Thursday, July 21, 2011

Live By Faith, Not By Sight

Winter Tree

There is a bush in my garden. Some people call it a Chinese Lantern bush, some people call it a… oh, dear, now I’ve forgotten! Anyway, the point is, I have had this bush in my garden for two years now, and each winter I have tried various measures to keep it from being ravaged by frost, but each winter my attempts have failed dismally…

I saw it as a failure on my part the first winter and fully expected to have no more Chinese Lantern bush (or whatever it’s called) in my garden. But lo and behold, it grew again, out of the ground! My initial excitement regarding this miracle resurrection, was slightly dampened at the reflection that the plant would only grow to the same height as last year and probably be mown down by the infamous Free(ze) State frost again.

Again I was pleasantly surprised… Not only did the bush produce beautiful yellow and pink flowers, it grew to twice the size it had been the previous year! Wow! What a bonus! I resolved right away to take better care of the bush so that it could grow bigger again next year! (As if I had had anything to do with the exponential growth that year…?)

Alack, alas! Despite my frantic (and fairly extreme) efforts, the poor bush succumbed once again to the ravages of Jack Frost. Reduced once again to spongy, lifeless twigs sticking out at all angles…

After the initial disappointment had settled, my brain began ticking over… Hmmmmm…. There was a pattern starting to emerge here… What if….

Suddenly, possibilities began to form in my brain… I remembered seeing huge bushes of this kind all over Bloemfontein and wondered how they had survived the sub-zero’s when mine had not? What had the gardeners done to preserve them? HAD the gardeners done anything to preserve them or was there something else going on here?

Was I paying too much attention to what was happening above ground, and ignoring what was happening below ground? Could it be that even though the branches were all killed off by the frost, the roots were still living, growing, thriving out of sight below the soil? That second year’s exponential growth had to have an explanation… Could that be it?

Now I wait with bated breath for Summer. And not only because I am sick and tired of having frozen toes and getting up when it’s still dark! I want to see how big my Chinese Lantern bush is going to grow this year! What are those roots going to push out in the new season? Instead of a sense of gloomy predictability, there is a breathless expectancy!

Then God tapped me on the shoulder and reminded me that my life is a lot like that bush too. There are times when I feel like there is no growth, no fruit, like I’m going backwards two steps for every step I take forward. I look around at the evergreens in their perennial splendour and feel naked and ashamed. But I forget to look down into the depths of my soul, into where nobody but God can see.

Down there God is growing something, the foundation, the source of the growth and fruit of the next season. He is establishing those roots deeper into His love, grace and power. The cost? Each Winter EVERYTHING above ground has to die. The reward? Greater growth, and more flowers in the following Summer!

And so the process continues until there is a 3m x 2m bush ablaze with colour, rich with foliage, delighting all who pass by and rest in its shade. But not because I protected its branches during Winter. Because God grew its roots during Winter.

The righteous shall live by faith, not by sight.

Shalom! ;o)

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Mountain Climbing Faith

This past Sunday one of our pastors, Obakeng Moloko, spoke about "Mountain Climbing Faith" as opposed to "mountain moving faith". It was very thought-provoking for me and I have since had a few thoughts on the subject. God gave me a few more illustrations...

First of all, I thought back to a powerpoint I received via e-mail which described the principle P.U.S.H. (Pray Until Something Happens). In the story, a man is told by God to push against a huge rock (aka, pray against a mountain). The rock never moves by the man's pushing, but he develops (spiritual) muscle in the process. Then God moves the rock.

Now I think of our "mountain moving faith". Here we are, praying (pushing) against this mountain to make it move but the thing won't budge. We become frustrated and ask God what's up? Why won't the mountain move?? And this is where the pictures of the two stories combine: God tells us that we, through our prayer, have built spiritual muscle and stamina that will take us OVER the mountain. We need to start climbing!

When you climb a mountain you are by no means denying the existence of the mountain. If there were no mountain, you would not be climbing! But the act of climbing the mountain testifies that you consider the mountain conquerable and are in fact in the process of conquering it!

Psalm 18:29  For by You I can run through a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.

So often when we come to obstacles in our path we want to just pray and wait for God to take the mountain away, when He desires for us to trust in Him enough that we will begin moving forward, whether the mountain has moved or not. That absolute trust says: "Lord, I am moving forward in faith, either the mountain is going to move or You are going to give me the strength and endurance to climb it!"

2 Peter 1:5  For this very reason, adding your diligence [to the divine promises], employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution, Christian energy), and in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence), 6  And in [exercising] knowledge [develop] self-control, and in [exercising] self-control [develop] steadfastness (patience, endurance), and in [exercising] steadfastness [develop] godliness (piety), 7  And in [exercising] godliness [develop] brotherly affection, and in [exercising] brotherly affection [develop] Christian love. 8  For as these qualities are yours and increasingly abound in you, they will keep [you] from being idle or unfruitful unto the [full personal] knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

It is true that there are times when things will come "easy" and mountains will move, miracles will happen to reveal God's power and glory. It is equally true that there are times when the glory and faithfulness of God is revealed in the unwavering, steadfast, enduring faith of His disciples.

Psalm 18:25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful;
to those with integrity you show integrity.

Welcome to God's Gym! When you are good and fit, we're gonna go do some mountain climbing...!!

Shalom!! ;o)
Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom - let your email find you!