Let's Go

Week 4:

Luke 8:22-25
"One day He got into a boat with His disciples, and He said to them, 'Let us go across to the other side of the lake.'  So they set out, and as they sailed He fell asleep.  And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger.  And they went and woke Him, saying, 'Master, Master, we are perishing!'  And He awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm.  He said to them, 'Where is your faith?'  And they were afraid and they marveled, saying to one another, 'Who then is this, that He commands even winds and water, and they obey Him?"

As I've been meditating on this passage today, I've been trying to put myself in the disciples' shoes, imagining how I would respond in this particular situation.  Thinking back to the times in my life where there was a spiritual storm, my first response was to either just get discouraged or to ask why.  "Why is there a storm?", "why are you putting me through this, God?", "why now?" and "why this?" were the typical thoughts that would run through my head in the moment.  But I think after every single storm I've gone through, I have realized that the test wasn't about fighting off the storm or commanding the wind and the waves to leave, it was about having peace in the midst of the storm.  

So, I think in this situation with the disciples, it would have been easy for me to focus on the wind and the waves and maybe work up enough faith to command the storm to leave.  But in this story, the power to calm the storm didn't come merely from Jesus' words, but from His ability to sleep through the storm.

Sometimes faith looks like sleeping through the storm.

Bill Johnson quoted in one of his sermons, "You only have authority over the storms you can sleep in."  And I can say that that is very true in my life.  I find that when my focus is on what's going on around me and all I can see are the raging waters in front of me, my mind and my thoughts blend in with the sky: dark and cloudy.  And I end up feeling exhausted by it all, finding no fruit.  But when I can choose rest in the midst of the chaos, my strength is renewed in Him and all of a sudden, my words become powerful.  

The other thing I found significant in this passage was what Jesus said before they set sail.  I didn't think it was significant until I got this new revelation about it.  He said, "Let us go across to the other side of the lake."  When Jesus told them where to go, He did not give them a destination they couldn't reach.  The disciples were afraid for their lives, but I wonder if they would have responded differently if Jesus had told them not only where they were going, but that they were going to get there, storm or no storm.  

When God gives you a destination, He's giving you a way.

He means for us to grow and to trust Him through the thick and thin.  And when you think you have an impossible situation, you have what you need.  Sometimes it seems like He's sleeping when you're crying out for Him to help you, when in reality He simply trusts you with the situations in front of you.  If you didn't have what it takes, He wouldn't trust you.  But you do, so He does:) 

What Kind of Friend

Week 3:

Genesis 6:5-8

"The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.  So the Lord said, 'I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.'  But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord."

I love that.  I love that Noah was such a friend to God that he could find favor in his friend's eyes.  That amazes me!  In verse 5 it said that the Lord saw that the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually.  "BUT, Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord..."  That word "but" made history.  If it weren't for that "but" in the story, I would not even be here, sitting by my fireplace and writing this right now.  That "but" paved the way for hope.  Hope that there was still some good in the world.  That "but" was the friend that looks into someone's eyes and stops them from doing something terrible.  That was Noah.  Noah was the exception.  Noah stood for something.  Noah had hope, and he went against the grain of other people's thinking to do what he had to do.  Because sometimes in life, it takes a little bit of going against the grain to see something happen.  Sometimes hope feels like going against the grain of man's thinking, because what man thinks about is only what he can see, but hope sees the unseen and it paves a way for the impossible.  Noah had that hope and it gave him vision to see the impossible happen.  

"Where Are You?"

Week 2:
I'm going through the book of Genesis, and my goal would be to focus on one thing I've read this week and write my thoughts about it.  Easy, right?  Well, to be perfectly honest, Genesis is one of the weirdest books of the Bible in my opinion.  And as many times as you read the story of Creation, it's not easy to find something to write about when half of the time you've heard the story a million and a half times and the other half you have no idea what it's even saying.  But somehow, the Holy Spirit still unveils new truths about the Word, and so one thing I know is true: it's a living Word.  It's moving and active; the words don't change, but the understanding of it changes as we dig just a little bit deeper.  And just behind the surface I find a trove of new treasure I've never seen before.  And all of a sudden... reading that verse for the thousandth time is worth it.
Relationship.  God is all about relationship.  God created man in His own image so He could interact with man.  Chapter 2, verse 18 says this, "Then the Lord God said, 'It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.'"  And that's when He made woman.  God loved Adam.  He could have just been content there.  But because of His value for relationship not only for Him but for man, God created a companion so that man would not be lonely.  I love how the beginning of all humanity started in a garden with just God and a man.  It was so intimate, and God was so concerned with relationship, that He created woman to join in partnership with man.  And that partnership reflects our partnership and relationship with God.  Or at least what it should look like.  So humble and unashamed, naked in the open, yet so unashamed!  
One of the lines in this passage that gets me every time is when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit from the forbidden tree, and suddenly they were ashamed of their nakedness and hid from God and God came into the garden and said, "Where are you?" That was the separation of their relationship.  In that moment, the one thing He says is "where are you?".  But in that heart-broken question, there is the chance to say "here I am, Lord" and to be found.  It is the unanswered question that separates our relationship from God; the shame of being naked, of being uncovered; the shame of our partnership.  But love overlooks that.  1 John 4:18 "For there is no fear in love."  And that was His intent in the very beginning.  That though we fall into shame, we should experience the fullness of relationship through love.  It's my favorite part of the scriptures.  It never ends without love.  Love is the thing that completes it and makes it what it was created to be.

Pleasing Meditations

Psalm 104
"Praise the Lord, O my soul.

O Lord my God, you are very great;

you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

He wraps himself in light as with a garment;

he stretches out the heavens like a tent

and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.

He makes the clouds his chariot

and rides on the wings of the wind.

He makes winds his messengers,

flames of fire his servants.

He set the earth on its foundations;

it can never be moved.

You covered it with the deep as with a garment;

the waters stood above the mountains.

But at your rebuke the waters fled,

at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;

they flowed over the mountains,

they went down into the valleys,

to the place you assigned for them.

You set a boundary they cannot cross;
never again will they cover the earth.

He makes springs pour water into the ravines;

it flows between the mountains.

They give water to all the beasts of the field;

the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

The birds of the air nest by the waters;

they sing among the branches.

He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;

the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work.

He makes grass grow for the cattle,

and plants for man to cultivate—

bringing forth food from the earth:

wine that gladdens the heart of man,

oil to make his face shine,

and bread that sustains his heart.

The trees of the Lord are well watered,

the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

There the birds make their nests;

the stork has its home in the pine trees.

The high mountains belong to the wild goats;

the crags are a refuge for the coneys.

The moon marks off the seasons,

and the sun knows when to go down.

You bring darkness, it becomes night,

and all the beasts of the forest prowl.

The lions roar for their prey

and seek their food from God.

The sun rises, and they steal away;

they return and lie down in their dens.

Then man goes out to his work,

to his labor until evening.

How many are your works, O Lord!

In wisdom you made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures.

There is the sea, vast and spacious,

teeming with creatures beyond number—

living things both large and small.

There the ships go to and fro,

      and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

These all look to you

to give them their food at the proper time.

When you give it to them,

they gather it up;

when you open your hand,

they are satisfied with good things.

When you hide your face,

they are terrified;

when you take away their breath,

they die and return to the dust.

When you send your Spirit,

they are created,

and you renew the face of the earth.

May the glory of the Lord endure forever;

may the Lord rejoice in his works—

he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,

who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

I will sing to the Lord all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

May my meditation be pleasing to him,

as I rejoice in the Lord.

But may sinners vanish from the earth

and the wicked be no more.

Praise the Lord, O my soul.

Praise the Lord."