Flying by Instrument

My brother, having his private pilot's license, was flying my toddler daughter and me to see "Grampy" who was very ill in the hospital. He had never met the little girl as her adoption into the family had occurred only a few months before. I recall that day as being overcast, perhaps even rainy, and visibility was extremely limited. How could we land safely if we couldn't even see the ground? "Not to worry," my brother told me as he spoke to controllers by radio and listened to their instructions.

At last we burst through the layer of gray clouds—and there was the runway, exactly in front of us. I was hugely impressed! What the pilot couldn't determine with his own skillful judgment, he entrusted to the instruments in his cockpit and to people on the ground who could direct him.

We often cannot see clearly where each aspect of our faith journey is taking us. We are completely "clouded" in, and cannot imagine how we will ever come safely to a place of peace and rest. That is the time to fly by "instrument," not our own senses. We have the Word of God to direct us. We also have the wisdom and experience of others who are on this journey; some, having already completed it, have left us valuable encouragement and advice. We have the Spirit of God, Who is the ultimate "control tower operator."

Our feelings can be unreliable when in comes to determining our course, just as I could not have found the landing strip through those heavy clouds. And even when we can see, our judgment may be faulty, just as airplanes crash all the time "due to pilot error." But when we put our trust in the instruments we have been given to make our spiritual journey, and we will reach our Destination safely.

MaryMartha

Art from htttp://www.sxc.hu/

He Cares About You

At one point, many years ago, I faced very difficult life circumstances. These were not passing problems but ongoing hardship and emotional distress until I almost despaired. It was a very dark time, too. I found it hard to pray; it seemed that I was not being heard. I did not find comfort in reading the Bible, and I could not sing. My journey of faith was more like slogging through a swamp than walking on "the King's highway." I had no intention of giving up, but everything was just so difficult.

One day, with no reason for it except God's merciful intervention, the words of I Peter 5:7 came to mind. "He careth for you." (God most often talks to me in King James English, because that is the version of the Bible I had been reading for much of my life.) "He cares for me!" I began to pray again, with renewed confidence that He was concerned about my sorrows. I began to read the Word again with renewed faith that He would strengthen me to carry the load.

If you are in a hard place, sing!

I trust in God wherever I may be,
Upon the land or on the rolling sea,
For, come what may, from day to day,
My heav'nly Father watches over me.

He makes the rose an object of His care,
He guides the eagle thru the pathless air,
And surely He remembers me,
My heav'nly Father watches over me.

The valley may be dark, the shadows deep
But O, The Shepherd guards His lonely sheep;
And thru the gloom, He'll lead me home,
My heav'nly Father watches over me.

Chorus
I trust in God, I know He cares for me,
On mountain bleak or on the stormy sea;
Tho' billows roll, He keeps my soul,
My heav'nly Father watches over me.
--Rev. W. C. Martin, 1910

MaryMartha

You may also want to read "Worrying" here.

Words of the song located at
http://www.namethathymn.com/hymn-lyrics-detective-forum/index.php?a=vtopic&t=105

Developing in the Dark

I remember my first camera: a Baby Brownie Special by Kodak, an absolute wonder of technology! It was tiny; it took 1-5/8 inch by 2-1/2 pictures on a roll of 127 film. The camera was molded Bakelite (a plastic now found only in collectible items), with a white push-button shutter release and a white film winder knob contrasting smartly with the sleek black body. A braided handle completed the stylish look! I was only ten or twelve, and easily impressed, I suppose!

When the whole roll of film had been exposed—I knew this by peering into the little red window in the back—I rolled it back onto the spool, and my mother or someone took it to the photo shop for developing. In a week or so (or whenever the next trip to town took place), I held in my hand the eight little photographs of my brothers, the dog, the cow barn, and grandma and grandpa at their house, their likenesses preserved forever!

Eventually I moved up to a slightly better camera, but still just a box that took black-and-white pictures. I enrolled in an elective photography class in high school. In the darkroom, in complete blackout, I rolled exposed film into a light-tight canister and poured the developer in. After the prescribed time elapsed, I clipped the negatives up to a line to dry and later printed the photos or cropped and enlarged them with only a faint red light in the room. Mostly I worked in the dark to produce my work.

Sometimes life is like that. Everything is bright and sunny for a time. All is well, and we suppose this is how things are going to be now. But sometimes we have to work in the dark. In fact, that is often how God accomplishes His purposes. We don't stay in the dark always, for He leads us in the way of light. But sometimes while something is "developing," we have to wait without seeing clearly. The children of Israel were guided along their wilderness trek by the cloud of God's presence. God was in the dark cloud that covered the mountain as He issued the Ten Commandments. When Moses went to the Tent of Meeting to speak with God, a cloud covered the entrance. When the Tabernacle for worship was set up, a cloud of God hovered over the place of atonement which covered the Ark. When Solomon's temple was dedicated a great cloud filled it. When Jesus gave up His life on the Cross, darkness filled the land.

"He made darkness His secret place; His canopy around Him was dark waters and thick clouds of the skies." (Psalm 18:11 NKJV) Know that when the process of "developing" and "enlarging" is finished, something of lasting value will have been worked into your life.

MaryMartha

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Art from http://www.brownie-camera.com/manuals/babybspecial/index.shtml

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

Many children go through a stage of being afraid of the dark. Before about two years of age, their imagination is not developed enough to envision what scary things might be waiting for them. But two- to four-year-olds are able to recreate in their minds the things they have been exposed to in real life. Even if these things were only imaginary, such as those created in storybooks or TV or older children's tales, small children do not always know the difference between pretend and real. The imagined dangers grow even scarier in the dark. Without the ability to understand their alarm and reason it away, little people sometimes have very big fears.

Usually, by the time we are adults, we have been able to put aside imagined perils in the dark and have learned only the prudent cautions that wisdom dictates. But there is one area of life that we may continue to be overwhelmed by the darkness: when we cannot see our way spiritually. There are some famous examples:

* Job in the Bible, suffering intensely both physically and emotionally, desperately pleaded with God for deliverance. His misery was intensified by what seemed to be God's disregard for his plight.

* Saint John of the Cross, a Carmelite priest in the 16th century, was imprisoned by the brothers of his Order who opposed his reforms. He wrote extensively about "the dark night of the soul."

* Mother Teresa experienced an extended period of spiritual night from 1948 until shortly before her death in 1997, but never wavered in her determination to save the thrown-away children of Calcutta even when she experienced no rapturous spiritual rewards.

* Many Christians, even those who are strongly devoted to God and have a consistent prayer life, go through periods of "dryness" and difficulty for a time. They may feel their faith has collapsed or even that God has abandoned them.

If you experience a spiritual night, remember that, like the fearful child, what you imagine is scarier than the reality. God has not forsaken you! Yes, it is dark, but that simply means He is very near. "How precious is your unfailing love, O God! All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings." "He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection." (Psalm 36:7; 91:4)

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. (Matthew 23:37)

"Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy! I look to you for protection. I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings until the danger passes by." (Psalm 57:1)

Francis Thompson, English poet who wrote "Hound of Heaven," asks, "Is my gloom, after all, shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly?" Is this darkness, after all, the covering of His wings, holding me with unfailing love?

We cannot expect to see much when we're under His wings! It is dark under there. And completely safe.

MaryMartha

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. United States of America. All rights reserved.

Fear of Being Well

Not all of Jesus' miracles were received with gladness. An account in three of the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—relates an incident where a wonderful healing took place, and the response was great fear.

Jesus and his disciples came by boat across the Sea of Galilee to the country of the Gerasenes. There they were met by a madman, a victim of demons who so tormented him that he lived naked and homeless in the cemetery among the tombs. He was so wild that no one could restrain him; he had been tied up many times, but he broke the ropes and snapped the chains. Night and day he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and slashing himself with sharp stones.

When the man saw Jesus, still a long way off, he ran and bowed before Him as if to worship. But then he screamed and the evil spirits within bellowed, "Why are you interfering with me, Son of the Most High God? In the name of God, don't torture me!"

"Tell me your name," Jesus commanded the spirit presence, and it answered, "Mob. I am a rioting mob," but then as Jesus began to order them to come out, they pleaded not to be totally banished. A large herd of pigs—2000 of them—were rooting and feeding on a nearby hill. "Send us into the swine," they begged desperately. Jesus gave His permission, and the whole herd of crazed pigs plunged wildly down the steep hillside and into the lake where they all drowned.

Those who were tending the pigs were scared to death. They fled to the nearby town, spreading the news as they went. A crowd gathered around Jesus and saw there with Him the man who had been delivered from the demon mob. He was wearing decent clothes and making sense when he spoke. It was a miracle! And the crowd's response? They were all afraid and demanded that Jesus go away and leave them alone.

Why were people afraid in the face of a miraculous healing? True, they had lost their pigs. "If Jesus stays here, performing more of these miracles, it's hard telling how many of us will lose our livelihood. Let's run Him off!"

The social structure is upset. "This is too much change, way too fast. We don't understand it at all. It's just scary."

And if there's no wild man in the community to whom can we feel superior? "You think I'm crazy? No, that guy out in the cemetery is crazy."

Having finished just this one mission on the far side of the lake, Jesus started to get back into the boat. The delivered man begged to go along, but Jesus told him, "No, go home to your own people. Tell them your story, how the Master had mercy on you." He did just that, witnessing throughout the whole area of the amazing thing Jesus had done for him. By proclaiming his testimony, the delivered man avoided the tragedy of a return to the caves.

Once a person has grown accustomed to the darkness of his/her emotional self-destruction, ruinous habits, or antisocial behavior, the light may seem too much to bear. It is not at all unusual for those who are celebrating wellness to creep back into the familiarity of the "cave" where they have lived for a long time. Being free and responsible and happy is just too great a change. It's scary! He/she was not happier or healthier in the cave, but it is dear and familiar, and sometimes there is the temptation to find "safety" in that well-known place.

Jesus said, "If the Son sets you free, you are truly free." (John 8:36) But one has to accept that freedom and not fear being well.

MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)

Scripture quotation taken from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. United States of America. All rights reserved.

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com

Things Mama Taught Me: Sunshine Kills Germs

Scarlet fever, a "strep" disease, is not the threat it once was. Having been treated with antibiotics for a period of twenty-four hours, the sufferer—usually a child—can return to school and other activities as soon as they feel better and have no fever. (Mayo Clinic) How different it was when I was a youngster!

When I was seven years old, I caught scarlet fever at school and brought it home to my four brothers. One by one, they too became ill. At the time, isolation was used during outbreaks of highly contagious diseases, so our home was put under quarantine by the health department for the duration of the whole family's illness. This was a long time, all summer as I recall, since we did not have any treatment except the loving and precautionary care of my mother. In order to avoid exposure and continue to work, my father had to stay out of our home with a relative, coming by only to deliver groceries to our front yard.

When the disease had finally run its course, we had to clean everything in the house, disposing of whatever we could. The precious books and paper dolls that had entertained me while I was bedfast had to be burned. (Fortunately, some wise friends had provided two copies of the gifts they brought—one for the quarantine period and one for after we were all well!) The things that were kept had to be washed with disinfectant or laid out in the sunshine. "Sunshine kills germs," my mother told me.

Actually, light eliminates a lot of things. A deterrent to night-time invasion of homes and businesses is bright light, and pedestrians are urged to seek well-lit areas. Vehicles of all kinds are required to be lighted, if not so the driver can see, then for his/her safety and that of others also on the road. Mold grows best in conditions of darkness, moisture, and stagnant air—the refrigerator is perfect!

In human life, the same truth exists. It doesn't take a criminal personality to prefer darkness to light; one has only to read the newspaper to discover that people in every walk of life are keeping everyone else "in the dark" about their real selves and their lives. One has only to read the Bible to realize that this has been so for a very long time. "This is the crisis we're in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won't come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is." (John 3:19)

Back in the '50s, we were singing a Stuart Hamblen song, "Open up Your Heart and Let the Sunshine In." Over fifty years later, that is still good advice.

MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)

Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 2003 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com

Is There a Reason for Everything?

A fresh grave. A handicapped child. A fire, flood, or tornado.

When the sad or tragic occurs, would-be comforters and sometimes the grieving persons themselves may seek consolation in the words, “Everything happens for a reason.” Perhaps we acquired this thinking when we were only a few years old, asking our parents “Why?” until they wearied of our questions and answered, “Because I said so,” or even “Just because.” We may have studied Newton’s laws in our science class, learning that “for every action, there is an equal reaction,” and supposed that if we searched hard enough we could figure out the cause of any circumstance—but finally had to admit, “I don’t understand.” Sadly, sometimes Christians use “the will of God” as a convenient catch phrase for the unexplainable: “I guess it was just God’s will.”

No, no, no. There is not a plausible reason for everything. It is useless in some situations to search for a reason. There is not a way to prevent every sad event. We live in a broken world, in a society crippled by centuries of hereditary sinning. Bad things do happen. Tragedies do occur. Argue as we may, “But if he—she—I—had only . . .” that would not have ensured a different outcome. Many people have done just what he, she, or I have done and the same terrible thing did not happen.

There is, however, potential purpose in everything. Whether or not I find that purpose is not entirely up to me; understanding may come soon, it may come late, or it may not come at all. But whether or not I embrace the purpose is up to me. “I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV) Do I believe that? With all my heart. God loves me, and desires relationship with me. He is not going to harm me. Life may beat me up with its disappointments and sorrows, but I do not have to question, “How could this be happening to me?” or search for “What have I done wrong?” In time, it will all be plain. Or not. It is that last part that is so difficult because we do not like not knowing and not understanding.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return.” (II Timothy 1:12 NLT) At the time, Paul was in prison, entrusting whatever it was he was feeling into God’s keeping. I too can entrust to God my sorrow, confusion, hurt, and the questions for which there are no answers. He does not say to me, “Just because.” He does not say, “Think hard and you’ll come up with the reason.” He doesn’t even say, “It was just my will.” He says, “Trust Me. I understand your pain.”

Related articles:
What Job Learned about Reasons here
Is It God’s Will? here

MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)

Scripture quotation marked NIV is taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scripture quotation marked NLT is taken from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. United States of America. All rights reserved.

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com

"Be Still and Know That I Am God"

I am the God of the storm.
I created thunder and lightning, wind and rain.
My feet are planted on the dark clouds

     that are rolling into your life,

     threatening to engulf you.
Even though your grasp slips from the guide wheel
     and you find the anchor about to come loose and set you adrift,
I am there, controlling the height of the waves

     and the fierceness of the wind.
I will not permit them to dash you upon the rocks.

I am the God of the darkness.
I created night and day; they are alike to Me.
My eyes pierce through the inky blackness

     that surrounds you so thickly you can feel it press

     the very breath from you.
In that darkness, be still—
The heartbeat that you hear is Mine.

I am the God of emptiness.
I created the vast reach of space out beyond
     the little planet that is familiar to you,
And I know that it is far from empty.
I inhabit the aching emptiness of your longings,
     your unfulfilled dreams,
     the rising and falling of your hopes.
Your emptiness is pregnant with what is yet to be,
For I spoke, and out of the emptiness
     there came into being all that is.
One day again, I will speak.
                                                         —MM
MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com

Jesus in the Neighborhood

One of the concerns a family has when they contemplate moving to a home in a new location is, “What is the neighborhood like?” It is important who will be living next door and across the street. They ask about the schools and churches and shopping, parking and safety and drainage. The neighborhood matters to the new family.

What the new family may not think about is that the neighborhood is checking them out too! Will the newcomers keep their grass mowed? Will they be quiet after 10:00 p.m.? Will they park in front of their house instead of mine? The neighborhood matters a great deal to the folks who are already there too!

“The Word [the Son of God] became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son.” (John 1:14, emphasis mine) When Jesus came to our “neighborhood,” the world, He wasn’t just checking it out to see if He wanted to stay here. He had already decided that He would live among us and die for us, although the people “next door and across the street” were a mix of good and bad and really, really bad.

The neighborhood was checking Him out too. The Son of God? “I don’t think so.” And so most people didn’t believe. But still there was that glory, one-of-a-kind, and love and mercy like no one had seen before. So some did believe."

A loveless world," said Jesus, "is a sightless world. If anyone loves me, he will carefully keep my word and my Father will love him—we'll move right into the neighborhood!” (John 14:23, emphasis mine) If we love Jesus and obey His words, He and the Father will move in with us—now that is truly unbelievable! What a difference it can make if Jesus lives on the street where we live. That doesn’t make all the problems go away, doesn’t fix broken curbs or run-down vacant lots. But if a loveless world is without sight, that must mean that a world with love in it can see. If Jesus lives at your address and mine, then there is at least that much love and light. We lament the troubled state of affairs in our world and perhaps in our own communities. But don’t spend all your time grieving. Let Jesus move into the neighborhood.

Old Chinese proverb say: "Better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness."

MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)

Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 2003 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com

Clouds

When the children of Israel left Egypt under Moses’ leadership, God demonstrated His presence with them in a tangible way. “By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. (Exodus 13:21, 22)

Before long, however, the people were trapped between the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s pursuing army. While they huddled fearfully in their camp, “the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.” (Exodus 14:19, 20) When morning came, God instructed Moses to stretch out his hand over the Sea. The Lord caused a strong east wind to roll back the water, and the people crossed safely on dry land. Of course, that pathway enabled the enemy to cross, as well, but Moses held out his hand again, returning the Sea to its former depth, and every one of Pharaoh’s chariots and horsemen were destroyed. The opening of the Red Sea was a huge miracle, but consider too that most unusual cloud: covering one camp in darkness and flooding the other with light.

Have you ever considered that what seems like difficulty to you—a cloud, so to speak—could actually be your protection and provision?

The God of the Israelites sent a cloud
To serve as a guard in the night.
Old Pharaoh’s host saw just the dark cloud,
But the children of God, a light.

The cloud that today is shading your path
Is there for God sees it’s fit.
Despair or deliverance will all depend
On how you are looking at it.

Looking on it from the viewpoint of one
Whose heart has been taught to see Him,
The cloud will reveal Him, burst forth into Light—
But if you rebel, your eyes dim.

This cloud in your way, then, spells life and peace
Or confusion and doubt—for you see,
You alone can be the one to decide
On which side of the cloud you will be.

Are you dwelling where Israel’s faith abounds
Or in Egypt’s rebelling sin?
The cloud being darkness or light to you
Depends on which camp you are in. –MM

MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com

What Job Learned about Reasons

Children grow up asking “Why?” In fact, we encourage their curiosity, and we’re glad (usually) that they are questioning the cause of things. This can lead to difficulty, however, when as more mature persons, we still engage that straight-line thinking: “Everything happens for a reason.” Actually, I’m not certain whether that statement is true or it isn’t. But this I know for sure: We do not understand all of life’s “reasons.”

Job, a man in very early Bible days, didn’t either. He was known as the greatest man of all the people of the East. He had huge holdings of livestock, many servants, a houseful of children—seven sons and three daughters—plus genuine godliness. In the Scripture account, there is no stated connection between Job’s prosperity and his piety, although that is what people at the time thought, and what many continue to think even today.

Job did not know that a hidden drama was about to unfold. Before God’s throne, Satan taunted Him with the suggestion that Job was righteous only because of all that God had given him. Satan proposed a test. “Let me take his possessions and he will no longer serve you.” With God’s permission, Satan brought calamity to Job. In one day, just minutes apart, messengers came to tell Job that his flocks and herds had been driven off or destroyed, his servants killed, and all his children destroyed in a ferocious whirlwind. Still Job worshipped God. “I came naked from my mother’s womb, entering this world with nothing. Now again I have nothing. You gave me all I had, O Lord, and now, all of a sudden, you have taken it away. I bless Your name.”

Satan’s cruel experiment had failed, so next he proposed the loss of Job’s health. God again gave His permission, stipulating only that Job’s life be spared. Some dreadful disease came upon him; references in the Book of Job highlight his misery: severe itching, sleeplessness, running sores and scabs, nightmares, depression, weeping, foul breath, emaciation, skin sloughing off, rotting teeth, chills and fever, diarrhea, and fear.

Job sat in the ashes outside his home, and using a broken piece of pottery, scraped his oozing sores. His overwrought wife said to him (screamed at him, I imagine), “Is this the reward you get for your integrity? Curse the God who treats you this way. Just die!”

“Shh,” I can hear Job saying. “Don’t speak so foolishly. We gladly accepted all the blessing of God during our years of prosperity, should we not accept adversity also for a time?” Boldly, Job held fast to his confidence. Although good and evil are contradictory, he did not see them coming from opposite causes. He accepted that all things come through the hand of God.

Word spread of the sorry spectacle to be seen at the home of Job in Uz. Three friends from far-off places came to comfort him. When they found that the dirty, unkempt creature they could barely recognize was indeed Job, they howled in genuine anguish and tore their robes in grief. They sat down with him on the ground, and for seven days and nights, no one said a word. Their silence respected the depth of Job’s pain.

At last Job spoke. “I wish I had never been born,” he cried. “Why did I not perish when I came from the womb? Why is life given to one who is in misery and longs for death more than any other treasure?” And although God was silent, Job did not turn against Him. He might curse the day of his birth, but he would not curse his Maker.

The men listened quietly to Job’s outburst, and then one after another they gave long speeches condemning Job. God, they said, rewards the righteous and punishes wrongdoers. Peace and prosperity are linked inevitably to upright living, and trouble and sorrow are linked to displeasing God. Job’s suffering, therefore, must be caused by sin for which he had not repented.

After each speech, Job protested his innocence to the men and to God. “I do not understand such misery,” he cried to the heavens. “I ask two things of You: Remove from me this terrible ordeal, or relieve the unbearable torment in my mind. Speak to me—or at least answer me when I cry out to You! My friends are quick to tell me I have sinned,” he stormed. “If I have transgressed, why don’t You tell me? Why do you hide Yourself from me? I cannot go on living, but You won’t let me die! Tell me, is there any hope for me?” But God was silent.

Each of the three friends spoke again, defending themselves and each other, repeating their accusations against Job. Over and over again Job’s visitors voiced their arguments, but try as they might, the three men could not convince him, shame him, or frighten him. After a long while, they stopped answering Job, giving as their reason that it was useless to argue further with a man so opinionated and so persistent in maintaining his own righteousness. They all sat in silence. And God too was silent.

At some point during the days of debate, the men by the ash heap were joined by another man. To Job, he said angrily, “You are full of empty talk, for God is neither injured by your transgressions nor gratified by your righteous deeds. Your suffering is not punishment for your sin, as your so-called friends have said, but a warning for you to correct the foolish idea that your actions are of any great significance to God!” He talked on and on, ending scornfully with, “Just don’t expect that the majestic Creator of all the earth is going to respond to your pitiful whimpering, Job. Your pleas are in vain.”

So this is it then: God does not care? He is going to remain silent?

But suddenly, a great whirlwind came upon them. With human voices stopped, God was ready to speak. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” God asked Job. “Did you lay the boundaries of the seas? Can you tell where daylight dwells and where is the place of darkness? Do you cause the grass to grow, the rain to fall, the deer in the forest to bear young? Who do you think you are?” The repeated piercing questions must have struck Job like lightning.

“Oh Lord God,” Job answered humbly, “how can I answer you? I was wrong to question you.”

“Stand up like a man,” God told him. “You must answer me. Can you tame the greatest of the wild animals of the field? No. But I made him, just as I made you, and he is perfectly at ease with me. Can you catch the fiercest scaly creature of the sea and make him do your bidding? No. But I created him and he obeys me without fear. Now what do you have to say for yourself?”

“Oh Lord God,” Job answered, “these things are too great for me. You are too great for me. I’ve babbled on ignorantly about the way You work as though I understood all about You. I don’t. I despise the words I’ve said to You, insisting that You had to explain everything to me, that You had to give me reasons for all that has happened in my life. I’m so sorry, God, I’m so sorry. You are God! God! Who did I think I was, calling on you to justify your purposes?”

And as far as we know, Job never did learn about the confrontation between Satan and God. He never learned the reasons for his suffering. What he did learn was that God is not obligated to explain Himself to us humans. He is God. He is in control. He has given us a fundamental outline in His Word—which, by the way, is a great advantage that we have over Job—but following God is not an exact science, with “religious” actions always connected to beneficial results and bad actions to unpleasant ones. “Reasons” are sometimes a mystery to us. “Is God trying to show me—or someone nearby—something? Is Satan the instigator? Am I experiencing the consequences of a poor choice I made, or decisions that another made which affect me? Or am I just caught in the crush of a broken world?” Sometimes we simply don’t know.

We must understand this: Although “reasons” may be hidden from us, God has purpose in everything; He can use anything and everything to fit His purpose—that we know Him. The source of our suffering is not nearly so important to know as the source of our strength. Job found that having the answer to “Why” is not nearly as important as discovering who God is.

MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com

Weaving

An old poem by an unknown author reminds us that we do not choose the colors in the handiwork that is our life; that is up to the Master Weaver. We forget sometimes that, while He sees the pattern as it evolves on the upper side, we are limited to looking at the underside. There the knots are visible and the pattern is unclear! God is at work, and some day we too will be able to see why the dark colors of difficulty or sorrow were as necessary as the brighter ones of freedom and joy.

The craftsman, using strands of gold,
Wastes not their glory on a weave
Of shining, brightly colored thread
But rather lets them glow
From out of darkened web. –MM

MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com

Why the Dark?

Most living things require light. (There are a few nasty things that do best in the dark, like the green stuff that grows in the back of the refrigerator—and some others as well!) For the most part, however, we think of light as contributing to life. It aids growth and productivity.

Even though light is essential to many living things, life is actually conceived in darkness, in the secret places of the womb and the earth. The Psalmist speaks of this darkness. “You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.” (Psalm 139:15 NLT) And long before that, there was the Spirit of God brooding, mother-hen-like, over the waiting creation at the beginning of time. This creative darkness came even before the light.

Jesus taught, “Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over.” (John 12:24 The Message) Again, the darkness comes before light and new life.

We are often uncertain about one thing or another in our lives. We are sometimes confused by the very fact that we are confused! Isn’t Jesus the Light of the world, and isn’t the Word of God light to our pathway? Well, then why the dark?

The Darkness Is for You

Darkness first, before the light,
And heavy with portent of life,
The Spirit hovered o’er the deep.
Why dark when God Himself is light
And both are quite alike to Him?
Why night when day is all the same?

“The darkness is for you,” He said,
“Divided into spans by light
Created by My spoken Word.
The day which always follows night—
Not day then night, as you suppose—
Is but a part of my design.

“My Spirit needs His brooding time
Before the hidden plan breaks forth
From darkness where it is conceived.
Be patient then, and never doubt
The goodness that I have in store
If you will wait for Light to come!”

MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)

Scripture quotation marked NLT is taken from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. United States of America. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 2003 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com