Category: Practical Apps

At the Crossroads

Featured ~ Sowmya Gali

Job 23: 8 – 14

“Behold, I go forward but He is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive Him; When He acts on the left, I cannot behold Him; He turns to the right, I cannot see Him. But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to His path; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than any necessary food. But He is unique and who can turn Him? And what His soul desires, that He does. For He performs what is appointed for me, and many such decrees are with Him.

Job found himself at the crossroads of life. Until now he thought he was right in the sight of God. He diligently followed the Lord, ensuring there was no sin in him and in his family, and offering sacrifices just in case he or one of his family members sinned in their thoughts. And yet, he found himself in a quagmire from which there seems to be no way out. He recollected if there was something in his past that could have brought about these trials in his life but to his dismay there was nothing. He was willing to seek the Lord’s forgiveness for any sin in his life but God brought nothing against him. His companions reasoning also brought to naught. Job was desperate to know why God allowed such hardships.

Job knew His God. He knew the commandments of the Lord. He knew what displeased Him and what brought pleasure. And yet he found that He could not perceive his God whichever way he turned. Many of us go through life knowing that we are on the right side of God. Diligently obeying His commands, living a righteous life, busy about God’s Kingdom and yet we find ourselves at life’s crossroads. We try to analyze what went wrong and start blaming God for all the wrong going in our lives.

While bemoaning his situation, Job was confident that his God knew which direction he was headed and confessed confidently that God will bring him out as pure gold after testing him. Job was not only confident of his own faith in God but also in God’s faithfulness towards him. He was confident that no matter what situation he was going through, God will direct his paths. Furthermore, he was confident that God will fulfill every promise. Such was Job’s faith in God.

Many of us go through situations where our faith is tested. We first try to reason just like Job if God has turned against us. Then we try to see if there was some unconfessed sin in our lives that is causing the trouble. We seek again Lord’s forgiveness even though He has already forgiven and forgotten. We remind God of our past sins when He has already forgotten. Still when our situation doesn’t improve, we come to terms that it is a trial that God is allowing and we should face that challenge with boldness. In all this, we have focused on ourselves more than focusing on God. ‘What did I do?’ ‘Why did it happen to me?’ ‘What should I do?’ ‘I did everything right.’

Maybe it is time we shift our focus from ourselves, our situations and focus on Him. Just as Job realized that God has the prerogative to do with us what He wants, we too must realize that we are His creation. Our Creator has every right to do what He pleases with us. The clay has no right to question the Potter. We are in His safe hands. The Master has the authority to fashion us according to His purposes. We just must trust Him.

Let us then abandon our confusion at the crossroads. Let us return to Him who is sovereign over everything. Let us harken to the words of Jesus: “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in Him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15: 5) Let us enter in to His rest and allow Him to become the true joy of our lives. When we are confident in Him who is able, then no storm, no trial, no disease, no mountain, etc., can shake us. His confidence becomes ours. God was confident of Job’s faithfulness and knew that he will come out as gold. That is why God boasted about Job’s faith before Satan even before his trials started. Dearly beloved, let us become confident of His faithfulness. No matter the depths of our anguish, our Lord will carry us through. Such is His love for us!

Inside Enemy’s Gates

~ Sowmya Gali

2 Chronicles 26: 3 – 6

Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jechiliah of Jerusalem.

He did right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father Amaziah had done.

He continued to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding through the vision of God; and as long as he sought the Lord, God prospered him.

Now he went out and warred against the Philistines, and broke down the wall of Gath and the wall of Jabneh and the wall of Ashdod; and he built cities in the area of Ashdod and among the Philistines.

Soccer is one of the popular games played around the world. The two teams comprise of both offense and defense players. If one of the team’s offenses is stronger, then they are capable of ploughing through any of the defenses of the opposite team and score a goal. If the defense is stronger, then they may be able to keep the opposite team from breaking through their defenses and stopping them from scoring a goal. If both offense and defense are stronger, then that is a winning team.

King Uzziah was a winning king. He was a young teenager when the responsibility of leading the nation of Judah was laid upon his shoulders. However, he sought the Lord and the Lord directed his steps. He did everything that was right in the sight of the Lord. And God prospered him in all aspects. God provided wisdom through Zechariah the prophet. Through out his reign, the enemies of Judah paid tribute to King Uzziah. He had an elite army who could wage war with great power.

Historically, other nations attacked Israel and Judah. They always were on the defense. In many instances, they cried to God and He supernaturally protected them while routing out the enemies. The only time that the nation was on the offensive mode was when they came out of Egypt and claimed the Promised Land. Once the boundaries were established, and peace and prosperity prevailed, the enemy sought to destroy. Israel, for the most part of its history, has been defending its territory and protecting its borders.

In the story of Uzziah, one thing strongly stands out. He followed God whole heartedly. He ensured the nation followed the Lord. Once his own country was stronger, he had the courage and confidence to war against the Philistines. In this instance, King Uzziah went on the offense. He went into the Philistine territory and conquered them. He not only broke down their walls but he built cities inside the enemy territory. Building cities means fortifying them securely and establishing your presence there. Historically, we know that the Philistines have always been the offender. They constantly provoked Israel for war.

How did Uzziah manage to not only conquer the Philistines but build fortified cities inside their territory? He certainly went with the power of the Lord. He had confidence that his God would protect him and prosper him. In ancient days, when one nation conquered another and subdued its rulers and people, the first thing the conqueror did was to bring in their gods. They would build a shrine and offer thanks to their gods in the presence of their enemy, taunting them that the gods of the conqueror were powerful. King Uzziah did that exactly. He rubbed it in the face of the Philistines that his God was so much more superior than the gods of the Philistines by building cities inside their territory.

Hebrews 6: 1

Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

Only mature Christians know how to be on the offense. Once their foundation is secure, they are ready to conquer. We are called to not only be defenders of faith but go out and preach the Gospel of Christ to the world. When we are on the offense, the enemy will surrender. When an enemy surrenders, we can fortify the enemy’s territory with the Gospel. When we have fortified inside the enemy’s gates, we have won the ultimate battle.

Dear Saint of God, let us mature from the elementary teaching about Christ. Let us equip ourselves to be on the offense. The enemy always plays dirty and tries to sneak in. Instead of being on the defense, let us pick up our weapon of offense – the Word of God in our hands (Ephesians 6: 17) and start to be on the offense. We are equipped and empowered from above by the Holy Spirit to enter into enemy’s territory, smash to pieces their strongholds and fortify their hearts with the Gospel. Many of us have people in our lives battling mental issues, addictions, anxieties, etc. Many of us know of people who are refusing to believe in Jesus. Many of us have people in our lives who are sailing in two boats. Many of us know of someone who is in despair.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, let us break through their defenses, fortify them with the Gospel and establish the Word of God in their hearts. Only through the power of Christ, only by His name, we can conquer every stronghold. Jesus Christ has given us authority to do just that. We must remember when we go out into the battle field, we are not fighting against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of wickedness (Ephesians 6: 12). Not only we must conquer the enemy, we must fortify their strongholds with the Gospel. Only then we have won. Only then we have fulfilled our mission. May our Lord of Hosts strengthen us and equip us as we march on the offense.