People: A Tool in Your Construction

"Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing." 1 Peter 3:9

How many times have you gotten frustrated at another person? How many times have you looked at someone and thought to yourself how much easier your life would be if they were not in it? Even if you know it’s wrong to think so.

Have you ever told yourself that God was the one who put them in your life? That it was God who decided that this person could help you on your walk to His Kingdom?

In principle, I'm sure many of us know this. And I'm sure we’ve even reminded ourselves of this on an occasion when someone is being particularly difficult. But how often do we take this idea into our hearts and truly believe it? How many times do we look at our slightly trying brother or sister - whether biological or baptized - and thank the LORD that He has put them in our path to help us develop His characteristics?

Recently, I have found myself struggling with this particular problem with some people I know. I love them, dearly, but they have seemed to cause me much inner suffering and tribulation with the things they do and say. I struggle to keep the thought that this is God’s purpose and plan for me.

But we have to remember that even if it is a person who might seem to spark our newest trials, the trials still are from God. When He puts a person in our life, just like any other trial we might have, it is to help us, mold us, round out our rough edges.

With the people in my own life, maybe God is trying to teach me patience, or self-sacrifice. It is more than possible that He knows I cannot develop either of those traits without another person on whom to practice.

If we think about it, many trials - our own and those of Bible characters - involve others. Classmates, teachers, co-workers, siblings, etc, are only a few we see everyday.

For Joseph, his brothers mocked him, beat him, sold him, and proceeded to lie to their father about his whereabouts. Potiphar’s wife and her lie threw him into prison. But without these people working, seemingly against him, he would never have saved his family.

For Esther, Haman was trying to kill her and all her people. She probably wished God would strike him down in an instant. But what did she learn from her laborious trial because of him?

But God didn’t always give His followers adversaries with ill intent either. Job’s three friends did not mean harm when they talked with him. They thought they had Job’s best interests at heart.  

God is teaching us something through the people we find hard to handle. He works through them, many times bringing about our worst - and most needed - trials through them.

We need to remember this when we encounter those whose actions and/or traits might cause us to dislike them. We need to know that this is part of the LORD’s plan. He is trying His hardest to help us to the Kingdom in any and all ways He knows we will respond to. He knows best. That person in our lives is there to help.

But only if only we let them.

In the Hope of Israel, 

Mikaelah B 

"For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness." Psalms 84:10

Accepting Your Thorns

“For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

2 Cor 12:10

Most of us do not have such a positive outlook when faced with tribulation as Paul appears to  in this verse. We dread hardships and cower before calamity. And, to make matters worse, cowering and dreading causes us to stumble, showing us our weakness and seeming to humiliate  us in the process.

Failing at the tasks God has put before us seems to suck us deeper into despair. If God never gives us anything beyond what we’re able to bear (1 Cor 10:13), then why do we miss the mark more often than make it? How could He possibly still want us if we manage to mess up when we should be able to conquer?

Verse 9 of that same chapter should give us some reassurance when the LORD says “‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’” God reminds Paul - and us - that he is not going to succeed in everything God has put before him. God’s teachings are most effective when failure has humbled our outlook and only then are we ready to hear what God has to say.

God has given us our weaknesses for a reason - they will help shape us into His likeness as we walk toward His Kingdom. They can be painful - whether in a physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual sense - they are supposed to be, at least in part. Paul aptly calls one of his own difficulties a ‘thorn’. Sharp and often painful, thorns protect the bud of the rose from the outside forces that might seek to destroy it. Similarly, our own thorns protect us from the world around us.

Without them, our walk would be brief, as the shears of the world would quickly clip the bud of our spiritual growth. Thorns make these shears falter and hesitate. Pride halts, seeking a way through the pointy barricade. Self-reliance is pricked when it comes too close to snuffing out our spiritual life.

Thank God for your insecurities, your faltering tongue, your fumble-fingers, your social awkwardness. They help set our focus and reliance on God - where it needs to be. We cannot walk this path alone. Instead we need to be shaped and molded into God’s likeness, a feat that would be completely impossible if not for our struggles and imperfections. This is God’s way.

So be content with your struggles. Know that God is working with you. If He didn’t care for you, He wouldn’t send these trials to shape your faith. But He does care for you, and so He molds you with the help of your thorns - protecting the blossoming bud of your faith so you can continue your walk.

“... ‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the LORD, nor be weary when reproved by Him. For the LORD disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives.’” Heb 12:5-6

In the Hope of Israel,

Mikaelah B 

 "For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness." Psalms 84:10

Your Port in the Storm

"In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From His temple He heard my voice, and my cry to Him reached His ears." Psalms 18:6

I don't know about you, but when I'm facing trials in my life, my thoughts don't jump directly to passages of scripture. When I am in need of comfort I don't curl up and open my Bible - at least, I didn't use to.

Recently though, when anxiety overtakes me, or when I find myself in particular need of solace, I find that I turn to some of my favorite passages of the Bible. I have marked them so as to more easily find them when I need them.

I started doing this right before AP Exams last spring when my stress levels are were particularly high. I had never taken an exam of this magnitude before, and I felt the pressure of doing well like a physical weight on my shoulders and back.

The night before my first exam, I cracked.

Huddled in a ball under the covers and tears coating my cheeks, I cried out to God and begged Him to take the stress away, to let this exam be easy. I fell asleep, exhausted and little comforted.

The next morning dawned, and my anxiety had not lessened. In actuality, it seemed to have gotten worse. Butterflies from the night before turned to tornadoes as nausea clouded my mind. I needed something to calm myself down - and a one-sided conversation with God wasn't cutting it. I quickly Google-searched for verses that helped with dealing with anxiety. There, I found what is now one of my favorite verses: Psa 34:4 - I sought the LORD, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears.

I must have read that verse 10 or 11 times before my test that day - and the entirety of Psa 34, because it's just as applicable, maybe 4 or 5!

Now, I find myself turning to Psalm 34 whenever I am anxious or unsure of God’s Plan for me. It calms me and reminds me that God is in control.

I found that a chapter or small set of verses per generic situation really helped me, and now I have a couple different types of passages marked in my Bible for easy reference - anger, betrayal, impatience, stubbornness and fear, to name a few.

I discovered during those AP exams that prayer alone might not get you through your times of trial. Scripture is God’s direct words written down for our use, and I, at least, need to remember that. When we need His direction in our life, we can't expect God to do all the work. He has given us His book, and we need to use it.

The Bible is our greatest asset in our Walk in the Truth, and I don't know about you, but sometimes when I'm in over my head in a situation, simply opening up my Bible for a reading or two isn't my go to solution. It should be, but it isn't.

As Paul says in 2 Tim 3:16-17, All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Our Bibles are God’s words trying to influence our lives and are the first answers to our prayers in times of difficulty.

So next time you're faced with a difficult situation, try it. Try opening your Bible to a verse that seems to speak to your situation and see what it can tell you. You might be surprised to find that is more helpful then you would initially think. I can almost guarantee that  it'll be - at least in part - an answer to your prayers.

In the Hope of Israel, 

Mikaelah B 

 "For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness." Psalms 84:10

An Intro to Singing

"But let all who take refuge in You rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread Your protection over them, and those who love Your name may exult in You." Psalms 5:11

We know that King David glorified the LORD throughout his life - in every situation. “His praise shall continually be in my mouth” David sings in one of his psalms (Psa 34:1). David was called “a man after God’s own heart” for a reason - he was constantly praising God, at all points in his life.

We too want to want to develop a heart like God’s. To do  so we need to keep Him in the forefront of our minds and let His principles affect our daily decisions. If we think of Him and praise Him when times are good, it will be second nature to fall into His care in times of trial.

I, over the course of the summer, had the gratifying opportunity of studying a selection of Psalms composed by the Sons of Korah - Psalms 42, 43, 44, 84, 85, and 87. It is their influence that inspired both the title and topic of this blog: Singing Psalms in the Thunderstorm.

The Sons of Korah might be  a relatively obscure topic for those of you who didn’t have the opportunity to study them at MYC this year. They were the sons of the man that rebelled against Moses in  Numbers 16 - the man by the name of Korah that was swallowed up by the earth along with his two compatriots, Dathan and Abiram. . His descendants faced many hardships, some that were tied to the connotation of Korah’s name, and others that weren’t. And yet, throughout their Psalms, they constantly glorified God  - no matter how bad their circumstances became.

I learned through them that even when  God puts massive trials before you, praise Him, and it will  make you stronger.

It is one of my greatest goals to channel the Sons of Korah’s faithfulness and character in my own life. Because when my life becomes difficult, I don’t always find myself turning to God for help as they did. I realized that their faith must have been momentous - far stronger than my own.

But I have found myself asking how could I possibly develop a faith like theirs. I seem to barely have any time to even open my Bible lately! How am I supposed to keep God’s Word at the front of my focus during the “good” times - let alone the bad - when I don’t open the Scriptures enough to let it saturate into my mind?

So when I came back from MYC with thoughts of the Sons of Korah dominating my mind, I decided I would set another, more detailed, goal for myself - my Action Plan for Going Home.

I decided to start a blog.

I am starting it as a way to keep myself accountable, to make sure I focus on God at least a little bit each day - because if any of you keep a blog, then you know how much time it takes. (I didn’t know this until I hit the ‘post’ button)

But this blog is for you guys, too. I hope I can inspire you to lead godly lives with Christ-like attitudes - no matter what the LORD sets you up against in life.

Singing Psalms in the Thunderstorm will - LORD willing - be a mash-up of a couple different types of posts. Some weeks I’ll post crafts or Bible study techniques that have helped me, some weeks will be character studies and how they dealt with trial (look of a Sons of Korah post in the near future, LORD willing!), and some will be contemplations of particular verses that struck me as I read them.

If you guys have comments, questions, or especially suggestions for future posts, don’t be shy about contacting me!

I look forward to hearing from you and to walking next to you in our travels toward the Truth.

In the Hope of Israel,

Mikaelah B

"For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness." Psalms 84:10