Wait and Do Not Fear

When I taught high school writing and speech skills, one of the areas we discussed was the use of fear to influence and persuade the reader or audience. It's an unethical tactic that involves exaggeration and/or lying. It's called fear mongering. We seem to be in a new era of media reporting--both media news and social media--that has embraced this form of "reporting." It's effective--people today are living in fear of "the other side." It's also wrong.

How do we respond in times like these? Shut down our news feed? I've found that it's good not to look as often, but I do want to be informed. Get angry? Okay, if it's righteous anger because of the wrongfulness of it and the damage it does. But I've learned that whatever is being reported may not be the way it really is, so I hold off awhile. I'm sure you've learned that also these past several months, particularly. It appears to be the purpose of the media to turn us against one another.

What we're seeing is an effort to save what is valued in life--on both sides. We also are seeing extreme fear coupled with extreme self-focus. Many people are afraid because what they want out of life may be altered or denied them. Many other people are afraid of what these people may do to them if they get it.

In my lifetime, there have been presidents whose programs, personalities, or perverted views I have disdained. But I have not lived in fear or reacted as many are doing today. I think that probably some of you who read this may feel the same way. God calls me to not be fearful because He gives peace.

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; 

not as the world gives do I give to you. 

Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

John 14:27

My faith is in God, not in man. God is sovereign and will have His purposes fulfilled. I eagerly anticipate what He may be doing in America in spite of all the raucous and cacophonous chaos.

And so I watch and expectantly wait. I do hope you know Him, and are watching and waiting as well.

Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.

Cease from anger and forsake wrath;
Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.

Psalm 37:7-8

Should I Be Troubled At That?

Contemplating a thought from today's reading from the book, None But Jesus. I have long prayed. I have waited. I have been troubled, yes, ... but perhaps I shouldn't be.

It would much stay the heart under adversity to consider that God, by such humbling providences may be accomplishing the thing for which you have long prayed and waited. And should you be troubled at that? By such humbling and impoverishing strokes, God may be fulfilling thy desire.    

~ John Flavel

Painting ~ Miss Auras, John Lavery 1856-1941

As Good As Dead, Yet Growing Strong

My thoughts today are from my quiet time reading in Romans 4, where God through the Apostle Paul reminds us of Abraham's faith. I was stopped short in vs. 19-25. 

"Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform."

Isn't it amazing how God uses a verse or a passage we've read a thousand times to reach into the recesses of our heart and touch a fresh chord? He did that with this passage for me. He encourages me not to become weak in faith and to think that what He has promised is 'as good as dead' because weeks, months, years pass without the promise coming to pass. Just because we don't see God at work doesn't mean that He isn't working. We just aren't seeing it. He always has our good and His glory in mind. Always.

The Apostle Paul goes on to say that not only did Abraham not waver in unbelief, but that his faith grew strong. If you're like me, we do tend to waver. We want to believe, yet there's the absence of the promise, the teetering of hope. We need to strengthen our faith. But how? How do we become stronger when we feel so helpless and weak? We go to God's Word and continue on. The tendency is to wander from His Word, but we must not waver here. We can only grow stronger as we grow closer to Him, drawing on His strength where we are weak. We gain strength as well when we listen to God's people as they recount His faithfulness, and we're caused to see once again that God is at work in the lives of His children. We let His Word and His people and His Holy Spirit encourage and strengthen us.

I believe there's a key here as to why Abraham's faith grew strong. He gave glory to God--in the midst of waiting and wondering. Giving God glory strengthens our faith because we focus on Him. That's why we're told that whatever we do, we're to do all to the glory of God (I Cor. 10:31). It's for our good and for His glory. Everything is.

What God has promised, He is able to perform. But we must be sure that it is, indeed, His promise to us. Several years ago I was thrown into a tailspin because something that I believed was God's promise was not coming to fruition. In fact, what was happening was totally opposite. It was not an Abraham kind of situation. It was my notion of a promise to be fulfilled, as wonderful a notion as it was, that God would bless a particular endeavor. It was a God-glorifying endeavor to be sure, but as I searched the Scriptures in my disappointment, I found that He had not promised to reward that endeavor in the way I believed He would. Unlike Abraham, my faith wavered. Sad to say, I did not draw near to God or to His Word for strengthening of my faith. But God, in His great faithfulness, drew me back to Himself. He taught me about His ways as He walked with me through those troubled waters. Oh, the kindness and goodness of God that brings us to repentance! (Rom. 2:4)

What God has promised, He is also able to perform. While we wait, we ascribe to Him all majesty, glory, and honor. We exalt His goodness, His faithfulness, His holiness, His power, His grace. His abundant grace while we wait. Even when we feel like something within us is 'as good as dead'.

Painting ~ A Quiet Read, Ludovico Marchetti 1853-1909
Wikigallery public domain