What is the Lord Doing in your Life?

On the last day of my internship, the staff at my church did something great. It was a bonding time for all pastoral staff members, interns, and that one random IT guy who's super cool. Actually, we all left for it on Tuesday immediately after work, and then stayed until Wednesday at 2.

It was a campout and it actually cancelled my last day of the internship, but all was well. The break and fellowship was worth it, and was encouraging.

One thing we did was sit around a campfire and talked about all the little unexpected things that brought us all right where we were ministering (even if just for a summer) at First Baptist Church of Milford.

Something was in common surrounding all of these accounts - the Lord used small things in our life over which we had no control to put us right where He wanted. A place we loved more than anything we could ask for, but that we would never have expected.

Whether it was getting offered a four-year internship in the same office that had told you that you couldn't stay in the school any longer just two years prior, to getting interviewed for a position as a 1-year internship (which unbeknownst to you will end with you as the youth pastor) while getting ready to propose to a member of the church, or maybe even being a rep for a college coming to a church and exclaiming that you would love to serve in a ministry like this, just to find that 8 months later, you would be doing just that.

Yes, there were lots of interesting stories, and they were all encouraging of what the Lord had done and is doing in all of our lives. And I trust that the same is true in the lives of most of my readers.

You know what else? It is indicative that oftentimes, you just don't know what the Lord has in store for you, and you should never be so confident that you have it all figured out. Ever.

And since you're probably curious, this was my testimony (with slightly different wording choices and detail inclusion).

What brought me to this church? Well, I was saved in this church. It is the only church that I have ever been a member of.

What brought me to intern at this church? It wasn't my idea. This summer, I found my schedule very busy, and I just wanted a part-time job to give some money; nothing too much of a time commitment. But the first Sunday night after I got back from school there was this crazy ordination service at my church, where four members of the pastoral staff were ordained all at once.

I now know all four of those men well, but at the time there were two that I particularly knew and who had been my Sunday School teacher and had an impact on my life. I wanted to be sure to congratulate them on this and wish them well.

So I did, but when I talked with the Associate Pastor, things were a little different than expected. For some reason, I kept having to speak about my life and not his. He asked me about college, and about my summer plans.

I expressed them as they currently stood, and then he asked me if I was going to get a job. Well, yes, Mr Wright, I would love to, but I don't know how that would look since I will be out of town for two weeks of the summer.

"We have a summer internship program available if you're interested. We'd be able to accommodate your weeks off as long as you gave us advance notice. Just call me if you're interested."

Well, I prayed about it for a day or two, but it was obvious from the start that God wanted me to have this internship. This internship which quite figuratively fell into my lap (grammar nazis that word not sound as good in that context...).

So I took the internship, and it has been a fun ride. From the very start, it was clear this internship would be a great experience, and I know I have learned a lot. Being with the other two summer interns (their names, in case you're interested are Ryan and Ryan) was great. I loved getting to know them better as we all got to know the program together. Starting next summer would have been a different dynamic because they (if they come back) would already have had the experience and we wouldn't learn it altogether.

I am glad the Lord orchestrated it so that I could have this opportunity this summer. Even if it does mean, I'm suddenly excited about returning to Cedarville, so I can sleep in two extra hours each day. I even think there is enough for me to learn from this church to do a summer internship next year. I've already started praying about it.

That One Thing

I am still a little less than amused about the church's seemingly changed purpose around patriotic holidays to go from praising God to praising a nation. Sorry. I guess that's a little bit of a bitter exaggeration, but not really. But that's not what I'm going to be posting about today. I just thought you might be interested.

In today's devotional post, we are going to see something which seems to be everywhere in the Old Testament.

God returns to His people, to keep covenant and mercy. Despite all the sinfulness of the people, He is always ready to bless His people.

It's in the book of Nehemiah, Esther, even the book of Ruth, the point always seems to be that even when it doesn't seem like it, God is working things out for His people. Maybe that doesn't mean the best of circumstances. But it always means that we have something to be excited about.

So maybe it's that God really does care about His people. Crazy thing, right?

So don't give up on Him whatever your life may look like.

The Boasting Ax

The Bible has some interesting words to describe those who claim recognition, glory, and credit for their own actions in fulfilling God's plan. He describes them as axes boasting against the one that uses it.

Ok, so I guess I should be a little more clear. The Lord calls the King of Assyria that in Isaiah 10 for how he will boast of his inevitable destruction of Jerusalem.

The Lord of course used the wicked to punish the wicked, but then the ax that he has wielded decides to boast itself against Him. Listen in on the Lord's rebuke In Isaiah 10:12-15, 

"Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood."

 Hey, the Lord is sovereign, and He is able to empower men to do His bidding. But after we have done His bidding (either willingly or unwillingly), we tend to take all sorts of credit for the good that we have done.

But how is it that the ax is boasting itself against Him that is using it? or the rod against Him that is lifting it?

It's not as if the rod is suddenly going to jump up and lift itself. Neither are we going to be able to accomplish anything without God. So maybe just maybe we should give Him the credit, and not be like this wicked King of Assyria.

Internet, Iron Man, and Indebtedness

I get to write this blog post from the comfort of my desk in my dorm room. That shouldn't excite me that much, but let's just say it took going to the Tech Help desk again to get that rolling. Let me tell you, I didn't think it was possible to go anywhere with inferior wi-fi to that of my house. I was wrong.

Still, it has given me a greater appreciation for the internet in general. Knowing that much work was put in place by the Technology personnel to fix the internet connection on my computer has given me an appreciation for how I should use this particular benefit appropriately, and not waste time playing with my lanyard in front of an open blog post. The internet was worked for, and so I must take the advantage of it.

But this magical bit of internet I have here from the comfort of my desk is limited in comparison to some of the other gifts that have been worked for on my behalf. You know, there are many things that happen in life that change us directly and just make us have to respond in a different way.

For this internet's purpose, it is a small change in my life. I desire to be more responsible and not waste time looking at social media (I'm on a fast as of writing this anyway; it will be over by the time I publish it though). But for other gifts, it can be more significant of a change.

Take, for instance, the great hero Tony Stark. In the movie Iron Man. Mr. Stark is fatally injured and should very well die. Through the surgery of one Yinsen, Tony's life has been saved. Stark and Yinsen plan a daring escape from their imprisonment (by the way, they've been imprisoned), and in the process, Yinsen dies. His last words to Tony are simple.

"Don't waste it. Don't waste your life." 

Tony's life has been spared twice by the man Yinsen, and the last words seem to have an effect on Tony. He understands that he is greatly blessed, and responds accordingly. In an important point of the film, he tells Pepper simply,

"I shouldn't be alive... I'm not crazy, Pepper. I just finally know what I have to do. And I know in my heart that it's right."

I know the deepness of what I'm about to say is going to blow your mind, but here goes anyway. Jesus gave Himself to give us a blessing far greater than Tony's. Instead of having a chance at happiness in temporal life, Jesus died to give us guaranteed happiness for all eternity.

Tony responded to his blessing with a changed outlook and different behavior choices to pass on a better world to those around him. We as Christians should respond to our blessings with a different focus in life, and a strong desire and great boldness to better people's eternal (and temporal) situations.

But do we? Are we truly living lives that express gratitude to God for saving us? Are we trying to serve Him in all that we do? Or does our every moment become occupied with thoughts of work, fashion, culture, or community?

Not one of those four things I mentioned are bad, but my goodness is there more in life! I think we've all heard this quite clearly a gazillion times, but just think a moment. When I got my internet fixed, I set to work on getting tasks I needed to do done. When Tony's life was saved, he wasted no time turning his life around.

But do we react the same in response to our great blessing of eternal life? That's really all I want to challenge you with today. Look at your response to the almighty God's most gracious gift. Is it living a life of gratitude or do your actions say you just don't care?

I leave you with a quotation from C.T. Stubb,

"If Jesus Christ be God, and He died for me, there is nothing too big for me to do for Him." 

It's a Celebration!

It is a well-known fact among my friends that I enjoy celebrations. I often will joke about how some holidays (such as birthdays and um... labor day!) don't actually make sense, but whoever cares? We need all the reason to celebrate as we can!

As such, I have found one more reason to celebrate. Last week, I hit over 2500 pageviews on this blog! That was something I wasn't quite expecting. Also somehow without marketing this blog much at all, I'm averaging about 10-15 pageviews a day. 

But that is not why I am celebrating today! No, today I am celebrating that this is the 100th post on this here blog. It truly does feel like last week when I wrote the celebratory 50th blog post, but apparently that was almost 4 months ago. Time is weird sometimes (and this isn't even Doctor Who!). 

To celebrate today, I'm gonna do something strange -  talk about myself. Hopefully, this is more interesting to you than I would at first think.

I mentioned in my fiftieth post that I started this blog as a way of keeping myself in the habit of writing while on my financially-imposed gap year. This is definitely true, but only part of the story. You see, as I mentioned in Joseph, Levites, and Vows, the Lord was using this gap year and the book of Numbers to get a hold of my heart during October. I was then stranded between two options: the political track my life was on and the Pastoral track that seemed to be laid before me. 

Silly me thought this blog would be a great way of determining which route I should choose. By utilizing a blog where I posted about politics one day, apologetics one day, and a simple devotional the third, I thought I could see where my talents lie and what interests other people. 

My Gideon tactic didn't quite work out as I wanted. Through this blog, I didn't quite learn that particular area of what God's plan was for my life. He revealed to me through other means that he desired me to enter full-time ministry. What I learned through the blog is that well, different people are interested in different topics regardless of the quality of your writing or where God wants you in life. 

I also learned that within a setting where people are reading or listening to you for your insights (if indeed anyone was doing this), they are more interested in the knowledge you have to impart than how your studies brought you to this knowledge. I could tell you how I learned this, but you just wouldn't be interested. 

As my loquaciousness subsided and worked into short posts, I learned that the Lord would help me write posts succinctly and not ramble on forever and ever. You see, in the past, I would make sure that I made my point by repeating it over and over. Apparently repeating it over and over develops the point further than if you just say it once and then move on. Now I will admit that repetition can very well be a solid tactic to get people to remember what you are saying, but there comes a point where the reader grows tired of reading the same thing over and over again, and you just stop communicating very clearly. For instance, this paragraph should have only been two sentences long...

But these are all peripheral lessons to what I learned through this blog.

I learned first and foremost that I need not show off with the blog. I'm sure it will come as no surprise to anyone that I enjoyed writing some posts in order to show off my intellect, writing ability, or just how close I was to God. I learned time and time again (and maybe if I'm really lucky, I will retain that knowledge this time and not have to learn it again) that this blog and any other opportunity to speak needed to have the Lord as the ultimate focus.

In a similar vein, I needed not become so obsessed with how many pageviews certain posts received or how many likes a Facebook link could receive. I needed to rely upon the Lord to use this as He intended, whether in the marketing stage, or the writing itself. (That doesn't mean I stopped outlining, but then I would have had to start to stop...) 

And now my life has come full circle."I'm going on an adventure!" Not really, but it feels like that sometimes. I am going to college at Cedarville University in the fall studying Biblical Studies.

As such, I have the next few years of my life figured out and will soon be writing for classes soon. Therefore, both of the original purposes of this blog are of no consequence. But I greatly enjoy writing it, and I see the Lord doing great things in my life through it. As long as that is the case, even if I never got another pageview, I will continue to write it. 

So hey, today I'm going to celebrate what the Lord has worked through this blog. It will probably be a small celebration. It will start by a decision to go back to sleep before beginning the rest of my day. I may have let myself get a little far behind on that note these last few weeks.

Since celebrations are so awesome, why don't you use this as a convenient excuse to celebrate, too?

The Way Out of Suffering

The Jews are in captivity in Persia. Life isn't all together horrible for them though. In what is likely the reign of the prior king, Daniel has ascribed to great power and station.

So the situation is not so bleak for the Jews... Yet. You see, the King Ahasuerus of Persia has recently promoted a man named Haman. Ahasuerus has even gone so far as to delegate his legislative powers to Haman.

This would be all well and good if Haman didn't have a grudge against the Jews, and decided to use his power to decree that all the Jews should be destroyed on the 13th day of the 12th month, that is the month Adar (February/March).

Of course, we all know this story. The Lord had provided for a Jew by the name of Esther to be Ahasuerus' queen. After a convincing speech by Mordecai, Esther agrees to risk her life for an opportunity to save the Jews. In her resolve, she states In Esther 4:16, 

"Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish."

 Esther is given favour of the king, and is granted her request to save the Jews (yes, I know this version is much abridged; if you want the whole story, read the book of Esther!). Thus, Esther's cousin Mordecai is given permission to write up a decree.

But all is not as cheery at this point as it may seem. You see, Haman's decree was written with the king's name and sealed with the king's name. As such, it has all of the authority of the king. But Esther 8:8 tells us that no man (not even the king) can reverse that which has been decreed by the king's authority.

"Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring: for the writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may no man reverse."

Thus, as Mordecai writes with the king's power, he is not able to entirely reverse the work of Haman. All people of Persia will still have consent to hunt down and destroy as many Jews as they possibly can upon the thirteenth day of the month Adar. All Mordecai can do is give the Jews a legal right to self-defense.

It would seem that this is a small thing. Why didn't the Lord just allow for the situation to be resolved without any fighting necessary?

This would seem to be our first response in a crisis such as this. Indeed in my life, there has been a situation that I greatly wanted the Lord to resolve immediately. I wasn't happy with the opportunity He has provided for me to work through the issue over a period of time.

The Lord promises to strengthen our efforts, but he does sometimes actually require our efforts. We need to find contentment with the route that He has provided to get us out of our own crises. Through this book, the Lord was able to reprove me in this manner, and cause me to find some contentment.

Of course, the Jews in this story found contentment so much quicker. When the decree was sent out to all the land, they responded immediately with rejoicing for their opportunity to save their lives, the opportunity to get themselves out of their tribulation. Esther 8:17 explains,

"And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them."

 Ultimately, the Lord did strengthen their efforts and get them out of the pickle that Haman had put them in. In Esther 9:2, we learn that "No man could withstand them."

There of course will be times when the Lord will get you out of a struggle without any effort from yourself (Haman's attempt to hang Mordecai in Esther 5-6 is an excellent example; here Mordecai likely did not even know his life was ever in danger), but that is not always the route He chooses to use. We must learn to be content with His own path for us, and know that no matter how difficult it may seem, we will find more difficulty without His guidance and protective hand.

Deus Ex Machina

There is  literary device in the world of fiction, called, Deus ex machina. It name is Latin for, the God from the machine. It is used to denote when a resolution to a plot comes from outside the plot. It's as if some god decided to change the final endings for some undefined purpose.

It is a pretty sad literature device in most instances; however, in the real world, there are many instances of Deus ex machina . Time after time, the Lord will save his people from doom, whether that be from keeping them from harm or preventing them from hurting others. Today, we highlight a few examples of such things.

King Saul confronts David

Throughout the years between when David was anointed king and when he became king, he was constantly in danger of his life at the hand of the current King Saul. More times than one can even count, the Lord protected David from the hand of King Saul. One particular instance is instructive. 

In I Samuel 23, David is on the run from King Saul. Against the urging of his men, David follows the will of the Lord to protect the city of Keilah from the Philistines. David knows that is he stayed in Keilah after the battle that he would be caught by Saul (the Lord told David as much), so he leaves. 

Even still, the actions have alerted Saul as to the whereabouts of David and his men. The Lord keeps Saul from finding David, but Saul is persistent. David cannot relax for a while here as Saul and the Israelites pursue him. 

Then we have our Deus ex machina. The Philistines have regrouped and are now invading Israel. Saul's attention can no longer be turned towards David. As I Samuel 23:27-28 says, 

"But there came a messenger unto Saul, saying, Haste thee, and come; for the Philistines have invaded the land. Wherefore Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines."

Israelites Selling Children into Slavery

It is a sad time again for the Israelites. They are in captivity under Persian rule. There is a famine in the land and they are struggling to make ends meet and pay the taxes that Persia has placed upon them. But that is not the worst of it! No indeed, the rulers and nobles are taking advantage of the harmed economy, exacting interest and buying the Israelites' children as slaves. 

There seems to be no end in sight for these struggling Israelites. The only people they legally have a claim to complain to are the ones that are harming them. The Israelites have no option available to them in order to present the possibility of getting out of this situation. 

Then just when things couldn't get worse, the enemies of Jerusalem knock down the wall! Now, on top of having no food, no resources, and no children, they have no defenses. The situation is really hopeless now. How are they ever going to get out of this? 

Then comes our Deus ex machina. You see, a little while after Jerusalem's wall is torn down, King Artaxerxes appoints a new governor over Jerusalem with the purpose of rebuilding the wall. The Lord has started to orchestrate an option for the Lord to provide for His people to have defenses. 

But that's not the end of it. Although there is still a famine in the land after the 12 years that Nehemiah serves as governor of Jerusalem, Nehemiah rebukes the leaders, and requires them not to take advantage of the Jews. The Jews start to cooperate together in this situation, and ultimately, their children are restored and their lives return to normal. 

No Heat for the Orphans

A minister is running an orphanage. The orphanage is usually without extra funds because this man believes on fully trusting the Lord to supply funds, and thus doesn't specifically seek donations for this purpose. This works out quite well for the orphanage over many years. The Lord worked through several smaller Deus ex machinas to keep this orphanage running.

Then the boiler for their heating apparatus broke. It couldn't have happened at a worse time. It was just starting to become winter, and without this boiler repaired quickly, the children could have frozen.

It took some great lengths to get the repair people there to fix this boiler for the orphanage, but the Lord blessed in this area. An appointment was set with the workmen to repair the boiler.

But as that day approached, a tremendous North wind appeared. It was going to be cold, and the orphans would deal with that. The date of the appointment couldn't be changed and the boiler couldn't be running while it was being repaired. There was a considerable question about how in the world the orphans would survive this day.

But the minister decided to pray. He prayed that the North wind would miraculously change into a South Wind and that the repairmen would have a mind to work and finish their repairs quickly.

And wouldn't you know it? That is exactly our Deus ex machina in this story. As the minister writes in his autobiography,

"The evening before, the bleak north wind blew still; but on the Wednesday the south wind blew: exactly as I had prayed. The weather was so mild that no fire was needed. The brickwork is removed, the leak is found out very soon, the boiler-makers begin to repair in good earnest. About half past eight in the evening...  In speaking to the principal of this, he said in their hearing, 'the men will work late this evening, and come very early again to-morrow.' 'We would rather, sir,' said the leader, 'work all night.' Then I remembered the second part of my prayer, that God would give the men 'a mind to work.' Thus it was: by the morning, the repair of the boiler was accomplished...and all the time the south wind blew so mildly that there was not the least need of a fire."

This great minister spent many of his years like this in prayer, and would provide a plethora of examples of Deus ex machinas. His name is George Muller, and he explained,

"When I am in need of anything, I fall on my knees, and ask God that he would be pleased to give me what I need; and he puts it into the heart of some one or other to help me. Thus all my wants have been amply supplied during the last twenty-six years, and I can say, to the praise of God, I have lacked nothing." 

The Conclusion: Trust the Lord

Here we have several examples of the Lord controlling things that we have no access to to save us from harm, yet we still don't trust him, do we? We don't think that he can solve our problems. We try to figure out everything on our own, and will not take our situation and place it in God's hands. 

But we should. These examples show that he is able to be trusted with our lives. Thank goodness, Deus ex machinas happen in the real world. 

Trials and Persecution 1: The Inevitability of Suffering

There seems to be a trend emerging in our churches. There is a lesson that is being taught that goes like this - all the pleasures of this world can never satisfy you, and that the only way to prosperity and contentment is through recognizing the wonderful plan of Jesus Christ in your lives.

This narrative is completely accurate, but a bit misleading. You share this lesson with anyone, they will immediately think that living for God will allow us to find prosperity and success here on this Earth, that we will never truly have another trouble in the world. 

But that image is completely wrong. Indeed a careful examination of the Scriptures reveals to us quite the opposite. We are promised in 2 Timothy 3:12, 

"Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."

Jesus himself was persecuted, tortured, and then crucified. He definitely did not live a prosperous life by the world's standards. Some might argue that he did all of that, so that we could enjoy life more abundantly. Yes, that is true, but not without persecution. Jesus specifically tells his disciples (that includes us) in John 15:18-21,

"If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me."

We know from history that Jesus' prophecy rings true. Every single one of the disciples endured much persecution. They were banished, stoned, beheaded, and crucified. Ray Comfort in his book, God has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life: The Myth of the Modern Message, wrote,

"Church tradition tells us the fate of several apostles and early evangelists:

Philip: Crucified, Phrygia, A.D. 54

Matthew: Beheaded, Ethiopia, A.D. 60

Barnabus: Burned to death, Cyprus, A.D. 64

Mark: Dragged to death, Alexandria, A.D. 64

James (the Less): Clubbed to death, Jerusalem, A.D. 66

Paul: Beheaded, Rome, A.D. 66

Peter: Crucified, Rome, A.D. 69

Andrew: Crucified, Rome, A.D. 70

Thomas: Speared to death, Calamina, A.D. 70

Luke: Hanged, Athens, A.D. 93"

Some might try to say that it's different these days. That the people of this age are not as evil as they were back then to persecute Christians. But that conflicts with the words of 2 Timothy 3:13,

"But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived."

It may invoke a wonderful emotional response to say that our lives here on Earth will be all full of happiness if we accept Christ, but I believe it is more important to make sure our words are accurate than touching.

Yes, we will have the benefit of having Someone powerful in our lives to strengthen us through our trials and persecution, but we will still have such trials and persecutions.

Perhaps we should first understand the inevitability of struggles in our life before we begin to learn of the wonderful plan Jesus has for us. He does have one, but it isn't necessarily one that we might at first consider wonderful. It might not be comfortable, but I think we can all admit that God's presence in our lives (and the true purpose of salvation, eternal life) is much more valuable than the luxuries and comfort in this world.

Continue to Trials and Persecution 2: Just Not Fair