Scripture

And those who know your name put their trust in You, for You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.

~Psalm 9:10, NRSV

Quote

What the Father is asking of you is not supposed to be easy. If trusting Christ with your life was easy, everyone would do it.

~Charles Stanley

In some ways, maintaining our faith is Christ is the most difficult challenge we face because it means turning away from every natural instinct we have. Following Christ means we deny our instinctive urge to control our life; to be in charge so to speak and to see empirical evidence that our faith in Christ is productive. I was reading in Isaiah 5 yesterday and I came across this verse {Isaiah 5:19} in reference to the wicked…They even mock God and say, “Hurry up and do something! We want to see what you can do. Let the Holy One of Israel carry out his plan, for we want to know what it is.” What they were saying is not that uncommon, it was the attitude of their heart that made it so bad. They were not speaking in sincerity, but is sarcasm. Yet I was convicted because I am guilty of wanting God to hurry up and do something. I do want to see Him work and I readily confess, I do not know what He is up to. Why did He allow the dems to steal and election? Why is He allowing Russia to invade the Ukraine? In is not easy to trust God when evil abounds and there is no evidence of conviction; not even in our churches.

When I opened Stanley devotional yesterday morning and read the scripture…this is what I read…And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have forsaken those who seek you. I was startled and a shock wave of fear course through my body. I thought, “What on earth?” So I looked down and read it again but this time slower. I did not see the NOT in the first reading. WOW, how big is the little three letter word NOT. The LORD does not forsake those who seek Him. I’ve been listening to John MacArthur’s lecture on the PROBLEM OF EVIL. He is a brilliant man and a scholar for certain but he is arrogant and condescending. Immediately, I compared him to Charles Stanley who is humble and very sympathetic. Stanley, like myself, believes that God loves all people, whereas MacArthur believes God only loves the elect and he created everyone else for a huge bond fire that will bring Him glory. I have a huge problem with this calvinistic view and I don’t see this attitude in Jesus who wept over all of Jerusalem. If I ask you to describe Jesus, what adjective would you use first. I think it would be humility. I see that humility in Stanley and I see it in my own son but I do not see any humility in John MacArthur. Matter of fact, I have yet to meet an humble calvinist.

Would I like to have MacArthur’s intellect? Perhaps but I had rather have humility. MacArthur enlightens me but he does not edify me. I will continue to listen to him and learn but if I want encouragement, I will go to someone like Charles Stanley. I think it was Joe David who told the story about the church that had a picture of Jesus several feet behind the pulpit. The pastor, who was a large man, would stand in front of the picture and obscuring it from much of the audience. A little boy, reached over and whispered to him mom, “Who is that man who is keeping us from seeing Jesus?” Pertinent question: are they seeing us or Jesus? Are they seeing humility or pride?

Extra

June has to get a shot in Huntsville today and so we make this our shopping day. We don’t go to Huntsville any more than we have to. Lexi and Stonewall Jackson are going with us. The little rounder weights 11 pounds. He is eating 10 ounces of cereal a day. Big Mama is afraid he is going to get too heavy for her to lift. He is already a mama’s baby. If you look up helicopter Mom, Lexi’s picture should be there.

Have a great day!