Month: January 2019

Weeks ago my daughter added pop tarts to the grocery list. Putting something “on the list” isn’t a guarantee that I’ll buy it – if it was there wouldn’t be anything in our house besides kid food (what is it with goldfish?) Pop tarts definitely aren’t essential – it’s debatable if they’re even actual food – so they haven’t made the cut lately.

There are quite a few things that haven’t made it from the list into the cart lately. But we aren’t going without. There are definitely things on the list that we don’t have. But I’ve written a few things on that grocery list only to cross them off because they showed up on our porch the next day. Chicken. Rice. Toilet paper. Even pop tarts.

Some of these are needs, and some of them are just grace. And it’s such a beautiful picture of our God and His unexpected, surprising, joy-filled provision. He sends manna and quail from heaven and water from a rock (Exodus 16-17). He delivers dinner by raven and refills jars of flour and oil (1 Kings 17). He feeds the multitudes with crackers and anchovies (Matthew 14:13-21). He causes a virgin to give birth to a Son (Matthew 1:18-23). These aren’t the “usual” means, and this just makes it all the more obvious that it is God and God alone who is responding to the need.

I could have bought the pop tarts weeks ago. But waiting created space for God to give us a glimpse of Himself at work. It led to gratitude that a regular trip to the grocery would never have produced.

Sometimes we ask for things and we don’t get them. Week after week goes by and disappointment sets in. Maybe we begin to believe God hasn’t heard our request, doesn’t care about our need, isn’t concerned about us. Maybe we begin to focus on the loss.

Paul wrote about this in his second letter to the Corinthians. He was so desperate, he begged God for help. And over and over God said, “My gracious favor is all you need” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Paul wanted relief. God wanted to give him grace. It was a far better yes.

Is there something on your list that you’ve become convinced you cannot have? Or is there something on your list that you know there’s no way you’re getting unless God delivers it? Are you willing to allow God to provide it in an unexpected way? Are you willing to accept a far better yes?

Our God is unusual and surprising because He is so different from what the world says we should expect. We expect judgment, but He gives free pardon. We expect punishment, but He gives overabundant grace. We expect rejection, but He invites us in. The world says “That’s never gonna happen,” and God says, “Trust me.”

What I’m trying to do here is get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. Matthew 6:32-33 MSG

To be perfectly honest, we’ve been facing some tough times lately. It’s not the first difficult place we’ve been in, and I’m certain it won’t be the last. Sometimes the hardship has been financial, and other times relational, emotional, or spiritual. The source of the challenge doesn’t really matter. My go-to response is to try to rise above. I want to be better than my circumstances. I don’t want the nitty-gritty to get all over me. I get frustrated when I’m in the middle of the muck of a sin-tainted world.

I blame it on the Renaissance painters. You know, those paintings of Jesus where there’s a little space between Him and everyone else and He has a faint halo around His head and a serene expression on His face. Isn’t this what being a Christian looks like?

My life isn’t like that. The people in my life bump against me and make me spill my drink. Other times I stumble and fall and drop my stuff all over them. My life comes with a mess guarantee.

But because of Christ, my life comes with another guarantee, too. And it’s the guaranteed goodness of God, His unfailing love and faithfulness (Psalm 100:5). It cancels out the mess and makes something beautiful out of it.

Those painters got it wrong. Jesus didn’t live above difficult circumstances. He came right down into the middle of them. He entered in. He left His throne in heaven for a barn in Bethlehem. He didn’t make His headquarters a palace – He lived in the midst of the people and their problems. He touched them, listened to them, ate and drank with them. He wept. He laughed. He died. He got the full experience.

And in doing so He brought the light of heaven into the darkness of our mess. He brought redemption, forgiveness, righteousness, healing and hope. He brought everything that we longed for, that we were desperate for, right to our door.

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in.” Revelation 3:20

This is grace. This is freedom. I don’t have to somehow pull myself up by my bootstraps. I don’t have to pretend that I’ve got it all together, that the challenges and hurts and obstacles in my life don’t bother me. I just need to open the door and let Jesus enter in. Then I get the reassuring presence of Christ. And He never comes empty-handed. He always brings all His transformative power and goodness with Him.

I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord.  Psalm 40:1-3