Category Archives: God’s character

Sticking With It

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Moody Christmaas concertEvery December I have bulldog determination to do one thing: attend a Christmas concert with a big choir and a full orchestra. Thankfully opportunities abound, and last weekend I was privileged to be at Moody Church to hear an extravaganza of glorious music, everything from “Let it snow!” to the “Hallelujah Chorus.”

We found seats in the balcony, front row, looking straight down on the violin section of the orchestra. Watching those musicians play with vigor made me wish I hadn’t given up violin lessons when I was 13.

ViolinsWhat joy it would have been to play in such a group, but my orchestra experience will always be limited to the one I had in junior high school. Though I never made it to the first violin section, playing in that assortment of “newbies” was still a special pleasure.

Sadly, I stuck with violin lessons for only 2 years and didn’t even learn how to wiggle my fingers into a vibrato. My teacher was as irritated with me as I was with him, probably because every week I pestered him to let me do the wiggling thing. “You’ve got to get better at the basics first!” he’d say, completely exasperated with me.

When it was time to begin my 3rd year of lessons, I told Mom I didn’t want to continue. After too many arguments over skimpy practice time, she was happy to comply, and she sold my violin within a week, a sure sign she’d been as frustrated as I had.

Most adults have a music-regret to match mine. After we begged our parents for weeks, they finally gave in and generously provided funds, transportation, time, and an instrument. We began with gusto, but not long into the commitment, enthusiasm was replaced with practice battles. Eventually the option to quit became everybody’s first choice, though parents didn’t let us give up without a lecture and one last jab: “You’ll be sorry!”

Listening to those violinists at Moody Church, I knew they’d been right.

But middle school kids are still learning accountability for their actions and make lots of mistakes. We older folk know by harsh experience that quitting when commitments get tough becomes an unattractive character trait we’d rather not have. No one wants to be known as a quitter. It’s better to be someone who does what she says she’s going to do.

Violin ornament.God is the ultimate pro at this, doing everything he says he will, and since he’s God, that covers millions of pronouncements, promises, and predictions. If we want to be more like him, we need to practice keeping our commitments. When we feel like quitting, we should ask him for fresh perseverance, because he’s promised to help us cope.

And he keeps all of his promises.

“Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)

As I see it…

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When the parents of my grandchildren text me the unusual comments their little ones make, it’s total entertainment. Their creative thinking is often “way out there,” but we get a wide-open window into what’s on their minds.

Simply Micah.This weekend Linnea wrote from Florida about what was on the mind of 3-year-old Micah:

“We were all cuddled up on the bed reading the Children’s Bible, the story of Jesus raising the little girl back to life. We were talking about how powerful Jesus is and that God is the only one who can do miracles. Micah looked up at me with a big smile and sweetly said, ‘Mommy, I want to be God’.”

Although Linnea began laughing, Micah was ready with his reason: “I just want to be in charge of everything.”

Linnea wrote, “He was very matter-of-fact about it, with his big blue eyes and freckly face.” The only thing she could do was accept his honesty at face value. He hadn’t made his assertion with a shred of pride or greed, just 3-year-old logic. Who wouldn’t want to have all the power and do all the miracles?

The sad truth is, 3-year-olds aren’t the only ones who want to be God, because oftentimes adults do, too. We wouldn’t come right out and say it like Micah did or even think it like that, but whenever we choose our own way over God’s, that’s what’s behind it.

Sometimes in our efforts to develop a spiritual side or to live biblically, we give ourselves credit for not wanting to be God, picturing ourselves bowed low in front of him, submitted and humbled. But then we turn and leave his presence with a passion to “do our own thing.” Suddenly we’ve put our agenda atop his, and there we are, playing God again.

The fact that we even have “our own thing” at all puts us in opposition to the Lord. “Our thing” ought only to be whatever “his thing” is for us, even though it may take a lifetime of roping ourselves in before we can fully cooperate with that.

DreamingThe more we learn about God, the greater the discrepancy between who he is and who we are. There’s no comparison, and it does a world of good for our relationship with him, if we remind ourselves of that now and then. Though 3-year-old Micah still innocently dreams of wanting to be God, my 68-year-old self just better not.

“I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure’.” (Isaiah 46:9-10)

Failing and Falling

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In the last 48 hours wild winds and rains whipped through our neighborhood causing umbrellas to flip inside-out and autumn pumpkins to roll off porch steps. Inside the house we could hear Lake Michigan roaring, even though the windows were buttoned up tight.

Caught.Stray tree limbs flew everywhere, and in our back yard a tall, pole-like tree went down, though not all the way. It fell into the “arms” of a nearby tree instead.

The visual of this partially-fallen tree reminded me of a popular expression: “If you fall, I’ll be your soft place to land.” In other words, you’ll go down, but you won’t have a crash landing.

That’s what happened to the tree, and for those of us who are Christians, that’s what happens when God offers himself as our soft place to land.

Black JackA few months ago I turned around in a dark room and didn’t notice my big black dog Jack lying on the dark-colored carpet. As I stumbled over him, I felt myself going down, unable to catch myself. I hit the floor with such a loud crash that my children came running. It was a hard landing for sure, though no permanent damage was done. If only someone had caught me, even just a few inches above the hard landing, the result would have been quite different.

And that’s what God does for us.

We may be on a fast fall toward disaster and might even be the cause for the whole mess by our own bad decisions, but still he’s willing to catch us. It may not always feel that way as we’re going down, though. During a circumstantial fall, we look for his rescue and wonder where he is. “What’s keeping him?” we say. “Why doesn’t he do something?”

He’s well aware, but often lets us learn the hard way, because that’s when the lessons stick best. As Pastor Erwin Lutzer says, failure is frequently the back door to success. So we feel ourselves falling, failing, dreading the hard landing of horrendous circumstances, and we brace for impact. Then when it doesn’t come, at least not as severely as we thought it would, we wonder what happened.

That is God’s catch.

One of the big reasons he lets us fall/fail is so we’ll recognize our need for him. If we continually succeed at everything we try, we’re much less likely to reach out to a Savior. Recognizing our own need is an important prerequisite for being able to rest in the Lord after he catches us.

When I look out my window and see that partially-fallen tree, I wonder if spring will find it continuing to grow, despite resting on the other tree. After all, it didn’t crash all the way to the ground but found a soft place to land.

“I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness.” (1 Chronicles 29:17)