Helpless But Not Hopeless

There are times we feel helpless, and rightfully so, in that the circumstances in life are beyond our control. As I write these words, it is -25 degrees outside. I can do nothing about the cold, and must respond to it appropriately, or face dire consequences. 

As I write these words, the family of a dear friend of mine is preparing for his memorial service. He was a loving family man who was serving our Lord in a foreign country. He was a man who valued relationships, exercised regularly, and focused on bringing the Word of God to a people who never had the Word of God. One day, after a run, he, unexpectedly, had a heart attack and died. 

The extreme cold and the unexpected heart attack indeed demonstrate our helplessness. This helplessness is not without hope. For those who live in a northern climate, the reality of cold temperatures is something for which we prepare. I spent much time during mild weather cutting wood, maintaining natural gas lines and equipment, making sure our chimneys were clean, and keeping up our cars charging systems. I made sure our portable generators were gassed up and ready, and stockpiled gasoline for the generator, snowblowers, and vehicles. 

My preparation did not make me feel less helpless. It made me feel prepared and hopeful. As I sit here today, sipping a hot cup of coffee and looking at a blazing fire in the fireplace, my home is warm and cozy.

Likewise, my friends’ family, in many ways, may, for a good reason, feel helpless today. There is nothing they can do to change a difficult situation. They did not control the day my friend was born, or the day he died. As helpless as they are, they are not hopeless, for they have clearly understood and prepared for such a day as this.  They know that their loved one is in the presence of God as he had accepted His offer of salvation. 

Every human is helpless, but no human being needs to be hopeless. 

It is a real disaster when one is both helpless and hopeless, and those who have no relationship with God continually live in such a state. Those who are without God live unprepared lives. They are unprepared for the eventual certainties of life.

To compensate, they do their best to control what they think they can control. Mostly they control their image, their public persona. In reality, though, they are frightened, alone, and afraid of being found out. They surround themselves with people who will reinforce what they think about themselves, while at the same time discrediting them, in their minds, because they know they have believed a lie. 

Their power gives them satisfaction, and they use their money, status, and position to satisfy their need to feel they're in control, not realizing that in the end, their money, status, and position will disappear, and they will be hopeless as well as helpless. 

Those who are in God’s family have hope in their Father, for He is the one who controls all the situations in life that render us helpless. The fact that we admit our helplessness and turn to Him, our Helper, allows us to be empowered, and delivers the hope of which the Godless world can only dream. 

We know that winter comes and we know that it is appointed for every person to die, and after death to face judgment. Those who prepare for such things may never “enjoy” the extreme cold or the separation of loved ones, but they will enjoy a peace that passes understanding in that they had made the necessary preparations and entrusted the only One worthy of trust. 

For now, the choice is ours.  

Conviction Contradiction

 I watched an ad for saving helpless animals, I hear a human voice talk of being the voice for those who have no voice.We are a nation that humanizes animals and  dehumanizes babies/children. Since they cannot speak up for themselves, they are being killed. 

New York passed legislation that legalizes murdering children. The voice I heard was that of the legislative body cheering because they legalized the murdering of voiceless children.

All humanity suffers from sin.  Those who claim that all are good must redefine the word good. Those who have redefined good have redefined what it is to be human, so they can eliminate, without ill conscience, the inconveniences of life and call what was once deplorable, good.

It is one thing for individuals to have no conscience, while it is quite another for institutions, that are entrusted to be our conscience, to care more about what is popular than what is right. 

Politicians speak of holding personal convictions that would not affect their political decisions, and somehow, we have found this insane idea acceptable. 

For the most part, the church was silent in Hitler’s Germany. Hitler redefined what it was to be human, and those designated less than human were expendable. 

Definitions may change how I feel about evil, but how I feel does not change the reality of sin. 

Populism is the opiate of the people.  Authority is the enemy of populism. We have normalized populism, made those who challenge popular opinions evil, and will now pay the price for our errant thought process. 

Churches, schools, elders, and politicians who remain silent to please a self-serving population fuel the fires of individualism that will eventually divide our nation in a way that is irreconcilable. 

The United State of America is a republic, and a republic demands leaders who know and love God and the people they have been entrusted to lead.  If populism becomes their driving force, the nation will splinter, as decency, morals, and life itself take on new definitions. 

Populist leaders, like Hitler, begin to care more about how they obtain and keep power than about what is right and wrong. In a strange turn, they think that whatever they need to do to gain the popular vote, or to garner popular opinion, is right for them to do.

Populist leaders use people and situations for their personal agendas. The same politicians who decry the treatment of innocent children at the border are willing to kill innocent children who are unwanted by their parents. It does not make sense, because it cannot make sense. 

In the process, we lose our soul, our stability, and our hope. 

There is a God. I am not Him.  One day I will die and remain “dead” far longer than I ever lived, and I will give an account of my life to God. 

Right and wrong, as defined by God, will be the criterion by which I am judged. 

The majority opinion is just that--the majority. It has nothing to do with right and wrong. Instead, the majority has to do with what most people think. 

Until we have evidence that a majority opinion is a criterion for absolute truth, we need to be cautious.

The cheering of the New York legislative body after the vote to legalize the killing of children is barbaric. Those who believe this is right are wrong, and no amount of cheering will ever change that fact. 

I am saddened and disappointed and am publicly stating that the decision made by the legislative body in New York is barbaric and unacceptable. No matter what the law reads, the murdering of children is unacceptable.

The Process of Pain

What causes a person to abandon God’s Word as a guide for their lives?

Perhaps the fear of man has replaced the fear of God. We are a culture that is obsessive about what others think about what we believe. Social media has bred a generation of pundits who seem obsessed with folly rather than truth. 

The Scriptures clearly state that those who follow God will go through a narrow gate and travel a narrow road. God’s followers will be pursued and persecuted while being pressured to move the broader way that is easier and more comfortable. 

This fear of man is misplaced fear, and those who embrace such thinking will one day wish they lived their lives as part of the minority who loved and followed God.

We might also abandon God due to our proximity to the thoughts, ways, and desires of the Godless.  If we develop a lifestyle in which our wealth and comfort are dependent upon the Godless, we live compromised lives to maintain our wealth and comfort. These compromises rob us of the very joy in life we have counted on them to provide. 

The fear of man rather than God starts the process that eventually becomes too complicated because of our intertwining with the Godless. Ultimately, we lose our discernment within the pile of presumptions we have created about God, His people, and the people of this world. False assumptions lead to a meaningless and hopeless existence. 

The misplaced fear, proximity to the world, and false presumptions have groomed us to live lives replete with “secret” sins. Because of our ignorance, we believe that our sin is justified as long as we are not caught or exposed to the very people we fear and have adjusted our lives to emulate. 

In the end, we are no longer a people of prayer unless the prayers are to order the god of our own making around and prove, to the people we fear, that we are significant because our prayers get results. 

Our actions are byproducts of our thinking and ideas, so if we want to see different actions, we need to adjust our thinking/ideas.

We need to start with evaluating who or what we fear, and if it is anything other than God, we must repent and adjust. Then, we must ask if we have developed a closeness to Godlessness that is more comfortable than being with the Godly. If we have a proximity problem, the solution is a change in proximity. 

Once we have thought through what we fear and with what realm we are closest, and we have adjusted ourselves, we need to ask some questions as to what we expect from God and then discover what the Scriptures say about our presumptions. As we search the Scriptures, we must be willing to allow them to expose our “secret sins,” realizing there are no secrets with God, and we should then repent.

Then our prayers lives will be genuine, vibrant, and vital to our lives. 

Processes affect results, so those who ignore the process will always feel victimized by the events in life. 

Fools in Paradise

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity; there is none who does good. Psalm 53:1 (ESV)

There is a problem with a society that abandons the Bible in that they also abandon God. Without God and His Word, there are no absolutes, and instead of dealing with right and wrong we are dealing with good and bad, and we must determine good and bad by compare and contrast.

In a "relative" world, nobody can be held accountable. Actions are justified by the masses, and leaders concentrate more on convincing the people of their agenda than being right and wrong.

In a relative world, the appearance of good is better than being right, and one is only wrong if he or she gets caught, and cannot "wiggle" out of the accusations.

In a relative world, belief replaces truth, feelings trump thought, and comfort is valued more than work. Since there is no possibility of being judged by anyone who matters, lifestyles become something we justify rather than live, and all who disagree with me are thought to be not only wrong but evil.

Hitler did not try to obey God, and he tried to persuade people. He did whatever he needed to do to gain power, and once in control, he used his authority to punish those who opposed him. 

There were those he persuaded and those he could not influence or intimidate into submission he eliminated. 

The government of the United States of America was founded on principles from God's Word. Our forefathers knew the value of absolutes and thereby could declare that all men are created equal.  Laws could be formed that had the backing of the "absolutes" found in the Scriptures, and government officials were servants entrusted with a sacred trust, not royalty who looked after their interests. 

A nation that has abandoned God's Word and God will eventually debate about issues that are explicitly taught in God's Word as if God was not clear in His communication, and thereby dismiss God from its decision-making process.

In the end, we do what Satan did, and what Hitler did, and have made all things about us. We make it so that others must answer to us for their actions, and because the belief is that there is no God, we become god or judge in all cases. 

In 2 Timothy 4, Paul tells Timothy how to teach. He says to reprove, rebuke, and exhort his pupils. To be able to reprove, rebuke, and exhort, one needs to have and know absolutes and how to apply them to life.  

Without absolutes, teaching is impossible, and teachers’ value is diminished. Schools become holding tanks rather than institutions of learning, and the educated become those who have put in the time, rather than those who have learned. 

The apostle Paul told Timothy to be patient, and he warned him to be patient and that the time would come when people would abandon truth and find leaders who told them what they wanted to hear and the people would follow them. 

Well, that time has come, and apart from going back to the Scriptures and knowing and acknowledging God and the way things were meant to be, we have no hope. 

Owners or Managers

God said to Moses, “I Am who I Am,” not “I have” or “I do.”  (Ex. 3:14). In John 8:58, Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” Once again, He did not say “I have” or “I will be” or “I do.”

God cannot be defined by something that can be gained and/or lost. 

Richard Wurmbrand reminded us that “Jesus spoke Aramaic, a dialect of the Hebrew language. Neither in Aramaic nor in Hebrew does the word “to have” exist. So Jesus never pronounced this word. Jesus never said about anything that He “had” it. Therefore He could retain perfect joy when He was undressed to be scourged, since He had never said about His clothes, “I have them.” He had never said, “I have a body.” The body that was tortured was not His. He owned nothing.” 

In essence, you cannot be separated from something you do not have. Those who own much think they control much, and they have the possibility that some day they will lose much. Those who own nothing can lose nothing, and the only way they hold onto anything is with an open hand. 

The real blessing in life is not having something, but being someone. Therefore, the real blessings in life are available to all. 

In the early church, this idea of being over-doing or having was clear.  In Acts 4:32  it says this:“Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.”

If we own nothing, all we have belongs to our Master, and we are bond slaves of the same Master, and then we act as servants, and not as owners.  

Those who have much will one day lose much, and those who have nothing will lose nothing. Those who have nothing can be content and thankful in life, for they realize that everything “they have” they manage, rather than own, and their accountability will be in how they manage.

The idea of us giving anything to God seems rather hollow in that He is in need of nothing. The idea of managing what He has given us makes sense in that He makes what we have clearly demonstrate who He is and what He is about. 

Those who own nothing but manage everything have no reason to be prideful, arrogant, or upset when circumstances change, and if we are, it demonstrates that we have yet to understand that we are not defined by our possessions, but by our Master. 

Hope

According to an article written by Donna Russell (8/20/2018), the Bible was replaced with a “Book of Faith” at an Air Force Base after atheist opposition. 

As reported by Donna, “A Bible used to sit at a Missing Man Table at an Air Force base in Wyoming. It's been replaced by a book of faith after complaints from an atheist group calling for its removal. The Bible was put there by the National League of POW/MIA Families, according to Life Site News. The League says the table is there to recognize those who might be prisoners of war or who are missing in action.  The group also told Life Site News that each element at the table serves a "symbolic purpose," noting that the Bible, in particular, is representative of how many soldiers gained strength through their faith. They say it also represented the nation's history "as one nation under God."”

A book of “generic” faith is meaningless. The only power or hope in faith lies in the object of the faith. Atheists have no hope, no power,and a bleak future at best.

Richard Wurmbrand, who suffered in prison for many years and was constantly indoctrinated by atheist Nazis and Communists, said this: “And when an atheist dies, the funeral speech assures his brokenhearted family that the dead are dead forever, that there is no comfort for the bereaved, that those separated now will never more be reunited, that there is no God and no such thing as eternal life.”

When each person does what is right in their own eyes, there is confusion, anger, and a jockeying for position that wears one out, gives no hope, and lives by the rule that might makes right. 

Why would anyone who would think logically allow an atheist to set the rules for how to recognize those who are missing in action and what they gained strength from when all obvious physical hope was lost?

People have the right to believe what they wish, but all people must realize that believing in something, no matter how sincere, does not make something true. The object of our faith matters, and if we are the object of that faith, we have little to nothing to go on. 

Jesus came to this earth, lived, died, and rose again. He never died again, and He proved that those who intended to do harm did not have the last word. It is in Him we have both the proof of God’s love and the hope of what can come to those who have placed their trust in Him. 

If I am in prison and you want to place something somewhere to know what I am doing to remain hopeful, please place a Bible somewhere, and pray to the one and only God of the universe, for He alone is worthy of our faith. My hope has a name. His name is Jesus, and without Him, there has been no hope, is no hope, and will never be hope. 

For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”Romans 10:10-15 (ESV)

Lessons from the Hummingbird

I enjoy having a hummingbird feeder outside a window that allows me to watch these fascinating creatures feed during the summer months. Towards the end of summer, they seem to feed more vigorously, causing me to refill the feeder often. 

As mid-August comes, it seems as if the birds start to fight more than they eat. There is plenty of food for all of them, and when it runs low, I refill the supply. As long as I am here, they will not run out of food in this spot. Add to that the fact that the feeder has multiple feeding stations and you would think that these beautiful birds could easily share, and that there would be harmony in the skies surrounding my home.

Yet, they seem to be thinking that this is the last meal they will have, and that there is only one feeding station. The fights can get brutal as they begin to resemble fighter planes more than cute little birds. 

I am amused by their acrobatics, and I wonder if God observes us in the same way that I am observing these birds. 

God, too, has supplied all that I would need, and has given mankind many “feeding stations”from which to draw. As long as He is around, and He will be around for eternity, those who depend on Him will be adequately supplied. 

Yet, we seem to be thinking that we, too, have limited supply, and that there is no possible way for us to enjoy what we have if others are moving into our territory.  We watch others so closely that we cannot enjoy the provision we have, and we guard our territory as if the supply is soon to be exhausted. 

God loves us and is perfectly capable of caring for us and every other person He has ever created. Those who know Him, trust Him, and are thrilled when others join them at the “feeder” that He has provided, filled, and sustains. 

According to the local bird watchers, and without any real scientific observation or reasoning,when the Labor Day holiday comes, one should stop feeding the hummingbirds so that they will start to head south for the winter. The theory continues that if I keep an adequate supply during that time of year, I might encourage them to stay too long, and see that my provision for them has caused them harm, when it was meant for good. The intent of the free food is to help them, not to harm them. (I realize that migrating birds seem to know when to go, so the local bird watchers may be wrong in their understanding of migrating animals, but, since this is a thought and not a scientific paper, we will go with it.)

As the natural food supply runs out, I let the artificial food supply run out as well.  It is difficult for me to watch the hummingbirds come to the feeder and find nothing. I can almost hear them moan and blame me, and even accuse me of not caring. I realize that these birds would eventually migrate, however, the thought of one crazy thinking bird that decides to hang out because the supply is plentiful and easy is enough to say “enough.”

God knows what we need and when we need it, and He is capable and willing to provide all that we need. He also knows what is needed during each season of life, and He will give abundantly and cease to give according to what is best for us. (No scientific reasoning is needed on this thought.)

God is older than us, smarter than us, and loves us. We can trust Him.