I've spent my life growing up in the church, learning the bible, memorizing verses, being told about God's promises, praying, singing, you name it I've been there for it. When you spend a lifetime learning about the Lord it's easy to find yourself reclining in the LazyBoy of comfortable familiarity and believing you know how God works and finding yourself praying more as His needed advisor then His humble servant.
The thing is, God's ways can sometimes feel more like a mechanical bull ride then a nap on a LazyBoy recliner. Just when you think "I got this all figured out" something comes bucking into our lives and knocks our understanding.
I think this might be the case in the lives of those Jewish residents of Korazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum (Matthew 11:20-24). Many of the miracles we read about Jesus performing happened in these three cities. Miracles that had never been witnessed: the blind see, the paralyzed walk, demons cast out of people, the dead made alive, and even sins forgiven not from an animal sacrifice but by faith and spoken from the mouth of Jesus himself. I think, much like myself, the Jewish residents of these towns had become comfortable in their understanding of God and how they understood him to work. It was business as usual in their lives before this. Even though the enemy (the Romans) had power in their cities and even lived amongst them they seemed to acclimate to life and be comfortable where they were. They were in their LazyBoy recliners of faith. But then Christ came into their towns in ways that were unexpected, that looked different and sounded different and it began to rock their understanding. It began to throw them from their comfortable armchair faith and challenged what they thought they knew and understood. It threw them for such a loop they saw it as demon possession and believed Jesus to be a glutton and a drunk (Matthew 11:18-19). This did not go unnoticed by Christ. He denounced these cities and compared them to sin filled Pagan cities of old that had either been destroyed by God or had prophesy's spoken about their destruction (Ezekiel). He noted that these Pagan sin filled cities, with no comfortable LazyBoy understanding of who He is, would have repented and acknowledged Christ as Lord if the miracles He had performed were done in them.
I think Christ's denouncing these cities served as a warning that we can get so comfortable in our faith that we begin to think we understand the infinite God with 100% clarity when in fact that kind of mind set becomes a stumbling block to our very faith.
Our January 10th reading had a Proverb that God has been using to teach me and grow me over the past few years.
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding: in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straights." 3:5-6
The part of this that strikes my heart the hardest is 'lean not on your own understanding.' God has brought into my life a couple of circumstances that have thrown me from my LazyBoy faith and understanding. They have left me confused, angry, and feeling lost and alone. They seemed to be the opposite of what I had prayed for. Were these things that were happening God's doing or just the enemy at work in my life? Who was stronger, the Lord or the Evil one? How could the God whom I understood to be good allow such a shake up to happen? If I'm honest I felt a bit like Capernaum, this didn't look like the God I thought I understood. Life was easier before and therefore better according to my understanding. Then I heard the Lord challenge me with a verse that seemed so very out of place for the circumstances I was in.
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with THANKSGIVING, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7
I felt like I was on the nastiest Bull at the rodeo of life and God was saying to me "give me thanks." Talk about the opposite of my understanding. How was being thankful going to help rectify my circumstances? But being a bit stubborn and not liking to loose I held on tight and forced myself to look at my circumstance with a different set of eyes. "Lord show me what I can be thankful for because I don't understand nor do I want to be thankful." God was faithful, He was good (these two things I understood Him to be had not changed) and He showed me. He began to reveal things that I had not seen and through this reminded me of ways he has worked good in my past when I couldn't see it. The direction my life was now going in was not the path I had advised God to use (it usually isn't), it was the complete opposite. But, the Lord began to show me things to be grateful for in my circumstances that I was unable to see in my own understanding. You know what has been happening since then? The peace of God has been guarding my heart and mind and I have been growing in my faith not just lazily sitting comfortably in it. I fear less and when worry begins to creep in I turn to the Lord, give thanks, and pray and He is right there with me reassuring me that He is not worried because He understands and is in complete control. The outcome of my life circumstance are still a blur and I can not see how God is going to work it but I need to trust in Him and His understanding and to lean on the truths that I do know, God is a very good God no matter what challenges life brings and He promises to never leave me. No matter how bumpy the road gets if I bring my grateful heart to him along with the burdens I will have rest, I will have peace from and in Him.
I don't know where you are today but I want to encourage those who find themselves on the bucking bulls of life that challenge your understanding of who God is and what He is doing. God is always good even when life is not. He is unchanging and always faithful. So when life takes twist and turns that seem to throw you to the ground stay there for a moment and talk to Him. Ask him to help you see how to have gratitude (remember what he has done and let it help you see what He is doing), ask Him to help you to know how to pray in accordance with what He is doing, and pray for the strength to get up and get back onto the struggles of life with the peace and strength of God. He will help you to hold tight, endure and find the rest and peace that He promises for you. I can assure you that it is much nicer to rest with the Lord in the boat during the storms of life then to worry and feel defeated (Matthew 8:23-27). I'm praying for you all.
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