I read something last week from Max Lucado that I would like to share with you:

 

Just look at the gifts He has given you: He has sent His angels to care for you, His Holy Spirit to dwell in you, His church to encourage you, and His Word to guide you. You have privileges only a fiancée could have. Anytime you speak, He listens; make a request and He responds. He will never let you be tempted too much or stumble too far. Let a tear appear on your cheek, and He is there to wipe it. Let a love sonnet appear on your lips, and He is there to hear it. As much as you want to see Him, He wants to see you more.  He is building a house for you, and with every swing of the hammer and cut of the saw, He’s dreaming of the day He carries you over the threshold.  (John 14:2–3)  “In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going there to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

 

Have you ever thought about what Jesus is really saying there?  Did you hear what Jesus is doing?  Do you realize how much Jesus loves you?  Look at what Max Lucado says prior to that verse:  “…His angels to care for you, His Holy Spirit to dwell in you, His church to encourage you, and His Word to guide you…He listens…He responds…He is there to hear it…He wants to see you more.”  Do you realize what Jesus has done for you?  Do you understand what He has promised?  Your response might be that you do understand all of that, but I really wonder sometimes if we do.  Let me give you an example of why I say that.

 

There are times when we cannot find the answers to the dilemma that we find ourselves in.  Perhaps you have been given a medical diagnosis that is not good and the future does not look to be good.  Perhaps you have a child in crisis.  Maybe it is a legal problem.  Maybe the money is not there for a serious need.  Maybe you are in a very difficult relationship with a spouse who is just impossible to live with.  Our natural instinct is to respond something like this:

 

“How did I get into this mess and what is the fastest way out?”

“How can I solve this problem as quickly as possible?”

“Why did this have to happen to me?”

“What did I do to deserve this?”

 

These are natural questions.  We have all been there.  We wonder “why me” instead of “why not me?”  Are you asking the right questions?  Read that first paragraph above and then answer these questions:  Do you really think that God has checked out on you?  Do you really think that your situation or predicament has somehow skipped by God’s attention?  No one enjoys difficulty.  None of us want a difficult life, but you know that there are times when God will allow more than you can handle.  Did you hear that?  People often say that God will never give you more than you can handle-NOT TRUE!!!  God WILL allow or give you more than you can handle, but His grace is there to carry you through.  HIS GRACE!  Not your intestinal fortitude.  Not your strength.  Not your smarts or wit or grit.  HIS GRACE!  While all of those might be natural questions that we might ask, maybe we should try asking different questions that might bring about a totally new way of looking at difficulties.  Maybe we might gain a new perspective and begin to create a different and new context for dealing with the tough times in our lives. 

 

The next time that you find yourself overwhelmed, try asking this question:  “How can God be glorified in this situation?”   Think about that for a minute.  Knowing that what you read in the first paragraph above is true about our God.  Knowing that He is in control of ALL things.  Knowing that He loves you.  Knowing that He will be glorified in ALL things.  Wouldn’t you think that He might be up to something that might include you, and Him receiving glory for Himself?  Do you remember last Sunday’s devotional when we asked the question What in the world is going on and we talked about the Israelite nation with the sea on one side, desert on the other, and the Egyptian army closing in on them?  The Israelites thought that they were doomed.  Even though the presence of God was evident in the cloud and pillar of fire, they thought that the Egyptians were either going to kill them right then and there or that they were headed back to slavery in Egypt.  Even though they had observed all that God did using the plagues in Egypt  to release them from slavery, even though they followed the presence of God in the cloud and pillar of fire, when confronted with the dilemma at hand, they asked the wrong question.  Don’t you suppose that if they had asked God the right question God might have said something like “Just watch this.”  “And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them.  But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” (Exodus 14:4)  God deliberately orchestrates the Exodus events as an occasion to demonstrate His power over both His enemies and creation. 

 

Do you remember in John 9 when Jesus’ disciples meet a man who was blind from birth and they ask Jesus how did this happen to this man?  “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”(v.2)  “How did this man get into this situation?”  “Why did it happen?”  “What did he or his parents do to deserve this?”  Look at Jesus’ response:  “Neither this man nor his parents sinned…but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” (v.3)  Did you catch that ?  He was born blind!  God planned this years before knowing that on this day this man would meet Jesus and God would be glorified.  Two chapters later in John 11 Jesus receives word that His friend Lazarus is very sick but He does not go to him immediately.  In fact, He waits two more days.  That is sort of weird isn’t it?  If you received word that a loved one is very sick wouldn’t you drop everything and do your best to get to him as quickly as possible?  Not Jesus!  Jesus said:  “This sickness will not end in death.  No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” (v.4)   When Jesus finally makes it back to His friends home He is faced with the fact that Lazarus has already been in the tomb for four days.  In addition to that, Martha says to Jesus that if He had come when they asked Him to, Lazarus would not have died.  A few minutes later Jesus is met by Mary with the very same words “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”  Where were You?  Why didn’t You come when we asked You to?  Sound familiar?  “God, where are you?”  “Do You hear me?”  “Do You even care?”  Wrong questions!!!  Someone said:  “God doesn’t waste suffering.  If He leads us into impossible spots, He will deliver us in His own time, in His own way, and for His name’s sake.”

 

Psalm 115:1 “Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to Your name be the glory, because of Your love and faithfulness.”  Matthew Henry said this:  “God sometimes raises difficulties in the way of His people, that He may have the glory of subduing them, and helping His people over them.”  There is no doubt about it that God does not always deliver us from our problems in the way that we might think best or in the way that we want Him to.  He does it His way and His way is always best, and it will always lead to worship.  Psalm 50:15 “…call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will glorify Me.” 

 

Got problems?  Make sure that you are asking the right questions!  As Christians, be careful how you respond to the affairs of this messed up world around us.  Are your responses and questions pointing people to Jesus?  Is God being glorified in the way that you act and react?