Waiting and Depending on God

I went downtown today to Lions Beach, and I sat and watched the waves roll up onto the shore. I spent some time praying, read from the Bible and another devotional book that I had with me. I pondered over Psalm 104 which is an amazing description of God and His sovereignty. Verse 27 says, "These (referring to the animals) all look to you to give them their food at the proper time." I began to think how amazing it is that these animals that are not made in the image of Christ know that they are to wait upon God and fully depend on Him. What is really interesting is that while this verse refers to the animal kingdom, Psalm 145: 15 says the exact same thing but is referring to people.

What the universe and the animal creation does unconsciously, God's people are to do intelligently and voluntarily. We are to be constantly aware of our complete dependence upon God. Acts 17:25 says, "He is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else." God is infinite, He has all things and He knows all things. However, we are finite limited creatures that are in desperate need of all that God provides for us.

Andrew Murray said, "the Father in heaven is so interested in His child, and so longs to have his life in step with His will and His love, that He is willing to keep the child's guidance entirely in His own hand." We as believers in Christ must joyfully embrace God being our provider because he does know what is best for us and when we need certain things.

I know that if I were to get everything when I wanted it, I would probably be a selfish, bankrupt, ungodly, bitter person. God has been working in my life lately showing me how much I need to wait and depend on Him to bring everything about in His own perfect timing. It has been difficult for me and at times I want to fight back and try to control things, and that is when He reminds me, His ways are better than my ways.

No more anxiety

I was with the students in our church last night and we were studying Ecclesiastes 11 and 12. We had such a neat discussion that I thought I would share it here with you. Ecc. 11:10 gives us a command to "Be happy" (see also Psalm 16:11). How neat is that? God commands us to be happy. However, in the next verse it says, "so banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body..." Now the word "banish" means, to remove, to abolish, to reject, or to drive out. As we discussed these verses and how they relate to each we came to a wonderful conclusion. The way we are able to obey God's command of being happy and delighting ourselves in Him is by "banishing" all anxiety the that tries to build itself up in our lives. 1 Peter 5:7 says, "cast all anxiety on Him because He cares for you."

Satan loves to attack believers and rob them of the joy they have in Christ. He tries to plant seeds of anger, hatred, lust, and pride so that we become so consumed with ourselves that we take our eyes off of Jesus. The way we fight this is by praying 1 Peter 5:7, "God I give you all my anxiety everything that weighs me down, You take it, I cannot carry this burden." We can be confident that after praying that prayer, God will remove our anxiety because he does care for us. Romans 8:32 says, He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"

I pray this gives you great hope and confidence in Christ as it has me. There are many times I feel overwhelmed, but God is teaching me to cast all my cares on Him and walk by faith. It's a wonderful and rewarding journey He is taking me on.

The relationship between obedience and fear

In my own personal worship time today I was studying 1 Samuel 15. This is the chapter that Saul blatantly disobeys God's command and thus he is rejected by God as king. In verse, Saul is told to completely destroy the Amalekites, leave nothing. In verse 20 and 21 Saul says, I have obeyed God, "BUT" the people did take the best of all the spoils in order that we may sacrifice them to God. Is that what God said? Did he say, "destroy all the worthless things but keep the things that are pleasing to you eye?" NO!!! He said destroy everything! Saul did his job half-way and half-way is not what God desired.

In the same way Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 only acted half-way. They said we will sale our land, give it to the church but we won't really give them all the money. You cannot bring glory to God if you don't give him your everything. In verse 24 we learn that Saul feared man more than he feared God. What you fear most is what you worship and obey. Clearly we can see Saul feared man more than he feared God and that was his downfall.

Saul allowed Satan to get a hold of his heart and he began to question what God really desired. In the same, Satan got a hold of Adam and Eve and tricked them into questioning what God really desired. Here in 1 Samuel we see that not only does God desire obedience but in fact he requires it.


I have been finding that in my life, the closer I have come to God, the more I fear him and thus the more I obey him. When I look at the times I have disobeyed God in my life, every single time it was because I was fearing man and how he would respond instead of God.

Meditations on Isaiah 40

Recently, I have been challenged to begin practicing the discipline of solitude and meditation on a regular basis. I have found that I love going down to Riverview Park, sitting along the river and just taking in the magnificence of nature. Today, I watched waves glide from the wake of boats to the shores. I watched insects skate on top of the water as if it were impossible for them to sink. I marveled at the size of the trees that lined the river. It was interesting to see their mighty branches growing in all directions knowing they could easily support my weight. I loved watching the leaves dance in the breeze to and fro. As I was considering all these wonderful breath-taking attractions I could not help but think about Isaiah 40. Consider a few of these verses:

¹²Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who had held the dust of the earth in a basket or weighed the mountains on the scales and hills in a balance?

¹⁴Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way?

¹⁵Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the island as though they were fine dust.

¹⁸To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to?

²²He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

²⁶Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Do those verses not inspire you to love and pursue God with an insatiable appetite? At Riverview Park I am awed because of a tree and yet when I consider how big God really is I am left in complete wonder and amazement. Our fear of God will not increase until we begin to know and understand God in a more intimate way. We must open our minds and allow God to flood every aspect of our body and soul. I encourage you to read Isaiah 40 and contemplate who God really is and what place he has in your life.

First Blog Ever

This is my first time to ever blog and I am pretty excited. I have set this blog up so that I may share with you the things that are going on in my life and how I try to exalt-Christ in all circumstances. It's one thing to see the Pastor at church and how they act there, but I want you to see me backstage when I am not in front of everybody else. My blogs will include things about my family, spiritual nuggets that I come across during my own personal worship time with God, and whatever else I feel might be helpful to you in your walk with God.

Currently, I am the Interim Senior Pastor at Oakridge Baptist Church in Saint Joseph Michigan. On August 24, 2008 the church will be voting whether or not to ask if I will be no longer the interim but the Senior Pastor. Many people keep coming up and asking if my family and I are nervous about this decision. Amazingly, I have been able to say, "No", we are not nervous we know that God is in absolute control. He alone is Sovereign and He has given complete peace to my wife and I. One thing I have been telling people though is this, I want people to vote how God leads them and not based on their own desires. It's easy to say that to the one's you know are not going to vote for you, but it has been challenging to tell the ones that want me to be the Senior Pastor. I truly do not want someone to vote for me because they like or me or not but because that is how God is leading them.

Why do I share this with you? Because I know that at times we are all faced with difficult decisions to make. One thing I learned not to long ago is that we cannot base our decision on how difficult the journey may be. When looking at the Old Testament, you never see a King decline his throne because of the difficult hardships he will be facing. Not even David, one of the greatest Kings questioned whether he should be king or not even when Saul was trying to kill him. In 2 Chronicles 24 we see that Josiah becomes king at the age of 7. Imagine how easy it would have been for him to decline that position because he knew the trials he would be facing were going to be immensely difficult.

We are to base all our decisions upon God and the Word He has given us. Psalm 123:1 says, "I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven." I encourage you to always lift your eyes to Christ and acknowledge that He alone reigns supreme. We are to present all of our requests to Him, knowing that He is more than sufficient to answer them and to meet all of our needs.