Some days I find myself totally full of faith and all systems go, others not so much. On those ‘not so much’ days, sometimes I have felt the panic literally rising up and have to fight to get it back under the control of my faith in Jesus, and then on other days I feel like the proverbial ostrich with my head in the sand, oblivious to everything, “medicating” the emotions of the roller coaster of this journey with the wrong things or escaping into “take my brain out” films, food or something else. Such is my journey that people have told me is “inspirational” and “exciting”! The reality is we have no idea what is going on inside those around us. They can look serene and totally calm on the outside and on the inside they can be like the duck’s feet below the water, furiously paddling while the duck appears to serenely glide by!
I have been thinking about foundations. All around us, the leadership of the nations is in turmoil, there are wars, financial crises and according to the newspapers and online media, doom and gloom is our lot for the years ahead. It makes for joyous reading, not! A perfunctory reading of the gospels of Matthew (chapter 24) and Mark, here in chapter 13, verse 8, tells us that it is to be expected:
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth-pains.
So how do we handle these tempestuous birth pains? In our own personal lives, as God transitions many of us into the next season, birthing the new thing in and through us, and in our nations as God continues to shake us all?
Our natural response is to give in to fear and worry, and it seems reasonable but every time Jesus talks about difficult times, he tells us not to worry, not to fear. Throughout the bible we are commanded not to give in to fear and worry, so to do so is clearly sin. Whatever we are facing, the “natural” response is not ours, we are part of a different kingdom where we are called to stand out, to be different, to be a light in the dark, a beacon of hope, where our lives shout about a different way; where our lives testify to the difference that Jesus makes in our lives.
So do we lie, do we pretend that there is no wrestle with worry and fear? No, of course not. I know that in my own life, when I have faced fear or worry and chosen God’s way anyway, it has testified to those around me when I have not hidden the reality of that choice. In the same way that anger comes and we are told, ‘in your anger do not sin’, I believe that when fear comes knocking, when panic comes knocking, when worry comes knocking, the victory is in what we do in that moment. Temptation will come! What will we do? For me, this verse from James 4:7 is a key:
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
I have settled ahead of time that God has my “yes”. I have settled that I am obeying what he says, I am following him. I am submitted to him, therefore anything that he highlights that is not a godly response to the circumstance, is to be resisted. So fear, worry, anxiety, panic … all these are to be resisted. Whatever God says, that is the path I will follow, even when it tests my faith and even if it appears to be a crazy in the current climate.
I have been reminded recently of a song lyric that has been like an ear worm, going round and round in my head, in these last weeks. It has become something of a declaration in those moments of panic:
On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand
Back to the foundations. What I am standing on helps me to stay secure in the turbulence. What I am holding on to, helps me to stand and not fall, not give in to temptation. I can give myself a fighting chance in the battle by making my foundation as secure as possible. Ideally foundations are dug before we reach the point of turbulence but in these wobbly times, it is good to push in deeper. Jesus is encouraging us:
Lean in; lean on me.
Lean in close, real close to him, and lean your life on him. A couple of verses I have come back to again and again this year, ones I am sure you are familiar with, are Proverbs 3:5-6, quoted here in the Passion Translation which expands the thought about submitting to God:
Trust in the Lord completely, and do not rely on your own opinions. With all your heart, rely on him to guide you, and he will lead you in every decision you make. Become intimate with him in whatever you do, and he will lead you wherever you go.
We are to trust in him completely, totally, entirely – putting our full weight on him and him alone, no backup plans, no bright ideas of our own but dependent; child-like in our faith. Reliant. Trusting in his ability to lead us more than we trust in our ability to mess up, more than we trust in the enemy’s capacity to meddle. Jesus IS bigger than anything we are facing. Really! Let’s believe the truth of 1 John 4:4 that tells us:
… the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
Intimacy with Jesus, knowing that we are loved, really knowing the God we trust, really knowing the one we follow is so, so important. How are we to have confidence in who we are following if we only know about him, if we only have hearsay, other people’s word for it? Our ability to have confidence in him, the solidity of our foundation, the firmness of our stand on the rock that is Jesus, on his truths, on his word, is directly related to how well we know him, know his character. How well do you know him?
Our trust in anyone, is directly related to how well we know them and to our experience of them as people. If our history with them has shown them to be of a trustworthy character, if our experience of them has been good, we are more likely to wholeheartedly trust them in the future. If we have had bad experiences with them, if they have let us down, we are more likely to be guarded and not lean our full weight on them.
We have all got history, some shorter, some longer, with our God. We need solid, tried and tested anchors to hold us steady in the storms of these times. What truths have been tried and tested in our lives? What scriptures can we say, ‘I have seen this worked out in my life, not just as a theoretical bible truth but I know, really know this truth’? Those “life verses” that have become part of our history with God, are part of our firm foundation and need to be used as weapons of warfare. The truth of his word, his faithfulness in our lives, the testimony of Jesus in our lives that becomes the spirit of prophecy, saying “God you can do it again”; these are all part of our firm foundation, our weapons of warfare in this time.
If, in our experiences with people, even with the church, our hearts have been battered and bruised then one of the ways we can help ourselves going forward is to allow Jesus to deal with the disappointments of the past, to heal our hearts so that we are able to lower the barricades we have placed around our heart; we can let go of our tendency towards independence and self sufficiency that we have used to protect our heart. Our barricades may have protected us from being hurt to a degree from but in reality they prevent us from receiving the love of our Heavenly Father and prevent us from receiving all that he has for us, including the protection and provision that he provides for his children in turbulent times.
I was looking at trees swaying in the wind yesterday and thinking how they are held by their deep roots. They can sway and bend a long way in the wind but are held by those roots so they can return to the upright position each time. One of the things that holds us steady above all else is our heavenly Father’s love. It keeps us rooted, grounded, secure. Ephesians 3:16-19 is such a good prayer to be using over ourselves and those we love right now. I love the word “established” here. It speaks of strength, of being built up, of stability. We need our feet firmly planted on the truth that we are loved, deeply loved:
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
One of the thoughts that I am holding on to is that God does not shake things for no reason. I want what is not solid, what is flaky and of no substance to be removed from my life, even though it is uncomfortable. James 1:2-4 (here in the Message version) reminds us that God is developing us through stretching times
Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.
How good for my faith-life to be exposed for what it is. I want to become mature, lacking nothing. God give me the strength to “stay in the fire” until your work is complete. We are encouraged further in 1 Peter 1:6-7 that the testing of our faith, proving it genuine, will bring glory to God. I want that, don’t you?
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.
And so I’ll finish with these words from Hebrews 12:26-29 which are an encouragement to keep going whatever our trials and tribulations look like in this time, however our faith is being tested. May his fire consume what is stubble and hay and leave the solid gold foundation, the imperishable, that brings him glory!
At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, ‘Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’ The words ‘once more’ indicate the removing of what can be shaken – that is, created things – so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire.’
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