Have you ever felt like your life has crashed in on itself? Have you ever wondered what God could be thinking, why He chose to shake your life up so much? I think a lot of times, we tend to look at the bad things in our life as punishment from God. If we get fired, if someone we love dies, if we are betrayed by someone we trusted, if we lose our financial security, if a family member gets cancer, we tend to look at the situation with a negative attitude.
We get frustrated with the stress and uncomfortableness of the situation, and we often turn our angry and frustration towards God. And I'm as guilty as anyone else. I do it too. It's so easy to get mad at God when things don't go my way.
I think that in our finiteness, we aren't able to understand how God works. The way God does things, the plans He has for us, and the reasons He allows bad things to happen are beyond our human comprehension. That's why verses like Romans 8:28, which says, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose," and Jeremiah 29:11, which says, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future,'" become such cornerstones in our lives. These verses are great reminders that even though we don't understand why God does everything the way He does it, He is in complete control, and He does everything for the good of those who love Him. When I read these two verses, I am so humbled and comforted because they remind me that good will come out of every situation I go through, no matter how horrible and terrible it may seem.
I feel like reading about the shipwreck in Acts 27 is a perfect illustration of this. In Acts 27, we find Paul caught yet again between a rock and a hard place. He is a prisoner on board of a ship of the Imperial Regiment of the Roman army. He is being taken to Rome to appear before Caesar to appeal the false accusations made against him. But on their long journey, winter sets in, which means the sea is very dangerous to be on. Waves toss back and forth violently and harsh storms ravage the waters. The ship Paul is a prisoner on finds itself in the middle of one of these storms. Battling the storm for fourteen days, Acts 27:33 says that the ship's crew hadn't eaten for the entire two weeks.
You'd think that Paul would be pretty put out about the situation. If I were him, I'd be thinking, "Okay, first I get arrested for preaching the Gospel, then I get falsely accused about stuff I didn't say, and now I'm on my way to a likely death in Rome, but low and behold, I also have to get caught in this storm with little chance of survival!" But as we read this story, we see that Paul had the exact opposite attitude. As the story develops, we come to find out that Paul was the most calm and the most level-headed man on the entire ship. Throughout the course of the journey, Paul proved himself trustworthy and a good leader, winning over the crew of the ship. And Acts mentions several times how much the Roman centurion guarding Paul trusted him. He, a prisoner, was able to take charge and lead the men to safety.
What I find really cool about this story is that Paul says that an angel came to him in a dream and said that the Lord had plans for Paul to appear in Rome, and graciously promised to deliver all of the men with Paul to safety. How awesome is that! And so with God's guidance, Paul was able to guide the men in safely reaching land. Their plan was to run ashore, but the ship got caught on some reefs, and they had to abandon ship as the waves began to tear it apart. And just like God promised, all 276 men aboard that ship survived. It was incredible! And it was all God.
But it doesn't stop there. They shipwrecked on a tiny island called Malta. Luke, the writer of Acts, recalls how generous and friendly the islanders were to them, showing them "unusual kindness" by building a fire for them and welcoming them in because of the rain. Now something interesting happens next. Acts 28 says that Paul went to gather brushwood to toss onto the fire, and as he put the brushwood on the fire, a snake slithered out of the brush because of the heat and bit Paul on the hand and fastened himself on. Even the islanders saw the horrible irony. Acts 28:4 says, "When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, 'This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.'"
If it were me, I'd be so discouraged and put out! How disheartening, to be bitten by a mere snake! But that isn't how Paul handles the situation. Acts 28:5-6 says, "But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead, but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god."
God had promised Paul that he would appear in Rome before Caesar, and I fully believe that Paul handled both the shipwreck and the snake situation so well because He knew that no matter what he went through, God had promised to bring good out of the situation. He trusted God to get him through the rough times and God never let Paul down.
And check out what happened on Malta after the snake incident. Luke writes, "There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and for three days entertained us hospitably. His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him. When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. They honored us in many ways and when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed." If Paul had never been shipwrecked, he would never have gone to Malta. Paul died later in Rome, and if it weren't for the shipwreck, that little island called Malta would never have been reached with the Gospel. And if Paul had not been bitten by that snake, the islanders would probably not have noticed that there was something different about Paul, and they probably wouldn't have treated the crew as well as they did.
So if you are feeling like God has shipwrecked your life, my question to you is this: Is your trust and confidence in Him, or do your actions show that you doubt His sovereignty and the unparalleled wisdom of His plans? If your life has been shipwrecked, and if you've been tossed around and shaken up, are you sitting there nursing your wounds and patting your own back, or are you making the most of the opportunity to further His kingdom and to be a light in a dark situation?
When your life gets wrecked, I encourage you to look for ways you can serve God through the wreckage that you never could before. Just as Paul would never have reached Malta, what impact can you make, what people can you reach, who's life can you change because of the storm and the shipwreck that you have been through?
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Sing to Him a New Song
Can I be honest? I get tired of hearing the same songs over and over again in church. And if we're all honest, I think we all feel that way. The truth is that when worship leaders play the same songs over and over again, the songs get old. And it doesn't matter how good a song is, how catchy the beat is, or how meaningful the lyrics are. If a song is overplayed, it leaves a bad taste in our mouths. And the problem I have with modern day radio and modern day worship leaders is that they overplay and thus kill really good songs. At the moment, I'm thinking of How He Loves, Our God, Revelation Song, Mighty To Save, How Great Is Our God, From the Inside Out, Indescribable, and Forever Reign, to name just a few.
Am I alone in wishing that the worship leaders at our churches decided to play worship songs that are new, fresh, and up-to-date? I mean, today in my church, we played How He Loves and the Heart of Worship, among others. As good as these songs are and as much as these lyrics once meant something to me, I'm tired of hearing them constantly in church. I have heard them so many times now that they no longer hold the same the meaning.
There is a reason the psalmist wrote six times something like, "Sing to the Lord a new song" (Ps. 33:3; Ps. 40:3; Ps. 96:1; Ps. 98:1; Ps. 144:9; Ps. 149:1), emphasis mine. So if David, the writer of these Psalms, the great lyricist, the great songwriter, the man after God's own heart, said to sing new songs to the Lord, don't you think there's something to it? If you play the same song over and over again, if you preach the same sermon over and over again, if you watch the same movie over and over again, if you go to the same restaurant over and over again, if you play the same video game over and over again, if you read the same book over and over again, it's bound to get old. There's no way around that, and there's no denying that. If you do something so often that it becomes routine, you'll probably end up losing your passion for it. You have to keep your experiences new and fresh.
If you don't sing new songs in church, your worship experience will become routine and eventually, lifeless. You have to keep your worship music fresh and new, otherwise you will eventually get tired of it and lose your passion for it, or worse, for the One you're singing about.
Now I know that in their defense, worship leaders would tell me that they play songs that everyone knows because, well, everyone knows them. And every good worship leader knows it is so much easier and safer to just play songs that everyone knows, right? (Note the sarcasm.) To this I would say: even though they all know this song now, there was a time when no one knew this song and someone had to teach it to them; what songs are they missing out on now because you aren't leading them in new songs?
There's really no excuse for worship leaders to have a small repertoire of songs that they play. The truth is that there are a lot of incredible worship artists out there who are putting out some absolutely amazing worship songs. Just listen to Hillsong Live and Hillsong United, Kristian Stanfill, Elevation Worship, John Mark McMillian, Fee, Passion, Christy Nockles and Kari Jobe and you will find some amazing songs, songs that aren't hard to learn and that can easily be played in your church whether you have a full band or not.
So people, we don't have to put up with routine, mundane, and boring worship services! Get out of the rut and play some new stuff! I am tired of staying quiet about this and putting up with it because it isn't something we as Christians should have to deal with. To me, it's common sense that if you overplay worship songs, they lose their meaning. Let's not cheapen our worship experiences with overplayed, cliche Christian worship songs. It's high time the worship in our churches and in our youth groups changed for the better.
We should approach the throne with a hunger for His presence and a hunger to glorify His name with our voices and our instruments. We should have a spirit of excellence about us, a desire to lay our all down at the cross, both in heart and in performance. To cheapen the King with half-hearted worship and half-hearted effort is a sin. It's a half-hearted effort to praise and glorify and worship a God who deserves more than what we can offer Him. So how can we be okay with settling for just-okay worship songs and just-like-last-week's worship services?
"Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy."
~Psalm 33:3
Am I alone in wishing that the worship leaders at our churches decided to play worship songs that are new, fresh, and up-to-date? I mean, today in my church, we played How He Loves and the Heart of Worship, among others. As good as these songs are and as much as these lyrics once meant something to me, I'm tired of hearing them constantly in church. I have heard them so many times now that they no longer hold the same the meaning.
There is a reason the psalmist wrote six times something like, "Sing to the Lord a new song" (Ps. 33:3; Ps. 40:3; Ps. 96:1; Ps. 98:1; Ps. 144:9; Ps. 149:1), emphasis mine. So if David, the writer of these Psalms, the great lyricist, the great songwriter, the man after God's own heart, said to sing new songs to the Lord, don't you think there's something to it? If you play the same song over and over again, if you preach the same sermon over and over again, if you watch the same movie over and over again, if you go to the same restaurant over and over again, if you play the same video game over and over again, if you read the same book over and over again, it's bound to get old. There's no way around that, and there's no denying that. If you do something so often that it becomes routine, you'll probably end up losing your passion for it. You have to keep your experiences new and fresh.
If you don't sing new songs in church, your worship experience will become routine and eventually, lifeless. You have to keep your worship music fresh and new, otherwise you will eventually get tired of it and lose your passion for it, or worse, for the One you're singing about.
Now I know that in their defense, worship leaders would tell me that they play songs that everyone knows because, well, everyone knows them. And every good worship leader knows it is so much easier and safer to just play songs that everyone knows, right? (Note the sarcasm.) To this I would say: even though they all know this song now, there was a time when no one knew this song and someone had to teach it to them; what songs are they missing out on now because you aren't leading them in new songs?
There's really no excuse for worship leaders to have a small repertoire of songs that they play. The truth is that there are a lot of incredible worship artists out there who are putting out some absolutely amazing worship songs. Just listen to Hillsong Live and Hillsong United, Kristian Stanfill, Elevation Worship, John Mark McMillian, Fee, Passion, Christy Nockles and Kari Jobe and you will find some amazing songs, songs that aren't hard to learn and that can easily be played in your church whether you have a full band or not.
So people, we don't have to put up with routine, mundane, and boring worship services! Get out of the rut and play some new stuff! I am tired of staying quiet about this and putting up with it because it isn't something we as Christians should have to deal with. To me, it's common sense that if you overplay worship songs, they lose their meaning. Let's not cheapen our worship experiences with overplayed, cliche Christian worship songs. It's high time the worship in our churches and in our youth groups changed for the better.
We should approach the throne with a hunger for His presence and a hunger to glorify His name with our voices and our instruments. We should have a spirit of excellence about us, a desire to lay our all down at the cross, both in heart and in performance. To cheapen the King with half-hearted worship and half-hearted effort is a sin. It's a half-hearted effort to praise and glorify and worship a God who deserves more than what we can offer Him. So how can we be okay with settling for just-okay worship songs and just-like-last-week's worship services?
"Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy."
~Psalm 33:3
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Being Far From God
It's been over two months since I posted, but I'm back! You might have been wondering where I have been and why I haven't been posting, and the truth is that I have no reasonable excuse for my absence. Back in April, I began to struggle with inspiration for posts. I became discouraged and decided that taking a leave of absence would be the best thing. I thought taking a break from my blog would somehow improve my relationship with God.
In all honesty, I was beginning to feel dry. In the month of May, I posted only one post; normally I post eight to twelve per month. I also stopped reading my Bible faithfully; I still read it every day, but I read it with the purpose of checking it off my checklist. And one thing I've learned is that when you stop studying and reading and memorizing the Bible, everything else in your life will start to come apart. And I simply got out of that habit of really reading my Bible each day. When that happened, I began to lose touch with God. I felt very far from Him. And that scared me. I'm not used to feeling dry or far from God. When I prayed, I didn't feel Him talking back. It felt like my prayers were just bouncing off the ceiling. I felt distant from the One I was used to being very close with.
But I didn't really know what to do about it. I didn't know how to get close to God again. The problem was that I could tell something in my life was wrong, and I knew it had something to do with my relationship with God, but I couldn't quite pinpoint the problem.
But thankfully, things didn't stay that way. In July, I went to Life Action Camp (a Christian family camp) in Michigan for four weeks. I spent a week there with my family, and when my family went home, I stayed behind with my brother to work three weeks of volunteer work there at the camp. This was my fourth summer working at this camp, and our seventh camping as a family. Each year, Life Action has not failed to both challenge and encourage me spiritually. I have grown so much over the years at Life Action, and can point to several life changing moments that have happened to me there.
And 2012 was no different. God used the speakers, the sermons, the devotionals, and my friends and authorities to speak to me. God reminded me of many truths that I had forgotten. He revealed to me some sin in my life and challenged me to deal with it. He reminded me how great and powerful and almighty He is, and how human and weak and frail I am. He reminded me how important it is to keep Him on my heart's throne, and how disastrous it is when I let the things of this world rule my heart instead of the One who created this world. He told me that to ignore my spiritual gifts was to ignore the One who had given me my gifts and talents. And He showed me that the things I love about this life pale in comparison to how glorious and wondrous the world to come will be.
I hope you will return here to Letters From Logan over the next several weeks and months to see what God has been teaching me and how He has been growing me. I have much to write about and much to share, and I look forward to sharing it! It's my hope and prayer that you'll read my posts and get at least one thing out of each one. I'm super excited and can't wait to see what God has in store!
In all honesty, I was beginning to feel dry. In the month of May, I posted only one post; normally I post eight to twelve per month. I also stopped reading my Bible faithfully; I still read it every day, but I read it with the purpose of checking it off my checklist. And one thing I've learned is that when you stop studying and reading and memorizing the Bible, everything else in your life will start to come apart. And I simply got out of that habit of really reading my Bible each day. When that happened, I began to lose touch with God. I felt very far from Him. And that scared me. I'm not used to feeling dry or far from God. When I prayed, I didn't feel Him talking back. It felt like my prayers were just bouncing off the ceiling. I felt distant from the One I was used to being very close with.
But I didn't really know what to do about it. I didn't know how to get close to God again. The problem was that I could tell something in my life was wrong, and I knew it had something to do with my relationship with God, but I couldn't quite pinpoint the problem.
But thankfully, things didn't stay that way. In July, I went to Life Action Camp (a Christian family camp) in Michigan for four weeks. I spent a week there with my family, and when my family went home, I stayed behind with my brother to work three weeks of volunteer work there at the camp. This was my fourth summer working at this camp, and our seventh camping as a family. Each year, Life Action has not failed to both challenge and encourage me spiritually. I have grown so much over the years at Life Action, and can point to several life changing moments that have happened to me there.
And 2012 was no different. God used the speakers, the sermons, the devotionals, and my friends and authorities to speak to me. God reminded me of many truths that I had forgotten. He revealed to me some sin in my life and challenged me to deal with it. He reminded me how great and powerful and almighty He is, and how human and weak and frail I am. He reminded me how important it is to keep Him on my heart's throne, and how disastrous it is when I let the things of this world rule my heart instead of the One who created this world. He told me that to ignore my spiritual gifts was to ignore the One who had given me my gifts and talents. And He showed me that the things I love about this life pale in comparison to how glorious and wondrous the world to come will be.
I hope you will return here to Letters From Logan over the next several weeks and months to see what God has been teaching me and how He has been growing me. I have much to write about and much to share, and I look forward to sharing it! It's my hope and prayer that you'll read my posts and get at least one thing out of each one. I'm super excited and can't wait to see what God has in store!
Monday, May 21, 2012
Nehemiah: A Godly Leader
I love reading the book of Nehemiah. It's the perfect inspirational story for the working man. The book of Nehemiah records the story of how this guy named Nehemiah is called by God to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls, which have turned to rubble. See, when the Israelites returned home from being exiled to Babylon as punishment for their sins, their walls had been torn down and their gates were burnt to the ground. So the city had no protection from invading armies, and it was considered disgraceful and shameful for such a prominent city as Jerusalem to be stripped of its protective walls. But God burdens Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls.
In Nehemiah 1 and 2, Nehemiah talks about how he got permission from the king of the country he lived in to return home to Judah to return it to its former glory. And in Nehemiah 3, he goes to Jerusalem and check out the situation. After touring the entire perimeter of the city, he approaches the officials and nobles and tells them what he is about to do. He writes, "Then I said to them, 'You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.' I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said to me. They replied, 'Let us start rebuilding.' So they began this good work."
I love the simplicity in Nehemiah's approach: he saw a need, he prepared and planned for what it would need to solve the problem, and then he motivated everyone else to help out. It's so simple, and yet so effective. And they rebuilt that wall. It wasn't easy. In fact, it was incredibly challenging. A lot of people tried to stop Nehemiah and his crew. Chapter 4 shares all of the opposition and troubles they faced.
People came and mocked them. They made fun of them. They ridiculed their work. Even the Israelites began to doubt that the workers would ever get it done. And they received death threats from their enemies. They continuously were threatened by enemies and people who wanted to see Jerusalem continue to lie in ruin.
Nehemiah was the type of guy who knew how to lead. He wasn't a self-serving or self-absorbed man, but he did demand respect. He was good at delegating jobs and coordinating a large amount of people to accomplish a big task. He could definitely motivate people, and this is evidenced by his ability to get so many people from so many different regions of Israel to rebuild the wall. And he was a committed, determined individual; he didn't back down in the face of death threats and he stood strong when the city of Jerusalem began to doubt him.
I have a lot of respect for Nehemiah and the way he led. I see his persistence, his integrity, his determination, and his passion for God's chosen people. Nehemiah was a man who loved God and who loved his country. He wasn't afraid to do whatever it took to follow God. And that's the type of leader that I want to be.
In Nehemiah 1 and 2, Nehemiah talks about how he got permission from the king of the country he lived in to return home to Judah to return it to its former glory. And in Nehemiah 3, he goes to Jerusalem and check out the situation. After touring the entire perimeter of the city, he approaches the officials and nobles and tells them what he is about to do. He writes, "Then I said to them, 'You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.' I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said to me. They replied, 'Let us start rebuilding.' So they began this good work."
I love the simplicity in Nehemiah's approach: he saw a need, he prepared and planned for what it would need to solve the problem, and then he motivated everyone else to help out. It's so simple, and yet so effective. And they rebuilt that wall. It wasn't easy. In fact, it was incredibly challenging. A lot of people tried to stop Nehemiah and his crew. Chapter 4 shares all of the opposition and troubles they faced.
People came and mocked them. They made fun of them. They ridiculed their work. Even the Israelites began to doubt that the workers would ever get it done. And they received death threats from their enemies. They continuously were threatened by enemies and people who wanted to see Jerusalem continue to lie in ruin.
So what did Nehemiah do? Did he sit down and pout? Did he lose his vision? Or his patience? Or his endurance? No. In Nehemiah 4:13-18, Nehemiah writes, "Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, 'Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.' When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his own work.
"From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked."
I think that's incredible. Nehemiah stood so boldly in the face of opposition. He didn't cave in. He did the exact opposite: he dug in. He fought even harder to complete the vision God had given him.
Nehemiah was the type of guy who knew how to lead. He wasn't a self-serving or self-absorbed man, but he did demand respect. He was good at delegating jobs and coordinating a large amount of people to accomplish a big task. He could definitely motivate people, and this is evidenced by his ability to get so many people from so many different regions of Israel to rebuild the wall. And he was a committed, determined individual; he didn't back down in the face of death threats and he stood strong when the city of Jerusalem began to doubt him.
I have a lot of respect for Nehemiah and the way he led. I see his persistence, his integrity, his determination, and his passion for God's chosen people. Nehemiah was a man who loved God and who loved his country. He wasn't afraid to do whatever it took to follow God. And that's the type of leader that I want to be.
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