Don's Devotionals: Learning to love God

Mark 4:35  That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.”

Have you ever noticed how sometimes it seems that everything happens at once?  While such times can be filled with pleasures and wonderful experiences, that isn’t usually the case.  More often it seems that they are filled with stretching and demanding difficulties and problems that all demand our attention – right now!  In such times we might wonder, if we see a light at the end of the tunnel, is it an oncoming freight train!

Then when our plate is as full as we think it can get, something more piles on and we feel like we’re about to go under.  In times like these, when the situation seems to go from bad to worse with no let up in sight, my primary reaction is to view myself as having been ‘set up’ by the Lord.  I ‘see’ a great big sign in the sky above me that says, “This is a test!”

The story involved in today’s verse is something similar.  The disciples think they are just going across the lake to get to the other side – just like the chicken crossing the road.  Little did they know what was in store for them.  There was this storm awaiting them.  The good news  was that Jesus was with them.  The bad news was that not only was he sleeping through the storm, but here is how this storm is described in scripture: 1) furious squall, 2) waves broke over the boat, 3) the boat was being swamped, 4) there were raging waters, 4) they were in great danger!

Think about these descriptions from the gospels and remember many of these disciples had worked on the water so they could recognize their situation.  It wasn’t just a storm, it
was a furious squall.  They were not just contending with wind and waves but with raging waters and the boat was being swamped.  On top of that, scripture declares that they were in great danger.  This wasn’t just a storm made to sound worse through later retelling,
like a fish story.  They think they’re going to drown and Jesus asks them, “Where is your faith?”

We too might feel like our circumstances are a furious squall – our boat is being swamped and we’re about to go under.  But the Lord is with us!  Our situation didn’t catch Him by
surprise.  Instead of feeling like we are threatened by the storm, we can rejoice in the opportunity to stand in the midst of it, with our faith focused on Him.  Instead of feeling like we are overwhelmed and facing each day with dread, we can be filled with gratitude for the ‘testing opportunity’ He has given us.  He’s watching and enabling us to glorify Him in the midst of it.  What an opportunity!!!

Romans 12:17  Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.

Back during the depression my father worked in a bank. One of his memories was that the tellers at the bank he worked at were not trained to spot counterfeits by looking at examples of counterfeit currency.  The focus was upon learning what the genuine bills looked like.  They became so familiar with the real that when they were flipping through the bills, a variant would stand out no matter how small or subtle the difference was.

Taking a look at today’s verse, consider evil and wrong (the opposite of right) as counterfeits.  We can spend our time focusing on what not to do, but that raises the question of how do we know whether an action or attitude is evil or wrong.  It makes a whole lot more sense to focus on learning what is right.

What is the right way to respond when evil is done to us or those we love?  How do we determine what is right when in the midst of turbulent circumstances?  Let’s consider another illustration that we can relate to.  Why do pilots get trained and licensed to fly on instruments?  The reality of flying is that all manner of weather is encountered.  We’ve all heard the stories of pilots in flight simulators who fly them ‘into the ground’ because they lose their bearings.  Their instincts are telling them they’re doing fine, but the instruments indicate they are headed for disaster.  Pilots must trust their instruments when they are flying in adverse conditions.

These two illustrations present a unique picture for us.  God’s Word is the ultimate and absolute source of defining what is right.  It contains the principles and instructions that provide the basis for recognizing what is right in every situation.  The Holy Spirit in essence becomes our ‘instrument panel’.  He communicates to us the insights and understandings needed to safely navigate every situation – no matter how difficult or confusing.  We learn His voice.  He brings to mind appropriate understandings of God’s word that apply to the situations at hand.  We learn to trust Him, not our instincts, public opinion or what seems right.  We look to Him.  It doesn’t mean we won’t make mistakes, but by doing this we become increasingly aware of our dependence upon God.  The more we look to Him and live out His ways, the more right choices we will make.

Philippians 2:12b,13 …continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³for
it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

In high school I took a reading improvement course.  It was a one semester speed reading course where we were taught to increase our reading speed (words read per minute) without losing comprehension.  Part of the course was regularly viewing films that were the printed text of a story.  All of the text was blurred except for a section of one line.  The purpose of the films was to teach us eye movement and to grasp all of the words that appeared in the readable section of the line.

Initially, each line was divided into three segments.  Rather than our eyes moving from word to word, the film forced us to absorb the words in one-third of the line at a time.  The highlighted, readable section would rapidly move across each line in three jumps and so on down the page.  Following the film we took a test over what we had just read to measure our comprehension.  In order to stay with the fast group, we were required to maintain a 70% comprehension score on each test.  Each film required us to read faster than the previous film.

Over the weeks, the films changed from showing three readable sections of each line to two sections and finally to one section.  In it, the entire line was then readable and our eyes had to take in the entire line of text in one moment as the highlighted section moved down the page.  I remember barely being able to keep up week after week, from the very first film until the last film at the end of the semester.  It was always a strain.  It never felt like I was making any progress except for the fact that I knew the word per minute reading speed was increasing.

I am so grateful that in our last class of the semester, the teacher showed us the very first film of the series we had worked through.  I was amazed.  This film, that 15 weeks ago seemed to move so fast that I could barely keep up with it, was now slower than molasses in winter.  It was one thing to know my word per minute reading speed was much faster.  It was entirely different to go back and see just how far we’d come.

Sometimes in our Christian walk we experience the strain of thinking we are not making any progress.  It can seem that we are always under strain from being stretched by our
circumstances and things in our lives that God is dealing with.  It is important to recognize that God is at work in us – and that He is a very capable worker.  Be encouraged!  Let your confidence be in Him.  He is making progress with us and accomplishing things in us that we might not be aware of.  Ask Him to open your eyes to see what He has done.