You Can Lay It Down

This week I received some news that hurt. My initial reaction was to push it away, pretend like it didn’t matter, try not to think about it. 

But as the day went on and the thoughts started creeping past my defences, the emotions started to bubble up inside me. 

Hurt. 
Anger. 
Pain. 
Frustration. 

The more I thought about it, the worse I felt -and the harder it was to let it go. 

Finally I turned to God and passionately prayed the lyrics of Oh My Soul that kept coming to mind. 

“I’m not strong enough, 
I can’t take anymore.” 

I may have said that out loud a few times too. 

But then, when I was finally silent, I heard the next few lines of the song. “You can lay it down, You can lay it down..” and “Let Him show you how you can lay this down.” ( J. M Hall & B. Hems) 

So, after much inward turmoil and battle, I did. 

I gave it all to God. 

And you know what happened? 

God did exactly what He promised. He took my pain and anger and bitterness and resentment and replaced it with His peace - the kind that passes all understanding. (Phil 4:7) 

I’m still amazed as I type this how, just a few days ago I was so upset and how now I have such incredible peace about the situation. He really does exactly what He says. He always keeps His promises. How great is our GOD!

Marvellous are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. Psalm 139:14b

If You Seek Him, He Will Be Found Of You

Have you ever heard of King Asa? 

I must have learned about him when I was younger when we studied all the different kings in school, but I - much to my shame, had forgotten. 

Just recently, however, I stumbled upon his role in God’s story in 2 Chronicles 14 and 15. 

King Asa started out so well. The Bible says “And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God: For he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the groves: And commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment.” (2 Chronicles 14:2) 

Now if we read a little further we find out that King Asa had an army of 580,000 men. That seemed like a good sized army to me until I read on that an Ethiopian army was coming to attack him with an army of 1,300,000 men! 

What does King Asa do? 2 Chronicles 14:11 says: And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, Thou art our God; let no man prevail against Thee. 

And what is God's response? 
2 Chronicles 14:12 says: So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. 

Then God speaks this message to King Asa through Azariah: And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded: And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The Lord is with you, while ye be with Him; and if ye seek Him, He will be found of you; but if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you. 2 Chronicles 15:1-2 

Those verses really struck me. What a promise! And you know what? Those same words are still true today. The Lord is with you, while ye be with Him; and if ye seek Him, He will be found of you; but if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you. 2 Chronicles 15:2 

Shouldn’t this spur us into action? God promises that if we seek Him, we will find Him! He also warns us that if we forsake Him, He will forsake us. 

If you want to find out what happens to King Asa you can read his story in 2 Chronicles 14 and 15, but more importantly think about what these words mean for you. 

Do you seek God with every part of your being? 

The people of Judah did and they found Him too! 
And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and He was found of them: and the Lord gave them rest round about. 2 Chronicles 14:15 

Only in His presence is fullness of joy and pleasure forevermore! 
Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in Thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Psalm 16:11 

Nothing can compare. There is nothing fuller than full or longer than forever.

If you don’t know God it’s your own fault for He promises that if we seek Him, He will be found of us, but if we forsake Him He will forsake us - and that should fill us with terror.

The Narrow Way

It was just a silly Subway coupon -  but the temptation I struggled with because of it was intense. 

It was spring break. The boys were home from school and Jason was in the Philippines. Since Dad was gone, I was even more determined to make it a special time for the boys so I planned play dates and outings, we built Legos and played at parks. We went swimming, spent a fun, rainy day at the beach and all in all had a grand time. 

As I was browsing through a coupon book one spring break morning I came across a Subway coupon. The boys and I loved Subway so I was happy to find one only to discover when reading the fine print that it wasn’t valid in Chilliwack. 

Now the coupons themselves could be ripped out and since it didn’t give any locations on the individual coupons I thought about just trying to use it anyway. “They could always say no.” I thought to myself. “Isn’t Subway, Subway? Why does it matter? It’s no big deal. Just try it, you never know, they might accept it.” 

It was so tempting. 

But then I remembered. 

I remembered my meeting with God early each morning. And even though I might be able to convince myself it wasn’t dishonest to use the coupon, God is perfect and the Bible says He desires truth in the inmost parts. 

Still I struggled. Did it really matter? No one would care. But I knew God did. And I knew that if I loved Him, and I did, I would obey Him too. No matter what. 

Although His ways seemed impossibly narrow sometimes. He loved me and wanted truth in my inmost parts. 

So I relented. I put the coupon back in the book and took the boys to Subway anyway and paid full price. Because I knew, I knew that no sin, no matter how tempting was worth feeling separation from God over. 

And I know that if I did sin and I confessed my sin to God that He was faithful and just to forgive me of my sin and cleanse me from all unrighteousness, because of Jesus’ perfect sacrifice on the cross, but why would I knowingly do anything to hurt God? 

And God knows us. He knows our frame, He remembers we are dust, and He is so patient and loving He reminded me who I was. I was the daughter of the One who was richer than all the richest people in the world combined. He loved me and gave Himself for me. He always provided everything I needed. I didn’t need to live like a pauper when my Father was the King of the world! I didn’t need to let a Subway coupon tempt me when my Father owned the cattle on a thousand hills and with His Son He freely gives us all things! 

And even when we are fickle and struggle over the silliest things God loves and leads and teaches and blesses. 

What a great God. What a loving Father. 

The next week what was in my church mailbox but a coupon book? And of course, it had the correct Subway coupons in it.