Sunday, March 20, 2011

Streams in the desert and roads through the sea...


I've been rolling around the thought and idea of what does it really mean to have Christ with me in trial? What does it mean to say that "He is sustaining me..." through difficulty. And difficulty can come to us hundreds of different forms, so no need to exclude yourself if you think your problem is too small, or not nearly as extreme as say, a family in Japan right now.

Trial is trial, and each of us have one. SO having said that, my trials, feel really big to me, and most days I would be a mess if God was not the one sustaining me. But there is that word again, "sustain." When your world is crashing in around you and all you've known to be true about life suddenly changes, how my friends, can you be sustained in this?

To be sustained means this to, to be OK with where you are, to be "alright" amidst disaster, and peaceful amidst catastrophe, (either physically or emotionally). Not that you don't feel the pain, show the sorrow and move through the normal human process of loss or pain, but that in the midst of that, there is a thread of peace that runs through.

That is what Christ does for me. That is what Christ is for me. He meets me, where I run out. He completes the distance that cannot. He makes up the top 1/3, when I run out 2/3 of the way through. He picks up my pieces, puts them back in place, and completes my puzzle in a way that no self-help, good friend, spouse, or vacation ever could

He is the one who grabs the other end of the rope. Every time, without fail.

The other side of being sustained, is that we have to trust the method by which God sustains us. Case and Point, Egypt. The ultimate rescue. The people whom were being pursued by the most powerful Pharaoh, and here they are in a circumstances that seemed hopeless...

The human means, had run out. They were literally standing at the edge of where their strength could no longer carry them through. They were truly at the end of themselves. And here is where God stepped in and took over in a way that no man ever could, He rescued in a way that only God can. Those people had to feel so held. So cared for. SO safe.

These stories in the Bible, are not just stories my friends, they are truth of Christ, documented so that we could some 5000 years later, read it and be encouraged. God is the same yesterday today and forever, and if this is true, the same God who rescued the Israelites at the bank of the Red Sea, rescues us at the banks of our disasters. This much I know to be true. I feel every day as I look a the expanse of the great trials that face me, and I know the only reason I am OK in the midst of those, is because of He who rescues us at the place of where our strength runs dry. And so, in comes our stream in the desert. We are nourished where there is no food, and encouraged when their is seemingly no hope. This is not false sense of security, this is the truly the reality of one who walks with Christ. It is my reality, and I am so humbled by that. So thankful for that...and so wishing to share this knowledge of hope in the darkness to all who will hear.

We do not need to be dry when we live in the desert, there is a water source available to us. But the problem is is that it doesn't make sense to us in our human minds. We simply think this: we live in the desert, therefore we must be dry. God says this: You live in the desert, but you cannot think with a human mind, I overcome human solutions. I am bigger than the laws of gravity, nature and what you think is possible. I turn water into wine. I raise people from the dead, I split seas in half so people can walk through on dry ground. I do not think the way you think...I do not solve your problems, or conquer your trials with you the way that you think I should. I know more. I see it all. And I rescue in ways that no man ever could fathom. Why? Because I am God." Be still...KNOW THAT I AM GOD.

And we decide to take Him up on that knowledge and truth, we begin to feel the peace, experience the joy and live our lives in a God size way...in a God filled way. In a way that we never could, all on our own. So, today...as you asses your mountains that overwhelm you, and size up the depths of your despair, know this: God is not only there beside you, He has a solution that will grow you the most, bring Him the most glory and draw others to Christ as they watch you trust Him in the storm, in the abyss and through the fire.

As others see you allow Him to pick up where you leave off, and sustain you in your trial, they will marvel at the difference they see in you, and wonder, where oh where do you get your strength? And you can answer as I am. And Friends, He's the only good answer I've got.

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