Giving God Praise in the Trials

Remember the story in the book of Acts when Paul and his buddy, Silas, were thrown into prison and an earthquake caused the prison doors to open? That Bible story has always fascinated me, especially after I heard a song based on this story. [Here's a link to the song if you're interested: "Jailhouse Rock" by Farrell and Farrell.]

These guys were dedicated to preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world, but life wasn't going so well at the moment. People got really mad at Paul and Silas and they were tossed into prison. I think the thing that always fascinated me was the fact that the prisoners didn't run when they could have! If I were in that situation I certainly would have tried to escape.

Here's the scene:

Paul and Silas Acts 16: 25-30
But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!” And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”


Another thing that is really fascinating about this story that I never picked up on until a few years ago was the fact that they were singing praise songs in their time of trouble! What an example these two missionaries are for me.

Paul and Silas had absolutely no sane reason to be singing praise songs in their situation. They did it anyway. God moved mightily on their behalf. Their response? They didn't try to escape from their current problem. Their decision to stay was a witness to others and allowed them to lead the jailer to Christ.

Giving God praise and thanks in those hard times is something He's been teaching me. When I feel like grumbling or escaping, I've been reminded to sing His praises. It's not easy to do and it's definitely not the first thing I think of. But, I trying to...

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;

Praise him, all creatures here below;

Praise him above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. (The Doxology)

Pop Quiz: Are you Ready?

Tests. They were the mainstay of our school years. We studied a subject for a period of time and then the teacher would give a test to gague how well we've learned. Most of the time the teacher would tell the class a test was coming. It gave us time to prepare. It was nice to have one last time to study the material before test time.

Inevitably I would have a teacher or two (or three) who enjoyed giving a pop quiz. Oh the groans that rippled through the room whenever a teacher greeted us with those words! Those were tests you didn't know were coming. If you didn't know the material, you were sunk! However, the teacher used these pop quizzes to learn how well we were retaining what he or she was teaching.

Spiritual life is not really that different. My Teacher often allows those tests to come along to see how well I am learning and growing in a particular area of my life.

I recently had one of those "pop quizzes," although I didn't realize it at first. I was going down the road, in a place which I had been a few times before. On this road I had the option of reacting the way I always had in the past. In church-speak some would call this "reacting from the flesh." Simply put, I wanted to react the way I always had in the past which is just jumping in and doing what I wanted to do--to take control.

However, because this is a place which God (my Teacher) has been teaching me for a while, my reaction this time was different. My initial reaction was the same as always (what can I do?), but I did not pursue that thought for long. I immediately began to ask God what I should do.

When I had gone down this path before, I asked God what to do and He put up a literal roadblock. I was kind of expecting to see the same response again. A closed door is kind of comforting, you know what I mean?

Well, do you know how teachers just stand by and watch you as you take a test? That's how I felt God was with me at that particular moment. He was there and I knew it, but He was not giving me the answer to this test. Instead, God did give me the kind of responses which made me think, "What's this got to do with it"?
This time I needed to figure it out based on what I've learned.

After much consideration and prayer, I felt that either choice I made in this situation would have been okay and covered by His grace. There was no wrong choice to be made because nothing I was considering would have been sinful or immoral. But there was an obvious choice--my way or God's way. One choice more closely fit with my resolve to allow God to control instead of me trying to control. So, I turned left instead of right.

It was shortly after that decision was made that I sensed a confirmation from God that I'd made the better choice. It was then my Teacher began to instruct again and that's when I realized I'd just been tested.

I've written about this area of control before. One of my first posts on this blog was called God's Timing. So this is not the first time I've been tested in this area of my life and it certainly won't be the last.

This pop quiz came up so suddenly that I didn't have a chance for last-minute studying, but alas... I have been a student all along. I've been learning from the Master Teacher.

Psalm 66 tells of the Israelites praising God for his mighty deeds and answered prayers. In the middle of that Psalm is verse 10 which says...

You have tested us, O God; you have purified us like silver.

Hmmm. Purufied like silver. Reminds me of another post I wrote a while back about the proofing process.  Proofing is a phase that reveals flaws and errors in the metal. 

Tests can come at any moment. I need to stay in the word and connected to God, learning at all times. I also need to seek God's will.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on 

your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do,  

and he will show you which path to take. - Proverbs 3:5-6

There's a conditional promise in this verse. If I trust in the Lord, He will guide me to make the best choices. 

Guard Your Heart

In Christian circles we've all heard the phrase Guard Your Heart. In fact, I've almost exclusively heard it used in reference to single girls/women. As in, Be careful that you don't get hurt. Well, sistah, that's impossible unless a girl completely shuts herself off from relationships. Even if she did manage to avoid all relationships, there will still be a different kind of "heart problem" because the hurt will come from the lack of relationship. The fact is, we were created to be in relationships (See Genesis 2:18). And any sane married person will tell you that relational hurts still happen after the vows are made.


So what in the world does it mean to Guard Your Heart?

First, let's look at Proverbs 4:23 in a couple of different Bible translations.

Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life. NASB

Guard your heart above all else,
    for it determines the course of your life. NLT 

Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life. NKJV 

Keep vigilant watch over your heart;
    that’s where life starts. The Message 

Watch. Keep. Guard. Preserve.
To keep secret. To be kept close.

The original Hebrew word is used here in the sense of a caretaker who watches over a vineyard. Picture how a caretaker keeps watch and defends. He would be diligent about carefully defending his vineyard from elements or pests that might harm it.

Okay, so based on these definitions, it's very possible that we may need to guard our hearts from someone, but not necessarily to avoid possible hurt. We should guard our hearts from anything or anyone that can mess up our relationship with God. So it's way bigger than just about a boy/girl relationship.

So what are we guarding our hearts from? I won't go into an exhaustive list here, but basically we should be careful about anything we let into our minds (what we see, hear, etc.) and the people we allow to get too close who may influence us to make wrong choices. Perhaps that children's song Be Careful Little Hands What You Do isn't so far off base. 

Why are we guarding our hearts? Proverbs 4:23 continues by saying...For from it flow the springs of life. Come again? Our thoughts and actions can shape the way we speak and live. Wrong choices can lead us down the wrong path. Springs of life sounds pretty nice in comparison to the bottom of the dry pit. One is refreshing and the other...not so much.

How do we guard our hearts? This whole chapter of Proverbs 4 is advice from a father to his son about being wise. If you keep reading beyond verse 23 it sort of all comes together (that's the beauty of reading this in context). It tell us what we should do and what will happen when we do it.

²⁴ Avoid all perverse talk;
    stay away from corrupt speech.

²⁵ Look straight ahead,
    and fix your eyes on what lies before you.
²⁶ Mark out a straight path for your feet;
    stay on the safe path.
²⁷ Don’t get sidetracked;
    keep your feet from following evil.

P.S. Don't stop reading here. The entire book of Proverbs is full of wisdom!


Ultimately, I believe that we should be like a shepherd over our own hearts. A shepherd leads. Likewise, we should lead our hearts and not let our hearts lead us. It's dangerous to allow our hearts to lead us into making decisions. Think about it. I'm positive that you have made at least one heart choice and lived to regret it. 

While I was researching this topic, I came across this great quote from a blog I recently started following. 

"Guarding my heart does mean 

allowing no one access to that 

most central place of my affections 

but God. It means keeping 

the first commandment first—and 

 loving Him with all my heart, soul, 

mind, and strength (Deut. 6:5)." 

~ Paula Hendricks 

You may read the entire blog post here:

 http://www.truewoman.com/?id=792

 What do you think?

God Can Make a Way

Earlier this week as I was reading scripture for my quiet time, one verse really jumped out at me. Psalm 77:19 says,

Your road led through the sea, 

your pathway through the mighty waters—

a pathway no one knew was there! 

There’s always a quickening of my spirit whenever the Lord uses the Word to speak to me, so I had to stop and think on it a moment. What was it about this verse that caused me to stop? I had to look at the context of the scripture and look at it in context of my own life.

This particular Psalm is written by Asaph and it's all about comfort during troubled times and remembering how God came through for His people.  I felt as if the Lord was reminding me that His path is rarely ever the easiest path. In fact, they almost always are ones we would not choose, and often in a place where we might not see a path. There was something very encouraging about that thought. It was a simple reminder to me that God can make a way where my eyes can see no way. 

I'm not going through a particularly troubled time. In fact, this is a rather quiet season in comparison to recent months. But, the path to this point has been rough at times and when I look ahead, I do often feel as if the way is obscured or insurmountable. 

It takes me back to just trusting that God does have a plan for my life and He will accomplish what He wants to accomplish in me and through me. Life won't always be easy. In fact, God rarely does the predictable. If the waters need to part so that I can walk on dry land--God will do that. If He needs to divert my path to go around the mountain instead of over it--God will do it.

Ahhh, if only I had that pillar of fire by night and the cloud to guide me by day! (see Exodus 13:21-22)

What do you need to trust God to do this week?

More Than We Can Handle?

Today I want to share some really interesting quotes from the sample chapters of a book entitled Emtpy by Cherie Hill. These sample chapters were included in the eBook I've been reading called Hope Being Gone by this same author.

~~~

"God has never said that He won't give us more than we can handle. 

What He has shown is, throughout history, 

He always gives people more than they can handle." - Cherie Hill

This is the very thing I've been grappling with for months. I wrote about the topic of "burdens: how much is too much" before. You see, there's a phrase that's used a lot in Christian circles: "God will never give us more than we can handle." It's bandied about as a source of comfort when we're "under the pile" of life. It's said by well-meaning individuals and meant to encourage. Although the source of this saying is based in truth, it's been twisted a bit. 

The temptations in your life are no different 

from what others experience. 

And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation

 to be more than you can stand. 

When you are tempted, he will show you 

a way out so that you can endure. -1 Cor 10:13 

This scripture is about temptation, not trouble in life. The Bible is full of real people who experienced difficulties that were more than they could bear. Remember our man Job? He definitely endured a series of hardships that caused him to finally say it would have been better if he had never been born (Job 3). Then there's our friend Paul who was overwhelmed and crushed beyond his ability to endure (2 Cor 1:8-9). If you and I stop and think about it, we can probably cite a personal example of someone we know--even ourselves--who may be/or have been under the weight of severe illness or other extreme hardships. It seems more than they/we can bear on our own. How can this be? That takes me to my 2nd point to share...

~~~

"God always gives us more than we can handle, 

in order to reveal what He is able to do through our faith in Him.

...Without situations in life that we can't handle, 

we'd never need God to show up. 

Why would we even need to pray at all?" - Cherie Hill

Interesting. Paul says that his own weakness demonstrates God's great power (2 Cor. 12:8-10.) It's at this point that I have to bow to God's soveriegnty to know how much is too much for any one person to handle. He knows just how much pressure it will take to accomplish what needs to be done. He created me and you and knows us even better than we know ourselves. I won't pretend that this is an easy subject to explain away and I'm not trying to do that here. Suffering is a bitter pill to swallow. I feel as if the Lord is challenging my thinking about this faith walk I call life. Keeping the Word in context of scripture is vital to understanding.

~~~

My final thought to share is not a quote from the book, instead it's an explanation of the difference between a cistern and a well. I've read the following verse about cisterns and even studied it briefly in the past. For whatever reason (maybe being a city girl), I never really understood this verse.

For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me,
The fountain of living waters,
To hew for themselves cisterns,
Broken cisterns that can hold no water. - Jer. 2:13 

A well

A cistern is an artificial reservoir--sort of a modern-day rain barrel. It's usually above ground, but it can be placed underground. A cistern is designed simply to store water. But, it has to be filled by an outside source. As we all know, a well is dug in the ground, with supporting walls, and usually has a natural source--a continuous flow--of fresh ground water. The cistern water doesn't have that continuous natrual source of water. It can will dry. If it's cracked, the water will leak out. We can never be completely satisfied with water from a cistern. Water in that cistern can get stagnant. Yuck. In life we often fill our "cisterns" with things that may satisfy for the moment (money, relationships, drugs, food), but eventually all of those will leak out through that broken cistern. It's only when we go to the source of this Living Water that we will be truly satisfied and refreshed. That source is Jesus (John 4:11). I think really understanding the difference between these two vessels and the sources of the water helped me. I hope it helps you.

When Temptation Knocks

I saw this image being shared on Facebook. It was meant to be funny (and it is amusing), but I saw some interesting spiritual application in it.

Bears are beautiful creatures, but never turn your back on one. With one swipe, a bear can change your life. The caption to this photo says that "Some bear attacks begin with a polite knock on your door." That's the way some temptation begins--a polite knock on the door.

A polite knock on the door seems harmless enough when compared to banging and pounding. Our guard is up when someone is pounding on our door. Our sensible side reminds us to take precaution before answering. However, a polite knock on the door may cause us to assume that whatever is behind that door is safe and harmless. Maybe it is, maybe not.

Temptation is a lot like that polite knock on the door. Satan is very subtle in how he approaches us with temptation to sin. He can convince us that sin is not so bad as we think. Remember what he told Eve ? (Genesis 3) Even Jesus was tempted, but His weapon was scripture. (Matthew 4:1-11) Good thing to remember.

So even if a cute and cuddly bear politely knocks on my door, this serves as a good reminder that I should be on guard and not assume he's bringing me an innocent picnic basket full of goodies.

Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. - Ephesians 6:11

But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but favors the humble.” So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. - James 4:6-8