God is still God

The group was gathered for one purpose, to pray for one circumstance. They had been praying earnestly for some time. As I listened to their words, ranging from praise and thanksgiving to pleas for help, I considered the situation we were praying about and did not feel very hopeful. When silence fell for a moment, I added my voice to those of the others, pleading for God to intervene, but even then I realized I did not have confidence that our prayers would be answered in the way we hoped. The end result of the situation, though it was unjust, seemed to be a foregone conclusion, one that could not be avoided. I went home that night with a heavy heart.

The next morning, before praying again about that same thing, I looked up a scripture verse that I’d heard quoted earlier in the week. It was in one of my favourite books in the Old Testament, the book of Isaiah, so I found the passage easily, then began to scan other parts of the book. I stopped at chapter 41, verse 10 – “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

I knew that verse had been written during a very difficult time in Israel’s history, a time of fear and uncertainty, a time when God’s people had become complacent and turned away from Him. Yet, that promise, that comfort.

Suddenly I had complete confidence in God, complete assurance that our prayers had been heard and answered, no matter what the outcome. Then I realized the outcome was not really the issue. The issue was the very character of God. Job recognized this as he suffered the loss of all he owned. He says – “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him.” Job knew no matter what happened, God was the same, God was there, God loved him. He knew all he had suffered was nothing compared to the joy of knowing God, the assurance of knowing God was showing Himself to him. Some of his last words in the book reveal that understanding – “My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.” (Job 42:5)

That is the basis of our confidence when we pray; not that the outcome is assured, that circumstances will change and always go our way, but that God is God and His primary concern is that we know Him. The issue then becomes what God wants to teach us, each one individually, through the circumstances and the experience of prayer. When we are assured of His character, His goodness, we can be assured that he wants one thing for us – the best thing – a closer relationship with Him.

I don’t know if the circumstances about which we were praying will change, if a “victory” will be won, in the way we desire it. But I know God will continue to reveal Himself, no matter what the outcome. I know He will continue to strengthen and guide and love each one involved. It is up to us to decide if we will continue to receive His love and grace and continue to know more of Him.

****

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It was a few weeks into the term in my pottery class and I was having trouble. I still wasn’t able to create a decent piece of work using the potter’s wheel. I was getting tense about it. Most of my classmates had by now managed the skill of throwing on the wheel and were producing perfect cylinders. My cylinders were not working. Either I tried to bring them up too quickly and their walls grew too thin, or a jerk of my hand would put them off centre and a wild wobble would result in nothing more than a pile of goo. Every time my instructor walked by, I got more nervous and tried harder. The harder I tried the more I failed.

Then one day my instructor came up behind me as I was attempting to centre the lump of clay. He was a big man with huge hands and he towered over me. I looked up, ashamed of my incompetence, but instead of a scowl, I saw him smile. “Relax,” he said. “Trying too hard just causes more failure.” He put his large hands on my shoulders and kneaded my tense muscles. “Now, take a deep breath and try again,” he said.

I positioned my hands on the clay but the lump continued to wobble. I slumped back on the chair and looked up again. “Will you show me?” I asked. My instructor nodded and told me to try again, then leaned over me and placed his hands over mine, guiding them gently until the lump was spinning at perfect centre. When our thumbs pushed down into the centre the lump gave way and formed a perfect donut shape. Then he took his hands away. “Gently,” he said, and stood back as I slowly drew the walls of the cylinder up. He laughed with delight when I clapped my hands at the finished product – a perfect cylinder. I had no trouble producing them from that time on.

I’ve thought about that day many times over the years, when I’ve become stressed about one situation or another. I’ve found myself there lately, with the whole world shutting down in the face of an unseen yet insidious virus. I have come close to allowing myself to get tied up in knots over the situation, forgetting that God is standing with me, waiting to guide me, waiting to give me the peace that seems so elusive.

Then I remember my pottery instructor’s large skilled hands and I remember to ask for God’s help.

It comforts me to know that even Jesus’ disciples sometimes failed to understand that, when they are with Jesus, there is no need to worry. There was that day they sailed across the Sea of Galilee, for instance. The wind began to rage, and it looked like their boat would sink. Jesus was sleeping through it all until they woke Him.

Their words show the depth of their fear and confusion –

“Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” (Mark 4:38, NIV).

Jesus stood up and commanded the wind and the waves to be still and they obeyed Him. Then he turned to his disciples and said –

“Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mark 4:40, NIV).

Their response was to wonder, “Who is this?” At first I groaned when I read that. Didn’t they know by now? Didn’t they understand who He was? But, in pondering it, I think that is the perfect response. When we see the hand of God move, it is fitting to ask who He is, to seek Him in a deeper way and recognize His power and sovereignty. And to relax in it.

Yes, these times are hard, but I remember the words of Job. After he had gone through all the difficult times of sickness and loss, when God showed Himself, Job responded –

“My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” (Job 42:5, NIV).

I pray that, like Job, we will look up to Jesus, seek to know Him more, ask His help and acknowledge that whatever might come, if it gives us a clearer picture of Him, it is worth it.

****

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By Marcia Lee Laycock

My frustration level was hitting the ceiling. I’d been emailing with a support person for several days but getting nowhere. The technical problem on my computer was still there, those nasty error messages still blinking at me every time I went into the platform designed to do a specific job. Every time I did, I could not understand how to fix it. The support person kept advising me to do the same thing, but that thing did not make sense, nor could I see how to make the change she advised. After many hours of trying, she finally suggested I contact the source and access their chat feature.

It kind of irked me that I had to seek help at all. I chided myself that I wasn’t smart enough to figure this out on my own. But I did so. The support person there was very sympathetic and asked for permission to go into the back end of my account and have a look. I reluctantly gave permission. I was reluctant because I like being in control of things and I feared what she might see in there. Had I made other mistakes? Was the whole thing just one big mess? She asked me to give her some time to do what needed to be done. I groaned. I wanted this fixed now, immediately if not sooner. But, again, reluctantly, I said yes, stressing that I was on a timeline. She assured me she would be in touch as soon as possible.

About an hour later my computer dinged. The email told me to contact that support person again. I went back into the chat forum and connected with her. She told me the problem was an easy one to fix and explained, with step by step instructions, how to do it. I went into my account, followed those instructions and voila! the error messages disappeared. I gave a whoop of victory. Then I went back into the chat forum and thanked that support person profusely.

That evening a friend reminded me of a scripture verse and when she quoted it, I had to smile. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6, NKJV).

How many times have I ignored those verses and tried to plow ahead on my own. How many times have I failed to acknowledge His sovereignty over my life? Just like that episode with having to seek the help of a technical expert, I am reluctant to admit that I need help and allow God to take control.

I pondered why. I had to acknowledge that I am reluctant to ask for help because I don’t want to appear incompetent. I had to admit that I desperately want to be in control of my own life, and I had to admit that sometimes I fear what God might see if he examined me too closely.

Just like that episode with my computer, I could have saved myself a lot of frustration and anguish if I had just swallowed my pride and gone to the source in the first place.

“Now do not be stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord; and enter His sanctuary, which He has sanctified forever, and serve the Lord your God …” (2 Chronicles 30:8, NKJV).

****

Marcia Lee Laycock is the author of five novels and four devotional books. Click the link to subscribe to her devotional column The Spur

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by Marcia Lee Laycock

It’s somewhere in Africa. A young woman sits cross-legged on the ground, surrounded by tall grass. She has been told to sit very still. She can hear snuffling noises and now and then a grunt. When the massive head of a gorilla pokes out between the grasses, she is tempted to leap up and run. But she has been told that would be disastrous so she sits quietly. The gorilla approaches, moves around her, touches her hair, sniffs her shoulder. She remembers the instructions she was given: “No sudden movements. Don’t make eye contact.” She tries not to think of what those massive hands and arms could do to her. She tries to relax her shoulders. Slowly.

Another gorilla approaches, then another. They investigate her, sit close by, grooming one another before slowly ambling away. The young woman lets out her breath. The adrenalin coursing through her body makes her laugh out loud. She knows she has just won a great victory over fear.

I have spoken to many Christians lately who seem to be afraid. The world is changing around them and many of the changes go against their own beliefs and morals. Chaos seems to reign on all sides. They feel helpless, unable to control what is happening.

But Jesus has told us that He has “not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). It is these three that will help us overcome: power that comes from One who defeated death itself, love from One whose very nature is full of it, and a sound mind from One who has given us His own wisdom through His Holy Spirit.

Jesus Himself never fell prey to fear. He was willing to walk into the darkest of places, confront the darkest of enemies, because He knew that the One who was in Him was greater than all the world. We have the absolute assurance that that same One is in us, working through us and that nothing can stop His purposes from being accomplished on this earth.

God has promised to redeem His creation and one day all of it will be made whole again. There is the possibility of redemption of all that is ugly and evil and all that fights against God in this world, because of what happened on a cross at the base of a hill in a tiny country then called Palestine.

The good news is that He has given us a part to play in that redemption, given us work to do for His kingdom. That work cannot be done in a spirit of fear. 1 John 5:4 says – “for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.”

This is the work we have been given to do: “Go, therefore and make disciples… and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19,20).

May He find us faithful.

“Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10).

photo from Pixabay

It was very early on a Saturday morning and I could hear my sister, Leisha, already rattling around in the kitchen, making coffee. By the time I got downstairs, she was pouring the hot liquid into a thermos. A map of the town was on the counter and a strip of newspaper lay beside it with things highlighted and circled.

My sister is a very organized garage sale enthusiast and having someone to go along with her that day seemed to spur her on. We set off with anticipation and it wasn’t long before her early-bird-gets-the-worm philosophy paid off. We were poking around in a large garage full of interesting stuff when I spotted a large oval mirror. It was covered in a thick layer of dirt but it looked like it was about the size and shape that Leisha had said she wanted for above the fireplace in their home. I called her attention to it. She pulled it out and her eyes lit up. Then the negotiating started with the owner. I was amazed at how low the price went and Leisha was beaming as she walked away with the deal of the day.

It was some time before I was able to visit again, and when I did, Leisha immediately called my attention to the space above the mantle on their fireplace. My jaw dropped. The old mirror we’d found in that garage was beveled and the frame was solid oak. My brother-in-law had done a great job restoring it. It looked beautiful.

The great thing about the mirror was that it made the room seem bigger and brighter, as mirrors are designed to do. The reflection of a warm fire always makes the room a comforting place to sit on a cool evening. I thought of the layers of dirt that had coated it and wondered how long it had been sitting in that old garage, covered in grim, neglected and forgotten, like a gem waiting to be discovered.

Then I realized that we are all, in a way, like that old mirror. We’ve been used and abused and are often layered with the effects of sin and the trials of life. How tremendously encouraging it is to know that God is in the business of finding the gems that are hidden. How heartening it is to know that He is skilled at restoring hearts, minds, and souls. How blessed it is to believe that He can remove every speck of tarnish, heal the brokenness and make us all into reflections of His love and mercy.

That’s the great thing about redemption – it reveals His image in us all. Just as that mirror became a thing of beauty that enhanced the room in which it was hung, we become the true essence of God’s creation, bringing His light and life to a hurting world. It is what we were all designed to do. We are all meant to be mirrors that reflect His grace, mercy, and love.

All we have to do is say yes to Jesus so that He can begin the cleansing, redeeming work in our lives. That’s the great thing about God. He turns no one away, refuses life to no one, ignores no one. Any who come to Him can expect to be renewed and made whole, restored to the original glory in which they were created.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20, NKJV).

****

 

I scrolled through my computer files looking for just the right post to recycle. Since I wrote a devotional every week for over twenty years, there were many to choose from, so I prayed that God would help me pick the right one. I opened an article I wrote many years ago, after the death of a friends’ infant. It was called Hard Questions and was one of the pieces that had received a lot of feedback from readers and an award or two. It was also a piece that was read by the father of that tiny baby, a young man who thanked me for giving him something that was “part of the healing.”

I read it through and thought, yes, this one should be posted again.

“But not now.” I heard and kept scrolling.

That was a few months ago. A few days ago, I came across the same article and felt that nudge that said, “Yes.” So I copied the file, did a bit of editing, gave it a new title (When Babies Die and There Are No Answers), and sent it off to one of the ezines I write for on Medium.com. I received a notice that one of the editors, a woman I have known for many years, (I’ll call her Grace), had approved the piece for publication.

Two days later I received another note from another friend telling me that Grace’s three-year-old grand-daughter had died suddenly the day before. That would have been the day after she read and approved my devotional.

I wept all day. Perhaps because I have just recently become a grandmother myself, I felt my friend’s loss deeply. I was stunned at the timing and prayed that God would use those mere words to bring comfort.

That night I attended our weekly Bible study at our church. Ordinarily, the weekly Bible study is launched in September or October at the latest, but, for a variety of reasons, it was delayed. We have just begun to study the book of Job, a book full of loss and pain, yet a book that pictures the power of a sovereign God and, in the end, gives us all hope.

He knew. He knew when it was not time for that piece to be published again, and when the time was right. He knew when we should begin to study the book of Job and how it would bring me to that place, once again, of being able to say, with Job, “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job1:21).

It’s not hard to find things to be thankful for in our country. There’s the bounty of the land, the system of law and order that ensures peace, the potential for so much prosperity. All we have to do is stop and look around us to find many things for which to be thankful.

This year our family has had a few special things added to our list. First of all, the arrival of our first grandchild, Thea Wells. What a delight it has been to watch her grow and watch the delight her parents are taking in her. Then, the relatively gentle passing of my dear mother-in-law into the realms of glory. We are so thankful she did not suffer or linger long when the time came. The retirement of my husband after 30+ years in pastoral ministry. The retirement party held by our church was a special joy. Then the arrival of a refugee family, whom, after three years of interceding, we were able to receive safely into our home.

Yes, it’s been a momentous year with much to be thankful for. Perhaps the greatest blessing of all, we are aware of the One to whom that thanks is due.

I recently heard a man read a story in which he expressed his thankfulness, yet the entire tale centred around the fact that he rejected the One to whom he could have been giving his thanks. It made me sad to realize there was a huge lack in the joy he could have, if he knew his creator and provider. It is good and natural to be thankful but when we have no knowledge of God, that thankfulness is empty.

God is the provider of all that we can and should be thankful for, in the good times and the bad, in the days of blessing and the days of testing.

Abraham was shown the truth of this in the book of Genesis, chapter 22, when God asked him to take his only son, Isaac, up onto Mount Moriah and offer him as a sacrifice. Though Abraham knew that Isaac was the “son of promise,” the son through whom all the promised blessings would come, he obeyed his God. He raised the knife above Isaac, but God stopped his hand and showed him the ram he was to offer instead.

Genesis 22:14 says, “Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (or Jehoveh Jireh, which means “the LORD will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”

And James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

Because we know the God who provides we are able to take great joy in giving thanks. My prayer is that you may know the God from whom all blessings flow.

I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the LORD Most High (Psalm 7:17).

Happy Thanksgiving!

https://unsplash.com/photos/BFO8xXD__gM

Finding Myself at the Top of the Ladder

By Marcia Lee Laycock

“Do you know where I am?”

“Where am I going now?”

I’ve been hearing these similar questions lately, asked with the same heart-wrenching look of confusion and a trace of fear. I’ve seen and heard people say these things before. I’ve seen them enter into the disturbing realm of dementia and thought, how sad when the elderly so often seem to revert to a child-like dependence.

It isn’t the first time this has hit close to home. One of the people who has asked me these kinds of questions was my own mother. Her descent into dementia was long and torturous. Just recently my dear mother-in-law veered onto that same path, but her time of fear and confusion was blessedly short.

It’s hard and it leaves you with a gnawing sense of helplessness that makes you want to scream or weep. Sometimes, paradoxically, it makes you want to laugh. When my mother attended an afternoon luncheon whose theme was tropical, she wondered if we could afford going on such a lovely cruise to Hawaii. We assured her it was all taken care of.

I have reached that stage of life where those who have always been the anchors are now in need of someone to hold onto and I am suddenly in confusion too. This is a new place for me, one I’m not sure I’m ready for, because, truth be told, there are times when I’m not sure I know where I am or where I am going. I feel inadequate to answer those questions.

I am reminded of a poem by Luci Shaw that expresses this feeling so eloquently:

“… There is no one above you

to compass the wideness of space. You

are the final clasp that buckles

earth to heaven. Somehow, you

must hold up the ladder, heavy with life.”

(from When Your Last Parent Dies; Writing the River by Luci Shaw)

 

Suddenly finding yourself at the top of the ladder of life can be terrifying. But there is, after all, someone to hold onto. We don’t have to hold up the ladder all by ourselves. And when we are asked those disturbing questions, we can answer with assurance and comfort. We can tell them it’s okay, because there is someone who knows where we all are and someone who knows where we all are going.

There’s an old hymn that says it well – “Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms, leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.” The arms of Jesus are waiting to hold us and waiting to point the way. The writer of Proverbs exhorts us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight” (Prov.3:5,6).

There is another very comforting thought about being at the top of this “ladder, heavy with life.”

The next step is into the arms of Jesus.

 

Photo by Raychan on Unsplash

 

God Rejoices Over Me? Not Likely

by Marcia Lee Laycock

“I can’t remember anyone greeting me like that before.”

I smiled as my husband and I pulled away from our rental property. We hadn’t seen our tenants, a Syrian refugee family, for almost two months due to illnesses, both theirs and ours, so we expected our reunion would be joyous, but we did not expect that Nabil* would almost skip across the room, his arms wide, his eyes dancing with delight. His embrace was obviously heart-felt.

Then Nabil’s mother embraced me with the traditional kiss on both cheeks, then it was his wife’s turn, and then the children came one by one. We sat in their living room and had tea, then Yara disappeared into the kitchen and it wasn’t long before a huge meal was on the table. In their limited English they told us how well the children were doing in school and some of the health issues they’d been dealing with. As we visited it amazed me, once again, at how much could be communicated with so little ability to speak one another’s languages.

I still smile when I think of the delight in Nabil’s eyes that day. The scripture tells us that God, too, delights in us. Psalm 149, verse 4 says, “For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory.” And the prophet Zephaniah tells us, “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”

There have been many times when I’ve had a hard time believing those words. When I examine my own heart and see the twisted motives that lurk there, I can’t believe God would be delighted in me. When I hear harsh or cynical words come out of my mouth, I doubt that He would rejoice over me with singing. There are days when I think that I’m just a big disappointment to God and imagine Him giving a deep sigh as he turns away.

But my unbelief is cut to shreds by verses like these:  “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5); “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Joshua 1:5).

And my personal favourite, Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

These verses are true because of what Jesus did on the cross. If we accept that sacrifice, if we seek that forgiveness, there is nothing that can come between us and His love, not even our own flaws and failings. Yes, then He delights in us and sings over us because we are His children, adopted into a family that will never be dissolved, a community that will live with Him forever.

Because of the cross I will one day see an even greater delight in the eyes of Jesus than I saw that day in the eyes of our friend.

“Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him” (Psalm 62:5).

*Names have been changed

 

I stood at the exit from the airport and couldn’t help but shiver as the doors in front of me slid open and the cold air rushed in. Returning to -20 degrees Celsius after basking in sunshine and strolling on white beaches was a bit of a shock. When my husband and I chose the dates for our vacation we had no idea that we would miss the ‘deep freeze’ that hit much of western Canada during those two weeks. Our timing couldn’t have been better! But now we were back.

The doors behind me opened and a young man dressed in shorts, t-shirt, and sandals, with a huge scarf around his neck charged toward the outer doors, his voice repeating loudly: “It’s not that cold, it’s not that cold, it’s not that cold.” I couldn’t help but laugh. As I saw his breath form a vapor cloud in the cold air, I knew no matter how many times he told himself it wasn’t that cold, the reality would not change. It was still -20. I hoped he didn’t have far to walk.

As I think about that young man it reminds me of the times in my life when I, and others around me, have denied reality because it did not suit our circumstances at the time. Like the day a group of us headed out on a bus to attend a conference in Calgary, even though the radio that morning had warned of white-out conditions on the road. The weather was fine when we headed out but not far down the highway, we found ourselves driving through a blizzard. We never did make it to Calgary and we were very fortunate not to have ended up in the ditch, or worse.

All of us have a tendency to deny reality now and then. Some of us deny the very existence of God, even though there is evidence all around us that our world was formed by an intelligent and incredibly imaginative creator. Like our denial of bad weather, doing so can have dire consequences. In the first book of Romans, verses 18 to 20, the apostle Paul warns:

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

“Without excuse.” If that young man wearing shorts into -20 degree temperatures got frostbite it would be his own doing. If we had gone off the road in that blizzard, we would have had no one to blame but our own foolishness. If you deny the existence of God, the consequences are on you.

Look around you. The evidence is plain to see. God exists. And He wants to get to know you now.

****

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