Say Anything

If you are fortunate enough to have someone who is so close to you that you can share anything with, even your deepest darkest secrets, desires, fears and troubles, then consider yourself blessed. I’ve seen relationships between friends, siblings, spouses and even a parent with their child where no subject of discussion is off the table; anything can be shared, lamented about or celebrated. It is wonderful to know that God encourages, and at times orchestrates, these types of relationships. But I believe that God can be, and should be, our closest confidant. He should be the primary person we share everything and anything with. David knew that as he reveals in Psalm 142, verses 1 and 2:

“I cry aloud to the Lord; I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy. I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble.”

I’ve often considered how we must continue to remember that God is God and should be reverently feared and revered. I’ve said that we should approach him with humility and honor because he is holy, he is God, and he is the creator of everything we know. David learned this about God the hard way when Uzzah tried to steady the ark of the covenant with his hands and was killed right there on the spot because he neglected to revere the Lord, and his holiness. But David also knows that with God, we are able to share anything and everything. He knows everything about us anyway. The Bible tells us that he knows what we need before we even ask him. But there is something therapeutic about getting our thoughts and concerns off of our chest. God doesn’t mind. Jesus says that we are to come to him when we are weary and burdened. He says that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. So I encourage you to remember to open your heart before God when you pray. Don’t hold anything back. Tell him anything and everything.

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When I imagine very close friends, I conjure an image in my mind of two close female friends spending hours talking about their overbearing parents, the girls who are giving them trouble at school, and the boys they wish would ask them out. They hold nothing back, and trust the other implicitly with every thought, every feeling and every secret. God can be that for all of us. David said, “I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble.” God doesn’t only listen, he cares. And not only does he care, he can help us, guide us and protect us. So I encourage you to talk to him today and every day. He is always listening.

Why?

If God is all-loving, all-powerful and all-knowing, why does he allow suffering and injustice to take place in our world? After all, if he is all-knowing, then he would be aware of every injustice; every wrong happening around the globe. If he is all-loving, he would care that these things are happening and his heart would break for those who are being mistreated. And if he is all-powerful, he could put a stop to it in an instant. So, if he is all of these things, why is there suffering? I get that people struggle with this question. It is one of the major stumbling blocks for those who might consider whether God exists. But these conflicting feelings aren’t only felt amongst those who question God’s existence, many believers struggle with them as well. Even the prophet Habakkuk questioned God on such matters. It says in Habakkuk chapter 1, verses 2 and 3: 

“How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.”

The reality is that God is all-knowing, all-loving and all-powerful. He could snuff out all injustice and all violence with a single word. But he chooses not to. Our God has decided to stay his hand, at least for now. He is allowing the weeds to grow with the wheat. He is allowing the good to exist with the bad. But there will come a day when that will all change. Until then, we must live in this fallen world; a world that has departed from God’s original plan since Genesis 3. And all humanity must reap what was sown until Jesus returns. But I encourage you to put this question to rest. Yes, God is all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful yet in his sovereignty he has decided to allow suffering and injustice to take place in our world… at least for now.

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Habakkuk questioned God, not understanding why he would allow such injustice and violence, even after he cried out to God for help. In response, God revealed his plan to Habakkuk; his plan to use the unrighteous Babylonians to punish God’s rebellious people. But we are not always given an answer. Probably because God doesn’t owe us one. Later in the book, God says that “the righteous will live by his faith”. That is our role; to be his creation and have faith that God knows what he is doing. So I encourage you to put this question to rest. God is all-knowing, all-loving and all-powerful yet, we may still cry out to him and not receive the answer we were hoping for.

Throw Off

When I was in high school, my favorite sport was track and field. I’d run sprints, hurdles and relay races. And when doing so, I would wear clothing that was light, ventilated and aerodynamic. I wanted every advantage. I didn’t want anything to hinder, or impede, my race. It also helped to know that I had a crowd of supporters cheering me on, inspiring me to run the best race that I could. Hebrews explains that our spiritual race is similar; that we have a race to run where the prize isn’t a metal, but something much more eternal. It says in chapter 12, verse 1:  

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

Notice that the author doesn’t say that we should lay aside everything that hinders, he says that we are to throw them off. This suggests that we should violently shed anything, any sin, that hinders us or entangles us. As the verse suggests, there have been many who have gone before us; a great cloud of witnesses, those who have lived and many who have died for Jesus. Let us be like them. Let us focus on our race; the race that has been marked out for us. And let us run with perseverance, not giving up and not slowing down. I encourage you to run your race with a goal to win. Throw off any sin that hinders and run with perseverance every day until you reach the finish line.

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Hebrews reminds us that we are all running a spiritual race. How is your race? We all perform best when we run without hinderances. When training, many athletes wear weight vests, wrist weights or even masks that hinder their breathing. But when the race is on, they throw off all that hinders and run to win. We should do the same, spiritually speaking. I encourage you to remember why you are here and where you are going. This is not your home, but how you run your race will determine how you will spend eternity. Will it be in heaven, will it be in hell, or will you run just hard enough to barely make it through the “pearly gates”? I encourage you to run with perseverance. I encourage you to run to win.

Pure Heart

If you’ve ever been to a third world country, you might observe locals carrying large jugs of water; water that they’ve gathered from a stream, or a source of natural fresh water. But what you might not realize, is that even though the water is fresh, it might not be pure. There are almost certainly pollutants and other undesirable within the water, even though it is drinkable. In America, we filter and purify our water to rid it of such pollutants. But do we do the same with our hearts? Do we filter out what is impure and allow the Spirit to continually purify us? In James chapter 1, verse 27, it says: 

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

I have become quite familiar with the first part of that verse; “to look after the orphans and widows in their distress”. But James tells us that we are also to keep ourselves from being polluted by the world. How polluted have you become? How much of the world’s sinful impurities have you allowed in your heart? Whatever the amount, I encourage you to allow the Holy Spirit to purify your heart; to purge the evil that has crept in from the world. Allow him to cleanse you and ask him to help you in your efforts to keep yourself from being polluted by the world. Like washing our clothes is continually needed to keep them clean, so is the washing, or cleansing, of our hearts.

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James tells us that we are to keep ourselves from being polluted by the world. This is a difficult task. It is difficult because we live in the world, and the world can be enticing. But we have the Holy Spirit, we have the word of God and we have other believers who can hold us accountable and help us in our effort to avoid the pollutants of the world. We may still fall and allow ourselves to be tainted, but when we use the safeguards that God has given us, we will see the pollutants of the world for what they are. And in doing so, we can avoid them. So I encourage you to do what James says, and to do everything you can to keep yourself from being polluted by the world.

The Whisper

Have you ever wondered whether God speaks to us? And if he does, how? I don’t know about you, but I’ve never heard the audible voice of God. He has never spoken to me that way and I suspect that he doesn’t speak to most that way. So, what do well-intentioned Christians mean when they say that God spoke to them? This can be confusing to those who interpret Christian lingo literally. They may begin to wonder why God chooses to speak to others but decides not to speak to them. What I think many Christians mean when they say that God spoke to them, is that he stirred something in their heart, or that he revealed something to their mind. I would agree that God certainly speaks to many of us that way. If you think that God has never spoken to your heart, might I suggest it is because you aren’t truly listening? Look at how God communicated to Elijah in first Kings chapter 19, verses 11 and 12. It says: 

“The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.”

Elijah was a prophet. And in Bible times, God spoke to the prophets in many different ways; sometimes audibly, sometimes in dreams or visions, and sometimes in ways that spoke directly to their minds and hearts. Today, God speaks to us as well. We just need to know how he speaks to us and we need to know when it is him and not something else. As for me, sometimes God chooses to speak through others, sometimes he speaks through his word, and sometimes he speaks directly to my mind and my heart in a gentle whisper; a whisper so fleeting that if I wasn’t paying attention I might miss it. My question to you is, “are you listening”? I believe that God speaks to every believer. But I’m convinced that not all of us hear him.

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Is God speaking to you? Are you listening for his voice? He may not speak in a loud booming voice to get your attention. He may not speak audibly to you at all. He may choose to whisper to your Spirit in such a way that you know it is him. Jesus says that his sheep will know his voice. We are his sheep. Do you know when he is speaking to you? If you don’t, I encourage you to pray that God open your eyes to how he communicates to you. After all, it could be that all this time, you just weren’t listening to the whisper.