This world is not my home

Psalm 27:1

The Lord is my light and my salvation—
    whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
    of whom shall I be afraid?

Sitting beside someone, as they die is one of the hardest things to do, in my opinion.  A friend of mine from growing up, is currently sitting beside her Grandma, as she leaves this world.  Grandma Rosemary was a Grandma to all of us in our small town.  She was a Sunday School Teacher at one of the small churches in town.  She was the sweetest lady, who everyone knew loved the Lord. 

My sister, who still lives near that small town, was asked yesterday to come and sit with the family.  She called me on her way and asked, “What do I do?  What do I say?”  If you have ever been there, you know how hard that is. 

All I could tell her is to keep reminding everyone that this is the moment that she has lived her life for.  She has longed to be with Jesus for almost 90 years. 

Throughout all of this, it makes me wonder about when my time comes.  Will others know that it is a moment that I’ve lived for?  That I am not afraid of death.  What words will be spoken about my relationship with our Lord and Savior? 

I have experience the death of many in my life and some you are sad to see go however you are completely at peace because you know they have an eternal life ahead with Jesus.  Others, you are truly sad because it hurts to lose people while here on earth but also because you don’t have that assurance, that peace that comes from the Lord. 

I encourage you today to live a life like Grandma Rosemary, where everyone around her knew that when her time would come, she would be ready and waiting to walk again with her Lord and Savior.  

Songs of Deliverance

“For in the time of trouble

He shall hide me in His pavilion;

in the secret place of His tabernacle

He shall hide me;

He shall set me high upon a rock.”

   Psalm 27:5 (NKJV)

“You are my hiding place;

You shall preserve me from trouble;

You shall surround me with

songs of deliverance.”

    Psalm 32:7 (NKJV)

In my darkest day ever, I experienced God’s precise fulfillment of these verses.  Although there was trouble all around me, I felt protected in His secret place. My heart was breaking because of what I saw and heard, but I was secure in His shelter.  I could hardly wait for the earthly event to be over, yet I felt shielded from the trauma due to His presence with me. I had supernatural peace despite the heartache. He literally brought to my mind verse after verse of hymns that I sang to myself in my head until the long ordeal was over--He truly surrounded me with songs of deliverance!

Although this happened quite a few years ago, the memory still brings tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat because of His lovingkindness towards me and His gracious help in my time of great trouble.  It was an extremely difficult day for me, yet it was a very special time too because I received a deeper revelation of God’s love for me.  I hold this special experience close in my heart--but I also cannot but speak of what I have seen and heard (Acts 4:20)! 

God is faithful and His word is true!  Turn to Him in your time of trouble and He will not let you down.  He promises never to leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).  He is with us in the fire, in the raging waters, in the dark days (Isaiah 43:2).   He kept me safe in His hiding place and He can do that for you too.  In fact, I’m sure most of you have already experienced His help and peace and great faithfulness.  How great is our God!

Wisest Above All

The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.   As the Scriptures say,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
    and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.”

So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish.  1 Corinthians 1:18-20

I am sure many of you have seen the long debates of this season.  No, I’m not talking about the Presidential candidates.  I’m talking about the real ones.  The one’s that require long thought and lots of back and forth dialogue.  Yes, I’m talking about the infamous Facebook debates!  At first, I would let it bother me particularly when something was posted that was heavily untrue or hurtful.  Then literally after thousand word essays and numerous replies that would have made for a miniseries, I decided to step back, and reflect.  I realized it was more important to understand and appreciate the opposing views, and then share my view not with the intention to win over.  Instead, it was to say while we may be divided on key views, we are united by one God.  Somehow, that has been totally forgotten in today’s discourse.  You see, it is perfectly fine to have a healthy and hearty debate, but to do so, you must have God at the center of your thoughts.  Will it mean you will eventually agree?  No.    So what’s the point?  First, realize that our love for God will not allow for us to ever be divided.  Furthermore, love for each other means we albeit separated by philosophy are together in Christ.  Thus if we focus on that which is most important in God’s eyes, our debates no matter how heated will always bring us to the same conclusion; God is in control no matter what and He knows more than we do.

When you trust in God, you grow beyond the wisdom of your own understanding.  Whenever people would debate me on if God is real noting the empirical evidence against that fact, I simply stated that while all you say may be true, I have had things happen in my life that underlined God’s existence beyond any doubt.  I feel His presence, and He has made a way for my life when there was not a way.  Through this, He has opened my eyes to know that our color, politics, gender, and even culture make us different, but our God makes us the same.  While they may not agree with this, they appreciate it because it does not attack their belief.  It merely points out the truth in mine (aka telling them what I’m for and not what I’m against).  We can display the wisdom of our faith that allows us to deal with many disputes.  So it is possible to kneel for injustice and still love your country.  We can disagree on principle but learn to come together for the sake of our future.  A man can be a head of a household and treat his woman like a queen on a royal thrown.  We can be from different parts of the world, but we can freely worship an awesome God right here and now.

Trusting in God’s wisdom always leads to the best outcome.  Someone wrote me about a prior devotion focusing on the topic of what I want versus what God wants.  If we are focusing on what we want and do not get it, we will never find contentment.  However if we focus on what God wants, we fully trust in Him, and even if our outcome does not work the way we would like, we will always be at peace.  Remember God understands.  How much trust do you place in an all knowing God?  How can you focus on the wisdom God has given you versus on what you feel you do not have?  My prayer is that we open our minds to God’s ways knowing He is wisest above all.  Amen.