I still want to blog about what He's been teaching me regarding love, but it seems the lessons are coming so quickly that I can't find the time to sit down and write about it. It would take days to share all that He's been showing me and some of it's far too personal to divulge. But there are still some pieces of the huge puzzle that I know He wants me to share because it may help someone else on their journey.
And for today, He wants me to share about joy. The Beth Moore study has moved from the first gift of the Holy Spirit...love...to discussing joy. Over and over in my head, I keep hearing "Consider it pure joy" found in James 1:2. (Except I kept hearing it as 'I count it all joy'...must be the Angela-reduced memory version!) Keeping with Holy Spirit's theme of the day, the complete verse is "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials."(NASB, emphasis mine)
I've already been through two of Beth Moore's lessons on joy, but today had me teary-eyed as Holy Spirit showed me yet again, that all our family has been through has been for His good purpose...not just for the good purpose of our family even...but specifically for my good purpose. It should go without saying that I've seen this good purpose evidenced in my husband's life as well.
Moore writes, "One reason God allows us to experience troubles is because He desires to reveal His joy to us through restoration." "A consistent theme running throughout God's Word is the believer's trial resulting from God's perfect will. I am not referring to God's permissive will when we choose to go astray. I am referring to His perfect choice for us to know hardship for kingdom gain...times when He ordains difficulty in our lives."
I don't want to insinuate that Dale and I were never wrong about the way we handled our finances. We live in the United States and have been blessed beyond measure...of course we haven't been perfect with the money God has given us. And yes, there have even been times of complete disobedience in regard to stewardship of His resources. There are people that would say that we deserved what we got.
So who cares? I, my husband and God know the truth. And while some can look at His discipline and say it was the "natural consequences of your behaviour" I know that "I've experienced trials that I finally was forced to acknowledge as the absolute will of God. My life has never been easy...and I have finally confronted the fact that it probably never will be. Yet, in the same breath, I can readily proclaim that my life has been good. Part of the still-limited maturity I have gained is the result of realizing that good does not equal easy. Rarely has God removed from my life circumstances or people that force me to my knees. Many of my trials must have been ordained by Him because of the results they rendered." (emphasis mine) I didn't intend to quote so much of Moore's lesson, but these words could have been written by me verbatim.
In Jeremiah 31 God is revealing to Israel that restoration can follow discipline. Has the downwardly mobile journey I've been on been an exercise in discipline from my Abba? Of course, but discipline means basically "to teach". Praise God, He showed me a long time ago this wasn't some grand punishment thrown down from the heavens. Again, it goes back to "stripping down to run the race"...to become more like Him requires discipline. And I'm a fool if I think (or listen to anyone else tell me) for one minute that this is SELF-discipline. This is the kind of discipline (teaching) that can only come from an Abba (Daddy) that knows me better than I even know myself.
Now, throughout all of the last two and a half years, I've had two responses available to me. The first was to wallow and wonder what I'd done wrong...what "big picture" did I miss? I'm ashamed to say this was where I was stuck for a long time but I can look back and see that even in the midst of the darkness, shame, frustration and doubt I was so tormented because He was constantly calling me to embrace the second response: The acceptance that my loving Dad wants to teach me about HIS ways, HIS love, HIS desires for my heart, HIS perfect will for my life, HIS amazing plan that supercedes any stuff or money I could ever have. The freedom and joy of choosing the second response can NOT be explained with human words...but Jeremiah isn't given human words, they are Holy Spirit breathed.
What happens when I embrace the discipline and therefore the restoration of my Abba? The Bible study had me look for at least 10...I found even more! Look through Jeremiah 31 for yourself, you will be blessed! These are the ones that spoke to my heart today:
- We will be His people
- We will find grace in the wilderness (Interestingly the Greek word for grace is charis; the Greek word for joy is chara...see any similarities between grace and joy? If not, then you haven't yet experienced God's grace! And don't even get me started on the blessings of being in the wilderness...that's an entirely different post!)
- He gives us rest
- We shall be rebuilt
- We shall rejoice with music and dancing
- When following Him, we will not stumble
- We will sorrow no more
- He will turn mourning into joy
- We shall be satisfied with His goodness
- Our work will be rewarded
- We can hope in our future
- He will satiate the weary soul (Amen!)
- We will have sweet sleep (Still grinding my teeth...but it IS getting better!)
Can you think of a time when you experienced the discipline (teaching) of God? How did you respond? With wallowing and doubt or with joy and delight in His love for you? Maybe you're experiencing a period of discipline right now. Are you beginning to see how He's working everything out for His good purpose in your life? If not, hang on! He is faithful! Your only "job" is to trust Him. He is the one that does the work. Open your heart, open your ears and open your eyes to all that He is doing. He will reveal Himself and the joy of restoration IS coming. He guarantees it!
Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment