The Struggle

You might not know, I am a Case Manager at the TN Baptist Children’s Homes, and I work with the older residents who are preparing to leave our organization and live independently as adults. I have complained that our residents have it too good. Yes, too good (at least in material ways). So many wonderful people care about these children and pour out their love on them with money and gifts, and everything they might need is provided. Not to discourage anyone from giving, but our children lack for nothing. (Funds to maintain the facilities, pay the staff, and keep the lights on is the less glamourous need.) Our residents enjoy activities many children in regular families do not. The abundance of material things and special activities removes the opportunity for them to pine for and work for a treasured item or fun event. They come to believe they are entitled to these things. It removes the drive to work and fosters laziness. They do not experience the struggle of work – the need to work for what they want - the struggle of doing something less desirable for a delayed reward. It impacts their character development. Praying about a material need and depending on the Lord to provide is not needed. They do not understand that those who give to them work to earn the money and then give sacrificially. Entitlement, selfishness, ungratefulness, and laziness result. Things just come too easily. 

The residents at the children’s home are not the only ones experiencing a lack of struggle. When things are too easy, we do not develop properly before the Lord. Jesus addresses this in Luke 6:20-26:

Looking at his disciples, he said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,
    for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now,
    for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
    for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you,
    when they exclude you and insult you
    and reject your name as evil,
        because of the Son of Man.

Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

But woe to you who are rich,
    for you have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now,
    for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
    for you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,
    for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.”

 We are blessed by being poor, hungry, sorrowful, and hated? That does not sound right. Woe to us who are rich, well-fed, happy, and loved? Sounds crazy! But Jesus knew that when life is too easy, we do not run to God, we do not depend on Him as much, we do not ask Him to fight our battles. Patience, forgiveness, and endurance in our character remain undeveloped. We stay weak and immature.

 If you are in the midst of a struggle, count it as a blessing, and let God do His work in you. What is God teaching you? Is this struggle a result of disobedience to Him? If so, now is the time for confession and repentance. If not, He can hold your hand through your storm and guide you onto the right path.

 If things are smooth for you right now, work to not become complacent in your relationship with God. Discipline yourself to study His Word and make prayer a priority. You will likely face a fiery furnace eventually. Prepare for that day and recognize it as a refining fire.

 When children or young people approach you with their wants, pause before fulfilling their every wish (listen up, grandparents). Consider providing them an opportunity to earn the money or at least part of it. (Most of the times I have prayed about a material need, God has provided me a way to earn money to pay for it.) Teach them to work and to give to others from their earnings. Let them see you do this. Do not rescue them too quickly from difficult situations but help them pray about their responses to the struggles and problem-solve. Do not provide the answers too quickly but help them think. Remember, the caterpillar will not become the beautiful butterfly without the struggle of escaping the cocoon.

 joyce hague

How to Be "Comely"

 

Interesting word from Psalm 33:1 - “Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, for praise is COMELY for the upright.” Webster’s defines “comely” as having “a pleasant appearance” and lists these synonyms...They can apply to male or femaleJ:

 “ attractive, beauteous, beautiful, bonny, cute, drop-dead gorgeous, fair, fetching, good, good-looking,goodly,gorgeous,handsome, knockout, likely, lovely, lovesome, pretty, ravishing, stunning, well-favored”

 If today you feel you need something to make you beautiful, practice praising the Lord. Focus on Him. We know how lovely and attractive a young parent’s face is gazing down at his or her newborn baby (and we are going to have twin great-grands in May or June;-).  There is nothing so beautiful!

 But gazing at our dear Lord should totally change our countenances. “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.” (Exodus 34:29) I have a quote right by my desk. Perhaps I have shared it with you before... maybe on a card.

 

This past semester, I have been studying the book of Nehemiah with a ladies’ group. The bravery and courage of Nehemiah when someone needed to take a stand to save God’s city of Jerusalem and to change the direction of the Israelites spiritually is needed today! Our memory verse for the class was Nehemiah 9:5b-6. This is exactly what helped Nehemiah in his daily challenges to motivate the people to WORK, in spite of strong opposition. If you don’t know this book, it is a learning experience for you. Don’t let the lists of names keep you from reading it. His prayers and petitions to the Lord can be prayed by us.

 So to be “comely,” or beautiful, or handsome, or drop-dead gorgeous, look at these verses and take them to heart. FOCUS on the God Who made you to praise Him. Nehemiah 9:5b-6 covers it all:

“Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. ⁶ You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.”

 What else do we need to change our outlook and our countenance to joy and thanksgiving? You can be “comely” all through these holidays, no matter your circumstances. Focus on our dear Lord and it will show!

--Maylou Holladay

Now You See Him; Now You Don't

 

In an account in the book of Judges, chapter 13, the angel of the Lord appeared to Mrs. Manoah to tell her she would bear a special son. He told her how to act concerning her pregnancy and how to treat the boy and added, “He shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” When Manoah heard this, being a wise man, he asked God to send the man of God to them again to help them know how to raise the boy. God listened to Manoah and sent the man again to instruct them. Following this, the Bible tells us, “The angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife.” The boy, Samson, grew and was blessed by the Lord. However, the first thing recorded about him was a desire to do exactly as God had instructed His people not to do – he wanted a Philistine wife. His parents, understandably, were upset and begged him to reconsider. But the Bible gives us this insight – “His parents did not know that this was from the Lord.” I can imagine they were upset by several events over the next few years, yet God chose not to relieve their puzzlement and anxiety.

Centuries later, Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, had several encounters with the angel of the Lord, in which he was instructed to do hard things – marry your shamed betrothed, claim her son, run for your lives to a foreign country, move back home. Joseph complied fully, immediately, every time. On the occasion of their celebration of Passover in Jerusalem when Jesus was 12, Joseph and Mary lost track of Him. They didn’t know it for a day, then began looking for him. If you have ever lost track of a child in a public place, you know it Is a most terrifying event. For three days, they searched frantically, not even knowing where to look and having no success and, in Mary’s words, “in great distress.” Yet God, who had spoken to them often, did not give the answer. He knew exactly where Jesus was, but chose not to ease their distress. Jesus confirmed to them His activity was God’s doing.

 There are many other events in Scripture in which God spoke to a person in one situation but left that person completely “in the dark” in another. Often we wish God would let us know what is going on or what He wants us to do. We’d like to interpret the bizarre events around us His way, if we knew what that is. We want to do what pleases Him, if we only knew. 

Could Manoah and wife have watched the events of Samson’s life and not been concerned, trusting what God had said years before? I don’t know. Could Mary and Joseph have looked for Jesus without anxiety, knowing God knows everything? It hardly seems possible. Can I live calmly, not knowing why certain things are the way they are in my life? Or worse – not even knowing what things are in my life? I’ve had plenty of opportunities to attempt it, but I’m not sure I’m improving. 

Romans 15:4 tells us, “Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.” One of the things we can learn from Scriptural accounts like these is that God is always doing His work, no matter how the circumstances look to us. Can we believe that? If we did, would it make a difference in our lives?

--Lynda Shenefield

 

The Ever-Deepening Word

 

“Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the book widens and deepens over the years” (Spurgeon).

On our way to AWANA recently, my younger two children were bemoaning the fact that they never learn anything new, because they already know all the stories. First of all, I am sure that is not completely true as we have not taught them every story in the Bible. But second, even if they had heard all the stories, as I explained to them, God’s Word is powerful enough to continuously show us something new, something we hadn’t seen before, a connection we hadn’t made yet, or an insight into God’s character we hadn’t noticed in that way. There is always more to see and learn.

In our Sunday night women’s study, we have been reading and discussing Jen Wilkin’s book Women of the Word. Here Wilkin first addresses how to view Scripture (as a book about God and not primarily about us), false approaches to Scripture (like the Xanax approach – reading the Bible just to make us feel better), and how to study it properly. She shows how helpful it is to have the metanarrative (the big story) of Scripture in mind when you’re reading any one part of it. This means understanding how the text I am reading today fits into the greater story of Creation – Fall – Redemption – Restoration. She writes that “we must ‘zoom out’ from any one particular book or passage and gain an appreciation for how it plays its part in unfolding the Big Story.” As we discussed this in class, the concern came up: What about those who read the Word but don’t read it this way? Maybe they haven’t been taught this metanarrative and are just appreciating a passage for what it says by itself. And, here, I think, we come back to Spurgeon’s quote. That’s the beauty of God’s Word.

God’s Word is for the new believer who is simply reading one of the gospels to know Jesus better. But it’s also for the one who has been saved for 50 years who is reading the same gospel and making connections between Christ’s works and Old Testament prophecies, or deepening her understanding of Jesus’ teaching that at first seemed so confusing, or seeing nuances in how the different gospel writers tell of the same events. There is always more to discover and more to see.

In the day of immediate information, quick soundbites, scrolling social media feeds, and constant distractions, it is hard to sit down, be still, and really study the Word. It is not easy to wrestle through passages we don’t understand without immediately turning to a commentary. It is tempting to just choose to do the quick and easy devotionals that give us an encouragement for today instead of actually opening our Bibles and thinking for ourselves. But it is vital (2 Timothy 2:15).  May we be faithful to stay in the Word and may we take our responsibility to disciple other women seriously, for this surely includes teaching them how to study the Bible, so they too can glimpse more and more of the glories of God through His Word (Psalm 119:14-18).

So whether you have been saved for three days or three decades, there is truth for you yet to learn when you open your Bible. There is beauty still to be seen, encouragement still to be gleaned, understanding still to be sharpened, wisdom still to be developed (Hebrews 4:12). So, open the Word, read, and study. God’s Word is truly wider and deeper still.

--Amy O'Rear

Homesick!

        On a recent trip with my daughter and grandson, who was not yet two years old, several times I found Ruben standing in the middle of a room piteously saying, "Home.  Home."  That little one was homesick!  I love traveling, but I too am glad to get home "to my own little corner."  But as I get older, I am starting to say, "Home.  Home." in a different way.  I am getting ready for my Heavenly home, and sometimes I too am homesick.

        John 14:2-3 says, "In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also." He's getting ready for us!

        In Revelation 21, beginning at verse 11, we are given a description of the physical city, the New Jerusalem.  It shines with the glory of God.  Its walls are walls of jasper and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass;  The foundations of the city walls are decorated with every kind of precious stones.  The gates are made of pearls.  (See, the pearly gates of song and poetry!) The great street of the city is of pure gold, like transparent glass.  I think this description is all we can absorb, that the reality will be beyond what our imaginations can fathom.

        There's another description in chapter 21:3-4.  "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain."  I don't know what those last tears will be over, perhaps over those not in Heaven, but I know that if Jesus wipes away the tears, they won't come back and I don't believe we will even remember them.

         While we talk about God dwelling with us, in 21:23, I read, "And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb."  To be forever in the light of God and to reflect His glory!

          I have been looking up and singing songs about Heaven for days now.  There are many:  O That Will Be Glory, Some Golden Daybreak, The Way of the Cross Leads Home, Heaven I'm Going There, Beulah Land, I'll Fly Away.  Every year more of my loved ones are home on the other side.  I miss my parents, my grandparents, my dear friends, but the One I long to see is Jesus--I Want to See my Savior First of All.  Fanny Crosby wrote, "I will know Him by the prints of the nails in His hands."

            

            Face to face with Christ, my Savior,

            Face to face--what will it be--

            When with rapture I behold Him--

            Jesus Christ who died for me?

              Face to face I shall behold Him,

              Far beyond the starry sky:

              Face to face in all His glory,

               I shall see Him by and by.

                So I end with, are you homesick for Heaven:  Are you longing to see Him?  No, I'm not getting up a group to leave now.  I'm here for as long as He chooses, but

                This world is not my home, I'm just passing through.

                 My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.

                 The angels beckon me from Heaven's open door,

                 And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.

~~Faith Himes Lamb

        

                        

Calm in the Midst of a Raging River

On a recent weekend, I had the privilege of being in Pigeon Forge. This is my annual trip to attend the National Quartet Convention and then have a few days just to myself.  This area is my happy place.  I have many fond memories of our family vacations and times that Jim and I came down to Tennessee to see our daughter at Tennessee Temple and visit our property up on Fredonia Mountain, always with a stop in Pigeon Forge.

One of my favorite adventures has always been to drive to Cades Cove and observe the beauty of God’s Creation as well as look for or hike to waterfalls.  My hope was to also see a bear in its natural habitat.  My weekend was almost totally successful although I would have needed a high-powered lens to see the bear and its cub.  But that’s a story for another time.

As I was driving to Cades Cove, listening to a CD of Stan Whitmire on the piano, watching the water flow in the river and observing the start of the changing of leaves, my mind went back to Psalm 23. This Psalm became very real to me during the months of caring for my late husband, Jim. I had memorized it as a child and repeated it many times to my students, but certain portions became very real as I sat by Jim’s hospital bed watching him struggle.

“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures” – God provides a time for rest.  As I made the drive, I would stop from time to time to just get out of the car and take some pictures of the water, leaves, and beautiful landscapes.  A time for rest from the drive, a time for rest to reflect on God’s Creation, a time to rest and be thankful for a God who giveth more grace. 

“He leadeth me beside the still waters” – As I was watching the water flow in the Little Pigeon River, I noticed that there were sections of very calm water surrounded by sections of very heavily rushing water over the rocks and boulders in the river.  At one point where the road to Cades Cove and road to Townsend intersect, the river current changes direction. It’s almost like the river’s world is crashing, yet there is a pool of calm water as the currents meet.  This reminded me that in our lives, we go through struggles.  It feels as though our world is crashing and then there is a calm that God provides to help us be refreshed and prepared for the next struggle.

“He restoreth my soul” – This whole weekend was a time of restoration for me.  I enjoyed the fellowship of friends from college, meeting friends from my son’s church in Michigan, and the fellowship of friends from church. Most of all, I received restoration as I was challenged by the messages in the songs so many of the groups sang:  songs that brought tears to my eyes, songs that made me want to jump for joy, songs that made me just want to fall on my knees and thank God for His goodness, mercy, and love.

“Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.  For thou art with me.” – One of the places where I like to pull off and just watch the rushing water is by a bridge over the Sinks waterfall.  There are warning signs for people to stay off the rocks due to many drownings. Some people ignore those signs. I have been at this stop when the water flow has been light, but I have also been there after a lot of rain and seen the raging water falling over the huge boulders. The force of the water is truly something to fear, yet just a little distance down the river is an area of calm, still water. If you look up from the water toward the mountain, you will see another beautiful waterfall. A beautiful picture of how God is with us amid the storms of life.

I trust this account of my journey is an encouragement to anyone who may be going through a difficult time. God’s creation teaches us so many precious lessons of His Sovereignty. Just remember that amid the raging river there is a calmness that only God can give.

Matthew 11:28 – “Come unto me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

--Bonnie King

 

 

 

Of Sounding Gongs and Clanging Cymbals

Teddy Roosevelt said this: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

Christian ministry (all Christians have one) is tricky business. To be effective and productive, not only does one have to physically carry out the work of serving others but also to sincerely care about those being served. Jesus instructs us to go the extra mile, to do more than is required. If you are being paid to minister, you balance work and private life too. Tricky, I say.

Paul says if we do “all these things”, and he lists several, we are noisy gongs and clanging cymbals (I Corinthians 13). We are all noise when we serve without love, and unproductive too.

Peter also said something similar in II Peter 1:3-8 (NIV), “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness… For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Today ask yourself why you serve. Is it to be seen of men? Do you want people to admire you? Are you meeting your own needs? Or do you truly care about the good of others and what is best for them? (People can tell.) Do you do only what is required or give your best effort, going the extra mile if necessary? 

How do people you serve feel after being in your presence? Do they see themselves as a joy or a burden to you? Do they feel encouraged and refreshed after talking with you? Or inferior? Do you preserve their dignity by allowing them to teach you something? Do you listen to their ideas, thoughts, and feelings? 

It is not necessary to fix people’s problems. (What a relief, right?) Nobody likes to feel like a project.

Are you serving in love or sounding a gong? According to Paul, if you are not serving in love, you could offer your very body to be burned, and it would be for nothing. What a waste that would be! Some offer their whole lives in this way, and that is truly sad. I don’t want that to be my life, and I bet you don’t either. Spend a little time meditating on the Love Chapter in I Corinthians 13. It’s a good reminder for all of us.

joyce hague