praying first in troubling times

As I was reading in the life of Hezekiah in 2 Kings, I was struck by his response to some news that he received. In 2 Kings 19 Hezekiah receives a letter from a king who was planning to attack him telling him that Judah's God would not be able to protect them from his attack. Hezekiah's response to this letter is recorded in 2 Kings 19:14-19, which says:

Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: "O Lord, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; listen to the words the Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God.
It is true, O Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste to these nations and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by men's hands. Now, O Lord, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God." (NIV)

This letter drove Hezekiah to prayer.

As I was reading this I started to think about my own life and how I respond sometimes when troubling news comes my way. I usually respond by trying to figure what I can do to fix it. I wonder if that is not the same response that most of us have when we receive news like Hezekiah did.

But, as I look at what Hezekiah's response was I start to wonder if maybe that should be the way I respond as well - by going to God in prayer about it first. God can, and does, change things. Our prayers are answered. Taking troubling news or situations to God is the way He desires for us to respond.

Hezekiah's example is one that we should be following in our lives. As I look back over the last couple of years I can see that this is a response that is better than trying to make things happen on our own. A few times over the last couple of years, I have received news that was quite troubling but that I really could not do anything about. The only thing I could was pray, so I did. The more I have chosen to make that my first response, the more easily it becomes my first response.

This passage opens with Hezekiah receiving the letter and reading it. His next step is then to pray about it. What is your first response when you receive troubling news?

following God to a point or following Him completely?

Lately I have been reading in 1 & 2 Kings - the records of the Kings of Israel and Judah. Sometimes it is a bit depressing to read about one king after another who did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord and the consequences that the king and whole of Israel or Judah bear from that. But, in the midst of that there are kings that do what is good in the eyes of the Lord.

One of these kings of Judah was Hezekiah. 2 Kings 18:3-7 describes him as a king this way:

He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done. He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it.  (It was called Nehushtan.)
Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. (NIV)

Those words  make it clear that he was a king who followed God and wanted to do what was right in God's eyes. In many ways, he went a step further than some of the other kings who had followed God because he removed the high places and destroyed objects of idol worship; while some of the other kings who followed God had left those places in tact.

Hezekiah followed God as completely as he could. He was not afraid to risk the ire of the people of Judah because he destroyed their places of idol worship. His heart was sold out to God first and foremost. And God blessed that.

God does not want us to just follow Him to a point. He wants us to follow Him completely - even if it is unpopular. Unlike the kings who followed God but left the places for idol worship in tact, God wants us to be the kind of followers that will ruthlessly destroy anything in our lives that might keep us from following God completely.

How about in your own life? Are you following God completely? Or just to a point? Are there areas in your life where you need to remove something that has become an idol that you worship? Are you willing to take the steps to remove that from your life - even if they seem drastic?

God calls us to follow Him completely - in all areas - no matter what the cost! Are we willing to do that? Or do we want to follow Him everywhere, but ______________ (insert the area where you struggle to follow God completely)? Maybe we need to make the choice again to follow God in everything and then take the steps to do so.

doubt and mercy

"Be merciful to those who doubt."

Jude 22 (NIV)

When I read those words the other day they just seemed to jump off the page at me. Six simple words, but I think they contain a lot of challenge for followers of Christ today.

How do we usually handle those who doubt? Are we merciful towards them? Or do we judge them for their doubts? Does it make a difference if they have claimed to be a follower of Christ in the past and now are confessing to having doubts? Do we have more patience for those with doubts who have never called themselves a follower of Christ?

How do you want someone to treat us when you are struggling with doubt? Would you tell another follower of Christ that you are struggling with doubt? Or would you just keep quiet and hope to avoid any lectures on "just have faith anyways"? How have your doubts been handled by others in the past? Have you ever told anyone of doubts before?

These are just some of the many questions in my mind since I read that verse: "Be merciful to those who doubt." (Jude 22). I think this verse caught my eye because it goes against the way many of us - followers of Christ - have treated those who doubt in the past. I know many people who have felt more judgment than mercy from people for having doubts. Granted, it is not a guarantee that we do not treat people with doubt well. I could also tell stories of times when people who doubt have been treated with mercy.

The writer of the short book of Jude included some very helpful word in these few words. Really, if we are honest these few words depict how we would like to be treated when we express doubt. When we are struggling with doubt, we do not need to be told that we just have to have more faith or that we are not a good Christian because we have doubt. So, why would we think that someone else wanted to hear that when they express their doubt to us?

Ultimately the most helpful way we can respond is with mercy as the author of Jude says. When we respond that way we give people an opportunity to grow deeper in their relationship with God in the midst of their doubt, rather than push them away. Doubt can be a huge opportunity for growth, but we need to treat doubt in a way that builds up and draws people closer, rather tears down and pushes them away.

"Be merciful to those who doubt."

Jude 22

the you God wants

So, I just finished reading a book called The Me I Want to Be by John Ortberg. The premise of the book is that God desires to make us the best version of us we could possibly be. As we grow and become more and more like Christ, we become more and more of the best "you" we could be. A good book.

Anyways, there was a section on how our experiences and circumstances shape us. There was a couple of sentences that I read that have really stuck with me: "God isn't at work producing the circumstances you want. God is at work in bad circumstances producing the you he wants." Since I read that a couple of days ago I have been thinking about it.

So often we try to get God to make our circumstances what we think is best for us. We want our life to be easy. We want everything that happens to us and to those we love to be good. We want to avoid pain or hard times at any cost. But, maybe this is not the best for us. If God works through hard times, through pain to make us into who He wants us to be, then maybe we do ourselves a bit of a disservice when we try to avoid those things in our lives and the lives of our loved ones.

journey to freedom - a poem

As I was reflecting on some of my journey as of late, I realized that much of it has been about finding the true freedom that Christ offers. This poem springs from that.

Satan's lies long believed
Child of God stuck in captivity
Lies that go so deep
They seem to be a part of me

Tired of the lies
My heart desires freedom
Seeking freedom to be found
In God`s Truth alone

Tearing down the lies
Felling walls with God's truth
Only in the Word of God
Can true freedom be found

Wishing this could just be done
But knowing it take times
Freedom is a work in progress
Seeking God and seeking truth

Psalm 139:23-24

The final two verses of this psalm. David is requesting and allowing God to get personal in his life.

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
     test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me;
     and lead me in the way everlasting.
                                          -Psalm 139:23-24

The depth of these requests of David is incredible. He is not wanting to stay on a surface level with God. After all he has acknowledged about God - about who He is and how much He loves and cares about us - David was asking God to reveal things about his heart to him so that he could grow.

Search me, O God, and know my heart (Ps. 139:23)
God already knows our hearts. He is waiting to reveal to us what He knows to help us grow in our relationship with Him. When we ask God to search us and know our hearts, He may point out things we would rather not acknowledge about what is in our hearts, but it is through God revealing this knowledge to us that we grow.

Test me and know my anxious thoughts (Ps. 139:23)
Those areas where we often anxious are those areas where we are often not trusting God. God can reveal those areas to us so that we can choose to place them in His hands rather than

See if there is any offensive way in me (Ps. 139:24)
In our fallen world it is quite easy to get caught up in things that are offensive to God. Sin is offensive to God. God desires to point out those things in our lives that are sinful so that we can work with Him to remove them from our lives. The question for us when God does point out an area of sin in our lives is how will we respond? Will we be humble enough to confess it and repent? Or will we try to ignore it or justify it?

And lead me in the way everlasting (Ps. 139:24)
One way of responding to the things that God points out to us in the requests of the previous phrases leads to us following God in the way everlasting and the other leads to us going our own way. Which way will you respond?

The question really is, will we ask God to the things asked by David in these two verses in our own lives. When we ask Him, will we then really follow through and allow Him to point them out? We can so easily deceive ourselves, but these words are asking God to reveal some really personal things that we often try to keep hidden. Will we really allow God to do this? Are we really ready to face the things that may come up if we pray this?

In may ways, this is a fitting way to end this psalm. It is pretty clear from pondering it that God already knows it all about us and yet He loves us anyways. We can rest in the assurance that anything God points out will be done in love for us, not out of spite. This is a prayer that we can pretty safely pray; knowing that while all it reveals may not be pleasant or comfortable to face, it is all revealed in love and for our good.

Pslam 139:19-22

Now, for the portion of Psalm 139 that seems a little out of place in this psalm . . . at least at first glance.

If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
     Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
They speak of you with evil intent;
     your adversaries misuse your name.
Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord,
     and abhor those who rise up against you?
I have nothing but hatred for them;
     I count them my enemies.
                                   -Psalm 139:19-22

I have always felt like these verses seemed a little out of place in this psalm. Up to this point, David has been worshipping God and praising Him for His works. Verse 19 seems to be such an abrupt change from verse 18. It can kind of catch you off guard when reading the psalm as a whole.

When I read these verses the other day, something made sense to me about these verses being a part of Psalm 139.

[Disclaimer here: What I am about to write may or may not be completely theologically correct. This is where my thinking went as I was reading. I do believe it was God who was showing me this, but I do not want to put anything that may be my ideas out there as the truth. If you have thoughts on how these verses fit into Psalm 139, I would love to hear them in a comment on this post.]

When we praise God and acknowledge all of the greatness of what He has done, just as David did in the first 18 verses, then the logical response has to be growing to love what God loves and hate what God hates. As we better understand God's omniscience (He knows everything), omnipresence (He is everywhere), and omnipotence (He has power to do anything), the natural response is to begin to see the world as God sees it. Seeing the world as God sees it should be a reminder to us to pray and to seek God's will to be done in this world.

This means we begin to see evil the way that God sees it - as against His plan and His will for things. And we count as our enemies, God's enemies. Our lives and way of seeing the world line up more and more with God's. Even as this happens, we must remember that it is God's job to deal with His enemies, not mine. He will bring His judgment and punishment to bear in His time.

Psalm 139:13-18

For you created my inmost being;
     you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
     your works are wonderful,
     I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
     when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
     your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
     were written in your book
     before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
     How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
     they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
     I am still with you.
                                             -Psalm 139:13-18

The longer I spend in this psalm, the more I am completely overwhelmed by the love of God for us! I mean, God does not just love us like we sometimes say we love somebody. He loves us, in a way that no human can ever truly compare. His love is unconditional. His love pays attention to details we would often ignore or forget. His love planned good things for us in advance of our living them. His love will always be there.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. (Ps. 193:13)
God is the One Who created us. He saw us and knew us before we were even born. God carefully knit together every little detail about who we are. There is nothing about us that is a surprise to Him.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. (Ps. 139:14)
God deserves our praise for how intricately He has made us. He has given us incredible worth and value because He took such time to lovingly put us together exactly the way He wanted us to be.
But, how often do we actually believe this? How often do we praise God because of how wonderfully He made us? My guess would be that this is a hard one for many people to believe, I know it is for me. I have days when I really do not feel like God's wonderful creation. But, I am learning that this is not dependent on how I feel - whether we feel like it or not, we have been wonderfully and fearfully made by a loving God. Sometimes we have to choose to believe the truth, even when we do not feel the truth.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. (Ps. 139:15-16)
We have never been out of God's sight! He is the One who wove every part of us together in secret. God knows us more intimately than any person on this earth ever has or ever will. The best part of it, is that God can handle knowing us that well - knowing all the good and all the bad about us will not be a problem for God.

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Ps. 139:16)
God had all of our days in place before we existed. Nothing that happens to us is a surprise to Him! He has a plan for our lives - a way that He desires to use us for His glory and His kingdom purposes.

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. (Ps. 139:17-18)
There is no way we could ever truly grasp God's thoughts towards us. We can never count them. We can never see how great they are. His thoughts toward us are always for our good.

When I awake, I am still with you. (Ps. 139:18)
What reassurance these 8 words contain. Every moment we are with God - whether we are sleeping or are awake. How amazing is that! Every time we consciously think the thought, we are still with God. And in those moments when we are not conscious of it, we are still with God.

Psalm 139:7-12

More thoughts from Psalm 139. There is just so much in this psalm to learn about God and how He sees us.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
     Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
     if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
     if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
     your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
     and the light become night around me,"
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
     the night will shine like the day.
     for darkness is as light to you.
                                        -Psalm 139:7-12

What an amazing God we serve!

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? (Ps. 139:7)
We cannot escape from God's presence. There is nowhere we can go where God is not.

If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if  make my bed in the depths, you are there. (Ps. 139:8)
No matter how high or how low we try to go to escape from God, we cannot. We will forever be "running into God" everywhere that we turn in trying to run from Him. There is absolutely nowhere we can go to escape from God!

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. (Ps. 139:9-10)
Everywhere we go in life we can be led by God's hand. It does not matter what has happened in our lives, God is still leading us and guiding us safely through. There is nothing that can happen that will separate us from God's hand in our lives. He is always there to guide and protect us - even when we try to run. We can still count in Him to be there when we come to our senses again.

If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be as dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. (Ps. 139:11-12)
Even seeking the darkest places in our world will not separate us from God. There is an odd comfort that comes from knowing we can be in the darkest place of our lives and God will still be able to see us clear as if it were the middle of a sunny, cloudless day. He cannot be deterred by darkness. God does not see darkness; all He sees is us and He wants to draw us back to the light. He will not leave us alone in the darkness!

This portion of Psalm 139 makes it very clear that we cannot escape from God's presence no matter how hard we try to. God will always be there when we are willing to look and acknowledge. This also means, that no matter the circumstances we find ourselves in we can always count on God to be there. He is the One Person that we never have to fear is going to leave us. If we cannot escape from His presence, then it is not possible for Him to not be there when we turn. We may choose to do our best to ignore His presence at times, but that does not mean that He is not there the moment we choose to acknowledge His presence with us - His presence that has been there even when we refused to acknowledge that is was. How amazing is that!

Psalm 139:1-6

For the last couple of weeks, I have been spending some time really reflecting on the first few verses of Psalm 139. There is such incredible truth about God and how He knows and cares about us in just these few verses.

O Lord, you have searched me
     and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise,
     you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
     you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
     you know it completely, O Lord.
You hem me in - behind and before;
    you have laid your hand upon me.
Suck knowledge is too wonderful for me,
     too lofty for me to attain.
                                           -Psalm 139:1-5

So much in just a few words. We truly do serve an amazing and loving Father who knows us more intimately and cares about us more deeply than any other person could.

O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. (Ps. 139:1)
God is the One who knows all of us and knows us best. There is nothing about us that He does not know. In fact, God has searched out every corner of us and knows even what is hidden in the deepest darkest corners of us. How amazing and scary all at once! But, the best part is that God can handle knowing all of this about us.

You know when I sit and when I rise . . . (Ps. 139:2)
God knows us so well and cares so much about us that He notices even the mundane things of life - like when we sit down or stand up. There is nothing in our lives that God does not notice and does not see!

. . . you perceive my thoughts from afar. (Ps. 139:2)
God knows all of our thoughts. There is nothing we think that we can hide from Him. He knows it all! This can be a little bit scary, because our thoughts are not always things that are actually pleasing to God - at times they may be sinful and despicable to God. But, it can also bring an odd sort of comfort. There a comfort that comes with being known so well and still being loved. If God is so aware of the things we think each day and still loves us so much, then we must have some incredible worth in His eyes!

You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. (Ps. 139:3)
God does not just look down from heaven to see what we are doing. He does not keep that kind of distance. He comes near enough to be familiar with all we do. This familiarity comes from walking with us through every moment of life. God loves us and cares about us enough to choose to come near and make Himself familiar with all our ways. What a blessing to know that God is close and cares so much!

Before a word is on my tongue, you know it completely, O Lord. (Ps. 139:4)
God knows what we are going to say before we say it. That can be a bit of a sobering thought when we stop and reflect on some of what comes out of our mouths. Sometimes I wonder if what we say would change if we remembered in the moment that God knows what we are going to say before we say it. Would we be more careful about what we say is we were more conscious of that?

You hem me in - behind and before . . . (Ps. 139:5)
God has completely surrounded us and protects us. With Him going ahead of us and following behind us, we never have to worry about being vulnerable to an attack. He completely wraps us in His safe and loving arms. In all situations we find ourselves in we can rest secure that our Father, God, is there to protect us - to hold us in His loving arms and be our source of strength, comfort, and security. We never have to doubt that He is there! We can count always count on Him!

. . . you have laid your hand upon me. (Ps. 130:5)
God has put His hand on our lives. He has gifted us and has a pathway He wants to guide us on. With His hand on us we do not have to fear anything He asks or question whether we can actually do it. His hand on us, gives us what we need to do whatever He asks.