James 1:19-20

Easy, right?!

Oh wait.

I think that people often refer back to James 1:19--we should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. Now, those aren't easy things, but it seems like the perfect formula, so we toss those words around either as a warning to ourselves or maybe even as a warning to someone else...probably when they are offending us, which is a whole separate issue.

But verse 20 is what really hits me. You see, when we talk more than we listen, when use our words to hurt people, or are invoked to anger by the words or actions of others, we are sinning.

God doesn't desire dissension. Conflict isn't honoring to Him. Arguing doesn't lead to righteousness.

Rather, we should seek to understand the story of those we are in conflict with, and this is done primarily through listening. And when we realize that two people can have different viewpoints that are both legitimate and based on their experiences, we'll be more apt to be compassionate.

And compassion is something that will honor God and affect our human relationships.

Psalm 71

I just highlighted this verse in my Bible last night. I love that even though I've been using the same Bible for 10 years and have read the thing front to back several times, there are still new things that God wants to bring to my attention.

The Psalmist has so much confidence in God. Despite many troubles he proclaims that God will restore his life. He is able to see past his current circumstances and into the bigger picture.

And then, in verses 22-24 he goes on to tell all the ways he will praise God. He is praising God during the storm--not after--because he has a trusting anticipation that God will do what he has promised. He will restore. He will heal. And he doesn't change.

No matter what's around you or ahead of you God has the ability to restore it. In the meantime, he is still worthy of praise.

Find hope in that.

Anger

I'm not sure if you have a "default emotion"...that emotion that you always skip other emotions and arrive at first. I might be sad, or hurt, or jealous, but before I ever get to those emotions I take a little detour at angry. It takes me some time to process through from anger to whatever it is I'm actually feeling, but I almost always pause briefly on anger.

In my head I often know that anger isn't the real emotion, but my heart tends to lean towards it. And in those moments of anger, God always gently reminds me of Ephesians 4:26: In your anger, do not sin.

Ugh. How I want to sin. I want to express my anger by being mean or short. I want people to understand my point of view and I don't have any regard for how they feel about it. I want justice for whoever it is that is hurting me.

I have to remember to slow down, be quiet, and try to gain some perspective on the situation. Often times, a little waiting and being quiet is all it takes for my anger to subside to the point where I can deal with it in a right way.

Lessons from Asaph

I love this passage because of the passage that precedes it. This Psalm is written by someone called Asaph. Now, I'm not too familiar with Asaph, but what I learn about him from verses 1-22 of this Psalm is that he had become jealous of the arrogant and wicked because he saw them prospering. He had become jealous of their carefree lifestyle and their monetary gain. He began doubting that he had kept his heart pure for a good purpose. 

But Asaph has a turning point in verse 17 where he enters the house of God and he sees those people's destinies. He sees that God is far from them and that they will eventually be destroyed and he realizes how senseless he was being in being jealous of them.

And then he proclaims verses 23-26; he had almost let go of his ideals and beliefs, but he realizes that no matter what, God will not leave him. He can't escape God's reach and call. Asaph understands that God is the best part of his life and that no matter what it looks like through the lens of other people or through circumstances, God is in control and is doing what's best for him. 

May we all stop looking around and start looking up. Circumstances will not always be what we want them to be; other people may be ahead of where we want to be, or getting what we've been wanting for ages. We might be jealous of others who aren't doing what we think is right but are gaining rewards for it. In those moments, may we not look to the blessings of others and compare them to our lives. Instead, we must look to God and realize that He will never leave us. There is nothing in Heaven or on Earth that is worth more than God and being close to Him is the only thing that matters (vs 28). 

Our nearness to God should cause us to rejoice, regardless of what we see in other people. 

Overcoming Enemies

Romans 12:21 encourages us to not be overcome with evil. Do you ever find this to be hard? Evil takes on many forms...I pretty much refuse to watch the news, or sometimes even turn my tv on because of the amount of evil in this world. I get tired of hearing constant negatives and people arguing back and forth about countless issues. Not to say that some of those issues don't need argued about, but there is a time and a place. 

The evil Paul is referring to here, though, is the evil that comes against you from other people; from your enemies. This is the end of a section with the heading "love." The passage commands us to bless those who persecute us and to not repay any evil for evil. 

Let me tell you, when someone hurts me the first thing I want to do is hurt them back. It is my natural response to pain. Pain breeds more pain. When I feel pain, I want to inflict it on others. And that is how cycles of hurt begin and get passed from generation, relationship to relationship. None of which is deserved, or fair.

The way to break the cycle of hurt is to stop dealing out pain. Do not overcome evil by causing more evil; overcome evil by causing good. Instead of hurting those who hurt us, we should actively seek opportunities to pray for them and to help them when possible. 

I'm hopeful that you don't have many enemies in life. But if you do, think twice about repaying evil with evil. Be strong enough to break the cycle.

Perpetual Prayer

Perpetual is defined as never ending or never changing. If you find yourself stuck in a perpetual prayer, this post is for you.

I'm currently reading Jesus One and Only by Beth Moore. I was reading it as I was using the elliptical machine at the gym the other night, which makes highlighting passages a bit tricky, but I always manage. Beth is writing about Zechariah and Elizabeth and how they prayed for years and years to have a child. She writes,

Have you almost given up on God answering an earnest, long-term prayer of your heart? Not becoming hopeless over a repetitious request can be terribly challenging...God does not have some limited supply of power, requiring that we carefully select a few choice things to pray about. God's power is infinite. God's grace and mercy are drawn deeply from the bottomless well of His heart. (pg 6)

As I read this, I was highlighting away on my iPad. This is kind of the echo of my heart right now. I'm growing weary of praying the same things over and over and only seeing small steps. And though my prayer is not necessarily of the magnitude of Zechariah and Elizabeth's, it is of equal importance to me. And I need all the encouragement humanly possible to keep going.

She goes on to write,

Do you have a long-standing prayer concern? If you have received a definitive no from God, pray to accept it and trust that He knows what He's doing. If you haven't, don't grow weary or mechanical. Like Zechariah and Elizabeth, continue to walk faithfully with God even though you are disappointed. Walking with God in the day-in/day-out course of life swells your assurance that God is faithful and enjoyable even when a request goes unmet. Recognizing all the other works God is doing in your life will prevent discouragement as you await your answer. Zechariah waited a long time for God's answer, but when it came, it exceeded everything the priest could have thought or asked. (pg 6, emphasis mine)

By this time, I had highlighted practically the whole page. And read it twice. And should probably have it tattooed on my arm. 

If you're nearly ready to give up on something you've been praying for, press on. We find in 1 John 5:14:

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

No matter what it seems, God always hears us. There is comfort there. 

I Have a Complaint

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. 

Philippians 2:14-16

Sometimes I just want to complain. I want someone to relate to me and agree with me, and God help them if they don't. Even when I don't truly have something real to complain about, trust me, I'll find something.

But God commands us to do everything without complaining. Everything?! I read this verse and was instantly trying to find loopholes--ways I could complain in a "holy" way. Venting to Christian friends is okay, right? Complaining for the sake of stress relief or explanation is legit, right? 

But as I continued reading into verses 15 and 16 and tried to understand the reason why we're commanded not to complain, it started becoming a little bit harder to justify my "holy complaints." God tells us not to complain so that we may become blameless and pure--I don't know about you, but I would love to be considered either of these things.

The other important reason for not complaining is that as God changes us through our contentment, we then begin to stand apart from others. A complaining Christian isn't a very good witness to those who don't follow God. Would someone want to follow God after hearing me complain about what he's doing or not doing? Doubtful.

The next time you're looking for a reason to justify your complaints, pause for a second and think about how your complaints will affect your purity, and how you'll affect others around you who'll listen to the complaint. Will it help you shine among them? I

f not, turn that complaint into a praise, and fast.

Small Beginnings

Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin...

Zechariah 4:10 (NLT)

What a hard verse to read. Most things in life start small, and those first few moments of a new experience, feeling, relationship, career--they're hard. It is hard to find joy in the small moments. Hard to find peace or confidence in whatever endeavor you're beginning. It's hard to see how things will ever develop into what you're dreaming of.

But our perspective is so limited because we only see now--all we see are the small beginnings.

God rejoices to see the work begin. Because he is the author, God admires his work--even what seems like humble beginnings to us, he sees as part of his overall masterpiece. As we continue through life, we can look back and see clearly that God used our small beginnings to create a wonderful story, but I want to practice seeing these small beginnings as tiny victories along the way, not after the story is told.

Lord help me to trust in small beginnings, and to rejoice in them the same way You do, knowing that you are the author of all stories--beginning, middle, and end.

Brokenhearted

All of us have been brokenhearted at one time or another. Chances are it was because of a relationship; either a friend, a family member, or spouse or dating relationship. Maybe there was turmoil. Maybe the relationship ended in a way that hurt. Maybe someone passed away. Or maybe it wasn't a relationship--maybe there was bad news--a health issue, financial burden, or something in the news. Heartbreak is unfortunately an effect of being human. 

In steps God:

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Psalm 147:3

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Psalm 34:18

I love these two verses. I love that God can heal our broken hearts. I love that he cares about us so much that he choses to be near to us when we are broken. I tend to have no desire to be around people who are miserable; I don't have the patience or the compassion to help see them through whatever is going on. Sometimes, I even drive myself crazy with my own misery. But God, he is so different. He is close to us in our time of sorrow. 

And then, as if coming near to us weren't enough, he saves us. He binds up our wounds. He heals us. He takes our broken hearts, our messy lives, and he restores us.

Your external wounds? God can bind them up.

Your broken heart? God comes near, then provides healing.

Your crushed spirit? Restored. Saved. 

Take comfort, friends, in having a loving, compassionate God who cares so deeply for his children.