Mikki's Blog - Living in the Grace and Love of God » God encounters

Mercies in Disguise: Finding God in Your Trials

Mikki — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:14:57 +0000

Seasons of trials and troubles, pain and suffering, disappointments and dying dreams can leave all of us with more questions than answers. We find ourselves unable to box our theological answers as neatly as before. We wrestle with questions like, “Where are you, God?” “Why have you deserted me?” “Are you real, God?” In our trials, we reach for our false strengths and we find that they were only illusions.

My greatest trials thus far lie just behind me. I can still see them in the rear view mirror. And yet, I move forward looking unto the road before me.

As Laura Story so beautifully sings in her song, Blessings, I have found blessings in the raindrops, healing in the tears, God’s presence in my sleepless nights. Somehow, in the ways that only God can, my trials have brought me God’s mercies in disguise.

I don’t like it. In fact, I hate it, this process where God allows us to be stripped of our defenses and our facades. I hate the process and cherish the result.

And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And…the man touched the hollow of his thigh. Genesis 32:24-25

God met Jacob when he was alone. All of Jacob’s assets were of no good to him when he met God one on one. There was no one or no thing for Jacob to rely on that night. And maybe for the first time in his life, he didn’t run. He stayed, he wrestled. And God blessed him by wounding him.

Forevermore Jacob had a change of identity. He would no longer be identified with his false identity. He would now be, "Israel", He had stayed in the battle and not run away. He had prevailed.

He was now marked by his encounter, his wounding.

For Jacob, now Israel, the wound would forever be with him to remind him that he had encountered God. He was blessed. He was forgiven. He had found his true identity and could leave his past behind…except for that limp.

He could never take a step without his limp.

God’s strength would be shown in Jacob’s weakness.

Our God encounters have a way of showing us the eternal perspective of all we use to give us value in false ways. Whether money or beauty or influence, it can all be lost in an instant and suddenly one finds that the only things of value in this world is that which has been touched by God.

Our most transforming wrestling matches are between our own fleshly strengths and God’s supernatural strength. We will always lose, and yet, in losing, we win.

We become marked and there is no shame in the limp because it anchors us to the true hope we can only find in God.

Take a moment and listen to Laura’s song and ask yourself if there are blessings in your raindrops, healing in your tears, the nearness of God in your sleepless nights, and God’s mercy disguised in your trials.

Mercies in Disguise: Finding God in Your Trials

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Why God Asks Questions

Mikki — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 12:53:27 +0000

What is the last question God asked you? On first impulse, you might say, “God doesn’t ask questions; He knows everything.” And that He does, however God is a master question-asker. What kind of questions does He ask and what is the purpose of His questioning?

SOME OCCASIONS GOD ASKED QUESTIONS

God asked Adam, “Where are you? Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree?”

God asked Eve, “What have you done?”

When Cain murdered Abel, God asked, “What have you done?”

God asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Is anything too hard for the LORD?”

GOD’S PURPOSE IN ASKING A QUESTION

The questions of God are laden with purpose…targeted…cutting…they reveal our heart.

They are not simple requests for information but divide between our soul and spirit and reveal the thoughts and intents of our heart. As Hebrews 4 tells us, we are naked before God. He knows all about us.

He understands us.

Yet we often do not know our own hearts. We have difficulty sorting out the depths of our motives so God comes with His questions and lays us open before Him. This “laying open” is not done to condemn us, but to strengthen us, restore us, convict us, and heal us.

ELIJAH, WHY ARE YOU HERE?

Elijah was a great prophet of God. He was courageous and powerful. His life exemplified one who walked in signs and wonders.

Elijah was also human. After a great spiritual victory, he ran into wilderness to hide and lick his wounds after Jezebel threatened him. We find him feeling quite sorry for himself (1 Kings 19) as he sat under a juniper tree.

As a human, Elijah was tired. His body was exhausted after great spiritual battle. His emotions were depleted.

God ministered to Elijah in his humanity. He sent an angel to touch him, to provide food and drink for him. God strengthened him, all the while knowing that Elijah would continue his escape into the wilderness until he eventually ended up in a cave.

YOU CAN’T HIDE FROM GOD AND HIS QUESTIONS

I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a literal cave, but I have on several occasions.

On one particular cave tour, a fellow tourist, a teenager nonetheless, thought it would be quite fun to unplug the underground lighting system. I found myself teetering on a set of metal steps, transitioning from one level of the cave to another, in complete and utter darkness. I promised God that if He would get me out of that cave, I would never be so foolish again.

However, my boys love caves and I have since relented of my vow and tredged the underground world again. I still don’t like it. Caves make me feel especially vulnerable, as if I could be cut off from humanity any second and left to die.

Elijah chooses to escape into a cave. It’s dark, secluded, quiet, hidden.

God comes to him calling him by name, just as He came to Adam and Eve. There is nowhere we can hide from His presence.

And God asked, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Translated into current vernacular, “What the heck do you think you are doing, Elijah? Do you think you can hide from Me?”

Beautifully, God pursues this man He loves. He has fed him, touched him, and now he asks a question.

Of course, God knew what Elijah was doing. He was running. He was hiding. He was feeling sorry for himself.

GOD’S QUESTIONS ARE INVITATIONS TO US

God invites Elijah to speak. Relationship with God is more than just our listening to him. God invites us to share our hearts, to speak, to engage Him, the God of all creation.

So Elijah answered. “God, I hope you realize that I have been a really great servant of yours. I have been your point person. I have done what no one else would do and just in case you have not noticed, I am all you’ve got left and now the enemy is trying to kill me. It looks to me like You’re not doing a very good job taking care of me, God.” (loosely translated J)

God’s question was not simply about where Elijah was physically. It was about revealing Elijah’s false beliefs (i.e., God has abandoned me, etc.) It was about exposing Elijah’s woundedness and his weakness.

God then re-commissioned Elijah, gave him directions for the next phase of his life, reassured him that he was not alone, and sent him back into God’s service.

HAS GOD ASKED YOU A QUESTION LATELY?

So what’s the last question God has asked you?

What is it in your heart that God is trying to get to?

Is it past woundedness that He wants to heal?

Is it sin that needs confessing and forsaking?

Is it weakness that needs God’s grace and strength?

What is your answer to God? Will you agree with Him on the truth about your heart?

If you will, He will do what He did for Elijah. He will speak to you in ways that restore, heal, and give direction.

Why God Asks Questions

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Jesus, the Healer of Broken Hearts

Mikki — Thu, 13 May 2010 14:54:29 +0000

If we believe that God is purposeful in His actions, then how significant is the fact that the first words of the first message Jesus preached were, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because … He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted…”? (Luke 4:18-19)

Jesus came to heal broken hearts and not only as a side benefit; it’s one of his life purposes! That’s good news because all of us who are in this world have experienced the pain of having our hearts broken in one way or another. If we look at the life of Jesus in the Gospels, we find that he moves throughout his days interacting with humanity and healing broken hearts. That healing takes many expressions. Today I want to look at how Jesus healed the heart of a woman as recorded in John 4 and what that healing means for us now.

Let’s take a look at the story.

Jesus was exhausted from his long trip. He had gone to the city well to get a drink of water. However, what followed was not a chance happening at all because we are told that Jesus “needed” to go through the region of Samaria; he was compelled to do so.

Jews did not have anything to do with Samaritans in those days. Samaritans were considered half-breeds and unclean by Jewish tradition. Yet Jesus, a Jew, chose to go through the middle of Samaria instead of making the usual trip around the area as most Jews did in order to avoid the Samaritans.

Jesus encountered a Samaritan woman at the well. He broke cultural and religious rules by speaking to her. Men didn’t speak to women in public in those days and a Jewish man certainly would not speak to a Samaritan woman. What transpired changed her life.

Jesus navigated through the woman’s resistance and avoidance and brought up a major issue of her life, not to condemn her, but in order to heal her. Jesus spelled out that she had had five husbands and was now living with a sixth man. The Samaritan woman yet again tried to avoid her heart issues, but Jesus persisted. He revealed Himself to her as the “Christ”.

He first encountered her in his humanity, a man who was thirsty and tired. He bridged cultural and religious differences in order to “do the will of Him who sent me” (vs. 34). He confronted her avoidance and resistance, bringing her life story into the light and then offering her “living water”. In essence, Jesus communicated to her that there was nothing about her that would prevent her from having a relationship with God; not her religious background, her cultural background, nor her personal history.

Although the story doesn’t specifically tell us, I believe the woman took Jesus’ offer. Amazingly, we see her leading many to believe in Jesus because of her “testimony” – There is a man who knows all about me and didn’t reject me; he gave me life-giving water.

He healed her heart. Jesus dealt with her shame. He dealt with her guilt. He cut through the religious, cultural traps and did the will of God, offering healing to the broken hearted.

He is still the same today. He is offering life and healing to all the thirsty, empty, broken-hearted.

Do you need his healing? Allow your resistance and avoidance to fall away. Lay down any religious, cultural, or matters of personal history which you believe disqualify you from knowing God and/or receiving His healing for your heart. Allow Jesus to move you past your shame and guilt and into the living waters.

He desires to purposefully encounter your heart right now. Your heart is important to him. Your heart and my heart were the hearts he was talking about when he said he had come to heal the broken-hearted.

Are you spiritually thirsty? Jesus freely offers living water. Drink deeply of the rivers of this living water for its flow will heal the broken places in your heart.

And may the Church represent Jesus well and offer the same to all today: healing, regardless of personal history, cultural background, or religious beliefs. When we do, we will find that his living water refreshes and restores and testimonies of his grace will lead others to him as well.

Jesus, the Healer of Broken Hearts

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