Faith in the Deepest Waters

"Hope itself is like a star; not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, but only to be discovered in the night of adversity." (C.H. Spurgeon)

Have you ever, or are you now experiencing a time of real trial and adversity in your life?

By "real" trial and adversity, I don't mean discontinuing your satellite dish service because the economy stinks. I'm  not talking about the 'sacrifice' of giving up the Range Rover, or your summer house on the lake, because times are tough.

No, I mean real adversity. Crushing trials.

Crushing adversity; such as, your spouse, child, or best friend just passed away. 

Real trials; such as your husband has been in prison for his Christian faith in a hostile Islamic country for years and you don't know when you will see him again. 

Real adversity; such as your wife just dumped you like yesterday's garbage and ran off with another man, leaving you alone with your children.  

Crushing trials; such as your child or grandchild just committed suicide.

We can't even begin to understand what someone else is going through until we have walked in their shoes.

Faith.

It's easy to have faith when things are going well. 

When you're young and strong, it's no problem to take that hill. When your marriage is rocking, you feel invincible. When your health is perfect—can't touch this! When you have a great job and plenty of money in the bank, you can kick back in the hammock with your iced tea and relax. 

Having faith is easy when life is easy.

But when you are really tested—when your life, marriage, family, or health is in serious jeopardy, you really have to trust in God. When things get so bad that you can't possibly fix it by yourself—when all you have is your faith.

Hence the old saying:  "You'll never know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have."

Having faith means to trust in, believe in, to have reliance upon. As followers of Christ, it isn't about "our great faith"... since faith itself is a gift from God.  It's all about Who we place our trust in. My faith is not in my faith. My faith, trust, reliance upon—is wholly in Jesus.

Here's an account from Paul, a fellow brother in Christ, who was no stranger to trials and adversity:

“Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting often, in cold and nakedness.”  (2 Corinthians 11:25-27)

How did Paul endure these perilous times of intense trials and suffering? When he asked God three times that a painful "thorn in the flesh" might be removed from him, God's response to Paul was:

“My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” 

 Paul went on to say:

"Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10) 

When we have no strength; when we can't fix it any longer; when Jesus is all we have; then we are strong: because Christ is strong in us.

"Take pleasure in my infirmities?! How can I possibly do that?! Can't you see how much I'm hurting?!"

Jesus said:  

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit—for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

The longer I live—the longer I walk the narrow and difficult path of following Christ—the more I'm painfully aware of just how desperately I need Jesus; every minute, of every day. Truly, without Him—I can do nothing good. 

For years, throughout my life-struggles, I sought comfort and solace in men's bible study groups. And there were some good moments and friendships in those groups. We are told in scripture to study the Word.

“Study to show yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)

However, if we're not careful, we can get so caught up in the intellectual 'study' of the word of God, that we miss the God of the Word altogether.

Jesus said:

“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me—But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” (John 5:39-40)

The whole purpose of Jesus coming to earth and dying on the Cross was to restore intimacy between God and man. He wants us to come to Him. It's personal. He wants a relationship with you, with me. He gave His life on the Cross for that intimacy of personal relationship with us.

Don't drive yourself crazy trying to understand why she left you. Stop trying to figure out why God would let him die. You won't understand it. It won't make sense now. It may later. It may never.

God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts. His ways, higher than our ways. Only God knows why He allows things to happen in our lives. He has a purpose for allowing them to happen. Just trust Him in it.

All you can do, should do, by far the best thing to do; is call out to Him. Come to Him—that you may have life.

As a friend once put it;

"Sometimes the best place to be is flat on your back, looking up, crying out to God—"Help!"

Sometimes we can help each other. We should always try.

But while we may mean well, we are still imperfect human beings. The Word does tell us though, that part of the beauty of the Body of Christ is that we can comfort others who are going through the same kind of troubles that we've been through:,

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

But only Jesus can truly fill the empty places in our hearts. Those dark places of pain, loneliness, rejection, sadness, grief, depression, and hopelessness.

God has always been with me through every trial I've faced. He doesn't always take away the pain and suffering. Sometimes He does. But not often. I used to really struggle to try and understand why.

One day I cried out to Him in my desperation and said, "Lord, You can do all things! You could change us in an instant, and we would no longer sin and struggle any more. Why do You leave us in this condition?!!"

He said:  "So you'll stay close to Me."




—God is Love, and Love Never Fails.

Unmet Expectations

"Nor is there salvation in any other..." (Acts 4:12)

Have you ever used the expression, "soul mate?"  Or, "love of my life?"

Looking closely at the picture of the divided couple above, do either of those expressions seem to accurately describe the current reality of their relationship?

I believe the majority of (not all, but many) people fall into one of two categories;

1).   You have great expectations that you will one day find that "perfect person for you" who will "complete you." One who will be "your soul mate." The "love of your life."

2).   You have unmet expectations in your relationship that have left you bewildered, wondering, "why haven't things turned out the way I thought they would? Why am I sometimes still so lonely, unhappy, and unfulfilled?"

Blaise Pascal, a famous French philosopher correctly said:

"There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ."

The reality is, we human beings try to fill up the hurting, lonely and empty spaces in our hearts with other things... with other people. With everything but God.

In my own family tree, there is a long history of medicating to numb the pain, pressures and reality of this life. Many also seek peace and tranquility in escaping to the wilderness. But I've tried that for years, and no lasting peace or tranquility is to be found out there.

Since the dawn of civilization people have sought out love and fulfillment in jumping from one sexual relationship to the next. But our hearts and still left empty, aching, and alone.

Even for those who publicly tell others they have been happily married for years, if we're being completely honest, will privately wonder why things really haven't fully turned out as we'd once hoped they would.

Over the many years and seasons of singleness, separation and marriage, through countless hours of reading and studying endless books about relationships, feelings and emotions, and from talking to many people about this topic, the truth I've learned is, we can never find true, lasting peace, joy, and fulfillment, in seeking our validation in and from other people.

And yet, I'd dare say that we all do this, every day of our lives. Oh, maybe not knowingly or intentionally. But in one way or another, we tend to put another person—either a person present in our life, or someone hoped for in our future—on a pedestal, placing all our hopes upon them, to make us feel happy, fulfilled and validated.

However, in so doing, we have set them up for certain failure. Because no one, not any other human being, can fill that God-shaped vacuum in our hearts, that only God in the Person of Jesus Christ can fill.

What we don't realize, is that when we put another human being on that pedestal—on the throne of our heart that only God rightfully deserves to inhabit—we have made him or her an idol. We will never be at peace or fulfilled without having first placed our entire heart fully in God's hands.

And after living a life of one unmet expectation after another, we become bitter, resentful and cynical.

Earlier in my life, my cynical mantra was, "Don't expect too much, you'll just be disappointed!"

And that was from a life of placing all my expectations on other people for what they should be, for me. It was all about me.

In marriage, we should always place the needs of our spouse above our own needs. And if both husband and wife are doing this unselfishly out of unconditional love, you have the makings of a pretty good marriage.

However, some have hardened their hearts and say, "Well, since I can't fully meet all of his/her needs anyway, then why should I even try! It's not my responsibility! They should just look to God to meet their needs!" And in so doing, many a heartless man or woman have neglected their spouse, causing a lot of pain, heartache and lonliness.

God made the purpose for marriage very clear when He created Eve as a wife for Adam. Do you know what that purpose was?

Companionship. 

He said,

"It is not good for the man to be alone." (See Genesis 2:18)

But God created us first and foremost for Himself; for His good pleasure. And we are not to put any other human being, not even our own spouse of children before God. He says to do so is idolatry.

The first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength. (See Mark 12:30) Then, the second commandment is to love others as yourself.

The Lord Jesus is God, and God is Love. He is the only Way, the Truth and the Life. Peace and rest for our weary and thirsty souls can only be found in Him.

Jesus said:

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)

He is the only source of true peace, joy, happiness, validation and fulfillment.

—God is Love and Love Never Fails.