Hope for Hurting Hearts

When the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

Matthew 14:35-36

The gospels regularly highlight the miraculous nature of Jesus' work on earth. It would be hard to overestimate the dramatic impact Jesus had on the lives of the people He healed. Think for even a moment about the woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years (Matthew 9:20), or the woman who had been crippled by demonic possession for eighteen years (Luke 13:10-13) and it's impossible to deny the amazing life change Jesus wrought for them. Even more, if you pause to consider that the man Jesus healed by the pool of Bethesda had been invalid for thirty-eight years (John 5:5-9) or that the blind man He healed in John 9 had never known sight at all, then it's impossible to miss how completely their lives were turned around. 

Today's passage, however, highlights for us just how easy it was for Jesus to bring about these major changes. All it took was one touch of the garments He wore and the course of a person's whole life was changed.

This should bring us hope. It tells us that our problems and our struggles are not beyond God's power! Whatever you are anxious about today, whatever you are stressed about, whatever keeps you awake at night is easy for God to handle. But this truth that ought to bring us joy and cause us to reach out to God in faith like the people in this story reached out to touch His cloak, instead often causes us to doubt and to question.

"If it's easy for God to solve my problems, then why doesn't He?" We ask. "Is God punishing me? Does He enjoy the fact that I am suffering? Why isn't He helping me?"

As believers we know that God is good and loving and that He doesn't take joy in our suffering. He has promised us that although not everything that happens to us will be good, He will work all things together for our good (Romans 8:28). And so, we choose to trust that God hasn't solved our problems yet because there is some good for us in them. There is some good in us learning to hope in Him, in learning to wait on Him, in learning to reach out to Him and pray to Him. Sometimes there is even good in persevering through the trial. (According to II Corinthians 12:7, Paul's thorn in the flesh was ordained to help keep him from pride.) 

It's hard for us to imagine that the things which pain and challenge us have been allowed or even ordained by God for our good. But if we are to believe in a good and a sovereign God, then we must accept this truth. If you are struggling to do so today, then I commend to you Psalm 13. Make it the cry of your hurting heart. Make it your prayer.

How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
  How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
  and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
  How long will my enemy triumph over me?

Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
  Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
  and my foes will rejoice when I fall. 

But I trust in your unfailing love;
  my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing the Lord’s praise,
  for he has been good to me.

Ugly Thoughts About Scripture

Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli... The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!”

I Samuel 3:1-4

I was reading Scripture just now. I opened my Bible to the story where God calls out to Samuel in the temple, but Samuel is just a boy and he thinks it is the old priest Eli calling him. Before I started reading, this thought flitted across my mind: "Oh, I already know this story. There's nothing new for me in this one." I'm ashamed to admit it but there are times when I come to one of the less exciting passages in Scripture and I even catch myself thinking "This passage really isn't very interesting. There really isn't much in it. I need to find a passage with something good in it if I am going to teach on it."

Now, I am a pastor. I've committed my life to God's Word, to reading it, interpreting it, and preaching and teaching it. So I was thinking, if I can underestimate God's word in this way, if someone who has committed their life to the Bible can take it for granted like this sometimes, then maybe you do too. The truth God is reminding me of today is that every single word of Scripture is here by His expressed desire. Every passage is a precious treasure that is there to encourage, challenge and teach us. We can open our Bibles to literally ANY section and with enough study, prayer, and help from the Holy Spirit mine out precious truths that will nourish our souls.

God reminded me of all that by showing me something in this passage I had missed. Samuel was sleeping in the tabernacle. If I understand the book of Leviticus rightly, then only certain Levites were even allowed in the tabernacle at all. Samuel was not one of these Levites, but by virtue of him being dedicated to the Lord from birth and being placed in the charge of the priest Eli, he had received this great privilege. As a young boy he slept in the presence of God! Not in the Holy of Holies, mind you, but in the tabernacle just a stone's throw away from God's presence. What a privilege! What a blessing!

But you know, this is a privilege all New Testament believers can enjoy. We ought not to "visit" God once a week in church but we ought to dwell with Him throughout the week. Stay in His presence young Christian! Pray, read Scripture, cultivate an awareness of Christ in you, learn to listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit and to enjoy His presence. And when you lay down your head at night may you sense the Father's presence so strongly that you can almost hear Him singing over you (Zephaniah 3:17).

Give and See

Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD,

 and he will reward them for what they have done.

Proverbs 19:17

Those who give to the poor will lack nothing,

 but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses.

Proverbs 28:27

There's always a tension when it comes to giving. I have a limited amount of money and if I give some of that money to feed the poor, fund missions, or support my church; then I have less money to pay my bills, feed my family, and spend on the things I want to do. That's the rub; and my greed, my logic will always try to talk me out of giving sacrificially for those reasons. Frankly, I can always make a logical argument for me needing to keep more of my money to care for my family.

But God's knows this about me, about us, and He meets us right at our place of need. And when it comes to helping poor people (a group which God shows particular concern for) He takes that excuse off the table. God tells us in the proverbs above that when we give to the poor, He charges it to His account. (Jesus says the same about poor believers in Matthew 25:31-46.) He takes it personally. He treats it as a personal loan made to Him, and He promises to pay us back. 

This creates a paradox of sorts. We give but we are promised we will never lack for having given. Proverbs 11:24-25 puts it a little differently, It says "One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper." So then as Matthew Henry notes, those who give to the poor are "never the poorer for having given." It could be said that giving to the poor is the surest form of investment. 

Giving sacrificially is an act of trusting God that He will give enough back to me to make sure my family's needs are met. This makes giving an act of faith in God's sovereignty over my finances. He's in control of how much comes my way, if I obey Him then I can trust Him to continue to meet my needs in one way or another. 

Do you trust God to pay off His loans? Do you trust Him to keep His word? Will you step out on faith and give to meet the needs of those starving all across the world? Is your faith strong enough to give sacrificially, to give 'til it hurts a little? Trust God! Give and see what He will do.

Be Glad

Our emotions are an important part of our Christian walk, one which we don't talk enough about as Christians. At least we don't in my (mostly Southern Baptist) experience. Often I am more concerned with right thinking and right doing than I am with right feeling, but Scripture has a lot to say about my emotions, so I can't ignore them. While it is true that we shouldn't be slaves to emotion, it doesn't mean that they don't matter to our faith at all.

Consider gladness. Being glad is a way for the Christian to rejoice in God's goodness. Psalm 126:3 says, "The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad." So, being glad can be a sign to the world that God has been good to you, in the same way that a wife's happiness can be a sign that her husband is good to her. Being glad can actually be a part of a good Christian testimony.

It can also be a form of thankfulness as Psalm 118:24 shows: "This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." Think of a little girl opening her gifts on Christmas morning. If she doesn't appear glad when she opens a gift, then you know she probably doesn't appreciate the gift. In the same way, being glad can serve as a kind of thankfulness, a show of appreciation for the gifts God has given us.

Gladness often plays an important role in worship. Psalm 100:1-2 says, "Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!" God deserves to be served and worshiped with gladness. Our worship should be serious, but rarely (if ever) somber or sad. We ought to rejoice and be glad as we enjoy the privilege of worshiping and serving so good a Savior.

Now, I know that this mindset can be taken too far, and I know that some Christians have done that. While gladness is an important emotion in the Christian life it is not the only valid emotion in the Christian life. The Bible has much to say about the Christian experience of suffering and sorrow, of love and loss, of joy and sadness. So do not think that you must only be glad, but you must sometimes be glad. And how good a God we serve that He wants us and even commands us to be glad.