Beyond our understanding

One evening in our small group we got into a discussion about some of the more difficult ways of God. If we were honest, I think we would all have to admit we don’t understand why God chooses some and not others.

Why God choose Israel and not Assyria? Why God choose Jacob rather than Esau. Why God choose David rather than any of his brothers. Whether it is this concept or another, we do not understand God’s ways.

He is surely knowable through His word and our personal relationship with Him, but we cannot comprehend Him. There was a time when that would have caused me great distress. I have come to realize that my distress was a result of my own prideful heart, trying to understand the things of God that were not given to me to understand. In my effort to comprehend God I was attempting to bring Him down to the human level so that His ways would make sense to me. If I had been able to succeed, God would not truly be God; rather He would have been no greater than I.

In many ways, that is what our society has done. They argue that since His ways do not make sense to them, either He does not exist or they will not follow Him. “I cannot accept a God that allows…”

“Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the LORD, and their works are in the dark; They say, “Who sees us?” and , “Who knows us?” Surely you have things turned around! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; for shall the thing made say of him who made it, “He did not make me”? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”? Isaiah 29:15-16

Accepting and acknowledging that we do not understand God’s ways is not a sign of resignation or weakness but rather a sign of faith embracing truth. Personally, when I accepted this truth I found that out of it flows praise of the One True God.

Is it wrong to ask why? Or How? I don’t think so; it is a natural question of our hearts in an effort to bring order and sense to our world. When we allow the truth that His ways are not our ways and yet they make sense in His economy, and that everything makes sense without compromising a single one of His attributes or marring any part of His character, I believe the most natural response of a humble heart is praise and worship.

“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! ‘For who has known he mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor? Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him?’ For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things to whom be glory forever, Amen.

Diane Hunt is the Director of Addiction Recovery Ministries at America’s KESWICK, Biblical Counselor, Conference and retreat speaker, Victory Call editor, wife, mother, grandmother, and nut and not necessarily in that order.

Whose counsel are you listening to?

“Woe to the rebellious children,” says the LORD, “Who take counsel, but not of Me, And who devise plans, but not of My Spirit, That they may add sin to sin” Isaiah 30:1

We all receive counsel every day form a variety of sources, ourselves (how we choose to interpret events and things we read and hear); TV, radio, friends, pastors, books, etc. How careful are we to filter everything through the grid of Scripture allowing its lens to expose the truth or error of everything. When we listen to anything that does not meet the truth test we accept a lie and will heap sin upon sin.

Who walk to go down to Egypt, And have not asked My advice… Isaiah 30:2a

God is interested in the details of our lives. Too often we ask God’s advice on the big stuff assuming we can handle the “small” stuff on our own. This prayerless approach evidences a prideful heart and often results in our bondage.

To strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, And to trust in the shadow of Egypt! Isaiah 30:2b

We seek to find comfort and confidence in people and things we can see, touch and hear-things of this world. It lulls us into thinking we are doing something tangible but in the end we are walking away from God not towards Him.

Therefore the strength of Pharaoh Shall be your shame, And trust in the shadow of Egypt Shall be your humiliation. Isaiah 30:3

When we trust in things of this world we attempt to orchestrate and control our own lives. This short-sighted and fleshly approach to life will fail and leave us grasping after the wind and repeatedly coming up empty. Only that which is of God truly satisfies.

How much of you does God have ownership of? How much of your life do you trust God to direct? What part of you do you withhold from His Lordship? Whose counsel are you listening to today?

Diane Hunt is the Director of Addiction Recovery Ministries at America’s KESWICK, Biblical Counselor, Conference and retreat speaker, Victory Call editor, wife, mother, grandmother, and nut and not necessarily in that order.

How committed are we?

Isaiah received his calling recorded in Isaiah 6:8, “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me.'” I would venture to guess that Isaiah had no idea what lie ahead for him or how God would use him to reveal His message to the people. Isaiah 20:2, “…at the same time the LORD spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, ‘Go, and remove the sackcloth from your body, and take your sandals off your feet.’ And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. Then the Lord said, ‘Just as My servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder against Egypt and Ethiopia, so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians as prisoners and the Ethiopians as captives…”

Can you image how Isaiah probably felt when he received the word from God that he was to disrobe and walk around naked for 3 years? The shame he would feel was a picture of the shame Egypt and Ethiopia were going to experience. I wonder if Isaiah hesitated. I wonder if he considered other options or tried to convince himself that surely God would not ask so much. We don’t know from the text, but I’m just trying to imagine Isaiah’s reaction, after all he was human like you and I. Yet, in spite of what he might have felt, Scripture indicates that he indeed walked around naked and barefoot 3 years, 3 years!!

In comparison, what have you been asked to do by God lately? Perhaps God has been convicting you regarding your tongue, gossip, pride, anger, or self-control. Perhaps He has been prompting you to spend less time watching TV and more time in His word, or to get more involved in Church or share the gospel with your neighbor who keeps asking questions. What is God asking of you? How committed are you to obey God?
If Isaiah, a man like us, obeyed God and walked in shame for 3 years can we not cease gossiping, overspending or overeating?

How committed are we?

Diane Hunt is Director of Addiction Recovery Ministries and a proud grandma!

Choose to obey.

We are living in the era of “reality” television programs. My husband and I have become intrigued with the Super Nanny program. We are amazed that parents now need someone to come in and explain to them that they are the parents, and it’s OK to tell your children no. Somehow we knew that children needed consistency and order. How have people known these things in the past generations? First, in all of scripture we see order and consistency. Scripture verifies we can depend on God. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
This week take time to look at the book of Jonah. Try to read through this little, four chapter, book in the Living Bible translation or some other modern day translation.
First God gives Jonah a specific request: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” That direction is very clear. Jonah didn’t have to wonder what God wanted him to do. But Jonah decided to ignore the very clear and precise direction from God. He threw a huge temper tantrum. “But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction in order to get away from the Lord.” Jonah committed a deliberate act of disobedience.
So what did God do? Did He yell and scream and threaten Jonah? No. First, when Jonah realized the ship he was on was destined to sink, he knew exactly why. The crew asked, “What have you done to bring this awful storm down on us?” Jonah answered, “I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land. Then he told them that he was running away from the Lord.” When the crew threw Jonah overboard, the storm subsided and all was well with them, but not for Jonah. God gave him a time out. God didn’t put Jonah in the naughty room or the naughty chair; He put him in the belly of a large fish that had been created just for Jonah! During that time out, Jonah came to his senses. When the fish dumped Jonah on the beach, Jonah was ready to say, “I am sorry.” So what did God do? Did He belittle Jonah or constantly remind him of his disobedience? No. “Then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time: Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message of judgment I have given you.” God did not get sidetracked by Jonah’s disobedience. He just made sure Jonah followed through on what God had told him to do in the first place. As we read further in Jonah, we even see God gave Jonah time to pout once he had been obedient.
In this book we have a wonderful description of God’s plan for raising children, Give them clear directions; provide a time out if necessary; after the time out make sure they do what you asked them to do in the first place; don’t get sidetracked. We also see that we serve a wonderful, dependable, consistent, forgiving God. Aren’t you glad He does not keep a record of wrongs, and He loves us no matter how many times we throw our own style of temper tantrums? No matter how much we run, the requests remain consistent and predictable.
I saw a license frame that said, “God sent me to Nineveh, but I went to Nordstrom’s instead.” No wonder we have trouble giving our children directions. We don’t want to follow directions ourselves.
God’s word has given us clear directions for life long before we ever heard of a Super Nanny.

“Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your principles” (Psalm 119:12).

Marilyn is a wife and mother, author, and international conference and retreat speaker. She and her husband Glen serve as Counselors-in-Residence at America’s KESWICK during the summer months.

Rash talk…

Ecclesiastes 5:6, “Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin…”

Perhaps you are like me in that the most immediate response we have in a negative situation is to say things we will later regret. I know from experience, I have had to go back to individuals (often my husband or children) and ask for forgiveness for my hurtful words.
I am learning to keep my mouth shut if my inclination is to reply too quickly, too rashly, or too emotionally. I first started to practice this about 5 years ago. I was very offended by an incident that took place in my home that was an affront to my children. The individuals that witnessed the incident immediately came to me to talk about it, to assure me the other individual was way out of line, etc. I kept silent. One particular person kept pushing me and herself became offended by my silence, so I learned at that moment to say, “I’m sorry. I know my heart right now and I know that if I speak now I will sin in my words so I just need some time to think and pray through this before I talk about it.” This phrase has come in handy and kept me out of trouble on multiple occasions.
Sometimes we are better off keeping our thoughts to ourselves until we can speak gently, truthfully, and carefully.

Diane

MONOTONOUS RITUAL OR REWARDING JOY?

Let’s face it. There are some things we do in our daily lives that are just that – monotonous rituals. Start with the alarm clock (we hit the snooze button once – or maybe twice), start the coffee pot perking, hit the shower, take our various and assorted medications and vitamins, grab a piece of toast or, if you’re lucky, an ooey, gooey cinnamon roll, brush your teeth and head for the door. And so the day will go. These are routines that we perform almost without thinking about them because they are routine, albeit important and needing to be done.

And there is nothing wrong with those kinds of things. No one is going to try and convince you that there is any real joy in brushing your teeth (your own or those acquired at some time in your life). But there are things we do during the course of our day that can become monotonous rituals that should NEVER be allowed to become so.

Is your prayer life taking on a certain monotonous character? How about your personal devotions? Or your Bible study? Or your church attendance?

I will confess that all too often I find myself sitting down to pray or have my devotions because I need to do that, and it’s “that time of day” when I usually do it. And when I finish, how do I feel? Frequently the answer is “OK, that’s done. Now I can move on to the next thing on my list of things to do.”

And I have robbed myself of the rewarding joy that should be a part of every part of my prayer life, my Bible reading, my church attendance. Joy in being in God’s presence, joy in being able to speak to and be heard by the sovereign God of the universe, joy in experiencing the Holy Spirit speak back to me God’s words of love, wisdom and teaching.

So, I say, God, keep me from falling into monotonous routines when it comes to praying, reading Your Word, or joining with fellow believers in worship, and fill my days – every one of them — with the rewarding joy of Your very presence in my life.

Lynn is the Director of Human Resources at America’s KESWICK; is active in her local church; enjoys serving and encouraging others.

Agape: God is love
I have been studying a simple yet so, so deep topic- the love of God. Do you understand the agape/ love of God? Here are a few thoughts to help you and I put such an awesome love in perspective. First, we must understand that God doesn’t just love but HE IS LOVE! Think about that and if you are like me it is hard to wrap your mind around that great truth. It is hard to fully understand because no one can fully comprehend God. Since God is love what can we understand? Secondly, 1 Corinthians 13 tells us what love (agape) is and is not. Love is long suffering, kind, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, and never FAILS. Love is not envious, proud, puffed up, rude, self-seeking, easily provoked, thinking evil nor rejoices in iniquity. Please don’t turn this agape love into something small and common. Don’t think that the way we love is the way God loves. Heaven forbid! He can love this way and never fail. We, on the other hand, fail to agape all the time. For this very reason we must understand our helplessness to love this way. You and I can’t! But God can through us. We need to make clear distinctions that this agape love is not of ourselves but it is love that is of God flowing through us. If you are trying to love the unlovely or love the one who is a thorn in your side right now you won’t. You can’t muster up this kind of love. Stop trying and focus on the agape of God and let Him work through you. Agape love is a supernatural love. Agape is foundational to the fruit of the Spirit. Agape love comes from the Holy Spirit, who knows the deep things of God. To love with the agape of God is a choice, one we cannot just choose to do apart from Him. Take the time to reflect on our God who is love and ask Him today to bring to your heart that kind of agape; for God first and then for others!
“Agape is not so much a feeling but a response. God commands us to agape. He is commanding us to surrender to an act of His Spirit which results in obedience.”- pg 59, Living Beyond Yourself by Beth Moore

Kathy Withers Kathy is on staff fulltime at the Keswick Book and Gift Shop. She is married to her husband, Dave and has two adult children. Kathy is active in her local church and has previously served as a Teaching Director for Community Bible Study. Her passion is the Word of God and encouraging women to dig deeper into the truths of the Bible.

Lessons from Exodus V

Exodus 14:11-12: Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.”

As we draw our week to a close, let us consider yet another observation from the exodus of the people of Israel. Why are we so quick to return to our sin, our own Egypt where bondage has the upper hand? What does our own exodus look like? Does it parallel that of Israel? Do we race headlong towards freedom with our arms outstretched like a child running to her daddy, until we hit the wall of suffering? It is bound to come. The reason we are in bondage in the first place is because when suffering came into our life we choose the path of the least pain (though it may have still been exceedingly painful) rather than the path of faith and truth. Every time the opportunity arose to choose between the two, we choose the path of least pain which resulted in tighter, suffocating bondage.

Why do we return to our ‘addictions’, our besetting sins? To avoid the painful death of self. The death that comes when we choose God’s way over our own. We must die to ourselves, our choices, our agendas, our wants, our way. This dying results in suffering. Dying to self is painful because, in the flesh, we want self to live. We must consistently accept the pain that goes along with the dying if we are ever going to experience genuine, lasting freedom.

So what do we do? It is by His grace and His strength that we can ever know freedom. It will not be by sheer determination on our part that we will know victory rather it will be by faith.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” 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.

Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

1 Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Diane Hunt is the Director of Addiction Recovery Ministries at America’s KESWICK, Biblical Counselor, Conference and retreat speaker, Victory Call editor, wife, mother, grandmother, and nut and not necessarily in that order.

Lessons from Exodus IV

This week we are looking at some observations from Exodus about why people return to bondage or patterns of sin. As we consider Israel’s exodus from Egypt, I believe we can glean some insight about this very common human tendency.

Exodus 14: 10-11 And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD. Then they said to Moses, “Because there are no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt?

Why does going back to Egypt sound like a better option that moving forward to freedom?

Bondage, by its very nature, does not release us easily. Freedom is already ours through the finished work on the cross of Christ. Yet, for many of us the experience of freedom remains elusive.

The journey from bondage to freedom will bring us to a crisis of faith. Our backs will be up against our own Red Sea.

We remain in bondage by the lies and errors we continue to believe. Those lies and errors in our thinking will be challenged by the truth as we earnestly pursue freedom. Before we can experience the winds of change, we will need to decide which we will believe, the lies (that feel so true) or God’s truth. When we choose to take God at his word and believe Him, we will begin to feel the gentle breeze of freedom blow through the recesses of our hearts and minds.

When we face that crisis of faith, we must choose between believing what feels true and what is true. Fear and unbelief will tempt us to believe what feels true and strengthen the hold of bondage in our hearts. Choosing to believe God in spite of our feelings will grow our faith and loosen the grip of bondage in our lives and we will take a definitive step towards experiencing freedom.

When you come to a crisis of faith, choose faith.

Diane Hunt is the Director of Addiction Recovery Ministries at America’s KESWICK, Biblical Counselor, Conference and retreat speaker, Victory Call editor, wife, mother, grandmother, and nut and not necessarily in that order.