Our Hurts, His Healing

We often go through things that we don’t understand. Sometimes rather than trusting God, we go searching for our own meaning, our own way out, our own desires can make us turn our backs on God.

With irresistible power desire seizes mastery over the flesh. All at once a secret, smoldering fire is kindled. --Deitrich Bonhoeffer

Whether it is desire for ambition, money, popularity, gossip, stealing, or lust. He says its at this moment that God becomes unreal to us. Only desire for that creature exists as we try to satisfy it. We try to appease an appetite that is quite unquenchable.

Satan doesn’t fill us with a hatred towards God, only a forgetfulness of God. There is not a person on this earth who has not faced temptation. There is not a single person except Christ who has at one time or another given into that temptation and who suffers from its consequences.

What were the consequences of Joseph’s temptation towards Potiphar’s wife? Genesis 39:7 She says to him, “Lie with me?” Kids, she ain’t talking about stretching the truth…or taking a nap.

We all have different things that have happened to us in our past. What happens is, what we desire versus what God desires to give us are world’s apart.

But WAIT, Joseph did what was right, he did the right thing and God PUNISHED him? What’s up with that?!

Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV) “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

The way that we do things and the way that God chooses to do things is entirely different. Yet we doubt Him. Yet when tough times come, we would rather do things our way. Why is it that we keep trying to do things our way?

• Charles Edison tells a story about when his dad’s factory caught on fire. As Charles made his way out of the building he looked to make sure that his father, Thomas Edison had made it out okay. He knew that at the age of 67 that surely his dad would be heartbroken because all of his assets were going up on smoke.  After looking for a short time he saw his father running towards him. “Where’s mom?” he shouted. “Go tell her! Tell her to get her friends! They’ll never see a fire like this again!”   Most of us would have been like, Oh, God!! Why me?!” He says, go get your mother this is one doozy of a fire! But Charles Edison continues:    At 5:30 the next morning with the fire barely under control, he called the employees together and announced, “We’re rebuilding!” “We’ll build bigger and better on these ruins.”

We should be doing the same. “But you don’t understand my situation is different. You don’t understand what I have struggled with. You don’t know what I have been through. I have been through more than what anyone can take! NO one understands."

1 Corinthians 10:12-13 (NIV) So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

Ah, but God DOES understand. You see, Jesus Christ has gone through what we are going through. He urges us to surrender our past to Him so that out of the ruins of our lives, He can build bigger, he can build better.

Out of the smoky ruins of your past He desires to resurrect a life that would glorify Him, a life that would give Him praise regardless of our circumstances. That’s what Joseph did. As far as what we have heard he didn’t really do anything that deserved being imprisoned, banished sold into slavery, etc. Yet, through Genesis it says that Joseph continued to serve God and to be faithful.

With God, He doesn’t care what your qualifications are. He just wants your heart. He doesn’t care what has gone on in your past, He just wants to give you peace. He doesn’t want success, He wants submissiveness. He wants hearts ready for a God change.

God gave us a perfect world but we blew it in the garden and the consequence was, is, pain and suffering. Those things are inevitable what God wants is our faithfulness during those times. He wants us to overcome temptation and to use those things to bring us closer to Himself.

Justice or Mercy?

Wow! What a week in Lakeland with our students.  We spent four days doing ministry to two different groups of people; the first group was, others.  We spent three days working on homes of people who were not able to do for themselves. Not, didn't want to.  Just lacked the physical or financial ability to do labor or two spend three horribly humid days sweating from places I didn't even realize there were sweat glands! Ew!  I am mopping my brow just remembering it. One lady was Mrs. Roberson, a sweet elderly woman who recently lost her husband.  We had helped them out with a semi-somewhat extreme home makeover two years ago by completely repainting her house, re-landscaping the yard, and removing a 3 foot tall pile of garbage that had accumulated over the years.  We estimate that about 4 to 5 K worth of work was done renovating her garage and repairing termite damage and painting the kitchen and yard work. 

The other home was with an older couple we'll call "Denise and Tony." We scraped and repainted their entire "home" (read trailer).  Doesn't sound like much until you remember that we were working with a group of about 14 teenagers. =)  We also rebuilt two staircase decks that they had attached to their abode as well.  Painted the shed, then the deck, then the trim, then, and then, and then... the list seemed to grow and grow with this lady and it didn't seem like she was much appreciative.  I asked a couple of leaders to pray for my attitude and after consulting my counselor (read wife) who has her MASTERS, I was given some good advice and agreed to move on from there.  It DID continue to bother me but I was eventually able to let it go and to work more joyfully the next day.  It wasn't until that evening that I learned, the REST of the story. 

Denise and Tony had worked scheduled by a neighbor who had subsequently taken around $4,000 from them and never finished the work.  When Larry returned later that evening to fix a water heater, another of Denise's "honey-do" items, he talked to her after it was done.  He explained that he understood that she had been "robbed" of the work but that this week she had been given a very precious gift in that we had finished that work and MORE during our time. "Denise," he consoled her, "it's time to let it go and forgive because God has given you so much more, you need to forgive." Her eyes filled with tears and she wept as she realized that she had punished these wonderful teens for what someone else had done to her.  She threw her hands in the air and shouted, "I am FREE!"  At that moment she was no longer bound to unforgiveness and anger.   It was a tender moment and as Larry recounted it later that evening I realized that I can either spend my days looking for "justice" or I can show mercy and let God do, what He came to do.