Jesus and Our Dirty Feet

The Holy One calls me today. The life of Job is the subject of our early morning conference. I have asked the Holy One to help me understand the purpose behind the heat of my life circumstances. He has already spoken that it's not ever about "why me?", but rather "what am I to learn and how will it glorify my Heavenly Father and my Lord?"

Ask the right questions and answers abound.

Today the Holy One leads me through Job's seemingly disastrous life. Passing through the understanding that Satan is the perpetrator of every evil thing, Job's venting his agony and his friends offering merciless counsel, I come to Job chapters 32-38 and the words of Elihu. While not "perfect" in wisdom, Elihu seems to come closer to the understanding of the Almighty than Job's other friends.

Elihu became angry in listening to the men. He was angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God. He was angry with Job's friends because they found no way to refute Job yet condemned him.

After patiently listening to the older men, Elihu speaks through the next chapters and upholds the integrity and Righteous Sovereignty of our Holy God. He seem to cut through the "self-righteous" arguments of self-pity and victimization at the hands of an indifferent Creator.

His discourse sets the stage for Holiness Himself to speak, beginning in Chapter 38. But back to the wisdom brought through Elihu's counsel, I glean important points to ponder and apply to my life circumstances today.

Once again, the words of the ancients speak to our issues and problems of today. The Lord's indictment has been to me and those who are in despair over apparent victories being afforded the darkness. Like Job, it has been so tempting to shout "but I'm the good-guy here. Why have You allowed this sorrow to come to the good guys?" "Why are the hands that desire to do good things tied and being put subject to those of evil intent?"

Job 34:33, "Should God then reward you on your own terms when you refuse to repent?"

Repent? Am I guilty and in need of repentance? The heat of every situation reveals something wrong in the heart. The Holy One has scrutinized me and found something amiss.

Peter had need for the Lord to wash his feet. The Lord told him he didn't need a bath but only to have his feet washed. The feet walk the fallen earth and become dusty and dirty in the process. To wash the feet of the dirt we pick up along the path is somewhat like our need for daily repentance.  The symbolism of this act is not lost on me. 

As Christians, even Disciples, we are subject to wrong thoughts which if allowed to remain unchecked can take us deeper onto muddy pathways. (dirty feet) To allow the Holy Spirit to scrutinize and correct us is imperative to our journey with Jesus unto our eternal destination along the highway of Holiness.

The Holy One points me to Job 35:9, "Men cry out under a load of oppression, they plead for relief from the arms of the powerful, but no one says, "Where is God my Maker, who gives me songs in the night?" He goes on to say, "God doesn't answer nor listen to their empty pleas when men cry out, because of the arrogance of the wicked."

How much less should we expect answers, when we, who claim to "know Him" say, "it looks like evil doers prosper, the arrogant are blessed, even those who challenge God escape or that God does not take the least notice of wickedness" without the thought of God's Righteous and Sovereign timing for justice, His supreme authority and His control over all the issues of men and nations. It is the utmost arrogance to cry the blues on one hand and yet refuse to Honor His Supremacy when we do not understand His ways.

How dare we question the ways of our Holy God and Judge the Judge of all things as being indifferent, apathetic, care-less or any one of a myriad of adjectives that are an affront to His majesty and His mercy and especially His love.

God comes in awesome Majesty
The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power.
In His justice and great righteousness, He does not oppress.

In the presence of men and unseen witnesses, we are called to testify. Our lives bear witness to what we believe about our God. Has the awe and wonder of our Sovereign Creator given way to dark depression over the temporary circumstances of life.

Has our testimony of His love been jaded by the lies of Satan working through difficult times? (dirty feet) Have we gotten into the sinful habit of saying or thinking that God is not just or that His arm is too short to save us? (dirty feet) If so, we are agreeing with the dark and despicable traitor of our King.

I must shift my focus off circumstances and dwell upon His Majesty. Having been indicted for self-righteousness, (dirty feet) I come to cry out for mercy not justice. I must be willing to wait patiently and watch for what will reveal His Glory in my life circumstances. It is His righteousness that is beyond reproach and I will do well to remember this next time I question His ways.

The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?

Surrender

For the last days, the Holy One has allowed me to feel the buildup in my frustration over my personal agendas being thwarted. He calls me this morning to talk about these issues.

Life circumstances have become dicey lately. I am well aware of how my daily life is so affected by the choices and decisions of other people. We talk about "free will" and the personal consequences we suffer at the decisions others make in the course of them exercising their "free will".

My life choices have seemed to boil down to how to deal with the circumstances that occur as others around me choose to go through life. Trials that represent suffering hit hard and fast and they all seem to emanate out of decision's others have made that touch my life.

But is that really true?

The Holy Spirit eases me into the subject of this morning counseling session through His grace and mercy in the acknowledgment that He understands. He points to all the things lately that have frustrated me and I know in my heart that I have audience in His chamber. I can sense He receives my grievance and complaints without judgment as we just relate heart-to-heart. He agrees with the fact that I "feel" like I do, but then He has called me to change my perspective which ultimately changes my emotions.

When the Holy One begins to speak His wisdom to me, I understand that I must move in agreement with truth and come willingly to His side of the issue.

He begins with the "free will" truth. While I might be reeling with the free will of others, He points out that my "free will" to follow Him is the more important factor in my life situations. It is not their free will bringing forth the strain, but rather my free will to walk with my Savior that has emphasized the distance from them and brought forth the pain.

As a Christian and Disciple of Christ I have made a commitment to my Savior. I must follow Him and His Word. As those I know and love choose otherwise, relational strain will occur and even goals and agendas will be different.

The Holy One begins to walk me through the frustration and I see His point of view. Even if the agenda I am pursuing happens to be a plan sent from heaven, I must stop trying to achieve it in my own strength as it will never happen that way.

Even if those I love seem so far removed from the truth, I am not their savior nor do I possess the role or title of "Holy Spirit" in their lives.

I agree with my Lord on both points and I see the wisdom. Now comes the hard part for a controlling person like myself: release control! Funny that He just pointed out very subtly that I have no control anyway. But now He tells me to "release" what I do not have. How easy is that?

Perspective, it's all about perspective!

And, He reminds me that I am a bond slave of my Master, responsible only to do HIS will. I have chosen to be His disciple and my free will should have been completely discharged in that direction from that point forward. My free will is to be His servant and serve in whatever capacity He calls me to serve.

All those frustrating situations will melt away if I surrender each one to the "control" of the One I serve and then live with whatever He chooses to do in each situation I face.

Contentment follows surrender and each situation in life requires the surrender of my will to serve my Beloved, as I promised on the day I accepted Him as my Savior and Lord.

Are you agonizing and frustrated by thwarted personal agendas or other people in your life? Is it time for you to surrender?

The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?

For Those Who Fear the Lord and Honor His Name

Circumstances in life have been so difficult lately. As I look around, it seems that evil is dominating the battlefield. Justice doesn't seem to fall to the "just" in any situation. The "good guys" seem to be suffering at the hands of the "bad guys" and those who are shaking their fists in God's face seem to be getting away with walking a dark pathway without consequence.

The Spirit calls me this morning to set the record straight. He takes me back to His Word and the book of Malachi.

Life with the Holy One in charge means He has permission to enter the deepest caverns of my mind and move through the thoughts that are hiding there, even and especially those thoughts that are at cross purpose with Truth.

The Holy One is able to expose them to His light. The mind has a whole cabinet of lies deposited there by the enemy of our soul. The Indwelling Holy pirit will seek and destroy those lies but we must trust Him and allow our ungodly thoughts to be challenged and exposed without fear.

The pressure to "appear" righteous from the outside can be so great that we deceive ourselves from within. On a human level we filter what we allow our friends to know about us from the fear that "if they really knew the real me, they wouldn't want to be my friend".

We learn early that if we want to be accepted, we must appear to be what we think others will accept. The Holy Spirit cannot be so fooled. He knows every hair on our head and every thought in our mind. There is no point in attempting to deny our vagrant thoughts to Him and so deceive ourselves.

This morning He points me to Malachi 3:13-18. While I am so full of a form of righteous indignation for what I see, as He speaks to those thoughts, I understand that they represent impatient betrayal of my Beloved.

"You have said harsh things against Me", says the Lord. Yet you ask, "what have we said against You? You have said it is futile to serve God." (Is this what I was really thinking?) "What did we gain by carrying out His requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper and even those who challenge God escape".

Wow what a picture of my deepest thoughts painted on the pages of the Holy Scriptures. The thoughts are real even though very subtle and not fully formed. Yet as I focus on God's assessment of my unspoken thoughts, He tells me that these "things" represent the "harsh things" that are being said against Him and that unchecked they can travel the pathway of deeper doubt.

These thoughts do not belong in my mind for I have the Indwelling Spirit who provides for me the very Mind of Christ Jesus. The lies, the deception, the unbelief, shuffle out as the bright light of Holiness exposes the dark corners of my mind.

The standard for right thinking is established. There must be no compromise with doubt or cynicism or complaining about God's handling of life circumstances even if it appears that those who challenge God's rule escape unscathed.

Malachi 3:16 gave the game plan for believers in how to deal with the unfair issues of life. "then those who feared the Lord talked with each other." "Those who feared the Lord and honored His name". If ever there were days and times for the Body of Christ to talk about the Resurrected Savior and His coming Kingdom, it is now.

The days are surely full of evil and the darkness is coming, yet we walk in the Light. For yet a little while longer we have time to bring the encouragement of our eternal destination provided by the Love of God through Jesus to the lost and dying world. For yet a while longer, we have the freedom to gather and encourage each other with the truth about our loving and merciful Creator God. For yet a little while longer we have the promises to look forward to thus proving our faith before they become fact where faith is no longer required.

To operate in faith is a privileged and limited opportunity.

God says of those who fear Him and talk with each other for mutual encouragement in the faith, "They will be mine, says the Lord Almighty, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, I will spare them just as a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked between those who serve God and those who do not."

As we await the ultimate fulfillment of this promise when Christ comes to claim His own, may we find the encouragement to hold firm to the promises of our merciful God in the day to day events that take place all around us. Is it time to speak to others who fear the Lord and Honor His Name reminding ourselves and them that all God's promises for His people are yes and Amen?

The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?