death – God's Word Girl

The Grace in Waiting

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Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you;
And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
Blessed are all those who wait for Him. Isaiah 30:18 NKJV

Delays are not denials. Men would pluck their mercies green, thwarting the love and wisdom growing there, when the Lord would have them ripe … “Do not grieve Him by doubting His love. Lift up your head and begin to praise Him even now for the deliverance which is on the way to you, and you will be abundantly rewarded for the delay which has tried your faith….” ~ Adam Slowman “Expectation Corner” reprinted in Streams in the Desert by Mrs. Cowman.

“God is a wise husbandman,…He knows when we are spiritually ready to receive the blessing to our profit and His glory. Waiting in the sunshine of His love is what will ripen the soul for blessing. Waiting under the cloud of trial, that breaks in showers of blessings, is as needful. Be assured that if God waits longer than you could wish, it is only to make the blessing doubly precious….” ~Andrew Murray reprinted in Streams in the Desert.

Wait in the sunshine of His love.

But to you who fear My name
The Sun of Righteousness shall arise
With healing in His wings;… Malachi 4:2a NKJV

Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper. 2 Chronicles 20:20b NKJV

Hear the Word of the LORD. BELIEVE. Be firmly persuaded. Believe solidly. Be established in the LORD and you will be established. Amen! — is another way of saying “it” — the thing, the word — is solidly, firmly, surely, verified and established.

Allow me to reiterate with Slowman: Delays are not denials.

In John 11 we find a man named Lazarus who was sick. His sisters sent word to Jesus saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” v. 3

Jesus’ response? “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” v. 4

Let’s look at this:

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. v .5, 6

Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you;…

Be gracious is to be inclined to have compassion or bestow favor on someone. It is an attitude marked by compassion, generosity, kindness and a consideration that will refrain from further wounding the bruised and suffering.

When the days of Lazarus being dead are tallied up, he had already passed when Jesus got the message that he was sick. Jesus already knew that. He did not delay His going so Lazarus would die. He did not delay to punish or ignore the sisters. Then the age old question, Why?

“And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe.” v. 15

His delay was going to produce a greater miracle.

As soon as Martha heard Jesus was coming she went to meet Him. She declared that if Jesus had been present Lazarus would not have died. True. Then she made a profound statement:

“But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” v. 22

Do we have that kind of faith in the midst of our losses?

Even after their exchange, the one in which Martha stated that Jesus is the Son of God, she slightly wavered when He commanded the stone to be rolled away. Mind you, Lazarus had been dead FOUR days. The commentary I read said many resources say that the Jews in that day held the belief that the spirit of the deceased hung around for up to three days looking for re-entry, but four days? That exceeded all reason of explanation. Not only that, there is decomposition to consider.

Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” v. 39

Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” v. 40

Has Jesus said that to you concerning your situation? Do you believe? Are trial and time making you weary? I get it. The things I’m sharing here with you today, they are born of my own wrestlings, of entries in my own journal, and ruminations. I can relate to Martha’s slight hesitation, but I know that if I can hold on like she did, I will receive the greater miracle. And so will you. Beloved, Delays are not denials. There is grace in the waiting, and if we ask, He will reveal it to us.

Apparently she established her belief because they took the stone away. The next part of verse 41 is essential for victory:

And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.”

That is reminiscent of this:

Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against (against their enemies);…and they were defeated. 2 Chronicles 20:22 NKJV (parenthesis mine)

These are the instructions in the great Book:

I will bless the Lord at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Psalm 34:1

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. Psalm 100:4

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Philippians 4:4

“But I can’t,” you say, “I am broken, crushed.”

You would have to read about David to appreciate all that he’d been through and it finally came to this: in I Samuel 30 we find that David’s ragtag army had returned to their city, plundered. Their refuge, burned. Their wives and children taken captive. The men who once stood with David were now talking of stoning God’s anointed.

Now David was greatly distressed,… v. 6a

Most likely an understatement, …

…But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. v. 6b

This was his choice of action before the verse was finished. And how do we strengthen ourselves? The joy of the LORD is our strength! (Nehemiah 8:10) We must refuse to allow our trials to swallow us whole and:

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. James 1:2-4 NKJV

May we, like Martha, declare Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, and trust in His love, that He will perform the greater miracle for the glory of God, in His time. And may we, like Jesus, offer thanksgiving first. praise, Praise, PRAISE!

By the way, Lazarus was raised from the dead (v. 44) and, Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him. v. 45

Join me in believing in Him . . . no matter how long the wait. Our commandment during the wait?

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NKJV

Pro-Choice

Hubby was YouTube surfing one evening and I was flitting about doing chores. When passing through the living room I found that he’d happened upon an interview with a woman who I assume came to the U.S. for sanctuary. As this piqued my curiosity, I paused. The little bit I heard went something like this:

“What do you think Americans take for granted the most?”

“The right to choose,” was her instant reply.

That being a catch phrase here I was curious where she was going with her answer.

“In the country where I come from we don’t have cookbooks. Even if we did we couldn’t afford the ingredients for the recipes. Americans choose where they go, where they work, where they live, and they take it for granted.”

There was no mention of abortion.

It’s been weeks since I heard that snippet of conversation and I haven’t been able to shake it.

Here’s something else I’ve been ruminating over: a letter someone wrote to an editor imploring people to “vote their God-given conscience” – that being, vote for candidates whose platform is abortion. Apparently, he doesn’t know God and I’ll prove it.

“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil; … therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; …” Deuteronomy 30:15,19

God set before us life and death and told us to choose life.

The pro-choice phrase has been hijacked by the left; the way they define it is actually pro-death and God tells us to have no part of it. To accept their definition is to set up in their camp and live in small perimeters. They don’t comprehend that true and pure freedom of choice is actually very vast and is synonymous with life, productivity, and creativity — even to the minute detail of having cookbooks and being able to afford the ingredients to make the recipes. This correct definition of pro-choice is for all people, those inside as well as outside of the womb. If the fine art of critical thinking still existed proponents of abortion might eventually conclude that if life in the womb is expendable then lives outside of the womb are expendable as well, including theirs.

God Himself said it: Choose life so that you and your descendants may live. With life comes blessing and good. This is the “God-given conscience”. The other “choice”, which kills the choice of one, will sink this nation as well as the lives of those who are upholding this deadly, evil philosophy.

Let’s, all of us in all nations, show wisdom by exercising our right to choose life so that we and our descendants will have good and blessed lives.

Living a Worthwhile Life

Have you ever asked a stupid question? Perhaps like me, you have heard, “There are no stupid questions.” I think I found one. A mother of one of our in-laws recently passed away. I called to offer condolences and ask if there was anything I could do. I heard myself asking, “Was this expected?” I’m sure you know what I mean; there are sudden, unexpected deaths and then there are the deaths that come on the heels of doctors’ prognosis. Interestingly enough, my in-law said, “Oh yeah, we’ve been expecting this for 30 years” (due to heart problems).

As I reflected on our brief conversation, I thought, How stupid of me to ask if it was expected. From the moment we are born we begin to die. No matter how good a life we live, no matter how long a life we live, if Jesus tarries, we’re all gonna die. In light of that, I can see why certain cultures weave a strand of mourning into the tapestry of life in the joyful event of birth. Being in this world, we will have trying times and death lies ahead.

As I was contemplating the difficult business of living and dying, I came up with the name of someone that made me smile, an example of a life that’s worth emulating: John Chapman. It is said that John Chapman, a.k.a. Johnny Appleseed, walked the countryside for nearly 50 years, creating nurseries for his precious seed that would grow into apple trees. I never noticed how many are scattered abroad until last fall when I saw trees heavily laden with the copious fruit everywhere we went. What a testament to this legendary man. He is an example to us of finding something worth living for and doing it until our dying day. Could you imagine what life would be like if we lived our lives full of passion like he did? We don’t need platforms or stages to fulfill our purpose, we simply need to be faithful to cultivate the “seeds” God gave us and deposit them everywhere we go.

So how do we live a worthwhile life? We live like we’re going to die — because that’s what’s going to happen if Jesus tarries. Do I relish the thought of dying? No, not necessarily, but it’s gonna happen. I need to do what I can do: Live my best life in the here and now. Like Johnny Appleseed, I need to drop as many seeds and build as many nurseries as I can to grow and guard my purpose. Are you willing to do the same?

Join me today in living and loving life . . . and maybe eat an apple.