Tag: Patience

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!

Being Constant

Featured ~ Sowmya Gali

Colossians 3: 12 – 17

12. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13. bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Please allow me to indulge in a topic of constants in Math, Physics and/or Chemistry. Many of us who pursued advanced science in high school and later in college have certainly come across constants when solving equations. A constant is a fixed value that doesn’t change. No outside force affects its value or composition. However, when used in an equation or a chemical/physical reaction, it’s value definitely affects the result of the equation or reaction. Constants are essential as their fixed values provide a baseline or reference point for comparison and analysis.

Recently, I embarked on a long trip to take care of my aging parents. Before the trip, I spent ample time in prayer asking the Lord to strengthen me physically, protect me emotionally, secure me mentally and above all keep me steadfast spiritually. I requested my prayer partners to intercede on my behalf based on these requests. Lo and behold, I was given supernatural strength to do various tasks despite the heat and humidity. My energy levels were at a totally different level, much to my surprise. Whenever I became emotional, the Holy Spirit nudged me to remind that I should keep my emotions under check. Whenever I was mentally drained, His overwhelming peace just blanketed me. Spiritually, I seem to be relying more on the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, and learning to be alert to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Through it all, the spiritual aspect remained constant while the other three factors were in all places.

The fact that being constant in spiritual matters affects other aspects of my life in a good way but doesn’t affect my spiritual well-being in a negative way. If it is affecting, then it is time to check our spiritual thermometer. Where do we stand in our faith? Is the world affecting us or are we affecting the world? In all aspects, I, mindfully, acknowledged God, thanked Him often, spoke about His goodness and faithfulness, shared inspiring testimonies of people that I knew who walked through trials and came out successful, prayed at the drop of a hat and gave God the glory in every situation.

King David’s life is a testament of his constancy of faith in God. No matter what situation he faced, he acknowledged God. From a lowly shepherd to the throne of the kingdom of Israel, through betrayals, heartaches and losses, one thing remained constant in his life: his love for the Lord and to remain in His presence. Apostle Paul advises us to adorn ourselves with love, patience, meekness, gentleness, kindness, forgiveness and do everything in the name of Jesus. When we do that, our lives, our actions, even our demeanor reflects the love of Christ to the world around us. It is time to check if the spiritual constant is constant in our lives. Being spiritually constant reflects Christ through our lives and affects other aspects of our lives and of people around us in a positive way bringing glory to God.