Hard Things

So here's what God has been teaching me lately...

I've been really convicted about all the ways I silence God's voice. God says hard things to me. They are good things, but they are hard. These things call me to change, to turn around, to repent, but they ultimately lead to my joy.

Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me." But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD. - Jonah 1:1-3

What ways do you "flee from the presence of the Lord"? Mine are many and varied and sneaky. My heart justifies me A LOT in my sin.

I wonder why I go to such great lengths to block out God's voice? Like a little child that runs away from a scolding. It's probably because in my heart I don't really want to change, perhaps it's because the truth of God's goodness, and righteousness, and love hasn't sunk in as deeply as it should. His way leads to everlasting joy, mine leads only to death.

Anyway, like Jonah I run away from hard things. But there is no need to do that. God does tell us hard things, but it is for our lasting joy and ultimate happiness. It takes courage to continue to come to God when He calls, however, it is so worth it!

I Miss...

I miss this...

...and this...

...and this and this...

...and this...

...and this...

...and this...

...and this...

...and yes, even this.

I am missing them all so, so much today! I can't wait to see them (and a few others) in a few weeks. God has given me such a tremendous gift in the shape of these nine people.

Quote

"In all these other matters what you call obeying Him is but doing what seems good in your own eyes also. Is love content with that? You do them, indeed, because they are His will, but not only because they are His will. Where can you taste the joy of obeying unless He bids you do something for which His bidding is the only reason?"

- C.S Lewis, from Perelandra

The Older Brother

I'm teaching the parable of the Prodigal Son in 5-Day Club today. I love to study and teach this beautiful story and it seems each time I go back to it, God impresses a new truth on my heart.

Today reading through the story I approached the end and came to the bit about the older brother. Why does this wonderful story of redemption end on such a bitter note? Verse 29 and 30 hit me hard as I read:

"So he answered and said to his father, "Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I have never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him."

"Who has devoured your livelihood with harlots" - yeah, that's me. I have wasted God's good gifts on my own ends. My hands have shaped idols. But I am also the older brother. "I have never transgressed your commandment at any time" - I try to earn the forgiveness and love of God by my works, as if they are anything but filthy rags. Why this flurry of activity, when God calls me to rest?

What gets me about this story is that the older and younger brother both wanted their father's things, but tried to achieve them in different ways. Was there any real love for the father in the older brother's heart, even though he stayed? I don't think so, and that scares me. I am more likely to be the older brother in this story, than the younger. Trying so desperately to earn God's favor by my works, instead of looking to the finished work of Christ.

I am clothed in His righteousness, but I still try to pull on those filthy rags. Enough striving, it only produces frustration. Instead, let me fall on the grace that is in Christ Jesus and rest, "dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne".

Sunday Hymn

I love this hymn. I sing it when I need to remember that "whoever believe in him is not condemned..." (John 3:18a). I sing it when I am sore from sin and in need of the grace that is found only in Jesus. I sing it when I need to praise the God of all mercy and my own words fail.

I love this version by Caedmon's Call.



Thy Mercy, My God

Thy mercy, my God, is the theme of my song,
The joy of my heart. and the boast of my tongue;
Thy free grace alone, from the first to the last,
Hath won my affections, and bound my soul fast.

Without Thy sweet mercy I could not live here;
Sin would reduce me to utter despair;
But, through Thy free goodness, my spirits revive,
And He that first made me still keeps me alive.

Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart,
Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart;
Dissolved by Thy goodness, I fall to the ground,
And weep to the praise of the mercy I’ve found.

Great Father of mercies, Thy goodness I own,
And the covenant love of Thy crucified Son;
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.

All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.

Words: John Stocker
Music: Sandra McCracken

©2001 Same Old Dress Music (ASCAP).