(Happily Ever After: Walking with Peace and Courage Through a Year of Divorce by Kristin Armstrong) New York, NY: FaithWords. Copyright- Kristin Armstrong, 2007.
Ace This Test
The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Deuteronomy 13:3
The answer to this test is a matter of trust.
The way we show the Lord whether or not we love Him with all our heart and soul is to surrender ourselves and our lives into His hands.
The more we know God, the more we trust Him. The more we trust Him, the greater our faith. How do we get to know God? We pray to Him, seeking Him and sharing our hearts with Him. We read His Word, allowing Him to speak to us in His timeless and profound method. We offer what we have and ask Him to multiply it and direct us.
It isn't so much a matter of effort as it is a matter of release. It is an infinitely more challenging task because it requires giving up our control and self-reliance. It is letting go of the small to hold on to something big.
When the Lord allows a season of testing in your life, show Him the depth of your love by placing your trust in Him.
p. 126
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(A Gentle Thunder: Hearing God Through the Storm by Max Lucado) Dallas, TX: Word Publishing. Copyright - Max Lucado, 1995. 227 pp.
For Longer Than Forever
The God Who Loves Boldly
God, I have a question: Why do you love your children? I don't want to sound irreverent, but only heaven knows how much pain we've brought you. Why do you tolerate us? You give us every breath we breathe, but do we thank you? You give us bodies beyond duplication, but do we praise you?
Seldom.
We complain about the weather. We bicker about our toys. We argue over who gets which continent and who has the best gender. Not a second passes when someone, somewhere, doesn't use your name to curse a hammered thumb or a bad call by the umpire. (As if it were your fault.)
You fill the world with food, but we blame you for hunger. You keep the earth from tilting and the arctics from thawing, but we accuse you of unconcern. You give us blue skies, and we demand rain. You give rain, and we demand sun. (As if we knew what was best anyway.)
We give more applause to a brawny ball-carrier than we do to the God who made us. We sing more songs to the moon than to the Christ who saved us. We are a gnat on the tail of one elephant in a galaxy of Africas, and yet we demand that you find us a parking place when we ask. And if you don't give us what we want, we say you don't exist. (As if our opinion matters.)
We pollute the world you loan us. We mistreat the bodies you gave us. We ignore the Word you sent us. And we killed the Son you became. We are spoiled babies who take and kick and pout and blaspheme.
You have every reason to abandon us.
I sure would! I would wash my hands of the whole mess and start over on Mars. But do you?
I see the answer in the rising of the sun. I hear the answer in the crashing of the waves. I feel the answer in the skin on a child.
Father, your love never ceases. Never. Though we spurn you, ignore you, disobey you, you will not change. Our evil cannot diminish your love. Our goodness cannot increase it. Our faith does not earn it anymore than our stupidity jeopardizes it. You don't love us less if we fail. You don't love us more if we succeed.
Your love never ceases.
How do we explain it?
Perhaps the answer is found in yet another question.
Moms: Why do you love your newborn? I know, I know; it's a silly question, but indulge me. Why do you?
For months this baby has brought you pain. She (or he!) made you break out in pimples and waddle like a duck. Because of her you craved sardines and crackers and threw up in the morning. She punched you in the tummy. She occupied space that wasn't hers and ate food she didn't fix.
You kept her warm. You kept her safe. You kept her fed. But did she say thank you?
Are you kidding? She's no more out of the womb than she starts to cry! The room is too cold, the blanket is too rough, the nurse is too mean. And who does she want? Mom.
Don't you ever get a break? I mean, who has been doing the work the last nine months? Why can't Dad take over? But no, Dad won't do. The baby wants Mom.
She didn't even tell you she was coming. She just came. And what a coming! She rendered you a barbarian. You screamed. You swore. You bit bullets and tore the sheets. And now look at you. Your back aches. Your head pounds. Your body is drenched in sweat. Every muscle strained and stretched.
You should be angry, but are you?
Far from it. On your face is a for-longer-than-forever love. She has done nothing for you; yet you love her. She's brought pain to your body and nausea to your morning, yet you treasure her. Her face is wrinkled and her eyes are dim, yet all you can talk about are her good looks and bright future. She's going to wake you up every night for the next six weeks, but that doesn't matter. I can see it on your face. You're crazy about her.
pp. 45-47
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(Our Lord Prays For His Own: Thoughts on John 17 by Marcus Rainsford) Grand Rapids, MI: Moody Press. Copyright - Kregel Publications, 1985.
And, if we have believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, He is glorified in us; only think of it-the Lord glorified in us! Verily, He is not glorified by what He gets from us, but by what He bestows upon us; we are the empty vessels into which He pours grace, and in doing so He is glorified in us; by-and-by, having filled us with grace, He will fill us with glory too; and in doing so He will be glorified in us. The only possible way in which we can glorify Him here is by receiving Him:
"What shall I render the Lord for all his benefits
toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon
the name of the Lord" (Ps. 116:12, 13).
p. 169
