What is This Thing that You Have Given Me?


37th in a series on how men and women in the Bible 
deal with waiting, disappointment and unemployment

What is This Thing that You Have Given Me?
Reflections on Psalm 142

For eight years I have searched my past, I have studied the Scriptures, I have spoken with godly men and women, and I have cried out to God for wisdom and understanding. Up to 2011 when I interviewed for a job, I got it. Ministries grew, people expressed appreciation and God confirmed my calling as a Pastor even when some would seek to undermine my efforts. But for the past eight years I feel like I have been living in an alternate universe. Where things do not go according to plan and I can hardly get an interview much less a job. Am I alone in this experience?  Is everyone else successful while I slip into oblivion?  Is there a perspective that I haven’t considered?

David wrote Psalm 142 about a time when he was hiding from Saul in a cave. He had been anointed by Samuel years earlier as God’s chosen man to be King over Israel. God had given him success over Goliath and many of his enemies. But now....but now....where are the victories?  Where is the intimacy he had with his people and with God?   He had sinned but God had forgiven him. Was he now bearing the consequences of that sin?  He even cries out, “No one is concerned for me.  I have no refuge; no one is concerned for my life.”  That’s the cry of a lonely and desperate man. It is our cry too. I’ve heard it. I’ve said it myself. 

Could it be that this is an intentional place to which God has brought us?  Wait a minute!  ‘I thought God wanted only good for me. I thought God was our ABBA father....our Daddy.’ “What father when a son asks for a fish gives him a stone?”  For eight years I identified with Esau who begged his father, Isaac for a blessing, “Is there anything left for me?”  Have I been left out or overlooked?  Did I miss class on the day they were handing out blessings?  

The loss of a job, illness, wandering children, the death of a loved one or any other tragedy leads us to the sentiments of Psalm 142. i.e. Where are you God?  What did I do to deserve this?  But what if we reframed our experience from the next angle to which David points us?  “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”  At the “Traction” conference that I just attended, the speaker gave us this question to mull over: “What is this thing that you have given me?”  
“Given” infers a gift. And if God is good then his gifts are good as well. So, could it be that my job loss is a gift?  My sciatic pain? And anything else that a normal person would interpret as a tragedy. If “this thing” is from God then I have hope and I have purpose. I will continue to have to fight feelings of abandonment by others and emotions that threaten to tear me apart and so I return to Psalm 142, “When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who watch over my way.”

What if God’s goal for my life is not a successful career by the world’s standard?  What if God’s purposes for me are contrary to everything I have believed up to this point?  Can I say with another Psalmist, “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than dwell in the tents of the wicked”?

What values keep you afloat?  Will you continue to bang your head against the wall determined to believe that your way is right?  Or surrender?  I’m scared but I’m excited too. Has God been waiting for me to catch on and do things His way?  As I read back over this blog I have asked a lot of questions.   Where will you find your answers?

“You can’t possibly master enough principles and disciplines to ensure that your life works out. You weren’t meant to and God won’t let you. For He knows that if we succeed without him, we will be infinitely further from Him. We will come to believe terrible things about the universe - things like - I can make it on my own and if I only try harder, I can succeed. “
John Eldredge, Walking With God

Points to Ponder:
  1. What reasons have you come up with as to why you are in the predicament you are currently experiencing?
  2. Have you considered that it might be a blessing?
  3. From where do you get your philosophy of life?
  4. Are there risks to changing my perspective?  What if I’m wrong?
  5. What will I do if success by God’s standards differs from the world’s definition?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God, Fix Our Van!

Image
God, Fix Our Van! When our van broke down, our prayer for days was “God, please fix our van!”   Or “God, please make sure UPS delivers the part today!”   And then things began to happen and our prayer changed to “God, what would you have us do today?”   On a Saturday we left home to drive across the country to visit our children.   It was a grand plan: visit four days with our boys, go camping and then drive to see our daughter and do the same thing.   Things were going fine until we tried to climb a steep gravel road toward a reservoir and things began to heat up. Literally. The van overheated and BOOM! The thermostat housing exploded.   I tried to remain calm.   Hey, no one’s hurt, my boys have another car to go get help.   It’s not so bad……I wish I had been calmer. Plans look ruined.   What would we do now?   At least it was daylight and a tow truck was coming.   “Oh God, lead us to a good garage!”   And various prayers like that effused from our mouths.   Meanwhi
Read more

The Smoothing of the Stone....A Continuing Journey

Image
Thirty two years ago I got the idea for a book that would outline the serpentine path that my life has taken.   Even then I had experienced significant pitfalls, broken relationships and rejection that I thought would kill me.   Not all was doom and gloom; these were mixed in with tremendous opportunities and blessings.   In an effort to gain perspective, I came up with the title, The Smoothing of the Stone   and began writing a blog in 2012, imagining that a book was forth coming.   Eleven years later I can look back and say, “Well, you might have had something to offer then, but now…oh boy…now look what you’ve got.”   Of course, maybe I should keep waiting because the stone, that is me, pitted and marred by the tossing and tumbling, still at times looks fairly smooth at first glance.   In the past ten years my seasoning process has stepped up a level.   Rejection of my character and personality has revealed flaws of which I was not aware.   I have been blessed to not have experienced
Read more

Obscurity

Image
In 1968 a statement was attributed to Andy Warhol, “We live in an age where each of us is seeking our fifteen minutes of fame.”   Little did he know what was coming.   Whether it’s ‘hits’, ‘tweets’, ‘comments’, ‘likes’ or the number of ‘friends’ you claim, each of us has the potential to thrust our thoughts, accomplishments, talent (or lack thereof) before a world-wide audience.   And yet, not everyone takes advantage of pursuing such fame.   Everyone has enjoyed some aspect of this brave new world, and I will confess that I enjoy a smattering of entertainment that the internet provides.   Some of my favorites are clips from old TV shows, series of posts about Border Collies demonstrating their intelligence, and the amazing skill of a few on “America’s Got Talent”. Much of it is meant as pure entertainment, but the temptation to thrust your personal thoughts and images before a watching world should be examined closely. Many of you not only avoid such exposure but   actually abhor the
Read more