God Doesn't Just Patch Things Up!

“Can’t we just glue it?” is a question I’ve asked Danny often! I hate it when something special breaks. Recently I broke one of my favorite coffee cups. The handle broke right off! It’s special because one of my daughters gave it to me. I could not bear to throw it away, so my precious husband glued it back together for me. I plan to put a small bouquet of silk flowers in it. The word across the face of the cup is PEACE.  That cup reminded me of God’s peace that guards both my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus.

Even though the cup is glued back together, the cracks still show. Glue does a wondrous job, but it won’t make the cracks go away. The evidence of an object being broken in the past remains, as delicate as human touch may be.

Our lives are as fragile as my coffee cup. We break easily. We hurt and we struggle and we get knocked off the table of happiness. We weep and hurt because of our brokenness. Then we try to find a way to patch ourselves up and get it all back together.  Although we may look put back together, if someone gets close enough the cracks remain. The chips are still there. The exterior, looking so put together and perfect is in fact still broken. I can’t really use my coffee cup for what it was once intended for because it’s broken. We can’t really be used for what God intended for us if we remain broken.

Patch work won’t do for a yielded vessel.  We have to be more than patched back together. We have to be made new! We have to let God come in and use His magnificent glue of the Word to make us right again. In our hearts we want to be used again – we don’t want to sit on a shelf and watch the rest of the world go its own way. But sometimes fear comes in and whispers to us “you can’t be used anymore”, “you were damaged too much”, “look at you- you’re a mess”, “this is just the way you are now”. The hurts, the fear, the anguish, the damage is done and if we hold onto all that nothing will make us right and we’ll be destined to hold flowers instead of being poured out for the Kingdom.

Are you broken this morning? Were you used of the Lord but now you feel you’re damaged beyond repair? Did someone come in a break your heart, break an oath, break your trust? Maybe you had a call on your life, but people hurt you and now you’re not ever going to let anyone hurt you again.  You thought you were content to be something you were never meant to be, but you still long to be used of God. If only you could piece things back together and quit feeling so fractured.

Oh beloved, there is hope! God will do what no one can do, not even yourself! He will apply His love to soothe your broken places! He will not just patch you, He will renew you! He will make ALL THINGS new! His promises are true and His abilities are beyond your wildest imagination! Let Him help you today! Let Him remold you into what you were always meant to be – a living, poured out vessel in His service!  Nothing will make you as happy as being where God wants you. Nothing will make you stronger than letting the Holy Spirit do what you can’t. Nothing will make you depend on God more than finding you can’t depend on anyone else to fix you - to fix what’s broken in your heart, your mind or your spirit.

The Holy Spirit is standing at the door of your heart! He wants to pour in His Truth to restore your soul this very day because He loves you and He’s for you and that’s what holds you together no matter what happens!

Psalm 147:3 He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.

Psalm 34:18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose spirits are crushed.

Psalm 94:17-19 Unless the LORD had helped me, I would soon have settled in the silence of the grave. I cried out, “I am slipping!” but Your unfailing love, O LORD, supported me. When doubts filled my mind, Your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

Look Away From Your Troubles!

As we rode into town the other night there were 4 large deer crossing up ahead. It was hard to make out the animals except that their eyes were brightly shining in our headlights. They had stopped in the middle of the road staring straight our way. You could say they had that “deer caught in the headlights” look. As we got closer they picked up their pace and trotted into a friend’s yard. If they’d not gotten their eyes off of us, we’d have run over them. If they had panicked in confusion and run back into the highway it would have been a disaster. But they looked away from us and found refuge in the trees off the road.

I’ve had that look before. I’ve been stopped dead in my tracks and been caught so off guard by circumstances I was not expecting. Sad to say we can be totally mesmerized by problems, illness, heartbreak, anger, resentment, fear and more. We become frozen in time and blinded by it all. If we’re not careful we’ll be run over by the incident that was merely a passing situation. But because we were caught in the blinding light it can cause us to become victims.

Maybe you’ve got that look right now. There are so many things that can cause us to slip into depression, despair and pain. You’ve gotten a bad report and that’s all you can focus on. You’ve heard sorrowful news about someone you love and you’re done in. You think God has left you, people have left you and love has left, so you just want to lower your head and let life run you in the ground. I know it’s hard, I know it’s almost unbearable. I also know the Lord. And His promises are higher than your lowest moment, brighter than the darkest hour and safer than the oncoming troubles.

Oh beloved, Look away! Look away from the troubles that have you caught square in their path. Look instead to the Lord! That’s His hand motioning you to come to Him. That’s His Spirit that is wooing you to listen. That is His safety that is calling you to forget what you’ve been staring at and look into His Wonderful Face! He will either take you out of the situation altogether or stand in the gap for you through it all.  He can be trusted! He can be believed! He is more than a Savior, He’s your friend! Because He loves you like no other, He can be trusted more than circumstances, people, places or things! Hallelujah! What a Lord!

Psalm 59:17 O my Strength, to You I sing praises, for You, O God, are my refuge, the God who shows me unfailing love.

Psalm 123:2 We keep looking to the LORD our God for his mercy, just as servants keep their eyes on their master, as a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest signal.

Nahum 1:7 The Lord is good, a strong refuge when trouble comes. He is close to those who trust in Him.

Psalm 18:30 God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to Him for protection.

Psalm 34:19 The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.

Micah 7:7 As for me, I look to the LORD for help. I wait confidently for God to save me, and my God will certainly hear me

Listen! God Hears and He Answers You! Trust Him.

As our oldest granddaughter and I went to pick up chicken the other night, I received a phone call/prayer request. Talking with my friend on the other line, I finally just pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant and sat there a few minutes. As we finished our phone conversation  I prayed for my friend.  When we were through, I hung up the phone and prepared to move into the drive through to retrieve our supper.  My granddaughter began, “I have two problems with your prayer…” I said, okay, what’s up? She responded, “You said tah-morrah (instead of tomorrow) and you used the word folks. Who says folks?” I laughed as I asked her if she was a prayer “critiquer”. She laughed too! She said, no that it was just funny to hear the way I talked. We both laughed as I said that I was thankful that although we might speak in dialects that someone else might not understand or might think is funny, God hears and understands every word we speak to Him even the different common terms and enunciations throughout the world.  She agreed and off we went with our chicken back to the house full of family.

I don’t know about you but I have prayers that really need an answer. My friend on the other end of the line that night really needed an answer. People throughout the world need an answer. Whether they are foreign speaking maids, international dignitaries, northern farmers or southern wage earners, everyone is hoping and praying for answers. We might not all have the right jargon, the right posture, the right inflections but God hears us all. His desire is not that we come to Him “correctly” but that we come to Him!  He hears the heart, adjusts the desires and soothes the pulse of all who talk to Him.  He knows the desperate cries of the deepest hurts, desires, hopes and more. We are most fortunate that we don’t have to bow a certain number of times, walk backwards, be in fear or reprimand or worse…we just have to ask.

Oh beloved, if you’re like me, you have deep, deep concerns that only a Savior can understand. You may have been put on the chopping block of someone you love, the cinder block of he refiner’s fire or the cold hearth of the rejector’s rebuke. But God hears. He speaks to you and to me this morning and He says, “Are you going to trust Me? Are you going to let Me work this all out? Are you going to give your loved one, your trouble, your situation to Me so that I can do what only I can do? I AM trustworthy, faithful and true. What I said I can do I will do. Just lay it all before Me, turn completely loose of it and watch as I make it all work together for your good and My glory. I love you, I love to lavish My Answers on you because you are Mine. You may have to go through things that are unjust, unfair, unwarranted and unimaginable, but together we will be more than conquerors. Watch in peace and rest in My promises as I unfold the real story, answer the true prayers and give you more than your wildest imaginations can comprehend. I love you and I AM on your side – what else do you need to know?

Isaiah 59:1  Listen! The LORD’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is His ear too deaf to hear you call.

Psalm 91:15  When they call on Me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them.

Psalm 4:3  You can be sure of this: The LORD set apart the godly for Himself. The LORD will answer when I call to Him.

Psalm 62:8  O my people, trust in Him at all times. Pour out your heart to Him, for God is our refuge. Selah

Jeremiah 32:17 O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!

Isaiah 65:24  It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.

Zechariah 13:9  “And I will bring the third part through the fire, Refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ And they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”

Genesis 22:14 Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”