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And he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him, and kissed him.
– Luke 15:20
Hello. My name is Pam Thorson. I am a parent.
A parenting book entitled, Parenting Is Hard and Then You Die was released in 2019. After forty-six years of parenthood, I, along with millions of others, can relate to that title. But no one warned me when I became a parent for the first time. I have truly loved being a mom. I didn’t realize, though, how much of my heart it would take and break.
Being parents makes us vulnerable in ways nothing else can. Everything good and bad that happens to your children happens to you. Your life is never your own again. They can complete you and reduce you to ashes (sometimes in the same day), because your children are literally a part of you.
Last year, the popular rapper Toby Mac lost his 21-year-old son Truett. We who have followed Toby’s music over the years have been devastated by his loss and have seen his soul-scouring grief. Those of us who have lost or nearly lost our own children understand the pain. It is a fellowship of suffering to which no one wants to belong.
It is also our reminder of another father, our Father in heaven.
God made Himself vulnerable to this same pain when He made us His children. He didn’t need to do that. He could have lived in eternity just fine without us. But He didn’t want to live without us.
We matter to Him, in a deep, soul-shaking way.
He emptied heaven to pay for our redemption. His heart is broken when we reject Him; He watches the road for our return. He hurts for us and with us. No one knows our pain like He does.
You may feel like your life doesn’t matter to anyone. You may feel worthless. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Watch Toby Mac’s video. See the pain in his eyes. Feel his tears. In his grief you will see the reflection of our heavenly Father’s broken heart for us. A parent wants nothing more than to have his child whole and happy and in a healthy relationship with him.
One day it will be too late to turn back. It will be too late to say, “I love you.” The Father will stop watching the road for your return. Go running to His arms, to His safety. Today.
I promise you; He is waiting.
Slightly Obsessed #239: A Parent’s Pain, a Father’s Heart
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God said: ‘I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands.’ And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the LORD all night.
– 1 Samuel 15:11
For years, I slept like a log.
The demands of a growing household often left me exhausted at the end of the day. I often collapsed into bed and fell immediately asleep. Now I’m older, and our household is shrinking as our grown children have moved on to new lives. I’m in the season where the night has become the time to think and worry and pray for those I love. It has all become more intense, as well, the thinking and the worrying and the praying. The days are still filled with exhausting duties, but now my life feels more out of control, the burdens heavier.
Jesus often spent nights in prayer. His night watches, unlike mine, surely consisted less of thinking and worrying and more of communication with His Father. Losing sleep is frustrating, but it can be a time of fruitful communion with God if we do it right.
So, what should we do when night descends, and sleep doesn’t come? When the enemy whispers in the dark, how are we to respond?
Remember whose child you are, and the name you wear.
O LORD, I remember Your name in the night….
– Psalm 119:55
Praise Him in gratitude for all He has done.
I will remember my song in the night;
I will meditate with my heart,
And my spirit ponders.
– Psalm 77:6
At midnight I shall rise to give thanks to You.
– Psalm 119:62
Recognize His many qualities and divine nature.
When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches.
– Psalm 63:6
Soak in His Word and listen for His direction.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
– Psalm 1:2
I will bless the LORD who has counseled me;
Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.
– Psalm 16:7
Wait patiently for His answer.
In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord;
In the night my hand was stretched out without weariness….
– Psalm 77:2
My soul waits for the Lord
More than the watchmen for the morning;
Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.
– Psalm 130:6
At night my soul longs for You,
Indeed, my spirit seeks You diligently.
– Isaiah 26:9
Sometimes the night is the only time the Spirit of God can reach us through the noise of the day. In the darkness His voice whispers to our souls what we can’t hear in the light. Perhaps, when sleep escapes us, and the pain and desperation for answers closes in, we can simply respond to His call with the words of the prophet:
Speak, for Your servant is listening.
– 1 Samuel 3:10
Slightly Obsessed #238: When the Night Closes In
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Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger settles in the lap of a fool.
– Ecclesiastes 7:9
Blood-thirsty mobs have always existed.
But revenge was a simpler act to carry out in the days before computers. People just stoned the offenders. The wounds were physical and usually fatal. It was not supposed to be a quick death. The element of slow suffering was inflicted as part of the punishment.
Today it’s a bit more complicated. Today’s mobs draw blood through what my son calls a “social media stoning.” It invokes the hysteria of the Salem witch trials and the brutality of a lynching. These are the unspoken rules:
Pick up an offense.
Any offense will do. It doesn’t matter if the transgression is accidental or purposeful.
Give it a name.
Slap a toxic label on the offender, conferring upon him all the sin that goes with it, thereby rendering him guilty by supposed association.
“Out” the offender.
The more public, the better.
Take no prisoners.
In a social media stoning, the focus is on a swift takedown; to hear the satisfying thud of stone against flesh. The more vicious the attack, the better.
Go up to your house justified.
All that’s left is to scroll through the praises heaped upon the victor.
Every one of these actions is diametrically opposed to the Word of God.
God says:
Love…is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered.
-1 Corinthians 13:5
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, ‘Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.’
– Revelation 12:10
If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.
– Matthew 18:15
For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
– Matthew 6:14
Jesus said, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone….’
– John 8:7
In today’s polarized atmosphere, it’s easy to demonize others.
It’s much harder to exercise discipline and discernment on social media. May God give us the power to be slow to anger and full of grace toward those who speak in ignorance. We are called to praise others in public and reprove them in private whenever possible. Especially, we should be using our time in pursuits honoring our King instead of administering our own brand of justice.
If we don’t, every day might as well be Halloween.
Slightly Obsessed #237: Social Media Stoning
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This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him
And saved him out of all his troubles.The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him,
And rescues them.– Psalm 34:6-7
Rescue is such a beautiful word.
It acknowledges the complete and utter dependence of someone in trouble upon another for relief. It alludes to the dire predicament of one; to the frantic cry for help to be saved from the destroyer. It screams of weakness, of being overwhelmed, of plunging headlong toward certain annihilation. It is washed in the immediacy of the crisis.
For the rescuer, the compulsion to save is immediate and overwhelming. He has heard the call, and he is in the right place at the right time to act. He has the training, the equipment, and the duty to respond.
Understood is the acknowledgment that deliverance involves sacrifice. A rescuer may be injured or lose his life in the process of reaching out to someone in distress. For some, the choice to act is a lone one when an emergency arises. For others, the choice comes with the acceptance of the duty conferred with the job: soldier, firefighter, police, first responder, nurse.
For one, it came with a title: Savior.
Throughout history, there has been just one person who had both the ability and authority to be our true rescuer.
Only He could deliver us from perils deeper than the physical ones we encounter on earth. He alone even understands the spiritual death from which we need to be saved. But He wants us to know that there is no pit, whether physical or emotional or financial or spiritual, that lies beyond the redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes His tactics seem harsh. Sometimes it feels as if He will never hear our desperate cries in the night.
But answer, He will. He knows what we need and when we need it. He has already made the ultimate sacrifice that bought our deliverance and demonstrated His power over our enemy.
If you need rescue today, look no further than the Cross and the empty tomb. Call upon God; trust and wait in His perfect timing. Believe that He is coming with the perfect answer.
He has heard your cry. He will rescue you.
Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.
He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.
With a long life I will satisfy him
And let him see My salvation.
– Psalm 91:14-16
Slightly Obsessed #236: Rescue
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Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
– Hebrews 12:1-3
Jesus got His hands and His feet dirty.
He ate with drunkards. He touched the unclean. He spoke to harlots and the demon-possessed and dead people. He chose to be with those from whom others ran.
Why? Because He came for the broken. He arrived on earth to heal the sick. He did not come to build a cutting-edge ministry. He did not care what others thought of Him. In fact, He took no thought for Himself at all. Not only did He not care about His reputation, the Bible says He purposely became a man of no reputation.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
– Philippians 2:5-8 (KJV)
Christ Jesus left His crown behind when He walked this earth. He had it all, but He did not want to live in heaven without His creation. He was beaten, mocked, hated, and treated like dirt by the people He came to save. He could have walked away at any time.
But He did not.
He took the abuse and allowed His body to be tortured. He allowed His captors to strip Him and scourge Him. He allowed them to place upon His head the crown we deserved. He let them nail Him to an executioner’s cross. He wore our shame, and He paid the price for our crimes.
As He hung forsaken on the cross, He offered only forgiveness, sealed in His blood.
Jesus saved us and cleaned us up and gave us a future. If we step over the bodies of those suffering around us because we don’t want to be soiled by their brokenness, we have betrayed the Master who bought us and commanded us to follow Him.
All. The. Way.
This Easter, as Christians around the world celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, pray about doing more than learning a new worship song. Ask God to open your heart and your eyes to someone who will die alone and unloved without you. It may tarnish your reputation to sit with the kid no one else likes or visit an elderly man with dementia. You might have to give up a Saturday to mow the grass for someone who probably won’t understand the sacrifice of a precious weekend.
God is calling you to a deeper ministry from which you have been running for years.
One that would demand sacrifices you haven’t wanted to make. But His words have reverberated in your soul:
“Preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” -Matthew 10:7-8
Your Master walked where men feared to tread. He left with lives changed forever. He calls us to do the same. Do not wander in blindly; proceed with wisdom and prayer.
But do it. Despise the shame, lose your reputation, and gain a life.
Slightly Obsessed #235 Lose Your Reputation and Gain a Life
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Listen to this article
Do not be afraid of sudden fear
Nor of the onslaught of the wicked when it comes;
For the LORD will be your confidence
And will keep your foot from being caught.
– Proverbs 3:24-26
Our son’s pet Solo is a street dog adopted from a local humane shelter.
Solo makes up in sweetness, though, for what she lacks in social graces. She has gratefully accepted our offer of room and board in exchange for her companionship.
As with most dogs, she employs a set of mystical rules by which she categorizes other objects, both living and inanimate, into friend or foe. She fearlessly defends her turf against stray coyotes, cows, deer, skunks, and raccoons. But she runs trembling when she hears the closet door under the stairway open. Under the stairway, evidently, lurks the stuff of rescue dog nightmares: a broom and vacuum cleaner. She has never been assaulted by either of these objects. But a dog never knows when it might happen and must always be prepared for the worst.
Lately, a new and frightening threat has consumed Solo’s fertile imagination. After endless mornings filling the dog’s food and water dishes, I decided to get a set of those self-feeder/waterer contraptions. I got a little carried away and bought the large size of each, imagining the heady feeling of freedom I would have each morning as I lurched past the dog dishes on my way to fetch my first cup of coffee.
Solo accepted the new dog food dispenser. But the water dispenser was an entirely different beast. This dish made a sound. Specially, it glugged as water flowed from the dispenser into the bowl below. She was so afraid of being frightened by the sound that she developed an aversion even to eating from her food dispenser. Finally, I had to put The Glug outside in the cat kennel for our well-adjusted cat.
As we contemplate Proverbs 3:24-26, one wonders how often God shakes His head at our timidity. We cower at a new challenge because we’re afraid of the unknown, terrified not of what has happened to us, but of what awaits in the shadows of our imagination.
Sometimes, our fears are rooted in past trauma.
Whether the threat is real or imagined, the enemy finds our panic button and pushes it.
Satan has only to glug and watch with satisfaction as we run trembling.
God, on the other hand, wants us to understand He is the Blessed Controller of all things. Whether the onslaught of the enemy is a threat or a reality, God is our strength. We are safe in His hands. We can walk confidently through any storm, any darkness, any stronghold of the enemy.
The wicked flee when no one is looking, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
-Proverbs 28:1
Slightly Obsessed #234: The Fear of Sudden Glug
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For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.
– 1 Corinthians 3:11-13
A musty odor had been coming from the vicinity of my husband’s man-cave for months.
I chalked it up to his collection of memorabilia; a menagerie of old books, records, and magazines sitting among his box of candy, a fake raccoon skin cap, and old baseball glove. Man-cave stuff. Since I only go in there for the occasion dusting and vacuuming, I didn’t think too much about it.
Then one day, we discovered the real reason for the mustiness: Rain had been leaking into our log home around a log joint. Small amounts of water had been slowly rotting the carpet from underneath for some time. The joint has been cleaned out and resealed, but now we face pulling everything out of the room, tearing up the old carpet, and replacing it with new flooring.
Sometimes it’s necessary to tear things up to get to the root of a problem and fix it.
In the case of our house, the foundation is fine. But an unknown leak in the wall had been quietly creating rot on the inside. Now we will need to invest some work into restoring the interior of my husband’s den.
God has laid a foundation of faith for believers that cannot be moved. But each of us is responsible for what we build upon this foundation. More than that, we must be ever vigilant against the leaks, small and large, that seep through our walls. They may be seemingly insignificant compromises to the integrity of our beliefs. We may not notice the damage for days, months, or years. But the rot eventually becomes evident. Then we panic when He guts out our comfortable hangouts.
Restoration will come at a price.
Christ plans to present to Himself a Bride without blemish.
For the sake of salvation, our sins were cleansed at the Cross through His sacrifice. He will present each of us spotless before Him, and for the sake of His name and our testimony, He works tirelessly to build His house, the church. No unclean thing, no rot, nor any unholiness will stand before Him. The painful process of cleansing is necessary as He perfects His temple during our journey through this earth.
One day, His dwelling place complete, He will take us to the mansions that will be ours.
How can we make the process of spiritual remodeling easier?
Trust it is Him at work.
Surrender to the process.
Understand what He is asking from you.
Actively work with Him for change.
Rejoice that He cares so much!
Slightly Obsessed #233: When God Tears It Up
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My soul waits in silence for God only;
From Him is my salvation.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
My stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken.
– Psalm 62:1-2
One striking aspect of Christ’s time on earth is how little He revealed of His own struggles.
We know little of His sorrows and disappointments. Fully divine and fully human, He surely felt the full range of human emotions. But He chose to spend his days serving others, his nights talking to His Father in heaven. He surrendered His life to God’s will for Him and trusted Him completely.
When trials fall upon us, our human response is to find an escape. The bigger the emotional storm, the more frantically we search for something or someone to rescue us.
And yet, the example Christ set for us is to wait in silence for God alone.
As the beautiful words of the old hymn remind us, all other ground is sinking sand. If we put our hope in teachers, friends, or even loved ones, we are likely to be disappointed. All these things, although they are good, are not perfect. Science and human love have limits, and our deliverance takes a power beyond the natural realm.
It is not fair to expect others to meet all our needs. A long illness, continuing financial struggles, or some other devastating heartache can suck the life out of our relationships. Sometimes we just have nothing left to give each other. Sometimes, there is just no path ahead out of our circumstances. When we have exhausted all other avenues of relief, we come to the door called Surrender, beyond which lies the empty room of the soul. There, in a place devoid of schemes and strategies, we find a chair and a Bible.
In this place, we wait.
It is not until we silence the voices in our heads that we can listen for the voice of God.
It is not until we have stopped talking that we can hear what He wants to say. It is not until we have taken our eyes off the storm and lifted them heavenward that we can see His face.
Ironically, this emptiness is where we can finally find safety, where the Holy Spirit has room to fill the vacuum left by our own devices. He wants to be the one to whom we run when we are in pain.
If others have let you down, remember that they are just frail humans going through their own struggles. If you are hurting today, know that God hears your cries. He wants to comfort you and heal you. He is waiting for you in the quiet place beyond the veil of tears.
‘Because of the devastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy,
Now I will arise,’ says the LORD; ‘I will set him in the safety for which he longs.’
– Psalms 12:5
Slightly Obsessed 232: Beyond the Veil of Tears
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In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night.
And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.
But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people….’
– Luke 2:8-10
The ham sizzled in the oven; the cookies sparkled in festive dishes next to the miniature Christmas village.
The Christmas tree sparkled with rows of red and white lights. Nearby, the nativity glowed in the humble light of a single bulb, set carefully behind the angel who kneeled before the Babe. All was calm. All was bright.
I was a wreck.
The holidays capped a year of hardship and stress. The ghost of Christmases past shrouded my soul as I tried with all my heart to recreate the warmth and nostalgia we usually enjoyed as a family in December. We had so much to celebrate, and yet my heart was still raw from the spiritual warfare we had endured. Christmas reminded me of all we had lost and had fought so hard to regain.
It would be a couple of hours before I had to mash the potatoes and welcome guests to Christmas Eve dinner at our house. I grabbed the opportunity for some quiet time. In the solitude behind closed doors, I began to pray and weep. I was tired, despondent, empty. I had been a Christian for many decades and had never felt so lost.
I knew the Bible. I believed that God was near and that He cared. It just felt like day after dreary day for an entire year had presented challenges too daunting to conquer. I knew I wasn’t alone. But I felt that way.
Unrefreshed by the break, I was trying to pull myself together to finish dinner when the phone rang. The caller asked if she had the Thorson household. When I assured her that she did, she responded with a resounding, “Thank God! I have been hunting for you all day.” She was calling for an elderly friend of ours, one with whom we had lost contact after her move to another town.
She put the friend on the line, and the two of us had a lovely conversation. We talked of old times at the church we once attended together. I thanked her again for her many kindnesses to our family over the years. We laughed and chatted and exchanged addresses, so we could keep in touch.
When we had exhausted the memories, she said, “I’m so glad I got ahold of you. I just had to find you today.”
Could she hear my heart skip a beat on the other end of the line? How could she have possibly known how much I needed to be found at that very moment?
Life tends to make spiritual Darwinists of us all. Days stretch into weeks which stretch into months. Years may go by without seeing a change in our landscape. But what we see outwardly is deceiving. God walks each mile with us. He works quietly, behind the scenes, changing us and working out His will in our lives. The process is costly and slow by our standards, but necessary.
The promise of a Deliverer was given to mankind in the book of Genesis. But it took thousands of years for mankind to be ready to receive its King. While earth waited, God worked the thread of redemption throughout history for the moment He would be revealed.
On a night somewhere in Bethlehem, He arrived suddenly to an unsuspecting world.
He came in humility to break our pride, in tenderness to heal our sorrows, and in sacrifice to break our chains. To every generation since He has offered life in eternity, comfort in our suffering, courage to overcome our fears, and strength to carry us throughout the journey home.
The night Jesus was born, the world was filled with darkness. But the heavens were alive with light and glory and angels’ songs. Suddenly, an angel arrived with the news that a Savior breathed the same air as His creation. In a moment, the divine had invaded the mundane. In an instant, everything had changed.
We were found. May that reality keep you and give you hope every day of this new year.
Slightly Obsessed #231: Suddenly
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From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.’ But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.’
– Matthew 16:23 (NASB)
Just ignore the facts.
Recently, researchers Mark Stoeckle of The Rockefeller University and David Thaler of the University of Basel in Switzerland published their findings of a study of five million DNA barcodes from 100,000 animal species. Their research revealed that 9 out of 10 species alive today came into being roughly the same time. They also discovered that animals have distinct genetic boundaries. This lack of “in-between” species was clearly distressing to the scientists, and Thaler admitted to being troubled at the conclusions found by their research. An evolutionist, he quickly added that none of this changed the truth of the millions of years of evolution.
He believes.
He believes that impersonal forces slowly forged an entire world into being because to give in to the preponderance of evidence in a special creation would require admitting to a Creator. If such a sovereign exists, then this being would have to be acknowledged and His claims examined.
God is real, His claims are true. He intervened in the formless void and created the universe and earth in a breathtaking display of His power. It did not take millions of years or a big bang. He only had to speak the Word.
But that wasn’t all. God had a plan for His creation, and throughout history, God has invaded nations and lives to bring that plan to fruition. He intervened after Adam and Eve’s rebellion in Eden. He cleansed the first world with water and rebuilt civilization with Noah’s descendants. He took down kingdoms and rescued his people over and over in the Old Testament. He parted seas, destroyed the living, raised the dead, and halted the sun.
With His arrival on Earth, He split time in two. He crushed the spiritual forces of darkness with His death and electrified generations of believers with His victory over the grave.
When Jesus told the disciples of His imminent death, Peter disputed it, because it didn’t fit his narrative.
He wanted Jesus to lead Israel to victory over their Roman rulers. But God had a much bigger plan for deliverance and rebuked His own disciple for his unbelief.
It has been two millennia since His resurrection. Although He promised His soon return for His people and warned of a cataclysmic coming judgment upon the world, His lingering at the door has fed a Darwinian view of the future. Everything continues as it has from the beginning of creation, and although we talk about Christ’s return, we tend to live in a way that belies our hope. Our words proclaim His soon return, but our lives whisper, “Where is the promise of His coming?”
Be assured, His promise is living and true. He is right on time. As lightning splits the sky, so His return for His people will occur in a moment and set into motion the events that will end the unholy rebellion of the ages.
First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come scoffing and following their own evil desires. ‘Where is the promise of His coming?’ they will ask. ‘Ever since our fathers fell asleep, everything continues as it has from the beginning of creation.’
– 2 Peter 3:3-4 (Berean Study Bible)
https://phys.org/news/2018-05-gene-survey-reveals-facets-evolution.html
Slightly Obsessed #230: Are We Spiritual Darwinists?
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God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.
– C.S. Lewis
It’s deep into the football season.
Some players have been sidelined with season-ending injuries, while others limp through the games. In a 2016 ESPN article entitled “How NFL Players Play through the Pain,” staff writer and veteran football player Matt Bowen asserted that nobody on the field after October is truly healthy. The players maximize their ability to play through careful management of their injuries during the week and an injection of Toradol, jokingly referred to as “Vitamin T,” on game day. They know that the pain will come back with a vengeance afterward. The next day may be more brutal, in fact, than when the injury first happened.
For the players, it’s about managing the pain and making it through the important days. For them, the goal is to earn a win for their team and a healthy paycheck for themselves.
For those of us who are not athletes, it may be hard to understand those willing to put their bodies through all that just for a game. It feels wrong to purposely play through a sensation that keeps warning you to stop.
Physical pain, after all, is the body’s messenger, informing us that something is wrong. In that respect, it’s also our friend, because if we didn’t have pain, we would be constantly injuring ourselves. Pain tells us to stop what we’re doing and make an assessment. Sometimes it’s the wake-up call that inspires us to totally change our lifestyles.
Emotional pain may have different causes, but it, too, is God’s shout to us. It’s jarring and perhaps harder to bear than physical pain. It can’t be managed with something as simple as “Vitamin T.”
This kind of pain makes us ask the questions God wants to answer.
It takes us down and makes us look up. Suffering is the taskmaster that drives us to the Deliverer. In the same way physical pain sends us the urgent message to look for the source of injury or illness, emotional pain sends us an unmistakable message that it’s time to search out our Comforter and Healer.
Pain is a good thing when it awakens us to a new understanding of who we are and what we need to do to find healing. Life is more precious than any game. The stakes are higher, the victory sweeter.
After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.
– 1 Peter 5:10
https://www.kevinhalloran.net/best-c-s-lewis-quotes/
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/14564481/how-nfl-players-play-pain
Slightly Obsessed #229: When Pain Is a Good Thing
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I will remember the works of the LORD: yes, I will remember Your wonders of old. I will reflect on all You have done and ponder Your mighty deeds.
– Psalm 77:11-12 (Berean Study Bible)
The voice on the other end of the line sternly lectured me.
“Pam,” the doctor scolded, “You’re in denial. Accept the fact that you have MS.”
My mind raged in rebellion at his certainty that I had multiple sclerosis, but I sat numbly and listened as he detailed the next steps. We would have to make a trip to Seattle, a day’s drive away, to get the diagnosis confirmed. He would schedule the tests immediately.
I hung up the phone. My world had just fallen into a pit. We had a young daughter, four other children, and no insurance. I was so sick I didn’t even know if I could make the trip. Despair rolled over us in waves as we prepared for the long drive to the coast. The older children would care for the younger ones. My husband and I would go over alone.
As I often did in times of distress, I found myself searching through the Bible for comfort. As I read, I was moved by God’s command to Israel to build altars along their journey through the wilderness in remembrance of His deliverance. Now, on this dreary journey in the face of a daunting enemy, it occurred to me that we should embrace remembrance instead of giving into fear. My husband agreed, and as he drove, we spent the next hours recounting every act of deliverance and kindness God had bestowed upon us during our marriage.
The miles melted away as we took turns unearthing each precious memory and lovingly rebuilding the altars that had fallen through neglect. I was struck by how much beauty lay dormant in the dust of my ungrateful heart, just waiting to be revealed. God had been so good to us over the years. How much I had forgotten as I dwelt instead on my problems.
We arrived at our destination tired, still anxious, but renewed in hope. I spent a day undergoing tests, including an MRI. At the end of the day, the results were in.
I did not have MS. I had a bad infection that had gone untreated for months. The doctor immediately put me on antibiotics, and I was radically better even before we headed back home the next day.
Shortly after returning home, we received a letter telling us that the doctors had conferred and decided to write off the entire medical bill. Another deliverance. Another altar to the God who still performs miracles in the desert.
My health scare with MS happened many years ago. Recently, I have been reminded of that lesson as our family walks through the hottest wasteland we have ever encountered. As the dust swirls around us and we wither in the heat, we reset the memorial stones of the wonders of old. We thank our God for His everlasting kindness. We trust in His power. We believe in His goodness. We look to Him for new deliverance and restoration.
He loves His children through our highs and lows, in sickness and in health, whether we complain or give thanks.
He does rejoice, however, when we recognize His abundant provision for our lives. He is moved to action by our response to His care. He will always love us, but He is the God of the Grateful.
We should not test Christ, as some of them did, and were killed by snakes. And do not complain, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroying angel. Now these things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come….
-1 Corinthians 10:10 (Berean Study Bible)
Slightly Obsessed #228: The God of the Grateful
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But now you must put aside all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator….
– Colossians 3:8-10 (Berean Study Bible)
The day was cold and nearing dusk as my daughter and I walked briskly along the river front.
The wind danced around us as if delighted at its power to make us pull our jackets closer and turn back toward the car sooner than we’d planned. A few others were out in the waning light, the usual stoic-faced joggers, people glued to their cell phones, and a grizzled couple with their dog. We exchanged polite smiles with the walkers we met who were going the other way, and I wondered at the social custom that requires face-to-face congeniality on a bike path among strangers who would soon be in our respective cars fighting over a lane change. It’s easier to be mad at people when we can’t see their faces.
When people get close, it’s hard to stay detached. Proximity to others requires us to recognize and respond to their humanity. It’s much easier to hide behind the mask of anonymity. It’s our safe place, the face we both hide behind and present to the world.
The current political climate is a bitter reminder of how ugly we can be from behind the mask.
Social media makes it easy to say things to the screen that we would never say to a person’s face. People have long called alcohol “liquid courage.” Today we could add the glow of a screen to the list of drugs that bolster a weak man’s bravado.
Those of us who are believers know this isn’t right. The mask is the old man, the one that Jesus Christ came to set upon the Cross with Himself. The old man is crucified with the Lord; the new man has been raised with Him. We can paint and powder and wax and dress up the mask, but it’s still a decaying corpse.
Our Lord took a breathtaking risk in coming to earth as a man. The King of all the universe was not content to sit safely behind the veil His divinity bestowed upon Him. He stepped out from the glory and became vulnerable to the assaults and indignities of this world. He did it for us, because He loved us more than He loved His reputation. He was willing to risk everything for our healing. He never once walked by someone who might be hurting because it was too risky for Him.
He took this love all the way to the Cross. And He took us with Him. We are crucified with Him, and we have no excuse to live in the deadness of the old life.
God calls us to take off the mask, to let the resurrection man in us reflect the power and exquisite life of a remarkable creator. Today’s a new day. Release the beautiful.
Slightly Obsessed #227: Release the Beautiful
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For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
– Hebrews 4:12
God created mankind in His image, we are told in Genesis.
His image is expressed through humanity in many ways, from our desire to express our personalities through our own creations to our drive to reach beyond ourselves to others. Our very existence mirrors His Godhead in trinity. Each person enters time and space as three: body, soul, and spirit. We often use the terms “soul” and “spirit” interchangeably, but they are separate entities.
- Our body we know well. It is the house of flesh, the vessel of clay in which we reside on this side of heaven.
- Our soul is who we are. It is more than the sum of our thoughts or the vault from which our brain operates. It is the eternal person that is us. The brain is the control room that connects our soul to our body and directs the body to act out the commands of the soul. Our souls will exist forever. The question since Eden has been where that eternal dwelling will be.
- Our spirit hears the voice of God and communes with Him. It is the part of us that is lost if we do not accept the sacrifice of Jesus which restored the communion of Eden to mankind. This is the new man spoken of by the apostle Paul in the book of Romans.
At the Fall, the death humanity suffered was three-fold.
Our spirits died, and communion with God ceased. A biological clock began to tick in our bodies that made death of the flesh a certainty. Our souls could no longer live in the presence of God and carried a sentence of eternal judgment away from His presence.
The cross destroyed the curse and restored us. For those who lived before the coming of the Lord Jesus, it was a forward-looking faith. For us, it means accepting the revelation of His good news. At salvation, the Holy Spirit enters this house of clay to come alongside us. He speaks to our spirits, comforts our souls, and keeps our bodies as seed for the resurrection.
In the Bible, the three persons of the Trinity always worked together and gave the glory to the Father. In our lives, God desires us to put our triune body under the power and direction of the Holy Spirit, who will grant us strength and victory for each day. In Him we are truly complete.
Slightly Obsessed #226 Triune
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But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
– 2 Peter 3:7-10
This morning the sun groaned a bit as she arose heavily from her bed behind the mountains that guard the valley where I live.
The day was a bit shorter, the darkness longer. I sat at the computer with my first cup of steaming coffee and sadly skimmed through the news.
Too much heartache and destruction met my eyes. It’s a good thing I’m not God. I would have torched us a long time ago.
I understand, at least theologically, why He holds back His hand in judgment. Not only is He executing a plan conceived before the foundation of the world, His Creator-heart grieves at having to destroy His creation. He longs for every person to be saved from an eternity in hell. To that end, He endures the vulgarities, the blasphemies, the brutalities against His kingdom as His Spirit strives with the souls of men for their salvation. With the same humility exhibited by Christ at His sacrificial death, the Father remains quiet under the arrogant assault of sinners against Him and His kingdom.
He knows what’s coming.
Several years ago, a popular radio personality had a public meltdown in which he vehemently damned God. When questioned by his shocked listeners, he continued to curse. He crowned the diatribe by flinging a challenge at God to strike him down at that very moment. He smugly interpreted the silence that followed and his continuing existence as proof there is no God.
He didn’t know the magnitude of grace that filled the silence.
God could have quenched his life with a single word. But the Lord is not a capricious sovereign. He cares for humanity, all of it, depraved and so very lost as it is. The Lord holds open the door to heaven and waits for us lost sinners to find our way home.
One day, the door will close, and that man will stand before the Judge of heaven and earth. He will remember the day that he cursed and challenged that which he did not understand. He will know why God did not strike him down. He will see the magnificent grace that took the abuse and offered forgiveness to the abuser. He will understand all he lost and all he could have had.
Then, it will be too late. Today, the door stands open. Forgiveness awaits.
Slightly Obsessed #225: Why Lightning Doesn’t Strike the Wicked
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My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord
Or loathe His reproof,
For whom the Lord loves He reproves,
Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.– Proverbs 3:11-12
It sits in our dining room in all its four-foot, leafy splendor. It’s a fig tree, and it’s a bonsai.
At least, it was a bonsai.
Several years ago, I became interested in bonsai trees and decided to get a starter tree. The fig I found in a local big box store had already been trimmed into a lovely little miniature tree with a twisted trunk.
For a while I religiously nipped and trimmed at the branches to keep it stunted. Then I just couldn’t stand to see it confined any more. One day I freed its roots and transplanted it into a bigger pot. It took off from there. I have kept it fed, repotted, and in the light. It has long ago outgrown the space for which it was intended. Now it commands its own corner in our little breakfast nook.
That’s one of the many reasons I can’t be God. I don’t have the wisdom and control to prune back unruly lives. Creating a bonsai, like training a soul, takes close supervision, an artist’s eye, and a firm hand. It’s hard to cut away a healthy branch or snip off new growth. It must be even tougher to employ the necessary measures to train a human heart upward, the way a gardener binds the branches of a plants to force its growth in the desired direction.
As a parent, I know a bit of God’s heartache. It’s brutally hard to make decisions no one understands, and which go against our own natural desire to cherish and spoil our offspring.
Lack of training creates, by default, the very problems we seek to avoid.
We want everyone to be happy. But life without restraint is a miserable existence.
Pruning hurts. It hurts both the gardener and the plant. In the end, however, it yields a stronger, more beautiful and fruitful plant that reflects the artistry of its creator.
God is not being cruel when He allows us to go through painful times. Discipline is the proof we are His. It’s the assurance He loves us and is completely devoted to our ultimate well-being.
When you feel the pressure of trial, know that behind it is the hand of the perfect creator and father, shaping you into all you can be.
Rest in His hands. Trust in His goodness. Believe in His love for you. Know, without a shadow of doubt, He is shaping you to shine in the place He has for you.
All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
– Hebrews 12:11
Slightly Obsessed #224: When the Pressure Feels Too Great
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Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
– Matthew 7:15
Turn on the television, and the assault begins.
The whole world appears to be shouting, “Look at me! Look at me!” Everyone wants to sell their worldviews, their products, or their validation.
The church isn’t immune to the hype. All That Glitters latches its bony fingers around the padded auditorium chairs of our freshly remodeled sanctuaries and pulls us into the latest spiritual fad. It can take the form of new revelation or recycled reformation from a source that looks earnest and sounds convincing. But beneath the façade lurks a familiar nemesis.
Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
-1 Peter 5:8
Satan seeks to deceive us, divide us, and destroy us.
His bag of tricks and sleight of hand are impressive trapdoors to disillusionment. He constantly roams the earth in an insatiable search for humans to devour.
But if our adversary is disguised to look like a friend, how do we keep from being tricked? The Bible gives us several crucial instructions for victory:
Be a fruit inspector.
You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?
– Matthew 7:16
Learn from your mistakes.
But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
– Hebrews 5:14
Do your research on a teacher or group before subscribing to their teaching.
The good man brings good things out of his good store of treasure, and the evil man brings evil things out of his evil store of treasure.
– Matthew 12:35
Don’t ignore the warning signs of trouble, and be willing to confront it.
Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
– 1 Corinthians 16:13
Know the voice of the Shepherd. Read His Word.
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.
– John 10:27-28
Those who belong to God recognize His voice and the fruit of His Spirit in the lives of others. If we are vigilant, we will not be taken in by appearances. We can discern truth from lies through the direction of the Holy Spirit who lives in us and by learning from our mistakes. If we do this, we will stand as conquerors in the battle for the hearts of mankind.
Slightly Obsessed #223: Right Clothes, Wrong Spirit
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And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
– James 5:18
This summer has lain heavy on my soul.
As the hills surrounding my valley turned dry and brown in the daily heat, so I have withered under an unrelenting spiritual oppression.
I read my Bible, prayed desperate prayers, watered my flowers, and waited for relief. My husband and I took turns setting sprinklers. We clung to God’s Word the way men in the desert clutch their water canteen.
We managed to keep most of the plants alive, but they looked tired and burned around the edges.
Just like I felt.
Last week, the weather broke. The wind blew in a front, bringing with it two days of refreshing rain. The ground soaked it up. The grass that had struggled under our watering suddenly sprung to vibrant life with that one good rain from heaven. Even flowers long past their bloom lifted their heads to savor God’s goodness.
Perhaps coincidently, one of the worst trials I’ve ever known began to find resolution as the Holy Spirit brought in winds of renewal.
Again, I’m in awe of the abundance of grace with which God restores His creation.
He has washed my eyes to see His tenderness, His beauty, His love for us. He has answered my deepest lament with a comfort too precious for words, too powerful to comprehend.
I lift my head to savor God’s goodness. Like the grass, the human heart has shallow roots and fades quickly in the dry season. But those shallow roots also are the first to taste the rain.
The God who made the grass reminds me of this:
Our days on earth are like grass;
like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
The wind blows, and we are gone—
as though we had never been here.
– Psalm 103:15-16 (NLT)
That alone is enough for Him to move heaven and hell to protect, restore, keep, and revive us. We are like grass and the flowers of the field in our physical limitations, but we are eternal and destined for another world, one in which He will wipe the tears from our eyes and welcome us in joy.
Until then, He sends the rain.
Slightly Obsessed #222: The Rain
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The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree,
He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Planted in the house of the LORD,
They will flourish in the courts of our God.
They will still yield fruit in old age;
They shall be full of sap and very green,
To declare that the LORD is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
– Psalm 92:12-15
Irma was nearly one hundred years old when she left this earth.
She had been elderly as long as I had known her. She was widowed at a young age and raised her children alone while she earned a living for them. She lived in the big house she was raised in until advanced age prevented her from running up and down the stairs.
She walked to work across town because she wanted to, not because she didn’t have a car. She was a member of a local prayer group and prayed fervently for others. She believed every word of the Bible and lived like it. Every Sunday during growing season, the altar was graced with flowers from her garden. She refused to take naps and survived a bout with cancer in her eighties.
One of my favorite photos of her was taken at a local riverbank where she fished with my mother. Even in the photo there is nothing static about her. She is smiling, pulling at the fishing rod and reeling in the line in one fluid motion. She was never ashamed of her white hair, her laugh lines, or her faith.
She lived well and with the perfect balance of joy and dignity.
Irma was the embodiment of a person planted in the house of the Lord.
Like a tree, she had set her roots deep in the soil to find the water of life. Her roots secured her against the gales of foul weather and connected her to the refreshment of the Holy Spirit.
Whenever I read Psalm 92, I think of Irma. She was a mature tree, still full of sap. There was no deadness in her. She flourished, and the fruit of the Holy Spirit was evident in her walk. She used to laugh about being green and sappy in her old age. Somehow, she made it look awesome.
In her life, Irma had suffered much. But instead of letting her wounds create bitterness, she trusted in the Lord to do the secret work of healing while she simply walked in grace. As I think back on the honor of knowing such a servant of the Most High, just four words come to mind:
Green. Sappy. Not ashamed.
Slightly Obsessed #221: Are You Green and Sappy?
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Because He has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.
He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
With a long life I will satisfy him
And let him see My salvation.
– Psalm 91:14-16
God gives us just one job.
Not that you’d know it by watching God’s people sometimes. We just can’t believe that our duty to God could be that simple. Besides, most of us have a bit of the Pharisee in us, and straining gnats from our spiritual lives makes us feel more secure than coughing up the camel of compulsive religiosity. We want to gain God’s approval by our performance, even though we know that it took Jesus’ sacrifice to wash away the filthiness of our own righteousness.
The Martha in us makes everything so hard, when the Lord is calling us to be Mary, running toward the sound of His voice; sitting in stillness as His feet; not wasting a moment of our time with Him in distracted busyness. We belong at His feet, gazing in adoration at His face, clinging to His every word.
In Jesus’ day, one of the Pharisees tried to test Jesus by asking Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
To this Jesus answered, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment.” -Matthew 22:24-28.
Our one job? Love God.
And we are not just called to love Him, but to adore Him desperately, passionately, with everything we are and speak and think. A love this great purifies us. It inspires us to action, so the things we do for Him are not to acquire spirituality or to gain God’s ear. They are, instead, the response of a devoted heart.
When God sees this, He rejoices over us with these great “I wills:”
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I will deliver him.
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I will set him securely on high.
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I will answer him when he calls upon Me.
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I will be with him in trouble.
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I will rescue him and honor him.
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I will satisfy him with a long life and let him see My salvation.
All that we seek to find in God doesn’t come from straining to gain His love, but from giving Him ours. He loved us before the world was even set into space. He has proven His love to us in every way possible.
We love, because He first loved us.
-1 John 4:19
Slightly Obsessed #220: We Only Have One Job
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