Comfort in Seeking God

We live in a world where the righteous, that is the morally right and virtuous, are in the minority. For those who seek the Lord and His Righteousness in their lives, the story in Genesis 18 is certainly a relief in this immoral world. When speaking to the Lord about the sin in Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham asks a series of questions as to the sparing of the city according to how many righteous versus unrighteous live there.

When Abraham gets to the least amount of righteous the Lord would spare the city for, the Lord still replies in verses 32 and 33, “Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there? And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.”  So the Lord went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.”

In the world we live in today, we take some comfort that the Lord won’t destroy it due to the small percentage of righteous folks. Of course in our time, man is coming closer and closer to being able to destroy his neighbor, which could set off a chain reaction with man destroying the world, this wonderful gift from God.

Since we have little or no control over what the rest of the world will do with their lives, we are called in Matthew 6:33-34, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” We certainly hope that others will follow this advice as well.

Assuming we are not as morally right and virtuous as we should be, we must have a plan. The Lord may not destroy a city with as few as ten righteous, however, we must seek Him and His Righteousness daily to understand His path for us in this life.

Now we begin to think about bad things happening to good people and how that fits into the greater picture of living and the promise of eternal life. While God said He would not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if there were only ten righteous people there, He wasn’t saying that people wouldn’t have bad things happen to them whether righteous or unrighteous.

We must seek God in our lives so we will know Him better and He can communicate with us in His Will for the world and for our part in that. We do not live our lives on our own until we die and then hook up with God. We should be seeking communication with God daily if not minute by minute. When we do this, our relationship with God carries us through all things, even the bad things. When our skin and bones drop off at what we call death, our spirit continues in the relationship that we have been seeking with our Creator God on into eternity. We can’t be certain how that will work out if we never get to know Him in our natural lives.

In Jeremiah 29:13 God reveals to us, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Our relationship with our Creator is not meant to be a casual affair. We can’t afford to get into the “put off” mode. There may be many things in life that we can “put off”; however, seeking God in our lives continuously is not one of them. God leaves it up to us to make that decision. His love for us, His children, should be enough to draw us to Him.

In Psalm 121:1-2 the psalmist says, “I lift up my eyes to the mountains—From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”  Exodus 15:2 further exclaims: “The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, the God of my father, and I will exalt him.”

In Proverbs 28:9 we are a bit shaken by God’s strong words: “If one turns away his ear from hearing My teachings, even his prayer is not heard.” Let’s hope we can all seek the Lord our God in our lives and profit from it.

 

Salt and Light

As the story of our creation is told in Genesis, we are informed that in the beginning God created heaven and earth. He created the creatures in the sea, the birds in the sky and the animals on the land. He created man to watch over these creatures and ultimately each other. He gave man "free will" to choose the way man would behave.

So it is and has been and will be that man chooses how he will react to life's circumstances, to his environment, to his fellow man, to himself and to God.

As each new child is born, that child may be born into an environment where people have chosen “God's way", have chosen a "sinful way" or some combination of the two. The latter is the more likely. There are an infinite number of combinations of good and evil in every life. Some lives in tremendous sin and others almost godlike, from Charles Manson to Mother Teresa.

We can be effective for the Lord in the world or we can let the world snuff us out.  In Matthew 5:13, Jesus explains to us:  “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.”

It may not be fair that one might be born into a sinful environment, having no choice in the matter. The whole world is sinful, so in reality everyone is born into a sinful environment. The fact that one life may have more obstacles and challenges than another cannot be denied. This sin was and is man’s choice, not God’s. The "Garden of Eden" story is repeated millions of times daily.

What is fair? It is fair that God's grace is available, unconditionally, to every man and woman. It is fair that God loves us unconditionally. It is fair that we, each of us, can choose to open our hearts and minds to the love of God or ignore Him. It is fair that we can respond to the ups and downs of life in any way we choose. It is fair that we can choose to perpetuate the sin which has gone before or reject it by living our lives with God at the Center. We can literally be “born again” when we are ready to meet life with the “Holy Spirit” at our side.

God sent His son Jesus Christ to show us. Man killed the messenger, but by his death Jesus took on the sins of the world (John 3:16). He left a legacy of lessons reported in the New Testament of the Bible. It is fair that we are born into the "Holy Spirit”. Once we recognize it, it’s our job to do something with it. We can start anew, love the Lord and pass it on.

We will always have difficult challenges. At the end of our very short stay on earth we will lose the right of "free will" and God will take us to His chest. We should try every day to seek God in anticipation of that day. We can recall the Gospel of John 1:1-5. "When all things began, the Word already was. The Word dwelt with God, and what God was, the Word was. The Word, then, was with God at the beginning, and through him all things came to be; no single thing was created without him. All that came to be was alive with his life, and that life was the light men. The light shines on in the dark, and the darkness has never mastered it.”    

Jesus goes on to shed more “light” on this matter in Matthew 5:14-16 in saying: “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

We must seek to be as pure as the best salt in the world, with a glow that lights up everyone around us. As His light shines upon us, let us pass it on and be a “salty light” in the world.

Tackling Our Healing & Recovery

It’s sometimes hard to know where to start when we are in need of healing and recovery. Do we just ask God to intervene and then sit back and wait? There’s probably a little more to it. Our healing is a two-way street. We have to be seeking God in a sincere and constant way. While we are doing that, God can work with us and communicate with us much better. Then He can lead us through our part of our healing while He is doing His part.

Proverbs 4:20-22 can get us started in saying, “My son, give attention to my words; let your ear be turned to my sayings.  Let them not go from your eyes; keep them deep in your heart.  For they are life to him who gets them, and strength to all his flesh.” This healing and recovery thing requires a large commitment by us, as we let God work His ways.

One of our two lovely daughters-in-law, mother of our only grandchild, has had a setback recently. She has been very active in her life, held down a job, kept trim and has lived in a moral way recognizing the Lord in her life. She is a very independent person, doing her part in whatever she undertakes. Then one day things suddenly changed.

As a part of her exercise program, she has been attending Yoga classes to help her stay fit. She was at a class one day doing her stretching exercises when something popped. Her back was in deep pain, she started fainting and vomiting. She was rushed to the hospital, where preliminary indications were that she had an inoperable tumor on her spine that had finally ruptured. She had no previous warning of this issue.

She was taken to a spinal specialty clinic, where it was determined that most of it could be removed and that it was benign. Unfortunately, much damage had been done in the rupturing and the surgery to remove added to that damage. Both of her legs were paralyzed. She spent a month in a rehab unit before being released to her home for follow-up therapy three times a week. She also has a personal trainer that works with her at home the other 4 days.

While she has been very disciplined in her rehab activities, her doctors say that it will take up to a year for any significant improvement with no guarantee of returning to normal. She lives out of state, but my wife and I stay in close touch with her, our son and granddaughter.  We have made several visits to help out and for moral support. My wife told her that she is so “tough”.  With great enthusiasm she responded, “I’m not tough, I have to get better.”

In a recent communication with her, she said that she had found comfort in Holy Scripture and especially in a version of Psalm 37:34 (Living Bible) that she had edited to be in ‘first person’ as if they were her words. She paraphrased that scripture in this way: “I won’t be impatient for God to act, I will travel steadily along his pathway and in due season He will honor me with every blessing.” She is working hard on her part and trusting God on His part.

My daughter-in-law is faithful in her rehabilitation with technicians and trainers, but realizes that her faith in the Lord is even more important.  In Mark 5:34 we are told: “He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.’"

In James 3:14-15 we hear: “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”

My wife and I have been inspired by our daughter-in-law. She married our son 16 years ago and we thought we knew her pretty well. We’ve loved her all these years, but the way she is responding to this life altering situation, has brought even more joy to our relationship with her. Her daughter, our granddaughter, will grow from seeing her mother respond to life’s bumps and hurdles in this way. Our son is also blessed to have such a life partner.