Comfort.

It really was rather difficult to put a name on this post. I have hardly any personal thoughts this time around. Honestly, right now I barely feel worth listening to, but I know that God is always worth listening to. I've been looking up verses of comfort, and looking at verses having to do with fear. Now is a time of uncertainty and fear in my life and he lives of those I care about, but I know that God doesn't want us to fear. Moreover, if we are walking with God, we have no reason to fear. Most of these verses are from the Old Testament. Usually I'm guilty of overlooking those stuffy old books, but I realized that it's very fitting to draw comfort for fear out of them. The Israelites were constantly besieged and downtrodden by their enemies, and had plenty of reason to lose hope. But God had hope for them, and that hope is certainly good enough for my fears. So I'll share with you the scripture that I've found.

Isaiah 40:1-2 - "Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins."

Psalm 46:1-2 - "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea."

Psalm 56:3-4 - "When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose Word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?"

Psalm 91:5, 9-10 - "You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day... If you make the Most High your dwelling - even the Lord, who is my refuge - then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent."

Proverbs 29:25 - "Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe."

Isaiah 41:12-13 - "Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who rage war against you sill be as nothing at all. For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, 'Do not fear; I will help you.'" 

Jeremiah 17:7-8 - "But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." (One of my favorites)

Matthew 10:29-31 - "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."

John 14:27 - "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." (another favorite)

And finally, in this hopeful season of Advent:
Isaiah 9:2 - "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned."

The Second Prayer

"As [Jesus] was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, 'Jesus, Master, have pity on us!' When he saw them, he said, 'Go, show yourselves to the priests.' And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus feet and thanked him - and he was a Samaritan." (Luke 17:12-16)

This morning I'm going to share a few thoughts from the wonderful chapel service I got to attend earlier today. The Bible passage that was read contained the verses above, and the pastor shared some thoughts on the Thanksgiving holiday and the prayer that often goes along with it. We often find ourselves more than able to cry to God for help. Just last night I found myself pleading for answers and aid. In the midst of despair, when there's nowhere else to turn, it just seems more natural to turn towards God. However, it's a bit harder to remember the "second prayer". It doesn't feel as natural to stop in the middle of a happy moment and think about how God is answering a past cry for help. Often (at least in my case) we would rather just forget that we even had to cry for help and concentrate on "living in the moment". It's very good sometimes to stop and think about your blessings, reflecting on hardship and giving thanks for deliverance. I'd like to take this free moment to do that. Here's what I'm especially thankful for right now:

Sunshine. This simple blessing has lifted my spirits immensely today.

Health for me and my family in light of my accident and some of the misfortunes we've had in past holidays. 

A new car that was provided after my old one was totaled.

Friends that have made this school year so enjoyable.

Concordia. The professors are so wonderfully kind, caring, and intelligent. The chapel services have comforted me on countless occasions. The Christian environment helps me feel like I belong. 

A boyfriend who is loving and patient through our struggles. 

Phone and my internet. Even though they don't always work perfectly, they keep me in contact with the people I love.

There are tons of other things I could give thanks for, but I'll keep the list short (partly because I need to go pack, because I get to go home today). Sometimes it feels cheesy or strange to sit and give thanks for blessings, but it's such a wonderful exercise to drive off despair. I pray that your Thanksgiving is filled with obvious blessings, and that you remember to give thanks every day. 

 

Fearless?

As an early teen, my father showed me the Syfy mini-series Dune and its sequel Children of Dune. For some reason, I much preferred the sequel, and still watch all 6 hours of it at least twice a year. The point of my telling you this is that the movie contains (as part of the science fiction mysticism in the plot) a phrase referred to as the "litany against fear". It goes something like this: "I will not fear. Fear is the mind killer. I will face my fear. I will let it pass through me."
Not too bad for a mantra. Then again it relies pretty heavily on inner strength, which I know is sometimes hard to come by. I have a better suggestion.
2 Timothy 1:7 reads: "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."
That's much better. When we rely on our own strength, fear is definitely a "mind killer". When facing a decision or a task, it's so easy to look at it and feel overwhelmed by fear. So many things could go wrong! It seems like every option is a bad option, causing pain or disappointment. But when we let God work in us and strengthen our spirits, things become a little bit clearer. That doesn't mean that things become easy. It's still difficult to determine what God's will is and make ourselves entrust the outcome to Him. But we have the comfort of knowing that if we really are following God's will we can do so without fear. He knows the outcome, and it fits into his plan perfectly, for our ultimate benefit.
I'm not saying that Christians are completely fearless. We live in a sinful world, and sometimes there are reasons to be afraid. We might be following God's will, but that doesn't mean everyone else will do the same. Things go awry, and we feel pain and loss. Sometimes we lose sight of the plan God has for our lives. It feels like we're surrounded by fear and pain. It's a prison that's hard to escape. Yet we can still take comfort in knowing that we should place each situation into God's hands. He is the only one capable of controlling all of our fear and letting us out of the prison we imagine for ourselves. He gives us comfort and assurance that he is always working for our good, no matter how hopeless it seems and no matter how many things could go wrong. All we have to do is ask.

Dry your tears.

What are you waiting for?
I think everyone sometimes buys into the hope of an easy fix. We think that if this would happen or that would change, everything would get better. It sounds so good. On some occasions our "easy fix" is just wishful thinking, and wouldn't honestly do us any good. Though often it actually is the key to making life more manageable. It's such a wonderful feeling when someone says the phrase "That's not crazy, that's common sense."
Unfortunately, we can't usually make those changes happen. Lately I've learned a lot about the human survival instinct. If something is too stressful and there's something we can do to make it better, we usually take action. The problem comes in when our stress is outside ourselves. Fortunately we have a God who not only handles our lives, but also the lives of everyone around us. Does it sometimes seem like he's ignoring us? Certainly. Just last week in a moment of despair I mused, "What's the deal? Was there just not enough love left for me this week?" The key word there is despair. I felt hopeless. One of my favorite movies, Anne of Green Gables, has a wonderful piece of wisdom regarding that state of being. When Anne tells Marilla that she is "in the pits of despair", Marilla responds, "To despair is to turn your back on God." It's pretty hard for God to show us love when our back is turned (although he often finds a way to do it anyway). 
The book of Lamentations (the name says it all) has some wonderful words of comfort: 
"I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall. 
I well remember them, 
and my soul is downcast within me. 
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 
Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, 
for his compassions never fail. 
They are new every morning; 
great is your faithfulness. 
I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; 
therefore I will wait for him." 
Lamentations 3:19-24 


Even when everything seems hopeless, God never fails us. It's not always easy to see (or follow through with), but God always loves us and is always finding ways to care for us.


I wanted to share one more thing, just because this song struck me as fitting today.

Humility

First, I apologize for the less than creative name. I'm a bit pressed for time (so this will be short), but I really wanted to share some thoughts from our campus chapel service this morning.
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." Philippians 2:3-4
Being humble is such a slippery slope, and our struggles can go both ways. Obviously pride is not a good thing in excess. We should be proud of our accomplishments, but not brag or be arrogant. Yet humility can also be taken too far. It's easy to consider others as better than yourself when your opinion of yourself is so low that it would be hard to find someone worse. Self esteem is very important. We cannot love others the way we were meant to if we don't first show love to ourselves. So pride and humility, like many other things in life, have to be kept in a tricky balance. 
It helps to look at the second sentence of the passage. A great way to show humility is to care about the lives and goals of others, rather than just your own. Helping someone better themselves shows that you think they're important. It (hopefully, if they follow your example) begins a cycle of caring that may make it's way back to you someday. Although it can be said that "nice guys finish last", it can also sometimes be said that they get a bigger reward for their patience in the end. Although it's frustrating to feel overlooked, wouldn't you prefer having the respect that results when the rest of the world realizes that you have worth, and you don't demand recognition for it? God's Word never fails to improve our lives (better than we could do by our own instincts), even though it's hard to carry out sometimes.

Say What?

Maybe it's heretical to say this, but from a human perspective it's true: The Bible can be frustrating sometimes.

Seriously, maybe you don't have a jar of Bible verses on slips of paper like I do, but there are other times when a verse comes up somewhere (church, a book, the internet) and strikes your heart, but you have no idea why. You're left wondering, "Why does this affect me? What am I supposed to get from this? Is there some obvious application that I'm missing?" This very situation just happened for me, and thankfully I do have a jar of verses, and I just drew another one (which ended up being two). 
The first verse was Psalm 119:105, a very familiar section: "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." In this case I wasn't really confused about why it struck me. There's definitely things I and the people around me are going through right now (and always, but especially right now) that are in serious need of divine guidance. But this verse is one that makes you say, "Okay...what now?" It's a wonderful reminder that we should look to God first when we don't know where to go, but where am I supposed to look? Again, thank God I have more verses to pull from.
The next verse I looked at was 2 Corinthians 4:17, "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all."     Now that's a different thought. It feels like a primer. God says to look to his Word, but rather than always giving instructions right away he begins with comfort. What a testimony of how our God loves us! He understands that we get overwhelmed. So he reminds us that, firstly, our troubles are not as huge as they seem. It's a reality check. We make all kinds of decisions and run into all kinds of issues every day. Some of them truly are momentary. Some of them have lasting effects. All of them pale in comparison to what's really important. Christ suffered all the pain and frustration we do and then died a brutally painful death so that we might have rest and glory at the end of our days. We can breathe deeply and trust in God's mercy and love, knowing that he's been there and he won't just let us ruin our lives. He's watching out for us!
So I went on to read the third verse that fell out "on accident". This one was Isaiah 51:7: "Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have my law in your hearts: Do not fear the reproach of men or be terrified by their insults."
As always with God's Word, the answer isn't unmistakably clear. We still have free will. Unfortunately God doesn't just whisper instructions specific to each day when we wake up. However, it gives a good piece of advice: In the end, as long as you're following God's will to the best of your knowledge and ability, the opinions of people aren't that important. In all likelihood, every major decision we make in our lives will be criticized by someone, whether it's an acquaintance that barely influences us or our closest friends and family members. That's why it's so important to pray. Maybe it's hokey, or hard to believe, but I think that when a right decision is made God puts peace in our hearts. Feeling confused and conflicted is normal. But after prayer and consideration the conflict should give way to joy, however tentative. God has a plan for all of us, and he never lets us stray too far from the fold.

 

Let's just call it "Love".

Love. It's incredible. It's incredibly complicated. It can be applied to a million different areas of our human lives. There are so many different kinds of love. The Greek language has four words that are encompassed by the single English word "love". (If I could remember what all four of those words are off the top of my head I would share them with you. Unfortunately I can only think of one right now.) We love our family, friends, "significant others", and spouses. We should love God. If we love God, then we should show love to everyone. Unfortunately, love is sometimes a difficult emotion. 
Today (because it's been on my heart lately), I want to take a hard look at romantic love. This love is unique. Everyone is born into a family. So even though their parents may not choose to love them, everyone at least has that option. God loves every living thing. Although many people choose to ignore it and shy away from God's love, it is there. Romantic love is unique in that we must seek it. We are not born into romance. It can be argued that everyone has a destined "soulmate", but that person must be found and pursued. 
For the sake of ease, I'm just going to talk from my perspective, that of a female. A boyfriend is a wonderful thing, but they can be the hardest to love. My parents, and even God, make me angry sometimes. But I've been loving them my whole life, so it hardly seems an option to just forget about them. Boyfriends are different though. They present a choice. And it is indeed a choice. Sometimes you don't feel like loving someone, but really loving them is remembering that they deserve your understanding. Emotions feel urgent. Love is calm. 
You know, I really don't have everything (or even many things) figured out, so I should probably stop spouting my wisdom. What does God's Word say about love? (I'm finally going to look at 1 Corinthians 13:4-8) "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." The section goes on to speak more wise words about the temporary nature of everything else, and the fact that we cannot see or understand everything, no matter how much we learn. I'll focus on the section I quoted though. The question is: Should this really be applied to romantic love? My personal answer: Of course! My basic belief is that the love you share with someone you marry should encompass any and all kinds of love. 
So does that mean that I or any other dating or married person love perfectly, according to God's instructions? Not nearly. The reason I'm looking at this passage and sharing it with you is that I know I've failed in the past and recently. I need to study every part of this verse and try every day to do what it says, because the reason God put it in his Word was to give us instructions on how to be happy. What happens when I'm impatient? Pain. I can't make time go any faster, no matter how much I want to. What about when I'm envious? Pain. I'm only wishing for things I can't have. And when I'm boastful? Pain. It only hurts my boyfriend when I remind him of what he can't have, and what hurts him hurts me in the end. Everything in that passage is a sure way to avoid pain, and I'm guilty of neglecting them all. I'm selfish, hotheaded, and I hold grudges. I lose faith and hope and feel like I cannot go on. And because of all these things, sometimes my love fails. But God is always there to remind me how to fix it, and lend me the strength to do so. Sometimes things don't go the way I want them to, and I think I know best. In the end though, everything always works out better than I ever could have planned. The very end of 1 Corinthians 13 reminds me of God's plan. After reminding me how often I fail, how blind I am, and how perishable earthly things are, the writer concludes (better than any conclusion I could ever write): "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."