There are signs of Spring in New Jersey.  Crocuses are popping up, buds are showing at the ends of branches and the grass seems just a little bit greener.  I drank it all in when I was up for a visit last week.  I love Spring!  Every time I came in and out the side door of my parent’s house, I noticed the bright green leaves of some daffodil plants celebrating the warmth and moving ever closer to exploding out into those delightful sunny yellow flowers. 

But I found out they had a story.

Seems there was an odd warm spell in North Jersey sometime in late January.  The daffodils sensed that warmth and thought it was time to break through the winter dirt.  But just a day later, a surprise snowstorm ruined their party.  It snowed on them two more times after that – one storm that covered them in ten inches of snow, and then a blizzard that buried them in over a foot.  A weaker, more delicate flower would have succumbed.  But these hardy daffodils stood their ground, took a break from growing and waited out the cold.  And now, they are healthy and green and ready to show the world what they are made of.

There are times in our lives when we feel like it’s the right time to move forward, the right time to take a risk.  All the signs point to perfect conditions and God’s approving nod.  And then suddenly, the climate can change and we find ourselves cold and clueless.  And we wonder if we were the ones that ran ahead, or if God did tell us to move forward even though He knew there were difficult times in the forecast.  We might not get our questions answered, but we can be like the daffodils – brace ourselves, stay strong and wait out the storms.  And in God’s timing, the warm sun will shine again and we’ll be grateful for the days of waiting and grateful that God’s hand never left us even when the weather tried to convince us otherwise.

Something tells me those daffodils might just be a little more glorious this year.  Hang on.  Spring is coming.

We can never fully plumb the mystery of what took place on the cross, but it does offer the consolation that God is unwilling to put His creatures through any test that He Himself has not endured.

Philip Yancey

I love to cook.   I watch the cooking shows on TV and read the cooking blogs, but most of all I just love to cook. Cooking  touches all  five of the senses: you can taste the food, of course, but you can feel dough between your hands as you knead it, you can hear the sizzle of something in a hot pan, you can see the bright colors of  fresh vegetables and you can smell a roast chicken in the oven.

I got thinking about the sense of smell and cooking the other day.  I had a recipe that called for toasting the spices before adding them to the other ingredients in the dish.   The spices smelled good right out of the jar, but putting them in a pan and turning up the heat  released this fragrance that was incredible.  The smell was so much more intense.  The essential oils were broken down enough to release something that wouldn’t have been possible without adding the heat.

I think that our prayers are like the spices.  They can be good and effective, but when the heat is turned up in our lives, our prayers become more intense.  God tells us that our prayers are like incense rising up before Him.  You can’t burn incense without heat – something I knew, of course, but when thinking about it in terms of lifes challenges, it takes on a new meaning.  Add heat, and prayers get stronger. Add heat, and the result can be something that wouldn’t have happened without it.  We need to remember this when things get heated in our daily life.  It can make us more aware of how we pray.  God loves strong, fragrant prayers.   He takes notice.  And He responds.  

Let my prayer be set before You as incense.  Psalm 141:2

And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand.  Revelation 8:4

Sometimes great, sweeping theological truths can be whittled down to a few simple words – words that stick with you for a very long time.  I can’t remember the last time I heard this hymn.  I can’t remember the last time I read the words.  But I do have childhood memories of singing the chorus in Sunday School and Bible clubs.  Two words, simple truth.   Trust…and obey.

Trust and Obey  John Henry Sammis 1846-1919

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey

Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey

Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,
But is blessed if we trust and obey.

But we never can prove the delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet.
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way.
What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;
Never fear, only trust and obey.

Refrain

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.   Proverbs 3:5-6  NKJV

 

 

I admit it.  I’m a morning person.  Always have been. 

I’m told by my mother that even as a child, I would wake up with a smile on my face.  Now honestly, that doesn’t happen too frequently anymore, unless I’m coming out of a great dream and haven’t quite realized yet that it was a dream.  But there is still something about getting up while it’s dark and then watching the sky gradually go from black, to cobalt, and then to lighter and lighter shades of blue as dawn nears.   My absolute hands-down favorite moment is when I see the first golden sun rays hit the top of the tallest pine trees outside my porch.  It’s like God is saying, “Ta-da! I present to you – SUNRISE!!!!”   God knows that after a long, dark night, the morning brings the hope of not only a new day, but of a fresh start.   If there were hurts or disappointments or challenges the day before, a sunrise reminds us that God is giving us another chance to see His faithfulness and provision and mercy.

Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.  Ps. 30:5

Then your light shall break forth  like the morning.  Ps. 159:8

Your mercies are new every morning.  Great is Your faithfulness.         Lamentations 3:23

And in case you’re wondering, yes, the picture at the top of the page is indeed a sunrise.  It’s God’s  early morning “ta-da” moment  over Three Mile Bay in upstate New York – one of my favorite places in the world.

“Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart”.  Luke 18:1

Here’s another one of my favorite  Bible stories about persistence.  It’s about a self-absorbed judge and a tenacious widow.  She’s looking for justice, and I get the feeling he’s rolling his eyes at her and really doesn’t want to be bothered with her petty requests.  But she doesn’t back down –  and he’s afraid she’s going to beat him black and blue.  Seriously, there’s a part in the story when the judge says that she’s making him “weary” and the original Greek word means just that – to beat black and blue.   It’s probably safe to say he didn’t think she’d literally do it, but she sure is pummeling him with her tenacity.  And so, finally, he gives her what she wants.  This little widow (I’m not sure why I always picture her that way) gets up in the judge’s face and won’t go away until she gets what she came for.

She believed he’d give her justice.  She had fearless faith.  And I think that’s the point of this story.  Not that we’re supposed to ever get up in God’s face, but that there is something about tenacious “I won’t let you go until You bless me” kind of faith that God loves.  Jesus starts the parable with the command that we are to keep praying and never lose heart.  To lose heart is to get discouraged, or , as I like to think of it, to become dis-couraged.   It’s when courage is taken away.

The next time you’re tempted to walk away from persisting in prayer, picture that brave little old widow getting up in that judge’s face.  Then picture yourself boldy approaching the throne of grace and knowing that if an evil judge will relent, how much more will a loving God listen attentively to our prayers and act on our behalf.  That’s the point that Jesus is trying to make.   I love this story.

“Let us therefore come boldy to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”  Hebrews 4:16  NKJV

 

We’ve been studying the Psalms in our Wednesday night Bible study at my church.  Psalm 37 and 73 have quite a lot to say about what our response should be when life doesn’t seem “fair” by our standards.   I found this quote while preparing the lesson and it’s powerful, convicting (in an “ouch” sort of way) and definitely reassuring.

 Whoever truly believes in God will be no longer fretful against the apparent irregularities of this present life, but will rest assured that what is mysterious is nevertheless just, and what seems hard, is, beyond a doubt, ordered in mercy. 

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, “A Treasury of David”, 1885

But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.  For I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked…but it is good for me to draw near to God.  I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all Your works.  (Psalm 73: 2,3 and 28  NKJV)

I was searching a hymn website a few weeks ago and came across the words to a song titled “Unanswered Yet”, written in 1894 by a singing evangelist named Charles Tillman.  Immediately, I felt a bond with the hymnwriter – seems he had learned some lessons in the waiting, too.  When I shared them with my sister, she  found the song in an old hymbook, this time with the title “Sometime, Somewhere”.   The hymnbook belonged to my grandmother.  The page was turned down.  I wonder what Charles Tillman was praying for, and I wonder if the words to the song had some special meaning to my grandmother.  The vocabulary may be from another time, but the prayers and the promises are timeless.  Savor these words.  Mull them over.  And be reminded once again that if your prayer has been unanswered yet, God will answer – sometime, somewhere.

Sometime, Somewhere by Charles Tillman, 1894

Unanswered yet?
The prayers your lips have pleaded
In agony of heart these many years?
Does faith begin to fail, is hope departing,
And think you all in vain those falling tears?
Say not the Father hath not heard your prayer:
You shall have your desire, sometime, somewhere,
You shall have your desire, sometime, somewhere.

Unanswered yet?
Though when you first presented
This one petition at the Father’s throne,
It seemed you could not wait the time of asking,
So urgent was your heart to make it known.
Though years have passed since then, do not despair;
The Lord will answer you, sometime, somewhere,
The Lord will answer you, sometime, somewhere.

Unanswered yet?
Nay, do not say ungranted;
Perhaps your part is not yet wholly done;
The work began when first your prayer was uttered,
And God will finish what He has begun.
If you will keep the incense burning there,
His glory you shall see, sometime somewhere,
His glory you shall see, sometime somewhere.

Unanswered yet?
Faith cannot be unanswered;
Her feet were firmly planted on the Rock;
Amid the wildest storm prayer stands undaunted,
Nor quail before the loudest thunder shock.
She knows Omnipotence has heard her prayer,
And cries, “It shall be done,” sometime, somewhere,
And cries, “It shall be done,” sometime, somewhere.

“And it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; And while they are still speaking, I will hear”  Isaiah 65:24

It got pretty cold here last night – at least by South Florida standards.  Somewhere in the low 40’s.  And because I’m somewhat of an anomaly here and I LIVE for these kinds of nights, I slept with my windows open.  Seemed like a good idea at the time.  This morning when the alarm went off, I realized just how chilly it had become.  So I reached down and pulled up the comforter (something I cannot do very often) and snuggled down deep.  It was just the right combination of perfectly worn and softened cotton sheets and weighty comforter. 

Delightful. 

I didn’t intend for it to become a spiritual moment, but God  used those few extra minutes in that delightful state to remind me how He loves to wrap me up like that.  Verses came to mind about how He’s like a mother bird who spreads her wings over the nest to cover and protect her young, and how God is the perfect Comforter.   Soon we’ll be back into the tropical weather here, but I’m grateful for cold mornings, a warm bed and reminders of God’s loving cover over me.

He shall cover you with His feathers and under His wings you shall take refuge.  Psalm 91:4  NKJV

As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you. Isaiah 66:13  NKJV

It cannot be stated too frequently that the life of a Christian is a warfare, an intense conflict, a lifelong contest.  It is a battle waged against invisible foes, who are ever alert, and ever seeking to entrap, deceive, and ruin the souls of men.  The life to which Holy Scripture calls men is no picnic, or holiday junketing.  It is no pastime, no pleasure jaunt.  It entails wrestling, struggling; it demands the putting forth of the full energy of the spirit in order to frustrate the foe and to come off, at the last, more than conqueror.

E.M. Bounds (1835-1913)  from  The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds on Prayer, Baker Books 1990

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  Romans 8:37 NKJV