Author: Carolyn

I am a Christian, a sinner saved by God's amazing grace. Much like my life, my blog is a work in progress. The main objective I have for this blog is to "proclaim the praises" of the One who called me out of darkness and into His marvelous light! (1 Peter 2:9)

Lessons from Gideon #2

Carolyn

It’s the early still of the morning, the best part of the day. The house is quiet. Through my den’s East-facing window, I see again the mercies of God as the sun rises on a new day, pointing me to the true Sunrise from on high.

This year I’ve been trying to give God the firstfruits of my day. Spending time in prayer and God’s Word in the day’s first moments has anchored me for the day ahead; given me time to express again my praise and trust in God and my need for greater faith; convicted me of sin; guided me in my path as I bring my requests before Him; given me peace and a time to thank Him; and blessed me in many unexpected ways.

But isn’t that always the case when we approach God in faith through Christ? In worshiping and surrendering to the One who created us and knows us and first gave to us — the One who did not spare His own Son so that we could be saved from our sins — we find our true identity, what we were made for, and are strengthened in Him for another day.

I shared last time some of the lessons from Gideon I’ve been taking away from my summer Bible study. Here are a few more:

Priscilla Shirer pointed out in the first session that Gideon was part of a nation that had stopped moving forward, how in this study we might find a “divine green light” on somewhere God might be calling us, and we can move forward in His strength.

As we’ve moved along in the study considering what God might be calling us to by looking at Gideon, Priscilla has pointed out that we have spheres of influence, and we must start in the circle nearest to us. So picture a target with a center bull’s-eye and the circles working outward. These are our spheres of influence.

Though Gideon was being called by God to deliver Israel from the Midianites’ oppression (Judges 6:14), Gideon’s work would began in the circles closest to him. He first had to pull down the altar of Baal that belonged to his father and cut down the Asherah (wooden symbol of a female deity, my Bible says) beside it (Judges 6:25). Then he was ready to move outward to another sphere.

“The journey of fulfilling our divine purpose will almost always follow this same pattern,” Priscilla writes.

She also notes, “Choosing to do our primary work in the smaller, less noticeable spheres and devote our best gifts there is often a foreign thought to us. We usually want to jump from the center directly to the perimeter of impact, skipping over the areas most closely connected to us. The result? A life and calling that eventually implode, caving in upon their shoddy, unstable structure.”

This resonated with me. It’s so easy to want to jump to something that looks bigger, to move outward to what might give me more gratification, without stopping to look inward or to focus on my first calling in the home. That is more invisible and often harder, with perhaps less immediate results, so it’s easy not to be as intentional with those central and foremost callings from God.

If we are married and have children, our husband and children are a natural calling not to be overlooked for something more. We won’t have to step on them to fulfill some other ministry. Other callings will enhance and be unified with those first ones.

I think this is so hard for Christian women today. We are being encouraged (in pure and good ways) to be dreaming, considering our passions and desires and how they can be used, taking new territory, moving to a next greater step, willing to give it all to go to something big and unknown. If we aren’t careful, though, we can begin to look to those things to fulfill us, rather than bring glory to God, and these things can cause us to shortchange the most central callings God has given us right in our home. What God calls us to will not be at the expense of our husband and children; it will be in conjunction and in harmony with our homes and family.

Priscilla writes, “These innermost circles are often the ones that offer the least amount of recognition. This is why so many people try to circumvent them. And yet your greatest impact will be done here — in the ordinary rhythms of your daily living.”

So I’m challenged not to look past the inner circles. In my life, I suppose it would look like this (I list church because I work there).

my spheres of influence
my spheres of influence

So while I began this study wondering or even hoping for some greater call on my life to emerge, the one that has settled in my heart is first and foremost in my home. I’ve become convinced that these calls don’t become separate, individual, and distinct, but work together in a way that will hopefully please God and bring Him glory. (These are lessons, though, I’ve been having to learn over the last 10 years!)

I’m thankful for a God who loves us, who calls us to Himself, who forgives us, who is merciful and patient with us, who gives us our identity in Him, and who does have purposes for us to accomplish in the world. May we seek Him for what that looks like so that we will neither move forward where He hasn’t led or shrink back in fear from what He is indeed calling us to.

Help us, Lord, as we work from the center out, to find ourselves in the center of Your will. Amen.

Lessons from Gideon #1

Carolyn

GideonThis summer my mom and I are hosting a small group Bible study on Gideon by Priscilla Shirer. This is the first Bible study of Priscilla’s that we’ve done, and we are loving it! She is a gifted communicator and teacher, and I also have a particular fondness for her knowing her connection with Dallas Seminary where my husband also studied.

We are at the halfway point of the study, and Priscilla encouraged us in the last video session to keep a record of the work God has been doing in our lives. She has also invited us to share throughout the study on social media our #lessonsfromGideon. This then is my attempt.

I am not a visionary. I don’t always see the big picture. I’m more analytical and in the details of the everyday. Throughout my working years, I have supported visionaries, who do see the big picture and future goals, by assisting with the details and hopefully helping to achieve the goals.

I often see this come into play in Bible study. I can do the lesson for the day and love it, but when I finish, I find myself wondering later what it was about and how the whole study fit together. It’s like I have a lot of separate puzzle pieces, each of which are interesting and helpful, but it feels a bit disjointed to me without the overall vision that I haven’t quite grasped. However, once it’s fitted together into the whole and I can see the big picture that’s been coming together, it starts to settle in deep in my soul, and I’m able to find the lessons God has in store. In Bible study, it often means I need to do the studying, not just be fed what others have studied, as wonderful as that is.

So this last week, I’ve taken these parts I’ve been holding, these puzzle pieces, and gone back to the Scriptures and studied for myself – in this case, Judges 6-9. It has helped me answer the questions that have arisen in our Bible study group and in my own mind.

Then this morning, when I awoke, it was like all the pieces were coming together. As I journaled out what God was revealing, I was encouraged by the wonderful truths he was leading me through. And as I turned back to the lessons for reinforcement of these truths, I realized this is what it had been saying all along — my heart just hadn’t quite pieced it together into the whole! I am so thankful that God helps me in my weakness — which happens to be a main theme of this study!

Studying God’s Word is fascinating! It feeds our soul and leads us intro truth. We ask Him to guide us by His Word and Spirit as we seek Him and as we come with a humble dependence to know Him more. So what are my lessons from Gideon?

Here are a few:

1.  Partial obedience by God’s people led to giving up ground to the enemy until they ended up in dens, caves, and strongholds in the mountains, as a people oppressed and brought low with their land devastated and them lacking sustenance (Judges 6:1-6).

2.  I suspect when they first disobeyed (this partial obedience), the people did enough to think they were actually obeying, but they were really giving up ground, little by little, for various seemingly good reasons to their limited minds (i.e., the enemy had iron chariots in one case so that would surely be too hard to defeat, or perhaps it would be better to enter into an agreement with a group who could help them later rather than defeating them now, etc.).

3.  What they were doing that was “right in their own eyes” was actually “evil in the sight of the Lord” (Judges 6:1).

So I ask myself: Do I see my own partial obedience for what it really is? What ground am I giving up? Where am I doing right in my own eyes that may actually be evil in God’s eyes?

4.  Gideon may have wondered how he ended up in the wine press beating out wheat in hiding to keep it from their enemy. When the angel of the LORD appeared to him, Gideon questions why this oppression has happened and where the miracles were that their fathers had told them about. Was the LORD really with them? He doesn’t seem to recognize the people’s role (of disobedience, doing evil in the sight of the Lord) in this present situation.

Are we sometimes blinded from the reality of how something has developed in our own lives and wonder where God is when perhaps we have done things our own way?

5.  But God is rich in mercy. We see over and over again in Scripture that He responds to those who cry out to him (in this particular study, see Judges 6:6-7). Gideon is who God raises up to answer the cry of His people.

It makes me wonder: Are the wondrous acts of God reserved for those who call upon His name? We see the Israelites cry out from their bondage in Egypt, and God raises up Moses to lead them out. We see this same thing over and over again in the book of Judges, as with Gideon. We see it in many of the smaller stories woven in Scripture. We see it in the Psalms, telling us to cry out and He answers. And much, much more. So whether we are living in obedience and calling on His name daily and in this way seeing His mighty works — or whether we need to stop and return to Him and cry out to be delivered from an area of bondage– it seems the moment we call out His name, He stands ready to deliver and demonstrate His mighty power.

6.  Though Gideon sometimes appears fearful, it doesn’t seem so much a cowardly fear as a practical or reasonable one (not that that is necessarily better, and perhaps in some ways, these fears are the same, both demonstrating a need for greater faith):

  • He’s beating out wheat in the wine press because to do it openly would cause the enemy to take it (Judges 6:11).
  • He’s told not to fear after seeing the angel of the LORD face to face (6:23) because maybe he had heard that “no one can see God and live.”
  • He takes down the altar by night because he understandably fears his father’s household and the men of the city (6:27).
  • He asks for the signs of the fleece indicating some possible anxiety and needing a confirming sign given the task he was being called to (6:36-40).
  • He goes into the enemy’s camp, as God offers, so he can know that it will be given into their hands (7:9-15), indicating again some nervousness and need for reassurance.

7.  God seems to be patient with Gideon as he makes him the mighty warrior that He called him to be.

There is much more I could write and plan to write – much more that Priscilla points out, including our identity and callings, how we live life in the routine and ordinary, things we need to let go of, etc. But at this halfway point, I just wanted to list some things that are coming together for me.

Praise God for sending His Son, Jesus Christ, our Deliverer, who has redeemed our lives, forgiven us of our sin, and given us new life in Him through faith in Jesus. May we turn to Him and call upon Him, living in light of this reality every day, looking to Him to revive us, restore us, and deliver us. He is our Mighty Deliverer and a God of abundant and full redemption. Praise Him!

God Is Not Mocked

God Is Not Mocked

Carolyn

Last week I was asked to give a short devotional at our church to a young moms group. This is what I shared in hopes to encourage moms in a way God had encouraged me.

When my children were young (about 5 and 7), I vividly remember one bad day in particular. I was homeschooling that year (1st grade and pre-K), and I can’t say I was particularly cut out for it! I’m not sure all of the things that brought me to discouragement that day, but while I stood at the gas pump filling my car with gas, I felt despair. I had just watched my friend drive by with her kids, and my kids were probably sitting in the car fussing—or perhaps somehow just resisting all the great plans I had. I began to think destructive kinds of thoughts: “What do you think you are doing? All you are trying to do—does it really matter?! Look at so-and-so. She’s such a great mom, and why can’t you just be like everyone else? Do you really think you’ve been called to do the things you’re doing?” And on and on the thoughts went through my mind—just an assault, a barrage of negative thinking—and I was in no way trying to combat it as I was very upset.

Right in the middle of these defeating thoughts, it was as though these words sliced right across my mind, interrupting my thoughts with this clear one: God is not mocked.

I was surprised by this. In the midst of my distress, not even looking for an answer, God had stopped me in my tracks and met me with this thought. I went right home and looked in my Bible concordance to see where this was. I found it in Galatians 6.

7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.

Galatians 6:7-9

Those words were the encouragement my heart needed: Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. Do not lose heart. Do not grow weary. Sow to the Spirit. Press on!

As I considered sharing this for the devotional, I went to the Good Friday service at our church. Reading through the passages in our worship folder, I couldn’t help but notice the mockery of Jesus in the Gospels. In Luke 27, we are told how the soldiers and Roman cohort stripped Jesus and put a scarlet robe on Him. They wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They kneeled down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spat on Him and beat Him on the head. After they mocked Him, they led him away to crucify Him (Matt. 27:27-31).

As He hung on the cross, those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” In this same way, the chief priests and scribes and elders were mocking Him, saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we shall believe in Him. He trusts in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He takes pleasure in Him, for He said ‘I am the Son of God'” (Luke 27:39-43).

I did a quick word study on mocked. The Greek word for mocked in Galatians 6:7 (mukterizo) is only used this one time in the entire New Testament. It means to turn up the nose, sneer at, treat with contempt.

The Greek word for mocked in the mockery of Jesus in the Gospels is empaizo. Its meaning is very similar and closely associated to the one in Galatians. This one means to mock, delude, deceive.

As I thought about this ultimate example of mockery—Jesus being mocked—I wondered how He felt at these accusations coming against Him as He knew the path He was walking—a painful one for our good, for our very salvation. Three days later, He would rise from the dead, and in the end, God was not mocked! Jesus arose triumphant having done the will of His Father. His resurrection is the very centerpiece of our faith.

It gave me perspective for those mocking thoughts and lies that can still come to my mind. We must come back at these lies with truth, with the truth of God’s living Word. He will not be mocked. As we seek Him through reading the Bible and in prayer, as we obey His will and follow Him, we can trust that as we sow in the Spirit, in due time we will reap—even if the outcome looks uncertain or even bleak. Don’t lose heart. Press on. Don’t grow weary. Patiently wait. Keep trusting God. Sow to the Spirit. Don’t believe the lies. God is not mocked.

Thoughts on Marriage

Carolyn

My thoughts this morning are about Christian marriage, those who are Christians and married, seeking to live out God’s will for their marriage and home. If you are a Christian and married or know someone who is, you likely know it can be hard. Even when two people are seeking the Lord, there are still the challenges of miscommunication, unmet expectations, and a host of other hurts that come to us in our fallen world, courtesy of our flesh, the world, and the devil.

I’m aware of some situations that seem hopeless (this from the human point of view). This is not going to improve, they think, so they tough it out, lead separate lives, or even part ways. Is there any hope?

Can we acknowledge that for most, marriage is work and requires that we invest in it? We can’t hope for those initial “feelings” of love to carry us through. Though we want something to be easy and not require much from us, isn’t it often (always?) the hard work that yields the best fruit. Our marriages take commitment in ways the world doesn’t understand.

I liken it to when we are physically sick. If we get pneumonia or some kind of bacterial infection, we see a doctor and get an antibiotic. If we become dehydrated from a violent stomach virus, we see a doctor and get an IV of fluids. If we fall and break a bone, we see a doctor and have it set. We go take care of these obvious physical ailments.

But when it’s a marriage (or any number of other spiritual things), when it’s something that can be internalized or ignored, something that’s easier to let it go than to work hard, something we think we should just accept that it is what it is and not work to cultivate it, we leave a gaping wound and walk around sick inside without getting the help and attention to the ailment that is so desperately needed. We settle for status quo.

Don’t you want to rise up against that? If I’m sick, I go to a doctor. If my marriage is ailing, why would I ignore it and let days and weeks and years pass?

It’s true – we can’t control the other person, but there are some things we can do. Those are the things I’ve been looking for in Scripture as I’ve been thinking about this as I pray for a number of marriages that I know are in need of some resurrection power.

First, go to the Scriptures. Look up the passages on marriage. See what God asks us to do as husbands and wives. Write that down. I guarantee you’ll walk away with some new realization and thoughts. God’s Word is so instructive and true. This morning I read through I Peter 3:1-6, Eph. 5:22-33, Col. 3:18-19 to see what my role is.

Second, recognize that our obedience to God, our right actions in our marriages, are not BECAUSE or IF our spouses are so worthy and deserving of this, but are actually IN SPITE OF our spouses and regardless of their behavior. Our obedience comes because we trust God and believe what He says, and we fear Him. Read that I Peter 3 passage. Wives play a role such that their unbelieving husbands might be won without a word by their conduct. They imitate Jesus who is described at the end of Chapter 2. Their quiet and gentle spirit is precious in God’s sight and demonstrates that they trust in Him, not their spouses.

Husbands are also told how to live with and honor their wives — not because their wives are acting in such a way that deserves it — but so that their prayers might not be hindered. Our actions shouldn’t be dependent on what our spouses are doing; rather, they should be regardless of what they do, in obedience to God and trusting what He says.

Third, recognize who the true enemy is. There is an enemy, but it’s not your spouse. Your spouse may be in sin and may be struggling, but the spouse is not the real enemy. The enemy is the devil. Our flesh and sin may also be involved, likely so. But the one we need to be delivered from is not our spouse, but the schemes of the evil one.

Read Exodus 14, particularly verses 13-14 – “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace [be quiet].”

Look who is doing the active work. The LORD will fight, the LORD will accomplish it. We should not fear, but should stand still and hold our peace. At the same time, remember Ephesians 6:10-18 so that you may be strong in the Lord and his mighty power and stand firm.

Fourth, pray. Have we even begun to see what God will accomplish when we cry out to Him, seek Him, ask Him, believe Him. Study verses on prayer and what we can expect. What are God’s promises to us in His Word?

You get the idea – these truths came to me this morning while reading God’s Word and praying for many friends’ marriages and my own. I know there are many other practical things we can do, such as reading good books on marriage, perhaps together with our spouse (Love and Respect by Emerson Eggerichs, The Meaning of Marriage by Tim Keller, What Did You Expect? by Paul Tripp all come to mind); talking to your spouse to come up with some goals for strengthening your marriage; praying together as a couple; and on the list goes.

Do we believe God’s Word is true? Does He indeed have for us the path of blessing and joy in this and in every circumstance? Let’s try to honor Him, believe Him, and see.

I must note here at the end: these are merely reflections as I’ve been reading this morning. I am not a counselor, a psychologist, or a theologian. I am writing about the general challenges we face in marriages, not about the extreme situations that someone may find themselves in, such as physical abuse. If that is the case, seek safety and get help, of course. Some of these principles may apply to all situations (pray, trust in God, etc.), but do take care to get professional or other help in such an extreme case. These are thoughts for the everyday challenges, but also those things that seem impossible. Let’s ask God and see what He might do.