Holding Out
Holding Out
“The LORD God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The LORD will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right.” Psalm 84:11
As he offered excuses, she stared at him, completely stunned by this turn of events. He was the perfect Christian guy, and she had given so much of her time and effort to the relationship. She had prayed for God's direction and felt so much peace pursuing this path. It just seemed perfect. Except now it wasn't because he was backing out. Anger invaded her thoughts, followed by bitterness -- aimed first at her ex-boyfriend but later at God. She felt tricked, mistreated. If God loved me, why would he let this happen? She let her mind wonder.
We all have to watch our hearts and minds when life doesn't work out the way we planned. Our enemy is ready and eager to sow seeds of discontent and distrust as we question what God is doing. Like Eve the garden when the serpent second guessed God's goodness, we're tempted to believe that God is holding out on us.
But God invites us to walk away from that temptation into a place of utter trust. When we can't figure out why God has blocked our path, we can lean even harder on His leading, let go of our demanding, and allow the Spirit to change our thinking while healing our wounded hearts. When we keep our hands open to God, we experience deeper rest. In the resting, we realize that God's plan -- always drawing us closer to His presence -- was far better than what we imagined in the first place.
+++
When is the last time you prayed the Lord’s Prayer? Were you in church on Sunday? We pray this prayer every week together. We pray the Lord’s Prayer because we need to be reminded over and over again all that God has done and is doing in our lives, and the Lord’s Prayer helps us remember this.
The one line which we don’t like very much is: “Thy will be done.” It is the one like where we are asking to be taken out of the picture and let God control everything in our lives. Yes, it has a bigger and broader meaning when we are talking about the whole world, but we are part of this world are we not?
It is a huge step of faith to place ourselves totally in the hands of God and say that we trust Him with everything. It is counterintuitive to our very nature. We want to be in charge. We want to make the decision and have everything go our way. We are all, in that sense, control freaks.
But we do not know what tomorrow will bring. We don’t even know the next minute of our lives. I may no longer exist as you sit there reading these words. We are truly not in control of anything, but thankfully God is!
If there was ever a human being Who put their trust totally in God it was Jesus. When He prayed in the Garden, “Not My will, but Yours be done” it was a prayer of absolute trust. Being God, Jesus knew what was about to happen. He understood the pain and suffering He would endure. But most importantly, Jesus trusted the Father for what came after the cross. He trusted there would be life beyond the tomb. He willingly placed Himself in the Father’s hand for His death and His life to come.
There is not one of us who cannot in some way identify with the previous story. Broken hearts are not a rarity but a reality. We have all felt the long nights of loneliness and the boring days of emptiness. We struggle when things don’t work out as we planned or expected them to. However, one thing in our lives never changes and that is our God and His faithfulness to us.
Just like Jesus trusted His Father to take care of Him through His death and resurrection, we can trust God to be faithful as we face the hurts, heartaches, and trials of this life. We may not see the good in the situation at the moment, but we know God is not holding out on us. We have already seen the extent to which He is willing to go to bless us and have us as His own. Jesus on the cross is the visible picture and reality of a love which is unending.
Eve thought God was holding out on her. Adam did as well, because he was right there listening. In the end, they found out He was not holding out but protecting them. It is possible that our broken dreams are in reality God’s protection? Could it be that He has something better in store for us as the days of our lives move forward? Jesus believed this and it was true for Him. Believe it, because it is true for you as well.
In Christ,
Pastor Russ
“The LORD God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The LORD will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right.” Psalm 84:11
As he offered excuses, she stared at him, completely stunned by this turn of events. He was the perfect Christian guy, and she had given so much of her time and effort to the relationship. She had prayed for God's direction and felt so much peace pursuing this path. It just seemed perfect. Except now it wasn't because he was backing out. Anger invaded her thoughts, followed by bitterness -- aimed first at her ex-boyfriend but later at God. She felt tricked, mistreated. If God loved me, why would he let this happen? She let her mind wonder.
We all have to watch our hearts and minds when life doesn't work out the way we planned. Our enemy is ready and eager to sow seeds of discontent and distrust as we question what God is doing. Like Eve the garden when the serpent second guessed God's goodness, we're tempted to believe that God is holding out on us.
But God invites us to walk away from that temptation into a place of utter trust. When we can't figure out why God has blocked our path, we can lean even harder on His leading, let go of our demanding, and allow the Spirit to change our thinking while healing our wounded hearts. When we keep our hands open to God, we experience deeper rest. In the resting, we realize that God's plan -- always drawing us closer to His presence -- was far better than what we imagined in the first place.
+++
When is the last time you prayed the Lord’s Prayer? Were you in church on Sunday? We pray this prayer every week together. We pray the Lord’s Prayer because we need to be reminded over and over again all that God has done and is doing in our lives, and the Lord’s Prayer helps us remember this.
The one line which we don’t like very much is: “Thy will be done.” It is the one like where we are asking to be taken out of the picture and let God control everything in our lives. Yes, it has a bigger and broader meaning when we are talking about the whole world, but we are part of this world are we not?
It is a huge step of faith to place ourselves totally in the hands of God and say that we trust Him with everything. It is counterintuitive to our very nature. We want to be in charge. We want to make the decision and have everything go our way. We are all, in that sense, control freaks.
But we do not know what tomorrow will bring. We don’t even know the next minute of our lives. I may no longer exist as you sit there reading these words. We are truly not in control of anything, but thankfully God is!
If there was ever a human being Who put their trust totally in God it was Jesus. When He prayed in the Garden, “Not My will, but Yours be done” it was a prayer of absolute trust. Being God, Jesus knew what was about to happen. He understood the pain and suffering He would endure. But most importantly, Jesus trusted the Father for what came after the cross. He trusted there would be life beyond the tomb. He willingly placed Himself in the Father’s hand for His death and His life to come.
There is not one of us who cannot in some way identify with the previous story. Broken hearts are not a rarity but a reality. We have all felt the long nights of loneliness and the boring days of emptiness. We struggle when things don’t work out as we planned or expected them to. However, one thing in our lives never changes and that is our God and His faithfulness to us.
Just like Jesus trusted His Father to take care of Him through His death and resurrection, we can trust God to be faithful as we face the hurts, heartaches, and trials of this life. We may not see the good in the situation at the moment, but we know God is not holding out on us. We have already seen the extent to which He is willing to go to bless us and have us as His own. Jesus on the cross is the visible picture and reality of a love which is unending.
Eve thought God was holding out on her. Adam did as well, because he was right there listening. In the end, they found out He was not holding out but protecting them. It is possible that our broken dreams are in reality God’s protection? Could it be that He has something better in store for us as the days of our lives move forward? Jesus believed this and it was true for Him. Believe it, because it is true for you as well.
In Christ,
Pastor Russ
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