and then told them that the young Hebrew had tried to attack her and when she screamed he ran leaving his cloak behind.

When Potiphar came home, she told him the same story.  He grew angry and had Joseph thrown into the dungeon.  And that is where we pick up the story today.

Potiphar, most likely, didn’t truly believe his wife.  I say, most likely, because the Egyptian punishment for any slave who attacked anyone in their master’s household was instant death, no questions asked, no guilt received by the master for doing so.  If Potiphar had truly believed her, Joseph would have died instantly.   But there is the thing about saving face.  You can’t have those type of accusations hitting the neighborhood without major ramifications.  If Potiphar did nothing, people would quickly figure out that he believed his wife to be a liar, and that would bring shame on the household.  If he killed Joseph, he knew he would be killing an innocent man that had done nothing but brought the blessing of God on the household.  So rather than lose face, Potiphar had Joseph thrown into the dungeon where all sorts of vermin and disease were known to fester.  And the 10-year rise to head of the household was suddenly brought to a screeching halt.  He had consistently done the right thing and instead of being honored, he was thrown into jail.  Joseph had to have questioned God.  He had to have been discouraged and downcast.

Which brings me to you and me.  Why is it that whenever things take a down-turn we grow discouraged and begin to doubt God’s love for us?  Why do we retreat back into the destructive habits as a way to cope with our disappointment?  Do you ever find yourself questioning God when you tried to do the right thing and it ended up getting you fired or thrown out, or ridiculed?  Did you ever wonder why you were given a certain lot in life or how you seem to work and work and get nowhere financially?  And as you get lost in those thoughts,  the doubt creeps over you like a thick fog, and it is easy to see only your current circumstances and feel that God has abandoned you or that He truly doesn’t care.   It is during those times that Satan gets us to give up even hoping for God’s deliverance.  We just give up and let everything go.  But that’s human nature.

The devil would have you look at the future with no hope of anything ever changing.  Your marriage—it will never change.  Your rebellious child—he will never change.  Your dire financial picture—it will never change.  All of that stuff wrong in your life—well, you’re stuck with it.  It will never change. The devil knows that if he can get us to lapse into hopelessness, we will settle for just trying to get by the best that we can…and if we can’t, we will do ourselves in to seek to escape the hopelessness.  And then he’s got us.  Satan wants everything to look as if there is no hope of anything ever changing.

Joseph could have easily grown hopeless.  He could easily looked at his abysmal surroundings and said, “That’s it God.  I tried serving You and this is where it got me.  Well forget it…I’m through!”  But he didn’t. But he purposed to remain faithful to God even if he didn’t understand the why’s of his circumstances.

Gen 39:20-23  Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.  But while Joseph was there in the prison,  21 the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.  22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there.  23 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

God hadn’t forgotten Joseph.  There was a bigger picture that Joseph couldn’t see.  God had a plan for him and Satan was trying to thwart it.  But Satan can never thwart God’s plan.   God sometimes allows harder circumstances to come upon us to prepare us for a greater work.  It all depends on attitude and the choice we make in dealing with our situations.

Choosing to trust God when all seems bright is not so hard.  But choosing to trust God in the midst of the storm when all seems lost allows God to build your faith as well as His glory in you. 

Which brings me back to us.  There are some  who believe your circumstances will never change and you just can’t bear to go on with life the way it is right now. So you look for your own alternatives.  You plot and you scheme and you figure out your own way to try to escape your dungeon, but the problem is, it only leads to a bigger dungeon.  You’re still stuck.  You haven’t found the happiness or escape you were looking for.  Only more issues.  More problems.  More  heartache.

If we are to learn anything from the dungeon experience of Joseph, it would be to look to God for our answers.  Trust Him when all seems dark.  Hope in Him when all seems hopeless.  It may take time.  Maybe years, but God is faithful and will bring you through to something greater as a result of your suffering right now. 

It means looking at the situation full on and choosing instead to be the best you can be right in the middle of the mess.  It’s refusing to give in to despair, but instead to look to God and what He wants for you, even though you might not be able to understand it  right now.

G.K. Chesterton, once wrote: Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all...As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength.  Gilbert Keith "G. K." Chesterton

American Chesterton Society 

Don't give up hope.  God still sees you and knows where you are and what you need.

But Why? Why Do We Celebrate Christmas?

When was the last time you really thought about why you celebrate Christmas? Oh, we celebrate… buy why do we? In this season where it seems the whole world jumps on board to decorate and sing songs of cheer and give gifts, doesn’t it seem a bit odd that though many can mouth the words, “to celebrate the birth of Christ”, they have no idea what they are really saying?

Doesn’t it strike you as a bit curious that when you ask people on the street what the true meaning of Christmas is they respond: revenue to get the end of the year sales up. Or, a time to celebrate with family and friends. Or, it’s where you get a lot of stuff in one day. And if you were to push that idea and ask why we get lots of stuff in one day, you would get, “because that’s what Christmas is all about.” Yeah, but why?

When was the last time you slowed down to really reflect on the why of Christmas?

There is a one verse in scripture that puts it rather succinctly: For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

There it is. Wrapped up in a single line. For God so loved the world that He gave….

Ponder that. God loved…He gave… Not just a little love… He so loved… One version says: God loved the world so much that He sent His only Son

God was way before Hallmark…but He cared enough to send the very best!!!

That’s good news in itself. God loved us enough to send the very best. Himself. That would be enough to celebrate right there. God comes to town!

Just His coming would be reason enough to celebrate!  But that’s not the end of the verse.  God had a purpose in coming.  He was on a mission.  He loved…and that prompted action.  He saw His newest planet go awry.  He watched as His youngest creation walked away from Him, following another of His wayward children into outright rebellion.

He cried as he heard the words, “We heard your voice and we were afraid…”

He knew, as every parent of a defiant teen knows, that unless drastic action was taken, this young world would be forever lost.  And so He came…  why?

…that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Ponder that.  I know you’ve heard the words a million times, but slow down a minute and reflect on what that means. Stop your conversation with your neighbor.  Stop trying to impress her.  Stop worrying about lunch. Stop your racing mind.  Just stop. //  And ponder the words that are as familiar as Christmas commercialism.

…that whoever believes in Him, should not perish…  What?  Perish from what?  What do you mean perish?  That’s such an ugly word…perish.  According to the dictionary it means to die, for example, because of harsh conditions or accident.  To come to an end or cease to exist.  Perish.

It is both of these definitions that John was trying to encapsulate with that one word.  Without help, you and I will die because of harsh conditions.  Sin created such harsh conditions, that you and I cannot endure it.  We will perish.  Which means that we will come to an end and cease to exist.  Bottom line…there was no hope of getting out alive.

But God wanted us to live.  In the middle of that cold hard reality, stop.  Stop and listen to what God says. 

God is saying—I LOVE YOU!!!  Ponder that.  I LOVE you.  I love YOU!

Let’s look at that whole verse:  For God (the greatest good) so loved (the greatest action) the world (the greatest need) that He gave (the greatest example) His only Son (the greatest sacrifice) that whoever (the greatest invitation) believes in Him (the greatest response) should not perish (the greatest fate) but have everlasting life (the greatest gift).

That’s the reality of the Christmas season.  To find the Christmas you’ve always longed for, you have to slow down for reflection.  Stop in the middle of the madness and reflect.  Ponder the love behind the greatest gift.  Think about the meaning of God coming down to this little speck in the universe.  Reflect on His invitation to you.  Step out of the rush and do some unhurried contemplation.   Reread the story.  Put yourself there.  Look and see the baby.  Smell the smells.  Hear the sounds.  Feel God’s love surround you.  Slow down for reflection.

And celebrate. Celebrate the Christ in Christmas.