Smoke Free

I was recently thinking about the presence of God and remembered how much more I became aware of His presence during my time of withdrawal from benzodiazepine. It was a fiery trial for sure. I could have felt utterly abandoned...but I didn't. I could have been left bitter about that experience...but I wasn't. I could have been angry that those I trusted for my physical well-being missed all the signs thus directing my care on a destructive path...but I'm not. Why? Because I would never have experienced God's presence in such a meaningful way otherwise.

I thought about Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego from the Bible. They experienced the presence of God in a way they never would have had they not been tossed into the blazing furnace only to survive - to the amazement of those watching. But not only did they survive they didn't even smell like smoke when they came out! (Daniel 3:27). For me that fact is even more impressive than God having been present with them there in that furnace - also witnessed by those who attempted to kill them. I grew up camping with my family during the summer and I remember the smell of smoke from the campfire permeating our clothing, hair, tent and sleeping bags - and that from just being in the same camp site near the fire. The smell clings to everything! I can only imagine what Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego should have smelled like - yet didn't!

How many times after coming out of a trial or tragedy do we continue on in life with the effects of that experience emanating from us like rancid smoke? Often! We wear those experiences like shabby smokey garments, refusing to take them off and we enjoy making others "feel" the fabric of our misery attempting to gain their sympathy.

Yet when we've experienced the presence of God to that degree - when we've become fully aware of His presence through those difficult places in life - we can walk out of them not even "smelling like smoke", free from the effects that hold the potential to scar us for life. We become stronger and more confident in our faith in God for having had the experience of the power of His presence. You may wonder if God is present then why doesn't He just prevent the trial altogether so we don't have to suffer? Ah, but would we appreciate or acknowledge His presence? I think not. We are too self-centered by nature - but that is a whole other topic.

Are you walking around smelling like the smoke of your trials? Or, wearing the shabby smokey garments of defeat? Do you attempt to attract the attention of others to gain their sympathy rather than drawing closer to God? God says if you draw near to Him He will draw near to you (James 4:8). His presence has the power to keep you from the rancid odorous effects of trials - trials meant to be a proving ground of faith. Then, having become even stronger in faith, you will be able encourage others to stand strong acknowledging the presence of God in their own lives. It's the circle of life on a whole new level.

Death and Life

Have you ever experienced the dawning of a truth? Recently I have. It isn't an immediate realization of something but a slow rising knowledge that builds in steps as information is made known. A slow enlightenment of sorts.

The final step in enlightenment for me, which I must say was very powerful, came at the comment of a friend who is a vegetarian. You see, I am not vegetarian and my friend and I, respecting each others dietary choices, occasionally engage in good-natured verbal sparring over whose choice is right. Her parting comment was, "Yes, but at least it doesn't involve the senseless slaughter of innocent animals." That comment coupled with having watched a brief portion of a television show where the participants were "transported" back in time to live as cave men made the point for me. The participants in the show came to the difficult position of needing to kill to survive and found themselves impacted by that event in a way they didn't expect - mourning the life of the animal with gratitude realizing its death would give them life. It became a very spiritual event.

That's when I had an Aha! moment. That is exactly what God intends - the realization that for us to live means there must be death. We may not ever be able to fully understand it, but that is His plan. Whether we kill a plant or an animal something must die for us to live. That is His picture of salvation. And how much more impact than when the life of an animal - an innocent animal - must be taken for our survival. I realized then modern society has become too far removed from the natural process of providing sustenance for survival. It has become too impersonal and we have lost sight of God's true meaning of death for life.

God intends for us to be personally impacted through every day events which provide the sustenance of life. Without that impact we lose touch with His very personal plan for our eternal life - Jesus death for our life. For me it now makes perfect sense when I look at it in that light. For my physical being to live something must die. For my eternal being to live there also must be death - and God provided that through Jesus. That was His once-and-for-all plan and promise. Eternal life only required death once.

It was out of God's great love for us that He gave the life of His Son Jesus in death so that we would live. Then to prove the power of His promise Jesus returned from the dead - something no animal, nor plant, can do.  Life is given through death - and I am grateful. Are you?

Hope

Hope. What is it? How do some grasp it with such tenacity and others not? Why, when there is so much evidence of hopelessness around us, does hope endure within the human spirit? These are all questions I have asked myself and recently revisited.

Having been challenged to write the explanation of my reason for having hope I found it to be an undertaking greater than I first realized. It was necessary to refresh my memory as to the definition of hope: to desire something with expectation to receive, achieve or obtain. Yet how often we view hope from the negative perspective -  wanting something but not expecting to receive. That was my view of hope for many years. As a child hope always seemed to be a double-edged sword with the power to execute joy or great disappointment. More often than not the latter seemed to hold true. However, when I discovered that hope in itself was to elicit expectation of obtainment that revealed a whole other perspective leaving me to wonder what I had been missing.

Now that I've looked at it from a few differing perspectives I realize where the issue may be for most of us who, like me, have viewed it from the negative. Hope, by nature, brings the expectation of fulfillment yet from experience there's doubt - few of us have ever received everything we have ever desired or wanted. Hope has seemed to fail us just as relationships, or finances, and because lies are told, promises are not kept, life gives way to death, and the list goes on and on. Are you looking to these things for your hope? Reality reveals there is reason to doubt, right? It becomes a bit like attempting to grasp a shadow. Expectation with doubt becomes self-cancelling leaving a void of hopelessness and an irreconcilable stalemate. How then can it be possible to have any positive view of hope?

ASSURANCE

Hope must have assurance. But there are no assurances in anything in life, you might be saying. Ah, that was my experience as well - until I discovered there is complete assurance to be found. But in finding assurance there must also be faith. The faith that there is only one thing we can ever hope for with the assurance of receiving - eternal life. We can put our faith in many things and have them fail just as hope may have failed us, so what is the difference? The difference is the source. Relying on anything temporary in which to place our faith or put our trust and hope is futile. Remember that brief list previously mentioned? Relationships fail, finances are unstable, people lie and die - there is NOTHING in this world that is completely lasting or reliable. We have to look outside of what we can see, outside of the temporary nature of life, to find what is enduring enough to hold our hope and faith. In doing so we will find the contentment that comes with such hope. This contentment overrides all other disappointments in life.

Can we expect relationships to last forever when we see them fail daily? Should we trust or hope in finances when money so quickly disappears? What about the expectation of living forever when it is clear everyone dies? Or, is it possible to trust when promises are broken and lies are told? These are all circumstances that affect how we regard hope. So where do we find the assurance that makes hope possible?

GOD

See what I mean? It's a challenge to explain hope. I believe it can't be done without looking at God as the source. Why? Because hope has to be founded on truth. If there is no truth there is no hope. There must be ONE reliable and trustworthy place from which hope emanates. Where have you found truth? Have you found ONE source of truth that has never disappointed or failed? I believe that source is found in God because He has said He is incapable of lying. And, after close study of His character - not to mention His track record - I have found this to be consistent with His nature. On this plane of life I certainly don't trust those who have lied to me. Who better to trust than the One who has said, promised, and proven Himself to be true. So when He has said He loves me, wants me to have hope, and has promised and provided the means for hope and accomplished the assurance of my hope, that I believe to be true. The human spirit not only requires one truth, one hope and one assurance, it longs for and craves the satisfaction of truth and hope. How has God provided these?

JESUS

Seeing there was no way for us to find the reliability of hope on our own, God provided it for us through His Son Jesus. That physical expression of Himself sent into the world to show us the reliability of His love for us - and to give us hope. Jesus became the greatest expression of the promise of hope that could ever be given - and never outdone. God sealed His promise of hope, the hope of more than just this life in this world - something far greater - with the sacrificial act of Jesus' execution on the cross. But not just execution, crucifixion, the cruelest form of death mankind has ever instituted. Why would God choose to do this when He, as God, is able to accomplish anything? Because He wanted His promise of hope to be irrevocably, horrifyingly beautiful enough to be a once-and-for-all trustworthy pact of His...

LOVE

So, what is hope to me? It is believing in the assurance of God's love and the promise of life beyond this life, sealed by His promise in the blood of His own Son. Anything else I may hope for pales in comparison.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God...and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:1-2,5

What We Cannot See

     When I began this blog it was all about the story  Benny  and the spiritual battle being fought outside our natural realm of perception. It's not hard to convince others of the evil that exists in this world but exposing that evil for what it is can be difficult. There is a barrier that prevents us from seeing the whole truth.  I'm not sure we would even want to see the whole truth. Let me rephrase that, we don't need to see the real face of evil, we just need to know the face of truth.
     When I was weaning off the drug benzodiazepine, I chose to focus on the truth and not the evil of the continuous assault as the drug lost it's grip on me. I focused on one thing and one thing only - the strength of God's love and power that is greater than any force behind a drug. I believed that prior to that experience and I believe it with even more conviction now. I also believe that holds true for ANY circumstance in life with the ability to hold us in a tight grip. Anything we struggle with. When we are held by something that ultimately has the power to destroy us, that comes from the realm of the unseen. We may be powerless but God is not.
     Every culture in the world has it's own concept of good and evil. Good is what sustains life and evil is what destroys. Human nature has the ability to do either. But from where is the influence? There will always be those who believe it is all just human nature and, granted, we are capable of vile acts of inhumanity against one another - by choice. Yet any choice is directed by influence.The weak and vulnerable are swayed to act upon this influence. To go beyond the fence, so to speak.
     For me there are things in life that are just a "given" - faith, good, evil, eternity. Having faith means being confident in knowing what I cannot see is actually true. Some will choose to trust in only what they can see. I believe that is a serious mistake leaving them open to influences of which they will be unaware. Others even choose to yield themselves completely to the dark and evil side, again with complete unawareness. Since I've made no secret of being a believer in Christ I believe what we are told in the Bible to be true - we can be aware of that other dimension in the spiritual world because God has said we must be alert and aware of those forces that work against our good. God wants what is good for us because He is good and incapable of evil. He wants us to resist the evil. What I love about His wanting our good is that He understands we are completely incapable of doing good all the time on our own. We will fail. And He has provided for that condition.
     Although having written  Benny  as an allegory,regarding the spiritual battle being fought daily outside the realm of visual perception, within it lies a truth. The truth regarding the other dimension.

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8