hemmingbird

writing God's greatness

[ruthwordss]

I Place My Confidence in You

“You can’t.”

How many times did others tell you that? We sometimes hear those words from other people but countless time have we said that to ourselves.

‘Lord, it seems difficult. It looks too big for me. I can’t do it, Lord.”

We are now facing a huge trouble because of COVID-19 pandemic. It has caused us a lot of problems. Many people lost their loved ones because of the disease, most employees lost their jobs and in result, many student has to stop studying for a while. Some are not sure where, who or how they will be kept safe. The virus that we cannot even see caused us more enormous problems than we thought.

Many things come really big in our lives. We feel that we cannot face them, or we cannot overcome them. And God allows those things bigger than us, the things we cannot comprehend because He wants us to depend on Him. He is teaching us to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit.

But right now, to whom do we base our confidence? On whom do we depend?

We must realize that apart from God, we can do nothing. It’s not by our might, but by His power that we can overcome the Goliath of our lives. That is why we must place our confidence in the Lord. We could fail, people around us might leave us at the end of the rope, but the Lord will never fail those who trust in Him.

David did not defeat Goliath because he was strong. He knew he wasn’t. But the hugeness of the man in front of him did not matter. God’s strength did. The young boy placed his confidence not in the army, not in the armor, not even in his own ability. Imagine if David wore the armor almost bigger than his body, he could have not fought with the giant. But He knew God’s power, and that was where he relied on that he was able to defeat Goliath.

When I am faced with battles I am too weak to handle, I fix my eyes on Jesus. And tell myself, ‘This has been finished on that cross.’ The battle is not mine anyway, it’s the Lord’s. It may be hard not to worry, but to do so is harder. It takes away our peace but let us find comfort in this truth: We may be weak, but our God is strong. We may fail, but our God never will. And it is when we are weak that we may see that greatest works of the strong God in our lives.

We are all waiting for this crisis to end so that everything will go back to normal. We can finally be with our loved ones. We can finally do the things we’ve been longing to do.

Many dreams may be a little delayed for some time. And while we are waiting, let us put our confidence in the Lord Jesus.

The situation may be difficult, but let us tell it how big our God is and that nothing is ever bigger than our God. He is even greater than this universe. When everything else in this life seems to be falling apart, God doesn’t. His hands are not weak not to hold you up. Let us not be afraid to entrust our life to an unfailing God.

Keep your confidence in the Lord Jesus. When you can’t, God can. You can always trust Him—the One who is bigger, who is stronger and the One who is able.

But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him. Jeremiah 17 : 7

[ruthwordss]

Remember your God

In the first two chapters of the book of Jeremiah, the calling and preparation of Jeremiah, and the ingratitude of Israel were written. When the word came and called Jeremiah, he hesitated at first saying, "Ah Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth." (Jeremiah 1 v. 6)

Jeremiah's doubt and weaknesses sounded louder than the word God has spoken to him.

We all go through the same situation when God calls us to work in His kingdom. Our minds are being filled with 'I am not good enough', 'I am not worthy', 'I'm not yet ready for this' sentences. But God allowed Jeremiah to go through that phase before He mightily use Jeremiah's life.

Jeremiah realized his shortcomings and that was God's way of saying that in times of weakness, we should remember Him.

And so when God uses us mightily and the ministry grows, we will not take pride and remember that it is not us but God alone should be glorified because we realized our shortcomings and weaknesses first.

It's easy to take pride when things in our lives are going on smoothly. There is a tendency of taking the blessings of God for granted like what Israelites did before the time of Jeremiah. In result, they turned away from God and worshiped other gods. They have forgotten the miracles and wonders God performed in their lives, how the Lord helped them up out of Egypt and the wilderness they had been through.

Whether things in our lives are going fine, or we are faced with problems, we must recount the goodness of God.

Remember the times God pulled us out of our 'Egypt' and provided for us in time of need or wilderness. And know that He can and will do it again.

[ruthwordss]

Wilderness

As the world changes, our spiritual seasons and situations may change, too. It will not always be a season of harvest but there will be times in our spiritual lives when God allows us to go through wilderness where everything in us feels dry. And sometimes we are asking why we go through that 'dry' season.

Even Israelites exprienced wilderness where God directed them. But we can see in the book of Deuteronomy how God provided for the Israelites while they were in the desert. They arrived there almost empty-handed but they experienced the fulness of God.

If Israelites had everything they needed back then, they would not have realized the work and power of the Lord in their lives. If they were full, how can God fill them? In the same way, God allows us to go through wilderness where we feel scarce and empty so that we can experience the fulness of God. And so we can say out loud that it was God alone who provided for us and who made it possible for us to go through that difficult situation.

When we have everything we need and everything we have, we tend to forget that we need God in our life. We tend to be so full of ourselves. And only when we are at the lowest point of our lives that we realize we need God. That should not be it but sometimes, we are like that. This is another reason why God sometimes leads our way to the wilderness — to humble our hearts (Deuteronomy 8:2) and to remind us that we need Him.

In God's presence, our hearts and minds are at peace. But there are times when we cannot feel the presence of God. It makes us feel unsafe and bothered. There are times when God remains quiet and when we cannot hear Him speaking to us, it feels like everything withinin us feels dry.

It's a difficult season and that is to see what is in our hearts. It's easier to obey God when we can hear Him speaking to us. But the real testing of faith is when God is silent.

The challenge is, in God's silence, are we still going to obey Him? In stillness and quiet, are we going to trust God?

Even in the quiet, we may not hear God, but He hears us. Seasons change, but God remains the same. He is good.

[ruthwordss]

Enduring sycamore-fig tree

As we seek Jesus daily, to know Him and to be more like Him, it will not be an easy road for us. We bear our daily cross as we follow Christ and there will be obstacles and struggles that will try to stop us from seeking Jesus.

In the life of Zacchaeus, it was his height and the crowd that blocked him from seeing Jesus as the Lord was passing through Jericho. But his desire to seek Jesus made him climb up a sycamore-fig tree, a tree known for having so much thorns. (Luke 19:1-10)

For us, it could be our own selves that may hinder us from seeking God. It could be that we think we are too broken to come to Jesus, too sinful, too dirty and unworty. But ironically, that is the very reason why we should seek Jesus—because we are broken and we need a Savior. And if we seek and wholeheartedly ask the Lord, He is gracious and will forgive us from our sins.

The height of Zacchaeus did not stop him from seeking Jesus. Let not our weaknesses be the obstacle in seeking the kingdom of God.

Or it could be the crowd. The enemy will try to pull a scheme such as persecution from people, or the invitation to conform with the world to stop us.

The story of Zacchaeus did not end after passing through the crowd and spotting the sycamore-fig tree where he climbed up to see Jesus because the tree itself had thorns— representing the trials and problems we may encounter in life.

Seeking Jesus is not a one-day activity but an everyday decision and a life-long journey.

And throughout this lifetime, we will encounter many thorns. Those will cause us pain and sometimes even make us bleed. Seeking and following Christ will not be easy.

But we must endure the sycamore-fig tree for the sight of Jesus after that is worth every wound and pain.

[ruthwordss]

There was a point in my life when everything used to confuse me. Things weremaking me question if I took the right course and chose the right path. I see that my friends are at the peak of their passion, while I'm still unsure about the things I am pursuing, partly because I think there is nothing I am good at, it makes me feel insecure and anxious about what kind of future will come for me.

When I plan to try something in order for me to know myself more, like discover hobbies where I can also be good at, they seem to not work for me. I tried writing, I tried painting but it felt like I was just forcing myself. I do not excel at anything and it makes me worry about what or who would I be. And it was exhausting.

However, I am grateful that even in the midst of confusion and anxiety, there is a hope that comforts me. In Jeremiah 29:11, the Lord declared 'For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.'

When anxiety comes crashing over me, I trust the Lord. I trust that never He will leave nor forsake me (Deuteronomy 31:8). And His promises cast my anxieties away. He knew me from the beginning and He has plans for me. My life is in His hands, and I am at the safest place where I can be.

I surrender my plans, even when things do not go as I want them to. It's not about what I plan to be or to do, but it's the will of the Lord that matters and shall prevail. His ways are higher than my ways, and His thoughts than my thoughts (Isaiah 55:9). God's plans are even greater than mine, and never did God fail those who trusted Him.