Wetzel's Blog

Recounting God’s Lovingkindness

In a westernized world, how difficult is it to pause for 15 minutes and recount the goodness of God in our life?  I’m not talking about multi-tasking and thanking God as one of those tasks.  But to do nothing else except get in a quiet place, clear your mind, sit in silence, and begin to thank God for every blessing He has given you now and has given you throughout your life.

 

The children of Israel were implored to do this regularly.  Ps. 107:1-2 “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary.”

 

We, the bride of Christ – the church, are the children of God.  The promises to the children of Israel and the commands they received are for the church today.  As you read through the Old Testament (Ps. 107), it recounts over and over the things that God’s children have to be thankful for…He redeems; He delivers; He loves; He satisfies; He is good; He humbles; He saves from trouble and in distress; He sends His word; He heals; He speaks; He brings us out of distress; He guides; He quiets the storm; He provides; He blesses; He protects the needy; He punishes oppressors…

 

We are urged again and again through out the book of Psalm, to recount the lovingkindness of the Lord.  I realize it’s tough in a busy world with much to do and much to think about, but this is exactly the plan of our adversary the devil.  He knows that the more we are consumed by other things and other thoughts, the less likely we will be to thank the Lord for all He has done and is continuing to do for us.  When we allow this, he wins and we lose out on the joy of the Lord.

 

It is in recounting God’s lovingkindness that we receive joy and inner strength.  We get so wrapped up in the day to day duties that we forget that the Lord is for us and continually loves us.  As we pause to thank Him, we will receive perspective and power from the Holy Spirit to go through another day in victory.  We receive strength to stand against or adversary the devil.  And we bring glory to the One who is our Sustainer and our sovereign and providential Guide.  Push the pause button!

Humility is where royalty is born

Royalty typically comes from a place of honor, prestige, wealth, and supremacy.  So why was it that the Son of the God came to earth through a teenager girl, in a lowly town, the son of a common carpenter, and in a stable with animals?  Why not in Jerusalem with the Priests?  Why not in Egypt with Pharaoh? Why not in Rome with Caesar?  One conclusion is that God the Father wanted to send us a message about humility.

 

Humility is one of the trademarks of Jesus, from his birth till his death.  It is a value that God chose not only to “tell” us, but to “show” us.  Humility does not come natural for a human.  Our natural tendency is to want prestige, wealth and honor.  We see those things as what is ultimately to be attained in this life.  We would rarely say “By the end of my life, I want to become the most humble person on earth”.  Our hopes and dreams are commonly the exact opposite of that.  Success for us in this life is being the greatest and getting to the top of our ladder (whatever that ladder may be).  Our enemy, the devil, wants us to desire this because he knows that when honor is desired, humility is eliminated.  Our thoughts, opinions, and reactions are formed in those desires.  This is why Nathanael’s reaction in John 1 was so enlightening.

 

John 1:45-46 speak of what our natural response typically is: “Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’ And Nathanael said to him, ‘Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?’  Philip said to him, ‘Come and See’.”

 

Nathanael was in shock and in disbelief that the Messiah would come from a carpenter in Nazareth (a lowly person and in lowly place), and not from a place of royalty and supreme spirituality.  His reaction is indicative of ours.  We too get sucked into a world belief system which teaches that the ultimate place of happiness is found in having a lot of really nice stuff, or in the most acknowledged position, or in the easy and happy life.  But through the example of Jesus, we see that the ultimate seat of honor is found in the least and in the lowest.  It is found in humility.  How are pride, position and possessions keeping you from the best?  Humility is what we are to desire.  Jesus said in Luke 9:24 “For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, is the one who will save it”.  Embrace humility today, because in lowliness of position and possessions is where honor is found.

Unconfessed Sin

Sin takes a major toll on us physically and emotionally.  And we all sin: Rom 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.  But I think we tend to underestimate the impact of unconfessed sin.  We have been tricked by our enemy, the devil, to believe that even small unconfessed sins are: not a big deal and if we ignore it…it will fix itself over time…or it will eventually be forgotten…or its initial impact will dissipate.  But unconfessed sin will take a life long toll on our body as long as it remains silent before an all knowing God.  There are many implications of unconfessed sin, but let’s take a look at two.

 

Ps 31:10 & 32:3-5 “For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity” & “For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.  For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.  I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.”

 

Unconfessed sin takes a toll on our physical body.  These verses in Psalm talk about David’s physical anguish because of his sin.  He says that his strength fails and his bones waste away.  Keeping our iniquities unspoken to God, will initially and continually wear us down.  In our day to day life we will be weak, tired and feel unrest.  We like to attribute our physical fatigue to many things, but how often do we consider unconfessed sin as a factor?

 

Unconfessed sin takes a toll on our spirit.  There is an internal impact of sin that is embedded deep down inside of us.  It robs us of experiencing joy and rest in our souls.  We have all experienced unrest in our soul, and we can feel its literal impact.  But do we ever consider the root of soulful fatigue to be an unrepentant heart?

 

Take time now to look into your life, actions, and heart.  Do you have sins that you know are there, but you hide them from God?  Because of pride and shame, do you refuse to humble yourself and confess your sin before a loving and forgiving God?  Jesus rose from the dead to defeat that which causes us so much pain, fatigue and sorrow.  He’s waiting at the door of our hearts with arms open wide.  He longs for us to surrender our unrighteousness, humble ourselves, and confess to Him our need of forgiveness from the sins that plague us.  Will you allow God to free you today?

God’s squeaky wheel quickly gets the grease

Have you heard the saying “The squeaky wheel gets the grease”?  It basically means that when we are persistent we will get results.  And generally speaking, the grease (or result) is what we are after.  Sometimes being squeaky takes a lot of effort, personal sacrifice and time because it doesn’t come naturally.  Take an infant for example, if they want to be fed, they will spend tremendous amounts of energy to let their parent know that they “want food now”.  And if they don’t get it, they will cry, scream and shed tears until they are red, sweating and swollen in the face.  In most cases, even if we are adamant that it’s not time for a feeding, we will give in and feed them because of their persistence.

 

Jesus conveys this principle through a parable, or an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.  Luke 18:1-8 “And he (Jesus) told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, 'Give me justice against my adversary.' For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.'" And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

 

How often do we stress out over the day to day concerns of life: money, jobs, family, conflict, friendship, self-image, addictions, pain, and the future?  Jesus is making a point here to His followers that when we continually come to God in prayer about our concerns, He not only hears us, but He quickly wants to bring relief.  Our struggle typically is in the process of crying, screaming and shedding tears in prayer (like the infant).  Sure, we typically give God a token prayer and in return we expect a quick answer.  But believing that this is actually how our Father in heaven operates is a mistake.  God will quickly answer WHEN we “cry to him day and night”.  That kind of prayer doesn’t seem to be a one timer.  It’s the process of being persistent until He comes with an answer.

 

The comfort that we can receive from this is that God is here right now, He hears the prayers of Christ followers, and He is anxiously waiting to give peace from our concerns and struggles.  But it’s our move.  We must daily, frequently and humbly come to God in prayer with our burdens.  God does not and never will not break His promises.  Come to Him now, today, tomorrow, and the following days with the exact same request…He WILL quickly answer you!

Recognize who your sustainer is

Psalm 3:3-5 “But You are a shield around me, O Lord, You bestow glory on me and lift up my head.  To the Lord, I cry aloud; and He answers me from His holy hill.  I lie down and sleep; I wake again because the Lord sustains me.”

 

We love to take the credit for success and we love to blame others for failure.  We like to tell ourselves that we live another day, we are healthy, we are safe, we are provided for, etc… because of what We Do.  We in essence put ourselves on the throne as the “Sustainer” of life.  We say “You control your destiny”, “It’s all up to you”, “You did it”… But God’s word describes God as “The Sustainer”.  If that is true, then that would mean we are dependent on Him for life itself and that all credit belongs to Him.  But how often do we not recognize or even believe this.  We show our belief by what we say and by the way we live our lives.

 

We take the credit and by doing so, we nullify the grace of God.  God does not bless, chasten, discipline, give, and provide because He has to or because that’s His job.  He does it out of grace and love.  Grace is God giving us what we do not deserve, and it is by His grace that we live and breathe.

 

So what should be our response to this truth of God’s sustenance?  It is to be that of recognition and admission.  We must give credit to the Provider and Giver of today.  Not to live in fear or in pride, but to humbly recognize God as “The Sustainer”.  Our response should also be that of worship.  He should be thanked and praised every day for who He is… holy, righteous, sovereign, and gracious.  This response of praise from us is manifested by a surrendered life.  Surrender to His plan for my life Today by saying to Him “God, for whatever reason You have chosen to sustain my life for another day, I give it back to You and allow You to take control, so that I may bring praise to You and have a very fulfilled life”.  Living a life of worship and surrender says to God “You are all I need today”.  We can live today with hope, encouragement, and purpose because God holds our world in His hands!  Recognize, give thanks, and surrender to the gracious and loving Sustainer of life.