I CALLED HIM BUT HE GAVE NO ANSWER

I CALLED HIM BUT HE GAVE NO ANSWER

"I called him but He gave me no answer" (Song of Solomon 5:6).

Prayer sometimes waits like a petitioner at the gate until the King comes forth to grant her request. The Lord has been known to try great faith by long delays. He has permitted His servant's voices to echo in their ears as from a brazen sky. They have knocked at the golden gate, but it has remained immovable, as though it was rusted upon its hinges. Like Jeremiah, they have cried "Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through" (Lamentations 3:44). True saints have continued long in patient waiting without reply. This was not because their prayers were not intense or because they were unaccepted. But the delay pleased Him who is Sovereign and who gives according to His own pleasure. If it pleases Him for our patience to be exercised He will do as He desires with His own! Beggars must not be choosers concerning the time, place, or form of their answer. But we must be careful not to take delays in prayer for denials. We must not allow Satan to shake our confidence in the God of truth by pointing to our unanswered prayers. Unanswered petitions are not unheard. There is a registry in the court of heaven where every prayer is recorded. The Lord has a bottle in which the costly tears of sacred grief are stored and a book in which your holy groanings are numbered. (see Psalm 56:8). You will prevail. Only be content to wait a little while. Your Lord's time will be better than your own. He will answer you to make you put away the sackcloth and ashes of long waiting. He will clothe you with the scarlet and fine linen of your heart's desire.

--C.H. Spurgeon

This is one lesson in my life that the Lord has been shouting from the rooftops for me to hear-I’ve heard it in the sermons at church, in my Bible study, my personal devotions, from friends and mentors. Ok, Lord. I’m listening!

Isaiah 61 has been one of my life passages lately which also depicts the ministry of Jesus Christ. In vs. 3, God promises to us that He will:

“give to them beauty instead of ashes, The oil of joy instead of mourning, A covering of praise for a spirit of weakness, And He is calling to them, `Trees of righteousness, The planting of Jehovah -- to be beautified.'”

(Young’s Literal Translation).

It’s always amazing to me the pictures the Scriptures use to show us continual renewal, redemption, the putting away of the old and the coming of the new. As with every process in life, it comes with a price. Change and growth hurt. But through it all, Christ is with us giving us a “covering of praise for a spirit of weakness”. We can emerge from our trials, stand before the Lord while he brushes off the firey ashes and watch him exchange them for beauty, like a Phoenix raising itself up again in new life. We’re stronger, closer to the shape that God would have us be to reflect His glory. We're “clothed with fine linen” as Spurgeon so eloquently describes above. God is always seeking to exchange our filthy rags of sin for robes of righteousness-His ultimate demonstration of that love was sending his Son Jesus to die a humiliating and painful death on the cross. He’s always seeking to do a work in our lives through waiting, challenges, “sifting.” We can rest assured that the end result will be more beautiful and blessed than we could ever imagine.

So Lord, I submit to you. I submit to the work you’re doing in my life. I sit at the gate, bended knee, palms outstretched, waiting for your healing and your promises. I feel the sinews of change, spiritual maturity and more of You weaving themselves together in my soul, strengthening my walk with you like muscle strengthens my body. There is a ripping, a bleeding as I work out my salvation, lifting the weights of trials and struggles. But always after there is repairing, renewing, strengthening…a planting of righteousness, a building of spiritual strength and the ability to rest in You.

Merry Christmas to everyone! May you remember the TRUE reason we celebrate this Christmas and that Jesus Christ is the best gift anyone of us could receive.

Psalm 18:30

Psalm 18:30
“As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.”

Webster’s definitions:

Perfect: entirely without flaws, defects or shortcomings; accurate, exact, correct in every detail

Proof: to establish genuineness or validity as by evidence, to give demonstration of; to show oneself to have the character or ability expected through one’s actions; to be found by experience.

Shield: device used as a defense against blows or hurled objects; to serve as protection for, to hide or conceal; protect by hiding

Trust: reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety of a person or thing; confident of expectation of something, hope; one upon which a person relies; the obligation or responsibility imposed on a person in whom confidence or authority is placed; to believe.

God’s way is without flaw or shortcomings. It is accurate, exact and correct in every detail. God’s word has been proven through the demonstration and fulfillment of actions-Christ’s death on the cross, Bible prophecies fulfilled, promises satisfied-and through personal experience.

God is a shield against the heavy blows and fiery darts of the enemy. He Himself is the shield that hides us in the shadow of His wings, concealing us from the wounding of the enemy.

Therefore, we rely on the integrity, strength, and ability of our God. We are confident, waiting in hope and expectation for God to do what He says He’s going to do. We believe Him.

Calvary

Jagged edge, blade of sin
Cuts my soul's life vain
Bleeding, wasting, spilling out
suffering and pain
People judging, my feet trudging
trying to walk the line
Strength is seeping, grief is keeping
me along this darkened path

Splintered tree holds nails of grace
that pierce my Savior's hands
Bleeding, loving, flowing out
suffering salvation
People following, Jesus leading
free from condemnation
Victory and freedom to those
that are believing

SLB 10/30/10

Bloom

A delicate flower is
Closed tightly around herself,
She protects her heart from the world around her
Letting nothing in or out
Each day is the same, with no new experiences or adventures
No bees or wind able to gather pollen
To spread the seeds of life
No dazzling view of the Sun; only darkness
But that same Sun pursues the little flower
Day after day, coaxing it to open its heart to him
So he can shine his light on her and in turn, give life
She feels the warmth from the outside in
And her curiosity is peaked
She slowly and cautiously opens one of her petals
To peek out at this familiar friend whom she has never seen
She gasps as she is met with a blinding rush of light;
Her eyes are not accustomed
To such radiance
After living in her dark cave for so long
She wants to shut herself up again, but the warmth she felt from the outside
Is nothing compared to the soothing, almost musical touch of the Sun
She feels at her core
Slowly, so slowly,
She releases the rest of her defenses, fully blooming and basking in the light
She surges with new life and new peace,
and shares with those around her not only by giving off a beautiful fragrance
But by the new growth of pollen she’s suddenly developed by exposing
The deepest part of her to the Light.

Continual Praise

I've been meditating lately on one theme verse that the Lord has given me for this season of my life...normally I would just start writing and pouring out my heart on my blog, but I decided to wait to see if the Lord would lead me to share. For what I'm personally experiencing right now in my life, this verse has lifted some heavy and painful burdens.

‎"But I will hope continually, And will praise You yet more and more." Psalm 71:14

I'm not going to share the exact cirucumstances in my life that have been so difficult because that's beside the point anyway. Those who are close to me know exactly what they are...needless to say I think when we as Christians go through something difficult, our first inclination is to ask God "why"? We can't reconcile the idea of suffering or waiting or pain with our Lord Jesus because to us He is always good, always perfect, always powerful. In Randy Alcorn's "The Goodness of God" he talks about the fact that goodness and love cannot exist without the presence of evil and suffering in the world. If God took away the suffering, he would also have to take away our free will. This book has too many layers to explore here but it opened up this subject for me even more.

The bottom line is God loves us. God has plans for us. If we've made the decision to commit our lives into God's hands, we've also committed our plans, desires, dreams and future into His hands. We have committed to living His way. While I think God openly welcomes our questions when things don't go our way, or we're hurting, or we're grieving (he wouldn't be a very good parent if we couldn't talk to Him openly and honestly), He also wants us to trust Him that He is going to work together "all things for good."

My conviction lately and especially after coming across this verse in my quiet time is that I want to be a child of God that rejoices and praises Him even though I don't understand what He's doing. What honor is there in throwing a child-like temper tantrum and stomping my foot and pouting that the Lord isn't giving me what I want? And then, just like a child, when He finally does give me the desires of my heart, suddenly I am happy and can praise Him again. I don't want to be a child in my faith, still feeding on spiritual milk. I want to eat the meat of adult Christianity and PRAISE HIM YET MORE AND MORE, despite what's going on my life, despite the pain and the confusion I feel, despite the pain. For He IS worthy to be praised...just for being who He is and for no other reason. We do not have a relationship with our Lord only to praise Him when He gives us what we want and things are going well. We praise Him for His endless love, blessing, sacrifice, mercy, grace, joy...for the gift of life, for sunsets, for majestic mountains, for beauty, for friendships, for meeting our needs in every way. We praise Him because He first loved us, because He sent His Son to die for us while we were still in the darkness of our sins. We praise Him because HE IS GOD.

God has promised to give us the desires of our hearts and it's up to us to believe Him. It might not take the form that we're expecting, we might not understand the current struggles we're experiencing for future events to come together. God does-He sees the big picture. So, we HOPE CONTINUALLY. We wait in expectation for our God to do what He says He's going to do, regardless of what our limited finite human minds whisper to us in the desolation of our suffering. We hope. We love. We serve. And we wait...with joy in our hearts, praising the God of everything yet more and more.

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Shanna

Being Still

I am by nature an intense person, never wanting to miss out on anything. I was walking at 11 months and potty trained at 13 months, got close to straight A’s in school while joining every sport, leadership or music program there was growing up-always the over-achiever. Born into a family of strong-willed, independent, hard-working men and women, ambition and competition are in my blood. I like to be in control of my life and my surroundings, so godly principles like submission and releasing that control have always been a challenge for me, though I still seek daily to become the kind of woman God would have me be.

That being said, it’s a conscious effort for me to sit still, both physically and spiritually. Even after a long week of work, there is always a to-do list running in my head or some way to push myself so that I rarely get down time. On a deeper level, when my attempts at controlling my environment/life are thwarted (as they often are due to daily life changing and evolving) my soul is restless. Each time I read verses that speak of being still, I breathe an audible sigh of relief. It’s hard keeping up with myself sometimes and it’s always nice to be reminded by God’s word that I don’t have to run myself into the ground and try to do everything by my own efforts. In fact, the phrase “Be still” is mentioned in the Bible in 7 verses (interesting) in the KJV and NIV translations (some overlap and some differ in translation). As I read each one, a fresh wave of peace and contentment wash over me, and I feel the little tentacles that are grabbing white-knuckled onto everything I’m worried about in life- my witness, goals, dreams, etc-start to loosen their grip. May they encourage you as well!

The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still. Exodus 14:14 NIV

This verse in context is the story of the Israelites escaping Pharaoh’s army through the Red Sea. Despite God’s leading and provision, they were still crying out in fear to the Lord, asking Moses if he led them out to the desert to die. They were so afraid they thought it would be better to go back to serving the Egyptians then to be still and trust that the Lord was going to fulfill His promise to them. And that He did…the entire army was swept away under the Red Sea.

How true is this in our own lives? I see something coming for me in my life, fear that the Lord doesn’t have it under control and look for a way to solve it myself. But God would say to me during that time, just as He spoke to the Israelites: you need only to be still. Be still and allow the power of the Lord to work through the situation, allow Him to fight the fear, allow Him to overcome the circumstances that seem unbeatable and just as He saved the Israelites, so shall he save us.

Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah. Psalm 4:4 KJV

The verse before this one says “But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the Lord will hear when I call unto him.” Meditation-filling our minds and hearts with the Word of God-and prayer are ways for us to be still. How easy is it to de-prioritize this part of our lives? With work and daily activities it’s hard to find a quiet TIME let alone enough quiet in our hearts to listen to what God would say to us. This one is extremely challenging for me but when I have meditated on a particular verse and sat in silence, it’s amazing the things the Lord reveals.

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Psalm 37:7 NIV

Hmmm…patience? What is that? I have none. It’s so easy to look at the blessings in the lives of others and whine to the Lord, “What about ME, Lord? Why didn’t you give that blessing to ME? It’s not fair!” It’s dangerous ground to compare our lives with others because it leads to discontentment and coveting, but it’s extremely difficult not to notice when “evil” seems to be rewarded while sometimes it is a wearisome task to do continually do good. But we see another promise from the Lord later on in verse 9: “for evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.” And again in verse 11: “But the meek with inherit the land and enjoy great peace.” So being still and patient waiting for the Lord reaps great benefits.

Be still,and know that I [am] God: I will be exalted among the heathen (nations in NIV), I will be exalted in the earth. Psalm 46:10 KJV

This is one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible. It commands such power! It’s amazing that we can ever doubt God’s ability to be God. If we stop our scrambling and worrying long enough, we can find rest in the fact that His purposes will ultimately be fulfilled in our lives and on the earth.

Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling. Zechariah 2:13 NIV

This speaks of the promise of the presence of the Lord.,, he’s coming soon!

And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Mark 4:39 KJV

Jesus Christ told the disciples that he wanted to cross over to the other side of the water, not sink. Yet the disciples were terrified of the wind and the waves that threatened to pull them under. They were incredulous that Jesus was sleeping at their time of need yet with just one phrase from his mouth, the wind and waves fell into complete silence.

I find myself repeating the words “peace, be still” when I start to feel anxious, angry, worried or upset about anything. I pray that Jesus will calm the storms in my heart as he calmed the stormy seas. I see the turbulent winds of worry and the tidal waves of doubt/fear/unbelief, cease with one word from my Jesus as if they were never there. In their place is peace and the knowledge that I don’t have to hold it all together myself or do enough to stop the wind and waves in my life.

As long as Jesus is on my boat, I can rest in His promises.

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Perseverance

My verse for the week and my life right now is from James 1:2-4:

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Perseverance has a few definitions in the dictionary "continued, patient effort", "persistence", and "in Calvinism, the continuance in grace of people elected to eternal salvation." The actual translation in the Greek is "endurance."

I love these verses for so many reasons. They are a source of comfort when the trials and hardships of my life get to be too much or too long. I am reminded of God's promise to me in these verses as in many other passages throughout Scripture. My time on earth is short-lived and temporary, as are my trials and sufferings in it. I rejoice in the fact that the Lord has given me something hard to deal with because in it He is PERFECTING my faith. I am one step closer to spiritual maturity and "completeness" when I endure a hardship. There is a groaning, cracking as the earth shifts in my soul, as I am broken before the Lord, but He is swift to mend me and put me back together, refined and closer to the woman and follower of Christ He would have me be. I am also reminded of what Paul said about his weakness in II Corinthians 12:9:

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses , so that Christ's power may rest on me."

I love this. God is enough. He is all we need. He redeems our weaknesses with His strength, satisfies our deepest needs, gives us the power to carry on. I am resting assured in His promises.