God and the "Small Stuff"

   I’m sitting in bed looking at four panels of pinned together curtains that not only need to be sewn together but desperately need hemming. In America, I’d have solved this problem quickly. But in Korea, it’s not that simple.  I’ve considered taking them to the seamstress down the road, except for the fact that we can’t communicate and she determines when she’ll have my items ready. If I’m lucky it’s the next day. If not, it’s over a week. I need them immediately in order to sleep and have privacy in our bedroom, so I’ve left them the way they are hoping I’ll come up with a better solution.

     It may seem that I don’t have anything important to pray about since I’ve asked God to help me figure out my curtain dilemma. But, it’s part of bigger issue in my life that I’m learning to lean on him for the simple and seemingly irrelevant things. In fact, it’s the “small stuff” that consumes most of my mental energy as I find myself mulling over solutions.  “Dear Lord, will you please give me wisdom about what to do with these curtains?” That was my prayer last week.
     Three days later I received a promised sewing machine from a friend. This wasn't so unusual since she’d offered it to me months ago. But the amazing part was that she included an industrial sized spool of chocolate brown thread with the comment, “I don’t know what you’re ever going to do with this, but I decided at the last minute to throw it in.” What she didn’t know was that my curtains were the same color, and I’d been wondering where on earth around here to find thread, much less brown. God had answered my prayers.
     My husband is the more logical one in the family. He enjoys using deductive reasoning to move from one argument to the next. I’m not so great at it. But I do like the idea of seeing God’s faithfulness in the small things and applying logic to larger issues of life. If he knows when a hair falls from my head then he certainly knows when I have a severe illness. If he cares that I’m burdened with unsightly curtains, then he’s all the more concerned when I have a huge burden.
     Today, I’m reminded that the God who made me and upholds the world is a God of detail – a God who sees a sparrow when it dies (Mt 10:29) and stores my teardrops in a bottle (Ps 56:8). I’m thankful for his acts of kindness as he takes care of every single aspect of my life – even the “stuff” others consider insignificant.

“And the very hairs on your head are all numbered.” (Lk 12:7)

Unwavering Faithfulness

     When my parents divorced I was four years old -- too young to protest or understand what was happening. All I knew was that my father was gone, and I wouldn’t see him but once more until he died.  He chose not to call. Not to send cards or gifts. Not to visit. Although he wasn’t around to impact me in a negative way, his absence etched lifelong scars on my heart about man’s unfaithfulness. If my own father wasn’t reliable or trustworthy who could I ever count on?

     I spent the next twenty years vacillating between hope and despair. The God given desire for faithfulness prompted me to search for it, but repeated experiences with broken relationships left me feeling more wounded and cynical. Against this dismal backdrop, the Lord appeared and began revealing his perfect faithfulness. Like a diamond against black velvet, his trustworthiness and reliability shone with such brilliance that I was completely overwhelmed by it. My mind couldn’t grasp that such security and love existed in a world that had showed me so little of it. I soaked it in, reveled in his perfect love and clung to him out of great fear that something I did or said would drive him away. As the days spilled into months and then years I began to realize that he wasn’t leaving – that everything he said about himself and his character was true. I could relax and count on him!

     Over the past year I've been meditating on the Ephesians 6 passage on the armor of God. Paul reminds me to take up the shield of faith in God’s faithfulness. When Satan comes at me daily with lies that God isn’t going to provide, that he’s not powerful, that his love is not secure and a myriad of other attempts to break my trust in him, the certainty of God’s unwavering, unchanging faithfulness quenches the fiery darts.  Believing, or having faith, in his faithfulness is also the only way to guard my heart from defeat when circumstances and people disappoint.

     God’s faithfulness ensures my often anxious heart that he’s reliable or “consistently good and dependable”. What he says he’s going to do he always fulfills. There isn’t anyone or anything else in all creation that is one hundred percent dependable. Even my husband and closest friends who've shown themselves to be loyal and trustworthy fail at times to honor their word. If I stake my hope in them I'll be perpetually disappointed. But with Christ, I can be certain that his reliability is unfaltering. It’s flawless. He'll never ever break a single promise. And because he's trustworthy, I can go to him with burdens and concerns in confidence that he not only hears us but he always answers. He promises that if I pray in his name, according to his will that he will do “abundantly more than I can ask or imagine.” 

     What can I trust God to do in my life? These are just a few of the promises.

He’s faithful to completely save and sanctify me.  

“He is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” Heb 7:25

“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” 1 Thes. 5:23-24

He’s faithful to forgive all my past, present and future sins.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 Jn 1:9

He’s faithful to be with me though the presence of his Holy Spirit

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” Jn 14:16-17

He’s faithful to empower, strengthen and uphold me.

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Is 41:10

He’s faithful to defend me from the enemy.

“Yet the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and set you on a firm foundation and guard you from the evil one.” 2 Thes 3:3

He’s faithful to provide for all of my emotional, physical and spiritual needs.

“And my God will meet all of your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Phil 4:19

“He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever.” Ps 111:5

He’s faithful to grow me in wisdom and understanding and knowledge of his will.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” Js 1:5

 “For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless.” Prov 2:6-7

He’s faithful to bring glory to his name through me as he enables me to bear much fruit.

“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” Jn 15:8

He’s faithful to give me the desires of my heart as I surrender my will to his.

“Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Ps 37:4

He’s faithful to uphold me in temptation.

“No temptation has seized you expect what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” 1 Cor 10:13

The God Who Hears

     Several months ago, we woke up to find a pile of garbage six feet high by about ten feet wide dumped outside our building. It was there in a massive state, tied up in large fishing nets looking like a giant package that had dropped from the sky. It was hard to imagine who had hauled it there and why they decided to put in by our building of all places.

     We tried all the conventional avenues to get rid of it, but each resulted in a dead end. The university couldn’t help us, they said, the city promised to come but never showed up. We had friends call and remind them of their promises, and then received more promises along with estimated dates. But they never came, and we walked outside each morning to the same large and smelly pile of garbage.

     When we finally realized that no one was going to help us remove it, Mark and I resorted to our own creative ideas. One plan was that we would hoist the garbage up to the main street late at night and leave it there. The only problem with that idea was the possibility of a car or bus hitting it and causing an accident. Another plan was to drag it up to the corner so that everyone passing by would see it and hopefully complain. But each of the nets was so large and heavy we couldn’t figure out how would we’d get it there.  

     After seeing the impracticality of both plans, I knew we had only one choice remaining: to ask for God’s help. I’m embarrassed to admit that it hadn’t dawned on me until I’d run out of options. The verse that immediately came to mind was the one in Matt. 21:21 where Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done.”

     For me, the garbage had become an immovable, insurmountable mountain that I had no way of getting rid of. So I began giving it to the Lord, telling him that if he wanted he could remove it, that I would release it to him and allow him to guide us in wisdom and to complete the task that I was incapable of doing. I’d pass it in the morning on my way to work trying not to look at it and pray, “It’s your mountain, God. I’m trusting you to get rid of it or show me how to do it.” This went on for over a week, and I won’t lie in saying it wasn't frustrating. In fact, one night I awoke to a terrible smell. When I realized that we had left the bathroom window cracked and that the odor was coming from the garbage pile, I was undone. How could we live like this much longer, I wondered.

     Another week went by and it remained planted in its same spot, right where I could see it when I entered and left our apartment each day. Then at five one morning we heard loud talking, bottles clanging and then the roar of a truck driving off. When we went down we saw that they had come and taken it, but only half of it, leaving the remaining half strewn about the ground and giving it an even more unsightly appearance. After I came slightly unglued, we prayed again that God would finish the work he’d begun and that we’d continue casting the burden on him.  Later that day, due to our neighbor’s insistence and God’s great intervention, they came and hauled the rest of it off.

     I’m still amazed when I walk by that spot – the place where a mountain of unmovable trash once laid. A place of despair and rot and ugliness that looked unyielding. And I think of the other trash heaps that I’ve let pile up and remain intact. The lies I’ve believed, the anger I’ve allowed to grow rancid in my heart, the fear that often engulfs me. God is the God of action and power. He’s in the business of taking down strongholds and moving mountains.  I’m asking him today to haul off some piles that have been around for way too long, and I know from experience and from his word that he's going to do it.

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him” (1 Jn 5:14-15)