Critics!

Who hasn’t felt the sting of criticism? In my 5 decades of serving as a Pastor, I have been the target of critics more than a few times. Sometimes their words had an element of truth. Sometimes the critic was upset about some situation that had little to do with me, but my semi-public role left me vulnerable. And sometimes the critic was just avoiding his own insecurities.

Let me quickly add that I have known a great deal of support and affirmation, too! But, somehow, the voice of the critics always seems louder.  When critics spoke, my usual response was to take their words to the Lord with a prayer to see clearly, to learn from what was true, to discard what was not.

In all honesty, knowing my self better than anyone else, it is a source of real wonder that God would trust me with the care of His Bride, the Church. I know I am not smart enough, 'Christian' enough, to serve perfectly. I remind myself that the strength, the wisdom, the gifts belong to my Master and Lord. I try to remember that I “serve at His pleasure!”

Do you feel incapable? Have critics made you feel inadequate? Have those feelings bled over into your spiritual life causing your sins and failures to taunt you from the edge of your consciousness, whispering to you - "You’re a failure. You cannot do anything right."

Those voices are not just from inside your head. They may be partially rooted in our own fears but the demons who work at neutralizing or defeating God’s work in this world are ever- present, too. Every person who takes seriously the call to live a holy life, who seeks to do God's will – whether they are a pastor or a plumber- will know that kind of attack.

St. Paul knew this sense of inadequacy. Of the calling to represent the Kingdom of God, he asks, "Who is equal to such a task?" and a little further on the text, "It is not that we think we can do anything of lasting value by ourselves. Our only power and success come from God." (2 Corinthians 3:5, NLT) The demons attempt to get the person serious about God and His call to focus on Self. Why? Because the one thing that is the key to doing spiritual work effectively is the Spirit in us. It is not our own strength, cleverness, or skills that provide success.

The Bible says, "For in him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge— because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. Therefore, you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed." (1 Corinthians 1:5-7, NIV) What a joyful declaration! Christ’s Church is adequate for the task God has given her. We, who are filled with God’s Spirit, can live as a positive effective representative of Christ.

I love the ancient preacher’s inspired words to the people who were trying to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple centuries before the time of Christ. God spoke through him to say - "It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty." (Zechariah 4:6, NLT) That is still TRUE and the principle is a key to our effective service for Jesus.

What strengths did God see in us that caused Him to choose us? Nothing!
But He called us, at His own initiative, because of His grace. Then He promised, "I will enrich you in every way!" Claim His strength.

Do not foolishly ignore your critics! Winston Churchill, Great Britain’s famed Prime Minister through the terrible years of World War 2 was frequently criticized. He wisely said “Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body; it calls attention to the development of an unhealthy state of things. If it is heeded in time, danger may be averted; if it is suppressed, a fatal distemper may develop.”

Be encouraged by the promise of God to use your strengths and weaknesses, to keep you steady, and to do ‘more than you can imagine’ through you.

Here's a Word to take with you today.
"God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important, so that no one can ever boast in the presence of God. God alone made it possible for you to be in Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made Christ to be wisdom itself. He is the one who made us acceptable to God. He made us pure and holy, and he gave himself to purchase our freedom.

As the Scriptures say, “The person who wishes to boast should boast only of what the Lord has done.” (1 Corinthians 1:28-31, NLT)
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A video of this devotion can be found at 
https://www.youtube.com/@JerScott55 

Sorrowful?

The day closed and the lights turned off for the night. I breathed a sigh and a prayer – “God, why must there be so much sorrow?”  The sadness was not for myself, but for many around me that were going through hard times.
in the morning, I sat for an hour in a jail visiting room with a man who made a choice in a moment and now sits in a cell awaiting trial. As I prayed with him, tears welled up in my eyes.
Another friend told me of financial hardship and ongoing constant pain, and I hurt with that one.
Another shared disappointment with an adult child who has chosen to be distant.
Another reported the death of a relative that was expected yet still bringing grief and loss.
More pictures of devastation of war filled my news feed.

 … and that was just one day!

I am well aware of the promises of God found in the Holy Word, passages like this from Isaiah: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (41.10) I am thankful that, yet sometimes the sorrow is crushing, seeming to be too much to bear.

There are several choices to be made when life hurts, when the ache of the soul hangs on, that help us to renew ourselves and find the ‘joy of the Lord.’

First, choose reality over denial!
So many Christians put on a smile and cheerful face while pretending that all is well. The pain of their heart is papered over with favorite Bible verses and churchy cliches. If asked if they are hurting, they are quick with the ‘right’ answer, unwilling to admit to life’s pain.

Second, remember that what you feel is part of the common human experience!
How easily we are convinced that no one has ever felt the fear, the loss, the rejection, the doubt, the sadness which we are living in at the moment. That quickly can turn us into a victim, or worse, to begin to believe that we must have done something terrible and are being judged by God. In the long run that person risks cutting herself off from the very God that is her comfort.

Third, find a friend!
The ideas that we have to ‘go it alone,’ that ‘big boys don’t cry,’ that we must soldier on alone are just wrong. God created us for community. It has been said thousands of times but it is none-the-less true -working to build a network of friends returns the richest rewards. When we are living under sunny skies and with plenty of resources we may tempted to ignore serving with others, spending time listening and loving, but if we do, we will find ourselves without a friend that can be that ‘bridge over troubled waters.’

Fourth, choose to worship God!
The Bible talks about a sacrifice of praise. When life hurts it can be difficult to look up and thank God that He is bigger than this day, this trouble, this hardship but it will make a difference. There are so many ways to do this. Perhaps you can find a quiet place and pray. Surely you can go to a church and join the formal worship experience. Just maybe you are prompted to worship with a beautiful song.
Psalm 73 records the lament of a man whose disappointment was painful. It nearly broke him. He says “When I tried to figure it out, all I got was a splitting headache … Until I entered the sanctuary of God. Then I saw the whole picture.”  (73, The Message) He finishes his song saying- “As for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.” (73.28 NIV)

Are you sorrowful? Does life just hurt today? I do care and I wish I could sit with you for a while. Deal with it, endure it, wait through it.

The word from the Word comes from ancient preacher. The older I get, the more I appreciate this wisdom. May it give you hope today.

“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”  (Habakkuk 3:17–18)

Why? How can we rejoice in such circumstances?

“The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to go on the heights.”  (Habakkuk 3:19)

Make the God who reigns YOUR strength.

Watch for God!

How I enjoyed teaching the Bible Station sessions at our church’s Vacation Bible School last week. It is no easy task to teach children all morning long, but the rewards are rich. Their faith is simple, their hearts open. One boy, about 9 years of age, delighted me with his honesty. I taught from Psalm 139 the truth that God knows the very thoughts inside of our brain. When asked how he felt about that fact he said, “I don’t like it. It is an invasion of my privacy!”

The children were encouraged to report “God sightings” every day. The idea is that they would become more aware of the Spirit. Not a bad idea, right? Their responses include the ordinary stuff of life - “My puppy sat with me while I watched TV.”  “I saw a pretty cloud in the sky.” “My Grandma got better after being sick.”  Are those incidents of God at work or are they just ‘life?’  Truth is – God’s Presence is in evidence all around us, even in the ordinary, and we do well to learn gratitude for the simple blessings.

We need to pray for an awareness of God’s Presence, faith to see Him at work, in our lives. We do not have to become gullible or foolish, but we do need the heart of a child. Listen to a story from the Gospel of Mark. "One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them!

For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” (Mark 10:13-15, NLT) We can become so ‘adult’ that we will miss the moment when the Spirit of God whispers His Presence.

Does God only show up in rainbows, butterflies, in the church sanctuary, or in a baby’s smile? Of course not. He is also found in the face of a homeless man, present in our greatest sorrows, and at work in our moments of trials.

God is Omnipresent but not always perceived!

He is working in the world and in us but sometimes outside of our vision because we simply do not look up, take it in, and become a part of what He is doing. I have one huge regret from the first 40 years of my life- an obsession with checking off the tasks on the urgent list of ‘to do’s' caused me to miss out on so many of life's miracles. My face was often so close to the task, I was oblivious to the wonder happening around me.

With this realization, I am becoming less eager to 'finish a job' and instead I desire to know what God is doing, to understand the stories that are waiting to be discovered, to see God at work in the lives of people with whom I work and live and love. In learning to be a little more flexible, I am finding more wonder, greater joy. And I confess that old habits die hard! I still can get so goal oriented I forget the joy of the journey. God teach us to wait on you!

John tells us about some people committed to their pre-conceptions, gripped by their ideas about what God wanted. They were blind to the ‘kingdom of God’ however! They missed a miracle that happened right in front of their eyes.

"Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed— lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew how long he had been ill, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?”

“I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I am trying to get there, someone else always gets in ahead of me.” Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your sleeping mat, and walk!”

Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up the mat and began walking! What an amazing development, a cause for celebration and rejoicing, right? After 38 years a man is walking, whole, on his feet! You would think that everybody who saw him would be infected with his joy, overcome with his excitement. And you would be wrong! Read on - “But this miracle happened on the Sabbath day. So, the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! It’s illegal to carry that sleeping mat!”  He replied, “The man who healed me said to me, ‘Pick up your sleeping mat and walk.’”

“Who said such a thing as that?” they demanded. The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so, stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.”" (John 5:2-14, NLT)

Do you see the miracles of life and love that God is doing or are you so religious that you, like those ancient Pharisees, are robbed of wonder. They didn't see a man just healed after 38 years of being crippled. They only saw a man carrying his bedroll in violation of their religious traditions!

That was not the only time in Jesus' life when He ran into people who missed the miracle. In the 12th chapter of Matthew, we are told that he healed a man with a deformed hand. There, too, the Pharisees only saw that He did it on the Sabbath, in violation of their prohibition against doing 'work,' so instead of rejoicing that a man was healed, they "discussed plan to kill Jesus."  

Yes, that is how easy it is to miss the miracle when we're consumed by our own pre-conceived ideas. I've missed my share of miracles, too, because I was focused on my plans, my ideas, my needs and unwilling to enter into the experience of another person in a way that let me feel their wonder, share their joy (or sorrow), or see what God was really doing in and/or through them.

Today, the God of wonder is at work! And He will be working in your neighborhood, and mine, too. The question is, will we perceive His work? Will we rejoice with those in whom He is working?

Here's a word from the Word. It is Jesus' own words of frustration with those who could not, would not, see what He was doing. “What are the people of this day like? They are like children playing in the center of town where people gather. They call to their friends. They say, ‘We played music for you, but you did not dance. We showed sorrow in front of you, but you did not show sorrow.’ 18 John came and did not eat or drink. They said, ‘He has a demon.’ Then the Son of Man came and ate and drank. They said, ‘See! He eats too much and likes wine. He is a friend of men who gather taxes and of sinners!’ But wisdom shows itself to be right by what it does.”

Then He began to say strong words against the cities where most of His powerful works were done. He spoke to them because they were not sorry for their sins and did not turn from them.” (Matthew 11:16-23 NLT)

Let these words challenge you to celebrate the wonder, to open your eyes to the miracles of the hand of God who is here, now!

• Watch for God!
• Listen for the blowing of the Wind.
• Be still enough to hear the whispers of the Spirit.
• Keep an open heart that experience the Kingdom (under the rule) of God!

Amen