Over the past several days there has been a common theme that keeps coming to my attention. It has a lot to do with the question of where do we turn when we are hard pressed. Do we turn to our own wisdom, or the wisdom of this world, which the Scriptures (James 3) tell us is by it's very nature earthy and wicked (because it does not come from God).
Or, do we turn to God and ask for wisdom from above?
James tells us (Ch. 1) that God does not make fun of us or admonish us for asking again and that as long as we ask in faith, He will give it freely to us. The wisdom He gives is that which comes down from above and is "first of all, pure...."
When we ask for His wisdom, He gives us all that we need to be able to consider all the trials of life as joy, knowing that those testings of our faith produce perseverance and that perseverance must finish its work so that we may be mature in our faith, not lacking anything (James 1).
A good friend read a passage for me from C.S. Lewis's book, The Screwtape Letters. The subtitle for the book is A Devil's diabolical advice for the capturing of the human heart.
The premise of the book is that a high-ranking devil is giving advice to a Jr. level devil about how to understand, and therefore manipulate the human heart. The goal being, to keep the human (the creature) from learning to love, trust and obey the enemy (God).
Chapter 8 of this book describes the troughs of life, and how the devils try to use these to bring discouragement into the human heart, but the Enemy uses them to bring blessing into the human heart. Screwtape comments on how the Enemy will not force us to love him...He will not ravish the creatures, but will only woo them.
He also says that the Enemy will not "'tempt' to virtue as we do to vice." And that "He leaves the creature to stand up on its own legs---to carry our from the will alone duties which have lost all relish. That it is growing into the sort of creature He wants it to be. Hence the prayers offered in the state of dryness are those which please Him best...He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles."
This is such a good reminder that the Lord remembers our frame, that it is built of dust. But that He also wants to cause us to be able to fulfill all that He has designed in us that our progress might bring glory to Him-Who-Created-Us.
The catechism asks the question: "What is the chief end of man?" To which the answer is "To glorify God and enjoy Him forever."
Last nights video lesson reminded us that of Jesus, we will never be able to discover the last bit of information about who He is and what He has done (and is doing), and therefore, we will (if we keep our focus upon Him) always be able to be surprised, awed and delighted by learning more and more wonderful things about Him.
When we start to get to know some other hero we will at some point find that disappointment (or at least complacency) in some aspect of there character overtakes and surpasses our delight in them. BUT WITH JESUS...this will never...Never...NEVER happen.
As we learn more about Jesus, He will cause to come into our lives times of trial and testing. He might even cause us to feel that He has withdrawn His hand from ours as we are beginning to "walk" and like Peter, we get so distracted by the dangers around us that we fail to be able to see His presence.
Let's look at what Screwtape says as he continues his teaching of the Jr. Devil. "Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desire, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys." [Chapter 8]
We must learn to keep our eyes fully upon Jesus. We must be willing to continue walking by faith...even when we temporarily lose sight of Him, whether because of the fog of confusion or the fiery trial or the pain of living under the curse of sin.
That is, after all, what it means to "walk by faith." When we cannot see, but continue to be joyfully obedient, though hard-pressed on every side, that we are demonstrating a life of faith. By definition, walking by faith means that we are not deterred by what we see, but that we trust in the One whom we have not yet seen, but who gave His life as a ransom for our sin.
My prayer for you today is filled with these thoughts on your behalf. |
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