Interests:God, Christianity, Worship, Anime, Comic Books, Karaoke, Video Games, Tennis, and learning new stuff about myself occasionally Expertise:Any expertise I may have would be when I trust and rely upon God. Occupation:Engineering Industry:Engineering
The other day I was waiting at a hair & nails place for a haircut. The person before me was getting his infant baby daughter (probably not more than a year old) a haircut (more like a complete shave). As we all know...this can only lead to tears. Sure enough, as soon as the stylist got those automated clippers going the baby girl immediately started to cry and wail out of sheer fear. I doubt that the clippers actually caused her any pain; she was simply terrified. The thing is that while she was getting her hair shaved off, she was essentially sitting in her father's lap the entire time. As the girl continued to wail, the father kept trying to reassure his daughter that everything was going to be OK, and that the haircut was almost done (he was lying, of course, as there was still quite a ways to go).
Usually I try to tune out these type of events as it's sort of grating to listen to a baby girl cry continuously for really no apparent reason. This time was a bit different as I began to ponder about how this is a reflection of how our Christian walk (including mine) is a reflection of this very incident. How often do we face what we think may be dangerous but really isn't, but we are still so completely terrified with fear. Yet there is God telling us that everything will be OK (He, however, won't lie to us and tell us that our "haircut" is almost done when it isn't). Yet in all our crying and wailing we seem to drown out His voice so we can't hear Him and continue to be terrified.
It's amazing how debilitating and foolish our own human fears can be sometimes. Our fears either cause us to do some really stupid things and/or keep us from experiencing the true joy of the Father. Really, how big is our God? How big is our Daddy's lap? I hope that I can really live out the rest of my life with the knowledge that God is bigger than my storms, bigger than my problems, bigger than my fears, bigger than my enemies, and just bigger than anything and everything that I will ever come up against. He is the One who will help me overcome.
Spiritual Lessons from the Roddick vs Djokovic 2009 Australian Open Men's Quarterfinal
When I got home from BSF last night I saw that Andy Roddick and Novak Djokovic were playing live from the Australian Open on ESPN2. Seeing as how Andy Roddick is the last American man left in the tournament and Djokovic is the defending champion I became intrigued and wanted to watch and see how it played out. I began watching the match near the end of the third set; they had already split the first two sets. When I started watching I noticed that Djokovic wasn't moving around quite so well. A short time later I found out why. As the camera panned over to the courtside thermometer the needle was close to 60 degrees Celsius (that's around 140 degrees Farhrenheit)! Meanwhile Roddick was on the other side of the court sprinting for short balls and continued smashing winners (and a few unforced errors).
Roddick wound up winning the third set to go up two sets to one and kept glancing over at Djokovic to see if he would just up and retire the match. Seeing as how Djokovic was the defending champion, he just kept playing hoping that something...anything would begin going his way. However, after playing the first few games and already having his serve broken Djokovic informed the chair umpire that he couldn't continue, retired the match, and conceded victory to Roddick.
I was simply amazed at how well Andy Roddick was playing despite the court conditions being so very horrendous. I say this because I don't even want to be on a tennis court when the weather is even close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit much less 140. The commentators watching the match attributed Roddick's victory to the intense conditioning he did in the off season. As Roddick met with the courtside reporter he explained the amount of discipline he put himself through in the offseason in order to prepare him for this upcoming tennis season. Boy, did it pay off! He would be out on the track at 6am and then spend 3-4 hours on the court practicing afterwards daily during the offseason. It's this type of conditioning and discipline that allowed him to stronger than his opponent in such hostile conditions.
As I listened to Roddick's interview about the training and discipline he did in the offseason, I started to reflect on this applies to us Spiritually as Christians. Our training and discipline comes in the form of spending time in His Word, living out His commands, and tapping into the power of the Holy Spirit. It's these things that help us endure the hostile conditions that life throws at us. It really does go back to what Paul wrote about running the race:
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualifiied. - 1 Cor 9:24-27 (ESV)
Too often we treat our walk with God as a sprint and forget that it is actually a marathon. Am I constantly doing what I need to discipline my body and keep it under control? Am I feasting daily on His Word and filling myself with the Holy Spirit in order to have the self-control I need to stand up to temptations? When the enemy attacks, am I prepared through the constant Spiritual training and discipline to know what to do? When my life starts to heat up, will I be sprinting around the court and smashing winners like Andy Roddick, or will I simply begin to wilt in the sun like Novak Djokovic? I know what I want to do, and that is why I choose to submit to the Holy Spirit to discipline and train myself.
1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. 2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. 4 His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually. - Job 1:1-5 (ESV)
As I continually deal with my latest trial I know that God is there helping me to pull me out of the pit. Yet I feel very convicted about this. It's not wrong to run to God when things are going badly, and it's something that He desires that I do. After all, He is my Father, my Comforter, and my Rock. When I am in trouble and despair, the thing that I want to cling onto 24/7 is God. Yet, when things are going well...extremely well, is my attitude the same? Do I want to cling and attach myself to God in good times? Sure, I may give Him praise occasionally, but do I involve Him with the good things in my life?
Isn't this the very reason that Job offered burnt offerings after the feasts held by his children, because he understood that they were prone to sin in good times. Sure, there are examples in Scripture that show people who sinned more and more as they continued to suffer through a hardening of their hearts, but there are numerous examples of people who sinned and forgot about God when things were going well. It was a continuous cycle with the Israelites. They would constantly forget about God when they hadn't faced any adversity for a period of years. Then God would remove His hand of protection over them, some other nation would come and attack them, they would cry out for help, God would hear their repentance, He would save them, the Israelites would celebrate, but then they'd eventually forget God again and the cycle would repeat itself.
Do I really desire to live in this cycle? Of course not! Whenever God draws me out of my trials, I want to remember that God is good during my times of rejoicing and blessing. I want to be desperate for more of Him in times of trials and celebrations. I want to hunger and thirst for Him in all the seasons of my life. Lord, help me to remember how good You really are when I'm in good times.
I've been reading through Genesis lately, and I've gotten to the stories of Jacob. The thing that particularly jumped out at me this time around is all the deception that goes on in Jacob's life. Deception that he caused, and also the deception that was done to him. As I read more and more, I had to ask myself, how is God glorified in all of this? Jacob deceives his father into blessing him instead of his older brother, Esau. Heck, even his mother, Rebekah, helped him out with that one. Then his uncle, Laban, tricks him into marrying the eldest daughter, Leah, instead of the one that he actually was working for, Rachel. Now I've just read how Laban separated his livestock out so that Jacob would get practically no wages for all the work he did only to have Jacob retaliate by repaying Laban through deception in order to get his wages of livestock back.
So with all this lying, cheating, stealing, betrayal, deception, and backstabbing is God somehow glorified in all of this? I guess the answer is yes. However, is this God's perfect will for how everything was supposed to play out? The answer has got to be a firm NO since the characteristics done in all of this are definitely what God classifies as sin. God doesn't sin and does not cause people to sin. Would there have been a much better way for all this to play out? Probably, but we'll never know what that would be (unless God reveals that to me when I get to see Him eventually) because what has happened has happened as it happened, and it's written out and recorded for all future generations to see just how crazy and screwed up the people in the Bible are (minus Jesus, of course).
Sin is what caused me to be divorced from God in the first place. It took God sending Jesus to die on the cross for me to be reconciled to Him. God did nothing wrong, but still loved me so much that He desired that I be reconciled to Him through the cross. The cost of sin was great, and the cost of reconciliation was even greater, but it was so worth it, because it brings Him joy. This is why God hates divorce so much, because He knows the terrible cost and pain it causes. He did whatever it took to achieve that unity with us again.
The sin that I commit does not affect God's sovereign will. The blood that He shed overcomes my sin giving He grants me grace and mercy. God is all powerful and in control and even uses my sins and the sins of others to achieve His sovereign will. Wait a 'sec! Does that mean I should feel OK about sin since it may very well be part of God's will and plan? Absolutely not. God delights in obedience not sacrifice. When I'm presented with a choice between sin and following God, I am commanded to always follow God and be obedient to Him. When I fall and choose the other out of my weakness rather than His strength, I must repent and even make restitution if possible and necessary. I am not called to keep sinning so that His grace may abound in me. His perfect will is that I would constantly live with the fear of the Lord, constantly being in His presence, and have the wisdom to know and do the right thing and leave the rest up to Him. Living outside His perfect will carries the cost that I will no longer have fellowship with Him, but ultimately will not affect His sovereign will.
I guess that's the point of these stories of fallen people and their sin seemingly played out for His glory. That even when Satan tempts people and gets them to fall, God can still use these broken people and their seemingly evil actions to play out to His glory and our benefit. He is the grand chess master. Every time it seems as though Satan is gloating over his impending victory, God has everything already mapped out ahead to achieve His victory. After all, isn't that the point of the whole Bible: God wins!
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28 (ESV)
It doesn't mean that all things are good and come directly from God. It means that he uses all things, even bad things, together for good.
