Struggling Well With Life

So much of what I learned initially about the Bible takes me back to childhood songs and flann-o-graphs. Noah. a pretty amazing man. So amazing, that when God had come to the end of his rope with humanity he found only Noah to be righteous. God had Noah build a massive boat, and told him that the animals would come to him in groups of sevens and twos to be saved. And Noah was obedient to this outlandish directive from God. Wow, what faith! And God does this history altering work through this righteous, faithful, and obedient man. A story worthy of song and flannel space. But, after all of this,the story, Noah’s story, ends with him planting a vineyard, drinking himself into a drunken stupor, and exposing himself shamefully to his children. This great man of God unravels. There are several layers of life lessons here, but the one that I am left with is this. There is no letting down, relaxing, or even retirement when it comes to our relationship with God. That is the work that must continue until I literally walk into the physical presence of Christ. So often, after some big event or movement of God in my life, I relax, let down my guard, and it is in those moments that I am my most vulnerable, most “exposed” for the evil one to sweep in. There is no day off from God, only rest in Him.

I have been in a quandary of late where to spend time in the Word, and after a brief trip through the Psalms I ended up at the beginning again - Genesis. I love the discovery of the Scriptures - you can read something so familiar, and yet see it for the first time. Interesting that after Adam and Eve sinned, they hid, and then covered up. I guess we really are related. Don’t we do the same? When we have messed up, we hide and cover. Now I don’t know how advanced Adam and Eve’s theology was, but no doubt they discovered that you cannot hide from God. As hard as we try there is just no getting away from Him. There is nowhere to run where He is not already there. Where Can we flea from His presence? But we hide and cover anyway, foolishly. There are a few phrases we use down here in the south when someone is foolish - “bless their heart” or “God love em”. Well, bless our hearts and God love us for hiding and covering from an omnipresent God. Oh the time and energy I have wasted in hiding in relationships, food, stuff, a packed schedule, you name it - I have probably hidden behind it! And the cycle always ends with me before God with His arms wide open, not condemning, but loving. It may be my human nature to hide and cover, it may even be my sin nature, but God help me, help us, not to hide - but to move, even run into the light of His presence.

Chuck has been pretty thematic in recent days with worship in the venues, and the theme he seems to be pounding is “hope”. Hope is another one of those great words, and broad concepts that is tough sometimes to wrap your mind around. A few weeks back I was in Cuba, which was an eye opener on many levels. Even though in my many years on this earth I have witnessed third world living in countries all over the globe, Cuba hit me hard. There are few reasons for hope there. As we toured some of the hurricane damaged areas, it broke my heart to see what very little they had to start with - was leveled, or simply gone. What does hope look like for them? And then back here at home, even in spite of this economic shift of recent days, we have so much in comparison to how the rest of the world lives. And we know, that that does not fill us, or bring us hope. There are so many stories of folks who are in desperate need of hope. Families are barely hanging on, or falling apart, hurt and disappointment are cycles hard to break from, wounds in relationships, marriages that look good from an outsider’s perspective but are private hells, all kinds of hurt, and this is not in the world, but right here at church. Hope! We need it. The Scriptures remind us that “our help come from the Lord”, and that Jesus is our great Hope. I pray today that the Holy Spirit would do a work in us, in me, to remind us that no matter where we are in this life we are living that He alone is our hope. O friend, turn to Him, look to Him.  Jimmy reminded us last weekend “If we draw near to God, He will draw near to us”.

I live with three women, and being raised as the last of five boys, being around women is a treat. However, lately I feel like I am in way over my head. I am not equipped for what unfolds pert near every day at my house. Last weekend was pretty rough. Now that the girls are no longer girls, but on the precipice of adulthood, they are fully aware, and amply capable of not only observing but weighing in on the shortfalls of my character, and do so. One of the toughest moments in parenting thus far has left me wrestling with the truth behind the emotions expressed. God is using these women to get at my heart, to level me, and keep me utterly dependent on him.