Month: May 2017

A shiny silver disc turned the floor at Target into a treasure box the other day when my daughter found a quarter. She was thrilled to add to her savings, excited by unexpected bounty. I’ll admit I can overlook the value of coins. I drop them into a jar at the end of the day, or they get lost in the bottom of my purse, and I rarely bother to dig them out. They pile up, but they are essentially useless.

As I herded my little flock back to the car that day, I was reminded of another mother’s family outing in which a treasure was found. The “of Nazareths” had been on a road trip with friends and extended family. As they headed for home, the adults chatted and laughed while the children scampered ahead. It wasn’t until they stopped for the evening that Mary noticed her oldest son wasn’t with them. Mary and Joseph retraced their steps all the way back to Jerusalem, where they spent several days searching for Jesus. They finally found him in the Temple, a twelve year old boy in deep conversation with the religious teachers (Luke 2:41-52).

I love Mary’s reaction: Where have you been? What do you think you’re doing? Your father and I have been looking all over for you! I can relate as a parent – the panic at the thought a child is missing. The anxious searching. The relief and fear expressed in her outburst.

Jesus’ answer – You should have known I’d be in my Father’s house – didn’t really answer her questions. But He demonstrated His love for them by going home and being obedient to them. And Mary “stored all these things in her heart” (Luke 2:51).  The NIV translates this “treasured all these things in her heart.”  In the midst of the mess, Mary found the treasure.

In the midst of our own chaotic lives, we still can find shiny coins scattered in the dust. Golden moments when we know with confidence that God is good, that He is with us, that He loves us. Tokens, evidence, that our faith is based on something real and lasting. We pick these treasures up, sometimes more out of habit than intention, and tuck them away.

The coins in my coin jar have lost their value because I don’t spend them. But if I had need, you can bet I would pour them out and put them to use. A day will come when you will need every coin in your jar to get you through whatever you face. In the day of evil, we spend the currency of faith. We pull out every God-token, remembering His goodness and faithfulness in other situations so we can be confident of His goodness in this situation.

Troubles are opportunities for God to prove His love for us over and over again.  As we invest faith, we find new God-tokens to fill our jars, so the supply is always more than enough for the need.

Jeremiah was a prophet in Judah during the days leading up to her defeat by Babylon. Eventually the king imprisoned him in the palace because his prophesies weren’t good for morale. While he was locked up and the Babylonian army was besieging Jerusalem, Jeremiah’s cousin offered to sell him a field, to invest in some property, even though it wasn’t likely the invaders would honor land contracts.

And yet Jeremiah bought the field. Jeremiah pulled out his coin jar of faith. He put a down payment on hope. What he could see were the walls of his prison and the enemy at the gates. But his actions declared he believed in the goodness of God, that God would restore Israel as He had promised.

After Jeremiah completed the transaction, he prayed. And his prayer sounds to me like a man who is saying, I don’t know why you want me to do this. I don’t know what good this will do. I don’t see any way this can work out. But I do know you. Nothing is too hard for you. Great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. I trust you. (Jeremiah 32:17-25)

God gave Jeremiah the opportunity to prove his faith. To give value to what he’d stockpiled. To show that it was worth more than the silver that he paid for the field. Like Mary, we can store up treasures of faith in a purse that won’t wear out. Like Jeremiah, we can spend that currency of faith on hope.

God responded to Jeremiah’s searching prayer with a promise: “I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. They will be my people, and I will be their God… I will never stop doing good to them” (Jeremiah 32:37-40).

More heartbreaking news. Another terrorist attack. Another fatal car accident. Another body found in a dumpster. Another miscarriage. Another cancer diagnosis. My heart grows weary at the weight of all the sorrow. It’s no surprise the world asks, If God is good, how could He allow such things to happen?

We put God on trial every time we question His goodness. We bring charges against Him. We assume He is guilty unless He can prove Himself innocent. Too often we render a verdict without considering any evidence that doesn’t match our preconceived ideas.

In a courtroom, a witness is someone who is called on to give their testimony, the report of what they saw and heard, which is used as evidence in order to determine the truth.

Jesus came into a world with just as many sorrows as ours. He said the reason He came was “to bring Good News to the poor… to proclaim that captives would be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come” (Luke 4:18-19).  Jesus brought His message of hope to people in terrible situations.  And He provided evidence by His miracles that this too-good-to-be-true news was really true.  Because He did the kinds of things only God could do, many people who witnessed them believed He came from God.  That He was the Son of God who revealed the Father’s heart.

Exhibit A: The healing of a man who was born blind. The disciples wanted to know, “Why was this man born blind? Was it a result of his own sins or those of his parents?” (John 9:1-2) It’s obvious his blindness is a punishment. We just want to know whose sins are being punished.

And Jesus responded, You’ve got it all wrong. This terrible thing isn’t a punishment at all – “He was born blind so the power of God could be seen in him” (John 9:3). The man’s suffering had a purpose – he had been chosen to reveal the power of God. His healing became evidence that Jesus was the Son of God. After he was healed, he even gave testimony before the Pharisees (John 9:15).

Exhibit B: The death of Lazarus. Lazarus was a dear friend of Jesus. When he got sick, his family reached out, hoping Jesus would come and heal him. “Although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days and did not go to them” (John 11:5). They were in a desperate situation. Jesus loved them. But He did not go to them. And so Lazarus died. How does this make any sense? The answer is here: “For your sake I am glad I wasn’t there, because this will give you another opportunity to believe in me” (John 11:15). It was for their sake so that they would believe.

Jesus was about to provide more evidence of the power and heart of God. When Jesus reached Lazarus’ tomb, He wept. He wept over all the hurt that death has caused in the world, the damage it has done, the ways it has poisoned the good that God intended for His beloveds from the very beginning. When terrible things happen, be comforted to know that God weeps over our trauma and our agony.

God’s ultimate goal isn’t physical healing. He knows there are more important things than restoring a physical body. The point is to reach the heart. Everything God does, everything that God allows, is so that we will believe the truth, so that our hearts will be drawn into an intimate relationship with Him.  When the weight of sorrow is too much to bear, we fall to our knees.

It was in the desperate situations that Jesus provided the evidence that God does not desire to hurt us (Lamentations 3:33). Without the blindness, there wouldn’t have been the miracle of sight. Without the sickness, no healing. Without death, no resurrection.

The evidence, the witnesses, and the testimonies all point to the truth – that God is good and that He loves us. This must be our verdict whenever our doubts put God on trial. Every time terrible news arrives, we remember it isn’t the end of the story.  There is hope – Jesus still brings the power and heart of God into broken circumstances with the desire and ability to restore, redeem, and make whole. When we allow Him to, we become the witnesses. We have a testimony. We are the evidence.