The Lord is my defender!

Micah 7:7 - As for me, I look to the Lord for help.

For just over two years, my husband and I have been praying that God would answer a specific need we have, which originated out of a bad choice we made. Throughout that time, we have gone through almost every range of emotion possible, including grief, anger, and fear.  We have worked hard to take our concerns and worries together and separately to the Lord, knowing that venting on one another will do no good. We have lamented together when we were disheartened and dug in and encouraged each other when struggling. And to that end, we have had days that were full of faith, where, even without answers, we felt the peace of God.

In short, we have definitely been in a long season of looking to the Lord for help, and now, as I see what is happening outside the walls of my home, looking to the Lord for help is further amplified. Is there chaos everywhere, Lord?

In the book of Micah, the prophet begins by warning Israel. They have judgment coming through the armies of Assyria and Babylon because their leaders and prophets have become corrupt through theft and greed. We see that God won’t let that sort of corruption stand, and although not permanent, He will enact judgement. However, because of his character and His promises to His people, he brings about hope.

This final passage we read in Micah is a personification; a suffering, defeated individual - hopeless. And the brilliance of employing this writing mechanism in God’s Word is that a passage in the Old Testament can manage to feel so personal.  

God’s character is on the line here. If we repent, will He save us? If we call on Him, will He hear us?

I don’t know about you, but I think those things.

I have often felt the hopelessness of a sinful moment or disappointing decision. I have had to live in the natural consequences of a bad choice. When I chose to do something that is in direct opposition to what God’s Word says, I can expect to see the rotten repercussions of that. When I say something I shouldn’t, I hurt the receiver of those words. When I make a terrible financial decision, I bring stress to my family.

Yet the Bible tells me all is not lost! The Lord is the same as He is today. He doesn’t hold me in that sin. No! The people of Israel had been in rebellion for over 500 years at this point- theft! Greed! Yet God reminds that He will take up their case (v. 9) and that just like the Israelites, He will “Bring me into the light”— that light is Jesus. (v. 8&9)

That is who God IS! His promises are true, and He is faithful when we are not. Dear sisters, “For though you fall, you will rise again.” (v. 8) Through Jesus, your Lord, repentance brings the peace of God back to your heart. It is there you will find your hope.

What about you? Is your heart echoing the above, “I look to the Lord for help,” (v. 7)  or are you more skeptical: “So where is the Lord- that God of yours?”  (v. 10) Do you need help from Him? Or are you angry that God would ask you to obey in a specific part of your life— that He would ask you to submit to something hard? Perhaps you are just struggling to hear Him at all?

I’ve been all of those. In my lowest moments, I’ve said, “You don’t care about me, Lord! You’ve left us! We made a mistake, and you are going to punish us forever!”

Yet here we see in Micah that God is not like that.

He is going to take up my case. He will fight for me. And then, the faithless will see Him in us.

Troubling things are erupting daily in our nation and in us. Our sin can be overwhelming. Draw on His character throughout time to remind yourself that God brings judgment that he might bring hope. Ask Him to remind you of that hope that we have the forever promises of a God who can be trusted.

Micah 7:7-10

 

Sarah Elmer

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Learning to Live with Open Hands During Seasons of Change

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. (Isaiah 43:19)

Change. None of us like it. Rarely do we seek it. Even the word can strike fear in our hearts. Yet life is full of it.

Recently, I have undergone many changes in my life. So much so that it has seemed not one thing has stayed the same. My health has dramatically changed. My extended family has gone through turmoil and looks nothing like it did several years ago. The ministries I have been involved in for many years have been stripped away, and I’m having to rethink where God would have me serve. The house I have lived in for 21 years – the one I raised all of my children in - is about to be sold. My husband’s job of 18 years changed, which meant that our finances changed, our insurance changed, our doctors had to change, our daily routine changed, etc. And I left a church that I had been attending for 25 years, which meant friends and relationships are changing even as I write this.

So, what do you do when faced with that much change? Does your foundation shake? Do you crawl into a ball and retreat? Do you put your best foot forward and bravely push on? What is the answer?

But God.

Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Wow! What great news! Despite all the changes going on around me, there is One who never changes! One whom I can cling to who is always the same.

Psalm 18:2 says, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” That is a foundation that will not shake! He is a rock, a fortress, a deliverer, a stronghold! What an amazing truth!

These changes have stripped away parts of me that I had come to rely on. Things of this world that I had equated with who I was, good things - ministries, friends, family, health. etc. Through the years, we get comfortable with the ways in which God is using us. The things we are involved in become who we are, and the way people see us becomes who we think we are. Through these changes, God began showing me a new way to see myself. A way where change doesn’t have a say - a new stream in the desert.

During this season of change, I have been cleaning out and getting rid of things to prepare to move. On one hand, this has been another source of change, to get rid of things that have defined and been a part of our family for years; yet on another hand, this has been a cleansing process. I have learned that, through the years, we all allow “junk” to gather in our hearts, just like we allow it to clutter our closets. Sometimes these are even good things, but we begin to let them define us instead of being defined by who we are in Christ. We accept labels such as prayer warrior, Sunday School teacher, caring friend, church member, mission advocate, responsible family member, etc.

None of those are bad things, but they are not who we are. They might be what we do, or how God is using us at a moment in time, but our identity is truly defined by who we are in Christ and that can never change! A person bought with a price, one who has been saved by grace, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb – that is a person who is the same regardless of any outward changes going on around them. They are a servant of the King, and what they do or where they live or who their family is or who their friends are or the state their health is in – all of that can change, yet everything in Christ still remains the same!

We are just passing through this earthly life. This is not our final destination, so cling not to things that change. Hold loosely to the blessings and pleasures of this world. Live with open hands to what God gives and what God takes away. Yet hold tightly to the One who never changes! Grasp on to the One who is steadfast and sure! He is faithful!

Paula Folsom

 

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