The Question of the Ages

In Judges 6:13, Gideon asks God the question of the ages. "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?"

If we haven't asked it as some point in our lives, even as Christians, we've most definitely wondered about it. Why does God let bad things happen to his people? And if you've walked this journey of faith for any length of time, you've come to understand God uses all these times in our lives to refine us and those around us. But when the fire gets hot, we doubt, question, and even become angry.

If you read further, Gideon reminds God of his past rescues of the Israelites. Gideon wants to know what happened to that God of all the wonders passed down through the generations. We do that too, don't we? We look back at the past and see where God's hand was evident. Then when we don't see Him working immediately in our present circumstances, we fear God has abaondoned us, just as the Israelites and Gideon believed.

But even then, God doesn't defend himself. He simply tells Gideon to save Israel and says, "Am I not sending you now?" God doesn't go into a list of reasons, recounting all the ways the Israelites rejected Him by turning to false gods. He stays in the here and now, reminding Gideon He was right there—right now.

Gideon may not have gotten the answer he wanted to explain the past, but he got a more important response—God's reassurance that He was with Gideon in the midst of what was about to happen.

We may never understand completely why God allows certain difficulties in our lives, but we can go boldly forward in the reassurance that He is with us, always working for our benefit.

No matter how you got there, God is right there with you. Maybe you just couldn't see him beyond the scope of your situation. But like Gideon, God is asking us to look beyond those circumstances and see Him standing there, where He's always been.

Praying and believing,
Dineen

God's Promises: Abraham Believed

The best way I know of getting closer to God and getting to know him better is to read God’s Word daily. Abraham came to know the God of Israel well enough to be called “friend.” This year I’m returning to reading the Bible in a year* to glean more nuggets about God and to know him better. I’m already finding myself journaling about what the Holy Spirit reveals and would love to share those with you.

Here’s what I gleaned this past week:

Genesis 22 tells the story of Abraham called to sacrifice his son, Isaac. In verse 5, Abraham tells the servants to wait. “We will worship and then we will come back to you” (emphasis mine).

Abraham is portrayed as a man of great faith and a friend of God. Either he was lying to conceal what he intended to do, preventing the servants from interfering and scaring Isaac, or he truly believed he and his son would return. Though my human tendency is to believe the first, my faith calls me to believe the last.

Abraham trusted God’s first promise that He would make a great nation from Abraham’s offspring. Even though the current circumstances seemed to contradict God’s promise, Abraham continued to trust God’s plan and was obedient. Abraham knew God well enough to know that He wouldn’t go back on his promise.

Then there’s verse eight. “Abraham answered, ‘God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’ And the two of them went on together.” This line is prophetic. Abraham not only spoke of the current sacrifice, but He was also giving a picture of the final sacrifice. The Lamb of God—Jesus. God’s promise for us and our loved ones today.

So often God sets examples in which He builds upon and uses as reference points. He knows how limited and doubting we can be in our faith, especially when it comes to praying long term for our unbelieving spouses. Thus He gives us connecting points to use to propel our hearts to belief. These are the points we need to return to continually to remember God’s promises. Again, look at Abraham and Sarah and how long they waited. Yet they had the memory of God’s visit and promise to return to again and again as a reminder. And God kept his promise.

For Abraham, God was truly enough—he trusted God completely and believed.

Praying and believing like Abraham,
Dineen

*A one-year reading plan can be found in the Upper Room and Our Journey (WalkInTheWord) devotionals. Many Bibles have a plan in the back index or you can use Google to find a plan that works best for you.

Great vs. Great

In January of this year, God had me write something important down. He gave me a specific word about my future. Part of what he said was, “this is the year I will do great things in your life.”

Now I will honestly say I knew these “great things” didn’t necessarily mean complete success and all my dreams coming true. I know God well enough to understand that what I consider great and what I want may not necessarily be in agreement with what God is shooting for.

And I’m a firm believer in Romans 8:28. I have no doubts that everything God does has a purpose, nothing is wasted, and anytime we, his children, are included in these events, he always has our best interest at heart. So even faced with a difficult road ahead of us, I know God has a plan, a reason, and I trust him.

But looking back at his words during this time with my daughter has illuminated a new aspect for me. What God considers great can have much deeper ramifications. And more difficulties than we anticipate.

Sometimes “great” has farther-reaching ramifications than we can ever imagine. “Great” then takes on deeper meaning than the casual usage implying better than good. Great can mean significant, important, earth-moving and life changing.

What do we do in those times?

Hang on to God. I can tell you from experience, he’s very faithful. He’s certainly not letting go of you. And if you’re a control freak like me, the best thing you can do is spend a lot of time with him, especially in his Word. The better you know God, the more you will understand his will and find peace in acceptance and trust. God speaks, we just have to listen.

Look beyond ourselves. There’s always a bigger picture there, I promise you. I can look back over the last seven years and see ways God has been moving us to this point, AND preparing us for what we face right now. Those times are significant. Those times were great. Struggles, difficult decisions, set backs, failures—all of these have equipped me to deal with we are facing now. In this viewpoint, I can be grateful to God for all he’s done to get me ready. And I see it’s really not about me. It’s about God and his plan, which he set in place from the beginning, and he’s completely in control of it all and knows the outcome. I can’t do any better than that, so leaving it all in his most capable hands brings me tremendous comfort.

Join God. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned recently regarding ongoing issues is that much more is accomplished when I seek to join God in the process instead of demanding God just fix it and make it go away. Does it seem like God’s not hearing your prayer in a particular situation? Are you praying over and over again for God to change/fix/remove this problem, but nothing’s happening? Change you prayer. Instead of asking God to deal with it for you, ask him how you can be a part of the solution. God doesn’t need our help but he wants us involved as part of our growth. And that growth is what brings us closer to him, allows us to know him better, and even gives us a glimpse of what God has planned in his perfect will.

So much has happened in my family these last few weeks. And we still have more to face. We learned yesterday the tumor is cancerous. She will need more surgery, weeks of radiation, and months of chemotherapy. I know there will be days that I will wonder why God has taken us down this path.

But for now, I’m holding onto God’s promises for my daughter and for my husband. I can see that there is so much more going on than just the visible. God’s allowed this time for a greater reason than ourselves. Lives will be touched and changed. One in particular… God’s presence is being and will be revealed.

I want to be a part of that. I want to walk alongside God and participate as he’s calling me to. The big picture is salvation and relationship to God. That’s what this is all about.

And I can’t wait to see the culmination.
Praying and believing,
Dineen