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I’m facing a dentist appointment and four different doctors’ appointments in the next 10 days! Ugh! I hear and understand what the doctors tell me I should do, but I don’t always do what they say. How about you? Most of us already know far more than what we practice. Our follow-through depends on two factors. First is the level of respect we have for the person giving the directions. Second, it depends on the perceived severity of the consequences for not following the directions. If we have low respect or are unconvinced of the negative consequences of not obeying the direction, we make pathetic attempts to follow their directions or just ignore them.

Those factors also play out in how we respond to God and His Word. If we are in awe of God, His truth and emotionally accept His great love for us, we are far more insistent on examining what the Bible says and walking out what He teaches us in His Word. Conversely, if we see God as a grandfatherly figure in the sky whose love we do not feel and who indiscriminately gives bountiful grace when we disobey, we will do what we want rather than what God wants. This is true even though we have made vows to love and obey Him. What might your follow-through suggest about how much awe and respect and love you have for Him?

Exactly what has God asked of us and how have we responded? The apostle Paul prayed for believers to be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:9-10, ESV). Jesus defined His expectations by saying, I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than [exceeds] the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:20, NLT2)! The righteousness of the Pharisees consisted of carefully practicing outward observances of the ceremonial and traditional law. They offered sacrifices, fasted often, prayed much, were very meticulous about religious cleansings, paying tithes, and faithfully attended all religious ceremonies. HOW can a person be expected to be more righteous than that?

God is looking at the heart, the why factor, NOT the righteous deeds. The why factor changes everything in God’s economy. Therefore, those who live a righteous life because they love and believe God is God far surpass the works of the religious leaders! Again, it is not what you do that impresses God; it is why you do it. But that right motive can easily melt down and evaporate!

Hezekiah, an admirable king of Judah, began being driven by a strong passion for God. The Spirit then enabled him to accomplish incredible spiritual changes in the nation. His success went to his head. He became proud of his accomplishments and loved the people’s accolades. Later, when he became deathly sick, Isaiah, the prophet, warned him to prepare to die. Hezekiah’s subsequent prayer (2 Kings 20:3) revealed how spiritual pride had so twisted his thinking that he now expected his good works to have earned God’s favor. The motives of his heart had become like that of the religious leaders mentioned above. Success can be like a deceptive Trojan Horse that secretly gets into our unguarded computer and devastates it.

When you are alert and know what the perpetrator is, you CAN exceed the righteousness of the religious leaders by practicing what God’s Word teaches. Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life (Proverbs 4:23 (NLT2) Protect it from pride (self-righteousness) by seeking to know and love God more than you did three months ago. This is how to be proactive and meet God’s expectations for you. You CAN do it.

If you recognize you have left your first sense of awe and respect for God, don’t beat yourself up. Simply allow it to humble you and motivate you to turn around and seek a fresh revelation of the triune Godhead.

Can you think of a word that has kept its original meaning? The evolution of cultures in our own country has changed the meaning of words, some more drastically than others. A while back, the Washington Post published a list of words that have changed meanings.

• Silly: went from referring to those who are ‘pious’ or things worthy or blessed to our modern sense of absurdity, foolish or giddy.
• Naughty: Long ago, if you were naughty, you had naught or nothing. Then it came to mean evil or immoral, and now you are just badly behaved.
• Viral went from relating to, or caused by a virus, to now meaning becoming very popular by circulating quickly from person to person, especially through the Internet.
• Text went from referring to a book or other piece of closely examined writing to a message sent on your cell phone.
• Unplug went from disconnecting a lamp or television from its power source to shifting from cable TV to internet streaming.

The current hybrid usage of the label ‘Christian’ used in many secular and religious communities has been very twisted from its original meaning. So much so, some believers today openly say, “I’m a Christ-follower, not a ‘Christian’.” So, what is the difference and why does it matter?

Unbelievers living in Antioch (Acts 11:26) created the label ‘Christian.’ Because the believers in Antioch were making such a powerful impact on their community, the unbeliever cynics labeled them ‘Christians’. The anatomy of the word first refers to Christ (“the anointed one”). The ‘ian’ (means “little”) which makes ‘Christians’ were the little anointed ones or apprentices of Jesus Christ. When Paul was in prison, the unbelieving king asked to visit with him. He also used this term when saying Paul almost convinced him to become a ‘Christian’ (Acts 26:28). My point is, a biblical ‘Christian’ is such an avowed apprentice of Jesus Christ that unbelievers clearly see His virtues expressed with little verbal persuasion. The difference was in who they were on the inside.

If compared side by side, the most obvious difference between early Christ-followers and today’s Christian is evident in one’s level of passion to be Christ’s apprentice. Quite contrary to today, early believers boldly faced lions rather than compromising their apprenticeship to Jesus. They were willing to sacrifice their good jobs, businesses, homes, friends and family, and financial securities, to have the type of love Jesus had for His Father. What sacrifices today might compare to that of the earlier Christ-followers? How might such sacrifices determine the spiritual fruit of a person’s life?

Peter uses the label ‘Christian’ one time. It was in his letter to encourage believers spread throughout the middle east who were suffering persecution (1 Peter 4:16). Their Christlikeness so convicted the unbelievers they encountered; the unbelievers looked for ways to take their misery out on apprentices of Jesus. Please try to understand, the convicting factor then was not the title of Christian, it was the Christlikeness that always has been and will always be the critical factor.

Do you suppose your unbelieving acquaintances would label you as an apprentice of Jesus Christ who incessantly seeks to be more like Him, or a current twisted, hybrid Christian? If your honest answer is not what your heart desires it to be, what is your next step to discovering the inner conviction, security, gratification, and joy a closer relationship to Him would bring? Will you continue life as you now live it? Or, will you seriously Ask God about it and seek solid direction on how you can be what your hearts calls you to be?

Raised in Sunday School and church, I began reading through the Bible each year. I remember checking the little square boxes as I completed the chapters. Later I added intermittent journaling of interesting thoughts I read. I found practicing this habit enabled me to experience a greater satisfaction with God; it became my spiritual security blanket. To be candid, it was so comforting I was afraid if I ever stopped doing it, I would fall spiritually as other notable ministers had done.

In my time with God about 15 years ago, a few of David’s words captured my attention. Psalm 9:10 (NLT) Those who know your name trust in you, for you, O LORD, do not abandon those who search for you. I intuitively sensed God had an important truth here for me. It was the words those who know your name trust in you… that gripped me. I trusted God, but not as much as I would like. This confused me because it didn’t appear to say how to trust more. Then it dawned on me. The ‘how to’ was in that verse! My investment in knowing God more fully would automatically result in greater trust. He was inviting me to take the initiative to seek to know more about who He was; not just His title, gifts, or what He said or did. Wow!! My hunger to know God more deeply became greater than my fear of falling away from Him. I took the leap, stopped my routine Bible reading and obeyed His gentle whisper to trust Him to keep me close to Him.

I found this principle to be true. If I wanted more of God, I must give Him more of myself. I saw that as a bargain, so I gladly gave Him more of me. I felt an urgency to discover what a passage was telling me about who God is; His character, values, ways and whatever else it might reveal about Him. These revelations then humbled me, forcing me to acknowledge my total depravity and what I needed to do in response to these findings. To my delight and amazement, I discovered my investment resulted in a deeper love for God and His Word—greater than I could have imagined. Plus, I found myself trusting Him in more practical ways, just as the verse promised. It so affected me it appeared I had been born again!!

A Biblical example of this principle was when God told Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:28 to… subdue [the earth]; and have dominion over [it]. He didn’t just give them dominion. They had to first invest personal initiative and struggle to subdue it, but it was worth it. Then they had to maintain dominion over it. A similar example is when He engaged the Hebrews in the process of learning to know God as God Almighty. Exodus 10:1-2 (ESV) Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the LORD.” Fascinating! Through passage like these, I could see the critical importance of habitually investing myself in seeking to know Him more personally.

My regular reading of the Bible had been vital! It had taught me the balancing essentials I needed to reduce my chances of misinterpreting what I read. However, I had only skimmed the surface issues of what He said and did, totally missing His ways, values, or character. Life-change has continued to come as I spend time prayerfully meditating on exactly what His Word says. His Spirit frequently responds by revealing more of who God is and His heart, not just what He did/does or doesn’t do. I share this with you, praying that it may inspire you to slow your Bible reading way down and embark on a quest to know the author in a more personal way. If you would like support in how to do this, let me know and I will do my best to share what I’ve learned about this quest. My sole desire is for you to know Him more intimately as I’m learning to do.

We learn from childhood pleasing others makes an easier life. But pleasing others results in a sense of insecurity as we listen to the voices in our head, our parents, schoolteachers, and friends. The sin nature leaps on that misguided notion and links our worth to our performance. This performance-based thinking is low-level legalism in Christianity. It deceptively teaches that God treats us based on how well we perform. This minor sounding difference was precisely what Jesus consistently disagreed with the Jewish leaders about. It motivated them to crucify Jesus.

The Bible repeatedly stresses that God has fundamentally different values and judges us accordingly. He values why something is done far more than what or how it is done—the performance issue. The consequence of adopting our culture’s performance values over God’s values will be catastrophic if that false teaching is not corrected before death. The sobering part is a person can start out seemingly having the right motives, but the track of their false belief ends in a train-wreck. Consider this case in point.

Hezekiah was the son of a very ungodly king of Judah, Ahaz. After his father’s death, he became king at 25 years of age and he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David, his father, had done (2 Chronicles 29:2, ESV). While His father, Ahaz, had stopped worship in the temple, In the very first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah reopened the doors of the Temple of the LORD and repaired them (2 Chronicles 29:3, NLT2). He brought such spiritual reform the Bible records that Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after his time (2 Kings 18:5, NLT2). Please note this. Performance is noteworthy ONLY if it flows out of a genuine heart that is passionate about God, NOT ego motivated honorable deeds.

After God richly blessed Hezekiah, he looked at all God had done through him and his sin nature led him to imagine, ‘look what all I have done’. He began to think and feel his leadership skills, personality, or religious ideology accomplished all those things instead of God doing them through him. When he learned Egypt and Babylon had rebelled against the Assyrians, without consulting God, he thought he could also do that. Later, when he heard the king of Assyria was coming to crush his rebellion, again without consulting God, he attempted to use his negotiating skills with Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, by giving him the gold that had been on the temple doors.

After God had graciously delivered him from the Assyrians AND healed his near-death sickness, his heart was still not humbled. He accumulated great wealth. When given the opportunity, he showed the visiting Babylonian entourage all the wealth he had amassed. God then had Isaiah tell him the time was coming when everything in his palace, along with many of the people, would be carried off to Babylon. Hezekiah replied, that is fine with me if it doesn’t happen in my lifetime. (2 Kings 20:19, NIV) This irreverent, unrighteous attitude is what he imbedded into his young co-regent son who would become one of the most wicked kings of Judah. The Bible also says Hezekiah did not respond appropriately to the kindness shown him, and he became proud. So, the LORD’s anger came against him and against Judah and Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 32:25, NLT2). The church of Ephesus (Revelations 2:17) also found out that God is not as concerned with what we do (our performance), as He is in why we do it.  The eyes of the LORD search the whole earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. 2 Chronicles 16:9 (NLT2) My prayer is for the Holy Spirit to help me keep my heart fully committed to Him. Can you join me in praying this for your life?

Even though it doesn’t always appear this way, every person has insecurity in some area of their life. It is a universal characteristic. It first appeared after Adam and Eve sinned in the garden. They first looked at themselves, became self-conscious, and thereby intuitively discovered they were naked. Unhealthy fear, the driver of insecurity, motivated them to hide their problem behind fig leaves. (Genesis 3:6-13) Although it isn’t a gene, this insecurity has been passed on to the soul of each human from that point forward. Today we still try to hide that debilitating feeling within by all forms of “leaves” that come to mind—judgmentalism, anger, superiority, controlling, jealousy bullying, name calling—every form of evil.

What had Adam and Eve done that so dramatically changed how they felt in their mind and emotions? They intuitively knew their disobedience had separated them from the source of their security—God’s presence. Consider this, could it be that the feeling of insecurity is our intuition telling us something’s not right in our relationship with God? David, who struggled with the very same insecurity each of us have, wrote The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold (Psalm 18:2, ESV). Each descriptive word relates to security that minimizes insecurity. What was it the Jewish leaders identified in Peter and John when they so confidently spoke of salvation through Jesus after the Jews had crucified Him? (Keep in mind before this they locked themselves in a room because of their fear of the Jewish leaders!) The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus (Acts 4:13, (NLT2). Being with the God-head results in a profound sense of security that over-powers insecurity. This is also clear in the prophets who spoke so boldly what God had told them to say to kings, religious leaders, and the rebellious people.

Jesus struck at the very heart of insecurity when He told the religious leaders You like to receive praise from one another, but you do not try to win praise from the one who alone is God; how, then, can you believe me (John 5:44, GNB)? How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God (John 5:44, ESV)? This is a profound spiritual truth. By linking one’s belief in Him with this level of insecurity is very sobering.

Self-confidence is what Satan and our culture commonly promote to cope or sedate insecurity. However, self-confidence is the arch-adversary of God-confidence, or confidence in Him to protect or provide for you. Self-confidence looks attractive until tragedy or incurable disease strike. Please understand, self-confidence will eventually separate you from God, as it did Adam and Eve. The early Hebrews provide a clear picture of this by their repeatedly trying to substitute their trust in God with trust in other nations or gods of their world.  Self-confidence is another face of independence from God. Jesus’ word picture of building a house on shifting sand instead of a rock describes it well.

As Jesus said, doing whatever you can do to SEEK an intimate relationship with Him is the only sustainable source of identity, approval and affirmation to neutralize sin’s nature of insecurity. Investing serious time reflecting on what He teaches in His word, which necessarily includes conversing with Him, are the building blocks for an eternal bond with Him. That bond creates a great testimony to others, whether at our workplace, in our pleasure, service or family relationships.

A man who struggled with a bad habit asked, “can God still love me when I can’t stop sinning?” We all see our repeated secret failures and silently ask the same question. In the meantime, we become more cynical and judge others more harshly who continue their bad habit. This is most likely because we silently judge ourselves harshly for what we do, even though we try to keep our failures secret.

Malachi 1:2 shares God’s word to  the Jews. It is a very insightful and equally perplexing word from God. Its context is about 100 years after the Jews had returned from being exiled in Babylon. Daniel and the three Hebrew children had come and gone. Malachi, the last of God’s prophets to speak for 400 years. His words were the returned exiles who, not only were confused; they questioned God, His love, and promises to them. Like all their ancestors, they too had failed to be faithful to God’s covenant with them. So, when Malachi said, “I have loved you,” says the LORD. “But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’ “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” the LORD says. “Yet I have loved Jacob (Malachi 1:2, NIV). By questioning God’s claim, these Jews were betraying a deep distrust of God, a lack of faith in His Word.

The first thought that popped up in my mind when reflecting on this verse was, how can loving Jacob be proof that God loves those to whom Malachi was speaking? It quickly became clear He used the name Jacob as a code word for all his offspring—the Jews. However, what God is saying here gives hope to all of us today! Here is how this is true.

There are those distracted because God loved the historical Jacob and ‘hated’ his twin brother, Esau. While that is a valid question for discussion, we must not allow ourselves to be distracted from what God is saying in this verse. A quick look at the history of each brother’s offspring reveals Esau’s lineage had a zero regard for God, while Jacob’s lineage at least claimed to embrace God. However, they had failed miserably in walking that love out. The book of Judges is a picture of their insane repetition of an on-again, off-again relationship with God. It is a vivid illustration of Proverbs 26:11 (GW) that reads, as a dog goes back to its vomit, {so} a fool repeats his stupidity. This then begs the question, why in the world would a perfect and holy God continue to love such fickle Jews (Jacob’s lineage)? Yet the Bible shows His faithful love for Jacob’s offspring, despite their intermittent faith and independent, rebellious life towards God.

We love our children even when they repeatedly do intolerable things. And we discipline them to help them stop those intolerable things. God’s love for Jacob and his stubborn offspring did NOT mean He approved of their choices. Rather, He disciplined their unrighteous attitudes or choices to help them come back to Him. Like us today, they did not see that God’s discipline (their pain) only expressed the depth of His love for them. The discipline God allows is only to position us to change our heart so we will stop making our bad choices. His discipline is not punishment for our sins.

The repentance the Bible talks about is not simply saying “I’m sorry”. It means I surrender the control of my life and determine to allow the Holy Spirit to manage my daily decisions. When we do this, He will so transform how we think, our repeated sinful habits, and cause us to love God as Jesus loved His Father. Yes, it takes time to unlearn our sick thinking and learn His values and ways, but in the end, we will arrive at our desired destination.  That is the depth of love God had for Jacob AND for you and me. If you have been fighting for control of your life, STOP IT!! … and allow Him to live His life through you. It is for certain you will not regret this decision.

What first comes to your mind when you hear or read the word ‘worth’? Often, it triggers thoughts of financial worth. In the past, my grandson frequently compared several billionaires’ worth with their contemporaries.

One line in the lyrics of O Holy Night, my favorite Christmas carol, goes, Long lay the world in sin and error pining, ’Til He appear’d and the soul felt its worth. I’m certain the definition of that word in that context has zero correlation with financial worth. It begs the question, when or how is it that Jesus’ appearance on earth could enable one’s soul to feel their worth if it doesn’t involve finances, a skill set or achievement? I highly suspect the answer lies somewhere in the realm of feeling unworthy. When a person discovers God values them enough to ask His Son to leave the glories of Heaven, become a helpless baby with a destiny to die on a cross so they could have His eternal life, that person has discovered new a sense of healthy worth.

However, this discovery cannot be assumed. An elevated level of self-worth based on something inherited or accomplished will thwart it. A very fine, upright man was honest and concerned enough to confess that while he understood God’s grace, he didn’t feel a need for it. I was proud of him for his honest acknowledgement. There are many whose choices, behavior and attitude reveal they feel like this man, but would never acknowledge it. Unfortunately, too many church attenders accept the concept of God’s grace, yet only talk and act out a humility of their own creativity. They cannot enjoy the blessings that flow out of authentic humility. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. James 4:6 (NIV) The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. Psalm 34:18 (NLT2) Their self-worth blocks them from experiencing the felt worth referenced in the lyric of the Christmas carol.

How we think about God’s worth and self-worth will make the difference between living in false humility and authentic humility. False humility can come in two basic forms. It can be our self-generated acts of humility based upon the false premise that we can earn God’s grace. Another form of false humility is reverse pride. This is thinking we are beyond God’s capacity to give us grace.

Authentic humility is not to think less of yourself, it is to think less often of yourself and see things as they are. It also limits man’s unworthiness to his/her inability to earn God’s favor or love. It feels totally helpless and dependent upon God for His grace, as a mortally wounded man feels a desperate need for help. Grace is, by definition, a gift which cannot be earned.

Genuine humility also fixes one’s heart on God’s worth and knows man’s worth is directly connected to His worth. True worship is to gaze in awe at who He is. Jesus could be humble of heart because he knew who and whose he was. He had nothing to prove, therefore he could come as a helpless baby and grow into a man who loved freely. This difference between genuine and false humility deeply affects how we love God and others.

This begs the question. To what or who do you attribute your worth? Worth, based on your close relationship with God and His Word, will produce the abundant life Jesus has promised. I pray your soul feels it’s worth in Jesus, so His humble mind may be in your mind as well (Phil 2).

Suppose a donor laid $1,000 on the table. The donor then said this goes to the first one to pick it up. If no one steps forward to pick it up, is it the donor’s fault that happens or is the money no longer legitimate? Of course not. By the same token, if God makes a promise and no one has faith in their spirit to believe God will fulfill it for them, is His promise of no value or powerless? Do you suppose many of God’s promises have been powerless to you simply because you did not add God’s gift of faith to the promise so it would materialize?

The writer of the book of Hebrews describes a promise of a rest in chapter 3 as the long-sought God supplied promised home specifically for the Jews. In the next chapter, he again promises a rest of a different type not restricted to the Jews. This rest is often called the Sabbath rest because it is like the rest God took after finishing His work of creation (Gen. 2:2). While we cannot relate to the work of creation, we can relate to the striving of our souls that we experience trying to be approved by God or to become like Him. We strain hard to control our environment to be righteous or do righteous works.

It states this rest in the future tense because the Jews never entered that rest. God’s promise was ineffectual for them. He then challenges you and me today by writing, let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience (Hebrews 4:11, NIV). Please understand, this rest is not referring to salvation or Heaven. It is a rest from our labors to be a Christian instead of trusting in and obeying God’s Spirit’s leading to becoming like Jesus. Every effort to enter that rest consists of laying down our anxiety and fully trusting in Him to change us. The faith we receive from Him to do this gives us great confidence in all God will do in and through us—even the painful things. Please know, trusting God this way does not exempt us from pain any more than it exempted Jesus from pain. The rest is within our hearts, not our circumstances. Connie and I are facing the possibility of her dying—that is pain! According to the doctors, she is on the next to last treatment strategy. Yet it the midst of it all, we both have an uncanny gratitude, peace, and confidence that God has it—we do not have to anxiously fight for her to live. The Spirit is promising you and me to zealously step into that kind of divine rest. Incredible!

Paul explains… the promise [of this rest] was based on faith, in order that the promise should be guaranteed as God’s free gift to all of Abraham’s descendants—not just to those who obey the Law, but also to those who believe as Abraham did (Rom. 4:16a, GNB). This means the way to enter this rest is to entirely trust, have strong confidence in and reliance upon the Spirit of God to control and guide your daily life. You grow into that level of trust the more you expose yourself to God through His Word. Paul explains as all of us reflect the Lord’s glory with faces that are not covered with veils [prejudice, selective reading of the Bible, wishful thinking, disobedience, unteachable attitude, etc.], we are being changed into his image with ever-increasing glory. This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18 GW). Our role is to respond to the desire within to know more of God, then gaze upon His awe-inspiring glory as you continue to reflect on what His Words says.

To what extent have you been able to discern transformation happen in how you think and behave over the last 6 months? Can you tell if you are thinking more like Jesus did and sensing a deepening love for God, the type of love Jesus had for His Father and humanity? This is nothing boring about being a growing believer. As a person is discovering new insight into the awesomeness of God, he/she is energized and passionate to act upon what they have learned as well as want to share it with others so they too can experience the joy, peace, and love you feel.

The Bible teaches that we believers live simultaneously in two worlds. We are seated in Christ next to God the Father, while physically living among other earthly mortals. The contrast of the two world cultures is far greater than that of the USA culture and the one found in Somalia or any third world. Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1, NIV). Therefore, we must make a simple decision, which world is home to us. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things (Colossians 3:2, NIV). This has become very real to Connie and me today. When writing this, her white blood cells have plummeted to (1–normal health is 11-15 = exceptionally low immunity) and her platelets have dropped to (21, normal health is 150-450 = danger of bleeding). The question we must face is which world are we going to allow to influence our thoughts, emotions and the decisions we make.

It’s natural to interpret life issues (financial, relational, political, health issues, etc.) through the lens of this world’s culture after having grown up here. For example, instead of considering how God had appointed earth’s weather to endure many earlier radical changes, the natural mind attributes today’s global warming to something man has/is doing to create our current troublesome irregularities. In contrast, the prophet Isaiah interpreted drought and other painful things in his day, to being organized by God (Isaiah 24.1-12). The Apostle Paul interpreted the bleak situations of his day to creation’s groaning (Romans 8:22, ESV).

2 Kings 3 records an incident when the kings of Israel and Judah (separate nations at that time) went to battle against the Moabites. After marching 7 days to meet in the battle, they discovered there was no water at that location for the men or animals to drink. The prophet Elisha, with eyes focused on the invisible world, told them to fill the surrounding valley with ditches. He then said, for thus says the LORD, ‘You shall not see wind or rain, but that streambed shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, you, your livestock, and your animals’ (2 Kings 3:17, ESV). That strategy would be considered totally insane by someone in today’s cancel culture mob! That is how fundamentally different the thinking is between the invisible Spirit world and that of the earthly world.

Whenever I have served a role when God worked His incredible miracles, the most impressive thing to me was I was never quite able to see how or when He did it. I only saw the results of what He did. Our unbelief insists on seeing some outward sign before they believe when the sign normally comes only in the afterglow of His presence. But the greatest triumph of a person’s faith is to “be still, and know that [He is] God” (Ps.46:10).

The role of Bible faith is not to question, but to simply trust and obey. In the 2 Kings 3:16 report, the kings were asked to simply “make this valley full of ditches” When they obeyed, water came pouring in from some supernatural source to fill them. What does this teach us about faith?

Are you desiring some spiritual blessing? A. B. Simpson said, then dig the ditches when God asks you, and expect God to fill them. But He will do this in the most unexpected places and in the most unexpected ways. May the Lord grant us the kind of faith that acts “by faith, not by sight” (2Co 5:7), and may we expect Him to work although we see no wind or rain.

Isaiah 37 reports a very intense, heart-throbbing situation. The king of the strongest empire of that day (Assyria), Sennacherib, first sent threats to Hezekiah, the king of Judah. He then surrounded Jerusalem, preparing to conquer all who were within it. This contrast was like Goliath, facing off with the boy David.

Previously, Hezekiah had presumptuously rebelled against Assyria. However, when Sennacherib’s first threat came in real time, Hezekiah then presumptuously took off all the gold on the temple doors, hoping to soothe Sennacherib’s anger. But that was too little, too late. Now, he was in a desperately hopeless condition. With no more appeasement resources to offer or any hope of physical help available, he humbly came in prayer to God. God sent His prophet Isaiah to encourage make promises to Hezekiah. As soon as Isaiah had finished sharing his latest prophetic words, the Bible says in Isaiah 37:36, Then the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! Isaiah 37:36 (NIV). Only God knew why He needed to wait this long to bring judgment on the Assyrians.

It is fascinating to consider how often in scripture when God used a specific time in His scheme of things, to take an action to fulfill His promise. It was in the fullness of time God sent His Son (Jesus) to earth. (Gal. 4:4) Revelation 14:15 tells us God waited until a specific time after evil had ripened to use a sickle to harvest the sins of the world. What might this suggest to us about God Himself, His ways, plans, purpose, strategizing, orchestrating the context and action? What kind of God could or would be that kind of specific and strategic to plan for not just one incident or intervention but for billions of humans, hundreds of nations in the world, millions of family units or individuals—all at the same time!!! It would require a very personal God to know when to and when not to act on our behalf. And then to have that action trigger a domino effect or send a person or nation into a new trajectory of life itself. How might this relate to the fact He holds the world together by His presence? (Col. 1:17, 2:19, Heb 1:3) I’m in awe just trying to get my mind around such a God. In the natural it would require an indescribable energy force to do such a thing.

The people suffered (in Egypt for 400 years), were shown incredible miracles, taken captive, etc., etc. and prophets continue to tell the people the Messiah would come and save them from their sin. God obviously had a reason for waiting for the fullness of time to come before sending His redemption. The same type of thing is going to happen in Revelation (14:15) when God finally tells the angel to take the sickle and reap the harvest of sin on earth. There must be some incredible dynamics involved in God’s timetable for all the necessary components to align themselves for just the right time for God’s next acts to take place. That is one of God’s many ways. I can’t help but think that is also one of His ways He uses when working miracles in our life. This leaves me in AWE of God, His ways, His wisdom, His character, His self-control, His perfection and more.

You very well may be in a situation as desperate as Hezekiah when there is zero hope from the natural perspective. As for Connie and me, with her very poor health, given our options, we feel hopeless. There is nothing we can make happen that will restore her health. Without God’s intervention, her death is only a matter of time. It is in this context the word then gives us hope. I’m not sure why, but there is an uncanny confidence our omniscient and omnipotent God will intervene at just the right time. Until that time comes, we will be content to wait upon His time. How have you been responding to your dark situation?