A Year With God, Day 38 of 366

Psalm 116:1-2

I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;

he heard my cry for mercy.

Because he turned his ear to me,

I will call on him as long as I live.

Whenever we cry out to the Lord, He hears us.  He is never too busy or too distracted.  He is never on another call, or away from his desk.

If we ask for mercy, He will listen.  And since he does listen, we should continue calling on him every day of our lives.

Yet it sometimes seem that we only cry out fo help when we are desperate.  As soon as things get better again, we forget about God.

I am in need right now, and I am crying out for mercy.  I pray that I will continue to call upon the Lord and trust Him when things get better for me.

A year With God, Day 37 of 366

1 Corinthians 12:20 says, "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body.  So it is with Christ."

The pastor at my church taught a lesson from Philippians this Sunday.  Ond of the things he sad is that on our journey to learn about God and grow closer to Him, we need the skills of all believers.  This reminded me of 1 Corinthians 12:20. 

It also reminded me of a series of books by David Eddings--the Belgariad.  In the series, a young farm boy grows up to become king and to fulfill a great prophecy and overcome evil.  In order to fulfill the prophecy, he gathered a group of people to help him-- a wise man, a woman of power, a warrior, a thief, a noble night, and others.  Each had an important role to play in the story.  They were not all there for every event, and many of them did not witness the ultimate battle.  But each of them was part of the greater story, even though they were not always aware of it.

That is how living life for Christ should be.  We are part of a grand design created by God.  We each have a role to play.  We may not see the entire design in our lifetime.  But we are part of it, nonetheless.  We must learn to trust God and his grand design.  He will not let us fail in whatever our destiny might be.

Some day, we will be able to look back over the whole series of God's story of the universe.  And even though I am just a minor character in that story, I know that God will remember me by name, and congratulate me on a job well done.

Like the character in David Eddings' book, I can't fail to do the task that God put me on earth to do.

That's why I am here.

A Year With God, Day 36 of 366

I was listening to the classical music station on the way to church today.  I must confess, with no offense meant to my cousin, the expert pianist, I prefer violin to piano.  Somehow, the thought stuck in my head, and I knew I had to write about it in today's blog entry.

I tried to think of why.  Is it something about the way the notes blend together?  Or because playing the piano requires a manual dexterity that is completely beyond my ability?  Is it because the piano seems to have a visual element that doesn't translate well to radio?  (I did enjoy watching my cousin play at her concerts, and watching her fingers fly across the keyboard, and it's not the same just hearing the music).

Perhaps it was a bit of all of that and more.  Finally, it just occurred to me--I prefer the violin to piano because God made me that way.

It seems like such a simple thought, but somehow it's very profound.  No two people are exactly alike.  Some prefer piano.  Some prefer violin.  Some like country music, while others love rap.  I

It's amazing how much variety there is for each individual person on the planet.  And how amazing is God, that he knows us all by heart, and remembers every nuance of our personalities.

A Year With God, Day 35 of 366, (belated)

Matthew 14:30-31

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"

I spent a great deal of time yesterday, sitting in a quiet room with someone who was ill.  And I discovered that when he was restless, if I took his hand, he calmed down.  We all need human contact, to let us know we're not alone, to help us not be afraid.

There is power in the human hand, and not just physical power.  I don't know how it works, I just know that it does.

And how much more power is there in the hand of God?  Jesus rebuked Peter for his lack of faith, but He still reached out and caught him.  Jesus caught him before he spoke.  Like a parent jerking a child out of the path of an incoming parent, Jesus then gave corrective instruction.

It's comforting to think that any time I am afraid, or frightened, or lonely, Jesus is there to take my hand and help me.  And He believes that I can do things I think are impossible.  Just as He knew that Peter could walk on the water with Him.  I think it was not just that Peter doubted Jesus.  I think Jesus was also rebuking Peter for not having faith in himself.

God is able to do more than we could ever hope or imagine.  And He is capable of doing so through me.  That's an awe-inspiring--and intimidating--thought.

A Year With God, 34 of 366

Matthew 11:28

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

What more needs to be said?

A Year With God, Day 33 of 366

1 Kings 18:21:  Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions?  If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him."
But the people said nothing.

This verse is an interesting commentary on human nature.  Elijah is fed up with the people of Israel wavering between worshiping God, and worship of Baal.  So finally, after much arguing and preaching and trying to convince them to follow God, he kind of gives up. 

'Make a choice!' he says.  'I don't care which.  Just decide what you want to do, and do it.'

But the people said nothing.   They refuse to make a choice.  Did they lack the nerve to turn their backs on the God that had brought them out of Egypt?  Did they fear the pagan god Baal too much to risk his wrath?  Were they afraid to admit they'd erred?  Did they worry that they would look foolish?  Perhaps they were afraid of all the priests of Baal, because there were hundreds of them, and only Elijah on God's side.

Or were they simply incapable of making the decision?

It is human nature to sit and complain about all the things we see wrong with the world around us.  Unfortunately, when the time comes for us to get up and go out and work to change what we dislike, we don't want to do it.  Be it fear, or laziness or indecision, we do not like to fight the status quo.

So what is a good enough reason to go outside our comfort zone and stand up for what we believe?  Surely our the state of our eternal souls, and the souls of those we love, should provide powerful incentive.  And yet, too often it does not.

And does standing up have to be a huge risk?  I think not.  So here is the challenge.  Stand up for what we believe in for a small thing--like saying a quiet word of prayer before eating at a restaurant.  If a cashier gives us too much change, return the extra.  Show our appreciate for others by saying please and thank you.  Resist the urge to honk the horn at that man who cuts you off.

Start with the little things, and when the time might come to stand up for a big thing, then we'll be in the habit, and perhaps it won't be so scary.

A Year With God, Day 32 of 366

I wonder what it must have been like to be on Noah's Ark?  Lots of animals in a confined space . . . limited food . . . only a few people for company.

It must have been a lot of work for the few humans on board.  They must have started to worry about how long the food would last, and when the rain would stop.  And even when the it did stop raining, they still had to float around for weeks waiting for the waters to recede.

How glad they must have been to get off that boat at last, and be able to walk around and get away from each other, and the animals.

How doubly glad they must have been to see that rainbow in the sky--the symbol of God's promise never to destroy the entire earth again.