In asking the question concerning who will dwell with God, the response of David's song is those who are blameless and do what is right. That seems to cut out most of us. Even on my best day, I cannot with all my trying, be blameless. David ends Psalm 15 with these words: Whoever does these things will never be shaken.
We live in California and every once in a while we shake a bit. On Easter Sunday two years ago our dining room chandelier had quite a swing for a few seconds. The house shook hard. But, thank God, it is still upright. Not so much in Turkey two days ago. People who occupied a hotel damaged by an earlier quake on October 23 were buried when it fell atop them, killing eleven guests. It was shaken and it fell.
If you live long enough, something will shake your faith. You will quake in your spiritual shoes. The question is, "Will you still be standing when the trembling ceases?" Earthquakes tend to blindside us. The day is going well and then BOOM! our legs are unsteady and our lives are swaying back and forth with uncertain outcomes. The difference seems to be how good the foundation is. Swaying isn't permanent. Falling to pieces is. I have fallen to pieces before. I have had to rebuild. Better to hold on in the swaying, scary as it is, and trust you will be upright when the quake has passed.
How do we do that? Hold on, that is. When your life is in free-fall, no ground beneath your feet, how do you have faith that you will not be splattered on the canyon floor? When you are moving downward so fast that it takes your breath away, how do you catch the branch that slows the fall? Life is lived forward and understood backward, so I do have some answers I wish I had had before I missed the branch and was gravely wounded on the rocks beneath.
#1. God did not cause my free-fall. But He will catch me if I trust Him.
#2. Don't grab just any branch. Some of them have thorns like you would not believe. Getting those suckers out of your hands takes a long time and leaves scars.
#3. Do not blame God for the consequences of your own bad responses.
#4. Close your eyes and trust at all cost.
#5. Do not be afraid. Fear is a great driver of bad choices. Ironic, too, because you can never make a better choice than God, just a more immediate one.
#6. Call out for help! Loudly! To those who know you and love your God. Do not quake alone, stoically thinking you can ride this one out all by yourself. Some won't come to the rescue because it is too much trouble. Don't stop looking for your own personal posse just because there are one or two who will not do the work with you.
#7. Don't choose to medicate with what is not God. That is a trap of the enemy every time.
#8. Stay "in Christ." The world is full of baloney.
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him Who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises so that through them we may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
Make every effort to add to your faith, goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.....For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1)
Therefore my brothers and sisters, Stand Firm! Let nothing move you! Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
(1 Corinthians 15)
Remember when the disciples were on the sea late at night and a huge storm came up, pushing their boat up and down on the waves? Remember where Jesus was? Right there. Asleep in the storm.
"Don't you care that we are drowning?" they cried as they woke Him.
"Why are you afraid?" He asked.
Because we are about to drown, of course. We are about to lose our home, or our health, or our marriage, or our lives. "About to" are words that scare us to death because we can think of every negative outcome known to man and in our panic, we try to save ourselves. Jesus would ask us, "What are you afraid of?"
Remember, He is in the boat, and just because it seems He is unaware of your storm, He is really so confident of your rescue that He might just be napping. He speaks to storms, to earthquakes, to every scary situation in which you find yourself today. So, do not be afraid. Trust. Do not go to every bad scenario and live there. The thrilling thing about our God is that He will make a way you have not thought of. Hold on! There might be a whole lot of shaking going on, but it does not have to bring you down.
We live in California and every once in a while we shake a bit. On Easter Sunday two years ago our dining room chandelier had quite a swing for a few seconds. The house shook hard. But, thank God, it is still upright. Not so much in Turkey two days ago. People who occupied a hotel damaged by an earlier quake on October 23 were buried when it fell atop them, killing eleven guests. It was shaken and it fell.
If you live long enough, something will shake your faith. You will quake in your spiritual shoes. The question is, "Will you still be standing when the trembling ceases?" Earthquakes tend to blindside us. The day is going well and then BOOM! our legs are unsteady and our lives are swaying back and forth with uncertain outcomes. The difference seems to be how good the foundation is. Swaying isn't permanent. Falling to pieces is. I have fallen to pieces before. I have had to rebuild. Better to hold on in the swaying, scary as it is, and trust you will be upright when the quake has passed.
How do we do that? Hold on, that is. When your life is in free-fall, no ground beneath your feet, how do you have faith that you will not be splattered on the canyon floor? When you are moving downward so fast that it takes your breath away, how do you catch the branch that slows the fall? Life is lived forward and understood backward, so I do have some answers I wish I had had before I missed the branch and was gravely wounded on the rocks beneath.
#1. God did not cause my free-fall. But He will catch me if I trust Him.
#2. Don't grab just any branch. Some of them have thorns like you would not believe. Getting those suckers out of your hands takes a long time and leaves scars.
#3. Do not blame God for the consequences of your own bad responses.
#4. Close your eyes and trust at all cost.
#5. Do not be afraid. Fear is a great driver of bad choices. Ironic, too, because you can never make a better choice than God, just a more immediate one.
#6. Call out for help! Loudly! To those who know you and love your God. Do not quake alone, stoically thinking you can ride this one out all by yourself. Some won't come to the rescue because it is too much trouble. Don't stop looking for your own personal posse just because there are one or two who will not do the work with you.
#7. Don't choose to medicate with what is not God. That is a trap of the enemy every time.
#8. Stay "in Christ." The world is full of baloney.
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him Who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises so that through them we may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
Make every effort to add to your faith, goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.....For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1)
Therefore my brothers and sisters, Stand Firm! Let nothing move you! Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
(1 Corinthians 15)
Remember when the disciples were on the sea late at night and a huge storm came up, pushing their boat up and down on the waves? Remember where Jesus was? Right there. Asleep in the storm.
"Don't you care that we are drowning?" they cried as they woke Him.
"Why are you afraid?" He asked.
Because we are about to drown, of course. We are about to lose our home, or our health, or our marriage, or our lives. "About to" are words that scare us to death because we can think of every negative outcome known to man and in our panic, we try to save ourselves. Jesus would ask us, "What are you afraid of?"
Remember, He is in the boat, and just because it seems He is unaware of your storm, He is really so confident of your rescue that He might just be napping. He speaks to storms, to earthquakes, to every scary situation in which you find yourself today. So, do not be afraid. Trust. Do not go to every bad scenario and live there. The thrilling thing about our God is that He will make a way you have not thought of. Hold on! There might be a whole lot of shaking going on, but it does not have to bring you down.
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