Towering snow fell last week and since my husband was out of town, I had the privilege of snow removal. If you haven't visited our farm, we have more than a person can do with a shovel--but plenty of that, too. As I bundled up for -3 temperatures I prayed, "Lord, give me wisdom. Help me do this well."
Then the biblical counselor in me kicked in asking, "What do you mean by well? What kind of wisdom are you asking for?" Honestly, I wanted the least amount of inconvenience and the most efficiency. I wanted to get it over with so I could enjoy a quiet day at home without obligation. I didn't want to work hard, toil, sweat, and labor. I didn't want difficulty or roadblocks. I wanted to "get on with my life."
How true, how true. Even as I lay in bed last night a dreaded task came to mind followed by our pastor's voice saying, "God works all things together for good; all means all" and I realized I don't want "all" things to be working together--even if it's for good.
I think it would be nice to have a few difficult things, spaced out to my liking (or not at all), and mostly easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy things instead of, as my daughter says, "difficult-difficult-lemon-difficult" things. I don't want God to control all the things in my life (hear the rebellion?) and I don't want all of them to count. I want time off for good behavior. I want to have moments that God isn't using for my "good;" moments that are just mine, not His (And even in writing that, I'm feeling very, very small and convicted).
But God is God. He loves me. He knows me. He is much more concerned with best than comfort, with change than convenience, with Christ than my preferences. And what a good God He is. There were times Jesus wanted out of the program, too, but He submitted to His Father. He was perfected through suffering. He has become the Author and Perfecter of our salvation--and He will forever be counted worthy as the Lamb who was slain.
And when I consider Jesus, snow is not too big. Circumstances are not impossible. Relationships are not bad. They are all part of reflecting a loving, gracious, giving God to a needy, lost, dying world... And. I. Must. Keep. Going. Praise the Lord, He will make sure I do--according to His good will, purpose and plan.
They came to a place named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here until I have prayed.” And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled. And He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.” And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by. And He was saying, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.” (Mark 14:32-36)
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
Nor faint when you are reproved by Him;
For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines,
And He scourges every son whom He receives.”
It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. (Hebrews 12:1-13)
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Then the biblical counselor in me kicked in asking, "What do you mean by well? What kind of wisdom are you asking for?" Honestly, I wanted the least amount of inconvenience and the most efficiency. I wanted to get it over with so I could enjoy a quiet day at home without obligation. I didn't want to work hard, toil, sweat, and labor. I didn't want difficulty or roadblocks. I wanted to "get on with my life."
How true, how true. Even as I lay in bed last night a dreaded task came to mind followed by our pastor's voice saying, "God works all things together for good; all means all" and I realized I don't want "all" things to be working together--even if it's for good.
I think it would be nice to have a few difficult things, spaced out to my liking (or not at all), and mostly easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy things instead of, as my daughter says, "difficult-difficult-lemon-difficult" things. I don't want God to control all the things in my life (hear the rebellion?) and I don't want all of them to count. I want time off for good behavior. I want to have moments that God isn't using for my "good;" moments that are just mine, not His (And even in writing that, I'm feeling very, very small and convicted).
But God is God. He loves me. He knows me. He is much more concerned with best than comfort, with change than convenience, with Christ than my preferences. And what a good God He is. There were times Jesus wanted out of the program, too, but He submitted to His Father. He was perfected through suffering. He has become the Author and Perfecter of our salvation--and He will forever be counted worthy as the Lamb who was slain.
And when I consider Jesus, snow is not too big. Circumstances are not impossible. Relationships are not bad. They are all part of reflecting a loving, gracious, giving God to a needy, lost, dying world... And. I. Must. Keep. Going. Praise the Lord, He will make sure I do--according to His good will, purpose and plan.
They came to a place named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here until I have prayed.” And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled. And He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.” And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by. And He was saying, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.” (Mark 14:32-36)
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
Nor faint when you are reproved by Him;
For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines,
And He scourges every son whom He receives.”
It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. (Hebrews 12:1-13)
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