Thursday, May 17, 2012

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)

Friday, May 11, 2012

With God, Nothing is Impossible


     We’re all hoping, waiting and even longing for some kind of transformation in our lives or circumstances. No matter what we’ve achieved or how much we’ve grown and matured, there’s always another goal or need in the distance. I remember waiting for six long years to get married only to find myself impatiently counting the hours until the birth of our daughters. Right now, I’ve got a room full of dreams, a mixture of desires and needs that I’m asking God to bring to fulfillment. As I examine them some appear more viable than others. A few look completely impossible. But I’m confident that God will accomplish his perfect will for my life, even if it involves moving mountains.
     "What is impossible with men is possible with God" (Lk 18:27). Do you believe it? Do I? I’ve witnessed God do the extraordinary in my own life too many times to count. He’s brought hope when all signs led to absolute despair and wrought deliverance when the wisest counsel declared the situation dire. I’ve been transferred from utter darkness and confusion one day to a panoramic view of hope the next. God has definitely proven that he’s able to do “abundantly more than I can ask for imagine.”
     God says, “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” Jer 32:27. He reminds us from the first day of creation to the resurrection of his Son that his power is unlimited. He’s able to move mountains, part oceans, topple strongholds and heal sickness and diseases. He gives us new hearts, opens our blind eyes and deaf ears to the truth of the Gospel, raises us from death to life. He opens barren wombs, sets the lonely in families, exalts the humble and gives strength to the weak. He heals broken hearts and imparts vision and passion to his people.
     He’s the same God right now that he was thousands of years ago (Heb 13:8). His character and abilities haven’t diminished with time. He’s not run out of power or ceased hearing the prayers of his people. We can go before him in prayer just like Moses and Elijah, Paul and Peter and ask anything in his name, according to his will, and he will do it. When we pray by faith in the name of Jesus he hears us and he answers. Every single time. Whether we’re praying for seemingly irrelevant issues or huge concerns, God hears our cries and he answers (1 Jn 5:14-15).
     Our Father loves us and delights in showing us mercy and compassion. He takes great joy in answering our prayers and revealing his glory in our lives. All we have to do is go to him and ask for help. Our problems may look insurmountable to the human eye but not to God. Nothing is too impossible for him.

Ah Lord God
Ah Lord God, Thou hast made the heavens 
And the earth by Thy great power; 
Ah Lord God, Thou hast made the heavens 
And the earth by Thine outstretched arm. 
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/h/hillsong_united/ah_lord_god.html ]
Nothing is too difficult for Thee, 
Nothing is too difficult for Thee; 

O, great and mighty God, 
Great in power and mighty in deed, 
Nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing, 
Nothing is too difficult for Thee.


Thursday, April 26, 2012

"Be Still and Know That I Am God"

    This has been one of those weeks when I’ve wanted to shout, “Enough!” Enough of the little things that combine to make up the big things which form into a snowball and come at me with increasing momentum.
     We left the girls at Faith Academy after a short visit and returned to Korea where we began our lives apart once again. We returned to an apartment with puddles on the floor and water stains on the wall from a huge storm, a notice that money wasn’t paid by our renters in the states, a lost bag of my favorite jewelry, and a statement from the school that they’d taken a huge portion out of my paycheck for who knows what. These situations, along with missing the girls, formed a lethal mix in my mind.
     I began praying about each problem and asking God to do something, quickly -- to fix it all so that I could feel better about life. But I woke up the next day and the next without any signs of resolution. I read in Luke about the blind man shouting out for healing and Jesus’ instant command that he be made whole, and I felt somewhat cheated. Why not me, Lord?
     Do you ever feel that way, like life is one big basket of mismatched socks that you have to figure out what to do with? Problems drop into our laps with little notice. One second there’s peace; the next chaos. It reminds me of the time last summer when we went down to the ocean with our younger daughter. As she was standing upon a huge rock in the water, smiling in the sunshine, an enormous wave snuck up behind her and literally engulfed her.  She was so shocked by the suddenness of it all that, for a few seconds, she stood there motionless.
     God isn’t surprised by mammoth waves, financial setbacks or anything else. He knows the beginning from the end and whispers to us in these moments of frustration, “Be still and know that I am God.”  I pictured Jesus walking past me on the road this week with me shouting out, much like the blind man, “Son of God, have mercy on me.” And I imagined him saying, “My child, relax. I’ve already healed you. You were once blind, but now you see. You were once in darkness, but now you’re in the light. I’ve put my Spirit upon you, calling you my own. You're no longer an orphan but a child of the King.”
     His word promises that when the waters come up around me they’ll not overtake me, when the fire burns in my life I’ll not be consumed by it (Is 43:2). Because I’m precious and honored in his sight and because he loves me, he promises to take care of me (Is 43:4).
    By faith I can thank him at this very moment in the midst of unsorted socks and a myriad of tangled threads that seem impossibly knotted together. I can praise him for his faithfulness and wisdom in allowing every single one of these inconveniences to occur. I can relax, put my head on a pillow and with a quiet sense of confidence rest in his promises to uphold, strengthen, provide for and encourage me. He will fulfill every last one of his promises which have been sealed by the blood of his own Son. "The one who calls you (and me) is faithful and he will do it” (1 Thes 5:24).

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Rom 8:32