I apologize for this delayed post. Due to a storm my internet was down.
2/7/2020
Luke 24:21 “But we trusted…and besides all this, today is the third day”
My dad was a wonderful man. He was a quiet man, (a mumbler when he spoke), he was intelligent and wise, he was truly loving, warm, generous, compassionate with a deep devotion to his faith, and he was oh so FUNNY. Everyone who knew him loved him. Today would have been my dad’s 90th birthday. Sadly, he died suddenly at the age of 52. I had turned 17 only a few short months before. To say his death was traumatizing would be an understatement. My mother, and entire family really, went into a kind of perpetual mourning. His death changed everything, including my faith journey. I have missed him every day for over three decades.
Today though, on his birthday, I want to talk about how much I trusted him, and how he made me feel safe. Everything my dad said was true in my eyes: I never questioned his motives or his love for me. I listened when he spoke…well, most of the time. He, in his quiet way, could command any room. There was no pride or bombast about him. He always had everyone’s best interests at heart. Even with this wonderful man in my life, I still could get upset or feel put-upon if he did not give me my way. High emotion was certainly not beyond me. I am such a selfish creature. My dad would have never held anything from me if it wasn’t for my own good; loving fathers are like that.
In My Utmost for His Highest this 7th of February, Chambers asks us to examine our outlook and disposition. It can often be an internal struggle with external results. Chambers says, “If depression and oppression visit me, I am to blame; not God or anyone else.” He goes on to say that these emotions spring from lust that has either been satisfied or not. Wow, how revelatory for me! If I have given in to something that I know is not good for me, I have failed, and guilt and depression set in. Conversely, if I do not have something I want or crave, feelings of frustration and oppression set in.
I was surprised how Chambers describes lust as something you have to have immediately, and not just with a sexual connotation like I have always heard it used. He says this can occur in our spiritual lives as well. “Lust makes us demand an answer from God, instead of seeking God who gives the answer." This action requires me to get out of the way and trust. Boy, have I failed in that area many times! Cambers also uses the word dejection (or in my case, pouty) several times about an attitude that does not get the desired answer; the overpowering, trumpet-sounding, earth-shaking answer.
God’s answers often come as a whisper through everyday occurrences and people all around us. Chambers says, “One of the most amazing revelations of God comes when we learn that it is in the commonplace things that the Deity of Jesus Christ is realized.” All you need to do is read the gospels/New Testament to know this is true. Like any good father, God loves us above all, and we must trust Him above all.
This is the second time I have attached this song, but I feel it is, once again, so appropriate.
Good Good Father - Chris Tomlin
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