Daughters of Sarah

Embracing Your Pain

2011-05-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

Dad (1912-1995) and Mom (1916-1998)

Dedicated to my Mother

Last Sunday in church, I cried when one of my Mom’s favorite songs was played. She was introduced to “O Mighty Cross” many years ago at the small Bible church in Phoenix where Steve was a co-pastor. I have vivid memories of her weeping as she heard the words, so much so that we had it sung at her funeral in 1998. I once had a small magnet that said, “A mother holds her children’s hands for a little while. But she holds their hearts forever.” I agree with that sentiment because my Mom was that kind of Mother.

When she died and I became the oldest generation, I truly felt orphaned. At that time, I began journaling seriously so I wouldn’t forget the important memories in the busyness of life and raising a family. On March 23, the day I witnessed her transition from earth to heaven, I wrote the following excerpt while sitting on the floor, in the upstairs hallway of my childhood home.

“ ‘Since her days are determined, the number of her months is with Thee, and her limits Thou has set so that she cannot pass.’ (29,775 days, 979 months) Mom went to be with the Lord today around 3:30pm. When I saw her, it was as though she was already with Him…Tonight my heart is broken & hurting—a dull ache & pain…I am awake in a quiet house that echoes my Mom’s touch~ the walls, pictures, notes, neat piles of scrapbooks, special cards, gifts from A, E, & J. Somehow I feel like I’m intruding…I have been awake for 42 hours…flying here was a dream. My insides are in knots & my mind keeps going. Dear Lord, please deliver me and grant me blessed REST—spiritually, emotionally, & physically. I need desperately for Your peace to wash over my soul, to fill the void of loneliness…Thank You, Holy Spirit, that You pray & groan on my behalf. Thank You, Jesus, that Your blood brings salvation & Your resurrected body brings life. Thank You, Father, that You love me, hold me, & rock me. Renew my mind with Your Truth. Strengthen me with Your peace & protection.”

Immediately, God started to answer my prayer. That lonely night He spoke to me with words that seared my heart forever. No, I didn’t hear an audible voice but, the Word is clear in John 10: 3&4 that His sheep hear his voice, he calls them by name, and leads them out. True believers KNOW this by experience. I had no idea at that moment, how these words would carry me in years to come! I have had many spiritual “markers” in my life but the admonition to EMBRACE THE PAIN has been like no other. It has given me courage when my natural inclination would be to run away. I can still see myself sitting on the carpet, an exhausted mess. I had done some serious crying. I had done all the praying I knew how. And then it happened….the Holy Spirit began to speak & minister to my soul. “Embrace the pain. Do not deny it. Wrap your arms around it and milk it for everything you can get out of it, even though it hurts. If you choose to run from the pain, you will miss Me, because I AM IN IT.”

It is not a coincidence that God used my Mom’s death & my feelings of abandonment

to teach me this life-changing lesson. My Mother loved the Word, she understood the Cross, and I watched her weather many serious trials all of my life. How fitting that God would use these fearful feelings of total loss to display His glorious truth that it’s ok to be a mess before Him. His power is perfected in my weakness. (2Cor.12:9) But I have to embrace the pain, in any given situation, so I can be truly free and He alone can be glorified.

I have had many opportunities to share this treasure since Mom’s physical life ceased to be. And I have had hundreds of opportunities to remember & obey what God said. Do I like it? Not necessarily. Oftentimes, I’m thinking as I’m sighing, “Here we go again, Lord.” Pain is pain. And it hurts. Relational pain is the worst. It is also when we are tempted to run the most—first from what comfort God offers & what He wants to teach us about ourselves, and secondly, from the person who we perceive is hurting us.

My Mother often quoted 1 Peter 4:12-14. It was her response to trials instead of asking the Lord, “Why?” She would say it with quiet resolve & often with her eyes closed. In my ignorant younger years, I sometimes got irritated. Since my upstairs encounter the night of her passing, I’m saying, “I get it!” I hope she somehow knows that.

This Mother’s Day, count your blessings! And if your Mom is alive, remember to thank her. Whatever she taught you, either intentionally or by default, can be used for good in your life. That’s God’s promise IF you love Him. (Rom.8:28) God has a purpose for you, a plan for your life, and the power to see it carried through to fruition. Embracing your pain is the beginning of healing because you can’t do it without ceasing to fight His higher intentions. He works in ways we don’t usually see. My Mom knew that. Thank the Lord that I, too, am learning “not to be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” (1 Peter 4:12-14)

Dead Already

2011-04-21T06:07:00.000-07:00

By Jane Phinney

Sometimes life can feel like an express train. It’s going too fast to get off but, at the same time, you’re hanging on for dear life so that you don’t fall off! The enormity of responsibilities you carry, coupled with task volume, can leave you in a state of paralysis or what I like to call “brain cloud”. Things just don’t seem to flow. You work all the time and can’t get caught up. And you’ve traded in spiritual vision for a lesser fulfilling earthly focus. The busyness of the past 2 months had left me soul-weary at times. That heavy-laden feeling is an indicator I’m off track a bit and I need a good “kick in the pants” from the Lord.

I was engrossed in one of the daily lessons of the Bible study I’m facilitating on Wednesday nights. That’s when I got clobbered! The short paragraph arrested my soul in such a way that I felt like the author had been reading my mail. In truth, the AUTHOR was reading my mail and sending a clear message to get my mind stayed on Christ….again. You would think that at my age and with all the opportunities God has given me to practice, I wouldn’t keep going back to an emotional pit under pressure. But,no. The older I get, the more I have embraced the truth that without the gracious love & faithfulness of my heavenly Father, expressed through the sacrificial death of Christ and the gift of His indwelling Holy Spirit, my total existence would move from that seemingly fast moving train-- to a total, inconsolable train wreck! Oh how I desperately need the moment by moment grace of God to function at all.

Ok, back to my “ah-ha” moment. It’s on page 94 of my workbook, now boxed in, starred twice and earmarked “discuss” in capital letters. I have been digesting this insight for 4 weeks and still haven’t embraced the half of it. Putting the puzzle pieces of my life in place takes Divine help. I believe that’s called sanctification and it is a process. And God’s timing usually isn’t the same as mine. In this case, His timing was PERFECT and these words were exactly what I needed to jumpstart His hope in my soul again. I read,

“Sometimes we fear that fighting for what is right will kill us. Then again, it occurs to us that to stand by and do nothing out of self-preservation is to be dead already.” ( Esther ; Lifeway Press, pg 94)

This is referencing our individual spiritual condition ( i.e. faith lived out) as opposed to our position in Christ which is fully and eternally secure (Eph 2:4-7).

The past 15 months have brought some startling revelations. After 30 years of city living, we traded what was comfortably familiar for a new normal in a small Kansas town of 2500. A lot of “noise” has been removed from our lives, literally and spiritually. The simplicity has allowed deeper reflection on a regular basis, even though we are still busy. (I don’t know if that makes sense to you. Hopefully, you’re tracking with me.) I’ve lived 2/3 of my life and seeing how little time I have left, on earth, is sobering. I found myself asking the Lord, “What difference have I made for eternity? Does anybody give a hoot? Does anyone truly understand why we do what we do? Has the sacrifice of time & energy in ministry brought You glory, Lord? Because I’m tired. ” You can see why my self-absorbed mindset needed a Word of truth to pierce my brewing emotions. As a believer in Jesus Christ, standing for Truth in a culture that goes against almost everything near and dear to my soul & convictions, can get very hard. But to stop persevering and take the route of least resistance to protect myself from rejection & hurt, truly would be living DEAD ALREADY—in my soul.

I thank God that in His providence, He had me in His Word, and this particular study, just when I needed a good dose of His hope that doesn’t disappoint (Rom.5:5). I am thankful that the frailty of my humanness drives me to seek His presence in the wee hours before sunrise, so I can see His Son rise in my life. Intimacy with the Lord through the Word and prayer is a soothing balm to my soul. My time with Him exhorts, comforts, and gives me courage to keep fighting the good fight of faith (2 Tim.4:7-8). He is faithful to rescue me from myself. He reminds me that my responsibilities and tasks and trials (momentary light affliction) can indeed produce “eternal weight of glory” when yielded to His purposes. This only happens when I am choosing to focus on the unseen and the eternal (2 Cor. 4:17-18).

Now, more than ever, followers of Christ need each other. I hope and pray that His unfailing love, amazing grace, and new daily mercies will strengthen and protect your heart today.

The Prayer That Changed Everything

2011-01-25T07:44:00.000-08:00

By Jane Phinney

It is the annual tradition of some folks to make New Year’s resolutions. I’d never really gotten into that practice, preferring instead to choose a family Bible verse to pray for the upcoming 12 months. It was January 1, 1999. I was doing my daily Bible reading in Luke 24 when it hit me. Jesus was speaking to his disciples after his resurrection, proving/showing He was who He said He was. They, like most of us, were skeptical, startled and afraid at His initial revelation. My Bible highlights His words in red. But right in the middle of his message, verse 45 is recorded in black. That caught my attention. It says, “Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” That might not mean anything to you but, it hit me like a brick! Right then and there, I knew it was my verse for the year. I prayed, “Lord, you did it for the disciples. So you can do it for me too. Please open my mind to understand the Scriptures.” I highlighted that verse in yellow and wrote beside it: Jan. 1999- my prayer.

Fast-forward to today, January 20, 2011. I have been praying that prayer ever since and have never asked for another New Year’s verse. I can’t tell you enough, or how much, God has answered that prayer over and over and over and…well, you get the point! I’ve always loved the Word. I grew up with Bible reading and Bible stories. I like to read, period. But truly, the prayer I prayed 12 years ago has changed me from the inside out. I was also gifted with an NASB Keyword study Bible in 2001. Having the original Hebrew and Greek at my fingertips has greatly expanded my grasp of the text. I don’t necessarily know how it all happened. It’s a God thing for sure. The scriptures came alive to me in a completely new way and I have come to know the Lord more intimately. The best explanation I can give is I Cor 2:11-16. If you are truly saved by grace, the Holy Spirit indwells you. The Bible is God’s infallible Truth, guaranteed to change us by the renewing of our minds. When believers read it, the Holy Spirit IN us bears witness TO it. And we are changed…supernaturally. The Bible is a never-ending treasure of truth, sanctifying us on the journey toward Home. On earth, we are a work in progress and we will never outgrow our need for daily mercy and grace. Amen? When I read the Word, I ask God to show me Himself so I can know Him better. (My opinion: All that we read should show us more of Him or it’s probably not worth our time.) I read until my soul is satisfied and refreshed. For lack of a better term, I call moments of God ministering to me, my spiritual “ah-ha” moments. Although humanly indescribable, you recognize His presence and voice.

The prayer that changed everything also helped me understand that you can be confident you are praying God’s will when you pray scripture. For instance, I have very specific verses I pray for myself, and for my family members, regularly. In addition to asking the Lord to open our minds to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45), I also pray for Him to teach us to pray at all times, so we don’t lose heart (Luke 18:1), that the Lord would direct our hearts into His love and into the steadfastness of Christ (2 Thess 3:5) and that He would continually grant us peace in every circumstance (3:16). I pray for understanding, wisdom, protection, humility and that none of us would be stumbling blocks to the children in our family. The Psalms and Proverbs are overflowing with truth and comfort to pray over people. There is peace, rest, spiritual renewal, teaching, and oftentimes great conviction, that happens when the Truth is voiced with your lips in prayer. I have other books on praying scripture but it has been just as, if not more, meaningful to discover verses in my own quiet times.

In closing, I would like to share a poem I wrote for someone a few years ago. It came as I prayed for her. God spoke. I wrote. As such, it ministers to me as well. We thank God for you and pray you are encouraged to seek Him first. Thank you for your love and support.

(See Poetry Page-My Heart Undressed)

The Power of the Cross - Part Four

2010-12-28T15:44:00.000-08:00

By Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Now, God’s ways do not always seem right to human reason and sense. Sometimes God’s ways are hard, painful, confusing, confusing to us, not to Him. Well, we stand in a long line of sisters who have been faced with the inscrutable ways of God.

You see them all through Scripture:

Sarah, whose husband’s wavering faith on two occasions that we know of put her life in jeopardy.
Ruth, being widowed, living in a strange land, becoming the object of racism and hardship.
Hannah, years of infertility, unfulfilled longings, month after month after long month, longing for a child. Then to top it off, ridicule from a rival wife who delighted in tormenting her and a husband who didn’t understand her longings for a son. Then, getting the son, and giving that son back to God.

The inscrutable ways of God!

Mary of Nazareth. She would have not scripted that teenage pregnancy, a sword piercing her soul, offering up the one who would be offered up for the sins of the world.

God’s ways for you will not always make sense to your human reason. They may mean physical challenges, weakness, weariness, the challenges of aging and cancer. I have a friend right now who is suffering in the late stages of Lou Gehrig’s Disease. It’s a horribly debilitating, painful way to die.

Inscrutable ways of God. It may mean for you financial hardship, family difficulties, infertility, a special needs child. There’s a woman who I believe is here whose daughter has been in a coma for over a year, if I’m not mistaken, as a result of a tragic accident. Inscrutable ways of God—you’d never have scripted it this way.

Caring for a parent with Alzheimer’s, unfulfilled longing for a mate, loss of a mate, loss of a child, prodigal sons and daughters. And on and on the list goes. We stand in that line with Jesus, for whom the ways of God meant divesting Himself of His rights, experiencing rejection, ridicule, and ultimately death on a Cross—the inscrutable ways of God. We would have never come up with that script.

Your circumstances may seem difficult. They may be hard to understand. They may be incomprehensible to your feeble sense, but be assured God has an eternal purpose and plan for the display of His glory throughout all of this universe and every other universe, and He is working out that plan.

And though at times it seems as though the plan is not working, or the outcome seems in doubt, some parts seem strange to us, it may not be the way we think the script should be written. We can’t know; we can’t comprehend the details.

We know that His ways flow out of the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. He doesn’t make mistakes. That mother with a prodigal daughter that I talked to in recent weeks said to me with tears in her eyes, “If I hadn’t been through this, I wouldn’t know God the way I do. I wouldn’t desire Him the way that I do.”

And then verse 36—here’s the heart of the matter. “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.” Here we have a call for a God-centered life and perspective, a God-centered worldview, tethered to who God is and His eternal purposes.

If you don’t have that, you will be set adrift on a sea of shifting emotions and wild ways of thinking. You will be depressed; you will be angry; you will be bitter; you will be perplexed; you will be confused; you will have no reference point for your life if you don’t get this: “From Him are all things.”

He is the source of our existence, the origin. All things were created by Him. We have no life apart from Him. He is the ultimate cause of every circumstance that touches your life and mine.

Ladies, the ultimate issue is not your husband, your kids, your singleness, or your health. In fact, to resist or to resent the circumstances, the situation in which you find yourself, is ultimately to resent and resist God Himself.

And by the way, that’s a battle you can’t win. “From Him are all things.” He is the source. If you stop and realize, “This situation isn’t from that person ultimately.” Ultimately, all things are from Him.

“And through Him are all things.” Not only is He the source, but He is the sustainer. Scripture tells us that He upholds the universe by the word of His power. What a word!

“And in Him all things hold together.” Do you realize that apart from His power and His word sustaining the planets, the sun, the moon, the stars, sustaining us, that it would all fall apart? It would be unmitigated disaster.

He sustains it. Through Him are all things. You say, “That’s lofty. What does that mean?” Well, one thing it means is that when you think you can’t hold things together any longer, and we all get to those places, the fact is, you can’t hold anything together!

We can’t even hold ourselves together! But He can hold us together. “Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling,” means we are upheld by Him. He will enable you to do His will in whatever circumstance you find yourself in.

From Him are all things, through Him are all things, and to Him are all things. He is the source; He is the sustainer, and He is the supreme purpose and sense and goal of all things, for all things were created for Him and for His pleasure. That is so contrary to our natural perspective, isn’t it? Our natural way of thinking is, “It’s all about me.” We live as if all things were from us, through us, and for us.

That leaves us fearful, angry, proud, bitter, confused, and depressed. God is the source of all things. He is the sovereign Lord and director of all things. He is the sustainer of all things, and in the end, all things—even the sinful choices of fallen human beings, some of whom you may live with, and all of us fall into that category—even the sinful choices of human beings in the end will glorify God and demonstrate the greatness of His wisdom, His power, and His grace.

So what’s the response? Paul tells us, “To Him be glory forever. Amen.” Paul says, “The response is, we put God in the spotlight where He belongs.” We praise Him; we worship Him; we give Him glory, and we say, “Amen, let it be so.” We make our affirmation that we agree. We believe this. We submit our lives to God’s holy, eternal purposes.

Now, before we wrap up tonight, what does all of this have to do with being a true woman? How does this apply to where we live?

It has everything to do with being a true woman of God. This passage, these truths, and I have not begun to do justice to them, and I pray God will work them into your hearts by the power of His Spirit, but these truths bring comfort; they bring courage; they bring conviction to our calling as women.

There are many implications, many applications we could touch on, but I want to leave you with three tonight. I pray that you will remember them and that you will begin to orient your life around these realities.

1) A true woman lives a God-centered life.

We live in a self-centered world, but a true woman of God lives a God-centered life. She lives for His glory and His pleasure and not her own.

Ladies, a little bulletin here. It’s not about us. It’s all, all, all about Him. A true woman who is living this God-centered life can embrace the purpose for which she was created, to reflect the beauty and the wonder of His ways, and to join every created thing in heaven and earth and under the earth in glorifying and worshiping Him eternally.

As God-centered women, we will embrace that as our supreme calling and purpose in life, and it’s not just something way out there. It’s something that ought to get us up in the morning and keep us going through the day and be with us as we go to sleep at night.

Every day, every moment of the day, living with that supreme purpose at heart. It means having a God-centered perspective, turning our eyes upon Jesus, in whose light the things of this earth grow strangely dim. Am I right?

When you see the magnitude of His greatness, that gives us a context for our puny, little problems and challenges. You say, “You don’t know how big my challenge is.” You’re right, and I don’t mean to minimize it, because compared to everyone else in this room, it might be huge. But when we get the perspective of the greatness of God, every challenge we have is swept up in the torrent, the river of His love, His mercy, and His grace.

This gives us hope in the midst of a pain-filled world with loss and uncertainty. We can talk about, and we will, about being a godly wife and mother and friend and daughter. We can talk, and we will, about the need for repentance and holiness and service, but the primary core issue of this weekend and our lives is a call to be enthralled with the Lord Jesus Christ who is the pearl of great price, the supreme treasure.

Next Time: A True Woman is a God-centered Woman

Phinney Family Christmas

2010-12-18T15:15:00.000-08:00

By Jane Phinney

I grew up in a small town in Northwest Iowa. My Christmas memories are vivid of tree-trimming with traditional large lights and silver, flowing icicles. Christmas Eve always meant attending the church program, featuring the prepared music of the Sunday school kid’s classes. (My church was huge so we used the high school auditorium to accommodate the festivities.) The highlight of the evening, for us kids, was at the end of the program. We were welcomed to come up front to the stage and receive the traditional brown lunch sack full of Christmas goodies: peanut brittle, chocolate crème drops, and a big, juicy apple. Things felt just about perfect back then. You know the old-fashioned Christmas cards…wreath-adorned doors, decorated streetlamps, snow falling softly. That feeling was my world. I don’t much remember the gifts. It was the traditions that marked my heart.

After marrying Steve, and especially after having children, we gradually started developing our own family traditions. We discovered through the years, that our sentimental daughters attached great value to these memories. Still do…to this very day. The girls were 11, 9, and 6 when we moved away from the Colorado snow to the Phoenix desert. Out first Christmas was rather shocking! Things just felt “odd”. But it didn’t take too long for us to create additional holiday memories.

At our house, Christmas preparations begin the Friday after Thanksgiving. We believe you should enjoy the fruit of your labors as long as possible! Steve and Jessi spend most of the day outside, putting up lights and simple decorations. (My artsy husband is very good at this….straight lines, spaced rows, color-coordinated. Some of you know the drill.) A few years ago, grandchildren joined the fun, even if they couldn’t climb the ladders. Being with Opa outside is a big deal. In the evening, we put on Christmas music, make hot chocolate and the whole family gathers to decorate our tree. We used to buy our 3 daughters an ornament every year so, in addition to the ones they made as children, we have quite a varied collection. It’s the same every year….the stories start as the ornaments are unwrapped. Now the girls are telling them to the grandbabies as they hang their mommy’s treasures. When all is said and done, we just sit there and stare, mesmerized by the moment but also by the memories. Where did all the time go? How did they grow so fast? I can’t believe I’m this old! All it takes is a grandbaby on our laps or arms wrapped around our neck, to remind us that these family moments of contentment are what make life worthwhile. The Saturday after Thanksgiving has traditionally been our ornament-painting day at a local pottery establishment. This started before the girls were married and hopefully, will continue on, as the babies grow up to join us. We have wonderful memories of bringing snacks and spending all afternoon creating. We laugh and reminisce while painting and listening to Christmas music.

In the early 90’s we discovered a Chinese restaurant near our home. After one visit, we were hooked on the food, and the people. We made this place our Christmas Eve “staple”, before riding around to look at Christmas displays. These folks knew our tradition and always gave the girls specials treats. When they moved to a new location, we followed. Last year, our first holiday in Kansas, a winter storm nixed these plans but I’m happy to report we have found our Chinese restaurant. As time marches on and the family grows, we have adapted our plans to accommodate the individual units within our extended family. We’ve moved our Christmas Eve traditions to the 23rd so the kids & grandchildren can share their own traditions/memories separate from Opa & Oma. But on Christmas Day, everyone still gathers at our house to share limited gifts and Christmas dinner.

My point in sharing these memories is to encourage you to take time for the little things. This is what giving is all about. It’s not about what money can buy but about how hearts are knit together, in love, to the glory of God. Do we have perfect holidays? No. Are there sometimes unexpected glitches to a well thought out plan? Yes. Are things sometimes noisy & chaotic? Almost always. Is it worth it? Absolutely! For Steve and me, it is another avenue to express God’s love to our family. And it is pure joy when our grandchildren express excitement for family traditions.

The Power of the Cross - Part Three

2010-12-01T14:41:00.000-08:00

By Nancy Leigh DeMoss

It’s limitless. It’s inexhaustible. Aren’t you glad that God will never have an economic crisis? He will never have a sub-prime mortgage crisis. His riches are inexhaustible. He says, “My God shall supply all your needs.” From what source? Where’s he going to get what he needs? What’s he going to get? What’s needed? All of our needs in this room and every other believer everywhere else—where’s it all going to come from?

It’s according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. His riches. “Oh, the depth of the riches of God.” They’re infinitely beyond what we can fathom, what we could ever mine or match. That means that the riches of God are always more than what you need in your situation. “Oh, the depth of the riches of God.”

And then, “Oh, the depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God.” I’ll just keep those together for brevity here at this point. The depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God.

God has complete wisdom and knowledge. He knows everything about everything. Everything about the world, everything about history, everything about the future, everything about elections, everything about economies and where they’re headed, and not only does He know everything about them in the macro picture, but He knows everything about your life.

He knows where you’ve been, your history, the things that have been done to you, the things you’ve done.

He knows everything about your present.
He knows things about your past and your present that you have not told a single soul on earth.
He knows all about your future, too. He knows it all! The depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God.
He knows about your family situation.
He knows about your financial needs.
He knows about your physical challenges.
He knows about your motives and your sins and your fears and your insecurities. He knows mine, too. He knows it all.

The wisdom and the knowledge of God are infinitely greater than ours. And as an example of that, in the context of this passage, chapters 9 through 11 of Romans, Paul leads us to respond that the human mind could never have come up with a way that sinners could be justified or declared righteous before a holy God.

We could not have found a way to do that. But the wisdom of God found a way. You say, “So what does that mean for me?” It means the wisdom of God knows how to deal with your situation, as complex, convoluted, impossible as it may seem, oh the depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God.

Paul goes on to say, “How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways.” His judgments, His decisions, His decrees—they are unsearchable, beyond our capacity to fathom.

And His ways, the means that He chooses and uses to fulfill His purposes, the ESV that I’m reading says, “His ways are inscrutable.” The New American Standard says, “They are unfathomable.” If you’re using the King James, it says, “His ways are past finding out.”

Dictionary.com defines inscrutable this way (it’s not a word we use every day, so let me just give you this little definition): “incapable of being searched into or understood by inquiry or study; impossible or difficult to be explained or accounted for satisfactorily; incomprehensible; not easily understood; mysterious.”

No human being can fathom the judgments and the ways of God. No matter how brilliant that person may be, no matter how hard he or she tries, we can never get to the bottom, never explore the depth and the breadth and the width and the height and the length of the judgments and the ways of God.

If you do a Google search for “judgments of God,” you’ll come up with 313,000 hits. If you do a search for “the ways of God,” you get 1,006,000 hits. Now, I just want to say that if any one of us could ever read and master any one of those entries, we would barely have skimmed the surface of the depths of His ways. We cannot know all that He is doing. We cannot know why He is doing what He is doing. I once heard pastor Charles Swindoll say, “Don’t try to unscrew the inscrutable.” There are some things that are hidden and locked for this time in the mind of God, and you have to leave them there.

I heard Dr. John Piper say in a message years ago something that really stuck in my heart. I’ve shared it with many people over the years in conversations and counseling situations, and I want you to remember this. He said, "In every situation, in every circumstance in your life [think about what you’re facing right now, and just apply this], in every situation, God is always doing a thousand different things that you cannot see and you do not know."

It’s true. You may be able to see a few things that God is doing. “Oh, that makes sense.” But God’s doing a thousand different things that you cannot see and you do not know.

I shared that quote with a mom the other day who is heartbroken over a prodigal daughter. We talked about how unsearchable are the judgments of God and how inscrutable are His ways. I shared that quote with her, and she said, “I need that hanging in my home where I can look at it all the time.”

We need that hanging in our hearts. God is at work. You cannot see what He’s doing; you do not know. He doesn’t owe us an explanation, but He is at work. You can never exhaust or fully explore the ways of God. We cannot see the end. We cannot see the outcome. We cannot fathom the means that God has devised to fulfill His holy purposes.

Now, in verses 34 and 35, Paul goes on to ask three questions. They’re rhetorical questions, and the answer to each question is the same.

First question, verse 34, “For who has known the mind of the Lord?” What’s the answer? Let me hear you. No one has known the mind of the Lord.

Or, second question, “Who has been His counselor?” What’s the answer? I can’t hear you really well. No one has been God’s counselor. Isaiah 40 tells us, “Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or what man chose Him his counsel?”

No one! Third question, “Who has given a gift to Him,” to God, “that he might be repaid?” What’s the answer? No one. Job 41, “Who has first given to Me,” God says, “that I shall repay him? Whatever is under the whole Heaven is mine” (verse 11).

So how can we give anything to God and expect that He owes us something? Now, the implications of those three questions are staggering.

If we could just lay hold of this in our hearts, God never needs to consult with anyone about anything. He never needs input. He never needs counsel. He never needs advice, not even mine, not yours. He has limitless wisdom. He is self-sufficient. He is independent. He never needs help. He never needs a hotline. He never has to call directory assistance.

And I’m not trying to be trite, I’m just saying, God needs nothing and no one. He’s complete. He doesn’t need anything outside of Himself.

Now, how opposite are we? We are utterly, totally, absolutely, dependent. You say, “Well, I’m sitting here.” How are you breathing? It’s God on whom we depend for every breath. We need Him. He doesn’t need us. We can’t tell Him what to do. He makes no mistakes. He’s not indebted to anyone. He does not owe us anything.

As I’ve been pondering that, the obvious question in my own heart is, “So why do I get so bent out of shape when things don’t go my way?” As if God owed me something. He owes us nothing. We owe Him everything.

Nothing ever occurs to God. Nothing ever surprised Him. He never has to scramble to come up with a solution. He never has an emergency come up. He knows everything. He foresees everything.

I was thinking about the news this morning, and it struck me that God doesn’t follow current events. God determines all events, past, present, and future. He never has to figure out what His next move will be. So what does that mean? It means there’s no place for criticism, or doubt, or fear, or anger, or second-guessing, or arguing, or disputing God’s choices.

Ladies, we’ve got to get it into our heads and hearts, He is God, and we are not. He’s sovereign,; He is all-wise. His ways are unfathomable, incomprehensible. We can’t understand Him with our finite minds and perspective.

Next Time: God's Ways Don't Always Seem Right

The Power of the Cross - Part Two

2010-11-13T16:23:00.000-08:00

By Nancy Leigh DeMoss

As we continue in this passage, I’d like us to honor the Word of God by just standing as I read these verses. Romans 11:33-36. Would you stand with me?

"Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways! 'For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor?' 'Or who has given a gift to Him that he might be repaid?' For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever."

And all God’s people said, “Amen.”

I believe this passage provides a framework—a context—for our lives as women. It gives us a fixed reference point for our hearts. It tethers our hearts to God’s ultimate eternal purposes. It gives us a perspective and a grid for responding to God’s sovereign choices in our lives and for responding to circumstances that we cannot understand or explain.

It all starts by saying, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God.” Oh, the depth. Interestingly there, the Greek word that is translated “depth,” sounds a lot like our English word “bath.”

It’s like you’re going down into this, to be bathed in it. “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God.” They are immeasurable. They’re so deep that you can’t get to the bottom of it all.

On January 23^rd of 1960, a U.S. Navy lieutenant and a Swiss scientist got into a submersible vessel that’s known as a bath escape. It goes down into the depths.

They went down to the bottom of the Marina’s Trench that is located in the Pacific Ocean near Guam. This is the deepest spot on Earth. It’s 35,800 feet deep. That’s about seven miles—down, down, down to the deepest spot of the oceans in the world.

Interestingly, no man has ever been back to that place since, and I read one study that said it would probably take one hundred million dollars to do that again. Nobody’s even tried. It’s so deep. Going seven miles to the bottom of the ocean is a massive human feat, but I have to tell you, it is nothing compared to the depths found in God.

You can never, ever plumb the depths of His riches, His wisdom, His knowledge. You can’t get your mind around it. Words fail. His wisdom and knowledge and riches are inexhaustible; they’re limitless; they’re immeasurable.

Oh the depth. It’s immeasurable. Not only is the depth immeasurable, but the riches, the wisdom, and knowledge of God are foundational. I think that’s part of what it meant when Paul says, “Oh the depth of these things.” They’re foundational.

When you get to the bottom of everything in your life, you find the bedrock. Dr. Piper called it granite—the bedrock of our lives and our faith are the riches, the wisdom, and the knowledge of God. That’s what’s underneath it all and holding it all together.

In 1944, Corrie ten Boom and her family were arrested by the Nazi’s for harboring Jews in the their home. They were sent to the Ravensbrook concentration camp in Germany where Betsy ultimately died.

Corrie’s sister, Betsy, before she died, said to Corrie, and you’ve probably heard this sentence before. She said, “There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.”

Betsy died in that concentration camp, but Corrie was released, and as many of you know her story, she lived into her 90’s. For decades she traveled all around the world.

For the rest of her life, that was the heart of her message—the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge and love of God. Her point was, however deep your problems, however deep your challenges, however deep your issues, there is something, should we say Someone, that is deeper. Under the everlasting arms, oh the depth—immeasurable, foundational for our lives. Now, what is it that’s so deep? Well, Paul tells us, “Oh the depth of the riches of God.”

I understand that there are vast riches to be found in the depths of the earth. It’s estimated, at least in one source that I read, that there are at least six billion dollars in sunken treasure that lie on the bottom of the earth’s ocean floors waiting to be discovered.

There’s lots of treasure down there. Then I read about the world’s deepest gold mine, which is found in South Africa, about 60 miles outside of Johannesburg. This gold mine goes more than two miles down into the earth.

It’s been described as the eighth wonder of the world. It’s the richest gold mine in the world. It’s produced more than a hundred million ounces of gold—that’s three thousand tons of gold—since it began operating in the early 1950’s.

This gold mine—one gold mine alone—employs almost 17,000 people working all the time to mine the gold out of the earth. And it’s not done. There’s still more gold in them hills! This one gold mine is expected to produce at least a million ounces of gold every year for the next twenty years.

But I’ve got to tell you, within the depths of God are found riches that infinitely surpass earth’s greatest riches. Earlier in the book of Romans, Paul talks about the riches of God’s kindness, His forbearance, His patience.

He talks in chapter 9 about the riches of God’s glory. In the book of Ephesians, he talks about the riches of God’s grace, and it says, “He is rich in mercy.” Unlike the riches in the ocean floors or beneath the surface of the earth, God’s riches are limitless. You see, the gold in that mine will run out some day. But the gold in God’s mine will never, ever, ever, ever run out.

Next Time: According to His Riches and Glory

The Power of the Cross - Part One

2010-10-18T10:09:00.000-07:00

By Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Thank God for the power of the Cross to change lives. I love the old, old story of Jesus and His love. Don’t you?

It’s the power of the Cross that transformes women's lives. It’s the power of the Cross that is transforming my life. It’s the power of the Cross that is transforming your life and can transform the lives of those that you love that you carry on your heart.

Oh God, forgive us for ever losing the wonder of the Cross. You never get past the Cross. You never get enough of it, and you never get to the point in your life where you don’t need all that it means.

He’s our life. Death brings life. That’s the amazing mystery that those in the Old Testament didn’t understand, but now is revealed to us. Thank, thank, thank the Lord for the Cross.

The Lord has raised up those women “for such a time as this.” The first time I visited there, I came away, and I said, “Every Christian women needs to go to prison.” There’s such a freedom and a sweetness and a richness and a fullness of God’s presence in those women.

We want the end result, but we don’t necessarily want the process that it takes to get that—the process of brokenness, humility, emptiness, utter awareness of need. Most of those women have it, and there’s a radiant sweetness that I envy. I want to see God do that in my own life.

So let me ask you to turn in your Bible if you have it there. If you can see, if we have enough house lights that you can see, I want you to see the text in your own Bible—Romans chapter 11. The book of Romans, chapter 11, the last paragraph beginning in verse 33.

As you’re turning there, I want to do something that is rather brave, I think, and that is to give you a two-sentence synopsis of the whole book of Romans so you can get a sense of where this passage falls.

Now, at the risk of really oversimplifying, let me just say that the first 11 chapters of the book of Romans are those in which the apostle Paul lays out the basic doctrines of our faith—the sinfulness of man, the amazing grace of God, and the salvation that is possible for us through our Lord Jesus Christ.

That’s the first 11 chapters. The last five chapters—chapter 12 through 16—Paul makes practical application of everything that has just preceded and asks, in effect, how are we to live in light of all that we’ve just seen?

So the first 11 chapters are “the what.” The last five chapters, beginning in 12:1, are the “so what?” We need to know the what, and then we need to ask the so what? What does this mean for us?

Chapter 11, verses 33 through 36, the paragraph we’re going to look at for these next moments, is a bridge between these two sections. Now, before I go to that paragraph, let me just pull in a little tighter into the book and give you a little bit more of the context, because it’s going to make this passage shine like the awesome jewel that it is.

In chapters 9 through 11, which are chapters you’re probably never memorized, they’re chapters you don’t hear preached on often enough, but in chapters 9 through 11 leading up to this paragraph, the apostle Paul explores the mysteries of God’s sovereign, electing grace—God’s plan for redeeming both Jews and Gentiles.

He talks about Israel’s past, present, and future role in God’s great redemptive story. He explains how in God’s sovereignty, the Jews’ rejection of Christ is actually the means of Gentiles—that’s most of us in this room—coming to accept Christ.

The Jews rejected Him. That has provoked us to accept Christ. Then he talks about how in His great mercy, God will yet fulfill His true plan for Israel in spite of their rejection.

Now, again, I just way oversimplified those chapters, and there are Pastor Piper and others who can do far more justice to them than I just did. But as you read these complex chapters, you realize this is not the way we would have written the story.

It’s not the way we would have scripted it. You see in those chapters how God is able to make even the unbelief and rebellion of men serve His final, eternal purposes. And you scratch your head and go, “How did God come up with this?”

We would have never scripted it this way. But God scripted it this way. It’s His way. It’s His story.

Last month I celebrated my 50^th birthday, and I’ve been planning this for about 10 years, looking forward to it. Those of you who have heard Revive Our Hearts have probably heard me say that my goal since I was a little girl has always been to be a godly, old lady.

I have this picture in my mind of what a godly, old lady looks like. I don’t know if I’ve actually ever met this picture in my mind, but I have found that the getting old part comes easier than the getting godly part.

But I’ve been so looking forward to this marker in my life, and I took some time in Colorado. I was out there for about a week (applause!)—Colorado, where are you? (more applause!)—there they are! It’s a beautiful state.

One day I went Jeeping with some friends in the mountains of Colorado. I had not done that before, and it was an amazing experience.

We were on these mountain trails, winding higher and higher up these mountain passes, up at one point to 13,000 feet. You can hardly breathe up there—that’s where airplanes fly!

Here we were in this Jeep. Some of these trails were steep; they were treacherous; there were some hairpin turns. If you got too close to the edge and looked over, it could be really scary.

This was quite an experience for us. And then, you get to the top, and you look down, you look around, and you’re just awestruck by the beauty and the magnificence of the view below.

Well, I thought of that trip as I was meditating in recent days on this passage in the book of Romans. In Romans 1 through 11, it’s like hiking or Jeeping up this steep mountain trail. There are some difficult passages, and it’s tough climbing at points. But then you get to the end of chapter 11, and the apostle Paul is as if he has reached the summit.

He looks at where he’s come from, and he sees this awesome view, the view of God’s sovereignty, His electing mercy and grace, His eternal plan, and Paul pauses to contemplate it all.

And he’s speechless! It’s as if there are no words to explain what he sees—the magnificence of it all—there’s no way to fully grasp the depths below.

Words fail when he tries to explain it to others. It’s as if he’s grasping for words, and then it causes him to break out into this hymn of praise, to sing the doxology, and that’s when we come to Romans 11, verses 33 through 36.

“What in the world does all of this have to do with being a true woman?” - Stay tunred by Part Two

The Worst Kind of Hurt

2010-09-01T07:40:00.000-07:00

Jane Phinney

By Jane Phinney

One of the most common, everyday hurts we inflict on others is through our speech…the words we use…our communication style/delivery. Even as a young child, it didn’t take me long to figure out that the old adage, “sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me”, was about the biggest lie on planet earth! How many of us can still remember the one incident, the one phrase seared on our hearts, that marked the way we see ourselves…to this very day? Wisdom would say that since we know that kind of pain, we should have the common sense not to pass it along. Unfortunately, our flesh can be our worst enemy. When all of our desires and responses are not yielded to the control of the Holy Spirit, in the moment, our tongue can become a weapon of mass destruction. The all-encompassing fallout can cause someone to doubt God’s love for them, to doubt their unique personal design, and to doubt their value. In short, an attack with words is almost always a stumbling block spiritually.

The tongue is referenced repetitively in the Bible. Two of my favorite verses are in Proverbs and James. “Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, ‘Was I not joking?’ “(Prov. 26: 18 & 19) Righteous anger quickens in my soul when I observe the cruel practice of taunting/mocking a vulnerable area in someone’s life. My heart breaks when these barbs are excused as humor, leaving the recipient feeling doubly wounded. Seriously, does Christ ever, ever take liberties with our hearts like that? NO! James 3: 8-10 should be especially meaningful to you if you are a disciple of Jesus Christ. “But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father; and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.”

Unfortunately, in our depraved world, the things that ought not to be, more often are! But it is even more disheartening to see these sinful liberties abounding in the Church. In the moments I feel or observe hurt, God reminds me to “grace” the offender and pray for the situation to be reconciled. This stops a root of bitterness from springing up in my heart. I am humbled by God’s faithfulness to me in my own refining process. He reminds me that my own words should pass the triple test: Is what I say TRUE? Is it KIND? Is it NECESSARY?

Shredded

We entertained the devil
He came right through the door
Tongues of fire unleashed his death
Our flesh just fought for more

Defilement flowed like poison
The battling raised his bar
Our hearts were stabbed and wounded
While he taunted from afar

I am a battle casualty
Left on the field to die
Beaten, shredded, numb & bleeding,
A victim of his lies

I cannot think, I cannot feel
Oh, Lord! Deliver me!
My soul is locked in prison
Redemption is my plea

Put back all the pieces
Revive the broken hearts
Take back the land the locusts ate
Give us a brand new start.

~ Jane Phinney~
(4/20/09)

God gave me this poem, quite unexpectedly, when my soul was troubled by observing the power of words “gone south”, in what started out as a normal conversation. If we are honest, we can all identify a time when we were a “battle casualty” or, a time when we caused the “shredding” because our tongue went wild. It would behoove us to recognize that the enemy of our souls desires to steal, kill and destroy whenever possible. His ultimate goal is to ruin our testimony so Christ’s reputation will be defiled. It’s not about us. Life is all about HIM. (Prov. 15; I Cor 10:3-5; 11:3; James 3; I Peter 5:8; Eph 6:10-18; John 3:30)

“When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise.” (Prov.10:19)

“He who guards his mouth and his tongue, guards his soul from trouble.” (Prov. 21:23)

Thanks for taking the time to read this. We deeply appreciate your encouragement in ministry.