Ecclesiastes 3

A few days ago, my mom posted some verses from Ecclesiastes 3. In our church here in England, I taught that exact passage the Sunday before Tony's accident. The message would prove to be very prophetic and timely with Tony's accident happening 5 days later, and then considering the following weeks and months. For any who would be interested in listening to that message, here it is:

• Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 - Seasons (mp3)

Unwavering

It’s the middle of the night here in London. I’ve been back in the UK about 33 hours which means jetlag is in full swing. As I lay wide awake in bed my mind was meditating on unwavering faith, specifically the faith that Abraham had in Romans 4.

God had made a promise to Abraham, a promise that seemed impossible to keep. In fact in Romans 4:18, we read that Abraham hoped against hope. In other words, he had hope in a hopeless situation. What gave him this hope were the promises of God.

In watching my brother’s slow recovery with its good days and bad days, it would be easy to find myself wavering or staggering at God’s promises. My hope must rest in that which is certain. This is what Abraham did. In Romans 4:20-21, we read that “no distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.”

If you find your hope wavering, it’s possible that it is placed in the wrong source. Abraham placed his hope in the promises of God. God does not lie nor change his mind. What are some of his promises that we can stand on in this roller-coaster recovery as well as your own hardships?

• God is good and he works good in our lives. The Bible tells us in Mark 10:18 that God is good and in Romans 8:28 we see that everything he does is for the good of his people. I have very limited knowledge. I am not the Lord’s counselor, so I am in no position to tell him how he should act. Some of you may remember the film, Bruce Almighty. Not having God’s wisdom and trying to play the part of God, he found that rather than doing good in people’s lives, he was harming them. This is how it is when we try to tell God what would be good in our lives. It is for us to trust his goodness.
• God is love and he works his love in our lives. The Bible tells us that God’s very character is defined by love (1 John 4:8) and that even the difficulties in our lives are actually fingerprints of his love at work (Proverbs 3:12; James 5:11). Even when I do not see the purpose in what God is doing, I can stand unwavering knowing that God loves Tony as his own son.
• God is committed and he sees his work to completion in our lives. Sometimes it seems like the difficulties never end. But the reality is God sees his works through to completion. He is unlike so many of us who begin projects and never finishes them. He completes everything he starts (Philippians 1:6). Whatever work he is doing in Tony, and the rest of us, God is positively relentless in finishing the work. He doesn’t abandon us.

If you find yourself wavering in difficulties, have you considered who your God is? Is your God faithful in his promises? If you trust in Jesus, you can stand unwavering knowing that as the Scripture says, “He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24).

Anxiety

According to the Oxford Dictionary, the word anxious is a Latin word. It’s derived from angere which means “to choke”. To be anxious is to be worried, nervous, or uneasy about something. In times of adversity, we are stripped of the illusions of control and are confronted with the truth that we are not in control. We read in Proverbs 24:10 that “If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.” This helplessness (lack of strength) causes anxiety. We realize that our power is “choked”. To choke is to cut off a necessary supply. If our world is based on our control of events, our world begins to crumble. We assume power, control, strength, but those assumptions are tested in the crucible of adversity. Thus we feel anxious when someone/something we love is threatened because we cannot control circumstances or outcomes. The reality is that none of us are really in control, but the result does not need to be anxiety. Philippians 4:6-7 exhorts us with these words, “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

What is it about praying to God that slays the dragon of anxiety? It isn’t simply praying, but praying to the Maker of heaven and earth. It is praying to the one who redeems His people with His own blood. In other words, we begin to look to the one who is in control instead of looking to ourselves. To lay our lives and anxieties in Jesus’ care is leave the things we are anxious about in the hands of Him who is capable and him who loves us. When we can trust God, his power, his wisdom, and his good plan, we can cease from worry and have peace.

It is when we finally leave those things that worry us in God’s capable hands, that peace replaces worry. We do not cease to care, but rather begin to care enough to allow God to have control, for He alone has power to accomplish the need at hand. If you have entrusted your life into the care of Jesus, then you can have the peace He gives (John 14:27) and the confidence that God is working (Psalm 121:4). You can say with King David in Psalm 4:8, “In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”

Look to Jesus for your peace. Let Him take ownership of your worries and trust His everlasting arms to accomplish what concerns you today.

Dealing with Life’s Crises

This past week has been a roller-coaster emotionally. I find the sheer intensity of emotion exhausting (my jetlag is probably also playing into that). We are spending a lot of time in the ICU and in the off hours we are at the hospital accommodation (for people with loved ones in critical condition). Having spoken to different people both at the ICU unit and at the hospital accommodation, there are certain themes that become very obvious. Evaluation of life is taking place in various family members of various families as the ones they love are in critical condition. Some are on the mend, others are still in the dark. Conversations I have had with people these past few days brought Ecclesiastes 7:3 to mind which reads, “Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.”

This means that in sorrow and hardship, the realities of life must be addressed and dealt with. There is a certain realness and authenticity in those who are in the throws of hardship. This is no time for games, but time for reflection and contemplation. And those reflections rightly applied are ultimately turned to gladness. Here are some of the things I am seeing.

1. In crisis people re-evaluate those things that are truly important in life. Life is full of diversions. Many things cry out for attention. To give one thing your attention is to withhold that attention from something else. Unfortunately it often takes a crisis to strip away all the veiling things in life to get to its core.
2. In crisis people come to grips with their own frailty and begin to turn to God. As the saying goes, “there are no atheists in foxholes.” Everyone I have spoken with regarding their loved ones in critical condition is saying things like, “We are praying.” GK Chesterton, the famous British author once said, “The worst moment for an atheist is when he has a profound sense of gratitude and has no one to thank.” It could also be said that the worst moment for an atheist is when he has a profound sense of helplessness and has nobody to call upon. It is interesting that so far everyone I have spoken with is quick to say they are praying for their loved one, and nobody is refusing prayer.
3. In crisis people must deal with their own mortality. Our society does many things well, but we are very poor at preparing one another for the reality that 10 out of 10 people will die. As a society we elevate youthfulness because when we are young, we think we will live forever. We try to botox away death. We do not know how to deal with this inevitability, so we ignore it. In the 18^th century, several years after the revival of John and Charles Wesley, the Methodists, as they aged, began to die in great numbers. One doctor who attended many of these Methodist Christians on their death beds said to John Wesley, “Your people die well.” Rather than ignoring their mortality all their life, they spent their life in preparation for it.

The bottom line is that in crisis, people get real. I myself am writing from the seat of crisis. But the beautiful thing is when we look to Jesus, he doesn’t waste the crisis but uses it. I trust God is using this crisis that we (and especially that my brother Tony) are in. Please continue to pray for Tony. 

Hope

This is a word that gets a lot of play. When we use the word hope, we usually mean that we should cross our fingers and wish for the best. Hope then becomes nothing more than positive thinking. But the Bible gives us a different perspective on the word hope.

Hope carries the idea of an expectation of good. Hope is coupled with certainty, that is to say, certainty regarding the future. The question then is not one of IF, but of WHEN. Romans 8:24 says, “For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?” Hope is based in what is coming. It is far deeper than the mere crossing of fingers with earnest longings.

In the midst of tragedy, we can have hope. Hope that is anchored in Jesus brings confidence in God’s goodness, and thus peace in our soul. Even when the product of that hope is veiled, the certainty of that hope is sure.

How do we apply this in these circumstances?

1.) God has promised to do good in the lives of Jesus’ followers.

Romans 8:28, And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

We may not understand the why’s and how’s but we trust in the who. 

2.) Ultimately, our hope is the God of power himself, not just what God can do. 

Jeremiah 32:17, ‘Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. 

When we see how great God is, the things that seem so big to us are put in their right proportion. Tony’s condition is a big deal in our eyes, but God is bigger and we expect good from God, and trust that God knows what is good more than we do.

3.) The hope for the Christian is stronger than the grave.

1 Peter 1:3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

This hope is not temporal. In other words, anything in which we place our hope in this life will ultimately fail us, whether today, tomorrow, or forty years down the line. But the hope that comes through Jesus conquers the grave and is eternal.

What God is doing in Tony’s life right now, we cannot say. But we can rest in hope. Hope that God is good, God is bigger than the crisis, and that God in Jesus conquered the grave which means there is hope of life.

We continue to pray for Tony’s full recovery to the God in whom we hope.

Bigger than Mountains

I arrived in Fresno (where Tony is) from London yesterday evening. It was a long journey, but Jesus enabled me to get on trains, automobiles, and planes that had no room for me to make the journey. It is good to be here although there is a profound sense helplessness. Probably anybody who is reading this can identify with that sense of helplessness in a situation that is so beyond our abilities or perceived abilities. In all honesty, I am thankful for the sense of helplessness. This comment may strike some of you as strange, so let me explain what I mean. Often times we think we are able to do more than we actually can. Realizing our helplessness, causes us to call out for help. But who should we call? What is the best source of help?

Psalm 121:1-2 gives us the answer in these words, “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”

In these verses, the Psalmist realizes that help must come from somewhere greater than himself. He looks to the hills (mountains), not because the mountains can help, but because God who made those mountains as well as heaven and earth has power to help.

When we are overwhelmed by the impossibility of circumstances, we are reminded to search for the answer, not in ourselves, but in our Maker. God is the source of help, for Jesus alone has power to save.

Are you feeling helpless right now? Find some mountains. Look up at them. Then remember that Jesus has conquered the mountains that overwhelm us for he who made heaven and earth has power to save. This is where enduring help is found. Jesus is bigger than all of our mountains.

Waiting

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I do hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than the watchmen for the morning. (Psalm 130:5-6)

In a situation like Tony's, there is a real sense of helplessness. All we can do whether 6000, 400, or 1 mile(s) away is wait on God and hope in his promises. I am choosing to wait actively on God who makes all things beautiful in his time (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

I write this because it may be of some help and encouragement for some of you. What does waiting on God in a situation like this look like? Here's what it looks like for me right now.

Realize my own powerlessness - not just in this situation, but in all things. My breath, talents, family, even when, where, and to whom I was born are all gifts of God. Nobody is the Invictus, captain of their fate and master of their soul. Therefore, since my own power is an illusion, I look to him who has all power. This causes me to ask God (pray) for my brother's life. I cannot grant life. My positive thinking might change my outlook, but it doesn't change circumstances. I have no power. Even the power the doctors have is a gift from God. It is to God that I must pray. At the end of the day, Tony is better off in God's hands than in mine.

Rest in my storms - my soul can wait even in urgency when I realize that God is in control. Waves can crash about and gail force winds can blow with such force that would cause uncertainty, despair, and confusion. But the soul that finds rest in God alone, is the soul that weathers the storm, for God gives strength in place of our weakness. My prayer is that God would sustain myself and all those in this storm, especially Tony for whom this storm is most real. Jesus was able to sleep in the storm on the Sea of Galilee while the disciples were in panic. I need to keep looking to Jesus who is the giver of real rest.

Rely on God's word - I find comfort, direction, encouragement in God's word (Bible). My thoughts can get carried away, but God's word is a plumb-line that brings me back to the place of a quieted soul which is trusting in the reality of God's truth.