Holding on to Hope Part 3

I'm late on posting the notes for the bible study. Please keep praying for us as we continue to press on through his word and love and mercy...

If you did your homework this week then this verse should be a fresh word for you. If you did not do your homework please take the time to catch up, Nancy Guthrie did a beautiful job comparing scripture on the power and authority of our God.

And just like in our study we are going to travel all over Gods word tonight.

*Open your bible to Psalm 91

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”…

I was asked this question at a Beth Moore Bible Study a few years ago and it completely changed my relationship with God.

Question: Do you believe that God is more of a taker than a giver?

And that your rewards will only be received in heaven and not here on earth?

While I share mine I want you to think about your answer on this one.

For me this was the first time I heard someone put into words the fear and the distrust that I carried in my heart with God. I was so taken back by what this question meant to me and more importantly that my answer was sadly yes.

I can tell you that this is the big one for me still. I want to trust God fully and with everything that I have. But when it comes down to certain things I cannot lay them down. I’ve begged God not to have me learn the hard way on this one. I want to accept his love for me and my family and I want to accept His grace.

Then God throws me into the mix of this Bible Study and in the midst of your stories and your tragedies and I want to crawl up under a rock and hide. I’m thinking God I’m trusting you with these things in my life but yet I’m sitting here in this room with these women and they are going through it, through those exact things that I fear…and I have to look at each of them every week, into their eyes full of sorrow and full of pain…and offer them what?

How can we look at each other with the situations that we have been dealt and say that we don’t believe that God is more of a taker then a giver? I think if we are just being honest then we would say our hearts are shattered and our trust is broken and although we love God, we aren’t sure how to be ok with what has happened.

Isaiah 40:28-31 says,  

²⁸ Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator^(C) of the ends of the earth.^(D) He will not grow tired or weary,^(E) and his understanding no one can fathom.^{(F) 29} He gives strength^(G) to the weary^(H) and increases the power of the weak.
³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men^(I) stumble and fall;^{(J) 31} but those who hope^(K) in the Lord
will renew their strength.^(L) They will soar on wings like eagles;^(M) they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.^(N)

Isaiah 41:10 says,

¹⁰ So do not fear,^(A) for I am with you;^(B) do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen^(C) you and help^(D) you;
I will uphold you^(E) with my righteous right hand.^(F)

Isaiah 45:7

I am the Lord, and there is no other.
⁷ I form the light and create darkness,^(D)
I bring prosperity and create disaster;^(E) I, the Lord, do all these things.

We hear these words, and I don’t know about you but as wonderful as they are my first response is, them why, why is all of this happening?

I told you last week that we have lost 3 inner circle people in my family in less than 2 years. Last August I sat at my 48 year old step moms funeral and listened to the preacher say this, “Mona Pennington was born December 24^th 1963 and died August 28, 2011. And as he pointed to her casket he said this, “and she was promised nothing more than this.”

Silence fell across the room and it was then that I realized, just as Nancy talked about through the life of Job, that this life is a precious gift. When we receive it we need to grab hold and savior it for everything it is worth and when it has expired we need to let it go and praise God for the blessings it brought to our life.

Mona was a godly woman and one that in the last 15 years had fully devoted herself to service in the Kingdom of God. She had a powerful calling on her life that we were able to watch unfold page by page, then all of a sudden sickness took over and we knew that hand of God was not going to heal her but to pick her up and take her home. I remember at her funeral looking at her 20 year old daughter and 15 year old son thinking “how are they ever going to understand this?” Then the words of the preacher rang in my ears again…”She was promised nothing more than this.”

Right before she passed God had laid this scripture on my heart to give to her. I know it’s one we are probably familiar with but the words are so simple and true.

Ecclesiastes 3

3 To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:

² A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;
³ A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
A time to break down,
And a time to build up;
⁴ A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;
⁵ A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;
⁶ A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;
⁷ A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;
⁸ A time to love,
And a time to hate;
A time of war,
And a time of peace.

⁹ What profit has the worker from that in which he labors? ¹⁰ I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. ¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

¹² I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, ¹³ and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.

¹⁴ I know that whatever God does,
It shall be forever.
Nothing can be added to it,
And nothing taken from it.
God does it, that men should fear before Him.
¹⁵ That which is has already been,
And what is to be has already been;
And God requires an account of what is past.

I wonder what would happen if in the midst of our raging waters we could breathe in long enough to praise Him in this storm…

Could we trust him enough to know that his ways are bigger than ours and even though it makes no sense to us we can move toward trusting him in the midst of our hurt, our anger and our sorrow?

Do you believe that like Job he can make all things new and in turn bless our life with a double portion of his mercy and love?

When tragedy strikes, we go into survival mode, but are we geared up and ready to fight? And if so are we covered in the right armor?

You know where I am going next…and if you write in your bible and you don’t have this portion of scripture underlined then I’m going to give you a minute to turn there so you can do that.

*Turn to Ephesians 6:10-18,

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Listen; let’s not let the familiar words of these verses fall short of the power that they carry.  Read them again as if it was your first time and for some of you if it is your first time then take it all in and ask God to give you a heart to receive it and a mind to conceive it.

We don’t know why this thing has taken place in our lives or why and for what purpose God allowed it, maybe in some strange way that is the unforeseen beauty about it. Do we believe that he can turn these ashes into beauty? If you remember Ecclesiastics said “He has made everything beautiful in its time”.

So, in the midst of our raging waters would we be willing to call out to him in worship.

I want to read what Nancy has written in the chapter of the book Worship.

“When our skin is pricked by a thorn, what comes out is what’s inside: blood. When our lives are pricked by difficulty, what comes out is what’s inside. For some of us, it is selfishness, pride, bitterness and anger that comes seeping out. For others, it is the fruit of the Spirit-love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). What came out when Job was not just pricked, but pierced, was worship. (Page 17)

“Surely our worship in the midst of pain and sorrow is particularly precious to God-because it costs us so much. Worship is not made easier, but it becomes all the more meaningful when offered from a heart that is hurting.” (Page 18)

“because we are acutely aware of our desperate need for God and our own incapacitating weakness. We have our helplessness and inadequacy in proper perspective to God’s power and sufficiency.”

We will close with this:

1 Chronicles 29:11-13

¹¹ Yours, O Lord, is the greatness,
The power and the glory,
The victory and the majesty;
For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours;
Yours is the kingdom, O Lord,
And You are exalted as head over all.
¹² Both riches and honor come from You,
And You reign over all.
In Your hand is power and might;
In Your hand it is to make great
And to give strength to all.

¹³ “Now therefore, our God,
We thank You
And praise Your glorious name.