We Win...

Lamentations 3:22-25 (NIV)

22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.

23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."

25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;

Lamentations...a book that was written by Jeremiah after the fall of Israel to the Babylonians...a book that, by name, would suggest having a miserable attitude when reading it. However God never writes books that way. He always shows that, no matter what's going on (even if it's our fault), that he will see us through and be faithful to his end of the deal. I've come to learn that in the times of my greatest struggles and greatest afflictions that God's story (which I am a part of) always comes out with God (and those on his side) winning...

"If you flip all the way to the back of the book...we win!"
-Israel Houghton

God gave us his word and has plainly suggested that he is authoring human history. He does give us choice, but in light of that choice, he orchestrates the greatest story ever to be told to mankind. God never lets go, he never goes back on a promise, he is never unfaithful, and he is always unfailing.

I have always gone through trials since becoming a Christian (and in fact it was a trial that drove me to my knees before the cross in the first place). Right now I am going through an assortment of huge trials, and sometimes I don't think I can do it on my own...and technically I'm right...I can't. Through this period of uncertainty in my life I have allowed Jesus to become by daily portion...my means by which I move and breath. Truly he has been faithful to me, by being provisional both practically and with the peace that passes all understanding.

I have had the privilege of waking up every morning saying "truly God's compassions are new every morning"...

He is faithful.

Watchman

Ezekiel 3
16 At the end of seven days the word of the LORD came to me: 17 "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 18 When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. 19 But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself...

Just recently I have had the privilege to take a course on the book of Ezekiel, and this week we touched on chapter 3 (the Watchman chapter) and I also did some homework for it to. I thought it was really incredible because Ezekiel is in the midst of a people who have completely rebelled against God. Israel had been saved out of Egypt, established in the Promised Land, and shown blessing for generations, but still they had a problem with following the LORD and were caught up in idolatrous practices. They would follow the rituals of the other pagan nations; they would involve themselves in pagan worship and only allow the LORD to be one of their gods. Yet the LORD calls Ezekiel to be a watchman to the people of Israel. In the days of fortified cities a watchman would sit on top of the wall and "watch" for enemies who were coming to kill the city. The watchman alone was responsible for the entire city's future and well being. If the watchman failed at his job, potentially the city could be destroyed. This imagery of a "watchman" is really cool to me because God calls Ezekiel to this same metaphorical task. He is to be a "watchman" to Israel in the sense that he is to deliver a lifesaving message to them. The reward for obedience here is not conditional based on whether the recipient of the message obeys, but rather, God promises that the messenger will live even if the hearer continues in his ways.

I find this intriguing because God calls followers of Jesus to the same task; to be a watchman for his people. We have an incredible message for the world and that message is that God loved the sinful world enough that he came and laid down his life as an atoning sacrifice for it.

God's done his part...now it's time for to do ours.

We are watchman. The entire city's salvation is based on whether we climb down the wall and warn the people of the coming destruction. We have a message of incredible love. Our job requires us to do it, or else we too will "die". Fortunately, even if our hearers don't obey, we still will have done the job we were instructed to do.

I am personally really struggling with this right now. Things like pride get in the way where I feel more scared to share the gospel because of my fear of rejection. This fear is very selfish in the fact that I'm more worried about my own feelings than I am about other people's lives. This is something I've been actively praying about and hopefully will start to turn it's course in the next couple of weeks. My goals have been to start speaking with people I'm closest to...my closest unsaved friends, co-workers, family, etc...I have an incredible message of love to share with them, and all I'm asked to do is share it, and then I get a "job well done"

That's all of our jobs. We are watchman...and there's an enemy in the distance...who's going to tell the people around us?

"Here am I, send me..."

First one...so I'll talk about...

Cars.

Yes, Cars.

I've been watching a lot of movies lately, well actually I've been sleeping through alot of movies lately...one of which was the Pixar film Cars. If you don't know the theme behind the movie I will try to summarize it for you. A really fast car named Lightning McQueen ties 2 other cars in the championship race and has to go to California to race in a tie-breaker. On the way he falls out of the back of his truck and gets lost in a town called Radiator Springs. Radiator Spring is unique because it lies on the old highway known as Route 66. For years the town flourished and had lots of cool unique shops and visitors were abundant. Sometime closer to the future, a major highway was built near Radiator Springs that bi-passed the entire town completely. Eventually people also began bi-passing the town, never giving it a look, and the town basically died; the only exception being a few faithful residents. Lightning McQueen finds his way into this town, ends up ripping up the road and is forced to fix it. Long story short, over the next week as he fixes the road he learns about how "life in the fast lane" isn't as great as he originally thought based on his new discovery of a different lifestyle. Out of this small town experience he receives a new mentor, a new best friend, and a new lover.

Why am I talking about Cars?

I can't help but put myself in this situation (not as a car, but a person...you know what I mean). The world is constantly telling me to fill my schedule, be productive, do this, do that...do everything that you can to attain happiness in life. I feel like anymore lifestyles like that will do anything but bring fulfillment. I feel like as people we have forgotten about small things in life that used to matter. We don't care about investing time in our families; we don't care about investing time in good relationships; we don't even care about learning about our Creator that loves us...we couldn't care less because either (1) we don't want to know him or (2) we feel like we know enough about Him.

I've done this myself...

I feel like anymore all I want is what God has promised to give to me, and I want it by Him and in His timing. I don't need to live up to people's expectations or what people think will give me a fulfilling life. God has promised his people great things and unless we can learn to put him first and actually make him our "God" then we're never going to experience it. This means I have to let go of pride, I have to let go of "me" altogether. I need to let God be in control. Living a life that everybody else has or desires will do nothing but by-pass me by some of the most incredible things God has created on this planet for me to experience.


Jesus said, "Seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well."

I'm slowing down to get what has been promised to me.