Deb Gerard’s Blog

I have been going through a time of doubting and wondering why God allows certain things to happen.  I have been in “Valleytime”.  No one likes valleytime.  Everyone fears it, but Goduses it to grow us up, to mold us, to strengthen us, to move us toward being all He designed us to be.  When you think about it, nothing grows on the mountain top!  Things grow best in the valley!  What we sometimes forget is that God is everywhere-He is even there in the valleytime, even when it is “the valley of the shadow of death” talked about in Psalm 23.  We can trust Him to walk through the valley with us.  We sometimes wish He would remove us from valleytime, but when He doesn’t, it is because he knows our frame and He knows our hearts and he knows what is best for our growth-He is always thinking about our growth as His objective is always to make us more like Jesus!  I am discovering that even in valleytime, I can trust Him to be there and to see me through.  You can, too, so take heart, my fellow valleytime traveler!

Hi all! 
I was reading in Philippians one morning when a couple of verses really hit me.  Philippians 2:13 states, “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure”.  Then in Philippians 1:6 it says, “He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ”.  What struck me is the fact that nothing is of my own doing!   My very desire to be saved was a work of God in me.  He gave me the will to WANT His salvation and the WILL to be drawn!  As the popular worship song clearly states, “It’s all about Him, it’s not about me!”  Then, once the work of initially saving me is over, He continues to work to make me holy, to sanctify me, to make me more like His Son.  The unbelievable thing is that once he starts this good work, He continues to work and will continue to do it all for His good pleasure! 

 
This is true for me AND it is true for you!  How cool is that!  It brings the God of this universe pleasure to first bring us to Himself by His will working in us.  Then it brings Him good pleasure to continue to work in us for that good pleasure.  It is so wonderful even though it sounds like a broken record-He starts something for His good pleasure and continues something for the same reason!   How fantastic this is!!  What a loving God He is!  How much He wants a restored relationship with us-not because we are so wonderful and worthy of His efforts, but because it gives Him pleasure! 

 
It humbles me to think that He is willing to do all this so that I can have all of His grace and goodness even though I deserve none of it.  It moves me to tears to try to grasp such love, such depth of loving expression, such goodness.  To top it all off, He will continue His efforts on our behalf-efforts to make us like His beloved Son-until that Son returns to get us!!  As the song goes, “He who began a good work in me; He who began a good work in me-will be faithful to complete it; He’ll be faithful to complete it; He who started a good work will be faithful to complete it in me!!”  Could anyone ever be more faithful than that?  This ought to put us on our faces in worship before this gracious yet Almighty God!!

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX

 
I was studying through a Biblical Counseling course I was reviewing.  I came upon a section that challenged me to make sure that I look at the facts and make interpretations based on those facts when dealing with Scripture.  Several different passages of Scripture were presented from which I was to glean the facts and make an interpretation.  As I struggled through this assignment, I began to see some truths that we need to apply to our lives. 

 
In Luke 24:13-26, we find the story of two disciples walking along the road to Emmaus.  As they walked, they talked and puzzled over all that had just transpired in Jerusalem leading to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.   Jesus is then found walking with them, but, for whatever supernatural reason, they did not recognize Him.  He asked what they were talking about.  They were amazed that He could not have known of these recent events.  After giving Him a summary, Jesus then spoke truth from Scripture to them and their eyes were opened and they realized it was the LORD Himself.  These men had all the apparent facts, but their interpretation was faulty.  They had made some assumptions that didn’t line up with what they had determined should have happened.  I came away from the study of these verses with the conclusion that I must accept FACTS and question my interpretation if it does not line up with those facts.  God does not lie and His word does not lie.  I can trust Him and His word to be the “bottom line” of truth.  A recent archeological discovery has so many excited/dismayed/nervous/confused.  Believers need not be confused.  God’s word spells out truth of creation and we can trust it and stand on it and one day, just as Jesus cleared up any confusion while walking on the Emmaus Road, we will see God’s word proved fully true.

 
Luke 10:38-41 gives the account of Martha and Mary, a well-known part of God’s word.  Mary is found soaking in the words of Jesus while Martha is fussing about household preparations.  In frustration, Martha tells Jesus to instruct Mary to help her with the fussing.  Jesus responds, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.  But one thing is needed and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her!”  How often in our day do we get distracted from the essentials?  How often are we pulled in so many directions that urgent takes place over the truly important?  The truth is that some things are truly most important and if we stay focused on getting those things done, we will have accomplished what was “most needful” in the eyes of the LORD.  All the rest will then fall in line.  I find in my own life if my day starts out with no time with the LORD in His word and in prayer, other things don’t fall in place throughout my day.  Dallas Holmes, a Christian singer, wrote a song some years back that encouraged us to take/make time for the LORD in the morning and everything else that matters will be accomplished.  A new book, “Being a Mary in a Martha World” certainly addresses our tendency to let the urgent take precedent over the important.   The truth is —-only a few things are needful and we have been told what they are in Micah 6:8 (to love mercy, to do justly and to walk humbly with our God).  Let’s do them first and trust God to provide time for the rest.

 
The disciples are out in a boat fishing, having left Jesus on one side of the lake in Mark 6: 45-52.  As they fished, the sea became very rough and the wind was making it difficult to get back into shore.  Jesus then appears to them, walking on the water.  He enters the boat and the storm is stilled.  In truth, there are times when we simply can’t comprehend the workings of God.  At those times, we are simply instructed to trust because “His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not ours”.  I don’t know about you, but that is sooooo hard for me to do.  I need the details explained.  I need to see it all spelled out clearly.  That is why, when my husband would get home from the office and he would respond to my question, “How was work today?” with the proverbial “Fine!”, I go a bit ballistic!  I need more information, more explanation, in order to accept what has happened.  Sometimes we have to simply settle for less information and trust that God has it in control.  We don’t really need to have the entire why’s and wherefore’s to have peace with the results.  The truth is-some things will not have an explanation this side of heaven and, once we get there, it won’t matter!!

 
Mark 2:1-5 tells us the wonderful story of the paralytic who was healed by Jesus.  A crowd had surrounded Jesus. The man’s friends who were bringing him to Jesus for healing were unable to get close enough to get His attention.  They devised a plan that required tearing up the thatched roof of the home Jesus was speaking from and lowering their friend through the hole into the presence of Jesus.  These friends were thinking “outside the box” to find a solution to a very real problem.  Sometimes, we have to do the same!  The simple solution may not be readily seen.  In fact, it may not be simple at all.  It may require creatively considering alternatives not normally used!  Are you facing a problem whose solution seems to fall beyond the realm of ordinary logic or reason?  Ask God to help you think “outside the box”, to find a solution beyond the normal.  In truth, God doesn’t always solve things in the ordinary way and neither can we.  Consider the giraffe, for example.  That neck could certainly be seen as a strange solution to getting a drink, but, my, my, is it ever effective in licking off the tallest leaves in that Eucalyptus tree! 

 
Let me remind you again of the point I am making.  We are to respond from the perspective of  FACT, majoring on the majors, when interpreting Scripture and applying it to life.  Sometimes those facts lead to clear-cut interpretations, sometimes they call for creative solutions and thinking outside the box and sometimes they demand we simply trust in a sovereign God to do what we don’t understand.  If we could grasp all this and use these truths throughout our day, we would walk through life differently and we could make a difference in our world one person at a time.