Robbing Our Monster's Power to Surprise

 Right now I can’t see because I am surrounded by troubles;
    my sins and shortcomings have caught up to me,
    so I am swimming in darkness.
Like the hairs on my head, there are too many to count,
    so my heart deserts me.

(Psalm 40:12, The Voice) 

 

Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
 

But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

(Numbers 13:30-33, NIV) 

 

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

(Matthew 1:18-19,NIV) 

 

Each of us has triggers that activate irrational fears, psychological monsters that seem overpowering to us but which probably would be no problem to someone else. 

 

It may be a temptation to do the right thing the wrong way, or a lie thrown in our path by the enemy that anyone else would laugh at for its foolishness. 

 

The common denominator is the same - it is a giant bigger than our own courage and it comes out when we are alone. All of us have monsters of some kind, nightmares from our past or from our subconscious, unwelcome 'visitors.' 

 

But it was the Spirit who took Joseph off-guard and filled him with the dread of Mary's unfaithfulness, God who instructed the Israelites to subdue and drive out giants, and He is bigger than any giant or monster or problem the enemy may resuscitate or invent. 

 

Sometimes He'd rather the nightmares appeared and came out into the light to be recognized for what they are, and be robbed of their power to surprise us. (Northumbrian Aiden readings, Dec. 12)

Come, Thou Good and Faithful Servant

 Meanwhile, I am empty and need so much,
    but I know the Lord is thinking of me.
You are my help; only You can save me, my True God.
    Please hurry. 

(Psalm 40:17, The Voice) 

 

When he got there, he crawled into a cave and went to sleep. Then the word of God came to him: “So Elijah, what are you doing here?”

(1 Kings 19:9, The Message) 

 

Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
 

The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”

 (Luke 1:17-18, NIV) 

 

God is not easily impressed - but then he never asks us to try to impress him. It is as if he turns to us when we are consumed with our own unworthiness and are tempted to avoid meeting with him, then he cuts through all our excuses and says: 'Relax, I already know you.'

 

Amy Carmichael captures the feeling of such an exchange in her book His thoughts said. . .  His Father said. . .  

 

The son said, 'But I am not successful.'

His Father said, 'At the end of the day will my word be, 

Come, thou good and successful servant? 

If only that will walk humbly with thy God it will be, 

Come, thou good and faithful servant. 

 

We are not called to be successful, but faithful - relax! (Northumbrian Aiden readings, Dec. 11)

 

In the face of a culture that worships productivity and success, 

relaxing may seem foolhardy. 

How might you practice your faith

in some small way this season 

in the God who gives his vision of success?