Power Perfected in Weakness

2 Corinthians 12:9 says, "And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me."

I find it easy to read that verse and admire Paul rather than pray the same for myself. We hate being weak, I hate being weak. Our culture doesn't readily accept us when we're weak. Neither do we accept ourselves when we are weak. We join with the others in despising ourselves, rather than seeking that He might perfect His power in my/our weakness. He's actually done some very amazing things in those who are weak. Look at Joni Eareckson Tada. What a beautiful example of His power being perfected in weakness. She was once strong and athletic...and proud. Now, for many years, she has been weak, paralyzed...and humble. And God has used her mightily in the lives of countless individuals, especially those who are weak, as she is. They'll be more drawn to her than those who are still strong and athletic...and proud. She will most likely make them uncomfortable.

It's anything but common to boast about our weaknesses, unless, of course, it's in a whining, self-piteous way, hoping to draw out sympathy from the current listener. Why are we so resistant to allowing Him to impart His strength to us, that we might enjoy the inexhaustible supply of Divine strength and grace? We want that, but not at the cost of giving up our personal strength and whatever grace we've acquired along the way. We too much enjoy our status as stated in Psalm 139:14 ~ I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. We are, indeed, fearfully and wonderfully made. He said it and wrote it, so why should we want to lay that aside for something we're not totally convinced will come our way when we most need it? It's a gamble, isn't it? Or is it? Paul documented how God perfected His power in Paul's weakness, but will He do that for us? Why are we so unwilling to believe that God will treat us no differently than He treated Paul? Of course, you might say, 'That's ok. I DON'T WANT God to treat me the way He treated Paul! I've read his account of the many things he suffered for Christ!' Well, I'm right there with you on that, but how many people do you know who've suffered as many afflictions as Paul did? Let's focus on the power of Christ that was perfected in Paul. It was marvelous. I can't wait to listen to Paul recount his adventures in a glorified body, being thrilled at how God perfected His power in Paul's weakness! And don't you think Paul's eyes will have the very light of Christ in them as he retells his bio to us as we sit with him in glory? What will we have to tell if we disallow Him this honor? May we be brave enough to let Him perfect His power in our weaknesses, not only so we'll have great stories to tell in heaven, but here on earth as well, that others might do the same.

Questions for God

A book I was reading earlier today posed this question: We all have questions we've been saving for God, don't we? He also went on to label them as either benign or malignant. I thought that to be interesting. He also mentioned Deuteronomy 29:29, "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law." I'd never really linked my questions with this verse before, but like the fact that he did.

It's certainly God's prerogative to keep certain things secret, but we don't always like that about Him. After all, we live in the age of instant information. 'What are you doing right now?' (then you'd better be on Twitter or have a cell phone). What do I need to know about X, Y or Z? Well, we can just Google it! We can pull up a map of someone's home on the other side of the world! And God DARES to keep secrets from us? Well, harrumph! Who does He think He is, anyway? GOD? Oh, yeah...He IS!!!

Anyway, have you dared to ask Him certain questions? And are they benign or malignant? I think the very same question can be either. It's our attitude that determines its category. The question, 'How could God let my spouse leave me like that?' is benign if asked with an attitude of humility, although I think it might be worded a little differently. When we are accusing God, then it's always malignant. A malignant rewording of the same question would be: God, You could have stopped him/her, but You didn't! How could You be so indifferent towards me? Don't You care about me? been there, done that...it's the victim mentality.

But, back to the lighter side of this issue. Do you have questions you're saving to ask Him? I've asked Him why he made cats so that they SHED!!! 'God, I KNOW You could have made them so they wouldn't! Is it just part of the curse?' (I'm sure it's necessary, but, really...He IS God! He could have done it differently!)

And, as I've mentioned before, why are so many of the sons of godly men in the Bible wicked, or just never mentioned? If they were never even mentioned, except that they were so-and so's son, they couldn't have been too great. Jonathan was certainly mentioned as Saul's son and he was a great man even though his life seemed rather short. Eleazar was mentioned as the son of Aaron, then his son, Phinehas was recorded as a godly man, but he seems to be the exception from my Bible knowledge.

What are your questions for God? Don't be afraid to ask Him. Don't you think He'll even laugh at some of the questions we have for Him? And I mean in a good way, not in a deriding way. I believe He'll laugh because He loves it that we dared ask Him and it was a valid question to us! Like, 'God, why did you make slugs?' 'Why did You put so much ice at the bottom and top of the world?' 'Why did You make ice cream so fattening?' One question I can't wait to ask Him is, 'How many descendants of David are roaming around on the earth today and who are they? Are they good, bad, ugly, handsome, etc? Could I be one of them? Do I know any of them?' Yeah, this list is getting longer all the time! What are yours? :)

Our Cool God

God is so cool! Have you ever thought of Him as being cool? Do you think that's irreverent? I don't. I think He is SO cool! Psalm 147:4 says, "He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them." Have you ever read any statistics on how many stars there are? Well, I'm not going to give them to you, but there are LOTS!!! Far more than my little pea brain can begin to fathom! Yet, He gives names to all of them. Now, why do we name things? It's usually because it's something dear to us, like your child or your pet. I have no children, but I was very picky about the names I chose for my two cats. And I still love their names. And, I keep coming up with new ones. Percy has a BEAUTIFUL belly! It's all white and he has long fur, so I LOVE to rub his tummy. Hence, the nickname 'Sir Beautiful Belly.' (among others)

Yet, even though He created ALL the animals, He let Adam name them. Is that cool or what? Yup, Genesis 2:19 says, "Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name." Now, God formed them, so it's 'only fair' that HE would name them, right? True, yet He relinquished that privilege to the first Adam, whom He also created. Don't tell me God isn't cool! And there's no record He ever changed those names. We're still living with those names to this day. Hmmm...hadn't thought of it before, but that makes those names part of Adam's inheritance, doesn't it? He got to do something eternal, right off the bat! Guess what...so can we. Think about something you can do in the next 24 hours that will be eternal. God put His very own creativity within us and His own eternality (minus deity). Yes, God is WAY COOL! ;)

Being Proven

Psalm 81:7 says, "You called in trouble and I rescued you; I answered you in the hiding place of thunder; I proved you at the waters of Meribah. Selah." Guess Who is speaking here? You guessed it! The Lord our God!

Now, we all like the first part and the second, but when we get to part C, we back up a little bit. What does THAT mean? Yes, He was speaking to Israel, but as Spurgeon says, "The story of Israel is only our own history in another shape." All too true! Who says the Old Testament is irrelevant? NOT!!! People who say that are among those who never learn from history.

Regarding 'the C part' of that verse, Spurgeon also says, "They had proved him and found Him faithful, He afterwards proved them in return. Precious things are tested, therefore Israel's loyalty to her King was put to trial, and alas, it failed lamentably. The God who was adored one day for His goodness was reviled the next, when the people for a moment felt the pangs of hunger and thirst." Are we any different? We praise Him Friday because we had a good week at work, then grumble at Him on Saturday because it's raining and ruined our plans.

But the part that catches my attention is "Precious things are tested." Ooohhh...that sounds so nice...at first. He calls us precious. But then we realize He tests us because we are precious. Then our attitude shifts a little. Can't we just be precious WITHOUT being tested? Well, let's think about that. What if we had been given electricity without it having been tested? That could be BAD!!! What if we'd been given medication that hadn't been tested? BAD!!! Or water? Yes, we could go on and on.

And we might STILL argue, but why do WE need to be tested? God knows what's in our hearts anyway, right? Yes, He does. So maybe He tests us so WE'll know what's in our hearts! Yeah, we can start thinking we're pretty good...we've really grown up in Christ...yeah, we are probably going to have a REALLY GREAT inheritance! And then He proves us at the waters of Meribah. Oh, boy...I guess I wasn't as far along as I thought I was, we lament. We can get puffed up so easily. His testing is merely a part of His grace. Each testing can work a little more humility into us...or a little more resentment. The choice is ours. But, yes, the testing is necessary.

A Sacrifice of Thanksgiving

In a Bible I previously owned (that was stolen out of my car...) I had made a list of several verses that all mentioned 'a sacrifice of thanksgiving.' Now we know that He loves for us to give thanks to Him from cheerful hearts, but I've often wondered how much more it may mean to Him when it's a sacrifice. What about when you don't get the job you really wanted? What about when your heart's been broken by another, whether intentionally or unintentionally? It's much harder to offer Him thanksgiving then rather than when the ring's been put on your finger or you just got a great raise or bonus.

Let's take a look at just two or three of these verses, but there are many more. It might be a good little Bible study you can do later.

Psalm 50:23 says, "He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; And to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God." Wow! Okay...the second part of the verse is talking about obedience, but He says we honor Him when we offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Don't we all want to do that? Does it honor Him when it's NOT a sacrifice? Yes, but He makes special mention here of it being a sacrifice that honors Him.

In the same Psalm, but verse 14, Asaph quotes God as saying, "Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving And pay your vows to the Most high;" part of Spurgeon's comment on this is as follows: Not for want of bullocks on the altar was Israel blamed, but for want of thankful adoration before the Lord. She excelled in the visible, but in the inward grace, which is the one thing needful, she sadly failed. Too many in these days are in the same condemnation. Spurgeon's been home with the Lord for a long time and yet these words are sadly at least as appropriate today as in his time. Isn't a sacrifice of thanksgiving one of adoration?

Then there's the verse that started it all for me: Hebrews 13:15 ~ Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. I love this verse! Wuest comments: The Rabbins had a saying, "in the future time all sacrifices shall cease; but praises shall not cease." Then does it not make sense to offer Him sacrifices now, while we can? Whether it be praise, or other kinds? After all, per Hebrews 13:15, we're to continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God through Him! Through the One Who was and still is the Living Sacrifice, the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world! For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. (Rom 11:36)

The Aroma of Christ

Perhaps you already know, but I LOVE the psalms! They just touch on almost everything, every emotion. Have you ever thought much about Ps 45:8? It says, "All Your garments are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made You glad." Now isn't that COOL??? If you love fragrance as I do, wouldn't it be cool for your clothing to be FRAGRANT? When you walk, wearing something like a robe, to smell that beautiful scent, wafting about you as your robe flows in the breeze? (Of course, in Tulsa, in the summertime, the breezes are rare...) But maybe you're allergic to perfume...BUMMER! Ok, then, let's suppose you're NOT. Wouldn't it be delightful to open your closet and have your favorite smell(s) immediately greet you? (without an allergic reaction)

Now, the above verse pertains to our Lord Jesus Christ, and He certainly DESERVES these things. But, that doesn't mean we won't get to partake of the same once we enter into eternity. I'm not being dogmatic, but I do believe it's a possibility.

Getting back to Him, though, think of Jesus Christ, the second member of the Godhead, perfectly sinless, clothing Himself with a human body that He created, clothing Himself with the womb of Mary, sweating in the carpenter shop, walking the dusty roads over which He traveled in His earthly body, accumulating the dirt, dust and mire of the earth on His feet which would be pierced with nails made with elements such as iron that He created by hands that He created...He Himself was the first to be an aroma of either death to death or life to life. Yes, He DESERVES to be clothed with garments that emit a delightful aroma! I love what Spurgeon says: The excellencies of Jesus are all most precious, comparable to the rarest spices; they are most varied, and to be likened not to myrrh alone, but to all the perfumes blended in due proportion. Note that not only is Jesus most sweet, but even His garments are so; everything that He has to do with is perfumed by His person. To attempt to spiritualise each spice here mentioned would be unprofitable, the evident sense is that all sweetnesses meet in Jesus, and are poured forth wherever He is present.

Spurgeon says more that I'd love to share with you, but this post is getting rather long. I'll end with a prayer that you and I will bear His lovely fragrance wherever we go.

The Branch

Perhaps you noticed that I changed my picture. I started to post much earlier, but ran out of time after I changed my pic. I am blessed with the ability to sleep through just about ANYTHING! I got up this morning, having heard NOTHING between the time I fell asleep and the time my alarm went off. My usual routine is potty first, then to the kitchen and open the blinds. I opened the blinds and saw what you see in the picture. Wow! A tree branch had fallen on my beautiful coleuses! I went outside and pulled the branch off of them, but since it was sprinkling, left it on the grass instead of pulling it over to my trash can. I'd just come inside and a friend called me. She informed me it rained and thundered MUCH last night (or this morning), with accompanying lightning. Ok...slept right through it!

But...upon seeing the 'destruction' in my back yard, I was tempted to be angry. Why'd that branch have to fall on my beautiful plants and ruin them? But...I refused to give in to that temptation. YAY! Instead, I thanked Him that that branch didn't land 3-5 feet further south and land on my little table and/or my new umbrella! They could have been ruined beyond repair! My coleuses might actually grow back according to another friend who called much later in the day! That would be cool! So, the damage was minimal.

In younger years, I would have been very angry about this. So I was excited (not proud!) that I did NOT get angry, but chose instead to thank Him that it wasn't worse. Because it could have been SO MUCH worse! It could have been a much bigger branch. It could have damaged my roof. Instead, He just gave me a little test. I hope He's as pleased as I am. It's my desire to be thankful. The example of the ten lepers has come to my mind so many times over the last year or two. TEN lepers entreated Jesus, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" I'm sure you already know, but ONLY ONE turned back to give Him thanks! How sad is that? How much are we like the nine? aarrggh...do I really want to know? It could be different tomorrow. I might fail BIG TIME tomorrow on the same test, or a different one. But, praise His glorious Name, He isn't holding my next failure against me! Matthew 6:34 says, "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Isn't He wonderful?

Listening and Looking

In my last post, I referred to His overtures toward us in whisperings and looks. Have you ever really thought about that? How many times have we said, "I wish He'd just send me an email with instructions as to what to do!" I know I have! Maybe He would, if we'd obey! But, what we're really saying is that we want Him to tell us what His will is, then we'll decide if we'll obey or not. Well, it doesn't work that way, does it?

In Revelation 3:20, He writes, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me." I can't tell you what that says in the original language, but what I've been taught about this passage is that He is speaking in a low volume. Now, that seems rather unfair, doesn't it? You might say, "Then how are we supposed to hear Him?" I believe it implies we are to be listening for His voice...have our ears trained to listen for His voice. Why is it that a TIRED, sleeping mother will instantly awaken when her baby makes a barely audible whimper? She's trained herself to listen for that voice, as she loves that baby and knows it is totally dependent upon her for its every need. We live in such a busy, self-sufficient environment that we haven't come to the realization that we are totally dependent upon Him for our every need, so we haven't trained ourselves to listen for His still, small voice. He is very unassuming, not barging in where He's not wanted, so we need to cultivate our ears to be able to distinguish His voice from all the others that shout loudly for our attention!

And the looks...Psalm 32:8 says, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you." I have prayed this verse MANY, many times for myself and others. But, as I was praying it one time, I came to the shameful conclusion that I wasn't taking time to look into His eyes. How could I receive the counsel He wanted to give me with His eye upon me if I wasn't even looking into His eye(s)? I've heard the example of a father seated at the dinner table with his family and not saying anything when a child misbehaved, but rather, just giving the child a look. The look said it all and the child was reproved. I have to wonder how many of His looks I've missed. And His looks are not only for reproof. He gives us many looks of love and approval, but I believe we miss most of them.

Let us keep our ears and eyes open for His whisperings and looks of love. We long for them, don't we?

His Whisperings

Do you ever doubt God's love for you? I think most of His kids do, at some time or another, even if we know better. You see, satan WANTS us to doubt His love for us. But we know it's foolish to give in. So, we will be TEMPTED to doubt His love for us, but we don't have to GIVE IN to that temptation to doubt. Yet God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it, per 1 Corinthians 10:13.

Now, I've mentioned before that He uses my cats to show me different things. Well, one day I was flirting with the temptation to believe He doesn't love me. I was loving on Percy and just delighting in him. (He is quite delightful most of the time!) All of a sudden, it occurred to me that if I could take such delight in a critter, which isn't even a human being that He died for, then why should I find it so hard to believe that HE delights in ME? He died for me! Yes, I sin! No, I'm not perfect! (by a long shot) But my cats do things at times that don't exactly endear them to me, yet I keep on loving them. If I, an imperfect human being, can do that, why would a perfect God not be able to keep loving ME when I do things that don't exactly endear me to HIS heart? Especially when He went to the extreme of dying, not just a peaceful death, but a brutal death for me? Who would have reminded me to liken my delight in my cat to His delight in me? Well, 'the Delighter,' of course!

How easy would it have been to overlook His loving reminder? I think you know the answer. I wonder how many times He has reminded me and I either missed it completely or immediately blew it off, taking credit for the thought myself! Our God is not loud. I think He enjoys whispering to us, as lovers do to each other when they're in public settings. They don't blare out their love for each other. They whisper or, perhaps, it's just a look. How many times does He give us a look and we miss it? Oh, I fear to know how many times! Let us keep our ears and eyes open to catch those sweet whispers and looks of love He sends our way! (and them return them to Him!)

Beautiful Covering

Galatians 3:27 says, "For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." I love this verse! Think of when you are dressing to go somewhere very special...a wedding, a prom, whatever. One of your most important preparations is to plan what you're going to wear, prepare it (pull it out of the closet, wash, iron, dry clean, whatever), then put it on. Especially for us women, isn't putting it on exciting? (unless, of course, we find out it no longer fits or has a stain we didn't see when we put it away...) We want to look as pretty, beautiful (for some) or at least as lovely as we possibly can and our garment(s) plays a big part of that. The color, the style, the right season and other properties determine whether or not it's the right or best thing to put on and wear to the special event we'll be attending.

Well, when we clothe ourselves with Christ, it's a done deal! We don't have to worry about the accessories, they're all included! It's the PERFECT color, style, season, it FITS, NO wrinkles and is PERFECTLY flattering to who we are! In fact, clothing ourselves with Christ makes US beautiful, even if we're not the most beautiful person physically! Now THAT'S exciting! We need no makeup to cover flaws, our hair will be perfect, etc. When HE is our clothing, then WE become beautiful in correspondence to the clothing. Earthly clothing may make us APPEAR beautiful, but when we clothe ourselves with Him, He makes us beautiful, inside and out. WOW! And for those who only buy clothing that's on sale, this is the best deal you'll EVER find, as it's perfectly FREE...for US, that is. He paid a VERY costly price for this clothing and we merely accept it from His gracious, loving and generous hand.

So, next time you're trying to decide what to wear, don't forget to put on Christ! And if you love to wear fragrance, that's included, too! 2 Corinthians 2:14 says, "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place." That's the REAL 'Designer fragrance!'