Change the Situation or Change Me?

“God, help me lose this weight.” Is this your prayer? “God,
change my husband.” Maybe that’s your prayer. “Jesus, make those noisy
neighbors move, please!” I prayed that one for a few years. 

Last night at a small group prayer time, someone said, “I’m
learning to ask God what he wants to teach me instead of just asking him to
change the situation.”

We’re allowed, aren’t we, to ask for his solutions to
our problems. He invites us, in Philippians 4, to “present our requests” to
God. However, he also wants the personality growth that shows itself in the
fruit of the Spirit. He expects us to pray for that growth toward the image of
his son. Those fruits include, among others, peace, patience, and kindness. 

If we eat too much, in addition to God’s solutions for our overeating,
we can ask for patience with ourselves. Living with a difficult husband, we can
ask not only for God to change him but also for kindness toward him. I could
have asked for more peace, while also asking for my noisy neighbors to move . 

We want simple solutions that don’t require us to change. Romans 8:29 says God wants to conform us to
the likeness of his son. Sometimes God can accomplish that purpose by changing
the situation. Many times, though, we need to change. 

Jesus, make us willing to change.

Unshakable Hope

 
In these days of global warming, verses from Hebrews often
come to mind: 

At that time his voice shook the
earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but
also the heavens.” The words “once more”
indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that
what cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, since we are receiving a
kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God
acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” Heb. 12:26-29 NIV

The fearful prospect of broad and far-reaching ecological
catastrophe helps me remember where our unshakable hope is. God has blessed our
food supply chain in this country. Our ultimate hope, though, cannot be in the farmers
who grow wheat, nor the bakers who bake bread, nor the truckers who deliver the
loaves to our local grocery stores. Our hope is in the God who provides. 

When the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness those forty years, God himself fed them, with a kind
of grain that fell from heaven, every day, in the quantity they needed. Beyond
the food supply systems that God has helped us develop, our hope is in God,
himself. May we never arrive at such wilderness. If, however, we find ourselves
in a time of shaking, may we rest in the arms of the unshakable one.
 
Jesus, you are the stability of our times.

A Clean Life

My friend Judy keeps a clean house filled with carefully
chosen paintings and crafts, including her own art quilts. One day, as I stood
in her white kitchen overlooking her backyard flowers, I noticed her spotless
refrigerator as she opened the door to get ham for our lunch. “How do you keep
your refrigerator so clean?” That morning, I’d cleaned half a dozen spots of
dust and spilled food on mine.

Setting the lunchmeat on the counter, she said, “I wipe it
down every day.”

“Oh, every day?” I didn’t say it, but I thought, whether it
needs it or not
. That’s the secret of maintenance, isn’t it? A schedule. We
have a plan for preventative maintenance. Rather than reacting to the spots on
the refrigerator as I see them, I could decide to start wiping it down every
day when I cooked dinner. If I wanted a spotless refrigerator, I needed a different plan. 

I enjoy the cleanliness in Judy’s house, but not enough to
adopt her plans. But it’s a lesson to me about a clean life. I need to read the
Word, converse with Papa-God, and take time to meditate on his goodness. I must
plan, everyday, to walk humbly beside him. A clean life requires maintenance. 

While I like clean appliances, I love a clean life. Don’t
you? Isn’t it wonderful when we feel in touch with God’s mercy; when we notice
his everyday provision; when we feel his love because we have spent years
soaking in his Word? If that’s never
been your experience, don’t wait for him to point out the spots. Make a plan to
maintain a humble walk with him and ask him for grace to walk the plan. 

Papa, please strengthen our desire for a clean, humble life.