Devotional Archives - Page 4 of 4

February 18, 2020

Boldness in a Beetle: Give me Faith when I Fear

Brother Andrew earned the nickname, “God’s Smuggler” from his years of smuggling Bibles through the Iron Curtain during the height of the Cold War. He filled his puttering blue Volkswagen Beetle with Bibles, driving through military borders to reach small underground churches in countries such as Poland, East Germany and the Soviet Union. These churches had no access to the greater Christian community, and they certainly had no access to God’s Word. Risking his own life for the sake of these brothers and sisters shackled by communism, Brother Andrew’s mission became, “wake up, strengthen what is and is about to die.” (Revelations 3:2)

I can place myself in the driver’s seat of his blue beetle full of stowed-away Bibles, slowly moving up the line towards military controlled border crossings. As the car idles, I begin to panic as I watch the military personnel order everyone out of the car in front of mine. All of their belongings are pulled out of their car. Methodically, the hubcaps are removed and then seats are hoisted out and the engine is searched. Wondering if I should turn around, my heart races. I fervently pray as fear wraps its spindly fingers around my mind.

“Lord, what am I going to do?” Brother Andrew prayed.

A daring answer came; place a few Bibles on your front seat. Testing his faith, and the God of His faith, Brother Andrew pulled a few Bibles out of the back and placed them on the seat. He trusted that boldness would be met with God’s provision.

As the car in front of him was reassembled, he shifted into gear and prayed, “When you were on earth, You made blind eyes see. Now, I pray, make seeing eyes blind.”

Brother Andrew handed the guard his passport. He silently prayed. He waited. Then he was motioned through. Surely something must be wrong! He inched forward, wondering if he was expected to pull over so his car could be searched. Looking in his rearview mirror he saw the guard begin a search of the car behind him. Relieved and emboldened, Brother Andrew drove into Poland with a car full of illegal Bibles.

I’ve read this story a few times over the years, and every single time I ask myself, would I have done this? Would I have been willing to sacrifice so much for the sake of God’s call, or would fear have had the last word and beat back my eagerness to serve?

In most likelihood, you and I will never be a Bible smuggler. But do we ever fear sacrificial hospitality, or a risky transition God has called us to, or fear of the impact of a rebellious child, or fear as our bills stack up, or fear of what lies on the other side of our heart wrenching grief?

We fear because we think we might lose; lose our lives, our reputation, our money, our time, our families. We fear loss because we lack faith. We lack faith because we don’t intimately know our Father, the God of Abraham, who brazenly told Abraham to sacrifice his very own beloved son, Isaac.

Step-by-step Abraham walked in faith towards the sacrifice. At dawn’s first light, Abraham cut the wood and packed his bags to trek towards the mountain. On the third day, Abraham told his servants he would worship and return with the boy. With his knife in hand, Abraham reassured his son God would provide for Himself a lamb. With resolute faith, Abraham trusted the God of future provision. Abraham took each step of faith because He knew the God of future provision. In the end, God provided the lamb and Abraham named the place, “THE LORD WILL PROVIDE.” (Genesis 22:14)

My friends, Fear is always defeated by Faith in the God of future provisions.

Yes, this side of heaven the sacrifice may be great. Your heart may break a million times over. But sacrifice means you will always find the undeniable presence of the God of Provision. He has already secured this victory on the cross, so He wins. Every. Single. Time. Fear not, His Presence is always our surplus!

Today, beat back your fear with faith in the God of future provision. At the end of our days, we will say with Brother Andrew, “In the years of living this life of faith, I have never known God’s care to fail.”

(To read more about the life and ministry of Brother Andrew, I highly recommend both God’s Smuggler and Light Force.)

February 10, 2020

Faithfulness is our Best Yes

Do you remember the Choose Your Own Adventure books from our childhood? I used to spend many summer days curled up on my beach towel with the sun splashing about me, engrossed in choosing the adventure of the main character. I loved weaving the plot, maneuvering around obstacles and life and death situations. I longed to chose the best path for their journey, finding happiness when I brought the character safely to the end.

Yet, in most ways, our life is not a choose your own adventure. While we do measure and weigh massive decisions in the scales of our minds, and then execute these decisions, more often than not we are Sovereignly handed our adventure, without a say in it at all.

I was diagnosed with a liver disease early on in my first pregnancy. Over time my liver slowly shut down due to the pregnancy hormones, as the liver bile backed up in my blood. At night I lay awake itching my ankles and feet until I was cut and bleeding. Clothes felt unbearable. I pushed my air conditioning down to 60F and wrapped myself in a cotton sheet when I needed to make dinner. Slowly I turned yellow. Confused at God’s sovereignty, I wondered why my body would rebel, fighting against the exciting next step of our journey.

Our stories are never identical, but stories always rhyme. Like me, I’m certain God’s sovereignty has left you confused at times. Like me, I’m sure you have found yourself standing in the swirl of an adventure you never chose, while you wondered at it’s rebellious nature.

Unfaithful spouses. Infertility. Tragic accidents. Jobs lost. Defiant children. Premature deaths. Miscarriages. Tragic diagnoses. The list goes on and on.

Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 12-25) are heralded as hero’s of the faith, yet it is clear that God’s sovereignty left them confused also. Called out from his home and away from his people, God reiterated His promises to Abraham time and time again. Look to the stars in the heavens, so many shall your offspring be. Kings and nations will come from you. Your people will possess this land. However, this was not the reality on the ground! Sarah was infertile until she was 90, and then she bore only one child, Isaac. They wandered in tents as sojourners in the promised land, possessing only their burial plots upon their death. And perhaps most brazen, God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. Can you imagine the confusion Abraham felt?

Yet…

Abraham and Sarah were faithful; not perfect, mind you, but faithful. They drew near to the One they considered faithful to them and trusted His Word. Assured of the hope they held in the Almighty God, the God who holds the power to bring life and to bring death, they walked forward in obedience. Walking in faith proved to be their best yes, even when the landscape of the future looked daunting and unnerving.

In the same way, our best yes is always faithfulness in the smallest details of our journey. Sometimes the promises of God fly in the face of our present circumstances. Sometimes confusion settles deep into our hearts. But, like Abraham and Sarah, take the first step of faithfulness, and then the next step and then the next, until you look back and see a trail of faithful obedient steps that led you directly to your Father’s heart. You cannot always choose your next adventure, but you can choose to live faithfully in the adventure God gave you.

February 3, 2020

Days Gone Sideways

No matter how well organized my day, nor how smooth my train is running, it is guaranteed that at some point my train will inevitably derail. It won’t necessarily be anyone’s fault, it just will happen. You will have to slam on your breaks during morning commute and you will be rear ended. Your child will throw a loud and long temper tantrum in the grocery store and you will have to leave. You will start chatting outside with a neighbor and your dinner will burn. You will run out of gas on the way to meet a friend. You will catch the stomach bug. You will sleep poorly. You will oversleep your alarm. Your coffee pot will break. And finally, you will lose it. You will lose it in a small fit of anger. You will lose it and yell at your child. You will lose it in a heap of tears in your kitchen. You will lose it by blaming yourself. And perhaps, before you know it, you are plunging off the cliff with your derailed train.

Waiting in Tel Aviv’s airport at 3 am
for a lost rental car
reservation to be resolved.

If you follow my stories on my instagram, you will know that a small question has been bugging me over the past month. I kept asking myself, “why is it that I am more faithful in the big things of life rather than the small, irritating things?” I am quick to cheer on the faithfulness of God in the face of a diagnosis. I bank on the goodness of God when broadsided by divorce. I hedge my bets on God’s victory during the onslaught of calamity. However, when the mundane goes sideways, when my train derails, I am just as quick to plunge into chaos as I was to cheer on God’s faithfulness. And when my response to this minor derailment looks more like an angry wild mare that has been caught in a lasso, and less like a woman clothed in strength and dignity, I always look back with regret.

My faith in a big God is real. The God who walks gently alongside the person facing death and disease and divorce. But what about my faith in the God of the details? The God of the days that go sideways. Dare I say, the God of the sideways? The God who knows every hair on your head and every defiant act your children will throw your way. The God who knows the length of days of the sparrows and every time you will have a flat tire.

So this is what I aim to do. The next time my day goes sideways, I will get off the train. I will survey the train as it derails and remind myself to not go plunging off the cliff with it. I will trust the God who establishes my steps upon the track of life, even when my day looks nothing like my plans. (Proverbs 16:9) And I will look around to see who might need encouragement, thoughtfulness, and kindness, which the pause in my day now afforded me.

Now, I get it. This is so much easier for me to type than for us to accomplish; however, sometimes sin becomes a settled strategy. Our aim is to untangle sin so we can walk in freedom. So, take a brief moment and picture in your mind’s eye a potential derailment. Got it? I do! Now watch that train derail. Picture yourself getting off the plummeting train and standing alongside your Faithful God. Trust His plans and purposes. Walk with Him along the tracks of His steadfast faithfulness to you, until your train is properly ordered back upon the tracks and you are back at your day again, train running smoothly.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

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