How nice it is to have a heartfelt, sit-down conversation with your best friend! One day I will have a face to face talk with my Lord— my very best friend. Interestingly while writing this, I am singing a few lines from my daddy’s favorite song:
Face to face with my Christ my Savior,
Face to face, what will it be,…
Only faintly now I see Him,
With the darkening veil between,
But a blessed day is coming,
When His glory shall be seen (written by Mrs. Frank A Breck and composed by Grant Colfax Tullarin in 1898).
God sent messengers to the Biblical patriarchs like Moses and Abraham. These men even spoke to the Lord when he appeared, for example, in the burning bush. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to have Him before me as they did and to talk to the Lord about anything. Then I recall the passage when Jesus appeared to the disciples after He rose from the grave. The disciples were in awe, because they had seen the Lord. Thomas was not with them however. Thomas wanted to touch Jesus’ wounds to know that He was alive. Jesus appeared a week later at the house and allowed Thomas to place his hands on Him. He believed after seeing Christ. The scripture tells us that we are blessed because we believe even when we have not seen Him (John 20: 24-31).
Many times over the past few months, I made requests after requests about some uncertainties. I felt the Lord encouraging me to wait on His answer and to trust in the fact that He is God. In other words, I was to listen for a time and stop worrying (Psalm 46:10). My natural reaction is to start asking questions, giving requests, probing for direction, etc. All of this is good, and actually the Lord wants to hear from us. I reminded myself to listen first. What a hard discipline to master! Four days ago I asked my prayer warriors to fervently pray with me that I would hear the Lord’s voice and know His plan concerning these matters. I studied in Amos 3 where God promises that He will not do anything unless He reveals it to the prophets.
Yesterday I opened the Bible to Psalm 50. As I read the first 13 verses, I was amazed at God’s mightiness and power. Verse seven states that He is my God. The passage then refers to His knowledge and how He created all things. Verse 15 encourages us to talk to Him when we are in trouble. We honor God when we share our desires with Him. His Word promises that He will rescue us.
I need to grow up and accept reality. We mature in stages both physically and spiritually. Babies start off with milk not steak. We are all familiar with the phrase: shag za shagom” (Russian for step-by-step). Jesus teaches me step-by-step. A baby satisfies herself with the taste of milk and enjoys it. When a child is ready, the parent gives her solid foods. She enjoys that, too. The fact is that I am to enjoy the day-by-day walk with God and trust Him with it all.
-The Chosen Path, 8-23-08, L. Burch
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Leslie,
ReplyDeleteI have just finished reading your blog and email. I am thrilled that you and your family are settled once more in Russia and have been given the opportunity to continue your ministry there. God is truly providential! And I'm so thankful for answered prayers in that regard--it makes me all the more aware of His presence among us and His attentiveness to our prayers and provision for our needs.
I enjoyed reading your blog, and wanted to express to you the timeliness of this particular one in regard to the encouragement I received from it! I just realized you wrote this back in August-I've read it today and that reading comes on the heels of an incredible Systematic Theology lecture on Tuesday on the nature of God. My professor used Psalm 50 as one of the texts we discussed. The picture of Israel on trial before God, who is both their judge and prosecutor, is amazing (not a place I'd like to be!). But I do believe it is so picturesque of so much of religion today. Their petty efforts to please God through their religious service/rituals that had come so closely to resemble the pagan rites of their day were offensive to God. They had come to believe God was in need of their sacrifices as if He was somehow dependent upon them to bring Him fulfillment in some way! And the rebuke they received was well-deserved and definitely put them in their rightful place: 'If I were hungry I would not tell YOU! For the world is Mine, and ALL it contains!' And I, like you, was once again reminded of the power that defines the God we serve. He is within Himself entirely self-sufficient. He needs nothing from us--not sacrifices nor the blood of goats nor the flesh of bulls...Yet as verse 15 reminds us, we are entirely dependent on Him for everything. Every good gift comes from the Father--and we're entreated to ask, wait, trust, and listen. What a timely reminder! Especially in light of the many decisions that I face in regard to my future. It's so easy for me to jump to action instead of being still before the Lord. Thank you so much for your encouraging words. Know that you and your family are prayed for greatly!
For His Glory,
Sloan Warren