Nothing, Absolutely Nothing

Jeremiah 32:17 - Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You.

I've said it before and I'll say it again...I have a long ways to go to feel I've arrived! And yet, we will never truly arrive until Jesus returns! None of us are righteous, not one (Romans 3:10). There are some days that scripture speaks more clearly than others. It's not something you always want to hear it but it's true! That's good because the conviction is the first step to healing. But I confess with a heavy heart I know how unrighteous I truly am, how I am so in need of that Savior who wipes clean the slate of confession.

Even after "getting right with God" we fail...those unintended times, those times we aren't purposely trying to sin, those "things we do that we don't want to" (Romans 7:15) but because our flesh rises up we end up doing. Oh, what a wretched man am I (Romans 7:24). I have missed the mark...again. The whole reason Christ died was so that we could come to Him personally and confess our sins and He would forgive. I'm thankful for convicting words, no matter where they come from!

We spent a long weekend golfing with our little traveling golf group. Sunday night my husband and I took the time to again watch an extraordinary movie called Facing the Giants. 

It's a fictional football movie and some might think a "bit over the edge" with the number of problems that could happen to one individual. But aren't there times when it seems life has fallen out from under us? When "things happen in threes" or fours, fives? When those become the giants in our lives? 

The story was based on a high school football coach whose team had been losing steam. He was about to lose his job. Not only that but his house was in need of repair, the only car he and his wife had was falling apart, the children they had been desiring seemed unattainable because he had yet another problem! He was in total despair and felt like a failure. This was a strong Christian man working at a Christian school.

Where had he gone wrong? Where was God in all this? What did he need to do? When you're in a pit whether literally or figuratively the only way out is up. He was absolutely powerless to turn his life around...on his own. He did not have the finances. He'd been doing so well but now the tides had turned on him. He finally took the time to seek God's help and wisdom. Then...things turned around little by little. FYI - the team they faced at the end of the movie was called the Giants. I won't spoil the ending because whether everything turned out good or not, praise went up to God, as it should.

In the movie it was said that "if my attitude is a problem then I've missed the mark." In Greek the word that means missing the mark is bluntly, sin. These words convicted me as I thought about the weekend and a discussion I had with one of the other women. I was reminded that my attitude was wrong. I was feeling sorry for myself about something and letting that get the better of me. We must love God even when we don't see the results of our prayers...no matter what...praise Him. I doubt that I showed that I still loved and trusted God in my life's situations. In fact, God wasn't brought up at all...mistake #1. All that was evident were the thoughtless feelings and words that came forth. 

Nothing, absolutely nothing, is impossible with God, no matter what we perceive in our lives. Nothing! And the amazing thing is when God's hand is in it, others will notice. I failed in my attitude about the situation. To be honest, my attitude stunk. I succumbed to allowing my flesh to take over. I failed, because of a momentary lapse in memory (Lord, forgive me), to speak the positive words I knew to be from God and allowed myself into that negative place. I failed to forget and just trust in God's plan. Instead of looking at circumstances through my own eyes, I should have remembered that God sets things in place for specific purposes, purposes that may include others' lives, no doubt my own!

Pastor James MacDonald had this in his devotion on trusting God yesterday: "[God] sees more than you can ever see. God, who loves you and is committed to you, will not disappoint you now or in the future if you put your weight fully on Him." That is His promise and I'd better not forget that next time!

There will no doubt be more times like this and I prayerfully hope that my attitude will not come through but that my trust in God's plans will. I just failed to forget for a time. My words were not the true reflection of what God has promised me. Instead James 3:10 sounds more like my problem: from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.

Psalm 19:13 - Moreover, keep Your servant from willful sins; do not let them rule over me. Then I will be innocent, and cleansed from blatant rebellion.