Strength in Weakness

Isaiah 40: “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak”.

Consider Hannah: Almost everyone has heard of Hannah, but whoever heard of Penninah? Yet in Hannah’s day, it was the other way round.

Hannah’s fame was such that when God through the prophet Isaiah, that “more are the children of the desolate woman” (referring to God’s blessing to the barren woman), God’s people would have immediately thought of the story of Hannah.

Hannah was a barren woman, without children. More than that, she was persecuted by her husband’s other (we’ll save discussion of polygamy for another day) wife, the not-so-barren, childbearing (and don’t you forget it) Penninah. She was not only barren, she was desolate, hurting and pained. Constantly reminded of her failure, aggravated by the success of her peer, she bore the reproach of her barrenness and it was killing her. Her sadness showed on her face.

Hannah, however, sought the face of God. She went to the tabernacle to make her sacrifice. She would not let go until God blessed her. She did not give in when the clueless High Priest of the day, Eli, mistook her grieving and crying out to the Lord for drunkenness, and rebuked her. Almost to get rid of her, Eli announces to her “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him.”

Immediately, Hannah’s countenance changed. God imparted strength to her, in her weakness, and with the strength came miraculous grace to change the situation and to change the world.

Incredibly, especially given the apostacy of the priesthood of the day, God does indeed grant Hannah’s petition. It wouldn’t be the last Eli would hear from Hannah either.

Hannah’s pain and weakness became her strength. Her song celebrates this:

I smile at my enemies,
Because I rejoice in Your salvation.

“The bows of the mighty men are broken,
And those who stumbled are girded with strength.

Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
And the hungry have ceased to hunger.
Even the barren has borne seven,
And she who has many children has become feeble.

The barren has borne seven, God’s number for completeness. The barren’s faithfulness results in the birth of Samuel, a true prophet after God’s own heart… and she who has many children? Penninah? Panini? Pa… who?

Not that there should be a cause for gloating. No, there is never cause for that. There is, however, always cause to celebrate God’s faithfulness.

Today is the day of God’s favour. Today is the day of salvation.

Receive the strength of God, recall Hannah’s words today, even as you stumble:

“Those who stumbled are girded with strength”

The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ,
after you have suffered a little while,
will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

So you’ve failed? So you’re weak? So those mountains keep looking bigger? So what?

Have faith in God. Only keep on believing.

God himself will restore you.

Have a look at the video:

Exceed Your Vision

Do you have a vision? Or if you do have a vision, is it a God-sized vision?

God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask—or imagine… and He wants to develop our vision so that it exceeds “our” vision (if you get my drift).  He wants a God-sized, impossible vision, and He wants us to believe it.

He says to us “Call to me, and I will answer and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know“

If anyone lacks wisdom—lacks vision—they should ask God, but they must believe and not doubt (lest they be as a double-minded person, unstable in all that they do).  And if the vision isn’t immediately crystal clear, keep asking, keep seeking… [actually it just needs to be "plain" not crystal clear]

The band I’m listening to on iTunes at the moment is called the “Desperation Band”

Maybe God is waiting for some good old desperation before He provides the picture… just a thought

Or maybe He’s provided all of the picture that we need, and we haven’t walked in the light that we already have.  God’s plan is usually revealed like an unfolding… little by little, each step a step of faith.  He patiently waits for us to walk out in the light we already have, and as we follow through, more is revealed.  To the one who has, more will be given, to the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken…

God makes our footsteps firm, and He’s not bothered when we ask for more certainty each step of the way. If you’re not sure about the next step, ask Him.  He will give you the vision you need. True faith is not blind faith.  Faith is not blind, faith requires a vision that transcends and supercedes natural vision.  Ignorance isn’t a problem to God—in fact “ignorance” coupled with desperation is a prerequisite to hearing from God:  The one who thinks he knows does not yet know as he ought to know.   The word of God doesn’t refer to blind faith, the word says “we walk by faith, not by sight.“  The vision of faith is far greater than the vision of the eyes, or the vision of human planning, or of any human endeavour.    Faith is the actual evidence of things hoped for, the very substance of things not yet seen.

What to do, then, when one has no vision?  How then are we to know the way we are to go?

Pilots are taught, early on in their training, how to fly in conditions of low visibility.  Such conditions are known as “instrument conditions”.  Pilots in instrument conditions cannot afford to fly by their senses, and their feelings, because these are invariably wrong.  In instrument conditions, a pilot must determine his position and his course by his instruments, and his instruments alone.   Failure to do this will result in disaster.

Likewise, God often requires of His children that we learn to “fly” in instrument conditions, when there is little or no vision.   The instruments are the word of God, the Bible, prayer, faith, hope and above all love. As long as we plant ourselves in God’s word, we cannot lose.  As long as we bring everything to Jesus in prayer, how can we worry?

Jesus tells his disciples to “keep” his word.   The word of God isn’t always easy to understand, nor is it easy to digest.  In fact sometimes digesting Gods word is like chewing dry weetbix.  It is in these times that we must learn the definition of perseverence (which literally means to “stand [stay, abide] under” in New Testament Greek).  God is teaching us to fly by our instruments and not by our feelings.

God is faithful.  He will not let us be tempted [tested] beyond what we can bear, but when we are tempted [tested] he will provide a way out so that we can stand up under it.  Persevere.  Stand under (understand?)

“You will seek me, and find me,” says God, “when you seek me with all your heart.“

Come see
Come see with spirit eyes
Come see
The door is open
Come near
Come weary and ashamed
Come near
His arms are open
His arms are open

Come live
Come live in freedom here
Come live
The chains are broken
Come rest
Come take his gift of grace
Come rest
The word is spoken
The word is spoken

Come see
Come see with spirit eyes
Come see
The door is open
Come home
Come lay your burdens down
Come home
His arms are open
His arms are open
His arms are open

Everlasting Love vs. Wasting time

A song on the bus impresses upon me the love of God:

Open up your eyes
Then you’ll realise
Here I stand with my
Everlasting love

Do we not realise how wide (all-encompassing—for everyone—even you), how long (everlasting), how high (beyond human comprehension), how deep (unfathomable—were we to have all eternity, there would still be more to search) is the Love of God.  As I sat in the bus this morning, I was impressed that God himself is singing this very song to humanity, this unrequited love song and invitation to marriage

Need you by my side
Girl to be my bride
You’ll never be denied
Everlasting Love

You’ll never be denied.  Gods promises are for everyone.  Come all who I thirsty and drink of the waters of life, says Jesus.  Come as you are, surrender your heart and be a part of me.

From the very start
Open up your heart
Be a lasting part of
Everlasting Love

When we surrender our hearts to Jesus, when we give him our lives and experience His everlasting love, which is freely given to all humanity, our lives have meaning and purpose as we allow Him to transform us by renewing our mind.

Contrast this to what life might be without Jesus (or without the daily renewal we need from the Holy Spirit, or what happens when we knowingly disobey God).

Another song on the bus:

Sitting in the morning sun
I’ll be sitting when the evening comes
Watching the ships roll in
And I watch ‘em roll away again

[Refrain]
Sitting on the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away
I’m just sitting on the dock of the bay
Wasting time

I left my home in Georgia
Headed for the ‘Frisco bay
‘Cause I had nothin to live for
And look like nothing’s gonna come my way

So I’m just…
[Refrain]

Look like nothing’s gonna change
Everything still remains the same
I can’t do what ten people tell me to do
So I guess I’ll remain the same

Sittin here resting my bones
And this loneliness won’t leave me alone
It’s two thousand miles I roamed
Just to make this dock my home

“…Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of me,” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty

The Archaic and the Eternal

I have heard it said, many a time, with respect to the truth of the gospel, the reality of sin and redemption, death and the resurrection, the eternal King Jesus and His defeated foe… that such concepts were so completely “archaic” that they “could not possibly” apply today.

The thought that crosses my mind is “Since when does eternal truth ever become outdated?” In this deluded, depressed, demoralized postmodern society that we live in,  we have the audacity to pigeon-hole centuries-old truth as “archaic”.

If the Truth has been outmoded, then with what exactly has it been replaced with? Surely we must have something infinitely better to show in our society now we have suddenly—at last—become released from the shackles of antiquity. What is it that is somehow much better than the Truth which motivated such as the American Revolutionaries, and those who were responsible for shutting down the slave trade, and the Reformers (many of whom paid with their lives simply so we could have access to God’s immutable word, the Bible, that “archaic” diatribe that it is), or in more recent times General Montgomery, whose pronouncement “The Lord mighty in Battle will give us the victory” preceeded the first military victory for the allies in World War II. Shall I go on? Are we to somehow ignore history?

Since when do we presume to have attained the intellectual superiority to dismiss the glorious truth that our forefathers lived and died for, the real platform upon which all of the freedoms which we now take foregranted, were actually built? So that now we discuss whether or not it is “relevant” to deign to pray before parliament sits, or before school or even at school at all, or in public ever? There is a reason why Christian society has been blessed in the past, and it behooves us to understand our past as it truly was, not how revisionist history might try to paint it.

God is not mocked. Let God be true and every man a liar. The god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers.

And let Christians not forget God’s promise: “If my people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked [lit. bent] ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land”.

Lord, heal our land!! Come and send revival!! We need you!!!

Oceans will part

The refrain of the song in my head is
“Oceans will part, Nations Come, at the whisper of your call…
“Hope will rise, Glory shown, In my life your will be done”

There is something about the will of God in our life that engenders the miraculous. In order to step into the future God has for us, we are led to a place where the impossible confronts us head on, and we are left with nothing else but to step into his plan. The parting of the oceans and the establishment of Gods purposes for our life are one and the same. One is an outward manifestation of the supernatural, the other an inward but no less incredible impartation of miraculous grace.

But why are we so surprised at the need for the miraculous? (or why I am I so surprised…) Doesn’t Jesus promise us that whosoever believes in Him, rivers of living water shall flow (gush?) from their innermost being. Where else does that overflow of supernatural grace come from but the miraculous presence of God pouring forth into our lives. It is no less incredible than the mighty Red Sea, split asunder as Moses lifts his staff, no less gobsmacking than the river Jordan rolled back as far as the eye could see, the reproach of Israel driven back to Adam.

So it is with the miraculous working of God’s will in our lives.

In my life, Your will be done. Not the comprehensible, categorizable, understandable plans that I can conceive. The incomprehensible, improbable, impossible will of God for my life. “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived”. But God has revealed it to us by his spirit. How incredible is that.

The Plans I have for you

Just as God led His people Israel through the wilderness in times of old, God still leads His people into the wilderness. And He led his own Son, Jesus, into the wilderness, before his ministry. Just as he promised Hosea, He is leading us into the wilderness with a purpose, and that purpose is to speak tenderly to us, to teach us how to depend on Him and not ourselves.

To those who don’t know God and His ways, nothing could seem more preposterous. Yet to those who do know God, and are familiar with His ways, nothing provides a greater testimony to the truthfulness of these words than the very experience of Gods tender mercies while in the depths of the wilderness…

And the purpose He has for us today, in learning to depend on Him and learning to lean on Him is wholly pointed in the direction of the future. He declares: “I know the plans I have for you, plans to give you a future, and a hope…. plans to prosper you, and not to harm you.’ Yet our circumstances, in their abject barrenness speak of the complete opposite. We are reminded of God’s faithful servant Abraham: “Against all hope, Abraham, in hope, believed”

And one cannot believe unless there is an object for that belief. That object, is the embodiment of his Son Jesus. He is our portion. When we are fully satisfied in Him, and in Him alone, we find that within the awesomeness of his majesty, his provision, is our very future, and the plans of God mapped out before us somehow within the person of Jesus. Jesus declared “In my fathers house are many rooms”… and we do not know how true that is for us, as Jesus opens His heart to us and we find within the desires of our own heart, the plans and the destiny and the dreams that we had hoped for, within the desire of our heart, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that is the plan for the future. “For I know the plans I have for you”, says God, “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope”. Hope, as they say, has a name.

That name is Jesus.

Do you know him? If not, take the time to seek Him and learn of Him… for He is gentle and humble of heart, His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He knows you by name and He is calling you this very day.

“Choose this day whom you will serve. As for me and My house, we will serve the Lord”