“The Girl Scout cookie drive, one of the world’s greatest sales campaigns [grossing well over $700 million], resumes Jan. 31 with a sweet new twist,” writes Peter Rowe of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

“In previous years, Scouts took orders, but the baked and frosted goods weren’t delivered until up to a month later. This year, the Scouts will take your order, reach into a well-stocked backpack or wagon and – bam! – instantly hand over your Do-Si-Dos. . . Like a rotary-dial telephone in our iPhone world [the order forms] will be old-fashioned exceptions to an up-to-date rule.”

“Cookies Now” as they call it is designed to provide instant gratification to both the Scouts selling the delectable treats as well as the eager cookie aficionado.

“‘The new system reflects modern life’s faster pace,’ said Danielle Savage, director of sales and retail operations for the local council. ‘The girl gets instant gratification with her success, and customers don’t have to wait for weeks to have their cookies.’”

Although receiving your pack of cookies immediately upon paying for it is great marketing (my favorite is the Thin Mints) it’s interesting how even this nearly 100 year old tradition was affected by our “get it now” society.

Wanting to quickly receive what I desire is not necessarily bad in and of itself but it’s an attitude I must guard against dominating and controlling my thinking and expectations especially in the area of my spiritual life.

This past week I was reading in First Peter when I came across a verse that really spotlighted this in my mind.

In his epistle Peter is writing to Christians who have been scattered throughout the known world as a result of persecution in Rome. Many had had family members or friends killed for their faith and all were living under the cloud of martyrdom.

Peter writes them to encourage them to stay strong in the Faith. In chapter 2 verse 12 he wrote something I find interesting. “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” NIV

What grabbed my attention is that Peter doesn’t try to bolster their faith by telling them to keep standing strong and hanging on because God will soon avenge the lives of their loved ones and the loss of their property.

What he said was that they were to keep doing good works even if it cost them their lives or made them live without many of their worldly possessions and comforts because those who were persecuting would eventually glorify God “on the day He visits” i.e. at the end of time, just before the judgment.

“Stick with it,” Peter said, “and don’t expect God’s vengeance on retribution to come in your lifetime.”

Talk about delayed gratification!

What a challenge that is to me. How often I expect God to answer my questions or heal my illness or resolve the turmoil in my life in a few days or a week at the most.

I pray and ask (demand?) Him to work and when it takes longer than I think it should I grumble and get frustrated and upset with Him.

Doesn’t He know this needs to be done now? Isn’t He aware of what this is doing to me to have to wait and wonder if He will come through? Can’t He see how important it is this gets resolved quickly?

What arrogant, selfish, short-sighted thinking that is! And yet I find myself regularly falling back into that way of relating to Him.

Another side to this is feeling since I’ve been obedient to Him, have “stuck with the stuff” in areas I wanted to quit, have stayed on the straight and narrow that that somehow obligates God to do what I want Him to do.

God is God. He does what He wants when He wants how He wants. I must be faithful and obedient whether He chooses to reward me soon or wait until eternity.

That’s what’s been on my heart this week.
Mark

It was a bloody, gory mess.

For hours the prophets danced around shouting, crying out to their god until they were almost hoarse and still – nothing. Why wouldn’t he respond? Why was he silent? Didn’t he know his reputation was on the line? Didn’t he care?

Then just to add insult to injury Elijah started mocking them.

“You’ll have to shout louder. Perhaps he is daydreaming, or is relieving himself. Or maybe he is away on a trip, or is asleep and needs to be wakened!”

To entice Baal to finally respond they began cutting themselves with knives and swords until the blood gushed out. They raved all day but still there was no sound, no reply and no response.

Finally, late in the afternoon, Elijah gathered the people around his altar and arranged the wood and sacrifice on it. He then had it doused with water. Not just once but three times.

We join the story there.

“And the water flowed around the altar, and he also filled the trench with water. Then it came about at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, ‘O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that Thou art God in Israel, and that I am Thy servant, and that I have done all these things at Thy word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that Thou, O Lord, art God, and that Thou hast turned their heart back again.’

“Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.” I Kings 18:35-38

Every time I read this passage it resonates with something deep inside me.

Several years ago I had the privilege of standing in Israel on that mountain at the spot where this took place. I can picture it in my mind’s eye as if it were yesterday. It was thrilling to be there all those years later. I can’t even imagine what it was like to watch the flame, to feel the heat and see the whole altar consumed. Unbelievable!

Immediately after God’s brilliant fireworks display Elijah killed the 850 false prophets so they would stop leading the people astray. Queen Jezebel, who didn’t believe in God, put a hit out on Elijah ordering him to be killed within the next 24 hours.

Chapter 19 verses 1 through 4 fills in the details.

“Now Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.’

“And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree…”

After resting and eating food and water provided by an angel, Elijah goes further into the desert. God meets him there and tells him, “‘Go forth, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.’ And behold, the Lord was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.”

“And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle wind.” (19:11, 12)

God wanted Elijah to talk with Him, to commune with Him, to be strengthened by Him. And to do this you would think He would have a great and powerful encounter like a gale force wind or colossal earthquake or massive fire. But He didn’t. He came in the gentle blowing of the wind, a quiet breeze.

Although I know this story by heart and have reflected on it many times, it came to mind again the other day as if I were reading it for the first time.

Thinking about the new year and reflecting on the months just past, it struck me how often I want God to connect with me in the flurry and whirlwind of my life, how I want Him to stay up with me as I race down the fast lane of my day.

I know God is with me even when I am at a frenzied pitch, but as we start this year I was reminded that to commune with Him, to receive the wisdom and strength I desire, I have to slow down and take time to listen to Him in times of quiet.

Psalm 46:10 tells us, “Be still, and know that I am God…”

The hectic pace doesn’t overwhelm God it just stops me from being able to hear Him, connect with Him and grow to know Him.

As I am planning my days this new year I am reminded I must schedule quiet times with Him. God won’t force Himself on me or shout over the tornado I let my life get in. He will just patiently wait for me to slow myself down and connect with Him in that still, small voice.

That’s what’s been on my heart this week.
Mark

Standing on the threshold of 2010 I have been reflecting on what took place the past 12 months and my mind went back to something I we looked at over two years ago while studying the book of Nehemiah.

In the beginning of the book Nehemiah asks God for provision and protection as he desired to return to Jerusalem to rebuild its wall. Later Nehemiah presented his requests to the king. He then writes, “And the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me.” (2:8)

That statement “the good hand of my God was upon me” bounced around my head all week.

Thinking back on the year I realized once again how often I only said God’s good hand was upon me when good things happened. Like I got a good deal on something I wanted or I was protected from harm in a certain situations or I experienced peace through a trial I faced or my week of sales went great.

At the end of the day when things went well I said, “The good hand of my God was upon me.”

But what about those days when life fell apart, when everything that could go wrong did go wrong, when the pain was almost unbearable, when there were no sales for the week?

The thought kept coming back to me of how rarely I said “the good hand of my God is upon me” at those times.

After contemplating this two conclusions came to mind.

First, it reminded me of how little I know and understand God if I think His good hand is upon me only when things happen that I like.

The other was that as I move into this fresh new year I have to make sure I constantly remind myself that God’s hand is always on me and it’s always there for my ultimate good and that good is to help me grow and to know and understand Him better.

The often quoted passage in Romans 8 reminds us, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son…” (verses 28, 29a)

As we move through this upcoming year may God give us the understanding and confidence that His good hand is on all the time no matter what circumstances we face.

That’s what’s been on my heart this week.
Mark

“It’s what I’ve always wanted!!” Eden exclaimed jumping up and down after opening her first Christmas present.

She tore open the next one and held it close and shouted, “I’ve always wanted one of these!”

As she opened one after another she let everyone know that gift was exactly what she had been longing for and was thrilled to get it.

At age three Eden is full of life with little inhibition and a card carrying drama queen. It was fun to watch the sheer joy pour out of her as each new gift brought gleeful delight.

I imagine that is what each Jewish woman thought would be the reaction she and those around her would have as they dreamed of being the mother of the Messiah.

Ever since God promised the Savior would come through the Jewish line every little girl grew up hoping they would be the one selected for that greatest of all blessings.

I can picture them playing house and acting out receiving all the accolades and honor bestowed on the mother of God’s Son. Always placed at the head of the line, being given special treatment, living the life of privilege and ease with little heartache or difficulty. Oh, to be Messiah’s mother!

They couldn’t have been more wrong.

As we read the Christmas story this past week I was taken with the reality of what life was really like for the one who was the mother of Jesus.

Instead of being placed at the head of the line she was shunned. Rather than receiving accolades she got looks of distain and rejection. The dream of a life of privilege vanished into a nightmare of being ostracized, ignored and humiliated.

Enduring that was excruciating enough but when her first born Son got older and people began calling Him profane and insulting names and treating Him shamefully it was almost more than she could bear.

Then came the crucifixion. If all the other embarrassment was unbearable, this public humiliation was mortifying!

As I contemplated this reality the stark contrast of these two ideas struck me. How much the Jewish women wanted the glory of being the Messiah’s mother without thinking about or expecting the pain and suffering that was to be a part of it.

The moment I thought about it I realized how much that is my thinking.

How often I want the win without the battle, the success without the struggle, the maturity without the trial. Throughout my life I have wanted the accolades and position but didn’t want to make the effort necessary to achieve them.

While thinking about this several verses came to mind that reminded me how backward that thinking is.

One passage I thought of was when James and John asked to sit in positions of supreme prominence in Jesus’ Kingdom.

Jesus replied, “…You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. But it is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:42-45)

Greatness is not achieved without effort and sacrifice. I must serve others and be willing to be treated like a servant. Only then will I truly have greatness. But not necessarily the greatness of position or wealth or status here, but spiritual and eternal greatness, the kind that truly counts.

The same is true as I desire to grow in my spiritual life. It’s not a simple, quick, easy process. I must be willing to go through the tough times and endure the deep waters of life.

James put it this way, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4)

It’s not that God doesn’t love me so He makes me go through all these difficult, challenging and often overwhelming situations in life. On the contrary, it is because He loves me, because He knows the only way I can grow, develop and mature is to face trials.

When Gabriel came to Mary to tell her she would be the mother of the Savior he told her she was blessed of God. After enduring all life dumped on her after that we might think she would strongly question if it was truly a blessing.

But in fact it was a blessing because it’s not the glamorous, easy life that builds strength, develops character and helps me know and trust the Lord more. God knows that and it’s something I have to keep reminding myself every day.

Mark

For most of my life when I went to a conference or pastor’s meeting I always had to talk to with the main speaker or leaders. Something inside me drove me to meet them.

Of course over the following weeks I would just happen mention to people I recently had a conversation with John MacArthur or Chuck Swindoll or some other notable figure.

Pathetic, I know!

What is interesting to me is I seemed to have grown some in this area.

A couple weeks ago I attended a convention in Anaheim. Between one of the sessions Dean and I were chatting and a couple who are one of the top leaders in the company came up to talk with some people next to us.

As they stood there visiting with different people it crossed my mind to go up and introduce myself. I thought it would be fun to be able to drop their name later at dinner with those in our group. We decided not to bother them and continued our conversation. (Truthfully had Dean been willing to talk with them I would have gladly gone with him. Maybe I haven’t grown out of this character flaw as much as I’d like to think.)

Although dropping a name to impress people and elevate your self esteem isn’t good, there are times however when you drop a name and it is very helpful.

In my sales job people often question whether I’m legitimate or not since scammers occasionally come through the area. When I mention the store manager by name and encourage them to call him if they have a question usually that calms their fears and causes them be more open to what I have to say.

Clearly, knowing someone’s name can be important.

As we come to the Christmas season I was reflecting back on the different names used to describe our Savior.

In Isaiah 9:6 the prophet wrote, “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

Earlier in his writing Isaiah stated, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)

Matthew quotes this verse and gives us some clarification as to its meaning. He wrote, “‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us.’” (1:23)

God with us. God with me. What a challenging and encouraging thought.

The God of the universe. The One Who created all things by simply speaking. The Supreme Sovereign of the universe Who has no beginning and no end. This is the One Who is with me.

Not just around me with a cursory and limited awareness, being distracted with all the major events and billions of people in the world. But Someone concerned about and intimately aware of me as if I were the only person on the planet.

And how do I treat Him? Often as commonplace, as Someone Who will always be around and Whose time isn’t as valuable as the TV programs or sporting events or hobbies I invest my focus and attention on.

This omniscient, omnipotent God grants me the unbelievable privilege to commune with Him through prayer. And not only gives me this honor but longs to have me avail myself of it with all my hurts, sorrow, joys and heartaches.

And what do I do? I often ignore prayer until something trivial comes along and then I entreat the Almighty asking Him for a good parking space or for more of His blessings (as if He truly hadn’t already blessed me enough).

Immanuel. God with us. God with me.

God, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the eternal ruler of all creation is with me. What an unbelievable thought when you pause and think about it and let it sink in.

As we come to Christmas next week how important it is to not let the familiarity of the story cause me to lose sight of the incredible significance.

Immanuel. God is with me!

That’s what’s been on my heart this week.
Mark

Last weekend as part of our Thanksgiving holiday we stopped in Centralia to visit Arlo and Tonja, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law.

Arlo and I have known each other for nearly 50 years. We were friends growing up and graduated from Centralia High School together.

After a great dinner we sat around catching up on things. Marlo, their daughter who works at Starbucks, mentioned a lady came in a couple days earlier to get a coffee and commented she attended school with Arlo.

That’s all that was needed to start the outpouring of stories from our high school days and pretty soon the old yearbook came out. Everyone had to look through it and see the funny bow tie I wore for senior pictures. It was stylin’ back in the 70’s but looks pretty comical today.

Thinking about life in the past brought back good and bad memories. I’m still miffed I won the Super Athlete Contest and never received the recognition it deserved. Oh, well . . .

It’s not just a yearbook though that causes me to reminisce about the past. Each December my mind drifts back over the past year, thinking about the successes and failures, things I accomplished and those I failed to achieve.

In my Quiet Time this week I was reading about how God desires to wonderfully and marvelously provide and care for us.

Ephesians 3:20 came to mind, “Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.”

The thought struck me, as I look back on the past 12 months, are there things I can point to as something miraculous that happened in my life?

I’m not talking about walking on water or raising the dead. But events or solutions I can clearly identify as something only God could have done. Or can all that I experienced be explained in purely human terms.

Have I set the boundaries and parameters of my life such that I can handle things? Because of my dogged determination, my choosing not to step out in areas I can’t control, my ability and willingness to pull out the credit card, is there really any room (or need) for God to work?

Ephesians 3:20 as well as other passages in Scripture tell us God is able to do way above what we could ever imagine. He is willing. He is able. The question is do I let Him?

In the verses just before verse 20 Paul gives us his prayer for the Ephesian believers, a prayer, by extension, which applies to us as well.

Paul prayed, “For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God.” (verses 14-19)

Paul’s greatest desire is that they, and we, would experience the power of God, comprehend His greatness and be filled with all His fullness. This will never happen if I keep my borders small and only step out in ways I can control. Or when I wait on the Lord but don’t see Him working in the way or time I think He should if I step in and handle it myself.

As I looked back on the year I wondered how many marvelous things God would have done if only I would have let Him.

That’s what’s been on my heart this week.
Mark

When a couple gets married there are all sorts of adjustments they have to make. Some they are aware of and many they don’t expect.

For one couple I knew the biggest argument they had in their first months together was whether the toilet paper should roll down the front or down the back of the roll. Seems trivial to me but to them it was a huge problem.

Another couple I heard about this week had major tension in their new lives as husband and wife over who was going to pick up the clothes off the floor and hang them up or put them in the laundry. Both were raised in very wealthy homes with servants who picked up their clothes for them.

As I heard about this I thought for awhile about what it would be like to have servants like that. I can’t imagine it.

I then began to think of what it would be like to be a servant in a wealthy home. The upside is you get to drive expensive cars, work in luxurious surroundings and have at your disposal the finest things money can buy. The downside is you are at someone’s beckon call 24/7 to do whatever they tell you to do no matter how you feel about it.

As I contemplated the life of a servant Chuck Swindoll’s masterful work from the early 80’s titled “Improving Your Serve” came to mind. In his book he challenges us as Christians to take on the God ordained roll and attitude of a servant.

Interestingly in my devotional time this week many verses “just happened” to be on the idea of servanthood.

Passages like “But Jesus called them to Himself, and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.’” Matthew 20:25-27

One of the most poignant examples of being a servant is found in John 13:3-5, 12-16.
“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God, and was going back to God, rose from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself about. Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.”

“And so when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments, and reclined at the table again, He said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master; neither is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him.’”

In the first century it was the lowest of the low servant who was assigned the task of washing the feet of people as they came into the house.

By His example, Jesus demonstrated that if I am a true servant of His then I am to be willing to do anything He calls me to do no matter how demeaning, embarrassing or uncomfortable it may feel.

I am called to live my life consistently and regularly as a servant of the Lord and others. In my home, at work, with my family, at church, wherever I go I am to live my life with the mind-set of a servant.

As Oswald Chambers points out, being a servant is more about my heart attitude than my actions. Sure my actions give evidence of my willingness to serve, but often I can do the actions with a wrong or selfish motivation.

Something dawned on me while processing this idea of being a servant and having a right attitude about it. I don’t mind being a servant when and where I choose but I greatly rebel at being treated like a servant. This clearly shows me how shallow my willingness to be a servant is.

God’s call for me to be a servant isn’t a suggestion or a request. It is a directive given to me by my Lord and Savior. It’s not optional if I am to be truly walking in fellowship with Him and is a critical aspect of my life if I’m to be growing and becoming more mature in my spiritual life.

Paul’s words in Philippians 2:3-8 make it very clear.
“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”

“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

That’s what’s been on my heart this week.
Mark

I love to organize. Whether events, activities, schedules or trips it’s probably my most enjoyable thing besides teaching.

A few years ago I was the director of a Bible Institute in Russia. My main responsibility was to coordinate the different men as they traveled over to teach. I organized the teaching schedule, oversaw communications with our churches in the Northwest, managed the finances and helped with flight itineraries.

It was wonderful!

One of the things I like to do is to get into the details and try to figure out a better or less expensive way to do something.

The Bible Institute we worked with was on Sakhalin Island, just north of Japan. The flight schedule that was planned for us was to fly from the West Coast to New York, from New York to Moscow and from Moscow to Sakhalin. This would take two days travel time and have us flying about three quarters of the way around the world.

As I looked at the map it seemed to me it would make more sense to simply fly West over the Pacific to South Korea and then up to the Island. It would only be one day travel time and be less taxing for the men.

As I looked into setting up travel arrangements this way I was told by the organization we were working under it couldn’t be done. The flights wouldn’t coincide, the price would be higher and it just wouldn’t work.

After several days of frustration, closed doors and dead end leads something changed. I came across a travel agency in Seattle that was able to put flights together that met our needs at a price that was over $100 less than flying most of the way around the world.

Since I was the director of the school I used the more direct flight to see if indeed it worked. Getting to Sakhalin went off without a hitch. But when I got there I was told there had been a change and I would have to stay at least one day in San Francisco on my return flight. Fortunately when I arrived in SF I was able to take a standby seat and get home that day.

With this, as in all of life, some times when something changes it’s a good thing and sometimes it’s not.

What got me to thinking about the idea of change was hearing this week the Mormons have changed their stance on homosexuality. Officially they say they haven’t changed, but when one of their top leaders goes before the Salt Lake City Council to give their support for treating homosexual couples equal to heterosexual couples in housing laws their actions make it clear something has changed.

As I thought about it I was brought back to how great it is to know and love a God who doesn’t change. The theological term is that He is immutable.

Can you imagine serving a God who changes, who learned and grew and knew more today than yesterday? It would be hard to stake your life, and especially your eternal destiny, on someone who tells you today how to be saved or live rightly only to have him come to a better understanding later and change it.

As I contemplated this I realized how much I take God’s immutability for granted. What He said 9,000 years ago to Adam and Eve about salvation, righteous living, spiritual maturity and other crucial eternal matters is the same thing He is saying to you and me.

Down through the ages different heretical teachings have arisen to question God immutability. The most recent to ripple through our country is openness theology. This belief says that “there is no certain future knowledge, and God is learning too.”

Those who espouse this say God is learning and developing right along with us as time progresses. They do not believe God is immutable.

Throughout Scripture, however, God tells us that He does not change.

I Samuel 15:29 “And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.”

Psalm 102:25-27 “Of old Thou didst found the earth; And the heavens are the work of Thy hands. Even they will perish, but Thou dost endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing Thou wilt change them, and they will be changed. But Thou art the same, And Thy years will not come to an end.”

Malachi 3:6 “For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.”

Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.”

James 1:17 “Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow.”

From these and many other passages the Bible emphasizes over and over again the immutable nature of God.

How comforting it is to know that what God wrote in His Word over 2,000 years ago is still true and relevant today. And the security we can have from the reality that the direction He gives today He won’t later have to say He made a mistake or realize He was in error.

That’s what’s been on my heart this week.
Mark

Several years ago I worked in a lumber mill. My main job was “pulling chain” for the planer. After the wood was cut to size and length it was then planed smooth.

Coming out of the planer the boards would drop onto a set of chains that moved them down a metal table. The three of us who worked the chain were assigned different lengths of wood and when ours passed by we pulled them off and stacked them into a pile.

As winter approached and less wood was being processed the foreman kept some of us busy by giving us odd jobs around the mill.

One day he took me into a small room that was filled with different types of hoses. He told me some were pneumatic and others hydraulic. I was to separate them into two piles based on which type they were. I asked him how I could tell the difference and he said by the fittings.

Now people like Bob Whaley and others could undoubtedly tell the difference with their eyes closed. I had no clue. They looked all the same to me no matter which way I looked at them.

I had no idea what I was doing and no way to figure it out. All I could do was my best and hope it worked out.

There are times in life we have to do something or a decision to make and we’re not sure at all how to do it. Sometimes they are minor like sorting hoses but other times they can be major, potentially life changing situations.

This last one is where Eliezer found himself.

We pick up his story in Genesis 24. “Now Abraham was old, advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in every way. And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he owned, ‘Please place your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, but you shall go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” (verses 1-4)

Can you imagine being responsible for going to a distant country and finding a wife for your master’s son? Think of the questions that bounced around his head during the 450 mile expedition.

Does Isaac like taller women or shorter? Would he prefer one who is a little husky or more petite? Will she even come all this way back with me? Will her father allow her to come? How will I know the right one? What if they don’t get along when I finally return?

I think Eliezer could have driven himself crazy trying to figure it all out.

When he finally arrived he prayed and asked God to grant him success (24:12). He waited by the well for the women to come out of the city and struck up a conversation with one and found out she was a relative of Abraham.

He went back to her family and explained his reason for being there. Both she and her father agreed to the proposal and she went back with him to Abraham.

When Isaac saw Rebekah verse 67 tells us “he took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her” and they lived happily ever after. Well, maybe not happily ever after but she was the right choice.

With no real concrete direction, no instruction manual for finding a wife for your master’s son, no personality test to give her or Dr. Phil to check her out, how did he come to find the right girl?

In verse 27 Eliezer said something I think is very profound. In the King James Version it reads, “And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the LORD led me . . .” (emphasis added)

“I being in the way.” He had to go, do what he thought was right the way he thought best. And while he was in the process God was at work all the time causing him to ultimately find Isaac’s wife. He had to step out first and God was at work through his actions.

This passage reminded me of an area of my life I’ve been working on for a while. When I’m not sure what to do I often let fear of failure or concern of making the wrong decision stop me from doing anything.

What I’m working on is remembering God hasn’t called me to “paralysis by analysis.” He does want me to pray, seeking His will and wisdom, and at times to search out godly counsel. But, if after doing that I still don’t know exactly what to do, He expects me to take a calculate step of faith in the direction that seems right and best.

This is not to say I put blinders on and go like a bull in a china closet, but to move forward, still looking and listening for His leading and correction. But the key is I make a decision and go.

Like Eliezer, I need to be in the way, be actually moving forward, and the Lord will lead me.

That’s what’s been on my heart this week.
Mark

Last week in Small Group I mentioned something I learned from my coursework in Romans. Someone commented it was good to see there are things in the Bible I still have to learn. Believe me I have a lot to learn!

A couple days ago I was listening on the radio to Chuck Swindoll, a world renowned Bible teacher and one of the top preachers of our time. He said although he had read and taught the passage they were studying in II Chronicles numerous times there was a verse he had never seen before. Not that it wasn’t there all along, it just hadn’t caught his attention.

That is the great thing about God’s Word, it’s always new and fresh and no matter how much you know and study it there are always new things to learn.

This happened to me as I was reading through I Corinthians 11 recently. The chapter begins with the authority and order in the church. The last part is the great presentation of importance and solemnity the Lord’s Supper or Communion.

In the middle of the chapter, as Paul transitions from one theme to the other he wrote these words;
“But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part, I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, in order that those who are approved may have become evident among you.” (verses 17-19)

Verse 19 caught my eye like it had just been added since the last time I read the chapter. “For there must also be factions among you, in order that those who are approved may have become evident among you.”

Notice how Paul words it. He doesn’t say, “there might be factions” or “there will be factions.” What he says under the inspiration and direction of the Holy Spirit is that “there must be factions.” (emphasis added)

Is he saying there must be because people are sinful and selfish and that a natural result of that is factions?

I don’t think so.

The word “must” is a very strong and powerful word. For example when Peter and the other apostles were told by the Sanhedrin to stop preaching the gospel, they replied, “We must [same word] obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). According to Dr. John MacArthur in his commentary on I Corinthians, “The word is often used in the New Testament to represent divine necessity.”

It seems Paul is saying that factions are a part of church life in order to make evident the sin and selfishness of individuals or groups in the church and the spiritual maturity of others.

But, some may say, doesn’t God hate factions? Doesn’t He only want unity?

Yes He does and if all men and women were led by the Spirit and under His control there would be peace and harmony. But people often choose to follow their own desires and seek after their own interests.

What Paul is saying is since people don’t always listen to and obey the Holy Spirit but instead pursue their personal agenda, God uses factions in the church “in order that those who are approved may have become evident.”

Now two things stand out that this verse isn’t saying.

First, it is not saying it’s okay for me to get a faction started. It is something that develops but not something I am to coordinate or initiate.

Second, this doesn’t say who are the ones who are approved, those who stay or those who go. The verse people love to use in situations like this is 1 John 2:19, “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us.”

What the verse does say, and I think what I’m to learn from it, is that God uses factions as a dividing line to make evident those who are truly following Him.

And how is that evident? Not but the number of verses one side or the other can quote to prove their side is right but by their words, their actions and their attitudes.

Galatians 5:22, 23 give us insight, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

Also I Corinthians 13:4-7, “Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

Factions in the church are excruciating. They can damage people, friendships and the reputation of the church in the community.

God uses them though to bring wrong and harmful directions and attitudes to light and give those who are spiritual the opportunity to evidence their true love and commitment to the Lord.

I’m not sure why but that’s what’s been on my heart this week.
Mark