Hope – PJ's Monday Musings

5 things you need when life goes sideways

Last week, life went sideways at our house…

On Thursday night, our 16-year old son was diagnosed with diabetes, which set off an unexpected domino of events that included two ER visits and a hospital stay in the span of three days.

“Normal” is a thing of the past for us now…but really we’re just a little ahead of the curve as we all adjust to the “new normal” ahead of us in a post-pandemic world.

Life has gone sideways for many of us for different reasons, and it will continue to go sideways as long as we live in a world broken by sin.

So, I started thinking…

(Actually, if I’m honest, I went into survival mode.)

What did I need to get through the last several days?

Really, what do we all need when life goes sideways?

I’m sure the list could be longer…even should be longer. But, I’m keeping it to five today, and I hope that these five things will help/encourage you the next time your life goes sideways.

Number one: You need to remember that the LORD is your strength.

The Bible is literally full of verses that remind us of this, but today I stumbled on this one…

“Praise the LORD! For he has heard my cry for mercy. The LORD is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.” (Psalm 28:6-7)

Number two: You need to remember that the LORD’s mercies are new every morning.

In other words, every day you get a full helping of God’s mercy…and He’s not stingy with it.

“The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)

Number three: You need to remember that God’s grace is sufficient for whatever it is that you are going through.

The important thing to remember here is that you are not sufficient, but God is. And, he’s not stingy with his grace either.

“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” – the LORD speaking to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9

Number four: You need to remember that the trials we go through are meant to make us stronger, not weaker (see number three).

The trials we go through are part of living in a broken world…yes. But they are not purposeless or even necessarily punishment for sin. In fact, we need trials to make us stronger in our faith and in our dependence on God.

“…when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” (James 1:2-4)

Number five: You need to remember that you are not meant to go through life’s challenges alone.

When life goes sideways, you need people in your life to mourn with you, comfort you, encourage you, and just be there for you. It’s no wonder that the Bible is full of verses that talk about caring for one another.

“God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

Like I said, this list could go on and on and on. But, I’ll stop at five.

As I think back on the last several days, I am thankful…

…that the LORD has been my strength,

…that I’ve woken up every day to a full helping of his mercy,

…that his grace is sufficient for whatever the “new normal” is going to be,

…that this trial is helping me depend more on him every day,

…and that my family has been surrounded by so many people who have loved and encouraged us as our life went sideways.

When what you are looking for feels like a never-ending game of “hide & seek”

Presence and Power.

For me, those two words are the simplest and strongest daily reminder of my need for God…for His everyday presence and power in my life.

Over and over again in 2020 (and now 2021), I have witnessed God’s presence and power both in big, headline-grabbing ways and in small, more subtle (and personal) ways.

Over and over again, I have experienced His presence and power in the form of things that we all need, but can’t seem to find in anything (or anyone) else.

Here’s just the beginning of a list of things that we all need and are looking for right now…

We all need hope…and He is the God of hope. (Romans 15:13)

We all need peace…and He is the God of peace. (Philippians 4:6-7)

We all need comfort…and He is the God of all comfort. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

We all need grace…and He is the God of grace. (Ephesians 2:4-7)

We all need wisdom…and He is the God of wisdom. (James 1:5-8)

We all need love…and He is the God of love. (1 John 4:7-8)

We all need strength…and He is the God of strength. (2 Corinthians 12:8-10)

I could go on, but the point I’m trying to make is this…

God’s everyday presence and power is real and we all need it.

Just stop for a second and think of all the ways we’ve been looking for these things outside of God just in the last twelve months…

We’ve looked for hope in our government.

We’ve looked for peace in our coping mechanisms.

We’ve looked for comfort in our personal idols.

We’ve looked for grace in our relationships with those who disagree with us.

We’ve looked for wisdom in our memes and social media feeds.

We’ve looked for love in our love of self.

We’ve looked for strength in our individualism and independence.

The bottom line in all of this is that when we look for these things outside of the everyday power and presence of God, we will never find what we are looking for.

And, our lives end up being like a never-ending game of “hide & seek.”

God’s everyday presence and power is real…

It’s real in the form of hope, peace, comfort, grace, wisdom, love, strength, and so much more.

What do you need today…what do we all need today?

You need God’s presence and power…and He’s not hard to find.

You just have to look in the right places.

“Seek the LORD while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near.” (Isaiah 55:6)

“¹²In those days when you pray, I will listen. ¹³If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. ¹⁴I will be found by you,” says the Lord. (Jeremiah 29:12-14a)

Monday Musings: An Inauguration Day Perspective from Jeremiah 17

Inauguration Day is coming soon here in America.

And that’s good news for some and bad news for others (depending on your point of view).

If the one word that best described 2020 was “angst,” it seems like the one word to best describe 2021 will be “divided.”

Nowhere has that been seen more clearly recently than in politics, but the reality is, we are a divided people in many ways…politics yes.

And…also things like religion, race, gender, and economics (just to name a few).

Not to mention all of the things we argue and debate and divide over on social media…but that list would be too long to include here.

(And probably too divisive…)

In all of these things, it’s easy to justify our own opinions and belittle or even condemn the opinions of others.

It’s easy to “throw hands” on our social media feeds as we debate and argue and unfriend each other over whatever argument we believe is worth fighting for (and losing friends over).

It’s even easy to sit back and say/do nothing…to choose to not engage with the debates on any level.

But we don’t always do that with the purest motives either.

In times like these, we all need wisdom from the LORD.

So, whatever your opinion is of our country right now…

Whether you are looking at Inauguration Day as a fresh start or the beginning of the end…

As the product of an ongoing conspiracy or the voice of the people…

Regardless of your stance on anything political, hear these words from Jeremiah 17…

This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans,
    who rely on human strength
    and turn their hearts away from the Lord.
⁶They are like stunted shrubs in the desert,
    with no hope for the future.
They will live in the barren wilderness,
    in an uninhabited salty land.

⁷“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord
    and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
⁸They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
    with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
    or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
    and they never stop producing fruit.

⁹“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,
    and desperately wicked.
    Who really knows how bad it is?
¹⁰But I, the Lord, search all hearts
    and examine secret motives.
I give all people their due rewards,
    according to what their actions deserve.”

In a country that is clearly divided right now on so many levels, we need to remember that our trust cannot be in mere humans (v5).

But rather, our trust must always be in the LORD…our hope and our confidence must come from Him (v7).

Why?

Because when we choose to put our trust in men, our hope is misplaced at best and will ultimately ruin us (v6).

Because it is the LORD who searches all hearts and examines secret motives…

He is the only One with the power and authority to give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve (v10).

And, this is true for everyone.

For the media.

For the politicians.

For the protestors and anti-protestors.

For me and you.

May we all be a people who trust in the LORD in 2021.

May our hope and our confidence come from Him and Him alone on this upcoming Inauguration Day.

And, may we never stop producing the kind of fruit that will last far beyond the kingdoms and political powers in place in 2021 and beyond.

Failing is an earth thing…and why that should give you hope

We all want hope.

We all want a reason to get out of bed in the morning.

And so we go searching for it…

We go to work hoping that we’ll like our jobs and make enough money to be comfortable.

We go to school hoping that someday all those classes will lead to a job that we’ll like and make us enough money to be comfortable.

We play sports hoping that someday we’ll get paid to play a sport we love and make us more than enough money to be comfortable.

We make friends hoping that someday we’ll find the one that we’ll spend the rest of our comfortable lives with on this earth.

But, then things go sideways.

We don’t like our jobs, or we can never seem to make enough money.

We don’t like school.

We love the sports we play, but our bodies fail us.

And, we just can’t seem to find the one.

Deep down, we ask ourselves, where can I find hope?

Because failing seems to be a big part of this world that we live in.

But, here’s where it actually gets better.

Yes, failing is an earth thing. Failing is part of living in a broken world.

But God is not of this world.

And, because God is not of this world, He doesn’t fail. (Hebrews 13:5)

We live in a world where people are searching for hope in places that ultimately fail them…work, education, money, relationships, and the list goes on.

The good news is that real, lasting, get-out-of-bed-everyday hope doesn’t fail…and it’s found in a personal relationship with God.

This is the hope we all want.

This is the hope this failing world needs.

This is really good news.

The question is…are you ready to share it?

If someone asks you today what is it about believing in Jesus that gives you hope, what would you say?

“I will never forget this awful time…
²¹Yet I still dare to hope
when I remember this:

²²The faithful love of the Lord never ends!^[b]
    His mercies never cease.
²³Great is his faithfulness;
    his mercies begin afresh each morning.
²⁴I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
    therefore, I will hope in him!” (Lamentations 3:20-24)

“…if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.” (1 Peter 3:15b)