Dear Missionary Lady,
Greetings in the name of our Savior. I'm sorry that I wasn't
able to get this out to you yesterday, but I had a very hectic weekend and was
away for most of it. I do, however, want you to know that I remember you and am
praying for you. I trust that you had a good day of ministry already.
I thought today that I would share some brief thoughts from
the story of Hannah, as recorded in I Samuel 1.
Hannah had an ongoing heartbreaking situation. From all
indications in the passage, she loved and served God. However, she was in the
difficult position of being childless. That is a challenge and disappointment
to any normal woman. It is natural for many reasons to want to have children.
In her culture, there was a level of shame or depreciation added to that
natural disappointment. Onlookers may even have thought God had shut up her
womb due to sin.
Hannah was truly struggling. She had an empty place in her
heart and in her arms that she longed to fill. She went on year after year,
hoping but seeing no answer. She was repeatedly disappointed. The passage says
she fretted over the situation (v. 6), she wept over it (v. 7), and even
reached the point of not eating (v. 7). Her heart was grieved (v. 8). She was
in bitterness of soul (v. 10) and wept sore (v. 10). She was of a sorrowful
spirit (v. 15). She had abundant complaint and grief (v. 16). This poor lady
needed (and I'm sure desperately desired) someone to understand, someone to
care, someone to comfort. Did she find that person?
In the passage, Hannah interacts with three people. One of
those is the co-wife Peninnah. Peninnah had multiple children, and she is
described as an adversary to Hannah. The particular area in which Peninnah
provoked Hannah sore was in the area where Hannah was most hurting - her lack
of children. This provoking went on year after year. Peninnah was not a source
of understanding and comfort.
The second person is Hannah's husband Elkanah. Elkanah loved
Hannah. He expressed his special love by giving her extra gifts and provision. But
he didn't understand. He apparently had a level of patience and concern, as he
watched her struggle year after year, but he didn't grasp the depth of her
grief. His words, perhaps spoken in confusion, perhaps in intended comfort,
perhaps even in frustration, were these: "Hannah, why weepest thou? and
why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than
ten sons?" (v. 8). Even if those words were well-intentioned, they would
be perceived by the hearer as a lack of understanding. Elkanah didn't get it.
The third person was the priest Eli. He watched Hannah pray
and completely misunderstood her anguish of soul. He came to the conclusion
that she must be drunk, and he rebuked her. He thought her to be a daughter of
Belial. Talk about misunderstanding! Here is a woman pouring out her heart to
God, deeply seeking Him, desiring to honor Him, and she is accused by this
leader of being exactly the opposite. Adding insult to injury, Eli did not
understand Hannah.
All three people misunderstood. None of them offered
suitable comfort. Peninnah is not surprising. There are rivals in life, people
who don't like us very much. They don't always treat us well, and may treat us
very harshly, as in this case. This treatment is not easy to take, but at least
it is expected.
Then there are the people closest to us. Even they do not
always understand. They may care that we are hurting, but might not comprehend
the depth of our hurt. Furthermore, they may be completely powerless to help us
or change our situation. They may even say words that come out sounding cruel
and heartless, exactly wrong. This response is frustrating, as we fail to find
the depth of understanding and comfort that we desire from what we perceive as
the most likely and appropriate source.
And there are religious leaders. For various reasons -
distance from the situation, lack of information, hearing someone else's
version first, or simply the limitations of being human - leaders will not
always get it right. They will sometimes be unaware of important details or
naive as to the context, and they will give bad advice or draw wrong
conclusions. They might even say hurtful words that show they completely
misunderstand the state and desire of our heart. There is little that is more
difficult to bear than having anyone evaluate our heart as carnal when it is
actually very spiritually sensitive, and when that person is in leadership, the
hurt is intensified.
Thankfully for Hannah and for us, there is another person
involved in every situation. Hannah poured out her soul to God. She told Him of
the difficulty. She shared her grief with Him. She expressed to Him her
spiritual desires and sensitive heart.
God heard Hannah and was pleased. He responded to her
anguish by answering her prayer and later blessing her with additional
children. Is it not true that as much as we want to see a solution, often our
stronger desire is for someone to understand and care? Well, God is that
person. He always understands. He always cares. His heart is touched with our
grief. He always correctly evaluates our heart. He may not always give us the
answer or relief we desire, but He will always do what is best for us, and He
will give the grace we need. Take heart! Our loving God gets it. He knows, and
He cares.
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
www.pressingontohigherground.blogspot.com
Sunday, June 30, 2019
Saturday, June 22, 2019
06222019 Until Then
Dear Missionary Lady,
God bless you, my sisters, as you toil for Him. This week I simply want to share a song with you that recently ministered to me. It is "Until Then" by Stuart Hamblen.
1. My heart can sing when I pause to remember/ A heartache here is but a stepping stone/ Along a trail that's winding always upward,/ This troubled world is not my final home.
2. The things of earth will dim and lose their value/ If we recall they're borrowed for a while;/ And things of earth that cause the heart to tremble,/ Remembered there will only bring a smile.
3. This weary world with all its toil and struggle/ May take its toll of misery and strife;/ The soul of man is like a waiting falcon;/ When it's released, it's destined for the skies.
Chorus: But until then my heart will go on singing,/ Until then with joy I'll carry on,/ Until the day my eyes behold the city,/ Until the day God calls me home.
This world does indeed have its challenges and heartaches. What an encouragement it is to know that whatever twists and turns our path on this earth takes, each twist is inevitably leading us closer to the end of our earthly journey and closer to heaven.
The best things of this world are pretty insignificant, and the worst things of this world will become insignificant some day. They are so hard now, but when we are in heaven, they will be absolutely nothing - swallowed up and completely absorbed in the joy of heaven.
Yes, this life can be hard, but it is only temporary. We are pilgrims and strangers, just waiting for the day when God will call us to our real home. Can we keep going until then? Yes, by His grace we can continue one day at a time, doing His bidding and looking for His appearance.
What you do today matters for eternity. Keep doing it until He is finished with you!
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
www.pressingontohigherground.blogspot.com
God bless you, my sisters, as you toil for Him. This week I simply want to share a song with you that recently ministered to me. It is "Until Then" by Stuart Hamblen.
1. My heart can sing when I pause to remember/ A heartache here is but a stepping stone/ Along a trail that's winding always upward,/ This troubled world is not my final home.
2. The things of earth will dim and lose their value/ If we recall they're borrowed for a while;/ And things of earth that cause the heart to tremble,/ Remembered there will only bring a smile.
3. This weary world with all its toil and struggle/ May take its toll of misery and strife;/ The soul of man is like a waiting falcon;/ When it's released, it's destined for the skies.
Chorus: But until then my heart will go on singing,/ Until then with joy I'll carry on,/ Until the day my eyes behold the city,/ Until the day God calls me home.
This world does indeed have its challenges and heartaches. What an encouragement it is to know that whatever twists and turns our path on this earth takes, each twist is inevitably leading us closer to the end of our earthly journey and closer to heaven.
The best things of this world are pretty insignificant, and the worst things of this world will become insignificant some day. They are so hard now, but when we are in heaven, they will be absolutely nothing - swallowed up and completely absorbed in the joy of heaven.
Yes, this life can be hard, but it is only temporary. We are pilgrims and strangers, just waiting for the day when God will call us to our real home. Can we keep going until then? Yes, by His grace we can continue one day at a time, doing His bidding and looking for His appearance.
What you do today matters for eternity. Keep doing it until He is finished with you!
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
www.pressingontohigherground.blogspot.com
Saturday, June 15, 2019
06152019 Do You Trust Me?
Dear Missionary Lady,
Greetings, my sisters. No matter what this week held for you, I trust that God supported you through it. He does that, you know, for those who lean on Him. I want to approach this week's truth by sharing three stories.
First, many years ago, I was concerned about pressure and possible resulting damage to my teeth, so I decided as an adult to get braces. My orthodontist performed all kinds of torture. He had three teeth pulled. He jammed spacers between my teeth. He forced metal bands around my molars. He installed brackets and wires that caused pain and made my teeth sensitive even to being touched. He made me wear rubber bands that restricted my mouth movements and caused more pain. He repeatedly stuck trays of nasty goop inside my mouth to take impressions. And I allowed him to do all those things - for two or three years.
Second, almost thirteen years ago I began a long journey with various doctors, first for Lyme disease and then for the resulting effects. I filled out pages and pages of paperwork. I had so much lab work done that I nearly passed out from giving blood (more than once). I traveled hours each way back and forth to doctors. I followed very restrictive diets. I let them decide which medications I should take, when I should change medications, and when I should take a break. Every change made me feel lousy for weeks or days, and the initial treatment made me feel worse for several months than I had ever felt in my life. I have allowed my newest doctor to uncover underlying problems and introduce new treatments.
Third, since September I've had a realtor helping me to look for a house. I was prompted to fill out lengthy funding applications, have meetings with such people, and jump through many administrative hoops. I have had many phone discussions and multiple showings. I have listened to my realtor's guidance as we've considered houses and have followed his advice about the quality of those homes. I've heard, "I can't let you buy this house" and similar statements as various houses were rejected. Over and over I've heard the words, "We'll keep looking." I was ready to make an offer on one house until my realtor examined it carefully and told me it would be constant problems. As he recommended that I let it go, he asked, "Do you trust me?"
That is the question I want to consider. "Do you trust me?" I chose to follow each of these professionals, and I deliberately placed myself under their care. And every one of them has tortured me beyond belief! They have caused pain. They have introduced lengthy seasons of struggle. They have brought heart-breaking disappointments. They have sometimes led me in the opposite direction of where I wanted to go in order to reach the destination. For a time they made things worse than what they were before. Their guidance has resulted in delays. They have cost me a lot of money.
I have trusted them and continued to follow their guidance anyway. Why? Because each one was an expert. Each one had lengthy experience in helping other people with the same issues. They knew what the goals were and they knew how to reach those goals. I trusted them because I expected that in the end they would get me to where I wanted to go.
So why is it sometimes so hard to trust God? He is the greatest expert ever on everything. No one can come close to His lengthy experience. He has perfect wisdom, and He has helped people for millennia. He knows what the goals are, and He knows how to reach them. And, while some of those professionals had a measure of care for me, the bottom line is that they were all doing a job that they would get paid for. God does all that He does because He loves me deeply.
So why is it sometimes hard to trust Him? I think of two reasons. First, we don't always know what goals God is working toward. We have our ideas of what we want. We may have an idea of what we think He will do or should do, but our priorities are much more temporal than God's. It can be hard to trust when His plan doesn't seem to work toward our goal.
Second, God doesn't explain His processes. Those other professionals will tell us the reason for the painful treatment or the rationale behind the seeming reversal. They will give explanations that help us accept the difficulties. It can be hard to trust when we don't understand why God incorporates something difficult into His plan and when we can't see the path of progress that He sees.
In answer to these, I simply say that we can know that God is always working toward His best plan for us. It will be good because He has determined it so. Additionally, God's ways are not our ways. He will do things we don't understand, but that doesn't mean they won't work.
Yes, God's plan includes pain, sorrow, disappointment, delay, reversals, confusion, fear, expenses, and many other "negatives" that we would rather not experience. Lately as I have talked with God about the difficulty of those negatives, I have heard this question: "Do you trust Me?" That question quiets my soul, as it ought to. I have a God of infinite wisdom, power, and love who is working on my behalf. I have chosen to follow Him and place myself under His guidance. When the process doesn't go like I want it to go, I should be able to trust Him far more than I have trusted an orthodontist, doctor, or realtor. I may understand less of the process with God than I did with those other people, but He is far more trust-worthy than any of them. I may hurt through the process, but with tears running down my face and with my heart breaking and with my spirit crushed, I can still trust God. Yes, I can. And so can you.
"How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings" (Psalm 36:7). "But without faith it is impossible to please him" (Hebrews 11:6).
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
www.pressingontohigherground.blogspot.com
Greetings, my sisters. No matter what this week held for you, I trust that God supported you through it. He does that, you know, for those who lean on Him. I want to approach this week's truth by sharing three stories.
First, many years ago, I was concerned about pressure and possible resulting damage to my teeth, so I decided as an adult to get braces. My orthodontist performed all kinds of torture. He had three teeth pulled. He jammed spacers between my teeth. He forced metal bands around my molars. He installed brackets and wires that caused pain and made my teeth sensitive even to being touched. He made me wear rubber bands that restricted my mouth movements and caused more pain. He repeatedly stuck trays of nasty goop inside my mouth to take impressions. And I allowed him to do all those things - for two or three years.
Second, almost thirteen years ago I began a long journey with various doctors, first for Lyme disease and then for the resulting effects. I filled out pages and pages of paperwork. I had so much lab work done that I nearly passed out from giving blood (more than once). I traveled hours each way back and forth to doctors. I followed very restrictive diets. I let them decide which medications I should take, when I should change medications, and when I should take a break. Every change made me feel lousy for weeks or days, and the initial treatment made me feel worse for several months than I had ever felt in my life. I have allowed my newest doctor to uncover underlying problems and introduce new treatments.
Third, since September I've had a realtor helping me to look for a house. I was prompted to fill out lengthy funding applications, have meetings with such people, and jump through many administrative hoops. I have had many phone discussions and multiple showings. I have listened to my realtor's guidance as we've considered houses and have followed his advice about the quality of those homes. I've heard, "I can't let you buy this house" and similar statements as various houses were rejected. Over and over I've heard the words, "We'll keep looking." I was ready to make an offer on one house until my realtor examined it carefully and told me it would be constant problems. As he recommended that I let it go, he asked, "Do you trust me?"
That is the question I want to consider. "Do you trust me?" I chose to follow each of these professionals, and I deliberately placed myself under their care. And every one of them has tortured me beyond belief! They have caused pain. They have introduced lengthy seasons of struggle. They have brought heart-breaking disappointments. They have sometimes led me in the opposite direction of where I wanted to go in order to reach the destination. For a time they made things worse than what they were before. Their guidance has resulted in delays. They have cost me a lot of money.
I have trusted them and continued to follow their guidance anyway. Why? Because each one was an expert. Each one had lengthy experience in helping other people with the same issues. They knew what the goals were and they knew how to reach those goals. I trusted them because I expected that in the end they would get me to where I wanted to go.
So why is it sometimes so hard to trust God? He is the greatest expert ever on everything. No one can come close to His lengthy experience. He has perfect wisdom, and He has helped people for millennia. He knows what the goals are, and He knows how to reach them. And, while some of those professionals had a measure of care for me, the bottom line is that they were all doing a job that they would get paid for. God does all that He does because He loves me deeply.
So why is it sometimes hard to trust Him? I think of two reasons. First, we don't always know what goals God is working toward. We have our ideas of what we want. We may have an idea of what we think He will do or should do, but our priorities are much more temporal than God's. It can be hard to trust when His plan doesn't seem to work toward our goal.
Second, God doesn't explain His processes. Those other professionals will tell us the reason for the painful treatment or the rationale behind the seeming reversal. They will give explanations that help us accept the difficulties. It can be hard to trust when we don't understand why God incorporates something difficult into His plan and when we can't see the path of progress that He sees.
In answer to these, I simply say that we can know that God is always working toward His best plan for us. It will be good because He has determined it so. Additionally, God's ways are not our ways. He will do things we don't understand, but that doesn't mean they won't work.
Yes, God's plan includes pain, sorrow, disappointment, delay, reversals, confusion, fear, expenses, and many other "negatives" that we would rather not experience. Lately as I have talked with God about the difficulty of those negatives, I have heard this question: "Do you trust Me?" That question quiets my soul, as it ought to. I have a God of infinite wisdom, power, and love who is working on my behalf. I have chosen to follow Him and place myself under His guidance. When the process doesn't go like I want it to go, I should be able to trust Him far more than I have trusted an orthodontist, doctor, or realtor. I may understand less of the process with God than I did with those other people, but He is far more trust-worthy than any of them. I may hurt through the process, but with tears running down my face and with my heart breaking and with my spirit crushed, I can still trust God. Yes, I can. And so can you.
"How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings" (Psalm 36:7). "But without faith it is impossible to please him" (Hebrews 11:6).
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
www.pressingontohigherground.blogspot.com
Friday, June 7, 2019
06072019 Where Is God?
Dear Missionary Lady,
Greetings! Will you bear with me this week if I share some personal testimony? I hope this won't come across as self-serving, but I know that sometimes hearing someone else's story can be encouraging without being "preachy."
The apartment I've been living in is not healthy for me, and it became less so last summer, at which time I started looking to buy a home where I can have more control over repairs and such. The basic status is that I am still looking more than nine months later. I've had a few offers rejected, one house that failed a mold test, and lots of dead ends. For my price range, there has been little available that would be acceptable for me.
It has been a frustrating and discouraging process. Earlier this week I imagined non-Christians asking me, "Doesn't God help you with stuff like that? Where is your God?" And I've asked the question myself. It seemed the only answer I could come up with is "I don't know." He hasn't made anything happen. He could have answered this prayer long ago. If I find something at this point, it isn't even going to seem like divine intervention. It is going to seem exactly like the long, drawn-out, difficult struggle that any ordinary person would have looking for a house in this market without God's help.
Actually, that conclusion helped to prompt my thoughts in a good direction. I realized that God does not always choose to actively intervene. That is, God does not act in the same way in every situation or for every person.
There were battles in which God made walls fall down, made armies flee for no reason, made armies turn on each other, or sent hailstones. There were other battles when His people had to go out and fight like "normal."
There were times when God made manna appear on the ground, quails descend in abundance, ravens deliver food, flour miraculously replenish, and loaves multiply. There were other times when people suffered through famine, perhaps needing to relocate, or hide in a wine press to process their hoarded food supply.
There were times when jail doors were opened, when angels led prisoners out, and when earthquakes flattened jails. There were other times when people were imprisoned until they died or were executed.
Jonah's brief preaching brought an unexpected revival, but Jeremiah faced only opposition over long decades.
Sometimes Jesus calmed the storm, but Paul suffered multiple shipwrecks.
James was imprisoned and executed. Peter was told he would be crucified, and when he asked what would happen to John, Jesus told him it didn't matter. If He chose to have John live till He returned, He could do that. God could have chosen a result that different.
Hebrews 11 tells of heroes of faith, some of whom survived lions and fire and were mighty in battle and performed great deeds. Others were sawn asunder and stoned and tortured and imprisoned and wandered as outcasts.
Sometimes God miraculously intervenes in amazing ways. Sometimes He gives answers that make people stand in awe and that boldly declare that He is God. Sometimes, however, God allows nature and human nature to run their normal course. He allows heat or drought or storms or earthquakes to destroy. God sometimes allows diseases to run their normal course. God sometimes allows wicked people to attack and rob and murder. All of these things are true for Christians as well as non-Christians.
Whether in Bible stories or in history or with our own acquaintances, we have seen this disparity. And we ask the questions. Why did God give that person a house or job or spouse or child, but not me? Why did God miraculously heal, provide needed finances, or explode a ministry for that person but not for me?
My thoughts resulted in three categories of questions. First, in those hard circumstances, is God doing nothing? Is He completely detached? Is He unable to control the situation?
Of course, God is never doing nothing. He is always aware, and He is always overseeing. He might purposefully curtail His intervention, but He always CAN intervene. Furthermore, everything is filtered through God's sovereignty. God does say, "This far and no farther."
Second, does God care about the people who are hurting? Does He minister to them? Are the details of the situation too small for Him to take note of?
God always cares. He always loves His children, and He does care about details. If He knows the hairs of our heads, sees us when we sit under trees, sees every bird that falls, and cares for every beast in the wilderness, He knows and cares about the details of our lives.
Third, doesn't God say He will meet our needs? What are needs? Do difficult housing markets or war or famine or prison camps override God's ability to provide?
I think the foundational answer is that God supplies our needs for as long as those needs exist within His plan. In other words, God will provide food for people for as long as He wants those people to live. A Christian might die of starvation in a famine or prison camp, but only when God is finished with him.
Sometimes God is overtly at work, with His hands manipulating the situation, and sometimes He merely sticks His finger in. The difference depends on God's purpose. God's greatest concern is not health, comfort, material provision, or protection. God wants us to know Him. God wants to bring glory to Himself. God wants to conform us to the image of His Son. God wants unbelievers to see Christian faith and endurance.
God's goals cannot always be achieved through the satisfactory answers that we long to see; based on His specific goals for specific situations, He adjusts His level of interaction accordingly. When God doesn't answer according to our prayers, the conclusion has to be that the answer we want is not the answer God wants at this time, or else He would do it. Sometimes the answers we want will come in time, but only after God has accomplished other objectives.
So, where is God? God is not absent. God is overseeing. He may not be making big things happen, but He is influencing details. He is providentially guiding, even if so far that has been only in the negative. Where is God? God is caring for me, walking this path with me, and giving me grace sufficient for the challenge. He is teaching me and giving me just enough encouragement, sometimes at the very hardest times, to continue on.
In order to accomplish His purposes, God is not choosing to give an amazing answer, at least not yet. My job is to trust Him (yes, that's hard) and to yield my purposes to His purposes (and that's hard, too). But He is God. And He is always right.
May God be near you this week and help you through any special challenges you are currently facing.
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
www.pressingontohigherground.blogspot.com
Greetings! Will you bear with me this week if I share some personal testimony? I hope this won't come across as self-serving, but I know that sometimes hearing someone else's story can be encouraging without being "preachy."
The apartment I've been living in is not healthy for me, and it became less so last summer, at which time I started looking to buy a home where I can have more control over repairs and such. The basic status is that I am still looking more than nine months later. I've had a few offers rejected, one house that failed a mold test, and lots of dead ends. For my price range, there has been little available that would be acceptable for me.
It has been a frustrating and discouraging process. Earlier this week I imagined non-Christians asking me, "Doesn't God help you with stuff like that? Where is your God?" And I've asked the question myself. It seemed the only answer I could come up with is "I don't know." He hasn't made anything happen. He could have answered this prayer long ago. If I find something at this point, it isn't even going to seem like divine intervention. It is going to seem exactly like the long, drawn-out, difficult struggle that any ordinary person would have looking for a house in this market without God's help.
Actually, that conclusion helped to prompt my thoughts in a good direction. I realized that God does not always choose to actively intervene. That is, God does not act in the same way in every situation or for every person.
There were battles in which God made walls fall down, made armies flee for no reason, made armies turn on each other, or sent hailstones. There were other battles when His people had to go out and fight like "normal."
There were times when God made manna appear on the ground, quails descend in abundance, ravens deliver food, flour miraculously replenish, and loaves multiply. There were other times when people suffered through famine, perhaps needing to relocate, or hide in a wine press to process their hoarded food supply.
There were times when jail doors were opened, when angels led prisoners out, and when earthquakes flattened jails. There were other times when people were imprisoned until they died or were executed.
Jonah's brief preaching brought an unexpected revival, but Jeremiah faced only opposition over long decades.
Sometimes Jesus calmed the storm, but Paul suffered multiple shipwrecks.
James was imprisoned and executed. Peter was told he would be crucified, and when he asked what would happen to John, Jesus told him it didn't matter. If He chose to have John live till He returned, He could do that. God could have chosen a result that different.
Hebrews 11 tells of heroes of faith, some of whom survived lions and fire and were mighty in battle and performed great deeds. Others were sawn asunder and stoned and tortured and imprisoned and wandered as outcasts.
Sometimes God miraculously intervenes in amazing ways. Sometimes He gives answers that make people stand in awe and that boldly declare that He is God. Sometimes, however, God allows nature and human nature to run their normal course. He allows heat or drought or storms or earthquakes to destroy. God sometimes allows diseases to run their normal course. God sometimes allows wicked people to attack and rob and murder. All of these things are true for Christians as well as non-Christians.
Whether in Bible stories or in history or with our own acquaintances, we have seen this disparity. And we ask the questions. Why did God give that person a house or job or spouse or child, but not me? Why did God miraculously heal, provide needed finances, or explode a ministry for that person but not for me?
My thoughts resulted in three categories of questions. First, in those hard circumstances, is God doing nothing? Is He completely detached? Is He unable to control the situation?
Of course, God is never doing nothing. He is always aware, and He is always overseeing. He might purposefully curtail His intervention, but He always CAN intervene. Furthermore, everything is filtered through God's sovereignty. God does say, "This far and no farther."
Second, does God care about the people who are hurting? Does He minister to them? Are the details of the situation too small for Him to take note of?
God always cares. He always loves His children, and He does care about details. If He knows the hairs of our heads, sees us when we sit under trees, sees every bird that falls, and cares for every beast in the wilderness, He knows and cares about the details of our lives.
Third, doesn't God say He will meet our needs? What are needs? Do difficult housing markets or war or famine or prison camps override God's ability to provide?
I think the foundational answer is that God supplies our needs for as long as those needs exist within His plan. In other words, God will provide food for people for as long as He wants those people to live. A Christian might die of starvation in a famine or prison camp, but only when God is finished with him.
Sometimes God is overtly at work, with His hands manipulating the situation, and sometimes He merely sticks His finger in. The difference depends on God's purpose. God's greatest concern is not health, comfort, material provision, or protection. God wants us to know Him. God wants to bring glory to Himself. God wants to conform us to the image of His Son. God wants unbelievers to see Christian faith and endurance.
God's goals cannot always be achieved through the satisfactory answers that we long to see; based on His specific goals for specific situations, He adjusts His level of interaction accordingly. When God doesn't answer according to our prayers, the conclusion has to be that the answer we want is not the answer God wants at this time, or else He would do it. Sometimes the answers we want will come in time, but only after God has accomplished other objectives.
So, where is God? God is not absent. God is overseeing. He may not be making big things happen, but He is influencing details. He is providentially guiding, even if so far that has been only in the negative. Where is God? God is caring for me, walking this path with me, and giving me grace sufficient for the challenge. He is teaching me and giving me just enough encouragement, sometimes at the very hardest times, to continue on.
In order to accomplish His purposes, God is not choosing to give an amazing answer, at least not yet. My job is to trust Him (yes, that's hard) and to yield my purposes to His purposes (and that's hard, too). But He is God. And He is always right.
May God be near you this week and help you through any special challenges you are currently facing.
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
www.pressingontohigherground.blogspot.com
Saturday, June 1, 2019
06012019 The Mountain God
Dear Missionary Lady,
Greetings in the name of our great God. Do you realize how great God is? The biggest problems in the world, both among Christians and non-Christians, come from not understanding who the true God is and what He is really like.
I haven't done the Bible study, but it would be an interesting one to compile a summary of all the mistaken ideas that heathen people had about God. So often people said things like, "No other god has ever been able to withstand us, so this god won't be able to either." Wrong! God is not like any other god.
I came across one such narrative this week, and I wanted to share it with you. Found in I Kings 20, it is regarding the nation of Israel under wicked King Ahab. Benhadad, the king of Syria, made war with Israel and brought thirty-two other kings along as his allies. They besieged the city of Samaria and made monstrous demands of Ahab, asking for his silver and gold, his wives and children. Benhadad asked for unconditional surrender, in which he would come in and take anyone and anything that he liked.
At the counsel of the elders, Ahab resisted the increasingly outrageous demands, and Benhadad was not happy. He was ready to destroy Samaria until nothing remained. To the new threats, Ahab replied, "It's not the boasts you make when you put your armor on that matter, but what the end result is when it's time to take the armor off." Benhadad, who was drinking, was stirred to action by this insult, and he initiated the battle.
God sent Ahab instructions through a prophet that He would deliver Ahab and Samaria from this thirty-three king coalition, specifically through 232 young princes and an army of 7000. Why? So that Ahab would know that He was the LORD (v. 13). When this small army marched out, drunken Benhadad gave the order to capture the entire army alive. What happened instead was that Benhadad suffered a great defeat. There was a great slaughter, and Benhadad escaped on horseback. Against great odds, the great God gave a great victory.
That wasn't the end of the story. The prophet returned to Ahab and told him that Benhadad would return at the beginning of the year. Sure enough, Benhadad was plotting. Neither he nor his advisors understood who God was. They declared, "Their gods are gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger then they" (v. 23). So they gathered another army similar to the first and came again to attack Israel. Israel was again outnumbered and outpowered, "like two little flocks of kids" before an army that "filled the country" (v. 27).
God had heard the insults and misinformation of Benhadad and his cronies. He sent a prophet to declare to Ahab, "Thus saith the LORD, Because the Syrians have said, The LORD is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the LORD" (v. 28). The result of the battle was exactly as God had predicted. Israel's army killed 100,000 of the enemy in a single day. And then God had a wall fall down and kill another 27,000 that had escaped.
We know it wasn't the strength of Israel's army that won either battle. Both were daunting and impossible, but God gave the victory for the purpose of revealing Himself to Ahab. Sadly, even with all God's intervention on his behalf, Ahab never really got the picture. His understanding of God wasn't much better than that of Benhadad.
The part of the story that I want to emphasize is that God is the God both of the mountains and of the valleys. Benhadad didn't think so; he limited God's power to the mountains only, but he was proven wrong. God is who He is - a mighty, sovereign God of all power, who can work in every circumstance.
We have all faced hard times in the past and have seen God amazingly bring us through. But when we face a new challenge - maybe a different kind of challenge - it is easy for us to forget and to doubt. We need to be reminded that the God of the mountain is the God of the valley also. The God of deputation is the God of the mission field and the God of retirement. The God of the financial crisis is the God of the political crisis and the health crisis. The God in the USA is the God in Lebanon and Spain and France and Uruguay and Ecuador and South Africa.
You have seen God work before. You have been amazed by His answers. Like me, you have probably even said something like, "After seeing God do this, there is no way that I should ever doubt Him again." Mmm-hmm. We know how that goes. Listen, dear lady (and myself), the new situation that you face is not any harder for God than all the ones He has conquered in the past. He can take care of this new challenge just as effectively as He has set aside the ones of the past. Trust Him. Remember who He is.
"For I am the LORD, I change not" (Malachi 3:6). "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).
May God encourage you this week with the wonder of His greatness, and may He give you opportunities to open the eyes of others to see His greatness as well. What you do today matters for eternity.
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
www.pressingontohigherground.blogspot.com
Greetings in the name of our great God. Do you realize how great God is? The biggest problems in the world, both among Christians and non-Christians, come from not understanding who the true God is and what He is really like.
I haven't done the Bible study, but it would be an interesting one to compile a summary of all the mistaken ideas that heathen people had about God. So often people said things like, "No other god has ever been able to withstand us, so this god won't be able to either." Wrong! God is not like any other god.
I came across one such narrative this week, and I wanted to share it with you. Found in I Kings 20, it is regarding the nation of Israel under wicked King Ahab. Benhadad, the king of Syria, made war with Israel and brought thirty-two other kings along as his allies. They besieged the city of Samaria and made monstrous demands of Ahab, asking for his silver and gold, his wives and children. Benhadad asked for unconditional surrender, in which he would come in and take anyone and anything that he liked.
At the counsel of the elders, Ahab resisted the increasingly outrageous demands, and Benhadad was not happy. He was ready to destroy Samaria until nothing remained. To the new threats, Ahab replied, "It's not the boasts you make when you put your armor on that matter, but what the end result is when it's time to take the armor off." Benhadad, who was drinking, was stirred to action by this insult, and he initiated the battle.
God sent Ahab instructions through a prophet that He would deliver Ahab and Samaria from this thirty-three king coalition, specifically through 232 young princes and an army of 7000. Why? So that Ahab would know that He was the LORD (v. 13). When this small army marched out, drunken Benhadad gave the order to capture the entire army alive. What happened instead was that Benhadad suffered a great defeat. There was a great slaughter, and Benhadad escaped on horseback. Against great odds, the great God gave a great victory.
That wasn't the end of the story. The prophet returned to Ahab and told him that Benhadad would return at the beginning of the year. Sure enough, Benhadad was plotting. Neither he nor his advisors understood who God was. They declared, "Their gods are gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger then they" (v. 23). So they gathered another army similar to the first and came again to attack Israel. Israel was again outnumbered and outpowered, "like two little flocks of kids" before an army that "filled the country" (v. 27).
God had heard the insults and misinformation of Benhadad and his cronies. He sent a prophet to declare to Ahab, "Thus saith the LORD, Because the Syrians have said, The LORD is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the LORD" (v. 28). The result of the battle was exactly as God had predicted. Israel's army killed 100,000 of the enemy in a single day. And then God had a wall fall down and kill another 27,000 that had escaped.
We know it wasn't the strength of Israel's army that won either battle. Both were daunting and impossible, but God gave the victory for the purpose of revealing Himself to Ahab. Sadly, even with all God's intervention on his behalf, Ahab never really got the picture. His understanding of God wasn't much better than that of Benhadad.
The part of the story that I want to emphasize is that God is the God both of the mountains and of the valleys. Benhadad didn't think so; he limited God's power to the mountains only, but he was proven wrong. God is who He is - a mighty, sovereign God of all power, who can work in every circumstance.
We have all faced hard times in the past and have seen God amazingly bring us through. But when we face a new challenge - maybe a different kind of challenge - it is easy for us to forget and to doubt. We need to be reminded that the God of the mountain is the God of the valley also. The God of deputation is the God of the mission field and the God of retirement. The God of the financial crisis is the God of the political crisis and the health crisis. The God in the USA is the God in Lebanon and Spain and France and Uruguay and Ecuador and South Africa.
You have seen God work before. You have been amazed by His answers. Like me, you have probably even said something like, "After seeing God do this, there is no way that I should ever doubt Him again." Mmm-hmm. We know how that goes. Listen, dear lady (and myself), the new situation that you face is not any harder for God than all the ones He has conquered in the past. He can take care of this new challenge just as effectively as He has set aside the ones of the past. Trust Him. Remember who He is.
"For I am the LORD, I change not" (Malachi 3:6). "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).
May God encourage you this week with the wonder of His greatness, and may He give you opportunities to open the eyes of others to see His greatness as well. What you do today matters for eternity.
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
www.pressingontohigherground.blogspot.com
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)