GodSprings - January 31, 2016

Trusting to Lean 

At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. Luke 10:21 (NIV)

Have you ever watched a small child transition from the infantile state of total dependence to relative independence? As he/she learns to dress themselves, brush their teeth and so on, they develop an attitude that declares, "I can do it myself!" This attitude, encouraged by parents and reinforced by a culture that prides itself on its own resourcefulness, can become a stronghold of self-reliance. And self-reliance shuts out God. 

Here the disciples were happy that they could drive out the demons heal the sick and work miracles among the people. And they knew that they were able to do all this because they did it in Jesus’ name  (10:17). But Jesus wants them to continue this faith even when things won’t be as they desire. He is on his way to take up the cross and the disciples too will have to take cross in their journey.

Many of us lose faith when life’s hard circumstances make no sense and God fails to intervene as we think He should. It’s easy to begin depending on our own best thinking when we lose heart in expecting God to answer our prayers. Trusting God, when our path in life grows muddy, is not an easy task. The mud of weariness, busyness and hurt can cause us to trip and even fall. We wonder how we will ever get up again. Faith can feel like a thread that threatens to break.

Trusting God with our lives, even when it makes no sense, is to choose to grab hold of the pearl of wisdom. We must be deliberate in choosing to cling to it. There is great wisdom and reward in depending on our God even in the silence.

Maintaining that vital connection to God is a choice. Step by step, through the fog on our pathway, we can choose to trust that God has our best interest at heart and lean on His strength to get us through our day, or we choose to shrug Him off with little expectation and lean wearily on our own understanding.

This day let us choose to Trust not like an independent child of this generation but like a dependent child of yesteryear's.

GodSprings - January 30, 2016

Decor or Devotion to God?

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15 (NIV)

One of the programs I love to watch is ‘Veedu’ which comes on Manorama News channel. Good homes and new designs fascinate me a lot. These days you can tune in and watch a multitude of television shows that focus on home improvement. Entire channels are dedicated to helping you cultivate a better home. You can watch shows that motivate you to do the home improvement yourself or programs that showcase the work of interior designers. Given our obvious obsession with home improvement, the question remains: do any of these “improvements” really improve our home?

The time had come for Joshua to give his farewell speech to the people, but before he gave them a personal challenge to improve their homes, he recounted the blessings of God. Joshua began by reminding the people of God’s great promise to Abraham to give his descendants a land of their own. Joshua described how God had provided for His people, protected His people, and fought on behalf of His people as He brought them into the Promised Land. As if to add an exclamation point to his speech, Joshua delivered his message to the people at Shechem, the very place God spoke to Abraham about the Promised Land (Gen. 12:6–7).

Joshua knew that God had been good to His people, and he was afraid they might begin to take God for granted, turn away from Him, and begin to worship other gods. Joshua sought to communicate in such a way that the people would consider the greatness of God and willingly choose to serve Him.

Joshua spoke to the people about a choice that was not to be a one-time event. Instead, he spoke of a lifelong commitment, lived out in the day-to-day choices that are made while following and serving God, just as Joshua exemplified to the people.

Today every home is faced with the same choice of whether or not to follow God and serve Him throughout day-to-day life. Joshua understood that the only way to have a godly nation would be to begin by having godly homes. Although nothing is wrong with spending time and money on home renovation, in the end, none of this kind of home improvement can compare to having a godly home.

The type of home improvement Joshua would challenge us to make would not take the do-it-yourself approach to renovation; Joshua would urge us closer to the extreme makeover style in which we allow God to completely and radically change our house from the inside out, into a godly home. After all, a godly home is not determined by decor but by devotion to God.

GodSprings - January 29, 2016

Does Truth Exist?

“What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. John 18:38 (NIV)

The last couple of days all Malayalam News channel had only one news to show. Debates and talks for more than 48 hours about just one thing – the Solar Scam. An excerpt of the news that came in the Tehelka online magazine : With the LDF in Kerala baying for his resignation on the solar panel scam, a defiant Chief Minister Oommen Chandy rejected their demand, saying it was part of a political conspiracy by the CPI-M-led opposition and if he stepped down now, he would be doing an “injustice to truth.”

“I am not a person who wants to cling to power at any cost. But, if I resign now, I will be doing injustice to truth,” Chandy, in the eye of a storm triggered by the scam, told reporters after a cabinet meeting here today.

People are eagerly waiting for the truth to be revealed. But we also need to understand that today truth has become one of the world’s most endangered species. Truth has been manipulated and mistreated, despised and distorted. However, one thing is for certain: no matter how people may treat truth, they will never succeed in its destruction.

“What is truth?” Pontius Pilate asked Jesus this famous question when the religious leaders brought Him in to stand trial. Pilate’s question was not unique; he was not the first person to raise the question, and he will not be the last. For centuries, mankind has been looking for the answer to that question. The only difference is when Pilate asked the question, he was standing face-to-face with the very answer he sought. Jesus was sent on a mission by God to answer this question. He declared, “For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth” (John 18:37). Jesus spent His life bearing witness to the truth about God, sin, heaven and hell, love, life and death. His entire life was a testament to the truth about all that mankind ever needs to know.

When we come face-to-face with the truth of Jesus Christ and the Bible, how do we respond? Do we sarcastically sneer at the truth like Pontius Pilate? Or, do we receive Christ’s testimony about truth? One day we all will stand face-to-face with Jesus. How we respond to His declarations of what the truth really is will determine our eternal destiny.

Let us not choose to be indifferent like Pontius Pilate but on the contrary accept and obey the truth given to us by God in Christ, or be ready to accept the consequences for rejecting that truth.

GodSprings - January 28, 2016

Where Do I Turn?

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise — in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? Psalm 56:3-4 (NIV)

“In God we trust” have been a source of encouragement to many weary souls over the centuries. Interestingly they were adopted as the official motto of the United States in 1956. The phrase, “In God we trust” has appeared on U.S. coins since 1864 and on paper currency since 1957. Ironically, where do we place our trust in these days?

Psalm 56 was written by King David in the context of threat and perceivable danger.I Samuel 21, 22 give us the historical background. Here we read of a hero who once faced and killed the giant from Gath, single handedly. After several years he found himself running for his dear life because his father in law was trying to kill him. He came to the city of Gath where he was seized by the Philistines and brought before King Achish. You might remember this story, “where David acted insane before the King and was eventually driven out from his presence. From Gath he went and hid himself in a cave called Adullam. In that cave David, did not feel like a hero any more, in fact he was a zero, a nobody. In that dark place he felt humiliated, crushed, and alone in other words he was at rock bottom. There in that despondent situation he wrote Psalm 34 and Psalm 56.

David openly acknowledges that the things some people do can cause us to walk in fear.  People can say and do hurtful things to us and to the ones we love. Fear is a reality we all have to deal with at one time or another. It is not a weakness we have, it is an element that arises from the fact that we live in a fallen and sinful world. It only becomes a problem, for a believer, when it begins to be the most compelling factor in our walk, causing us to respond more to the fear than to the Lord who indwells us and promises us He will take care of us and protect us.

David teaches us how to deal with fear, not how to avoid it. We deal with it by choosing to trust in God, by praising His name and His word. David knew when he was afraid where to turn and who to trust. He turned to God’s word and he put his trust in God. Where did he get that confidence from? Has it happened over night or has he learned to trust in God from a very young age? Is it possible for us to place our trust in God in the age of science and technology?

From the beginning David knew where to turn when in fear. As a young boy when David faced the giant he said, “You come to me with a sword, a spear and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted?” David exhibited unwavering confidence in God. If such a confidence in God resides in us, flows through us, what can any mere man/woman do to us?

GodSprings - January 27, 2016

Do I Trust the Bigger Plans?

The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west..... Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.” So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord. Genesis 13:14-18 (NIV)

Several years ago, Carl Reiner (American actor, director, producer, and writer of comedy) and Mel Brooks did a comedy skit called the "2013 Year Old Man". In the skit, Reiner interviews Brooks, who is the old gentleman. At one point, Reiner asks the old man, "Did you always believe in the Lord?" Brooks replied: "No. We had a guy in our village named Phil, and for a time we worshiped him." Reiner: You worshiped a guy named Phil? Why? Brooks: Because he was big, and mean, and he could break you in two with his bare hands! Reiner: Did you have prayers? Brooks: Yes, would you like to hear one? O Phil, please don't be mean, and hurt us, or break us in two with your bare hands. Reiner: So when did you stop worshiping the Lord? Brooks: Well, one day a big thunderstorm came up, and a lightning bolt hit Phil. We gathered around and saw that he was dead. Then we said to one another, "There's somthin' bigger than Phil!"

The Lord reiterates His promises to Abraham, only this time with a greater magnitude. It’s inspiring to see Abraham get such a powerful and direct promise from God. But for anyone who knows how the rest of the story goes, it’s also incredibly frustrating. Abraham had to wait decades until his son Isaac was born. And of all the land he was promised, he only ends up legally owning a fraction of one percent of it by his death – for which he was probably overcharged.

Anyone reading this story with an honest heart has to ask the question, Why is God so slow, or bad, at keeping His promises? It’s not a subject we like to address, but it’s one every one of us as Christians will face in our lives…when will God step in and do something?

If the story of Abraham reminds us of any truth, it’s that God’s plans are always incomprehensibly larger than our own. God didn’t make promises to Abraham because He just wanted to help the guy out. God brought Abraham into an extraordinary epic, the salvation of mankind.

God’s promises to the single man of Abraham were meant to bring about much more than Abraham could ever imagine – descendants that grew into the nation of Israel, the Israelite who birthed the Son of God, and the Christ who died, and will return for his bride, the Church.

God cares for us intimately, but is never thinking of only us. His plans are always bigger than us, and that is for our ultimate good.