Light-work

The Nehushtan Pitfall

Israel was complaining in the wilderness. Again! They accused God of bringing them to the desert to die. So God cued the snakes as if to say, “If that is what I intended, it would look like this.” The bite from these fiery serpents was fatal and Israelites were dying by the hundreds.

Thankfully, Israel repented of her sin of speaking against the Lord and pled with Moses to intercede. Here’s what happened next: Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.” And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived (Numbers 21:6–9). This was God’s way of making a profound point: Left to yourselves, you will die in the wilderness. But even when in immediate and supreme danger, if you look to me for help, you will live.

The bronze serpent was a portal through which men could look to the Lord for their deliverance. And as men did so, God came through. Can you imagine what this must have been like? As word spread through the camp, everyone would have made sure he was always in a place where he could look through the portal. No matter where Israel made camp in their decades-long, wilderness journey, you can be sure they kept the “bronze-serpent-on-a-pole” prominently displayed.

Now let’s fast forward more than 800 years to a curious statement about Hezekiah, a twenty-something king of Israel with a heart for God: He removed the high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan (2 Kings 18:4). Apparently, Israel had kept the bronze serpent for centuries! But it had now become a religious relic named “Nehushtan,” an object of devotion that rivaled worship of the one true God. It was no longer used as a portal through which men looked to God. What was once the means of God’s blessing had now become a spiritual liability. Hezekiah was right to smash the thing.

God had originally instructed Moses to make the bronze serpent. And God had worked through it in a powerful way. Of course, it was God who was doing the working, not some mere snake on a stick. But in the days of Hezekiah, people thought the pole itself was something special. And they venerated it and not God.

Today, heated conflicts have arisen over how we do church. I wonder if we are not dealing with modern Nehushtans. There are some in the church who fondly recall days of yore in which God moved in their midst. It may have been a time marked by pews and organs; crusades and tent-meetings; street evangelism and alter calls. Praise God for the ways he has worked in the past. Others decry these antiquated means and point to the success of their mega church as testament to the ways things should be done today. To them, it is clear where “God is doing great things.” Out with the organ and in with the praise band. Down with foyers, up with coffee bars. But as often as traditionalists and moderns are insisting that church be done their particular way, are they not both in danger of overlooking what really makes the difference.

Great things are accomplished because God chooses to work, regardless of the means through which He chooses to work. When a church venerates its particular brand of means and strategies, does that church not dishonor God? Has it not erected a Nahushtan in the church narthex or welcome-center or coffer bar?

I am not diminishing the value of thinking through how best to make disciples in any given context. But I am pleading for the church to anchor these concerns to dependence on the One who alone can make the difference. Where are God’s people who know how to look to the Lord, to plead with Him for His favor despite the inadequacy of their efforts? Where are those who know how to pray this kind of prayer?

The king is not saved by a mighty army;
A warrior is not delivered by great strength.
A horse is a false hope for victory;
Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength.
Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,
On those who hope for His lovingkindness,
To deliver their soul from death
And to keep them alive in famine.
Our soul waits for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.
For our heart rejoices in Him,
Because we trust in His holy name.
Let Your lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us,
According as we have hoped in You (Psalm 33:16–22).

Waiting for Dawn to Break

It was an honor and privilege to speak at Central Church last Sunday. This sermon was intended to minister encouragement to those who are facing difficulty and seemed to connnect for many. You can check it out by clicking here. Maybe you know someone who yearns to see dawn break as they walk in a dark place. This message explains how to (1) identify fear talking, (2) follow the twin tail lights, and (3) wait in trust for maximum effect.

Proclaiming Release From The Parental Prison of Merit

We are just about ready to begin the grand unveiling of the stupendous and colorful chart of parental unit effectiveness. Click here to better understand the verse in the Bible that this chart explains. Click here to see actual fruit produced by the process depicted in this chart. Did you notice I have already used the word, “chart,” four times? You have to wonder if I have a thing for charts. Maybe we should make a chart to chart my use of the word, “chart.”

It is no secret I am a fan of charts, diagrams, tables, and graphs. I am especially fond of to-do lists with little open boxes beside each task. There is nothing quite like the joy of completing a half–dozen projects and then marking them with bold red, felt-tip checkmarks. When the checks keep coming, life is good.

Of course, there is a down side. I am well known among family members for underestimating the time required to complete a project. When I say, “Yea, I can probably have that done in a couple hours,” Rochelle knows to multiply by a factor of three. And when I hit a major snag, then the time table can go totally out the window. I have often arrived at the end of such days with zero checks in my boxes. On those days and despite my considerable labors, my list suggests I did nothing. No checks, no joy.

The chart that we will begin to unveil in the next post can be a source of great encouragement. It helps parents visualize the sequence and steps involved in the child-training challenge. Like a good road map that shows where you’ve been and where you’re going, this map outlines a parent’s journey. When things are progressing nicely, there is nothing like the joy of watching your children make measurable progress as they grow in wisdom.

But I want to prepare you for another possibility. We parents can wrestle with feelings of inadequacy. It goes with the territory. We want our children to turn out right. We want to do it right. But as we grow in our walk with God and in our understanding of what a good parent should do, we inevitably look back and see ways we could have done better. When our children are grown and make foolish choices with serious consequences, we blame ourselves for their decisions. We might not express it to anyone else, but a voice inside us accuses, “You have been a failure as a parent.”

So let me alert you to a looming vulnerability: The chart about to be unveiled can become an instrument of self-recrimination. It can be used (misused, really) to quantify our sense of failure. This parents’ roadmap objectifies how to be faithful, but parental faithfulness is not the sole, or even the most important, variable affecting how our children turn out. In moments when we are disappointed by our children’s actions and tempted to labor under the sense of parental inadequacy, it is time to meditate on a powerful principle: God’s grace overcomes my limitations and failures.

Paul asked God to remove a hindrance to greater effectiveness in ministry. God replied with a “no” and an explanation that changed Paul’s outlook: “And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9–10). The power of grace to do good is greater than the limitations imposed by personal weaknesses, criticism, challenging circumstances, and even personal attacks. In fact, these hindrances actually provoke grace into a more active state. Paul is okay with his inadequacy since it actually draws out a greater work of grace which results in a more powerful ministry.

You might look at the list in the passage above and raise an objection: “Sure, grace can cover limitations. But what about when I am clearly at fault, when I have truly blown it with my kids? This verse says grace overcomes a lot of stuff but it says nothing about offsetting my failings as a parent!”

Fair enough - so let’s look at a passage where the interaction between grace and sin is specifically addressed: “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5:20–21). J. A. Witmer comments, “No matter how great human sin becomes, God’s grace overflows beyond it and abundantly exceeds it” (The Bible Knowledge Commentary, ad. loc.). Even as it pertains to our sins and failings as parents, God’s grace can produce results that transcend “what we deserve.” God’s grace does not guaranty that kids will turn out fine despite the failings of parents. But grace makes it possible for kids to turn out well in spite of the failings of their parents.

There are two ways to live, the grace plan and the merit plan. According to the merit plan, you receive your wages, exactly what you deserve. According to the grace plan, you receive gifts, blessings you don’t deserve. Everyone alive reaps what they sow, but the outcomes are profoundly different based on whether they sow to merit or sow to grace.

When parents sow to grace, they seek to be faithful to what God asks of them as parents. But they do so under no delusion that their faithfulness is the key to how their children will turn out. God’s grace is that key. So they trust in grace. They come boldly to the throne of grace and plead in Jesus’ name for sustaining graces of wisdom, strength, and guidance. They ask the Spirit of grace to give them breakthroughs and produce conviction in the hearts of their children. Although they seek to walk in obedience to God’s principles, they trust in God’s grace, not the merits of their actions, to make the difference.

Do not allow the chart to fall into the employ of the merit plan. Yes, allow it to show you how to be faithful as a parent. But be faithful in the knowledge that God’s grace is what will ultimately make the difference in your children.

In moments when you are discouraged as a parent, express your trust in God’s grace in words like these: “God, You are not limited by my shortcomings as a parent to accomplish Your good purposes for my son or daughter. You are not wringing Your hands in heaven, saying, ‘Whatever will I do now, given how much Jim (substitute your name) has blown it?’ I am choosing to believe that, by Your grace, You will take whatever scraps of faithfulness I have presented to You in my role as a parent, and make them part of a plan that shouts of Your goodness. You will give my children every opportunity to become Your choice servants. I confess my abiding faith that Your grace is greater than my failures as a parent. In the name of Jesus, Amen!”

Like Watchmen Waiting for Sunrise

Imagine serving on guard duty for the walled city of Jerusalem at the time of King David. Also imagine you have been assigned to keep watch from sunset to sunrise. You walk the wall, peering outward into the darkness. No electricity, no flashlights, just the cold night sky to illumine your steps. As evening turns to the dead of night, life in the city goes quiet. Now you discharge your duties in complete silence with little to interrupt your own thoughts. With no wristwatch to mark the hours, time slows, crawling forward. Your mind is fixed on one consummate hope – to see the sunrise. This will change everything. This is what your heart longs for, what you ache to see even as you traverse the wee hours of the morning.

This image of the watchmen waiting for the sunrise illumines the Psalmist’s understanding of what it is like to wait on the Lord:  “I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchmen for the morning; Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning” (Psalm 130:5–6). To wait on the Lord is to long for breakthrough even more than the watchman longs for the sunrise.

I am reasonably confident that EVERY person reading this right now has at least one area in his or her life that requires waiting on God. Are you facing an impossible challenge and in need of a breakthrough? Are your eyes red from crying for God to bring your prodigal home? Have you been crushed by a steady stream of disappointments that make you wonder if God will ever come through? Are your days defined by a medical crisis without resolution, a daunting project that looks like it will never be completed, a great wall of uncertainty that fills your heart with fear, or the persistent denial of a blessing from God for which your heart has ached for years? Then you know what it means to wait on God.

I have collected below a series of recent articles from Light-Work that speak to the art of waiting. If you want to know more about a particular principle, click on the corresponding link and it will take you directly to the relevant article.

Waiting on God can be better accomplished with the support of others with a heart for God. Why not find a friend or loved one who is in God’s waiting room? Think of this article as the table of contents to a study guide for you to use together. Pick a principle from those listed below, and then talk through how it relates to each of your experiences. Perhaps you can use these principles to minister life and encouragement to each other. The very last link is a short testimony of how God concluded a season of waiting at “Fleming Central” that we call “Four Years to Daylight.”

Deprivation Principle: God sometimes withholds the very good He intends for us, for a season, precisely because He is using deprivation to prepare us to receive His gifts.

Perfect Moments Principle: Because He loves us, God chooses the perfect moments in which to give His gifts.

Good Gifts Principle: If even despicable men give their children good gifts, how much more will our Father give perfectly appropriate gifts to His children who are asking?

Receptivity Principle: As we wait on God, our hearts are opened to learn things from God that cannot be otherwise grasped.

High Risk Principle: When waiting on God in an escalating crisis, the longer the period of waiting the stronger the pull toward the fiction that God doesn’t care.

Faith Principle: When waiting on God in an escalating crisis, I can neutralize fear by fixing my faith on these twin truths, God loves me like His son (John 17:23) and God is with me always (Matthew 28:20).

Praise & Safety Principles:  When Jesus is our Master and Teacher and we are waiting for His rescue in a dire situation, (1) God might take things from bad to worse in order to prepare us for greater worship and (2) we do not need to be afraid of the situation.

Testimony: Here is our personal story of a season of waiting on God.

The Mega-Splash: A Galilean “Sea-Quake” Experience

In previous posts, we learned two principles pertinent to waiting on God in an escalating crisis. One, when waiting into the deep end, we are more prone to question whether God cares. Two, we are also at great risk of coming to the Lord out of fear, despite having every reason to seek Him in faith. Today, let’s pull back for a big picture view of what happened when Jesus stilled the storm. Doing so will arm us with another key principle on “The Art of Waiting on God.”

This incident on the Sea of Galilee occurs during a time of transition in Jesus’ earthly ministry. Opposition is growing and the fact that Jesus will be rejected is already baked into the cake. The need for the mobilization and training of harvest workers is now acute. So, Jesus is conducting an advanced course for the twelve that is designed to yield a greater understanding and appreciation of who He is. This is vital to their future effectiveness once He has returned to Father.

A night class was scheduled as a demonstration lab while transiting the Sea of Galilee. Both Jesus and the Father would co-teach. The Father would set up the perfect conditions for the demonstration, then Jesus would follow by putting on a convincing display. The demo would prove to the disciples a profound truth. By the end of class, they would not look at Jesus the same way!

Many commentators rightly point to Psalm 107:28–29 as an important filter through which to understand what Jesus did. According to these verses, when Jesus silenced the wind and calmed the sea, He was exercising divine prerogatives. But to fully appreciate what was going on during the class demonstration, we need to read the larger section of which these two verses are a part:

“Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters; They have seen the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep. For He spoke and raised up a stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. They rose up to the heavens, they went down to the depths; Their soul melted away in their misery. They reeled and staggered like a drunken man, and were at their wits’ end. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distresses. He caused the storm to be still, so that the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad because they were quiet, so He guided them to their desired haven. Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness, and for His wonders to the sons of men! Let them extol Him also in the congregation of the people, and praise Him at the seat of the elders” (Psalm 107:23–32).

Based on Psalm 107:28-29, we rightly see Jesus’ action in stilling the storm as evidence that He is God. But, I have not yet encountered a commentator who cites Psalm 107 to affirm God’s role in setting up the demonstration. Did you note what verses 25-26 tell us about God: "For He spoke and raised up a stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. They rose up to the heavens, they went down to the depths." God does not just still storms, He also causes them. With mere words, no less!

Some might want to ascribe this storm on the Sea of Galilee to Satanic opposition. There is some support for this view: When Jesus rebukes the storm, He speaks to it as if it is a person. But, there is nothing in the text that clearly identifies Satan or his forces as the agents behind the storm. Further, even if forces of darkness had a hand in this sea-quake, we do well to remember that Satan is never allowed to do anything unless God permits. Whether directly or indirectly, God was the one responsible for this perfect storm.

This storm had a superb purpose. It was specifically designed to take the twelve to a place beyond their considerable sailing abilities, to escort them to a “no way” moment. In that precise moment, Jesus did what only God can do, and used but words to control the weather.

The Father and Jesus were like the ultimate tag team. First the Father immersed the disciples in a situation where they were ready for the lesson. Then Jesus tapped in and delivered big time! If Father had not taken the disciples to the brink, the lesson would have had far less impact. But because they were “at their wit’s end,” the truth about Jesus was etched on their hearts.

Imagine for a moment, that this demonstration was conducted in a calm sea, or perhaps even a moderately rough sea. The lesson would not have had the same impact. But put these seasoned fisherman in the perfect storm, allow them to fear for their lives, then rescue them with a mere word from the Lord, and the lesson was breathtaking. Dire peril prepared them for awe! The disciples grew in their ability to see in Jesus someone far greater than most men’s messianic expectations of the time. They encountered “God among us” and it left them in stunned silence and profound awe.

During the course of this demonstration, the disciples perceived themselves to be at risk of perishing, but they were in no real danger. As if riding a water park flume-ride designed to “safely scare people,” they were strapped into “The Mega-Splash, a Galilean Sea-Quake Experience.” Just when they thought they were goners, Jesus spoke the way God does, and the ride was over. Only this was no mere ride. It was real – breathtakingly real. But it was also safe, because, as they could now see, God was with them.

These men were now equipped to declare something new about their Master. They joined the club (Bumper stickers and T-shirts available at the gift shop: “I survived the mega-splash!”) and could use the Psalmist’s lyrics to sing about Jesus: “O Lord God of hosts, who is like You, O mighty Lord? Your faithfulness also surrounds You. You rule the swelling of the sea; When its waves rise, You still them” (Psalm 89:8–9).

Now let’s connect the dots between the disciples’ experience and ours. There are times when we are waiting on God, desperate for Him to intervene. But things might not be bad enough, yet! God might need to turn up the heat even more, and take things from bad to worse. Do not Panic! Trust Him! You are safe! Jesus has promised “I am with you” even as the storm intensifies.

God wants you to come to Him, not in panic, but because you trust Him. So keep coming boldly in the name of Jesus to the throne of grace to make your request known. Trust God to come through precisely when His deliverance will have maximum beneficial effect on your heart.

Waiting Into the Deep End, Part 2 of 2

Hit by a “sea-quake,” the disciples’ small fishing vessel was about to go under. Understandably, the disciples woke up the Master with cries for help. In a crisis, seeking the Lord is always the smart play. (It is the smart play in the calm, too!) But the twelve also betrayed something awry in their hearts when they asked Jesus, “Do You not care that we are perishing?” This sentiment is not unfamiliar to anyone who waits on the Lord while hovering on the brink.

In response to the disciples’ plea, Jesus asks some probing questions. Matthew, Mark, and Luke have each provided only part of Jesus’ words. To get the whole picture, we need to hear all three:

Matthew:  “He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?’ Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm” (Matthew 8:26).

Mark:  “ . . . it became perfectly calm. And He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? How is it that you have no faith?’” (Mark 4:39-40).

Luke:  “. . . it became calm. And He said to them, ‘Where is your faith?’” (Luke 8:24-25).

Matthew reports what Jesus said to the disciples before He calmed the sea. Mark and Luke report what Jesus said after doing so. Taken together, these accounts tell us that Jesus administered a double dose of discipleship. When roused from sleep, His first act was to pose a diagnostic question to the twelve. Then He performed an unbelievable miracle of deliverance by rebuking the wind and sea. In the perfect calm that followed, He returned to His lesson.

We can make several observations based on these “before and after” lessons. One, it is instructive that, for Jesus, dealing with the “faith-quake” of the disciples mattered more than addressing the “sea-quake.” The fierce storm is not enough to awaken Him. When finally roused, His first concern is not bodily peril but the disciples’ crisis of faith. He zeroes in on their hearts. After stilling the sea, He comes back to them. The text doesn’t explicitly say this: But it is as if the ruckus of the wind and waves is distracting His panicked students from their lesson, so He stands and commands the elements to pipe down! Then, in the resultant calm, He continues class.

Two, Jesus’ remarks clarify that fear and faith are polar opposites. When we trust God, we have no reason to fear! Yield to panic and faith will go out the window. The disciples were filled with dread and thus had no faith. Their fear was unjustified: Before they began their voyage, Jesus had said, “Let us go over to the other side of the Lake” (Luke 8:22). He did not say, “Let us go to the middle of the lake and drown.” The Master’s command declared His purpose and guaranteed its fulfillment, that He and His associates would complete transit to the other shore. Whatever might befall the twelve en route, Jesus had already given His word that they would make it to the other side.

Three, Jesus answers the disciples’ initial question with a matching question of His own. The implications of how Jesus responds are profound and will take a few paragraphs to sort out. The disciples had awakened Jesus by shouting, “Do You not care that we are perishing?” This complex question can be broken into a statement plus a question. Statement:  “We are perishing.” Question: “Do You not care?” By their statement, the disciples reveal what they consider a fact, they are perishing. The only thing about which they are in doubt – hence their question – concerns Jesus’ view on the matter. They ask “Do You not care” because they suspect He doesn’t.

Jesus’ immediate reply (the one recorded by Matthew) is also a complex question, that is, a statement joined to a question. Statement: “You are so afraid.” Question: “Why?”  He was not asking the disciples to state the obvious, that is, to say, “We are afraid because of the storm.” He was calling them to self-assessment. He was inviting them to discern in their fear the evidence of having lost their trust in Jesus. After stilling the storm, He asks again, “Why are you afraid?”

Think of a basketball coach who counsels a key player after he has blown a game. He asks, “Why did they beat you?” If the player says, “Because they scored more points,” the coach will chew him out for stating the obvious. The coach’s question invites the player to examine his own performance, to discern key mistakes that contributed to the loss. This is what Jesus is doing: He is calling the twelve to analyze exactly how they had arrived at the place where fear was crowding out trust.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not tell us what conclusions the twelve drew. But, we can identify solid evidence worthy of their consideration. First, there is Jesus’ statement of intention noted above - If Jesus says, “We are going to the other side,” you can KNOW that you are going to the other side. Second, based on the chronology in Mark, not too many days prior, Jesus had publicly declared His disciples to be His brothers (Mark 3:34). In this, Jesus had definitively answered the question – “Do You not care?” Third, the disciples allowed what is seen (a perfect storm) to overshadow their trust in the Lord’s sure promise and brotherly commitment. In short, they had allowed scary circumstances to drown out the truth.

The bottom line is this. The disciples did well to come to the Lord, but they should have come in faith, not fear. Their words should have reflected a confidence that the Lord loved them like brothers and that He would do what is necessary to fulfill His good purpose and to get them to the other side. Jesus did not challenge the disciples for coming to Him; He challenged them for coming to Him out of fear. I am grateful that He did not cite their fear as a reason to ignore their pleas. He most certainly stilled the storm in response to the disciples’ request. (Praise God for the many times He answers prayers, including yours and mine, that arise from fear!) But through His questions, He offered them insight into a better way.

Their fear was unwarranted! They thought they were perishing, but they were wrong. They were simply inserted into the perfect storm in order to receive a new level of insight into the identity of the Lord (more on that in the next post). They were not in any danger even though it looked like they were about to die. The Psalmist clearly spoke to their situation: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me” (Psalm 23:4).

Whenever I wait on God in an escalating crisis, I must resist the siren call of my senses. I must not allow my imagination of all that might befall me to take control. If I do, these fears will compromise my trust. Instead, I must fix my faith on these twin truths, God loves me like His son (John 17:23) and God is with me always (Matthew 28:20).

When we come to God in faith during a raging storm, it is good to express to God all the ways we desire Him to work. It is best when we do so from a place of trust, where we ask, knowing God loves us and will accomplish our good.

Waiting Into the Deep End, Part 1 of 2

Jesus had presented Himself to Israel. But, opposition from the religious leaders was now hardened, His crucifixion a fait accompli. So Jesus focused on the training of the twelve – so much to learn, so little time. More than once, Jesus used the Sea of Galilee as the classroom for His course on discipleship. Accounts of one such teaching session are provided by Matthew, Mark, and Luke (Matthew 8:18, 23-27; Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22-25). Let’s audit His class.

A crowd had gathered around the Lord near the Sea of Galilee. As evening neared, Jesus announced His intention to travel to the other side of the lake and gave orders for His disciples to depart. Some in His crew were master fishermen and more than competent to handle their vessel. The Master promptly settled into a sound sleep on a cushion in the stern.

Once in the deep, a “sea-quake” unleashed fierce winds and great angry waves that crashed over the gunwales. At first, the disciples might have taken measures to ride it out. But things quickly went from bad to worse. Experts are the ones who know when to panic. The experts on this boat knew it was time! Their vessel was rapidly taking on water. Without an immediate miracle, the ship and crew would most certainly be lost.

As a last resort, the disciples roused their Teacher, still fast asleep amidst the chaos. Unchecked fear drove them to shout above the storm. The accounts in Matthew, Mark, and Luke each capture a different fragment of what they yelled:

Matthew: “Save us, Lord, we are perishing!”

Mark: “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?

Luke: “Master, Master, we are perishing!”

The common denominator in all three accounts is the declaration, “We are perishing.” Matthew adds the terse command, “Save us, Lord.” Mark addresses Jesus as “Teacher” and includes the question, “Do You not care?” Luke adds the double address, “Master, Master.”

It is easy for preachers dwelling in safety to berate the disciples for all manner of perceived failures as they braced for death. I find much to commend! First, they address Jesus as “Lord,” “Teacher” and “Master.” Obviously, they respect Him and are voicing their dependance on Him for guidance. Second, when someone has expertise in an area, like the fishermen, it is easy to keep thinking in a crisis, “I can fix this.” But the disciples prove capable of recognizing a situation in which they are in over their heads, despite their competence. They can admit they have a problem that is beyond them. Third, their pleas for help are deadly earnest, the very kind of asking, seeking, and knocking that Jesus elsewhere encourages His disciples to bring to Father. Fourth, their request, “save us,” possibly suggests a modicum of belief, if not at least hope, that Jesus can indeed do something about their plight. These are all commendable responses.

But in one particular, their words gives rise for concern. The question – “Do You not care?” – expresses doubt. The disciples are sure that they are perishing but unsure whether this matters to the Lord. Theirs is a crisis of trust in Jesus!

The disciples’ doubt is familiar to all who are waiting on the Lord in a crisis. In an impossible situation and desperate for a miracle, it is easy to wonder if the Lord cares. Our minds fixate on questions like these: Why don't You act? Where are You in this? Have I done something to disappoint You? Am I getting the silent treatment? God, does my plight even matter to You?

This incident on the Sea of Galilee presents a classic case of “waiting into the deep end.” Any acute and escalating crisis that threatens to deal us a crushing blow would qualify. When taking on water and at imminent risk of going under, asking God – “Do You not care?” – will seem a perfectly reasonable question. It is NOT, but it will seem so. Whoever waits into the deep must be prepared, indeed, he must anticipate the inexorable pull of the very reasonable lie embedded in these words, “Do You not care?”

Breakthrough!

My 29 year old son faced cancer, chemo and radiation treatment, an insurance debacle, and an uncertain future. But God supplied grace: A little over a year after first being diagnosed, God had sustained him through his treatment and recovery, released him from cancer and delivered him from a crushing financial burden. One last breakthrough remained, a job.

As Austin, Rochelle, and I waited, we trusted God that He was preparing our hearts to receive His good gift, sought to learn whatever He intended during our time in His waiting room, and prayed for breakthrough. Here is text from one of my prayer cards: “Do him good in a way that provides grist to make much of You, even to those who do not believe.” I asked God to provide Austin with a job but to do so in a way that deserved an exclamation point.

For years, Austin had done all the things one is supposed to do to find a job. His efforts yielded nothing. It was time to adopt a new strategy, to do something radical. Austin wrote a letter to the senior litigator of a firm where he most wanted to work. The letter explained why he wanted to work at the man’s firm and under his tutelage.

Two weeks later, Austin followed up by sitting in the firm’s lobby on a Thursday morning, hoping for a meeting. The man was out of the office the entire day. Austin did the same on Friday with the same result. But on Sunday afternoon, he received a phone message inviting him to an interview on Monday. That evening, a “polar vortex” – that’s what the weather folk called it –  dumped enough snow and ice on Memphis to shut down everything. Austin's appointment was cancelled. The vortex was still “vortexing” on Tuesday, so there was no meeting on that day either. On Tuesday night, the lawyer called and instructed Austin to come in for work the next day.

When he arrived for work on Wednesday morning, he was informed that he was being hired for a 30 day period, at the end of which a decision would be made. After 30 days, Austin was hired on a permanent basis.

Here is the exclamation point: Austin was hired for his dream job. The job opening was never posted. He had completed no application. He was granted no interview. He began his first day on the job never having met the man who hired him. Just like that, the door that had been sealed shut now swung wide in a way that shouted the goodness of God. Exclamation Point!

After earnestly pleading, “Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me; O Lord, be my helper,” Father gave Austin, Rochelle, and me abundant reason to join the Psalmist in declaring, “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness, that my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever” (Psalm 30:10-12)!

God's Magazine Rack

Often, we must take a number and sit in God’s waiting room. We may be desperate for Him to break through; to put things to right; to rescue us; to perform miracles; to do it NOW! Instead, it feels like He is “off in the back somewhere” and not aware of, let alone particularly interested in, our problems. So we sit alone or with a friend or family member in His waiting room, sometimes for months, even years, listening to elevator music, marking time, and wondering when God will show up.

Waiting on God can seem like a penalty, perhaps even the consequence of having disappointed Him in some way. When in His waiting room, it helps to remember that sometimes God withholds the good He intends for us, for a season, in order to prepare us to receive His gifts. It also helps to remember His promises: If even despicable men give their children good gifts, how much more will our perfect Father give perfectly valuable gifts to His children who are asking? These two acts of remembering can go a long way toward fueling hope during an extended stay in God’s waiting room. Here is another vital strategy - check out what God has in His magazine rack.

Especially in the days before iPhones, I would sign in at the doctor or dentist’s office and then seek out some reading material. I might grab a magazine to which I would never subscribe, perhaps even something I would never choose to read outside the waiting room. But given the choice between boredom and reading a magazine about fishing, food, or forestry, I regularly chose the latter. I was often amazed by things I learned that I would have never otherwise known.

God often uses our time in the waiting room to show us things that cannot otherwise be discerned. In the previous post, I recounted how God kept us in His waiting room for years. Our son diligently applied for hundreds of jobs. Not once in the span of almost four years did a prospective employer say, “We want you!” Over and over, He was rejected.

As Austin’s father, it was excruciating to witness. This rejection was so profoundly out-of-step with my own assessment of my son. On our children’s birthdays, we give them their “birthday blessing.” My words to Austin during a birthday celebrated in God’s waiting room capture whom I knew him to be:

Here are some of the things I appreciate and admire in You:

• You have a robust conscience. You are strong in your desire to do whatever you are convinced is right.
• You have sought the Lord even as you have gone through deep waters.
• You love Scripture and love to discuss how it applies to our lives.
• You are willing to do hard things when God asks.
• You have sought to honor Mom and me by supporting us in the ministry at CBC.
• You are an amazing teacher - patient, gentle, and nurturing.
• You are a gifted musician - I marvel at your ability to sprinkle jewels on a song.
• You are passionate about the Lord and truth.
• You are teachable and responsive to our counsel. You are willing to receive from others who have something to contribute.
• You are a good friend - so many have been on the receiving end of your commitment to be true to them.
• You understand what confession and forgiveness are about!
• You are a disciplined individual who makes it a priority to do what is most important each day.
• You are my true friend.

What a joy and honor to call you my son and to celebrate a year of growth and a new year to come!

The bottom line was that I knew my son to be a good man. Not a perfect man, to be sure, but a good man. Yet the consistent response from every possible employer was unequivocal rejection.

I remember crying out to God and protesting, “How much more can he take? I am so tired of my son being rejected.” I cannot explain this, but it was as if God answered, “Tell me about it!” I gasped at the thought. My experience was mirroring God’s. He was allowing me, in some small way, to experience something of what He Himself felt. To be sure, His Son was not just a good man; He was perfect. And the rejection of Jesus was not just about a job but a cross: “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed” (Mark 8:31). In that moment, I caught a glimpse of the pain of the Father.

As I looked through my experience to the Father's, I connected the dots between His pain and His love. Unlike me, God had chosen this pain. God loved me (and you!) enough to knowingly and consciously commit His Son to the supreme rejection of men. The pain I was feeling was God’s pain, but a pain He chose for Himself, in order to claim me. The anguish of soul that I would wish away God elected for Himself, in the name of love. In the quietness of God's waiting room, this breathtaking picture filled me with awe. I saw something precious and encouraging I would never have seen otherwise.

Waiting for Breakthrough!

By God’s delay to solve man’s “alone” problem in the Garden of Eden, Adam’s heart was prepared to greet God’s gift of a “suitable helper” with supreme joy. The delay was not the product of God’s displeasure with Adam but of His love.

Think of a young man who intends to “pop the question” to his beloved. He has covertly determined her ring size, found creative ways to benignly discover what she would like, and secretly purchased the perfect engagement ring. Now he delays to give his gift until he can arrange for the perfect moment. Love compels this delay as he plans a special occasion that will climax in dramatically revealing a ring and placing it on the finger of his intended. He wants everything about this moment to shout, “I love you with all my heart.”

While the young man is engaged in his clandestine activity, his bride-to-be feels the pull of two opposing forces. She can wait patiently, trusting in her heart that she is loved. Or she can yield to fear, doubting by what she sees (or actually doesn’t see) that her yearning will ever be fulfilled. The longer her wait, the easier it becomes to trust her eyes more than her heart.

This same battle makes waiting on God a challenge: We must hold fast in our hearts what we know from God’s Word while denying our perceptions the power to shake our trust. The longer the wait, the more easily our eyes convince us that there is no good gift coming.

In the summer of 2010 and shortly after our oldest son graduated from law school, he was diagnosed with cancer.  Praise God for two gifts He provided in the year that followed: He healed our son and delivered him from an overwhelming financial burden. But there was another gift that God withheld. We prayed; we pled with God; we cried; we battled discouragement; yet, we saw no daylight.

From the time of his diagnosis till March of 2014, our son applied for hundreds of  jobs with judges, law firms, and legislatures. He was personally interviewed dozens of times. He was told “you’re our second choice” for several positions. (Jobs are not given to the second choice candidate.) But not once in the span of almost four years did someone say, “We want you!”

These were dark days and it was hard to hold ourselves in a place of trust. This excerpt from my journal (dated December 23, 2013) captures it: “Today, Austin should hear back from [a firm where he interviewed]. In every respect, as far as we can see, this is an ideal setup. I have been praying non-stop for months and this looks like a perfect and impossible miracle. If he is rejected, the pull of despair will be overwhelming. A ‘no’ will bring us close to breaking – I am afraid of this one. Despite my fear, I am thanking You God, in advance, for whatever You give because I am choosing to trust in Your goodness more than my perceptions.” A few days later, my son learned he was their second choice.

Part of what God used to sustain me were the lessons from Beauty of the Barren Land and Blessed Deprivation in Eden. I fixed my trust on these statements: There is no such thing as delay in God’s gift giving; He gives His gifts in the perfect moment; That moment will yet come.

In sadness from watching my good son be unceasingly rejected, I added my voice to the Psalmist: “I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchmen for the morning; Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning” (Psalm 130:5–6). Did you catch the phrase, “in His word do I hope?” A bold declaration from the lips of Jesus became the word anchor for my hope: "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!" (Matthew 7:11). If even despicable men give their children good gifts, how much more will my perfect Father give perfectly appropriate gifts to His children who are asking? My mind retraced its steps on this promise a thousand times over. Choosing again and again to rest on His Word and His character, I waited for breakthrough.

Blessed Deprivation in Eden

True, there are times when God denies us good things as a consequence of our failures. Being cast from the Garden of Eden is a preeminent example. But not every unfulfilled longing signals God’s displeasure. Quite the opposite! Sometimes God withholds the good He intends for us, for a season, in order to prepare us to receive His gifts. This deprivation is not a penalty but a blessing, a gift God bestows on those in whom He delights. It is designed to help us see what life is like without God’s good gifts, so that when those gifts are delivered, our praise soars.

This form of blessed deprivation can be clearly seen in the Garden of Eden. Shall we take a stroll? Genesis 2 provides an expanded account in narrative form of the events that were summarized in Genesis 1:26-28. In Genesis 2, God functions as a father. He brings Adam into existence, assigns him a place in life, gives him vital guidance and counsel, and then provides him with a suitable wife. The genealogy of Jesus found in Luke affirms God’s fatherly role when it references Adam:  . . . Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God (Luke 3:38). I find the process that God employs to provide a wife for his son singularly instructive.

God could have taken a very different path. He could have created the man and woman simultaneously or formed the woman from Adam’s rib mere moments after Adam’s creation. Instead, man was created first. Although everything God had created to this point was good, it was decidedly not good that Adam was alone. Then God arranged for the man to embark upon a search for a solution to his “alone” problem.

Please try to put yourself in Adam’s shoes. (Yea, yea, he wasn’t wearing shoes, much less anything else.) Adam had never laid eyes on a woman; she hadn’t been invented yet. So he is searching for something he has never seen. Maybe it was an “I’ll know it when I see it” kind of search. Was God chuckling to himself in anticipation of the moment when He would give Adam that for which his son’s heart ached? All Adam knew was that this exhaustive parade of animals had gone nowhere. Adam would have been justified in thinking, “There is nothing I can see to solve my ‘alone’ problem.”

Adam’s heart was now prepared to receive God’s gift. God tells Adam to take a nap, then creates woman, and finally wakes up Adam for the big reveal. When God presents Adam with his bride, Adam is beside himself (I couldn’t resist!) and exclaims: “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Genesis 2:23, ESV). Did you catch the terms translated “at last” by many English translations? (The Hebrew is ha pa-am.) Adam takes a deep breath and says, “Finally!” Adam is relieved and overjoyed. His bride is perfect and more than worth the wait.

By God’s delay to solve man’s “alone” problem, Adam’s heart was prepared to greet God’s gift with greater joy. Does God know how to give perfect gifts when the time is just right, or what?

Beauty of the Barren Land

Israel was about a month and a half into it’s journey from the Red Sea to Sinai when the grumbling broke out: “There was good grub aplenty in Goshen - but a big nothing here in the wilderness.” Instead of giving these whiners what they deserved, God served up a hearty helping of grace for the journey!

The miracle of manna was less flashy than the Egyptian plagues and Red Sea Victory, but it was a wonder, the original wonder-bread! Manna tasted like honey wafers and sustained the people of Israel for all of their wilderness camping adventure.

Near the end of his life, Moses reflected on the manna project and recalled, “And He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3). Notice the sequence – hunger first, then satisfaction.

God had a plan all along. He knew exactly what He intended – to take care of His people by supplying them with daily bread. And He could have easily provided manna from the very first day of Israel’s journey. But He did not: He dished out a hearty helping of deprivation. For 45 days, God required Israel to experience first hand what trying to live off the land was like when said land is a desert. Why did God do this? God wanted Israel to learn something profound: The presence or absence of resources (like bread) does not make the difference in how (and if) a man lives. Whatever God says does.

I am intrigued by something else. A period of going without was part of God’s preparation of Israel to receive what He intended to give them. Deprivation allowed them to appreciate manna for what it was, something unprecedented; something spoken into existence by God Himself; the precious gift of life. Manna was not just an improvement in wilderness life. It was life and Israel’s previous campaign of “45 days of hunger” proved it.

This incident provides a window into how God operates. He often withholds the good He intends for us, for a season, precisely because He is using deprivation to prepare us to receive His gifts. When we are ready, when we will receive His gift with the joy of a famished man given bread, He will speak into existence what we need. The beauty of the desert lies in how it readies the heart. Do not despise your sojourn in a barren land. It is preparing your heart to receive what can only come from the good hand of God.