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Monday, February 1, 2021
“Is anything too difficult for the Lord?” —Genesis 18:14
Sometimes I catch myself saying “can’t” or “couldn’t” or “wasn’t able to” when I really mean “didn’t.” I’ll say that I “wasn’t able to work through my email inbox” when it would be more accurate to say “I did other things instead of working through my email inbox.” Those “other things” may or may not have been more important than the unreplied-to emails, but the point is that it’s not quite right to say that I was incapable of getting to my emails. What I really mean is that I couldn’t get through the emails and do the other things, so I chose to leave emails unread.
The actual can’t/couldn’t/wasn’t able to stuff is in a whole different category. Life has a way, again and again, of reminding us that we have limits. We shortchange rest until we crash and burn. We ignore time with God until we realize we’re running on empty. We overconfidently skip steps until we realize our work is riddled with mistakes. I probably could keep on top of my email inbox, but I genuinely can’t do that and everything else that might be worth doing every single day. Time is limited. Energy is limited. Ability is limited. Of course we can—and should—work to expand our abilities and capacities, but we never stop being limited creatures. We weren’t intended to.
God, of course, doesn’t have the same limits that we have. Still, it’s tempting to think that a problem is too big or too small for God. It’s tempting to think that God might eventually face an obstacle too great to overcome. It’s tempting to think that perhaps we’ve come up against an evil that God can’t defeat.
But it isn’t so. Our faith rests in a God who is always able, who is always free, who is always greater than anything that rises against him or his people. This, of course, does not mean that God will always do the thing we want him to do. But as soon as we imagine that there is something that is too difficult for God, we need to pause and recognize that we’re no longer actually talking about God at all. The true God has met no challenge he cannot overcome.
“Is anything too difficult for the Lord?” Of course not. And that truth is what allows us to face the future with strength and courage, no matter the obstacles we face.
Friday, January 29, 2021
The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. —Romans 6:23
I have a terrible sense of direction. Before smartphones and GPS were the norm, I would got lost a lot. Sometimes I’d make a wrong turn and recognize it right away. Other times I’d make a wrong turn and it would take a while for me to realize I had no clue where I was. Either way, I faced the same choice: turn around or keep going.
Obviously, I always chose to turn around. Why wouldn’t I? If I didn’t turn around I wouldn’t end up at the destination I had set out to reach. If taken to an extreme end, if I just kept going and didn’t stop, sooner or later I’d run out of gas, or money, or both, and I’d be in serious trouble. It’d just be foolish to keep heading the wrong way.
This verse from Romans is trying to highlight the destructive nature of sin. Sin when taken to its logical end never ends well. Think of something you’re struggling with right now. What do you see happening if you were to give yourself over to it? How would it affect your relationships? The way you think about others? The way you think about yourself?
Now ask yourself the same questions as you picture a life where you have turned from what you’re struggling with. The choice is obvious: it’s time to turn around.
God’s free gift of grace is waiting for each one of us every time we recognize that we have lost our way. May you feel God’s encouragement and trust in God’s forgiveness as you do the difficult work of heading back in the right direction.
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. —James 1:5
When I read today’s verse I was reminded of something that made news during the early stages of the pandemic. Actor John Krasinski put out a call on Twitter asking for people to send him stories over the past week that made them feel good or smile. A few days later he posted the first episode of his series, “Some Good News,” on YouTube.
The show was described in the following way: “his roughly 15-minute [show] included ways the world has celebrated the heroism of the health-care community fighting the coronavirus on the front lines, as well as the incredible ways that people have continued to connect—while staying six feet apart.” The first episode concluded with Krasinski saying, “no matter how tough life can get, there’s always good in the world.”
So what does this have to do with lacking wisdom?
Life will always have challenges. James encourages those who follow Jesus to remember that the end of the story has already been written. Without Jesus, one could look at the challenges of life as evidence of a God who is punitive, or worse yet a God who doesn’t care about us at all.
However, we do have faith in Jesus and that gives us access to a “heavenly wisdom.” Wisdom that reminds us that “no matter how tough life can get, there is always good in the world.” That because the end has already been written, we can face challenges as an opportunity for growth, and perhaps more importantly, we can trust that God is active even when it looks like God isn’t (like when one is living through a pandemic).
So then, may each of us turn to God today and asking for heavenly wisdom that will draw us closer to Him.
