Do Not Gnash Your Teeth at God

The wicked will see and be vexed, they will gnash their teeth and waste away….(Psalm 112:10)

I can recall the few times in my life when I have truly gnashed by teeth at the Lord. My heart was so rebellious and so unwilling to submit that I made the choice to get angrier at God instead of let go and submit to Him. As you can imagine, the next things to take place in my life never, ever go well. Truly, they are great seasons of discipline where God is reshaping my heart using the tools He did not believe were best for me to have to do it. Yet, He continues to meet me with a never stopping, never ending, always patient kind of love.

As a parent, I have to remember to exercise that kind of love always too. There are days when my child doesn’t trust that what I’m asking her to do is what’s best for her. Instead she gnashes her teeth at me in anger and of course, things never go well after that. As a parent I can become very weary in those moments and want to give up as minutes of discipline turn into hours, but my role as the caretaker of her heart is to stay in it with her as long as it takes to lovingly lead her towards life and truth. Because God’s like that.

I wonder if He ever feels like I do in those moments thinking, Why don’t you trust me? Why don’t you believe what I have for you is what’s best? Then, waits in the discipline with me until I’ve come out the other side better for it.

Friend, our lives are not meant to be marked by pain, but by peace. This comes with trusting the one in Heaven who loves us. Our Heavenly Father who wants what is best for us, who sees the whole picture and who believes what He has will simply make us more like Jesus. Don’t you want to be more like Jesus? I do, but that requires continual obedience and trust. All the things I talk about with my child I must also exhibit before her in my walk with God. That way she too can see that He is good and that she can trust whatever He gives her, because I’m doing it too. Therefore, friend, do not gnash your teeth at God, instead run into His arms, because what He has for you is good and truly you can trust Him.

Lord, I want my life to be filled with trust and belief. Help me now to walk by faith and not by sight. Make me strong through your love and power each day, I pray, in Jesus name, Amen.

Shepherd Your Child’s Heart in Every Season

Absalom lived two years in Jerusalem without seeing the king’s face…(2 Sam 14:28)

The other day my daughter got in trouble for hitting me. We never tolerate hitting and so she was sent straight to a timeout with consequences. Once her timeout was finished we explained to her that she would not be allowed to watch a show before bed and that she would have to play in her playroom by herself for twenty minutes instead. She did not like that idea at all. She loves being around people and we love spending time with her too.

I explained to her after her timeout was finished, “Adah, I need you to feel the pain of what its like to be alone now after you hurt someone because if you hurt people in your life as an adult you’ll have to experience the pain of being alone then. People who hurt others in life without seeking forgiveness end up alone. I don’t want you to experience that as an adult.”

Maybe that sounds a bit harsh of a thing to say to an almost four year old, but I need her to understand these very important things, because if I don’t discipline her now and let her feel the weight of her choices and how serious they are she’ll have to deal with greater consequences as an adult.

I find it shocking that King David fought many wars, defeated the giant no one wanted to fight and placed his life on the line time and time again, but when it came to disciplining his children, he sits on the sidelines in apathy and does nothing.

His son Amnon rapes his sister Tamar and the Bible does not say David confronted him for this. His other son, Absalom ends up having Amnon murdered and once again, David does nothing. In the end, David has to flee for his life because of his unwillingness to lovingly confront the wayward hearts of his children. He takes a seat on the sidelines and because of that his whole family falls apart.

Friend, your children are your responsibility to raise up and train in godliness. When their hearts go astry loving lead them back to the Father. David made the choice to ignore the bad choices of his children and his son Absalom grew with great bitterness as nearly five years passed before David spoke to him. David had an issue in his heart. An issue of apathy and avoidance that caused great problems in his life and in the lives of his loved ones. Every child needs their parent no matter what age and when we decide to forgo our role as the shepherd of our child’s heart, lovingly leading them towards the Father we shouldn’t be surprised when they go astray and detach from us.

I never want my child to detach from me because I refuse to deal with the issues right in front of me. I always want her close. Which means that in every season I must love her like Jesus does. Yes, she will make mistakes and that’s OK, but with each step, and throughout every stage of life I hope to be someone who guides her with love and grace towards the truth that is found in Jesus. Which means I need to be headed that direction with my own life too.

Lord, help me to be the kind of mother who lovingly shepherds my child’s heart. No matter what age I pray I would be engaged and involved in her heart. That I would not try to fix her, but love her. That I would not try to push her into being something I want her to be, but shepherd her into your character and grace, in Jesus name, Amen.

Manage Your Life Well

Now when King David heard about all these things, he was very angry [but failed to take any action]. (2 Samuel 13:21)

The other day I was officiating a basketball game and I didn’t manage it as well as I could have.

The coaches behavior was getting out of hand. The disrespectful comments started to pile up on one another. I tried ignoring the coach, but ignoring the situation didn’t make it go away.

Finally, at the end of the game I issued a technical foul after the buzzer sounded for a completely uncalled for and disrespectful comment directed towards me and my crew. I realized though, after the game, that I should have taken care of the disrespectful comments sooner. I can’t just ignore a problem coach. I must address them sooner than later.

This is true in life as well. If we ignore our problems they don’t just go away. In fact, they get worse.

Earlier in the game I had administration remove a fan from the contest. I asked the AD at halftime if he felt like it was unnecessary. He said, “Yes, it would have just gotten worse.” He’s right. If we don’t remove the problems and sinful habits in our lives they will just get worse. Ignoring them, pretending like it’s not that big of a deal or just feeling as though you can handle it without the help of God or others is a recipe for disaster.

If we don’t manage our lives and our sin well it will take us out of the game. Truly, it will. That’s what a coach with constant disrespectful comments starts to do to me as an official, because I’m just not as focused. I’m dealing instead with an unhelpful distraction. Friend, remove whatever is causing you to stay in the game with God. He’s got an important role for you to play and so manage your life well. Your health and longevity in ministry and life depends on it.

God loves you and wants good things for you. We will face much trouble in this world and by the power of God, we can overcome.

Lord, help me to walk by faith. Not in darkness or lies. Help me to see my sin before it gets out of hand. I want to stay in the game and manage things well for your glory. Help me to do that now, I pray, in Jesus name, Amen.

Is Life Feeling Hopeless?

You are my hiding place….(Psalm 32:7)

Does life ever feel hopeless or heavy? Like the sand on the seashore isn’t for your enjoyment, but for your crushing. Each little wave upon the ocean doesn’t seem like a beautiful view to behold but a wave to topple over you once more?

Some situations in life can feel like that, can’t they? Truly, they can feel hopeless. If we put our hope in the enjoyment of sand on the beach and let our emotions ride with either joy or sadness changing as quickly as waves in the sea then life will feel hopeless often.

Instead, we cannot look to exterior things to give us joy. We can’t wait until X, Y or Z happens to be OK. We must rest upon something that is constant, never moving, un-shaking, unchangeable and immovable. We must place all our hope not in our circumstances, but in the one who holds all things together.

We just won’t make it in life with joy if we don’t choose to live this way. Instead, we’ll become people trapped by bitter, cold hearts. We’ll give way to resentment and we’ll no longer see that challenge in front of us as the place of our blessing but as our constant burden to bear.

Friend, that mentality will crush you. What I am believing for my life and what I pray you’ll start believing for yours is that this burden is not for your undoing, it very well may be the place of your deepest blessings and greatest joy. Trust me, I know that feels impossible right now. I know the thought of that seems absurd, but friend, what did Paul and Silas do in prison? They worshipped and God brought deliverance. What did Jesus do in preparation for the cross in Gethsename? He poured out His whole self to God and the Lord brought resurrection. What did Job do while his whole life was being torn apart and ripped away? He worshipped saying, “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Sometimes God’s deliverance is a physical deliverance, but more often than not its deliverance of a heart and mind trapped by unbelief, anger and hopelessness. See what you need is not a release from all of your burdens. You need the strength to stay in them to receive the blessing of His grace. As you look to Him for strength to stay in the fight He brings the victory and sustaining love and power you need. Taking you from hopelessness to joy and washing away your anger and filling it with a heart that is glad and will choose to bear any burden if it means you stay closer to Him.

Lord, I don’t always like this journey. Forgive me when I forget how good you are to me. Forgive me when I grow weary and tired of the same thing repeating itself. Help me now to walk by faith and not by sight. To carry my heart into your loving lap as I believe you for deliverance each day, in Jesus name, Amen.