How Do You Handle Loss?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: ‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with lovingkindness I have drawn you.’”... 

(Jeremiah 31:3)

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

George Matheson, a student at the University of Scotland, was taken with an eye disease. He was losing his eyesight. A beloved professor came to him and said, “George, the doctors told me that it’s my responsibility to tell you that in three days you will be blind. If there is any face you want to look upon, do it now.” George wrote to his beloved fiancée and asked, “Would you come to my side? I want to look into your face before I go blind.” She wrote back, “If you are going blind, I don’t want to be married to you” and broke the engagement.

George was crushed, but he went on to graduate from the university at age 19. Out of that pain, he wrote one of the most beautiful hymns ever written: “O Love that will not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee; I give Thee back the life I owe, that in Thine ocean depths its flow may richer, fuller be. O Light that followest all my way, I yield my flickering torch to Thee; My heart restores its borrowed ray, that in Thy sunshine’s glow its day may brighter, fairer be. O Joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to Thee; I trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain, that morn shall tearless be.”

Though blind, he became a mighty minister of the Gospel of Christ. This crushing experience allowed him to touch the world.

ACTION POINT:

The words to this hymn came to George in a total of five minutes, and he never had to go back and edit them. We all experience painful losses in our lives. How we choose to handle them is key to what happens next.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

He Knows Your Need

“Do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.” (Matthew 6:31–32)

Jesus wants his followers to be free from worry. In Matthew 6:25–34, he gives at least seven arguments designed to take away our anxiety. One of them lists food and drink and clothing, and then says, “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all” (Matthew 6:32).

Jesus must mean that God’s knowing is accompanied by his desiring to meet our need. He is emphasizing we have a Father. And this Father is better than any earthly father.

I have five children. I love to meet their needs. But my knowing falls short of God’s knowing in at least three ways.

First, right now I don’t know where any of my children are. I could guess. They’re in their homes or at work or school, healthy and safe. But they might be lying on a sidewalk with a heart attack.

Second, I don’t know what is in their heart at any given moment. I can guess from time to time. But they may be feeling some fear or hurt or anger or lust or greed or joy or hope. I can’t see their hearts. They don’t even know their own hearts perfectly.

Third, I don’t know their future. Right now they may seem well and steady. But tomorrow some great sorrow may befall them.

This means I can’t be for them a very strong reason not to worry. There are things that may be happening to them now, or may happen tomorrow, that I do not even know about. But it is totally different with their Father in heaven. Our Father in heaven! He knows everything about us, where we are, now and tomorrow, inside and out. He sees every need.

Add to that, his huge eagerness to meet our needs. Remember the “much more” of Matthew 6:30, “If God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you?”

Add to that his complete ability to do what he is eager to do (he feeds billions of birds hourly, around the world, Matthew 6:26).

So join me in trusting the promise of Jesus to meet our needs. That’s what Jesus is calling for when he says, “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.”

John Piper 

What I Learned in a Florida Hurricane

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”... 

(Isaiah 41:10)

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I was raised in South Florida, in what you might call hurricane alley. When we knew a hurricane was coming, my dad would say, “Boys, go out there in the back yard and tie things down,” patio furniture and things like that. Sometimes we would go out after a hurricane, and the thing we tied down was gone and the thing we tied it to was gone!

Now friend, you better be tied to Jesus, He won’t blow away. Where is your hope? Where is your security? What have you lashed your hope to? I hope it’s in the solid rock, the Lord Jesus Christ.

ACTION POINT:

Friend, you’d better be tied to Jesus. He won’t blow away. Where is your hope? Where is your security? What have you anchored your hope to? I hope it’s in the solid rock, the Lord Jesus Christ.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Giver Gets the Glory

To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:11–12)

It is very good news that God designs his glory to be magnified through the exercise of his grace.

To be sure, God is glorified through the power of his wrath (Romans 9:22), but repeatedly the New Testament (and the Old Testament, for example, Isaiah 30:18) says that we should experience God’s grace so that God gets glory.

Ponder how this works in the prayer of 2 Thessalonians 1:11–12.

Paul prays that God would fulfill our good resolves.

How? He prays that they would be done “by [God’s] power.” That is, that they would be “[works] of faith.”

Why? So that Jesus would be glorified in us.

That means the giver gets the glory. God gave the power. God gets the glory. We have faith; he gives power. We get the help; he gets the glory. That’s the deal that keeps us humble and happy, and keeps him supreme and glorious.

Then Paul says that this glorification of Christ is “according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus.”

God’s answer to Paul’s prayer that we rely on God’s power to do good works is grace. God’s power to enable you to do what you resolve to do is grace.

That’s the way it works in the New Testament over and over. Trust God for gracious enabling, and he gets the glory when the help comes.

We get the help. He gets the glory.

That’s why Christian living, not just Christian conversion, is good news.

John Piper 

What Your Heart Really Longs For…

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.”... 

(Psalm 37:4)

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

This verse doesn't mean you'll have every whim fulfilled—you can have an island paradise somewhere, a pink Cadillac, or a handful of diamonds. It means when you delight yourself in the Lord, what your heart has really been seeking for, it will find. What your heart really yearns for is God. Only Jesus can meet the deepest needs of your heart.

Do you know why so often we live in fear? Because we think our needs aren’t going to be met. Or that things we believe are meeting our needs will be taken away from us. But 1 Timothy 6 says those whose minds have been corrupted, “…destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself.” On the other hand, “godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out” (vs. 5-7). We have something that can't be tampered with.

ACTION POINT:

Suppose someone were to go into your house and carry out all your material possessions. Could you still praise the Lord? If your delight is in the Lord, you could!

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Have All of God You Want

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance, with increase…” (Ecclesiastes 5:10)

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

We live in a day that confuses luxuries and necessities. Material things can never bring contentment, for they can never satisfy the deepest need of your heart. Either you can't get enough of them, or when you get them, you find out they don't meet your need.

Do you remember the story of the little boy who loved pancakes? One day his mother thought she would satisfy him, so she decided she would cook all the pancakes he wanted. He ate the first ones with relish and the second plate—if not with relish, at least with delight. He ate more, and then some more, and she just kept cooking them. Finally she asked, “Johnny, do you want another pancake?” He said, “No ma’am. I don't even want the ones I've already had.”

Now that's the way it is with money. “He that loveth silver shall never be satisfied with silver.” When you get it all, it doesn't satisfy, and you want more.

ACTION POINT:

This round world will never fit into your three-cornered heart. There’s nothing wrong with material things; they just can’t satisfy the deepest longing of your heart. You’ll never be satisfied with material things—only by the living God. I don’t know how much of God you have, but you may have all of God that you want.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Delayed Deliverances

Immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. (Acts 16:26)

In this age, God rescues his people from some harm. Not all harm. That’s comforting to know, because otherwise we might conclude from our harm that he has forgotten us or rejected us.

So be encouraged by the simple reminder that in Acts 16:19–24, Paul and Silas were not delivered, but in verses 25–26, they were.

First, no deliverance:

“They seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace.” (verse 19)

“The magistrates tore the garments off them.” (verse 22)

They “inflicted many blows upon them.” (verse 23)

The jailer “fastened their feet in the stocks.” (verse 24)

But then, deliverance:

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God . . . and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. (verses 25–26)

God could have stepped in sooner. He didn’t. He has his reasons. He loves Paul and Silas.

Question for you: If you plot your life along this continuum of Paul’s initial suffering and later deliverance, where are you? Are you in the stripped-and-beaten stage, or the unshackled, door-flung-open stage?

Both are God’s stages of care for you. He has not left you or forsaken you (Hebrews 13:5).

If you are in the fettered stage, don’t despair. Sing. Freedom is on the way. It is only a matter of time. Even if it comes through death. “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10).

John Piper