25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way traveling with him, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Matthew 5:25 AMP)
Sometimes bad stuff happens. I’d like to think that bad stuff only happens to bad people. Or at least, bad stuff only happens to other people. Both concepts are about as false as false can get. Sometimes God wants us, the ‘good’ people, to experience difficulty. It might just be that how we handle the difficulty will bring about a much better outcome.
I started a new job this week care-giving and driving for an elderly lady. I had such high dreams of being able to pay for all the things I needed. Fix the dishwasher, replace the bathroom fan, pay down some debt. God had other plans.
My morning devotional was all about humility. Humble yourself in the sight of the LORD. No problem, I thought. I am quick to recognize God’s supreme kingship. In fact, I take comfort in his high position because the reality of his awesomeness helps me to trust him. I’m safe. That’s what I thought anyway.
Here are the verses I was reading:
12 Haughtiness comes before disaster, but humility before honor. Proverbs 18:12 (AMP)
2 When swelling and pride come, then emptiness and shame come also, but with the humble (those who are lowly, who have been pruned or chiseled by trial, and renounce self) are skillful and godly Wisdom and soundness. Proverbs 11:2 (AMP)
34 Though He scoffs at the scoffers and scorns the scorners, yet He gives His undeserved favor to the low [in rank], the humble, and the afflicted. Proverbs 3:34 (AMP)
Honestly I didn’t pay much attention. I just read them and moved on with my day.
Well, then it happened.
I was driving my new employer’s car and …OH NO! Now I think I’ll have to spend my pay check or several paychecks investing in its repair. I will because it’s the right thing to do. It sure will make my work week different.
All the work with the insurance and auto body shop fall to me. The shame of it weighs me down, how could I have been SOOO careless!?! They’ll never forget. They’ll always think of THIS event when they think about me. The inconvenience, the trouble…it’s so hard to find good help these days….I want to be good help. I want to do this job excellently because it reflects on me, my family and my God. I was a mess on the inside while trying to keep up the strength to carry on through the day.
I thought I could do this but I can’t do it very well. I am weak in ways I thought I was strong.
God is encouraging though.
4 For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He goes on living by the power of God. And though we too are weak in Him [as He was humanly weak], yet in dealing with you [we shall show ourselves] alive and strong in [fellowship with] Him by the power of God.
2 Corinthians 13:4(AMP)
For me, after the minor accident, there was no choice but to be humble before both God and everyone else. I can’t do anything on my own but by God’s power I can live with him in my dealings with everyone.
Later that same day my husband says to me, “Lift up your head. I love you. God loves you. God lifts up your head.”
Yes, even when I feel like I’m worthless…like I am of no account whatsoever, God is there walking with me through my dealings and my interactions with people. He loves me and I do not have to hang my head. I can walk tall through real life—mistakes, accidents, extra work, dashed dreams, horrible first impressions — because of who he is and his amazing love for me.
God has called us to walk with him through real life; To shine in the midst of darkness; To lift up our heads with faces of imperfection and revel in the warmth of his face, his love, his joy, his strength, His glorious absolute perfection.
Different things bother different people. Stresses may be caused by insignificant things or truly catastrophic ones. Troubles range in severity and in longevity. But the solution is the same. Jesus is the lifter of our heads. By God’s power we too can live…really live real lives with real people and real events.
If you know this song, sing it with me. If not, click the link and just listen…
There’s a cry in my heart
For Your glory to fall
For Your presence to fill up my senses
There’s a yearning again
A thirst for discipline
A hunger for things that are deeper
Could You take me beyond?
Could You carry me through?
If I open my heart?
Could I go there with You?
(For I’ve been here before
But I know there’s still more
Oh, Lord, I need to know You)
For what do I have
If I don’t have You, Jesus?
What in this life
Could mean any more?
You are my rock
You are my glory
You are the lifter
Of my head
Lifter of this head
Father, God, I can’t do this without you…live this life, care for this difficult person, work this job, love my family and tend my own home My every breath comes from you and is sustained by you. I am truly nothing without you . By faith I trust that you are the lifter of my head and cause me to shine brilliantly. I believe you will use my circumstances to benefit your glory and your kingdom. I need you so much! I need you each moment. Thank you for loving me and meeting my needs without finding fault.
Here is the LORD’s response to me
10 Humble yourselves [feeling very insignificant] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up and make your lives significant]. James 4:10 (AMP)
6 Therefore humble yourselves [demote, lower yourselves in your own estimation] under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt you,
1 Peter 5:6(AMP)
I confess, I do not know right now how this will bring about positive change. By faith I accept that God’s ways are higher than anything I can think of and HE can make this life experience significant in the best way possible.
Friend, may your lives and mine be significant to the Lord Jesus Christ…no matter what. Amen.
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